Volume 23, Issue 3

By Kelly Johnston - Oct 15, 2015

For most of us, the idea of willingly submitting to discomfort and pain is absurd. Why would we be so foolish to subject ourselves to such a thing? But when pursued wholly — in body, mind and spirit — and with deep self-compassion and love, the results can be life-changing. By working with and through pain, we can not only make the past and present more malleable, but we can also forge a kinder, less painful future. Nor are the efforts and rewards singular. This self-evolutionary process is one that has the potential to radiate out to those around us, both as an influence and an offering for a happier, more contented and transcendent life.

By Soumitra Basu - Oct 15, 2015

Traditionally, ‘liberation’ from a world of suffering, evil, darkness, ignorance, falsehood and death has been a cherished destiny of the individual in the Indian psyche. Psycho-logically, the concept of ‘liberation’ arises from a yearning for ‘freedom’. Freedom is the magic word that beckons man inspite of his bondage. We are bound to our ‘fate’ and even those who do not believe in the machinations of fate have to concede that we are nevertheless bound to circumstances, social obligations, hereditary influences, ‘biological’ as well as ‘cultural’ genes, ecological discrepancies, illnesses of all sorts, family ties, dependency needs, our own desires, the upsurges from our subconscious, collective suggestions and what-not! It is a chimera to think we are free. Are we free from our genes, from our heredity, from our culture, from our personality traits, from our environment, from pollutants, from our political system? We clamour for freedom but truly speaking, we are in love with our chains. Yet, as Sri Aurobindo mentions in the very first paragraph of the first chapter in The Life Divine, ‘Freedom’ is one of those key guiding lights that return after all attempts at effacement, — it calls, motivates, inspires and rejuvenates us.

By Ritesh Gujarathi, Dr. Jasmine Gujarathi - Oct 15, 2015

The world of diseases is not static. Each generation sees some new diseases added to the old list. The situation poses a new challenge to understanding and treatment. As the morbidity and mortality scales remain high until the new diseases are understood and remedial measures found as happened in the recent instance of swine flu. However, Āyurveda with its farsightedness caters for such unexpected and unexplained diseases. This it can do because it looks at diseases primarily as an inner imbalance. The true remedy therefore is to reset the inner imbalance by strengthening our inner resources and correcting the internal disequilibrium. There is something we can do until we discover the real nature of a new disease and that something may be more than what is needed. It may correct the unexpected breach of equilibrium resulting in a cure. The following article deals with this strategy of Āyurveda in dealing with diseases of an unexplained origin.

By Joachim P. Seckel - Oct 15, 2015

Following on from the previous article, this part examines procedures by which the healing atmosphere known as IBEF (Integral Bio-Energetic Field) was generated at four centres and Auroville. It summarises how the bio-energetic vial for IBEF was produced, its core elements, the induction of IBEF into the centres and Auroville, IBEF verification, its healing benefits and related aspects. The conclusion considers starting additional centres in selected locations, especially within areas of poverty and destabilisation.

By Unknown Author - Oct 15, 2015

Disciple: A has written to someone in Bengal that the vital being in man is responsible for diseases and that the body has no part in it. What do you think of it?