We spent the day and night at the Sri Aurobindo. It is an Ashram that was begun in Pondicherry with the Delhi campus built in the 1950s.
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Temple
The ashram was our host for an all day chanting ceremony and a Dharma talk. We also ate our meals there and spent the night.
Wikipedia description: “The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from politics and settled in Pondicherry in 1910. In 1926, after a major spiritual realization, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from public view in order to continue his spiritual work. At this time he handed over the full responsibility for the inner and outer lives of the sadhaks (spiritual aspirants) and the ashram to his spiritual collaborator, “the Mother”, earlier known as Mirra Alfassa. This date is therefore generally known as the founding-day of the ashram, though, as Sri Aurobindo himself wrote, it had “less been created than grown around him as its center.”
The day ended with a stunning candlelight procession
Just on of the many educational buildings at GBU
Our next stop was Gautaum Buddha University for a conference, then chanting at the end of the conference.
GBU is a Research University established by Dr Rajesh Mishra located in Greater Noida, in Uttar Pradesh about one hour outside of Dehlhi. It is a state government University and opened in 2008. The campus has over 511 acres and offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in Engineering, Business Administration, Computer Applications, Biotechnology and Buddhist Studies and is mainly focused on research.
Chanting in the temple at GBU
We were here as part of a special all day seminar on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
We were joined by Chinese monks that use gongs and small drums in their chanting
The nuns at the chanting ceremonies don’t get enough attention in my opinion. It is a very male dominated situation.
I have found that at all the ceremonies the nuns are quick and generous with their smiles
So just as I am getting adjusted to Monks with cell phones and iPads, I see this coming down the street at GBU
This lady was very special to me. She sought me out at Sri Aurobindo and explained that she had been a child, and her father a doctor, in Burma during WWII. She had fond memories of the Burmese and hoped I would introduce her to a Burmese monk. I did and they loved her as much as she was thrilled at speaking with her and we all listened as her Burmese came back, it was a very special moment.