The day started with prabhat pheri in which enthusiastic youth and ashramities participated, chanting names of Mother and Sri Aurobindo while taking rounds of the ashram. This was followed by an invocation in the Meditation Hall.

At 10:30 AM, the national flag was hoisted in front of meditation hall accompanied by singing of vande mataram and jana gana mana. This was followed by Dr. Karan Singh, a scholar on Sri Aurobindo’s political life, giving an insightful talk on Sri Aurobindo’s five dreams.

From 2:30 PM onwards, musical offerings by students of Matri Kala Mandir were held in the meditation hall.

From 3:45 PM, the audience enjoyed a dynamic cultural programme “Tiranga” by the ashram youth, which comprised of yoga, aerobics, classical dance, and a powerful dance performance dedicated to the Indian Army. The latter was esp. a heart-touching tribute to the martyrs depicting their deep emotions and passion for the country. The programme was a beautiful blend of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birthday as well as 75th year of India’s freedom.

The evening ended with the March Past, Light of Aspiration and a musical offering by the Ashram choir on Sri Aurobindo’s Upanishads interspersed by Tara didi’s reading.

In the memory of LN Jhunjhunwala ji, a special program was organized celebrating Baji Prabhu, Sri Aurobindo’s poem dedicated to the great Maratha warrior. The poem is based on the real incident of Baji Prabhu’s valor and sacrifice while protecting his motherland against the mighty army of the Mughals, which heavily outnumbered the Maratha Army. Gracing the evening was Dr. Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman IPS officer, and a youth icon.

The evening began with Prashant Khanna ji, an ashramite and a scholar of Sri Aurobindo’s life and works, giving a talk on the close parallels between life of Sri Aurobindo during India’s freedom movement and Baji Prabhu. Following this, an impressive dance drama on the poem was presented by a group of eight artists from Pune, led by the Bharatnatyam artist Ms Anjali Bagal. The concept & choreography was by Anjali ji, script and voiceover by Sayali, and music by Amod Kulkarni.

The essence of this performance can be described in three words- simplicity, power and intricacy. Simplicity was in terms of the costumes, which while being comfortable, also looked graceful and depicted the Maratha warriors very well. They did not use any props and the entire drama was conceived of and conveyed by intricate, beautifully synchronized body movements. The power of the warrior was shown by the appropriate mudras which infact looked very close to martial arts gestures.

The lines were very carefully selected to accurately convey Baji’s character and his experiences of life and war. The music added even more power and life to the whole presentation, aptly conveying war, pain, exhaustion, but never frustration. Synchronization between the eight people was flawless.

The program ended with Kiran ji’s very inspirational talk to the audience, especially the young people, on insights on the tiranga, the necessity of having one’s own dream and in that dream to also place one’s country’s well-being.

On the occasion of Shri Surendranath Jauhar’s (fondly called chachaji by people who grew around him) 119th birth anniversary, the Ashram inmates as well as students and staff of the Mother’s International School organized and participated in various activities and cultural programmes. Being an arya samaji himself, chachaji used to regularly organize havans even during India’s freedom struggle as a means to reconnect himself and his fellow-mates with the Vedic roots, and to spread the truth about everyone being equal in spirit as everyone inhabits the same Divine. Adjacent to his samadhi, called the Faqir kutir, the morning thus began with a havan which was presided over by his daughter Tara Jauhar (called Tara didi by everyone). The chanting of sacred vedic mantras for about half an hour created a beautiful atmosphere of peace. The havan chanting was then followed by the distribution of prasad.

Immediately afterwards the group proceeded to the meditation hall, where students and teachers of Mother’s International School offered soulful bhajans as their tribute to chachaji and his love for the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

This was followed by the release of the book “Whose Gold?,” a true story which was close to chachaji’s heart, and reworked upon and made into a book by Dr. Ramesh Bijlani ji. The story depicts the deeply moving and unbelievable close social kinship of people of unpartitioned Punjab. Sushri Surender Sharma ji, who was the headmistress of the Mother’s International School Primary wing, and who worked closely with chachaji, was the special guest. She shared her insights on his unique personality.

In the afternoon, immediately following lunch, we all watched a film on chachaji titled, Anant ke aamantran, made by Shri Kush Sen, a devotee of Mother and Sri Aurobindo and resident of Pondicherry. It showed how his idealistic, courageous, sincere, passionate character was used by Universal forces that took him from being a freedom fighter to the spiritual depths of his own being. After the screening, Shri Kush, Shri Avadhut Thali who sponsored the film, as well as Shri Swapan Bose, the designer of the film set were honored.

From 6.45PM onwards the Ashram choir made an offering of chachaji’s favorite bhajans interwoven with Tara didi’s reading about him. This was followed by all the attendees lighting a diya each around the relics as well as chachaji’s Samadhi. Everyone then proceeded for dinner.

On the second day of the functions, the programmes started with playing of Mother’s music and lighting the lamps. We all then watched a film on Sri Aurobindo entitled “Sri Aurobindo: an Indian mystic who worked for human unity” made by Shri Neeraj Sharma ji and the entire team of Creative Garage. The script of the film was prepared by Dr. Bijlani ji. The film was really absorbing for everyone and depicted beautifully the life of Sri Aurobindo from his childhood to his days of intense sadhana in Pondicherry. All the turnings of his life were shown and it can be a good guide for people to get an introductory but deep grasp about Sri Aurobindo’s life.

The audience then delighted in a wonderful talk by Shri Bharat Gupt, a former associate professor of English in the University of Delhi, a musicologist, cultural analyst, theatre theorist and Indian classicist. He found Sri Aurobindo as a young college student and was immediately taken in by his writings, making him very well-read and conversant about Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy over the decades.

He shared a precise, in-depth and rich understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s nationalism.

The evening ended with a joyful presentation of Maharas “Sri Aravind Krishnamrita” by students from Mathura (name of college) led by Anil Vajpayee. The dance-drama successfully brought forth the intimate experiences and realizations Sri Aurobindo had about Sri Krishna in Alipore jail. The maharas could bring the rasa of Sri Krishna’s life to the audience and showed the significant experiences from His life, starting from his playful naughty childhood stories about “stealing” butter from the women in the village, to his love for Radha and the other Gopis, to his compassionate and intimate friendship with his friend Sudama, and to the famous Viswaroopa darshan he blessed Arjuna with. The audience felt one with the actors on stage and were as if transported to Mathura itself- the ground which the Lord chose to immortalize forever with his presence of Ananda.

The five-day long celebrations of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary began with a musical offering by Ms. Premshila ji and Minati di at the Hall of Grace. This was then followed by an Exhibition on Constitution of India in the light of Sri Aurobindo researched extensively by Shri Surya Pratap Singh Rajawat, an advocate by profession and also is the Secretary Sri Aurobindo Society Rajasthan. He explained the artwork and how deeply rooted the Constitution is in the Indian spiritual scriptures like the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and how it has taken inspiration from the personalities of yugapurushas like Shivaji Maharaj, Guru Gobind Singh ji, and emperors like Asoka.

He also has taken upon himself to educate the masses on the Constitution of India and its intricacies, and has put up this exhibition in many places throughout India. On 24th April 2022 his book entitled “Sri Aurobindo and the Constitution of India” was released by the Hon’ble Home Minister of India Shri Amit Shah ji.

After Tea, the audience enjoyed a beautiful stage rendition of Sri Aurobindo’s poem, Who. It was a visual treat in terms of the costumes, dance performances, body movements, and how his poem describing the unfathomable mystery of the Creator can be intuited in our day-to-day experiences and moods. Almost 100 students from the classes 6th-12th of the Mother’s International School participated in this stunning performance. The ballet also displayed impressive visual props to convey the psychological moods and emotions of people. It was a wonderful journey for all who participated and also who watched as audience, and was a completely in-house effort.