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'''Medhananda''' (1908 - 1994) joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1952, where he was put in charge of the Library. For many years he taught History of Religions at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE), a position he was well-qualified for by his life-long interest in and study of the spiritual cultures of different ages and parts of the world. In 1965 he became editor of the quarterly journal [[=1|=1 ("Equals One")]].<ref>"About the authors Medhananda and Yvonne Artaud", http://www.medhananda.com/</ref>
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{|style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:250px;"|''[[SABDA]] Recent Publications''<br>Three articles on Medhananda<br>[[File:SABDA Medhananda articles Dec 2007.jpg|border|link=http://wiki.auroville.org.in/w/images/9/9f/SABDA_Medhananda_articles_Dec_2007.pdf]]<br>[http://wiki.auroville.org.in/w/images/9/9f/SABDA_Medhananda_articles_Dec_2007.pdf <small>PDF (11 pages)</small>]||''[[The Golden Chain]]''<br>“Medhananda: A Biographical Note”<br>[[File:The Golden Chain 2008 May - Medhananda.jpg|border|link=http://wiki.auroville.org.in/w/images/6/60/The_Golden_Chain_2008_May_-_Medhananda.pdf]]<br>[http://wiki.auroville.org.in/w/images/6/60/The_Golden_Chain_2008_May_-_Medhananda.pdf <small>PDF (4 pages)</small>]
|}
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:''([[Yvonne Artaud]]:) “I'm wondering if you have another experience you could tell me about, that was very influential in your life.
 
(Medhananda:) Perhaps I will disappoint you if I tell you that the highest experiences are the lasting ones: those which you can have the whole time, and constantly. And that is to see the world, to see your environment, to see other people, and to see yourself, in an entirely different way than ordinary people do. If you can imagine an awareness which can relate everything to everything else, every happening to any other happening of the past and of the future, if you can imagine an awareness which makes no difference between God and men, between the spiritual and the material, then you would not ask about so-called ‘spiritual experiences’ any more; because this experience is above and beyond all those still religious experiences which people can relate to.
 
:''This is bringing in the [[Oneness]] of all things.
 
Yes.
 
:''Have you experienced that?
 
I think that is something which anybody who has realised this yoga can do the whole time and constantly.
 
:''That happens to you constantly?
 
Yes.


==Articles==
:''I don't want to burden you, but perhaps another time...
{{#ask:[[Author::Medhananda]]
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|link=all
|order=descending
|headers=show
|mainlabel=Articles by Medhananda
|searchlabel=... further results
|class=sortable wikitable smwtable
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==Biography==
It is no burden at all. I'm just telling you about things which to me are quite easy and, as I tried to express to you, they belong to a consciousness which is constantly there and which I can rely on. Perhaps sometimes I have to lean back a little bit to come out of the daily life, but it is a consciousness which is always standing there.
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:''How does it affect your health?  You look pretty healthy to me.
|[[File:Medhananda portrait 1.jpg|220px]]||[[File:Medhananda portrait 3.jpg|200px]]
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Medhanada was born in Pforzheim, Germany. He learnt Latin and Greek and became fluent in English and French. Despite his early interest in ancient cultures and their symbols and spirituality he followed the wishes of his father and studied law at Munich, Heidelberg, and Paris. During this time he was privileged to study Chinese under the distinguished scholar Richard Wilhelm, translator of the Chinese I Ching, Tao Te Ching and many other ancient texts.  


In 1934, although already launched on a promising legal career, he left Germany with his French wife to escape the rise of Nazism. They went to Tahiti in French Polynesia, settled on its sister island Moorea where they could buy 200 hectares of virgin forest, build a small house and establish themselves as farmers, cultivating vanilla and coffee. Their three children grew up in that paradise. In the radiant silence of that forest, Medhananda started to explore the levels of consciousness accessible to his self-awareness. He also had plenty of opportunity to explore the pre-Christian culture, the age-old gnosis of Polynesia. During the second world war he was interned near Tahiti as an enemy alien.
Yes, I think I'm pretty healthy. I'm very lazy and I don't do the necessary sports and other things which I should. ''(He laughs)''”<ref>''[[On the threshold of a new age with Medhananda]]'', p.125</ref>


After his release in 1946 he came across the writings of Sri Aurobindo.<ref>"About the authors Medhananda and Yvonne Artaud", http://www.medhananda.com/</ref>


==Collaboration with Yvonne Artaud==
Aliases:
In 1978 Medhananda founded together with [[Yvonne Artaud]] the Identity Research Institute, a non-profit foundation for psychological research. It was from about 1970 onwards, that he started an in-depth exploration of the symbology of the hieroglyphs and pictorial imagery of ancient Egypt, using the psychological approach that Sri Aurobindo had initiated for the interpretation of the Vedas.<ref>"About the authors Medhananda and Yvonne Artaud", http://www.medhananda.com/</ref>
*Balthazar
*Benedictus Montecrossa
*Cardinal Systems Manager Bene Trovato
*F. Radiata
*F.W.
*Girimurti
*Imi Noa Mangus
*Lama Gompananda
*Lama Govindananda
*M. R. Talus
*P. Daniel
*Plato Silenus
*Popi Tané
*S. O. Posia
*Space Traveller
*T. M. Radiata
*Te Ana Vava
*The Old Computer
*etc.




<hovergallery>
<gallery>
File:Mother coming down stairs with Medhananda 1953.jpg
File:Medhananda young.jpg
File:Medhananda young.jpg
File:The Mother at the opening of Flowers in Yoga exhibition 24-11-1953.jpg
File:Medhananda portrait 1.jpg
File:Medhananda portrait 3.jpg
File:Medhananda Yvonne.jpg
File:Medhananda Yvonne.jpg
</hovergallery>
File:Medhananda bow and arrow.jpg
</gallery>




<hr>
<hr>
<br>
<br>
<references/>
<references />
 
 
==See also==
*[[Identity Research Institute]]
*[[Yvonne Artaud]]
*[[=1]]
*[[The Eternity Game]]
 
==External links==
*[https://www.medhananda.com/ www.medhananda.com]
*[http://library.auroville.org.in/booksearch?author=medhananda Books by Medhananda at Auroville Library]
 
<br>
 
[[Category:People (Ashram)]]

Latest revision as of 04:16, 3 November 2026

SABDA Recent Publications
Three articles on Medhananda
SABDA Medhananda articles Dec 2007.jpg
PDF (11 pages)		 The Golden Chain
“Medhananda: A Biographical Note”
The Golden Chain 2008 May - Medhananda.jpg
PDF (4 pages)


(Yvonne Artaud:) “I'm wondering if you have another experience you could tell me about, that was very influential in your life.

(Medhananda:) Perhaps I will disappoint you if I tell you that the highest experiences are the lasting ones: those which you can have the whole time, and constantly. And that is to see the world, to see your environment, to see other people, and to see yourself, in an entirely different way than ordinary people do. If you can imagine an awareness which can relate everything to everything else, every happening to any other happening of the past and of the future, if you can imagine an awareness which makes no difference between God and men, between the spiritual and the material, then you would not ask about so-called ‘spiritual experiences’ any more; because this experience is above and beyond all those still religious experiences which people can relate to.

This is bringing in the Oneness of all things.

Yes.

Have you experienced that?

I think that is something which anybody who has realised this yoga can do the whole time and constantly.

That happens to you constantly?

Yes.

I don't want to burden you, but perhaps another time...

It is no burden at all. I'm just telling you about things which to me are quite easy and, as I tried to express to you, they belong to a consciousness which is constantly there and which I can rely on. Perhaps sometimes I have to lean back a little bit to come out of the daily life, but it is a consciousness which is always standing there.

How does it affect your health? You look pretty healthy to me.

Yes, I think I'm pretty healthy. I'm very lazy and I don't do the necessary sports and other things which I should. (He laughs)”[1]


Aliases:

  • Balthazar
  • Benedictus Montecrossa
  • Cardinal Systems Manager Bene Trovato
  • F. Radiata
  • F.W.
  • Girimurti
  • Imi Noa Mangus
  • Lama Gompananda
  • Lama Govindananda
  • M. R. Talus
  • P. Daniel
  • Plato Silenus
  • Popi Tané
  • S. O. Posia
  • Space Traveller
  • T. M. Radiata
  • Te Ana Vava
  • The Old Computer
  • etc.


  • Mother coming down stairs with Medhananda 1953.jpg
  • Medhananda young.jpg
  • The Mother at the opening of Flowers in Yoga exhibition 24-11-1953.jpg
  • Medhananda portrait 1.jpg
  • Medhananda portrait 3.jpg
  • Medhananda Yvonne.jpg
  • Medhananda bow and arrow.jpg



  1. ↑ On the threshold of a new age with Medhananda, p.125


See also

External links


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