News & Notes 621:The Love’s Stories
- “The pain of the world cry in my heart… sing to men of love and hope!” (Georgette Coty, poet, writer, essayist, “Sing My Soul. Selected Poems and Other Writings”, published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2001, pp. 19, 24)
In Auroville there is a small tree from Brazil – Pitanga. Sometimes it has red sweet fruits like cherry. The building of Pitanga is situated near this tree. On 9 Oct. I visited Pitanga for Edward Chinniah’s exhibition of photos. It was a nice exhibition but one photo was especially attractive for me: two boys and one of them keeping a small dog in his hands. This was the commentary: “My dog is my god. Unconditional love”.
Our planet now is full of computers, there isn’t space for love – almost. Why we so like Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s hidalgo Don Quixote from La Mancha? Because he loved noble actions, the young girl Dulcinea and the old horse Rosinant.
In the Ashram Sri Aurobindo there was Dimitrii von Mohrenshildt. He loved poetry and I often had talks with him about poetry. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 100. His private library with the poetry books now is in Auroville. For eleven years I visited Dimitrii every week. He told me about his friend Richard Eggenberger (Narad). Narad loves music and plants. His name, Narad, means “the messenger and musician of the God”. Dimitrii brought the orchids for Narad from the United States. Narad had a good collection of the orchids in the Matrimandir Nursery. Now another rich collection of these plants is in our Botanical Garden. Auroville isn’t the optimal place for the orchids. But they are numerous in the sholas – the ancient ecosystems near Auroville’s Nature Camp in the Kodaikanal region. Many orchids live on tree’s trunks and branches (epiphits), but some of these plants grow on the ground (terrestrial orchids).
On 23 Oct. in SAIIER I met Chali – Narad’s daughter. She loves her father very much. For me she is similar to a terrestrial orchid. Every human being corresponds with a special kind of flower. Colline and Jean in Two Banyans are like the orchids “epiphits”. They love the forest. In the past the forest’s voice was written down by the rishis in “the aranyakies” (“forest books”) and now it is a part of the Veda. In Two Banyans forest it gives wisdom to Colline and Jean too. That’s a result of mutual love.