Sri Aurobindo Reading Circles
Infinite Conversations has been pursuing an extended reading program for Sri Aurobindo’s writings for several years now. Sri Aurobindo wrote widely over the course of the first half of the 20th century about what he called “the integral yoga,” a broad and engaged spiritual vision focused on the evolution of consciousness.
One group met three years ago to read The Life Divine, a book that gives an overview of his ideas, and two reading groups formed following that, one to read Savitri and the other to read The Synthesis of Yoga. Savitri is one of the great long poems written in English. Ostensibly a retelling of the Vedic love story between Satyavan and Savitri, the poem uses this story as a frame for exploring Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual vision. The Synthesis of Yoga, on the other hand, encapsulates the main argument found throughout Sri Aurobindo’s writings, including that embedded within Savitri.
In both these cases, the books are being read aloud. Sri Aurobindo’s writing often lends itself to being read out loud, as it is dense and sonorous, poetic in its richness of layered meanings, and aloud we can work as a group on untangling its different threads. Both the Savitriand the Synthesis of Yoga groups are still open to new members.
The nature of both texts means that they are never exhausted via any one reading effort, and so in a sense everyone is “dipping into the stream” as we read them. This is especially the case for the Synthesis of Yoga. Because Savitriis a mantric poem, however, the experience of reading aloud calls for readers who may need to be coached. Indeed, Sri Aurobindo sought to create an experience of heightened consciousness through the poem which is activated through the process of being voiced.
For further information about these groups, see, for Savitri, https://www.metapsychosis.com/groups/savitri-reading-group/ , and for Synthesis of Yoga, https://www.metapsychosis.com/groups/synthesis-of-yoga-practicum/.
Also, video recordings of previous reading sessions may be viewed, beginning, for Savitri, https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/savitri-reading-group-introductory-session-2019-7-17/3418, and for Synthesis of Yoga, https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/synthesis-of-yoga-practicum-april-22-2020-week-1/3912.
