Mirra Alfassa
Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or ''La Mère'', was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name "The Mother" or "Shri Maa". Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878 to a bourgeois Sephardi Jewish family from Turkey. In her youth, she traveled to Algeria to practice occultism along with the occultist Max Théon. After returning to Paris, Alfassa guided a group of spiritual seekers. In 1914, she traveled to Pondicherry, India, and met Sri Aurobindo. She identified him as "the dark Asiatic figure" of her visions, and called him Krishna. During this first visit, she helped publish a French version of the periodical ''Arya'', which serialised most of Sri Aurobindo's post-political prose writings. In 1920, after living in Japan for four years, Alfassa returned to Pondicherry where she dev ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sri Aurobindo Ashram
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram (French: ''Ashram de Sri Aurobindo'') is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry (city), Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It was founded by Sri Aurobindo after he settled in Pondicherry in 1910. On 24 November 1926 turned over control of the ashram to his collaborator Mirra Alfassa. It houses the ''Samadhi (shrine), samadhi'' of Sri Aurobindo and Mira Alfassa. Governance The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust was established in 1955 to administer the community and its assets. Controversy In compliance with the Central Government's Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust constituted an Internal Complaints Committee in April 2014. In 2001, a female member was expelled from the ashram for violating a "mandatory rule". Thereafter she filed charges of sexual harassment against various members. These charges we ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mirra Alfassa
Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or ''La Mère'', was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name "The Mother" or "Shri Maa". Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878 to a bourgeois Sephardi Jewish family from Turkey. In her youth, she traveled to Algeria to practice occultism along with the occultist Max Théon. After returning to Paris, Alfassa guided a group of spiritual seekers. In 1914, she traveled to Pondicherry, India, and met Sri Aurobindo. She identified him as "the dark Asiatic figure" of her visions, and called him Krishna. During this first visit, she helped publish a French version of the periodical ''Arya'', which serialised most of Sri Aurobindo's post-political prose writings. In 1920, after living in Japan for four years, Alfassa returned to Pondicherry where she dev ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with raising Interfaith dialogue, interfaith awareness and elevating Hinduism to the status of a major world religion. Born into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Vivekananda showed an early inclination towards religion and spirituality. At the age of 18, he met Ramakrishna and became his devoted disciple, and later took up the vows of a ''sannyasin'' (renunciate). Following Ramakrishna’s death, Vivekananda travelled extensively across the Indian subcontinent as a wandering monk, gaining first-hand knowledge of the often harsh living conditions endured by the Indian masses under then British India, he sought a way to alleviat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Raja Yoga (book)
''Raja Yoga'' is a book by Swami Vivekananda about " Raja Yoga", his interpretation of Patanjali's '' Yoga Sutras'' adapted for a Western audience. The book was published in July 1896. It became an instant success and was highly influential in the Western understanding of yoga. Contents and ideas ''Raja Yoga'' contains transcripts of lectures by Vivekananda on "Raja Yoga", his interpretation of Patanjali's '' Yoga Sutras'', and a "rather free translation" of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras plus Vivekananda's commentaries, which also was a series of talks. It presents Vivekananda's understanding and interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, "and a selection of ''hathayoga'' teachings on the basis of the beliefs that he shared with his students." These included elements from traditional Hinduism, but also ideas from western science, Idealism, and "the Neo-Vedantic esotericism of the Brahmo Samaj and Western occultism," including mesmerism and "American Harmonial religion." Vivekananda ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which is the belief that at least one deity exists. Historically, evidence of atheistic viewpoints can be traced back to classical antiquity and early Indian philosophy. In the Western world, atheism declined after Christianity gained prominence. The 16th century and the Age of Enlightenment marked the resurgence of atheistic thought in Europe. Atheism achieved a significant position worldwide in the 20th century. Estimates of those who have an absence of belief in a god range from 500 million to 1.1 billion people. Atheist organizations have defended the autonomy of science, freedom of thought, secularism, and secular ethics. Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to social approach ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, ''Impression, soleil levant'' (''Impression, Sunrise''), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a Satire, satirical 1874 review of the First Impressionist Exhibition published in the Parisian newspaper ''Le Charivari''. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon foll ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Académie Julian
The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and quality of artists who attended during a great period of effervescence in the arts in the early twentieth century. After 1968, it integrated with the École supérieure de design, d'art graphique et d'architecture intérieure (ESAG) Penninghen. History Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students.Tate Gallery"Académie Julian."/ref> The Académie Julian not only prepared students for the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered independent alternative education and training in arts. "Founded at a time when art was about to undergo a long series of crucial mutations, the Academie Julian played host to painters and sculptors of every kind ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mother With Her Kid
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestational surrogacy. A biological mother is the female genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or egg donation. A biological mother may have legal obligations to a child not raised by her, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive mother is a female who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption. A putative mother is a female whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepmother is a non-biological female parent married to a child's preexisting parent, and may form a family unit but generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child. A father is the male counterpart of a mother. Wom ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Occult
The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysticism. It can also refer to paranormal ideas such as extra-sensory perception and parapsychology. The term occult sciences was used in 16th-century Europe to refer to astrology, alchemy, and natural magic. The term occultism emerged in 19th-century France, among figures such as Antoine Court de Gébelin. It came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to Éliphas Lévi and Papus, and in 1875 was introduced into the English language by the esotericist Helena Blavatsky. Throughout the 20th century, the term 'occult' was used idiosyncratically by a range of different authors. By the 21st century the term 'occultism' was commonly employed –including by academic scholars in the field of Western esotericism ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Georges Van Vrekhem
Georges Van Vrekhem ( Wakken, 28 March 1935 – Auroville, 31 August 2012) was a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking) Belgian journalist, poet and playwright, who was the artistic manager of a professional theater company, the "Nederlands Toneel te Gent". He became acquainted with the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in 1964. In 1970, he joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry, and eight years later, in 1978 he moved to Auroville. He has translated as selected writings from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and several books of Sri Aurobindo, The Mother, Peter Heehs, and Satprem into Dutch. Van Vrekhem died during sleep in his Auroville home in Shakti on 31 August 2012. Works His book on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, ''Voorbij de mens'' has been published in The Netherlands in 1995, and translated into English as ''Beyond Man'', published in India in 1997, and also translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian. The American edi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |