Light and Laughter (Some Talks at Pondicherry)

Amal Kiran (K.D. Sethna) and Nirodbaran (Dr.) are two veteran sadhaks of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. They joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry more than four decades ago. They are associated intimately with the Ashram's activities and have had the privilege of close contact with their Gurus, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. During the years 1970 and 1971, they gave a few talks at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry. These talks appeared in Mother India, a monthly magazine published by the Ashram. They are nine in number and are replete with reminiscences told in their authors' inimitable ways, with abundant splashes of wit and humor of the highest order. Being a subscriber of Mother India, I enjoyed them all immensely and read and re-read them, every time deriving fresh light and delight.

Some most abstruse aspects of the Integral Yoga have been explained by them in an astonishingly simple manner enabling even a novice like me in this subject to understand them to some extent. The essence of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother has been brought out in these talks in a homely and charming way. If Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are Modern Avatars and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram a Modern Ashram, then these two sadhaks can surely qualify as Modern Yogis!

I was seized by an urge to compile and publish their talks in the form of a book so that my friends and others interested could also read them and share my feelings of uplift and exhilaration. Amal Kiran and Nirodbaran have kindly allowed me to fulfils my urge. The result is in your hands. To derive benefit from the same is now left to the readers.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, publishers of Mother India, has given its permission for the present publication.

The Mother has been graciously pleased to bless it.

My son, Kamal, readily accepted to see it through his press with a sense of dedication.