Indian/Canadian Vigyan Agni is a Sanskrit scholar who first came to Auroville in 1988, then again in '94, to eventually join Auroville for good in 1999.
Agni shares here with you some poetic impressions evoked by his life in the township.

vigyanagni@auroville.org.in 

 

Bay of Bengal

A thunderous roar and move;
Waves risen from depths of Time
Descend with a crashing force
On the shore of the Bay of Bengal.

Blue distances of sea spread wide,
Blue gauntlets of sky far seen;
The eye on the horizon dances
In a blending of heights and depths.

Rocks and moss and a refreshing splash,
Foam bathed fronts and washed-in tides;
A crab clings to a stone and sees
Globules of water 'round his eye.

The warmth and ease of noon,
And a spread of cloud 'cross the blue;
The crashing sound of high waves.

Auroville

Wet with the rains of morn,
The red mud roads
Lead to the place unique,
Where is Auroville's way
'mid the jungle and flower.

This way we all seek,
Larger than the world,
Light and limpid,
Is here and near, yet far,
Broader than our thoughts,
Breath of our breath,
The thing sublime,
Upholding all.

Upon the sands of Repos' poise,
Or in Gaia or in Surrender or Vikas,
On the courts of New Creation,
Or inside Sharnga's or Pitanga's halls,
'neath jungle canopies of Green-belt space
Or in the view from new buildings,
Or 'neath the Banyan's broad embrace
Or inside Matrimandir's solid silence,
Is the life of something else astir,
Forming in a hundred ways
The threads of a magic tapestry.

This Auroville we see, and this we deem,
Harks back, through seas of sight
To another direction of our lives,
Another source sublime,
Which carries our soul's surge
Towards the marvel.

Evening

The moon's crescent and the stars in a dim background
Give to the trees and quiet evening spell a mood and reach
That feels the forest muse and wide windless hush.

Crickets comforting the easy evening's pace
Aware in a slow rhythm of a ponderous thought,
Adorn the ears with their note of heaven's architect mood.

Trees and the entrance gate for our thoughts,
Arrayed, stand trance-like 'neath the calm twinkling stars,
Their leaves and high branches cloistering the cool air.

Reaching as if into the starry vasts above,
A human being looks and notes the marvel that happens;
An instant holds this treasurous contact with mother Nature.

As if centuries chided this evening calm with its call,
Mingling many worlds past with this evening's presence;
And formed as in a mysterious niche is a surprise.

Healed are the needs of man and beast by the eve's touch,
Bygone ages relive once more within us,
As if a balm of evening gives a ground of powerful peace.

Each breath that is the evening's peaceful attire,
Makes felt rising currents of rest upon Nature's limbs,
And comforts the child in the green and blue pastures.

Sister of the brightness of morning's verge,
Evening is she arrayed in the jewels of dream,
Beauty of moon-light her face, magic calm her gaze.