A special puja was conducted at Skambha to celebrate both Sri Aurobindo’s 145 birth anniversary, and the inauguration of the new Aeon Centre of Cosmology (ACC) House.

Here are some photos – be sure to look for the one where Thea has inscribed the date she built the house, which served as the first guest house on her property, bordering the Gangavar River. The Kodai Hills were blessed with a great monsoon this year and as the puja took place, the Gangavar raged past us, down toward the falls which Thea described as ‘the power point of Skambha’.

Details

In June this year, Krishna Agarwal Bauer, president of Aeon Trust, asked for a central place at Skambha to use as a special area for the work of Aeon Centre of Cosmology. After some thought, and thanks to our managing director, Patti Anne Tower, the Trust gave the guest house at the end of the property for this purpose.

Plans are underway now to convert the stone building into a display area where Thea’s books and monographs may be purchased, as well as space for discussion of her cosmology. The walls will be used to mount selected panels which Thea had developed for the exhibition in Delhi (2015) which she called, The Future Realisation. Staff will be available to discuss these artistic and insightful works which describe the cosmology of The New Way.

The land on which ACC is situated was purchased in 1986, and it was the following year that Thea moved into Skambha along with a cow, horse, doggies and doves (see www.aeoncentre, about us). In an early letter (27 February 1986) found in her ARCHIVES, you can hear the excitement Thea felt as she discovered more about this sacred land:

“…Also, the sadhu told Siva that from very, very ancient times sages, sadhu and the like used to stay in that place, along the river. It was the most sacred place of Murugan. Just imagine! But there is more to tell.

“Would you believe it: the name of the river is Gangavar – that is Ganga-ji…. The ‘var’ is the form of respect! Now you can understand why it was that immediately after finding this place (and we have Silva to thank for this) I was off to Calcutta, and first saw the Ganges –

“But you see how alive the ancient Tradition is in India. There is always someone, even if he is not the highest, or having real Knowledge, to preserve the lore and pass it on – to continue the awareness of the sacred nature of the place – until then someone like me comes to reinstate it in terms of the real thing.

“He told us so many things. David and I were amazed. How perfect the guidance is, to carry us right there… on the banks of the Gangavar. And you can well imagine that our spot must be one of the most powerful because of the waterfall. And those pools – really like the sacred water tanks in certain temples.

And how about this, the area is known as Kumbur, which comes from Khumbha (Aquarius) or the water jar, with flowing water (‘ur’), and it was right in Aquarius that we sealed the deal 29-30/1!!!”