Margaret Elizabeth Johnston

Ashram. That word can bring a centered calmness or an aversion feeling depending on perception/experience of one you may of heard of or encountered. I’m here in S. India where there is a very well known ashram called Sri Aurobindo Ashram. From this Ashram, a community called Auroville, meaning City of the Dawn, was started back in 1968, a universal township of over 50,000 people from around the world. In the main village of Auroville the residents call themselves Aurovillians! I stayed there a week back in 2018 and enjoyed playing a role of being part of the town however I’ve come to understand the deeper meaning of how the concepts of the center were created by studying some of Sri Aurobino’s plentiful and outstanding clear and beautiful writings, some of which is in no doubt spiritual poetry for the soul. To understand how Auroville came about, one must go back to the history of Sri Aurobindo just a bit.

From all the reading I’ve gathered from research, without minimizing his lengthy education, I find that, in a nutshell, he was a well educated Indian man originally from Calcutta that was sent to the UK for studies from 7 years up through Cambridge Collage years and then went back to India as a professor and was also in service of the Majaraja of the time in the Princely State of Baroda. Eventually he quit these positions and went back to Calcutta to be in politics, becoming one of the leaders of the Nationalist movement. In conjunction with being an educator and political leader, he was a yoga devotee and eventually withdrew from politics after, what I think, was a heroic attempt at helping to create an independent India.

It was while devoting himself in Pondicherry that his concept of yoga developed into what he termed Integral Yoga and that is how the ashram evolved over time. This yoga was in variance with older ways of yoga because the follower would not give up the outer life to live in a monastery, but would be present in regular life and practice spirituality in all parts of life. The aim is not only for spiritual realization but it is also on transforming one’s nature. Realizing it is through one’s own being that The Divine can be expressed.  

One cannot talk about Sri Aurobindo without speaking of The Mother. Mirra Alfassa was an accomplished artist and pianist from Paris. She was interested in the occult and spiritual development, founded a group of spiritual seekers in Paris then went to Pondicherry to meet Sri Aurobindo. She immediately recognized him as the one who had been guiding her spiritual development inwardly and eventually Sri Aurobindo entrusted the material and spiritual charge to Mirra, who was now named The Mother. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram had its real beginnings then, back in 1926. The full stories of both these people and the development of their creation can be read on their website sritaurobindoashram.org. I only summarized the history however it is the ideology and/or philosophy emanating from the foundations of the ashram that I enjoyed learning about.

The ashram itself is located right in the heart of urban White Town tourist area of Pondicherry with its own vibrant working departments including the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. There are over 80 departments including farms, gardens, guesthouses and engineering units. There is an art gallery and studio, a library, paper making and traditional textile shops. These departments are run by the spiritual disciples depending on what they have discovered as their calling. A lot of the departments were created as more disciples arrived to be of service, nothing was demanded or created with the idea of making money from others working for anyone. The focus is on a harmonious way to be of service expressing The Divine doing what you feel will help to find your inner peace and expression, studying the ashram writings and live in harmony with one’s neighbor. When coming to be an ashram resident, one is housed, fed and clothed as a disciple and allowed to come into their own natures as to how to be of service to “The Mother”. “Know that the Mother’s light and force are the light and force of the Truth; remain always in contact with the Mother’s light and force, then only can you grow into the divine Truth.” –  Sri Aurobindo.  Using The Mother as a focus allows the disciples to have a direction as they study and eventually grow into the divine Truth which is that you yourself can bring down The Divine as an expression of your own being in the world ascending your own humanity.

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I am not 100% sure about financial issues regarding individual’s own sources of income but the businesses surrounding the ashram do allow the ashram teachings to continue. No one that I can see is living in neither poverty nor luxury. It feels like a lovely way to live with others on a similar path. The place is in lockdown at the moment so I can’t go in and nose around but I have been to quite a few of the shops and food markets where I took the photos in this article.

As an artist and philosopher myself, I relate to finding one’s calling and the acceptance of being of service to allow The Divine to work through you, to express itself. This respects each individual to have contact with and experience a higher power, acknowledging that we, as common people, can bring The Divine into ourselves and then shine forth to allow the full expression of Divinity out into the world. This is the reason for the urban, working ashram, people integrating their Divine Beings into their work for the common good of the people and for a harmonious lifestyle which later became the basis for the City of the Dawn, Auroville. “For the Leader of the Way in a work like ours has not only to bring down and represent and embody The Divine, but to represent too the ascending element in humanity.” – Sri Aurobindo. This is the role that both Sri Aurobindo and The Mother took on, inspiring their devotees.

The town of Auroville, which as I mentioned before, is 15 minutes north of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry including all of the departments associated with it, is now a large experiment in human unity. The residents, and visitors, study and research ways for the human transformation of consciousness (from being of service to self to being of service for all) which include cultural issues, environmental studies and the social and spiritual needs of humankind. The people come from about 59 nations, from all age groups (from infancy to over eighty, averaging around 30), from all social classes, backgrounds and cultures, representing humanity as a whole. The population of the township is constantly growing, but currently stands at around 2,500 people, of whom approx one-third are Indian. If interested in learning more about Auroville I recommend checking out their website at auroville.org. It is very thorough and interesting!

Thanks for reading dear reader, learning about yet another religious spiritual study at the moment may not be highest on the scale of fun and exciting articles I’ve written however being in Pondicherry lockdown I am finding some uplifting moments in the local teachings of this world famous ashram I just happen to have at my disposal! When I go for my 5am jogs around Pondicherry White Town area due to being woken at 4:30 with the Muslim chanting speaker outside my window, I thrill to the fact that I get to wave to Sri Aurobindo devotees, Muslims, Hindus, some straggler tourists, street sadhus and random Indian friends I’ve made. Yes, I am not the only one out there at that time, with the sun comes the heat and I hope to be out of India in June headed to S.E. Asia once again if and when flights start up. I’ve included in this article a poem by Sri Aurobindo that really spoke to me after understanding his ideology of embracing The Divine within ourselves and then being of service for humanity. I try to express my own divinity through my watercolour painting; here I’ve included a rose with some vermillion and sapphire of my own!

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 ROSE OF GOD

Rose of God, vermilion stain on the sapphires of heaven,

Rose of Bliss, fire-sweet, seven-tinged with the ecstasies seven!

Leap up in our heart of humanhood, O miracle, O flame,

Passion-flower of the Nameless, bud of the mystical Name.

Rose of God, great wisdom-bloom on the summits of being,

Rose of Light, immaculate core of the ultimate seeing!

Live in the mind of our earthhood; O golden Mystery, flower,

Sun on the head of the Timeless, guest of the marvellous Hour.

Rose of God, damask force of Infinity, red icon of might,

Rose of Power with thy diamond halo piercing the night!

Ablaze in the will of the mortal, design the wonder of thy plan,

Image of Immortality, outbreak of the Godhead in man.

Rose of God, smitten purple with the incarnate divine Desire,

Rose of Life, crowded with petals, colour’s lyre!

Transform the body of the mortal like a sweet and magical rhyme;

Bridge our earthhood and heavenhood, make deathless the children of Time.

Rose of God, like a blush of rapture on Eternity’s face,

Rose of Love, ruby depth of all being, fire-passion of Grace!

Arise from the heart of the yearning that sobs in Nature’s abyss:

Make earth the home of the Wonderful and life beatitude’s kiss.

Margaret has been in S. India lockdown for over 2 months and the monsoon season will be upon her. She hopes to join us here in Bangkok as soon as flights resume. Her recent article about Pondicherry tells more about this amazing little village on the S. East coast of India, Pondicherry; Cultivated Elegance in S. India, released online May 27, 2020. Continuing some painting and writing exploring S.E. Asia is still a passion of hers.

Old Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, the name itself makes me feel like a romance novel from Humphrey Bogart days in The Quiet American.  As a reminder, if you haven’t seen it in a while:

“In Saigon in 1952, as Vietnamese insurgents are delivering major strikes against the French colonial rulers, an innocent and enigmatic young American economist (Audie Murphy), who is working for an international aid organisation, gets caught between the Communists and the colonialists as he tries to win the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people. By promising marriage, he steals away a young Vietnamese woman (Giorgia Moll) from an embittered and cynical English newspaperman (Michael Redgrave), who retaliates by spreading the word that the American is actually covertly selling arms to the anti-Communists.”

This film has stuck in my head, I think I saw it in my early teens way before I could ever of imagined I would be living in this part of the world. Going on a 5 day visa run to continue a few more months in Bali allowed me time to run around like a heroine “back in the day” enjoying a theatrical musical in the Opera House, learning about the lacquer painting techniques that the Vietnamese specialise in at the Museum of Fine Arts, seeing a beautiful array of Buddha’s at the History Museum in the Botanical Gardens from all the various Asian countries, sipping the delicious green tea frappuccino’s with cubes of green jelly at the local chain Highlands, having an elegant lunch in the lobby of the 5 star Majestic Saigon Hotel and enjoying a riverboat ride down the Saigon River, not to mention the elegant shopping street Dong Khoi. I enjoyed a pop-up live fashion show at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and one day I walked a street that was nothing but bookshops, new and used and coffee cafes. 

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Later that day I enjoyed a peach tea in a gorgeous boutique shop with home furnishings to die for just before a rooftop sunset swim at Liberty Central City Point on the 19^th floor of this luxurious hotel for the evening Saigon nightlight views. All the beautiful French colonial architecture was so photogenic and I also enjoyed lots of divine sushi every night in the old Chinese quarter that seemed more like a small intimate Japan town. Whew, it was a marvellous 5 days and most people warned me how crazy Ho Chi Minh is but I feel since I went with the attitude of “I’m going to Old Saigon in a romance novel” it made me approach the city in a different way; just doing the best of the best, elegant things, sophisticated things, things that make me feel like buying silk pyjamas! My goodness, there is even a very pink church, inside and out, Tan Dinh Church, seeing is believing! The best I can do to show all the wondrous things and places I saw was to put some of them in collage form.

Being an artist myself, the first port of call on day one was the Saigon Museum of Fine Arts. There are two buildings next to each other; sculpture, oil and silk works are shown along with a specialised kind of art that was new to me, lacquer art. The main building was constructed by French architect Rivera between 1929 and 1934 as a villa for the Hua family. Hui Bon Hoa, a Chinese immigrant, moved to Saigon in the late 19th century. A penny-less man when he arrived, he went on to become one of the city’s wealthiest men. He discovered precious antiques and traded them and there are some controversial stories surrounding this. However he accumulated his wealth, he became Saigon’s “king of real estate” and his business boomed in the early 20th century. By 1975, the entire Hui Bon Hoa family had left Saigon. Following the end of the war, the newly installed government took over the Hui Bon Hoa complex, turning it into an information and cultural centre at first before opening the Fine Arts Museum in 1987 and permitting visitors inside in 1992. Under the 1996 Vietnam War Convention, French citizens who owned property in Saigon prior to 1975 were eligible for some compensation, so the family also received some money from the French government for the Hui Bon Hoa complex.

I got lucky because the group Son Mai Bac (Northern Lacquer Art) was having an exhibition and most of the artists were “in house”! The groups focus was on “a clear spirit of creation” based on traditional materials and techniques of Son Ta (traditional lacquer art of Vietnam) in the Northern Delta. Since the establishment of the Indochina Fine Art Collage, the Son Mai technique has changed a lot in the direction of diversity and closer to painting. The technology which Son Mai painting as well as Vietnamese art has found is a very unique voice but challenging in the flow of world art and globalisation. There were 8 Son Mai artists that came from different directions. The artist’s ideal was to bring light stories portrayed through art as a gift for a friend, colleagues and art lovers in Saigon. When I first looked at the pieces on display I thought they had used petrified wood and abalone sea shells somehow but after speaking with the artists at hand, I learned it was crushed eggshells! The intricacy and beauty was astounding. There are many thick layers of lacquer combined with colour and eggshells. 

After the art indulgence, which lasted for hours, I decided to make it a point to check out some more of the French architecture that abounds in the city. Two of the main buildings are close to each other, one is the Saigon Central Post Office which offers visitors a chance to imagine life in Vietnam during the times of the Indo-Chinese Empire. The building was designed by Alfred Foulhoux and features arched windows and wooden shutters, just as it would have in its heyday in the late 19th century. Notre Dame is nearby as is the Saigon Opera House. The Opera House was custom built in 1897 by French architect Eugene Ferret. I ended up buying a ticket at the box office for that evening’s performance, the A O Show; a unique blend of bamboo cirque, acrobatic acts, and theatrical visual drama, which depicts the beauty of Vietnam lives in villages and cities. My Highland green tea frappuccino coffee chain is right behind it also so I was able to enjoy a delectable treat before the show without the stress of trying to find where to go. The show was incredible, the performers full of vitality and joy. After the show they all come together on steps and allow people to take photos with them. They came out of the woodwork from various corners of the theatre during the show surprising us as an audience. I found it to be a top-notch experience, well worth the $30.

On another day I decided to have a riverboat ride down the Saigon River, it cost about $2 and one can catch the boat from Bach Danh Water station. I only went a few stops, got off, walked around, had a coconut then came back. It is enough to get the feeling of being back in Bangkok with the high rises all around. Right across the street is the 5 star Majestic Saigon Hotel with their gorgeous lobby and salads available. There is also a rooftop café however the lobby was full of Art Deco windows and ceiling lights that I decided to enjoy as I had my fresh greens for the day.

After lunch I sought out The Hidden Elephant book shop and came upon a street, Duong  Nguyen Van Binh Street, full of new and used books along with all kinds of bookshop style coffee cafes. There are plenty of English books to be had and some interesting history sections along with professional photographic displays of the city. I was able to walk the city the whole time, even heading to the Botanical Gardens and the History Museum. The gardens have a small zoo with some elephants and other animals however that is never a happy story in my book. We can only hope they are leading a life better than being abused. I did however find the gardens full of lovely orchids blooming in various stages and the museum intrigued me with the large display of Buddha’s and the way they are depicted closer to the race in which country they are found. There are two main areas in the museum. Section 1: A display of Vietnamese history from the prehistoric period to the Nguyen dynasty which includes 8 rooms and section 2: a display of cultures from the Southern provinces and various Asian countries including 10 rooms.

There is a small city park with a musical light and water fountain show every evening near the French Colonial City Hall building built in the early 1900s, now the headquarters of the People’s Committee running parallel to the elegant shopping street Dong Khoi chalk full of the top of the line Westernised shops; Prada, Louis Vuitton etc. There is a large air-conditioned Starbucks if you just need a normal tuna wholewheat sandwich which is positioned next to the Rex Hotel if you fancy a cool break. Saigon Square and Saigon Centre are the two main large glitzy shopping malls which are nearby. Frankly, I found Saigon to be a very easy walk-able city. I just threw on my trainers every day and along with Google Maps toured myself around. I have learned to look at the Google Maps on my phone in a quiet shaded area and say the instructions to myself (turn right at 2^nd corner, 1^st left, 2 blocks, 3^rd light right) and then put phone in bag so as to not be walking around holding a phone out in front of my face, not only being too focused on the screen and not taking in my surroundings, but also to deter possible theft right out of my hand as a scooter goes by, and this can happen.

Old Saigon is a fabulous city I will go to again and again over the years now that I feel I know it. It is a good option for me other than Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the invariably much needed visa runs if I don’t have the time or pleasure to go to Bangkok for my ever needed city fixes. I’d recommend a decent hotel with soundproofing though, there are lots of karaoke bars that go on into the night, however, being in a SE Asian country already, I am sure most are aware of that. Please go and enjoy a “Back in the Day Romantic Old Saigon” experience and remember to bring your silk pyjamas!

Margaret is an avid traveller of SE Asia, India and Nepal, usually bringing her watercolour supplies and camera with her. Studying medicinal plants is part of her naturopathic profession and portraying them in an educational way to reach people about holistic health is the norm, creating elegance in her life is always a plus. “I’m thrilled to of found another city that I feel has that sophistication I love. Bangkok has so much to offer also, as does both Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos. I’m always on the lookout for a potential city I can call home along with a combination of island life. Bali for me is that island at the moment; the city remains to be seen.”