<![CDATA[Savitri - The Call of the Path]]>
rodhemsell.substack.com]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/podcastSubstackMon, 08 Jun 2026 22:10:58 GMThttps://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1567505.rssThe Call of the Path: the Mantric Transmission of Sri Aurobindo's Integral YogaIn general I will post writings of poetry and philosophy, occasionally political commentary and analysis, sometimes audio and video lectures, with a special focus on mysticism and spirituality.episodicThe Call of the Path: the Mantric Transmission of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yogarodhemsell@substack.comNo<![CDATA[The Original Auroville Greenwork Film]]>At a time when the Government of India has taken over Auroville, demeaned and denied its achievements, undermined its organizational structures, disrupted the lives of its residents, and violated its Charter and the Auroville Act that it was committed to uphold, it is appropriate to recall this important aspect of the reality and history that has made Auroville the oasis in India and the world that it has become.



Get full access to Rod’s Substack at rodhemsell.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/the-original-auroville-greenworksubstack:post:177449298Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:01:01 GMTRod HemsellNo2207<![CDATA[Savitri: the Central Canto]]>In this commentary and reading, recorded in April, 2025, I have attempted to express the central importance and meaning of Savitri, and this canto in particular, in the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo.



Get full access to Rod’s Substack at rodhemsell.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/savitri-the-central-cantosubstack:post:164889655Sat, 31 May 2025 18:33:38 GMTRod HemsellNo4776<![CDATA[The Idea of Potentiality]]>This is a brief lecture and reading of Savitri, recorded in April, 2025, at Savitri Solar Dome in Crestone, Colorado, to highlight the metaphysical Idea of potentiality as a background for understanding the revelatory nature of Savitri and its mantric transmission by Sri Aurobindo of that which is to be realized by an aspiring humanity.



Get full access to Rod’s Substack at rodhemsell.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/the-idea-of-potentialitysubstack:post:164823975Fri, 30 May 2025 18:38:30 GMTThe Call of the Path: the Mantric Transmission of Sri Aurobindo's Integral YogaNo1657<![CDATA[Selected Hymns of the Rig Veda]]>These hymns of the Rig Veda are translated by Sri Aurobindo, and are invocations of the divine forces of Word, Thought, and Truth.



Get full access to Rod’s Substack at rodhemsell.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/selected-hymns-of-the-rig-vedasubstack:post:164447262Mon, 26 May 2025 01:44:24 GMTRod HemsellNo608<![CDATA[Savitri - The Call of the Path (4.2)]]>In the introductory session of this seminar, I have reviewed the aims of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga with a reading from The Synthesis of Yoga (p. 783), and I have introduced the focus of this seminar with a reading from Savitri, Book VI, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, in order to set the stage for Savitri’s preparation for death. In these powerful transmissions I have pointed out the revelation they contain of the nature and destiny of the karma of mankind in general. I have recalled the meaning of Surya-Savitri in the Rig Veda, with a reading from an essay in The Secret of the Veda titled The Guardians of Light (p.473), and I have reviewed lines from previous cantos that recall the nature of Savitri, the goddess, who comes to manifest the Mind of Light at this time on earth: “A mind of light, a life of rhythmic force”, “A world translated was her gleaming mind”… “And from her eyes she cast another look/On all around her than man’s ignorant view.” Throughout these seminars I have referred repeatedly to works of Sri Aurobindo in which he has stated in great detail his theory, method, and practice of “mantra” and the cosmological importance that he gives to the Word, as both the origin of creation and the essential power of mantra to transmit spiritual knowledge and force. The purpose of a somewhat detailed introduction like this has been to give the minds of participants a broad view of the context of Sri Aurobindo’s work as whole, in which the cantos of Savitri are being presented in these seminars.

In this supplement I would like to recall again the fundamental principle of the Word as expressed often by Sri Aurobindo, with a reading from his commentary on the Kena Upanishad, before going forward with a new reading from Canto One of Book VII, which was inadvertently not recorded during the seminar, followed by a brief commentary on this canto.



Get full access to Rod’s Substack at rodhemsell.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/savitri-the-call-of-the-path-42substack:post:148321969Sun, 01 Sep 2024 18:15:26 GMTRod HemsellNo2078