Cosmic Tapestry: Insights into Ananda Sutram

By Av. Ananda Gaorii Ac.

The text and poetry of Ananda Gaorii's Cosmic Tapestry offer insights into the Sanskrit aphorisms in Ananda Sutram, the core philosophical text of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (the spiritual preceptor of Ananda Marga). This book reflects on the astounding artistic majesty and breathtaking dexterity with which the Cosmic Artist weaves a Cosmic Tapestry for all. Proceeds from book sales will go to support Sunshine School Laos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ananda Gaorii
• Release date: May 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224663835

Book preview

COSMIC TAPESTRY

INSIGHTS INTO ANANDA SUTRAM

AV. ANANDA GAORII AC.

To the Cosmic Artist

who weaves a Cosmic Tapestry

for all to enjoy.

Av. Ananda Gaorii offers a novel look at what may well be the greatest philosophical work in history. Her insights speak as much to the heart as to the mind. – Ac. Abhidevananda Avadhuta, senior acarya of Ananda Marga, founder of the Sarkarverse wiki.

Didi Ananda Gaorii's stunning poetic commentary to Shrii Shrii Anandamurti’s classic text takes the reader to new levels of understanding of our inner and outer worlds. We are all in debt to her sublime expression. - Sohail Inayatullah, UNESCO chair, Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity and Professor Tamkang University.

Cosmic Tapestry is a commentary on Ananda Sutram which is unlike any other I have seen. The juxtaposition of the rational explanation of each sutra with an accompanying poetic verse that seems to arise from the sutra itself is exquisite. Its inherent artistry brings one’s mind to a blissfully new level of immersion in an already well-known and well-loved work. Definitely worth the read! - Avt. Ananda Uttama Ac., senior acarya of Ananda Marga, founder and coordinator of Safe Spaces, an AMURTEL Greece project for refugee and migrant mothers and babies.

Didi Ananda Gaorii has transformed the condensed Saḿskrta philosophical slokas into accessible, well-explained concepts. Her accompanying poetic illustrations are playful and heartwarming, capturing the yearning we all have for spiritual experience. - Meeta Lovage, veteran head teacher of Sunrise School London.

© 1962 Full copyright in respect to sutras and original purports: Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha on behalf of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti: Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha

© 2024 Limited copyright in respect to commentary only: Avadhutika Ananda Gaorii Acarya

Published by: Avadhutika Ananda Gaorii Acarya

First Edition: 2024 February 29

Epub Edition: 2024 May 15

Foreword

During the 2020-21 Covid lockdowns, I could step back from my full-on life as the director of a K-9 school, and take time to put brush and pen to paper to creatively express my passion for philosophy. This book is the fruit of those endeavours.

I am known by many as ‘Didi’, which means ‘older sister’ in Saḿskrta. I am a nun of the Tantric order of Ananda Marga. I embraced this way of life, paradoxically, because of a teenage decision to make writing my life’s work. I felt that words have the power to uplift and inspire minds and hearts, to change lives, to bring about social revolution, and I wanted to do just that.

Being a socially-engaged nun for 47 years, however, seemed often to leave little time for writing. My life has not been ordinary. It’s never dull or boring, but exhilarating, and I love it. It is a life dedicated to ‘self-realization and service to all in the universe’. I engage in daily meditation to know the union of my deepest inner consciousness with an infinite Universal Consciousness. And, for the past 22 years, my focus of ‘service’ has been running the non-profit, non-denominational Sunshine School in Vientiane, Laos. The joys and struggles of running this amazing project have confirmed for me countless times that any challenge can be, often miraculously, overcome.

Miracles? Do they really occur? Sure! They are not accidents, but rather natural outcomes of actions that are in sync with the Cosmic desire for universal welfare. In 1979, during an informal talk to a group of devotees in Taiwan, my Guru, Baba (Shrii Shrii Anandamurti), jokingly trounced my rationalization that it was fantasy to feel that we may go to another planet after death. He said that everything is the result of cause and effect. He continued on to say that the fact that we were in the room together at that moment may have had its cause ten thousand years ago, and it may have been on another planet where we looked up to the stars and said, There’s the planet Earth. Let us go there together one day and do some work. I was transported. It was an ‘ah ha’ moment for me that loosened the restrictions of rationality.

The cause of this work, this writing? An awareness of a deep reality, not perceivable by the senses, has always been natural to me. Our creative minds are intimately attuned to the rhythms and nuances of the Creative Consciousness that forms this reality. During the lockdowns, Dada Abhidevananda suggested that I engage my time in writing and illustrating a poetic commentary on Ananda Sutram. The Saḿskrta aphorisms in Ananda Sutram, the core philosophical text of Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji (1921 – 1990), the spiritual preceptor of Ananda Marga, explain how Brahma, Infinite Consciousness, transforms from an eternal vibrationless state, into a world of perceptible vibrational phenomena. They also explain how human beings can train their minds to realize the reality of both the vibrational and extra-vibrational states of existence. They resonate with the fascinating, yet puzzling, discoveries in modern quantum physics and astrophysics. The idea of expressing these concepts in poetry and