{"id":782,"date":"2020-10-04T04:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vserver3.auroville.com\/?p=782"},"modified":"2021-03-19T11:59:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T07:29:22","slug":"stories-of-the-early-days-janaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventure.auroville.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/04\/stories-of-the-early-days-janaka\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Truth: Janaka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does Truth mean for you?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was in jail in Paris, and one of the teachers asked us this question. I was nearly twenty, in such a traumatic situation, a petty delinquent locked up in a cell. But this question opened for me a window onto another dimension than our prison life. What is Truth? I was overwhelmed by the idea that somewhere there could be a truth to be found, a truth to be experienced. Three months later I was freed. But not freed from that question: Would life spit out this Truth or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I went searching for truth, through various groups and sects who claimed to hold the secret of everything, but I could not grasp it really. No one could give me the essential thing: a power that would free me from another kind of prison, from myself. I would later learn that we cannot free ourselves from something that we do not first possess fully.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I came to know of an Ashram in South India where there was a lady called the Mother, who had received initiation in occultism from Max Theon. I wrote a long letter to the Mother, explaining everything, not hiding any of my past. I received an answer: that through all my difficulties I had been guided towards \u2018my truth\u2019. She said that I should send my photo if I was interested to walk further on this path. I was totally overwhelmed; finally, I was granted spiritual guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also informed about the project of Auroville; that was in 1966. Two weeks later I received a blessing package from the Mother, and I took it as a sign that she had accepted me among her children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went back to Paris to start focusing on the Integral Yoga. I lived in poverty, got some jobs and never stopped thinking of going to Pondicherry. In the end, I made it there, in the caravan that left from Paris in August 1969.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was allowed to see the Mother for my birthday. It had been such a long way from my prison cell in Paris. She welcomed me with a beautiful smile and said, \u2018So my child, it is your birthday?\u2019 Unable to speak I offered her a bouquet of wild flowers. I was in front of Her! She was my Mother, the Divine incarnated who knew me completely and who had always known me. I was lost in her eyes, which were piercing my being in search of whatever was the truest I could put at her service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I came back to Auroville, the community had prepared a small party for me. People were smiling at me, sharing my emotion. A single soul existed already, despite the differences, a unity behind the disagreements. I have known it since that time and forever: at crucial moments, the soul of Auroville awakens and men, forgetting their petty stories, unite to answer her call!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an excerpt from the book \u2018Turning Points\u2019 by Auroville Press.
To read more about Janaka\u2019s journey, have a look at the book here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I wrote a long letter to the Mother, explaining everything, not hiding any of my past… I was totally overwhelmed. Finally, I was granted spiritual guidance.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,67,71,132],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-early-days","tag-pioneers","tag-the-mother","tag-turning-points"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Truth: Janaka » The Auroville Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read this story of the early days, from Janaka, who has a fascinating tale on how she ended up in Auroville.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/adventure.auroville.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/04\/stories-of-the-early-days-janaka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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