Recent Publications - Sabda - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

20 Recent PublicationsSABDA at the World Book Fair, New DelhiOnce again SABDA participated in India’s premierevent in the publishing sphere—the biennial WorldBook Fair held from 14 to 22 February 2004 atPragati Maidan, New Delhi.Considering the size of the World Book Fair(almost 2,000 stalls spread across eight separatebuildings), the publishers of spiritual and religiousbooks were privileged to be accommodated in thehall closest to the main gate of the Book Fair. As aresult large and diverse groups of visitors descendedon this section and the wide range of material innumerous languages at SABDA’s stall elicited vividinterest from all sorts of readers.Some visitors, long-term customers of SABDA,came with our invitations in their hands and headedstraight for the new releases. Others, drawn to spiritualitybut not yet very familiar with the IntegralYoga, spent their time browsing through A. S. Dalal’scompilations, the All India Magazine booklets andthe Yoga in Everyday Life series. Teachers representedyet another unceasing stream of visitors. Mostly attractedto Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education,the Integral Education series and to stories forchildren, their keen interest testifies to the palpablepresence of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi Branchand its teacher-training activities in the city. It alsodemonstrates how deeply the teaching communityfeels the need to remodel the present educationalsystem. All in all, compared to the last World BookFair, there has been a significant growth in interest.Books were sold not only in English and Hindi, butalso in French, Spanish, Italian, Sanskrit, Tamil,Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali.Our publications were highlighted in an article“Spiritual Presence at the Fair” in Fair Talk, the BookFair’s official bulletin. Sri Aurobindo was introducedas “one of modern India’s greatest thinkers … [who]wrote penetratingly on the Gita, profusely on Yogaand Upanishads, extensively on education andspirituality.” Special attention was drawn to thecomprehensive book on flowers printed on art paperwith over 600 colour photographs: “A scintillatingshaft from SABDA’s quiver is the book entitledThe Spiritual Significance of Flowers. Published in twoparts the book is an exquisite presentation unfurlingthe beauty of 898 flowers in a subtle and fragrantlanguage. Authored by The Mother who first metthe Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo in 1914, … thebook is an exclusive publication available in English,German and French.”* * *SABDA also participated in the Vijayawada BookFestival held from 1 to 11 January 2004, in collaborationwith Ashok Book Centre.Published by SABDA, Pondicherry and printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry.© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, May 2004. For private circulation only.