DIVYA SHAKTI – Presented at the Matrimandir
and Shared Today as an April 24th Offering!
Divya Shakti – A Performance at the Matrimandir and an April 24th Offering.pdf
The Matrimandir Amphitheater is the site of inspiration and also of inspiring offerings to the community and guests. One example of this is the recent performance of Divya Shakti, (Divine Power) – a collective dance offering for the birthdays of The Mother and Auroville presented at the Matrimandir Amphitheatre on February 25th 2025, and at the Ashram Theatre on February 26th. Today – April 24th – is the 105th anniversary of the Mother’s final arrival in India and to honor it, Divya Shakti will be screened at 12 Integral Yoga centres and Integral Education schools around India, in London and in California – 12, like the 12 petals in The Mother’s Symbol … and we are pleased to make it available here for you today:
Full length film: https://youtu.be/5N1Ujh8Q3D0?si=sM0_QFPa9HV-7aA8 (58 minutes)
Film trailer: https://youtu.be/nXk-4Vh-5HE?si=FlqT50W3_x4y3BJQ (2 minutes)
Divya Shakti is a contemporary presentation of Dance and Music inspired by the 4 aspects of the Mother, based on the books ‘The Mother’ by Sri Aurobindo and ‘Prayers & Meditations’ by The Mother. Its 20 Indian classical dance performers (Odissi, Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Kalaripayattu) include Aurovillians, Ashramites and professional artists, with choreography led by dancers Madhumita, Devasmita, Anurekha, and Sonali.
The recorded music and bhajans are performed by 30 musicians from across India, Europe, Russia, USA, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and Auroville playing an original orchestral music composition. The script and music composition were created and led by Arnab of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry, and founder of ‘Know Your Rhythm’ a collaboration between seekers from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, India, Europe and the USA.
An offering from Know Your Rhythm, Divya Shakti was co-developed over several years. About the goal and concept, Arnab explains:
‘20 years ago, I felt compelled to ask myself: could we possibly imagine to embody the 4 aspects of the Mother via performing art? The more Sri Aurobindo’s words spoke to me, the more I had to unlearn to learn. Could we even attempt to express the Sacred through fluidity of body, breath and rhythm? The less we analysed, the more we saw that in fact we colearned experientially. Divya Shakti is our humble attempt to express those 4 divine pillars with the language of movement.’
On Know Your Rhythm
Created by Arnab in 2003, Know Your Rhythm (https://www.ninad.in) is an international network of artists, therapists and researchers dedicated to Integral Yoga.
Its flagship offering is the ‘Know Your Rhythm Training Programme’ which helps participants discover their own sense of Rhythm in life and work with immersive Yoga exercises along with music, mantra, body, breath and sleep. The objective is to offer ‘conditions’ to experience the ‘Aha! Moment’, raising health, well-being, empathy and fostering positive elements for teamwork and leadership.
In Auroville across 2 decades, Know Your Rhythm has reached seekers, students, and teachers for a variety of projects and conferences in the areas of education, culture, wellness, sustainability and research spaces – at SAIIER, CIRHU, Savitri Bhavan, Swadharma and for the ‘Evolution Fast-Forward ‘ film series.
Know Your Rhythm received the 2021 Seva award from the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) for creating an online evidence-based healing program for 300 Covid doctors and nurses across India https://youtu.be/E2qG5vGJE-w?si=ozYzq3_eySjxEBoO.
Its orchestral therapeutic music has been performed at international conferences including the 14th World Congress for Music, Vienna, 2014 https://youtu.be/rQZM9kIbUjk?si=tcWwKt6oBCx7CAte
About Arnab: Composer/trainer/therapist/researcher Arnab Bishnu Chowdhury is 3rd generation from a family of Indian Classical musicians from the ‘Senia Maihar Gharana’ founded by Baba Allaudin Khan. Baba Allaudin Khan performed for Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in the late 1940s and was master-teacher to the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar and also to Pandit Rabin Ghosh, violin maestro, who was Arnab’s great-uncle. Arun Chowdhury, Arnab’s father, was a vocalist, composer and teacher who grew up under The Mother’s guidance, and taught at both the Ashram and Auroville. Arnab’s paternal grandmother Chabbi, an Ashramite, belonged to the Ghosh family tree of Sri Aurobindo.
Arnab performing as the final artist at the Opening Ceremony of the 14th World Congress
for Music Therapy, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, 2014
