Chapter 8
Power
Power means strength and force, Shakti, which enables one to face all that can happen and to
stand and overcome, also to carry out what the Divine Will proposes. It can include many things,
power over men, events, circumstances, means etc. But all this not of the mental or vital kind,
but by an action through unity of consciousness with the Divine and with all things and all
beings. It is not an individual-strength depending on certain personal capacities, but the Divine
Power using the individual as an instrument.
SRI AUROBINDO
Force is the essential Shakti; Energy is the working drive of the Force, its active dynamism; Power
is the capacity born of the Force; Strength is energy consolidated and stored in the Adhar.
SRI AUROBINDO
All the planes have their own power, beauty, some kind of perfection realised even among their
imperfections; God is everywhere in some power of Himself though not everywhere in His full
power, and even if His face does not appear, the rays and glories from it do fall upon things and
beings through the veil and bring something of what we call perfect and absolute.
SRI AUROBINDO
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GODHEAD
I use the word Godhead because it expresses at once the
essence of Divinity and its powers - it opens the door
on both the impersonal and the personal aspects without
stressing either.
SRI AUROBINDO
The Godhead with whom the soul of man has to enter
into this closest oneness, is indeed in his supreme status
a transcendent Unthinkable too great for any manifestation, Parabrahman; but he is at the same time the living
supreme Soul of all things. He is the supreme Lord,
the Master of works and universal nature. He at once
exceeds and inhabits as its self the soul and mind and
body of the creature. He is Purushottama, Parameshwara
and Paramatman and in all these equal aspects the same
single and eternal Godhead.
It is an awakening to this integral reconciling knowledge
that is the wide gate to the utter release of the soul and
an unimaginable perfection of the nature. It is this
Godhead in the unity of all his aspects to whom our
works and our adoration and our knowledge have to be
directed as a constant inner sacrifice.
SRI AUROBINDO
He is the one Existence: he is the original and universal
Delight that constitutes all things and exceeds them: he is the one infinite Consciousness that composes all
consciousnesses and informs all their movements; he
is the one illimitable Being who sustains all action
and experience; his will guides the evolution of things
towards their yet unrealised but inevitable aim and
plenitude. To him the heart can consecrate itself,
approach him as the supreme Beloved, beat and move
in him as in a universal sweetness of Love and a living
sea of Delight. For his is the secret Joy that supports
the soul in all its experiences and maintains even the
errant ego in its ordeals and struggles till all sorrow and
suffering shall cease. His is the Love and the Bliss of the
infinite divine Lover who is drawing all things by their
own path towards his happy oneness.
SRI AUROBINDO
Page-194
GODHEAD.
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564 Godhead
564 Godhead
Pure and perfect, puts forth its force in the world.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Cromwell' Shell white |
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565 Ananda
DIVINE GRACE
An absolute faith and trust in the Grace is, in the last analysis,
the Supreme Wisdom.
THE MOTHER
The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the more
will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and
protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that
can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry
you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers; surrounded
by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is
hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however
powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible.
Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into
success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of
the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now
or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and
irresistible.
SRI AUROBINDO |
ANANDA
Ananda is the secret delight from which all things are born, by
which all is sustained in existence and to which all can rise in the
spiritual culmination.
SRI AUROBINDO
Ananda is the very essence of the Brahman, it is the supreme
nature of the omnipresent Reality.
SRI AUROBINDO
565 Ananda
Calm, tranquil, equal, smiling and very sweet in its truly simple austerity.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Cream
566 Divine Grace
Thy kindness is infinite, we bow down before Thee in gratitude.
Hibiscus mutabilis. White changing to pink, double
566 Divine Grace
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567 Agni
567 Agni
The flame of purification which ought to precede all contact
with the invisible worlds.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light salmon pink, double
AGNI.
Agni is at once a fire of aspiration, a fire of purification, a fire
of Tapasya, a fire of transformation.
SRI AUROBINDO
Without Agni the sacrificial flame cannot burn on the altar of
the soul. That flame of Agni is the seven-tongued power of the
Will, a Force of God instinct with Knowledge. This conscious
and forceful will is the immortal guest in our mortality, a pure
priest and a divine worker, the mediator between earth and
heaven. It carries what we offer to the higher Powers and brings
back in return their force and light and joy into our humanity.
SRI AUROBINDO |
568 Flame
568 Flame
Elegant and triumphant in its
ardour.
Hibiscus schizopetalus. Light red
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Page-197
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569 Supramental
Consciousness
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SUPRAMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS
A new consciousness must manifest on earth and
in man. Only the appearance of a new force and
light and power accompanying the descent of
the supramental consciousness into this world
can raise man out of the anguish and pain and
misery in which he is submerged. For only the
supramental consciousness bringing down upon
earth a higher poise and a purer and truer light
can achieve the great miracle of transformation.
. . . The integral Yoga aims at scaling all the
degrees of consciousness from the ordinary
mental consciousness to a supramental and
divine consciousness and, when the ascent is
completed, to return to the material world and
infuse it with the supramental force and
consciousness that have been won, so that this
earth may be gradually transformed into a
supramental and divine world.
THE MOTHER
569 Supramental Consciousness
Gloriously awake and powerful. Luminous,
sure of itself, infallible in its movements.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Daffodil'. Yellow, double
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Page-198
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570
Power of the Supramental
Consciousness
570 Power of the Supramental Consciousness
Organising and active, irresistible in its influence.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Rukmini'. Deep gold, double
571 Effective power of the Supermind
All-powerful, it imposes itself on all in the certitude of its knowledge.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Pink to light orange
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571
Effective power of the Supermind
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BEAUTY OF SUPRAMENTAL YOUTH.
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572
Supramental beauty in the physical
572 Supramental beauty in the physical
Its promise is charming.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light golden orange
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573 Beauty of
supramental youth
573 Beauty of supramental youth
Exquisite in its freshness, powerful in its undeniable beauty.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Salmon orange
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BEAUTY OF SUPRAMENTAL LOVE
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Supramental love means an intense unity of
soul with soul, mind with mind, life with
life and an entire flooding of the body
consciousness with the physical experience of
oneness, the presence of the Beloved in every
part, in every cell of the body.
SRI AUROBINDO
574 Beauty of Supramental Love
(Flower of Auroville)
It invites us to learn to live at its height.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Salmon pink
|
574
Beauty of Supramental Love
(Flower of Auroville)
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Page-201
BEAUTY OF TOMORROW
|
575 Beauty of tomorrow
|
In the physical world, of all things it is
beauty that best expresses the Divine. The physical world is the world of form
and the perfection of form is beauty. Beauty interprets, expresses, manifests
the Eternal. Its role is to put all manifested nature in contact with the
Eternal through the perfection of form, through harmony and a sense of the ideal
which uplifts and leads towards something higher.
THE MOTHER
575 Beauty of tomorrow
The beauty that will express the Divine Power.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light or bright orange
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Page-202
BEAUTY OF TOMORROW
|
True Beauty is as difficult to discover, to
understand and, above all, to live as any other
expression of the Divine. . . . Pure Beauty is
universal, and one must be universal in order to
see and recognise it.
THE MOTHER
Beauty is as much an expression of the Divine as
Knowledge, Power or Ananda.
SRI AUROBINDO
Beauty and delight, whatever form it takes, - for
we may speak here of the two as one, - has an
unaging youth, an eternal moment, an immortal
presence.
SRI AUROBINDO
|
576
Beauty of tomorrow manifesting the Divine
576 Beauty of tomorrow manifesting the Divine
A beauty that exists only by and for the Divine.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Orange
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Page-203
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577 Power of spiritual beauty
577 Power of spiritual beauty
(Spiritual beauty ofAuroville)
Spiritual beauty has a contagious power.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Salmon orange
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578 Victorious beauty
When it has removed the ugliness of life.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Grace Goo'. Golden
ochre to mustard
579 Victorious love
Sure of itself, fearless, generous and smiling.
Hibiscus mutabilis. Pink, double
578 Victorious beauty
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Page-204
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ETERNAL YOUTH
Youth does not depend on the small number of years one
has lived, but on the capacity to grow and progress. To
grow is to increase one's potentialities, one's capacities; to
progress is to make constantly more perfect the capacities
that one already possesses.
THE MOTHER
To be young is to live in the future.
To be young is to be always ready to give up what you are in order to become what you should be.
To be young is never to accept the irreparable.
THE MOTHER
To know how to be reborn into a new life at every
moment is the secret of eternal youth.
THE MOTHER
ETERNAL SMILE
If one can smile eternally, one is eternally young.
THE MOTHER
The eternal smile means the self-existent joy and gladness
of the Spirit.
SRI AUROBINDO
|
580 Eternal youth
580 Eternal youth
It is a gift the Divine gives to us when we unite with Him.
Hibiscus hirtus. Salmon orange
581 Eternal smile
581 Eternal smile
A gift that only the Divine can give.
Hibiscus micranthus. White
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CHARM OF THE NEW CREATION
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582 Ideal of the
new creation
584 Charm of the new creation (Charm of Auroville)
The new creation is attractive to all those who want to progress.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light pink
585 Blossoming of the new creation
(Blossoming of Auroville)
The more we concentrate on the goal, the more it blossoms forth and becomes precise.
Hibiscus rusa-sinensis. Bright orange or yellow, semi-double
586 Concentration of the new creation
(Concentration ofAuroville)
Concentration on a precise goal is helpful
to
development.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Yellow |
582 Ideal of the new creation (Ideal of Auroville)
The ideal should be progressive so that it can be realised
in the future.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Violet mauve
583 Beauty of the new creation
(Beauty of Auroville)
The new creation strives to better manifest the Divine.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Debbie Ann'. Crimson pink
584
Charm of the new
creation
|
Page-206
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587 Progress of the new creation
587 Progress of the new creation
(Progress of Auroville)
Each must find the activity favourable to his
Progress.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Reddish orange fringed Yellow
|
588 Manifold Power of the new creation
588 Manifold Power of the new creation
(Manifold Power of Auroville)
The new creation will be rich in possibilities.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Splash.' Bright red or orange
red |
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590 Firmness of the creation
590 Firmness of the creation
(Firmness of Auroville)
The new creation wants to be streadfast in its
manifestation.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
Yellow |
590 Usefulness of the new creation(Usefulness of Auroville)
A creation that aims at reaching men to surpass
themselves.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
. Deep Pink
590 Usefulness of the new creation |
Page-208
NEW CREATION
|
The only creation for which there is any place here is
the supramental, the bringing of the divine Truth down
on the earth, not only into the mind and vital but into
the body and into Matter. . . . We are here to do what
the Divine wills and to create a world in which the
Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed
by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated
by vital desire. The work which the sadhak of the
supramental yoga has to do is not his own work for
which he can lay down his own conditions, but the
work of the Divine which he has to do according to
the conditions laid down by the Divine. Our yoga is
not for our own sake but for the sake of the Divine.
SRI AUROBINDO
The supramental creation, since it has to be a creation
upon earth, must be not only an inner change but a
physical and external manifestation also. ... It is the
actual descent of the supramental Divine into Matter
and the working of the Divine Presence and Power
there that can alone make the physical and external
change possible.
SRI AUROBINDO
|
591 Realisation of the new creation
591 Realisation of the new creation
(Realisation of Auroville)
It is for this that we must prepare.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Vasco'. Lemon yellow
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Page- 209
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592
Power of consciousness
593
Consciousness one with
the Divine Consciousness
|
595
Will one with the Divine
Will
592 Power of consciousness
All the powers of controlling and governing the
lower movements of the inconscient nature.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Raspberry pink to red, double
593 Consciousness one with the Divine Consciousness
Smiling and happy, it no longer knows any shadows.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Pink, double
594 Will in course of uniting itself with the Divine Will
On the way to perfection.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Cream white, double
595 Will one with the Divine Will
A condition that triumphs over all obstacles.
Hibiscus syriacus. White, double
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Page-210
WILL-DIVINE WILL
|
The will is a part of the consciousness and ought to be in human
beings the chief agent in controlling the activities of the nature.
SRI AUROBINDO
Will is the power of consciousness turned towards effectuation.
The Divine Will is the will expressing the highest Truth.
THE MOTHER
When I speak of the Divine Will, I mean . . . something that has
descended here into an evolutionary world of Ignorance, standing at
the back of things, pressing on the Darkness with its Light, leading
things presently towards the best possible in the conditions of a
world of Ignorance and leading it eventually towards a descent of a
greater power of the Divine, which will be not an omnipotence held
back and conditioned by the law of the world as it is, but in full
action and therefore bringing the reign of light, peace, harmony,
joy, love, beauty and Ananda, for these are the Divine Nature.
SRI AUROBINDO
FAITH
Faith is a general word — shraddha — the soul's belief in the Divine's
existence, wisdom, power, love and grace. ...
SRI AUROBINDO
Faith is the soul's witness to something not yet manifested, achieved
or realised, but which yet the Knower within us, even in the absence
of all indications, feels to be true or supremely worth following or
achieving.
SRI AUROBINDO
[Faith] is in reality an influence from the supreme Spirit and its light
a message from our supramental being which is calling the lower
nature to rise out of its petty present to a great self-becoming and
self-exceeding. And that which receives the influence and answers to
'the call is ... the inner soul which better knows the truth of its own
destiny and mission.
SRI AUROBINDO |
596 Faith
596 Faith
You flame up and triumph.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Red and white, double
Faith is certainly a gift given to us by the Divine Grace. It is like
a door that suddenly opens upon an eternal truth, a door through
which we can see it, almost touch it. ...
In the ignorance and darkness of the beginning, faith is the most
direct expression of the Divine Power which comes to fight and
conquer.
THE MOTHER
At every moment all the unforeseen, the unexpected, the unknown is
before us — and what happens to us depends mostly on the intensity
and purity of our faith.
THE MOTHER |
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INDIVIDUAL POWER
|
|
God is infinite and his manifestation is infinite.
The forms of his manifestation too are
innumerable. Each form is a symbol of some
divine power, vibhuti, concealed in it and to the
seeing eye each finite carries in it its own
revelation of the infinite.
SRI AUROBINDO
To realise its own power and to master as well as
to know its world is... the increasing impulse of
all individual life; that impulse is an essential
feature of the growing self-manifestation of the
Divine in cosmic existence.
SRI AUROBINDO
597 Individual power
Limited in its capacity and action.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Viceroy'. Intense magenta
598 Enlightened individual power
Limited in its action, but of a very high capacity.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Coral pink
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Page-212
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599 Power of the psychic consciousness
599 Power of the psychic consciousness
Psychic power organises the activities of the nature to make them progress.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Alipore Beauty'. Rose pink, double
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600 Psychic power in existence
600 Psychic power in existence
Manifold, imperious, irresistible in its understanding sweetness.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light pink
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Page-213
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601 Mentalised power
601 Mentalised power
Power made urilisable.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Lemon yellow
602 Power in the converted mind
When the mind turns towards the Divine, it becomes a powerful instrument.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Bright ochre yellow
603 Power in the higher vital
A power that wants to be at the service of the Divine.
Hibiscus syriacus. Lavender changing to blue
604 Ananda in the physical
May it be welcome, even if it manifests itself rarely.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Cream and red
605 Sweetness of power surrendered to the Divine
(Sweetness of Auroville) Sweetness itself becomes powerful when it is at the service of the Divine.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Gold to apricot yellow
|
602
Power in the converted
mind
603 Power in the higher
vital
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Page-214
ANANDA IN THE PHYSICAL
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There comes a time . . . when one can feel in everything, in
every object, every movement, every vibration, in everything
around - not only people and conscious beings, but things,
objects: not only trees and plants and living things, but simply
any object one uses, the things around one — this delight, this
delight of being, of being just as one is, simply being. And one
sees that all this vibrates like that. One touches a thing and
feels this delight. . . .
For this delight is everywhere. This delight is something very
subtle. You move in the midst of things and it is as though they
were all singing to you their delight. There comes a time when
this becomes very familiar in the life around you. . . .
In plants, in flowers, it is so wonderful! They speak all their
joy, they express it. And as I said, in familiar objects, the things
around you that you use, there is a state of consciousness in
which each one is happy to be, just as it is. So at that moment
one knows that one has touched the true delight. And it is not
conditioned. I mean it does not depend on ... it depends on.
nothing. It does not depend on outer circumstances, it does not
depend on a more or less favourable state, it does not depend
on anything: it is a communion with the raison d'etre of the
universe.
And when this comes it fills all the cells of the body. It is not
even a thing that is thought out — one does not reason, one
does not analyse, it is not that: it is a state in which one lives.
And when the body shares in it, it is so fresh — so fresh, so
spontaneous, so ... it no longer looks back upon itself, there
is no longer any sense of self-observation, of self-analysis or of
analysing things. All this is like a canticle of joyous vibrations,
but very, very quiet, without violence, without passion, nothing
of all that. It is very subtle and very intense at the same time,
and when it comes, it seems that the whole universe is a
marvellous harmony.
THE MOTHER
|
604
Ananda in the physical
605
Sweetness of power
surrendered to the Divine
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Page-215
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606 Light of purified power
606 Light of purified power
Irresistibly simple in its power consecrated solely to the Divine.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Waimaea'. White
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607 Power of integral purity
607 Power of integral purity
The power of accepting only the divine influence.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. White
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Page-216
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608 Power of harmony
608 Power of harmony
Simple, noble, dignified, powerful and charming.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Bright golden or light yellow
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609 Aesthetic power
609 Aesthetic power
Beauty is a great power.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Reddish pink |
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DYNAMIC POWER
|
610 Dynamic power
610 Dynamic power
Indispensable for progress.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Light to medium red
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611 Controlled power
611 Controlled power
(No comment)
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Dream'. Grey lavender, semi-double
612 Power of action
The power resulting from true surrender to the Divine.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Bright cardinal red
613 Power of effort
(Effort of Auroville)
Effort well-directed overcomes all obstacles.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Sebactini'. Grey to deep lavender
614 Power of perseverance (Continued perseverance and action)
Perseverance overcomes all obstacles.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Orange to red orange
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Page-218
Page-219
POWER
OF PROGRESS
|
615
Power of progress
615 Power of progress
Progress is the sign of the divine influence in
creation.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Pink to light red
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616
Power to progress
616 Power to progress
Precious because it is rare, it must be cultivated with care.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Sweetheart'. Cream
white |
Page-220
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617 Power of success
617 Power of success (Success of Auroville)
The power of those who know how to continue their effort.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis White Pink Centre'. Cream white
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618 Power of realisation
618 Power of realisation
With realisation all obstacles will be overcome.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Orange red
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619 Power of the future
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619 Power of the future
To be capable of working for the future.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Comet'. Deep red
620 Power in the service of the future
Without haste, but sure of its success.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Bright magenta
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