Joseph Kent is a poet living in San Francisco and closely connected with the Cultural Integration Fellowship. Like many others, he was profoundly influenced by Haridas Chaudhuri and introduced by him into the spiritual teachings and practice of Sri Aurobindo's yoga. Joseph's poetic sensibility approaches experiences of the everyday world in a mystic vein. The poems presented here cover a gamut of reflections ranging from meditations on nature to intimations of the supramental future and inward yogic illuminations.   more »

Durga is the Divine Mother's aspect of luminous Power. She is known for the slaying of the Buffallo Demon, Mahisasura. She (and her companion aspects of the Divine Mother) are particularly active at this time of the year. In these two poems, I contemplate Durga as she has been realized in stone at two ancient Goddess worship sites of India - Mamallapuram, near Pondicherry in South India and Ellora, in the hills of the western Deccan.   more »

Michael Miovic's futuristic short story pushes the limits of our mundane imagination towards objective and subjective realities to come.   more »

Contours of Modernity: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art was held at the Founder's Hall of SOKA University in Irvine from February to April 2005. The exhibiiton was curated by Debashish Banerji and Nalini Rao. Here we present a gallery of images from the exhibition with brief artist biographies.   more »

These two poems were written after a trip tp Japan in December 2003. The first, titled Uji, refers to a town with a famous bridge where the late 12th c. hero Yoshitsune fought a legendary battle and where Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the 16th c. shogun initiated the Zen cult of tea. Uji is famous to this day for its tea but its earliest claim to fame was the Phoenix Hall or Byodo-in built by a Fujiwara aristocrat in 1053. This building, so called, because it seems poised for flight with outspread wings (while simultaneously plunging into the underworld through its reflection in water), replicates within the perfect world of Amitabha Buddha holding this aspiration for the world's future. The second poem, titled Taikan's House is about the home of the famous nationalist (Nihonga) painter Yokoyama Taikan. Taikan's house in the Ueno suburb of Tokyo is now a museum of his works. When I visited during a brief stopover in Tokyo, the curators were exhibiting Taikan's water=related paintings.   more »