As part of the Sri Aurobindo Society’s annual seminar of the Women’s Council, Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti was invited to deliver a talk. The 2024 theme of the seminar was – Protection. For her hour-long session, Dr. Mehra chose the topic – Divine Protection: Conditional or Unconditional?

To explore this question, Dr. Mehra selected a few key quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for her presentation. She emphasized that as children of the Mother we must rise in consciousness and become true adhikāris of the constant protection of the Mother.

For the first 45 minutes of the session, Dr. Mehra shared some key insights from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on what conditions we must meet if we want to stay within the circle of protection of the Divine. She highlighted how Sri Aurobindo has explained that it is because of our own wrong movements and desires we go out of the Divine protection. She also emphasized on the point that the simplest way to make the protection effective is by remembering and calling the Mother.

Dr. Mehra illustrated the key points of her talk through some stories and anecdotes. This made the session more alive and relatable for the audience. She also brought in insights from Indian cultural traditions as she explained  a few quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Towards the last part of the session, participants were asked to collect a bookmark with a Protection related quote, meditate on the quote and pick one key word from it with which they resonated the most.

After a few minutes of silent reflection, the participants were asked to share what word resonated with them the most and what insight on Divine Protection they got from this word. Several participants shared their insights. This collaborative and reflective approach helped deepen everyone’s understanding of the topic explored during the session.