part of the residential programme organized by Uditam: Institute for Integral Healing, Sri Aurobindo Society, Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti, was invited to facilitate a group discussion session on Saturday, October 4, 2025. For her session, Dr. Mehra focused on the topic – Human Relationships and Ego

The session opened with general introductions all around. Dr. Mehra then highlighted the significance of examining the nature of human love and relationships using a deeper psycho-spiritual view of human nature. She said that our sages and seers including the modern rishis and yogis such as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had not only explored the depths of human nature but had also raised themselves to the highest heights of consciousness. So we get a much truer understanding of things when we explore what they have seen and written from those heights of consciousness.

Dr. Mehra said that we generally think of feelings and emotions such as care, affection, mutual understanding, forgiveness, respect etc. when we think of love. But two key ideas that can help us deepen our experience of love and human relationships, namely, love as a universal force and love as self-giving, are not that come most easily to our mind. And this is the kind of deeper light we can get when we look at the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother who have spoken of taking up all life as yoga, as means of growth in consciousness.

Dr. Mehra then briefly recounted the Mother’s explanation of the story of creation which highlights the eternal and divine basis of Love as a Universal Force. She also spoke about the various human deformations that enter into love which make all human ties fragile and temporary.

She then led the group through an interactive activity using some flash cards. Each of these cards highlighted some relevant words from the various works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, focusing on human relationships and egoism. Each participant picked up a card, read out the quote and then gave a brief, reflective understanding of it.

Some shared a few personal observations and insights, making the learning experience much richer for all. Others asked for further explanation, in response to which Dr. Mehra either narrated a brief story or presented an anecdote to illustrate the point.

This reflective sharing activity also highlighted the need to deeply examine different aspects of our lives from a yogic perspective, from the perspective of how the movements of various parts of our being colour and shape our experiences and understandings of our relationships. All the participants felt that such deepening of our perspective can be helpful in creating a deeper harmony within and without.

It was also briefly discussed how important it is to explore the notion of human relationships from an evolutionary perspective. The session lasted for 1 hour and 45 minutes, but it was appreciated by all the participants.