Bonne Fête Kailas!

Kailas Jhaveri worked at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York in the department of Information from 1954-1956. She was a dreamer and believed that the aim of the United Nations is to work for human unity, to help nations be free of colonial rule and to become self-governing. Its objective, she also believed, is to help developing countries through their many international specialized agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, UNICEF, etc. Charmed by meeting people of different nationalities, she changed her course of study from psychology – she already had a degree in philosophy – to international organisation. In one of these classes Kailas met Dr. Adiseshiah, who had been invited to give a talk on UNESCO and international organisation. This marked the beginning of a life-long friendship. In 1964 she left New York, where she lived and worked for over ten years, to become an ashramite, while playing a pivotal role in expounding the ideal of Auroville to UNESCO, with the Mother’s blessings.

This is the introduction, noted down from Kailas’s words, to one of the papers that I wrote to introduce, in Auroville, Kailas’ work for the Mother. The speech she delivered in March stirred something very deep. The Mother was there. The extract below, from Kailas’ autobiography, is one among countless examples of her incredible dedication, faith, surrender to the Mother:

“I was put in charge of the UNESCO Section of Sri Aurobindo Society, but practically, I had no office, no table, no chair, no almirah, no typewriter, no secretary and no money. I learned to use any means available. For instance,  I carried out my correspondence, using the Society’s typewriter after the office hours, sometimes working till after midnight and filing my papers at home in my Ashram almirahs. Sometimes, I gave my papers for typing to Doreen, Navajata’s excellent secretary. She was faultless and superb in her execution” wrote Kailas. “It seemed that I was given responsibilities, but sometimes I had to find my own means to carry them out.  Even to go to Bombay, Madras, Delhi, or to Paris for the UNESCO conference, I had to find the finances or the transport needed.  And the Divine provided me with whatever was needed from unexpected sources.” 

Bonne Fete Kailas! The spirit of the early sadhaks is still alive!

Paulette

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Kailas Jhaveri by Anurag Banerjee