Sri Aurobindo Ashram Dining Hall: A spiritual action continues, from a century ago

It was great to re-experience eating in the Dining Hall of Sri Aurobindo Ashram after decades. It is not just the food, which is mostly made with organically grown cereals and vegetables and cooked hygienically, but there is something indescribable in it that fills one with a subtle and peaceful energy that I haven't felt in the dining halls of other Ashrams or Auroville. As it was before, rice was there at the counter, but this time I took only a few slices of brown bread and a bowl of vegetable curry along with a bowl of curd and a couple of bananas. I think, as it was before now too, the curd is made from cow milk of the Ashram dairy and vegetables and bananas from the Ashram's farms.  

Had the food at the first floor dining hall having a lot of natural light and furnished with tables and seats. The Dining Hall serves food for Ashramites, guesthouse residents and special guests and the guests are charged only Rs. 50/- for 3 meals a day whereas the lunch alone is worth a few times more than that. 

(Images from the Internet)

I knew of course Sri Aurobindo's words about the Dining Room food from the first time I had it as it is permanently displayed there. Apparently, it holds true even today, about a century later. Posted below are the words from the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 35 titled Letters on Himself and the Ashram. I have used an old typewriter font and paper image background to evoke the sense of the time, 1927 when it was written. 

(Eating at the Dining Hall was not on my to-do list and was a pleasant surprise for me during my visit to meet a few long-time friends on Friday, 6th December.)