{"id":1634,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:08","slug":"07-remarks-on-his-life-in-pondicherry-after-1926-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram\/07-remarks-on-his-life-in-pondicherry-after-1926-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-07_Remarks on His Life in Pondicherry after 1926.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\nSection Two<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nGeneral Remarks on His Life<\/span><\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\nRemarks on His Life in Pondicherry<\/span><\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nafter 1926<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOn His Retirement<\/span><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat harm would there be if you would talk for a few minutes
\n to each sadhak at least once a year?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere would be no gain from it and my retirement is necessary
\n for the inner work.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t25 May 1933
\n <\/font>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhen will you come out of your retirement?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat is a thing of which nothing can be said at present. My
\n retirement had a purpose and that purpose must first be fulfilled.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t25 August 1933
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n*
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe psychic is not responsible for my aloofness or retirement
\n it is the mass of opposition that I have to face which is
\n responsible for that. It is only when I have overcome by the
\n aid of the psychic and (excuse me!) your other <\/span> b\u00eate noire<\/i><\/span>, the
\n supermind, that the retirement can cease.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t21 January 1935
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n*
\n  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSardar Vallabhbhai asked X <\/i>when you would come out and
\n guide people. X
\n<\/i>replied that that was not to be expected.
\n I rather suspect that Vallabhbhai spoke sarcastically and X<\/i>
\n failed to catch it.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps not. Vallabhbhai is not likely to understand more than
\n others that a spiritual life can be led by me without a view to a
\n comeback hereafter for the greatest good of the greatest India
\n (or world). Tagore expected the latter and is much disappointed
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>35<\/font>
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tthat I have not done it.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t9 March 1935
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n*
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWill you come out of your retirement after the supramental
\n descent?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat will be decided after the descent.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t23 September 1935
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n*
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n[SWAMI<\/font> SAMBUDDHANANDA<\/font>:] In connection with the celebration of the Birth Centenary of Sri Ramakrishna, a Parliament
\n of Religions will be held in Calcutta from the 1st to 7th March,
\n 1937. It is the unanimous and seriously considered view of the
\n organisers that nobody in India today is in a more appropriate
\n position than you are to direct the proceedings of the Inter
\n national Assembly. We shall be highly obliged if you would
\n kindly consent to preside over the session of the Parliament. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWrite to him on my behalf that I regret I am unable to accept
\n his invitation as I have adopted a rule of life which prevents me
\n from appearing in public or taking any personal part in public
\n activities. This rule is still valid for me and I am unable to depart
\n from it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOr perhaps you [Sri Aurobindo’s secretary<\/i>] can type the
\n answer as from me and I will sign it.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 October 1936 <\/font>
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOn His Modified Retirement after 1938<\/b>
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tBy the way, no one sees me daily and talks with me except the
\n Mother and those who have been in attendance on me since
\n the accident. Anything to the contrary you may have heard is
\n incorrect.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t31 March 1942
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n*
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tMy retirement is nothing new, even the cessation of contact
\n by correspondence is nothing new, it has been there now for
\n a long time. I had to establish the rule not out of personal
\n preference or likes or dislikes, but because I found that the correspondence occupied the greater part of my time and my energies
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>36<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\nand there was a danger of my real work remaining neglected
\nand undone if I did not change my course and devote myself to it, while the actual results of this outer activity were very
\nsmall \u2014<\/font> it cannot be said that it resulted in the Asram making a great spiritual progress. Now in these times of world-crisis
\nwhen I have had to be on guard and concentrated all the time to prevent irremediable catastrophes and have still to be so and
\nwhen, besides, the major movement of the inner spiritual work needs an equal concentration and persistence, it is not possible
\nfor me to abandon my rule. (Moreover, even for the individual sadhak it is in his interest that this major spiritual work should
\nbe done, for its success would create conditions under which his difficulties could be much more easily overcome.) All the same I
\nhave broken my rule, and broken it for you alone; I do not see how that can be interpreted as a want of love and a hard granite
\nindifference. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n29 May 1942
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nIt is not possible to accept his suggestion about joining with
\nthose who are in personal attendance upon me. They were not admitted as a help to their sadhana but for practical reasons. In
\nfact here also there is some misconception. Continual personal contact does not necessarily bring out the action of the Force.
\nHriday had that personal contact with Ramakrishna and the opportunity of personal service to him, but he received nothing
\nexcept on one occasion and then he could not contain the Force and the realisation which the Master put into him. The feeling
\nof losing himself which X <\/i>had was on the special occasions of the Darshan and the pranam to the Mother. That he had this
\nresponse shows that he can answer to the Force, that he has the receptivity, as we say, and that is a great thing; all do not have
\nit and those who have it are not always conscious of its cause but only of its result. But he should reason less and rather try
\nto keep himself open as he was in those moments. The Force is not a matter for reasoning or theory but of experience. If I
\nhave written about the Force, it is because both the Mother and myself have had many thousand experiences in which it acted
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>37<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nand produced results of every kind. This idea of the Force has nothing to do with theory or reasoning but is felt constantly by
\nevery Yogin; it is part of his yogic consciousness and his constant spiritual activity.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 May 1945 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nDemands on His Time<\/span><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is quite impossible for me to do any literary work (original or revision) just now, if that is what he wants.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nJuly 1930 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nAs to the book, I am afraid I have no time for such things. The twenty-four hours are already too short for what I have to do.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 September 1930 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nSri Aurobindo regrets his inability to accept the position offered to him in connection with the Indian Research Institute, with the
\nobjects of which he has every sympathy, as he would be unable to discharge the obligations however light attached to the position.
\nAll his time and energies are occupied by his own work and he has made it a rule to abstain from all other activities in order to
\ngive to this his undivided attention.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 July 1933 <\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nI hope that will be <\/span>
\n\u00e9claircissement<\/span> <\/span> <\/i>
\nenough for you \u2014  for I have
\n no time for more
\n\u2014  certainly none for writing sonnets \u2014  my
\nenergy is too occupied in very urgent and pressing things (quite apart from correspondence) to “dally with the rhythmic line”.
\n<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 August 1934 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nWon’t you please look at my essay tomorrow and give me your impression of it, pointing out, of course, whatever awkwardness of style that might draw your attention?  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>38<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nLet the floods pass! let the floods pass! I have four eight-twelve-sixteen-page letters still unanswered, one in Bengali closely written, one in Gujarati (decently large letters), one in Hindi (close-packed) and one in English. How the belettered devil am I to
\ndeal with essays under such polypageous circumstances? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n23 February 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nMy only free time is between 9.30 and 10.30 or 11 at night.
\nWhat can one write in an hour or an hour and a half?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nGood Lord! what can one write in 1 or
\n1\u00bd<\/font> hour? If I could only get that time for immortal productions every day! Why in another three years
\nSavitri <\/i>and Ilion <\/i>and I don’t know how much
\nmore would be all written, finished, resplendently complete. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 December 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nSri Krishna must have had more leisure than you have. In
\nthose days the art of writing had not developed so much and so he had not to reply to questions, though sometimes he had
\nsudden calls as when Durvasa came with a host of thousands of disciples asking for food when there was not a morsel.
\nPerhaps he had to perform more miracles than you have to, though I should not forget that constant calls must be coming
\nto you also for help in illnesses and many others in many ways. Moreover, Sri Krishna never actually became the Guru
\nof a number of people. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWell, he may have been rather wise in that and fortunate in the
\ninfrequency of correspondence in those days \u2014  but that did not save him. There is a poignant chapter in the Mahabharat describing his miseries and bothers with his people in Dwarka which is very illuminating. Unfortunately I have forgotten where it is.
\nThe calls don’t matter much, for putting the Force is a subjective thing which does not take time, except in cases when it is a daily
\nor frequently recurring difficulty. As for Durvasa if he turned up, it would be met by an order to
\nX <\/i>"Go and manage" or else an intimation to Durvasa not to be unreasonable.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 September 1936
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>39<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nWhat about my planning to read Meredith, Hardy, Shelley, Keats and the Continental and Russian writers?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nLord, Sir, I wish I had time to follow out a programme as massive as yours. I have none even to dilate upon yours.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 September 1936 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nReading in Pondicherry<\/span><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI said to a visitor, “Sri Aurobindo has not read a single book in the last twenty years yet there is no knowledge in the world
\nthat is unknown to him.”
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThat is a rather excessive statement. I have learned my own
\nphilosophy from Adhar Das, for instance, and read something about Sunlight Treatment for the eyes, etc. etc.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 January 1935 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nI have not Boccaccio’s tales. I am afraid my library is mainly composed of my own and the sadhaks’ works and books presented
\nto me by people as a personal offering which I can’t therefore send to the library
\n\u2014  and some stray volumes, dictionaries etc.
\n\u2014  that is all. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 February 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPassing Away of Customary Illnesses<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI may say that I see no reason for alarm or apprehension about
\nmy eyesight; it has happened before and I was able to recover, even getting a better reading eyesight than before. These things
\nare for me a question of the working of the Yogic force. Many customary illnesses have passed away from me permanently after
\nan intimation that they would occur no more. In my last days in Calcutta that happened with regard to colds in the head, and
\nwhen I was in the rue des Missions <\/span>Etrang\u00e8res<\/span> with regard to fever. I had no cold or fever after that. So also with regard to
\nthings like the bad cough I had for many years; it was intimated some time ago that these things would fade out, and it has been
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>40<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nso happening \u2014  only vestiges remain. So it will happen with what ailments remain, I expect.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 February 1945 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nCorrespondence and Literary Work, 1948 \u00ad 1949<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAs for my going far away, your feeling is based on my slackness in giving answers to your letters but this slackness had no such
\ncause. My love and affection have remained always the same and it is regrettable if by my slackness in answering your letters I have
\nproduced the impression that I was moving farther and farther away from you. I think your recent letters have been mostly
\nabout persons recommended for Darshan or applying for it or about accommodation, things which have to be settled by the
\nMother, and these were naturally most conveniently conveyed to you through X<\/i>‘s oral answer. I suppose I must have unduly
\nextended that method of answer to other matters. I must admit that for many reasons the impulse of letter writing and literary
\nproductivity generally have dwindled in me almost to zero and that must have been the real cause of my slackness. The first
\nreason is my inability to write with my own hand, owing to the failure of the sight and other temporary reasons; the sight
\nis improving but the improvement is not so rapid as to make reading and writing likely in the immediate future. Even
\nSavitri<\/i>
\nis going slow, confined mainly to revision of what has already been written, and I am as yet unable to take up the completion
\nof Parts II and III which are not yet finally revised and for which a considerable amount of new matter has to be written. It is no
\nuse going into all the thousand and one reasons for this state of things, for that would explain and not justify the slackness. I
\nknow very well how much you depend on my writing in answer to your letters as the one physical contact left which helps you
\nand I shall try in future to meet the need by writing as often as possible.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 July 1948 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nAs
\nto my silence, this does not arise from any change of feeling towards you or any coldness or indifference. I have not
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>41<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nconcealed from you the difficulty I feel now that I cannot write my own letters or, generally, do my own writing but I do not
\nthink I have neglected anything you have asked for when you have written. There is the question of the interview which you
\nwant to publish, but this I have to consider carefully as to what parts can be published as soon as I have been able to go through
\nit. At the moment I have been very much under pressure of work for the Press which needed immediate attention and could not
\nbe postponed, mostly correction of manuscripts and proofs; but I hope to make an arrangement which will rid me of most of
\nthis tedious and uninteresting work so that I can turn my time to better purposes. I am conscious all the same that my remissness
\nin writing has been excessive and that you have just cause for your complaint; but I hope to remedy this remissness in future
\nas it is not at all due to any indifference but to a visitation of indolence of the creative will which has extended even to the
\ncompletion of the unfinished parts of Savitri<\/i>. I hope soon to get rid of this inability, complete
\nSavitri <\/i>and satisfy your just
\ndemand for more alertness in my correspondence with you. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 March 1949
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\nYou also seem to have misunderstood something I said to X<\/i>
\nabout pressure and difficulties as indicating some unwillingness on my part to write to you; nothing was farther from my mind, I
\nsaid that only to explain my remissness in writing to you before. I was not referring to the pressure caused by the necessity of
\nhastening the publication of my yet unpublished books or those that need to be republished
\n\u2014  there is much work of that kind
\npressing to be done and much else not pressing but still needing to be done while there is still time, such as
\nThe Future Poetry <\/i>or
\nother works like the first part of Savitri <\/i>which has to be revised for early publication in book-form. All that could have nothing
\nto do with it \u2014  I was referring only to personal difficulties of my own and the difficulties concerning the Ashram which I had
\nto face and which owing to their gravity and even danger had too much preoccupied my mind. That I have mentioned as an
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>42<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nexplanation of my earlier remissness and not as an excuse, \u2014 there could be no valid excuse. Certainly, that had nothing to
\ndo with your present trouble and the letter, \u2014  the present one, \u2014  which I had sent word through
\nX <\/i>that I was starting to write
\nyesterday. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 December 1949
\n  
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>43<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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