{"id":1688,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:33","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T08:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2013-11-28T15:18:37","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T23:18:37","slug":"03-life-in-england-1879-1893-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\/03-life-in-england-1879-1893-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-03_Life in England, 1879 – 1893.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\nLife in England, 1879 <\/b>\u00ad 1893<\/b><\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAn Early Memory<\/b>
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI am not at all concerned about Nicodemus and what seems
\n to me his stupid and ignorant question; he brings a fantastic
\n physical notion across Christ’s teaching and I am afraid I must
\n hold him partially responsible for Freud’s sexual meanderings
\n and his craze for going back into his mother’s womb. I don’t
\n myself remember any blissful sojourn in that locality in my case
\n and I don’t believe in it and I am quite sure I never felt any
\n passion for returning there. The great Sigismund must have had
\n it, I suppose, and remembered that blissful period and felt a
\n longing for beatific return and I suppose others must have had
\n it unless its acceptance is only a result of a general acceptance of
\n the papal infallibility of Sigismund in psychoanalytical matters,
\n about which few people have any direct reliable knowledge or
\n can form a truly independent conviction based on truly independent evidence. I believe the practical methods and evidence for
\n the success of psychoanalysis are made up mostly of suggestion
\n and autosuggestion; for suggestion and autosuggestion can do
\n almost anything and can make you believe in anything and everything. Many of these suggestions seem to me quite artificial
\n and their forced connection with sex to be quite groundless. For
\n instance, there is the suggestion of the dream of being stabbed
\n with a knife, which they say is a rendering by the subliminal of
\n an actual sex-probe, and of that you can obviously persuade a
\n patient who is under your influence. I myself had when a boy of
\n 8 or 9 a vivid dream which I never forgot of myself alone in my
\n bed I used to be sent to bed much earlier than my brothers
\n and lay there in a sort of constant terror of the darkness and
\n phantoms and burglars till my brothers came up [incomplete<\/i>]
\n  
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>9<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\nExposure to Christianity<\/span><\/b>
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n[Lines from a poem submitted to Sri Aurobindo:<\/i>]
\n   <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\nSoul of poet, thine be quiet
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf the Virgin’s prayerful countenance . . .
\n  
\n \t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n[Underlining “prayerful countenance”:<\/i>] Lord God! you bring
\n me back to my childhood’s agonies in an English Nonconformist
\n chapel.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t11 September 1933
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEducation in England<\/b>
\n  
\n \t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThis afternoon I was doing japa as usual and dropped off to
\n sleep. Then I saw a curious dream. . . . I sang and the song was
\n on Shiva, and was so ecstatic that you got up and blessed me,
\n joining in the hymn. . . . Tell me, however, do you ever sing
\n I don’t mean music of the spheres but our mortal songs with
\n musical intervals as we understand, as for instance Mother
\n does?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tNo I don’t sing on the physical plane. My education in Eng
\n land was badly neglected though people say to the contrary.
\n I filled in most of the lacunae <\/i>afterwards, but some remained
\n of which the musical gap is one. But that is no reason why I
\n should not sing on the supraphysical plane where you met me.
\n There is no exact correspondence between the formation here
\n and the formations there. On the contrary on these inner planes
\n the subliminal as they call it in Europe that is to say, our inner
\n selves is full of powers which have not emerged yet at least
\n in the physical consciousness. And especially as I was full of
\n Shiva in your experience there is no reason why I should not
\n have sung for I suppose Shiva sings as well as dances?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t31 August 1933 <\/p>\n

<\/font> <\/p>\n

\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI.C.S. Examination<\/span><\/b>
\n  
\n \t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDo you think your I.C.S. examination answer papers of 1892
\n have been preserved by the authorities? I was thinking of
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>10<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tgetting them if possible, in order to preserve them as a relic
\n with us. Perhaps they do not give them out or they might have
\n disposed of them.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tNot likely that they keep such things.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t1 May 1936
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA Cambridge Anecdote<\/b>
\n  
\n \t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhile we all agree that we all lie, X <\/i>thinks she is incapable of
\n lying.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tLies? Well, a Punjabi student at Cambridge once took our breath
\n away by the frankness and comprehensive profundity of his
\n affirmation: “Liars! But we are all liars!” It appeared that he
\n had intended to say “lawyers”, but his pronunciation gave his
\n remark a deep force of philosophic observation and generalisation which he had not intended! But it seems to me the last word
\n on human nature. Only the lying is sometimes intentional, some
\n times vaguely half-intentional, sometimes quite unintentional,
\n momentary and unconscious. So there you are! <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nLearning Languages<\/b>
\n  
\n \t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt seems most people read more than they assimilate. They
\n read lots of French stories, novels and dramas very rapidly
\n and as a result they hardly assimilate the idioms, phrases,
\n grammatical peculiarities, etc. I find it surprising that
\nX <\/i>and Y<\/i>
\n commit elementary errors when they speak. I think one ought
\n to read a book three to four times.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tI suppose most learn only to be able to read French books, not
\n to know the language well.
\nX <\/i>writes and reads fluently but he
\n does not know the grammar he has only just begun to learn
\n it. Y <\/i>does not know French so well he has learned mostly by
\n typing a lot of things in French. It is not many who know French
\n accurately and idiomatically.
\nZ <\/i>was the best in that respect. I
\n don’t think many people would consent to make a principle of
\n reading each book 3 or 4 times in the way you advocate, for very
\n few have the scholarly mind but two or three books should
\n  
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>11<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tbe so read I learnt Sanskrit by reading the Naladamayanti
\n episode in the Mahabharat like that with minute care several
\n times.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t25 March 1937
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nFirst Reading of the Upanishads<\/b>
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIs it true that the deep significance of mantras like “OM
\n Shanti Shanti Shanti” and of words like “<\/span>paix<\/span>” in the Mother’s
\n Prayers <\/i>is lost because of too much familiarity?
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tYes, it must be the familiarity for I remember when I first
\n read the OM Shanti Shanti Shanti of the Upanishads it had a
\n powerful effect on me. In French it depends on the form or the
\n way in which it is put.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t14 February 1936
\n <\/font>
\n \t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe European Temperament<\/b>
\n  
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHow is it that most Europeans manage to remain cheerful,
\n while in India there is so much gloom and moroseness in
\n family life, and cunning, strategy and selfishness in social life?
\n Half of the cheerfulness in Europeans, I suspect, comes not so
\n much from intrinsic joy or humour as from the discipline of
\n having good manners.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is largely the latter to show one’s bad moods in society
\n is considered bad form and indicating want of self-control; so
\n people in Europe usually keep their worse side for their own
\n house and family and don’t show it outside. Some do but are
\n considered as either neurasthenic or as having a <\/span>“sale caract\u00e8<\/font>re”<\/span>.
\n But apart from that Europeans have, I think, more vitality than
\n Indians and are more elastic and resilient and less nervously
\n sensitive. There are plenty of exceptions, of course, but generally, I think, that is true. In family life it is more of the rajasic
\n ego than gloom and moroseness that creates trouble. Gloom and
\n moroseness generally meet with ridicule as a “Byronic” or tragic
\n affectation, so it is very soon discouraged. Cunning, strategy
\n and selfishness in social life is considered in France at least to be
\n more a characteristic of peasant life in the middle class it is
\n supposed to be the sign of the “arriviste”. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t6 January 1937
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>12<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life in England, 1879 \u00ad 1893   An Early Memory     I am not at all concerned about Nicodemus and what seems to me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","wpcat-37-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9614,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/9614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}