{"id":1950,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2013-12-01T11:53:47","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T19:53:47","slug":"16-letters-and-telegrams-to-political-and-professional-associates-1906-1926-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/36-autobiographical-notes\/16-letters-and-telegrams-to-political-and-professional-associates-1906-1926-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","title":{"rendered":"-16_Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates, 1906 – 1926.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLetters and Telegrams to <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPolitical and Professional Associates<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1906 \u00ad 1926<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Bipin Chandra Pal <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWednesday. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Bepin Babu, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPlease let us know by bearer when and where we can meet yourself, Rajat and Kumar Babu today. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSubodh Babu is going away today, and there are certain conditions attached by Dickinson to the arrangement about the
\ntype which it may be difficult to get him to agree to. Yet it must be done today if it is to be done at all. Can you not come by 3
\no’clock and help us to persuade Subodh Babu to give signature before he goes. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA Letter of Acknowledgement
\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDeoghur, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t9th<\/sup> March 1907.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMadam, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI beg to acknowledge, with many thanks, the receipt of
\nRs.10 forwarded to me by Mr. H. C. Das on your behalf towards the National University Fund. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYours faithfully, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose, Principal <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBengal National College.  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>166<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n To Hemendra Prasad Ghose <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n [19 April 1907]<\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n \tDear Hemendra Babu,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWill you kindly meet me and let us talk over the matter a
\nlittle? It is a great pity that the work should be spoiled by friction and misunderstanding, and I think if we can talk things over, it
\nought not to be impossible to have an understanding by which they can be avoided. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Aswinicoomar Banerji <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

12 Wellington Square <\/p>\n

June 26.1907.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Aswini Babu,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI quite forgot about it. I am afraid I cannot just now think of
\nany such book as you want. There is Marriot’s Makers of Italy but that is not a biography nor anything like comprehensive.
\nBent’s Life of Garibaldi is crammed full of facts and very tedious reading. I don’t think there is any good life of Mazzini in English
\n\u2014 only the translation of his autobiography. However, I will look up the subject and, if I find anything, will let you know.
\nYours sincerely Aurobindo Ghose. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[2] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[July \u00ad August 1907] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My dear Banerji,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYes, I am still at large, though I hear warrants are out against
\nmyself, Subodh & three others. The contribution is not with us, it is in other hands at present, but I will get hold of it & return
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>167<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

it, if I am not previously arrested. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Yours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n

Aurobindo Ghose. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

To Dr. S. K. Mullick
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

BENGAL NATIONAL COLLEGE AND SCHOOL <\/p>\n

\n

166, Bowbazar Street <\/p>\n

\n

Calcutta, the 8th Feb. [1908]1<\/font><\/sup> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Dear Dr Mullick, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour students have asked me to visit the National Medical College. They want to come for me here at 3.30. Will it inconvenience you if the thing is delayed for a while as I have very important work at the Bande Mataram Office from 3 pm? They
\nmight come for me there at 4.30 \u2014 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[r. Mullick’s reply:<\/i>]
\nLet us split the difference with 4 pm <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tExcuse haste am lecturing <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSKM <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTelegrams about a Planned Political Reception
\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegrams from Aravinda Ghose and Chittaranjan Das,<\/i>
\nHarrison Road, Calcutta, to Kaminikumar Chanda,<\/i> Silchar, and from Aravinda Ghose and Rabindranath<\/i>
\nTagore, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to Muktear Library,<\/i> Netrakara:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JOIN PALS RELEASE DEMONSTRATION NINTH HELP PURSE WIRE AMOUNT. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1 MS <\/i>1907. See Note on the Texts, page 576. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>168<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[2]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[Telegrams from Aurobindo, Harrison Road, Calcutta,<\/i>
\nto Satyendra Basu, Midnapur, and Jamini Sen, Chittagong:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CELEBRATE PAL DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[3] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegrams from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta to<\/i>
\nSitanath Adhikari, Pabna; Ananda Sen, Jalpaiguri; Jatindra Sen care Citizen, Allahabad; Lajpat Rai, Lahore;<\/i>
\nBharati, 15 Broadway, Madras; Dr Moonje, Nagpur:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CELEBRATE PAL DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE. WIRE
\nAMOUNT. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[4] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegrams from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to<\/i> Chidambaram Pillai, Tuticorin and Ramaswami Iyer,<\/i>
\nTanjore:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CELEBRATE DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[5] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegram from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to<\/i>
\nMonoranjan Guha, Giridih:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CELEBRATE DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE PERSONALLY
\nALSO FRIENDS. WIRE AMOUNT. <\/p>\n

[6] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegram from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to<\/i> G. S. Khaparde, Amraoti:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JOIN DEMONSTRATION NINTH THROUGHOUT BERAR. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT.
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>169<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

[7] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Telegram from Ghose, Calcutta, to Balgangadhar Tilak,<\/i>
\nPoona:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PLEASE JOIN DEMONSTRATION NINTH THROUGHOUT MAHARASHTRA. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6 March 1908 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExtract from a Letter to Parthasarathi Aiyangar
\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be very careful to follow my instructions in avoiding the old kind
\nof politics. Spirituality is India’s only politics, the fulfilment of the Sanatan Dharma its only Swaraj. I have no doubt we shall
\nhave to go through our Parliamentary period in order to get rid of the notion of Western democracy by seeing in practice
\nhow helpless it is to make nations blessed. India is passing really through the first stages of a sort of national Yoga. It was
\nmastered in the inception by the inrush of divine force which came in 1905 and aroused it from its state of complete tamasic
\najnanam. But, as happens also with individuals, all that was evil, all the wrong sanskaras and wrong emotions and mental and
\nmoral habits rose with it and misused the divine force. Hence all that orgy of political oratory, democratic fervour, meetings,
\nprocessions, passive resistance, all ending in bombs, revolvers and Coercion laws. It was a period of asuddha rajasic activity
\nand had to be followed by the inevitable period of tamasic reaction from
\ndisappointed rajas. God has struck it all down, \u2014
\nModeratism, the bastard child of English Liberalism; Nationalism, the mixed progeny of Europe and Asia; Terrorism, the
\nabortive offspring of Bakunin and Mazzini. The latter still lives, but it is being slowly ground to pieces. At present, it is our only
\nenemy, for I do not regard the British coercion as an enemy, but as a helper. If it can only rid us of this wild pamphleteering,
\nthese theatrical assassinations, these frenzied appeals to national hatred with their watchword of Feringhi-ko-maro, these childish
\nconspiracies, these idiotic schemes for facing a modern army with half a dozen guns and some hundred lathis,
\n\u2014 the opium
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>170<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\n

visions of rajogun run mad, then I say, “More power to its
\nelbow.” For it is only when this foolishness is done with that truth will have a chance, the sattwic mind in India emerge and
\na really strong spiritual movement begin as a prelude to India’s regeneration. No doubt, there will be plenty of trouble and error
\nstill to face, but we shall have a chance of putting our feet on the right path. In all I believe God to be guiding us, giving the
\nnecessary experiences, preparing the necessary conditions. <\/p>\n

\n

13 July 1911
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Note on a Forged Document <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

1 The card purports to issue from the Mymensingh Sadhana
\n\t Samaj. The word is spelt Maymensingh with a long a. Every
\nBengali in Bengal knows that it is Moymensingh with a short a and would at once be able to point out the mistake. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. The word Swaraj well-known to everyone in Bengal, is spelt Saraj and that this is no casual slip of the pen is shown by
\nits faithful repetition, the only other time that “Saraj” appears in the card (on the flag to the left). <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. “Bande Mataram” is twice spelt Bade Mataram. This is interesting because it shows that the card was written by a man
\nunaccustomed to the Bengali character and more habituated to the Devanagari (Sanscrit) alphabet. In the Devanagari the
\nn <\/i>is usually represented by a nasalising dot over the previous letter which might easily be dropped by an unpractised writer.
\nIn Bengali the nd <\/i>is a conjunct letter and even the most ignorant Bengali writer would be incapable of dropping the n. If by an
\ninconceivable blunder he dropped [it], the most casual look at the word would show him what was wrong; but here the mistake
\nis twice consistently repeated and not corrected even in a card the details of which have been so carefully and boldly executed. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t4. The writer drops the characteristic dots which
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdifferentiate b from r
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t and y from impure j in Bengali. Thus he writes Pujar as Pujab and Viceroy as Viceroj. Only a foreigner writing
\nthe Bengali character, would commit an error of this kind so easily and repeatedly or would fail to correct it at the first glance.
\n   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>171<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t5. The peculiar form of the 1 in Balidan shows again a man
\naccustomed to write the Devanagari and not accustomed to write
\nthe Bengali l.<\/font><\/sup> 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t6. The formation of g in Durga Puja is a sheer impossibility
\nto a Bengali eye or a Bengali hand. Other letters, m, p, etc give
\nminor evidence in the same direction. 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t7. The mistakes are of such a nature that they could readily
\nbe made by a man copying his Bengali letters from the book
\nforms and not accustomed to the written character. The convincing
\nproof is the j in Samaj and Puja which is drawn rather
\nthan written by some foreigner acquainted with the printed j,
\nbut not acquainted with the very different form given to j in
\nhandwriting <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t8. Note beside that these few Bengali words have been written
\nwith great labour; but while some of the letters are very finely
\nformed, almost as if they had been drawn, others are very rudely
\ndone \u2014 a difference so great that we must suppose either two
\nwriters of each word or else a man copying unfamiliar forms
\nsometimes carefully, sometimes with deficient care and skill. 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNo tribunal in Bengal, presided over by a Bengali judge,
\nwould admit for a moment this clumsy forgery.  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tApril 1912 
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Anandrao 
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[June 1912] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Anandrao, 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy Bengal correspondent writes to me that you have sent 
\nme the following message, "The Baroda friend has left service 
\nand therefore there is difficulty in finding money. He asks, now 
\nyou have become a Sannyasin, on what ground he can collect 
\nmoney. Still, if you let him know clearly your future, the time 
\nit will take to effect your siddhi and the amount of money you 
\nneed, he will try to collect from Rs 600 to 1000." 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI cannot understand why on earth people should make 
\nup their minds that I have become a Sannyasin! I have even<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>172<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

made it clear enough in the public Press that I have not taken Sannyasa but am practising Yoga as a householder, not even a
\nBrahmacharin. The Yoga I am practising has not the ghost of a connection with Sannyasa. It is a Yoga meant for life & life
\nonly. Its object is perfection of the moral condition & mental & physical being along with the possession of certain powers
\n\u2014 the
\ntruth of which I have been establishing by continuous practical experiment, \u2014 with the object of carrying out a certain mission
\nin life which God has given me. Therefore there is or ought to be no difficulty on that score. If I were a Sannyasin, there would
\nindeed be no money difficulty to solve.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe question about the cult to answer
\nprecisely. There are four parts of the siddhi, roughly, moral, mental, physical &
\npractical<\/i>. Starting from December 1908 the
\nmoral has taken me three years and a half and may now be considered complete. The mental has taken two years of regular
\nsadhana and for the present purpose may be considered complete; the physical is backward and nearing completion only
\nin the immunity from disease \u2014 which I am now attempting successfully to perfect & test by exposure to abnormal conditions. The physical also does not matter so much for practical purposes, as the moral, mental and a certain number of practical
\nsiddhis are sufficient. It is these practical siddhis that alone cause delay. I have had first to prove to myself their existence and
\nutility, secondly to develop them in myself so as to be working forces, thirdly to make them actually effective for life & impart
\nthem to others. The development will, I think, be complete in another two months, but the application to life & the formation
\nof my helpers will take some time \u2014 for the reason that I shall then have a greater force of opposition to surmount than in the
\npurely educative exercises I have hitherto practised. The full application to life will, I think, take three years more, but it is only
\nfor a year of that time (if so long) that I expect to need outside assistance. I believe that I may have to stay in French India for
\nanother year. I presume that is what the question about my future means. But on this point also I cannot speak with certainty. If,
\nhowever, it refers to my future work, that is a big question &   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>173<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

does not yet admit of a full answer. I may say briefly that I have been given a religious & philosophical mission, to re-explain the
\nVeda & Vedanta (Upanishads) in the ancient sense which I have recovered by actual experience in Yoga and to popularise the
\nnew system of Yoga (new in arrangement & object) which has been revealed to me & which, as I progress, I am imparting to the
\nyoung men staying with me & to others in Pondicherry; I have also to spread certain ideas about God & life by literary work,
\nspeech & practice, to try & bring about certain social changes &, finally, to do a certain work for my country, in particular, as
\nsoon as the means are put in my hands. All this to be done by God’s help only & not to be begun till things & myself are ready. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe amount of money I shall need for the year in question, are Rs 300 to clear up the liabilities I have contracted during
\nthe last nine or ten months (in which I have had only fortuitous help) and some Rs 1200 (or 1400, reckoning up to August 1913)
\nto maintain myself & those I am training. I had hoped to get the money from a certain gentleman who had promised me Rs 2000
\na year for the purpose & given it for the first year from October 1910 to October 1911. But there are great difficulties in the way
\n& I can no longer reckon surely on this support which would have made it unnecessary for me to tax my friends. Please ask
\nmy friend if, with this explanation, he can manage the money to the amount suggested. If I get other help from this side, I shall
\nlet him know so that the [?burden can]2<\/font><\/sup> be lightened.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAt present I am at the height of my difficulties, in debt,
\nwith no money for the morrow, besieged in Pondicherry & all who could help are in temporary or permanent difficulties or
\nelse absent & beyond communication. I take it, from my past experiences as a sign that I am nearing the end of the period of
\ntrial. I would ask you if you can do no more, at least to send me some help to tide over the next month or two. After that period,
\nfor certain reasons, it will be easier to create means, if they are not created for me.
\nAG.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2 MS damaged; conjectural reconstruction. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>174<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n To Motilal Roy <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3 July 1912 <\/p>\n

Dear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour money (by letter & wire) & clothes reached safely. The French Post Office here has got into the habit (not yet explained)
\nof not delivering your letters till Friday; that was the reason why we wired to you thinking you had not sent the money that week.
\nI do not know whether this means anything \u2014 formerly we used to get your letters on Tuesday, afterwards it came to Wednesday,
\nthen Thursday & finally Friday. It may be a natural evolution of French Republicanism. Or it may be something else. I see no
\nsigns of the seals having been tampered with, but that is not an absolutely sure indication of security. The postman may be
\npaid by the police. Personally, however, I am inclined to believe in the Republican administration theory
\n\u2014 the Republic always
\nlikes to have time on its hands. Still, if you like, you can send important
\n<\/i>communications to any other address here you may
\nknow of, for the present (of course, by French post & a Madrasi address). All others should come by the old address
\n\u2014 you may
\nbe sure, I think, no letter will be actually intercepted, on this side. By the way, please let us know whether
\n\t\t\tMr.. Banomali Pal
\nreceived a letter by Fr. post from Achari enclosing another to Partha Sarathi. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have not written all this time because I was not allowed to put pen to paper for some time
\n\u2014 that is all. I send enclosed a
\nletter to our Marathi friend. If he can give you anything for me, please send it without the least delay. If not, I must ask you to
\nprocure for me by will power or any other power in heaven or on earth Rs 50 at least as a loan. If you cannot get it elsewhere,
\nwhy not apply to Barid Babu? Also, if Nagen is in Calcutta, ask him whether the Noakhali gentleman can let me have anything.
\nI was told he had Rs 300 put aside for me if I wanted it; but I did not wish to apply to him except in case of necessity. The
\nsituation just now is that we have Rs 11 or so in hand. Srinivasa \u00ad
\n2   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>175<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

is also without money. As to Bharati, living on nothing a month means an uncertain quantity, the only other man in Py whom I
\n.. could at present ask for help absent sine die <\/i>and my messenger
\nto the South not returned. The last time he came he brought a promise of Rs 1000 in a month and some permanent provision
\nafterwards, but the promise like certain predecessors has not yet been fulfilled & we sent him for cash. But though he should have
\nbeen here three days ago, he has not returned, & even when he returns, I am not quite sure about the cash & still less sure about
\nthe sufficiency of the amount. No doubt, God will provide, but He has contracted a bad habit of waiting till the last moment. I
\nonly hope He does not wish us to learn how to live on a minus quantity, like Bharati. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOther difficulties are disappearing. The case brought against the Swadeshis (no one in this household was included in it although we had a very charmingly polite visit from the Parquet &
\n\t\t\tJuge d’Instruction)<\/span>
\n\t\t\thas collapsed into the nether regions &
\nthe complainant & his son have fled from Py & become, like ..
\nourselves, “political refugees” in Cuddalore. I hear he has been sentenced by default to five years imprisonment on false accusation, but I don’t know yet whether the report is true. The police were to have left at the end of [the month]3<\/font><\/sup> but a young
\nlunatic (one of Bharati’s old disciples in patriotism & atheism) got involved in a sedition-search (for the Indian Sociologist of
\nall rubbish in the world!) and came running here in the nick of time for the Police to claim another two months’ holiday in
\nPondicherry. However, I think their fangs have been drawn. I may possibly send you the facts of the case for publication in
\nthe Nayak or any other paper, but I am not yet certain.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write to you about sadhana etc. another time. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3 MS <\/i>Pondicherry
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>176<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[2] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[August 1912 or after] <\/p>\n

Dear M<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. has sent to his brother an address for sending Yogini
\nChakras. He says it is approved by you. Now we want to know, not only whether they are religious people there
\n\u2014 he says you
\nhave assured him of that \u2014 but whether there is any likelihood of [their]4<\/font><\/sup> being taken by the P.O. authorities for anything else.
\nThere are religious people who are openly mixed up with politics. We do not think it wise to send our purely religious Tantric
\ninstruments to any such.5<\/font><\/sup> Kindly answer by return post. If the answer is satisfactory & we get the money promised, we will
\nsend Chakras.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t15th August is usually a turning point or a notable day
\n. for me personally either in sadhana or life \u2014 indirectly only
\nfor others. This time it has been very important for me. My subjective sadhana may be said to have received its final seal
\nand something like its consummation by a prolonged realisation & dwelling in Parabrahman for many hours. Since then, egoism
\nis dead for all in me except the Annamaya Atma, \u2014 the physical self which awaits one farther realisation before it is entirely
\nliberated from occasional visitings or external touches of the old separated existence. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy future sadhan is for life, practical knowledge & shakti, \u2014 not the essential knowledge or shakti in itself which I have
\ngot already \u2014 but knowledge & shakti established in the same physical self & directed to my work in life. I am now getting a
\nclearer idea of that work & I may as well impart something of that idea to you; since you look to me as the centre, you should
\nknow what is likely to radiate out of that centre.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. To reexplain the Sanatana Dharma to the human intellect <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4 MS <\/i>there<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5 In these letters to Motilal, terms such as “tantric instruments” and “tantric kriyas” are<\/i>
\ncode-words for revolutionary materials and activities. The “Yogini Chakras” mentioned<\/i>
\nabove were, according to an associate of Motilal’s, revolvers that Motilal wanted Sri<\/i>
\nAurobindo to send to Chandernagore via the French post. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>177<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

in all its parts, from a new standpoint. This work is already beginning, & three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri
\nKrishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the
\nprocess & origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed & the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He
\nhas also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore
\nto reexplain the whole Vedanta & Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it & is one everywhere. In
\nthis way it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world & its destined saviour through the Sanatana
\nDharma.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. On the basis of Vedic knowledge to establish a Yogic
\nsadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity & help in the restoration of the Satyayuga.
\nThat work has to begin now but will not be complete till the end of the Kali. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. India being the centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected
\nas a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means & instruments, not otherwise. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4. A perfect humanity being intended society will have to be remodelled so as to be fit to contain that perfection. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou must remember that I have not given you the whole Yogic sadhana. What I have given you is only the beginning.
\nYou have to get rid of ahankara & desire & surrender yourself to God, in order that the rest may come. You speak of printing
\nYoga & its Objects. But remember that what I have sent you is only the first part which gives the path, not the objects or the
\ncircumstances. If you print it, print it as the first of a series, with the subtitle, the Path. I am now busy with an explanation of the
\nIsha Upanishad in twelve chapters; I am at the eleventh now and will finish in a few days. Afterwards I shall begin the second part
\nof the series & send it to you when finished.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have also begun, but on a very small scale the second part
\nof my work which will consist in making men for the new age by   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>178<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nimparting whatever siddhi I get to those who are chosen. From this point of view our little colony here is a sort of seed plot
\n& a laboratory. The things I work out in it, are then extended outside. Here the work is progressing at last on definite lines
\nand with a certain steadiness, not very rapid; but still definite results are forming. I should be glad to have from you clearer
\nknowledge of the results you speak of over there; for my drishti is not yet sufficiently free from obstruction for me to know all
\nthat I need to know at this stage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat you say about the Ramakrishna Mission is, I dare
\nsay, true to a certain extent. Do not oppose that movement or enter into any conflict with it; whatever has to be done, I
\nshall do spiritually, for God in these matters especially uses the spiritual means & the material are only very subordinate. Of
\ncourse, you can get into that stream, as you suggest, and deflect as much as you can into a more powerful channel, but not so as
\nto seem to be conflicting with it. Use spiritual means chiefly, will & vyapti. They are more powerful than speech & discussion.
\nRemember also that we derive from Ramakrishna. For myself it was Ramakrishna who personally came & first turned me to this
\nYoga. Vivekananda in the Alipore jail gave me the foundations of that knowledge which is the basis of our sadhana. The error
\nof the Mission is to keep too much to the forms of Ramakrishna & Vivekananda & not keep themselves open for new
\noutpourings of their spirit, \u2014 the error of all “Churches” and organised religious bodies. I do not think they will escape from
\nit, so long as their “Holy Mother” is with them. She represents now the Shakti of Ramakrishna so far as it was manifested in
\nhis life. When I say do not enter into conflict with them, I really mean “do not enter conflict with her.” Let her fulfil her mission,
\nkeeping always ours intact and ever-increasing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to other work (Tantric), I am not yet in possession of
\nknowledge. The Shakti is only preparing to pour herself out there, but I don’t know what course she will take. You must
\nremember I never plan or fix anything for myself. She must choose her own paddhati or rather follow the line Krishna fixes
\nfor her.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>179<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tI am glad you have arranged something about money. It is indifferent to me whether you get it from others or provide
\nit yourselves, so long as my energies which are badly needed for sadhan & for the heavy work laid on me, are not diverted
\nat present into this lower effort in which they would be sorely wasted. You will be relieved of the burden as soon as this physical resistance is overcome, but I do not know yet how soon or late that will be. Reward, of course, those who give to God,
\nshall have; but what reward He will determine. Remember the importance of keeping up this centre, for all my future work
\ndepends on what I work out here.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write about the Sikh pamphlet, which is an excellent
\nthing with one or two blemishes; but I could not understand who wrote the accompanying letter or what gentleman he refers to. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe letter you sent me last time from our man in Chandannagar is practically answered here. Biren may have made some
\nmistake about my “shoes”. It was intended that they should be got from Amiyas. The glass case theory is all right,
\n\u2014 only the
\nexhibits have got to be maintained. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKali <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[3] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[c. January 1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe have received from you in December Rs 60, & Rs 20, and
\nin this month Rs 10. According to N’s account, Rs 10 belongs to November account, Rs 50 to December; Rs 20 we suppose
\nto have been sent in advance on the January account. If so, we still expect from you Rs 20, this month. I should be glad to
\nknow if there is any prospect of your being able to increase the amount now or shortly. Up till now we have somehow or other
\nmanaged to fill in the deficit of Rs 35 monthly; but, now that all our regular sources here are stopped, we have to look to mere
\nluck for going on. Of course if we were bhaktas of the old type this would be the regular course, but as our sadhan stands upon<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>180<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tkarmayoga with jnana & bhakti, this inactive nirbhara can only
\ncontinue so long as it is enjoined on us as a temporary movement of the sadhana. It cannot be permanent. I think there will have
\nto be a change before long, but I cannot see clearly whether the regular & sufficient arrangement which must be instituted some
\ntime, is to come from you or from an unexpected quarter or whether I have myself to move in the matter. It is a question of
\nproviding some Rs 450 a year in addition to what you send, \u2014 unless, of course, God provides us with some new source for the
\n\t\t\tshar\u00ed<\/font>ray\u00e1<\/font>tr\u00e1<\/font> <\/i>as He did two years ago. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll these matters, as well as the pursuance of my work to which you allude in your last (commercial) letter, [depend]6<\/font><\/sup> on
\nthe success of the struggle which is the crowning movement of my sadhana \u2014 viz the attempt to apply knowledge & power to
\nthe events and happenings of the world without the necessary instrumentality of physical action. What I am attempting is to establish the normal working of the siddhis in life ie the perception of thoughts, feelings & happenings of other beings & in other
\nplaces throughout the world without any use of information by speech or any other data. 2d<\/sup>, the communication of the ideas &
\n.. feelings I select to others (individuals, groups, nations,) by mere
\ntransmission of will-power; 3d<\/sup>, the silent compulsion on them to .
\nact according to these communicated ideas & feelings; 4th, the determining of events, actions & results of action throughout
\nthe world by pure silent will power. When I wrote to you last, I had begun the general application of these powers which God
\nhas been developing in me for the last two or three years, but, as I told you, I was getting badly beaten. This is no longer the case,
\nfor in the 1st<\/sup>, 2d<\/sup> & even in 3rd<\/sup> I am now largely successful, al.
\nthough the action of these powers is not yet perfectly organized. It is only in the 4th<\/sup> that I feel a serious resistance. I can produce
\n.. single results with perfect accuracy, I can produce general results
\nwith difficulty & after a more or less prolonged struggle, but I can neither be sure of producing the final decisive result I am aiming at nor of securing that orderly arrangement of events which<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t6 MS <\/i>depends
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>181<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

prevents the results from being isolated & only partially effective. In some directions I seem to succeed, in others partly to fail
\n& partly to succeed, while in some fields, eg, this matter of financial equipment both for my personal life & for my work I have
\nhitherto entirely failed. When I shall succeed even partially in that, then I shall know that my hour of success is at hand & that
\nI have got rid of the past karma in myself & others, which stands in our way & helps the forces of Kaliyuga to baffle our efforts. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAbout Tantric yoga; your experiment in the smashana was
\na daring one, \u2014 but it seems to have been efficiently & skilfully carried out, & the success is highly gratifying.7<\/font><\/sup> In these kriyas
\nthere are three considerations to be held in view, 1st, the object of the kriya. Of course there is the general object of
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmukti-bhukti which Tantriks in all ages have pursued, but to bring it about certain subjective results & conditions are necessary
\nin ourselves & our surroundings & each separate kriya should be so managed as to bring about an important result of the
\nkind. Big kriyas or numerous kriyas are not always necessary; the main thing is that they should be faultlessly effective like
\nyour last kriya or the small one with which you opened your practices. That is the second consideration viz the success of the
\nkriya itself & that depends on the selection & proper use of the right mantra & tantra,
\n\u2014 mantra, the mental part, & tantra,
\nthe practical part. These must be arranged with the greatest scrupulousness. All rashness, pride, ostentation etc, the rajasic
\ndefects, \u2014 also, all negligence, omission, slipshod ritual, \u2014 the tamasic defects, must be avoided. Success must not elate your
\nminds, nor failure discourage. 3dly<\/sup>, angarakshana is as important as siddhi. There are many Tantriks in this Kaliyuga who are
\neager about siddhi, careless in angarakshana. They get some siddhi, but become the prey of the devils & bhutas they raise.
\nNow what is the use of a particular siddhi, if the sadhakas are destroyed? The general & real object,
\n\u2014 mukti & bhukti,
\n\u2014 remains unfulfilled. Angarakshana is managed, first, by the<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t7 This is apparently a reference to the attempt to assassinate the Viceroy, Lord<\/i>
\nHardinge, in Delhi on 23 December 1912. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>182<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nselection & arrangement of the right siddhi-mantra & kriya, secondly, by the presence behind the sadhaka of one who repeats
\nwhat is called an angarakshaka mantra destructive of the pretas & Rakshasas or prohibitive of their attacks. The last function
\nI have taken on myself; it is your business so to arrange the kriya that the bhutas get no chance for
\nor for the seizure & destruction of the sadhaka. I have found that my mantra
\nhas been more & more successful in protection, but it is not yet strong enough to prevent all
\n
\nof a dangerous character. It will take some more
\n\t to increase its power. It is for this reason that I do not yet tell you to go on swiftly in your
\ncourse of practices. Still there is no harm in quickening the pace in comparison with the past. Remember always the supreme
\nnecessity of mauna in Tantric practices. In Vedantic & Puranic exercises expansion is not dangerous, but the goddess of the Tantra does not look with a favourable eye on those who from pride, ostentation or looseness blab about the mantra or the
\nkriya. In Tantric sadhana secrecy is necessary for its own sake. Those who reveal mantra or kriya to the unfit, suffer almost
\ninevitably; even those who reveal them unnecessarily to the fit, impair somewhat the force of their Tantric action. <\/p>\n

\n Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tP.S. Please send the rest of this month’s money at once if you
\nhave not already sent it, & next month’s as early as you can. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[4] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[February 1913] <\/p>\n

Dear M <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI have received Rs 60 by wire & Rs 20 by letter. It was a great relief to us that you were able to send Rs 80 this time &
\nRs 85 for March; owing to the cutting off of all other means of supply, we were getting into a very difficult position. I welcome
\nit as a sign of some preliminary effectiveness, through you, in this direction, in which, hitherto, everything has gone against
\nus; also, as one proof of several, that the quality of your power   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>183<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

& your work is greatly improving in effectiveness & sureness. I need not refer to the other proofs; you will know what I mean.
\nBut just now, I find every forward step to be made is violently combated & obstinately obstructed. Our progress is like the
\nadvance of a modern regiment under fire in which we have to steal a few yards at a run & then lie down under covert & let
\nthe storm of bullets sweep by. I neither hope for nor see yet any prospect of a more successful rapidity. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have been lying down under covert ever since the middle of February, after a very brilliant advance in January & the early
\npart of February. I keep the positions gained, but can make as yet no sure progress farther. There is only a slow preparation for
\nfarther progress. The real difficulty is to bring force, sureness & rapidity
\ninto the application of power & knowledge to life, \u2014
\nespecially sureness, \u2014 for it is possible to bring force & rapidity, but if not attended by unfailing sureness of working, they may
\nlead to great errors in knowledge & great stumbles & disasters in action which counteract the successes. On the other hand,
\nif sureness has to be gained only by not stepping except where everything is sure (which is the first stage of action & knowledge
\nnecessary to get rid of rajasic rashness) progress is likely to be slow. I am trying to solve the dilemma. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tI have not kept your last letter & I only remember that you asked me to write something about your sadhan. I cannot just
\nnow, but I shall try to do it in my next, as I expect by then to be clear of some of my present difficulties. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThere is the pressing cry for clothes in this quarter, as these articles seem to be with us to remind us now constantly of the
\npaucity of matter. I have received Bepin Pal’s Soul of India. Can you add to it by getting from Hiranyagarbha Sister Nivedita’s
\nMy Master as I saw him. I am also in need, as I wrote to you once before, of R. C. Dutt’s Bengali translation of the Vedas. Neither
\n]8<\/font><\/sup> keep them of these books is urgently wanted but please [
\nin mind & send them when you can. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t8 MS <\/i>them  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>184<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[5] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[June \u00ad July 1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI subjoin certain explanations about the matter of the
\nTantric books.9<\/font><\/sup> I put them in cipher because there are certain things, as you can understand, not
\n\t\t\tcomme il faut<\/span> <\/i>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\taccording to
\nthe ideas of modern social decorum which ought not to fall under unfit eyes. It appears that you did not understand my
\nlast letter. However, from henceforth please leave this matter entirely in my hands. You will see from the explanations given
\nhow highly undesirable is the kind of correspondence you have been carrying on hitherto in another quarter. I have taken Rs
\n50 from S, but this sum or part of it (at least Rs 30) ought to be replaced for expenses attached to that particular transaction.
\nMeanwhile I await Rs 35 for June & all the July money. I delay other matters in consideration of the urgency of the
\naccompanying note. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPS. I received information of your Tantric kriyas. It is clear that you are far from perfect yet. All the more reason why you
\nshould not be in a hurry to progress physically. Get rid of the remnants of sattwic ahankara and rajoguna, for that which we
\nare within, our karmas & kriyas will be without. <\/p>\n

Kali demands a pure adhara for her works, & if you try to hurry her by rajasic
\nimpatience, you will delay the success instead of hastening it. I will write to you fully about it later. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[6] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[June \u00ad July 1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYour letter, money etc have reached me without delay or
\nmishap. Please make it a rule, in future, not to be anxious or troubled when you get no answer; when I do not reply, it is <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t9 These “explanations”, written on a separate sheet of paper, have not survived.
\n\u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>185<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

not because I have not received your letters, but because silence was necessary, for my siddhi, for yours or for the work that has
\nto be done. At such times, keep calm, repel any suggestions of perplexity or anxiety and do not allow any disturbing mental
\nwaves to interfere between. A still heart, a clear mind and untroubled nerves are the very first necessity for the perfection of
\nour Yoga.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI enclose a letter for C. R. Das. Please transmit it & get a
\nreply written or verbal. You will see, I did not authorise Bhaga to ask him for money; at the same time, in doing so, he obeyed an
\nunspoken general vyapti <\/i>from myself which his mind seems to have got hold of & mixed up with its own desires & anxieties. I
\nam drawing now towards the close of my internal Yogic tapasya and the time is not very distant when I shall have to use its
\nresults for the work God has sent me to do in the world. For that work I shall need large sums of money. So long as I was only
\nperfecting myself and sending out Shakti to others, all I needed was enough for the maintenance of myself & those who are with
\nme. This charge I gave to you and the charge is not withdrawn; but, as you know, it covers only the bare physical necessities
\nof our life in Pondicherry. More than that, you are not likely to be able to afford; and certainly you could not provide me
\nwith the sums I shall need even in the earlier part of my work. To limit myself to the Rs 85 a month you can send me, would
\nbe to deny myself the material means for doing what I have to do and to accept stagnation and quiescence. It is true I am
\nnot beginning that work immediately, but, before it begins, I have to bend circumstances to my will in this very particular so
\nthat the obstacle of paucity of means which has been my chief stumbling block for the beginning may be got rid of once for all.
\nMy will has to become effective on this point above all & the impediments both subjective and objective to its mastery have
\nto be eliminated. Therefore I have sent out the general vyapti I spoke of. Biren’s action was one of the first responses, but, as
\nit was [an] impure response, it has created more golmal than effect. As to confining the appeal for pecuniary assistance to
\nthose who are entirely of one way of thinking with ourselves, it   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>186<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwas a good rule for you to observe; but it cannot bind me when I begin my larger movement. From whatever quarter money or
\nhelp comes to me, it comes from God.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith regard to the Tantric books, the Psalmodist was here,
\n& wrote to you and went away, expecting to return in a fortnight; but several fortnights have passed without his return. He
\nhas written to us to say he has received money from you and we have written to him to come here. He is expected daily, but
\nhe does not arrive. He will, no doubt, be a good karmavira in time; but at present he is too rajasic, with intervals of tamas,
\nhas too much faith in European religions & the arms of the flesh & too little faith in Yoga & the arms of the spirit. He
\nwent northward on his own initiative; I could have told him his efforts there would be fruitless, but it is always well for a man to
\nget experience for himself, when he will not take the benefit of superior experience. Your scheme about the books is impracticable under present conditions of which you are ignorant. When he comes, we will consult together & see if any blameless way
\ncan be found. But there is a time for all things & the time for free publication of Tantric works has not arrived. Still, your
\nparticular order may be met. Your letter to him, if addressed to Pd, did not reach us; whether he got it in Madras or not, I do
\nnot know.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYour working, remember, is not yet definitive working; it
\nis still in the nature of experiment, with some minor results. When your sadhan of our tantric kriya has become more perfect
\nand the necessary spiritual force can be sent from here, \u2014 then, real Tantra can begin. Meanwhile, don’t be over-eager; let nothing disconcert, discourage or perplex you. Eagerness, anxiety & discouragement are all different faces of one defect. I shall
\nwrite to you on all matters connected with the Tantra after the Psalmodist arrives. Also about the Vedanta. If he does not come
\nsoon, I shall write all the same.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBejoy was to have seen Ramchandra in Calcutta & given
\nyou news of us, on his way to Khulna, but from your not sending the June money & from Sudhir’s letter, it seems the interview did
\nnot take place or else no report was given to you. Please send   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>187<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

the money. I am going on somehow, but the money I am doing with, will have to be replaced. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tP.S. The Psalmodist has written, announcing his immediate
\narrival here, but he has so often disappointed us that I send off this letter, without farther waiting. If he comes, I shall write to
\nyou as soon as anything is settled. <\/p>\n

[7] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[August 1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI enclose a letter to C. R. Das. Please let me know as soon as possible whether he has received the MSS. Also let me have
\nthe address of your West Indian friend in that connection which you omitted to give in your last letter,
\n\u2014 of course in the usual
\nformula. Please explain how you expect him to befriend you if there is any difficulty in the final stage of the publication. I am
\ntoo exhausted to write anything at length this time \u2014 we shall see afterwards when I have recovered my physical equilibrium.
\nI expect Rs 40 for July & the money for August (current) which will complete our regular account for the present if C. R. Das
\nsends in the rest of his money as proposed. By the way, his agents Grindlay & Co send me Rs 300 with a note saying that I shall
\nget Rs 1000 for the translations. Is the Rs 300 part of the Rs 1000 or separate. I ask this for information only, because you
\nwrote that he intended to give me one year’s expenses & Rs 300 extra. I need some extra money badly now for materials for the
\nwork I have now seriously entered on in connection with the Veda and the Sanscrit language. In that same connection will
\nyou please make a serious effort this time to get hold of Dutt’s Bengali translation of the Rigveda & send it to me
\n\u2014 or any
\ntranslation for that matter which gives the European version. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>188<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[8] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[c. 1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI send the proofs. Your Rs 50 for Narayan etc.’s travelling
\nexpenses reached duly and were by him duly spent. He has promised to repay the sum, but I don’t know when he will be
\nable to do so. He will see you, he told me, when he first goes to Calcutta from his place; as his mother was ill, he would not stop
\nto see you on the way. But perhaps other reasons prevented him just then, for I believe he did stop a day or two in Calcutta. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBiren is all right, I believe; he said nothing to anybody about that matter. There were some legitimate doubts in some quarters owing to his unsteady nature & other defects of character. I thought it right to give them as much value for practical purposes
\nas was reasonable; therefore I wrote to you.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI do not write to you this time about the despatch of the
\nbooks, because that is a long matter & would delay the proofs which have already been too long delayed. But I shall write a
\nseparate letter on that subject. I have also to write about your Tantric Yoga, but I think I shall await what else you have to tell
\nme on that subject before doing so. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. Don’t delay long in sending the money. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[9] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1913] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI write only about 3 points today.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. Your R. S. Sharma I hold to be a police spy. I have refused
\nto see him because originally when he tried to force his way into my house & win my confidence by his extravagances I received
\na warning against him from within which has always been repeated. This was confirmed afterwards by two facts, first, that
\nthe Madras Police betrayed a very benevolent interest in the   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>189<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

success of his mission, secondly, that he came to Pondicherry afterwards as subeditor of a new Pondicherry paper, the Independent, subsequently defunct and replaced by another the Argus, belonging to the same proprietor who has been openly acting
\nin concert with the British Police against us in Pondicherry. In this paper he wrote a very sneering & depreciatory paragraph
\nabout me, (not by name, but by allusion,) in which he vented his spite at his failure. Failing even so to get any footing here, for
\nthe Swadeshis were warned against him, he returned to Madras. He seems now to have tried his hand with you at Calcutta &
\nsucceeded, probably, beyond his expectations! I wonder when you people will stop trusting the first stranger with a glib tongue
\nwho professes Nationalist fervour & devotion. Whether you accept my estimate of him or not, you may be sure that his
\nbhakti for me is humbug \u2014 as shown by the above newspaper incident \u2014 & you must accept at least the facts I have given
\nyou and draw any conclusions that common sense may suggest to you. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. Do not print Yoga & its Objects unless & until I give you positive directions. It cannot be printed in its present form, &
\nI may decide to complete the work before it is printed. In any case parts of it would have to be omitted or modified. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. Next, money matters. I could not understand your arithmetic about the Rs 40 and how we should gain by not getting
\nit. The only reason why we wrote constantly for it, was that it was necessary to us in our present financial position, in which
\nwe have to provide anxiously for every need and the failure of any expected sum reduces us to difficulties. I had reckoned
\non the remainder of Madgaokar’s money to pay the sum still due for the rent of our last house. Fortunately, the litigation
\nconnected with the house has kept the matter hanging; but it may be demanded from us one day & we shall have to pay at
\nonce, or face the prospect of being dragged into court & losing our prestige here entirely. In future, let me ask you, never to
\nundertake any payment to us which you are not sure of being able to fulfil, because of the great disorder in our arrangements
\nwhich results.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>190<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tOur position here now is at its worst; since all efforts to
\nget some help from here have been temporarily fruitless & we have to depend on your Rs 50 which is insufficient. We have
\nto pay Rs 15 for rent, other expenses come to not less, & the remaining Rs 20 cannot suffice for the food expenses of five people. Even any delay in your money arriving makes our Manager “see darkness”. That is why we had to telegraph. We did not
\nknow then that your last remittance of Rs 20 had arrived; & our available money was exhausted. Our correspondence agent
\nhas turned merchant & walked off to Madras indefinitely; in his absence we had great difficulty in getting hold of your letter
\n& indeed it is only today that it reached our hands. Narayan will give you a new address to which please address all letters in
\nfuture.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere is no “reason” for my not writing to you. I never
\nnowadays act on reasons, but only as an automaton in the hands of Another; sometimes He lets me know the reasons of
\nmy action, sometimes He does not, but I have to act \u2014 or refrain from action \u2014 all the same, according as He wills. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write nothing about sadhan etc. until I am out of my present struggle to make the Spirit prevail over matter & circumstances, in which for the present I have been getting badly the worst of it. Till then you must expect nothing but mere business
\nletters, \u2014 if any. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

[10] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[March 1914] <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRecently in the papers there has appeared a case of one
\nRashbehary Bose against whom a warrant of extradition has been granted by the Chandannagar Administrator
\nin a political<\/i>
\ncase<\/i>. Although ordinarily we do not concern ourselves with political matters, this concerns me & my friends because it is
\nan attack on the security of our position. If this kind of thing is allowed to go unchallenged, then any of us may at any moment
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>191<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

be extradited on a trumped up charge by the British police. I must therefore ask you to interest yourself in the matter, even though
\nit interferes with your Yoga. The case is clearly a political one; for the main charges in the Delhi case seem to be (1) a charge
\nof conspiracy on a clause relating to State (ie political) offences; (2) a charge of murder under Sc.-302 (?) read in connection
\nwith this State offence section, therefore an assassination with a political intention; (3) a charge under the Explosive Act, which
\nis an extraordinary measure passed in view of certain political conditions. Moreover all these cases are tried together & form
\npart of the same transaction, ie a political conspiracy directed against the existing form of
\nGovt.. & having for its object the
\nchange or overthrow of that Govt… Under the Extradition Treaty between France & England,
\n\u2014 unless that has been altered by
\nthe latest Treaty to which I have not had access, there can be no extradition for (1) a political offence, (2) an offence of a
\npolitical character or tendency, (3) on a charge which, though preferred as for an ordinary offence, is really an excuse or device
\nfor laying hands on a political offender. Rashbehary Bose is reported to be in hiding either in Chandannagar or the Panjab.
\nIf anybody moves therefore it can only be a relative or friend on his behalf,
\n\u2014 a relative would be much better. What you
\nhave to do is to get hold of someone entitled to act for him, consult the text of the latest Extradition Treaty between France
\n& England and, if it is as I have stated, then let it be put in the hands of a lawyer of the French Courts who must move
\nin the matter according to the French procedure about which I know nothing. I presume he would have to move the Govt
\n. in France or, failing there, the Court of Cassation in Paris, but
\nthe latter would be an expensive affair. So long as Bose is not handed over to the British (if he is in Chandannagar), the Court
\nof Cassation has, I should suppose the power of cancelling the warrant. I do not know whether it is necessary first to appeal to
\nthe
\n\t\t\tProcureur G\u00e9<\/font>n\u00e9<\/font>ral<\/span>
\n\t\t\tin Pondicherry before going to the Higher
\nCourt. On these points of procedure Bose’s representative will have to consult a French lawyer. In case he is handed over, the
\nHague decision with regard to Savarkar will come in the way   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>192<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n& make the thing almost hopeless. The French Govt might still .
\nmove on the ground that Bose is a French subject, but it could only succeed by strong diplomatic pressure which the present
\nFr. Govt might be unwilling to employ. In any case it might be .
\nworthwhile to get a decree of the Court of Cassation so as to establish the principle. There is always, however, the danger in
\nthese political cases, where justice & law are so seldom observed, of an opposite decision making the position worse than before.
\nIt would be worthwhile finding out what exactly was done & on what grounds in Charu Chander Ray’s case & seeing whether
\nthese grounds can be made to apply. If you will give me the exact facts of the warrant, the charges etc, I may be able to get
\n` a letter written to France so that Jaur\u00e8<\/font>s or others may move in
\nthe matter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs to your Tantric Yoga, the reasons of your failures are
\nso obvious that I am surprised you should attribute it all to the Goddess and not to the unpardonable blunders we have all been
\nmaking in our Yogic Kriya. <\/p>\n

Kali <\/p>\n

of the Tantra is not a goddess who is satisfied with mere tamasic faith & adoration. Perfection
\nin Kriya is indispensable or at least a conscientious and diligent attempt at perfection. This has not been made; on the contrary
\nall the defects that have made Tantra ineffective throughout the Kaliyuga abound in your
\nanusthana. <\/i>All this must be changed;
\nthe warning has been given & it will be wise to give heed to it. If not, \u2014 well, you know what the Gita says about those who
\nfrom ahankara <\/i>hear not.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe root of the whole evil is that we have been attempting an
\nextension of Tantric Kriya without any sufficient Vedantic basis. You especially were going on the basis that if a man had faith,
\nenthusiasm, intellectual & emotional sincerity & proffered self-surrender, all that was necessary was there & he could go on
\nstraight to difficult Tantric anusthana. This basis is condemned. A much stronger & greater foundation is necessary. It was the
\nbasis of the sattwic ahankara; which said to itself, “I am the chosen of Kali, I am her bhakta, I have every claim on her, I can
\nafford to be negligent about other things, she is bound to help & guard me”. It is this sattwic ahankara which I have long felt
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>193<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

to be the great obstacle in our Yoga; some have it in the sattwa-rajasic form, others in the sattwo-tamasic, but it is there in you
\nall, blinding your vision, limiting your strength, frustrating your progress. And its worst quality is that it is unwilling to admit its
\nown defects, or if it admits one, it takes refuge in another. Open your eyes to this enemy within you and expel it. Without that
\npurification you can have no success. To “do rajasic kriya in a sattwic spirit” is merely to go on in the old way while pretending
\nto oneself that there is a change. Going on in the old way is out of the question. That path can only lead to the pit. I speak strongly
\nbecause I see clearly; if not yet with absolute vision yet without that misleading false light which marred all my seeing till now &
\nallowed me to be swept in the flood of confused sattwo-rajasic impure Shakti which came with you from Bengal. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy first instruction to you therefore is to pause, stand on the defensive against your spiritual enemies & go on with your
\nVedantic Yoga. God is arranging things for me in my knowledge, but the process is not yet finished. I shall send you (it will take
\ntwo or three letters) the lines on which I wish the Vedantic & Tantric lines to be altered & developed; afterwards we shall see
\nwhen we have recovered from the stress that was upon us, how He intends to work them out in practice. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPlease send me the Rs 50 with you, as I am again in the position of having to replace money diverted to current expenses
\n& have very little [if]10<\/font><\/sup> any living money left. Also try & get the rest of the money from Das. If not, you will have to find me
\nan additional 20 for the last month & another 20 for next in addition to the monthly Rs 50 & deduct the sum of Rs 30 from
\nDas’ payment when you do get it. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. I have a sum of Rs 10 to pay monthly for a purpose unconnected with our own expenses & in addition certain additional expenses of my own which I cannot dispense with; for this reason Rs 50 is insufficient. I hope Das will be in a position
\nto send the balance of the money this time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t10 MS <\/i>of
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>194<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[11] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[April 1914] <\/p>\n

Dear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI send you today the electoral declaration of M. Paul
\nRichard, one of the candidates at the approaching election for the French Chamber. This election is of some importance
\nto us; for there are two of the candidates who represent our views to a great extent, Laporte & Richard. Richard is not
\nonly a personal friend of mine and a brother in the Yoga, but he wishes, like myself, & in his own way works for a
\ngeneral renovation of the world by which the present European civilisation shall be replaced by a spiritual civilisation. In that
\nchange the resurrection of the Asiatic races & especially of India is an essential point. He & Madame Richard are rare
\nexamples of European Yogins who have not been led away by Theosophical and other aberrations. I have been in material
\nand spiritual correspondence with them for the last four years. Of course, they know nothing of Tantric Yoga. It is only in the
\nVedantic that we meet. If Richard were to become deputy for French India, that would practically mean the same thing as
\nmyself being deputy for French India. Laporte is a Swadeshi with personal ambitions; his success would not mean the same
\nbut at any rate it would mean a strong and, I believe, a faithful ally in power in this country and holding a voice in France. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf course, there is no chance, humanly speaking, of their being elected this time. Laporte is not strong enough to change
\nthe situation singlehanded. Richard has come too late; otherwise so great is the disgust of the people with Bluysen & Lemaire, Gaebel\u00e9<\/font> and Pierre that I think we could have managed an electoral revolution. Still, it is necessary, if it can at all be done, to stir things a little at the present moment and form a nucleus of
\ntendency &, if possible, of active result which would be a foundation for the future & enable us at the next election to present
\none or other of these candidates with a fair chance of success.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI want to know whether it is possible, without your exposing
\nyourself, to have the idea spread in Chandernagore, especially  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>195<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

among the younger men, of the desirability of these candidatures & the abandonment of the old parochial & rotten politics of
\nFrench India, with its following of interested local Europeans & subservience to their petty ambitions in favour of a politics of
\nprinciples which will support one of our own men or a European like Richard who is practically an Indian in beliefs, in personal
\nculture, in sympathies & aspirations, one of the Nivedita type. If also a certain number of votes can be recorded for Richard in
\nChandernagore so much the better; for that will mean a practical beginning, a tendency from the sukshma world materialised
\ninitially in the sthula. If you think this can be done, please get it done \u2014 always taking care not to expose yourself. For your
\nmain work is not political, but spiritual. If there can be a Bengali translation of Richard’s manifesto, or much better, a statement
\nof the situation & the desirability of his candidature succeeding, \u2014 always steering clear of extremism and British Indian politics,
\n\u2014 it should be done & distributed. I lay stress on these things because it is necessary that the conditions of Chandernagore &
\nPondicherry should be changed, the repetition of recent events rendered impossible and the cession of French territory put out
\nof the question. There would be other & more positive gains by the change, but these I need not emphasise now. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have just received your letter & the money. I shall delay answering it for the present, as this letter must go immediately.
\nl shall answer soon, however. I am only waiting till this election is over to give some shape to the decision I have arrived at
\nto resume personally my work on the material plane and it is necessary that there should be some arrangement by which the
\nVedantic work can go on unhampered by the effect of errors in Tantric kriya. For Tantric kriya carried on in the old style, to
\nwhich your people seem to be so undivorceably attached, can only help so far as to keep up the Yogic flame in the hearts of
\na few, while on the other hand it is full of dangers to the spirit & the body. It is only by a wide Vedantic movement leading
\nlater to a greater Tantra that the work of regeneration can be done; & of that movement neither you nor Saurin can be the
\nhead. It needs a wider knowledge & a greater spiritual force   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>196<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin the Adhara through which it is engineered; it needs, in fact, the greatest which India contains & which is at the same time
\nwilling to take it up. I see only Devavrata & myself who have the idea \u2014 for the Dayanandas & others are a negligible quantity,
\n& Devavrata seems to me to have gone off for the moment on a wrong route & through egoism has even allowed his spiritual
\nforce to be used against us by secret forces in the sukshma world which he is not yet advanced enough to understand. Therefore,
\nif God wills, I will take the field. <\/p>\n

\n K.<\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. Gaebel\u00e9 has given me strenuous assurances that Bluysen
\nis not working for the cession of Chandannagar & has sworn
\nthat he (Gaebel\u00e9) will ever be a stern and furious opponent of any such cession as well as a staunch defender of the Swadeshi
\nrefugees! Such is the fervour of electoral promises! He has given
\na number of the
\n\t\t\tJournal des D\u00e9bats<\/span>
\n\t\t\tin which there is a full account of Bluysen’s interpellations, from which it appears that
\nboth Bluysen & Doumergue were agreed that there can be no question of cession but only of “rectification of Pondicherry
\nboundaries”. But only then did Bluysen tell us solemnly that the cession was a “settled fact” & any refugee in Ch must run to
\nPondicherry at once. However, I am trying to send you or get sent to Banamali Pal the copy of the Journal, so that Bluysen
\nmay have the benefit of his public declarations. They are in a sense binding, if anything can bind a French politician. If you
\ndon’t get the Journal, at any rate contrive that the substance of it as given by me here should be known in Ch, if it is not known
\nalready. For you must remember that Lemaire has made no such declaration and is not bound at all by any past professions, but
\nhas rather been an advocate of the cession.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[12] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

17 April, 1914 <\/p>\n

Dear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe political situation here is as follows. In appearance Bluysen and Lemaire face each other on the old lines and the
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>197<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

real fight is between them. Bluysen has the support of the whole administration, except a certain number of Lemairistes who
\nare quiescent and in favour of it. The Governor Martineau, Gaebel\u00e9, the Police Lieutenant & the Commissaire form his political committee. By threats & bribes the Maires of all the
\nCommunes except two have been forced or induced to declare on his side. He has bought or got over most of the Hindu traders in
\nPondicherry. He has brought over 50,000 Rupees for his election & is prepared to purchase the whole populace, if necessary. Is
\nit British rupees, I wonder? The British Govt is also said to be interfering on his behalf and it is certain the Mahomedan
\nCollector of Cuddalore has asked his coreligionists to vote for this master of corruption. A violent administrative pressure is
\nbeing brought to bear both at Pondicherry & Karikal, & the Maires being on his side the Electoral Colleges will be in his
\nhands with all their possibilities of fraud & violence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLemaire has for him most of the Christians & Renon\u00e7<\/font>ants (except the young men who are for Richard) and Pierre. But the
\nPierre party is entirely divided. Kotia refuses to declare himself,
\nmost of the others are Bluysenites, the
\n\t\t\tComit\u00e9<\/font> Radical<\/span>
\n\t\t\thas thrice met without Pierre being able to overcome the opposition against
\nhim. Lemaire had two chances, one that if the people could be got to vote, Pierre’s influence over the mass might carry the day
\nfor him, the other that Nandagopalu might intimidate the enemy & counteract the administration. But Nandagopalu instead of
\nintimidating is himself intimidated; he is hiding in his house &
\nsending obsequious messages to Gaebel\u00e9 & Martineau. So great at one time was the despair of the Lemairistes, that Pierre offered
\n\t\t\tthrough Richard to withdraw Lemaire, if Gaebel\u00e9 withdraws
\nBluysen, the two enemies then to shake hands & unite in support of Richard or another candidate.
\n\t\t\tGaebel\u00e9 would have been glad to accept the offer, but he cannot, he has taken huge sums
\nfrom Bluysen. The leaders are almost all bought over by Bluysen & those who remain on Lemaire’s side dare not act. The only
\nweapon now in Lemaire’s hands is vague threat and rumour, that the Cabinet has fallen, that Martineau is suspended, that the new
\nPolice Captain is his man etc. There are also rumours of a sudden   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>198<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n coup d’\u00e9tat<\/span>
\n\t\t\tby Lemaire on the election day, of Appa Swami being
\ncarried off or killed, of the [Recensement]11<\/font><\/sup> Committee being in his hands & it is true that the President is a Lemairiste. But I
\ndo not see how these things are going to be done. There may, of course, be a sudden Lemairiste rally, but at present it seems as
\nif Bluysen by the help of the Administration money, the British Government and the devil were likely to win an easy victory. <\/p>\n

\n Laporte had some chance of strong backing at the beginning but his own indolence & mistakes have destroyed it. He is now
\nwaiting on God and Lemaire into whose shoes he dreams of stepping, \u2014 for Lemaire has promised him that if he gets no
\nfavourable answer from France he will desist in Laporte’s favour and Laporte being a man of faith is sitting quiet in that glorious
\nexpectation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen there is Richard. He has neither agent, nor committee,
\nnor the backing of a single influential man. What he has is the sympathy & good wishes of all the Hindus & Mahomedans
\nin Pondicherry & Karikal with the exception of the Vaniyas who are for Bluysen. The people are sick to death of the old
\ncandidates, they hate Bluysen, they abhor Lemaire & if only they could be got to vote according to their feelings, Richard
\nwould come in by an overwhelming majority. But they are overawed by the Govt.. and wait for some influential man among
\nthe Hindus to declare for him. No such man is forthcoming. All are either bought by Bluysen or wish to be on the winning
\nside. Under these circumstances the danger is that the people will not vote at all and the electoral committees will be free
\nto manufacture in their names bogus votes for Bluysen. On the other hand an impression has been made at Karikal, where
\nthe young men are working zealously for Richard; some of its communes are going to support him; some of the leaders who
\nare themselves pledged to Bluysen have promised to tell their followers that they are free to vote for Richard if they wish;
\nthe Mahomedan leaders of Karikal are for Bluysen or rather for his money, but the mass have resolved to vote neither for <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t11 MS <\/i>Recension   <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>199<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

B. nor Lemaire, & either not to vote at all or for Richard. At Pondicherry, Villenour has promised to declare for Richard the
\nday before the election so as to avoid prolonged administrative pressure. Certain sections of the community e.g. the young men
\namong the Christians and a number of the Mahomedans, \u2014 Richard is to speak at the mosque and a great number may
\npossibly come over, \u2014 and a certain nucleus of the Hindus are certain to vote for him. We count also on the impression that
\ncan be given during the next few days. If in addition Chandernagore can give a large vote for Richard, there is a chance not
\nof carrying Richard but of preventing a decisive vote at the first election, so that there may be a second ballot. If that is done,
\ngreat numbers who hesitate to vote for Richard in the idea that Bluysen must carry all before him, may pick up courage & turn
\nthe whole situation, \u2014 to say nothing of the chances of Lemaire retiring & his whole vote coming over or a great part of it.
\nTherefore, I say, throw aside all other considerations and let the young men of Chandernagore at least put all their strength
\non Richard’s side and against the two unspeakable representatives of Evil who dispute the election between them. For if
\nthey do not, humanly speaking, Chandernagore seems to be doomed. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI wrote to you in my last doubtfully about Bluysen’s or
\nrather Gaebel\u00e9’s professions about Ch. and the Swadeshis. Since then, even Martineau has condescended to let us know that he
\nis trying to get the British police sent away from Pondicherry. But all this is either sheer falsehood or late repentance for the
\nconvenience of the moment. The damning facts are that Bluysen saw the Viceroy on his last visit, that it is known on this occasion the whole talk was about this cession of Chandernagore, that on his return he told Bharati the cession of Ch was a settled fact and while before <\/i>his trip northward, he was gushing over to the Swadeshis,
\nafterwards <\/i>he roundly declared that he
\ncould not help us openly because the Cabinet was pro-English & he must follow the Cabinet, that he went to Karikal and
\ndeclared to a number of people (this has only yesterday come to my knowledge) that Chandernagore was going to be ceded<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

to the British with Bluysen’s consent; that, on his second &
\npresent visit, he was entertained by the Collector of Cuddalore on his way & that that Collector has condescended to act as
\nan electoral agent for him with his coreligionists. It is perfectly clear now that the man has sold himself to England
\n\u2014 selling &
\nbuying himself & others seem to be his only profession in the world. Therefore every vote given for Bluysen in Ch. is a vote
\nfor the cession of Chandernagore to the British.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn the other hand if you vote for Lemaire, it means the same
\nthing at a later date. For he was the first to broach the question in the public press in France, he has advised the suppression of
\nthe vote in French India, he has English connections & is an Anglophil. Not only so, but although asked by the Hindus to
\nrecant his former views if he wanted their vote, he has refused to do it, & this refusal has contributed largely to the failure of Pierre
\nto carry the Hindus with him. Let these facts be widely known in Chandernagore, both about Bluysen & Lemaire, let it be known
\nthat Richard is a Hindu in faith, a Hindu in heart and a man whose whole life is devoted to the ideal of lifting up humanity
\n& specially Asia & India & supporting the oppressed against the strong, the cause of the future which is our cause against
\nall that hampers and resists it. If after that, Chandernagore still votes for Bluysen or Lemaire, it is its own choice & it will have
\nitself to thank for anything that may follow.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have more to write of these things from the spiritual point of
\n\t\t\tview, but I shall leave it till tomorrow or the day after as this
\n\t\t\tletter must go at once. Put faith in God & act. You have seen that
\n\t\t\twhen He wills, He can bring about impossibilities. Do not look too
\n\t\t\tmuch at the chances of success & failure in this matter
\n\t\t\t.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali  <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\t\t\t[13<\/b>] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5 May [1914]. <\/p>\n

\nDear M \u2014<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe election is over \u2014 or what they call an election \u2014 with the
\n\t\t\tresult that the man who had the fewer real votes has got the
\n\t\t\tmajority. As for M. Richard’s votes, they got rid of them in
\n\t\t\tPondicherry & Karikal by the simple process of reading Paul Bluysen
\n\t\t\twherever Paul Richard was printed. Even where he brought his voters
\n\t\t\tin Karikal to the poll himself, the results were published "Richard
\n\t\t\t\u2014 0". At Villenur people were simply prevented from voting for him
\n\t\t\tor anyone else. As for the results they had been arranged on the
\n\t\t\tevening before the election by M. Gaebel\u00e9 & were made to fit in
\n\t\t\twith his figures. The extent to which this was done you can imagine
\n\t\t\tfrom the fact that at Nandagopal’s village where there is no single Bluysenite, there were only 13 "votes" for Lemaire and all the rest
\n\t\t\tfor Bluysen. The same result in Mudrapalli which is strong for
\n\t\t\tPierre, except in one college where Sada (President of the
\n\t\t\tCercle Sportif<\/span>) was interpreter & did not
\n\t\t\tallow any humbug; knowing whom they had to deal with, they did not
\n\t\t\tdare to falsify the results. There Bluysen got only 33 votes against
\n\t\t\t200 & more for Lemaire. In most places, this would have been the
\n\t\t\tnormal result, if there had been any election at all. As for
\n\t\t\tRichard, he would probably have got a thousand votes beside the
\n\t\t\tChandernagore total; as in some five Colleges of Pondicherry alone
\n\t\t\the had about 300 which were transmuted into zero, & we know of one
\n\t\t\tvillage in which he had 91 who were prevented forcibly from voting.
\n\t\t\tBluysen normally would hardly have got 5000 in the whole of French
\n\t\t\tIndia. Of course protests are being prepared from every side, & if
\n\t\t\tBluysen is not supported by the Cabinet which is likely to come in
\n\t\t\tafter the elections in France, the election may be invalidated.
\n\t\t\tOtherwise, for some time, he may reign in spite of the hatred &
\n\t\t\tcontempt of the whole population by the terror of the administration
\n\t\t\tand the police. This Madrasi population is so deficient in even the
\n\t\t\trudiments of moral courage that one cannot hope very much from it.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\t\t\tMeanwhile Richard intends to remain in India for 2 years & work for
\n\t\t\tthe people. He is trying to start an Association of the young men of
\n\t\t\tPondicherry & Karikal as a sort of training ground from which men
\n\t\t\tcan be chosen for the Vedantic Yoga. Everything is a little nebulous
\n\t\t\tas yet. I shall write to you about it when things are more definite. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSince writing the above I have received your last letter. As for the
\n\t\t\telection, we must wait to see whether Bluysen is validated or not.
\n\t\t\tEven if he is not, I do not think Richard can stand again until the
\n\t\t\tnew party in Pondicherry is increased & organised & that will have
\n\t\t\tto be done quietly at first. There is, however, just one
\n\t\t\tpossibility, that if something happens which it is just now \u00b4
\n\t\t\tneedless to mention, it might be feasible to unite Gaebel\u00e9 & Pierre
\n\t\t\tin a candidature of reconciliation. The idea was raised by Pierre
\n\t\t\thimself & very reluctantly rejected by Gaebel\u00e9 before the elections.
\n\t\t\tAnother time it might succeed & even if Richard were not the
\n\t\t\tcandidate chosen, he would get a great influence by engineering the
\n\t\t\tsettlement. Otherwise we shall have to await a more favourable
\n\t\t\topportunity. As for Bluysen he has made himself a byword for every
\n\t\t\tkind of rascality & oppression, & is now the enemy much rather than
\n\t\t\tLemaire. These things we shall see to afterwards. The young men of
\n\t\t\tPondicherry & Karikal are sending a protest with signed declarations
\n\t\t\tof facts observed in the election & two hundred signatures to the
\n\t\t\tMinister, the Chambre<\/span> & the
\n\t\t\tTemps<\/span> newspaper. It
\n\t\t\thas also been read aloud by the President in the Commission of
\n\t\t\tRecensement & produced a great impression \u2014 moral only, of course.
\n\t\t\tIn France, the opinion of the "jeunesse<\/span>"
\n\t\t\tis much valued and, joined with the Lemairiste protests, it may
\n\t\t\tpossibly have some effect, unless either Bluysen buys the Validation
\n\t\t\tCommittee or is supported \u00b4 by the French "hommes
\n\t\t\td’\u00e9tat<\/span>". There is an ugly rumour that \u00b4
\n\t\t\tPoincare supports Bluysen; & there are always corrupt financial
\n\t\t\tdealings underlying French politics which the outside world does not
\n\t\t\tsee. If so, we must put spiritual force against the banded forces of
\n\t\t\tevil & see the result.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext as to money matters. My present position is that I have
\n\t\t\texhausted all my money along with Rs 60 Richard forced   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

on me & am still in debt for the Rs 130 due for the old rent. I do not like to
\ntake more money from Richard, for he has sold one fourth of his wife’s fortune
\n(a very small one) in order to be able to come & work for India, & the money he
\nhas can only carry him through the 2 years he thinks of staying here. I should
\ntherefore be impoverishing them by taking anything from them. Of course, they
\nbelieve that money will come whenever it is necessary; but then God’s idea of
\nnecessity & ours do not always agree. As for Rangaswamy, there is a fatality
\nabout his money, \u2014 it is intercepted by all sorts of people & very little
\nreaches me even on the rare occasions when he sends anything. I have no hope,
\ntherefore, of any regular help from that quarter. Even in the fact of your being
\nunable to meet him, fate has been against us. On the other hand, Saurin writes
\nthat he has been able to "fix" Rs 1000 a year for me in Bengal. Is this merely
\nthe refixing of Das’ promise or something else. As for fixing anything may be
\nfixed orally or on paper; the difficulty is to realise what has been fixed. He
\nsays also there is Rs 500 awaiting me, my share of the garden money. He wants it
\nfor his "commerce", but when I have no money to live on, I can hardly comply. He
\ndoes not tell me what I am to do to get the money, but only that I can get it
\nwhenever I want it. I am writing to him to Meherpur, but if you see him in
\nCalcutta, ask him to get it & send it to me at once. With this money I may be
\nable to go on for a few months till something definite & regular can be settled
\n& worked out. As for the sum I need monthly, so long as S & the others do not
\nreturn, I need Rs 50 monthly for my own expenses  Rs 10 not for myself, but
\nstill absolutely indispensable. When S & the others return, that will no longer
\nbe sufficient. I am writing to S to try and make some real bandobast about money
\nbefore coming back. Please also press Shyama Babu and the others for the money
\ndue to me. This habit of defalcation of money for "noble & philanthropic"
\npurposes in which usually the ego is largely the beneficiary is one of the
\ncurses of our movement &, so long as it is continued, Lakshmi will not return to
\nthis country. I have sharply discontinued all looseness of the kind myself & it
\nmust be discouraged henceforth wherever we meet it. It is   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nmuch better & more honest to be a thief for our own personal benefit, than under
\nthese holy masks. And always, if one must plunder, it is best to do it as a
\nKshatriya, not with the corruption of the Vaishya spirit of gain which is the
\nchief enemy in our present struggle. What you have to do, is to try to make some
\nreal arrangement, not a theoretical arrangement, by which the burden of my
\nexpenses may be shifted off your shoulders until I am able to make my own
\nprovision. Meanwhile get me Rs 150 & the Rs 500 due to me (garden money) &, if
\nafterwards we can make no other arrangement, we shall then have to consider the
\nquestion again. It is this point of equipment, not only for myself but for my
\nwork in which the opposition of the Kaliyuga forces is just now the most
\nobstinate. It has somehow to be overcome.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRichard has paid the Rs 51. I am keeping the sum as the Rs 50 for
\n\t\t\tlast month  1. Please cut it off from the sum you would
\n\t\t\totherwise have sent \u2014 (not, however, from the Rs 130 for the payment
\n\t\t\tof the rent). Please also get us some cloths sent from Calcutta, as
\n\t\t\tthey are very urgently needed, especially as I may now have to go
\n\t\t\tout from time to time breaking my old rule of seclusion. I am also
\n\t\t\tin need of a pair of shoes as Bharati has bagged the pair I had.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen for more important subjects. You write about Biren being here.
\n\t\t\tI do not hold the same opinion about Biren as Saurin etc do, who are
\n\t\t\tinclined towards a very black interpretation of his character &
\n\t\t\tactions. It seems to me that events have corroborated all he said
\n\t\t\tabout his relations with certain undesirable persons. Moreover I see
\n\t\t\tthat he has taken Yoga earnestly & has made for him a rapid
\n\t\t\tprogress. I am also unaware of anything he has said to others which
\n\t\t\twould help any evilminded person in establishing a wrong
\n\t\t\tinterpretation of your philosophic & social activities. I fail to
\n\t\t\tfind in him, looking at him spiritually, those ineffable blacknesses
\n\t\t\twhich were supposed to dwell in him, \u2014 only flightiness, weakness,
\n\t\t\tindiscretion, childish & erratic impulsiveness & self-will & certain
\n\t\t\tundesirable
\npossibilities <\/i>present in many young Bengalis, in a certain type, indeed,
\n\t\t\twhich has done much harm in the past. All these have recently much
\n\t\t\tdiminished & I hope even to eradicate them by the Yoga. In fact, the
\n\t\t\tview   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

of his presence here forced on me by that which guides me, is that he was sent
\nhere as the representative of this type & that I have to change & purify it. If
\nI can do this in the representative, it is possible in the future to do so in
\nthe class, & unless I can do it, the task I have set for myself for India will
\nremain almost too difficult for solution. For as long as that element remains
\nstrong, Bengal can never become what it is intended to be.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou will say, supposing I am wrong & Saurin right, or supposing I
\n\t\t\tfail. In any case, he cannot strike your work except by first
\n\t\t\tstriking at me, since he does not know anything about you directly
\n\t\t\tor independently of his stay here. Still, there is the possibility
\n\t\t\t(intellectually) of even that happening. That raises a whole
\n\t\t\tquestion which it is necessary to settle \u2014 the entire separation of
\n\t\t\tVedantic Yoga from other activities. You must realise that my work
\n\t\t\tis a very vast one & that I must in doing it, come in close contact
\n\t\t\twith all sorts of people including Europeans, perhaps even
\n\t\t\tofficials, perhaps even spies & officials. For instance, there is
\n\t\t\tBiren. There is a French man named Stair Siddhar now in
\n\t\t\tChandernagore, who came to me & whom I had to see & sound. He is a
\n\t\t\tqueer sort of fool with something of the knave, but he had
\n\t\t\tpossibilities which I had to sound. There is Richard who is to know
\n\t\t\tnothing about Tantricism. There are a host of possible <\/i>young
\n\t\t\tmen whom I must meet & handle, but who may not turn out well. It is
\n\t\t\tobviously impossible for me to do this work, if the close connection
\n\t\t\twith Tantriks remains & everyone whom I meet & receive is supposed
\n\t\t\tby people there to be a mighty & venerable person who is to be taken
\n\t\t\tat once into perfect confidence by reason of having been for a time
\n\t\t\tin my august shadow. It won’t do at all. The whole thing must be
\n\t\t\trearranged on a reasonable basis. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFirst, it must be known among our friends that my whole action is
\n\t\t\tabout to be such as I have described, so that they may not again
\n\t\t\trepeat that kind of mistake.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSecondly, those immediately connected with me must be aloof
\n\t\t\tphysically from Tantricism \u2014 because of the discredit it brings, \u2014 &
\n\t\t\tintangible by evilminded persons. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThirdly, Biren & others of that kind must be made to under  <\/p>\n

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\n

\nstand that Tantra for us is discontinued until farther notice which can be only
\nin the far future. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFourthly, the written basis of Vedantic Yoga has now become
\n\t\t\timpossible & must be entirely changed &, as far as possible,
\n\t\t\twithdrawn from circulation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThese are details, but important details. There is one matter,
\n\t\t\thowever, which has to be settled, that of the Brahmin. The Brahmin,
\n\t\t\tit appears, has made himself impossible as an agent or, at least, he
\n\t\t\tis so considered. Then as for your direct communication with
\n\t\t\tSarathi, it is looked upon with dislike by Sarathi’s people & I do
\n\t\t\tnot know what S’s own sentiments in the matter may be. Of course,
\n\t\t\tthe reason they allege is obvious enough. There is one of my own
\n\t\t\tpeople here who might do it, but he is so useful in other important
\n\t\t\tmatters that I hesitate to use him as an agent in this. That is why
\n\t\t\tI am in a difficulty & I get no light on the question from above,
\n\t\t\tonly the intellect stumbles about between possibilities against all
\n\t\t\tof which there is an objection, especially from the new point of
\n\t\t\tview which demands for the present a spotless peace & irreproachable
\n\t\t\treputation in these matters for the centre of Yogic activity here.
\n\t\t\tNevertheless, the thing must be done, although as the last legacy of
\n\t\t\tthe old state of things. I shall write to you on the old lines about
\n\t\t\tit in a few days, as also about the future of the Tantric Yoga.
\n\t\t\tJudging from what I have heard of the facts, I do not think the
\n\t\t\tdifficulty about S is likely to materialise \u2014 unless there are facts
\n\t\t\tbehind of which I do not know. Unfortunately the manner in which the
\n\t\t\tTantric Yoga has been carried on is so full of the old faults of
\n\t\t\tformer Tantric sadhana that a catastrophe was inevitable. The new
\n\t\t\tYoga cannot be used as a sort of sauce for old dishes; it must
\n\t\t\toccupy the whole place on peril of serious difficulties in the
\n\t\t\tsiddhi & even disasters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write to you about what I propose to do about Vedantic Yoga
\n\t\t\t& publication; as yet it has not been sufficiently formulated to
\n\t\t\twrite. At present we have only started a new
\n\u00b4<\/i> society here called L’Id\u00e9e Nouvelle<\/span> <\/i> (the New Idea) & are trying to get
\n\t\t\tan authorisation. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

[postscript in another hand:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Dear Moti baboo <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe are in absolute want of clothes. Will you please take a little
\n\t\t\tattention on that point and relieve us from this absolute want. K is
\n\t\t\tgoing out now a days and at least for that we want some clothes. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDo not send it [in] Jogin’s name they are going back to Bengal. Send
\n\t\t\tit to David. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tB. <\/p>\n

\n[14] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[June 1914] <\/p>\n

\nDear M<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have received from Grindlays Rs 400. That leaves Rs 200 out of the
\n\t\t\tRs 1000, which I hope will be received by next August. We have also
\n\t\t\tthe clothes & shoes, \u2014 but for myself only the slippers are useful
\n\t\t\tas the shoes are too large. I have written to Saurin about the
\n\t\t\tgarden money & he says he has asked Sukumar to send it. But I have
\n\t\t\treceived nothing as yet. If I get this money and the remaining 200
\n\t\t\tfrom Das, that will be Rs 1100 in hand. With 100 more and 130 on
\n\t\t\taccount of the old rent, say Rs 250 altogether, we shall be provided
\n\t\t\tfor bare necessities for a year, during which other conditions may
\n\t\t\tarise. That Rs 250 ought to come from Sham Babu and Sharma, but
\n\t\t\tthere is little hope of money once swallowed by a patriot being
\n\t\t\tdisgorged again. His philanthropic stomach digests sovereignly. I
\n\t\t\tmust seek it elsewhere. If this can be done, the only burden which
\n\t\t\twill fall on you is to refurnish us with apparel and footwear from
\n\t\t\ttime to time. At the same time an attempt should be made to keep up
\n\t\t\tthe arrangement with Das, if possible; for we do not know whether
\n\t\t\tour attempt to provide otherwise will succeed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat attempt takes the form of a new philosophical Review with
\n\t\t\tRichard and myself as Editors \u2014 the Arya, which is to be brought out
\n\t\t\tin French & English, two separate editions, \u2014 one   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nfor France, one for India, England & America. In this Review my new theory of
\nthe Veda will appear as also a translation and explanation of the Upanishads, a
\nseries of essays giving my system of Yoga & a book of Vedantic philosophy (not
\nShankara’s but Vedic Vedanta) giving the Upanishadic foundations of my theory of
\nthe ideal life towards which humanity must move. You will see so far as my share
\nis concerned, it will be the intellectual side of my work for the world. The
\nReview will be of 64 pages to start with and the subscription Rs 6 annually. Of
\nthe French edition 600 copies will be issued, and it will cost about Rs 750 a
\nyear minus postage. Richard reckoned 200 subscribers in France at the start, ie
\nRs 1200 in the year. For the English edition we are thinking of an issue of 1000
\ncopies, at a cost of about Rs 1200 annually. We shall need therefore at least
\n200 subscribers to meet this expense & some more so that the English edition may
\npay all its own expenses. Let us try 250 subscribers to start with, with the
\nideal of having 800 to 1000 in the first year. If these subscribers can be got
\nbefore the Review starts, we shall have a sound financial foundation to start
\nwith. The question is, can they be got. We are printing a prospectus with
\nspecimens of the writings from my translation & commentary on a Vedic hymn, and
\nan extract from Richard’s collections of the central sayings of great sages of
\nall times called the Eternal Wisdom to show the nature of the Review. This is
\nsupposed to come out in the middle of this month, & the Review on the 15th
\nAugust, so there will be nearly two months for collecting subscribers. How far
\ncan you help us in this work? There is always one thing about which great care
\nhas to be taken, that is, there should be no entanglement of this Review in
\nIndian politics or a false association created by the police finding it in the
\nhouse of some political suspects they search for; in that case people will be
\nafraid to subscribe. My idea is that young men should be got as agents who would
\ncanvas for the Review all over Bengal, but there so many young men are now
\npolitical suspects that it may not be easy to find any who will be free & active
\n& yet above suspicion. In that case some other method must be tried. I should
\nlike to know from you as soon as possible <\/i>how far you   <\/p>\n

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\n

can help us & how many copies of the prospectus we should send to you. If the
\nreview succeeds, if, that is to say, we get in India 850 regular subscribers,
\nand 250 in France etc. we shall be able to meet the expenses of the
\nestablishment, translation-staff etc. and yet have enough for each of the
\neditors to live on with their various kinds of families, say Rs 100 a month for
\neach. In that case the money-question will practically be solved. There will of
\ncourse be other expenses besides mere living & there may be from time to time
\nexceptional expenses, such as publication of books etc., but these may be met
\notherwise or as the Review increases its subscribers. Therefore use your best
\nendeavours towards this end. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe second part of my work is the practical, consisting in the
\n\t\t\tpractice of Yoga by an ever increasing number of young men all over
\n\t\t\tthe country. We have started here a society called the New Idea with
\n\t\t\tthat object, & a good many young men are taking up Vedantic Yoga &
\n\t\t\tsome progressing much. You say that it has spread in the North all
\n\t\t\tover. But in what way? I am not at all enamoured of the way in which
\n\t\t\tit seems to be practised outside Bengal. It seems there to be mixed
\n\t\t\tup with the old kind of Tantra sometimes of the most paishachic &
\n\t\t\tundesirable kind & to be kept merely as a sauce for that fiery &
\n\t\t\tgruesome dish. Better no vyapti at all outside Bengal, if it is not
\n\t\t\tto be purified and divine Yoga. In Bengal itself, there are faults
\n\t\t\twhich cannot but have undesirable consequences. In the first place,
\n\t\t\tthere is the misplacement of values. Vedanta is practised, or so it
\n\t\t\tseems to be in some quarters, for the sake of Tantra, & in order to
\n\t\t\tgive a force to Tantra. That is not right at all. Tantra is only
\n\t\t\tvaluable in so far as it enables us to give effect to Vedanta & in
\n\t\t\titself it has no value or necessity at all. Then the two are mixed
\n\t\t\tup in a most undesirable fashion, so that the Vedanta is likely to
\n\t\t\tbe affected by the same disrepute and difficulties on the way of
\n\t\t\tprofession as hamper the recognition of the truth in Tantra ie in
\n\t\t\tits real sense, value and effectivity. There are difficulties enough
\n\t\t\talready, let us not wilfully increase them. You have seen, for
\n\t\t\tinstance, that in recent political trials Yoga pamphlets & bombs
\n\t\t\tseem to have been kept together everywhere with the queerest
\n\t\t\tincongruity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>210<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

That is a thing we could not control, we can only hope that it will not happen
\nagain. But meanwhile the work of publicity and spreading our yoga has got an
\nunnecessary difficulty thrown in its way. Do not let any add to it by
\nassociating Vedanta & Tantra together in an inextricable fashion. The Tantric
\nYogins are few and should be comparatively reticent \u2014 for Vedanta is a wider
\nthing and men may then help to fulfil it in all kinds of ways. Let the Tantriks
\nthen practise Vedanta silently, not trumpeting abroad its connection with their
\nown particular school but with self-restraint and the spirit of self-sacrifice,
\nknowing that they are only one small corps in a march that is vast and so meant
\nto be world-embracing. The more they isolate themselves from the rest of the
\nhost that is in formation, the more they will be free for their own work & the
\nmore they will help without hampering the wider march. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen as to the work of the Tantric discipline & kriya itself.
\n\t\t\tRemember that Tantra is not like Vedanta, it exists as a Yoga for
\n\t\t\tmaterial gains, that has always been its nature. Only now not for
\n\t\t\tpersonal gains, but for effectivity in certain directions of the
\n\t\t\tgeneral Yoga of mankind. The question I wish you to ask yourself, is
\n\t\t\twhether you think that with its present imperfect basis it can
\n\t\t\treally do the work for which it was intended. I see that it cannot.
\n\t\t\tThere have been two stages; first the old Tantra which has broken
\n\t\t\tdown & exists only in a scattered way ineffectual for any great end
\n\t\t\tof humanity. Secondly, our own new Tantra which succeeded at first
\n\t\t\tbecause it was comparatively pure in spite of the difficulties
\n\t\t\tcreated by the remnants of egoism. But since then two things have
\n\t\t\thappened. It has tried to extend itself with the result of bringing
\n\t\t\tin undesirable elements; secondly, it has tried to attempt larger
\n\t\t\tresults from a basis which was no longer sufficient & had begun to
\n\t\t\tbe unsound. A third stage is now necessary, that of a preparation in
\n\t\t\tfull knowledge no longer resting on a blind faith in God’s power and
\n\t\t\twill, but receiving consciously that will, the illumination that
\n\t\t\tguides its workings and the power that determines its results. If
\n\t\t\tthe thing is to be done it must be done no longer as by a troop
\n\t\t\tstumbling on courageously in the dark & losing its best strength by
\n\t\t\tfailures &   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>211<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

the results of unhappy blunders, but with the full divine power working out its
\nwill in its instruments. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat is necessary for that action? First, that the divine knowledge
\n\t\t\t& power should manifest perfectly in at least one man in India. In
\n\t\t\tmyself it is trying so to manifest as rapidly as the deficiencies of
\n\t\t\tmy mind & body will permit, and also \u2014 this is important \u2014 as
\n\t\t\trapidly as the defects of my chief friends & helpers will permit.
\n\t\t\tFor all those have to be taken on myself spiritually and may retard
\n\t\t\tmy own development. I advance, but at every fresh stage have to go
\n\t\t\tback to receive some fresh load of imperfection that comes from
\n\t\t\toutside. I want now some breathing time, however brief which will
\n\t\t\tenable me to accomplish the present stage which is the central [? ]
\n\t\t\tof my advance. This once accomplished, all the rest is inevitable.
\n\t\t\tThis not accomplished, the end of our Yogic movement is, externally,
\n\t\t\ta failure or a pitiful small result. That is the first reason why I
\n\t\t\tcall a halt. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe second necessity is that others should receive the same power &
\n\t\t\tlight. In the measure that mine grows, theirs also will increase &
\n\t\t\tprosper provided always they do not separate themselves from me by
\n\t\t\tthe ahankara. A sufficient Vedantic basis provided, a long, slow &
\n\t\t\tobscure Tantra will no longer be necessary. The power that I am
\n\t\t\tdeveloping, if it reaches consummation, will be able to accomplish
\n\t\t\tits effects automatically by any method chosen<\/i>. If it uses
\n\t\t\tTantric kriya, it will then be because God has chosen that means,
\n\t\t\tbecause He wishes to put the Shakta part of Him forward first & not
\n\t\t\tthe Vaishnava. And that kriya will then be irresistible in its
\n\t\t\teffects, perhaps even strange & new in its means & forms. I have
\n\t\t\tthen to effect that power & communicate it to others. But at present
\n\t\t\tthe forces of the material Prakriti strive with all their remaining
\n\t\t\tenergy against the spiritual mastery that is being sought to impose
\n\t\t\ton them. And it is especially in the field to which your kriyas have
\n\t\t\tbelonged and kindred fields that they are still too strong for me.
\n\t\t\tYou will remember what has been written, that the sadhana shall
\n\t\t\tfirst be applied in things that do not matter & only afterwards used
\n\t\t\tfor life. This is not an absolute rule, but it is the rule of
\n\t\t\tnecessity to apply for some time now in this particular matter. I   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>212<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsee that I have the necessary powers; I shall communicate them next to you and
\nsome others so that there may be a centre of irresistible spiritual light &
\neffective force wherever needed. Then a rapid & successful kriya can be
\nattempted. This is the second reason why I have cried a halt.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe first & supreme object you must have now is to push forward in
\n\t\t\tyourself & in others the Vedantic Yoga in the sense I have
\n\t\t\tdescribed. The spread of the idea is not sufficient, you must have
\n\t\t\treal Yogins, not merely men moved intellectually & emotionally by
\n\t\t\tone or two of the central ideas of the Yoga. Spreading of the idea
\n\t\t\tis the second necessity \u2014 for that the Review at present offers
\n\t\t\titself among other means. The other means is to form brotherhoods,
\n\t\t\tnot formal but real, (not societies of the European kind but
\n\t\t\tinformal groups of people united by one effort & one feeling) for
\n\t\t\tthe practice of Vedantic Yoga (without any necessary thought of the
\n\t\t\tTantric). But of this I shall write to you hereafter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFinally as to commercial matters. I had arranged things according to
\n\t\t\tthe last idea, but at the last moment an objection was made that the
\n\t\t\tarrangement was not a very reasonable one, \u2014 an objection which my
\n\t\t\treason was forced to admit. It was then proposed to send the Brahmin
\n\t\t\tas a commercial agent & I so wrote to you. But a few days afterwards
\n\t\t\twhen I asked for him to be sent, I was informed that the Brahmin was
\n\t\t\tno longer possible as a commercial agent as he was now an object of
\n\t\t\tsuspicion to the third party. Another man I had fixed on is so
\n\t\t\tcircumstanced that he cannot go now. There the matter stands. As for
\n\t\t\tyour suggestion, these people here never objected to dealing direct
\n\t\t\twith you, the objection was mine due to the terms & the accidents of
\n\t\t\tyour correspondence. On the other hand every attempt I have made
\n\t\t\tpersonally to get the matter settled has been frustrated by Krishna.
\n\t\t\tI have made these attempts contrary to the inner instructions
\n\t\t\treceived & by the light of the reason. That always fails with me; if
\n\t\t\tit succeeds momentarily, it brings some coarse result afterwards.
\n\t\t\tThe point now is that if you do as you suggest, it must be so done
\n\t\t\tthat there shall not be the least chance of the transaction
\n\t\t\tinterfering with our business here \u2014 I   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>213<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

mean not any commercial business, but the enterprises (Society, Review etc.) we
\nare starting. The question is not one of direct communication, but of right
\nhandling & especially of the right person not only from the point of view of the
\nbuyer and seller, but with regard to the third party who is indirectly
\ninterested in the transaction. In any case you must write to me what you propose
\nto do, before you act.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBy the way, there was a very shocking and
\n\t\t\t word in your last letter
\n\t\t\tto me with regard to my past activities, Bande Mataram, Karmayogin
\n\t\t\tetc. I do not wish to repeat it here. Please do not use such an
\n\t\t\tindecorous expression in writing in future. In personal talk it does
\n\t\t\tnot matter; but not, if you please, in correspondence. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to your request for details of my life, about which you wrote to
\n\t\t\tBijoy, it is a very difficult matter for there is very little one
\n\t\t\tcan write without offending people, eg S. Mullick, B. Pal, S. S.
\n\t\t\tChakraborty & revealing party secrets. However we shall see what can
\n\t\t\tbe done. But let me know what you are writing about me & how & where
\n\t\t\tyou mean to publish it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA. K. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[15] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[July 1914] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI write today only about two business matters. As to the Review, I
\n\t\t\tdo not think we can dispense with the 200 subscribers whom you
\n\t\t\tpromise. The only difficulty is that, if there are political
\n\t\t\tsuspects among them, it will give the police a handle for connecting
\n\t\t\tpolitics & the Review & thus frightening the public. But this is not
\n\t\t\ta sufficient reason for the Review refusing so many subscribers or
\n\t\t\tfor so large a number being deprived of the enlightenment it may
\n\t\t\tbring them. Therefore, some arrangement should be made. I should
\n\t\t\tsuggest that you should make those subscribers who are mainly
\n\t\t\tinterested in Yoga, and as for those who decline to give up
\n\t\t\tpolitical opinions of a vehement nature   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>214<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nor to conceal them so as not to fall into police snares, they may without
\nbecoming subscribers on our list receive the Review from trustworthy agents
\nappointed by you as our representative. The agent must let us or you know the
\nnumber of copies wanted, send in the money and receive the Review from us or you
\nin a packet as a declared agent commissioned to sell a certain number of copies,
\nreceiving (nominally) a discount on each copy sold. I suggest this arrangement
\nbut if another would be more convenient, please let us know. You must organise
\nthe subscription matter before starting for your pilgrimage so that we may have
\na fair start in August. I shall write a longer letter to you about Yoga & other
\nmatters as soon as I have a little time. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Psalmodist was here. He asked for the Calcutta address & I gave
\n\t\t\tit to him. It appears he is sending it to Calcutta in connection
\n\t\t\twith a business he wants to wind up. It is difficult to understand
\n\t\t\tbecause he says it is a commercial secret, but he tells me you will
\n\t\t\tunderstand if I send you the accompanying cabalistic figures \u2014 God
\n\t\t\tsave us from all mysteries except those of Tantric Yoga. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n[16] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[July \u00ad August 1914] <\/p>\n

\nDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAgain a business letter. Enclosed you will find two samples of
\n\t\t\tpaper, taken from a sample book of the Titaghur Mills which we want
\n\t\t\tmade to order, of a certain size, for our Review. Will you please
\n\t\t\tsee at once <\/i>the agent in Calcutta, whose address is given,
\n\t\t\tand ask him for all the particulars, the price, whether the paper of
\n\t\t\tthat sample, of the size required, is available or can be made to
\n\t\t\torder by them, in what minimum amount, within what time etc and let
\n\t\t\tthe Manager know immediately by the British post.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat about the commercial transaction and my last letter? The
\n\t\t\tPsalmodist’s brother is asking for a reply. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>215<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. Received your letter. Please let us know how many copies of the
\n\t\t\tArya you want sent to you for sale, since you cannot get
\n\t\t\tsubscribers. I shall write later. The divorce from Tantrism is
\n\t\t\tnecessary if you are to do the work of the Review or the other work
\n\t\t\tI wish you to undertake. You must surely see that. Neither will
\n\t\t\tmarch if there are any occurrences of the old kind mixing them up
\n\t\t\ttogether. [Postscript in another hand:<\/i>] If it is possible
\n\t\t\tplease send some subscribers. Subscribers book is nearly as blank as
\n\t\t\tit was at the time [of] our purchasing it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[Illegible signature<\/i>] <\/p>\n

\n[17] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t29 August 1914 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBefore your letter came, ie yesterday, the news was published that
\n\t\t\tthe Government had drawn back from its proposal, and today the
\n\t\t\tAmrita [Bazar]12<\/font><\/sup> with its comment
\n\t\t\tarrived. I presume, therefore, no immediate answer from me is
\n\t\t\tneeded. But in case anything of the kind is raised again, I shall
\n\t\t\tgive you my opinion in the matter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe gain nothing by preaching an unconditional loyalty to the
\n\t\t\tGovernment, such as is the fashion nowadays, or doing anything which
\n\t\t\teven in appearance strengthens the disposition towards an abject &
\n\t\t\tunmanly tone in politics. Gandhi’s loyalism is not a pattern for
\n\t\t\tIndia which is not South Africa, & even Gandhi’s loyalism is
\n\t\t\tcorrected by passive resistance. An abject tone of servility in
\n\t\t\tpolitics is not "diplomacy" & is not good politics. It does not
\n\t\t\tdeceive or disarm the opponent; it does encourage nervelessness,
\n\t\t\tfear & a cringing cunning in the subject people. What Gandhi has
\n\t\t\tbeen attempting in S. Africa is to secure for Indians the position
\n\t\t\tof kindly treated serfs, \u2014 as a <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t12 MS <\/i>Bazaar  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>216<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nstepping-stone to something better. Loyalty  Ambulance Corps mean the same
\nthing in India. But the conditions of India are not those of S. Africa; our
\nposition is different & our aim is different, not to secure a few privileges,
\nbut to create a nation of men fit for independence & able to secure & keep it.
\nWe have been beaten in the first attempt, like every other nation similarly
\ncircumstanced. That is no reason why the whole people should go back to a
\ncondition of abject fear, grovelling loyalty & whining complaints. The public
\nNationalist policy has always been<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. Eventual independence <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. No cooperation without control.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3 A masculine courage in speech & action Let us add a fourth,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4. Readiness to accept real concessions & pay their just price, but
\n\t\t\tno more. Beyond that, I do not see the necessity of any change. We
\n\t\t\trecognise that immediate independence is not practicable & we are
\n\t\t\tready to defend the British rule against any foreign nation, for
\n\t\t\tthat means defending our own future independence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTherefore, if the Government accepts volunteers or favours the
\n\t\t\tinstitution of Boy-Scouts, we give our aid, but not to be mere
\n\t\t\tstretcher-bearers. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat is the side of principle; now let us look at that of policy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(1) I don’t appreciate Sarat Maharaj’s position. If self-sacrifice
\n\t\t\tis the object, every human being has the whole of life as a field
\n\t\t\tfor self-sacrifice & does not depend on any Government for that. We
\n\t\t\tcan show our sacrificing activities every moment, if we want. It is
\n\t\t\tnot a question of sacrifice at all, it is a question of military
\n\t\t\ttraining. If the young men wish to organise for charitable work, the
\n\t\t\tGovernment is not going to stop it, even though they may watch and
\n\t\t\tsuspect. I put that aside altogether.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(2) The leaders suggested cooperation in return for some substantial
\n\t\t\tself-government. They are now offering cooperation without any
\n\t\t\treturn at all. Very self-sacrificing, but not political. If indeed,
\n\t\t\tGovt were willing to train "thousands of young men" in military
\n\t\t\tservice as volunteers, Territorials or boy-scouts, whether for
\n\t\t\tkeeping the peace or as a reserve in case of invasion, then we   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>217<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

need not boggle about the return. But, after so much experience, do these
\naddle-headed politicians think the Govt.. is going to do that except in case of
\nabsolute necessity and as a choice between two evils? When will that absolute
\nnecessity come? Only if the war goes against them seriously & they have to
\nwithdraw their troops from India. I shall discuss that point later on. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(3) Meanwhile what have the Government done? After testing the
\n\t\t\ttemper of the people &, you may be sure, watching closely what young
\n\t\t\tmen came forward as volunteers & who did not, they have removed an
\n\t\t\toffer which had already been whittled down to a mere harmless
\n\t\t\tAmbulance Corps in which the young men have plenty of chances of
\n\t\t\tgetting killed, but none of learning real warfare. Mere common sense
\n\t\t\twarns us not to trust such an administration & to think ten times
\n\t\t\tbefore accepting its offers. We know Lord Hardinge’s policy; (1)
\n\t\t\tsweet words, (2) quiet systematic coercion, (3) concession where
\n\t\t\tobstinacy would mean too great a row & too much creation of
\n\t\t\tdeep-seated hostility.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHaving prefaced so much, let us look at the utility of the things
\n\t\t\toffered us or offered by us.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. Ambulance Corps \u2014 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe only possible utilities would be two, (1) to train two thousand
\n\t\t\tyoung men to be steady under fire (2) to train them to act together
\n\t\t\tunder discipline in an easy but dangerous service. Now it is quite
\n\t\t\tpossible for us to create courage in our young men without these
\n\t\t\tmeans, & I hope our best men, or let me say, our men generally do
\n\t\t\tnot need to become stretcher bearers in a European war in order to
\n\t\t\thave the necessary nerve, courage, steadiness & discipline. If
\n\t\t\ttherefore an Ambulance Corps is again suggested & accepted, either
\n\t\t\trefuse or let only those young men go who are enthusiastic, but
\n\t\t\tstill lightheaded, self-indulgent or undisciplined. Possibly, the
\n\t\t\texperience may steady & discipline them. It may be necessary to let
\n\t\t\tthis be done, if the circumstances are such that to refuse entirely
\n\t\t\twould reflect on our national courage or be interpreted as a backing
\n\t\t\tout from a national engagement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. Boy-Scouts \u2014 Volunteer Corps \u2014 Territorials. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll these are entirely good, provided the police are kept at   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>218<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\na distance, & provided officers as well as men are trained & the Govt control is
\nlimited to the giving of military discipline in the . first two cases. Even
\nwithout the second proviso, any of these things would be worth accepting.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOnly in the case of volunteers going to the scene of war, you must
\n\t\t\tsee that we are not crippled by all our best men or even a majority
\n\t\t\tbeing sent; only enough to bring in an element among us who have
\n\t\t\tseen actual warfare \u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t=<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think any of these things may one day become possible. Since the
\n\t\t\tlast year, new forces have come into the world and are now strong
\n\t\t\tenough to act, which are likely to alter the whole face of the
\n\t\t\tworld. The present war is only a beginning not the end. We have to
\n\t\t\tconsider what are our chances & what we ought to do in these
\n\t\t\tcircumstances.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe war is open to a certain number of broad chances. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI. Those bringing about the destruction of the two Teutonic empires,
\n\t\t\tGerman & Austrian. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis may happen either by an immediate German defeat, its armies
\n\t\t\tbeing broken & chased back from Belgium & Alsace-Lorraine to Berlin,
\n\t\t\twhich is not probable, or by the Russian arrival at Berlin & a
\n\t\t\tsuccessful French stand near Rheims or Compi\u00e8<\/font>gne,
\n\t\t\tor by the entry of Italy & the remaining Balkan states into the war
\n\t\t\t& the invasion of Austro-Hungary from two sides. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tII Those bringing about the weakening or isolation of the British
\n\t\t\tpower. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis may be done by the Germans destroying the British expeditionary
\n\t\t\tforce, entering Paris & dictating terms to France while Russia is
\n\t\t\tchecked in its march to Berlin by a strong Austro-German force
\n\t\t\toperating in the German quadrilateral between \u00a8 the forts of Danzig,
\n\t\t\tThorn, Posen and Konigsberg. If this happens Russia may possibly
\n\t\t\tenter into a compact with Germany based on a reconciliation of the
\n\t\t\tthree Empires and a reversion to the old idea of a simultaneous
\n\t\t\tattack on England and a division of her Empire between Germany &
\n\t\t\tRussia.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>219<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tIII. Those bringing about the destruction of British power.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis may happen by the shattering of the British fleet and a German
\n\t\t\tlanding in England.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn either of the two last cases an invasion of India by Germany,
\n\t\t\tRussia or Japan is only a question of time, and England will be
\n\t\t\tunable to resist except by one of three means. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(1) universal conscription in England & the Colonies<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(2) the aid of Japan or some other foreign power <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t(3) the aid of the Indian people.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe first is useless for the defence of India, in case III, & can
\n\t\t\tonly be applied in case II, if England is still mistress of the
\n\t\t\tseas. The second is dangerous to England herself, since the ally who
\n\t\t\thelps, may also covet. The third means the concession of
\n\t\t\tself-government to India. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn case I, there will only remain four considerable powers in Europe
\n\t\t\t& Asia, Russia, France, England, Japan \u2014 with perhaps a Balkan
\n\t\t\tConfederacy or Empire as a fifth. That means as the next stage a
\n\t\t\tstruggle between England & Russia in Asia. There again England is
\n\t\t\treduced to one of the three alternatives or a combination of them. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf course, the war may take different turns from the above, with
\n\t\t\tslightly altered circumstances & results; the one thing that is
\n\t\t\timpossible, is that it should leave the world as it was before. In
\n\t\t\tany case, the question of India must rise at no very long date. If
\n\t\t\tEngland adopts more or less grudgingly the third alternative, our
\n\t\t\topportunity arrives and we must be ready to take it \u2014 on this basis,
\n\t\t\tcontinuance of British rule & cooperation until we are strong enough
\n\t\t\tto stand by ourselves. If not, we must still decide how we are to
\n\t\t\tprepare ourselves, so as not to pass from one foreign domination to
\n\t\t\ta worse. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI want those of you who have the capacity, to consider the situation
\n\t\t\tas I have described it, to think over it, enlarging our old views
\n\t\t\twhich are no longer sufficient, and accustom yourselves to act
\n\t\t\talways with these new & larger conceptions in your minds. I shall
\n\t\t\twrite nothing myself about my views, just as yet, as that might
\n\t\t\tprevent you from thinking yourselves. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOnly, two things you will see obviously from it, first, the<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\t\t\tnecessity of seizing on any opportunity that
\n\t\t\tarises of organisation or military training (not self-sacrificing
\n\t\t\tcharity, that has already been done); secondly, the necessity of
\n\t\t\tcreating an organisation & finding the means, if no opportunity
\n\t\t\tpresents itself. It will be necessary for someone from Bengal to
\n\t\t\tcome & see me before long, but that will probably not be till
\n\t\t\tOctober or later. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write to you before long farther on the subject, as also on
\n\t\t\tother matters. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[18] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[after October 1914] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M \u00ad <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have not written for a long time for several reasons. Our position
\n\t\t\there since the war has become increasingly difficult and delicate,
\n\t\t\tas the administration is run for the moment by certain subordinates
\n\t\t\twho are actively hostile to the Swadeshis. I have therefore adopted
\n\t\t\ta policy of entire reserve, including abstention from correspondence
\n\t\t\twith Bengal even with officially unobjectionable people. Our
\n\t\t\tcorrespondence now is chiefly limited to Arya business. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour internal struggle in the Yoga has naturally its causes. I shall
\n\t\t\thelp you as much as possible spiritually, but you must get rid of
\n\t\t\teverything that gives a handle to the enemy in ourselves. Your
\n\t\t\tletters for a long time showed a considerable revival of rajasic
\n\t\t\tegoism, contracted, I suppose, by association with the old Tantrics,
\n\t\t\tand that always [brings]13<\/font><\/sup> in our
\n\t\t\tYoga disagreeable consequences. If you could make yourselves
\n\t\t\tentirely pure instruments, things would go much better. But there is
\n\t\t\talways something in the prana and intellect which kicks against the
\n\t\t\tpricks and resists the purifier. Especially get rid of the
\nAham<\/i>
\nKarta <\/i>element, which usually disguises itself under the idea "I am the
\n\t\t\tchosen yantra". Despise no one, try to see God in all and <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t13 MS <\/i>bring  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

the Self in all. The Shakti in you will then act better on your materials and
\nenvironment. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere is another point. You sent a message about an "Aurobindo Math"
\n\t\t\twhich seemed to show you had caught the contagion which rages in
\n\t\t\tBengal. You must understand that my mission is not to create maths,
\n\t\t\tascetics and Sannyasis; but to call back the souls of the strong to
\n\t\t\tthe Lila of Krishna & Kali. That is my teaching, as you can see from
\n\t\t\tthe Review, and my name must never be connected with monastic forms
\n\t\t\tor the monastic ideal. Every ascetic movement since the time of
\n\t\t\tBuddha has left India weaker and for a very obvious reason.
\n\t\t\tRenunciation of life is one thing, to make life itself, national,
\n\t\t\tindividual, world-life greater & more divine is another. You cannot
\n\t\t\tenforce one ideal on the country without weakening the other. You
\n\t\t\tcannot take away the best souls from life & yet leave life stronger
\n\t\t\t& greater. Renunciation of ego, acceptance of God in life is the
\n\t\t\tYoga I teach, \u2014 no other renunciation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSaurin has written to you about Bejoy’s detention. M. Richard wrote
\n\t\t\tto the Madras Government, but with the usual result. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHere one of the Swadeshis, a certain VVS. Aiyar has been hauled up
\n\t\t\tfor circulating unauthorised pamphlets from America. It appears the
\n\t\t\tGovt.. of Pondicherry has established a censorship in the French
\n\t\t\tP.O. and opens letters etc from abroad. They have intercepted some
\n\t\t\twonderful pamphlets of the usual sanguinary order asking India to
\n\t\t\trise & help Germany which some fool had sent to his address from New
\n\t\t\tYork. On the strength of this a case has been trumped up against
\n\t\t\tAiyar who knew nothing about either the New York idiot or his
\n\t\t\tpamphlets. The funny thing is that all the time Aiyar seems to be
\n\t\t\tfervently Anti-German in his sentiments & pro-Belgian & pro-Servian!
\n\t\t\tSo this wonderful French administration insists on making him a
\n\t\t\tmartyr for the cause he denounces! One thing I could never
\n\t\t\tappreciate is the utility of this pamphleteering business of which
\n\t\t\tIndian revolutionists are so fond. Pamphlets won’t liberate India;
\n\t\t\tbut they do seem to succeed in getting their distributors and
\n\t\t\tnon-distributors also into prison. My connection with Aiyar has been
\n\t\t\tpractically   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nnil, as in normal times I only see him once in two years. But here all the
\nSwadeshis are lumped together; so we have to be careful not only that we give no
\nhandle to our enemies, but that other people don’t give them a handle against us
\n\u2014 which is just a little difficult.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou have decided, it seems, to carry on Tantra & Mantra,
\nanushthan <\/i>and pure Vedanta together! My objection to it was from the
\n\t\t\tstandpoint of the Review and Vedantic work generally.
\nAnusthan <\/i>& the Review do not go well together. Of course, a synthesis is
\n\t\t\talways possible, but amalgamation is not synthesis. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tG.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. By the way, try to realise one thing. The work we wish to do
\n\t\t\tcannot produce its effects on the objective world until my
\n\t\t\tAshtasiddhi is strong enough to work upon that world organically and
\n\t\t\tas a whole, & it has not yet reached that point. No amount of
\n\t\t\trajasic eagerness on my part or on yours or anybody else’s will fill
\n\t\t\tthe place or can substitute itself as the divine instrument which
\n\t\t\twill be definitely effective. In the matter of the Review Bejoy has
\n\t\t\tfound that out by this time! I have found it out myself by constant
\n\t\t\texperience & warning. You also, if you wish to profit by my
\n\t\t\tteaching, should learn it also \u2014 without the necessity of
\n\t\t\texperience. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[19] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[1914 \u00ad 1915] <\/p>\n

\nDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour letter and enclosure (50) reached us all right. We have not
\n\t\t\treceived the Rs. 200 due from Das. As for the Rs. 500, that has
\n\t\t\tnothing to do with the garden money of my uncle, it is a sum
\n\t\t\tpromised to me which Saurin was to have brought, but it was not paid
\n\t\t\tin time. He tells me he told you about it before he came and he
\n\t\t\twrote also from here. Our actual expenses here are Rs. 115 a month;
\n\t\t\tthis can be reduced if we get another house, but you know that is
\n\t\t\tnot easy in Pondicherry. I note that we are to get Rs. 50 from you
\n\t\t\tin the latter part of this month.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

\n\t\t\tSo much for money matters. It is regrettable that the Government
\n\t\t\tshould think you are mixed up in political matters and that you are
\n\t\t\ton the list of suspects. But once they get that idea into their
\n\t\t\theads, it is impossible to change it; once a suspect, always a
\n\t\t\tsuspect is their rule. They are particularly good at purchasing
\n\t\t\ttrouble for themselves and others in this way and just now they are
\n\t\t\tall fear and suspicion and see revolutions in every bush. The only
\n\t\t\tthing is to be extremely careful. You should not on any account move
\n\t\t\tout of Chandernagore so long as the war measures are in force; for
\n\t\t\tin these times innocence is no defence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is regrettable that Bengal should be unable to find anything in
\n\t\t\tthe Arya, but not surprising. The intellect of Bengal has been so
\n\t\t\tmuch fed on chemical tablets of thought and hot spiced foods that
\n\t\t\tanything strong and substantial is indigestible to it. Moreover
\n\t\t\tpeople in India are accustomed only to second-hand thoughts, \u2014 the
\n\t\t\told familiar ideas of the six philosophies, Patanjali etc. etc. Any
\n\t\t\tnew presentation of life and thought and Yoga upsets their
\n\t\t\texpectations and is unintelligible to them. The thought of the Arya
\n\t\t\tdemands close thinking from the reader; it does not spare him the
\n\t\t\ttrouble of thinking and understanding and the minds of the people
\n\t\t\thave long been accustomed to have the trouble of thought spared
\n\t\t\tthem. They know how to indulge their minds, they have forgotten how
\n\t\t\tto exercise them. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt does not matter very much just now, so long as the people who
\n\t\t\tpractise the Yoga, read and profit. The Arya presents a new
\n\t\t\tphilosophy and a new method of Yoga and everything that is new takes
\n\t\t\ttime to get a hearing. Of course, in reality it is only the old
\n\t\t\tbrought back again, but so old that it has been forgotten. It is
\n\t\t\tonly those who practise and experience that can at first understand
\n\t\t\tit. In a way, this is good, because it is meant to change the life
\n\t\t\tof people and not merely satisfy the intellect. In France it has
\n\t\t\tbeen very much appreciated by those who are seeking the truth,
\n\t\t\tbecause these people are not shut up in old and received ideas, they
\n\t\t\tare on the lookout for something which will change the inner and
\n\t\t\touter life. When the same state of mind can be brought about here,
\n\t\t\tthe Arya will begin to be appreciated. At   <\/p>\n

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\n

\npresent, Bengal only understands and appreciates politics and asceticism. The
\ncentral ideas of the Arya are Greek to it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSoon after the Arya began, I got a letter from some graduates saying
\n\t\t\tthat what they wanted was "man-making". I have done my share of
\n\t\t\tman-making and it is a thing which now anybody can do; Nature
\n\t\t\therself is looking after it all over the world, though more slowly
\n\t\t\tin India than elsewhere. My business is now not man-making, but
\n\t\t\tdivine man-making. My present teaching is that the world is
\n\t\t\tpreparing for a new progress, a new evolution. Whatever race,
\n\t\t\twhatever country seizes on the lines of that new evolution and
\n\t\t\tfulfils it, will be the leader of humanity. In the Arya I state the
\n\t\t\tthought upon which this new evolution will be based as I see it, and
\n\t\t\tthe method of Yoga by which it can be accomplished. Of course, I
\n\t\t\tcannot speak plainly yet my whole message, for obvious reasons, I
\n\t\t\thave to put it in a severe, colourless fashion which cannot be
\n\t\t\tpleasing to the emotional and excitement-seeking Bengali mind. But
\n\t\t\tthe message is there, for those who care to understand. It has
\n\t\t\treally three parts (1) for each man as an individual to change
\n\t\t\thimself into the future type of divine humanity, the men of the new
\n\t\t\tSatyayuga which is striving to be born; (2) to evolve a race of such
\n\t\t\tmen to lead humanity and (3) to call all humanity to the path under
\n\t\t\tthe lead of these pioneers and this chosen race. India and
\n\t\t\tespecially Bengal have the best chance and the best right to create
\n\t\t\tthat race and become the leaders of the future \u2014 to do in the right
\n\t\t\tway what Germany thought of doing in the wrong way. But first they
\n\t\t\tmust learn to think, to cast away old ideas, and turn their faces
\n\t\t\tresolutely to the future. But they cannot do this, if they merely
\n\t\t\tcopy European politics or go on eternally reproducing Buddhistic
\n\t\t\tasceticism. I am afraid the Ramakrishna Mission with all its good
\n\t\t\tintentions is only going to give us Shankaracharya & Buddhistic
\n\t\t\thumanitarianism. But that is not the goal to which the world is
\n\t\t\tmoving. Meanwhile remember that these are very difficult times and
\n\t\t\tcareful walking is necessary. It is just possible that the war may
\n\t\t\tcome to an end in a few months, for the old immobility is beginning
\n\t\t\tto break down and the forces at work behind the veil are straining
\n\t\t\ttowards a solution. While the war   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

continues, nothing great can be done, we are fettered on every side. Afterwards
\nthings will change and we must wait for the development. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK. <\/p>\n

\n[20] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[1916 \u00ad 1918] <\/p>\n

\nDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have not written for a long time because nothing definite came to
\n\t\t\tme to be written. We are in a state of things in which every
\n\t\t\tmovement fails to come to a decisive result because everywhere and
\n\t\t\tin everything the forces are balanced by contrary forces. At the
\n\t\t\tpresent moment the world is passing through an upheaval in which all
\n\t\t\tforces possible have been let loose and none therefore has a
\n\t\t\ttriumphant action. Ordinarily, there are certain puissances, certain
\n\t\t\tideas which are given a dominant impulsion and conquest, those
\n\t\t\topposing them being easily broken after a first severe struggle. Now
\n\t\t\teverything is different. Wherever a force or an idea tries to assert
\n\t\t\titself in action, all that can oppose rushes to stop it and there
\n\t\t\tfollows a "struggle of exhaustion". You see that in Europe now; no
\n\t\t\tone can succeed; nothing is accomplished; only that which already
\n\t\t\twas, maintains itself with difficulty. At such a time one has to act
\n\t\t\tas little as possible and prepare and fortify as much as possible \u2014
\n\t\t\tthat is to say, that is the rule for those who are not compelled to
\n\t\t\tbe in the battle of the present and whose action tends more towards
\n\t\t\tthe future. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI had hoped that we should be much more "forward" at this period,
\n\t\t\tbut the obstacles have been too great. I have not been able to get
\n\t\t\tanything active into shape. Consequently, we have to go on as before
\n\t\t\tfor some time longer. Our action depends on developing sufficient
\n\t\t\tspiritual power to overcome the enormous material obstacles opposed
\n\t\t\tto us, to shape minds, men, events, means, things. This we have got
\n\t\t\tas yet in very insufficient quantity. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou have done well in confining yourself to Vedantic Yoga;   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nyou can see for yourself that the Tantric bears no secure and sufficient fruit
\nwithout a very strong and faultless Vedantic basis. Otherwise you have a medley
\nof good and bad sadhakas associating together and the bad spoil the Kriya of the
\ngood; for a collective yoga is not like a solitary one, it is not free from
\ncollective influences; it has a collective soul which cannot afford to be in
\nsome parts either raw or rotten. It is this which modern Tantrics do not
\nunderstand, their aspiration is not governed by old Shastra founded on the
\nexperience of centuries. A chakra<\/i>, for instance, must either be perfectly
\ncomposed or immediately governed and protected by the spiritual force of some
\npowerful guru. But our modern minds are too impatient to see to these things.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for your external difficulties, I mean with regard to the bad
\n\t\t\tideas the Government or the police have about you and the consequent
\n\t\t\tobstacles and pressure, that is a result of past Karma and probably
\n\t\t\tof some present associations and can hardly be cured. I see people
\n\t\t\tare interned who have no connection at all with politics or have
\n\t\t\tlong cut off whatever connection they had. Owing to the war, the
\n\t\t\tauthorities are uneasy & suspicious and being ill served by their
\n\t\t\tpolice act on prejudgments and often on false reports. You have to
\n\t\t\tsit tight, spiritually defend yourself and physically avoid putting
\n\t\t\tyourself where the police can do you any harm and, so far as
\n\t\t\tpossible, avoid also doing anything which would give any colour or
\n\t\t\tappearance of a foundation for their prejudices. More can hardly be
\n\t\t\tdone. One cannot throw aside friends because they are "suspects"; in
\n\t\t\tthat case, we should have to begin with ourselves. If on the ground
\n\t\t\tof such associations we are ourselves more suspected, \u2014 as, for
\n\t\t\tinstance, the officials make it a grievance against me that although
\n\t\t\tI am doing nothing political myself, yet I associate with my Madrasi
\n\t\t\tfriends against whom they have chosen to launch warrants for
\n\t\t\tsedition, etc, it cannot be helped. We cannot suffer political or
\n\t\t\tpolice dictation in our private friendships. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat has become of the "Pravartaka". The last number was very good,
\n\t\t\tbut for a long time we have had no other. Is the administration
\n\t\t\twithholding visa or are there other reasons for   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

the irregularity? I hope it is not a discontinuance. We have the "Arya" here
\nvisaed without delay or difficulty. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf you have difficulties of any kind, it is as well to let me know
\n\t\t\tat once; for I can then concentrate what force I have more
\n\t\t\tparticularly to help you. The help may not be always or immediately
\n\t\t\teffective, but it will count and may be more powerful than a general
\n\t\t\twill, not instructed in the particular necessity. You must not mind
\n\t\t\tif you do not get always a written answer; the unwritten will always
\n\t\t\tbe there.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI leave it to the Manager of the Arya to write to you about business
\n\t\t\tmatters. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK. <\/p>\n

\n[21] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[1918 \u00ad 1919] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M \u00ad<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf you want discipline, the first thing of that kind I would impose
\n\t\t\ton you or ask you to impose on yourselves is self-discipline,
\n\t\t\t\u00e2<\/font>tma-sanyama<\/i>, and the
\n\t\t\tfirst element in that is obedience to the law of the Yoga I have
\n\t\t\tgiven to you. If you bring in things which do not belong to it at
\n\t\t\tall and are quite foreign to it, such as "hunger-strikes" and
\n\t\t\tvehement emotional revolt against the divine Will, it is idle to
\n\t\t\texpect any rapid progress. That means that you insist on going on
\n\t\t\tyour own bypath and yet demand of me that I shall bring you to my
\n\t\t\tgoal. All difficulties can be conquered, but only on condition of
\n\t\t\tfidelity to the Way that you have taken. There is no obligation on
\n\t\t\tanyone to take it, \u2014 it is a difficult and trying one, a way for
\n\t\t\theroes, not for weaklings, \u2014 but once taken, it must be followed, or
\n\t\t\tyou will not arrive.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRemember what is the whole basis of the Yoga. It is not founded upon
\n\t\t\tthe vehement emotionalism of the Bhakti-marga to which the
\n\t\t\ttemperament of Bengal is most prone, though it has a different kind
\n\t\t\tof Bhakti, but on samata <\/i>and atma-samarpana<\/i>. Obedience
\n\t\t\tto the divine Will, not assertion of self-will, is the very first
\n\t\t\tmantra. <\/i>But what can be a more violent assertion of self-will
\n\t\t\tthan to demand the result you desire, whether external   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n or internal, at once,
\n\t
\n\tand not in God’s muhurta, God’s moment? You say that there is complete
\n\tutsarga<\/i>, but it cannot be complete, if there is any kind of revolt or
\n\tvehement impatience. Revolt and impatience mean always that there is a part
\n\tof the being or something in the being which does not submit, has not given
\n\titself to God, but insists on God going out of his way to obey it. That may
\n\tbe very well in the Bhaktimarga, but it will not do on this Way. The revolt
\n\tand impatience may come and will come in the heart or the prana when these
\n\tare still subject to imperfection and impurity; but it is then for the will
\n\tand the faith in your buddhi to reject them, not to act upon them. If the
\n\twill consents, approves and supports them, it means that you are siding with
\n\tthe inner enemy. If you want rapid progress, the first condition is that you
\n\tshould not do this; for every time you do it, the enemy is strengthened and
\n\tthe
\nshuddhi <\/i>postponed. This is a difficult lesson to learn, but you must
\n\tlearn it. I do not find fault with you for taking long over it, I myself
\n\ttook full twelve years to learn it thoroughly, and even after I knew the
\n\tprinciple well enough, it took me quite four years and more to master my
\n\tlower nature in this respect. But you have the advantage of my experience
\n\tand my help; you will be able to do it more rapidly, if you consciously and
\n\tfully assist me, by not associating yourself with the enemy Desire;
\njahi<\/i>
\nk\u00e2<\/font>mam dur\u00e2<\/font>sadam<\/i>,
\n\tremember that utterance of the Gita, it is a keyword of our Yoga. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for Haradhan, he should show the way in calm, patience and
\n\t\t\tendurance. He has been a soldier. How does he think the nations of
\n\t\t\tEurope could have carried this war to an end, if they had grown so
\n\t\t\timpatient of the fatigue of the trenches, suffering, disturbance,
\n\t\t\tscarcity, continual postponement of the result, and declared that
\n\t\t\teither they must have victory in a given time or throw up the
\n\t\t\tstruggle? Does he expect the inner war with our lower selves, the
\n\t\t\tpersonal habit of thousands of lives and the human inheritance of
\n\t\t\tages, to be less arduous or to be carried out by a rapid and easy
\n\t\t\tmiracle? Hunger-striking to force God or to force anybody or
\n\t\t\tanything else is not the true spiritual means. I do not object to
\n\t\t\tMr.. Gandhi or anyone else following it   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

for quite other than spiritual purposes, but here it is out of place; these
\nthings, I repeat, are foreign to the fundamental principle of our Yoga.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShuddhi is the most difficult part of the whole Yoga, it is the
\n\t\t\tcondition of all the rest, and if that is once conquered, the real
\n\t\t\tconquest is accomplished. The rest becomes a comparatively easy
\n\t\t\tbuilding on an assured basis, \u2014 it may take longer or shorter, but
\n\t\t\tit can be done tranquilly and steadily. To prevent the shuddhi the
\n\t\t\tlower nature in you and around you will exhaust all its efforts, and
\n\t\t\teven when it cannot prevent, it will try to retard. And its
\n\t\t\tstrongest weapon then is, when you think you have got it, suddenly
\n\t\t\tto break in on you and convince you that you have not got it, that
\n\t\t\tit is far away, and so arouse disappointment, grief, loss of faith,
\n\t\t\tdiscouragement, depression and revolt, the whole army of troubles
\n\t\t\tthat wait upon impure Desire. When you have once found calm, peace
\n\t\t\tof mind, firm faith, equality and been able to live in it for some
\n\t\t\ttime, then and only then you may be sure that suddhi is founded; but
\n\t\t\tyou must not think it will not be disturbed. It will be, so long as
\n\t\t\tyour heart and prana are still capable of responding to the old
\n\t\t\tmovements, have still any memory and habit of vibrating to the old
\n\t\t\tchords. The one thing necessary when the renewed trouble comes, is
\n\t\t\tto stand back in your mind and will from it, refuse it the sanction
\n\t\t\tof your higher being, even when it is raging in the lower nature. As
\n\t\t\tthat habit of refusal fixes itself, \u2014 at first you may not be able
\n\t\t\tto do it, the buddhi may be lost in the storm, \u2014 you will find that
\n\t\t\tthe asuddhi, even though it still returns, becomes less violent,
\n\t\t\tmore and more external, until it ceases to be anything more than a
\n\t\t\tfaint and short-lived touch from outside and finally comes no more.
\n\t\t\tThat is the course it has followed with me, not only with regard to
\n\t\t\tthis kind of disturbance, but with regard to all imperfections. You,
\n\t\t\tsince you have chosen to share my Yoga for mankind, must follow the
\n\t\t\tsame way, undergo the same disturbances.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis is a thing which it is necessary for you to understand clearly.
\n\t\t\tI myself have had for these fourteen years, and it is not yet
\n\t\t\tfinished, to bear all the possible typical difficulties, troubles,
\n\t\t\tdownfalls and backslidings that can rise in this great effort to<\/p>\n

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\n

\n

change the whole normal human being. How else could I have been able to help or
\nguide others on the same way? Those who join me at the present stage, must share
\nin my burden, especially those who are themselves chosen in any degree to lead,
\nhelp and guide. It may be that when I have the complete siddhi, \u2014 which I have
\nnot yet, I am only on the way to it, \u2014 then, if it be God’s will to extend very
\nlargely and rapidly my work in this body, those who come after may have the way
\nmade very easy for them. But we are the pioneers hewing our way through the
\njungle of the lower prakriti. It will not do for us to be cowards and shirkers
\nand refuse the burden, to clamour for everything to be made quick and easy for
\nus. Above all things I demand from you endurance, firmness, heroism, \u2014 the true
\nspiritual heroism. I want strong men, I do not want emotional children. Manhood
\nfirst,
\n can only be built upon that. If I do not get it in those who accept my
\nYoga, then I shall have to understand that it is not God’s will that I should
\nsucceed. If that be so, I shall accept his will calmly. But meanwhile I go on
\nbearing whatever burden he lays on me, meeting whatever difficulties he puts in
\nthe way of my siddhi. Personally, I am now sure of success in everything except
\nin the kaya-siddhi<\/i>, which is still doubtful, and in my work. The work can
\nonly succeed if I find noble and worthy helpers, fitted for it by the same
\nstruggles and the same endurance. I expect them in you. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAgain you must not expect the shuddhi <\/i>or any part of the
\n\t\t\tsiddhi <\/i>to be simultaneous and complete at once in all whom you
\n\t\t\tassociate with you. One may attain, others progress, others linger.
\n\t\t\tYou must not expect a sudden collective miracle. I have not come
\n\t\t\there to accomplish miracles, but to show, lead the way, help, on the
\n\t\t\troad to a great inner change of our human nature, \u2014 the outer change
\n\t\t\tin the world is only possible if and when that inner transmutation
\n\t\t\tis effected and extends itself. You must not expect to establish a
\n\t\t\tperfect sangha <\/i>all at once and by a single leap. If you make
\n\t\t\tsuch demands on me, I can only say that I cannot do what is not
\n\t\t\tGod’s will. Go forward calmly and firmly, not attached to success,
\n\t\t\tnot disturbed by unsuccess; my help will then not fail you.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to your idea of work, it seems to me a little crude in form; but
\n\t\t\tI have no objection to your beginning it, since you feel the
\n\t\t\tpressing necessity. I shall write to you later on about it at more
\n\t\t\tlength. The only reason why I do not lay great stress on outer work,
\n\t\t\tis that it must always be kaccha<\/i><\/i>, much embarrassed by
\n\t\t\tdifficulties, at best only a preparatory thing, until we are
\n\t\t\tinwardly and spiritually ready. That is no reason why it should not
\n\t\t\tbe done. Work done in the right spirit will itself become a means of
\n\t\t\tthe inner siddhi. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Kali<\/p>\n

\n[22]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n [end 1919] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAbout your scheme of a weekly paper \u2014 as for the name it
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tis not difficult to find; it could be called the
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t"Standard-bearer". But are you quite sure you will be
\n\t\t\t\t\t\table to live up to the name and carry the thing on in
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthe requisite manner? Nalini and Suresh are not likely
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tto be able to write; one does not write at all in
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEnglish, the other can do it if he likes, but is even
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmore
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthan in Bengali. To write for an English weekly
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twould be beyond his present energies. As for myself, I
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tam at present unable to write or do anything
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsubstantial, because of the extreme pressure of my Yoga,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twhich has entirely occupied my time, \u2014 except for what I
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tam obliged to give to the "Arya" and even that I have
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcut short as much as possible, \u2014 for the last few
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmonths. This state of things is likely to go on for the
\n\t\t\t\t\t\trest of the (English) year; whether it will be changed
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tin the beginning of the next is more than I can tell
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twith any certainty. The whole work might fall on your
\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttwo Chandernagore writers. An English weekly cannot be
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tconducted like a Bengali monthly or fortnightly. And it
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tis not going to be a political paper of the ordinary
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tkind which can be filled up anyhow. It will have to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmaintain a high reputation to be at all successful.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThese things however are for you to consider; you know
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tyour own strength and how far the field in Bengal is
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tready. As to the symbol, none has come to me. I   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nam not altogether favourably inclined to the Uttara Yogi idea, nor anyone else
\nhere. It sounds too like the old style of spiritual pretension, and, when it is
\nput in a current English production, suggests bujruki<\/i>. Plain colours and
\nas few symbols as may be are what we want at the beginning. Indian spirituality
\nhas lost itself in a jungle of symbols and shlokas and we have to get out of
\nthem on to the plain and straight ways and the open heights, where we can see
\nthe "much work that has still to be done". Why any editor? Let the Shakti
\nherself be the editor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to articles for the Prabartak, Nalini used to be your mainstay
\n\t\t\tand he is now in another atmosphere, \u2014 mainly hitherto of marriage
\n\t\t\tand football, and complains of an inability to write. As for the
\n\t\t\tother he has produced nothing since he left here, except a drama for
\n\t\t\tthe "Bijoli" and the answer to [? ] even his Prabasi article was
\n\t\t\twritten and sent before he left for Bengal. Moni’s inspiration flows
\n\t\t\tin channels hardly suitable for the Prabartak. As for myself, it was
\n\t\t\tonly as a result of a solitary inspiration and with much trouble of
\n\t\t\trewriting that I got one thing done for you. Since then I have been
\n\t\t\ttoo much occupied by my Yoga and not at all visited by any
\n\t\t\tpreran\u00e2<\/font> <\/i>or at least none
\n\t\t\twhich lasted long enough to produce more than a few lines. In this
\n\t\t\tmatter I am entirely dependent on the 
\n\t\t\t,
\n\t\t\tas I have no natural control of the language and I have no time at
\n\t\t\tpresent for increasing it by constant practice. It seems to me that
\n\t\t\tPrabartak is getting on well enough as it is, though, if Nalini
\n\t\t\tcould write, it would produce an element of greater variety. You
\n\t\t\tshould be able to develop more writers with the necessary spiritual
\n\t\t\texperience, grasp of the thought and literary ability, \u2014 these
\n\t\t\tthings the inner Shakti can bring to the surface if it is called
\n\t\t\tupon for them, \u2014 so that Prabartak will not have to depend on three
\n\t\t\tor four people only for its sustenance. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere is nothing more, I think, to add immediately, \u2014 if there is I
\n\t\t\twill keep it for later answering, so that this letter may not be
\n\t\t\tfarther delayed. By the way, with regard to your design for the
\n\t\t\tpaper, the only thing that now suggests itself to me is the Hansa in
\n\t\t\tthe Sun, ie the free Soul lodged in the vij\u00f1\u00e2<\/font>na<\/i>,
\n\t\t\tand the legend "In this sign thou shalt conquer," which is
\n\t\t\tappropriate,   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

but has the disadvantage of being borrowed from Christianity and Constantine. It
\nwould perhaps be better if you could find a Sanscrit equivalent or substitute. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK. <\/p>\n

\n[23] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tJan 2. 1920 <\/p>\n

\nDear M \u00ad<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI write today only for your question about Manindranath
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tand the other. We have been imprisoned in an inferno of
\n\t\t\t\t\t\train for the last few days and I have only just been
\n\t\t\t\t\t\table to get a reliable answer. They have only to get a
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsauf-conduit<\/span> <\/i>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom the Chandernagore Administrator and then, as they
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tare called here by the French Government for government
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twork, nobody can interfere with their going and coming.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis is what I am told and it ought obviously to be so.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow are your people going to vote? Martineau and Flandin
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tare the two candidates at present and Martineau is
\n\t\t\t\t\t\timpossible.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI note with some amusement the Secretary’s letter to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBejoy Chatterji. The logic of the Bengal Government’s
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tattitude is a little difficult to follow. However, I
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsuppose the King’s proclamation will make some
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdifference, but I fancy the Govt.. of India is the chief
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tobstacle in these matters and they will perhaps try to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tlimit the scope of this qualified amnesty. Still I hope
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthat the restrictions on your own movements will be
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tremoved before long. We have received a postcard from
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBejoy notifying to the "Arya" a change of address which
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tshows that after five long years he has been released
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom his quite causeless imprisonment, but he is now
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinterned in or near Ramnagar in Birbhum. As for me, I do
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tnot see, if Lajpatrai is coming to India, how they can
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tobject to my going to Bengal. But, allowed or not
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tallowed, I have not the least intention of doing that at
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tpresent or for another year at the earliest. When I do
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tgo, this or that circumstance will make no difference.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMr.. Gandhi, like the man in Macedonia with St Paul,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsent me a message to "come over and help", but I had to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsay that I was not ready to join in the old politics and
\n\t\t\t\t\t\thad no   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nnew programme formed for a more spiritual line of work, and it would be no use
\nmy going out till I saw my way. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to the Standard-bearer<\/i>, I cannot write now, as it would
\n\t\t\ttake too long and delay this letter. I shall write afterwards or
\n\t\t\tsend word. Your insured packet reached us yesterday. The increase
\n\t\t\tcomes in a good moment, as with Saurin in Bengal the Aryan Stores is
\n\t\t\tsimply marking time and the Arya is in a new economic phase which
\n\t\t\tmeans for the moment some diminution of income. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA. G.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[Postscript in another hand:<\/i>] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn a few days you will be getting 50 copies of "War & S. D." <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tK. Amrita <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[24] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMay 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIt is only now for the first time since Sirish left that
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI get some time to write. It is not possible for me to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twrite all I have to say, much must wait till you come
\n\t\t\t\t\t\there; I will confine myself to what is of pressing
\n\t\t\t\t\t\timportance for the work. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe circumstances under which you have to work have now changed a
\n\t\t\tgreat deal and you will have in order to meet it to enlarge your
\n\t\t\tview and inner attitude on many sides; this I think you are
\n\t\t\tpreparing to do, but it will be as well for me to make it as precise
\n\t\t\tas possible. Up till now you were working alone in a Bengal which
\n\t\t\twas in a state, first, of the last fragmentary and chaotic
\n\t\t\tagitations of the old violent spirit of rajasic politics and then of
\n\t\t\ttorpor and inaction; and the thing that had to be done was to get
\n\t\t\trid of the errors of the past (errors once necessary for the
\n\t\t\tdevelopment, but likely if persisted in to ruin and frustrate the
\n\t\t\tfuture), to get at a firm spiritual basis and found a centre of
\n\t\t\tspiritual unity and action, a
\nsangha<\/i>, on a small scale but sure of its principle and capable of a large
\n\t\t\tdevelopment. This has   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

now been done, but at the moment of its firm effectuation, new conditions have
\ncome in which create a new and larger problem. First, many imprisoned forces
\nhave been set loose and, secondly, the chaos of incertitude, confused agitation
\nand unseeing unrest which has followed upon the war and is felt all over the
\nworld, is now at work in Bengal. The nature of this unrest is a haste to get
\nsomething done without knowing what has to be done, a sense of and vague
\nresponse to large forces without any vision of or hold on the real possibilities
\nof the future of humanity and the nation. The old things are broken up in their
\nassured mould and are yet persisting and trying to form themselves anew, the new
\nexist for the most part only in vague idea without a body or clear action and
\nwithout any power as yet to form what is lacking to them. The old politics in
\nIndia persist in a chaos of parties and programmes centred round the Congress
\nquarrel and the Reforms, and in Bengal we have a rush of the commercial and
\nindustrial spirit which follows the Western principle and, if it succeeds on
\nthose lines, is likely to create a very disastrous reproduction or imitation of
\nthe European situation with its corrupt capitalism and the labour struggle and
\nthe war of classes. And all that is the very reverse of our own ideal. The one
\nadvantage for us is that it is a chaos and not a new order, and it is essential
\nthat we should throw our spirit and idea upon this fermentation, and draw what
\nis best among its personalities and forces to the side and service of our ideal
\nso as to get a hold and a greater mass of effectuation for it in the near
\nfuture. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis, as I conceive it, has to be done on two lines. First, what has
\n\t\t\talready been created by us and given a right spirit, basis and form,
\n\t\t\tmust be kept intact in spirit, intact in basis and intact in form
\n\t\t\tand must strengthen and enlarge itself in its own strength and by
\n\t\t\tits inherent power of self-development and the divine force within
\n\t\t\tit. This is the line of work on which you have to proceed. We have
\n\t\t\tto confront the confusion around us with a thing that is sure of
\n\t\t\titself and illumined by self-knowledge and a work that by its clear
\n\t\t\tform and firm growth will present more and more the aspect of an
\n\t\t\tassured solution of the problems of the present and the future. The
\n\t\t\tmind of the outside world may   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nbe too shallow, restless and impatient to understand a great, profound and
\ndifficult truth like ours on the side of the idea, but a visible accomplishment,
\na body of things done has always the power to compel and to attract the world to
\nfollow it. The only danger then is that when this body of things becomes
\nprominent and attractive, numbers may rush into it and try to follow the
\nexternals without realising and reproducing in themselves the truth and the
\npower of the real thing that made it possible. It was that against which I
\nwarned you when there came the first possibility of a considerable expansion. It
\nis your business to enlarge your field of work and the work itself but not at
\nthe cost of any lowering or adulteration of its spirit. The first condition you
\nhave to assure is that all who have the work in hand or share in its direction
\nmust be of the spirit and work from the self outward; they must be men of the
\nYoga; but, secondly, all who enter in must have this imposed on them as the
\nthing to be developed, must learn to develop this self-realisation first and
\nforemost and the work only as its expression. The safety of the work lies in a
\nstrict adherence to this principle. The majority of the educated people of
\nBengal care only to get something done \u2014 and are not troubled by the fact that
\nreally nothing sure and lasting does get done or else only something that is
\nlikely to do as much harm as good; they care nothing about the spiritual basis
\nof life which is India’s real mission and the only possible source of her
\ngreatness, or give to it only a slight, secondary or incidental value, a
\nsomething that has to be stuck on as a sentiment or a bit of colouring matter.
\nOur whole principle is different and you have to insist on our principle in all
\nthat you say and do. Moreover, you have got a clear form for your work in
\nassociation and that form as well as the spirit you must maintain; any loosening
\nof it or compromise would mean confusion and an impairing of the force that is
\nworking in your sangha. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut on the other hand there is another line of work which is also
\n\t\t\tnecessary at the present moment, because the Shakti is moving in
\n\t\t\tthat direction also and the Shakti is the doer of the work, \u2014 and
\n\t\t\tthat is for others, like Barin to enter into the fermenting mass and
\n\t\t\tdraw out of it elements that are fit but not   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

yet ready to take our whole idea and first to get into and then occupy existing
\nor newly created means and activities, \u2014 as he is doing with the Narayan, \u2014
\nwhich can be increasingly made instruments of our purpose. This work will be
\nattended with all the difficulties and uncertainties and obstacles which go with
\na mixed and yet unformed working, \u2014 such as you had at the beginning, but have
\nnow got over, \u2014 but we must trust to the divine Shakti to overcome them. The one
\ndifficulty that it is in our power to avoid is that of the relation between
\nthose who are working on these different lines. There the first necessity is
\nthat there should be no clash or spirit of rivalry, sense of division or
\nmonopolising personal or corporate egoism to bring discord among those who
\nreceive their inspiration from the same source and have the same ideal. A
\nspiritual unity and a readiness for cooperation must be the guiding principle of
\ntheir relations.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have already answered to Sirish the first very natural question
\n\t\t\tthat arose in your mind at the inception of these new conditions,
\n\t\t\twhy Barin and others should cast themselves separately into the
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tto create a रुप out of it, when there is already a form and a body
\n\t\t\tof associated communal work in the spirit of our ideal and why all
\n\t\t\tshould not unite in that form and create a greater power of
\n\t\t\tassociated driving force to bring about a rapid enlargement and
\n\t\t\tvictory of the ideal. The first thing is that the particular form
\n\t\t\tgiven is the right thing for those who are already associated
\n\t\t\ttogether, because it has arisen naturally out of themselves and by
\n\t\t\tthe Will that guides, but it may well be that the same precise form
\n\t\t\tmay not be applicable or intended everywhere. The spirit, the truth
\n\t\t\tmust be the same, but the formations may be different with advantage
\n\t\t\tto the spirit. To insist on one form only might well bring in that
\n\t\t\trigidity which grew upon Indian society and its civilisation in the
\n\t\t\tpast and brought about an imprisonment and decline of the spirit.
\n\t\t\tIndia was strongest and most alive when she had many variations of
\n\t\t\tform but one spirit. And I think, \u2014 that at least was the prevision
\n\t\t\tthat came on me in the Alipur jail and I do not yet see a different
\n\t\t\tprospect, \u2014 that this will be the case also in the future. Then,
\n\t\t\tsecondly, there is a psychological   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nnecessity which we cannot at the present moment leave out of consideration. The
\nsangha at Chandernagore is a thing that has grown up with my power behind and
\nyours at the centre and it has assumed a body and temperament which is the
\nresult of this origination. But there are others, people of strong personality
\nand full of shakti, who receive the spiritual force direct from me and are made
\nthemselves to be central spirits and direct radiators of the shakti, and for
\nthese to subordinate themselves to the existing body and temperament would not
\nbe easy for any and in most cases impossible, \u2014 such a subordination would not
\nhave grown out of themselves and would only be imposed by nigraha<\/i>, a
\nthing contrary to the
\nprakriti<\/i>, \u2014 and it would besides clog up the natural action of the power
\nin them. And on the other hand to bring them in as coordinated central figures
\ninto the existing form would not be feasible, for it would mean a disturbing
\nchange and new fermentation of forces in the work that is already being well
\ndone on established lines. It would mean, even if at all successful, a sort of
\nconducting by spiritual committee and that is not the line on which the Shakti
\nhas proceeded at Chandernagore. The more perfect coordination of all who are at
\nwork can only come, as far as I can see, after I myself go to Bengal and can act
\nby my direct presence. Thirdly, there are a considerable number of people in the
\ncountry who are not yet of us, yet can be given the necessary turn, but owing to
\ntemperamental and other causes they would not be drawn to the existing centre,
\nbut could be easily drawn by Barin, Saurin, Bijoy and others. And in all these
\nand similar cases we must leave freedom to the guiding Shakti to use her own
\nmeans and instruments. Finally, there are things to be done which need to be
\ndone, but which I would not like to impose on your sangha as it now stands,
\nfirst, because it would disturb the characteristic frame and ideal temperament
\nof your work, a thing which it is important to keep, and secondly because it
\nwould impose on you unnecessary complications; and these things can best be done
\nby Barin and others while seeming to work independently for their own hand. And
\nthere are needs also to be met for which these other activities are required. Of
\nthat I can better speak to   <\/p>\n

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\n

you in person than by letter. This being the situation, the need that remains is
\nto keep a right relation between those who are working, and that means to extend
\nthe spirit of unity which is our basis so as to embrace all the work and
\nworkers, undeterred by differences of mentality and divergences of action.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn our work we have to fix our relations with three different kinds
\n\t\t\tof people, first, those who are working for the country but without
\n\t\t\tany greater idea or spiritual motive, secondly, those who have the
\n\t\t\tspiritual motive but not the same ideal and inspiration as
\n\t\t\tourselves, thirdly, those who have the same ideal and inspiration,
\n\t\t\tbut are working in different bodies and at first on different lines.
\n\t\t\tOur relation to the first class of people and their work must be
\n\t\t\tbased on the fundamental principle of our Yoga to see God in all and
\n\t\t\tthe one Self in all acting through different natures and all
\n\t\t\tenergies, even those which are hostile, as workings of the divine
\n\t\t\tShakti although behind the veil of the
\nahankara <\/i>and the ignorant mentality. There are movements at work new and
\n\t\t\told which are not the definite reality of the future but are needed
\n\t\t\tat the present moment as part of the transition. It is in this light
\n\t\t\tfor example that I regard many things that are in process in Europe
\n\t\t\tand I am even moved to give a temporary spiritual support to efforts
\n\t\t\tand movements which are not in consonance with our own and must
\n\t\t\teventually fail or cease by exhaustion of their utility but are
\n\t\t\tneeded as transitional powers. This too is how I regard the work of
\n\t\t\tmen like Tilak and Gandhi. We work in the faith that it is our
\n\t\t\tvision of the future that is the central divine will, the highest
\n\t\t\tactualisable possibility and therefore the one thing that must be
\n\t\t\tmade the object of our action; but that does not mean that the
\n\t\t\tShakti is not working in her own covert way and for her own ends
\n\t\t\tthrough others. No doubt their movements are of a western and
\n\t\t\tmaterialistic inspiration or else an imperfect mixture, and some day
\n\t\t\tit may be we shall have to give battle to them as certainly we shall
\n\t\t\thave to overcome the spirit that informs them. But that time has not
\n\t\t\tcome yet, and meanwhile what we have to do is to develop and spread
\n\t\t\tour own vision and idea and give it body so as eventually to
\n\t\t\tconfront the things that are in possession of the present with<\/p>\n

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\n

\n

a realisation of the things that belong to the future. I think that at this
\njuncture we should avoid a too direct attack or criticism of them as that only
\ncreates avoidable opposition to our own work. The positive rather than the
\nnegative method is the one we should adopt until we are strong enough to
\nconvince by our visible strength and work the minds that are now attracted by
\nthe present power and activity of other movements, \u2014 to assert our own ideal as
\nthe true and the right way but not to invite conflict by a destructive frontal
\nattack on the others. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for the second class, such as the other spiritual movements in
\n\t\t\tBengal, our attitude to most should be that of a benevolent
\n\t\t\tneutrality and a sympathy for such of their elements as are at all
\n\t\t\tin consonance with our own ideal. The one thing which we have to get
\n\t\t\trid of is the idea of Maya and ascetic abandonment of the life and
\n\t\t\teffort of humanity and also, though that is social and religious
\n\t\t\trather than directly spiritual, the clinging to old forms and
\n\t\t\trefusal to admit new development. The movements that admit life and
\n\t\t\tAnanda and are ready to break away from the old narrowness of social
\n\t\t\tand other forms, are so much to the good even though they have not
\n\t\t\tthe full largeness of the integral spiritual idea and realisation.
\n\t\t\tThese we must leave to go on their way and run themselves out or
\n\t\t\telse enlarge themselves till they are ready to coalesce with us. I
\n\t\t\tdo not mean that with regard to either of these classes we should
\n\t\t\trefrain from all criticism of the insufficiency of ideal or method,
\n\t\t\tbut this should be as far as possible quite general, a discussion
\n\t\t\tand the enforcement of a greater principle and truer method,
\n\t\t\tdistinguishing truth from error but not too pointedly aggressive
\n\t\t\tagainst particular things or so expressed as to seem to hit straight
\n\t\t\tat this or that person or body. To insist on our own propaganda and
\n\t\t\twork is always necessary and sometimes though not always to meet any
\n\t\t\tattack on it; but we need not go out of our way to invite conflict.
\n\t\t\tTo this rule there may be particular exceptions; I only indicate
\n\t\t\twhat seems to me for the present the right general attitude. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis once understood, the really important thing becomes at once our
\n\t\t\town work and the relation between different workers,   <\/p>\n

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\n

and here, as I have said, what we need is the growth of spiritual unity and a
\nreadiness to take the work of others as supplementing one’s own and, wherever it
\nis called for and possible, to cooperate. There is a danger here from the
\nsubtler forms of egoism. It is not enough to realise unity among those who are
\nalready working with one mind as one soul in many bodies; there must be unity of
\nspirit with others who are following different ways or working separately for
\nthe present and complete
\nsamata<\/i>
\nwith regard to their action, even if it seems to one wrong or imperfect, and
\npatience with regard to mental and moral divergences. This should be easy for
\nyou, as it means only getting rid of the remnants of your sattwic ahankara; it
\nmay not be so easy for others who have still a rajasic ahankara to trouble them.
\nBut if people like you and Barin give the example, that difficulty can
\neventually be got over; if on the contrary you also allow misunderstandings
\namong yourselves, the work is likely to be very unnecessarily hampered. I may
\ngive as an instance, the matter about the Prabartak<\/i>. Certain casual
\nutterances of Saurin’s, made in answer to queries and not volunteered, have come
\nto you quite misreported as a sort of intentional campaign to belittle the paper
\nand the other half of what he said, namely, that the Prabartak was inspired,
\nthough not actually written by me and the spirit and substance were that of my
\nideal, never reached your ears. I may add also that the alleged incident to
\nwhich you took exception, as to his method of raising money, never actually
\nhappened. Again the advertisement or rather paragraph about Narayana in the
\nAmrita [Bazar]<\/i>14<\/font><\/sup> was not inserted by Barin,
\nbut by someone else according to that other person’s idea after a conversation
\nwith him: Barin was not responsible for the form nor had he any intention of
\nclaiming the Narayana as the sole and direct mouthpiece of my ideas. It is these
\nmisunderstandings which I want to see all of you avoid and it can be easily done
\nif those who are among the principal channels of the Shakti preserve the
\nspiritual unity which ought to prevail among those who derive their inspiration
\nfrom the same source and follow<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t14 MS <\/i>Bazaar  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nthe same ideal. Others less developed may give cause for offence owing to their
\ninability to control the rajasic ego still working in them, but calm, patience,
\nprema <\/i>and samata <\/i>are the spirit in which we should meet such causes
\nof offence; otherwise where is the perfection we seek by our Yoga? Let me add,
\nwhile I am on this subject, that Haradhan seems to have been misinformed about
\nNalini. As a matter of fact he has mixed with no  , nor engaged in any kind of
\nassociated activity while in Bengal. And if he had, it would have been with no
\nother purpose than to draw others to our Yoga and our way of thinking; but as a
\nmatter of fact he remained inactive.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for the other matter of the different lines of work, there is one
\n\t\t\tinstance which illustrates the difficulties that may arise. Barin
\n\t\t\thas taken up the "Narayan" with the idea of gradually and eventually
\n\t\t\tmaking it another instrument of propaganda for our ideas, and if he
\n\t\t\tsucceeds, that will be so much the more strength for us. It will not
\n\t\t\tbe a mere doubling of the work of the Prabartak<\/i>, as it will
\n\t\t\tpresent our ideas in a different way and so as to catch minds of a
\n\t\t\tdifferent type from those who are naturally attracted by the
\nPrabartak <\/i>which demands from its readers a mind already turned to
\n\t\t\tspiritual things or at least naturally able to enter into that
\n\t\t\tatmosphere. To others who are of a less spiritual and intuitive, a
\n\t\t\tmore intellectual or literary and artistic temperament, the articles
\n\t\t\tof the
\nPrabartak <\/i>written out of an experience to which they are strangers, are
\n\t\t\tnot easily assimilable, and it is these minds which it may be
\n\t\t\tpossible to approach through the "Narayan". But if there is not a
\n\t\t\tright understanding, the attitude of the two to each other may be
\n\t\t\tthat of separation and competition rather than of activities
\n\t\t\tsupplementary to each other in the same work. In addition he has now
\n\t\t\tthe chance of getting hold of a strong publishing agency in
\n\t\t\tCalcutta, as Sirish must already have told you, but he hesitates to
\n\t\t\ttake it up from fear that it may be regarded as a rival agency to
\n\t\t\tthe Prabartak Publishing House. He is not afraid of any
\n\t\t\tmisunderstanding between you and him, but of others connected with
\n\t\t\teither work taking things in the wrong light and bringing in an
\n\t\t\tunwholesome spirit of competition. This is a thing which   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

might easily happen, but must not be allowed to happen. I have told him that I
\nwould write to you and ask you to see that there is no misunderstanding in the
\nmatter, before giving him sanction to take up the possibility. Afterwards it
\nwill be for you and him to see that things on both sides are managed in the
\nright spirit. This agency, if it comes into Barin’s control, will be conducted
\nwith the same idea and method as the "Narayan" and all the profits except what
\nis necessary for the maintenance and extension of the agency, will come to us
\nand our work. These two things are the first fields the Shakti has offered to
\nhis energy and they are of a kind for which he is well fitted; their success
\nmeans for us a great advantage. A time is now coming in which the Shakti is
\npressing to break down the barriers in which we have had hitherto to move and we
\nmust be ready to follow her indications without allowing our personal
\npreferences and limitations to attempt to dictate to her any mind-made limits. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for the extension of the work you are doing, I have spoken in
\n\t\t\tgeneral terms to Sirish and it is not necessary to add anything in
\n\t\t\tthis letter. When you come, I shall perhaps have more to say about
\n\t\t\tit. It is regrettable that at this moment the physical strain should
\n\t\t\ttake an effect on your body; I trust it is only a part of a
\n\t\t\ttemporary invasion of Roga of which many of us including myself have
\n\t\t\trecently felt some touch. But you must be careful not to throw too
\n\t\t\tmuch strain on the physical system. A timely sparing of the physical
\n\t\t\tsystem when there is an indication of overstrain is often necessary
\n\t\t\tbefore the Shakti has taken perfect possession of the more external
\n\t\t\tparts of the adhara or the vij\u00f1\u00e2na
\n<\/i>will is strong enough to set right at once weakenings and disturbances.
\n\t\t\tThere remains the question of your visit to Pondicherry. I had
\n\t\t\tthought to delay it for a short time until I saw my way more clearly
\n\t\t\ton certain important matters; but I now believe this is not
\n\t\t\tnecessary and it will be as well for you to come as soon as may be.
\n\t\t\tI hardly suppose that Nelson’s curious reservation about your visit
\n\t\t\tmeans anything serious; otherwise he would have been more positive
\n\t\t\tabout it. I take it that they do not like the idea and would be
\n\t\t\tsuspicious about its motive and watch your actions more narrowly
\n\t\t\tafter it; but as they are   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nobstinately determined to be suspicious about anything we do in any case, this
\nby itself cannot be allowed to be an obstacle. I should suggest therefore that
\nyou might come over after making arrangements for the work in your absence in
\nsuch a way that the visit may be a fairly long one.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe work of the Arya has fallen into arrears and I have to spend
\n\t\t\tjust now the greater part of my energy in catching up, and the rest
\n\t\t\tof my time, in the evening, is taken up by the daily visit of the
\n\t\t\tRichards. I hope to get over the worst part of this necessity by the
\n\t\t\tmiddle of June, so that by the time you come I may have a freer
\n\t\t\tatmosphere to attend to the currents of the work and the world about
\n\t\t\tme. There is now the beginning of a pressure from many sides
\n\t\t\tinviting my spiritual attention to the future
\n\t\t\tकर्म<\/font> <\/span>
\n\t\t\tand this means the need of a greater outflowing
\n\t\t\tof energy than when I had nothing to do but support a concentrated
\n\t\t\tnucleus of the Shakti. I doubt however whether I shall be in a fit
\n\t\t\tcondition for meeting the demand till August, especially as I have
\n\t\t\tnot been able to get the physical basis yet put right by the power
\n\t\t\tof the vij\u00f1\u00e2na. After that we shall see what and how much can
\n\t\t\tactually be done under the new circumstances. Meanwhile your visit
\n\t\t\tmay help to get things into preparatory line both in the inward
\n\t\t\tmotor-power and the outward determination. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA. G. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[25] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry Sept. 2. 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy impression about your marriage idea is that you are going too
\n\t\t\tfast. What you say about the commune and the married couple is quite
\n\t\t\tright as our ideal or rather as one side of our ideal, but there is
\n\t\t\there a question of time and tactics. In our work, especially in the
\n\t\t\tpreparatory and experimental part of it, there must be not only
\n\t\t\tspiritual hardihood, साहसं<\/font><\/span>, but skill and prudence,
\n\t\t\tकौशलं<\/font><\/span>. The question is
\n\t\t\twhether it is necessary or wise   <\/p>\n

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\n

and advisable to engage in a battle with society at the moment on a point which
\nit considers to be vital but which is to us subordinate. Our first business is
\nto establish our communal system on a firm spiritual, secondly on a firm
\neconomical foundation, and to spread it wide, but the complete social change can
\nonly come as a result of the other two. It must come first in spirit, afterwards
\nin form. If a man enters into the commune by spiritual unity, if he gives to it
\nhis life and labour and considers all he has as belonging to all, the first
\nnecessity is secured. The next thing is [to] make the movement economically
\nself-sufficient, and to do that requires at the present moment all the energy
\nyou can command. These two things are, the one a constant, the other an
\nimmediate necessity. The institution of a communal ceremony of marriage can only
\nbe a future necessity; it involves nothing essential at the moment. The idea is
\nthat the family in future is not to be a separate unit, but a sub-unit of the
\ncommunal whole. It is too early to decide exactly what form the family life will
\ntake, it may take many forms, not always the same. The principle is the
\nimportant thing. But this principle can be observed whatever the form of the
\nmarriage ceremony they may have gone through at the time of personal union,
\nwhether recognised or not by the present social system. An external necessity
\ndoes not arise in the present case, as Khagen is not marrying outside his caste.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt remains to be seen whether this step, though not necessary, is
\n\t\t\tadvisable. In the first place by your action you declare your
\n\t\t\tcommune to be an entirely separate thing from the rest of Hindu
\n\t\t\tsociety; you will be following in the way of the Brahma Samaj or
\n\t\t\tmore exactly in that of Thakur Dayananda. That means a violent
\n\t\t\tscission and a long struggle, which is likely greatly to complicate
\n\t\t\tyour other work and put difficulties in the way which need not have
\n\t\t\tbeen there. My own idea was for our system to grow up in the
\n\t\t\tsociety, not out of it, though different from it, first bringing in
\n\t\t\ta new spiritual idea, \u2014 a field in which opposition and intolerance
\n\t\t\tcannot now long endure, \u2014 secondly, justifying itself on the outward
\n\t\t\tplane by becoming a centre of economical regeneration and new power
\n\t\t\tfor the country, a work in which we shall have sympathy more than
\n\t\t\topposition, and getting forward   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nwith other matters according to need and opportunity and with a considerable
\nfreedom and latitude, meeting social orthodoxy with the plea of reembodying the
\nold free Hindu idea in new forms rather than with the profession of a violent
\nrejection both of the past and the present. In this process a clash will be
\ninevitable sooner or later, but a deliberate precipitation of the conflict in so
\nextreme a form as you suggest was not within my intentions. That was to come,
\nbut only when we were strong and had already a hold on the country, so that we
\nmight have a strong support as well as enemies. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour point is that the commune should not depend either on
\n\t\t\tGovernment or society for the validity of the union. It seems to me
\n\t\t\tsufficient if that is spiritually insisted on or at most given an
\n\t\t\toutward indication. I would suggest that the exchange of garlands
\n\t\t\tshould be done before the commune, as it was done in the old
\n\t\t\tSwayamvara before the assembly. The conventional marriage can then
\n\t\t\tbe added as a concession to the present society, as in old times the
\nsampradana <\/i>by the father was added to the
\nswayamvara <\/i>although in fact the svayamvara itself would have been quite
\n\t\t\tvalid without it. If a case should arise in future where the mutual
\n\t\t\tgiving would be necessary by itself, we might then go to the more
\n\t\t\textreme course. This would, it seems to me, satisfy everything
\n\t\t\timmediately necessary or advisable, \u2014 first, the assertion of free
\n\t\t\tchoice as the principle of marriage, secondly, the formal inclusion
\n\t\t\tof the couple in their united life in the commune, apart from any
\n\t\t\tconventional marriage ceremony, thirdly, the justification of a
\n\t\t\tcontinuity between our movement and the great past of India. The
\n\t\t\tmovement of course is not to stop with the forms of the past or a
\n\t\t\tmodernisation of them, but this sort of preliminary advance under
\n\t\t\tcover will prepare more easily its future advance into the open,
\n\t\t\twhich we can afterwards make as rapid as we choose. At the same time
\n\t\t\tit will have the advantage of awaking a less vehement opposition at
\n\t\t\ta moment when it seems to me we are not yet ready for a frontal
\n\t\t\tattack in the social field and a decisive battle. If a battle
\n\t\t\tbecomes necessary, of course we must not flinch from it, but I
\n\t\t\tshould myself prefer to have it after I have reached the proper
\n\t\t\tstage in my Yoga and   <\/p>\n

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\n

after I return to Bengal. At present I have so many calls upon an energy which
\nis still largely occupied with pushing forward to its own perfection that I do
\nnot quite like the idea of the heavy drain on it such a struggle would entail.
\nThis at least is my present view on the matter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Standard Bearer is, I am afraid, subject to the criticism passed
\n\t\t\ton it; the criticism is general and I felt it myself. It is a sort
\n\t\t\tof weekly "Arya"; but the Arya style and method are not what is
\n\t\t\twanted for a weekly paper. What you need to do, is to make the ideas
\n\t\t\teasy to the people and give them a practical direction. At present
\n\t\t\tyou give only a difficult philosophy and abstract principles. I
\n\t\t\tshall write more about this matter hereafter as soon as I find time. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA. G. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[26] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNov 11. 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear M. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt has become necessary for me to give a categorical denial to all
\n\t\t\tthe rumours and ascriptions of opinion which irresponsible people
\n\t\t\tare publishing from time to time about me. The Janmabhumi nonsense
\n\t\t\tis especially idiotic and I do not understand how anyone with brains
\n\t\t\tin his head could have accepted such childish rubbish as mine.
\n\t\t\tPlease write an article in the next issue of the Standardbearer
\n\t\t\tsaying that in view of the conflicting rumours that have been set
\n\t\t\tabroad, some representing me as for the Reforms and others as for
\n\t\t\tNon-Cooperation, you (that is the St. B.) have written to me and
\n\t\t\treceived the following reply which you are authorised to publish.
\n\t\t\t"All these assertions are without foundation. I have made no
\n\t\t\tpronouncement of my political views. I have authorised nobody
\n\t\t\twhether publicly or privately to be the spokesman of my opinions.
\n\t\t\tThe rumour suggesting that I support the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms
\n\t\t\tand am opposed to Non-Cooperation is without basis. I have nothing
\n\t\t\tto do personally with the manifesto of Sir Ashutosh   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>248<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nChaudhuri and others citing a passage from my past writings. The recorded
\nopinions of a public man are public property and I do not disclaim what I have
\nwritten; but the responsibility for its application to the Montagu Chelmsford
\nReforms and the present situation rests entirely with the signatories to the
\nmanifesto. The summary of my opinions in the
\nJanmabhumi<\/i>, representing me as an enthusiastic follower of Mahatma
\nGandhi, of which I only came to know the other day, is wholly unauthorised and
\ndoes
\nnot <\/i>"render justice to my views" either in form or in substance. Things
\nare attributed to me in it which I would never have dreamed of saying. It is
\nespecially adding insult to injury to make me say that I am ready to sacrifice
\nmy conscience to a Congress mandate and recommend all to go and do likewise. I
\nhave not stated to anyone that "full responsible self-government completely
\nindependent of British control" or any other purely political object is the goal
\nto the attainment of which I intend to devote my efforts and I have not made any
\nrhetorical prophecy of a colossal success for the Non-Cooperation movement. As
\nyou well know, I am identifying myself with only one kind of work or propaganda
\nas regards India, the endeavour to reconstitute her cultural, social and
\neconomic life within larger and freer lines than the past on a spiritual basis.
\nAs regards political questions, I would request my friends and the public not to
\nattach credence to anything purporting to be a statement of my opinions which is
\nnot expressly authorised by me or issued over my signature." <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall write to you about other matters in another letter. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA. G. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. Please ask Mani Naik to see my sister before he comes here. She
\n\t\t\twants to send with him certain utensils for our use. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[27] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTIME INOPPORTUNE. INTERVIEW NOT POSSIBLE. WHY NOT WRITE? <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t13 May 1925   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>249<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n[28] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[8 May 1930] <\/p>\n

\nNalini.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere are certain words (marked) I fail to decipher and I don’t
\n\t\t\tunderstand the first line of the second paragraph. Can you enlighten
\n\t\t\tme as to what he really wants, behind the twists and vagueness of
\n\t\t\this rhetoric?15<\/font><\/sup> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWrite to Motilal in Bengali telling him that Sri Aurobindo for the
\n\t\t\tlast few years does not see anybody, not even his disciples here,
\n\t\t\texcept on the three days of the year set apart for darshan and even
\n\t\t\tthen does not speak to anyone. At first an occasional exception was
\n\t\t\tmade but now even this has not been done for a long time. It is
\n\t\t\tthrough the Mother and not by personal contact that he directs the
\n\t\t\twork. If anyone wants to ask him a question of importance, get a
\n\t\t\tdifficulty solved etc, he writes and the answer is given in writing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAdd that the difficulty for which he wants a solution is not clear
\n\t\t\tto Sri Aurobindo from his letter. He appears to say that the Sangha
\n\t\t\tis securely founded on a spiritual basis and that he wishes now to
\n\t\t\tgo out in search of mukti<\/i>. He knows that mukti <\/i>in the
\n\t\t\tordinary sense (moksha), release from the world and life, is not an
\n\t\t\taim in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. Mukti here means liberation from ego
\n\t\t\tand all its movements and elevation into a divine and spiritual
\n\t\t\tconsciousness. For this it may be necessary to come out of the
\n\t\t\tordinary life and its unsuitable atmosphere, surroundings and
\n\t\t\tactivities. But if the Sangha is well founded on a spiritual basis
\n\t\t\tthen there ought to be a spiritual atmosphere there favourable to
\n\t\t\tthis kind of mukti<\/i>, the very work itself being a help and a
\n\t\t\tmeans toward it and not an obstacle. It is therefore not clear why
\n\t\t\tit should be necessary for him to go out of it to get mukti<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t15 Sri Aurobindo wrote these two sentences to his
\n\t\t\tsecretary Nolini Kanta Gupta on the<\/i>
\nback of a letter from Motilal. He wrote the two paragraphs that follow on the
\n\t\t\tback of<\/i>
\nthe same letter, apparently after getting the required clarification. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>250<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tDraft of a Letter to
\n\t\t\tSaurin Bose
\n\t\t\t<\/a>
\n<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[June 1914] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Saurin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have received your letter and I reply first to the one or two
\n\t\t\tpoints in it which demand an answer. We have changed the name of the
\n\t\t\treview from the New Idea to the Arya. We are bringing out a
\n\t\t\tprospectus with specimens of the content which will have to be
\n\t\t\tdistributed so as to attract subscribers. It will probably be out in
\n\t\t\tthe middle of the month. Please let us know before then how many
\n\t\t\tcopies we should send to you to distribute. The address of the
\n\t\t\tReview will be 7 Rue Dupleix & subscriptions should be sent to the
\n\t\t\tManager, Arya at that address. This is the house that has been found
\n\t\t\tfor M & Madame Richard; they have not occupied it yet but will do so
\n\t\t\twithin a week or so. It is Martin’s house over on the other side of
\n\t\t\tthe street just near to the Governor’s. It is also to be the
\n\t\t\theadquarters of the Review & the Society, at least for the present. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSukumar has not yet sent the garden-money but I presume he will do
\n\t\t\tso before long. I have received Rs 400 of the Rs 600 due to me from
\n\t\t\tanother quarter & hope to get the remainder by August. With the
\n\t\t\tgarden money, this will mean Rs 1100, & with another Rs 100 & 130
\n\t\t\tfor payment of the old rent, we could just go on for a year even
\n\t\t\twithout the Rs 1000 arrangement yearly or other money. But Rs 150 is
\n\t\t\tthe real minimum sum needed, especially if we keep this house after
\n\t\t\tNagen goes, as Richard wishes. If the Review succeeds, the problem
\n\t\t\twill be solved; for with 500 subscribers abroad & 1500 in India, we
\n\t\t\tcould run the Review, pay the assistants & keep a sufficient sum for
\n\t\t\tthe two Editors. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs for your loans, my point was not about a legal process or any
\n\t\t\tmaterial trouble as the result of non-payment. It was that those who
\n\t\t\tgive the loan should not have any feeling of not being rightly dealt
\n\t\t\twith, if we should fail to repay them, any feeling that advantage
\n\t\t\thad been taken of their friendship. I have had too bad an experience
\n\t\t\tof money-matters & their power to cool down friendly relations not
\n\t\t\tto be on my guard in this respect.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 251<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Therefore, I desire that there should be no ground left for future
\nmisunderstanding in any matter of the kind, & loans are the most fruitful of
\nthese things, much more than money asked or taken as a gift. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou will of course return before August, \u2014 as soon in fact as it is
\n\t\t\tno longer necessary for you to stay in Bengal to get matters
\n\t\t\tarranged there. I await your farther information with regard to the
\n\t\t\tidea of Mrinalini coming here. At present it seems to me that that
\n\t\t\twill depend very much on the success of the Review & a more settled
\n\t\t\tcondition in my means of life. We shall see, however, whether
\n\t\t\tanything else develops. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo K. R. Appadurai
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"ARYA"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t Revue de Grande Synth\u00e8se Philosophique<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t7, rue Dupleix, PONDICH\u00c9<\/font>RY.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t_____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t13th April. 1916 .. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Mr.. Appadurai <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThanks for the money. About the Raja of Pittapur, the difficulty is
\n\t\t\tthat I do not know Pundit Shivanath very well, and secondly we were
\n\t\t\tnever associated politically. I am even afraid that any letter of
\n\t\t\tmine might do a disservice, if, as I think, the Pundit belongs to
\n\t\t\tthe Moderate school of politics; it might cause him to look upon
\n\t\t\tMr.. K.V.R. as an extreme politician to be avoided rather than
\n\t\t\tsupported. However, if you don’t mind taking the risk, you can use
\n\t\t\tthe letter which I send. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKindly ask Mr.. K.V.R. to send me money from time to time if he can
\n\t\t\tfor a while as just at present my sources of supply in Bengal are
\n\t\t\tvery much obstructed and I am in considerable difficulty. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>252<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tFragmentary Draft Letter
\n\t<\/a>
\n\t<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n […..] with whatever the superior wisdom and political experience of the
\n\truling race to grant to them. You are asking for a thing contrary to human
\n\tnature.*16<\/font><\/sup> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI state the difficulty broadly as I see it; I shall try to make my
\n\t\t\tmeaning more precise in a subsequent letter. Meanwhile all I can say
\n\t\t\tis that whatever can be done to alter this state [of] things \u2014
\n\t\t\tsubject to my conscience and lights, I am always willing to do. But
\n\t\t\tmy scope of action is very limited. I am an exile in French India,
\n\t\t\tin danger of arrest or internment if I step across the border. I
\n\t\t\thave long abstained from all intermiscence in politics, and anything
\n\t\t\tI might say, write or do now would be misunderstood by the
\n\t\t\tGovernment. They regard me, I believe, as an arch revolutionary and
\n\t\t\tirreconcilable; any assertion of mine to the contrary would be
\n\t\t\tregarded probably as camouflage or covert for unavowable designs.
\n\t\t\tNor could I engage to satisfy them by my utterances or action, I
\n\t\t\twould necessarily have to speak and act from the point of view of
\n\t\t\tIndian aspiration to liberty and this is a thing which they seem
\n\t\t\tstill to regard [as] objectionable. All that I can see at present to
\n\t\t\tdo is in the line I am doing, but that is necessarily a [?samadhic]
\n\t\t\tkind of action which can only bear fruit indirectly and not in the
\n\t\t\tpresent <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut if the English mind would take the first step and try to see
\n\t\t\tthings from the Indian’s standpoint \u2014 see their mind and act
\n\t\t\taccordingly, all difficulties might be solved. The Indian mind has
\n\t\t\tnot the Irish memory for past wrongs and discords, it forgives and
\n\t\t\tforgets easily. Only it must be made to feel that the approach on
\n\t\t\tthe other side is frank and whole hearted. If it once felt that,
\n\t\t\tevery difficulty would be solved.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI send you my volume of poems since you have desired to read it, but
\n\t\t\twith some hesitation. I doubt whether you will find much that is
\n\t\t\tworth your perusal except two or three of the shorter poems, they
\n\t\t\twere written long ago, some as many as 20 or 25 years, and are
\n\t\t\trather gropings after verse and style than a <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t16 The asterisk is Sri Aurobindo’s; its
\n\t\t\tsignificance is not known. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>253<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

self-expression. It is only now that I am doing work which I feel has some
\nchance of living, but it is not yet ready for publication. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo a Would-be
\n\t\t\tContributor to the Arya<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSept. 3. 1919 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Sir, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI regret that not knowing you would require the copy back, \u2014 we do
\n\t\t\tnot usually return manuscripts, \u2014 I have entered upon it certain
\n\t\t\talterations to indicate the kind of changes which would be needed if
\n\t\t\tyou wished to have it published in the "Arya". The magazine aims at
\n\t\t\ta very high standard of style and thinking, and I make it a rule to
\n\t\t\tadmit nothing which is not in my judgment as perfect as possible in
\n\t\t\tboth directions. Your poem is noble throughout in idea and has fine
\n\t\t\tlines, but is not throughout of one piece; that is to say, it is
\n\t\t\twritten in a high and almost epic strain, but there are dissonant
\n\t\t\tturns and phrases which belong to a lower pitch of writing. I was
\n\t\t\tabout to write to you to this effect. I understand from your letter
\n\t\t\tthat you wish now to publish the poem elsewhere; but the copy is
\n\t\t\tspoilt for the purpose, though I can return it if you still desire. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDirector, "Arya" <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Joseph Baptista <\/a> <\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tJan. 5, 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Baptista,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour offer is a tempting one, but I regret that I cannot answer it
\n\t\t\tin the affirmative. It is due to you that I should state explicitly
\n\t\t\tmy reasons. In the first place I am not prepared at present to
\n\t\t\treturn to British India. This is quite apart from any political
\n\t\t\tobstacle. I understand that up to last September   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>254<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe Government of Bengal (and probably the Government of Madras also) were
\nopposed to my return to British India and that practically this opposition meant
\nthat if I went back I should be interned or imprisoned under one or other of the
\nbeneficent Acts which are apparently still to subsist as helps in ushering in
\nthe new era of trust and cooperation. I do not suppose other Governments would
\nbe any more delighted by my appearance in their respective provinces. Perhaps
\nthe King’s Proclamation may make a difference, but that is not certain since, as
\nI read it, it does not mean an amnesty, but an act of gracious concession and
\nbenevolence limited by the discretion of the Viceroy. Now I have too much work
\non my hands to waste my time in the leisured ease of an involuntary Government
\nguest. But even if I were assured of an entirely free action and movement, I
\nshould yet not go just now. I came to Pondicherry in order to have freedom and
\ntranquillity for a fixed object having nothing to do with present politics \u2014 in
\nwhich I have taken no direct part since my coming here, though what I could do
\nfor the country in my own way I have constantly done, \u2014 and until it is
\naccomplished, it is not possible for me to resume any kind of public activity.
\nBut if I were in British India, I should be obliged to plunge at once into
\naction of different kinds. Pondicherry is my place of retreat, my cave of
\ntapasya, \u2014 not of the ascetic kind, but of a brand of my own invention. I must
\nfinish that, I must be internally armed and equipped for my work before I leave
\nit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext in the matter of the work itself. I do not at all look down on
\n\t\t\tpolitics or political action or consider I have got above them. I
\n\t\t\thave always laid a dominant stress and I now lay an entire stress on
\n\t\t\tthe spiritual life, but my idea of spirituality has nothing to do
\n\t\t\twith ascetic withdrawal or contempt or disgust of secular things.
\n\t\t\tThere is to me nothing secular, all human activity is for me a thing
\n\t\t\tto be included in a complete spiritual life, and the importance of
\n\t\t\tpolitics at the present time is very great. But my line and
\n\t\t\tintention of political activity would differ considerably from
\n\t\t\tanything now current in the field. I entered into political action
\n\t\t\tand continued it from 1903 to 1910 with one aim and one alone, to
\n\t\t\tget into the mind of the people a settled   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>255<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

will for freedom and the necessity of a struggle to achieve it in place of the
\nfutile ambling Congress methods till then in vogue. That is now done and the
\nAmritsar Congress is the seal upon it. The will is not as practical and compact
\nnor by any means as organised and sustained in action as it should be, but there
\nis the will and plenty of strong and able leaders to guide it. I consider that
\nin spite of the inadequacy of the Reforms, the will to self-determination, if
\nthe country keeps its present temper, as I have no doubt it will, is bound to
\nprevail before long. What preoccupies me now is the question what it is going to
\ndo with its self-determination, how will it use its freedom, on what lines is it
\ngoing to determine its future? <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou may ask why not come out and help, myself, so far as I can, in
\n\t\t\tgiving a lead? But my mind has a habit of running inconveniently
\n\t\t\tahead of the times, \u2014 some might say, out of time altogether into
\n\t\t\tthe world of the ideal. Your party, you say, is going to be a social
\n\t\t\tdemocratic party. Now I believe in something which might be called
\n\t\t\tsocial democracy, but not in any of the forms now current, and I am
\n\t\t\tnot altogether in love with the European kind, however great an
\n\t\t\timprovement it may be on the past. I hold that India having a spirit
\n\t\t\tof her own and a governing temperament proper to her own
\n\t\t\tcivilisation, should in politics as in everything else strike out
\n\t\t\ther own original path and not stumble in the wake of Europe. But
\n\t\t\tthis is precisely what she will be obliged to do, if she has to
\n\t\t\tstart on the road in her present chaotic and unprepared condition of
\n\t\t\tmind. No doubt people talk of India developing on her own lines, but
\n\t\t\tnobody seems to have very clear or sufficient ideas as to what those
\n\t\t\tlines are to be. In this matter I have formed ideals and certain
\n\t\t\tdefinite ideas of my own, in which at present very few are likely to
\n\t\t\tfollow me, since they are governed by an uncompromising spiritual
\n\t\t\tidealism of an unconventional kind and would be unintelligible to
\n\t\t\tmany and an offence and stumbling block to a great number. But I
\n\t\t\thave not as yet any clear and full idea of the practical lines; I
\n\t\t\thave no formed programme. In a word, I am feeling my way in my mind
\n\t\t\tand am not ready for either propaganda or action. Even if I were, it
\n\t\t\twould mean for some time ploughing my lonely   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>256<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfurrow or at least freedom to take my own way. As the editor of your paper, I
\nshould be bound to voice the opinion of others and reserve my own, and while I
\nhave full sympathy with the general ideas of the advanced parties so far as
\nconcerns the action of the present moment and, if I were in the field, would do
\nall I could to help them, I am almost incapable by nature of limiting myself in
\nthat way, at least to the extent that would be requisite.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExcuse the length of this screed. I thought it necessary to explain
\n\t\t\tfully so as to avoid giving you the impression that I declined your
\n\t\t\trequest from any affectation or reality of spiritual aloofness or
\n\t\t\twish to shirk the call of the country or want of sympathy with the
\n\t\t\twork you and others are so admirably doing. I repeat my regret that
\n\t\t\tI am compelled to disappoint you. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Balkrishna Shivaram
\n\t\t\tMoonje
\n\t\t\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAug 30. 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Dr.. Moonje, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs I have already wired to you, I find myself unable to accept your
\n\t\t\toffer of the Presidentship of the Nagpur Congress. There are reasons
\n\t\t\teven within the political field itself which in any case would have
\n\t\t\tstood in my way. In the first place I have never signed and would
\n\t\t\tnever care to sign as a personal declaration of faith the Congress
\n\t\t\tcreed, as my own is of a different character. In the next place
\n\t\t\tsince my retirement from British India I have developed an outlook
\n\t\t\tand views which have diverged a great deal from those I held at the
\n\t\t\ttime and, as they are remote from present actualities and do not
\n\t\t\tfollow the present stream of political action, I should find myself
\n\t\t\tvery much embarrassed what to say to the Congress. I am entirely in
\n\t\t\tsympathy with all that is being done so far as its object is to
\n\t\t\tsecure liberty for India, but I should   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>257<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

be unable to identify myself with the programme of any of the parties. The
\nPresident of the Congress is really a mouthpiece of the Congress and to make
\nfrom the presidential chair a purely personal pronouncement miles away from what
\nthe Congress is thinking and doing would be grotesquely out of place. Not only
\nso, but nowadays the President has a responsibility in connection with the All
\nIndia Congress Committee and the policy of the Congress during the year and
\nother emergencies that may arise which, apart from my constitutional objection
\nand, probably, incapacity to discharge official duties of any kind or to put on
\nany kind of harness, I should be unable to fulfil, since it is impossible for me
\nto throw over suddenly my fixed programme and settle at once in British India.
\nThese reasons would in any case have come in the way of my accepting your offer. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe central reason however is this that I am no longer first and
\n\t\t\tforemost a politician, but have definitely commenced another kind of
\n\t\t\twork with a spiritual basis, a work of spiritual, social, cultural
\n\t\t\tand economic reconstruction of an almost revolutionary kind, and am
\n\t\t\teven making or at least supervising a sort of practical or
\n\t\t\tlaboratory experiment in that sense which needs all the attention
\n\t\t\tand energy that I can have to spare. It is impossible for me to
\n\t\t\tcombine political work of the current kind and this at the
\n\t\t\tbeginning. I should practically have to leave it aside, and this I
\n\t\t\tcannot do, as I have taken it up as my mission for the rest of my
\n\t\t\tlife. This is the true reason of my inability to respond to your
\n\t\t\tcall. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI may say that in any case I think you would be making a wrong
\n\t\t\tchoice in asking me to take Tilak’s place at your head. No one now
\n\t\t\talive in India, or at least no one yet known, is capable of taking
\n\t\t\tthat place, but myself least of all. I am an idealist to the marrow
\n\t\t\tand could only be useful when there is something drastic to be done,
\n\t\t\ta radical or revolutionary line to be taken, (I do not mean
\n\t\t\trevolutionary by violence) a movement with an ideal aim and direct
\n\t\t\tmethod to be inspired and organised. Tilak’s policy of "responsive
\n\t\t\tcooperation", continued agitation and obstruction whenever needed \u2014
\n\t\t\tand that would be oftener than not in the present circumstances \u2014
\n\t\t\tis, no doubt,   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>258<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe only alternative to some form of non-cooperation or passive resistance. But
\nit would need at its head a man of his combined suppleness, skill and
\ndetermination to make it effective. I have not the suppleness and skill \u2014 at
\nleast of the kind needed \u2014 and could only bring the determination, supposing I
\naccepted the policy, which I could not do practically, as, for [ ]17<\/font><\/sup>
\nreasons of my own, nothing could induce me to set my foot in the new Councils.
\nOn the other hand a gigantic movement of noncooperation merely to get some
\nPunjab officials punished or to set up again the Turkish Empire which is dead
\nand gone, shocks my ideas both of proportion and of common sense. I could only
\nunderstand it as a means of "embarrassing the Government" and seizing hold of
\nimmediate grievances in order to launch an acute struggle for autonomy after the
\nmanner of Egypt and Ireland, \u2014 though no doubt without the element of violence.
\nAll the same, it could be only on a programme involving an entire change of the
\ncreed, function and organisation and policy of the Congress, making it a centre
\nof national reconstruction and not merely of political agitation that I could \u2014
\nif I had not the other reason I have spoken of \u2014 re-enter the political field.
\nUnfortunately the political mind and habits created by the past methods of the
\nCongress do not make that practicable at the moment. I think you will see that,
\nholding these ideas, it is not possible for me to intervene and least of all on
\nthe chair of the President.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMight I suggest that the success of the Congress can hardly depend
\n\t\t\ton the presence of a single person and one who has long been in
\n\t\t\tobscurity? The friends who call on me are surely wrong in thinking
\n\t\t\tthat the Nagpur Congress will be uninspiring without me. The
\n\t\t\tnational movement is surely strong enough now to be inspired with
\n\t\t\tits own idea especially at a time of stress like the present. I am
\n\t\t\tsorry to disappoint, but I have given the reasons that compel me and
\n\t\t\tI cannot see how it is avoidable. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t17 MS <\/i>my  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>259<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

[2] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRECONSIDERATION IMPOSSIBLE [SUBSEQUENT]18<\/font><\/sup>
\n\t\t\tEVENTS ONLY CONFIRM MY DECISION. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t19 September 1920 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Chittaranjan Das
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"Arya" Office <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tthe 18th November, 1922 <\/p>\n

\nDear Chitta,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is a long time, almost two years I think, since I have written a
\n\t\t\tletter to anyone. I have been so much retired and absorbed in my
\n\t\t\tSadhana that contact with the outside world has till lately been
\n\t\t\treduced to a minimum. Now that I am looking outward again, I find
\n\t\t\tthat circumstances lead me to write first to you, I say
\n\t\t\tcircumstances, because it is a need that makes me take up the pen
\n\t\t\tafter so long a disuse. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe need is in connection with the first outward work that I am
\n\t\t\tundertaking after this long inner retirement. Barin has gone to
\n\t\t\tBengal and will see you in connection with it, but a word from me is
\n\t\t\tperhaps necessary and therefore I send you through Barin this
\n\t\t\tletter. I am giving him also a letter of authority from which you
\n\t\t\twill understand the immediate nature of the need for which I have
\n\t\t\tsent him to raise funds. But I may add something to make it more
\n\t\t\tdefinite. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think you know my present idea and the attitude towards life and
\n\t\t\twork to which it has brought me. I have become confirmed in a
\n\t\t\tperception which I had always, less clearly and dynamically then,
\n\t\t\tbut which has now become more and more evident to me, that the true
\n\t\t\tbasis of work and life is the spiritual, that is to say, a new
\n\t\t\tconsciousness to be developed only by Yoga. I see more and more
\n\t\t\tmanifestly that man can never get out of the futile circle the race
\n\t\t\tis always treading until he has raised himself on to the new
\n\t\t\tfoundation. I believe also that it is the mission of<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t18 MS (telegram)
\n<\/i>SUBSEQUENTLY
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>260<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

India to make this great victory for the world. But what precisely was the
\nnature of the dynamic power of this greater consciousness? What was the
\ncondition of its effective truth? How could it be brought down, mobilised,
\norganised, turned upon life? How could our present instruments, intellect, mind,
\nlife, body be made true and perfect channels for this great transformation? This
\nwas the problem I have been trying to work out in my own experience and I have
\nnow a sure basis, a wide knowledge and some mastery of the secret. Not yet its
\nfulness and complete imperative presence \u2014 therefore I have still to remain in
\nretirement. For I am determined not to work in the external field till I have
\nthe sure and complete possession of this new power of action, \u2014 not to build
\nexcept on a perfect foundation. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut still I have gone far enough to be able to undertake one work on
\n\t\t\ta larger scale than before \u2014 the training of others to receive this
\n\t\t\tSadhana and prepare themselves as I have done, for without that my
\n\t\t\tfuture work cannot even be begun. There are many who desire to come
\n\t\t\there and whom I can admit for the purpose, there are a greater
\n\t\t\tnumber who can be trained at a distance; but I am unable to carry on
\n\t\t\tunless I have sufficient funds to be able to maintain a centre here
\n\t\t\tand one or two at least outside. I need therefore much larger
\n\t\t\tresources than I at present command. I have thought that by your
\n\t\t\trecommendation and influence you may help Barin to gather them for
\n\t\t\tme. May I hope that you will do this for me? <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOne word to avoid a possible misunderstanding. Long ago I gave to
\n\t\t\tMotilal Roy of Chandernagore the ideas and some principles and lines
\n\t\t\tof a new social and economical organisation and education and this
\n\t\t\twith my spiritual force behind him he has been trying to work out in
\n\t\t\this own way in his Sangha. This is quite a separate thing from what
\n\t\t\tI am now writing about, \u2014 my own work which I must do myself and no
\n\t\t\tone can do for me.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have been following with interest your political activities
\n\t\t\tspecially your present attempt to give a more flexible and
\n\t\t\tpractically effective turn to the non-cooperation movement. I doubt
\n\t\t\twhether you will succeed against such contrary forces, but I wish
\n\t\t\tyou success in your endeavour. I am most interested however in   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>261<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

your indications about Swaraj; for I have been developing my own ideas about the
\norganisation of a true Indian Swaraj and I shall look forward to see how far
\nyours will fall in with mine. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Shyamsundar Chakravarty
\n\t\t\t<\/a>
\n<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPondicherry, March 12 \u00ad 1926 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDear Chakravarty, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI have been obliged to answer in the negative to your
\n\t\t\t\t\t\trequest by wire for contributions to the ["Bengalee"]19
\n\t\t\t\t\t\ton the occasion of your taking it over on behalf of the
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNationalist party. I have been for a long time under a
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tself-denying ordinance which precludes me from making
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tany public utterance on politics and I have had to
\n\t\t\t\t\t\trefuse similar requests from "Forward" and other papers.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEven if it were not so, I confess that in the present
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tconfused state of politics I should be somewhat at a
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tloss to make any useful pronouncement. No useful purpose
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcould be served by any general statements on duties in
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthe present situation. Everybody seems to be agreed on
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthe general object and issue and the only question worth
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twriting on is that of the best practical means for
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsecuring the agreed object and getting rid of the
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tobstacles in the way. This is in any case a question for
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthe practical leaders actually in the field and not for
\n\t\t\t\t\t\ta retired spectator at a distance. It would be difficult
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tfor me even to pass an opinion on the rival policies in
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthe field; for I have been unable to gather from what I
\n\t\t\t\t\t\thave seen in the papers what is the practical turn they
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tpropose to give these policies or how they propose by
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthem to secure Swaraj or bring it nearer. Please
\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttherefore excuse my refusal. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYours sincerely, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t19 MS <\/i>"Bengali"   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>262<\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates 1906 \u00ad 1926   To Bipin Chandra Pal   Wednesday.   Dear Bepin Babu, Please let us…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-36-autobiographical-notes","wpcat-42-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950","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=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9678,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions\/9678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}