{"id":1965,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T08:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2013-11-28T15:09:09","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T23:09:09","slug":"24-to-barindra-kumar-ghose-and-others-1922-1928-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/36-autobiographical-notes\/24-to-barindra-kumar-ghose-and-others-1922-1928-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","title":{"rendered":"-24_To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922 – 1928.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Barindra Kumar Ghose <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tand Others, 1922 \u00ad 1928 <\/font>
\n1<\/sup> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Barindra Kumar Ghose
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Arya Office <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

November 18. 1922. <\/p>\n

Dear Barin,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI understand from your letter that you need a written authority from me for the work I have entrusted to you and a statement making your position clear to those whom you may have to
\napproach in connection with it. You may show to anyone you wish this letter as your authority and I hope it will be sufficient
\nto straighten things for you. 
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI have been till now and shall be for some time longer withdrawn in the practice of a yoga destined to be a basis not for withdrawal from life, but for the transformation of human life.
\nIt is a yoga in which vast untried tracts of inner experience and new paths of sadhana had to be opened up and which therefore
\nneeded retirement and long time for its completion. But the time is approaching, though it has not yet come, when I shall have
\nto take up a large external work proceeding from the spiritual basis of this yoga. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is therefore necessary to establish a number of centres, small and few at first but enlarging and increasing in number
\nas I go on, for training in this sadhana, one under my direct supervision, others in immediate connection with me. Those
\ntrained there will be hereafter my assistants in the work I shall<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1 All the letters in this subsection, except the first, second and ninth to Barindra Kumar<\/i>
\nGhose, are preserved only in the form of handwritten, typed or printed copies. Whenever<\/i>
\npossible, the editors have collated several copies of each letter in order to produce an<\/i>
\naccurate text. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>332<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhave to do, but for the present these centres will be not for external work but for spiritual training and tapasya. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe first, which will be transferred to British India when I go there, already exists at Pondicherry, but I need funds both to
\nmaintain and to enlarge it. The second I am founding through you in Bengal. I hope to establish another in Guzerat during the
\nensuing year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMany more desire and are fit to undertake this sadhana than
\nI can at present admit and it is only by large means being placed at my disposal that I can carry on this work which is necessary
\nas a preparation for my own return to action.  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have empowered you to act for me in the collection of
\nfunds and other collateral matters. I have an entire confidence in you and I would request all who wish me well to put in you
\nthe same confidence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI may add that this work of which I have spoken is both
\npersonally and in a wider sense my own and it is not being done and cannot be done by any other for me. It is separate and
\ndifferent from any other work that has been or is being carried on by others under my name or with my approval. It can only
\nbe done by myself aided closely by those like you who are being or will in future be trained directly under me in my spiritual
\ndiscipline. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo Ghose. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[2] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

December 1. 1922 <\/p>\n

Dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI waited for your letter in order to know precisely what portions Chittaranjan wanted to publish and why.2<\/font><\/sup> It turns out
\nto be as I saw, but I wanted confirmation. I must now make clear the reasons why I hesitated to sanction the publication. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI should have had no objection to the publication of the<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2 Chittaranjan Das proposed publishing portions of Sri Aurobindo’s letter to him of<\/i>
\n18 November 1922. This letter is published on pages 260 \u00ad 62. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>333<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

portion about the spiritual basis of life or the last paragraph about Swaraj. But that about non-cooperation as it stands without farther explanation and amplification would lead, I think, to a complete misunderstanding of my real position. Some would
\ntake it to mean that I accept the Gandhi programme subject to the modifications proposed by the Committee. As you know,
\nI do not believe that the Mahatma’s principle can be the true foundation or his programme the true means of bringing about
\nthe genuine freedom and greatness of India, her Swarajya and Samrajya. On the other hand others would think that I was
\nsticking to the school of Tilakite Nationalism. That also is not the fact, as I hold that school to be out of date. My own policy,
\nif I were in the field, would be radically different in principle and programme from both, however it might coincide in certain points. But the country is not yet ready to understand its principle or to execute its programme. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBecause I know this very well, I am content to work still on the spiritual and psychic plane, preparing there the ideas and
\nforces which may afterwards at the right moment and under the right conditions precipitate themselves into the vital and
\nmaterial field. And I have been careful not to make any public pronouncement as that might prejudice my possibilities of future
\naction. What that will be will depend on developments. The present trend of politics may end in abortive unrest, but it may
\nalso stumble with the aid of external circumstances into some kind of simulacrum of self-government. In either case the whole
\nreal work will remain to be done. I wish to keep myself free for it in either case. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy interest in Das’s actions and utterances, apart from all question of personal friendship, arises first from the fact that
\nthe push he is giving, although I do not think it likely to succeed at present, may yet help to break the narrow and rigid cadre
\nof the “constructive” Bardoli programme which seems to me to construct nothing and the fetish-worship of non-cooperation
\nas an end in itself rather than a means, and thereby to create conditions more favourable for the wide and complex action
\nnecessary to prepare the true Swarajya. Secondly, it arose from   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>334<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe rapidity with which he seems to be developing many of the ideas which I have long put down in my mind as essentials of
\nthe future. I have no objection to his making use privately of what I have written in the letter. But I hope he will understand
\nwhy the publication of it does not recommend itself to me.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI see you are having great difficulties over the money question. Remember that money as a general power is still in the hands of the adverse forces, Mammon or Amrita’s grand Titan.
\nThe favourable force can only come in waves which must be realised at once, otherwise the adverse forces will intervene
\nand create all difficulties. Also it will not do to relax effort or turn it elsewhere when things seem to promise favourably,
\n\u2014 the promise is likely to be deceptive because that is just the moment for the hostile intervention. As in the Yoga, so here the
\nwill and the force must be kept steadily working on men, forces and circumstances until the possible success is achieved. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo <\/p>\n

P.S. The answer to Jyotish Ghose’s letter will go later. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[3] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

9th December 1922 <\/p>\n

Dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have read carefully Jyotish Ghose’s letter and I think the best thing is first to explain his present condition as he describes
\nit. For he does not seem to me to understand the true causes and the meaning. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe present condition of passivity and indifference is a reaction from a former abnormal state to which he was brought
\nby an internal effort not properly guided from without or from within. The effort brought about a breaking of the veils which
\ndivide the physical from the psychic and vital worlds. But his mind was unprepared and unable to understand his experiences
\nand judged them by the light of fancy and imagination and erroneous mental and vital suggestions. His vital being full of rajasic
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>335<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and egoistic energy rushed up violently to enjoy these new fields and use the force that was working for its own lower ends. This
\ngave an opportunity for a hostile power from the vital world to break in and take partial possession and the result was disorganisation of the nervous and physical system and some of the brain centres. The attack and possession seem to have passed out and
\nleft behind the present reaction of passivity with a strong hold of tamas and indifference. The tamas and indifference are not in
\nthemselves desirable things but they are temporarily useful as a rest from the past unnatural tension. The passivity is desirable
\nand a good basis for a new and right working of the Shakti.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is not a true interpretation of his condition that he is dead
\nwithin and there is only an outside activity. What is true is that the centre of vital egoism that thinks itself the actor has been
\ncrushed and he now feels all the thought and activity playing outside him. This is a state of knowledge; for the real truth
\nis that all these thoughts and activities are Nature’s and come into us or pass through us as waves from the universal Nature.
\nIt is our egoism and our limitation in the body and individual physical mind which prevent us from feeling and experiencing
\nthis truth. It is a great step to be able to see and feel the truth as he is now doing. This is not of course the complete knowledge.
\nAs the knowledge becomes more complete and the psychic being opens upwards one feels all the activities descending from above
\nand can get at their true source and transform them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe light playing in his head means that there has been an
\nopening to the higher force and knowledge which is descending as light from above and working on the mind to illumine it. The
\nelectrical current is the force descending in order to work in the lower centres and prepare them for the light. The right condition
\nwill come when instead of the vital forces trying to push upward the Prana becomes calm and surrendered and waiting with full
\nassent for the light and when instead of the chasm in between there is a constant aspiration of the heart towards the truth
\nabove. The light must descend into these lower centres so as to transform the emotional and vital and physical being as well as
\nthe mental thought and will.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>336<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tThe utility of psychic experiences and knowledge of the invisible worlds as of other yogic experiences is not to be measured
\nby our narrow human notions of what may be useful for the present physical life of man. In the first place these things are necessary for the fulness of the consciousness and the completeness of the being. In the second place these other worlds are actually
\nworking upon us. And if you know and can enter into them then instead of being the victims and puppets of these powers
\nwe can consciously deal with, control and use them. Thirdly, in my Yoga, the Yoga of the supramental, the opening of the
\npsychic consciousness to which these experiences belong is quite indispensable. For it is only through the psychic opening that
\nthe supramental can fully descend with a strong and concrete grasp and transform the mental, vital and physical being. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis is the present condition and its value. For the future if he wishes to accept my yoga the conditions are a steady resolve
\nand aspiration towards the truth I am bringing down, a calm passivity and an opening upward towards the source from which
\nthe light is coming. The Shakti is already working in him and if he takes and keeps this attitude and has a complete confidence
\nin me there is no reason why he should not advance safely in the sadhana in spite of the physical and vital damage that has
\nbeen done to his system. As for his coming here to see me I am not yet quite ready but we will speak of it after your return to
\nPondicherry. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[4] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

30th December 1922 <\/p>\n

Arya Office <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

Dear Barin,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFirst about Krishnashashi. I do not think you are quite right
\nabout him at least in the idea that he is responsible for the recent undesirable manifestations at your place. He is evidently what
\nis called a psychic sensitive and one of a very high, though   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>337<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

not perhaps the first order. It is not his fault, I think, that things went wrong recently. These sensitives require a constant
\nprotection and guidance from someone who has both power on the psychic and vital plane and knowledge of the science of
\nthese planes. There is none such among you. Especially when he is in certain psychic conditions such as those into which he
\nhas recently entered, he needs absolutely this protection. He cannot then possibly protect himself because the very nature of
\nthese conditions is an absolute passivity and openness to the psychic and psycho-vital influences. It is useless to ask him at
\nthat time to exercise his judgment or his power of rejection. For that would immediately make the condition itself impossible.
\nIf the psychic and psycho-vital influences are of the right kind, all is well and very remarkable results can be obtained. If they
\nare bad the condition becomes dangerous. The only way to secure the exclusion of the bad influences is for someone else
\nwith psychic power to keep a wall of protection round him at the time. The sort of trance in which the breath diminishes, the
\ntongue goes in, the body is curved upward and psycho-physical movements begin in the body is one which I know perfectly
\nwell and there is nothing essentially wrong about it. It may be brought about by a very high influence and equally by a bad
\none, or being brought about by the former, it can be misused or attacked by the latter. If there had been a protection about
\nhim exercised by one who had knowledge and confidence in his own psychic and vital force, the untoward influence evidenced
\nby the cries, grimaces, etc. would not have come in to spoil this stage. Let me add that these are not forces of our lower
\nuniversal but an intervention from a foreign and hostile vital world. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the present circumstances the proper line for Krishnashashi is to postpone this kind of psychic development, I mean
\nthe later ones \u2014 especially those of a physical character. He must understand the character of his higher psychic experiences.
\nThese, including the voice, are not direct from the supra-mental but psychic and intuitive on the whole mental plane from the
\nhigher mind downwards. That is no reason to belittle them.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>338<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly in the transcription in his mind there is a mixture of his own mental and other suggestions which is almost inevitable at
\nthe beginning. He should now without interrupting his higher psychic development give more attention to a self-controlled
\nmeditation and mental enlargement. In one letter he speaks of interrupting the reading of “Arya” from the fear of growing
\ntoo intellectual. This was an erroneous suggestion of his own mind. Let him by all means read and study these things. Of
\ncourse in this kind of mental enlargement and self-controlled meditation there are dangers and likelihood of mistakes as in all
\nthe rest of Yoga. But I think it is what he needs at the present stage. The progress would be slow but it is likely to be more
\nsafe, and he can resume the full psychic development when the necessary conditions can be provided. He should also turn his
\nwill towards mental and vital purification. There is often much misunderstanding about passivity and self-surrender. It does not
\nmean that there should not remain in the earlier stages any kind of choice, self-control or will towards certain things which are
\nseen to be needed rather than others. Only they must be subject to a confidence and free openness to a higher guidance, which
\nwill respond to this choice and will in us if the choice and will are right and sincere. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext with regard to the hostile manifestations which I observe to be of a very low vital and physico-vital character. I
\nmay observe that although there is a real force behind them many of them are not of a real character, that is to say, the
\nfaces seen and touches felt were not, in all cases, of real vital beings but only forms suggested and created out of the stuff
\nof your own surrounding vital atmosphere and can easily be dismissed by refusing to accept their reality or to admit their
\nformation. It may be that some particular person in your group opened the way for them but they need not necessarily have
\nhad such a personal cause. The real cause may have been the coming together in meditation of so many yet undeveloped people carrying with them a very mixed atmosphere. When that happens or even when there is a general meditation, a
\nchakra<\/i>,
\nhostile forces are attracted and try to break in. There ought to   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>339<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

be someone in the group who during the meditation protects the circle. If the meditation is of a psychic character the protection
\nmust be psychic on the vital plane. Mirra’s experience is that the protection must take the form of a white light constantly kept
\nround the circle. But even this is not enough as the forces will attack constantly and try to find a gap in the protection; there
\nmust therefore be round the white light a covering of dense purple light sufficiently opaque for these beings not to be able to
\nsee through it. It is not sufficient to have this light in the mental or psychic levels. It must be brought down into the vital and
\nfill it, because it is in the vital that there is the attack. Further, nobody must go out of his body during the meditation (I mean
\nthe vital being must not go out, the mental can always do it) or psychically out of the circle. But there is one thing that must
\nbe noticed. That if the manifestations occur in spite of all there must be no fear in the minds of those who become aware of
\nthem. It is by creating fear through terrible forms and menaces that the hostile beings prevent the Sadhaka from crossing over
\nthe threshold between the physical and vital world and it is also by creating fear and alarm that they are able to break in on the
\nvital being of the body. Courage and unalterable confidence are the first necessity of the Sadhaka. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI observe that in your Calcutta centre the Sadhana seems to have taken a different turn from that in the Krishnagore
\ncentre. It seems to be marked by an immediate opening and rapid development of the psychical consciousness and psychical
\nphenomena. This turn has great possibilities but also by itself great dangers. In the complete Sadhana there are two powers
\nnecessary, the masculine, Purusha <\/i>or Ishwara <\/i>power coming down in knowledge, light, calm, strength, wide consciousness
\nfrom above and the feminine, Nature or Ishwari <\/i>power opening in receptivity, passivity, psychic sensibility, the responsiveness on
\nall the planes of the being from below. The first by itself tends to be predominantly mental or mentalised intuitive and afterwards mentalised supramental. It is slow in action but sure and safe, only there is often a difficulty of opening up the separate
\npsychic, vital and physical being to the illumination and change.<\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>340<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\n

The second by itself is rapid, sensitive, full of extraordinary and
\nstriking experiences but apt in the absence of psychic or occult powers to be chaotic, uneven and open to many dangers. It is
\nwhen both are present and act upon each other in the being that the Sadhana is likely to be most perfect. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think you should insist in your Calcutta centre on attention being given to what I call the Purusha side, that is to say, a basis
\nof deep calm, strength, equality, wide consciousness and purity in the mental being, and as the vital and physical open, also in the
\nvital and physical being. If that is attended to and successfully developed the play of the psychic, vital and physical experiences
\nwill be more steady, ordered and safe.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to the three photographs you have sent I give you Mirra’s
\ncomments in inverted commas with my additions afterwards.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. Kanai <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“An extremely interesting head, highly psychic personality but he must be careful about the physical as this type is likely to
\nburn up the body in the intensity of its psychic developments.”<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe basis of calm, strength and purity brought down into
\nthe physical consciousness without any hasty trepidations or unhealthy vibrations will secure the physical safety and is here
\nvery indispensable.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. Girin <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“An intellectual and philosophic temperament but there is something heavy below.” <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think that the heaviness is in the vital being and the physical mind and may cause considerable obstruction but if these two
\ncan be cleared and illuminated there may be behind a fund of conservative energy and steadiness which will be useful. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. Jagat Prasanna<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Very dull. I don’t know whether anything can be given to
\nhim.”<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI seem to find behind the eyes a psychic capacity of a very
\nlow kind and in the bodily vitality something dark and impure which may be a mediumistic element for the lower psycho-vital
\nforces. If he sat in the circle or meditated in the house that might explain the irruption of undesirable phenomena. This is
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>341<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

my impression about the man. But I am not quite sure. If he is to do any Yoga it should rather be of the old kind and especially
\na discipline of self-purification. Passivity of any kind in his case would be dangerous. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOne or two things I should add suggested by your remarks on Krishnashashi. All should understand that the true direct
\nsupramental does not come at the beginning but much later on in the Sadhana. First the opening up and illumination of the mental, vital and physical beings; secondly, the making intuitive of the mind, through will etc. and development of the hidden soul
\nconsciousness progressively replacing the surface consciousness; thirdly, the supramentalising of the changed mental, vital and
\nphysical beings and finally the descent of the true supramental and the rising into the supramental plane. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis is the natural order of the Yoga. These stages may overlap and intermix, there may be many variations, but the
\nlast two can only come in an advanced state of the progress. Of course the Supramental Divine guides this Yoga throughout but
\nit is first through many intermediary planes; and it cannot easily be said of anything that comes in the earlier periods that it is
\nthe direct or full supramental. To think so when it is not so may well be a hindrance to progress. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to what you say about an unhinged and unsound element in Krishnashashi, this is a probable explanation. The nature of
\nthis kind of psychic sensitives is complex and is full of many delicate springs easily touched from behind the veil; hence the
\nsensitiveness; but also easily twisted owing to their very delicacy. Something may have been thus twisted in his nature. In that case
\ngreat care must be taken. It must be found out what it is and the thing be put right without any too rough handling. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI shall write to you separately about Arun’s money and Sarojini. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Aurobindo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>342<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[5] <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

January 1923 <\/p>\n

My dear Barin <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is unfortunate that Krishnashashi’s Sadhana should have taken this turn. As things stand however a general mess in
\nCalcutta is the worst possible place for him. If no other arrangement can be made it is better that he should go for the
\npresent to Chittagong, do his Sadhana there and write to me. It is not possible for me to have him here just now. If his Sadhana
\nrights itself it may be possible hereafter.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs to the development of egoism in him that is a thing
\nwhich often happens in the first rush of experience and with proper protection and influence may be got over. The serious
\nfeatures are only the psycho-vital, the danger to the body and certain suggestions which are evidently meant to put him off
\nthe right way. I still find it difficult to believe that the menacing apparitions are primarily due to him, for there is nothing in the
\natmosphere of his letters that suggests a medium of this kind. [Is]3<\/font><\/sup> there a photograph of him [ ]4<\/font><\/sup> available that you can send
\nor ask him to send it to me?<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI see that you say in your letter that all have been frightened
\nby these apparitions. Insist on what I have already said about the necessity of dismissing fear. Sometime or other everybody
\nwill have to face things of this kind and how can they do it if they fear. If they are afraid of these things, many of which are
\nmerely figures or nervous formations, how can they be spiritual warriors and conquerors, without which there can be no rising
\ntowards supermanhood. I presume they would be brave against physical dangers; why not then be brave against all psychical
\ndangers or menace.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIf Krishnashashi heeds the instructions I have sent in my
\nformer letter to you (they were made after consultation with Mirra) all may yet be well. If not I shall have to try to send my <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3 MS (copy) <\/i>If<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4 MS (copy) <\/i>is
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>343<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

mental protection and see what it can do. He is unfortunately too far away for me to put a psycho-vital protection about him.
\nLet me know immediately what has been done and where he goes. I am sending you a letter for him enclosed to you. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs regards Arun’s money I understand that it is for the Calcutta centre and I do not understand why you want to send
\nit here. If he can give the first monthly instalment at once that ought to lighten your difficulties there. I shall be able to arrange
\nwith Durgadas’s help and with the money coming from Madras and Gujerat for one year’s expenses here, just sufficient for the
\ntwo houses. What I want you to do, if you can, is to raise money from Bengal for the next year and for the maintenance of your
\nBengal centre also for two years, so that there may be no need of hunting for funds for sometime to come. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAt present the main difficulty in your attempts to raise money there is that all remains as potentiality and promise
\nand thins away before it can come to material realisation. It is possible that if you can materialise the small amounts this
\nobstacle may break and even the big sums begin to come in afterwards. Always remember that it is a psychic difficulty, a
\nstate of forces, that is the thing to be changed, because that is the real obstacle. If another balance of forces can be begun in
\nwhich there is the actual materialisation even on a small scale that may well be an opening for better conditions. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[6] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

23rd January 1923. <\/p>\n

Arya Office, <\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI got your telegram about Krishnashashi this morning. Yesterday I received his photograph and today his last written
\nexperiences.5<\/font><\/sup> I have been able to form from all these and from<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5 Sri Aurobindo commented on some of these experiences in a letter to Krishnashashi<\/i>
\nof January 1923. See pages 370 \u00ad 73. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nother indications as complete an idea about him and about what has happened to him as is possible at this distance. The photo
\nshows a remarkable soul, an idealistic psychic intelligence and the presence of a high and beautiful internal being but the part of
\nthe face showing the emotional and vital being is too delicate to support adequately the upper part and the physical and
\nphysic-vital mould is of a poor and inferior character not easily lending itself to the higher movements or to the change demanded by the
\nYoga. This disparity in the being was the cause of his illness and is the cause also of his present disorder. The immediate cause
\nhowever is his being hurried by circumstances and the eagerness of his own mind into a development too rapid for the physical
\nconsciousness which should have been subjected to a long and steadying preparation. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI do not know whether Krishnashashi received Moni’s letter written to him at his other address, Raja Brojendra Narayan
\nRoy’s Street, which he should have got on the 14th. In this letter I suggested that he should remain in Chittagong or some other
\nquiet place and do the Sadhana by himself turning to me for help and protection and I also insisted that the main object of
\nhis Sadhana should be the purification and calming of the mind, the vital being and the body. After returning to Bhowanipore
\nI see that just the contrary has happened, \u2014 a feverish psycho-mental activity and a much too eager attempt at rapid progress.
\nInstead of calmly receiving he has been seizing at everything that came and trying to translate it and throw it out into form. He
\nhas also been pulling at realisation and trying, as Mirra has put it, to swallow the world in a minute. The result is that there has
\nbeen an uprush of some undesirable kind from the imperfect vital being and the physical mind unable to bear the strain has
\nbeen thrown into disorder. It is evident also that the atmosphere of the Bhowanipore centre is not favourable to him. There is
\nthere an intense mental and psychic activity and a constant push towards rapid experience and progress which are just the things
\nthat are dangerous for him and there is not yet the assured basis of calm, peace, serenity and inner silence which is what he needs
\nabove all things.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI hope that it is only a crisis or a passing disorder. I am doing my best from here to mend the breakdown, but you must help me
\nby keeping there a firm quietness and calm concentration. This was the object of my telegram. I am of the opinion that when he
\nrecovers his balance, my original instructions (in Moni’s letter) should be adhered to and he should go to some quiet place where
\nthere will not be any high pressure. He must be instructed to put away every other object except the quieting of his mind, vital
\nbeing and body and the attainment of a poise of serene calm and peace. Also it is better for him not to pass the whole day in
\nmeditation and Sadhana but to take plenty of relaxation for the relief of the physical being and do some kind of physical work
\n(not exhausting) which will keep it occupied and healthy. He must be assured that this change does not mean at all a rejection
\nbut that it is necessary to secure the proper condition for his future Sadhana. He must of course keep himself in constant
\nspiritual connection with me and write to me from time to time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPlease keep me constantly informed of his condition until
\nhe recovers.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSince the above was written your second telegram came into
\nmy hands this morning. It is possible that Krishnagore may be a more suitable place for Krishnashashi than Calcutta. There
\nis a more settled basis there. The place is more deliberate and the surroundings are likely to be quieter, a not unimportant
\nconsideration in his case. Besides he needs some one who can impose upon him an atmosphere of calm and influence him
\ndirectly from the psychic nature and not through the mentality, the latter being always of a doubtful effectivity in dealing with
\npsychic people, and from what you have told me about Indu, it is possible that she may be able to help him in this way. In that
\ncase it would not be necessary for him to return to Chittagong or pursue his Sadhana in isolation. All this of course after he has
\nrecovered. His case is not that of insanity in the ordinary sense but, as in Jyotish’s case and for rather similar reasons, a psychic
\ndisorder. I should of course be kept informed of his condition.   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nI have many things to write but as this must go without delay I postpone them to another letter. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[7] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Arya Office <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

January 1923. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have got a fuller idea from your letters about Krishnashashi’s collapse. The main cause is what I saw, the vehement
\nand unrestrained pressure and the vital uprush, overstraining and upsetting the defective physical mind. There is no evil in the
\npsychical and mental or even the vital being proper. The seat of the harm is evidently in the physico-vital and the physical
\nbeing. The physico-vital dazzled by the experiences began to think itself a very interesting and important personage and to
\nhistrionise with the experiences and play for that purpose with the body. This is a frequent deviation of Yoga observable even
\nin some who are considered great Sadhakas. It is a kind of charlatanism of the vital being but would not by itself amount
\nto madness, though it may sometimes seem to go very near it. Ordinarily if the physical mind is strong it either rejects or
\nelse keeps these demonstrations within certain bounds. But in this case the physical mind also broke down. The coarse kind of
\nviolence exhibited is due to the rough and coarse character of the physical being,
\n\u2014 so much I see but am not yet able to determine
\nwhether the disorder is only psychic or, as was suggested in my last letter, there is some defect in the brain which has come to
\nthe surface. I am concentrating daily and those in Krishnagore have to help me by remaining calm and strong and surrounding
\nhim with an unagitated atmosphere, also those who can, have to keep a quiet concentration. He must be kept outwardly and
\ninwardly under firm control and check. If the disorder is only psychic the violence will pass away and the other signs abate
\nand less frequently recur. But if there is some brain defect then   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

as I said, it may be a difficult affair. I can give final instructions only after seeing how the malady goes. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs regards your own sadhana and those of others in Bhowanipore I think it necessary to make two or three observations. First I have for some time the impression that there is a too constant activity and pressure for rapidity of progress and a multitude of experiences. These things are all right in themselves, but there must be certain safeguards. First there should be sufficient
\nperiods of rest and silence, even of relaxation, in which there can be a quiet assimilation. Assimilation is very important and
\nperiods necessary for it should not be regarded with impatience as stoppages of the Yoga. Care should be taken to make calm
\nand quiet strength and inner silence, the basic condition for all activity. There should be no excessive strain; any fatigue,
\ndisturbance, or inordinate sensitiveness of the nervous and physical parts, of which you mention certain symptoms in your
\nletters, should be quieted and removed, as they are often signs of overstrain or too great an activity or rapidity in the Yoga. It
\nmust also be remembered that experiences are only valuable as indications and openings and the main thing always is the steady
\nharmonious and increasingly organised opening and change of the different parts of the consciousness and the being. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAmong Rati’s experiences there is one paper headed “surface consciousness”. What is described there is the nervous or
\nphysico-vital envelope. This is the thing observed by the mediums and it is by exteriorising it to a less or greater extent that
\nthey produce their phenomena. How did Rati come to know of it? Was it by intuition, by vision or by personal experience? If the
\nlatter, warn him not to exteriorise this vital envelope for to do so without adequate protection, which must be that of a person
\nacquainted with these things and physically present at the time, may bring about serious psychical dangers and also injuries to
\nthe nervous being and the body or even worse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext about money matters. The sources you speak of as supplementing the three thousand you propose to raise are almost all uncertainties. As for instance Miss Hodgson’s money, which
\ndepends first on her staying here and secondly on the life of her   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>348<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfather, an aged and ailing man. I think it necessary to have some six thousand actually in hand for the year after this. Of course
\nyou will raise as much as you can in the time at your disposal. I believe if you can once begin to materialise sums and send them
\nhere, the rest will come much more easily than seems probable at present. It seems to me as regards the press that the terms made
\nwith Amar were hardly precise enough and too unfavourable to you. Still since it is done, let me know what sums are covered
\nby Arun’s loan of two thousand and what sums still remain to be raised and paid. When you have some money in hand for the
\nexpenses here, can you send the smaller items in Mirra’s list, the tooth powder etc. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to Akhil Choudhury, my intention was that you should meet him and report to me and afterwards I would decide. I was
\nthinking of his remaining at Krishnagore but Krishnashashi’s affair has disarranged everything. I understand from Akhil’s
\nletter that he has Rs.100\/ \u00ad . I think it would be best for him to come here for a very short time. I shall see him personally
\nand judge what is best to be done. He must be prepared to go to Krishnagore or else, if I find that he can go on by himself after a
\nfirst touch from here, to return to Chittagong. He should keep enough money to come here and return. Kshitish has written asking to come here for a year and offering to pay all his expenses. I shall decide about this hereafter. Purani will be coming in March
\nand I don’t want too many people here. But if Hrishikesh does not come, as I suppose he will not, I may possibly decide to let
\nKshitish come for some time if not for a whole year. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[8] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Arya” Office, <\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

31st January, 1923. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI got your letter of the 26th and intended to wire but had not
\nyour Krishnagore address. This afternoon I have received your   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

telegram and sent a reply giving permission for Krishnashashi’s removal. In case the telegram should not reach I have also wired
\nto Kanai in Calcutta. Although to cure Krishnashashi by psychic means might not be impossible, the prolonged resistance and the
\nincreasing violence make the present condition impossible. The ordinary means of restraint and medical treatment will have to
\nbe used and therefore his removal as you suggest is the only thing left open to us. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt appears from your letters that there is a strong play around you of the hostile opposition from beings of the lowest
\n\t\t\tphysic-vital and physical ranges. These beings are small and without intelligence but full of power to do various kinds of harm and
\nmischief. They are similar to those that did the stone-throwing in the other house. To produce brain-incoherence, freaks, absurdities, sexual disorders, nervous agitations, and disequilibrium, coarse violence of various kinds is their sphere in the physical
\ndomain and in the physical to bring about accidents, illnesses, injuries, physical impediments and on a smaller scale little mischiefs, inconveniences and hindrances of all kinds. It is these that have taken possession of Krishnashashi’s brain and nervous centres and impel his speech and movements. It is these also that pursue with accidents those who are trying to collect
\nmoney. I have for some time been aware of their activities and suggestions and they are now almost the only positively hostile
\nforces of which I am aware in the Yoga, the rest being merely the normal obstructions of nature. In my own atmosphere I
\nam able to make their suggestions abortive and minimise their play pending their elimination. But in your case they seem to be
\nmoved by some more powerful force which not being able to act directly on you is using them as agents. Probably you have
\nin your Sadhana touched and awakened the plane on which they work, but are not yet able to conquer and protect as you
\ncan in the higher fields. Those entirely within your spiritual influence may resist or escape but others are exposed to their
\nattack.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think in these circumstances it is best to limit your creation of a centre there to those who have already begun and
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

<\/p>\n

\n

even with them, I mean the newcomers, you should be careful.
\nProbably the best course is to keep the centre at Krishnagore as you suggest and have only a small establishment at Calcutta.
\nThe atmosphere of Calcutta cannot be a good environment for a Sadhana centre. As to money affairs you must see whether
\nthe resistance can be overcome during February and in any case I hope you will not return empty-handed or with a nominal
\nsum, for that would mean a victory for the hostile force which will make things more difficult in the future. I understand from
\nyour last letter that Satkari has already realised 500\/ \u00ad . If so get that sum and send it at once, also get in hand and send the
\nBenares money. That will mean so much materialised and to that extent the opposing force defeated. Afterwards see whether
\nthe rest does not come in with less difficulty. If you can prevail, that means the way made clear for better success in the future.
\nIt is enough that these forces should have destroyed such fine psychic possibilities as Krishnashashi’s. I do not like their being
\nsuccessful in other directions also.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to Sarojini it is out of the question that she should come
\nhere. Make it plain to her that the Yoga I am doing now is much too difficult for her. Her coming here would be a waste of time
\nand money. If she is in earnest about Sadhana she must begin with something much more easy. The first thing for her is to study
\nthese things, understand, get her mind prepared and begin with turning herself Godward, elimination of egoistic movements and
\nperhaps doing works in the spirit of Karma Yoga; a meditation active and not passive with these things as the object is all she
\ncan safely try at the beginning. I have of course no objection to her turning to Theosophy if she is drawn that way. But for her
\nto come into the concentrated atmosphere here just now would not be good for her and it would be disturbing to us. Please stop
\nher coming here by whatever means you can.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI learn from your post card today that Kanai and the others
\nare at Krishnagore. Please let me know your address there so that I may be sure, whenever necessary, of making a direct communication. Manmohan is writing today to Jogesh at Chittagong to take charge of Krishnashashi. He has already cared for and
\n   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

almost cured another in the same condition. Let us hope he will equally be successful here. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[9] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

14th February 1923. <\/p>\n

“Arya” office <\/p>\n

Pondicherry <\/p>\n

My dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have received the Benares money and am sending an acknowledgement with this letter, which you can transmit to Das.
\nRajani’s 50 has not yet reached me.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI had already written to you about Akhil and on the 10th
\nManmohan telegraphed and wrote to Chittagong instructing him not to go to Bhowanipore but to collect the money and as
\nsoon as he had done this and sufficiently recovered from fever, to write and he would receive a call from here. It appears from your
\ntelegram today that he started before receiving Manmohan’s telegram. I can give no other instructions than those I have
\nalready given. Akhil must collect the money sufficient for his journey here and back either to Krishnagore or Chittagong
\nand he must not come without the sum in his hand. I have arranged things here so as to have just sufficient to meet one
\nyear’s expenses under each head, just that and no more. Until I am assured of the next year’s expenses and more, I cannot meet
\nunexpected charges or enlarge my expenditure. Therefore it will not do for him to come and then have to wait here indefinitely
\nfor the means of his return journey. An arrangement agreed upon ought to be observed, otherwise there is unnecessary
\ninconvenience and confusion.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI infer from your letter and telegram taken together that
\nMohini is starting for Krishnagore in order to take back Krishnashashi. Of course in that case there is no need to wait further
\nas was suggested in Moni’s letter. I have received no news about Krishnashashi for the last three days. This kind of disregard
\nof instructions is not at all right. It puts me in considerable   <\/p>\n

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\n

\ndifficulty in trying to help Krishnashashi. Please ask Mohini to let me know often from Chittagong about Krishnashashi and
\nhis condition. Boroda Babu’s letter is very interesting but does not solve the difficulty I had as it gives me no fresh information
\nof any importance. It had already been seen that the immediate cause of the collapse was partly sexual; for that was included
\nin what I meant by the uprush from the vital being. Nor does it make much difference that the physico-vital force possessing
\nhim took the form or assumed the Pranic <\/i>body of some dead friend. The situation remains as before. If the disorder is only
\npsychic it will disappear in time. If there is some brain defect that has come up, the issue is more doubtful. The suggestion about
\nthe medicine may possibly be useful hereafter. Mohini had better be informed about it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to Rajani’s difficulties you might ask him to write to me himself stating them and the precise cause of his doubts. As far
\nas I know about his Sadhana <\/i>he was progressing in a steady and sound fashion, but for long I have no farther news of it.
\nThere is no reason why he should not succeed in the yoga <\/i>if he keeps the right attitude and faith and perseverance. He will
\nnecessarily have difficulties with his vital nature and his physical mind which have a strong earth element, but that is the case also
\nwith several others. His development, if he perseveres, is likely to be rather through knowledge and will than any great richness of
\npsychic experience; but he must not take the absence or paucity of the latter for an inability to develop the
\nyoga<\/i>. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe paragraph in one of your letters about the debts is very confused and I can make nothing precise out of it. What I want
\nis to know first what were the heads and the exact sums actually met by the loan of two thousand, especially as this will give me
\nsome idea of what has fallen upon us on account of the press; secondly, the heads and exact sums still outstanding apart from
\nthis loan of two thousand. What, for instance, is the amount still due to the Kabirajas and what the amount of the small loans. It
\nis very necessary for me, whether in determining what to write to Amar with regard to money matters or in trying to help you,
\nto have an exact and clear idea of the whole transaction. Where   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

there is only a confused, vague or general idea, the force I put out loses itself very largely in the void. Especially I shall have
\nin future to try and act more and more from the Supramental and less and less from the mind. Now the first condition of
\nthe Supramental is exactness, clearness and order both in the total and the details and their relations. Therefore it is a great
\nadvantage if there are these elements in the data upon which I have to work and a great disadvantage if they are absent. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI shall await your report about Mohini. I gather from his letter that he wanted to remain some time with you for sadhana. My own idea is that already written by Manmohan to Chittagong, that it is better for most to practise first in its elements at least the synthetic Yoga of jnana, bhakti and karma and establish a basis of mental peace and samata before taking
\nup the Yoga of complete and direct self-surrender. There will always be exceptions, but this is for most the safest course. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[10] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2nd April, 1923. <\/p>\n

“Arya” Office, <\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFirst about the photographs. The mounted photograph man is fully unfit for the Yoga. The face is empty except for a great
\ndeal of pretension, not warranted by any substance behind. He had better be put off or left aside. It is no use just now bringing
\nin people who have not a definite possibility and even among those who have the best only should be chosen. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to the unmounted photograph, this is a much worse case. I cannot at all find what you say you see in his eyes. They seem
\nto me rather the eyes of madness or at least mono-mania. The whole face is a nightmare. It seems to me a clear case either of
\npossession or, even, of the incarnation of some vital being. Please do not meddle with him at all. It is only when we have obtained
\nmastery over the physico-vital world and all the physical planes   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nthat it will be at all safe to deal with such cases and certainly even then it will not be to begin by taking them into the Yoga. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI note from this case and from what you say in connection with Rathin that you have just now what seems to me a rather
\ndangerous attraction (because likely to create hindrances or misdirect the energy) towards these vital cases. What you say
\nabout the different vital worlds is no doubt interesting and has a certain truth, but you must remember that these worlds, which
\nare different from the true or divine vital, are full of enchantments and illusions and they present appearances of beauty
\nwhich allure only to mislead or destroy. They are worlds of “Rakshashimaya” and their heavens are more dangerous than
\ntheir hells. They have to be known and their powers met when need be but not accepted; our business is with the Supramental
\nand with the vital only when it is supramentalised and until then we have always to be on our guard against any lures from
\nthat other quarter. I think the worlds of which you speak are those which have a special attraction and a special danger for
\npoets, imaginative people and some artists. There is, especially, a strain of aestheticised vital susceptibility or sentiment or even
\nsentimentalism through which they affect the being and it is one of the things that has to be purified before one can rise
\nto the highest poetry, art and imaginative creation. In the case of Krishnashashi some influences from these worlds certainly
\nentered into the cause of his collapse. I shall write about Rathin directly to his father for I don’t know how long you are staying
\nin Gauhati.6<\/font><\/sup> I shall only say just now that it will not be good for the boy if he merely changes the control of one kind of vital
\nworld for that of another. He must become healthily normal first and all else can only come afterwards. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs to money matters, I think you should go on trying for some time longer. I believe the obstacle is bound to break before
\nlong if we do not get tired out by the obstinacy of the resistance. I am just now very much concentrated in the effort to bring
\ndown the Supramental into the physical plane which demands<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t6 See the letter to Rajani Palit on pages 373 \u00ad 77.
\n\u2014 Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

a very constant and sustained effort and it is for this reason that I have not been able to answer letters. I shall decide about
\nKshitish when the time for your return draws near. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[11] <\/p>\n

16th April 1923. <\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI answer first your letter of the 6th April. I have already let you know that I approve both the people whose photographs
\nyou have sent to me. As to Bibhuti Bhushan Datta you are right in thinking that he is a born Yogin. His face shows the type
\nof the Sufi or Arab mystic and he must certainly have been that in a former life and brought much of his then personality
\ninto the present existence. There are defects and limitations in his being. The narrowness of the physical mind of which you
\nspeak is indicated in the photograph, though it has not come out in the expression, and it might push him in the direction of a
\nrather poverty-stricken asceticism instead of his expanding and opening himself richly to the opulences of the Divine. It might
\nalso lead him in other circumstances to some kind of fanaticism. But on the other hand if he gets the right direction and opens
\nhimself to the right powers these things may be turned into valuable elements, the ascetic capacity into a force useful against
\nthe physico-vital dangers and what might have been fanaticism into an intense devotion to the Truth revealed to him. There is
\nalso likely to be some trouble in the physico-vital being. But I cannot yet say of what nature. This is not a case of an entirely
\nsafe development, which can be assured only where there is a strong vital and physical basis and a certain natural balance
\nin the different parts of the being. This balance has here to be created and its creation is quite possible. Whatever risk there is
\nmust be taken; for the nature here is born for the Yoga and ought not to be denied its opportunity. He must be made to understand
\n   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nfully the character and demands of the integral Yoga.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext for Kumar Krishna Mitter. He is no doubt what you
\nsay, a type of the rich and successful man, but the best kind of that type and cast on sound and generous lines. There is besides
\nindicated in his face and expression a refinement and capacity of idealism which is not too common. Certainly we are not to
\ntake people into the Yoga for the sake of their riches, but on the other hand we must not have the disposition to reject anyone
\non account of his riches. If wealth is a great obstacle, it is also a great opportunity, and part of the aim of our work is, not to
\nreject, but to conquer for the divine self-expression the vital and material powers, including that of wealth, which are now in the
\npossession of other influences. If there a man like this [who]7<\/font><\/sup> is prepared with an earnest and real will to bring himself and his
\npower over from the other camp to ours, there is no reason to refuse him. This of course is not the case of a man born to the
\nYoga like Bibhuti Bhushan, but of one who has an opening in him to a spiritual awakening and I think of a nature which might
\npossibly fail from certain negative deficiencies but not because of any adverse element in the being. The one necessity is that he
\nshould understand and accept what the Yoga demands of him \u2014 first the seeking of a greater Truth, secondly the consecration
\nof himself and his powers and wealth to its service and finally the transformation of all his life into the terms of the Truth and
\nthat he should have not merely the enthusiastic turning of his idealism but a firm and deliberate will towards it. It is especially
\nnecessary in the case of these rich men for them to realise that it is not enough in this Yoga to have a spiritual endeavour on one
\nside and on the other the rest of the energies given to the ordinary motives, but that the whole life and being must be consecrated
\nto the Yoga. It is probably from this reason of a divided life [that]8<\/font><\/sup> men like Arunsingh fail to progress in spite of a natural
\ncapacity. If this is understood and accepted, the consecration of which he speaks is obviously in his circumstances the first step <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t7 MS (copy) <\/i>and<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t8 MS (copy) <\/i>these
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

in the path. If he enters it, it will probably be advisable for him to come after a short time and see me in Pondicherry. But this
\nof course has to be decided afterwards.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAbout Kanai I have no objection to his coming as he wants
\nfor a short visit here. But I think it would be best after you come.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI may say a word in passing about Nalineswar. I have read
\nthrough his experiences and they confirm what I have said about the deficient capacity of his
\nadhar<\/i>. The mental, vital and
\nphysical beings are full of weakness and Tamas and the debility and torpor which he constantly experiences are the result of this
\ndeficient adhar <\/i>trying to bear the pressure of the Sadhana. At the same time he has one thing which can carry him through if he
\nkeeps it steadily, \u2014 the persistent faith and self-surrender. If the physical lightness, which he experienced for the last four or five
\ndays before he wrote, can be made permanent then probably the worst part of the difficulty is over. In any case that permanence
\nwhenever it comes will be the sign of a certain fundamental safety and the other deficiencies can be gradually rectified by
\nthe coming in of the light and the power into the mind and the vital being. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs regards Jyotish Mukherjee, the most notable thing in his photograph is the strong symmetry between the two sides of his
\nface centred in the dissimilarity of the two eyes. This is always a sign of two sides in the nature which have not been harmonised
\nand unified, one side perhaps of faith and devotion and another of a critical and negative mind or one side drawn to higher things
\nand the other held down by the earth nature. This is likely to create a great disadvantage and difficulties in the earlier part
\nof the Sadhana, for it remains even though the disparity may be suppressed by the mental effort but once the balance or the
\nunification can be created there is a compensating advantage by the combination of two strong elements both necessary to completeness. The Sadhana he has been doing seems to have been mainly that of a preliminary mental and vital (psychological)
\npurification and preparation of a very sound character but what is still lacking is a positive spiritual side of the Sadhana. However
\nthe clearing of the system seems to have gone far enough for him   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nto have had at least glimpses of psycho-spiritual experiences and a promise even of the supramental awaiting its time for
\nmanifestation. I shall, if I can make time, write separately my comments on his experiences and if he understands and follows
\nhe may proceed more rapidly in his Sadhana.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs regards the press debts, I have, as I have already let you
\nknow, asked Amar to cut off from it the two hundred rupees which he wanted to send after being paid. The debt to him is
\nmarked in your list as rupees two hundred and ninety one odd. If he does as I ask him you will only then have this 91 odd to
\npay and it is better to do it than to leave the debt running and pay interest. As to Arun’s pro-note I suppose it must be signed,
\nbut as soon as we have sufficient money for other purposes we should have to turn our attention to paying it. These debts are
\na very heavy burden as they are likely to swallow up any large sum you may be able to realise. I am thinking over the matter
\nand I shall write to you in detail as soon as I see my way clearer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat you say about your Sadhana is probably the right
\ninterpretation of your experiences. The two things of which you speak are really two sides of one movement. The opening
\nand clearing of the lower strata can only be effectively done in proportion as this relative or mentalised supramental can
\nlay hold on the consciousness and open to and bring down the higher or intermediate supramental from above, and this
\nin its turn can only settle it into the being in proportion as the physico-vital and physical open and clear and change. The
\ninteraction must go on until a certain balance between the two movements is created which will enable the higher to hold the
\nbeing without interruption, and open it more and more to the true supramental activities. The action into which you have been
\ncast was probably necessary because it is the dynamic part of your being in which the defects of the lower nature have the
\ngreatest hold and are most prominent. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tP.S. After this letter was finished I got your last of the 12th. What you say about Kumar Krishna there is what I could already
\n   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

gather about him, only made precise. I do not think that these things very much matter. All strong natures have the rajasik
\nactive outgoing force in them and if that were sufficient to unfit for the Yoga, very few of us would have had a chance.
\nAs for the doubt of the physical mind as to whether the thing is possible, who has not had it? In my own case it pursued me
\nyears and years and it is only in the last two years that the last shadow of doubt, not latterly of its theoretical feasibility, but of
\nthe practical certainty of its achievement in the present state of the world and of the human nature, entirely left me. The same
\ncan be said of the egoistic poise, \u2014 that almost all strong men have the strong egoistic poise. But I do not think judging from
\nthe photograph that it is the same half bull and half bulldog nature as in P. Mitter. These things can only go with spiritual
\ndevelopment and experience and then the strength behind them becomes an asset. It is also evident from what you say about
\nhis past experience of the voice and the vastness that there is, as I thought, a psychic something in him waiting for and on the
\nverge of spiritual awakening. I understand that he is waiting for intellectual conviction and, to bring it, some kind of assurance
\nfrom an inner experience. To that also there is nothing to say. But the question is, and it seems to me the one question in his case,
\nwhether he will be ready to bring to the Yoga the firm, entire and absolute will and consecration that will be needed to tide him
\nthrough all the struggles and crises of Sadhana. The disparity between his mental poise and action is natural enough, precisely
\nbecause it is a mental poise. It has to become a spiritual poise before the life and the ideal can become one. Have the spoiling
\nby luxury of which you speak and the worldly life sapped in him the possibility of developing an entire Godward will? If not, then
\nhe may be given his chance. I cannot positively say that he is or will be the Adhikari. I can only say that there is the capacity in
\nthe best part of his nature. I cannot also say that he is among the “best”. But he seems to me to have more original capacity than
\nsome at least who have been accepted. When I wrote about the “best” I did not mean an Adhara without defects and dangers;
\nfor I do not think such a one is to be found. My impression is
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/p>\n

\n

of course founded on a general favourable effect produced by
\nthe physiognomy and the appearance, on certain definite observations upon the same and on psychic indications which were
\nmixed but in the balance favourable. I have not seen the man as you have. Take the sum he offers, do not press him for more
\nat present and for the rest, let him understand clearly not only what the Yoga is, but the great demands it makes on the nature.
\nSee how he turns and whether he cannot be given his chance.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour fuller account of your Sadhana shows that you are
\nseeing in the nature and power of the supramental but you are seeing it probably through the revelatory light descending into
\nthe mind. It can only fulfil itself on the conditions I have named, first, the opening to the actual descent of the supermind itself
\nwhich you will find something still more concrete and full of the truth-power and truth-substance and its penetration of the
\nphysical consciousness in all its layers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLastly, I may add to what I have said about the press debts
\nthat what has been troubling me is the necessity of applying money given for the spiritual work and the maintenance of the
\nSadhana centres to this object. This is likely to create falsehood or equivoke in the physical atmosphere and I think the mixture
\nof the two things is one obstacle to the movement of the incoming resources. I am trying to find separate means of meeting the
\ndebt. About this I will write to you in future. I have written in the body of the letter that Kanai might come after your return,
\nit is just possible I may call him before. Kshitish is always asking for a word about his Sadhana, but it is proceeding very well and
\nhe seems to understand it so clearly himself that there is no need for comment. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYour last letter came insured for Rs. 25\/ \u00ad but there was no money or mention of the sum inside. Was it forgotten or was
\nthere some other reason for insurance? <\/p>\n

Aurobindo
\n   <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>361<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

[12] <\/p>\n

30th May 1923. <\/p>\n

`Arya Office’ <\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

My dear Barin,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have been obliged for some time, partly owing to the many-sided storm of which you speak, to concentrate on other things and perhaps that is one reason why this stream of money collection has run dry. I shall see whether we can set it flowing again. I do not ask you to come back as yet because it is much better
\nif possible to get this thing finished in such a way that you may not have to go running back after a time to complete it. The
\narrangements I thought of with regard to the debts have not taken shape or rather have postponed themselves to an indefinite
\nfuture. If I remember right what you have immediately to pay is some 250 more to Kamala Palit and 600 to Arun. Besides
\nthis and the other 2000 to Arun, which if necessary can wait, there are the sums due, 1500 altogether, to the Kaviraj and Pulin
\nMitter. I believe there is nothing else. Can the last two wait and if so, how long? What is still necessary is to raise 1500 more
\nfor next year’s expenses here. Next, to pay off the more pressing debts and if there is any large opening all the debts. I would
\nhave no objection to your applying any money you raise from the Marwaries to the latter purpose. If Basanta Lal Murarka can
\nreally raise 5000 from them, the problem will be solved. I shall then be able to keep Das’ money separate and if he also keeps
\nhis promise that with some help from elsewhere will prevent all necessity of thinking of these things for another two years. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs regards Kanai the experiences of which he is afraid do not seem to me dangerous in themselves. They are such as come
\nto all people whose Yoga runs strongly on psychic lines and those you mention and similar ones of still stronger character
\nhave been experienced by Mirra at least a thousand times during her Sadhana. The only danger, apart from any hostile interference, comes from the disturbances of the physical mind and the fear and apprehensions of the nervous and physical being.
\n   <\/p>\n

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\n

\nI have already written once before that fearlessness is the first necessary condition for going through this Yoga. These fears and
\napprehensions and the sense of weakness and insecurity come from the attachment of the physical and nervous being to its
\nordinary basis of consciousness and usual habits of living and its alarm at anything abnormal which forces it out of its own
\ngrooves. As for the need of immediate protection, that is only when the vital being goes out of the body. The psychic being
\ncan go out without any danger if the physical consciousness does not disturb and itself create the danger. But unfortunately
\nKanai’s physical and nervous being seems to be weak and not on a level with the powers of his mind and psychic nature. It may
\nbe better for him to concentrate first on the preparation of his physical consciousness. I have already said that what he must
\ndo is to bring down the basis of calm, light and strength into the physical mind, nerves and body. Once this is thoroughly done
\nall attacks can be met. There will be no disturbing vibrations and all kinds of psychic and vital experiences such as those
\nnow pressing upon [him] will be welcomed as an expansion and fulfilment of the integral nature and a cause not of apprehension
\nbut of knowledge and Ananda. As to his coming here, I was not calling him because just now I am still in the concentration on
\nthe complete mastery of the physical and that prevents me from putting myself out very much at present. I could not give him
\nthe constant attention which will be needed according to your suggestion and besides, as his physical being is the weakest part
\nof him, it might not be altogether advisable for him to be here until I have established a sufficient general security against any
\nattack which might touch on that plane. Still I shall see whether I can call him after a little time. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have no objection to Rajani’s proposal of a visit here in case of his confirmation. It might be helpful to him in the present
\nstage of his sadhana.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI had forgotten that Peary Mohan Das and the Chittagong
\naspirant were one and the same person. You will have to take together what was said about each in Nalini’s letter. The chaotic
\nnature of his experiences about which I spoke are probably due   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

to some kind of difficulty or exaggeration in his vital being. It is best for him to start with getting a sure foundation of calm and
\na quiet opening up on all the planes of his consciousness, especially the emotional and the vital, so that a sound and orderly
\ndevelopment of the Yoga may be possible. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. If Kanai really gets anything of the nature of psychic trance the one thing he will have to be careful about is to meditate under
\nsuch conditions that it will not be roughly broken from outside. <\/p>\n

A.G. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[13] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Arya Office, Pondicherry <\/p>\n

16th June 1923.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have read the record of Jyotish Mukherjee’s experiences.9<\/font><\/sup>
\nIt appears from it that he has made the right start to a certain extent and has been able to establish the beginning of mental
\ncalm and some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has yet been able to go very far. The reason probably is that he has
\ndone everything by a strong mental control and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements, but has not
\nyet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by experience of or surrender to the higher being above the mind.
\nIt is this that he has to get in order to make a foundation for a more substantial progress. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. He is right in thinking that an inner calm and silence must be the foundation, not only of external work but of all inner and
\nouter activities. But the quieting of the mind in a mental silence or inactivity although often useful as a first step is not sufficient.
\nThe mental calm must be changed first into the deeper spiritual peace, Shanti, and then into the supramental calm and silence
\nfull of the higher light and strength and Ananda. Moreover, the<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t9 This letter, which as preserved has no salutation, was apparently written to Barindra<\/i>
\nKumar Ghose. The typescript is headed “To Jyotish Mukherjee” \u2014 apparently indicating<\/i>
\nthat Sri Aurobindo’s answer was to be transmitted to Jyotish by Barin. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nquieting of the mind only is not enough. The vital and physical consciousness have to be opened up and the same foundation
\nestablished there. Also the spirit of devotion of which he speaks must be not merely a mental feeling but an aspiration of the
\ndeeper heart and will to the truth above, that the being may rise up into it and that it may descend and govern all the activities. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. The void he feels in the mind is often a necessary condition for the clearing of it from its ordinary movements so that it may
\nopen to a higher consciousness and a new experience, but in itself it is merely negative, a mental calm without anything positive in
\nit and if one stops there, then the dullness and inertia of which he complains must come. What he needs is, in the void and silence
\nof the mind, to open himself to, to wait or to call for the action of the higher power, light and peace from above the mind. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. The survival of the evil habits in sleep is easily explained and is a thing of common experience. It is a known psychological
\nlaw that whatever is suppressed in the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the waking state
\nwhen the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by itself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. The
\nsubconscient in the ordinary man includes the larger part of the vital being and the physical mind and also the secret
\n\t\t\tbody-consciousness. In order to make a true and complete change, one has to make all these conscious, to see clearly what is still there
\nand to reject them from one layer after another till they have been entirely thrown out from the personal experience. Even
\nthen, they may remain and come back on the being from the surrounding universal forces and it is only when no part of the consciousness makes any response to these forces of the lower plane that the victory and transformation are absolutely complete. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4. His experience that whenever he gains a conquest in the mental plane the forces of past Karma,
\n\u2014 that is to say, really of
\nthe old nature, \u2014 come back upon him with a double vigour is again a common experience. The psychological explanation is to
\nbe found in the preceding paragraph. All attempt at transformation of the being is a fight with universal forces which have long
\nbeen in possession and it is vain to expect that they will give up   <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

the struggle at the first defeat. As long as they can, they seek to retain possession and even when they are cast out they will, as long
\nas there is any chance of response in the conscious or subconscious being, try to recur and regain their hold. It is no use being
\ndiscouraged by these attacks. What has to be done is to see that they are made more and more external and all assent refused until they weaken and fade away. Not only the Chitta and Buddhi must refuse consent but also the lower parts of the being, the vital
\nand physico-vital, the physical mind and the body consciousness.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5. The defects of the receiving mind and the discriminating
\nBuddhi spoken of are general defects of the intellect and cannot be entirely got rid of so long as the intellectual action is not
\nreplaced by a higher supra-intellectual action and finally by the harmonising light of the supramental knowledge. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNext as regards the psychic experiences. The region of glory felt in the crown of [the] head is simply the touch or reflection
\nof the supramental sunlight on the higher part of the mind. The whole mind and being must open to this light and it must
\ndescend and fill the whole system. The lightning and the electric currents are the (vaidyuta<\/i>) Agni force of the supramental sun
\ntouching and trying to pour into the body. The other signs are promises of the future psychic and other experiences. But none
\nof these things can establish themselves until the opening to the higher force has been made. The mental Yoga can only be a
\npreparation for this truer starting point.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat I have said is merely an explanation of these experiences but it seems to me that he has advanced far enough to make a foundation for the beginning of the higher Yoga. If
\nhe wishes to do that he must replace his mental control by a belief in and a surrender to the Supreme Presence and Force
\nabove the mind, an aspiration in the heart and a will in the higher mind to the supreme truth and the transformation of the
\nwhole conscious being by its descent and power. He must, in his meditation, open himself silently to it and call down first a
\ndeeper calm and silence, next the strength from [  ]10<\/font><\/sup> above<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t10 MS (copy)
\n<\/i>the
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\nworking in the whole system and last the higher [  ]11<\/font><\/sup> glory of which he had a glimpse pouring through his whole being and
\nilluminating it with the divine truth-movement. <\/p>\n

A.G. <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

[14] <\/p>\n

[7 June 1928] <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe idea that comes to you to go away and try a severe asceticism, “to go my
\n<\/i>way to fight my <\/i>battle alone and in my<\/i>
\nown way”, as you express it, is an error and the suggestion of an adverse force, and at the same time it points directly to the
\nreal difficulty in you that has stood blocking your progress. If you went, you would go very far not only from us but from the
\nYoga and be lost to the Path, and you would fare no better than now. The difficulties would be always with you or sleep for a
\ntime only to rise again in your nature. However hard the fight, the only thing is to fight it out now and here to the end. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe trouble is that you have never fully faced and conquered the real obstacle. There is in a very fundamental part of your nature a strong formation of ego-individuality which has mixed in your spiritual aspiration a clinging element of pride and spiritual
\nambition and is supported by a long-formed habit of leadership, self-confident activity and self-reliance. This formation has never
\nconsented to be broken up in order to give place to something more true and divine. Therefore, when the Mother has put her
\nforce upon you or when you yourself have pulled the force upon you, this in you has always prevented it from doing its work in
\nits own way. It has begun itself building according to the ideas of the mind or some demand, trying to make its own creation in
\nits “own way”, by its own strength, its own Sadhana, its own Tapasya. There has never been any real surrender, any giving up
\nof yourself freely and simply into the hands of the Divine Mother. And yet that is the only way to succeed in the Supramental Yoga.
\nTo be a Yogi, a Sannyasi, a Tapaswi is not the object here. The<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t11 MS (copy)
\n<\/i>and
\n  
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object is transformation, and the transformation can only be done by a force infinitely greater than your own, it can only
\nbe done by being truly like a child in the hands of the Divine Mother. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe difficulties that shake you would be of no importance, if this central obstacle were removed. They come from the weakness of the external being which was always intense and eager, but built in too narrow a mould for the fulfilment of the inner urge and which has in addition been badly worn down by life. This could be mended; what it needs is to be at peace,
\nto remain quiet and at rest, to open itself confidently without strain and harassing struggle to the Force and allow it to rebuild
\nand strengthen and widen till a sufficient physical foundation is made. At present, under the pressure of the Force, it either falls
\ninto Tamas or, if the vital forces touch it, responds by a rajasic movement and is driven helplessly in these rajasic gusts. All this
\nwould easily change (naturally, not in a moment but steadily and surely) if the central difficulty is removed. It is for this that
\nyou ought to use your retirement, first of all, to face, see in its complete extent and conquer. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA complete will to surrender in the mind is the first condition, but not by itself sufficient. The trouble lies deeper than the
\nsurface mind and you have to find it out where it is and extirpate it. It is only when this has been done, that the help given you (and
\nit was always there till now) can bear fruit in the true spiritual and psychic (not an ascetic) change of the recalcitrant parts of
\nyour nature. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Hrishikesh Kanjilal <\/a> <\/b> <\/p>\n

[c. 1922] <\/p>\n

To Hrishikesh<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt appears from your present letter and attitude that you
\npropose to give God a seat on your right hand and R\u2014 another on the left and to sit in meditation between oscillating sweetly
\nfrom one to the other. If this is what you want to do please   <\/p>\n

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\n

\ndo it in the Cherry Press and not at Pondicherry. If you want to come here, you must do it with a firm determination to get
\nrid of this attachment and make a complete and unconditional consecration and self-surrender. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou seem not to have understood the principle of this Yoga. The old Yoga demanded a complete renunciation extending to
\nthe giving up of the worldly life itself. This Yoga aims instead at a new and transformed life. But it insists as inexorably on a
\ncomplete throwing away of desire and attachment in the mind, life and body. Its aim is to refound life in the truth of the spirit
\nand for that purpose to transfer the roots of all we are and do from the mind, life and body to a greater consciousness above
\nthe mind. That means that in the new life all the connections must be founded on a spiritual intimacy and a truth quite other
\nthan any which supports our present connections. One must be prepared to renounce at the higher call what are called the
\nnatural affections. Even if they are kept at all, it can only be with a change which transforms them altogether. But whether
\nthey are to be renounced or kept and changed must be decided not by the personal desires but by the truth above. All must be
\ngiven up to the Supreme Master of the Yoga.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf you cling to the desires of the mental, vital and physical beings, this transference and transformation cannot happen. Your attachment to your son is a thing of the vital parts in you,
\nand if you are not prepared to give it up, it will inevitably clash with the demands of the Yoga and stop your progress. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen you came here, your psychical being was opened up, and the mental, vital and physical obstacles sufficiently worked
\nupon to admit of this opening. This came first, because that was the strongest part of you for the purposes of the Yoga.
\nAfterwards there was an attempt to open up the mind and other parts. But owing to certain influences their resistance became
\nstrong enough to bring things to a standstill. Doubt and non-understanding in the mind and the vital attachments of which
\nthis one to your son is the strongest, were the main instruments of this resistance. It is no use coming back with any of these
\nthings still cherished and supported by your mind and will.   <\/p>\n

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\n

Either you will make no progress at all here or if the power works on you it will work to break the resistance of the vital
\nbeing and if you still support that resistance the nature of this struggle and the consequences may be of a serious and undesirable character. The power that works in this Yoga is of a thorough-going character and tolerates in the end nothing great
\nor small that is an obstacle to the truth and its realisation. To come here will be to invite its working in the strongest and most
\ninsistent form. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo Ghose <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Pondicherry, <\/p>\n

January 1923. <\/p>\n

My dear Krishnashashi, <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have seen all the experiences that you have written down, and sent to me and received yours and Barin’s letter.12 It is no
\ndoubt true as you say that your sadhana has gone on different lines from that of the others. But it does not follow that you are
\nentirely right in insisting on your own ideas about it. I shall tell you briefly what I have observed about your experiences. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe first things you sent were very interesting and valuable psycho-spiritual and psycho-mental experiences and messages.
\nLater ones lean more to the psychic-emotional and have in them a certain one-sidedness and mixture and there are also
\n\t\t\tpsycho-vital and psycho-physical developments of a double nature. I do not mean that all is false in them but that there are many strong
\npartial truths which need to be corrected by others which they seem to ignore and even to exclude. Besides there are suggestions
\nfrom the intellect and the vital being and also suggestions from external sources which you ought not to accept so easily as you
\nseem to do. This mixture is inevitable in the earlier stages and there is no need to be disheartened about it. But if you insist on <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t12 Sri Aurobindo’s letters to Barindra Kumar Ghose on Krishnashashi’s case are published on pages 337 \u00ad 54. \u2014 Ed.<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>370<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

preserving it, it may deflect you from your true path and injure
\nyour Sadhana.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs yet you have no sufficient experience of the nature of
\nthe psychic being and the psychic worlds. Therefore it is not possible for you to put the true value on all that comes to you.
\nWhen the psychic consciousness opens, especially so freely and rapidly as it has done in your case, it opens to all kinds of things
\nand to suggestions, and messages from all sorts of planes and worlds and forces and beings. There is the true psychic which
\nis always good and there is the psychic opening to mental, vital and other worlds which contain all kinds of things good, bad
\nand indifferent, true, false and half truths, thought-suggestions which are of all kinds, and messages [which] are also of all
\nkinds. What is needed is not to give yourself impartially to all of them but to develop both a sufficient knowledge and experience
\nand a sufficient discrimination to be able to keep your balance and eliminate falsehood, half-truths and mixtures. It will not
\ndo to dismiss impatiently the necessity for discrimination on the ground that that is mere intellectualism. The discrimination need not be intellectual, \u2014 although that also is a thing not to be despised. But it may be a psychic discrimination or one
\nthat comes from the higher super-intellectual mind and from the higher being. If you have not this, then you have need of
\nconstant protection and guidance from those who have it, and who have also long psychic experience, and it may be disastrous
\nfor you to rely entirely on yourself and to reject such guidance.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the meantime there are three rules of the Sadhana which
\nare very necessary in an earlier stage and which you should remember, first<\/i>, open yourself to experience but do not seek to
\ntake the bhoga <\/i>of the experiences. Do not attach yourself to any particular kind of experience. Do not take all ideas and
\nsuggestions as true and do not take any knowledge, voice or thought-message as absolutely final and definitive. Truth itself is
\nonly true when complete and it changes its meaning as one rises and sees it from a higher level. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI must put you on your guard against the suggestions of hostile influences which attack all
\nSadhakas <\/i>in this Yoga. The
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>371<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

vision you had of the European, is itself an intimation to you that these forces have their eye on you and are prepared to act if they
\nare not already acting against you. It is their subtler suggestions, which take the figure of truth, and not their more open attacks,
\nthat are the most dangerous. I will mention some of the most usual of them. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBe on your guard against any suggestions that try to raise up your egoism, as for instance, that you are a greater Sadhaka
\nthan others or that your Sadhana is unique or of an exceptionally high kind. There seems to be some suggestion of this kind to you
\nalready. You had a rich and rapid development of psychic experiences, but so precisely have some others who have meditated
\nhere and none of yours are unique in their kind or degree or unknown to our experience. Even if it were otherwise, egoism
\nis the greatest danger of the Sadhana and is never spiritually justifiable. All greatness is God’s; it belongs to no other. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBe on your guard against anything that suggests to you to keep or cling to any impurity or imperfection, confusion in the
\nmind, attachment in the heart, desire and passion in the Prana<\/i> or disease in the body. To keep up these things by ingenuous
\njustifications and coverings, is one of the usual devices of the hostile forces. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBe on your guard against any idea which will make you admit these hostile forces on the same terms as the divine forces.
\nI understand you have said that you must admit all because all is a manifestation of God. All is a manifestation of God in a certain
\nsense but if misunderstood as it often is, this Vedantic truth can be turned to the purposes of falsehood. There are many things
\nwhich are partial manifestations and have to be replaced by fuller truer manifestations. There are others which belong to the
\nignorance and fall away when we move to the knowledge. There are others which are of the darkness and have to be combated
\nand destroyed or exiled. This manifestation is one which has been freely used by the force represented by the European you
\nsaw in your vision and it has ruined the Yoga of many. You yourself wished to reject the intellect and yet the intellect is a manifestation of God as well as the other things you have accepted.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>372<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tIf you really accept and give yourself to me, you must accept my truth. My truth is one that rejects ignorance and falsehoods
\nand moves to the knowledge, rejects darkness and moves to the light, rejects egoism and moves to the Divine Self; rejects
\nimperfections and moves to perfection. My truth is not only the truth of Bhakti or of psychic development but also of knowledge,
\npurity, divine strength and calm and of the raising of all these things from their mental, emotional and vital forms to their
\nSupramental reality.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI say all these things not to undervalue your Sadhana but
\nto turn your mind towards the way of its increasing completion and perfection. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is not possible for me to have you here just now. First because the necessary conditions are not there and secondly because you must be fully prepared to accept my guidance before you come here. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf, as I suppose you must under the present circumstances, you have to go home, meditate there, turning yourself to me
\nand try to prepare yourself so that you may come here hereafter. What you need now is not so much psychic development, which
\nyou will always be able to have (I do not ask you to stop it altogether) but an inner calm and quiet as the true basis and
\natmosphere of your future development and experience, calm in the mind, the purified vital being and in the physical consciousness. A psycho-vital or psycho-physical Yoga will not be safe for you until you have this calm and an assured purity of being and
\na complete and always present vital and physical protection. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo Rajani Palit <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6th April, 1923. <\/p>\n

“Arya Office”<\/p>\n

Pondicherry. <\/p>\n

My dear Rajani,<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI am writing today about your son Rathin and his illness if
\nit can be called by that name. I shall state first in general terms   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>373<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

the nature of the malady and its usual developments, that is to say, the normal course it takes when no psychic or spiritual force
\nis brought in to remove it. Afterwards I shall indicate the two possible means of cure. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI think it is best for me to state the case in its worst and not only in its best possible terms because it is necessary that
\nyou should know the full truth and have the courage to face it. These cases are not those of a truly physical malady but of an
\nattempt at possession from the vital world; and the fits and other physical symptoms are signs, not of the malady itself, but of the
\nstruggle of the natural being against the pressure of the hostile influence. Such a case in a child of this age indicates some kind
\nof accumulation in the physical heredity creating an opportunity or a predisposition of which the vital invasion takes advantage.
\nIt is especially the physical consciousness and the physico-vital which contain the germs or materials of this predisposition. The
\nphysical being is always changing its constituents and in each period of seven years a complete change is effected. If the symptoms of this predisposition in the nature are detected and a wise influence and training used by the parents to eradicate them and
\nthis is done so effectively that in the first seven years no seeds of the malady appear, then usually there is no further danger. If
\non the contrary they manifest by the seventh year, then the next period of seven years is the critical period and, ordinarily, the
\ncase would be decided one way or the other by or before the fourteenth year. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere are normally three possible eventualities. The difficulty in dealing with the case of so young a child is that the
\nmind is not developed and can give no help towards the cure. But as the mind develops in the second seven years it will, if it
\nis not abnormally weak which I think is not the case here, react more and more against the influence. Aided by a good control
\nand influence it may very well succeed in casting out the hostile intrusion and its pressure altogether. In that case the fits and
\nother signs of the physical struggle pass away, the strange moral and vital tendencies fade out of the habits and the child becomes
\nmentally, morally and physically a healthy normal being.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>374<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tThe second possibility is that the struggle between the natural being and the intruding being may not be decisive in the psychic sense, that is to say, the intruder cannot take full possession but also he cannot be thrown out entirely. In that case anything
\nmay happen, a shattered mind and health, the death of the body or a disturbed, divided and permanently abnormal nature. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe third and worst possibility is that the intruding being may succeed and take entire possession. In that case the fits and
\nother violent symptoms will disappear, the child may seem to be physically cured and healthy, but he will be an abnormal
\nand most dangerous being incarnating an evil vital force with all its terrible propensities and gifted with abnormal powers to
\nsatisfy them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn Rathin’s case there is not as yet possession in the full sense
\nof the word, but a strong pressure and influence indicated by the strange habits of which you have written. These are suggested
\nand dictated by the intruding being and not proper to the boy himself. The fearlessness and security with which he does these
\nthings is inspired from the same source. But the fits prove that there is as yet no possession. There is a struggle indicated by them
\nand a temporary hold which passes out again. He is evidently in the earlier part of the critical period. I have indicated the course
\nnormally taken by the illness, but it is not necessary to pass through it and take its risks. There are other means which can
\ncome to his help and effect a complete cure.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe first and easiest is to cure by hypnotic suggestion. This
\nif properly applied is an absolutely sure remedy. But in the first place, it must be applied by someone who is not himself under
\nthe influence of evil powers, as some hypnotists are. For that obviously will make matters worse. Moreover, it must be done
\nby someone who has the proper training and knows thoroughly what he is about, for a mistake might be disastrous. The best
\nconditions would be if someone like yourself who has a natural relation and already an influence over the child could do it with
\nthe necessary training and knowledge.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe other means of cure is the use of spiritual power and
\ninfluence. If certain psycho-spiritual means could be used, this   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>375<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

would be as sure and effectual as the other. But this is not possible because there is no one there who has the right knowledge. The
\nspiritual influence by itself can do it but the working is likely to be slow. It must ordinarily be conveyed through someone on
\nthe spot and you yourself are obviously the right instrument. What you have to do is to keep the idea that I am sending to
\nyou power for this object, to make yourself receptive to it and at the same time make your own will and natural influence on the
\nchild a direct channel for it. The will must be a quiet will, calm and confident and intent on its object, but without attachment
\nand unshaken by any amount of resistance and unalarmed and undiscouraged by the manifestations of the illness. Your attitude
\nto the child must be that of a calm and firm protecting affection free from emotional weakness and disturbance. The first thing is
\nto acquire such an influence as to be able to repel the attack when it comes and if it takes any hold to diminish steadily its force
\nand the violence of its manifestation. I understand from your letter that you have already been able to establish the beginning
\nof such an influence. But it must be able to work at a distance as well as in his presence. Further you must acquire the power of
\nleaving a protection around him when you are absent. Secondly, you must be able to convey to him a constant suggestion which
\nwill gradually inhibit the strange undesirable habits of which you speak in your letter. This, I may say, cannot be effectively done
\nby any kind of external coercion. For that is likely to make these impulses more violent. It must be a will and suggestion and silent
\ninfluence. If you find the control increasing and these habits diminishing, you can understand that the work of cure has begun.
\nIts completion may take some time because these vital beings are very sticky and persistent and are always returning to the attack.
\nThe one thing which can make the cure rapid is if the boy himself develops a will in his mind to change, for that will take away the
\nground of the hostile influence. It is because something in him is amused and takes pleasure in the force which comes with the
\ninfluence that these things are able to recur and continue. This element in him calls the invading presence back even when it has
\nbeen centrally rejected. I shall of course try to act directly on him   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>376<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nas well as through you, but the instrumentality of one on the spot greatly enforces and is sometimes indispensable to the action. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA word about your Sadhana. It seems to me that the key of your future development is contained in the experience which
\nyou say you often attained for a few days at Krishnagore (your letter of the 9th February) “A state which was full of knowledge,
\ncalm serenity, strength and wide consciousness \u2014 all questions automatically solved
\n\u2014 a continuous stream of power passed
\ninto the body through the forehead centre \u2014 extremely powerful, having undisturbed samata, calm conviction, keen sight and
\nknowledge.” This was the consciousness of the true Purusha in you aware of his own supramental being and it is this which
\nmust become your normal consciousness and the basis of the supramental development. In order that it may so become, the
\nmind has to be made calm and strong, the emotional and vital being purified and the physical consciousness so opened that the
\nbody can hold and retain the consciousness and power. I notice that at the time you had it the body also expressed it. This is a
\nsign that the capacity is already there in your physical being. The calm and strength will descend from above, what you have to
\ndo is to open yourself and receive it and at the same time reject all the movements of the lower nature which prevent it from
\nremaining and which are ruled by desires and habits inconsistent with the true being, the true power and the true knowledge. Of
\ncourse the superior power will itself reveal to you and remove all the obstacles in your nature. But the condition is that not
\nonly your mental but your vital and physical being must open and surrender to it and refuse to surrender themselves to other
\npowers and forces. As you yourself experienced at that time, this greater consciousness will of itself bring the development of
\nthe higher will and knowledge. Psychic experiences of a proper kind are of course a great help but in your case it may be that
\nany rich development of the psychic will only come after or in proportion as this consciousness with its calm, knowledge, will
\nand samata takes possession of the different parts of the being. <\/p>\n

Aurobindo Ghose
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>377<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Draft Letters to and about Kumud Bandhu Bagchi
\n<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are certain things that it is absolutely necessary for Kumud to realise in a sincere and straight-forward spirit, without veils
\nand self-justifications if his sadhana is not to turn about in a constant circle to the end or else fail and fall into pieces. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFirst, it is necessary for him to have a truer understanding of the Yoga than he seems to have had either in the past or now.
\nThis Yoga is not turned towards renunciation of the world or an outward asceticism, but neither is its aim Bhoga, nor what
\nthe Chandernagore people call “Life-realisation” which means nothing but the satisfaction of one’s own magnified vital ego.
\nThe aim is an opening to a higher Divine Truth beyond mind, life or body and the transformation of these three things into
\nits image. But that transformation cannot take place and the Truth itself cannot be known in its own unmistakable spirit,
\nperfect light and real body until the whole of the adhara <\/i>has been fundamentally and patiently purified, and made plastic
\nand capable of receiving what is beyond the constructions of the mind, the desires of the body and the habits of the physical
\nconsciousness and physical being.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis most obvious obstacle, one of which he has not in the
\nleast got rid of up to now, is a strongly Rajasic vital ego for which his mind finds justifications and covers. There is nothing
\nmore congenial to the vital ego than to put on the cloak of Yoga and imagine itself free, divinised, spiritualised, siddha, and all
\nthe rest of it, or advancing towards that end, when it is really doing nothing of the kind, but [is] just its old self in new forms. If
\none does not look at oneself with a constant sincerity and an eye of severe self-criticism, it is impossible to get out of this circle. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlong with the exclusion of self-deceiving vital ego, there must go that which accompanies it usually in the mental parts,
\nmental arrogance, a false sense of superiority and an ostentation of knowledge. All pretence and all pretensions must be given
\nup, all pretence to oneself or others of being what one is not,   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>378<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof knowing what one does not know and all vain idea of being higher than one’s own actual spiritual stature. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOver against the vital rajasic ego there is a great coarseness and heaviness of tamas in the physical being and an absence of
\npsychic and spiritual refinement. That must be eliminated or else it will stand always in the way of a true and complete change in
\nthe vital being and the mind.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tUnless these things are radically changed, merely having
\nexperiences or establishing a temporary and precarious calmness in the mental and vital parts will not help in the end. There will
\nbe no fundamental change; only a constant going from one state to another, sometimes a quieting and sometimes a return of the
\ndisturbances, and always the same defect persisting to the end of the chapter. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe one condition for getting rid of these things is an absolute central sincerity in all the parts of the being, and that means
\nan absolute insistence on the Truth and nothing but the Truth. There will then be a readiness for unsparing self-criticism and
\nvigilant openness to the Light, an uneasiness when falsehood comes in, which will finally purify the whole being. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe defects mentioned are more or less common in various degrees in almost every sadhaka, though there are some who
\nare not touched by them. They can be got rid of if the requisite sincerity is there. But if they occupy the central parts of the being
\nand vitiate the attitude, then the sadhaka will give a constant open or covert support to them, his mind will always be ready to
\ngive disguises and justifications and try to elude the search-light of the self-critical faculty and the protest of the psychic being.
\nThat means failure of the Yoga at least for this existence. <\/p>\n

6 February 1926 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

[2] <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the psychic being awakens you grow conscious of your
\nown soul; you know your Self. And you no longer commit the mistake of identifying yourself with the mental or with the vital
\nbeing. You do not mistake them for the soul.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>379<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t\t\tWhen awakened, the psychic being gives true Bhakti for God or for the Guru. That Bhakti is quite different from mental
\nor vital Bhakti.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the mind one may have a strong admiration or appreciation for the intellectual or spiritual greatness of the Guru, \u2014 follow him and mentally accept his dictates. But if it is merely
\nmental, that does not carry you very far. Of course, there is no harm in having that also. But by itself it does not open the whole
\nof the inner being; it only establishes a mental contact.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe vital Bhakti demands and demands. It imposes its own
\nconditions. It surrenders itself to God, but conditionally. It says to God, “You are so great,” “I worship you,”
\n\u2014 “and now you
\nmust satisfy this desire of mine or that ambition”; “make me great; make me a great sadhaka, a great yogin” etc. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe unillumined mind also surrenders to the Truth, but makes its own conditions. It says to the Truth, “Satisfy my
\njudgment, and my opinion”; it demands the Truth to cast itself in the mind’s own forms. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe vital being also insists on the Truth throwing itself into its own vital movement of force. The vital being pulls at the
\nHigher Power and pulls and pulls at the vital being of the Guru.  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBoth of them (the mental and the vital) have got an
\n\t\t\t arri\u00e8re<\/i> pens\u00e9e <\/i><\/span>
\n\t\t\t(mental reservation) in their surrender.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPsychic Bhakti is not like that. Because it is in communication with the Divinity behind, it is capable of true Bhakti. Psychic Bhakti does not make any demand, it makes no reservations. It
\nis satisfied with its own existence. The psychic being knows how to obey the Truth in the right way. It gives itself up truly to God
\nor the Guru, and because it can give itself up truly, therefore it can also receive truly. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the psychic being comes to the surface it feels sad if it sees that the mental or the vital being is making a fool of itself.
\nThat sadness is purity offended.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the mind is playing its own game, or when the vital
\nbeing is carried away by its impulses, it is the psychic being which says, “I don’t want these things.” “What am I here for after all?”
\n“I am here for the Truth; I am not here for these things.”<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>380<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tThe psychic sadness is a quite different thing from mental
\ndissatisfaction or vital sadness or physical depression.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf the psychic being is strong, it makes itself felt on the
\nmental or the vital being, and forces them to change. But if it is weak, the other parts take advantage of it and use the psychic
\nfor their own advantage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn some cases it comes up to the surface and upsets the mental and the vital being and throws all their settled arrangements and habits into disorder, pressing for a new and divine order. But
\nif the mind or the vital being is stronger than the psychic then it casts only an occasional influence and gradually retires behind.
\nAll its cry is in the wilderness; and the mental or the vital being goes on in its own round. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLastly, the psychic being refuses to be deceived by appearances. It is not carried away by falsehood. It refuses to be
\noppressed by falsehood \u2014 nor does it exaggerate the Truth. For example, even if everything around says, “There is no God”, the
\npsychic being refuses to believe in it. It says, \u2014 “I know” and “I know because I feel.” <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd because it knows the thing behind, it is not deceived by appearances. It immediately feels the force. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlso, when the psychic being is awakened, it throws out all the dross from the emotional being and makes it free from
\nsentimentalism or the lower play of emotionalism.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBut it does not carry in it the dryness of the mind or the
\nexaggeration of the vital feelings. It gives the just touch to each emotion. <\/p>\n

23 March 1926   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>381<\/font><\/p>\n

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

To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922 \u00ad 1928 1   To Barindra Kumar Ghose   [1]   Arya Office Pondicherry November 18. 1922. Dear…<\/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-1965","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\/1965","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=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9583,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions\/9583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}