{"id":517,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=517"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:32","slug":"26-some-early-letters-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/26-on-himself-volume-26\/26-some-early-letters-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","title":{"rendered":"-26_Some Early Letters.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

\nSOME
\nEARLY LETTERS<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n        This
\nSection consists of some letters written by Sri Aurobindo during the early
\nperiod of his stay at Pondicherry after his arrival there in 1910.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part
\nI includes letters relating to his personal Sadhana written during 1911 to
\n1916.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part
\nII contains two letters written in 1920 in reply to appeals to him from two
\nIndian nationalist leaders to come back to British India to resume leadership
\nof Indian politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part
\nIII contains three letters written in 1922 relating to the plan that he had
\nthen conceived to extend his work outside after his long retirement in inner Sadhana. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

\nSOME
\nEARLY LETTERS <\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI. EARLY SADHANA IN PONDICHERRY\u00b9<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI
\nneed some place of refuge in which I can complete my Yoga unassailed and build
\nup other souls around me. It seems to me that Pondicherry is the place
\nappointed by those who are Beyond, but you know how much effort is needed to
\nestablish the thing that is purposed upon the material plane….<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nam developing the necessary powers for bringing down the spiritual on the
\nmaterial plane, and I am now able to put myself into men and change them,
\nremoving the darkness and bringing light, giving them a new heart and a new
\nmind. This I can do with great swiftness and completeness with those who are
\nnear me, but I have also succeeded with men hundreds of miles away. I have also
\nbeen given the power to read men’s characters and hearts, even their thoughts,
\nbut this power is not yet absolutely complete, nor can I use it always and in
\nall cases. The power of guiding action by the mere exercise of will is also
\ndeveloping, but it is not so powerful as yet as the other. My communication
\nwith the other world is yet of a troubled character, though I am certainly in
\ncommunication with some very great powers. But of all these things I will write
\nmore when the final obstacles in my way are cleared from the path.<\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nI perceive most clearly, is that the principal object of my Yoga is to remove
\nabsolutely and entirely every possible source of error and ineffectiveness, of
\nerror in order that the Truth I shall eventually show to men may be perfect,
\nand of ineffectiveness in order that the work of changing the world, so far as
\nI have to assist it, may be entirely victorious and irresistible. It is for
\nthis reason that I have been going through so long a discipline and that the
\nmore brilliant and mighty results of Yoga have been so long withheld. I have
\nbeen kept busy laying down the foundation, a work severe and painful. It is
\nonly now that the<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>These letters, except the first two and the last, were written to the Mother.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page \u2013 423<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nedifice
\nis beginning to rise upon the sure and perfect foundation that has been laid.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n12-7-1911<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

My
\nYoga is proceeding with great rapidity, but I defer writing to you of the
\nresults until certain experiments in which I am now engaged, have yielded fruit
\nsufficient to establish beyond dispute the theory and system of Yoga which I
\nhave formed and which is giving great results not only to me, but to the young
\nmen who are with me…. I expect these results within a month, if all goes
\nwell.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n20-9-1911<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

All
\nis always for the best, but it is sometimes from the external point of view an
\nawkward best….<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nwhole earth is now under one law and answers to the same vibrations and I am
\nsceptical of finding any place where the clash of the struggle will not pursue
\nus. In any case, an effective retirement does not seem to be my destiny. I must
\nremain in touch with the world until I have either mastered adverse circumstances
\nor succumbed or carried on the struggle between the spiritual and physical so
\nfar as I am destined to carry it on. This is how I have always seen things and
\nstill see them. As for failure, difficulty and apparent impossibility I am too
\nmuch habituated to them to be much impressed by their constant
\nself-presentation except for passing moments….<\/span><\/p>\n

One
\nneeds to have a calm heart, a settled will, entire self-abnegation and the eyes
\nconstantly fixed on the beyond to live undiscouraged in times like these which
\nare truly a period of universal decomposition. For myself, I follow the Voice
\nand look neither to right nor to left of me. The result is not mine and hardly
\nat all now even the labour.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n6-5-1915<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Heaven
\nwe have possessed, but not the earth; but the fullness of<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 424<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

the
\nYoga is to make, in the formula of the Veda, "Heaven and Earth equal and
\none".<\/span><\/p>\n


\n20-5-1915<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nEverything
\ninternal is ripe or ripening, but there is a sort of locked struggle in which
\nneither side can make a very appreciable advance (somewhat like the trench
\nwarfare in Europe), the spiritual force insisting against the resistance of
\nthe physical world, that resistance disputing every inch and making more or
\nless effective counter-attacks…. And if there were not the strength and Ananda
\nwithin, it would be harassing and disgusting work; but
\nthe eye of knowledge looks beyond and sees that it is only a protracted
\nepisode.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n28-7-1915
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nNothing
\nseems able to disturb the immobility of things and all that is active outside
\nour own selves is a sort of welter of dark and sombre confusion from which
\nnothing formed or luminous can emerge. It is a singular condition of the world,
\nthe very definition of chaos with the superficial form of the old world resting
\napparently intact on the surface. But a chaos of long disintegration or of some
\nearly new birth? It is the thing that is being fought out from day to day, but
\nas yet without any approach to a decision.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n16-9-1915<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe
\ndifficulties you find in the spiritual progress are common to us all. In this
\nYoga the progress is always attended with these relapses into the ordinary
\nmentality until the whole being is so remoulded that it can no longer be
\naffected either by any downward tendency in our own nature or by the
\nimpressions from the discordant world outside or even by the mental state of
\nthose associated with us most closely in the Yoga. The ordinary Yoga is usually
\nconcentrated on a single aim and therefore less exposed to such recoils; ours
\nis so complex and many-sided and<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 425<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nembraces
\nsuch large aims that we cannot expect any smooth progress until we near the
\ncompletion of an effort, \u2014 especially as all the hostile forces in the
\nspiritual world are in a constant state of opposition and besiege our gains;
\nfor the complete victory of a single one of us would mean a general downfall
\namong them. In fact by our own unaided effort we could not hope to succeed. It
\nis only in proportion as we come into a more and more universal communion with
\nthe Highest that we can hope to overcome with any finality. For myself I have
\nhad to come back so often from things that seemed to have been securely gained
\nthat it is only relatively that I can say of any part of my Yoga, "It is
\ndone." Still I have always found that when I recover from one of these
\nrecoils, it is always with a new spiritual gain which might have been neglected
\nor missed if I had remained securely in my former state of partial
\nsatisfaction. Especially, as I have long had the map of my advance sketched out
\nbefore me, I am able to measure my progress at each step and the particular
\nlosses are compensated for by the clear consciousness of the general advance
\nthat has been made. The final goal is far but the progress made in the face of
\nso constant and massive an opposition is the guarantee of its being gained in
\nthe end. But the time is in other hands than ours. Therefore I have put
\nimpatience and dissatisfaction far away from me.<\/span><\/p>\n

An
\nabsolute equality of the mind and heart and a clear purity and calm strength in
\nall the members of the being have long been the primary condition on which the
\npower working in me has insisted with an inexhaustible patience and an undeviating
\nconstancy of will which rejects all the efforts of other powers to hasten
\nforward to the neglect of these first requisites. Wherever they are impaired it
\nreturns upon them and works over and again over the weak points like a workman
\npatiently mending the defects of his work. These seem to me to be the
\nfoundation and condition of all the rest. As they become firmer and more complete
\nthe system is more able to hold consistently and vividly the settled perception
\nof the One in all things and beings, in all qualities, forces, happenings, in
\nall this world-consciousness and the play of its workings. That founds the
\nUnity and upon it the deep satisfaction and growing rapture of the Unity. It is
\nthis<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 426<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nto
\nwhich our nature is most recalcitrant. It persists in the division, in the
\ndualities, in the sorrow and unsatisfied passion and labour, it finds it
\ndifficult to accustom itself to the divine largeness, joy and equipoise
\n\u2014especially the vital and material parts of our nature; it is they that pull
\ndown the mind which has accepted and even when it has long lived in the joy
\nand peace and oneness. That, I suppose, is why the religions and philosophies
\nhave had so strong a leaning to the condemnation of Life and Matter and aimed
\nat an escape instead of a victory. But the victory has to be won; the
\nrebellious elements have to be redeemed and transformed, not rejected or
\nexcised.<\/span><\/p>\n

When
\nthe Unity has been well founded, the static half of our work is done, but the
\nactive half remains. It is then that in the One we must see the Master and His
\nPower, \u2014 Krishna and Kali as I name them using the terms of our Indian
\nreligions; the Power occupying the whole of myself and my nature which becomes
\nKali and ceases to be anything else, the Master using, directing, enjoying the
\nPower to his ends, not mine, with that which I call myself only as a centre of
\nhis universal existence and responding to its workings as a soul to the Soul,
\ntaking upon itself his image until there is nothing left but Krishna and Kali.
\nThis is the stage I have reached in spite of all set-backs and recoils,
\nimperfectly indeed in the secureness and intensity of the state, but well
\nenough in the general type. When that has been done, then we may hope to found
\nsecurely the play in us of his divine Knowledge governing the action of his
\ndivine Power. The rest is the full opening up of the different planes of his
\nworld-play and the subjection of Matter and the body and the material world to
\nthe law of the higher heavens of the Truth. To these things towards which in my
\nearlier ignorance I used to press forward impatiently before satisfying the first
\nconditions \u2014 the effort, however, was necessary and made the necessary
\npreparation of the material instruments \u2014 I can now only look forward as a
\nsubsequent eventuality in a yet distant vista of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

To
\npossess securely the Light and the Force of the supramental being, this is the
\nmain object to which the power is now turning. But the remnant of the old
\nhabits of intellectual thought and mental will come so obstinate in their
\ndetermination<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 427<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

to
\nremain that the progress is hampered, uncertain and always falls back from the
\nlittle achievement already effected. They are no longer within me, they are
\nblind, stupid, mechanical, incorrigible even when they perceive their
\nincompetence, but they crowd round the mind and pour in their suggestions
\nwhenever it tries to remain open only to the supramental Light and the higher
\nCommand, so that the Knowledge and the Will reach the mind in a confused,
\ndistorted and often misleading form. It is, however, only a question of time:
\nthe siege will diminish in force and be finally dispelled.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n26-6-1916<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 428<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nII.
\nCALLS TO RETURN TO INDIAN POLITICS<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\nPondicherry <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nJan. 5, 1920<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear
\nBaptista,<\/span><\/p>\n

Your
\noffer is a tempting one, but I regret that I cannot answer it in the
\naffirmative. It is due to you that I should state explicitly my reasons. In the
\nfirst place I am not prepared at present to return to British India. This is
\nquite apart from any political obstacle. I understand that up to last September
\nthe Government of Bengal (and probably the Government of Madras also) were
\nopposed to my return to British India and that practically this opposition
\nmeant that if I went back I should be interned or imprisoned under one or other
\nof the beneficent Acts which are apparently still to subsist as helps in
\nushering in the new era of trust and cooperation. I do not suppose other
\nGovernments would-be any more delighted by my appearance in their respective
\nprovinces. Perhaps the King’s Proclamation may make a difference, but that is
\nnot certain since, as I read it, it does not mean an amnesty, but an act of
\ngracious concession and benevolence limited by the discretion of the Viceroy.
\nNow I have too much work on my hands to waste my time in the leisured ease of
\nan involuntary Government guest. But even if I were assured of an entirely free
\naction and movement, I should yet not go just now. I came to Pondicherry in
\norder to have freedom and tranquillity for a fixed object having nothing to do<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1
\nAbout ten years after Sri Aurobindo withdrew from Indian political scene and
\nsettled in Pondicherry, two prominent nationalist leaders wrote to him
\nappealing to him to come back to British India and to resume leadership of
\nIndian politics.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nOne
\nwas Joseph Baptista who requested Sri Aurobindo to return to British India to
\ntake up the editorship of an English daily paper which was proposed to be
\nbrought out from Bombay as the organ of a new political party which Tilak and
\nothers were intending to form at that time.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe
\nsecond was Dr. Munje who requested Sri Aurobindo to return to British India to
\ntake up the Presidentship of the Indian National Congress. Dr. Munje was one of
\nthe most prominent leaders of the Congress at Nagpur. He had also come to
\nPondicherry in 1920 and had long talks on current Indian politics with Sri
\nAurobindo.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nSri
\nAurobindo’s replies to both these appeals are reproduced here.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 429<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

with
\npresent politics \u2014 in which I have taken no direct part since my coming here,
\nthough what I could do for the country in my own way I have constantly done, \u2014
\nand until it is accomplished, it is not possible for me to resume any kind of
\npublic activity. But if I were in British India, I should be obliged to plunge
\nat once into action of different kinds. Pondicherry is my place of retreat, my
\ncave of tapasya, not of the ascetic kind, but of a brand of my own invention. I
\nmust finish that, I must be internally armed and equipped for my work before I
\nleave it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next
\nin the matter of the work itself. I do not at all look down on politics or
\npolitical action or consider I have got above them. I have always laid a
\ndominant stress and I now lay an entire stress on the spiritual life, but my
\nidea of spirituality has nothing to do with ascetic withdrawal or contempt or
\ndisgust of secular things. There is to me nothing secular, all human activity
\nis for me a thing to be included in a complete spiritual life, and the
\nimportance of politics at the present time is very great. But my line and
\nintention of political activity would differ considerably from anything-now
\ncurrent in the field. I entered into political action and continued it from
\n1903 to 1910 with one aim and one alone, to get into the mind of the people a
\nsettled will for freedom and the necessity of a struggle to achieve it in place
\nof the futile ambling Congress methods till then in vogue. That is now done and
\nthe Amritsar Congress is the seal upon it. The will is not as practical and
\ncompact nor by any means as organised and sustained in action as it should be,
\nbut there is the will and plenty of strong and able leaders to guide it. I
\nconsider that in spite of the inadequacy of the Reforms, the will to
\nself-determination, if the country keeps its present temper, as I have no
\ndoubt it will, is bound to prevail before long. What preoccupies me now is the
\nquestion what it is going to do with its self-determination, how will it use
\nits freedom, on what lines is it going to determine its future?<\/span><\/p>\n

You
\nmay ask why not come out and help, myself, so far as I can, in giving a lead ?
\nBut my mind has a habit of running inconveniently ahead of the times, \u2014 some
\nmight say, out of time altogether into the world of the ideal. Your party, you
\nsay, is going to be a social democratic party. Now I believe in something  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 430<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhich might be Called social democracy, but not in any of the forms now
\ncurrent, and I am not altogether in love with the European kind, however great
\nan improvement it may be on the past. I hold that India having a spirit of her
\nown and a governing temperament proper to her own civilisation, should in
\npolitics as in everything else strike out her own original path and not stumble
\nin the wake of Europe. But this is precisely what she will be obliged to do, if
\nshe has to start on the road in her present chaotic and unprepared condition of
\nmind. No doubt people talk of India developing on her own lines, but nobody
\nseems to have very clear or sufficient ideas as to what those lines are to be.
\nIn this matter I have formed ideals and certain definite ideas of my own, in
\nwhich at present very few are likely to follow me, \u2014 since they are governed by
\nan uncompromising spiritual idealism of an unconventional kind and would be
\nunintelligible to many and an offence and stumbling-block to a great number.
\nBut I have not as yet any clear and full idea of the practical lines; I
\nhave no formed programme. In a word, I am feeling my way in my mind and am not
\nready for either propaganda or action. Even if I were, it would mean for some
\ntime ploughing my lonely furrow or at least freedom to take my own way. As the
\neditor of your paper, I should be bound to voice the opinion of others and
\nreserve my own, and while I have full sympathy with the general ideas of the
\nadvanced parties so far as concerns the action of the present moment and, if I
\nwere in the field, would do all I could to help them, I am almost incapable by
\nnature of limiting myself in that way, at least to the extent that would be
\nrequisite.<\/span><\/p>\n

Excuse
\nthe length of this screed. I thought it necessary to explain fully so as to
\navoid giving you the impression that I declined your request from any
\naffectation or reality of spiritual aloofness or wish to shirk the call of the
\ncountry or want of sympathy with the work you and others are so admirably
\ndoing. I repeat my regret that I am compelled to disappoint you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours
\nsincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA<\/span>urobindo<\/span>
\nGhose<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 431<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nPondicherry <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nAug. 30,1920<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear
\nDr. Munje,<\/span><\/p>\n

As
\nI have already wired to you, I find myself unable to accept your offer of the
\nPresidentship of the Nagpur Congress. There are reasons even within the
\npolitical field itself which in any case would have stood in my way. In the
\nfirst place I have never signed and would never care to sign as a personal
\ndeclaration of faith the Congress creed, as my own is of a different character.
\nIn the next place since my retirement from British India I have developed an
\noutlook and views which have diverged a great deal from those I held at the
\ntime and, as they are remote from present actualities and do not follow the
\npresent stream of political action, I should find myself very much embarrassed
\nwhat to say to the Congress. I am entirely in sympathy with all that is being
\ndone so far as its object is to secure liberty for India, but I should be
\nunable to identify myself with the programme of any of the parties. The President
\nof the Congress is really a mouth\u00adpiece of the Congress and to make from the
\npresidential chair a purely personal pronouncement miles away from what the
\nCongress is thinking and doing would be grotesquely out of place. Not only so,
\nbut nowadays the President has a responsibility in connection with the All India
\nCongress Committee and the policy of the Congress during the year and other
\nemergencies that may arise which, apart from my constitutional objection and,
\nprobably, incapacity to discharge official duties of any kind or to put on any
\nkind of harness, I should be unable to fulfil, since it is impossible for me to
\nthrow over suddenly my fixed programme and settle at once in British India.
\nThese reasons would in any case have come in the way of my accepting your
\noffer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\ncentral reason however is this that I am no longer first and foremost a
\npolitician, but have definitely commenced another kind of work with a spiritual
\nbasis, a work of spiritual, social, cultural and economic reconstruction of an
\nalmost revolutionary kind, and am even making or at least supervising a sort of
\npractical or laboratory experiment in that sense which needs all the attention
\nand energy that I can have to spare. It is impossible<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 432<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

for
\nme to combine political work of the current kind and this at the beginning. I
\nshould practically have to leave it aside, and this I cannot do, as I have
\ntaken it up as my mission for the rest of my life. This is the true reason of
\nmy inability to respond to your call.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nmay say that in any case I think you would be making a wrong choice in asking
\nme to take Tilak’s place at your head. No one now alive in India, or at least
\nno one yet known, is capable of taking that place, but myself least of all. I
\nam an idealist to the marrow, and could only be useful when there is something
\ndrastic to be done, a radical or revolutionary line to be taken, (I do not mean
\nrevolutionary by violence) a movement with an ideal aim and direct method to be
\ninspired and organized. Tilak’s policy of "responsive cooperation", continued
\nagitation and obstruction whenever needed \u2014 and that would be oftener than not
\nin the present circumstances \u2014 is, no doubt, the only alternative to some form
\nof non-cooperation or passive resistance. But it would need at its head a man
\nof his combined suppleness, skill and determination to make it effective. I
\nhave not the suppleness and skill \u2014 at least of the kind needed \u2014 and could
\nonly bring the determination, supposing I accepted the policy, which I could
\nnot do practically, as, for any reasons of my own, nothing could induce me to
\nset my foot in the new Councils. On the other hand a gigantic movement of
\nnon-cooperation merely to get some Punjab officials punished or to set up again
\nthe Turkish Empire which is dead and gone, shocks my ideas both of proportion
\nand of common sense. I could only understand it as a means of
\n"embarrassing the Government" and seizing hold of immediate
\ngrievances in order to launch an acute struggle for autonomy after the manner
\nof Egypt and Ireland, \u2014 though no doubt without the element of violence. All
\nthe same, it could be only on a programme involving an entire change of the
\ncreed, function and organisation and policy of the Congress, making it a centre
\nof national reconstruction and not merely of political agitation that I could \u2014
\nif I had not the other reason I have spoken of\u2014 re-enter the political field.
\nUnfortunately the poli\u00adtical mind and habits created by the past methods of the
\nCongress do not make that practicable at the moment. I think you will see<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 433<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nthat, holding these ideas, it is not possible
\nfor me to intervene and least of all on the chair of the President.<\/span><\/p>\n

 Might
\nI suggest that the success of the Congress can hardly depend on the presence of
\na single person and one who has long been in obscurity? The friends who call on
\nme are surely wrong in thinking that the Nagpur Congress will be uninspiring
\nwithout me. The national movement is surely strong enough now to be inspired
\nwith its own idea especially at a time of stress like the present. I am sorry
\nto disappoint, but I have given the reasons that compel me and I cannot see how
\nit is avoidable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours
\nsincerely, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nAurobindo
\n<\/span>Ghose<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 434<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nIII.
\nEARLY PLANS TO TAKE UP EXTERNAL WORK<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\nArya
\nOffice, <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPondicherry <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe 18th November 1922<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear
\nBarin,\u00b9<\/font>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nunderstand from your letter that you need a written authority from me for the
\nwork I have entrusted to you and a statement making your position clear to
\nthose whom you have to approach in connection with it. You may show to anyone
\nyou wish this letter as your authority and I hope it will be sufficient to
\nstraighten things for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nhave been till now and shall be for some time longer withdrawn in the practice
\nof a Yoga destined to be a basis not for withdrawal from life, but for the
\ntransformation of human life. It is a Yoga in which vast untried tracts of
\ninner experience and new paths of Sadhana had to be opened up and which,
\ntherefore, needed retirement and long time for its completion. But the time is
\napproaching, though it has not yet come, when I shall have to take up a large
\nexternal work proceeding from the spiritual basis of this Yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis, therefore, necessary to establish a number of centres small and few at
\nfirst but enlarging and increasing in number as I go on, for training in this
\nSadhana, one under my direct supervision, others in immediate connection with
\nme. Those trained there will be hereafter my assistants in the work I shall
\nhave to do, but for the present these centres will be not for external work but
\nfor spiritual training and Tapasya.<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nfirst, which will be transferred to British India when I go there, already
\nexists at Pondicherry, but I need funds both to maintain and to enlarge it. The
\nsecond I am founding through you in Bengal. I hope to establish another in Gujerat
\nduring the ensuing year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many
\nmore desire and are fit to undertake this Sadhana than I can at present admit
\nand it is only by large means being placed<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Barindra Kumar Ghose, Sri Aurobindo’s younger brother.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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\n\u2013 435<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nat
\nmy disposal that I can carry on this work which is necessary as a preparation
\nfor my own return to action.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nhave empowered you to act for me in the collection of funds and other
\ncollateral matters. I have an entire confidence in you and I would request all
\nwho wish me well to put in you the same confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nmay add that this work of which I have spoken is both personally and in a
\nwider sense my own and it is not being done and cannot be done by any other for
\nme. It is separate and different from any other work that has been or is being
\ncarried on by others under my name or with my approval. It can be done by
\nmyself aided closely by those like you who are being or will in future be
\ntrained directly under me in my spiritual discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/span>urobindo
\n<\/span>Ghose<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nArya
\nOffice <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPondicherry, <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nthe 18th Nov. 1922<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear
\nChitta,\u00b9<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis a long time, almost two years I think, since I have written a letter to
\nanyone. I have been so much retired and ab\u00adsorbed in my Sadhana that contact
\nwith the outside world has till lately been reduced to minimum. Now that I am
\nlooking outward again, I find that circumstances lead me to write first to you
\n\u2014 I say, circumstances because it is a need that makes me take up the pen after
\nso long a disuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nneed is in connection with the first outward work that I am undertaking after
\nthis long inner retirement. Barin has gone to Bengal and will see you in
\nconnection with it, but a word from me is perhaps necessary and therefore I
\nsend you through Barin this letter. I am giving also a letter of authority from
\nwhich you will understand the immediate nature of the need for which I<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Chittaranjan Das, one of Sri Aurobindo’s Nationalist collaborators and a famous
\nlawyer. He had defended Sri Aurobindo in the Alipore Bomb Case.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 436<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nhave
\nsent him to raise funds. But I may add something to make it more definite.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nthink you know my present idea and the attitude towards life and work to which
\nit has brought me. I have become confirmed in a perception which I had always,
\nless clearly and dynamically then, but which has now become more and more
\nevident to me, that the true basis of work and life is the spiritual, \u2014 that is
\nto say, a new consciousness to be developed only by Yoga. I see more and more
\nmanifestly that man can never get out of the futile circle the race is always
\ntreading until he has raised himself on to the new foundation. I believe also
\nthat it is the mission of India to make this great victory for the world. But
\nwhat precisely was the nature of the dynamic power of this greater consciousness?
\nWhat was the condition of its effective truth? How could it be brought down, mobilised, organised, turned upon life ? How could our present instruments,
\nintellect, mind, life, body be made true and perfect channels for this great
\ntransformation ? This was the problem I have been trying to work out in my own
\nexperience and I have now a sure basis, a wide knowledge and some mastery of
\nthe secret. Not yet its fullness and complete imperative presence \u2014 therefore
\nI have still to remain in retirement. For I am determined not to work in the
\nexternal field till I have the sure and complete possession of this new power
\nof action, \u2014 not to build except on a perfect foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nstill I have gone far enough to be able to undertake one work on a larger scale
\nthan before \u2014 the training of others to receive this Sadhana and prepare
\nthemselves as I have done, for without that my future work cannot even be
\nbegun. There are many who desire to come here and whom I can admit for the
\npurpose, there are a greater number who can be trained at a distance; but I am
\nunable to carry on unless I have sufficient funds to be able to maintain a
\ncentre here and one or two at least outside. I need therefore much larger
\nresources than I at present command. I have thought that by your recommendation
\nand influence you may help Barin to gather them for me. May I hope that you
\nwill do this for me ?<\/span><\/p>\n

One
\nword to avoid a possible misunderstanding. Long ago I gave to Motilal Roy of Chandarnagar
\nthe ideas and some<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 437<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nprinciples
\nand lines of a new social and economical organisation and education and this
\nwith my spiritual force behind him he has been trying to work out in his own
\nway in his Sangha. This is quite a separate thing from what I am now writing
\nabout, \u2014 my own work which I must do myself and no one can do for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nhave been following with interest your political activities, specially your
\npresent attempt to give a more flexible and practically effective turn to the
\nnon-cooperation movement. I doubt whether you will succeed against such
\ncontrary forces, but I wish you success in your endeavour. I am most interested
\nhowever in your indications about Swaraj; for I have been developing my own
\nideas about the organisation of a true Indian Swaraj and I shall look forward
\nto see how far yours will fall in with mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYours,
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pondicherry
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n1st
\nDecember 1922<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear
\nBarin,<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nwaited for your letter in order to know precisely what portions Chittaranjan
\nwanted to publish and why. It turns out to be as I saw, but I wanted
\nconfirmation. I must now make clear the reasons why I hesitated to sanction the
\npublication.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nshould have had no objection to the publication of the portion about the
\nspiritual basis of life or the last paragraph about Swaraj. But that about
\nnon-cooperation would lead, I think, to a complete misunderstanding of my real
\nposition. Some would take it to mean that I accept the Gandhi programme subject
\nto the modifications proposed by the committee. As you know, I do not believe
\nthat the Mahatma’s principle can be the true foundation or his programme the
\ntrue means of bringing out the genuine freedom and greatness of India, her Swarajya
\nand Samrajya. On the other hand others would think that I was sticking to the
\nschool of Tilakite nationalism. That also is not the fact, as I hold that
\nschool to be out of date. My own policy, if<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 438<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I
\nwere in the field, would be radically different in principle and programme from
\nboth, however it might coincide in certain points. But the country is not yet
\nready to understand its principle or to execute its programme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because
\nI know this very well, I am content to work still on the spiritual and psychic
\nplane, preparing there the ideas and forces, which may afterwards at the right
\nmoment 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
\nthat might prejudice my possibilities of future action. What that will be will
\ndepend on developments. The present trend of politics may end in abortive
\nunrest, but it may also stumble with the aid of external circumstances into
\nsome kind of simulacrum of self-government. In either case the whole real work
\nwill remain to be done. I wish to keep myself free for it in either case.<\/span><\/p>\n

My
\ninterest in Das’s actions and utterances apart from all question of personal
\nfriendship, arises first from the fact that the push he is giving, although I
\ndo not think it likely to succeed at present, may yet help to break the narrow
\nand rigid cadre of the "Constructive" Bardoli programme which seems
\nto me to construct nothing and the fetish-worship of non-cooperation as an end
\nin itself rather than a means, and thereby to create conditions more
\nfavourable for the wide and complex action necessary to prepare the true Swarajya.
\nSecondly, it arose from the rapidity with which he seems to be developing many
\nof the ideas which I have long put down in my mind as essentials of the future.
\nI have no objection to his making use privately of what I have written in the
\nletter. But I hope he will understand why the publication of it does not
\nrecommend itself to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAurobindo<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

Page
\n\u2013 439<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Section Nine SOME EARLY LETTERS           This Section consists of some letters written by Sri Aurobindo during the early period of his stay at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-26-on-himself-volume-26","wpcat-11-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","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=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}