{"id":526,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=526"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:37","slug":"22-reminiscences-and-observations-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\/22-reminiscences-and-observations-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","title":{"rendered":"-22_Reminiscences and Observations.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nSection Seven<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nREMINISCENCES AND OBSERVATIONS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nLAST
\nWORD IN HUMAN NATURE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

L<\/b>ies? Well, a
\nPunjabi student at <\/span>Cambridge<\/span> once took our breath away by the frankness and comprehensive
\nprofundity of his affirmation: "Liars! But we are all liars!" It
\nappeared that he had intended to say "lawyers", but his pronunciation
\ngave his remark a deep force of philosophic observation and generalisation
\nwhich he had not intended! But it seems to
\nme the last word in human nature. Only the lying is sometimes intentional, sometimes
\nvaguely half-intentional, sometimes quite unintentional, momentary and
\nunconscious. So there you are!…<\/span><\/p>\n

Of
\ncourse you are right about the lies \u2014 these are of all sorts \u2014 and also about
\nall men being durācāra, \u2014<\/i>
\nonly some are virtuous durācāras,<\/i>
\nsome sinful ones and some a mixed lot! I
\ndon’t mean to deny that there are Harischandras
\nand Shukadevas here and there but. one has to take a microscope or a telescope to
\nfind them.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nI.C.S. PAPERS<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ: <\/b>Do you think your I.C.S. examination answer papers of 1892 have been preserved
\nby the authorities ? I was thinking of
\ngetting them if possible, in order to preserve them as a relic with us. Perhaps
\nthey do not give them out or they might have disposed of them.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> Not likely that they keep such things.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-5-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTASTE OF MAHRATTA
\nCOOKERY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope your
\ndinner at Dewas did not turn out like my
\nfirst taste of Mahratta cookery \u2014 when for
\nsome reason my dinner was non<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 351<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

est<\/span><\/i> and somebody went to my
\nneighbour, a Mahratta Professor, for food. I
\ntook one mouthful and only one. O God! Sudden fire in the mouth could not have
\nbeen more surprising. Enough to bring down the whole of <\/span>London<\/span> in one wild
\nagonising swoop of flame!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCHARM OF <\/font> <\/span><\/b>
\nKASHMIR<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quite agree with
\nyour estimate of <\/span>Kashmir<\/span>. The charm of its mountains and rivers and the ideal life dawdling
\nalong in the midst of a supreme beauty in the slowly moving leisure of a
\nhouseboat \u2014 that was a kind of earthly <\/span>Paradise<\/span> \u2014 also writing poetry on the banks of the <\/span>Jhelum<\/span> where it rushes down <\/span>Kashmir<\/span> towards the plains. Unfortunately there was the over-industrious Gaekwar to cut short the <\/span>Paradise<\/span>! His idea of <\/span>Paradise<\/span> was going through
\nadministrative papers and making myself and others write speeches for which he
\ngot all the credit. But after all, according to the nature, to each one his <\/span>Eden<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n7-11-1938<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE GAEKWAR<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I knew him
\nthe Gaekwar was a free-thinker without any religion;
\nI don’t know if he has altered his views since. Formally, he is of course a
\nHindu.<\/span><\/p>\n

7-7-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\n          THE AGE OF SWAMI BRAHMANANDA<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no
\nincontrovertible proof. 400 years is an exaggeration. It is known however that
\nhe lived on the banks of the <\/span>Narmada<\/span> for 80 years and when he arrived there, he
\nwas already in appearance at the age when maturity turns toward overripeness. He was when I met him just before
\nhis death a man of magnificent physique showing no signs of old age except
\nwhite beard and hair,<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 352<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

extremely tall, robust, able to walk any
\nnumber of miles a day and tiring out his younger disciples, walking too so
\nswiftly that they tended to fall behind, a great head and magnificent face that
\nseemed to belong to men of more ancient times. He never spoke of his age or of
\nhis past either except for an occasional almost accidental utterance. One of
\nthese was spoken to a disciple of his well known to me, a Baroda Sardar, Mazumdar (it was on the top storey of his house by
\nthe way that I sat with Lele in Jan. 1909
\nand had a decisive experience of liberation and Nirvana). Mazumdar learned that
\nhe was suffering from a bad tooth and brought him a bottle of Floriline, a toothwash
\nthen much in vogue. The Yogi refused saying, "I never use medicines. My
\none medicine is <\/span>Narmada<\/span> water. As for the tooth I have suffered from it since the days of Bhao Girdi." Bhao Girdi
\nwas the Maratha General Sadashiv Rao
\nBhao who disappeared in the Battle of Panipat1<\/sup>
\nand his body was never found. Many formed the conclusion that Brahmananda was himself Bhao Girdi, but this was
\nan imagination. Nobody who knew Brahmananda would doubt any statement of his \u2014
\nhe was a man of perfect simplicity and truthfulness and did not seek fame or to
\nimpose himself. When he died he was still in full strength and his death came
\nnot by decay but by the accident of blood-poisoning through a rusty nail that
\nentered into his foot as he walked on the sands of the <\/span>Narmada<\/span>. I had spoken to the
\nMother about him, that was why she mentioned him in her Conversations2 <\/sup><\/i>which were not meant for the public \u2014
\notherwise she might not have said anything, as the longevity of Brahmananda to
\nmore than 200 years depends only on his own casual word and is a matter of
\nfaith in his word. There is no "legal" proof of it. I may say that
\nthree at least of his disciples to my knowledge kept an extraordinary aspect
\nand energy of youth to a comparatively late or quite advanced age \u2014 but this
\nperhaps may be not uncommon among those who practise both Raja and Hatha Yoga together.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-2-1936<\/span><\/p>\n


\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup> 14.1.1761.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n2<\/font><\/span><\/sup> See July 1971 Edition, p,
\n103.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 353<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nSISTER NIVEDITA
\nAND SISTER CHRISTINE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I knew very well
\nSister Nivedita (she was for many years a
\nfriend and a comrade in the political field) and met Sister Christine, \u2014 the
\ntwo closest European disciples of Vivekananda.
\nBoth were Westerners to the core and had nothing
\nat all of the Hindu outlook; although Sister Nivedita, an Irish woman, had the
\npower of penetrating by an intense sympathy into the ways of life of the people
\naround her, her own nature remained non-oriental to the end. Yet she found no
\ndifficulty in arriving at realisation on the lines of Vedanta.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN <\/font> <\/span>
\nINDIA<\/font><\/span>"<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine may be
\ndifficult, but His difficulties can be overcome if one keeps at Him. Even my smilelessness was overcome which Nevinson had remarked with horrors more than
\ntwenty years before\u2014 "the most dangerous man in <\/span>India<\/span>",
\nAurobindo Ghosh who
\n"never smiles". He ought to have added:
\n"but who always jokes" \u2014 but he did not know that, as I was very
\nsolemn with him, or perhaps I had not developed sufficiently on that side then.
\nAnyhow, if you could overcome that \u2014<\/i> my smilelessness \u2014 you are bound to
\novercome all the other difficulties also.<\/span><\/p>\n

11-2-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAUSTERE AND GRAND !<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> The 0vermind seems so distant from us, and your Himalayan austerity and grandeur takes my breath
\naway, making my heart palpitate!<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA: <\/font> <\/b>
\nO <\/b>rubbish! I am austere and
\ngrand, grim and stern! every blasted thing I never was!
\nI groan in an un-Aurobindian despair when I
\nhear such things. What has happened to the common sense of all of you people ? In order to reach the Overmind
\nit is not at all necessary to take leave of this simple but useful quality.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 354<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Common sense by
\nthe way is not logic (which is the least commonsense-like
\nthing in the world), it is simply looking at things as they are without
\ninflation or deflation \u2014 not imagining wild imaginations \u2014 or for that matter
\ndespairing "I know not why" despairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

23-2-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPAIN AND PHYSICAL<\/font><\/span><\/b> ANANDA<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for Divine
\nrapture, a knock on head or foot or elsewhere can be received with the physical
\nAnanda of pain or pain and Ananda or pure physical Ananda \u2014 for I have often,
\nquite involuntarily, made the experiment myself and passed with honours. It
\nbegan by the way as far back as in Alipore
\nJail when I got bitten in my cell by some very red and ferocious-looking
\nwarrior ants and found to my surprise that pain and pleasure are conventions of
\nour senses. But I do not expect that unusual reaction from others. And I
\nsuppose there are limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

13-2-1932<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPRAYER, NOT A MACHINERY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for prayer, no
\nhard and fast rule can be laid down. Some prayers are answered, all are not. An
\nexample? The eldest daughter of my Mesho, K. K. Mitra, editor of Sanjibani,<\/i>
\nnot by any means a romantic, occult, supraphysical
\nor even imaginative person, was abandoned by the doctors after using every resource,
\nall medicines stopped as useless. The father said "There is only God now,
\nlet us pray". He did, and from that moment the girl began to recover,
\ntyphoid fever and all its symptoms fled, death also. I know any number of cases
\nlike that. Well ? You may ask why should not
\nthen all prayers be answered ? But why
\nshould they be ? It is not a machinery \u2014 put
\na prayer in the slot and get your asking. Besides, considering all the
\ncontradictory things mankind is praying for at the same moment. God would<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 355<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nbe in a
\nrather awkward hole, if he had to grant all of them \u2014 it wouldn’t do.<\/span><\/p>\n

7-10-1936<\/span><\/p>\n


\nGURUGIRI<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X’s objection to Grace would be valid if the religionists mattered, but in spiritual things
\nthey don’t. Their action naturally is to make a formula and dry shell of
\neverything, not Grace alone. Even "Awake, Arise, Arise" leads to the
\nswelled head or the formula\u2014can’t be avoided when Mr. Everyman deals with
\nthings divine. I had the same kind of violent objection to Gurugiri, but you see I was obliged by the irony
\nof things or rather by the inexorable truth behind them to become a Guru and
\npreach the Guruvada. Such is Fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

16-1-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSHIVA TEMPERAMENT<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have no special
\nliking for the ideal of Shiva, though something of the Shiva temperament must
\nnecessarily be present. I never had any turn for rejection of the money power
\nnor any attachment to it. One has to rise above these things; but it is precisely when one has risen above
\nthat one can more easily command them.<\/span><\/p>\n

15-1-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTRUE ASCETICISM<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It depends on
\nwhat is meant by asceticism. I have no desires but I don’t lead outwardly an
\nascetic life, only a secluded one. According to the Gita,
\ntyāga<\/i> the inner freedom from
\ndesire and attachment, is the true asceticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-7-1937<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 356<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

POVERTY<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poverty has never had any terrors for me
\nnor is it an incentive. You seem to forget that I left my very safe and
\n"handsome" <\/span>Baroda<\/span>
\nposition without any need to it, and that I gave up also the Rs. 150 of the National College Principalship, leaving myself with nothing to
\nlive on. I could not have done that if money had been an incentive.<\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nyou don’t realise that starting and carrying on for ten years and more a
\nrevolutionary movement for independence in a country wholly unprepared for it
\nis not living dangerously, no amount of puncturing of your skull with words
\nwill give you that simple perception. And as to the Yoga, you yourself were
\nperorating at the top of your voice about its awful, horrible, pathetic and
\ntragic dangers. So\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSOCIETY MANNERS AND SPIRITUAL LIFE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But when on earth were, politeness and good society manners considered
\nas a part or a test of spiritual experience or true Yogic Siddhi? It is no more a test than the
\ncapacity of dancing well or dressing nicely. Just as there are very good and
\nkind men who are boorish and rude in their manners, so there may be very
\nspiritual men (I mean here by spiritual men those who have had deep spiritual
\nexperiences) who have no grasp over physical life of action (many intellectuals
\ntoo, by the way, are like that) and are not at all careful about their manners.
\nI suppose I myself am accused for rude and arrogant behaviour because I refuse
\nto see people, do not answer letters, and a host of other misdemeanours. I
\nhave heard of a famous recluse who threw stones at anybody coming to his
\nretreat because he did not want disciples and found no other way of warding off
\nthe flood of candidates. I, at least, would hesitate to pronounce that such
\npeople had no spiritual life or experience. Certainly, I prefer that Sadhaks should be reasonably considerate towards
\neach other, but that is for the rule of collective life and harmony, not as a
\nSiddhi of the Yoga or an indispensable sign of inner experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

December, 1935<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 357<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nYOGIC<\/font><\/span><\/b> PEACE AND SATTWIC
\nTEMPERAMENT<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> People of sattwic
\ntemperament in ordinary life behave practically in the same manner as the Sadhaks who realise spiritual peace as a result of
\nYoga. Can it be said that in the sattwic people the peace descends but in a hidden
\nmanner, or is it due to their past lives that they have the sattwic
\ntemperament?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: <\/b>Of course they have gained their power to live
\nin the mind by a past evolution. But the spiritual peace is something other and
\ninfinitely more than the mental peace and its results are different, not merely
\nclear thinking or some control or balance or a sattwic state. But its greater
\nresults can only be fully and permanently manifest when it lasts long enough
\nin the system or when one feels spread out in it above the head and on every
\nside stretching towards infinity as well as penetrated by it down to the very
\ncells. Then it carries with it the deep and vast and solid tranquillity that
\nnothing can shake \u2014 even if on the surface there is storm and battle. I was
\nmyself of the sattwic type you describe in my youth, but when the peace from
\nabove came down, that was quite different. Sattvagun<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>a<\/span><\/i> disappeared into
\nnirgun<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>a<\/span><\/i> and negative nirgun<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>a<\/span><\/i> into positive traigun<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>yātīta.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

22-7-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTRAINING FOR PHYSICAL
\nWORK<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a
\nquestion of liking but of capacity \u2014 though usually (not always) liking goes
\nwith the capacity. But capacity can be developed and liking can be developed or
\nrather the rasa<\/i> you speak of. One
\ncannot be said to be in the full Yogic
\ncondition \u2014 for the purposes of this Yoga \u2014 if one cannot take up with
\nwillingness any work given to one as an offering to the Divine. At one time I
\nwas absolutely unfit for any physical work and cared only for the mental, but I
\ntrained myself in doing physical things with care and perfection so as to
\novercome this glaring defect in my being and make the bodily instrument apt and<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 358<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

conscious. It was the same with some others
\nhere. A nature not trained to accept external work and activity becomes
\nmentally top-heavy \u2014 physically inert and obscure. It is only if one is
\ndisabled or too physically weak that physical work can be put aside altogether.
\nI am speaking of course from the point of view of the ideal \u2014 the rest depends
\nupon the nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

As
\nfor the deity presiding over the control of servants, godown
\nwork as well as over poetry or painting, it is always the same\u2014the Shakti, the Mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

11-12-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nGENIUS FOR LOLLING<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for your pious
\ndesire to loll a little now after your bout of stupendous work, well, there is
\nno how<\/i> about it: one just lolls if
\none has the genius for it. I have, though opportunities are now lacking for
\nshowing my genius. But it can’t be taught nor any process invented: it is just a
\ngift of Nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSEEING UNKNOWN PEOPLE BY INNER VISION<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, of course, I
\nremember about X \u2014 I can’t say I remember
\nhim because I never saw him, at least in the flesh. What he probably means by
\nthe Supramental is the Above Mind \u2014 what I
\nnow call Illumined Mind – Intuition – Overmind.
\nI used to make that confusion myself at the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nis not enough to go upon to say whether he really sees the Mother or an image
\nof her as reflected in his own mind. But there is nothing extraordinary, much
\nless improbable in seeing a person whom one has never seen \u2014 you are thinking
\nas if the inner mind and sense, the inner vision, were limited by the outer
\nmind and sense, the outer vision, or were mere reflection of that. There would
\nbe not much use in an inner mind and sense and vision if they were only that
\nand nothing more. This faculty is one of the elementary powers of the inner
\nsense and inner seeing, and not only Yogins
\nhave it, but the ordinary clairvoyants,<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 359<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

crystal-gazers, etc. The latter can see
\npeople they never saw or heard of before, doing certain precise things in
\ncertain very precise surroundings, and every detail of the vision is confirmed
\nafterwards by the persons seen \u2014 there are many striking and indubitable cases
\nof that kind. The Mother is always seeing people whom she does not know; some
\nafterwards come here or their photographs come here. I myself have these
\nvisions, only I don’t usually try to remember or verify them. But there were
\ntwo curious instances which were among the first of this kind and which
\ntherefore I remember. Once I was trying to see a recently elected deputy here
\nand saw someone quite different from him, someone who afterwards came here as
\nGovernor. I ought never to have met him in the ordinary course, but a curious
\nmistake happened and as a result I went and saw him in his bureau and at once
\nrecognised him. The other was a certain Y
\nwhom I had to meet, but I saw him not as he was when he actually came, but as
\nhe became after a year’s residence in my house. He became the very image of
\nthat vision, a face close-cropped, rough, rude, energetic, the very opposite of the dreamy smooth-faced
\nenthusiastic Vaishnava who came to me. So
\nthat was the vision of a man I had never seen, but as he was to be in the
\nfuture \u2014 a prophetic vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n24-10-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE SWAYING SENSATION<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ: I<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> was standing on the
\nscaffolding [on the wall] which was swinging
\nto and fro. Once I saw the walls nearby swinging like a pendulum. I understood the
\nreason, but the sight of swinging walls was so vivid that I put my hand on the
\nwall nearby to be convinced that it was not moving\u2014yet the "eye-mind" refused to accept the evidence of the
\n"touch-mind"!<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b>
\nBut what was it due to ? The sense of
\nswinging of the scaffolding communicating itself to the walls as it were in
\nthe impression upon some brain centre? After travelling long in a boat I had<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 360<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

once or twice the swaying sense of it after
\ncoming off it, as if the land about me was
\ntossing like the boat \u2014 of course a subtle physical impression, but vivid
\nenough.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-4-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTHINKING FROM OUTSIDE THE
\nBODY<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/b> Owing to much reading I feel a
\nstrain and dryness in the head and find it difficult to sleep. But while reading and
\nremembering I feel as if the process goes on somewhere in the chest and not in
\nthe head and yet the strain is felt in the head. Why is this so ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> The chest action is rather curious, because it
\nis the vital mind that is there and the Romans always spoke of the mind as if
\nit were in the heart. But memory and reading would rather be in the physical
\nmind. But anyhow the brain is a conveying instrument for all these activities
\nand can feel the strain if there is any. The best relief for the brain is when
\nthe thinking takes place outside the body and above the head (or in space or
\nat other levels but still outside the body). At any rate it was so in my case;
\nfor as soon as that happened there was an immense relief; I have felt body
\nstrain since then but never any kind of brain-fatigue. I have heard the same
\nthing from others.<\/span><\/p>\n

19-12-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA HINT<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/b> I concentrate so much
\non reading that no room is left for Sadhana-thinking
\nwith the result that as soon as I come out of that concentration anything can
\nenter in my mind. Is this not an undesirable practice from the point of view of
\ndiscipline in Sadhana ?<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b>
\nI should say… that if you could divide
\nyour attention between the reading and Sadhana thought and concentration move,
\nit<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 361<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

might
\nbe better from the point of view you mention. I mean that <\/span>
\nthere should be
\nsufficient concentration to create in your mind a Sadhana
\natmosphere which you can bring up to the surface as soon as you leave reading or
\nwhenever it is needed to set right an invading movement. Otherwise the subconscient forces have free play and gain power.
\nBesides the condition becomes sub\u00adconscient, i.e. inert and like a drift. At
\nleast that is what I have seen recently in my dealings with my own
\nsubconscient, so I pass on the hint to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

27-5-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nSUBCONSCIENT DREAMS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> I do not find any
\nchange in the character of my dreams as yet \u2014 I get the usual kind of dreams
\nabout home-life, eating, meeting strange
\npeople, moving about, etc. Why has there been no change in this respect in
\nspite of my three years of Sadhana here ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Dreams of this kind can last for years and years
\nafter the waking consciousness has ceased to interest itself in things of that
\nkind. The subconscient is exceedingly obstinate in the keeping of its old
\nimpressions. I find myself even recently having a dream of revolutionary
\nactivities or another in which the Maharaja of Baroda
\nbutted in, people and things I have not even thought of passingly for the last
\ntwenty years almost. I suppose it is because the very business of the
\nsubconscient in the human psychology is to keep all the past inside it and,
\nbeing without conscious mentality, it clings to its office until the light has
\nfully come down into it, illumining even its corners and crevices.<\/span><\/p>\n

17-12-1934<\/span><\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> For the last few days I
\nam having frequent dreams of eating. Does it indicate greed for food or a need
\nin the body or is it a sign of coming illness as they believe in the villages?<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 362<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

A:<\/b> I
\ndon’t think so \u2014 it is probably old impressions from the subconscient material (not vital\u2014therefore a
\nmemory rather than desire) rising up in sleep. I remember a time when I was
\nalways seeing dishes of food even though I did not care a hang about food at
\nthat time.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-4-1934<\/span><\/p>\n


\nDIFFERENT PERSONALITIES<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ: <\/font><\/b>I am still not able to
\nmaintain the right attitude in my own Sadhana
\nand yet I give advice to others in their difficulties.
\nIs this not hypocrisy and insincerity ?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Well, one can give good advice even when one
\ndoes not follow it oneself\u2014there is the old adage "Do what I preach and
\nnot what I practise." More seriously, there are different personalities in oneself and the one that is eager to
\nadvise and help may be quite sincere. I remember in days long past when I still
\nhad personal struggles and difficulties, people came to me from outside for
\nadvice etc. when I was in a black depression and could not see my way out of a
\nsense of hopelessness and failure, yet nothing of that came out and I spoke
\nwith an assured conviction. Was that insincerity ?
\nI think not, \u2014 the one who spoke in me was quite sure of what he spoke. The
\nturning of all oneself to the Divine is not an easy matter and one must not be
\ndiscouraged if it takes time and other movements still intervene. One must
\nnote, rectify and go on \u2014 anirvin<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>n<\/span>̣<\/span>acetasā<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

24-2-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\nHUMAN RESPONSIBILITY<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My experience
\nshows me that human beings are much less deliberate and responsible for their
\nacts than the moralists, novelists and dramatists make them, and I look rather
\nto see what forces drove them than what the man himself may have seemed by inference
\nto have intended or purposed \u2014 our inferences are often<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 363<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

wrong
\nand even when they are right touch only the surface of the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

22-6-1934<\/span><\/p>\n


\nHOROSCOPES AND ASTROLOGY<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI can’t say anything about <\/b> the horoscope, as <\/b>
\nI have
\nforgotten the little astrology I knew.<\/span><\/p>\n

14-9-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

Astrologers tell
\nall sorts of things that don’t come true. According to one I was to have died
\nlast year, according to another I was to have gone out from Pondicherry in March or May last year and wandered
\nabout India with my disciples till I disap\u00adpeared in a river (in a ferry). Even
\nif the prediction were accurate according to the horoscope it need not fulfil
\nitself, because by entering the spiritual life one opens to a new force which
\ncan change one’s destiny.<\/span><\/p>\n

22-8-1937 <\/span><\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> X told me that today [April 4, 1936} is the
\nbirthday of <\/span><\/i>Pondicherry<\/span><\/i> because you came here on this date. If one can place oneself in the
\nyear 2036 A.D. he may find that 4th April is
\ncelebrated as the birthday of the earth’s
\nspiritual life. Perhaps the horoscope of the earth may show this more
\naccurately; but is there a horoscope of the earth as there are horoscopes of
\nsome \u2022villages ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> <\/span>Pondicherry<\/span> was born long ago \u2014 but if X means the rebirth, it may be, for it
\nwas absolutely dead when I came. I don’t know that there is a horoscope of the
\nEarth. There was nobody present to note the year, day, hour, minute when she
\ncame into existence. But some astrologer could take the position of the stars
\nat the moment when I got out of the boat and build up the terrestrial<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 364<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

consequences upon that perhaps!
\nUnfortunately he would probably get everything wrong, like the astrologer who
\npredicted that I would leave <\/span>Pondicherry<\/span> in March 1936 and wander about <\/span>India<\/span>
\ntill 1948 and then disappear while bathing in a river among my disciples. I
\nbelieve he predicted it on the strength of Bhrigu
\nSamhita \u2014 the old dodge; but I am not sure. Long ago I had a
\nsplendiferous Mussolinic-Napoleonic
\nprediction of my future made to me on the strength of the same old mythological
\nBhrigu. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n4-5-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE OLD AND THE NEW BUILDINGS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Some people here
\nare very glad to know that I was preparing the roof of the house by adopting
\nthe old method used by forefathers for generations. In this case old may be
\ngood but to some people all old is gold. Perhaps they would be happy if the new
\nEuropean systems of medicine like homeopathy and naturopathy
\nare rejected and the old Ayurveda only
\nallowed. But I wonder they cannot see how superior are reinforced concrete buildings
\nand roads to old methods \u2014 and for earthquakes, would the Ayurvedic buildings stand the shocks ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Well, if it is done really according to old
\nmethods, an Ayurvedic building can stand many earthquakes. I remember at the
\ntime of the <\/span>Bengal<\/span> earthquake all the new buildings in the place where the Provincial
\nConference was held went down but an old house of the Raja of the place was the
\nsole thing that survived unmoved and unshaken. Also when the Guest House roof
\nwas being repaired, (it was an old building) the mason (one of the most skilful
\nwe have met) said that this roof had been built in a way that astonished him,
\nit was so solid and strong, no houses now were being built like that. So
\nperhaps it is not Ayurveda, but the degenerate ways of the descendants of Charaka that is responsible for the poor and bad
\nbuilding we see around us. I have also seen a remark by an English architect in
\n<\/span>Madras<\/span> that it was surprising to see how old ramshackle buildings survived<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 365<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nand stood all shocks while others built in
\nthe most scientific modern way "sat down" unexpectedly. The really
\nold things whether in <\/span>India<\/span> or <\/span>Europe<\/span> were always solid; shoddy I think began in between \u2014 before the
\ndiscovery of concrete. We have to leave the old things but progress to equally
\nor more solid new things.<\/span><\/p>\n

29-3-1937<\/span><\/p>\n


\nLEARNING FRENCH<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> It seems most people who
\nwant to learn French read more than they assimilate. They read rapidly lots of
\nFrench stories, novels, dramas, and as a result they hardly assimilate the
\nidioms, phrases, grammatical peculiarities, etc. I think one ought to read a
\nbook three to four times. Rapid reading of French books creates an illusion
\nthat one understands all that one reads.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: <\/b>
\nI suppose most learn only to be able to read French books, not to
\nknow the language well…. It is not many who know French accurately and
\nidiomatically…. I don’t think many people
\nwould consent to make a principle of reading each book 3 or 4 times in the way
\nyou advocate, for very few have the scholarly mind \u2014 but two or three books
\nshould be so read. I learnt Sanskrit by reading the Naladamayanti
\nepisode in the Mahabharata like that with
\nminute care several times.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-3-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSPIRITUAL LIFE AND OUTWARD UTILITY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> What is the need for so
\nmany here to learn French ? Are you
\npreparing them for giving lectures or opening centres in <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nFrance<\/font><\/span><\/i> or French-knowing
\ncountries?<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b>
\nAre life and mind to be governed only by material utility <\/b>or <\/b>outward
\npracticality? Spiritual life would then be inferior even<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 366<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

to ordinary mental life where people learn
\nfor the sake of acquiring knowledge arid culturing
\nthe mind and not only for the sake of some outward utility.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-3-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDISADVANTAGE OF FAMILIARITY<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/font><\/b> Is it
\ntrue that the deep significance of mantras like "<\/font><\/span>Om<\/span><\/font> Sānti"
\nand words like "paix" (peace in
\nFrench) is lost because of too much familiarity ?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Yes, it must
\nbe the familiarity\u2014for I remember when I first read the Om Shanti Shanti Shanti of the Upanishads
\nit had a powerful effect on me. In French it
\ndepends on the form or the way in which it is put.<\/span><\/p>\n

14-2-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRECORD IN BOOK-PRODUCTION<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> X
\ntold me that Y has translated a novel in
\nEnglish half of which is corrected by you; this practically means that X makes
\nyou translate somebody’s novel instead of
\nhimself translating "Arya" which
\nwould be more reasonable. What ordeals for you to pass through! Perhaps the
\nperson who remarked in a London paper that you had written five hundred books
\nwas not quite wrong; by this time your letters to Sadhaks
\nwould make three or four books for each of them and if to these are added your
\npoems, translations and other writings the total would not be less than five
\nhundred.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b> The idea of Y translating Arya<\/i> makes the hair stand on end! It would be
\nmuch easier for me to write five hundred books. Perhaps I have done so \u2014 if all
\nI have scribbled is to be taken into account against me. But most of it will
\nnot see the light of day \u2014<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 367<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nat least
\nof public day; I may still escape establishing the record in book-production.<\/span><\/p>\n

3-2-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTHE "ARYA"<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> It is said that the
\n"Arya" began on the day the World War
\nbroke out or just before it. Has this not some significance? Was it not a kind
\nof parallel movement?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> The Arya<\/i> was decided on the 1st June [1914] and it
\nwas agreed that it would start on the 15th August. The war inter\u00advened on the
\n4th. "Parallelism" of dates if you like, but it was not very close
\nand certainly nothing came down at that
\ntime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n9-9-1935 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Arya<\/i> was, in fact, a financial
\nsuccess. It paid its way with a large surplus.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

…
\n"global" also has established itself and it is too useful and indeed
\nindispensable to reject; there is no other word that can express exactly the
\nsame shade of meaning. I heard it first from X
\nwho described the language of Arya<\/i> as expressing a glo\u00adbal thinking and
\nI at once caught it up as the right and only word for certain things, for
\ninstance, the thinking in masses which is a frequent characteristic of the Overmind.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-4-1947<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"THE SYNTHESIS OF YOGA"<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Synthesis
\nof Yoga<\/span><\/i> was not meant to give a method for all to
\nfollow. Each side of the Yoga was dealt with separately with all its
\npossibilities, and an indication as to how they meet so that<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 368<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

one starting from knowledge could realise
\nKarma and Bhakti also and so with each path.
\nIt was intended when the Self-Per-fection1<\/sup>
\nwas finished, to suggest a way in which all could be combined, but this was
\nnever written. The Mother<\/i> and the Lights <\/i>were not intended to be
\na systematic treatment of the Sadhana as a
\nwhole; they only touch on various elements in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

18-5-1936
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt the time when the last chapters of
\nThe Synthesis of Yoga<\/i> were written in the Arya,<\/i>
\nthe name "Overmind" had not been
\nfound, so there is no mention of it. What is described in those chapters is the
\naction of the Supermind when it descends
\ninto the Overmind plane and takes up the Overmind workings and transforms them.
\nThe highest Supermind or Divine gnosis
\nexistent in itself, is something that lies beyond still and quite above. It
\nwas intended in latter chapters to show how difficult even this was and how many
\nlevels there were between the human mind and Supermind and how even Supermind
\ndescending could get mixed with the lower action and turned into something that
\nwas less than the true Truth. But these latter chapters were not written.<\/span><\/p>\n

13-4-1932<\/span><\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span> In the "Arya"
\nthere is no mention of the Overmind. You have mentioned the supramental or Divine Reason in the gradations of
\nthe Supermind, but from its description it is quite different from the Overmind.
\nWhy was the Overmind not mentioned and clearly distinguished from the Supermind
\nin the "Arya" ?<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b>
\nThe distinction has not been made in the Arya<\/i> because at that time what I
\nnow call the Overmind was supposed to be an infe\u00adrior plane of the Supermind.
\nBut that was because I was seeing them from the Mind. The true defect of
\nOvermind, the limita\u00adtion in it which gave rise to a world of Ignorance is seen
\nfully only when one looks at it from the physical consciousness, from the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup>
\n"The Yoga of Self-Perfection", <\/span>The Synthesis of Yoga,<\/span><\/font> Part Four.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 369<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

result (Ignorance in Matter) to the cause (Overmind division of the Truth). In its own plane
\nOvermind seems to be only a divided, many-sided play of the Truth, so can
\neasily be taken by the Mind as a supramental
\nprovince. Mind also when flooded by the Overmind lights feels itself living in
\na surprising revelation of Divine Truth. The difficulty comes when we deal with
\nthe vital and still more with the physical. Then it becomes imperative to face
\nthe difficulty and to make a sharp distinction between Overmind and Supermind \u2014 for it then becomes evident that the
\nOvermind Power (in spite of its lights and splendours) is not sufficient to
\novercome the Ignorance because it is itself under the law of Division out of
\nwhich came the Ignorance. One has to pass beyond and supramentalise
\nOvermind so that mind and all the rest may undergo the final change.<\/span><\/p>\n

20-11-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> What, about the
\npublication of the "Synthesis’" ? They
\nare all asking me about it. So many are eager that it should see the light, fed
\nup as we all are with the analysis of the universe through science of mind and
\nignorance of life, what?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> I hope you are not referring to the whole
\ncolossal mass of The Synthesis of Yoga, \u2014<\/i> though that too may<\/i> be
\nready for publication before the next world-war (?) or after the beginning of
\nthe Satyayuga (New World Order?). If you mean the "Yoga of Works", I
\nam writing or trying to write four or five additional chapters for it. I hope
\nthey will be ready in a reasonable time; but my daily time is
\nshort and chapters are long. In the absence of exact prophetic power, that is
\nall I can say.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-3-1944<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"ESSAYS ON THE GITA"<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> I had read your "Essays on the Gita"
\nthrice before,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 370<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

still when I
\nstarted reading it again recently I found that there were so many ideas in it which I had missed before. I think if I read it
\nover and over again I would find newer and newer ideas every time.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> That is a common experience \u2014 most books with
\nany profundity of knowledge in them have that effect. Almost all spiri\u00adtual
\nproblems have been briefly but deeply dealt with in the Gita and I have tried to bring out all that fully in the Essays.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\n1-11-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n"THE FUTURE POETRY"<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was not the
\nintention to make a long review of Cousins’ book in The Future Poetry,<\/i> that
\nwas only a starting-point; the rest was drawn from Sri Aurobindo’s
\nown ideas and his already conceived view of Art and life.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n"THE MOTHER"<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother<\/span><\/i> had not the same origin as the other books mentioned.1<\/sup> The main part of this book
\ndescribing the four Shaktis, etc., was
\nwritten independently and not as a letter, so also the first part.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> I sent you a review
\nof "The Mother"
\na few days back. Have you seen it ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Yes. I think
\nit will give the reader the impression that The Mother<\/i> is a
\nphilosophical or practical exposition of Yoga \u2014 while its atmosphere is really
\nnot that at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-3-1937<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup> <\/span><\/font>
\nLights on Yoga,
\nBases of Yoga, The Riddle of This World.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 371<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nLAST
\nWORD IN HUMAN NATURE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n
\nEARLY
\nPOLITICAL VIEWS AND CURRENT PROBLEMS<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b>
\nHave you seen my review of "The Ideal of the Karmayogin\u201d?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> Yes, I have seen it, but I don’t think it can be published in its
\npresent form as it prolongs the political Aurobindo of that time into the Sri
\nAurobindo of the present time. You even assert that I have
\n"thoroughly" revised the book and these articles are an index of my
\nlatest views on the burning problems of the day and there has been no change in
\nmy views in 27 years (which would surely be proof of a rather unprogressive
\nmind). How do you get all that? My spiritual consciousness and knowledge at
\nthat time was as nothing to what it is now \u2014 how would the change leave my view
\nof politics and life unmodified altogether? There has been no such thorough
\nrevision; I have left the book as it is, because it would be useless to modify
\nwhat was written so long ago \u2014 the same as with The Yoga and its Objects.<\/i>
\nAnyway the review would almost amount to a proclamation of my present political
\nviews \u2014 while on the contrary I have been careful to pronounce nothing \u2014 no
\nviews whatever on political questions for the last I don’t know how many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

21-4-1937<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n"THE
\nYOGA AND ITS OBJECTS"<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe book represents an early stage of Sri Aurobindo’s Sadhana and only a
\npart of it is applicable to the Yoga as it has at present taken form after a
\nlapse of more than twenty years.<\/span><\/p>\n

28-10-1934<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n"YOGIC
\nSADHAN"<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYour friend
\nwrites about my disapproval of Vairagya in Yogic Sadhan.<\/i> But Yogic Sadhan<\/i>
\nis not<\/i> my composition, nor its con\u00adtents the essence of my Yoga,
\nwhatever the publishers may<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 372<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\npersist in saying in their lying
\nblurb, in spite of protests.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-5-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Yogi from the North (Uttara Yogi) was my own name given to me
\nbecause of a prediction made long ago by a famous Tamil Yogi, that thirty years
\nlater (agreeing with the time of my arrival) a Yogi from the North would come
\nas a fugitive to the South and practise there an integral Yoga (Poorna Yoga),
\nand this would be one sign of the approaching liberty of India. He gave three
\nutterances as the mark by which this Yogi could be recognised and all these
\nwere found in the letters to my wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Yogic Sadhan<\/i> it was not I exactly
\nwho wrote it, though it is true that I am not a Mayavadin.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n
\nA.G.<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not use
\nthe initials A.G.<\/b> \u2014 They have been discarded long ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

14-9-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n"SRI
\nAUROBINDO<\/font><\/span><\/b> PRASANGE"<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is not about <\/span>Baroda<\/span> nor my own writing \u2014 it is some
\nconversations, I do not know how far correctly reported, by a young man who
\ncame from Chandernagore here for a short time. I don’t know if it is of any
\nvalue. It belongs to the long ago and things have changed much since then.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-1-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\nPHILOSOPHY
\nWITHOUT LOGICAL ARGUMENT<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> One thing more I would like to ask you about
\nlogic. You wrote to X that though people call you a philosopher you have never
\nlearnt philosophy. Well, what you have<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 373<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

written in the "Arya" is so
\nphilosophical that the greatest philosopher of the world can never expect to
\nwrite it. I don’t mean here the bringing down of the new Truth, but the power
\nof expression, the art of reasoning and arguing with intellect and logic.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> There is very little argument in my philosophy \u2014 the elaborate
\nmetaphysical reasoning full of abstract words with which the metaphysician
\ntries to establish his conclusions is not there. What is there is a harmonising
\nof the different parts of a many-sided knowledge so that all unites logically
\ntogether. But it is not by force of logical argument that it is done, but by a
\nclear vision of the relations and sequences of the Knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-11-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWRITING PHILOSOPHY
\n\u2014 FAME AND PROPAGANDA<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nLook here! Do these people expect me to turn myself again into a machine
\nfor producing articles? The times of the Bande Mataram<\/i> and Arya<\/i>
\nare over, thank God! I have now only the Ashram correspondence and that is
\n"overwhelming" enough in all conscience without starting philosophy
\nfor standard books and the rest of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nphilosophy! Let me tell you in confidence that I never, never, never was a
\nphilosopher \u2014 although I have written philosophy which is another story
\naltogether. I knew precious little about philosophy before I did the Yoga and
\ncame to <\/span>Pondicherry<\/span> \u2014I was a poet and a politician, not a
\nphilosopher. How I managed to do it and why? First, because X proposed to me to
\nco-operate in a philosophical review \u2014 and as my theory was that a Yogi ought
\nto be able to turn his hand to anything, I could not very well refuse; and then
\nhe had to go to the war and left me in the lurch with sixty-four pages a month
\nof philosophy all to write by my lonely self. Secondly, because I had only to
\nwrite down in the terms of the intellect all that I had observed and come to
\nknow in practising Yoga daily and the philosophy was there automatically. But
\nthat is not being a philosopher!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 374<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I don’t
\nknow how to excuse myself to Y \u2014 for I can’t say all that to him. Perhaps you
\ncan find a formula for me? Perhaps:<\/span>
\n"so
\noccupied, not a moment for any other work, can’t undertake because he might not
\nbe able to carry out his promise". What do you say?<\/span><\/p>\n

4-9-1934 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs to Y, I don’t care whether he is right or wrong in his eagerness to
\nget the blessed contribution from me. But the first fact is that it is quite
\nimpossible for me to write philosophy to order. If something comes to me of
\nitself, I can write, if I have time. But I have no time. I had some thought of
\nwriting to Z pointing out that he was mistaken in his criticism of my ideas
\nabout consciousness and intuition and developing briefly what were my real
\nviews about these things. But I have never been able to do it. I might as well
\nthink of putting the moon under my arm, Hanuman-like \u2014 although in his case it
\nwas the sun \u2014 and going for a walk. The moon is not available and the walk is
\nnot possible. It would be the same if I promised anything to Y \u2014 it would not
\nget done, and that would be much worse than a refusal.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the
\nsecond fact is that I do not care a button about having my name in any blessed
\nplace. I was never ardent about fame even in my political days; I preferred to
\nremain behind the curtain, push people without their knowing it and get things
\ndone. It was the confounded British Government that spoiled my game by
\nprosecuting me and forcing me to be publicly known and a "leader".
\nThen, again, I don’t believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in
\npropaganda except for politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is
\na poison. It means either a stunt or a boom \u2014 and stunts and booms exhaust the
\nthing they carry on their crest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry
\non the shores of nowhere \u2014 or it means a movement. A movement in the case of a
\nwork like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned
\nnonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and
\ncorrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was
\ncoming down recedes into secrecy and silence. It is<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 375<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nwhat has happened to the "religions" and is the reason of
\ntheir failure. If I tolerate a little writing about myself, it is only to have
\na sufficient counter-weight in that amorphous chaos, the public mind, to
\nbalance the hostility that is always aroused by the presence of a new dynamic
\nTruth in this world of ignorance. But the utility ends there and too much
\nadvertisement would defeat that object. I am perfectly "rational", I
\nassure you, in my methods and I do not proceed merely on any personal dislike
\nof fame. If and so far as publicity serves the Truth, I am quite ready to tolerate
\nit; but I do not find publicity for its own sake desirable.<\/span><\/p>\n

This "Contemporary Philosophy",
\nBritish or Indian, looks to me very much like book-making and, though the
\n"vulgari\u00adsation" of knowledge \u2014 to use the French term \u2014 by
\nbook-making may have its use, I prefer to do solid work and leave that to
\nothers. You may say that I can write a solid thing in philosophy and let it be
\nbook-made. But even the solid tends to look shoddy in such surroundings. And,
\nbesides, my solid work at present is not philosophy but something less wordy
\nand more to the point. If that work gets done, then it will propagate itself so
\nfar as propagation is necessary \u2014 if it were not to get done, propagation
\nwould be useless.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are
\nmy reasons. However, let us wait till the book is there and see what kind of
\nstuff it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-10-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nANSWER TO A REQUEST
\nFOR MESSAGE<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> What has happened to my letter of request for
\na Message to grace the Special Number of "Mother India" of August 15?
\nI have heard nothing from you.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> I have been trying to get you informed without success about the
\nimpossibility of your getting your expected Message from me for the 15th
\nAugust. I had and have no intention of writing a Message for my birthday this
\nyear. It is psychologically impossible for me to manufacture one to command;
\nan inspiration would have to come and it is highly improbable that any will<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 376<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

come in
\nthis short space of time; I myself have no impulse towards it. But how is it
\nthat you have clean forgotten my rule of not writing any article for an outside
\npaper, magazine or journal \u2014 I mean other than those conducted from the Ashram
\nby the Ashram \u2014 and even for these I write nothing new except for the Bulletin<\/i>
\nat the Mother’s request, \u2014 also my reasons for this fixed rule ? If I started
\ndoing that kind of thing, my freedom would be gone; I would have to write at
\neverybody’s command, not only articles but blessings, replies on public
\nquestions and all the rest of that kind of conventional rubbish. I would be
\nlike any ordinary politician publishing my views on all and sundry matters,
\ndiscoursing on all sorts of subjects, a public man at the disposal of the
\npublic. That would make myself, my blessings, my views and my Messages
\nexceedingly cheap; in fact, I would no longer be Sri Aurobindo. Already the Hindusthan
\nStandard, <\/i>the Madras Mail<\/i> and I know not what other journals and
\nsocieties are demanding at the pistol’s point special messages for themselves
\nand I am supposed to stand and deliver. I won’t. I regret that I must
\ndisappoint you, but self-preservation is a first law of nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

3-8-1949<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOBJECT OF SPECIAL<\/font><\/span><\/b> ISSUES<\/font>1<\/font><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe object of such special issues is not to exhibit me to the public and
\nshow them all ends of me, i.e., to make me go through all my possible
\nperformances on a public stage. The object is to make the reading public better
\nacquainted with the nature of this Yoga and the principle of what is being done
\nin the Ashram. The private matters of the Ashram itself are not<\/i> for the
\npublic \u2014 at most only so much as the public can see. A fortiori<\/i> anything
\npersonal and private about me is also taboo. I come in only so far as it is
\nnecessary for the public to know my thought and what I stand for. You will
\nnotice that my life itself is so written as to give only the grey precise
\nsurface facts, nothing more. All propensity to make me figure in the big Barnum
\ncircus of jour<\/span>nalistic <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup> Special issues of
\nsome daily or weekly periodicals on Sri Aurobindo.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 377<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n"features" along with or in competition with Joe Zones the
\nprize-fighter, Douglas Fairbanks, H. G. Wells, King George and Queen Mary, Haile
\nSelassie, Hobbs, Hitler, Jack the Ripper (or any modern substitute of his) and
\nMussolini should be strictly banished from the mentality for evermore and the
\nday after.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-9-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTO A BIOGRAPHER<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI see that you have persisted in giving a biography \u2014 is it really
\nnecessary or useful? The attempt is bound to be a failure, because neither you
\nnor anyone else knows anything at all of my life; it has not been on the
\nsurface for men to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have
\ngiven a sort of account of my political action, but the impression it makes on
\nme and would make, I believe, on your public is that of a fiery idealist
\nrushing furiously at an impossible aim (knocking his head against a stone
\nwall, which is not a very sensible proceeding) without any grasp of realities
\nand without any intelligible political method or plan of action. The practical
\npeople of the West would hardly be well impressed by such a picture and it
\nwould make them suspect that, probably, my Yoga was a thing of the same type!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nMISUNDERSTANDING OF
\nSRI AUROBINDO’S WRITING<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPeople do not understand what I write because the mind by itself cannot
\nunderstand things that are beyond it. It constructs its own idea out of
\nsomething that it catches or that it has caught and puts that idea as the whole
\nmeaning of what has been written. Each mind puts its own ideas in place of the
\nTruth.<\/span><\/p>\n

6-6-1936 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI do not mind if you find inconsistencies in my statements. What people
\ncall consistency is usually a rigid or narrow-minded inability to see more
\nthan one side of the truth or more than their<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 378<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

own narrow personal view or experience of things. Truth has many aspects
\nand unless you look on all with a calm and equal eye, you will never have the
\nreal or the integral knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI do not believe in human judgments because I have always found them
\nfallible \u2014 also perhaps because I have myself been so blackened by human judgments
\nthat I do not care to be guided by them with regard to others. All this,
\nhowever, I write to explain my own point of view; I am not insisting on it as
\na law for others. I have never been in the habit of insisting that everybody
\nmust think as I do \u2014 any more than I insist on everybody following me and my
\nYoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

December, 1934 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf I write about these questions from the Yogic point of view, even
\nthough on a logical basis, there is bound to be much that is in conflict with
\n-the current opinions, e.g., about miracles, the limits of judgment by
\nsense-data etc. I have avoided as much as possible writing about these subjects
\nbecause I would have to propound things that cannot be understood except by
\nreference to other data than those of the physical senses or of reason founded
\non these alone. I might have to speak of laws and forces not recognised by
\nreason or physical science. In my public writings and my writings to Sadhaks I
\nhave not dealt with these because they go out of the range of ordinary
\nknowledge and the understanding founded on it. These things are known to some,
\nbut they do not usually speak about them, while the public view of much of
\nthose as are known is either credulous or incredulous, but in both cases
\nwithout experience or knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

December, 1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nSECRECY IN
\nSPIRITUAL MATTERS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:
\nWould it not sometimes be dangerous to speak truth, e.g., in politics, war,
\nrevolution? The truth-<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 379<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nspeaking moralist who would always insist on
\nnot con\u00adcealing anything may bring disaster by revealing the plans and
\nmovements of one side to the opposite side.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> Politics, war, revolution are things of stratagem and ambush \u2014 one
\ncannot expect the truth there. From what I have heard X himself has played
\ntricks and dodges there. Y told me it was impossible to lead men in politics or
\nget one’s objects without telling falsehoods by the yard and he was often
\nfeeling utterly disgusted with himself and his work, but supposed he would have
\nto go through with it to the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no
\nnecessity to reveal one’s plans and movements to those who have no business to
\nknow it, who are incapable of understanding or who would act as enemies or
\nspoil all as a result of their knowledge. Secrecy is perfectly admissible and
\nusual in spiritual matters except in special relations like that of the Shishya
\nto the Guru. We do not let people outside know what is going on in the Ashram
\nbut we do not tell any lies about it either. Most Yogis say nothing about their
\nspiritual experiences to others or not until long afterwards and secrecy was a
\ngeneral rule among the ancient Mystics. No moral or spiritual law commands us
\nto make ourselves naked to the world or open up our hearts and minds for public
\ninspection. Gandhi talked about secrecy being a sin but that is one of his many
\nextravagances.<\/span><\/p>\n

17-5-1936 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt<\/span> is not very advisable to discuss either myself or the Ashram or
\nspiritual things with hostile minds or unbelievers. These dis\u00adcussions usually bring
\non the Sadhak a stress of the opposing atmosphere and cannot be helpful to his
\nprogress. Reserve is the best attitude; one need not be concerned to dispel
\ntheir bad will or their ignorance.<\/span><\/p>\n

13-9-1932<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE ASHRAM’S PRESTIGE
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\nQueer idea all you fellows seem
\nto have of "the prestige of the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 380<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Ashram". The prestige of an institution
\nclaiming to be a centre of spirituality lies in its spirituality, not in
\nnewspaper columns or famous people.<\/span><\/p>\n

30-6-1938<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nCONFUSION OF A GOOD
\nTHINKER<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> One X has written a book in which he says
\nthat your "language^ has been responsible for creating con\u00adfusion etc. Y
\nseems to have written to him about this and got a reply that he has not been satisfied
\nwith your philosophy nor with any of your disciples whom he has seen, but that
\nhe may change his views if he gets a quarter of an hour’s talk with you. So far
\nhas he understood the "Arya" that some years back when I had asked
\nhim what was Supermind, he had replied that it was something like power of
\nclairvoyance! I had laughed in my sleeves at his being considered a good
\nthinker.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> Well, there seems evidently to be a confusion in his ideas about my
\nphilosophy though what has been responsible for creating it\u2014well, it is perhaps
\nthe goodness of his thinking! I fear the pleasure and honour of having a
\nquarter of an hour’s talk with the Yogi X is too high a thing for me to wish to
\nattain to it in this life. I must try to obtain pūn<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>ya<\/span><\/i> first and strive to be born again in order to deserve it.<\/span><\/p>\n

13-4-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nETHICS AND SADHANA<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b>
\nI am thinking of writing a book on your teachings in a systematic Western form
\nin three main sections:<\/span><\/i> (7) Metaphysics<\/i> (2) Psychology<\/i>
\n(3) Ethics. But to make it presentable in the academic fashion would require
\na large reading of some past and present Western philo\u00adsophers and
\npsychologists. And where is the time for it?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 381<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nA;<\/b> I am
\nafraid it would be a rather too colossal affair. But why ethics? I don’t think
\nthere is any ethics; because ethics depends upon fixed principles and rules of
\nconduct, whereas here any such thing can only be for Sadhana purposes as
\nconditions for getting the spiritual or higher consciousness and afterwards
\neverything is freely determined by that consciousness and its movements and
\ndictates.<\/span><\/p>\n

26-7-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nOBVIOUS THEFTS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> X in his lecture published in "The Hindu"
\nhas stolen not only most of your ideas but has actually lifted several
\nsentences<\/span><\/i> en masse.
\nIt seems he is well-known in this profession. But I wonder how such piracy
\nin philosophical literature passes unchastised. I am thinking either of
\nwriting to him deploring the theft or of informing "The Hindu".<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> I don’t think it is worth while doing anything. The thefts are
\nobvious but if he wants to add some peacock plumes to his dun colours!<\/span><\/p>\n

23-7-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPRESSURE IN THE ASHRAM
\nAND OUTSIDE HAPPENINGS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/b>
\nIf the pressure here has an effect on the outside world in some way, have
\nincidents happening here any connection with outside happenings? For example,
\nI noted that on the day X and Y went from here the Italians finally conquered
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nAbyssinia<\/font><\/span><\/i>.
\nThere is a story of an occultist in Ahmedabad (in the 16th century or so) in
\nwhich it is related that he was making and unmaking mats and accordingly the
\nwall round the city which was built during the day fell down during the night \u2014
\nthe time when he was taking away the chips of the mat.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 382<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nA:<\/b> The story
\nof the occultist contains a truth, and it would be a mistake to suppose that
\nthere is no connection between the pressure here and outside happenings. But I
\ndon’t know about particular coincidences. The departure of X and Y does not
\nseem easily relatable to the event in <\/span>Abyssinia<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

10-10-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVIVEKANANDA<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ: <\/span><\/b>
\nI am thinking of reading Vivekananda. What he
\nhas said in his lectures\u2014is it all truth, something directly inspired?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> I cannot say that it is all truth \u2014 he had his own opinions about
\ncertain things (like everybody else) which can be ques\u00adtioned. But most of what
\nhe said was of great value.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-9-1935<\/span><\/p>\n


\nQ: <\/span><\/b>
\nI wish to read books. Will you please
\ngive me some names?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> I am not sure what books would interest you and am myself so far away
\nfrom books that it is difficult to remember names. If you have not read Vivekananda’s
\nthings you can read them or any books that would give you an idea of Vedanta
\nschools and Sankhya. There is Mahendra Sircar’s "Eastern Lights". It
\nis Indian philosophy you want, I suppose.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-9-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nARISTOTLE’S DRY
\nPHILOSOPHY<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ: <\/span><\/b>
\nI tried to read Aristotle but found
\nhim very dry and abstract.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA: <\/b>I always found him exceedingly
\ndry. It is a purely mental philosophy, not like Plato’s.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 383<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n
\nW. JAMES<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

James’ book1<\/sup> is certainly a very interesting one. I read it a
\nlong time ago and do not remember it very well except that it was very
\ninteresting and not at all an ordinary book in its kind, but full of valuable
\nsuggestions.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-7-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMATERIALISTIC
\nSCIENCE AND MYSTICISM<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI am afraid I have lost all interest in these speculations; things are
\ngetting too serious for me to waste time on these inconclu\u00adsive intellctualities.
\nI do not at all mind your driving your point triumphantly home and replacing a
\ndogmatism from mate\u00adrialistic science on its throne of half a century ago from
\nwhich it could victoriously ban all thought surpassing its own narrow bounds as
\nmere wordy metaphysics and mysticism and moonshine. Obviously, if material
\nenergies alone can exist in the material world, there can be no possibility of
\na life divine on the earth. A mere metaphysical "sleight of mind", as
\none might call it, could not justify it against the objections of scientific
\nnegation and concrete common sense. I had thought that even many scientific
\nminds on the Continent had come to admit that science could no longer claim to
\ndecide what was the real reality of things, that it had no means of deciding it
\nand could only discover and describe the how and process of the operations of
\nmaterial Force in the physical front of things. That left the field open to
\nhigher thought and speculation, spiritual experience and. even to mysticism,
\noccultism and all those greater things which almost everyone had come to
\ndisbelieve as impossible nonsense. That was the condition of things when I was
\nin <\/span>England<\/span>. If that is to return or if <\/span>Russia<\/span> and her dialectical materialism are
\nto lead the world, well, fate must be obeyed and life divine must remain
\ncontent to wait perhaps for another millennium. But I do not like the idea of
\none of our periodicals being the arena for a wrestle of that kind. That is all.
\nI am writing under the impression <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Psychology<\/i>
\nby William James.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 384<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nof
\nyour earlier article on this subject, as I have not gone carefully through the
\nlater ones; I dare say these later ones may be entirely convincing and I would
\nfind after reading them that my own position was wrong and that only an
\nobstinate mystic could still believe in such a conquest of Matter by the Spirit
\nas I had dared to think possible. But I am just such an obstinate mystic; so,
\nif I allowed your exposition of the matter to be published in one of our own
\nperiodicals, I would be under the obligation of returning to the subject in
\nwhich I have lost interest and therefore the inclination to write, so as to
\nre-establish my position and would have to combat the claim of materialistic
\nScience to pronounce anything on these matters on which it has no means of
\nenquiry nor any possibility of arriving at a valid decision. Perhaps I would
\nhave practically to rewrite The Life Divine<\/i> as an answer to the
\nvictorious "negation of the materialist\u201d! This is the only explanation
\nwhich I can give, apart from sheer want of time to tackle the subject, for my
\nlong and disappointing silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

17-5-1949<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRUSSELL, EDDINGTON,
\nJEANS<\/font>1<\/font><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI don’t understand why X expects me to bow to the criticism of Bertrand
\nRussell.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Russell’s opinions are as much determined by
\nhis upbringing, temperament etc. as those of Jeans or Eddington. He was born
\nin the heyday of the most uncompromising materialism; he is unwilling to
\nchange the ideas which have got embed\u00added in his nature. It is this that
\ndetermines his view of the result of the recent developments of science, it is
\nnot a clear in\u00adfallible logic; logic can serve any turn proposed to it by the
\nmind’s preferences. Nor is it a dispassionate impersonal view of facts dictated
\nby unbiassed reason as opposed to Eddington’s<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9These are unfinished notes written by Sri Aurobindo around 1942. They
\nwere meant <\/b> to be part of a letter which was never sent. One passage,
\nthough meant to be included in the letter, was written separately. It has now
\nbeen put at its most appropriate place in the letter \u2014 as the penultimate
\nparagraph.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 385<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

personal
\noutlook, imaginative fancies and idealistic prejudices. This idea of pure
\nmental impersonality in the human reason is an exploded superstition of the
\nrationalist mind; psychology in its recent inquiries has shown that this
\nsupposed impersonal observation of pure objective facts and impartial
\nconclusion from them, an automatic writing of truth on the blank paper of the
\npure mind is a myth; it has shown that the personal factor is inevitable; we
\nthink according to what we are.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Russell is not, I believe, a great scientist
\nor pre-eminent in any field of science. Eddington is, I am told, one of the
\nfinest authorities in astrophysics. Jeans and Eddington, though not great
\ndiscoverers, are otherwise in the front rank. Russell ranks as a great
\nmathematician, but there too Eddington has one superiority over him; he is
\nsupposed to be the only one, so say some, one of the only five, say others, who
\nhave a complete understanding of Einstein’s mathematical formulation; Russell
\nis not counted among them and that perhaps disables him from understanding
\nthe full consequences of Relativity. Russell, however, is an eminent
\nphilosopher, though not one of the great ones. I would count him rather as a
\nstrong and acute thinker on philosophy and science. Here he has an advantage,
\nfor Jeans and Eddington are only amateur philosophers with a few general ideas
\nfor their stock in trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. As for their general intellectual standing
\nRussell is a clear and strong materialistic intellect with a wide and general
\nplay of its own kind and range; the others are strong in their own field,
\ntrained in scientific knowledge and judgment, outside that they do not count:
\nEddington’s mind is more intuitive and original in its limits but often
\nshooting beyond the mark. Russell, when he goes outside his limits, can
\nflounder and blunder. Well, then where is there any foundation for exalting the
\nauthority of Russell at the expense of the other two ? I disagree with the conclusions
\nof all three; I am neither a mentalist nor a vitalist nor a materialist. Why
\nthen throw Russell at me? I am not likely to change my decision in the matter
\nin deference to his materialistic bias. And to what does his judgment or his
\nargument amount to? He admits as against X that there has been a
\n"revolution" in science; he admits that the old materialistic <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 386<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nphilosophy
\nhas no longer even half a rotten leg to stand upon; its dogmatic theory of
\nMatter has been kicked out God knows where. But still, says Russell, Matter is
\nthere and every\u00adthing in this world obeys the laws (? whatever they may be or
\nbecome from time to time?) of physical science. This is merely a personal
\nopinion on a now very doubtful matter: he is fighting a rearguard action
\nagainst what he feels to be the advanced forces of the future; his gallant but
\ntremulous asseveration is a defen\u00adsive parade not an aggressive blow; it lacks
\naltogether the old assured self-confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for
\nRussell’s logic, a dry and strong or even austere logic is not a key to Truth;
\nan enthusiastic vision often reaches it more quickly. The business of logic is
\nto give order to a thinker’s ideas, to establish firm relations between them
\nand firm distinctions from other people’s ideas, but when that is done, we are
\nno nearer to indisputable truth than we were before. It is vision that sees
\nTruth, not logic \u2014 the outer vision that sees facts but not their inner sense,
\nthe inner vision that sees inner facts and can see the inner sense of them, the
\ntotal vision (not belonging to mind) that sees the whole. A strong and clear
\nand powerful intellect, Russell, but nothing more \u2014 not certainly an infallible
\nauthority whether in science or anything else. Jeans and Eddington have their
\nown logical reasoning; I do not accept it any more than I accept Russell’s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us,
\nhowever, leave the flinging of authorities, often the same authority for
\nopposing conclusions, Russell quoted against Russell and Darwin against <\/span>Darwin<\/span>, and let us come to the point…..<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nANSWER TO LEONARD WOOLF<\/font>1<\/font><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The answer to Woolf was written long ago at the time Woolf’s article
\nappeared in the New Statesman and Nation \u2014<\/i> a <\/span>London<\/span> weekly. It was X who drew my notice
\nto it and asked for an answer. Y this time wanted something of mine for the Onward
\n<\/i>August 15th number and chose this one.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-8-1934 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n1<\/font><\/sup><\/i> See Letters on Yoga<\/i>
\n(Centenary Edition, 1972), Vol. 22, pp. 185-189.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 387<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

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

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> Somebody told X that Sri Aurobindo brought
\nabout the Russian revolution through Lenin. X told Y that people here were
\nover-credulous and believed such things. Y said that if it is possible to cure
\ndangerous diseases of the body by Yogic power, why should it not be possible to
\nact on the mind of another person and pour in him immense vital force which can
\nbring about such results as the Russian revolution ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> The statement made to X was not quite correct; it is putting things
\nin too physical a form. A spiritual and occult working supplies forces and can
\nwatch over the members of the execution of a world event, but to put it like
\nthat makes the actual workers too much of automata which they are not.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-1-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nHITLER \u2014 GOERING \u2014 GOEBBELS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHitler and
\nhis chief lieutenants Goering and Goebbels are certainly vital beings or
\npossessed by vital beings, so you can’t ex\u00adpect common sense from them. The
\nKaiser, though all-satanical, was a much more human person; these people are
\nhardly human at all. The nineteenth century in <\/font> <\/span>
\nEurope<\/font><\/span>
\nwas a pre-eminently human era \u2014 now the vital world seems to be descending
\nthere. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n18-9-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMOTHER <\/font> <\/span>
\nINDIA<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b>
\nWhen you wrote that you look upon <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span><\/i>
\nnot as an inert, dead mass of matter, but as the very Mother, the living
\nMother, I believe you<\/font><\/span><\/i> saw
\n<\/font> that Truth \u2014 or was it just
\nthe expression of a poetic or patriotic sentiment?<\/font><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b> My dear Sir, I am not a materialist. If I
\nhad seen <\/font> <\/span>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span> as<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 388<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

only a
\ngeographical area with a number of more or less interesting people in it, I
\nwould hardly have gone out of my way to do all that for the said area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Merely a
\npoetic or patriotic sentiment \u2014just as in yourself only your flesh, skin, bones
\nand other things…are real; but what you call your mind and soul do not
\nself-exist, being merely psychological impressions created by the food you eat
\nand the activity of the glands. Poetry and patriotism have of course the same
\norigin and the things they speak of quite unreal.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE QUESTION FOR
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\nINDIA<\/font><\/span> AFTER <\/font> <\/span>
\nINDEPENDENCE<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b>
\nIt is rather depressing to hear about the atrocities committed by some Mohamedans
\non Hindu families in <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nBengal<\/font><\/span><\/i>.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

With the coming of <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nIndependence<\/font><\/span><\/i> I
\nhope such things will stop. Now I would like to ask you something. In your scheme
\nof things do you definitely see a free <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span><\/i>?
\nYou have stated that for the spreading of spirituality in the world <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span><\/i>
\nmust be free. I suppose you must be working for it! You are the only one who
\ncan do something really effective by the use of your spiritual Force.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/font><\/b> That is
\nall settled. It is a question of working out only. The question is what is
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span>
\ngoing to do with her <\/font> <\/span>
\nIndependence<\/font><\/span>?
\nThe above kind of affair? Bolshevism? Goonda-raj? Things look ominous.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n16-9-1935<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nRATIONALITY OF
\nPOLITICIANS<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPoor X! But he is a politician and the rationality of politicians has
\nperforce to move within limits: if they were to allow them\u00adselves to be as
\nclear-minded as that, their occupation would be gone! It is not everybody who
\ncan be as cynical as a <\/span>Birkenhead<\/span> or as philosophical as a C. R. Das and go on with political<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 389<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nreason or political humbug in spite of knowing
\nwhat it all came to from arrivisme<\/i> in the one and patriotism in the
\nother case.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA MESSAGE ON C. R.
\nDAS<\/font>1<\/font><\/sup><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nChittaranjan’s death is a supreme loss. Consummately endowed with political
\nintelligence, constructive imagination, magnetism, a driving force combining a strong
\nwill and an uncommon plasticity of mind for vision and tact of the hour, he
\nwas the one man after Tilak who could have led <\/span>India<\/span> to Swaraj.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAN EARLY PREDICTION<\/font>2<\/font><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSince 1907, we are living in a new era which is full of hope for <\/span>India<\/span>. Not only <\/span>India<\/span>, but the whole world will see
\nsudden upheavals and revolutionary changes. The high will become low and the
\nlow high. The oppressed and the depressed shall be elevated. The nation and
\nhumanity will be animated by a new consciousness, new thought and new efforts
\nwill be made to reach new ends. Amidst these revolutionary changes, <\/span>India<\/span> will become free.<\/span><\/p>\n

January, 1910<\/span><\/p>\n


\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup> Given in response
\nto a request from the Bombay <\/b>Chronicle<\/i> on the occasion
\nof C. R. Das’s death and published in its issue of 22.6.1925.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/font><\/span><\/sup> In January 1910, Sri Aurobindo
\ngave this prediction to the correspondent of the Tamil Nationalist weekly <\/font> <\/span>
\nIndia<\/font><\/span><\/i>,<\/font><\/span><\/i>
\nwho met him in Krishnakumar’s house at <\/font> <\/span>
\nCalcutta<\/font><\/span>.
\nIt was published with Sri Aurobindo’s authorisation.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 390<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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