Amal Kiran's Correspondence with The Mother

25 March 1964

Dearest Mother,

I assure you that your name will not at all be implicated if C contacts T [an American devotee]. But if there is the slightest wish in you that T should be left alone by me, please say so.

Not necessarily, but I do not want my name to be pronounced so that he can feel free to refuse if he finds it necessary.

But, in any case, whether T is contacted or not, I pray for your blessings on the venture to find a publisher in America.

What I would like to be done, more than anything else, is the issuing of an American edition of Sri Aurobindo’s Ilion. I believe it is the one poem of his which should make an immediate impact on the Western literary world and establish him as a great poet. It has no directly Indian or spiritual message, although all of it is steeped in profound inner sight, and it deals with a theme which has haunted the Western imagination for over 2500 years. So its abundant poetic originality, both of expression and technique, should make a mark. If T or somebody could bring it out as an American publication, it would stand a very good chance of catching the public eye. What do you say, Mother?

When a Mother sees her child take very seriously his childish play, she will not tell him, “what a baby you are” but smile and encourage him in his game . . .

With love and blessings

25 March 1964