Tribute to Amrita on his Birth Centenary

AMRITA—THE EVER LIVING ONE

WE JOINED the Ashram in 1937 and we were then living at the end of Rue Dumas, opposite our present Park Guest house. We knew only a few Ashramites like Amal, Purani, Ambu etc. I did not meet Amrita then. In 1940 the Mother sent us to Delhi to work with the Civil Aviation Department of the Government to help in the war effort. The Mother brought us back in 1941 and we were given a house near the Ashram, opposite the Library, the Red House. She also gave me the work that had to be done for Golconde. Then I really came in contact with Amrita and I liked him at once. He took me to the place where I had to work, a place with only a tiled shed and some crumbling rooms which was called Harpagon. I was intrigued by the name and I asked Amrita why this name had been given to this place. He told me that this place belonged to a Chettiar, whom Amrita knew quite well. He was a very rich man but very greedy for money and he asked for double the going price. Mother wanted this place as it was just next to Golconde, across the street but the Chettiar would not reduce his price at all. Finally the Mother said that She would pay him his price and name it after him, calling it Harpagon. Amrita asked me if I knew this name which I did as it was the name of the Miser in the play by Moliere "L'Avar" which I had read in English many years back. But the great paradox is that the Mother put to work in this place called 'The Miser' a man by the name "Udar" given by Sri Aurobindo which means, "Generous".

The work I had to do there was to make the furniture and the large number of brass fittings for Golconde. There was a good quantity of very good teak wood for the furniture but for the brass things, Amrita gave me, from the Mother a room full of old brass vessels which had to be broken down and melted. (In this, Amrita and I had a good laugh.)

I then asked Amrita why Mother had given the name of Golconde to the building that now has that name. He told me that this building was designed by a great architect, Antonin Raymond, a friend of Pavitra's, whom he had met in Japan. It was a very fine design but money was a problem to build it. Sir Akbar Hydari, the Diwan of Hyderabad, had a great admiration for Sri Aurobindo and used to come here sometimes. Mother asked him to help get Her the money

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to build Golconde and it was he who arranged for the Nizem to give the money and so the Mother wanted the building to have a name connected with the Hyderabad State. The round hill which dominates both the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad is called Golconda. Hence this name was given by the Mother to this building.

Amrita was a very lovable person. He was always in good humour and joked and laughed with us and yet he did his work very well. He was very much loved by all the servants and they were happy to work under his charge. In fact, when he died the servants of the Ashram sent a petition to the Mother pleading that Amrita should not be cremated, as is the custom here with those that die, but that he should be buried. Great Rishis and other great souls are, by tradition buried and not cremated. So, he was buried at our Cazanove Cemetery, where is also buried Satyakarma, Pavitra, Nolini and Dyuman. Besides being a very good worker, he was a very learned person. He was quite a scholar in Sanskrit and in Tamil and he agreed to try and teach both these languages to me. I say he tried because we did not get very far. We would mostly laugh and have jokes and only a little of learning. But they were happy days for me. Amrita had a very precious gift which I envied much. It was the gift of "Repartee". He would answer or say fine things at once, when this was called for and not like myself and others who would only think of fine things which we could have said but did not, as these words came to us too late. For example, one day when we were doing our class together, I asked Amrita why the letters in Sanskrit are called "Devanagri", letters of the Gods, and he explained that Sanskrit was not invented by man but by the Gods. It was They who worked out the letters, which are supposed to be among the most perfect in the world, and so it is called the letters of the Gods. Now I knew how much Amrita loved and praised his own mother tongue, Tamil and so I asked him, "What about Tamil?" And he replied, "Oh! The Gods invented Sanskrit for the world to use but among Themselves They spoke in Tamil." We had such a great laugh but, he said this at once and not as an afterthought.

There are some more examples about his gift of repartee, but this I have come to know of from others and is not first hand; but they are very fine. In the early days of the Ashram the Mother used to meet the Sadhaks and Sadhikas and hold talks with them, or Mother's Classes as they were called. Of course, Amrita never missed going to these but, due to his work, he was, at times a bit late in arriving and he would try to slip in quietly so as not to be noticed. But the Mother

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who could see all around Her even when fully involved with Her talks would notice his sly arrival. Once, when the Class was discussing the relation between the Overmind and the Supermind and Amrita had just slipped in, the Mother said: "Ah, here is Amrita; we will ask him about it." And She called out to him as he was just trying to be unnoticed, "Amrita, what is the relation between Overmind and Supermind?" and Amrita replied at once, waving his hands about. He said, "Veeery good relations, Mere, veeery good relations" and sat down. The whole class, with the Mother, were in roars of laughter.

On another such occasion Amrita showed the depths of his under- standing. Again when he was trying to slip into Mother's Class the Mother asked him to comment on the subject they were discussing which was "The difference between Art and Yoga" and again Amrita replied: "Art can be Yoga but Yoga is Art." A truly profound reply.

Well, these are some of the very fine things I remember about this very fine person, Amrita. What was his original name I do not know but the name Amrita, given to him by Sri Aurobindo is very, very apt. He is truly immortal and without death and will live for ever in our minds and hearts and, if our souls have a memory, in our souls also.

Udar