Sri Aurobindo to Dilip - Volume I

Note

In 1928, Dilip decided to live permanently in the ashram at Pondicherry. That was two years after Sri Aurobindo's complete withdrawal from public life, and from direct contact with his disciples: they could see him only three times a year (four later on) for a brief darshan, while Mother looked after the whole material aspect of life in the ashram and took direct charge of the disciples.

But they could also write letters to Sri Aurobindo. And write they did, often daily. With inexhaustible patience, Sri Aurobindo would soon spend most of his nights answering every one of them, explaining his Yoga, guiding them in their inner life, encouraging them to overcome doubt, depression, even revolt, and, with the poetically inclined, teaching them the craft, commenting upon and often correcting their poems, and prodding them to use poetry as a means to explore the inner worlds and open themselves to higher realms of consciousness.

That was the case with Dilip too, as these three volumes of correspondence will make clear. The disciple's letter would usually reach the Master sometime in the evening, and by the next morning (the "return post," as Sri Aurobindo would call it), the response would generally be delivered.

Sri Aurobindo's answers might be in the shape of a few marginal comments on the disciple's letter, scribbled notes on small slips of paper, or longer explanations on full sheets. Only the relevant portion of the disciple's letter would usually be returned, which explains why most of Dilip's letters are missing or incomplete. Regrettable as this may be, their tone and content can often be guessed from Sri Aurobindo's answers.

The reader may remember seeing excerpts from a few in the published volumes of Sri Aurobindo's correspondence, such as

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Letters on Yoga or On Himself, not to mention Dilip's own books such as Sri Aurobindo Came to Me or Among the Great. However, as far as possible, they are complete here: these three volumes contain all the letters that could be found in Dilip's papers (barring a few of a minor nature) and his published works (in English or Bengali). Much of the present material is therefore published here for the first time.

Sri Aurobindo's handwriting was often, as he himself readily acknowledged, next to indecipherable.¹ (This must however be largely put down to the speed with which he wrote.) All the letters in these volumes have therefore been carefully checked against the original manuscript whenever it was available. Errors may remain, but we trust they will be rare and not too important; doubtful readings or illegible words have been indicated with question marks within brackets. As far as possible, we have tried to follow standard diacritical conventions for Sanskrit and Bengali words (except for those that are commonly used).

This first volume includes correspondence from the time of Dilip's arrival at Sri Aurobindo's ashram in 1928 up to the year1933; vol. 2 will cover 1934 to 1936, and vol. 3 1937 to 1951.Altogether, almost 1,000 letters from Sri Aurobindo and 70 from Mother.

The editors are greatly indebted to Patrice Marot for his help in assembling the material; to Maryse Prat for her careful deciphering and typing of the entire correspondence; and to Mr. Pramod Kumar for his revision of the manuscript.

M. D.

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1. Sri Aurobindo once wrote to Nirod (on 2 November 1938): "It is altogether irrational to expect me to read my own writing—I write for others to read, not for myself—it is their business to puzzle out the words."

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Dilip Kumara Roy

Some Biographical Notes