Sri Aurobindo to Dilip - Volume III

Editorial

1936-1937 - In many ways these two years were very significant.

For Sri Aurobindo. I have not counted but I think that he wrote a maximum number of letters in 1936 : Terrible night the last! (...attacked... by the demon of correspondence.} Night after night have to write letters, letters, letters, not to speak of other things. Such as preparing something for the Arya Publishing House otherwise the house will collapse, as they have been long without a fresh book. Apart from writing explanations of the poems sent up by some of the disciples. And what about his own work: The descent of the Supermind ? To a query from a disciple, Sri Aurobindo answered: Tail is there—but no use without the head.

For Dilipda. He was immersed in melody, music and prosody. Not only was he experimenting in new metres and writing inspired poetry but he was also inspiring others. Moreover, in 1936, although his swings of mood continued they became a little less frequent and a bit less long in the slough of despond. He was shaping up to become the later Dadaji'. In 1937, with Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's full consent he went to Calcutta. And... and there he found the voice... as though the new melody had taken a human form to propagate itself— destiny's seal was upon it. She was Hashi (Uma Bose). Like Dilip da she too was born on a 22 January 1921, and discarded her human body on 22 January 1942 at the age of 21 years.

For the world. It is one of the well-known laws of the occult that whenever a great Truth or Light descends a corresponding power of darkness rises up to obscure the Truth or in general, to twist the Truth and make it serve the falsehood. Sri Aurobindo had seen it. His endeavour was to bring down the highest Truth which no falsehood or lie could ever touch, but

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which will go on doing its work. Such is the Power of Truth he contemplated. And fixed it in the earth's atmosphere for the flowering of evolution.

The dark that rose each time was made of the same stuff— cruelty and violence—but put on different masks. This was the time of dictators, big or small, that filled the world, Europe having the greater share. With technological advance the killing spree became exponentially geometrical. It was unbridled licence to kill. Their acts are too well known for us to repeat here. A League of Nations was set up to stop aggression but the horrific devastation of WWI was still too vivid, and Western leaders preferred compromise and appeasement to confronting the agressors.

1936-1937 were, I dare say, the last years of the old world order.

Only a scientist knows the value of the equipment in his laboratory. The Ashram was Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's laboratory. All creatures great and small were part of it. Yes, not only humans. Cats and dogs, cows and bullocks, Blackie the crow, Richard's donkey, none were left out. That is why I have tried to give a short bio-data of the person whose name, however insignificant, has cropped up. Well, it has been difficult to procure a reliable bio-data for everybody. Yet, I have been acquainted with them! What will happen when I am gone can be easily guessed. A great big thanks goes to my sister Suprabha for obtaining what has been obtained.

I shan't hold you up any longer from Sri Aurobindo's delightful ways of imparting knowledge.

Sujata Nahar

March 2007

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