Sri Aurobindo - The Smiling Master

Chapter 12

Sri Aurobindo's Wit

What is wit? The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as the "power of giving sudden intellectual pleasure by unexpected combining or contrasting of previously unconnected ideas or expressions." Wit is indeed a form of intellectual quickness, raillery and repartee, which is apt to startle our mind with delectable surprise, often through flashes of isolated sentences or even of words or phrases.

Now to produce the proper kind of wit and joke is not at all an easy matter; it requires a veritable genius of words to do so. There should be some sort of inevitability in the judicious use and arrangement of the words and phrases employed. Even a little gaucherie in this matter will spoil the whole effect. It is not without reason that Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the great Irish wit of the eighteenth century, once wittily remarked about a gentleman: "I can laugh at his malice - but not at his wit." The story is told that one Lord Lauderdale, after having heard an excellent joke, one day came to Sheridan and proposed repeating the same to the latter on which the master wit stopped him with: "Pray don't, my dear Lauderdale; in your mouth a joke is no laughing matter."

The acknowledged masters of this literary form, however, fall broadly into two different categories, some with a carefully rehearsed wit and the others with a spontaneously produced one. Sheridan himself generally belonged to the first type while Sydney Smith, whom Walter Savage Landor described as "humour's pink primate", belonged to the second one. Their attitudes towards the quality of which they were both briliant possessors were indeed antipodean. According to Smith, the best wit is born and not trained, and the perfect expression of wit in speech and writing should be "in midwife's phrase, a quick conception and an easy delivery." Sheridan's view was different. He once said: "A true-trained wit lays his plan like a

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general - foresees the circumstance of the conversation -surveys the ground and the contingencies - and detaches a question to draw you into the palpable ambuscade of his ready-made joke."¹

Here we have to note another important point. Whether ready-made and delivered to purpose or issuing forth in a spontaneous cascade, wit may at times be really dangerous, as are all sharp weapons that cut good and bad alike. It may even degenerate into something severe, bitter and satirical, that hurts much more than illumines. In this sort of dry and blunt display of wit which hits offensively albeit humorously, the unlucky target (the listener or the correspondent) cannot happily participate: it lacks any kindly feeling altogether. This sort of caustic wit cannot elicit our appreciation.

The other type of successful wit is a sort of kindly humour suffused with gentleness so much so that even when it hits the object, it will never give him offence and will be provocative of laughter as much in its object as in others. Sri Aurobindo's wit and humour have always been of this second kind.

Here is an instance of this sort of kindly wit as recorded in Jerrold's A book of Famous Wits:

When Richard Bentley who prided himself on being a wit started his periodical "Miscellany", he said that he had first thought of calling it "The Wit's Miscellany" but on second thought changed it to "Bentley's Miscellany": on which one of his friends remarked, "You needn't have gone to the other extreme."²

A remark offensively intended could not have been turned more delectable!

To grasp the real contrast in tone and temper, let us have acquaintance with some examples of 'dry' wit too. (All these examples have been taken from Jerrold's book.)

(1) "So then, sir," demanded X, "you think me a fool?"

"By no means," said Y; "I know you to be one."³

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(2)Playing on a man's name:

An attorney named Mr. Else, who was rather of a small stature, approached Mr. Jekyll, saying indignantly: "Sir, I hear you have called me a pettifogging scoundrel. Have you done so, sir?"

"No, sir," replied Jekyll imperturbably; "I never said you were a pettifogger or a scoundrel, but I did say you were little Else."⁴

(3)A tit for tat:

Richard Whately, the Archbishop of Dublin, was one of the wittiest of divines. One day a young and vain aide-de-camp, observing a Roman Catholic dignitary wearing a large cross, asked Whately what the difference was between the Roman bishop and a jackass, and answered in a malicious tone his own question: "One wears a cross upon his breast and the other on his back."

"Do you," said the Archbishop meaningfully, "know the difference between an aide-de-camp and a donkey?"

"No," was the youngman's reply.

"Nor I either," interjected Whately.'

(4)A subtly offensive hit:

Sydney Smith was a churchman. One day a country squire, having been worsted in an argument by his rector, remarked to Sydney, "If I had a son who was an idiot, I'd make him a parson."

Sydney Smith quietly replied, "I see that your father was of a different mind."⁶

Before we proceed to the study of Sri Aurobindo's witty remarks, let us first taste a few illustrative examples of wit coming from the pens or mouths of some celebrated masters of the art; this will help us to appreciate in full Sri Aurobindo's own wit in the proper historical pespective. The examples collected are again from the famous book by Jerrold, A Book of Famous Wits.

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Readers are requested to examine closely the different literary devices adopted by these wits to produce the desired humorous effects. Later on we may profitably compare these to the techniques employed by Sri Aurobindo in his humorous utterances.

(1)From Nicholas Bacon:

Sir Nicholas Bacon, a Tudor judge in the time of Elizabeth, was once importuned by a criminal to spare his life on account of kinship.

"How so?" demanded the judge.

"Because my name is Hog and yours is Bacon; and hog and bacon are so near akin that they cannot be separated."

"Ay," responded the judge dryly, "but you and I cannot yet be kindred - for hog is not bacon until it is well hanged."⁷

(2)From Edmund Waller:

Edmund Waller had written a lengthy "Panegyrick" to Oliver Cromwell the Protector. When the Restoration came about after Cromwell's death, the same Waller was not long in singing the "Happy Return" of Charles. When King Charles read this second poem, addressed to himself, he told the poet that it was reported that he had written better verse to Oliver Cromwell.

Unperturbed and undaunted, the ready-witted Waller answered: "Please your Majesty, we poets always excel in fiction.""

How neat and ingenious was the way of getting out of a difficult situation!

(3)From Dr. Busby:

Dr. Busby, presumably the headmaster of Westminster School, was a very small man. One day he was accosted by a very tall Irish baronet with: "May I pass to my seat, O giant!"

"Pass, O pigmy!" said the doctor, making way for him.

"Oh, sir," said the baronet, "my expression alluded to the size of your intellect."

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"And my expression, sir," retorted the doctor, "to the size of yours."⁹

(4)From James Quin:

Quin, the actor, did not lack in that coolness which remained undaunted at a difficult moment. A gentleman whom he had offended met him in a great rage and exclaimed: "Mr. Quin, I understand, sir, you have been taking away my name."

"What have I said, sir," asked the actor.

"You, you called me a scoundrel!"

"Well, sir, keep your name," said Quin, and walked on.¹⁰

(5)From Charles Bannister:

Bannister was an eighteenth-century actor. One day a friend of his was said to have been complaining that some malicious person had cut off his horse's tail, which, as he wished to sell it, must prove a great drawback.

"Not at all," said the actor, "you must now sell him wholesale."

"Wholesale!" exclaimed the other, "How so?" "Because you cannot re-tail him."¹¹

(6)From Lloyd George:

Lloyd George had the Celtic quickness of dual perception which is essential to wit. On one occasion when he was talking about Home Rule and saying that he wanted to see it not only for Ireland, but for Scotland and for Wales, an interrupter exclaimed, "And for hell, too."

"Certainly, my friend," came Lloyd George's unexpected retort, "I always like to hear a man standing up for his country."¹²

(7)From William S. Gilbert:

At one big gathering Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1931) had to take down to dinner a somewhat pretentious lady of the newly rich who, knowing nothing of music, posed as one of its patrons.

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"Oh, Mr. Gilbert," said she, "your friend Sullivan's music is really too delightful. It always reminds me of dear Batch (meaning Bach). Do tell me, what is Batch doing just now? Is he composing anything?"

"Well, no," replied Gilbert, in serious tone; "Batch is by way of decomposing."¹³

(8)From O'Leary:

John Philpot Curran, the barrister, and Father O'Leary were dining one day with Michael Kelly when the barrister said:

"Reverend Father, I wish you were St. Peter."

"And why, Counsellor, would you wish I were St. Peter?" asked O'Leary.

"Because, Reverend Father, in that case you would have the keys of heaven, and could let me in."

"By my honour and conscience, Counsellor," answered O'Leary, "it would be better for you if I had the keys of the other place [meaning, of course, hell], for then I could let you out."¹⁴

(9)From R.B. Sheridan:

During the trial of Warren Hastings, Sheridan, who was an M.P., was making one of his speeches when, having observed Gibbon among the audience, he took occasion to refer to "the luminous author of the 'Decline and Fall'." A friend afterwards reproached him for flattering the historian.

"Why, what did I say of him?" asked Sheridan.

"You called him the luminous author of the 'Decline and Fall'."

"Luminous!" repeated Sheridan, "Oh! of course I meant voluminous."¹⁵

(10)From Oscar Wilde (1856-1900):

(i) Sir Lewis Morris, the author of "The Epic of Hades", was complaining to Oscar Wilde of what he regarded as studied neglect of his claims when possible successors to the Laureateship were being discussed after Tennyson's death.

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Said Morris: "It is a complete conspiracy of silence against me - a conspiracy of silence! What ought I to do, Oscar?" "Join it," replied Wilde, with happy readiness.¹⁶

(ii)In a discussion on George Meredith, Oscar Wilde commented: "Meredith is a prose Browning - and so is Browning."¹⁷

(iii)Oscar Wilde possessed the power of spontaneous wit which he kept even when he was in an unfortunate position. He had the ill-luck of being sent to jail for a social offence. A friend visited him there and found him stitching gunny-bags. He hailed Wilde with the words: "Oscar, sewing?" Wilde at once replied: "No, reaping."¹⁸

(iv)When Oscar Wilde was introduced in Paris to the Comtesse de Noailles who had a charming mind but a very far from charming face, the Comtesse remarked: "Monsieur Wilde, I have the reputation of being the ugliest woman in Paris."

Wilde immediately bowed and with a most chivalrous wave of his hand said: "Oh no, Madame - in the whole

world."¹'

Let the long introduction end here. Now with the main part of this chapter which deals with Sri Aurobindo's own witty remarks. We do not propose to categorize the examples under different heads: let them appear in rapid succession in profuse variety of forms, and regale the readers with their polychrome spendour. Here is indeed a veritable feast of ceaseless mirth and laughter. And how wonderful! - Any and every occasion sufficed for Sri Aurobindo to look at it with a double perception and pour out his witty bons mots !

I. From Dr. Nirodbaran s bag:

(1) NB: S - pain_; burning "normal", i.e. you understand, I hope, this means normal pain.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, of course. It is the patient who is abnormal.²⁰

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(2)NB: Too busy to give us Force? Darshan is over, Sir! Sri Aurobindo: Darshan is over but Karshan is not.²¹ [Karshan means ploughing, cultivating, tilling, i.e., hard

labour.]

(3)NB: I am again prosaic and gloomy. Everybody is changing here; no change for me.

Sri Aurobindo: Everybody is who? Give me the good news.²²

(4)NB: Today at Pranam I felt a somewhat "blocky" feeling, if you know what I mean.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, though at first I was afraid you meant you felt blockheaded or felt foolish! but remembered in time the "block" of descent.²'

(5)Sri Aurobindo to Dr. NB: A has written twice about some eruption she is having - she said you would write to us about it, but there is no eruption in this book [Doctor's medical Notebook]. Please let me know what it is. An "eruption" may mean anything from prickly heat to —²⁴

(6)NB: I shall be very careful with D, and even if I have nothing to write to him, I shall write rubbish!

Sri Aurobindo: Right! Rubbish is usually better appreciated than things worth saying.²⁵

(7)NB: But what about my table? Forgotten? Ellipsis?

Out of the silence

What is the word that be

About my cane-table, Sir?

Shall I wait till Eternity?

Yes or no, do tell me, Sir;

Either can I take with surrender.

Sri Aurobindo: Forgot both the cane and the table. You can have if it is lying about.

Good Lord! Another! If you rhyme Sir and surrender you don't deserve a table but only a cane and plenty of it.²⁶

(8)NB: Friend C has sent a rupee to buy something for you. But your needs are so few and you are so strict about hygiene. At times I wonder why the Divine is so meticulously particular as regards contagion, infection. Is he vulnerable to the viruses,

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bacilli, microbes, etc.?

Sri Aurobindo: And why on earth should you expect the Divine to feed himself on germs and bacilli and poisons of all kinds? Singular theology yours!²⁷

(9)NB: But whatever miracle might happen, I don't see any chance for my caravan!

Sri Aurobindo: Too many dogs of depression bark?

NB: Too many dogs of depression, Sir, too many! And not only dogs, but cats and jackals and a host of other friends have made my life a misery!

Sri Aurobindo: Why are you so fond of this menagerie as to keep it with you? Turn them out into the street. Or, if that is not charitable to others, drown them in the sea. Don't shake your sorrowful head and say it is easier to say than to do. It is quite possible. It is only the Man of Sorrows that prevents it.²⁸

(10)NB: I have been unusually happy after months!... Man of Sorrows was non-existent - kicked out? But unfortunately he is trying to poke his face again!

Sri Aurobindo: Twist his nose.²⁹

(11)NB: Everybody else seems to be working with so much interest, and look at me. What a curious mixture am I!

Sri Aurobindo: Too many ingredients in too small and unstable proportions?

NB: In any case, break this old being, Sir, and let something emerge, whatever it be!

Sri Aurobindo: All right; let's have a try. Hammer, hammer, hammer! Only the being in question is a little - shall we say, solid?⁵⁰

(12)NB: And why should you stupefy me? Good Lord! Have you forgottten how Arjuna was stupefied, horrified, flabbergasted by seeing the Vishwarup [the supreme or universal Form] of Krishna whom he had thought of as his friend, guru, playmate? Could I for a moment play all these pranks on you if I saw your Vishwarup?

Sri Aurobindo: But that was because the Vishwarup was enjoying a rather catastrophic dinner, with all the friends and relations of Arjuna stuck between his dangstrani karalani [terrible tusks].

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But my vishwarupa has no tusks, Sir, none at all. It is a pacifist vishwarup."

(13)NB: I am obliged to sleep out for a few days because of repairs in our house. The whole building is smelling of lime, lime and lime.

Sri Aurobindo: If you want to be a real Yogi, go on sniffing and sniffing at the lime till the smell creates an ecstasy in the nose and you realise that all smells and stinks are sweet and beautiful with the sweetness and beauty of the Brahman.³²

(14)NB: I am wallowing again in the morass of the 3 Ds, now that I am free from my attendance on S.

Sri Aurobindo: Stand up, man, and don't wallow! Stand up and fix your third eye on the invisibly descending Tail of the Supramental.

NB: If I could apply myself to some pursuits that would be obligatory!

Sri Aurobindo: How to make them obligatory unless you do something which will take you to jail!

NB: Interest in poetry and reading has dwindled, and now I'm on the way to be a "subconscient ass".

Sri Aurobindo: Why not become a conscious one?³³

(15)NB: Please don't keep the Library book for long. Otherwise Premanand [the librarian] will lose all his prem and anand! [Love and bliss]

Sri Aurobindo: He is always doing that and losing his hair too into the bargain. If he objects to my keeping the book, I will give him a clout on the head which will help to keep his hair on.

NB: Have you written: "... I will give him a club on the head..."? He will die, Sir, but if he doesn't a doctor will be needed!

Sri Aurobindo: Clout, clout. A clout is a harmless thing — at most you will have to put a bandage.³⁴

(16)NB: About M's vomiting, Dr. Manilal says that since it is from birth, it has nothing to do with the accident. I wonder if it is the result of too much meditation and concentration which he used to do.

Sri Aurobindo: But surely he did not do a lot of concentration

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before birth?³⁵

(17)NB: I have composed two lines:

"The rich magnificence of the wandering sun Reflects my splendour from still height to height." Sri Aurobindo: I say, there ought to be a limit to your splendour!³⁶

(18)NB: I am pained when I hear people saying - after all Pondicherry has brought X to this!

Sri Aurobindo: Why can't they say he has acquired a Godlike samata? Don't you remember the loka - A Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste are all the same to the sage? So X can embrace even actors - hope, he will stop short of the actresses, though.³⁷

(19)NB: What do you think of my taking lessons in English metre now? But at times I feel that after there's an improvement in Bengali poetry, I can try. Otherwise, I shall be Jack of all trades, master of none!

Sri Aurobindo: There is no harm in studying English metre. It won't prevent you becoming a John of some trades hereafter.³⁸

(20)NB: (On having completed 100 days of his stay in the Ashram) May I be permitted to see you on the 16th instant - the centenary of my arrival here?

Sri Aurobindo: I say, you have not been here 100 years, surely!³'

(21)NB: Do you think learning si tar will be useful to me? Sri Aurobindo: I don't see much use in sitarring - but if

you do!⁴⁰

(22)NB: In meditation, I had again a stillness of the inner and the outer being, but the body was gradually bending down as if I were in a light sleep. I could remember that you were there and others besides. Was that a state of sleep due to a full stomach?

Sri Aurobindo: Is that the medical man's explanation of the experience? If a full stomach can produce experiences, you might perhaps treble or quadruple your rations.⁴¹

(23)NB: By the way, people get poems, pictures in

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meditation and I seem to get only letters and points for letters! Since letters and discussions are interdicted I have been obliged to draw inspiration from sleep. And I find that sleeping has a decided advantage in this Yoga!

Sri Aurobindo: You get letters in meditation! that would be fine - it would save me the trouble of writing them, simply project into your meditation instead of sending through Nolini [the secretary]! No objection to sleep - the land of Nod has also its treasures.⁴²

(24)NB: I am thinking of doing some studies in English language, not for any creative purpose, but for recreation.

With this aim in view, I want to take up your immortal philosophy - though my walnut of a brain can't do much with it — and if you will allow, have some discussions with you, at intervals.

Sri Aurobindo: Provided the discussions can be put in a "walnut" shell!⁴³

(25)NB: I am thinking of taking some milk-tea and butter in the morning. Will it be a move to the 'left'? If so, I give it up at once.

Sri Aurobindo: Butter in milk-tea? Never heard of such a meal before! Is it symbolic of the Supramental?⁴⁴

(26)NB: Let me then say definitely that I love you and you love me a little. And let us meet somewhere in this real matter. You may remark, "This man has gone mad, otherwise why all these asthmatic gaspings?" Yes, I am mad, Sir, and impatient too.

Sri Aurobindo: Ummm! don't you think there are enough people in that condition already here without the Ashram doctor adding himself to the collection?⁴⁵

(27)NB: And if you have to wait for absolute purity of nature before the Supramental can come down I should say that you will have to go on waiting and waiting!

Sri Aurobindo: Whose nature? It is I who have to bring it down. Do you mean to insinuate that I am impure? Sir, I raise my blameless head in dignified remonstrance.⁴⁶

(28)NB: One material point. Can you sanction 3 pice worth

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of milk from the dairy, for an afternoon cup of tea?

Sri Aurobindo: Very revolutionary and hair-raising proposal, but you can do it and risk the loss of hair.

NB: What is this revolutionary invention of yours? Tea a cause of loss of hair? I am sure all the tea plantations over the world will send up loud lamentations if this theory be true!

Sri Aurobindo: It was not the tea but the 3 p. milk and the cause and effect were psychophysical, so there is no difficulty in accepting the theory.⁴⁷

(29)NB: X says that I have in me some capacity for "intuitive criticism" - whatever it may mean. I don't think I have got the right type of mind for criticism, or enough knowledge. Behind my bad logic, do you see any signs of a budding critic — intuitive or otherwise?

Sri Aurobindo: It is the easiest thing in the world to be a critic. Just look wise and slang the subject in grave well-timed sentences. It does not matter what you say.⁴⁸

(30)NB: Have I the necessary requirements for the sadhana? The only thing I seem to have is a deep respect for you, which almost all people have today.

Sri Aurobindo: It is good that for accuracy's sake you put in the 'almost'.⁴⁹

(31)NB: R's pleurisy is much better. The remaining few signs are of no importance, only he must not expose himself to cold, neither smoke much nor take wine.

Sri Aurobindo: Jehovah! You are recommending him a little smoke and wine? What next? All right - except for the last ominous touch.⁵⁰

(32)NB: People are longing to see the first batch of the supramental species from your great laboratory, Sir.

Sri Aurobindo: Go forward, go forward and show yourself.⁵¹

(33)NB: What about Dr. R's subtle suggestion to take up this case?

Sri Aurobindo: A subtle silence.⁵²

(34)NB: A had a mild diarrhoea; his relatives made a great affair of it by caressing, fondling and surrounding him all the time!

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Sri Aurobindo: Killed with kindness?"

(35)NB: Today P came for her eyes. All on a sudden she burst out into sobs - God knows why!

Sri Aurobindo: God doesn't.⁵⁴

(36)NB: I suppose there is some play of yours behind the recent quarrel I had with X.

Sri Aurobindo: No, sir, no. Dramas are not my play. I detest them."

(37)NB: Please read C's letter on M's opinion on your philosophy. How can he compare your Yoga with Ramakrishna's! Yet he is considered as an authority on your yogic philosophy!

Sri Aurobindo: In a way he is, i.e. he is an authority on his own ideas about my yogic philosophy. But from whom can you expect more than that?⁵⁶

(38)NB: Even Sri Ramakrishna's baby-cat type of sadhak has to make a decisive movement of surrender and compel the rest of the being to obedience, which is the most difficult thing on earth.

Sri Aurobindo: I never heard that the baby-cat was like that - if it were it would not be a baby-cat. (It is the baby-monkey trying to become a baby cat who does that.) But you have evidently so great a knowledge of spiritual things (surpassing mine and Ramakrishna's) that I can only bow my head and pass humbly on to people with less knowledge.⁵⁷

(39)NB: If anybody can do the baby-cat surrender at a stroke, is it not because his "unfinished curve" in the past life has finished it in this?

Sri Aurobindo: Hail, Rishi, all-knower! Tell us all about our past lives.⁵⁸

(40)NB: What is the use of your complaining, Sir? You have committed the grave blunder of coming into this sorrowful world with a mighty magical pen. Sri Krishna, I conjecture, may have complained about his lungs because of his incessant blowing and fluting to melt our hearts!

Sri Aurobindo: It is an idea! Strange that none of the poets has mentioned it - a modernist poet would catch it at once. "The Flute and the Lungs" or "Krishna's Bronchitis."⁵⁹

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(41)NB: Is it really an illusion I am cherishing that the Force will some day galvanise the consciousness? What do you say about this some day?

Sri Aurobindo: Well, it is an admirable exercise in faith! As for the result, some day, one day, many days, no day - why bother?

(42)NB: You have so abruptly stopped writing about the Yogic Force.

Sri Aurobindo: I didn't stop because I didn't begin. I wrote some scattered answers only and intimated to you that volumes might come out in future... which you would probably not read.⁶¹

(43)NB: As I thought - no help but to wait for canalisation and in the meantime carry on. I suppose all 'lacks' will be removed by the descent of Force?

Sri Aurobindo: Obviously, obviously!

NB: 'Obviously, obviously!' What obviously, Sir? When will the blessed Force descend?

Sri Aurobindo: That is irrelevant. The time of its descent has nothing to do with its obviousness.⁶²

(44)NB: If everything goes on so tremendously slow, isn't it enough to make one despair and sit and lament? Because one doesn't know how the devil one should proceed!

Sri Aurobindo: If you appeal to the devil, you can't proceed.⁶³

(45)NB: We examine chemically first a sample of urine, i.e. by chemical re-agents, which is called qualitative test. You ought to know that from your English Public School chemistry, Sir!

Sri Aurobindo: Never learned a word of Chemistry or any damned science in my school. My school, sir, was too aristocratic for such plebian things.⁶⁴

(46)NB: I felt an immense joy at the Darshan, but it ebbed away as soon as I came down.

Sri Aurobindo: It sounds like facilis descensus Averno. [In

* Hanker never after results.

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Latin: Easy the descent to Hell.] But after all downstairs and Erebus are not the same thing.⁶⁵

(47)NB: At present I am only sleeping and sleeping, no aspiration, no will, nothing — shunyam, void! Please save me from this Dilipian despair.

Sri Aurobindo: But why hug despair without a cause — Dilipian or other? Come to your senses and develop a Nirodian jollity instead (not necessarily Mark Tapleyan,* though that is better than none). Laugh and be fat - then dance to keep the fat down — that is a sounder programme.⁶⁶

(48)NB: You have finished the prospective action of the Supramental Force by two "yes"s and one "no". Evidently you are shy about it, or time is shy.

Sri Aurobindo: Time and I both are shy, good reason why. (Nishikanto says rhyme is quite common in Bengali prose, so why not in English too?)⁶⁷

(49)NB: I had a queer dream last night: I was bowing with love and devotion before a dark-complexioned gentleman, and he with equal affection raised me up and said: "You will require 18 years (Good Lord!!) to realise the Divine, out of which 12 years will pass away in just knocking about and playing." Heartrending prophecy! But who is this old gentleman, and what does his prophecy amount to — please?

Sri Aurobindo: The old dark-complexioned gentleman must be Old Nick, I suppose! and his prophecy amounts to Old Nickery.⁶⁸

(50)NB: I hear from all quarters that you are buried in letters... I don't know how you are ever going to keep your head above the mud of the letters, for your bhaktas, admirers are increasing by leaps and bounds. In the near future they will be millions, and millions of letters heaped upon your supramental segregation, if you don't relinquish it and come out boldly!

Sri Aurobindo: Come out and have millions and millions of admirers heaped upon my promiscuity? Thank you for nothing! The letters can be thrown into the W.P.B. [Waste-paper

* A light-hearted young man in Dickens's Martin Chuzxlewit.

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basket] more easily than the admirers can be thrown out of the window.⁶⁹

(51)NB: Surely the soul instead of sleeping has to aspire etc. to call down its Lord the Grace. Where do you see that aspiration in me? If you build my spiritual castle on those one or two minutes' brief visitations of Ananda and that too once or twice only, excluding the moments of Darshan of your great self, which also have been sometimes marred in these three years, then I can only say - well, what shall I say?

Sri Aurobindo: Better say nothing. It will sound less foolish.⁷⁰

(52)NB: Your belief is right, Guru! I didn't feel happy yesterday. However, nothing untoward has happened; almost no pain, but the swelling persists, asked to foment.

Sri Aurobindo: Mother suggests hot water - 1 part peroxide, 3 parts water - and dipping the finger for 15 minutes. Some of these things are cured by that - it ought really to be done immediately, but even now it may be effective.

NB: Why, that is exactly what we have advised J to do from the very start, only peroxide was not given.

Sri Aurobindo: You are taking daily almost exactly the same thing as Anglo-Indians take in their clubs, i.e. a peg. Only brandy and soda are not there - but the water is.⁷¹

(53)NB: This morning I lost my temper over N.P.'s obstinacy. He would not listen to my instructions. But can you tell me why I've been feeling a sort of antagonism towards him?

Sri Aurobindo: It may be a Dr. Fell affair: "The reason why I cannot tell."⁷²

(To appreciate in full Sri Aurobindo's witty reply to NB's query, those amongst our readers who do not already know the story behind the classic saying "The reason why I cannot tell" may please note the following:

Tom Brown "of facetious memory", born in 1663, went to Chirst College, Oxford, at the age of fifteen. But his irregularities were such that Dr. Fell, the dean of his college, threatened to expel him. But on receiving a submissive petition from the

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pupil he relented and promised to forgive the recalcitrant youngman if he would extemporize a translation of the Latin poet Martial's epigram beginning "Non amo te, Sabidi." Brown immediately responded with lines that have since become familiar as household words:

"I do not love thee, Dr. Fell,

The reason why I cannot tell;

But this I know, and know full well,

I cannot love thee, Dr. Fell."⁷³)

II. From Dilip Kumar's bag:

(1) A sample of Sri Aurobindo's "pre-yogic humour":

The Prince of Baroda was going to be married. In those days — late nineteenth century — monogamy was not particularly insisted on. Sri Aurobindo was then Vice-Principal of the Gaekwar's College. When the distinguished guests had assembled for the wedding dinner, the royal bridegroom came up to him dignified and demure. The grave Vice-Principal, revered by all, shook hands with 'the cynosure of neighbouring eyes' and wished him "Many many happy returns of the day!"⁷⁴

(2)DK: Well, Guru, since my friend Chadwick has driven me to the wall (how can I cope with him in argument?) I will try henceforth to bleat faith and humility like a trembling lamb and not roar doubts like a dying lion.

Sri Aurobindo: Good, especially because one must be the lamb of God before being His lion.⁷'

(3)DK used to be often steeped in gloom and fall a victim to his old monitor Doubt. Once, terribly afflicted by this mental difficulty, he wrote to Sri Aurobindo: "Gurudev, how to wheedle this sceptic into believing when it only aches to probe, weigh and, lasdy, hold suspect everything that defies its scrutiny."

In reply Sri Aurobindo wrote a long letter on doubt in

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which he opened his indictment of doubt with these witty words:

"I have started writing about doubt, but even in doing so I am afflicted by the 'doubt' whether any amount of writing or of anything else can persuade the external doubt in man which is the penalty of his native ignorance...."⁷⁶

(4)In 1931, when the Golden Book of Tagore was being compiled, the great savant Pramatha Choudhuri wrote to DK urgent letters to induce Sri Aurobindo to contribute something. For he averred: "Tagore's Golden Book will be incomplete without Sri Aurobindo's tribute. Even a message of two lines or a couplet coming from him will be looked upon as a boon of his Grace...."

But Sri Aurobindo's Grace was not like Caesar's, amenable to flattery. He wrote back: "I take Pramatha Choudhuri's remark - that Tagore's Golden Book will be incomplete without my contribution - as a complimentary hyperbole. The Golden Book will be as golden and Tagore's work and fame as solid without any lucubration from me to gild the one or buttress the other."⁷⁷

(5)DK: O Guru, I could not meditate of late, thanks to mountains of proofs [coming from the Press]. But soon I will start like [the famous saint] Pahari Baba. So beware!

Sri Aurobindo: After mountains of proof the mountain of meditation, with you, the BABA, on top? All right: I am ready to face it.⁷⁸

(6)DK: O Guru, Lady Indignant is again down on us, males! She says man is such a foul seducer and poor woman (poor? a modern woman? good Lord?) such a guileless, simple and trustful tendril! I retaliated in banter and reminded her what Tagore had sighed over in the 'twenties: "We are a much maligned sex, Dilip! The fair one would have it that we pursue and harry her. But between you and me, do you think that the most leonine of lions could dare approach a woman if she really frowned upon his advances?"

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So adjudicate, Guru: who tempts first - man or woman? Or shall we say a la Sir Roger de Coverley: 'Much can be said on both sides'?

Sri Aurobindo: Dilip, it is six of one and half-a-dozen of the other. To throw it all on woman is Adamism. To ignore the woman's part is feminism. Both are in error. Yes, Sir Roger is right.⁷⁹

III. From Amal Kiran's bag:

(1)AK: We have various guesses about your previous lives. The other day I happened to ask Nolini whether you were Shakespeare. He was diffident. My own belief is that you have somehow amalgamated all that was precious in those that manifested as Homer, Shakespeare, Valmiki, Dante, Virgil and Milton: if not all, at least the biggest of the lot. Kindly let us know the truth. Among your other and non-poetic incarnations, some surmise Alexander and Julius Caesar.

Sri Aurobindo: Good Heavens, all that! You have forgotten that Mrs. Besant claims Julius Caesar. I don't want to be prosecuted by her for misappropriation of personality. Alexander was too much of a torrent for me; I disclaim Milton and Virgil, am unconscious of Dante and Valmiki, diffident like Nolini about the Bard (and money-lender?) of Avon. If, however, you can bring sufficiently cogent evidence, I am ready to take upon my back the offences of all the famous people in the world or any of them; but you must prove your case....⁸⁰

(2)AK: When Paul Brunton saw you, he had the impression of you as a Chinese sage.

Sri Aurobindo: Confucius? Lao-Tse? Mencius? Hang-whang-pu? Don't know who the last was, but his name sounds nice!⁸¹

(3)AK: That incorrigible Nirod has a chronic habit of misquoting me. He garbles my words, misreads my corrections,

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attributes to me opinions I am quite innocent of! A few weeks back he coolly told me that I had definitely declared that Milton had written his "Paradise Lost" from the Overmind! Meher-cule! what's to be done with that fellow?

Sri Aurobindo: He ought to be sentenced to penal servitude - let us say, condemned to produce at least 14 lines of overhead poetry without the means to do it and then abused for not doing it. It is the only proper and sufficient inconsequent punishment for such inconsequence.⁸²

And thus ends the chapter on Sri Aurobindo's wit.

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REFERENCES

N.B. For what the abbreviations stand for please consult Bibliography on page 439.

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