Sri Aurobindo : conversations
Talks with Sri Aurobindo is a thousand-page record of Sri Aurobindo's conversations with the disciples who attended to him during the last twelve years of his life. The talks are informal and open-ended, for the attendants were free to ask whatever questions came to mind. Sri Aurobindo speaks of his own life and work, of the Mother and the Ashram, of his path of Yoga and other paths, of India's social, cultural and spiritual life, of the country's struggle for political independence, of Hitler and the Second World War, of modern science, art and poetry, and of many other things that arose in the course of conversation. Serious discussion is balanced with light-hearted banter and humour. By recording these human touches, Nirodbaran has brought out the warm and intimate atmosphere of the talks.
THEME/S
NIRODBARAN: Azad has refused to see the Viceroy.
SRI AUROBINDO: He has refused?
NIRODBARAN: Yes, he says that as there is no common ground, no use of any interview.
SATYENDRA: They will send a formal reply after the Working Committee meeting.
NIRODBARAN: And Nehru finds a wide gulf between the Congress demand and the Viceroy's statement.
SRI AUROBINDO: Oh Nehru! But he should have seen the Viceroy. At least Gandhi would have done that.
PURANI: No. All the same, since Kher and others are meeting the Viceroy they will know what he has to say.
SRI AUROBINDO: Where is the Viceroy now? In Hyderabad?
PURANI: Perhaps. He wants twenty crores from the Nizam, it seems.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, that is because the Nizam is anti-British, perhaps? So the Viceroy wants to squeeze out whatever he can before the English go down. Doesn't want to leave anything for Hitler. (Laughter)
NIRODBARAN: But why is the Nizam anti-British?
SRI AUROBINDO: Don't know, this is a funny world—a joke.
PURANI: Montbrun has already made a broadcast from Madras. He has now left for England to fight. He wants to be somebody and if England wins, he may be that.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, if England wins. But that is the risk an ambitious person has to take, and he is very ambitious.
PURANI: Dara has become double now. How fat he has grown!
SRI AUROBINDO: Is there room for that? And will his room hold him?
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