Talks with Sri Aurobindo

13 MARCH 1940

Satyendra brought some photographs of Brahmananda, Balananda and Purnananda.

SRI AUROBINDO (looking at Brahmananda's picture): He was not so haggard—when I saw him. (About Balananda's) He was young when I saw him. In this photo he looks very jolly. (About another photo of him) Yes, this is more like him. Who is Purnananda?

SATYENDRA: His disciple perhaps.

SRI AUROBINDO: Oh yes, I seem to have heard his name.

SATYENDRA: Balananda had his Ashram in Deoghar. So Anilkumar and Jayantilal were asking if you knew him and what you thought of him.

SRI AUROBINDO: I saw him only once. He was doing much Tapasya.

SATYENDRA: Our Keshav Shastri has taken a vow of silence and Madangopal's friend has broken his. Ravindra gives me all these stories. When our sugar was being rationed, Ravindra said to me, "Take from Shastri's tin. He is silent, he can't protest." (Laughter)

PURANI: He can write, and write strongly, I can tell you.

SRI AUROBINDO: He will consider the sugar-taking an outrage on his silence, but the vow of silence should include writing. Why speech only? Plenty of people don't speak, but they write. Gandhi is one, isn't he?

SATYENDRA: Yes, Sir. Meher Baba too.

SRI AUROBINDO: You can tell Shastri that sugar is not necessary for a life of silence but only for calorific speech.

SATYENDRA: Radhananda also observes silence.

CHAMPAKLAL: But he talks with particular people.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, Sarala² used to talk a lot with him during their French lessons, till they quarrelled over Communism.

CHAMPAKLAL: Radhananda said Sarala was a newspaper.

SRI AUROBINDO: But not a very reliable one. (Laughter)

PURANI: She quarrelled with Kanai also.

SRI AUROBINDO: She quarrelled with everybody.

PURANI: She seems to be staying in a Protestant home in France.

SATYENDRA: I had heard she was staying with a friend.

SRI AUROBINDO: She was, but they started beating each other. So she went to a home where she could talk of Communism and plot against Daladier.

NIRODBARAN: She departed from India, it seems, because she was afraid of dying here.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes.

NIRODBARAN: And if she died here she would be reborn here.

SRI AUROBINDO: Do all Europeans who die here get reborn in India?

NIRODBARAN: She wanted to die in a free country.

SRI AUROBINDO: I understand living in a free country—but dying?

PURANI: She was a great eater.

SRI AUROBINDO: Both Suchi³ and Sarala were great eaters.

NIRODBARAN: They say the French usually are.

SRI AUROBINDO: Not like the Germans. The Germans eat three times more. They are fond of good food. Plenty of French people are abstemious and temperate. The Nordic races are good eaters while the Latins are temperate.

PURANI: The English also are good eaters.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but not so much as the Germans. True, they eat four times a day, but each meal is not large.

EVENING

SRI AUROBINDO (addressing Purani): Are the Russo-Finnish peace terms confirmed?

PURANI: Yes.

SRI AUROBINDO: Why did the Finns fight then?

PURANI: They perhaps expected that the Western Powers would help them.

NIRODBARAN: The Allies say there was no official approach from the Finns.

PURANI: That is nonsense. According to the League Covenant, they are obliged to help.

SRI AUROBINDO: If Norway and Sweden object to the passage of troops across their territory, then nothing can be done.

PURANI: The Finns had plenty of ammunition and arms. There was a dearth of men.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, both England and France have supplied them with plenty of ammunition.

NIRODBARAN: By this treaty the Russians will be at an advantage.

SRI AUROBINDO: Of course. What will happen next is the question. Perhaps Russia will now turn south against Rumania and Turkey. And that will be world war. For the Allies have guaranteed Rumania, and already Turkey is allied to them. Then India too will have to fight Russia.

NIRODBARAN: What about Hungary?

SRI AUROBINDO: Hungary depends on Italy.

NIRODBARAN: Perhaps Norway and Sweden have been threatened by Germany?

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it is a frightened self-interest that has overtaken these people. Each of them thinks that he will be safe, whereas actually each will be swallowed up in turn. It seems the Allies will have to fight single-handed, if there is world war, against Russia and Germany—a formidable combination! As Hore-Belisha has pointed out, the blockade can't be successful. There are so many neutral countries on the German border and the resources of Russia will be available to Germany.

NIRODBARAN: Will Germany tolerate a Russian attack on Rumania? Germany itself is in need of Rumanian oil.

SRI AUROBINDO: They are both working in agreement. What Russia wants is Bessarabia, control in the Black Sea, and in the Balkans, over Turkey. In exchange for that she can agree to let Germany have Rumanian oil. Russia has plenty of oil for herself. So she doesn't need it.

NIRODBARAN: What about Italy? She doesn't want Russian influence in the Balkans.

SRI AUROBINDO: If the Allies are clever enough, they can win over Italy. If Italy gets Yugoslavia and Greece, she will come round. If Russia is clever enough, she may attack Rumania first. Turkey has reserved the right of peace with Russia. But if she does keep peaceful she will be swallowed up next.

NIRODBARAN: Russia will meet with a stiffer resistance in the south.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, both Rumania and Turkey are prepared.

PURANI: But if Turkey remains neutral, then the Allies can't help Rumania. They have to pass through Turkey.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. The same situation will arise as with Norway and Sweden in connection with Finland.

NIRODBARAN: What will India do if Russia attacks? India has no army.

SRI AUROBINDO(after raising both his hands): Of course it will take time, England will have to shift ammunition and army to India and give training little by little. There will be recruitment in India.

SATYENDRA: Recruitment may not be very successful in the face of Britain's present attitude.

SRI AUROBINDO: But Britain will be more accommodating.

NIRODBARAN: Russia will have to attack through Afghanistan.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, of course it will be difficult.

PURANI: Afghanistan, Gabriel says, is afraid of Russia.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, she has always been afraid of a Russian attack. There is no chance for the world unless something happens in Germany or else Hitler and Stalin quarrel. But there is no such likelihood at present.

NIRODBARAN: No. That may happen at the end. Hitler thinks perhaps that he can handle Stalin easily afterwards.

SRI AUROBINDO: And Stalin thinks he can deal with Hitler.

NIRODBARAN: German soldiers are better fighters than the Russians.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but Russia has tremendous resources and immense manpower.

PURANI: Somebody said that the Allies have a chance if they fight Russia in the north.

SRI AUROBINDO: Of course. As has been shown, the Russian forces are inefficient. Even the Finns gave them a good resistance. The Allies would have some chance of success—unless they tried to attack Moscow, which would be difficult.

PURANI: Norway and Sweden made it all impossible. Of course the Allies couldn't help through Latvia.

SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, no. That would have been sheer madness. With the combined forces of German and Russian submarines, fleet, etc., they would have been crushed.

PURANI: Did you read Hitler's speech? He seems to have given a sermon.

SRI AUROBINDO: I don't read his speeches. They are the same thing repeated.

PURANI: He seems to see God's hand in everything.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but would he do that if he were knocked down? That would be the test. So far it is the hand of Hitler's God that is in everything.