Talks with Sri Aurobindo

20 JANUARY 1940

Nirodbaran read to Sri Aurobindo Tagore's letter to Nishikanto praising his book. Sri Aurobindo was very glad and exclaimed, "Oh", and at the end said, "That is wonderful!" During the sponging when Satyendra and others came in Purani said, "'Nirodbaran is feeling triumphant today." Satyendra didn't understand and looked sideways. He didn't know yet about Tagore's letter.

SRI AUROBINDO: Because of Tagore's eulogy on Nishikanto's poems. He has acknowledged his defeat.

SATYENDRA: He has written again?

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, where is the letter?

Then the letter was produced. Sri Aurobindo translated it into English and said, "You can't say more than that."

NIRODBARAN: Purani is also triumphant because he thought Tagore would write again.

PURANI: Yes, I felt that. Tagore is very polite in that way. Anyhow he has been forced to admit Nishikanto's quality.

SATYENDRA: In view of his first letter, there seemed no chance of his writing anything.

NIRODBARAN: Now he finds that his two grievances have been satisfied; first his "common people" and then the variety because Nishikanto has made it a representative collection.

SRI AUROBINDO: His former letter meant, "Yes, you have written something but you are not a poet." (Then addressing Purani) This "common people" is very stupid, it seems. I have been reading the quotations you have given me. I find them clearly mystic. I don't know how these people can give a realistic meaning to them. Instead of taking the verses in their obvious mystic significance, they create all sorts of meanings—rita is water, fighting between Dravidians and Aryans, etc.

NIRODBARAN: I asked Nolini yesterday what people like Tagore mean by saying that only Nishikanto has an easy mastery over the language while others have not. He says that he means that our language is rather forced, not spontaneous or easy.

SRI AUROBINDO: "Forced" means something created by the mind?

NIRODBARAN: I believe so.

SRI AUROBINDO: Then it is not true. It is, on the other hand, something coming down from above by inspiration.

NIRODBARAN: Nolini also says that Nishikanto follows the Bengali tradition while Dilip and others have cut a new line and one has to enter into the new spirit to appreciate it. Some people here say that we make things deliberately difficult.

SRI AUROBINDO: It is not true; of course it is not necessary to make things unintelligible in order to be a poet.

PURANI(after some time): Nishikanto can now advertise Tagore's opinion.

NIRODBARAN: Yes, Tarapada has already asked him to at once send any appreciation. When I took the letter to Nishikanto and said it was from Tagore he asked, "Why again?" He expected another cold reception, but after reading the letter he became jubilant and said, "See how promptly he has replied, while to others like jyoti he has kept quiet." (Sri Aurobindo enjoyed this very much.)

EVENING

SRI AUROBINDO: Why does X say that Tagore has been rude to Nishikanto?

NIRODBARAN: Where? I haven't seen anything.

SRI AUROBINDO: He has written that to me. Also that Tagore has said that Sisir Mitra came here out of emotion.

NIRODBARAN: But Tagore has written only two letters to Nishikanto and there was no mention of these things.

SRI AUROBINDO: Then perhaps it may be in some other connection. But I didn't find any rudeness in his letters. By "emotion" Tagore means bhava, I suppose. But I don't understand what is wrong with emotion.

At this point Purani came.

PURANI(after a while): I verified the story of the bull. The bull's name is Bholanath. Lalji himself has seen it perform. It can even pick out a man whose name has been pronounced to it. If a photograph is hidden in somebody's pocket and the bull is asked to detect the man, it can.

SRI AUROBINDO: By name also?

PURANI: Yes.

SRI AUROBINDO: That is something remarkable. Must be an intuitive bull. But how can it pick out an unknown person knowing only his name even by intuition? Even a Yogi can't do it. He can know a certain person by first seeing him but he can't know him by knowing only his name.

NIRODBARAN: It is Shiva's bull perhaps.

PURANI: It is also called Bholanath.

DR. BECHARLAL: The giving of a person's name could have been prearranged with the party.

PURANI: How? Even in an unknown crowd, the bull can do that feat.

SRI AUROBINDO: Animals have vital intuition and they find things out by it, as man does by thought. You know about the horses being trained to do arithmetic in Germany.

PURANI: Yes, Maeterlinck himself wrote about it.

SRI AUROBINDO: Did he?

PURANI: Yes.

SRI AUROBINDO: It was not only one horse, but a group of them. Animals can be trained to do many things and they can be made familiar with sounds and names by repeated utterances. But to pick out an unknown man only by his name is remarkable. Can't explain it.

(While being sponged) I read about another medical discovery in the Sunday Times. Some doctor says that an attack of asthma can be instantly relieved by inhaling from a pot of honey. The relief lasts for half an hour.

PURANI: It is very good.

SATYENDRA: But one will be tempted to eat it.

SRI AUROBINDO: J will finish a pot in one night. (Laughter)

NIRODBARAN: Not possible during an acute attack because the attack is so severe that one is almost choked up in distress.

SRI AUROBINDO: Then she will finish it between the attacks.

NIRODBARAN: That is possible.

SRI AUROBINDO: Honey seems to contain many chemicals.

NIRODBARAN: What are they?

SRI AUROBINDO: I have forgotten and I am not a scientist.

SATYENDRA: It is good to forget. Sir. Scientists also have to forget at times.

NIRODBARAN: In Ayurveda honey has many properties.

SATYENDRA: Yes, you had an intuition about it?

SRI AUROBINDO: How?

SATYENDRA: Honey and brinjal were two things he found by intuition. (Laughter)

SRI AUROBLNDO: Why don't you find something for my knee?

SATYENDRA: That is outer. Sir—though, of course, they do apply hot brinjal over eczemas.

NIRODBARAN: That is for heat.

SATYENDRA: Then why don't they simply apply hot water! But no, it should always be brinjal! (Laughter)