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
SRI AUROBINDO(addressing Purani and smiling): Have you heard of the great and glorious British victory?
PURANI: Conquest of Narvik? Yes. The Germans also admit it now.
NIRODBARAN: We can say now that Hitler's decline has begun. (Laughter)
PURANI: Dunkirk is still in the Allies' hands. There is a great concentration of navy. Perhaps the B.E.F. will be able to escape.
SRI AUROBINDO: They seem to be very clever in retreat (laughter) - the French are not.
SATYENDRA: It will be a great feat if they can escape.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it can be called a great military feat.
PURANI: The Germans are leaving a great number of dead in this campaign.
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, they are always reckless.
PURANI: Shaw says that what Russia has not been able to do twenty-three years England has done in two-and-a-half years.
SRI AUROBINDO: What?
NIRODBARAN: State Socialism.
SRI AUROBINDO: Russia has not done it.
PURANI: No—only according to Shaw. And then he says that when the British people are frightened they flare up. The Kaiser frightened them and he was defeated. Hitler also will have the same fate.
SRI AUROBINDO: Is he defending the war now?
PURANI: Yes.
SRI AUROBINDO: He has been frightened himself then? (Laughter)
PURANI: He asks Ireland to join with the Allies; otherwise they will have the same fate as Poland in German hands.
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