Talks with Sri Aurobindo

5 JANUARY 1940

NIRODBARAN: I have been again trying to get intuition but no luck.

SRI AUROBINDO(with a look meaning "Is that so?") After your last brinjal intuition? (Laughter)

NIRODBARAN: Yes, but nothing comes.

SRI AUROBINDO: That is because you lost your faith by that brinjal affair.

NIRODBARAN: Nolini Sen began to have inner guidance as soon as he set his foot into Yoga.

SRI AUROBINDO: He had been doing Yoga for some time. Only he had lost hold of it temporarily.

SATYENDRA: Inner guidance in what way?

NIRODBARAN: In his practical work.

SRI AUROBINDO: In solving practical difficulties, I suppose. He has a mind which seems open to the intuitive faculty.

Usually a man of action has a sort of insight which is half-intuition, while for a man of intellect intuition is difficult. His intellect thinks of various possibilities, saying this may happen, that may happen.

NIRODBARAN: Does a man of action have no intellect?

SRI AUROBINDO: He has one, but it does not come in the way of his action. He has a vital, not a mental, intuition about things and acts on it. I don't say he commits no mistakes but in most cases he turns out to be right.

The English are so successful because they go by this vital intuition. Often they jumble things and make mistakes but in the end that intuition comes to their help and pulls them through. The French are logical; they think and reason.

PURANI: The English now are thinking of actively helping Finland because they fear a German-Russian combination in the Baltic.

SRI AUROBINDO: But how are they going to help Finland? The English require plenty of ammunition and military equipment for themselves. I don't know whether they have enough to spare.

NIRODBARAN: What they need more badly now is man power.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but still ammunition is wanted.

NIRODBARAN(after some time): What am I to do now? Intellect comes in the way of intuition. Desire in the vital and the hard crust of the physical—everything resists. Resistance everywhere!

SRI AUROBINDO: Well, get rid of the crust and the desire and quiet the intellect.

SATYENDRA: But I find that Nirodbaran's vital is quiet—and his intellect too. Perhaps the desires are less so.

SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, is it all like that?

NIRODBARAN: The trouble is that everybody sees my progress except myself.

SRI AUROBINDO: Are you trying to apply intuition in a special way?

NIRODBARAN: Yes, in my medical work.

SRI AUROBINDO: Instead of limiting yourself to a special operation, why not try to have the faculty in a general way—in other fields also?

NIRODBARAN: I am concerned only with medical work now.

SRI AUROBINDO: But try it elsewhere too.

NIRODBARAN: For instance, in thinking?

SRI AUROBINDO: In everything. It is difficult to get intuition in a special subject, especially if one has no bent for that subject. You didn't have any particular love for medicine, did you?

NIRODBARAN: I am afraid not.

SRI AUROBINDO: Try, for instance, to find out what Satyendra will be doing next. (Laughter)

NIRODBARAN: That will be difficult. I may be more correct regarding Champaklal.

SRI AUROBINDO: Or, if you are a novel-reader, try to guess what will follow. Of course, it is easy for an expert reader to do this. (After a pause) Many people get intuitions without knowing it.

NIRODBARAN: I know my difficulty. I came as a raw recruit to Yoga.

PURANI: Recruits are always raw.

NIRODBARAN: Not completely.

SRI AUROBINDO: They may have had some combat experience among themselves!

SATYENDRA: Try to realise the Self first, and then everything will follow.

SRI AUROBINDO: It will be automatic.

SATYENDRA: Yes; the faculties will open by themselves.