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
DR. MANILAL: When the Gita says "I shall deliver you from all papa", does papa mean sin, Sir?
SRI AUROBINDO: No, from all evils. Sin is a religious conception, an offence against God. Arjuna's refusal to fight can't be called an offence against God; it is an offence against morality, you can say. Virtue and vice are moral conceptions.
MULSHANKAR: What type of Yogi is Gandhi, Sir?
SRI AUROBINDO: Yogi? He is not a Yogi; he is an ethical man.
MULSHANKAR: He is guided by voices.
SRI AUROBINDO: Then everybody who is guided by voices would be a Yogi. Then all Quakers are Yogis. Those who are possessed by strong vital forces, good or bad, can hear voices. Gandhi himself says that when he is so possessed he can't resist. These are voices which come from various sources. One voice says one thing, another contradicts it.
EVENING
Dr. Manilal was sitting with a warm cloth tied round his head to protect it against a cold draught.
SRI AUROBINDO: You have the expression of Schopenhauer on your face. (Laughter)
DR. MANILAL: How, Sir?
SRI AUROBINDO: The world, according to him, is full of suffering and sorrow, and life is an insanity.
DR. MANILAL: It is just the contrary with me. I thought I caught an infection of hilarity from Ravindra.
SRI AUROBINDO: Then you are trying to suppress it. (Laughter)
DR. MANILAL: Are German philosophers influenced by Vedanta? Vivekananda said that Max Müller was a reborn Sayanacharya.
SRI AUROBINDO: How? It is more than a compliment.
DR. MANILAL: Sylvan Levi is also a Sanskrit scholar. He came to Baroda. The Gaekwar used to refer to you, Sir, as "my secretary".
SRI AUROBINDO: Not a troublesome one? (Laughter)
DR. MANILAL: No, Sir. Vallabbhai once said that you were fined Rs. 50 by the Gaekwar in Kashmir.
SRI AUROBINDO: In Kashmir? No, it was in Baroda. I refused to attend office on Sundays and holidays, so he fined me Rs. 50. I said, "Let him fine me as much as he likes", and when he heard about it he stopped fining me.
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