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
The radio news said that Hitler has prayed to the Almighty to protect him against his enemies, as he is a single power surrounded by enemies.
SRI AUROBINDO: Since when has he become pious?
DR. MANILAL: God must be in a fix, Sir. (Laughter)
SRI AUROBINDO: He is always in a fix.
DR. MANILAL: And Hitler prays to the Almighty, not just to God.
SRI AUROBINDO: He thinks himself a mighty man; God, being almighty, will be on his side, he thinks.
DR. MANILAL: On which side would Krishna be, Sir, in this war? On the British?
SRI AUROBINDO: But his army might be on the other side as in the Mahabharata. Send a letter of enquiry to his chief secretary. (Laughter)
DR. MANILAL: I was telling Nirod that when a medicine has both good and bad effects, it is the good aspect that acts in a disease, while the bad effect remains behind. For instance, aspirin when given in rheumatism exerts only its good effect.
SRI AUROBINDO: The bad effect has no occasion to exert itself, so it has time to lie idle! (Laughter)
DR. MANILAL: While if aspirin is given in normal health, it may exert a bad effect on the heart.
SRI AUROBINDO: Since it can't do good, it does harm? (Laughter) Is it true that sometimes a thing which is contraindicated in a disease cures the disease? Mother told me the story of a lady in Paris who was suffering from diabetes. The doctor asked her not to eat potatoes at any cost. But at that time no other vegetable than potatoes was available. So she ate them and got cured. (Laughter) Is it possible?
DR. MANILAL: Not impossible, Sir. I have no faith in doctors and medicines.
NlRODBARAN: But you take medicines all the same.
SRI AUROBINDO: Habit or chance'. (Laughter)
(After Dr. Manilal had left) Modern science says that quantity and movement alone are real. Quality is a creation of the senses. What is seen is a configuration of the senses. The configuration of reason acting on the configuration of the senses produces what is seen! But that doesn't go far enough, for the scientific researches which deal with quantity and movement as data are also a configuration of the senses. So everything is Maya, illusion.
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