By The Way - Part II

those times. This huge house occupies a very large area. Obviously it was the residence of the first governor-general of British Asia. And this is what is called divine irony.

In the beginning Hastings was an ordinary clerk at the English head-office at Kasimbazaar. When Nawab Sirajuddala attacked Calcutta he ordered all the Englishmen in Kasimbazaar to be killed. Hastings in order to save himself sought refuge at Kantomudi's whose actual name was Krishnakant Nandi. He was of the 'tili' caste. Everybody called him 'Kantomudi'. Ignoring danger to his own life this Kantomudi then offered refuge to Hastings by keeping him hidden in a secure place for a few days. Hastings survived c fermented rice and greens.

Then when Hastings became the governor-general of Bengal Kantomudi's fortune changed. He became Hasting's righ hand man. He was soon appointed his dewan and the jaghirs of Gazipur and Azamgarh were assigned to him. When Hastings wanted to confer the title of Rajabahadur on him Kantomudi declined. How could an ordinary grocer become a king? He felt deeply humbled. His son Loknath Nandi was made the Rajabahadur then. This Loknath Nandi was Man, raja Manindrachandra Nandi's grandfather. Krishnanath was Kantomudi's grandson. His wife was the famed Maharani Swarnamayi Devi. And where stood Kantomudi's grocer store that had offered refuge to Hastings the Maharaja set up a charitable dispensary.

Hastings did a lot for the East India Company saving it from financial ruin. He brought the rule of law in the country and set up the police-organisation. The reputation of the British for upholding honesty and justice was very high at that time. Despite all his good work, his persecutions, oppression use of bribery and conspiracies were not appreciated by the British. The directors of the Company met and sent him a letter of rebuke and censure. Humiliated by this Hastings resigned. On his return to England he was impeached. Edmund Burke, Fox, Sheridan, all well-known Englishmen of the time,

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spoke against Hastings. There was a debate in the Hoi Lords in which Edmund Burke spoke continuously for three days using his fiery eloquence against Hastings. This speech became very famous. We studied it in our Intermediate year at college.

Hasting's last days were very hard. The meagre pension offered by the Company was his only sustenance. He barely managed to make ends meet. This is what is called fate

*

Dada was telling us about Raja Manindrachandra Nandi of Kasimbazaar. He was a very generous, kind and compassionate king. The boys used to stay in the hostel of the royal college. The lodging-boarding facilities at the hostel were very good. The boys used to exercise and eat heartily. A complaint went to the king that as the boys were eating so much it was necessary to increase their boarding fees. The king hear then said: 'Let me first see it for myself.'

He hid himself in one of the rooms. The boys were gleefully. The king felt very happy. 'This is how it should be, he said. This is how they'll build up their bodies. Eat to your heart's content.'

He told the workers: 'Whatever extra money is required for the boys' food will be given from the king's house.'

Often after the classes would get over he used to stand at the school-gate. There were two or three people carrying pots full of rosogullas. The boys would go out one by one and the king would hand them one rosogulla each. Toffees had not yet come then.

The king never refused anything to anyone.

One day they all said: 'Oh! Wouldn't it be great to start a circus-group?'

Fine. It was sanctioned. The tent was bought. Lions, tigers and other animals were brought. People were employed. A lot of money was spent.

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One day the circus disappeared but all the heavy expenses were borne by the king.

One day the king's advisers told him: 'It would be good to open a tannery. It would be most profitable.'

And so a tannery was set up. It ran for some time and then shut down. The king had to bear all the losses.

A lot of theft also would take place.

There was once a wedding in the king's house. Tins of oil were bought for frying fish. The workers house sold off all that oil in the market. It is said people bought this oil even found fish-bones in it!

Once while checking the accounts of the royal hoi the king discovered that two dozen match-boxes were for the queen.

'What does the queen do with so many match-boxes every day?' the king asked incredulously. 'Does she play with them?

All this theft' and then his property was taken over by the Court of Wards in place of the interest that was due for the loans that had been taken. In those times he had a loan of one crore! Later of course, when the loan and the interest were paid back the properties were restored to the king's son.

There wasn't the slightest arrogance or pride in the king. Manindra Nandi was but a tili by caste, a very low caste at that. But whenever he came to our house on an invitation would sit down in the courtyard and spread a banana front of him. First he was in a Brahmin-house and then a guru-vamsa. That's why he would sit in the courtyard and eat. He never thought of honour or prestige at all.

*

Dada was recounting to us various well-known stories the magnanimity, whims and caprices of the kings and rulers of earlier times. The nawab of Murshidabad, for instant not have the wealth and glory of yore but had the temperament of kings and rulers.

One day he took a fancy to going out on foot. And so along with the nawab incognito his ministers also had to accompany him. The nawab declared that he would walk at least a mile on foot. But then he had hardly walked a little was tired. Naturally he wasn't used to walking so much. He turned to his prime minister and asked:

Tell me, haven't we finished a mile?'

And all the members of the retinue exclaimed all together:

'Oh yes, much more than a mile, Your Excellency you had better climb onto the howdah, now.'

After lifting the nawab onto his howdah, the ministers mounted their respective horses, heaving a sigh of relief from this meaningless walking about.

Once in Berhampur an 18-mile cycle race was to be held. The route went past the nawab's residence. The nawab wanted to witness the cycle race standing from his own residence.

The race began. When the cyclists were approaching the nawab's residence a gong was sounded. The nawab came out onto the verandah and watched the cycle race. He was so happy with the race that he declared that henceforth t would have not just cycles but elephants, horses, bullock- carts, box carts all together. That's what he wished to see.

*

Chandranath asked Dada one day: 'We were such a huge country, Dada. How come a handful of Englishmen managed to

bring the whole population under their control. Was entire population of the country insincere and ignorant then?

What happened, Dada replied, obviously had a divine will behind. Because just a handful of Englishmen unified the whole country. They built roads, railways set up a communication-network. They encouraged education, art and commerce. The English made many valuable contributions to India. And then when the time came they left in a flash.

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This is why I believe that whatever happened, happened for the good. And what is happening now is also for the good. And whatever will happen will be for the good too.

*

A lady came to see Dada and asked him How he was.

"I am very fine".

'How is your knee-pain?'

"The knee goes on as it should. I go on as I should."

'But, Dada, how did you get this knee-pain in the first place?'

"In 1953 while wrestling I hurt both my knees. I was thirty then. After exercising my knee-pain disappeared completely. I resumed my walking, running, weight-training, everything went on normally.

"Many years later I was sitting at Tinkari-da's place listening to his musical composition on one of my songs. I had been sitting for a long time. When I wanted to get up I just couldn't. Both the knees had such a bad pull that the pain was terrible I couldn't walk. And then it just went on increasing and today my knees are what they are.

"I feel the Mother has made me sit down. 'You've done quite a lot of running around, now sit down, She seems to b telling me. That is how I've taken it. This is my vanaprastha (life of seclusion in the forest). Now I don't go anywhere. This office and my room are my boundaries."

'You are able to bear the knee-pain?'

"Yes, if I can't bear this much then why did I serve the Mother for so long?"

Dada remained silent for some time. Then by himself he spoke as if talking to himself:

We all know about the six chakras in yoga-sadhana; Muladhara, Swadhisthan, Manipur, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna. These are the six chakras. From the muladhara upto the navel there are three chakras, Muladhara, Swadhisthan

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Manipur. The Anahata chakra is in the heart. Vishuddh is in the throat and Ajna is between the eyebrows. And at the crown of the head is the Sahasrara. The ancient yoga-shastras speak about these six chakras.

The Mother has, moreover, said that there are two more chakras in the knee and in the sole. In the knee lies the chakra at the subconscious level and in the sole lies the chakra at the unconscious level. Only the Mother and Sri Aurobindo have spoken about these two chakras. They are, in a way, their discoveries.

When the collective sadhana reaches the level of the sub-conscious then the pressure is tremendous on its chakrs that is the knee. And until the sadhana achieves siddhi at the levelof the subconscious the pressure keeps on building.

In the yoga of Supramental transformation the subconscious and the inconscient have to be conquered. You can say this is precisely the principal sadhana of the present age. That is why they have described Kalki, the avatar of the kaliyuga, as being a little lame.

I look upon my knee-trouble in the same way.

*

Dada said: I was studying in college then. During the winter holidays we would sometimes go to the river Padma to hunt the birds. Motakaka, Pranab Sen, Abdallah, myself and a couple of others. We would hire a boat, take our guns and go to the river to hunt birds. The boatman was a Muslim. After the hunt, the birds were cooked on the boat itself and we would all sit and eat. We used to sleep on the boat at night. We spent a few days like this having great fun and on the last day birds that were hunted were taken home in a bag. These birds were cooked at home and the feast was enjoyed together with our friends.

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Once while taking the birds out we saw that a wild duck was still alive. One of its wings had been shot and that's why it survived. So we put it along with the other domesticated ducks in a cage. But this wild duck would stay aloof from the other ducks in a corner all by itself.

I would take it out every morning and let it free in the courtyard. It would try to fly with its injured wing but in vain. In the courtyard there was a tube-well we had installed. The duck would sit on the cemented platform around it and drink water. And then it would try again to flutter it's wings. The courtyard was surrounded by a high tiled roof which it never managed to overfly. But I observed that try everyday for a continual half an hour to fly with all its might.

A few days went by in this way. One day I left him in our pond. The wild duck would eat snails and other shell-fish around the bank. And as evening would fall it would go to the centre of the pond. At night from the terrace of the house I would check with torchlight how it was doing. I was concerned about it. I would wake up frequently at night with my torch how it was. Birds and animals are very clever when it comes to self-preservation. To avoid the danger of foxes etc. it would remain in the middle of the pond at night.

One day I discovered that the duck had disappeared . Perhaps its wing had become strong enough to allow it to fly. A couple of days later I saw that it was back along with the companion wild duck. I was happy that it had found a companion at last.

Every day in the morning they would fly away somewhere and return as soon as evening fell. A few days went by like this. Then one morning they left and never came back.

With what relentless effort it would go on trying to fly. But finally through this it managed to cure its injured wing.

I cannot help thinking of that bird even today. I too should be able to get rid of my knee-pain. At

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least my knee did not suffer a gun-shot like the duck. It is just a little pain and nothing more. One day it will certainly get all right. And then Dada said laughing:

Not for fun and laughter have I come to this world

But to bear the pain of my knees!

*

Going through a pile of letters Dada remarked one I've found a new name, Suryendu. The sun (surya) an moon (chand) together.

I remember there was a visitor who had come to the Ashram called Chandrabhanu. He asked me to tell something on his behalf to the Mother. In those days I would often forget names. I asked him for his name. 'Chandrabhanu' he told me. I remember the sun and the moon then you can't forget my name.

So I conveyed to the Mother whatever he had said. Mother asked for his name.

His name just then slipped out of my memory! I thou, lot and then said 'Shashikumud'. Ravindra-ji was sitting nearby. 'It must be Chandrabhanu, he said. Isn't it?'

"Yes, yes, that's it. Chandrabhanu!" I replied.

*

Dada was recounting some amusing stories.

This was about two liars who spent their time inventing lies.

One of them said: In our Patna it gets so very cold, so very cold you have no idea. I go to sleep at night and in the morning when I wake up ice has formed all over my body.

Then the other liar said: 'What's so great about that cold? In our village it would get so cold, so cold that in the morning

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when I milked the cow instead of milk from the udders it was Kulfi that came down!'

Another similar liar would invent such unbelievable lies. He thought to himself: 'If my son sees me inventing such lies he too would become one. So he decided to take his son away and leave him at his uncle's to spare him from this bad habit. As he was taking his son to his uncle's' house he suddenly noticed a river far away. Quite far away. It looked like a piece of string from this distance. He told himself: 'Let's rest and see if the boy hasn't already learnt the art of lying.! So he said : 'Look! Look! Over there a fish just jumped out of the river.'

At once the boy retorted: 'Isn't that so! I was wondering where I got this splash of water from!'

The man thought: ' I've had it. My boy is as accomplished liar as I am already. There is no point then in leaving him at his uncle's house!'

*

A discussion was going on in Dada's office: What's difference between hardship and misfortune?

Don't you know that story of Bankimchanndra's? Bankimchandra's was a deputy magistrate. A European was interviewing him. He asked him in Bengali: 'What is the difference between danger and calamity?'

Bankimchandra replied: 'Sir, I am a Bengali and you are a European. Although a European you are asking me the difference between Bengali words. This is danger. And give you an answer then that will be calamity!

*

Chandranath's daughter came to Dada primly dress in a sari. She looked good in it. Smiling very shyly she said to him: 'Dada, all the girls at school decided to wear a sari to-day.'

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It suits you fine. The sari is a beautiful dress but it restraint free movement. A salwar-kameez is so much more convenient for work. It is the Muslims who brought it to our country. The Muslim women came to India on horseback, you see

In our country stitched clothes were not worn. We had a two-piece dress. One was worn while the other was draped over the body. It is from the Muslims that we learnt to wear stitched clothes. This is why most tailors even today Muslim.

'But Dada, did we have shoes in India?' someone asked

Yes, we wore shoes, a kind of loose slipper mostly. It is with the Europeans that tight-fitting shoes with laces came into the country. The Europeans in those days wore close fitting clothes but their character was loose! We had wooden sandals, of course.

*

.

Dada was telling us stories from his childhood.

I was staying in Ballygunje then. The boys of the locality collected donations and bought a football for playing. One of the boys in our area was a little deranged. Even his speech was quite incoherent. He was given the task of collecting the money. He was told that he was their vice-captain collecting donations was his job.

The boy was thrilled to be made the vice-captain. R from the morning he would walk between the Rashbel Avenue and Hindustan Park and collect donations, unmindful of whether he had eaten or washed himself. Two annas, one anna, four annas, whatever he got. He did this job with great earnestness. After all he was the vice-captain.

There was a big shop with a glass showcase at the turning of the Rashbehari Avenue. One day he went into this s asking for donations. Finding him half-crazy the shopkeeper turned him away without giving him anything. In sheer anger

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the boy punched the showcase and broke it. The shopkeeper let him go after a sound drubbing. Then wagging his finger at him he threatened: 'I......I.....'mmmm........'mmm vv v.....viiiii.. ce ca...captain. Co....co...me aaa., nd ca...ca...tch me on the f..f... field!'

*

Dada was telling us how easy it is to recognise a sadhak in the Ashram. He will inevitably have a bag hung on his shoulder and a tiffin-carrier in his hand! I've never seen Satyajit Ray in person, only his photos. Once in Mahaballipuram I was coming down from the Mahishasurmardini cave when I saw Satyajit Ray coming up with his team of camera-man and others. Being face to face I asked him if he was Satyajit Ray. He nodded with a laugh and asked me who I was.

"I am from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry

At one point Satyajit Ray had wondered about coming and living in the Ashram in Pondicherry. But then after a lot of thought he asked: 'But then what about my career?'

Motakaka told him in reply: 'Why are you worried about that? Here you'll always have a carrier in hand. Can't you see every sadhak here has got a tiffin-carrier!'

When later he met Vishwajit in Calcutta he told him that he had met a military-man in Mahaballipuram from the Ashram. My grey-trousers, my grey track-coat, a cap on the head and hunting-boots must have given him the impression that I was a military-man.

Many mistook me for one. Once I went somewhere on my motor-cycle. Someone came to me and started pleading with me in Tamil. But I did not understand a word of Tamil. My friend who was with me understood Tamil. He explanined to me that the man pleading was working in the police department and for some mistake on his part his services had

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been terminated. He thought Dada to be the new police-officer on duty and he was pleading with him to give him his job!

*

We were talking when something about Motakaka came up. Ramraj from Bombay was here. He said that Motakaka wasan extremely witty person. He enjoyed a good laugh and he was a very frank sort of man. Sometimes he would come up with very profound things as well. Although he said these things light-heartedly they were always pregnant with deep meaning. I remember his telling me once: 'In the Ashram there are about a dozen people who are doing the sadhana. We haven't come here for sadhana. So what do we do? We have come here just to create trouble for those dozen sadhaks and harrass them. It is our contribution to lay obstacles in their path and in this way these sadhaks' sadhana progresses.

Motakaka would say: 'We speak of spiritual damnation. I say our damnation is merely 'bondey' (a kind of Indian sweet that holds together, thanks to the sugar syrup that is wet). The 'bondey' by itself is useless, dry. But because we mix with sugar we are at least sweet.

He would humorously parody lines from Gray's Elegy. One day he exclaimed:

Paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Either to Kajnov or to Muthialpet.

Rani-di remarked: 'With the Mother, Motakaka's behaviour was totally frank. He didn't hide anything like a naughty, capricious child of the Mother. One day Motakaka went to the Mother for his birthday.

The Mother asked: 'What would you like, tell me.'

'Give me a hundred rupees, Mother,' he replied.

'What will you do with the money?' the Mother enquired.

'I want to go and eat roast-chicken at Reg's guest-house. But please don't tell Bina this.'

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As Bina-kakima woud have got angry he had warned the Mother.

The customary gentleness or solemnity was absent from his rapport with the Mother. He was truly like Her son A daredevil son.

One day he was coming down from the Mother's room. He looked terribly upset. Probably he had gone to the Mother with some capricious demand and the Mother had not yielded to him. And so he was coming down the steps very sour-faced.

Someone asked him: 'Motakaka, what's wrong? What happened?'

'What else could happen? God being a woman, what else do you expect?'

Nobody ever objected to his way of talking because everybody knew how deep his contact with the Mother was.

Once a general came from Delhi. He wanted to go to the Mother for pranam. The Mother told him She did not have any time. When Motakaka heard this he went to Her to intercede on his behalf. He saw that She was busy teaching maths to a young girl.

Motakaka told the Mother: 'You refused to see the general saying you had no time and here you are teaching maths to this young girl. This can be done by any other teacher, can't it?'

The Mother said: 'No, another teacher can't. This girl isterrorised by maths. I am trying to rid her of this fear by teaching her maths. For me this is much more important. T, general of yours who wants to come is probably doing to increase the glamour around him. There will be no other gain. Trying to teach this girl some maths is much more important.'

Motakaka couldn't say anything else after this.

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The Mother with Pranab, Motakaka (Charupada) and others.

A view of the Ganga (Bhagirathi) flowing through Berhampur in West Bengal.

Motakaka's death too was as beautiful as him.

He was very fond of good food. At night he had a delicious meal. This was topped by a pantua (an Indian sweet made with milk). He had an expression in his eyes that said another pantua wouldn't be a bad idea.

Bina Kakima was however firm: 'No, no more. You can eat one tomorrow.'

Motakaka also didn't insist. He got into his night-dress, a tusser silk kurta and pyjamas, wore some perfume and went to sleep.

The following morning he was no more with us. In his right hand he had a packet of the Mother's 'blessings' and in his left hand he had a pinch of snuff between two fingers.

After this, Khudi-ma never ate pantuas anymore. Motakaka had wanted to eat one more pantua but she had refused worried that it might cause him some problem. She just could not erase the sense of regret from her memory,

*

An old sadhak of the Ashram comes daily to Dada's office and bows down to him with folded hands.

Dada always asks him with a smile: "All right? Feeling better?"

He nods saying: 'Yes, Dada, feeling better.'

The sadhak has a nerve-related illness. His limbs are slowly losing their sensibility.

Dada said: To cure yourself of a nervous disorder you need to invoke delight in the body. It is the best way to cure nervous weakness.

Dada smiles at him as soon as he sees him and asks him:

"Feeling better?"

And he always answers: 'Yes, Dada, now I feel better.'

"Do you sleep well?"

'Yes, Dada.'

"Do you feel hungry?"

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'Yes, Dada, I do.'

"I remember you came to the Ashram in 1945. After seeing my physical demonstration at the Playground you told me:

'I've never seen such a wonderful physical demonstration in my life'."

The gentleman was delighted: 'You still remember this, Dada?' And his eyes and face lit up.

After he left Dada told us: "What more can I do? If I can make him happy his illness will go away."

*

Dada recounted to us: One evening in Berhampur I went out for a walk along the Ganga. Tarababu was with me. Tarababu was a good racing cyclist.

I suddenly noticed on the bank of the river, a cow was slowly sinking into what is generally called quicksand. The place was very muddy. The cow had sunk to its chest but it still managed to remain impassive.

We stopped walking as we saw the scene. It was getting dark. There was nobody around. And on the bank of this deserted river the cow went on sinking into the mud. The jackals and dogs would soon prey on it. Both of us tried our best to get the cow out of the mud but all to no avail. Then I went over to the neighbouring village and got four-five people to try and save it. With ropes and people we somehow man- aged to get the cow out of the quicksand. Its body was covered with mud. The cow got onto solid ground and quietly started grazing, blissfully unconcerned with what had happened. We got quite late in getting home that night.

*

Dada was recounting stories from his childhood. Motakaka had a gold-watch. Very expensive. An Omega wristwatch. It

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was his wedding watch. I would see Thakur-da take out the watch and regulate it from time to time. I too felt like doing the same. So when nobody was there I took out the watch and opened it to see. I saw inside a small wheel moving once to the left and once to the right. My curiosity was aroused. With the sharp end of a pencil I poked at the wheel. The sharp lead of the pencil broke and got stuck in the wheel. At once the wheel stopped moving. Then I thought that if I poured some water in the watch the pencil end would dissolve. So I poured some water into the watch and left it.

Later Motakaka raised a hue and cry asking who had opened the watch. 'Who had opened the watch? Who poured water into the watch?'

I said I had done it. When I poked with a pencil the end got stuck in the wheel inside. So I thought if I poured some water in it the piece would dissolve. So that the watch would start running again.

As soon, as he heard that he gave me a sound slap?

.

*

Someone asked Dada: 'Dada, when you first came to the Ashram, was the Ashram like it is today?'

You are asking me about the Ashram main building, aren't you? Dada asked. Yes, it was more or less like this. I am told

that there were four separate houses. These were slowly bought , one after the other and unified and took on the shape they¦ have today. However, the Ashram courtyard was made of earth. When I first came in 1942 the cementing of the court yard had already begun.

'Was the Service-tree there already?'

Yes, the Service-tree had been planted then. Ambu-bhai and Dyuman-bhai prepared the ground with soil and fertiliser and put a sapling of the Service tree. The sapling was growing well already. There was no need for any supports then. It hadn't become so big. The Mother loved this tree very much.

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While walking many people would get hurt by its branches. Someone went to Nolini-da and told him that as people were banging their heads while walking there some of the branches could be sawed off.

When Nolini-da heard this he said: 'Good Lord! If you chop a branch of that tree then we are lost. The Mother will chop us off! On the contrary, I think it is a good thing. When people walk there if they walk with their heads a little bowed every- thing will be fine. At least it would train us to cultivate some sign of devotion and reverence.

*

In the course of our conversation we started talking about the Ashram. Dada said:

In 1910 Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry. He had no intention of founding an Ashram then. Some young followers of his came with him. They used to stay with him but did their own things like studying, playing, reading etc. Sri Aurobindo kept himself busy with his sadhana. Then in 1914 the Mother came. The following year in February She went back due to the circumstances. The Mother returned to Pondicherry in 1920.

Some more people joined those who were already with Sri Aurobindo. It was like a small circle. With members of this circle the Mother set up some sort of an Ashram. Certain rules and a simple organisation came up. A field of work was created.

Then in 1926 Sri Aurobindo became totally absorbed in his sadhana and went into seclusion. And it fell upon the Mother to take charge of this small assemblage, of all their material and spiritual needs. And this is how an Ashram came up. And in the Mother's guidance and care it went on growing.

At that time everyone felt that the Mother and Sri Aurobindo would accomplish their sadhana of supramental realisation and physical transformation.

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In this yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the Guru's inspiration, the Guru's physical presence, the Guru's direct guidance and force are indispensable. In a life of sadhana a lot of obstacles, difficulties, errors and misjudgments occur. During such times of difficulty the Guru's physical presence and direct intervention and control become extremely necessary. Without this all advance on the path of sadhana becomes almost impossible for the disciple.

Dada read out an extract from a writing of Sri Aurobindo:

In this discipline the inspiration of the Master and, in the difficult stages, his control and his presence are indispensable - for it would be impossible otherwise to go through without much stumbling and error which would prevent all chance of success.

Sri Aurobindo has himself made it clear. An Ashram exists around a Guru. In the absence of the Guru the Ashram ceases to exist.

Sri Aurobindo left. The Mother was still in our midst. We all hoped then that the Mother would complete the sadhana of supramental transformation She had undertaken. But then one day the Mother too left. Even though the spiritual presence of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, and Their Force, is present in the Ashram, it cannot be considered an Ashram in the strict sense of the term.

Someone remarked: 'In the very beginning of his work The Synthesis of Yoga Sri Aurobindo talks about the four aids in his sadhana, shastra, zeal, guru, and time.'

Yes, the first aid is the accumulation of all the knowledge and experience of sadhana so far. This is what Sri Aurobindo calls shastra.

The second is from the sadhak's side, an enthusiasm, a willingness, an eagerness. Sri Aurobindo referring to the Bible says that the sadhak's enthusiasm and eagerness should be such that he will say: My zeal for the Lord has eaten me up.

The third aid is the guru. His physical and living presence. His physical presence. When the sadhak on the strength of his

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enthusiasm and eagerness takes the path set by the knowledge and experience of the shastra, the guru comes in and with his

vision and guidance lifts the sadhak's knowledge and sadhana towards spiritual realisation.

And the fourth aid is Time. If Time is not ripe nothing can happen. Every realisation has a time-cycle, a period of the divine movement.

The one who had raised the question of the four aids ask further: 'So then, Dada, what is the present situation of the Ashram?'

Dada said: In that sense it would not be right to call it an Ashram. Our Ashram is legally now called a 'public charitable trust'.

'But, Dada, my question is: do we, as we are a charitable trust, engage ourselves in any charitable work? Like the Bharat

Sevashram Sangh, the Ramakrishna Mission, etc. Bringing relief to people, to the sick, the poor, constructing schools, colleges, hospitals, etc'.

Yes, you are right about that. We don't do any charitable work of that kind. That isn't our work. It doesn't fall within our scope of work. The situation we are in at present could cause quite a few problems in the future. There might be adverse comments against us.

In the Guru's Ashram, all the property and money belongs to the Guru. But when it is a public trust then it is the general public that is the holder of all this property and money. The final responsibility falls on the government or the state. That is why I believe we should make arrangements to get out of this public or private trust business so that we can do our work unhindered. We should give up all commercial business activities. We should organise ourselves in such a way that we can focus on our real work, on the real goal and ideal of the Ashram. Our real work is the transformation of human nature. To experiment with human Me. Nobody has ever done this kind of work. That is why our Ashram has a unique status and importance. And it is for this that we should get the

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necessary permission from the government. To go beyond this public trust, private trust so that the work can go on unimpeded. That is to work for the supramental realisation and the physical transformation through yoga-sadhana. Like this we would avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles.

I had given another proposal along with this, Dada continued. And that is to call this Ashram a 'Spiritual Research Centre' where every sadhak would have his or her bio-data. To know and keep a record of what the physical, psychological and spiritual condition of each person was before coming here. There will be a detailed description of each sadhak's progress or downturn in the spiritual and physical yoga - sadhana after coming here. Everything will be filed and documented. I've made a chart keeping all this in mind. If you look at this chart everything about a sadhak becomes clear. All the experiments, observation and study being carriedout in the sadhana of each sadhak, a clear picture of that will emerge from this chart. From the point of view of the supramental, physical transformation each sadhak is, in reality a test-tube and the Ashram a spiritual laboratory. Here are the charts I've prepared:

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According to these charts all the information will becollected. All the data of the spiritual and physical sadhana a short of history of each Ashram sadhak's entire life, what is called a data fund, will also give us some idea of the future generation too. Its value in terms of research will be infinite. In the history of Indian spirituality this will become a unique precedent.

Our work is the transformation of human nature. Experiments with human life. Nobody has ever done this kind of work with human life. That is why our Ashram has a distinctive contribution, a special place.

We have to get the government to grant us a special status so that we can do our work unimpeded outside the pale public or private trust. We have to transform human nature and make it entirely divine. We are not only to see God bi be God. But nobody accepted any of my proposals.

'Let me ask you a fundamental question. From whatever you read out from Sri Aurobindo it is clearly said that guru's control and his presence are indispensable - for it would be impossible otherwise to go through it. Without the guru it is impossible to progress in sadhana. Whatever the method or the system used the collective sadhana of the Ashram is not possible. It belongs only to the guru, this extraordinary method or tradition, what in Sri Aurobindo's language can be called

'He has no method and every method'. The divine Force works from within the guru - Force that works in him is impersonal — or Superpersonal - and infinite. We feel, Dada, the descent and working of the guru's force flows like the unhindered, irresistible, constant flow of the Ganga. Does this flow of guru's force ever cease or disappear?'

No, Dada answered, that never stops. Once the flow of Force has descended it keeps on flowing. As we feel the Mother and Sri Aurobindo's consciousness and force go on unhindered.. One who is ready and sincerely calls can benefit from Their help and advance in the sadhana. That is why Sri

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Aurobindo and the Mother's work has not stopped. Each on will walk on the path of sadhana holding on to the progress he makes in his nature.

'But Dada, let me ask you again. Does everyone have the capacity, that quality? What is to be done, what path must one follow, in which direction? Does everyone have a clear knowledge and perception about this? If that were so then nobody would ever need a guru. This inner guru or inner guide gets covered up due to the excessive predominance of the sadhak's personal inclinations and interference. Impelled his own obstinate urgings, the hidden proddings of the ego the sadhak often does not know where he is going. The ego clouded soul is deluded at every step, stumbles and falls down. Sadhana becomes full of obstacles for him and very often impossible.'

Dada listened and then said: Everything you are saying is right. But know one thing: the Mother and Sri Aurobindo haven't abandoned us. Their force. Their consciousness, Their sadhana is guiding us. This is my firm belief, you can call it my unfailing perception, that if necessary the Mother would prepare an appropriate instrument and it is through this instrument that She will continue Her work. Be it here or else where at the appropriate time She will get the appropriate instrument ready or probably has got it ready already. Our sadhana and realisation will not stop here. Our only work is to open ourselves to that Force of the Mother. As far as possible each one should endeavour whole-heartedly, according to his inner readiness, to fulfil his duty and work.

*

Dada observed: This yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo is the yoga of total transformation. The goal is to renounce al the impurities, the unconsciousness of our nature and to position oneself in the higher consciousness. The goal is not to seek liberation or nirvana from this nature.

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