Life of Sri Aurobindo

CHAPTER VIII

Departure for Pondicherry

Disciple: "Why did you choose Pondicheny as the place for your sadhana?"

Sri Aurobindo: "It was by an Adesh [higher command]. I was asked to come here."^¹

Of those persons who took part in arranging Sri Aurobindo's journey from Chandernagore to Pondicherry, three are still alive^² They have published an account of the incident under the signature of Nagendra Kumar Guha Roy. It has been approved by Sukumar Mitra. The facts are as follows:

Sri Aurobindo asked Motilal Roy to make arrangements for his departure. Motilal wrote a letter to Amar Chatterji at Uttarpara, in which he informed him of Sri Aurobindo's intended departure from Chandernagore in a boat on 31 March and asked him to make arrangements to change the boat at Dumur Tala Ghat and to ferry Sri Aurobindo from there to the steamer Dupleix. Other arrangements would be made, said Motilal, by Sukumar Mitra, who would be waiting at the Calcutta Ghat.

Motilal wrote another letter to Sukumar Mitra at Calcutta informing him of Sri Aurobindo's intention of going to Pondi­cherry and telling him that Sri Aurobindo wanted him to make the following arrangements privately so as to keep his departure a secret. He was to meet Sri Aurobindo and his companions at the Calcutta Ghat with two tickets for Pondicherry by the steamer Dupleix. One of the tickets was for Sri Aurobindo, the other for the young man who was to accompany him.

It was necessary to take great precautions so that the infor­mation about Sri Aurobindo's departure might not leak out. It is difficult for the present generation to form an idea of the tense atmosphere of those days. The house of Sukumar Mitra

^¹ Cf. A. B. Purani, Evening Talks, Third Series (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1966), p.

^² This was written in the early 1950's. [Ed.]

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was under surveillance, especially because of Sri Aurobindo's recent stay there. The work which Sukumar had to do was difficult one.

As soon as he received Motilal's letter, Sukumar called Nagendra Kumar Guha Roy, a nationalist worker of Noakhali, to the Sanjivani office. He gave Nagen two trunks and asked him to take them to the mess where he was living. Nagendra jocularly asked whether the trunks contained bombs. Sukumar told him not to bother about the contents, but to keep the trunks with him. Nagendra took them to his mess, which was located at 44/1, College Square.

The next day Sukumar gave two names to Nagen and asked him to buy two second class tickets for Colombo. This was done to put the police of the scent. Two names had been taken from the Sanjivani subscriber-list so that, even if the police inquired into them, they would be found to correspond to real persons. The tickets were for Colombo so that all inquiries would be directed, if at all, to Colombo instead of Pondicherry. Sukumar instructed Nagen to reserve a double cabin so that the two passengers could travel together. Nagen bought the tickets and brought them to Sukumar, who asked him to keep them with him.

Then on 31 March, 1910, Sukumar called Nagen and told him that he and his mess-mate Surendra Kumar Chakravarty, with whom Sukumar had already spoken, should hire a boat at the Bagbazar Ghat that afternoon. They were to go to the Chand Pal Ghat with the trunks and put them in the cabin on the steamer Dupleix. Sukumar also informed Nagen that the two passengers would arrive by boat.

Nagen was a little puzzled. He asked Sukumar how he would recognise the two men. Sukumar replied that he had given all the information to Suren. Suddenly it dawned upon Nagen that it was Sri Aurobindo who was to be the passenger. He asked Sukumar: "Is it not your Auroda [Sri Aurobindo] who is going?" Sukumar was surprised. He smiled and said: "You have hit the mark; but how did you know?" Nagen said: “Somehow I felt it." "It is true," said Sukumar, "but take care no one else should find out."

As previously arranged Amar Chatterji, along with his co-worker Manmatha Biswas hired a boat at Uttarpara on the thirty-first of March and met Sri Aurobindo at the Dumur Tala Ghat. They ferried him to the Calcutta-side of the river. To their disappointment

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they found that neither Sukumar nor Bijoy Nag had come to meet them as previously arranged. So, Amar hired a coach and he, Manmatha and Sri Aurobindo were driven to Sukumar's house in College Square. They stopped at a distance and Manmatha Biswas was sent to inquire if Sukumar was at home. No one was there. They concluded that Sukumar, must have gone to the ghat to meet them, and turned back.

The fact was that Nagen and Surendra, who had been sent by Sukumar to meet Sri Aurobindo and conduct him to the “Dupleix”, were delayed in crossing the river and missed the boat carrying Sri Aurobindo, Amar and Manmatha. Failing to meet them, Nagen and Surendra returned to Sukumar and told him of the mishap. Sukumar then told them to go immediately to Chand Pal Ghat and remove the trunks from the cabin. Surendra left the work at this stage. It was now six o'clock in the evening. Nagen found out that the doctor who issued the health-certificates had already examined the passengers and gone home. He met the Captain, took the address of the doctor and hired a coolie to take back the trunks. The coolie told Nagen that he knew the doctor's place and also the doctor's servant and would arrange everything for him. He asked the coolie to wait at the ghat and drove to Sukumar's place in a carriage. He found Sukumar waiting for him. Nagen told him that he had removed the trunks. Sukumar asked him to hurry to the ghat where Sri Aurobindo and Amar were waiting in a carriage. He was to give them the tickets and arrange to get the medical certificate. Sukumar gave money for the doctor's fees to Nagen.

Nagen, taking the trunks, drove back to Chand Pal Ghat. He found Sri Aurobindo's carriage waiting on the wayside. The coolie came to Nagen's carriage and informed him that the passengers for whom he was waiting had already arrived and that he had informed the waiting Babus that Nagen had the trunks.

Nagen put the trunks in the waiting carriage and got into it. He sat by the side of Amar; Sri Aurobindo and Bijoy Nag were on the opposite seat. The coolie sat with the coachman.

The doctor lived in Chowringhee. When they reached there, he was called by the coolie. In the meantime Nagen gave the tickets, the names and addresses of the two passengers to Sri Aurobindo. The assumed names of Sri Aurobindo and Bijoy were to be Jyotindranath Mitra and Bankimchandra Basak respectively. He gave the money to Sri Aurobindo to pay the Doctor his fees which was Rs.32.

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They had to wait for half an hour before the doctor called them in for the examination. The young men talked among themselves in a low tone. Sri Aurobindo was silent. The porter got the impression that Sri Aurobindo was having some misgivings. He told his impression to Nagen, who replied: "No, the Babu has no such fear; only he had malarial fever and his body is weak, so you think he is afraid." But the porter did not seem to be convinced by Nagen's explanation. He ran to Sri Aurobindo and, standing in front of him, said: "Babuji, why are you afraid? The doctor is a very good man. There is no reason for fear." He shook Sri Aurobindo's arms. The three looked at one another and smiled at his strange behaviour. Sri Aurobindo also smiled.

After a short time the doctor's servant came and took Sri Aurobindo and Bijoy inside. About fifteen minutes later they came out with their medical certificates. In that short interval the European doctor had remarked that Sri Aurobindo spoke chaste English. Sri Aurobindo replied that he had received his education in England.

They all went back in the same carriage to Chand Pal Ghat. There was no trace of anxiety and restlessness on Sri Aurobindo's face. The other people were a little upset and anxious as the arrangements had not gone off as expected. But Sri Aurobindo for whom they were all so anxious was unmoved, quiet, without the least anxiety. He sat like a statue – as if in meditation. This was the first time Nagen had seen Sri Aurobindo in that fearless state.

When they reached Chand Pal Ghat it was nearly 11 p.m. They all went up to the reserved cabin with the trunks. Bijoy began to prepare the bedding for Sri Aurobindo. Amar and Nagen stood before Sri Aurobindo with joined hands and did namaskār. Amar gave Sri Aurobindo money given by Zamindar Rajendra Mukherji of Uttarpara. Then he and Nagen took their leave. Nagen bowed and both went down the gangway.

The only people who knew about Sri Aurobindo's departure were: Motilal Roy, Suresh Chakravarty or Moni, who was al­ready at Pondicherry, Amar Chatterji, Manmathanath Biswas, Surendra Kumar Chakravarty, Sukumar Mitra, Nagendra Kumar Guha Roy, Bijoy Kumar Nag, who accompanied Sri Aurobindo, and Rajendranath Mukherji, Zamindar of Uttarpara.

The steamer left Calcutta in the early hours of the morning of 1 April 1910.

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