Down Memory Lane

Rishabhchand

Just a few days after my arrival at Pondicherry, when my host came to know about my literary taste, he took me to Rishabhchand, who was a relative of his and one of the early Ashramites. Rishabhchand hailed from a Jain family settled at Calcutta, the ancestors having lived in the interior of Bengal. The family had grown in silk business; they were the owners of the famous Eastern Silk House. Rishabhchand himself was involved in the family trade before joining the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Well-versed in the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, a man of refined taste and culture, engaged in sadhana, unassuming, he took kindly to me when I was introduced to him after getting an appointment. His living room was on the first floor of the premises of the Ashram Furniture Service, which was located on the ground floor and of which he was the Manager. For matters not connected with the furniture work he generally met people upstairs.

I was a young lover of Sri Aurobindo's poetry. The first edition of his Collected Poems and Plays had come out in 1942. His play Perseus the Deliverer was among the first items of his read by me. Rishabhchand spoke of the mantric quality of Sri Aurobindo's poem Rose of God, and later, also of The Bird of Fire. He gave an impressive reading of Rose of God and the next morning I read it myself. I was not able to follow the meaning. Further attempts also did not yield much result. Rishabhchand then advised me to go on reading it without the attempt to understand its meaning mentally, but to let the words go down within me. And it worked. I then came to know how to read mantric poetry.

When I started the Hindi bi-monthly Ma he sent his contributions with pleasure. He appreciated the journal's standard and my translation of his English articles. Later he even wrote some articles in Hindi to which he was not accustomed, and gave me the liberty to improve it. Once I had changed the title of his article "The place of the Mother in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga" into

Page 5

"Sri Aurobindo's Yoga and the Mother", as I had the feeling that to speak of the "place of the Mother" in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga was not so correct for Mother was the Divine Mother of the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. Rishabhchand was annoyed and frank about it. I was advised not to take such liberties in future, but he was not at all rude or impolite as a writer of his standing could have been. He was a gentleman.

After settling down at Pondicherry, I had taken up the translation of Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine into Hindi. When I was facing difficulties from several quarters, Rishabhchand willingly agreed to help me. I went to him regularly at a fixed hour for the revision of the translation. Once I did not go due to a fever. Having waited for ten minutes for me, he himself walked down to my house, inquired about my well-being, and said that as it was Mother's work we could do it there itself if I was not too unwell. It was a pointer to the correct attitude of a sadhak of karma-yoga. We worked that day and during the next days also he kept on coming until I recovered and was able to resume my visits to his place.

In the revision of the translation, sometimes I was not very happy over his advice or we both were unsure. He himself found a way that I would refer such points to Nolini-da and adopt his choice. Obviously, Nolini-da was the best referee, but it needed Rishabhchand's humility to adopt this course.

I also remember an occasion when a matter was referred to Mother by me in a letter in consultation with Rishabhchand who was in agreement with my view and even offered that his name could be mentioned in my letter. Mother's reply was not in accordance with our view and expectations. His reaction was of quiet acceptance and it was a good experience for me.

In course of time Rishabhchand's health started failing. He passed sleepless nights and suffered from headache in the daytime. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to do the concentrated mental work of the revision of the translation of The Life Divine.

All of a sudden, one day I got the news that his body was found floating in the sea. I had seen him only a day before as usual. How it happened, we still don't know. His end came in the year 1970 when he was 70.

I remember some anecdotes narrated by him.

Page 6

He spoke of an intelligent visitor who, after three days of stay at the Ashram, said to Mother, "When I look at you, I do not want to leave; when I look at the people here, I do not want to stay".

An Ashramite felt unhappy when he was not given by Mother the book The Mother' whereas a friend of his received it. Mother first said, "This book is for sadhakas", and then added with a smile, "You are my child".

When a disciple found that Dr. S. Radhakrishnan had taken some material verbatim from Sri Aurobindo's writings and incorporated it as his own in a book of his, he wanted to write about this plagiarism and asked for Sri Aurobindo's approval. Sri Aurobindo said, "But so long as he is saying what I am saying, he is doing my work !"

He spoke of the visit of a big group of pilgrims from the North. One of them used to suddenly start jumping around, more so when in worship, and it was said that it happened when Hanuman came into him. The problem was that they wanted to meditate in the Meditation Hall in Mother's presence and it could not be pleasant to see this man jumping around. Mother was informed of it when the request for permission was placed before her, but she allowed all to come. His jumping ceased from then.

Page 7