Mother's Chronicles - Book Five

26

Planchette

After the Puja holidays the family returned to Baroda. This time, apart from Didi and Sejo-Baudi, an aunt of theirs joined them.

Barin had recently read some books on spiritism. So to while away the evening hours he began experimenting with planchette and table-tapping. Once begun it caught hold of everyone, and they would sit daily for two to three hours. Barin says that among all those who sat for it, the automatic writing came mostly or more easily to him and to Sejda.

Sri Aurobindo himself practised automatic writing for a time at Calcutta and at Pondicherry. The book Yogic Sadhan was written at Pondicherry in that fashion —the 'spirit' was Raja Rammohan Roy.

"The writing was done as an experiment as well as an amusement and nothing else," stated Sri Aurobindo. "I may mention here the circumstances under which it was first taken up. Barin had done some very extraordinary automatic writing at Baroda in a very brilliant and beautiful English style and remarkable for certain predictions which came true and statements of

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fact which also proved to be true although unknown to the persons concerned or anyone else present: there was notably a symbolic anticipation of Lord Curzon's subsequent unexpected departure from India, and, again, of the first suppression of the national movement and the greatness of Tilak's attitude amidst the storm; this prediction was given in Tilak's own presence when he visited Sri Aurobindo at Baroda and happened to enter first when the writing was in progress. Sri Aurobindo was very much struck and interested and he decided to find out by practising this kind of writing himself what there was behind it. This is what he was doing in Calcutta. But the results did not satisfy him and after a few further attempts at Pondicherry he dropped these experiments altogether." Whatever others may say, Sri Aurobindo did not give too high a value to his efforts, "for they had none of those remarkable features of Barin's writings." Sri Aurobindo's final conclusion was that "though there are sometimes phenomena which point to the intervention of beings of another plane, not always or often of a high order, the mass of such writings comes from a dramatising element in the subconscious mind; sometimes a brilliant vein in the subliminal is struck and then predictions of the future and statements of things known in the present and past come up, but otherwise these writings have not a great value." Sri Aurobindo added that there was "no guide at all, though someone calling himself Theramenes broke in from time to time. The writings came haphazard without any spirit mentor such as some mediums claim to have."

Nolini Kanto Gupta also remembered Theramenes, and

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a few others besides. He says that Sri Aurobindo made them hear specimens of automatic speech. "At about eight in the evening, we used to sit around him in a room." That was the Karmayogin office. "The lights would be turned off. A sudden hush would fall, and all of us kept silence for a while. Then slowly a voice would come from Sri Aurobindo. Evidently it was not his own voice. There were many such voices, coming one after the other, and each of a different manner and tone. Each voice would declare its own identity. I distinctly remember a few voices. One day someone came and said many fine things—on education, on literature, and on our country etc. We got eager to know his name. After putting us off for a moment, he finally gave out that he was Bankim Chandra. The talks used to be in English.... Another day someone else appeared and announced in a strident, dreadful voice: 'I am Danton! Terror ! Red Terror!', and harangued us on the necessity and justification of bloodshed in the French Revolution. Yet another day somebody came and introduced himself thus: 'I am Theramenes.'" Adds Nolini, "Theramenes was a political leader in ancient Greece. In a quiet mellow voice, he gave us a lecture on politics...."

Years later, during a talk with the attendant disciples, Sri Aurobindo gave several additional details of sittings at Baroda. "Barin at that time was trying some automatic writing," he recollected. "Once a spirit purporting to be that of my father came and made some prophecies. He said that he had once given a golden watch to Barin. Barin tried hard to remember and at last found that it was true."

Then he referred to the sudden departure of Curzon from

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India. "The spirit prophesied that Lord Curzon would shortly leave India: he saw him looking across a blue sea. At that time there was no chance at all of Curzon's going back. But the prophecy came true. Curzon had a row with Lord Kitchener and had very shortly to leave India." But before he was chucked out of India, Lord Curzon had already put in motion forces that were to bring unexpected results. Results beyond anybody's imaginings —India's liberation from foreign yoke. For in history most beneficent results have often followed hard upon harsh measures taken by the ruler. Strangely enough, great evils have also sometimes arisen from an act of virtue. As with Prithviraj Chauhan, the King of Delhi, who was steeped in the valorous lore of Rajputana. Well, when he had Muhammad Ghori at his mercy after winning easily the battle against the Muslim invader in 1192, he chivalrously let him off. Ghori returned the next year and treacherously killed Prithviraj. Thus was the way paved for Muslim rule in India, which lasted for the next six hundred years.

Sri Aurobindo continued his narration. "The spirit also said that there was a picture of Hanuman on the wall of the house of Deodhar who was present at the sitting. Deodhar also tried to remember and said there was no such picture. When he went back, he asked his mother about it. She replied that there used to be the picture but it had been plastered over."

At that time it was Barin who was holding the pen. "Lastly, the spirit prophesied that when everybody had deserted us, a man who was present there —meaning Tilak — would stand by us. This also came true." The actual words

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spoken by the spirit of Dr. K. D. Ghose are supposed to have been, "When all your work will be ruined and many men will bow their heads down, this man will keep his head erect."

It was about the same time that Sri Aurobindo came into contact with a Naga Sannyasi, Mohanpuri. "I told him that I wanted to get power for revolutionary activities. He gave me a violent mantra of Kali, with 'Jahi, Jahi' etc. to repeat. I did so, but, as I had expected, it came to nothing."

Mohanpuri was a member of the governing body of the Naga Sannyasis. He also "conducted certain kriyas and a Vedic yajña, but all this was for his political success in his mission and not for Yoga." Barin waxed more eloquent. "Another ash-covered yogi with long and tawny matted locks used to visit Aurobindo at this time and leave long stotras or hymns to Shiva behind in Sanskrit manuscript. He sent a Brahmin once to do japa or tapasya for Aurobindo, and a hut was created in our compound and a golden image of Bagala was prepared. With closed doors the Brahmin devotee used to perform his secret ceremonies in front of this image."

We have met Devi Bagala in Deoghar. She is yellow-coloured, dressed in yellow garments and bejewelled in yellow — all golden. She has only two arms, sometimes four. With her right hand she strikes the Enemy with a cudgel, and with her left hand she pulls out the tongue of the Enemy.

"On another occasion," Sri Aurobindo went on, "a spirit purporting to be that of Ramakrishna came and simply said, 'Build a temple.' At that time we were planning to build a temple for political Sannyasis and call it Bhawani Mandir. We

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thought he meant that, but later I understood it as 'Make a temple within.'" Bhawani is one of the names of the Supreme Mother.

"This," revealed Sri Aurobindo, "gave me the final push to Yoga. I thought: great men could not have been after a chimera, and if there was such a more-than-human power, why not get it and use it for action?"

Still waters run deep. The youth's pent-up love for a mother found a channel in his Motherland. He loved India deeply and passionately. It was that love that led Sri Aurobindo to Yoga.

He wrote the pamphlet Bhawani Mandir, in 1905 I reckon. R. N. Patkar disclosed the following fact. "In the beginning of 1905 Sri Aurobindo, Deshpande and Jadhav were meeting in the evenings." We suppose it really was Khaserao, as Madhavrao had been sent to England in 1905. "One evening," Patkar called up into his narrative a scene from those bygone days, "I saw Barindra going with the planchette into the room where all the three used to meet. Successively for three days they met in that very room, along with Barindra with the planchette. On the fourth day I asked Barindra what the matter was. Without the least hesitation he told me that a message from the Goddess had been received with detailed directions, which after being put in a readable form will be printed and published in the form of a book. The book was out in a few days under the title 'Bhawani Mandir,' or 'The Message of the Goddess.' It was for private circulation only."

In a letter Sri Aurobindo clears up some points.

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"Bhawani Mandir was written by Sri Aurobindo but it was more Barin's idea than his. It was not meant to train people for assassination but for revolutionary preparation of the country. The idea was soon dropped as far as Sri Aurobindo was concerned, but something of the kind was attempted by Barin in the Manick-tala Garden...." The idea of Bhawani Mandir simply lapsed of itself. "The selection of a site and a head of the monastery [Sakharia Baba] must have been simply an idea of Barin. He had travelled among the hills trying to find a suitable place but caught hill-fever and had to abandon his search and return to Baroda. Subsequently he went back to Bengal, but Sri Aurobindo did not hear of any discovery of a suitable place."

It was after Barin's futile quest in the Vindhya hills that Sri Aurobindo met Mohanpuri, the Naga Sannyasi. Sri Aurobindo was searching for a Guru then. "He met a Naga Sannyasi in the course of this search, but did not accept him as Guru, though he was confirmed by him in a belief in Yoga power when he saw him cure Barin in almost a moment of a violent and clinging hill-fever by merely cutting through a glassful of water crosswise with a knife while he repeated a silent Mantra. Barin drank and was cured." That was a first-hand knowledge of yogic cure. Later in a talk, Sri Aurobindo described more fully the procedure. "I first knew about yogic cure from a Naga Sadhu or Naga Sannyasi. Barin had mountain fever when he was wandering in the Amarkantak hills. The Sannyasi took a cup of water, cut it into four by making two crosses with a knife and asked Barin to drink it, saying, 'He won't have fever tomorrow.' And the fever left him."

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Agastya