Mother's Chronicles - Book Six

34

This World

Do you remember Sri Aurobindo saying that he could have remained in the Brahman Consciousness eternally? But "I came out as I got the command from above." Before parting from Lele at Nagpur, he told him of "a mantra that had arisen in my heart." Lele had begun to give instructions but suddenly stopped and "asked me if I could rely absolutely on Him who had given me the Mantra." Sri Aurobindo said he could. So Lele handed him over "to the Divine within me...." He returned to Calcutta. A month or two later Lele came there. But in the meantime Sri Aurobindo had "received the command from within that a human Curu was not necessary for me."

The Divine Charioteer was now firmly seated in the heart and had taken the reins of the Chosen One's destiny in his own hands.

The Command to go to Chandernagore at a moment's notice came from the same source. It was again the same Voice that spoke when he received the Command to go to Pondicherry. "It was impossible to make a mistake or disobey that voice," said Sri Aurobindo categorically.

By the time Sri Aurobindo arrived in Pondicherry he had

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become quite familiar with that Voice.

But the Voice was not going to immediately reveal to him the purpose behind these moves. The revelations were to come, so to say, in dribs and drabs. Because the moment of the realization's advent "is chosen by the wisdom of the Divine alone and one must have the strength to go on till it arrives, for when all is truly ready it cannot fail to come." So Sri Aurobindo quietly began to prepare the ground. Almost a decade later while declining the offer from Joseph Baptista¹ to take up the editorship of an English daily he stated, "Pondicherry is my place of retreat, my cave of tapasya, not of an ascetic kind, but a brand of my own invention."

'Not of an ascetic kind' describes it perfectly. "There is to me nothing secular," he wrote in the same letter (5 Jan. 1920), "all human activity is for me a thing to be included in a complete spiritual life...." His was a balanced approach. "My own life and my Yoga have always been since my coming to India both this-worldly and other-worldly without any exclusiveness on either side," wrote Sri Aurobindo in 1949 in a letter. He never made any sharp difference between what he called 'the two ends of existence.' Never. It was so from the very beginning.

When he came out of jail in 1909, the change in Sri Aurobindo was perceptible. He himself had not bargained for it, when for a whole year he had to live "beyond the pale of society,

¹ Joseph Baptista was a Nationalist leader. He requested Sri Aurobindo to take up the editorship of an English daily to be brought out from Bombay as the organ of a new political party which Tilak and other like-minded people intended to form at the time. But Tilak passed away a few months later, in August, leaving free the political field to M. K. Gandhi.

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like an animal in a cage," as he wrote in his Karakahini (Tales of Prison Life). No, it was not "the old familiar Aurobindo Ghose" who came out of the "Ashram at Alipore," it was "a new being, a new character, new intellect, life, mind, embarking upon a new course of action" who reentered the world of action.

Changed was the tenor of his writings from the Bande Malaram to the Karmayogin. Not that he did not write on politics, he did. Nor did he immediately give up all his political activities, or retire into solitude after his Vasudeva experience at Alipore Jail. No, quite the contrary.

Immediately upon his release on 6 May several advocates had taken Arabindo Babu to the Bar Library. With great respect some of them touched his feet with their hands. From there he and the other released prisoners were taken in a procession of hired horse-carriages to Kalimohan Aloy, the house of Chitta-ranjan Das at Russa Road, in Bhowanipore. A quarter century later Sahana,' recounting the episode, vividly lived the scene. She was but eleven years old at the time, but she recalled the wild excitement when the news of Arabindo Babu's release was brought to the house. Had not all of them seen how C.R. Das, her mamababu, had worked day after day, night after night, consulting big law books, pacing the floor, for months on end? His labours had finally been crowned with success. And when the released prisoners reached their house, what joy there was! A jubilant welcome was given to the guests. After which the ladies of the house went to the kitchen. The young men out of

¹ Sahana Devi, C.R. Das' niece, was a great singer in those days. I met her first in Pondicherry in 1935. Such an affectionate nature is hard to find.

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the jail took an enthusiastic bath of liberation in the large pond south of the house.

After a big lunch everyone went to rest in the big hall. Sri Aurobindo sat in their midst. A buzz of chatter swirled round him. He rarely uttered a word. His eyes were fixed afar. Just a few times he said something in an undertone to Chitta. In his soft voice there was not a trace of excitement. In the evening the released prisoners went to their respective homes. Sri Aurobindo went to N°6 College Square, his na'meso K. K. Mitra's house.

The police began their surveillance of Arabindo Babu as soon as he walked out a free man. They kept tab on his activities, and noted the comings and goings of his many visitors. "He is said to be accessible to almost anyone," goes one police report, "known or unknown, who goes to call on him. He went out to deliver speeches. He even went on speech-tours to far-off villages where he met and talked with many."

Students in particular adored him. Nolini and Bejoy used to go to 6, College Square every afternoon to see him. Naturally they did not escape the notice of the police set to watch Arabindo Babu's movements. It was, of course, a nuisance at the time. But thanks to the police reports filed, we can, we do, get some glimpses of Sri Aurobindo's daily activities. For instance, on Sri Aurobindo's birthday on 15 August 1909—his last at Calcutta—"a band of young men attended at N°6 College Square, to offer their felicitations to Arabindo Ghose on his attaining his 39^thyear." There's accuracy of police report for you! Factually Sri Aurobindo was thirty-seven that day. As was the prevailing custom, the young men offered him sweets, fruits, flowers and

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cloth. Making the occasion more lively with high-spirited cries of 'Bande Mataram,' and 'Long live Arabindo Ghose' in between. "He was also presented with an address," the report said, "which set forth the services he had rendered to the country in developing the national ideal. Arabindo Ghose—was visibly moved and made a suitable reply."

A Bengali newspaper of Calcutta, the Bharat Mitra, faithfully reproduced the reply in its 21 August 1909 issue. "In My childhood," began Sri Aurobindo, "before the full development of my faculties, I became conscious of a strong impulse in me. I did not realise what it was then, but it grew stronger and stronger as I gained in years till all the weakness of my childhood, fear, selfishness, etc., vanished from my mind. From the day of my return to the mother country, the impulse is surging forth in great force, and my set purpose and devotion are becoming more confirmed with the trials and oppression to which I am subjected. When some Divine power by the grace of God manifests itself in a human being any efforts to develop it give a new force to the national life. You will have to sacrifice yourself at the feet of your mother. You should, therefore, devote yourself with firm faith and whole heart to her service. Service of our motherland is our highest duty at this moment. This must be our duty in this iron age Every one must store up energy. Be prepared with fresh hope and vigour for the worship of the Mother. Divine power has infused this nation with a new power." This was to be the Supramental Power he was to discover. "This power will exalt the nation one day," he concluded.

The students stored up his words in their hearts, and

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touching their foreheads with the dust from his feet—an Indian custom—they left.

From the very beginning Sri Aurobindo always included both 'this world' and the 'other world,' the material and the spiritual, in his purview.

When he went on tour, Sri Aurobindo's companions would see him meet with other Nationalists and discuss the affairs of the country with them; they would attend his address to various audiences, and hear him deliver lectures. They would see the crowd of villagers come to have a glimpse of him. It was not just that he was a famous Nationalist, a lover of Mother India and its suffering inhabitants, but because the news had spread fast that he was a Yogi, and the villagers came to seek his blessing. In the camp, if one of the boys awoke in the middle of the night, he would see him seated in lotus posture. Eyes wide open. His unblinking gaze fixed on ... what?

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