Read Jagannath Vedalankar's correspondence with The Mother - related mainly with his work at the Ashram Press between 1946 and 1950.
The Mother : correspondence
THEME/S
Jagannath Vedalankar’s date of birth is not known. He joined the Ashram on 10 October 1945. At first the Mother sent him to work at the newly founded Ashram Press. Later, he taught Sanskrit in the Ashram school for many years. He lived in the Ashram for fifty-one years, passing away in January 1997.
Jagannath’s correspondence with the Mother, entirely in English, deals mainly with his work at the Ashram Press between 1946 and 1950. There are also several letters of 1947 regarding help to his brother at the time of the partition of India.
Gracious Mother,
In my absences during working hours, who should keep the key of the Press keyboard? I consulted Mr. Pillai about it and he said that everywhere it is the gatekeeper’s duty to keep keys. If you approve of it, I shall hand over the key to the gatekeeper whenever I have to go out during working hours.
Yes — I only hope he is a reliable man.
Blessings
10 December 1946
Dr. Indra Sen has agreed to keep the key of the Press keyboard with himself in my absence from the Press. It will be safer.
I am busy preparing the manuscript for the February issue of Aditi, which is expected on or about the first January. There is an offer from D to help me. He also helps R in driving the tiffin-carriers’ cart. He wants to devote his spare time to preparing fair copies of the articles so that the Hindi section has no difficulty composing them. Can his help be accepted?
Yes, provided he does not give up the other work in order to do this one.
12 December 1946
Divine Mother,
Aditya can be a useful hand for Aditi work because he is competent in Sanskrit and Hindi. He will joyfully spare some time for it with your blessing and sanction.
He is fully busy in the Granary and I wonder how he could find time to do some other work. But I shall see what he says about it.
26 December 1946
Almost every night, before going to bed, I utter in my heart, “O Mother, the duty of keeping the Press in the night is offered to Thee. Thou doest it. Thou alone canst do it. Make me a worthy vehicle for it.”
Is it right, or is there anything ignorant in it?
It is all right.
You were to make an inquiry regarding the supply of filtered water for the Press. Although we are getting one pitcher of water from Cycle House, we also want a part of our requirement from the Dining Room, especially because it is nearer to our premises and the servant who carries the pitcher on his head feels more trouble to bring it from a farther distance. Is it possible to get at least three litres of water from there?
I have made an inquiry and have found out that the D.R. filter is not giving enough water for the D.R. There is only one solution to the problem. I am ordering two big filters, one for Aroumé [the Dining Room], the other one for the Press.
11 January 1947
Today I am writing to you a few lines about an externality of life. Often I have been careless about dressing my hair. The main motive behind has always been that it is a sheer waste of time and energy which can be spent for a higher pursuit. There have also intervened periods when I was impelled by some other motives, superior or inferior, and either I became excessively careful and attentive to the dressing of my hair or else I became more inattentive to it.
But now something in me wants that I should take the right yogic attitude even in this matter. What is true and good for me — to let my hair grow freely and keep it in a beautiful way, or get it cut from time to time and also remain clean-shaved? Especially, what attitude should I keep about this externality of life?
Generally the motive behind all neglect of the body is a tamasic laziness. The right attitude is not to give an undue attention to these externalities, but at the same time to take all necessary care for the body to remain fit and strong. Moreover external untidiness is always the expression and symbol of some inner confusion and lack of organisation, mental or vital.
With my love and blessings
15 January 1947
X wants the handbills advertising his books to be enclosed in the copies of Aditi and thus sent to all subscribers of Aditi. If you approve of it, we shall send the handbills along with the April issue. The handbills I am enclosing are samples for you to see.
Are you in the habit of putting handbills in Aditi? Otherwise I do not see why you should begin with these.
My love and blessings
27 February 1947
You did not reply about my request for furniture. Shall I remind R about the supply of the sanctioned furniture?
I did not reply because your furniture has not been forgotten but your need is one among so many others that have also to be attended to.
5 March 1947
The postman who delivers posted articles to the Ashram Press says to me now and again, “I bring very heavy parcels of type for the Press, I deliver so many money orders to the Aditi office, but you do not give me any remuneration or gratification, whereas the postman who delivers postal articles in the Ashram gets two rupees per month from the Ashram.”
I know that as a rule the postmen are strictly forbidden to accept any fee or gratification from the addressees or payees, so I reply to him accordingly. But he has requested me to write to you, so I have conveyed his request to you.
He can be given something as a tip, not as a fee.
11 March 1947
Since riots and disturbances have begun in the Punjab, my waking consciousness has been lowered down and sunk into the mire of attachment for my relatives who are suffering in their native place. When my mind is at rest, various thoughts come to it over and over again: “Oh, they have fallen on evil days!” “What would be their condition?” etc. etc.
How should I deal with these obsessing thoughts? How to overcome this strong attachment which I thought I had got rid of, but which has surprisingly attacked me and shaken my pride to its foundations?
Always circumstances come to reveal the hidden weaknesses that have to be overcome.
20 March 1947
Several times during the last few days I have seen
the taps of latrines and wash basins at the Press fully open with water flowing out of them. Sadhaks as well as workmen, when they turn on taps for water and do not find water coming out, do not turn them off. Thus when there is some storage of water in the reservoir tanks, the water goes on flowing. That is why the scarcity of water has been badly felt for the last week or so. What should be done to recover the normal condition?
Put up notices in English and in Tamil: “Please close the tap.” My love and blessings
29 March 1947
A sannyasi has placed an order for two books asking for a 50% concession in price. Can he be granted the concession?
NO.
16 April 1947
I want my meals in a brass carrier if possible, especially because I have no arrangement in my room to keep the carrier out of the reach of ants.
If you have a small basin, fill it with water, put in the centre a cement block and on the cement block place the tiffin carrier; it will be saved from ants.
14 May 1947
Today I have fallen victim to a new physical disease — piles. I want to prevent this disease at its very outset. As far as I can see, it has been caused by the constipation that I have had for the last two years.
At any rate, I want to sort out this new disease of piles in embryo. What should I do as a preventive measure for this?
Sit in cold water for 15 minutes daily.
5 July 1947
My elder brother, who lives in the Pakistan area of the Punjab and is a rich man, asks me: “Should I continue to live in the Pakistan area or migrate from it and become an inhabitant in the Hindustan area? I am at a loss what to do. No one in our area has migrated as yet, though many intend to do so. But having no favourable conditions to migrate, people are still not moving from their native place. Advise me as to what I should do.”
What reply should I give him?
All depends on his character. If he likes adventures he can stay; if he wants safety it is better to migrate.
8 July 1947
Today J of the Garden Service has supplied eleven plants for the Press grounds and they have been properly planted in his presence. He says that there will be a lining of bricks all along the ditches that have plants inside, for their safety.
Generally it is done with broken tiles (which can be secured from Parc à Chabon) and laid by a gardener, not a mason.
25 September 1947
My elder brother, who lives in the Pakistan part of the Punjab, writes to me in a letter received today: “Our native village has been looted and captured by Moslems. All Hindus there have fled away and taken refuge in a big town in Pakistan. My family is also there. But still, as refugees in Pakistan, we are always in danger of being attacked by Moslems. I am at a loss what to do and how to save myself and my family. Guide my steps at this critical moment.”
What should I reply to him?
To keep faith and he will receive the right inspiration.
30 September 1947
Today you remarked, “The courtyard looks shabby.” What is to be done to make it neat and decent?
You have arranged the courtyard as well as it can be under the present conditions. Nothing short of repaving it entirely could remove the shabby appearance. But it would be a too big and costly work to be undertaken now.
October 1947
Due to the influence of the communist union leaders, there is a difficulty as regards to cleanliness at the Press. I find that the workmen are now unwilling to act upon the orders that are given to them.
What should be done to remove this indiscipline?
It seems that there is not much chance to obtain discipline from them as indiscipline is part of the communist programme.
My elder brother writes to me: “The communal situation of our village [in Pakistan] seems to go from bad to worse. A great calamity is imminent upon the Hindu inhabitants of the village. We are all struck with a great panic. What should we do?
“It would be very good if you come to your native place and take my family with you to Pondicherry or somewhere else, say Hardwar (U.P.) or Guru-Kula Kangri or some other Hindu majority province. Wire us about the arrangement you make for us. At least I want to make my wife and children safe by sending them to a safer place. Will you come and take my family to Pondicherry, or, if we have to come to you, will you advise us about this journey to South India?”
What should I reply to my brother? How far am I concerned in the matter? Solely wedded to the Divine as I am and ever aspire to remain, what action should I do to express my inner attitude?
The difficulty is that if we admit people here in order to save them from communal trouble, we will soon have the whole of the Hindu community and surely Pondicherry is not big enough to hold it.
I agree that your duty towards the Divine goes before and above any other so-called duty. But if out of good heart and compassion you can, by writing a few letters, find some safer place for them elsewhere, there is no objection to your doing so.
End 1947
(Jagannath wrote letters on behalf of his brother’s family and arranged for them to come to India. They arrived on 2 January 1948, completely destitute. Jagannath reported their plight to the Mother and asked, “In what way can I be of help to them in their critical condition?” She replied:)
Don’t you know somebody in the place where they have reached or near about who could give them some assistance?
January 1948
Mother,
I thought of R or K to help us in gatekeeping at the Press. Both of them have sufficient time to spare for it, but when I spoke to them about it they did not show any willingness at all.
Yes, they are very lazy.
15 March 1948
This afternoon during working hours an act of theft was reported to have been committed by a compositor. He was seen passing out some types and a composing stick through the bars of a high ventilator in the latrines to someone standing on the street side. Some other workmen also saw him commit this act.
But the man does not confess to it.
What should be done in this case?
He must be put strictly under observation, and if caught red-handed he will be sent away at once.
18 March 1948
Out of articles of food that we get from the D.R., is one more suitable than another for a patient with piles? Out of rice and bread, milk and curds, pulse and vegetables, is it necessary to take one exclusively, discarding the others as disagreeable to health?
The diet has not much effect, but it is very important not to be constipated. You might take from dispensary some liquid paraffin which would help.
29 March 1948
An ex-servant of the Press has again applied today for a compositor’s job. I thought it necessary to inform you that he is a very staunch communist and that he proved to be a very mischievous fellow when he formerly worked in our press. His application is under consideration with N. The matter of the servant’s behaviour must be taken into consideration, lest he should be carelessly readmitted and prove a source of trouble.
He must not be taken back. Show this to N.
24 May 1948
My friend B is helping me in the gatekeeping work regularly. I also want to take his help in keyboarding for Aditi and other Hindi publications. Once I got your approval for it, but R did not like it, so he could not be trained. Now as the work on the August issue of Aditi is soon to begin, I want B to be trained and become helpful. Your sanction is required.
First I must know, trained by whom? By training a machine often gets damaged and this must be done only under a very experienced supervisor.
Love and blessings
31 May 1948
Unhappily and unfortunately there has arisen a conflict between Dr. S and myself. I feel as if he had shaken my vital and mental ego to their very foundations. But that would not have mattered much if he had not hurt the right feelings of my heart and mind. I have convinced him that he has suppressed my good feelings simply by hooting at me. As a result I cannot see eye to eye with him nor he with me.
Mentally burdened as I feel due to this discord and conflict, I implore to you to establish again a peaceful concord and harmony between us.
Surely harmony must be restored, and the first step is to quickly forget the cause of the disharmony.
3 June 1948
I entrust my well-being to you with a child’s confidence. Take care of my health and keep me ever strong and fit and energetic for your work. I aspire for the fullest faith in your Grace, which alone can save me from all inner and outer diseases.
R will give you some fruits to help for curing piles.
16 June 1948
Some time back, one of the workmen broke the asbestos door of their latrines. I showed the broken pieces to the president of their union and requested him to detect the mischievous worker. But nothing could be done by our enquiries.
Today again a part of another door is found to be broken as well as a part of the brick wall of the workmen’s latrines. But the mischievous hand is not known, and as such acts are committed secretly, it is not easy to catch the mischievous fellow red-handed. What step should we take to stop such mischief?
It can be announced that if such depredations continue without the culprit being found out all the workmen will be held responsible. The president must be informed of this.
15 July 1948
My maternal cousin, a devotee of Krishna, who stirred in my heart the feeling of lovingly sweet devotion, writes to me, “We, the Hindus of the west Punjab, have committed innumerable sins and have therefore been driven out from our native places and made destitute of all our belongings. Mysterious is the turn of fate. Our Karma has compelled us to part with our relatives who are all individually striving for their new homes and hearths in the Hindusthani part of Punjab.
“Will the wheels of fortune turn? Shall we have an opportunity to go back to our native homes and live there amicably with our Muslim neighbours?”
What shall I reply to him?
Hope is a big virtue and has to be kept in spite of all appearances. With my love and blessings
23 September 1948
The postman delivering post to the Press is allowed freely to enter into each and every section. But there, apart from his work, he has free talks with workmen in Tamil. In these days of elections, he has been engaged in talks with them which may prove to be noxious and mischievous.
It seems to be desirable not to allow him inside the Press, but rather to call the persons receiving postal articles to the gate and let them take the delivery of the articles there.
This is the correct way.
Something needs to be done to avoid the indulgence of the postman in random talks.
The arrangement of delivery at the gate must be enforced at once except for the post for B which can be given at the door of his office.
23 October 1948
A few days back, when the judge of the local high court visited the Press in connection with the enquiries regarding a Press workman already taken into custody, we had to disturb M, who was resting in the room meant for visitors. Only then could Dr. S entertain the judge there and supply him with the necessary information.
I want to know whether some change in the use of the room needs to be enforced.
The room is meant for visitors. Those who occupy it will do so at their own risk; that is, they must be ready to pack off and leave the place clean and neat at a minute’s notice (this can be communicated to them).
November 1948
(1) The gate area is still open to rain and showers. It needs to be covered as soon as possible.
(2) The shed above the Aditi office drips profusely due to cracks in asbestos sheets. It requires urgent repair.
Will you speak to K to see to these works?
Yes, but nothing can be done so long as it rains.
16 November 1948
A subscriber of Aditi wants to organise a Sri Aurobindo centre in his native village, Isharapur, in U.P. He writes thus: “Kindly ask the Mother if I can be allowed to conduct a centre for Sri Aurobindo’s work.”
Yes.
“I want to disseminate the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. And if the Mother permits, what activities does she approve of for the fulfilment of the mission? Will it be improper in any way if I resign from the Congress in order to devote my time for Sri Aurobindo’s work?”
It is not necessary to resign.
27 December 1948
I do 15 minutes of running and about 11/2 hours of walking exercise daily, and I am thus maintaining my health and strength by your Grace. I want to know whether I should join the P.E.D. games for exercise or continue my private programme of exercise.
You can continue your present programme.
5 March 1949
The man who has opened a Sri Aurobindo Centre in his native place in U.P., is in great difficulty these days. There has been a riot among two parties of Zamindars. Somehow he has been involved in the criminal case bearing on the riot. He writes: “By the Grace of God and Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the report of the police and the medical man are in my favour and I will probably pass through it safely. But my mind is not at rest. Convey my respectful salutations to the Mother. By her divine advice alone I can get patience and peace. Write to me Mother’s advice under the circumstances.”
“To keep faith in the Divine Grace and not to worry.”
22 March 1949
The head compositor of the English Section has requested me many times to try to give some job to his unemployed Hindi-knowing friend S. Each time I have refused, saying that there are already too many workers in our Press and it is not possible to employ any new hand. I advised him to find some other job for his friend.
Now, S simply wants to learn the job of Hindi composing so that he may become able to earn his livelihood by doing this job in some other Press. There is a very great demand for Hindi compositors in Madras. He looks forward to you to grant him an opportunity to learn the job.
Is it possible to give this boy an opportunity?
It seems to me a strange proposal to take the trouble to teach this boy, for him to go afterwards and use elsewhere the knowledge acquired.
9 April 1949
This evening a workman in the machine section was caught red-handed with a packet of washing soda which he had hidden in his cloth bag; it was detected at the time of search. This man stole it from the machine section where it was stocked in a small quantity for daily use.
What action is to be taken so that such acts of stealing may be stopped?
You can give him a strong scolding and tell him that if he does it again he will be sent away.
3 August 1949
Some workman at our Press has pasted a hand-written notice on the wall of the workmen’s latrines. The notice runs thus:
“We must have three months’ bonus.
We must have 15 rupees dearness allowance.”
This notice is motivated by the workmen of Rhodyard Mills. Yesterday evening at five, one of the Mills’ workmen distributed a printed notice among our workmen just when they went out of the Press. The printed notice propagated similar demands on behalf of the labourers of the Mills.
This is just for your information and to seek your guidance in the matter, if necessary.
The best is to take no notice of such demands. These people will never be satisfied: the more we give, the more they ask.
21 September 1949
One of your devotees wants your blessings and some consoling words about the sorrowful condition he has described in his letter.
You can send him blessings and tell him that it is not the circumstances that make us happy or sorry but the way in which the mind looks at them. If he corrects his way of thinking the sorrow will go.
27 September 1949
To make the Hindi composing section free from dependence on paid workers, it comes to my mind that we should train two more sadhaks for this work. Then the Hindi composing section will no longer require any employed hands. R is willing to spare one man, P, who has been permitted by you to stay here till the November Darshan. Also there are other candidates working under R, out of whom it will not be difficult to spare someone or other to learn the job.
Do you approve of it?
This man is to go in November. Is it worth while teaching him the job for such a short time?
28 September 1949
I hear C is asking for a paid Hindi compositor for his section. But recently he has been supplied two sadhaks and I think that employing a new compositor would mean keeping him idle or else keeping the sadhaks idle. In total there are at present five sadhaks, three full-time workers and two part-time workers — sufficient now for the work.
No intention of taking any new paid man.
21 October 1949
I learn from Dr. S that the second warning to the Press gardener has not been heartily approved by you. I very much regret that somehow or other I have gone against your will by my ignorant insistence in the matter.
However, it was by no means my conscious intention to transgress your will. I would therefore like to withdraw the complaint against the gardener and aspire to turn my consciousness towards the light.
May I be purged of any ill-will against the workman! May I have full faith in his capacity to improve and become an admirable worker!
The warning has not yet been served to him and your sanction is required if it is to be cancelled. Aspiring for the right consciousness.
I did not disapprove of the warning but of its wording. My remark was that a third warning was to be served before he is actually sent away — that is all.
With my blessings
2 August 1950
Gracious Mother
Since the workman N was dismissed from the Press, rowdies have been harassing our workmen. Today our workmen did not take courage to enter the premises till the rowdies left the place and dispersed themselves. A similar scene occurred this evening after five. When our workmen left the premises, the same group of rowdies were taking part in it. The discharged hand, N, was also present. The rowdies have announced that they would continue their act for ten days or at least till N was taken back for work.
Let them do it. We shall see who gets tired of it first.
A Tamil compositor was found taking out seven copies of a prayer in French, English and Tamil without a permit from his section head. The copies really belong to the Machine Department. The workman has no satisfactory explanation for his act which falls in the category of hiding and trying to take away others’ things without asking permission.
What is to be done in this case? I am enclosing the copies of the prayer.
Warn him a bit severely that his act is illegal, and you can add that in future if he wants something it is better and more simple to ask for it.
We need a better arrangement for the workmen to wash their hands before leaving the Press. P wants an immediate solution of the difficulty, since his bindery workmen are being harrassed by R who for so long allowed each and everyone to use the taps near his machine room. What should be done?
It is all right for the moment.
P should not disturb the present arrangement unless B can make a better, more satisfying one.
Obviously some arrangement must be made for all the workmen to be able to wash after work.
Gracious Mother.
Due to the cramped office space I find it very inconvenient and uncomfortable to carry out the office work smoothly and efficiently. Many times it happens that things get mixed up and jumbled up in a small corner of my room, so it takes a lot of my time to find them when required. This waste of time and energy in the present arrangement of things in a much congested place is not desirable for me. Especially when I see many urgent works lying before me and cannot afford to lose a minute, then these kinds of inconveniences and the consequent waste of time become all the more intolerable.
I hope that by your divine help all will go right at an opportune time.
This means what? What do you want? another room? some more furniture? I will see what I can do to satisfy you.
The desire to do translation work is deep-rooted in me. And how can I continue this work of translation when I aspire after the elimination of desire or preference for it? Is it good for me to discontinue this work so that I may become free from this particular desire?
No, it is not necessary to discontinue the work; the only thing necessary is to keep the aspiration to get rid of the preference.
With my love and blessings.
Series Five—Jagannath. Jagannath Vedalankar joined the Ashram in 1945. The Mother asked him to work in the newly founded Ashram Press. His correspondence with her deals mainly with his press work between 1946 and 1950, but also with his efforts to help his brother around 1947 at the time of the partition of India and Pakistan. Most of the Mother’s replies were first published in 1995 in the book Beautiful Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, pp. 147–57. The present correspondence, prepared from Jagannath’s manuscripts, includes the entries in Vignettes along with some additional ones. The correspondence is in English.
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