Some letters from my beloved Arindam. And a letter or two from me to him.
Aravinda Basu - 2/28/08
You have not failed the Mother (in not receiving the vision of the Gardens of the Matrimandir), the time is not yet come.
Do not work too hard. Very important.
Follow your breathing – 5 minutes per day.
Do not tell anyone about health issues, it is only a possibility in 6 months to one year – do not think about it or think about the past.
Do things in a small way. No splash. This is always what Mother and Sri Aurobindo wanted.
The Supramental is at work breaking up the past. There will be much more destruction. People will suffer but what can you do. The Supermind will not accept the mental rule, the mental way of things.
P.O. Box 2826
Cleveland, GA 30528
Jan. 18, 2001
Dear Aravinda,
I began this letter on Nov. 27, 2000! When we returned to the U.S. Mary Helen’s cancer had spread to the lymph nodes under her arm and in her neck. She was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer which is the final stage. She opted to have chemotherapy once again to prolong her life and have the opportunity to make further progress here on earth. After several treatments, which still continue at a reduced dosage, most of the lymph nodes have disappeared. She is feeling quite well and the cancer activity has slowed dramatically over the past months although the last blood test showed some increase in the CA 125, the marker that indicates the cancer’s activity. We are very careful about diet, eating mostly fruits and vegetables, vegetable juices and whole grain breads.
During the past two weeks Chali’s child, Aaron was diagnosed with a tumor on his leg so they will come to the U.S. to be with us and have the surgery performed here. I have asked her to see you on a few occasions but her life is very busy in Auroville.
We work on Savitri at every opportunity and are progressing slowly but steadily and carefully. You had offered to help me with some questions when we were last together so I have put a number of them together in this letter. I would be very grateful if you would give your insights on definitions of the words and terms listed separately. It will help us significantly towards completing the Savitri “Lexicon”. I had also sent you a question on the word “choired” in my letter of April 8, 2000.
For myself, there is not too much to say as you are well aware of the work I have to do in surrendering to Mother and Sri Aurobindo, abolishing restlessness, desire, ego, establishing the peace within, etc. I am enclosing a recent dream in which I met Mother. I wrote it down in the middle of the night, immediately following the dream.
4:54 a.m.
Awaking from a long dream in which I am trying to reach a destination at a beach town. I stop at a stand and have some bread and a cheese sandwich a man makes for me. Then his wife meets me and we talk. As I am leaving she tells me her name, Barbara, but I feel it is Rijuta.
Prior to this I have been with Mother. This is the first time that I can recall clearly meeting Mother in many years. She was all tenderness as She held me and I felt Her love wash over me. I knew at that moment that I was truly with Mother. Then, while still holding me close She put Her hand on my head and uttered what seemed to me a magic incantation in an ancient tongue I had never heard before. When She was finished She said: In the next three or four days your head will begin to fall off. Do not be concerned, just let it happen.” I knew immediately that it was not my physical head and that Mother had made an opening. I wept the psychic tears as I had wept them when I saw Her for the last time on July 28, 1972 when She spoke Her last words to me: “Look at your card.” And there was the name, Narad. One word kept vibrating in my head for some minutes, Muladhara.
I told Mother that I had saved some money for Her but She seemed to pretend that She either had not heard me clearly, I don’t recall, but then She said I should use it to take care of Chali and I felt, implied, Mary Helen.
In Mother’s atmosphere there were no longer any problems. All difficulties of the nature that I confront here in the physical were dissipated and although I seemed to sense others around, especially Mary Helen somewhere near, I was alone with Mother in deep and quiet joy.
Mother’s body seemed to be as we knew Her, the feeling of Her form had not changed, nor had Her sweetness and intimacy, but Her body was fluid and could be anywhere instantaneously.
I have also written the enclosed poem that I’ve silently dedicated to you.
We would be very grateful to hear from you.
At Their Feet,
Narad
September 27, 2001
You will have heard by now that Mary Helen’s battle with cancer has become much more intense. Last week she had to have her abdomen and lungs drained of fluid. She has begun a new therapy with a serum to specifically attack the cancer and will soon have a tissue biopsy to enable a serum to be formulated that will be targeted to attack the exact type of cancer she has, which is epithelial ovarian. The cancer has now metastasized throughout the abdomen and in the lymph nodes. Yet, we are hopeful that these new therapies will be helpful.
Mary Helen recites a mantra that Mother gave to make these forces exit the body. When you told her that “The Mother is with you” it was for me a confirmation of my inner trust and belief that Their help is ever present. I offer prayers for Mary Helen each day and ask for my heart to be purified, the vital quieted, the mind silenced and the body prepared. I pray too that the peace may descend and as I am feeling the Presence in the heart quite strongly now, I try to read Mother and Sri Aurobindo each day,
This brings me to a question in Savitri for which I seek your help. I have already written to Jugal Kishore Mukherjee as you suggested and am waiting to hear from him. As Mary Helen is too weak to work on the Lexicon just now I am trying to do research in a number of areas that I feel guided to study. I would be grateful for your reply to the following that came up yesterday in my studies.
In the “Supplement to the Revised Edition of Savitri”, in the Table of Emendations, on Page 72 a change is noted from a previous reading (and publication) of the text. It occurs on page 361 of the current edition of Savitri, line 32, or in the numbered edition, line 99 on the same page, Book IV, Canto II, The Growth of the Flame.
Here is the passage:
These things she took in as her nature's food,
But these alone could fill not her wide Self:
A human seeking limited by its gains,
To her they seemed the great and early steps
Hazardous of a young discovering spirit
Which saw not yet by its own native light;
It tapped the universe with testing knocks
Or stretched to find truth mind's divining rod;
The question I have is regarding the last line and the words (term?) truth mind’s. In previous editions of the text the words have been hyphenated and the word Truth capitalized, i.e. Truth-mind’s. I am not disputing the change since I have not seen the numerous manuscripts but if the line is not referring to the truth-mind, I cannot understand its sense.
In researching the following texts I do not find any references to truth mind without a hyphen. Here are the references I have found.
The Life Divine – one reference, lower case, hyphenated
The Synthesis of Yoga – five references, both lower case and upper case “T”, all hyphenated.
The Secret of the Veda – one reference, hyphenated.
Savitri– Book One, Canto IV – “The truth mind could not know unveils its face,” (This is clear, referring simply to a truth that mind could not know)
The only other reference in Savitri is the one I have quoted above.
Can you please give me some guidance? If Sri Aurobindo is referring to the truth-mind in the second instance, then I would like to have the term defined for the Lexicon.
With love and gratitude,
When Mary Helen left in 2002 he wrote:
Dear Richard,
I read of the sad event only five days ago in a recent issue of Auroville Today which paper I do not see regularly.
I will not try to comfort you because fist I do not have the words with which to do so , secondly I am sure that though this is a most grievous event, you are mature enough to know hat the Mother will most certainly look after the welfare of the departed soul.
I have myself prayed for her safe journey through the unseen worlds to the secure place of her psychic rest. While she was with us physically I appreciated her and still remember her gentle personality and her trust in the Mother. /she will be and is a fond memory. I am glad that I knew her and shall remember her.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Arabinda
10 January 2009
Dear Arindam,
It was very kind of you and Mousumi to come to the OM Choir last evening and I was very happy to have you with us.
There was a very special experience on my visit to Chennai this past Tuesday during a conference of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin to which we were invited.
When all the awards were being given out and many speakers gave presentations that lasted nearly three hours before the dinner, I sat at a table about 50 feet from the large windows that opened on to an enclosed garden. To my delight I saw a pure white oleander in magnificent bloom. It was filled with flowers and truly touched my heart but I could not quite remember Mother’s significance. The significance of the pink and the red forms immediately came to me but the meaning of this beautiful glistening white flower eluded me.
Pashi Kapoor was sitting much closer to the window, probably only 20 feet away and I kept pointing to him to look out the window. He thought I was pointing to the buffet table which was up against some of the windows but I shook my head, “No” and kept pointing to the oleander in the garden outside. The he saw it and he too was astounded at its beauty.
The next morning the conference continued but the room was partitioned off since here were far fewer people in attendance. I went into the side of the room where we had dinner and looked out the window and … No white oleander! I then asked the hotel staff if this was the banquet room and I was assured that it indeed was, but to satisfy myself I walked outside in front of the building and even throughout the ground floor of the Trident Hotel. Suddenly the significance came to me, Quietness established in the mind or Quiet mind, both single white flowers.
I then found Pashi and asked him to confirm where he had sat and then to look through the window for the white oleander. He too was astounded that it wasn’t there. The area was well manicured with a nice lawn and the oleander was in the ground when I saw it. We looked at all the other plans in the area but the space where the white oleander had been was only undisturbed lawn!
The second point I would like to ask about is whether you would consider a hearing aid. With the great advances in micro-technology these are now almost invisible, the volume is easily adjustable and they are very comfortable. If you would be interested I would do all the research as to the best place in Pondicherry or Chennai and personally go with you for a test and fitting. In this age of technology all kinds of spare parts are easily available!
Please let me know.
In Mother’s Love,
This is my last letter to Arindam dated 22 June 2012 which was read to him by Uday and which he acknowledged:
“Dear Arindam, (I believe Mother said people should call him Arindam)
Uday has told me that he met you and I am very happy to hear this as he and I work very closely together and are good friends.
I will be coming to the Ashram at the end of July for about three weeks as my book, ¨Homage to the Service Tree¨ has been printed by the Ashram Press. I will also be bringing lots of Splenda for you for your sweet tooth. Please tell Uday what else you would like and I will be happy to bring it for you. You are often in my thoughts and I hold you close in my prayers and in my love.
At Mother´s Feet,
Narad”
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