... Most probably it was during this year (1902) that Barin was sent to Calcutta to help Jatin Banerjee. Barin had been staying at Baroda since 1900 or 1901. The work at Calcutta was begun at 106, Upper Circular Road. Jatin, Barin and Abinash Bhattacharya were the workers. Jatin used to work among the educated classes – pleaders, doctors, etc. – and Barin and Abinash among college students. Wherever they... During his stay at Baroda, Barin read a book on spiritualism and began experimenting with the planchette and with table-tapping. Sri Aurobindo also used to join in the evenings. Two or three experiences are remarkable. Once Barin called his father Dr. K .D. Ghose. A reply came that his spirit was there. He was asked to give a sign or proof of his identity. He reminded Barin about a gold watch which... Probably this same year Barin passed his Entrance Examination. He spent six months with Manmohan at Dacca and then tried to learn agriculture but received no monetary support. He tried to run a tea shop in Patna but there also he did not succeed and so he went to Baroda to stay with Sri Aurobindo. One day even before he had got up from his bed, Sri Aurobindo found Barin with a dirty canvas bag and ...
... 588 against the king. Sri Aurobindo was acquitted, Barin and several others convicted. The death-sentence against Barin was later commuted to life imprisonment in the Andaman Islands penal colony. In 1920, as part of the amnesty declared at the end of the First World War, Barin and the other prisoners were released. Barin visited Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry that year and again in 1921... his younger brother, Barindra Kumar Ghose, who then was living with him in Baroda. Barin had just returned from Bengal, where for two or three years he had been helping to organise the revolutionary secret society that Sri Aurobindo, Jatin Banerji and others had set up. The Maharaja agreed to give Barin a job, but Barin went back to Bengal before he could begin work. A Letter of Recommendation... Barindra Kumar and to some others who were connected with a yoga centre that Barin had opened in Bhawanipore, Calcutta, in 1922. Several of the letters deal with prospective members of the centre, about whom Barin had written. (Many such candidates were asked to submit a photograph for the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to evaluate.) Barin also wrote about the progress and setbacks of those who were staying at ...
... said that this experience comes usually at the end." Upon his return to Calcutta, Barin spoke to Sejda about this extraordinary man. Sejda expressed a wish to meet this yogi. Soon the opportunity came. Right after the Surat Congress was over Barin sent a wire to Lele. It was in answer to that wire from Barin that Lele had come to Baroda and met Sri Aurobindo at the Jadhavs' house there. From 1923... on a paper. He then advised him to meet Barin who met C. B. Purani for three consecutive days explaining the details of the revolutionary organisation. It was thus that seeds were sown of that movement in Gujarat which became so well known afterwards. The inspiration for it came from Sri Aurobindo." Chhotalal was A. B. 's elder brother. Purani also says, "Barin had intensity and fire at that time. Once... well-laid steps. There Upen Banerji taught the Gita to the young recruits, or 'pestilential agitators' as the then rulers dubbed them. But Barin felt a deep need of spiritual power for their enterprise. He, therefore, set out in search of a guru along with Upen. Barin had heard about Swami Brahmananda when he was in Baroda. But Brahmananda was no more. In his stead was his disciple Swami Keshavananda who ...
... of Asvin 1350, Girija quotes a talk or a letter from Barin dated 16.7.1943. This shows that Barin and Priya Mitra were together till 1905. Therefore Girija's contention in the previous issues that Priya Mitra drifted away from Sri Aurobindo on account of Sri Aurobindo's partiality towards Barin in the quarrel between Jatin Banerji and Barin is not borne out by facts. 35. Another instance of... centre for the Bhawani Mandir scheme. The fact is, it was Barin who went to select the place and not Sri Aurobindo. Barin had also gone to the Vindhya mountains to select a centre for the Bhawani Mandir, but he returned to Baroda with hill-fever. It must be remembered that Sri Aurobindo gave Diksha for the revolutionary work not only to Barin but to Hemchandra Kanungo, Priya Mitra and others. ... Bande Mataram it was natural that it should take all the advantage that law could give to defend its liberty. 37. It is not certain whether, as Girija alleges, Barin gave his confession on Sri Aurobindo's advice. The fact is that Barin gave his confession almost immediately on his arrest at Maniktola; so Girija's representation here is quite wrong. 38. One cannot understand why Girija quotes ...
... planes above. This is called 'amrita rasa' or the nectar of immortality. At one time, Barin fell in with these Page 147 Sannyasis. One of them tempted him with many promises and powers. But Barin absolutely refused to slit the tongue-membrane. They then taunted him, calling him a Bengali coward! Barin replied adamantly, 'Bengali I may be and coward too, but I am on no account ready to have... you said 'gallows'. We were wondering what sort of structure it was. By the way, why would your brother Barin have been hanged?" Sri Aurobindo said laughing, "Good Lord! Your question sounds very much like Nirod's! He asked me once - 'Sir, were you the real leader of the Swadeshi Movement?' Barin was a great leader. In fact, in those days we had both become so well-known that our elder brother Manomohan... really great men in India today' - namely the two of us, Barin and I counted for two, and Tilak stood for half." "Who is Tilak?" "A very great man - certainly not half but a whole man, in fact more than a whole. Few sons of India have been as great. I'll tell you about him by and by.... Well.... My mother came back to India with Sarojini and Barin." "Weren't you sad?" "I'm not very sure. Are ...
... letter known as Pondicherir Patra to his brother Barin. Barin had been released from the Andamans in 1919, after the armistice, and had written to Sri Aurobindo, asking several questions and stating some of his own views. The reply clarifies many points. Relevant passages from the letter are given in translation below. April 7, 1920. Dear Barin, First, about your yoga. You wish to give me... Aurobindo. In 1920 Dr. Munje, the Congress leader, came to Pondicherry and stayed as Sri Aurobindo's guest. He had long talks with Sri Aurobindo on current Indian politics. Barin Ghose came in 1920 and Ullaskar Dutt, who had, like Barin, been sentenced to death by the sessions judge at Alipore, but later given life imprisonment and ultimately released, came in 1920 or 1921. Abinash Bhattacharya, Sri Aurobindo's... Deshpande's Sadhakashram at Andheri. 18 May. An article by G. V. Subha Rao in the Swaraj of Madras comparing Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo. 20 May. Talk on Theosophy; a letter from Barin: meeting of Barin and Motilal. 26 May. Suggestions about sadhana; reading of the photographs of prospective sadhaks; talk on the conditions for the descent of the supermind; samatā and hold on life; relation ...
... to a halt and, being at a loss, he asked Barin if he knew of someone who could pull him out of the impasse and help him to pursue yoga more systematically than he had hitherto done. In the course of his extensive wanderings, Barin had met a Maharashtrian yogi, Vishnu Bhaskar Lele by name, and had been impressed by him. It had been a brief meeting but Barin remembered the occasion and now, with Sri... need for fixed hours of worship?' Indeed, in the course of only a few months, Sri Aurobindo had gone far beyond the depth of an experienced yogi like Lele. Barin had another purpose in inviting Lele to Calcutta. Some time before this Barin had left Sri Aurobindo's residence at Scott's Lane and moved to Maniktolla Gardens in Muraripukur, North Calcutta. This was a piece of ancestral property, about... his reminiscences how he was once sent by Barin to fetch Sri Aurobindo to visit the Gardens. He writes: 'I went by tram and it was about four in the afternoon when I reached there [Sri Aurobindo's residence].... As I sat waiting in one of the rooms downstairs, Sri Aurobindo came down, stood near me and gave me an inquiring look. I said, in Bengali, "Barin has sent me. Would it be possible for you to ...
... left Barin with his boys to train them as he liked, and had no direct contact with the young men. "I? Good Lord! I had nothing to do with them," Sri Aurobindo exclaimed, amazed at an account brought to him. "It was all Barin's work. I never knew who these boys were and never saw them. Only once Barin brought a troop of them to my house but they were all waiting below. It is true that Barin used... Dutt (1885-1965) came from Tripura. The sentence was changed on appeal to life imprisonment. Along with Barin and a few others he was deported to the Andamans where he remained a prisoner until 1920. Page 278 that movement the fear has gone and it has not come back." Barin and his group dreamed of a far-off revolution. To that end they collected arms, learned to prepare explosives... he not admit that he had "changed cowards into heroes— not by yoga shakti —merely by an inner force"? Barin may have consulted Sejda or Subodh Mullick from time to time, but he was a most careless person. "If I had been the head, I would have been more cautious," Sri Aurobindo said. "Barin was very reckless. On the eve of the search he brought two bombs to my house. I told him, 'Take them away ...
... following days Aurobindo, accompanied by Barin, went on a visit to Baroda, the town where he had spent thirteen years of his life. On his arrival at the railway station the students of the College unyoked the horses of his carriage, in which were also seated Sakharia Swami and Barin, and pulled it in triumphant procession to the house where he was to stay. Barin had not gone to Surat to participate in... no activity of that kind there and was quite disillusioned. Aurobindo, from his side, wanted to take up yoga again and asked Barin to invite the yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, whom Barin had met in September and who was then in Gwalior, to come and meet him in Baroda. Barin sent Lele a telegram and he readily complied. Suddenly Aurobindo disappeared for ten days from the hustle and din, social and political... member who appeared at Baroda was someone who would play an important role in Aurobindo’s life: his youngest brother Barindra Kumar, or Barin for short. The reader may recall that Swarnalata was pregnant during the stay of the Ghoses in Great Britain in 1879. Barin was born in Upper Norwood, a suburb of London, in January 1880. His youth up to his tenth year or so had been extremely miserable as his ...
... institution, written by Sri Aurobindo, was published in a pamphlet entitled "Bhawani Mandir" early in 1905.) Barin searched in the Vindhya mountains for a suitable place tc set up an Ashram, but could not find one. The scheme eventually took shape in a modified form in the centre at Maniktola. Barin returned to Calcutta in the spring of 1906. Sri Aurobindo, having resigned his position in Baroda, also... brief lifespan. Eager to do more than just talk about revolution, Barin formed his own revolutionary group in mid 1907,establishing his headquarters and training centre at Maniktola. The property, owned by the Ghose brothers, was a secluded two-acre piece of land overgrown with vegetation. Here at "the Garden", as it was called, Barin began systematic instruction of the young men he had recruited; there... By the end of 1907 the society's self-taught chemist, Ullaskar Dutt, was producing powerful bombs. Barin decided to use them for the assassination of certain unpopular Government officials. This, h£ thought, was the "voice of the People". Later when asked why he had turned to "political murder" Barin replied simply, "we believed the people wanted it." During the next six months, attempts were made ...
... 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... 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... 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 ...
... about the mission but he refused. They told him that you had sent them. SRI AUROBINDO: How could I? I didn't know him. It was Barin who knew him. NIRODBARAN: As no entreaty was of avail, Dutt said, "We will send Barin then." He knew Sakaria was very fond of Barin. He then agreed that three months in a year he would stay. The second visit of yours was to his place at Thana. SRI AUROBINDO:... were and never saw them. Only once Barin brought a troop of them to my house but they all waited below. It is true that Barin used to consult me or Mullick for any advice. But the whole movement was in his hands. I had no time for it. I was busy with Congress politics and Bande Mataram . My part in it was most undramatic. If Dutt had been in the movement, Barin would surely have told me but he never... desire to work for the country. SRI AUROBINDO (smiling) : A great weakness. If he tries, he will meet with no better fate than Barin—namely, failure. SATYENDRA: Barin and A are different personalities. SRI AUROBINDO: Even then he will have the same fate. Barin went out to revolutionise the world. NIRODBARAN: And he ended by revolutionising himself! (Laughter) A is putting out all these ...
... Bengal now. Not because Bengal is not ready but because I am not ready. If the unripe goes amidst the unripe what work can he do? 7 April 1920 (Translated from the original in Bengali) Dear Barin, I understand from your letter that you need a written authority from me for the work I have entrusted to you and a statement making your position clear to those whom you may have to approach in... are being or will in future be trained directly under me in my spiritual discipline. AUROBINDO GHOSE Arya Office, Pondicherry. 18th November 1922. (Script Barindra Kumar Ghose.) Dear Barin, I waited for your letter in order to know precisely what portions Chitaranjan wanted to publish and why. It turns out to be as I said, but I wanted confirmation. I must now make clear the reasons... privately of what I have written in the letter. But I hope he will understand why the publication of it does not recommend itself to me. Pondicherry. 1st December 1922. AUROBINDO GHOSE My dear Barin, I have read carefully Jyotish Ghose's letter and I think the best thing is first to explain his present condition as he describes it. For he does not seem to me to understand the true causes and ...
... etc. Sri Aurobindo would join him on some evenings and came across some startling results. Once a spirit assuming their father's name came and said: 'I gave a gold watch to Barin when he was a child.' This was confirmed by Barin who had forgotten all about it. When Dr. Krishna Dhan's spirit was asked what kind of a man Tilak was, the answer came: 'When all your work will be ruined and many men bow down... like the Bhavani Mandir of Bankim Chandra's Ananda Math. After training Barin, Sri Aurobindo sent him to Bengal to help Jatin Banerji in the organisation of revolutionary work and himself followed up with a visit in 1902 during the college vacation. He went to Midnapur for the first time accompanied by Jatin and Barin. There he met Hemchandra Das, the revolutionary leader. On his return to Calcutta... into trance. Her book Kali, the Mother is revolutionary and not at all non-violent.' ‘What about Barin,' we interposed, 'he was also fiery?' ‘But not like Nivedita. She was fire, if you like. She did India a tremendous service.' With the revolutionary movement gathering strength, Barin hit upon the idea of giving a concrete shape to Sri Ramakrishna's words heard at the spirit sessions, ...
... Five 25 Barin But again I have got ahead of myself so let us take the back trail. One who was closely associated with Sri Aurobindo's revolutionary activity, and had great responsibility, was his younger brother Barin. After their father's death in December 1892, Barin and Sarojini were taken to their grandfather's at Deoghar, where... for the first time they were to meet their three elder brothers. It was at Deoghar that Barin went to school. He passed his Matriculation from Patna University in 1900, then continued his college studies at Dacca. His 'Mejodada' Manmohan, who was then professor at Dacca University, offered him hospitality. Barin then fancied the career of a farmer for himself. It did not work out. After a few meanders... clean dhoti, and my long hair combed in Rabindric style, when I came out everybody heaved a sigh of relief." By 'everybody' Barin means his Didi (Sarojini), Sejda and Sejo-baudi (Sejda's wife). It was several months after Sri Aurobindo's marriage in April 1901 that Barin turned up. "By Page 239 and by I met the Jadhav brothers in the dining room. 'Well, young man!' and with such ...
... 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 ..,." 170 Thus, in God's inscrutable ways, Sri Aurobindo was led to practise the very Yoga which... own line of action in Maharashtra." (Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on The Mother) In 1902 Sri Aurobindo sent Barin to Bengal to help Jatin Banerji, who had been deputed there earlier, in organising the revolutionary group and rousing the youth of Bengal. But Jatin and Barin could not hit it off long together, and they separated, to the great detriment of the revolutionary cause. Sri Aurobindo... but the idea of revolutionary action continued to seep into the mind of young Bengal, and inspire it to a more organised and resolute effort. Barin came back to Baroda when the police launched upon a ruthless persecution of the revolutionaries. Barin conceived the idea of building a temple somewhere in the solitude of the hills in Western India for training a band of political sannyasins who ...
... myself aided closely by those like you who are being or will in future be trained directly under me in my spiritual discipline. Aurobindo Ghose [Script Barin Kumar Ghose.] 1 December 1922 Pondicherry, 1st December 1922. Dear Barin, I waited for your letter in order to know precisely what portions Chittaranjan wanted to publish and why. It turns out to be as I said, but I wanted... a disuse. The need is in connection with the first outward work that 1 am undertaking after this long inner retirement. Barin has gone to Bengal and will see you in connection with it, but a word from me is necessary perhaps and therefore I send you this letter through Barin. I am giving him also a letter of authority from which you will understand the immediate nature of the need for which T have... not ready. If the unripe goes amidst the unripe what work can he do? ( Translated from the original in Bengali ) 18 November 1922 Arya Office, Pondicherry. 18th November 1922. Dear Barin, I understand from your letter that you need a written authority from me for the work I have entrusted to you and a statement making your position clear to those whom you may have to approach in ...
... studies a few months hence. Barin toyed with agriculture, then ran a tea-shop at Patna, and at last made a bee-line to Baroda where he arrived one morning in 1901 "with a dirty canvas bag and very dirty clothes". After a bath, he was presentable enough, and made a fourth in the family, with Sri Aurobindo, his wife Mrinalini, and his sister Sarojini already there. 23 Barin, however, had even earlier... earlier caught the revolutionary "virus", and he reached Baroda at the time when Sri Aurobindo was fast sending out his revolutionary tentacles to remote Bengal. Barin too took the customary oath before Sri Aurobindo, with the unsheathed sword in one hand and a copy of the Gita in the other: As long as there is life in me and as long as India is not liberated from her chains of subjection, I will... single event of the Society or harm it in any way, it shall be at the cost of my own life. With his inborn enthusiasm that jumped at exciting possibilities and courted danger and unpredictability, Barin was game for anything, and in fact he was ready to canter when Sri Aurobindo wanted him only to run. During his stay at Baroda, Barindra who had been reading about the then widely popular phenomenon ...
... the Mandir, and Barin managed to recruit a group of about "a dozen or fourteen" ardent young men. Barin interviewed aspiring entrants before recruiting them, and easily communicated to them his own infectious enthusiasm for the cause. In the early days at least, Sri Aurobindo seems to have occasionally paid a visit to the Gardens; Nolini has recorded that he was once sent by Barin to bring Sri Aurobindo... tempestuous career on 12 March 1906, was run by Barin, Upen Banerjee and Debabrata Bose and promulgated, week after week, its message of revolution and advocated guerrilla warfare in unambiguous terms. Sri Aurobindo came to Calcutta soon after, took charge of the Bande Mataram, and also exercised some control over the Yugantar. Early in 1907, Barin thought that the time had come to give some practical... Bhavani Mandir scheme. The idea then had been that a Mandir should be established in a suitable spot on the hills, and in fact Barin had gone in search of such a site on Kaimur Hill near Rhotargarh on the Sone but caught malignant fever there and returned. Now it occurred to Barin that a miniature Bhavani Mandir should be started in Calcutta to translate into action the vitriolic policies propagated ...
... Yoga and the Spiritual Life (1911-1928) Autobiographical Notes To Barindra Kumar Ghose [1] Arya Office Pondicherry November 18. 1922. Dear Barin, I understand from your letter that you need a written authority from me for the work I have entrusted to you and a statement making your position clear to those whom you may have to approach in... myself aided closely by those like you who are being or will in future be trained directly under me in my spiritual discipline. Aurobindo Ghose. [2] Pondicherry December 1. 1922 Dear Barin, I waited for your letter in order to know precisely what portions Chittaranjan wanted to publish and why. 1 It turns out to be as I saw, but I wanted confirmation. I must now make clear the reasons... on men, forces and circumstances until the possible success is achieved. Aurobindo P.S. The answer to Jyotish Ghose's letter will go later. [3] Pondicherry 9th December 1922 Dear Barin, I have read carefully Jyotish Ghose's letter and I think the best thing is first to explain his present condition as he describes it. For he does not seem to me to understand the true causes and ...
... into a garden where they were practising shooting. As soon as Lele saw it he understood the nature of the movement and asked Barin to give it up. Lele said that if Barin did not listen to him. Barin would fall into a ditch— and he did. NIRODBARAN: Barin, I heard, had a lot of experiences. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but mostly they were rather mental experiences. He gathered a lot of information from... MANILAL: Is Barin still doing Yoga? SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know. He used to do some sort of Yoga even before I began. He took up my Yoga only after coming to Pondicherry. In the Andamans also he was practising it. You know he was Lele's disciple. Once he took Lele to Calcutta to be among the young people of the Secret Society. I didn't know that they were revolutionaries. One day Barin took him into... SRI AUROBINDO: By mental strength, will and spiritual power. In my own case, whenever there was any fear, I used to do very thing I was afraid of, even if it brought the risk of a sudden death. Barin also had a lot of fear while he was carrying terrorist activities. But he too will compel himself to go on. When the death sentence was passed to him, he took it very cheerfully. Henry IV of France ...
... now returning." Barin gave me a rebuke, "No sentimentality, please." As we walked down, I wondered if the frightful noise had not reached the people around. There was of course nothing like a human habitation anywhere in the neighbourhood. But people did come from the surrounding country to gather fuel in the thickets. However, nothing untoward happened and we returned safely. Barin and Ullas left... manufacture of bombs? It would not have been far out to call it an Ashram, "the abode of quiet joy", in the Kalidasian phrase, santa-rasaspadam asramam idam. And it was precisely because of this that Barin got Lele Maharaj down here for our initiation and training in sadhana, the discipline of yoga, the same Lele who had been of particular help to Sri Aurobindo at a certain stage of his own sadhana... well. Page 350 It was precisely at this period that a collection of Matthew Arnold's poems came to my hands. The book belonged to Sri Aurobindo and must have been brought along by Barin. That Sri Aurobindo had studied it minutely was evident from the book itself, for he had marked in red the passages or lines which he had particularly liked. I still remember a couple of lines that ...
... raising money, never actually happened. Again the advertisement or rather paragraph about Narayana in the Amrita [ Bazar ] 12 was not inserted by Barin, but by someone else according to that other person's idea after a conversation with him: Barin was not responsible for the form nor had he any intention of claiming the Narayana as the sole and direct mouthpiece of my ideas. It is these misunde... there is another line of work which is also necessary at the present moment, because the Shakti is moving in that direction also and the Shakti is the doer of the work,—and that is for others, like Barin to enter into the fermenting mass and draw out of it elements that are fit but not Page 237 yet ready to take our whole idea and first to get into and then occupy existing or newly created... cooperation must be the guiding principle of their relations. I have already answered to Sirish the first very natural question that arose in your mind at the inception of these new conditions, why Barin and others should cast themselves separately into the অরূপ to create a रुप out of it, when there is already a form and a body of associated communal work in the spirit of our ideal and why all should ...
... Totapuri, or of the Tantric Yogini, Bhairavi. Sri Aurobindo expressed his wish to consult a Yogi to Barin, his younger brother. Barin pro- cured the address of Yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Leie113 and wired to him at Gwalior to come to Baroda and see Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo came to Baroda from Surat. Barin says in his autobiography that the Principal of the Baroda College had asked the students not to meet... "one who gazes at futurity", as Nevinson has expressed his observation. She promised him unreserved support in his political work, which was then being carried on in secret through Jatin Banerji, Barin, and others in Bengal; for, being in the State service, he was not publicly taking part in the politics. And when Sri Aurobindo left the State service and threw himself into politics, none was so... some time at Baroda, and followed his brilliant career with growing admiration. He was also acquainted with Sri Aurobindo's thoughts and ideas through his political deputies in Bengal, particularly Barin and Jatin. And when Sri Aurobindo left Baroda and went to Bengal as the first Principal of the newly-founded National College, of which Rabindranath was one of the chief organisers, they came into ...
... society. Lele did not know that they were revolutionaries. One day Barin took him into a garden where they were practicing shooting. As soon as Lele saw it he understood the nature of the movement and asked Barin to give it up. If Barin did not listen to him, Lele said, he would fall into a ditch and he did fall. Disciple : Barin, I heard, had a lot of experiences. Sri Aurobindo : They... Sri Aurobindo : By mental strength, will and spiritual power. In my own case, whenever there was any fear I used to do the very things that I was afraid of even if it entailed a violent death. Barin also had much fear while he was in the terrorist activity. But he would compel himself to do those things. When death sentence was passed on him he took it very cheerfully. Henry IV, King of France... suggestions bring in the adverse forces which then catch hold of the subject. By my blunt statement the Sadhaka realized his folly and did not, perhaps, allow any more suggestions. Disciple : Is Barin still doing yoga? Sri Aurobindo : I don't know, he used to do some sort of yoga even before I began. My yoga he took up only after coming to Pondicherry. In the Andamans also he Page 33 ...
... their mother had made herself. And both completely illiterate. Barin says that he knew not how to write or even read until the age of ten. Then one day in 1888, when Barin was going on eight, to put it in his own words, "a tiger fell amid the herd," and his Didi was gone. Swarnalata had let Saro be taken away to Khulna by her father. Barin was left all alone with his mother. For two years. Krishna... fruits and sweetmeats and so many other things," recalls Barin in his autobiography. "And before leaving he quietly put many searching questions and elicited several facts." Next morning, the sun had just risen like a plate of gold on a wintry morning. Swarnalata was standing in the veranda Page 165 sunning herself, and Barin was seated a little away from her enjoying the warmth... much, not only physically, but also intellectually and morally." Let us not forget that over and above the rest, Krishna Dhan had to maintain his wife and the two younger children, Sarojini and Barin. In Rohini, a village not far from Deoghar where lived Swarnalata's parents, he had rented a bungalow set in an extensive ground, with fruit-bearing trees, flower and vegetable gardens. There Saro and ...
... returning." Barin gave me a rebuke, "No sentimentality, please." As we walked down, I wondered if the frightful noise had not reached the people around. There was of course nothing like a human habitation anywhere in the neighbourhood. But people did come from the surrounding country to gather fuel in the thickets. However, nothing untoward happened and we returned safely. Barin and Ullas left... e of bombs? It would not have been far out to call it an Ashram, "the abode of quiet joy", in the Kalidasian phrase, sānta-rasspadam-āsramam-idam. And it was precisely because of this that Barin got Lele Maharaj down here for our initiation and training in sadhana, the discipline of yoga, the same Lele who had been of particular help to Sri Aurobindo at a certain stage of his own sadhana... some secular literature as well. It was precisely at this period that a collection of Matthew Arnold's poems came to my hands. The book belonged to Sri Aurobindo and must have been brought along by Barin. That Sri Aurobindo had studied it minutely was evident from the book itself, for he had marked in red the passages or lines which he had particularly liked. I still remember a couple of lines that ...
... society. Lele did not know that they were revolutionaries. One day Barin took him into a garden where they were practising shooting. As soon a Lele saw it he understood the nature of the movement and asked Barin to give it up. If Barin did not listen to him, Lele said, he would fall into a ditch and he did fall. Disciple: Barin, I heard, had a lot of experiences. Sri Aurobindo: They were... afraid of even if it entailed a violent death. Barin also had much fear while he was in the terrorist activity. But he would compel himself to do those things. When death sentence was passed on him he took it very cheerfully. 1) Excerpts from Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo, recorded by A. B. Purani, 1982 ed., 'pp. 545-46. Disciple: Is Barin still doing yoga? Sri Aurobindo : I don't... amateur in many things, e.g. music revolutionary activity. He was also a painter; though it did not come to much in spite of his exhibitions. He did well in all these but nothing more. Disciple: Barin in his paper "Dawn" began to write your biography. Sri Aurobindo: I don't know that. Did he publish a paper? I would have been interested to see what he writes about me. Disciple; It ceased ...
... tale, thought the sceptic boys. Recounts Sri Aurobindo, '' One day Barin took him into a garden where they were practising shooting. As soon as Lele saw it he understood the nature of the movement and asked Barin to give it up. Lele said that if Barin did not listen to him Barin would fall into a ditch -s-and he did fall.'' Barin, let us admit it, had never acquired the good habit of listening... Mother's Chronicles - Book Five 49 The Most Dangerous Man Barin reports that he called Lele to Calcutta for his own sadhana, as well as for training and giving initiation to his boys. Lele came in February 1908 and put up at Sejda's Scott's Lane house. He even went one day to Belur Math and sat in meditation with Swami Brahmananda. He... in the man. He said, 'But you must respect the yellow robe .' '' Sri Aurobindo was no respecter of sham. Before leaving Calcutta in mid-March, Lele had met young people of the Secret Society. Barin had not told him that they were revolutionaries. Nor did he tell Lele what they were doing in the Maniktola Garden. Lele on his several visits met Upen, Prafulla Chaki, and other young men and boys ...
... of one of his novels. This decision to choose my path came while I was in my Fourth Year. That I would definitely join the Gardens was conveyed to Barin by Prafulla. He had already told him about my antecedents, so one day I received a call – Barin would see me, as if at an interview for a post. Escorted by Prafulla, I arrived at his residence in Gopimohan Dutt Lane at Goabagan. This place acquired... word to Mr. Ghose – this was how he used to be called in those days at the place – saying that I had come from Barin of the Manicktolla Gardens. As I sat waiting in one of the rooms downstairs, Sri Aurobindo came down, stood' near me and gave me an inquiring look. I said, in Bengali, "Barin has sent me. Would it be possible for you to come to the Gardens with me now?" He answered very slowly, pausing... house there was a gymnasium for the young men of the neighbourhood where wrestling and boxing and all kinds of dangerous martial exercises were practised. This happened to be my first meeting with Barin. He received me with great kindness and had me seated next to him. I cannot now recall the details of the conversation we had, but perhaps there was nothing much to remember. One thing however I distinctly ...
... novels. This decision to choose my path came while I was in my Fourth Year. That I would definitely join the Gardens was conveyed to Barin by Prafulla. He had already told Page 6 him about my antecedents, so one day I received a call— Barin would see me, as if at an interview for a post. Escorted by Prafulla, I arrived at his residence in Gopimohan Dutt Lane at Goabagan. This... send word to Mr. Ghose—this was how he used to be called in those days at the place—saying that I had come from Barin of the Manicktolla Gardens. As I sat waiting in one of the rooms downstairs, Sri Aurobindo came down, stood near me and gave me an inquiring look. I said, in Bengali, "Barin has sent me. Would it be possible for you to come to the Gardens 1 I have been there once later. It ... there was a gymnasium for the young men of the neighbourhood where wrestling and boxing and all kinds of dangerous martial exercises were practised. This happened to be my first meeting with Barin. He received me with great kindness and had me seated next to him. I cannot now recall the details of the conversation we had, but perhaps there was nothing much to remember. One thing however I ...
... trigger of inner movements), when his brother Barin was ill with a severe fever. (Barin, born while Sri Aurobindo was in England, was Sri Aurobindo's secret emissary in the organization of Indian resistance in Bengal.) One of those half-naked wandering monks appeared. He was probably begging for food from door to door as is their custom, when he saw Barin rolled up in blankets, shivering with fever.... Without a word, he asked for a glass of water, drew a sign, chanted a mantra , and had Barin drink the water. Five minutes later Barin was cured, and the monk had disappeared. Sri Aurobindo had heard about the strange powers of these ascetics, but now he had seen it with his own eyes. He suddenly realized that yoga could serve other purposes than escape from the world. And he needed power to liberate... party and its timid demands into an extremist movement unambiguously promoting the ideal of complete independence; and finally to secretly prepare an armed insurrection. With his younger brother, Barin, he began to organize guerrilla groups in Bengal under the cover of athletic or cultural programs; he even sent an emissary to Europe, at his own expense, to learn how to make bombs. When Sri Aurobindo ...
... well as organisational — arose between Jatin and Barin at Calcutta. For a time Jatin had worked among lawyers, doctors and other professional men, while Barin and Page 63 Abinash Bhattacharya had fished for recruits for revolution among the students. Jatin was thought by some of his comrades to be too much of a military martinet and Barin, Abinash and Hemachandra were all allergic to... the World-Mother. 46 At one point, Barin returned after wandering in the Amarkantak in the Vindhya mountains, with a malignant fever which proved unresponsive to medical treatment. A Naga sannyasi arrived just then, and on coming to know of Barin's predicament, asked for a cup of water and cut it crosswise with a knife while repeating a mantra. Barin was given the water to drink, and was promptly... tried without success one or two occupations, joined his brother at Baroda and became fully infected with the revolutionary fever. In 1902, Sri Aurobindo went to Midnapore accompanied by Jatin and Barin, and there was some practice of rifle shooting on the lands of Hemachandra Das. It was about this time that Sri Aurobindo decided to establish six centres of revolutionary work in Bengal, and gave ...
... adjusted myself to Lele-ji’s demands. Sri Aurobindo in Surat Congress One night during dinner, Lele-ji said to Barin, Ullas and others, “If you continue with your bombs and pistols before realising the Mother Bhavani, you will hasten your own downfall”. Barin answered, “When we see vultures sucking blood out of our Mother’s body, how can we sit down to meditate?” (S) 1908 – Alipore... When the approver Noren Goswami was assassinated in the Alipore Jail, Sri Aurobindo was in a separate cell. We sent Barin-da to him, asking for guidance. Sri Aurobindo said that he was not going to say anything. Following his example Nolini also made no comment. But we followed Barin-da’s lead and gave statements making ourselves out as patriots and revolutionaries. As a result, in spite of the i... the staff of Jugantar , a revolutionary newspaper, in Calcutta. There he met Barindra K. Ghose, the younger brother of Sri Aurobindo, who assigned him work on the newspaper. Later he was chosen by Barin to train in revolutionary warfare at Manicktala Garden. He thus became one of a select few in an intrepid group moulded by the laws and rites of Ma Bhavani. Sudhir was initiated into the group only ...
... sentences, and the publication of their daily newspapers and weekly magazines was forbidden. Barin and Ullaskar Dutt were condemned to death by hanging, but their sentence was later commuted to lifelong exile in the infamous prison of Port Blair, on the Andaman Islands, now a national monument. (Only in 1920 would Barin return to his motherland.) In the course of the trial the British prosecution had already... activity grew more and more intense. He met with like-minded people and sounded out the possibility of an openly waged freedom struggle. The collaboration with his younger brother, Barindrakumar or Barin for short, grew more frequent, and he used his holidays in Bengal for revolutionary purposes. The partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905 caused general public indignation — an atmosphere conducive... in Calcutta, 1907 He also supervised the ideological contents of another weekly, Yugantar. This was the organ of the youthful revolutionaries who clustered around Aurobindo’s younger brother Barin; impatient, they preferred acting instead of talking and wanted to accelerate the realization of their holiest aim, the liberation of Mother India, through terrorism. They were naïve and inexperienced ...
... build on the surest foundation.’ 38 But not that soon. Sri Aurobindo first sent Barin to Bengal in order to reconnoitre the possibilities of collecting funds, contacting interested people and founding one or several communities there. ‘The time is approaching though it has not yet come,’ he writes to Barin on 18 November 1922, ‘when I shall have to take up a large external work proceeding from... and am even making or at least supervising a sort of practical or laboratory experiment in that sense which needs all the attention and energy that I can have to spare.’ 10 After the war Barin had profited from a general British amnesty for all political prisoners. On returning home from the infernal jail in Port Blair, where he had kept himself going by practising yoga, he wanted to become... importance of the return and the role of Mirra in Sri Aurobindo’s yoga, as we will see in the following section of this chapter. ‘I do not want hundreds of thousands of disciples,’ Sri Aurobindo tells Barin. ‘It will be enough if I can get a hundred complete men, empty of petty egoism, who will be instruments of God. I have no faith in the customary trade of the Guru. I do not wish to be a Guru. That at ...
... at present command. Page 272 I have thought that by your recommendation and influence you may help Barin to gather them for me.... Yours, Aurobindo On Himself , XXVI.436 ( Letters from Sri Aurobindo to his younger brother Barin. ) 18 November 1922 Dear Barin, ... I have been till now and shall be for some time longer withdrawn in the practice of a Yoga destined to... Divine wants me to be,'—all the rest should go on that base." April 13, 1935 Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga , XXIII.582 They have found some letters—some old letters—from Sri Aurobindo to Barin and the lawyer 1 —extraordinary! They are incredible. They give the measure of Sri Aurobindo as a man of action. Even in 1920, he intended to undertake an action. To organize centers all over India... being placed at my disposal that I can carry on this work which is necessary as a preparation for my own return to action.... Aurobindo Ghose On Himself , XXVI.435 1 December 1922 Dear Barin, I must now make clear the reasons why I hesitated to sanction the publication [of certain texts].... But that about non-cooperation would lead, I think, to a complete misunderstanding Page 273 ...
... grace and easy naturalness. The small group around Sri Aurobindo received an accession during the year with the arrival of his younger brother, Barindra (Barin), who had been released from the Andamans after the Amnesty. From Bengal, Barin had first written to Sri Aurobindo asking him for initiation into Yoga, and had been accepted but it would be Sri Aurobindo's own special way of Yoga, the Integral... had spoken of a Deva Sangha in his letter of 1920 to his brother Barin: but how was it to be organised, how were the .members to be 'called'? While Pondicherry would be the headquarters of the movement (at least for the time being), should there be other centres too affiliated to the central seat of inspiration? Sri Aurobindo sent Barin to Bengal to explore the possibilities, to collect funds, and to... on fire, and the long and dreary years of tribulation in the Andamans were as nought. Sri Aurobindo, his Page 209 brother and Guru, now exercised the same magnetic pull as of old, and Barin resolutely packed his bag and arrived in Pondicherry. Then, suddenly, Nature took a hand in bringing all of them together under one roof. October-December is usually the season of cyclones and violent ...
... with Barin and his group that they were not to admit anything immediately if they were caught by the police, reminisced Nolini, one of the arrested young men. But Barin, Upen, Ullaskar, and some other senior members of the group made a full confession after Page 471 their arrest, which was taken down by L. Birley. In fact Barin's statement is quite a document. Chivalrous Barin, as... Birley would at once order all the prisoners to 'stand up'! Like a schoolmaster! Let us remind the Reader that most of the accused were very young, their age ranging from fifteen to the mid-twenties. Barin, the leader, was twenty-eight years old. A few senior leaders, like Sri Aurobindo, had crossed the threshold of thirty. They were a jolly lot. "I greatly enjoyed the laughter and the pleasantries of... Page 478 only standing before the bar of this Court but before the bar of the High Court of History." * * * Beachcroft delivered his judgment on 6 May 1909 at 11 o'clock. Barin and Ullaskar were sentenced to death, but could appeal within one week. The Appellate Court delivered its judgement on 23 November 1909, commuting their death sentences to life transportation. Their ...
... Suresh Chandra 1. Railways had four classes of bogies: first, second, intermediate, and third. Page 402 Samajpati; among the young men were Barin, Satyen Bose, Abinash Bhattacharya. As a rule, Barin who was a member of the secret society, did not take part in any public affairs. But then on that very morning he had been handed a ticket for Surat and was told that he was... wryly, "It costs the people of India a lot of money to maintain the poverty of the Mahatma." In the event, this was a real third-class, and the Bengali Nationalist leaders were travelling in it. Barin says in his autobiography that he found the compartment almost like a bedlam! A deafening uproar was going on when he arrived ! Seeing the young man without any suitable clothing and shivering with... round Barin.Then he gave a packet of food to the hungry young man who thought it was near enough to be termed 'nectar ' I After such Page 403 a welcome it was natural enough for Barin to stay on in the same compartment. Now then, from one of the stations, a wonderful procedure began —at each station their carriage was flooded with garlands of flowers, luchis, sweetmeats and tea. ...
... Certainly, some sadhaks have strong and decisive experiences at the beginning, but these are followed by long labour in which there are many empty periods and many periods of struggle. You speak of Barin, 1 but Barin's experiences were like all he did brilliant but unsound in method and only bright beginnings without any conclusion and it was all on the surface, mental and vital fireworks. There... are not to leave Pondicherry by this morning's train or at all. You have to come and see the Mother at 9.30 and speak to her heart to heart. Both the Mother and myself _________________ 1. Barin Ghose, Sri Aurobindo's younger brother. Page 338 have lavished much love and care on you and you are certainly not going to make a return like this—it is impossible. Do not believe... I am afraid I don't see how I can see William Arthur Moore—how can I extend to him so extraordinary a privilege (since I see nobody) which I would not have conceded to Sarat Chatterji? You say Barin certifies him as a bhakta —but Barin's language is apt to be vivid and exaggerated; he probably means only an admirer. I think he must be answered that certainly he would [have] been allowed a meeting ...
... approved. Page 246 But it was otherwise with rebellious spirits like Sri Aurobindo's younger brother, Barin. He became more and more ill at ease, he grew increasingly restive, and on 25 December 1929 he left the Ashram - and Pondicherry - for good. But even Barin, while he felt he couldn't "remain caged" under the Ashram's "rigorous discipline", was willing to acknowledge... Ashram meant the realisation of one of Mirra's persistent early dreams, it also signified the materialisation of Sri Aurobindo's own hopes as expressed in his letters of 1920. In his letter to Barin, Sri Aurobindo had spoken of a Deva Sangha, and even one hundred dedicated members would, he thought, be able to form the necessary nucleus for future large-scale practical work in the field... Being mixed up with revolutionary activity, the enterprise was vitiated from the beginning, and after the Muzzaferpore bomb incident, the Manicktolla group was rounded up and rendered innocuous. Barin and some of his co-workers were sent to the Andamans after the Alipur trial (1908-09), and Sri Aurobindo himself, about a year after his acquittal, retired to Pondicherry in April 1910. After ...
... independence. Sri Aurobindo found his own sadhana becoming very irregular and disorganised on account of the political work. So he told Barin to arrange a meeting with someone who would help him in his sadhana. One of the disciples of Vishnu Bhaskar Lele was at Baroda. Barin had come to know about him and learnt that Lele was at that time in Gwalior. A wire was sent to Lele asking him to come to Baroda.... with the need of the guidance (or working) of the voice. In February 1908 Barin wrote a letter to Lele inviting him to Calcutta. It was considered necessary for revolutionary youths to have training in the spiritual life. It was when Lele visited Calcutta that he came to know about the secret political movement of Barin and others. He became very serious and drew their attention to the grave dangers... Sri Aurobindo met Chhotalal Purani in a private interview and explained to him a scheme for the revolutionary work by drawing a pencil sketch on a blank piece of paper. He then advised him to meet Barin who met C. B. Purani for three consecutive days, explaining to him the details of the revolutionary organisation. It was thus that the seeds were sown of that movement in Gqarat which became so well ...
... become the capital in 1911 – and he travelled there almost every year during his holidays. These occasions he put to use for secret revolutionary activities, after a while helped by his younger brother Barin. It would be an exaggeration, though, to say that these efforts were even moderately successful. But then Lord Curzon decreed the partition of Bengal (which would ultimately lead to the formation... a full-time job in helping the National College afloat, he also supervised a revolutionary Bengali weekly, the organ of the militant extremists Yugantar (the changing age), edited by his brother Barin; he wrote for Bande Mataram , an English weekly which followed the line of the revolutionary nationalists and made Aurobindo Ghose’s voice heard throughout India; and he even found time to write a... ng”. But the British authorities knew what a dangerous man the politician Aurobindo Ghose was and they were looking for an occasion to get rid of him. This occasion came when, on 30 April 1908, Barin and his group of young militant patriots, of whom Aurobindo was the secret leader, bungled another of their bombing attempts. This time the colonial authorities came down with a heavy hand. Aurobindo ...
... correct. Nolini himself was one of the party. They never approached Dutt. But the boy's death by a bomb explosion is quite true. PURANI: Nolini said that Barin was carrying the bomb in his hand with the cap on. SRI AUROBINDO: Cap on? Just like Barin. PURANI: And when Prafulla threw the bomb, it exploded in the air before touching the ground. NIRODBARAN: Chakravarty thought that as soon as it... PURANI: Does Barin's article show any change in his attitude? SRI AUROBINDO ( smiling, stretching out both hands in a half-hanging position and then pausing a little ): It is difficult to say about Barin. After having failed in whatever he tried, he may look back now in a different light. He says whatever suits him at the moment. There may be some change in his attitude, but how far he has made inner... failed in everything after going from here, while the Ashram has grown ever since. That may have impressed him. PURANI: To realise and say that he has deviated from the path is rather strong for Barin, I thought. SRI AUROBINDO: He says whatever is uppermost in his mind, according to his moods, and he says it with force. NIRODBARAN: X is trying to boycott the Calcutta Nationalist papers, especially ...
... hold of the revolvers? Well, no one really knows but later investigations indicate that perhaps one of the revolutionaries of Chandernagore smuggled two revolvers into the jail and made them over to Barin. Whatever the means adopted, one cannot but admire the heroic resolution of those who silenced the traitor. The preliminary trial came to an end on September 14. Of the thirty-nine prisoners three... higher Court. All the accused were charged with 'organising a gang for the purpose of waging war against the Government by criminal force', a grave offence under the Indian Penal Code. In the case of Barin, Hemchandra Das, Ullaskar Dutt and others, additional charges were framed, those of conspiracy, complicity in plots for assassination and other murderous acts, illegal manufacture of explosives, etc... demonstrations on the day of the verdict. The prisoners were led into the courtroom, as usual, and at ten minutes to eleven, the Judge mounted the bench. Ten minutes later, he pronounced the sentence: Barin and Ullaskar were sentenced to death; ten others, including Hemchandra Das, were sentenced to transportation for life; seven others to transportation or imprisonment for varying periods. The remaining ...
... factory for the making of bombs might be tried somewhere around the mica pits he owned in that region. His eldest son Satyendra had been a schoolmate and friend of Barin and the two were practically co-workers. This family had helped Barin a good deal by their offers of money and advice. But what I had in mind was not these external things but an inner life. Manoranjan Guhathakurta had an inner life... be the motto of the soldier. That is why he left standing instructions with Barin and his group that they were not to admit anything immediately they were caught by the police. They should keep their mouths shut and make whatever statements were necessary only when the time came at a later stage. It is however true that Barin and some of the senior members of the group did Page 363 ...
... England. His name is listed in the birth register as "Emmanuel Ghose"! Swarnalata later returned to India with Barin and Sarojini. Dr. Ghose stayed alone at Khulna after his return and when Swarnalata came he arranged for her to stay at Rohini, a town two miles from Deoghar, with Barin and Sarojini. ¹. Cf. A.B. Purani , Evening Talks, Third Series (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1966),... his sister Sarojini at Bankipore after his return to India in 1893, when he joined the Baroda state service. He used to send money regularly from Baroda to' his mother at Rohini. Later on (in 1901) Barin also came and stayed with him. But what Manmohan describes as his great loss in his own childhood must have been felt as a loss by all the three brothers. This becomes clear in one of Manmohan's... does much to explain Dr. Ghose's life, including his inability to send money to his sons in England. He had to maintain one house where he was serving and another for his insane wife at Rohini. Young Barin and Sarojini had also to be sent to school. Add to this his generous temperament and one can understand why he was unable to meet the financial needs of his children. Aurobindo left Cambridge in ...
... divine life - be it at my touch or at another's - this is what I want. It is such men that will raise the country. Yours Sejda 36 Barin came to Pondicherry. Ullaskar Datta, one of the revolutionaries and a fellow worker of Barin also came. Some of the revolutionaries were trying to seek inspiration and guidance from Sri Aurobindo, but since Sri Aurobindo had cut off all connection... sometime in 1920 or later and had an interview with Sri Aurobindo. Colonel Joshua Wedgewood, an English M.P., visited Sri Aurobindo. X In 1919, after the armistice, Barin was released from the Andamans. He wrote to Sri Aurobindo asking him about his personal sadhana, the future of the country and the nature of the movement to be carried on for its freedom and resurgence... national life and indicating his own line of spiritual work for humanity. We reproduce here some lines from that Bengali letter which has been translated into English: April 7,1920 Dear Barin, ...First about our yoga. You wish to give me the charge of your yoga and I am willing to take it, but that means giving its charge to Him who is moving by His Divine Shakti, whether secretly ...
... ock to a great number. 79 * * * April, 1920 (Barin Ghose, Sri Aurobindo's brother, was sentenced to death at the Alipore Bomb Case in 1909. On appeal his sentence was commuted to deportation for life to the Andamans; he was released early in 1920, after an amnesty. Soon afterwards, Barin wrote to Sri Aurobindo for guidance both from a political and a spiritual point... trying to work out in my own experience and I have now a sure basis, a wide knowledge and some mastery of the secret____ 86 Page 159 December 1, 1922 (From a letter to Barin.) Dear Barin, As you know, I do not believe that the Mahatma's principle [of non-cooperation] can be the true foundation or his programme the true means of bringing out the genuine freedom and greatness ...
... and Pavitra had already accepted unquestioningly whatever Sri Aurobindo proposed or approved. But it was otherwise with rebellious spirits like Sri Aurobindo’s younger brother, Barin.’ 28 (K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar) Barin, after having come back from Bengal where his efforts to found centres and raise funds had borne little fruit, had been acting as a cook for Sri Aurobindo, looking after a small... addressed to Sri Aurobindo on a table. Later I learned that he had written to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother saying that he was leaving the Ashram.’ 29 When ten years later Nirodbaran remarked that ‘Barin had great energy and capacity,’ Sri Aurobindo commented: ‘Yes, he had brilliance, but he was always narrow and limited. He wouldn’t widen himself. [Sri Aurobindo showed the widening by a movement of... musical ability, he was good at revolutionary activity. He did well in all these matters, but nothing more. He was also a painter, but it did not come to much in spite of his exhibitions.’ 30 Barin – who left the Ashram at about the same time as Bejoy Nag, another original companion – played such an important role in Sri Aurobindo’s life that he deserves to be taken leave of here. It is said that ...
... which throws light on his views of yoga, politics and similar subjects. He wrote in April 1920 to his younger brother, Barin, who had been released earlier from the Andamans, following an amnesty to political prisoners by the Government after the armistice. On returning to Bengal, Barin visited a number of spiritual centres, including the Prabartak Sangha of Motilal Roy at Chandernagore, but apparently... residents, including Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, had now increased to nine. In addition to the four companions who initially came with Sri Aurobindo, K. Amrita became an inmate in 1919, followed by Barin, who arrived after his exchange of letters with Sri Aurobindo, and by Datta who came with the Mother. With the increase in the number of inmates it became necessary to find additional accommodation... b'charigers' and 'non-changers' over the question of seeking election to the enlarged legislative councils provided under the new Government of India Act. Sri Aurobindo's reply, sent through his brother Barin in November, was on the lines of his earlier letters to Baptista and Dr. Munje. 'I have become confirmed in a perception,' he wrote, '...that the true basis of work and life is the spiritual, — that ...
... Hitherto he had been kept quite separate from us and this was the first time he came in our midst. In his room gathered all those who were interested in the spiritual life, in sadhana and meditation. Barin joined here. To the central section of the apartments came those who looked for some kind of mental culture, they were the more "intellectual" types. Here Upen took the lead and I too spent most of... what next? Must we rot in jail for the rest of our lives, say for ten years or perhaps twenty? And supposing some of us were to be hanged, that too did not seem to be a particularly desirable end. Barin got an idea: we must break out of jail. Our lives, he argued, were going to be wasted in any case, so why not do something worthwhile before we lost all? He consulted some of the others and began to... waiting. We would sail down the river and on to the Sunderbans and the deep jungle, as in the story of Debi Chowdhurani of Bankim. There were many who could not approve of this romantic plan of Barin. But I was one of the small fry and was prepared to obey orders, whatever they might be. For it had been part of our ideal in life: Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: ...
... factory for the making of bombs might be tried somewhere around the mica pits he owned in that region. His eldest son Satyendra had been a schoolmate and friend of Barin and the two were practically co-workers. This family had helped Barin a good deal by their offers of money and advice. But what I had in mind was not these external things but an inner life. Manoranjan Guhathakurta had an inner life... the motto of the soldier. That is why he left standing instructions with Barin and his group that they were not to admit anything immediately they were caught by the police. They should keep their mouths shut and make whatever statements were necessary only when the time came at a later stage. It is however true that Barin and some of the senior members of the group did make a full confession soon ...
... Police. SATYENDRA: Dutt's stories have shed a flood of light on old events. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, the light that never was on sea or land. PURANI: May I recount a tale about Barin now? Sudhir told me that once Barin came to his house as a guest. Sudhir asked him straight why he had left Pondicherry and to his straight question wanted a straight answer. "When all are turning towards Pondicherry... experiences, stayed a long time. Still why have you come ? Tell me frankly." SRI AUROBINDO ( enjoying the story ): And then? What was the reply? PURANI: The first day Barin evaded Sudhir. The second day he again was asked and then Barin told him that he had come because of his personal difficulties. The Mother had asked him repeatedly not to go; even while going he was having experiences right up to ...
... didn't know anybody else. Barin and I were concerned with the scheme but I didn't give it up because of any opposition. Barin was knocking about for a temple in the hills. He only got hill-fever and not the temple. The whole thing fizzled out. It was not a failure because it was never started. I knew that it wouldn't work out. It was not meant to be a success. NIRODBARAN: Barin got the conception of... of the Mandir. SRI AUROBINDO: In automatic writing. NIRODBARAN: No, in trance, Dutt says. SRI AUROBINDO: Trance? I never knew that Barin went into trance. And if he had got it in trance he would have told me. NIRODBARAN: Dutt says it was in a trance in which he had a vision of a temple on a rugged conical hill somewhere between Modhupur and Benaras. SRI AUROBINDO: The hill was near Benaras ...
... away. I cannot remember their names and I did not make enquiries as regarding their names as it was against the rule (prohibited). My first introduction to the garden was about eight months ago, when Barin Babu took me there and told me that there was a secret mission awaiting me there. The secret mission was that we should, after receiving instructions, travel all over the country and teach the people... which were proved by Sudhir’s brother. “Exhibit 394 is a letter of 6th December from Aurobindo explaining why he was not able to send some “brandy”. He says, “Abanish is not here, nor is Sudhir. Barin was not here.” He also refers to the time as being one of anxiety. This letter is relied on as showing Arabindo’s connection with Sudhir”. Exhibit 300-21 was found in Aurobindo’s house in an... difficult to understand why his name was not included in the search list. This evidence is not convincing. Still we have Sudhir’s statement to Mr. Birley that it was at the Jugantar Office he first met Barin, and that he assisted in publishing the paper. But even if he did assist, as he says for a month, that by itself would not greatly strengthen the case against Sudhir, though it would not be without ...
... except that Mother's arrival had begun to introduce a little order and well-being into the bohemian life of the Guest House. “Paul and Mirra Richard came to see Sri Aurobindo every evening,” writes Barin, Sri Aurobindo’s younger brother, "to talk of Yoga and discuss the great future, when man will be capable of bridging the gulf between matter and spirit, by divinizing even his body ... Nobody knew... Sri Aurobindo asked Her to move in with them and, from that day on, She never left him again. It was the 24th of November, 1920. Paul Richard, “incapable of accepting this life of self-surrender,” as Barin expressed it, would soon disappear. Two years later, Sri Aurobindo and Mother would move a short distance away to the present Ashram building, 9 rue de la Marine, with its white-bordered pearl gray... in the most amiable and yet most impersonal way: ‘I suppose this has to be sent....' The expression He used very often was ‘It was done,’ 'It happened,' not Ί did it.'” 23 His younger brother, Barin, observed the same silent reserve in Sri Aurobindo; nothing ever “ostentatious,” no miraculous display: “His quiet, dreamy eyes seldom lost their inward absorption even in the midst of his most engrossing ...
... revolutionary activity. He was going through the customary motions, like a puppet as it were. He and Barin had discussions Page 275 with Chotalal B Purani about the possibility of organising secret revolutionary groups all over Gujarat, along the lines this had been done in Bengal. Barin also gave the formula for making bombs to Chotalal. Ambalal, his younger brother had attended some... Nagpur, Moonje and Chidambaram Pillai supported the proposal. But Tilak wired: "For God's sake, no split." Sri Aurobindo acquiesced, and so they went to Surat. C.C. Dutt has recorded that, along with Barin, a few boys also went to Surat carrying fire-arms, and had instructions from Dutt "to close round Aurobindo Babu in case there was a row." (Sunday Times, 17 December 1950) Page 266 ... the hand for a pillow. It being mid-winter in Baroda, he had to use the Pashmina shawl that Sardar Mazumdar gave him. It was at Khasirao Jadhav's house, where Sri Aurobindo was staying with Barin, that the first interview with Lele took place. As regards Yoga, Lele told Sri Aurobindo that he should completely suspend all political activity, at least for a few days. Then the two closeted themselves ...
... destination — Ashram — but Bihari-da did arrive. Bihari-da met Jotin-da — another native of Chittagong — who took him in, gave him a meal and took him to Barin-da. Jotin-da was then (and till his last days) incharge of the Garden Service. Barin-da arranged for Bihari-da to meet the Mother. What did Bihari-da feel or experience when he saw the Mother for the first time? When asked, he was silent... to foot it over two hills (wooded) to reach it and then walk back after dark. Bihari-da was in touch with the Ashram from the age of 16. He wrote to Sri Aurobindo and received the replies through Barin-da (Sri Aurobindo’s brother). But soon enough he felt the urge to leave everything (friends, family, etc.) and come to Pondy. This was around the year 1929. The Mother had by now taken charge of the ...
... Amiyoranjan, Kanakranjan and Robiranjan and sisters Gauri and Chobi lived close to the Mother. Manoranjan’s family too settled here since 1944. His wife Jyotsna with children — Arun, Karobi, Ashok, Runu, Barin and Madhuri consisted the family. Chittaranjan’s wife Minnie and daughter Chum also settled here. Manoranjan was a giant of a man — in more senses than one — size and in character. He was tall and... Manoranjan as it does all of us and everything. He bore all the heavy responsibilities that the Mother showered on him with courage and faith. But he had to slow down. His eldest son Arun and youngest son Barin took up the agriculture and other works. The other children of his, Ashok, Lumière (Light), Runu and Bubu were not interested in these works. (We will speak of them later for all of them are worth noting... the next brother is ill and nearly blind. But in his younger days he was a good teacher, but somewhat touchy. He was a very sensitive musician and played the flute — also in Sunilda’s orchestra. Barin the youngest brother was an exception — no music, not much good in studies, mediocre in sports. He was my classmate. But he turned out to be quite an authority in cattle-rearing and agriculture. As ...
... remarks. The need is in connection with the first outward work that I am under- taking after this long inner retirement. Barin has gone to Bengal and will see you in connection with it, but a word from me is necessary perhaps and therefore I send you this letter through Barin. I am giving him also a letter of authority from which you will understand the immediate nature of the need for which I have... able to maintain a centre here and one or two at least outside. I need therefore much larger resources than I at present command. I have thought that by your recommendation and influence you may help Barin to gather them for me. May I hope that you will do this for me? One word to avoid a possible misunderstanding. Long ago I gave to Motilal Roy of Chandernagore the ideas and some principles and lines ...
... his thanks politely saying that at present he did not want to take political office, as his interest was now exclusively concentrated on his inner development. In 1920, in a letter to his brother Barin, then recently released from prison, Sri Aurobindo wrote in Bengali: ‘The indwelling Guru of the world indicated my path to me completely, its full theory, the ten limbs of the body of the yoga. These... integral path and would leave it, sometimes after many years; others would become the pillars of the work. There are names that have become well-known for a variety of reasons: Dyuman, Champaklal, Barin, Purani, Dilip Kumar Roy, Pavitra, Pujalal, Nirodbaran, K.D. Sethna (of his Ashram name Amal Kiran), etc. Others, and not necessarily less notable, have given their best in anonymity. In 1925 there... Aurobindo and the Mother officially became an ashram, called the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, there were already twenty-four. We have some idea about the life of some members of the group like Nolini, Bejoy and Barin, because it coincided for the most part with the political life of Sri Aurobindo. By way of illustration, we are giving here a brief sketch of the well-documented lives of two other disciples with very ...
... August 7, 1931 It is not your sister and brother-in-law who are responsible but the wave of old life consciousness which came in ____________________ 1. A journal published by Barin. 2. Sister Maya and brother-in-law Bhavashankar, son of Surendranath Banerji, the well-known Moderate Congress leader. Page 86 their wake that has thrown up old associations and stirred... hore had written to me a letter in which he reported Tagore as having said to him with a sigh that Sri Aurobindo had told him in 1928 that he would "expand" after two years. Page 89 Barin, 1 but I had then a less ample view of the work to be done than I have now—and I am now more cautious about assigning dates than I was once. To fix a precise time is impossible except in the two regions... take pleasure in scandal, nind ā [criticism], believing and reporting anything against people, and ____________________ 1. In his well-known letter of 7 April 1920 to his younger brother Barin, Sri Aurobindo wrote : "These past ten years He has been making me develop it [the body of this Yoga] in experience, and it is not yet finished. It may take another two years...." Page 90 ...
... 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 Maniktala Garden and it is to this evidently that Hemchandra refers. [An attempt was made to find a site where the Bhawani Mandir idea could be put into operation; later the plan was... remember anything of this kind nor of any formal decision to abandon the Bhawani Mandir idea. This selection of a site and a head of the monastery must have been Page 74 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... Sri Aurobindo would not have chosen him for any control of the political side of such an institution. The idea of Bhawani Mandir simply lapsed of itself. Sri Aurobindo thought no more about it, but Barin who clung to the idea tried to establish something like it on a small scale in the Maniktala Garden. ...
... long a disuse. The need is in connection with the first outward work that I am undertaking after this long inner retirement. Barin has gone to Bengal and will see you in connection with it, but a word from me is perhaps necessary and therefore I send you through Barin this letter. I am giving him also a letter of authority from which you will understand the immediate nature of the need for which... able to maintain a centre here and one or two at least outside. I need therefore much larger resources than I at present command. I have thought that by your recommendation and influence you may help Barin to gather them for me. May I hope that you will do this for me? One word to avoid a possible misunderstanding. Long ago I gave to Motilal Roy of Chandernagore the ideas and some principles and lines ...
... he took a sterner tone when addressing Indians, and he gave a fuller account of his experience of the West. ADDENDUM A letter from Sri Aurobindo to his younger brother Barin. April 7, 1920 Dear Barin, I have your letter, but have not succeeded in writing an answer till now. That I have even sat down to write now is a miracle; for me to write a letter is an event that takes place... July 21, 1962 The other day, speaking of Europe, you said that the "Old World is truly old...." Ah, look at this—yesterday someone read me a letter Sri Aurobindo wrote to Barin in April 1920, a few days before I returned from Japan. It was written in Bengali—tremendously interesting! He speaks of the state of the world, particularly India, and of how he envisaged a certain ...
... violent Mantra of Kali, with "Jahi Jahi" to repeat. I did so, but, as I had expected, it came to nothing. Barin at that time was trying some automatic writing. 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. The spirit prophesied that Lord Curzon would ...
... SATYENDRA: Could he exercise that control in sleep also? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, Barin knew him. At one time he was his disciple. SATYENDRA: Yes, Barin has written about him. SRI AUROBINDO: Bejoy Goswmi also was poisoned by sannyasins but by the process called stambhan he controlled the effect, they say. SATYENDRA: Barin speaks of Lele also. He recounts how Lele warned him against terrorism. ...
... time as the General Assembly's Institution. Page 1 Nandi, a son of Colonel Nandi of the Indian Medical Service. Let me recount some of his exploits. He had been a colleague of Barin Ghose of Manicktolla Gardens fame, and also a member of the Atmopnati Samiti, an "Association for Self-improvement". This Samiti was really a centre for the recruitment and training of revolutionaries... of it as goon as he got a chance.... The life-story of this Ullaskar is a real drama, although its last stage is rather tragic. Soon after this incident he joined the Manicktolla Gardens with Barin Ghose and gave all his thought and energy to the making of a bomb. He did not know even the a b c of bombs. He read up by himself books on Chemistry, pieced out information from all kinds of books... that Ullas is still alive, though almost half-dead, they say. Ten or twelve years of jail in the Anda-mans deranged him in body and mind. But this after all was part of the ritual of sacrifice. As Barin used to say, "Such indeed was the vow in this kind of marriage". For, the enthusiasm of that day, that reawakening to Page 4 new life, took no account whatever of the gains and ...
... brought to the “Modern Press" on the fifteenth of each month. He corrected all the proofs himself and did all the work. “I used to find him sitting before his typewriter,” recalls his younger brother Barin, who had come to visit him, “ticking away his ideas and thoughts instead of writing them down ... He had made it a rule to go through as many as five proofs of each printed form. There was not that... everywhere in India. He always wrote and worked with infinite care and patience, his actions springing from pure limpid energy,—sustained and patient, devoid of all taint of inertia or hurry." 21 Even Barin, who knew nothing (he was the “bomb-maker,” later deported to the Andaman Islands by the British), could not help noticing that "limpid energy.” But strangely enough, He did not "tick away” one book... × Purani, Evening Talks, 12.10.1926. × Barin, Sri Aurobindo as I understand Him (unpublished) × Entretiens, 8.29.1956 ...
... it on the funeral pyre. It was this great sorrow that made him become a sannyasin. Sakharia Baba was very fond of Sri Aurobindo's brother Barin, who was at one time his disciple. It was Barin who had taken him to the Surat Congress. "Tall and fair," recalled Barin, "a straight body draped in an ochre robe, a shaven head, staff in hand, and hanging from his shoulder a cloth-bag ever full of sugar candy ...
... ary-to-be, was born on 5 January 1880. His mother registered her last son's name at Corydon as EMANUEL MATTHEW GHOSE. "Matthew was her doctor's name," explains Barin, "Emanuel was because I was born just a few days after Christ, and Barin was because I was born almost on the seashore." Actually he was born in a suburb of London, "at Norwood, in front of the Crystal Palace." In March 1880, with... with a three-year-old toddler and a two-month-old infant in her arms, Swarnalata returned to India. By now she was firmly in the grip of her ailment. Barin was then a babe, but as he grew up he noticed that his mother was a prey to storms. "Storms came alternately. A storm of joy Page 120 Krishna Dhan, Swarnalata, and their four children (left to right: Benoybhusan, ...
... that friend. Or to tell you of a particular incident: Once Sri Aurobindo said to Mother that Barin was bringing a letter and he was on the staircase. Mother told Sri Aurobindo that Barin was coming along with another man. What had happened was that Mother saw the writer of the letter accompanying Barin, though only his letter was in Barin's hand. × ...
... expression he seemed really impressed. That same evening Amrita came to my room and said, “Barin told me that Champaklal's room is worth seeing and insisted I come and see for myself. So I have come.” This is how the Mother cleared my doubts about Barin's statement. You may wonder what was there in my room that Barin liked it so much. There was no furniture, just a thin narrow quilt and a pillow; in a... My Room in Library House After Mother and Sri Aurobindo shifted to Meditation House [February 1927], Mother gave me her room in Library House. One day Barin came to my room and was very happy with the way I had kept my things. He said, “Your room is really nice and beautiful. I like it very much. I wish my room too were like this.” At that time, I, could ...
... given to me. One day Barin (who also lived in Guest House) saw the palm sapling and liked it very much. He asked me whether I wanted to offer it. I said, “Yes, certainly.” I was very happy to give it. New leaves had sprung up and it was so pretty. Barin offered it to Mother saying that it was from me. Mother said: “Yes, it can be put in a corner of our terrace.” Barin had not expected that but ...
... His letters, rather a long one. This is written to Barin. You know Barin was His younger brother, and he was sent to the Andamans for life imprisonment, but due to the King's Armistice, 120 he was released in 1920. He wrote a letter to Sri Aurobindo, and Sri Aurobindo replied in Bengali. The letter is known as 'Pondicherrir Paira'. 121 Barin asked Him several questions, stating some of his ...
... made up the list of the "good" boys. Among the "bad" ones was Indranath Nandi, a son of Colonel Nandi of the Indian Medical Service. Let me recount some of his exploits. He had been a colleague of Barin Ghose of Manicktolla Gardens fame, and also a member of the Atmonnati Samiti, an "Association for Self-improvement". This Samiti was really a centre for the recruitment and training of revolutionaries... good use of it as soon as he got a chance. The life-story of this Ullaskar is a real drama, although its last stage is rather tragic. Soon after this incident he joined the Manicktolla Gardens with Barin Ghose and gave all his thought and energy to the making of a bomb. He did not know even the ABC's of bombs. He read up by himself books on Chemistry, pieced out information from all kinds of books and... heard that Ullas is still alive, though almost halfdead, they say. Ten or twelve years of jail in the Andamans deranged him in body and mind. But this after all was part of the ritual of sacrifice. As Barin used to say, "Such indeed was the vow in this kind of marriage." For, the enthusiasm of that day, that reawakening to new life, took no account whatever of the gains and the losses. It forged ahead ...
... firing, he opened his eyes, smiled and said, "I didn't know it was so easy!" When my brother Barin and I were at Baidyanath, we used to go out with guns to shoot at birds, obviously with the idea of practising. My auntie saw us and said, "These two boys will be hanged." The prophecy almost came true, for Barin got a death-sentence. Before the Swadeshi movement started, Debabrata Bose and I went on... so we shouted at him to come back. But he took no heed, went on muttering the lines and came to us with his usual leisurely steps. When he came to India, his playing the poet dropped off. When Barin and I became politically famous, Manmohan used to say with arrogant pride, "There are only two and a half men in India. The two are my brothers and the half is Tilak." Manmohan and I used to quarrel ...
... galvanisation of the prostrate body of Mother India. He had himself become a member of the Revolutionary Party with its base in Western India, and he had given the oath to others (including his brother Barin), he had enlisted some high Government officials (like C.C. Dutt) to the cause, he had toured Bengal secretly, he had watched with some satisfaction the stretching out of the tentacles of the revolutionary... mentioned in an earlier chapter (III.vii) that, following his marriage to Mrinalini Bose in 1901, Sri Aurobindo went with her and his sister, Sarojini, to Naini Tal; and after their return to Baroda, Barin also joined them some time later. The next few years were the period of Sri Aurobindo's increasing association with secret revolutionary activity, practice of Yoga and steady withdrawal from the impulsions... Aurobindo himself wrote some of the leading articles in the early issues, and "always exercised a general control". 18 Among the editorial staff were able writers and committed revolutionaries like Barin, Upen Bannerji and Devabrata Bose. From the beginning the paper was a sensational success, the circulation leaping up from one to ten thousand in the course of a year, and sometimes Page 217 ...
... Mother's Chronicles - Book Five 27 The National Mantra The Vindhyas, where Barin had gone in search of a temple site, are a chain of mountains that roughly divides India into North and South. Legend has it that once upon a time the mountain began to grow and grow. It grew till it pierced the sky. And then the Sun could not cross it... the night. Hence rose the Mother: With a mighty thirst, in wrath awoke the Mother; With a lion's roar filling the universe awoke the Mother To awaken the world." Barin, in a statement on 12 June 1943, recalled how Bhawani Mandir was printed. "I came to Calcutta from Baroda, with the ms. of Bhawani Mandir, written by Sri Aurobindo in English. It was printed secretly... region was not mentioned, the site had been selected near the Sone River......" Page 257 But Sri Aurobindo was never told of any definite selection of site. "In this temple," Barin stated, "devotees were to receive initiation both spiritually and politically for the delivrance of India from foreign rule. The scheme undoubtedly owed its origin to Anandamath of Bankim Chandra ...
... gin what? Bengalees are a timid race but they are very desirous of being brave—Many make attempts, but few can succeed—You do a lot of work but not properly Because you do not see to the execution—Barin may try but he will not succeed when you cannot help him—My dear fellow, why try to hide yourself? I see no My dear fellow, you are cowardly and wish to conceal yourself—Brave men will do the work... able—Make Sudhir do it—No but he will do what you tell him—A good many prophecies fail— Page 1367 Yes, make a good attempt—No—You will not be overborne with the small charge of the stuff—Barin makes mistakes—Be more selfreliant— They all depend on you—If you are brave it will begin soon—My dear fellow, don't be curious Make attempts—By attempting again and again you will begin and then ...
... instructions from me; the whole description is quite fanciful. Only a few of the prisoners had been known to me before I met them in prison; only a few who had been with Barin had practised sadhana and these were connected with Barin and would have turned to him for any help, not to me. I was carrying on my yoga during these days learning to do so in the midst of much noise and clamour but apart and ...
... 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 cross-wise with a knife while he repeated a silent mantra. Barin drank and was cured. He also met Brahmananda and was greatly impressed by him; but he had no helper or Guru in Yoga ...
... public face. In private he would go as far as revolution. He wanted a provincial board of control of revolution. Barin once took a bomb to him. The name of Surendranath Banerji was found in the bomb case. But as soon as Norton pronounced the name there was a "Hush, hush" and he shut up. Barin was preparing bombs at my place at Baroda, but I didn't know it. He got the formula from N. Dutt who was a very ...
... theatricals, please!" NIRODBARAN: No, not to Sri Aurobindo but to Mullick. Dutt himself first thought of going personally and persuading Sri Aurobindo but thought better of it and wired back and sent Barin with instructions. SRI AUROBINDO: Where was Dutt at that time? I thought he was in Bombay. It was the editorial staff of the Bande Mataram who arranged for the defence and gave evidence, which... to try. He didn't know how to handle a gun. He was shown how and every time he fired he hit the target which was the tip of a matchstick. SRI AUROBINDO: What was actually the case was that I and Barin went somewhere in Midnapur to practise shooting. No doubt, it is true that I didn't know how to handle a gun. (Laughter) CHAMPAKLAL: But Anilbaran says you may not remember these incidents. ...
... sculptured head, I should say. Then His chest was broad and large, what we call in Sanskrit vishald. His shoulders, as Barin-da has said somewhere, were 'brihatskanda'. 269 We had no opportunity of looking at His shoulders at that time, because He was lying flat. But Barin-da knew better, and I found out later that it is so. The lower part of the body was in proportion with the upper. But ...
... read the other day what Barin babu has written about you. Now I really know what is meant by the phrase "living dangerously." Of course, I was not referring to anything about yoga or the inner life. But why put me to shame by dragging my poor self into it ? My dangers don't prove anything, do they? Sri Aurobindo: Wait a sec. I have admitted nothing about Barin babu - only to having inspired ...
... Power Page 94 why not use it for the freedom of the country? Barin used to do automatic writing at Baroda. Once the spirit of my father appeared on being called. He gave some remarkable prophecies. When asked to give proof about his identity he mentioned the fact of having given a golden watch to Barin – which none in the company knew. And then he spoke of a picture in Devdhar's house ...
... y, and though he used to keep himself away from politics he was proud of Sri Aurobindo's political work. He used to say: "There are only two and a half men in India: one is Aurobindo and the other Barin, and the half is Tilak!" From 27 January 1907 to early April 1907 Sri Aurobindo was at Deoghar. From 12 to 23 April he published a series of articles on passive resistance in the Bande Mataram.... atmosphere was surcharged with great excitement. Members of the revolutionary party who had also come in large numbers were arranging their own rendezvous and discussing their plans. On 27 December Barin wrote a note to Sri Aurobindo asking to arrange for personal interviews with the leaders of the Nationalist Party. Tilak, Lajpatrai and others participated in these discussions either personally or ...
... quiet and still as if nothing had happened. In those days when the Indian skies were turning red and the air was becoming hot, Sri Aurobindo lived in Baroda. He wrote a letter to his younger brother Barin from distant Baroda directing him not to lose this golden opportunity. The youth became disciplined and little groups began to be formed. No town was left out. The boys started preparing themselves... blood drawn from the chest, that I should dedicate my life to the whole-hearted service of the Motherland. And so in this way, one after another, the boys began to gather at Muraripukur Gardens. Barin Ghosh, on Sri Aurobindo’s instructions, started their training. And the matri-mantra Vande Mataram was on all their lips. Then Sri Aurobindo quit Baroda for good. Now the boys of Muraripukur followed ...
... not take any servant with me''. "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 Page 120 with a knife and asked Barin to drink it, saying, "He won't have fever tomorrow. “And the fever left him”. “He creates an ...
... here is Subhas Bose in front of the Cellular Jails in the Andamans. The Mother: Yes, I know. Mona: Mother, this is the place where my father, Barin-da and others were sent after the trial. My father was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and Barin-da for life. It is in this jail that they were kept. ( The Mother looks closely at the picture ) Mother, it is Subhas who chased the British out of ...
... English fashion, Sejda was a very shy person. When womenfolk surrounded him he shrank bashfully. Dadababu [grandfather] put his arms around him and embraced him in a warm welcome." Both Sarojini and Barin were living with their grandparents after the death of their father, Dr. K. D. Ghose. Thus, it was at Deoghar that 'Sejda' found his sister Saro, quite a different person now from the little two-year-old... asked Beno some questions and then directed the coachman and even accompanied Beno to the right house. Benoybhusan quickly found a job as tutor to the Prince of the Coochbehar State. According to Barin, Beno who had gone to Ajmer with his pupil, borrowed Rs.1500 to send to Mano so that the latter could also return to India. Benoybhusan seems to have been in Ajmer for a long time as we gather from ...
... chief means of propaganda was the publication of books and periodicals. The pamphlet Bhawani Mandir provided them with a golden opportunity. "The pamphlet opened with an invocation of Bhawani," Barin stated, "and in most stirring and appealing language called for initiates to this cult in the new spirit of Nationalism. But the appeal was more in the nature of a spiritual than a political one, as... found three copies of Bhawani Mandir: one in the Bande Mataram office, a second in the bomb store at 134 Harrison Road, and a third in the house of Debabrata Bose, one of the chief writers with Barin for the revolutionary Bengali journal, the Yugantar. 1. In the History of Modern Bengal, Part 2 (p. 175), R. C. Majumdar mentions about "its Hindi and Bengali translations." Page ...
... don't see how I can see William Arthur Moore—how can I extend to him so extraordinary a privilege (since I see nobody) which I would not have conceded to Sarat Chatterji? Page 531 You say Barin certifies him as a bhakta—but Barin's language is apt to be vivid and exaggerated; he probably means only an admirer. I think he must be answered that certainly he would have been allowed a meeting... may not be subjected to exception so long as the rule is in force. If he is really a bhakta, that will give him a ray of distant hope and if he isn't, the impression made does not very much matter. Barin surely exaggerates the power of the publicist—after all he is only the editor of the Statesman —but even otherwise that is not the main consideration. By the way why have you transmogrified Moore into ...
... expressed in your letter. You write as if you were not accepted and there was no hope for you. That is not so. Those who sincerely give themselves to me, cannot be rejected. All that was intended in what Barin and Satyen have told you, is that you should come with a complete self-giving and a readiness to renounce everything in you that may be an obstacle to the completeness. The main obstacles in you are... organism created by the Kalazar. In most cases it indicates a weakness in the vital being which opens it to pressure from hostile influences belonging to the lower vital worlds. [3] I had given Barin an answer to your former letter, but it may either not have been sent or else delayed or lost owing to the railway strike. A paper of the kind you are undertaking is not part of my work. My only ...
... "as an experiment as well as an amusement" after observing "some very extraordinary automatic writing" done by his brother Barin; "very much struck and interested" by the phenomenon, "he decided to find out by practising this kind of writing himself what there was behind it." Barin seems at least sometimes to have used a planchette for his experiments, but Sri Aurobindo generally just "held the pen while ...
... were also some experiments of automatic writing. A direct proof of the power of Yoga came to him when a Naga sadhu cured Barin of mountain fever by mantra. The sadhu took a glass full of water and cut the water crosswise with a knife while repeating the mantra. He then told Barin to drink it saying he would not have the fever the next day. And the fever left him. In April 1903, Sri Aurobindo was ...
... were also some experiments of automatic writing. A direct proof of the power of Yoga came to him when a Naga sadhu cured Barin of mountain fever by mantra. The sadhu took a glass full of water and cut the water crosswise with a knife while repeating the mantra. He then told Barin to drink it saying he could not have the fever the next day. And the fever left him. In April 1903, Sri Aurobindo ...
... requirements were well looked after, but not wishing to inconvenience his host Sri Aurobindo moved to a house irt Chukku Khansama Lane, where Mrinalini, Sarojini, Barin and Abinash came to stay with him. Later when they shifted to 23, Scott's Lane, Barin went over to stay at the Murari Pukur Gardens. At first Sri Aurobindo was absorbed in work connected with the new National College but soon he was drawn ...
... He never hankered for name or fame. When he was arrested the first time, for sedition, I was in Thana. Barin was staying with me. Suddenly a wire came to the effect that Aurobindo had been arrested for sedition and that he was disinclined to make any defence. I sent Barin back that very day with a strong letter that we must defend the case and that I was coming to Calcutta as soon as possible ...
... Aurobindo could trustingly leave the entire responsibility for his life on Sudhir-da showed how much faith and reliance he placed in him. It is amazing even to think of it. The government convicted Barin Ghosh, Ullaskar Dutt, Upen Bandopadhyaya and, along with these principal revolutionaries, Sudhir-da was also sent away to the Andamans. And there, in spite of the thousand and one tortures and pains... think about himself. He could have obtained a lot of advantages for himself from him. But instead of that, he would sneak out the personal printed envelopes of the officer. And in these envelopes Barin Ghosh would send news to the mainland about the country's revolutionaries imprisoned in the Andamans. The police, never suspected anything as the envelopes were government stationery. Page 256 ...
... political action together. I would not take up a method that required me to give up action and life. When I came to Baroda from the Surat Congress, Barin had written to me that he knew a certain yogi to whom he would introduce me at Baroda. Barin sent a wire to Leie from Baroda and he came. At that time I was staying at Khasirao Jadhava's house. We went to Sardar Majumdar's place. On the top floor ...
... about a great influx of Power and unfortunately people are attracted to it. In the spiritual, psychic and even mental sadhana, Power can come but it comes automatically, without one's asking for it. Barin was another Z, with a powerful vital. At one time I had high hopes for him, but people whose sadhana is on the vital basis pass into what I have called the Intermediate Zone, and they don't want to... to go beyond. The vital is like a jungle and it is extremely difficult to rescue one with such a vital power. It is comparatively much easier to help those who are weak and lacking in such power. Barin used to think that he had put himself in the Divine's hands and the Divine was in him. We had to be severe with him to disillusion him of his idea. That's why he could not remain here. He went back and ...
... SRI AUROBINDO: He thought Vyasa had made a mess of it. Even present-day Bengalis are fond of weeping. They expect everybody to weep. When Barin was condemned, they reported that Sarojini wept and that when I met Sarojini I too began lamenting and crying! Barin had to contradict the report. PURANI: Also when Manmohan died, some people thought you were mourning him. SRI AUROBINDO: We brothers ...
... think, that he got his release. At the beginning he was not only himself an ardent revolutionary but also egging others on to revolution. Barin once walked into his house, gave him a long lecture on revolution and converted him in one day! PURANI: Yes, Barin had intensity and fire at that time. Once I saw him at Baroda with my brother. They were discussing revolutionary plans. I saw that fire in ...
... far and I came to a point beyond which I couldn't proceed further. I gave it up and fell dangerously ill! I was on the point of death. I asked Barin if he knew anyone who could help me in Yoga. This was in Surat where I had attended the Surat Congress. Barin knew of Lele who was in Gwalior. He wired to him and asked him to meet us at Baroda. Pranayama had given me good health, a lot of poetry and various ...
... the concern had to be sold in 1920 when he went away to Bengal. In the meantime the war continued, and the Arya continued; and when the war ended, the Mother came finally on 24 April 1920. Amrita and Barin were also of the group, and it became a more cohesive, a better organised group after 24 November after 1920. When the Arya was suspended in 1921, the group began to look more inward than ever. Not... after 15 August culminating at last in the "siddhi day" of 24 November and Sri Aurobindo's complete withdrawal. And yet it was not really a "withdrawal", and it was no setback for the Ashram either. As Barin wrote later in Khulnabasi: The Yogic power of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo opened wide the doors of the unostentatious Ashram, so long in the grip of want and difficulty, to the steady inflow ...
... During the early 1920s Sri Aurobindo's brother, Barin, was doing some oil painting under the Mother's guidance. As is the common practice of artists, a small board was kept for depositing the surplus paint left on the palette after each session. A random mixture of colours covered most of the surface of this board. One day when Barin had finished his work the Mother asked for the palette ...
... Did Mono Mohan follow your political career? Sri Aurobindo : He was very proud of our political career. He used to say : "There are two and a half men in India – my brother Aurobindo and Barin – two, and half is Tilak!" ( laughter) Disciple : How was Mono Mohan in England? Sri Aurobindo : He used to play the poet : he had poetical illness and used to moan out his verses... brother? Sri Aurobindo : He was not at all poetic or imaginative. He took after my father. He was very practical but very easy to get on with. He had fits of miserliness. The question of Barin when he came to Baroda and stayed for sometime was : How can I stay with Khaserao or Madhave Rao for months and years without quarreling? Page 112 ...
... consuming passion with him, and nothing else mattered. Like Barin, Ullaskar too spent ten or more years in the Andamans, and that must have affected both body and mind. "But this, after all, was part of the ritual of sacrifice", says Nolini, and concludes with Barin's defiant words: "Such indeed was the vow in this kind of marriage." Barin and Ullaskar and the rest of those young men who suffered ...
... Upadhyay. Later in life he became a sannyasi (Niralamba Swami), and his wife Hiranmoyee too took sannyas (Chinmoyee Devi). Towards the end of 1901, Jatin was sent to Bengal to recruit young men. Barin states that that was six months before he himself was sent to Bengal. Jatin was also charged with setting up centres in every town and eventually in every village. "Societies of young men were to be... that by throwing a few bombs we could overthrow the British Government. And that probably was the reason of the split among them. P. Mitter was for Page 314 the original idea while Barin was for this terrorism. I was never in direct contact with the movement nor with the young men and didn't know them. Only in jail I came in contact with them, especially Nolini, Bejoy, etc. When I came ...
... other steps," reports Barin, adding that it was far more difficult and complicated to obtain glimpses of the Moderate leaders. The Nationalists' line of work was to mix with the masses ... "till the Indian nation is free." It did everyone's heart good to see them all sit down together to their meals irrespective of caste or religion. "One day as I sat down to my meal," relates Barin, "I saw seated side ...
... of a great man very religious-minded, pious, etc.," said Sri Aurobindo correcting a misstatement by a biographer. "It is not true in my case at any rate. My father was a tremendous atheist." Barin, Sri Aurobindo's younger brother, wrote, "Among my father's old, torn papers, I have found songs to the Mother Goddess, written by him, that are deeply devotional." The apparently contradictory... In February 1870 K. D. went to England for an advanced course of medical studies. 1 He was twenty-five years old and was the father of two sons: Benoybhusan (1867), and Manmohan (19.1.1869). Barin records that when his father first went to England, he put his wife and two sons in the care of his friend Miss Pigott. Dr. Ghose was among the first few Bengalis to go to England after the opening ...
... have seen or heard of people calling him, waking him up in the dead of the night for some urgent reason or other. On one such night, one of the Ganguli brothers (Manoranjan Ganguli’s son, probably Barin) woke up Bula-da. He seemed quite desperate. He requested Bula-da to go and report at once to the Mother about his sister’s condition. She was very ill. The others of the family were very anxious and ...
... lived in Library House, there was a small garden in the front; and at the back of Library House, where there is the Prosperity and Fruit Room building now, there was a banana garden. I learnt from Barin that the front garden was under his charge and the banana garden was looked after by Mother and she took very great interest in it. Of course, there was s gardener for the manual work. After I started ...
... realisation upon earth that is acting upon you at the present moment. It is the force (one force and not many) which is here in the Ashram and has been going about from one to another. With some as with Barin, V. and Prashanta it has succeeded; others have cast it from them and have been able to liberate the light of their soul, open in that light to the nearness and constant presence of the Mother, feel ...
... , 2006. × A special newcomer’s case was that of Sudhir Kumar Sarkar. He had been a companion of Barin at the time of the Maniktola Garden, one of the accused in the Alipore Bomb Case, and one of the young men around Sri Aurobindo before his departure to Chandernagore. Sudhir Sarkar joined the Ashram ...
... which grew rapidly (afterwards many branches were established); he also entered into relations with P. Mitter and other revolutionaries already at work in the province. He was joined afterwards by Barin who had in the interval come to Baroda. [Among the leading lights of the day was P. Mitter who was a positivist.] P. Mitter had a spiritual life and aspiration of his own and a strong religious ...
... dictated or guided by the writer's conscious mind. The writing was done as an experiment as well as an amusement and nothing else. 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 fact which also ...
... activities. Brahmananda never gave him any counsel or advice nor was there any conversation Page 108 between them; Sri Aurobindo went to his monastery only for darshan and blessings. Barin had a close connection with Ganganath and his Guru was one of the Sannyasins who surrounded Brahmananda, but the connection with Ganganath was spiritual only. As yet, however, Sri Aurobindo ...
... dozen letters from him, and yet I cannot doubt his affection for me, since it was the false report of my death which killed him. I fear you must take me as I am with all my imperfections on my head. Barin has again fallen ill, and I have asked him to go out to some healthier place for a short visit. I was thinking he might go to Waltair, but he has set his heart on going to Shillong—I don't quite know ...
... etc.; others dream of these things half the night although in the daytime they never think of them. I myself found myself sometimes (not so long ago) dreaming of the Gaekwar and even now sometimes Barin turns up in a most unexpected way. The impressions of the subconscient fade out very slowly. But all the same I think not renewing them does help. I am not so sure about the solidity of the persons ...
... Sri Aurobindo's Message Section II: On Yoga The Old Yoga and the New Goal (An excerpt from a personal letter of Sri Aurobindo to his brother, Barin. Original in Bengali, written around 1920.) What I started with, what Lele gave me, what I did in jail — all that was a searching for the path, a circling around looking here and there, touching ...
... such as Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Banerji, Bepin Chandra Pal, Ashwini Kumar Dutt The ideal of Swadeshi, which called for the boycott of British goods, spread widely. In March, 1906, Barin Ghose with a few others started the fiery Bengali weekly, the Yugantar, to which Sri Aurobindo contributed several articles. In August, B. C. Pal launched the famous English daily, the Bande Mataram; ...
... contrary it is a very pleasant state, with a sense of great release. The neutral silence may be associated with some dryness and dullness—to the ordinary mind. NIRODBARAN: It seems you said once to Barin, when he was having such emptiness and dryness, that it comes to everybody and he had to pass through that phase or stage. SRI AUROBINDO: Well, it need not come to everybody, but when it does come ...
... membrane under his tongue to enable the tongue to reach inside and get that flow of Amrita. He turned insane afterwards. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, that is Khechari Mudra. He perhaps got the wrong flow. Barin was approached by some of these Sadhus who promised all sorts of things if he performed that practice of cutting the membrane under the tongue. He said, "I am not going to do it." They coaxed and coaxed ...
... PURANI: For Darshan. SRI AUROBINDO: No, he wanted to be a disciple. He was here during the mysterious stone-throwing without any apparent physical agency. He was very frightened and said that Barin and Upen didn't understand the seriousness of the matter. PURANI: I remember his joke about a Tamil servant. He didn't know Tamil. A servant said, "Terima?" He replied, "What terima? I am tera ...
... he a philosopher? NIRODBARAN: I don't think so. Sisir Mitra seems to have asked him to do it. PURANI: He can begin with a story. SRI AUROBINDO: And end with a story. (Laughter) PURANI: Barin appears to have written well about the Mother in Khulna Basi. (Sri Aurobindo smiled.) NIRODBARAN: Is what he says about the Mother true? He says that what would have taken you ten years in sadhana ...
... for shoulder pain, gall-bladder trouble, angina, blood pressure—a walking museum of diseases, Sir. SRI AUROBINDO: Then you must be a big Yogi. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: How? SRI AUROBINDO: Barin used to say that all the big Brahmo preachers used to have a lot of ailments. So they must have been big Yogis. NIRODBARAN: What comes after the Inconscient? SRI AUROBINDO: Nothing. The Inconscient ...
... older sadhaks who were accustomed to meeting him every day or at least whenever the need arose. They felt as if abandoned and, unable fully to accept the Mother as their Guru, a few of them (including Barin, his brother) left the Ashram. But Sri Aurobindo would not relent and break the rule he had imposed. To one disciple he wrote: 'You consider that the Mother can be of no help to you.... If you cannot ...
... yesterday is on earth; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth....' Years later, Barin, Sri Aurobindo's younger brother, asked him: 'The Mother has written in her Prayers what she felt after she saw you. But what was your feeling when you saw the Mother?' Sri Aurobindo paused for a ...
... power? I suppose he has or had some powers, but his mind seems to be rather chaotic, accepting all sorts of mental, vital and other perceptions and suggestions as the truth, without discrimination. Barin told me a lot about his wonderful (prophecy and knowing everything about everybody) powers, but I was disappointed to find it a glowing jumble of truth and error both taken as the very truth. No harm ...
... sadhaka might receive something from the Mother by an interchange in the material consciousness." × Barin, Sri Aurobindo’s younger brother, wrote to him in a letter that sweets, had been delivered- The Police took the word "sweets" as a codeword meaning "bomb". They were not wrong, though they could not ...
... the Guest House then. The Mother had finally arrived. The Great War was over, I mean the first one. And with the declaration of Peace, nearly all the political prisoners in India had been released. Barin, Upen, Hrishikesh had all come back from the Andamans, although they were still hesitating as to whether they should join us here in the life of yoga or continue for some time longer their work in the ...
... them had been with me in Alipore Jail among the accused in the Bomb case. Page 384 Let me here in parenthesis note a few things about Debabrata Basu. He had been a contemporary of Barin, U pen and Hrishikesh and was among the leaders of our group. He was one of the writers. Indeed, it was he and Upen who gave a characteristic stamp to Yugantar by their writings. His was the mind ...
... robust body. Energy flowed out of his face, his eyes and out of every part of his body. There was a spring-like buoyancy in his movements. Ever jovial and genuinely optimistic. Mother told me that Barin Ghosh had brought Purani-ji to the Ashram. He and his brother had plunged into national work from a very young age. He was in close contact with Aurobindo's revolutionary group. He was a pioneer ...
... a young man connected with the Ramakrishna Mission and I kept it; it was there in my room when the police came to arrest me." ¹ Many members of the secret society were simultaneously arrested: Barin, Ulaskar Dutt, Indra Bhushan, Upendra Nath Banerjee, were all arrested at Murari Pukur Bagan. This, the property of Sri Aurobindo and his brothers, was a plot of seven bighas [approximately one hectare] ...
... out of prison’.” We then, one after another, taking advantage of the opportunity, asked about our future. Vasudev had already told Sri Aurobindo that we would be given sentences, and that Ullas and Barin would not be hanged. Getting this chance, I asked, “How will I be able to bear the days in prison at this young age? If I become weak and falter, what should I do?” Sri Aurobindo replied, “Think of ...
... sweet, like the sound of the flute.” I asked her, “Can you tell me what is happening now in the ‘Bijoli’ office?” Without pausing for breath, she replied, “Bibhuti-da is playing the harmonium, Barin-da’s room is closed, and so is Upen-da’s but Upen-da is writing something. Sarojini-di is reading a book.” Since all this tallied with my knowledge of their habits, I asked again, “Now tell me what ...
... word that all the sadhaks should assemble in the upper veranda of the Library House, the usual place of meditation. By six all were there, twenty-four in all, including Nolini, Amrita, Pavitra, Barin, Purani, Datta, Pujalal, Champaklal, Rajangam and Chandrasekharam. What next happened had best be described in Purani's words: There was a deep silence in the atmosphere after the disciples had ...
... England. His heart is extremely sweet. And that sweetness is reflected on his face. When I was in Kanpur, the Army Chaplain, Rev. Mill, told me, 'I have never seen such a sweet face as his.' " Barin in his autobiography (Atmakatha) , gives a pen sketch of Krishna Dhan. "I still remember my father's face. Fair-complexioned, big swimming eyes, of medium height, his body erect and muscular, his nature ...
... caressing. His idea was to use the Extremists as the sword and use the Moderates for the public face. In private he would go up to revolution. He wanted a Provincial Board of Control of Revolution. Barin once took a bomb to him. The name of Surendranath Banerji was found in the [Alipore] Bomb Case. But as soon as Norton pronounced the name there was a 'Hush, hush' and he shut up." With his customary ...
... The fact of the matter is that the Indo-British government was scared of Babu Arabindo Ghose. True, it was now able to breathe a little more easily, since most of the known 'terrorists' like Barin, Upen, Ullaskar etc., had been banished for life to the Andamans. Other 'troublemakers' had been safely put behind bars. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was rotting in a jail in Mandalay (Burma). Bepin Pal had ...
... misunderstood or misheard me. I did tell him that I would expand only after making a perfect (inner) foundation here, but I gave no date. I did give that date of two years long before in my letter to Barin, 2 but I had then a less ample view of the work to be done than I have now—and I am now more cautious about assigning dates than I was once. To fix a precise time is impossible except in the two ...
... sincerity, peace, patience and perseverance this Yoga can not be done, for many difficulties have to be faced and it takes years and years to overcome them definitely and altogether. 25 June 1934 Barin-da has just written me a letter. He has started a Yoga school. Fancy that!! But what an idea, good heavens! A Yoga school—a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?); interesting cases! a spiritual ...
... Manchester and not at all well. It was at Sardar Majumdar's place that he first met Yogi Lele and got some help from him in spiritual Sadhana. No. Lele came from Gwalior in answer to a wire from Barin and met Sri Aurobindo at the Jadhavs' house; Lele took him to Majumdar's house for meditation on the top floor. Shri Arvind Ghosh ... joined Baroda State Service in February 1893 as an extra ...
... Bhupen was sentenced, served his term and subsequently went to America. This at the time was his only title to fame. The real editors or writers of Yugantar (for there was no declared editor) were Barin, Upen Banerji (also a subeditor of the Bande Mataram) and Debabrata Bose who subsequently joined the Ramakrishna Mission (being acquitted in the Alipur case) and was [ ] 2 prominent among the Sannyasis ...
... (English daily), 17,27,47 Banerjee, Jitendranath, 13 Banerji, Surendranath, 17 Bangladesh, 15(fn) Bankim, see under Charleroi Baptista, Joseph, 148 barbarians. 126 barbarism, 103, 127, 175,239 Barin, see under Ghose Baroda, II, 35 Baroda College , II battle, 45 -46 ,51 , 102, 123-126, 143-144, 206,207, 238·240 beauty, 66 , 68, 103 , 127.217.218,220 Bengal, 39 , 111.112, 152, 153, 222,246 ...
... central India to choose a site for the Temple to the Mother (Bhawani Mandir). Sri Aurobindo continued, "The idea of Bhawani Mandir simply lapsed of itself. Sri Aurobindo thought no more about it, but Barin who clung to the idea tried to establish something like it on a small scale in the Manicktala Garden." The present text has been checked against a copy of the original pamphlet. Ethics ...
... Undated Notes, c. January 1927 Amrita— Moses, Brihaspati, Hermes, Michael Angelo, Rudra, Pythagoras. Bijoy Child Krishna, St Jean, Kartikeya, child Vishnu Barin Nefdi. Apollo-Aryaman St Hilaire— Ramakrishna—(The Four) Kshitish Narada—Bach-Isaie Kanai Sukadeva—One of the Vital Four Tirupati One of the Vital Four Purani Trita ...
... help and that is to despond always and say, “I am unfit; I am not meant for the Yoga”. And worse still are these perilous mental formations such as you are always accepting that you must fare like Barin (one whose difficulty of exaggerated ambition was quite different from yours) and that you have only six years, etc. These are clear formations of the Dark Forces seeking not only to sterilise your ...
... say often to his brother, Barindra Kumar, the famous revolutionary, who told me that Sri Aurobindo was wont to say, whenever reminded of a view of his in the past: "Don't quote me against myself, Barin!" And Barinda showed me a letter of his (dated April, 1920) in which he wrote: "I do not wish to be a Guru myself. If I am able to awaken the sleeping Divine in but a few I shall be content." . To ...
... his life. Shortly after the Surat conference, Aurobindo went to Baroda to meet some of his former friends and acquaintances and to reconnoitre the political lay of the land. There he met, through Barin, the tantric yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, and they withdrew to the attic of the house where Aurobindo was staying. There Lele was astounded to see that Aurobindo obtained in three days one of the mightiest ...
... Aurobindo had given it to her ‘without even intending to,’ just by occult communication and because of her total openness, which in their yoga would be called ‘surrender.’ Years later, when asked by Barin what had struck him most on first meeting Mirra, Aurobindo would indeed say her surrender, which was ‘so absolute and unreserved.’ From the moment their minds became silenced neither Aurobindo nor ...
... respected him for his integrity, for his sincerity, for his self-sacrifice. Also, there are one or two instances of his domestic life which will be illuminating. His younger brother Barin writes that when Page 106 they were living together in Calcutta their sister Sarojini used to complain to Sri Aurobindo about the misbehaviour, the rude conduct, of the cook ...
... seemed to go from bad to worse, Sehra informed the Mother. The Mother went into a short meditation and then said: "I don't feel it can recover." Soon after, Épave sank into a coma. Our sadhak-friend Barin Ganguli, a great lover of animals and an expert veterinary doctor, tried his best to bring it round but to no avail. Sehra watched over the inert body all through the night following the evening ...
... deserving to be called the Siddhi Day in Sri Aurobindo's sense has to mark a descent considered as the Supermind's. This seems to be axiomatic also from the letter he wrote to his brother Barin in April 1920: "After these fifteen years I am only now rising into the lowest of the three levels of the Supermind and trying to draw up into it all the lower activities. But when this Siddhi will ...
... Doraiswami. On the opposite side, where Navajata's rooms are, there was a large terrace in which pots of rose plants were kept. Mother was deeply interested in roses, so Amrita maintained that garden and Barin tended the plants. This is why that house was called Rosary House. Incidentally, the roses were taken to Mother in an interesting way. They were placed in a tin and closed with an almost airtight ...
... and outside it. His concern for their welfare and his all-pervading compassion are evident in these letters. Sri Aurobindo first inculcated the revolutionary spirit into his younger brother when Barin visited him in Baroda. His guidance on sadhana, his insights into the work of hostile forces and his description of the vital worlds, "Rakshasi-maya", will be instructive to those who are doing yoga ...
... Besides your personalities are not clearly marked out like D's. Wait till they separate themselves to join in the Dance of Harmony! About Datta, it was in one of a series of articles written by Barin about her. So everybody knows what I know. Ah, then I understand. Barin's statements are always inaccurate. The 5 years must have been his own construction. A is complaining loudly of her stomach ...
... Guest House then. The Mother had finally arrived. The Great War was over, I mean the first one. And with the declaration of Peace, nearly all the political prisoners in India had had been released. Barin, Upen, Hrishikesh had all come back from the Andamans, although they were still hesitating as to whether they should join us here in the life of yoga or continue for some time longer their work in ...
... you in their looks and their manner. They were harsh and rude and hard; one could know at once what kind of people they were." Most of us were boys and young men of 16 to 20, except for a few like Barin, Upen and Hrishikesh who were of about the same age, all nearing thirty. But within the very precincts of jail we made them understand how one "softer than the flower", mrduni kusumadapi, could turn ...
... was telling me that you have said somewhere that Goswami couldn't give to others what he had received. SRI AUROBINDO: Where have I said that? NIRODBARAN: Jayantilal thinks it is in a book by Barin. SRI AUROBINDO: The report is unreliable. SATYENDRA: Somebody here was saying that a friend of his saw Goswami's presence standing behind a person. SRI AUROBINDO: Goswami was a very powerful ...
... the teacher left, he engaged a Hindustani teacher whose pronunciation was quite different from the Bengali way. The students found fault with his Pronunciation. I had to take great pains to convince Barin that it was the Bengali teacher who was wrong. (Sri Aurobindo related the story with much relish and enjoyment.) The Bengali language, I mean the written language, is very easy. SATYENDRA: How ...
... believed in never planning for the future. SRI AUROBINDO: He is the man who started Sannyasi marriages. I don't know whether they were real marriages or spiritual ones. He had something genuine in him. Barin used to be in ecstasies over him. SATYENDRA: Another Avatar is coming out from Poona. He will declare himself in 1941. SRI AUROBINDO: Who is that? SATYENDRA: He is claimed by those people who ...
... 17 FEBRUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: It is reported by Dutt that, apprehensive of a big row at the Surat Congress and the risk of physical injury to you, your friends made special arrangements with Barin to keep you safe. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know about any row. A Maratha leader—a lieutenant—came to me and asked me whether they should break the Congress. I said, "You must either swamp it or break ...
... fortune to stay in Sri Aurobindo’s house for more than a year. The others worked at Manicktala Garden making bombs. And they came to meet Sri Aurobindo only occasionally. But my father stayed with Him. Barin-da, Sarojini Devi, and Mrinalini Devi were living there and the five of them shared the little that Sri Aurobindo earned. During this time Sri Aurobindo was translating the Mahabharata into English ...
... primary urge should be to open to the higher light of the overhead planes of consciousness: to turn to the Divine, to achieve a progressive divinisation of his nature. As he once wrote to his brother Barin: "No one is God but in each man there is a God and to make him manifest is the aim of divine life. That we can all do." 81 When man so manifests the divine, then his philosophy, ...
... could not be a revolutionary ( laughter) and so let him off. Sri Aurobindo : No, that was not the reason. It was by the intervention of the French Government, I think, that he got his release. Barin one day walked into his house, gave him a long lecture on revolution and converted him in one day. Disciple : I heard that Nivedita also was a revolutionary, is it true? Sri Aurobindo ...
... for the sword and the moderates for the public face. In private he would go up to and accept the revolutionary movement. He even wanted to set up a provincial board of control of the revolutionaries! Barin once took a bomb to him and he was full of enthusiasm. He even had a letter from Suren Banerji, when he was arrested at Manik Tola. But in the court they hushed up the matter as soon as Norton pronounced ...
... Accordingly, Sri Aurobindo's resourceful factotum, Abinash Bhattacharya, found a separate place, first at Chhaku Khansama Lane, then 23 Scott's Lane, where Mrinalini and Sarojini (and for a time Barin) could also join them. What with the associate editorship of the newly started Bande Mataram and the Principalship of the Bengal National College - not to mention the behind-the-scenes contacts ...
... bomb-making to Chhotalal Purani, came to stay with his brother in 1920, having first (as we saw) corresponded with him about politics and Yoga. Ullaskar Datta, another revolutionary and close associate of Barin, also came towards the close of 1920. Page 537 After the years in the Andamans, he wasn't now quite the same man who had once turned his home into a laboratory for making bombs, ...
... We spoke of politics and other subjects. On the way from the station to the town she cried out against the ugliness of the College building and its top-heavy dome" —"What an ugly pile !" quotes Barin — "and praised the Dharamshala [a shelter for pilgrims] near it. Khaserao stared at her and opined that she must be at least slightly cracked to have such ideas !" Sri Aurobindo was more forthcoming ...
... portrait of Sri Aurobindo (courtesy Smt . Lahori Chatterjee) 254 Agastya, Darasuram temple (courtesy Michel Danino) 259 Mahakali at Lalgola's temple (courtesy Soumendu Datta) 275 Barin the revolutionary (courtesy Smt. Lahori Chatterjee) 311 Sri Aurobindo in his revolutionary days (courtesy Sri Lab Kumar Bose and the late Sri Nirmal Ranjan Mitra) 327 Subodh Mullick ...
... reasonable. When Manmohan wrote to him that he wanted to be a poet, my father made no objection; he said there was nothing wrong in that. Only, he didn't send any more money." Sri Aurobindo once told Barin that one year their father sent only £ 100 instead of £ 360. At any rate the brothers could no longer afford their old apartment at St. Stephen's Avenue. Sir Henry Cotton 2 was 1.Members ...
... of day-to-day life near Sri Aurobindo. But that was to be a few years later, in 1898. We were in 1894. So let us pick up the thread where we left it. Page 53 Young Barin ...
... untoward happenings —at least not discounting their possibility —some revolutionary cadres from Midnapore were detailed to guard Sri Aurobindo. Some eight to ten young men were positioned around him. Barin was there, Satyen was there. Asked Dr. Manilal, "Was there any chance of personal injury, Sir ?" "Not that I know of," replied Sri Aurobindo. "Only Satyen Bose was with me and he had a pistol. ...
... The Indian intellect was greatly impoverished. A sort of rigor mortis had set in in its functioning. Without ever tinkering with reality in his letter to his Page 381 brother Barin, Sri Aurobindo presents a round vision. "Our forefathers swam in a vast sea of thought and gained a vast knowledge; they established a vast civilisation. But as they went forward on their path they ...
... harbour early this century 84 Rajnarain Bose in his later years (reproduced from his autobiography, courtesy the late Dr. Hara Prasad Mitra) 95 Krishna Dhan Chose (reproduced from Barin's autobiography) 104 Swarnalata with Manmohan, around 1877 (courtesy Sri Lab Kumar Bose and the late Sri Nirmal Ranjan Mitra) 107 Plaque at Khulna in memory of Dr. K. D. Chose (courtesy ...
... grandfather were for political purposes.] This is not correct. In these visits he was not concerned with politics. It was some years afterwards that he made a journey along with Devabrata Bose, Barin's co-adjutor in the Yugantar, partly to visit some of the revolutionary centres already formed, but also to meet leading men in the districts and find out the general attitude of the country and the ...
... Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo MARCH, 1940 Undated Disciple : Does this article show any change in Barin's attitude? Sri Aurobindo : It depends. He says what is uppermost in his mind, and what suits him at the moment, according to his moods. But it may be a change in his attitude, but difficult to say if there is any progress. The ...
... To Krishnashashi Pondicherry, January 1923. My dear Krishnashashi, I have seen all the experiences that you have written down, and sent to me and received yours and Barin's letter. 1 It is no doubt true as you say that your sadhana has gone on different lines from that of the others. But it does not follow that you are entirely right in insisting on your own ideas ...
... present reading room was Amrita's. What is now the Publication Department display and sales room was Bijoy's 8 and its office under the terrace leading to Ravindra's rooms in the back courtyard was Barin's 9 room. When Sri Aurobindo came down to the dining room (the present fruit distribution room) to have his food, he came down the Prosperity stairs, passed through Nolini's room, Bijoy's room ...
... Ram babu suddenly appeared. He was big with news. He informed Sri Aurobindo that the Government 1.Moni says that Sri Aurobindo was known to young people under various names. 'Sejda' to Barin's friends; 'Katta' (Chief) to young workers; 'A.G.' in early Pondicherry days; Sri Aurobindo after his retirement. 2.In regard to Sri Aurobindo's sudden departure from Calcutta Moni's narrative ...
... to swim for his life to a life-boat off the coast of Tunisia. Haradhan has recorded his experience of the War in a book Page 71 let entitled "The New Ways of Warfare", modelled on Barin's "Principles of Modern Warfare" that we used to read in our early days. Some of the War scenes of Pondicherry come to mind. Here there was no question of volunteers. France has compulsory military ...
... when he met me a month or two later, he was alarmed, tried to undo what he had done and told me that it was not the Divine but the devil that had got hold of me." Lele had come to Calcutta at Barin's invitation. "He asked me if I meditated in the morning and in the evening. I said, 'No.'" Without waiting for any explanation Lele began to give Sri Aurobindo instructions. "I did not insult him but ...
... he had initiated Hemchandra Das Kanungo into revolutionary cult. When Hemchandra went to Paris in 1906 to learn bomb-making, Satyendranath Bose took his place. He was Rajnarain Bose's nephew and Barin's uncle. He taught History at the Midnapore Government School. It was also Sat yen who gave shelter to the orphaned Khudiram and initiated him into revolutionary activities. I In 1906 the leader ...
... said he had purposely made it weak, for if we had lost our senses due to a strong dose, he feared we would have beaten him." Everybody laughed. "Second time," said Sri Aurobindo, "I took it here at Barin's persuasion. It was a strong dose, but had no effect." Amrita confirmed that Sri Aurobindo indeed took a very heavy dose, sufficient to kill an elephant, but it had no effect on him. 1. Bhang, ...
... shipwrecked by torpedo and had to swim for his life to a life-boat off the coast of Tunisia. Haradhan has recorded his experience of the War in a booklet entitled "The New Ways of Warfare", modelled on Barin's "Principles of Modern Warfare" that we used to read in our early days. Some of the War scenes of Pondicherry come to mind. Here there was no question of Volunteers. France has compulsory military ...
... by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar (1869-1912). Son of a Marathi Brahmin who had settled in Bengal, Sakharam was born in Deoghar. He studied in the Deoghar School and later became a teacher there. He was Barin's teacher of History. "One of the ablest men in these revolutionary groups," Sri Aurobindo reminds us, "[he] was an able writer in Bengali (his family had been long domiciled in Bengal).... He published ...
... in this direction and the secret action became a secondary and subordinate element. He took advantage, however, of the Swadeshi movement to popularise the idea of violent revolt in the future. At Barin's suggestion he agreed to the starting of a paper, Yugantar , which was to preach open revolt and the absolute denial of the British rule and include such items as a series of articles containing i ...
... advertisement-utilisable eulogies. But what an idea, good heavens. A Yoga school—a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?), "interesting cases"! a spiritual clinic, what? What has happened to Barin's wits and especially to his sense of humour? Too much Statesman^! marriage? writing for a living? age? I open the book and come across a delicious misprint (page 60). "The wounded dear dripping... coming, coming—no "No admission" to them now. They are not humanity. Yes, they are very lucid and flowing—you have got your boat into full stream. December 5, 1934 (Written on Barin's letter) Found the letter too. What do you think of it? What do you think of his "world seething with gods and goddesses?" Does he still see the gods while we, alas, don't? Then is he ...
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