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... League members not to take part in the war committee. He wants, if he can, to come to a settlement with the Congress behind Jinnah's back. SATYENDRA: What about the arrests connected with the Holwell monument? NIRODBARAN: Still going on. SATYENDRA: Bose has started the agitation, after all. SRI AUROBINDO: What a thing to fight over! NIRODBARAN: He has taken it up as a common measure between... exasperated with the Congress not because of any oppression by the Congress but because they are nowhere in the Government. SATYENDRA: The Bombay Congress Committee observed silence on the arrest of Bose. SRI AUROBINDO: In honour of his arrest? EVENING SATYENDRA: Just now, is the stress of the Yoga laid mostly on Karma, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: No stress is put on anything. If you mean that... understood. SATYENDRA: He doesn't want to start civil disobedience as the country is not prepared. SRI AUROBINDO: And the country will never be prepared according to the conditions laid down by him. NIRODBARAN: How to explain this shift in him from Dominion Status to independence? SRI AUROBINDO: Don't know. He doesn't know himself, probably. Caught by forces. SATYENDRA: Or is it his principle ...

... most brilliant students of his year, the first being Satyen Bose. He says there are only two people who understand Einstein's relativity theory. SRI AUROBINDO: In India or the world? I thought there were five or six in the world. NIRODBARAN: I mean in India. One of the two is Bose and the other is Kothari. He further says that Bose pointed out some mistake in Einstein's thinking; his corrections... Supermind. Here Sri Aurobindo smiled. Purani brought in some other topic, at the end of which both Satyendra and Nirodbaran looked at each other and broke into smiles. Purani thought it was as if Nirodbaran had thrown a jet of refreshing water on Satyendra. PURANI: Jetting the Supermind on Satyendra? SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, baptising him into the Supermind? EVENING NIRODBARAN: In The Hindu's... different. Ideas are of the mind and they are abstract. If they have no dynamic power behind them, they remain ideas till the end. SATYENDRA: I am also coming round to Moni's idea. NIRODBARAN: But yours is from a different point of view. You have tried. SATYENDRA: Unless the fellow within, as Y calls it, awakes, nothing can be achieved. One must have the hunger first. NIRODBARAN: Yes, that ...

... the reign of King Harold, the last invader crossed over to England. NIRODBARAN (after a pause): Huque has paid a high tribute to Bose. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): Yes. With tears in his eyes he had to arrest him. PURANI: What has he said? NIRODBARAN: That Bose is the most lovable person in Bengal politics, reputable, admired, revered, etc. PURANI: He is trying to humour him so as to have... have a smooth time when he is released. SRI AUROBINDO: I think everything was ready for the monument to be removed when Bose started the agitation. All the parties have agreed, Europeans and others, to have it removed. PURANI: He found an easy way of combining the Hindus and the Muslims. Now the women are also starting Satyagraha on the men. SRI AUROBINDO: On the men? What for? NIRODBARAN:... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 18 JULY 1940 SATYENDRA: Tomorrow Germany is going to attack England. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, tomorrow night and finish it in a week. On the 26th the preparation and on the 27th the triumphal entry into London. PURANI: But there is no sign yet anywhere of the attack. Nolini was saying that just as Napoleon was scratching ...

... course. PURANI: Shaw goes a step further—he wants communism. SRI AUROBINDO: Communism exists nowhere, not even in Russia. EVENING PURANI: Sarat Bose has also been expelled from the Congress. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): Yes, two great Bose brothers are gone now. They may try to do some mischief now. ... 11 OCTOBER 1940 SATYENDRA: The British Government is preparing a huge scheme of insurance for all against the destruction caused by Germany. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it will be a heavy bill. I don't see how they can meet it unless they socialise the whole Government. It is only by socialisation that they can succeed. SATYENDRA: It may lead to socialism in England after the ...

... Have you read the review? NIRODBARAN: Yes, and Satyendra has also seen it. SATYENDRA: The reviewer has discovered an important coincidence. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. PURANI: What coincidence? SRI AUROBINDO: The Arya came out just at the beginning of the last World War and The Life Divine at the beginning of the present one. SATYENDRA (to Nirodbaron) : How is it that the Hindustan Standard... Standard has put the review on the leading page? I thought it was a Socialist paper supporting Subhas Bose. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it is a Leftist paper. But Subhas Bose has a corner in him which has a respect for spiritual things. He is not an ordinary atheistic Socialist. NIRODBARAN: Nishikanto has bucked up. He says, "After all, Sri Aurobindo pressed me to publish my poems. So whether they sell ...

... books." NIRODBARAN: There is again another hitch in Bengal between Congress and Sarat Bose over the Bengal Congress parliament fund. Rajendra Prasad has asked Bose to hand over the fund to Congress Parliamentary Committee and to have the accounts audited by some auditing company employed by Rajendra Prasad. Bose takes it as an insult and as loss of confidence in him. He wants to know why they have... fund. They don't suspect that Bose will swallow that money. He has plenty himself. NIRODBARAN: No, they don't suspect that. I think they fear that the Bengal Congress Committee may try to get that money. It has already passed such a resolution and Rajendra Prasad has especially asked Bose not to hand over that money to the Bengal Congress Committee. In any case, Bose is hurt because he takes it ... don't know who told him about it. SRI AUROBINDO: He used too many compounds, making it seem like Sanskrit. (To Purani) What is the name of that Indian whom Raman mentions in his address? SATYENDRA: It is Dr. Krishna perhaps. SRI AUROBINDO: Perhaps. I don't remember the name. Raman mentions him as the first to experiment with the Cavendish cyclotron. PURANI: Yes, it is he. He is a doctor ...

... Sikandar is a very able politician. DR. MANILAL: Huque seems to have surrendered to Jinnah. He has no position of his own. SRI AUROBINDO: He never had. DR. MANILAL: And yet Bose couldn't drive him out. SRI AUROBINDO: Bose is no better statesman than Huque. DR. MANILAL: Is he still under his brother's influence and guided by him? NIRODBARAN: Not quite but their programmes and opinions seem... there are no more resolutions, only speeches. Gandhi and Nehru's resolutions are speeches. I got tired of reading them and gave up half-way. SATYENDRA: They want to put everything clearly. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but that can be done with brevity too. SATYENDRA: C.R. could have done it perhaps. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he could have. DR. MANILAL: Will the Government go against the Congress Ministry... could not be pursued any further and the Mother came in soon after. When Sri Aurobindo's walk was over, Dr. Manilal came slowly to the front and took up another line of conversation. DR. MANILAL: Bose is wild against the Congress resolution. He says the Government has already closed the door while Congress keeps the door open and is going to lick its shoes. SRI AUROBINDO: How can Congress lick ...

... It seems that recently he invited Subhas Bose to his house and for that reason the Viceroy has asked the Governor to transfer him from there. PURANI: How could Baron do that? And how does he know Bose? NIRODBARAN: Probably through Dilip. SRI AUROBINDO: These people are wonderful. It will go against the Ashram. He ought to have known about Bose's activities and the consequences of his visit... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 9 AUGUST 1940 SATYENDRA: Everybody is silent on the Viceroy's declaration. Jinnah, Gandhi, C.R. nobody says anything. And he is interviewing the leaders all over again. He seems to be bent on expansion of his council, but perhaps nobody will accept it except the Liberals. NIRODBARAN: Why, Savarkar has said he will... will. SRI AUROBINDO: He has given qualified assent. He said some of his demands remained unsatisfied. SATYENDRA: Our Suren has again covered his body all over. NIRODBARAN: In anticipation of a cold! SRI AUROBINDO: Or expecting an anticipation. NIRODBARAN: Today when he was doing pranam at the photo in the Reception Room in that protective attire, a visitor for Darshan was looking at him ...

... amanya, agrahya, etc. - none gives the sense of "defy". PURANI: Bengal doesn't challenge anybody, so no word exists for it. (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: Bose's talk doesn't do anything but challenge. SRI AUROBINDO: Perhaps you could say in Bose's language: "Give an ultimatum to matter"! But has even "ultimatum" any equivalent in Bengali? EVENING SRI AUROBINDO (after some stray talk had been... Gandhi's appeal of non-violence to the British. Of course it is beyond their conception. They are saying, "Is he mad?" (Laughter) SATYENDRA: But by non-violence he does not mean what the officials have done in France. SRI AUROBINDO: What then? SATYENDRA: He says the British should refuse to carry out Hitler's orders, not cooperate. They may be killed for that. Still. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing):... system. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't see how non-violence can work in the administration. SATYENDRA: The Americans are praising Churchill, comparing him to Pitt. NIRODBARAN: I wonder what Chamberlain would have done if he had been the Premier. SRI AUROBINDO: He would have committed twenty mistakes. SATYENDRA: He may also be compared in the future to somebody and given praise. SRI AUROBINDO: ...

... pro-Stalin. He says that Stalin is almost ideal except for a touch of blood thirstiness. NIRODBARAN: What will he say now? SATYENDRA: He will say that the principles are all right. The man who practises them may turn bad. NIRODBARAN: Nehru has been disillusioned. But Bose, it seems, is supporting Russia against the Finns. ... goodness of God!" SATYENDRA: I replied "If God is so good, why has He planned the destruction at all?" SRI AUROBINDO: In order that you may appreciate His goodness: (Laughter) NIRODBARAN (to Satyendra) : Did you say on the 21st? SATYENDRA: Yes NIRODBARAN: On 21st February it can only be my long expected Supramental Descent. (Sri Aurobindo smiled.) SATYENDRA: N is not satisfied... he soon began to speak in English. How did he know that Hansraj knew English? SRI AUROBINDO: If he knew Hansraj's name, it was not difficult to know other things. SATYENDRA: Yes. That didn't strike me. EVENING SATYENDRA: The 13th seems to be an important date because Mars and Saturn are coming very close together on that day. Already they are pretty close. Astrologers fear some catastrophic ...

... SATYENDRA: No, but don't tell him that or he will be depressed. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. SATYENDRA: It seems that everything touches him badly. SRI AUROBINDO: How do you mean? SATYENDRA: I mean that if anything goes wrong anywhere, it affects him. Perhaps he has become depressed about Subhas Bose too. NIRODBARAN: No, not now. He has seen through him. SRI AUROBINDO: Subhas Bose is starting... fall into the hands of the Germans. SATYENDRA: The Maharaja of Travancore has placed his whole army at the disposal of the British (laughter) —an army of a hundred or so. SRI AUROBINDO: A little more, perhaps. SATYENDRA: Sometimes the Maharaja of Nepal also does the same—a few thousand people. NIRODBARAN: At any rate they wouldn't surrender. SATYENDRA: I don't know. Against mechanised warfare... starting another revolution. SATYENDRA: Yes, Narendra Deo calls his Forward Bloc "Backward Bloc". . SRI AUROBINDO: "Forward and Backward Bloc" would be better still. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: In the Chandi there are descriptions of these fights of the Asuras—I am telling Nirod as he may not have read it. So many times the Asuras attack the Mother. At the last moment, they are defeated. ...

... NIRODBARAN: The Hindustan Standard says that the Government is not taking any measures against it while it talks of communists and other people. SRI AUROBINDO: The Hindustan Standard is Bose's paper, isn't it? NIRODBARAN: Yes. SRI AUROBINDO: Then why doesn't it object? They are half Mohammedans themselves! EVENING PURANI: It seems to me that very soon there will be a revolution... India. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. I remember how during the Swadeshi movement the Bengal revolutionaries used to quote passages from it to show the downfall of the British. NIRODBARAN: Have you seen that Bose is trying to make a pact with Jinnah? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. What about Pakistan then? NIRODBARAN: He will agree to it. SRI AUROBINDO: Does he want to Mohammedanise Bengal? NIRODBARAN: Have... France's colonies and a little more? PURANI: France may establish a Fascist dictatorship. This present Government is all right-wing people. SRI AUROBINDO: Fascist dictatorship under a dictator? SATYENDRA: Has it been in the paper? PURANI: That is not necessary. One can surmise because they are right-wingers. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, in the extreme right wing there are two sections. One wants Fascist ...

... objectors in England and says that they are not allowed to preach against war among munitions workers. SATYENDRA: Gandhi says the conditions in India are different. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and he says that though he won't himself preach, others must have the right to do so, if they want—people like Bose. How can any government allow that? PURANI: The Jinnah-Viceroy correspondence is out. SRI AUROBINDO:... SRI AUROBINDO: That means there must have been some settlement. SATYENDRA: The Muslim League has also refused. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Jinnah wants to know what the League's status will be in case some other party comes in later. He means Congress! It is like the Berlin-Japan pact—by some other power they mean the U.S.A. SATYENDRA: Jinnah has realised that the Viceroy doesn't want to part with power... to be given to Muslims. SATYENDRA: The Muslim League wants to know the number of members in the council and the personnel having portfolios. SRI AUROBINDO: How can the Government say this now? There seems to be a new age of inspiration, not of reason. Pakistan, Hindustan, the Khaksars, all are inspired and inspiration is sacred. Gandhi is more rational. SATYENDRA: He has been till now. This ...

... 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 man. NIRODBARAN: I have read that his soul was thrice brought back to life by the Brahmachari of Baradi. SATYENDRA: You mean Lokanath? NIRODBARAN: Yes. SATYENDRA: Jayantilal told me that Lokanath got... quite accept life. If you do accept it, how far will you simplify it? SATYENDRA: If you don't simplify it drastically, you have to accept life as the Europeans do—with complexities multiplying. SRI AUROBINDO: Not necessarily. The Europeans have accepted life in the wrong way—that is, along with its disorders. SATYENDRA: Some people in India, no less than in Europe, have wanted to introduce... problems of life are solved. But what about the third: shelter? PURANI: People can sleep under the stars. SRI AUROBINDO: Not possible during the monsoon. Even Sannyasis have to seek caves. SATYENDRA: If one could really simplify life, things would be so much better. Even if as Yogis we accept life, simplification is necessary. If one makes life complex, complexities increase and increase. The ...

... 26 JULY 1940 SATYENDRA: The Bengal Government is removing the Holwell monument after all. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Huque didn't stand up in his dignity then. Huque said that unless Satyagraha is stopped he won't do anything. NIRODBARAN: This Islamia College incident has contributed to it, perhaps. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. NIRODBARAN: Bose has got some success. SRI AUROBINDO ...

... Lord, next they will do it in cricket also? NIRODBARAN: Why not? It seems Bose is going to take up their cause. SRI AUROBINDO: I see. SATYENDRA: This is the last activity where they could bring up communalism. NIRODBARAN: No. SRI AUROBINDO: There are plenty of other fields where it can spread. SATYENDRA: What will Sotuda say or do? NIRODBARAN: His duty is over on informing Sri... why did they take up the operations in southern Norway in that case? SATYENDRA: Somebody asked him, "Can you tell us if we now have an air base in Norway?" Churchill replied, "Now that the enemy knows, we can say 'Yes.'" (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: The enemy knows, so we need not keep it from the British public? SATYENDRA: The British officers said that all their movements became quickly known... Petersburg's defences are not strong. What that Theosophist said about world war seems to be coming true. SATYENDRA: Yes, Sir, he is only seven days behind. He predicted May 17th and today is the 10th. SRI AUROBINDO: But it is not world war yet. It will be if Italy or Russia joins. SATYENDRA: If not now, he says it will be next year, and the millennium, he says, will come in 1941 for a thousand ...

... interest had Hitler in Uruguay? They have unearthed a plot there which is evidently of Nazi origin. SATYENDRA: My paper — The Indian Express (laughter) — writes in its editorial that Nehru says, "Come to terms with the Muslims anyhow." NIRODBARAN: He may do quite the opposite the next day. SATYENDRA: Yes, as the conditions change. SRI AUROBINDO: That is supramental. PURANI: Rajagopalachari... failed, he said he had no enmity with France; his grudge is only against the English. His tactics are very familiar now. NIRODBARAN (after a while): Another indictment against Bose by Bipin Ganguli. It seems that because Bose let out news about the talks of the Working Committee regarding acceptance or non-acceptance of the federation—talks which were confidential—Gandhi and the High Command strongly... NIRODBARAN: Japan may have a shot at Pondicherry too. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but the navy will have to pass through Singapore, Malacca, etc. India will then be between Japan, Germany and Russia. SATYENDRA: Russia? Russia is far away and doesn't show any intention. SRI AUROBINDO: Russia is always silent before she acts. Nobody knows what is in Russia's mind until the last moment. The same with Japan ...

... devoted to France. SRI AUROBINDO: He has been always a lover of France. SATYENDRA: To what a pass England has come to declare the battle at Oran a great naval success! SRI AUROBINDO: Success? No, it was to prove the decisiveness of the British and their readiness to fight to the last. Otherwise it was no battle. SATYENDRA: England has now found a leader. If she is defeated it will be due to her... up himself. SATYENDRA: He has taken up an impossible attitude. There is no chance of any agreement. SRI AUROBINDO: Unless on such terms as the Khilafat and whatever other demands they make. NIRODBARAN: Or Pakistan. India's karma is also standing in the way. So many years' slavery hasn't wiped off the karma. SRI AUROBINDO: Slavery doesn't wipe off the karma. SATYENDRA: Slavery associated... He will say, "Oh the cause of the Hindus is so dear to my heart!" (Laughter) SATYENDRA: And Jinnah is demanding fifty-fifty representation. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, soon he will say that the pressure exerted by the Hindu fifty is too much for Muslims and will claim another twenty-five out of the fifty. SATYENDRA: How? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? I think Sir Akbar's son is also standing in the way ...

... Congress stands for the Constituent Assembly, Jinnah won't consent. SATYENDRA: If the Viceroy has conceded our right to frame our own constitution, it is quite reasonable. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, only people don't listen to reason nowadays. SATYENDRA: And it is a greater step than Dominion Status. SRI AUROBINDO: Certainly. SATYENDRA: And the expansion of the Council, that is also quite reasonable... there is no settlement. SATYENDRA: Nehru says the Sevadal won't be dissolved. They will keep their organisation. NIRODBARAN: With lathi? 6 SATYENDRA: Why lathi? It is non-violent. SRI AUROBINDO: Or is the lathi for others to beat them with! (Laughter) PURANI: Yes, they can offer their lathi to the opponent and ask to be thrashed. SATYENDRA: That would be ideal non-violence... they can speak of a National Government. SATYENDRA: On the whole it is a very good advance unless there is some catch. One must read the text first. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. It depends also on what powers they give to the Council. The Viceroy ought to have seen Rajagopalachari too. Perhaps he was not in Madras during the Viceroy's stay. SATYENDRA: Yes, Rajagopalachari is the leader now. ...

... Allies.) Now they have let out King Leopold who has been in sympathy with Germany for a long time. The Belgian ambassador in Spain said that he has always had sympathy with totalitarianism. SATYENDRA: This fight has given some confidence to the British Expeditionary Force. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, the British were becoming used to quiet and comfort. PURANI: (after some time, when the others... considers that the German threat to invade is a myth to keep British forces in England instead of letting them come to France. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't think an invasion is likely or possible. SATYENDRA: They can only make air raids. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. The British are preparing their defences NIRODBARAN (addressing Purani): Jinnah has come out. So he is not ill. SRI AUROBINDO: He practically... and we will see." PURANI: What can the Congress do? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. NIRODBARAN: If the Government concedes to the Congress, can the Muslim League do anything effective against it? SATYENDRA: What can they do? NIRODBARAN: Non-violent non-cooperation? PURANI: Non-violent? By the Muslims? SRI AUROBINDO: They can start some Khaksar agitation. EVENING PURANI: The Germans claim ...

... all the activities. SATYENDRA: There are many people who have peace or have experienced a descent of peace into them—solid peace which is the peace of Brahman. ( To Nirodbaran ) You had it yourself. NIRODBARAN: No, I didn't. SRI AUROBINDO: He is indignantly denying it. SATYENDRA: At least the experience of light and force. NIRODBARAN: Not of light. SATYENDRA: He is speaking about his... which is the source of right action. EVENING SATYENDRA: There is a difference between the reflection of peace and the descent of peace, isn't there? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. The descent of peace is more intense and powerful. Besides, the descent opens the way. SATYENDRA: For other things? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and also for the ascent. SATYENDRA: Another question: how can one be free from ego... actually descended into the vital so that all their activities come from that higher dynamism. SATYENDRA: Of course their activities are of a limited kind. They accept life only as much as is necessary for their purpose. NIRODBARAN: Then that is different from what we are speaking of. SATYENDRA: Some people here say that such a realisation is imperfect. SRI AUROBINDO: Not imperfect. They ...

... ecstatic mood. SATYENDRA: You said yesterday that the blue colour might be of Vishnu or of Krishna. What is the difference between them? SRI AUROBINDO: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva manifest certain powers of cosmic consciousness. Krishna manifests the Ananda. Krishna is said to be the Avatar of Vishnu, which means that he manifests the Vishnu aspect rather than the Shiva aspect. SATYENDRA: Are Vishnu... it into Bengali first to understand. SRI AUROBINDO: Why? Doesn't he know English well enough? NIRODBARAN: That's what he says. He was a science student, a classmate of Satyen Bose. SRI AUROBINDO: Which Satyen Bose? NIRODBARAN: Dilip's friend, the scientist. I think it is your terminology that he finds difficult to grasp—mental, vital, physical. SRI AUROBINDO: It is a demarcation which... Ashram? (Laughing) It can be asked "Who are you?" (General laughter) Then Purani read the radio news about Russia attacking Finland, and about the All India Sugar Conference being postponed. SATYENDRA: Plenty of sugar has been destroyed because of a surplus. SRI AUROBINDO: Instead of destroying it, they could have given it free to the Ashram. (Laughter) While sponging Sri Aurobindo, Purani ...

... with us? PURANI: He wrote three or four letters but got no reply. I told him that he should not have acted so hastily. SATYENDRA: People take the silence as a test. SRI AUROBINDO: If he took it as a test the result was rather bad, as he got a haemorrhage. SATYENDRA: Munji has asked us to accept whatever we get from the Government and fight for more. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, that is Tilak's... others are afraid of him. He is unpopular because of his straightforwardness. SATYENDRA: He is a Jew. He refused to join his party with Ribbentrop when the latter proclaimed eternal friendship with France in 1937. SRI AUROBINDO: The result of his eternal friendship is the swallowing up of a part of France. SATYENDRA: The Indian Express say that the Congress ought to accept the Viceroy's offer... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 10 AUGUST 1940 PURANI: It seems that when Dilip was in Calcutta, he took Bose to Baron and introduced him. That is how they know each other. SRI AUROBINDO: Dilip has no sense of these things at all. He thinks, "You are a good man, he is a good man, both should meet each other." (Laughter) PURANI: Hitler's Blitzkrieg ...

... theatre was; he said he didn't know. He realised that he had told a lie and then called the man back and said, "I do know, but I won't tell you." (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: That is Heramba Maitra. SATYENDRA: I like this comment about Ganja. He means we have been smoking Ganja in solitude here. NIRODBARAN: Oh, they think much worse than that. PURANI: Some of these people are strictly ethical and... Movement. When the meetings were, getting smaller and smaller, he was the one who was always present. Ramananda was another. NIRODBARAN: Ramananda has now joined the Hindu Movement. EVENING SATYENDRA: China is also threatening Indo-China! SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, in case they allow Japan to use any ports. PURANI: It seems Italy has launched an attack against British Somaliland and Egypt. SRI... British have a very insufficient force there. I don't understand why Australian soldiers are being sent to England. They ought to have been out there. Then Purani brought in the talk about Nandalal Bose's coming here and said that it must be due to consideration for Tagore that he has suspended his coming for this Darshan. SRI AUROBINDO: Artists can't keep their resolutions! ...

... my life I wanted people to know about. He objects to the poem on Rajnarayan Bose being excluded from the new edition. The fact is I had no copy of it. Besides, these are the usual sorts of things critics say about a poet after his death. I am still alive. I should be immune so long as I am alive. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: They construct a biography out of the poems since they can't approach dead poets... Revolution: when a General failed, his head was cut off! SATYENDRA: Is it some new poetry you are writing now, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: No, it is Savitri. NIRODBARAN: Is it not finished yet? SRI AUROBINDO: The writing is over, but every time I see it, I find imperfections. Only about two and a half cantos can be said to be finished. SATYENDRA: It is good that it is something innocent. Otherwise... Aurobindo gave us the gist of the article.) PURANI: Azad and others take a different standpoint from Gandhi. SATYENDRA: They make it a political non-participation, while Gandhi— SRI AUROBINDO: Brings in both political and conscientious objections. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: It seems Azad, C.R. and Nehru aren't very warm towards this new stand of Gandhi. SRI AUROBINDO: That is evident from ...

... would have come to a compromise but for Bose with his Forward Bloc and Nehru. PURANI: He wants England to be in a better position before he starts the civil disobedience. But with Italy and Spain coining in— SRI AUROBINDO: It will be much worse. By the way, have you seen that Nehru is prepared to shed his blood for the country against Hitler? SATYENDRA: He wants to be recruited. EVENING ... she should side with Germany. The English king also was German; so was the Rumanian king. SATYENDRA: Maeterlinck says that the German blood is alive. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): Yes. NIRODBARAN: I thought Maeterlinck was long dead. SATYENDRA: So did I. SRI AUROBINDO: Very much alive! SATYENDRA: This Hapsburg dynasty seems a very long one; that is what Gunther says. SRI AUROBINDO:... damage. SRI AUROBINDO: That, of course. Still it is not as bad as the old bombardment. You know the story of the bombing of Smyrna? SATYENDRA: No. SRI AUROBINDO: After a whole day's bombardment they killed only a goat and a donkey!. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: These had perhaps come there on hearing the noise! PURANI: General Prioux is said to have reached Dunkirk—the morning radio news says ...

... Ashram because it was started by a Bengali. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): The Bengali Muslims have some such feelings. Nazimuddin said that the Congress has done injustice to Bose and it was an insult to Bengal. SATYENDRA: Italy is coming into the war. PURANI: Demanding Corsica! SRI AUROBINDO: France can as well claim Sicily saying that France conquered it at one time, and Sardinia because... daring. But individually the soldiers were better in the Kaiser's time. They had more initiative. SATYENDRA: If Italy joins in, the French will be in a difficult position. They will attack France from the south. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but the observers say that France has kept a big army there. SATYENDRA: Yes. NIRODBARAN: It seems Italy is going to attack Egypt, Tunis and Corsica first. The Russians... I was wondering why the Allies were not erecting something like trenches around Dunkirk to defend it more effectively against mechanised tanks, and I now find that they have done exactly that, SATYENDRA: Yes, they have dug moats and flooded the area, What news about Narvik? (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, now we find that Narvik was taken by the French, Poles and Norwegians. The British helped ...

... Bengal public are not fools. Let them decide as they wish. Why should X hold meetings from park to park to boycott a particular paper? SATYENDRA: He is holding an anti-compromise conference. SRI AUROBINDO: But who is going in for a compromise? SATYENDRA: It is the impression both of the Leftists and of X that Gandhi will compromise. Gandhi said, "I am not against compromise if that is for... Aurobindo that it looked a bit sentimental. SRI AUROBINDO ( from his bed, to Purani ): I have been looking at the buffalo. It looks as if it were undergoing a psychic change. ( To Satyendra ) What is your opinion? SATYENDRA: I don't know, Sir. I don't know what the idea behind it is. It doesn't appeal to me. The white elephant plucking lotuses from a pond was all right. The elephant is said to be Durga's... PURANI: Of Yamaraj. At this point the Mother came in. SATYENDRA ( to the Mother ): We have been wondering what the meaning of this buffalo could be. THE MOTHER: Meaning? Did Krishnalal want to give it any meaning? I thought it was only a buffalo, like his cats. One year we had flowers, last year birds and this year beasts. Satyendra narrated some Gujarati stories about buffaloes. SRI AUROBINDO ...

... troublesome that they had to remove him. Reynaud made him the Chief of Staff and from him he must have gathered all this news. SATYENDRA: He has now been degraded and has retired. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he speaks now in his own right and appoints vice-admirals. SATYENDRA: The colonies are still undecided. They don't seem to have made up their minds. SRI AUROBINDO: No, except the Djibouti Governor... these officials at Simla. They are all fossilised people. Once they have a fixed idea, they won't give it up. SATYENDRA: The I.C.S. mentality. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Englishmen in England are quite different. Many of them, even conservatives, are speaking of a change in India. SATYENDRA: Though Amery seems to be a strong man, he doesn't have any idea about the Indian situation and the official mind... And they would have had Russia as their ally and she would have been more trustful of them. Now to take Gibralter may well be Hitler's next move. SRI AUROBINDO: Most probably. PURANI: Subhas Bose has been arrested. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, by a friend of his. (Laughter) PURANI: It may be a prelude to the arrest of Congressmen. It seems there has been no change in the Government policy as ...

... NIRODBARAN: Hope England won't give up. SATYENDRA: I don't think she will. SRI AUROBINDO: The English don't give up. But it has to be seen if England also has become decadent or not. After all Poland fought much better than France. It was only the Polish generals who were incompetent, the people went on fighting. Finland also fought very well. SATYENDRA: In Belgium it was the king, not the Government... military dictatorship. PURANI: Even after the war it may remain. Most of them seem to be Catholics and from the right wing. NIRODBARAN: Weygand hasn't shown any remarkable qualities till now. SATYENDRA: Pétain has no time, and besides the supplies and equipment are too poor. What can he do? At present what is most necessary is men; equipment doesn't matter so much. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, it does... the south end of the Maginot Line. SRI AUROBINDO: That means all industrial areas have fallen into their hands. The British have opened disused coal mines in Wales to supply coal to France. SATYENDRA: The situation is very grave now. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, one of the tactics Germany applied was to capture the generals by means of tanks so that the troops might get disorganised. NIRODBARAN: ...

... AUROBINDO: Fazlul Huque has come down again on Bose's paper by demanding more security. By the way, this agitation against the Holwell monument seems to be a pre-arranged affair. The Forward says that Fazlul Huque has already said that it will be removed. NIRODBARAN: Yes, there was an attempt on the part of the Muslims to remove the monument and Bose has taken up that cry. In the Corporation, a... there was some non-aggression pact. Of course these are all excuses. SRI AUROBINDO: Stalin wants to fortify his position while Hitler is engaged elsewhere. He is fortifying it in Galicia too. SATYENDRA: These governments are all a nuisance. Perhaps what Sisir said may come true that we may have to seek refuge on some islets. (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, if islets are available. (Laughter)... a European member proposed to withdraw all advertisements from the Star of India because of its attack on Sri Krishna, and the Hindu Sabha supported him. But Bose opposed it. His party, himself and other Muslims voted against it. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): You mean he is also a Muslim? NIRODBARAN: Going to be! PURANI: The Germans claim to have taken Verdun which means they have crossed the ...

... story about some Somesh Bose. His wife, dead for twenty years, has been brought back bodily to him, alive again, and is doing sadhana with him. The man who performed the miracle is a Yogi named Bhola Giri. This Yogi also comes every evening to bless the pair. The paper asks: "What will Western materialists say to this?" SRI AUROBINDO: They will say it is all humbug. SATYENDRA: What does Yoga have... SRI AUROBINDO: There are many possibilities. NIRODBARAN: But is it at all possible to create like this in new flesh and blood? SRI AUROBINDO: What is meant by flesh and blood? Does Somesh Bose's wife live all the time with him or does she come only for a few hours and then go away? If the latter, it looks like a temporary materialisation, and that is quite possible. Bhola Giri obviously knows... attacked because we are not doing anything for the country and humanity or because I who did national work once have left it now? PURANI: Perhaps more because of the latter reason. NIRODBARAN: Subhas Bose also attacked the Ashram on the same plea. He said to Dilip that some of the best people were going away to the Ashram SRI AUROBINDO: Did he include Dilip among the best people? NIRODBARAN: I ...

... successful. SATYENDRA: Gandhi doesn't say he can stop an invasion but he says that non-violent non-cooperation can make it impossible for one to rule. SRI AUROBINDO: That is another matter. SATYENDRA: If done rightly it can melt other people's hearts as with Prahlad, he says. SRI AUROBINDO: Prahlad is all right, but a nation of Prahlads doesn't exist. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: He actually... actually believes that Narsimha will come down. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): To tear the stomach out of the other fellow? SATYENDRA (laughing): Yes. SRI AUROBINDO: But at one time he thought of stopping an Afghan invasion by Charkha. SATYENDRA: In my opinion he should have kept aloof after that Poona affair. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. Gandhi's originality lies in bringing Ahimsa into politics... given it. DR. RAO: I don't think India will refuse to help if we get something in return. SRI AUROBINDO: You think so? I am not sure. What do you think of the left-wingers, the communists, Subhas Bose, for instance? And it is not true that they have given nothing. It is the British character to go by stages. Whenever their self-interest is at stake they come to a compromise. You have to take account ...

... with good vital worlds and cure cases. SRI AUROBINDO: Why, one can cure by a connection with bad ones also. SATYENDRA: It is not always safe for the mediums. SRI AUROBINDO: No. Sometime they suffer very badly, either from a deterioration in health or some other trouble. SATYENDRA: It is not easy, either, to open into those worlds NIRODBARAN: It is easier than into the intuitive planes.... talking of Nirodbaran. (Laughter) SATYENDRA (to Manilal) : What is your idea about creation? DR. MANILAL: Creation is Swayambhu (self-born) It is infinite and so has neither beginning nor end. SRI AUROBINDO: The hippopotamus is also Swayambhu? DR. MANILAL: Why not, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: That is not science. Evolution doesn't say that. SATYENDRA (to Manilal) According to you, the world... And self-existent with Eliot and his hippopotamus existing from eternity? (Laughter) SATYENDRA (to Dr. Manilal) : If you don't believe God has created this world then God can't help you to get liberation. You have to rely absolutely on your Purushartha (self-effort). SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. SATYENDRA (seeing Dr. Manilal sprinkling on his body the water in which Sri Aurobindo's feet had been ...

... and he also has fear. SATYENDRA: Yes, he speaks of fear of death. SRI AUROBINDO: In chronic cases the body forms fixed habits which don't want to go and they throw up strong resistance. NIRODBARAN: But some chronic cases have been cured, for example, Sahana's sister. SRI AUROBINDO: That was not so bad a case, and moreover it depends on the receptivity. SATYENDRA: Diseases are due to attacks... that is manifested through the being is the universal force and the being is part of the universal support from the universal being. Both derive their support from the universal or the Supreme. SATYENDRA: We want to know if the attacks of diseases on people are attacks of forces or of beings. SRI AUROBINDO: Forces of the universal vital nature or beings. NIRODBARAN: The force of electricity... AUROBINDO: There are forces, or beings of the other world which they may see at such a time. Usually some parts of their being are already in the other world. NIRODBARAN (after a while) : Subhas Bose seems to have hinted at a separate Congress if the Rightists come to a compromise. He says that he hoped to capture the Congress in a year but the Rightists have disregarded the rules of the game and ...

... such a fine opportunity when Hyat Khan, Fazlul Huque and the Liberals were on the point of coming to a settlement with the Congress! SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it was a unique opportunity thrown away. With Bose on one side and Gandhi on the other, future unity will be difficult. And if Hindus and Muslims had now made a united demand the Government would have had to submit. NIRODBARAN: C. R. and Azad are... Besides, Churchill has proved that he sent more soldiers than he had promised to Reynaud. PURANI: The British lost fifty thousand lorries. SRI AUROBINDO: One thousand guns and other material. SATYENDRA (after a while): Is there no news about the invasion of Portugal? SRI AUROBINDO: No. It must have been a false rumour. Franco doesn't seem to intend to claim Gibraltar. He won't as long as the... no proposal. They are still discussing. But Gandhi is making the Congress position as difficult as possible. PURANI: How? SRI AUROBINDO: Haven't you read his article today? PURANI: No. SATYENDRA: He is asking the Congress to keep aloof from the irresistible temptation of going back to office, to stick to non-violence and to declare independence as the immediate goal. SRI AUROBINDO: And ...

... painting is not yet so bad as European. People are not following the leaders of modernism here, Rabindranath Tagore as a painter is not much imitated. Perhaps because of Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose. SRI AUROBINDO: They, I suppose, praise Rabindranath but don't encourage others to follow him. (Laughter) In Europe, apart from vulgarisation, there is dictatorship acting against art. In Germany... phrase daridra narayana—"God the poor"—was Vivekananda's. It seems not all the disciples of Ramakrishna were agreeable to the idea. But some submitted, saying, "Vivekananda should know best." SATYENDRA: Even from those who didn't object, all didn't take active part in the service. Brahmananda,4 for example. We have heard that his spiritual realisation was higher than Vivekananda's. SRI AUROBINDO:... sufficient food all the year round? Those who feed them satisfy their own conscience, I suppose. If you could find out the cause of poverty and try to remove it, that would do some real work. SATYENDRA: But that is not easy. Sir; there are so many difficulties, political, economic, etc. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't think it is so insoluble a problem as all that. If you give people education—I mean ...

... a remark of Sri Aurobindo 's. SRI AUROBINDO: Doctors are bound to differ. It seems to me that medical science has developed much knowledge but in application it is either an art or a fluke. Satyendra and Purani agreed with the remark and said that as regards application medical science was not exact as yet. Nirodbaran observed that this was so because of individual variation. SRI AUROBINDO:... What a great relief this will be! I myself haven't found it contagious. Take also the question of diet. They are changing their ideas constantly. Some day medical science will become exact. Then Satyendra brought in the question of the unscrupulousness and incapacity of private practitioners and held that medical practice should be under State control. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't believe in that. I like... people are aesthetic in England? And as regards roads and buildings, could anyone, looking at life in Port Said, say that the people there are more civilised than the Negroes? Have you read Phanindra Bose's book on the Santals? He says that the Santals are not at all inferior to other classes of people in the matter of ethics. So also with the Arabian races. Wilfred Scawen Blunt praised them highly as ...

... person totally unknown and quite different from the one we wanted. After some time, a quarrel broke out between my brother-in-law Bose and a Government official. He was summoned to the office, but the letter addressed to him bore by mistake the name "Ghose" instead of "Bose". So I had to go and I found to my surprise the very man in my vision sitting as the Governor. On another occasion, a friend... NIRODBARAN: Perhaps one of them may change for the better. THE MOTHER: In what sense? NIRODBARAN: He may turn to the divine life again. THE MOTHER: That is romance! NIRODBARAN: But Satyendra may come to the Ashram once more—since he was here a good number of years. THE MOTHER (amused) : Do you think so? When a man who has been given a chance deliberately turns his back on the Divine ...