... try to be as [?] as a Dayakar if not quite as enthusiastic as a Nirod who now says that your physical forces are doing [havocs ?] of wonder. He swears all the time by Dayakar and is starting on [Rishabhchand ?] again! Page 233 Venkataraman, Dilip and Anilkumar Kalyan Chowdhuri, Nirod and Dilip Page 234 But what about Venkata, Sahana... their present perversities or limitations and come nearer to us than they are now—if they have the sincere will and make the endeavour. I have explained my meaning to Nirod—so I do not repeat it here. Of course in my writing to Nirod, there is a certain note of persiflage and humorous insistence of which you must take account if you want to get the exact measure of my reasoning and its significance... are we coming to? N.B. Please don't read this to Nirod. But perhaps it may be on the principle "Honour thy Doctor that thy life may be long in the land." To call an eminent novelist for the purpose is after all appropriate. You could give a long address on the romance of medicine beginning with Dhanvantari, Charaka and Galen 139 and ending with Nirod Talukdar and Dr. Ramchandra. Romen has drawn ...
... inscrutable fire, Before the seat of the lonely One. 14 Like Dilip and Amal, Nirod also corresponded with Sri Aurobindo a good deal from 1934 onwards, and as a physician he had privileges that others lacked, for even when correspondence had to be suspended during the daman rush-time, Nirod was permitted to make an exception of himself. " Correspondence suspended till after the 21st"... remained. Nirodbaran, for example, after a brilliant medical education in Edinburgh, returned to Bengal, and then made a bee-line to Pondicherry. Reminiscing about his discipleship to Sri Aurobindo, Nirod says: A medical man, materialist by education, I cared very little for God and had no faith. I started the sadhana without having any idea about it, as Stendhal's Page 577 ... 21st", Sri Aurobindo wrote once (February 1935), "and resumable only on notice. But under cover of your medical cloak, you can carry on. Only mum about it!" 15 What human language can Nirod find for all that generous understanding and all that lavish downpour of Grace? And Prithwi Singh came, he remained; notwithstanding his poor eyesight, he typed more than one draft of The Life Divine in ...
... Though it was all Greek, it read well and I felt something, as if there was some stuff in it. Nirod showed it to Sri Aurobindo and, before I had time to ask him, he said: “Sri Aurobindo read your poem and said, ‘If Sahana throws away such inspiration, then what’s the use of giving her inspiration?’” And when Nirod reported the meaning of the poem as explained by Sri Aurobindo I was not only astonished,... Nishikanta were going on with great speed. Behari Barua, Jatin Das of Chittagong were also on the list. Nirod’s niece Jyotirmala (formerly Jyotirmoyee) started writing here and was doing it remarkably. Nirod too put his hand to it and was faring well. I used to compose from childhood, but not regularly. My writing was intermittent, following the pressure of inspiration. Anil Kumar Bhatta was another novice... writing here and became a fine poet. His poems, which were many, were published by the Ashram after his death. Romen, a mere boy, began writing poems in English and was doing well. Besides Nolini, Dilip, Nirod and Anilbaran were writing in both English and Bengali. Nishikanta brought out a book of English poems — Nolini was writing in French also. Harin came, as a great genius, and went on writing in huge ...
... editions, Nolini Kanta Gupta still chose to tell Jayantilal Parekh “… if Nirod approves” when he approached him vis-à-vis the changes proposed by the Archives team; this must have been much before March 1983. However it is significant to note what Nolini Kanta Gupta had said. He never said if “Amal and Nirod approve” or if “Nirod and Amal approve” or if “Amal approves”. Yet, could he not have simply... including the earlier editions,is another matter, though it will be natural to publish only that which came out during the author’s time. “… if Nirod approves” But let us go back to Nolini Kanta Gupta’s statement as reported by Jayantilal Parekh: “… if Nirod approves”. Here the reference is to Nirodbaran alone, specifically to him only. Then how does Amal Kiran come in the picture at all? He cannot... seriously to take these pronouncements. Yet let us proceed. But who approved “… if Nirod approves”? None. Here is Nolini Kanta Gupta’s own statement: “I do not authorise anybody to speak on my behalf.” Where do we then stand? We are in the midst of uncertainties, confusion as if deliberately created. But it is likely that “if Nirod approves” could have been said much before March 1983. In fact the period could ...
... coming to! (Please don't tell this to Nirod). Perhaps, however, it may be on the principle: 'Honour the doctor that thy life may be long in the land!' But then to call in an eminent litterateur like you is after all appropriate. You can furnish them with a long address on the romance of medicine beginning with Dhanwantari, Charaka and Galen and ending with Nirod Taluqdar or Dr. Ramchandra." ... also why he revealed at every step a new facet of his unfathomable personality to us all — to each according to his temperament. For example, to Nirod he would constantly assume a tone he never once assume with me. To illustrate what I mean: "Nirod," he wrote on one occasion, "as there are several lamentations today besieging me, I have very littletime to deal with each separate jeremiad. But... that karma would tether me irrevocably to the world and therefore, a fortiori, to my present state of non-experience as against transcendent God realisation. Yet why must he go on browbeating Nirod the charming pessimist, with his Aurobindonian gospel of incessant karma to the exclusion of jnana and inveigh against those who, like Dilip, loved the traditional thoroughfare of bhakti which at ...
... charming metre from the musical point again! So everything is going top-hole what ! Q'en dites-vous ? Must say something, what! Nirod is furiously trying to write one song in laghu guru as his song I sang to him this morn. Send him force please. Nirod has just given me a laghu guru: not quite successful yet but has promise. So more force absolutely essential. It shall be... think of it? Symbolic ? Mystic ? Or both ? Or none ? Lyric-dramatic ? Anyhow I was in great joy after writing it—as I did not intend at all to write this. It came through Krishna's dance perhaps. Nirod and others are charmed by it. And the music that has come is lovely. Please tell me your opinion to buck me up. Page 77 Your poem [Durashi] is indeed exceedingly beautiful. I don't... which is a spiritual book [exclaims], "Shout aloud, O mountains, and skip, you little hills ! ” So joy permitted in honour of the occasion. Glad to send you a sweet song of Nirod's. I wish Nirod wrote more. This song he composed on my Durashi model and is indeed a melodious little thing. I just made two minor changes—that's all. He asks me to send it to you for opinion. We all like it very ...
... same cassette would be used for the next class. Nirod-da delivered, on the whole, around 150 talks, all of which were patiently recorded and transcribed by Sudha and Kokila. Nirod-da's well-known book Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo was written from the notes taken during these talks. Even before the writing of the book was completed, Nirod-da started reading it out to the Mother, who would... book came about in this manner: Somewhere around 1968-69, a teacher had the bright idea of asking Nirod-da to speak to the students of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education about Sri Aurobindo. It was deemed that his talks would help prepare the students for Sri Aurobindo's birth-centenary. Nirod- da had been in close personal contact with Sri Aurobindo for twelve years. Before that, he had... correspondence with Sri Aurobindo for five years. It was for these reasons that the students were eager to hear him speak about Sri Aurobindo. Nirod-da agreed and he spoke to the students every Wednesday from 10:40 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Very soon, word went round that Nirod-da's talks about Sri Aurobindo were very interesting and elevating, and the class started to grow. The audience swelled, and soon the venue ...
... inflict pain on others or even see them suffer. According to Nirod, Sri Aurobindo was a "Supramental perfect gentleman", and had a magnanimity of the kind described in the lines - A magnanimity as of sea or sky Enveloped with its greatness all that came. And it is of Shiva most that Sri Aurobindo reminded Nirod! 85 And Yogiswara Shiva, what was his role in world-existence:... Of the kind of constant human-divine life Sri Aurobindo lived in those days, who can bear witness except the Mother - or such reverent observant beloved attendants like Champaklal and Nirod? For example, the Mother has recalled a singular incident on the night of a cyclone when the noise was terrific and the rain-blast shook doors and windows and water splashed into the rooms. When... disciples that had been discontinued after 24 November 1926. These talks took place in the mornings as well as evenings. Along with some of the older sadhaks like Purani, some of the younger like Nirod were of the company. The talks, as before, covered a wide range of topics, and Sri Aurobindo's interventions were anecdotal, serious, witty, humorous, expository, reminiscential by turns, but always ...
... consciousness. And She came and found Sri Aurobindo lying on the floor. At once answering the emergency bell, Purani rushed up... 8 Dr. Manilal and Dr. Nirod were summoned too, and Sri Aurobindo's body, lying prone on the floor, reminded Nirod of "the golden beauty of a God... the golden Purusha". The right leg had to be put in plaster, and Sri Aurobindo was conveyed to his bed. Wasn't the writing... under slightly different circumstances. In course of time, Nirod became both Sri Aurobindo's medical attendant and amanuensis, and this association was to continue till the very end. There were also conversations in Sri Aurobindo's room, and some fortunate few - including Dr. Manilal, Dr. Becharlal, Dr. Satyendra, Purani, Champaklal and Nirod - were of the company. The "work in progress", Savitri... Each line stands by itself and each sentence consists at most of five or six lines.... There are no pauses or enjambments like those in Paradise Lost. 10 Again, on 5 March, to a question from Nirod, whether Sri Aurobindo would have time to finish Savitri, the answer was: "Oh, Savitri will take a lone time, I have to go all over the old ground.... Page 655 Every time I find ...
... that Nolini, struck by the incongruity of "twixt", had been responsible for them. Nirod said that he must have brought Nolini's questioning of the word to Sri Aurobindo's attention and that Sri Aurobindo must have affirmed "twixt". I believed that the underlining and the tick must have served simply as a push to Nirod to check the word with the original and that he must have done the checking and... He usually typed the correct form. The mark next to the "twixt"-line is not a pencilled question-mark but a tick in ink - the same ink as used by Nirod for his copy. There are two possible explanations for this mark and similar ones. Nirod might have put the tick while copying to indicate his doubt about the reading of a word in the MS. But in the instance before us, there is no question of... than most of the handwriting. Therefore, marks like the one here must have a different purpose connected with Sri Aurobindo's revision. Such ticks are found in the manuscript as well as the copy. Nirod has told us that, during dictated revision, Sri Aurobindo asked him to put these marks by lines he wished to come back to. After returning to the line and either revising it or deciding to leave ...
... (Please don't tell this to Nirod [who happens to be a doctor.]) Perhaps, however, it may be on the principle: 'Honour the doctor that thy life may be long in the land!' But then to call in an eminent litterateur like you is after all appropriate. You can furnish them with a long address on the romance of medicine beginning with Dhanwantari, Charaka and Galen and ending with Nirod Talukdar or Dr. Ramchandra... to him, by special permission. But as the number of the privileged ones mounted day by day, DK wrote to Sri Aurobindo: "To how many have you given a special permission to write to you daily? Nirod confided to me - it's 121. Bindu says -impossible, it is only 97, out of the present total [of Ashramites] 150." Page 323 Sri Aurobindo: The number openly accepted is - two by tacit ... the unintelligible. As you have now much to do with mystic poetry, it may be necessary. But why object to being pulverised? Once reduced to powder, think how useful you may be as a medicine, Pulv. Nirod. gr. II. Anyhow disburden your soul of the weight. I am not owled yet and my supramentalisation is going on too slowly to justify such apprehensions. Neither I am withdrawing, rather fitting myself ...
... sir—ce n'est pas ҫa. You are illegitimately connecting two disconnected syllogisms. Ist syllogism—all poets are sex-gland-active, Nirod is a poet, therefore Nirod is sex-gland-active. 2nd syllogism—all sex-gland-actives are poets, Nirod is sex-gland-active, therefore Nirod is a poet. The second proposition does not follow from the first as you seem illogically to think. All poets may be sex-gland-active... thing possible for a beginning. P is complaining of shooting headache due to her eyes etc. Can't you do something to make the shoots and her also quiet? She says, "What can poor Nirod do? He is trying all he can." Poor Nirod, what! December 30, 1935 × A play on three Bengali words whose senses here are: prasannā... Secondly, I get tired of waiting and leave of say after an hour. What else can one do? Where is the ego or personal resistance you speak of? I didn't mean all that. I meant that a certain Nirod gets in the way, is too active or too blocky. Too subtle for farther explanation, you have to feel. It is not the question of "being open" or "knowing how to bow", but having a poetic being open ...
... to be allowed to stay permanently in the Ashram, he was told to wait till August. Nirod in the meantime did odd jobs (including work in a timber godown), and he wrote numerous letters. While they were addressed to the Mother, the replies usually came from Sri Aurobindo. "Should one write about everything?" Nirod once asked naively, and the reply was: Only those who feel the need, write their... Mother about his visit. While still in Europe he and his niece had met Dilip Kumar Roy, and "came to know from him something about the Mother, Sri Aurobindo and the Ashram". It was Dilip who took Nirod to the Mother. I was dazzled by the sight. Was it a 'visionary gleam' or a reality? Nothing like it had I seen before .... Page 273 She bathed me in the cascade of her smile and... their experiences or condition daily to the Mother. Even so, they need not write the same things daily, but only what they feel the necessity to write. 50/font Nirod wrote: "Do I profit, Mother, by simply looking at you or your photograph?" "Yes, very many do," was the truthful answer. In late March, he once complained of "a peculiar experience". Usually after pranam he used to "gaze at ...
... beard so that nobody glamorous may run after me!" (laughter) Well, I am rather running away from my friend Nirod and after my own unglamorous self. So let me finish what I started saying. Nobody should have imagined Nirod to be the person I had described — nor do I think that Nirod ever had sufficient confidence in his own meditation to substitute it for medicine, (laughter) The person... insights. But even prior to doing that I have to do something in response to my friend Nirod. He has made an earnest plea that I should rid your minds of the delusion that the doctor I spoke of last time was he. (laughter) It seems many of you carried away that impression, though I wonder how. Nirod can hardly be described as a person of one dimension attached to a thin beard, (laughter)... lack of self-consciousness which this sadhak had and also the sense of humour which enabled him to laugh at himself afterwards when his friends poked fun at him. His case was outstanding enough for Nirod to ask Sri Aurobindo once what exactly was happening. Sri Aurobindo explained that Rajangam's consciousness completely left his body during meditation. The peculiarities of some others ...
... Sanyal reminded Nirod and the rest that the body should be prepared for public view. It was soon covered in spotless white silk and placed on a cot, which was also covered in pure silk, in the room Sri Aurobindo had occupied for over twenty-five years. A picture of the Buddha copied from the Ajanta fresco adorned the eastern wall, and the *In November 1953, the Mother told Nirod, "I did not believe... excepting when he was dictating verse or prose. The sounding cataracts of humour, wit, repartee - where had they gone? "However much we tried to draw him out from his impregnable sanctum of silence," says Nirod, "we were answered by a monosyllabic 'Yes' or 'No' or at most a faint smile." 7 True enough, Sri Aurobindo had developed an ailment of late - prostatic enlargement - with its inevitable consequences... of The Future Poetry then in the press. One day in October, Sri Aurobindo seemed to take up Savitri in rather real earnest with the intention of finishing it "soon". While he dictated the fines, Nirod took them down: We took up the same two Cantos that had proved so intractable. The work progressed slowly; words, ideas, images seemed to be repeated; the verses themselves appeared to flow with ...
... told Nirod-da a lot of things about the pranam. Nirod-da and two other teachers from our School often went to see the Mother. The ‘Free Progress’ system had just been initiated in the School. The teachers were facing all kinds of problems and difficulties and the Mother would try to explain each problem to them and give Her view. If they had overstayed their time then both the teachers and Nirod-da would... would hasten to leave after taking the flower-blessings from the Mother’s hand. Once Nirod-da was the last to leave. As he was leaving after taking the flower-blessing from Her hand, the Mother called him back and asked: “You haven’t offered your pranam today?” Nirod-da was terribly embarrassed and tried to wriggle out of it. “Oh, I didn’t want to trouble You.” “Trouble me?” asked the Mother... of trouble for me to lay my hand on your head!” Nirod-da suddenly found the answer. He said: “Sometimes, You seem to be in a hurry. We try and take our leave quickly so that you are not further delayed for dinner. This is why.” The Mother was finally satisfied. “In that case I have nothing to say,” She added. The following day Nirod-da went to the Mother alone. He was to read out to ...
... in sleep. I had to get newspapers, articles, etc. read to me by Nirod and could no longer write as before. I found that by giving rest and avoiding all strain, there was a slight improvement every evening, so I thought I would give rest and avoid all strain so as to get a quicker improvement and full recovery. I understand that Nirod had said something to you about my difficulty, so it did not occur... but I acted according to the then arrangement of things of which I thought you knew, by long experience. As to the Gramophone affair that was an accident. I had your letter read to me by Nirod – it would have been physically impossible for me to go through it myself, my eyes were too bad – and I somehow missed the question about Indu Ray 28 and got the impression that you had received... observe that rule? As to the other point, you seem to me to be generalising from two lonely instances, the Hafiz letter and another about which I know nothing. Page 163 Nirod gave the letter to Nolini to get the Mother’s answer as it was She who must decide and this was a shorter route [?][?] over the Himalayas that is [?]. But as the matter did not seem urgent and the ...
... Correspondence-period. Here is what she said to S: Nirod is reading out to me his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, and it contains all the things (it’s amusing), the things I said long, long afterwards, and I didn’t know that he had written them! - exactly the same thing. I was very much interested. In this correspondence, he told Nirod in a letter 1 (he said it several times): "I may take... the Mother with hesitation, if she would write something. She at once asked Champaklal to give her a piece of paper. He rushed for the paper and her favourite felt pen. Then she wrote, "Grâce à Nirod nous avons la révélation de tout un côté inconnu de ce qu’ était Sri Aurobindo.” 12 Then she added in English: "It is extremely interesting and very instructive." As she could... capable - he repeated it. But it is difficult, I told you so the other day. Food, especially, is... it has become a labour. 19 January 1972 Have you read the whole "Correspondence with Nirod"? I am translating it as I go along, so I haven’t read the whole thing. There are extraordinary things in there. He seems to be joking all the time but... it’s extraordinary. You see, ...
... Mother can give me something to do for her. “ Nirod has, no doubt, explained to you Mother’s answers to the points that arise in Janak Kumari’s letter and her reasons for them, so I confine this letter to two points, her request to be given some work to do for the Mother and her experience. On the first you must have heard from Nirod what is Mother’s difficulty in deciding and giving any... or for enjoying the Mother’s affection and kindness. Yoga is its own object and has its own means and conditions; sport is something quite different as the Mother herself indicated to you through Nirod when she said that the concentration practised on the playground was not meditation and was used for efficacy in the movements of the body and not for any purpose of Yoga. * March 21... anybody should have told you anything like that, he must be off his head or in a temporary crisis of delirious enthusiasm or a very upside-down idea. The Mother told you very clearly once through Nirod that what was being done in the playground was not meditation or a concentration for Yoga but only an ordinary concentration for the physical exercises alone. Page 227 If she ...
... in Sri Aurobindo's hands, having placed a small towel under his chin. Then he holds the spittoon for Sri Aurobindo to spit out the water. When he returns the cup, Nirod gives a towel with which Sri Aurobindo wipes his mouth. Next, Nirod takes the bowl of scented water, dips the napkin in the scented water and rubs Sri Aurobindo's face with it in his masterly way—forehead, ears, under the eyes, and... Generally, before Mother comes, Sri Aurobindo is resting on his bed. When it is time for Mother to come, we straighten the back-rest and make the arrangements for him to sit back on his bed. Then both Nirod and myself wait for Mother's arrival. Usually Sri Aurobindo's hair is divided into two plaits for his convenience. Before Mother comes we remove the ribbons, undo the plaits and spread his hair behind... open the lotion bottle and hand it to her; she pours some lotion in the small saucer which I hold in my hand. I move with the saucer in my hand and stand just behind his head, behind the back-rest Nirod stands on the left side. Mother starts applying the lotion with the little tooth-brush and combing the hair. Whatever hair come out in the comb while combing is given by her in my hand. I keep them ...
... have been found to be extraordinarily effective. You might consult Nirod about it. It won't do to go on like this (with the sciatica in such an acuteness). I am writing to Nirod to go and see you. If he can do something to get rid of this attack, we will see afterwards. I told you to consult Nirod because the sciatica was becoming so acute as to send the pain up in... told Nirod he can treat for constipation. Continued constipation is the root of all sorts of diseases and cannot be allowed to continue. Chronic constipation (you told Page 46 Nirod; he says, it has been there since you came here) cannot be cured in two days by the Force. The habit of this kind takes long to be changed. My diet has gone down much. Dr. Nirod says ...
... manage all the arrangements, he suddenly heard a voice telling him: "If Nirod were here, he would have organised everything well." (Laughter) It was a bolt from the blue. "Who is Nirod? I've never heard of any Nirod!" he wondered. Then, when he came over to the Ashram, he enquired, "Is there anybody by the name of Nirod?" They said, "Yes, yes," and they showed him my room. He came to me and... Sri Aurobindo." So you see how the Divine is acting throughout the world, sometimes in these occult ways. Remember Th e Lost Footsteps, written in Rumania? 287 I don't think 284'Nirod' is the Bengali version of 'Nirad', so the speaker is referring to his own name here. 285The heavenly sage, the God-man who mediates between men and the gods. 286Witty play of words: 'i'... situation took a very bad turn, Dr. Sanyal had to be called in. We sent him a telegram. He came on leave and stayed for some days. Just before he left, he said to Sri Aurobindo, "I am going, but Dr. Nirod is here." Then Sri Aurobindo said, "He is no doctor to me, he has come to serve me." Well, so we were constantly in attendance upon Him, we had the good fortune to be almost like His shadow. We had ...
... shall read something about marriage - the correspondence I had with Sri Aurobindo on the subject, which appeared to me to be somewhat touching. With some trepidation, I broached the subject to Him. [Nirod-da puts on bis spectacles, with one glass broken. (Loud laughter)] You may have a good laugh at this, but I have tears in my eyes! When I was coming here, suddenly I saw that this fellow 236 has failed... So I thought here is an opportunity to draw Him out, because that subject of His marriage made us curious. So I wrote: [Reading from Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo (1995), 575-576] [Nirod-da:] Somebody writing about the life of Confucius in Bengali says: "Why do the Dharmagurus marry, we can't understand. Buddha did and his wife's tale is heart-rending." [Sri Aurobindo:] Why?... with 'divine'?" You understand, 'divine' is stressed on the second syllable. In order to understand the joke properly, perhaps I'd better do a little 'acrobatics'. [Getting up from the chair, Nirod-da looks for the duster, but it is not there. ] I'll do what my Anatomy professor in college used Page 180 to - [wiping the board with his hand, rubbing his hand on his hips, putting ...
... remember the exact words. Nirod knows it." The first exhibit will be an announcement: BIRTH CENTENARY OF Sri Aurobindo Below the name Sri Aurobindo, should there be Seer, Yogi, etc? Mother said, "No, no, no. No titles." * * * 20.5.72 I got from Nirod the copy of what Sri Aurobindo had said to Mother and she had told Dr. Sanyal. Nirod had asked her about... wrote after coming here, and not confuse by imagination. ("But, Mother, Sri Aurobindo takes a life- time". Mother said laughing, "Yes, yes.") She added, "In his conversations with Nirod, Sri Aurobindo has spoken on Buddha and about himself, why he came, who he was. People should read these things and not confuse." Q. Do we have your blessings to go to Dharamshala to discuss this... them", she said. "For you it is different. You can say, 'The first and most important condition is obedience to Mother'. Why not choose something from Sri Aurobindo? He has written in abundance to Nirod. Read again." This time I read the proposed note omitting the words not approved by her, and said that I will choose something from Sri Aurobindo, put it in the beginning and show it to her tomorrow ...
... from the path once he had decided to tread it as the way to his Goal. That is why once he fell like a ton of bricks on Nirod. As it is germane to my theme I shall quote the correspondence which passed between them in 1935 "For creation and effective expression, Sir," wrote Nirod, 'style is very important. 'Le style — c'est I'homme', as they say. And to acquire an effective style one must read and... the third; in the second line, an anapaest in the first foot and a pyrrhic in the third and so on. I will give just one sample of how he corrected our English poems — not of mine alone but of Nirod, Romen, Nishikanta and others. The first poem I wrote in English (in April, 1934) was a literal translation of a Bengali poem of mine: The sorrow of Autumn woos the absent Spring; Chill... ss, fineness and accuracy of thought and vision, increasing inspiration and an increasing intuition, discrimination (self-critical) of right thought, word-form and just image and figure." But Nirod seldom yielded without a brave tussle. "Methinks", he wrote ironically, "you are making just a little too much of Yogic Force. Its potency as regards matters spiritual is undeniable; but as for ...
... and I look forward to its results. I have observed that under your tuition 15 Jyotirmayi has arrived at much ease and mastery of language and metre—Nirod also is writing well. They are getting the vehicle, the person to ride in it must arrive. Nirod has still too much of the traditional Bengali poet (modern) in his measure—he must get out of that. We want a new style and spirit—that is what I have... model) for the metre, but I am trying to grind out another which will give the first some meaning and, as soon as the labour is done, I will send it. December 10, 1934 Yesterday afternoon Nirod read out your letter re. Poetry, etc. Then we wondered and wondered and wandered— till I said that I had all along thought so and that poetry, karma, etc. were not the thing—the thing was to seek puma... Mother's smilelessness as Sahana was telling me so yesterday) without my Pooh-poohing such lovely poetry whose gorgeousness and expression is at times simply dazzling to me and others too (Saurin, Nirod, Kanai, Sahana, all are marvelling at his Poetry nowadays—though formerly they didn't—even Moni who never praises anybody sought him out and Page 179 lavished encomiums on his exquisite ...
... Prithwisingh and Nirod made urgent representations to her, saying that it would be a great mistake not to let me see the proofs, for I had made very appropriate suggestions in the past, which had been found correct when the typed copy had been compared with the original manuscript. So the Mother cancelled her order but left, of course, the final decision in the hands of Nolini and Nirod. In fact, I... of anticlimax as regards the plane of spiritual inspiration." At this moment Nirod walked in and said: "Sri Aurobindo asked me: 'What remains now to be done in Savitri' I replied: 'The Book of Death and the Epilogue.' He remarked: 'We shall see about them later.'" The Mother turned to Nirod and said: "That may be his way of saying that nothing more needed to be done. We can't... intended or did not intend? He may have wanted just what he has left behind. How can you say that he did not give the final revision? How can you judge?" I said: "It is not only my own opinion. Nirod agrees with me, and I think Nolini also." The Mother replied "It is presumptuous for anyone to have such an opinion. Who can enter into Sri Aurobindo's consciousness? It is a consciousness ...
... of asceticism. So... I wanted to debouch into inaction of the sattwic type, to shine as a living example of inaction, bhakti and wisdom!... [I wondered] why must Sri Aurobindo go on browbeating Nirod, the charming pessimist, with his Aurobindonian gospel of incessant karmal... As I went eloquent over the bliss of inaction, often... I looked like a disciple who even after accepting Sri Aurobindo's... temerity?..." 3 Sri Aurobindo's indulgent reply to the above: "Dilip, I do not understand why you should assume that I am displeased with the karma question. I castigated or fustigated Nirod not from displeasure nor even 'more in sorrow than in anger', but for fun and also from a high sense of duty; for that erring mortal was bold enough to generalise from his very limited experience and... God knows what else? "There can be no answer to that; for I can only answer by a repetition of the statement of my own knowledge and experience. That is what I have done in my today's answer to Nirod and perhaps that amounts only to a perverse obstinacy in riding my gleaming and dazzling chimera and forcing my nuisance of a superfluity on a world weary of itself and anxious to get an easy short ...
... worshippers as God's blessings. Page 196 came up running to the Mother: "Mother, Mother!" she said. "What's the matter?" "See, Mother." She was carrying a big bottle of medicine. "Doctor Nirod has given me this. How to take, how many times to take it, nothing has been said. Mother, Mother, he is no doctor, he is a poem he is a poem!" (Laughter) So Mother came with a smile, told this story... Bengali novel and he asked Nishikanto: "I have a hero - a character, what name do you suggest for him?" He said, all on a sudden, without thinking, "Nirodbaran!" You know I suppose that my name is Nirod and Baran. He didn't know anything about me at all. As soon as he uttered the name 'Nirodbaran' (he occasionally sees visions of gods Page 198 and goddesses and other figures), a face... were Her words: "All right, but tell him that he will see and know many things." That means not book knowledge, but visions of gods, goddesses and other forces; just as he saw the 'luminous face of Nirod' earlier. It may be my divine face which stays somewhere far away, God knows where; and he saw Buddha too. So Mother said that all these things he'll see, but seeing is not always very blissful. If ...
... produced anything of any value. It was the grace of a sudden opening of power that he got, it was not the fruit of cultivation. Nirod writes as well or even better than I do, why then do you say he is not a writer by nature? Has he not the faculty? I said that to Nirod because he wanted to do these things as part of his development in sadhana. Apart from that one can by cultivation learn to write... do what? Think? You have to cultivate the power of feeling instinctively the value of what you write—either while writing or immediately you go over it when it is completed. 23 February 1937 Nirod says my rhythm is sometimes not very smooth and spontaneous, and that I should read the poem aloud when it is finished. I prefer to read it silently. What is the right way: aloud or silently? It... parts of language, rhythm, building—it is only the variation that is needed. Perhaps by doing other work that variation might be assisted. Lastly, I want to have your guidance, as when you told Nirod what were his drawbacks. In your case I do not find any drawbacks of importance—except the one fact that you are bound within one channel or stream of poetry with always the same images and ideas ...
... e Here is what she said to the disciple: Nirod is reading out to me his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, and it contains all the things (it's amusing), the things I said long, long afterwards, and I didn't know that he had written them!—exactly the same thing. I was very much interested. In this correspondence, he told Nirod in a letter 1 (he said it several times): "I may take... capable—he repeated it. But it is difficult. I told you so the other day. Food, especially, is ... it has become a labour. January 19, 1972 Have you read the whole "Correspondence with Nirod"? I am translating it as I go along, so I haven't read the whole thing. There are extraordinary things in there. He seems to be joking all the time but ... it's extraordinary. You see, I... to 1950. I thought I knew him well, and then when I hear this, I realise that ... ( Mother makes a gesture as if to indicate a breaking of bounds. ) February 16, 1972 According to what Nirod is reading out to me now of his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, it seems to have been the same thing for Sri Aurobindo. Because, according to what he wrote (you will see when you read it), I am always ...
... of my intended partner! Mark you, it was done with my left foot. I was so happy. Football fans are here. If you had seen my kick, you would have surely taken me on your shoulders: "Haan baba, 52 Nirod-da!" you would have said. But I think ladies don't like football very much. 50Nirod-da is referring to Sri Aurobindo rhetorically. 51"Ode: Intimations of Immortality" from Recollections... then," I said and took up the case. I saw that his case wasn't very serious. The fever was only 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cause seemed something minor. The patient began to improve, but 53 Nirod-da is playing on the meaning of the student's name in the vernacular: 'Kokila means cuckoo. Page 29 the fever persisted - not a high fever at all, just 99 degrees. But it continued... us could go together. So these were some of the facts, indisputable because they are proved by experience, which are telling me all the while, dinning into my ears - deaf ears, "Have faith, Nirod, have faith, a little more faith." The help is nevertheless there, only we don't notice it. Then I come to the poem which I promised to read to you, on Sri Krishna. Sri Aurobindo said it was ...
... was and still is, though covered with poverty and other problems. At the beginning, as I was entering the playground, there was a light drizzle. I met Pranab at the gate, and he said, "Namashkar, Nirod-da." Somehow he has taken a very venerating attitude towards me! (Laughter) Then he told me, "It doesn't matter if it rains today, tomorrow we will screen the movie once again." This comment seemed... of Sri Krishna and Radha and other gopis, 127 etc., 123Bhima was one of the five Pandava brothers in the epic Mahabharata. He was a brave warrior and physically a very strong man. Here Nirod-da is comparing Pranab to Bhima because Ptanab was also physically very strong. 124Mace-bearer. 125Mace. 126Spinning metal disc with serrated edge: the mighty weapon or Lord Krishna... nature, even of the body. It is not an escape into God's ocean of Sat-chit-ananda, but the very divinization of matter itself. 131Master of simplicity; another name for Lord Shiva. 132As Nirod-da clarifies in the next talk, dated 13 August 1969, this was a conversation Page 88 there because you don't expect me to remember everything that I heard and said. Even as I was ...
... write well—If even Homer nods, Nirod can often doze—that's no reason for getting morally bilious Once I asked you to give some advice as regards the treatment of a patient, you replied: "... I have no medico in me, not even a latent medico." [1.4.35] Of course not. If it were there, I would develop it and run the Dispensary myself. What would be the need of a Nirod or Becharlal or Ramchandra?... bothered. Over the rest I am still cogitating. Can your letter on Force be read out to a limited few? Yes, but only a few. No copies. April 11, 1937 Guru, another wire from Chand! "Nirod Asram Pondicherry Biswanath asks look arya Correspondence Tomorrow blessings." If you understand what he means, please give an answer, if any! You can wire to him that it is not sanctioned. Nolini... the Supramental. If I tried to explain about the Supramental, it would be all UP with the Supramental. The rest of the lives of the sadhalcs would be spent in discussing the supramental and how near Nirod or Nishikanta or Anilbaran was to the Supramental and whether this was supramental or that was supramental or whether it was supramental to drink tea or not etc., etc. and there would be no more chance ...
... interrupted, and I said as usual, "I'll get up." Then, a nice, beautiful sweet nap -I was caught in its net. And, suddenly, I heard a very sweet voice, not the thundering one, calling: "Nirod-da!"Hello!" I said. Nirod-da?! Whose is this tempting voice ? I had forgotten all about time and space. I was wondering whose this sweet voice, so familiar, could be. I looked at the watch that I keep by my side... give, in as simple a manner and as few words as possible, an explanation of his Theory of Relativity. Einstein paused, then said something to this effect: Two friends, a golden lad and a golden lass [Nirod-da comments: These last few words are my colourings], were sitting on the bank of a river, talking and laughing and chatting away. They were so engrossed and absorbed in each other that the golden... some laziness, some inertia, some unwillingness comes in, and finding some excuse, some justification, I think of skipping the work, and then I get a vision of the Samadhi, or some sweet call - "Nirod-da!" - that's a new feature! (Laughter) So then I was reconciled to do as much work as I could. Next, I thought that, at least on the Darshan day, I might not, indeed, I need not go, because ...
... him: "Sri Aurobindo has fallen down. Go and fetch Dr. Manilal'' From faraway Gujarat, Or. Manilal had come for the Darshan, and he was now awakened, and he hurried to Sri Aurobindo's room. Nirod and the other Ashram doctors too were called. This was what had happened: as he was walking from his sitting-room to the bathroom, Sri Aurobindo had stumbled over a tiger-skin on the floor and... get up, and lay quietly. But reacting to the strong vibration in her sleep, the Mother awoke and rushed to the place, took in at a glance what had happened, and rang the emergency bell. As Nirod recapitulates the scene: The Mother was sitting by Sri Aurobindo's side, fanning him gently. I could not believe what I saw: on the one hand Sri Aurobindo lying helplessly, on the other,... Mahakali's wrath." The Mother knew that not the doctors, but Sri Aurobindo alone could initiate the process of cure. And so she "prostrated herself on the floor before Sri Aurobindo," writes Nirod, "and, I believe, began to pray to him. From this supplication I could realise the gravity of the situation .... Calm and solemn, Sri Aurobindo heard the silent prayer. "13 The pulse of recovery ...
... by you and Dilip's note. The obstinacy of insomnia and the resulting physical depression is very troubling, it ought not to persist or return obstinately like that. Have you any objection to telling Nirod of the duration and signs of the insomnia, Page 25 (nervous spasms, restlessness, yesterday's weakness and giddiness etc.)? I should like to make certain whether It is only nervous or... especially for strength and quiet in the nerves and quiet in the mind so that there maybe sleep. I shall continue till the sleep and quiet come, try to be quietly open and receive. 5.4.35 Nirod has as yet written nothing, he is waiting, I suppose, for the urine examination he wants to make. We can say nothing until he writes. We do not ourselves like any body being under medical treatment... or cause any complications. But I am sorry that all this trouble should cut across the hopeful physical amelioration that had begun. I hope we shall be able to put things right again without delay. Nirod has given his report and it does not seem to disclose anything serious. 27.4.35 You must do as you feel. If you get the impulse to go or to say anything, we shall not disapprove. There ...
... 1950-10-08 There was an understanding between Nirod and myself that one of us would always remain near Sri Aurobindo at night. One night I was not in the room. Sri Aurobindo asked Nirod: “Champaklal is not there? I cannot sleep.” N: “He is there on the terrace. Shall I call him?” Sri Aurobindo: “Yes.” This conversation was reported to me by Nirod later. When I came in, Sri Aurobindo showed... why I could not sleep.” I rubbed the ointment from 1.32 to 1.52 a.m. This has been happening every night these days. Only because it must have been indispensable did Sri Aurobindo say “Yes” when Nirod asked “Shall I call him?” ...
... sweet comment, "To be a logician, sir, is not easy." Dilip who was another recipient of Sri Aurobindo's munificence remarked, "To Nirod he would constantly assume a tone he never once assumed with me. And yet he was talking to me as to a 'friend and a son' and to Nirod like a comrade whom he almost invited to give him as much as he got." The modern age has produced a modern Guru who could deal with... already had a foretaste. The matter is also of no less importance, but it gains an extra interest and novelty from this quality. About Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo , the Mother said, "Thanks to Nirod, we have a revelation of an altogether unknown side of what Sri Aurobindo was." Similarly we can claim about this book that another latent side of the Master's personality has been revealed to us. In... answer was, "For any mental plummet. It is not the mind that can discover these things." One or two points are there in the Correspondence at which some readers may raise their eyebrows. "Why has Nirod revealed the inner story of the Ashram?" they may ask. My intention is clear. For one thing, I wanted to show what kind of stuff we were that Mother and Sri Aurobindo had to fashion into a new race ...
... first contact with her. On the contrary there was always, even in the midst of sweetness which must have been necessary for my inner growth, a certain distance. On the first or second day, she said, "Nirod, take care of Champaklal’s health." Besides this, our meeting was mostly a soul-to-soul communication. On the third day, I believe, I told the Mother, "Now that Champaklal is quite strong, I need not... saying, "Perhaps you don’t yet know that tomorrow is my birthday. Sudha dreamt that you were asking me what I wanted. Well, I pray for something that I will never forget in my life. with pranams Nirod The Mother replied, "I knew your birthday is tomorrow and put you on my list. Come at about 9 a.m. You ask for something you will never forget. What about "trust in the Divine?".... with... when I went to her, she gave me a splendid folder prepared by our Master of cards - Champaklal - in which with her beautiful handwriting Page 124 she wrote in French: "Bonne Fête à Nirod, avec ma tendresse et mes bénédictions pour une confiance totale dans Ie Divin." 10 At the beginning of 1970, I wrote to her in a certain context, "Please think of me now and then." She underlined ...
... unintelligent faith. E.g. You see Nirod and believe he is Nirod, — that is unintelligent faith. If you doubt and say he might be Narbheram or Khirod or Hitler and discuss all the possible arguments for or against his being Nirod, Narbheram, Khirod and Hitler till the whole subject is exhausted until you come to the conclusion either that he is Nirod or that he is Hitler and believe in your ...
... as Barin used to say, 'terribly beautiful'! It was as though Mother Lakshmi herself had come down on earth. In Rangpur, she was known as 'the Rose of Rangpur'. The sari is so very graceful, though Nirod might not agree." The children turned to smile at me, as if saying, "There he is, trying hard not to smile!" "Someone told me that nowadays our girls wear skirts or punjabi instead of saris?"... does not take any exercise. Here is the doctor, ask him." "Who? Nirodda? He does a lot of exercise. And Nolinida runs even at this age." Page 35 "Oh, he was always a footballer, whereas Nirod is a doctor, and values the importance of the body. He has also seen for himself how much the English loved games and sports - something for which both Oxford and Cambridge are famed at present." ... absolutely true. Now for your next question. It is not that we cannot lighten your burden of pain and misery; in fact, we do it and I am sure some of you must have experienced this often enough. Ask Nirod how much easier things have been made for you children. Since we are your Gurus, we are bound to help you. But if you demand that we clear your paths in a moment and lead you to the divine realisation ...
... smile in return and the light went off. A night lamp was kept burning. Then we too would retire, sleeping in the same room. Once I had a frightful nightmare and screamed. Sri Aurobindo called me, "Nirod! Nirod!" and I woke up. Very often, Purani said, when he came he found me snoring. Champaklal amended, saying, "No, he snores even long before!" "That is perhaps in anticipation of Purani's arrival!" added... saying, apropos of nothing, "I was seeing how Nishikanto was." At that time Nishikanto was not keeping well. I shall not speculate further on this intricate problem, lest I hear his taunting voice, "Nirod is weaving his romantic fancy!" How he was performing all these operations is beyond my grey matter! There were occasions, though rare, when we had to intrude upon his strict privacy. An urgent call... that the Mother "considered necessary for him to know". Once I was sitting absorbed in meditation in front of Sri Aurobindo when the Mother entered. Perhaps she waited for a while, then he called, "Nirod, Mother has come." I opened my eyes and saw that she was waiting with a gracious smile. I simply rushed out abashed! The Meetings lasted from 15 minutes to an hour, at the most; and when the Mother ...
... intellectual arguments, he would outmanoeuvre me with my own weapons. It was because he allowed us such liberties that we could go on treating him almost as our equal in stature — so much so that Nirod (who later became one of his personal attendants) often ran full tilt into him whenever his daemon impelled him. I will give here just one or two examples. "0 Guru", he once wrote in 1935, "I observe... reason why many Yogis make it a rule never to speak of their experiences. But latterly it had altogether ceased to be like that. So why are you starting that curious stunt all over again?" But Nirod was nothing if not dauntless. "I recall an incident of my childhood days", he wrote back. "I was dining with my father when I was called out. 'Papa', I said to him warningly, 'take care, you mustn't... hangman's rope was in the offing; who, a week before he passed Page 31 away, had smiled affectionately when an attendant, a disciple wanted to call in a doctor. "Where did you go, Nirod?" he asked when the other returned. 'To fetch the doctor," he answered apologetically. "Doctor? What for? Have you lost your head?" Yes, such was he: moving through life even as a "squanderer ...
... moment do not endure—in the end a wise and fair estimate is formed and survives the changes of time." 15. Dilip was teaching poetics to a group among whom were Nirod, his niece Jyotirmayi, Sahana and others. In a letter (21 March 1934) to Nirod, Sri Aurobindo touched on the subject. "Your poems are well enough—but for both J and yourself, what has to be seen is whether it comes to something original... heads of the Ashram's various departments used to report their day's work in notebooks to Mother and Sri Aurobindo. At the same time they also presented their work problems or problems of sadhana. Nirod, for example, used to send three notebooks: personal, literary and, as he was the resident doctor, medical. 9. We don't really know what happened. But, in fact, Sri Aurobindo often refers to... World War I and settled in the Ashram in December 1930. Page 398 94. Rani was Bejoy Nag's wife. She was a very sweet and quiet person. 95. 'Here is what Sri Aurobindo wrote to Nirod: "The question was whether new faculties not at all manifested in the personality up to now in this life could appear, even suddenly appear, by force of Yoga. (...) What a wonderful argument! Since ...
... Dasgupta) entitles you to tell Nirod to think of a supplementary comment on what was to be concluded from his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo on April 11, 1937 -namely, that physical transformation would not be possible except in the physical presence of himself and the Mother -that is, under the direct bodily guidance by the Gurus of the Integral Yoga. You are asking Nirod: "Could something new have... n of" her September 1973 decision to withdraw, as reported by her son Andre - leave things more open than before?" I am inclined to think that you are mistaken in putting this question to Nirod - mistaken because of two reasons. First, the Mother's decision to leave her body was taken nearly two and a half years after the talk with M; so it is not proper to see any relation between it and... would arise? To my mind, when everything is properly probed, the passages you have cited do not alter the situation envisaged in Nirod's correspondence. I am showing this tetter to Nirod before posting it. (26.4.1992) I am glad that you have been moving further and further on the razor's edge which is the traditional description of the path of Yoga. Your steady eye ...
... 27 November 1969 [A talk given to the students of Mother's School, Delhi, during their visit to the Ashram. Kireet bhai first introduced Nirod-da.] I'll tell you a few words about Nirod-da. He came to the Ashram several decades ago. When he came back from England, he returned with a medical degree. But he turned to poetry under Sri Aurobindo's guidance.... and also of Nirod-da, then you'll be extremely delighted to read these two books. Actually, he can speak to you on many things - particularly of his contact with Sri Aurobindo; but I have made a special request to him to tell you something of his correspondence, because you will find therein some taste which is not only of the mind, but also of the soul. *** [Nirod-da begins his ...
... instruments, and the supramental action from the Truth-Consciousness. DR. MANILAL: There may be sadhaks here who act from the spiritual consciousness. SRI AUROBINDO: Who? Nirod? (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: Yes, Nirod and Anilbaran, etc. (Laughter) PURANI: What Ramakrishna and others did came at most from the intuitive consciousness. They were open to that plane and got inspiration for action... said to have a transformed nature? His actions and discourses don't seem to have been inspired from the human mind. SRI AUROBINDO: He used human reason and logic in his discourses. DR. MANILAL: Nirod won't agree that Buddha didn't have a transformed nature, being a Buddhist himself. He will take the side of Buddha. SRI AUROBINDO: Well? NIRODBARAN: I didn't say that Buddha was transformed.... asking like Arjuna in the Gita, "How does a liberated man walk or speak?" As I said, you have to be transformed yourself to know that. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL (laughing): That is what I too said to Nirod. That shows I have become transformed. SRI AUROBINDO: That doesn't show that. DR. MANILAL: Are we a help or hindrance, Sir, in your work? (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO (smiling): You are asking ...
... pas qa. You are illegitimately connecting two disconnected syllogisms. 1st syllogism - All poets are sex-gland-active, Nirod is a poet, therefore Nirod is sex-gland-active. 2nd syllogism - All sex-gland-actives are poets, Nirod is sex-gland-active, therefore Nirod is a poet. The second proposition does not follow from the first as you seem illogically to think. All poets may be sex ...
... before yesterday, the poem I sent up to you yesterday. I will only add that I have written another at 4 a.m. yesterday morning which I will send up to you when you will have read the one I gave Nirod yesterday. I want you to read this too only because it will supplement what I wrote in the first about the nature of the inspiration and fire I have received at your hands, not because I know /... Gramophone and radio is coming (Madras 22 nd , 23 rd Gramophone and 25 th radio). Bhisma sang beautifully last night. (...) [Incomplete] * June 29, 1943 I told so to Nirod – yesterday. People so often imagine – so why should not Cohayne imagine? But he doubted my doubts. Now I know that my doubts are more valid than his. But it is not to write about this... cost) yet he sends me nothing to be offered to you. Shall I speak to Nolini about it? You can speak to Nolini. As for the interview, I am afraid I may mention the answer sent through Nirod. Most of it is unpublishable at the present time and for a fairly long time to come; very little would escape from the [damner’s] pencil. There are many subjects on which I have carefully avoided ...
... Room of the Park Guest House and a wheelchaired Me being - as old-fashioned reporters would have put it - the cynosure of all eyes. My friends Nirodbaran and Deshpande had arranged the celebration. Nirod was asked to make an introductory speech and I had to follow up with one which might have gone on and on if I hadn't remembered that people might be waiting for nice things to fill their mouths as... ninetieth birthday that a laudatory hullaballoo would be more fit for the hundredth year. But nobody seemed confident about my hitting a century. No Ashramite had done it so far by way of encouragement. So Nirod and Deshpande couldn't cross their fingers and bide time. My grandfather bade adieu at the age of 99 years and 9 months. This record could be encouraging if we forgot that my father had taken leave... have exceeded it by 18 years. How much further is probable? A clue seems to come from a very early letter of Sri Aurobindo's whose facsimile is published in the souvenir volume presented to me by Nirod and Deshpande. The letter appears on pp. 7-8. At its end is the date in unmistakable figures: 28.2.98. Does this slip of the pen suggest that Sri Aurobindo foresaw me still alive in 1998? As the letter ...
... became friends immediately and went out for a stroll. I spoke to him about myself and he kept asking me what I was looking for in life. I said: "I am interested in a host of subjects" — as my friend Nirod has told you, though 1 am not a master in each as he has said, (laughter) Then the art-critic remarked: "Well, for a chap like you who is quite a complexity, a knot of many strings, there is only... physical took place in 1950. The other years in the same series are 1962, 1974, 1986 — and 1998! I went on writing to Sri Aurobindo, and all types of questions I used to put him, just as Nirod did, bombarding him with queries. Most of my questions were either philosophical or literary — because, though I had my own share of common difficulties, the real difficulty at the beginning was my... philosophical way, and I wrote out a short essay: Freewill in Sri Aurobindo's Vision. I had the sense that now I had stated something philosophically cogent. I sent my compact piece to Sri Aurobindo and Nirod read it out to him. The comment simply swept me off my feet. He said — well, I should not quote it in public, but now that we are at it, now that I have talked so much of myself, I might as well put ...
... "Also feeling — the solar plexus has to be satisfied. 6 In the forties it became Sri Aurobindo's habit — and more and more as the years passed—to dictate rather than write, the unfailing Nirod being the Vinayaka for this modem Vyasa. Savitri was now a major preoccupation with Sri Aurobindo, and once he dictated four to five hundred lines without a break, "whose beauty and flow," says... sweep of cosmic vision and their magical language." By 1950, it was as though a sense of urgency had seized even the unhurried imperturbable Sri Aurobindo. "I want to finish Savitri soon," he told Nirod, and the dictations continued as if there was now a race with time. Towards the end of 1950, Sri Aurobindo dictated the long second Canto (The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain) of The Book of... reason he went into complete seclusion and concentrated on his Yoga; and the writing of Savitri became one of the means — perhaps the principal means — of accomplishing his aim. As he once wrote to Nirod: ... I used Savitri means of ascension. I began with it on a certain mental level, each time I could reach a higher level I rewrote from that level... . In fact, Savitri has not been regarded ...
... printed edition which would become authoritative, the latter had reportedly said: “If Nirod approves.” This of course was much before his passing away in 1984; it could be about when the work was proposed to be taken up, in the late 1970s. But if everything is contained in that pregnant phrase of Nolini Kanta Gupta—“If Nirod approves”—then the suggestion that the Archival editing had the sanction of Nolini... among “these three men”, as is purported by the Archives, then what locus standi even for Nirodbaran? none, and none at all for Amal Kiran. According to Nolini Kanta Gupta’s purported statement—“If Nirod approves”—Amal Kiran does not come anywhere in the picture. In fact this whole business of “approval” becomes improper, in terms of principles it also becomes unauthorized, becomes unacceptable. And ...
... years must have been his own construction. A is complaining loudly of her stomach pains—can't even walk in her room etc. What are they? a little medical light, please. November 4, 1935 Nirod, I had forgotten to write to you last night that the Mother was sending Ambu to you. He said he would not be able to explain what was the matter with him, so we said we would write. He is constantly... the novel. added that since he had received an amende honorable , the matter tight be dropped and peace declared. J says X might write all about it. hope not! November 13, 1935 Nirod [ Underlined ] 14.11.35 Is the condition of S dangerous or critical? If it is so or if it becomes so, it will be better to send for a French doctor who will take the responsibility of the case... unhonoured and unsung! Never mind! Perhaps in heaven they will have a big address given them one mile long and signed by all the angels—cherubim and seraphim together. November 14, 1935 Nirod, [ Underlined. ] 15-11-35 As the Doctor has approved of R's treatment and S himself says he feels better under it, it is better to continue it. I expect you to put your medical feelings under ...
... When my friends from the past heard that I'd left them and come over to Pondicherry to do yoga, they fell down in shock. They thought that perhaps it was more possible to go to the moon than for Nirod to go to do yoga! (Laughter) I came in 1933; one year's bliss and happiness I enjoyed. Then I wrote to Him in 1935 [Reading from Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo (1955), 263-4]: ... of the Man of Sorrows l09 , in connection with me. But I was a cheerful fellow at school and college. So I am afraid he is a contribution, partly at least, of your Yoga. 109 Since Nirod-da was always complaining that he was not getting any results for his sadhana and lamenting about his incapacities and shortcomings in yoga, Sri Aurobindo used to call him the 'Man of Sorrows'... go there in an omnibus. (Laughter) So this is poetry. You see, I'm in a poetic mood. Poets love beauty and delight. Wherever there is no delight, no beauty, poets cannot be there, according to Nirod. I suppose you know that. I think it was the great poet Hafiz - ever heard his name ? He was a Sufi poet, Persian poet -who said that for the sake of the mole on the cheek of his beloved, he could ...
... I went into the next room and stretched myself in a long chair, still feeling rather dazed. Dr. Nirod appeared unexpectedly and said that the Master had sent him to ask me a particular question. The question was very unimportant, and yet such as could be answered by me alone in this place. I asked Nirod when Sri Aurobindo had given him the mandate. He replied, "Just about a quarter of an hour ago."... " Rightly did I bestow the name of Tyagarajan on him, that evening! Many stories have been told of Sri Aurobindo's wonderful memory in his old age - especially those that we have heard from Nirod in connection with his literary work. 230Sri Aurobindo is being addressed in this manner, because he was a born yogi and all the signs of renunciation were apparent in him. "Thyagarajan" is the ...
... of Education is a quarterly that carries news of the Ashram, the School and other items. Page 108 giving Him all the information about Auroville. So why shouldn't you believe poor Nirod-da having a talk like this? [Reading from Bulletin of SAICE of 15 August 1969, 83-85] May 31, 1969 The night before yesterday, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo... of the Darshan? About that experience you have not spoken as yet. You have kept us hanging." 159Glaxo was a company that made milk powder for babies - the expression implies jokingly that Nirod-da has to find material to spoon-feed his students with, for each of these talks. 160To kill two birds with one stone. Page 110 It is quite true. Let us come back then to the ... that I had been graciously given to see. And along with this, if the Lord descended with His supramental body, then what 'moja'! 164 (Laughter) Let me 163In the Darshan vision witnessed by Nirod-da. 164Fun, in Bengali. Page 113 read out the passage from here to those of you who have not read it and to others who have read it too. It's wonderful! [Reading from Bulletin ...
... DR. MANILAL: In an image form? SRI AUROBINDO: What is an image? Everything is an image. You are an image. Nirod is an image. DR. MANILAL: I mean could they be seen as concretely as, for instance, I see Nirod? SRI AUROBINDO: Shiva is as concrete to Vishnu as you are to Nirod. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: Were they seen with open eyes? SRI AUROBINDO: One can see with open or closed eyes ...
... in bed one day, and the ceiling-fan was revolving at full speed. Satyendra felt that he wanted something, so he approached the Master and asked, "Are you looking for something, Sir?" "Oh, no.... Is Nirod there?" "No, Sir. But can I do anything?" he asked. "I was wondering if the speed of the fan could be reduced," he replied. "I can do it, Sir." "Oh, can you?" he asked. Sri Aurobindo enquired about... child and joins us in a plot, when there is nothing to talk about, to draw out Sri Aurobindo who might himself be waiting for the occasion. The ball is set rolling by Purani reporting for instance, "Nirod says that his mind is getting dull and stupid!" On other occasions he starts serious discussions on modern painting, modern poetry, philosophy, politics, history, science and what not. There is hardly... Darshans we had before. "These were happy days for me. I chose the daily hour differently — sometimes when the Mother and others were with Him — sometimes when He would be dictating Savitri to Nirod. This was really a great thing for me and I treasure the memory very dearly. "Sri Aurobindo did not speak much or often but I heard Him on several subjects. He did not speak to me directly except ...
... carefully examined the manuscript and seen the poem through the press - thinks that perhaps Sri Aurobindo did complete the poem, though the "last pages have somehow got lost". 82 Both Purani and Nirod record a conversation with Sri Aurobindo on 3 January Page 638 1939 when the discussion was on the hexameter. Sri Aurobindo mentioned that it was one of his Cambridge contemporaries... in English by reading out a line from Arthur Hugh Clough - perhaps the line: "He like a god came leaving his ample Olympian chamber" - and this had led to the composition of llion at Pondicherry. Nirod records that Sri Aurobindo also recited four lines from the poem: One and unarmed in the car was the driver; grey was he, shrunken, Worn with his decades. To Pergama cinctured with strength... the call to arms, the partings, the synod of the gods, and the fateful death-grapple and the culminating catastrophe. Dawn rises over Ilion's "mysteried greatness" - * Purani says 'X and Y', Nirod refers explicitly to Amal and Arjava. Page 639 High over all that a nation had built and its love and its laughter, Lighting the last time highway and homestead, market and ...
... came later, not having known the earlier freedom of personal interviews with the Master and the open Evening Talks with him, had perhaps less reason to complain; and, besides, some of them - Sethna, Nirod and Dilip, for example - had the privilege of regular correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, not only on matters pertaining to Yoga, but also on art, literature and poetic composition, and even on matters... enriching and revealing moment for him. On one such occasion, in August 1934, Nirodbaran "felt a great dryness", instead of the expected Ananda, Force or Light. On the next Darshan, in November, Nirod thought that it was Shiva he was seeing, and felt Ananda too, Page 359 and "these happy impressions and recollections were with me vividly for 2 or 3 days. Then I found that all... all that consciousness has evaporated - and I have passed these days most passively, without any strong aspiration. But I marked that there was no depression." 7 On yet another occasion, while Nirod found Sri Aurobindo "grave and austere", he found the Mother smiling seraphically. 8 But a more vivid index to Nirod's opening and reception is his poem: A moment's touch - what founts of ...
... "What has happened in Nirod is a clear example of what is called 'reversal of consciousness'." The phrase employed means in general a sudden shift of an individual's habitual poise from the outer to the inner being and it signifies in particular, as it did in Nirod's case, such a shift from the mental-vital-physical complex to the true soul. I have known Nirod and held him in great affection... friendship full of laughter in spite of his mask of a "Man of Sorrows", as the Master had jocularly nicknamed him. But the sheer sadhak in me was gladdest to contemplate, and associate with, the new Nirod of that "reversal of consciousness". The sudden shift in one's being may not invariably be permanent from the start, there may be an unshifting once more for a while; but after it has come ...
... rushed forward to seize them. “A powerful current passed through my frame and the problem of the Mother’s personality was solved for ever” (as confessed by Dadoo later). The next day, Darshan day, Nirod-da met him and asked “What happened sir? Why did the Master say, ‘so Charu did bow down to the Mother!’ ” Dadoo had only this to say — that the Master had saved him. Then came “face-off” day (i.e. Darshan... took the book (old and brittle) up to the Mother and said “Ma Mère (Mother mine), Sri Aurobindo gave this book to me 40 years ago. I would like you to keep it.” A few days later after the Darshan, Nirod-da came to Dadoo with something, wrapped up, placed it in Dadoo’s hands — it was the Gita. He said, “I am repeating Sri Aurobindo’s words — “I gave you the Gita in 1906 and asked you to keep it. I give... most remarkable and fortunate nearness and camaraderie that Charu Dutt enjoyed with Sri Aurobindo. Sometime Sri Aurobindo had passed remarks, semi-humorous, cloaked in ambiguity, during talks with Nirod-da and others, about Charu Dutt being “imaginative” and “inventive”. Charu Dutt speaks of a faculty he had even before coming to Pondicherry. This was a power to look inside his body and see his ...
... voice, but Nirod said, “It is not necessary to go to Madras just for this. There is nothing wrong with your voice.” Nonetheless I persisted. Then Nirod said that he and Dr. Bose would accompany me. I said it was not necessary. He insisted on coming as he felt it was his duty. He said, “Mother has asked us to look after you.” I firmly refused: “It is absolutely unnecessary.”....... Had Nirod and Bose ...
... Sri Aurobindo Ashram is Amal Kiran's friend of 70 years (and their friendship is still going strong!). Both Nirod and Amal were part of the "Poetry Department" of the Ashram of which Sri Aurobindo was the head! Both used poetry as a means of training their spiritual sensitivities. Whereas Nirod completed his well-deserved century last year (2003), Amal will do so on 25th November, this year. We have... have selected here some remarks of the former on the latter for this occasion. * * * The first selection is from a talk dated August 26, 1970. Introducing Amal to the audience Nirod says, "Well, he is our distinguished, ( Amal covers his ears -laughter ) renowned, celebrated Amal Kiran, poet, critic, philosopher, journalist, historian, etc., etc., whom I am sure, you have ...
... expression was wonderful, remarkable. They were at their best and they passed one by one with the expression of a joyful contentment on their faces, as if they had obtained what they had wanted. Nirod was there standing at one end. He did not move from his place but went on looking at the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. He was indrawn and his face was very expressive. Half an hour passed; still he did... place. Those who had finished going to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were standing and watching what was going on, and were very happy because they got more time to remain with them. All of a sudden Nirod took a piece of paper in his hand and, standing where he was, began to write something. He wrote a paragraph and showed it to me. I was surprised to see his handwriting exactly like Sri Aurobindo's... he had written, but failed. I saw this dream on the same night of 2.9.76 when I saw the “Wonderful Dream” which has been published in the Mother India of November 24 last year. I had given Nirod my accounts of both these dreams but he took no interest in the second dream. So I put aside my account of it. But when I saw in our playground programme of last 21st February each group saying its ...
... could shorten the conversation. I wished to find out why this was happening. I wanted a specialist in Madras could check my voice, but Nirod said, “It is not necessary to go to Madras just for this. There is nothing wrong with your voice.” Nonetheless I persisted. Then Nirod said that he and Dr. Bose would accompany me. I said it was not necessary. He insisted on coming as he felt it was his duty. He said... assisted him in his daily work, as my escort. Puru took very good care of me. We returned on the same day, after consulting the doctor. This was the first occasion when I went out of Pondicherry. Had Nirod and Bose accompanied me, some ashramites without ascertaining the facts would have concluded that the case must be serious since two doctors had accompanied me. The specialist in Madras had said, “There ...
... Anil-kumar. Suddenly we hear the sound of running footsteps. We all look. It is a breathless Nirod-da, bounding up the stairs. He is warmly welcomed. "Here, Dilipda" he says and puts his letter in Dilipda's extended hand. He too has been visited by Sri Aurobindo's Postman. While others are reading the letter, Nirod-da does justice to the tea. Then an animated conversation breaks out. I listen uncomprehendingly... Sri Aurobindo to Dilip - Volume II DILIP-DA Sri Aurobindo, I heard, once said to Nirod-da that Dilip was among the four or five really beautiful men he had ever seen. When I first saw him, though Father's senior and nearing forty, Dilip-da was quite handsome. But more than anything else, what left a lasting impression in my nine-year-old ...
... physical feeling will begin to lose its last holds and finally they will be too feeble to cause any trouble. * Page 131 April 26, 1944 (Sri Aurobindo had said to Nirod, “Dilip is immensely changed.” Dilipda asked in what way.) What I meant by the change was the great improvement in your mental and vital attitude and reactions to outward things and to... are both growing loyal to what I feel to be important, e.g. war, bhakti, aspiration for humility, etc. But Hiren does not listen. He is simply mad and his sympathies are still wrong, I have felt. Nirod agrees with me and wants me to tell him straight not to come but as I find it very difficult I make an appeal to you as a child should to his mother, confessing his weakness. Mother will... him? He would be always sitting on the snows of the Himalayas like Shiva. History describes him otherwise and he is usually charged with being too warm and sportive. Page 144 Nirod told the Mother about K. in my presence, but I did not catch everything. I understood that he wanted a one-storied house and would bring a doctor (or was that my subconscient’s imagination), etc ...
... reply in place of Nirod. He has read it and signed it as showing his approval. I am enclosing it with this letter of my own. Let me end by again appreciating your concern for me and by hinting that paradoxically this terrible-seeming accident at so advanced a stage of senescence (though luckily not of senility) has brought an unexpected inner boon. Reply in place of Nirod As... reasons, the whole problem on which you have dwelt has arisen: "Will it be realised by any of her children in the near future?" You have dwelt on it with two focal points in your letter to Nirod as well as in the letter to me. One is the question of postponement as declared by me. The other is whether anybody staying outside the Ashram and not in the intimate physical presence of our Gurus ...
... 1935 Enclosed is a long, perhaps too long controversy 68 . But the subject demands it. You may read it at one, two or three stretches. Please write an exhaustive reply, but in ink. Nirod. [ Underlined. ] On the back the rational and logical result of your arguments. I shall write certain irrational answers on your MS.—in ink. You have won all along the line. Who could resist such... puny endeavour. March 6, 1935 [Whatever correspondence on Avatarhood follows now, refers only to Sri Aurobindo's short reply of March 6, 1935 (see above, pp. 165-6) written on the chit: "Nirod... chimera—then?" or before.] You seem to attribute to me things which I never said, or is it my clumsy way of putting things? Probably that. But even then, you have put into my mouth exactly the... drop—but nothing startling or violent, please. Mother suggests camphor lotion, but she does not know the proportion and it must be light. I suppose you have no "codex"—book of ordinances? 21.3.35 Nirod You will have to go and see S—he is not quite well and also here is some difficulty about the hair over the place of the wound. Do what is necessary—but, by the way, don't auscult; it made them ...
... (the Supreme). Why, you are yourself the Supreme, aren't you? Soaham, tattwam asi Nirada, ঈশ্বর কোন বেটা, আমিই ঈশ্বর (Vivekananda) 151 আমি in this formula means not V but anyone, that is to say Nirod. Also vide Krishna Prem. So what's this stupefaction about, I should like to know? When everybody is the Supreme and of everybody it can be said that he is God, why should I alone as such stupefy you... (Tagore) "For this have I kept awake all night and done sadhana," or (Nishikanta) "I have endured mosquito-bites all over my body for this and it has come back without receiving your gracious look," or (Nirod) "Now I am bursting into tears of despair. I'll send it again at your door. You will kill me, 0 Guru, if you forget it this time!" 161 (শ্রী অরবিন্দ) 162 O must I groan and moan and scarify... self-effective. February 29, 1936 × In italic are two Sanskrit formulas—"He am I" and "That art Thou"—with "O Nirod" tagged to the latter. The Bengali is Swami Vivekananda's dictum: "Who is this person Ishwara—I am Ishwara." × ...
... shadow-reader who could by studying someone's shadow tell his past and present, etc. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, he can say everything! (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: Nirod says that by knowledge of the subliminal one can know everything. Isn't it so, Nirod? NIRODBARAN: No, no, I must read the chapter again. SRI AUROBINDO: What I have said in The Life Divine is that when you get into contact with the ... get into contact with a greater source of knowledge. But it is not all pure and correct knowledge because the subliminal is also mixed with Ignorance and it has many parts and depths. PURANI: What Nirod told me was something like this—by getting into the subliminal one can project into the physical whatever incident or event one comes in contact with. SRI AUROBINDO: That is too mechanical a way ...
... influence of Homer, Virgil and Tasso in his writings. DR. MANILAL: I asked Nirod if he was having experiences. He said, "No, my work is now in the physical." I asked, "What about mind and vital?" "Oh, all that is finished!" "So it will be Supermind next?" "Yes," Nirod replied. (Laughter) (After some time) Nirod, how is your poetry getting on? SRI AUROBINDO: He has finished his mental and ...
... possibly clear his sense of uneasiness. I immediately took the letter to respected Nirod-da (Sri Aurobindo's literary secretary and the celebrated author of Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo) and read it out to him. I asked Nirod-da whether he would like to see P-da and explain the true situation to him. Nirod-da replied that he had already met P-da and asked me to write something to him. ...
... There was only one other with whom he was equally free: Nirod. But when he sparred with his doctor disciple, assuredly quite another side of his nature found expression albeit I find it difficult to label. For he was nothing if not incalculable. All the same, I may not be far out if I say that what expressed itself through his letters to Nirod was his love of raillery oscillating between a Shavian ... Sri Aurobindo's case, served as this "auspicious condition": was the presence of a small group of highly appreciative listeners (readers) of cultivated literary taste like Amal Kiran, Dilip Kumar and Nirod-baran. Otherwise, the general turn of Sri Aurobindo's writings is, in the main, quite serious and sublime in character, totally devoid of any humorous undertone. And the corpus of Sri Aurobindo's ...
... etc. of a bloodcurdling character. We must allow for S's vivid literary style. But I send you the document as you are in medical charge. [A note from the Mother in the morning:] 9-10-36 Nirod T is anxious about her health and wishes to be radiographed. Will you take her to the hospital for the purpose? [Evening] Got your note [regarding T], just a little too late! Now I am afraid... ought to be treated at once—but these women always hold back and don't want to go. [The following 3 reports were written by Dr. Becharlal.] T passed blood in the urine... I pray my Mother, to grant Nirod and myself general sanction to treat T with every change of drug etc. and see the case. You can certainly have full sanction to treat according to discretion and do all that is needful. T says... direction, if you see any possibility. As an experiment? All right. I hope my defective style won't come in as a hostile force, against future poetic development. I suppose it won't. Nirod I forward you two pages of a letter from M. Will you and Becharlal at once find somebody to replace M in the attendance on T? M is evidently not meant to be there. I don't want him to see the ghost ...
... darshan. At about 10 a.m. Terrace darshan. After that there was Staircase darshan. At about 12 noon there was Children's darshan. Then for some time we had Vegetable darshan, when she came down near Nirod-da's room to see the vegetable products of the Ashram-farms which were kept in the courtyard in front of staircase. There was even that Cow darshan on Sundays at about 3 p.m. when she came to the... dress and we shall carry her quietly, carefully downstairs and lay her in the Meditation Hall. After some time we shall call people." He agreed to our proposal. We came down, Dyuman-bhai, Bula-da, Nirod-da, Kumud and myself and arranged the place with the bed there as you saw. At about 2 o'clock we brought Mother's body down, placed her on the bed, arranged everything. Then I went out, called Mona... some kind of statement that would go to the Press and to All India Radio so that no wrong information might go out as it had happened some time back. Our draft of the statement we got corrected by Nirod-da and gave it to Udar to circulate. At 4:15 in the morning we opened the gate of the Ashram for people to come in and have a last Darshan. You know everything that happened afterwards. The next ...
... words you find not only the flow of seriousness and profound experience and erudition but also a cascade of glowing pearls of joy and laughter. I cannot help giving you two instances of this. In Nirod-da’s Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo I read about a most hilarious incident. One day Sri Aurobindo said a little mysteriously to his attendants: “The subject is whether the measure of help is much... long hair became all matted. When after three months he could sit up again his matted hair could finally be unloosened. Shiva’s attendants began unknotting Shiva’s matted locks. Champaklal-ji and Nirod-da courageously attempted this arduous task. These two heroes then (who themselves did not boast of a great amount of hair on their heads) got down to business. After about an hour of struggling... he said softly in his quiet voice: “You’ve left a few hairs on my head, I hope!” No one could hold his laughter. I can picture this clearly. Sri Aurobindo sitting quietly like a good boy while Nirod-da and Champaklal-ji valiantly struggled to unknot his hair. What can be more amusing than this? These two incidents reveal how close and friendly Sri Aurobindo was with them. ...
... Nirod, quoting the Bengali book: "If married life is an obstacle to spirituality, then they might as well not marry." Sri Aurobindo: "No doubt. But then when they marry, there is not an omniscient ass like this biographer to tell them that they were going to be dharma guru or dharma pagal or in any way concerned with any other dharma than the biographer's." Nirod: "So according... she were his daughter. We conclude with a letter (27 April 1936) of Nirod's and Sri Aurobindo's answers that may shed some light on a point which some people seem to find 'puzzling.' . Nirod: "Somebody writing the biography of Confucius in Bengali says: 'Why do the Dharmagurus marry, we can't understand. ...' He goes on: 'Sri Aurobindo, though not Dharmaguru, has done it too, and can be ...
... many appreciate when I have explained it to them—but otherwise they admire the beauty of individual phrases without grasping the many-sided whole the phrases form. This morning Premanand, Vijayrai and Nirod read my Agni. None of them caught the precise relevances, the significant connections of the words and phrases of the opening lines: Not from the day but from the night he's born, Night with... their minds are sufficiently subtle and plastic to enter into all kinds of poetic vision and expression. Premanand and Vijayrai have no such training; it is natural that they should find it difficult. Nirod ought to understand, but he would have to ponder and take some trouble before he got it; night with her labour of dream, the stars, the bird-winging, the bird-voices, the secret dawn are indeed familiar ...
... exhibitions and troop off to other places? We shall have to build in the future—what then shall we do if the Goddess of Architecture turns severely and says, "I am an inferior Power, am I? Go and ask your Nirod to build your house with his beloved music!" Your test of precedence—universal appeal—is all wrong. I don't know that it is true, in the first place. Some kind of sound called music appeals to everybody... surrounded by three triangles, Page 679 below them a chaos of rhomboids and at the bottom two table castors to represent your feet and he will put underneath this powerful design, "Portrait of Nirod". Perhaps your soul will leap up in answer to its direct appeal and recognise at once the truth behind the object, behind your vanished physical self,—you will greet your psychic being or your Atman ...
... Mother, and the corresponding color. 1 A little later. Nirod is reading me his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo. Strangely enough, there are all sorts of things that I said much, much later, I had no idea he had written them! Exactly the same things. I found that very interesting. In the correspondence, he tells Nirod in one of his letters (he repeated it several times), "I may take ...
... appreciate when I have explained it to them—but otherwise they admire the beauty of individual phrases without grasping the many-sided whole the phrases form. This morning Premanand, Vijayarai and Nirod read my Agni. None of them caught the precise relevances, the significant connections of the words and phrases of the opening five lines. In the rest of the poem too they failed, now and... minds are sufficiently subtle and plastic to enter into all kinds of poetic vision and expression. Premanand and Vijayarai have no such training; it is natural that they should find it difficult. Nirod ought to understand, but he would have to ponder and take some trouble before he got it; night with her labour of dream, the stars, the bird-winging, the bird-voices, the secret dawn are indeed familiar ...
... heard before. I have had the grace of hearing Sri Aurobindo playing a flute in my dream, several times, but this was such a marvellous and elevating tune and with a voice accompanying it. I could hear Nirod also reciting Savitri along with Him. I became very quiet. My whole body became extremely peaceful. I wanted to go and listen to this enchanting voice and music. It was coming from the 'long passage'... Aurobindo's I room, he enquired, “What is the matter? You dreamt of something or what?” I found nothing there and realised that it was all a dream! But it was so concrete and living! I did not answer Nirod. I was not in a condition to say anything at that time. I quietly returned to my bed in Sri Aurobindo's room. ...
... stroking his hair which he always liked. Nirod and Champaklal sat by the side of the bed and caressed his feet. We were all quietly watching him. We now knew that anything might happen, any time … I perceived a slight quiver in his body, almost imperceptible. He drew up his arms and put them on his chest, one overlapping the other – then all stopped … I told Nirod to go and fetch the Mother. It was 1.20 ...
... all — the undamned all who were there in the Ashram. Very soon after my coming Dilip Kumar Roy came with Sahana Devi. They came and settled down. And, soon after that, I saw the face of my friend Nirod. It was of course an unforgettable face, (laughter) I think he had come straight from England or via some place in Bengal, but he carried something of the air of England, (laughter) He had passed... most heartily." (laughter) Then of course he came out with it and carried the report to the Mother that Amal had received the news like a yogi! (laughter) To return to my friend Nirod — it was after some time that he got the dispensary. I don't know whether he wanted it, or liked it or not, but he established his reputation as the frowning physician, (laughter) People used to come ...
... appreciate when I have explained it to them—but otherwise they admire the beauty of individual phrases without grasping the many-sided whole the phrases form. This morning Premanand, Vijayarai and Nirod read my Agni. None of them caught the precise relevances, the significant connections of the words and phrases of the opening five lines. In the rest of the poem top they failed... mines are sufficiently subtle and plastic to enter into all kinds of poetic vision and expression. Premanand and Vijayarai have no such training; it is natural that they should find it difficult. Nirod ought to understand, but he would have to ponder and take some trouble before he got it; night with her labour of dream, the stars, the bird-winging, the bird-voices, the secret dawn are indeed familiar ...
... Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Medicine not Necessary 1949-08-08 Dr. Sanyal had brought some medicine for Nirod. When this was told to Mother, she asked in surprise: “For Nirod? He does not need it. He remains all the time here; so for him it is not necessary.” ...
... Sri Aurobindo used to sit on his bed leaning against the back-rest. On hearing the approach of Mother's car returning from the Playground, Nirod and I would adjust the back-rest and arrange things a little before Mother came in. Today I was not there and when Nirod started doing those things, Sri Aurobindo asked him: “What is the matter with Champaklal?” I was invariably present there, but somehow ...
... Aurobindo he asked me to request Sri Aurobindo to give him force. I asked Nirod what precisely I was to tell Sri Aurobindo. He said: “Tell Sri Aurobindo to give me special force because today is my final match. But tell this to him after my going.” As he was leaving, within his hearing distance, I told Sri Aurobindo: “Nirod wants you to give him more force because today is his tennis final.” Sri ...
... neck in order to place the chadder over his shoulders, then handed the chadder to Nirod who arranged it. Mother looked at me and smiled, then she pointed to the border of the cloth. I looked and found it had been placed with the wrong side up! I felt much ashamed because I myself had given the chadder to Nirod ready to be placed on Sri Aurobindo. And Mother had noted it! Mother allowed us ...
... the sky is cloudy now. Micawberism, par excellence! Sri Aurobindo: Nirod Micawber (Talukdar no more). That is a good idea. NB: Two poems by Nishikanta enclosed; one old and the other new. Sri Aurobindo: All right, I think. Rereading it, I find it tres joli. Congratulations to myself and Nishikanta with Nirod Talukdar in the middle. NB: I have no objection to being the trait-d'union ...
... exhibitions and troop off to other places? We shall have to build in the future—what then shall we do if the Goddess of Architecture turns severely and says, "I am an inferior Power, am I? Go and ask your Nirod to build your house with his beloved music!" Your test of precedence—universal appeal—is all wrong. I don't know that it is true, in the first place. Some kind of sound called music appeals to everybody... the top a clock surrounded by three triangles, below them a chaos of rhomboids and at the bottom two table castors to represent your feet and he will put underneath this powerful design, "Portrait of Nirod". Perhaps your soul will leap up in answer to its direct appeal and recognise at once the truth behind the object, behind your vanished physical self,—you will greet your psychic being or your Atman ...
... even the intellect of the intellectual man could have harboured or organised. Let us not bind the phenomena of the higher consciousness by the possibilities and probabilities of a lower plane. Nirod, 9-5-35 What is the use and limitations of mercury powder? Is it not an unsafe thing which may do harm as well as good? In what illness can it be safely or effectively applied? SRI AUROBINDO... language it is not, because no such thing has manifested as yet. As I have no recollection of this chapter, I can't say what it is or whether it can be heightened or perfected. May 15, 1935 Nirod I can't find your microscopic note, so I write separately. How do you hope to get a better being next time if you don't improve what you have in this life? How can you expect a better being to ...
... this condition. All right—shall try that also. June 2, 1936 You mean to say—"I am in Heaven. Everything is all right in the best of all possible worlds—in Sri Aurobindo Asram and with Nirod"! Quite so. All is well, if it ends well. But how to make you realise that I welcome the stillness etc.... but it's not always there. I quite realise. Don't make such Herculean efforts to... but I have tried to make the fellow trot slower instead of cantering—with no great result. [Dilip sent my Bengali poem: ālor pākhi (The Bird of Light) 9 to Sri Aurobindo, saying: O Guru, Nirod has written a fine poem—albeit in a rather sad vein. The word-music is beautiful, what? No change I found necessary. Last night's result—the moonlight, voyez-vous?] Nirod's poem is exceedingly ...
... of inertia, then and then only, the voice comes, sometimes sweet, sometimes thundering, sometimes very grave, and, at other times, very musical - the entire range! I can imitate the thunder: "Nirod!!!" (Laughter) I am used to that, but I cannot reproduce the sweet tone. So, here is an instance, ladies and gentlemen, a small one, which shows how the Force is so alert, so awake - as ... was walking across His room to the bathroom when He inadvertently stumbled over the tiger skin in the passage. His fall was heavy enough to cause a fracture to His leg. All the details are given in Nirod- da's book Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo. Page 72 sit up. He was reclining, so tea had to be given in a feeding cup. Can anyone drink tea from a feeding cup? Impossible! I was ...
... Vivekananda? There is only one Vivekananda as we have only one Pavitra-da, one Amritz-da, one Noimi-da." I will now read out to you some of my correspondence with Sri Aurobindo: 24 [Nirod-da:] Guru, what the deuce is "Brahman consciousness"? The same as cosmic consciousness ? Does one come to it after the psychic and spiritual transformations? Is it something like seeing Brahman... from Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, 1987, 991-2 (letter dated 12.7.37). Page 10 and nothing whatever lost. In fact, sir, you are Brahman and you are only pretending to be Nirod; when Nishikanta is translating Amal's poetry into Bengali, it is really Brahman translating Brahman's Brahman into Brahman. When Amal asks me what consciousness is, it is really Brahman asking Brahman ...
... Gandhi is having bad qualms about Congress corruption already. What will it be when purna Satyagraha reigns all over India? November 17, 1938 [A note from the Mother :] 18-11-38. Nirod Have no fear, it is not because of your feast that the pranam was stopped and I shall give you your interview tomorrow. with love and blessings. November 18, 1938 Guru, I am afraid... experienced it, Sir? Of course. Why on earth shouldn't delight be motionless? What kind of delight should the immutable Brahman have, for instance, if not an immobile delight? [Dilip's telegram:] "Nirod Asram pondicherry arriving tomorrow evening train Heldil". Guru, this is from Dilipda—Heidi! is not he, of course. But who is it then? Can your Supramental Intuition solve it? But mine has: it ...
... questions arise and temporarily block the way, and he is rather "agitated". What is agitating him, the mental question or the problem in a practical form? Anyhow I have tried to answer. 7-1-37 Nirod P has been recommended by Dr. Manilal to put two medicines for her eyes. Mother told her to go to the Dispensary, but she wants a letter of authority so that she may be attended to a little. So here's... the unintelligible. As you have now much to do with mystic poetry, it may be necessary. But why object to being pulverised? Once reduced to powder, think how useful you may be as a medicine, Pulv. Nirod. gr II. Anyhow disburden your soul of the weight. I am not owled yet, and my supramentalisation is going on too slowly to justify such apprehensions. Neither am I withdrawing, rather fitting myself ...
... mind by talking about other things. And as a result, she would come round. Many years later, towards the end of her life, one day Mother fell ill. And she remained unwell for a few days. Nirod-da too started worrying a little. One day, as I went to her at about noon as usual, I found her room full of people - Sujata, Noren Singh, Satprem, Champaklal, Dr. Sanyal, Kumud - they were... lunch and let her rest. Later by talking to her about other things, I managed to get Mother out of her downcast condition. By evening she was perfectly all right. I went down and informed Nirod-da about it. Towards the beginning of 1950 Mother had told me one day: "I've prepared a diary in which I have written down quite a few things for you. Of course I'm not saying that I am ...
... one's delusions. That is why we did not inform anyone of the imminent danger. About ten minutes before the grand end, he called me by my name from his indrawn state, inquired about the time and said, "Nirod, give me a drink." This was his deliberate last gesture. The quantity he drank was very small and there was no apparent need of calling me by name. Those last words still ring in my ears and remain... down. The Mother tenderly consoled and assured him, "How can I not love someone whom Sri Aurobindo loved? What do you think we are here for? Only to please Sri Aurobindo." He told me, "You don't know, Nirod, what I have lost." Amal Kiran too was not there. He had just left on the night of 3rd December for Bombay after meeting the Mother. He flew back as soon as he got the news. He was in the Ashram on ...
... in the Ashram, 581-2; on physical education and the Body Divine, 582; as Witness Spirit, 582; "minute-to-minute miracles", 587; on daman and pranam, 592ff; effect of darsan on disciples, 593-4; Nirod, Arjava, Themis on darsan, 5945; on a 'vacant' and a 'calm mind', 599; on suicide, 599-600; on care of material things and waste, 601; on need for food and sleep, 600-2; on susupti state, 602; on... Mukherjee (Mookherjee), Radhakumud, 223,248 Mukherjee, Satis Chandra, 218, 220, 229, 248 Mukherjee, Shyamaprasad, 763 Mukhopadhyaya, Pramathanath, 252-53 Mullik, Nirod, 219,243 Mullik, Subodh, 208, 218, 219,222 Munshi, K. M., 17,21,52,215,706-07,764 Muzzafferpore bomb action, 305ff, 387 Nag, Bejoy, 336, 370, 374ff, 377-78, 379ff ...
... 22 Page 376 The way doesn't matter; what is necessary is to find the Divine, and learn to see Him "in all things and everywhere". In a similar vein is Sri Aurobindo's letter to Nirod: The two feelings are both of them right - they indicate the two necessities of the sadhana. One is to go inward and open fully the connection between the psychic being and the outer nature. The... emptiness - dryness - moroseness: one thing or another interposes itself between the sadhak and the Divine. The Mother tells him that being sad or melancholy is no virtue. Sri Aurobindo too tells Nirod: "Cheerfulness is the salt of the sadhana. It is a thousand times better than gloominess." 28 The Mother likewise tells the sadhak that "The Divine is not sad and to realise the Divine you must ...
... completely disappeared when the floor was repaired. Later, when He was living in the main building of the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo used to walk in the passage of His room taking support of Champaklal-ji’s and Nirod-da’s shoulders. After His accident it had become impossible for Him to walk all by Himself. But He would still walk. It is important to keep the body healthy for sadhana. Some sort of exercise is i... The adults lost that match by 16 goals! Following this there was another match between the two groups and this time it was on the famous Cercle Sportif in town. This match ended in a goalless draw. Nirod-da scored a goal but it was nullified because of an offside. Kalyan-da, Rishabhchand-da, Kalikumar-da used to play beautifully. The other players were Udar, Bula-da, Rajen-da. Then football was started ...
... give it adequate financial and other support. All this was agreed to, and it was also decided to incorporate a Bande Mataram Company to raise the necessary finance. 5 In the meantime, Subodh and Nirod Mullick offered to keep the paper going, and Bepin Pal, enjoying as he did the support of C.R. Das and others, remained editor; but differences unfortunately developed between him and two of the... once to the Detective Police Office for surrendering himself. From there he was taken to Poddopukur Thana, but was soon released on bail. Two gentlemen. Prof. Girish Bose of Bangabasi College and Nirod Mullick of Wellington Square, stood surety for Sri Aurobindo. 39 Previous to the launching of this prosecution, Sri Aurobindo had confined himself to writing and holding the reins of leadership ...
... "He is at Baroda," replied Dutt. When the train stopped Hesh saw Dutt and shouted to him, "Dutt, do you know Ghosh?" All that was narrated to Sri Aurobindo by Nirod decades later. Sri Aurobindo was hugely amused. Nirod continued C. C. Page 216 Dutt's story. "Then Hesh introduced you. Dutt said to the Englishman: 'Here is Ghosh.' "'That?' the Englishman exclaimed in ...
... Everybody does not have Sri Aurobindo and Mother. People are generally in the hands of doctors. And even the best among them are liable to make mistakes. "My grandfather and cousin," wrote Sri Aurobindo to Nirod (24 December 35) "were patently killed by the medicines administered by one the most famous and successful allopathic doctors of Calcutta." But other systems of medicines than allopathy were known... they be? It is not a machinery— put a prayer in the slot and get your asking." In fact nothing is a 'machinery' in life. It is even less so in Yoga, as Sri Aurobindo said forcefully, this time to Nirod. "What happy-go-lucky fancy-web-spinning ignoramuses you all are. You speak of silence, consciousness, over mental, supramental, etc. as if they were so many electric buttons you have only to ...
... cond our, "because I lack the knowledge of the proper expressions, but that does not stand in the way of a keen and understanding appreciation. So, there you are: all things are possible in Yoga." To Nirod, who disputed the power of the Yoga-force, Sri Aurobindo retorted, "Why was it that I who never understood or cared for painting, suddenly in a single hour by an opening of vision got the eye to see... because I could not Page 192 fathom or follow, suddenly began writing pages of the stuff as soon as I started the Arya and am now reputed to be a great philosopher?" And drowning Nirod with a torrent of similar experiences Sri Aurobindo told him, "Kindly reflect a little and don't talk facile nonsense." Sri Aurobindo was rather disdainful of intellectuals. With reason of course ...
... had little difficulty in following the Sanskrit! Then Amal turns to Savitri: My work on Savitri is sporadic. Quite an amount of comment on certain books has been tape-recorded by Nirod or his helpers, who have been coming to talk poetry with me every Wednesday. But not all of it is in final shape. I have to do the editing - but where the hell is the time for it? When I was in Bombay... the letter as evidence, said of it, "dated 17th February 1907 - obviously a mistake for 1908." (Bijoy Krishna Bose, Ed., The Alipore Bomb Trial , Calcutta: Butterworth & Co. 1922 p. 157). Nirod was against giving any publicity to Mrinalini's letter. I don't think he realised that Sri Aurobindo's letter about being a puppet in God's hands followed it. I'll try to open his mind to the fact and ...
... silence, as we moved about the Ashram — it was as though they were pouring their very being into us like empty jars. This receiving from them is something that one is still conscious of today. I spoke to Nirod-da, one day, about this and he nodded and said very simply, “This was Mother’s work.” As though it was part of their work for the Mother to thus give of themselves to us. Such was the world we lived... very concrete manner. This grew to its fullness on the day of the darshan itself. Sri Aurobindo was seated on a couch in the first room where he lived and the Mother was to his right; to one side was Nirod-da. In front of them was a large wooden box into which, as disciples approached them, they laid their offerings of flowers and garlands of Tulsi leaves (“Devotion”). We went up in a file standing only ...
... in the air. A lion-shaped figure also was there before the reclining grand figure and that lion was expressing affection for him in various ways and even biting him with love. I, Kamalaben and Nirod were there, standing at a distance of about fifteen feet, observing very intently all that. Suddenly the lion's eyes turned towards Kamalaben and he moved towards us. I thought he was coming towards... movement. Then he went towards Kamalaben, moved both his hands on her whole body from all the four sides and then placed them on her head. Then bestowing upon her a beautiful smile, he passed over to Nirod and did to him all that he had done to Kamalaben. This had a marvellous effect on me and there are no words to describe it. The entire scene disappeared and my eyes opened. But for hours the effect ...
... 18 With a slight movement of the head he then gave her to understand that she should leave the room. About ten minutes later Sri Aurobindo asked Nirodbaran by name for something to drink: ‘ “Nirod, give me some drink.” This was his deliberate last gesture. The quantity he drank was very small and there was no apparent need of calling me by name. Those last words still ring in my ears and remain... writes Nirodbaran. ‘I perceived a light quiver in his body, almost imperceptible,’ remembers Sanyal. ‘He drew up his arms and put them on his chest, one overlapping the other — then all stopped … I told Nirod to go and fetch the Mother. It was 1.20 a.m. Almost immediately the Mother entered the room. She stood there, near the feet of Sri Aurobindo: her hair had been undressed and was flowing about her shoulders ...
... effort I had failed to find the way and it was for that I had asked to meet him. His first answer was, "It should be easy for you as you are a poet." But it was not from any point of view like that that Nirod put his question and it was not from that point of view that I gave my answer. It was about some special character-making virtue that he seemed to attribute to literature. 18 November 1936 Page... tamas and nervous troubles. 6 September 1934 There is no incompatibility between spirituality and creative activity—they can be united. Creative Activity Subordinate to One's Spiritual Life Nirod, Nolini and Sahana are all wrong in laying down a rule of that kind for my conduct. I do not base my action on mental rules which have to be applied to every case. It is a still greater error to suppose ...
... failures. About that poem, it is all my writing, Sir, and all rights reserved. These are glimpses of something turning up some day, even though the sky is cloudy now. Micawberism, par excellence! Nirod Micawber (Talukdar no more). That is a good idea. October 21, 1935 S is suffering from neuralgia, no doubt but 2ry to the joint trouble. [Underlining "2ry"]: This is worse than... ordinary consciousness. So long as you are only receiving all sorts of things from everywhere, you will have to be on the qui vive to see that you don't make a pseudo-intuitive fool of yourself. Nirod [ Underlined ] 28-10-35 M still complains of having fever after his evening meal. We should like to know whether it is real fever or only some heat and uneasiness in the body. There is cough still ...
... physical growth, does it follow that butter and eggs are the bases of the Brahman? If somebody has a stomachache and I send him to the dispensary, does it follow that a stomachache, the dispensary, Nirod and allopathic drugs are the perfect way to spiritualisation? Don't be an a—, I mean a Gandhilike logician! My poems are now getting less surrealistic and losing all charm of incomprehensibility... all medicines? Mother had said to me about the purgatives, not about medicines. Emetine for a child like that she would of course never sanction. [Between 2 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.] 31.3.37 Nirod In view of the nature of the illness of K's child and its development, I think we cannot take any longer the responsibility—if you think best, we can call in Dr. Valle who, I hear, has a child of ...
... treated. In my saner moments I have tried to look at it more rationally. That does not stand. Sometimes you might get nothing except perhaps an invisible stare; sometimes I might say "Now, look here, Nirod, don't make an immortal ass of yourself— that is not the transformation wanted." Still another time I might shout "Now! now! What the hell! what the blazes!" So it would depend on the occasion, not... match ; tomorrow is the finals! Can I go to see it if l can arrange the dispensary work with Rajangam? The Lord he knows. June 24, 1935 All rosy things and poetry have died and the old Nirod-self is the master of the field! Better turn it out again—it is not a place for it to graze in. June 27, 1935 I objected to J having talks and discussions with a friend in the Dispensary ...
... when I am serious, and when I am playful, when I am teasing, when I cover truth with truth like Narad before Aswapati's queen 149 - after all, there is not much difference between the two names, Nirod and Narad - question of a vowel or two. (Laughter) So if I tease you now and then, it is not at all out of malice. Teasing, rightly done, is a fine art. It is a sign of, if I may say so,... I couldn't give Sisir any precise detail, though I had worked out all that in meditation. Only here it will be this, there it will be that, etc. Then it somehow struck me that I'd rather - [Nirod-da suddenly sees Arindam-da. 153 in the audience] Hello, my friend: you are there! Good God! (Laughter) You came in like a thief! (Laughter) - So it struck me that I should write about it to ...
... CHAMPAKLAL: Why does one snore? SRI AUROBINDO: You mean why does the physical body snore? For that you have to ask a doctor. Ask Nirod. Why should others get disturbed by snoring? PURANI: One doesn't if one can get into the rhythm of the snoring. I disturb Nirod when he goes out of rhythm. SRI AUROBINDO: You mean when he doesn't snore but snorts—and goes from mental into Overmind rhythm or ...
... Laughter ) SATYENDRA: He does not seem to make much distinction between moral and spiritual force. SRI AUROBINDO: None at all. SATYENDRA: Nirod will bring down the Supermind to solve all the problems. SRI AUROBINDO: What is the prospect, Nirod? Is it near? NIRODBARAN: I will bring it down for Satyendra. SRI AUROBINDO ( laughing ): Instead of bringing down the Supermind it will be better ...
... passive movement the adhesions will break. SRI AUROBINDO: Do you think so? DR. RAO: Yes, Sir. You can guide Nirod to do it, if you can't do it yourself. It can be done for five minutes to start with, when the leg is in an extended position. SRI AUROBINDO: Explain all that to Nirod. NIRODBARAN: It is not the explanation but the sanction that is required. DR. RAO: Yes, you are right. ...
... don't want to take the money yourself, you can give it to the poor. Our collaboration will be a service to yourself, to me and to the poor.' What do you say, Purani? You too can go into trance or send Nirod into trance!" 25 Yes, Sri Aurobindo used to become somewhat expansive and indulge in humour during these times when he would put off his mantle of majesty and high impersonality and the ... transit. Even the Mother, in referring to these 'dialogues' between the Master and his beloved disciple, remarked to Satprem years later in 1972: "Have you read the whole 'Correspondence with Nirod'? There are extraordinary things in there. He seems to be joking all the time but ... it's extraordinary. "You see, I lived - how many years? Thirty years, I think, with Sri Aurobindo - thirty ...
... physical growth does it follow that butter and eggs are the bases of the Brahman? If somebody has a stomachache and I send him to the Dispensary, does it follow that stomach-ache, the Dispensary, Dr. Nirod and allopathic drugs are the perfect way to spiritualisation? Don't be an a I mean a ... logician! 97 [How sweet and sudden is this last line"!] Page 111 XXV. Humour out of... wait on the Gods and hope they won't increase the lipoma till it deserves a diploma for its size. An American skyscraper on the neck would be obviously inconvenient. 109 3.NB: (Dilip's telegram: Nirod Ashram, arriving tomorrow evening train. Heldil.) Guru, this is from Dilip - heldil is not he, of course. But what is it then? Can your Supramental Intuition solve? But mine has: it is H for Hashi, ...
... new. But no use asking what is the metre. N has only begun learning it. SRI AUROBINDO: All right, I think. Re-reading it, I find it très joli. Congratulations to myself and Nishikanta with Nirod Talukdar in the middle. MYSELF: Why bother about the metre, precise Englishness etc. ? They will come some day and in the meantime let him go on writing and learning by corrections, lessons... know? I wrote Page 53 what came as a metrical example and the roamer did not come in view. MYSELF: I hope you didn't intend to make me an April-fool. Otherwise Virgil and Nirod to be mentioned in the same pen-stroke ! Sri Aurobindo wrote in pencil: What a modest poet! Most think themselves the superior of Homer, Milton and Shakespeare all added together. MYSELF: ...
... critical times! In Champaklal Speaks there is a reference to an illness of mine that I had forgotten altogether. Dr. Sanyal had brought some instruments for me. The Mother asked in surprise, "For Nirod? He does not need them; he remains all the time here, so for him they are not necessary." This was in 1949 when I was attending on Sri Aurobindo. I think the reference was to my piles for which he... him to bring the necessary instruments and, that if the Mother agreed, I would undergo the operation. I was sleeping in the passage in front of Sri Aurobindo’s room. I heard someone calling out "Nirod" in a very sweet and melodious voice which was very distinct. I was startled out of my sleep and exclaimed, "Who is there? Who is calling?" Somebody was perhaps asking for help, I thought. I switched ...
... " That is what I see happening from day to day; that's a daily revelation for me. Still, my friends, this dog's tail of human nature still has some doubt. Again and again, I hear Him saying: "O Nirod of little faith!" Faith alone - to have faith and to be faithful, or the other way: to love the Divine, and love Him alone. Or you can love others, young friends, but love Him at the same time. But... concerned, we thought, with sending Divine Force to General José Miaja in Spain or with bringing down the Supramental Light, He says He was seeing instead "how Nishikanto was getting on"?! Nishikanto or Nirod or anybody else He loved was never far off from Him. Always, constantly, He had so much compassion for Nishikanto. Now then, to come back to the point we'd stopped at in our last class, we ...
... and spent the birthday in quiet remembrance of Her. When the Mother went back from the Playground to the Ashram at night, I would go and stand next to Nirod-da's room beside the door leading to the staircase, in order to have one final darshan of Her. On my birthday too, I went and stood there. A while later, Pavitra-da drove the Mother back to the Ashram... car, She went straight under the covered corridor to Debu's room (Debu is Pranab-da's brother) while all of us waited in a line. Then, She came out of Debu's room and headed for the staircase next to Nirod-da's room. I was standing right opposite the door opening to the staircase. When She came near the staircase Page 49 door, She looked at me and smiled, then got in, turned around and continued ...
... Mother's Chronicles - Book Four 26 Poets All "Have you written any stories?" asked a curious Nirod. "I have," replied Sri Aurobindo, "but they are all lost." He explained how it happened. "When there was the rumour that our house would be searched by the [Pondicherry] police, my trunk was sent off to David's 1 place. After some... of poems," Sri Aurobindo said more seriously. "One of them was a translation of Kalidasa's Meghaduta in terza rimas. It was rather well done." "Yes, indeed a pity," sympathized the poet in Nirod. "But the stories were nothing to speak of—except one. I can say something of this one because I have still two pages left of it. All my stories were occult." 1. David Rassendren. Some ...
... called in my help as assistant editor and I gave it. I called a private meeting of the Nationalist leaders in Calcutta and they agreed to take up the Bande Mataram as their party paper with Subodh and Nirod Mullick as the principal financial supporters. A company was projected and formed, but the paper was financed and kept up meanwhile by Subodh. Bepin Pal who was strongly supported by C. R. Das and others ...
... according to the following Departments. 1) Cash and Disbursements and general assistance to the Managing Director, especially in the matter of seeing that the books are regularly written up. NCM [Nirod Chandra Mullik] 2) Finance—i.e. Advertisements, Cash Sales, Subscriptions (V.P.P.) and generally whatever relates to the income of the paper. HPG [Hemendra Prasad Ghose] 3) Editorial—i.e. the ...
... and otherwise it is not much use. It is only for myself when I am alone and tired of other things that I want music. I really want to learn one instrument. I hope you will not forbid my asking Nirod or someone else for help. I don't think it will be very helpful to your sadhana; but if you want to ask, you can do so. 28 January 1933 Yesterday suddenly I felt a great desire or impulse ...
... Consequence", which the Mother fully approved and endorsed on three separate occasions. As for the accident to Sri Aurobindo on the night of 23 November 1938, he has himself said, as reported by Nirod-baran: "The hostile forces have tried many times to prevent things like the Darshan but I have succeeded in warding off all their attacks. At the time the accident to my leg happened, I was occupied ...
... Talks on Poetry A BACK-LOOK AT MACBETH I was not given a theme in advance. Nirod has just now said, "Talk about Macbeth — or, if you like, about the Sonnets. After all, it doesn't matter because it's the same genius who wrote the play and those poems." Perhaps he should have added, "It's the same non-genius who is going to talk." Well, as he has mentioned ...
... helped me the most. It comes from a very high and very universal inspiration, in the sense that it will remain new for a long time to come. ( silence ) Did you read all the "Correspondence with Nirod"? I'm translating it as I go along, so I haven't read it entirely yet. There are fabulous things in it. He seems to be constantly joking, but... it's fabulous. 1 How many years did I ...
... everything is fine. Ahh! But as soon as I touch material things... it's awful. There's no bridge between the inner life and Matter—none AT ALL, a complete chasm. ( after a silence ) From what Nirod is now reading me from his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, it seems to have been the same with Sri Aurobindo. From what he writes (you'll see when you read it), everything is always done by me. He ...
... June Mother’s Agenda 1972-1973 June 28, 1972 ( Mother first listens to some letters from Sri Aurobindo to Nirod, and in particular the following ones, which catch her attention and amuse her. ) Why not write something about the Supermind which these people find so difficult to understand? What's the use? How much ...
... him had been tampered with. Nolini Kanta Gupta, whom he used to consult, had passed away. To whom was he to make an appeal now? He prayed to the Mother to intervene and heard her answer: "Go to Nirod." I knew nothing of this imbroglio except that I had taken notice of the long list of apparent mistakes published in the Archives Journal. I had taken no further interest. Now as the sadhak ...
... laxer view of repetition than at one time. I have sent Premananda a list of the ten or eleven mistakes that have crept into the generally excellent printing of my huge article. Please ask Nirod to consult that list and enter the corrections in your copy. With love, AMAL Page 66 ...
... rub off led me on. Moreover did I think of a rarer part of him not much discussed or written about? I cannot say anything about his poetry. You could find out about that from Bengali literateurs like Nirod-da, Jugal-da etc. — or better still find out what our Master said of him. The part of him I speak about is not so well-known, more down to earth business, where we met and enjoyed each other’s close ...
... of what it was like to be in a coma. However, in the case of Sri Aurobindo, it was altogether a conscious coma. No ordinary person talks in a coma. At one point he asked in a firm and clear voice: “Nirod, what is the time?” Nirodbaran looked shocked, but replied, “Sir, it is one o’clock.” Sri Aurobindo said “I see” in a clear voice and then returned into the coma. Champaklal was massaging his feet. ...
... his wonderful life. I have been fortunately given the freedom to choose the aspect on which to write. Without that I would have been unable to write about such a multifaceted personality. He and Nirod, and some others are for me continuations of my two Gurus, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Without Amal I might not have been here at all, and definitely not what I am today, not much but better than ...
... body on 5th December 1950. At that time Sri Dilip Kumar, who consecrated everything at his Guru's feet, was shattered. He told Nirodbaran his Gurubhai in Bengali in a most pained and helpless voice - 'Nirod you do not know what I have lost.' After a few months he started writing how Sri Aurobindo came to him - uprooting him completely from his old moorings. In 1964, the second edition of this book was ...
... end of the wedge and figure as a devotee and so hope to put up a claim for entering the Ashram which would have been the end of Janaki Prasad. Page 47 I had explained through Nirod that it was impossible to allow her because of Janaki Prasad and why. I did not explain specially about the request for Pranam – that logically hangs on to the rest. She did not come here out of ...
... sturdy refusal to deify him as the others did so blindly. I cannot help but regret that ever so many in our Ashram insisted on thrusting on him the crown of Avatarhood even after he had written to Nirod (8.3.35): "Let me make it clear that in all I wrote I was not writing to prove that I am an Avatar! You are busy in your reasonings with the personal question; I am busy more with the general one. I ...
... yourself?" "Well, I have been turning out verses," he laughed, flushing ."But to be a poet — it's not nearly so easy, you know. I have to concentrate hard to produce a single poem." "Yes, Nirod told me about your British doggedness once, I think." "I mean to persevere," he answered, "the more as Sri Aurobindo has been kind enough to encourage me." "He always does," I agreed. "He has ...
... "waking" mind and accept only its links and its logic. Dream poetry is usually full of images, visions, symbols, phrases that seek to strike at things too deep for the ordinary means of expression. Nirod does not deliberately make his poems obscure, he writes what comes through from the source he has tapped and does not interfere with its flow by his own mental volition. In many modernist poets there ...
... literary gent’ and looked up to poets like Sethna, Roy, Sahana, Harin and Nishikanto. Unfortunately, he lacked even the most elementary literary talent. But Sri Aurobindo started working on him, and Nirod blossomed into a fine surrealist poet, yet without being aware in the least how he wrote what he wrote or what was the quality of his poetic products. His testimony, in Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo ...
... entered Tagore's "plane" of consciousness, the Gandharva world of magical rhythms, and felt at home in his creative activity. In waking life my contact with Bangla bani is very limited. From hearing Nirod and some others intersperse their English with mane, my logical mind deduced that this word meant "I Page 122 mean". By a leap of imagination I once thought I had discovered that the ...
... imposed on his literary disciples. When he is not there, I try my best to go by his light - in regard both to myself and to my friends. Do you know how finicky he made us by his own high demands, so that Nirod could become depressed if a poem of his was adjudged "Very good" or "Very fine" but missed being labelled as "Exceedingly good" or "Extremely fine"? Do you know that scores of things written by me have ...
... night of November 23, 1938, all correspondence with him was stopped except in the case of Dilip Kumar Roy and myself. We were allowed to keep writing to him up to the time he left his body. Through Nirod he replied to every letter from me and commented on whatever poetry or prose I sent him. Not only spiritual questions but also literary ones drew him out. The two longest letters I ever got from him ...
... situation of one's life. By and large, one should prefer to go by the guide in one's heart. When no guidance is found from there, one may seek the advice of whoever one trusts the most. What Nirod meant in his article by referring to the occult significance of physical problems affecting the older sadhaks - problems like my fall and femur-fracture and his own operation for an enlarged prostate ...
... had been installed. It was revolving at great speed. My colleague Satyendra was on duty; he felt Sri Aurobindo wanted something; he went and asked: "Sir, are you looking for something?" "Oh, no... Is Nirod there?" "No, Sir, he is not there." Sri Aurobindo would not say anything further, but Satyendra pressed: "Can I do anything?" "I was thinking if the speed of the fan could be reduced." "I can do it ...
... He said, "No, I will not go down to this mental level any more." But in Savitri's case... (I didn't look after it, you know), he had around him Purani, that Chinmayi, and... (what's his name?) Nirod—they all swarmed around him. So I didn't look after Savitri . I read Savitri two years ago, I had never read it before. And I am Page 82 so glad! Because I read it at the time I could ...
... right. A little later, about "Savitri" and the Debate of Love and Death: He said he wanted to redo all this passage, but he never did it. And when he was asked (I don't know if it was Nirod or Purani who asked him), he said, "No, later." And he knew very well that there was no "later." At the time he already knew it. "No, later." I don't know.... Satprem rises to leave: ...
... and even begin to be careless about them. Some amusement or other of the normal life may send its lure into the atmosphere of Ananda: this atmosphere may fail to hold us as it should. I know that Nirod has appreciated very keenly the hours he spent attending on Sri Aurobindo after the accident of 23 November 1938. Full well he benefited from the Master's spiritual closeness and poetic creativity ...
... the Mother, I realised that Sri Aurobindo could not see even at close quarters. Some people have come to believe he was completely blind. But from what Nirodbaran has told me, this is not true. Nirod described to me how Sri Aurobindo had to take a table-clock close to his eyes in order to see what time it was. Most probably here was a case of advanced cataract in both eyes. The eye trouble must ...
... Light and Laughter TALK THREE February 24, 1971 A few days back Nirod asked me to give a talk. After much trepidation I agreed, encouraged by some friends. On my own I shy away from talking — except in private, where perhaps I overdo it. Then a couple of days later he asked me what my subject would be. When I looked ...
... in Sri Aurobindo's Room, a small jingling bell is rung. Page 71 Aurobindo that her experiment with Nagin was successful but with X it was a failure. Esha-di tells that Nirod-da himself had heard this when, in those days after the accident, he used to attend on Sri Aurobindo in his room. Once Nagin-bhai saw in a vision two persons holding his hands and feet and swinging ...
... the Vitamin B group - namely Vitamin BB (Bank Balance). We thank you for your thoughtfulness. I look forward to seeing your kind, intelligent, happy face at my flat in the company of Nirod, Sudha, Tulsa and, for some time now, Dr Saryabrata Sen. I am enclosing the receipt from the Trustees. Please excuse the delay in posting it to you. It has been lying for nearly a week in ...
... Page 91 the official staircase very late, at 12 almost. So, after Sri Aurobindo's room, I had a long sit in the middle room— watching the Mother when she did come. She always calls Soli and Nirod last. When Soli went, she said: "I am seeing you tomorrow, am I not?" Soli replied: "No, you are seeing me on the 15th." She went to consult her notebook and said: "This evening I am seeing Amal." ...
... collect them and give them book-form. Many of them were seen and approved for publication 24 by Sri Aurobindo himself. I don’t have his comments on all but I was lucky enough to hear one, through Nirod, on an article called “Freewill in Sri Aurobindo’s Vision”. Sri Aurobindo said: “It is excellent. In fact, it could not be bettered.” There will be 15 articles in all, and the and the collection will ...
... Part I — Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Sri Krishna Once Nirod asked Sri Aurobindo regarding a photograph of an image of Sri Krishna: “I hear you have said about this image that it is very living. What is meant by living?” Sri Aurobindo (laughing): “Living means living. There is some force in it.” C: “Is it a conscious force?” ...
... Jayandlal. Inside the laboratory are Pavitra, Noren Singh, Sumantra, Suprabha and Sumkra. 2 Nolini and Amrita are in Pavitra's room. On the window-side, to the south of the passage, stand Pujalal, Nirod and Biren; in front of the table, Kalyan 3 and Mrityunjoy 4 . She greets them all, though not in the same way every day. She may look at them or just glance at them and go straight to the Balcony ...
... say anything. C: The period between the end of the day and the beginning of the night, sandhya , is very favourable for concentration. Mother: “On the contrary, today it was still daytime!” Nirod: “Perhaps the boys and girls were tired after play.” Mother: “Perhaps.” C: “Mother, what were you doing at the time of concentration! Did you do the same thing as on other days?” Mother said ...
... Part I — Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks “May I?” 1949-11-30 Mother said to Sri Aurobindo: “Nirod has March Past on 2nd December. But he will be engaged here at that time. What is to be done?” Sri Aurobindo did not say anything. Mother repeated the question. But he remained silent. Mother: “What to do?” I could no longer keep ...
... careful deciphering and typing of the entire correspondence; and to Mr. Pramod Kumar for his revision of the manuscript. M. D. ________________________________ 1. Sri Aurobindo once wrote to Nirod (on 2 November 1938): "It is altogether irrational to expect me to read my own writing—I write for others to read, not for myself—it is their business to puzzle out the words." Page 18 ...
... letter of mine addressed to Sri K.D. Sethna on July 1, '94 will sufficiently explain to the readers the story behind the genesis of this booklet. Amal-da, Bonjour\ A couple of weeks back Nirod-da, as one of the editors of a forthcoming publication to be brought out on your ninetieth birthday that falls on November 25, '94, asked me to write an article on you. I readily agreed. At first I ...
... too much importance to the exact letter of my remarks of the kind as if it were a giving of marks. I have been obliged to renounce the use of the word 'good' or even 'very good' because it depressed Nirod - though I would be very much satisfied myself if I could always write poetry certified to be very good. I write 'very fine' against work which is not improvable, so why ask me for suggestions for improving ...
... To this letter of Dilip Kumar Sri Aurobindo wrote, indulgent as ever: "I do not understand why you should assume that I am displeased with the Karma question. I castigated or fustigated Nirod not from displeasure nor even 'more in sorrow than in anger', but for fun and also from a high sense of duty: for that erring mortal was bold enough to generalise from his very limited experience and ...
... had the impression of you as a Chinese sage. Sri Aurobindo: Confucius? Lao-Tse? Mencius? Hang-whang-pu? Don't know who the last was, but his name sounds nice! 81 (3)AK: That incorrigible Nirod has a chronic habit of misquoting me. He garbles my words, misreads my corrections, Page 315 attributes to me opinions I am quite innocent of! A few weeks back he coolly told me that ...
... my help as assistant editor and I gave it. I called a private meeting of the young Nationalist leaders in Calcutta and they agreed to take up the Bande Mataram as their party paper with Subodh and Nirod Mullick as the principal financial supporters. A company was projected and formed, but the paper was financed and kept up meanwhile by Subodh. Bepin Pal who was strongly supported by C.R. Das and others ...
... out when India gets Purna Swaraj. Mahatma Gandhi is having bad qualms about Congress corruption already. What will it be when Puma Satyagraha reigns all over India? DILIP 'S TELEGRAM: Nirod Ashram, arriving tomorrow evening train. Heldil. MYSELF: Guru, this is from Dilip—Heldil is not he, of course. But what is it then? Can your Supramental Intuition solve? But mine has: it ...
... train and it seems to be in a bad condition. Go and see and give the necessary treatment. April 1, 1936 By the way, I hope you didn't intend to make me an April-fool mentioning Virgil and Nirod in the same pen-stroke! [ In pencil. ] What a modest poet! Most think themselves the superior of Homer, Milton and Shakespeare all added together. Another letter from Jatin. He has asked for ...
... venture—being a concern with pinhead profits and no capital to speak of. August 30, 1935 You say you have your personal opinions about G's case. Surely the person of this "personal" is not Nirod, Khirode or Binode—it is the Divine who is omniscient. Then I don't see why the Divine should seek for data from humans. Human opinion, G will at once question, but the Divine's he can't. Or he can ...
... 1934 Nirodbaran's Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo June 1934 Nirod, You can write to C that it is obvious he must stop this thing if he is to make any progress in his sadhana. Sexuality even of the natural kind is an obstacle, but unnatural practices like these are a much greater obstacle—they bring greater reactions, make the will weak and bring a ...
... is consciousness and Prakriti is Shakti. Power, Force. Both are always bound together, inseparably but in different proportions. Shakti is often described as the left flank of the Purusha. Nirod-da is referring to his left hand as his Shakti, in a light-hearted way. Page 24 pain has become much less. So these are concrete examples of the Lord's tangible help. They ...
... Talks by Nirodbaran 18 June 1969 [Nirod-da narrates the Mother's story of the boy whom She had taught to put his fists in his pocket whenever he was angry, so that he wouldn't respond violently. ] I'm sure many of you here are boys of this sort; about the girls I don't know! Mother surely doesn't mean here the practice of non-violence. What she means ...
... I had prayed in such a way as if I myself was in danger. So a cry of that sort, as Thompson says, a "cry; - clinging Heaven by the hems;" 33 a prayer of that sort can produce a miracle. [Nirod-da reads out a Bengali story about the power of prayer.] The efficacy of prayer, of an unselfish prayer, mind you, a disinrerested yogic prayer, is always powerful and great. So let us pray, not for ...
... to give? At one time, while we were working with Sri Aurobindo each day, 93Hindi expression that is the equivalent of "Bravo!" normally used as encouragement, but here indicative of Nirod-da's surprise at the tables being turned on him. 94Without trying to fool oneself that one can get the Highest Supermind, one should try to get the more modest and lower Intuition first. ...
... on the back in silence from a safe distance. A servant boy has hookworm; we suggest Eucalyptus + castor oil mixture. So? Right you are. Go for him, give him castor and pollux. 20.5.37 Nirod We are informed that P has got boils, ringworm and other privileges all over his body and he is scratching himself and wiping the dishes with his busy fingers. This, I believe, is objectionable according ...
... Chyavanprash? It is widely used in India for lung trouble, and is very effective, they say. She can take it with Tricalcine. [ Mother :] Yes. [A note from the Mother later in the day:] Nirod It is better not to press T to take Lakshmi's food, but perhaps L would agree to prepare some food for T—You might ask her—and if she agrees perhaps she could come to the dispensary for cooking ...
... "waking" mind and accept only its links and its logic. Dream-poetry is usually full of images, visions, symbols, phrases that seek to strike at things too deep for the ordinary means of expression. Nirod does not deliberately make his poems obscure; he writes what comes through from the source he has tapped and does not interfere with its flow by his own mental volition. In many modernist poets there ...
... My head feels empty and I cannot walk with S's steps... I do not have good sleep nor can I eat well. I pray to you for speedy recovery. With humble pranam at your feet your child Sitabala Nirod I would like you to see her—It might be "arterio-sclerose" Will you verify it and let me know? I suspect also that she is constipated, it is to be ascertained. If it is arterio-sclerose Pavitra ...
... your "train", being weary of the fight, perhaps. Excuse me, I don't allow—the poor Nirods allow or they take themselves away in a huff But I sincerely pray that you will drag this really poor Nirod in your train till his last breath! What else am I doing, but dragging towards that? You call me a poet? A poet without poems? A briefless barrister? It was the uchchhwas 26 that extorted ...
... saying that he wanted to offer it to Mother. I was very happy to see that iron barbell and thought that now I'd be able to exercise well. Every day at the bottom of the staircase next to Nirod-da's room the vegetables grown in the Ashram gardens were laid out. Mother came down at about noon to have a look at them. Young boys and girls used to come and gather there - some grown ups were ...
... know that you were somewhere but don't know where. That alone is not enough; you must know where you went. NIRODBARAN: I tried again for intuition but as usual failed. SATYENDRA ( smiling ): Nirod is trying the straight path through intuition. NIRODBARAN: To Supermind? SATYENDRA: Yes. SRI AUROBINDO ( laughing ): I am afraid the straight path is the longest. NIRODBARAN: Satyendra tells ...
... Sir. SRI AUROBINDO: Aparigraha! 5 (Laughter) Are you feeling stupid, forgetting things? DR. MANILAL: No, Sir! SRI AUROBINDO: Then it is all right. You have been here only two months now. Nirod says he has been here for so many years and he is not getting results, only medical cases. NIRODBARAN: Ma phalesu! 6 Even in my cases I am not making any progress. SRI AUROBINDO: You can't ...
... words. So I wrote to Him: "Of course, I was very happy to have some assurance from you that you will never forsake me, but am I quite clear in understanding your statement? Is everything above board [Nirod-da asks the class: I hope you understand the phrase?], or is there some snag?" He wrote back: "Everything is above board." So doubly assured, I felt very happy. You can understand when a word to that ...
... force; being nearer the physical it has a more powerful effect in such cases. One can cure by mental power also, but that requires more power of concentration. PURANI ( smiling, from behind ): Nirod wants such a force! SRI AUROBINDO: Stretching the right hand and the left? NIRODBARAN: My problem is solved. Sri Aurobindo has said that the vital has to be pure first in order to get intuition ...
... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 6 APRIL 1940 PURANI: Nirod didn't quite understand how calligraphy... NIRODBARAN: First of all, what is calligraphy? Good hand-writing? SRI AUROBINDO: All good handwriting is not calligraphy. Calligraphy is artistic handwriting. Haven't you heard of illuminated manuscripts? PURANI: Chinese and Arabic books are ...
... we want the Grace to do everything. DR. MANILAL: Why, I have been trying. SRI AUROBINDO: Are you sure? DR. MANILAL: Well, Sir, not in that sense. (Laughter) CHAMPAKLAL: What about you, Nirod? How did you feel at Darshan? NIRODBARAN: Don't touch the sore. CHAMPAKLAL: Let us hear. NIRODBARAN: I am in the same boat with Manilal. So I think I must be in the physical consciousness. ...
... a failure. NIRODBARAN: But in spite of the psychic element, there is a risk. The "thing" may be lost. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know what this "thing" is as I don't know the case. SATYENDRA: Nirod is speaking very guardedly! ...
... purpose, Sir, why should you object? CHAMPAKLAL: A's mother came with that object. NIRODBARAN: There is a precedent then. But it will be terrible for us. We can't welcome them. SRI AUROBINDO: Nirod will be presiding over the deaths of people. They say in English, "Dying on the Doctor's hands." It will be on Nirod's hands. ...
... "Mother has said to Sir Hukum Chand, 'I know you.'" SRI AUROBINDO: Well, what about it? DR. MANILAL: That means there are previous births. SRI AUROBINDO: Nobody denies it. DR. MANILAL: Nirod doesn't believe it. NIRODBARAN: I didn't say that. PURANI: He doesn't deny the principle of rebirth but is doubtful about all that is said about the knowledge possessed by Yogis or Tirthankaras ...
... food to satisfy their seeking. For the rest, his own works are there in which to dive and gather the treasures of his supreme vision and unparalleled realisation. Nirodbaran Thanks to Nirod, we have a revelation of an altogether unknown side of what Sri Aurobindo was. ...
... the staircase door to bid me farewell. And then later still She would bid me 'aurevoir' from Her room itself. The Mother had got separate keys made for me, one for the door by the staircase near Nirod-da's room, one for the first- floor door in the corridor. She also got a key made for me of Her room so that I could go to Her whenever I needed to. I have kept those keys given to me by the Mother ...
... may be immediate. 6 This was written in the context of a sadhak combating an illness, but with regard to Karmayoga too the principle and the process are the same. Again, when he was asked by Nirod to spell out the significance of the exhortation: "Behave as if the Mother was looking at you, for indeed, she is always present," Sri Aurobindo wrote on 16 July 1935: "It is the Page 282 ...
... Disciple : The world is Swayambhu – self-existent – according to Jainism. God can't have created world because he lacks motive. Sri Aurobindo : Do you create because you are unhappy? Nirod writes poetry because he is miserable? Disciple : No, to get more joy. Sri Aurobindo : He is then full of joy and wants more. Disciple : If God has not created the world, you ...
... of this tendency to passivity may lead towards the traditional Nirvanic ideal and make one unfit for any dynamic spiritual realisation. That risk has to be avoided. 6.04.65 * * * Nirod C. Choudhury's Autobiography I have not read, but I have read a number of extracts from it in the reviews which have appeared in the journals, English and Indian. I have also read some of his articles ...
... joined joyfully in the Mother’s karmayoga, this sadhana of the transformation of the body. They began mixing with the children as friends. Nolini-da, Pavitra-da, Amrita-da, Dyuman-bhai, Purani-ji, Nirod-da and many others became our best friends. We could speak with them most freely. In the beginning we used to say about them (of course, behind their backs!) that these were people who were forbidden ...
... India had no art because her art followed different aims and methods from those of European, or Greek art. Even to day this false notion is not altogether removed from the minds of some critics. Mr. Nirod Baran Roy Chowdhury in a news paper intended for foreign circulation actually gave out, sometime back, that India never had any art of her own! He also asserted that "so far as modern art is concerned ...
... Following the Mother's wishes, I joined the regular school but did not do all the subjects like the other students. My subjects of study were French, English, philosophy and a few of Sri Aurobindo's works. Nirod-da and Ravindra Khanna were my teachers for English prose. For English poetry, it was Amal Kiran. Bharati-di and Krishnakumari-di taught me French. For Indian philosophy, I was with Prapatti-da, for ...
... more freely. He came to visit the room at Auroville where I had been living since 1973. He came with great affection and observed the room in detail to satisfy himself that I was comfortable there. Nirod also had accompanied him and then I discovered that he called Champaklal "Maharaj ji" Page 40 and I saw their sweet relationship which one can glimpse from his book on his twelve years ...
... Naturally enough, he was his own laboratory. There he tested, more scrupulously than any scientist in his laboratory, all that his yoga was throwing up. * * * "What led you to Yoga?" asked Nirod curiously. It was 5 January 1939, and all those who attended on Sri Aurobindo after his accident of previous November were there. "What led me to Yoga?" Sri Aurobindo considered. "God knows what ...
... you know what the target was? The black, tiny head of a matchstick, hung at a distance of ten to twelve feet." This anecdote is in C.C. Dutt's Reminiscences. 1 Upon hearing this story from Nirod, about his aiming at the tip of the matchstick, Sri Aurobindo commented, "That is all fantasy." About the rest, however, he said, "What was actually the case 1. Purano-Katha Upasanghar ...
... gentleman par excellence. In 1926, in one moment, he gave up his decades-old habit of cigar-smoking when he saw that it was discommoding Mother. 1 1. Reminds us of an anecdote noted by Nirod (16.1.39). Mother came in with a telegram, garbled it seems, which wanted Sri Aurobindo to send ashesfor somebody's marriage. After some badinage Sri Aurobindo remarked , " IfI had not given up smoking ...
... her. That is fire! Her book, Kali the Mother, is very inspiring but revolutionary and not at all non-violent......There was no non-violence about her." Gandhi once criticized Nivedita, reported Nirod, as being volatile and mercurial; there was violent protest and he had to recant. "Nivedita volatile? what nonsense! She was a solid worker." Sri Aurobindo too protested forcefully. When a disciple ...
... "Up to the age of fifteen I was known as a very promising scholar at St. Paul's. After fifteen I lost this reputation. The teachers used to say that I had become lazy and was deteriorating." Nirod, one of the doctors attending on Sri Aurobindo, asked, "How was that?" Sri Aurobindo replied, "Because I was reading novels and poetry. Only at the examination time I used to prepare a little. ...
... question of working out only." But the great question was: "What is India going to do with her Independence? The above kind of affair? 1 Bolshevism? Goonda-raj? Things look ominous." 1. Nirod had written about "the atrocities committed by some Mohamedans on Hindu families in Bengal." Page 109 ...
... satisfying duty Bula-da, Dyuman-bhai and Chinmayee had, and that was being the Mother’s personal “servants”. (Another team of equally dedicated “servants” for Sri Aurobindo was Champaklal-ji, Purani-ji, Nirod-da, Pujalal-ji, Moolshankar, Lallubhai, etc.) They had to be nimble-minded, nimble-footed and nimble-handed. Their jobs, small or big, were fixed to the minutest detail — as to how, who and when to ...
... puzzled me very much. I wondered at this preparation for my bath at that time! I enquired, “What is the time?” I was surprised to learn it was morning while all along I had been thinking it was evening! Nirod-da also came. Still I could not find a link in the time-gap. It has never happened like that in my life—this discrepancy about the time. The Mother alone knows the reason. Each one will explain it ...
... one predominantly a homo intellectualis, the other essentially a homo psychicus. Both of them attained rare heights of consciousness, each following his own path indicated by his swa- dharma." Nirod-da also noted, "To be like Hanuman, an absolute servitor, was the raison d'etre of Maharaj's existence." 1 And when Champaklalji's health was deteriorating, Nirodbaran inwardly heard Sri Aurobindo ...
... I — Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Ashram Rules 1950-08-04 This morning, at 8.35, while combing Sri Aurobindo's hair Mother asked Nirod to read out the new Ashram rules. Some changes have been made and Mother wanted Sri Aurobindo to hear them. ...
... That is what it means. After the meditation as I was coming down, I mean as my spirit was coming down, the Mother descended faster than it and came down into my legs. She is there. * Nirod-da tells me in the evening: There is good news for you, for all of us. 1 went to the Mother. She told me: "Don't bother me. I am extremely busy, bringing down the supermind." ...
... Part I — Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Care of Rubber Tubes 1944-07-10 While combing Sri Aurobindo's hair, Mother suggested to Nirod a way to preserve the rubber tubes in his Dispensary: “Take a nice airtight tin. Put in it an open bottle of clove oil. Put your rubber tubes in that tin alongside the open bottle, and close the tin, ...
... him look up, first and last, to the miracle of Sri Aurobindo's Force as the one and only solvent of all our difficulties. I told him that Sri Aurobindo had written once clearly and categorically to Nirod on this very point. "The mistake is to think that it must be either a miraculous Force or none. There is no miraculous Force and I do not deal in miracles." And then: "What is Sri Aurobindo's Force ...
... insincere here—Englishmen are very chary of praise in such matters) how would he respond to the magnificent mature poems of Harin ? By the way please send us a version of your Thomsonian letter to Nirod so that we may ponder over and grow wiser at leisure. I really need some polite version thereof. Also did you note Saratchandra's high praise (on back of Dola) calling me a "great writer?" You are bound ...
... taking, under a wrong impression, a huge quantity of a powerful drug prescribed by a doctor friend during a visit of mine to Bombay. I took forty-eight times the normal dose and was about to die. Nirod, after meeting me on 21 March 1940 in Pondicherry, informed Sri Aurobindo of my conviction that I had been saved by a special divine intervention. Sri Aurobindo emphatically said: "Yes." The ...
... images? Then on April 1st he wrote something about Virgil and myself, so I asked him: Question: I hope you didn't intend to make me an April fool. Otherwise Virgil and Nirod to be mentioned in the same pen-stroke! But I couldn't read his answer to this, so I wrote: Question: Absolutely illegible, Sir. Even Nolinida couldn't read the ...
... grasses pranked with green and gold. should I take " supine" to mean " low, close to earth, nearly level with the ground" or to signify'' indolent, lethargic'' ? What makes you suspect Nirod and I were likely not to be pleased with your choosing to admire a poem which Sri Page 362 Aurobindo had not directly praised? I mean "Seated Above", the opening piece in The Adventure ...
... term 'atmosphere' - Sri Aurobindo, as the Mother has told us, has a house. People in the Ashram visit it sometimes in their dreams. Sehra did so on a few occasions and described something of it. Nirod too has been there at least once. So we, if we leave our present corporeal habitation in the near future, will get into contact with Sri Aurobindo's house which is now the Mother's as well, and not ...
... the light (or twilight) of my own aesthetic sense. I am positive the Mother's "imbecile" hit out at that lurking imp. The imp must have fed its own ego by remarks of Sri Aurobindo's like the one to Nirod on getting back the latest composed matter of Savitri which he had sent me during my visit to the Ashram in August 1947 after a long absence. He asked: "Is Amal satisfied?" I may add in general ...
... when Sri Aurobindo left his body) and she wanted something fundamental to be done before that Sri Aurobindo himself seems to have shown impatience only about two months before his passing away. Nirod, his scribe, was taken aback when Sri Aurobindo said: "I want to finish Savitri soon." It was the very first occasion that the disciple, during his twelve years of attendance on the Master, had found ...
... afterwards constant descent. It is only afterwards that one can have the ease." (1937) * 1 From The Life Heavens. Page 203 (J said to Nirod and Jyoti that it has been a habit with me to re-read and repeat and hum lines which I have felt to have come from very high sources. I mentioned your recent poems as my aid to drawing inspiration from ...
... vividly aware of being near you and touching your body . But I doubt very much my feeling, because in the dream you had an acute stomach-ache and were rather upset by it! Nirod , too, was near and I asked him to give you some peppermint and then I was helping you to go upstairs some- where . At the close of the dream I found myself reading a poem, ...
... might have heard, he exhausted his stock of tea, so he penned a furious poem to the Mother: Mother Almighty, I have finished all my tea. ( laughter ) e) To return to my friend Nirod - it was after some time that he got the dispensary. I don't know whether he wanted it, or liked it or not, but he established his reputation as the frowning physician, ( laughter ) People used to come ...
... dilapidated state or begin to appear like ruins of a once grand monument. Here in the Ashram we have two most marvellous disciples of Sri Aurobindo: the much loved and universally ad-mired Nirod-da who is 101, and the quintessential poet Amal Kiran alias K.D. Sethna who will be 100 this year. Lines of Robert Browning come to my mind: Grow old along with me! The best is yet ...
... Page 425 and accept only its links and its logic. Dream poetry is usually full of images, visions, symbols, phrases that seek to strike at things too deep for the ordinary means of expression. Nirod does not deliberately make his poems obscure, he writes what comes through from the source he has tapped and does not interfere with its flow by his own mental volition. In many modernist poets there ...
... e to Overmind itself rather than to a plane defined by him as intermediate between Intuition and Overmind. (K.D.S.) 1 From The Life Heavens . Page 138 (I said to Nirod and Jyoti that it has been a habit with me to re-read and repeat and hum lines which I have felt to have come from very high sources. I mentioned your recent poems as my aid to drawing inspiration ...
... no sense at all.... I think we have to be a little.... Yes, Mother, I also feel we should forget about it—people must understand from within, and that will be that. I am hearing (through Nirod 2 ) certain things that Sri Aurobindo said, and he says that even he contradicted himself a great number of times... Yes, yes, Mother! ...and that, of course, the two or three different ...
... categorical in saying that poetry should never be written. This new piece is called: "Advice to Would-be Poets." All of you, I think, are would-be poets; so it should prove useful to all except for Nirod and me who are supposed to have fulfilled ourselves and are now have-been-poets. Well, what does Mary Sinton Leitch say? Would you be a poet, Be silent till you drink Deep of a rainbow ...
... what on earth all this is or what to do—writes for guidance. Now, sir, if my yugalike persistence could work a miracle like that with such a one, why can't you expect an earlier result with you, O Nirod of little faith and less patience? Stand and answer. 117 September 13, 1935 From what I could make out of your mysterious handwriting about this mysterious X, she must be a plucky girl ...
... brain first from the evident disposition towards softening his ambition betrays, it would be more useful. It is S.T. himself or a fellow sheep of the modernist flock? [A note from the Mother:] Nirod, Devraj will wait for you to-morrow at 9 A.M. at the Canal side entrance of the Hospital. It would be good if you could obtain that some care should be given to the case— September 26, 1936 ...
... possible my words, but even then it can hardly be called mine. My God! he has pummelled you into pieces and thrown away all but a few shreds. No, you can't call it yours. Perhaps you can label it, "Nirod after being devoured, assimilated and eliminated by Nishikanta." Nishikanta has written so much that you can't do without tumbling into his influence. Your own version, if it takes things from ...
... 29 MARCH 1940 Satyendra was smiling at Nirodbaran without any apparent reason. NIRODBARAN: What is the matter? What makes you smile? SATYENDRA: I was thinking, "Nirod thinks himself so important but if he knew how much empty space there is in his body, he wouldn't." SRI AUROBINDO: It is because of the empty space that he feels important. NIRODBARAN: What empty ...
... From the medical point of view or for personal satisfaction? DR. MANILAL: From the medical point of view. SRI AUROBINDO: One day's massage won't do any good. DR. MANILAL: No, but afterwards Nirod and others may continue. MULSHANKAR : You want to begin first? SRI AUROBINDO: They can as well begin. DR. MANILAL (again outdone and feeling perhaps a little humbler) : All doctors agree that ...
... 1939 Talks with Sri Aurobindo 21 NOVEMBER 1939 SATYENDRA: Nirod has a few more questions to ask: he is trying to formulate them, it seems. PURANI: Schomburg is a great woman-hater, it appears. On every occasion he brings in the question of woman's shortcomings. SRI AUROBINDO: Is yours also a misogynist question? NIRODBARAN: Misogynist means w ...
... 9 MARCH 1940 SATYENDRA: Do ascent and descent of consciousness take place only through the head? SRI AUROBINDO: No, they can take place through the lower centres also. SATYENDRA: Nirod had the idea that they happen only through the head. I was thinking of Sahana's experience of ascent and descent. SRI AUROBINDO: Did she have that experience? NIRODBARAN: The one we told you about ...
... world, which the mind refuses to do, having been trained for such a long time in the other principle. SRI AUROBINDO: For that reason I had to write three volumes of The Life Divine . Otherwise, as Nirod says, Yoga would be easy. NIRODBARAN ( to Satyendra ): It is no less difficult for us. To you Brahman is real, the world is unreal and for us it is the other way round. ( Laughter ) So the difficulty ...
... "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. SRI AUROBINDO: That is the Indian tradition: up to the last moment the Asuras are v ...
... not to be born." (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: Our Satyendra here will like this. SATYENDRA: There is no harm in being born after one has had liberation in the previous birth. But for people like Nirod and myself— NIRODBARAN: How do you know I had no liberation in my previous birth? SATYENDRA: If you believe that, it is all right. PURANI: When Sri Aurobindo said that Y has a remarkable mind ...
... Page 278 new, for the children particularly. Shall I read it? I hope I'll be able to find the passage. Yes, here it is! [Reading from Correspondence (1995), 92]: [Nirod-da:] You wrote the other day that you had lived dangerously ... [Rest of the question as described above] [Sri Aurobindo:] There is a coward in every human being - precisely the part in ...
... Sri Aurobindo in my correspondence, some of you may remember, when I learned that there were quite a number of people living in the Brahmic consciousness. So I wrote as follows: 294 [Nirod-da:] Could you whisper to me the names of those lucky fellows who are those "half a dozen people" so that I may have a practical knowledge of what the blessed thing - the Brahman consciousness ...
... anyone give a summary in such a short space? SATYENDRA: There may be people who will find something in it. This headmaster's booklet is being asked for by some friends of mine. Have you read it, Nirod? NIRODBARAN: No, thank you. SRI AUROBINDO: Which book? NIRODBARAN: The book on your Yoga, which is nothing but a heap of references. Radhananda also has written a book on your Yoga. SRI ...
... 1941 DR. MANILAL: What type of diseases does the Inconscient bring out, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: No type! Any type. It doesn't select. Each person may have a personal selection. For instance, Nirod has a predilection for a cold. DR. MANILAL: And I have for shoulder pain, gall-bladder trouble, angina, blood pressure—a walking museum of diseases, Sir. SRI AUROBINDO: Then you must be a big ...
... this war? On the British? SRI AUROBINDO: But his army might be on the other side as in the Mahabharata. Send a letter of enquiry to his chief secretary. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: I was telling Nirod that when a medicine has both good and bad effects, it is the good aspect that acts in a disease, while the bad effect remains behind. For instance, aspirin when given in rheumatism exerts only its ...
... to solve all the problems of existence. (Laughter) SATYENDRA: That they do both internally and externally; they are very sound in every way. I was, in fact, wishing for this book to come out. Nirod has not finished the first volume yet. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): By the time you finish the three volumes, you will become a philosopher, (laughter) NIRODBARAN: I doubt it. SATYENDRA: It ...
... The Supermind ought to descend now; the conditions are getting very bad with Hitler and Stalin threatening everybody. SRI AUROBINDO: The Supermind is not concerned with these things. PURANI: Nirod is surprised to find that the Supermind goes by different values and he doesn't like it. SATYENDRA: If it had not different values, it would not be worthwhile. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. NIRODBARAN: ...
... so. It is as things are here. There are not many people here who have come for your philosophy. SRI AUROBINDO: Why "not many"? Very few. SATYENDRA: That was my tactfulness. SRI AUROBINDO: Nirod didn't come for my philosophy! NIRODBARAN: No! SATYENDRA: Amrita, for instance, says that whatever you say he will do. If politics, then politics. SRI AUROBINDO: There is only one man who has ...
... denied that we do miss his physical Presence, especially those of us whom he had drawn near by his personal intimacy and those who had the exceptional privilege of living with him and serving him. "Nirod is no doctor to me; he has come to serve me," is one of his few utterances I cannot forget, though I know too well how poorly I served him. Sometimes when we think of the old days that will never come ...
... don't want to take the money yourself, you can give it to the poor. Our collaboration will be a service to yourself, to me and to the poor." What do you say, Purani? You too can go into trance or send Nirod into trance! He was by no means a conversationalist as we understand and use the term. Tagore, for example, was one . Those who have heard or talked to Tagore, recall their experience as "great" ...
... poem composed by Nirodbaran, Sri Aurobindo informed the latter: “My God, he has pummeled you into pieces and thrown away all but a few shreds. No, you can’t call it yours. Perhaps you can label it, ‘Nirod after being devoured, assimilated and eliminated by Nishikanta.’ ” # [Nishikanto] is writing of experiences that are foreign to the ordinary mentality. # Nishikanta has a fine channel and with ...
... Aurobindo's humorous writings. The present book hopes to break new ground in this particular field. Apropos of Nirodbaran's Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo the Mother had once remarked: "Thanks to Nirod, we have a revelation of an altogether unknown side of what Sri Aurobindo was. It is extremely interesting and very instructive." It is the fond and humble hope of the writer of the present work that ...
... a distinguished philosopher on a visit to the Ashram, commented after a "stove incident" that Sri Aurobindo's Ashram lacked "fraternity", while the Ramakrishna Mission was ideal in that way. When Nirod-baran reported this complaint to his Guru, Sri Aurobindo replied: "I am afraid not. When I was in Calcutta it was already a battle-field and even in the post-civil-war period one hears distressing ...
... leave of this simple but useful quality.' I have already given you quite a few examples of Sri Aurobindo's humour in his letters and two more instances must suffice for the present. 29-4-35 NIROD (N): I am plunged in a sea of dryness and am terribly thirsty for something. Along with it, waves of old desires. Any handy remedy? SRI AUROBINDO: Eucharistic injection from above, purgative rejection ...
... It is to be asked from Benjamin. Romen was telling me to-day that he always feels tired, very tired, and very often he has head-ache. Is it due to liver? Can nothing be done to relieve him? Nirod I send you X's latest epistle, as my capacities are not equal to reproduction—please return the precious document. But mark that it is confidential, you are not supposed to have received it as it ...
... d. On the other hand there are blocks of mysticism. The poetry is good and there are very fine lines and stanzas, but as a whole it must be more inspired and Wordsworth chucked out and replaced by Nirod. R.B. has very little pain [below the navel] even while walking. But no appetite at all. [ Mother :] I find her rather yellow in colour. June 4, 1938 Yes, I also marked R.B.'s ...
... be in existence vanished into blazes—even if this whole universe disappeared, Brahman would be safely there and nothing whatever lost. In fact, sir, you are Brahman and you are only pretending to be Nirod; when Nishikanta is translating Amal's poetry into Bengali, it is really Brahman translating Brahman's Brahman into Brahman. When Amal asks me what consciousness is, it is really Brahman asking Brahman ...
... do so as soon as possible and let him know the result. Please let me know for future guidance if I should at all interfere in this way. No objection. August 21, 1937 25.8.37 Nirod If Jatin and Anjali are to stay till November, Jatin can stay with you as now; the difficulty is about Anjali. Mother has only 2 rooms that she can offer her and they are both bad. There is the room ...
... images? Then on April 1st he wrote something about Virgil and myself, so I asked him: QUESTION: I hope you didn't intend to make me an April fool. Otherwise Virgil and Nirod to be mentioned in the same pen-stroke! Page 120 But I couldn't read his answer to this., so I wrote: QUESTION: Absolutely illegible, Sir. Even Nolinida could not read the words ...
... Memorable Contacts with The Mother Back Page Thanks to Nirod, we have the revelation of an altogether unknown side of Sri Aurobindo. It is extremely interesting and very instructive. This was the Mother’s comment on Nirodbaran’s book Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo which he wrote for Sri Aurobindo’s Birth Centenary, the 15th of August 1972. Next, Nirodbaran ...
... met us at Tirupati and that we had had a good time. Somehow I did not tell her that we had planned to meet there. When, however, he visited the Ashram, she came to know from him about the plan. "And Nirod did not tell me all that! Farceur! (Jester)" she added. Later on, I wrote an article on Puttur and the Tirupati temple, which was published in the Illustrated Weekly of Page 81 India ...
... match was to be played between our Group teams. The captain had put my name without my knowledge. As the Mother was going through the list, she struck off one or two names before she came to mine. "Nirod!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Is he here?" she asked. "Yes, Mother," I replied. "I find your name in the cricket team. I am striking it off," she added. "All right, Mother," I agreed without question ...
... Aurobindo gave me a copy of the Gita forty years ago. I want you to keep it." Next morning I handed the book over to her. Soon after this, there came a Darshan day. After the ceremony was over, at 5 P.M., Nirod came to our house carrying something inside his scarf. He called out from the gate: "What will you give me, Sir?" I replied, "Anything you desire." He came forward and put the old Gita in my hand, saying ...
... confusion, unless it is linked and coordinated to that single frame of reference. All else can be an enrichment and an asset only as a channel for the expression of the soul's light. 180 Nirod-da is drawing a parallel between this experience of Ananda and the Godhead experience of Sri Aurobindo in Baroda. Page 124 The soul is your true person, the eternal. The ...
... fix the eyes or stare. Second, palming gives a very useful rest — palming means keeping the hands crossed over the closed eyes (without pressing on the eyes) so as to shut out all light. Nirod says there is nothing the matter with your eyes except a little congestion. It must be due probably to too much straining of the eyes, especially reading at night. What type of eye-pain ...
... would go looking for a suitable house for us. Finally She chose this house for us. By then the Mother had allotted a room in the Ashram for my brother Debu. He used to stay in the room next to Nirod da's. And where the present Ashram Post-Office is situated was my brother Hriday's residence. Chotka went to the poultry and my youngest brother used to live in a rented house somewhere else. ...
... you a story of Mother's mischief. I always partnered Mother in tennis. So every afternoon at 4 o'clock I had to be present in the Ashram. I used to wait near the staircase by the side of Nirod- da's room. Below the staircase there was a chair and a small table. Mother came and sat on that chair; Dyumanbhai used to bring a cup of milk and a piece of chocolate on a tray and after placing ...
... help as assistant editor and I gave it. I called a private meeting of the young Nationalist leaders in Calcutta and they agreed to take up the Bande Mataram as their party paper with Subodh and Nirod Mullick as the principal financial supporters. A company was projected and formed, but the paper was financed and kept up meanwhile by Subodh. Bepin Pal who was strongly supported by C.R. Das and others ...
... Aiyar 2. Rojoni Kanta Palit 3. Anil Baran Roy 4. V. Chandra Shekhar 5. Kodanda Ram Aiyar 6. Purushottam Patel 7. Naren Das Gupta 8. Sris Goswami From 1938 – 1950 1. Nirod Baran 2. Champaklal 3. Satyendra Thakore 4. Mulshanker 5. A. B. Purani 6. Becharlal Occasional participants: 1. Dr. Manila! Parikh 2. Dr. Srinivas Rao 3. Dr. Savoor ...
... form an indispensable guide to the yoga of Sri Aurobindo. There is also the more succinct The Mother, one of the classics on the subject; and there are the records kept by disciples like Purani, Nirod and Dilip of conversations with the Master; and, finally, there are authoritative expositions by the Mother herself, and disciples like Nolini, Rishabhchand and Pandit. Altogether, it is a vast, and ...
... nothing to do but to let the mother hold it and cry ma ma . A rock had been lifted off my chest, as it were. I bowed to the Mother a thousand times. Let me also quote what Sri Aurobindo told Nirod-da when he brought up this baby monkey and baby cat comparison regarding the sadhaks. Nirodbaran: Even Ramakrishna’s baby cat type of sadhak has to make a decisive movement of surrender and compel ...
... with gratitude. The Mother told Champaklal-ji: “You see me in my human form. That is all that your eyes can comprehend. You behave with me as if I were really a human being and nothing else!” Nirod-da has written: “Sri Aurobindo told his attendants: ‘I have come down so close to you and yet you cannot understand me, cannot know me, cannot reach me.’ ” A line from sadhak Ramprasad comes to ...
... our friend and that is how She was always present in our hearts and minds. Like Bhishma, Dronacharya and the others looked up to Sri Krishna as an Avatar, Nolini-da, Amrita-da, Pavitra-da, Andréda, Nirod-da, Dyuman-da, Purani-ji and so many other senior sadhaks always looked upon the Mother as Mother Aditi Herself, as Maheshwari. Whenever the Mother called out Pavitrada’s name he would at once answer ...
... it. Mother put her signature at the end, and then wrote "Blessings" and again signed. On 20.10.70, Mother nominated a Working Committee of twelve: Pradyot, Udar, Shyam Sunder, Kireet, Nirod, Andre', Madhav, Madanlal Himatsingka, Chhote Narayan, Prapatti, Manoj Das and Charupada. Sri Aurobindo's Action was the name adopted for its journal as well. The first issue came out in October ...
... me onto the other side. The bicycle = the symbol of the yoga. It is not the yoga that carries me, but I who carry the yoga. December 4, 1973 Pranab makes a speech at the Ashram Playground. Nirod introduces the speech: “Pranab has protected the Mother... he is identified with the Mother ...” The general inoculation. “I was fully prepared from the beginning,” says Pranab. He concludes: “It ...
... of incense from the two incense-holders floated upward in the air towards the branches of the Service tree. Maybe one or two persons would come to bow down at the Samadhi at that time. I used to see Nirod-da pacing to and fro silently, a little away from the Samadhi, while Tehmi-ben worked quietly sitting on the threshold of the Bulletin office, next to Dyuman-bhai's room. At half past noon, she too ...
... necessary. Any stirring up disturbs. With Sujata, I embrace you very tenderly. 1982: the door is opening. Satprem The night of December 28-29 Vision Violently attacked and chased by Nirod. 65 (Pranab is there, but assists without attacking). Such a deep disgust, and a lassitude of all that. Each time, you think that it is the bottom of the darkness, and each time there is something ...
... then can become very effective if there is receptivity in the one who receives." 7 Again, the following exchange of letters took place in November 1933 between Nirodbaran and Sri Aurobindo: Nirod: When we receive flowers from the Mother, are we to aspire for the things they symbolise, or are these things given with the flowers? Sri Aurobindo: There is no fixed rule. Sometimes it is the ...
... his early days, of which I was unaware till then. "You will enjoy his old English," he said. And I did. Once Mother received a number of Rolex wrist watches. One she gave to Amrita, another to Nirod. "Nolini does not need a watch," she said, and gave him a dictionary. Nolinida was so punctual in his routine that it is said that people checked the correctness of their watches with his arrival ...
... enough, the progress of the revision ran parallel to the worsening of the political situation in Europe, and once started, Sri Aurobindo seemed to write with phenomenal speed and concentration. As Nirod described the scene: There he was, then, sitting on the bed, with his right leg stretched out .... No sooner had he begun than followed line after line as if everything was chalked out in the mind ...
... culture; and there was Pavitra to give purpose and shape and proper direction to the School. While the academic courses were organised on efficient lines, physical culture received equal importance. As Nirod saw it, the daily regimen of physical education "served the most important purpose of keeping the inflammable material of young boys, girls and children under a strict supervision through compulsory ...
... down to my daily activities, remembering the Mother in a very conscious way. Before the Mother left for Her game of tennis in the afternoon, I went and stood in front of the staircase door next to Nirod-da's room, hoping to see the Mother there. At the assigned time, the Mother came down and as soon as the door of the staircase opened, the Mother's glance fell on me as I was standing right in front ...
... had never imagined that a birthday could be so full of pain. On the 14 th afternoon, when the Mother was to go out of the Ashram, I had gone, like every day, to stand near the staircase door next to Nirod-da's room in order to catch a glimpse of Her. The Mother came out punctually but She did not look in my direction, She did not wish me Bonne Fete as She normally would do. From here, I went to the ...
... it was till about eleven. Then it was cleaned with eau de Cologne, and was clothed in a spotless new dress. Nolini Kanta Gupta was informed, and when he joined them, the arrangements were finalised. Nirod and Bula too had come up and the Mother's body was gently carried and brought down at 2 a.m. on 18 November, and laid in state on a couch in the Meditation Hall. The body was draped in a gold-laced ...
... quietude which definitely opens the lowest physical parts to the higher consciousness and force. If you can get over this and get back the old poise, then all these things can be made to disappear, Nirod was of course right from the medical point of view in recommending exercise — both for the liver and as a tonic to the body it is helpful. So if you are not going to the Aroume more than once or twice ...
... enabling it to enter the body and capture it. Sri Aurobindo confirmed all this from his own experience, and clarified a few more points in the process. "Chemicals, glands and what not," he wrote to Dr. Nirod, "these things and the germs also are only a minor physical instrumentation for something supraphysical." The forces behind bacilli, viruses, etc., "first weaken or break through the nervous envelope ...
... he helped any after his return from Japan towards the end of April 1920. That leaves seventy-one months of Arya to Sri Aurobindo, "all by my lonely self." How did he write them? He wrote to Nirod on 1 st November 1935: "Let me remind you also that when I was writing the Arya and also since, whenever I write these letters or replies, I never think or seek for expressions or try to write in ...
... tactician also, a combination only too rare in history." We shall see how he brought into full play these rare qualities. Page 384 "Were you 'modest' in your early life?" asked Nirod. "I can't say that I was more modest within than others." Sri Aurobindo said candidly. "When I differed in anything, I used to say very few words and remain stiff, simply saying, 'I don't agree ...
... my help as assistant editor and I gave it. I called a private meeting of theyoung Nationalist leaders in Calcutta and they agreed to take up the Bande Mataram as their party paper with Subodh and Nirod Mullick as the principal financial supporters. A company was projected and formed, but the paper was financed and kept up meanwhile by Subodh. Bepin Pal who was strongly supported by C. R. Das and ...
... to Indian politics —different from European politics. It would be a profound change." Sri Aurobindo had said that in an informal talk on 21 January 1925. It was the evening of 14 December 1938. Nirod asked Sri Aurobindo, "What about India's independence? Is it developing along your lines?" "Surely not," Sri Aurobindo was categorical. "India is now going towards European Socialism, which is ...
... by an English doctor. After a great deal of trouble I found one and went to his house. He told me that I was speaking English remarkably well. I replied that I had been to England." A shocked Nirod asked, "How could you agree to take a false name for the certificate?" Sri Aurobindo retorted, "If I had given my real name I would have been at once arrested. With due respect to Gandhi's Truth ...
... the senior and most serious children’s notebooks (Chitra, Ranganath, Namita, and Bharati). The rest of the notebooks were corrected by some of us captains who attended the class and also others, like Nirod Da, Amiyo, Debu, Prithvin etc. But She would still see every child’s notebook to give the final points based on the number of correctly written words in her own hand. thus showing us how to maintain ...
... paste in my notebook. She used many of the passages of the 4th Series for recitations but nothing from the 3rd Series was used. The translation class gradually expanded and seniors like Pavitra Da, Nirod Da, Mrityunjoya Da and Debu soon joined it. Since there were so many people, the Mother stopped correcting notebooks individually. But She continued correcting mine till She completed the translation ...
... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 31 DECEMBER 1940 DR. MANILAL(as Nirodbaran was bending to touch Sri Aurobindo's knee): I see a trident. Sir, on Nirod's forehead. SRI AUROBINDO: A trident? DR. MANILAL: Yes, Sir. NIRODBARAN: What does it mean? SRI AUROBINDO: It means that you are Shiva. (Laughter) NIRODBARAN (after a while): Some... books, Sir. SRI AUROBINDO: That may be for children. What I know is that Jupiter had a severe pain in his head. Suddenly his head burst open and Minerva came out of it. DR. MANILAL: What about Nirod's receptivity question, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: You have to become quiet, become wide and open or become open and wide. NIRODBARAN: Is not wideness a result of quietness? SRI AUROBINDO: Not necessarily; ...
... is their nature.” × The 'vegetable darshan' used to take place in the courtyard in front of the staircase beside Nirod's room. ...
... "Lullaby, many people have thought that, but nobody before you uttered such an apt thing about Odysseus." On another occasion he informed me in Nirod's office-room upstairs: "The latest number of the New Testament is waiting for you Page 43 on Nirod's table." It proved to be the recent issue of the London Weekly, The New Statesman'. Page 44 ...
... named Ananda, about sixty years of age, has written to Anilbaran that he has taken up Sannyasa, is suffering from many ailments and wants to come for the Darshan. DR. MANILAL: He will increase Nirod's work. SRI AUROBINDO: How old is he? PURANL: Sixty. SRI AUROBINDO: He can postpone it for the next life. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: There are some here who wear the Sannyasi dress. So, he ...
... Here are two masterpieces! Dear Huta, It does not matter even if you forget. But once you remember that you have not forgotten, your memory is not yet sufficiently supramentalised like Nirod's. Wish you more progress! I had misplaced the October instalment of The Story of a Soul. Then eventually I found and sent it to Amal. He wrote: Dear Huta, I am glad that the ...
... it will be a sign of the coming of the millennium. Usually, the prophecies that come true are the only ones noticed. Nobody notices most of those that don't come true. (After a while) This time Nirod's intuition is proving to be correct, (To Nirodbaran who, puzzled, had begun looking at him) I mean your intuition about typhoid.1 Today's case, you said, may be typhoid. NIRODBARAN: Oh, I see ...
... Lotus. She began giving him spiritual experiences. They were as ununderstandable to the agnostic's mind as they were unexpected. "I can't help that. It happened," Sri Aurobindo was to reply simply to Nirod's query years later. "The mind's canons of the rational and the possible do not give spiritual life and experience." At London A.G. had thought that the Self, Atman, was the true thing to be realized ...
... SRI AUROBINDO (after trying out flexion of his knee, as medically advised) : Can't see if the flexion is increasing. It is a very slow process. SATYENDRA: Yes, Sir. Something like the opening of Nirod's physical crust. SRI AUROBINDO: What? NIRODBARAN: Satyendra is giving an analogy. He means that your knee-flexion is as slow as the opening of my physical crust. (Sri Aurobindo laughed.) ...
... mantra—say, Ramanama—with each breath. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, that is quite a well-known method. Any kind of concentration that quiets the mind gives peace. SATYENDRA ( looking at N and smiling ): If Nirod's path had been of Brahmic consciousness he would have got it by now. His is of the psychic, perhaps. NIRODBARAN: I may get it unconsciously one day. SRI AUROBINDO: Unconsciously you may have got ...
... SATYENDRA: It is very good for the blood. SRI AUROBINDO: I have plenty of blood, I think. DR. BECHARLAL: Milk is said to be good for spirituality. SRI AUROBINDO: It is no better than Nirod's brinjal. ( Laughter ) The Mother and I don't take milk. There are many people who have taken milk for many years — even ten years — but I don't know that they have progressed spiritually. Punnuswamy ...
... masterpieces 1 Dear Huta, It does not matter even if you forget. But once you remember that you have not forgotten, your memory is not yet sufficiently supramentalised like Nirod's. Wish you more progress! 2 I had misplaced the MS. for the October instalment of my The Story of a Soul. Then eventually I found and sent it to Amal. He wrote: Dear ...
... or higher levels comes sheer and the poet is entirely a passive channel with no recognisable life-experience except for the general sadhana-state to spark off the "muldfoliate" expression. Many of Nirod's poems are outburts or downpours of this nature. Broadly speaking", all poetry is a god taking a cue from a man. This cue-taking can occur independently of poetry. That is what you are after, so ...
... doesn't. In my medical report I wrote: No medical cases to report today. Sri Aurobindo: Hello! Golden Age come or what? No — for R.B.'s pain is kicking cheerfully again. It is telling her, "Your Nirod's potion and things indeed! I just went because I took the fancy. I go when I like, I come when I like. Doctors — pooh!" Myself: Yesterday J's finger was incised prematurely but there was hardly any ...
... NIRODBARAN: Perhaps you have come as a Arjuna in this new play of Krishna. SATYENDRA: For you it is all right. You have begun with Intuition on the way to Supermind. SRI AUROBINDO(referring to Nirod's famous intuition about brinjal) : From Brinjal to Supermind? (Laughter) SATYENDRA: I am satisfied with the realisation of the Self. Supermind can be left to Manilal. NIRODBARAN: Intuition is ...
... times of missing to realise what she is. I am sure Sri Aurobindo behaved in the same natural manner. From Nirod's accounts we see him overflowing with humour, cracking all kinds of jokes. Some of the jokes were even unreportable! (laughter) When editing Nirod's accounts, I submitted a few of Sri Aurobindo's jokes to the Mother for approval and she said: "No, no, you can't publish that ...
... about persons recommended for Darshan or applying for it or about accommodation, things which have to be settled by the Mother, and these were naturally most conveniently conveyed to you through Nirod’s oral answer. I suppose I must have unduly extended that method of answer to other matters. I must admit that for many reasons the impulse of letter writing and literary productivity generally have ...
... Mother's being and body is pervading the whole atmosphere. One can see His Presence, hear His foot-falls, His rhythmic voice, ever vigilant, devoid of the encumbrance of the physical body. 8 With Nirod's heart of adoration, his eyes and ears of faith, others have also seen and heard Sri Aurobindo, not in the Ashram's sanctified precincts alone, but wherever the need may have arisen, wherever the aspirant ...
... became personal, very intimate, like that of a human being, talking with us on various subjects: politics, religion, philosophy and what not; cracking jokes with us on very trivial matters like Nirod's snoring, P's kicking (Laughter), so on and so forth; and the last, fatal touch - His passing away and the grand spectacle that He made us see: His whole body becoming golden for several days. ...
... There is nothing new in that either. It has always been a rule of Karmayoga that one must be ready to do any work for the Divine or with the spiritual consciousness. Janakas, Arjunas might, but not Nirods or Rama Shyama! 19 Why not Rama Shyama? Plenty of Ramas and Shyamas have done that kind of karmayoga and done it easily enough. December 26, 1934 I can quite understand that the ...
... curvilinear proportions and shall try to send something along. No medical cases today. Hello! Golden Age come or what? No—for R.B.'s pain is kicking cheerfully again. It is telling her, "Your Nirod's potions and things indeed! I just went because I took the fancy. I go when I like, I come when I like. Doctors—pooh!" May 23, 1936 I find it rather hard to be a medium between X and J ...
... unintentionally and it starts off. MYSELF: No medical cases today. SRI AUROBINDO: Hello! Golden Age come or what? No —for R's pain is kicking cheerfully again. It is telling her "your Nirod's potions and things indeed! I just went because I took the fancy. I go when I like, I come when I like. Doctors—pooh!" MYSELF: What, Sir, mistake? where is my medical report book? Wrong ...
... a couple of failures, what I saw in the meditation was a brinjal! When I blurted it out to Sri Aurobindo and to my colleagues, they all roared with laughter. Thenceforth they would taunt me with "Nirod's brinjal intuition"! To end the sad story: the case was not showing any improvement; one after another complications began to develop. Above all, his outer consciousness failed to respond actively ...
... the Ashram"¹ and, in the course of the conversation on 7 January 1939 recorded by Nirodbaran, "the brilliant period of the Ashram". ² But, before we go further, we must clarify a certain point in Nirod's book, which may confuse chronological researchers. On 7 January 1939, when Purani speaks of drawing force from the Universal Vital and says that he did it while he was in the "Guest House" (that ...
... long period and arrive at a full old age." — Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on The Mother. "Khasirao Jadav's father died according to the exact date and moment found out by an astrologer." — Nirod's Notes. "Astrology? Many astrological predictions come true, quite a mass of them, if one takes all together. But it does not follow that the stars rule our destiny; the stars merely record ...
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