... question is, how to make it more specific. In other words, as the logicians would say, how to 'define' humour. But is it at all possible to convey in words what humour is, to someone who has no sense of humour? The task is difficult, so difficult indeed that Isaac Barrow 'defined' it as follows: "Often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how." 8 Yet scholars... miss something essential to the production of genuine humour. Prof. Walter Jerrold has quoted a famous lexicographer defining humour as follows: 1. Definition (applicable to the 2nd sense of humour). "The faculty of associating ideas in new and ingenious, and at the same time pleasing way, exhibited in apt language and felicitous combinations of words and thoughts, by which unexpected... Stephen Leacock has made a profound study of this subject in his charming opuscule Humour and Humanity. What follows below is an abridged adaptation of his valuable observations. Both the sense of humour and the expression of it have Page 27 undergone in the course of history an upward and continuous progress. Humour meant exultation, the sense of personal triumph over one's adversary ...
... his letters to Nirod was his love of raillery oscillating between a Shavian playfulness and a Ramakrishnonian badinage." 1 Yes, Sri Aurobindo gave expression to his innate sense of Page 420 humour, only on rare occasions, depending on, as they say in Sanskrit, Desa-Kala-Patra-Avastha, that is to say, contingent on proper place, time, subject and situation. We may recall here... Page 424 So, this is Sri Aurobindo and such is his normal style of writing with all its Himalayan grandeur. But, at the same time, this too is true that an undercurrent of the sense of humour has been there in Sri Aurobindo all through his life and found expression - albeit rarely and occasionally - in his writings in all the periods of his literary career, since his early adolescence... from Sri Aurobindo's writings, writings separated from each other by a long time-span of almost half a century. These passages will bring out in striking outlines the opulent and multisplendoured sense of humour Sri Aurobindo possessed. And what will be all the more surprising is the happy discovery that Sri Aurobindo could write humorous pieces of the highest order even at the tender age of eighteen only ...
... IN MEMORY OF AMRITA S PEAKING about Amrita, the first picture that comes to one's mind is his sense of humour, even at the age of 70 years, his wisdom, experience and the intense responsibility of yoga, instead of blunting his sense of humour only enhanced it as time passed. Here I could not draw a similarity between him and Sri Aurobindo. I once asked Sri Aurobindo... mysterious manner 'Raso vai Sa' (He is indeed the Rasa). It looks as though Amrita had found an access to that secret. In the beginning, as I didn't know him closely, I was not aware of his deep sense of humour. Later his 'divine levity' totally charmed me. I used to wonder at the source of his eternal fountain of Rasa. At all times, in all activities, in everybody's company and even in the company of ...
... Everest but not the mellow sweetness of someone with whom one could smile and laugh and joke. But such an impression was far from being correct. Sri Aurobindo wrote to one of his disciples: "Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance — it is unbalanced enough already — and rushed to blazes long ago." Now, as Nirodbaran has remarked, one... share with the world at large the joy of knowing that Sri Aurobindo was Raso vai sab, "Verily he is the Delight". 2 Amal Kiran, Dilip Kumar and Nirodbaran were themselves persons of deep sense of humour, each with his characteristic style and flavour. AK with his sparkling intellectual humour, DK with his restrained but sublime humour and NB with his simple-hearted bantering jollity drew Sri Aurobindo... stupidity at its worst. It is because the ass does not do what man wants him to do even under blows, that he is taxed with stupidity. "But really, the ass behaves like that first because he has a sense of humour and likes to provoke the two-legged beast into irrational antics; and secondly, because he finds that what man wants of him is quite a ridiculous and bothersome nuisance which ought not to be demanded ...
... I don't really believe you can be contemplating anything so dreadful!" I sent this letter up to Gurudev inviting his opinion: Was sense of humour as welcome to Yoga as it was to life? He wrote back the next morning with his radiant assurance: "Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance — it is unbalanced enough already — and rushed... elements of a love such as this, the less so because the true value of such boons can be assessed by experience alone. I will therefore only touch on one last point — to end on a cheerful note: his sense of humour and love of laughter. I have often wondered whether I would have been able to profit so much by Page 367 his guidance or even appreciate his "British doggedness he brought ...
... Source God Has a Sense of Humour Someone has asked me, "How is it possible for God to reveal Himself to an unbeliever?" That's very funny; because if it pleases God to reveal Himself to an unbeliever, I don't see what would prevent Him from doing so! On the contrary, He has a sense of humour—Sri Aurobindo has told us many times already that the Supreme has a sense of humour, that we are the ...
... at Darshan." Ever since it was always placed under his feet. I think I can now close this chapter with the sense of "something done". Here is what Sri Aurobindo has to say about the sense of humour: "Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance — it is unbalanced enough already — and rushed to blazes long ago." ... Aurobindo allowed us to forget that and we cut jokes with him on equal terms, the sense of his being our Guru was there. At certain places in this book, I have given some indication of his sense of humour. Here I shall reveal it further by citing instances from several sources and add my little bit to the gaiety of nations. The readers will also notice how any circumstance or situation could trigger ...
... thought which contains the entire seed of the “miracle” of true matter: 62.66 The sense of time disappears completely in ... an inner immobility. But an immobility in motion! With her usual sense of humour, Mother added, “If it goes on, I'll be locked up!” But we are the ones who are locked up, for undoubtedly these “lightning-fast waves” — which may well be electromagnetic waves or those of the... innumerable present. 69.127 And then I go to America, I go to Europe, I go ... all the time. I go to places in India. And all of that is work, work, work, but so living! And with such an amusing sense of humour! Things here are always cloaked in a number of clothes, it's never the exact thing, but there it's the exact thing. It's very interesting, you know: life stripped of its false appearance. People... corpse — since her experiences as a young woman in Tlemcen, which I have related elsewhere. 10 One day I asked her if one could have “the experience of death without dying”? With her usual sense of humour, she replied: 68.289 Surely! You can even have the experience materially if ... if death is brief enough not to give the doctors time to declare you dead! Needless to say, Mother had little ...
... very funny; because if it pleases God to reveal Himself to an unbeliever, I don't see what would prevent Him from doing so! On the contrary, He has a sense of humour—Sri Aurobindo has told us many times already that the Supreme has a sense of humour, that we are the ones who want to make Him into a grave and invariably serious character—and He may find it very amusing to come and embrace an unbeliever ...
... it merely expends the vital force for nothing. Humour and Seriousness Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance—it is unbalanced enough already—and rushed to blazes long ago. I am not aware that highly evolved personalities have no sense of humour or how the person can be said to be integrated when this sense is lacking; " ...
... least it was rather embarrassing to approach one graced by Saraswati, with a shining but stinking sweat-drenched body wearing the briefest of briefs. Especially so, since Amal Kiran's keen sense of humour was legendary. I tried my best to make the little intelligence I owned suffuse my face and Amal Kiran too, the gentleman that he was, refrained from making any painful pleasantry beyond... my case the word poetaster would perhaps be more appropriate) I already had first-hand experience — did he not make it possible for my immature efforts to see the light of day? As for his sense of humour and love of laughter I had heard stories galore. How his chance discovery that Sri Aurobindo enjoyed P.G. Wodehouse had pushed up his admiration for his Guru a farther notch or two. How ...
... Sri Aurobindo Archives and Research 1982, 64. × Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had an innate sense of humour. ‘Luckily Sri Aurobindo and I have met at this point’, the Mother would say afterwards. One of his aphorisms goes as follows: ‘To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never... passage quoted here, Sri Aurobindo sometimes even used strong language to make a point. ‘There is no law that wisdom should be something rigidly solemn and without a smile’, he wrote, and also: ‘Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence.’ × Sri Aurobindo and the Mother used the words ‘psyche’ and ‘psychic’ ...
... together, brother?' Ghastly! I don't really believe you can be contemplating anything so dreadful!" I sent this letter up to Gurudev inviting his opinion: Had sense of humour any place in Yoga at all? He wrote back the next morning: "Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance — it is unbalanced enough already — and rushed to blazes long ago ...
... When we were doing Book Three, The Book of the Divine Mother , in one of the paintings we had to show the Divine Mother in Aswapathy's heart. Here I cannot possibly forget the Mother's sense of humour, for I love it. She said: Now look! If we show the Supreme Mother's face in his heart, then surely people will think that Aswapathy had fallen in love with a woman. So I think it is better... immense joy to work with the Mother. I marvelled at her practicality, refinement, aesthetic sense—mere words cannot do justice to her aristocracy, nobility and greatness. I relished her sparkling sense of humour time and again. Unhappily, we could not publish Volume III of the Meditations on Savitri in August 1964, due to certain circumstances. After that it was decided by the Mother that instead ...
... Funny fellow, how could he forget what Savitri had come upon earth to do? And she laughed—I joined her. Her lively sense of humour appeared every now and then. Sri Aurobindo has written: I am not aware that highly evolved personalities have no sense of humour or how the person can be said to be integrated when this sense is lacking. 'Looseness ' applies only to a frivolous levity without ...
... it is a privilege to write on Amal, when asked to do so I hesitated because there are so many big people writing about his colossal knowledge, his generosity in literary help, his wonderful sense of humour, his capacity to laugh at himself, his cheerfulness and last but not the least, his formidable memory. I was just wondering what to write - not having even whispered it to anyone ... would turn back as if its prey did not exist at all. My drawer served as a tree to the receipt. Yours affectionately, Amal As you see, it illustrates Amal's wonderful sense of humour and his capacity to laugh at himself. But then it disproves his "formidable memory"! Well, I think, if Amal compares his memory to that of a Dinosaur's, then we'd better change our age-old ...
... appeal to Raihana has quite a seventeenth-century ring about it. Sense of humour ? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance—it is unbalanced enough already—and rushed to blazes long ago. I don't know how your Trailanga Swami managed to float on the Ganges without a sense of humour to sustain him—he must have had a terrible force of Tapasya. But perhaps ...
... rough Amrita, the General Manager of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He received my thanks with a smile. This was how I had his first contact. Afterwards we met and talked several times. His subtle sense of humour was something to be relished and remembered. Mostly he read out to the Mother my letters regarding Savitri- work. and other matters. In the sixties the white roses sent by the Mother... any angry Page 103 outbursts or revenge or abuse from him. That was the sweetest part of him—soft and tender and full of forgiveness. One cannot think of Amrita-da without his sense of humour. Suffering from severe heart ailment, he used to joke about it and say "My sweet Heart is giving me trouble". He would go for his hair-cut, with a bald head and hardly any hair. If asked "What ...
... stupidity at its worst. It is because the ass does not do what man wants him to do even under blows that he is taxed with stupidity. But really the ass behaves like that first because he has a sense of humour and likes to provoke the two-legged beast into irrational antics and secondly, because he finds that what man wants of him is quite a ridiculous and bothersome nuisance which ought not to be demanded... But what an idea, good heavens. A Yoga school—a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?), "interesting cases"! a spiritual clinic, what? What has happened to Barin's wits and especially to his sense of humour? Too much Statesman^! marriage? writing for a living? age? I open the book and come across a delicious misprint (page 60). "The wounded dear dripping blood passes its long and tortured path ...
... has happened to the common sense of all you people?" 28 On another occasion when Nirodbaran wrote to Sri Aurobindo: "I am much delighted and relieved to find that you have not lost your sense of humour by your Supramental transformation, Sir," Sri Aurobindo wrote back: "Where the deuce do you get these ideas? From Dilip? The supramental being the absolute of all good things, must equally... hope, blasphemous on our part to associate jollity with such a Mahayogi like Sri Aurobindo. For has he not himself assured us? - "I am not aware that highly evolved personalities have no sense of humour or how the person can be said to be integrated when this sense is lacking. 'Looseness' applies only to a frivolous levity without any substance behind it. There is no law that wisdom should be ...
... given below belong to all these categories. We have had enough of serious discussion; now, readers, we invite you to a 'logical' feast; relish the items presented below with your sharpened sense of humour. (1) The story is told about Wendell Phillips, the abolitionist [of slavery in the United States], who one day found himself on the same train with a group of Southern clergymen on their way... me dreadfully serious. NB: I am sorry I can't detect the adulteration of the Divine philosophy with persiflage. My medical appliance is hardly capable of doing it. Sri Aurobindo: A sense of humour (not grim) ought to be a sufficient appliance. NB: No doubt, I enjoy heartily the humour but I should like to be able to suck up the cream and give the rest its proper place. Sri Aurobindo: ...
... and you children like nothing better, I intend to tell you a story. I feel a little sense of guilt for pushing the Lord from our midst by this digression, but I hope He won't mind, for He has a sense of humour. The story is about a sadhak 2 who is half-baked and half-boiled, like the bun you receive in the Dining Hall; ungainly, charred, crusty, but with some soft stuff in the centre. He is a very... ordinary person like any one of you. He doesn't live in close oneness with nature. He is fond of good clothes, laughs, sometimes weeps; eats and sleeps like everybody else, has a good taste, a sense of humour, enjoys good food and tea. When invited by generous ladies, he is ready to taste rasagullas and pantuas 3 made by them. He enjoys good company, likes sweet faces, sudden graces. He has a bit ...
... But what an idea, good heavens! A Yoga school—a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?); interesting cases! a spiritual clinic, what? What has happened to Barin's wits and especially to his sense of humour? Too much Statesman ? marriage? writing for a living? age? 5 December 1934 You can write and tell her this is not a school and there are no students or correspondence system. It is an Asram ...
... pushing, pushing, pushing so that it may break. And the day it breaks, the day it opens, suddenly, you enter the psychic consciousness. And then you understand. And then, truly, if you have a sense of humour, you laugh; you realise your stupidity. Source Cut the Knot of the Ego Sweet Mother, what does the "knot of the ego" means? Knot? Oh! It is an image, you see. But it is ...
... a view to the punishment it is desired to inflict, or the greater ease of securing evidence, or the necessity of convicting when there is no evidence, the problem is probably determined by the sense of humour of the prosecuting Magistrate or by an aesthetic perception of the fitness of things. Generally the Swadeshi worker is charged with sedition or assault or breach of the peace or wishing to break ...
... of the orations was in the usual key of solemnity and the Association conducted itself with imperturbable seriousness–a feat of muscular self-control which should be put down to its credit. A sense of humour is an obstacle to success in life and the British nation has always avoided or controlled it, especially since the union with Scotland. It is, indeed, since the Scotchman became a member of the ...
... Mahomedan Nationalism sweeps across Morocco, Europe will have to reckon with no mean or contemptible people in the North West of Africa. Cook versus Peary It is with a somewhat sardonic sense of humour that we in India, whom that eminently truthful diplomat, Lord Curzon, once had the boldness to lecture on our mendacity and the superior truth of the Occidental, have watched the vulgar squabble ...
... Premanand used to boast that even if the Mother kicked him out of the Ashram he wouldn't leave Pondicherry, but remain around and near the Ashram. But, alas! Fate, with its peculiar sense of humour, made him leave on his own volition on account of an illness. Now to get back to Amal. One day, he had an attack of cold and fever, and I was asked to treat him. That was ...
... My poor Amrita You are perfectly ridiculous. Why do you attach so much importance to a statement which, at the worst, could be considered a bad joke? I DIDN’T. You must have a little more sense of humour. Those who take offence are always wrong, to say nothing of those who take revenge! August 1932 ...
... co-disciples of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (which, of course, is the most precious bond between us) we have many things in common, the two most notable being Philosophy and a boisterous sense of humour! We have spent many happy hours together in academic philosophical discussions and though we do not always see eye to eye the dialogue always remains non-polemical and never d ...
... "Supermind" which holds the original truth, the perfect model of every term of the cosmic evolutionary travail — all Page 13 through the challenges of his Yoga he had the liveliest sense of humour. The transcendental Bliss of the mystic in him he humanised into a laughter ready for any occasion. He has even joked unreservedly about himself. And his divine levity has often shot with sunshine ...
... was in place for lunch and dinner. I am not sure about breakfast. This title of Vandi-da was not inherited by R’s successors — Janardan and Damodar (Maharashtrian). May be people had lost their sense of humour and/or imagination. ...
... at the end, but – how to say this? – we are on the other side.’ 6 Even during the severest agonies she always kept her consciousness of the complex development, and she never lost her sense of humour nor her interest. This is what really appears superhuman to somebody who reads the available documents with openness and some insight. In fact, it was divine. ‘It is only divine Love which can ...
... the only origin or cause of laughter. I am not sure either, that some animals don’t laugh inwardly though they can’t do the outward thing, having no machinery for it! Some certainly have a sense of humour. Forgive me once more. But such things will not be repeated, I assure you, though my assurance reminds [me] of a villager who wrote to my grandfather on being dunned, “1 solemnly promise ...
... doubts like a dying lion." Page 298 To which Gurudev answered: "Good, especially because one must be the lamb of God before being His lion." And how Chadwick laughed! His English sense of humour and his mischievous chuckle always refreshed me after I had my fill of the sombre faces around me. It was thus that our affection grew through levity, music, poetry and day to day struggles with ...
... Kiran, meaning ‘The Clear Ray.’ (As most of his writings are published under the name K.D. Sethna, we will continue to use this name.) Sethna was ‘a brilliant philosophy graduate’ with a ready sense of humour and a broad ‘Renaissance mind.’ Besides his countless writings about Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and their yoga, he has published books on comparative religion, Christianity, the origin of the Aryans ...
... July 22, 1967 I told you there is someone here learning French (and learning it very well, I must say) whom I answered with a joke to see if he had a sense of humour. And the next day he in turn sent me a joke! "In the work of transformation, who is slower in doing his work, man or God?" My answer: "To man, God is too slow in answering his prayer ...
... aspiration for progress and the result of the aspiration were both the divine Grace, the effect of the divine Grace.... So I thought, "Well, let me see if he knows French well enough to have a sense of humour." And I replied this: "One could say humorously that we are all divine but scarcely know it, and it is just what in us does not know it or is unaware of being divine that we call ourselves!" ...
... amusing! All the ancient religions—the Egyptian, the Tyrian, the Scandinavian gods ...—and then the new religions. They would all quarrel with each other! It's a pity, men have too little sense of humour! Otherwise we could have great fun. It's a wonderful remedy. We could arrange guided tours, just like Cook's tours (!) We would have a tour of religions, with all the statues and monuments. ...
... was quite a character. A calculating worldly-wise strain bordered the basic spiritual aspirant in him and I rather piquantly flashed it out without really submerging the latter. I imagine his sense of humour enjoyed the double disclosure. Along with the pair of paintings I did of two poems of mine, the sketches of myself and my student are the sole signs today of my life as the Mother's earliest artist ...
... very aching attacks of lumbago caused by muscular atrophy" due to that experience - all this saddens me very much. But I am glad to see that your faith and courage are always present and even a sense of humour gleams out. That sense reminds me of something I said in my Talks on Poetry, a copy of which you received some months back with the most touching gratitude. I tell my students that I am being ...
... would himself wake up and look all around in extreme astonishment, (laughter) But I really admire the simplicity, the sincerity, the 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 ...
... if to himself and his highly shuffling gait, one would hardly think that here was an example of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga fully practised with nothing at all of self-importance. He had also a good sense of humour—an indispensable trait for anybody who wished to hobnob with Amal Kiran. And I was happy and proud to find that he had great trust in my judgment. People have noted that when he was at the ...
... with Sri Aurobindo on Savitri , in the early stages of its composition. I was privileged to read Savitri with Amal, whose wonderfully alert mind, rhythmic recitation and remarkable sense of humour filled the hours with a unique joy. Unfortunately, we could read Savitri only up to the end of Ashwapathy's Yoga due to his convalescence. But it is reassuring to see him cheerful as ...
... his original and my translation to him, you know what he commented? He said, it was difficult to differentiate between the original and the translation! Such was his charming modesty and unique sense of humour." The year 1914 comes to Amrita's memory thus: "On July 28 of this very year the First World War broke out. On August 15 the first issue of the Arya saw the light of day in English and French ...
... Mother smiled and said: Why, but she can always cover her head when the sari slips. In the first picture the sari had slipped and in another picture she has pulled it up! I savoured her sense of humour. The Mother was very particular about covering. I remember that one day while I was working my sari got disarranged. She arranged it and advised me: Child, you should always cover ...
... unless you can do better than the one you want to criticise; XXXIII. Cultivate in youself those qualities which you want others to cultivate; XXXIV. Perception of one's defects with a sense of humour and without depression; XXXV. To learn to speak only what is necessary; XXXVI. Perils of laziness; XXXVII.Changing and transformation of human nature; XXXVIII.Human limitations; ...
... place for more than 40 years, speaking to all who would listen. 2 He acquired a unique reputation as a great teacher. Behind his philosophy and strict ethics he is described as having a quiet sense of humour and as being affectionate and devoted to his disciples. Although gifts of land and buildings were offered to him by his followers, he appears to have had no settled dwelling place. Near the age ...
... about 5 feet, 8 inches tall; he had a shock of unruly grey hair, wore glasses, and was hard of hearing. But there was more to him than met the eye. He possessed a sharp Irish tongue and a wry sense of humour. Although he was precisely the same age as Jesse's own father, he seemed boundlessly enthusiastic and energetic. "I grew to admire and respect his words and his actions and everything else," the ...
... concerned beyond a tolerable limit. This third element is very important, for in its absence a contrary feeling like sorrow or sympathy will arise to occupy our psychological field and the sense of humour will for the moment completely evaporate. We have seen too that the said sense of sudden exultation or its polar opposite, - a sense of unexpected frustration, - may be induced in the reader ...
... the earth-binding ceases, the soul is free. Cf. St. Paul, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" I am much delighted and relieved to .find that you have not lost your sense of humour by your Supramental transformation, Sir! Where the deuce do you get these ideas? From Dilip? The Supra-mental being the absolute of all good things, must equally be the absolute of humour also ...
... yoga. That's the only thing for which their physiological apparatus works? I fear there are other things both in male and female which are not essential desiderata for Yoga. Apart from all sense of humour—I have never said that Yoga or that this Yoga is a safe and easy path—what I say is that anyone who has the will to go through can go through. For the rest if you aim high, there is always the ...
... repeating "I am nothing, let me be full of sin," – also one should not be swell-headed about it. Really speaking, it is absence of arrogance – humility is not a good word. Disciple : Has the sense of humour a place in spiritual perfection ? Sri Aurobindo : If the siddha never laughs it is an imperfection. (incomplete) Page 243 ...
... Don't bother about all that. Who knows yoga? Who knows if you have spiritual capacity or not ? To bother our heads about capacity will end us in ruin. Let us do our work and be cheerful with some sense of humour - that is very necessary, very necessary indeed. Otherwise we'll make asses of ourselves. But yes, I was tellingyou, all this is a past story, ladies and gentlemen. You have no difficulties ...
... 'a luminous laughter'. The English say that humour is the salt Page 85 of life. And certainly human folly makes God laugh endlessly. My eldest maternal uncle too was full of a fine sense of humour. He laughed a lot and easily and could make friends with one and all. He used to tease me by calling me 'O my England-educated nephew, O greatest of scholars, O learned judge!' When I used to visit ...
... be his particular bent, we saw that he did his own work like a karmayogi, in a genuine spirit of service to the Master whom he always addressed as Sir. His talks with Sri Aurobindo showed his sense of humour, his insight into philosophy, politics and mysticism. Sri Aurobindo seemed to like his company, his quiet devotion, in spite of his constantly grumbling against the integral Yoga and the Supermind ...
... of the puritan ( the prurient, 8 as he called it); it was just that he was "elsewhere," and his world was replete. He even had a way of jesting with a straight face, which never left him: Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance – it is unbalanced enough already – and rushed to a blaze long ago. 9 For there is also Sri Aurobindo ...
... and that object is the external action of life as it passes before him throwing its figures on his mind and stirring it to a kindly satisfaction in the movement and its interest, to a blithe sense of humour or a light and easy pathos. He does not seek to add anything to it or to see anything below it or behind its outsides, nor does he look at all into the souls or deeply into the minds of the ...
... reason: individuals too do the same. If they call in their reason, it is as a lawyer to plead the vital's cause. 87 In another letter, he stressed the importance of humour: Sense of humour? It is the salt of existence. Without it the world would have got utterly out of balance - it is unbalanced enough already - and rushed to blazes long ago. 88 And sometimes Sri Aurobindo's ...
... ts - were then concentrated at Calcutta. Curzon could do nothing, say nothing, but it was noticed and commented upon, and criticised when necessary. For an Englishman, Curzon alas! had little sense of humour, and he was thus quick to take offence and feel his august majesty wounded. He concluded that the free spirit of criticism, the dangerous sanctions of nationalism, the newly sharpened weapons of ...
... named them Evening Talks , and Nirodbaran Talks with Sri Aurobindo . There are Bengali translations of some of them. What we enjoyed most in these talks was Sri Aurobindo’s exceptional sense of humour and wit. Stories, anecdotes, unknown incidents of his life with his brothers in England, etc. — a rich and delectable fund of conversation giving us a new experience of many aspects of the Master ...
... terrified, because I saw and felt, She drew me a little into the “movement” of her cells and, well…. To traverse that, one needs to make real fun of it, with Sri Aurobindo’s great irony or Mother’s sense of humour, or to desperately want something else. Then if it all breaks, it does not matter. In 1969, the picture was becoming rather “clear” (but the picture of what , we do not know). For the Force to ...
... title, he declared, belonged to France; England much more resembled Corinth, a commercial state, and therefore unattractive to him." A. A. Ghose had a keenness of perception salted with a sense of humour. "If the Athenians were mushrooms," he wrote picturesquely, "and the lowland Scotch are oaks, the mushroom is preferable. To be slow and solid is the pride of the Saxon and the ox, but to be quick ...
... of the reports we have our doubts, for the Bengali gentleman who reports for our contemporary is afflicted with the idea that he is very humorous, and there is nothing so fatal to accuracy as a sense of humour. We would not object to this amiable delusion, or the particular style of the reporter's wit, if it did not so persistently recall to us the imperial citizen of the British metropolis out on a ...
... the whole world laughs at him in utter contempt and calls him a fool. There are two things that his English education and his reading of Morley have not given him—the sense of history and the sense of humour. And when a proclamation descends like thunder and shatters all his pretentious nonsense to slivers, he clings nevertheless to his illusion and blames the Extremist for having brought on the c ...
... that is enjoyed by Canada. The wonderful allegory of the fur-coat, though hardly giving us an encouraging indication of any power of imagination or perception, of any historical insight, of any sense of humour or relevancy on the part of its author, certainly furnishes abundant Page 729 proof of his ill-natured impatience of the generous ideal that the labour leader cherishes for the people ...
... Lady" has been saved from the re-typing the Oct. instalment. Some tonic for the memory is needed - to save it from getting Nirodianly Supramentalised at such a young age! I relished his sense of humour. I like his company, be-cause he has treasures of knowledge, he has a wonderful understanding, consideration, and a broad mind. The adjectives to describe him are not enough. Page 60 ...
... Bombay. Tall, slim, fair, with attractive features, he would be noticeable, in any case, among many others but his deformed leg would make one look at him with sympathy. Not in the least! His sense of humour, his vast knowledge, his alertness of mind, quick thinking and stuttering while speaking enhanced his charm and drew many towards him, especially his charming smile attracted the ladies. ...
... others. Mastery: motivated chiefly by ideals, such as Truth, Goodness and Beauty, sense of meaning and purpose in life; poise and centredness; deep sense of security and serenity; great sense of humour; understanding and acceptance of others. Those familiar with the psychology of yoga would readily detect the correspondence between Panic, Inertia, Striving, Coping, and Mastery on one hand ...
... Ashram doctor, as abundantly illustrated in his Correspondence With Sri Aurobindo ; in this correspondence, Sri Aurobindo, generally considered grave and unapproachable, showed a scintillating sense of humour and suddenly started writing in an unusual confidential tone to the amazement of his correspondent. Nirodbaran, probably awed by D.K. Roy, K.D. Sethna and others, developed literary and more ...
... contrary, everything feels like a pleasant experience and even a great happiness. Many see themselves outside their (material) body. In a flash their past actions are reviewed tactfully and with a sense of humour, and then they enter a tunnel and are attracted by a warm, loving light; in that light, they discern a Being of light, waiting to take them onwards. All this is accompanied with a ‘mystical’ feeling ...
... about her when stepping down from the pavement into the traffic: only at the last moment did she avoid being hit and run over by a tram, the driver swearing at her – or, as she said with her usual sense of humour, ‘paying me his compliments.’ She Who is Speaking to You … Let me be Thy herald among men … 27 – The Mother Most of the documents about the life of Mirra during those years ...
... stupidity at its worst. It is because the ass does not do what man wants him to do even under blows, that he is taxed with stupidity. "But really, the ass behaves like that first because he has a sense of humour and likes to provoke the two-legged beast into irrational antics; and secondly, because he finds that what man wants of him is quite a ridiculous and bothersome nuisance which ought not to be demanded ...
... A man in the early sixties, with a flowing white beard and of an imposing appearance, he has a high opinion of himself. Murari, in the late forties, owns a similar 'tol' and is gifted with a sense of humour. Roma is a young widow of about twenty-five who, though poor and ekes out a bare living by spinning, comes of a good Brahmin family and was brought up in an atmosphere of culture and learning for ...
... Synthesis of Yoga , is: ‘All life is yoga.’ × Sri Aurobindo and the Mother both had a ready sense of humour. They could rarely express it, however, because most of the disciples lacked this sense, and as they took all Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s words literally and their acts seriously, what was of ...
... operation. Mina had complete faith in the Mother and knew how to be patient. Little Page 113 "howlers" were taken by her as part of the day's work. With her overflowing sense of humour she would laugh at her own occasional verbal misfires. I am sure she will not mind my citing one of the instances which provoked her own hilarity. She had presented to the Mother a beautiful ...
... has been saved from re-typing the Oct. instalment. Some tonic for the memory is needed - to save it from getting Nirodianly supramentalised at such a young age! I relished his sense of humour. I like his company, because he has treasures of knowledge; he has a wonderful understanding, consideration, and a broad mind. The adjectives to describe him are not enough. Page 226 ...
... the standard translation … He it was who had first taken Hitler under his wing in the Party … Eckart has always been one of my favourites, a big bear of a man with sparkling eyes and a genuine sense of humour.” 123 Eckart made the existential choice to try out the realization of world-negation in the world. We will follow him there for a while. × ...
... bodily change.’ 21 (Amrita had been among the first followers of Sri Aurobindo; later on, he would become one of the secretaries of the Ashram. He was loved by everybody and had an ever ready sense of humour.) In March 1935 Nirodbaran wrote to Sri Aurobindo: ‘I firmly believed that death was impossible here … You said, I hear, that you have conquered Death, not only personally, but for others as ...
... object, and that object is the visible action of life as it passes before him throwing its figures on his mind and stirring it to a kindly satisfaction in the movement and its interest, a blithe sense of humour or a light and easy pathos. He does not seek to add anything to it or to see anything below it or behind its outsides. He is not concerned to look at all into the souls or deeply into the minds ...
... order proper to the sattwic civilised human being who governs his life by the reason, the finer emotions, morality or at least moral ideals, such as truth, obedience, cooperation and harmony, the sense of humour, the sense of domestic and public order, to establish this in a world still occupied by anarchic forces, the Animal Mind and the powers of the vital Ego making its own satisfaction the rule of ...
... of a beautiful and "loving" darshan and others who describe it in a similar tone. From which I conclude that the quality of the object lies in the eye of the seer—নানা মত নানা মুনির. 1935 Sense of Humour The Divine may be difficult, but his difficulties can be overcome if one keeps at Him. Even my smilelessness was overcome which Nevinson had remarked with horror more than twenty years before—"the ...
... pushing so that it may break. And the day it breaks, the day it opens, suddenly, you enter the psychic consciousness. And then you understand. And then, Page 332 truly, if you have a sense of humour, you laugh; you realise your stupidity. Mother, you said one day that before being able to identify oneself with the Divine, one must first become an individual. Yes, well, that's it, exactly ...
... adultery with God is the perfect experience for which the world was created. I do not understand this Aphorism. This is the most perfect way in which Sri Aurobindo, with his marvellous sense of humour, could ridicule human morality. This sentence is a whole satire in itself. 21 March 1970 ...
... II The Ways of Working of the Lord The Divine's Grace is wonderful and almighty. And the ways of working of the Lord are full of a delightful sense of humour... Be always ready to receive the Divine, for He may visit you at any moment. And if sometimes He makes you wait at the appointed meeting-place, that is certainly no reason for you yourself ...
... the gods were able to accept only the pleasant burden of His love and kindlier rapture. Page 243 To understand rightly what Sri Aurobindo truly means, one must know the wonderful sense of humour in his way of thinking. 16 August 1969 So the gods are cowards! Then where is their greatness and splendour? Why do we worship inferior beings? And the Titans must be the most lovable ...
... ridiculous. Please save India from the Indians and make us worthy of your grace. The Divine's Grace is wonderful and almighty. And the ways of working of the Lord are full of a delightful sense of humour... Love and blessings. 6 March 1966 Mother, The Labour Inspector is coming to visit our Blanchisserie at 8:30 today. If we employ 20 men or more, Page 278 we come ...
... , I began to smile (I did not laugh, but I began to smile) and there came the same peace as in the morning. There you are. "The Lord knows best what he is doing", with his most perfect sense of humour. And immediately everything became calm. Page 404 × On August 15, Sri Aurobindo's birthday, Mother gave ...
... is the maximum use of all possibilities and all impossibilities, all capacities and all incapacities; a maximum use in a maximum power and a maximum Compassion, and then... a smile! A smile, a sense of humour, oh!... Such a benevolent irony, so full of compassion, so wonderful.... And this presumptuous mind, which is an incredible phenomenon indeed: it spends its time judging what it doesn't know and ...
... with one paw and catching it again with the other; it's exactly the same movement with words. It's someone having fun. You know who the "someone" is(!) Sometimes, it has such an extraordinary sense of humour, with such subtlety—he just picks up the slightly ridiculous side of the person who wrote or asked the question, then answers with imperturbable seriousness. Admirable! ( Mother tidies her ...
... immediately started smiling (I didn't laugh, but started smiling), and there came the same peace as in the morning. That's all. The Lord knows better what He is doing ... with his most perfect sense of humour. And everything calmed down right away. I felt like laughing, but I smiled. You were at your doorway? No, I was inside and looking through the window, because the street was full of people ...
... don't know, something expressing that both of us had been united in "the love for the Supreme Lord." And I said it like that, with a smile, which means it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke with his sense of humour.... His face relaxed and he left. ( After a long meditation, Mother, still deep within and half in trance, starts speaking: ) Did you feel anything special?... Because the last two or ...
... , in the purity of the deep soul. Sri Aurobindo says in The Future Poetry that Chaucer was content to note outward life with chiefly a stir in himself of "a kindly satisfaction..., a blithe sense of humour or a light and easy pathos." The apparent traits of character are described with aptness and vividness, but mostly no phrase probes into the profundities of them. Chaucer's job is to present life ...
... realize the tricks the writer is up to. And, if we care to look up the context of this hilarious outburst, we shall gather at the same time how utterly lacking in a sense of humour is Mr. Alvares and how utterly absent is even a moron's perceptiveness in this self-appointed authority on literary style no less than philosophy and science ...
... smiled and said: Why, but she can always cover her head when the sari slips from her head In the first picture the sari had slipped and in another picture she pulled it up! I savoured her sense of humour. The Mother was very particular about covering. One day I remember, while I was working my sari got disarranged. She arranged it and advised: Child, you should always cover yourself properly ...
... at these our foes; even infant hands may seize their weapons, it is with such feats of war that they seek to win thee from my hands! - Canto VII. 67 This speaks also of a sense of humour in Aja as well as his desire to show his heroism to his newly wedded wife, Indumatī, who in turn appreciated the valour of her newly wedded husband, not directly, but through the lips of her maids ...
... Manilal as his human supports, much less incongruous than the ungainly wooden instruments! That was how the re-education started. The paradox of the Divine seeking frail human aid gave food to my sense of humour. However, both men proved unequal in stature; the Mother made Champaklal replace Satyendra on the left side. Now the arrangement was just and perfect and Champaklal had his aspiration fulfilled ...
... sadhika, was our captain; she was training a few beginners like me in the tennis court. We often committed comical mistakes; but she was very considerate and patient with us, and we relished her sense of humour. ...
... the monthly periodical. All his readers eargerly wait for its next instalment. Here is a random passage extracted from one of his letters, which shows in an exquisite way K.D.S.’s mild irony, sense of humour and extent of scholarship: “I tried to picture myself ‘bristling with rage and resentmentcum-indignation’froth and fury’. It is almost a human edition of Shakespeare’s ‘fretful porpentine’ ...
... humour has a profound connection with physiological states and that a surprising number of patients have laughed themselves back to health, as Cousins did, or at any rate have exploited their sense of humour as a positive, adaptive response to their illnesses. In fact, a link between humour and longevity has been established. Further, laughter has a definite anaesthetic effect, revealing a kind ...
... have the effect of making me dreadfully serious. I am sorry I can't detect the adulteration of the Divine philosophy with persiflage. My medical appliance is hardly capable of doing it. A sense of humour (not grim) ought to be a sufficient appliance. No doubt, I enjoy heartily the humour but I should like to be able to suck up the cream and give the rest its proper place. The cream = the ...
... Part II. It is now reprinted by Sri Mira Trust, Pondicherry under its new title. Preface There is a common belief that yogis and saints are grave and reserved by nature. They have no sense of humour. Sri Ramakrishna was probably the first among them who is known to have shattered this false notion. Sri Aurobindo was revered and accepted as a great yogi, philosopher and poet, but was considered ...
... don't throw all caution to the winds ? Sri Aurobindo replied (I hope you'll understand His humour. One thing I find, I appreciate one thing in you all - that you've grown into a sense of humour. Thanks to us!): You must on no account return here before your heart has recovered. No doubt, death must not be feared, but neither should death or permanent ill-health be invited ...
... joined to that other." Mysticism is not all eccentricity and irrationality: on the contrary, sanity seems to be the very character of the higher mysticism. And it is this sanity, and even a happy sense of humour accompanying it, that makes the genuine mystic teacher say: "It is no mastery to me for to say it, but for to do it there is mastery." Amen. Page 124 ...
... by their writings. His was the mind of a meditative thinker. His thought was wide in its range, rich in knowledge, he had insight and inner experience. And all this he could combine with a fine sense of humour which did not, however, as in the case of others always explode in laughter. Nor did his appearance belie his mental stature; he was a kara-sadrsa-prajña, a tall figure of a man. One would often ...
... Turban 26 of a certain "near Page 116 dustbin." Robert suggested a cerebral virus that would suddenly make all the leaders of the world gaga — not too bad, if the Divine had a sense of humour. But dash it, let's have done with all that! It would come in the nick of time for our Shola which is vanishing at top speed into little piled up logs at four rupees a kilo. Nothing new, as ...
... and death to them—let's see, let's look at it straight in the face, let's be a little serious ” [and She laughed and laughed] And it's all right, the balance is still there! 58 Oh! that sense of humour which saved her from the revolting stupidity she was showered with. But sometimes, when the general doubt came and assailed her, in front of her body’s impotence, She had a cry: Lots of people ...
... a month was, well, Rs. 400 a month. The times were dangerous. Before his disappearance, the threat of arrest had been hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. But Arabindo Babu's sense of humour was irrepressible. The Pallivarta of 25 January 1910 wrote a longish article, quoting extensively from the Karmayogin. We give a few points. "Mr. Aravinda Ghose has recently received an ...
... sometimes his anticipation of their strategic moves and the consequences that would ensue, or his own suggestions about the courses that could be followed. And all this came enlivened with a sense of quiet humour that made the grimness of the War itself appear light, even an enjoyable game of forces. On 29.12.40 Savarkar gave a speech in which he said that the British could not be defeated. Sri Aurobindo... discussed with us, as will be evident from the book Talks with Sri Aurobindo , as though we were all keen-sighted states-men and generals; and the talks were usually enlivened by Sri Aurobindo's genial humour. In these talks he imparted to us a clear vision of the issues at stake, but never imposed his views. When we dared to differ or failed to follow him, he patiently explained to us where we were wrong... Aurobindo had come to initiate and establish on the earth. And the victory of Hitler's Germany would mean not only the end of civilisation, but also the death of that great possibility. It is in this sense I have called this War a modern Kurukshetra. Let us then go back to the crucial year 1938 when dark war-clouds were gathering and rumblings were heard all over Europe. There was a strong possibility ...
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