Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1935

Letter ID: 1300

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

April 3, 1935

You seem to think that epilepsy and insanity are due to possession by evil spirits. [Reference to patient T.]

I don’t think – I know it is so. Epilepsy however is not possession,– it is an attack or at most a temporary seizure. Insanity always indicates possession.

I read in a paper that in England a woman is curing people possessed by spirits. She claims to cure ailments caused by these spirits. Possible?

It is quite possible.

How do you then explain hereditary contributions as in epilepsy and other like illnesses?

The hereditary conditions create a predisposition. It is not possible for a vital Force or Being to invade or take possession unless there are doors open for it to enter. The door may be a vital consent or affinity or a physical defect in the being.

Is T’s condition due to one of these forces?

Perhaps. It is not a possession but a pressure.

Tomorrow, we hear, is the anniversary of your arrival day. Give some blessings, please.

Plenty of them.

We shall enjoy a little innocent feast of “Khichuri”¹ by way of observing the occasion. I hope you won’t mind.

I have no objection, but is it at J’s that the cooking is done? K is complaining bitterly of cooking operations there and is much disturbed by them.

¹ Preparation of rice and pulse.

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