Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1. 1936
A is suffering from chronic dysentery. Shall we give emetine injections?
Mother does not favour emetine, it is not without its disadvantages, at least from our point of view.
Please read C’s letter regarding M.S.’s opinion on your philosophy. But I don’t understand how a man who is supposed to be an authority on your Yogic philosophy can compare your Yoga with Ramakrishna’s!
In a way he is, i.e. he is an authority on his own ideas about my Yogic philosophy. But from whom can you expect more than that?
Yes, but he is an authority on my philosophy, not on my Yoga. There is a difference.
Why, Sir, G’s reports not so clear? Judging from the pathological reports alone [3.1.36] the change is nothing short of a miracle, leaving out the possibility of an intercurrent affection which might take him away.
I am interested to see today that Valle pronounces “a perfect cure” – according to R, heart and pulse normal at 70-72, blood tension normal, oedema of feet, chill and headache gone, while kidney of interstitial nephritis of 8 years standing cured, urinary symptoms normal, enough vitality to walk on verandah and attend business freely, solid food from tomorrow. He has asked R to look in now and again – perhaps to be sure that solid food does not upset him. But all the same this is more than I expected as yet, though not more than I tried for – for one should always in these things have moderate expectations but a big endeavour. I don’t overlook the possibility of a fall back or a sudden catastrophe by a reverse movement; but if he can stand normal diet and not go to excess again, he may live longer than was at all probable on any rational forecast before. Let us see.
But there is chronic heart-failure, and a chronic high pressure has altered the condition of the vessels so that a normal healthy life is impossible...
That is not impossible to alter. It is doubtful because G is not a favourable subject and sheer matter (this is a very material degeneration) is not yet conquered. But all the same I have myself been surprised by the massive rapidity and scrupulous exactness (an unusual combination) of G’s responses in this rather extravagant experiment. It is why I gave much of the credit to R’s mediumship and the rapid action (that I find undeniable) of his drugs.
Too many dogs of depression, Sir, too many! And not only dogs, but cats and jackals and a host of other friends have made my life a misery!
Why are you so fond of this menagerie as to keep it with you? Turn them out into the street. Or, if that is not charitable to others, drown them in the sea. Don’t shake your sorrowful head and say it is easier to say than to do. It is quite possible. It is only the Man of Sorrows that prevents it.