Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1936

Letter ID: 1600

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

April 12, 1936

I have resumed R’s treatment. Yes, I meant “S’s baptism” by R as well as his hooliganism on the rickshaw-wala. Why, surely you have heard of it? No connection with the treatment? What connection was there between R and the rickshaw-wala? but the incident occurred!

Well, as for S the surprising thing is that nobody baptised him before. R says, I hear, that he jumped on the ricksha-wala in order to save N from battle, murder and sudden death, and N ungratefully misreported the whole affair!! But R has always been a violent man with much of the character of the adventurer as I wrote to you once,– so the things you write don’t surprise me. However, he has not (yet, at least) beaten David’s¹ mother or baptised the Vice President’s wife – or even Amaladasan. So I hope that a certain amount of non-connection can be expected when he is treating a case.

Since we are talking about R, let me relate another incident. S had borrowed my copy of Anami and then came and avowed that R had taken it from him and never returned it. When asked, R flatly denied. He also took S’s Chambers’s dictionary. I myself have seen that it is S’s for he had underlined many words in it, as is his practice. I am really amazed!

What is there amazing? My experience is that in India more people than not keep the books of others and feel under no obligation to return them.

But could it be that S himself presented it to R and at the last moment drew back due to some hitch? But S is not the man to present anybody with anything. A riddle, Sir!

Quite possible. S is capable of anything, so is R. The difference in that respect between them is that R has a good side to him and that he is conscious of the large share in himself of what he calls “the pig and tiger instincts”.

By the way, what does your newspaper say about Abyssinia? It seems to be sinking into the abyss. Another black country swallowed by the whites? Prayers, entreaties to God, of no avail! The devils are too strong for God? What?

Why all this sentimental fury? This and worse has been happening ever since mankind replaced and improved on the ape and the tiger. So long as men are what they are, these things will happen. What do you expect God to do about it? The Abyssinians have conquered others, Italy conquers the Abyssinians, other people have conquered the Italians and they will probably be sat upon again hereafter. It is the Law, sir, and the Great Wheel and everything else. Keep your head cool in the heat. If you want to change things, you will have to change humanity first and I can assure you you will find it a job. Yes, even to change 150 people in an Ashram and get them to surmount their instincts.

You will perhaps say that justice and retribution will come in time.

Good Lord, why should I say such things? Was I ever a moralist or a preacher? Justice was never the determinative factor in a war.

S the head mason is having a headache and vomiting for the last two years. Seems to be due to dietetic indiscretion, but queer that it persists so long...

Probably persistence due to want of dieting. But impossible to diet a Tamilian – too many spices and things.

If you advise any treatment here, we can try to cure his constipation by a mild laxative, and liver by Lithinée.

Lithinée probably too mild for such a case. Are there no specific medicines from France with Pavitra – you might ask him.

¹ Mayor of Pondicherry.

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