Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 2. 1938

Letter ID: 2059

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

March 16, 1938

[Sri Aurobindo and the Mother]

“Shine on their path O star-hearted Dawn

With your gold-crested sun

The quest of dumb centuries burn upon

Their dim flame-pinion.”

This stanza is no good, I think.

The first two lines are all right, the last two not. It is a devil of a job to get a true rhyme for dawn! and a true rhyme is badly needed here. “drawn” “fawn” “pawn” “lawn” “sawn” – none will do, not even Bernard-Shawn. Got a stroke of genius with a hell of a compound adjective. For the rest I have sandwiched some of your words in here and there and got out a something. I think it does well as a close.

Shine on their path, O high-hearted Dawn;

Let your gold-crested sun

Crown the dumb quest of centuries dim-withdrawn

With its flame-union.

I understand S is taking mercury ointment for a long time. I hope she is not using it continuously.

[Mother:] For what is she taking the ointment? and who is giving it to her? Is it not better to stop it?

Guru, Mother is supposed to have said to X that I am one of those who have done harm to him. I would like to know how so that I may correct myself in the future... My impression was quite the contrary, for I thought he felt lonely, so he should ask Mother for permission to come for tea in the morning and how much he should associate himself with me. If he wants to come, I should at least be careful not to harm him.

Mother never said anything of the kind about you. On the contrary she has always approved of his going to you because you give him a physical support, encourage him to eat, etc. What she said was about Y (she has told Y himself to that effect) because of his wrong ideas, advocacy of all kinds of self-will and self-indulgence, etc., and recently to X himself about Z.