Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 2. 1938

Letter ID: 2234

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

November 12, 1938

[Sri Aurobindo and the Mother]

“Which poem?” indeed! My poem I requested you to rewrite, Sir!

Oh that! It is still in cold storage. No flame as yet for cooking it.

“I gain the summit of thy loneliness

In whose vast spaces like an eagle I dwell

And drink from thy Spirit-cup a measureless

Delight, O Mystery inscrutable!”

– I hope you won’t say, “Drink like an eagle?”

I am afraid I have to – an eagle drinking in vast spaces from a cup is too extraordinary a phenomenon.

By the way, I am surprised to see that in spite of 3 marginal lines over the whole poem, you call it only “very fine”. Not a mysterious remark?

How is it mysterious? What do you expect three lines to come to then? Damn fine? That would be Shakespeare.

You seem to have told Doraiswamy that nobody has told you anything about Tripura. How is that? In yesterday’s report there was her condition stated!

[Mother:] I never said such a thing to Duraiswami. I simply asked him how Tripura was to-day.

Venkatram and Nagin continue the soup. Is it necessary?

[Mother:] They might be asked if they still want it.