Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

15 December 1938

The Mother came. Dr. Savoor also had called.

Nirodbaran (to Dr. Savoor): When you give a homoeopathic medicine, how do you select it? By intuition? And how do you know that your intuition is correct?

Dr. Savoor: Intuition by its very definition means something not obtained by logical reasoning; so it must be correct.

Nirodbaran (to Sri Aurobindo): You told me that Dr. Ramachandra uses mental intuition. So there must be various levels of intuition.

Sri Aurobindo: By mental intuition I mean that the intuition coming from above gets mixed with the mind. I don’t say that mental intuition must be incorrect but because of the mixture it can’t always be relied upon. There is also vital intuition, which very often gets mixed up with one’s desires.

Nirodbaran: How is one to get intuition? By calmness of mind?

Sri Aurobindo: Calmness is not enough. The mind must become silent.

Nirodbaran: Then it will take a long time.

Sri Aurobindo: Can’t say. It may take a short or a long time.

Nirodbaran: But it won’t be possible to keep the silence until one has realised the Spirit.

Sri Aurobindo: One can train one’s mind to be silent.

Dr. Savoor took his leave and, as the Mother lapsed into meditation, we all tried to do the same. Then after she left about 7 p.m., we collected round Sri Aurobindo. He looked once or twice at Dr. Manilal.

Nirodbaran: Dr. Manilal is beaming today.

Dr. Manilal: Couldn’t meditate well, Sir, because I have lumbago. But I felt some vibration at the back and felt happy.

Nirodbaran: That must be the Kundalini!

Dr. Manilal: I don’t believe in it. Is this vibration the Force, Sir?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. It was trying to cure your lumbago perhaps and the first sign was a little aggravation. (Laughter) You don’t believe in the Kundalini?

Dr. Manilal: No, Sir.

Sri Aurobindo: But you were telling us about your experience of ascent and descent.

Dr. Manilal: Was it an experience of the Kundalini? I didn’t know it. (Laughter) But the Kundalini is not in the line of our Yoga and you haven’t mentioned about it anywhere.

Purani: Oh yes he has, in Lights on Yoga.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. The Kundalini is, of course, a Tantric idea. The Shakti lying coiled in the Muladhara Chakra awakes, rises up and carries the consciousness upward, opening all the Chakras up to the Brahmarandhra and then meets the Brahman and after that the descent begins. The Tantric process is more technical.

It is curious to see the action of the Force in some cases. Some feel as if a drilling were being done in the brain. Some can’t keep the Force in: they sway from side to side, make peculiar sounds. I remember one practising Pranayama rigorously and making horrible sounds. I didn’t hear of his getting any good results. Sometimes the Force raises up what lies below in order to be able to deal with it.