Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

14 January 1939

Sri Aurobindo began the talk, suddenly breaking his silence.

Sri Aurobindo: There is something nice for you, Purani.

Purani: For me?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. A letter has come from America. It is addressed to Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The writer thinks the Ashram is a person. He writes, “I have heard that you are a great Yoga. I am also a Yoga. I have started to predict sporting events. I can go into trance and know everything. If you agree to work in collaboration with me, we will share the profits. Let me know your terms. If you don’t want to take the money yourself, you can give it to the poor. Our collaboration will be a service to yourself, to me and to the poor.” (Laughter)

What do you say, Purani? You too can go into trance or send Nirodbaran into trance.

Nirodbaran: He will find me a hard nut!

Purani: If he goes into trance, I fear he may not come out looking at the heap of dollars.

Nirodbaran: And Purani will perhaps come out looking at it?

Purani: No objection to sharing the profits – but no sharing of the losses!

Sri Aurobindo: All kinds of half-crazy people write from everywhere. I wonder how they get our address.

Satyendra: It must be from the magazine in which Anilbaran wrote an article.

Sri Aurobindo: It may be the article, and perhaps Anilbaran wrote “Sri Aurobindo Ashram” under it, and people thought the Ashram a person.

Satyendra: The magazine in which he wrote is published by the Institute. Its founder has made good business in America. His work is a combination of business and Yoga.

Purani: Is it possible to predict sporting events?

Satyendra: I know of an astrologer who made a lot of predictions about a cousin of mine, but most of them didn’t come true.

Sri Aurobindo: I had a remarkable experience at Baroda. It was not of astrology, but of thought-reading. My house-manager Chhotalal took me to an astrologer. The man asked me to prepare four questions in my mind. One of the questions came and passed very swiftly through my mind and I hardly formulated it. But he not only read the other three questions but even this which had as good as escaped me. On the other hand, his astrological predictions were not correct.

Purani: Is anything being tried in America to get your works published? Did Vaun do anything?

Sri Aurobindo: No. The Americans are not easily attracted to profound things. The article an American wrote some time back on me was very superficial. But Nishtha (Miss Wilson) said that it was originally quite deep; the editor of the paper said it wouldn’t do. He thought the Americans wouldn’t be interested in such deep things. So he made it what it is.

Nirodbaran: Aren’t the Americans open to new ideas?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but what they want is sensation and novelty. All I can say is that there are more people in America interested in these things than in Europe. In Europe also their numbers are increasing now.

Nirodbaran: But America is much taken up by the Ramakrishna Mission. One Bengali too has been a success. Somebody else from near Bombay made at one time a great name in Europe by his prophecies, but afterwards plenty of people started calling him a swindler.

Sri Aurobindo: Why swindler? Did he take money for his prophecies? Swindling is when one takes money for things one promises to do but doesn’t do. If prophecies don’t come true, that is not swindling.

By the way, who is Purohit Swami?

Purani: I don’t know. It is he who has translated the Upanishads with Yeats in the Belearic Islands and written some commentaries. In his writings he mentions some cases of levitation he has seen.

Sri Aurobindo: The only levitation I have heard of was of B, who insisted that his whole body had been raised. Another instance was that of a German who levitated by about six inches and then fell down with a thud.

Satyendra: Some air-cushions should have been placed below. (Laughter)

Here the topic arose: “Can a sadhak or a Yogi have his life insured? Is it in consonance with the spirit of Yoga?”

Sri Aurobindo: Thakur Dayanand would have said “No.” As I told you, he was always depending on God and didn’t believe in storing things. Whatever he used to get he spent. If there was nothing, it meant that God wanted him to starve that day. His followers used to sing and dance – an excited expression of devotion, an emotional demonstration. Later on, he began to complain that his vital forces were being drawn out, and he turned gradually towards Knowledge. All his group had the faith that nothing bad could happen to them. In the shooting affairs, the police came when they were dancing and singing, and seeing them in such exaltation they went back. The disciples thought themselves invulnerable and invincible. Then the Government sent soldiers who broke down their demonstrations and arrested the people. Then their faith got shaken.

Satyendra: How can the vital forces be drawn out when one is in contact with the Divine Consciousness?

Sri Aurobindo: The forces that support the work around one are quite different from the Divine Consciousness.

I had an experience in the Guest House with a man of what may be called an intense type. He was a Maratha. He came to see me. When I came down I felt all around me forces of confusion and death. At once I gathered myself. He was surrounded by forces of disintegration and chaos. Such contacts are dangerous for those who are conscious but weak; their vital forces are drawn out by such people. If one is not conscious, such contacts are harmless.

Purani: I remember the telling phrase in which you described him: “a wild intensity of weakness”.

Sri Aurobindo: These are the type of people who have great intensity but no solidity.

After this, there was some talk about several examples of that type. From Sri Aurobindo’s remarks the following characterisation of them in some detail may be made:

Sri Aurobindo: At times these people may do brilliant things, but what they do is still slight and has, as it were, nobody. They have a high opinion of themselves, but they are good only as lieutenants; by themselves they are nothing much. They always have to depend on someone, a group or a movement. And they can’t contain themselves, either, and keep quiet: to keep quiet requires solidity. They are never steady. As soon as they achieve something, they give it up and pursue another line. This applies to their Yoga also. As a result, they have brilliant visions and experiences but no realisation. If the Mother puts her Force into them, they become ambitious, believe they can revolutionise the world and may even think of becoming Sri Aurobindo’s right hand, replacing the Mother! There is in them a curious mixture of opposites: agnosticism and faith, for instance. And when they happen to be writers, such mixture makes their writings attractive. All in all, they are an interesting lot, even if not fit for Yoga or any substantial work. At least one can’t feel dull in their company.

There the talk ended. After an interval Nirodbaran asked a question about Sri Aurobindo’s leg, which had still some defect after the accident of 24 November 1938.

Nirodbaran: Can yogic power remove this defect?

Sri Aurobindo: It ought to, but I haven’t tried that sort of thing before.