Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

6 March 1940

In the Prabartak of January 1940, M translated into English his article “Life’s Companion” in which there is reference to Sri Aurobindo. Purani read out portions of the article.

Purani: “He (Sri Aurobindo) used to raise the topic of Vasudeva, Pradyumna, etc., and explain the subject with emotion.”

Sri Aurobindo: I didn’t know that I had any emotion during my explanation.

Purani: “I used to read all my articles to him. Udbodhan, a dramatic composition, I read from start to finish.”

Sri Aurobindo: Good Lord! It would have been a wonder if I could stand it to the end.

Purani: “He would freely relate how he stayed in the air in meditation.”

Sri Aurobindo: Good Lord! That legend seems to be going to last.

Purani: “I heard from his lips that Ramakrishna sat before him consoling him when he was arrested at Grey Street.”

Sri Aurobindo: When? That is another story.

Purani: “He would relate how the hard iron bars of the prison felt soft like butter …”

Sri Aurobindo: Romantic!

Purani: “ … and the devilish figures of thieves.”

Sri Aurobindo: Devilish? I never used that word. It is his imagination. They were not devilish figures, but like human beings. He is an imaginative fellow, of course not like Dutt.

Purani: “We feared that if he stayed long in one place, his concealment would come to light.”

Sri Aurobindo: That is true.

Purani: “He was removed unexpectedly. People knew that he had gone to the Himalayas for Sadhana.”

Sri Aurobindo: Good Lord!

Purani: “I was charged with taking him in a carriage to the southern border of the town. It was midnight. I found that the coachman was asleep. With great caution I brought out the horses etc … I handed over Sri Aurobindo to the gentleman as already arranged.”

Sri Aurobindo: I don’t remember about all that; it may be true. I know that I was to be handed over to somebody in whose house there was Saraswati Puja.

Purani: “Then I drove back home and informed my wife of the whole affair. She asked, ‘The coachman didn’t know?’ ‘No’, I replied. ‘A serious thing,’ she said; ‘then a thief might take away the carriage.’ ‘All this due to Sri Aurobindo’s saintliness.’ I added. She concluded saying, ‘Everything is a big event with you. Do go to sleep.’” (Laughter)

Sri Aurobindo: She has more common sense. I knew that he was imaginative, but not inventive. I thought that inventiveness was reserved for Dutt.

Satyendra: He must have achieved something in order to be able to hold so many people together.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it was the vital force that he got from me and he had some experiences too. He claimed to have gone above the head but there was no manifestation in his expression, there was no mental result. He wanted to go for the Supermind but when the demands were made on him he drifted away.

Nirodbaran: We heard that his Adhar was small. How could he then receive your Force?

Sri Aurobindo: Why not? Do you mean to say that because a man is small, he will always remain small? “Small” means he got no expansion.

Nirodbaran: He was in contact with you for a short period only; about three or four years, wasn’t he?

Sri Aurobindo: No; I stayed in his house for a month; he came here three or four times.

Purani: He was in contact for more than ten or twelve years. The last time I met him, in 1918 perhaps, he said that he was getting direct guidance and inspiration from you.

Nirodbaran: Was it as a result of the development of his spiritual consciousness or by your Force that he achieved so much?

Sri Aurobindo: It was his vital opening to the Force I gave him.

Nirodbaran: And spiritual?

Sri Aurobindo: Very mixed.

Nirodbaran: Then you gave him the Force for the vital?

Sri Aurobindo: I gave it for both.

Satyendra: But his vital opened.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it was an opening into a larger consciousness, the cosmic vital, the force for action and movement. It was all my plan and idea I gave him when I left that he worked out.

Purani: Yes, he got all the help from your name and association.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, he described himself as my spiritual agent in Bengal.

Satyendra: Everybody knew that he was connected with you.

Sri Aurobindo: He said at one time that his body was burning and his head was on fire – it was true – and that disappeared by his contact with me.

Champaklal: When the Mother first saw him, she is supposed to have said that he was wonderful.

Sri Aurobindo: Wonderful? I don’t know about that; at least Mother didn’t tell me. R said that he would be wonderful in America.

Satyendra: That takes away much of the compliment. (Laughter)

Sri Aurobindo: It was because of his energy and eloquence that R said that.

Nirodbaran: There is authentic evidence about the Hanumant Rao cures. He himself has written a letter.

Sri Aurobindo (seeing the address): It is Mother’s letter. It has been addressed to her.

Nirodbaran: Yes; it has been sent to be read to you.

Sri Aurobindo: Who has decided that? Mother’s letters should go to her.

Champaklal: Isn’t it the same?

Sri Aurobindo: Read it.

Nirodbaran read the letter and there were instances of Rao’s miraculous cures of madness, snakebites, etc., by using the Mother’s Force, by the stretching of his right and left hands.

Sri Aurobindo: There is no mention of leprosy.

Nirodbaran: No.

Sri Aurobindo: It is the vital force. There were many such cases of cures by placing the hand on the head. They used to call it the passage of fluid magnetism into the body.

Champaklal: He says it is the Mother’s Force.

Sri Aurobindo: Why shouldn’t it be?

Nirodbaran: You said vital force.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, force acting through the vital. It is the vital-physical force; being nearer the physical it has a more powerful effect in such cases. One can cure by mental power also, but that requires more power of concentration.

Purani (smiling, from behind): Nirod wants such a force!

Sri Aurobindo: Stretching the right hand and the left?

Nirodbaran: My problem is solved. Sri Aurobindo has said that the vital has to be pure first in order to get intuition.

Purani: That is for intuition but this is cure by the Force, not by medicine.

Nirodbaran: For both, purity, seems to be necessary.

Sri Aurobindo: Without purity you may become egoistic. Otherwise plenty of people cure without purity.

Nirodbaran: That’s what I was going to ask – why should it be necessary?

Sri Aurobindo: To have vital purity? (Laughter)

Nirodbaran: No, to have that first to be able to cure. Both can go together.

Evening

Sri Aurobindo (addressing Purani): What has become of your thief?

Purani: Which thief? The one with the bag of husk?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes.

Purani: He has been released. It was not important. The police said that it was done under the effect of wine. (Laughter)

Sri Aurobindo: He felt inspired? (Laughter)

Purani: Perhaps. Mother has again taken him into service. (Sri Aurobindo laughed.)

Purani: Amrita’s servant has stood guarantee for him.

Satyendra: And who stood guarantee for Amrita’s servant? (Laughter)

Purani: They have made a good collection for the Red Cross. Dr. André and his chief were members. It is Rs. 8000.

Satyendra: It depends on who collects.

Sri Aurobindo: And if the Governor writes the names of persons, they can’t but pay.

Satyendra: Have we paid anything?

Sri Aurobindo: No, they didn’t come to us. Mother set apart a sum for them.

Nirodbaran: How much did André contribute?

Purani: I don’t know. He can’t pay much. He has bought a plot of land beside his house.

Sri Aurobindo (smiling): You don’t want to insinuate that he gathers money in this way for his personal use? (Laughter)

Purani: No, I meant that he can’t pay much just now.

Sri Aurobindo: The incident coming just after the collection made me think that you wanted to suggest that. (Laughter)

Purani: No, no.

Satyendra: I don’t see why people should contribute to this war. One doesn’t know when it will end or what results it will bring to people. These people themselves are responsible for the war. Germany is more bitter against England.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it is mainly England who is responsible. After the conquest of the last war it was England who set Germany on foot again to play against France, it being the biggest power in Europe. Now England will again court Germany after this war.