Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

29 March 1940

Satyendra was smiling at Nirodbaran without any apparent reason.

Nirodbaran: What is the matter? What makes you smile?

Satyendra: I was thinking, “Nirod thinks himself so important but if he knew how much empty space there is in his body, he wouldn’t.”

Sri Aurobindo: It is because of the empty space that he feels important.

Nirodbaran: What empty space?

Satyendra: I was reading a popular book of science where it is said that the empty space between protons and electrons is comparatively greater than between the stars and that the table which looks so solid has more empty space than we know: the very earth we stand on is mostly empty space!

Sri Aurobindo: But somewhere in the New Statesman, perhaps in an article by Haldane, I read that the empty space of the infinite cosmos is not of the same kind as that within the atom. But how do they know that the space between protons and electrons is empty?

Nirodbaran: Because they can’t find anything there.

Sri Aurobindo: Science is full of emptiness then.

Jinnah has proclaimed his Muslim India and Hindu India scheme which has brought out numerous protests. Savarkar is touring all over India and is getting a tremendous reception.

Satyendra: Savarkar says Hindus have never been conquered by the Muslims after 1677.

Sri Aurobindo: What about Panipat?

Purani: He mentions Panipat but doesn’t call it a conquest. Nadir Shah, he says, couldn’t.

Sri Aurobindo: Because he didn’t want to, perhaps. Savarkar has suddenly shot up into a powerful personality. And how does he call Shivaji an emperor? He is no more an emperor than Fazlul Huque. (Laughter)