Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

1 April 1940

Purani: A poet friend of mine has written that he met X and was impressed by him. He found X to have illimitable Bhakti for the Mother and you.

Sri Aurobindo: Illimitable? Well, X had a strange way of showing it.

Purani: Then my friend writes that X has gone very deep down in his consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo: It is always possible to go down. (Laughter)

Purani: Here is a letter from Indumati. She asks whether or not her Bhakti for Krishna is genuine and how she can dedicate herself to Krishna and pray to him to free her from all bonds.

Sri Aurobindo: It is a little dangerous to pray for that.

Purani: Then she says that sometimes she sees Krishna’s picture moving. Once she saw that he was very far away.

Sri Aurobindo: You may say to her that Bhakti is all right but it has to be complete and when it is complete she won’t suffer from any troubles. The picture seen as moving means the Presence is there.

Nirodbaran: Why do you say it is dangerous for her to pray to be freed from bonds?

Sri Aurobindo: Because Krishna has extraordinary ways of freeing one, and she may not like them. You know the story of Nolineshwar and his father. Because his father used to persecute him, he prayed for his father’s death. But when his father was on the point of dying, Nolineshwar prayed again to Krishna to spare him. The father recovered and then he started his old persecution again! (Laughter)

Nirodbaran: Dilip has made two more objections to Nishikanto’s expression: first he says that “own” is a pronoun and here it has been used as an adjective, which is not permissible with “dream”.

Nishikanto’s objection seems to have gone. He has agreed that by implication it can be taken in the sense of “self-dream”.

Purani: Yes, he says that if a hyphen is put, then it will be clear.

Sri Aurobindo: If a hyphen solves the problem, then put it.

Nirodbaran: The other objection of Dilip is that the dream is called “disagreeable”. How could a disagreeable dream be asked to fulfil itself? Why should a dream of which one is afraid be fulfilled?

Sri Aurobindo: The poet is not afraid. He thinks he is afraid. That is not an objection at all. The whole argument of our philosophy is that what seems disagreeable is really not disagreeable. It is an emanation of the Self and it can’t be an illusion. One has to find one’s fulfilment in it or through it.

Purani: After all, a poet has the right to take some liberty.

Nirodbaran: Dilip says that this kind of liberty is not permitted.

Purani: Why not? He himself has taken liberties with the language in his Anami, that are grammatically impossible. About one expression, I had to explain to him with all the force possible that it couldn’t be allowed and he dropped it.

Sri Aurobindo: I see. In a novel of Stevenson’s a character says, “Opulent orotunda Dublin,” and argues: “Why should I say ‘Rotunda Dublin’ like the others and not as I please?” Now modern writers invent new words: for “beautiful and lucid” they say “blu-cid”. (Laughter)

Purani: That is fine. It can also mean “blue acid”.

Sri Aurobindo: And I have seen “hithery-thithery movement”, which, of course, is expressive.

Evening

Dr. Becharlal: How to distinguish between self-respect and egoism?

Sri Aurobindo: There is no general rule. You have to become conscious. If you get angry or hurt, it means that it is your egoism and not self-respect. Otherwise there is no rule by which it can be distinguished.

Purani: Krishnalal has painted a dog, a Kabuli dog belonging to Jwalanti’s son. The colour has not come out properly because the model is velvety black.

Sri Aurobindo: It is not necessary to make an exact copy of the model. Talking of Kabuli animals, I remember my mother had a Kabuli cat. She had asked a Kabuliwalla to bring her a cat; he brought one, the size of a small tiger. The first thing it did was to kill all the chickens in the neighbourhood. (Laughter) I don’t know what happened to it afterwards.

Purani: The second volume of your Life Divine is likely to come out in August. Many chapters have already been sent to the Press.

Sri Aurobindo: Who puts all the interrogation marks on the proofs?

Purani: If it is the first proof, then somebody from Calcutta may be putting them. Otherwise people who see the proofs here may be doing it.

Sri Aurobindo: Sometimes the marks are very puzzling. Once I saw a vertical line against four or five lines and one interrogation mark beside it. That’s all. No questions are asked. Just a mark is put. I don’t know what it means – whether the English is considered incorrect or some omission is felt or there is an objection to the whole statement. (Laughter)

Satyendra: Perhaps they object to the whole philosophy?

Purani: Amal was asking if you would be publishing any poetry.

Sri Aurobindo: Poetry? Perhaps after thirty years. Considering the criticism of Nishikanto’s poetry it seems better to write for private reading than for publication. Besides, English publishers say that nobody reads poetry now.