Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

2 April 1940

A critic named Nagaraj wrote an unfavourable review of The Life Divine in the Aryan Path. We were wondering how he came to do so – whether the Aryan Path had asked him to review it or he himself had sent it to the journal.

Sri Aurobindo: Usually the Aryan Path sends my books to Krishnaprem for review.

Nirodbaran: As the article has appeared in the review columns the journal must have sent the book to Nagaraj. We know what kind of thing to expect because his ideas are well known to us. Our attitude is, “Oh, Nagaraj!”

Satyendra: From the very beginning of the review it seems the writer has not understood Sri Aurobindo at all.

Purani: Possibly he had not even read the book.

Satyendra: Even if he has read it, he doesn’t appear to have understood it. Who is this Nagaraj?

Purani: Don’t you know him? He is the critic of the Hindu. He is a Madhwaite.

Sri Aurobindo: He can’t understand any new ideas or any new interpretation of the old. He considers it a violation of the truth. The Hindu has given him prominence.

Satyendra: If one understands and then disagrees, the disagreement may be worth considering. But without understanding, disagreement is foolish.

Purani: May I read out Jayprakash Narayan’s statement in court from the Harijan? No other paper has published it for fear of the Indian Defence Act. He says that both Germany and the Allies are fighting for new colonies.

Sri Aurobindo: That is not true for the Allies because they have more at present than they can chew and they are content with what they have.

Purani: He says that England is fighting to preserve her empire.

Sri Aurobindo: That is true.

Purani: “To us Indians,” he continues, “both Nazism and British Imperialism are the same. There is no difference between the two.”

Sri Aurobindo: That is humbug.

Purani: “So why should we fight for an Imperialism which denies our freedom, which holds the same domination over us? It is good that I have been arrested for my speech at Jamshedpur, for it is an important industrial centre. And if by my arrest the workers get more war bonus, I will be satisfied.”

Sri Aurobindo: After getting the war bonus, can they fight for the Allies? If they can’t, it seems inconsistent.

Nirodbaran: Dilip is seeing the proofs of The Life Divine and he gets great joy out of it.

Sri Aurobindo: I see.

Satyendra: Obviously – but ask him to see the account sheets and let us know if he gets any joy.

Sri Aurobindo: They will kill him. (Laughter)

Nirodbaran: Usually he finds proof-reading a dull business.

Purani: But if one is an author, one has to do it – at least the first proofs.

Nirodbaran: He has done it and he does it, but he finds it dull.

Sri Aurobindo: Of course writing is more pleasant than proof-reading. Even in my second reading I missed an obvious mistake like “cact” for “act”. (Laughter)

Evening

Sri Aurobindo (looking at Purani with great amusement as he came in): Have you seen the report of the All India Sweepers’ Conference at Lahore under Sardul Singh’s presidentship?

Purani: No.

Sri Aurobindo: They have protested against Jinnah’s Moslem India scheme and said that if India was going to be divided they must also have a separate India. I was not quite wrong when I said that barbers also would now start an agitation for an India of their own. (Laughter)

(Still greatly amused) Chhotu Ram has said that the Sikhs will resist partition at any cost. They will not live under Moslem domination, be it under a Khoja Baniya (Jinnah) or a Hindu Baniya (Gandhi). (Laughter) Jinnah is now piping down and saying; “Ah, I didn’t mean this or that. They have misunderstood me. I didn’t want the transference of Moslem minorities,” etc., and he is all praise for the Sikhs.

Purani: He knows he will get it hot from the Sikhs. If Jinnah maintains his theories he will create difficulty in the Punjab. Sikander Hyat Khan will lose all his support.

Sri Aurobindo: The Sikhs have very strange names: “Tiger Lion”, “Water Lion”, “Fire Lion”.