Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

10 May 1940

Purani: Lloyd George has said in his speech what you said before. He says, “We promised help to Poland and did nothing. In Finland the same story and now in Norway it is repeated.”

Sri Aurobindo: His is the strongest attack, asking Chamberlain to resign.

Purani: Churchill has said that because of the fear of communications being cut off by the German air force they had to give up.

Sri Aurobindo: What does he mean? They did not think of it before? And why did they take up the operations in southern Norway in that case?

Satyendra: Somebody asked him, “Can you tell us if we now have an air base in Norway?” Churchill replied, “Now that the enemy knows, we can say ‘Yes.’” (Laughter)

Sri Aurobindo: The enemy knows, so we need not keep it from the British public?

Satyendra: The British officers said that all their movements became quickly known to the Germans.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but Dr. Koht said, “It was not true that the Norwegians betrayed Norway. The fact is that some of them were sympathetic to the Germans.” (Laughter)

Purani: Jinnah has admitted that he has no control over the Khaksars. They are quite independent and they have not authorised him to make any settlement. On this the Hindu comments that it is very pleasing to see Jinnah’s humility, but doesn’t he claim that the Muslim League is the representative of all Muslims?

Nirodbaran: In Bengal Muslemism is coming to sports also. The Muslim Sporting Club is claiming reservation of seats in the Indian Football Association. They have organised a huge meeting and passed resolutions asking the Muslims to boycott football till their claims are conceded.

Sri Aurobindo: Good Lord, next they will do it in cricket also?

Nirodbaran: Why not? It seems Bose is going to take up their cause.

Sri Aurobindo: I see.

Satyendra: This is the last activity where they could bring up communalism.

Nirodbaran: No.

Sri Aurobindo: There are plenty of other fields where it can spread.

Satyendra: What will Sotuda say or do?

Nirodbaran: His duty is over on informing Sri Aurobindo.

Sri Aurobindo: You can tell him that God helps those who help themselves. (Laughter)

Nirodbaran: I think he will only lament.

Sri Aurobindo: And want me to lament with him?

Satyendra: Champaklal is not satisfied with your answer to Sotuda.

Sri Aurobindo: No? (Beginning to smile)

Nirodbaran: Champaklal believes only in Grace. Therefore your answer cannot satisfy him.

Evening

At about 6.15 p.m. the news came that Germany had invaded Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

Sri Aurobindo: I expected it. (After a pause) We will see.

Nirodbaran: Perhaps Hitler has taken advantage of England’s ministerial confusion.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, and Churchill’s disclosure about their air power disparity. I was surprised that he gave it out. It is one thing to say that they had no aerodrome in Norway and another to let out the air power disparity.

Night

Sri Aurobindo: Now the expected blow has fallen. Chamberlain may say that England should be ready for future impending blows. Now they can send forces by land and sea and from the French frontier. The French have more foresight. They extended the Belgian Maginot Line against any future German attack.

Nirodbaran: Could this attack be the reason for their withdrawal from Norway?

Sri Aurobindo: In that case they will have to withdraw from everywhere because everywhere there will be impending blows. If they had attacked Trondheim I am sure they would have been successful. The Germans would have been bogged down there.

Nirodbaran: Churchill was for it, but the military advisers were not.

Sri Aurobindo: Military advisers are always like that. They go by routine. It is like Napoleon against his generals. They lose in the right way!

Purani: Now the ministerial crisis will recede.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, Chamberlain is a lucky beggar, but England is unlucky.

Nirodbaran: Hitler is spreading war on many fronts which may not be very convenient for him.

Sri Aurobindo: He wants to break through the blockade because of economic pressure. And if he gets air bases in the Netherlands he can attack England. He seems to be planning to attack Switzerland too. That will be a tough job for him as it is a mountainous country.

Purani: If these neutrals had combined before, they would have been in a much stronger position.

Sri Aurobindo: Of course. That shows how foolish humanity is. It does not see beyond its nose.

Nirodbaran: Sweden is allying herself with Russia.

Sri Aurobindo: That is the only thing to do.

Satyendra: I hope their idea of neutrality will go now.

Sri Aurobindo: Let us hope so.

Nirodbaran: Stalin does not want Sweden to fall into German hands.

Sri Aurobindo: Obviously not. For, if Hitler gets Sweden, and if the Allies go down in the war, he is sure to attack Russia afterwards. He will promise independence to Finland and, through her, attack St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg’s defences are not strong. What that Theosophist said about world war seems to be coming true.

Satyendra: Yes, Sir, he is only seven days behind. He predicted May 17th and today is the 10th.

Sri Aurobindo: But it is not world war yet. It will be if Italy or Russia joins.

Satyendra: If not now, he says it will be next year, and the millennium, he says, will come in 1941 for a thousand years.

Sri Aurobindo: Whose millennium? Hitler’s or Stalin’s? And for a thousand years only?

Nirodbaran: X believes that something great will happen in 1944.

Sri Aurobindo: Why?

Nirodbaran: He says that every eighteenth year of your life has been marked by a notable incident. In 1908 the Vasudeva experience, in 1926 the Overmind descent.

Sri Aurobindo: What about 1890? I don’t know of anything except going to Cambridge.

Nirodbaran: You got a scholarship, perhaps.

Purani: They are fitting facts to theory, like Spengler in The Decline of the West.