Nirodbaran
Talks with Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1
10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941
21 May 1940
Sri Aurobindo: In the present war it seems there is only one line of defence. That makes it possible to attack from the rear. In previous wars there were several lines. In the last war there was a wide front.
Nirodbaran: There may be more exposure to air attack.
Sri Aurobindo: But there are the anti-aircraft weapons.
Nirodbaran: It is good that the French have, after all, started counter-attacking.
Sri Aurobindo: Defensive warfare is all right if there are strong fortifications like the Maginot Line or like Namur and Liege. Otherwise, in an extensive front it is very difficult to be always on the defensive. By standing around and waiting all the time, one is likely to lose and gets all the beating without being able to give anything in return. I thought that the Siegfried Line could be broken if the French were courageous enough. Of course it would involve loss of men. It is not a continuous fortification. There are gaps supported by troops. The gaps depend on the strength of the troops.
Satyendra: If the English could also launch an offensive …
Sri Aurobindo: For an offensive you must have a sufficiently big army. In the beginning Chamberlain was violently against conscription and when he started it he didn’t call everybody. He did not want to paralyse the industries and export by calling them. Only before resigning did he call the last reservists, three million, and they will take about three months to be ready.
Purani: It seems K was in favour of Hitler. When he told Counouma about it, Counouma said, “If it is so, better not speak about it. You know it is very dangerous to talk like that.” And then he kept quiet.
Sri Aurobindo: It is strange that it required Counouma to say that. And yet it is said that people do not speak about it to outsiders.
Nirodbaran: Counouma is not considered an outsider, perhaps.
Purani: If he had spoken to a friend of Baron for instance, he would have at once reported it. They can’t tolerate such views when their relations are fighting and dying at the front.
Evening
Sri Aurobindo: What is the great strategic retreat the British speak of?
Nirodbaran: They have fallen back in Belgium to keep in communication with the main army.
Satyendra: They have taken up their line of resistance, they say. Between Narvik and Trondheim they are again fighting.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, and the British are in difficulty. Perhaps another strategic retreat may be expected. Now they are expecting a blow on England. So they may withdraw and prepare for that.
Satyendra: The Indian Express says that India has seventy aeroplanes to defend herself against 7000 German planes.
Sri Aurobindo: And how many tanks?
Satyendra: None perhaps.
Purani: There are some tanks – more than a hundred.
Sri Aurobindo: A very big number indeed!
Satyendra: Gandhi writes in the Harijan that there is not much to choose between Imperialism and Fascism. He finds very little difference.
Sri Aurobindo: There is a big difference. Under Fascism he wouldn’t be able to write such things or say anything against the State. He would be shot.
Satyendra: And he still believes that by non-violence we can defend our country.
Sri Aurobindo: Non-violence can’t defend one. One can only die by it.
Satyendra: He believes that by such a death a change of heart can take place in the enemy.
Sri Aurobindo: If it does, it will be after two or three centuries. Some reaction may take place and then somebody else may turn up. (Laughter)
Satyendra: He does not seem to make much distinction between moral and spiritual force.
Sri Aurobindo: None at all.
Satyendra: Nirod will bring down the Supermind to solve all the problems.
Sri Aurobindo: What is the prospect, Nirod? Is it near?
Nirodbaran: I will bring it down for Satyendra.
Sri Aurobindo (laughing): Instead of bringing down the Supermind it will be better at the moment to enter Narvik and do something there. Churchill is speaking of an assault. He has to show that he means it by doing something practical.
Satyendra: They are still two miles from Narvik.
Sri Aurobindo: And still as far away as possible.
Nirodbaran: The Hindu says Gamelin recoils at the horror of the sacrifice of lives that will be entailed in an attack on the Siegfried Line.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, he does not want to sacrifice life as was done in the last war. No such repetition this time, he says. It will be a defensive war with as little loss as possible. But his tone is already changing.
Satyendra: These people didn’t prepare themselves well because they thought Hitler was bluffing. They didn’t take him seriously.
Sri Aurobindo: Hitler does not bluff. He has done everything he has said he would do – only, in his own time. Mussolini bluffs, but when he acts, he does it thoroughly.
Purani: He seems to intend to come in at the end and get a share.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but that share won’t be for long. Hitler will finish him in no time. Italy is vulnerable on all sides. So Mussolini can’t take any action suddenly.