Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

26 August 1940

Anilbaran has again asked why the vitality of a nation is lost after a certain time and the nation degenerates. He says that for him it is inexplicable.

Sri Aurobindo: Why inexplicable? There are many factors. It would take too long to list them all, but the essential thing is that in every civilisation and culture there is a period of decline unless some new force is found, a process of new birth to give a fresh impulse to the life-force. Otherwise the old life-force gets exhausted and, if not renewed, the nation decays. The same thing happened with the Greek and Roman civilisations.

Purani: Could it be that some higher beings took birth and built the Greek civilisation?

Sri Aurobindo: How? The Greek civilisation was not spiritual. It was intellectual and aesthetic; it was more subtle and delicate than the Roman civilisation, which was more massive and had more strength and discipline than the Greek. That is why it lasted longer than the Greek civilisation.

Evening

Purani spoke of some healer with occult power somewhere in Uttar Pradesh – an educated man. He had performed many miraculous cures, even cures of mad people. The cases had been verified by Abhay. But one thing peculiar was that he didn’t have that descent of power after food, so there was no cure after eating.

Sri Aurobindo: The physical may not be in a proper condition after food. Food lowers the consciousness.