Nirodbaran

Talks with Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941

9 January 1941

Somebody from Bombay has written that in the old files of Indu Prakash he has found a series of six articles on Bankim written by Sri Aurobindo. Purani asked Sri Aurobindo if it was true.

Sri Aurobindo: I may have, I don’t remember. I wrote some articles on Madhusudan, I remember. In which year was it?

Purani: In 1894, the second year of your stay in Baroda.

Sri Aurobindo: My knowledge of Bengali was very little at that time. I couldn’t have finished reading all the writings of Bankim or perhaps I wrote the articles during the first enthusiasm of my learning the language. Of course we started learning it in Cambridge – the judge, Beachcroft, was one of us – under an Anglo-Indian pundit. He used to teach us Vidyasagar. One day we hit upon a sentence of Bankim’s and showed it to him. He began to shake his head and said, “This can’t be Bengali!” (Laughter)

Purani: Nolini is very happy that he will get materials for another book.

Sri Aurobindo (smiling): Can’t allow publication of that. It must have been very immature.

It was decided that the man should be asked to send us copies of the articles for Sri Aurobindo’s inspection. The man in his reply wanted to charge about ninety rupees for expenses.

Sri Aurobindo: I can’t pay money for these articles. They are not worth anything.

Purani: If Sri Aurobindo wants to see them, money can be arranged from outside.

Sri Aurobindo: Then I have no objection.

Later on it came out that Sri Aurobindo had written some articles on the Congress.

Sri Aurobindo: Those will be interesting to see.

Nirodbaran: How could Madhusudan write so well in Bengali?

Sri Aurobindo: He engaged several pundits and he had the inborn poetic faculty.

Purani: Besides, he was a linguist; he knew many European languages.

Sri Aurobindo: Oh yes! You can see the influence of Homer, Virgil and Tasso in his writings.

Dr. Manilal: I asked Nirod if he was having experiences. He said, “No, my work is now in the physical.” I asked, “What about mind and vital?” “Oh, all that is finished!” “So it will be Supermind next?” “Yes,” Nirod replied. (Laughter)

(after some time) Nirod, how is your poetry getting on?

Sri Aurobindo: He has finished his mental and vital working. (Laughter)