Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

Admission, Staying, Departure

Departure from the Ashram [45]

Each time somebody leaves the Asram, I feel a kick, a shock, a heartquake.

May I ask why? People have been leaving the Asram since it began, not only now. Say 30 or 40 people have gone, 130 or 140 others have come. The big Maharathas, X, Y, Z departed from this too damnable Asram where great men are not allowed to do as they like. The damnable Asram survives and grows. A and B and C fail in their Yoga — but the Yoga proceeds on its way, advances, develops. Why then kick, shock and heartquake?

You said long ago that the Supramental won’t tolerate any nonsense of freedom of movement or wrong movement. Is this the kick he is imparting from high up?... In these two months he has struck a tall tower like A and a fat buoy like B; how many of these!

And what then?

I hold the view that the Supramental is descending concentratedly, though I don’t feel it,

Not so strongly or concentratedly as it ought, but better than before.

... and that those who resist, who are between two fires, have either to quit or to submit.

Even if it were so, that is their own business. The Divine is driving nobody out except in rare cases where their staying would be a calamity to the Asram (for instance it could decide one day to drive C out); if they cannot bear the pressure and rush away, listening to the “Go away, go away” push and suggestion of the Hostiles can it be said then that it was the Divine who drove them away and the push and suggestion of the Hostile is that of the Divine? A singular logic! The “Go, go” push and suggestion have been successfully there ever since the Asram started and even before when there was no Asram. How does that square with your theory that it is due to the concentrated descent of the Force?

21 April 1937