ON MEDICINE Medicine _I 11-11-1923 A telegram from a mentally deranged Sadhaka became the topic of this evening. The Sadhaka in question wanted to die. The suggestion of death, it was thought, was due to some hereditary poison in the blood. These kinds of poisons often attack the brain. Sri Aurobindo : It is these people who also get a sense of "sin" and the tendency to repent and humble themselves before others. Also they have very big ideas about themselves. They think they are very important in the universal scheme. (A pause) This yoga, to be done well, requires perfect balance. Therefore, those who have merely a general call for yoga should not go in for it ; bec

EVENING TALKS With SRI AUROBINDO First Series Recorded by : A. B. PURANI To the Reader The reader is requested to note that Sri Aurobindo is not responsible for these records as he had no opportunity to see them. So, it is not as if Sri Aurobindo said exactly these things but that I remember him to have said them. All I can say is that I have tired to be as faithful in recording them as I was humanly capable. That does not minimize my personal responsibility which I fully accept. A. B. PURANI Names of participants in the evening talks:- From 1923 – 1926 1. Barindra Kumar Ghose 2. Nolini Kanto Gupta 3. Bijoy Kumar Nag 4.

MEETING THE MASTER AT PONDICHERRY AND INTERVIEWS I My First Meeting in 1918 I went out from Pondicherry in 1947 when India was on the eve of securing her partitioned freedom. On my return-journey in the month of July 1947, I became conscious of the fact that it was my return to a place where I had passed nearly twenty-five years at a stretch. The memory of my first visit in 1918 awoke in me all the old impressions vividly. I saw then that even at that early period Sri Aurobindo had been for me the embodiment of the Supreme Con­sciousness. I began to search mentally for the exact time-moment when I had come to know him. Travelling far into the past I

ON BEAUTY   12-8-1926 Disciple : What is it that creates physical beauty? Sri Aurobindo : There is a certain vital glow which is really not beauty – when it is overpowering and full of personal magnetism it is dangerous. Disciple : Can heredity account for beauty? Sri Aurobindo : Not much. Too much of vital glow and charm may be due even to the hostile forces and it may be dangerous. Disciple : Does beauty belong to the vital world? Sri Aurobindo : The true vital world is a world full of beauty and grandeur. Disciple : Is not beauty a part of perfection? Sri Aurobindo : Yes, it is; but beauty and perfection do not always go tog

ON POETRY 22-5-1925 The talk turned on the subject of Indians writing English poetry.  Sri Aurobindo remarked that when he was conducting the Arya he received heaps of poems. Sri Aurobindo asked about Hindi literature, inquiring whether it carried the modern spirit in its works. Disciple : It contains the element of nationalism, that is the new strain; as for the rest there is not much that can be called modern. The form at present is mainly lyrical. Sri Aurobindo : But the lyric is quite old in Hindi. Disciple : What about X’s English poetry. Sri Aurobindo : Has he written anything new recently except his inexhaustible dramas that are no dramas? Disciple : Y

ON SOME BOOKS AND LETTERS A Note: After 1910 when Sri Aurobindo was engrossed in Sadhana he read very few books. But he was in contact with the world through papers and magazines. Besides, the disciples that were living in the Ashram from 1923 used to read books and they brought some of the ideas and opinions from the books to Sri Aurobindo's notice in the evening talks. Here it may be necessary only to state that the initiative in these talks was very often taken by the disciples and that these talks are not complete reviews of the books mentioned. They will be found interesting as revealing a particular side of Sri Aurobindo's personality, – one in which he was speaking

ON ART 26-1-1927 We were showing an art journal published from Andhra. On seeing some of the reproductions Sri Aurobindo made the following remarks : Sri Aurobindo : The further you go back in time greater the grandeur you meet in the conception. The nearer you come to our time the more the art becomes great in detail. Even up to the time of the Delvada Temples something of the old culture was living. One must bring the tide back. Disciple : But why is it gone? Sri Aurobindo : That is the law. You can’t have the creative spirit always at the height. Disciple : What we require is the reawakening of the Spirit, it is not necessary to have the same or similar form or