APPENDIX SRI AUROBINDO ON WRITING IN ENGLISH AND ON STYLE IN WRITING As in these Talks there are remarks by Sri Aurobindo on Indians writing in English and on literature in general, it will be both interesting and instructive to quote a few passages from his letters to poet-discples apropos of these themes. 1 Indians have naturally in writing English a tendency to be too coloured, sometimes flowery, sometimes rhetorical.... One ought to have in writing English a style which is at its base capable of going to the point, saying with a simple and energetic straight-forwardness what one means to say, so that one can add grace of language wi

29 JANUARY 1940 Later, after Purani had come, there was an expectation that Nirodbaran would ask a question. All were looking at one another. The situation was so funny that Nirodbaran burst into laughter. PURANI: Nirodbaran is on the point of asking some question. SRI AUROBINDO: Is it a formidable question? NIRODBARAN: Oh, no. But did you say in the morning that the female element Krishnaprem speaks of corresponds or is equivalent to love, devotion, etc.? SRI AUROBINDO: No, I didn't say that. Why should it be so? SATYENDRA: Yes, why? Doesn't Sachchidananda have love! NIRODBARAN: As Krishnaprem speaks of the Vaishnavas' self-ide

25 FEBRUARY 1940 SRI AUROBINDO: That is a different matter. Each one will of course receive in his own language. An Englishman won't receive in Bengali or Gujarati. That depends on the response of the mind, the vital being or whatever it may be . About Ahimsa (non-violence), animals feel if a person is really non violent or not and they approach person according to that feeling. But what I want to know is whether Jainism accepts any intermediary such as a Guru who helps a disciple in the spiritual path. There are religions like Buddhism who don't believe in such things. Buddhism strongly says that one has to rely on one's own effort. Nobody can help one. By t

26 DECEMBER 1938 At about 5.30 p.m., four of our group— Champaklal, Satyendra, Becharlal and Nirodbaran— were seated on the carpet behind the head of Sri Aurobindo's bed and were whispering among themselves. Over some topic Champaklal broke into suppressed laughter and had to run away from the room. Satyendra and Nirodbaran controlled themselves with difficulty. Then at about 6.30 we all assembled by the side of Sri Aurobindo. Purani was still absent. SRI AUROBINDO (looking at us): What Divine Descent was it? NIRODBARAN: It was Champaklal who burst into laughter. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, then it was Vishnu's Ananda that descended! As soon as he encourage

20 DECEMBER 1938 After Sri Aurobindo 's lunch at about 4.30 p.m. Nirodbaran was reading to him the memorial orations on a prominent figure in local politics and business. One person after another, beginning with the Governor, had praised him in superlative terms: "upright", "generous", "great friend of Page-42 the poor" etc. Hearing this, Sri Aurobindo exclaimed, "Good Lord!", burst into laughter and remarked, "He ought to be canonised—Saint X! Such is public life! When Y died, all his life-long political enemies did the same thing." At about 7.00 the talk started again. It turned on homoeopathy and its difference from allopathy in regard to dosage and other

8 JANUARY 1939 Tonight we were at a loss how to begin. But we saw that Sri Aurobindo was ready; he was as if inviting us by his look. But none could break forth; we seemed to have exhausted all our questions. In that puzzled mood; Nirodbaran once looked up and Sri Aurobindo looked at him. Suddenly Nirodbaran burst into laughter and the rest joined in. Finding an opening or an inspiration, Purani began. PURANI: There is something interesting about snoring in the Sunday Times today. Someone says that snoring is the reaction of the subconscient against some pressure one does not like. SRI AUROBINDO: Nonsense! Does it mean that a man snores because he

5 JANUARY 1939 Today again we had our usual discussion with Dr. Rao on the removal of splints, the growth of bone, its shadow in the X-ray picture, etc. After he had gone, the Mother asked Nirodbaran: "Up to what age can the skull-bone grow?" She said that she had seen cases where even at the age of fifty-five the skull had not completely ossified. "In such cases," she remarked, "the brain goes on developing." Then she departed for the general meditation. There was very little prospect of conversation afterwards, for every time after Dr. Rao's visit we would keep revolving the same problem, the disagreement among doctors, and cut jokes about it. But a question by Sa

6 JANUARY 1940 SATYENDRA: There are plenty of advertisements for curing baldness, but the problem remains. Perhaps Nirodbaran can discover something. NIRODBARAN: I may when I get my intuition opened or when the Supermind opens. SATYENDRA: The Supermind opening is a long affair. SRI AUROBINDO: Intuition would be easier to get. PURANI: If one gets the Supermind, there will be no need to find anything out. NIRODBARAN: Yes, the hair will grow itself. There will be a change in every cell. PURANI: You will be all golden, I suppose. SRI AUROBINDO: As they say in the Upanishad, the Supreme Being with the golden beard, etc. When Sr

23 JANUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: Nishikanto asks why at times he is seized with a repugnance for writing poetry. He burned a lot of his works at Santiniketan during such seizures. Here also attacks come occasion- ally and he questions himself, "What is the use of writing after all?" And this hampers his work, he says. SRI AUROBINDO: These moods come to many people. They are a kind of Tamas (inertia) which should not be indulged in. NIRODBARAN: Nishikanto says that it would be useful not to write if he could meditate or think of the Divine instead. This he can't do. "Then why not write?" he argues, but the feeling of repugnance conies all the same. SRI AUROBINDO:

4 DECEMBER 1939 SATYENDRA: Ancient Yogis always believed that human nature couldn't be changed. They compared it to a dog's curved tail and left it alone, although they admitted the spiritual principle to be at work. Only Sri Aurobindo thinks it can be changed. NIRODBARAN: And you don't? SATYENDRA: No. SRI AUROBINDO: What on earth has this spiritual principle been doing if the world has remained just the same? SATYENDRA: Meher Baba, the well-known Yogi from Western India, also thinks there can be a change and his mission is to bring it about. But he is himself so changeable that he decides one thing today and changes it tomorrow. SRI AUROBINDO: Then he