THE DARSHAN DAY

THE auspicious days on which we have the Darshan of the Master and the Mother are known in the Ashram as the Darshan days. By celebrating the birthdays of Prophets and Avatars people imbibe at least something of their spirit or their influence. But there are other days too, in spiritual history, whose celebration can be a fountain of inner joy and light. One such is called in our Ashram the Day of Siddhi or Victory—November 24,1926. In fact, before this day on which Sri Aurobindo established what he himself considered a solid base for the truly Divine manifestation, there was according to him no question of Darshan. He would deal with all on the same level as himself. In 1919 someone came from Chandernagar and sent him word that he had come with a longing for his Darshan. "What does he mean by Darshan ?" came the reply. Before the Siddhi-day, when an aspirant approached him for initiation he is reported to have said that to take the responsibility of somebody's sadhana was a very risky job.¹

After November 24,1926, three Darshan days were fixed in the Ashram. One was the birthday of the Mother, February 21; another that of Sri Aurobindo, August 15; the third, the Siddhi day.

Before 1926, very few had access to the Mother—only a few sadhikas, about three or four in number, meditated with her. In the beginning of 1926 the Master began to send a few others to meditate. This was a sufficient hint that he was withdrawing for some higher purpose, leaving the whole charge of the disciples— their inner sadhana and the outer organisation of the Ashram—to the Mother's executive powers.

1. Aditi, 6th year, 4th issue.

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When someone expressed his earnestness to do his sadhana under the sole guidance of Sri Aurobindo a quick answer came from his pen: "You consider that the Mother can be of no help to you...If you cannot profit by her help, you would find still less profit in mine. But, in any case, I have no intention of altering the arrangement I have made for all the disciples without exception that they should receive the light and force from her and not directly from me and be guided by her in their spiritual progress. I have made the arrangement not for any temporary purpose but because it is the one way, provided always the disciple is open and receives, that is true and effective (considering what she is and her power)."²

There are several letters in which he has given the reason of his retirement. One of them reads : "I have no intention, I can assure you, of cutting off connection in the future. What restrictions there have been, were due to unavoidable causes. My retirement itself was indispensable; otherwise I would not be now where I am, that is, personally, near the goal. When the goal is reached, it will be different."³(14-8-1945)

What this life in seclusion meant for him and what burden he has borne upon his shoulders quietly can be gauged from the following lines written in 1934 : "It is only divine Love which can bear the burden I have to bear, that all have to bear who have sacrificed everything else to the one aim of uplifting earth out of its darkness towards the Divine."⁴

Before 1926 one had to send one's photo beforehand for an interview. Thereafter new visitors, if known to any Ashramite, were admitted to Darshan. To August and February Darshans new-comers were more freely admitted. To the November Darshan, in particular, only those who had come before were

2.Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, p. 364.

3.Ibid., p. 268.

4.Ibid., p. 221.

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allowed to come. Visitors to the August Darshan increased from year to year. Almost everyone wanted to go up for Darshan, two garlands in hand. These garlands made a big heap. Next morning the Mother distributed them to all present. New-comers would start leaving the next day after Darshan.

Following every Darshan some new faces would be seen to have obtained permission for longer or permanent stay. It would sometimes happen that one could not obtain permission for Darshan for years. Once a man, though not a new-comer, could not get permission even after trying for seven years. Such cases were very rare no doubt. But his patience won in the end—he had the permission.

There was a reason why he was not permitted. Whenever he came here the opposing forces became more prominent in him. Once he got so disturbed that he left the place on foot without letting anybody know. After seven years when he returned he fell ill. The Master himself inquired about his illness and saw to it that he was kept in a special ward in the government hospital. But his vitality, already low, ebbed away. These are outer matters; that the man could remain in Sri Aurobindo's consciousness at the end of his life is of no mean significance.

Before his death he had been instrumental in bringing several people in touch with the Master. He could speak very well on Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and was very much enamoured of his teaching. He was very eager that people should know about Sri Aurobindo and what he stood for. Wherever he remained he would rather go without meals than fail to send at least one rupee as his offering for the Darshan. In 1927 he purposely accepted work in a Calcutta Press as it would afford him an opportunity to spread Sri Aurobindo's thought. He would often pick up some talk with the editor of the paper whom he held in high esteem. As the editor himself had been an admirer of Sri Aurobindo from his political days, he once sought permission for Darshan but did not

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know anything about the Mother.

In those days the Mother used to see a new-comer on his arrival according to her convenience and bless him, putting her hand on his head. At the time of departure also one could go to her for blessings. An Ashramite came and informed the editor that he could go for blessings. He felt bewildered; he had come to see Sri Aurobindo, then why was he to go to the Mother ? But he followed the instruction. While on the way, a thought flashed across his mind that if the Mother did not put her hand on his head it would be better. When he went to offer a formal Pranam, the Mother actually did not touch his head but said instead, "You will have Darshan of Sri Aurobindo to-morrow." This gave rise to a feeling of uneasiness in his mind—"Certainly Mother has read my mind"—but he did not think much about it at that time.

Next day at the Darshan time, while offering pranam and looking at Sri Aurobindo, he felt as if the Master's eyes were telling him: "If you want to know me, you can through the Mother." He felt as if an irresistible force had turned his head towards the Mother whom he found looking towards him with great compassion. This was sufficient to stir up devotion within him for the Mother. Next day when he went to her, before departure, he prayed in his heart that she might be pleased to favour him with a touch. Thus a fire of aspiration was kindled in a dormant heart in a single moment. Afterwards he became a staunch follower of Sri Aurobindo and began to spread his thought through his paper. His was the first authentic translation of Sri Aurobindo's books in Hindi. Once Sri Aurobindo remarked about his translation of The Mother that he had grasped the true spirit in which the original had been written. His next translation in inimitable Hindi is Essays on the Gita, First Series.

In those days it was often asked: "Why on only three days in a year are people allowed to see the Master and why on even those three days do they not have free access to him ? If all were

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allowed to have a free approach to him, would not the people at large be immensely benefited, and the souls of thousands feel blessed?" It is necessary to meet the points.

First of all, did the world want the Divine ? How many were there in the wide spaces of the earth who were eager to own and possess Him? Could those in whom the soul-fire was asleep gather any wealth of experience by simply coming up to the Master out of curiosity ? What benefit except a spectacular crowd could there be in allowing all to flock round him ? Those who were really earnest had no refusal from the Master.

There is another side to the question. A scientist makes his experiment in the laboratory only upon a given quantity of material. When his labour is crowned with success, then only he widens the scope of his experiment and lets the world know about it and assess the value of his contribution. Sri Aurobindo also wanted first of all to prepare such adhars as would be able to bear the descent of the great Light which he wanted to establish in the earth consciousness. This could be done only if that consciousness was established primarily in a few. The following words of the Master on this point can be borne in mind : "What we are doing, if and when we succeed, will be a beginning, not a completion. It is the foundation of a new consciousness on earth—a consciousness with infinite possibilities of manifestation."⁵

One more point may be considered. Once when a friend of mine was preparing to leave I happened to press him to stay on a few days till Darshan. Somebody intervened and said it was not proper for me to do so. I referred the matter to Sri Aurobindo. The reply I received was: "Nobody should ever be asked to come for Darshan, or Pranam or Meditation. If somebody spontaneously asks it is another matter. There too as a rule, there should be no eagerness that they should come. Encouragement should be given only in those cases where there is a good or special reason

5. Letters of Sri Aurobindo, First Series, p. 29.

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for it. The number of people coming, specially in the August Darshan, when the Pondicherry people also come, is already very large and we are kept for seven to eight hours at a stretch receiving them, so it is not advisable to go on increasing the number, under the present circumstances. If a man is specially deserving or likely to be a helper or sympathiser of the Ashram or there is any other reason for encouraging him, then of course this general rule does not apply."(27.7.1937)

Different Procedures

As days rolled on, the influence of Sri Aurobindo's life-long sadhana began to spread far and wide. In the hermitage of perfection the number of pilgrims began slowly to grow. Not only from the four corners of India but from abroad visitors began to pour in. The Darshan day is a great day for the Ashramites. As on the advent of spring the Malaya wind begins to blow and everywhere new life is visible, so on the Darshan day the Ashram atmosphere gets charged with a bliss far above the reach of the earth. Here my attempt is to give a glimpse of those days when we had the opportunity to stand before the Master and receive his Blessings. Even among the new-comers there was hardly anyone who did not feel the ineffable force of Sri Aurobindo's Presence. (I mention His Presence in particular because, though the Mother's was just as important, we had her amongst us all the time, and it was something special to meet the Master face to face.)

In the early years, a day before the Darshan a list of the names of those participating in the Darshan used to be put up on a board. One and a half minutes were allotted to each person. The names of those permanently residing in the Ashram would come first in the list. Half an hour before the time given, people would reach the meditation hall and wait for their turn. A copy of the list would be with the Master. From time to time he would look up the names of those coming in. Sometimes strange things happened at

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Darshan, overwhelming the disciple or devotee. Once an American doctor remained lying at the feet of Sri Aurobindo for about half an hour as he had forgotten all about himself. When he came out he said that he had seen the whole map of America at the Master's Feet.

In the February Darshan of 1938, X came and sat down in the meditation hall as soon as the Darshan started. While concentrating in the heart he saw a full-blown rose there. A little after he saw it coming outside and taking its position right in front of the heart and remaining so for several hours. At that time he did not know the significance of the rose. He aspired for new-birth and went for Darshan with garlands of new-brith.

On his return, he saw blazing sunlight above his head. He reported both the experiences to Sri Aurobindo who wrote back:

"They are symbolic—one of the flowering of surrender in the heart (psychic opening), the other of the spiritual opening to the Truth Light above mind. These are the two capital movements of the yoga."(24-2-1938)

A little to the south-east of Sri Aurobindo's room there is a small apartment. It was here that the Darshan took place. All through the night some sadhaks and sadhikas would be busy decorating the throne with flowers. Only one person at a time would be with the Master for Darshan. For that moment the Divine would be with him alone. To avoid disturbing him, others would be stopped at the top of the staircase. When he would finish his darian and come out, the next one would get in. Between the exit of the one and the entry of the other, the Master kept waiting: so great was the care taken for the feeling of every individual. To each the Master gave a penetrating and gracious look and then blessed him, putting his palm on his head. All were allowed to touch his feet. Either before or after finishing the obeisance, the person would offer pranam to the Mother in the same way. Before parting some of us would put our heads in the centre of

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the throne and both the Master and the Mother blessed again together. In those days the Master's Grace would rain over us like Amitabha Buddha's. As through glass windows the things in a room are visible, so the Master's yogic eye would penetrate our being and read our possibilities. New-comers would return with a new energy to fight the battle of life.

Not for months but for years people would aspire for the day, counting weeks and months. An employee of Messrs. Jugilal Kamlapat had been trying for Darshan for years together but before he could start, something or other would happen all of a sudden to make him postpone his journey. For twenty long years he kept on aspiring but could not get the result, yet the spark of aspiration instead of dying out remained alive all through those years, and at last one day he found himself under the Mother's touch. There were others who would turn up for the Darshan at all costs, overcoming mountains of difficulties. Aspirants working in courts or colleges in distant places like Delhi or Patna would reach in the morning and leave in the evening after Darshan, all because of lack of time, but could not afford to miss even a single occasion. What part this momentary Darshan used to play in every case is written on the pages of their life-history.

Once someone asked a visitor out of curiosity : "What is that which makes you run from 1500 miles away for a momentary Darshan ?" In all the earnestness of his heart he replied, "God knows what Power is in him that he conquers the heart of a man in the twinkling of an eye. When the Darshan day approaches such a burning desire flares up within that one cannot restrain oneself."

In an article a Professor from Kanpore, who had written a thesis on a particular aspect of Sri Aurobindo, wrote:

"One look of Sri Aurobindo at a man's heart, and it is conquered. There is a lustre in his eyes that infuses itself into the soul of man and sets it aflame.The flame goes on growing in intensity.

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He puts into the heart of man the flower-seed of Divine love that is sure to grow till it cannot afford to miss even a single occasion of the Darshan."

The Darshan would start at 6.30 in the morning and go on till 2 p.m. Many used to come in their cars or in hired buses from Madras and the suburbs. After 1942 the privilege of the August Darshan was extended to the Ashram employees. Those who came for Darshan before 1938 had the luck to have the personal touch of the Master. Afterwards rarely anyone could have the opportunity to touch his feet.

"The outward touch is helpful but the inward is still more helpful when one is accustomed to receive it with a certain con-creteness—and the outward touch is not always fully possible, while the inward can be there all the time."

Someone once asked: "Two days back in a dream I saw Sri Aurobindo coming towards me. His body and dress were of a blue colour. Why did I see him in this colour and not any other ?" The answer was : "It is the basic light Sri Aurobindo manifests."

From 1926 to 1938—for 13 years—this procedure of the Darshan continued uninterrupted. Afterwards several changes took place. Putting up the list of names and indicating the time were stopped for good. But the number of people coming for Darshan increased so much that it became imperative to do something to maintain discipline. As a check on unauthorised intrusion, cards were issued over the signature of the Secretary.

To look after the needs and convenience of visitors a separate department was organised which came to be known as the Bureau Central; to hire houses, to furnish them, to keep them clean during the visitor's stay was the work allotted to this department. Previously Darshan cards used to be issued from the Secretary's office; afterwards this work was also transferred to the Bureau Central.

Before 1939 there were only three Darshan days during the

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year. The fourth Darshan was introduced from 1939. April 24 is the Mother's final arrival day at Pondicherry. Since her return in 1920, she has never left the place even for a day.

There was a reason why the fourth Darshan was introduced. When in 1938 the Master had an accident to his right leg, the November Darshan was postponed. Next February also there was no Darshan. August was far off. Many began to feel the absence of the Master's Darshan for such a long time. In response to their aspiration the Master's Grace came to us in the form of the April Darshan.

Even the four Darshans seemed to us too few. A prayer was sent to the Master—"It would be very good if you could come out to give Darshan once a month instead of only once in three months. Is it possible ?" Sri Aurobindo answered: "If I went out once a month, the effect of my going out would be diminished by one third."

An event of note was that in 1949 April Darshan all the members of J.S.A.S.A. were given the privilege of a march past in their group uniforms before the Master and the Mother and then could go up again for the usual way of Darshan. In April 1951 there was a rearrangement. For Balcony Darshan, the members in their group uniforms stood in formation facing the Mother. A few minutes before Darshan they assembled again in the street behind the Ashram and filed in, group after group, in proper order, marched past the Samadhi and took their respective places. The standard-bearers lowered their banners in salute. The Darshan started with the groups going up in a line.

From 1939 there was a change in the Darshan timing too. Instead of the morning it got fixed almost at 2 p.m. On the evening before the Darshan day the Mother would see all the aspirants for Darshan and bless each with a rose. To get an opportunity to touch the feet of the Master became a thing of the past. The number gradually rose to such a figure that we had to form a

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queue and have Darshan while filing past. The queue became so long that from the Darshan room it would reach up to the main gate. From the gate it would pass through the reading room to the courtyard, then turn to the meditation hall towards the staircase leading up to the Darshan Room.

Many had to remain outside waiting on the footpaths in the hot sun. So tarpaulins were suspended over the footpaths where people could wait for their turn. That they might not have to stay long in the queue, a few were allowed in and the rest were asked to wait outside. Those allowed in formed three groups: two groups would remain seated, and one group would line up from the centre of the courtyard facing the meditation hall to the Darshan Room. On their leaving the place the next group would occupy it. And a new group would be let in from outside to occupy the place of the former group. This minimised their exposure to the sun. Lest one should have to waste one's time in search of shoes and umbrellas, these articles were taken charge of by some sadhaks who issued a ticket for each of them. Putting the shoes in a tray the young sadhaks and sadhikas carried them to the back door. When, after finishing Darshan, people returned they were directed by several sadhaks, posted at different places, to the back door where they could make their exit with their shoes, etc.

When a new-comer entered the meditation hall, he felt a peace reigning there and some mystic power that was silently active so overwhelmed him that his ever-restless market-place mind became still for a time and he got attuned to something higher, unthought of and unknown.

He got the first glimpse of the Master on reaching the top of the staircase and his eyes got fixed. Now nobody was detained here as before. Crossing the hall, the line of the sadhaks reached the Darshan Room. Each stood there for a moment, bowed, placed his garland on the tray on one side and on the other his personal offering and then looked up to have Darshan. His petty personality

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drowned in the grandeur before his eyes, he moved on overpowered by the force of Truth and Grace and came down through the adjoining hall. Then he would awake to the experience gained at that moment. And when the charm of the first touch of Truth would wear away normal life-currents would begin again to flow through his veins.

He would remember what he had seen. Could words give appropriate expression to that ? The Darshan that gave such a thrill to the soul! If one were allowed to stay there for a few moments more ! Thus brooding, he would move on slowly. The splendour of Brahmatej that was visible on Sri Aurobindo's person was well described by Poet Rabindranath in 1928. After visiting Sri Aurobindo Rabindranath wrote : "At the very first sight I could realise that he had been seeking for the soul and gained it, and through his long process of realisation had accumulated within him a silent power of inspiration. His face was radiant with an inner light and his serene presence made it evident to me that his soul was not crippled and cramped to the measure of some tyrannical doctrine which takes delight in inflicting wounds upon life...I felt that the utterance of the ancient Hindu Rishi spoke from him of that equanimity which gives the human soul its freedom of entrance into the All. I said to him, 'You have the Word and we are waiting to accept it from you. India will speak through your voice, Hearken unto me."

Jean Herbert of the University of Geneva, 'not a mystical dreamer but a ruddy physical giant and a man of extensive experience in the League of Nations and the United Nations', states : "Now thousands who had Sri Aurobindo's Darshan could not help believing that they were face to face with a great saint and sage, even if they could make no precise guess as to the route he had followed and the level he had reached. His look very clearly had in it something superhuman,...as far above the human look as the latter is above the look of a dog or a cat. And those—

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ncluding some Western intellectuals—whom he touched with his hand, or to whom he wrote letters, definitely felt that a high power was acting on them and continued to act on the deeper strata of their being long after the actual contact had ceased."

Swami Ramananda Tirtha of Hyderabad had been acquainted with the name of Sri Aurobindo from his College life. In 1939 he tried once to come but permission was not possible. Ten years later when he had the opportunity to have a Darshan of the Master, he gave a vivid pen-picture of what he had felt and experienced : "I had always a great attraction for Sri Aurobindo. His Essays on the Gita captivated my mind the most and I wondered what that soul must be who could rear such lofty thought. I have learnt from experience that a moment's contact with one advanced in spirituality and a developed soul is far more valuable than reading heaps of books. But how to speak of Sri Aurobindo for I had yearned for long to see him! Whenever I happened to meet someone of his Ashram I would lose myself in hearing him speak about the Master. The more I heard the more my eyes longed to see him. The 24th November, 1949 is an unforgettable day in my life.

"I was sitting in my place along with others for my turn. There were others, thousands in number, who had gathered for the same purpose. Absolute silence was reigning everywhere. It was evident that some unseen power was acting upon us and our whole being was drawn towards it. On the other side were those who were returning after their Darshan. Casting our eyes upon theirs and looking at their countenances we tried to read what they had received. When my turn came I too started to climb up the staircase and the next moment was before the Master. I had taken with me a lotus in my hand as a token of my offering. Placing it before him I stood for his Darshan. Turning his eyes upon mine he seemed to pass into me..I felt as if a powerful, illuminating cluster of stars were spinning before me. Only half a minute I could manage to stand before him and I felt here was s soul which

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had worked silently and created a great reserve of power which could lead humanity to a higher life."

J. Vijayatunga, a well-known Ceylonese journalist, after having February Darshan, wrote on March 21,1948 : "...I have found here more 'Santi' than I did at Santiniketan, and a more perfect organisation than at any other community centre in India.

"The personality behind the organisation, to the minutest detail, is the Mother...A woman of great dignity and beauty in her youth, as well as of great intellect, she embodies in her frail frame to-day an amazing vitality, through her eyes pours a radiance that is not earthly. The 'darshan' of her and the receiving of her blessing in the form of a flower is no mere idolatry.

"At the Sri Aurobindo 'darshan' she was seated on his right. Sri Aurobindo himself, golden-hued in complexion, looked healthier than in his photograph which was taken about 30 years ago. There were a few wrinkles on his brow but his face was unlined and serene. He sat completely still without moving a muscle, without the slightest stir. The 'darshan' itself, to enable the 650 members of the Ashram and the 1500 or so visitors to file past him, each making his or her offering of garlands, of springs of flowers, took nearly three hours. The upper part of his body was bare, a dhoty covering him from the waist downwards...

"Sri Aurobindo is in the direct line of India's great rishis, who were teachers and guides and so long as a Sri Aurobindo lives in our midst so long will there be 'Dharma' and righteousness in this land."

Cases are not rare where after Darshan some people feel a kind of resistance instead of Peace or Ananda. Dr. Nirodbaran records one such experience of the August Darshan :

N: During this Darshan, instead of Ananda, Force or Light I felt a great dryness.

SRI AUROBINDO : It depends upon your condition whether the Ananda or Force or Light descends or whether the resistance

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rises. It is the resistance of the ordinary physical consciousness ignorant and obscure that seems to have risen in you. The period of 15th is a period of great descents but also of great resistances. This 15th was not an exception.⁶

In the following letter Sri Aurobindo indicates the nature of these descents and what actually took place during the Darshan of August 15,1936 : "The last Darshan was good on the whole. I am not now trying to bring anything sensational down on these days, but I am watching the progress in the action of the Force and Consciousness that are already there, the infiltration of a greater Light and Power from above, and there was a very satisfactory crossing of a difficult border which promises well for the near future. A thing has been done which had long failed to accomplish itself and which is of great importance. I don't explain now, because it forms part of an arranged whole which is explicable only when it is complete. But it gives a sort of strong practical assurance that the thing will be done."⁷

A visitor who had fifteen or sixteen Darshans in his life-time exclaimed that the last Darshan of the Master on 24th November 1950 was, for him, a treasure above all. There was a visible thrill through his body as he spoke of his experience.

It was a miracle how he came from such a far-off place as Panna (M.P.) when till the 19th November he had not a single rupee in his pocket. A yet greater miracle was how again with no money he was drawn here some ten days later when on December 5th the Master left his body. This is one of many such well-known cases. From the large numbers that came from different parts of the country one can fairly say that there were very few devotees who denied themselves the great Darshan of the Mahasamadhi.

K. M. Munshi was one of the last whom Sri Aurobindo

6.Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, Second Series : Nirodbaran, P. 19.

7.Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, p. 240.

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granted the privilege of having a personal talk with him. He wrote thereafter: "When I visited him after the lapse of more than forty years, I saw before me a being completely transformed, radiant, blissful, enveloped in an atmosphere of Godlike calm. He spoke in a low, clear voice which stirred the depths of my being."

Now let us hear what he says standing before the Samadhi: "Surrounded by the wings, the main building had a small compound, tastefully laid out. In the middle were a few trees. Under their shade stood the rectangular 'Samadhi' with sides painted grey-green. Flowers of magnificent hue were spread over the top with rare taste—an unconscious tribute to one who thought and wrote profoundly about aesthetics as part of spiritual evolution. A cupola of flowers was in the middle...I was humbled. I felt waves of reverence surging up in me. Enclosed within this stone monument were the remains of a man who, for sixty years, had lived and taught the true message of India; who, for forty years, had stormed the fortress of the Unknowable in order that the world's life might be broadened into Divine Consciousness. Conscious, too conscious of my own imperfections, humbly I placed the flowers on the 'Samadhi'."

In the August Darshan of 1951, just while passing through Sri Aurobindo's room, an old sadhak had the vision of the Master's glorious figure in white light in a sitting posture. For a moment the walls and the surroundings vanished. Instead he saw a number of luminous angels performing arati (a form of loving adoration) of the Master. He appeared seated in the same place where his resting couch stands. This vision was followed for days together by a series of wonderful experiences.

From 1951 to February 1962 the Darshan procedure was different, the Mother sitting in a chair-throne at the end of the corridor facing the Darshan Room.

The Darshan took place at 10 a.m. and the Mother gave her blessing with a message. This procedure continued till February

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1962. From April 1962 even on Darshan days we had no Darshan of the Mother. Instead there has been collective meditation in the Ashram courtyard followed by filing through the Master's room, the message being distributed downstairs. From February 1963 the Darshan has been taking place from the terrace, the time varying from 5.15 p.m. to 6 p.m. according to the season. In February 1965 the time was at 4 p.m.

On December 24,1966 the Mother gave a special Darshan as about 500 coal miners from Bihar had come especially for the purpose !⁸

Sri Aurobindo's Room

Sri Aurobindo's room is kept intact. All his furniture—his bed, his sofa, his table and the books he used are all there. The calendar showing the date 5-12-1950 is kept as it was. His time-piece still shows his chosen time of departure—1.26 a.m.*(Now it is changed.)

Before 1938 no one could go into Sri Aurobindo's room except when the Master went for bath. After the accident, his personal attendants were allowed to go in. Since February 1951 his room has been open to all who participate in the Darshan; whether those living in the Ashram or coming from outside, all were allowed to pass through his room before they came up to the Mother. A spiritual Fire, a living Presence is there which can be felt as one enters the room.

K. M. Munshi's description of the room, as he saw it in 1950 gives as realistic a picture in its objective aspect as in its subjective, except that there has been installed in it a bust of the Master:

"...we came out into the small anteroom. There was a sofa covered with a tiger skin on which lay the portrait of the Master

8. The first time they had come on December 24, 1964, the front space was kept in reserve for them.

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and in a comer stood the Mother's high-backed chair.

'The Mother's room adjoined this little room. A deep wide calm—as Sri Aurobindo would say—brooded over the rooms. There was simplicity, yet art; every little detail had been beautifully thought out...

"We then went into Sri Aurobindo's room barely 20 ft. by 10 ft. where day and night he had lived and moved and wrought for well nigh forty years...Near the chair on which he sat was his bedstead covered with a tiger skin; in a corner was a book-table; that was all."

After the Master's withdrawal the Ashram atmosphere was surcharged so much with his Presence that many of us felt he was actually enveloping us. This experience was no speciality of the Ashramites; people outside, far and near, equally had it; it was as if his hitherto-concentrated Presence in his own room had now broken and diffused itself into numerous living forms.

The throne on which the Master and the Mother used to sit during the Darshan days is where it was, now with his illuminated portrait engraved on a sea-shell by a devotee named Abel of Tahiti, one of the Pacific islands.

Beside the Master's sleeping couch there is his bronze bust which was sculptured by the famous European artist Mrs. Elsa Fraenkel. It was first unveiled by the Mother in the Library Hall on November 24,1958. Afterwards it was installed in the room of Sri Aurobindo. In 1960 Mrs. Fraenkel herself visited the'Ashram.

Another five-metal bust of the Master was installed in the Pranam Hall on December 10, 1961. It was prepared by an Indian sculptor of Kumbhakonam. He spent a whole month here, working day and night till he finished the work.

When I asked an acquaintance, in the course of a talk, if he had the opportunity to have the Darshan of the Master, he exclaimed: "Oh yes, I have seen him."

"When ?"

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"On 2nd October 1956. It was a great day in my life. I cannot forget it."

His whole body beamed with joy when he said so. Then he narrated how he had come first from London to Pondicherry. He had made up his mind to have Darshan of the Master in November 1949 but could not come. He got upset when he heard the news that the Master had left his earthly sheath. He wanted to visit the Ashram but circumstances led him to London for study. The charm and splendour of London could not quench his thirst for a visit to the Ashram. After a year and a half he wanted to return to India via Colombo and, instead of going on to his own province, would sidetrack to Pondicherry. But being pressed by family troubles he wanted to change his mind and hurry home, when he heard a powerful voice in his heart, "Is this your devotion for the Master ?"

"Come what might, I must visit the Ashram first", he said to himself. In the meantime all his difficulties were over.

Once he came for a momentary Darshan of the Mother by selling his camera of Rs. 600/-, the only property he had which could bring some money.

Finally, we may touch on the way the power of the Darshan Day works even beyond the confines of the Ashram. It was the year 1959. Circumstances took a certain Ashramite 1400 miles off from Pondicherry. He had hoped to be back before the April Darshan. Whatever he did, wherever he went, his thoughts remained centred in the Ashram. When he found there were only three days left for Darshan he felt miserable, as he would have to miss it. Then his heart became all prayer. He prayed that something might be vouchsafed to him that might be memorable for all time.

On the Darshan morning he walked up and down the lawn in his courtyard. In the course of a few minutes he got lost in concentration and saw the scene of the Darshan in vivid detail—

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the Samadhi covered over with rose petals, people moving up in a queue to the Mother, he himself kneeling down before her and receiving blessings. In the evening this was followed by other visions, still more moving.

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