"But...."

"You think it was wrong to tell an untruth? Perhaps... but can't you imagine what would have happened if I had revealed my identity? The doctor would have informed the police right away and, amid general rejoicing, the police commissioner would have clapped me in irons and led me back to jail. The next day's papers would have carried dramatic headlines, such as 'Midnight arrest of Aurobindo Ghose while trying to escape!' Isn't that so?

"Tell me, does it strike you as very strange that a Yogi should have taken recourse to falsehood? You see, there is such a thing as spiritual discernment, which is far above strict moral codes. And it is that which indicates what one should do or say in a given situation. It is true that the behaviour of a Yogi cannot be judged by the ordinary mind, which finds itself completely in the dark when it tries to understand such situations. Anyway, let me end today's story.

"We climbed back into the carriage, greatly relieved. It again sped towards Chandpal Ghat. It was almost eleven at night when it reached there. The four of us boarded the Dupleix, a French ship, and entered the reserved cabin. Bijoy made my bed. Amar and Nagen stood facing me, near the door. Amar gave me some currency notes, then they touched my feet and took their leave."

Kriti said, "I am so moved by your boys' concern for you." The other children warmly agreed.

"As I've already told you, I had sent Moni to Pondicherry to make all the necessary arrangements. I had given him a letter of introduction for Srinivasachari, a Tamil firebrand. Moni was a bright, intelligent young man and I knew he would surely manage things.

"At last on the 4th of April we reached Pondicherry. The journey had been uneventful. The Lord had seen to everything."

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"But weren't you supposed to go to Colombo? You said that...."

"That, naturally, was a red herring to put the police off the track!" (Laughter)

"So there on the deck were the two of us, Bijoy and I, on the lookout for Moni. Soon, to our relief, we saw him with another young man, approaching our ship in a boat."

"Why did they come in a boat?" asked Satya.

"You see because of the shallow water of the port, the ship had to anchor offshore. Soon they - Moni and the other man who proved to be Srinivasachari - joined us in our cabin. And after a cup of tea, the four of us left the ship to be rowed back to the pier. Srinivasachari had arranged for a horse-carriage which drove us to a big and respectable place: a three-storeyed building. I went up to the third floor and found the place neat, clean and uninhabited - just what was required.

"Later on I learned that when Moni contacted Srinivasachari to fix a house for me, the latter wouldn't believe that I was coming here."

"Why didn't he believe Moni?" asked Archan.

"Because Pondicherry being such a small, politically isolated place, what would I, a national leader, do there? (Laughter) But Srinivasachari promised all assistance. Moni explained that I would be arriving by steamer on April 4th and the first need was a house for my stay. Srinivasachari gave his assurance that this would be done. However, two days passed and he did not seem concerned! After much prodding Moni was at last shown a miserable garret in a house at the end of a blind alley in a particularly dirty part of the town! Poor Moni failed to persuade Srinivasachari to arrange for something better. Then, to add to his dismay, Moni learned that they were planning to give me a rousing reception on my arrival, with garlanding and speeches - all in the best tradition! Moni pointed out that I was travelling incognito to escape the attention of the police, and to give me a public reception would defeat my very purpose. Then

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to his great relief they dropped the idea!"

"But I haven't followed one thing - you said that Moni had been shown a miserable garret in a dirty area, so how come you were taken to a big, respectable three-storeyed house?" asked Rohit.

"Oh yes, we too were wondering at the same thing," said some of the children.

Sri Aurobindo answered, laughing, "Well, that is exactly what I'm coming to.... You see, I told you that Srinivasachari did not believe Moni's news of my coming here. He thought Moni to be a police spy; to put him off, he showed him the miserable garret and not the big respectable house! So when we were led to the big nice house, Moni was wonder-struck!

"As I was telling you, the house, which obviously be- longed to one of the wealthier citizens of Pondicherry, was a very fine one and very convenient for me in every way, except for one thing: the bathroom was on the ground floor."

"Shankar Chetty's house, wasn't it? We've seen it. We were told that Vivekananda too had lived there for a few days."

"We lived there for six months and I never stepped out of it, not once. I didn't let Moni and Bijoy go out either, not for three months."

"But why?"

"Because of the police."

"But then, what about your food? How did you manage to eat?"

"Srinivasachari had arranged for two young boys to look after us, and their only business was to see that we lacked for nothing. Of course, Moni and Bijoy did the actual cooking. There was also a maid who came to clean the house and do the marketing. All told, the days went by quite uneventfully."

"Didn't you find it boring with nothing to do all day?"

"I had so much to occupy myself with; there was my Yoga and there was my writing. Perhaps my two young friends

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may have found it difficult, although they too were made in a different mould and, besides, they were accustomed to hardship.

"For our amusement, the three of us would sometimes hold séances. You know what that means? We would call the spirits of dead people and have conversations with them with the help of automatic writing."

"Yes, yes, you used to do the same thing sometimes in Baroda and in Calcutta too. This is how you wrote the book Yogic Sadhan," said Aloka.

"The book was finished in a week. On the last day I thought I saw a figure that looked like Rammohan Roy disappear into the subtle world."

"How strange! What does that mean?" asked Chaitanya.

"It was he who was the actual author of the book. I was only the medium. That is why the book has not been published under my name. I wrote an Editor's Epilogue for it under the name of 'Uttar Yogi'.

"This name has a story behind it. Once, a wealthy zamindar came and met me in Shankar Chetty's house. He had been looking for me because when his Guru was about to leave his body, the zamindar asked him about the spiritual guide he must take for his Sadhana. The Guru said that a great Yogi would come here from the North, whose help he could take. Then lyengar, the landlord, asked him how he would recognise the great Yogi, as there were so many Yogis who came to the South from the North."

Bittu said, "I too had the same question in mind!"

"The Guru replied that the Yogi would come seeking asylum in the South, and he would be recognisable by three sayings, or three declarations."

"But how did he know that you were the Yogi?" asked Anirban, rather intrigued.

"Well, on enquiry, he found out that I had come to Pondicherry seeking refuge. Moreover the 'three sayings' were my 'three madnesses' that I had mentioned in a letter to Mrinalini."

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"Yes, yes, you've spoken to us about that letter!" said two or three children.

"How did he know about this letter?" enquired Rahul.

"You see, some of my letters to Mrinalini had been produced in the Alipore court, and this was one of them.

"lyengar gave me promise of economic help and, besides this, actually gave some money, in spite of the great risk he was running by helping such a 'dangerous man'! It was he who got Yogic Sadhan printed and bore the expenses."

"It is really amazing how this Yogi knew all these particulars about you!"

"There is nothing amazing in that if you accept the notion that just as there are books and sciences that help us know more of the world around us, so also are there methods, systems and sciences that help us acquire knowledge of the world within us.

"One of the interesting events of those early days in Pondicherry was a fast that I undertook for twenty-three days."

"But why?" enquired Sachet.

"Just an experiment. Scientists make experiments all the time. So did I. I wanted to see how long one could stay without food, and yet continue one's everyday activity; I even continued with my daily walk of eight hours. At the end of the twenty-three days, I didn't feel the least tired and I broke my fast by eating a perfectly normal meal, though usually one is advised to resume eating very gradually after a long fast. One begins with fruit-juice and then goes on to easier digestive solid food. That is what the doctors say."

"Then the doctors are wrong and they ought to change their ideas."

"No, they ought not because everybody is not Sri Aurobindo," broke in a small but confident voice.

Sri Aurobindo smiled and continued: "After that long fast, though I didn't feel weak at all, as I've already told you, I did lose a lot of weight. I found that there was nothing else except food that could give me a well-built body. So I began

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eating again. I also realised that food was essential for existence in the body, at least as things are at present. But it was clear that someday man could do without it."

"How can he?"

"The same way that I lived for those twenty-three days, carrying on with all my activity without feeling any fatigue or weakness. Since this was possible, I decided that there must be a means or method by which one could be rid of dependence on food. That should be successfully realised when man is supramentalised."

"But even what you did during those twenty-three days seems hardly believable. How did you do it?"

"I have often told you that this material universe is not the only reality, that there are many other more subtle ones, such as the worlds of life and mind. From these worlds you can draw strength or energy. Haven't you noticed small children, animals too, who are restless and active all day without feeling the least tired? This is because they draw their energies effortlessly from the vital planes. Have you understood something?"

"A little bit!" (Laughter)

"I have also spoken to you about my fast in the Alipore Jail."

"Please tell us again about it. We've forgotten the details," said Pavak.

"It was a period of intense yogic activity. I gave up eating, throwing away all the food I was given. Naturally, the police officers knew nothing about it, but the wardens noticed what I was doing. They told themselves that I was probably extremely ill and would not live long. I even slept only once in three days. All this made me lose almost ten pounds in weight, but my life-energy seemed to increase. I had no difficulty any longer in lifting a bucket of water above my head, which I could not do ordinarily."

"Jatin Das is said to have fasted for sixty days or more. Is that so?"

"Yes, and there are others too who have done the same.

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The papers were full of instances of fasting. But I wonder if they too continued with their work and their walks. At least, as far as Jatin Das is concerned, it was never mentioned that he did his usual work during those sixty days. It is surely less easy to keep the body active and energetic while one is fasting, than to remain in bed, immobile and passive."

"You must have tried out various kinds of experiments on your body?"

"I have, yes, of course."

Kriti, pointing to her friend, said: "She has a question." "Oh? I hope it isn't a very difficult one!" remarked Sri Aurobindo, amidst general laughter.

"No, no, it's just that I wanted to know what the officials of the government did when they found out that you had disappeared from Bengal. Didn't they try to look for you? They wouldn't have known that you had come to Pondicherry!"

"How surprising! This was just what I had planned to tell you this morning. In fact, it's a very interesting story. You know, it wasn't very likely that government officials, the Secretary of State for India, for instance, would rest by day and sleep by night after having heard about the disappearance of one whom they regarded as their biggest enemy! But they did not know where to begin looking for me, particularly since they believed all kinds of absurd stories about me. It was ridiculous how afraid they were. They considered my 'Open Letter to My Countrymen', which had appeared in the Karmayogin to be seditious and issued a warrant for my arrest. But since I wasn't to be found, they arrested the poor printer instead, and sentenced him to six months imprisonment. But when an appeal was made against that sentence, and the court set the man free, the pride of the police and the government received a big blow. Telegraphic messages criss-crossed the ocean between

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London and India. 'Where is Aurobindo? Has he been found? According to which law was the warrant for his arrest issued?' To which an upset Viceroy answered: 'No, Aurobindo has not been found. But he is said to be hiding somewhere in the city of Calcutta.' Soon afterwards, the police informed him that Aurobindo had probably gone to Pondicherry, though this was not yet ascertained. So again, in a short while, they announced, 'Aurobindo is here in the city, getting ready to leave for Paris with Ajit Singh. Send someone immediately to identify him.' Sardar Ajit Singh was another revolutionary."

"Really! How fantastic!"

"The government believed it anyway. It did not matter that no such notion had ever occurred to me, nor did I have that kind of money. They had to prove that they were not sitting idle, that they were very busily looking for me. They were also afraid that if somehow I did manage to reach France, I would go out of their clutches and would then find it much more convenient to carry on with my revolutionary activities from there. So this attempt had somehow to be foiled. Since every ship that sailed for France went via Colombo in those days, I was to be arrested at that port. So they finalised the arrangements with the Colombo police to arrest me there. Finally, they managed to discover the truth about everything, how I had left Calcutta under a false name, how too I had obtained the medical certificate, and all the rest of it. Only they believed that the name of my companion was Nolini and not Bijoy. But you see how well God had made all the arrangements for me. On the day the ship was to sail, the police were ready and waiting at the jetty to arrest the passenger 'J.N. Mitra', as I had called myself. But since I arrived late and then had to rush to the doctor's house for my medical certificate, they did not find me. They finally thought that I had decided to embark on another ship another day. They discovered their error later when they found out that 'J.N. Mitra' had indeed been a passenger on that very ship. They went to see the doctor

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with one of my pictures and he identified me. He also told them that he had been very impressed by my English! Since the police had no photograph of Bijoy, the doctor could not identify him, but the description he gave misled them to decide that it must have been Nolini who had accompanied me. Poor Nolini!

"The wonderful discoveries of the police did not end there. Next, they came up with the theory that I was planning to go to Berlin, not Paris, to join the Indian revolutionaries who were already there. Actually, I was supposed to leave on the 1st of April on a boat that belonged to the Lloyd Company, but I failed to find a free berth, so I couldn't sail on it. Someone must have made April fools of the police by telling them that I had gathered Rs.25,000 and left for Berlin! Whereas all I had done was to come to Pondicherry, not crossed thousands of miles to reach Europe. They also believed that if finally I had not gone to Berlin, it was because I had not managed to get the required sum of money. The police commissioner therefore sent warrants for my arrest at all the three ports - Bombay, Madras and Colombo. You see to what lengths they would go to catch just one man. How many plots and plans they laid for me, while I had surrendered the entire responsibility of my life and security into God's hands, and was resting at ease in Pondicherry, sitting on the tip of their nose, as goes the Bengali saying.(Laughter)

"At length, however, feeling sorry for them, I sent in November 1910, a notification to The Hindu politely requesting that paper to make it known to all those who were interested in me and my movements that I was residing in Pondicherry and that I intended to continue doing so. Since I had left British India to come to this French colony in order to do Yoga, I had cut off all political connections, and so neither the law nor the government had any right to brand me a traitor and a rebel and expect me to give myself up into their hands. Naturally if I had still continued to be active in politics, then it would have been a different matter.

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But ever since I had arrived in Pondicherry, I had taken up a life of spiritual seclusion, though there was nothing secret about it. A few French and Indian friends who visited me regularly could vouch for that. Many people in Madras knew the facts about me, so did most people in Pondicherry. I ended my information to The Hindu by saying that it was almost against my will that I was contacting them but that some people were spreading rumours about me for their own selfish ends, saying that I was still living in British India. I insisted very firmly that after March I had not set foot in British India, and did not intend doing so in future, at least not until I could go there freely and openly. If anyone at that time or at any time had anything else to say about me, then that person would be uttering an absolute falsehood. I made it very clear that for the time-being I had retired from all political activities and that I could neither meet nor correspond with anyone about political matters. I ended by adding that I would prefer not to go into the reason why I had left British India until the High Court had given its verdict as to whether my writings in the Karmayogin were seditious or not.... Did you follow anything of what I said?"

"Not all of it. But did the police accept the statement?"

"Ah! the police. Do they ever really believe the statements that are given to them? Particularly one coming from me was specially suspect. They had tried and tried, but had always failed to catch me. They kept a constant watch on me, on the Ashram, even on the visitors who came for the Darshans. Their spies used to hover around the main Ashram building all the time, pester with questions the visitors who came here, bothering them at the railway station itself. One of the good things that the Congress government did later was to free us from being harrassed by the police.

"Since we have been talking about the police, let me say all that, I have to say about the subject, before I close it - though it is not a subject that can easily be closed or put

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aside. Perhaps that is why we usually try to keep our distance from the police and the law courts.... The name we had given the British Indian police was 'The Red Turbans'. You will soon understand why we also considered them rather foolish. Even after reading my notification in The Hindu, the British government still refused to believe that I had retired from politics. To them, the words 'Yoga' and 'spirituality' were simply screens behind which I would continue with my political activities in secret. You see, every man judges the world by his own standards, sees himself in his surroundings. They read their own meanings in the fact that I had made French India my home, for they believed that from here I could send advice and orders and even weapons much more easily and safely to my former friends. I was indeed like a nagging toothache for the old British lion!

"So they hit upon a plan. A local rowdy, who was a wealthy political leader, was asked to kidnap me and take me back to British India in his car. But we got wind of this and my friends and companions started keeping watch over me round the clock. They even carried arms, for they had every intention of putting up a fight if and when anyone came for me. Of course nothing happened in the end. On the contrary, a warrant of arrest was issued in the name of the same political leader, on some charge. As a result, the man, afraid of being arrested, ran away to Madras. I was told that much later he repented for having made hostile moves against a Yogi!

"The next attempt that the police made was more subtle and clever. Instead of force, they now took recourse to guile. They sneaked into the house of one of my friends and threw a tin, stuffed with some forged documents, into the courtyard well. When the servant went to fetch water from the well, the box came up with the pail. The French police were informed. They examined the papers in the box and found them rather disturbing, for they seemed to implicate me and my companions in some conspiracy against the

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British government. So the chief of the French police brought several constables to our house in order to search it thoroughly. While he was busy doing so, his eyes fell on some papers on which something was written in Greek. He asked me if I knew Greek. When he found that I knew not only Greek but Latin too and several other European languages, he exclaimed in admiration 'II sait du Grec! II sail du Latin!' (He knows Greek! He knows Latin!) And with that, he reverently apologised."

"But why?" asked Pavak.

"You really are stupid," exclaimed the little questioner's friend. "Can't you understand this much? Since he is such a learned and wise person, he obviously can't stoop to such low tricks!" Sri Aurobindo listened to this answer with a smile. Then he added:

"The French are truly different. They have a great respect for culture. The police officer not only apologised but before leaving he even invited me to visit him at his office, so that we might exchange views on life and literature."

"Did you visit him?"

"Yes, of course, since the invitation had been so courteously extended. And it is useful too to be good friends with the police.

"The third attempt by the British police to capture me. took the form of temptation. Word was sent to me informing me that the British government would have no objection if I did decide to return to British India. In fact, they would be only too pleased to have me back and would let me live peacefully in a bungalow in Darjeeling, with the most picturesque surroundings. There I would be free to pursue my intellectual and spiritual activities as I pleased, and sometimes would even be invited to visit the Governor when he came up to the hills during summer. (Laughter) But I refused this very kind offer with a clear 'No, thank you.' "

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"Why did you refuse the British invitation?" asked little Sita.

"Because it was in fact a trap, silly!" exclaimed Rahul.

Sri Aurobindo laughed. "Exactly! They must have thought me to be really raw, knowing nothing of the world, if they believed that I would be taken in by their offers! And yet they considered me to be their very dangerous enemy!

"Once again the British tried to capture me, and this time it was more difficult to foil their plan. This happened in 1914, during the First World War. It was a time when great waves of revolt were sweeping across India. The Indian government took this opportunity to ask the French, their military ally, either to give up all political refugees into their hands or to deport them from Pondicherry. The French government felt compelled to suggest to us that we could go to Algeria, that all arrangements for our comfortable stay there would be made. We were also told that if we refused to comply with the offer, the British might take us away by force. On hearing this, the eminent Tamil poet, Subramaniam Bharati, who was present at the time said angrily:

'Since we are no longer safe in French India, why don't we go abroad?' But I answered very firmly, 'Mr. Bharati, I refuse to budge from here. You may do as you please, but I know I am perfectly safe here. This, and not Darjeeling nor Algeria, is the place of my work and my realisation, and here will I remain.' "

"Thank goodness you never went anywhere! How would we ever have gone to Algeria to see you!"

"Something else happened at the time, a rather ugly episode, with the recounting of which I will close that chapter of my life which dealt with the British government and its perfidy.

"We had then just moved into the Guest House. 1 have already told you that the British police pestered us wherever we went. Naturally, in French India, they were not dressed in the official uniform - that was against the law - they were mostly in plain-clothes. But they spied upon us all the time,

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keeping track of who came and went. Nothing escaped their attention, as they seemed to have set up watch just outside our house. Not only that, they were trying to find ways and means of coming inside. Around this time, a young man named Biren Roy joined our group, and one day he decided to shave his head. Moni, on seeing this, felt like shaving his head too - he was like that, our Moni, often quite impulsive. So there we were, one evening, sitting all together, the two of them with their clean-shaven heads, when suddenly, Biren shouted out loudly: 'I am a spy, a British spy! I can't hide the fact any longer. Forgive me, oh, forgive me!' So saying, he fell at my feet, as though I had forced him to confess. 'Don't you believe me?' he continued. 'Look, here is proof, here are a hundred rupees,' and he fished out a note from his pocket. 'Where could I get so much money if it were not from the British police? But I promise you I will never do such a thing again, and please, please, forgive me!' "

"Why did he confess so suddenly?" asked Amal.

"I didn't understand it either, not then, though I wondered whether he had felt any invisible pressure from within forcing him to own up his crime before me. But the matter became clear in a few days' time. There was a gang of spies waiting outside and he had shaved off his hair so that they could identify him. But when Moni too appeared without his hair, Biren believed that we had discovered his plot, and out came his confession born partly of fear, partly too out of genuine repentance."

Rohit said, "Hearing about all these innumerable ruses of the British to capture you, I am reminded of a Hindi couplet we learned in our class. Translated, it would be, 'Even if there are as many enemies as there are stars in the sky, if the Grace of God is on a man, not a hair of his head can be touched.' " All the children smiled warmly and appreciatively at Rohit for his apt quotation. Sri Aurobindo also smiled and continued, "There were other problems too that we had to face, but they diminished with time, particularly ever

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since the Mother came and settled down among us. From then onwards we received much more cooperation and help from the French government."

"Who looked after your food and your other needs?" asked Udita.

"There is nothing much I have to say about that, because it wasn't a problem we worried much about. Women, when they run a household, worry a great deal about how to work, but men are not like that. When men look after the kitchen, they put on the table what they can or have. You take it or leave it! Particularly, the young revolutionaries of those days were like that. They also knew that I was quite indifferent about the subject and that I would be satisfied with whatever was served. Do not forget that we were, all of us, wanted men. My boys were utterly penniless, and neither was I a Carnegie or a Ford. We survived mainly on whatever money was sent to us by friends and relatives. But since this had to be done clandestinely, we could not afford to live like lords. Ours was a simple fare of rice, dal and vegetables, and maybe fish now and then. But there were days when the boys would come and tell me that there was no rice left and no money to buy any more. I would only tell them - 'Well then, eat less. {Laughter) If there is no money to buy food, go on a fast. If you can't afford beds and tables and chairs, work on the floor, bear hardship.' In other words, we lived within the means that the Lord allowed us."

"Is it true that there was just one towel for the four or five of you?"

Sri Aurobindo replied, "If you have heard that one, then you have heard them all! Actually, I never found poverty frightening, neither did I consider it a desirable condition for the soul's progress. For if I had, then the Ashram would not have provided you with all the facilities and requirements of a comfortable daily existence, including games and even entertainment. We too would have saved a lot of money by turning you all into ascetics, monks and nuns." (Laughter)

"You may not have found poverty difficult to face, but

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one could not say the same about your friends, surely?" asked Chaitanya.

"Why not? They were not only sturdy young men, they were revolutionaries, accustomed to sacrifice and hardship. They had all gone to prison with me."

"But how things have changed now! The Mother has given us everything, we have beautiful furniture and lamps and -'"

Sri Aurobindo said, "Yes, the Mother's coming brought about a complete change in our life. Formerly ours was the life of the seeker after knowledge, the worshipper of Saraswati. Now it is Mahalakshmi who is manifesting herself through grace and beauty, abundance and joy."

"But there was no school in those days in the Ashram. So how could it have been a life that was a worship of Saraswati?"

"Indeed there was, at least a certain type of schooling. There was an imparting of knowledge, of the outer as well as of the inner truths. Also, I used to teach Nolini and Amrita. I taught them English, French and some other languages. We may not always have had enough money for food, but we certainly tried to put some money aside, every month, to buy books. In this way, we gradually built up a small library, hence the first house that we acquired was called the Library House. Nolini and the Tamil poet Subramaniam Bharati used to chant Vedic hymns with me regularly."

"Did people from the town visit you?"

"Yes, a few of them were, like me, political refugees from British India, and were already in Pondicherry when I came here. One of them was Bharati. I also remember very clearly another person. He was V. Ramaswamy lyengar, who was later known in Tamil literature simply as 'Va-Ra'. When he expressed a wish to meet me, I tried first to visualise him by my subtle sight. I saw a head of short-cropped hair, a hard face, a strong body. Yet the next day, when he came, he seemed a polished, cultured Vaishnava gentleman. But a year later he became someone

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who resembled my vision of him. This is called prophetic vision."

"How extraordinary!"

"I will end today's session by telling you about a great French scholar whose name was Paul Richard. He had come to Pondicherry from France on a political mission, but he started looking for a Yogi as soon as he came. And when he heard of me he wished to see me immediately. It was from him that I heard about the Mother. Richard was the person who established my link with her. Later, when he returned here with her, I met the Mother and, working together, we laid in time the foundations of the Ashram. Slowly, more and more people came to stay here. The Ashram began to grow like a huge banyan tree, spreading its branches in alt directions. At the present moment, here you are, sitting under its shade, listening to my stories."

"Now tell us something about the Mother."

"About the Mother? What would you like to know?"

"We are told that she started the Ashram. Why was there no Ashram in your time?"

"In my time, there were three or four boys who lived with me - a very small Ashram indeed! They studied and played games and looked after my needs, but as far as Yoga or Sadhana was concerned, there wasn't much of that. In fact, there was very little order or system in our life. I was mostly busy with my own spiritual life and hardly met them except at meal time. And, when we did meet for an hour or two, we discussed the progress they had made with their studies. It was the Mother who brought some order and discipline into this bohemian existence, and began moulding the Ashram into shape, an Ashram for those who wished to realise the Divine. Of course, that came about very concretely much later, in 1926."

"Was it then that the Mother first came?"

"No, her first arrival here was in 1914."

"How did she recognise you? Had she heard something about you?"

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"She was already far advanced in her Sadhana and during her meditations she used to see many visions and have various experiences. Sages would come to her to help and guide her, of whom I too was one, as she found out later. Finally, it was with me that she established the strongest link and she began calling me Krishna. She became more and more certain that someday she would meet me and that it was in collaboration with me that she would fulfil her life's mission. She even painted a portrait of her vision of me."

"Yes, yes, we have seen it. But...."

"Why but?"

"It doesn't closely resemble your physical appearance."

Sri Aurobindo explained, "Forms, as they appear in visions, are often not exact replicas of their physical counterparts. But she recognised me the moment she saw me."

"It was on the 29th of March 1914, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"We have read what she wrote after that meeting, in the Prayers and Meditations.''

"What did she write?"

" 'It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance. He whom we saw yester- day is on earth; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth.' She wrote this about you. But how extraordinary that she recognised who you were at that very first meeting!"

"Nothing extraordinary in that. She had attained a high degree of spiritual development by then, had already had the realisation of the Divine."

"There are lots of other beautiful stories too that we have heard," said Sudeep excitedly.

Sri Aurobindo said smiling, "What, for instance? Today it is my turn to listen to stories." (Laughter)

"We have heard that, in 1920, the closer the ship in which the Mother was travelling came to Pondicherry, the more

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she sensed a great light emanating from the centre of the town and radiating in all directions, reaching her even across the waters. When she alighted here, the experience grew more intense, and upon meeting you, she realised where the light was coming from."

"And look at us!" said a plaintive little voice. "We come to you so often, but never see any light!"

"Become like the Mother, and you too will do so."

"I sometimes see a beautiful white light around the Mother," said Kriti.

The girl blushed as all heads turned to look at her.

"Yes, it is the Mother's light. You are fortunate indeed that from the very beginning you felt her and knew her for what she is, the Mother."

"Why do you say that?"

"Those who were with me during those early years, and saw her when she first came. couldn't do so. They under- stood much later, when they were told who she was. Until then, they thought that she was just a nice lady, while they were the wise and learned ones! (Laughter) It took them a long time to accept that though she was a westerner and a woman, she was an extraordinary being. Not only was she an accomplished artist and musician as well as being ex- tremely learned, but she was, most of all, a Sadhika of a very high order."

"What did the Mother do then?"

"You want to know whether she too treated them with the same discourtesy?" (Laughter)

"No, no, not that. We want to hear more about what happened after she met you, where and how she lived, if she ate with you or if she worked anywhere."

"Oh! it was all so long ago, I am not sure I remember all the details. But I remember that she cooked very well - you must have heard that French cuisine is very famous - and she would often invite us all, much to the delight of my boys. (Laughter) So that was a change we all felt, since her coming brought some very tasty meals our way. As for the rest, you

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can ask Nolini, he will tell you. The main work she took up at the time was the publication of the Arya. It was largely by her encouragement, collaboration and help that the first issue got published in August, at about the start of the First World War. The Indian readers realised that I had not secluded myself utterly in silence and meditation. After four long years, my writings began to be published again, but this time they were not on politics, but on philosophy and poetry and so on. I was acclaimed a great philosopher. I had never studied any philosophy, though I had read Plato's Republic and Symposium. Of course, if you can call them philosophy, I had read the Gita and the Upanishads. However, after a year, the Mother returned to France -"

"But why?"

"Because the First World War had broken out." "Did you then know that she would return someday to work with you?"

"I suppose I should have known." "Why 'should'?"

"Because the reason and purpose why she was born on earth were the same as mine. Therefore, we would have to work together, otherwise our mission would remain unfulfilled. It is she who has given a practical form to my realisation, it is she who has created the Ashram. If she had not come, where would you all have been?

"I could never have given an organised form to your lives, never have been able to create all the educational facilities, physical and otherwise, for you, the way she has done, never have given you flowers, sweets and cards on your birthdays! All I could have done was write big tomes of which you would have understood nothing!" (Laughter)

"Yes, it's true," agreed Anubha smiling.

"Do you think you all have come here for my sake?"

"No, maybe not. But we do love you very much."

"What is it that you and the Mother expected of us? You didn't tell us that."

"It's not very easy to put it in a few words. Out of you

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pure and simple children we want to create a new race, a race greater than man's, which will be to man what man is to the ape."

"What will that race look like?"

"Maybe like the gods."

"I have never seen a god!" exclaimed Anshu.

"But we have seen the Mother and Sri Aurobindo!" replied Sachet.

Kriti said, "We asked Nolinida to tell us something about the Mother."

"So what did he tell you?"

"Many things very many things. All that you had said and more. You never told us that once, when the Mother had to go to Karaikal, she was obliged to stay in a filthy, dark, termite-ridden room!"

"There is so much that I did not tell you! Which is just why I asked you to see Nolini. But now tell me your story."

"We were a little afraid to go and speak to him, thinking that he wouldn't like to meet us. Everyone seems to be somewhat afraid of him. And, at first, he refused to see us. But when he heard that it was you who had sent us, he laughed loudly and called us in. We sat around him and he told us so many stories, so many lovely reminiscences of the olden days. We had never expected he would chat with us with such warmth and friendliness. He told us about the Mother's first arrival here, what he and the others thought about her, what your life was like in those days, the food you ate - oh! various things."

"All right then! Start relating those old stories, one after the other, each of you. I have forgotten most of them anyway."

Sampada began, "He said it was from you that he first heard about the Mother. You told him that a Sadhika of a very high order was coming from France to see you. He

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described to us, in very clear and simple language, the fear and nervousness that had filled him and his companions when they heard that. But to us it sounded very funny. He told us that since you had given them a great deal of freedom, they had gradually got accustomed to a mode of conduct and a turn of language that were far from being refined or courteous. They had almost ceased to care about all those socially acceptable details. They felt that if this French lady wished to visit them, she might do so, but her coming should in no way curb their freedom! Yet, strangely enough, that attitude gradually gave way to one of friendship towards her, of intimacy even, until she became the Divine Mother. But that was possible because you were there, and because of the Mother's own greatness. It was you who established her as the Mother. She taught them much, but there was one thing in particular which they learned and never forgot. It was something very deep that you had told them about. We didn't quite understand what Nolinida meant. You had said that you had never before seen anywhere a self-surrender so absolute and unreserved; and that perhaps it was only women who were capable of giving themselves so entirely and with such ease."

"Why should that be difficult to understand? When a woman loves a person truly, is there anything that she cannot do for him? Doesn't she lose herself entirely in him? Only to love and serve him and make him happy becomes the aim of her existence. In the same way, when we love the Divine, we offer ourselves wholly at His feet, just as the infant unquestioningly gives itself up to its mother."

"Yes, Nolinida also said the same thing. The Mother surrendered herself to you with the absoluteness of a child, he explained. It was as if she had known nothing, had heard nothing until then. Everything would have to be learnt from the beginning. And yet she was already such a great scholar. In France, she had studied the Gita and the Upanishads and had even translated some of them, and we also know how accomplished a musician and artist she was."

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"There was, too, something quite unexpected and very interesting that Nolinida told us. It was about the Mother. helping to set up a shop! She actively encouraged and helped someone from your group to start a shop. And on the day it was opened, you too were present there, though I can't now recall what it was called."

"The Aryan Stores?"

"Yes, that's it. But why a shop?"

"Well, just as today we have among us men of business who are devotees of the Mother and who act under her protection and guidance, similarly in that period also there appeared, as if in seed-state, this particular line of activity. The object was to bring in some money: we were hard-up in those days. All money really belongs to the Divine, although at present the hostile anti-divine forces have their hold on it. You can see for yourselves what misuse money is being put to. But someday wealth has to be won back from these hostile forces and used in the service of the Divine. This is the deeper significance behind the Mother's help to start a shop. Do you understand?"

"A little," replied Sachet.

"What else did he tell you?"

"Oh, many things, very interesting stories, but most of them happened much later, after the Mother had come for the second time, to stay here for good."

"Well, what's the harm in telling me some of them?"

"If we do the talking, then when shall we listen to you? At one point Nolinida cracked a joke; he said that the Mother once did a special Karmayoga with cats."

"Why should it be a joke?"

"Is it really true?"

"Someday I'll tell you how a cat used to come and sit with us during the meditation."

"Yes, that is what he said. At first there came a wild street cat which gradually grew gentle and tame and so pretty that you called her Sundari. (Laughter) Sundari had kittens, one of which was named Bushy. It was Bushy who used to leave

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