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26 OCTOBER 1939 PURANI: The seizure of the American ship City of Flint may create some change in America. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't think so, because it was carrying contraband. I am not quite sure, but I think that according to international law contraband goods are not allowed. NIRODBARAN: Fazlul Huque has come out with some grievances now, one of them being the muffling of the press by Congress Ministers. SRI AUROBINDO: That is to suppress communalism. What is he himself doing in Bengal? NIRODBARAN: C. R's statement seems very fine. In a few words he has expressed the whole thing. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but if he is going to call Jinnah into conference the unity he speaks of seems improbable. And I don't know what he means by a "gesture". If he wants Indian leaders to be included in the War Committee, it is most unlikely that the Government will consent, as they know nothing about warfare. PURANI: They may be able to formulate a scheme for non-violent warfare! SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, as in Poland. Gandhi calls the Polish resistance almost non-violent. By "non-violent" he means, I suppose, a heroic defensive resistance and a heroic martyrdom ending in surrender. But the Poles didn't wait till they were all shot, they rendered long before. How does he take to the Congress shooting, putting people into prison etc.? They are not non-violent. PURANI: No, once he publicly denounced these as violent means. SRI AUROBINDO: But application of force in any form is violence. Prohibition by force is also violence. Has he ever thought how he will rule by non-violence? PURANI: He will persuade and convince people by peaceful means, I believe. SRI AUROBINDO: Will the Parsees come round by that? Human nature is non-violent till one gets power.
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EVENING
PURANI : Sir Akbar asks if you could change "seven crores" into "thirty crores" in your translation of Bande Mataram." SRI AUROBINDO: That has been done. PURANI: And if "Durga" could also be changed? SRI AUROBINDO: That I can't change. NIRODBARAN: Muslims take "Durga" as a Hindu Goddess and say that in this poem there are plenty of Sanskrit words. SRI AUROBINDO: But here the country is spoken of as "Durga", so a Hindu Goddess has nothing to do with it. The Christians may also object to Greek Gods and Goddesses being represented in literature. As for the other point, the Muslims have plenty of Persian words in their writings. Let these be removed also. PURANI : Yes, they don't see that the country is being addressed as Durga. SRI AUROBINDO: At last I have found some fine modern poets. This anthology Recent Poetry is more characteristic and this woman Alida Monroe has a finer poetic sensibility than Yeats. But Auden I can't make out. He speaks of "two black rocks, someone dying there", "we two", etc. Who are these "we"? PURANI: Perhaps you will find some more good poets as you go on. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know, because these are the poets they speak of. (To Nirodbaran) Eliot is undoubtedly a poet. Why the devil does he go in for modernism, when he can write such fine stuff as "La Figlia che Piange"? When he plunges into irregularity he makes a mess by lack of rhythm.
NIRODBARAN: In an old essay in a now defunct periodical named Orient Amal wrote that because you were embittered and disillusioned you gave up poetry and politics. SRI AUROBINDO: Nonsense. I gave it up and took to the spiritual life because I wanted force for my action. People make the mistake of thinking that whatever a poet writes must be from his personal experience. I can also write of universal experience. I can feel the experience in me and write about it.
Page-246 NIRODBARAN: Gandhi will now have to consider the door closed, after Hoare's speech. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, not only closed but jammed and he must be prepared to expect the worst. NIRODBARAN: When Hoare was made the Government speaker, it was — SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it was a foregone conclusion. NIRODBARAN: He has also indicated the line the Government should pursue, saying "with strength and justice". SRI AUROBINDO: That is the Hitlerian euphemism for repression, almost the same tone as of Ribbentrop. The undersecretary, O'Neil, tried to cool it down but with no effect.
SRI AUROBINDO (apropos of an article by a devotee named Buddhadev): I have never heard that Shakespeare was popular among the peasants. His popularity was due to his power of speech. Everything he said was said with force and energy and that appealed to the people. But he is not so successful in his sonnets. His dramas alone have that quality. Shelley has that gift only in rare places. Wordsworth also, and those are the things that become popular but not with the peasants. Shakespeare easy? And he was enjoyed by all? That is news. It is true that dhvani (rhythmic suggestion) is an important element of poetry but it is not everything. There must be something that appeals to the mind, man being mental. Poetry to be popular must be good poetry.
NIRODBARAN: You have said in your Synthesis of Yoga that all love and adoration is good — it is a preparation and aspiration, even partial realisation. SRI AUROBINDO: Not for a Yogi. NIRODBARAN : No, I mean in ordinary human life how can it be a preparation and aspiration? SRI AUROBINDO : I meant true love, not vital love with desire and possessiveness, or physical love. That of course can't be — Page-247
though Blake says the physical act of love is part of divine love or its fulfilment. If it is true love with a psychic or higher element in it, then it helps to awaken the Divine in oneself or bring a high uplifting of one's nature. I said there "love and adoration". Love, adoration and desire for union are the three features of that love. NIRODBARAN: Sometimes even when there is a true spark, that gets lost afterwards by vital mixture, sometimes with disastrous consequences to the parties concerned. SRI AUROBINDO: In so far as there is truth in the love, it will have its reward in the evolution of the being. NIRODBARAN: If that love helps to turn one towards the Divine, can it be said it was an unconscious seeking for the Divine? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, or it may be a seeking for love itself and its realisation or fulfilment. NIRODBARAN: I have read a novel where the hero-an artist-has been depicted as unconsciously seeking for the Divine through human love but every fresh contact or relation seems to disillusion him because he finds jealously, pettiness, etc. coming in. Could it be said it was really a seeking or was it merely a vital play? SRI AUROBINDO: Can't say, it depends on the particular psychological case. Which novel was it? NIRODBARAN: J's. There the hero has been represented in that light and turned towards the Divine at the end. SRI AUROBINDO: That's all mental.
NIRODBARAN: I have a few more questions on yesterday's topic. First, it seems that so long as love can be kept more or less psychic and mental it tends to remain high, noble and constant. But if it is brought down to the physical it tends to be vitiated and gets lost. So the physical relation seems to be predominantly responsible for the breaking of the union. SRI AUROBINDO: The vital can also be responsible for it without any physical element. You can't say the physical is predominantly so. Blake and others actually say that spiritual love should be sanctified by vital and physical action. They are part of divine love. Page-248
NIRODBARAN: In woman, people say, a moment comes when she surrenders everything to the beloved. The physical being is a part of that surrender. SRI AUROBINDO: That is the attitude of submission of the female to the male. Real surrender is a different thing, more psychic in character. NIRODBARAN: In a psychic relation, when sex action takes place, is it only for procreation? SRI AUROBINDO: The psychic element may be extended into the physical. NIRODBARAN: But is there not a danger of the psychic element being lost? SRI AUROBINDO: That depends on the strength of the psychic. The psychic relation is itself very rare, but it can get overclouded. NIRODBARAN: If a person has been disappointed in love in the world and that element is not satisfied, and after turning to the Divine he finds somebody whom he loves and adores, can it be called a need or necessity of the being? SRI AUROBINDO: Not need or necessity. All depends on the particular case. If there is the psychic element in it, it can help. The Vaishnavas brought even sexual relations into their Yoga in order to sublimate them. The result in their case was a failure. NIRODBARAN: But in spite of the psychic element, there is a risk. The "thing" may be lost. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know what this "thing" is as I don't know the case. SATYENDRA: Nirod is speaking very guardedly!
SATYENDRA: Nirod has a few more questions to ask: he is trying to formulate them, it seems. PURANI: Schomburg is a great woman-hater, it appears. On every occasion he brings in the question of woman's shortcomings. SRI AUROBINDO: Is yours also a misogynist question? NIRODBARAN: Misogynist means woman-hater? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Page-249
NIRODBARAN: No, my question is not that. Someone asked me, "If love is a seeking for the Divine, why does one seek human love after taking up Yoga?" SRI AUROBINDO: But is the man conscious of the Divine? If he is, either of two things may happen. All human relations may fall off or, keeping the divine love, he may keep human love as an appendage trying to raise it towards the Divine. I am not speaking of sex relations. NIRODBARAN: He may have faith that here is the Divine. SRI AUROBINDO: Faith is not consciousness. It is a preliminary element. NIRODBARAN: And if he is unconscious? SRI AUROBINDO: It depends on particular types. Some persons, as I said, after being conscious of the Divine don't want any other relation with anyone else; at the same time they can keep a universal love for everybody. Others may keep a special relation with some, keeping it pure and trying to centralise everything towards the Divine. NIRODBARAN: It should be then predominantly psychic? SRI AUROBINDO: No, it can be higher vital, free from all desires, attachments, etc. SATYENDRA: There is the other extreme also. People here say that there should not be love for anyone else except for the Divine! SRI AUROBINDO: As I said, it depends on the type. It does not mean that one should give up friendship with somebody for the sake of the Divine. NIRODBARAN: But friendship with the other sex involves danger. PURANI: There his Schomberg is coming in! NIRODBARAN: If you mean I am a woman-hater, no! Besides, we are speaking from different viewpoints. SRI AUROBINDO: He is speaking from the viewpoint of fear! , NIRODBARAN: A last question: When people are united by love and come to lead a divine life but then their relation breaks off and each goes his or her own way, is it because the purpose of love has been served that the separation occurs? SRI AUROBINDO: Not necessarily. There are cases where their old lower nature has dropped away and they are going side by side. In other cases it may be that one has not entered the path. There
Page-250 are also examples where one has come for the Divine and the other hasn't or has formed fresh attachments after taking up Yoga. NIRODBARAN: Could it be said that in their united life for the Divine, there may be a mixture in such cases? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, there may be a mixture and, under cover of the Divine call, they may satisfy the vital.
Dr. Manilal arrived in the afternoon from Baroda. After doing pranam to Sri Aurobindo, he spoke with him. DR. MANILAL: How are you. Sir? SRI AUROBINDO(smiling): Status quo. DR. MANILAL: Is the leg better? SRI AUROBINDO: In some ways better, in some ways not. And how are you? DR. MANILAL: Getting on, Sir. How do you find me? SRI AUROBINDO: You look flourishing! EVENING SRI AUROBINDO (to Dr. Manilal): What's the news? Baroda has declared war on Germany? DR. MANILAL: Seems only in writing. Even an insolvent State has offered to help the Government! PURANI: Why, it can help with other people's money! DR. MANILAL: Do you think the Government will give something? SRI AUROBINDO : Not likely so long as the Muslim League and others go on like that and don't unite. DR. MANILAL: Jinnah gave one of the finest speeches of his life and he talks of unity now. SRI AUROBINDO: Nonsense! You can't take politicians' words at their face value. You have to see what they do. He is going on just in his old way. DR. MANILAL: This war doesn't even seem to have begun. It must be that some peace proposal is underway. Page-251 SRI AUROBINDO: Why? Each party may be afraid of the other and so doesn't want to attack as it would mean a tremendous loss of life. If Germany attacks London by air, Berlin may be attacked by England. So they are trying to make it an economic war. (Addressing Purani) I have finished Selincourt's book on Blake, which he ends by saying that all art is spiritual, all art is mystical. PURANI: What would Shakespeare say to it? SRI AUROBINDO: No, he means only the art of painting. "Spiritual" he uses perhaps in the old foolish way, meaning some- thing idealistic. NIRODBARAN: You have said in The Synthesis of Yoga that the conscious aim of art should be to express God and His principles in everything, in objects and persons. Now how can one express God in a landscape, for instance? I thought: could it be an aspect of His beauty and vastness? SRI AUROBINDO: In that case, all artists express God in their work. NIRODBARAN: Yes, so I argued, but you have said "conscious aim"; some may not do it consciously. SRI AUROBINDO: It depends on the context. But I suppose I meant a Divine Reality behind everything. Do you mean God in the religious sense? PURANI: Perhaps. SRI AUROBINDO: No, I did not refer to that but to the Reality behind. NIRODBARAN: Even so, how can one express it? . SRI AUROBINDO: You have to see it first and then express it. NIRODBARAN: Are there any examples where it has been done? SpiAuROBlNDO: In Eastern Art, something has been achieved in human figures. NIRODBARAN: But in landscapes do you know any artist who has done it? SRI AUROBINDO: In Japanese drawings of flowers and landscapes, there is some expression of the Reality.
DR. MANILAL: Where can the souls of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda be? Have they taken birth again? Page-252 SRI AUROBINDO: You have to enquire at the Foreign Office of the World. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: You said Vivekananda came to you in jail. SRI AUROBINDO: When he came he could not yet have taken birth again. DR. MANILAL: But now? SRI AUROBINDO: He may have or he may be in the silent Brahman unless the Brahman has sent him down. According to the Puranas he may be in Saptaloka. DR. MANILAL: The Puranas can't be believed! Plenty of unreasonable stories! SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? What about the Upanishads? There are also such stories. DR. MANILAL: Then the Puranas are true? SRI AUROBINDO: Except for the stories which are meant only to illustrate truths. DR. MANILAL: Now I will ask a big question. People say that you can by your Power bring your injured leg to its normal condition if you wish to do it. SRI AUROBINDO: I don't wish anything. If it is meant to come, it will. NIRODBARAN: But suppose you wanted it? SRI AUROBINDO: You mean if it is possible to do it? Quite possible. NIRODBARAN: Then why not do it? SRI AUROBINDO: It can't be done in a day. It requires much concentration for which I have no time. DR. MANILAL: But wouldn't it be profitable in the long run? SRI AUROBINDO: But I have other things to do. NIRODBARAN: (after a lull): He doesn't seem to be satisfied with the answer. DR. MANILAL: Can it be brought back to normality? SRI AUROBINDO: It has to be seen. But why is it a big question? It seems to be a small question to me. NIRODBARAN: Perhaps the result will be big especially from the medical point of view. Dr. Manilal now finds that from the medical point of view there is no chance. So he wants to satisfy his conscience by knowing if Yogic Force can do it. SRI AUROBINDO (addressing Dr. Manilal): Perhaps your self- interest stands in the way. If the leg becomes all right, you will ask Page-253 me to resume the daily correspondence and eight hours' Darshan again. DR. MANILAL: Would it not be possible to cure everything in the wink of an eye by the Supramental Force? (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO : It will have to be the supreme Supramental Force. I am not a Tirthankar. DR. MANILAL: In Jainism (laughter by all) a story is told of a Yogi curing his leprosy with his own saliva. SRI AUROBINDO: Christ is also said to have cured someone's blindness with his saliva. DR. MANILAL: But he was crucified. SRI AUROBINDO: What of it? DR. MANILAL: Didn't he suffer then? SRI AUROBINDO: He didn't say no to the crucifixion. DR. MANILAL: Why didn't he prevent it!? Wasn't it due to his past Karma? SRI AUROBINDO: How can it be when he said he was the Son of God? He said he had come down to be crucified for your sins. He took upon himself (with emphasis) all your sins. DR. MANILAL: They say Gandhi is an incarnation of Christ. SRI AUROBINDO: Incarnation? What can be said is that there are things in his teachings which are similar to Christ's. DR. MANILAL: What about the Congress? Will it succeed? (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: You seem to be jumping the subject. SRI AUROBINDO (after a while): Not exactly. Gandhi provided the transition.
DR. MANILAL: While meditating I had a momentary vision of a bakul tree with violet flowers. What meaning, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: May be symbolic. Does anybody know the significance of bakul ? CHAMPAKLAL: Patience! (Laughter) So it means you must have patience. NIRODBARAN: And violet? SRI AUROBINDO: It has many meanings. Maybe Krishna's compassion. Page-254 DK.MANILAL: Patience till eternity? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, you must think as if all eternity were before you. SATYENDRA: Krishna is a very difficult God. Shiva would have been easy to satisfy. PURANI: Yes, he doesn't care for consequences. Krishna has to come afterwards to save the situation. DR. MANILAL: Shiva seems to give boons to the Asuras, sometimes to both the opposite parties in the fight, sometimes boons which are contradictory to former ones. SRI AUROBINDO: He says, "This fellow has done some Tapasya, let me give him something." He is also Bholanath: he doesn't remember what he has given. DR. MANILAL: In the Puranas his boons lead sometimes to destruction. SATYENDRA: He is also the God of destruction. DR. MANILAL: Yes, and he runs away from the destruction! SRI AUROBINDO: He doesn't care for destruction any more than for running away. DR. MANILAL: Why did God create this world? Was he very unhappy? NIRODBARAN: Do you create out of unhappiness? SRI AUROBINDO: Why unhappy? He may have created the world for fun. "Let me create Manilal to see what he does," he may have said. NIRODBARAN (after some time): Dr. Amiya Sankar wants to know if and how one can get direct guidance in work. SRI AUROBINDO: Guidance from whom? From me? I am not a doctor. NIRODBARAN: No, inner guidance. SRI AUROBINDO: One can get guidance by the opening of the inner being, the psychic, the inner mental or even the inner vital. Only, the psychic is more sure. DR. MANILAL: How to open the psychic? SRI AUROBINDO: There are many ways. DR. MANILAL: Please tell us one or two. SRI AUROBINDO: One can get the opening by making the mind quiet or by turning one's mind towards the Divine or by separating oneself from one's movements and trying to keep them separate by mental or other control. Page-255 NIRODBARAN: Turning one's mind to the Divine would mean the rejection of desires at the same time. SRI AUROBINDO: Not necessarily. When the mind is turned, it helps to awaken the divine element in oneself and the rejection may follow by itself. DR. MANILAL: But the rejection is so difficult. I have been trying to control anger for such a long time but when the moment comes I am simply carried away. SRI AUROBINDO: That is because you are still trying with the mind and you still want to have the anger. DR. MANILAL: How? I want to reject it. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but some part in you must want it. Otherwise it couldn't remain. DR. MANILAL: But I am not conscious. SRI AUROBINDO: But are you conscious of everything in yourself? DR. MANILAL: Can the psychic, after opening, close up again? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes; if you ignore it, it can get clouded. Sometimes people mistake the inner mental opening for the psychic. Of course it doesn't matter very much from the practical point of view. The psychic is behind all these inner mental and vital planes.
Sri Aurobindo sat up in bed before walking. Dr. Manilal opened the conversation. DR. MANILAL: Tomorrow I am going. Sir. One request before I go. May I massage your leg? SRI AUROBINDO (curtly though with a slight smile): No. NIRODBARAN (to Dr. Manilal who looked nonplussed): Why do you want to massage it? From the medical point of view or for personal satisfaction? DR. MANILAL: From the medical point of view. SRI AUROBINDO: One day's massage won't do any good. DR. MANILAL: No, but afterwards Nirod and others may continue. MULSHANKAR : You want to begin first? Page-256 SRI AUROBINDO: They can as well begin. DR. MANILAL(again outdone and feeling perhaps a little humbler): All doctors agree that massage is the right thing. SRI AUROBINDO: I know! DR. MANILAL: If it is not objectionable, may I know Sir, why you object? SRI AUROBINDO: It is a secret. The subject could not be pursued any further and the Mother came in soon after. When Sri Aurobindo's walk was over, Dr. Manilal came slowly to the front and took up another line of conversation. DR. MANILAL: Bose is wild against the Congress resolution. He says the Government has already closed the door while Congress keeps the door open and is going to lick its shoes. SRI AUROBINDO: How can Congress lick its shoes if the door is banged? The Government has not closed the door yet. DR. MANILAL: What is your opinion about the resignation of ministers? SRI AUROBINDO: I have no opinion. DR. MANILAL: But are they right? Is it a correct step? SRI AUROBINDO: Everything is correct if it is successful! DR. MANILAL: Not always true, Sir. SRI AUROBINDO: I mean, in politics. DR. MANILAL: People say the ministers are wrong. SRI AUROBINDO: Which people? DR. MANILAL: Bose and the Leftists. I also think they are wrong. SRI AUROBINDO: Why? DR. MANILAL: Well, they were once doing so much good work, village uplift, etc. Now everything will stop and perhaps be undone. SRI AUROBINDO: That is not the point. They accepted ministership for a greater purpose and if they find that that is not going to be fulfilled, what can they do? DR. MANILAL: But they could have accepted and remained and tried to work for further progress. SRI AUROBINDO: In that case the Moderates could have done the same thing and you would be right where you were. Page-257 SATYENDRA: They wanted a clarification of the war aims and when the Government is not willing to give even that, how can they remain? DR. MANILAL: But do you think this will lead to anything? SRI AUROBINDO: How can I say? It depends on what they do next and how they work things out. Nowadays there are no more resolutions, only speeches. Gandhi and Nehru's resolutions are speeches. I got tired of reading them and gave up half-way. SATYENDRA: They want to put everything clearly. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but that can be done with brevity too. SATYENDRA: C.R. could have done it perhaps. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he could have. DR. MANILAL: Will the Government go against the Congress Ministry reforms? For example, prohibition? SRI AUROBINDO: Not likely, unless India as a whole wants it to go. DR. MANILAL: But the Parsees may agitate. SRI AUROBINDO: They are only a small number. A government can't undo it for a tiny minority. After this there was a lull. Dr. Manilal seemed to be thinking of some otherpoints. NIRODBARAN: What next, doctor? SATYENDRA: He seems to be thinking. SRI AUROBINDO: He wants to find the sort of questions to which I may give a less agnostic reply. He wants supramental answers while I am giving only overmental ones. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: Huque seems to be an incapable fellow; he goes on talking rabidly. Sikandar seems more able. SRI AUROBINDO: Sikandar is a very able politician. DR. MANILAL: Huque seems to have surrendered to Jinnah. He has no position of his own. SRI AUROBINDO: He never had. DR. MANILAL: And yet Bose couldn't drive him out. SRI AUROBINDO: Bose is no better statesman than Huque. DR. MANILAL: Is he still under his brother's influence and guided by him? NIRODBARAN: Not quite but their programmes and opinions seem to be the same. They say the country is ready for launching civil disobedience. Page-258 SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, they can say anything. They don't know what it means to launch such a thing. After this Purani asked Dr. Manilal, in an aside, about the present Gaekwar's family. One of us noted that the Gaekwar had seven children and his wife was only twenty-five. SRI AUROBINDO: At twenty-five, seven children? DR. MANILAL: She was married at the age of thirteen. SRI AUROBINDO: Then they started at once. (Laughter) What industrious people they are! DR. MANILAL: Four boys and two girls. SRI AUROBINDO: And one in between? (Laughter) Otherwise how seven? DR. MANILAL: No, she started labour-pains while I was coming here. The next issue of the Baroda paper will bring the tidings. SRI AUROBINDO: Tidings of the next issue? (Laughter) PURANI: When I read of the Gaekwar touring Europe, I thought: how could the Rani accompany him? DR. MANILAL: The Gaekwar does not take her with him. SRI AUROBINDO: Why? DR. MANILAL: Well, Sir, she comes in his way. Nirodbaran said that a Chinese professor had been much impressed by his interview with the Mother. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he says he is going to conquer China for me. He also says the Chinese are a selfless people. He seems to think all people can be selfless! EVENING
DR. MANILAL: I had a vision of snakes coming towards me but being thrown off. SRI AUROBINDO: Snakes usually mean hostile forces. But in getting a vision you have been rewarded for your patience! DR. MANILAL: The 26th of November is said to be Immortality Day. What is meant by it? The Mother used to give the Immortality flower on this day every year. Page-259 SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know. What do you understand by it? DR. MANILAL: Physical immortality; but why the 26th? Did you attain it on this day? SRI AUROBINDO: It may be to remind you that you have to realise it as I can't remind you every day. DR. MANILAL: But we have to be reminded every day just as Madalasa reminded her child. SRI AUROBINDO: The Divine parents have much to do while Madalasa had nothing else. DR. MANILAL: Why was that bakul flower violet. Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: May be Sri Krishna's compassion for your patience or perhaps he has the compassion to wait patiently for you. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL (addressing Nirodbaran after a short pause): Try Arnica oil for your hair. NIRODBARAN: No need. I am waiting for the Supramental. SRI AUROBINDO: To remove the rest of your hair or save it? DR. MANILAL: We are all eagerly waiting for the Supermind. SRI AUROBINDO: For your liver, Nirod's hair and Amal's leg?:
DR. MANILAL (after doing pranam): Bump on the head again, Sir, for the third time! SRI AUROBINDO: Even if you have not got patience, you have persistence. DR. MANILAL (explaining to the Mother who had just come in): The frontage is rather low. Perhaps Mahakali is smiting me? , THE MOTHER: No, no. SRI AUROBINDO (looking at the Mother): It is certainly an experience. (Laughter by both) DR. MANILAL (after Sri Aurobindo's usual walk): How did you, find the Darshan, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: What do you mean? DR. MANILAL: I mean about the general progress. SRI AUROBINDO: What can I say about the general progress when different people are at different stages? DR. MANILAL: Formerly you used to say things. Page-260 |