CHAPTER I I The Pilgrimage As I look back, after having been havened at his feet for well over two decades, I find it still difficult to decide what it is that drew a man of my temperament to one whose ways were so utterly different. Was it his genius? His "face radiant with an inner light", as Rabindranath had so aptly described? Or, was it the magnetism of a mystic aureole that engirdled him, an overwhelming sublimity that conquered one even when it baffled definition? Or, was it the ocean of peace he spoke of so often, a vastness which cradled him or because his "life" had become "a throb of His eternity" as he put it in his beautiful poem, Bliss of Identity? He impinged

APPENDIX III Homage to Sri Aurobindo* I bow to thee, O Guru! How arduous is the path that you have trod! When the soul is clouded, it is your sunshine that radiates the new dawn—of hope: When the sterile heat of diffidence sears the heart: When the fresh garland of adoration fades into a loveless string: When the saltus of hope is arrested and the night of doubt closes in: When the vision of the Far-off seems a fatuity to the inner heart, imprisoned in its skeleton-cage: When the ray from aloft becomes wan and the soul's secret urge is broken to pieces by mortification: In that hour your starry effulgence sheds the certitude o

CHAPTER I Apologia I must start with an unusual apology: that I do not feel called upon to apologise for what I venture to undertake, to wit, to describe not so much how my Gurudev, Sri Aurobindo impinged on me, as how I reacted to him. For, when all is said and done, one can scarcely hope to delineate the beauty of a great personality in abstract terms with mere purple epithets. One can—at least that is how I have always looked upon all who are truly great—only portray one's own reactions of them, and very imperfectly at that. I would go further and submit that the greater a personality, the more he must elude us. Rabindranath once told me that we understand more than we thi

CHAPTER XI The Seer-Poet I have quoted earlier a letter Sri Aurobindo wrote to me vindicating the attitude of a seer which might well look like self superiority to others. But appearances are not always a reliable guide to reality. For instance, many may call his answer to a gibe of mine over-assertive. (I had asked whether the Supramental could really be true? Did it not look very much like a juggler whose legerdemain left us eventually high and dry in 'the land of nowhere?): "There is no question of jugglery about it. What is not true is not supramental. As for calm and silence, there is no need of the supramental to get that. One gets it even on the lev

-02_Mother^s Prayer.htm THE MOTHER'S PRAYER TO THE MATERIAL ENVELOPE OF SRI AUROBINDO To THEE who hast been the material envelop of our Master, to THEE our infinite gratitude. Before THEE who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before THEE who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before THEE we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to THEE. December 9,1950 THE MOTHER Tributes "For thou hast conquered, at the journey's end, "The Sun-elixir to quell the hordes of Night. "Who once have seen thy Face have known, 0 Friend: "'Tis no

(REMINISCENCES) HARIKRISHNA MANDIR - PUNE First Edition - 1952 (Sri Aurobindo Ashram) 2nd Edition - 1964 (Jaico) 3rd Edition - 1969 (Jaico) 4th Edition - 1984 (All India Books) 5th Edition - 2004 (Revised) (Harikrishna Mandir Trust, Pune) Siddhiday 24th November © Harikrishna Mandir Trust, Pune 2004 All rights reserved Published by Hari Krishna Mandir Trust Pune-411016 Typeset & printed at All India Press Kennedy Nagar Pondicherry, 605001 India

APPENDIX IV Glossary Sri Aurobindo had to employ, some English words in a somewhat new sense to explain certain experiences. These only need be included in this glossary as they occur frequently in his letters quoted in this book: Avatar: "An Avatar, roughly speaking, is one who is conscious of the Presence and power of the Divine born in him or descended into him and governing from within his will and life and action; he feels identified inwardly with this Divine Power and presence." A Vibhuti is supposed to embody some power of the Divine and is enabled by it to act with great force in the world, but that is all that is necessary to make him a

CHAPTER X Avowedly Personal In chapter VIII the closing stress was on Sri Aurobindo's vision of the Earth as the final venue of "heroic souls"* who are missioned to carry through a great experiment because this Earth has been chosen as "the forge where the Arch-manson shapes His works."* This experiment has a twofold movement: first, the aspiration of the animality in man after Divinity and secondly, the rain of His answering Grace in order to transform man's seemingly ineradicable animality which has been the despair of dreamers and idealists. That is why Sri Aurobindo speaks so emphatically (if a little nostalgically) of the Descent of the power of Love Divine into ou

Preface (First Edition) Somebody said that this was an auto-biography. I hasten to disclaim the characterisation at the very out-set. I have only reminisced about my Gurudev, Sri Aurobindo, as I hope will be obvious to any reader. An auto-biography has a purpose which goes beyond the purview of reminiscences. Besides, I have, in the main, confined my reactions to and reflections on the great personality who inspired them with but one end in view: to bring out his greatness as it dawned on me and grew with my own growth in the course of my day-to day spiritual struggles and aspiration. In other words, I have essayed to portray, by and large, my interactions with him in the

CHAPTER V The Trials When the Madras train deposited me at the desolate station of Pondicherry on that unforgettable morning in November, 1928, Sri Aurobindo's disciples in his Ashram numbered about 80. Now, in 1951, we are a little over 800. I do not remember what was the proportion of women among us in those days but there were hardly any children. So, our Ashram courtyard basked in a delectable silence which receded progressively as the inmates increased and imported more and more children who had to be accepted for their parents' sakes. Still "the noiseless tenor of our lives" was not marred appreciably till after 1940, or, maybe, even later. Before that we were a s