December 1937 Sitabala's headache has a definite relation to food. We suspect ulceration which was previously cured by olive oil. Definite diagnosis is possible only by X-ray. Do you advise it? Yes, it is better to do it. December 6, 1937 Dr. Andre says that N's is decidedly a hopeless case. Should his family be informed? No, it is better not, for obvious reasons. Can Jiban take regular Asram food? He ought to be able to take it— December 7, 1937 What should be done with N's things? Shall we distribute the clothes among the servants? Flask, easy chair, blankets, etc. . . I was thinking of asking Andre if

September 1938 Z has broken our thermometer. She wants to pay, shall we accept? [Mother:] If she goes on taking her temperature she must pay as it will make her more careful in future — But is it wise to attract so much her attention on her temperature? It does not seem to help her to cure---- In yesterday's poem, you have hurdled very well indeed! You call this line, "A fathomless beauty in a sphere of pain," a magnificent one, but I did not feel its magnificence when I wrote it and am unable to see where you find it. I think you find behind these things some inner truth which magnifies everything to you, no? Otherwise the rhythm and the word music aren't

November 1936 [The following medical report was by Dr. Becharlal about Shanta who had pain in the back and chest. She had weak eyes and lungs, and did a lot of knitting, embroidery, etc.] She should not work for more than an hour in bent position. She should try to sit straight. That is all right. Mother had suggested that already in cases of fatigue of back from similar cause. She should go for a walk in the open air every morning and evening. She starts, then loses interest or feels tired or something and drops it. She should take cod-liver oil for a longer period. Page-740 You must persuade her to do that.

August 1936 Please tell me if metre is, after all, not a question of the ear. Mainly of the ear, but "number" also has something to do with it. Wasn't the ear the first guide and then metre developed? Yes, but in developing, metre modified the ear and created in it demands of a more complex kind. What about Blake? Are his or other great poets' metres, absolutely orthodox? English is different; it has a freer movement, I suppose, than Bengali. English metre is sometimes strict, sometimes breaks into irregularities. J says she still feels that terrible pressure when she sits down to write. Is it due to resistance?

August 1937 The last two lines of the poem are too long, perhaps? Oh, N complains of evening fever 100°, for the last few days. Part of your poetry? Can't scan it. I have read Dilip's poem—there is the force of a new inspiration in the language and the building and turns of thought, something more intense and gathered together. I think there is something less mental, a new and more vibrant note. I have gone through Surawardy. He has certainly a fine poetic vein, but his success is less than his capacity—The two poems, China Sea and Asoca Tree are very fine—the rest are in a lower pitch; there are fewer deliberate descents into the commonplace than in the o

February 1938 K's scabies and asthma are almost alt right. Shall we give him some sodium cacodylale injections as tonic'.' Yes, if there is no "contre-indication". Perhaps you have noticed that there is still a little swelling in B's leg. Do you want Andre to be called? We can wait a few days more. February 1. 1938 What about L? She says she had no motion for 7 days! February 2. 1938 What do you think of Rushi's cyst? It is not a wart. It is nothing much. 1 suppose it will fall by itself. February 3, 1938 Page-1031 . . . L doesn't like enema as it has bad after-effects. [The Mother underlined "as i

March 1938 Here is N's letter. I don't like his tone at all. Neither do I. He asks, "Won't Sri Aurobindo see my poems even after 5 or 6 days?" Can't promise anything. Page-1035 Have you any answer to give to his letter? No. March 4, 1938 "Nature is apparelled with a poise Like the wings of a drowsy bird. Sir, if you walk through Pondicherry apparelled only with a poise, the police would arrest you at once. What would happen to Nature if she tried a similar eccentricity, I don't know. March 5, 1938 O dear, dear, what have you done, Sir? Havoc, indeed! You couldn't get the trochai

September 1937 I send you the letter of a diabetic sadhak asking me if he can take rice once a day. I can only pass on the question to you. What shall I reply to his piteous and pathetic request? For enlightenment, Please. September 1, 1937 Guru, I hope you won't call this a Victorian, sentimental, romantic poem and make me crush my bones by a fall from the sky of ecstasy! Nothing of that kind in it. Your bones are safe this time. September 4, 1937 ... By the way, you haven't returned my medical report book. Mother says it is not there! How? I sent it last night! Forgot to shove it in. Afterwards it got covered with othe

May 1938 "I have seen in thy white eyes A spark unknown,..." White eyes = eyes without pupils which would be rather terrifying. By the way, yesterday while meditating, I saw clearly that you wrote "excellent" for yesterday's poem1 — almost the same as "exceedingly fine". This is the third or fourth time I had such a prevision. Some faculty growing, Sir? Or a coincidence? "Coincidence" is a quack scientific word which like many such words states the fact that two things coincide (here your prevision and my opinion coincide) but does not explain the fact— If a man sees a snake in dream in the night and each time crosses one in the day, that would be a

NIRODBARAN'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH SRI AUROBINDO The Complete Set Nirodbaran's Correspondence with SRI AUROBINDO THE COMPLETE SET VOLUME TWO SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM, PONDICHERRY First Complete Edition 1984 Second Complete Edition 1995 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1984 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Publication Department Printed at All India Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA