VI THE MOTHER TAKES UP MEDICAL CORRESPONDENCE Neat about 1937 Sri Aurobindo had some trouble with his eyes. All correspondence had to be suspended. Though I carried on my medical duties without the Mother's guidance, both the patients and the doctor felt the need of her physical support. The Mother, therefore, came to our rescue and took up the correspondence herself. I shall give in these pages some instances of her direct instructions. An old sadhak had contracted TB. I wrote to the Mother that the case was serious, but that there was still hope. The medical treatment possible was next to nil (I am talking of the 'thirties). "If

VIII LIGHT INTERLUDE After all these serious talks, let us see the Mother in her lighter moods, just for a change, but no chronological order is intended in the narration of the various incidents. I had now the chance of seeing the Mother along with the others every morning. It was the time of the morning Pranam. Some young students were going to the Gingee Hills for an outing during the holidays. They invited me as a teacher to join them. Their captain Prabhakar brought a list of names to the Mother for her sanction. As she scanned the list, she found that my name was also there. "Will you be able to climb the hills?" she asked me. I replied, "Oh yes, Mother!" I

Back-Page Thanks to Nirod, we have the revelation of an altogether unknown side of Sri Aurobindo. It is extremely interesting and very instructive. This was the Mother's comment on Nirodbaran's book Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo which he wrote for Sri Aurobindo's Birth Centenary, the 15th of August 1972. Next, Nirodbaran paid his homage of love to the Mother on her Birth Centenary, the 21st of February 1978 in The Mother — Sweetness and Light. And from his personal contact with her, he revealed one of the most intimate aspects of the Mother, of which he was the grateful and happy recipient and witness. One of the personal attendants of Sri Aurobindo, Nirodbaran w

-10_The Mother^s magnanimity.htm X THE MOTHER'S MAGNANIMITY A young man came to me with a letter of introduction from a friend in Calcutta. Our friendship went back to Scotland days but we had hardly met since our arrival in India. This man had gathered all particulars about me from that friend, and, adding that he too was a doctor, said he would like to stay here. He also said he knew Dr. Sanyal. From other details it appeared that he was well- connected in Calcutta. Quite impressed, I arranged for him a room in Golconde. I informed the Mother about him and even consulted him in a medical case. Some days passed; he was gaily moving about and telling many tall stories to the young people.

5 JANUARY 1939 Today again we had our usual discussion with Dr. Rao on the removal of splints, the growth of bone, its shadow in the X-ray picture, etc. After he had gone, the Mother asked Nirodbaran: "Up to what age can the skull-bone grow?" She said that she had seen cases where even at the age of fifty-five the skull had not completely ossified. "In such cases," she remarked, "the brain goes on developing." Then she departed for the general meditation. There was very little prospect of conversation afterwards, for every time after Dr. Rao's visit we would keep revolving the same problem, the disagreement among doctors, and cut jokes about it. But a question by Sa

6 JANUARY 1940 SATYENDRA: There are plenty of advertisements for curing baldness, but the problem remains. Perhaps Nirodbaran can discover something. NIRODBARAN: I may when I get my intuition opened or when the Supermind opens. SATYENDRA: The Supermind opening is a long affair. SRI AUROBINDO: Intuition would be easier to get. PURANI: If one gets the Supermind, there will be no need to find anything out. NIRODBARAN: Yes, the hair will grow itself. There will be a change in every cell. PURANI: You will be all golden, I suppose. SRI AUROBINDO: As they say in the Upanishad, the Supreme Being with the golden beard, etc. When Sr

23 JANUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: Nishikanto asks why at times he is seized with a repugnance for writing poetry. He burned a lot of his works at Santiniketan during such seizures. Here also attacks come occasion- ally and he questions himself, "What is the use of writing after all?" And this hampers his work, he says. SRI AUROBINDO: These moods come to many people. They are a kind of Tamas (inertia) which should not be indulged in. NIRODBARAN: Nishikanto says that it would be useful not to write if he could meditate or think of the Divine instead. This he can't do. "Then why not write?" he argues, but the feeling of repugnance conies all the same. SRI AUROBINDO:

4 DECEMBER 1939 SATYENDRA: Ancient Yogis always believed that human nature couldn't be changed. They compared it to a dog's curved tail and left it alone, although they admitted the spiritual principle to be at work. Only Sri Aurobindo thinks it can be changed. NIRODBARAN: And you don't? SATYENDRA: No. SRI AUROBINDO: What on earth has this spiritual principle been doing if the world has remained just the same? SATYENDRA: Meher Baba, the well-known Yogi from Western India, also thinks there can be a change and his mission is to bring it about. But he is himself so changeable that he decides one thing today and changes it tomorrow. SRI AUROBINDO: Then he

2 FEBRUARY 1939 For two days we had no conversation. Sri Aurobindo had suddenly developed some swelling on his injured leg and we were all anxious about it. Nobody was in a mood to talk. At last Sri Aurobindo himself came out with a reference to politics and the talk started. PURANI: X (an Indian political leader), has sent a telegram to Y, saying this is the end of Fascism and the beginning of true democracy and declaring: "You will be a true president." SRI AUROBINDO: Does it mean that the true president follow his followers? That is true democracy! He will choose his followers choose and then follow them. SATYENDRA: Instead of Fascism of the Right, what t

26 JANUARY 1939 PURANI : Barcelona is going! The French people are waking up at the eleventh hour. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. The democracies are not showing much courage at present at any rate. SATYENDRA: It seems political ideas are not worth fighting for. Today one fights for democracy, tomorrow for monarchy or, dictatorship. Page-208 SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. All human values are half-values. They are relative. They have no permanence or durability in them. SATYENDRA: Perhaps if men became more mentalised they would understand better. SRI AUROBINDO: Mentalised? No! The difficulty is that they don't follow the principles of life. SATYENDRA: How