11 FEBRUARY 1940 PURANI: Paul Brunton has come out again with an article on Yoga in the Indian Review. SRI AUROBINDO: What does he say? PURANI: The same old thing — that Yoga must be practised for humanity, so that humanity may benefit. SRI AUROBINDO: He has always said that. PURANI: He says that now he is under the guidance of a great Yogi who doesn't want to reveal himself. The Yogi has an eminent disciple whom everybody knows If the disciple's name is disclosed , the Yogi will immediately be spotted. I wonder if he is hinting at you. Page-435 SRI AUROBINDO: Me? But I have no eminent disciple! PURANI: What about Sir Akbar Hydari? S

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 Satyendra, follo

17 JANUARY 1940 Nirodbaran read out Tagore's letter to Nishikanto, in which Tagore says that Nishikanto's expression and rhythm are of a very high order and that he is a real artist but he complains of one thing - lack of variety: Nishikanto is like a one stringed lyre while the poetic mind demands a variety of tunes. Tagore quotes the Upanishad's " Raso vai sah" (He is verily the Delight.") and says that the poet's mind enters into everything. SRI AUROBINDO: ( After keeping silent for a while): It really comes to this: "You can't be a great poet unless you write like me!"( After a short pause) Take, for instance, Francis Thompson's "Hound of Heaven". How many people

18 JANUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: I mean the expression of the spiritual truth behind by means of symbols. SRI AUROBINDO: Symbolic, then. There are various kinds of mystic poetry. EVENING NIRODBARAN: It seems difficult to have creative force in mystic symbolic poetry. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it is difficult, but not impossible. NIRODBARAN: Is there any creative force in Mallarmé's famous sonnet on the swan? SRI AUROBINDO: I have forgotten the poem. NIRODBARAN: It is the poem in which he speaks of the wings being stuck in the frozen ice so the swan can't fly. SRI AUROBINDO: There is no creative force there. It i

24 FEBRUARY 1940 During breakfast the Mother spoke to Sri Aurobindo about his leg. THE MOTHER: An offer to cure your leg has come from Agarwal. He says he has got some Force by which he will rub his hand over your knee and cure it. He has cured one case of fracture like that. SRI AUROBINDO (shaking his head): You know there was another man who seemed to have such powers? THE MOTHER: No. CHAMPAKLAL: Yes, Mother; he has come for Darshan. Anilbaran says he has cured many cases of leprosy, typhoid and other illnesses. He cures by calling down your Force. THE MOTHER: If he cures with my Force, I can myself cure Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo can himself do

5 FEBRUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: If it is a question of forces it should be easy to deal with them. SRI AUROBINDO: Why? Everything is due to the action of forces but it is not easy to deal with them. NIRODBARAN: Of course if some permanent structural change takes place it may be difficult. SRI AUROBINDO: The body also acquires structural and organic resistances - habits of the nerves and organs. NIRODBARAN: We speak of forces and beings. What is the difference between them? Are the forces also some kind of beings? SRI AUROBINDO: How do you mean? NIRODBARAN: I mean are the forces separate entities, like the beings? SRI AUROBINDO: The

22 JANUARY 1940 SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he didn't starve the public services. NIRODBARAN: Only, he spent a lot of money in going frequently to Europe, and has also erected a lot of buildings. SRI AUROBINDO: His European visits and the buildings have been good for the State. PURANI: Sir Sikandar has frankly admitted that the question is after all about the loaves and fishes of office and is no religious at all. NIRODBARAN: The Muslims don't really trust the Hindus, it seems. Even Sir Akbar said he couldn't trust Gandhi. SRI AUROBINDO: He doesn't trust Gandhi because of his way of life and philosophy. PURANI: It seems The Life D

20 FEBRUARY 1940 Dr. Manilal arrived at 10.00 a.m.; he made pranam to Sri Aurobindo and asked about the injured leg, for which he had advised "hanging" from the knee to help the flexion. SRI AUROBINDO: The leg is hanging very well. DR. MANILAL: I have brought some Ayurvedic medicine for you. I got it from a Madrasi lady who is an automatic writer and has great bhakti. She keeps your photo and Ramana Maharshi's and goes into trances. In her planchette sittings, some Rishi comes and dictates to her. I asked her about the defective flexion of your knee and she gave me this medicine, which is quite harmless—it is white mustard and raktapillai. She says your knee wil

NOTE These talks are from my notebooks. For several years I used to record most of the conversations which Sri Aurobindo had with us, his attendants, and a few others, after the accident to his right leg in November 1938. Besides myself, the regular participants were Purani, Champaklal, Satyendra, Mulshankar and Dr.Becharlal. Occasional visitors were Dr.Manilal, Dr.Rao and Dr.Savoor. As these notes were not seen by Sri Aurobindo himself, the responsibility for the Master's words rests entirely with me. I do not vouch for absolute accuracy, but I have tried my best to reproduce them faithfully. I have made the same attempt for the remarks of the others. NIRODBARAN PR

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 t