FEBRUARY, 1939 3rd February, 1939 A letter from a lady disciple was read to Sri Aurobindo in which she related some of her experiences. She is losing consciousness, finds the mind floating about as it were, lightning strokes in the head and a feeling of some presence. But these experiences give her very great fear and she complains of bad health.  Sri Aurobindo : You can tell her that what she calls losing of consciousness is its movement inwards. It is rather unusual to get these experiences. Usually, one takes months and months to make the mind quiet and she did it at the first sitting. The lightning strokes is the action of the Higher Power, or Yoga Shakti to

14th January, 1941 Sri Aurobindo had seen a volume of Cezanne and one of the painters of the 20th Century representing the most modern trends of artistic movement in France. Page – 302  Cezanne had found "remarkable" models for his portraits. All of them were very fine and showed power. He didn't know drawing and so some of his things were imperfect. Colour is everything. (I showed him the small volume on Cezanne). He liked it better because of the colour plates. In the evening he said he had liked Matisse also. He found three things in modern art - 1. Ugliness, 2. Vulgarity, or what might be called coarseness,  3.  Absurdity. In their nu

19th January, 1939 Dr. R's visit : In course of his talk he remarked in connection with the swelling at the knee joint that all diseases are of the nature of inflammations. After he departed, Sri Aurobindo asked : "In what sense are all illnesses inflammations?  There could be any setisfactory explanation of it." The topic of Aldous Huxley's book "Ends & Means" was taken up by a disciple. Disciple : Huxley suggests two ways of solving the problems of man. One by changing the existing institutions of education, industries, in fact by modifying social, political, economic and religious institutions. This would bring about a change in the individual. So far as

JULY, 1940 21st July, 1940 There was a reference to C. R's article about the necessity of force for maintaining a state. Disciple : Blunchli in his book called "The State" puts it down as a fundamental principle. Every state is founded on force and President Wilson in his book also maintains, a little apologetically, that all human states are founded on force. Sri Aurobindo : Of course, so long as man is not too much cowed down or has not evolved beyond his present condition and is too high to use force, force will be indispensable. Disciple : In the Supramental creation will there be any force? Sri Aurobindo : No. Because there you are supposed to go be

22nd December, 1938. (All of us assembled in the hope of hearing something from Sri Aurobindo. I was actually praying for it. But he did not seem to be in a talking mood. So we were forced to keep quiet at the same time thinking how to draw him into conversation and by what question. Suddenly we find X. beaming with a smile and looking at Sri Aurobindo. Then he takes a few more moves nearer to Sri Aurobindo and we automatically follow him, he still nears and then he bursts out with a question : "To attain right attitude what principles should we follow in our dealing and behaviour with others?" Sri Aurobindo could not quite catch the question so it was repeated.

24th January, 1939. Sri Aurobindo : turning to X :  "Any news?" Usually the news of local politics and other subjects used to come through X, Disciple : No news except that Mahatma Gandhi advises the Japanese visitor Kagawa to include Shanti Niketan and Pondicherry in his itinerary, without seeing which his visit to India would be incomplete. Sri Aurobindo : O that! I have heard about it. At this juncture the Mother came and a meditation followed, After the Mother's departure Sri Aurobindo Page – 180  resumed :  "I can give you some news today, The French Ministry seems to be going against the political party in power. It is a mystery how the m

27th June, 1940. 27th Chapter of "Life Divine". The publishers in consultation with the Professor of English changed "founded in" into "founded on". Sri Aurobindo said when I told him about the change, "I have already used that in the previous paragraph and they have suggested "on" and I have not accepted the suggestion. I have used there "in" purposely. These people think that they know English better than I do. They are habituated to use current phrases and words in their usual sense but they do not know that a good writer does not always use current phrases and words in their usual meaning. Disciple : But they do it after consulting a Professor. Sri Aurobindo : Yes

17th and 18th June, 1940. It was asked if Sri Aurobindo knows all the possibilities connected with the war. Sri Aurobindo : Yes, they are known as possibilities. We do not accept anything as absolutely certain. On the 17th (curiously enough Richard Paul’s birth day) Petain proposed an armistice and all thought that France was lost. Sri Aurobindo : All these heroes of the last war – how could they propose a truce? How can they expect anything honourable from Hitler? It would be an end of France. They have become decadent. Disciple gave the instance of the Munich crisis. Sri Aurobindo : France was condemned then, when she did not stand by her treaty

JUNE, 1940 15th June, 1940. In one sense one can say, history it repeating itself because Greco-Roman culture was destroyed by German Nordic hordes and to-day it is again the Germans who are trying to destroy the centre of European culture. The Asura working behind Hitler has been giving him very correct and remarkably accurate guidance. He knows what is possible. That is why Hitler has never been listening to reason. He only waits for the voice. Till now it has guided him correctly. One mistake, it seems, it has made it to think that when he attacked Poland he thought that England will not go to war. Otherwise he has direct guidance which Napoleon did not get. The

NOVEMBER, 1939 19th and 20th November, 1939 Disciple : Is physical relations responsible for the vitiation of pure and idealistic love? Sri Aurobindo : It is not only the physical but also the vital that is equally responsible. Desire, impulse of possession are more responsible for it than the physical relation. Disciple : There are people who believe that the physical relation is an essential part of the highest relation of love. Sri Aurobindo : Blake for instance, says that spiritual love should be sanctified by the physical act. Disciple : Selincourt criticizes Blake. Sri Aurobindo : Selincourt writing about Blake is like a s