52 Jail Experiences Dilip Kumar Roy was an eternal sceptic. He had heard stories about levitation, and such other claims by sannyasis. He very much doubted the authenticity of such phenomena. But Sri Aurobindo told him not to dismiss these occurrences out of hand, nor term them as fraud, but to become competent to judge; for, said he, an ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory. That is why Sri Aurobindo could tell Dilip, "I take levitation as an acceptable idea, because I have had experience of the natural energies which, if developed, would bring it about and also physical experiences which would not have been possible if the principle of levitation were untr

6 Deoghar Although more than a year had passed since his return to India, A. Ghose had neither gone to his natal land nor met any member of his family. Bengal now beckoned him. "I was at Deoghar several times," wrote Sri Aurobindo, "and saw my grandfather there, first in good health and then bedridden with paralysis." It was, we guess, sometime between April and August of 1894 —during the summer vacation —that Sri Aurobindo first visited his family at Deoghar, in Bihar. Deoghar, 'God's abode,' has as its presiding deity Shiva. His consort there is known as Bagala; and Shiva himself as Vaidyanath, the Lord of physicians. So Deoghar is also called Baid

-06_Bankim^s Bengal.htm 4 Bankim's Bengal At the intervention of the Maratha leader M. G. Ranade (1852-1904), the political series New Lamps for Old came to an end. Ranade, however, was keen to meet the intelligent and promising young critic. An interview was arranged that very year, and they met at Bombay. "I remember," wrote Sri Aurobindo in Karakahini {Tales of Prison Life), "when, back home from England fifteen years ago, I started writing articles in the Indu Prakash of Bombay, strongly protesting against the Congress policy of prayers and petition, the late Mahadeo Govind Ranade, seeing how these articles were acting on the minds of the youths, exhorted me, from the moment I met

60 Sister Nivedita "I hear, Mr. Ghose, you are a worshipper of Shakti." That is how Sister Nivedita greeted Sri Aurobindo when they first met at Baroda in 1902. Nivedita has flitted in and out of our narrative; a longer look at her will enrich us. Sister Nivedita. Daughter-disciple of Swami Vivekananda. That is how she came to India on 28 January 1898. Miss Margaret Noble was born in North Ireland on 28 October 1867. Her parents were Reverend Samuel Richmond Noble and Mary Isabelle Hamilton. Samuel's father, John Noble, was by profession a Protestant priest. But he was a rebel at heart. He rebelled against the subjugation of his motherland by the B

10 Astrology "Aurobindo had a profound faith in astrology," averred D. K. Roy. "He admitted the influence of the planets on human life. He had not the least doubt that one can know about the auspicious and inauspicious events of a man's life by studying his horoscope.... I got a horoscope of Aurobindo's life prepared by Sri Kalipada Bhattacharya, who was well-versed in astrology.1 ... When I met him afterwards, Sri Bhattacharya told me, 'Your pupil is an extraordinary man. Although he stands high in the Maharaja's favour, there is a lot of hardship and suffering in store for him. He is not destined to enjoy much of worldly life.'" D. K. Roy was a bit sceptic of this f

31 Evolving the Genius of the Race "If the truth which the yoga [of Sri Aurobindo] wants to achieve is attained and if India accepts it, then it will give quite a new turn to Indian politics —different from European politics. It would be a profound change." Sri Aurobindo had said that in an informal talk on 21 January 1925. It was the evening of 14 December 1938. Nirod asked Sri Aurobindo, "What about India's independence? Is it developing along your lines?" "Surely not," Sri Aurobindo was categorical. "India is now going towards European Socialism, which is dangerous for her, whereas we were trying to evolve the genius of the r

61 Swami Vivekananda Vivekananda was born on: 12 January 1863. Nivedita was born on: 28 October 1867. Sri Aurobindo was born on: 15 August 1872. Does something strike you? Now, if we look closely at these dates we find that: a)Vivekananda is older than Nivedita by 4 years 290 days, b)Sri Aurobindo is younger than her by 4 years 291 days. As though the three formed an equilateral triangle in Time. We have seen two sides of the triangle; let's now take a brief look at the third. Noren was born in Calcutta to Bishwanath Dutta and Bhubaneswari Devi. His grandfather, Durgacharan Dutta, left his home to become a sann

MOTHER'S CHRONICLES - BOOK FIVE - Mother's Chronicles book five MIRRA MEETS THE REVOLUTIONARY SUJATA NAHAR INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES EVOLUT1VES, Paris & MIRA ADITI, Mysore Already published in the series: Book One:MIRRA Book Two:MIRRA THE ARTIST Book Three:MIRRA THE OCCULTIST Book Four:MIRRA - SRI AUROBINDO To be published: Book Six: MIRRA IN JAPAN Book Seven: MIRRA THE MOTHER Mother's Chronicles-Book Five: MIRRA MEETS THE REVOLUTIONARY. © 1997 by Sujata Nahar. All rights reserved. For inform

50 In the Alipore Jail "Mr. Aravinda Ghose and a few other persons have been acquitted in the Alipore bomb case," wrote the Daily Hitavadi, a Calcutta journal, in its edition dated May 9, 1909, "and it is not unlikely that one or two more will be acquitted on appeal. Mr. Beachcroft, the Judge, has openly said that but for Aravinda's complicity in the case, it would not have taken such a long time to come to an end. This means that the case was dragged on for such a long time, because the prosecution tried to prove Aravinda guilty by stretching and twisting what was only light and flimsy evidence. The police and Counsel for the prosecution always knew that it wou

62 Sri Ramakrishna Once upon a time, there lived a Brahmin. Like his tribe elsewhere, he too was poor. Also, like most of his tribe, he was upright. He earned his living by officiating as a priest in several villages whenever the occasion arose —puja, thread-ceremony, deaths and marriages. He lived a contented life in his village Dere. But human contentment depends on so many things. Specially if one is poor. The local zamindar wanted our upright Brahmin to testify falsely in a case. The Brahmin refused. Thus it was that Khudiram Chattopadhyay left his village Dere to go and settle at Kamarpukur, about seven kilometres away from Dere, and some twenty kilome