9 DECEMBER 1939 SRI AUROBINDO: India? I think it was Asia. I have also considered it a possibility that Stalinist Russia might attack India. It may begin with Mohammedan Asia and then come to India. If Allies are at war with Russia, this is quite possible. Have you heard the radio news? I don't know why Daladier has made such a fiery speech today against Russia. NIRODBARAN: It is rather inopportune because it will provoke Russia. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes; Daladier has enough trouble on hands. But he is like that. He is a weak man, and weak men become unnecessarily violent at times. PURANI: But France can't directly help Finland. SRI AUROBINDO:

20 DECEMBER 1938 SRI AUROBINDO: They may be so either way. And there are men vampires as there are women vampires. There is also another kind of vital nature: an expansive one. And in that case one has the need to pour out. Still another kind, again expansive, is the Hitlerian vital, catching hold of other people in its grip. NIRODBARAN: Does psychic love ever catch hold like that? SRI AUROBINDO: Of course not! The law of psychic love is to give without making any demand. 21 DECEMBER 1938 After Dr. Rao had gone we gathered round Sri Aurobindo and began talking again about medicine—homoeopathy, allopathy, ayurveda, etc. Somebod

20 JANUARY 1939 NIRODBARAN: Dilip says, about the subject of X's becoming a Buddhist from a Vaishnava, that it is not like that. He does not want to belong to any group or sect. SRI AUROBINDO: That is understandable. PURANI: Nothing seems to be given out in the papers about the interview between Chamberlain and Mussolini. Both parties say they are satisfied with the results. SRI AUROBINDO: I can't understand the present English policy. I don't know what England is after. France is being led by England—she is stuck to her like a tail. They say Mussolini is waiting for Franco's victory in Spain and then he will present his terms to France. Franco's victory will be d

12 FEBRUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: Yes, I have read of it in Romain Rolland. SRI AUROBINDO: Bertrand Russell is an advocate of this kind of companionate marriage, with freedom to do whatever one likes. NIRODBARAN: That is why he has divorced his wife and married his secretary. SRI AUROBINDO: Has he? I didn't know that. When? NIRODBARAN: Some years ago. PURANI: It came as a great shock to Dilip. Russell had spoken to him of his happy ideal married life. SRI AUROBINDO: I suppose it is like wanting to have vriddasya taruni barya¹ though the wife may not be barya. You know Maeterlinck did the same. In his old age he took up a beautiful young gir

12 NOVEMBER 1939 SRI AUROBINDO (apropos of an article by a devotee named Buddhadev): I have never heard that Shakespeare was popular among the peasants. His popularity was due to his power of speech. Everything he said was said with force and energy and that appealed to the people. But he is not so successful in his sonnets. His dramas alone have that quality. Shelley has that gift only in rare places. Wordsworth also, and those are the things that become popular but not with the peasants. Shakespeare easy? And he was enjoyed by all? That is news. It is true that dhvani (rhythmic suggestion) is an important element of poetry but it is not everything. There must be som

10 JANUARY 1940 NIRODBARAN: There is a letter from Dr. Manilal. SRI AUROBINDO: I see. What does he write? NIRODBARAN: He says: "The Life Divine must now be in the press. So Sri Aurobindo must be having time to do the exercise I have recommended." SRI AUROBINDO: Which exercise? NIRODBARAN: Hanging the leg from above the knee-joint. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh! But my Life Divine is still hanging. I still have two chapters to labour at. NIRODBARAN: There's another letter—from Anilbaran— regarding the people of the Gita Prachar Party who are coming to visit the Ashram. Somebody wants you to answer the question, "Is there any effect of repeating a sacred Name and

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

20 JANUARY 1939 NIRODBARAN: Dilip says, about the subject of X's becoming a Buddhist from a Vaishnava, that it is not like that. He does not want to belong to any group or sect. SRI AUROBINDO: That is understandable. PURANI: Nothing seems to be given out in the papers about the interview between Chamberlain and Mussolini. Both parties say they are satisfied with the results. SRI AUROBINDO: I can't understand the present English policy. I don't know what England is after. France is being led by England—she is stuck to her like a tail. They say Mussolini is waiting for Franco's victory in Spain and then he will present his terms to France. Fran

30 DECEMBER 1938 SRI AUROBINDO: Yes; India also was considered docile and mild, like an elephant, but once the elephant is off the line you had better keep out of his way! Now there is a new morality in the air. They talk of pacifism, anti-nationalism, anti-militarism. But the talking is done by those who can't do things. In any case it has to stand the test of time, PURANI: Jwalanti (Madame Monod-Herzen) used to be wild when England began to shout against Italy's war on Abyssinia. Of course, she does not defend Italy, but England should be the last nation to raise a cry. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. England was the only country that defended air-bombin

1 FEBRUARY 1940 PURANI: I spoke to Kapali yesterday, and gave him the data from that book. He says the calculation of time according to the year of the gods must be different — 365 days of the human year would be one day of theirs or something like that. Then Kapali says that these calculations have been based on newly discovered planets which were unknown before. So how could any calculations have been made using the year of the gods when these planets didn't exist? SRI AUROBINDO: But the principle was there. They have introduced these planets now. We must also do the same. These Page-412 calculations aren't based on astrology but on prophecy and the prophec