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

19 DECEMBER 1939 SATYENDRA: Tagore can make a last attempt. NIRODBARAN: I think I too will again make an honest attempt to understand it. SRI AUROBINDO: But it is, I think, easier than books by Kant or other philosopher. EVENING We learnt that N. R. Sarkar had resigned. So the talk centered on that, it being the most important news of the day. Purani suggested that he may now join theHindu Mahasabha and do something against the Bengal ministry. That led the talk to the Hindu-Muslim problem and the charges of the Muslims against the Congress Ministries. NIRODBARAN: Yes, but what about the charges of the Bengal Hindus a

2 JANUARY 1940 SRI AUROBINDO (suddenly): Is Nolini Sen going today? NIRODBARAN: He has already gone. SRI AUROBINDO: His wife has sent a poem which she received in meditation. It is very good. Pavitra has seen the horoscopes of both husband and wife. He says they are complementary to each other. He has ability, the power of success. NIRODBARAN: Nolini Sen told me about his wife. About himself he said that he had some organising ability. The Government used to send him to places that were difficult to organise. So he has acquired a bad name as being strict and disciplinary. SRI AUROBINDO: He has a clear mind and seems to be an intellectual. NIRODBARAN: H

26 DECEMBER 1938 At about 5.30 p.m., four of our group— Champaklal, Satyendra, Becharlal and Nirodbaran— were seated on the carpet behind the head of Sri Aurobindo's bed and were whispering among themselves. Over some topic Champaklal broke into suppressed laughter and had to run away from the room. Satyendra and Nirodbaran controlled themselves with difficulty. Then at about 6.30 we all assembled by the side of Sri Aurobindo. Purani was still absent. SRI AUROBINDO (looking at us): What Divine Descent was it? NIRODBARAN: It was Champaklal who burst into laughter. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, then it was Vishnu's Ananda that descended! As soon as he encou

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 will be

11 JANUARY 1940 SRI AUROBINDO: Let us see how. He has conceded, though it does not come to much, that Dominion Status will be given within a minimum time if we come to an agreement with the Muslims Rajas and Princes. NIRODBARAN: I think he has declared these little conecessions in order to prevent Congress from precipitating into action. SRI AUROBINDO: Possibly. SATYENDRA: This man has made one good hit about the date— about the change of British Ministry between 5th and 10th January. SRI AUROBINDO: About the change of Ministry, there is nothing remarkable. In war-time there are always these reshufflings and changes. The date has been a bit o

15 DECEMBER 1938 The Mother came. Dr. Savoor also had called. NIRODBARAN (to DR. Savoor): When you give a homoeopathic medicine, how do you select it? By intuition? And how do you know that your intuition is correct? Page-27 DR. SAVOOR: Intuition by its very definition means something not obtained by logical reasoning; so it must be correct. NIRODBARAN (to Sri Aurobindo): You told me that Dr. Ramachandra uses mental intuition. So there must be various levels of intuition. SRI AUROBINDO: By mental intuition I mean that the intuition coming from above gets mixed with the mind. I don't say that mental intuition must be incorrect but

1 JANUARY 1939 Evening, 5.30. The conversation was begun by Dr. Becharlal. We knew from the peculiar signs on his face that he was preparing and he soon burst forth. DR. BECHARLAL: What is the effect of fasting? SRI AUROBINDO (knitting his brows as usual at Dr. Becharlal's question): What about it? DR. BECHARLAL: The effect of fasting on Yoga? Page-85 SRI AUROBINDO (as if the question now were not so perplexing after all): It gives a sort of excitement to the vital being, but the effect does not seem. to be very sound. I fasted twice— once in Alipore jail for ten days and the other time in Pondicherry for twenty-three days. At Alipore I was

10 JANUARY 1939 Today Sri Aurobindo opened the talk by inquiring from Satyendra about X's health. Then the talk proceeded to homoeopathy. The Mother came and took some part in it. After she had gone, the talk on medicine continued. SRI AUROBINDO: Once in Baroda I had a nasty abscess on the knee. All treatment failed. Then Madhavrao Jadhav called in a Mohammedan who pricked the knee at a particular point and brought out a big drop of black blood and the abscess was cured soon afterwards! He must have known the spot to prick. I also remember Jatin Banerji curing many cases of sterility by a Sannyasi's medicine given to him. Cases of ten or fifteen years' sterility

23 FEBRUARY 1940 SRI AUROBINDO: The hippopotamus is also Swayambhu? DR. MANILAL: Why not, Sir? SRI AUROBINDO: That is not science. Evolution doesn't say that. SATYENDRA (to Manilal) According to you, the world was and will be just as it is: everything, space and air compact with the Nigodha or Jiva from eternity? (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: Space is also Swayambhu then? DR. MANILAL: Yes, Sir, the creation is infinite; it has no beginning, no end, like a tennis ball! (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: And self-existent with Eliot and his hippopotamus existing from eternity? (Laughter) SATYENDRA (to Dr. Manilal): If you don't believe God has cr