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

10 DECEMBER 1938 Evening about 7.00 p.m. Sri Aurobindo lying on his bed. We, the regular attendants, sitting on the floor, very close together. Dr. Manilal opens the conversation with a question. Sri Aurobindo's voice is very soft, his speech slow. DR. MANILAL: Why did you choose Pondicherry as the place for your sadhana? SRI AUROBINDO: Because of an Adesh, a Command. I was ordered by a Voice to come here. When I was leaving Bombay for Calcutta, I asked Lele what I should do about my sadhana. He kept silent for a while, probably waiting to hear a voice from within, and then replied, "Meditate at a fixed time and hear the voice in the heart."I didn't hear any voice from the

16 JANUARY 1939 NIRODBARAN: In the Hindustan Standard there is a remarkable story about some Somesh Bose. His wife, dead for twenty years, has been brought back bodily to him, alive again, and is doing sadhana with him. The man who performed the miracle is a Yogi named Bhola Giri. This Yogi also comes every evening to bless the pair. The paper asks: "What will Western materialists say to this?" SRI AUROBINDO: They will say it is all humbug. Satyeyndra: What does Yoga have to say? SRI AUROBINDO: There are many possibilities. NIRODBARAN: But is it at all possible to create like this in new flesh and blood? SRI AUROBINDO: What is meant by flesh and blo

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?

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