Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Correspondence (1933-1967)
Letter ID: 20
Sri Aurobindo — Nahar, Prithwi Singh
November 8, 1934
Mother,
I have just received photos of my children. ...As the boys except the eldest are at Santiniketan they have done the photographing themselves – hence this poor result.
The photographs are too small and vague. Still Mother will look at them most carefully to find if anything can be seen.
Along with the photographs I got a letter from my brother that leaves me astonished at the audacity of relatives. My wife died just two years back on the «bijaya dasami» day and neither I nor any of our children had ever seen her «ghost»1.... I do not believe either in «pinda»2 and such rubbish unspiritual things that pass by the name of religion. I am intending to write a particularly strong letter and give these fellows a bit of my mind, but I should very much like to know from you, Mother, about the truth of these matters.
Of course, it is all nonsense.
Sri Aurobindo
1 Here, Prithwi Singh relates how his wife’s «ghost» is supposed to have manifested in a relative of his.
2 The symbolic food offered to a departed person in certain funeral and memorial rites.