Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 2. 1934 — 1935

Letter ID: 488

Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar

September 19, 1934

The Mother understood that it was for the difficulty of concentration that you wanted to see her, but that is not a thing which can be dealt with in five minutes and she had no time before one o’clock today, so she fixed tomorrow. I am certainly not helping you only with letters, but doing it whenever I get some time for concentration and I notice that when I can do it with sufficient energy and at some length there is a response. But this habit of sadness of yours is very much in the way – you ought to take it by the neck and throw it out of you altogether. How on earth can there be a steady progress when at every second moment you are telling yourself or letting something tell you that there is no hope for you in Yoga. A steady will and perseverance in face of all difficulties is surely a proper condition for success – even if you think peace and cheerfulness are obstacles. What a strange idea! And it is not easy to have a steady will and perseverance if you are always listening to these voices of discouragement and even taking that as the best condition for getting the Divine! You speak of the impossibility of being cheerful when you don’t immediately get what you want, but what then do you make of Ramakrishna’s story of Narad and the yogi ascetic and the Vaishnava bhakta – which I suppose you know? Surely Ramakrishna knew something about Yoga and what was possible there.

You can send our blessings to Miss [Tyabji?]. I suppose she is not the one I used to see in Baroda – at a distance, for I had no personal acquaintance with her. Her father I met often and knew very well.

I don’t think the Nirvana letter will help you very much, but I will see about it. I have to make some last corrections.