Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 2. 1934 — 1935
Letter ID: 496
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
October 4, 1934
I have not had time to read Girija’s1 article and see what kind of mouse has been born out of the labour of this particular mountain. So comment is as yet impossible.
In regard to Tagore, I understood from Prithwi Singh that his objections to “The Life Heavens” were personal rather than in principle – that is he himself had no such reference and could not take them as true (for himself), so they aroused in him no emotion – while “Shiva” was just the contrary. I can’t say anything to that, as I could not say anything if somebody condemned a poem of mine root and branch because he did not like it or on good grounds – such as Cousins’ objection to the inferiority of the greater part of “In the Moonlight” to the opening stanzas – I learned a great deal from that objection; it pointed me the way I had to go towards “The Future Poetry.” Not that I did not know before, but it gave precision and point to my previous perception. But still, I don’t quite understand Tagore’s objection. I myself do not take many things as true in poetry e.g. Dante’s Hell, etc. of which I yet feel the emotion. It is surely part of the power of poetry to open new worlds to us as well as to give a supreme voice to our own ideas, experiences and feelings. The “Life Heavens” may not do that for its readers, but, if so, it is a fault of execution, not of principle. As to the theory you spoke of, I fail still clearly to understand it. Are rūpgata and bhābgata the equivalent of subjective and objective? If so, that is a very old 
quarrel, but one that I thought nobody bothers about now. Tagore’s Gitanjali is itself subjective and was hailed by the world as a new revelation because of that, not because of its objective power. However –. There remains the question of poetic criticism, but that I must postpone as the night’s brief [?] is out.
1 Girijapati Bhattacharya (1883-1981) was one of the co-founders of Parichay. He wrote many articles and reviews. He was also a hunter and expert in photography, painting, music and flowers.