Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 3
I enclose Harm’s letter from Bombay in which he writes: “Our Abu Hussain this month at the Capitol was a tremendous success and I believe we can say without exaggeration that we were able to revolutionise Bombay audiences...” etc. etc. O Lord of Bombast, thou hast perched on poets’ tongue! Not only that, he actually philosophizes: “Life is a mirror which returns smile for smile, frown for frown.” Does it, indeed! Why then did Sri Krishna enjoin Arjun to “fight without attachment of fever?” (Yudhyasya bigatajwara) And what philosophy! Life is like a mirror returning what you give it? Does the fellow know not even the ABC of history? Did Socrates preach murder that he was judicially murdered? Did Christ preach force that he was crucified by force? What about long processions of martyrs who preached love and got back hate? Why what about Jawaharlal’s old mother beaten by lathi [stick]? Did she flourish a lathi? Surely Guru, 
good sayings, aglow with idealism and harmlessness and non-resistance and what not, should take some count at least of hard realities! I do believe poets have done a lot of harm to the world by their rainbow radiance which cannot stand a moment’s shadow! That is why I challenged in my poem “Kavi versus Rishi” the poet’s pathetic paranoia and self-adoration that he was the equal of Rishis and seers and prophets. For listen to Harm’s droll self-deluded fancy that “As for me, I am leading a life of great joy, peace, truth and work”. But I am thankful to him for one thing: I read yesterday some lying statements of his about you in a journal and in my anger thereat my depression vanished which I could not get rid of. Tell me how was that? for it is a concrete experience, I can aver. I am naturally reminded of the great Sri Ramkrishna’s dictum: “The ripus (passions) too can help in the spiritual life provided you know the secret of the game: for instance, anger may help you if you turn it against all that stand in the way of the Divine, against all who are hostile to the Divine.” Look here, I was very angry yesterday with Harm’s treachery and disloyalty to you and instantly I felt myself lifted out of my amorphous condition. Qu’en dites-vous?
One can’t put too much faith in Harm’s “truth and peace” – he used always to write like that: “I am in a splendid condition – soaring!” etc. when we knew that he was very much down in the opposite direction. Exultation at the success of his Abu Hussain perhaps? But is it such a success as he avers? One hardly knows when his statements are or have really some kind of justification behind them.
It is not at all unnatural that the anger brought back peace and harmony: for this anger was a form of loyalty to the Divine and that put you into touch with your psychic consciousness again. Sri Ramkrishna was quite right about anger. The hostile powers are proof against gentleness and sweetness and non-resistance and soul-force, but a current of righteous anger often sends them flying.
As for Harm’s philosophy it is phrases and nothing else: what he means is, I suppose, that when one is successful one can be very jolly, which is not philosophy but commonplace, only he turns it upside down to make it look wise. Or perhaps he means that if you smile at Mussolini and Hitler they will spare you castor-oil and cudgel: but even that is not sure, they will want to know what the smile means first – flattery or satire.