Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 3

Letter ID: 879

Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar

December 12, 1936

Dying to know what supra-smiles you are spending on the punarmusika¹ Edward VIII becoming a plain-clothes sentinel now (once more) of his realm instead of being quondam August Keeper, hein? Most are all lost in a ferment, so soothe – please!

But I don’t understand – why should there be a ferment about this affair among the “most”? What is Edward Windsor to them or they to Edward Windsor? He has very sensibly kicked over the braces and chucked the unpleasant work of being a King who can do nothing except nod his head like a marionette to the Prime Minister and the cabinet and preferred to live his own life as a man and not a pseudo-king. Quite natural. What is said is that he was too democratic and socialistic for the British Parliamentarians, wanted to create a free and united Ireland, give full Dominion autonomy without reserves to India, do something for the workers, etc. and generally made himself a vigorous nuisance to Baldwin and Co. Hence they took the first opportunity to put him in the dilemma “Be a puppet or go”. It is very probable. Anyhow it seems that the new George will suit them very well. So all is for the best in the best possible of all possible Baldwinian worlds and there is nothing to be in a ferment over.

¹ punarmusika: a Sanskrit idiom which literally means, “going back to the state of being a mouse”, signifying a lapse into one’s original state. The expression is derived from a story in the Panchatantra about a mouse that sought a boon from a Rishi to be able to take any form as desired to overcome the limitations of its puny existence but runs into life-threatening situations in every other higher form of life it assumes. Finally it decides to return to its original form.

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