Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1934

Letter ID: 1190

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

June 8, 1934

In the afternoon I felt a descent of Ananda. In sheer joy, I could have embraced the earth itself Ramakrishna is said to have gone into ecstasy at the sight of clouds. My ecstasy, if you will excuse my impudence, was of the same kind.

It is Ananda in the mind and vital.

No apology necessary. The Ananda is the same for everyone, whether Ramakrishna or another.

To relieve myself in some way of this rapture, I wanted most unfortunately to express it in a verse with the consequent loss of the rapture.

What was the necessity of that? And why did you want to relieve yourself of the rapture?

For some time past the inspiration has stopped. Find it rather painful.

You must remember that you are not a “born” poet – you are trying to bring out something from the Unmanifest inside you. You can’t demand that that should be an easy job. It may come out suddenly and without apparent reason like the Ananda – but you can’t demand it.

The pangs of delivery cannot always be avoided.

To acquire a good style in prose I am reading any and every book in Bengali.

Any and every! That is more likely to spoil the style.

But I don’t want to lose the peace and the joy I am in now. If you think that over-reading or reading anything will lower the consciousness I shall lessen the activity.

I do not know whether the peace and joy will stand over-reading. It may if it is very strong.