Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1. 1936
It seems the “unnecessary work” has become necessary now – I mean X has given again an ultimatum of a short trip.
It is the second time in a few days.
Just because Dhurjati has highly praised somebody’s trash poetry, X got upset, and said – “Oh, I am very hurt, very hurt.”
Everything now makes him very hurt. If he goes on like that he will soon be an incarnation of the Man of Sorrows.
I don’t understand when he says that he hasn’t felt any peace in seven years. “All I had is 24 hours of intense Ananda – no other experience...” he says.
You needn’t take X’s rhetorical statements “at the foot of the letter”, as the French say. He did get peace often, but he said it was nothing concrete or spiritual, only ordinary peace. Also he did not want peace but bhakti. He got some experiences, even sometimes a descent as the result of which his inner being showed itself and wept profusely. But he did not think much of his experiences – not what he wanted. He got bhakti sometimes – but afterwards said he had no bhakti. So on with all the rest. Naturally under such conditions there could be no permanent opening and no steady progress.
But is it really impossible for you to give him some experience of peace, silence or meditation? Then the Divine is not at all omnipotent...
My dear sir, what has the omnipotence of the Divine to do with it? In this world there are conditions for everything – if a man refuses to fulfil the conditions for Yoga, what is the use of appealing to the Divine’s omnipotence? He does not believe that the Divine is here. He regards us as Gurus. Yes, but he begins by disputing all my way of Yoga. He does not understand and does not care to understand my processes. He has ideas of his own, does not want peace or equality or surrender or anything else, wants only Krishna and bhakti. He has read things in Ramakrishna and elsewhere as to how to do it, insists on following that. Rejects all suggestions I can make as unpracticable. Erects a sadhana of violent meditation, japa, prayer – for these are the traditional things, has no idea that there are conditions without which they cannot be effective. Meditates, japs, prays himself into fits1 of dullness and disappears.2Also tries in spite of my objections a wrestling tapasya which puts his vital into revolt. Then by a stroke of good luck I succeed unexpectedly in making a sort of psychic opening. Decides to try surrender, purification of the heart, rejection of ego, true humility etc. – tries a little of it and is really progressing. After two months finds that Krishna is not appearing – gets disgusted and drops the beastly thing. And after all that he is always telling me “What an impotent Guru you are! You are evidently able to do nothing for me.” Evidently! That’s X.
Please give some Force for a “laghu guru” poem, if possible.
Will try – atmosphere not favourable with all the rows that are going on.