Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 2. 1937

Letter ID: 1900

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

April 4, 1937 (Evening)

For heaven’s sake don’t include yourself in the misfortunes!

But I never said that I was one of the misfortunes.

I am not Brahma to take them as part of the lila!

I thought everybody was Brahma, সর্বমিদং ব্রহ্ম¹. Anyway you are trying to do Yoga, so the sooner you adopt the lila attitude the better. Moreover, plenty of people undergo these “misfortunes” without lamentations – take them as the ordinary stuff of life.

No poetry today either! Hellish!

Well, you can try to straddle back into heaven tomorrow.

For K’s baby, by “absolute rest” I meant that the jerkings in the train may not be very desirable.

I don’t see why it should be worse than other rockings.

I have consulted all the writings on diarrhoea, all give only symptomatic treatment.

There you are in company for once with the homeopaths.

But whatever little the doctors have found by experience to be effective, is not acceptable to you. For instance they recommend Calomel, you Say not to be given...

It is no use discussing these matters – the Mother’s views are too far removed from the traditional nostrums to be understood by a medical mind, except those that have got out of the traditional groove or those who after long experience have seen things and can become devastatingly frank about the limitations of their own “science”.

You remember Valle’s treatment of Valentine? He gave all the blessed things one after another – 2 or 3 emetine in spite of negative stools, opium, etc., till he cured her.

That is to say, he experimented at random – till Valentine cured in spite of all this ill-treatment of her body. And yet you call medicine a “science”.

If I had dealt with the case, I think you wouldn’t have allowed me emetine at all? Why? Because of my inexperience or you don’t want that anything drastic should happen by our treatment?

Certainly not, under your responsibility. Doctors acting on their own can try the kill or cure method – it’s their own business.

I admit it is quite possible for Science to be wrong as it has been shown repeatedly.

Very obviously.

I would have tried anti-serum and astringents, opium etc. and I think most of the doctors would have done that.

Try everything one after the other and together and see if any hits – that seems to be the method.

K doesn’t believe that milk of magnesia is the predisposing cause of the child’s illness.

Of course she won’t, as that would make her responsible.

D says it is quite harmless. But it may be harmful also and it was so here.

If it may be harmful, how can it be declared harmless?

Otherwise I don’t see why after 6 or 8 motions, diarrhoea should have started.

Ideas differ. Both the Mother and Pavitra were horrified at the idea of a child of 4 months being given a purgative. The leading Children’s doctor in France told the Mother no child under 12 months should be given a purgative, as it is likely to do great harm and may be dangerous. But here, we understand, it is the practice to dose children freely with purgatives from their day of birth almost. Perhaps that and overadministration of medicines is one cause of excessive infant mortality.

You didn’t say anything about the medicines for S.

What medicines? Sudarshan? you say she refuses.

¹ sarvamidaṃ brahma: all this is Brahman.

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