who have the best only should be chosen.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Letters
Fragment ID: 6458
(this fragment is largest or earliest found passage)
Sri Aurobindo — Ghose, Barindra Kumar
April 2, 1923
□ Hide link-numbers of differed places
To Barindra Kumar Ghose [10]1
2nd April,
1923.
“Arya” Office,
Pondicherry.
My dear Barin,
First about the photographs. The mounted photograph man
is fully unfit for the Yoga. The face is empty except for a great deal of
pretension, not warranted by any substance behind. He had better be put off or
left aside. It is no use just now bringing in people who have not a definite
possibility and even among those who have the best only should be chosen.
As to the unmounted photograph, this is a much worse
case. I cannot at all find what you say you see in his eyes. They seem to me
rather the eyes of madness or at least mono-mania. The whole face is a
nightmare. It seems to me a clear case either of possession or, even, of the
incarnation of some vital being. Please do not meddle with him at all. It is
only when we have
obtained mastery over the physico-vital world and
all the
physical planes 
that it will be at all safe to deal with such cases and certainly even then it
will not be
to begin by taking them into the Yoga.
I note from this case and from what you say in
connection with Rathin that you have just now what seems to me a rather
dangerous attraction (because likely to create hindrances or misdirect the
energy) towards these vital cases. What you say about the different vital worlds
is no doubt interesting and has a certain truth, but you must remember that
these worlds, which are different from the true or divine vital, are full of
enchantments and illusions and they present appearances of beauty which allure
only to mislead or
destroy. They are worlds of “Rakshashimaya” and their heavens
are more dangerous than their hells. They have to be known and their powers met
when need be but not accepted; our business is with the Supramental and with the vital
only when it is supramentalised and until then we have always to be on our
guard against any lures from that other quarter. I think the worlds of which you
speak are those which have a special attraction and a special danger for poets,
imaginative people and some
artists. There is, especially, a strain of
aestheticised vital susceptibility or sentiment or even sentimentalism through
which they affect the being and it is one of the things that has to be purified
before one can rise to the highest poetry, art and imaginative creation. In the
case of Krishnashashi some influences from these worlds certainly entered into
the cause of his collapse. I shall write about Rathin directly to his father for
I don’t know how long you are staying in Gauhati.9 I shall only say just now that it will
not be good for the boy if he merely changes the control of one kind of vital
world for that of another. He must become healthily
normal first and all else
can only come afterwards.
As to money matters, I think you should go on trying
for some time longer. I believe the obstacle is bound to break before long if we
do not get tired out by the obstinacy of the resistance. I am just now very much
concentrated in the effort to bring down the Supramental into the physical plane
which demands 
a very constant and sustained effort and it is for this reason that I have not
been able to answer letters. I shall decide about Kshitish when the time for
your return draws near.
Aurobindo.
1 This letter is preserved only in the form of handwritten, typed or printed copies. Whenever possible, the editors have collated several copies of each letter in order to produce an accurate text. – Ed.
2 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: these
3 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: when have
4 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: physico-vital and
5 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: do
6 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: of
7 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: with vital
8 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: sane
9 See the letter to Rajani Palit on pages 373–77. – Ed.
10 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: healthy
11 Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008 ed.: believed