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© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1991Published by Madanlal Himatsingka on behalf ofAll India Books, Pondicherry-605002PRINTED AT ALL INDIA PRESSPONDICHERRY, INDIA
NOTESri Aurobindo started learning Bengali, his mothertongue, in England, as a probationer for the Indian CivilService. After his return to India he began a serious studyof the language with a view to acquiring proficiency inreading, writing and speaking. During his stay at Barodahe wrote some poetry in Bengali, attempting even a longpoem called “Usha-Haran Kabya”.It is to this poem that his brother, Manmohan, himselfa poet, refers in his letter to Rabindranath Tagore,dated October 24, 1894. We quote from it the followingextract: “Aurobinda is anxious to know what you think ofhis book of verses 1 , but I have explained to him how busyyou are just now; and that you will write later when youhave a little more leisure to do justice to his book. I myselfthink that he is possessed of considerable powers oflanguage and a real literary gift, — but is lacking in stuffand matter, perhaps in warmth of temperament. But thosepieces on Parnell 2 , consisting of fine philosophic reflection,show, I think, that he might do great things. Unfortunatelyhe has directed (or rather misdirected) all hisenergies to writing Bengali poetry. He is at present engagedon an epic (inspired I believe by Michael Madhusudan)on the subject of Usha and Aniruddha.”He wrote several articles for the earlier issues of Yugantar,a Bengali revolutionary weekly started by his brotherBarin and others under his guidance in March 1906. Butnot a single copy of this journal has so far been traced.1 Songs to Myrtilla published a year later, in 1895.2 Charles Stewart Parnell (1891) and Hic Jacet (Centenary Volume 5, pp.15, 11).
The earliest available Bengali writings of Sri Aurobindobesides “Usha-Haran Kabya” are the three letters tohis wife Mrinalini Devi written between 1905 and 1907.These were produced as exhibits in the Alipore ConspiracyCase in 1908, and having attracted public notice werereproduced in various journals and in book-form soon afterwards.After his acquittal in 1909 Sri Aurobindo started a Bengaliweekly called Dharma, and wrote most of the editorialcomments and leading articles for it until his withdrawalto Chandernagore in February 1910. Most of these leadingarticles were published in book-form in 1920 underthe title DHARMA O JATIYATA by Prabartak Publishing House,Chandernagore. In the present volume these articles arearranged under two sections, “Dharma” and “Jatiyata”(Religion and Nationalism).Some of the articles on the Gita from Dharma wereseparately brought out in book-form in 1920 by the PrabartakSangha under the title Gitar Bhumika.KARAKAHINI (Tales of Prison Life) was first serialisedin nine parts in the Bengali monthly, Suprabhat in1909-1910. This series remained incomplete as Sri Aurobindoleft Bengal in 1910. The essay, “Karagriha OSwadhinata” (Prison and Freedom), was published inBharati, a Bengali journal, about the same time. KARA-KAHINI came out in book-form in 1920 from Chandernagore.In 1918 Sri Aurobindo wrote “Jagannather Rath” (theChariot of Jagannath) for Prabartak, a journal publishedfrom Chandernagore. The article was published in bookformin 1921 along with some others under the same titleby the Prabartak Publishing House.His letter to Barin, also known as “Letter from Pondicherry”,written in 1920 was first published in Naraya-
na, a journal edited by C. R. Das. It was also issued as abooklet in the same year and later along with “Letters toMrinalini” under the title SRI AUROBINDER PATRA (Lettersof Sri Aurobindo) by the Prabartak Publishing House.A number of articles on the Vedas, Upanishads andother subjects found in Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts werefirst put together in book-form in 1955 under the title VIVIDHARACHANA. In this volume they have been distributed invarious sections.The letters Sri Aurobindo wrote to some women discipleswho did not know English were published as PAT-RAWALI in two parts, the first in 1951 and the second in1959.Volume 4 in the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Librarycontains Sri Aurobindo's original Bengali writings.Volume 27 adds a few pages. In the Sri Aurobindo MandirAnnual, 1967 and 1968. English translations of all theprose writings appearing in volume 4, except the EditorialComments (Dharma), were published. The same translationsappear in the present volume, with the exception ofthe letter to Barin which has been taken from the Archives.April 1980.The Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual is published bythe Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, Calcutta. The Hymn toDurga is Sri Aurobindo's own translation. The translationsof other writings were done by Nolini Kanta Gupta, Niranjan,Somnath Maitra, Sanat K. Banerjee, Sisir Kumar Ghose,Jugal Kishore Mukherji, Arindam Basu, Prithvindra andothers.Some further matter has appeared in the Sri AurobindoArchives and Research journal referred to as Archives.From this source one hymn and six pieces of poetry havebeen included in this volume.The original sources of all articles are indicated in theTable of Contents.
I. HYMNS
Hymn to DurgaMOTHER DURGA! Rider on the lion, giver of all strength,Mother, beloved of Siva! We born from thy parts of Power,we the youth of India, are seated here in thy temple.Listen, O Mother, descend upon earth, make thyself manifestin this land of India.MOTHER DURGA! From age to age, in life after life, wecome down into the human body, do thy work and returnto the Home of Delight. Now too we are born, dedicatedto thy work. Listen, O Mother, descend upon earth, cometo our help.MOTHER DURGA! Rider on the lion, trident in hand, thybody of beauty armour-clad, Mother, giver of victory, Indiaawaits thee, eager to see the gracious form of thine.Listen, O Mother, descend upon earth, make thyself manifestin this land of India.MOTHER DURGA! Giver of force and love and knowledge,terrible art thou in thy own self of might, Motherbeautiful and fierce. In the battle of life, in India's battle,we are warriors commissioned by thee; Mother, give to ourheart and mind a titan's strength, a titan's energy, to oursoul and intelligence a god's character and knowledge.MOTHER DURGA! India, world's noblest race, laywhelmed in darkness. Mother, thou risest on the easternhorizon, the dawn comes with the glow of thy divine limbsscattering the darkness. Spread thy light, Mother, destroythe darkness.
4Bengali WritingsMOTHER DURGA! We are thy children, through thy grace,by thy influence may we become fit for the great work, forthe great Ideal. Mother, destroy our smallness, our selfishness,our fear.MOTHER DURGA! Thou art Kali, naked, garlanded withhuman heads, sword in hand, thou slayest the Asura. Goddess,do thou slay with thy pitiless cry the enemies whodwell within us, may none remain alive there, not one. Maywe become pure and spotless, this is our prayer, O Mother,make thyself manifest.MOTHER DURGA! India lies low in selfishness and fearfulnessand littleness. Make us great, make our efforts great,our hearts vast, make us true to our resolve. May we nolonger desire the small, void of energy, given to laziness,stricken with fear.MOTHER DURGA! Extend wide the power of Yoga. Weare thy Aryan children, develop in us again the lost teaching,character, strength of intelligence, faith and devotion,force of austerity, power of chastity and true knowledge,bestow all that upon the world. To help mankind, appear,O Mother of the world, dispel all ills.MOTHER DURGA! Slay the enemy within, then root outall obstacles outside. May the noble heroic mighty Indianrace, supreme in love and unity, truth and strength, arts andletters, force and knowledge ever dwell in its holy woodlands,its fertile fields, under its sky-scraping hills, along thebanks of its pure-streaming rivers. This is our prayer at thefeet of the Mother. Make thyself manifest.MOTHER DURGA! Enter our bodies in thy Yogic strength.
I. 1. Hymn to Durga5We shall become thy instruments, thy sword slaying all evil,thy lamp dispelling all ignorance. Fulfil this yearning of thyyoung children, O Mother. Be the master and drive thyinstrument, wield thy sword and slay the evil, hold upthe lamp and spread the light of knowledge. Make thyselfmanifest.MOTHER DURGA! When we possess thee, we shall nolonger cast thee away; we shall bind thee to us with the tieof love and devotion. Come, Mother, manifest thyself inour mind and life and body.Come, Revealer of the hero-path. We shall no longercast thee away. May our entire life become a ceaselessworship of the Mother, all our acts a continuous serviceto the Mother, full of love, full of energy. This is our prayer,O Mother, descend upon earth, make thyself manifest inthis land of India.
Hymn to DawnLo, dawn, the Beloved, appears in her gleaming youngbody. She impels all Life on the path towards the goal. Fire,the Divine Force, is born to be kindled in man. Dawn drivesaway all Darkness and fulfils herself in creating Light.She, the Goddess, rises lifting her forward gaze towardsthe Vast, the Universal. She has put on the robe of Lightand displays the white brilliance of her subtle norms of Truth.Heaven-gold is her hue, her vision is all-round seeing: verily,she is the mother of the herd of brilliances of knowledge,a leader of our bright days; her luminous body is disclosed.The Goddess, All-Enjoyment she is: she comes carryingthe Sun, the Eye of the Gods, bringing here the whiteLife-steeds that have the perfect vision, she comes, theGoddess wholly revealing herself in the rays of the Sun.Behold her in her multiple divine riches, behold her manifesteverywhere, in all things, behold her the Mother ofRadiance.All delight is within, all that is hostile to man is afar: solet it be in thy dawning. Build our pasture of infinity, illuminedwith truth, build our home of delight freed from fear.Drive away all that divides and antagonises, bring to us allthe wealth of the human soul, O Mother of Plenty, sendforth into life all the plenitude of delight.Goddess Dawn, manifest thyself in our hearts in theplay of thy supreme Effulgence, widen the life of this embodiedbeing. O Mother of Delight, give us stable impulsion.Give us that plenty whose wealth is the luminous herdof Truth, where range the chariots and horses of Life movingtowards Infinity.
I. 2. Hymn to Dawn7We are rich in those riches, we the steadfast aspirants,O Goddess, born in perfection, Daughter of Heaven! Wefoster Thee with our thought-streams and Thou too holdestin our bosom the knowledge won and the Vast and theSeas of Delight.
II. STORIES
A DreamA POOR man was sitting in a darkhut thinking of his miseries and of the injustice and wrongsthat could be found in this world of God's making. Out ofabhimÀna he began to mutter to himself, “As men do notwant to cast a slur on God's name, they put the blame onKarma. If my misfortunes are really due to the sins committedin my previous birth and if I was so great a sinner,then currents of evil thoughts should still be passing throughmy mind. Can the mind of such a wicked person get cleansedso soon? And what about that Tinkari Sheel who has suchcolossal wealth and commands so many people! If there isanything like the fruits of Karma, then surely he must havebeen a famous saint and sadhu in his previous life; but Isee no trace of that at all in his present birth. I don't thinka bigger rogue exists — one so cruel and crooked. All thesetales about Karma are just clever inventions of God to consoleman's mind. Shyamsundar 1 is very tricky; luckily he doesnot reveal himself to me, otherwise I would teach him sucha lesson that he would stop playing these tricks.”As soon as he finished muttering, the man saw that hisdark room was flooded with a dazzling light. After a whilethe luminous waves faded and he found in front of him acharming boy of a dusky complexion standing with a lampin his hand, and smiling sweetly without saying a word. Noticingthe musical anklets round his feet and the peacock plume,the man understood that Shyamsundar had revealed himself.At first he was at a loss what to do; for a moment he1One of Sri Krishna's names.
12Bengali Writingsthought of bowing at his feet, but looking at the boy's smilingface no longer felt like making his obeisance. At last heburst out with the words, “Hullo, Keshta, 1 what makes youcome here?” The boy replied with a smile, “Well, didn'tyou call me? Just now you had the desire to whip me! Thatis why I am surrendering myself to you. Come along, whipme.” The man was now even more confounded than before,but not with any repentance for the desire to whipthe Divine: the idea of punishing instead of patting such asweet youngster did not appeal to him. The boy spoke again,“You see, Harimohon, those who, instead of fearing me,treat me as a friend, scold me out of affection and want toplay with me, I love very much. I have created this worldfor my play only; I am always on the lookout for a suitableplaymate. But, brother, I find no one. All are angry withme, make demands on me, want boons from me; they wanthonour, liberation, devotion — nobody wants me. I givewhatever they ask for. What am I to do? I have to pleasethem; otherwise they will tear me to pieces. You too, I find,want something from me. You are vexed and want to whipsome one. In order to satisfy that desire you have calledme. Here I am, ready to be whipped. ye yathÀ mÀÌ prapadyante2 , I accept whatever people offer me. But beforeyou beat me, if you wish to know my ways, I shall explainthem to you. Are you willing?” Harimohon replied, “Areyou capable of that? I see that you can talk a good deal,but how am I to believe that a mere child like you can teachme something?” The boy smiled again and said, “Come,see whether I can or not.”Then Sri Krishna placed his palm on Harimohon's head.Instantly electric currents started flowing all through hisbody; from the mÓlÀdhÀra the slumbering kuÍÄalinÈ power1One of Sri Krishna's names.2The Gita 4. 11.
II. 1. A Dream13went up running to the head-centre (brahmarandhra), hissinglike a serpent of flame; the head became filled with the vibrationof life-energy. The next moment it seemed to Harimohonthat the walls around were moving away from him,as if the world of forms and names was fading into Infinityleaving him alone. Then he became unconscious. When hecame back to his senses, he found himself with the boy inan unknown house, standing before an old man who wassitting on a cushion, plunged in deep thought, his cheek restingon his palm. Looking at that heart-rending despondent facedistorted by tormenting thoughts and anxiety, Harimohoncould not believe that this was Tinkari Sheel, the all-in-allin their village. Then, extremely frightened, he asked theboy, “Keshta, what have you done? You have entered someone'sdwelling in the dead of night like a thief! The policewill come and thrash the life out of us. Don't you knowTinkari Sheel's power?” The boy laughed and said, “I knowit pretty well. But stealing is an old practice of mine, and,besides, I am on good terms with the police. Don't youfear. Now I am giving you the inner sight, look inside theold man. You know Tinkari's power, now witness howmighty I am.”At once Harimohon could see into the man's mind. Hesaw, as in an opulent city ravaged by a victorious enemy,innumerable terrible-looking demons and ogres who hadentered into that brilliant intelligence, disturbing its peaceand composure, plundering its happiness. The old man hadquarrelled with his young son and turned him out; the sorrowof losing his beloved child had cowed down his spirit,but anger, pride and vanity had shut the door of his heartand were guarding it. Forgiveness had no entry there. Hearingcalumnies against his own daughter he had driven her awayand was lamenting over the cherished one he had lost. Heknew that she was chaste but the fear of social censure and a
14Bengali Writingsfeeling of shame coupled with his own arrogance and selfishnesshad put a curb on his affection. Frightened by thememory of a thousand sins the old man was trembling, buthe did not have the courage or the strength to mend hisevil ways. Now and then thoughts of death and of the otherworld came to him and filled him with terror. Harimohonsaw also that from behind these morbid thoughts thehideous messenger of death was constantly peeping out andknocking at the door. Whenever this happened, the old man'sheart sank and he frantically screamed with fear.Horrified by this sight Harimohon looked at the boyand exclaimed, “Why, Keshta! I used to think this man thehappiest of all!” The boy replied, “Just there lies my power.Tell me now which of the two is mightier — this TinkariSheel or Sri Krishna, the master of Vaikuntha? Look,Harimohon, I too have the police, sentinels, government,law, justice, I too can play the game of being a king; doyou like this game?” “No, my child,” answered Harimohon,“it is a very cruel game. Why, do you like it?” Theboy laughed and declared, “I like all sorts of games; I liketo whip as well as to be whipped.” Then he continued. “Yousee, Harimohon, people like you look at the outward appearanceof things and have not yet cultivated the subtle power of lookinginside. Therefore you grumble that you are miserable andTinkari is happy. This man has no material want; still, comparedto you, how much more this millionaire is suffering!Can you guess why? Happiness is a state of mind, miseryalso is a state of mind. Both are only mind-created. He Whopossesses nothing, whose only possessions are difficulties,even he, if he wills, can be greatly happy. But just as youcannot find happiness after spending your days in dry piety,and as you are always dwelling upon your miseries so toothis man who spends his days in sins which give him no realpleasure is now thinking only of his miseries. All this is
II. 1. A Dream15the fleeting happiness of virtue and the fleeting misery ofvice, or the fleeting misery of virtue and the fleeting happinessof vice. There is no joy in this conflict. The image ofthe abode of bliss is with me: he who comes to me, falls inlove with me, wants me, lays his demands on me, tormentsme — he alone can succeed in getting my image of bliss.”Harimohon went on eagerly listening to these words of SriKrishna. The boy continued, “And look here, Harimohon,dry piety has lost its charm for you, but in spite of thatyou cannot give it up, habit 1 binds you to it; you cannoteven conquer this petty vanity of being pious. This old man,on the other hand, gets no joy from his sins, yet he toocannot abandon them because he is habituated to them, andis suffering hell's own agonies in this life. These are thebonds of virtue and vice; fixed and rigid notions, born ofignorance, are the ropes of these bonds. But the sufferingsof that old man are indeed a happy sign. They will do himgood and soon liberate him.”So far Harimohon had been listening silently to Sri Krishna'swords. Now he spoke out, “Keshta, your words areundoubtedly sweet, but I don't trust them. Happiness andmisery may be states of mind, but outer circumstances aretheir cause. Tell me, when the mind is restless because ofstarvation, can anyone be happy? Or when the body is sufferingfrom a disease or enduring pain, can any one thinkof you?” “Come, Harimohon, that too I shall show you,”replied the boy.Again he placed his palm on Harimohon's head. As soonas he felt the touch, Harimohon saw no longer the dwellingof Tinkari Sheel. On the beautiful, solitary and breezy summitof a hill an ascetic was seated, absorbed in meditation,with a huge tiger lying prone at his feet like a sentinel.1Sanskara.
16Bengali WritingsSeeing the tiger Harimohon's own feet would not proceedany further. But the boy forcibly dragged him near to theascetic. Incapable of resisting the boy's pull Harimohon hadto go. The boy said, “Look, Harimohon.” Harimohon saw,stretched out in front of his eyes, the ascetic's mind like adiary on every page of which the name of Sri Krishna wasinscribed a thousand times. Beyond the gates of the FormlessSamadhi the ascetic was playing with Sri Krishna inthe sunlight.Harimohon saw again that the ascetic had been starvingfor many days, and for the last two his body had experiencedextreme suffering because of hunger and thirst.Reproachingly Harimohon asked, “What's this, Keshta?Babaji loves you so much and still he has to suffer fromhunger and thirst? Have you no common sense? Whoshall feed him in this lonely forest home of tigers?” Theboy answered, “I will feed him. But look here for anotherbit of fun.” Harimohon saw the tiger go straight toan ant-hill which was close by and break it with a singlestroke of the paw. Hundreds of ants scurried out and beganstinging the ascetic angrily. The ascetic remained plungedin meditation, undisturbed, unmoved. Then the boy sweetlybreathed in his ears, “Beloved!” The ascetic opened hiseyes. At first he felt no pain from the stings; the all-enchantingflute-call which the whole world longs for, wasstill ringing in his ears — as it had once rung in Radha'sears at Vrindavan. At last, the innumerable repeated stingsmade him conscious of his body. But he did not stir. Astonished,he began muttering to himself, “How strange!I have never known such things! Obviously it is Sri Krishnawho is playing with me. In the guise of these insignificantants he is stinging me.” Harimohon saw that theburning sensation no longer reached the ascetic's mind.
II. 1. A Dream17Rather every sting produced in him an intense ecstasy allover his body, and, drunk with that ecstasy, he began todance, clapping his hands and singing the praise of Sri Krishna.The ants dropped down from his body and fled.Stupefied, Harimohon exclaimed, “Keshta, what is thisspell?” The boy clapped now his hands, swung round twiceon his foot and laughed aloud, “I am the only magician onearth. None shall understand this spell. This is my supremeriddle. Did you see it? Amid this agony also he could thinkonly of me. Look again.” The ascetic sat down once more,self-composed; his body went on suffering hunger and thirst,but his mind merely perceived the suffering and did not getinvolved in it or affected by it. At this moment, a voice,sweeter than a flute, called out from the hill, “Beloved!”Harimohon was startled. It was the very voice of Shyamsunder,sweeter than a flute. Then he saw a beautiful duskycomplexionedboy come out from behind the rocks, carryingin a dish excellent food and some fruits. Harimohon wasdumb-founded and looked towards Sri Krishna. The boywas standing beside him, yet the boy who was coming resembledSri Krishna in every detail! This boy came andthrowing a light on the ascetic, said, “See what I have broughtfor you.” The ascetic smiled and asked, “Oh, you have come?Why did you keep me starving so long? Well, take yourseat and dine with me.” The ascetic and the boy startedeating the food from the dish, feeding each other, snatchingaway each other's share. After the meal was over, theboy took the dish and disappeared into the darkness.Harimohon was about to ask something when, all of asudden, he saw that there was neither Sri Krishna nor theascetic, neither the tiger nor any hill. He found himself livingin a well-to-do quarter of a town; he possessed much wealth,a family and children. Every day he was giving alms in charityto the Brahmins and to the beggars; he was regularly
18Bengali Writingsrepeating the Divine Name three times a day; observing allthe rites and rituals prescribed in the Shastras, he was followingthe path shown by Raghunandan, and was leadingthe life of an ideal father, an ideal husband and an ideal son.But the next moment he saw to his dismay that theresidents of the locality he was living in had neither mutualgood-will nor any happiness; they considered the mechanicalobservance of social conventions the highest virtue. Insteadof the ecstatic feeling that had been his in the beginning,he now had a feeling of suffering. It seemed to himas if he had been very thirsty but, lacking water, had beeneating dust, — only dust, infinite dust. He ran away fromthat place and went to another locality. There, in front of agrand mansion, a huge crowd had gathered; words of blessingwere on every one's lips. Advancing he saw Tinkari Sheelseated on a verandah, distributing large amounts of moneyto the crowd; no one was going away empty-handed. Harimohonchuckled and thought, “What is this dream? TinkariSheel is giving alms!” Then he looked into Tinkari's mind.He saw that thousands of dissatisfactions and evil impulsessuch as greed, jealousy, passion, selfishness were all astirthere. For the sake of virtuous appearance and fame, outof vanity, Tinkari had kept them suppressed, kept them starving,instead of driving them away from within.In the meantime someone took Harimohon on a swiftvisit to the other world. He saw the hells and heavens ofthe Hindus, those of the Christians, the Muslims and theGreeks, and also many other hells and heavens. Then hefound himself sitting once more in his own hut, on the sameold torn and dirty mattress with Shyamsundar in front ofhim. The boy remarked, “It is quite late in the night; nowif I don't return home I shall get a scolding, everybody willstart beating me. Let me therefore be brief. The hells and theheavens you have visited are nothing but a dream-world, a
II. 1. A Dream19creation of your mind. After death man goes to hell or heavenand somewhere works out the tendencies that existed in himduring his last birth. In your previous birth you were onlyvirtuous, love found no way into your heart; you loved neitherGod nor man. After leaving your body you had to workout your old trend of nature, and so lived in imaginationamong middle-class people in a world of dreams; and asyou went on leading that life you ceased to like it any more.You became restless and came away from there only to livein a hell made of dust; finally you enjoyed the fruits of yourvirtues and, having exhausted them, took birth again. In thatlife, except for your formal alms-giving and your soullesssuperficial dealings, you never cared to relieve anyone's wants— therefore you have so many wants in this life. And thereason why you are still going on with this soulless virtueis that you cannot exhaust the karma of virtues and vicesin the world of dream, it has to be worked out in this world.On the other hand, Tinkari was charity itself in his past lifeand so, blessed by thousands of people, he has in this lifebecome a millionaire and knows no poverty; but as he wasnot completely purified in his nature, his unsatisfied desireshave to feed on vice. Do you follow now the system of Karma?There is no reward or punishment, but evil creates evil, andgood creates good. This is Nature's law. Vice is evil, it producesmisery; virtue is good, it leads to happiness. This procedureis meant for purification of nature, for the removalof evil. You see, Harimohon, this earth is only a minutepart of my world of infinite variety, but even then you takebirth here in order to get rid of evil by the help of Karma.When you are liberated from the hold of virtue and viceand enter the realm of Love, then only you are freed ofthis activity. In your next birth you too will get free. I shallsend you my dear sister, Power, along with Knowledge, hercompanion; but on one condition, — you should be my
20Bengali Writingsplaymate, and must not ask for liberation. Are you readyto accept it?” Harimohon replied, “Well, Keshta, you havehypnotised me! I intensely feel like taking you on my lapand caressing you, as if I had no other desire in this life!”The boy laughed and asked, “Did you follow what Isaid, Harimohon?” “Yes, I did,” he replied, then thoughtfor a while and said, “O Keshta, again you are deceivingme. You never gave the reason why you created evil!” Sosaying, he caught hold of the boy's hand. But the boy, settinghimself free, rebuked Harimohon, “Be off! Do you wantto get out of me all my secrets in an hour's time?” Suddenlythe boy blew out the lamp and said with a chuckle, “Well,Harimohon, you have forgotten all about lashing me! Outof that fear I did not even sit on your lap, lest, angry withyour outward miseries, you should teach me a lesson! I donot trust you any more.” Harimohon stretched his armsforward, but the boy moved farther and said, “No Harimohon,I reserve that bliss for your next birth. Good-bye.” Sosaying, the boy disappeared into the dark night. Listeningto the chime of Sri Krishna's musical anklets, Harimohonwoke up gently. Then he began thinking, “What sort of dreamis this! I saw hell, I saw heaven, I called the Divine rudenames, taking him to be a mere stripling, I even scoldedhim. How awful! But now I am feeling very peaceful.” ThenHarimohon began recollecting the charming image of thedusky-complexioned boy, and went on murmuring from timeto time, “How beautiful! How beautiful!”
The Ideal of ForgivenessIN the sky, the moon drifted slowlythrough the clouds. Far below, the river mingled its murmurwith the winds, as it danced along on its course; andthe earth looked bathed in beauty in the half-light of themoon. All around were the forest retreats of the Rishis, eachcharming enough to put the Elysian fields to shame: everyhermitage was a perfect picture of sylvan loveliness withits trees and flowers and foliage.On this moon-enraptured night, said Brahmarshi (theseer who has known the Supreme) Vashishtha to his spouseArundhati Devi, “Devi (literally, goddess), go and beg somesalt of the Rishi Vishvamitra, and bring it here soon.”Taken aback, she replied, “My lord, what is this youare asking me to do? I cannot understand you! He whohas robbed me of my hundred sons...” She could say nomore, for her voice was choked with sobs as memories ofthe past rose up to disturb that sweet home of serenity, herheart, and to fill it with pain to its depths. After a time sherecovered her composure to continue: “All my hundred sonswere learned in the Vedas and dedicated to the Divine. Theywould go about in moonlight such as this singing His praises,but he... he has destroyed them all. And you bid me go andbeg at his door for a little salt! My lord, you bewilder me!”Slowly the sage's face filled with light; slowly from theocean-depths of his heart came the words, “But, Devi, Ilove him!”Arundhati's bewilderment increased, and she said, “Ifyou love him you might just as well have addressed him asBrahmarshi! The whole trouble would have ended there,
22Bengali Writingsand I should have had my hundred sons left to me.”The Rishi's face took on a singular beauty as he said,“It was because I love him that I did not call him Brahmarshi.It was because I did not call him that, that he stillhas a chance of becoming a Brahmarshi.”Vishvamitra was beside himself with rage. He could notconcentrate on his tapasyÀ. He had vowed that if Vashishthadid not acknowledge him as a Brahmarshi that day, hewould kill him. To carry out this resolve, he armed himselfwith a sword as he left his hermitage. Slowly he came toVashishthadeva's cottage and stood outside, listening. He heardwhat the great sage was saying to Devi Arundhati about him.The grip on his sword-hilt relaxed as he thought, “Heavens,what was I about to do in my ignorance! To think oftrying to hurt one whose soul is so far above all pettiness!”He felt the sting of a hundred bees in his conscience, andran forward and fell at Vashishtha's feet. For a time he couldnot speak, but in a little while he recovered his speech andsaid, “Pardon me, O pardon me! But I am unworthy evenof your mercy!” He could say no more, for his pride stillheld him fast. But Vashishtha stretched out both arms toraise him. “Rise, Brahmarshi!” he gently said. But Vishwamitra,in his shame and mortification, could not believe thatVashishtha meant what he said.“Do not deride me, my lord,” he cried.“I never say what is false,” replied Vashishtha.“You havebecome a Brahmarshi today. You have earned that statusbecause you have shed your haughty self-conceit.”“Teach me divine lore, then,” implored Vishvamitra.“Go to Anantadeva, he will give you what you desire,”said Vashishtha.Vishvamitra came to where Anantadeva stood with theEarth resting on his head. “Yes, I will teach you what youwant to learn. But, first, you must hold up the Earth.”
II. 2. The Ideal of Forgiveness23Proud of his tapasyÀ-won powers, Vishvamitra said,“Very well, relinquish your burden and let me bear it.”“Hold it then,” said Anantadeva, moving away. And theEarth began to spin down and down in space.“Here and now I give up all the fruits of my tapasyÀ”shouted Vishvamitra, “only let the Earth not sinkdownwards.”“You have not done tapasyÀ enough to hold up theEarth, O Vishvamitra.” Anantadeva shouted back. “Haveyou ever associated with holy men? If you have, offer upthe merit you have so acquired.”“For a moment only, I was with Vashishtha,” answeredVishvamitra.“Offer up the fruits of that contact then,” commandedAnantadeva.“I do here offer them up,” said Vishvamitra. Slowlythe Earth stopped sinking downwards.“Give me divine knowledge, now”, importuned Vishvamitra.“Fool!” exclaimed Anantadeva, “you come to me fordivine knowledge turning away from him whose momentarytouch has given you virtue enough to hold up theEarth!”Vishvamitra grew angry at the thought that Vashishthadevahad played him a trick. So he hurried back to him and demandedwhy he had deceived him.Unruffled, Vashishtha answered him in slow and solemntones: “If I had given you the knowledge you askedfor then, you would not have accepted it as true. Now youwill have faith in me.”And so Vishvamitra came to acquire knowledge of theDivine from Vashishtha.Such were the saints and sages of India in the olden days,and such was their ideal of forgiveness. So great was the
24Bengali Writingspower they had acquired by their tapasyÀ that they couldeven carry the Earth on their shoulders. Such sages are beingborn in India again, today. They will dim the lustre of theRishis of old by their radiance, and confer on India a glorygreater than any she has ever known.
III. THE VEDA
The Secret of the VedaTHE Veda Samhita is the eternalsource of the dharma, culture and spiritual knowledge ofIndia. But the fountain-head of this source is lost in thecave of an inaccessible mountain and even its initial courseis hidden under the strange vines, bushes and flowering treesof a thorny forest, deep and very ancient. The Veda ismysterious. The language, the manner of expression andthe form of thinking have been created by another age; theyare the product of a different type of mentality. On onehand, it is extremely simple like the flow of a pure and swiftmountain stream; yet, on the other, this process of thinkingappears so complex to us, the meaning of its language souncertain that from very ancient times disagreements anddiscussions have continued regarding its essential thoughtand even regarding the simple words used in every line.Upon reading the commentary of the great scholar Sayanacharya,one gets the impression that a coherent sense ofthe Veda never did exist, or else what was there got submergedin the sea of oblivion of all-devouring Time evenlong before the Brahmanas, which came after the Vedas,were composed.Sayana was in a quandary when he undertook to findthe significance of the Veda. It was like some one who, weariedof pursuing a false light through darkness, stumbled oftenand fell into holes full of mire and filthy water, yet was unableto abandon the pursuit. The meaning of the fundamentalScripture of the Aryan dharma had to be found but the wordswere so enigmatic, the synthesis was made up of so manymysterious and profound entangled thoughts that in a thousandplaces it had no sense at all and, where somehow a
28Bengali Writingsmeaning could be gleaned, the shadow of doubt fell acrossit. Many a time, discouraged by this perplexity, Sayana hasput in the mouths of the Rishis such ungrammatical language,such complicated, jumbled and halting sentences, andattributed to them such disorderly and incoherent thoughtthat upon reading his commentary, instead of calling thislanguage and thought the Aryan language, the Aryan thought,one is tempted to treat them as the ravings of a barbarianor a lunatic. Sayana is not to be blamed. The ancient lexicographerYaska also committed the same blunder, and longbefore him the authors of the Brahmanas, unable to discoverthe plain meaning of the Veda, made an unsuccessfulattempt to interpret the difficult Riks with the help of their“mythopoetic faculty.” The historians, imitating this method,invested the Veda with a numerous pageantry of purelyimaginary events twisting and obscuring its sacred and simplemeaning. An example will illustrate the nature and the amountof distortion that the sense has suffered by this treatment.In the second Sukta of the fifth Mandala there is the mentionabout the compressed or the covered state of Agni andhis vast manifestation after a long time. “KumÀraÌ mÀtÀyuvatiÕ samubdham guhÀ bibharti ne dadÀti pitre...kametaÌ tvaÌ yuvate kumÀram peØÈ bibharØi mahiØÈ jajÀna.PÓrvÈrhi garbhaÕ Ùarado... yadasÓta mÀtÀ.” It means, “Theyoung Mother carries the boy suppressed in the secret cavernand she gives him not to the Father; his force is undiminished,men see him in front established inwardly in themovement. Who is this boy, O young Mother, whom thoucarriest in thyself when thou art compressed into form, butwhen thou art vast thou hast given him birth? Through manyyears grew the child in the womb, I saw him born whenthe Mother brought him forth.” The language of the Vedais everywhere a little dense, compact and pregnant withmeaning; it tries to express a wealth of significance in a few
III. 1. The Secret of the Veda29words yet without ever impairing the simplicity of the meaningand the harmony of the thought. Historians could not understandthis straightforward meaning that when the motheris compressed or contracted, then the boy is also suppressedor covered. They did not notice or seize the harmonybetween the language and the thought of the Rishi.They understood, by the word peØÈ, some fiendish womanwho stole the power of Agni; the word mahiØÈ suggested tothem ‘a queen’ and the words kumÀra samubdha conveyedto them that a young Brahmin was crushed to death underthe wheels of a chariot. Quite a long legend based on thisinterpretation was fabricated, with the result that the meaningof the Riks became unintelligible. Who was the young man?or the Mother? or the fiendish woman? Was it the story ofAgni or of the young Brahmin? Who is speaking to whomand about what? Everything is in confusion. Everywherethere is such a torture. Pointless tyranny of imagination hasdistorted and mutilated the simple yet profound meaning ofthe Veda and at places where the language and the thoughtare a little involved, by the grace of the commentator theincomprehensibility has assumed a frightfully hideous appearance.Let alone this question of individual Riks and metaphors,there was a great deal of controversy in ancient timeseven regarding the veritable significance of the Veda itself.According to Euhemeros of Greece, the Gods of the Greekswere ever-remembered heroes and kings who with the passageof time were transformed into gods and enthroned inheaven by a different kind of superstition and reckless poeticimagination. There was no dearth of followers of Euhemeroseven in ancient India. Here is an example: they said thatin fact the two Ashwins were neither gods nor stars buttwo renowned kings, men of flesh and blood like us, whoprobably attained godhead after their death. According to
30Bengali Writingsothers, everything is a Solar myth, that is to say, the Sun,Moon, Sky, Stars and Rain, etc. — each play of the physicalNature adorned with a poetical name has become a godwith a human form. Vritra is the cloud, Vala also the cloud,and the Dasyus (robbers), the Danavas (demons) and theDaityas (titans) are nothing else but the clouds of the sky;the rain-god Indra, interceptor of sunlight, pierces the miserlyclouds unwilling to give rain, and by sending down therain produces the free flow of the five male and the sevenfemale rivers which fertilise the soil and make the Aryansrich and prosperous. Or else Indra, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga,Varuna, Vishnu are only different appellations of the Sun.Mitra is the god of day, Varuna the god of night, the Ribhuswho by their will-power fashion the horse of Indra and thechariot of the two Ashwins, are, too, only rays of the sun.On the other hand, there existed a great number of orthodoxadherents of the Veda who were ritualists. They said thatgods have a human figure, and at the same time, they arethe all-pervading guardians of the powers of Nature; Agni issimultaneously a god with a body and the fire on the altar ofsacrifice; the earthly fire, the undersea fire and the lightningare the three forms of his manifestation. Saraswati is a riveras well as a goddess, and so on. They firmly believed thatthe gods, pleased by the chants and the hymns of the devotee,granted him heaven after death and bestowed on him inthis life, strength, children, cows, horses, food and clothing,killed his enemy and crushed with lightning the head of hisimpertinent and slandering critic; they were always anxiousto accomplish such auspicious and friendly acts. This ideawas by far the most powerful in ancient India.Yet thoughtful men were not rare who had faith in theintrinsic value of the Veda, in the Rishihood of the Rishi,and who diligently sought after the spiritual significance ofthe Rik-Samhita, who looked for the fundamental truth of
III. 1. The Secret of the Veda31the Upanishads in the Veda. They held the opinion that theboon of light for which the Rishis prayed to God was notthe light of the material sun but the light of the Sun ofKnowledge, the Sun which is mentioned in the mantra of‘Gayatri’, the Sun which Vishwamitra had seen. This lightis tatsavitur-vareÍyam devasya bhargaÕ, that power andlight of the Divine Sun, this god is yo no dhiyaÕ pracodayÀt,he who impels all our thoughts towards the principlesof the Truth. The Rishis feared tamaÕ, darkness, butnot the darkness of night; they feared the dense obscurityof ignorance. Indra is jÈvÀtmÀ, the soul or the life; Vritra isneither cloud nor the demon imagined by the poets but theone who impedes the growth of our manhood by coveringit up with the thick night of ignorance, in whom the gods,at first, remain concealed and lost, then rise delivered bythe bright light of knowledge emanating from the DivineWord. Sayanacharya has given to these Rishis the name of‘atmavids’ or knowers of the Self and he often cites theirexplanation of the Veda.As an example we can quote the explanation of the ‘atmavids’given for the hymn addressed by Gotama Rohuganato the ‘maruts’ the Winds. In this Sukta, Gotama invokesthe Maruts and prays to them for light:yÓyaÌ tatsatyaÙavasa ÀviØkarta mahitvanÀvidhyatÀ vidyutÀ rakØaÕ (1-86-9)gÓhatÀ guhyaÌ tamo vi yÀta viÙvamatriÍamjyotiØkartÀ yaduÙmasi (I-86-10)According to the Ritualists, the light mentioned in thetwo Riks is the light of the physical sun. “The Rakshasa,devourer who has covered up the light of the sun by darkness,O Maruts, destroy that Rakshasa and reveal again thelight of the Sun to our eyes.” According to the ‘atmavids’,a different meaning should be given: “O ye who are mightywith the strength of the Truth, manifest that supreme knowledgeby your greatness; pierce with your lightning the
32Bengali WritingsRakshasa. Conceal the darkness reigning in the cave of theheart, that is to say, let the darkness sink and disappear inthe flood of the Truth-light. Repel every devourer of manhood,create the light for which we long.” 1 Here the Marutsare not the winds who disperse the clouds but the five vitalenergies. TamaÕ is the psychological darkness in the heart,the devourers of manhood are the six adversaries 2 , jyotiÕis the Light of Knowledge, the living form of the Truth.Thus interpreted we find simultaneously in the Veda the spiritualknowledge, the basic idea of the Upanishads, and theRajayogic system of ‘pranayama’.Thus far is the story of the indigenous bungle regardingthe Veda. In the nineteenth century, the WesternPundits girded up their loins and came into the arena producinga more intense foreign imbroglio. Even to this day,only to keep afloat, we are struggling hard against thehuge waves of that flood. The European Pundits haveerected their new and brilliant temple of phantasy on theold foundations laid by the ancient lexicographers andhistorians. They do not much follow the ‘Nirukta’ of Yaska,but explain the Veda with the help of recent lexicons compiledto their liking in Berlin and Petrograd. By giving anovel and bizarre form to the Solar myth of the ancienthistorians of India, by putting new paint on the old colours,they have dazzled the eyes of the educated communityof this country. The Europeans also hold the viewthat the gods mentioned in the Veda are only symbolsrepresenting various activities of physical Nature. TheAryans used to worship the Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets,1Sri Aurobindo's own later English translation reads: “O ye who have theflashing strength of the Truth, manifest that by your might; pierce with your lightningthe Rakshasa. Conceal the concealing darkness, repel every devourer, createthe Light for which we long.”2i.e. lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and jealousy. (Translator's note)
III. 1. The Secret of the Veda33the Dawn, the Night, the Wind and the Storm, Rivers, Streams,Sea, Mountains, Trees and such visible objects. Filled withawe at the sight of their fascinating movement, the barbariansadored these objects in their chants as poetical personalities.Again, seeing in them the conscious play of multipleGods, and wishing to establish friendly relations withthese Powers, they prayed to them for victory in battle,for prosperity, long life, health or children. Terrified by thedarkness of night, they performed rituals and sacrifices forrecovering the Sun. They were even afraid of ghosts andsolicited the gods in a piteous manner to drive them away.The hope and ambition of gaining heaven by offering sacrifices,and similar ideas, were in fact quite befitting thebarbarians of a prehistoric age.There is victory in the battle, but battle with whom?They say it is the war between the Aryan race which livedin the land of the five rivers, and the true Indians, the Dravidians;it is the constant fighting against the neighbouringpeople and the internal strife of the Aryans. The Europeansfollowed the method of the ancient Indian historianswho used to fabricate various historical episodes on theauthority of separate Riks and Suktas, with the differencethat instead of letting their imagination run riot and buildingup such extraordinary stories full of unnatural and strangeincidents as the death of a Brahmin youth crushed under thewheels of the chariot conducted by Jara (son of Jara), RishiVrisha, who is then recalled to life by the power of the mantra,and the theft of the force of Agni by some fiendish woman,they tried to reconstruct the ancient history of India with thehelp of such true or fanciful tales as the battle of the AryanTritsuraj Sudas against ten kings of mixed race, the priesthoodof Vasistha on one side and the priesthood of Vishwamitraon the other, the theft of cattle of the Aryans and theobstruction of the flow of their rivers by the cave-dwelling
34Bengali WritingsDravidians, the despatch of the Aryan envoy or royal ambassadressto the Dravidians in the parable of Sarama (theHound of Heaven) etc.The disorder which these Occidentals have created intheir attempt to coordinate mutually contradictory symbolsof physical Nature with historical metaphors is beyond alldescription. It seems in order to justify it, they say, “Whatcan we do? The mentality of those ancient barbarian poetswas very confused, that is why we have been obliged touse such contrivances; but as far as our explanation is concerned,it is perfect, genuine and faultless.” Anyway the longand short of it is that, in spite of the interpretation offeredby the European scholars, the meaning of the Veda remainsjust as incoherent, confused, incomprehensible and complicatedas it had become at one time by the explanationgiven by the Eastern scholars. Everything has altered andyet remains the same. It is true that hundreds of thunderershailing from the banks of the Thames, the Seine, andthe Neva have poured on our heads the seven celestial riversof new learning, but none of them have been able toremove the obscurity produced by Vritra.We are enveloped in the same darkness as before.
Agni — The Divine EnergyIN this sacrifice the conscious being,the lord of the house, is the worshipper, the nature of thebeing is the consort who shares the dharma of the lord ofthe house. But who is to be the priest? If it is the beingthat performs the work of the priest then there is hardlyany hope of the sacrifice being well conducted because thebeing is led by the ego and bound with the triple cord ofmind, life and body. Under these conditions if the beingbecomes the self-appointed vicar, it is the ego which assumesthe role of the sacrificer, the Ritwik, and even thatof the deity of the sacrifice, and in that case, there is greatdanger of some untoward happening due to the unlawfulperformance of the ritual. At first the being wants liberationfrom its extremely circumscribed condition, and if itwishes to be free from bondage then it has to rely on apower other than its own. Even after the triple cord whichbinds it to the sacrificial post has been loosened, the knowledgeand the power capable of directing the ritual does not appearsuddenly nor can they be perfectly acquired so soon.Divine knowledge and divine power are necessary, and it isby the sacrifice alone that they can come and grow perfectly.Even when the being is liberated, full of divine knowledgeand divine power, it is the Ishwara and not the worshipperwho remains the master, giver of the sanction andenjoyer of the sacrifice. We have to welcome the Divineand install Him on the altar of the sacrifice. Unless theDivine enters the heart of man, manifests and establisheshimself there, it is impossible for a human being to attaindivinity and immortality. It is also true that before theawakening of the godhead, in order to invoke him the Seers
36Bengali Writingsof the Mantra, the Rishis, accept the priesthood on behalfof the sacrificer; Vashishtha and Vishvamitra become vicarsof Sudas, Trasadasyu and the son of Bharat. But it isto invite the Divine to accept the place of the priest andthe summoner on the altar of the sacrifice that mantras arechanted and offerings made. Unless the Divine awakes inthe heart, no one can liberate the being. God is the deliverer:God is the sole priest who can grant the realisation.When the Divine becomes the vicar, he is then knownas Agni, the mystic Fire, and he has the form of fire. Thepriesthood of Agni is the most auspicious beginning and thebest means of performing a successful sacrifice perfect inevery detail. That is why the priesthood of Agni was establishedin the first Rik of the first Sukta of the Rigveda.Who is this Agni? The root ag means power; one whois powerful is Agni. Again the root ag signifies light or burning,the power which is flooded with the burning light of knowledge,the effective force of knowledge; the possessor of that poweris like Agni. The root ag has also the sense of priority andpredominance, the force which is the primordial element ofthe universe, the basic and pre-eminent force among all themanifested universal forces; the possessor of that force isAgni. The root ag also has the meaning ‘nayana’, to lead,to direct; one who is the possessor of the primal, eternal,ancient and sovereign force in the universe and leads it bythe appointed path towards the appointed destination, theyouth who is the general of the army of God, the guide onthe path who by his knowledge and power props variousforces of Nature in their different activities and keeps themon the right path, that puissance is Agni. All these virtuesof Agni have been mentioned and hymned in hundreds ofSuktas of the Veda. The original cause of this universe, hiddenin all its development, the most fundamental of all forcesand paramount among them, stay of all gods, regulator
III. 2. Agni — The Divine Energy37of all dharmas, guardian of the most profound aim andtruth of the universe, this Agni is no one else but theomniscient energising power of the Divine, manifest as force,heat and brilliance. The principle of true Existence in theTruth-Consciousness-Bliss contains in itself the Consciousness.That which is the Consciousness of the Existence isalso the Force of the Existence. The Consciousness-Forceis the sustaining power of the universe, it is the primarycause and creator, the life and the controller of the universe.When the Consciousness hides her face in the bosomof the Being of pure Existence and with her eyes closedcontemplates the form of the pure Existence, the infiniteForce becomes hushed; this is the state of dissolution inthe tranquil ocean of Ananda. Again when the Consciousnesslifts her head, opens her eyes and looks lovingly atthe face and the body of the Being of pure Existence,meditates on his infinite names and forms, and dwells onthe ravishing Lila created by feigned separation and union,the numberless currents of that Ananda give rise toinfinite waves of violent pain and universal delight. Thisvariegated concentration, this trance one-pointed yet multitudinousof the Consciousness-Force, is known as theenergising Power. When the Being of pure Existence witha view to create some name and form manifests a certaintruth or obtains a particular result, assembles and moveshis Consciousness-Force and establishes her on his ownstate, then Tapas, the energising Force is applied.We find that the Consciousness-Force has two aspects:Consciousness and Energy, the All-Knowledge and the All-Power; but in reality the two are one. The Knowledge ofthe Divine is omnipotent and His Power is omniscient. WhenHe conceives light, the birth of light is inevitable becauseHis Knowledge is only the conscious form of His Power.Again in all vibrations of matter, for example, in the dance
38Bengali Writingsof an atom or a flash of lightning His Knowledge is involvedbecause His Power is only the dynamism of His Knowledge.Because of our dividing intellect in the Ignorance andthe dividing movement of the lower Nature, Knowledge andPower have become separated, unequal, as if fond of quarrellingwith each other, exhausted and diminished by discord;or else this simulacrum of dispute is enacted only forthe sake of the play. In fact, the All-Knowledge and theAll-Power of the Divine are hidden in the minutest act orimpulse in the universe; no one has the power to effectuatethis act or impulse without the help of that Knowledgeand Power or with anything less than them. This All-Knowledgeor All-Power works in the same manner in the chantingof the Vedic hymns by the Rishis, in the inaugurationof a new cycle by a mighty figure, as in the ravings of anidiot or the agony of a tiny worm which is being assailed.When you and I waste power for want of knowledge, orfrom a lack of power unsuccessfully apply knowledge, thenbecause the Omniscient and Omnipotent sitting behind theveil rectifies and directs the application of force by HisKnowledge and the enjoyment of Knowledge by His Power,that something can still be achieved in this world by sucha puny effort. The appointed work is accomplished and thejust result obtained. Though it foils the ignorant design andexpectation of you and me, by our very failure His secretintention is carried out and that failure brings us a blessingin disguise and produces a little, partial, yet indispensablegood in the smallest detail of a noble universal purpose.The evil, the ignorance and the failure are only masks.He realises the good by the evil, the knowledge by theignorance, the success by the failure and the unforeseenaction by the force which remains concealed. The Presenceof Agni in the form of Tapas, Energy, makes suchan action possible. This inevitable good, indivisible Knowledgeand infallible Power reveal the Agni-aspect of
III. 2. Agni — The Divine Energy39the Divine. As the Consciousness and the Force of the Purushaof pure Existence are one, both of them being vibrationsof Ananda, so the Knowledge and the Power of Agni,who is the representative of the Divine, are inseparable andboth of them are beneficial and auspicious.The external appearance of the world is different; therefalsehood, ignorance, evil and failure are predominant. However,behind the mask which frightens the child, the Mother'sface is hidden. Inconscience, inertia and suffering areonly sorcery. That is why in the Veda our normal consciousnessis called night. Even the highest development of ourintellect is only a moon-lit and star-bedecked play of the divinenight. But within the bosom of this night hides her sisterUsha carrying the infinity-born light of future Divine Knowledge.Even in the night of earth-consciousness, the forceof Agni blazes again and again and with the glow of Usharadiates the light. It is the force of Agni which prepares thehour of the birth of Truth-conscious Usha in this blind world.The Supreme has sent the force of Agni into this world andestablished it there; remaining concealed in the heart of objectsand living beings, Agni regulates all the movements ofthe universe. In the midst of momentary falsehood, this Agniis the keeper of the eternal Truth; in the inconscient andthe inert, Agni is the secret consciousness of the inconscient,the formidable dynamic force of matter. Shrouded in ignorance,Agni is the covert knowledge of the Divine; inthe ugliness of sin, Agni is the pristine immaculate purityof the Divine; in the gloomy fog of misery and suffering,Agni is His burning delight of universal enjoyment; cladin soiled rags of weakness and torpor, Agni is his all-bearing,all-accomplishing efficient power of action. If we canonce pierce this dark envelope, uncover and kindle thisAgni in our hearts, release and direct him upwards, he willbring down Divine Usha into the human consciousness,
40Bengali Writingsawaken the inner gods, remove the black sheath of falsehood,ignorance, sorrow and failure and make us immortaland divine in nature. Agni is the first and the supreme livingform of the Divine within us. Let us kindle him on thealtar of the heart, welcome him as the priest of the sacrificeand in his burning flame of power and knowledge, inhis golden and revealing blaze of knowledge, into his allconsumingand purifying blaze of power, offer all our trivialpleasure and pain, all our limited and petty effort andfailure, all falsehood and death. Let the old and the untruebe reduced to ashes; then from the heaven-kissing force ofAgni will rise as living Savitri the new and the true.Do not forget that everything is in our heart; Agni iswithin man; the altar, the offering and the offerer are withinand within also the seer, the Word and the deity; theVedic chant to the Brahman, the anti-divine demons andtitans are within; Vritra and the destroyer of Vritra are alsowithin; the battle between the gods and the titans takes placewithin; Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Angira, Atri, Bhrigu, Atharva,Sudas, Trasadasyu — these five types of the Aryan seekersof the Brahman and the Dasyus — are also within. Theself of man and the universe are one. The near and the far,the ten cardinal points, the two oceans, the seven rivers andthe seven worlds are also within him. Our earthly existenceis manifested between these two secret oceans. The lowerocean is the concealed infinite consciousness from which, dayand night, at each moment, surge up all these emotions andimpulses, names and forms, just as the stars and galaxies shineout on the bosom of the goddess Night. In modern language,this is called the Inconscient or the Subconscient, apraketamsalilam of the Veda, the subconscient ocean. Though itis subconscient, it is not devoid of consciousness; the transcendentuniversal is in it, capable of all knowledge, proficientin all action, it diffuses itself in a trance as it were
III. 2. Agni — The Divine Energy41and creates the universe and its movements. Above pervadesthe secret free infinite consciousness called the Superconscientof which this ‘consciousness-unconsciousness’is the shadow. There in that world the Existence-Consciousness-Blissis fully manifested — in sat-loka, the world oftrue Existence, as infinite Existence; in tapoloka, the worldof energy of self-conscience, as infinite Consciousness; injanaloka, the world of creative Delight, as infinite Felicity;and in maharloka, the world of large consciousness, as thevast Truth of the cosmic Self. The intermediate terrestrialconsciousness is the Earth mentioned in the Veda. From thisearth rises to the skies the climbing mountain of which eachplateau is a step in the ascent, one of the seven inner kingdoms.The gods are helpers in our ascent, the titans areenemies who obstruct the path. This mountain climbing isthe sacrificial march of the Vedic seeker of the Truth; withthe sacrifice, we have to rise to the ocean of light in thesupreme ether. Agni is the instrument of this ascent, theleader of the path, the fighter in the battle and the priest ofthis sacrifice. The Vedic Seer-Poets have established thespiritual knowledge on this fundamental image in the samemanner as the Vaishnavas who use the symbol of the enamouredcowherd boys and girls of Vrindavan in their songson Radha and Krishna. If we remember the significance ofthis image, the understanding of the truth in the Vedas willthen become easy.
The RigvedaA NEW view of the Rigveda isbeing published in the ‘Arya’ under the caption of ‘The Secretof the Veda’. The translations here have been done accordingto that view which maintains that the real meaning of theVeda is spiritual and, being extremely profound and secret,is wrapped in symbolic words, various images, and expressionsused in the performance of sacrifice. Though impenetrableto the ordinary person, this covering was, to the initiatein the Veda, only a transparent object which revealed allthe limbs of the Truth. We have to look for the spiritualsignificance behind the images. If we can discover the ‘secretname’ of the gods and their respective functions, thesense of the code words, 'go, aÙva, somarasa etc., the worksof the daityas the demons, and their inner meaning, theimport of the Vedic metaphors and legends, then the significanceof the Veda will become more or less clear. Of course,the true and subtle comprehension of its meaning comesonly by a special knowledge and as the result of sadhana,and not by mere study of the Veda without any sadhana.I wish to present these Vedic truths to the Bengali readers.For the present I shall talk only about the subject matter ofthe Veda. It is the eternal theme. The world exists in theBrahman but the truth of the Brahman cannot be seized bythe intellect. The Rishi Agastya speaks of It as tat adbhutam,above all, beyond all time. Has any one ever known It, nowor in the past? It vibrates in the consciousness of every one,yet, the moment the intellect tries to examine It from near,That disappears. The image of the Kena Upanishad has alsothe same significance: Indra rushes towards the Brahmanbut when he is quite close, the Brahman vanishes. Yet That is
III. 3. The Rigveda43knowable, as a divine Being.The Divine is also adbhuta, mysterious, but he manifestshimself in three fundamentals, that is to say, God ispure Existence, Consciousness-Force and Bliss. It is possibleto realise God in the principle of Bliss. Under variousdifferent names and forms, God pervades and upholds theuniverse. These names and forms are the Vedic gods.The Veda speaks about two seas, one above and theother below the manifested world; below, it is the apraketahÐdya or hÐtsamudra, the concealed sea which is knownin English as the Subconscient and, above, it is the sea ofpure Existence which is called in English the Superconscient.These two are known as caves or hidden truths. Brahmanaspatibrings out the manifestation from the Subconscientby the World. Rudra enters the life-principle and illuminesit with his mighty power, pulls it upward by Force and drivesit violently along the path towards its destination; Vishnuby his pervading power upholds the constantly flowing seaof pure Existence or the seven rivers of life and guides themtowards the goal. All the other gods are co-workers in themovement, helpers and agents.Surya, the Sun, is the god of the Truth-Light, he is‘Savita’ when he creates or manifests, ‘Pushan’ when henourishes, ‘Surya’ when he destroys the night of falsehoodand gives birth to the light of truth and knowledge. Agni isthe tapas, the energising power of the Consciousness-Force;he builds the universe and dwells in all its objects: He isfire in the material principle; desire and impulses to enjoyin the life-principle, he devours everything he gets; in themind-principle, he is the mental inspiration and the will-power;in the principle beyond mind, he is the lord of the consciousforce of action.
44Bengali WritingsMandala 1, Sukta 1. The Text and Its Explanation1-1-1agnimÈËe purohitaÌ yajÜasya devamÐtvijamhotÀraÌ ratnadhÀtamam“I adore the flame who is in the vicar, the divine Ritwik of theSacrifice, the summoner who founds the ecstasy.”iÄe — bhajÀmi, prÀrthaye, kÀmaye: I adore.purohitaÌ — one who sits in front of the sacrifice; representativeof the sacrificer and performer of the sacrifice.Ðtvijam — one who performs the sacrifice according to thetime, the place and the occasion.hotÀraÌ — one who by invoking the gods accomplishes the sacrifice.ratnadhÀ — Sayana gives the meaning of ‘beautiful riches’ tothe word ‘ratna’; it would be more correct to say ‘delightfulwealth.’dhÀ — one who bears, directs or firmly establishes.1-1-2agniÕ pÓrvebhirÐØibhirÈÄyo nÓtanairutasa devÀÌ eha vakÙati“The Flame adorable by the ancient sages is adorable too bythe new. He brings here the Gods.”The word sa gives the hint why they are adorable.eha vakÙati — iha Àvahati: Agni brings the Gods in his own chariot.1-1-3agninÀ rayimaÙnavat poØameva divediveyaÙasaÌ vÈravattamam“By the flame one enjoys a treasure that verily increases dayby day, most full of hero-power.”rayim — ayiÕ, rÀyaÕ etc. have the same meaning as the word‘ratna’. But in the word ratna the sense of delight is moreprominent.aÙnavat — aÙnuyÀt, obtains or enjoys.poØam etc. are adjectives of rayiÕ; poØam means that whichgrows, increases.yaÙasam — Sayana translates it sometimes as ‘fame’ and sometimesas ‘food’. Probably its real meaning is success,
III. 3. The Rigveda45attainment of goal, etc. The meaning ‘radiance’ is alsoquite just but it does not apply here.1-1-4agne yaÌ yajÜamadhvaraÌ viÙvataÕ paribhÓrasisa id deveØu gacchati“O Flame! the pilgrim sacrifice on every side of which thouart with the envisioning being, that truly goes among theGods.”adhvaram — the root ‘dhvÐ’ means to kill. Sayana translatesit as ahiÌsita yajÜa, a sacrifice with no killings.But the word adhvara itself has come to denotesacrifice; such a development is impossible for theword. The word adhvan means the path, so adhvaramust signify the voyager or one having the form ofthe path. The sacrifice was the path that led to the abodeof the gods; at the same time, the sacrifice was wellknowneverywhere as the pilgrim in the abode of thegods. This meaning is right. The word adhvara likethe word adhvan derives from the root adÕ; as proof,we find that both the words adhva and adhvara wereused in the sense of sky.paribhÓh-parito jÀtaÕdeveØu — the locative case indicates the destination.it-eva, truly.The Spiritual Significance.The Universal SacrificeThe universal life is like an immense sacrifice.God himself is the lord of the sacrifice. God is Shiva,and Nature is Uma. Though she carries the image of Shivain her heart, still she misses his visible form; she yearnsfor his tangible body. This yearning is the deep significanceof the universal life.But by what means can her intention be fulfilled? Bywhich appointed path can Nature attain the Supreme? How
46Bengali Writingscan she recover her own true form and that of the Supreme?Her eyes are tied with the bandage of ignorance and herfeet are bound with a thousand chains of matter; as if thephysical Nature has imprisoned the infinite existence withinthe finite and herself become the prisoner, no longer ableto find the lost key of the self-made prison; as if the inertvibrations of the life-energy in matter have overpoweredthe free and unlimited Consciousness-Force and made herdumb, self-oblivious and unconscious; as if the infinite Blisswandering about in the disguise of an inferior consciousnesssubject to trivial happiness and sorrow, has forgottenits real nature and unable to remember sinks lower and lowerin the bottomless mire of suffering; as if the truth has beendrowned under the uncertain waves of falsehood. The supramentalprinciple beyond intellect is the foundation of theinfinite Truth. The action of the Supermind is either forbiddenin the earth-consciousness or very rare like the momentaryglimmer of the lightning from behind the veil. Thetimid, lame and dull mind is again and again looking for itand by its titanic efforts may even catch a glimpse of it butthe authentic, infinite and luminous form of the integral Truthescapes its grasp. The knowledge as well as the action ofmind are afflicted with the same strife, indigence and failure.Instead of the smiling and effortless divine dance of the Truthaction,there is the shackled attempt of the will-power of theinferior Nature struggling in agony with the inextricable bondsof truth and falsehood, virtue and vice, poison and nectar,action, inaction and wrong action. The free, unhesitating,desireless, triumphant, blissful and passionate divine powerof action, intoxicated with the wine of oneness remains asyet unrealised. Its natural and easy universal movementsare impossible for the will-power of the inferior Nature. Canthe terrestrial Nature, ensnared in the noose of the finiteand untrue ever hope to obtain that limitless Existence, that
III. 3. The Rigveda47boundless Consciousness-Force, and that immeasurable Bliss-Consciousness, and if so, by what means?The sacrifice is the means. The sacrifice implies surrender,and self-immolation. What you are, what you have,what you become in future by your own effort or by thedivine grace, what you can earn or save in the course ofyour action, pour all like clarified butter, into the fire ofdivine energy, as offering to the all-Blissful. By giving atiny whole you will receive the infinite whole. The Yoga isimplicit in the sacrifice. The infinity, the immortality and thedivine felicity are legitimate results of the practice of yoga.To follow this path is the means of Nature's salvation.The Universal Nature knows the secret. So with this immensehope, night and day, year in and year out, age afterage, sleepless and restless, she performs the sacrifice. All heractions, all her endeavours are part of this cosmic ritual. Sheimmolates everything she produces. She knows that the divinePlayer who is present in all, tastes the delight withoutreserve and accepts all effort and askesis as sacrifice. He isthe one who is ever slowly leading the cosmic sacrifice onthe ordained path towards the ordained goals by detours andzigzags, through rise and fall, across knowledge, ignoranceand death. His assurance has made her fearless, unwaveringand indiscriminate. Moved by the unceasing and ubiquitousdivine impulsion, she consciously throws all that she can layhands on, creation and killing, production and destruction,knowledge and ignorance, happiness and suffering, the ripeand the unripe, the beautiful and the ugly, the pure and theimpure, into that huge eternal conflagration of sacrifice. Thesubtle arid material objects constitute the clarified butter usedin the sacrifice, the Jiva, the being, is the bound animal. TheNature is constantly immolating the Jiva, fastened to the slayingpostwith the triple bond of mind, life and body. Thebond of mind is ignorance; the bond of life is suffering,
48Bengali Writingsdesire and conflict; the bond of body is death.Nature is shown the path of her salvation; by what meanscan the Jiva in fetters be delivered? By means of sacrifice,self-surrender and self-immolation. Instead of being underthe domination of Nature and being offered by her, the Jivahas to rise, become the sacrificer and offer all that it possesses.This indeed is the profound secret of the universethat the Purusha is not only the god of the sacrifice but theobject sacrificed as well. The Purusha has surrendered intothe hands of Prakriti his own mind, life and body as offering,as principal means of performing the sacrifice. Thereis this hidden motive behind his self-surrender that one day,becoming conscious, he will take the Prakriti by the hand,make her his consort and companion in the sacrifice andhimself perform the ritual. Man has been created to fulfilthis secret longing of the Purusha who wants to play theLila in a human body. Selfhood, immortality, the multipleinfinite bliss, unlimited knowledge, boundless force andimmeasurable love must be enjoyed in a human body, in ahuman consciousness. All these forms of delight exist withinthe Purusha himself and as the Eternal he enjoys themeternally. But creating man, he is actively engaged in relishingthe opposite taste of oneness in the multiplicity, theinfinite in the finite, the inward in the outward, the suprasensiblein the senses and the immortal existence in the terrestriallife. Seated at the same time above our mind, beyondour intellect in the hidden Supramental principle of theTruth and in the secret plane of consciousness behind theheart within us, in the cavern of the heart, in the concealedocean of submerged consciousness where heart, mind, life,body and intellect are only little ripples, the Purusha experiencesthe delightful taste of the blind effort and search ofthe Prakriti and her endeavour to establish unity by the shockof duality. Above, he enjoys in knowledge; below, he enjoysin ignorance; he carries on these two actions simultaneously.
III. 3. The Rigveda49But if he is for ever immersed in this condition, then the deep intention, hissupreme purpose cannot be fulfilled. That is why the day of awakening isfixed for each human being. The inner godhead will one day give up thismechanical, merit-less, lower self-immolation and begin in knowledge, bychanting his own mantra, the performance of the sacrifice. To perform thesacrifice consciously and with the right mantra is the ‘Karma’, the work,mentioned in the Veda. It has a double objective; a completeness in theuniversal plurality, what is known in the Veda as the universal godhead andthe universal manhood, and the realisation of immortality in the one selfbeingof the supreme Divine. The gods mentioned in the Veda under thenames Indra, Agni, Varuna are not the inferior small godheads of later daysdisdained by the common people; they are different forms of the Divine,powerful and luminous. And this immortality is not the puerile heaven describedin the Puranas, but the svar, the world of Divine Truth desired bythe Vedic Rishis, the establishment of the Infinite Existence; the immortalitymentioned in the Veda is the infinite Being and Consciousness of theExistence-Consciousness-Bliss.Mandala 1, Sukta 171-17-1 indrÀvaruÍayorahaÌ samrÀjorava À vÐÍetÀ no mÐËÀta ÈdÐÙeO Indra, O Varuna, you indeed are emperors; we welcome you as ourprotectors; you two, rise in us in that state.1-17-2 gantÀrÀ hi stho'vase havaÌ viprasya mÀvataÕdhartÀrÀcarØaÍÈnÀmBecause you come to protect the sacrifice of the wise who can upholdthe power, you indeed are supporters of all action.1-17-3 anukÀmaÌ tarpayethÀmindrÀvaruÍa rÀya ÀtÀ vÀÌ nediØÒhamÈmaheEnjoy, as you desire, the abundance of delight in the instrument. OIndra, O Varuna, we want to live very close to you.1-17-4 yuvÀku hi ÙacÈnÀÌ yuvÀku sumatÈnÀmbhÓyÀma vÀjadÀvnÀmMay we remain established under the strong domination of the powersand the helpful thoughts which increase our inner wealth.
50Bengali Writings1-17-5 indraÕ sahasradÀvnÀÌ varuÍaÕ ÙaÌsyÀnÀmkraturbhavatyukthyaÕO Indra, become the desired lord of all that brings power; and you,Varuna, of all that is vast and great.1-17-6 tayoridavasÀ vayaÌ sanema ni ca dhÈmahisyÀduta prarecanamUnder the protection of you two, may we live happily and peacefullyand become capable of deep meditation. May our purification be complete.1-17-7 indrÀvaruÍa vÀmahaÌ huve citrÀya rÀdhaseasmÀn su jigyuØas kÐtamO Indra, O Varuna, we perform sacrifice with the hope to obtain manyhuedfelicity from you. Make us always victorious.1-17-8 indrÀvaruÍa nÓ nu vÀÌ siØÀsantÈØu dhÈØvÀasmabhyaÌ Ùarma yacchatamO Indra, O Varuna, may all the faculties of the intellect submit toyou; by establishing yourselves in these faculties, give us peace.1-17-9 pra vÀmaÙnotu suØÒutirindrÀvaruÍa yÀÌ huveyÀÌ ÐdhÀthe sadhastutimO Indra, O Varuna, may you enjoy the beautiful hymn which we offeryou as sacrifice; you indeed nourish and fulfil these words of prayer.CommentaryWhenever the ancient Rishis prayed for the help of the gods in thespiritual battle against the formidable attack of the inner enemies, forthe establishment of fulness, the durable and compact state of force inthe mind as they became aware of their own incompleteness after goinga little way on the path of sadhana, or else when they invoked the godsto found, increase and protect the plenitude of inner illumination anddelight, we find that, to express their feelings, they often addressed thegods in pairs, in the same hymn and in identical words. The two Ashwins,Indra and Vayu, Mitra and Varuna are typical examples of this combination.In this hymn by combining, not Indra and Vayu, or Mitra andVaruna, but Indra and Varuna, Medhatithi of the line of Kanva is prayingfor delight, high accomplishment and peace. His mood is now lofty,vast and tranquil. He wants a free and elevated action. He wants a mighty,fiery spirit but a might which will be founded on a pure, deep and
III. 3. The Rigveda51permanent knowledge, and an ardour which shall fly in thesky of action, borne by the two immense wings of peace;even while floating on the infinite ocean of Ananda and beingtossed about in the colourful waves of delight, he wantsthe experience of that tranquillity, greatness and stability.He is unwilling to dive and lose his consciousness in thatocean, unwilling to sink and rise alternately, buffeted by itswaves. Indra and Varuna are worthy gods who can help torealise this sublime aspiration. Indra is the king and Varunais the emperor. The mental ardour and energy from whichproceed all the functions of mind, its existence and effectivenessare given by Indra who also protects them fromthe attacks of the Vritras, the demons. All the noble andgenerous moods of mind and character, for want of which,arrogance, narrowness, weakness or indolence inevitably resultin thought and action, are established and guarded by Varuna.That is why right in the beginning of this Sukta, RishiMedhatithi welcomes their help and friendship; indrÀ-varuÍayorahamavaÀvÐÍe, “O Indra, O Varuna, we welcomeyou as our protectors”, as our samrÀjoÕ, emperors, becausethey indeed are emperors. So ÈdÐÙe, in this condition or onthis occasion (the state of mind which I have just described),he invoked the delight of the gods for others and for himself,— tÀ no mÐÄÀta ÈdÐÙe.When all the faculties and efforts of body, life, mindand the supramental part are poised in equality and self-containedin their respective places; when no one has dominationover the being, and there is no revolt or anarchy; wheneach one accepts the sovereignty of its respective godheadof the Higher Nature and is accustomed to execute its specialwork with joy at the time and in the measure fixed bythe Divine; when the Being is Lord of its own dominion,real emperor over the inner kingdom of its instrument;when there is deep peace along with a mighty luminous and
52Bengali Writingsboundless power of action, when all its faculties listen toits order and accomplish the work perfectly with mutualcooperation for the joy of the being, or when it tastes fathomlesspeace and ineffable delight by plunging into a deep,shadowless inaction at will: such a state of being was calledby the Vedantists of the earliest times the kingdom (dominionover self) or the empire (dominion over others). Indraand Varuna particularly are masters of this state; they areemperors. Indra when he becomes emperor sets in motionall the faculties, and Varuna when he becomes emperor governsthe faculties and exalts them.But all are not qualified to receive the help of thesetwo sublime immortals. Only when one has knowledge andis established in tranquillity, can he claim their help. Onehas to be vipra, a mÀvÀn. The word vipra does not meana brahmin; the root vi signifies to manifest, to illumine andthe root vip means the play or vibration or full flooding ofmanifestation, illumination; one in whose mind the knowledgehas dawned, the door of whose mind is open for themighty play of knowledge, he is verily the vipra. The rootmÀ signifies ‘to hold’. The mother holds the child in herwomb, that is why she is known as mÀtÀ. The founder andlife of all action, the god Vayu, is known as Matarisvan,“he who extends himself in the Mother or the container,the sky” — the sky which holds in its womb the birth, theplay and the death of all creatures and beings and yet remainsfor ever serene and unperturbed. One who is patientlike the sky that has the power to contain and endure thewild play and remain silently plunged in its happiness evenwhen the violent cyclone cleaves the horizon with lightningsand roaring madly smites down trees, animals and houses ina furious and destructive dance of divine rapture, one whocan turn his own body into an open space for the play ofunbearable physical and vital pain and yet remain impassive,
III. 3. The Rigveda53full of self-delight, capable of withstanding it like a witness, he, indeed, isa mÀvÀn. When such a mÀvÀn is vipra, (illumined), when such a sereneknower offers his body as the altar of sacrifice and calls on the gods, thenIndra and Varuna move freely in it, sometimes they come even of their ownaccord, protect the oblation, become the support and foundation, dhartÀrÀcarØaÍÈnÀm (‘You are indeed the upholders of all action’), of all his desiredactions and bestow upon him great felicity, power and illumination of knowledge.Mandala 1, Sukta 751-75-1 juØasva saprathastamaÌ vaco devapsarastamamhavyÀ juhvÀna ÀsaniO Flame, what I am expressing is very wide and vast, an object of enjoymentfor the gods; devour it with love; take all these offerings in thy mouth.1-75-2 athÀ te aÛgirastamÀgne vedhastama priyamvocema brahma sÀnasiO Divine Energy! thou are the most powerful of all the powers andthe highest divinity, may the sacred hymn of my heart which I am utteringbecome thy favourite, and thou the triumphant enjoyer of what I desire.1-75-3 kaste jÀmirjanÀnÀmagne ko dÀÙvadhvaraÕko ha kasminnasi ÙritaÕO Divine Energy! O Flame! who is thy comrade, who is thy brotherin the world? Who is able to extend that friendship which leads to theDivine? Who art Thou? In whose heart has Agni found shelter?1-75-4 tvaÌ jÀmirjanÀnÀmagne mitro asi priyaÕsakhÀ sakhibhya ÈÄyaÕO Agni, thou indeed art brother of all living beings, beloved friend ofthe world; thou indeed art the comrade, thou art desired by thy comrades.1-75-5 yajÀ no mitrÀvaruÍÀ yajÀ devÀÌ ÐtaÌ bÐhatagne yakØisvaÌ damamSacrifice for us to Mitra and Varuna, sacrifice to the gods, to the vast Truth;O Agni, that Truth is thy own home. Establish the sacrifice in that goal.Mandala 3, Sukta 463-46-1 yudhmasya te vÐØabhasya svarÀja ugrasya yÓna sthavirasya ghÐØveÕajÓryato vajriÍo vÈryÀÍÈndra Ùrutasya mahato mahÀniVery noble are the heroic deeds of mighty Indra, the thunderer, thebearer of the Word, warrior and powerful emperor, the ever young god
54Bengali Writingsresplendent, imperishable and possessor of tranquil strength.3-46-2 mahÀÌ asi mahiØa vÐØÍyebhirdhanaspÐdugra sahamÀno anyÀneko viÙvasya bhuvanasya rÀjÀ sa yodhayÀ ca kØayayÀ ca janÀnO Great, O Puissant, thou art great; by the action of thy expansivepower forcefully wrest from others the wealth we desire. Thou art one,king of all that is visible in the whole universe; inspire man in the battle;establish him in the abode of peace, worthy of conquest.3-46-3 pra mÀtrÀbhÈ ririce rocamÀnaÕ pra devebhirviÙvato apratÈtaÕpra majmanÀ diva indraÕ pÐthivyÀÕ prorormaho antarikØÀd ÐjÈØÈIndra manifesting himself as radiance crosses all measures of the universesurpassing even the gods in every way and infinitely he becomes inaccessibleto them. This power that drives straight, by his strength in themental world, surpasses the wide material universe and the great vitalworld.3-46-4 uruÌ gabhÈraÌ januØÀbhyugraÌ viÙvavyacasamavataÌ matÈnÀmindraÌ somÀsaÕ pradivi sutÀsaÕ samudraÌ na sravata À viÙantiInto this wide and deep, violent and powerful from his very birth,all-manifesting ocean-like Indra, the ordainer of all thoughts, enter theintoxicating universal currents of delight like fast-flowing rivers issuingfrom the mouth of the mental world.3-46-5 yaÌ somamindra pÐthivÈdyÀvÀ garbhaÌ na mÀtÀ bibhÐtastvÀyÀtaÌ te hinvanti tamu te mÐjantyadhvaryavo vÐØabha pÀtavÀ uO puissant Indra, for the satisfaction of thy desire, the mental worldand the material universe hold this wine of felicity as a mother holds theunborn child. The priest who accomplishes the sacrifice is for thy sakeonly, O Bull; he drives the flow of delight so that thou mayst drink it; herefines that delight for thy sake only.Mandala 9, Sukta 19-1-1svÀdiØÒhayÀ madiØÒhayÀ pavasva soma dhÀrayÀindrÀya pÀtave sutaÕO Soma, flow in most delicious, most intoxicating and pure currents;thou hast been distilled so that Indra may drink thee.
IV. THE UPANISHADS
The UpanishadsOUR dharma is like a giant treeadorned with innumerable branches and twigs. Its roots plungedown into the deepest knowledge; its branches spread outfar into the field of action. Like the Ashwattha tree mentionedin the Gita, which has its roots above and its branchesbelow, this dharma is based on knowledge and exhorts oneto action. Freedom from attachment is the foundation ofthis vast tree-mansion, dynamism is its walls and roof, andliberation its tower and summit. The whole life of humanityis sheltered by this immense tree-mansion of the Hindudharma.Every one says that the Veda is the basis of the Hindudharma, but very few know the real form and the fundamentaltruth of that basis. Often, seated among the topmostbranches, we remain lost in ecstasy over the taste ofone or more of the savoury and transient fruits, never caringto find out anything about the roots. True, we have heardthat the Veda is divided into two sections: the one part dealingwith action and the other dealing with knowledge. We mayhave read the commentaries on the Rigveda by Max Mulleror its Bengali translation by Romesh Dutt but we haveno acquaintance with the Rigveda itself. We have receivedthe knowledge from Max Muller and Romesh Dutt that theRishis of the Rigveda worshipped external objects and beings;the incantations and hymns to the Sun, the Moon, theWinds and the Fire constituted the ancient Hindu dharma'seternal fundamental knowledge above the human. By assumingtheir view to be true and thus belittling the Veda, the Rishisand the Hindu dharma, we consider ourselves highly learnedand ‘enlightened’. We make no effort to find out what is
58Bengali Writingstruly there in the authentic Veda or why the sages and greatsouls like Shankaracharya and others revered these eternalinvocations and hymns as the complete and infallible Knowledge.Few people are acquainted with even the Upanishads.When we speak of the Upanishads, we are reminded ofthe Monism of Shankaracharya, the Qualified Dualism ofRamanuja, the Dualism of Madhwa and similar philosophicalexpositions. We do not even dream of studying the Upanishadsin the original, or finding out their true significance,or asking ourselves how six schools of contradictory philosophiescould have grown from the same root, or whetherany hidden meaning surpassing those six philosophies couldbe obtained from this treasure-house of knowledge. For athousand years we have accepted the meaning given byShankara; the commentary of Shankara has become our Veda,our Upanishad. Why should we take the trouble of studyingthe Upanishads in the original? Even when we do so, ifever we come across any commentary which contradictsShankara, we immediately reject it as false. Yet not onlythe knowledge gained by Shankara but the spiritual knowledgeor truth which has been acquired in the past or willbe in the present and the future has been concealed in theseprofound and significant Ùlokas by the Aryan Rishis andthe great Yogis.What are the Upanishads? They are the treasure-houseof the deepest eternal Knowledge without beginning or endwhich is the root and foundation of the eternal dharma. Wefind the same knowledge in the Suktas of the four Vedas butcovered over with metaphors which give an exoteric meaningto the hymns like that of the descriptive image of theideal man. The Upanishads unveil for us the supreme Knowledge,the naked limbs of the real man. The poets of the Rigveda,the Rishis, expressed spiritual knowledge in divinely inspired
IV. 1. The Upanishads59words and rhythms; the Rishis of the Upanishads had directvision of the true form of that Knowledge and expressedit in a few profound words. Not only Monism, but all thephilosophical thoughts and doctrines that have come intobeing in Europe and Asia — Rationalism, Realism, Nihilism,the Darwinian theory of evolution, the Positivism ofComte, the philosophy of Hegel, Kant, Spinoza and Schopenhauer,Utilitarianism, Hedonism, all were seen and expressedby the Rishis endowed with the direct vision. Butwhat has been elsewhere partially glimpsed, proclaimed asthe integral truth — in spite of its being only a fragment ofthe Truth — and given a distorted description with a mixtureof truth and falsehood, has been recorded in its fullnessand right perspective, in a pure and unmistakable manner.Therefore we should endeavour to find the true deepmeaning of the Upanishads without being bound by theexposition of Shankara or anyone else.The word ‘Upanishad’ means to enter into a secret place.The Rishis did not obtain the knowledge mentioned in theUpanishads by force of argument, extensive learning or fromthe flow of inspiration, but earned by Yoga the right of entryinto the secrecy of the mind where hangs the key tothe integral Knowledge, penetrated into the hidden chamber,took down the key and became sovereigns of vast realmsof that infallible Knowledge. Unless the key can be secured,it is not possible to have access to the true significance ofthe Upanishads. Any attempt to discover the meaning ofthe Upanishads by argument alone is equivalent to investigatinga dense forest with a lighted candle from high treetops.Direct vision is the sun-light which illumines the entireforest making it visible to the seeker. Direct vision canbe attained only by Yoga.
The Integral Yoga in the UpanishadsTHE Integral Yoga, the divine lifefounded on the Self, in a human body, and the integral Lilaconducted by the Divine Power, these we preach to be thesupreme goal of our human birth; the fundamental basis ofthis conclusion does not rest upon a mentally constructednew thought, nor does it derive its authority from the lettersof any ancient manuscript, the proof of any writtenscripture or the formula of any philosophy. It is based upona spiritual knowledge more integral; it is based upon theburning experience of the Divine Reality in the soul, life,mind, heart and body. This knowledge is not a new discoverybut old and indeed eternal. This experience is theexperience of the ancient Vedic Rishis, of the supreme Truth-Seers of the Upanishads. It is the experience of those Truth-Hearing Poets. It sounds new in the low-aspiring, fruitlesslybusy and despondent life of a fallen India of the Kali-yuga.Where most people are content to lead a semi-human existence,and so few ever make an effort to develop even theirfull manhood, there cannot be any question about the newgodhood. But it was with this ideal that our strong Aryanforefathers shaped the first life of the nation. At the rapturousdawn of the Sun-knowledge, the fervent call of the Vedicchants sung by the bird of felicity, self-lost with Soma winein its voice, rose to the feet of the Universal Being. Thehigh aspiration of enshrining the glorious image of the immortalUniversal being in the soul of man, in the life ofman, by shaping an all-round divinity, was the primary mantraof the Indian civilization. Gradual enfeeblement, deformationand forgetting of that mantra are the causes of the declineand the misfortune of this country and the nation. To
IV. 2. The Integral Yoga in the Upanishads61utter that mantra again, to strive for that realisation again,are the only perfect path, the only irreproachable meansfor their revival and progress because this mantra is the eternaltruth where both the individual and the collectivity find theirfulfilment. This is the profound significance of the effortof man, the building up of nations, the birth and the gradualdevelopment of civilisation. All other aims whose pursuittires our mind and life are minor and partial aims, aids tothe true intention of the gods. All other fragmentary realisationswhich gratify us are no more than rest-houses onthe way, fixing of victory flags on the peaks along the path.The true aim, the true realisation is the unfolding of theBrahman, its self-manifestation, the visible diffusion of thePower of the Divine, the Lila of His Knowledge and Ananda,not in a few great souls, but in everybody in the nationand the entire humanity.We see the first form and stage of this knowledge andthis sadhana in the Rigveda, the earliest characters inscribedon the Stupa near the entrance to the temple of the Aryandharma at the beginning of history. We cannot say withcertainty that it finds expression for the first time in theRigveda, because even the Rishis of the Rigveda admit thatthose who were before them, the early ancestors of the Aryanrace, ‘the primeval fathers of the human race’, had discoveredthis path of truth and immortality for the later man.They also say that the new Rishis were only following thepath which had been shown to them by the ancient Rishis.We find that the mantra of the Rigveda is the echo of thewords of the ‘fathers’, of the Divine speech they uttered;consequently, the form of the dharma that we see in theRigveda can be said to be its earliest form. The knowledgeof the Upanishads, the sadhana of the Vedanta are only avery noble and generous transformation of this dharma. Theknowledge of the supreme Divine and the sadhana for
62Bengali Writingsattaining the Divine life of the Vedas, the Self-knowledgeand the sadhana for realising the Brahman of the Upanishads,both of them are based on a synthetic dharma; variousaspects of the cosmic Purusha and the cosmic Shakti,the supreme Divine unifying all the truths of the Brahman,the experience and the pursuit of the All-Brahman are itsintimate subject-matter. Then started the age of analysis.The Purva Mimansa, the Uttara Mimansa, the Sankhya, theYoga, the Nyaya, and the Vaisheshika of the Vedantas, eachof them took up a partial philosophy of the truth and developeddifferent ways of the sadhana. Finally, the parts ofthe partial philosophies gave rise to Monism, Dualism, QualifiedMonism, the Vaishnava and the Shaiva schools, thePuranas and the Tantras. The attempt at synthesis also neverstopped. We find that effort in the Gita, the Tantras andthe Puranas; each of them has been successful to a certainextent; many new experiences have been gained but no longerdo we find in them the comprehensiveness of the Vedasand the Upanishads. It looks as if the ancient spiritual messageof India took its birth in some all-pervading brilliantlight of knowledge where even to reach, let alone the questionof crossing beyond it, became impossible or difficultfor the predominantly intellectual later ages.
The Isha UpanishadIThe main obstacle that stands in the way of acceptingthe straightforward meaning of the Isha Upanishad and rightlyunderstanding its inner truth about the Brahman, the Selfand the Divine, is Mayavada, Illusionism, preached by Shankaracharyaand the commentary he wrote on this Upanishad.The one-pointed drive towards withdrawal that is Illusionismand the much-praised inaction of the Sannyasi are completelyat variance with the Isha Upanishad. If the meaningof the slokas is strained and tortured to give an oppositesense, the solution of this quarrel becomes impossible. TheUpanishad in which it is written: ‘Doing verily works in thisworld one should wish to live a hundred years’, and again:‘Action cleaves not to a man’ — the Upanishad which proclaimswith courage: ‘Into a blind darkness they enter whofollow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darknesswho devote themselves to the Knowledge alone’; andagain says: ‘By the Birth one enjoys Immortality’, how canthat Upanishad be reconciled with Mayavada, Illusionismand the path of withdrawal? A highly erudite person, whowas possibly the chief sponsor of Monism in South Indiaafter Shankara, expunged it from the list of the twelve Upanishadsand installed the Nrisimhatapini in its place. Shankaracharyawas not so daring as to alter the prevailing canon.The Upanishad was a ‘Sruti’ (heard scripture), and Illusionismwas a subject for inquiry in the ‘Sruti’ and as such, he assumed,the meaning of the ‘Sruti’ could not but be favourableto real Illusionism.
64Bengali WritingsIf jagat (in ÈÙa vÀsyamidam sarvam yat kiÜca jagatyÀmjagat) meant the earth, then the meaning would be: ‘all thatis moving on the earth in motion’, that is to say, all men,animals, insects, birds, torrents, and rivers, etc. This meaningis absurd. In the language of the Upanishads, the word sarvamidamsignifies all the visible objects of the universe, notof the earth. Therefore we must understand by the wordjagati the Shakti in movement manifested as the universeand by the word jagat all that is a movement of motion ofthe Prakriti whether present as a living being or as matter.The contradiction lies between these two: the Ishwara andall that is in the universe. Unlike the Ishwara who is immobile,the Prakriti, the Shakti, is in movement always engagedin work and world-wide motion; all that exists in theuniverse is also a small universe in movement which is always,at each instant, the meeting-place of creation, preservationand destruction, the restless and perishable, theopposite of the immutable. The eternal contradiction doesnot become evident if we place on one side the Ishwaraand on the other, the earth and all that is in movement onthe earth. This Upanishad opens with the eternal contradictionobserved by everybody which puts the immutableIshwara on one side and on the other the restless Prakritiand all that she possesses in the universe created by her,all ephemeral objects.The whole Upanishad is constructed upon this contradictionand its resolution. Later on, the author of the Upanishad,while discussing the nature of the Ishwara and thenature of the universe brings up thrice the same problembut each time with a different approach. First when he talksabout the Brahman, he demonstrates the opposition of thePurusha and the Prakriti and in these few words, ‘anejad’(unmoving) and manaso javÈyaÕ... tad ejati tannaijati (swifterthan Mind, That the Gods reach not, for It progresses everin front. That, standing, passes beyond others as they run. In
IV. 3. The Isha Upanishad65that the Master of Life established the Waters. That movesand moves not) he explains that both are Brahman: thePurusha is Brahman, the Prakriti and the universe which isher outward form are also Brahman. Again, while speakingof the Atman, he explains the opposition between the Ishwaraand everything concerning the universe. The Atmanis the Ishwara, the Purusha...If it is squeezed, then most surely the true hidden meaning,that is to say, the doctrine of Illusionism, will be forcedout because of the pain: this was the conclusion that overpoweredShankaracharya, and he wrote a commentary onthe Isha Upanishad.Let us hear on the one hand what the commentary ofShankara says, and on the other what the Upanishad hastruly to say. The author of the Upanishad right in the beginningcompares the truth of the Ishwara with the Truthof the universe and indicates their fundamental relation.‘ÈÙa vÀsyamidam sarvam yat kiÜca jagatyÀm jagat’,‘All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is jagatwithin jagati or individual universe in movement’ — the stillall-pervading controller Purusha and the Prakriti in motion— the Ishwara and the Shakti. As the name of Ishwara hasbeen given to the Immutable, we have to understand thatthe true relation between the Purusha and Prakriti is this:‘jagat’ depends on the Ishwara, is governed by Him andaccomplishes all work by His will. This Purusha is not onlya witness and giver of sanction but Ishwara, the knower,the director of action; the Prakriti is not the controller ofaction but she works out the destiny, the mistress but dependenton the master, the obedient active Shakti of thePurusha.Then we observe that ‘jagati’ is not simply the Shaktiin movement, not simply the principle which is the causeof the universe; she is also present as the universe itself. Theordinary meaning of the word ‘jagati’ is ‘the earth’, but it
66Bengali Writingscannot apply here. By combining these two words jagatyÀmjagat the author of the Upanishad has hinted that the rootmeaningof these two words must not be neglected. Toemphasise it has been his aim.2The Isha Upanishad introduces to us the integral spiritualrealisation and the principle of the integral yoga; withina short space it resolves many difficult problems. It is aÙruti replete with sublime, profound and fathomless significances.This Upanishad, concluded in eighteen slokas, explainsin these small mantras many major truths of the world.Such ‘infinite riches in a little room’ can be found only inthis Ùruti.Synthesis of knowledge, synthesis of dharma, reconciliationand harmony of the opposites form the very soulof this Upanishad. In Western philosophy there is a lawcalled the law of contradiction, according to which oppositesmutually exclude each other. Two opposite propositionscannot hold good at the same time, they cannot integrate;two opposite qualities cannot be simultaneouslytrue at the same place and in the same instrument. Accordingto this law, opposites cannot be reconciled or harmonised.If the Divine is one, then however omnipotentHe might be, He cannot be many. The infinite cannot befinite. It is impossible for the formless to assume form; ifit assumes form, then it abrogates its formlessness. Theformula that the Brahman is at the same time with andwithout attributes, which is exactly what the Upanishadalso says about God who is nirguÍo guÍÈ, with and withoutattributes, is not admitted by this logic. If formlessness,oneness, infinity of the Brahman are true, then attributes,forms, multiplicity and finiteness of the Brahmanare false; brahma satyam jaganmithyÀ, ‘the Brahman is the
IV. 3. The Isha Upanishad67sole reality, the world is an illusion’ — such a totally ruinousdeduction is the final outcome of that philosophic dictum.The Seer-Rishi of the Upanishad at each step trampleson that law and in each sloka announces its invalidity;he finds in the secret heart of the opposites the place forthe reconciliation and harmony of their contradiction. Theoneness of the universe in motion and the immobile Purusha,enjoyment of all by renunciation of all, eternal liberationby full action, perpetual stability of the Brahman in movement,unbound and inconceivable motion in the eternal immobility,the oneness of the Brahman without attributes andthe Lord of the universe with attributes, the inadequacy ofKnowledge alone or of Ignorance alone for attaining Immortality,Immortality obtained by simultaneous worship ofKnowledge and Ignorance, the supreme liberation and realisationgained not by the constant cycle of birth, not by thedissolution of birth but by simultaneous accomplishment ofBirth and Non-Birth, — these are the sublime principlesloudly proclaimed by the Upanishad.Unfortunately there has been a great deal of unnecessaryconfusion regarding the meaning of this Upanishad.Shankara is generally recognised as the most important commentatorof the Isha Upanishad, but if all these conclusionsare accepted, then Mayavada, the Illusionism of Shankara,sinks in the bottomless ocean. The founder of Mayavadais incomparable and immensely powerful among the philosophers.Just as thirsty Balaram brought to his feet theYamuna unwilling to alter her course, by dragging and pullingher with a plough, so also Shankara, finding this Upanishaddestroyer of Mayavada and standing across the pathtoward his destination, dragged and pulled the meaning tillit agreed with his own opinion. One or two examples willsuffice to show the miserable condition to which this Upanishadhas been reduced by such treatment.
68Bengali WritingsIt is said in the Upanishad, ‘Into a blind darkness theyenter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greaterdarkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone’.Shankara says, ‘I am not willing to give to the words vidyÀ(knowledge) and avidyÀ (ignorance) their ordinary sense’;vidyÀ signifies here devavidyÀ, ‘the science of propitiatingthe gods’. The Upanishad declares, ‘vinÀÙena mÐtyum tÈrtvÀsambhÓtyÀmÐtamaÙnute’, ‘by the dissolution crosses beyonddeath and by the Birth enjoys Immortality’. Shankarasays it has to be read as asambhÓtyÀmÐtam, ‘by Non-Birth enjoys Immortality’, and vinÀÙa (dissolution) as signifyinghere ‘birth’. In the same way a commentator of theDualistic School, when he came across the word tattvamasi,‘Thou art That’, indicated that it should be read as atattvamasi, ‘Thou art that other one’. A prominent teacher ofthe Mayavada who came after Shankara adopted a differentmeans; he satisfied himself by expelling the Isha Upanishadfrom the list of the principal authoritative Upanishadsand promoting the Nrisimhottaratapini in its place. In factit is quite unnecessary to impose one's opinions by suchphysical force. The Upanishad illustrates infinite aspects ofthe infinite Brahman and, because it does not uphold anyparticular philosophic view, a thousand philosophic viewshave sprouted from this single seed. Each philosophy takesup a side of the infinite truth and presents it to the intellectin a systematic way. The infinite Brahman manifests itselfin infinite ways; paths leading to the infinite Brahman arealso numberless.
V. THE PURANAS
The PuranasIN the previous article I have writtenabout the Upanishads and shown the method of seizingon their true and complete meaning. Like the Upanishads,the Puranas are authoritative scriptures of the Hindu dharma.Like the ‘Sruti’ (the audible word), the ‘Smriti’ (thedivine word remembered) is an authoritative scripture thoughnot of the same order. If there is any conflict between the‘Sruti’, the direct evidence, on the one hand, and the ‘Smriti’on the other, then the authority of the latter is inadmissible.The revelations of the Rishis who were accomplishedin Yoga and endowed with spiritual insight, and the Wordwhich the Master of the Universe spoke to their purifiedintelligence, constitute the ‘Sruti’. Ancient knowledge andlearning, preserved through countless generations, is knownas the ‘Smriti’. This kind of knowledge in transmission mighthave suffered change, even deformation through differenttongues, various minds and, under altered conditions, mighthave been modified by new ideas or assumed new formssuitable to the needs of the times. Therefore, a ‘Smriti’ cannotbe considered to be as infallible as a ‘Sruti’. The ‘Smriti’ isnot a superhuman creation but the product of the limitedand variable ideas and intelligence of man.The Puranas are the most important among the ‘Smritis’.The spiritual knowledge contained in the Upanishads has,in the Puranas, been transformed into fiction and metaphors;we find in them much useful information on Indian history,the gradual growth and expression of the Hindu dharma,the condition of the society in ancient times, social customs,religious ceremonies, Yogic methods of discipline and ways
72Bengali Writingsof thinking. Apart from this, the composers of the Puranasare either accomplished yogis or seekers of Truth. TheKnowledge and spiritual realisations obtained by their sadhanaremain recorded in the respective Puranas. The Vedasand the Upanishads are the fundamental scriptures ofthe Hindu religion, the Puranas are commentaries on thesescriptures. A commentary can never be equal to the original.My commentary may be different from yours but noneof us have the right to alter or ignore the fundamental scripture.That which is at variance with the Vedas and the Upanishadscannot be accepted as a limb of the Hindu dharma;but a new idea even if it differs from the Puranas is welcome.The value of a commentary depends on the intellectualcapacity, knowledge and erudition of the commentator.For example, if the Purana written by Vyasa were stillexisting, then it would be honoured as a ‘Sruti’. In the absenceof this Purana and the one written by Lomaharshana,the eighteen Puranas that still exist cannot all be giventhe same place of honour; among them, the Vishnu and theBhagwata Purana composed by accomplished yogis are definitelymore precious and we must recognise that the MarkandeyaPurana written by a sage devoted to spiritual pursuitsis more profound in Knowledge than either the Shivaor the Agni Purana.The Purana of Vyasa being the source-book of the laterPuranas, there must be, even in the poorest of them,much information unfolding the principles of the Hindudharma and since even the poorest of the Puranas is writtenby a seeker of Knowledge or a devotee practising Yoga,the thought and knowledge obtained by his personal effortis worthy of respect. The division created by the Englisheducated scholars who separate the Vedas and the Upanishadsfrom the Puranas and thus make a distinction between theVedic dharma and the Puranic dharma is a mistake born ofignorance. The Puranas are accepted as an authority on
V. 1. The Puranas73the Hindu dharma because they explain the knowledge containedin the Veda and the Upanishads to the average man,comment upon it, discuss it at great length and endeavourto apply it to the commonplace details of life. They too aremistaken who neglect the Vedas and the Upanishads andconsider the Puranas as a distinct and self-sufficient authorityin itself. By doing this, they commit the error of omittingthe infallible and supernatural origin and of encouraging falseknowledge, with the result that the meaning of the Vedasdisappears and the true significance of the Puranas is alsolost. The Vedas must ever remain the basis for any trueunderstanding of the Puranas.
VI. THE GITA
The Dharma of the GitaTHIS question may arise in theminds of those who have carefully studied the Gita, thatthough Sri Krishna has repeatedly used the word ‘Yoga’ anddescribed the state of being in yoga, union, yet this is quiteunlike what ordinary people understand as ‘Yoga’. Sri Krishnahas at places praised asceticism and indicated too that thehighest liberation can come through the adoration of the ImpersonalDivine. But dismissing the subject in a few words,He has explained to Arjuna in the finest portions of the Gitathe majesty of the inner renunciation and the various waysof attaining to the supreme state through faith and self-surrenderto Vasudeva. There is a brief description of Rajayogain the sixth chapter but the Gita cannot properly be calleda treatise on Raja-yoga. Equality, detachment, renunciationof the fruits of work, complete self-surrender to Krishna,desireless work, freedom from the bondage of the three essentialmodes of Nature and pursuit of one's own law ofworks: these are the fundamental truths of the Gita. TheLord has glorified these precepts as the highest knowledgeand the most secret mystery.It is our belief that the Gita will become the universallyacknowledged Scripture of the future religion. But thereal meaning of the Gita has not been understood by all.Even the great scholars and the most intelligent writers withthe keenest minds are unable to seize its profound significance.On the one hand, the commentators with a leaningtowards liberation have shown the grandeur of the Monismand asceticism in the Gita; on the other hand, Bankimchandra,well-versed in Western philosophy, finding in the Gita the
78Bengali Writingscounsel to carry out heroically one's duty, tried to inculcatethis meaning into the minds of youth. Asceticism is,no doubt, the best dharma but very few people can practiseit. A religion to be universally acknowledged must havean ideal and precepts which every one can realise in hisown particular life and field of work, yet which if practisedfully must lead him to the highest goal otherwiseavailable only to a few. To carry out one's duty heroicallyis, of course, the highest dharma, but what is duty? Thereis such a controversy between religion and ethics regardingthis complex problem. The Lord has said, gahanakarmaÍo gatiÕ, ‘thick and tangled is the way of works’.‘Even the wise are perplexed to decide what is duty, whatis not duty, what is work, what is not work and what iswrong work, but I shall give you such a knowledge thatyou will have no difficulty in finding the path to follow,’in a word, the knowledge which will amply explain theaim of life and the law which has to be always observed.What is this knowledge? Where can we find this word ofwords? We believe that, if we look for this rare and invaluabletreasure, we shall find it in the last chapter ofthe Gita where the Lord promises to reveal to Arjuna Hismost secret and supreme Word. What is that most secretand supreme Word?manmanÀ bhava madbhakto madyÀjÈ mÀÌ namaskurumÀmevaiØyasi satyaÌ te pratijÀne priyo'si me (18. 65)sarvadharmÀnparityajya mÀmekaÌ ÙaraÍaÌ vrajaahaÌ tvÀÌ sarvapÀpebhyo mokØyayiØyÀmi mÀ ÙucaÕ (18. 66)(Become My-minded, My lover and adorer, a sacrificerto Me, bow thyself to Me, to Me thou shalt come, thisis My pledge and promise to thee, for dear art thou to Me.Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone. I willdeliver thee from all sin and evil, do not grieve).
VI. 1. The Dharma of the Gita79In brief, the meaning of these two slokas is self-surrender.To the extent that one can make his surrender toKrishna, the Divine Force comes down into his body bythe grace of the All-Merciful, delivering him from sin andconferring on him a divine nature. This self-surrender hasbeen described in the first half of the sloka. One has to betanmanÀ, tadbhakta, and tadyÀjÈ. TanmanÀ means to seeHim in every being, to remember Him at all times, to remainin perfect felicity, being aware of the play of His power,knowledge and love in all works and events. Tadbhaktasignifies union with Him founded on an entire faith and love.TadyÀjÈ means offering of all works big and small as a sacrificeto Krishna and being engaged in doing rightly regulatedaction to that end, by giving up egoistic interests andthe fruits of work.It is difficult for a human being to make a completeself-surrender, but if he makes even a little effort then GodHimself gives him assurance, becomes his guru, protectorand friend and leads him forward on the path of Yoga. Svalpamapyasyadharmasya trÀyate mahato bhayÀt. Even alittle of this dharma delivers one from the great fear. Hehas said that it is easy and delightful to practise this dharma.And in fact it is so, yet the result of the total consecrationis an inexpressible joy, purity and acquisition of power.MÀmevaisyasi (to Me thou shalt come) means the humanbeing will find Me, will live with Me, will acquire Mynature. In these words the realisations of sÀdÐÙya, God-nature,sÀlokya, living with God, and sÀyujya, identificationwith God are mentioned.One who is free from the bondage of the three essentialmodes of Nature has indeed acquired sÀdÐÙya, the nature ofGod. He has no attachment yet he works; delivered from allsin, he becomes an instrument of Mahashakti and delights inevery action of that Power. SÀlokya, habitation with God,can be realised not only in the Brahmaloka, abode of the
80Bengali WritingsBrahman, after the fall of the body but in this very body.When the embodied being plays with the Lord in his heart,when his mind is thrilled by the knowledge coming fromHim, when the intellect constantly hears His words and isconscious of His impulsion in each of his thoughts, this indeedis living in a human body with the Lord. SÀyujya,the identification with the Lord, can also be achieved in thisbody. The Gita mentions ‘living in the Lord’. When the realisationof the Divine in all beings becomes permanent, whenthe senses see, hear, smell, taste and touch Him only, whenthe being becomes accustomed to live in Him as a portion,then there can be the identification even in this body. Butthis consummation is entirely the result of an askesis (practiceof discipline).However, even a little practice of this dharma gives greatpower, unalloyed joy, complete happiness and purity. Thisdharma has not been created only for people with specialqualities. The Lord has said that the Brahmin, the Kshatriya,the Vaishya, the Sudra, man, woman and all beings ofinferior birth can come to Him by adhering to this dharma.Even the greatest sinner, if he takes refuge in Him, is quicklypurified. Therefore, every one ought to follow this dharma.In the temple of Jagannath no distinction is made onaccount of caste. Yet the crowning glory attained throughthis dharma is in no way less than the supreme state indicatedin other religions.
Asceticism and RenunciationIN the preceding essay it has beensaid that the Discipline (Dharma) spoken of in the Gita canbe followed by everyone; it is open to all. And yet the supremestatus in this Discipline is not a whit less than thatof any other. The Discipline of the Gita is the Discipline ofdesireless works. In this country with the resurgence of AryanDiscipline a flood of asceticism has spread everywhere. Aman seeking Raja-yoga cannot rest content with the life orthe work of a householder. For the practice of his yoga heneeds to make tremendously laborious efforts to be ableto meditate and concentrate. A slight mental disturbanceor contact with the outside upsets the poise of meditationor completely destroys it. Difficulties of this kind one meetsabundantly in home-life. Therefore it is quite natural forthose who are born with an urge for yoga, derived frompast lives, to turn towards asceticism. When such soulswith an inborn yogic urge begin to increase in number andby contagion to spread among the youthful generation astrong movement to asceticism, the doors are opened indeedfor the good of the country, in one sense; but alsoalong with the good there arise causes for apprehension. Itis said that the ascetic discipline is the very best, but veryfew are competent to follow it. The incompetent who enterthe path go a certain distance and then in the midwaystop short through a kind of satisfaction arising from lethargyand inertia. One can in this way pass one's life uponearth in ease, but then one does no good to the world andalso it becomes very difficult for such a one to rise to thehigher reaches of the world. The time and the circumstancesin which we are at present demand that we awaken the
82Bengali Writingsqualities of dynamic energy (Rajas) and luminous poise(Sattwa), that is to say, activity and knowledge, discardingthe qualities of inertia and devote ourselves to the serviceof the country and the world so that we may rejuvenatethe moral and spiritual strength of our land. This is our foremostduty today. We have to re-create an Aryan people rich withknowledge and power and wide catholicity, from out of thewomb of this people weak and worn out, weighed downwith inertia, narrowed into selfish bounds. It is for this reasonthat so many souls, full of strength and yogic power,are being born in Bengal. If such people attracted by thecharm of asceticism abandon their true law of life and theirGod-given work, then with the destruction of their true lawthe nation too will perish. The younger generation seemsto imagine that the stage of the student (Brahmacharya) isthe time fixed for the acquisition of education and character.The next stage as fixed is that of the householder. Andwhen one has assured the preservation of the family andthe future building of the Aryan race and thus freed oneselffrom the debts to the ancestors and also when one has paidoff one's debts to society by the acquisition of wealth andby useful service and when one has paid off one's debts tothe world by spreading knowledge and beneficence and loveand strength and finally when one has been able to satisfythe Mother of the worlds by one's unstinted labour and highservice for the good of Mother India, then it will not be amissto retire from the world into the forest (Vanaprastha), andtake to the ascetic life. Otherwise there arises confusion ofsocial values and growing dominance of the wrong law. I donot speak of young ascetics who have been freed from alldebts in a previous life; but it would be wrong for one whohas not made himself ready for asceticism to take to it. Greatand magnanimous Buddhism has done no doubt immense goodto the country, yet no less harm, because of asceticism
VI. 2. Asceticism and Renunciation83spreading everywhere and the warrior class (Kshatriya) renouncingtheir appointed function; and in the end, itself wasbanished from the country. In the new age the new dispensationmust not admit this error.In the Gita Sri Krishna has time and again directed Arjunanot to follow asceticism. Why? He admits the virtue of Sannyasaand yet, in spite of the repeated questionings of Arjunaoverwhelmed as he was with the spirit of asceticism,abnegation and altruism, Sri Krishna never withdrew hisinjunctions with regard to the path of action. Arjuna asked,“If desireless Intelligence, founded in Yoga, is greater thankarma, then why do you engage me in this terrible work ofslaying my elders?” Many have repeated the question ofArjuna, some even have not hesitated to call him the worstTeacher, one who shows the wrong way. In answer, SriKrishna has explained that renunciation is greater than asceticism,to remember God and do one's appointed workwithout desire is far greater than freedom to do as one likes.Renunciation means renunciation of desire, renunciation ofselfishness. And to learn that renunciation one need not takerefuge in solitude. That lesson has to be learnt through workin the field of work; work is the means to climb upon thepath of yoga. This world of varied play has been created forthe purpose of bringing delight to its creatures. It is not God'spurpose that this game of delight should cease. He wants thecreatures to become his comrades and playmates, to floodthe world with delight. We are in the darkness of ignorance;that is because, for the sake of the play the Lord has kepthimself aloof and thus surrounded himself with obscurity. Manyare the ways fixed by him which, if followed would takeone out of the darkness, bring him into God's company. Ifany one is not interested in the play and desires rest, Godwill fulfil his desire. But if one follows His way for Hissake, then God chooses him, in this world or elsewhere
84Bengali Writingsas His fit playmate. Arjuna was Krishna's dearest comradeand playmate, therefore he received the teaching of theGita's supreme secret. What that supreme secret is I triedto explain in a previous context. The Divine said to Arjuna,“It is harmful to the world to give up work, to give upwork is the spirit of asceticism. And an asceticism withoutrenunciation is meaningless. What one gains by asceticismone gains also by renunciation, that is to say, thefreedom from ignorance, equanimity, power, delight, unionwith Sri Krishna. Whatever the man worshipped byall does, people take that as the ideal and follow it. Therefore,if you give up work through asceticism, all will follow thatpath and bring about the confusion of social values, andthe reign of the wrong law. If you give up the desire forthe fruit of action and pursue man's normal law of life,inspire men to follow each his own line of activity, thenyou will unite with my Law of life and become my intimatefriend”. Sri Krishna explains furthermore that the ruleis to follow the right path through works and finally at theend of the path attain quietude, that is to say, renounceall sense of being the doer. But this is not renunciation ofwork through asceticism, this is to give up all vital urge toaction involving immense labour and effort through therejection of egoism and through union with the Divine —and transcending all gunas, to do works as an instrumentimpelled by His force. In that state it is the permanentconsciousness of the soul that he is not the doer, he is thewitness, part of the Divine; it is the Divine Power thatworks through his body created for action by his own innerlaw of being. The soul is the witness and enjoyer, Natureis the doer, the Divine is the giver of sanction. The beingso illumined does not seek to help or hinder any work thatthe Divine Power undertakes. Submitted to the Shakti, thebody and mind and intellect engage themselves in the workappointed by God. Even a terrible massacre like that of
VI. 2. Asceticism and Renunciation85Kurukshetra cannot stain a soul with sin if it is sanctionedby God, if it occurs in the course of the fulfilment of one'sown dharma (Inner Law), but only a few can attain to thisknowledge and this goal. It cannot be the law of life forthe common man. What then is the duty for the commonwayfarers? Even for them the knowledge that ‘He is theLord, I am the instrument’ is to a certain extent within theirreach. Through this knowledge to remember always theDivine and follow one's inner law of life is the directionthat has been given.“Better is one's own law of works, swadharma thoughin itself faulty, than an alien law well wrought out; death inone's own law of being is better, perilous is it to follow analien law.” 1One's own law of life (swadharma) means the workgoverned by one's own nature (swabhava); one's own natureevolves and develops in the course of time. In the processof Time man develops a general nature of his own; the worksdetermined by this formulation of nature is the law of thatage. In the process of a nation's life-movement the nation'sown nature is built up and the works determined by thatnature are the nation's law of life. And in the course of thelife-movement of an individual, the special nature he develops,determines the work that becomes the individual'slaw of life. These various laws of life are united together,organised in a common ideal which is that of the EternalLaw. This law is one's own law for all who seek to followthe true law. As a spiritual student (brahmachari) one followsthis law to gather knowledge and strength. As a householderalso one follows this law. And when one has completelyfulfilled this law, then one becomes eligible for thefinal stages, Vanaprastha or Sannyasa. Such is the eternalmovement of the eternal law.1Gita: III. 35.
The Vision of the World SpiritOUR honourable friend BepinChandra Pal speaking about the Vision of the World Spiritby Arjuna in an article entitled ‘Bandematram’ has writtenthat the vision of the World Spirit described in the eleventhchapter of the Gita is entirely fictitious, that it is purelyand simply poetic imagination. We are obliged to refutethis statement. The vision of the World Spirit is a verynecessary element of the Gita. Sri Krishna dispersed thedoubt and the hesitation that rose in the mind of Arjunawith logic and words pregnant with knowledge. But thefoundation of the knowledge derived from logic and goodcounsel is not solid. It is only when the knowledge is realisedthat it becomes firmly established. For this reason,invisibly impelled by the Divine within, Arjuna expressedhis desire to see the World Spirit. Once he had this visionof the World Spirit, his doubt vanished for ever. His mindthen became cleansed and purified, worthy to receive thesupreme secret of the Gita. The knowledge described inthe Gita prior to the vision of the World Spirit is the externalform of knowledge useful to any spiritual seeker. Butthe knowledge unfolded after the vision is the most hiddenTruth, the supreme secret, the eternal precept. If we characterisethe description of the vision as a poetical metaphor,then the truth, the depth and solemnity of the Gita are destroyedand the most profound instructions obtained by Yogaare reduced to a few philosophical views and a collectionof poetical fancies. The vision of the World Spirit is neithera fiction nor a poetical metaphor but truth; it is noteven a supernatural truth. The universe being included in
VI. 3. The Vision of the World Spirit87Nature, the World Form cannot be a supernatural phenomenon.The World Spirit is a truth of the causal world, andthe forms of the causal world are visible to the eye of Yoga.Arjuna endowed with the eye of Yoga saw the form of theUniversal Spirit in the causal world.The Form and The FormlessThe worshippers of the formless Brahman without qualitiesdismiss any statement about its qualities and form asbeing only metaphors and similes. The worshippers of theformless Brahman with qualities deny its lack of attributesby explaining the Shastras in a different way and dismissany statement about its form as being only metaphors andsimiles. The worshippers of the Brahman with form andattributes are up in arms against both of them. We hold allthe three views to be narrow, incomplete and born of ignorance.For, those who have realised the formless Brahmanand the Brahman with form, how can they hold one viewto be true and discard the other as being false and imaginary,and thus abrogate the ultimate evidence of knowledgeand confine the infinite. Brahman within the finite?It is true that if we deny the formlessness and the lack ofattributes of the Brahman we belittle God. But it is equallytrue that if we deny the qualities and the form of theBrahman we belittle Him again. God is the Master, the Creatorand the Lord. He cannot be tied down to any form; as Heis not limited by His form, so also He is not limited by Hisformlessness. God is all-powerful. If we feign to catch Himin the net of the laws of the physical Nature or of Timeand Space and then tell Him, “Though you are infinite,we shall not allow you to be finite, try as you may, youwill not succeed, you are bound with our irrefutable logicand arguments like Ferdinand with Prospero's magic.” What
88Bengali Writingscould be more ludicrous, impertinent or ignorant? God isbound neither by His form nor by His formlessness; Hereveals Himself in a form to the seeker. God is there in Hisfullness in that form, yet at the same time pervades the wholeuniverse. For God is beyond time and space, unattainableby any argument; time and space are His toys. He is playingwith all beings caught in his net of time and space. Butwe shall never be able to catch Him in that net. Every timewe try to achieve this impossibility with logic and philosophicalargument, the Jester eludes the net and stands smilingin front of us, behind us, near us and far from us, spreadsout his World Form, and the Form beyond the universe,defeating the intellect. He who says, “I know Him,” knowsnothing. He who says, “I know Him yet I do not knowHim,” has true knowledge.The World FormThe vision of the World Form is very necessary foran adorer of Shakti, a Karmayogi or one who is missionedto do a specific work as an instrument of the Moverof instruments. He might receive the divine mandate evenbefore he has the vision of the World Spirit but as longas he does not have the vision the mandate is not fullyendorsed; it has been registered but not yet authorised.Until that moment, it is a period of training and preparationfor his work. Only when he has the vision of theWorld Spirit, does the real work begin. This vision comesto the sadhaks in different ways according to their natureand their sadhana. In the vision of Kali as the WorldSpirit, the sadhak perceives a feminine form of incomparablebeauty pervading the universe, one yet in multitudinousbodies; her jet black hair spreads out like a compactdarkness over the entire sky; the lustre of her scimitardripping with blood dances everywhere dazzling the
VI. 3. The Vision of the World Spirit89eyes; the continuous peal of her dreadful laughter resounds,smashing and crushing world after world in the universe.These words are not simply poetical imagination or a futileattempt to describe a supernatural experience in inadequatehuman terms. This is self-revelation of Kali; it is the trueform of our Mother, the true and simple description withoutany exaggeration of what has been seen by the eye ofYoga. Arjuna did not have the vision of the World Form ofKali; he had the vision of the World Spirit as Time theDestroyer. It amounts to the same thing. He saw it with hiseye of Yoga and not in a trance insensible to the outer consciousness.Rishi Vyasa has described, without any exaggeration,exactly what Arjuna has seen. It is not a dream orimagination but the truth, the living truth.The Form of the Causal WorldThree different states of the Self are mentioned in theScriptures: Prajna, the spirit of the secret superconscientomnipotence whose place is in perfect slumber; Taijasa, theInhabitant in Luminous Mind, the spirit of the subtle andinternal whose place is in dream; Virat, the spirit of the grossand external whose place is in wakefulness. Each status ofthe spirit is a world in itself: the causal world is in perfectslumber; the subtle and internal world in dream state andthe physical world in wakefulness. Whatever is decided inthe causal world is reflected in the subtle world beyond ourtime and space and partially enacted in the physical worldaccording to the laws of the physical world. Sri Krishnatold Arjuna, “The sons of Dhritarashtra are already slainby me,” yet there they were on the battlefield, standing infront of him, alive and engaged in fighting. The words ofthe Godhead are neither a false statement nor a metaphor.He has already slain them in the causal world, otherwise it is
90Bengali Writingsimpossible to slay them in this world. Our real life is in thecausal world; only a shadow of it falls on the physical world.But the laws, time and space, name and form are differenton the causal plane. The World Spirit is a form of the causalworld which became visible in the physical world to theeye of Yoga.The Eye of YogaWhat is the eye of Yoga? It is not imagination or poeticalsymbolism. Three different powers of perception areobtained by Yoga: the subtle vision, the direct spiritual awarenessand the eye of Yoga. With the subtle vision we seemental images in dream or in wakefulness. By the directspiritual awareness we see in trance the images and symbolicalfigures of the names and forms belonging to the subtleand the causal worlds reflected in our inner mental sky. Withthe eye of Yoga we perceive the names and forms of thecausal worlds in trance as well as with our physical eyes.If anything invisible to the physical eye becomes visible toit then it must be understood as an effect of the eye ofYoga. Arjuna saw the World Spirit in the causal world inwaking state with the eye of Yoga and was delivered fromdoubt. The vision of the World Spirit, though not a truthperceptible to the senses of the physical world, is greaterthan any physical truth — it is not a fiction or an illusion,neither is it a poetical symbol.
The Gita: An Introduction(These essays, originally written in Bengali, werepublished first in serial form in the Weekly Review,Dharma, and later in a book entitled GitarBhumika. The book is divided into three sections.The first of these sections has been translatedhere. The Dharma articles were publishedin 1909-10 and were not revised since).ForewordThe Gita ranks first among the world's scriptures. Theknowledge that has been briefly explained in the Gita is thehighest and most secret knowledge. The law of right living,dharma, propounded in the Gita includes within its scopeand is the basis of all other law of right living. The way ofworks shown in the Gita is the eternal path for the world'smarch to the heights.The Gita is as if the bottomless sea, the source of amyriad gems. One may spend a whole life-time fathomingits depths and still not touch the bottom or gauge how deepit is. One may search for a hundred years and still find itdifficult to gather even a hundredth part of the riches containedin this endless store of gems. And yet, if one canrecover one or two of these gems, the poor man may becomerich, the deep thinker acquire wisdom, the hater ofGod become a devotee, the mighty and powerful hero ofaction come back to his field of work fully equipped andready for achieving his life's purpose.
92Bengali WritingsThe Gita is an inexhaustible mine of jewels. Even ifthe jewels are gathered from this mine for ages, the cominggenerations will always be delighted and astonished bytheir acquisitions of new and priceless ones.Such is this Book, replete with deep and occult lore. Andyet the language is perfectly clear, the style is simple, thesurface meaning easily grasped. By simply gliding along thesurf of this bottomless sea without taking a deep plunge, thereis a certain gain in strength and joy. By taking a walk aroundthe peripheries without entering the deep recesses of this mineillumined with jewels, there can be found strewn among thegrass bright jewels which will keep us rich throughout life.The Gita may well have a thousand commentaries, buta time will never come when a new one will not be needed.There can be no such world-renowned scholar or manof deep knowledge as can write a commentary on the Gitaon reading which we can say, this is enough, it will not nowbe necessary to add another commentary on the Gita, everythinghas been grasped. After expending all our intellectualpowers, we can hope to understand and explain only afew facets of this knowledge. On being engrossed in Yogaor by rising from height to greater height on the way ofdesireless works, all we shall be able to say is that we havehad experience of some of its truths, or have applied in thecourse of this life one or two of the Gita's teachings in actualpractice.Whatever little the present writer has realised in experience,whatever little he has practised in the way of works,the meaning he has found by reasoning and thought basedon that experience and practice, to elucidate that as an aidto others will be the aim of these essays.The SpeakerIn order to understand the meaning and object of the Gita,
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction93it is at first necessary to consider the Speaker, the listenerand the time and circumstance. The Speaker is Lord SriKrishna; the listener is His friend Arjuna, the most heroicof men; the circumstance is the prelude to the terrible slaughterof Kurukshetra.There are many who say that the Mahabharata is onlya symbol; Sri Krishna is God, Arjuna the human soul, thesons of Dhritarashtra the inner enemies of the soul's progress,the Pandava army represents the forces that help towardsliberation. This is to relegate the Mahabharata to a low positionin the world of letters and at the same time to minimiseand bring to nought the deep seriousness of the Gita, itsutility for the life of the man of action and its high teachingthat makes for the progress of mankind. The war of Kurukshetrais not simply a frame for the Gita picture; it isthe prime motive and the best occasion for carrying out thelaw given in the Gita. To accept a symbolic meaning for thegreat war of Kurukshetra is to reduce the law of the Gita toa law of ascetic quietism inapplicable to life in this world,not a law of the heroic man, a law to be followed in life.Sri Krishna is the Speaker. The scriptures say that SriKrishna is God Himself. In the Gita too, Sri Krishna hasproclaimed Himself as God. It has there been declared, onthe basis of the Avatara doctrine in the fourth chapter andthe theory of the Vibhuti in the tenth, that God dwells hiddenin the bodies of all creatures, shows Himself to a certainextent through the manifestations of power in someparticular beings, and is fully incarnated in the person ofSri Krishna. According to many, Sri Krishna, Arjuna andKurukshetra are mere metaphors, and in order to recoverthe true meaning of the Gita these metaphors are to be ignored.But we cannot reject this part of the teaching. If theAvatara doctrine is there, why should Sri Krishna be ignored?Therefore, God Himself is the propounder of thisknowledge and the teaching.
94Bengali WritingsSri Krishna is an Avatara. He has accepted in humanform the law of man's body and mind and spirit and hasplayed his game, lÈlÀ, accordingly. If we can grasp the obviousand the occult meaning of that play, we shall be ableto grasp the meaning, the aim and the method of this worldgame.The main feature of this great game was action impelledby total knowledge. What was the knowledge underlyingthat action and that play has been revealed in the Gita.Sri Krishna of the Mahabharata is a hero of action, agreat yogin, a great man of the world, a founder of empire,statesman and warrior, a knower of brahman in the bodyof a Kshatriya. In his life we see an incomparable manifestationand mysterious play of the Supreme Power, mahÀÙakti.Of that mystery, the Gita is an explanation.Sri Krishna is Lord of the worlds, universal Vasudeva;and yet, by shrouding His greatness he has entered into playby establishing with men relations like those of father andson, brother and husband, intimate associate and friend andenemy. In His life is implied the supreme secret of the Aryanknowledge and the highest meaning of the way of devotion.Their essential principles are also part of the Gita'steaching.Sri Krishna's incarnation is at the juncture of the Dwaparaand the Kali age. In each of the evolutionary cycles, kalpa,God incarnates in full at such junctures. The Kali age isthe worst as well as the best among the four epochs. Thisage is the reign period of Kali, the impeller of sin and theprincipal enemy of man's progress; the utmost degradationand downfall of man occur during Kali's reign. But there is again in strength by fighting against obstacles and new creationcomes through destruction of the old; this process is seenin the Kali age too. The elements of evil that are going tobe destroyed in the course of the world's evolution are preciselythe ones that are eliminated through an inordinate growth;on the other hand, seeds of new creation are sown and
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction95sprout, these seeds become trees in the Satya age that follows.Moreover, as in astrology all the planets enjoy theirsub-periods in the period of a particular planet, so, in theperiod of Kali, each of the four ages, Satya, Treta, Dwaparaand Kali repeatedly enjoys its sub-period. Through thiscyclic movement, there is in the Kali age a great downfallfollowed by an upward trend, another great downfall andagain an upward surge; these serve the purposes of God.At the juncture of Dwapara and Kali, God through His incarnationallows an inordinate growth of evil, destroys theevil, sows the seeds of good and prepares favourable conditionsfor their sprouting; then begins the period of Kali.Sri Krishna has left in the Gita the secret knowledge andthe method of work that would be useful for bringing inthe age of Truth, satyayuga. When the time comes for theSatya subperiod of Kali, the world-wide propagation of thelaw of the Gita is inevitable. That time is now come, thatis why the recognition of the Gita, instead of being confinedto a few men of wisdom and learning, is spreadingamong the generality of men and in foreign lands.Therefore it is not possible to distinguish Sri Krishna theSpeaker from His Word, the Gita. Sri Krishna is implied inthe Gita, the Gita is Sri Krishna in His form of the Word.The ListenerThe recipient of the knowledge given in the Gita is themighty hero, Arjuna, son of the great god Indra and the bestof the Pandavas. Just as it is difficult to discover the aim ofthe Gita and its hidden meaning by ignoring the Speaker, similarlythat meaning would suffer by ignoring the listener.Arjuna is Sri Krishna's intimate associate. Those who areSri Krishna's contemporaries and have come down to thesame field of work establish various kinds of relations with
96Bengali Writingsthe Supreme Purushottama in human form, in accordancewith their respective capacity and previous acts. Uddhavais Sri Krishna's devotee, Satyaki is a faithful follower andcompanion, king Yudhisthira is a relative and friend who ismoved by His counsel, but none could establish with SriKrishna a relation as intimate as Arjuna. All the close andendearing relations possible between two men of the sameage were present in the case of Sri Krishna and Arjuna.Arjuna is Sri Krishna's brother, His closest friend, and husbandof His sister Subhadra dear to Him as His own heart.In the fourth chapter the Lord has pointed to this intimacyas the reason for choosing Arjuna as the one person fit tohear the supreme secret of the Gita:sa evÀyaÌ mayÀ te’dya yogaÕ proktaÕ purÀtanaÕbhakto’si me sakhÀ ceti rahasyaÌ hyetaduttamam (4. 03)“I have revealed this old and forgotten yoga to you thisday, because you are my intimate friend and devotee; forthis yoga is the best and the ultimate secret of the world.”In chapter eighteen too, there has been a repetition of thisstatement while explaining the keynote of Karmayoga whichis as if the pivotal point of the Gita:sarvaguhyatamaÌ bhÓyaÕ ÙÐÍu me paramaÌ vacaÕiØÒo’si me dÐÄhamiti tato vakØyÀmi te hitam (18. 64)“Once again you listen to my supreme Word, themost secret of all. You are extremely dear to me, thereforeI shall speak to you about this, the best of all paths.”These two verses are in their substance on the lines ofthe Vedic scriptures, as for example, the Katha Upanishad,which says:nÀyamÀtma pravacanena labhyona medhayÀ na bahunÀ Ùrutenayameva eØa vÐÍute tena labhyas —tasyaiØa ÀtmÀ vÐÍute tanÓÌ svÀm
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction97“This Supreme Self is not to be won through the philosopher'scommentary, nor by brain-power, nor againthrough a wide knowledge of scripture. He alone can winHim who is chosen by God; to him alone this Supreme Selfreveals His own body.” Therefore, it is he who is capableof establishing with God sweet relations like those of friendshipand the rest that is the fit recipient of the knowledgegiven in the Gita.This implies another thing of great importance. God choseArjuna because he embodied in himself both devotee andfriend. There are many kinds of devotees. Normally, a devoteebrings to mind a teacher-disciple relationship. Love is nodoubt there behind such devotion, but ordinarily obedience,respect and a blind devotedness are its special characteristics.But friend does not show respect to friend. They jokeand play and have fun together, use endearing terms; forthe sake of the play they may taunt and even show disrespect,use abusive language, make undue demands on eachother. Friend is not always obedient to friend; and even thoughone may act according to a friend's advice out of admirationfor his deep wisdom and sincere goodwill, that is notdone blindly. One argues with him, expresses doubts, at timeseven protests against his views. The first lesson in the relationof friends is the giving up of all fear; to give up alloutward show of respect is its second lesson; love is itsfirst and last word. He is the fit recipient of the knowledgegiven in the Gita who understands this world-movement asa sweet and mysterious game full of love and bliss, electsGod as his playmate and can bind Him to himself in a tieof friendship. He is the fit recipient of the knowledge givenin the Gita who realises the greatness and the power of God,the depth of His wisdom and even His awfulness, and yetis not overwhelmed and plays with Him without fear andwith a smiling face.
98Bengali WritingsThe relationship of friendship may include as part ofthe game all other kinds of relationship. The teacher-disciplerelation — if based on friendship becomes a very sweetone; such precisely was the relation which Arjuna establishedwith Sri Krishna at the commencement of the Gita'sdiscourse. “You are my best well-wisher and friend, in whomelse shall I take refuge? I have lost my power of thought, Iam frightened by the weight of responsibility, I am swayedby doubts as to what I should do, overwhelmed by acutesorrow. You save me, give me advice. I leave in your handsall responsibility for my weal in this world and beyond.” Inthis spirit did Arjuna approach the Friend and Helper ofmankind with the object of receiving knowledge. The relationof mother and child too becomes part of friendship.One older in age and superior in wisdom loves a youngerand less enlightened friend as a mother does, gives him protectionand care, always holds him in his lap and saves himfrom danger and evil. Sri Krishna manifests his side of motherlylove as well to one who establishes friendship with Him. Friendshipmay bring with it not only the depths of motherly lovebut also the keenness and acute joy of married love. Friendscrave each other's companionship always, pine at separation,are delighted at the endearing touch, and feel a joy in evengiving up one's life for the other's sake. The relation ofservice too becomes very sweet when it forms part of friendship.As has been said above, the more the endearing relationshipsone can establish with the Supreme Godhead,the more does the friendship blossom, the more does onegain in capacity to receive the knowledge of the Gita.Arjuna, the friend of Krishna, is the principal actor inthe Mahabharata; in the Gita the teaching about the yogaof works is the primary teaching. Knowledge, devotion andworks, these three paths are not mutually contradictory. Inthe path of works, to do works founded on knowledge and in
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction99the power given by devotion, to act for the purpose of God,at His bidding and in union with Him, this is the teachingof the Gita. Those who are frightened by the sorrows ofthe world, tormented by the distaste for life, vairÀgya, thosewho have lost interest in this play of God, are desirous ofhiding themselves in the lap of Infinity and leave this play,theirs is a different path. No such feeling or desire was therein Arjuna, the mighty warrior and the bravest of heroic men.Sri Krishna has not revealed this supreme secret to a quietascetic or wise philosopher, has not elected any Brahminvowed to non-violence as the recipient of this teaching; aKshatriya warrior of tremendous might and prowess wasconsidered to be the fit receptacle for obtaining this incomparableknowledge. He alone is capable of entry into thedeepest secrets of this teaching who can remain undisturbedby victories or defeats in the battle of life. This Self is notto be won by one who lacks in strength: nÀyam-ÀtmÀbalahÈnena labhyaÕ. He alone who cherishes an aspirationto find God in preference to a desire for liberation, mumukØutva,can have a taste of the proximity of God, realisehimself as eternally free in his true nature, and will becapable of rejecting the desire for liberation as being thelast resort of the Ignorance. He alone is capable of passingbeyond the modes of Nature, gunÀtÈta, who after rejectingthe tamasic and rajasic forms of egoism is unwilling to remainbound even by an egoism of the sattwic type. Arjunahas fulfilled his rajasic propensities by following the law ofthe Kshatriya, and has, at the same time, given the powerof rajas a turn towards sattva, by accepting the sattwic ideal.Such a person is an excellent receptacle for the Gita's teaching.Arjuna was not the best among his great contemporaries.In spiritual knowledge, Vyasa was the greatest; in all kindsof worldly knowledge of that epoch, Bhishma was the best;in the thirst for knowledge king Dhritarashtra and Vidura led
100Bengali Writingsthe rest; in saintliness and sattwic qualities Yudhishthira wasthe best; in devotion there was none equal to Uddhava andAkrura; his eldest brother Kama, the mighty warrior led ininborn strength and courage. And yet, it was Arjuna whomthe Lord of the worlds elected; it was in his hands that Heplaced divine weapons like the Gandiva bow and gave tohim eternal victory; it was through him that thousands uponthousands of India's world-renowned fighters were madeto fall; and he founded for Yudhishthira his undisputedempire as a gift of Arjuna's prowess. Above all, it wasArjuna whom He decided as being the one fit recipient ofthe supreme knowledge given in the Gita. It was Arjunaalone who is the hero and the principal actor in the Mahabharata,every section of that poem proclaims the fameand the glory of him alone. This is no undue partiality onthe part of the Supreme Divine or of the great Vyasa, theauthor of the Mahabharata. This high position derives fromcomplete faith and self-surrender. He who surrenders tothe Supreme with complete faith and dependence and withoutmaking any claims, all responsibility for his own good orharm, weal or woe, virtue or sin; he who wants to actaccording to His behests instead of being attached to worksdear to his own heart; who accepts the impulsions receivedfrom Him instead of satisfying his own propensities; whoputs to use in His work the qualities and inspirations givenby Him instead of eagerly hugging at the qualities admiredby himself — it is that selfless and faithful Karmayoginwho becomes the Supreme's dearest friend andthe best vehicle of His Power; through him is accomplishedflawlessly a stupendous work for the world. Muhammad,the founder of Islam, was a supreme yogin of this type.Arjuna too was ever on the alert to make an effort at thisself-surrender; this effort was the cause of Sri Krishna'slove and satisfaction. He alone who makes a serious effortat self-surrender is the best fitted to receive the
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction101Gita's teaching. Sri Krishna becomes his Teacher and Friendand takes over all responsibility for him in this world andin the next.The CircumstanceIn order to understand fully the motives and causes ofthe acts and words of a man, it is necessary to know underwhat circumstances the acts were done or the words spoken.When at the start of the great war of Kurukshetra theexchange of missiles had begun, pravÐtte Ùastra-sampÀte,it was at that moment that the Lord revealed the Gita. Tomany this has occasioned surprise and annoyance; they sayit must have been due to the author's carelessness or faultyintelligence. But in actual fact, Sri Krishna revealed theknowledge contained in the Gita, at that particular momentand in that situation to a person in that frame of mind, withfull knowledge of the time, place and circumstance.The time was at the commencement of the war. Thosewho have not developed or put to a test their heroic qualitiesor strength in a mighty flood of action can never befit to receive the knowledge given in the Gita. Moreoverthose who have embarked on a great and difficult endeavour,an endeavour which automatically gives rise tomany obstacles and obstructions, many enmities, fearsof many setbacks, when in the course of that great endeavourthere is acquired a divine strength, to them atthat moment in order to take the endeavour to its finalconclusion, for the successful carrying out of the divine'swork is this knowledge revealed. The Gita lays down inthe Yoga of works the foundations of the path to God. Itis through works done with faith and devotion that knowledgeis born. Therefore the traveller on the path indicatedby the Gita does not leave the path and have the visionof God in a remote and quiet hermitage or hill or in a
102Bengali Writingssecluded spot; that heavenly Light illumines the world forhim, that sweet and powerful Word comes within his hearing,all of a sudden in midway, amidst the noise and bustleof works.The place was a battlefield, between two armies wheremissiles were flying. To those who travel on this path, takethe lead in works of this nature, often the realisation, yogasiddhi,comes and the supreme knowledge dawns, all of asudden at a critical and momentous hour which determinesthe march of destiny in this direction or that, depending onthe nature of their acts. That knowledge is no bar to action,it is intimately connected with action. It is no doubttrue that knowledge also dawns in meditation, in loneliness,when one turns back on one's self; that is why the sageslove to be alone. But the traveller on the path of the Gita'sYoga can so divide his instruments of mind, life and bodythat he experiences loneliness in the midst of a crowd, peaceamidst noise, supreme repose while engaged in a whirl ofactivities. He does not regulate the inner being by outwardcircumstances, he controls the outer by the inner state. Theordinary Yogin is afraid of life, he escapes from it and takesto Yoga in the shelter and protection of an Ashram. Lifeitself is the Ashram for the Karmayogin. The ordinary Yogindesires an outward peace and silence, a disturbance ofthe peace impedes his inner askesis. The Karmayogin enjoysa vast peace and silence within; this state becomes deeperin the midst of external noise; any external disturbance doesnot harm that inner askesis, it remains undisturbed. Peoplesay, how was the Sri Krishna-Arjuna dialogue possible inthe middle of armies going in for battle? The answer is, itwas possible through the power of Yoga. Through that powerof Yoga, amidst the din of battle, at one particular spot, withSri Krishna and Arjuna peace reigned within and without; thenoise of war could not affect these two. In this is implied
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction103another spiritual teaching applicable to works. Those whopractise the Gita's yoga are the most capable workers andyet remain unattached to their work. Right in the midst oftheir work they may hear the inner call of the Self, desistfrom the work and plunge themselves in yoga and do theinner askesis. They know that the work is God's, the fruitis His, we are instruments; hence they have no anxiety aboutthe fruit of their work. They also know that the inner callcomes for facilitating the yoga of works, for an improvementin the working, for the increase of knowledge andpower. Therefore they do not fear to desist from their work;they know that in the spiritual effort there can never be anunnecessary waste of time.The attitude of Arjuna comes from a rising of the lastdoubts of the Karmayogin. There are many who, perplexedby world-problems, the problem of suffering and pleasure,the problem of sin and virtue, declare an escape or flightas the only pathway to the good, and proclaim the virtuesof an ascetic withdrawal from life, vairÀgya and the renunciationof works. Lord Buddha has taught that the worldis impermanent and full of suffering, and has shown theway to attaining Nirvana. Others like Jesus and Tolstoy havebeen staunchly opposed to war which has been the ancientlaw of the world and to the system of marriage which maintainsthe continuity of humankind. The ascetics say, workitself is the product of ignorance, reject ignorance, reject allwork, be quiet and actionless. The Advaitin says, the worldis false, utterly false, merge yourself in Brahman. Then whythis world? Why this life? If God exists, then why does Heundertake this useless meaningless labour like that of an immatureboy? Why did He start this arid joke? If the Self aloneexists, if the world is nothing but an illusion, why again doesthis Self impose this ugly dream on its pure existence? Theatheist says, there is neither God nor Self, there is only
104Bengali Writingsthe blind action of a blind force. But what kind of viewis that? Whose is this force, from where is it born, andwhy again is it blind and insane? No one has been ableto give a satisfactory answer to these questions, neitherthe Christian nor the Buddhist, nor the Advaitin, the atheistor scientist. All are silent on these points and are at thesame time eager to shirk the issue by evading the question.Only the Upanishads and the Gita following theirline have been unwilling to shirk the issue in this way.That is why the Gita has been chanted during the war ofKurukshetra. Acts terribly worldly — the killing of one'steachers and brothers and kin — these were the objectsof the war. At the commencement of that war whichdestroyed thousands of creatures, Arjuna throws awaythe divine bow from his hands knowing not what to do,says in a pitiable tone:tatkiÌ karmaÍi ghore mÀÌ niyojayasi keÙava (Gita 3. 01)“Then why do you engage me in this terrible work?”In answer there arises, amidst the din of battle, in tones ofthunder, the mighty song uttered by the mouth of God:kuru karmaiva tasmÀttvaÌ pÓrvaiÕ pÓrvataraÌ kÐtam (4. 15)yogasthaÕ kuru karmÀÍi saÚgaÌ tyaktvÀ dhanaÌjaya (2. 48)buddhiyukto jahÀtÈha ubhe sukÐtaduØkÐtetasmÀdyogÀya yujyasva yogaÕ karmasu kauÙalam (2. 50)asakto hyÀcarankarma paramÀpnoti pÓruØaÕ (3. 19)mayi sarvÀÍi karmÀÍi saÌnyasyÀdhyÀtmacetasÀnirÀÙÈrnirmamo bhÓtvÀ yudhyasva vigatajvaraÕ (3. 30)gatasaÚgasya muktasya jÜÀnÀvasthitacetasaÕyajÜÀyÀcarataÕ karma samagraÌ pravilÈyate (4. 23)
VI. 4. The Gita: An Introduction105ajÜÀnenÀvÐtaÌ jÜÀnaÌ tena muhyanti jantavaÕ (5. 15)bhoktÀraÌ yajÜatapasÀÌ sarvalokamaheÙvaramsuhÐdaÌ sarvabhÓtÀnÀÌ jÜÀtvÀ mÀÌ ÙÀntimÐcchati (5. 29)mayÀ hatÀÌstvaÌ jahi mÀvyathiØÒhÀyudhyasva jetÀsi raÍe sapatnÀn (11. 34)yasya nÀhaÌkÐto bhÀvo buddhiryasya na lipyatehatvÀ’pi sa imÀÌl lokÀn na hanti na nibadhyate (18. 17)“Therefore you go on doing works; the kind ofwork your ancestors have been doing, that work youtoo have to perform.... Do works in a state of unionwith the Divine, by giving up attachment.... Hewhose will and intelligence are fixed in yoga passesbeyond virtue and sin in the field of work itself.Therefore strive for the yoga, yoga is the best meansto work.... If a man works in a spirit of detachment,he will certainly find God.... With a heart filled withknowledge, entrust to Me all your works; get ridof sorrow by giving up desire and by rejecting egoism;enter the fray.... He who has no attachmentsleft and is free, whose mind lives always in knowledge,he who does works for the sake of sacrifice,all the works of such a man instead of being a causeof bondage at once get completely dissolved in Me....The knowledge that lies hidden within all creaturesis covered up by ignorance. That is why they fallinto delusion by creating the dualities like joy andsorrow, sin and virtue.... A supreme peace can beobtained by knowing Me as the Lord of all theworlds, the enjoyer of all kinds of works like sacrificeand askesis, and the friend and beloved ofall beings.... It is I who have killed your enemies,
106Bengali Writingsyou destroy them as a mere instrument, do not grieve;get into the fight, you will conquer the adversary in war....He who has an inner being free from egoism, whose willand intelligence remain unattached even if he destroysthe whole world, still he does not kill, does not undergoany bondage of sin...”There is no sign here of an evasion of the question, ofshirking the issue. The issue has been set forth in clear terms.What is God, what is the world, what is life, what is theway to right living? These questions have been answeredby the Gita in brief. And yet the Gita's aim is not to teachasceticism but to teach the way of works. Herein lies theuniversal utility of the Gita.
The Gita: Text — TranslationChapter OnedhÐtarÀØÒra uvÀcadharmakØetre kurukØetre samavetÀ yuyutsavaÕmÀmakÀÕ pÀÍÄavÀÙcaiva kimakurvata saÜjaya (1. 01)Dhritarashtra said,O Sanjaya, gathered together for war on the holy fieldof Kurukshetra, what did my partisans and those ofthe Pandavas do?saÜjaya uvÀcadÐØÒvÀ tu pÀÍÄavÀnÈkaÌ vyÓÄhaÌ duryodhanastadÀÀcÀryamupasaÌgamya rÀjÀ vacanamabravÈt (1. 02)Sanjaya said,Thereupon, King Duryodhana on seeing the Pandavaarmy arranged in battle order approached the preceptorand said these words:paÙyaitÀÌ pÀÍÄuputrÀÍÀmÀcÀrya mahatÈÌ camÓmvyÓÄhÀÌ drupadaputreÍa tava ÙiØyeÍa dhÈmatÀ (1. 03)“Look, O Teacher, look at this huge Pandava armyarranged in order of battle by your clever discipleDhrishtadyumna, the son of Drupada.
108Bengali Writingsatra ÙÓrÀ maheØvÀsÀ bhÈmÀrjunasamÀ yudhiyuyudhÀno virÀÒaÙca drupadaÙca mahÀrathaÕ (1. 04)dhÐØÒaketuÙcekitÀnaÕ kÀÙirÀjaÙca vÈryavÀnpurujitkuntibhojaÙca ÙaibyaÙca narapuÌgavaÕ (1. 05)yudhÀmanyuÙca vikrÀnta uttamaujÀÙca vÈryavÀnsaubhadro draupadeyÀÙca sarva eva mahÀrathÀÕ (1. 06)In this enormous army there are courageous men andmighty wielders of bow like unto Bhima and Arjuna— Yuyudhana, Virata, and Drupada, the great chariot-warrior.There are Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana and the man ofgreat might, the king of Kashi, there are Purujit andKuntibhoja and Shaibya, the best of men. The powerfulYudhamanyu is there and the mighty Uttamauja,Abhimanyu the son of Subhadra, and the sons ofDraupadi, great warriors all.asmÀkaÌ tu viÙiØÒÀ ye tÀnnibodha dvijottamanÀyakÀ mama sainyasya saÌjÜÀrthaÌ tÀnbravÈmi te (1. 07)Those among us who are possessed of extraordinarystrength, those who are the leaders of my troops, ofthem I recount the names that you may rememberthem, note:bhavÀnbhÈØmaÙca karÍaÙca kÐpaÙca samitiÌjayaÕaÙvatthÀmÀ vikarÍaÙca saumadattir jayadrathaÕ (1. 08)anye ca bahavaÕ ÙÓrÀ madarthe tyaktajÈvitÀÕnÀnÀÙastrapraharaÍÀÕ sarve yuddhaviÙÀradÀÕ (1. 09)Yourself and Bhishma, Karna and Kripa, thewinner in battle, Aswatthama, Vikarna, Bhurisrava,the son of Somadatta, and Jayadratha,and many another man of courage have givenup their attachment to life for my sake. All of
VI. 5. The Gita: Text — Translation109them are skilled in warfare and are accoutredwith many kinds of weapons.aparyÀptaÌ tadasmÀkaÌ balaÌ bhÈØmÀbhirakØitamparyÀptaÌ tvidameteØÀÌ balaÌ bhÈmÀbhirakØitam (1. 10)The strength of this army of ours is unlimited, ontop of that Bhishma is our defender; the strengthof that army of theirs is limited and Bhima aloneis their hope and protection.ayaneØu ca sarveØu yathÀbhÀgamavasthitÀÕbhÈØmamevÀbhirakØantu bhavantaÕ sarva eva hi (1. 11)Therefore all of you should protect Bhishmaalone by remaining at your appointed stationsamong the troops at all the entries to the battle-field.”tasya saÌjanayanharØaÌ kuruvÐddhaÕ pitÀmahaÕsiÌhanÀdaÌ vinadyoccaiÕ ÙaÛkhaÌ dadhmau pratÀpavÀn (1. 12)Giving rise to joy in Duryodhana's heart, grandfatherBhishma the oldest of the Kauravas uttereda loud battle-cry that resounded throughthe field and blew with great power into hisconch.tataÕ ÙaÛkhÀÙca bheryaÙca paÍavÀnakagomukhÀÕsahasaivÀbhyahanyanta sa Ùabdastumulo'bhavat (1. 13)Then suddenly there arose the sounds ofconches and horns and war-drums of allkinds, the battle-field was filled with loudnoises.
110Bengali WritingstataÕ Ùvetairhayairyukte mahati syandane sthitaumÀdhavaÕ pÀÍÄavaÙcaiva divyau ÙaÛkhau pradaghmatuÕ (1. 14)Thereupon, standing on their huge chariotdrawn by white horses, Krishna and Pandu'sson Arjuna blew their divine conches.pÀÜcajanyaÌ hÐØÈkeÙo devadattaÌ dhanaÌjayaÕpauÍÄraÌ dadhmau mahÀÙaÛkhaÌ bhÈmakarmÀ vÐkodaraÕ(1. 15)Hrishikesha blew his Pancajanya, Arjuna hisconch named Devadatta, and Bhima of terrifyingdeeds blew his mighty conch namedPaundra.anantavijayaÌ rÀjÀ kuntÈputro yudhiØÒhiraÕnakulaÕ sahadevaÙca sughoØamaÍipuØpakau (1. 16)King Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, blew hisconch Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadevablew theirs named Sughosha and Manipushpaka.kÀÙyaÙca parameØvÀsaÕ ÙikhaÍÄÈ ca mahÀrathaÕdhÐØÒadyumno virÀÒaÙca sÀtyakiÙcÀparÀjitaÕ (1. 17)drupado draupadeyÀÙca sarvaÙaÕ pÐthivÈpatesaubhadraÙca mahÀbÀhuÕ ÙaÛkhÀndadhmuÕ pÐthakpÐthak(1. 18)Kashi's king, the supreme archer, the great chariot-fighterShikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna and theunbeaten warrior Satyaki, Drupada and Draupadi'ssons, the long-armed son of Subhadra,all blew their respective conches from everydirection.
VI. 5. The Gita: Text — Translation111sa ghoØo dhÀrtarÀØÒrÀÍÀÌ hÐdayÀni vyadÀrayatnabhaÙca pÐthivÈÌ caiva tumulo vyanunÀdayan (1. 19)That mighty report sent tumultuous echoesthrough earth and sky and rent asunder thehearts of Dhritarashtra's sons.atha vyavasthitÀndÐØÒvÀ dhÀrtarÀØÒrÀn kapidhvajaÕpravÐtte ÙastrasaÌpÀte dhanurudyamya pÀÍÄavaÕhÐØÈkeÙaÌ tadÀ vÀkyamidamÀha mahÈpate (1. 20)Then, after the missiles had begun to fly, Pandu'sson Arjuna raised his bow and said thesewords to Hrishikesha:arjuna uvÀcasenayorubhayormadhye rathaÌ sthÀpaya me'cyutayÀvadetÀnnirÈkØe'haÌ yoddhukÀmÀnavasthitÀn (1. 21)kairmayÀ saha yoddhavyamasminraÍasamudyame (1. 22)yotsyamÀnÀnavekØe'haÌ ya ete'tra samÀgatÀÕdhÀrtarÀØÒrasya durbuddheryuddhe priyacikÈrØavaÕ (1. 23)Arjuna said:“O sinless one, place my chariot at a mid-pointbetween the two armies, that I may gaze forsometime at these adversaries seized with thedesire for battle. Let me see who are they whowant a fight, who have come together here withthe object of performing in the battle-field actsdear to Duryodhana, the misguided son of Dhritarashtra.”saÜjaya uvÀcaevamukto hÐØÈkeÙo guÄÀkeÙena bhÀratasenayorubhayormadhye sthÀpayitvÀ rathottamam (1. 24)
112Bengali WritingsbhÈØmadroÍapramukhataÕ sarveØÀÌ ca mahÈkØitÀmuvÀca pÀrtha paÙyaitÀnsamavetÀnkurÓniti (1. 25)Sanjaya said:On hearing these words of Arjuna, Hrishikeshaplaced that excellent chariot at a mid-pointbetween the two armies, and arriving in frontof Bhishma, Drona and all the other princes,said, “O Partha, watch all the Kurus gatheredhere.”tatrÀpaÙyatsthitÀnpÀrthaÕ pitÔnatha pitÀmahÀnÀcÀryÀnmÀtulÀnbhrÀtÔnputrÀnpautrÀnsakhÈÌstathÀÙvaÙurÀnsuhÐdaÙcaiva senayorubhayorapi (1. 26)In that field of battle, Partha saw standingamong the two opposing forces, fathers andgrandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers, sonsand grandsons, friends, fathers-in-law and intimatecompanions, all his kith and kin.tÀnsamÈkØya sa kaunteyaÕ sarvÀnbandhÓnavasthitÀnkÐpayÀ parayÀviØÒo viØÈdannidamabravÈt (1. 27)On seeing all those friends and relations thusstanding before him, Kunti's son was overtakenby an acute sense of pity and said thesewords, his heart stricken with grief:arjuna uvÀcadÐØÒvemaÌ svajanaÌ kÐØÍa yuyutsuÌ samupasthitamsÈdanti mama gÀtrÀÍi mukhaÌ ca pariÙuØyati (1. 28)vepathuÙca ÙarÈre me romaharØaÙca jÀyategÀÍÄÈvaÌ sraÌsate hastÀttvakcaiva paridahyate (1. 29)
VI. 5. The Gita: Text — Translation113Arjuna said:“O Krishna, on seeing all these my own people rangedfor battle, the limbs of my body are feeling weary,my mouth is getting parched, all over the body thereis shivering and the hairs stand on edge, the Gandivabow is slipping out of my hand without control, myskin is as if burning with fire.na ca ÙaknomyavasthÀtuÌ bhramatÈva ca me manaÕnimittÀni ca paÙyÀmi viparÈtÀni keÙava (1. 30)I can no longer keep standing, my mind is beginningas if to whirl, O Keshava, I am seeing evil omens.na ca Ùreyo'nupaÙyÀmi hatvÀ svajanamÀhavena kÀÛkØe vijayaÌ kÐØÍa na ca rÀjyaÌ sukhÀni ca (1. 31)I do not see any good from killing my own people inbattle. O Krishna, I do not wish for victory, nor do Iwant a kingdom nor seek happiness either.kiÌ no rÀjyena govinda kiÌ bhogairjÈvitena vÀyeØÀmarthe kÀÛkØitaÌ no rÀjyaÌ bhogÀÕ sukhÀni ca (1. 32)ta ime'vasthitÀ yuddhe prÀÍÀÌstyaktvÀ dhanÀni caÀcÀryÀÕ pitaraÕ putrÀstathaiva ca pitÀmahÀÕ (1. 33)Tell me, O Govinda, what do we gain from kingdom?what profit is there in enjoyment? of what use is lifeitself? Those for whom kingdom and enjoyment andlife become desirable are themselves present in thisbattlefield after renouncing their life and wealth —they who are teachers and fathers, sons and grandfathers,mÀtulÀÕ ÙvaÙurÀÕ pautrÀÕ ÙyÀlÀÕ sambandhinastathÀetÀnna hantumicchÀmi ghnato'pi madhusÓdana (1. 34)
114Bengali Writingsapi trailokyarÀjyasya hetoÕ kiÌ nu mahÈkÐtenihatya dhÀrtarÀØÒrÀnnaÕ kÀ prÈtiÕ syÀjjanÀrdana (1. 35)uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law andother relatives. O Madhusudana, if they kill me, eventhen I do not wish to kill them, not even for thesake of dominion over the three worlds, what to sayof the lordship of earth. What, O Janardana, canbe our happiness of mind by killing the sons of Dhritarashtra?pÀpamevÀÙrayedasmÀnhatvaitÀnÀtatÀyinaÕtasmÀnnÀrhÀ vayaÌ hantuÌ dhÀrtarÀØÒrÀnsvabÀndhavÀnsvajanaÌ hi kathaÌ hatvÀ sukhinaÕ syÀma mÀdhava (1. 36)They are out to kill, nevertheless, to kill them wouldbe to give shelter in our mind to sin. Therefore,since the sons of Dhritarashtra are our kin, we arenot the persons fit to destroy them. In what way,O Madhava, shall we be happy by killing our ownpeople?yadyapyete na paÙyanti lobhopahatacetasaÕkulakØayakÐtaÌ doØaÌ mitradrohe ca pÀtakam (1. 37)Under the influence of greed they have lost theirunderstanding, and they do not appreciate theevils arising from a deterioration of the clansand the heinous sin of doing harm to one'sfriends.kathaÌ na jÜeyamasmÀbhiÕ pÀpÀdasmÀnnivartitumkulakØayakÐtaÌ doØaÌ prapaÙyadbhirjanÀrdana (1. 38)But we, O Janardana, realise the harm caused by thedeterioration of clans. Why should we not wake to the
VI. 5. The Gita: Text — Translation115knowledge, why should we not desist from this sin?kulakØaye praÍaÙyanti kuladharmÀÕ sanÀtanÀÕdharme naØÒe kulaÌ kÐtsnam adharmo'bhibhavatyuta (1. 39)With a deterioration of the clan, all the establishedlaws of right living come to an end, andwith that, unrighteousness overtakes the entireclan.adharmÀbhibhavÀtkÐØÍa praduØyanti kulastriyaÕstrÈØu duØÒÀsu vÀrØÍeya jÀyate varÍasaÌkaraÕ (1. 40)Under the influence of unrighteousness, O Krishna,the women of the clan lose their virtue; whenthe women lose their virtue, there is admixtureof castes.saÌkaro narakÀyaiva kulaghnÀnÀÌ kulasya capatanti pitaro hyeØÀÌ luptapiÍÄodakakriyÀÕ (1. 41)The admixture of castes is the cause of the clansmenand the destroyers of clans going to hell,because the ancestors are thereby deprived of thefood and water given them as offerings and theyfall from the world of the fathers.doØairetaiÕ kulaghnÀnÀÌ varÍasaÌkarakÀrakaiÕutsÀdyante jÀtidharmÀÕ kuladharmÀÙca ÙÀÙvatÀÕ (1. 42)As a result of all these evils caused by the destroyersof clans and leading to the admixture ofcastes, the old established laws of the nation andthe clan come to naught.utsannakuladharmÀÍÀÌ manuØyÀÍÀÌ janÀrdananarake niyataÌ vÀso bhavatÈtyanuÙuÙruma (1. 43)
116Bengali WritingsIn hell is assigned the abode of those the laws of whoseclans have come to naught; this is what we have heardfrom of old.aho bata mahat pÀpaÌ kartuÌ vyavasitÀ vayamyad rÀjyasukhalobhena hantuÌ svajanam udyatÀÕ (1. 44)Lo! the extremely heinous sin we had determined tocommit, that we were making efforts to kill our ownpeople out of greed for the pleasure of dominion.yadi mÀmapratÈkÀramaÙastraÌ ÙastrapÀÍayaÕdhÀrtarÀØÒrÀ raÍe hanyustanme kØemataraÌ bhavet (1. 45)It were better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra accoutredin arms should kill me when I am withoutarms and make no effort to resist.”saÜjaya uvÀcaevamuktvÀrjunaÕ saÚkhye rathopastha upÀviÙatvisÐjya saÙaraÌ cÀpaÌ ÙokasaÌvignamÀnasaÕ (1. 46)Sanjaya said:With these words, his mind stained by the upsurgeof grief, Arjuna threw away his bow with the arrowfixed on it and sat down in his chariot.
Sanjaya's Gift of Divine VisionTHE Gita was spoken on the eveof the Great Mahabharata War. Therefore we find in thevery first verse of the Gita, King Dhritarashtra seeking informationabout the War from Sanjaya who had receivedthe gift of divine vision. The two armies are gathered onthe battlefield; what are their first moves, this is what theold king is eager to know. In the eyes of the educated manin modern India, educated that is on the English pattern,Sanjaya's gift of divine vision is no more than a poetic fancy.If we had said that such and such a person gifted withclairvoyance and clairaudience was able to present beforehis senses the frightful scenes and war-cries of the greatheroes in a distant battlefield, then perhaps the statementwould not have been so unworthy of credence. And one isinclined to dismiss as a still more absurd story that this powerhad been given to Sanjaya by the great Vyasa. Had we saidthat a famous European scientist having hypnotised suchand such a person came to have some description of thatdistant event from his mouth, then perhaps those who havestudied with care something about hypnotism in the Westmight have lent some credence. And yet, hypnotism is simplyone of those undesirable elements of Yogic power thathave to be rejected. There are hidden within man manysuch powers as were known to civilised peoples in ancienttimes and developed by them. But that knowledge has beenwashed away in the flood of ignorance born of Kali, theAge of Darkness, it has been preserved only in part withina limited circle as a secret lore that should be kept a secret.
118Bengali WritingsThere is a power of subtle vision beyond the grossphysical sense organ, in a subtle organ through which wecan bring within our ken objects and knowledge inaccessibleto the gross organs of sense, can have vision of subtlethings, can listen to subtle sounds, smell imperceptible smells,touch subtle physical objects, and have taste of subtle foods.The utmost development of subtle sight is what is calleddivine vision, through its power objects that are at a distance,secret objects or those belonging to another worldcome within the scope of our knowledge. We see no reasonto disbelieve that the great sage Vyasa possessing supremeYogic powers was capable of imparting this divinevision to Sanjaya. If we are not incredulous about the wonderfulpower of Western hypnosis, why should we be incredulousabout the power of the great Vyasa with his incomparableknowledge? In every page of history and in everyactivity of human life there is available ample evidence thata powerful man can impart his power to another. Heroicmen of action like Napoleon and Ito prepared collaboratorsin their work by imparting their own power to fit recipients.Even a very ordinary Yogin having obtained some specialpower can impart his power to another for a little while orfor a special purpose, what to speak of the great Vyasa whowas the world's most accomplished genius and a man ofextraordinary Yogic realisation.In fact, the existence of this divine vision far from beingan absurdity must be a scientific truth. We know that theeye does not see, it is not the ear that hears nor the nosethat smells, the skin does not experience the sense of touchnor the tongue the feeling of taste; it is the mind that sees,the mind that hears, smells, feels the sense of touch or taste.This truth has been accepted by philosophy and psychologyfor a long time. In hypnotism it has been proved by practicalscientific tests that the function of the organ of sight can beperformed by any of the sensory nerves even when the eyes
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision119are shut. This goes only to prove that the gross organs ofsense like the eye are simply convenient means for the acquisitionof knowledge. We have become their slaves boundby a long habit of the gross physical body. But in realitywe can convey the knowledge to the mind through any ofthe channels in the body, as the blind can get by the touchan accurate idea of the nature and shape of things.But this difference may be noticed between the blindman's “sight” and that of a man in a state of dream, namely,that the latter sees an image of the thing in his mind.This precisely is what is called seeing. In actual fact, I donot see the book in front of me, it is on seeing the imageof the book reflected within my eyes that the mind says, “Ihave seen a book”. But this too is proved by the seeingand hearing of a distant object or event by one in a dreamstatethat in order to obtain a knowledge of an object thereis no necessity for any of the physical channels in the body;we can see through a subtle power of vision. Every daythere are growing in number such examples as seeing mentallyfrom a room in London events taking place at the timein Edinburgh. This is what is called subtle sight.There is this difference between subtle sight and divinevision that one possessing subtle sight sees the imageof things invisible in his mind, whereas in divine vision, insteadof seeing the things in our mind, we see them in frontof the physical eye, instead of hearing the sounds as a currentof thought we hear them with the physical ear. A simpleinstance of this is the seeing of contemporary events ina crystal or ink. But for a Yogi endowed with divine visionthere is no need of such material aids, he can on developingthis power become aware of events in another time andspace by removing the bondage of space and time withoutany material aid. We have obtained enough evidence of thisremoval of the barrier of space; numerous and satisfactory
120Bengali Writingsproofs that the barrier of time too can be removed, thatman can be a seer of the past, present and future have notyet been presented before the world. But if it is possible toremove the space barrier, it cannot be said that to removethe barrier of time is impossible.In any case, with the divine vision given him by Vyasa,Sanjaya while remaining in Hastinapur saw with his eyesas if he were standing in the battlefield of Kurukshetra thepartisans of Dhritarashtra and the Pandavas gathered there,heard with his ears the words of Duryodhana, the fiercebattle-cry of grandfather Bhishma, the mighty sound ofPanchajanya proclaiming the destruction of the Kurus, andthe dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna bringing out theimport of the Gita.In our opinion, the Mahabharata is not a metaphorical piecenor are Krishna and Arjuna the creations of poetic fancy, theGita too is not the speculation of a modern logician or philosopher.Therefore we have to prove that anything said in theGita is not impossible or against reason. It is for this reasonthat we have discussed at such length the question ofpossessing the divine vision.The Cunning of Duryodhana's SpeechSanjaya began his description of those initial actsof war. Duryodhana on seeing the battle formations ofthe Pandavas presented himself before Dronacharya. Whyhe went to Drona needs an explanation. Bhishma wasthe commander-in-chief, it was he who should havebeen informed of matters concerning the war. But Duryodhanawith his crooked mind had no faith in Bhishma.Bhishma had a fondness for the Pandavas, was the leaderof the peace-party in Hastinapur. Had it been onlya war between the Pandavas and Dhritarashtra's sons,he would never have taken up arms. But on seeing
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision121the Kuru kingdom threatened by the Panchala nation theold enemy of the Kurus and their equal in the greed forempire, the most outstanding personality, warrior and statesmanof the Kuru nation was determined to preserve till theend the glory and the supremacy of his own people by beingappointed their commander-in-chief, even as he hadguarded them for long with the strength of his arms. Duryodhanaon his part was of an Asuric nature, to him themeasure and motive of all acts were the feelings of attractionand repulsion, hence he was incapable of understandingthe point of view of the great man and his devotion toduty. He could never believe that this man of hard austeritycarried in his heart the strength to kill in the battlefieldout of a sense of duty even the Pandavas who were to himas if his own self. One who has the good of his country atheart tries his utmost to make his people desist from injusticeand evil by expressing his views in council, but oncethe injustice and the evil are accepted by the people he defendshis nation and subdues its enemies even in unrighteous warwithout caring for his own personal opinions. Bhishma toohad taken this line. But this attitude was beyond Duryodhana'scomprehension. Therefore instead of approachingBhishma he thought of Drona.Drona personally was a staunch enemy of the Panchalaking, prince Dhrishtadyumna of the Panchalas was determinedto kill his preceptor Drona. In other words, Duryodhanathought that if reminded of this personal enmitythe teacher would give up all leanings towards peace and fightwith all enthusiasm. He did not say this in so many words.He only mentioned Dhrishtadyumna by name, then in orderto please Bhishma as well, described the latter as the defenderof the Kuru kingdom and the hope of their victory.First he mentioned the names of the principal fighters amongthe enemy, then he uttered the names of some and not all of
122Bengali Writingsthe commanders in his army; the names of Bhishma andDrona alone were enough for the success of his scheme,but he added four or five other names to hide his true purpose.Then he said, “My army is enormously big, Bhishmais my commander-in-chief, the Pandava army is comparativelysmall, their hopes centre round the strength of Bhima.Therefore why should not victory be ours? But asBhishma is our mainstay, it devolves on everybody to protecthim from enemy assaults. If he is there our victory isinevitable.” Many take the word “aparyÀpta” in an oppositesense, this does not stand to reason. Duryodhana hada comparatively bigger army, the commanders of his troopswere not inferior to any in courage or prowess. Why shouldthe boastful Duryodhana go out of the way to create misgivingsby deprecating his own strength?Bhishma understood the secret motive behind Duryodhana'swords and the ideas he had in his mind; to removehis doubts he uttered the battle-cry and sounded his conchshell.This gave rise to joy in the heart of Duryodhana. Hethought that his object had been met, Drona and Bhishmawould give up their hesitation and fight.The First HintsAs soon as the battlefield was shaken by the heavensplittingsound of Bhishma's conch, there sounded on allsides of the huge Kaurava host the instruments of war musicand the men in their chariots began to feel elated by theexcitement of battle. On the other side, the greatest heroof the Pandavas and his charioteer Sri Krishna soundedtheir conches as an answer to Bhishma's call to the fray,and Yudhisthira and the other heroes on the Pandava sideawakened the war-lust in the hearts of their troops byblowing their own conches. That mighty report resounded
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision123over earth and sky as if rending the hearts of Dhritarashtra'ssons. This does not mean that it frightened men likeBhishma. They were heroic men, why should they be afraidof the fierce call to battle? In these words the poet has describedthe first powerful impact on the body of extremelyhigh-pitched sound; just as the clap of thunder makes thehearer feel as if it were rending his head in two exactly alikewas the impact of this mighty report spreading over the fieldof battle. And this was as if an announcement of the impendingdoom of Dhritarashtra's men; the hearts that wouldbe pierced by the Pandava missiles were rent asunder firstby the sound of Pandava conches.The war began. Missiles began to fly from both sides.At this juncture Arjuna said to Sri Krishna, “You please placemy chariot at a point between the two armies. I wish tosee who are our antagonists, who are they who have cometo this war to act according to the pleasure of the misguidedDuryodhana, who are those with whom I have to fight.”Arjuna's idea was that the Pandavas centred their hopes onhim alone and it was for him to kill the principal fighterson the opposite side, therefore he must see who these were.So far, Arjuna's attitude was entirely that of a Kshatriya,there is not a sign of pity or weakness. Many of India'smost heroic men were present in the opposing army; Arjunawas keen on giving to elder brother Yudhisthira undisputedempire by killing them all. But Sri Krishna knew thatArjuna harboured a weakness in his mind; if this mind werenot cleansed now, that weakness might suddenly come upfrom there and occupy the higher intelligence at any momentand this would cause great harm to the Pandavas, perhapseven lead to their ruin.For this reason, Sri Krishna placed the chariot in sucha place that those dear to Arjuna, like Bhishma and Drona,were just in front and at the same time all the other princes
124Bengali Writingson the side of the Kauravas were within sight. And he saidto Arjuna, “See and have a look at the Kuru clan gatheredhere.” It has to be recalled that Arjuna himself belonged tothe Kuru clan, was a pride of the Kuru family; all his relatives,the men dear to him, the companions of his childhoodbelonged to the same Kuru clan; that will make onerealise the profound idea and significance of these few ordinarywords from Sri Krishna's mouth. Arjuna could nowsee that those whom he has to kill in order to found theundisputed empire of Yudhisthira were none other than hisown dear relatives, teachers, friends, the objects of loveand devotion. He saw that the Kshatriya families of the wholeof India were bound together by ties of affection and yethad come to that terrible field of battle to kill one another.The Root Cause of DejectionWhat is the source of Arjuna's dejection? Many peopleare full of praise for this dejection of Arjuna and decrySri Krishna as a supporter of unrighteousness and as showingthe wrong path. The peaceful attitude of Christianity, thenon-violence of Buddhism and the spirit of love in Vaishnavareligion are alone the highest and best laws of right living,war and the killing of men are sins, the killing of one's brothersand teachers are grievous sins: it is under the spell of ideassuch as these that they make this improper statement. Butall these modern ideas never even entered the mind of thegreat Pandava hero of that remote Dwapara epoch; thereis in Arjuna's words no inkling of any signs that he evenconsidered whether non-violence was to be preferred to war,or whether one should desist from war because the killingof brothers and teachers or homicide in general were grievoussins. He did indeed say that it would be better tolive by begging than to slaughter one's elders, he said
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision125indeed that the sin of killing the relatives and friends wouldfall on them. But he said these words not from a considerationof the nature of these works, but by judging them bythe results. That is why in order to break his gloom, SriKrishna taught him this lesson that one should not look tothe fruit of works, one has to decide whether a particularact is right or wrong by looking into its nature.Arjuna's first thoughts were that these were his relatives,elders, friends, companions of childhood, all were the objectsof his affection, love or devotion; to obtain undisputedempire by slaughtering them and the enjoyment of such empirecould never be a source of pleasure, on the contrary onewould burn with life-long repentance and sorrow, for nobodywould care to have dominion over earth bereft of all friendsand kin. His second idea was that to kill the dear ones wasagainst the right law of living, to kill in battle those who werethe objects of enmity was the law of the Kshatriya. His thirdpoint was that to perform such acts to gain one's own endswas against the right law and improper for a Kshatriya; andthe fourth was that this antagonism and slaughter of brotherswould lead to the destruction of clans and ruin of nations;to be the occasion for such untoward results was agrievous sin for a Kshatriya hero, the protector of the clanand nation. Apart from these four notions, there was noneother behind the despondency of Arjuna. Not to understandthis is to miss the purport of Sri Krishna's teaching and hisaim. We shall speak later of the conflict or harmony betweenthe Gita's law and that of Christianity, Buddhism andVaishnavism. Here we shall elucidate Arjuna's attitude of mindby looking into the purport of his words by a careful scrutiny.Invasion of the Divine MayaArjuna first describes the state of his dejection. Bythe sudden revolt of affection and self-pity, the mighty hero
126Bengali WritingsArjuna is overwhelmed and vanquished. All the strength ofhis body has dried up in a moment, his limbs have grownweary, he has no power to move about, his strong arm isincapable of holding the Gandiva bow. The sensation of heatproduced by grief exhibits the signs of fever. The body feelsweak, the skin is burning as if in flames, the mouth hasdried up within, the body trembles violently all over, themind is as if whirling under that attack. On reading the descriptionof this state, we are at first satisfied only by enjoyingits poetic beauty and regard it as an inordinate expressionof the poets imaginative power. But on looking atit with close scrutiny, a deeper meaning of this descriptioncomes to mind.Arjuna has fought the Kurus before this, but such ideashave never occurred to him. Now, at Krishna's will, suddenlythere is this inner disturbance. There are lying hiddenwithin Arjuna's heart many of the most powerful instinctsof mankind dominated and restrained by his Kshatriyatraining and high ambition. The heart is not purified by repression,the purification comes through self-control withthe help of discrimination and a purified understanding. Allthe repressed instincts and feelings come up some day fromthe heart, either in this life or in another, invade the understandingand on winning it over drive all action along pathsfavourable to their own self-expression. This is the reasonwhy one who in this life is full of kindness becomes cruelin another life, one who in this life is a vicious lustful manbecomes pure and saintly in the next. Instead of repression,the impulses have to be rejected with the help of thediscrimination and a purified understanding; this is how theheart can be purified. This is what is called self-control.Self-control becomes impossible until the tamasic feelingsare discarded through the influence of knowledge. That iswhy Sri Krishna is wanting to purify the heart by removingthe ignorance and awakening the dormant power of discrimination.But if the undesirable movements are not raised up
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision127from the heart and presented before the understanding thelatter does not get a chance to reject them. Besides, it isonly through a struggle that the inner enemies, the Daityasand Rakshasas, are killed and then the discrimination makesthe understanding free.In the first stages of Yoga, all the evil propensities thathave taken root in the heart invade the understanding withgreat force and overwhelm the unwary seeker with fear andgrief. This is what is known in the West as the temptationsof the devil, these are the attacks of Mara, the Evil One.But the fear and the grief are the products of ignorance,the temptation is not of the devil but of God. The World-Teacher dwelling within us calls on those propensities toattack the aspirant, not for doing harm but for his good,for the purification of the heart.Just as Sri Krishna in his physical body and in the visibleworld is the friend and charioteer of Arjuna, so he is withinhim the formless Godhead and the indwelling Lord. It is hewho threw with great force the hidden movements and feelingsall at once upon the understanding. At that terrific blowthe understanding lost its balance and the acute mental disturbancewas revealed instantly through the symptoms in thephysical body described by the poet. We know that an acuteunexpected grief or pain manifests thus in the body, this isnot beyond the common experience of mankind.Arjuna was overwhelmed in a moment by the divineMaya of the Lord with its entire force, hence this acutedisturbance. When evil takes on the guise of tender feelingslike love and kindness, when ignorance comes masqueradingas knowledge, when the thick darkness of theTamasic mode pretends to a bright and clear purity andsays, “I am Sattwic, I am knowledge, I am virtue, I amthe cherished messenger of God, I am virtue incarnate, Icome to establish the reign of Law”, then it is to be understoodthat the divine Maya of the Lord has shown itselfin the understanding.
128Bengali WritingsThe Signs of the Divine MayaThe main weapons of this divine Maya are affectionand pity. In the human race, love and affection are impuremovements; owing to distortions produced by the body andthe vital sheath the purity of the love and compassion istarnished and deformed. The inner movements have theirseats in the basic mindstuff (citta), the vital being (prÀÍa)is the field of enjoyment, the body is the instrument of action,the understanding (buddhi) is the domain of thought.In a state of purity, all of these have their separate and yetmutually uncontradictory movements. Ideas and feelings arisein the mind, action takes place accordingly through the body,in the understanding there are thoughts in that connection,the vital being takes the pleasure of those feelings, actionand thought, the soul (jÈva) remains a witness and feels joyin looking on this delightful play of the outer nature (prak-Ðti). In the impure state, the vital becoming eager for physicalor mental pleasure makes the body a means of enjoyment,the body becomes attached to enjoyment and clamoursagain and again for physical pleasures, the mind becomesengrossed with the desire for physical enjoyment andcan no longer accept pure ideas and feelings, impure ideasand feelings stained with desire create disturbances in themind-ocean, the understanding is overwhelmed and perplexedby that clamour of desires and is no longer capable of receivingpure and calm infallible thought, comes under thecontrol of the unquiet mind-stuff and becomes blinded bydelusions, confused thinking and the power of falsehood.The soul too forfeits its Knowledge through this failure ofthe understanding, is deprived of the poise of witness andits sense of pure delight; it accepts its identity with theouter man, and under the mistaken notion that “I am thelife-being, I am the citta, I am the understanding”, it takes
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision129pleasure and feels pain in mental or physical pain and pleasure.It is the unpurified citta that lies at the root of this confusion,hence the purification of citta is the first step to progress.This state of impurity does not stop with spoiling the tamasicand rajasic movements alone, it pollutes the sattwic movementsas well. Such and such a person provides materialfor my physical and mental enjoyment, he pleases me, Imust have him and no other, I feel unhappy in his absence— all this is impure love, it is a distortion of pure love througha pollution of the mind, body and life. As a result of thisimpurity, the understanding becomes confused: it says, “Suchand such is my wife or brother or sister, relative, friend orclose companion, they alone should be the objects of love,that love is sacred, if I act contrary to that love, it is sin, itis cruelty, it is unlawful.” This kind of impure love givesrise to such a strong sense of pity that it seems preferableto throw overboard the law of right living rather than letthe dear ones be aggrieved or harmed. In the end, we cometo justify our weaknesses by calling the law of right livingan injustice because it deals a blow to this sense of pity.The proof of this kind of Divine Maya can be had in everyword of Arjuna.The Littleness of Divine MayaThe first words of Arjuna are, “These are our ‘ownpeople’, they are our kin and objects of our love, whatgood of ours will be served by killing them in battle?The pride of the victor, the glory of kingship, the richman's joy? I do not wish for all these hollow selfishends. Why do kingship and enjoyment and life becomedear to men? All these pleasures and greatnesses aretempting things because there are the wives and sonsand daughters, because these will enable us to maintainin comfort our dear ones and relatives, because
130Bengali Writingswe shall be able to share our days with friends in the joyand comfort of wealth. But the very persons for whom wewant kingship and enjoyment and pleasure are come as ourfoes in war. They would much rather kill us in battle thanshare the kingship and pleasure together with us. Let themkill me, but I can never kill them. Could I obtain possessionof the kingdom of the three worlds, by killing them,even then I would not do it; undisputed empire on earth isa mere trifle.”A superficial observer, enchanted with the words,na kÀÛkØe vijayaÌ kÐØÍa na ca rÀjyaÌ sukhÀni ca (1. 31)andetÀnna hantumicchÀmi ghnato'pi madhusÓdana (1. 34)api trailokyarÀjyasya hetoÕ kiÌ nu mahÈkÐte (1. 35)would say, “Oh, how noble and high, how unselfish an attitudeon the part of Arjuna, how full of love! To him defeat,death and eternal suffering are more desirable than anenjoyment and pleasure tainted with blood.” But if we examineArjuna's state of mind, we come to know that thisattitude of his is extremely mean, a sign of weakness, fitonly for a coward. To give up one's personal interests forthe benefit of the clan, for the love of dear ones, under theinfluence of pity or for fear of bloodshed may be a highand noble attitude for one who is not an Aryan man; butfor an Aryan, it is not the best attitude, to give up one'sinterests for the sake of the right and for the love of God isthe highest attitude. On the other hand, to give up the rightlaw of living for the benefit of the clan, for the love of dearones, under the influence of pity, for fear of bloodshed isthe worst attitude. To keep the feelings of affection, pityand fear under control for the sake of the right law and forlove of God is the true Aryan way.In order to defend this low attitude of mind, Arjuna saysagain pointing to the sin of killing one's kin, “What pleasure,
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision131what satisfaction of mind can be ours by the killing of Dhritarashtra'ssons? They are our friends, our kith and kin.Even if they commit injustices and act as our enemies, robus of our kingdom, break their promises, to kill them wouldbring us sin, will not give us happiness.” Arjuna had forgottenthat he was fighting a righteous war, was engagedby Sri Krishna in the slaughter of Dhritarashtra's sons notfor his own happiness or for the happiness of Yudhishthira;the object of this war was to establish the rule of law, thefulfilment of the Kshatriya's duties, the founding of a greatempire in India based on the law of right living. To achievethese ends by forsaking all happiness, even by undergoinglife-long suffering and pain was Arjuna's duty.The Question of the Ruin of ClansBut Arjuna finds another, a nobler argument in supportof his weakness. “This war will lead to the ruin ofclans and nations, therefore this war is not a righteous warbut an unrighteous war. This fratricide implies an animositytowards friends; that is, it means doing harm to thosewho are naturally in our favour and help us. Moreover, itwill lead to the destruction of that clan of ours, that is, theKshatriya family and clan-nation named Kuru from whichboth sides have sprung.” In ancient times, the nation wasfrequently based on blood-relationships. A large clan whenit expanded grew into a nation. For example, particular clanssuch as the Kurus and the Bhojas included within the Bharatanation became each a powerful nation. The internal strifeand mutual wrong-doing within the clan were what Arjunadescribed as the animosity of friends. On the one hand, thiskind of animosity is a heinous sin from the moral point ofview; on the other hand, from the economic point of view,this great evil is the inevitable fruit of the deterioration ofclans implied in such animosity.
132Bengali WritingsThe proper observance of the old established laws ofthe clan is the mainstay of its progress and continuity. Theclan undergoes a downfall through a departure from the highideals and a slackening of the disciplines which the ancestorshave laid down and maintained with regard to the lifeof the householder and in the political field. These idealsand disciplines are maintained as long as the clan remainsfortunate and strong. When it suffers deterioration and becomesweak, there is a slackening of the great ideals throughthe spread of tamasic ideas; as a result, evils like immoralityand anarchy enter the clan, the women of the clan losetheir virtue and the clan loses its purity, to the noble clanare born sons of persons of a low character and birth. Inconsequence of this cutting off of the ancestors from thetrue line of their progeny, the destroyers of the clan findthemselves in hell. And through the spread of unrighteousness,the moral degradation following the admixture of castes,the pervasion of low qualities and because of anarchy andsuch other evils, the entire clan is ruined and becomes fitfor hell. With the ruin of the clan, both the law of the nationand the law of the clan come to an end; by the law ofthe nation is meant the old established ideals and disciplinescome down through the generations among the great collectivityof the nation formed of all the clans.Arjuna thereupon threw up at the very moment of battlehis Gandiva bow and sat down in the chariot, having proclaimedonce again his initial decision and the resolution asto how he should act. In the last verse of this chapter, thepoet has left a hint that Arjuna was determined to act in thisun-Aryan manner unworthy of a Kshatriya because there hadbeen a confusion in his understanding on account of grief.The Knowledge and the IgnoranceIn Arjuna's words about the ruin of clans, we find thetrace of a very high and large idea; it is extremely important
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision133for the interpreter of the Gita to consider the serious questioninvolved in that idea. On the other hand, if we lookonly for the spiritual significance of the Gita, if we make acomplete break between the law of living propounded bythe Gita and our national, domestic and personal, our mundaneacts and ideals, we shall be denying the greatness andimportance of that idea and that question, it will be to limitthe universal application of the Gita's law.Shankara and others who have interpreted the Gita weremen of knowledge or devotion, other-worldly philosophersintent on spiritual knowledge; they were content with seekingin the Gita and finding therein whatever knowledge orideas that were important to them. Those who are at oncemen of knowledge, devotion and works are alone fit forthe innermost teaching of the Gita. The speaker of the Gita,Sri Krishna, was a man of knowledge and works, the recipientof the Gita, Arjuna, was a devotee and man of action;it was in order to open his eye of knowledge that SriKrishna propounded this teaching in Kurukshetra. A mightypolitical conflict was the occasion for the propagation ofthe Gita, its object was to induce Arjuna to fight as an agentand instrument for the carrying out of a great political purposein this conflict, the battlefield itself was the venue ofthe teaching. Sri Krishna was a supreme fighter and masterof political science, to establish the rule of law was the primeobject of his life; Arjuna too was a Kshatriya prince, warand politics were works proper to his nature. How shouldit be possible to interpret the Gita by ignoring the purposeof the Gita, its speaker, the recipient of the knowledge, thereason for its propagation?There are always present in human life its five principalsupports: the individual, the family, the clan, the nation andthe human collectivity. The law of right living is also basedon these five supports. The object of that law is to reach
134Bengali WritingsGod. There are two paths to reach God: to possess theKnowledge and to possess the Ignorance. Both are meansto Self-knowledge and God-realisation. The path of theKnowledge is to reject this Creation full of Ignorancethough a manifestation of the Supreme, and to realiseSachchidananda or merge in the Supreme Self. The pathof the Ignorance is to see the Self and God everywhereand to realise the Supreme Lord who is Knowledge, Powerand Good incarnate, as friend and lord, teacher, fatherand mother, son and daughter, and servant, lover, husbandand wife. Peace is the object of the Knowledge,love the object of the Ignorance. But the Divine Natureis made of both the Knowledge and the Ignorance. If wefollow the path of the Knowledge alone, we shall realisethe Supreme in his form of Knowledge; if we follow onlythe path of the Ignorance, we shall realise the Supremein his form of Ignorance. He who can possess both theKnowledge and the Ignorance alone realises Vasudeva inhis entirety; he crosses beyond the Knowledge and theIgnorance. Those who have reached the final goal of theKnowledge have possessed the Knowledge with the helpof the Ignorance.This great truth has been revealed in the Isha Upanishadin very clear terms, as follows:9. andhaÌ tamaÕ praviÙanti ye'vidyÀmupÀsatetato bhÓya iva te tamo ya u vidyÀyÀÌ ratÀÕ10. anyadevÀhurvidyayÀ'nyadÀhuravidyayÀiti ÙuÙruma dhÈrÀÍÀÌ ye nastadvicacakØire11. vidyÀñcÀvidyÀñca yastadvedobhayaÌ sahaavidyayÀ mÐtyuÌ tÈrtvÀ vidyayÀmÐtamaÙnute“Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision135Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devotethemselves to the Knowledge alone.”“Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by theKnowledge, other that which comes by the Ignorance; thisis the lore we have received from the wise who revealedThat to our understanding.”“He who knows That as both in one, the Knowledgeand the Ignorance, by the Ignorance crosses beyond deathand by the Knowledge enjoys Immortality.”The entire human race is progressing towards the Knowledgethrough its experience of the Ignorance; this is the trueevolution. Those who are the best, the aspirant and the yogin,the man of knowledge and devotion, the doer of the Yogaof works, are in the vanguard of this march. They reachthe far goal at a quick pace, they come back and make thehuman race hear the gospel, show it the path, distribute power.The incarnations and emanations of God come and makethe path easy to tread, create favourable conditions, destroythe obstacles. To realise the Knowledge in the midst of theIgnorance, renunciation in the midst of enjoyment, the asceticspirit while living in the world, all beings within theSelf, the Self in all beings, — to have this realisation is thetrue knowledge, this precisely is the path laid down for thehuman race to march to its destination. The limitations ofone's self-knowledge are the main obstacles to progress;the identification of self with the body and the sense ofegoism are root causes of those limitations; hence, to lookupon others as one's own self is the first step to progress.Man's first preoccupation is with the individual, he is engrossedin his own individual bodily and mental progress,he devotes himself to his own body and mind, to theirprogress, enjoyment, and the development of their powers.“I am the body, I am the mind and vital being; theaim of life and the highest condition of progress are to
136Bengali Writingssecure the strength and beauty and happiness of the body,swiftness and clarity and delight of the mind, prowess, enjoymentand cheerfulness of the vital being” — this is thefirst egoistic form of knowledge in man. This too has a utility;it is after achieving the development and fullness of body,mind and life in the first instance that one should use thatfully developed power in the service of others. That is whythe egoistic development of power is the first stage of humancivilisation; the animal, the ogr,e the demon and thetitan, even the goblin find their play in human mind, actionand character, express themselves through these. Afterwardsman widens his self-knowledge and begins to see others ashis own self, learns to submerge his self-interest in the interestsof others. At first, he looks upon his family as hisown self, gives up his life for saving the lives of his wifeand children, throws away his own happiness to secure thehappiness of his wife and children. Thereafter, he comesto regard the clan as his self, gives up his life in order tosave the clan, sacrifices himself, his children and his wife,throws away his own happiness and that of his wife andchildren. Afterwards, he considers the nation as his ownself, gives up his life for the safety of his nation, sacrificeshimself, his wife and children, his family and clan, evenas the Rajput clans of Chitore sacrificed themselves repeatedlyof their own accord for the safety of the entireRajput nation; out of regard for the happiness and gloryof the nation he throws away the happiness and glory ofhis clan, his wife and children and himself. Finally, he seesthe entire human race as himself, gives up his life for theprogress of the human race, sacrifices himself, his wife andchildren, his clan and nation, throws away for the happinessand progress of mankind, the happiness, glory and advancementof himself, his wife and children, his clan andnation. Thus to see others as one's own self and to sacrificehimself and his happiness for the sake of others have
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision137been the main teachings of Buddhism and of Christianitywhich had Buddhism for its parent. The moral progress ofEurope has been along these lines. The men of ancient Europelearnt to submerge the individual in the family, the familyin the clan; the modern Europeans have learnt to submergethe clan in the nation, to submerge the nation in the humancollectivity is considered by them as a difficult ideal. Thinkerslike Tolstoy and supporters of the new ideal like the Socialistand the Anarchist parties are now anxious to put thisideal into practice. Europe has been able to move thus far.Europeans are devoted to the Ignorance, they are not awareof the true Knowledge. “Into a blind darkness they enterwho follow after the Ignorance.”In India the sages have mastered both the Knowledgeand the Ignorance. They know that apart from the five basesof the Ignorance, there is God who is the foundation of theKnowledge; unless we know Him, the Ignorance too is notknown, cannot be mastered. Therefore, instead of seeingonly others as self, they have seen God in others as withinthemselves, Àtmavat paradeheØu. “I shall better myself, mybetterment will lead to the betterment of my family; I shallhelp improve the family, with the improvement of the familythe clan will be improved; I shall help advance the cause ofthe nation, the advancement of the nation will make for theadvancement of the human race”: this knowledge lies at theroot of the Aryan social system and the Aryan discipline.Renunciation of personal self is for the Aryan a habit ingrainedin his very bones — renunciation for the sake of the family,renunciation in the interests of the clan, the society, the humanrace, renunciation for God. The deficiencies or faultsthat are observed in our education are the results of certainhistorical causes. For instance, we see the nation as a part ofsociety, we are used to submerge the interests of the individualand the family in those of the society, but the developmentof the political life of the nation was not accepted as a
138Bengali Writingsmain element included in our law of right living. This teachinghad to be imported from the West. Nevertheless, the teachingwas there in our country itself, in our ancient education, inthe Mahabharata, the Gita, in the history of Rajputana, inRamdasa's Dasabodha. We could not develop that teachingbecause of excessive devotion to the Knowledge, forfear of the Ignorance. Because of this fault, we were overcomeby tamas, we deviated from the right law of nationallife, fell a prey to abject slavery, suffering and ignorance.We could not master the Ignorance, were on the point oflosing the Knowledge as well. tato bhÓya iva te tamo ya uvidyÀyÀÌ ratÀÕ.Sri Krishna's Political ObjectivesThe clan and the nation become differentiated in courseof the gradual development of human society. That differentiationdid not become so well-marked in ancient timesin India or in other countries. A nation would grow out ofthe conglomeration of a few large clans. Each of these differentclans either claimed descent from a common ancestor,or even though growing out of different families wasaccepted as born of a single ancestry through the establishmentof friendly relations. The whole of India did not becomea single big nation, but among the large nations thatspread themselves all over the land there prevailed a commoncivilisation, a common religion, a single language, Sanskrit,and relationships like those of marriage. From ancient timeshowever there had been attempts at unification. Now itwas the Kurus, now the Pancalas, sometimes the Kosalan,sometimes the Magadhan nation who held empire over theland as its chief or overlord. But the ancient tradition ofthe clans and their love of independence would create suchpowerful obstacles to unity that these attempts could never
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision139last for long. In India, this attempt towards unity, the effortat undisputed empire was counted among the acts ofpiety and the duties of a king. This movement towards unityhad become so strong that even a powerful and turbulentKshatriya like Sishupala the king of the Chedis agreed totake part in the founding of Yudhishthira's empire.To establish such a unity, empire or rule of law wasSri Krishna's political objective. The Magadhan king Jarasandhahad already made this attempt, but his power wasfounded on tyranny and unrighteousness, would thereforebe short-lived. Hence Sri Krishna baffled that attempt bygetting him killed at the hands of Bhima. The main obstacleto Sri Krishna's work was the proud and powerful familyof the Kurus. The Kuru people had for a long time beenamong the leading peoples of India. To what is called “hegemony”,that is, a position of pre-eminence and leadershipamong a number of independent peoples of equal status— to that the Kurus had an ancestral right. As long as thepride and power of this people remained intact, unity wouldnever be established in India. Sri Krishna came to realisethis. Therefore he was determined to destroy the Kurupeople. But the Kuru people had a hereditary right to theempire of India; Sri Krishna did not forget this fact. Todeprive one of his rightful due would be an act of unrighteousness,so he chose for appointment to the futureposition of emperor Yudhisthira who was legally the kingand chief of the Kuru people. Sri Krishna was supremelyrighteous; he did not out of affection attempt to setup his beloved clan of the Yadavas in place of the Kurupeople even though capable of doing it; he did not nominatefor that position his dearest friend Arjuna by ignoringthe eldest born of the Pandavas, Yudhishthira. Butthere is possibility of harm in considering only the ageor previous title. If Yudhishthira had been unrighteous, tyrannicalor incapable, Sri Krishna would have been obliged to
140Bengali Writingslook for another candidate. Yudhishthira was as well fittedto be emperor by birth, rightful title, and the old establishedtradition of the land, as he was the proper claimant to thattitle by virtue of his qualities. There were many great andheroic kings more powerful and talented than him, but strengthand talent alone do not give one a title to kingship. Theking was to safeguard the rule of law, keep the subjectscontented, protect the land. In the first two of these qualities,Yudhishthira had no peer; he was the son of the Lordof Righteousness, he was kind and just, he spoke the truth,he kept his truth, his acts were based on the truth, he wasextremely dear to his subjects. The deficiency he had inthe last of the requisite qualities mentioned, his heroic brothersBhima and Arjuna were capable of making good. ContemporaryIndia did not possess kings as powerful or men asheroic as the five Pandavas. Therefore, once the obstaclewas removed by the killing of Jarasandha, King Yudhishthiraon the advice of Sri Krishna performed the Rajasuyasacrifice in accordance with the ancient tradition of the land,and became its emperor.Sri Krishna was a follower of the right law and amaster of the science of politics. If there was a possibilityof carrying to fruition his great objective by workingwithin the framework of the law of the land, its tradition,the rules of its society, then why should he deviatefrom that law, go against that tradition, break those rules?To bring about such revolutions in politics and societyis harmful to the country. For this reason, he at firstdirected his attempts to gain his objective by maintainingthe ancient tradition. But there was this defect inthe ancient tradition of the land that even if the attemptsmade in accordance with it were successful, there wasvery little chance of the success being permanent. Onewho had the advantage in military strength could no doubtbecome emperor by performing the Rajasuya sacrifice, but
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision141as soon as his descendant became weak the imperial crownslipped automatically from his head. Why should the powerfuland heroic peoples who had come under the controlof his father or grandfather accept the vassalage of the conqueror'sson or grandson? Not hereditary right but the Rajasuyasacrifice itself, that is, an extraordinary military strengthwas at the root of that empire, he alone who had the greateststrength would be emperor by performing the sacrifice.Hence there was no hope for the permanence of the empire,there could only be a temporary hegemony. Anotherdefect of this system was that the sudden augmentation ofstrength and the hegemony of the new emperor kindled thefire of jealousy in the hearts of the intolerant powerful Kshatriyasof the land so proud of their strength. “Why should hebecome the chief? why not ourselves?” — such thoughtscould easily rise in their minds. This kind of jealousy onthe part of Kshatriyas belonging to Yudhishthira's own clanmade them oppose him. The sons of his uncle taking advantageof this jealousy deprived him of his position andsent him to exile. The defect in the tradition of the landbecame manifest within a short while.Sri Krishna was as much a master of political scienceas he was righteous. He would never draw back from alteringa traditional method or rule if it was defective, harmfulor unsuitable to the needs of the time. He was the principalrevolutionist of the age. King Bhurisravas gave voice to theangry feeling of many contemporary Indians of the old schoolwhen he said while taking Sri Krishna to task, “Krishna orthe Yadava clan which acts under his guidance never shrinksfrom acting against the right law or distorting it. Whoeveracts on Krishna's advice will surely fall into sin before long.”For, in the view of a conservative with his attachment tothe old ways a novel venture is in itself a sin. Sri Krishnarealised on Yudhishthira's downfall — not realised butknew from the beginning, for he was God — that a
142Bengali Writingscustom suited to the Dwapara epoch should never be preservedin the Kali age. Therefore, he made no further attemptson those lines; he followed the line of statecraft properto Kali, with its emphasis on war and strife and directedhis efforts towards making the future of empire free ofobstacles by destroying the power of the insolent and proudKshatriya race. He incited the Panchala people, ancient andequally powerful rivals of the Kurus, to destroy the latter;all the other peoples who could be attracted out of hatredtowards the Kurus, for the love of Yudhishthira or out ofdesire for unity and the rule of law were attracted to thatside, and he got the preliminaries of war made ready. Inthe attempts that were made towards peace Sri Krishna hadno faith. He knew that peace was not possible, even if itwere made it could not last. Still, out of regard for the rightlaw and from considerations of policy, he devoted himselfto attempts at peace. There is no doubt that the Kurukshetrawar was the result of Sri Krishna's policy, and that todestroy the Kurus, to destroy the power of the Kshatriyas,to establish an undisputed imperial authority and the unityof India were his objectives. The war that was fought inorder to establish the rule of law was a righteous war. TheGod-appointed victor in that righteous war was the mightywarrior Arjuna driven by a divine Power. If Arjuna were togive up his arms, Sri Krishna's labours would have cometo nought, the unity of India could not be achieved, a greatevil would soon have overtaken the future of the land.Fratricide and the Ruin of ClansAll the arguments of Arjuna were set forth with a viewto the interests of the clan, thoughts about the good of thenation had been effaced from his mind by the force of personalaffection. He had forgotten about the good of India
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision143in considering the good of the Kuru family, he was preparingto throw away the right law for fear of unrighteousness.We all know that to kill one's brothers out of selfinterestis a heinous sin. But it is a greater sin to be a partyto bringing about a national calamity, to desist from doinggood to one's nation out of love for one's brothers. If Arjunagave up his arms, it would be a victory for unrighteousness,Duryodhana would become the paramount king of Indiaand the leading man in the whole country, he would by hisbad example put a stain on the national character and thecode of behaviour of Kshatriya families, the strong and mightyIndian clans would turn to each other's destruction underthe impulse of jealousy, self-interest and love of antagonism,there would be no undisputed state power guided bythe rule of law to unify, govern and keep the country welldefended by a concentration of power. Under such conditions,that foreign invasion, which even at that time waspreparing like a sea held by the dykes to come upon Indiaand inundate it, would, arriving before its time, have destroyedthe Aryan civilisation and rooted out all hopes ofthe future good of the world. The political upheaval thatbegan in India two thousand years later on the fall of theempire set up by Sri Krishna and Arjuna would have commencedright then.They say that the ills for fear of which Arjuna had raisedthose objections did actually come as a result of the Kurukshetrawar. Fratricide, the ruin of clans, even the ruin of thepeoples were the fruits of the Kurukshetra war. This warwas the occasion for the onset of Kali. It is true, this war ledto a terrible fratricide. The question arises: by what othermeans could the great objectives of Sri Krishna be met? Preciselyfor this reason did Sri Krishna, knowing well the futility ofseeking the peace, make considerable attempts to find a wayto peace. Yudhishthira would have desisted from war had hegot back even the five villages, if he could secure even that
144Bengali Writingsmuch space as a foothold, Sri Krishna could have establishedthe rule of law. But Duryodhana was firmly determinednot to give an iota of land without war. Where thefuture of the whole country depended on the results of war,it had been unrighteous to desist from the war because itwould lead to fratricide. The good of the family had to besubmerged in the good of the nation, the good of the world.Brotherly affection and attachment to family ties could notjustify the ruin of millions of people, a sacrifice of the futurehappiness or the amelioration of suffering of millionsof people; that too would lead to perdition of the individualand the clan.That there was a ruin of the clans in the Kurukshetrawar is also a fact. As a result of this war, the family of theKurus of great might practically disappeared. But if by thedisappearance of the Kuru people the whole of India cameto be saved, then the destruction of the Kurus meant not aloss but a gain. Just as there is the blind attachment to familyties, so is there a blind attachment to the clan. Not to sayanything to our fellow-countrymen, not to oppose them, eventhough they may cause harm or be intent to kill, even thoughthey cause the country's ruination, they are brothers, objectsof affection, they should be borne in silence: this kind ofunrighteousness born of the Divine Maya that posing as theright law makes us fall from a true understanding is producedby the delusion of attachment to the clan. It is unrighteousto oppose or quarrel with a fellow-countryman without cause,from self-interest or in the absence of dire need or utility.But to bear in silence the mischiefs of a fellow-countrymanwho is determined to take the life of the common mother orto do her harm, — to tolerate this matricide or that harmfulact would be a still greater sin. When Sivaji set out to murderhis countrymen who were partisans of the Mughals, ifsomeone had said, “Lo! what is this you are doing? Theyare your own countrymen, bear up with them in silence. If
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision145the Mughals occupy the Maharashtra country, let them doit. If Maratha loves Maratha, that will be enough” — wouldnot these words appear entirely ridiculous? When the Americansin order to abolish slavery created dissensions in theland and by starting a civil war took the lives of thousandsof fellow-citizens, were they doing wrong? It may so happenthat civil strife and the slaughter of fellow-citizens inbattle are the only way to the good of the country and thegood of the world. If it involves a danger of the ruinationof clans, even then we cannot desist from effecting the goodof the nation and the good of the world. Of course the problembecomes complicated if the good of the nation demands thepreservation of the clan. In the age of the Mahabharata,the nation-unit had not been established in India, everybodyregarded the clan itself as the pivot of the human race. Itwas precisely because of this that men like Bhishma andDrona who were steeped in the old tradition fought againstthe Pandavas. They were aware that right was on the sideof the Pandavas, they realised that to bind the whole ofIndia round a single centre through the establishment of anempire was a necessity. But they also knew that the clanalone was the pivotal point of the nation and in it lay thefoundation of the right law; to maintain the law and founda nation by destroying the clan was an impossibility. Arjunatoo fell into that error. In this age, the nation is the foundationof the law, the pivot of human society. To preservethe nation is the primary duty of this age, to cause the ruinof the nation the great unforgivable sin. But there can possiblybe the advent of an age when a great society of thenations can be established. At that time perhaps the world'seminent men of knowledge and action would take up armsin defence of the nation, and on the other side Sri Krishnaas a maker of revolutions would start a new Kurukshetrawar and effect the good of the world.
146Bengali WritingsThe Political Results of Sri Krishana's WorkUnder the first impulse of pity, Arjuna had laid mostemphasis on the ruin of clans, for on looking at that hugemassing of troops thoughts of the clans and peoples automaticallycame to mind. We have said that concern aboutthe good of the clan was natural to the Indian of that age,even as for the modern race of men thoughts about the goodof the nation come naturally. But was it a baseless fear tosuppose that the foundations of the nation would be destroyedon the ruin of the clans? There are many who saythat what Arjuna had feared actually came to pass, that theKurukshetra war was the root cause of the downfall of Indiaand her long period of subjection, that great harm hasbeen done to India by the disappearance of the powerfulrace of Kshatriyas and the weakening of the war-like spirit.A well-known lady of foreign extraction at whose sacredfeet many Hindus are at the moment bowing their heads asdisciples, 1 has not hesitated to say that to make the patheasy for the British to found their empire was the real objectof God Himself incarnating on earth. We feel that thosewho speak in such irrelevant terms are finding fault withSri Krishna's policy without going deep into the matter andunder the influence of wholly inconsequent political theories.These political theories are the contributions of foreignersand are the results of an un-Aryan way of thinking.The un-Aryan owes his strength to a titanic power, he knowsof that power as the only foundation of freedom and nationalgreatness.National greatness cannot be founded solely on thestrength of the Kshatriya, all the fourfold power of the fourorders of society is the basis of that greatness. The sattwic1Translator's Note: The reference here is probably to the late Mrs. AnnieBesant and her Theosophical Society at Adyar. Madras.
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision147power of the Brahmin keeps alive the rajasic Kshatriya powerwith its sweet elixir of knowledge, humility and thought forthe good of others; the Kshatriya power gives protection tothe power of the Brahmin. Brahmin power bereft of thestrength of the Kshatriya is affected by tamasic attitudesand gives umbrage to the ignoble qualities of the Shudra;hence it is forbidden for a Brahmin to live in a country wherethere is no Kshatriya. If the race of Kshatriyas comes toan end, to create the Kshatriya anew is the first duty of theBrahmin. Kshatriya power bereft of the Brahmin's strengthturns into a violent uncontrollable titanism, turns at first tothe destruction of others' good, finally destroys itself. TheRoman poet was right when he said that the titans fall fromthe excess of their own strength and are utterly destroyed.Sattwa should create Rajas, Rajas should protect Sattwa,should engage itself in sattwic works; that makes possiblethe good of the individual and the nation. If Sattwa engulfsRajas or if Rajas engulfs Sattwa, the quality thus victoriousis itself vanquished by the emergence of Tamas, thereis a reign of the Tamasic mode. The Brahmin can never beking; if the Kshatriya is destroyed, the Shudra becomes king;the Brahmin becoming tamasic will distort knowledge outof greed for money and take to the service of the Shudra;spirituality will encourage inaction, will itself fade away andbe the occasion for a fall from the right law. The subjectionof a nation without Kshatriyas and run by the Shudra isinevitable. This is what has come to pass in India. While onthe other hand it is possible that there is an influx of powerand greatness from a temporary excitement under the influenceof titanic power, yet the country soon begins to languishfrom weakness, inertia and the draining of strength,from rajasic indulgence, pride and the increase of selfishnessthe nation becomes unfit and cannot keep up its greatness,or else as a result of civil strife, immorality and tyranny the
148Bengali Writingscountry breaks to pieces and becomes an easy prey to theenemy. The history of India and of Europe affords ampleillustration of all these eventual results.In the age of the Mahabharata the earth was groaningunder the load of titanic power. Neither before nor after,was there in India such an outbreak of strong and powerfuland violent Kshatriya power, but there was little chanceof that terrible power being turned to good purpose. Thosewho were the vehicles of this power were all of them ofan asuric nature, vanity and pride, selfishness and selfwillwere in their very bones. If Sri Krishna had not establishedthe rule of law by destroying this power, thenone or the other of the three types of results describedabove would certainly have happened. India would havefallen prematurely into the hands of the barbarian. It shouldbe remembered, that the Kurukshetra war took place fivethousand years ago, 1 it was after two thousand five hundredyears had elapsed that the first successful invasion ofbarbarians could reach up to the other side of the Indus.The rule of law founded by Arjuna was therefore able toprotect the country under the influence of a Kshatriya powerinspired by that of the Brahmin. Even at that time therewas in the country such an accumulation of Kshatriya powerthat a fraction of itself has kept the country alive for twothousand years. On the strength of that Kshatriya powergreat men like Chandragupta, Pushyamitra, Samudragupta,Vikrama, Sangramasingha, Pratap, Rajasingha, Pratapadityaand Sivaji fought against the country's misfortunes. Onlythe other day in the battle of Gujarat and on the funeralpyre of Lakshmibai was the last spark of that power extinguished;with that ended the good fruit and the virtueof Sri Krishna's political work, there came necessity of1Translator's Note: This was the view traditionally held in India before it wasdisputed by recent scholarship.
VI. 6. Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision149another full Incarnation for the saving of India and the world.That Incarnation has rekindled the vanished power of theBrahmin, that power will create the Kshatriya power. SriKrishna did not extinguish the Kshatriya power of India inthe blood-bath of Kurukshetra; on the contrary by destroyingthe titanic power he saved both the power of the Brahminand the Kshatriya. It is true that by the slaughter ofKshatriya families drunk with the strength of the titan, hereduced to tatters the violence of rajasic strength. Such mightyrevolutions, putting this kind of check on internecine strifeby effacing it through acute suffering, the slaughter of violentKshatriya clans is not always harmful. Civil strife savedthe Roman aristocracy from the clutches of destruction, asthe establishment of monarchy saved the huge empire ofRome from the clutches of premature death. In England,through the ruin of the aristocratic families in the Wars ofthe Roses, Edward IV, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth wereable to lay the foundations of modern England, so well defendedand powerful conqueror of the world. India too wassaved in that manner by the war of Kurukshetra.That India has undergone a downfall in the Kali ageno one can deny. But God never descended on earth tobring about a downfall. The Incarnation is for savingthe Law, the world and men. Particularly in the Kaliage does God incarnate Himself in full. The reason isthat in Kali there is the greatest danger of man's downfall,there is a natural increase of unrighteousness. Therefore,in order to save mankind, destroy unrighteousnessand establish the Right by barring the way of Kali, thereare incarnations again and again in this age. When SriKrishna incarnated, it was already time for the beginningof Kali's reign. It was through fear of His adventthat Kali could not set his feet on his own kingdom.It was through His grace that Parikshit could hold
150Bengali Writingsup the exercise of Kali's sovereignty in his own age, bygranting him five villages. From the beginning to the end ofthis Kali age, a fierce battle has been raging and will continueto rage between man and Kali. As helpers or leadersin that battle, the emanations and incarnations of God comedown frequently during this period. God took on a humanform at the opening of Kali in order to maintain the powerof the Brahmin, the knowledge, devotion and desireless works,and teach these things that they might be of use in that battle.On the safety of India rest the hope and foundation of man'swell-being. God saved India in Kurukshetra. In that oceanof blood, the Great Being in the form of Time the Destroyerbegan to take his delight in the sporting Lotus of a newworld.
The Gita: Text — Translation (2)Chapter TwosaÜjaya uvÀcataÌ tathÀ kÐpayÀviØÒamaÙrupÓrÍÀkulekØaÍamviØÈdantamidaÌ vÀkyamuvÀca madhusÓdanaÕ (2. 01)Sanjaya said:To him thus besieged with pity and his eyes full bewilderedwith crowding tears, to him weak with sorrow,Madhusudana spake this word.ÙrÈbhagavÀnuvÀcakutastvÀ kaÙmalamidaÌ viØame samupasthitamanÀryajuØÒamasvargyamakÈrtikaramarjuna (2. 02)The Lord said:Whence has this stain of darkness come uponthee in the very crisis and the stress, O Arjuna,this weakness unheavenly, inglorious, quality ofun-Aryan minds?klaibyaÌ mÀ sma gamaÕ pÀrtha naitattvayyupapadyatekØudraÌ hÐdayadaurbalyaÌ tyaktvottiØÒha paraÌtapa(2. 03)Fall not into coward impotence, O Partha; not on theedoes that sit well; fling from thee the miserable weaknessof thy heart, O scourge of thy foes.
152Bengali WritingsSri Krishna's AnswerSri Krishna saw that Arjuna had been seized with pity,dejection had overcome him. To chase away this tamasicstate, He who was aware of the innermost feelings gaveHis dear friend a rebuke befitting a Kshatriya, that it mightawaken the rajasic sentiments and drive away Tamas. Hesaid in effect, “Look, this is a time of crisis for those whoare on your side. If you give up your arms now, there isevery possibility of danger and destruction for them. Theidea of renouncing your cause in the field of battle shouldnot occur to one like you who is best among Kshatriyas.Whence this sudden perversion of mind? Your attitude isfull of weakness, it is sinful. Un-Aryan men can laud suchan attitude, may subject themselves to it. But it is unworthyof an Aryan. It means an end to fame and glory in thisworld, it stands in the way of heaven in the next.” Thereafter,he administered a still more severe rebuke: “This isan attitude fit for a coward. You are the foremost amongcourageous men, you are a conqueror, you are the son ofKunti. Such words can come from your mouth? Give upthis weakness of the vital being, get up. Give yourself tothe work to be done.”Pity and CompassionPity and compassion are different kinds of feeling, pitycan be a feeling even contrary to compassion. Moved by compassionwe do good to the world, remove the sufferings ofmen, of the nation, of others. If I shrink from doing thatgood from inability to bear my own sufferings or those ofany particular individuals, then I have no compassion, I haveonly been seized by pity. I take upon myself the task ofremoving the sufferings of my country or of the entire humanrace: that is the attitude of compassion. From fear of
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)153bloodshed, from fear of doing violence to living beings, Idesist from that sacred task, acquiesce in the permanenceof the nation's sorrows: this is the attitude of pity. The strongimpulse to remove the sufferings of men out of sorrow fortheir sufferings is called compassion. To feel a sense ofhelpless weakness at the sight or thought of others' sufferingsis known as pity. Weak helplessness is not compassion,it is pity. Compassion is the way of the strong, pitythe manner of the weak. Moved by compassion the LordBuddha left his wife and child, parents and friends and relativesto pine for him in sorrow with everything taken away,and set out to remove the sufferings of the world. Maddenedby intense compassion, Kali went about the worldskilling the titans and flooded the earth with their blood inorder to free all from sorrow. Arjuna had renounced armsunder the influence of pity.This is an attitude lauded by the un-Aryan, the un-Aryanacts accordingly. The Aryan teaching has nobility, it isfit for heroes, it is a divine teaching. The un-Aryan fallsinto a delusion, he describes ignoble sentiments as the rightlaw and forsakes the noble path. The un-Aryan moved byrajasic feelings considers the good of himself, his dear ones,his family or clan, does not see the larger good. He turnshis face away from the right law out of pity, boasts of himselfas a man of piety, calls the Aryan of austere vows acruel and impious man. Losing his senses under a tamasicdelusion, the un-Aryan describes inaction as disinterestednessin works, assigns to the interested pursuit of virtue thehighest position among the rules of right living. Compassionis an Aryan attitude, pity an un-Aryan sentiment.Moved by compassion, man engages heroically in battlewith evil in order to destroy the evils and sufferings of others.Moved by compassion, woman pours all her heart andenergies into the service of loving care and in the attempt to
154Bengali Writingsdo good to others and lighten their sorrows. One, who underthe influence of pity gives up his arms, turns away fromthe right path, starts weeping and thinks he is doing hisduty and is virtuous, such a one is an impotent coward.This is a mean sentiment, it is an attitude of weakness.Despondency can never be the right law. He who givesumbrage to despair gives umbrage to sin. To reject thisclouding of the mind, this impure and weak attitude, tojoin in the fray and carry out one's duty, to save therebythe world, to protect the Law, to lighten the burden ofearth, this is the better way. This is the purport of thesewords of Sri Krishna.arjuna uvÀcakathaÌ bhÈØmamahaÌ saÌkhye droÍaÌ ca madhusÓdanaiØubhiÕ pratiyotsyÀmi pÓjÀrhÀvarisÓdana (2. 04)Arjuna said:How shall I combat Bhisma in the fight and Drona,O Madhusudana, how shall I smite with arrowsthose venerable heads?gurÓnahatvÀ hi mahÀnubhÀvÀnÙreyo bhoktuÌ bhaikØyamapÈha lokehatvÀrthakÀmÀÌstu gurÓnihaivabhuÜjÈya bhogÀn rudhirapradigdhÀn (2. 05)Better were it, not piercing these great and worshippedhearts, to eat even a beggar's bread onthis our earth. I slay our earthly wealth and blisswhen I slay these; bloodstained will be the joysI shall taste.na caitad vidmaÕ kataran no garÈyoyad vÀ jayema yadi vÀ no jayeyuÕ
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)155yÀn eva hatvÀ na jijÈviØÀmaste'vasthitÀÕ pramukhe dhÀrtarÀØÒrÀÕ (2. 06)Therefore we know not which of these is better,that we should be victors or that we should bevanquished: for they whom slaying we should haveno heart to live, lo, they Dhritarashtrians face usin the foeman's van.kÀrpaÍyadoØopahatasvabhÀvaÕpÐcchÀmi tvÀÌdharmasaÌmÓÄhacetÀÕyac chreyaÕ syÀn niÙcitaÌ brÓhi tan meÙiØyas te'haÌ ÙÀdhi mÀÌ tvÀÌ prapannam (2. 07)Pain and unwillingness have swept me from naturalself, my heart is bewildered as to right andwrong; thee then I question. Tell me what wouldsurely be my good, for I am thy disciple; teachme, for in thee I have sought my refuge.na hi prapaÙyÀmi mamÀpanudyÀdyacchokamucchoØaÍamindriyÀÍÀmavÀpya bhÓmÀvasapatnamÐddhaÌrÀjyaÌ surÀÍÀmapi cÀdhipatyam (2. 08)I see not what shall banish from me the grief thatparcheth up the senses, though I win on earthrich kingship without rival and empire over thevery gods in heaven.Arjuna's Prayer to be TaughtArjuna understood the purpose behind Sri Krishna'swords. He refrained from raising the objection on politicalgrounds, but on receiving no answer to his other objections,he took refuge with Sri Krishna for being instructed. He said,
156Bengali Writings“I admit I am a Kshatriya, to desist from this great workunder the influence of pity is for me an act of cowardice,an infamy, against the Law. But neither the mind nor myheart would admit it. The mind says, ‘The killing of eldersis a heinous sin, to kill them for the sake of one's own happinesswould be to fall into impiety, it would be to loseeverything, virtue and release from bondage and the otherworlds. The desires would be satisfied, the hankering afterwealth would be met, but for how long? Enjoyments obtainedthrough unrighteous means can last only until death,after that there is indescribable suffering. And when in thecourse of enjoyments you taste the blood of your elders inthem, what is the peace or happiness you will get?’ Theheart says, ‘These are my dear ones. If they are killed, Ishall not be able to enjoy happiness in this life, nor would Iwant to live. If you give me the enjoyment of empire overthe whole earth or give me the pleasure of Indra's riches bythe conquest of heaven, even then I will not listen. The griefthat will be overtaking me will overcome and weaken all theorgans of action and knowledge and make them slack andincapable in their respective work. What will then be yourenjoyment?’ I am faced with a great unwillingness of mind,the nobility of my Kshatriya nature has been drowned in thatunwillingness. I take refuge with thee. Give me knowledge,strength and faith, show me the path to the good, save me.”To see in God one's entire refuge is the way of theGita's yoga. This is called the surrender or offering of one'sself. One who accepts God as the teacher, lord, friend andguide and is prepared to throw away all other rules of living,one who hands over to Sri Krishna all responsibility for one'sknowledge, work and the spiritual endeavour without caringfor sin and virtue, what is to be done or not to be done, allright and wrong, truth and falsehood, good or evil, he aloneis fit for the Gita's yoga. Arjuna said to Sri Krishna, “If you
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)157ask me to kill even my preceptors, if you make me understandthat this is the right and the thing to be done, I shallact accordingly.” On the strength of this intense faith, Arjunawas accepted as the best recipient of the Gita's teaching,having overpassed all the great men who were his contemporaries.In his reply, Sri Krishna first disposed of two of Arjuna'sobjections, then he took charge as teacher and beganto impart the real knowledge. The disposal of the argumentstakes us to verse 38, after that begins the teaching of theGita. But we find in the answer to the objections some invaluableteachings; unless these are grasped the Gita's teachingcannot be understood. It is therefore necessary to considerthese few words in detail.saÜjaya uvÀcaevamuktvÀ hÐØÈkeÙaÌ guÄÀkeÙaÕ paraÌtapaÕna yotsya iti govindamuktvÀ tÓØÍÈÌ babhÓva ha (2. 09)Sanjaya said:Thus Gudakesha to Hrishikesha, the scourger of hisfoes said unto Govinda, “I will not fight”, and ceasedfrom Words.tamuvÀca hÐØÈkeÙaÕ prahasanniva bhÀratasenayorubhayormadhye viØÈdantamidaÌ vacaÕ (2. 10)On him thus overcome with weakness in themidmost of either battle, Krishna smiled a littleand said:ÙrÈbhagavÀnuvÀcaaÙocyÀnanvaÙocastvaÌ prajÜÀvÀdÀÌÙca bhÀØasegatÀsÓnagatÀsÓÌÙca nÀnuÙocanti paÍÄitÀÕ (2. 11)
158Bengali WritingsThe Lord said:Thou grievest for whom thou shouldst not grieveand yet speakest wise-seeming words, but thewise grieve not, whether for the dead or for theliving.natvevÀhaÌ jÀtu nÀsaÌ na tvaÌ neme janÀdhipÀÕna caiva na bhaviØyÀmaÕ sarve vayamataÕ param (2. 12)It is not that I was not before, nor thou nor theselords of the folk, nor yet that we shall not beagain hereafter.dehino'sminyathÀ dehe kaumÀraÌ yauvanaÌ jarÀtathÀ dehÀntaraprÀptirdhÈrastatra na muhyati (2. 13)Even as the embodied spirit passes in this bodyto boyhood and youth and age, so also it passesaway from this body to another; the strong mansuffers not his soul to be clouded by this.mÀtrÀsparÙÀstu kaunteya ÙÈtoØÍasukhaduÕkhadÀÕÀgamÀpÀyino'nityÀstÀÌstitikØasva bhÀrata (2. 14)But the things of material touch, O son of Kunti,which bring cold and warmth, pleasure andpain, they come and they pass; transient are they,these seek to abandon, O Bharata.yaÌ hi na vyathayantyete puruØaÌ puruØarØabhasamaduÕkhasukhaÌ dhÈraÌ so'mÐtatvÀya kalpate (2. 15)The man whom these vex not, O lion of men,who is strong and receiveth sorrow and bliss asone, that man is ready for immortality.
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)159nÀsato vidyate bhÀvo nÀbhÀvo vidyate sataÕubhayorapi dÐØÒo'ntastvanayostattvadarÙibhiÕ (2. 16)For that which is not there is no coming into being,and for that which is there is no ceasing tobe; yea, of both of these the lookers into truthhave seen an end.avinÀÙi tu tadviddhi yena sarvamidaÌ tatamvinÀÙamavyayasyÀsya na kaÙcitkartumarhati (2. 17)But That in which all this universe is extended,know to be imperishable; none hath force to bringto nought the One who decays not neither passesaway.antavanta ime dehÀ nityasyoktÀÕ ÙarÈriÍaÕanÀÙino'prameyasya tasmÀdyudhyasva bhÀrata (2. 18)Transient are these bodies of the embodied Spirit;the Spirit is infinite and imperishable; arise therefore,and fight, O son of Bharata.ya enaÌ vetti hantÀraÌ yaÙcainaÌ manyate hatamubhau tau na vijÀnÈto nÀyaÌ hanti na hanyate (2. 19)Who knoweth the Spirit as slayer and who decreethHim to be slain, both of these discern not. Heslayeth not, neither is He slain.na jÀyate mriyate vÀ kadÀcinnÀyaÌ bhÓtvÀ bhavitÀ vÀ na bhÓyaÕajo nityaÕ ÙÀÙvato'yaÌ purÀÍona hanyate hanyamÀne ÙarÈre (2. 20)He is not born nor dieth ever, nor having once been shall
160Bengali Writingsnot be again. He is unborn, for ever and perpetual.He is the Ancient One who is not slainwith the slaying of the body.vedÀvinÀÙinaÌ nityaÌ ya enamajamavyayamkathaÌ sa puruØaÕ pÀrtha kaÌ ghÀtayati hanti kam (2. 21)He who knoweth Him to be imperishable, eternal,unborn and undecaying, whom doth thatman, O Partha, slay or cause to be slain?vÀsÀÌsi jÈrÍÀni yathÀ vihÀyanavÀni gÐhÍÀti naro'parÀÍitathÀ ÙarÈrÀÍi vihÀya jÈrÍÀnianyÀni saÌyÀti navÀni dehÈ (2. 22)As a man casteth away from him his worn-outrobes and taketh to him other and new raiment,so the embodied Spirit casteth away its worn-outbodies and goeth to other and new casings.nainaÌ chindanti ÙastrÀÍi nainaÌ dahati pÀvakaÕna cainaÌ kledayantyÀpo na ÙoØayati mÀrutaÕ (2. 23)Him the sword cleaveth not, Him the fire cannotburn, Him the water wetteth not, and the hotwind withereth not away.acchedyo'yamadÀhyo'yamakledyo'ÙoØya eva canityaÕ sarvagataÕ sthÀÍuracalo'yaÌ sanÀtanaÕ (2. 24)Indivisible, unconsumable, unmergible, unwitherableis He. He is for ever and everywhere, constantand moveth not, He is the One SempiternalBeing.
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)161avyakto'yamacintyo'yamavikÀryo'yamucyatetasmÀdevaÌ viditvainaÌ nÀnuÙocitumarhasi (2. 25)He is unmanifest, unthinkable, unchangeable. Ifthou knowest Him as such, thou hast no cause togrieve.atha cainaÌ nityajÀtaÌ nityaÌ vÀ manyase mÐtamtathÀpi tvaÌ mahÀbÀho naivaÌ Ùocitumarhasi (2. 26)And now if yet thou deemest of the Spirit as everborn or ever dying, even so thou hast no causeto grieve for him, O Strong-armed.jÀtasya hi dhruvo mÐtyurdhruvaÌ janma mÐtasya catasmÀdaparihÀrye'rthe na tvaÌ Ùocitumarhasi (2. 27)For of that which is born the death is certain,and of that which is dead, the birth is sure; thereforein a thing inevitable thou oughtest not togrieve.avyaktÀdÈni bhÓtÀni vyaktamadhyÀni bhÀrataavyaktanidhanÀnyeva tatra kÀ paridevanÀ (2. 28)Unmanifested in their beginning are creatures, manifestedin the middle, O Bharata; they becomebut unmanifest again at death; what room is therefor lamentation?ÀÙcaryavatpaÙyati kaÙcidenamÀÙcaryavadvadati tathaiva cÀnyaÕÀÙcaryavaccainamanyaÕ ÙÐÍotiÙrutvÀpyenaÌ veda na caiva kaÙcit (2. 29)As a Mystery one seeth Him, as a Mystery another
162Bengali Writingsspeaketh of Him, as a Mystery a third heareth of Him,but even with revelation not one knoweth Him.dehÈ nityamavadhyo'yaÌ dehe sarvasya bhÀratatasmÀtsarvÀÍi bhÓtÀni na tvaÌ Ùocitumarhasi (2. 30)The embodied One is for ever unslayable in the bodyof every man, O Bharata; and from Him are all creatures;therefore thou hast no cause for grief.The Unreality of DeathOn hearing Arjuna's words, Sri Krishna's face betrayedsigns of a smile, a smile that was amused yet happy. TheKnower of the hearts of men recognised in Arjuna's delusionthe old delusion of mankind, so He smiled. That delusionis born of Sri Krishna's own Maya; He has made mansubject to this Maya in order to end the evils, the sorrowsand weaknesses in the world through their experience andcontrol. The attachments of the heart, the fear of death,the subjection to happiness and sorrow, the feeling of likesand dislikes, — ignorant movements such as these have foundexpression in Arjuna's words. It is precisely these movementsthat have to be removed from the minds of men andthe world made free of evil. To create favourable conditionsfor that auspicious work has Sri Krishna come and isgoing to reveal the Gita. But first the delusion that has beenborn in Arjuna's mind has to be destroyed through an experienceof it. Arjuna is Sri Krishna's friend, the representativeof humanity; to him will the Gita be revealed, he is the bestrecipient. But humanity has not yet become fit to grasp themeaning of the Gita, even Arjuna could not grasp the fullmeaning. The grief, sorrow and weakness that came to hismind have been experienced in full by men in the Kali age.
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)163Christianity has brought love, Buddhism has brought compassion,Islam has brought power; they have come in orderto mitigate that experience of suffering. Now will beginthe first phase of the Satya sub-period of Kali. The Lord isonce again imparting the Gita to India, to the descendantsof the Kuru race. If we prove ourselves capable of receivingit and holding to it, then the good of India, the good ofthe world will be its inevitable fruit.Sri Krishna said, “Arjuna, you are counting virtue andsin like a pedant, you are talking about principles of life anddeath, trying to expound what will cause the nation good orharm; but your words do not bear evidence of any real knowledge,on the contrary, every word of yours is full of the deepestignorance. Why not say frankly your heart is weak and overcomeby grief, your mind turns away from what is to bedone? There is no reason why you should argue like an ignoramusin the language of a man of knowledge in order tojustify your weakness. Grief comes to the heart of every man,everyone regards death and separation as extremely frightful,life as of great value, grief as unbearable, duty as hard,achievement of self-interest as sweet; these make everyonefeel happy or lament, laugh or weep, but no one can callthese movements as sprung from knowledge. You are grievingfor those for whom it is wrong to grieve. The wise mandoes not grieve for anyone, not for the dead nor for the living.He is aware of these facts: there is no death, no separation,no sorrow, we are immortal, eternally the same, we arethe children of delight, children of immortality; we have cometo this earth to play at hide and seek with life and death,with joy and sorrow, we are enacting a drama of laughterand weeping in the huge play-house of Nature, are tastingthe delight of war and peace, love and dispute in our guiseof friend and foe. This short period for which we live, notknowing where we shall go tomorrow or the day after on
164Bengali Writingsleaving the body, is but a moment in our eternal play, ashort game, the sentiment of a few moments. We have been,we are, we shall be, eternally, for ever indestructible. Weare the lords of Nature, masters of life and death, portionsof God, inheritors of the past, present and future. Just asthe body has its childhood, youth and old age, so is thegetting of a new body. Death is only a name, we get afraidon hearing the name, feel sorrow; did we know the thing initself, we would neither be afraid nor feel sorrow. If wewept over a boy on his becoming a youth as if he weredead, and cried. ‘Alas, where has he gone, that dear boyof ours, this young man is not that boy, where is my darlinggone’, our behaviours would be described by everybodyas ludicrous and caused by rank ignorance, becausethis change of condition is a law of Nature, one and thesame conscious being remains unmoved within the body ofthe boy and the youth beyond all outer change. The manof knowledge on seeing the common man's fear of deathand sorrow at death considers his behaviour as equally ludicrousand caused by dark ignorance, because the changeto another body is a law of Nature, in the gross and the subtlebody one and the same conscious being remains unmovedbeyond all external change. Children of immortality are we;who is to die, who can kill? Death cannot touch us, death isan empty report, death is a delusion, death is not.”The Objects of Sense PerceptionThe conscious being is immobile, Nature is in movement.The immovable conscious being is seated within themovements of Nature. What the conscious being seated withinNature sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches with the five organsof sense, — he depends on Nature to take the delight of allthat. We see forms, hear sounds, smell odours, taste the
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)165flavour, feel the touch. Sound, touch, form, flavour, smell,these are the five objects of sense enjoyment. The particularfield of the sixth sense, the mind, is the impression ofthings. The field of the intelligence is thought. The mutualdelight and eternal play of conscious being and nature arefor having the experience and enjoyment of the five objectsof sense, the impressions of mind and the thoughts.This enjoyment is of two kinds, pure and impure. In pureenjoyment there is no pleasure or pain, there is simply thedelight that is the eternal principle of conscious being, isnatural to it. In impure enjoyment pain and pleasure arethere, dualities like heat and cold, hunger and thirst, griefand joy move and harass the impure enjoyer. Desire is thecause of impurity. Whoever has desire is impure, he is purewho has no desires. Desire creates likes and dislikes, underthe influence of likes and dislikes, conscious being gets attachedto objects of sense, the fruit of attachment is to becomebound. Due to the bad habit of attachment the consciousbeing, when moved and harassed, even when grievedor suffering pain, is unable to renounce the cause of hispain, grief or harassment.The State of EqualitySri Krishna first made reference to the eternity of theSpirit, then he showed the way to loosen the bonds of ignorance.The various touches of the objects of sense are thecause of dualities like pain and pleasure. These touches areimpermanent, they have both a beginning and an end, theirattachment has to be renounced because of the impermanence.If we become attached to impermanent things, wefeel pleased at their coming, their absence or loss gives uspain and sorrow. This is called the state of ignorance. Thereis a clouding of the eternal poise and ever-present delight of
166Bengali Writingsthe undying Spirit, we remain engrossed in transient statesand objects, drown ourselves in a sea of grief while piningat their loss. He who instead of being thus overcome canbear the touches of the objects of sense, that is, he who,while experiencing the dualities does not feel joy or sorrow,that man is freed from like and dislikes, by breakingthe bonds of ignorance becomes capable of realising the eternalstate and its delight, amÐtatvÀya kalpate.The Value of EqualityThis equality is the first teaching of the Gita. Equalityis the very basis of the spiritual discipline of the Gita. Theschool of the Stoics in Greece received this teaching fromIndia and propagated the doctrine of equality in Europe.The Greek philosopher Epicurus caught another side of SriKrishna's teaching, propounded the doctrine of Epicureanismwhich teaches calm enjoyment. These two doctrines,of equality and enjoyment, were known as the highest moraldoctrines of ancient Europe, and have given rise to the endlessquarrel between Puritanism and Paganism in modern Europe.But in the Gita's discipline, the doctrines of equalityand calm or pure enjoyment come to the same thing. Equalityis the cause, pure enjoyment is the result. Equality destroysattachment, calms down likes and dislikes; with the destructionof attachment and the calming down of likes and dislikes,purity is born. The enjoyment of the pure conscious beingis free of desires and attachment, is therefore pure. Hereinlies the virtue of equality that attachments and likes anddislikes cannot remain in the same person along with equality.Equality is the seed of purity.The Conquest of SorrowThe Stoic school of Greece made this mistake that theywere unable to grasp the true means of conquering sorrow.
VI. 7. The Gita: Text-Translation (2)167They tried to conquer sorrow by suppressing it, pressing itdown, treading it under the feet. But in the Gita it has beensaid elsewhere, prakÐtiÌ yÀnti bhÓtÀni nigrahaÕ kiÌ kariØyati1 , all beings follow their natures, what will suppressiondo? By the suppression of sorrow, human heart becomesdry, hard and loveless. “I shall not shed tears in sorrow,not acknowledge the feeling of pain, say, ‘this is nothing’and bear it in silence, will look on the sorrows of wife,children, friends, the sorrows of the nation with an unmovedheart”, — this is an attitude of asuric austereness proud ofits strength. It has a greatness, also an utility in helping towardsman's progress, but this is not the right means toconquer sorrow, not the last or supreme teaching. The trueway to conquer sorrow is knowledge, peace, equality. Toreceive both joy and sorrow calmly is the right path, not tostop the coming of joy and sorrow into the heart but tokeep unmoved the understanding. When there is equalityin the understanding the mind and heart automatically haveequality, at the same time natural movements like love donot get dried up, man does not become like a stone, dulland insensitive. prakÐtiÌ yÀnti bhÓtÀni — movements likelove are the eternal movements of Nature, the only way toescape from them is to get merged in the Supreme Reality.To get rid of Nature while living within Nature is an impossibility.If we reject softness of heart, hardness will overcomeit, if we forbid the vibrations of sorrow outside, sorrowwill remain stored up within and will imperceptibly dryup the heart. There is no possibility of progress in an austerityof this kind. Austerity will no doubt bring power, butwhat is held down in this life will break all barriers and gushforth with redoubled force in the next.1The Gita 3. 33
Facsimile of the cover page of Dharma, 1909-1910
VII. DHARMA
The Chariot of JagannathTHE ideal society is the vehicle ofthe indwelling Godhead of a human aggregate, the chariotfor the journey of Jagannath. Unity, Freedom, Knowledgeand Power constitute the four wheels of this chariot.The society, created by human intellect or by the playof the impure life-impulses of Nature, belongs to a differentorder: here it is not the chariot of God who directsthe destiny of the collectivity, but a masquerading deitywho deforms the divine intuition by covering up the Godwithin; it is rather the vehicle of the collective ego. It wandersaimlessly along the path heaped with numerous pleasures,pulled by the immature and incomplete resolutions of theintellect, and the old and new dull urges of the lower nature.As long as ego is the master, it is not possible to findthe goal — even when the goal is seen it is not possibleto drive the chariot straight in that direction. The truththat the ego is an obstacle to the divine fulness appliesnot only to the individual but holds equally good in thecase of the collectivity.Three main divisions of the ordinary human society arenoticeable. The first is the well-built chariot, polished, shining,clean and comfortable, fashioned by skilled artisans; drawnby strong well-trained horses, it goes forward cautiously atan easy pace without any haste along a good road. TheSattwic ego is its owner-passenger. This chariot goes roundthe temple of God situated on a high region above it. Unableto go very close to the high ground, it circles it at adistance. If any one wants to go up, the rule is to get downfrom the chariot and climb on foot. The ancient Aryan
172Bengali Writingssociety which came after the Vedic age can be called a chariotof this type.The second is the motor-car of the luxury-loving efficientworker. It rushes forward restless and tireless, at abreakneckspeed, roaring through the storm of dust and shatteringthe street beneath it. Ears are deafened by the noiseof its horn; it relentlessly pursues its way knocking downand crushing anybody that happens to be in its path. Dangerto the life of the passengers is great; accidents are frequent;the car is often smashed and repaired with difficulty,yet proudly it continues. There is no fixed goal but whenevera new vista is seen not too far away, immediately theowner of the car, the rajasic ego, drives in that directionshouting, ‘This is the goal, this is the goal.’ One derivesmuch pleasure and enjoyment in riding this car; yet peril isunavoidable, and to reach the Divine impossible. Modernsociety of the West is a car of this nature.The third is the dirty, old, dilapidated bullock cart,slow as a tortoise, drawn by emaciated, starving and halfdeadbullocks, and going on the narrow country roads; insidethe car is sitting a lazy, blind, pot-bellied, decrepit man inshabby clothes; smoking with great pleasure his mud-stainedhukkah and listening to the harsh creaking of the cart, heis lost in the profusion of the lazy and distorted memoriesof bygone days.The name of the owner is tamasic ego and that of thecartman book-knowledge. He consults an almanac to fix thetime and direction of his departure. His lips repeat the slogan,‘All that is or has been is good and any attempt tointroduce something new is bad.’ By this chariot there is abright and early prospect of reaching, though not the Divine,at least the Void of Brahman.The bullock-cart of tamasic ego is safe as long as it rollson the dusty unpaved village roads. We shudder to think what
VII. 1. The Chariot of Jagannatha173might happen to it if one day it got on to the broad streetsof the world where fleets of rapid automobiles rush about.The danger lies in the fact that it is beyond the knowledgeand capacity of the tamasic ego to recognise or admit thetime for changing the vehicle. It has no inclination to doso, for, then its business and ownership would be undone.When a difficulty arises, a few among the passengers say:‘No, let it alone. It is good because it is ours.’ These areorthodox or sentimental patriots. Some say: ‘Why don't yourepair it here and there?’ — as if by this simple expedient,the bullock-cart could be immediately transformed into aperfect and priceless limousine. Such patriots are knownas reformers. Others say: ‘Let us have once more our beautifulchariot of yore.’ At times, they even try to find ways andmeans of accomplishing this impossibility. There is no particularindication anywhere to warrant that their hopes wouldever be fulfilled.If we must choose one of these three vehicles, givingup still higher endeavours, then it is logical to construct anew chariot of the Sattwic ego. But so long as the chariotof Jagannath is not built, the ideal society will also not takeshape. That is the ideal and ultimate image, the manifestationof the highest and profoundest truth. Impelled by theUniversal Godhead, the human race is striving to create it,but owing to the ignorance of Prakriti it only succeeds increating a different image either deformed, crude and uglyor, if tolerably fair, incomplete in spite of its beauty. Insteadof creating Shiva, it fashions either a dwarf or a demonor an inferior deity of the intermediate worlds.Nobody knows the true form or design of the chariotof Jagannath, no artist of life is capable of drawing it. Hiddenunder many layers, this picture shines in the heart ofthe Universal Godhead. To manifest it, gradually throughthe effort of many divine Vibhutis, seers and creators, andestablish it in the material world is God's intention.
174Bengali WritingsThe real name of the chariot of Jagannath is not societybut commune. Not a loose human association with diversetendencies or merely a crowd but an unfettered indivisibleorganisation, the gnostic community created by delightand the unifying power of self-knowledge and divineknowledge.Society (samÀj) is the name given to the organisation,that device which allows a human collectivity to work together.By understanding the root of the word, we can alsoseize its meaning. The suffix sama means united, the rootaj signifies to go, to run, to fight. Thousands of people cometogether for the sake of work and to satisfy their desires.They pursue numerous aims in the same field — who cancome first? Who can get to the top? — and because of thisthere is struggle and competition, quarrel and fighting notonly among themselves but with other societies as well. Tobring about order into this chaos, obtain help and satisfymental tendencies, various relations and ideals are established;the result is something temporary, incomplete andachieved with difficulty. This is the image of society, of thelower existence.The inferior society is based upon division. A partial,uncertain and short-lived unity is constructed upon that division.The structure of the ideal society is entirely the opposite.Unity is the foundation; there is a play of differentiation,for the sake of multiform delight, not for division. Inthe society we find a hint of physical and mentally conceivedunity arising from work; but unity based on the selfis the soul of the spiritual commune.There have been a number of partial and unsuccessfulattempts to establish a commune in a limited field, whetherinspired by the intellectual ideas of the West or in order tofollow unhindered the discipline of inaction leading to Nirvanaas among the Buddhists or because of the intensity ofspiritual feeling like the early Christian communities. But
VII. 1. The Chariot of Jagannatha175before long all the defects, imperfections and normal tendenciesof society infiltrated into the spiritual commune andbrought it down to ordinary society. The idea of a restlessintellect cannot endure; it is washed away by the irresistiblecurrent of old and new life-impulses. An intensity ofemotion cannot bring about success in this endeavour; emotionis worn out by its own impetus. One ought to seek Nirvanaall alone; to form a commune for the love of Nirvana is acontradictory action. A spiritual commune is by its very naturea field for the play of work and mutuality.The day the Self-born unity will come into being bythe harmony and integration of knowledge, devotion andwork, as impelled by the Will of the Virat Purusha, theUniversal Person, on that day the chariot of Jagannath willcome out on the avenues of the world, radiating its light inall directions. Satya Yuga, the Age of Truth will descendupon earth; the world of mortal man will become the fieldfor the play of the Divine, the temple-city of God, the metropolisof Ananda.
Three Stages of Human SocietyHUMAN knowledge and powermanifest in many ways in the course of evolution.Three stages of it can be noticed — a natural state dominatedby the body and controlled by the life-force, anintermediate and more advanced state preeminently rational,and the last and highest state in which the soulis predominant.Man, when he is dominated by the body and drivenby the life-force, is a slave of desire and interests. He knowsonly inherent selfishness, ordinary instinct and impulse. Andhe prefers whatever social arrangement seems to be convenientand is brought about by the chain of events resultingfrom the clash of desires and interests; he calls the collectionof a few or many such regulations his dharma orway of life. Customs that run in the tradition or family orin society are the Dharma or Law of this lower natural state.The natural man has no idea of liberation, he does not knowabout the soul. The place where he can indulge withoutrestraint his physical and vital impulses is an imaginaryParadise. To attain such a heaven after physical death ishis salvation.The man who is primarily intellectual always tries toregulate his desires and interests by reason. Where lies thefulfilment of desires, which particular interest among manydifferent ones should have precedence, what is the natureof the ideal life, how and which discipline, as determinedby reason to be followed so that nature may be cleansedand the ideal realised — he is ever engaged in thinking aboutthese matters. He is willing to establish as his dharma a certain
VII. 2. Three Stages of Human Society177regulated cultivation of that nature and ideal principle. Sucha sense of dharma is indeed the regulator of an advancedsociety enlightened by rational knowledge.The dominantly spiritual man is aware of the secret soulbeyond the intellect, the mind, the life, and the body andbases his life movement on self-knowledge. He directs allhis activities towards liberation, self-realisation and the attainmentof God, knowing these to be the culmination oflife. And he regards as his dharma that way of life and thecultivation of that ideal which are conducive to self-realisationand which leads the movement of evolution towardsthat goal. The highest type of society is led by such idealand such dharma.From dominance by life to reason, from reason to thesuprarational love, these are the steps of man's ascent tothe peaks of God.There is not just one line of evolution in a particularsociety. All these three types of men exist in almost all societiesand the community consisting of such a collectionof people is a mixed one.There are also in a natural society people ruled by reasonas there are others ruled by the spirit. If these are fewin number, disorganised or imperfect, then they make verylittle impact on society. Still some progress they are able toeffect, have a hold on the society; however their influencebecomes strong only if they can organise the many. Butthe natural men are far greater in number; the Law of therational or spiritual man often becomes distorted, that ofreason degenerates into mere convention, that of the spiritualman under the pressure of personal fancy and externalcustom oppressed, overwhelmed, made lifeless and divertedfrom its goal. Such is the end, we always observe.We see that when reason is dominant, it assumes the leadershipof society and tries to found a dharma enlightened
178Bengali Writingsby intellectual knowledge after changing or even destroyingirrational taste and structure.The enlightenment of the West — equality, liberty, fraternity— is only a form of this attempt. Success is impossible.Even the rational man, owing to want of spiritualknowledge, himself distorts his own ideal under the pressureof the impulses of mind, life and body. This stage isintermediate and there cannot be stability here — either thereis a fall or an ascent towards the heights. Reason vacillatesbetween these two pulls.
AhankaraT HE meaning of the word,ahaÚkÀra, has become so distorted in our language that oftena confusion arises when we try to explain the main principlesof the Aryan Dharma. Pride is only a particular effectof the rajasic ego, yet this is the meaning generally attributedto the word ahaÚkÀra; any talk of giving up ahaÚkÀrabrings to the mind the idea of giving up pride or the rajasicego. In fact, any awareness of ‘I’ is ahaÚkÀra. The awarenessof ‘I’ is created in the higher knowledge Self and inthe play of the three principles of Nature, its three modesare revealed: the sattwic ego, the rajasic ego and the tamasicego. The sattwic ego brings knowledge and happiness.‘I am receiving knowledge, I am full of delight’ — thesefeelings are actions of the sattwic ego. The ego of the sadhak,the devotee, the man of knowledge, the disinterestedworker is the sattwic ego which brings knowledge and delight.The rajasic ego stands for action. ‘I am doing the work,I am winning, I am losing, I am making effort, the successin work is mine, the failure is mine, I am strong, I am fortunate,I am happy, I am unhappy’ — all these feelings arepredominantly rajasic, dynamic and generate desire. Thetamasic ego is full of ignorance and inertia. ‘I am wretched,I am helpless, I am lazy, incapable and good for nothing,I have no hope, I am sinking into the lower nature, myonly salvation is to sink into the lower nature’ — all thesefeelings are predominantly tamasic and produce inertia andobscurity. Those afflicted with the tamasic ego have nopride though they have the ego in full measure but thatego has a downward movement and leads to death and extinctionin the void of the Brahman. Just as pride has ego,
180Bengali Writingsin the same way humility also has ego; just as strength hasego, in the same way weakness also has ego. Those whohave no pride because of their tamasic nature are mean,feeble and servile out of fear and despair. Tamasic humility,tamasic forgiveness, tamasic endurance have no valuewhatsoever and do not produce any good result. Blessedindeed is he who perceiving Narayana everywhere is humble,tolerant and full of forgiveness. Delivered from all theseimpulsions coming from the ego, one who has gone beyondthe spell of the three modes of Nature has neither pridenor humility. Satisfied with whatever feeling is given to hisinstrumental being of life and mind by the universal Shaktiof the Divine and free from all attachment, he enjoys invariablepeace and felicity. The tamasic ego must be avoidedin every way. To destroy it completely by awakeningthe rajasic ego with the help of knowledge coming from‘sattwa’ is the first step towards progress. Growth of knowledge,faith and devotion are the means of liberating oneselffrom the grip of the rajasic ego. A person predominantlysattwic does not say, ‘I am happy’; he says, ‘Happinessis flowing in my heart’; he does not say, ‘I am wise’he says ‘Knowledge is growing in me.’ He knows that thishappiness and this knowledge do not belong to him but tothe Mother of the Universe. Yet when in all kinds of feelingsthere is bondage to the enjoyment of delight, thenthe feeling of the man of knowledge or the devotee is stillproceeding from the ego. Simply by saying ‘It is happeningin me’ one cannot abolish the ego-sense. Only the personwho has gone beyond the modes of Nature has completelytriumphed over the ego. He knows that the ‘Jiva’, theembodied being, is the witness and enjoyer, the Supremeis the giver of sanction, and that Nature is the doer ofworks, and that there is no ‘I’, all being a play in knowledgeand ignorance of the Shakti of the sole Brahman withouta second. The sense of ego is only a feeling born of
VII. 3. Ahankara181illusion in the nature established in the ‘Jiva’, the embodiedbeing. In the final stage this feeling of egolessness mergesinto Sachchidananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Buthaving gone beyond the modes of Nature one who stillstays in the divine play by the will of the Lord respectsthe separate existence of the Lord and the ‘Jiva’, the embodiedbeing, and, considering himself a portion of theDivine in Nature, he accomplishes his work in the Lila,the divine play. This feeling cannot be called the ego. Eventhe Supreme has this feeling. There is no ignorance or attachmentin Him, but His state of beatitude instead of beingself-abosorbed is turned towards the world. One who possessesthis consciousness is indeed a soul liberated in life.Liberation by dissolution can be gained only after the fallof the body. The state of liberation in life can be realisedin the body itself.
IntegralityYOU have stepped on to the pathof integral Yoga. Try to fathom the meaning and the aim ofthe integral Yoga before you advance. He who has the nobleaspiration of attaining the high summit of realisation shouldknow thoroughly these two things; the aim and the path.Of the path I shall speak later on. First it is necessary todraw before your eyes, in bold outline, the complete pictureof the aim.What is the meaning of integrality? Integrality is theimage of the Divine being, the dharma of the Divine nature.Man is incomplete, striving after and evolving towardsthe fullness and moving in the flow of gradual manifestationof the Self. Integrality is his destination; man is only ahalf-disclosed form of the Divine, that is why he is travellingtowards the Divine integrality. In this human bud hidesthe fullness of the Divine lotus, and it is the endeavour ofNature to bring it into blossom gradually and slowly. In thepractice of the Yoga, the Yoga-shakti begins to open it at agreat speed, with a lightning rapidity. That which peoplecall full manhood — mental progress, ethical purity, beautifuldevelopment of the faculties of mind, strength of character,vital force, physical health — is not the Divine integrality.It is only the fullness of a partial dharma of Nature.The real indivisible integrality can only come from the integralityof the Self, from the integrality of the SupramentalForce beyond the mind, because the indivisible Self is thereal Purusha, and the Purusha in mind, life or body is only apartial outward and debased play of the Supermind. The realintegrality can only come when the mind is transformed intothe Supermind. By the Supramental Force, the Self has
VII. 4. Integrality183created the universe and regulated it; by the SupramentalForce, it raises the part to the Whole. The Self in man isconcealed behind the veil of mind. It can be seen when thisveil is removed. The power of the Self can feel in the mindthe half-revealed, half-hidden, diminished form and play. Onlywhen the Supramental Force unfolds itself, can the Self fullyemerge.
Hymns and PrayersTHE seeker, the seeking and thesought are the three limbs that go to the making of theQuaternary — the Four Norms or Objects of life — theRight Law, Interest, Desire and Liberation (Dharma, Artha,Kama, Moksha). Seekers have different natures; thereforedifferent ways of seeking have been prescribed, and the goalsought is also different for each. But even if the outer viewsees many goals, the inner vision understands that the goalsought is one and the same for all seekers: it is self-fulfilment.In the Upanishad Yajnavalkya explains to his wifethat all is for the self. The wife is for the self, wealth is forthe self, love is for the self, happiness is for the self, sufferingis for the self, life is for the self, and death too is forthe self. Therefore the importance and necessity of this questionas to what the self is.Many wise and learned people ask what is the use ofworrying over the problem of self-knowledge. To waste one'stime in such abstruse discussion is madness, better to engageoneself in the more important subjects of worldly lifeand try to do good to the world. But the problem as to whatare the things important in worldly life and in what way goodwill come to humanity, needs for its solution a knowledge ofthe self. As is one's knowledge so is one's goal. If one considersone's body as the self, then one will sacrifice all otherreasonings and considerations for its sole satisfaction andthus become a selfish demon in human form. If one considersone's wife as the self, loves her as one's self thenone becomes a slave to her, ready to die to please her, inflictpain upon others for the sake of her happiness, do harmto others in order to satisfy her desire. And if one considers
VII. 5. Hymns and Prayers185one's country as the self then he may become a mighty patriot,perhaps leave behind an immortal name and fame in history,but then one may reject all other ideas and ideals, injureand rob and enslave other countries. Again, if you considerGod as your self and love Him as your self, then tooit would be the same thing. For love means supreme vision:if I am a yogi, full of love for the Divine, if I am aman of action acting desirelessly, then I shall be able to possessa power, a knowledge or joy beyond the reach of the commonman. And finally if I consider the indefinable SupremeReality (Brahman) as the self then I may attain the sovereignpeace and dissolution. As is one's faith, so one becomes— yo yat Ùraddha sa eva saÕ. Mankind has all alongbeen pursuing a development: it started with a small objectivein view, then through comparatively greater ones it realisedthe highest transcendent reality. Finally it is now enteringits goal, the supreme status of the Divine. There wasan age when mankind was solely preoccupied with the body;the cultivation of the body was the law of the age. Thatwas the way to Good in that age even if it meant depreciatingall other laws. Otherwise the body, as it is the meansand the foundation for the fulfilment of the law of the being(dharma), would not achieve the required development.Similarly there was another age in which the family andyet another in which the clan become the object of developmentas in modern times it is the nation that is the objective.However, the highest, the transcendent objective isthe Supreme Lord or the Divine. The Divine is the real,the supreme self of all, therefore the real, the supreme objective.So the Gita says, “abandon all laws, remember mealone”. All laws are harmonised in God. If you follow Him,He takes charge of you, makes you His instrument and worksfor the sovereign welfare and happiness of your family, yourclan, your nation and the whole of humanity.
186Bengali WritingsEven if the objective be the same, different seekershaving different natures, the way also differs in each case.One important way for realising the Divine is through prayersand hymns. But this is not suitable for everybody. One whofollows the path of knowledge takes to meditation and concentration.For the worker, dedication of works is the bestway. Prayers and hymns form a limb of devotion; even thenit is not the highest limb; for unqualified love is the highestperfection of devotion. That love can realise God's true selfthrough hymns and prayers and then, transcending theirnecessity, merges itself in God's self-enjoyment. And yetthere is hardly a man of devotion who can do without hymnsand prayers. When there is no need of the process and practice(sadhana) even then the heart wells out in hymns andprayers. Only one has to remember that the way is notthe objective and my way may not be another's. Manymen of devotion have this notion that one who does nottake to hymns and prayers, who does not take delight inthem, is not a spiritual man (one following the true law).This is a sign of error and narrowness. Buddha did notindulge in hymns and prayers but who would declare thatBuddha is unspiritual? Hymns and prayers have developedfor the practice of devotion.Men of devotion are also of many kinds and hymnsand prayers are used in different ways. A man becoming adevotee because of distress takes to hymns and prayers inorder to cry out to God, to pray for His help in the hope ofgetting relief. One who is a devotee with a purpose takesto hymns and prayers in the hope of the fulfilment of hispurpose, with the intention of securing wealth, fame, happiness,prosperity, victory, welfare, enjoyment, liberation, etc.Devotees of this category at times even try to tempt Godand propitiate Him; some failing to achieve their objectiveget terribly indignant with God and abuse Him calling Him
VII. 5. Hymns and Prayers187names such as that He is cruel, He is a cheat, declaringthey would never more worship God, never see His face,never accept Him. Many again in despair turn atheists andarrive at the conclusion that this world is a domain of suffering,a kingdom of torture, that there is no God. Thesetwo categories of devotion are an ignorant devotion; evenso it is not to be despised; for from the lesser one rises tothe greater. The discipline of ignorance is the first step to thediscipline of knowledge. The child is ignorant; but there is acharm in the ignorance of a child. The child too comes weepingto its mother, demands redress from suffering, rushes to herfor the sake of some satisfaction and self-interest, laments,pleads and when refused gets enraged, creates trouble. Evenso, the Mother of the worlds bears with a smiling face allthe claims and clamours of the ignorant devotees.Now, a devotee in quest of knowledge does not taketo hymns and prayers for the sake of securing a desiredobject or for pleasing God. For him, hymns and prayersare only a way to realising God's self-being and developinghis own consciousness. But for the devotee who has alreadythe knowledge, that necessity too disappears; becausehe has realised his self-being, his consciousness has becomefirm and well established: hymns and prayers are neededonly for the outpouring of the fullness of the heart. TheGita says, these four categories of devotees are all largehearted,none negligible, all are dear to God, but of them thedevotee who has the knowledge ranks highest; for one whohas the knowledge and God are the same in being. For adevotee God is the objective, that is to say, he is to be knownand realised as the self; the devotee who has the knowledge,and God are related to each other as the self and the SupremeSelf. The self and the Supreme Self are united togetherthrough this triple bond, knowledge and love and work.Work is there but the work is given by God, there is no
188Bengali Writingsnecessity of it, no self-interest in it, there is nothing to desirehere. There is love, but that love is free from conflictsand quarrels; it is selfless, stainless, pure. Knowledge is therebut that knowledge is not something dry and devoid of feeling,it is full of a deep and intense joy and love. The objectivemay be the same, but the way differs according to the aspirant.For different aspirants even the same way admitsof different applications.
Our Religion1OUR religion is the eternal religion,sanÀtana dharma. It has three forms, ways, and activitiesof its own. Our religion has three forms. God is in the spiritwithin, in the mental and the physical worlds — in thesethree worlds, created by Nature, governed by the SupremeConsciousness-Force (MahÀÙakti). He has expressed Himselfas the universe. The attempt to unite with Him in thesethree worlds comprises the three forms of the eternal religion.Our religion has its three ways, mÀrgas. Knowledge,devotion, action, — these three, in their separate or combinedworking, such a state of union is within man's reach.The yearning to be united with God by a purification ofthe soul through these triple ways constitutes the Triple Wayof the eternal religion. Our religion is involved in three activities.Among the major human tendencies three tend upward,and give the strength that brings Brahman-realisation— truth, love and energy. The evolution of the human raceis being fulfilled through the gradual expression of these threetendencies. To advance on the Triple Way through truth, loveand energy forms the triple action of the eternal religion.There are many secondary religions hidden or impliedin the eternal religion; depending on the eternal men busythemselves with changing, great and small religions, choosetheir own line of acitvity. All activities and religions are bornof one's own nature. The eternal religion is supported bythe eternal nature of the world, these many religions are the1Dharma is usually translated as Religion, perhaps for the sake of simplicity.But a closer rendering — closer to the real sense — would be “the right law oflife”, or simply “the Divine Law”.
190Bengali Writingsresult of the inner nature of the various instruments. Thereare many kinds of religion — individual, racial, hierarchical,of the spirit of the age, etc. They are not to be neglectedor rejected because they are impermanent, rather itis through the transient, changing religions that the eternalreligion develops and establishes itself. The giving up of thereligion of one's individual nature, of the race, the hierarchy,and the spirit of the age, instead of strengthening theeternal religion, develops what is irreligion, and what theGita calls mongrelisation, sankara; that is because of violatingthe eternal way and because of the downward momentumopposed to progress, the world suffers from sinand tyranny. When because of the excesses of such sin andtyranny the titanic (Àsuric) powers that oppose man's progressand trample religion swell and grow in strength, selfishness,cruelty and egotism spread everywhere, and the godlesspretend to be God, then to remedy the sufferings of a panic-riddenworld the Lord, manifesting in a human form aseither avatÀra or vibhÓti, again clears the way of the truereligion.For the adequate preservation of the eternal religion thereligion of the individual, race, the hierarchy and the spirit ofthe age are always to be recommended. But among thesemany religions there are the two forms: noble and small. Itis better to observe the ‘small’ religion in keeping with andby correcting it in terms of the nobler religion. If the religionof the individual is not made to conform with the religion ofthe race, that race goes to seed, and when the religion of therace is lost the field and opportunity of individual religionare destroyed. This too is a confusion in the life of religion,because of which both the race and the agents of confusionfall into the deepest hell. The race has to be saved first,only then can the individual's spiritual, ethical and economicprogress be safeguarded. And if the hierarchy in the social
VII. 6. Our Religion191order cannot be recast in the form demanded by the spiritof the age, because of the contrary force of the mighty spiritof the age the religion based on the hierarchical order isbroken and destroyed, and the same consequences overtakethe society itself. The small is always a part or supportof the great; in a contrary state of this relationship agreat harm, due to religious confusion, is perpetrated. Inthe case of a conflict between the great and the small religionit is better to give up the small and follow the great.Our aim is to spread the eternal religion and, based onthat eternal religion, the observance of the religion of therace and the spirit of the age. We Indians, descendants ofthe Aryan race, have a right to an Aryan education and ethics.This Aryan feeling is our family religion and racial religion.Knowledge, devotion and non-attached activity are the rootof an Aryan education; liberality, love, courage, energy,modesty are signs of the Aryan character. To spread thelight of knowledge among men, to hold before the race theimpeccable ideal of elevated, liberal characters, to protectthe weak, to punish the powerful tyrants are the aims ofAryan living; in the pursuit of these aims lies its religiousfulfilment. We have fallen from the ways of our religion,moved away from our goals; victim to religious confusionand the gross illusions full of error we are without the Aryaneducation and its regulative ethics. In spite of belongingto the Aryan race we, dominated by the mighty and victimsof misery and suffering, have accepted the law of inferiorityand the servitude that follows from it. Hence if we want tosurvive, if we have the slightest desire to be free from aneternal hell, our first duty is to serve the nation. The way todo that is to rebuild the Aryan character. So that the futurechildren of the motherland may become men of wisdom,truth-abiding, lovers of mankind, inspired by feelings of brotherhood,courageous, humble, it should be our first aim
192Bengali Writingsto give the entire nation, especially the youth of the country,an adequate education, high ideals and a way of activitythat will arouse these Aryan ideals. Till we succeed indoing that the spread of the eternal religion will be like sowingseeds in a barren field.The performance of the racial religion will make it easierto serve the spirit of the age. This is an age of energy, Ùakti,and love. At the beginning of the Age of Iron (Kali), thehuman tendencies try to fulfil themselves by subordinatingknowledge and action to devotion, and with the support oflove, truth and energy try and succeed in spreading the messageof love. The friendliness and charity of Buddhism, theteaching of love in Christianity, the equality and brotherhoodof Islam, the devotion and sentiment of love in thePuranic religion is a result of these attempts. In the Age ofIron the eternal religion, helped by the spirit of friendliness,action, devotion, love, equality and brotherhood, does goodto humanity. Entering into and manifesting in the Aryanreligion, composed of knowledge, devotion and non-attachedaction, these same powers are seeking for expansion andself-fulfilment. The signs of that energy of expression aresevere austerity, high ideals, and noble action. When thisrace becomes once more a seeker after austere perfection,full of high ideals and undertaker of noble efforts, it shouldbe understood that the world's progress is under way andthe withdrawal of anti-religious titanic forces and the riseof divine forces is inevitable once again. Hence this type ofeducation too is needed at the present time.When the religion of the race and of the time-spirit arefulfilled, the eternal religion will spread and establish itselfthroughout the world, without let or hindrance. All that theLord has ordained from before, about which there are propheciesin the ancient canons, Ùastras, those too will be feltand realised in action. The entire world will come to the
VII. 6. Our Religion193Knower of Brahman, who will arise in the Aryan land, aslearners in the ways of wisdom and religion, and acceptingBharat as a place of pilgrimage they will accept her superioritywith bowed heads. It is to bring that day nearer thatthe Indians are rising, that is why this fresh awakening ofAryan ideas.
Maya1OUR ancient philosophers in theirsearch for the fundamentals of the universe came to discoverthe existence of an eternal and all-pervading principleat the base of the phenomenal world. The present-dayWestern scientists have on their part, at the end of longresearches, become convinced of the existence of an abidinguniversal unity even in the physical world. They haveconcluded that ÀkÀÙa or ether is the essential principle ofphysical phenomena. The ancient philosophers of India toocame to this very conclusion thousands of years ago thatÀkÀÙa is the basis of the world of physical phenomenaand that all other physical states emerge from it throughthe process of natural transformation. But they did not stopshort with this conclusion which to them was not the ultimateone. They entered the subtle world through yogapowerand thus came to know that behind the gross physicalworld of appearances there exists a subtle world and thata subtle ÀkÀÙa or ether is the substratum of this phenomenalworld. Even this ÀkÀÙa does not represent the ultimatestuff; they named the ultimate stuff as pradhÀna.Prakriti or the cosmic Executrix after having created thispradhÀna in the rhythm of her universal movement, fashionsout of it millions and millions of aÍus or infinitesimals,and the subtle physical gets built up with these aÍus.1Translator's note: The word Maya comes from the Sanskrit root mÀ, to measure,to delimit. In its original Vedic sense, it meant the power of the infinite consciousnessof the absolute to form nÀma-rÓpa, the Name and Shape, out of theillimitable indivisible Truth of infinite Existence. But in course of time the word cameto acquire a pejorative sense and Maya was regarded as an Illusive Power.
VII. 7. Maya195Prakriti or the dynamic force does nothing for herself; thecreation and then the varied motion of this world of phenomenais solely for the pleasure of Him of whom she isthe Power. The Self or Purusha is the overseer and witnessin this play of Prakriti. The Self or Purusha is theoverseer and witness in the play of Prakriti. The ineffablesupreme Brahman of whom Purusha and Prakriti are theself-being and the dynamic action is the unique and eternalessential truth of the universe. The principal Upanishads affirmthese doctrines of Brahman and of Purusha and Prakriti whichform the core of the truths the Aryan Rishis discovered intheir quest for the fundamentals. Out of these basic truthsthe philosophers erected different systems of thought-structuresthrough debate and discussion. The protagonists ofthe doctrine of Brahman started the Vedanta philosophy:the partisans of the doctrine of Prakriti propounded theSankhya philosophy. Apart from these, many others followeda different path stating that the paramÀÍus or the infinitesimalsrepresent the primordial principle of the world of physicalphenomena. After these different approaches were chalkedout, Sri Krishna established in the Gita a harmonising synthesisof all the various systems of thought and restated thetruths of the Upanishads through the mouth of Vasudeva.The authors of the Puranas on their part accepted as thesource-book the Purana composed by Vyasa and introducedto the general public the same truths in the garb of anecdotesand allegories. This could not of course arrest the polemicsof the scholars; they went on stating their own individualviews and sought to ratify the conclusions of variousbranches of philosophy by means of elaborate reasoning.The actual state of our six systems of philosophy hasgrown out of this later speculation. At last Shankaracharyaformed a unique and abiding organisation for the propagationof Vedanta throughout the length and breadth of the
196Bengali Writingsland and thus established the sway of Vedanta in the mindsof the general public. After that the dominance and the influenceof the other five systems of philosophy almost vanishedfrom the field of thought even though they remainedestablished amongst a handful of scholars. Then schism developedin the universally accepted Vedanta philosophy whichbranched into three main offshoots and many more secondaryones. The quarrel between Monism with its emphasison Knowledge and the devotional Dualism and qualifiedMonism continues even today in the bosom of the Hindureligion. The follower of the Path of Knowledge explainsaway as symptoms of dementia the turbulent outbursts oflove and passion in the devotee: the devotee on his partdisdains as dry debate the urge for spiritual knowledge exhibitedby the former. Both the views are fallacious andnarrow. Knowledge without devotion feeds the ego and thusobstructs the way towards liberation; devotion divorced fromknowledge gives rise to superstitions and a blundering tamasicmood. The genuine spiritual path as preconized by theUpanishads ensures the synthesis and mutual support ofknowledge, devotion and works.If we would like to spread the universal Aryan dharmasuited to all men, we would have to found it on genuineAryan lore. Philosophy has ever been partial and incomplete.Any attempt to constrict the entire world through logicalargument to fit into the tenets of a narrow view-point mightperhaps lead to the adequate explanation of one side of theTruth but only to the detriment of all others. The doctrineof Maya or illusionism as propounded by the Monists is acase in point. Brahman is real and the world is an illusion:this is the keynote of the doctrine of Maya. The nationthat accepts this formula as the cornerstone of its thoughtgrows in the yearning for knowledge, the spirit of detachmentand the love for renunciation; but the power of
VII. 7. Maya197rajas gets annulled while sattva and tamas predominateso that while on the one hand the enlightened sannyasins,the peace-loving vairagis, and the lovers and devoteesof God full of distaste for the world, increase innumbers, on the other, a miserable destiny befalls the commonrun of men who become tamasic, ignorant, besottedwith passivity and absolutely useless. This is whathas happened in India due to the spread of the doctrineof Maya. If the world happens to be an illusion, then allother enterprises excepting the thirst for knowledge mustbe deemed otiose and pernicious. But apart from this thirstafter knowledge many other powerful and beneficial urgesare at play in the life of man; no nation can survive theneglect of these. In order to avoid this possible catastropheShankaracharya distinguished two sides of knowledge,spiritual and pragmatic, and prescribed either knowledgeor works for different individuals according to the natureof each. But the result has been quite the contrarybecause of his vehement denunciation of the then ceremonialPath of Works. That Path of Works became almostextinct and the Vedic ceremonies vanished, thanksto the influence of Shankara; but notions such as these:‘the world is created by the power of Illusion’, ‘worksarise out of ignorance and hinder liberation’, ‘fate is thedispenser of our joys and sorrows’ and other kindred notionsconducive to the growth of tamas got so much settledin the minds of people that it became impossible forthe power of rajas to manifest again. To save the Aryanrace the Divine brought about resistance to the doctrineof Maya through the propagation of the teachings of thePuranas and the Tantras. Various aspects of the Aryanculture originating in the Upanishads were somewhatpreserved in the Puranas, while the Tantras impelled
198Bengali Writingsmen to action for the attainment of the dual fruits of muktiand bhakti, liberation and enjoyment, through the worshipof the Shakti. Almost all those who fought to maintain theintegrity of the nation, such as Pratap Singh, Shivaji, Pratapaditya,Chand Rai, etc., were either worshippers of theShakti or disciples of Tantric yogis. To prevent the harmemanating from tamas, Sri Krishna preached against therenunciation of works in the Gita.The doctrine of Maya is indeed founded upon truth.The Upanishads too have declared that the Lord (ÈÙvara)is the great Magician (Parama MÀyÀvÈ) who has broughtforth this tangible world through His Maya-Power. Sri Krishnaalso has said in the Gita that Maya manifesting her tripleguÍas or modes pervades the whole of the universe. Theone and unique ineffable Brahman is the essential Truth ofthe Universe; all the phenomenal world is nothing but Hisself-manifestation, itself being mutable and impermanent.But if Brahman happens to be the sole reality, questionsnecessarily arise: Wherefrom and how do the division andmultiplicity arise? and wherein are they established? To thesequestions the Upanishads reply: If Brahman is the sole Reality,division and multiplicity must have arisen from Brahmanalone, they must be established in Brahman Himselfand must have been occasioned by some inscrutable powerof Brahman. That Power has been variously designatedas the Maya of the Magician, Prakriti governed by Purusha,or the Will-Power of the Ishwara — a Power both ofKnowledge and Ignorance. The logician's mind could notbe satisfied with such statements; it could not find thereexplanations as to how the One becomes the Many or howdivision appears in the Indivisible. At last it hit upon an easysolution: The One can never become Many, division cannever appear in the eternal Unity, multiplicity is an untruth,division is false, they are but mÀyÀ or illusions floating as
VII. 7. Maya199dreams in the eternal Self who is One without a second.But confusion does not cease even with this; for the questionsarise: What is after all Maya? whence and how doesit originate? and wherein is it established? Shankara replied:one cannot say what Maya is, for it is ineffable; Maya doesnot originate, Maya ever is and yet is not. Thus the confusioncould not be cleared and no satisfactory solution wasforthcoming. Only, as a result of this debate a second eternaland ineffable principle secured its place in the one andthe unique Brahman; unity could thus not be maintained.The explanation offered by the Upanishads is far betterthan that of Shankara. The Divine's own Nature is thecreatrix of the world; that Nature is Shakti, the Chit-Shaktior the blissful Consciousness-Force of Sachchidananda (orthe triune Unity of Existence absolute, Consciousness absoluteand Bliss absolute). The Divine is the Super-selffor the individual Self, so is Parameshwara for the world.The Will of the Parameshwara is imbued with creativepotency; it is through that Will that the Many come outof the One and division appears in the Indivisible. Lookedat from the point of view of the supernal, Brahman isreal and the world is an appearance brought forth bythe divine Maya (ParÀmÀyÀ) 1 , for it issues forth fromBrahman and disappears into Brahman. The phenomenaluniverse exists in Time and Space, it does not existin the transcendent status of the Brahman. Brahman isthe continent of the phenomenal Time and Space; Hecannot be circumscribed by Space and Time. The worldhas come out of Brahman and exists in Brahman; the1Cf. “It is by Maya that static truth of essential being becomes ordered truthof active being, — or, to put it in more metaphysical language, out of the supremebeing in which all is all without barrier of separative consciousness emerges thephenomenal being in which all is in each and each is in all for the play of existencewith existence, consciousness with consciousness, force with force, delight withdelight.” (Sri Aurobindo: The Life Divine, p. 108).
200Bengali Writingscosmos with a beginning and an end is established in theeternal inscrutable Brahman, it exists there after being createdby the Power of vidyÀ and avidyÀ (the knowledge andthe ignorance of Oneness) of Brahman. Just as man possessesin himself the power to conceive unreal objects throughthe exercise of imagination apart from the power to realisethe actual truth, so in Brahman exist the powers of knowledgeand ignorance (vidyÀ and avidyÀ), as also the real andthe unreal appearances (Ðta and anÐta). But the appearancesare the creations of Time and Space. Just as the imaginationsof man get translated into reality in course of timeand space, so too what we term as unreal is not altogetherunreal, for it represents but the as yet unrealised aspect ofthe Truth. As a matter of fact, all without exception is real;the world is unreal in the transcendent status, but we whoare not beyond Time and Space have no right to call theworld false. In the bosom of Time and Space the world isby no means unreal, it is a reality. When the time will comeand we will acquire the necessary strength to transcend Timeand Space and merge in the Brahman, then and then alonewe will be entitled to call the world an unreality; but if itcomes from the mouth of one who has not got the right tosay so it means a falsehood and a reversal of the course ofdharma. Instead of declaring that Brahman is real and theworld an illusion it would be better for us to state that Brahmanis the Reality and the world too is Brahman. Such isthe teaching of the Upanishads; the Aryan dharma is foundedupon the truth: sarvaÌ khalvidaÌ brahma, ‘everything isindeed Brahman’.
NivrittiTHE wise in our country neveraccepted any narrow interpretation of dharma, the rightlaw of Life, the Divine Law, opposed to the great activitiesof life. The great and profound axiom that alllife is the field for dharma lay at the bottom of the Hindus'lore and learning. Tainted by the teachings of the Westour knowledge and education have degenerated into atwisted and anomalous state. We often succumb to thisfalse notion that nothing but renunciation, devotion orsattwic attitude can ever form part of dharma. Men inthe West study religion with such a cramped notion. TheHindus used to divide all the activities of life into thetwo categories of dharma and adharma (‘what is notdharma’); in the Western world they have made threedivisions such as religion, irreligion and the cultivationof most of the pursuits and functionings of life outsidethe purview of religion and irreligion. To praise the Divine,to say prayers and to chant hymns, and listen tothe sermons of the priest at the church and such otherallied activities go by the name of religion. Morality formsno part of religion, that makes a separate category byitself; but many accept both religion and morality as auxiliarylimbs of piety. Not to attend the church, to entertainthe spirit of atheism or agnosticism, to disparagereligion or even to show indifference towards it are
202Bengali Writingscalled acts of irreligion and immorality. According to the aforesaidview, these too make up impiety. But otherwise mostof the pursuits and functionings fall outside of religion andirreligion. Religion and life, dharma and karma are separatecategories — many amongst us interpret dharma in thisdistorted way. They style dharma all that pertains to saintsand sannyasins, to God or to gods and goddesses and therenunciation of the world; but if you happen to raise anyother topic, they will demur, “This concerns the world andnot religion”. The occidental idea of religion has taken rootin their mind; to hear the word ‘dharma’ makes them atonce think of ‘religion’ and they unwittingly employ the wordin the same sense. But if we impute such foreign connotationsto our native terms, we are sure to lapse from thecatholic and eternal Aryan notions and teachings. All life isthe field of dharma, so is the life in the world. Only theculture of spiritual knowledge or the urge of devotion donot constitute dharma, action too is dharma. This great teachingpervades from ages past the whole of our literature —eØa dharmaÕ sanÀtanaÕ.Many think that although works form part of dharma,not so all types of work; only those that are governed bysattwa and conducive to nivÐtti, abstention or withdrawaldeserve this title. This too is a fallacious notion. Just as thesattwic actions are dharma, so are the rajasic ones. Just asshowing compassion to creatures is dharma, so is destroyingthe enemy of the land in the field of a righteous battle. Tosacrifice one's own happiness and wealth or even life, for thegood of others, is dharma, even so is it dharma to maintain ina fit condition the body that is the instrument of dharma. Politicstoo is dharma, to write poetry, to paint pictures — thattoo is dharma, to gladden the hearts of others through sweetsongs is also dharma. Dharma is whatever is not tainted by selfinterest,be that work great or small. It is we who reckon a
VII. 8. Nivritti203thing great or small, there is nothing great or small beforethe Divine; He looks only at the attitude in which a persondoes the works befitting his nature or brought by unforeseencircumstances. The highest and greatest dharmais this: whatever work we do, to consecrate that to thefeet of the Divine, to perform it as yajÜa or holy sacrificeand to accept it with an equal heart as something done byHis own Nature:ÈÙÀ vÀsyamidaÌ sarvaÌ yat kiñca jagatyÀÌ jagat,tena tyaktena bhuñjÈthÀ mÀ gÐdhaÕ kasya sviddhanam.kÓrvanneveha karmÀÍi jijÈviØecchataÌ samÀÕ, 1That is to say, the greatest way is to see in Him allthat we see or do or think and to cover all that with histhought as if with a piece of raiment; neither sin nor irreligioncan ever penetrate this covering. Without hankeringfor anything and giving up in our heart desireand attachment with regard to all works, to enjoy allthat we receive in the flux of actions, to perform alltypes of works, to preserve the body: such is the conductpleasing to God and this indeed is the greatest dharma.This is what constitutes true abstention. The buddhi 2 orthe intelligent will is the seat of nivÐtti or abstention,1Isha Upanishads 1, 2. Sri Aurobindo's own translation into English:“All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universeof movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy;lust not after any man's possession. Doing verily works in this world one shouldwish to live a hundred years.”2Cf. “Buddhi is the intelligence with its power of knowledge and will.Buddhi takes up and deals with all the rest of the action of the mind and lifeand body... From the point of view of yogic knowledge we may say that it isthat instrument of the soul, of the inner conscious being in nature, of the Purusha,by which it comes into some kind of conscious and ordered possessionboth of itself and its surroundings.” (Sri Aurobindo; The Synthesis of Yoga:pp. 744, 759)
204Bengali Writingsthe vital and the senses are the field of pravÐtti or dynamicimpulse. Buddhi should maintain the poise of a detachedwitness and act as the prophet or spokesman of God and,being free from desire, communicate to the life and the sensesthe inspiration sanctioned by Him; life and the senses willthen act accordingly. The renunciation of actions is no greatachievement, the renunciation of desire is the true renunciation.The physical withdrawal is no withdrawal, the noninvolvementin consciousness is the true withdrawal.
PrakamyaWHEN people speak of the eightfoldacquisitions (siddhi), they think of a few extraordinarypowers gained through a supranatural yoga. Although it istrue that a full play of the eight acquisitions can happenonly in a yogi, still all these powers are not outside the commonlaws of nature; rather what we call natural laws are adisposition of these eight-fold powers.The names of these eight powers are ‘Mahima’ (greatness),‘Laghima’ (lightness), ‘Anima’ (smallness), ‘Prakamya’(penetration or projection), ‘Vyapti’ (extension), ‘Aisvarya’(splendour), ‘Vasita’ (control), ‘Iseeta’ (mastery); all theseare known as the eight powers inherent in the nature of theSupreme. Take, for example, ‘prakamya’; ‘prakamya’ meansthe full expression and free working of all the senses. Infact, all the working of the five senses, instruments of senseknowledgeand mind are included in prakamya. It is throughthe power of prakamya that the eyes see, the ears hear,the nose smells, the skin feels touch, the tongue tastes andthe mind receives all outside contacts. Normally people thinkthat it is the physical senses that are the powers that holdknowledge; but the wise know that the eye does not see, itis the mind that sees, the ear hears not, it is the mind thathears, the nose smells not, it is the mind that smells. Menof still greater knowledge know that even the mind seesnot, hears not, smells not, it is the being that sees, hears,smells. The Being is the knower, the being is God, part ofthe Supreme. The eight powers of the Supreme Divine arealso the eight powers of the being.An eternal portion of the Divine, in the world of souls,
206Bengali Writingsbecomes a soul, then meets the mind and the five senses inNature, and draws them towards itself, uses in its own serviceand possesses for its own enjoyment. When God as a soultakes up a body or goes out of the body, then, as the windtakes away the perfumes from flowers, even so it takes awayall the senses from the body. The Supreme Divine archesover the ears and eyes, the touch and taste and smell andthe mind and enjoys their objects. Seeing, hearing, smelling,tasting, touching, thinking (meantalising) are all functionsof prakamya. The soul, an eternal portion of the Divineadopts all this working of Nature and in the course ofNature's transfiguration puts out the five senses and the mindin the subtle body. And as it takes up the physical body itenters there with all the six senses and at the time of deathit departs taking with it the six senses. However, whetherin the subtle body or in the physical body it is he who inhabitsthese six senses as their master and enjoys all theirobjects. In the causal body prakamya is there in its fulness.That power manifests itself first in the subtle body and thenin the physical body. It does not from the very outset expressitself wholly in the physical. The senses evolve graduallywith the gradual evolution of the world. In the endthey attain in some of the animals the degree of expressionand intensity helpful for the human evolution. But in manhimself the senses get somewhat dulled because we spendmore energy for the development of the mind and intelligence.But this imperfect manifestation of prakamya is notits final stage. By the force of yoga all the powers of prakamyathat have developed in the subtle body can be expressed inthe physical body. This is the realisation of prakamya gainedthrough yoga.IIInfinite and invincible is the might of the Supreme Divine.And the power that is inherent in his nature has an infinite
VII. 9. Prakamya207field and unhindered working. The soul is God, a portionof the Divine bounded in the subtle body and in the materialbody. He slowly unveils his divine powers. The sensesof the physical body are particularly limited; and so long asman is limited by the powers of the physical body, he issuperior to the animal only because of the development ofhis intelligence. Otherwise in the matter of the intensity ofthe senses and the faultless working of the mind — in oneword in the realisation of prakamya, power of projection— the animal is superior to man. What the scientists callinstinct is this prakamya. In the animal, the intelligence hasdeveloped to a very small extent and yet if one is to live inthis world then one has need of a faculty that will showthe way in all things as to what is to be done and what isto be rejected. The mind of the animal does this. Man'smind decides nothing, it is his intelligence that decides, it ishis intelligence that settles, his mind is only an instrument,for registering impressions. Whatever we see, hear, feelturn into impressions in the mind. The intelligence acceptsthese impressions or rejects them or builds thoughts withthem. The animal intelligence is incapable of taking decisionin this way. Not by the intelligence but by the mindthe animal understands and thinks. The mind has a curiouscapacity, it can understand in a moment what is happeningin another mind. It does not argue but comprehendsjust what is happening in another mind. It does not arguebut comprehends just what is necessary and chooses theright way for the work. We may not have seen anybodyentering the room, still we may know somebody is hidingthere. There is no cause for fear, still we are full of anxiety,as though there is some secret reason for fear somewhere.Our friend has not uttered a word, still before heopens his mouth we guess what he is going to say. Manyinstances of this kind may be given. All these are powersof the mind, the natural unfettered working of the
208Bengali Writingseleventh sense. But we have been so accustomed to actthrough our intelligence that we have almost lost the otherpower, the power of prakamya. If the animal did not possessprakamya, he would die out in a day or two. What iseatable, what is not, who is friend, who is foe, where isdanger, where safety, all this knowledge, it is prakamya thatgives to the animal. It is through prakamya that the dogwithout even understanding the language of the master canunderstand the meaning of his words or the idea in his mind.It is through prakamya that the horse always recognises theroad on which it has gone once before. All these powers ofprakamya belong to the mind. But even with regard to thepower of the five senses the animal beats the man hollow.Which man is able like the dog to follow a scent through ahundred miles, and rejecting all other ways to pursue unfailinglyone particular animal? Or which man can see likethe animal in the dark, or can discover through hearing onlythe sound made by some one from a secret place? An Englishnewspaper while speaking of telepathy, that is, receivingthought from a distance, says it is a function of the mind.The animal has this capacity, man has not, therefore throughthe development of telepathy man will go down and not goup, an argument that befits very well a thick-headed Briton.True, in order to develop his intelligence man neglectedthe full development of the senses, but it was for hisgood, otherwise his intelligence would not have developedso quickly, if there had been no need of it. But once theintelligence has developed fully and faultlessly, it is now man'sduty to develop again the eleventh sense. By this the knowledgeascertainable by the intellect will be widened and afull culture of the mind and intelligence will develop theminto fit instruments, for the manifestation of the inner Divine.The development of any power whatsoever can neverbe a cause of decline, decline is possible only when the
VII. 9. Prakamya209power is applied in the wrong way, when it is used in afalse manner, when it is tainted with disharmony. Many arethe visible signs that are seen today which make us understandthat the day is come for the eleventh sense to manifestagain, for the power of prakamya to begin to grow andincrease.
VIII. NATIONALISM
214Bengali WritingsThe eternal and the old are not one and the same thing.The eternal belongs to all time; what is beyond the past,the present and the future, what remains as an unbrokencontinuity through all changes, what we perceive as theimmortal in mortal — that is eternal. We do not call thedharma and the fundamental thought of India, just becausethey are old, the eternal dharma, the eternal truth. This thoughtis eternal because it is the self-knowledge obtained by therealisation of the Self; this dharma is eternal because it isbased on the eternal knowledge. The old is only a form ofthe eternal which was suitable to the age.
The Problem of the PastCOMPLETE domination of theeducated class in India by Europe for nearly a century deprivedthe Indians of the Aryan enlightenment and the Aryannature. They became impotent and developed a predilectionfor inactivity and dependence on others. That tamasicfeeling is now going. It would be helpful to discuss thereasons for its appearance. In the eighteenth century, tamasicignorance and rajasic impulsion enveloped the wholeof India. Thousands of men of strong asuric character, selfish,irresponsible, inimical to the country, took birth in India andprepared favourable conditions for her eventual bondage.At that hour, the English merchants came to her from thedistant British Isles to fulfil a deep intention of the Divine.India, prostrate under a load of sins, passed into the handsof the foreigners. The world still looks with wonder at themiracle. In the absence of any other satisfactory explanation,every one is extolling to the skies the virtues of theEnglish. In fact, the English have many qualities, otherwisethey would not have become the greatest triumphant nationin the world. But those who say that the inferiority ofthe Indians and the superiority of the English, the vices ofthe Indians and the virtues of the English are the only reasonsfor this miracle, though not entirely wrong, still giverise to a few false ideas in the minds of people. Let us thereforecarry out a penetrating investigation on the subject in orderto arrive at the correct conclusion.The conquest of India by the English is an unparalleledachievement in the history of the world. If this immense countrywere inhabited by a nation, weak and ignorant, inapt anduncivilised, then such a statement could not have been
216Bengali Writingsmade. On the contrary, India is the native country of theRajputs, the Marathas, the Sikhs, the Pathans, the Mogulsand others. The Bengalis with their quick intelligence, thethinkers from South India, the politician Brahmins fromMaharashtra are children of Mother India. A capable statesmanlike Nana Farnavis, a general adept in the science of warlike Madhaoji Scindia and mighty geniuses and kingdombuilderslike Hyder Ali and Ranjit Singh could be found inevery province at the time of the British conquest. In theeighteenth century, the Indians were not inferior to any othernation in power, courage or intelligence. India of the eighteenthcentury was the temple of Saraswati, the treasury ofLakshmi and the playground for Shakti. Yet the country whichthe mighty Muslims, constantly growing in power, tookhundreds of years to conquer with the greatest difficultyand could never rule over in perfect security, that very countryin the course of fifty years willingly admitted the sovereigntyof a handful of English merchants and within a century wentinto an inert sleep under the shadow of their paramountempire. You might say, it was the result of the want of unity.We admit that the lack of unity is truly one of the principalreasons of our misfortune but then there was neverany unity in India even in the past. There was no unity inthe age of the Mahabharata nor in the time of Chandraguptaor Ashoka. There was no unity during the period of the Muslimconquest of India or in the eighteenth century. The lack ofunity could not be the exclusive reason for such a miracle tohappen. If you say that the virtues of the English are thereason then I would ask those who know the history of thatperiod whether they would venture to say that the Englishmerchants of that epoch were superior to the Indians eitherin virtue or in merit. It is difficult to suppress laughter whenwe hear some one talking of the great qualities of thosedevils, cruel and powerful, selfish and avaricious, — Clive,
VIII. 2. The Problem of the Past217Warren Hastings and others, English merchants and robberswho by plundering and conquering India, have givento the world not only examples of incomparable bravery,labour and pride but also examples of unsurpassable wickedness.Courage, labour and pride are virtues of the Asuras,their good points. Clive and other Englishmen also possessedthem. But their vices were in no way less than thevices of the Indians. Therefore the virtues of the Englishdid not accomplish this miracle.The English and the Indians both were equally Asuras.It was not a battle between the Gods and the Asuras but afight of the Asuras against the Asuras. What was the sublimequality of the Occidental Asura which crowned withsuccess his power, courage and intelligence? And what wasthe fatal defect of the Indian Asura which nullified his power,courage and intelligence? The answer is, in the first place,that though the Indians were equal to the English in all qualities,they did not have any national feeling whereas the Englishpossessed it to the full. From this it must not be hastilyconcluded that the English were patriotic, and that it waspatriotism which inspired them to build up successfully avast empire in India. Patriotism and national consciousnessare two different qualities. The patriot lives in a rapture ofservice to the motherland; he perceives her everywhere, looksupon her as a godhead, and to her offers all work done asa sacrifice for the good of the country; his own interest mergesin the interest of the country. The English of the eighteenthcentury did not have this feeling as it cannot abide permanentlyin the heart of any Occidental materialist nation. TheEnglish did not come to India for the good of their country.They came here to do business, to make money for themselves.Not out of love for their country did they conqueror pillage India but they conquered it mainly intheir own interest. However, without being patriots, they
218Bengali Writingshad the national feeling; the pride that “our country is thebest, the traditions and customs, religion, character, morality,strength, courage, intelligence, opinion and work of ournation are inimitably perfect, unattainable by others”; thebelief that “the good of my country is my good, the gloryof my country is my glory, the prosperity of my fellowcountrymen is my prosperity; instead of seeking only personalends, I shall advance at the same time the interest ofmy nation; it is the duty of every one in the country tofight for her honour, glory and prosperity; it is the religionof the hero, if need be, to die bravely in that fight”; thissense of duty exhibits the main characteristic of the nationalconsciousness. Patriotism is in its nature sattwic, whereasthe national consciousness is rajasic. One who can losehis ego in the ego of the country is the ideal patriot; onewho aggrandises the ego of the country, all the while maintainingintact his own ego is a nationally conscious individual.The Indians of that epoch were wanting in national consciousness.We do not mean to say that they never caredfor the good of their nation, but if there was the least conflictbetween their personal interest and that of the country,they often sacrificed the good of the country to achievetheir own. According to us, the lack of national consciousnesswas a more fatal defect than the lack of unity. If fullnational consciousness spread everywhere in the country,then unity could be realised even in this land afflicted withdivision. Mere verbal repetition, “We want unity, we wantunity!” is not sufficient. This is the principal reason of theconquest of India by the British. The Asuras fought againstthe Asuras; but the nationally conscious and unified Asurasdefeated the Asuras equal to them in all other qualities butdisunited and devoid of national consciousness. According tothe Divine law, one who is strong and efficient wins the wrestlingcontest; one who is fast and enduring arrives first at the
VIII. 2. The Problem of the Past219destination. High moral qualities or merits alone cannot makeone win a race or wrestling bout; the necessary strength isindispensable. Thus even a wicked and Asuric nation, consciousof itself, is able to found an empire, while for wantof national consciousness a virtuous people possessing manyhigh moral qualities loses its independence, and eventuallyforfeiting its noble character and good qualities falls intodecadence.From the political point of view this explains best howIndia was conquered. But there is a greater truth hiddenbehind it. We have already mentioned that tamasic ignoranceand rajasic impulse had become very predominant inIndia. This state precedes a downfall. Concentration on therajasic quality increases the rajasic power; but pure rajassoon changes into tamas. Arrogant and disorderly rajasicendeavour soon gets tired and exhausted and finally degeneratesinto impotence, dejection and inactivity. The rajasicpower can become durable if it is turned towards sattwa.In the absence of the sattwic nature, at least a sattwic idealis indispensable; that ideal imparts order and a steady strengthto the rajasic power. The English always cherished thesetwo great sattwic ideals, order and liberty, which have madethem great and victorious in the world. In the nineteenthcentury this nation was seized by the desire to do good toothers, and thanks to it, England rose to the summit of nationalgrandeur. Moreover, the insatiable thirst for knowledge,which drove the Europeans to make hundreds of scientificdiscoveries and people by the hundred to lay down their liveswillingly in order to gain even a drop of knowledge, that strongsattwic yearning for knowledge was active among the English.It was this sattwic power from which the English drewtheir strength; their supremacy, courage and force are diminishing,and fear, discontent and lack of self-confidence areon the increase because the sattwic power is waning; the
220Bengali Writingsrajasic power having lost its sattwic aim is sliding into tamas.On the other hand, the Indians were a great sattwic nation.It was because of this sattwic power that they becameincomparable in knowledge, courage and in spite of theirdisunity were able to resist and throw back foreign attacksfor a thousand years. Then began the increase of rajas andthe decrease of sattwa. At the time of the Muslim advent,the widespread knowledge had already begun to shrink andthe Rajputs who were predominantly rajasic occupied thethrone of India. Northern India was in the grip of wars andinternal quarrels and, owing to a decadence of Buddhism,Bengal was overcast with tamas. Spirituality sought refugein South India and by the grace of that sattwic power SouthIndia was able to retain her freedom for a long time. Yearningfor knowledge, progress of knowledge slowly declined; instead,erudition was more and more honoured and glorified;spiritual knowledge, development of yogic power andinner realisation were mostly replaced by tamasic religiousworship and observance of rajasic ceremonies to gain worldlyends; when the cult of the four great orders of society disappeared,people began to attach more importance to outwardcustoms and actions. Such an extinction of the nationaldharma had brought about the death of Greece, Rome,Egypt and Assyria; but the Aryan race which held the ancientreligion was saved by the rejuvenating flow of heavelynectar which gushed from time to time from the ancient source.Shankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya, Nanak, Ramdas and Tukarambrought back to life a moribund India by sprinklingher with that divine nectar. However, the current of rajasand tamas was so strong that by its pull, even the best werealtered into the worst; common people began to justify theirtamasic nature with the knowledge given by Shankara; thecult of love revealed by Chaitanya became a cover for extremetamasic inactivity; the Marathas who were taught byRamdas, forgot their Maharashtrian dharma, wasted the power
VIII. 2. The Problem of the Past221in selfish pursuits and internal conflicts and destroyed thekingdom founded by Shivaji and Bajirao. In the eighteenthcentury this current attained its maximum force. Society andreligion were confined within narrow limits as ordained bya few modern law-givers; the pomp of outward rites andceremonies came to be designated as religion; with the Aryanknowledge vanishing and the Aryan character dying,the ancient religion abandoned society and took shelter inthe forest-life of the Sannyasi and in the heart of the devotee.India was then enveloped in the thickest darkness oftamas, yet a stupendous rajasic impulse under the cloak ofan outward religion relentlessly pursued vile and selfish ends,bringing ruin to the nation and the country. Power was notlacking in the country, but owing to the eclipse of the Aryandharma and of sattwa, that power unable to defend itself,brought about its own destruction. Finally, the Asuricpower of India vanquished by the Asuric power of Britainbecame shackled and lifeless. India plunged into an inertsleep of tamas. Obscurity, unwillingness, ignorance, inaction,loss of self-confidence, sacrifice of self-respect, loveof slavery, emulation of foreigners and adoption of theirreligion, dejection, self-depreciation, pettiness, indolence, etc.all these are characteristic qualities of the tamas. Which ofthese was lacking in nineteenth century India? Each andevery endeavour of that century, because of the predominanceof these qualities, bore everywhere the seal of thetamasic force.When God roused India, in the first flush of her awakeningthe flaming power of the national consciousness beganto flow swiftly in the veins of the nation. At the sametime, a maddening emotion of patriotism enraptured the youth.We are not Europeans, we are Asiatics. We are Indians,we are Aryans. We have gained the national consciousnessbut unless it is steeped in patriotism our national consciousness
222Bengali Writingscannot blossom. Adoration of the Mother must be the foundationof that patriotism. The day “Bande Mataram”, thesong of Bankimchandra, crossed the barrier of the outersenses and knocked at the heart, on that day patriotism wasborn in our heart; on that day the Mother's image was enshrinedin our heart. The country is Mother, the country isDivine, — this sublime precept which forms a part of theUpanishadic teachings is the seed of the national rising. Asthe “Jiva” is a part of the Divine, as the power of the “Jiva”is also a part of the Divine power, so also the seventy millionBengalis, the collectivity of three hundred million Indiansare part of all-pervading Vasudeva; in the same manner,Mother India, adorned with many hands and powers,shelter of these three hundred millions, embodiment of Shakti,is a force of the Divine Mother, the Goddess, the very bodyof the universal Mahakali. Excitement, passion, clamour,insult, oppression and torture endured during these five yearsin order to awaken the love for the Mother and establishHer image in the heart and mind of the nation were decreedby the Divine. That work is over. What next?Next, the ancient power of the Aryans has to be resurrected.First, the Aryan character and the Aryan educationmust reappear; secondly, the yogic power has to be developedagain; lastly, that yearning for knowledge, that capacityfor work worthy of an Aryan must be utilised in orderto assemble necessary material for the new age; the madpassion worked up during these last five years has to beharnessed and directed towards the accomplishment of theMother's work. Young men all over the country, who areseeking a path and looking for work, let them get over thepassion and find out a means for acquiring power. The sublimework that has to be accomplished cannot be achievedby passion alone; strength is necessary. The force that canbe acquired from the teachings of your ancestors can do
VIII. 2. The Problem of the Past223the impossible. That Force is preparing to descend into yourbody. That Force is the Mother Herself. Learn to surrenderto Her. The Mother by making you Her instrument willaccomplish the work so swiftly, so powerfully that the worldwill be astounded. All your efforts will come to nothingwithout that Force. The image of the Mother is enshrinedin your heart, you have learnt to serve and adore the Mother;now surrender to the Mother within you. There is no otherway to accomplish the work.
The Country and NationalismTHE country and nothing but thecountry is the foundation of Nationalism, neither the nation,nor religion, nothing else matters. Ail other elementsare secondary and contributory, it is the country alone thatis primary and essential. Many mutually exclusive races livein the land, perhaps there never was enough goodwill, unityor friendliness. What is there in that to worry about?When it is one country, one Mother — there is bound tobe unity one day, and out of the union of many races shallemerge a strong and invincible nation. Our religious viewsmay differ, there might be endless conflict among the communities,neither concordance nor any hope of concordance,still one need not have any misgivings. By the powerfulmagnetic attraction of the Mother embodied in the country,by fair means or foul — whether by mutual understanding,or by force or by appeasement — harmony will be achieved;communalism, separation will be drowned in fraternal feelings,in a common love and worship of the Mother. In aland of many languages brother is unable to understandbrother, we do not sympathise with each other's feelings,between heart and heart there are immense barriers. Thesehave to be overcome with much effort. Yet one need notfear. There is the same current of thought in every mind,of one country, one life, and under pressure of need acommon language is bound to evolve, either one of theexisting languages will come to be accepted, else a newlanguage will be created. In the Mother's temple all willuse that language. There is nothing permanent about theseobstacles. The Mother's need, her attraction and deeperdesire are not to be frustrated, these will surmount all
VIII. 3. The Country and Nationalism225obstacles and conflicts. Born of the same Mother, on herlap we live, in her five elements we merge and melt, inspite of a thousand real dissensions we shall unite at Hercall. This is a law of Nature, the lesson of history everywhere:the country is the base of nationalism, an inevitablebond. Where there is a country of one's own, nationalismis bound to be there. On the other hand, if the country isnot one, even if the race, the religion and the language arethe same, nothing will come of that. One day a separaterace is sure to appear. By yoking together separate countriesa great empire may be built. But that is not how agreat nationality comes about. When the empire declines,separate nations spring up. Very often it is this inherent separativenessthat causes the empire to crash.But even if the result is inevitable, the speed or delaywith which it materialises will depend on human effort, humanintelligence or the absence of it. In our country there neverwas unity before, but there had always been a pull, a currenttending towards unity, towards welding the differentparts into some kind of unity. There were some major obstaclesregarding this natural attempt: first, the provincialdifferences; secondly, the Hindu-Muslim conflict; thirdly, thelack of a vision of the country as Mother. Its vast area, thedelays and difficulties of communication, and the differencesin language are some of the primary factors responsible forprovincial disunity. Thanks to modern science, except forthe last factor, the rest have lost their separative vigour. Inspite of Hindu-Muslim differences, Akbar did manage to unifyIndia. And had Aurangzeb not been a victim of lowly impulses,the Hindus and Muslims of India, like the Catholicsand Protestants of England, would have long been unitedthanks to the time factor, habit and the threat of foreigninvasion. Due to Aurangzeb's folly and the instigation of someof our English diplomats, the fire of conflict, fanned oncemore, refuses to go out. Our chief obstacle, however, is
226Bengali Writingsan absence of vision of the country as our Mother. For themost part our politicians have been incapable of a close andfull vision of the Mother. Ranjit Singh or Guru Gobind Singhhad seen only the Mother of the Land of the Five Riversinstead of Mother India; Shivaji or Baji Rao had seen aMother of the Hindus instead of Mother India. The otherMaharashtrian statesmen had seen only a Mother for theMaharashtrians. At the time of the Partition we ourselveshad been blessed with a vision of Mother Bengal, that wasa vision of unity, hence the future unity and progress ofBengal is assured. But the unified image of Mother India isyet to be realised. In the Congress, the Mother India thatwe hymned, adored and worshipped was a figure of fancy,a companion and obliging maid of the British Raj, an undivineillusion in occidental outfit. She was indeed not ourMother. All the same, hid in a deep or vague murkinessour true Mother drew our heart and soul. The day we seeHer true indivisible image, struck by Her beauty and grace,we shall eagerly lay down our lives in Her service. Thenthis obstacle will be gone, and India's unity, freedom andprogress be easier to achieve. The barrier of language willno longer divide. Accepting Hindi as a link language but withdue regard for one's own regional language, we shall getrid of the disability. We shall succeed in finding a true solutionof the Hindu-Muslim conflict. For want of a visionof the country as the Mother, the urge to do away withthese obstacles has not been strongly felt. That is why themeans has not been found and the conflict been growingworse. What is required is an image of the country, trueand indivisible. But if, under the illusion of that true vision,we still cherish only the Mother of the Hindus or Hindunationalism we shall fall for the old error and deprive ourselvesof the full flowering of Nationalism itself.
The True Meaning of FreedomFREEDOM is the goal of our politicalstruggle, but there is a difference of opinion regardingthe true meaning of freedom. Some say it is full autonomy,some say it is colonial self-government (DominionStatus), and yet others mention that it is ‘Swaraj’, full politicalindependence. The Aryan Rishis used to designate thepractical and spiritual freedom and its fruit, the inviolableAnanda, as ‘Swarajya’, self-empire. Political freedom is buta limb of Swarajya, self-empire. It has two aspects — externalfreedom and internal freedom. Complete liberty fromforeign domination is the external freedom, and democracyis the highest expression of the internal freedom. As longas there is an alien government or ruler, no nation can becalled a free nation possessing self-empire. As long as democracyis not established, no individual belonging to a nationcan be deemed a free man. We want complete independence,free from the servitude to foreigners, complete authorityof the individual in his own home. This is our politicalaim.I shall describe briefly the cause of this yearning forfreedom. For all people, subjection is a messenger and servitorof death. Only freedom can protect life and make anyprogress possible. Swadharma (self-law) or work and endeavourfixed by one's own nature is the only path ofprogress. The foreigner in occupation of the country, evenif he is very kind, and our well-wisher, will not think twiceabout putting the load of an alien dharma on our heads.Regardless of whether his intention is noble or wicked, thiscan never do us anything but harm. We have neither thestrength nor the inclination to advance on the path suitable
228Bengali Writingsto the nature of an alien people; if we follow it, we may beable to imitate them well enough, ingeniously covering upour own degradation with the symbols and robes of progressof the foreigner, but during an ordeal our weakness and sterility,resulting from the pursuit of a foreign dharma, will becomeevident. We too shall die out because of that sterility.The ancient European nations that were governed byRome and that adopted her civilisation lived happily for along time but their eventual plight was dreadful. The abjectstate to which they were reduced accounted for the loss oftheir manhood. Such a miserable condition and forfeitureof manhood are the inevitable outcome of a people whoadore subjection. Death of the self-law of a people andadoption of an alien law provide the principal basis for thecontinuation of foreign rule; if even in our bondage we canprotect or resurrect the self-law of our being, then the chainsof slavery will automatically fall away from us. Therefore,if any nation loses its freedom by its own fault, an untruncatedand full independence should be its first aim and politicalideal. Colonial self-government is not independence.However, if full power is unconditionally given with it andthe nation does not have to abandon its ideal and self-lawof being, then it can be a helpful condition prior to full independence.Now it is being said that to entertain any hope of independenceoutside the British Empire is a mark of arrogance,an incitement to treason; those who are not satisfied withcolonial self-government must be guilty of treason and rebellionagainst the State and as such must be excluded fromall political activity. But a hope or ideal of this nature hasnothing to do with treason. From the inception of the Britishrule, many great English politicians have been sayingthat an independence of this kind is also the aim of theBritish officials and even now British judges openly proclaim
VIII. 4. The True Meaning of Freedom229that propagation of the ideal of freedom and lawful endeavourto attain it do not constitute a violation of the law, nor arethey a crime. The solution to the question whether we shouldbe independent outside the British Empire or within it, doesnot seem to interest the National Party. We want full independence.If the British were to organise such a united empirethat the Indians, while remaining within it, could realise theirfull independence, why should we have any objection toit? We are struggling for independence, not out of spite againstthe British, but in order to save our country. However weare not prepared to show our countrymen the wrong pathof false politics, the wrong way to protect the country byadmitting an ideal other than that of full independence.
A Word About SocietyMAN is not born for the society— but the society is created for him. Those who forget theinner Divinity in man and give a higher place to the societyare worshipping the undivine. Meaningless worship of societyis a sign of artificiality in human life, a deteriorationof the self-law.Man does not belong to the society but to the Divine.Those who try to weaken the Divine within him by imposing,on his mind and life and soul, slavery to the societyand its numerous exterior bonds, have lost sight of the truegoal of humanity. The sin of this oppression does not permitthe Divine within him to awake, the Power goes to sleep.If you have to serve at all, then serve the Divine, not thesociety. There is sweetness as well as progress in this service.The highest felicity, liberty in bondage, and unrestrictedfreedom are its crowning results.The society cannot be the aim; it is a means, an instrument.Self-inspired knowledge and power emerging fromaction and shaped by the Divine are the true guides of thelife of man. Their progressive growth is the aim of the spiritualevolution of life. This knowledge, this power should usesociety as an instrument, mould it, and, if need be, evenmodify it. This is the natural condition. An unprogressiveand stagnant society becomes the grave of lifeless manhood;the outpouring of life and the radiation of the force of knowledgeare bound to bring about a transformation of society.To tie man with a thousand chains to the social machineryand crush him will lead to inevitable immobility and decay.
VIII. 5. A Word about Society231We have lessened man and extolled society. But a societycannot grow in this way, it becomes petty, stagnantand sterile. Instead of utilising society as a means of ourprogressive development, we have reduced it to an instrumentof oppression and bondage; this is the reason for ourdegeneration, indolence and helpless impotence. Elevate man,open the gateway of the temple where the Divine secretlyshines within him. The society will automatically becomenoble, beautiful in every limb, a successful field for theenterprise of a free and high intention.
FraternityTHE three ideals, or ultimate aimsof modern civilisation which were proclaimed at the timeof the French revolution, are generally known in our languageas the three principles of liberty, equality and amity.But what goes by the name of fraternity in the language ofthe West is not amity. Amity describes a state of mind. Onewho is a well-wisher of all beings and harms nobody, thatbenevolent person, free from violence and engaged in thewell-being of all beings, is called ‘a friend’; amity is thestate of his mind. Such a state of mind is an asset to theindividual; it can direct his life and work, but it cannot possiblybecome the mainstay of a political and social organisation.The three principles of the French revolution are not ethicalrules for guiding the life of an individual but three tiesor bonds capable of remoulding the structure of society andcountry, a fundamental truth of Nature yearning to manifestitself in the external condition of society and country.Fraternity means brotherhood.The French revolutionaries were very anxious to gainsocial and political liberty and equality, their eyes werenot set so much on fraternity. Absence of fraternity is thecause of incompleteness of the French revolution. This extraordinaryrising established political and social liberty inEurope; even political equality to some extent found a placein the political organisation and legislation of a few countries.But without fraternity, social equality is impossible.And because of the absence of fraternity Europe was deprivedof social equality. The full development of thesethree basic principles is interdependent: fraternity is thebasis of equality; without it equality cannot be established.
VIII. 6. Fraternity233Only brotherly feeling can bring about brotherhood. Thereis no brotherly feeling in Europe, equality and liberty aretainted there. That is why in Europe chaos and revolutionis the order of the day. Proudly Europe calls this chaos andrevolution progress and advancement.Whatever brotherly feeling exists in Europe rests on thecountry: “We belong to one country, we have the same advantagesand disadvantages, unity, safeguards, national freedom”— this knowledge is the cause of unity in Europe.There is another knowledge which stands against it: “weare all men, all men should be united, division between manand man is born of ignorance and is harmful; so let us giveup nationalism and establish a unity of the human race”. Aconflict is going on between these two contradictory truths,especially in France, that emotional country where the greatideal of liberty, equality and fraternity was first proclaimed.However, the fact is that these two truths and feelings arenot contradictory. Nationalism is a truth, unity of the humanrace is also a truth and only the harmony of these twotruths can bring the highest good of humanity; if our intelligenceis incapable of finding that harmony and becomesattached to the conflict of principles which are not contradictory,then we must consider that intelligence a misguidedrajasic intelligence.Europe, disgusted with political and social liberty withoutany equality, is now racing towards Socialism. There aretwo parties, the Anarchists and the Socialists. The Anarchistsays, “Political liberty is an illusion; to establish a machineof torture in the name of government, by influential men,for crushing individual liberty on the pretext of preservingpolitical freedom, is a sign of this illusion; therefore, abolishall kinds of government and establish genuine freedom.”Who will protect liberty and equality in the absence of anygovernment and prevent the powerful from torturing the
234Bengali Writingsweak? In answer to this objection the Anarchist says, “Expandeducation, spread complete knowledge and brotherlyfeeling; knowledge and brotherly feeling will protect libertyand equality. If an individual violates the brotherly feelingand brings suffering to others, he can be punished withdeath by anybody.” The Socialist does not say the samething. He says, “Let the government remain, the governmentis useful. Let us establish society and the politicalstructure on complete equality; when all the present defectsof society and of the political organisation are rectified,the human race will be completely happy and freeand full of brotherly feeling.” For this reason the Socialistwants to unite society; if there is no personal property buteverything belongs to society — as with the property of ajoint family belonging not to any individual but to the familywhich is the body, the individual being only a limb of thatbody — then division will disappear from society and itwill become one.The Anarchist makes the mistake of attempting to doaway with the government before fraternity is established.It will be long before the brotherly feeling can come; meanwhile,abolition of the government will result in the supremacyof animal instincts on account of the extreme chaos anddisorder ensuing. The king is the centre of society; formationof a government enables men to avoid animality. Whencomplete fraternity is established then God instead of employingany earthly representative will himself rule the earthand sit on the throne in every one's heart. The reign of theSaints of the Christians, our Satyayuga, will be established.Mankind has not progressed so far as to achieve this statesoon, only a partial realisation is possible.The Socialist errs in trying to establish fraternity onequality, instead of establishing equality on fraternity. Itis possible to have fraternity without having equality; but
VIII. 6. Fraternity235equality without fraternity cannot last and it will be destroyedby dissension, quarrels and inordinate greed for power. Firstwe must have complete fraternity and then only completeequality.The brotherly feeling is an outward condition: if we allremain full of brotherly feeling, have one common property,one common good and one common effort, that is fraternity.The external condition is based on the inner state.Love for the brother infuses life into fraternity and makesit real. There must be a basis even for that brotherly love.We are children of one Mother, compatriots; this feelingcan provide the basis for a kind of brotherly love; thoughthis feeling becomes a basis of political unity, social unitycannot be achieved in this way. We have to go still deeper:just as we all have to overpass our own mothers in orderto worship the Mother of our compatriots, in the same waywe have to transcend and realise the Universal Mother. Wehave to transcend the partial Shakti in order to reach theShakti in her completeness. But, just as in our adoration ofMother India, though we overpass our physical mother yetwe do not forget her, in the same way, in our adoration ofthe Universal Mother we shall transcend Mother India andnot forget her. She too is Kali, she too is the Mother.Only religion provides a basis for fraternity. All the religionssay, “We are one, division is born of ignorance andjealousy.” Love is the central teaching of all religions. Ourreligion also says, “We are all one, the dividing intellect is asign of ignorance, the sage should look on all with an equaleye and perceive the one soul, one Narayan equally establishedin everyone.” Universal love comes from this equalityfull of devotion. But this knowledge which is the highest goalof humanity will spread everywhere only at the final stageof our journey; meanwhile we have to realise it partially within,and without, in the family, society, country, in every being.
236Bengali WritingsMan is always endeavouring to give an enduring form tofraternity by creating family, clan, society, country, and bindingthem firmly by laws and scriptures. Up till now thateffort has failed. The basis exists and so does the form.But what is needed is some inexhaustible force which willpreserve the life of fraternity, so that the basis remains unimpairedand the form becomes everlasting or is continuallyrenewed. God has not yet manifested that Force. He hascome down as Rama, Krishna, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna andis preparing to transform the selfish heart of man into a fitreceptacle of love. How far is that day when He shall descendagain and make this earth a paradise by spreadingeternal love and bliss and implanting it in the heart of man!
Indian PaintingALL Western and Eastern nationshave been obliged to admit that our Mother India was animperishable treasure-house of knowledge, spirituality, artand literature. But formerly Europe was under the impressionthat Indian painting was not so highly developed asour literature and other arts, but was horrible and devoidof beauty. We too, enlightened by European knowledge andlooking through European glasses, turned up our noses atthe sight of Indian painting and sculpture, thus demonstratingour refined intellect and irreproachable taste. The mansionsof the rich became filled with Greek statues and thingsin the ‘cast’ of English paintings or their lifeless imitations,even the walls of the houses of ordinary people were decoratedwith frightful oil-paintings. The Indians whose tastesand skills in art had been unmatched in the world, the Indianswhose choice of colour and form had been naturallyfaultless, the same people grew blind, lost the intellectualcapacity for seizing the inner significance and developed ataste even worse than that of an Italian labourer. Raja RaviVarma was acclaimed the best Indian artist.However, recently thanks to the efforts of some artloversthe eyes of the Indians are opening and they arebeginning to appreciate their own skill and their own vastwealth of art forms. Animated and inspired by the extraordinarygenius of Sri Abanindranath Tagore, a few youngmen are resurrecting the lost art of Indian painting. By virtueof their talent a new age is being ushered in Bengal.After this, one may expect that India, instead of lookingthrough the eyes of the English will see with her own eyesand, discarding the imitations of the West, depend upon herown clear intellect and once again express the eternal thoughtsof India through colour and form.
238Bengali WritingsThere are two reasons for the Europeans' dislike of Indianpainting. They say Indian paintings are incapable of imitatingNature: instead of drawing a man like a man, a horselike a horse, a tree like a tree, they draw deformed images;they have no perspective, the pictures appear flat and unnatural.The Europeans' second objection used to be thatall these pictures lack beauty of form and feeling. This objectionis no longer in their mouths. When they saw theincomparable serenity in our ancient images of Buddha andthe radiance of supernal power in our ancient statues ofDurga, they were charmed and stupefied. The greatest acknowledgedart-critics of England have admitted that theIndian painter might not know the perspective of Europe,but the Indian laws of perspective were very beautiful, completeand reasonable. It is true, the Indian painter or otherartist does not imitate the external world, but not becausehe lacks the capacity: his aim is to go beyond the outwardscene and appearance and express the inner feeling and truth.The external shape is only a robe, a disguise of the innertruth — we lose ourselves in the beauty of the mass andcannot see what is hidden within. Therefore, Indian paintersdeliberately modified the outer form in order to make itmore suitable for expressing the inner truth. One is amazedto see how beautifully they express the inner truth of anmental state or of an event, in each limb, in the environment,attitude and dress. This, indeed, is the main characteristicof Indian painting, its highest development.The West is busy with the false external perception,they are devotees of the shadow. The East seeks the innertruth, we are devotees of the eternal. The West worshipsthe body, we worship the soul. The West is in love withname and form, we can never be satisfied unless we get tothe eternal object. This difference is evident everywhere:as in religion, philosophy and literature, so in painting andarchitecture.
Hirobumi ItoTWO types of souls are born amongmen. Those who manifest their innate divine nature througha slow process of progressive evolution are ordinary men.And those who are born as Vibhutis to help that process ofevolution are a class apart. Accepting the character and modeof conduct of the nation, and the zeitgeist of the age inwhich they are born, they achieve ends which the ordinarypeople cannot attain, change the course of the world to someextent, and then return to their own respective occult worldsleaving immortal names in history. Their character and contributionare beyond man's praise and blame. Whether wepraise or condemn them, they have fulfilled the tasks giventhem by God, and the future of humanity, determined bytheir works, will speed on in the decreed course. Caesar,Napoleon, Akbar, Shivaji are such Vibhutis, Hirobumi Ito,the great man of Japan, belongs to this category and notone of the people I have just mentioned was superior tohim in native qualities, genius, the greatness of his effortor in the future results he produced. Every one is aware ofthe pre-eminent position of Ito in history and in the tremendousprogress of Japan. But all may not know that itwas Ito who conceived the course, means and aim of thatprogress and achieved that great transformation single-handed,all the other great men were only his instruments. It wasIto indeed who conceived in his mind the unity, independence,education, army, navy, economic prosperity, commerceand politics of Japan and translated that dream into reality.He was preparing the future Japanese empire. Whateverhe did he achieved mostly from behind the scenes. The world
240Bengali Writingslearns immediately of what the Kaiser or Lloyd George isthinking or doing. But no one knew what Ito was thinkingor doing — when his secret imagination and effort bore fruit,only then the world learnt with astonishment: this was beingprepared so long. And yet what great effort, what wonderfulgenius is manifested in his achievement. If Ito hadbeen used to publicise his great vision, the whole world wouldhave laughed at him as a mad idealist given to fruitless dreamsand bent upon achieving the impossible. Who would havebelieved that within fifty years, Japan would, maintainingits priceless independence, absorb western culture, becomea very powerful nation like England, France and Germany,defeat China and Russia, spread Japanese trade and commerceand painting, and also induce admiration for the Japaneseintelligence and fear of Japanese courage, captureKorea and Formosa, lay the foundation of a great empire,achieve the utmost progress in unity, freedom, equality andnational education. Napoleon used to say: “I have banishedthe word ‘impossible’ from my dictionary”. Ito didnot say but in fact did so. Ito's achievement is greater thanNapoleon's. We should have no regret that the great manhas been killed by a bullet of an assassin. It is a matter ofgratification, of good fortune and something to be proudof that one who dedicated his life to Japan, whose onepreoccupation and object of worship was Japan, has alsosacrificed it for his country. “Slain thou shalt win heaven,victorious thou shalt enjoy the earth”. In the destiny ofHirobumi Ito we witness the attainment of both these fruitsin the same life-tree.
Guru Govind SinghA LIFE of Guru Govind Singh,written by Shri Basanta Kumar Banerji, has been receivedby us recently. In this book, the character of Guru GovindSingh and his political activities have been brought out in avery fine manner in simple and lucid style. But the tenthGuru of the Sikhs was not merely a military leader and statesman.He was also a great religious personality and a preachercommissioned by God. He gave a new form to the sattwictype of religion in Nanak, with its rich store of Vedanticthought. This fine biography could thus have avoided a touchof incompleteness, had it given a full account of the Guru'sviews on religion and the transformation that he effected inSikh religion and society. The writer has made it easier toappreciate the Guru's character and the historical causes andcircumstances of his advent, by giving the early history ofthe Sikh people. It would have helped a great deal in understandingthe results of the tenth Guru's extraordinary workand the fruit of his mighty endeavour, had a brief accountbeen likewise given of the subsequent events.The history of the Sikhs has Guru Govind Singh as itscentral theme. The true biography of this great personalitycould be nothing but the history of that people to whoseorganisation he applied all his strength and genius. In theabsence of both the early and the later history of the Sikhcommunity, a biography of Govind Singh would present arather fragmentary appearance, like the trunk of a tree shornof its roots and branches. It is to be hoped that the authorwill add the missing parts in the second edition of his workand make it a beautiful whole by giving a full description of
242Bengali Writingsthe great Sikh personality's views on religion and his workin the cause of social reform.On reading this book, the mind is powerfully attractedby the magnanimous nature and extraordinary activities ofthis great hero, patriot and founder of the Khalsa. Any onewho has given himself to the work for the national causeor is thinking of doing so will find this life augmenting hisstrength and fortifying the divine inspiration.
National ResurgenceOUR opponents, the Britishers,have from the beginning called the present mighty and allembracingmovement as an outcome of hatred. And a fewIndians who like to imitate them never miss repeating thisjudgement. We are engaged in a spiritual mission and weare using our energy in the movement of national awakeningbecause it is an important limb of the Divine Law (Dharma).If this movement were born of hatred, then we wouldnot have dared to proclaim it as part of the spiritual discipline.Conflict, battle, even killing may have a place in theDivine Law, but hatred and malice have to be rejected forthe sake of progress; therefore they who foster these impulsesin themselves or try to awaken them in the nationfall into ignorant delusion and give shelter to vice. We cannotsay that hatred never entered into this movement. Whenone side is full of hatred and malice, then it is inevitablethat the other side also, as a reaction, should be liable tohatred and malice. In Bengal some British newspapers andsome arrogant violent individuals by their behaviour havebrought into being this vicious element. The naturally forbearingand patient Indians have suffered for long indifference,contempt, hatred, reproach, from day to day inthe newspapers and also while travelling in train, on road,in all meeting places, abuse and insult and even physicalblows. In the end, when it became intolerable even forthem, they started returning abuse for abuse, blow for blow.Many Englishmen have admitted this error and this wrongoutlook on the part of their own countrymen. Besides, theGovernment officials have blundered grievously and beendoing for a very long time things that are against the interestof the people, that create disaffection and bring
244Bengali Writingspain and suffering. Man is naturally prone to anger whenhis self-interest is attacked, when he meets unfriendly behaviour,when violence is done to any object or idea dearto him, then this fire of anger that is lodged in every creatureflares up and as it goes to the extreme in a blind rushit gives rise to hatred and hate-born acts. Discontent wasgrowing within unseen in the heart of the Indian for a verylong time because of the wrong behaviour and insolent wordsof some Englishmen and because of the Indian citizen notpossessing any real right or power in the government of hiscountry. Finally at the time when Lord Curzon was the ruler,this discontent grew to such intensity and the unbearableheartfelt pain due to the partition of Bengal kindled suchan extraordinary countrywide flame of anger, the aggressivepolicy of the rulers adding to it, that it resulted in fiercehatred. We must admit all the same that many became impatientand poured a huge amount of butter as fuel intothat fire of hatred. God's play is curious. In his creation itis the conflict of good and evil that brings about progressand yet it is the evil that often helps the good, it is the evilthat produces the good which God desires. This supremeevil, this creation of hatred had also a good result, it is thisthat in the Indian Nature, overwhelmed by ‘tamas’, a fierceforce of ‘rajas’ arose capable of awakening the rajasic power.But that is no reason for us to praise the evil or the evildoer. One who does evil through rajasic egoism, althoughhis action may help to bring out the good result decreed byGod can in no way escape from the bondage that his responsibilityand its consequences involve. They are mistakenwho spread national hatred. The result obtained by spreadingdisinterested spiritual discipline is ten times greater thanthat obtained by the spread of hatred, for there one has notto suffer from unrighteousness and the consequences of unrighteousness;instead righteousness increases and unmixed
VIII. 10. National Resurgence245virtue finds play. We shall not write of national hatred andmalice (spite) and we shall ask others also not to do suchundesirable things. If there is a conflict of interests betweennations and if that becomes an inevitable circumstance ofthe present situation then we have the right legally and morallyto promote the interests of our own nation at the cost ofthe interest of the other. When there is oppression and injusticewe have the legal and moral right to protest firmlyagainst it and to do away with it through the pressure ofour national force and through all just means and just remedies.If any man, whether he is a government official or acountryman of ours, says or does a thing that is wrong orunjust or harmful, we have the right to protest and counterit by means of sarcasm and satire, never of course goingagainst the gentleman's code of behaviour. But we have noright to cherish or create hatred or spite against any nationor individual. If such a lapse has happened in the past it isa past thing; in the future such a lapse should not happen.This is our advice to all, particularly to all newspapers andyouthful workers for the cause of nationalism.The aryan knowledge, the aryan education, the aryanideal is quite different from the knowledge, education, idealof the materialistic, vitalistic Occident given to physicalenjoyment. According to the Europeans, where there is nointerest or search for happiness, there can be no work tobe done. Without hatred, there can be neither conflict norfighting. Either you have to work with a desire, or you haveto sit down and become a desireless ascetic. Such is theirnotion. It is through the struggle for existence that the worldhas been built up, and is achieving progress, this is the keynoteof their science. Since the days when the Aryans movedfrom the arctic land towards the south and conquered theland of the five rivers, they have had this eternal wisdom— winning thereby the eternal status in the world —
246Bengali Writingsthat the whole universe is a world of delight and it is forthe manifestation of love and truth and power that the omnipresentDivine has been playing the game by manifestinghimself again in all that stands or moves, in man and animal,in the worm and the insect, in the saint and the sinner,in friend and foe, in God and the Titan. It is for thesake of the play that there is happiness, for the sake of theplay there is pain, for the sake of the play there is sin, forthe sake of the play there is virtue, for the sake of the playthere is friendship, for the sake of the play there is enmity,for the sake of the play there is godhood, for the sake ofthe play there is titanhood. Friend and foe are equally partnersin the game, they divide themselves in the two sidesand create opposite sides. The aryan protects the friendly,smites the unfriendly, but he has no attachment. He seesthe Divine everywhere, in all beings, in all things, in allworks and in all results. He has an equal disposition towardsgood and evil, friend and foe, pleasure and pain,virtue and vice, success and failure. This does not meanthat all consequences are equally the wanted object, thatall men his friends, all happenings agreeable to him, allworks worth-doing, all results desirable. Until you are perfectin yoga, the dualities do not disappear, that status is attainableonly by a few. But the aryan education is for all aryans.The aryan seeks to secure his objective but once securedhe is not carried away in the flush of victory. And heis not afraid of hurting. The aim of his endeavour is to helpthe friendly and to quell the unfriendly. He does not hatehis enemy, he is not unjustly partial to the friendly, for thesake of duty he can slay his own people, and save the opponent'slife, giving up his own. Happiness is desirable tohim, unhappiness is undesirable, but in his happiness hedoes not lose balance, and in his unhappiness his patienceand gladness remain unshaken. He abandons sin and gathersvirtue but never takes pride in his virtuous acts and when
VIII. 10. National Resurgence247fallen in sin he does not weep like a weak child but comesout of the maya, wipes out the mud from the body, makesit clean and pure and starts again his endeavour for selfdevelopment.To fulfil his task, the Aryan makes a tremendouseffort; thousand defeats do not stop him, it is againstthe Divine law to grieve, to be dejected or petulant in caseof failure. Of course when one is established in yoga andkeeping himself above the gunas, one is capable of doingwork, then for him all dualities have ended and whateverwork the Divine Mother gives him he does it without question,whatever result She gives, he enjoys it with pleasureand whomsoever She chooses as belonging to his side, hetakes him for doing the Mother's work and whomsoeverShe points out as the opposition he quells him or slays himas commanded by Her. Such is the Aryan training, there isno place in it for hatred and spite. The Divine is everywhere,whom to hate? whom to despise? If we were to dothe political movement in the way of the Occident then ofcourse hatred and spite would be inevitable, and in the occidentalview it is not a thing to blame, for there is conflictof interest and when one side rises, the other must be repressed.But we are rising not for the rising of the aryanrace alone, it is the rising of the aryan character, aryan education,aryan law of life. In the early stage of the movementthe influence of occidental politics was very great; eventhen in that early stage we realised this truth and the secondstage, imbued with the spirit of the Divine Law, wasprepared by the adoration of the Mother, by love for theMother, by an intense feeling of aryan dignity. Politics is apart of the divine law but it has to be carried out throughthe aryan attitude, through means approved by the aryan law.We tell young men, our hope of the future: if you have hatredin your heart root it out without delay. A force full ofturbulent violence (rajas) can for a time be easily awakened
248Bengali Writingsthrough the intense excitement of hatred but it soon breaksdown and turns to weakness. Those who have taken theresolution of freeing the country, those who have consecratedtheir life, go among them and spread the bond ofstrong fraternity, stern effort, iron-firmness and a flame firelikeenergy. In that strength we shall secure an unshakableforce and victory for ever.
Our HopeWE have no material strength, armaments,education, national government. Then where isour hope grounded, where is the strength, depending on whichwe are attempting to achieve a result impossible for thepowerful and educated nations of Europe? The learned andthe wise declare this to be the wild dream of youth, an idledream of indiscriminate men drunk with high idealism. War,they think, is the only way to gain independence, and weare unable to fight. Granted that we are unable to wagewar, nor do we advise armed conflict. But is it true thatphysical force is the only support of strength, or does strengthemanate from some deeper, profounder source? Every oneis bound to admit that it is impossible to achieve any greatundertaking only through physical prowess. Where twoopposed but equally strong powers meet in conflict, the onewith the greater ethical and mental strength, — one withsuperior unity, courage, enthusiasm, determination, self-sacrifice,the one who has knowledge, intelligence, cleverness,keen observation, a better developed ability to evolve newmeans is sure to win. In fact, one who is comparatively poor,in physical number and equipment, can, because of ethicaland intellectual superiority, beat down a powerful adversary.One could, however, say that though the ethical and intellectualhave greater value than physical power, without the latterwho will protect the ethical and intellectual powers? Thisis indeed true. But it has also been found that in a conflict ofrival ideologies, groups, cults, and cultures the side with amplephysical strength, governmental backing, equipments ofwar, etc., may have lost, while the side that did not have
250Bengali Writingsthese advantages at all has won. How does this happen?Jato dharmastato jayaÕ, the righteous side wins, but dharmamust be supported by force, otherwise the rise of wickednessand the degeneration of righteousness is likely to persist.Nothing happens without a reason. The reason for victoryis force. By what force does the weaker side win and themightier side lose or is destroyed? By examining historicalexamples we shall see that this strange thing or miracle hashappened because of spiritual power, it is spiritual power,which, without caring for physical force, tells mankind thatthis world is God's kingdom, and not the playground of ablind mechanical nature. The pure spirit is the source oftrue strength, and the original Puissance, ÀdyÀprakÐti, whichmoves a billion suns in the sky, and by a mere turning ofits finger shaking the earth destroys all traces of the earliersplendours created by human effort, that original Puissanceis controlled by the pure spirit. That Puissance can makethe impossible possible, give voice to the dumb, providethe lame with the power to cross mountains. The wholeworld is a creation of that power, Ùakti. One whose spiritualpowers are developed, his instruments of victory areforged of themselves, the difficulties get removed and favourableconditions are created, the ability to work growsof itself, becomes quick and energetic.Europe is now discovering this soul-force, though it doesnot believe in it wholly and has not the inclination to relyand act on that faith. But at the root of India's education,culture, glory, strength is this soul-force. Every time peoplethought the end of the Indian people was imminent, fromits hidden source the soul-force has flooded and revitalisedthe dying race, created adequate and ancillary strength. Thatsource has not dried yet, that marvellous, deathless poweris still at play.But the manifestation of all the powers of the physical
VIII. 11. Our Hope251universe depends on time; according to the rhythm of appropriateconditions, like the ebb and tide of the sea, theybecome effective in the end. With us too it is that which ishappening. Now it is a complete ebb, we are waiting forthe tide to turn. The austerity of the great-souled, the willingacceptance of suffering by the self-sacrificing, the infusionof knowledge by the wise, the purity of the saint, theseare the fountain-head of spiritual energy. Once in the pastthese diverse pieties and good deeds has swept India alongits invigorating ambrosial stream and transformed a deadrace into something living, strong and vigorous. Once again,that energy of austerity, tapobal, so long confined withinitself, is about to be released, unbeatable, indomitable. Thanksto the oppression, the weakness and defeat of a few years,the Indians have learned to seek the source of strength withinthemselves. Not the excitement of oration, not the mleccha,occidental learning, the emotion-arousing power ofmeetings and societies, the fragile inspiration of newspapers,rather it will be that energy, deep, steady, unerring,pure, beyond-joy-and-sorrow, beyond-good-and-evil whichis born within the self when in the soul's immense silenceGod and the human person come together, that greatly-creative,greatly-destructive, greatly-conserving, knowledge-givingMahasaraswati, wealth-bestowing Mahalakshmi, strengthgivingMahakali, in that combination of a thousand puissancesChandi will manifest herself to work for India's andthe world's welfare. The independence of India is only a secondaryaim, the main object is to reveal the power of Indianculture, its spread and victory throughout the world. Had wesucceeded in gaining independence or autonomy through theuse of western civilised techniques, through meetings andorganisations, lectures and the use of physical force, thatmain object would not have been fulfilled. We have to achieveindependence through the inherent strength of our own
252Bengali Writingsculture, through the strength of the spirit and the use ofsubtle as well as material means that the soul-force can create.That is why, by destroying our western-oriented movement,God has turned the outward energy inward. That whichBrahmabandhab Upadhyaya had seen in his divine vision,and because of which he would repeatedly exhort “Turnthe energy inward”; but since the time was then not ripeno one could do that, he himself could not do that, but todayGod has brought that about. The energy, Ùakti, of Indiahas turned within. When once again it turns outward,that current will never cease flowing, and no one stop it.Redeemer of the three worlds, that holy Ganges will floodIndia and by its immortal touch it will usher in an era ofnew youth to the world.
East and WestTHE main difference between ourcountry and Europe is this, our life is turned inward, Europe'soutward. We judge of good and evil, etc., from thepoint of motive, Europe judges it on the basis of actiondone. Knowing God as one who dwells within and whoknows all that passes in our minds we seek Him in thesoul, Europe looks upon Him as the King of the worldand seeks and worships Him in the world outside. Theheaven of Europe is in the material world; worldly riches,beauty, luxury are welcome and to be sought after; if theyimagine any other heaven, that too is a reflection of theseriches, beauty and luxury. Their God is akin to our Indra,who rules his world empire, sitting like an earthly monarchon a bejewelled throne, swollen by the hymns andprayers of a thousand flatterers. Our Shiva is the supremeamong gods, yet he is but a beggar, out of his senses,uncaring and forgetful; our Krishna is a youth, fond oflaughter, fun and love, it is in his nature to be playful.The God of Europe never laughs or plays, since Hismajesty is hurt by these activities, His godhead suffers.The extrovert attitude is at the back of it — signs of wealthare, for them, the support of splendour, they cannot seea thing unless they see the sign, they have no divine, nosubtle vision, everything is material. Our Shiva is a beggar,but to the spiritual seeker he easily gives away allthe wealth and wisdom of the three worlds; he is generousto a fault, but the wisdom beyond the reach of thewise is his inborn possession. Our loving, gay Krishna isthe hero of the Kurukshetra, father of the worlds, friendand companion of the universe. India's immense knowledgeand subtle vision, unfettered divine vision pierces
254Bengali Writingsthrough the material veils and brings out the innerattitude, the true truth, the inner and subtle principles.*The same order is observed about good and evil.We look at the inner attitude. There may lurk holy feelingbehind an activity that we condemn, just as behindthe outwardly good or sanctimonious conduct maylie hidden the self-seeking of a scoundrel; good andevil, joy and sorrow are subjective factors, the outeractivity is but a veil. We know this; though for the sakeof the social order we respect outward good and evilas evidence of the activity, but the inner attitude is whatwe really cherish. The renunciant, sannyÀsin, who behaveslike inert-mad-fiend, jaÄonmattapiÙacabat, asbeyond rules and conventions, duty or otherwise, beyondgood and evil, such a one, who has risen abovelaws, we call the supreme person. The western intellectis unable to accept such a principle; he who behavesas inert it treats him as inert, he who behavesas if he is mad it treats him as off his head, he whobehaves like a fiend, it treats him as a disgusting, lawlessdevil; for it has no subtle vision, and is unable to lookat the inner attitude or truth.*Bound to this outward view of things European scholarssay that at no time was there democracy in India. In theSanskrit language words to describe democracy are not found,those days there were no legislative bodies like the modernparliament, the absence of the outer signs of democracydenotes the absence of democracy. We too on ourpart have been content to accept as valid this western
VIII. 12. East and West255view. In our ancient Aryan rule there was no lack of democracy;its external instruments were no doubt insufficient,but the democratic attitude permeated the core of societyand the government, and stood guard over the people's welfareand progress. First, every village was run entirely on democraticlines, the villagers would come together and, on thebasis of the general will and guided by the elderly and leadingpersonalities provided for the administration of the village,and of society; this rural democracy was kept intact duringMughal rule, it vanished only the other day, under the oppressionof the British government. Secondly, even in thesmall principalities, where there existed conditions favourableto a convention of the masses, this custom was in force.In Buddhist literature, in Greek records, in the Mahabharatathere is abundant evidence in support of this. Thirdly,in the larger kingdoms, where it was impossible for theseingredients or external conditions to be available, the democraticattitude guided the monarchy. The subjects may nothave a legislative body, but neither did the king have theleast right to pass laws or modify the existing laws. Theking was but the keeper of the codes, conventions and lawswhich the subjects were in the habit of observing. The Brahmins,like the lawyers and judges of today, would explainto the king these regulations admitted and observed by thesubjects and they would record in writing the gradual changeswhich they had observed. The responsibility of governingwas indeed the king's, but that power was also severely limitedby laws; other than these the king had to act in accordancewith the wishes of his subjects, he would never do anythingthat might displease his subjects, this political practicewas observed by all. If the king violated this rule, thesubjects were no longer obliged to respect and follow him.*
256Bengali WritingsThe unification of the East and the West is the religionof today. But in this task of unification, if we considerthe West as the foundation or the chief support weshall be making a grievous error. The East is the foundation,the chief support. The outer world is established inthe inner, not vice versa. Respect and emotion, or innerattitude (bhÀva), are the source of energy and activity, onehas to be faithful to one's inner attitude (bhÀva) and senseof reverence, but one is not to be attached to the applicationof force and the external forms and means of activity.The occidentals are busy with the outward forms andmeans of democracy. But the external form is only forthe purpose of expressing the inner attitude; it is this attitudethat shapes the form, it is one's reverence that createsthe means or the instrument. The occidentals are soattached to the forms and instruments that they are unableto notice that in their external expressions the innerattitude and reverence are languishing. These days in theeastern countries the inner attitude and respect for democracyare becoming fast clearer and creating external means andbuilding its outward forms, while in the western countriesthat feeling is getting dimmed, that respect is much attenuated.The East has set its face towards the dawn, movingtowards the light — the West is moving back towardsthe dark night.*The reason for this is the ill effects of democracythat follow from an attachment to its outwardforms and instruments. So long, having created a governmentwholly favourable to democracy, Americawas fond of declaring that there was no other countrywhich was equally free. But, in reality, the Presidentand the executive officers, with the help of the
VIII. 12. East and West257Congress, rule despotically, and support the wrongs doneby the rich, the injustice and the all-consuming greed, andthey themselves grow fat by the abuse of power. The subjectsare free only at the time of electing representatives,but even then the rich maintain their power through hugeexpenditure, and even later, by buying up the representativesof the people, they exploit and dominate arbitrarily.France is the birth-place of democracy and freedom, butthe administrators and the police who had been created asinstruments to run, according to the people's wish, the departments,they have now turned into numerous miniatureautocrats, of whom the people are afraid and tremble. Sucha confusion has not taken place in England, it is true, butthe other dangers of democracy have declared themselvesthere. Since the government and politics are determined byevery change in the opinion of the fickle and half-educatedelectorate, the British race has lost its earlier political tactand is faced with danger from within and without. In orderto maintain their interest and influence, the rulers, devoidof their sense of duty, by tempting or by trying to put fearinto them or else misleading them, are perverting the mindof the people, adding to its fickle-mindedness and restlessness.Because of these factors some people who look upondemocracy as an error are becoming sworn enemies of freedom,on the other hand, the number of anarchists, socialistsand revolutionaries is going up. The conflict betweenthese two groups is going on in England — in the sphere ofpolitics; in America — in the conflict between workers andcapitalists; in Germany — among ideological groups; in France— between the army and the navy; in Russia — betweenthe police and the assassins; everywhere there is confusion,excitement, absence of peace.*
258Bengali WritingsSuch a consequence is inevitable for the extrovert outlookon life. For a while, swelled with rÀjasic forces, theasura grows powerful, great and glorious, then its inherentdefects begin to come out, and everything breaks and dissolves.The country whose main principle of education isthe value of inner attitude and reverence, willed and nonattachedactivity, only in such a country by its synthesis ofthe inner and the outer, the East and the West, can the social,economic and political problems find a satisfactory andpractical solution. But we shall not be able to arrive at asolution if we follow western knowledge and education. Weshall have to assimilate the West by standing firm on thebasis of the principles of the East. The foundation within,the expression without. By adopting western instruments weshall be in danger, we have to create in keeping with ourown nature and the eastern view of things.
IX. TALES OF PRISON LIFE
Tales of Prison LifeIOn Friday, May 1, 1908, I was sitting in the BandeMataram office, when Shrijut Shyamsundar Chakravartyhanded over a telegram from Muzaffarpur. On reading itI learned of a bomb outrage in which two European ladieshad been killed. In that day's issue of the “Empire” Iread another news item that the Police Commissioner hadsaid that he knew the people involved in the murder andthat they would soon be put under arrest. At that time Ihad no idea that I happened to be the main target of suspicionand that according to the police I was the chief killer,the instigator and secret leader of the young terrorists andrevolutionaries. I did not know that that day would meanthe end of a chapter of my life, and that there stretchedbefore me a year's imprisonment during which period allmy human relations would cease, that for a whole year Iwould have to live, beyond the pale of society, like ananimal in a cage. And when I would re-enter the world ofactivity it would not be the old familiar Aurobindo Ghose.Rather it would be a new being, a new character, intellect,life, mind, embarking upon a new course of actionthat would come out of the ashram at Alipore. I havespoken of a year's imprisonment. It would have been moreappropriate to speak of a year's living in a forest, in anashram, hermitage. For long I had made great efforts fora direct vision (sakshat darshan) of the Lord of my Heart;had entertained the immense hope of knowing the Preserverof the world, the Supreme Person (Purushottam)as friend and master. But due to the pull of a thousand
262Bengali Writingsworldly desires, attachment towards numerous activities, thedeep darkness of ignorance I did not succeed in that effort.At long last the most merciful all-good Lord (Shiv Hari)destroyed all these enemies at one stroke and helped me inmy path, pointed to the yogashram, Himself staying as guruand companion in my little abode of retirement and spiritualdiscipline. The British prison was that ashram. I havealso watched this strange contradiction in my life that howevermuch good my well-intentioned friends might do forme, it is those who have harmed me — whom shall I callan enemy, since enemy I have none? — my opponents havehelped me even more. They wanted to do me an ill turn,the result was I got what I wanted. The only result of thewrath of the British Government was that I found God. Itis not the aim of these essays to provide an intimate journalof my life in the prison. I wish to mention only a fewexternal details, but I have thought it better to mention, atleast once, in the beginning, the main theme of the prisonlife. Else readers may think that suffering is the only factof prison life. I can't say there were no inconveniences, buton the whole the time passed quite happily.On Friday night I was sleeping without a worry. At aboutfive in the morning my sister rushed to my room in an agitatedmanner and called me out by name. I got up. Thenext moment the small room was filled with armed policemen;Superintendent Cregan, Mr. Clark of 24-Parganas, thecharming and delightful visage of familiar Sriman BenodKumar Gupta, a few Inspectors, red turbans, spies and searchwitnesses. They all came running like heroes, pistols in hand,as though they were besieging, with guns and cannon, awell-armed fort. I heard that a white hero had aimed a pistolat my sister's breast, but I did not see it. I was sittingon my bed, still half-asleep, when Cregan inquired, “Whois Aurobindo Ghose, is that you?” I answered, “Yes. I
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life263am Aurobindo Ghose.” Immediately he ordered a policemanto put me under arrest. Then, because of an extremely objectionableexpression used by Cregan, there was a little exchangeof words between the two. I asked for the searchwarrant, read and signed it. Finding a mention of bombs inthe warrant I understood that the presence of these soldiersand policemen was connected with the Muzaffarpur killing.The one thing I did not understand was why, even beforeany bombs or explosives had been discovered in my house,I was arrested in the absence of a body warrant. But I didnot raise any useless objections. Afterwards, under instructionsfrom Cregan, my arms were handcuffed, and a ropetied round my middle. An upcountry constable stood behindme holding the rope end. Just then the police broughtin Shrijut Abinash Bhattacharya and Shrijut Sailen Bose,hand-cuffed and rope round the midriff. Nearly half an hourafter, I do not know at whose bidding, they removed therope and the handcuff. From Cregan's words it seemed asif he had entered into the lair of some ferocious animal, asif we were uneducated, wild, lawbreakers, and that it wasunnecessary to speak or behave courteously towards us. Butafter the sharp exchange the sahib grew a little milder. Benodbabutried to explain something about me to him. Afterwhich Cregan asked me: “It seems you are a B. A. Is it nota matter of shame for an educated person like you to besleeping on the floor of an unfurnished room and in a houselike this?” “I am a poor man, and I live like one,” I said.“Then have you worked up all this mischief with the ideaof becoming a rich man?” Cregan replied in a loud voice.Knowing how impossible it was to explain the love of motherland,sacrifice or the sublimity of a vow of poverty tothis thick-skulled Briton I did not make the attempt.All the while the search continued. Beginning at fivethirty,it was over at about eleven-thirty. Inside or outside
264Bengali Writingsthe boxes, all the exercise books, letters, papers, scraps,poems, plays, prose, essays, translations, nothing escapedthe clutches of the all-engrossing search. Among the witnessesto the search Mr. Rakshit seemed a little put out;later, bemoaning his lot, he informed me that the police haddragged him along, and that he had no idea that he wouldhave to be a party to such a nefarious activity. He described,most pathetically, how he had been kidnapped for the purpose.The attitude of the other witness, Samarnath, was ofquite another kind, he discharged his part of the job withconsiderable gusto, like a true loyalist and to the mannerborn. Nothing remarkable transpired in the course of thesearch. But I recollect Mr. Clark looking long and suspiciouslyat the sacred earth from Dakshineshwar that hadbeen kept in a small cardboard box; he suspected it mightbe some new and terribly powerful explosive. In a senseMr. Clark's suspicions were not ungrounded. In the end thedecision was reached that it was a piece of earth which itwas unnecessary to send to the chemical analyst. I did notjoin in the search except to open a few boxes. No papersor letters were shown or read out to me. Mr. Cregan, forhis own delectation, read out loudly a letter from Alakdhari.The friendly Benod Gupta in his natural and delightfulstyle marched round the room, raising echoes everywhereand brought out from the shelf or some other cornerpapers or letters, and now and then, muttering “Very important,very important” handed these over to Cregan. Iwas never told what these important documents might be.Nor was I at all curious, since I knew it was impossiblethat there might be in my house any formula for the manufactureof explosives or documents relating to conspiracy.After rummaging through my room the police led us tothe adjoining room. Cregan opened a box belonging to myyoungest aunt, he once or twice glanced at the letters, then
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life265saying that it was no use carrying these women's correspondence,left them behind. Then the police mahatmas appearedon the ground floor. Cregan had his tea there. I had a cupof cocoa and toast. During this period Cregan tried to argueand convince me about his political views — this mentaltorture I had to suffer coolly. But may I ask, one knowsphysical tortures to be part of the traditional police strategy,but does such inhuman mental torture also fall withinthe purview of its unwritten law? I hope our highly respectable,friend-of-the-country Srijut Jogeshchandra Ghose will raisethis question in the Legislative Assembly.After searching the rooms on the ground floor and theoffice of “Navashakti” the police again came up to the firstfloor to open an iron safe belonging to “Navashakti”. Unableto open it after a half-hour battle, they decided to removeit bodily to the police station. This time a police officerdiscovered a bicycle, with a railway lable bearing themark of Kushtia. Immediately they took it as an importantproof that the vehicle belonged to the man who had earliershot a sahib there and they gladly took it away with them.At about eleven-thirty we left our house. Outside thegates stood, in a car, my maternal uncle and Srijut BhupendranathBasu. “On what charges have you been arrested?”asked uncle. “I know nothing,” I answered, “they arrestedand handcuffed me soon after getting into my room; theydidn't show any body warrant.” When uncle inquired whythe handcuffs were thought necessary, Benodbabu said, “Sir,it's not my fault. Ask Aurobindababu, I told the sahib andhad the handcuffs removed.” On Bhupenbabu's asking aboutmy offence, Mr. Gupta mentioned the I.P.C. article on murder.Bhupenbabu was stunned and did not say another word.Later on I came to know that my solicitor, Sri HirendranathDatta, had expressed a desire to be present on my behalfduring the search. The police had turned down the request.
266Bengali WritingsBenodbabu was entrusted with taking us to the policestation. There he behaved with us in a remarkably decentmanner. We had our bath and lunch there and then proceededtowards Lal Bazar. After being made to wait therefor a couple of hours we were removed to Royd Street, inwhich auspicious locality we stayed all evening. It was therethat I first came to know the sly detective Maulvi Sams-ul-Alam and had the pleasure of entering with him into a cordialrelation. Till then the great Maulvi had not acquiredeither enough influence or energy, he was not yet the chiefresearcher in the bomb outrage or functioning as Mr. Norton'sprompter and unfailing aide-memoire. Till that timeRamsadayababu was acting as the chief protagonist. TheMaulvi made me listen to a most entertaining sermon onreligion. That Hinduism and Islam have the same basic principles:in the Omkara of the Hindus we have the three syllables,A, U, M; the first three letters of the Holy Koranare A, L, M. According to philological laws, U is used forL; ergo, Hindus and Mussulmans have the same mantraor sacred syllables. Yet one has to maintain the uniquenessof one's faith, so a Hindu considers it wrong to eat withMussulmans. To be truthful is part of the religious life. TheSahibs say Aurobindo Ghose is the leader of the terroristparty, this is a matter of shame and sorrow for India. Butby keeping to the path of rectitude the situation can yet besaved. The Maulvi was fully convinced, that distinguishedpersons, men of high character, like Bepin Pal and AurobindoGhose, whatever they might have done, they wouldopenly confess these. Shrijut Purnachandra Shastri, whohappened to be present there, expressed his doubt in thisrespect. But the Maulvi did not give up his views. I wascharmed and delighted with his knowledge, intelligence andreligious fervour. Thinking that it would be impertinent tospeak much I listened politely to his priceless sermon and
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life267cherished it in my heart. But in spite of so much religiousenthusiasm the Maulvi did not give up his profession of a‘tec’. Once he said: “You made a great mistake in handingover the garden to your younger brother to manufacturebombs. It was not very intelligent on your part.” Understandingthe implication of his words I smiled a little, andsaid: “Sir, the garden is as much mine as my brother's. Wheredid you learn that I had given it up to him, or given it up tohim for the purpose of manufacturing bombs?” A littleabashed, the Maulvi answered: “No, no, I was saying incase you have done it.” Then the great souled Maulvi openeda chapter of his life before me, and said, “All the moral oreconomic progress that I have made in life can be tracedback to a single sufficing moral adage of my father. He wouldalways say, «Never give up an immediate gain. This greatword is the sacred formula of my life, all this advancementis owing to the fact that I have always remembered thatsage advice.»” At the time of this pronunciamento the Maulvistared at me so closely that it seemed as though I was hismeat and food, which, following the parental advice, he wouldbe loath to give up. In the evening, the redoubtable RamasadayaMukhopadhyaya appeared on the scene. He expressedwords of unusual kindness and sympathy, told everyonepresent to be careful about my food and bed. Immediatelyafterwards some fellows came and took Sailendra and me,through rain and storm, to the lock-up at Lal Bazar. Thiswas the only occasion when I met Ramasadaya. I couldsee the man was both intelligent and active, but his wordsand demeanour, his tone, his gait, all seemed fake and unnatural,as if he was for ever acting on a stage. There aremen like that whose words, bodies, efforts are an embodimentof untruth. They are expert in imposing on immatureminds, but those who know men and their ways, find themout at once.
268Bengali WritingsAt Lal Bazar on the ground floor in a spacious roomwe two were kept together. Some snacks were served. Aftera while two Englishmen entered the room, later I wastold that one of them was the Police Commissioner, Mr.Halliday himself. Finding us both together Halliday was wrathfulwith the sergeant, and pointing towards me he said, “Takecare that nobody stays or speaks with this man.” Sailen wasat once removed and locked up in another room. When othershad left, Halliday asked me: “Aren't you ashamed for beinginvolved in this cowardly, dastardly activity?” “Whatright have you to assume that I was involved?” To thisHalliday replied: “I am not assuming, I know everything.”At this I said: “What you know or do not know is yourconcern. I wholly deny having any connection with thesemurderous acts.”That night I had other visitors, all members of the policeforce. There was a mystery behind the visit, which tillnow I have failed to fathom. A month and a half before myarrest an unknown gentleman came to see me. He said: “Sir,we have not met, but since I have great respect for you Ihave come to warn you of an impending danger. I wouldalso like to know if you are familiar with anyone at Konnagar.Did you ever visit the place, and do you have a housethere?” “No, I do not have any house there,” I said. “But Ihave been there once and am known to some people there.”“I will say nothing more,” said the stranger, “but now onyou should not meet anyone from there. Some wicked peopleare conspiring against you and your brother, Barindra.Soon they will put you into trouble. Don't ask me anythingmore.” I told him: “Gentleman, I am unable to understand howthis incomplete information will help me, but since you camewith friendly intentions, thank you for coming. I do not wishto know anything more. I have complete faith in God, He willalways protect me, and it is for me needless to make any
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life269attempt or be careful.” I heard nothing about this afterward.That this stranger and well-wisher did not imagine things, Ihad proof the same night. An inspector and a few policeofficers came to pump out my connection with Konnagar.“Is your original home at Konnagar?” they asked. “Did youever visit the place? When? And Why? Has Barindra anyproperties there?” — and other questions. I answered thesequestions in order to get at the root of these. But the attemptwas not a success, but from the questions as well asthe manner of the police inquiry it appeared that they hadcome by some information which they were trying to verify.I guessed just as in the Tai-Maharaj case there had beenan attempt to prove Tilak as a hypocrite, liar, cheat andtyrant in which the Bombay Government had joined handsand wasted public money, — similarly there were peopleinterested in putting me into trouble.The whole of Sunday was passed in the lock-up. Therewas a staircase in front of my room. In the morning I founda few young lads coming down the stairs. Their faces wereunfamiliar, but I guessed that they too had been arrested inthe same case. Later I came to know that these were thelads from the Manicktola Gardens. A month after in the jailI came to know them. A little later I too was taken downstairsfor a wash — since there was no arrangement for abath, I went without it. For lunch I grabbed, with someeffort, a few morsels of pulse and boiled rice, the effortproved too much and had to be given up. In the afternoonwe had fried rice. For three days this was our diet. But Imust also add that on Monday the sergeant, of himself, gaveme tea and toast.Later I came to learn that my lawyer had sought permissionfrom the Commissioner to have my food sent fromhome, but to this, Mr. Halliday did not agree. I also heardthat the accused were forbidden to consult their lawyer orattorney. I don't know if this restriction is valid or not. It is
270Bengali Writingstrue that though lawyer's advice would have been of helpto me, I didn't quite need it; it has however, harmed someothers involved in the case. On Monday we were presentedbefore the Commissioner. Abinash and Sailen were withme. We were taken in different batches. Thanks to our gooddeeds in our past incarnation we three had been arrestedearlier, and, since we had already some experience of legalquibblings, all of us refused to make any declarations beforethe Commissioner. Next day we were taken to the courtof the magistrate, Mr. Thornhill. It was then that I met forthe first time Shrijut Kumar Krishna Datta, Mr. Manuel,and one of my relations. Mr. Manuel asked me, “Accordingto the police a good deal of suspicious literature hasbeen recovered from your house. Were these papers or lettersreally there?” “I can say without a shadow of doubt,”I told him, “that there were no such things, it is quite impossible.”Of course then I did not know of the “sweetsletter” or of the “scribblings.” I told my relative: “Tell thepeople at home not to fear or worry, my innocence will befully vindicated.” From that period I had a firm belief thatit would be so. In the beginning, during solitary imprisonment,the mind was a little uneasy. But after three days ofprayer and meditation an unshakable peace and faith againoverwhelmed the being.From Mr. Thornhill's court we were taken in a carriageto Alipore. The group included Nirapada, Dindayal, HemchandraDas, and others. Of these I knew Hemchandra Das,once I put up at his place in Midnapore. Who could haveknown then that I would meet him like this, as a prisoner onthe way to the jail? We were detained for a little while at theAlipore magistrate's court, but we were not presented beforethe magistrate; they went in only to get an order signed.We again got into the carriage, when a gentleman came nearme and said, “I have heard that they are planning solitaryconfinement for you and orders are being passed to that
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life271effect. Probably they will not allow any one to see or meetyou. If you wish to convey any information to your people,I shall do that.” I thanked him, but since what I wishedto convey I had already done through my relative, I didnot tell him anything more. I am mentioning this fact as anexample of my countrymen's sympathy and unsought kindnesstowards me. Thereafter from the court we went to the jail,and were surrendered to its officers. Before entering thejail precincts we were given a bath, put into prison uniform,while our clothes, shirts, dhotis and kurtas were taken awayfor laundry. The bath, after four days, was a heavenly bliss.After that they took us to our respective cells. I went intomine and the doors were closed as soon as I got in. Myprison life at Alipore began on May 5. Next year, on May6, I was released.IIMy solitary cell was nine feet long and five or six feetin width; it had no windows, in front stood strong ironbars, this cage was my appointed abode. Outside was asmall courtyard, with stony grounds, a high brick wall witha small wooden door. On top of that door, at eye level,there was a small hole or opening. After the door had beenbolted the sentry, from time to time, peeped through it tofind out what the convict was doing. But my courtyard doorremained open for most of the time. There were six contiguousrooms like that, in prison parlance these were knownas the ‘six decrees’. ‘Decrees’ stood for rooms for specialpunishment — those who are condemned to solitary imprisonmentby the orders of either the judge or the jail superintendenthave to stay in these mini-caves. Even in suchsolitary confinement there is the rule of caste or hierarchy.Those who are heavily punished have their courtyard doorspermanently closed; deprived of contacts with the rest of the
272Bengali Writingshuman world their only point of relation with the outsideworld is restricted to the vigilant eyes of the sentry and thefellow-convict who brings his food twice a day. Since HemchandraDas was looked upon as being a greater terror forthe criminal investigation department than I, he had beengiven this strict regimen. But in the solitary cell too thereare refinements — handcuffs and iron rings round one's handand foot. This highest punishment is meted out not onlyfor disturbing the peace of the prison or playing rough butalso if one is found frequently slack in prison labour. Toharass those convicted in cases of solitary confinement isagainst the spirit of law, but the Swadeshi or ‘Bande Mataram’convicts were beyond the pale and according as thepolice desired benign arrangements were made for these.Such was the place where we were lodged. As for fittingsour generous authorities had left nothing to be desiredso far as our hospitable reception was concerned. One plateand bowl used to adorn the courtyard. Properly washed andcleansed my self-sufficing plate and bowl shone like silver,was the solace of my life. In its impeccable, glowing radiancein the ‘heavenly kingdom’ in that symbol of immaculateBritish imperialism, I used to enjoy the pure bliss ofloyalty to the Crown. Unfortunately the plate too shared inthe bliss, and if one pressed one's fingers a little hard on itssurface it would start flying in a circle, like the whirlingdervishes of Arabia. And then one had to use one hand foreating while the other held the plate in position. Else, whilewhirling, it would attempt to slip away with the incomparablegrub provided by the prison authorities. But more dearand useful than the plate was the bowl. Among inert objectsit was like the British civilian. Just as the civilian, ipso facto,is fit and able to undertake any administrative duty, be it asjudge, magistrate, police, revenue officer, chairman of municipality,professor, preacher, whatever you ask him to do he
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life273can become at your merest saying, — just as for him to bean investigator, complainant, police magistrate, even at timesto be the counsel for defence, all these roles hold a friendlyconcourse in the same hospitable body, my dear bowlwas equally multipurpose. The bowl was free from all casterestrictions, beyond discrimination, in the prison cell it helpedin the act of ablution, later with the same bowl I gargled,bathed, a little later when I had to take my food, lentil soupor vegetable was poured into the same container, I drankwater out of it and washed my mouth. Such an all — purposepriceless object can be had only in a British prison.Serving all my worldly needs the bowl became an aid inmy spiritual discipline too. Where else could I find such anaid and preceptor to get rid of the sense of disgust? Afterthe first spell of solitary imprisonment was over, when weare allowed to stay together my civilian's rights were bifurcated,and the authorities arranged for another receptaclefor the privy. But for one month I acquired an unsoughtlesson in controlling my disgust. The entire procedure fordefecation seems to have been oriented towards the art ofself-control. Solitary imprisonment, it has been said, mustbe counted among a special form of punishment and its guidingprinciple the avoidance of human company and the open sky.To arrange this ablution in the open or outside would meana violation of the principle, hence two baskets, with tar coating,would be kept in the room itself. The sweeper, mehtar,would clean it up in the morning and afternoons. In case ofintense agitation and heart-warming speeches from our sidethe cleaning would be done at other times too. But if onewent to the privy at odd hours as penance one had to putup with the noxious and fetid smell. In the second chapterof our solitary confinement there were some reforms in thisrespect, but British reforms keep the old principles intactwhile making minor changes in administration. Needless to
274Bengali Writingssay, because of all this arrangement, in a small room, onehad throughout to undergo considerable inconvenience, especiallyat meal times and during night. Attached bathroomsare, I know, often times a part of western culture, but tohave in a small cell a bedroom, dining room and w.c. rolledinto one — that is what is called too much of a good thing!We Indians are full of regrettable customs, it is painful forus to be so highly civilised.Among household utilities there were also a small bucket,a tin water container and two prison blankets. The smallbucket would be kept in the courtyard, where I used to havemy bath. In the beginning I did not suffer from water scarcity,though that happened later on. At first the convict inthe neighbouring cowshed would supply water as and whenI wanted it, hence during the bathing recess amidst the austeritiesof prison life I enjoyed every day a few momentsof the householder's luxury and love of pleasure. The otherconvicts were not so fortunate, the same tub or pail didfor the w.c., cleaning of utensils and bath. As undertrialprisoners this extraordinary luxury was allowed to them, theconvicts had to take their bath in a bowlful or two of water.According to the British the love of God and physicalwell-being are almost equal and rare virtues, whether theprison regulations were made in order to prove the point ofsuch a proverb or to prevent the unwilling austerity of theconvicts spoilt by excessive bathing facilities, it was not easyto decide. This liberality of the authorities was made lightof by the convicts as “crow bathing”. Men are by naturediscontented. The arrangements for drinking water were evenbetter than bathing facilities. It was then hot summer, in mylittle room the wind was almost forbidden to enter. But thefierce and blazing sunlight of May had free access to it. Theentire room would burn like a hot oven. While being lockedthus the only way to lessen one's irresistible thirst was the
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life275tepid water in the small tin enclosure. I would drink thatwater often and often, but this would not quench the thirst,rather there would be heavy sweating and soon after thethirst would be renewed. But one or two had earthen potsplaced in their courtyard, for which, remembering the austeritiesof a past incarnation, they would count themselveslucky. This compelled even the strongest believers in personaleffort to admit the role of fate; some had cold water,some remained thirsty for ever, it was as the stars decreed.But in their distribution of tin-cans or water-pots, the authoritiesacted with complete impartiality. Whether I waspleased or not with such erratic arrangements the generousjail doctor found my water trouble unbearable. He madeefforts to get an earthen pot for my use, but since the distributionwas not in his hands he did not succeed for long, atlast at his bidding the head sweeper managed to discover anearthen pot from somewhere. Before that in course of mylong battle with thirst I had achieved a thirst-free state. Inthis blazing room two prison blankets served for my bed.There was no pillow, I would spread one of these as mattressand fold the other as a pillow, and I slept like that. Whenthe heart became unbearable I would roll on the ground andenjoy it. Then did I know the joy of the cool touch of MotherEarth. But the floor's contact in the prison was not alwayspleasing, it prevented the coming of sleep and so I had totake recourse to the blanket. The days on which it rainedwere particularly delightful. But there was this difficulty thatduring rain and thunder, thanks to the danse macabre (tandavanritya) of the strong wind, full of dust, leaf and grass,a small-scale flood would take place inside my little room.After which there was no alternative but to rush to a cornerwith a wet blanket. Even after this game of naturewas over, till the earth dried one had to seek refuge inreflection leaving aside all hope of sleep. The only dry areas
276Bengali Writingswere near the w.c., but one did not feel like placing theblankets near that area. But in spite of such difficulties onwindy days a lot of air also blew in and since that tookaway the furnace-like heat of the room I welcomed the stormand the shower.This description of the Alipore government hotel whichI have given here, and will give still more later, is not forthe purpose of advertising my own hardship; it is only toshow what strange arrangements are made for undertrialprisoners in the civilised British Raj, what prolonged agonyfor the innocent. The causes of hardship that I have describedwere no doubt there, but since my faith in divinemercy was strong I had to suffer only for the first few days;thereafter — by what means I shall mention later — themind had transcended these sufferings and grown incapableof feeling any hardship. That is why when I recollectmy prison life instead of anger or sorrow I feel like laughing.When first of all I had to go into my cage dressed instrange prison uniform, and notice the arrangements for ourstay, this is what I felt. And I laughed within myself. Havingstudied the history of the English people and their recent doingsI had already found out their strange and mysterious character.So I was not at all astonished or unhappy at their behaviourtowards me. Normally this kind of behaviour towardsus would be for them extremely illiberal and blameworthy.We all came from gentlemanly stock, many were scions oflandlords, some were, in terms of their family, education, qualityand character, the equals of the highest classes in England.The charge on which we had been arrested, that too wasnot ordinary murder, theft or dacoity; it was an attempt atinsurrection to liberate the country from foreign rulers orconspiracy towards armed conflict. The main cause ofdetention was suspicion on the part of the police, thougheven there in many instances the proof of guilt was wholly
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life277wanting. In such cases to be herded together like ordinarythieves and dacoits — and not even as thieves and dacoits,to keep them like animals in a cage, to give them food unfitfor animals, to make them endure water scarcity, thirstand hunger, sun, rain and cold, all these do not enhancethe glory of the British race and its imperial officers. Thisis, however, a national defect of their character. The Englishare possessed of the qualities of the Kshatriya, but indealing with enemies or opponents they are cent per centbusinesslike. But, at the time, I was not annoyed at this.On the contrary, I had felt a little happy that no discriminationhad been made between the common uneducated massesand myself, moreover, this arrangement added fuel to theflame of my adoration of the Mother (mÀtribhakti). I tookit as a marvellous means and favourable condition for learningyoga and rising above conflicts. I was one of the extremists,in whose view democracy and equality between the rich andthe poor formed a chief ingredient of nationalism. I rememberedthat, thinking it our duty to turn the theory into practice,we had travelled together, on our way to Surat, in thesame third class, in the camp the leaders instead of makingseparate arrangements would sleep in the same room alongwith the others. Rich, poor, Brahmins, businessmen, Shudra,Bengali, Maratha, Punjabi, Gujarati, we all stayed, slept, atetogether in a wonderful feeling of brotherhood. We slept onthe ground, ate the normal fare, made of rice-pulse-curd, inevery way it was superlatively svadeÙÈ. The “foreign-returned”from Bombay and Calcutta and the Brahmin-born Madrassiwith his tilak (head-mark) had become one body. Duringmy stay in the Alipore Jail I ate, lived, went through thesame hardship and enjoyed the same privileges with theother convicts, my fellow nationals, the peasants, ironmonger,potter, the doms and the bagdis, and I could learnthat the Lord who dwells in every body, this socialism and
278Bengali Writingsunity, this nation-wide brotherhood had put its stamp onmy life's dedication (jÈvan brata). The day when beforethe sacred altar of the world-Mother in the form of theMotherland, all the orders of the country will stand withproud heads as brothers and of the same mind, the lovingkindnessof my fellow convicts and prisoners as well as theimpartiality of the British administrators, during the imprisonmentI could feel the coming of that happy day and manya time it brought such delight and thrill. The other day Inoticed that the Indian Social Reformer, from Poona, hasironically commented on one of my simple easy-to-understandstatements by remarking: “We find an excess of Godwardnessin the prison!” Alas for the pride and littleness ofmen, seeking after renown, of little learning, proud of theirlittle virtues! The manifestation of God, should it not be inprison, in huts, ashrams, in the heart of the poor, but ratherin the temples of luxury of the rich or the bed of reposeof pleasure-seeking-selfish worldly folk? God does not lookfor learning, honour, leadership, popular acclaim, outwardease and sophistication. To the poor He reveals Himself inthe form of the Compassionate Mother. He who sees theLord in all men, in all nations, in his own land, in the miserable,the poor, the fallen and the sinner and offers hislife in the service of the Lord, the Lord comes to such hearts.So it is that in a fallen nation ready to rise, in the solitaryprison of the servant of the nation the nearness of God grows.After the jailor had seen to the blankets and the platesand bowl and left, I began to watch, sitting on the blanket, thescene before me. This solitary confinement seemed to me muchbetter than the lock-up at Lal Bazar. There the silence ofthe commodious hall with an opportunity to extend its hugebody, seems to deepen the silence. Here the walls of theroom seemed to come closer, eager to embrace one, likethe all-pervading Brahman. There one cannot even look at
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life279the sky through the high windows of the second storey room,it becomes hard to imagine that there are in this world treesand plants, men, animals, birds and houses. Here, since thedoor to the courtyard remains open, by sitting near the barsone could see the open spaces and the movement of theprisoners. Alongside the courtyard wall stood a tree, its greenfoliage a sight for sore eyes. The sentry that used to paradebefore the six ‘six decree’ rooms, his face and footstepsoften appeared dear like the welcome steps of a friend.The prisoners in the neighbouring cowshed would take outin front of the room the cows for grazing. Both cow andcowherd were daily and delightful sights. The solitary confinementat Alipore was a unique lesson in love. Before cominghere even in society my affections were confined to a rathernarrow circle, and the closed emotions would rarely includebirds and animals. I remember a poem by Rabibabuin which is described, beautifully, a village boy's deep lovefor a buffalo. I did not at all understand it when I read itfirst, I had felt a note of exaggeration and artificiality inthat description. Had I read that poem now, I would haveseen it with other eyes. At Alipore I could feel how deepcould be the love of man for all created things, how thrilleda man could be on seeing a cow, a bird, even an ant.The first day in prison passed off peacefully. It was allso new that it was almost gay. Comparing it with the LalBazar lock-up I felt happy with my present circumstances,and since I had faith in God the loneliness did not weighheavily on me. Even the strange spectacle of prison diet failedto disturb my attitude. Coarse rice, even that spiced with husk,pebbles, insects, hair, dirt and such other stuff — the tastelesslentil soup was heavily watered, among vegetables andgreens mixed with grass and leaves. I never knew before thatfood could be so tasteless and without any nutritive value.Looking at its melancholy black visage I was struck with fear,
280Bengali Writingsafter two mouthfuls with a respectful salaam I took leaveof it. All prisoners receive the same diet, and once a coursegets going it goes on for ever. Then it was the Reign ofHerbs. Days, fortnights and months pass by, but the sameherbs, or Shak, lentils and rice went on unchanged. Whatto speak of changing the menu, the preparation was notchanged a jot or tittle, it was the same immutable, eternalfrom beginning to end, a stable unique thing-in-itself. Withintwo evenings it was calculated to impress the prisonerwith the fragility of this world of mÀyÀ. But even here Iwas luckier than the other prisoners because of the doctor'skindness. He had arranged supply of milk from thehospital, thanks to which I had been spared on certain daysfrom the vision of Shak.That night I went to bed early, but it was no part ofthe prison regulations to be allowed to enjoy undisturbedsleep, since this might encourage a love of luxury amongthe prisoners. Hence there is a rule that every time sentriesare changed, the prisoner has to be noisily disturbed andtill he responds to their cries there is no respite. Among thosewho were engaged in this kind of patrolling the ‘six decree’cells there were a few who would be no doubt remiss intheir duty in this respect — among the police there was asa rule more of kindness and sympathy than strict sense ofresponsibility — this was especially so with the Hindustanipolicemen. Some of course remained obstinate. Waking usup at odd hours they would inquire about our well-being thus:“How do you do, Sir?” This untimely humour was not alwayspleasant or welcome, but I could see that those whowere behaving like this were but carrying out orders. For afew days in spite of the annoyance I put up with this. In theend to preserve my sleep I had to scold them. After repeatingthis process for a few times I noticed that this custom ofseeking news about my well-being stopped of itself.Next morning at four-fifteen the prison bell rang, this wasthe first bell to wake up the prisoners. There is a bell again
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life281after sometime, when the prisoners have to come out infile, after washing they have to swallow the prison gruel(lufsi) before starting the days' work. Knowing that it wasimpossible to sleep with the bells ringing every now andthen, I also got up. The bars were removed at five, andafter washing I sat inside the room once again. A little laterlufsi was served at my door step, that day I did not take itbut had only a vision of what it looked like. It was after afew days that I had the first taste of the ‘great dish’. Lufsi,boiled rice, along with water, is the prisoner's little breakfast.A trinity, it takes three forms. On the first day it wasLufsi in its Wisdom aspect, unmixed original element, pure,white, Shiva. On the second, it was the Hiranyagarbha aspect,boiled along with lentils, called kedgeree, yellowish, amedley. On the third day lufsi appeared in its aspect of Virat,a little mixed with jaggery, grey, slightly fit for human consumption.I had thought the Wisdom and the Hiranyagarbhaaspects to be beyond the capacity of average humanityand therefore made no efforts in that direction, but once ina while I had forced some of the Virat stuff within my systemand marvelled, in delightful muse, about the many-splendouredvirtues of British rule and the high level of westernhumanitarianism. It should be added that lufsi was the onlynutritious diet for the Bengali prisoners, the rest were withoutany food value. But what of that? It had a taste, andone could eat this only out of sheer hunger, even then, onehad to force and argue with oneself to be able to consumethat stuff.That day I took my bath at half past eleven. For the firstfour or five days I had to keep wearing the clothes in which Ihad come from home. At the time of bathing the old prisonerwarderfrom the cowshed, who had been appointed to lookafter me, managed to procure a piece of endi, 1 a yard1A kind of coarse silk.
282Bengali Writingsand half long, and till my only clothes did not dry I had tokeep wearing this. I did not have to wash my clothes ordishes, a prisoner in the cowshed would do that for me.Lunch was at eleven. To avoid the neighbourhood of thebasket and braving the summer heat I would often eat inthe courtyard. The sentries did not object to this. The eveningmeal would be between five and five-thirty. Then on thedoor was not permitted to be opened. At seven rang theevening bell. The chief supervisor gathered the prisonerwarderstogether and loudly called out the names of theinmates, after which they would return to their respectiveposts. The tired prisoner then takes the refuge of sleep andin that has his only pleasure. It is the time when the weakof heart weeps over his misfortune or in anticipation of thehardships of prison life. The lover of God feels the nearnessof his deity, and has the joy of his prayer or meditationin the silent night. Then to these three thousand creatureswho came from God, victims off a miserable socialsystem, the huge instrument of torture, the Alipore Jail, islost in a vast silence.IIII would rarely meet the co-accused. They had been keptelsewhere. Behind the “six decrees” there were two rows ofcells, forty-four in all, the reason why it was known as forty-fourdecrees. Most of the accused were placed in one ofthese lines. Confined to the cells as they were, they did notsuffer from solitary imprisonment, since there were three ineach room. On the other side of the prison there was anotherdecree, with a few large rooms, these could accommodateeven up to twelve persons. Those who were fortunateenough to be placed in this decree lived more happily. Manywere confined to a room in this decree, with leisure totalk day and night and spend their time happily in human
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life283companionship. But there was one who was deprived ofthis pleasure. This was Hemchandra Das. I do not knowwhy the authorities were especially afraid or angry with him,out of so many people he had been singled out for solitaryconfinement. Hemchandra himself believed that since, inspite of much effort, the police had failed to make him admithis guilt explained their wrath. He was confined to asmall room in the decree of which even the door would beclosed from outside. I have said that this was the extremeform of this type of punishment. From time to time the policewould bring forward witnesses of diferent kind, colour andshape and enact the farce of an identification parade. Onthese occasions we would be made to line up, a long row,in front of the office. The prison authorities would mix upthose accused on other charges along with us. But this wasonly in name. For among these other accused there wasnone that was either educated or from gentlemanly stock,and when we stood by their side there was such obviousdisparity between the two types of accused, on the one handthe sharp, intelligent features of those accused in the bombconspiracy, on the other hand, the soiled dress and lustrelessvisage of the average accused, that if looking at themone could not make out the difference, that could only meanthat one was a big fool, bereft of the lowest human intelligence.The prisoners were not however averse to the identificationparade. It brought a kind of variety in prison lifeand provided a chance to exchange a few words. After ourarrest it was during one of the parades that I could firstmeet my brother, Barindra, though we did not speak at thattime. It was Narendranath Goswami who would often standby my side, so I had a little more exchange with him. Extremelyhandsome, tall, strong, plump, but his eyes spoke ofevil propensities, nor did his words reveal any signs of intelligence.In this respect he was quite different from the other
284Bengali Writingsyoung people. On their lips were often expressed high andpure ideas and their speech showed keen intelligence, a loveof knowledge and noble selfless aspirations. For though Gossain's1 words were those of a fool and a light-hearted person,they expressed vigour and boldness. At that time hefully believed that he would be acquitted. He would say:“My father is an expert in litigations, the police can neverbeat him. My evidence too will not go against me, for it willbe proved that the police had got those statements by torturingme.” I asked him, “You had been with the police. Whereare your witnesses?” Gossain answered unabashed: “My fatherhas conducted hundreds of cases, he knows all this verywell. There will be no lack of witnesses.” Of such stuff areapprovers made.Earlier we have referred to many of the needless sufferingsand difficulties of the accused, but it should also beadded that these were all part of prison administration; thesufferings were not due to any one's personal cruelty orlack of human qualities. Indeed, the persons on whom restedthe administration of the Alipore Jail, they were all of themexceedingly polite, kindly and conscientious. If in any prisonthe prisoner's suffering has been lessened, the inhumanbarbarity of the western prison lightened through kindnessand conscientiousness, then that good out of evil has happenedin the Alipore Jail under Mr. Emerson. This has happeneddue to two main reasons, the extraordinary qualitiesof its Superintendent, Mr. Emerson, and the assistant doctor,Baidyanath Chatterji. One of them was an embodimentof Europe's nearly vanished Christian ideals, the otherwas a personification of the charity and philanthropy thatform the essence of Hinduism. Men like Mr. Emerson donot come to this country often, they are getting rarer evenin the West. In him could be found all the virtues of aChristian gentleman. Peace-loving, just, incomparably1A short, familiar form for Goswami.
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life285generous, full of rectitude, simple, straight and disciplinedeven towards inferiors, he was by nature incapable of anythingbut polite conduct. Among his short-comings were lackof energy and administrative efficiency, he would leave allthe responsibility on the jailor, himself remaining a roi faineant.I do not think this caused much harm. The jailor,Jogendrababu, was a capable and efficient person, in spiteof being seriously handicapped by diabetes he would himselflook after all the activities and since he was familiarwith the boss's nature, he would respect justice and theabsence of cruelty in the administration. But he was not agreat soul like Emerson, but only a minor Bengali officer,he knew how to keep the Sahib in humour, would do hisjob efficiently and dutifully, treat others quietly and withnatural politeness. Other than these I did not observe in himany other special quality. He had a great weakness for theservice. More so since it was then the month of May andthe time for his pension had drawn near, he was lookingforward to well-earned rest from January next. The suddenappearance of the accused in the Alipore Bomb Conspiracyhad caused in our jailor much fear and cogitation.There was no knowing what these violent energetic Bengaliboys might be up to one of these days, the thoughtgave him no rest. He would say, there was only an inchand half left for him to climb to the top of the palm tree.But he had succeeded in negotiating only half of that distance.Towards the end of August Mr. Buchanan waspleased with his prison inspection. The jailor said gleefully,“This is Sahib's last visit during my term of office, thereis nothing to worry about the pension now.” Alas, for humanblindness! The poet has truly said, God has giventwo great aids to the suffering race of man. First, he hascovered the future with darkness; secondly, as his solesupport and consolation, he has endowed him with blindhope. Within five days of this statement by the jailor Naren
286Bengali WritingsGossain fell a victim at the hands of Kanai, and Buchanan'svisits to the prison grew increasingly frequent. Theresult was that Jogenbabu lost his job before time, and,because of the combined attack of sorrow and disease, hesoon breathed his last. If instead of delegating all the workto such a subordinate, Emerson had looked after the administration,there would have been the possibility of greaterimprovement and reform during his regime. The little thathe himself looked after he no doubt did that properly, itwas due to his character that the prison had become a placeonly for severe punishment and not turned into a veritablehell. Even after he had been transferred, the effect of hisgoodness did not wholly disappear. Even now his successorshave been obliged to keep sixty per cent of his goodmeasures intact.IVJust as in the other jail departments Jogenbabu, a Bengali,was the chief, similarly in the hospital, the Bengali doctor,Baidyanathbabu, was all-in-all. His superior officer, DoctorDaly, though not as charitable as Mr. Emerson, was out andout a gentleman and a most judicious person. He had highpraise for the quiet demeanour, cheerfulness and obedienceof the boys, and loved to exchange pleasantries with youngerpeople and discuss with the other accused problems of religion,politics and philosophy. The doctor was of Irish stockand he inherited many of the qualities of that liberal andsentimental race. There was no meanness or duplicity abouthim, once in a while when angry he might use a roughword or behave harshly, but on the whole he loved to helppeople. He was familiar with the trickeries and the got-updiseases resorted to by the prisoners, but sometimes, suspectingtrickery, he would neglect even genuine sufferers.But once sure of the disease he would prescribe with great
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life287care and kindness. Once I had a little temperature. It wasthen the rainy season, in the hospital's many-windowed hugeverandahs the moisture-laden winds played about freely, andyet I was unwilling either to go to the hospital or take medicine.My views on illness and cure had undergone changeand I did not have much faith in medicines. Unless the diseasewas severe, nature herself would cure it in her ownway, such was my belief. The harm done by the humid air,by controlling that yogically I wished to verify and proveto the logical mind the success of my yogic training andmethods. But the doctor was extremely anxious on my account,he explained to me with much eagerness the needto go to the hospital. And when I had gone there he keptme with impressment and saw that I had meals such as Imight get at home. Fearing that by staying in the prisonwardsmy health might suffer during the rains he desiredthat I should be comfortably lodged in the hospital. But Irefused to stay longer in the hospital and insisted on goingback to the ward. He was not equally considerate toeverybody, especially those who were strong and healthy,he was afraid of keeping such people in the hospital evenwhen they were sick. He had a false notion that if everany incident took place it would be because of these strongand restless lads. What happened in the end was its exactopposite, the incident in the hospital was due to the ailing,emaciated Satyendranath Bose and the sick, quiet-naturedKanailal, a man of few words. Though Dr. Daly hadhis qualities, most of his good deeds were inspired andset into motion by Baidyanathbabu. I had never seen sucha sympathetic soul before, nor do I expect to see it after,it was as if he had been born to help and do good to others.Whenever he heard of a case of suffering to try to lessenit had become for him almost a natural and inevitable act.To the residents of this abode of misery, full of suffering,it was as if he would distribute the carefully preserved
288Bengali Writingsheavenly waters to the creatures of hell. The best way toremove any want, injustice or needless suffering was to reacha report of it to the doctor's ears. If its removal lay withinhis powers he would never rest without doing it. Baidyanathbabuharboured in his heart a deep love of the motherland,but as a government servant he was unable to expressthat emotion. His only failing was his excessive sympathy.Though in a prison administrator this may be lookedupon as a defect, in terms of higher ethics this may be describedas the finest expression of one's humanity and thequality most beloved of God. He did not discriminate betweenthe ordinary prisoners and the ‘Bandemataram’ convicts;whoever was sick, or ailing, he kept them in the hospitalwith the same care and would be unwilling to let themgo till they had wholly come round. This fault of his wasthe real reason for his loss of job. After the killing of Gossainthe authorities suspected this attitude of his and wrongfullydismissed him.There is a special need to speak of the kindness andhuman conduct of these officers. The prison arrangementsmade for our detention I have been obliged to describe earlier,and afterwards too I shall try to show the inhuman crueltyof the British prison system. Lest some readers may lookupon this as an evil effect of these officers, I have describedthe qualities of some of the chief of the staff. In the descriptionof the early stages of prison life there will be foundfurther evidence of these qualities.I have described my mental state on the first day of solitaryconfinement. For a few days I had to be without books orany other aid to spend the period of forced isolation. Lateron Mr. Emerson came and handed over to me the permissionto get some clothes and reading material from home.After procuring from the prison authorities pen and ink andtheir official stationery I wrote to my respected maternal uncle,the well-known editor of Sanjibani, to send my dhoti and
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life289kurta, among books I asked for the Gita and the Upanishads.It took a couple of days for the books to reach me.Before that I had enough leisure to realise the enormity ordangerous potentiality of solitary confinement. I could understandwhy even firm and well-developed intellects crackup in such a state of confinement and readily turn towardsinsanity. At the same time, I could realise God's infinite mercyand the rare advantage offered by these same conditions.Before imprisonment I was in the habit of sitting down formeditation for an hour in the morning and evening. In thissolitary prison, not having anything else to do, I tried tomeditate for a longer period. But for those unaccustomedit is not easy to control and steady the mind pulled in athousand directions. Somehow I was able to concentratefor an hour and half or two, later the mind rebelled whilethe body too was fatigued. At first the mind was full ofthoughts of many kinds. Afterwards devoid of human conversationand an insufferable listlessness due to absenceof any subject of thought the mind gradually grew devoidof the capacity to think. There was a condition when itseemed a thousand indistinct ideas were hovering roundthe doors of the mind but with gates closed; one or twothat were able to get through were frightened by the silenceof these mental states and quietly running away. Inthis uncertain dull state I suffered intense mental agony.In the hope of mental solace and resting the overheatedbrain I looked at the beauties of nature outside, but withthat solitary tree, a sliced sky and the cheerless prospectsin the prison how long can the mind in such a state findany consolation? I looked towards the blank wall. Gazingat the lifeless white surface the mind seemed to grow evenmore hopeless, realising the agony of the imprisoned conditionthe brain was restless in the cage. I again sat downto meditate. It was impossible. The intense baffled attemptmade the mind only more tired, useless, made it burn and
290Bengali Writingsboil. I looked around, at last I found some large black antsmoving about a hole in the ground, and I spent sometimewatching their efforts and movements. Later I noticed sometiny red ants. Soon there was a big battle between the blackand the red, the black ants began to bite and kill the redants. I felt an intense charity and sympathy for these unjustlytreated red ants and tried to save them from theblack killers. This gave me an occupation and somethingto think about. Thanks to the ants I passed a few dayslike this. Still there was no way to spend the long daysahead. I tried to argue with myself, did some deliberatereflection, but day after day the mind rebelled and feltincreasingly desolate. It was as though time weighed heavy,an unbearable torture, broken by that pressure it did nothave leisure even to breathe freely, it was like being throttledby an enemy in a dream and yet without the strength tomove one's limbs. I was amazed at this condition! True,while outside, I never wished to stay idle or without anyactivity, still I had spent long periods in solitary musings.Had and mind now become so weak that the solitude of afew days could make me so restless? Perhaps, I thought,there is a world of difference between voluntary and compulsorysolitude. It is one thing to stay alone in one's home,but to have to stay, forced by others, in a solitary prisoncell is quite another. There one can turn at will to menfor refuge, find shelter in book knowledge and its stylisticelegance, in the dear voice of friends, the noise on theroadside, in the varied shows of the world, one can findjoy of mind and feel at ease. But here, bound to the wheelsof iron law, subservient to the whim of others, one had tolive deprived of every other contact. According to the proverb,one who can stand solitude is either a god or a brute,it is a discipline quite beyond the power of men. PreviouslyI was unable to believe in what the proverb said,now I could feel that even for one accustomed to the yogic
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life291life this discipline is not easy to acquire. I remember theterrifying end of the Italian regicide, Breci. His cruel judges,instead of ordering him to be hanged, had given him sevenyears' solitary imprisonment. Within a year Breci hadgone mad. But he had endured for some time! Was mymental strength so poor? Then I did not know that Godwas having a game with me, through which He was givingme a few necessary lessons. First, He showed me thestate of mind in which prisoners condemned to solitarycells move towards insanity, and turned me wholly againstthe inhuman cruelty of western prison administration, sothat I might, to the best of my ability, turn my countrymenand the world from these barbarous ways to the pathof more humane prison organisation. This was the first lesson.I remembered, fifteen years back, after returning homefrom England, I had written some bitterly critical articles inthe Induprakash, of Bombay, against the petitionary ethicsof the then Congress. Seeing that these articles were influencingthe mind of the young, the late Mahadeo GovindRanade had told me, when I met him, for nearly half anhour, that I should give up writing these articles, and advisedme to take up some other Congress work. He wasdesirous of my taking up the work of prison reform. I wasastonished and unhappy at his unexpected suggestion andhad refused to undertake that work. I did not know thenthat this was a prelude to the distant future and that oneday God himself would keep me in prison for a year andmake me see the cruelty and futility of the system and theneed for reform. Now I understood that in the present politicalatmosphere there was no possibility of any reformof the prison system, but I resolved before my conscienceto propagate and argue in its favour so that these hellishremnants of an alien civilisation were not perpetuated in aself-determining India. I also understood His second purpose:it was to reveal and expose before my mind its own
292Bengali Writingsweakness so that I might get rid of it for ever. For onewho seeks the yogic state crowd and solitude should meanthe same. Indeed, the weakness dropped off within a veryfew days, and now it seems that the mental poise wouldnot be disturbed even by twenty years of solitude. In thedispensation of the All-Good (maÚgalamaya) even outof evil cometh good. The third purpose was to give methis lesson that my yoga practices would not be done bymy personal effort, but that a spirit of reverence (ÙraddhÀ)and complete self-surrender (Àtma-samarpana) werethe road to attain perfection in yoga, and whatever poweror realisation the Lord would give out of His benignity,to accept and utilise these should be the only aim ofmy yogic endeavour. The day from which the deep darknessof Ignorance began to lessen, I started to see thetrue nature of the All-Good Lord's amazing infinite goodnessas I watched the different events in the ward. Thereis no event — great or small or even the smallest — fromwhich some good has not accrued. He often fulfils threeor four aims through a single event. We frequently seethe working of a blind force in the world, accepting wasteas part of nature's method we ignore God's omniscienceand find fault with the divine Intelligence. The charge isunfounded. The divine Intelligence never works blindly,there cannot be the slightest waste of His power, ratherthe restrained manner in which, through the minimum ofmeans, He achieves a variety of results is beyond thehuman intelligence.Troubled by mental listlessness I spent a few days inagony in this manner. One afternoon as I was thinking streamsof thought began to flow endlessly and then suddenly thesegrew so uncontrolled and incoherent that I could feel thatthe mind's regulating power was about to cease. Afterwardswhen I came back to myself, I could recollect that though thepower of mental control had ceased, the intelligence was not
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life293self-lost or did not deviate for a moment, but it was as ifwatching quietly this marvellous phenomenon. But at thetime, shaking with the terror of being overcome by insanity,I had not been able to notice that. I called upon Godwith eagerness and intensity and prayed to him to preventmy loss of intelligence. That very moment there spread overmy being such a gentle and cooling breeze, the heated brainbecame relaxed, easy and supremely blissful such as in allmy life I had never known before. Just as a child sleeps,secure and fearless, on the lap of his mother, so I remainedon the lap of the World-Mother. From that day all my troublesof prison life were over. Afterwards on many occasions,during the period of detention, inquietude, solitary imprisonment,and mental unease because of lack of activity, bodilytrouble or disease, in the lean periods of yogic life, thesehave come, but that day in a single moment God had givenmy inner being such a strength that these sorrows as theycame and went did not leave any trace or touch on the mind,relishing strength and delight in the sorrow itself the mindwas able to reject these subjective sufferings. The sufferingsseemed as fragile as water drops on a lily leaf. Thenwhen the books came, their need had considerably lessened.I could have stayed on even if the books were not there.Though it is not the purpose of these articles to write ahistory of my inner life, still I could not but mention thisfact. From this one incident it will be clear how it was possibleto live happily during long solitary confinement. It wasfor this reason that God had brought about this situation orexperience. Without turning me mad he had enacted in mymind the gradual process towards insanity that takes placein solitary confinement, keeping my intelligence as the unmovedspectator of the entire drama. Out of this camestrength, and I had an excess of kindness and sympathyfor the victims of human cruelty and torture. I also realisedthe extraordinary power and efficacy of prayer.
294Bengali WritingsVDuring the period of my solitary confinement Dr. Dalyand the Assistant Superintendent would come to my roomalmost every day and have a little chat. From the beginning,I do not know why, I had been able to draw theirspecial favour and sympathy. I did not speak much withthem, but just answered only when they asked something.If they raised any issues I either listened quietly or wouldstop after speaking a few words. Yet they did not give upvisiting me. One day Mr. Daly spoke to me, “I have beenable, through my Assistant Superintendent, to get the bigboss to agree that every day, in the morning and evening,you will be allowed to take a walk in front of the decree.I do not like that you should be confined throughout theday in a small cell, it's bad for both body and mind.” Fromthat day on I would take a stroll everyday in the morningand evening in the open space before decree. In the afternoonsit would be for ten, fifteen or twenty minutes,in the morning for an hour; at times I would stay out fortwo hours, there was no time limit about it. I enjoyedthis very much. On one side were the jail industries, onthe other, the cowshed — my independent kingdom wasflanked by these two. From the industrial section to thecowshed, from the cowshed to the industrial section, travellingto and fro I would recite the deeply moving, immortal,powerful mantras of the Upanishads, or watchingthe movements and activities of the prisoners I triedto realise the basic truths of the immanent Godhead, Godin every form. In the trees, the houses, the walls, in men,animals, birds, metals, the earth, with the help of the mantra:All this is the Brahman, (sarvaÌ khalvidaÌ Brahma), Iwould try to fix or impose that realisation on all of these.As I went on doing like this sometimes the prison ceasedto appear to be a prison at all. The high wall, those
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life295iron bars, the white wall, the green-leaved tree shining insunlight, it seemed as if these common-place objects werenot unconscious at all, but that they were vibrating with auniversal consciousness, they love me and wish to embraceme, or so I felt. Men, cows, ants, birds are moving, flying,singing, speaking, yet all is Nature's game; behind all this isa great pure detached spirit rapt in a serene delight. Oncein a while it seemed as if God Himself was standing underthe tree, to play upon his Flute of Delight; and with its sheercharm to draw my very soul out. Always it seemed as ifsomeone was embracing me, holding me on one's lap. Themanifestation of these emotions overpowered my whole bodyand mind, a pure and wide peace reigned everywhere, it isimpossible to describe that. The hard cover of my life openedup and a spring of love for all creatures gushed from within.Along with this love such sÀttvik emotions as charity,kindness, ahiÌsÀ, etc., overpowered my dominantly rÀjasiknature and found an abundant release. And the more thesequalities developed, the greater the delight and the deeperthe sense of unclouded peace. The anxiety over the casehad vanished from the beginning, now it was a contraryemotion that found room in my mind. God is All-Good, Hehad brought me into the prison-house for my good, my releaseand the quashing of charges was certain, I grew firmin this faith. After this for many days I did not have to sufferany troubles in the jail.It took some days for these emotions to settle and deepen.It was while this was going on that the case opened in themagistrate's court. At first the mind was greatly perturbed,by being dragged from the silence of solitary imprisonmentto the noise of the world outside. The patience of innerdiscipline was lost and the mind did not at all consent tolisten for five hours on end to the dull and bothersome argumentsby the prosecution. At first I tried to continue the
296Bengali Writingsinner life while sitting in the court-room, but the unaccustomedmind would be attracted to every sound and sight,and the attempt would not succeed, in the midst of the noisegoing on all round. Later the feelings changed and I acquiredthe power to reject from the mind the immediatesounds and sights, and draw the mind inwards. But this didnot take place in the early stages, the true power of concentrationhad not developed then. For that reason, givingup the futile attempt, I would be content with seeing, nowand then, God in all creatures, for the rest I would observethe words and behaviour of my companions in adversity,else think of other things, or sometimes listened to Mr. Norton'svaluable remarks or even the evidence of witnesses. Ifound that while spending one's time in solitary imprisonmenthad grown easy and pleasant, it was not that easy inthe midst of the crowd and in the life-and-death game of aserious case. I greatly enjoyed the laughter, the jollities andthe pleasantries of the accused lads, else the time spent atthe court appeared wholly annoying. At four-thirty I wouldhappily get into the police van and return to the prison.The contact of human life and each other's company,after fifteen or sixteen days of prison life, made the otherprisoners extremely happy. As soon as they got into the carriagethe fountain of laughter and conversation would openand during the ten minutes that they were inside the carriagethe stream would never cease for a moment. On the firstday they took us to the court with great eclat. There was asmall platoon of European sergeants who went along withus and they carried loaded pistols. At the time of our gettinginto the carriage a band of armed policemen stood guard roundus and did some marching behind the carriage, the ritual wasrepeated at the time of our getting down as well. Lookingat so much to-do some inexperienced spectators must havethought that these laughter-loving young lads must be some
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life297group of daredevil famous warriors. Who knows how muchcourage and strength resided in their bodies so that evenwith their empty hands they might be able to break throughthe impassive cordon of a hundred policemen and tommies.Maybe it was for this reason that we were being conductedwith so much honour and ceremony. For a few days thepomp was kept up, then there was a gradual decline, in theend two to four sergeants would be there to take and bringus back. At the time of our getting down they did not verymuch observe how we entered the prison; we would walkinto it as if we were returning home after a stroll, just as afree person does. Watching this carelessness and slackeningthe Police Commissioner and some of the Superintendentssaid angrily: “On the first day we had arranged for twenty-fiveto thirty sergeants, now we see that not even fouror five turn up.” They would scold the sergeants and makestrict arrangements for supervision. Then, maybe for two days,two more sergeants would come, and again the earlier slacknessfollowed! The sergeants found that the devotees of thebomb were quite harmless folk, who were not attempting toescape and had no plans to kill or attack anyone, so theywondered why they should waste valuable time in performingunpleasant duties. At first before entering and leaving thecourt there used to be a personal search, during which weused to have the joy of feeling the soft palms of the sergeants,otherwise no one was likely to profit or to lose fromthis search. It was clear that our protectors had profoundscepticism about the utility of such a procedure, and after afew days this was also given up. We could safely carry withus into the courtroom books, bread, sugar just as we liked.They soon got the feeling that we were not there to hurl abomb or fire a pistol. But I noticed that there was one singularfear from which the sergeant's mind was not free. Whoknew which of the accused will have the evil brainwave
298Bengali Writingsof hurling a pair of a shoes at the glorious pate of the magistrate?Then the fat would be in the fire! For this reasonentering the court with shoes on was strictly forbidden, andthe sergeants were always alert on that point. I did not noticethem to be keen on any other safety measures.VIThe nature of the case was a little strange. Magistrate,counsel, witnesses, evidence, exhibits, accused, allappeared a little outré. Watching, day after day, the endlessstream of witnesses and exhibits, the counsel's unvarieddramatic performance, the boyish frivolity and light-heartinessof the youthful magistrate, looking at the amazingspectacle I often thought that instead of sitting in a Britishcourt of justice we were inside a stage of some worldof fiction. Let me describe some of the odd inhabitantsof that kingdom.The star performer of the show was the governmentcounsel, Mr. Norton. Not only the star performer, but hewas also its composer, stage manager and prompter — aversatile genius like him must be rare in the world. CounselMr. Norton hailed from Madras, hence it appeared hewas unaccustomed and inexperienced in the common codeand courtesy as it obtained among the barristers of Bengal.He had been at one time a leader of the National Organisation,and for that reason might have been incapable of toleratingopposition and contradiction, and in the habit ofpunishing opponents. Such natures are known as ferocious.I cannot say whether Mr. Norton had been the lion of MadrasCorporation, but he certainly was the king among beasts atthe Alipore court. It was hard to admire his depth of legalacumen — which was as rare as winter in summer. But inthe ceaseless flow of words, and through verbal quips, inthe strange ability to transmute inconsequential witness into
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life299something serious, in the boldness of making groundlessstatements or statements with little ground, in riding roughshodover witnesses and junior barristers and in the charmingability to turn white into black, to see his incomparablegenius in action was but to admire him. Among the greatcounsels there are three kinds — those who, through theirlegal acumen, satisfactory exposition and subtle analysis cancreate a favourable impression on the judge; those who canskilfully draw out the truth from the witnesses and by presentingthe facts of the case and the subject under discussiondraw the mind of the judge or the jury towards themselves;and those who through their loud speech, by threatsand oratorical flow can dumbfound the witness and splendidlyconfuse the entire issue, can win the case by distractingthe intelligence of the judge or the jury. Mr. Norton isforemost in this third category. This is by no means a defect.The counsel is a worldly person, he takes money forhis service, to gain the intention of the client is his duty, iswhat he is there for. Now, according to the British legalsystem the bringing out of truth by the contending parties,complainant and defendant, is not the real purpose, to winthe case, by hook or by crook, is what it is really after.Hence the counsel must bend his energies towards that end,else he would be unfaithful to the law of his being. If Godhas not endowed one with other qualities then one must fightwith such qualities as one possesses, and win the case withtheir help. Thus Mr. Norton was but following the law of hisown being (svadharma). The government paid him a thousandrupees a day. In case this turned out to be a uselessexpenditure the government would be loser, Mr. Norton wastrying heart and soul to prevent such a loss to the government.But in a political case, the accused have to be givenwide privileges and not to emphasise doubtful or uncertainevidence were rules germane to the British legal system. Had
300Bengali WritingsMr. Norton cared to remember this convention it wouldnot have, I feel, harmed the case. On the other hand, afew innocent persons would have been spared the tortureof solitary imprisonment and innocent Ashok Nandi mighthave even been alive. The counsel's leonine nature wasprobably at the root of the trouble. Just as Holinshed andPlutarch had collected the material for Shakespeare's historicalplays, in the same manner the police had collectedthe material for this drama of a case. And Mr. Norton happenedto be the Shakespeare of this play. I, however, noticeda difference between Shakespeare and Mr. Norton:Shakespeare would now and then leave out some of theavailable material, but Mr. Norton never allowed any material,true or false, cogent or irrelevant, from the smallestto the largest, to go unused; on top of it he could createsuch a wonderful plot by his self-created and abundantsuggestion, inference and hypothesis that the greatpoets and writers of fiction like Shakespeare and Defoewould have to acknowledge defeat before this grand masterof the art. The critic might say that just as Falstaff'shotel bill showed a pennyworth of bread and countless gallonsof wine, similarly in Norton's plot “an ounce of proof wasmixed with tons of inference and suggestion”. But evendetractors are bound to praise the elegance and constructionof the plot. It gave me great happiness that Mr. Nortonhad chosen me as the protagonist of this play. LikeSatan in Milton's Paradise Lost, in Mr. Norton's plot atthe centre of the mighty rebellion stood I, an extraordinarilysharp, intelligent and powerful, bold, bad man! Ofthe national movement I was the alpha and the omega, itscreator and saviour, engaged in undermining the Britishempire. As soon as he came across any piece of excellentor vigorous writing in English he would jump and loudlyproclaim, Aurobindo Ghose! All the legal and illegal, theorganised activities or unexpected consequences of the
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life301movement were the doings of Aurobindo Ghose! and whenthey are the doings of Aurobindo Ghose then when evenlawfully admissible they must contain hidden illegal intentionsand potentialities. He probably thought that if I werenot caught within two years, it would be all up with theBritish empire. If my name ever appeared on any torn sheetof paper, Mr. Norton's joy knew no bounds, with great cordialityhe would present it at the holy feet of the presidingmagistrate. It is a pity I was not born as an Avatar, otherwisethanks to his intense devotion and ceaseless contemplationof me for the nonce, he would surely have earnedhis release, mukti, then and there and both the period ofour detention and the government's expenses would havebeen curtailed. Since the sessions court declared me innocentof the charges Norton's plot was sadly shorn of itsglory and elegance. By leaving the Prince of Denmark outof Hamlet the humourless judge, Beachcroft, damaged thegreatest poem of the twentieth century. If the critic is allowedhis right to alter poetic compositions, such loss ofmeaning can hardly be prevented. Norton's other agony wasthat some of the other witnesses too were so caused thatthey had wholly refused to bear evidence in keeping withhis fabricated plot. At this Norton would grow red with furyand, roaring like a lion, he would strike terror in the heartof the witness and cower him down. Like the legitimate andirrepressible anger of a poet when his words are altered orof a stage manager when the actor's declamation, tone orpostures go against his directions, Norton felt a comparableloss of temper. His quarrel with barrister Bhuban Chatterjihad this holy or sÀttvic anger as its root. Such an inordinatelysensitive person as Mr. Chatterji I have not comeacross. He had no sense of time or propriety. For instance,whenever Mr. Norton sacrificed the distinction betweenthe relevant and the irrelevant, tried to force odd argumentspurely for the sake of poetic effect, Mr. Chatterji
302Bengali Writingswould invariably get up and raise objections and declarethese as inadmissible. He did not appreciate that these werebeing furnished not because they were relevant or legal, butbecause they might serve the purpose of Norton's stagecraft.At such impropriety not Norton alone but Mr. Birleycould hardly contain himself. Once Mr. Birley addressedChatterji in a pathetic tone: “Mr. Chatterji, we were gettingon very nicely before you came.” Indeed so, if one raisesobjections at every word the drama does not proceed, norhas the audience the joy of it.If Mr. Norton was the author of the play, its protagonistand stage manager, Mr. Birley may well be describedas its patron. He seemed to be a credit to his Scotch origin.His figure was a symbol or reminder of Scotland. Very fair,quite tall, extremely spare, the little head on the long bodyseemed like little Auchterlonie sitting on top of the sky-kissingAuchterlonie monument, or as if a ripe coconut had beenput on the crest of Cleopatra's obelisk! Sandy-haired, allthe cold and ice of Scotland seemed to lie frozen on hisface. So tall a person needed an intelligence to match, elseone had to be sceptical about the economy of nature. Butin this matter, of the creation of Birley, probably the Creatrixhad been slightly unmindful and inattentive. The Englishpoet Marlowe has described this miserliness as “infiniteriches in a little room” but encountering Mr. Birley onehas an opposite feeling, infinite room in little riches. Findingso little intelligence in such a lengthy body one indeedfelt pity. Remembering how a few such administrators weregoverning thirty crores of Indians could not but rouse a deepdevotion towards the majesty of the English masters andtheir methods of administration. Mr. Birley's knowledge camea cropper during the cross-examination by Shrijut ByomkeshChakravarty. Asked to declare when he had taken chargeof the case in his own benign hands and how to complete the
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life303process of taking over charge of a case, after years of magistracy,Mr. Birley's head reeled to find these out. Unableto solve the problem he finally tried to save his skin byleaving it to Mr. Chakravarty to decide.Even now among the most complex problems of thecase the question remains as to when Mr. Birley had takenover this case. The pathetic appeal to Mr. Chatterji, whichI have quoted earlier, will help one to infer Mr. Birley's mannerof judgment. From the start, charmed by Mr. Norton's learningand rhetoric, he had been completely under his spell. Hewould follow, so humbly, the road pointed out by Norton.Agreeing with his views, he laughed when Norton laughed,grew angry as Norton went angry. Looking at this daft childlikeconduct one sometimes felt tenderly and paternally towardshim. Birley was exceedingly childlike. I could neverthink of him as a magistrate, it seemed as if a school studentsuddenly turned teacher, was sitting at the teacher's high desk.That was the manner in which he conducted the affairs ofthe court. In case someone did not behave pleasantly towardshim, he would scold him like a schoolmaster. If any one ofus, bored with the farce of a case, started to talk amongourselves, Mr. Birley would snap like a schoolmaster, incase people did not obey he would order everybody to keepstanding and if this was not done at once he would tell thesentry to see to it. We had grown so accustomed to theschoolmasterish manner that when Birley and Chatterji hadstarted to quarrel we were expecting every moment that thebarrister would now be served with the stand up order. ButMr. Birley adopted an opposite course Shouting “Sit down,Mr. Chatterji”, he made this new and disobedient pupil ofthe Alipore School take his seat. Just as when a studentasks questions or demands further explanation an irritatedteacher threatens him, so whenever the advocate representingthe accused raised objections Mr. Birley would threaten him.
304Bengali WritingsSome witnesses gave Norton a hell of a time. Norton wantedto prove that a particular piece of writing was in the handwritingof such-and-such accused. If the witness said “Nosir, this is not exactly like that handwriting, but may be,one cannot be sure,” — many witnesses answered like that— Norton would become quite agitated. Scolding, shouting,threatening, he would try somehow to get the desiredanswer. And his last question would be, “What is your belief?Do you think it is so or not?” To this the witness couldsay neither “yes” nor “no”, every time, again and again,he would repeat the same answer and try to make Nortonunderstand that he had no “belief” in the matter and wasswayed between scepticisms. But Norton did not care forsuch an answer. Every time he would hurl the same question,like thunder, at the witness: “Come, sir. what is yourbelief?” Mr. Birley, in his turn, would catch fire from theembers of Norton's anger, and thunder from his high seatabove: “Tomar biswas ki achay?” 1 Poor witness! he wouldbe in a dilemma. He had no “biswas” (belief), yet on oneside of him was ranged the magistrate, and on the other,like a hungry tiger, Norton was raging in a circle to disembowelhim and get at the priceless never-to-be-had“biswas”. Often the “biswas” would not materialise, andhis brain in a whirl, the sweating witness would escapewith his life from the torture chamber. Some who heldtheir life dearer than their “biswas” would make good theirescape by offering an artificial “biswas” at the feet of Mr.Norton, who also, now highly pleased, would conduct therest of the cross examination with care and affection. Becausesuch a counsel had been matched with a magistrateof the same calibre the case had all the more taken on theproportions of a play.Though a few of the witnesses went against Mr. Norton1What is your belief? Or, simply, what do you think?
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life305the majority answered in support of his questions. Amongthese there were few familiar faces. One or two we ofcourse knew. Of these Devdas Karan helped to dispel ourboredom and made us hold our sides with laughter, forwhich we shall be eternally grateful to him. In course ofgiving evidence he said that at the time of the MidnaporeConference when Surendrababu had asked from his studentsdevotion to the teacher, gurubhakti, Aurobindobabuhad spoken out: “What did Drona do?” Hearing thisMr. Norton's eagerness and curiosity knew no bounds, hemust have thought “Drona” to be a devotee of the bombor a political killer or someone associated with the ManicktolaGarden or the Student's Store. Norton may havethought that the phrase meant that Aurobindo Ghose wasadvising the giving of bombs to Surendrababu as a rewardinstead of gurubhakti. For such an interpretation wouldhave helped the case considerably. Hence he asked eagerly:“What did Drona do?” 1 At first the witness was unableto make out the nature of the (silly) question. Andfor five minutes a debate went on, in the end throwinghis hands high, Mr. Karan told Norton: “Drona performedmany a miracle.” This did not satisfy Mr. Norton. Howcould he be content without knowing the whereabouts ofDrona's bomb? So he asked again: “What do you meanby that? Tell me what exactly he did.” The witness gavemany answers, but in none was Dronacharya's life's secretunravelled as Norton would have liked it. He now lost histemper and started to roar. The witness too began to shout.An advocate, smiling, expressed the doubt that perhaps thewitness did not know what Drona had done. At this Mr.Karan went wild with anger and wounded pride, abhimÀna.1In Mahabharata Drona or Dronacharya is a preceptor of the royal princes.Norton and others, ignorant of the reference, took him to be a contemporarycharacter, in fact a conspirator.
306Bengali Writings“What”, he shouted, “I, I do not know what Drona haddone? Bah, have I read the Mahabharata from cover tocover in vain?” For half an hour a battle royal waged betweenNorton and Karan over Drona's corpse. Every fiveminutes, shaking the Alipore judge's court, Norton hurledhis question: “Out with it, Mr. Editor! What did Drona do?”In answer the editor began a long cock and bull story, butthere was no reliable news about what Drona had done.The entire court reverberated with peals of laughter. At last,during tiffin time, Mr. Karan came back after a little reflectionwith a cool head, and he suggested this solution of theproblem, that poor Drona had done nothing and that thehalf-hour long tug of war over his departed soul had beenin vain, it was Arjuna who had killed his guru, Drona. Thanksto this false accusation, Dronacharya, relieved, must haveoffered his thanks at Kailasha to Sadashiva, that becauseof Mr. Karan's evidence he did not have to stand in thedock in the Alipore bomb conspiracy case. A word fromthe editor would have easily established his relationship withAurobindo Ghose. But the all-merciful Sadashiva saved himfrom such a fate.VIIThe witnesses in the case could be divided into threecategories. There were the police and the secret service men;there were people from the lower classes and other gentry,for misdeeds of their own, deeply in love with the police;and there were others who, because of personal failings anddeprived of the love of the police, had been dragged unwillinglyto give evidence. Each category had its own styleof offering evidence. The gentlemen of the police wouldsay their say, already decided upon, quite cheerfully, withouthesitation, just as it pleased them, would recognise thosethey had to, without a shade of doubt, hesitation or any
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life307margin of error. The friends of the police would give witnesswith considerable eagerness, those they had to identifythey would, but sometimes in their excessive eagernessthey would even identify those who were not to be identified.Those who had been brought there against their wisheswould say only what they knew, but this would come tovery little and Norton would feel unsatisfied. Assuming thatthe witness was holding back highly valuable and certain proofhe would make every attempt to cross-examine him and getthe secret out of his system, by a surgical operation of theabdomen as it were. This put the witnesses into a good dealof difficulty. On one side stood a thundering Mr. Norton, ared-eyed Mr. Birley, on the other the great sin of sending,on false evidence, one's countrymen to the Andaman islands.Whether to please Norton and Birley or God, for the witnessthis question assumed serious proportions. On one side,temporary danger because of incurring other men's displeasure,on the other, hell and misery in the next life due to one'sevil deeds. But the witness would reflect: hell and the nextlife are still far beyond while the man-made dangers mightswallow him at the next moment. Afraid that they might beconvicted of bearing false evidence because of their unwillingnessto do so, such a fear was likely to be shared bymany, since in such cases the consequences were none toorare. For this type of witness the time spent in the witnessboxwas made up of a good deal of fear and agony. At theend of the cross-examination their half-vanished life wouldreturn to their bodies and relieve them of the suffering.Some, however, gave their evidence boldly without caringfor Nortonian thunders, at which the English counsel,following national habit, would soften. Like this so manywitnesses came and went and gave such a variety of evidence,but not one helped the police cause in any way worthmentioning. One spoke quite plainly, “I know nothing, and
308Bengali Writingscannot understand why the police have dragged me into it!”This sort of method for conducting cases is possible perhapsonly in India, had it been some other country the judgewould have been annoyed and would have severely censuredand taught the police a lesson. Hauling hundreds ofwitnesses, gathered on a basis of guesswork, and withoutinquiring whether one was guilty or not, wasting the country'sfinances and keeping without any sense the accusedfor long periods under the hardship of prison life, it is worthyonly of the police force of this country. But what werethe poor police to do? They are detectives only in name,but without much power of their own. Hence to throw awide net and catch good, bad and indifferent witnesses inthis manner and bring them to the witness box, like pig in apoke, was their only way. Who knows, these men mighthave some information, even provide some proof.The method for identification was also extremely mysterious.First, the witness was told, Would you be able torecognise any one of these persons? If the witness answered,Yes, I can, happy Mr. Norton would arrange for the identificationparade in the witness box itself and order him todemonstrate the powers of his memory. In case the mansaid, I am not sure, maybe I can recognise, Mr. Nortonwould grow a little sad and say, All right, go and try. Whensomeone said, No, I can't, I haven't seen them or I did notmark carefully, Mr. Norton would not let him go even then.Looking at so many faces some memory of the past life mightcome back, in that hope he would send him to the experimentto find out. The witness however lacked such a yogicpower. Perhaps the fellow had no faith in the past life, andgravely marching, under the sergeant's supervision, betweentwo long rows of accused persons, he would say, withouteven looking at us, No, I don't know any one of them. Crestfallen,Norton would take back his human net without
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life309any catch. In course of this trial there was a marvellousillustration of how sharp and correct human memory couldbe. Thirty to forty people would be kept standing, one didn'tknow their name, hadn't known them at all in this or anyother life, yet whether one had seen or not seen someonetwo months back, or seen such and such person at threeplaces and not seen in the other two; — one had seen himbrush his teeth once, and so his figure remains imprinted inthe brain for all time. When did one see this person, whatwas he doing, was there anyone else with him, or was healone? One remembers nothing of these, yet his figure isfixed in one's mind for all lives; one has met Hari ten times,so there is no probability of forgetting him, but even if onehas seen Shyam only for half a minute, one would not beable to forget him till one's last breath, and with no possibilityof mistake, — such a power of memory is not to befound frequently in this imperfect human nature, this earthwrapped up in matter and its unconsciousness. But not one,not two, every police chap seemed to be the owner of suchuncanny, error-proof accurate memory. Because of which ourdevotion and respect for the C.I.D. grew more profound dayby day. It is not that in the magistrate's court we did nothave, once or twice, occasions for scepticism. When I foundin the written evidence that Sisir Ghose had been in Bombayin the month of April, yet a few police chaps had seenhim precisely during that period in Scott's Lane and HarrisonRoad, 1 one could not but feel a little uneasy. And whenBirendrachandra Sen of Sylhet, while he was physically presentat Baniachung, at his father's place, became visible in hissubtle body to the occult vision of the C.I.D. at the Gardenand Scott's Lane — of which Scott's Lane Birendraknew nothing, as was proved conclusively in the written1In Calcutta.
310Bengali Writingsevidence — the doubts could not but deepen: especially whenthose who had never set their foot in Scott's Lane wereinformed that the police had often found them there, in thecircumstances a little suspicion seemed not unnatural. Awitness from Midnapore — whom the accused persons fromMidnapore however described as a secret service man —said that he had seen Hemchandra Sen of Sylhet, lecturingat Tamluk. Now Hemchandra had never seen Tamluk withhis mortal eyes, yet his shadow self had rushed from Sylhetto Midnapore and, with his powerful and seditionarynationalist speech delighted the eyes and ears of our detectivemonsieur. But the causal body of Charuchandra Royof Chandernagore, materialising at Manicktola had perpetratedeven greater mysteries. Two police officers declaredon oath that on such and such date at such and such timethey had seen Charubabu at Shyambazar, from where hehad walked, in the company of a conspirator, to the ManicktolaGardens. They had followed him up to that andwatched him from close quarters, and there could be noground for error. Both witnesses did not budge when crossexamined.The words of Vyasa are true indeed, VyÀsasyavacanaÌ satyam, the evidence of the police also cannotbe otherwise. They were not wrong in their view aboutdate and time either, since from the evidence of the Principal,Dupleix College, Chandernagore, it seemed that onthe same day and at the same time, Charubabu had takenleave from the College and gone to Calcutta. But thesurprising thing was that on that day and at that hour onthe Howrah station platform he was found talking with theMayor of Chandernagore, Tardival, his wife, the Governorof Chandernagore and few other distinguished Europeangentlemen. Remembering the occasion they had, all ofthem, agreed to stand witness in favour of Charubabu. Sincethe police had to release Charubabu at the instance of theFrench government the mystery has remained unsolved.
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life311But I would advise Charubabu to send all the proofs to thePsychical Research Society and help in the advancementof knowledge. Police evidence — especially the C.I.D.'s— can never be false, hence there is no way out except toseek refuge in Theosophy. On the whole during this trial atevery stage I could find, in the British legal system, howeasily the innocent could be punished, sent to prison, suffertransportation, even loss of life. Unless one stood in thedock oneself, one cannot realise the delusive untruth of theWestern penal code. It is something of a gamble, a gamblewith human freedom, with man's joys and sorrows, a lifelongagony for him and his family, his friends and relatives,insult, a living death. In this system there is no counting asto how often guilty persons escape and how many innocentpersons perish. Once one has been involved in thisgamble, this cruel, callous, reactionary social machinery, onecan understand the reason for so much propaganda on behalfof Socialism and Anarchism, and their wide influence.In such a milieu it is not to be wondered at that many liberaland kind-hearted men have started to say, it is betterto end and destroy this society; if society has to be preservedwith the aid of so much sin and suffering, the burningsighs of the innocent and their heart's blood, its preservationwould seem unnecessary.VIIIThe only worthwhile event in the magistrate's court wasthe evidence of Narendranath Goswami. Before describingthat event let me first apeak about the companions of mydays of trouble, the boys who had been accused along withme. Watching their behaviour in the court room I could wellguess that a new age had dawned, a new type of childrenhad begun to live on the Mother's lap. Those days the Bengaliboys were of two kinds: either docile, well mannered,
312Bengali Writingsharmless, of good character, cowardly, lacking in self-respectand high aims; else they were evil characters, rowdies,restless, cheats, lacking in restraint and honesty. Betweenthese two extremes, creatures of many kinds musthave been born on the lap of Mother Bengal, but exceptfor eight or ten extraordinary talented and vigorous pioneersno strong representatives of a superior breed beyond thesetwo groups were usually to be seen. The Bengali had intelligence,talent. but little power of manhood. Looking at theselads, however, one felt as if the liberal, daring, puissant menof an earlier age with a different training had come back toIndia. That fearless and innocent look in their eyes, the wordsbreathing power, their carefree delighted laughter, even inthe midst of great danger the undaunted courage, cheerfulnessof mind, absence of despair, or grief, all this was asymptom not of the inert Indians of those days, but of anew age, a new race and a new activity. If these weremurderers, then one must say that the bloody shadow ofkilling had not fallen across their nature, in which there wasnothing at all of cruelty, recklessness or bestiality. Withoutworrying in the least about the future or the outcome ofthe trial they passed their days in prison with boyish fun,laughter, games, reading and in discussions. Quite earlythey had made friends with every one, with officers, thesentries, convicts, European sergeants, detectives, courtofficials and without distinguishing between friends and enemies,high and low, had started to tell stories and jokes.They found the time spent in the court-room quite tiresome,for in that farce of a trial there was very little thatwas enjoyable. They had no books with which to passthe time, and talking was forbidden. Those of them whohad started doing yoga, they hadn't so far learnt how toconcentrate even in a crowd, for them passing the timeproved quite difficult. At first some of them began to bringbooks with them, this was soon followed by others.
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life313Later on, one could see a strange spectacle: while the trialwas going on, and the fate of thirty or forty accused personswas being wrangled over, whose result might be hangingor transportation for life, some of the accused persons withoutas much as glancing at what is happening, around them,were absorbed in reading the novels of Bankimchandra,Vivekananda's Raja Yoga or Science of Religions, or theGita, the Puranas, or European Philosophy. Neither theEnglish sergeants nor the Indian policemen objected to this.They must have thought, if this keeps the caged tigers peaceful,that only lightens their duty. Further, this arrangement harmedno one. But one day Mr. Birley's eyes were drawn to it, tothe magistrate this was unbearable and unpardonable. Fortwo or three days he kept quiet, then, he could not hold himselfany longer and gave orders forbidding the bringing of booksto the court room. Really, Birley was dispensing justice sobeautifully, but instead of everybody enjoying that and listeningto his judgements, here was everybody reading books!There was no doubt that this showed great disrespect forBirley's dignity and the majesty of British justice.During the period of our detention in separate cells, itwas only in the police van, an hour or half before the magistrate'sarrival and during tiffin time that we had some scopefor conversation. Those who were known to each other frombefore would employ this recess to have a revenge for theforced silence and solitude of the cell and would spend thetime in jokes, pleasantries and a variety of discussions. Butthe leisures were not conducive to conversation with unfamiliarpeople, hence I did not talk much. I would listen totheir stories and laughter but myself did not join any oneother than my brother and Abinash. One person would howeveroften edge his way towards my side, this was the futureapprover, Narendranath Goswami. He was not quietand well-behaved like the other boys, but looked bold, lightheartedand in character, speech and act, undisciplined. At
314Bengali Writingsthe time of his arrest he had shown his natural courageand forwardness, but being light-hearted it was impossiblefor him to put up with the minimum suffering ofprison life. A landlord's son, brought up in luxury andevil ways, the severe restraint and austerity of prisonlife had proved too much for him, a fact which he didnot hesitate to express before others. The grotesque longingto be freed by any means from this agony began togrow upon his mind from day to day. At first he hadthe hope that by withdrawing his confession he mightbe able to prove that the police had extorted, by torturinghim, a confession of his guilt. He told us that hisfather was determined to procure these false witnesses.But within a very few days another attitude revealed itself.His father and a moktar, a pleader's agent, beganto visit him frequently in the prison, in the end the detectiveSham-sul-Alam also came and started holding longand secret conversations with him. During this period Gossaindeveloped a tendency to be curious and ask questions.At this many felt suspicious about him. He wouldask big and small questions, of Barindra and Upendra, ifthey knew or were close to the ‘big men of India’, andwho were the people that helped the secret society withmoney, and the men belonging to the group outside Indiaand in the different provinces of India, who would runthe society now, where are its branches, etc. The news ofGossain's sudden thirst for learning soon reached everyoneand his intimacy with Shams-ul-Alam too, instead ofremaining confidential love-talk, became an open secret.There was a good deal of talk over this and it was noticedby some that these ever new questions would sproutin Gossain's mind after every visit from the police. It isneedless to say that he did not receive satisfactory answersto his questions. When these things were being first talked
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life315about among the accused, Gossain himself had confessedthat the police were trying to persuade him in a number ofways to turn into a “king's approver”. He had once mentionedthis to me in the court. “What did you tell them?” Ihad asked him. “Do you think I am going to listen to that!And even if I do, what do I know that I could offer evidencein the way they would like to have it?” When after afew days he broached the subject once again, I noticed eventshad moved a bit too far. While standing by my side at theidentification parade he told me, “The police are visitingme all the time.” “Why don't you tell them that Sir AndrewFrazer 1 was the chief patron of the secret society, that wouldbe ample reward for their labour,” I told him jokingly. “Ihave said something of the sort,” answered Gossain. “I havetold them that Surendranath Banerji is our head and thatonce I had shown him a bomb.” Staggered at this I asked,“What was the need of saying that sort of thing?” In answerGossain said: “I shall make mincemeat of the.... I havetold them many other things of that kind. Let the — s dieof seeking for corroboration. Who knows because of thisthe trial may go phut.” In answer I only said: “You shouldgive up this kind of mischief. By trying to be clever withthem you will be fooled.” I do not know how far Gossainhad spoken the truth. The other accused thought that he hadsaid all this in order to throw dust in our eyes. To me it seemedthat till then Gossain had not wholly made up his mind toturn an approver, even if he had proceeded quite far in thatdirection, but he had also the hope of spoiling the case bymisleading the police. To achieve one's end through trickeryand evil ways is the natural inspiration for a wicked disposition.From then on I could make out that, under the thumbof the police, by telling them fact or fiction, just as they1The Governor of Bengal.
316Bengali Writingsneeded, Gossain would try to save his own skin. The degradationsof an evil nature were being enacted before ourvery eyes. I noticed how, from day to day, Gossain's mindwas undergoing rapid changes, his face, his movements andmanners, his language were not the same as before. He startedto adduce economic and political justifications in supportof ruining his companions through treachery. One does notoften come across such an interesting psychological study.IXAt first no one allowed Gossain to guess that his designswere known to all. He too was so stupid as to beunaware of this for quite some time, he thought he washelping the police quite secretly. But when after a fewdays it was ordered that instead of solitary confinementwe would have to live together, because of this new arrangementwe used to meet and talk throughout the dayand night, and the thing could not be a secret much longer.At this time one or two of the boys had quarrels withGossain. From their language and the unpleasant behaviourof everybody else Gossain could see that his intentionswere not unknown to any one. When later he gavehis evidence before the court, some English newspapersreported that this had caused surprise and excitement amongthe accused persons. Needless to say, this was entirely thereporters' fancy. Days ahead every one had known thenature of evidence that would be offered. In fact, eventhe date on which the evidence was given was known frombefore. At this time an accused went to Gossain and said— “Look, brother, life here is intolerable. I too would liketo turn an approver. Please tell Sham-sul-Alam to arrangefor my release.” Gossain agreed to this and after a few daystold him that a government note had come to the effectthat there was a possibility of favourable consideration
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life317of the accused's appeal. After which Gossain suggested tohim to eke out some necessary information from Upen andothers, for instance, the location of the branches of the secretsociety and its leaders, etc. The pretended approverwas a man with a sense of humour, a lover of fun, and, onUpendra's advice, he supplied a number of imaginary namesto Gossain, and said that among the leaders of the secretsociety were Vishambhar Pillay in Madras, PurushottamNatekar at Satara, Professor Bhatt in Bombay and KrishnajiraoBhao of Baroda. Gossain was delighted with this andpassed on this reliable information to the police. And thepolice too rummaged the whole of Madras, and came acrossmany Pillays, big and small, but not one that was PillayVishambhar, not even half a Vishambhar; as for Satara'sPurushottam Natekar, he also seemed to keep his identityhidden in deep darkness; in Bombay a certain ProfessorBhatt was found no doubt, but he was a harmless personand a loyalist, there was no likelihood of any secret societyusing him as a cover. Yet at the time of giving his evidence,Gossain, depending on what he had heard from Upenearlier, offered such ring-leaders of conspiracy as the imaginaryVishambhar Pillay, etc., at the holy feet of Nortonand strengthened the latter's strange prosecution theory. Withregard to Bir Krishnajirao Bhao the police perpetrated a hoax.They produced the copy of a telegram sent by some Ghosefrom the Manicktola Gardens to Krishnajirao Deshpandeof Baroda. The people of Baroda did not know of the existenceof any one answering to that name, but since thetruthful Gossain had spoken of a Krishnajirao Bhao of Baroda,then surely Krishnajirao Bhao and Krishnajirao Deshpandemust be the same person. And whether KrishnajiraoDeshpande existed or not, the letters mentioned the nameof our respected friend, Keshavrao Deshpande. HenceKrishnajirao Bhao and Krishnajirao Deshpande are surely
318Bengali Writingsone and the same. From which it followed that KeshavraoDeshpande was a ringleader of the secret conspiracy. Mr.Norton's famous theory was based on such extraordinaryinference.To believe Gossain one had to accept that it was at hissuggestion that our solitary confinement was done away withand we were ordered to stay together. He had said that thepolice had arranged it like this and kept him in the midst ofthe other accused with the intention of drawing out secretinformation about the conspiracy. Gossain did not know thathis new business was known to every one long before, whenhe started to ask questions about those who were engagedin the conspiracy, and the whereabouts of the branches ofthe secret society, about patrons and contributors, about thosewho would now be in charge of continuing the secret activities,etc. I have already given examples of the kind ofanswers he received. But most of Gossain's words werefalse. Dr. Daly had told us that, by persuading Mr. Emerson,it was he who had brought about this change in ouraccommodation. Possibly Daly's was the true version; afterwardson hearing about the change in arrangements thepolice may have imagined this likely gain. Be it as it may,everyone, excepting me, was extremely pleased at the change.At that period I was unwilling to be in the midst of a crowd,for my spiritual life, sÀdhanÀ, was proceeding at a rapid pace.I had tasted a little of Equality, Non-attachment and Peace,but these states had not been yet fully stabilised. By being incompany, the pressure of other men's thought-waves on myunripe young ideas, this new state of being might suffer, orbe even washed away. In fact, it did happen like that. ThenI did not understand that for the fullness of my spiritualexperience it was necessary to evoke opposite emotions,hence the Inner Guide, antaryÀmin, suddenly deprived meof my dear solitude, flung me into the stream of violent
IX. 1. Tales of Prison Life319outward activity. The rest of the group went wild with joy.That night the big room in which singers like HemchandraDas, Sachindra Sen, etc., were staying, most of the accusedpersons collected there, and no one could sleep till two orthree in the morning. The ring of laughter, the endless streamof singing, all the pent-up stories began to flow like swollenrivers during the rainy season. The silent prison reverberatedwith noise and merriment. We fell asleep but everytime we woke up we heard the laughter, the singing, theconversation going on as before. Towards the small hoursthe stream thinned, the singers too fell asleep. Our wardwas silent once again.
Prison and FreedomMEN as we are, we are mostly creaturesof circumstance, confined to the sensations of the outerworld. Our mental activities depend upon such external sensations,even our reason is unable to go beyond the limitsof the material; and the joys and sorrows of life are butechoes of outward events. This slavery is due to the dominationof the body. In the Upanishad it has been said, “Theself-born has set the doors of the body outwards, thereforethe soul of a man gazes outward and not at the self within;hardly a wise man here and there, desiring immortality turnshis eye inward and sees the Self within him.” Normally,the outward, physical eyes with which we observe the lifeof man, in that kind of seeing the body is our chief support.However much we may call the Europeans materialists,in fact all men are materialists. The body is an instrumentfor the fulfilment of religious life, a chariot with manyhorses to pull it, the body-chariot on which we ride acrossthe ways of the world. But, admitting the false importanceof the body we give such a prominence to the physical mindthat we find ourselves wholly entangled by outward activityand superficial good and evil. The result of such ignoranceis life-long slavery and subordination. Joys and sorrows,good and evil, affluence and danger, compel us tomould our mental states in their own terms, and we toofloat along the waves of desire to which we give our thoughts.Greedy of enjoyment and afraid of sorrow we come todepend on others, and receiving our joy and sorrow fromothers, we suffer endless misery and humiliation. Because,be it man Or nature, whoever or whatever is able to exercisecontrol over our body, or can bring it within the
IX. 2. Prison and Freedom321field of its own forces, we have to submit to that influence.Its extreme example is to fall into the hands of enemiesor the life of imprisonment. But the person, who, surroundedby friends and boon companions, moves about freely,even his condition is just as wretched as of those who spendtheir days in prison. The body is the prison, the body-centredintelligence, the reasoning Ignorance is the enemy thatimprisons.This state of imprisonment is the perennial conditionof man. On the other hand, on every page of literature andhistory we find the irrepressible eagerness and enthusiasmon the part of the human race to gain freedom. As in thepolitical and social spheres, so in the life of the individualin every age we find the same endeavour. Restraint, selftorture,indifference, stoicism. Epicureanism, asceticism,Vedanta Buddhism, Advaita, the doctrine of Maya. Raja Yoga,Hatha Yoga, Gita, the path of Knowledge, Devotion andActivity — the paths are many, the goal is the same. Theaim is always — victory over the body, getting rid of thedomination of the physical, the freedom of the inner life.Western scientists have arrived at the conclusion that thereis no world other than the physical, the subtle is based onthe material, the subtle experiences are but reflections ofthe external experiences, man's attempt to be free is in vain;the philosophy, religion and Vedanta are but unreal imaginings,and wholly limited by the physical reality as we are,the attempt to untie the knot or cross the limitations of ourphysical nature is an attempt doomed to fail. But the longingto be free is lodged in such a deep layer of the humanheart that a thousand arguments are helpless to uproot it.Man can never remain content with the conclusions of thephysical sciences. In all ages he has felt vaguely that the subtleelements capable of conquering the physical limits are definitelyto be found in his own inner being, that there is an
322Bengali WritingsInner Controller, a Person, for ever free and full of Delight,within him. It is the object of religion to realise thisstate of eternal freedom and pure Delight. This object ofreligious seeking is also the object of evolution of whichscience speaks. Reason or its absence is not the real differencebetween man and animals. The animals have the powerto judge, but in the animal body that power does not develop.The real difference between man and animal lies elsewhere:a complete submission to the body is what constitutesthe animal state, while in the conquest of the bodyand the effort at inner freedom lies man's manhood! Thisfreedom is the chief goal of religion, this is what it callsmukti. It is for the sake of mukti that through knowledgewe try to find out the mental guide of the body and lifewho lives within, or through action-devotion try to surrenderto it our body, mind and life. The central ethical injunctionin the Gita — yogasthaÕ kuru karmÀÍi 1 — thisfreedom is the yoga of the Gita. When the interior joys andsorrows, instead of depending on external good and evil,well-being and danger, become self-generated, self-propelled,self-bound, then the normal human condition is reversed,and the outer life can be modelled on the inner, the bondageof action slackens. The ideal person of the Gita renouncesthe desire for the fruit of action and practises activerenunciation in the supreme Person, Purushottama. He is“duÕkheØvanudvignamanÀÕ sukheØu vigataspÐhaÕ” 2 ; attainingan inner freedom he enjoys self-delight and selfcontrol.Unlike the normal human individual he does notseek any external refuge out of fear or sorrow born ofgreed for pleasure, he does not accept his joys and sorrowsfrom others and yet is free of the bondage of action.1Fixed in yoga do thy actions. Gita, II, 48.2He whose mind is undisturbed in the midst of sorrows and amid pleasuresis free from desires. Gita, II, 56.
IX. 2. Prison and Freedom323Rather in the battle between Gods and Titans, it is the man,sent by God, greatly controlled, a mightily puissant protagonist,beyond anger and fear, he the man of yogic actionwho helps to usher in a political or religious revolution, orby preserving the established state and religious order, fulfillsin a non-attached spirit God's own work; he is the superiorperson of whom the Gita speaks.In the modern times we have arrived at a point of transitionbetween the new and the old. Man is ever movingforward to his goal, from time to time one has to leave theplains and ascend the heights, and it is during these periodsof ascent that revolutions occur in the state, society, religionas well as in the intellectual spheres. In the presenttimes there is a preparation, if nothing else, to move towardsthe subtle from the physical. Because of the minuteexamination and finding of the laws of the physical universeby western scientists, the outlying plains surrounding theupward Way have been cleared. The knowers of the Westare taking their first step in the Vast, inner worlds, manyare tempted by the hope of conquest. Apart from this thereare other visible signs — such as the quick spread of Theosophy,the welcome given to Vedanta in America, the partialand indirect influence of India in western philosophy and modesof thinking. But the most remarkable sign is the sudden andunexpected emergence of India. By claiming the role of worldteacher, the Indians are rising to inaugurate a new age. If thewesterners are deprived of the help from India they will notbe able to succeed in their efforts at progress. Just as in thecultivation of the supreme means to the flowering of the innerlife no country had excelled India in the Knowledge ofBrahman or Self (tattvajÜÀna), and yoga, similarly the purificationof the nature, control over the senses, the power ofBrahman-realisation, the energy born of askesis, tapasyÀ, andthe lesson of non-attached activity as yoga, these too are
324Bengali WritingsIndia's very own. To acquire by ignoring the outward joysand sorrows the inner freedom is possible only for the Indian,the Indian alone is capable of undertaking activity ina spirit of non-attachment, while the sacrifice of ego andindifference in action are acknowledged as the highest aimof her education and culture and are the seed of her nationalcharacter.The truth of this view I first realised in the Aliporejail. Those who live there are usually thieves, robbers, murderers.Though we were forbidden to speak with the convicts,in practice this rule was not strictly observed. Apartfrom that there were the cook, the waterman, the sweeper,the cleaner, with whom one could not help coming intocontact, and many times we would speak freely with eachother. Those who were arrested with me for the same offence,they too were described in such unspeakable adjectivesas heartless murderers. If there is any place wherethe Indian character has to be looked upon with eyes ofcontempt, if it is possible to see it at its worst, lowest andmost hateful state, then Alipore Jail is that place; imprisonmentat Alipore is that inferior and degenerate state. Insuch a place I spent twelve months like this. Thanks tomy experience of these twelve months I have been ableto return to the world of action with tenfold hope, with afixed notion about Indian superiority, with redoubled respectfor human character, the future progress and wellbeingof the motherland and the human race. This is notdue to my inherent optimism or excessive trust. Srijut BepinchandraPal had felt the same way in the Buxar Jail, inthe Alipore Jail Dr. Daly, who had served here earlier,supported this view. Dr. Daly was a generous and wiseperson, experienced in the ways of men, the worst elementsof human nature were present to him every day,yet he used to tell me: “The more I see and hear
IX. 2. Prison and Freedom325of Indian gentlemen or the poor folk, men who are distinguishedin society or the convicts in a prison, I am convincedthat in quality and character you are much superiorto us. Looking at these lads has further confirmed me inmy judgement. Who can judge from their behaviour, characterand other high qualities that they are anarchists orassassins? Instead of finding in them cruelty, wildness, restlessnessor impropriety I find the opposite virtues.” Of coursethieves and robbers don't turn into holy men while they areserving a term in prison. The British prison is not a placefor reform of character, on the contrary, for the ordinaryconvict it is but an instrument for the degradation of characterand manhood. They remain the thieves and robbersthat they had been before being sent to gaol; they continueto steal even in the prison, in the midst of the strict prohibitoryrules they manage to indulge in addiction, continue tocheat. But what of that? The humanity of the Indian survivesevery loss. Fallen because of social abuses, crushedout because of loss of humanity, on the outside are the distortionsof dark, dubious, shameful emotions, yet, within,the nearly vanished humanity seems to save itself in hiding,thanks to the inborn virtue of the Indians, it expressesitself time and again in their speech and act. Those who, havingseen the filth outside, turn away their face in contempt, onlythey can say that they have failed to find in them the leasttrace of humanity. But one who has given up the pride ofholiness and looks at them with one's own natural clear visionwill never agree to such a view. After six months ofimprisonment in the Buxar jail Srijut Bepinchandra Pal hadseen God among the thieves and robbers, which he had openlyconfessed in an Uttarpara meeting. In the Alipore Jail itself Itoo could realise this fundamental truth of Hinduism for thefirst time among the thieves, robbers and killers, in the humanbody I could realise the divine Presence.
326Bengali WritingsIn this country who knows how many hundreds of innocentpeople are undergoing hellish long-term imprisonmentand working out the misdeeds of their past lives towardsa heavenlier way ahead? But see the average Westerner,who is not purified by religious emotions and is notof a godly nature; how these people fare in such tests, thosewho live in the western countries or are familiar with theirliterature expressive of western mentality and character caneasily infer. In a similar situation either their tearful earthlyhearts with their depressive anger and sorrow move towardshell's murk and, because of the contagion of companions,adopt their cruelty and low ways, else, because of the extremepressure of weaknesses, lose strength and reasoningpower so that what survives is only a remnant of humanity.Let me speak of an innocent person at Alipore. As anaccused in a dacoity case he had been sentenced to tenyears' rigorous imprisonment. A cowherd by profession,un-educated, without anything to do with reading or writing,his only support was his faith in God and patienceworthy of an Aryan and other noble qualities. Faced withthis old man's attitude towards life, my pride of learningand forbearance was completely shattered. There was aserene and simple friendliness written in the old man's eyes,his talk was always full of amiability and friendliness. Attimes he would speak of his sufferings, even though hewas innocent of the charges, and speak of his wife andchildren, he even wondered when God would bring himrelease so that he could meet them, but never did I findhim depressed or restless. Waiting for God's Grace, he spenthis days quietly doing his duties in the prison. All his effortsand thoughts were not concerned about himself, butabout the well-being of others. His sense of kindness andsympathy for the sorrowing frequently came out in hisspeech, serving others was the law of his being. The noblequalities were further set off by his humility. Knowing
IX. 2. Prison and Freedom327that he had a heart thousand times nobler than mine I wouldfeel ashamed at his humility, to have to accept the old man'sservices embraced me, but he would not be held back soeasily. He was all the time anxious about my comfort. Aswith me — so with the others, his kindly attention andhumble service and respect seemed to be much greaterespecially for the innocent and miserable ones. Yet on hisface and in his conduct there glowed a natural serene gravityand majesty. He had a great love for the country too. Ishall always remember the white-whiskered serene visageof this old convict full of kindness and generosity. Evenin these days of decline among the Indian peasantry —whom we describe as uneducated, “small people”, chhotolok— may be found such representatives of the Indianrace. India's future is hopeful only because of this. Theeducated youth and the unlettered peasantry, the futureof India lies with these two classes. The future Aryan racewill be a blend of the two.I have spoken about an uneducated peasant. Let menow speak of two educated young men. These were thetwo Kavirajs of Harrison Road, Nagendranath and Dharani.1 The manner in which, quietly and contentedly, they toosuffered this sudden mishap, this unjust punishment, wasastounding. I could never find in them the slightest angeror censure or annoyance over those for whose fault they hadto pass their youth in a hellish prison. They were devoid ofthe glory of modern education, a knowledge of western languagesand familiarity with western learning. The mothertonguewas their only stay, but among the English-educatedgroup I have found few men of comparable calibre. Instead1Thinking that the police had come to know of the bombs Ullaskar, one ofthe conspirators, had removed a packet containing bombs to his friend Nagendranath'shouse, who did not know anything about its content. Later, to save hisfriend, Ullaskar gave a true confession. But the police did not release the brothers.
328Bengali Writingsof complaining to either man or God, both of them hadaccepted the punishment with a smile. Both brothers weresÀdhaks but their natures were different. Nagendra wassteady, grave, intelligent. He was very fond of godly conversationand religious topics. When we had been kept insolitary confinement the jail authorities had permitted us,at the end of the day's labour, to read books. Nagendrawho had asked for the Gita had been given the Bible instead.In the witness box he would tell me of his feelingson reading the Bible. Nagendra hadn't read the Gita but Inoticed with surprise that instead of speaking about the Biblehe was expressing the inner sense of the Gita's verse —once in a while it even appeared as if the sublime and divinestatements of Krishna at Kurukshetra were coming outof the same lotus lips of Vasudeva in the Alipore dock. Withoutreading the Gita to be able to realise in the Bible the spiritof equality, renunciation of the desire for fruit, to see theDivine in all things, etc., is the index of a not negligibleinner life or spiritual capacity, sÀdhanÀ. Dharani was notas intelligent as Nagendra, but he was obedient and tenderby nature, temperamentally a devotee. He was always wraptup in the idea of Divine Motherhood, and looking at theGrace that shone on his face, his innocent laughter and gentledevotional attitude it was hard to realise that we were confinedin a jail. Knowing these men, who can say that theBengali is low and despicable? This power, this manhood,this sacred fire is only hidden amidst the ashes.They were both innocent. Imprisoned without any faultof their own, by their own qualities or by virtue of their trainingthey had been able to reject the supremacy of external joysand sorrows and succeeded in preserving the freedom of theirinner life. But the virtues of the national character came outeven among the real offenders. I stayed in Alipore for twelvemonths, and excepting one or two all the convicts, the
IX. 2. Prison and Freedom329thieves, the dacoits and the murderers with whom we hadcome in contact, we received from all and sundry goodbehaviour and helpfulness. Rather it was among those spoiltby modern education that these qualities seemed to be lacking.Modern education may have many virtues to recommenditself, but civility and selfless service form no part of these.The kindness and sympathy that are such valuable elementsof an Aryan education, I found that even among the thievesand robbers. The sweeper, the cleaner, the waterman, theyall had to share, for no fault of their own, part of the miseryand hardship of our solitary confinement, but they neverexpressed to us their anger or annoyance on that score. Attimes they ventilated their distress before the native jailors,but they would also cheerfully pray for our release fromdetention. A Mohammedan convict used to love the accusedlike his own children and at the time of parting he could notrestrain from shedding tears. Pointing out their suffering andhumiliation as the price of patriotism he would tell others andexpress his sorrow by saying, “Look, these are gentlemen,sons of the rich, and this their suffering is because theyhave tried to help the poor and the distressed.” Those whovaunt about western culture, I would like to ask them: Isthis self-control, charity, generosity, gratitude, godly lovefor others to be found among the lower order of criminals,the thieves and robbers of England? In fact, Europe is theland of enjoyment, India of sacrifice. The Gita describestwo kinds of creatures — deva and asura. The Indian isintrinsically of the deva kind, the western of the asura. Butin this age of deep darkness (ghor kali) because of the disappearanceof Aryan education, due to the predominance ofinertia, in our national decline, we are acquiring the inferiorqualities of the asura while the westerners, because of theirnational progress and the evolution of manhood are acquiringthe qualities of the deva. But in spite of this, in their
330Bengali Writingsdeva qualities something of the asura and in our asuricqualities something of the deva can be imperfectly glimpsed.Among them those who are the cream, even they cannotwholly get rid of the asuric qualities. When one comparesthe inferior specimens of both cultures, the truth comes outquite strikingly.There is much to be written on this topic, but I forbearfor fear of the lengthiness of the article. But thosepersons in whose bearing I have seen this inner freedom,while I was in the prison, they are the prototypes of thegodward emotions, devabhÀva. I have an idea of writing infuture an article on this subject.
The Aryan Ideal andthe Three GunasIN the essay entitled “Prison andFreedom” 1 I have, by describing the psychology of someinnocent prisoners, tried to establish that, owing to the Aryandiscipline, the priceless ancestral legacy of inner freedomwhich the Indians have, is not destroyed even in prison— indeed something of the godly disposition, garneredthrough thousands of years and inherent in the true Aryancharacter, remains even in the worst of imprisoned criminals.The main principle of the Aryan discipline is the sattwictemperament. He who is sattwic is pure; normally allhuman beings are impure. This impurity is nourished andincreased by the predominance of rajas and the great densityof tamas. The impurity of mind is of two kinds. First, inertiaor impurity due to lack of inclination to work; this isproduced by tamas. Secondly, excitement or impurity dueto wrong impulses; this is caused by rajas. The signs ofthe mode of tamas are ignorance, delusion, crudeness ofintelligence, unsystematic thinking, laziness, too much sleep,irritation owing to inertia in work, pessimism, despondency,fear — in short, whatever nourishes lack of effort.Inertia and disinclination are the results of ignorance;excitement and bad inclinations, of wrong knowledge. Butif the impurity of tamas is to be removed it can be doneonly by the increase of rajas. Rajas is the cause of impulsionand effort and these are the first steps to detachment.He who is inert is not truly detached — the state of1Included in Sri Aurobindo's Bengali book, Kara Kahini.
332Bengali Writingsinertia is devoid of knowledge; and knowledge indeed is thepath of spiritual detachment. He who engages himself inworks without desire is detached; mere renunciation of workis not freedom. This is why Swami Vivekananda, noticingthe deep tamas of India, used to say, “Rajas is needed, thecountry needs heroes of action, let the strong current ofimpulsion flow. Even if evil follows in its wake, it will be athousand times better than this tamasic inertia.”It is true indeed that sunk in deep tamas but using sattwaas an excuse we are pretending and boasting as being highlysattwic. I notice that many people hold the view that wehave been conquered by rajasic nations because we aresattwic, that we are degraded and backward because weare spiritual. They try to prove the superiority of Hinduismto Christianity by using that argument. The Christian nationsbelieve in practical results; they try to establish thesuperiority of a religion by showing the results it producesin this world. They say that the Christian nations are paramountin the world, therefore Christianity is the greatestreligion. And many among us argue that this is wrong; it isnot possible to decide upon the superiority of a religion byrecounting what one gains from it in this world; rather itsconsequences in the next world should be considered; becausethe Hindus are more religious they are subject to apowerful and titanic nation. But this argument involves aserious mistake which is opposed to the Aryan wisdom.Sattwa can never be the cause of downfall; indeed a nationwhich is predominantly sattwic cannot remain boundin chains of slavery. The spiritual power of the true Brahminis the chief result of sattwa, the prowess of the Kshatriyais the foundation of spiritual power. From calm spiritualpower, when it receives a blow, sparks of the prowess ofthe Kshatriya fly in all directions, everything catches fireas it were. Spiritual power cannot survive where there isno Kshatra-prowess. If there is one true Brahmin in
IX. 3. The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas333the land he can create a hundred Kshatriyas. The cause ofthe downfall of this country is not an excess of sattwa butwant of rajas and a preponderance of tamas. Owing to thelack of rajas, the sattwa inherent in us becomes weak andconcealed in tamas. Along with laziness, delusion, ignorance,disinclination, pessimism, despondency and lack of dynamiceffort, the sad condition and degradation of the countrybecome worse. This darkness was thin and rare at first;however, in course of time it gradually became so dense,and we, sunk in the obscurity of ignorance, became so utterlydevoid of high aspiration and great endeavour, that inspite of the advent of great men sent by God, that darknesshas not dissipated entirely. Then the Sun-god decidedto save the country through the impulsion roused by rajas.It is true that tamas tends to disappear when rajas isroused and powerfully active. On the other hand, thereis the danger of demoniac qualities like licentiousness,evil impulses, complete lack of restraint, etc. If the forceof rajas operates under its own momentum for the solesatisfaction of large assertive inclinations for the fulfilmentof wrong ends, then there is enough reason for apprehension.Rajas cannot endure long if it goes along itsown path without any control; ennui follows, tamas appears,as the sky, instead of becoming clear, is overcastand becomes devoid of the movement of air after a storm.This was the fate of France after the revolution. Therewas in that revolution a frightful manifestation of rajasand at the end of it, a resurgence of tamas to some extent,then another revolution, followed by tiredness, lossof force and more degradation — this is the history ofFrance during the last century. Whenever there arose inthe heart of France a sattwic inspiration born of the idealof liberty, equality and fraternity, rajas tried to fulfil itsown tendencies after gradually becoming predominant andturning itself into a demoniac mode opposed to sattwa.
334Bengali WritingsConsequently, as a result of a reappearance of tamas, France,having lost its former force, is in a sad and desperate butuncertain state like Harishchandra who stood neither in heavennor on earth. The only means of avoiding such a result isto engage powerful rajas in the service of sattwa. If thesattwic disposition is roused and becomes the guide of rajas,then there will be no danger of the re-emergence oftamas, and uncontrolled force, being disciplined and controlled,can do the country and the world a great deal ofgood according to high ideals. The means to rouse sattwais the spiritual temperament — to renounce selfish interestsand deploy all one's energies for the good of others —to make the whole of life a great and pure sacrifice by surrenderingoneself to the Divine. It is said in the Gita thatsattwa and rajas when together suppress tamas; sattwa alonecannot conquer tamas. This is the reason why God has inmodern times spread the force of rajas all over the landafter rousing the religious spirit and the sattwa inherent inus. Great souls and religious leaders like Rammohan Royhave ushered in a new age by reawakening sattwa. In thenineteenth century there was not the same awakening inpolitics and society as in religion. The reason was that thefield was not ready. That is why there was no crop thoughplenty of seeds were sown. In this also can be seen howkind and pleased with India God has been. An awakeningcaused only by rajas cannot be enduring or completely beneficial.It is necessary to rouse the spiritual force to someextent in the mind and heart of the nation. It is becauseof this that the current of rajas was arrested for so long.Owing to this, the tendency towards an uncontrolled enthusiasmdoes not cause much alarm, since this is the playof rajas and sattwa; whatever excitement there is in thiswill soon be controlled and regulated. Not by any externalpower but by the inner spiritual force and the sattwicdisposition will this be conquered and disciplined.
IX. 3. The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas335We can only nourish that sattwic temperament by spreadingthe religious spirit.I have already said that one of the means of increasingsattwa is to devote all one's powers to the good of others.And there is plenty of evidence of this spirit in our politicalawakening. But it is difficult to maintain this spirit. It is difficultfor the individual, more so for the nation. Selfish interest,unnoticed, gets mixed up with the good of others and ifour understanding is not very pure, we may fall into suchdelusion that we may seek only our own selfish ends in thename of service to others and thus submerge the good ofour fellow-beings, our country and humanity and yet notdetect our mistake. Service of God is another means of increasingsattwa. But even in that case good may turn intoits opposite. There may gather in us sattwic apathy towardsworks after we have achieved the joy of nearness to God.We may turn our back to the service of our distressed landand humanity. This is the bondage of the sattwic temperament.Just as there is rajasic egoism, so also there is sattwicegoism. Just as sin binds men, so does virtue. Therecannot be complete freedom unless we surrender ourselvesto God, being fully free from desire and giving up egoism.In order to renounce these two harmful things, wemust have pure understanding. To attain mental freedomafter eschewing the idea that the body and the spirit arethe same is the stage preceding the purification of understanding.When the mind becomes free, then it becomessubject to the soul. After that, conquering the mind andwith the help of the understanding, man can to some extentbe free from selfishness. Even then it does not ceasealtogether. The last selfishness is the desire for spiritualliberation, the wish to be rapt in one's own delight forgettingthe misery of others. Even that has to be given up. Itsantidote is to realise and serve Narayana in all creatures;this is the perfection of sattwa. There is still a higher state
336Bengali Writingsthan this, and that is to take refuge in God utterly bytranscending sattwa and going beyond the modes ofNature. The Gita describes one who is beyond themodes thus:nÀnyaÌ guÍebhyaÕ kartÀraÌ yadÀ draØÒÀnupaÙyatiguÍebhyaÙca paraÌ vetti madbhÀvaÌ so'dhigacchati (14.19)guÍÀnetÀnatÈtya trÈndehÈ dehasamudbhavÀnjanmamÐtyujarÀduÕkhairvimukto'mÐtamaÙnute (14.20)prakÀÙaÌ ca pravÐttiÌ ca mohameva ca pÀÍÄavana dveØÒi saÌpravÐttÀni na nivÐttÀni kÀÛkØati (14.22)udÀsÈnavadÀsÈno guÍairyo na vicÀlyateguÍÀ vartanta ityeva yo'vatiØÒhati neÚgate (14.23)samaduÕkhasukhaÕ svasthaÕ samaloØÒÀÙmakÀÜcanaÕtulyapriyÀpriyo dhÈrastulyanindÀtmasaÌstutiÕ (14.24)mÀnÀpamÀnayostulyastulyo mitrÀripakØayoÕsarvÀrambhaparityÀgÈ guÍÀtÈtaÕ sa ucyate (14.25)mÀÌ ca yo'vyabhicÀreÍa bhaktiyogena sevatesa guÍÀnsamatÈtyaitÀnbrahmabhÓyÀya kalpate (14.26) 1“When the soul becoming a witness sees the threemodes, that is God's Power of the three modes as thesole doer of all works and also knows the Lord who iseven beyond the modes and is the mover of Shakti, thenhe attains the status and nature of the Divine. The embodiedsoul then transcends the three modes born ofthe two types of body, namely, the gross and the subtle,and becoming free from birth and death and decayand suffering enjoys immortality. He does not abhorknowledge produced by sattwa or impulsion caused byrajas or the clouding of the mind and body created bytamas, resulting in sloth, torpor and delusion; he remainssteadfast like one seated high above maintaining equilibriumin face of the appearance and disappearance of1The Gita , Chap. XIV, Verses 19, 20 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.
IX. 3. The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas337the three modes which cannot disturb him and firm becauseall these are the modifications born of the intrinsic characterof the modes. He to whom happiness and unhappiness,the pleasant and the unpleasant, praise and blame are thesame, gold and mud are both like a piece of stone, who iscalm and quiet and unshaken within himself, to whom honourand insult are alike and friend and enemies are equally dear,who does not do anything by his own initiative, but doesall works surrendering them to the Divine and only underHis inspiration, is described as one above the modes. Hewho worships Me by the yoga of faultless love and devotionbecomes fit to attain the Brahman by going beyondthe three modes.”Though this state beyond the gunas is not attainableby all, it is not impossible for the pre-eminently sattwic manto achieve the state preceding it. The first step to that is togive up sattwic egoism and to see in all action the play ofthe Divine's Power of the three gunas. Knowing this, thesattwic doer, renouncing the idea that he is the doer, doesall his works surrendering himself to God.What we have said about the gunas and the transcendenceof them is the fundamental teaching of the Gita. Butthis teaching has not been widely accepted. Till now whatwe have known as the Aryan education has been mostly thecultivation of the sattwic temperament. The appreciation ofthe rajasic mode has come to an end in this country with thedisintegration of the Kshatriya order. And yet there is a greatneed for the rajas-force in national life. That is why the attentionof the nation has again been drawn to the Gita. Theteaching of the Gita, though based on the ancient Aryan wisdom,goes beyond it. Its practical teaching is not afraid ofthe rajas quality, there is in it the way to press rajas into theservice of sattwa and also the means of spiritual liberation eventhrough the path of works. How the mind of the nation isbeing prepared for the practice of this teaching I could first
338Bengali Writingsunderstand while in jail. The current is still not clean butcontaminated and impure; but when its excessive force slowsdown a little, then there will be the action of the pure Energyin it.Many of those who were accused with the same offenceas myself and were in jail with me have been acquittedas not guilty. Others have been convicted as being involvedin a conspiracy. There is in human society no gravercrime than killing. The personal character of the manwho commits murder in the interests of the nation may notbe blackened. But that does not lessen the gravity of thecrime from the social point of view. It must also be admittedthat there is as it were a blood-stain on the mind, aninvasion by cruelty, if there is an impression of killing onthe inner being. Cruelty is a quality of the savage; it is thechief among those characteristics from which mankind isbecoming free in the evolution of its upward march. A dangerousthorn will be uprooted from the path of the ascentof humanity if we can renounce it completely. If we assumethe guilt of those who have been accused, it must beunderstood that it is only an excessive but temporary anduncontrolled manifestation of rajas-force. There is in themsuch hidden sattwic force that this temporary lack of disciplineis not a cause for alarm.The inner freedom I have mentioned before was a naturalquality of my companions. During the days we were lodgedtogether in a big verandah, I observed with great attentiontheir conduct and psychological dispositions. Apart from twoof them, I never saw even a trace of fear in the face or speechof anyone. Almost all were young men, many mere boys.Even strong-minded people were likely to be quite upset atthe thought of the dire punishment to be given to the accusedif found guilty. But these young men did not reallyhope to be acquitted at the trial. Especially, on observing thefrightful paraphernalia of witnesses and written evidence
IX. 3. The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas339at the court, people not versed in law would have easilyformed the idea that even the innocent could not find away of escape from that net. Yet instead of fear or despondencyon their faces there were only cheerfulness, thesmile of simplicity and discussion about their country andreligion, with forgetfulness of their own danger. A smalllibrary grew up as everyone in our ward had a few bookswith him. Most books in the library were religious — theGita, the Upanishads, the works of Vivekananda, the lifeand conversations of Ramakrishna, the Puranas, hymns,spiritual songs, etc. Among other volumes were the worksof Bankim, patriotic songs, books on European philosophy,history and literature. A few of the men practised spiritualdisciplines in the mornings, some used to read books,still others used to chat quietly. Occasionally there wereroars of laughter in the peaceful atmosphere of the morning.If the court was not in session, some slept, a few playedgames — it might be anything, nobody was attached to aparticular one. On some days, a quiet game with peoplesitting in a circle, on others, running and leaping; therewas football for a few days, though the ball was made ofa unique material; blind man's buff was played on somedays, on others a number of groups were formed for lessonsin ju-jitsu, high and long jumping or for playing draughts.Except a few reserved and elderly people everybody joinedin these games at the request of the boys. I observed thateven those who were not young had a childlike character.In the evenings there were musical soirées. Only patrioticand religious songs were sung; we used to sit around andhear Ullas, Sachindra, Hemdas, who were experts at singing,sing. For the sake of amusement, Ullaskar sang comic songsor did acting, ventriloquism, miming or told stories abouthemp addicts on some evenings. Nobody paid any attentionto the trial but all passed the days in religious pursuitsor in just being gay. This unperturbed disposition is
340Bengali Writingsimpossible to one used to evil actions; there was not theslightest trace in them of harshness, cruelty, habitual evildoingor crookedness. Laughter, conversation or play, allwas joyful, sinless, full of love.The result of this freedom of the mind began to showitself soon. The perfect fruit can be obtained only if thespiritual seed is sown in this kind of field. Pointing at someboys Jesus said to his disciples, “Those who are like theseboys will attain the Kingdom of God.” Knowledge and delightare the signs of sattwa. They alone have the capacity foryoga who do not consider misery as misery but are full ofjoy and cheer in all situations. The rajasic attitude doesnot get any encouragement in jail and there is nothing thereto nourish the tendency to worldly pleasures. Under thesecircumstances, since there is a dearth of things to whichit is used and in which its rajas can be indulged, the demoniacmind destroys itself like a tiger. There follows whatthe Western poets call “eating one's own heart.” The Indianmind when in seclusion, though there be external suffering,turns through an eternal attraction to God. This iswhat happened with us too. A current, I do not know fromwhere, just swept us all. Even people who had never takenGod's name learnt to practise some spiritual disciplineand realising the grace of the most Gracious became steepedin Joy. Those boys achieved in a few months what yogistake a long time to attain. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa oncesaid, “What you are seeing now is really nothing — sucha flood of spirituality is coming into this land that evenboys will attain realisation after three days' sadhana.” Tosee these boys was not to have any doubt about the truthof this prophecy. They were as it were the manifest precursorsof that spiritual flood. The sattwic waves overflowingthe prisoners' docks swept over all, except fouror five persons, with great joy. Anyone who has tastedthat once cannot forget it nor can he acknowledge
IX. 3. The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas341any other joy as comparable. This satwic temperament isindeed the hope of the country. The ease with which brotherliness,self-knowledge and love of God possess the Indianmind and express themselves in action is not possible inthe case of any other nation. What is necessary is the renunciationof tamas, the control of rajas, and the manifestationof sattwa. This is what is being prepared for India inaccordance with God's secret purpose.
New BirthIN the Gita Arjuna asks Sri Krishna:“He who takes up yoga but before going through to theend, wanders away and falls from it, what happens to him?Does he lose both worldly and spiritual gains and perishlike a cloud dissolving?” In answer Sri Krishna said: “Neitherin this life nor hereafter is there destruction for him.Never does any one who practises good come to woe. Havingattained to the world of the righteous and having dwelt therefor immemorial years, he who fell from yoga is again bornin the house of such as are pure and glorious and drivenby his longing for yoga, acquired during past lives, he trieseven more for perfection and, finally, through the practiceof many lives gets rid of all sins and achieves the supremeend.”The theory of re-incarnation which has been alwaysheld in the Aryan religion as a part of the knowledge acquiredthrough yoga, had lost its position among the educatedfolk, due to the influence of western learning. Afterthe advent (lÈlÀ) of Sri Ramakrishna and the spread of Vedanticknowledge and the study of the Gita that truth isbeing re-established. Just as heredity is the chief truth ofthe physical world, so, in the subtle world, re-incarnationis the chief truth. There are two truths implied in Sri Krishna'sstatement. Persons who have fallen from the path of yogaare born with the tendencies (saÌskÀras) of learning acquiredin their past lives, and, like a boat moved by the wind, thetendencies bring them to the path of yoga. But, in order toachieve results, for the production of a suitable body it isnecessary to be born into a family that is fit and proper. Anexcellent heredity produces a fit body. When one is born in
IX. 4. New Birth343a pure and glorious home, one has a pure and strong body,born in a family of yogis one has an excellent body andmind and has the advantage of the requisite education andmentality.For the past few years in India one can see as if a newrace is being created in the midst of the old that was dominatedby the gross influences. The earlier children of MotherIndia were born in an irreligious atmosphere or one of religiousdecline and receiving an education in keeping withthat, they had grown short-lived, small, selfish and narrowin spirit. Many powerful great souls were born among thesepeople and it is they who have saved the race in its hour ofgreat peril. But without doing work commensurate with theirenergy and genius, they have only created a field for thefuture greatness and the marvellous activity that awaits thisrace. It is because of their good deeds that the rays of thenew dawn are brightening up all the corners. These newchildren of Mother India, instead of getting the qualities oftheir parents, have grown bold, full of power, high-souled,self-sacrificing, inspired by the high ideals of helping othersand doing good to the country. That is why, instead of beingobedient to their parents, the young men go their own way,there is a difference between the old and the young, and indeciding a course of activity there is a conflict between thetwo. The old are trying to keep these youth, born of divineemanations, the pioneers of a golden age, confined to theold, selfish and narrow ways, without understanding they aretrying to perpetuate the Age of Iron. The youth are sparksborn of the Great Energy, MahÀÙakti, eager to build the newby destroying the old, they are unable to be obedient or submitto the laws of respect for the parent. God alone can remedythis evil. But the will of the Great Energy cannot be in vain,the new generation will not leave without fulfilling the purposefor which they have come. In the midst of the
344Bengali Writingsnew the influence of the old lingers on. Because of the faultof inferior heredity and an Àsuric education many black sheephave also taken birth; and those who have been ordainedto inaugurate the new age are unable to manifest their inherentforce and strength. Among the youth is a marvelloussign of manifesting the age of gold, a religious bent ofmind, and in the hearts of many, a longing for yoga andhalf-expressed yogic powers.Ashok Nandi, accused in the Alipore Bomb ConspiracyCase, belongs to this second category. Those who know himwould hardly believe that he might be involved in any conspiracy.He had been sentenced on slender and rather incredibleevidence. He was not overwhelmed, like the other youngpeople, by a strong desire to serve the national cause. In intellect,character and life he was wholly a yogi and devotee,he had none of the qualities of a man of the world. His grandfatherwas a realised Tantric yogi (siddha), his father toowas known to have acquired powers through the pursuit ofyoga. The rare birth in a family of yogis of which the Gitaspeaks, that had been his good fortune. Signs of his inherentyogic powers had shown themselves intermittently even at atender age. Long before his arrest he had come to knowthat he was destined to die while young, hence his minddid not take to schooling or the preliminaries of leading aworldly life, yet on his father's advice, by ignoring the ‘failure’(asiddhi) of which he had earlier intelligence, he was pursuingwhat he considered to be his duty and had taken tothe path of yoga. It was then that he was suddenly arrested.At this danger, which was the result of his own action,Ashok remained unperturbed and in the jail he devoted hisentire energies to the pursuit of yoga. Many of the accusedin the case had adopted this path, and though not foremosthe was one among these. In love and devotion he was inferiorto none. His generous character, sober devotion and loving
IX. 4. New Birth345heart charmed every one. At the time of Gossain's murderhe was ailing in the hospital. Before regaining his health hebegan to fall ill frequently during his solitary confinement.Even when sick he had to stay during the chilly nights in aroom that was open on all sides. Because of this he developedtuberculosis and then, when there was no chance ofhis surviving, sentenced to the heaviest punishment, he hadbeen kept once again in that death-cell. Thanks to the petitionof the barrister Chittaranjan Das arrangements weremade to remove him to the hospital, but he was not givenbail. In the end, due to the Governor's generosity, he wasallowed to die in his own home, looked after by his ownpeople. Before he could be freed through appeal God releasedhim from the body's prison. Towards the end Ashok'syogic powers developed considerably; on the day of hispassing away, overwhelmed by the power of the Lord asVishnu, ‘distributing’ the holy, salvation-inducing Name andspiritual advice he gave up the body with the Name on hislips. Ashok Nandi had been born to work out the consequencesdue to a previous incarnation, hence all this miseryand his untimely death. The energy needed to usher inthe Age of Gold did not descend in him, but he has showna brilliant example of the natural yogic powers. Men of gooddeeds spend a little time in this world to work out their previoussins, then, freed from all sins, they leave the defective bodyand, assuming another body, they come to express their inherentenergies and to do good to men and creatures.
X. LETTERS
Letters to MrinaliniDearest Mrinalini,(1)30th August 1905Your letter of the 24th August is to hand. I was sorryto learn that your parents have once again the same kindof bereavement, but you have not mentioned which of theirsons died. However, how does sorrow help? Seeking happinessin the world inevitably leads one to find suffering inthe midst of that happiness, for suffering is always intertwinedwith happiness. This law holds good not only in regardto the desire for children, but it embraces all sorts ofworldly desires.In place of twenty rupees I read ten rupees (in yourletter) and so I wrote that I will send you ten rupees; ifyou need fifteen, I shall of course send you fifteen rupees.This month I have sent the money for the clothes whichSarojini bought for you in Darjeeling. How could I knowthat you have already made a loan? As was needed, I hadsent fifteen rupees; if you need three or four rupees more,I will send the same next month. I will send you twentyrupees this time (i.e. next month).Now, let me tell you about that matter. You have, perhaps,by now discovered that the one with whose destiny islinked yours is a very strange kind of person. Mine is wideapart from what the people in this country have at present astheir mental outlook, their aim of life and their field of work.It is quite different in all respects; it is uncommon. Perhapsyou know how the ordinary people view extraordinary ideas,uncommon efforts, extraordinary high aspirations. They
350Bengali Writingslabel all these as madness, but if the mad man succeeds inthe field of action then instead of calling him a lunatic, theycall him a great man, a man of genius. But how many succeedin their efforts? Out of a thousand persons only ten areextraordinary, and out of these ten one succeeds. For me,success in the field of action is far away: I have not yet beenable to enter into it fully; so, I may be considered a madman. It is very unfortunate for a woman to be married to amad man; for all the hopes of women are limited to the joysand the agonies in the family. A mad man would not bringhappiness to his wife — he would only inflict suffering.The founders of the Hindu religion understood this mattervery well, and they loved very much characters, action andhopes which were extraordinary; they regarded highly alluncommon persons, whether great or insane. But what remedycould be there for the terrible plight to which women wereput by such things? The Rishis decided upon this remedy:they said to women, “Know that, for you, the husband isthe supreme Guru; this and nothing else, is the only mantra.The wife is the husband's co-partner in the practice ofDharma. She will help him, advise him and encourage himin the work he chooses for his Dharma; she will obey himas God, feel happy in his happiness and suffer in his suffering.It is the man's right to choose the work, to help andencourage him is the right of the woman.”Now the question is which would you choose, the pathof the Hindu Dharma or that of the new so-called culturedDharma? That you have married a lunatic is a fruit of faultyactions of your previous life. It is better to make a settlementwith one's fate; but what kind of settlement would it be? Swayedby the opinion of others, will you also dismiss him as a madman? The mad man will, by all means, run on the path determinedby his madness. You will not be able to hold himback; his nature is stronger than yours. Will you then just sit
X. 1. Letters to Mrinalini351in a corner and weep and wail, or join him in his run andtry to become the mad wife to match the mad husband,like the queen of the blind king who covering her eyes witha piece of cloth lived as blind? Whatever be the impact onyou of the education you have received in a Brahmo school,you are, after all, a daughter of a Hindu family; the bloodof Hindu ancestors runs in your veins, and I have no doubtthat you will choose the latter path.I have three madnesses. Firstly, it is my firm faith thatall the virtue, talent, the higher education and knowledgeand the wealth God has given me, belong to Him. I havethe right to spend only so much as is necessary for themaintenance of the family and on what is absolutely needed.Whatever remains should be returned to the Divine. IfI spend all on myself, for personal comfort, for luxury, thenI am a thief. Up till now I have been giving only one-eighthof my money to God and have been spending the rest of itfor my personal happiness — thus trying to settle the accountand remain immersed in worldly pleasures. Half ofthe life has already been wasted; even an animal feels gratifiedin feeding itself and its family.I have realised that all these days I had been pursuingthe life of the animal and of the thief. Having realised this, Ihave felt much repentant and have grown a repulsion for myself;no more of it, — this sinful act I abandon for good. Givingthe money to the Divine means using it for works of dharma.I have no regrets for the money that I gave to Sarojinior to Usha, because helping others is dharma, to protectthose who depend on you is a great dharma, but the accountis not settled if one gives only to one's brothers andsisters. In these hard days, the whole country is seekingrefuge at my door, I have thirty crores of brothers and sistersin this country — many of them die of starvation, mostof them weakened by suffering and troubles are somehow
352Bengali Writingsdragging on. They must be helped.What do you say? Will you be, in regard to this, thecopartner of my dharma? We will eat and dress like simplepeople and buy what is really essential, and give the rest tothe Divine. That is what I would like to do. If you agree toit, and can make the sacrifice, then my urge can be fulfilled.You were complaining, “I could not make any progress.”Here is a path to progress that I point to you. Would youproceed in that path?The second madness has recently taken hold of me; itis this: by any means, I must have the direct experience ofGod. The religion of today, that is, uttering the name ofGod every now and then, in praying to Him in front ofeverybody, showing to people how religious one is — thatI do not want. If the Divine is there, then there must be away of experiencing His existence, of meeting Him; howeverhard be the path, I have taken a firm resolution totread it. Hindu Dharma asserts that the path is there withinone's own body, in one's mind. It has also given the methodsto be followed to tread that path. I have begun to observethem and within a month I have been able to ascertainthat the words of the Hindu Dharma are not untrue. Iam experiencing all the signs that have been mentioned byit. Now, I would like to take you also along that path; youwould of course not be able to keep up with me as youhave not yet acquired so much knowledge, but there is nothingto prevent your following me. Anybody can have the realisationby following the path, but it is left to one's will tochoose to enter the path. Nobody can force you to enter it.If you are willing, I will write more on the subject.The third madness is this: whereas others regard thecountry as an inert piece of matter and know it as the plains,the fields, the forests, the mountains and the rivers, I knowmy country as the Mother, I worship her and adore her
X. 1. Letters to Mrinalini353accordingly. What would a son do when a demon, sittingon his mother's breast, prepares to drink her blood? Wouldhe sit down content to take his meals or go on enjoyinghimself in the company of his wife and children, or wouldhe rather run to the rescue of his mother? I know I havethe strength to uplift this fallen race; not a physical strength,I am not going to fight with a sword or a gun, but with thepower of knowledge. The force of the kØatriya is not theonly force, there is also the force of the Brahmin which isfounded on knowledge. This is not a new feeling in me, notof recent origin, I was born with it, it is in my very marrow.God sent me to the earth to accomplish this great mission.At the age of fourteen the seed of it had begun to sprout andat eighteen it had been firmly rooted and become unshakable.Listening to the words of Aunt N you thought that somewicked person had led your simple and good-natured husbandto the evil path. In fact, it was your good-natured husbandwho brought that person and hundreds of others tothat path, be it good or evil; and he will bring thousandsmore to it. I do not say that the work will be accomplishedwhile I live, but it will certainly be accomplished.Now I ask you: What do you want to do in this matter?The wife is the Ùakti (the power) of the husband. Are yougoing to be the disciple of Usha and adulate the sahibs? Wouldyou be indifferent and diminish the power of your husband?Or would you double his sympathy and enthusiasm? You mightreply: “What could a simple woman like me do in all thesegreat works? I have neither will power, nor intelligence, Iam afraid even to think of these things.” There is a simplesolution for it — take refuge in the Divine, step on to thepath of God-realisation. He will soon cure all your deficiencies;fear gradually leaves the person who takes refugein the Divine. And if you have faith in me, and listento what I say instead of listening to others, I can give you my
354Bengali Writingsforce which would not be reduced (by giving) but would,on the contrary, increase. We say that the wife is the Ùaktiof the husband, that means that the husband sees his ownreflection in the wife, finds the echo of his own noble aspirationin her and thereby redoubles his force.Would you always remain like this? “I shall dress well,eat good food, laugh and dance and enjoy all possible pleasures”— such a state of mind is not called progress. Nowadaysthe life of women in our country has assumed a verynarrow and humiliating form. Abandon all these things andcome with me. We have come to the world to do God'swork, let us begin it.There is one defect in your nature — you are too simple.You listen to all that people say. This always keeps themind restless, does not allow intelligence to develop, andthere is no concentration in any work. This has to be corrected;you must acquire knowledge by listening to one persononly, accomplish the work with a firm aim and firm mind,you have to disregard the slander and ridicule of people andkeep your devotion firm.There is another defect also — not of your nature butof the times. The times have become like that in Bengal;people are unable to listen seriously even to a serious talk;they laugh at and make fun of all that is high and noble,Dharma, philanthropy, high aspiration, great endeavour, liberationof the country; they try to laugh away everything.You have developed this fault a little by your association withthe Brahmo school; Barin also had it, and to some extent weall are subject to this fault, but it has increased to a surprisingdegree among the people of Deoghar. It is necessary tothrow out this mentality with a strong resolution; you will beable to do it easily, and once you cultivate the habit of thinking,your real nature will blossom; you are already inclinedto philanthropy and sacrifice; only what is wanting is
X. 1. Letters to Mrinalini355the strength of mind. You will get that strength fromyour devotion to God. Your praying to God will bringyou that strength.This was my secret. Without divulging it to anybody,reflect over these things with a tranquil mind. There is nothingto be afraid of, but plenty to think about. In the beginningyou won't have to do anything more than to devote halfan-hourevery day to meditate on God. You should put beforeHim your strong aspiration in the form of a prayer. Themind will get gradually prepared. You should always offerto Him this prayer: “May I not come in the way of myhusband's life, and his ideals, and in his path to God-realisation;may I become his helper and his instrument.” Willyou do it?Dear Mrinalini,(2)Yours23 Scotts LaneCalcutta17th February 1907I have not written to you for a long time. If you donot, out of your own goodness, pardon me for this eternalfault of mine, then I am helpless. What is in the marrowcannot be got rid of in a day. I may have to spend thiswhole life trying to correct this fault.I was to come on the eighth of January, but I could notcome; this did not happen of my own accord. I had to gowhere the Lord led me. This time I did not go for my ownwork, I had gone for His work. The state of my mind has atpresent undergone a change; about that I would not reveal inthis letter. Come here, then I will tell you what I have to say.
356Bengali WritingsThe only thing that can be stated for the moment is thathenceforward I am no longer subject to my own will: I mustgo like a puppet wherever the Divine takes me; I must dolike a puppet whatever He makes me do. At present youwill find it hard to grasp the meaning of these words. But itis necessary to tell you about it lest my activities cause youregret and sorrow. You may think that I am neglecting youand doing my work. But do not think so. So far I havebeen guilty of many wrongs against you and it is but naturalthat you were discontented on that account; but henceforthI have no freedom of my own, you will have to understandthat all that I do depends not on my own will butis done according to the command of the Divine. When youcome here, you will realise the significance of my words. Ihope the Lord will show you the light of His infinite Gracewhich He has shown me, but that depends on His will. Ifyou want to be the co-partner of my dharma, then you musttry most intensely so that He may point out to you the pathof His Grace by the sheer force of your concentrated will.Do not allow any one to see this letter for what I have writtenis extremely secret. I have not spoken about it to any onebut you. That is forbidden. This much for today.Your husbandP.S. I have written to Sarojini about the family matters, itis not necessary to write to you separately about them; whenyou see that letter you will know.(3)6th December 1907Dear Mrinalini,I received the letter day before yesterday; the shawl was
X. 1. Letters to Mrinalini357sent the same day; I do not understand why you did not get it.*At present I have not got a moment to spare; the burdenof writing is on me, the burden of works regarding theCongress is on me, and also that of settling the affairs ofBande Mataram. I can hardly cope with the work. BesidesI have my own work to do which I cannot neglect.Would you listen to a request of mine? I am passingthrough very anxious times, the pressure from all sides isenough to drive one mad. If you too get restless now, itwould only add to my anxiety and worry, a letter of encouragementand comfort from you would give me muchstrength, and I can overcome all fears and dangers with acheerful heart. I know, it is hard for you to live alone atDeoghar, but if you make your mind firm and rest on faith,then the feeling of sorrow cannot dominate your mind. Thissuffering is your inevitable lot, since you have married me.At intervals there is bound to be separation, because unlikeordinary Bengalis, I am unable to make the happiness ofthe family and of the relations the main aim of my life. Inthese circumstances, what is my dharma is also your dharma;and unless you consider the success of my mission asyour happiness, there is no way out. One thing more: mostof the persons with whom you are staying at present areour elders, and even if they say hard things or pass unjustremarks, do not be cross with them. Also, do not believethat all that they say is what they really mean, or that theysay it with a purpose to hurt you. Many a time words comeout of anger without thought; it is no good holding on tothem. If you find it absolutely impossible to stay there, thenI will speak to Girish Babu to arrange for your grandfatherto come and stay in the house while I am away for theCongress session.
358Bengali WritingsToday I am going to Midnapore. On my return I willmake all arrangements here and then proceed to Surat; thatwill probably be on the 15th or 16th. I will return on the2nd of January.Yours
A Letter to BarinDear Barin,PondicherryDate unfixable [April 1920]I have received your three letters (and another one today),but up till now I have not managed to write a reply.That now I sit to write is itself a miracle, because I writeletters once in a blue moon, especially letters in Bengali.This is something I have not done even once in the lastfive or six years. If I can finish the letter and post it, themiracle will be complete.First, about your yoga. You want to give me the chargeof your yoga, and I am willing to accept it. But this meansgiving it to Him who, openly or secretly, is moving meand you by His divine power. And you should know thatthe inevitable result of this will be that you will have tofollow the path of yoga which He has given me, the pathI call the Integral Yoga. This is not exactly what we didin Alipur jail, or what you did during your imprisonmentin the Andamans. What I started with, what Lele gaveme, what I did in jail — all that was a searching for thepath, a circling around looking here and there, touching,taking up, handling, testing this and that of all the oldpartial yogas, getting a more or less complete experienceof one and then going off in pursuit of another. Afterwards,when I came to Pondicherry, this unsteady conditionceased. The indwelling Guru of the world indicatedmy path to me completely, its full theory, the ten limbsof the body of the yoga. These ten years he has beenmaking me develop it in experience; it is not yet finished.It may take another two years. And so long as it is
360Bengali Writingsnot finished, I probably will not be able to return to Bengal.Pondicherry is the appointed place for the fulfilmentof my yoga — except indeed for one part of it, that is, thework. The centre of my work is Bengal, but I hope its circumferencewill be the whole of India and the whole world.Later I will write to you what my path of yoga is. Or,if you come here, I will tell you. In these matters the spokenword is better than the written. For the present I canonly say that its fundamental principle is to make a synthesisand unity of integral knowledge, integral works and integraldevotion, and, raising this above the mental level tothe supramental level of the Vijnana, to give it a completeperfection. The defect of the old yoga was that, knowingthe mind and reason and knowing the Spirit, it remainedsatisfied with spiritual experience in the mind. But the mindcan grasp only the fragmentary; it cannot completely seizethe infinite, the undivided. The mind's way to seize it isthrough the trance of samadhi, the liberation of moksha,the extinction of nirvana, and so forth. It has no other way.Someone here or there may indeed obtain this featurelessliberation, but what is the gain? The Spirit, the Self, theDivine is always there. What the Divine wants is for manto embody Him here, in the individual and in the collectivity— to realise God in life. The old system of yogacould not synthesis or unify the Spirit and life; it dismissedthe world as an illusion or a transient play of God. Theresult has been a diminution of the power of life and thedecline of India. The Gita says: utsÈdeyurime lokÀ nakuryÀÌ karma cedaham 1 , “These peoples would crumbleto pieces if I did not do actions.” Verily “these peoples”of India have gone down to ruin. What kind of spiritualperfection is it if a few ascetics, renunciates, holymenand realised beings attain liberation, if a few devoteesdance in a frenzy of love, god-intoxication and bliss, andan entire race, devoid of life and intelligence, sinks to the1The Gita (3.24)
X. 2. Letter to Barin361depths of darkness and inertia? First one must have all sortsof partial experience on the mental level, flooding the mindwith spiritual delight and illuminating it with spiritual light;afterwards one climbs upwards. Unless one makes this upwardclimb, this climb to the supramental level, it is notpossible to know the ultimate secret of world-existence; theriddle of the world is not solved. There, the cosmic Ignorancewhich consists of the duality of Self and world, Spiritand life, is abolished. Then one need no longer look onthe world as an illusion: the world is an eternal play of God,the perpetual manifestation of the Self. Then is it possiblefully to know and realise God — samagraÌ mÀÌ jÜÀtuÌpraviØÒum, “to know and enter into Me completely”, as theGita says. The physical body, life, mind and reason, Supermind,the Bliss-existence — these are the Spirit's fivelevels. The higher we climb, the nearer comes a state ofhighest perfection of man's spiritual evolution. When werise to the Supermind, it becomes easy to rise to the Bliss.The status of indivisible and infinite Bliss becomes firmlyestablished — not only in the timeless Supreme Reality, butin the body, in the world, in life. Integral existence, integralconsciousness, integral bliss blossom out and take form inlife. This endeavour is the central clue of my yogic path,its fundamental idea.But it is not an easy thing. After fifteen years I am onlynow rising into the lowest of the three levels of the Supermindand trying to draw up into it all the lower activities.But when the process is complete, there is not the least doubtthat God through me will give this supramental perfection toothers with less difficulty. Then my real work will begin. Iam not impatient for the fulfilment of my work. What is tohappen will happen in God's appointed time. I am not disposedto run like a madman and plunge into the field of actionon the strength of my little ego. Even if my work werenot fulfilled, I would not be disturbed. This work is not mine,
362Bengali Writingsit is God's. I listen to no one else's call. When I am movedby God, I will move.I know that Bengal is not ready. The spiritual floodwhich has come is for the most part a new form of the old.It is not a real change. But it too was needed. Bengal hasbeen awakening within itself all the old yogas in order toexhaust their ingrained tendencies, extract their essence andwith it fertilise the soil. First it was the turn of Vedanta: thedoctrine of non-dualism, asceticism, the Illusionism ofShankara, and so forth. Now, according to your description,it is the turn of the Vaishnava religion: the divine Play,love, losing oneself in the delight of spiritual emotion. Allthis is very old and unsuitable for the new age. It cannotlast, for such excitement has no lasting power. But the Vaishnavaway has this merit, that it keeps a certain connectionbetween God and the world and gives a meaning to life.But because it is a partial thing, the connection and the meaningare not complete. The sectarianism you have noticed wasinevitable. This is the law of the mind: to take one part andcall it the whole, excluding all the other parts. The realisedman who comes with an idea keeps, even if he leans onthe part, some awareness of the whole — although he maynot be able to give it form. But his disciples are not able todo this, because the form is lacking. They are tying up theirbundles — let them. When God descends completely onthe country, the bundles will open of themselves. All thesethings are signs of incompleteness and immaturity. I am notdisturbed by them. Let the force of spirituality have its playin the country in whatever way and through as many sectsas there may be. Afterwards we shall see. This is the infancy,the embryonic state, even, of the new age, just ahint, not yet the beginning.Then about Motilal's group. 1 What Motilal got from me is1The Prabartak Sangha of Chandernagore. West Bengal, founded by MotilalRoy, an early associate of Sri Aurobindo.
X. 2. Letter to Barin363the first foundation, the base of my yoga — surrender, equalityetc. He has been working on these things; the work is notcomplete. One special feature of this yoga is that until therealisation has been raised to a somewhat elevated level,the base does not become solid. Motilal now wants to risehigher. In the beginning he had a number of old fixed notions.Some have dropped off, some still remain. At first itwas the notion of asceticism — he wanted to create anAurobindo order of monks. 1 Now his mind has admittedthat asceticism is not needed, but the old impression in hisvital being has still not been thoroughly wiped out. This iswhy he advocates renunciation and asceticism while remaininga part of the life of the world. He has realised the necessityof renouncing desire, but he has not fully been able to grasphow the renunciation of desire can be reconciled with theexperience of bliss. Moreover, he took to my yoga — as isnatural to the Bengali nature — not so much from the sideof knowledge as from the side of devotion and service.Knowledge has blossomed out a little; but much more isyet to come, and the fog of sentimentality has not beendissipated, though it is not so thick as it used to be. He hasnot been able to get beyond the limitations of the sattwicnature, the temperament of the moral man. The ego is stillthere. In a word, his development is progressing, it is notcomplete. But I am in no hurry. I am letting him developaccording to his own nature. I do not want to fashion everybodyin the same mould. The real thing will be the samein all, but it will take many aspects and many forms. Everyonegrows from within; I do not wish to model from outside.Motilal has got the fundamental thing; all the rest willcome.You ask, “Why is Motilal tying up his bundle?” I will1Today I have received a letter from Motilal. He writes that he never hadthis idea, he was misunderstood. [Sri Aurobindo's note.]
364Bengali Writingsexplain. First, some people have gathered round him whoare in contact with him and with me. What he received fromme, they too are receiving. Secondly, I wrote a small articlein Prabartak 1 called “About Society” 2 in which I spokeabout the saÚgha or community. I do not want a communitybased on division. I want a community based upon theSpirit and giving form to the unity of the Spirit. This ideaMotilal has taken up under the name deva-saÚgha (divinecommunity). I have spoken in my English writings of the“divine life”. Nolini has translated this as deva-jÈvana. Thecommunity of those who want the deva-jÈvana is the devasaÚgha.Motilal has begun an attempt to establish this kindof community in seed-form in Chandernagore and to spreadit across the country. If the shadow of the fragile ego fallsupon this sort of endeavour, the community turns into asect. The idea may easily creep in that the community whichwill be there in the end is this very one, that everythingwill be the circumference of this sole centre, that all whoare outside it are not of the fold or, even if they are, thatthey have gone astray, because they are not in accord withour current line of thinking. If Motilal is making this mistake— he may have some tendency to make it, though Ido not know whether he has done so or not — it will notdo much harm, the mistake will pass. Much work has beendone and continues to be done for us by Motilal and hislittle group — something nobody else has been able to doup till now. The divine power is working in him, there isno doubt about that.You will perhaps ask, “What is the need of a saÚgha?Let me be free and fill every vessel. Let all become one, letall take place within that vast unity.” All this is true, but it is1A magazine published by Motilal Roy's Prabartak Sangha.2Presently published Under the title “The Chariot of Jagannath” (JagannatherRath).
X. 2. Letter to Barin365only one side of the truth. Our business is not with the formlessSpirit only; we have to direct life as well. Without shapeand form, life has no effective movement. It is the formlessthat has taken form, and that assumption of name andform is not a caprice of Maya. The positive necessity ofform has brought about the assumption of form. We do notwant to exclude any of the world's activities. Politics, trade,social organisation, poetry, art, literature — all will remain.But all will be given a new life, a new form. Why did Ileave politics? Because our politics is not the genuine Indianthing; it is a European import, an imitation of Europeanways. But it too was needed. You and I also engaged inpolitics of the European style. If we had not done so, thecountry would not have risen, and we would not have hadthe experience or obtained a full development. Even nowthere is a need for it, not so much in Bengal as in the otherprovinces of India. But now the time has come to take holdof the substance instead of extending the shadow. We haveto awaken the true soul of India and to do everything inaccordance with it. For the last ten years I have been silentlypouring my influence into this foreign political vessel,and there has been some result. I can continue to dothis wherever necessary. But if I took up that work openlyagain, associating with the political leaders and working withthem, it would be supporting an alien law of being and afalse political life. People now want to spiritualise politics —Gandhi, for instance. But he can't get hold of the right way.What is Gandhi doing? Making a hodgepodge called satyÀgrahaout of “Ahimsa parama dharma” 1 , Jainism, hartal,passive resistance, etc.; bringing a sort of Indianised Tolstoyisminto the country. The result — if there is any lastingresult — will be a sort of Indianised Bolshevism. I haveno objection to his work; let each one act according to his1“Non-violence is the highest law.”
366Bengali Writingsown inspiration. But it is not the real thing. If the spiritualforce is poured into these impure forms — the wine of thespirit into these unbaked vessels — the imperfect things willbreak apart and spill and waste the wine. Or else the spiritualforce will evaporate and only the impure form remain. Itis the same in every field of activity. I could use my spiritualinfluence; it would give strength to those who received it andthey would work with great energy. But the force would beexpended in shaping the image of a monkey and setting itup in the temple of Shiva. If the monkey is brought to lifeit may grow powerful, and in the guise of the devotee Hanumando much work for Rama — so long as the life andstrength remain. But in the temple of India we want notHanuman but the Godhead, the Avatar, Rama himself.I can associate with everyone, but only in order todraw them all onto the true path, while keeping the spiritand form of our ideal intact. If that is not done we willlose our way and the true work will not be accomplished.If we are spread out everywhere as individuals, somethingno doubt will be done; if we are spread out everywherein the form of a saÚgha, a hundred times more will beaccomplished. But the time has not yet come for this. Ifwe try to give it form hastily, it will not be the exact thingI want. The saÚgha will at first be in a diffused form.Those who have accepted the ideal, although bound together,will work in different places. Afterwards, bound intoa saÚgha with a form like a spiritual commune, they willshape all their activities according to the Self and accordingto the needs of the age. Not a fixed and rigid form like thatof the old Aryan society, not a stagnant backwater, but afree form that can spread itself out like the sea with its multitudinouswaves — engulfing this, inundating that, absorbingall — and as this continues, a spiritual community willbe established. This is my present idea; it is not yet fullydeveloped. What is being developed is what came to
X. 2. Letter to Barin367me in my meditations at Alipur. I shall see what shape itfinally takes later. The result is in God's hands — let hiswill be done. Motilal's little group is just one experiment.He is looking for the means to engage in trade, industry,agriculture, etc. through his saÚgha. I am giving force andwatching. There may be some materials for the future andsome useful suggestions to be found in it. Do not judge itby its current merits and demerits or its present limitations.It is now in a wholly initial and experimental stage.Next I will discuss some of the specific points raisedin your letter. I do not want to say much here about whatyou write as regards your yoga. It will be more convenientto do so when we meet. But there is one thing youwrite, that you admit no physical connection with men,that you look upon the body as a corpse. And yet yourmind wants to live the worldly life. Does this conditionstill persist? To look upon the body as a corpse is a signof asceticism, the path of nirvana. The worldly life doesnot go along with this idea. There must be delight in everything,in the body as much as in the spirit. The body ismade of consciousness, the body is a form of God. I seeGod in everything in the world. Sarvam idaÌ brahma,vÀsudevaÕ sarvamiti (“All this here is the Brahman”, “Vasudeva,the Divine, is all”) — this vision brings the universaldelight. Concrete waves of this bliss flow even throughthe body. In this condition, filled with spiritual feeling, onecan live the worldly life, get married or do anything else.In every activity one finds a blissful self-expression of thedivine. I have for a long time been transforming on themental level all the objects and experiences of the mindand senses into delight. Now they are all taking the formof supramental delight. In this condition there is the perfectvision and experience of Sachchidananda — the divineExistence, Consciousness and Bliss.Next, in reference to the divine community, you write, “I
368Bengali Writingsam not a god, only some much-hammered and temperedsteel.” I have already spoken about the real meaning of thedivine community. No one is a god, but each man has agod within him. To manifest him is the aim of the divinelife. That everyone can do. I admit that certain individualshave greater or lesser capacities. I do not, however, acceptas accurate your description of yourself. But whatever thecapacity, if once God places his finger upon the man andhis spirit awakes, greater or lesser and all the rest makelittle difference. The difficulties may be more, it may takemore time, what is manifested may not be the same — buteven this is not certain. The god within takes no accountof all these difficulties and deficiencies; he forces his wayout. Were there few defects in my mind and heart and lifeand body? Few difficulties? Did it not take time? Did Godhammer at me sparingly — day after day, moment aftermoment? Whether I have become a god or something elseI do not know. But I have become or am becoming something— whatever God desired. This is sufficient. And it isthe same with everybody; not by our own strength but byGod's strength is this yoga done.It is good that you have taken charge of Narayan. Themagazine began well, but later it drew a narrow sectarianline around itself, fostered feelings of faction and began torot. At first Nolini wrote for Narayan, but later he was obligedto turn elsewhere, because it gave no scope to free opinion.There must be the free air of an open room, otherwisehow can there be any power of life? Free light and free airare the primary nourishment of the life-force. At present itis not possible for me to contribute anything. Later I maybe able to give something, but Prabartak also has its claimon me. It may at first be a little difficult to satisfy callsfrom both directions. We shall see when I begin to write inBengali again. At the moment I am short of time; it is not
X. 2. Letter to Barin369possible for me to write for anything except the Arya. Eachmonth I alone have to provide 64 pages; it is no small task.And then there is poetry to write; the practice of yoga takestime; time is also needed for rest. Most of “On Society”,which Saurin has with him, has probably appeared in Prabartak.The rest of what he has must be a draft; the finalrevision has not been done. Let me have a look at it first.We shall see then whether it can be published in Narayan.You write about Prabartak that people cannot understandit, it is misty, a riddle. I have been hearing the samecomplaint all along. I admit that there is not much clear-cutthinking in Motilal's writing; he writes too densely. But hehas inspiration, force, power. In the beginning Nolini andMoni wrote for Prabartak and even then people called it ariddle. But Nolini's thinking is clear-cut, Moni's writing directand powerful. There is the same complaint about theArya; people can't understand it. Who wants to give so muchthought and consideration to his reading? But in spite ofthis, Prabartak was doing a lot of work in Bengal, and atthat time people did not have the idea that I was writingfor it. If now it does not have the same effect, the reasonis that now people are rushing towards activity and excitement.On one side there is the flood of devotion, on theother side the effort to make money. But during the tenyearperiod that Bengal was lifeless and inert, Prabartakwas its only fountain of strength. It has helped a lot in changingthe mood of Bengal. I do not think its work is over yet.In this connection let me tell you briefly one or two thingsI have been observing for a long time. It is my belief thatthe main cause of India's weakness is not subjection, norpoverty, nor a lack of spirituality or religion, but a diminutionof the power of thought, the spread of ignorance in thebirthplace of knowledge. Everywhere I see an inability orunwillingness to think — incapacity of thought or “thought-
370Bengali Writingsphobia”. This may have been all right in the mediaeval period,but now this attitude is the sign of a great decline.The mediaeval period was a night, the day of victory forthe man of ignorance; in the modern world it is the time ofvictory for the man of knowledge. He who can delve intoand learn the truth about the world by thinking more, searchingmore, labouring more, gains more power. Take a look atEurope. You will see two things: a wide limitless sea of thoughtand the play of a huge and rapid, yet disciplined force. Thewhole power of Europe is here. It is by virtue of this powerthat she has been able to swallow the world, like ourtapaswis of old, whose might held even the gods of theuniverse in terror, suspense, subjection. People say that Europeis rushing into the jaws of destruction. I do not think so.All these revolutions, all these upsettings are the first stagesof a new creation. Now take a look at India. A few solitarygiants aside, everywhere there is your simple man, thatis, your average man, one who will not think, cannot think,has not an ounce of strength, just a momentary excitement.India wants the easy thought, the simple word; Europe wantsthe deep thought, the deep word. In Europe even ordinarylabourers think, want to know everything. They are notsatisfied to know things halfway, but want to delve deeplyinto them. The difference lies here. But there is a fatal limitationto the power and thought of Europe. When she entersthe field of spirituality, her thought-power stops working.There Europe sees everything as a riddle, nebulousmetaphysics, yogic hallucination — “It rubs its eyes as insmoke and can see nothing clearly.” But now in Europe nota little effort is being made to surmount even this limitation.Thanks to our forefathers, we have the spiritual sense, andwhoever has this sense has within his reach such knowledge,such power, as with one breath could blow all the immensestrength of Europe away like a blade of grass. But power is
X. 2. Letter to Barin371needed to get this power. We, however, are not worshippersof power; we are worshippers of the easy way. Butone cannot obtain power by the easy way. Our forefathersswam in a vast sea of thought and gained a vast knowledge;they established a vast civilisation. But as they wentforward on their path they were overcome by exhaustionand weariness. The force of their thought decreased, andalong with it decreased the force of their creative power.Our civilisation has become a stagnant backwater, our religiona bigotry of externals, our spirituality a faint glimmerof light or a momentary wave of intoxication. So long asthis state of things lasts, any permanent resurgence of Indiais impossible.It is in Bengal that this weakness has gone to the extreme.The Bengali has quickness of intellect, a capacityfor feeling, intuition. In all these qualities he is the foremostin India. Each of these qualities is necessary, but theyare not in themselves sufficient. If there were added to themdepth of thought, manly force, heroic audacity, proficiencyand delight in prolonged labour, the Bengali would becomethe leader not only of India, but of the world. But the Bengalidoes not want this; he wants to pick up things the easyway — knowledge without thought, results without labour,spiritual perfection after an easy discipline. He relies onemotional excitement, but excessive emotion devoid of knowledgeis the very symptom of the disease. What has theBengali been doing from the time of Chaitanya onwards,from long before that, in fact? Catching hold of some easysuperficial aspect of spiritual truth and dancing about for afew days on waves of emotion; afterwards there is exhaustion,inertia. And at home, the gradual decline of Bengal,the ebbing away of her life-force. In the end, what has theBengali come to in his own province? He has nothing to eatand no clothes to wear, there is wailing on every side. His
372Bengali Writingswealth, his business and trade, even his agriculture beginto pass slowly into the hands of outsiders. We have abandonedthe yoga of divine power and so the divine powerhas abandoned us. We practise the yoga of love, but wherethere is no knowledge or power, love does not stay. Narrownessand littleness come in. In a narrow and small mind,life and heart, love finds no room. Where is there love inBengal? Nowhere else even in this division-ridden India isthere so much quarrelling, strained relations, jealousy, hatredand factionalism as in Bengal.In the noble heroic age of the Aryan people there wasnot so much shouting and gesticulation, but the endeavourthey set in motion lasted many centuries. The Bengali'sendeavour lasts for a day or two. You say what is neededis emotional excitement, to fill the country with enthusiasm.We did all that in the political field during the Swadeshiperiod; everything we did has fallen in the dust. Will therebe a more auspicious outcome in the spiritual field? I don'tsay there has been no result. There has been; every movementproduces some result. But it is mostly in an increaseof possibilities. This is not the right way to steadily actualisethe thing. Therefore I do not wish to make emotionalexcitement, feeling and mental enthusiasm the baseany longer. I want to make a vast and strong equalitythe foundation of my yoga; in all the activities of the being,which will be based on that equality, I want a complete,firm and unshakable power; over that ocean of power Iwant the radiation of the sun of Knowledge and in thatluminous vastness an established ecstasy of infinite loveand bliss and oneness. I do not want tens of thousandsof disciples. It will be enough if I can get as instrumentsof God one hundred complete men free from petty egoism.I have no confidence in guruhood of the usual type.I do not want to be a guru. What I want is for someone,awakened by my touch or by that of another, to manifest
X. 2. Letter to Barin373from within his sleeping divinity and to realise the divinelife. Such men will uplift this country.Do not think from reading this lecture that I despair ofthe future of Bengal. I too hope for what they are saying— that this time a great light will manifest in Bengal. But Ihave tried to show the other side of the shield, where thedefects, failings and deficiencies lie. If these remain, thatlight will not be great, nor will it endure. The saints andgreat men you have written about appear to me rather dubious.Somehow I do not find in them what I am lookingfor. Dayananda 1 has all sorts of wonderful powers. Illiteratedisciples of his do remarkable automatic writing. All right,but this is only a psychic faculty. What I want to knowabout is the real thing in them and how far it has progressed.Then there is another — he stirs a person to his depthsjust by touching him. Very well, but what does that thrilllead to? Does the person become by this touch the kind ofman who can stand like a pilar of the new age, the divineGolden Age? This is the question. I see you have your doubtsabout this. I have mine too.I laughed when I read the prophecies of those saintsand holymen — but not a laugh of scorn or disbelief. Ido not know about the distant future. The light Godsometimes gives me falls one step ahead of me; I moveforward in that light. But I wonder what these peopleneed me for. Where is my place in their great assembly?I am afraid they would be disappointed to see me.And as for me, would I not be a fish out of the water?I am not an ascetic, not a saint, not a holyman — noteven a religious man. I have no religion, no code ofconduct, no morality. Deeply engrossed in the worldlylife, I enjoy luxury, eat meat, drink wine, use obscene1A yogi of eastern Bengal, alive when this letter was written. Not to be confusedwith Swami Dayananda of the Arya Samaj.
374Bengali Writingslanguage, do whatever I please — a Tantrik of the left-handpath. Among all these great men and incarnations of Godam I a great man or an incarnation? If they saw me theymight think I was the incarnation of the Iron Age, or of thetitanic and demoniac form of the goddess Kali — what theChristians call the Antichrist. I see a misconception aboutme has been spread. If people get disappointed, it is notmy fault. The meaning of this extraordinarily long letter isthat I too am tying up my bundle. But I believe this bundleis like the net of Saint Peter, teeming with the catch of theInfinite. I am not going to open the bundle just now. If it isopened too soon, the catch may escape. Nor am I goingback to Bengal just now — not because Bengal is not ready,but because I am not ready. If the unripe goes amid theunripe, what can he accomplish?Your Sejdada 1P.S. Nolini writes that you are coming not at the end ofApril, but in May. Upen 2 also wrote about coming. Whatabout that? Is he staying with you or elsewhere? Mukundilalhas sent me a letter to be redirected to Sarojini. 3 But Idon't know where Sarojini is, so I am sending it to you.Please forward it.I have received a letter from Motilal. I gather from itand from some other circumstances that the shadow of amisunderstanding has fallen between him and Saurin. 4 This1Elder brother.2Upendranath Bannerjee. Like Barin, he was sentenced to transportation forlife for his part in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy. In 1919 or 1920 both were grantedamnesty.3Sri Aurobindo's sister.4A cousin of Sri Aurobindo's wife; he was staying with Sri Aurobindo inPondicherry, but at the time of this letter was in Bengal.
X. 2. Letter to Barin375may develop into mutual dislike. It is most improper thatsuch a thing should happen among ourselves. I shall writeto Motilal about this. Tell Saurin to be careful not to givethe least occasion for the opening of such a breach or rift.Somebody told Motilal that Saurin has been telling people(or giving them the impression) that Aurobindo Ghose hasnothing to do with Prabartak. Saurin certainly never saidanything like this, for Prabartak is our paper. Whether Iwrite for it in my own hand or not, God through me is givingthe force that enables Motilal to write. From the spiritualpoint of view, the writing is mine; Motilal just adds thecolour of his mind. Probably what Saurin said is that AurobindoGhose himself does not write Prabartak's articles.But it is not necessary to say even that. It may create awrong impression just opposite the truth in people's minds.I have to some extent kept it a secret who writes or doesnot write for Prabartak. Prabartak (“The Initiated”) itselfwrites Prabartak. The Power itself is the writer; it is notthe creation of any particular individual. This is the truthof the matter. Devajanma 1 and other publications with articlesby Nolini and Moni have come out in book form andthere too no names have been given. It is the same principle.Let it be like that until further order.1A collection of essays.
Letters to N. and S.Obstacles and DifficultiesThe vital does not like the state of vastness where thereis no movement of thought. It wants movement, any movementwhether of knowledge or of ignorance. A serene conditionwithout any restlessness seems dry to it.** *Nobody can ever progress in sadhana through pain,despair, and lack of enthusiasm. It is better not to have them.** *Not only the experience of the higher but also the transformationof the lower nature is necessary. Pleasure, sadness,despair and sorrow are the ordinary play of the vital,impediments to progress — one has to go beyond them andbring down the vast unity and equality from above into thevital and in all the being.** *As long as desire and subjection to the mercy of anywhim, demand and imagination are strong, the vital willdominate. All this is nourishment to the vital, and when yougive nourishment why should it not become huge and powerful?** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.377If you entertain a desire, become impatient for the fruitsof sadhana, then how will you remain peaceful and silent?A great work like the transformation of human nature, canit be done in a moment? Remain quiet, let the force of theMother work in you, then in time everything will be accomplished.If you remain peaceful within, in a state of surrender,then obstacles and difficulties will not be able to disturbyou. Unhappiness and anxiety and “Why is this not happening?When will it happen?”, if you allow these feelingsto enter into you, then obstacles and difficulties will findstrength. Why do you pay so much attention to them? Concentrateon the Mother. Remain peaceful and surrenderedwithin. The petty defects of the lower nature cannot be gotrid of so easily. It is useless to be agitated over them. Whenthe Mother's Force fully occupies the entire being down tothe subconscient, they will go. The length of time necessaryfor that does not matter. The complete transformationrequires time.** *We have neither moved away from you nor abandonedyou. When your mind and vital become disturbed, then thesefalse ideas enter into your mind. Even if the ego rises andthe difficulties come you must not lose faith in the Mother.Keep on calling her quietly and remain calm, the difficultiesand the ego will leave you.** *The truth is that you must not be subject to the ego orthe external nature in your work. If you are, the work cannot
378Bengali Writingsform a part of the sadhana; instead, it becomes equivalentto trivial and ordinary work. Even the work must be donefrom within in a spirit of surrender.** *The external consciousness is full of ignorance, and seemsto make a false transcription, a wrong imitation or translationof what comes from above, to remould that in its ownway; as if trying to turn that to some imaginary enjoyment,or some outward selfish interest or the pleasure of the ego.This is the weakness of human nature. One should wantthe Divine for the sake of the Divine and not for one's ownsatisfaction. When the psychic being inside becomes strong,then the defects of the external nature begin to lessen tillfinally one becomes pure.** *Any average man reacts like this — to be pleased whenpraised and offended when blamed. There is nothing strangeabout that. But it is absolutely essential for a sadhak to getover this weakness; he must remain unshaken by praise orcriticism, honour or insult. But it cannot be easily done, itwill take time.** *This is the state and outlook of the true consciousness.If you can have this attitude when you go deep inside orcome out in the external consciousness, then everything will
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.379rightly move towards the divine purpose.** *Falsehood is a great barrier in the path of this yoga.Falsehood of any kind must not be given a place in thought,speech or action.** *There is no connection between the tamasic surrenderand the tamasic ego. The tamasic ego seems to think: “Iam a sinner, I am weak, there will be no progress for me,the sadhana is impossible for me, I am unfortunate, the Divinedoes not accept me, death is my only salvation, the Motherdoes not love me but she loves all others,” etc., etc. Thevital nature likes to hurt itself by demonstrating its own smallness.It wants to satisfy its ego-sense in a negative way, byshowing itself as the worst person, the most unhappy, wickedand tortured of all. The rajasic ego is exactly the opposite.By saying, “I am great,” etc., it likes to exaggerate aboutitself.** *Ignorance, ego and desire are hindrances. If the mind,life and body become instruments of the Higher Consciousness,this divine light can descend into the body.** *The human mind itself is full of sceptical imaginations,
380Bengali Writingswrong ideas, distrust, ignorance and unhappiness. This ignoranceis the cause of distrust, the source of anguish. Thehuman intelligence is an instrument of ignorance. Very oftenwrong thoughts and false ideas come to it, yet it believesthat its ideas alone are true. The mind is not eveninclined to consider whether there is any mistake in its thoughtor, if so, where lies the mistake. When the mistake is pointedout, it does not like to own it and becomes angry and unhappy,yet it derives great pleasure from finding fault withothers. When it hears any criticism of others, it immediatelyaccepts that as true without even considering how far itmight be true. It is difficult for faith and trust to grow inthis type of mind. That is why you must not listen to ordinaryhuman beings or accept their influence within you. Ifyou want to hear the truth, you have to go within you andawaken the psychic being and from there true intelligencewill grow in the mind, true emotion and feeling will cometo the heart, true inspiration will rise in the vital; the psychiclight will bring a new vision of man, objects, circumstancesand the world; ignorance of the mind, wrong seeing,incorrect thinking, disbelief and mistrust will cease forever.** *There is probably some resistance to meditation in thebody, that is why it does not want to sit down. But it alsohappens with many that their sadhana goes on automatically.There is no need to force oneself to sit for meditation.Whether one is sitting, walking or lying down or even sleeping,the sadhana goes on.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.381All this has happened probably because of some externalcontact. These vital disturbances are now occurring repeatedlyin some people. Like a disease they go from oneperson to another; especially the feeling, “I want to die, Ido not wish to keep this body, it is not possible to do yogaand sadhana in this body,” is strong. However, the idea,“By leaving the body I shall attain the realisation in yogawithout any difficulty in another body,” is extremely erroneous.If you give up the body in this way, there will bestill greater difficulties in the next birth and you will nothave any relation with the Mother. All this is an attack ofthe hostile forces. Their aim is to break the sadhana of thesadhak, break the health of the Mother, break the Ashramand our work. You must be on your guard. Do not allowthem to enter into you.** *“An outsider scolds me. I am very much hurt. I wishto die” — these are words of the vital ego, not of a sadhak.I am giving you a fair warning — “Do not give anyplace to the ego.” If anybody says anything to you, remainundisturbed, in a peaceful state of mind, free from any egoismand united with the Mother.** *Merely dying does not solve anything. How do you thinkthe difficulties you have not overcome in this life will leaveyou in your next birth? You have to clear them up in thisvery life.** *
382Bengali WritingsIf you allow these futile lamentations of the vital to rise,how will the true experience come? Even if it comes, howcan it endure or bear fruit? This weeping of the vital canonly be a bar.** *These words of moaning and bewailing are obstaclesto progress on the path of yoga and nothing else but that— only a kind of tamasic play of the vital. If you can givethem all up and quietly pursue your sadhana, there will bea rapid progress.** *What you have seen is true — but what you call anevil force is only the ordinary nature. This nature makesman do almost anything — in the sadhana one has to overcomeits influence, but it cannot be easily done. By quietand determined effort, in the end it is entirely overcome.** *When the sadhak begins to live in the true consciousness,the other parts still continue to exist; only in proportionas the power of the true consciousness increases, doesit gradually weaken the others.** *What else but an evil force can pull you down so low,make you so weak and agitated? Many forces of this nature
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.383are moving about in the atmosphere because the sadhaksgive them shelter. If they come to you, call the Mother andsend them away. They will not be able to do anything; theywill not be able to endure. Obstacles cannot be fully got ridof so easily. By a constant opening and a heightening ofconsciousness, the physical consciousness is transformed,the difficulties will then completely disappear. Before that,they will decrease, go out and remain outside you. Insteadof getting upset by these difficulties, detach yourself fromthem. Do not accept the difficulties as your own, becauseif you do your power will diminish.** *Every one has to go through difficulties, even thosewho do not work are subject to their violent attacks.** *Difficulties are there because the outer nature does notleave you. They will no longer remain when the outer naturehas a new life.** *I have repeatedly told you about this that difficultiesdo not go in a moment. Difficulties are the results of theouter nature of human beings. This nature does not changein a day or in a few days, not even in great sadhaks. But ifyou can entirely depend on the Mother and aspire to herin silence and calm and go on without anxiety, then the
384Bengali Writingsdifficulties can do nothing, even if they come in your way.In time their force will diminish, perish and no longer exist.** *Every one has this kind of difficulty. Identification withthe Mother at every moment cannot easily be done. It isdone by a steady spiritual practice.** *Difficulties matter little. They are nothing but what existsin the outer nature of human beings. Gradually they will bedriven out by the Force of the Mother. So there is no causefor anxiety or depression.** *Always remember the Mother. Call upon her. Then thedifficulties will go away. Do not be afraid, do not be perturbedby the difficulties. Call upon the Mother steadily.** *However infinite the difficulties may seem to be, thisappearance is not real. It is merely the demoniac illusion.Treading the way of truth the path becomes clear at last.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.385It is something like that. But difficulty does not leaveany one so easily, even a very great Yogi. It is a bit easierto get rid of the mental difficulty than of the vital and thephysical. It takes time to be free from the vital and physicaldifficulties.** *What does it matter? Even great sadhaks are open todifficulties. If one can live in the psychic state, if one isunited with the Mother, then these attacks must go in vain.** *A sadhak has often these two difficulties. The first fromthe vital, the second from the physical consciousness. Ifone remains aloof from them, they decrease and finally diminish.** *These difficulties come to everybody. If it were notso, then the perfection in Yoga would take place within afew days.** *Human nature, as a rule, cannot always remain inside.But when one can feel the Mother in every condition, withinand without, this difficulty lingers no more. Try to havethis state.** *
386Bengali WritingsIt is the impurities in nature that create difficulties fora sadhak. Sex-desire, ignorance and so on are among theimpurities in human nature. These are in everybody. Whenthey appear, one should calmly detach oneself from themand reject them without being perturbed. If you say, “I ama sinner” and so on, that adds to your weakness. You oughtto say, “This is man's impure nature. If it remains part ofhis ordinary life, it may remain there. I don't want all this.I want God alone. I want the Divine Mother. These arenot things of my true consciousness. As long as they comeI will steadily reject them. I will not allow myself to beagitated.”** *Sex-force is in every human being. This impulse is oneof nature's main instruments by which it drives man, createsfamily, society and world. The life of creatures dependsmuch on it. That is why the sex-impulse is there ineverybody. Nobody is an exception. Even in spite of sadhanait does not easily cease to cling on. It recurs in thebody and the vital till the nature is transformed. But thenthe sadhak should keep on his guard, control, reject anddrive it out as many times as it comes. In this way it vanishesin the end.** *Go on quietly with your sadhana. Slowly and steadilyall the things of the old nature that still exist in you will go.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.387Every one has difficulties. There is no sadhak withoutthem. Remain calm within. You will get help even in difficulties.True consciousness will develop on all the planes.** *It is a great obstacle on your part always to think thatyou are bad, you are bad.** *The only way to transform nature is to depend on theMother and quietly reject the ordinary nature and conquerit by degrees.** *All difficulties are not the products of hostile forces —they are the products of ordinary impure nature which existsin everybody.** *One has to keep this kind of feeling and unquestioningfaith. For this faith, belief and conviction in a sadhak greatlyhelp the Mother's Force to act.** *Spiritual practice must be done with a firm and calmmind and with an unshakable faith and reliance on the Mother.
388Bengali WritingsDepression must find no place there. If it comes, it mustbe refused and cast aside. “I am low and mean, nothingcan be done by me. The Mother has driven me off. I shallgo away.” When these ideas come in, then you must knowthat they are the suggestions of the lower nature and arequite contrary to the truth of Yoga. Give no quarter to suchideas.** *Why do you feel sorry? If one depends on the Motherand remains unperturbed in all circumstances, there can beno question of sorrow. Vainly does man expect happinessand peace from his fellow beings.** *Once an inner union with the Mother has been formed,instead of this thought and fear one has to keep this certitudeand the faith in the Mother that Her victory is inevitable,in spite of thousands of difficulties, innumerable mistakesand all obscurity in the outer nature.** *Always one has to keep absolute faith in the Mother thatone is in her hands, that everything will be done through herpower. And therefore the obstacle can create no sorrow anddespair.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.389Don't worry on that account. It is not easy always toremember the presence of the Mother. When the whole beingis filled with the Mother's presence, then you will rememberher automatically, and you can by no means forget her.** *Go on with your sadhana in a quiet manner. Sorrowor despair will no longer remain in you. All darkness willdisappear in the long run.** *It happens to everybody. It is very difficult to remainalways in a good condition. It takes much time — go onsteadily with your meditation. Don't be perturbed. Everythingwill we done in time.** *Sadhana means to feel the Mother near and within, tofeel that the Mother is doing everything and to receive everythingof the Mother in oneself. Having this state if onepays attention to studies, then there can be no harm.** *Yes, if one weeps like that one becomes weak. At everymoment, in each condition, steadily and silently dependon the Mother and aspire for her. Then the good conditionsreappear.
Parts of the beingIt is not possible to leave out any part of the being; allof it has to be transformed. A particular movement of Naturemay be given up but the parts of the being are permanent.** *In course of sadhana there comes a state when it seemsas if there were two distinct beings. One remains occupiedwith the inner things, pure and tranquil it lives in the visionand experience of the divine truth or is identified with it;the other is busy with the outer details. Then a divine unityis established between the two — the higher and inner worldand the external world become one.** *Only the front is awake in ordinary people, but this frontalawakened consciousness is not really awake but ignorant, fullof obscurity. Behind it stretches the field of the inner beingwhich in appearance seems to be asleep. But when this envelopeis removed, the consciousness behind is seen uncoveredand it is there that the light, force and peace first descend.This inner being can easily accomplish what is notpossible to the external awakened consciousness. By openingitself to the Divine and the universal consciousness, it
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.391can become the vast free consciousness.** *If these attacks cannot enter or if, when they do, theydo not last, it has to be understood that the outer being hasbecome conscious, and there has been a great progress in itspurification.** *When the tamasic state, rising from the subconscient,attacks the body, one feels as if one were ill. Call the Mother'sforce from above into your body, all this will go away.** *To get rid of the subconscient difficulties, first one hasto recognise them, next reject them, and finally bring theinner or the higher light of the Mother into the body consciousness.Then the ignorant movements of the subconscientwill be driven away and the movements of the otherconsciousness will be established. But this cannot be doneeasily; you have to do it patiently; a determined patience isrequired. Trust in the Mother is the only means. However,if one can remain inside and maintain the inner vision andconsciousness, there is not much suffering and labour —but it is not always possible to do this and it is then thatfaith and patience are particularly necessary.
392Bengali WritingsWhen the physical consciousness becomes strong, itcovers up everything and tries to spread all over the being,this state is produced because when the physical consciousnessin its distinct nature expresses itself, everything seems tobe full of inertia and obscurity, void of the light of knowledgeand the drive of force. Do not give your assent to thiscondition — if it comes, call the Mother's light and forceto enter into the body-consciousness and make it luminousand powerful.** *The physical centre is situated at the end of the vertebralcolumn, in what is called the muladhar; it does not oftenreveal its position but its presence can be felt.** *This is the vital purusha who has his seat in the emotionalvital. There are three layers of the vital purusha —in the heart, in the navel and below the navel. In the hearthe is the emotional being; in the navel the being of desire;and below it the sensational being, in other words, busywith the pull of the senses and the small instincts of life.** *Only the Self is so vast and limitless, etc. When themind, vital and physical consciousness are fully open, theyalso become like that — the external mind, life and bodyare only instruments for the play and transaction with externalnature. When the external mind, vital and body becomefull of light and consciousness they then no longer
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.393seem to be narrow and limited. They also become one withthe inner.** *There are many movements of mind which have nocoherence; this is as true of a sadhak as of an ordinary person,this happens to all. But the sadhak observes and is awareof them, whereas an ordinary person does not know whatis happening within himself. By constantly turning everythingto the Divine the mind becomes unified.** *There are three layers of the ordinary mind. The layerof thought or intellect, the layer of will-power (will directedby the intellect) and the outgoing intelligence. There arealso three layers above the mind — higher mind, illuminedmind, and intuitive mind. Since you see them inside the head,they must be those three layers of the ordinary mind opento what is above it and in each one a special divine force iscoming down to work.** *When this vast condition prevails in the head, it meansthe mind is widening to become one with the universal mind.The throat etc. becoming vast indicates that the consciousnessin those respective centres is also beginning to widen.** *
394Bengali WritingsTo live in the higher mind is not so difficult — it beginswhen the consciousness rises a little above the head.But the ascent to the Overmind takes a long time, one cannotdo it unless one is a very great sadhak. If one can livein these planes, the limitations of the mind are broken down,the consciousness becomes vast, the petty ego-sense decreases,everything is one, all is in the Divine, etc. — thenthe divine or spiritual knowledge comes easily.** *The sadhana is done according to the needs of the time.Formerly, it was the inward sadhana, the stage of simplemeditation. Now it is necessary to unite the inner and theouter — down to the body-consciousness.** *There are many kinds of knowledge depending on theconsciousness. The knowledge of the higher consciousnessis true and spotless — the knowledge of the lower consciousnessis a mixture of knowledge and ignorance and isstained. The knowledge of the intellect is of one particularnature, the knowledge of the Supramental Consciousnessis of a different nature, beyond the intellect. The peacefulknowledge belongs to the higher consciousness.** *This is the staircase of the higher consciousness — thereare many levels of this consciousness. One mounts by these
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.395stairs from plane to plane till one reaches the Supermind— the boundless, luminous and blissful infinity of God.** *The world above is the plane of the higher consciousnessand it is descending by our sadhana. The material worldat present is full of a violent dance of the hostile vital worldand heading towards destruction.** *The psychic being is a portion of the Divine; it has anatural attraction for the truth and the Divine but that attractionis desireless, free from demands and lower cravings.The psychic emotion is pure and stainless. The emotionalvital is a part of it and has much desire, demand,pride and indignation, etc. It wants the Divine in order tosatisfy its pride and desire but the psychic touch can makeit pure and immaculate.** *The psychic being remains behind the mind, vital andbody, in contact with them. Beyond the mind is the spiritualbeing and the higher consciousness.** *The place of the psychic being is behind and all thecentres are situated behind; for instance, the heart centre,
396Bengali Writingsthe vital centres, the physical centre are connected therewith the vertebral column and have their base there. Thatis why the condition of the consciousness behind is veryimportant.All depends on the predominance of the psychic — theexternal nature is busy satisfying its little ego, desires andcravings; the mental being is occupied with the self, but thepetty ego derives little pleasure from that, it longs for pettiness.The psychic being is occupied with the Divine, it alonecan do the surrender — only the psychic being can controlthe external nature.** *Either the psychic being must become the director (ruler,driver and guide) and open the intellect, mind, vital andphysical consciousness or the higher consciousness mustdescend right into the physical consciousness and occupythe entire vessel, then a solid foundation will be establishedin the material consciousness.** *It is the consciousness of the psychic and the heart thathas opened — what comes from above is the light and peaceof the higher mind and the Divine Consciousness. What lookslike the moon rising is the current of spiritual aspiration flowingfrom the psychic.** *That is what is wanted — to open the lotus in the heart,to bring the whole nature under the control of the psychicbeing, this will bring about the New Birth.
Foundations of YogaSelf-control — Purification of Nature — Peace and SurrenderTo have self-control — not to be attracted to anyone,not to encourage the vital pull of anyone and not to throwany vital spell or attraction on a person this is called remainingsincere within oneself.** *Why do you speak of sin — it is not sin but humanweakness. The soul is ever pure, the psychic being too isalways pure and the inner mind, vital and physical can alsobecome pure, yet the old weaknesses of character stick tothe outer nature of the external being for a long time; it isdifficult to acquire a perfect purity, complete sincerity, determination;patience and an ever wakeful vigilance are necessary.If the psychic being remains in front, ever awake,exercising its influence, there is nothing to fear, but often itis not so. The Rakshasi Maya, the evil nature, dupes themind and finds a way of entry through this old weak point.So every time it has to be chased away and the road blocked.** *The vital must not be destroyed; no work can be donewithout it, indeed life could not be maintained. The vital
398Bengali Writingshas to be transformed and made into an instrument of theDivine.** *Keep within you the peace and the Mother's force andlight and do everything peacefully — then there is no needof anything else — all this will clear up.** *This is a conflict of two opposite influences — whenthe influence of the forces of truth touches the body, everythingis cured — the influence of ignorance brings backdisease, pain and neurosis.All that is in the ignorance dwells as light-darkness withina universal consciousness, but that does not mean that lightand darkness have the same value. One has to reject darknessand welcome light.It is not at all necessary to observe rules. If one refusescalmly, quietly and with determination, then graduallythe hold of ignorance falls away. If one is upset, (impatient,blind or loses hope), then the forces of ignorance becomestronger and gather more courage to attack.** *The difficulties do not go away easily. Even all the difficultiesof a very great sadhak do not disappear in a momenton a fixed day. I have already said it many times thatone has to remain peaceful and unagitated and slowly advancewith full trust in the Mother — it cannot be done inan instant. “I want everything today”: if you make this de-
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.399mand, it may create more difficulties. One has to remaincalm and quiet.** *There cannot be any ego behind the psychic and thepsychic condition. However, the ego coming from the vitaltries to associate itself with the psychic. If you observeanything of this nature, do not accept it but surrender it tothe Mother in order to be freed from it.The straight road is the way of the psychic; it goes upwithout winding on the strength of surrender and in the lightof true vision; somewhat straight, somewhat circuitous isthe path of the mental askesis and completely tortuous isthe path of the vital, full of desire and lacking in knowledge;but as the vital has true yearning, it is neverthelesspossible to go by that road.** *First, the consciousness must be empty and vast in whichthe light and force from above can find room. If it is notemptied, the old movements continue to play and the thingsfrom above do not find a suitable place.This kind of emptiness comes to the sadhak when thehigher consciousness descends into the mind and the vitalin order to prepare them before occupying them. Also whenthe Self is experienced, its first touch brings a vast peacefulemptiness; later on a vast and massive peace and silence,a calm and immutable Ananda descend into thatemptiness.** *
400Bengali WritingsIn this yoga the realisation cannot be attained by goingupwards alone — the realisation will come when the highertruth, peace and light, etc. descend and get fixed in the mind,vital and body.If the higher consciousness comes down and you rejectall the falsehood of the mind, vital and body, the truthwill be established.It will not do to be entirely silent nor is it good. In theearly stage to remain silent and grave as much as possibleis favourable to sadhana — when the external nature willbe full of the Mother, the true consciousness will remaineven while speaking and laughing, etc.Contact with the higher consciousness and descent ofthe nature of that higher consciousness, its peace, knowledgeand depth — are the only means of obtaining siddhiin the yoga.The vital has to be controlled and the Force allowedto occupy the mind, vital and body.** *This state of sleep is very good. Sleep must be consciouslike this.It happens like this when sleep becomes conscious —the sadhana continues in sleep as in waking.The rule in this sadhana is to bring down everything,to have all the spiritual experiences in the waking state. Ofcourse, in the early stages there is more meditation and itmay be very beneficial right to the end — but, if the experiencesare obtained in meditation only, the entire being isnot transformed. For this reason to have them in a wakingstate is a good sign.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.401Peace is the first to come; unless the whole instrumentbecomes full of peace, it is difficult for the knowledge todescend. Once peace is established, the vast infinite consciousnessof the Mother manifests itself; the ego is drownedin it and finally disappears without leaving any trace. In thatinfinity only the Mother and her eternal portion are left.This is very good. It is a genuine experience. Whenthis peace spreads in the entire being and becomes firm,solid and durable, the first foundation of the spiritual consciousnessis established.To bring down peace and force in the nervous systemis the only way to strengthen the nerves.** *What you have been told from within is really true.Only errors, blunders, falsehood and suffering come fromthe external consciousness which is a field for the play ofthe little ego. One has to remain within — the real consciousnesswhich has true feeling and true vision and is freefrom the least taint of ego, pride and desire; let that grow.Then the Mother's consciousness will be established in you.Pride, conflict and the difficulties of the human nature willcome to an end.The more one thinks of the obstacles, the more powerthey have over one. One should open oneself to the Motherand think more of the Divine, of the light, peace andAnanda.This limitless peace, the more it increases, the better itis. Peace is the foundation of the yoga.When this empty state comes, remain calm and callthe Mother. Everyone has this empty state, only when itis full of peace, can it be beneficial. If there is unrest, itgives no result.
Experience, Direct Perception andRealisationExperiences are not useless — they have their place;in other words, they prepare the direct perception, help thebeing to open and bring knowledge of other worlds and differentplanes. Integral experience and establishment of thedivine peace, equality, light, knowledge, purity, vastness,Presence, experience of the Self, divine felicity, experienceof the universal consciousness (which destroys ego), desirelesspure divine love, vision of the Divine everywhere,etc. bring the true realisation. The first step leading to theseexperiences is the descent of peace from above and its firmfoundation in the being and all around it.** *These experiences are valuable and contain some truthand help one to progress in the sadhana. But these are notenough — what is wanted is the realisation, the divine peace,equality, purity, the descent and establishment of knowledge,power and Ananda of the higher consciousness —that is the real thing.** *Plants have a life and a consciousness. It is easy to
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.403exchange feelings with them.** *This feeling is very good. One has to feel what theMother is giving within — people make so many mistakesby looking at the outward appearance. They forget to acceptthe inner gift or are incapable of receiving it.** *The diamond light is the Mother's light at its strongest.It is only natural for this light to come out of the body ofthe Mother like this and fall on the sadhak if he is in agood condition.** *This to happen in the head means that the mind hasfully opened and accepted the higher consciousness.** *This is what is wanted — the external things going inwards,becoming one with the inner and accepting the innerattitude.** *It is good to look upon the body in this way. However,even if the consciousness does not remain confined to the
404Bengali Writingsbody and becomes vast and limitless, still one should considerthe body as a part of the consciousness and an instrumentof the Mother and one should transform the physicalconsciousness as well.** *It is a very good sign; the lower consciousness is risingto unite with the higher.** *This is your ÀjÜÀ cakra, that is to say, the centre forthe inner intelligence, thought, vision and will-power. Owingto the pressure, it has now opened and become luminousto such an extent that it has joined with the higherconsciousness and spread its influence throughout the being.No, it is not imagination and it is not false either. Thetemple above is the higher consciousness, the temple belowis the transformed consciousness of this mind, vital andbody — the Mother has come down and erected this templebelow and from there she is spreading her influence everywherewithin you.** *Good, the higher consciousness has to be brought downin this way, as a calm universalising of oneself, first in thehead (in the mental plane, then in the emotional vital andthe psychic in the heart), next in the navel and below thenavel (in the vital), finally in the entire range of the physical.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.405This change (in the back) is very good. Often attacksof this nature come from behind but if the Mother's forceand consciousness are there, they cannot enter any more.** *A white lotus signifies that the Mother's consciousnessis manifesting there.** *The place of the higher consciousness is above the head.It starts just above the head and rises upwards to infinity.You are experiencing the presence of the vast peace andsilence that are there. One has to bring down all this peaceand consciousness into the entire being.** *This greater plane may be the spiritual consciousnesswith the temple of truth in it. A connection has been establishedbetween your vital and that plane, and the higher forceis going up and down as if over a bridge.** *Many do not get the experience of the awakening ofthe Kundalini, some have it; the purpose of this awakening
406Bengali Writingsis to open up all the planes and join them to the higherconsciousness, but this purpose can be served by other meansas well.** *An emanation or a part of Her being and consciousnesscomes out of the Mother to each sadhak and as herimage and representative remains with him to help him. Infact, it is the Mother Herself who comes out in that form.** *You have to live above in the vastness you are experiencingand inside in the depths, you have to live within thatalone, — moreover, you have to bring down that vastnesseverywhere in nature, even in the lower nature. Then thetransformation of the lower and the external nature can bepermanently established. For, this vastness is the infinity ofthe Mother's consciousness.** *When the narrow lower nature is liberated into the vastnessof the Mother's consciousness, it will then be transformedto the very roots.** *If experiences are disclosed in speech or writing, thenthey decrease or stop. And this happens to many. That is
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.407why the Yogins never tell their experiences to anybody ortell only when they are firmly established. But if you tellthem to the Mother, they will not decrease, but increase.You must get settled in the habit of telling the experiencesto the Mother.** *The boy is God dwelling in your heart, and, no doubt,the Shakti is the Mother Herself.** *The wheel is turning. It means that the Mother's Forceis at work in the outer being — its transformation will takeplace.** *What you feel in the head is the physical mind, andwhat you feel below the navel is the lower vital.** *This kind of identification with the Mother is the truesign of liberation.** *Thus the transformation of the physical is possible when
408Bengali Writingsthe body is filled with the Mother's light.** *This experience is very beautiful and true. Every ÀdhÀrashould be a temple like this. What you have heard —that the Mother will do everything and that you must remainimmersed in her — is a great truth.** *The girls you mention in your letter are the powers ofthe Mother on different planes. Your experiences are verygood — your present condition is good — sadhana also isgoing on well. The difficulties come from the outer naturejust to disturb you. Never accept them.** *It is no imagination. The Mother has many personalities,each having a different form. They reveal themselvesat times in her body. The Mother comes down with lightand power in tune with her sari. For each colour representsa force.** *What you have seen is perfectly true. There is a centreof consciousness in the throat, and that is the centre ofthe externalising mind or the physical mental; that is to say,the mind that has the experience of speech, the mind that
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.409sees everything of the physical and is busy with it. Thelower part of the head and the mouth are in its possession.If this mind is connected with the higher or inner consciousnessand expresses them, then it is good. But it has a moreintimate connection with Muladhar which is the centre ofthe lower vital and physical consciousness. That is why ithappens so. It is very necessary to control that mind andspeech so that it can be accustomed to express the innerand the higher consciousness and not the inert and the lowerconsciousness.** *This kind of going down into the physical consciousnesstakes place in all the sadhaks, for without going downthe transformation of nature is difficult.** *It is a very good opening — the light of truth comingdown from the Sun is a truth high above the higher mind.** *The consciousness is opening towards the higher truth.The golden peacock is the victory of truth. The Mother'sForce is descending down to the physical. As a result, thegolden light is descending and you are advancing quicklytowards the Mother.** *
410Bengali WritingsThat part is the most unconscious which is behind thebody and becomes illumined last of all. What you have seenis true.** *Yes, what you have seen is correct. There are sevenlotuses or seven circles above the head. But unless the highermind is opened they cannot be seen.** *What you have felt is the infinite vast of the higherconsciousness, of something that is above. The head thatcomes circling down is of course not a gross physical head,but the mind-intellect. It goes up into the vast and comesdown that way.** *There are two states of void. One is physical, the inert(tamasic) material stillness within oneself. The other is thatwhich precedes the descent of a vast peace and the senseof the self of the higher consciousness. One has to see whichof the two has come, for both result in a stillness and theconsciousness is left void.** *The gifts of Maheshwari are peace, equanimity and thewideness of liberation. Because you need these things the
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.411Mother appears before you at your call.** *This is a union of your inner mind and the inner mindof the Mother. In the forehead is the centre of the mind.When union takes place, then it awakens an attraction inthe inner mind for the divine truth and it begins to rise.** *A constant good state, a constant inner vision of theMother do not fall to the lot of even the best of sadhaks.These can take place only when the sadhana has reachedthe stage of fulfilment. Every one has states of void as wellas of fullness. Even in the void one should remain calm.
Dependence on the Mother“How far have I come, how far yet have I to go?” —such questions are not of much avail. With Mother as Pilot,swim up-current. She will take you to your destinedport.** *The Mother alone is your destination. She contains everythingin herself. To have her is to have everything. If youlive in her Consciousness, there will be an automatic floweringof every other thing.** *The Mother's attitude never changes. It remains alwaysthe same. When a sadhak sees her according to his mentalideas, he finds her attitude changed. But this is not true.** *If there is ruin, how can there be transformation? Ratherthe old nature of the vital and of the body should be ruinedand not the vital and the body.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.413It is true that the Mother is in everybody and we shouldhave a relationship with her there. But that is no human orpersonal relationship; it is oneness with her vast unity.** *On one side is the increase of peace and the true consciousness;on the other, surrender. This alone is the realway.** *It is a wrong desire to destroy the vital — if the vitalis destroyed, the body cannot live; if the body does notlive, sadhana cannot be done.Perhaps, you have pulled down so much power thatthe body cannot bear it. Everything will become all right ifyou can remain a little quiet.** *You are not without the Mother Divine. The Mother isreally with you. It is to bring down the higher light and thehigher consciousness that a sadhak goes down to hell. Withthis belief go on with a steady heart. The light and consciousnessare sure to descend.** *The Mother is already within you. The work of Shaktiis going on behind the screen of the physical nature. Final-
414Bengali Writingsly with the Light of the Mother the screen will become transparent.** *One has to practise spirituality silently, calmly, fearlesslywith the constant belief that the victory of the Mother issure to take place.** *Who will go away? Those who have no sincerity, nofaith and trust in the Mother; those who look upon theirown imagination as something greater than the will of theMother, they might go away. But he who seeks the Truth,who has faith and confidence, who wants the Mother, hasnothing to be afraid of; even if there are a thousand difficulties,he will surmount them; if he has numerous defectsin his nature, he will rectify them; even if he falls, he willrise again and finally one day he will reach the goal of hissadhana.** *This is not the right attitude, your sadhana has not beenruined; the Mother has not abandoned you; she has neithermoved away from you nor is she displeased with you —these are vital imaginations and should not be given anyplace. Keep a simple and quiet confidence in the Mother.Without being afraid of the difficulties call in the Mother'sForce. All that you have received is inside; there will beeven further progress.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.415Remain quiet and conscious. Call the Mother, the goodcondition will return. To make full surrender takes time.Surrender all that you find still remaining over. Only thus,by repeating it constantly, the surrender becomes complete.** *Be always calm and let the higher Consciousness ofthe Mother descend into you — this alone will graduallytransform your external consciousness.** *Advance quietly by surrendering more and more. Whatevertransformation of the old is required will gradually beeffected.** *There is no sadhak, in spite of his being a child of theDivine, who has not numerous little defects in his nature.As soon as one becomes aware of them, they have to berejected; one has to aspire more ardently for the Mother'sForce so that these little defects of the nature may slowlybe eradicated; but faith, surrender and reliance on the Mothermust always remain intact. To get rid of these defects entirelyis a matter of time; one must not be disturbed becausethey are there.** *
416Bengali WritingsThis should not upset you. In the path of yoga such acondition invariably comes — when it is time to descendinto the physical consciousness and the subconscient, andit may last long. But the Mother is there behind the veiland she will reveal herself later on; this lower kingdom willbe transformed into the kingdom of light that is above —keep this strong faith and, by constantly surrendering all,advance towards the end of this stage that is full of difficulties.** *Relation with the outer world must be maintained butall that must remain on the outer surface. You should livewithin, close to the Mother and watch everything from there— this is what is wanted. It is the first step of the Karmayoga.Then from within conduct all external work with thehelp of the Mother's force. This is the second step. If youcan do this, then you will not have any further trouble.** *First of all, you must find the Mother within. Later on,when the external being comes under full control, you willconstantly feel her even there.** *This you should always remember, that if you go forwardwith full trust in the Mother, then whatever may bethe circumstances and the difficulties, however long a timemay be necessary, you will most certainly reach your goal
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.417— no obstacle, delay or adverse condition can mar the ultimatesuccess.** *In this sadhana just as you have to get rid of restlessness,so also sorrow must be given no place. You must relyon the Mother and advance with a steady heart and a quietand cheerful mind. If you have full trust in the Mother, thenwhere is the place for sorrow? The Mother is not far awaybut constantly near you. You must maintain this faith andknowledge.** *It is not right to assume from her outer appearance duringthe Pranam or Darshan that the Mother is pleased or displeased.People are constantly making this error that theMother is displeased, the Mother is severe, the Mother doesnot want me, she is keeping me away from her, etc. and somany other false notions; then yielding to despair they createtheir own difficulties on the way. Instead of doing allthis, maintain an unshakable trust in the love and help ofthe Mother within you and go forward on the path of sadhanawith a quiet and cheerful mind. Those who do thatare safe. When the difficulties come and the ego rises up,they are not touched; they say, “The Mother is there, whatevershe does is all right; though I may not see her for thetime being, still she is with me, all around me; I have nothingto fear.” This is what you should do. One has to maintainthis trust and continue to do the sadhana.** *
418Bengali WritingsThe condition must be such that the consciousness withinremains united with the Mother, her force works in the beingand the external consciousness acts as an instrument of thatforce. But this condition does not come fully or easily. Slowly,and by constant sadhana it becomes complete.
Inner Vision — Symbols — ColoursDuring the meditation, just as one can see differentscenes, one can also see writings. We call these writings“inscriptions or sky-writings”. They can be seen with eyesclosed or open.** *These are symbols — a white flower is a symbol ofconsciousness, the sun represents Knowledge or Truth, themoon stands for the spiritual light, the star indicates creation,fire symbolises tapasya, askesis or aspiration.Golden rose = love and surrender full of the true consciousness.White lotus = the Mother's Consciousness (Divine Consciousness).The cow is a symbol of consciousness and light. A whitecow means the higher pure consciousness.The child is your psychic being who is bringing out thetrue things from within you — the road is that of the HigherMind going up towards the Truth.** *There are five fires in the Vedic sacrifice. If the fiveare not there, the sacrifice is incomplete. We may say thatwe need these five fires in the psychic, the mental, the vi-
420Bengali Writingstal, the physical and the subconscient.** *The tree is the spiritual life within. Golden peacocks,sitting on every part of it, are symbols of victory of theTruth. The moon is the light of the spiritual force.** *The lotus situated above the head is the centre of theHigher Consciousness. Probably this lotus wants to bloom.The spirituality that began to shine in the vital was the halfmoon. There had been an eclipse of the moon. The greencolour means the true vital force. The sunrise here is themanifestation of the true consciousness in the vital plane.** *The moon = spiritual light.The elephant = strength.The golden elephant = strength of the true consciousness.Green is the colour of the light of emotions.** *The sun has many forms and light many colours. Thesun can equally be red, golden, blue or green, etc.Blue = higher Mind.Sunlight = Light of Divine Truth.
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.421Bright red = Divine Love or Force of the Higher Consciousness.** *The upward movement of the vital being is towardsthe Divine and the Truth. The power of Truth (golden light)and of the Higher Mind (blue light) has manifested and iscoming down and moving in that ascending vital consciousness.** *The blue light is mine, the white light is the Mother's.When the Higher Consciousness with its universality firstbegins to descend into the being, it is very natural to seeblue light.** *This is the Higher Consciousness above the mind fromwhere peace, light, force, etc. come — the white lotus isthe Mother's Consciousness, the red lotus is my consciousness— knowledge and light of the Truth are always there.** *Blue is the colour of the higher mind. Blue lotus: it isthe opening of that higher mind in your consciousness.** *
422Bengali WritingsWhite light is the light of the divine consciousness. Bluelight is the light of the higher consciousness. The silverlight is the light of spirituality.** *The snake is a symbol of energy. A higher energy standson the higher consciousness above the head.** *Water is the symbol of consciousness. What rises upis desire or the askesis of consciousness.** *It is my light if it is whitish blue. If pure blue, it is thelight of the higher knowledge.** *The significance of the colour of an orange is to haveunion with the Divine and to have the touch of a higherconsciousness.** *Muladhar is the inner centre of the physical. The pondis the opening or formation of consciousness. The red lotusis the symbol of Sri Aurobindo's presence in that con-
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.423sciousness and the rosy light signifies the descending lovein the inner physical.** *The snake is an energy of nature. Muladhar (physicalcentre) is one of its main seats. It remains asleep there in acoiled state. When awakened by sadhana, it unites itself withthe higher truth. With the descent of the Mother's Force ithas become golden, that is to say, filled with divine Truth.** *All these experiences are the symbols of earthly outernature.Red lotus = The Divine Harmony.Blue light = The higher consciousness.Golden Temple = The temple of the Divine Truth.Remain calm and quiet, then all these will slowly developin your outer nature and life as well.** *The white rose signifies loving surrender to the Mother.Its result will be the spread of light and truth in yourÀdhÀra. The white lotus means the Mother's fully awakenedConsciousness on your mental plane. The red-gold isthe radiance of the Supramental in the physical.
Devotion — Faith — RelianceDon't forget what I have said many times. Do yoursadhana in a calm and quiet manner without getting agitated.Then everything will slowly come right. Crying aloudis no good. Call upon the Mother calmly. Open yourself toHer. The more quiet becomes the vital the more steadilygoes on the sadhana without swerving.** *Sitting calm and quiet remember the Mother and openyourself to her. This is the rule of meditation.** *To do both is best. If it were possible to do sadhanafrom a distance, that would be the best, but that cannotalways be done. But the fact is that you have to do yoursadhana by creating a place of safety or a fort in the psychic— that is to say, rely on the Mother calmly and quietlywithout getting restless, say cheerfully that what she saysis right. These small imperfections are a greater obstaclethan big ones. But they have to be slowly brought out andimperfections turned into perfections. This cannot be doneall at once.** *
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.425So, it is not good to feel sorry and be impatient. TheMother's Force will gradually do everything.** *The straight road to truth is open in the heart. Whateveris offered goes up to the Mother and gets merged inher Truth and becomes all truth.** *Don't be afraid or upset. This is the way of Yoga. Youhave to get over the dark state; you have to remain quieteven in darkness.** *The tapasya is this: to be quiet, to call upon the Mother,to reject calmly restlessness, despair, desires and lusts.** *At the outset peace, truth, etc., get established within,then they turn into action.** *It is not right to fear the void. It is into the void thatthe divine Peace comes down. The Mother is always with-
426Bengali Writingsin you. But one cannot feel this unless truth, power andlight are there.** *Is it not a big boast that all this has happened only foryou? “I am very good, very powerful, everything is beingdone by me, without me the Mother's work cannot be done.”This is undeniably a kind of vanity.“ I am worse than theworst. Everything has come to a stand-still owing to myopposition. God cannot carry on his work.” This is, in anopposite way, another sort of vanity.** *Always remain quiet, calmly calling in the Mother's Forceand throwing aside all worry.
The Psychic BeingThe child is your psychic being. It is the difficulty ofthe outer nature that rises up and climbs down from thechest. It does not want to admit the inner truth and wantsto cover it up.** *That place is the place of the psychic being in the middleof the spine. What you have described are all the signs ofthe psychic being.** *Yes, the centre of man's consciousness is in the heartand there is the seat of the psychic being.** *That straight, illumined path is the real one. But it takestime to get to it. Once that path is reached, there will notbe much difficulty and hindrance.** *If you take to the path of the psychic and, like a child,lie on the lap of the Mother, then this kind of sex-impulse
428Bengali Writingsand so on can do nothing even if they attack. Finally theywill not be able to come.** *I have already given you answers to this sort of questions.Keep within your depths. Look at everything fromwithin. Don't look with your outer eyes. If you remain inthe outer consciousness, then you may make many mistakesunder the cloak of thought. The psychic being graduallybecomes strong within. It is the psychic being thatsees the truth and turns everything into its fullness.** *These experiences are good — this fire is the psychicfire — and the condition you have described in the psychiccondition into which nothing impure can come.** *Truly seen. The road of the psychic lies above in thetruth-consciousness. Centring round the psychic all the planesbegin to turn to the Divine in one and the same way. Thatroad leads upward. The little baby is your psychic being.** *That is what is wanted — the lotus in the heart shouldalways remain open, the whole nature should remain under
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.429the control of the psychic being. Thus a new birth can takeplace.** *Yes, this is the true psychic attitude. One who can havealways this state in all circumstances can go straight to one'sgoal.
Pride — Impurity — Grief — DespairWhen the consciousness becomes wide and universaland sees the Mother in the whole universe, then the egodoes not stick. Only your true being, which is the Mother'schild and her portion, rests on the Mother's lap.** *To be sure, we have not left you. When depressioncomes in then you brood over this kind of thought. At timesyou come to the outer consciousness and do not feel theMother. And simply because of that it is not proper to thinkthat the Mother has forsaken you. Once more go deep within,you will feel Her there.** *It means that the stamp of pride, ignorance and desireremains for a long time even in the good periods of goodsadhaks. But when the consciousness becomes purer — asit has begun to become in you — then the mixture of ignorancewill disappear.** *These difficulties are useless disturbances of the vital.One has to proceed silently along the path of spirituality.
X. 3. Letters to N. and S.431No quarter should be given to sorrow and despair.** *Of course, in this kind of talk much impurity of thevital can get in. Irritation and dislike towards the Mother,envy of others, depression, sorrow — these are the thingsone has to get rid of.** *Always one has to keep this condition, this true knowledge.One should see men and things with a spiritual sense,with the vision of the psychic and not in the pride of knowledge.
432Bengali WritingsPlanes of ConsciousnessFrom Muladhar down to the sole of the foot is calledthe physical plane. Below is the domain of subconscience.** *There are many planes above and below. But mainlythere are four planes below. They are the mental, the psychic,the vital and the physical. And above there are manyplanes, the Supermind and Sachchidananda being the highest.** *If it happens that you go down at all, bring down therethe Mother's light and power by your aspiration. Establishthe kingdom of the Mother below as it is above.** *When the consciousness descends into the physical, itdoes not mean that the results of all sadhana have gone,they really remain behind the veil. One has to bring downthe consciousness, the light and the power of the Motherinto the obscure physical. When these are established theformer state will not recur. But if you are perturbed, depressedand think that nothing can be done in this life andthat to die is preferable and so on, then it becomes an obstaclefor the consciousness, the power and the light to descend.That is why these wrong feelings have to be rejectedand you should depend on the Mother and silently aspireto Her.
XI. POETRY
The Mother AwakesIt is midnight; the world is asleep in silence,The Earth is asleep in the lap of darkness;Asleep are the heavens, breathless the wrathful winds;The stars twinkle not in the dense blackness of the clouds.The birds wrap their eyes with their wingsAnd rest self-absorbed in their nests;Animals wander not, nor are footsteps heard.Then the Mother awakes;The Mother awakes with a terrible cry.The Mother awakes; opens Her frightful eyes,As though a pair of suns.The Mother awakes, not a leaf moves;The still flame of the lamp is dying in the room:In the lonely paths of the city, in the fields and thewoodlands and the hillsPlunges in sleep all life.The surges of the sea-watersBreak not in laughter upon the shores:Utterly still, unmoving, the ocean is voiceless.Why then does the Mother awake?Who can tell what has She heard and is awake?In the night whose is the silent prayer that has awakened theMotherTo rise with a terrible cry?When the Mother fell asleep, who ever hopedThat even in the midst of blind darkness She will awake?
436Bengali WritingsSunk in the night, void of hope, the heart broken for good insorrowEven in sleep is startled to hear the fall of a leaf.The royal Fortune of the mightly Asura,Proud and cunning and overpowering,Has besieged the earth.Suddenly a terrible cry is heard, the cry of the Mother;Suddenly like the roar of hundreds of oceans is heard thevoice of the Mother;To awaken Her sons called aloud the MotherLike a thunder-clap.With a grieving heaving heart was there none awakeIn the darkest of night for the sake of the Mother?A few only with saffron robes covering their bodiesSat in the temple with the bare sword in hand,Devotees of the terrible Mother,To anoint with their own bloodThe Mother's feet, wakeful they passed the night.Hence rose the Mother:With a mighty thirst, in wrath awoke the Mother;With a lion's roar filling the universe awoke the MotherTo awaken the world.A raucous laughter spurts out of Her mouth, a lightning flashgleams in Her eyes;Frightful is the blood-red flower of Her anger,In wrath She swings in Her hands the heads of two titans.The Mother rises and sends out a grim invocation.Who art thou at this dead of night swinging the titan heads inThy hands?Thou sprayest rain of blood over the land.The two eyes are like hearths of fire; fearful is the Mother,Shaking the earth She roams about.
XI. 1. The Mother Awakes437With a loud roar “Arise! Arise!”Thy voice rises to chaseAll sweet indolence.It is our Mother!She comes, on Her forehead burns Her eye of death.Dancing to the rhythm of the clanging of Her necklace ofhuman skulls,Lo! the Mother comes.“Arise, arise,” a violent voice callsGods and titans and men, all,A cruel roar here, a high cry of joy there.It is my Mother!With burning eye of death upon Her forehead comes ourMother.Our Mother comes, the human skulls of Her garland danceto tune.In the midst of storm and battle, sword crashes againstsword, body to body resounding;Fire rains and rushes about in the fight, the skies aredeafenedWith all the fierce noises, the ears burst, the earth sways,Blood flows and flows free as though flowing streams.When, oh when shall we know the Mother?When Her call goes out like the ocean roarWiping off with Her mighty breath the whole kingdom of thetitans and the violent goddess comes smilingThen shall we know the Mother.The Mother, when She dances bathing in the stream offlowing bloodThen surely we know, it is the Mother awakened at last.
Living MatterI know notWhere I had wandered about and then reached afar thisdreamland:I found myself standing on the brink of a fluent river.Above, the vast empty pale azureFirm and high up. Here upon our globeTwin comrades Earth and Heaven everPlay their love-game intimate together.Green earth only looks upwardTowards her lover's face, shivers in intense delightIn the thousand tremblings of the leaves, among the coolgrasses.The blue sky holds in embraceThe whole body of his Beloved enveloping it with delight,Lifts up his high head, spreads aloft his laughter of love.This is the play here. In our realmThere is no cruel separation. But thereEarth is dying as though in grief, in fear,Left alone in an empty universe. Swallowed in that Infinite,Frightened by the heights, surrounded by nightmare,Lies the little human life. Limitless expanse of landSilent vast empty pale greyExtends the unbroken wideness of the lifelessnessOf the great Void. No tree is there,No grass, no stone, nor any human habitationCould one see. The eyes move ever forward, move ever,No end is there; yet though tiredI am unable to return! A cruel landscape in its cruel pullCarries away a prisoner as though to an enemy-land
XI. 2. Living Matter439Afar, afar into a bourneless worldIn the stilled infinity.I forced my eyes to returnTowards the other shore. It is hard stoneA fierce strength has moulded together, a long labour,As though the articraft of a titan. During the wild rainsOn the banks abroad spreading its body all over the skiesIn rude delight the titan has laboured,Happy at Nature's cruel game.Fancy dawned in him to make it still more cruel.Line after line it has carved smilingly on the stone.Like a huge skeleton lies the wet shore of the river,The mere bones as it were, bereft of flesh, of dead earth:It lies immemorially with no solace of last rites done for it,At that solitary end of things, on that river-verge.No bend is in view, no grass nor flower. Erect, proud,Firm, solid, despising all softnessGoes down into the water the lifeless heartless stone.Beyond afar, the desert land has moved lazilyTo unite with the stone. No softness,No love is there in the union, it is matter's love,Stone's kiss.I looked towards the stream.It flows in silent speed — the stream of dreamland;Asleep, mighty, calm, as though the violent life-forceIs imprisoned in Nature's arms on the crest of the Himalayas.Away lies the exit, the way out. Where the meadowMeets the stone, a narrow space, as thoughThe throat of hungry death, thereIn the land's perilous life-line, Death himself
440Bengali WritingsLay asleep like a python with his stone-figurePossessing the universe. With slow wide-moving speedProud of its long strides advances the dream-river.In its winding, the miraculous Vedic steed Dadhikra,God incarnate as life-force, bridled in his breast and face,Lifting his proud neck rushes on taking manOn heaven's path to the world of Truth. But on that wayIs this the cataract of Life's river flowing down?Is this the true consummation?It hurtles down like a sinner in an unmeasurable speedTowards a crueller country. The wailingOf the river adown comes into my ears as though from athousand sufferers!I looked about, my mind full of sadness,And thought, “Oh, the dead land! the still world!In the noise what a silence, in the speed what an immobility!Will ever man come to live in this inert country,Pour his own life-force and make it living!Is there no Purusha for this Prakriti?”Rejected, as if through fear, thought returnsInto her own dwelling. Motionless is the earth-life as ever.All on a sudden I woke up and looked within myself.With a startle I saw the inert realm alive,Alive the waters, alive the cruelEndless wasteland, even the sky up aboveConscious, alive the stretched neck of death, —The stone-figure has assumed the shape of a sleeping python.And the sound of the waterfalls carries afarThe mourning of a living soul. I understood why it is thereErect and proud the stone with no softnessNo pity, no happiness in it. I understood the hopeThe river nourishes in its bosom, flowing towards its vast endBeyond sight, as if the mighty life-force is in trance
XI. 2. Living Matter441Filled with its own force of speed. And I knew hereNone speaks of any other person, they know not each otherThey want not each other. Each is engrossed in trifles,Each is bound to himself, muses all alone,Each is confined to his own act and own mood.But when they stumble upon each other, they tremble within.The body, stunned and bound, thinks, “Lo, this is another IThat falls upon my body, this touch is full of joy!”That is the end of it. There does not bloom the secret yearning,Neither in speech nor in movement nor in thought.In my hopelessnessI see as though the whole world is a prison.All on a sudden a sweet voice sounded within me:“Look back, understand the hope of Prakriti,Understand the dead prison-house is a mother's heart,The hidden significance understand that is in this game.”I lifted my burning eyes, I saw afarIn the wasteland human figures. A boy and a girlEmbracing each other in mad delight in this expanse of matter,In this inert dreamland two living beings are there freeWith no fetters, rapt in trance in each other's delight.They disappeared from the sight. And that living matterWith no hope in it, it is bound in its own mood as always.But my mind freed out of the matter's touch,I recognised the intent of the veiled conscious Being,I captured in my spirit Nature's hidden desire.My eyes capturing the whole landscape, consoled I returnedTo the earthly sphere.
The Music of SilenceI have seized your soul, mighty Spirit of Time!Now the sky veers around, iridescent in the cataract ofsun-rays,Creating the magic city of limpid Even-tide,I wandered along river banks seeking to attune myheart-stringsTo the murmur and music of life voiced by her rippling waves:Night infinite descended with silent steps,Casting the shadow of her coronetUpon the wide sky, flinging the hem of her robe,Laying down the soft darkness upon earth's expanse.Her eyes lost in thought,In this vast Night, plunged in the contemplation of thesupreme Void,The dark Mother of the world in her ascetic mood lies inutter trance:She draws deep into her bosom all creatures stilled in peace,She plays her role of goddess Sleep,Comes and silences the Life's noise and its ceaseless play.Now is the honeyed banquet of stillness,The crowded stars like bees innumerable have flown out andgathered in the heavens:To smear with the rays of light the hearts of creatures,The luminous amphora of cooling ecstasy,The Moon, floats up in the night bejewelled with stars.In this darkness illumined by dream-moonlightThe little human soul of mineI have drowned into this infinite LifeAnd have heard the music of Silence.
Ravana VanquishedTitans, assembled here, the race supreme on this earthlyglobe!A city supreme bejewelled in this sea-girt isleOn a stony crest they shall set up in their own might,Fearless defying the King of the gods, in disregard of theworld.But listen! What is this rumourAll along the walls surrounding the city of Lanka,What is this tumult unprecedented in this land?Is this the roar of a puny army in laughter and jeer,Dancing over the head of the Mother of Rakshasas, revellingin pride and victory?But whom do I fear? Why am I confined, a prisoner in myown city?Mute I look at their mad dance, hear their loud boast?Protected by Varuna in this sea one can never cross,We warriors enjoyed the wide universe.A little island has proudly trampled over the whole mankind,And is the master of it, possessed as its ownThe wide earth with her million habitants.The haughty King of the gods, who names himselfThe imperial majesty of the triple worlds,Is himself imprisoned and works as a slave here today in ourLanka —It is through the might of your arms.Here are we the same Titans. Here is our city, Lanka.Is that might of the arms turned limp?Say, Titans, has that pride lost its brilliance?Has that power evaporated unnoticed
444Bengali WritingsAs we lay courting sleep at night without care?Who has stolen your blazing might?Is it Krishna or Mahadeva or any other bold enoughIn the still night trembling to enter Lanka while she layasleep?Oh! the irony of Fate! the unconquerable raceIs conquered at last in a petty skirmish!Petty man is victorious in Titan's land!I could understand if Rudra with his trident rushed in,His cosmic might teeming with demi-gods and demonsAnd for days and nights and centuries battled and batteredand broke throughAnd at last, Providence aiding, ravaged and destroyed thecity of Lanka.I could also understand if the great Vishnu spreadHis net of duplicity, cast his spell of darknessUpon the intelligence of the Rakshasas and stole awayThe Fair Royal Deity of Lanka.But we are conquered by the arms of Rama,Men have trampled upon the city of Ravana!Smile happily, O vanquished gods now in heaven,There is no fear of punishment for you any more.Smile, O Indra, in happiness, the lord of the gods is now freefrom slavery.I do not blame you if you take pride in this victoryThat should be a shame for you.Luminous is the city of Heaven, eternal Spring is there,Enjoy the garden of Paradise there through the mortal'sgrace.Ravana, enemy of the gods, is vanquished at the hands of ahuman being.Vanquished! Listen! O listen! on the mighty rock afar,
XI. 4. Ravana Vanquished445The fierce echo hears and laughs at the word:It is the daughter of the Mountain in this Isle of Lanka andher thundering voice.Vanquished! It rends the mind and heart to utter the word.A Titan's tongue cannot speak it out.A proud Rakshasa clad in iron-strength, with iron weapons,Not content with earthly victories I roamed in all the threeheavens,Not content, I assailed the very crest of the triple world.You say that race is vanquished! A mirage is this truth,False is this history.Brothers, friends and sons are killed; in my vast bejewelledhalls,Crowded with slaves and servants I wander all aloneIn search of friendly faces but in vain.The women's quarters are crowded too; there with a dry anddesert heartI look upon mothers who have lost their sons.In the Assembly Hall, in the battlefield,In the joyless taverns, in the insipid playfieldMy eyes in vain look for the glories of Lanka.Silent is the lion roar. Into these ears used to be pouredA torrent of delight, the trumpet call of victory,The wild war-cry, the leonine yell of my brotherKumbhakarna.But O Aksha, O Indrajit, why are you silent at this hour ofperil!Why does not your ever victorious voice delight our ears anymore!O my children, is the embrace of Death so fast, so sweet!Pardon me, Titans, for the first time today the earthUnder Ravana's power is wet with Ravana's tears.But nay, let them be slain, I am yet there.
446Bengali WritingsShall history write in its pages in iron letters as truthThat the world-conquerors at last were conquered by Rama,the little feeble man!This dark infamy shall never be written down in the historyof the Rakshasas.Let the world hear of the past history and wonderAnd declare that the son of Dasharath enjoyed a momentaryvictoryBecause of the negligence of the Rakshasas.Now, the wonderful news will spread, unique on earth,A thing to madden a hero's heart, that sons killed,Friends killed, killed all the great heroes,Yet Ravana, the Rakshasa, rises again with a roar,Leaps mad into battle, and a few of Lanka's menKill countless enemies in a few days,With little effort enthrall again the whole rebel world.Arise once more, wipe away the memory of grief,Wipe off from your heart all shadow of sorrows,Kindle fire of wrath in your blinded eyes.Forget pity, forget weariness, O heaven-conquering race.In an iron body, an iron mind and heart befits the race ofRakshasas.Once more we shall slaughter all and each.We shall cross the seas and depopulateThe land of birth of the son of Wind-god.With myriads of prisoners, slaves unnumberedWe shall repopulate to overflowing the isle of Lanka,Beget in the wombs of the enemy womanhood a new race ofchildren.But what has gone, let it go —We shall build again, we shall destroy again.We are not puny human hearts,Ravana's thirst is not quenched with scanty blood!The flaming grief dies not in this vast heart
XI. 4. Ravana Vanquished447Satisfied with a feeble revenge.A little enjoyment does not enfeeble the ardour of thesesenses.I am a Rakshasa, once more I shall conquerAll the world and enjoy the Infinite itself.Otherwise rest content, O jackals of Shiva's consort,Rest content, O you host of vultures —A deathbed for me shall I build up like a hillWith thousands and thousands of human and ape heads.Or I shall throw into devouring fire, like faggots,All the rich treasures, things of beauty and art of ancientLanka —I shall throw down all this peerless grandeur:This entire great city I shall light up into a titanic funeralpyre.The three heavens with Earth I have won in battle,I imprisoned all the gods, I enjoyed fame incomparable;I am as though the all-enveloping world-eye of the Sun,I burn at noon of mid-summer; afflicted by its heatThe world adores the scorching Fire.I shine over the universe, displaying my effulgence.As the sun reddens the blue of the firmament with its ownbloodAnd goes down at setting in all its glory,So shall I sink into the sea of Death.I was at dawn, during my sway, head uplifted,Fierce and radiant.And at the setting I will be there still,In death and destruction unconquerable, a fierce lustre and amighty blaze.
A ColloquyK INGWhat a formidable wild spot, a desolate landHave we chosen to live in! Pressed under hard rules we are;We have discarded our fondness for our native land;forbidden for usTo look upon cherished faces. Is it true thenThat this world is someone's play, to whose eyes the bondageof rulesIs only an image of his fancy? True then that there issomeoneUnder whose direction we — blinded by illusion —Wander in a field hemmed in by delusion on an unrealearth?There glimmers a city of mirage, light is but the rays ofdarkness,The wisdom of the wise is a dream's orderliness.A dense woodland is the earthly life,Thoughts there fly about like firefliesIn the darkness. Vainly did we think thenThat this utterance was the musing of hopelessnessOf one conquered in the battle of life, only a wailing of theweak.Now I see that wailing is true; it is the ultimate vision.Go hence, O happy dream; come thou, sorrow!An invincible teacher art thou, own brother of wisdom,The first-born from the womb of the great Delusion.Come, let me embrace you. It is just meetYou play with me in this dense forest,
XI. 5. A Colloquy449It is a fitting playground for the sorrow you are.In vain the human being dances aboutWith the short-lived couple, pain and happiness.Death will come and stay the dance.P RIESTJust at this hour art thou defeated in the battle of life,O King! In your burning heart is the utterance ofhopelessness.The cry of grief is in your voice and not the Knowledge ofBrahman.Other is that acquisition beyond the reach of the weak,A great truth attained by heroes only, hidden in the cavern.True it is that it is a dance, the earthly life.Whose dance is it? The Lord of the people is the master ofdancing.Embrace not sorrow but him, O King,Carry him with you, in battle after battle, flood with frenzyYour body and soul, the home of delight.Victory and defeat, the battle-field aloud with wailingsAre various footsteps only of the dancerOn a varying background. The king and the kingdomAre for the sake of the decorative beauty of the danceUpon the arena of the stage.K INGWith empty words you comfort me.The heart knows its own sorrows. Narayana dances?The demoniac nature dances in the chamber of illusion,It is the demon-girl's doll's play — she builds and breaksAlways the living dolls. When she sees a broken heart,She laughs, her curiosity satisfied. Illusion is true,
450Bengali WritingsTrue this desolate spot, true also the defeat.Sorrow is true. Happiness is not true upon this earth,Nor true is the kingdom. True it is that ignorance ispunished,Love is not true in this world filled with lamentation.P RIESTDelve then into your sorrowing heart and wallow in its slime,Probe into your suffering soul and there find the secret ofsorrow.Finally you will recognise Krishna, full of delight, full oflove.It is the play of the great Lover, this life upon earth.K INGThe love that kisses with the lips of thunder,The love that burns always with the agony of diseases,The love whose guise is sorrow and hate and death,That is of the lowest kind. Compassion is there in the humanheart;Creation is not kind, nor Nature, nor God.Man builds an image of his own compassion, a fanciful idolIn his own heart. That shadow he worships as God. There isBrahman.God is but a dream, another kind of dream,A false consolation created by the imagination of themiserable.P RIESTO King, through your utterance, I am witnessingKrishna-play
XI. 5. A Colloquy451And my body shivers in delight; I hearAs though Radha, the beloved, is chiding in the words ofyour mouth.Never shall I see his face nor hear his name,Nor shall I know that he exists any more.Such utterance in the mouth of a mother is the vain fancy ofan atheist,I understand. So I say it is not a mere consolation,O King! You will surely see my KrishnaManifesting again in a befitting guise:[Here one line of the Bengali manuscript is illegible.]T HE VOICE OF KRISHNAThe toy is mine. I have snatched it away and I have given itback againOnly to teach you that I am your Master.K INGMy heart has no trust in these empty words.Vainly human intelligence creates wordy brillianceIn order to dazzle one's own eyes. Have done with thesewords.P RIESTI obey, but remember, O great King,What the Vaishnava says.K INGIn vain is such an address.The tiger is the king of this forest, not I.
452Bengali WritingsAs to a beggar, the forest deity doles outScanty fruit and roots — just to appease the hunger.I roam about without my army, abandoned by relatives.The name king sounds a taunt to my ears.He is not a king who is abandoned by friends in danger,One who lies tired in this desolate spot.P RIESTThere are your subjects, we are there. Always everywhereYou are the king, you are my father,In no other terms will you hear me address you.Neither in the woods nor in the city.Incomplete
A Poetic FragmentWho says our Mother is a beggar-woman,the whole universe is her foothold,Her sons are the armies of Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs.The song of Vande Mataram infuses strength into Bengal.Even till today the glory of Shivaji is awake in Maharashtra.Each mountain-rib of hers embodies millions of herinvincible sons,The band of the Bhils, Gonds and Kharwar and free Nepal,Malias and Khesias and Garos — how to enumerate all —The Mughals, Pathans and Nagas — the sands of the beach.There is no end to the treasure that is Mother's children,Sindhu and Ganges and their sisters — the Mother clad inpaddy green.Even today Riks and Samas resound in the Vindhyas andHimalayas,Till this day our Mother remains unreachable to us in thehigh hills and spring-heads.
CONTENTSI. HYMNSII. STORIESHymn to Durga(Dharma, No. 9, October, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . 3Hymn to Dawn(Archives, April 1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Dream(Suprabhat, 1909-1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The Ideal of Forgiveness(Dharma, No. 26, February, 1910) . . . . . . . . 21III. THE VEDAThe Secret of the Veda(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Agni — The Divine Energy(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35The Rigveda(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42IV. THE UPANISHADSThe Upanishads(Dharma, No. 15, December, 1909) . . . . . . . 57The Integral Yoga in the Upanishads(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60The Isha Upanishad(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63V. THE PURANASThe Puranas(Dharma, No. 17, December, 1909) . . . . . . . 71
VI. THE GITAThe Dharma of the Gita(Dharma, No. 2, August, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . 77Asceticism and Renunciation(Dharma, No. 3, September, 1909) . . . . . . . . 81The Vision of the World Spirit(Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910) . . . . . . . . 86The Gita: An Introduction(Dharma, Nos. 7-9, 1909-1910) . . . . . . . . . . 91The Gita: Text — Translation(Dharma, No. 10, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Sanjaya's Gift of Divine Vision(Dharma, Nos. 11-18, 1909-1910) . . . . . . . . 117The Gita: Text — Translation (2) Chapter Two(Dharma, Nos. 19-24, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151VII. DHARMAThe Chariot of Jagannath(Prabartak, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Three Stages of Human Society(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Ahankara(Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909) . . . . . . . . 179Integrality(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Hymns and Prayers(Dharma, No. 24, February, 1910) . . . . . . . . 184Our Religion(Dharma, No. 1, August, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . 189Maya(Dharma, No. 3, August, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . 194Nivritti(Dharma, No. 12, November, 1909) . . . . . . . 201Prakamya(Dharma, Nos, 17 and 18, 1909-1910) . . . . . 205
VIII. NATIONALISMThe Old and The New(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213The Problem of the Past(Dharma, No. 6, September, 1909) . . . . . . . . 215The Country and Nationalism(Dharma, No. 14, December, 1909) . . . . . . . 224The True Meaning of Freedom(Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . 227A Word About Society(Vividha Rachana, 1955). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Fraternity(Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910) . . . . . . . . 232Indian Painting(Dharma, No. 25, February, 1910) . . . . . . . . 237Hirobumi Ito(Dharma, No. 10, November, 1909) . . . . . . . 239Guru Govind Singh(Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . 241National Resurgence(Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909) . . . . . . . . 243Our Hope(Dharma, No. 20, January, 1910) . . . . . . . . . 249East and West(Dharma, No. 22, January, 1910) . . . . . . . . . 253IX. TALES OF PRISON LIFETales of Prison Life(Suprabhat, 1909-1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Prison and Freedom(Bharati) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320The Aryan Ideal and the Three Gunas(Suprabhat, 1909-1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331New Birth(Dharma, No, 2, August, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . 342
X. LETTERSLetters to Mrinalini (1905-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349A Letter to Barin (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359Letters to N. and S. (Published, 1951 & 1959). . 376Obstacles and Difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376Parts of the being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390Foundations of Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397Experience, Direct Perception and Realisation 402Dependence on the Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412Inner Vision — Symbols — Colours . . . . . . . 419Devotion — Faith — Reliance . . . . . . . . . . . . 424The Psychic Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427Pride — Impurity — Grief — Despair . . . . . 430Planes of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432XI. POETRYThe Mother Awakes(Archives, April 1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435Living Matter(Archives, December 1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438The Music of Silence(Archives, April 1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442Ravana Vanquished(Archives, April 1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443A Colloquy(Archives, December 1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448A Poetic Fragment(Archives, April 1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
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