(2095,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>The Novel Alchemy</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b>\r\n<font size=\"4\">The Novel Alchemy</font></b></p>\r\n		<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>ACCORDING to the Bible,\r\nGod said, &quot;Let there be Creation&quot;, and the Creation came. God was\r\npleased, not only because the Creation came but also because the Creation was\r\nall-perfect, with nothing to change: it was like an edifice firm and solid and\r\nflawless, it would endure eternally firm and unchanging, fixed in every detail\r\nand exactly as it was on the first day.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nRishis of the Upanishads give us a slightly different version. God was not at\r\nall pleased with the first sketch and with the forms of animalkind created. He\r\ntried a second time, and again it failed to please. After several essays of\r\nthis nature, He was at last pleased with His work when man came into being. Now\r\nit was truly well done, <i>sukrtam etat.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nfact, Creation is a continuous process, a progressive movement. The earth is\r\nmoving forward every <span class=GramE>moment,</span> it is assuming constantly\r\nan ever-new garb. This story of evolution has been one of the supreme\r\ndiscoveries of modern man in the field of knowledge. It has opened the door to\r\nmany hidden mysteries, provided a solution to a number of problems.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\ndeepest of all mysteries, the most complex and recondite of all problems of\r\nCreation is the origin and prevalence of suffering. Man\'s first and persistent\r\nquery has been prompted by this; he has been subjected to the attacks of the\r\nthree kinds of suffering, hence he wants to know, <span class=SpellE><i>duhkha-trayabhighatat</i></span><i>\r\nJijñasa.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nquestion is: if there is God, if He is all-merciful, if the<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 285<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Power or Being in charge of\r\nthe created universe is a benign and not a malign Power, <span class=SpellE>s<i>iva</i></span><i>\r\n</i>and not <span class=SpellE><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-style:italic\'><i>asiva</i></span><i>,\r\n</i>then why is our earth afflicted with disease and suffering and sorrow and\r\npain? Why are mortals in fear of the death that overhangs all? Not God but\r\nSatan then is the creator and supreme controller?</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A\r\nwell-known modern western thinker and sage <span class=GramE>has</span> propounded\r\na novel theory of his own on this problem. He too has suggested that the world\r\nis not something that is static with all things fixed and settled for good. The\r\nworld is in movement, and the movement is ever forward, towards a higher\r\nconsciousness that progressively unfolds its riches. As first results of this\r\nurge towards the heights&quot; there have appeared all sorts of cracks and\r\nrifts, acute pulls and strains; these are translated into sorrow and suffering,\r\ndeprivation and death. The earth or human society is not like a well trimmed\r\ngarden, all has not been selected and arranged and put in its proper place\r\naccording to a pattern and given a permanent shape. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:\r\nbold\'>It<b> </b></span>is on the contrary like a wild bush with its innumerable\r\nshrubs and trees which have been continuously growing. So many of the dead\r\nleaves and branches have been shed, so many flowers have dried up. But new\r\ntwigs are constantly forming on top and radiating their beauty of green leaves\r\nand flowers in bloom. Sorrow and suffering, pain and misery are like those\r\ndried-up and discarded flowers and leaves and twigs. These are concomitant\r\nresults of the original total movement, perhaps even an inevitable necessity.\r\nBut even from the individual\'s point of view this seeming waste and destruction\r\nis no sign of any futility, for through each individual there has been flowing\r\nthat upward stream of consciousness, each individual has within himself an\r\nimpulse and an endeavour to move along that stream and as an aid to it, no\r\nmatter what outer form it might take. Or else the thing may be compared to the\r\nwork of soldiers in a war. The common aim of war is victory. Every soldier has\r\nan equal self-devotion, &quot;energy and steadfastness<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 286<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>to</span>\r\nsecure this victory. Nevertheless, all do not survive till the end, many have\r\nto give up their lives, and on this immolation of the many is founded the\r\nultimate victory. So, in the evolution of man on earth, the first step is\r\nrepresented by sorrow and suffering, misery and pain; these are the signs and\r\nsymbols of the upward urge. Those who put up with suffering and sorrow, misery\r\nand pain, to the extent these can be <span class=GramE>borne,</span> do not do\r\nso wholly under a sense of unwilling submission. The inner core of this\r\nsuffering is a keen desire and urge and capacity to act as an instrument and\r\nsupport of the upward urge. Even from the point of view of the individual what \r\nappears in a sense a simple negation is in truth a thing of deep- import. \r\nTeilhard de Chard in has thus seen a spiritual meaning in the Christian\'s \r\nbearing of the cross; the cross-brings in the end a realisation of eternal life. </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nAurobindo too has given us a full theory and history of suffering. In one\r\nplace, however, he has said this about earthly suffering and sin: those who are\r\nthe worst sinners, the thieves and murderers too are deserving of our salute,\r\nfor the reason that they are the ones who have drawn upon themselves the load\r\nof sin, it is these unfortunate ones who have swallowed up most of the poison\r\nthat has come out of the churning of the ocean of life.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>These\r\nwords of Sri Aurobindo seem to lend support to the view of the Western thinker.\r\nBoth echo an almost identical feeling. But what Sri Aurobindo says here is only\r\na fraction of all he has to say on the subject, it is not his final word,\r\nwhereas in the view of the Western sage, sorrow and suffering, misery and pain\r\nappear as ultimate truths at least for the individual, and for the ordinary\r\nlife of the common multitude; this manner of complete self-immolation of the\r\nindividual serves a collective end, like the self-sacrifice of an army or a\r\nmultitude of soldiers in a war. But in Sri Aurobindo\'s view, even for the\r\nindividual, for any individual, this consummation in self-sacrifice is not the\r\nfinal end; for the individual too this is merely an episode in one or more<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 287<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>of</span>\r\nhis lives. Through this self-sacrifice, every individual goes on developing himself\r\nalong with the development of the collectivity, and this is done not by losing\r\nor abolishing oneself. No one is rejected or lost, like the dried-up leaves or\r\nflowers. For the individual too there are levels of progression. There is not\r\nmerely one class of fortunate people who pass into the highest realisation as\r\nsuggested by the Christian thinker and have won a seat alongside of God in a\r\nheavenly consciousness. All are coming up gradually in their footsteps and will\r\nparticipate in an identical realisation. It cannot be regarded as ordained of\r\nGod that the upward movement .and supreme attainment of one small section\r\nshould be founded involuntarily or however willingly on the self-immolation of\r\nanother bigger group. If evolution has to proceed through the rejection and\r\nsacrifice of the many, then does it not imply in the end the survival of the\r\nfew? Whatever the size or the integrality of those few, it still remains only a\r\nportion of the whole.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nis true that sorrow and suffering, old age and death are facts of an earlier\r\npart, that is to say, the first stage of the evolutionary process. When in the\r\nbeginning of things darkness was enveloped in darkness, <i>tamo <span\r\nclass=SpellE>asit</span> <span class=SpellE>tamasa</span> <span\r\nclass=SpellE>gudham</span> agre, </i>when all was <span class=GramE>inconscient\r\nocean</span>, <i>apraketam salilam, </i>when the dense unconsciousness of\r\nmatter ruled at the beginning of creation, the first stirrings of the\r\nlife-force that burst through this solid darkness took form as a pressure of\r\ndeep and acute pain. It is this forceful impact of pain that shakes and breaks\r\nthe dark foundations. It is through the many forms of suffering that\r\ninconscience and ignorance gradually become consciousness and knowledge.\r\nFinally, in man there awakens the spiritual urge under the blows of suffering,\r\nand it is in the transformation of suffering that the spiritual consciousness\r\nfinds its growth. Not merely to escape from suffering but to transform it is\r\nthe real problem and the greater achievement. What the poet calls &quot;an\r\nescape from suffering in the midst of suffering&quot; is the self-satisfaction\r\nof the martyr<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 288<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>and</span>\r\npatriot and soldier in annihilating self. This may be described as the way of\r\nthe heroic seeker, <i>vira-bhava, </i>but of a different nature is\r\nthe work of the more godly seeker, <i>devabhava. </i>The latter no doubt\r\nhas to pass through suffering, but he does not lose himself there, nor does he\r\nfind his sole satisfaction in ending it. He crosses beyond suffering to another\r\nshore, through a tunnel as it were, and emerges into <span class=GramE>a\r\nlaughter</span> of light, a satisfaction of delight. The final end or significance\r\nlies not in the suffering itself nor even in the virtues of courage, ability,\r\naspiration and steadfastness which are gained through or at the cost of\r\nsuffering. Suffering is in reality a form of delight, although a distorted <span\r\nclass=GramE>form</span> of delight. A delight which is so keen as to become\r\nunbearable appears in the form \'of suffering. Again, enter into the inner unfathomable\r\ncore of suffering and you will see and feel that it is not suffering but\r\ndelight, the supreme form of delight, just as on piercing through the veil of\r\nthe cosmic illusion one finds standing behind only the sole eternal <i>Brahman.\r\n</i>Death too is not the annihilation of the individual, not an end, but a\r\nchange of-form and outward appearance. This change has been an inescapable\r\nnecessity for further progress. At the final end, suffering ceases to exist, it\r\ntoo is transformed into delight. Death too ceases to be, it too finds its\r\ndeath; what remains is only immortality, an immortal life.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Chardin\r\nhas been speaking of the gradual unfolding and realisation of a spiritual\r\nconsciousness. It is a constant one-pointed upward movement, the being and\r\nconsciousness of earth gradually moving higher and higher as a collective\r\nentity through a new creation that is growing more and more pure and integral. In\r\nthis way this consciousness has been overpassing the limits of earth and the\r\nmaterial universe and moves into a different kind of world, creates or becomes\r\na different kind of world. It is as if a ball of fire throwing its tongues of\r\nflame as it breaks through the barrier of matter and soars up on high, and the\r\nmore it grows immense and clear and attains its true form, the more it burns\r\ngradually<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 289<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>to</span>\r\nashes with its massive concentration of heat whatever remains of the old\r\ncreation. It seems that in the view of Chardin, the manifestation and\r\nestablishment of an integral spirituality will one day set aflame the whole\r\nearth and the material body with its physical base. It is as if another world,\r\nbut once it manifests here in full, its fiery energies will turn the old earth\r\nto ashes, perhaps reduce it to its primordial form. A school of scientists too\r\nhold the view that at the beginning of creation there was an infinite expanse\r\nof ether charged with intensely hot particles. The universe had neither\r\ncohesion nor a settled form, it was a gaseous nebula. And in its final end too\r\nit will have to go back to that formless state. The material world is simply a\r\nmould for the spirit. This mould or basis will be gradually rent asunder and\r\nbroken and scattered before the reign of spirit manifests and establishes\r\nitself. Will it then be somewhat like the eruption of a volcano? The upward\r\nurge and movement of evolution is as if a volcanic peak slowly raising its\r\nhead; as it grows in energy and heat within, the peak gets detached and is\r\nthrown into a liquid flood of lava which proclaims its flaming glory by\r\nsweeping aside and drowning and destroying all else; Will the old give place\r\nto the new and the unmanifest along these lines?</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>What\r\nis this world that is to be the fruit of the new spiritual realisation? Where\r\nwill it be? It would appear to be a supraphysical and transcendent realisation.\r\nChardin has clearly suggested that the new earth will not be anything like a\r\nplanet renovated into a &quot;sidereal&quot; body illumined by its own light\r\nand not that of another. It will not be a thing of the gross material world at\r\nall. It would rather come into being as if by rending through the old earth and\r\ndestroying it, almost as a result of a universal catastrophe, <i>pralaya. </i>Would\r\nit then be something<span style=\"background-color: #FFFFFF\"> non</span>-material? If it were to be made up of pure\r\nconsciousness, then it might be termed the realisation of <i>Brahman, </i>the \r\nBrahmic status. Is then evolution of the manifested universe moving towards this \r\nfinal des<span class=SpellE><span\r\nclass=GramE>truction</span> or dissolution? </span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 290<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span class=SpellE>Or else is the new world to\r\nbe conceived as something belonging to the supra-physical? But the\r\nsupra-physical world too has its planes, and this new world may be the field of\r\na spiritual realisation somewhere among these planes beyond life, mind and the\r\nabove-mind. The Vedantins speak of the world of <span class=GramE>Brahman,</span>\r\nthey aim at realising the grand status of <i>Brahman, brahma-loke\r\nmahiyate. </i>But theirs is. <span class=GramE>something</span> outside\r\nthe created universe, beyond manifestation. The Vaishnavas have spoken of a\r\nhighest spiritual world, <i>go-taka, </i>which is within the manifestation. The\r\nChristians too speak of their Heaven. We also hear of the world of Shiva, the\r\nworld of Vishnu; these too are not entirely outside the manifestation or\r\ncreated universe. Does then Chardin aim at something overmental, utterly beyond\r\nand above the mind?</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nthe vision of Sri Aurobindo, the process of creation is not merely an ascent\r\nand upward <span class=GramE>movement,</span> it has a movement of descent too.\r\nThere is not merely a crossing of levels upon levels, not merely a progressive\r\npurification, enlargement, deepening, intensification and sharpening of the\r\nconsciousness and status; the aim is to transfigure all in the image of the\r\ndivine being. This process involves a going upward and a, descent with a view\r\nto reshape the lower reaches anew in the mould of the heights, not a final\r\nextinction, <i>nirvana, </i>in the world of <i>Brahman </i>by a rejection\r\nof all individuality and collectivity. No level of the created universe has to\r\nbe bypassed or abolished, not even the lowest material plane. On the contrary,\r\nthe aim is to take one\'s stand on this material plane itself and transmute it\r\ninto a new matter, even as the secret aim of the old alchemists had been to transmute\r\nthe base metal into gold.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And\r\nwe know how, thanks to modern science, gross solid matter now appears before\r\nour eyes in its true form of electricity and light; but it remains matter all\r\nthe same in spite of its possessing the properties of light and electricity. <span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>If<b> </b></span>we will probe a little\r\ndeeper into its secrets, matter acquires<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 291<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>the</span>\r\nattributes of consciousness, but even then it may still remain matter.\r\nMateriality need not abolish itself in order to become consciousness. The\r\nspiritual world too need not transcend matter; the establishment of the spirit\r\nwill not mean the extinction of the material world in a final dissolution.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This\r\ntwofold movement, this dual line of ascent and descent, carries forward the\r\nentire creation, including in it man on earth as a collectivity as well as all\r\nthe parts of creation, through an integrated harmony, not through any\r\ninescapable and huge conflict and destruction and dissolution.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>As\r\nthe Vedic Rishis would say, Agni the Mystic Fire aspires to the heights, its\r\nflames continue to rise upwards. It purifies and brightens and adds keenness\r\nand strength to the consciousness and bears it upward through level after\r\nhigher level until it reaches a proximity to and <span class=GramE>even</span>\r\nan identity with the Supreme, in the very home of the gods. But Agni has an\r\nassistant and counterpart in Parjanya, the Rain-God. The work of this godhead\r\nis to help in the descent, the bringing down of the waters of heaven, as in a\r\ndownpour of rain. To establish here on this earth what has risen to the heights\r\nand exists <span class=GramE>there,</span> is the supreme and integral\r\nachievement.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nspiritualised body of man will not be simply a spiritual consciousness. It\r\nwill be all-conscious no doubt, and yet its substance will still be matter. To\r\nprepare this new earth-matter will be the novel alchemy of the new age.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 292<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"59\" height=\"24\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-40_The Novel Alchemy','','publish','closed','open','','40_the-novel-alchemy','','','2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/40_the-novel-alchemy/',0,'post','',0),(2096,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>My Professors</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<h1 align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font size=\"4\">My Professors</font><o:p></o:p></h1>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span style=\'font-size:\r\n14.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(I)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>My professors at college\r\nwere giants, Olympian gods all. They are memorable names in the fields of\r\nscholarship, learning and teaching. Of these, J. C. Bose, P. C. Ray, Percival, M.Ghose and our Principal P. K. Roy were mature elderly men; among the younger\r\ngroup were Harinath De, Prafulla Ghose, Khagendranath Mitra, and a few others\r\nwho will appear in this story later.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All\r\nthese men possessed a special gift for which they deserve admiration. Learning\r\nand teaching ability are qualities not so rare, many teachers have them. But\r\nthe quality for which our ancient teachers were known as preceptors, <i>guru, </i>is\r\nsomething unusual: that is the power of influence, the touch of an awakened\r\nsoul. The true quality of a teacher does not He in what mysteries he has taught\r\nthe disciple or how deep has been his exposition. How far has he evoked with\r\nhis own personality the inner spirit of his disciple? – that is the question.\r\nWe find this in the records of our ancient tradition. A disciple comes to the\r\nteacher for the knowledge of Brahman, <i>brahmavidya. </i>The teacher,\r\ninstead of giving him any instruction or explanation of any deep mystery, asks\r\nhim simply to repair to the forest and tend the kine for a while. \'For a while\'\r\nmeant quite a few years in fact – as in the Gautama-Satyakama episode of the\r\nChhandogya Upanishad! As we all know, here in the Ashram, the Mother has often\r\ngiven us to clean the dishes and not engage in study. <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\ngreat men with whom we studied had this gift in large<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 429<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>measure, at least many of\r\nthem. Percival taught us Shakespeare. He never expounded in full the meaning\r\nof words and phrases. This was done in detail by Manomohan Ghose, although he\r\ntoo did this only during the first two years of college; for we were then just\r\nfresh from school and he had to explain everything in detail, so that we had no\r\nneed of any other help, not even of a dictionary. But, from this point of view,\r\nthere was no one, the students thought, who could match \'Professor J. N.\r\nDasgupta. He was actually a History man, but he was given to teach English as\r\nwell. The boys would say, the naughty ones perhaps, that Dasgupta left us in no\r\ndoubt or uncertainty as to the meaning anywhere, so he would dictate,\r\n&quot;father means the male parent\'.\'! Percival did not act as a lexicon. He,\r\ndwelt only on such passages as had any complexity or dramatic intent, and he\r\nwould convey the inner sense by his manner of reading. I remember a passage in\r\n<i>King John, </i>where a single monosyllable, &quot;O!&quot; is uttered by a\r\ncharacter. Percival omitted to read it, his only comment was, &quot;Only a\r\ngreat actor can utter this word.&quot; We read Burke with him. He would turn over\r\npages after pages of the huge volume, with occasional sentences as to the\r\nwriter\'s drift; this would help bring out <i>the per</i>sonality of Burke, the\r\nmould of his thought. Percival\'s figure lives clearly in my mind. He always\r\nwalked with his back erect, sat in his chair in the same posture. I have never\r\nseen him bend or sway. He would sit immobile and straight, his head high up on\r\na stiff neck; only the words came out of his mouth as from an oracle.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Manomohan\r\nGhose not only gave his explanations and comments, he also helped us in\r\nappreciating poetry. He taught us <i>The Princess. </i>This was his comment on\r\nthe book. &quot;You know what this work is like? If Tagore had cared to write a\r\npoem on female emancipation, it would have been something like this book of\r\nTennyson\'s. But even in this arid expanse there are some oases, as for instance\r\nthese charming lines:<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 430<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:56.7pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:-7.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Tears,\r\nidle tears, I know not what they mean, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:56.7pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:-7.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Tears\r\nfrom the depth of some divine despair <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:56.7pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:-7.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;</span>Rise in the heart and gather to the\r\neyes.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nwas lucky to have his comments on two of my own compositions. One was on my\r\nvery first essay in college. We were asked to do a home-work, the subject given\r\nwas &quot;Imitation&quot;. He explained what it meant: I still recall he gave\r\nas an illustration the protective mimicry of birds. I wrote out a very full\r\nessay, dwelling first on the virtues of imitation, next on its drawbacks. I\r\nbegan the second part of my essay by saying, &quot;But Janus has his other face\r\ntoo.&quot; I had at the time just heard about the god Janus. You know who is\r\nJanus? He is the two-faced god of ancient <st1:City><st1:place>Rome</st1:place></st1:City>.\r\nHe was also known as a god of war, war and peace being his two faces. The doors\r\nof his temple were opened in times of war, they were closed during peace. So he\r\nsymbolised the door; indeed the word in Latin means the door, through which one\r\ncan pass this way or that. The month of January derives from the name of this\r\ngod, as this month faces both the old year and the new. Anyway, the professor\r\nwrote on my composition, &quot;First-class essay.&quot; You can well understand\r\nhow elated I felt.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nsecond time it was probably just after I had come to the Degree class. In a\r\ntutorial class he set an essay to be written on the spot. We were given the\r\nchoice of a number of subjects. I chose &quot;Self-Realisation or\r\nGod-Realisation&quot;. I do not now remember which of the two I supported, Self\r\nor God! Perhaps I said that Self-Realisation really meant God-Realisation, for\r\nthe Self was nothing but an illusi\'on. Or did I say that to realise God was\r\nnothing but Self-Realisation, for God was nothing, Self alone was the reality?\r\nI must have introduced a lot of such metaphysical stuff. This brought the\r\nfollowing comment from the professor: &quot;He is one of those generalisers who\r\nfight shy of facts and figures.&quot; I could see these &quot;facts and\r\nfigures&quot; clearly illustrated in the work of my neighbour. Next to me sat\r\nNaren Laha (now<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>well-known as Dr. N. N. Law). </p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page - 431<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I cast a furtive glance to see what he had written. He had chosen\r\n&quot;Bankimchandra&quot; as his subject. I found he had serially classified\r\nthe collected works of Bankim with a full tabulation of their good and bad\r\npoints. Here was a shining example of clear &quot;facts and figures&quot;, and\r\ncomplete statistics.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:15.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nis another amusing anecdote about this Naren Laha; it relates to another\r\nprofessor of ours, Harinath De. De was then a comparatively junior man just\r\nreturned from <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nOne day he mentioned in class that before he left for <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nhe had kept a page mark in a book he had been reading in the college library\r\nand that the book must still be there with its page mark, exactly as he had\r\nleft it. I went to the library to search out the book and could verify the\r\ntruth of his remark, though I cannot now tell you what the book was about. In<b>\r\n</b>his teaching he was noted for parallel passages; he would bring in heaps\r\nof quotations from passages of similar thoughts. He also prepared a book of\r\nNotes on these lines, although he once himself admitted in class that the Notes\r\nhad been written at an immature stage with the sole object of showing off his\r\nlearning and that all those parallel passages were really unnecessary. This\r\nHarinath De happened to be our examiner in English at the Annual Test, and in\r\nhis hands our Naren Laha, a good boy, an exceptionally good boy in fact,\r\nreceived a big zero. This left us gaping and we had no end of fun. We decided\r\namong ourselves it must be credited to drink. I need not hide the fact that De\r\nhad been addicted to alcohol, but that had no adverse effect on his character\r\nor learning. He was simple and easy in his manner and very sociable. And as for\r\nhis learning, it was a veritable ocean. He was proficient in about two dozen\r\nlanguages; whatever language he offered for an examination, he always got a\r\nfirst class first. Greek and Latin he had read with Sri Aurobindo; he knew Sri\r\nAurobindo.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:15.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nyoungest of all our teachers of English was Prafulla<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 432 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Ghose. He had just passed\r\nout of the University. Precisely because he was a raw young man, he could\r\ninfuse into his feelings and attitude, his manner and language, a degree of\r\nwarmth and enthusiasm. One day he asked a question in class. One Kiran Mukherji\r\n(he was first in English in his B.A. and M.A. and a Greats scholar at Oxford\r\nlater) stood up and gave a fine answer. .But Prafulla Ghose remarked, &quot;I\r\nsee the Roman hand of the master&quot;, that is to say, the answer had been\r\ngiven after getting hold of Percival\'s Notes on the point.¹ It seems I came\r\nunder his special favour, somehow. Two of us once took part in a recitation\r\ncompetition. I do not now recall exactly what was the particular piece of which\r\npoet or dramatist. Very probably, it was from Scott\'s <i>Lay of the Last\r\nMinstrel, </i>the piece beginning:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A stark\r\nmoss-trooping Scot was he.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:280.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Prafulla\r\nGhose and an Englishman named Tipping, another teacher of English, were the\r\njudges. They listened to our pieces and Tipping decided in favour of the other\r\nboy. He being the senior man, and an Englishman at that, it was his verdict\r\nthat prevailed. Prafulla Ghose sent for me afterwards and expressed his opinion\r\nthat Tipping had not done justice to me. I believe my competitor spoke English\r\nwith a slightly Anglo-Indian accent, like the one our educated people in\r\nCalcutta used to affect once or do even now in imitation, and that must have\r\nsounded better in Tipping\'s ears than my &quot;native&quot; Bengali\r\npronunciation.<span style=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nthat we have been discussing Mr. Tipping, let me add a little more about him.\r\nAs a teacher his speciality lay in drawing sketches. That is to say, he tried\r\nto present before the students in a concrete, living manner any scene described<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt\'>¹ The phrase &quot;Roman hand&quot; occurs in\r\nShakespeare\'s <i>Twelfth Night </i>(III. 4.48). The hero receives a letter from\r\nhis fiancee and can guess who the writer may be from the handwriting itself. He\r\nexclaims in joy, &quot;I think we do know the sweet Roman hand.&quot;<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;\r\nborder:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page\r\n– 433 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>in the text, by sketching\r\nit on the black-board. It can .hardly be said that he was a skilled painter or\r\nartist. But perhaps illustrations in literature belong to the same category as advertising\r\nposters; they serve the same purpose.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:right 281.75pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>As I remarked at the outset, bur\r\nprofessors were like the<span style=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp; </span>Olympian gods,\r\nnot merely because of their calibre or gifts. and greatness of character; their\r\nposition and attitude were like that – somewhat aloof and quite beyond the\r\nreach of personal contact or relations – at least for the first two or three\r\nyears. But there were some who sought to establish with the students an\r\nintimacy, or at least a relatively closer relationship. Take for example our\r\nprofessor of philosophy, Aditya Mukherji. He was nearing his forties perhaps at\r\nthe time. On the very first day of the First Year class he announced during\r\nthe roll-call that he would try every day to make himself familiar with the\r\nfaces of about half a dozen students. But this turned out to be impossible\r\nlater on, his resolution turned into a merely pious wish. He was a very good\r\nteacher who would present the subject matter in a very simple, easy, neat and\r\nclear manner. He had about his manner and expression what I have subsequently\r\ncome to recognise as French clarity. There is a pleasing association linked\r\nwith his name in my mind. I have told you about my first composition in the\r\nfirst year of college, in connection with Manomohan Ghose. The first essay I\r\nhad to write in my Degree course was in the Honours class in philosophy.\r\nProfessor Aditya Mukherji gave an essay to .be written at home and it was duly\r\nsubmitted. One day in class the Professor called out, &quot;No. 40&quot; –\r\nthis happened to be my roll-number. He said to me, &quot;Here is your essay. I\r\nhope you will get a first-class in English also.&quot; You may well imagine the\r\nstate of my mind! My neighbours clustered round me and said, &quot;What is this\r\nwonderful stuff you have written! Let\'s have a look.&quot; I had shown off a\r\nlot of learning, by quoting is<i>varasiddheh, </i>from\r\nVijnanabhikshu, to show that the Sankhya is not necessarily atheistic, also by\r\nstealing<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 434 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>whole passages from Mill\r\nand so on.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">The paper finally reached the hands of Kiran\r\nMukherji. I have spoken to you about him before; perhaps something more could\r\nbe added here. As I have said, he returned from England after attaining great\r\ndistinction. at Oxford. Ashutosh Mukherji took him on as a professor at the\r\nCalcutta University. I met him several times during my trips to Calcutta from\r\nhere. While in England he used to read with interest all my articles in the\r\njournals. Our relations grew more intimate several years later, that is, when\r\nhe got interested in our work and sadhana here. There had been some tragedy in\r\nhis life, – I do not know the exact story, – so that in spite of his\r\nintellectual gifts and learning he was an unhappy man. He had been turning this\r\nway in search of peace and a different kind of life. But he was taken away\r\nfrom this world by an untimely death.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>P.\r\nC. Ray was the one person who could set up an intimate personal relationship\r\nwith the students; that indeed was his outstanding gift, and it was this that\r\nenabled him to leave behind a series of disciples. At the very sight of his\r\npleasant smiling face, the students felt their minds and hearts suffused with\r\njoy, almost with a light as it were. One day in class he happened to say\r\nsomething in Bengali. We were taken aback: a professor using Bengali in\r\ncollege, at the Presidency of all places! This was unprecedented! He could\r\nguess immediately what we felt and came out with the Bengali verse, meaning:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.15in;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All\r\nover the world there is a babel of tongues; <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.15in;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Can\r\nanything please unless it\'s one\'s own?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You can understand how unfailingly he could draw the\r\nstudents towards him.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:9.6pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\nJ. C. Bose was a somewhat different type. I did not have the luck to meet him in \r\nclass more than once or twice, for he left for England soon. But he was by \r\nnature of a serious temperament;\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 435 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>and in contrast\r\nto P. C. Ray who never bothered about his dress or appearance, he was always\r\nneat and prim and proper. But he too was equally worthy of respect for his\r\nnobility of mind and innate greatness. I have referred elsewhere in an earlier\r\ntalk to his friendship with Sister Nivedita and the encouragement I had from\r\nhim in my attempt to master the technique of the bomb.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nwas another professor of philosophy I should not omit to mention. He too was\r\nquite young at the time, a fine handsome and pleasing figure. But the subject\r\nthat he taught gave us – to me at least – no kind of pleasure. The subject was\r\nEthics, and the text book was James Seth\'s. To me, it seemed, it talked all\r\nsorts of rubbish and nonsense, things that had neither depth nor sincerity. The\r\nprofessor, Khagendranath Mitra, did, however, take a good deal of pains to\r\ninitiate us into the mysteries of morality. But. J am mentioning his name here\r\nnot for that reason; nor again because he developed into a well-known singer of\r\nVaishnava hymns. It is because he chanced to turn up here, many years later, on\r\nthe occasion of a Darshan; this was after he had retired from service. When we\r\nmet, I reminded him in the course of our talk, &quot;Sir, you are my guru, I\r\nhave been a student of yours&quot;. He was a little surprised. I then explained\r\neverything. &quot;That\'s very well,&quot; he said, &quot;I am very pleased to\r\nhear it, for I have found what I wanted. Well, I was your guru, now give me my\r\nfee.&quot; &quot;Tell me, sir, how.&quot; &quot;I have given you some teaching,\r\nnow you give me some: tell me about the sadhana you follow here.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>While\r\nspeaking of my professors, I must not omit to mention our Pundit. This was a\r\ntitle given by the students to the teacher of Sanskrit in college as in school,\r\nno matter how big a professor he might be – as if to show that the feeling of\r\ndistance created by English was not there in the case of Sanskrit. Our Pundit\r\nwas Satischandra Vidyabhushan, who later became a Mahamahopadhyaya, an\r\nextremely courteous man, entirely modest, one who behaved as if he<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 436 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>were an absolute\r\n&quot;nobody&quot;. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>I</span>n<b> </b>his\r\nclass the students had no fear or worry, no constraint, sometimes even no sense\r\nof propriety either. One day they said in class, &quot;There is not going to be\r\nany reading today, sir; you had better tell us a story. You are familiar with\r\nthe languages and histories and cultures of so many strange lands, please tell\r\nus something.&quot; Vidyabhushan was particularly learned in Pali and the\r\nBuddhist scriptures. Without a murmur he accepted the order of the boys. While\r\ntalking of Pali and the Buddhists, he told us something about the Tibetans\r\ntoo. &quot;What you call Darjeeling,&quot; he said, &quot;is not a distorted\r\nversion of Durjayalinga. Actually it is a transcription of a Tibetan\r\nword.&quot; He spelt out the word on the black-board, in the Tibetan script –\r\nit looked somewhat like Bengali – something like Dang-Sang-Ling, I cannot now\r\nexatly recall. On another occasion we had the chance to hear a conversation in\r\nSanskrit in his class. The class was on, when one of the officials of the\r\ncollege entered the room with a Ceylonese monk. The monk wanted to meet the\r\nPundit. They talked in Sanskrit. I only remember a single sentence of our professor,\r\n<i>&quot;ghatika-catustayam eva <span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;</span>agacchatu bhavan, </i>&quot;Be\r\npleased to come at four o\'clock.&quot; The kindness and affection of our Pundit\r\nare still fresh in my mind. He was never afflicted by the weight of his\r\nlearning, nor did it ever afflict us.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nto conclude: let me give you the scene of my final. parting with college, the\r\nprofessors and college life.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nhad just been released after a year of jail. My father said, &quot;You should\r\nresume your studies, but not in Calcutta. Calcutta is a place for all sorts of\r\nexcitement. Young people easily lose their heads on coming in contact with\r\nCalcutta. If you are to study, you shall have to choose a place outside\r\nCalcutta where there is not much excitement.&quot; I said, &quot;All\r\nright.&quot; I had no intention of proceeding further with my studies; my real\r\nobject was to bide my time until I found a safe anchor. What kind of anchor it\r\nwould be I had no idea. So, on the pretext of securing a Transfer Certificate,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 437 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>for getting admitted to a\r\ncollege outside Calcutta, I went to my old college, the Presidency. The certificate\r\nhad been made out by the clerk and submitted to the Principal for his\r\nsignature. As we waited, there was a summons for me from the Principal to see\r\nhim<b>. </b>In<b> </b>the column for &quot;conduct&quot;, there was this entry\r\non my certificate, &quot;He was an accused in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy case,\r\nbut was acquitted.&quot; This entry must have drawn the attention of the\r\nPrincipal, and perhaps he wanted to see for himself who and what kind of man\r\nwas this &quot;accused&quot;. As I entered his room, he looked up and saw me.\r\nCould he recognise me? For in his English classes I used to sit on the front\r\nbench just facing him. He must have observed me any number of times, so I used\r\nto think. Now he kept on asking why I wanted a transfer and why I should not\r\ncontinue in the same college. &quot;My guardians do not want me to continue\r\nhere,&quot; I said. He expressed his doubts, &quot;You won\'t find it\r\nconvenient. It<b> </b>is better to continue here.&quot; In<b> </b>the end, he\r\nhad to give me the Certificate. I bowed to him and came away. The Principal\r\nhappened to be our professor of English, Percival.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(2)<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In<b>\r\n</b>an earlier talk I told you incidentally that I had a mind to say something\r\nabout the English poet Wordsworth. I mentioned then that I did not come to\r\nappreciate his poetry in my school days; it happened in college, and to a large\r\nextent thanks to Professor Manomohan Ghose. In<b> </b>our school days, the mind\r\nand heart of Bengali students were saturated with the poetry of Tagore:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-top:0;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n8.85pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In<b> </b>the bower of my\r\nyouth the love-bird sings, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Wake up, O darling, wake;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Opening thy lids that are\r\nlazy with love, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Wake up, O darling,\r\nwake...<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 438 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This poetry belongs to the\r\ntype once graphically characterised by our humorous novelist Prabhat Mukherji\r\nthrough one of his characters, a <i>sadhu, </i>describing the charms of the\r\nDivine Name:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nhas the sweetness and the sugar <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Of <i>sandesh\r\n</i>and <i>rasogulla.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Indeed Tagore\'s poetry\r\ndrips liquid sugar. To young hearts enraptured by such language and feeling,\r\nWordsworth\'s<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Oft I had heard of Lucy\r\nGray: <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And when I crossed the\r\nwild,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I chanced to see at break\r\nof day <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The solitary child...<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>would appear rather dull\r\nand dreary, tasteless almost.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Let\r\nme in this connection tell you a story. We were then in college. The Swadeshi\r\nmovement was in full flood, carrying everything before it. We the young\r\ngeneration of students had been swept off our feet. One day, Atul Gupta, who\r\nas I have told you before was my friend, philosopher and guide, happened to\r\npass a remark which rather made me lose my bearings. a little. He was listing\r\nthe misdeeds of the British in India. &quot;This nation of shopkeepers!&quot;\r\nhe was saying, &quot;There is no end to their trickeries to cheat us. Take for\r\ninstance this question of education. The system they have set up with the\r\nhigh-sounding title of University and of advancement of learning is nothing\r\nmore than a machine for creating a band of inexpensive clerks and slaves to\r\nserve them. They have been throwing dust in our eyes by easily passing off\r\nuseless Brummagem ware with the label of the real thing. One such piece of\r\neminently useless stuff is their poet Wordsworth, whom they have tried to foist\r\non our young boys to their immense detriment.&quot; This remark was no doubt a\r\ntestimony to his inordinate love of the country.\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 439 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But it remains to be seen how far it would bear\r\nscrutiny as being based on truth.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>For us in India,\r\nespecially to Bengalis, the first and foremost obstacle to accepting\r\nWordsworth as a poet would be his simple, artless and homely manner:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Behold\r\nher, single in the field,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;</span>Yon solitary Highland Lass!<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And, as a classic instance\r\nof that famous homely diction, a line that follows:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Will\r\nno one tell me what she sings?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Who would be moved by lines such as these?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>On the gates of entry to the poetic world of\r\nWordsworth<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>is engraved this motto:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:104.85pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>...the\r\nGods approve <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The depth\r\nand not the tumult of the soul.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:104.85pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It is as if the hermitage\r\nof old, an abode of peace and quiet, sa<i>nta-rasaspadam\r\nasramam idam. </i>All here is calm and unhurried, simple and natural\r\nand transparent, there is no muddy current of tempestuous upheaval. That is why\r\nthe poet feels in his heart the time of evening as if it were<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:76.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>...quiet\r\nas a Nun <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Breathless\r\nwith adoration,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>or else in. the early\r\nmorning he has the experience: <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nWinds come to me from the fields of sleep.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Here is an easy, natural,\r\nlimpid flow, undisturbed in its movement and yet with a pleasant charm and\r\nfilled with an<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n4.3pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;\r\nborder:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page\r\n– 440 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>underlying sweetness. But\r\nperhaps one has to listen intently to get at the sweetness and beauty of such\r\nlines. They do not strike the outer ear for they set up no eddies there; the\r\ninner hearing is their base.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>She was a Phantom of\r\nDelight<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>When first she gleamed\r\nupon my sight...<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Is this not a silent\r\nopening of the divine gates of vision?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Ethereal\r\nminstrel! pilgrim of the sky!<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.8pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\nDo not these words bear us far away on some unknown wings? <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Tranquillity\r\nand a pleasant sweetness are then the first doors of entry. Through the second\r\ndoors we come to a wide intimacy, an all-pervading unity, where man and nature\r\nhave fused into one. This unity and universality breathe through and inspire\r\nsuch simple yet startling words:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I wandered lonely as a\r\ncloud<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That floats on high o\'er\r\nvales and hills,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.1pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>or,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.1pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:152.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And beauty born of murmuring sound <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:152.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Shall pass into her face,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:152.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>or else this easy and\r\nnatural yet deep-serious utterance carrying the burden of a <i>mantra:<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:5.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:5.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Thou\r\nhadst a voice whose sound was like the sea.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:21.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Once\r\nwe cross beyond these second gates we reach an inner region, a secluded\r\napartment of the soul where poetry assumes the garb of magic, a transcendent\r\nskill lends to words<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n3.35pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;\r\nborder:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page\r\n- 441</span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>the supernatural beauty\r\nand grace of a magician\'s art. How often we have read these lines and heard\r\nthem repeated and yet they have not grown stale:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A voice so thrilling never\r\nwas heard<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In spring-time from the\r\nCuckoo-bird,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;</span>Breaking the silence of the seas <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Among the farthest <st1:place>Hebrides</st1:place>,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.6pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>or,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.6pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Have sight of Proteus\r\nrising from the sea;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Or hear old Triton blow\r\nhis wreathed horn.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This magic has no\r\nparallel, except perhaps in Shakespeare\'s<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:143.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Daffodils,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That come before the\r\nswallow dares, and take<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The winds of March with\r\nbeauty; violets dim…<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n</span>.<span style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>(The Winter\'s Tale, </i>Act\r\nIV, Scene 4)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nAurobindo has referred to another point of greatness in Wordsworth, where the\r\npoetic mind has soared still higher, opening itself not merely to an intimacy\r\nbut to the voice of a summit infinity:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The marble index of a mind\r\nfor ever<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:28.35pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Voyaging through strange\r\nseas of Thought, alone<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n</span><i>(The Prelude, </i>III<b>, </b><i>ll. </i>6<span style=\'font-size:\r\n8.0pt\'>2</span>-6<span style=\'font-size:8.0pt\'>3</span>)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Thus, with this poet, we\r\ngain admittance to the very heart, the innermost sanctuary of poetry where we\r\nfully realise what our old Indian critics laid down as their final verdict,\r\nnamely, that the poetic delight is akin to the Delight of Brahman.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But\r\neven the moon has its spots, and in Wordsworth the spots are of a fairly\r\nconsiderable magnitude. Manomohan<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 442 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Ghose too had mentioned to\r\nus these defects. Much of Wordsworth is didactic and rhetorical, that is, of\r\nthe nature of preaching, hence prosaic, even unpoetic although couched in\r\nverse. Ghose used to say that even the <i>Ode on the Intimations of Immortality\r\n</i>which is so universally admired is mainly didactic, much of it high\r\nrhetoric, with very little real poetry in it. I must confess, however, that to\r\nme personally some of its passages have a particular charm, like<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Our birth is but a sleep\r\nand a forgetting: <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The Soul that rises with\r\nus, our life\'s Star, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Hath had elsewhere its\r\nsetting,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And cometh from afar...<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But trailing clouds of\r\nglory do we come...<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Atul Gupta had seen\r\nperhaps only this adverse side of Wordsworth. He had marked the heavy hand of\r\nthe metaphysician,. <i>sthula-hastavalepa, </i>but omitted to see the\r\ndelicate workmanship of the artist. However a man\'s true quality has to be\r\njudged by his best performance, and the best work of Wordsworth is indeed of a\r\nvery high order.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Matthew\r\nArnold brings out very well the nature of Wordsworth\'s best work. Wordsworth\r\nat his peak, he says, seems to have surpassed even. Shakespeare. He is then no\r\nlonger in his own self. Mother Nature herself has taken her seat there and she\r\ngoes on writing herself through the hands of the poet.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Breaking the silence of\r\nthe seas<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n</span>Beyond the farthest <st1:place>Hebrides</st1:place>,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.55pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>and<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.55pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Or\r\nhear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn,<o:p> </o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>are indeed two of the highest peaks of English\r\npoetry.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Sri Aurobindo has said that Vyasa is the\r\nmost masculine of<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 443 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>writers. Echoing his words\r\nwe may say that Wordsworth is the most masculine of English poets. This\r\nclassification of poets into &quot;masculine&quot; and &quot;feminine&quot; was\r\nmade by the poet Coleridge. &quot;Masculine&quot; means, in the first place,\r\ndevoid of ornament, whereas the &quot;feminine&quot; loves ornament. Secondly,\r\nthe masculine has intellectuality and the feminine emotionalism. Then again,\r\nfemininity is sweetness and charm, masculinity implies hard restraint; the\r\nfeminine has movement, like the flow of a stream, the play of melody, while the\r\nmasculine has immobility, like the stillness of sculpture, the stability of\r\nthe hill. This is the difference between .the Mahabharata and the Ramayana,\r\nbetween the styles of Vyasa and, Valmiki. This too is the difference between\r\nWordsworth and Shelley. The Ramayana has always been recognised for its poetic\r\nbeauty; Valmiki is our first great poet, a<i>di-kavi. </i>In<b> </b>the\r\nMahabharata we find not so much the beauty of poetic form as a treasury of\r\nknowledge, of polity and ethics, culture and moral and spiritual discipline. We\r\nconsider the Gita primarily as a work of philosophy, not of poetry. In the same\r\nway, Wordsworth has not been able to capture the mind and heart of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nor <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place> as Shelley has done. In<b> </b>order truly to\r\nappreciate Wordsworth\'s poetry, one must be something of a meditative ascetic, <i>dhyani,\r\ntapasvi,– </i>indeed<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:75.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>...quiet as a Nun\r\n<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Breathless\r\nwith adoration.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 444 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-58_My Professors','','publish','closed','open','','58_my-professors','','','2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/58_my-professors/',0,'post','',0),(2097,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<title>SWEET MOTHER</title>\r\n<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"Namo WebEditor v4.0\">\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body bgcolor=\"white\" text=\"black\" link=\"blue\" vlink=\"purple\" alink=\"red\" background=\"_Gif%20Image/SriAurobindo,The%20Mother,Painting,Integral%20yoga,spirituality,%20Divine,%20BG3.gif\">\r\n<p align=\"center\"><b><font size=\"4\">CONTENTS</font></b></p>\r\n<p align=\"center\"><b>VOLUME - 7</b></p>\r\n<p align=\"center\"><b><font color=\"navy\">SWEET MOTHER</font></b></p>\r\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-01_In-her-Company\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">In \r\n        Her Company</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-02_Mothers--Playground\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Mother\'s \r\n        Playground</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-03_The-Bride-of-Brahman\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Bride of Brahman</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-04_A-Small-Talk\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">A \r\n        Small Talk</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-05_The-Iron-Chain\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Iron Chain</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-06_Some-Dates\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Some \r\n        Dates</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"8\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"100%\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n			<b><font color=\"navy\">ON ART AND LITERATURE</font></b></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-07_World-Literature\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">World \r\n        Literature</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-08_Greek-Drama\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Greek \r\n        Drama</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-09_Spirituality-in-Art\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Spirituality \r\n        in Art</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-10_Intuition-and-Inspiration-in-Art\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Intuition \r\n        and Inspiration in Art</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-11_Rhythm-in-Poetry\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Rhythm \r\n        in Poetry</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-12_The-Poet-and-The-Seer\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Poet and the Seer</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-13_The-Poet-and-the-Yogi\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Poet and the Yogi</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-14_Poetry-and-Mantra\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Poetry \r\n        and Mantra</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-15_Lines-of-Tantra\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Lines \r\n        of Tantra (Charyapada)</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-16_The-Greatness-of-Poetry\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Greatness of Poetry</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-17_Modern-Poetry\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Modern \r\n        Poetry</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-18_The-Obscene-and-the-Ugly\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Obscene and the Ugly</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-19_Rabindranath-the-Artist\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Rabindranath \r\n        the Artist</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-20_Rabindranath-and-Modernism\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Rabindranath \r\n        and Modernism</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-21_The-Language-of-Rabindranath\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Language of Rabindranath</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-22_Tagore-the-Unique\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Tagore \r\n        the Unique</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-23_Rabindranath,-Traveller-of-the-Infinite\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Rabindranath, \r\n        Traveller of the Infinite</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"242\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-24_Boris-Pasternak\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Boris \r\n        Pasternak</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"8\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"100%\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n			<b><font color=\"navy\">ON NATIONAL HERIGATE</font></b></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-25_The-Heart-of-Bengal\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Heart of Bengal</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-26_The-Mother-Worship-of-the-Bengalis\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Mother-Worship of the Bengalis</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-27_The-Trinity-of-Bengal\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Trinity of Bengal</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-28_Sri-Ramakrishna\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Sri \r\n        Ramakrishna</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-29_Vivekananda\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Vivekananda</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-30_Jagadish-Chandra-Bose\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Jagadish \r\n        Chandra Bose</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-31_Shyamakanta\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Shyamakanta</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-32_The-Unity-of-India\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Unity of India</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-33_The-Cause-of-India-s-Decline\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Cause of India\'s Decline</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-34_East-and-West\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">East \r\n        and West</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">&nbsp;</font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">&nbsp;</font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"8\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"100%\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><b><font color=\"navy\">&nbsp;ON SPIRITUALITY</font></b></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\" height=\"24\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-35_Where-is-God\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Where \r\n        is God?</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\" height=\"24\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-36_Reason-and-Yoga\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Reason \r\n        and Yoga</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\" height=\"24\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-37_In-This-Crisis\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">In \r\n        This Crisis</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\" height=\"24\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-38_The-Human-Body\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Human Body</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-39_The-Culture-of-the-Body\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Culture of the Body</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-40_The-Novel-Alchemy\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Novel Alchemy</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-41_The-God-of-the-Scientist\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        God of the Scientist</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-42_Fit-and-Unfit\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Fit \r\n        and Unfit</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-43_On-Karmayoga\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">On \r\n        Karmayoga</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-44_A-Letter\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">A \r\n        Letter</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-45_Life-and-Self-Control\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Life \r\n        and Self-Control</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n        <td width=\"180\">\r\n            \r\n      <p align=\"center\">\r\n		<font size=\"2\">\r\n		<a href=\"-46_The-Evolutionary-Imperative\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n        Evolutionary Imperative</a></font></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"8\">\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"100%\">\r\n            <p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n			<b><font color=\"navy\">REMINISCENCES</font></b></p>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n    <tr>\r\n        <td width=\"100%\">\r\n            <div align=\"center\">\r\n            <table border=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\r\n                <tr>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\">\r\n			<font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-47_The-Initiation-of-Swadeshi\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">The \r\n              Initiation of Swadeshi</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\">\r\n			<font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-48_Subhash-Oaten-Ullas-Russell\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Subhash, \r\n              Oaten : Ullas, Russell</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-49_Muraripukur_I\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Muraripukur \r\n              - I</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-50_Deoghar\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Deoghar</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                </tr>\r\n                <tr>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-51_Muraripukur_II\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Muraripukur \r\n              - II</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-52_Alipore-Jail\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Alipore \r\n              Jail</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-53_I-Tried-Sannyas\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">I \r\n              Tried Sannyas</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-54_Shyampukur\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Shyampukur</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                </tr>\r\n                <tr>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-55_Pondicherry_I\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Pondicherry \r\n              - I</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-56_Pondicherry_II\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Pondicherry \r\n              - II</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\">\r\n			<font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-57_Pondicherry-Cyclone\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Pondicherry \r\n              Cyclone</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-58_My-Professors\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">My \r\n              Professors</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                </tr>\r\n                <tr>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\" height=\"20\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\">\r\n			<font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-59_I-Played-Football\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">I \r\n              Played Football</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\" height=\"20\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-60_My-Athletics\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">My \r\n              Athletics</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\" height=\"20\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-61_Soviet-Gymnasts\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Soviet \r\n              Gymnasts</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\" height=\"20\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-62_Two-Great-Wars\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Two \r\n              Great Wars</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                </tr>\r\n                <tr>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\">\r\n			<font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-63_I-Bow-To-The-Mother\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">I \r\n              Bow to The Mother</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        \r\n            <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">\r\n			<a href=\"-64_Alipore-Court\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Alipore \r\n              Court</a></font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">&nbsp;</font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                    <td width=\"178\">\r\n                        <p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">&nbsp;</font></p>\r\n                    </td>\r\n                </tr>\r\n            </table>\r\n        	</div>\r\n        </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<p align=\"right\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> </div>\r\n<p align=\"right\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','volume-7-00_Content','','publish','closed','open','','volume-7-00_content','','','2021-11-23 17:59:01','2021-11-23 17:59:01','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/volume-7-00_content/',0,'post','',0),(2098,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<title>OCR Document</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<b><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\" face=\"Times New Roman\">Mother\'s</font></span><font size=\"4\">&nbsp; Playground</span>\r\n</font></font></b></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span lang=AR-SA\r\ndir=RTL><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>ON the last occasion I spoke to you of a phenomenon\r\nthat used to happen in the playground, a phenomenon remarkable and\r\nextraordinary. This time I am going to speak to you of the playground itself as\r\na great phenomenon created by the Mother.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You may remember, we once\r\nsaw a play in our Theatre staged by our students. It was about the adventure of\r\na few young people leaving their home and going out wandering. In the end they\r\ncame to a house and one of them casually opened a side-door in the building and\r\nall entered and found themselves in a fairyland. They were surprised,\r\nastonished: they found they had left the old world and come to a new unfamiliar\r\nenchanting fairyland.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The same experience one\r\nhas when one opens the gate of the playground and enters it. At least we used\r\nto experience in that way in the early days. As soon as we stepped into the\r\nplayground, a new atmosphere enveloped us, a new life full of joy, happiness\r\nand delight and freedom. When we used to put on our group uniform, we felt\r\nquite different from what we were normally. Old people with their blue shorts\r\nin our group, really old people â€“ they felt very young, youthful and trotting\r\nabout as if they had left their age behind with all their cares. And the\r\nyounger people, the youngest ones, they were so eager to join the group, to\r\nput on the green uniform. So many among them after putting on their green\r\nshorts rushed to me and said enthusiastically: &quot;Today I have got my\r\nuniform and I will join the group&quot;: so</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 13 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>happy, so free, so full of delight and delightful\r\nthey were.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now a word about the\r\norganisation or grouping in the playground. Naturally some attention had to be\r\npaid in view of the difference of age and sex and capacity; but the principle,\r\nthe general principle that lay behind the organisation and on which the Mother\r\ninsisted was: no difference of age, specially no difference of sex; all human\r\nbeings are fundamentally of the same nature: Particularly in the competitions\r\nof physical education that were arranged from time to time, the groups were\r\nmore or less all mixed up, the green and the red and the blue and all the other\r\ncolours made a blend as it were. Now-a-days it is somewhat different, but in\r\nthose early days it was otherwise; only capacity was the chief consideration\r\nfor distinction and difference, and that too in it general and very superficial\r\nway. I also, an aged person, I do not say old, I ran and did the exercises with\r\nyoung people, very young people and girls also â€“ not for any fun and joke but\r\nvery seriously. It was to show by example that in your mind, in your consciousness\r\nthere should be no feeling of difference, no sense of inferiority or\r\nsuperiority from the point of view of age and sex â€“ and even capacity, to an\r\nextent.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In the very early days\r\nwhen .we were rather very few in number, somewhere about fifty, we used to\r\naddress each other by our names, mere names, there was no dÄdÄ or didi tagged\r\non: Nolini, Pavitra, Sahana, Lalita, that was all, pure and simple. So when\r\npeople from outside came they found it a little queer: &quot;They have no\r\nrespect here for age, no\' respect for elderly people, no consideration for the\r\nwomen, they call each, other merely by the name.&quot; But in reality, whatever\r\nit seemed like from outside, the consciousness, the attitude behind was different.\r\nAnd yet there were some people who felt it and appreciated it. Thus when some\r\none in the Ashram called me by my name or an elderly woman by hers, evidently\r\nthe feeling behind was full of respect and consideration, even love. Only the\r\nform of address</p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 14</span><b><i><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>was like that, bare and without qualification. Even\r\nsomeone from outside saw the thing and judged it correctly. He wrote an article\r\non the Ashram and mentioned this custom in the Ashram: it is very strange that\r\nyoungsters called old people by their mere names but it sounds so nice and\r\nappropriate when the thing comes from their lips.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Thus the principles that\r\nguided the organisation of physical education are as you know now: there is to\r\nbe, first, no difference between boys and girls, all should undergo the same\r\nexercises and the same programme. This was and is even now, I think, compulsory\r\nfor the younger groups â€“ the green and the red and even little beyond. But it\r\nhas been often asked, the bodies are different specially with regard to sex, is\r\nit not natural to provide different programmes? But in reality the bodies have\r\nbecome different because of the consciousness that insisted on the difference\r\nduring milleniums of growth and evolution. It is only now, in this age, that\r\nthings have begun to change a little. Some of you may remember, the elderly\r\nones, how difficult it was for the Mother to make the girls put on shorts and\r\nshirts for the playground exercises. She had to begin gently and gradually. In the beginning the girls learnt to put on trousers, with trousers they used\r\nto do marching and exercises. Even today in the outside world, in many places\r\nin India specially, we see women, girls marching and doing the parade in saree.\r\nOur women-police even today are on duty with saree. The tradition was very\r\nstrong and in this respect, we here claim to be the pioneers of this new\r\ndevelopment of physical freedom of women to be equal to that of men. This was\r\nthe lesson taught by the Mother.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Long ago, some twenty-five\r\nyears ago, a well-known leader of India, a great educationist came and saw our\r\nplayground activities and made the remark: &quot;I have travelled all over\r\nIndia, visited various educational institutions, seen women doing gymnastics\r\nbut it is the first time that I see here in the Ashram girls doing vaulting,\r\nespecially on parallel bars, I<b><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 15</span><b><i><span style=\'font-family:Arial\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>have never seen it anywhere else.&quot; Of course, it\r\ngoes without saying, circus-girls are different. In other words people used to\r\nconsider vaulting as a specially masculine virtue and along with it many other\r\nphysical games and exercises. Today it is being gradually found that this is a\r\nsuperstition and the judgment is wrong. The Wimbledon women champions will\r\nbear witness. The most important thing is that you have to change the attitude,\r\nyou have to change consciousness. Of course, there are difficulties on the\r\nway, the force of habit, the force of atavism, all that means an extra dose of\r\nyour consciousnes\'s or a new consciousness. What is done here and what is done\r\nelsewhere, in this respect of freedom being given to women and freedom being\r\ngiven to the younger generation, there is a difference. I will come to it.\r\nMother was repeating so often: the freedom, the liberty you enjoy here is\r\nextraordinary, exceptional, there is almost no limit to your freedom. That is\r\nto say, it is dangerous, because the unlimited use of freedom means also misuse\r\nof freedom. But the Mother took the risk, for that is the only way towards a\r\nradical solution, not merely a half-way compromise. Only when you are free,\r\nwhen you are completely, absolutely free, you choose between the good and the\r\nbad, and you choose the good of your own will, then the good has a real\r\nimportance for <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-style:italic\'>you, </span>for your\r\nconsciousness and for your development. Otherwise when you accept and follow\r\nthe good through compulsion, through fear or social decency or for your own\r\nsake in order to be good, through vanity â€“ that is to say, in order to be good\r\nyou observe certain rules, and you feel you are virtuous, you are dutiful, then\r\nit is not the true way, not the true attitude and consciousness. The true\r\nconsciousness is that you do the right thing not because it is your duty to do\r\nit, not because it is worthy to do it and it is expected of you to do it, but\r\nbecause your nature impels you towards it. The flower blooms spontaneously\r\nwithout any sense of duty. It possesses no sense of duty because its nature is\r\nto do so, to be beautiful. Human</p>\r\n		<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 16 </span><b><i>\r\n\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>being also could be like that, spontaneous and\r\nnatural in its action and behaviour. When you do a great thing, you do not feel\r\nthat you are doing something marvellous or that you are exercising or\r\nstretching your power. You do not do a thing because it is your duty to do it\r\nbut because it is your nature to do so, you cannot but do it. I give an example\r\nhere. You are students of English and English grammar. Now, tell me, what is\r\nthe difference between these two statements? &quot;I have to do the thing&quot;\r\nand &quot;I am to do the thing&quot;... &quot;I have to do the thing&quot;\r\nmeans \'I am obliged to, I am compelled to, I cannot do otherwise.\' &quot;I am\r\nto do&quot; means I am doing it, it is for me to do it, I will do it, that is\r\nto say it is my nature to do it.\' Something of that kind is taught in the Gita\r\nâ€“ the ideal of kartavyam karma and niskÄma karma or one\'s Swadharma. Kartavya\r\nis usually translated as duty but it is not correct. Kartavya is one\'s Dharma\r\nor the spontaneous expression of one\'s nature, what one is to do, not what one\r\nhas to do. Mother gave this infinite freedom to her children because that was\r\nthe only way of creating a new nature and she showed also the difference\r\nbetween the right use of freedom and its wrong use. The wrong use is found in\r\nall the movements of freedom outside in the normal life, either in the student\r\nmovement or the women\'s emancipation movement. Now when women are fighting for\r\nfreedom for themselves they consider themselves as women fighting for freedom\r\nagainst men. &quot;We are women, you are men, you enjoy privileges, rights, we\r\nare denied them, we want them, we claim them.&quot; In the youth movement also\r\nthe young people say: all the powers the old people enjoy, positions and\r\nemoluments, that will not do, we want to share these also along with the old.\r\nMother said, &quot;No, it is not the right attitude.&quot; You must change your\r\nposition, your point of view. Going out for a quarrel, for a fight means that\r\nyou consider yourselves different beings, with different powers, capacities,\r\nconstitutions etc., etc. First of all you must consider yourselves, all, both\r\nthe parties, </p>\r\n		<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 17 </span><b><i>\r\n\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>as human beings, not two different species. This is\r\nbeing acknowledged to some extent now-a-days but it is not sufficient, Mother\r\nsays. If you are content to be human beings, just human beings, differences\r\nwill arise again and again and not only differences but serious differences. Human\r\nnature is composed of these differences, and culture and civilisation meant\r\nnothing more than a reconciliation, a compromise among these differences. And\r\nthe result has been that we have not gone very far for the solution. A deeper\r\ntruth is to be found, a higher truth and a more powerful truth. We must rise to\r\na new state, Mother spoke always of the truth - the truth of your soul. To the\r\ntruth of your soul, in the truth of your soul you are neither man nor woman,\r\nneither young nor old â€“ tvam kumÄra uta vÄ kumÄri, tvam jÄ«rna... you are all\r\nthat in appearance, for you are something more or something else.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You are to take your stand\r\non your soul, that was the lesson that the Mother was trying to impart in the\r\nplayground education. So long as you are in the normal consciousness imbedded\r\nin your body-consciousness and view things from there, your life also will be\r\nbuilt in the pattern created by the body-consciousness. Life in that pattern\r\ncan proceed only through difference and distinction, contrast and contradiction,\r\nconflict and battle. So long as you stick to your habitual position it will be\r\nso; the remedy is a radical remedy; it is to reverse your position. You have to\r\nstand not on your legs but on your head, then you will find the way to march\r\nthrough not confrontation but co-operation, not through separation but union,\r\nnot through difference but identity. So long as you are mere human beings this\r\nsupreme soul-identity cannot come. You have to forget the differences... some\r\none asked the Mother in one of the playground talks of the Mother: how is it\r\npossible for one to forget this fundamental difference that one is a man and\r\nanother a woman. Mother answered: &quot;How do you say so? Look here, when I\r\ntalk to Tara, do you think I am</p>\r\n		<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 18 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>always considering her as a woman and talking\r\naccordingly.&quot; And she could have added: &quot;And when I answer you do\r\nyou think I am speaking to a masculine person?&quot; I may narrate here a\r\nlittle incident concerning me personally. It was with regard to the question of\r\nage. When someone informed Mother that they wanted to celebrate, perhaps it was\r\nmy eightieth birthday, in a magnificent manner, a gala celebration, Mother\r\nroared out: &quot;No, no, you are spoiling my work. All the while I was trying\r\nto make him forget his age and you are trying to insist on his age.&quot; Age\r\nalso is a thing to be forgotten. The birthday-celebration is not for recording\r\nthe progress in our age, how we are progressing year by year in our age, that\r\nis, how we are getting old â€“ No, it is to note the progress made in the inner\r\nbeing and consciousness. Each birthday is to be a landmark of the forward march\r\nof your consciousness, not the greyness of your head. The touch of your soul\r\nwill inspire you not merely to do the right inner movement, the enlightening of\r\nyour consciousness but also it will inspire you to do the right physical\r\nmovement, even lead you to the choice of the right kind of physical exercises\r\nand do them in the right manner. The lesson to learn then is to get back to\r\nyour soul inside you, you will find there everything that is worth having:\r\nfreedom, joy, harmony and even untold capacity.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>People coming from outside\r\nasked very often and ask even now what the Ashram is doing for the country, for\r\nthe world. It is confined to a few people only, is it worth doing? Mother\r\nanswered simply: I am doing something which is not done anywhere else in the\r\nworld, that is awakening the soul in my children, the soul that only can save\r\nand nothing else. To the outsider we say, if you come here, come then with eyes\r\nto see, look at, rather look into the soul of the people who are here. Do not\r\nlook at what they learn or what they do or what they speak but look inside\r\nthem, look what is there deep within. Even now I say: She is there within you,\r\nher work is not arrested. The tempo of her work is as</p>\r\n		<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:11.5pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 19 </span><b>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>vigorous and as living as it could be and the impact\r\nwill be more and more clear and manifest.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>So I repeat: The soul is\r\nneither boy nor girl nor old person; it has not the characteristics of the\r\nbody natural to man or rather to the animal. But this does not mean that it has\r\nno body, it is something airy, nebulous, smoky etc. Not at all, the soul has a\r\nbody, its own as concrete and definite as the physical body, even it has a\r\nmaterial body although the matter is of a different kind. Have not the western\r\nsages begun to speak of immaterial matter, that is to say, anti-matter? That\r\nsoul-body even now you are carrying within this material body of yours. You\r\ncan see it, sense it as definite and living as the external body. The Mother is\r\nholding it in you, you come in contact with it through your contact with the\r\nMother. Love the Mother, be one with her, you will find and be this living soul\r\nof yours.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:12.0pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page â€“ 20 </span><b><i>\r\n\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</b></td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-02_Mothers  Playground','','publish','closed','open','','02_mothers-playground','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/02_mothers-playground/',0,'post','',0),(2099,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>The Poet and The Seer</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal; font-weight:700\'><font size=\"4\">The Poet and <span class=GramE>The</span> Seer</font></span></p>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">PLATO has exiled the poet\r\nfrom his Republic – in his ideal society there is no place for the poet\r\n– this is a stern condemnation. It is a matter of surprise to us, even of\r\ndisbelief. Especially when we notice that there is no dearth of poetry in Plato\r\nhimself – he was no dry-as-dust reasoner like his disciple Aristotle. In genius\r\nand temperament he was a true poet. The literary grace that expresses itself in\r\nhis style is still regarded as something of an ideal. But why is he then so\r\naverse to the poets?</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:6.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Plato\'s charge is that poets are no worshippers of truth.\r\nThey are but servitors of imagination, of pseudo-truth or falsehood. Not only\r\nthat. Their entire skill is to make falsehood appear as truth and imagination\r\nas reality; they give to an airy nothing a local habitation and a name – and,\r\nwhat is worse, they make this falsehood and imagination as far as possible\r\nbeautiful and attractive. What then is the consequence? Men are easily deluded\r\nand fascinated by the false beauty of a visionary world and depart from truth,\r\ngood and real beauty. Poetry, the sweetheart, is the enchantress, the Circe,\r\nwhose only work is to delude men and turn them into pigs or at least lambs.¹ <span\r\nclass=GramE>Do</span> you not see what a low opinion</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:6.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>¹ <span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>Whatever may be the case of\r\nthe poet, it is not that such a notion does not prevail in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span\r\n  style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>India</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'> at least about the votaries\r\nof other arts. The Buddhist <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-style:italic\'>Vishuddhi\r\nMagga </span>has classed the painter with the cook, that is, both are taken to\r\nserve the same purpose, both cater only to the pleasure of the senses.<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>Manu enjoins that the\r\nhouseholder must abstain from vocal and instrumental music and from the dance.\r\nA dancer, a singer and a house-builder have no right to be present in the\r\nceremonies performed for the departed</span></p><i>\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n</b>\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:10.3pt;\r\nmso-line-height-alt:9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;\r\npadding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\r\nmso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 96 </span><i>\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</b>\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span class=GramE>of</span>\r\nthe gods is entertained by such a great poet as Homer? In what respect are such\r\ngods superior to men? All the weaknesses of men are found in them, perhaps on\r\na bigger scale, in a more hideous form. These gods are recommended for worship\r\nby poets!</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:.15in;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The\r\npoet indulges imagination and is by nature human in the extreme. Poetry has no\r\ndirect relation or inseparable connection at all with truth. The worshipper of\r\ntruth will find in poetry no utterance worthy of acceptance. Especially the\r\npoet will not be able to furnish any clue to the truth that lies beyond the ken\r\nof the human mind, beyond all that can be grasped by the daily experiences and\r\nperceptions of men, and that truth which is really the deepest and supreme in\r\nmen. Plato\'s reasoning amounts to this in modern terms.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:225.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">What Plato says does not, on reflection, appear to be\r\nutterly worthless. The vital world is the source of the poet and all other\r\nartists who are creators. When the vital is stirred things spring up from it\r\nand take shape. This vital <span class=GramE>itself</span> is the magic power\r\nof the urge for enjoyment and action. For the satisfaction of these two urges\r\ntowards delight and enjoyment the vital is constantly engaged in creating\r\nthings. The spell of the vital does not care to find how far they are truth,\r\nand how much is their worth in terms of the right and the ultimate good. It is\r\nenough if it can build a castle in the air and derive joy from it. But it is\r\nnot at all necessary that the castle in the air should be a reality.¹ <span\r\nclass=GramE>It</span> is enough if it comes within the domain of experience and\r\ngives satisfaction. This vital is again the field of all desires and impulses\r\nof men. The attractions of the vital keep men confined to an absolutely human\r\nplane. Poetry is the unrivalled drug to enslave men to the mortal world.<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p>\r\n\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:225.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">___________</p>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:225.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span\r\nclass=GramE><span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>soul. Chanakya has put the\r\nsinger in the same category with the harlot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>\r\n\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.8pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1; font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>&nbsp;</span></i></b><span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It may also be remembered in this connection\r\nthat portraiture and image making are prohibited in the Hebrew and the\r\nMohammedan religions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.8pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>¹ Bernard Shaw has given the name of hell to\r\none such <span style=\"font-size:10pt;\">world, vide his play Man and\r\nSuperman.</span></span><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i><span style=\'font-family:Arial\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 97</span><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The poet says,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-indent:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The good that is awake in\r\nthe midst of all conflicts</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-indent:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Is the good which Thou <span\r\nclass=GramE>approvest.</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Or,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:\r\n.25in;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Shadowless is thy Light...</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The beauty of which is\r\nenhanced</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:\r\n.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:25.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span class=GramE>By my tears.</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:25.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">These\r\nexpressions are wonderful and sweet to the ear. But, the deep spiritual\r\nrealisation or the highest truth which these words pretend to convey is but\r\nhappy imagination and pleasant fancy. The true realisation of the spiritual consciousness\r\nis quite a different thing.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span class=GramE>Liberation?</span>\r\nWhere will ye find <span class=GramE>liberation,</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:\r\n.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-.25in;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Where does it abide?</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The Lord Himself has\r\ndonned</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:83.75pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span style=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span\r\nclass=GramE>the</span> bondage of creation,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:\r\n.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:21.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span class=GramE>And is enchained with all.</span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:21.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.75pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Here\r\nthe poet for the moment puzzles us by his curious thought and skilful composition.\r\nBut it is doubtful if to the calm consciousness of the truth-seer there is\r\nanything more than the movements of the natural man\'s complexes behind such an\r\nemotion. This very thing is called \'Siren Song\' in English.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">If\r\nthe poet be such a terrible creature then why is he called a Rishi? The Rishi\r\nis the seer of truth. The poet is really a poet only when he is a seer, that is\r\nto say, one who has the direct vision of truth. But the question may be asked:\r\n&quot;What is this truth?&quot; One may say, as there is a spiritual truth so\r\nthere is a mundane truth; there is no hard and fast</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\"text-align:center; text-indent:11.25pt; padding:0in; border-style:none; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 98 </span><i>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:\r\n21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:\r\nmedium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:\r\n0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>rule</span> that the poet should be the seer\r\nof the spiritual truth only. He has an insight into the nature of earthly beings;\r\ntherefore in this respect he is a seer. If he has realised the truth and beauty\r\nof the life in nature and gives an expression to them, even then his status as\r\na Rishi will remain quite irreproachable. He will be called a poet and seer\r\neven if he fails to see or show the real nature of the Ideal but can unfold\r\nthe reality of the practical life.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:\r\n21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:\r\nmedium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:\r\n0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;</span><span style=\'mso-tab-count:\r\n1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It is doubtful if Plato would recognise even a seer-poet of\r\nthis type. He might say the. poet whose heart is pure or has been purified,\r\nwhose consciousness has transcended the human consciousness, who has direct\r\nvision of truth, that is to say, who seizes the \'Idea\' by a vision in the\r\nfourth dimension, he alone deserves to be called a seer-poet, one who can\r\nexpress in a living manner the truth, the \'Idea\' which is at once the supreme\r\nbeauty and the supreme good. If Plato had known the poets of our Upanishads he\r\nmight have changed his conception of the poet. The poetic genius can manifest\r\nin two ways. The one is artificial <span class=GramE>imagination,</span> the\r\nother is divine vision or direct experience. The artificial imagination is\r\nnothing but fancy. This fancy may be superbly fascinating but that would be the\r\nrestive cleverness of the fickle vital and the outward senses – the delight of\r\nthought, of the critical reason; on the other hand, the divine or direct\r\nexperience illumines the thing-in-itself, the truth. This is the truth-vision\r\nof the soul, the Psychic Being. The poet who depends only on fancy may possibly\r\nbe a poet but never the seer-poet who sees with the divine vision and creates.\r\nIn fact, the seer-poet sees nothing save spirituality. We have shown above the\r\ndifference between the spiritual and the mundane aspect of the truth. But in\r\nreality in the eyes of the seer-poet there is no such distinction at all. The\r\ndivine sees the Self not only in things spiritual but also in things\r\nterrestrial. Even when the seer-poet speaks of the gross, the body, he speaks\r\nof the truth behind the gross, the truth behind the body-self. The totally<i><span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\ntab-stops:21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;\r\nborder:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:\r\n0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'>Page – 99 </span><i>\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</b>\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><span class=GramE>material</span>\r\nand vulgar can never be the object of fine art.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">Perhaps\r\nPlato would not accept this kind of philosophy. He would not be prepared to\r\ngive an equal importance to the two phenomena – the ardours of the\r\nlife-process and the pleasures of poetry – balanced side by side as two\r\nseparate entities of the same value. It is well and good if the poetical\r\nwork can be made an aid to the discipline of life. Otherwise, just for the sake\r\nof creation of beauty, for mere enjoyment, for the skilful and sweet display of\r\nthe ordinary intelligence and of the unregenerated vital, poetry should not be\r\nharboured in our consciousness. Therefore Plato wants us to become hermits of\r\nan absolute purity. Not the creation of the poet but that of the philosopher is\r\nthe thing needed.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; text-indent:11.5pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">The\r\npoet wants to snatch beauty from the longings of the natural vital, Plato’s\r\nwisdom is all for the ultimate truth seized out of the moral sense. But there\r\nis no necessity of this duel between the poet and the philosopher. The true\r\npoet will seize beauty through the pure sense of delight in the purified vital\r\nand at the same time intuit the absolute truth with the divine vision. The\r\nvision of the Truth breaks out of the sense of delight, while the sense of\r\ndelight finds its foundation in the truth-vision. Thus the poet and the seer become\r\nunited and the delightful and the good stand identified.<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n</i></b>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 100<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</span><i>\r\n<b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><a href=\"-01-Index\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\"></span>\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\"><a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"59\" height=\"24\" border=\"0\"></a></span></a></p>\r\n		</span>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'></span></b>\r\n</i></td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-12_The Poet and The Seer','','publish','closed','open','','12_the-poet-and-the-seer','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/12_the-poet-and-the-seer/',0,'post','',0),(2100,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>The Bride of Brahman</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style=\'tab-interval:.5in;text-justify-trim:\r\npunctuation\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">The Bride of Brahman</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span style=\'font-size:\r\n15.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(Rig-Veda:\r\nX.109)</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I AM going to tell you a story\r\ntoday, a story both for the old and the young, a very old and ancient story.\r\nIndeed it is from the Veda.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Once\r\nupon a time – of course I am speaking of a time when there was no time nor\r\nspace, before the existence of time and space, when there existed only One\r\nBeing, the nameless Being – named Brahman! To us, human beings, it is the\r\nSupreme Existence, the Lord, God or whatever one chooses to call him. He is\r\nalso the Lord Surya, the luminous Truth, the sale Light of Lights. So then it\r\nonce happened: this luminous Brahman looked at himself and found surprisingly\r\nthat his luminosity, his brightness was getting dimmed, he was becoming darker\r\nand darker. He was at a loss, and confused. What was it due to? Then he thought\r\nof the Gods, his companions. They came along immediately, and the foremost\r\namong them was Varuna: Varuna means also one who has the vast consciousness and\r\nvision. He can see far, far into the longest distance, into the unseen future.\r\nThen he found it out, what the matter was, and said: &quot;Lord, your Shakti\r\nhas gone away.&quot; Brahman and his Shakti, Brahmajaya, were one: they were\r\nboth together, fused into one united single being always. Varuna said:\r\n&quot;the Bride of Brahman has left Brahman.&quot; Now it was the task of all\r\nto find out where she had gone leaving Brahman in this state of darkness. Then\r\nit was always Varuna who through his sight, long sight, his penetrating vision\r\nfound<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 21 </span>\r\n<span style=\'font-family:Arial\'>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>that Brahmashakti, the\r\nDivine Power has gone away far, very far, deep into the bosom of the Earth, and\r\nhas disintegrated herself into material substances. She has become Matter,\r\nunconscious and dark like matter. The Gods found she was there one with\r\nordinary creatures and things and objects. Then they conferred among themselves\r\nand decided: &quot;We must awaken her, make her conscious of herself, take her\r\nback to her Lord, the Brahman – so can he also reclaim and regain his own\r\nidentity.&quot; So the first of the Gods who approached her was the God Soma.\r\nSoma means the Moon or Delight, that is Ananda. The Gods said: It was Ananda,\r\nDelight, that joined them together, the Lord and the Shakti; so, for their\r\nunion, their reunion, it is natural and in the fitness of things that Soma\r\nshould lead the way and approach her. So all the Gods went together to her and\r\nexplained to her the situation, and at last persuaded her to follow them in\r\ntheir path, the long journey, the return journey homeward. We may recollect\r\nhere also the image of Parvati sojourning in her earthly mother\'s home and\r\nreturning to Kailash, to her heavenly Lord.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:22.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nis also another, similar or parallel story in the Veda about the God Agni,\r\nabout the disappearance of this very important God, Fire. He is, as you know,\r\nthe God who presides over and even carries out the sacrifice, the Vedic ritual\r\nof <i>yajña. </i>Sacrifice cannot be done without fire, he is the Purohita, one\r\ninstalled in front of this great ceremony the ceremony, – I may immediately\r\ndisclose to you, of the advancement of consciousness. It starts with the\r\nkindling of fire – which means the symbol of the awakening of the aspiring\r\nwill. Now the story runs: the sacrifice was to begin and all things were ready\r\nwhen all of a sudden it was found that the leader of the sacrifice, the Deity\r\nwas not there. They all searched for him, he was found nowhere. He had fled.\r\nThen, as usual, once again all the Gods assembled and rummaged everywhere to\r\ncatch the defaulter. Now the problem: where could he go after all? It was his\r\nduty to</p>\r\n	<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 22 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>be present and begin the\r\nwork, but at the critical moment he is not there! All went about in all\r\ndirections, and at last found the Fire hiding – hiding where? <b>–</b> under\r\nwater. Then the Gods approached him and asked: &quot;O Fire, why are you\r\nhiding? Come out, your task is there.&quot; Fire answered: &quot;No, I won\'t\r\ngo, whatever you say, I remain here.&quot; – &quot;But why?&quot; – &quot;It is\r\na very difficult task. Many others before me had tried to do this job,\r\nundertaken to shoulder this responsibility. But none succeeded, at least\r\ncompletely. So I don\'t want to take the trouble of repeating a failure. It is a\r\nuseless attempt.&quot; The Gods persisted, prayed, entreated: &quot;No, Agni,\r\nit is your job. You will reap the full benefit of it, we assure you.&quot; The\r\nGods in the end succeeded in pacifying and persuading the truant God.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sacrifice\r\nmeans – as I have told you just now – the ascension of the consciousness. When\r\nwe rise up from the ordinary material level, when we have moved towards the\r\nhigher Light from out of the obscurity of the senses, that is ascension, and\r\nthat is called sacrifice: for you move up .by rejecting the lower strand, the\r\nlower levels of nature, and acquire the higher realities. The Fire is the fire\r\nthat is the force of your heart, of your aspiration that you want to be\r\nsomething more than the ordinary mortal that you are. So it is indeed a <i>tapasya,\r\n</i>a strenuous effort to rise up – against the pull of gravity; indeed, it is\r\na great trouble. Agni did not want to take the trouble because man, the normal\r\nman also refuses it. But as I said, there was a happy ending, for at last Agni\r\nagreed. Here we find Agni hiding under water. What does water signify? Water is\r\nthe symbol of vitality, vital-power, the life-force. This also is a form of the\r\nsame Consciousness-Force that is Agni, but robed, clothed in a material sheath,\r\na hidden home as it were. It is to be released from there and move up.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nwe go back to our story. The Gods accompanied Brahmajaya, the Bride of Brahman\r\nin her journey back home. But the story has a beginning, an earlier episode -<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\r\nmso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 23 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>a prologue as it were. Why\r\ndid the Divine Bride leave at all her Lord? What was it that made her run away?\r\n– leaving him alone with whom she was once one in perfect union? The story is\r\nas the Upanishad reports, the Lord Brahman was long – in fact for eternity –\r\nsingle, alone, the One Existence, the One Truth, undivided, indivisible; but at\r\none time of his existence he became conscious that he<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp; </span>was alone. So long he had not thought of it\r\nat all. No thought of being alone or of other people being around was there. He\r\nwas simply Existence, existing. But now he felt, he saw that he was alone, and\r\nonce you begin to think you cannot stop. Then he said: Alone how can one be\r\nhappy? You must be two to become happy – <i>ekaki na ramate. </i>When you are\r\nalone you don\'t enjoy. So you must be two. Thus Brahman, the Supreme, divided\r\nhimself into two, One divided two-fold: one part man, the other part woman; one\r\npart consciousness, the other part force, power; one part Brahman, the other\r\npart Brahmashakti. So long both the parts were there, but they were united,\r\nsoldered as it were, fused into one being and person; Shakti and her Lord, Fire\r\nand its Flame – they were one and indivisible. But, as I said, when the thought\r\ncame they must be two, in fact also they separated, Brahman separated himself\r\nfrom his Shakti and took Shakti out, and Shakti herself went out, and the two\r\nseparated actually, stood face to face as it were. You may remember – I mean\r\nthe elder generation – the drama that was staged here in the Theatre, directed\r\nby the Mother – &quot;He and She&quot; – and the play, the Lila of\r\n&quot;He&quot; and &quot;She&quot; was displayed, how they were one, how they\r\nseparated, and the play of union and reunion. Now when they separated, in\r\norder to look closely and carefully they separated more and more, the distance\r\ngrew slowly, so much so that they were completely separated, and the Shakti was\r\nso far away from her Lord that she went to the other extreme. Brahman was the\r\nsupreme consciousness above, and She became the absolute dark Matter below. And\r\nBrahman too</p>\r\n	<div style=\'margin-left:-9.8pt\'>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'margin-left:9.8pt;text-align:center;\r\ntext-indent:-9.8pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;\r\npadding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;\r\nmso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 24 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>separated utterly the\r\nother way from his Shakti and went off in the contrary direction, towards\r\nNothingness, Shunya as reported by the Buddhists.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nthe return journey. The Shakti cannot be for long away from her Lord, that\r\ncannot be the final stance. She is to come back to her Lord. This is the story\r\nof the redemption of material nature and her gradual transmutation into the\r\nhigher Nature, regaining her status by the side of her Lord. The process or\r\nthe series of steps described by the Veda remains always the same, for human\r\nbeings also for their liberation from inferior nature and regaining the\r\nspiritual nature. The Veda says the Gods came one by one and led the Shakti up\r\nthe way. First Soma came, that is to .say, Delight touched the inner core of\r\nthe fallen Nature and impelled her to awake and rise. As Ananda was the source\r\nof their first union, so for the reunion Ananda is the inspirer and the leader.\r\nNext Agni was directed to take the Shakti along with him on the way. Agni\r\nmeans, as I have said, the light and fire of aspiration to rise up. Agni first\r\ninitiated the ignorant Shakti with a <i>mantra, </i>it is like a normal human\r\ninitiation when you enter the spiritual life. You have to go to a Guru and the\r\nGuru gives you the <i>mantra </i>that awakens your consciousness. Now Agni gave\r\nas <i>mantra </i>the Divine word &quot;Brahma&quot; as the image of the Divine.\r\nShe was to concentrate upon it till she became in consciousness identified with\r\nHim. She did so and after a time when she felt she recognised her Lord and accepted\r\nHim, the God Agni said: &quot;Now proceed. You have to go to the second stage.\r\nEnlarge your being, enlarge your consciousness; what you have got now is the\r\nrealisation that you are the Brahman, you are one with Him. Now you have to\r\nunite yourself with all beings, with all Gods, with all creatures, universalise\r\nyourself.&quot; So the .Bride of Brahman from her individual realisation went\r\nforward into the universal where she met her Lord, dwelling in all beings and\r\nall creatures everywhere, – she entered into the mansion of all the Gods.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 25 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now,\r\nyou know there are three steps, three steps of consciousness, three steps of\r\nyour being in its ascension towards the Supreme: first, your ordinary individual\r\nbeing with your particular name and form, that is the personal individual;\r\nthen, coming out of that shell you learn to be one with all beings, all\r\nhumanity, all things even. You become as large as creation itself; however,\r\nthat is not the end. You have to go beyond, beyond, into what is known as the\r\nTranscendent, there you find the Supreme, the total, the Supreme Truth of your\r\nbeing. So the Bride of Brahman from her universal realisation went into <i>the </i>Transcendent,\r\ninto her Lord, her own total Self. From her ignorant material formulation in\r\nher upward march she was shedding her scales as it were, of her inferior\r\nformations, putting on purer and higher and more glorious embodiments.\r\nUltimately she found herself to be as she used to be originally and always and\r\never before the separation. When thus united the Gods were also included in\r\ntheir embrace and all found themselves happy at last.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:23.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nis said that this separation and this reunion meant a greater fulfilment upon\r\nearth. Without the separation the fulfilment also would not have happened upon\r\nearth. Earth would have remained as it is but because of the separation, that\r\nis to say, the Bride of Brahman separating herself from her Lord and coming\r\ndown into Matter and becoming one with Matter, there arose the possibility, the\r\ninevitability of fusing her reality and the reality of Brahman into Matter.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nDivine Bride dropped down on earth and dived into Matter and became one with\r\nit. She became Matter, material Nature, dense, dark, heavy with all its\r\nweight. She became as the Veda names her, &quot;Bhimajaya&quot; – the mighty,\r\nthe terrible spouse – in fact our Mahakali. She was originally the fair spouse\r\n– Saumyajaya. But there is to be a progress, a gain. So when she rises and is\r\non her upward march she has now acquired the capacity to carry and lift</p>\r\n	<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 26 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>with her the heaviest load\r\nof the Inconscient and gradually transmute it. In the final realisation all the\r\nGods are to come to the forefront and all mankind are to come out as it were\r\ninto the open and bask in the Solar Light and share in the delight of the union\r\nof the. Divine Bride and her Bridegroom.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This\r\nis the drama that is happening, a real drama, it is not a fictitious story. It\r\nis an action that is happening in some other world in a subtler realm. It is\r\nrepeated in those &quot;heavens&quot; as the Vedas say, and repeated so that it\r\nbecomes more and more concrete, more and more real upon earth and finally is\r\nembodied and materialised upon earth.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nthis cosmic drama one remarkable feature is to be observed. If there has been a\r\ndescent there must inevitably follow an ascent. The Shakti has come down alone\r\napparently, but she cannot be alone essentially. She comes down with her Lord\r\nbehind in the background. In the utmost gloom of hard Matter, Brahman is also\r\nthere, imbedded in its very core as an infinitesimal spark, a tiny particle of\r\nlight as it were. And that means an upward urge or élan, aspiration as we say\r\nis always there. That is what happens in fact when the Shakti reaches the\r\nbedrock of total unconsciousness, there is a rebounding movement, the movement\r\nof a boomerang as it were. That is the awakening of the inanimate Nature, her\r\nevolution, her initiation into the upward journey. In her growth, it is to be\r\nnoted, the Lord also grows side by side with her unfoldment; that is to say,\r\nthe Lord too manifests Himself more and more: this is a biune manifestation.\r\nThe two can never be separated, they were always together, the apparent\r\nseparation or obscuration is only a play, a Lila, for a greater reunion.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\ndo not know but perhaps we of this age are very much near, may be to the very\r\ndoor of the final realisation of which they, the ancients, spoke, when really\r\nMatter, concrete, dull, obscure Matter, our material Mother – Bhimajaya of the\r\nVeda – will be transformed and our humanity even</p>\r\n	<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:9.8pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 27 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>will have a share in the\r\ntransformation. As it is now, these things, I have said, are repeated in other\r\nworlds, in the subtler realms, in subtler forms and subtler forces. The\r\nabsolutely material form is not, but perhaps preparing just behind the rising\r\ndawn. All of you, all of us, will surely take part in the consummation in some\r\nform or other, earlier or later.</p>\r\n	<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 28 </span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-03_The Bride of Brahman','','publish','closed','open','','03_the-bride-of-brahman','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/03_the-bride-of-brahman/',0,'post','',0),(2101,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>A Small Talk</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">A Small Talk</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>So I am going to tell you\r\na story or perhaps stories. These stories, many of them, I have narrated on\r\nmany occasions to your elders, that is to say, your predecessors who are now\r\nquite grown up and are at present among gentlemen. Here is the story:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Once\r\nupon a time there was a little girl, quite young, very nice, very pretty, <span\r\nclass=GramE>living</span> in her family with her parents, particularly in the\r\ncompany of her grandfather. This grandfather was rather old but extremely nice\r\nand kind and gentle like <span class=GramE>herself</span>. He loved very much\r\nthe child, indeed the grandfather adored his grand-daughter and the child\r\nreciprocated the feeling.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nhappened however, that the old man fell ill, very ill. It was quite natural,\r\nfor he was an old man. All people, friends and family members alike, came to\r\nsee him and gathered in the sick man\'s room. &quot;How is he now?&quot; The\r\ndoctors were there. The little girl stood somewhat away from her grandfather\'s\r\nsick bed. She was sad, very sad indeed. All on a sudden she looked up towards\r\nher grandfather\'s bed and saw – strange, strange to say – quite near the bed\r\nanother little <span class=GramE>girl standing</span> – a little girl looking\r\nlike herself in appearance and every way – her double as it were. She herself was\r\nstanding on the other side of her grandfather\'s bed, a little away. The other\r\none was standing exactly like herself quite near the bed on the other side. She\r\nwas amazed and questioned herself. &quot;What has happened? I am here, but my\r\nimage, a reproduction of mine is over there.&quot; She<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:10.55pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page\r\n– 29 <o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>approached</span>\r\nher grandfather, the image also approached close to him. But nobody else\r\nnoticed anything; she only knew it and for others she was alone. She asked:\r\n&quot;But who are you?&quot; The other one answered: &quot;I will tell you\r\nlater on.&quot; And she disappeared. Subsequently the old man recovered, and\r\nthe little girl also recovered her grandfather as .before. But she continued\r\nwondering and questioning about her queer experience. There was no answer for\r\nsometime. But she was sure that it was due to her double\'s presence that she\r\ngot back her grandfather. The fact could not be doubted. The vision was\r\nabsolutely real there could be no question about it.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Later\r\non and soon enough occasions came when she met again and again the same person\r\nwhenever there was any difficulty or danger ahead, to help her out of it. It\r\nwas explained to her in course of time that this person who appeared to be\r\nthe very image of <span class=GramE>herself</span> was none else but herself,\r\nher real inner person.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'margin-left:2.85pt;text-align:center;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'margin-left:2.85pt;text-align:center;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nthis connection some of you will surely remember the famous poem – &quot;Nuit\r\nde Décembre&quot; – of the famous French poet Alfred de Musset where he speaks\r\nof a strange companion who used to visit him from time to time at critical\r\nmoments of his life, come and sit by his side, – some unknown person dressed in\r\nblack who however resembled him as though his own twin brother:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE><i>Un</i></span><i>\r\npauvre enfant vêtu de noir<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>Qui me ressemblait\r\ncomme <span class=GramE>un</span> frère<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This story of a double\r\nperson in oneself, one being the guide and mentor and friend and helper, is a\r\nphenomenon not very rare. Everybody, <span class=GramE>everyone</span> of you\r\nhave his companion, this friend who protects you, who loves you indeed. If you\r\nwant</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 30 </span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:158.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>you can\r\nsee him, at least feel him, and this person is absolutely like you in\r\nappearance, your own self, the same face and figure as if reflected in a mirror\r\nwhen you stand before it; and then so real and living. He speaks to you, gives\r\nyou good advice, and so loving and adorable! One way of finding him and coming\r\nin contact with him, seeing him and feeling his presence is to be always good,\r\nto be good and do good things, never to have bad thoughts, always to be clean\r\nin mind and decent in behaviour. This will draw your friend to you as if pulled\r\nby a magnet and you will feel him within you, near you, and the hidden comrade\r\nwill reveal himself. This hidden friend is the Presence of the <span\r\nclass=GramE>Mother,</span> the Mother is always with you, with every one of you\r\nas I have been saying always.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.6pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nmay say, each one of you carries three persons in him, you are a triple\r\npersonality: first of all your outside appearance, as you stand before the\r\nothers, groomed and dressed, hiding as it were within the trappings, your\r\nclothes, but behind you is the bare and naked body, that is, your natural\r\nappearance. You have then quite another character than the former personality\r\nso clothed; but there is something else, very different, also behind that\r\nnatural body. The body however includes, or represents indeed the whole of your\r\npresent nature: your body, your vital and your mind make one complex – the unit\r\nof your common normal personality. But these two are outer robes, hanging loose\r\naround another person, behind and <span class=GramE>within,</span> hanging\r\nloose and standing aloof even like a clothing enveloping your body. It is that\r\nbeing which is your true being of whom I was telling you so long, the intimate\r\nbrother and friend of yours, indeed your own true self, incarnating the\r\nMother\'s presence and the Mother\'s love. It is only a matter of opening out\r\nyour coat or coating!</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:9.6pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 31 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-04_A Small Talk','','publish','closed','open','','04_a-small-talk','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/04_a-small-talk/',0,'post','',0),(2102,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\n\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>On Karmayoga</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">On Karmayoga</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(A Letter)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You want to do something.\r\nIt seems it has become impossible for you to remain quiet. But you cannot make\r\nup your mind as to what you should do. You seem to think that whatever work you\r\ndo would be commonplace and trivial and would have no inner support. You find\r\nno work after your heart. But I am afraid you have started from a wrong idea.\r\nBear in mind that the most essential thing in one\'s life is \'to be\' and not \'to\r\ndo\'. First, be something, <span class=GramE>then</span> action will come of itself.\r\nAction is the expression of becoming or the natural effect of the fullness of\r\nyour becoming. What you will do and how far you will go depends solely on what\r\nyou have become and how far you have grown. To become is to build <span\r\nclass=GramE>yourself</span> up within. It is a common but big mistake of the\r\nworld to judge a man by his action, as if the measure of manhood lay in what\r\none has done. No doubt, the world has no other standard of judgment, for it can\r\nsee only the appearance. It has neither the capacity nor the time to look\r\nwithin. But mind you, you are a sadhak. You cannot acquit yourself that way. It\r\nmatters little whether outwardly you remain idle or do something or even\r\nsomething utterly useless. Never try to judge yourself nor your progress, your\r\ncapacity or even the greatness of your work. For these things are very subtle.\r\nThey remain in seed-form in your own, heart. Gradually they grow unobserved by others,\r\neven by <span class=GramE>yourself</span>.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You\r\nmay raise here an objection and say that it is from us that you have learnt\r\nabout Karmayoga, about how man<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 304<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>shapes</span>\r\nhimself through work. The more one uses one\'s energy, the more it increases. In\r\naction alone one can become what one-truly is. <span class=GramE>Quite true.</span>\r\nBut I have never asked you to refrain from action. You breathe in and breathe\r\nout, you eat, you study, you play, <span class=GramE>you</span> mix with\r\npeople. You work for your family – what else are these if not work? You will\r\nsay that all this is no work at all. Everybody does all this. What is the\r\ndifference then between an ordinary man and a great personage? But remember\r\nKarmayoga does not mean that you must do something quite astonishing, wonderful\r\nand unique. It is not that you cannot do Karmayoga if you do not fight like\r\nArjuna on the battlefield. Even if you do what others do, your own Karmayoga\r\nwill not suffer in the least. Everything depends on your attitude, how you look\r\nupon the world, with what kind of urge you are getting on with your life. True\r\nKarmayoga demands that you should remain in your present circumstances, within\r\nall your <span class=GramE>surroundings, that</span> you should remain within\r\nyour present conditions and should perform the chain of<o:p></o:p> works that surrounds your\r\npresent life, and through all these activities you have to recognise your own\r\nbeing, your own <i>dharma, </i>draw out of it and develop your own field of\r\naction. To do all this you need not leave the house, you need not move about\r\nlooking for some work after your heart. It will not be possible for you to find\r\nthe work of your choice until inner attitude changes. I don\'t mean that you\r\nmust for good remain tied to the same physical activities as at present. What I\r\nmean is that to change work, to change the surroundings is not the one thing\r\nneedful. Of course, these things may serve some purpose and may be useful to\r\nsome extent, but so long as you do not find anything solid within yourself, and\r\nmake it part of your inner being, this kind of eagerness to launch upon\r\never-new activities is merely a sign of restlessness and impatience, and these\r\nare nothing else than smoke and foam.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Simply to work at random\r\ndoes not mean <span class=GramE>Karmayoga.</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 305<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:\r\nbold\'>In<b> </b></span>our spiritual discipline Karmayoga is the field of manifestation.\r\nBy means of Jnanayoga you will build there the edifice of your higher life. The\r\naim of sadhana is to establish the divine qualities in oneself and transform\r\noneself. And for that one has first to change one\'s thought, mind and feeling.\r\nAnd thought is changed mainly by thought, by meditation, by will and Tapasya.\r\nThe impact of active life may be of help in changing thought and feeling, but\r\nthat would be only a help. Try to turn your eyes on your own life and\r\nactivities. View the outside world with your inner thought and feeling. Try to\r\nobserve what thought and feeling, what inner status gives rise to your work\r\nand governs your life. Is your work to be the effect of only your desires, your\r\nemotions and of your nervous excitements? <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:\r\nbold\'>If<b> </b></span>not, then see from your inner poise and feel from behind\r\neverybody and everything what divine urge, what inner divine impulse is trying\r\nto emerge. Get to know and nurse it into being. Remove all waste matter from\r\nall sides and be guided by the fulness of its light and force. To be at work,\r\nwhatever its <span class=GramE>nature,</span> and to remain self-poised in the\r\nlight and force of knowledge – this is true Karmayoga. When you acquire this,\r\nat least a bit of it, then only there will come to light in the proper way what\r\nGod wants to create with your collaboration.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 306<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-43_On Karmayoga','','publish','closed','open','','43_on-karmayoga','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/43_on-karmayoga/',0,'post','',0),(2103,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Pondicherry - I</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<b><font size=\"4\">Pondicherry</font></b><span\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:21.1pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'><b style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><i><o:p><font size=\"4\">&nbsp;</font></o:p></i></b></span></p>\r\n		<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:21.1pt;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>SRI Aurobindo came to\r\nPondicherry¹ and took shelter here. We might say of course from another point\r\nof view that it was he who gave shelter to <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nwithin his own consciousness. But why this city in particular? There is indeed\r\nthe usual view that he retired into French territory to escape the wrath of the\r\nBritish bureaucracy. But actually, all he wanted was to find a quiet spot where\r\nhe might give himself to his own work undisturbed.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n8.85pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nplace was so quiet that we can hardly imagine now what it was really like. It\r\nwas not quiet, it was actually dead; they used to call it a dead city. There\r\nwas hardly any traffic, particularly in the area where we lived, and after dusk\r\nthere was not a soul stirring. It is no wonder they should say, &quot;Sri\r\nAurobindo has fixed upon a cemetery for his sadhana.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nwas a cemetery indeed. Whilst the Indian nationalist movement had been flooding\r\nthe whole country, nothing of that regenerating flood could find an entry here,\r\nexcept for one or two individuals who had felt a touch. It was like a backwater\r\nof the sea, a stagnant pool by the shore. There was here no such thing as a\r\npublic life or a youth movement or any kind of collective effort or an experiment\r\nin educational reform – there was no sign whatsoever of an awakening to life.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>A cemetery it was no doubt, but one with its\r\nfull complement of ghosts and ghouls.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the first rank of these ghouls were the\r\nruffian bands.</p>\r\n		<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>¹ <span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt\'>In 1910.</span><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page –\r\n400<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Such creatures can appear\r\nonly in a highly tamasic environment. For, the greater the depth of inertia\r\nthe more is the need for keen rajasic excitement followed immediately by the\r\nsilence of sleep. <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City> of\r\nthose days had a still more notorious reputation for its cheap wine-shops and\r\nits rowdy tipsies. Of this type of ghouls there was a regular invasions from outside every week-end.<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nruffian bands – known locally as <i>bandes </i>in French – were a peculiar\r\ninstitution now almost broken up. The French regime in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nwas supposed to be in theory a reign of liberty, equality and fraternity. But\r\nin actual fact, it was the feudalism of pre-Revolution <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nthat held sway here. Or perhaps it was something worse, namely, the arbitrary\r\nrule of three or four high officials and rich men of <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:\r\nbold\'>ill-</span>gotten means. The &quot;bandes&quot; were in their pay and\r\nthey were there to do their bidding; the police had neither the will nor the\r\npower to intervene. On certain occasions, during the campaigns for political\r\nelections, complete anarchy seemed to reign in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>,\r\nwhile rioting and murder continued for days on end and blood flowed freely.\r\nPeople would not dare stir out of their houses, especially after dark. We were\r\nnot openly involved in politics, but some of our friends were. And Sri\r\nAurobindo would sometimes send out some of us to meet them, even after\r\nnightfall and on purpose. The local people marvelled at our dauntless courage.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:2.85pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n3.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>These ruffian bands – these\r\nghouls I was going to say – turned against us too on more than one occasion.\r\nLet me explain in a little more detail.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Soon\r\nafter Sri Aurobindo came, he realised that a firm seat must be established\r\nhere, an unshakable foundation for his <i>sadhana </i>and <i>siddhi, </i>for\r\nthe path and the goal. He was to build up on the ever-shifting sands of the\r\nshore a firm and strong edifice, a <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>Temple</st1:PlaceType>\r\n of <st1:PlaceName>God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. Have we not read in the<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 401<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:13.2pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Puranas and other\r\nscriptures that whenever and wherever a sage or a Rishi sat down to his\r\nmeditation and sadhana, there rushed\' upon him at once a host of evil spirits\r\nto break up his work? They seemed to have a special liking for Rishi\'s flesh.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Those\r\nwho tried most to stop Sri Aurobindo from settling down and were ever on the\r\nalert to move him from his seat were the British authorities. The British\r\nGovernment in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\ncould- never accept that Sri Aurobindo had come away to French territory for\r\ncarrying on his yoga. Religion and spirituality, these to them were a mere\r\nsubterfuge. They thought they knew what Sri Aurobindo was – the one most\r\ndangerous man in all <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,\r\nthe source of all the trouble. <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nwas the place from where were supplied the necessary instructions and advice\r\nand perhaps even the pistols and other weapons. Here was the brain-centre of\r\nthe Indian independence movement. That Sri Aurobindo had been the mainspring of\r\nIndian independence they had been told by their life-instinct, although the\r\nsuperficial sense in which they understood it was not obviously the whole\r\ntruth.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>At one time, they made up their minds that Sri Aurobindo\r\nshould be kidnapped in a car with the help of one of the chiefs of the local\r\n&quot;bandes&quot;. We had to patrol all night the house in which Sri Aurobindo\r\nlived, lest there should be a sudden attack. I gather the ringleader behind\r\nthis move showed repentance later and said that to act against a holy man and\r\nyogi was a great sin and that a curse might fall on the evil-doer himself.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Nevertheless,\r\nforce having failed they now tried fraud. An attempt was made to frame a\r\ntrumped-up charge at law. Some of the local &quot;ghouls&quot; were made to\r\nhelp forge the documents – some photographs and maps and charts along with a\r\nfew letters – which were to prove that we had been engaged in a conspiracy for\r\ndacoity and murder. The papers were left in a well in the compound of one of\r\nour men, then<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 402<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>they were\r\n&quot;discovered&quot; after a search by the police. The French police had even\r\nentered Sri Aurobindo\'s residence for a search. But when their Chief found\r\nthere were Latin and Greek books lying about on his desk, he was so taken aback\r\nthat he could only blurt out, . <i>&quot;Il sait du latin, it sait<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>du grec </i>/&quot; –\r\n&quot;He knows Latin, he knows Greek!&quot; – and then he left with all his\r\nmen. How could a man who knew Latin and Greek ever commit any mischief?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nfact, the French Government had not been against us, indeed they helped us as\r\nfar as they could. We were looked upon as their guests and as political\r\nrefugees, it was a matter of honour for them to give us their protection. And\r\nwhere it is a question of honour, the French as a race are willing to risk\r\nanything: they still fight duels-in <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\non a point of honour. But at the same time, they had their friendship, the <i>entente\r\ncordiale, </i>with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nto maintain and it is this that got them into a dilemma.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:3.1pt;mso-line-height-alt:4.05pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\naddition to force and fraud, the British Government did not hesitate to make\r\nuse of temptation as well. They sent word to Sri Aurobindo which they followed\r\nup by messenger, to say that if he were to return to <st1:place>British India</st1:place>,\r\nthey would not mind. They would indeed be happy to provide him with a nice\r\nbungalow in the quiet surroundings of a hill station, <st1:City><st1:place>Darjeeling</st1:place></st1:City>,\r\nwhere he could live in complete freedom and devote himself to his spiritual\r\npractices without let or hindrance. Needless to add, this was an ointment\r\nspread out to catch a fly and Sri Aurobindo refused the invitation with a\r\n&quot;No, thank you.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Afterwards\r\ncame a more serious attack, perhaps the one most fraught with danger. The First\r\nWorld War was on. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nhad been seething with discontent and things were not going too well abroad on\r\nthe European front. The British Government now brought pressure on the French:<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 403<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>they must\r\ndo something drastic about their political refugees. Either they should hand\r\nthem over to the British, or else let them be deported out of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nThe French Government accordingly proposed that they would find room for us in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nThere we could live in peace; they would see to our passage so that we need\r\nhave no worry on that score. H on the other hand we were to refuse this offer,\r\nthere might be danger: the British authorities might be allowed to seize us\r\nforcibly.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\ncan recall very well that scene. Sri Aurobindo was seated in his room in what\r\nwas later called &quot;Guest House&quot;, Rue Francois Martin. We too had come.\r\nTwo or three of the Tamil nationalist leaders who had sought refuge in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\ncame in and told Sri Aurobindo about the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\noffer and also gave a hint that they were agreeable. Sri Aurobindo paused a\r\nlittle and then he said in a quiet clear tone, &quot;I do not budge from\r\nhere.&quot; To them this came as a bolt from the blue; they had never expected\r\nanything like this. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place>Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nthere would be freedom and peace, whereas here we lived in constant danger and\r\nuncertainty. But now they were helpless. Sri Aurobindo had spoken and they\r\ncould hardly act otherwise. They had no alternative but to accept the decision,\r\nthough with a heavy heart.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nstory of Danton comes to mind – Danton the leader of the French Revolution. For\r\na long time he had been on the crest of the wave of revolution, a leader\r\nrevered of all. The wheel of his fortune was now on the downward turn and\r\nanother party, the extremists, had reached the crest. Orders were out for his\r\narrest, which meant the guillotine. His friends rushed to him to give advice.\r\n&quot;Flee, Danton, flee,&quot; they said, &quot;there is yet time, flee.&quot;\r\nDanton was unmoved and he replied in a calm and quiet manner. &quot;That cannot\r\nbe,&quot; he said. <i>&quot;On n\'emporte pas Ie pays à la semelle de ses souliers&quot;\r\n</i>– &quot;You cannot carry the country on the heels of your shoes.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nAshram has of course been subjected to fresh attacks<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 404<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>later, and to some of\r\nthese many of you have been witness. But by then the Ashram had its foundations\r\nwell laid and the edifice had risen high. But in the days of which I have been\r\nspeaking there was no such thing as a foundation yet. Today the Ashram stands\r\nlike a banyan tree with head erect and branches spread all over; its body is\r\nsolid and immovable, the roots go deep and strong and firm. An attack may\r\ndislodge or even break a few leaves and branches, but, nothing more serious\r\ncan happen. But in those days there was a possibility that the whole tree might\r\nget uprooted and such attempts too were there. The whole endeavour then was to\r\nfind a standing-room. Sri Aurobindo wanted, as the Vedic Rishis before him had\r\ndone, to find a footing where there was none, <i>apade pada-dhatave.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:2.85pt;\r\nmso-line-height-alt:5.25pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In those\r\ndays there was in the College de France in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\na French professor named Jouveau Dubreuil – later on he became quite a\r\nwell-known name – who had been engaged in research in ancient history and\r\narchaeology. We knew him quite well. He was at that time working on the early\r\nhistory of <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>. From a\r\nstudy of the ancient documents and inscriptions he discovered that the city of Pondicherry,\r\nwhich I have called a city of the dead, had at one time been known as a city of\r\nthe Veda, <i>veda-puri. </i>That is to say, it had a centre of Vedic\r\nlearning. And this Vedic college, our professor found from ancient maps and\r\nother clues, was located exactly on the spot where the main building of our\r\nAshram now stands.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>According\r\nto ancient tradition, the Rishi Agastya came to the South to spread the Vedic\r\nlore and the Aryan discipline. His seems to have been the first project for\r\nthe infusion of Aryan culture into the Dravidian civilisation. Many of you may\r\nhere recall the lines of Hemchandra the Bengali poet:<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 405<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Arise, O Mountain, arise,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Agastya has returned;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A new sign has been\r\nfloated,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\'s a racing flood of\r\nLight;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And lo, the sky holds a\r\nnew splendour of the Sun... </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Hold this light, O\r\nMountain,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That it spread a new Dawn\r\nover the land;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>May it hold the new\r\nKnowledge,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>May it acquire a new life;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Maya new Dream come to us\r\nall.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Raise, O Mountain, your\r\nblue dragon-mass.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nlegend goes that as Agastya journeyed South, the Vindhya mountains bent low to\r\ngive him passage, and that they have remained low ever since and would continue\r\nin that posture until the Rishi came back. In connection with this story about\r\nthe Vedic Rishi Agastya, one is almost automatically reminded of the endeavour\r\nof Sri Aurobindo. Like Agastya he journeyed South and set up a permanent seat\r\nhere to emanate a new Light – he was even known in these parts as Uttara Yogi,\r\nthe Yogi of the North. In his lines of work and sadhana too we find a strange\r\naffinity with Agastya\'s effort, at least in one respect. Agastya had been for\r\nyears driving deep into the earth, in the abyss of the subconscient, for he\r\nnourished both .the worlds, earth and heaven; he along with his companion\r\nLopamudra had been striving for victory here upon earth itself, In their battle\r\nand the sacrifice with its hundred fiery tongues, <i>jayavedatra satanithamajim,\r\nyat samyañca mithunababhyajava; </i>for the effort that had the\r\nprotection of the gods could never, fail, <i>na mrsa srantam\r\nyadavanti devah. </i>To carry the effort of the Vedic Rishis to a greater\r\nfulfilment, to make the victory complete in a hundred, nay, in a thousand ways,\r\ns<i>atanitham, sahasranitham, –</i> this precisely was Sri\r\nAurobindo\'s aim.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:3.1pt;\r\nmso-line-height-alt:3.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'>Page – 406<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:3.1pt;\r\nmso-line-height-alt:3.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nAurobindo was in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City> for\r\nforty years. The first few years were spent in establishing a seat: he had to\r\nselect a suitable spot and make a permanent abode where he could work\r\nundisturbed. This point about selecting a &quot;seat&quot; occurs in the story\r\nof all great spiritual aspirants and in all the disciplines. The Tantriks had\r\nneed of their &quot;seat of five skulls&quot;, <i>pañcamundi. </i>Ramakrishna\r\nhad his <i>pañcavati, </i>the grove of five sacred trees. But why this\r\ninsistence on five? Perhaps the number stood for the five main elements in man\r\nand the five worlds that constitute the universe, – what the Upanishads term\r\nbody, life, mind, supermind and spirit. The Vedas too speak of <i>pañcaksiti, </i>the\r\nfive abodes, <i>pañcakrsti, </i>the five fields of culture, <i>pañcajana, </i>the\r\nfive births or worlds. Sri Krishna\'s conch of <i>pañcajanya </i>may well occur\r\nto the mind. Lord Buddha too when he took his seat under the Bodhi tree is\r\nsupposed to have said, &quot;I do not rise from this seat until my aim is\r\nattained, even though the body dry up or fall&quot; <i>(ihasane suyatu\r\nme sariram).<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nsite once chosen and. the seat established, Sri Aurobindo had now to prepare\r\nthe ground. There were, as I have said, shifting sands all around symbolising a\r\nchanging world where all is in a state of flux, <i>yat kiñca jagatyam\r\njagat. </i>All that had to be cleared and firm ground reached. He spent many\r\nlong years, even as Agastya had done, in this spade-work. For he was to erect a\r\nhuge edifice, a <st1:City><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:City> dedicated to\r\nGod. He had once dreamed of a <st1:City><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nfor Bhawani, Bhawani Mandir, where he would install Mother India. Now too he\r\ndesired the same thing, a <st1:City><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nfor Bhawani, a Temple-city in fact.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That\r\nneeded a solid, firm and immovable foundation. For this .he had to dig into the\r\nfarthest abyss, to fix, one might say, the &quot;five supporting pillars&quot;.\r\nAll this he did single-handed during the first four years, from 1910 to 1914.\r\nThen the Mother came. And although that was for a short time, it was then that\r\nthe plans were clearly laid for the thing that was to be and the shape it was\r\nto take,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 407<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>– this New Creation of\r\ntheirs.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nwork of building the foundation took him till 1920. From 1920 to 1926 he worked\r\nwith the Mother in giving it strength, testing it and making it fit and\r\nadequate for carrying the future load. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In\r\n</span>1926 there began the construction of the superstructure, and along\r\nwith that proceeded the work of installing the presiding Deity. This work of\r\ninstallation took twelve years to complete and the next twelve were given to\r\nmaking it permanent. His task done, Sri Aurobindo stepped aside, for a new\r\ntask, for taking up another line of work. But to this foundation he lent the\r\nentire strength of his bare back, that his work and new creation should stand\r\nimmortal and with its head erect.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:2.85pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n3.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All\r\nthat Sri Aurobindo had wanted to do with his body was to instal permanently in\r\nan earthly form the Mother Divine. This <st1:City><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nwe call the Ashram has grown through the Power and Influence of Her physical\r\nPresence, in order that She may manifest anew. The Divine Mother of the worlds\r\nhas installed Herself here. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In </span>the\r\ngolden <st1:City><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:City> the living Goddess is\r\nmanifest with all Her Powers of realisation. She has Herself taken charge of\r\nthe Work now. And the power of Her Grace is working towards the goal that the\r\nentire earth and the race of men grow into a living manifestation of Herself.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 408<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-55_Pondicherry_I','','publish','closed','open','','55_pondicherry_i','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/55_pondicherry_i/',0,'post','',0),(2104,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','<html xmlns:o=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Some Dates</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:\r\nnormal\'><font size=\"4\">Some Dates</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><st1:date Month=\"7\"\r\nDay=\"7\" Year=\"1977\">7-7-77</st1:date></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>HAVE you noted today\'s\r\ndate? My attention has been drawn to it. It is very remarkable: 7.7.77. <span\r\nclass=GramE>Four sevens together.</span> Has it any special significance? Yes,\r\nMother herself once gave the meaning of these four sevens – &quot;Manifestation\r\nand Realisation&quot;. Manifestation means the appearance of the truth, the\r\ntruth that is hidden behind somewhere, when it comes forward and shows itself,\r\nthat is manifestation. Realisation means we express this truth that has come\r\nforward in our consciousness, make it real on the physical plane, embody it in\r\nour external activity: in other words whatever you <i>do </i>you <i>do </i>the\r\ntruth, whatever you speak you speak the truth; the Truth first appears in your\r\nmind, in your mental consciousness, then it <span class=SpellE>realises</span>\r\nitself in your physical activity. Number seven has a special meaning. The\r\nnumber seven gives the scheme of creation; it is the number of the worlds that\r\nconstitute creation. The creation is a globe, there are three worlds above, <span\r\nclass=GramE>that</span> is the higher hemisphere and three other below forming\r\nthe lower hemisphere. The higher worlds are as you all know Sat-Chit-Ananda, –\r\nthe Divine Existence, the Divine Consciousness and the Divine Delight. Below in\r\nthe lower half there is the mind, the vital and the body, – <i>manas, prana\r\n</i>and <i>anna. </i>Three above, three below, in between there is another\r\njoining the two, another principle or <span class=GramE>world,</span> it is\r\nthe Supermind, <i>Mahas. </i>The three higher worlds are invisible, beyond the\r\nnormal consciousness; they become visible mind concrete when they pass through\r\nthe</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 34 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>intermediary</span>\r\nSupermind and become the principles of the lower hemisphere. Now these are the\r\nseven principles of creation. Manifestation means the expression of the higher\r\nworlds, the supreme triple principles of Sat-Chit-Ananda in the lower triple\r\nprinciple of mind, life, body through the intermediary Supermind.\r\nMahas-Supermind is the manifestation, the beginning of the creation and <span\r\nclass=SpellE>realisatton</span> comes when the higher trinity is realised here\r\nbelow and embodied in the lower trinity. That is the significance of 7. There\r\nare four sevens. Four is the number signifying a square, fullness,\r\ncompleteness.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nAurobindo gave me this mantra of creation and explained it to me, as I have\r\ndone to you today, on the very day perhaps of my arrival here in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nalmost seventy years ago! Where were you then?</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.35pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>8.8.77</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nfind today\'s date also is very remarkable: 8.8.77. You have any idea? First\r\nobserve how the figures are nicely balanced, symmetrically arranged – 8.8.77. 8\r\n<span class=GramE>equals</span> 4+4. Two eights equal 4+4+4+4, four fours; and\r\nseven means 4+3. So how many fours are there in all? <span class=GramE>Six.</span>\r\nThere are then six fours and two threes. I said last time, four represents \r\ncompleteness, also creation; square means a complete creation, a complete \r\ncompleteness. Three, Mother said, represents the three fundamental principles of \r\ncreation, – Sacchidananda. That is to say, first existence, you exist, you\r\nare; next, you are aware, that is to say, you are conscious, and finally,\r\ndelight – you exist, you are conscious of your existence and you delight in\r\nyour existence. These three fundamental principles of existence that are now\r\nbehind the creation are here presented to you in this figure of a riddle as a\r\ntoken, I suggest, as a symbol: the preparation of their taking a form upon\r\nearth embodying in material existence.</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;\r\nmso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 35 \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-06_Some Dates','','publish','closed','open','','06_some-dates','','','2021-11-23 17:59:02','2021-11-23 17:59:02','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/06_some-dates/',0,'post','',0),(2105,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>The Cause of India\'s Decline</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">The Cause of </font> </b>\r\n<font size=\"4\"><st1:country-region><st1:place><b\r\n  style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>India</b></st1:place></st1:country-region></font><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">\'s Decline</font></b></p>\r\n		<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>WHAT is the cause – the\r\nfundamental cause – of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\'s\r\ndecline? The mighty nation that was once the vanguard of the world in the field\r\nof learning and culture, whose all-round genius had almost no equal, is now\r\nruthlessly stricken with poverty, incapacity, weakness and stands on the verge\r\nof destruction. Many are the factors that are said to have brought about such a\r\ndownfall. But what is the main, the source cause? Loss of vitality, for that is\r\nthe foremost feature. This statement applies equally to an individual as to a\r\nnation. When vitality runs short, the life-energy falls to a low ebb; weakness,\r\ndisease and death gradually force their way. But <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nwas, as it were, the fount of all energies. History bears witness to the fact\r\nthat more than once <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nslipped into an alien atmosphere and almost crashed towards a total downfall,\r\nbut always it was only for- a short while: for she mustered strength again from\r\nsomewhere and, infused with a new life, she recovered her health and strength\r\nto rise again to a greater greatness. It happens however that her present\r\ncrisis is very radical and unprecedented. It is a question of yes or no for\r\never. How could <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\ncome to such a pass? What sin, what violation of the Law could have deprived\r\nher of her vitality to such an enormous extent?<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nare three primary causes that have led to the diminution of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\'s\r\nlife-energy. Let us study them one after another.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Firstly,\r\nin order of time and importance, the root-cause<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 247<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:18.45pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:8.85pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>is the\r\ninstitution of Sannyasa, ascetic renunciation, and the influence of the theory\r\nof illusion. What does the ideal of Sannyasa teach us? The world is an\r\nillusion. The highest good consists in escape from life and withdrawal from\r\naction. The play of the natural instincts and propensities which comprise the\r\nordinary social life of man is considered the lower nature. If man wants to\r\nattain to his highest nature, his true Self, then he will have to control his\r\noutgoing tendencies, stop them totally and finally turn them inward. The <i>summum\r\nbonum </i>of life is the absorption in the static Brahman.¹<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Needless\r\nto say that a creed whose fundamental principle is to escape from life cannot\r\nbut dry up the sap of life. The outgoing faculties of human life are bound to\r\nrecede, dwindle and vanish or remain atrophied when it is inculcated that life\r\nand the living of life lead one astray from the ultimate Truth. The conception\r\nof life as a mirage cannot help life to bloom and manifest. On the contrary, it\r\nis sure to effect a gradual cessation of life.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nmay be argued however that the ideal of Sannyasa, renunciation, was never meant\r\nfor the whole of humanity. The Sannyasins neither expect nor wish that all and\r\nsundry should give up their respective vocations in life and retire to the\r\nmountains and forests and remain absorbed in the sole communion with God. They\r\nalso admit the necessity of the outgoing movements in human life. The world is\r\nnot an ultimate reality, but its pragmatic reality cannot be denied. In the\r\ncourse of leading a normal life when spontaneously a spirit of renunciation\r\ndawns on one, then that is the proper time to accept the life of renunciation\r\nfor spiritual attainment. The institution of Sannyasa stands at the<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.05pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 276.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>¹ <span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>The genuine spirituality of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span\r\n  style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>India</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'> as embodied in the Vedas,\r\nthe Upanishads and the Gita has never approved of the renunciation of life and\r\naction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:right 276.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>&quot;Doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a\r\nhundred yearn. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not\r\nto a man.&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:right 276.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><span style=\'mso-tab-count:\r\n1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Isha Upanihad (Translated by Sri\r\nAurobindo)<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 276.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'>Page – 248<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n10.05pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 276.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>top of the society. One\r\nhas to reach it through the household life fulfilling one\'s duties as a\r\nhouseholder.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Quite\r\ntrue. But the ideal of renunciation gained slowly and occupied people\'s mind to\r\nsuch an inordinate degree that all other ideals fell into insignificance before\r\nthis one ideal. The real truth, the real good lies outside the pale of worldly\r\nlife. The sooner one can get rid of this life, the better. Besides, life was\r\nconsidered not as a way to the Goal beyond, but as a great obstacle to it. To\r\nour normal conception a householder is but a despicable sinner. We began to\r\nlook down upon life and its activities even when we were within the precincts\r\nof life itself. Instead of enlarging all the spheres of our activities we\r\nwanted to dig out and cast away their very roots. But in spite of such an\r\nattitude the common men did not become pure of passion and life-attachments.\r\nFor as the Gita declares, &quot;All creatures follow the bent of their\r\nown nature; repression is of no avail.&quot;<i><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nupshot amounts to this that even while we remained in active life, our zeal for\r\naction slowed down and diminished. We became overwhelmed with a pensive mood –\r\na collective sense of the vanity of vanities brooded on our life. The active\r\nlife was, no doubt; retained, but restricted within a narrow compass, and it\r\nwas unavoidable. The way of life in the end became confined solely to the physical\r\nplane. Only the animal propensities were attended to. We missed all high ideals\r\nof action. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In<b> </b></span>the social\r\nlife we were deprived of all collective enterprises. Our only aim was somehow\r\nto satisfy our personal needs and those of our family members. And this is\r\ncalled <i>praktana-kaya</i>, – &quot;exhausting the consequences of past\r\nactions&quot;. We paid no heed to the high or large enterprises of the\r\nlife-energy, and these became altogether meaningless to us. All our energies\r\nwere diverted to and hemmed in the channels of envy, jealousy and ill-feeling;\r\n&quot;eat, drink and be merry&quot; – as much as your depleted life-energy\r\nallows – became the motto of our life<i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 249<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.7pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>From\r\noutside, new shackles were imposed on the life-energy that was already\r\ndiminishing and dying out from within. The religious codes of Manu and others\r\nprescribed the routine of life in all its details. The canons enjoined on us\r\ntaught how to regulate our life, what to do and not to do. The march of our life\r\nfollowed the rut of the rules laid down by the law-givers for the regulation of\r\nour daily life and the duties on special occasions. We could not deviate from\r\nthe rules in the least for fear of censure and tyranny of the society. The\r\ncustoms that were in the beginning merely a spontaneous discipline changed into\r\nan inexorable chain and bondage. It is true that the living current of life\r\ndoes not and cannot adhere to all these injunctions of fixed laws. Life has a\r\nrhythm of its own. It creates its own law. The rules that do not take into\r\naccount this rhythm and law become a hindrance to the natural progress of life.\r\nThe urge of life, being hampered at every step, is bound to become weakened and\r\ncrippled. The hard and fast rules that the mentors of our society had\r\nintroduced even for inessential and trifling matters of life deprived the\r\nlife-energy of its natural zest and zeal, made it move like .a machine. Consequently\r\nour vitality waned and life became nothing more than a bundle of rules. Perhaps\r\nthe original intention was not to allow the vital energy to run amuck or break\r\nthe bounds of discipline. Anyhow we missed the art of maintaining freedom in\r\nthe midst of bondage.¹ This is the second cause that robbed <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nof her vitality.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nCaste-system is the third cause. The differentiation of castes and sub-castes\r\nhas practically split <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region><i><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n10.05pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>¹ <span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>Many people hold that this\r\nrigid discipline saved Hinduism and the characteristic features of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span\r\n  style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'>India</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'> during the periods of\r\nforeign incursions. But it cannot be admitted that if India had followed her\r\nown normal bent of life she would not have been able to save herself,\r\nassimilate the foreigners, the members of other religions and cast away what\r\nwas not worthy of assimilation. On the whole, this austere discipline, the\r\nattempt at it which had, as it were, enfeebled and confined the life-energy\r\nwithin a dungeon, has done more harm than good.</span><i><span style=\'font-size:\r\n10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 250<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n10.05pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>into innumerable\r\ndivisions. We Indians are bloated with pride and assert that we belong to the\r\nAryan race. But do we know how many different strains of blood went to form\r\nthis Indian nation? If there be any Aryan spirit in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,\r\nit is not in the blood of the Indians, but in their education and culture. And\r\nthis education and culture too has mingled with those of other civilisations.\r\nWhen the Indian nation was living and powerful, it had considerably added to\r\nits life and power by absorbing new blood and new life-energy. But as the frame\r\nof the Caste-system grew more and more rigid, new sub-castes began to make\r\ntheir appearance. Social intercourse and matrimonial alliances ceased to take\r\nplace. And, as a result, the power of unity yielded to the infirmity of\r\ndivision. No doubt, the maintenance of the purity .of blood of a clan may be at\r\ntimes necessary. When a small group acquires some speciality in education and\r\nculture, in order to perpetuate this virtue it is obviously needed that it\r\nshould keep aloof from the other groups. This speciality may last for long, but\r\nnot for ever. With the march of time its decline is bound to ensue. Besides, it\r\ndoes no good to retain a particular quality for all time, since with the change\r\nof time the usefulness of even good qualities will change. There comes the\r\ndemand for qualities suitable to the age. Purity, i.e., continuance of\r\nthe type, fixity for its own sake, leads to stagnation and disintegration.\r\nAccording to the nature and capacity of persons and groups, different systems\r\nof education and culture can and should be admitted in a society. Aptitude and\r\ninclination of men should decide groupings. There is no need for arbitrary or\r\nnotion-made laws. But in the present-day society we find high and solid walls\r\nof division raised everywhere even amongst the sub-castes. So the social\r\nrelationship has considerably narrowed down, and from generation to generation\r\nthe social intercourse has been confined within groupings of a few families. Virility\r\nand the life-energy fail under such circumstances to retain their original\r\nvigour.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 251<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All\r\nthese causes were responsible for the foreign yoke to be laid on <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nThe remnant of the life-energy was liquidated under the pressure of this\r\nsubjugation. And that brought the <span style=\'font-family:\"Arial Narrow\";\r\nmso-bidi-font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"\'>coup de grâce </span>which seemed to\r\nseal the fate of the Indian nation for good.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><i>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 252<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</i></div><i>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n\r\n</i></td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-33_The Cause of India s Decline','','publish','closed','open','','33_the-cause-of-india-s-decline','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/33_the-cause-of-india-s-decline/',0,'post','',0),(2106,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Reason and Yoga</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Reason and Yoga</font></b></p>\r\n		<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span style=\'font-family:\r\n\"Arial Narrow\";mso-bidi-font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:275.75pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>NOTHING\r\nis proved by reason. Reason is only an instrument or a weapon. Any man can use\r\nit with the same skill for his own end. Satan, too, has his advocate.<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>According\r\nto the demands and needs of our ideals, experience and inner impulses, and in\r\norder to furnish them with proofs, we engage reason and its company. Therefore\r\nthe authority of the proof lies not in any power of reasoning, but in the\r\nreality behind the ideal, the secret feeling, the profound impulse and\r\nimpetus.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>What\r\nis truth is existent; that is, it is true only because it has existence. It is\r\nindependent of any proof. It has to be seen directly and perceived immediately.\r\nThe proof of the tree before you consists in your seeing it. There is God, the\r\nSelf, Immortality, Eternity, <span class=GramE>the</span> Life Divine. The\r\nproof of each of these entities, too, lies in its direct apperception.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You\r\nmay say, &quot;I see the tree, you see it, he sees it; everybody sees or can\r\nsee it. But God, the Self, Immortality, the Life Divine: even if you have seen\r\nthem, I have not done so. Everyone has not seen or cannot see them.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>My\r\nreply will be, &quot;Not all, but many have realised them, in different ages\r\nand in different climes. It is open to you and me, also, to have the\r\nrealisation if we go through the proper procedure.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>If\r\none wants to see <st1:City><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:City> one has to\r\ngo to <st1:City><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:City>. You cannot say that\r\nthere is no <st1:City><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:City> because it is\r\nnot visible from your room. Have you seen a positron? Have you seen a neutron?\r\nHow many have seen them? To see them, one<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 266<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n12.95pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>has</span>\r\nto go to the laboratory and follow a special procedure.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nprocess that brings the direct vision of God, the Self, Immortality and the\r\ntouch of the Divine Life is called the practice of Yoga.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 267<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n15.6pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-36_Reason and Yoga','','publish','closed','open','','36_reason-and-yoga','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/36_reason-and-yoga/',0,'post','',0),(2107,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Alipore Court</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><st1:Street><st1:address><b\r\n  style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Alipore Court</font></b></st1:address></st1:Street></p>\r\n		<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Stone walls do not a\r\nprison make, </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Nor iron bars a cage;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Minds innocent and quiet\r\ntake </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That for <span\r\nclass=GramE>an</span> hermitage&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:2.0in;text-align:justify;text-indent:\r\n.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>–Lovelace<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>IT was as it were a wheel\r\nwithin a wheel, a circle within a circle, a play within a play.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\ncomedy of our trial was being staged within the world-play, and on the\r\ncourt-room stage itself we the undertrial prisoners had been doing our little\r\nprivate drama. The stage was set in the room of the <st1:Street><st1:address>Alipore\r\n  Sessions Court</st1:address></st1:Street>. One corner of the room was fenced off\r\nso as to form a square enclosure but with wire netting that enabled us to see\r\nand breathe. They had also left a small passage through the netting for our entrance\r\nand exit, and a sentry had been posted with arms to watch that the tigers and\r\nwild beasts did not break through the cage. Inside, a few benches had been laid\r\nwhere we might sit, for we could not obviously be kept standing the whole day.\r\nWe were some thirty-five in all. They used to take us from Alipore Jail in a\r\ncarriage – by carriage I mean a horse-drawn vehicle, for motor-cars had not yet\r\ncome. As we left jail, they would handcuff us in two\'s, the right hand of one\r\nbeing tied to the left hand of the other with the same pair of handcuffs. The\r\nhandcuffs were removed before we entered our cage in the courtroom.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>As\r\nthe proceedings began in court, we would take our<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 365<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>seats</span>.\r\nBut the court proceeded in its own way and we went on in ours. The pleaders and\r\nbarristers and witnesses and spectators were all engrossed in the subject\r\nmatter of the case. The barristers pleaded, the witnesses gave their depositions,\r\nthe court made comments, <span class=GramE>everything</span> went on as is\r\nusual in a court of law. But we remained perfectly neutral and indifferent as\r\nif it did not concern us at all. Our interests were elsewhere. We had come to\r\nsit together forming separate groups of four or five according to our\r\nrespective tastes and temperaments. We could of course move from one group to\r\nanother as and when we liked. Our topics of discussion ranged over all manner\r\nof subjects: religion and spirituality, literature and science, our work and\r\nour future, all this came within our purview. Our discussions sometimes grew so\r\nloud and hot that Judge Beachcroft – he had been contemporaneous with Sri\r\nAurobindo at <st1:City><st1:place>Cambridge</st1:place></st1:City> – would\r\nshout at us like a schoolmaster, &quot;Less noise there, less noise\r\nthere!&quot; If that did not stop all the noise, then he had to make this\r\nthreat, &quot;Unless you stop, your tiffin will stop.&quot; That was a deadly\r\nblow and made us perfectly still. For the tiffin they served us in court was\r\nour chief meal in the whole day, for its quantity and quality were such as to\r\nmake it a charming oasis in that <st1:place>Sahara</st1:place> of jail. This\r\ntiffin came to us from outside, from friends and relatives and well-wishers. It\r\nincluded such items as <i>luchis, </i>potatoes and fritters and sweets. Once we\r\nhad a taste of all this, it was no wonder that the jail rations came to be\r\ndespised and grew untouchable.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\nthe midst of all this, Sri Aurobindo used to sit apart in his little corner.\r\nBut we could approach him if anyone had anything to ask. One day we arranged a\r\n&quot;general meeting&quot;, that is, requested him to give us a talk – of\r\ncourse in the court-room itself and during the proceedings! The court would go\r\non and we would go on with our &quot;meeting&quot;. Sri Aurobindo agreed to\r\nspeak and he chose as his subject, &quot;Nationalism and the Three Gunas\r\n(Psychological Types).&quot;<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 366<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Afterwards, on coming out\r\nof jail, he wrote out the substance of this speech and had it published in one\r\nof his papers. It has since been included in his Bengali work, <i>Dharma </i>O <i>Jatiyata.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nAurobindo had to devote a great deal of his time in jail to his counsel,\r\nChittaranjan Das, for whatever he had to say had to be given in writing. I\r\nfound they kept him supplied with foolscap sheets and a pencil in the court\r\nroom itself, and he went on wrting out his statements there. He wrote quite a\r\nfew pages every day. In these statements he had to explain in lengthy detail\r\nhis ideas and ideals, the aims and policy of the <i>Bandemataram </i>and <i>Yugantar\r\n</i>papers. Chittaranjan included all that in his speeches in court. Could the\r\noriginal manuscripts be recovered, they would be precious documents today.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>One\r\nday I mentioned to him that I had not had a chance to read English poetry for a\r\nlong time and would like to have some. Could he help me? The very next day, he\r\nwrote out a new poem and handed it to me. As he had no paper to write it on, he\r\nhad scribbled out the lines along the margins of an old letter! I was\r\nparticularly impressed by the last two lines; of the rest I do not recall\r\nanything now. I need hardly add that the poem is now among the lost treasures.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>While\r\non the subject of Sri Aurobindo\'s writings in jail, I cannot help divulging a\r\nsecret, namely, that he had written a whole series of essays on the subject of\r\nthe bomb. The terrorists had been subjected to bitter attacks in the press and\r\nthey had been falsely accused of all manner of things. It was as if Sri\r\nAurobindo took up his pen to defend them against these accusations. In this\r\nseries of four essays he discussed in detail the cult of the bomb. I can still\r\nrecall the titles: (I) The Message of the Bomb, (2) The Morality of the Bomb,\r\n(3) The Psychology-of the Bomb, (4) The Policy of the Bomb. The series was not\r\ncompleted, but what was written could serve the purpose very well. The writings\r\nhad been left in my custody and I passed them out of jail to a<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 367<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>friend</span>\r\nof mine. But in order to save them from the vigilant eyes of the police and\r\nsuch every-day hazards as a house-search, this friend of mine had them shoved\r\ninside a hollow bamboo stem and buried underground. When he looked for them\r\nagain after a little while, he found they had been reduced to a dust heap,\r\nthanks to the white ants\' benign touch.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Let\r\nme then give out another secret in this connection. Just as Sri Aurobindo had\r\ntaken up his pen – or shall we say his pencil? – <span class=GramE>on</span>\r\nbehalf of the bomb, similarly Nivedita at a later date once took up the cause <i>of\r\n</i>Swadeshi dacoits. The ideas and motives of these patriots, what impelled\r\nthem to take up this particular line were explained with such fine understanding\r\nand sympathy in Nivedita\'s writing that it read almost like poetry. Here too\r\nthe manuscript had come to my hands and was in my custody. That was about the\r\ntime when Sri Aurobindo on coming out of jail had taken up his work again and\r\nstarted the two weeklies, the English <i>Karmayogin </i>and the Bengali <i>Dharma.\r\n</i>At that time, Nivedita maintained rather close contacts with Sri Aurobindo\r\nand <span class=GramE>ourselves</span>. She used to write for the <i>Karmayogin,\r\n</i>and when Sri Aurobindo went into retirement, it was she who edited the last\r\nfew issues of the paper almost single-handed, with the sole exception of\r\nnews-items. She continued all the features which Sri Aurobindo had begun. Thus\r\nshe too wrote a few &quot;Conversations&quot; on the lines of Sri Aurobindo\'s\r\n&quot;Conversations of the Dead&quot;. I translated them into Bengali and have\r\nincluded them in my <i>Mriter Kathopakathan (Conversations of the Dead) </i>in\r\nBengali.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>While\r\nin jail, we had the good fortune to read some unpublished writings of Sri Aurobindo\'s. Each of us had been furnished by the authorities with a printed\r\nbrochure containing a report of the exhibits – that is to say, all the documents:\r\nletters, notebooks, etc. – which concerned us in that case. These included\r\nportions of an unfinished article from Sri Aurobindo\'s notebook, entitled,\r\n&quot;What is <span class=SpellE>Extre<span\r\nclass=GramE>mism</span>, Nationalism?&quot; </span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 368<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span class=SpellE>But there was another\r\narticle, one that was ready for the editorial columns of the <i>Bandemataram </i>and\r\nwas to be published the next day; but instead of going to the <i>Bandemataram </i>office,\r\nit found its way into the hands of the police as a result of the arrests. This\r\narticle was so beautiful and perfect from the point of view of both style and\r\nsubstance that I read it over and over again and committed it to memory and\r\nwould often repeat it aloud when I found myself alone. Hear how it begins,\r\nwith what calm and majestic periods! I record them here not from the book but\r\nfrom memory:<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Ages ago there was a priest of Baal who thought himself\r\ncommissioned by the god to kill all who did not bow the knee to him... At last,\r\na deliverer came and slew the priest and the world had rest...&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>How simple the words,\r\nalmost all monosyllabic (except five) – how easy in manner! Absolutely\r\nunadorned and still most effective! The movement is that of an arrow, strong\r\nand firm and straight. There is an epic quality about it, what Matthew Arnold\r\ncalls the &quot;grand style simple.&quot; This piece fortunately has not been\r\nlost; it has found a place in one of Sri Aurobindo\'s works, in his <i>The\r\nDoctrine of Passive Resistance, </i>under the heading, &quot;The Morality of\r\nBoycott.&quot; You might read it for yourselves. You will be delighted, I can\r\nassure you.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nI am going to divulge to you yet another secret, perhaps the most important of\r\nall, concerning our life in jail. I have said that I had Sri Aurobindo\'s essays\r\non the bomb slipped out of jail by handing them over to a friend. But how was\r\nthis done? By what means did we carry on this kind of secret interchange with\r\nthe outside world? How we could manage to import pistols into jail remained a\r\nmajor headache for the police. The police invented so many theories and there\r\nwas no end to the conjectures indulged in by the public.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 369<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>They must have been packed\r\nin biscuit <span class=GramE>tins,</span> or in the bellies of fish, or in jack-fruit,\r\nand what not. Finally, the Police Chief could contain himself no longer and\r\ndecided to ask Kanai. Kanai was already under sentence of death and was biding his\r\ntime. &quot;Now that all is over,&quot; said the Police Chief &quot;where is\r\nthe harm if you confess it? Why not show some courage and tell us where you\r\nfound the pistol?&quot; Kanai grew serious and said in measured tones, &quot;It\r\nis the spirit of Khudiram who gave me the revolver.&quot; Khudiram had been\r\nhanged for his attempt on the life of Kingsford.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Well,\r\nlet me now explain how the pistols came. They came precisely the way Sri\r\nAurobindo\'s writings went. When the police found that we were not such\r\nferocious beasts after all, they gave us permission to have a chance sometimes\r\nof meeting our friends and relatives. These meetings took place in a room next\r\nto the entrance through the main gate of the jail. They erected a partition of\r\niron bars through the middle of the room. On one side of this barrier stood the\r\nvisitors and friends and we stood on the other: No doubt there were some\r\nsentries about, but they did not particularly bother to watch, for on the whole\r\nthere had grown up an amount of confidence in our good faith. But it wets very\r\neasy to pass on anything across this barrier, for with a shawl or heavy <i>chuddar\r\n</i>on, one could easily touch the person on the other side of the bars – out\r\nof an excess of feeling, one would normally imagine. I remember how my uncle once\r\nburst into tears on meeting me in this manner. Anyhow, the pair of revolvers\r\nused by Kanai and Satyen had changed hands through the bars in this manner.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nreferred just now to our good faith. In fact our laughter and fun, our mirth\r\nand play, and our sweet simplicity had astonished them all. We had a Court\r\nInspector, an elderly Muslim gentleman, who would almost burst into tears as he\r\nlooked on us. &quot;How dare you laugh and play?&quot; he used to say, &quot;<span\r\nclass=GramE>you</span> have not the least idea of the terror you have to face.\r\nYou do not know what kind of life it is in the Andamans.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 370<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You are not the only ones\r\nwho read the Gita. I too have gone through the book repeatedly and still read\r\nit.&quot; For this show of sympathy, the gentleman had to suffer punishment.\r\nHis promotion was stopped or perhaps he was dismissed from the service. The man\r\nwho was captain of the English guard used to say, &quot;You are strange\r\nspecimens. You look so tender and soft, and so simple and sweet in your manner!\r\nHow could you ever commit such heinous crimes? I have lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nand have seen the Irish <span class=GramE>patriots,</span> I have had to deal\r\nwith them. But they were poles apart from you in their looks and their manner.\r\nThey were harsh and rude and hard; one could know at once what kind of people\r\nthey were.&quot; Most of us were boys and young men of 16 to 20, except for a\r\nfew like Barin, <span class=SpellE>Upen</span> and Hrishikesh who were of about\r\nthe same age, all nearing thirty. But within the very precincts of jail we made\r\nthem understand how one &quot;softer than the flower&quot;, <i>mrduni kusumadapi,\r\n</i>could turn into something &quot;harder than diamond&quot;, <i>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-family:\"Times New Roman\";mso-bidi-font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"\'>vajradapi\r\n</span><font face=\"Times New Roman\">kathorani</font>. </i>I refer here to the assassination of our good friend\r\nNaren Gosain the approver. That makes another drama.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nhave said we used to keep ourselves fully preoccupied with our own discussions,\r\nas we sat within our cage in the court-room, and never paid much attention to\r\nwhat was going on outside in court. But if something new or interesting or\r\nsensational cropped up, then of course we would just turn round to see. There\r\nwas something sensational that happentd one day; it concerned <span\r\nclass=GramE>myself</span>. They produced an important witness against me; it\r\nwas the cabin-man at the railway level-crossing near Deoghar, a poor old man.\r\nWere he to identify me as the person who had been passing to and fro near his\r\ncabin – we had several times been to Dighiriya hill across the railway line – that\r\nwould prove my complicity in the bomb and get me the Andamans without fail.\r\nBut who can die whom the gods protect? Our Sudhir-da – I use the title in an\r\nhonorific sense, for I am actually one month his senior – got suddenly an idea\r\ninto his head. They<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 371<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>had</span>\r\nmade us line up within the cage for an identification parade. The poor old man\r\nwas brought in to identify Nolini Gupta. Sudhir-da whispered to me, &quot;You\r\nstand in the front line with a quiet nonchalant air. I shall be just\r\nbehind.&quot; Sudhir-da stood behind, with his head down and showed by his\r\nfumbling and nervous manner as if he were trying to hide himself. The old man\r\nwas in a fix; he got so confused that he finally shouted, &quot;That was the\r\nman over there, I have seen him.&quot; This settled the point. The entire\r\ncourt-room rang with laughter. Norton was flabbergasted, for he had been\r\nconducting the case for the prosecution. He was known as &quot;Madras\r\nNorton&quot;: he had earned quite a name as a formidable, almost ferocious\r\nbarrister at the High Court in <st1:City><st1:place>Madras</st1:place></st1:City>.\r\nThrough this fiasco the path to my release was made clear. <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nlet me conclude this story with a description of the last scene. We had all\r\njust sat down to our usual discussions as on any other day, when all on a\r\nsudden the court-room seemed to grow silent and still. Chittaranjan\'s voice\r\nrose slowly in a crescendo of measured tones. We all stood up and listened\r\nintently attentive in pin-drop silence as Chittaranjan went on speaking, as if\r\ndivinely inspired and like one god-possessed:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:dotted 220.8pt;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;He stands not only before the bar in this Court\r\nbut stands before the bar of the High Court of History…. Long after this\r\nturmoil, this agitation ceases, long after he is dead and gone, he will be\r\nlooked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the\r\nlover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and\r\nre-echoed not only in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nbut across distant seas and lands.&quot;<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:dotted 220.8pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\r\n\'>Page – 372<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:dotted 220.8pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-64_Alipore Court','','publish','closed','open','','64_alipore-court','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/64_alipore-court/',0,'post','',0),(2108,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>Deoghar</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Deoghar</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>THE scene was Deoghar,\r\nthough not exactly the town itself. About five miles before you reach the town,\r\nthere is the Jesidih Junction on the main railway line. Nearly a mile from\r\nthere, close to the railway line there was a house with only a ground floor and\r\nquite neat and clean on the whole. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>All<b>\r\n</b></span>around were open fields – not the green meadows of Bengal but the\r\nbarren red moorlands of Bihar. Not entirely unpleasant scenery though, for it\r\nbreathed an atmosphere of purity and peace and silence. A little farther away\r\nthere stood a larger two-storeyed mansion, perhaps the comfortable holiday\r\nretreat of some rich man.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\ntime was towards the end of 1907 and the beginning of 1908. I was about seventeen\r\nor eighteen and had just finished with my college life.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\n<i>dramatis personae </i>were (1) Barindra Kumar Ghose, (2) Ullaskar Dutt, (3)\r\nPrafulla Kumar Chakravarti, (4) Bibhuti Bhushan Sarkar, and (5) Nolini Kanta\r\nGupta.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nplot was to manufacture bombs. Hitherto, there had been only preliminary\r\ninvestigations and initial experiments and efforts. Now Ullaskar came out with\r\nhis Eureka. &quot;All is ready,&quot; he said, &quot;now there is going to be a\r\nreal test. We have to demonstrate with a live bomb in action.&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But\r\nhere I must add that, although we had made the preparation of bombs our first\r\nobject when we chose this lonely and out of the way place, we were not entirely\r\nheartless men, that is, atheistic and given wholly to a materialistic philosophy.\r\nIt had been part of our plan to devote some time to<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 348<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>the cultivation of an\r\ninner life too in that solitude. I remember how we would get up an hour before\r\nsunrise and sitting down in that calm atmosphere in a meditative pose we would\r\nrecite aloud with deep fervour and joy the <i>mantra </i>of the Upanishad:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>tilesu tailam dadhiniva\r\nsarpir <o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>apah srotahsu aranisu\r\ncagnih <o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>evam atma atmani\r\ngrhyate asau <o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>saryena enam tapasa yo\r\nanupasyati.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;As\r\none gets oil out of oilseeds, as one gets butter out of curds, as one gets water\r\nout of the stream, as one gets fire out of wood, even so one seizes the self\r\nout of the self, one who pursues it in truth and <i>tapasya.&quot;<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Who\r\ncould say at that hour that this was a place for the manufacture of bombs? It\r\nwould not have been far out to call it an Ashram, &quot;the abode of quiet\r\njoy&quot;, in the Kalidasian phrase, <i>santa-rasaspadam asramam idam.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And\r\nit was precisely because of this that Barin got Lele Maharaj down here for our\r\ninitiation and training in <i>sadhana, </i>the discipline of yoga, the same Lele\r\nwho had been of particular help to Sri Aurobindo at a certain stage of his own\r\n<i>sadhana. </i>But it was our bad luck that the whole thing misfired.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>When\r\nLele Maharaj came to know that we had accepted the cult of the bomb, he raised\r\nan objection. Sadhana and the bomb, he said, did not go well together and the\r\nkind of violent rajasic action we had in view was not at all conducive to the \r\npurification of the heart. Besides, he added, although the freedom of India was \r\na desirable thing, was indeed desirable and necessary for all, it would come \r\nabout by an</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>other method, it would\r\ncome inevitably and in a peaceful way, there would be no need for bloodshed. We\r\ngot irritated and smiled at him with incredulity and even<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 349<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:13.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>perhaps\r\nin derision. Englishmen would pack up their belongings and leave of their own\r\naccord without as much as a grumble, like thorough gentlemen, – this looked\r\nrather like a fairy tale if not &quot;a tale told by an idiot&quot;. We were no Vaishnava devotee. We were Tantriks, worshippers of Kali. Our chosen deity was\r\nthe Goddess of Death with her garland of skulls. Ours was the heroes\' worship\r\nof strength.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>We had\r\nlong been singing the proud refrain:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Have the hero-sons, O men, </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Adorned the Mother\'s forehead </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>With the blood-red mark?</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There was also a time when\r\nwe had been proclaiming loudly at meetings and shouting to the four quarters:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Counting the beads and\r\ndoing austerities,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All your yoga and prayers\r\nand worship,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Oblations and sacrifice\r\nand honouring the images of gods, –</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Nothing of\r\nthis will now avail in the least.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Make of the arrow\'s sheath\r\nand the sword thy cult, </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-style:\r\nitalic\'>For<i> </i></span>the olden days are no more.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>India will not be saved,\r\nit cannot,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Through the worship of the\r\ngods.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Unsheath now the sword,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>For these demons are not\r\nas of yore,</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Lele\r\nMaharaj threatened us with another warning, &quot;If you do not give up this,\r\nyou wilt hot only not succeed but are bound to meet with danger, if not\r\ncatastrophe.&quot; How true his prophecy was we all know from the concrete evidence\r\nof what came to pass.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>However,\r\nwe did not confine our studies to religious books alone; we had with us some\r\nsecular literature as well.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 350<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It was precisely at this\r\nperiod that a collection of Matthew Arnold\'s poems came to my hands. The book\r\nbelonged to Sri Aurobindo and must have been brought along by Barin. That Sri\r\nAurobindo had studied it minutely was evident from the book itself, for he had\r\nmarked in red the passages or lines which he had particularly liked. I still\r\nremember a couple of lines that had the good luck to get a red mark:</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Strew on her roses, roses,\r\n</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And never a spray of yew!</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The simplicity of feeling,\r\nthe deep pathos, the fine felicity of rhythm in these lines had stirred my\r\nyoung heart too a great deal. That was my first introduction to Matthew Arnold.\r\nThe greatness of the poet-laureate Tennyson had already reached the ears of\r\neven the ordinary student at college, but Matthew Arnold and Browning were\r\nstill unknown.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All this is however quite\r\nbeside the point. Let me come back to the story.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nbomb was ready, I said, a real live bomb. It was mainly Ullaskar\'s handiwork,\r\nwe others had acted as assistants. It was now decided that the testing would\r\nbe done on top of a hill known as Dighiriya – it was not much of a hill but\r\nonly a low range of hillocks – across the railway line, beyond the level\r\ncrossing. (There was an amusing incident in the Sessions Court in connection\r\nwith the man at this level crossing about which I may say something another\r\nday.) Of an afternoon, the five of us made for the hill. It fell to my lot to\r\ncarry the bomb. I carried it along with due care no doubt, but I had no idea of\r\nthe risks I carried. We were quite ignorant and inexperienced at the time. It\r\nwas nothing short of a miracle that we had no accident, the way I carried the\r\nthing; I realised that only a little later.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>We\r\nbroke through the thickets and chose a spot right on top of the hill. There we\r\ncame across a huge boulder rising<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 351<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>steep and straight on one\r\nside about breast-high and on the other sloping gradually to a distance of some\r\nten or twelve yards. The plan was that Prafulla would take his shelter behind\r\nthe steep and abrupt side as he threw the bomb at the sloping rock and sit down\r\nbehind the slab as soon as he made the throw, so that no splinters might hit\r\nhim after the explosion, as the bomb was to explode only on the slope by\r\nfriction of the impact. Ullas was to stand by Prafulla to see that everything\r\ngot on well and both were to duck behind the slab right after the throw. I\r\nclimbed up a tree a little farther away so as to have a clear view of the whole\r\nscene. Barin and Bibhuti took their positions around. As we lay in wait, – my\r\neyes were glued to the boulder, – suddenly I saw a spark of fire flash out over\r\nthere with a puff of smoke and such a terrific noise! The whole sky seemed to\r\nbe getting broken up into bits, and waves of sound went echoing forth from one\r\nend to the other as if in a hundred simultaneous claps of thunder. Never again\r\nhave I heard a noise like that. I was of course beside myself with excitement\r\nand joy. With great glee I climbed down the tree and ran towards the boulder,\r\nshouting at the top of my voice, &quot;Successful, successful!&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But\r\nhow is this? What is this! What a gruesome spectacle! Prafulla lay limp on\r\nUllas\'s chest, Ullas held him in his arms. Slowly the body was laid down. One\r\nside of the forehead was broken through and a portion of the brain coming out. <span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>It<b> </b></span>was an unbearable sight. We\r\nsat around and no one spoke a word. At last Barin said, &quot;It\'s all over,\r\nthere is not a hope.&quot; The body lay motionless, showed no signs of life.\r\nThe eyes were closed, the face looked serene.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This\r\nis how it happened. We had thought that the explosive would catch fire only\r\nafter the bomb touched the ground and rubbed against a hard surface. But instead\r\nof that, the explosive had been so powerful, that is, so easily inflammable\r\nthat it caught fire as soon as it came into contact with air on being thrown\r\nup. I said I had been carrying it in my<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 352<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>hands: it might have\r\ncaught fire and exploded even by that slight swing. That it did not was my\r\nsheer good luck.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Now\r\nthe problem was what to do next. What was to be done with the body? Burn it? or\r\ngive it a burial? To bury it was out of the question, for to dig a hole in that\r\nhard stone was impossible. Give it cremation by lighting a fire in the bush?\r\nBut that might\' attract people and the news might spread in the neighbouring\r\nvillages. Barin said, &quot;We need not do anything, let us go away leaving it\r\nas it is. This is a field of battle. Our first soldier has given up his body in\r\nthe battle-field, this is our first casualty.&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>So\r\nfar, our eyes had all been rivetted on the corpse. And now, suddenly, someone\r\ncried, &quot;Ullas too has Been wounded.&quot; His clothing was riddled with\r\nholes and covered with marks\' of blood all over. We removed the clothing and\r\nexamined him as far as we could. Barin said, &quot;Our first task now is to\r\nlook after him. Who is gone is gone. Now he must be saved. We must therefore\r\nhurry back. There is no time now to discuss what is to be done with the dead\r\nbody. We have to return to Calcutta this very evening and consult the\r\ndoctor.&quot; There was a special doctor, the renowned Indu Mallick so far as I\r\nremember, who looked after us terrorists.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt 153.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>We started down the hill, with not a word on our lips, our\r\nthroats all choked with emotion, our minds stunned. The image of the English\r\npoet came to mind: &quot;Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note...&quot; I\r\nonce blurted out with a suppressed feeling, &quot;We were five when we came,\r\nonly four are now returning.&quot; Barin gave me a rebuke, &quot;No\r\nsentimentality, please.&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>As\r\nwe walked down, I wondered if the frightful noise had not reached the people\r\naround. There was of course nothing like a human habitation anywhere in the\r\nneighbourhood. But people did come from the surrounding country to gather fuel\r\nin the thickets. However, nothing untoward happened and we returned safely.\r\nBarin and Ullas left for Calcutta that very night.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 353<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Early\r\nnext morning I looked towards Dighiriya and seemed to see some kites and\r\nvultures flying over the hill. That evening, or it was perhaps the next\r\nmorning, Upen arrived with Barin. Ullas was all right, they said, there was\r\nnothing to fear about his wounds. Upen wanted to have a look at the place. We\r\nstarted again for that holy spot and arrived on the scene. Even from a distance\r\nwe could see the body lying exactly as we had left it, dressed exactly in the\r\nsame way, there was no change whatever. Nor was there any sign of\r\ndecomposition, on this the third day. We came back just as we had gone; leaving\r\nthe body as it was.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nwas decided to end this particular chapter here. Lest the police should get\r\nscent, it would be wiser to break up camp and get away. Whatever materials we\r\nhad in our possession for the manufacture of bombs were packed up in a couple\r\nof trunks and dispatched to the shop of a friend in Deoghar. The trunks were\r\nleft hidden among other things in the god own at the back of the shop. What\r\nhappened to them afterwards I do not know. </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Before\r\nleaving for good, we felt a desire to have a last look at Dighiriya hill. It\r\nwas the fourth day after the event. We climbed to the spot. But how strange!\r\nWhere was the body? There was not a trace of it anywhere. We searched about\r\nhere and there but did not find even a shred of clothing. Could it have been\r\ncarried away by beasts? But without leaving the slightest trace? The whole\r\nthing remained a mystery. </p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Afterwards,\r\nmany kinds of rumours got afloat. Some, they said, had seen him in the streets\r\nof Calcutta, a Sannyasin was supposed to have come across the dead body and revived\r\nit, and so on. To set my doubts at rest, I once asked Sri Aurobindo if there\r\ncould be any truth in these stories, and what exactly had happened to Prafulla.\r\nSri Aurobindo said, &quot;All that is sheer myth. Prafulla is really\r\ndead.&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Let\r\nme end this Deoghar episode with a little picture that still sticks in my\r\nmemory. Within about a mile from our<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 354<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.05pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>camp there\r\nwas a village called Rohini. There in a garden house – it was almost covered with\r\njungle when we saw the place – still lived Sri Aurobindo\'s mother, Swarnalata\r\nDevi. The garden was full of various kinds of trees and shrubs. The house was a\r\nlarge-sized cottage, though the walls and flooring were of masonry work; it\r\nhad an old dilapidated look for want of repairs. The local people called it the\r\nMemsahib\'s Kothi, the Lady\'s House. Everybody called Sri Aurobindo\'s mother a\r\nMemsahib. At that time, she was out of her mind and always remained shut up in\r\nher rooms. We passed several times through the gardens by the house, but she\r\ncould not be seen.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nholy legend of sacred Deoghar would not be complete if I were not to mention\r\nin this context the name of Sri Aurobindo\'s maternal grandfather, Rishi\r\nRajnarayan, who is also called the Grandfather of Indian Nationalism. We saw\r\nthe house where he once lived, where Sri Aurobindo used to come often. It stood\r\nin an open compound – may be the compound had been a bed of flowers once. The\r\nhouse as it looked now was a white mansion where no one lived, left lonely as a\r\ndream.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 355<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=right style=\'text-align:right; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><a href=\"-01-Index\"><span\r\nstyle=\'text-decoration:none;text-underline:none\'></span><span\r\nstyle=\'text-decoration:none;text-underline:none\'><a href=\"-00_Content\"><img border=0 width=60\r\nheight=25 id=\"_x0000_i1033\" src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\"></a></span></a></p>\r\n\r\n</div></td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-50_Deoghar','','publish','closed','open','','50_deoghar','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/50_deoghar/',0,'post','',0),(2109,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Life and Self-Control</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Life and Self-Control</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(A Letter)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>THERE is no doubt that <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>\r\nknows very well the art of life which in our country is totally lacking. In the\r\nEast it is only <st1:country-region><st1:place>Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nthat knows it and knows it well enough. Our country on the whole and most of\r\nthe East is at present steeped in inertia.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You\r\nhave asked me the exact meaning of control of the senses and what is its\r\nnecessity in life. For, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nwe have held up this ideal on an elaborate scale, but to what effect? <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>\r\ncares little for it, yet she rules the world.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Firstly,\r\nwhether self-control is necessary or not depends on the nature of our ideal.\r\nSelf-control is only a particular means to a particular end. If the meaning of\r\nlife is to live the life of nature, to possess power and influence – if the aim\r\nof life is to live in accordance with its impulses, then the question of\r\nself-control can never arise. In such a case the indulgence of the senses is\r\nthe motive force.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nare two approaches to life: one is to follow the lead of the senses, to enrich\r\nlife as much as possible by giving them full play and acquiring means for their\r\nsatisfaction; the other is to move away from their range to a region inward or\r\nupward. Those who have taken to this path are unanimous that this path leads\r\nto the realm of supreme Peace, Light and Truth and that in fact the real\r\ncharacter of life, its true fulfilment lie in this realm. In their view the\r\nsense-world is a world of deformations, narrow and full of impurities. Its\r\nmaterial resources, however rich and vast, are really<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 310<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>worth</span>\r\nlittle. But man has also his inner senses which can help him to return to his\r\nhome in the infinite Vast as a child of Immortality. This is the real sense of\r\nself-mastery: instead of swimming down the sense-current, one must swim back in\r\nthe opposite direction. Instead of slipping down from the source of life one\r\nhas to climb up into it.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You\r\nmay ask: to what good? Suppose, one goes beyond the sphere of life to\r\nVaikuntha, to Heaven, attains Nirvana and gets merged in the Brahman; in that\r\ncase life is lost. And it is really what has happened in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nThere has been no dearth of saints, seers and Avatars. But they live in their\r\nown worlds. The dwellers on our realistic plane are poor, distressed and miserable.\r\nTrue, there is a class of men who are not in the least perturbed at this state\r\nof things. Time was when from the mouth of a daughter of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nrose the ringing voice:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Of\r\nwhat use to me are the things that cannot make me immortal?&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Of\r\ncourse, there is no hard arid fast rule that there must be a barrier between life\r\nand beyond-life, between self-restraint and self-indulgence. A synthesis\r\nbetween the two may be difficult, but not impossible. Indeed, it was in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nagain that there developed such lines of synthetic sadhana. Rather it was <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>\r\nthat gave evidence <i>of </i>this conflict and duality much more than <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nWe may remember the motto: &quot;Render unto Caesar what is Caesar\'s,\r\netc.&quot; By pointing to the path of self-restraint Christianity holds that it\r\nleads to the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName>Christ</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>\r\nand those who would remain chained down to their senses will remain in their\r\nlow, unrefined state of nature. In <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> this conflict\r\nhas led to two extremes. Self-restraint in Christianity has become self-mortification:\r\nbut, on the other hand, when Europeans do not think it harmful to give a long\r\nrope to the senses, they have gone to the excess of unbridled license. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nthere<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 311<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>has</span>\r\nbeen an attempt at a synthesis of these two aspects of life. Worldly life was\r\ntaken as a preparation for or as a stepping-stone to the world beyond. So\r\nself-restraint was given a place not only in the sphere of sadhana for\r\nliberation, but also in the field of enjoyment. Hence we see in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nas much preponderance of sattwic qualities as we see in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>\r\npreponderance of rajasic dynamism. No doubt, the sattwic state easily lapses\r\ninto the inertia of tamas. As a matter of fact, such has been the case in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nBut <span class=GramE>rajas also meets</span> the same end. The one slowly\r\nslides to extinction; the other shoots up like a rocket and falls like a burnt\r\nstick. Thus both suffer the same fate.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>In\r\ngeneral, life is the play-field of the senses. If self-control implies moving\r\naway from the senses, then it is not possible for it to have a place in life.\r\nBut self-control may mean keeping the senses under control, under a system of\r\nrule and discipline. This is the popular sense of self-control: it is a graded\r\nwithdrawal, a first step towards detachment. This is also how it developed in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nBut, as a matter of fact, this popular approach to self-control is not <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\'s\r\nspeciality alone. <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> has given it a recognised\r\nplace, not only in the Christian religious life but in her worldly life too.\r\nBut it will not do to forget that the untrammelled <span class=GramE>freedom\r\nof the senses and their unbridled license have</span> been accepted as an ideal\r\nspecially in modern times, and it is confined to a particular community. What\r\nthey are now attempting to reject as a bourgeois trait was one day an aid in\r\nthe building up of the Euorpean society. To be sure, <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>\r\nwas not <span class=GramE>so</span> inclined towards detachment as <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\n<st1:place>Europe</st1:place> has gone in for the cultivation of the senses,\r\nbut that does not mean that she has been sticking to an excessive and\r\ndisorderly play of the senses. Neither Byron nor Oscar Wilde is the ultimate\r\nideal of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>. When the famous novelist Balzac used to\r\nsit down to write he would do so in a lonely place in a monk\'s tunic in order\r\nto help his one-pointed concentration. Napoleon, Caesar and Alexander were <span\r\nstyle=\'font-family:\"Arial Narrow\";mso-bidi-font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"\'>no</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 312<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>helpless</span>\r\nslaves of their senses. In fact, no country or race can build its greatness\r\nexcept on the foundation of self-control. It is not that self-control must\r\nnecessarily be self-mortification. There can be a <i>via media, </i>and in\r\nordinary life this is a necessity. Self-indulgence is the debit side. True,\r\nthis side of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> is much to the fore, but that leads\r\none to think that she is living on her old capital, and it is not long before\r\nher capital runs short. The root of the capital is self-restraint, and it is\r\nthe credit side, the side of accumulated power.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nmay certainly be that the social, moral and other kinds of injunctions\r\nregarding control of the senses do not strictly apply any more to our modern life.\r\nMan\'s consciousness demands a wider and more liberal existence. Not a religion\r\nof mental conventions but a universal one founded on truth is what he wants.\r\nBut that is altogether another matter. This problem and its solution will lead\r\nus into deeper waters. Hence we have to stop here.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 313<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-45_Life and Self Control','','publish','closed','open','','45_life-and-self-control','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/45_life-and-self-control/',0,'post','',0),(2110,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Greek Drama</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Greek Drama</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span style=\'font-family:\r\n\"Arial Narrow\";mso-bidi-font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(I)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>IT seems that on listening\r\nto some Greek lines included in my talk the other day, many of you have\r\nexpressed a desire to hear a little more about Greek poetry. This then will be\r\nmy subject today.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>I\r\nam particularly reminded in this connection of a line from Sophocles, the\r\ndramatist – like the Latin sentence I quoted on the last occasion. Sri\r\nAurobindo himself had read out this line to me more than once and given it an\r\nextremely beautiful interpretation. It is the opening line of Sophocles\' famous\r\nplay, <i>Antigone, </i>which happened to be the second book I studied while\r\nlearning Greek. The first was Euripides\' <i>Medea, </i>which is <i>Media </i>in\r\nGreek – note here the play on long vowels to which I have referred in my last\r\ntalk.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>This\r\nis how Sophocles begins his play with the following words put in the mouth of\r\nAntigone:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i style=\'mso-bidi-font-style:\r\nnormal\'>O</i> <i>koinon autadelphon Ismenes <span class=GramE>kara</span>.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;O Ismene, we two\r\nhave been born as if with one body&quot;,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>or</span>\r\nto put it a little more literally<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:207.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;O lovely head of Ismene, common to both, born of the\r\n<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:207.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span\r\nclass=GramE>same</span> self.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:207.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>What hidden depths of feeling\r\nare brought forth in these <span class=GramE>few</span><span style=\'font-family:Arial\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 58<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>compact</span>\r\nwords! Very strange and peculiar is the character of this Antigone. Outwardly,\r\nthere is in her nature <span class=GramE>a strength</span>, a hardness that\r\namounts almost to harshness. There seems to be no room there for any tender\r\nfeelings or love, and any kind of softness. There is only an unflinching\r\nresolve to carry out her duty and fulfill her vow, the rude austerity of an\r\nascetic.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Her\r\nsister on the other hand is of a diametrically opposite nature. When she hears\r\nof the daring and dangerous resolution of her sister to act in defiance of the\r\nroyal edict, she complains in frightened tones, &quot;Such acts are for men,\r\nthey do not befit a woman, these defiant attitudes.&quot; She goes on to\r\nsuggest that even the work she has undertaken to give a burial to her dead\r\nbrother at all costs may not so much be an expression of her sisterly affection\r\nas a token of her hard sense of duty in the fulfilment of a difficult vow. She\r\nhas been wandering day and night through the roads of alien lands hand in hand\r\nwith her old blind father borne down by fatigue. How pathetic are the words of\r\nthe old man almost on the verge of death:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Child of an old,\r\nblind sire, Antigone, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>What region, say, whose\r\ncity have we reached? <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Who will provide today\r\nwith scanted dole <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>This\r\nwanderer?</span> \'Tis little that he craves, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And less obtains – that\r\nless enough for me.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;</span>(Storr)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But\r\none may still wonder how much of this is proof of Antigone\'s true love for her\r\nfather, and how much of it is born of the pride or glory in carrying out her\r\nduty. But it is not altogether like that. This fanatical devotion to duty, this\r\nharsh ascetic trait in Antigone is actually a pose, an outer mask. She has\r\nsuppressed, forcibly pushed into the background her innate gift of affection,\r\nher volcanic power of love. There is one she has loved and still loves, but far</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 59<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>from</span>\r\nturning her gaze upon this object of her love, she has hardly once taken his\r\nname. She has tortured and sacrificed herself in order to forget about her\r\nlove. Not only has she suffered persecution herself – she has done so by her\r\nown choice; she would drag along others as well, her dear sister and even her\r\ndearest beloved, into the same persecution. There has been no respite for her\r\ntill the last refuge in death. But this is no other than a form of deep\r\naffection and love, a reverse aspect. I have said in the beginning what depths\r\nof feeling and intense love pervade her body, mind and heart; these have sought\r\nto find their forceful outlet in her very first utterance: the twin sisters are\r\nnot two but are one in reality, not two heads but one as it were in possession\r\nof two bodies. How much tenderness lies packed and hidden behind these simple\r\nwords! Let me repeat them:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>O koinon autadelphon Ismenes <span\r\nclass=GramE>kara</span>.<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;My own, my sister, O\r\nbeloved face,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Tell me – of all the\r\ncurses of our race,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>What curse shall God not\r\nheap on thee and me? <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Surely there is no pain,\r\nno misery,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>No vileness or dishonour,\r\nthat we two<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:5.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>Have not already seen.&quot;</span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:5.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:22.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>(<st1:City><st1:place>Murray</st1:place></st1:City>)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nwas Antigone’s hope that her dear sister would eagerly follow her with gladness\r\nas soon as she heard her call. But the faith natural to her simple heart\r\nreceived a rude shock when she had an unexpected refusal from her\r\ntender-hearted sister. She hardened her heart and in her turn rejected her\r\nsister and declared she would proceed all alone to carry out her duty, she\r\nneeded nobody’s help. She paid no heed to the later repentance and entreaties\r\nof her sister.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Her\r\nheart has been overflowing with tenderness and love, but these have found no\r\nway to an outward expression</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:10.55pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 60<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>or</span>\r\nfulfilment. The tears of love have been gathering deep within her heart. She\r\nsays:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:16.5pt;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;The\r\ndeep submerged tears as they shed will turn to ice and seize me all round and\r\nwill gradually form the tombstone over my body. Niobe, once queen of <st1:City><st1:place>Thebes</st1:place></st1:City>\r\nwas turned to weeping stone. I am like her.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(2)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nkey to the drama in Antigone is to be sought in a conflict or clash between the\r\nclaims of the state and the individual\'s right to follow the truth of his\r\nideal. The state demands the discipline of laws and the restrictions necessary\r\nfor an orderly collective life. It cannot tolerate a deviation or protest. It\r\ndoes not grant to any individual the right to move a step away from the\r\nprescribed norm. All this ends in tyranny and persecution. The individual on\r\nthe other hand tends and drives towards freedom and personal rights, the claim\r\nto live his own life and follow his own ideals. In this drama, the head of the\r\nstate has issued orders that no burial rites be given to the deceased traitor\r\nto his city, he has to be left at the outskirts of the city there to be preyed upon\r\nby birds and beasts. His sister considers this to be an insult to her brother,\r\nto her family and to the law of humanity. That is why she would not obey the\r\nstate\'s decree. She takes this to be an illegal, high-handed act on the part of\r\nthe state and its leader. Whatever <span class=GramE>be</span> the reverence\r\ndue to the law of the state and howsoever clear its authority, it is a man-made\r\nlaw, temporary and temporal, depending on circumstances. There is another kind\r\nof law, an unwritten code derived from God and that cannot be transgressed:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Yes,\r\nfor these laws were not ordained of Zeus, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>And\r\nshe who sits enthroned with Gods below,<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 61<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Justice enacted not these\r\nhuman laws.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Nor did deem that thou, a\r\nmortal man,<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Couldst by a breath annul\r\nand override<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>The\r\nimmutable unwritten Laws of Heaven.</span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>They were not-born today,\r\nnor yesterday;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>They die not, and none\r\nknoweth whence they spring. <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n</span>(Storr)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>These\r\nwords are reminiscent of the words of the Vedic Rishi who gave us a picture of\r\nthe &quot;Infallible decrees&quot; of Lord Varuna – <i>adabdhani varunasya\r\nvratani. </i>There is no fault or sin in obeying the Laws of Heaven in\r\ndisregard of the laws of men. Antigone would be courting death, a cruel death,\r\nat the hands of mortal man, in order to be true to a vow ordained by something\r\nhigher than man, and she does so in the end.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>There\r\nis shown in this play another clash or conflict which takes place within\r\nAntigone herself, in the depths of her inner being. This concerns her intimate\r\npersonal feelings, the satisfaction and fulfilment of her own life, the hidden\r\nsecret of her love. We have seen a king renounce his throne for the sake of his\r\npersonal love. We are also familiar with the spectacle of a man, or god-man,\r\nsacrificing personal love for the good of the state. Antigone too walks on these\r\npaths. She has not demanded the satisfaction of her personal, too intimately\r\npersonal needs. In her urge to carry out her vow, she has crushed under a\r\nweight of stone the feelings, the impulses, the inspiration of her heart.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Sri\r\nRama had sacrificed his love of wife out of consideration for his subjects; it\r\nwas part of his duty as king. He had, at least at one time, shown a greater\r\nregard for his brother than for his wife. The words he has been made to say by Valmiki in this connection have attained celebrity:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE><i>dese</i></span><i>\r\n<span class=SpellE>dese</span> kalatrani dese <span\r\nclass=SpellE>dese</span> ca bandhavah<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE><i>tam</i></span><i>\r\ntu desam na pasyami yatra bhrata sahodarah</i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 62<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:.25in;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;Wives\r\none can get in every nook and corner, and relatives around. But I have yet to\r\nfind a country where one\'s brother is a true brother.&quot;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>These words of the poet\r\nand sage have never been cherished among women, far less by the moderns. But\r\nthe strange thing is that Sophocles has put almost identical words in. the\r\nmouth of Antigone, they sound like an echo. When she was accused of having thrown\r\naway her heart\'s love and oppressed her beloved out of regard for what she\r\nconsidered her duty, this is what she said in reply:<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&quot;A husband lost,\r\nanother might be found;<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Another son <span\r\nclass=GramE>be</span> born if one were slain. <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But I<b>, </b>when Hades\r\nholds my parents twain, <o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Must brotherless abide for\r\never.&quot;</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:2.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(<st1:City><st1:place>Murray</st1:place></st1:City>)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'margin-left:2.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The point to note is that\r\nwhereas in Valmiki a man is made to say that wives are available by the dozen\r\nin every land, Sophocles makes a woman declare as if in retort that husbands\r\ntoo are to be had in plenty.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(3)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Aeschylus,\r\nSophocles and Euripides are the three supreme creators of drama in ancient <st1:country-region><st1:place><span\r\n  class=GramE>Greece</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class=GramE>,</span>\r\neach of them is different from the others. Aeschylus the senior most of the\r\nthree has vision and spirit and strength. He throws out the spark and lustre of\r\ninner knowledge, there is in him a swift natural movement of a primal\r\nconcentrated consciousness. He is therefore allotted a seat in the very first\r\nrank, with Shakespeare, Dante and Homer. Sophocles reminds one of the French\r\ndramatists with their restraint and measure, their skill in delineating subtle\r\nfeeling. There is here nothing in excess, but there is a sense of subdued force\r\nand a <span class=SpellE>sug<span\r\nclass=GramE>gestion</span> of all-round perfection. </span></p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 63</span><span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span class=SpellE>Euripides on the\r\nother hand has in him all the doubts and questionings of the human mind, all\r\nits curiosity and comment. He reaches out towards the modern mentality, has\r\nalmost come in line with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.2pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nwas the custom in those days to write trilogies or tetralogies, that is, plays\r\ngrouped together in a series of three or four. Each of these groups was built\r\naround the same theme and dwelt on the different parts of one and the same\r\nstory; but every piece was to be a self-contained whole, both as a story and a\r\nplay. Such for example was the Theben trilogy of Sophocles based on the story\r\nof the Theben king, Oedipus, and his daughter Antigone, or else, the Orestenian\r\ntrilogy of Aeschylus dealing with the story of king Agamemnon and his son\r\nOrestes – Orestes was the Hamlet of Greek tragedy. The fourth piece in a\r\ntetralogy used to be something amusing, like a farce that rounded off the main\r\nprogramme in a Yatra performance of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>But\r\nthe theme of tragic drama in Greek is invariably and excessively melodramatic,\r\nwith a full and free use of the terrible and even the horrid. Things like\r\npatricide, matricide and infanticide, oppression and torture, abduction of\r\nwomen, illicit love and incest are represented freely. One gets here the\r\nimpression of a primitive humanity with all its unbridled licence. A picture\r\nis presented with fullest possible detail of the vital impulses in their\r\nnatural primitive unrefined state.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Our\r\nRamayana and Mahabharata too, no doubt, are replete with instances of this type\r\nof mentality. But it has been characterised there as being typical not of man,\r\nbut of the titan, the demon and the ogre, it is not truly human. The names\r\ngiven to these types indicate their nature. These belong to the undivine nature,\r\nwhereas man belongs to the divine. The struggle between the divine and the\r\nundivine, the gods and the titans, and the final victory of the divine and the\r\ngods, this has been the keynote of</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 64</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>great</span>\r\ncreative work in Indian art and literature, this is the characteristic manner\r\nof the Indian conception of life.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Undoubtedly,\r\nman in his beginnings was like a primitive beast. But a way had to be found to\r\nevolve out of this primitive state a superior kind of humanity. The attacks of\r\nthe lower nature, the primitive impulses were to be squarely met and caught by\r\nthe hands and held under like the horns of a bull. He was to learn to endure\r\ncalmly the elements that create difficulties, dangers and disorders. He had to\r\ncross through them into a superior status. He had to see if the mad unseeing\r\nimpulses could not be changed into the prowess of the warrior, anger into fiery\r\nenergy, cruelty into <span class=SpellE>valour</span>; he was to see how far\r\nthe greed for things could be transformed into pure enjoyment. This has been a\r\nnecessary step in the evolution of humanity.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:261.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It is this purifying or transformation of the lower nature\r\nthat has been called Katharsis by the Greeks. Spiritual seekers in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nknew this as the purification of the inner man, <i>citta-suddhi. </i>Indeed,\r\none main aim of Greek tragedy was to effect this inner purification.<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nGreek dramatists have in this respect followed a double line of action or\r\nprocedure. In the first place, no untoward event, be it murder or any undesirable\r\nact, could be represented on the stage, that is, openly in public. Any such\r\nthing forming part of the plot used to be described in the words of some\r\ncharacter in the play; the Chorus was mainly entrusted with this task.\r\nSecondly, the story or plot of the drama was so chosen as to raise feelings of\r\ndisgust or pity in the minds of the audience. Steeped in these feelings of\r\ndisgust arid pity, the emotions were to get purified. The untoward events not\r\nbeing enacted before the eye, only a picture was presented to the imagination\r\nthrough the medium of language. The grosser things appear as if transfigured in\r\nthe light of literary language. Besides, the Greek language itself has a power\r\nof its own, and this power has been utilised by the dramatists</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;\r\nmso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 65<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>as</span>\r\nan instrument of purification. In this language of ancient Greece, there is\r\nsuch simple beauty and harmony, such an attractive rhythm of movement, a light\r\nand a clarity that anything expressed in this language partakes of its form\r\nand structure and temperament, acquires as if by contagion a strange -lustre\r\nand harmony. Impure and unbridled vital impulses form the subject matter of\r\nGreek drama, but the mind and consciousness which the dramatists bring to bear\r\non their subject are full of calm and quiet, order and light. The language of\r\nthe Greeks has been a simple easy and natural instrument in their hands for the\r\nwork of purifying the heart and clarifying the mind and the inner being.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>(4)<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>That\r\nwas the golden age of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\nand <st1:City><st1:place>Athens</st1:place></st1:City>, famed in history as the\r\nAge of Pericles. Pericles was the leading man in his city, the chief Archon of\r\nthe state, and a man of great genius. It was largely thanks to his genius that\r\nthe whole of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>\r\ncould attain its supreme point of greatness in all manner of achievement and\r\ncreative ability. In every field there appeared in that age men of outstanding\r\ngifts. In the realm of tragic drama there were Aeschylus, Sophocles and\r\nEuripides; in comedy there was Aristophanes. Herodotus the father of History\r\nwas there and the master sculptor Phidias. Above all, there was Socrates with\r\nhis band of young disciples. All of them produced their wonderful work during\r\nthis period of a little more than a hundred years. We may remember that\r\nprecisely during this period, that is about five hundred years before <span\r\nclass=GramE>Christ,</span> Lord Buddha made his appearance in the East, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.\r\nIt was thus an Age of Transition, the beginning of a New Age in the history of\r\nmankind.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A\r\nremarkable thing about these ancients is that almost all of them lived to a\r\nripe old age. They had such an <span class=SpellE>abun</span><span class=GramE>dance</span>\r\n</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:.15in;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 66<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>of vital force that they retained their capacity to work undiminished till the\r\nlast days of their life. Sophocles went on writing plays till his ninetieth\r\nyear. He could count as many or more works to his credit than the number of\r\nyears in his life; he had written more than a hundred of which only about half\r\na dozen are still extant. About Euripides it is said that he had composed\r\ntwenty three tetralogies, making a total of ninety two pieces, or about one for\r\nevery year of his life; only some ten out of this number have survived. All of\r\nthese men were poets and artists and men of high intellectual calibre, but most\r\nof them thought fit not to confine themselves within the inner sanctum of their\r\nchosen work; they were also great men of action, they devoted themselves to\r\npublic work in the service of their state, they did a good deal of politics,\r\neven took part in wars as common soldiers or as commanders.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>An\r\namusing anecdote is told about Sophocles. Towards the end of his life, when he\r\nwas nearing ninety, his son petitioned the court that his father had been\r\nsuffering from mental derangement on account of age and in this condition had\r\nbequeathed his possessions to a grandson to the exclusion of the son. On being\r\nsummoned before the court, Sophocles said these words to the judges: &quot;If I\r\nam Sophocles, then I cannot have a deranged mind. And if my mind has got deranged,\r\nthen I am no longer Sophocles.&quot; With these words, he read out some\r\nextracts from his play, <i>Oedipus at Colonus, </i>which he had just composed\r\nand asked the <span class=GramE>court,</span> &quot;Is it possible for anyone\r\nwith a derranged head to write like this?&quot; Needless to add, he was\r\nacquitted. This <i>Oedipus at Colonus </i>is the last piece he wrote and has\r\nbeen acclaimed with two of his other works as his finest achievement.</p>\r\n<div style=\'border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:\r\nsolid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in\'>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;text-indent:11.0pt;\r\nline-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;\r\nmso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'>Page – 67<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n12.0pt;\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span><a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-08_Greek Drama','','publish','closed','open','','08_greek-drama','','','2021-11-23 17:59:03','2021-11-23 17:59:03','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/08_greek-drama/',0,'post','',0),(2111,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>A Letter</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'><font size=\"4\">A Letter</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>IN simple words, in a\r\nplain manner you want to know the meaning of Yoga. You have asked me not to use\r\nhighly philosophical terms, but just to make you understand the real purport of\r\nYoga in a few words. I shall try my best, but before that I would like to tell\r\nyou something. Difficult matters cannot be explained as easily as easy ones. It\r\n<span class=GramE>is quite</span> natural that a thing above the common cannot\r\nbe brought down to the level of common understanding, nor is it advisable to do\r\nso. To do that is to help the common in their idleness. There is always some\r\nusefulness in acquiring a thing by the sweat of one\'s brow. One can derive\r\nmuch benefit from such labour. Instead of trying to bring down the uncommon to\r\nthe level of the common, it would be better to try to mould the common after\r\nthe uncommon, if needed, even at the cost of some effort. However, it must also\r\nbe admitted that it is not always necessary to court useless toil on that\r\naccount. Often we look at the uncommon in too excessive proportions, and make\r\nit almost inaccessible to our understanding. <span class=GramE>Specially</span>\r\nabout Yoga what you have said is quite true.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>Generally\r\nwe take Yoga for something quite mysterious. It is because we associate Yoga\r\nwith many complex, un-understandable rites and consider these as its main and inseparable\r\nparts. In fact, Yoga is a quite natural thing if we turn to it in the right\r\nmanner. All ought to practise Yoga and all without exception can do that. Not\r\nonly that, all are doing Yoga, if not consciously. Sadhana, spiritual <span\r\nclass=SpellE>prac<span\r\nclass=GramE>tice</span>, </span>\r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 307<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span class=SpellE>consists in bringing out the undercurrent\r\nflowing within oneself, in doing consciously what one\'s inner nature demands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In<b> </b></span>short, Yoga is an attempt at\r\ndiscovering a new \'Law of Life\', and after that discovery one has to mould and\r\nregulate one\'s life in accordance with it. This Law of Life is nothing other\r\nthan the Law of Divine Life. What does it mean? It means that in a human being\r\nthere are two planes, two kinds of nature and two laws of life – one belongs to\r\nthe lower region, the other to the higher, one belongs to the terrestrial, the\r\nother to the supraterrestrial. This earth of clay or the lower region possesses\r\nbody; life and mind. Man moves about according to the laws and customs,\r\nbondages and limitations of body, life and mind. But there exists a world, a\r\nplane above these three; and there the; knowledge of man does not depend on\r\ngross physical sensations or on syllogistic reasonings. There the knowledge is\r\nself-revealing, undeformed and infallible. It is called Intuition, Revelation.\r\nThere the restless wild urge of action or blind agitations of numberless\r\nsensations have turned into a calm spiritual power and an unalloyed delight.\r\nAnd that plane too has a body of its own. But it is absolutely free from\r\ndisease, decay and death that we find in the physical being. To leave aside the\r\nlaws of body, life and mind and rise into the highest spiritual nature is\r\ncalled Yoga. But don\'t think, in doing Yoga you shall have to do away with this\r\nbody, life and mind and keep aloof from the world and the earthly concerns.\r\nThis theory is an absurdity on the face of it. The higher world can be\r\ncontacted even while remaining in the body, life and mind, and it can also be\r\ninfused into these three. The lower nature can be moulded by the infusion and\r\nthe law of the higher. While residing in the world all earthly activities can\r\nbe directed by the drive of that higher world.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It\r\nis a difficult task, but not impossible. It seems to be an impossibility or a\r\nmere ideal only, when I look upon myself alone, and think that I am a little,\r\ninsignificant</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 308<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span class=GramE>creature</span>\r\n– how can I have the power to change the process of Nature that has been active\r\nfrom time immemorial? Will it be possible to do so even in hundreds of lives?\r\nBut is it not that a ray of hope peeps into me the moment I cast a glance at\r\nthe universe without taking me into account? We admit nowadays the law of\r\nevolution preached by the West. According to that law of evolution there <span\r\nclass=GramE>existed</span> Matter first in the creation, and then appeared the\r\nanimal, finally the human being. That is to say, the Western science has\r\nrecognised, in the first instance, evolution on lower planes of Nature. <span\r\nclass=GramE>First body, then life and then mind.</span> But nothing can be as\r\nabsurd and illogical as to say that the evolution of Nature has stopped after\r\nreaching the mental level. In fact, Yoga tells us that above the mental level\r\nthere is a plane called Supermind and above man there is Superman.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:\r\n150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>All\r\nNature is anxious to give birth to the Supermind, and we too, all human beings,\r\nhave been making the same effort, although unconsciously. Behind your power and\r\nmine, behind your effort and mine there resides an enormous power of the whole\r\nuniverse, and that power is aspiring for the divine manifestation in humanity,\r\nfor the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth .and the Divine Play of\r\nthe Golden Age. When that universal Power reveals itself to our sight, and when\r\nwe are able to recognise it and consciously collaborate with it, there can be\r\nnothing beyond our reach.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 309<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20Image/Home.gif\" width=\"60\" height=\"25\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-44_A Letter','','publish','closed','open','','44_a-letter','','','2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/44_a-letter/',0,'post','',0),(2112,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Varieties of Religious Experience</title>\r\n\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; margin-top:0;line-height:150%; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:7.0pt;mso-bidi-font-style:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Varieties of\r\nReligious Experience</font></span></b></p>\r\n		<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.55pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.55pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt\'>THERE have been religions, approaches to the\r\nDivine, which did not believe in the divinity of man, the Chaldean line, the\r\nSemitic, for example. According to these, the Creator and the created are\r\nseparate in nature and being; to call anything created as God himself is<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp; </span>blasphemy. The ancient Egyptian, the Hebrew\r\nor the Muslim place God high in <st1:place><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n 11.0pt\'>Paradise</span></st1:place>,\r\nand, in their view, man can be only his servant or slave, his worker or\r\nwarrior. Man is too small and too earthly to be ever identified with God: he\r\ncan only be a worshipper. Man can love God, at the most, as his Beloved. But\r\nthis devotion is for something afar, like the desire of the moth for the star.\r\nAnd to equate the two is to confuse realities. Man as worshipper and devotee\r\ncan attain certain divine qualities, but limited and modified and always\r\nhumanized to a large extent. And God can never become man. He sends down his\r\nrepresentative, his vicar, prophet or apostle who acts for him and in and\r\nthrough whom He acts, but He himself does not come down and put on the form or\r\nflesh. The universe is God’s handiwork and testifies to his miracle and glory;\r\nbut the universe is not God. Between the watch and the watchmaker there is\r\nalways a hiatus and an incommensurability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.55pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt\'>But can we say, ‘I am born of God, and yet I\r\nam not God’? So the Indian boldly declares, all this is the supreme Divine,\r\nthere is nothing else than the Divine – sarvam khalvidam brahma – I am He, Thou\r\nare That, or again, that which is in me and the conscious being which is there\r\nin the Sun are one and the same thing. God has created man and the world, He is\r\nin man and in the world, He has become and is man and the world. Not only so.\r\nNot only does God become the clod of earth by reducing his potential – to zero,\r\nso to say; but He<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;\'>Page – 190<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n10.55pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>descends often enough in his own being and\r\nconsciousness here below, assuming a human form for a special work and a\r\nspecial purpose. This is the Indian<span style=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp;\r\n</span>conception of Avatarhood.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>The Christian conception seems to occupy an\r\nintermediary position, being a sort of connecting link between the two. Christ\r\nis not only the Son of God, he is also the God-Man­ – he declares very clearly\r\nand categorically that he and the Father in heaven are one and that everyone\r\nshould be as perfect as God himself. Still a difference is maintained. First of\r\nall, with regard to the birth. The God-Man was not born in sin like ordinary\r\nmortals, an immaculate virgin gave him birth. And with regard to the union or\r\nidentity of Father and Son, the fusion is not absolute. Man is asked to be as\r\npure and perfect as God, but only in kind and not in being and subs­tance. The\r\npurified and perfect souls sit by the side of God in heaven, they do not lose\r\nthemselves in God. The Vaishnava conception in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span\r\n  style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>India</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'> was in the same line. The liberated soul, according\r\nto it, dwells with God in the same world, possesses God\'s qualities – the union\r\nis that of Salokya and Sadharmaya – but it does not become one and indivisible\r\nwith God (Sayujya).<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>The Sufi doctrine also occupies an\r\nintermediate position, like the Christian, between the Chaldean and the\r\nVedantic. The absolute identity of the human lover and the Divine Beloved, a\r\ncomplete fusion of the two at a particular stage or moment of consciousness is\r\none of the cardinal experiences in the Sufi discipline. But that is an\r\ninnermost state, not normal or habitual in life and activity, where the\r\ndifference, the separation between the adorer and the adored is maintained\r\nexactly for the delight of play. But the dualism in the Indian discipline is\r\nmore than compensated by the doctrine of In­carnation which obliterates\r\nfundamentally all difference between the human and the Divine. According to it,\r\nGod does not become man only once, as in the Christian view, but that it is one\r\nof his constant functions. Indeed, the Indian tradition is that He is always\r\nthe leader of terrestrial evolu­tion; at each crisis, at each moment of need\r\nfor guidance, He comes down in flesh and blood, in the form of an earthly\r\ncreature to show the way, how to live and move and act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>The special gift of the Chaldean line of\r\ndiscipline lay in<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 191<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>another direction. It cultivated not so much\r\nthe higher lines of spiritual realisation but was occupied with what may be\r\ncalled the mid regions, the occult world. This material universe is not moved\r\nby the physical, vital or mental forces that are apparent and demonstrable, but\r\nby other secret and subtle forces; in fact, these are the motive forces, the\r\nreal agents that work out and initiate movements in Nature, while the apparent\r\nones are only the external forms and even masks. This occultism was also </span><span\r\nlang=EN-GB style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>practised</span><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'> very largely in ancient Egypt from where the\r\nGreeks took up a few threads. The Mysteries – Orphic and Eleusinian –\r\ncultivated the tradition within a restricted circle and in a very esoteric\r\nmanner. The tradition continued into the Christian Church also and an inner\r\ngroup formed in its heart that </span><span lang=EN-GB style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n10.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>practised</span><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n10.0pt\'> and kept alive something of this ancient science. The external tenets\r\nand dogmas of the Church did not admit or tolerate this which was considered as\r\nblack magic, the Devil\'s Science. The evident reason was that if one pursued\r\nthis line of occultism and tasted of the power it gave, one might very likely\r\ndeviate from the straight and narrow path leading to the Spirit and spiritual\r\nsalvation. In India too the <i>siddhis </i>or occult powers were always shunned\r\nby the truly spiritual, although sought by the many who take to the spiritual\r\nlife – often with disas­trous results. In Christianity, side by side with the\r\nmajor saints, there was always a group or a line of </span><span lang=EN-GB\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>practicants</span><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'> that followed the occult system, although\r\noutwardly observing the official creed. It is curious to note that often where\r\nthe original </span><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt\'>text of the Bible\r\nspeaks of </span><i><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>gods, </span></i><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt\'>in the plural, referring to the </span><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>deities or occult powers, the official\r\nversion translates it as God, to give the necessary theistic value and\r\natmosphere.<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>But if occultism is to be feared because of\r\nits wrong use and potential danger, spirituality too should then be placed on\r\nthe same footing. All good things in the world have their deformation and\r\ndanger, but that is no reason why one should avoid them altogether. What is\r\nrequired is right attitude and discrimination, training and discipline. Viewed\r\nin the true light, occultism is dynamic spirituality; in other words, it seeks\r\nto express and execute, bring down to the material life the powers and\r\nprinciples of the Spirit through the agency of the subtler forces of mind and\r\nlife and the subtle physical.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 192<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n11.0pt\'>Occultism is naturally shunned by those who worship, who </span><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt\'>seek to experience the transcendent Spirit,\r\nGod <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>in<b> </b></span>Heaven, but it is\r\nan indispensable instrument for those who endeavour to manifest the Divine <span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>in<b> </b></span>a concrete form.</span><span style=\'mso-bidi-font-size:\r\n10.0pt\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;\'>Page – 193<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n	<a href=\"-000_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20file/shome.gif\" width=\"53\" height=\"23\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n  <div align=right> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-040_Varieties of Religious Experience','','publish','closed','open','','040_varieties-of-religious-experience','','','2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/040_varieties-of-religious-experience/',0,'post','',0),(2113,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>The Body and the Psychic</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'><font size=\"4\">The Body and the\r\nPsychic</font><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>1</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You ask why\r\nthe body has a limited receptive power. The reason is that in the physical\r\nworld things must not get mixed up, they must remain somewhat stable, in shape\r\nand position. For example, if your body suddenly began to melt and flow towards\r\nanother, it would be rather troublesome; you would find it disgusting if the\r\nbody of your <span lang=EN-GB style=\'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>neighbour</span>,\r\nlike a fluid, were to pour into your own fluid body. It is to prevent such a\r\nmixture that a greater concentration in masses was necessary, a kind of fixity\r\nof force that separates them. Indeed it was to separate one individuality from\r\nanother that this fixity was needed. And it is precisely this fixity again that\r\nprevents the body from progressing as rapidly as it could and should. As you\r\ngrow up and attain your normal size and constitution, you become more and more\r\nrigid in your body. As a child you have this plasticity of growth. Children\r\nchange continually, they change visibly. This plasticity, this growth and\r\ndevelop­ment continue, so long as you remain young. But beyond, say, forty,\r\npeople generally feel that they have reached their goal, they sit down to\r\ngather the fruits of their labour; they gradually become dry as dust, hard like\r\nold wood, and even like stone in the end. The body then not being able to adapt\r\nitself to the movement of the inner change, gets fossilised and crumbles, which\r\nmeans death.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>After Death there is\r\nthen no further progress?<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nstyle=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>That depends. There is a kind of progress\r\nsometimes. There are, for example, writers, musicians, artists, people who\r\nlived<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page\r\n– 392</span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>on a high\r\nmental level, who feel that they have yet something to do upon earth, they did\r\nnot finish their work, fulfil their mission, reach the goal they set before\r\nthemselves. So they wish to remain in the earth\'s atmosphere as much as possible,\r\nretain as much cohesion of their being as needed and seek to manifest\r\nthemselves and progress through other living human forms. I have seen many such\r\ncases: I shall tell you the very interesting case of a musician, a pianist, a\r\npianist of a very high order; he had hands that had become something marvellous,\r\nfull of skill, accuracy, precision, force, swiftness; it was truly remarkable.\r\nThe man died comparatively young and with the feeling that had he lived he\r\nwould have gone on advancing in his musical self-expression. Such was the\r\nintensity of his aspiration that his subtle hands retained their form without\r\ngetting dissolved and wherever there was someone passive and receptive and at\r\nthe same time a good musician the hands of the dead man would enter into the\r\nliving hands that played. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In<b> </b></span>the\r\ncase that I saw the man used to play well enough normally but quite in the\r\nordinary way; he became, however, as he continued to play all on a sudden not\r\nonly a virtuoso, but a marvellous artist; it was the hands of the other person\r\nwho made use of him. The same thing may happen with regard to a painter; in his\r\ncase too, the hands are the instrument. For certain writers also a like thing\r\nmay happen; but here it is the brain of the dead man that retains its forma­tion\r\nand it is this that enters the brain of the living writer which must be\r\nreceptive enough to allow the formation in all its precision. I have seen a\r\nwriter who was nothing extra­ordinary in his normal capacity, but used to write\r\nthings much more beautiful in those moments than he was capable of<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-spacerun:yes\'>&nbsp; </span>doing or was doing usually. I know the case\r\nof a musical composer, not executor like the one I referred to before, which\r\nwas particularly remarkable. <span style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold\'>In<b> </b></span>the\r\ncase of the composer, like the writer, it is the brain that serves him; for the\r\nexecutor the hands are the chief instrument. Beethoven, Bach, Cesar Franck were\r\ngreat composers, although the last one was an executor also. The composition of\r\nmusic is a cerebral activity. Now the brain of a great musician used to enter\r\nin contact with that of the composer and made him compose marvellous pieces.\r\nThe man was writing a musical opera. You must remember<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 393</span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>what a\r\ncomplicated thing an opera music is. It is a complex whole in which roles are\r\ndistributed to a very large number of performers each playing differently on\r\ndifferent instruments and they must all of them together and severally express\r\nthe idea and the theme the composer has in his mind. Now, this man I am speaking\r\nof, when he sat down with the blank paper in front, used to receive the musical\r\nformation in his brain and wrote down continuously as if he was recording\r\nsomething ready-made placed before him. I saw him filling up a whole page from\r\ntop to bottom with all the details of orchestration. He had no need to hear any\r\ninstrument, he did it all on paper; and the distribution was perfect. He\r\nhimself was not very unconscious, he used to feel that something entered into\r\nhim and helped him to bring out the music.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>You\r\nmust note here that when I speak of a formation entering into a living person,\r\nthe formation does not mean the man himself who is dead, that is to say, his\r\nsoul or psychic being. I say that it is only a special faculty which continues\r\nto remain in the earth atmosphere, even after the death of the man to whom the\r\nfaculty belonged: it was so well developed, well formed that it continues to\r\nretain its independent identity. The soul, the true being of the man is no\r\nlonger there; I have told you often that after death it goes away as soon as\r\npossible to the psychic world, its own world, for rest, assimilation and\r\npreparation. Not that it cannot happen otherwise. A soul incarnating as a great\r\nmusician may incarnate again in or as a great musician, although I said in\r\nanother connection that a soul usually prefers to vary, even to contrast and\r\ncontradict its incarnations with each other. Take for example, the great\r\nviolinist, Isaie; he was a Belgian and the most marvellous violinist of his\r\ncentury. I knew him and I am sure he was an incarnation, at least, an\r\nemanation, of the soul that was the great Beethoven. It may not have been the\r\nwhole psychic being that so reincarnated, but the soul in its musical capacity.\r\nHe had the same appearance, the same head. When I saw him first appearing on\r\nthe stage I was greatly surprised, I said to myself, he looks so like\r\nBeethoven, the very portrait of that great genius. And then he stood, the bow\r\npoised, one stroke and there were in it three or four notes only, but three or\r\nfour supreme notes, full of power, greatness and grandeur;<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 394</span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>the entire\r\nhall was charged with an atmosphere marvellous and unique. I could recognise\r\nvery well the musical genius of Beethoven behind. It may be possible here too\r\nthe soul of Beethoven in its entirety-the whole psychic being-was not present;\r\nthe central psychic might have been elsewhere gathering more modest,\r\ncommonplace. experiences, as a shoemaker, for example. But what was left and\r\nwhat manifested itself was something very characteristic of the great musician.\r\nHe had disciplined his mental and vital being and even his physical being in\r\nview of his musical capacity and this forma­tion remained firm and sought to\r\nreincarnate. The musical being was originally organised and fashioned around\r\nthe psychic consciousness and therefore it acquired its peculiar power and its\r\nforce of persistence, almost an immortality. Such formations, though not\r\nthemselves the psychic being, have a psychic quality, are independent beings,\r\npossess their own life and seek their fulfilment by manifesting and incarnating\r\nthemselves whenever the occasion presents itself.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>Can a Psychic Being\r\ntake two bodies at the same time?<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nmatter is not so simple. I have told you often that the psychic being is the\r\nresult of an evolution, that is to say, it is the expression of the divine\r\nconsciousness that has entered and spread itself into Matter and slowly raises\r\nMatter and develops it so that it may return to the Divine. The psychic being\r\nis formed progressively by the divine centre through many lives or\r\nincarnations. There comes a time when it attains a kind of perfection, the\r\nperfection of its growth and formation. It has then often an aspiration towards\r\ngreater realisation, a further progress to <span lang=EN-GB style=\'mso-ansi-language:\r\nEN-GB\'>manifiest</span> better or further the Divine. As the result of this\r\npull, it generally draws towards itself a being of a higher order, from a\r\nhigher plane, from the Overmind, as Sri Aurobindo calls it, a being of\r\ninvolution who incarnates in the psychic being. These overmental entities are\r\ntermed gods and divinities by men. Now when the fusion takes place, of a god\r\ninto a psychic being, the latter naturally increases in stature and partakes of\r\nthe nature of the god and acquires also the capacity to produce emanations;\r\nthat is to say it throws out of itself a part which possesses an independent\r\nexistence and can<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 395</span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>incarnate in others. In this way there may be not\r\nonly two but several emanations or projections of the same original being. In\r\nother words, there may be a single psycho-divine origin but many personalities\r\ncoming out of it. That is how it happens sometimes that different people feel a\r\nsort of affinity and even identity, and with reason, because they carry within\r\nthem the same deity, out of which they, that is, their psychic being came. It\r\nis not the same thing as the doubling of the personality where in throwing\r\noneself out of oneself one loses a portion, as when you cut a body into two: there\r\nare only two halves. Here the projection is a whole and independent per­sonality.\r\nIf you emanate a being out of you, you remain whole and entire without losing\r\nanything of yourself and the emana­tion too is a being whole and entire living\r\nits independent life.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:\r\nnone;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>2</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i>What is the work of the\r\nPsychic? What is its function?<o:p></o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>The\r\nPsychic is like the wire between the generator and the lamp. What is the\r\ngenerator and what is the lamp, or rather, who is the generator and who the\r\nlamp? The Divine is the generator and the body, the visible being, is the lamp.\r\nThe function then of the Psychic is to connect the two. In other words, if\r\nthere were no Psychic in Matter, Matter could not come in direct contact with\r\nthe Divine. All human beings, including yourself, all carry the Divine within\r\nyou, you have only to enter within you to find Him. It is a unique <span\r\nlang=EN-GB style=\'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>speciality</span> of the human\r\nbeing, rather of all embodied beings living upon earth. In the human being, the\r\npsychic becomes more conscious and formed; more conscious and therefore also\r\nmore free, it is individualised. You should note that it is a <span lang=EN-GB\r\nstyle=\'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>speciality</span> of the earth alone. It is the\r\ndirect infusion of a purifying and redeem­ing agent into the most obscure and\r\nunconscious Matter to awaken it by degrees towards the divine consciousness,\r\nthe divine presence, to the Divine Himself. It is the psychic presence that\r\nmakes of man an exceptional being. Perhaps it is not good to tell it to him too\r\noften, for as it is he is already puffed up and thinks very highly of himself\r\nand there is no need to \r\n<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 396</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\">\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>encourage\r\nhim in that direction. Still it is a fact: so much so that beings from other\r\nworlds, worlds of what are known as demi-gods or even gods, beings from what\r\nSri Aurobindo calls the Overmind, are eager to take a physical body upon earth\r\nso that they may experience the Psychic, as they do not possess it. These\r\nbeings have very many qualities which men have not, but they lack this divine\r\npresence which is quite an exceptional thing belonging to the earth alone. All\r\nthe in­habitants of the higher worlds – the Higher Mind, the Overmind and\r\nother domains – do not have the psychic being. Naturally, the beings of the\r\nvital worlds have not got it either. But these vital beings do not regret, for\r\nthey do not want to have it. There are, however, a few exceptional beings on\r\nthis level who wish to be converted and therefore desire a physical body; but\r\nthe rest do not want, they are bound to the law of their being and cannot\r\nrepudiate it.</p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>So\r\nI say and we are bound to admit that it is an exceptional virtue in the human\r\nbeing to bear the psychic in him. But to tell the truth, he does not seem to\r\nhave profited much by it. He does not look like considering his virtue as\r\nsomething very desirable, from the manner he has been treating this presence.\r\nHe prefers to it his mental ideals, he prefers to it his vital demands and he\r\nprefers to it his physical habits. I do not know how many of you have read the\r\nBible. But there is a story that I used to like always. There were two\r\nbrothers, Esau and Jacob. Esau had gone out hunting and felt tired and hungry.\r\nHe came back home and found his brother preparing a dish. He asked Jacob to\r\nfeed him. Jacob said he would give him food if he, Esau, sold his birthright to\r\nhim. Esau said, of what use is the birthright to me now, and sold it to his\r\nbrother. You understand the significance? You can of course take it quite in\r\nthe superficial way. But I took it differently. The birthright is the right to\r\nbe the son of God. And Esau was quite ready to give up his divine right for a\r\nmess of pottage. It is an old story, but it is eternally true.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 397</span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=right style=\'text-align:right;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>&nbsp;<a href=\"-000_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20file/shome.gif\" width=\"53\" height=\"23\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n  <div align=right> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-115_The Body and the Psychic','','publish','closed','open','','115_the-body-and-the-psychic','','','2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/115_the-body-and-the-psychic/',0,'post','',0),(2114,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<title>Value of Gymnastics – Mental or Other</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b style=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<font size=\"4\">Value of Gymnastics – Mental or Other</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:\r\nnone;tab-stops:12.45pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\"text-align:justify; mso-pagination:\r\nnone;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">INTELLECTUAL activity is a\r\nkind of gymnastics. What is the value of physical gymnastics? It develops the\r\nmuscles, makes them strong, supple and agile. But simply to develop them, to\r\nmake them grow as much as possible or to take delight in a mere muscle-bound\r\nbody is not the ideal; it rather frustrates the very object of gymnastics. The\r\nobject is to develop, strengthen, shape all the limbs of the body and organise\r\nand harmonise them into a beautiful and capable whole. A particular exercise is\r\nnot to be indulged in for its own sake: all the energy of the body turned to\r\nthat alone and the whole attention devoted to that one thing. An exclusive\r\nconcentration upon a single physical feat does not bring out the full capacity\r\nof the body. It is to that end, the fullness of the body potential, that the\r\nculture of the bodily limbs is to be directed. In the same way, mental\r\nculture-the power of thinking, reasoning, arguing -has its value in its\r\nrelation to the total culture of the mind and consciousness. There are higher\r\nregions of consciousness beyond the reach of the intellect; and you have to\r\nstop all intellectual activity, make your mind a total blank before you can\r\nhope to reach there. And indulgence even in so-called higher or philosophical\r\nspeculations can only block the way to the true consciousness and knowledge.\r\nAnd yet you cannot leave the intellectual faculties uncared for or undeveloped\r\non the plea that something higher is needed. In the physical body it need not\r\nbe your ideal to become a &quot;muscle man&quot;; but neither would you like to\r\nhave frail, ill-grown, rickety limbs that are weak and unshapely. With regard\r\nto your mental body too it would not serve any purpose to have a mind or\r\nintellect that is unable to think powerfully, cogently, closely.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\"text-align:center; \r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 257<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>It is\r\nharmful when you take to mental gymnastics only for its own sake, to exclusive\r\nintellectual acrobatics – discussions, disputations, verbal quibbles, etc.,\r\netc.; in that case the result attained is a disproportionate growth. But the\r\ndevelopment of the mind, even of the logical mind, can be and must be made part\r\nof the integral development, it must attain its true form, stature and\r\nstrength, as a help towards and finally as an expression in its own field of\r\nthe divinity, the highest and richest consciousness in man, even as the body\r\ntoo is to express and make concrete the supreme beauty and <span lang=EN-GB\r\nstyle=\'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>vigour</span> of the perfect being.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\"text-align:center; \r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 258<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><a href=\"-000_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20file/shome.gif\" width=\"53\" height=\"23\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"right\"> \r\n	<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"> </div>\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-061_Value of Gymnastics','','publish','closed','open','','061_value-of-gymnastics','','','2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/061_value-of-gymnastics/',0,'post','',0),(2115,1,'2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','<html xmlns:v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\"\r\nxmlns:o=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\"\r\nxmlns:w=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word\"\r\nxmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40\">\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; \">\r\n<meta name=ProgId content=>\r\n<meta name=Generator content=\"Namo WebEditor v4.0\">\r\n<meta name=Originator content=\"\">\r\n<link rel=Edit-Time-Data href=\"HTML-FILE/Here-or-Elsewhere_files/editdata.mso\">\r\n<title>Here or Elsewhere</title>\r\n<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>\r\n <o:DocumentProperties>\r\n  <o:Author>w4</o:Author>\r\n  <o:Template>Normal</o:Template>\r\n  <o:LastAuthor>w4</o:LastAuthor>\r\n  <o:Revision>1</o:Revision>\r\n  <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>\r\n  <o:Created>2004-06-23T09:31:00Z</o:Created>\r\n  <o:LastSaved>2004-06-23T09:31:00Z</o:LastSaved>\r\n  <o:Pages>1</o:Pages>\r\n  <o:Words>452</o:Words>\r\n  <o:Characters>2581</o:Characters>\r\n  <o:Company>Aurokruti</o:Company>\r\n  <o:Lines>21</o:Lines>\r\n  <o:Paragraphs>6</o:Paragraphs>\r\n  <o:CharactersWithSpaces>3027</o:CharactersWithSpaces>\r\n  <o:Version>10.2625</o:Version>\r\n </o:DocumentProperties>\r\n</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>\r\n <w:WordDocument>\r\n  <w:SpellingState>Clean</w:SpellingState>\r\n  <w:GrammarState>Clean</w:GrammarState>\r\n  <w:Compatibility>\r\n   <w:BreakWrappedTables/>\r\n   <w:SnapToGridInCell/>\r\n   <w:WrapTextWithPunct/>\r\n   <w:UseAsianBreakRules/>\r\n  </w:Compatibility>\r\n  <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>\r\n </w:WordDocument>\r\n</xml><![endif]-->\r\n<style>\r\n<!--\r\n /* Style Definitions */\r\n p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\r\n	{mso-style-parent:\"\";\r\n	margin:0in;\r\n	margin-bottom:.0001pt;\r\n	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;\r\n	font-size:12.0pt;\r\n	font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\r\n	mso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";}\r\nspan.SpellE\r\n	{mso-style-name:\"\";\r\n	mso-spl-e:yes;}\r\nspan.GramE\r\n	{mso-style-name:\"\";\r\n	mso-gram-e:yes;}\r\n@page Section1\r\n	{size:8.5in 11.0in;\r\n	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;\r\n	mso-header-margin:.5in;\r\n	mso-footer-margin:.5in;\r\n	mso-paper-source:0;}\r\ndiv.Section1\r\n	{page:Section1;}\r\n-->\r\n</style>\r\n<!--[if gte mso 10]>\r\n<style>\r\n /* Style Definitions */\r\n table.MsoNormalTable\r\n	{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\";\r\n	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;\r\n	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;\r\n	mso-style-noshow:yes;\r\n	mso-style-parent:\"\";\r\n	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;\r\n	mso-para-margin:0in;\r\n	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;\r\n	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;\r\n	font-size:10.0pt;\r\n	font-family:\"Times New Roman\";}\r\n</style>\r\n<![endif]-->\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body lang=EN-US style=\'tab-interval:.5in\'>\r\n\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td>\r\n<p align=\"right\" class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\"><b\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-style:normal\'><font size=\"4\">Here or Elsewhere</font><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>\r\n<div class=Section1>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\nIT is easy and comfortable to go within and in an inner consciousness find and maintain a\r\nunion, even a close union with the Divine. It is because of such a state of\r\npeace and bliss that many, nay, most who go <span class=GramE>there</span> do\r\nnot want to come back, to normal life upon this earth. And teachers, great or\r\nsmall, almost invariably, have taught that in the end it is best like that, and\r\nperhaps the only thing to do under the circumstances. For this life and this\r\nearth mean the very opposite of that inner heaven and that highest good. But\r\nsome are not given this comfortable solution of the difficulty. They are asked\r\nto turn back and live the life of the earth. They are not allowed to remain <span\r\nclass=SpellE>cosy</span> in a narrow room and be busy always with themselves\r\nalone. Indeed, is it not narrow egoism to seek only one\'s own salvation? When\r\none has saved himself, is it not his duty – the logical outcome and implication\r\nof his personal freedom – <span class=GramE>that</span> he should seek to help\r\nothers in their salvation? Such was in fact the attitude of the Amitabha\r\nBuddha.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>A\r\nhouse is on fire. It has a tarred roof. One can easily understand the fury of\r\nthe fire. Some <span lang=EN-GB style=\'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\'>inmates</span>\r\nwho were trapped have managed to come out in time, although some-what bruised\r\nand scalded. But there were others, some children, left inside. One of <span\r\nclass=GramE>those who came out rushes back again through the flames and comes</span>\r\nand goes till all are saved. He is badly burnt, he has risked his life: he did\r\nnot mind and could not remain at a safe distance. He could not be contented\r\nwith saving himself, which was to be sure a sufficient gain in one respect.\r\nThis soul had a consciousness of his wider self.<o:p></o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span style=\'mso-tab-count:1\'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the same way, there are souls\r\nthat have emerged out of the fire of earthly life and are enjoying the safety\r\nand security<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:\r\nnone; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span style=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page –\r\n268<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;\r\ntext-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal style=\'text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'><span\r\nclass=GramE>of</span> the heavens; but they have been called to come back into\r\nthe world, add to the experience of the tranquil above the experience of the\r\ntrouble below. Surely it increases the scope of their consciousness. But to\r\nturn upon the world means also to re-enter into ignorance, for this world means\r\nignorance, as it is, it is nothing but ignorance. The role then of one who\r\nreturns is once more to embrace ignorance, but with a view to bringing into it\r\nthe light and bliss that he gained from above, permeating the stuff of the\r\npresent world with the substance of the higher consciousness. It is a sacrifice\r\ndemanded of him, thus to abandon the eternal felicity of the high heavens – the\r\nunbroken union with the Divine above – and to enter into the depths of\r\n&quot;this great perilous world&quot;: but this is a privilege too, to bring\r\nsolace to the afflicted, the transforming light to obscure souls, the radiant\r\nenergy to inert earth. It is a high privilege for which the luminous soul is\r\nthankful: he modestly accepts a gift of grace from the Supreme. He accepts the\r\nIgnorance and offers it: he lays it at the feet of the Supreme so that it may\r\nbe transmuted into light – light here below. His own role is that of a modest\r\nintermediary.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>\r\n\r\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;line-height:150%;\r\nmso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0\'>\r\n<span\r\nstyle=\'font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;\'>Page – 269<o:p></o:p></span></p>\r\n\r\n<div class=MsoNormal align=center style=\'text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:\r\n11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none\'>\r\n\r\n<hr size=2 width=\"100%\" align=center>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n  <p class=MsoNormal align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><a href=\"-000_Content\"><img src=\"_Gif%20file/shome.gif\" width=\"53\" height=\"23\" border=\"0\"></a></p>\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-066_Here or Elsewhere','','publish','closed','open','','066_here-or-elsewhere','','','2021-11-23 17:59:04','2021-11-23 17:59:04','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/066_here-or-elsewhere/',0,'post','',0),