Q: Nirodbaran: Need one aspire even for writing poetry ?
A: Sri Aurobindo: Aspiration is an essential part of the sadhana.
Q: Nirodbaran : If one waits calmly, does not the Grace descend by itself without our asking ?
A: Sri Aurobindo : Not unless one is in a state of Grace – in a psychic condition.
Q: Nirodbaran : If a person asks and doesn’t get it, he is likely to get disappointed ?
A: Sri Aurobindo: If he asks with the vital, yes. Your mind is too active in these matters. Get your mind silent, learn to feel within, to aspire from within- then things will come more easily.
Q: Nirodbaran: Please give me one direct and decisive rule to follow.
A: Sri Aurobindo: Aspire for the opening to the right place of inspiration.
Q: Nirodbaran: Why should joy be a necessary precondition for writing poetry ?
A: Sri Aurobindo: Art is a thing of beauty and beauty and Ananda are closely connected, they go together. If the Ananda is there, then the beauty comes more clearly- if not, it has to struggle out painfully and slowly. That is quite natural.
Q: Nirodbaran: For some time past the inspiration has stopped.
A: Sri Aurobindo: You must remember that you are not a “born” poet- you are trying to bring out something from the Unmanifest inside you. You can’t demand that should be an easy job. It may come out suddenly and without apparent reason like the Ananda- but you can’t demand it.
(Nirodbaran, ‘Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo’, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1969, Printed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry)
Q: Do the masses appreciate poetry ?
A: Sri Aurobindo: I think I told you the story of a Spaniard, a commercial man, who was my brother Mano Mohan’s friend. Whenever he came to his room he saw books of Milton lying on the table. He cried out:
“What is this Milton, Milton? Can you eat Milton? “
(‘Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Sri Aurobindo’, compiled by M.P. Pandit, Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry)
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