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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy
Rabindranath, the Poet, Rabindranath, the Conversationalist,
Rabindranath, the Letter-Writer. There is one essay, 'Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath' in this book in which the writer attempts to indicate the similarities between the two celebrities of his time. In Pilgrims of the Stars, Dilip Roy recapitulates what he has said earlier about his subject. In all of these books, Dilip Roy admires those impressive qualities of Tagore which appealed to him very much during his contact with him.
Dilip Roy, first of all, was almost astonished at Tagore's generosity of temperament. Dilip Roy's father, Dwijiendralal Roy and Tagore, being contemporaries, were friends, but later on there was a breach in their friendship and they avoided each other's company. Dwijiendralal died in 1913. Dilip Roy, then, wanted to meet Rabindranath but he was hesitant. So, the celebrated novelist Saratchandra Chatterji took him to the poet at his Calcutta residence in 1919 and that ended Dilip Roy's fear and hesitation. The poet welcomed him whole heartedly. The author remembers: "I at once fell in love with him, captivated by his characteristic cordiality and harmonious personality.'45
During his other meetings in England with Rabindranath, Roy was fascinated when he took loving interest in his ideals and encouraged him with his personal support to follow his ideal of becoming a musician and not an I. C. S. officer. Even in his later life, Rabindranath showed personal care in almost all of Dilip Roy's activities. He forgave the author with great tolerance even if he wrote harsh letters to him.
Once Roy read Tagore's letter published in a Bengali magazine, Prabasi in which he had criticized guruvada. So, he immediately wrote a letter to Tagore to take him to task for running down guruvada forgetting that Sri Aurobindo was an ideal guru. Tagore answered his hasty letter in a calm and judicious manner. He informed Dilip Roy that he had great reverence for Sri Aurobindo and he could never dream of classifying him with those so-called modern professional avatars who were the target of his criticism in Prabasi. There were many mountebanks who were ready to gull the credulous by establishing themselves as great gurus. Very pointedly, Tagore argued:
"In all climes there is a deal of pseudo-poetry which caters for a large clientele. If you expose these shall I be entitled to complain that you have had a fling at me? Those whose greatness belongs to the heights are intrinsically invulnerable—of this much their admirers may rest assured. In any event, the starry throng can never be the butt of my ridicule: if you fail to
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