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FILLER PORTRAITS
and he asked Sri Aurobindo to consider the contribution of his enormous reading in
vn style. Nirodbaran was not ready to accept the contribution of Yoga in the development of one's writing. Sri Aurobindo tried to convince him that reading was not the only factor responsible in the formation of his style. He wrote
“.... it is Yoga that has developed my style by the development of consciousness, fineness and accuracy of thought and vision, increasing inspiration and an increasing intuition, discrimination (self-critical)
of right thought, word-form and just image and figure.":25
Citing his own instance, Sri Aurobindo informed him that before he started yogic practices, it was difficult for him to understand metaphysical argument and even a page of philosophers like Kant or Hume, but when he began concentrating and practising pranayama daily, he could fill up pages and pages of philosophy. Rebuking Nirodbaran, he wrote:
*Kindly reflect a little and don't talk facile nonsense. Even if a thing can be done in a moment or a few days by Yoga which would ordinarily take a long, assiduous, sincere and earnest cultivation, that would of itself show the power of the Yogaforce. But a faculty that did not exist appears quickly and spontaneously or impotence changes into the highest potency, or an obstructed talent with equal rapidity into fluent and facile sovereignty. If you deny that evidence, no evidence will convince
you because you are determined to think otherwise."26 Commenting on the letter written by Sri Aurobindo, Roy recollects:
“To me, personally, his letters radiating affection imparted something even more convincing-possibly because only such personal letters could convey to my sceptic mind the light of seerhood that hovered round him, through a receptive emotion which nothing short of an intimate contact with his soul of
compassion could arouse.”27.
Tirelessly Dilip Roy wrote letters to Sri Aurobindo and with the same spirit his gurudev answered all of his queries. Among many peculiarities of Sri Aurobindo's temperament, two traits appealed to him very much. Firstly, though Sri Aurobindo guided his disciples, he was always reluctant to impose his views on others. Secondly, he knew the temperament of almost all of his disciples and wrote letters accordingly. Dilip Roy was wonderstruck to notice that when Sri Aurobindo wrote letters to Dilip Roy, he was always taking care of his supersensitive nature and, as such, his style remained mild, but when he wrote letters to Nirodbaran, they were often stern. Sri Aurobindo's replies to Dilip Roy were full of tenderness, humility and unassertiveness. 28
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