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LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER

13. RISHYASRINGAR

It was a rainy morning in November. As I went to bed after twelve in the night, I was still asleep. There was a steady downpour of rain outside. Robert came up to my bed and urged me to come down saying, “There is water all around our house. Water has entered the neighbouring houses. They have come over to our house for safety. Come quickly. We have to decide what to do.” I went downstairs and looked outside. Our house was at the far end of a new colony and, as usual, the roads were not yet laid. There was a sea of water everywhere. Inside the other two adjacent houses, already there was one or two feet of water. The colony was close to the main drainage canal of the town. The canal’s banks were overflowing, and the watermark was more than a foot above the bank. By then the entire colony had vacated their houses and shifted to a raised place two streets beyond. Rescue teams had come with men, ropes, vans, etc. helping people to evacuate. The water level was just about to reach my doorstep. I could see men wading through hip-deep water at a distance and deeper still just outside my house. The rescue team announced that a lake had breached and it would be dangerous for us not to vacate. We contacted the Collector’s office and police headquarters to find out the truth. We were informed that no lake’s bunds were broken, rather the rainfall had been 14 inches that night and, hence, the heavy flooding of all low-lying areas. I was relieved to know the facts and decided against vacating the house. We moved upstairs.

Robert had returned from America only two days earlier. I joked with him saying, “You have brought with you heavy rains. Mother calls rain Grace. You carry Her Grace and that is why this downpour. You are like Rishyasringar of our Puranas.” On his request I told him the story of Rishyasringar. He was interested and intrigued. He said that wherever he went there used to be rain, even in off-seasons, and he used to consider it a bother. He said that I put a positive construction on this aspect of his life, which, he said, might be true in some measure. Suddenly he recalled his very first visit to the Ashram during a non-rainy month. He very vividly remembered that there had been heavy rain at the time. I assented because I had met him at the gate of the Ashram when he came with my friend, and I took both of them to the Samadhi and other places. I too remembered that it was a rainy day. But neither of us had noticed until then that wherever Robert went there was rain.

I know that when we come to Mother and accept Her, our life undergoes a transformation. Generally in one year man rises to a social level twice as high as before. If he is part of an institution and accepts Mother’s way of life in his own life, sooner or later he rises to the topmost post of that institution, however low he started. If there are any capacities in him such as writing, dancing, speaking, skills of organisation, luck, etc. these capacities will continue to increase. If there are defects such as short temper, ill luck, etc., they will soon disappear. It struck me that Robert had had this capacity to invite rains wherever he went before he came to Mother. Now it had increased beyond all proportions and brought down the deluge of 14 inches in one night on his arrival from the USA.

Though Robert continued to give me instances of rain in places that he visited, as a Westerner he found it difficult to accept the Rishyasringar in him. Anyway, I decided to keep a watch over the future. He too amusingly agreed to report to me in future about his visits from this point of view.

After a few months stay in India, he returned to California. Southern California is a desert where the rainfall in a year is less than 10 inches. Drinking water for the largest city there, Los Angeles, comes through pipelines from a river a few hundred miles away. Robert on his return wrote long letters. At the end of one he mentioned there had been 30 inches of rain in one month and there were floods in Los Angeles, which were unheard of. After some time, he said he was moving to his aunt’s house in New York. That year water scarcity had affected the eastern part of USA. Even newspapers in India began to report on those details. New York City announced that there was water in their reservoirs only for forty more days. Another city nearby had only seven days supply left. Tight restrictions were imposed on the use of water. Robert reached New York in February. In New York it rains every month and the rainfall is about two inches. February has a normal fall of 2.1 inches. A few days after Robert reached there, there was a heavy rainfall for one full week and the reservoirs filled up again. The rain gauge recorded six inches for the month.

After his stay in USA, Robert wrote to me saying he was returning to India in October. I wished him to return in summer, as we still lived in the same house and the municipality had not laid the roads. I was afraid of another flood around the house. I wrote back to Robert saying, “You are most welcome and the rains you bring are God’s Grace. That too is equally welcome. But please bring down the rain only in installments!” Robert did arrive again in November and the rains arrived too in copious measure with him. But this time it was only six inches on the day of his arrival.

Once we had an occasion to work with the Tata organisation. They liked the ideas of our Society regarding rural development. Fifty years ago, the Tatas had chosen to install a chemical plant in a desert. They wanted the factory in a place with the least rainfall, as they made large quantities of common salt in open pans to be used in the factory. As the salt would be lost in the rain, they located their factory in Kutch, where the annual rainfall is less than 10 inches. Around the factory they chose 40 villages from which their workers came for rural development. On their request, we sent Robert to them to study the area and report. He did so. Two years later, it was reported in the papers that Kutch was visited by heavy rains that season. So, I was looking for Tata's speech on the occasion of their annual meeting. When it did come, it quoted Tata saying, “Unusually, this year there were heavy rains in Kutch. All salt was washed away. In one day the factory area recorded 20 inches of rain, a thing unheard of in the history of Kutch.”

14. UNSOLD STOCK

Perumal was a young man running a 110 year old shop. He was the son of a local rich man of a traditional type. His uncle was the richest man in that place. The wealth was traditional and the boy had the manners of an affluent, traditional, respectable family. He was very able and efficient, but he was timid and lacked initiative. He was visiting the Ashram off and on, following a friend of his who became Mother’s devotee. Each time he visited the Ashram, he used to pay a visit to me. Being very timid, he spoke little. Our conversations were formal and limited, and his visits were brief.

One day when I was busy with visitors from afar, I was told Perumal had been waiting for me for a long time. I know he would wait for me ordinarily, but it appeared he had something on his mind. I excused myself from the visitors for a short while and met Perumal. He was, as usual, calm, quiet and pleasant, but sad. Casually he mentioned they were closing his shop. I explained to him that those who had come to Mother need never fail in their work. As that was not the right time for me to deal with any serious affair, I asked him to meet me at another time. He came on the appointed day.

He told me, as a foregone conclusion, that his father had decided to close the shop, since the sales were dipping. “Unless we sell for Rs.500 a day, we don’t break even. Sales are far below that level. We have waited for a few months. There is no point in postponing the decision.” Being in his early twenties, it is natural that his father makes all the decisions. Though he is formally consulted, Perumal had no say in the matter. Also he seemed to fully understand and endorse his father’s decision.

Closing a shop of 110 years’ standing is a major decision. They seemed to have taken it already. He was not even asking me whether it should be closed. I saw he did not understand his relationship with the Ashram, his visits to the Samadhi, Darshan, etc. I was sure he would pay attention to my words. I was anxious to prevent the closure of the shop. Therefore, I said, “Perhaps you would not close the shop if the sales picked up.” He answered, “Surely not.” I continued, “If you can postpone the closure for about a month, the sales will rise to Rs.1,000 per day. You can reconsider after a month.” He asked, “Is it possible? If that is the case, then there is no difficulty in postponing the decision. What am I to do?” I replied, “It is enough you don’t close the shop. Simply remember Mother. Try to spend more time in the shop. Let us see.”

A month later he met me. He said, “I went home thinking about what you told me. I had no courage to open the subject with my father. I did what you said – spent time in the shop, thought of Mother, and the next day sales were better. At the end of the day father disclosed that sales were near Rs.1,000. Since then sales have never fallen below Rs.1,000.” Now that he had seen this result, I told him that we generally do not think of Mother in Life, we think of Her only when we go to the Ashram. Nor do we relate our life to our devotion to Mother. We function as if life is different and Mother is different. Devotees of Mother carry Mother’s force on them. If they think of Her during their work, the work will flourish. What happened in his case was that his constant remembrance of Mother helped to pull up the sagging sales. This movement was helped by his staying in the shop longer than usual. He left pleased and beaming.

After some time, during one of his visits, Perumal said he had unsold stock worth Rs.25,000 and asked whether something could be done in that regard. I asked him to explain in detail how this accumulation had occurred.

“This is no accumulation. My father bought this particular product in huge quantities. Ever since, this stock has been lying idle. Let me explain. Ours is a state capital and there are over 100 shops of our description in the town. This particular product is sold in backward places. No one would buy substandard products in a city like ours. The company tried to introduce this product in several parts of our state and failed each time. This time the company sent two of its dynamic salesmen here. They knocked at every shop for a week. No one would buy even one rupee worth of this product. This was the talk of the town during that week. The salesmen approached our shop, too. We refused. They came again with some very attractive gifts of glassware and started on their sales pitch. My father gave in. As clever as they were, the men pushed in Rs.25,000 worth of stock. I was standing by, helpless. I could not protest. For the last seven or eight months, we have not been able to sell one piece of it. It stays there.”

This time Perumal asked for my advice. I explained in some detail Mother’s ideas of running an establishment, touching upon cleanliness, orderliness, soft speech, etc. For him, the one important thing was to get rid of this unsold stock. I gave him the following advice: “Mother speaks a lot about giving attention to children, things, even material objects. She says even inanimate objects respond to attention. The case you present seems to be a hard one. Let us first try attention. If it does not work, let us try another method later. You may ask how to pay attention to a dead stock. In your storeroom, try to clean up the place and put the stock in some order, particularly these cases. Dust them well and arrange them in a nice order. That is one way of giving attention. Each time you enter the storeroom, think of Mother and think of them at the same time. Whenever this idea of unsold stock comes to mind, try to think of Mother without worrying yourself. By this you are passing on your burden to Mother. That way your faith in Mother grows. Do it for a few days. Let us see. When they are sold, bring a token offering to Mother from that money.”

As such things begin to show results instantaneously, I was expecting Perumal every day from the following day. He was never to be seen for a week. Finally he came and gave a token offering, saying, “Ever since I left you, I sincerely tried to follow your suggestions. In a day or two people started asking for this product. From that moment onwards only this product sells. Customers came in large numbers and asked for this product. All sales were in retail for Rs.10 or 15. I was pinned to the counter. For several days this went on till late in the night. Totally Rs.12,500 worth of goods was sold. The product had originally come to us in two lots. One lot is now sold fully but in dribbles.”

A few weeks later Perumal again visited me to say someone came and bought the rest of the product worth Rs.12,500 in one lot.

15. BANKRUPTCY

There is a Western sadhak who has been here for many years. He once received a letter from his family that his brother was going to file for bankruptcy. This turn of events in his brother’s life made him sad. As his mother only informed him in one sentence about this and had not given any details whatsoever, he was unable to exercise his imagination, and just felt sad.

This sadhak had come to Mother several years before. At the time of joining the Ashram, he gave Mother all the money he had, a few lakhs of rupees. A few years ago his father and mother visited the Ashram and had Mother’s Darshan. His brother was a talented man. He had expert knowledge in more than one field. Before joining his father’s business, his brother had been in a highly paid job. His father himself was in business. Though it was a small company, by virtue of its quality and nature of service, it had attained nationwide popularity. In the 60s a multinational company was attracted by his father’s business and offered to buy the entire company and make it an independent part of their company on very profitable terms to the father. The negotiations for the sale were handled by the father and son. The father attended to the financial aspects of sale and his son concentrated on the legal aspects of transfer to the multinational. The multinational company was so much impressed by the son’s ability that they offered to employ him at a very high salary. The son had greater faith in his future prospects and preferred to remain with his father. Years later the father’s company was doing so well as one unit of the multinational that they opted to leave the parent company to function on their own. The father was the president of the company and the son, the brother of the sadhak, was vice-president. The company was innovative and introduced new concepts of work in their business. The company rose from height to greater height with every passing year. It is when the company was at its best, with the father and son at the helm, that the other son opted to go to India, join the Ashram and settle down in India permanently. Generally people who are unable to make a success of themselves in life seek out an excuse to hide their weakness and wind up in an Ashram. The brother in business was elder to the sadhak by four years. He surely felt that his younger brother was a fit case to seek asylum in an Ashram. Even when his parents visited the Ashram, the elder brother never showed any interest in the Ashram.

As years passed, the father who had founded the business took it to great heights, made good money and felt it was time for him to retire and leave the helm in the hands of the elder son. He retired and the son became the president of the company. He introduced several improvements, opened a computer division, and made himself a greater success than his father. He was married into a wealthy family. Soon after the father retired and the company became a greater success, differences of opinion began to arise between the son and the parents. The son stopped giving the parents any news of the company, which they were anxious to hear. The parents got little information of how the company was doing, and the sadhak got less information about his brother’s affairs. From other sources news came that the company’s computer division had a great potential as a money spinner. More information came that the company was shifting to the most prestigious locality in the city. All this reached the sadhak through second hand means months after the actual event.

If news took months to reach the parents, the sadhak brother at Pondicherry, if he ever heard anything, received only a trickle of news many months later. When it did come, it was only one sentence or a hint. After a successive string of positive news, a letter came saying, “He is not doing well, perhaps.” The company began to cut down its staff in big slices. At one point, the sadhak learned there were now only two employees in the company left. Next in line the office was vacated, the brother was working from his home, and he had no employees at all. What happened to the big business the father had built up, the great potential of the computer division, the prestigious office, God knows! It is at that juncture the final blow came through the letter mentioned in the beginning, that the brother had decided to file for bankruptcy. The sadhak brother was sad, but what was there in his hands except to feel sad. The sadhak was lost in thought, rather, he felt lost.

I ventured to speak to him. “I know you are not in the habit of writing to your brother. Also I know your brother would not take your words seriously. But this is a certain special moment in his life, when he may listen to you and may even consider your words seriously. I don’t know what has gone wrong where. All that is immaterial. One thing matters. You are here. That is enough to prevent your brother going bankrupt. If you are bold, conceive of a means of writing to him either directly or through your parents.” He said his sister-in-law wrote to him and she would listen to his words, but he was not sure how far his words would carry any meaning for them, as they all considered him a failure in life.

This was enough. I encouraged him to write to his brother’s wife about Mother’s way of running a business. He agreed. Together we prepared the contents of the letter. First, the letter said, “Do not file bankruptcy, if you have not already done so.” Then we cited a few examples of broken men finding their feet, rising again when they came to Mother. Lastly we added some principles of Mother’s way of running an organisation. I told the sadhak, “What is most important is a token offering from them, but in this precarious relationship, I desist from asking for it.” We ended the letter asking for $10 as an offering. Two weeks later we received a telegram from his parents: “Bankruptcy not filed. Brother will try your ideas. He has sent $20 offering and we add another $100 to it.”

Again, for weeks and months there was no news. But we were happy we did not receive the news of his filing bankruptcy. The brother’s wife wrote a formal letter of thanks and said they were seriously practicing the ideas given by the sadhak brother. Months passed. The rift between brother and parents became complete. He moved to another town to avoid his family. A few more months passed. Then news came that the rift was vanishing and a rapprochement was building up. Business for the brother was ‘all right.’ After 15 or 18 months we got news suddenly that the brother was doing well, perhaps very well. Still the news was all second hand and in trickles. One month later came a phone call on the father’s birthday to exchange greetings. Now we heard that the computer potential had started its initial yield and big customers were after the computer programme. There were signs of the brother making big money. Gone were the days of gloom, rift and bankruptcy.

16. SRI AUROBINDO’S ROOM

One day I was starting for the Ashram with my family. When we were about to lock the front door, my sister-in-law arrived with her husband. We had planned to be out of the town for the day. To receive them just at the moment of starting was embarrassing. We could not leave them behind alone, nor did I feel free to invite them to the Ashram, as it would amount to introducing them to my faith. Sensing my embarrassment, my brother-in-law asked if they could accompany us to Pondicherry. That was a great relief.

Our visit to the Ashram was not for any special occasion there such as Darshans. But it was special to my family, as Mother had permitted us to visit Sri Aurobindo’s Room on that day. Now-a-days Sri Aurobindo’s room is open to all visitors, but in those early days Mother Herself was giving permission to visit the Room. She used to permit only a few people and, that too, not on all days. That was why I could not stay behind postponing my visit.

My brother-in-law was a superintendent in the Regulated Market. He had been there for four years temporarily and was trying to take a permanent post in the government through the public service commission. He had applied for various jobs and he was selected for the cooperative department as an officer. When he received the order of appointment, he and his wife came to our place to give us the good news and make arrangements for his training period, etc. I was happy that on his fresh appointment he would add Mother’s Blessings to it, as he had volunteered to visit the Ashram.

At the Ashram the sadhak in charge of such arrangements asked us if my guests too would like to visit the Room. I considered this as a special Grace. They agreed and the sadhak extended us the kindness of securing special permission for our guests too at that last moment.

We visited the Room guided by an elderly sadhak who was with Sri Aurobindo for 30 years. The Room was full of peace and silence. His Presence was marked. Having taken us through the Room, the sadhak came out and explained in a soft voice the details, showed us the place where Mother and Sri Aurobindo used to give Darshan until 1950, the seat of Mother from which She had been giving Darshan after 1950, and how the visitors used to go to them one by one to receive their Blessings. Sri Aurobindo’s aura was so full of peace that even during a raging cyclone neither wind nor rain entered into his Room. Inside the Room was his chair, his bed with a tiger’s skin spread out on it, and several shelves with his books and papers. We returned home that night feeling elated with the peace of his Room.

The next morning while I was reading the newspaper, my brother-in-law drew my attention to a news item which said the government had raised the basic salary of the Market Committee Superintendents to Rs.200 from the present Rs.140. He was excited about the rise in salary and explained enthusiastically the steps the superintendents’ organisation took to represent to the government that the salary should be raised. He wound up saying, “It is all very exciting and good, but I am leaving the department. I am not going to benefit by this raise. In the Cooperative Department again I will start afresh at Rs.140.” He was disappointed that he could not share the benefit for which they had all worked for so long and so successfully.

For me the news item was another confirmation, perhaps the thousandth one, of Mother’s Grace that is showered on all, if only they come into contact with it consciously or unconsciously. I wished he had stayed in this department and enjoyed the higher scale. As he was a relative and the husband of my sister-in-law, I could not express all the thoughts that crossed my mind. The situation called from some restraint. He was younger to me and, therefore, I had some freedom of expression, but it had its own limit. He was not a devotee of Mother and did not understand Mother’s ways, nor did I feel free to share my full understanding of the situation, which might look like an imposition of my faith on him. I could only speak about the relative merits of the scales, departments and jobs.

He was alternately overjoyed at the new permanent job and frustrated at not being able to benefit by the new scale in the old job. During the conversation I asked whether he would not like to stay on in the old job and benefit by the higher scale. His cryptic reply was, “I would very much like to, but my probation there has not been completed and job confirmed.”

Later, when he was not at home, my sister-in-law referred to the subject in detail, expressing the same mixed sentiment of joy and disappointment. I sought a clarification from her for his cryptic statement that he was not confirmed in his old job. Her reply was more concise and explained, “He has not passed the account test.” I ventured to suggest that he could reappear and complete it. She said, “He took even the second attempt.”

Obviously he and she were very anxious to remain in the old job, now that there was a higher salary, but it was no longer possible. Being a touchy subject, I stopped all my conversation with them on this topic.

In private I spoke to my wife that, if he applied for an exemption, the department might grant it, and he could still complete the exam. Bang came the reply, “Through my uncle, who is a high officer in the department, that exemption was secured last year and that too was not helpful.” As my wife is very knowledgeable about Mother’s ways of life, I explained to her how this opportunity came from Mother’s Blessings and, if pursued, would certainly bear fruit, even if the case appeared to be hopeless. I told my wife that in certain extreme cases the department might grant an exemption a second time. As he has earned a reputation in the department for efficiency, he might still get that exemption.

He and his wife discussed with us arrangements for his family during his training, his stay at the training, and several other things before finally deciding on his profession and he left for his native village, leaving my sister-in-law with us.

My wife privately asked me not to be concerned about his job and his future prospects, etc., as it was a sensitive issue. She also heard from her sister that a second exemption too had been secured through some political influence. That too was in vain. My wife added that it seems there was another agriculture test also in arrears. What had so far been a riddle to me was now very obvious. There was not even a ghost of a chance for him to remain in the old department.

I mused, “Mother has given them unasked a blessing. For him to arrive at this new salary at the new job will take six years after training. Also he would lose the four years of service in the old department. Ten years of service in the government is no mean thing. Even a day matters. Mother who has given the new scale would also remove all further obstacles, if he only had faith and took the necessary effort fully. He does not understand it and I do not feel free anymore to approach this topic. But I don’t think this is the end of the matter. Let me await and see, without taking any further initiative from my side.”

Just then a man came to report how he had miraculously saved his six acres of crop, after losing all hope by praying to Mother.

In the afternoon my sister-in-law, who was engrossed in some needle work, put it aside and addressed me, "Do you have something to tell my husband about this new job? What would be your advice?” I explained my understanding briefly and emphatically said that he would steer clear of all the difficulties, if he only had faith and did his part.

A few days later he returned. He came to me and announced that he and his wife had decided to reject the new appointment and try his best to remain in the old job, completing his arrears. Obviously his wife had spoken to him prior to that. I was happy.

After he took this bold decision, life became different for him. Everywhere he went, life was supportive. There was a kind officer who gave another exemption. Someone took interest in him and helped him to prepare for the examination. Contrary to his previous life experience, wherever he went to get a work accomplished in this connection, he found an old classmate, a friend, a relative, etc. All went smoothly and he passed both the exams. He was confirmed in the old department on the new scale.

For a couple of years we did not meet. Again he came, this time alone, to tell me he had been transferred to Ramnad District. I wondered why a transfer to such distant place. He explained that he had been promoted and transferred. He was now promoted as the Secretary for a whole district, under whom all the superintendents worked. He said this was possible because the department was rapidly expanding, many new posts had been created, and he had ten years’ experience! Ordinarily this promotion was not his due for another six or seven years.

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