The Descent of the Blue

The Descent of the Blue

Dramatis personae

Act I, Scene 1

FIRST BAND OF THE GODS: The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the Truth, for sight.¹

SECOND BAND:

From the non-being to true being,

From death to Immortality.

So be it.²

(Their creation has compelled the primaeval parents to descend upon earth for the Divine Play and thus to terminate the earth’s ceaseless pangs.)

BRAHMA: It is I who create. None save I is the Infinite’s creative Power. Therefore, no equal have I.

VISHNU: It is I who uphold. I am His preserving Power. Hence, matchless am I.

SIVA: I am Rudra. I am His force of Destruction. Boundless also is my Compassion for the doleful earth. It is I who lead the earth and her children towards a new creation. Therefore, unique am I.

BRAHMA: Earth sows, Heaven reaps. Our supremacy amongst each other can be proved only on the earth, and there alone shall we be able to find which of our devotees are truly superior.

VISHNU: I am one with you in that.

SIVA: Needless to say, I shall accompany you. We are but the triune limbs of the Supreme. We exist simply because we must needs help Him in his Divine Play.

BRAHMA: Has the earth invoked our presence there? Without their mounting cry how can we descend?

VISHNU: I shall sow the seed of yearning in the heart of the mortals. With a heart full of devotion they will pray to us.

SIVA: Remember, the Asura with his hosts will not remain asleep. How can the earth hail our advent, she who has been under the octopus tentacles of the brooding Giant of Evil?

BRAHMA: We are fully aware. Mahadeva, you will be our Captain! It is you who will ruthlessly destroy the Adversary and found our victory on the aspiring soil.

(Behind the curtain a tremendous call and yearning.)

O, save the earth! O, save the creation! Do flood the earth with the sanctified waters of the Truth and cast the Falsehood down into the Chasm of Nothingness. Set the earth-life free from the roaring den of Death. Brahma, Vishnu, Siva! Deign to alight on this orphan earth where Ignorance reigns supreme. We yearn to see your divine Play on the sorrowful dust.

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OM anandamayi chaitanyamayi satyamayi parame

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THE INFINITE: I, too, on earth shall descend. My advent the East shall acclaim, thine the West.

THE MOTHER: My Grace shall give Immortality to earth. With me will I carry the flame of fire-pure Transformation.

THE INFINITE: I will found thy supernal Kingdom on the neglected earth.

Act I, Scene 2

What shall we mortals do? O, ours to meet

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KRISHNA DHAN: I cannot believe my ears! You sing surprisingly sweetly. They say you are “the Rose of Rangpur” and I know you to be a matchless woman. But I have never heard you sing.

SWARNALATA: Truth to tell, I am not inclined to music; at least, music is not my forte.

K.D.: Who was it singing then like an angel?

SWARNA: Ah! Don’t you know that alone anybody can sing?

K.D.: Not always. The singer in me, if any, wouldn’t sing, even if alone.

SWARNA: I believe you, too, would sing if you dreamt my dream.

K.D.: Dream! Do open your heart. Am I not your husband?

SWARNA: True, you are my confidant. But it’s not the proper moment to give away the secret. Let me see if my dream comes true.

K.D.: Swarna, you too! — You appear to be my eighth wonder.

SWARNA: That is a long story. It would be a Mahabharata if I told it. To be brief, I had a toy Krishna when I was a child. As I grew up, I was wont to pray to Sri Krishna in the evening when the earth sank into silence. My sole desire was to be the mother of the embodied Divine.

K.D.: We are too human for a divine dream. Kausalya, Devaki, Sachi — was there anyone on earth who suffered more than they? What a fanciful desire, indeed! What a lofty dream!

SWARNA: But you have not yet heard me out.

K.D.: Do say your say. I will keep it to myself. I give you my word of honour.

SWARNA: But do you know yourself? You are an atheist.

K.D.: Atheist! My father was a Hindu, so am I. I am a worshipper of Kali. My father’s mother is at Varanashi. A devotee of Lord Siva is she. Am I an atheist because I move in European society?

SWARNA: Let it be. My dream demands your heart’s encouraging, your true sympathy!

K.D.: Swarna, I empty my heart to you.

SWARNA: My prayer shall bear fruit before long. He, the Light of the world, is within me. (A bashful smile.)

K.D.: Is He? (A broad smile.)

(Enter a poor Muslim in hot haste.)

ABDUL: Babu, Babu! Cholera has broken out in our village. I am very, very poor. Two of my sons were snatched away to the other world last week. My youngest, my dearest, my last son threatens to go. I pray, do call at my hut. Your very presence shall cure my dying son.

K.D.: I shall try my best. My life on earth has no other aim but to protect the weak and help the needy. Those who wallow in wealth can call in eminent doctors. But my hand and bottle are for those whose friend is poverty itself. My work is to have money from the haves and contribute to the funds of the have-nots.

ABDUL: Babu, Babu! I can pay the flood of your sympathy only with my tears of delight.

(Exeunt K.D. Ghosh and Abdul.)

Act I, Scene 3

SECOND KUTHUMI: True, mind is unable to solve all problems. Dangers weave their meshes around the human souls. But who or what can make the impossible possible?

THIRD KUTHUMI: I know, I know. It is the pinnacled light of the Supermind which is utterly empty of all problems. It is a fount of harmony, of unity-in-multiplicity.

FOURTH KUTHUMI: The endless urge of the Supermind is to descend upon the earth and change her consciousness.

FIRST KUTHUMI: To serve the purpose God’s human birth is the supreme need.

SECOND KUTHUMI: Many a time He has descended on the earth across the centuries. But earth seems to have made no satisfactory progress. He comes and goes at His chosen times. Each and every time His Mission appears to be thwarted by the wilful ignorance of the earth. The wide hunger of Time devours all the spiritual wealth that He brings down. A ruthless oblivion lords it over the mortals.

THIRD KUTHUMI: It is victory and not defeat that is the first and last word of God. Soon the Infinite shall alight on the throbbing heart of the soil.

FOURTH KUTHUMI: When, why, how, where?

THIRD KUTHUMI: It is in India, it is in the land of the sages and the spiritual giants that He will see the light of day.

SECOND KUTHUMI: And what is expected from us?

Act I, Scene 4

RISHI: Swarna, Swarna! Take your seat right beside me. Swarna, I had a dream last night. To me that dream seems more vivid than reality itself.

SWARNA: Father, may I have a share?

RISHI: Certainly, my dream concerns you much. You all know that I have been a votary of the Nirakara Brahman for a couple of decades. But now no more. I saw Him... It is beyond my power of expression. My eyes swam in light and delight.

SWARNA: Who was it, Father?

RISHI: The Light of the world, Sri Krishna.

SWARNA: Where?

RISHI: My daughter, in you, in you and nowhere else. Since the small hours of the morning I have been a torrent of ecstasy. I have also seen the Gods bow down on their knees before Him, your coming son. Swarna, you are my matchless jewel.

Act I, Scene 5

The Birth of the Infinite

The golden dawn of the cosmos rapt in trance,

The seven worlds’ bliss converges in her heart

Slowly the Peak unmeasured of rapture-fire

His diamond vision’s deathless Will leans low

Suddenly life’s giant somnolence is stirred.

Declares, “I come to end your eyeless fear:

“No fleeting dreams your teeming births do trace:

In me the flood of Immortality!

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K.D.: No doubt, it will be a matter of great rejoicing if the dream of my wife comes true.

MANOMOHAN: How does her dream run?

K.D.: Friend, to me it is just a dream, a chimera’s mist, but to her it is a blazing truth.

MANOMOHAN: Krishnadhan, I wish to hear her dream and not your comment on it.

K.D.: Well, during her confinement she dreamt that it was Sri Krishna who would take human birth through her.

Act I, Scene 6

SWARNA: My child, are you the Lord of my dream? I have seen you time and again. Today my dream has donned the cloak of reality.

(Enter her father, Rishi Rajnarayan)

RISHI: Swarna, I have come to see my Beloved, the Lord of the Gods.

SWARNA: There you are, Father. (Swarnalata places the child on her father’s lap.)

RISHI (with a broad smile he lifts the child onto his head.): Ah! It is Aurobindo, it is a lotus, still in the bud.

SWARNA: Father, I see no wonder in his face. In my dream he was the Wonder of Wonders.

Act I, Scene 7

K.D.: I have a fine proposal, Swarna. I would like to call in an Englishman.

SWARNA: What for?

K.D.: To tutor Benoy and Mano in English.

SWARNA: And then...

K.D.: For Auro an English governess.

SWARNA: If my approval has any value then you have it hundred per cent.

K.D.: Something more...

SWARNA: What is it?

K.D.: Starting from to-day, indeed from to-day on, Bengali is not to be spoken in our house. English, only English. How I wish my children could speak in English, write in English, think in English and even dream in English! They must be Englishmen to the core. I shall soon send them to Darjeeling and place them in a convent school. A few years later, I shall take them to London. My sons must be among the brightest jewels in India’s crown.

SWARNA: An exquisite plan, indeed. But before that why not say that you want to send me to the land of Death? How dare you think that I can endure the absence of my sweet children? I will go mad.

K.D.: I knew it well that the mother in your heart is too strong. You are a typical Bengali woman. You want your sons to be helpless, mere babes in arms. Your pale, pathetic look pierces my heart. Swarna, your skin must not lose its colour because of worry. Do not be upset.

Act I, Scene 8

A VILLAGER: Sadhuji, please give me some religious knowledge.

SANNYASIN: All I can give you is a bit of advice. I am afraid, although my advice will reach your sceptic ears, you will never apply it in the practical field. (Some of the villagers burst into a peal of laughter.) My advice, you know? The world is an illusion. Have no link with it!

A MERCHANT: Be pleased to read my palm.

SANNYASIN: You, you wallow in the pleasure of wealth. Am I right?

MERCHANT: Absolutely perfect. But, Sadhuji, I have not seen the face of peace even for a fleeting second.

SANNYASIN: Ah, peace! Peace is not to take birth here in this world. It is the offspring of another world. This world is made of din, dust and dizzying demonstrations.

MANOMOHAN: Please run your eyes over my palm, and drop a few hints about my years to come.

SANNYASIN: Ah, a poet, a fine poet. This is what your future says.

MANOMOHAN (pointing at Auro): And how does the fate of my younger brother run?

SANNYASIN (looking ahead he meets Aurobindo’s curious eyes; but in the twinkling of an eye Auro, frightened, sprints off.): His future is at his command.

Now you are afraid of me, but a day will come when you will become a great Yogi.³

MANOMOHAN: Only a few days back Auro composed a beautiful poem on Kanchanjunga. The teachers have appreciated it greatly.

SANNYASIN: No wonder, he is not a common boy. He will be a great Yogi who has to play a great part on the world scene! Brahman! Brahman! O Lord of my breath, Thou art verily Thy unfathomable mystery.

Act II, Scene 1

MR. DREWETT: Good morning, Mr. Ghosh. Come, come, my young friends! (Looking at Mrs. Drewett) You were praying for a child. Now God brings you three in a row.

MRS. DREWETT: Thank God. Mr. Ghosh, I shall love them as if they were my own children. (Caressing Auro) I shall teach you English myself. I will not let you go to school at this tender age.

MR. DREWETT: I shall teach you Latin. I shall help you in every way. My young friend, I can brook no delay. Come, let us start our Latin lesson. Just repeat what I say.

Father - Pater

Mother - Mater

Brother - Frater

Sister - Soror

Son - Filius

Daughter - Filia

And now please repeat all the words by yourself.

(Auro’s answers are perfect.)

Wonderful, your memory is wonderful.

AURO: Sir, what is the Latin for “God” and “Goddess”?

Act II, Scene 2

HEADMASTER: A brilliant lad, this Indian! He is by far and away the best student in almost every subject. He is at home in English, French, Latin and Greek.

THE ENGLISH TEACHER: Our boys are hopelessly beaten by Aurobindo, an Indian. I have never come across such a student.

Act II, Scene 3

BENOY: At last I have secured a job in a club. Our starvation may end here.

MANO: Fortune dawns on us at last. But what is wrong with father? Why has he stopped sending money?

BENOY: My feeling is that father is not keeping in sound health. Alas, the moment I think of Auro my heart aches. He is only just out of his childhood.

MANO: Poor Auro, he has to learn the meaning of poverty at the very start of his life.

BENOY: For the last three months we have been unable to have a full meal. God knows how many days more we are to go on thus.

MANO: My poems bring in cheers, praises, appreciations but not a single penny. Such is my fate!

(Enter Auro.)

AURO: Here, a hundred shillings!

(Benoy and Mano jump up with astonishment.)

BENOY AND MANO: Where on earth did you get it?

Act II, Scene 4

MANO:

Augustest! Dearest! whom no thought can trace,

Mother! Like Heaven’s great face is thy sweet face,

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AURO: There is a letter from father. He gives a brief account of the atrocities of British rule in India. He has also sent a few cuttings from the Bengalee.

(Mano snatches away the letter and begins to read it aloud.)

AURO: We must pay the British back in their own coin.

MANO: Yes, by all means.

BENOY: What are you up to?

Act II, Scene 5

AUROBINDO: Good morning, Sir.

PRINCIPAL: Ah, at last you have come. Better late than never. I have sent for you three times.

AUROBINDO: Sorry, Sir, please excuse me.

PRINCIPAL: My dear boy, nothing wrong with you, I suppose? Now, I come to the point: your essay on Milton. I have never seen such a wonderful piece by an undergrad since I came over here. You have headed the list.

Act II, Scene 6

AUROBINDO: The British must no longer lord it over India. Come, let us mobilise ourselves to uproot their rule from the soil of our Motherland.

FIRST MEMBER: I have crossed seven seas and thirteen rivers just to appear in the I.C.S. If I listen to you I shall soon run into difficulties with the authorities, and, worse still, my life may be ruined.

AUROBINDO: I, too, shall sit for the I.C.S. But I shan’t serve the British Government.

SECOND MEMBER: To be sure, the freedom of India can never be won by us, for we are unimaginably weak. And if not, show us the way.

AUROBINDO: At the very outset we must make the people of India feel the unavoidable necessity of being a free country.

THIRD MEMBER: You mean revolution? Be sure, I affiliate myself with no such thing! You may call me a poltroon, if you like. I am not at all prepared to risk my life. (Places his hands on his chest.) It is the only one I have.

FOURTH MEMBER: I am absolutely at one with you. Who does not know the supreme truth that Non-violence is the greatest of all virtues? Circumstances will lead our dear Mother India to freedom if so is the Will of God. We are not to sacrifice our valuable lives, and again we are not to commit the ghastly sin of putting an end to English lives.

AUROBINDO (after heaving a sigh): Mine is a road absolutely different from yours. God guides my life to another goal.

FIFTH MEMBER: Where do you get so much inspiration from?

AUROBINDO: I do not really know. Just last night I had a terrible dream. I saw a demon drinking the blood from the very breast of an old woman. We all went in hot haste to her rescue. To our joy we saved her life. But some of us were removed to the other world by that demon. I was just pondering who that woman was. Soon I heard a voice, so vivid, so pathetic! “I am your Bharatmata.” And there ends my dream. From to-day the sole aim of my life is to make India as free as a bird in the sky.

SIXTH MEMBER: There is a secret society here at Cambridge named “Lotus and Dagger.” Would you like to be a member of it?

AUROBINDO: Certainly, most gladly. With all my heart I shall serve the society.

SIXTH MEMBER: Then one day I shall take you there.

Act II, Scene 7

JAMES COTTON: Good morning, Sir. Here is my young friend Mr. Ghosh. A brilliant student from Cambridge.

AUROBINDO: Good morning, Sir.

GAEKWAR: Good morning. I have heard much about you from Mr. Cotton. I would be highly pleased if you accompanied me to India. I am sure you will stand very high in the estimation of our countrymen.

Act II, Scene 8

BHARATMATA: My son, I am come at last. India demands your express arrival. For you will awake the slumbering nation. Darkness has begun to thicken in front of me. It will serve no use to lengthen my story by fruitless emotional gestures. Make me free, make me free, my son.

AUROBINDO: Mother, I offer my heart and soul to abide by your high command. No more shall you utter the wail of misery. I shall turn the wind of Swadesh into a gigantic tornado.

BHARATMATA: I am so happy, I am so happy, my son, for your face shows a thunder-willed determination.

(Enter the presiding deity of Britain.)

DEITY: My son, I have brought you up for the last fourteen years with kindly love and affection. Have I no claim?

AUROBINDO: Certainly, you do have. But our India must have freedom to save all humanity from peril. In the years to come, India and Britain will cherish a unique amity. No futile wrangling — the flood of peace shall inundate both countries.

DEITY: My sole request to you is that you will not do away with my language and literature. Nothing more, nothing less I ask of you.

AUROBINDO: To you I am immensely indebted. My pen shall ever serve your language and thus I shall as well serve you.

(Enter the World-Mother on tip-toe. She looks intently into his face.)

MOTHER: Do you recognise me?

AUROBINDO: I have seen you time and again in the world of dream. But shall we ever meet in the physical world?

Act III, Scene 1

MENDICANT:

Mother, Mother, Mother Kali!

I know not how to sing of Thee.

Thine Eyes are fire, Thy Heart is love.

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(Enter a messenger with a telegram)

MESSENGER: Sir, a wire for you.

K.D.: At last! Maybe it’s from Auro.

(On opening the message he falls to the ground. His soul turns the keen vibration of its pain to an inner music.)

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Within my finite breast.

The all-transforming Crest!

Alas! To feed my longings high, no more

The sombre night envelops my mortal sheath.

Now cruel fate has torn my vision’s Rose.

To see your golden face, to be with you

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Act III, Scene 2

THE RISHI: I set in front Fire, the messenger, and speak to the carrier of the offerings; may he bring to their session here the gods.⁴

(Enter Auro and his maternal uncle Jogendra.)

JOGENDRA: Father, look, here is Auro.

(The Rishi springs to his feet and hugs Auro warmly to his breast before the grandson can bend his head down. The Rishi knew well that his Auro was no ordinary human being but Sri Krishna in human form. A deep silence seems to vibrate with their hearts’ exchanges.)

THE RISHI: Jogen, call Swarna quick. Where is she? Swarna, Swarna! (Half-choked in joy he calls out to his daughter at the top of his voice.)

AURO: Dadu, I'm afraid I can recall nothing that I had seen and heard before I left India. Things now appear to be refreshing, inspiring, enlightening. As I stepped on India’s soil, at Apollo Bunder, Bombay, I felt drowned as if in a sea of peace.

THE RISHI: Oh, it’s significant, deeply significant. It is a signal. Mother India wants you to be her own, for her work, for her soul’s work. It was her soul’s embrace to her chosen child.

(Enter Swarnalata with two of her women friends.)

SWARNA (after scanning Auro’s face for a few seconds): No, Father, not at all. This youth doesn’t take after my child Auro. In England I left him quite young on earth. How could he grow such a big moustache! My son can never grow so big. No, you can never be my son. He had more grace in his face. Impossible, impossible. Father, I'm not such a fool as you take me to be. Oh, now, now!

(Exit Swarnalata in utter delusion. A chorus of laughter by Jogendra and the two women. Silent, amazed, Auro looks on.)

THE RISHI: Auro, your mother is off her head and so am I. Like father like daughter.

AURO: If my mother is queer in her brain then I, too... There’s no other possibility.

(Enter Swarnalata.)

SWARNA: I remember well that my Auro had a cut on one of his fingers. Let me see if you have the mark.

AURO (shooting a glance half-afraid at his mother’s face and showing his finger): Here it is, mother, here’s the mark.

SWARNA: My Auro, my Auro! You are my son Auro. Father, he is my son Auro. Truly, he is the Krishna of my dream. (Overwhelmed with joy she places her right palm on her son’s devoted head.) Now I am more than right that you are my son Auro.

AURO: Dadu, goodness gracious! At last my mother has to say, “Eureka, Eureka!”

Act III, Scene 3

AURO: I simply don’t know how man can go on doing anything against his inner preference for long. My nature revolts at the Administrative Service. The work I am doing is not at all congenial to me. I shall ask the Gaekwar to shift me to his College.

(Enter a peon and hands Aurobindo a letter.)

PEON: Sir, His Highness the Gaekwar requests the favour of your company at lunch and he seeks for your advice to settle a serious matter.

AURO: I see. Thank you.

(Enter Dinendra Kumar Roy.)

AURO: Dinen Babu, His Highness has asked me to lunch. So I have to miss your company to-day.

DINENDRA: It is so kind of the Gaekwar. But isn’t it time for you to be there?

Act III, Scene 4

DINENDRA: A telegram for you.

AUROBINDO (after reading it): Ramesh Babu — Ramesh Chandra Dutta — arrives to-morrow from Bengal. We must make all necessary arrangements for him.

DINENDRA: Keshta! Keshta!

(Enter Keshta.)

KESHTA: Babu, Babu.

DINENDRA: To-morrow a very, very great man comes from Bengal. So your cooking must be especially fine.

KESHTA: Easily done, Sir. But one thing. We have run short of spices and ghee.

Act III, Scene 5

AUROBINDO: I declare a prize in an Essay-cum-Debate Competition on “Japan and the Japanese.”

(K.M. Munshi, a student, stands up.)

MUNSHI: Sir, how can nationalism be developed?⁵

AUROBINDO (pointing to a wall-map of India): Look at that map. Learn to find in it the portrait of Bharatmata. The cities, mountains, rivers and forests are the materials which go to make up Her body. The people inhabiting the country are the cells which go to make up Her living tissues. Our literature is Her memory and speech. The spirit of Her culture is Her soul. The happiness and freedom of Her children is Her salvation. Behold Bharat as a living Mother, meditate upon Her and worship Her in the nine-fold way of bhakti.

MUNSHI: Sir, how can I meditate upon the Mother?

AUROBINDO: Just go through the works of Swami Vivekananda, and you will be able to meditate upon the Mother.

Act III, Scene 6

RAMESH: Mr. Ghosh, does your cook serve you with such dishes daily?

AUROBINDO: No, no. These are special dishes for you.

DINENDRA: Good Heavens! Special dishes, indeed! (Looks daggers at Keshta.) Keshta, how incorrigible you are! You have spoilt everything. Your very sight is repugnant to me. Barmecide covers were better far than your concoction. What a burning sensation from mouth to gullet!

KESHTA: Sir, excuse me this time. I am extremely sorry. I shall be very, very careful next time.

DINENDRA: And where is your ghee? You have given us so much water for our bath, you fool!

AUROBINDO: How is it that I was quite unaware of all this? I wonder how I could eat without feeling anything!

(Dinendra and Ramesh burst into laughter.)

DINENDRA: Aurobindo, my young friend, you do not belong to this earth. You remain in your own world.

KESHTA (looking at Dinendra Kumar): Sir, next time I shall prepare a grand dish.

AUROBINDO (with a compassionate look): Keshta, it will be quite nice of you if you can.

Act III, Scene 7

CHARU: Chief, to our great good luck we have you with us to-day. This time I have something to confide to you. I have read your Bhavani Mandir. It has moved me to my depths. I have decided to give myself to the service of your great Ideal.

AURO: Very glad, godspeed.

SUBODH: We intend to open a National College in Bengal with you as the Head.

AURO: Believe me, I must go to Bengal if you sincerely want me there.

SUBODH: We hesitate to offer you a remuneration far beneath your notice. Still, poor Bengal would have a princely youth like you for the post.

AURO: My friend, to be able to serve the Mother is itself a high honour for any one.

SUBODH: Your sacrifice has ennobled your country. Your sacrifice will win her freedom.

LILAVATI: Ah, stop, Subodh. (Turning to Aurobindo and handing him a little saloon rifle.) Come, Ghosh Saheb, take a hand.⁶

AURO (hesitatingly): Sorry, Lilavati. I have never touched a gun. I know nothing about shooting.

(At repeated requests of Lilavati, Charu and Subodh, he takes the rifle. Charu explains to him the technique of aiming over a V-sight.)

AURO: No, Charu is too hasty. Lilavati, you stand by me.

(Aurobindo starts firing at the head of a match stick about twelve feet away from him. He repeats it several times, every time with success.)

LILAVATI: Ghosh Saheb, wonderful, unbelievable. You have mastered the art of shooting in a trice.

CHARU: If realisation in Yoga does not come to such a man, will it come to bunglers like you and me?

Act IV, Scene 1

MAHARAJA: Arvind Babu, now we are on the top of the hill. We have ascended a thousand feet above the level of the valley of Kashmir. As we climbed higher and higher I felt as if a screen were slowly lifting up and revealing the splendid beauty of Kashmir. It seems you, too, are thrilled all over by the scenery of this place.

AURO: My feeling is at once overwhelming and inexpressible.

MAHARAJA: What is it? I must hear it from you, I must. (He comes closer to Aurobindo.)

AURO: I made no effort, yet I have had an experience of something so vivid, so astonishing.

MAHARAJA: Do confide it to me, my young friend!

AURO: It is the vacant Infinite! It cannot be described in words. I am sure this experience will leave an abiding impression upon my mind.

MAHARAJA: How wonderful you are! You have spiritual experiences while I merely enjoy the beauty of the scenery. By the bye, do you know the funny story about the Hill?

AURO: No. I would like to hear it.

MAHARAJA: The story is that during his itinerant life the great Vedantin, Shankaracharya, with some of his disciples paid a visit to Kashmir. For some time they made their stay on this hill, and it was at this instance that this temple of Shiva was first set up. Hence this hill has been known as Shankaracharya Hill.

AURO: Now what about the funny portion?

MAHARAJA: Ah, have patience, I am coming to the point. I have told you that Shankara came over here with his disciples. Soon they ran short of provisions. But nobody from the neighbouring villages turned up to offer hospitality to them. It was after some days that a few pundits came to meet them. The disciples of Shankara flew into a rage. They said to the pundits: “Are you not ashamed of your indifference? Are you so ignorant of the Shastric injunctions on hospitality to guests? Did you care to know that we have been without food for some days?” The pundits did not hesitate to defend themselves and asked: “How on earth could you expect us to know this?” Then they turned to Shankara and said that if he had any spiritual power he could have easily fed his disciples. Thereupon Shankara said: “I don’t believe in Shakti. The world is an Illusion.” The pundits cried out: “No, never, the world is real. It is Reality itself. The world is neither illusion nor hallucination.”

AURO: The pundits are right, absolutely right.

MAHARAJA: Ah, but let me complete the story. I have come to the end. The miracle begins. One of the pundits invoked a goddess by chanting some mantras and placed his right palm on the ground. Lo, jets of water began springing up from below the very spot. Poor Shankara had to admit the existence of Shakti.

AURO: I fully believe in the power of such mantras.

Act IV, Scene 2

> Dearest Mrinalini,

MRINALINI (saying to herself): I fully agree with you, my Lord. I am sure your efforts will be crowned with success.

(She continues reading.)

> ... it is my firm faith that whatever virtue, talent, higher education and knowledge and wealth which God has given me belongs to Him.

MRINALINI: O Merciful God, Thy Grace knows no bounds. I bow to Thee with all my heart and soul for giving me a husband who has no equal on earth.

(She continues reading.)

> ... I know I have the strength to uplift this fallen race; it is not physical strength, I am not going to fight with the sword or with the gun, but with the power of knowledge. The power of the warrior is not the only kind of force, there is also the power of the Brahman which is founded on knowledge. This is not a new feeling within me, it is not of a recent origin, I was born with it, it is in my marrow, God sent me to the earth to accomplish this great mission.

(She is thrilled with joy and jumps up.)

MRINALINI: I know, I know, you are not an ordinary human being. You are a Godlike man. Your great mission must succeed.

(She goes on.)

> ... You should always offer to Him this prayer: “May I not come in the way of my husband’s life and his ideals and his path to God-realisation; may I become his helper and his instrument.” Will you do it?

Act IV, Scene 3

NIVEDITA: Maharaja, I am driven by necessity to ask for your help.

MAHARAJA: Yes, I am at your service, if possible.

NIVEDITA: I strongly feel that the revolutionary movement will be considerably more effective if you lend your powerful active support to it.

MAHARAJA: My help! Good Heavens! I am sure I am of no use to the movement. The spirit of Revolution is lacking in me. But that does not mean that I don’t want freedom. Nivedita, you are the spiritual daughter of Swami Vivekananda. You are surcharged with his indomitable Will. India is proud to have you.

NIVEDITA: I pray, Maharaja, do not laud me to the skies. It is my Master’s Will that has brought me to India, the country of my heart and soul. What I have done for India is nothing and what I may do may count for nothing. That I have been able to dedicate my life, my everything, to serve our Bharatmata is a source of great joy to me.

MAHARAJA: Nivedita, Swamiji’s Nivedita! Truly you are Nivedita, the offering, to the whole country. Now, you want my help in your revolutionary work. Please give me some time to make up my mind. I should like to discuss the matter with Arvind Babu.

NIVEDITA: You mean Aurobindo. I am sure he will press you to join and help the revolutionary movement. He himself will plunge before long into the vortex of the Indian National Independence Movement and stand in the forefront of the struggle.

Act IV, Scene 4

AURO: Who is there?

BARIN: Sejda, it’s I, Barin.

AURO: O my goodness, how is it that you are in this state? Go into the bathroom and wash up.

BARIN: Sejda, I have come...

AURO: Ah, you are so impossible. Go straight into the bathroom. I shall listen to you afterwards.

(Exit Barin. Sri Aurobindo sits up on the cot. Enter Sarojini, his sister.)

SARO: Sejda, Bari is come. Has he met you? Where is he gone?

AURO: He is in the bathroom.

SARO: Bari is very spirited. I am sure he will do much for the country. But, Sejda, he is not at all sweet towards me in his conduct.

AURO: But I am sweet to you. Am I not?

SARO: I know, it is useless to tell you anything against anybody. You simply take it very lightly. And you never realise your indifference cuts me to the quick.

(Enter Barin, clean and tidy.)

AURO: Bari, Saro has a severe complaint against you.

BARIN: Didi’s complaint! Has she anyone on earth whom she loves more than me?

SARO: Very clever you are. Truth to tell, I hate you for your rude behaviour.

BARIN: Didi, you may hate Sj. Barinda Kumar Ghosh. But to hate your youngest brother Bari is beyond you. Sejda, do you believe that she looks down upon me?

AURO: I can’t think so. Saro, I am sorry that you have lost to Bari. And, I believe your surrender will be complete if you give him a cup of tea and a hot cake.

(Enter Mrinalini Devi with tea and sweets.)

SARO (in excitement): Ah, Baudi, you have come to my rescue. These two brothers are simply torturing me.

(Mrinalini Devi gives a smile.)

BARIN: Now, Didi, allow me to have a serious talk with Sejda.

SARO: Who forbids you? But, mind you, neither Baudi nor I am going to leave the room.

BARIN: No harm. Sejda, it is you who have infused into me the revolutionary spirit. Now you must tell me how to begin the revolutionary work. I can brook no delay.

Act IV, Scene 5

BARIN: Thakur, Thakur, through your infinite kindness you have appeared before us. Please tell us whether our freedom movement will be a success or not.

(The spirit of Ramakrishna remains silent.)

BARIN: Thakur, pray give us your advice. We shall obey you.

(Ramakrishna continues silent.)

BARIN: It seems you are displeased with us. We are helpless, blind human beings. Show us the way to fulfil our ideal.

(The Planchette writes out the sentence: Mandir gado, mandir gado [Make temples, make temples]. The spirit disappears.)

BARIN: Sejda, Ramakrishna has at last said, Mandir gado, mandir gado. What does it signify?

AURO: I believe Ramakrishna Paramahansa wishes us to establish temples in our hearts.

BARIN: What for?

Act IV, Scene 6

BARIN: Sejda, to-day you must tell me when I should begin my revolutionary work.

AURO: Bari, to-morrow you may start for Calcutta. You will help Jatin Banerjee there in his work. I have asked him to work among the grown-ups and the educated. You and Abinash Bhattacharya will work amongst students.

BARIN: Sejda, if there be any disagreement between Jatin and me...

AURO: No, Bari, you must never think of that disheartening thing. I am there behind you all. Don’t fear. I, too, will be coming to join you all.

Act IV, Scene 7

FRIEND: Patkar, at times I see you visit our Professor Arvind Ghosh’s place. I take it he has great affection for you.

PATKAR: As if he only has affection for me and I have none for him!

FRIEND: Who says that you have none? Affection you have; in addition, you have great admiration for him.

PATKAR: My dear friend, you are right. I am all admiration for him!

FRIEND: Patkar, pray tell me something about the Professor.

PATKAR: It does my heart good to tell people about his high qualities. I will tell you of an incident that actually took place yesterday. I was at his place. He was deeply absorbed in his studies. A large sum of money was kept in a tray on his table. So I could not help asking him why he had kept his money like that. The Professor said, “Well, it is a proof that we are living in the midst of honest and good people.” “But you never keep an account which may testify to the honesty of the people around you?” I asked him. With a smiling face he said, “It is God who keeps account for me. He gives me as much as I want and keeps the rest to Himself. At any rate He does not keep me in want, then why should I worry?” Could you conceive such living faith in God and in His constant presence? To my sorrow, he leaves for Bengal shortly, and is not expected to return.

FRIEND: Really?

PATKAR: Now that the Partition of Bengal has taken place he feels her call and goes to her rescue. He will certainly light a fire in the minds of the youths of Bengal and change the situation. We have seen the stuff he is made of, a hidden fire! Don’t you think so?

Act V, Scene 1

MOTHER BENGAL: My child, you come to me in my moment of utter distress. Look at my state. How long will you suffer me in this way to grovel in the dust?

AURO: Mother, look into my bleeding heart. The stab in your heart is a stab in the heart of every one of us, your children. We are determined to let you, our mighty Mother, no longer lie prostrate and dismembered. Our first task will be to restore you to your full stature, whole and strong, and at the same time to launch a supreme effort to free you for ever from your thraldom. The fire that we shall kindle here will spread all over the world. For the moment our love for you will be the love of fire; there will be a fire everywhere till the black forces ranged against our Bharat Mata are a heap of ashes, and her benign face shines with the light of liberty. We stand vowed to do or be vanquished. If our efforts are crowned with success, then only shall we begin our second task — the task of the spiritual liberation of our sisters and brothers at home and abroad. Rest assured, we shall look to your great need first. Nothing will see us swerve an inch from our path. Bless us, O Mother.

Act V, Scene 2

P. MITTER: Aurobindo Babu, Barin and Jatin did their best to organise the youths. But of late there has been a sharp difference of opinion between them. Barin differs from Jatin’s principle of military discipline with regard to the youths who, he says, will do better through love and sympathy than under subjection to a military regime. He fears that strict discipline may scare away the tender ones. Jatin insists on military discipline as essential to an effective basis for our organisation. Until the two views are harmonised, there will be no progress in the work. It is now yours to do the needful.

AURO: Both of them are right, each from his own point of view. (Looking at Jatin) You and Barin have sacrificed so much for the Mother. The spirit of sacrifice and self-accommodation must govern your actions. First of all, let there be love and sympathy in dealing with the new recruits. Then let them be inspired by love of the country to sacrifice their life. Once this love has taken firm root in their youthful hearts you have to introduce military training and discipline to make of them strong, obedient instruments. Jatin, certainly you can co-operate with Barin and Barin with you through the next necessary stages. Don’t you agree to this?

Act V, Scene 3

STUDENT: Sir, may I ask you a question not relevant to our lesson?

AURO: Yes, you may. No harm.

STUDENT: Sir, we feel inspired when you speak of India’s renaissance. But when we turn to her drawbacks our whole outlook is obscured by doubt.

AURO: Well, my boy, do you believe with me that the spirit of nationalism that is now stirring the hearts and souls of our countrymen is a gift of the Divine? Do you believe that the Divine Himself is our Leader?

THE CLASS IN A BODY: Yes, Sir, we do.

Act V, Scene 4

STUDENT: Sir, to-day we would like to hear from you something about your younger brother Aurobindo.

MANO (placing his right hand on his chest): Alas, what about my poor self?

STUDENTS IN A CHORUS: Aurobindo Ghosh’s life is a life of stupendous sacrifice.

MANO: As if mine were a life of sheer enjoyment! Do you ever care to know that once upon a time I walked in step with Laurence Binyon and Oscar Wilde? It will be a big surprise to you if I say that I was on the way to being a great poet. Now it is all a dream to me. I came over to India to offer my poetic inspiration to her. Strangely enough, she has not recognised it.

STUDENTS: But we, your students, have recognised your poetic inspiration.

MANO: Have you? Then I am prepared to say something about my younger brother Aurobindo! You know, he is fully responsible for the failure of my career. He is a bar to my success. The Government fail to swallow his fiery speeches. My only crime is that I, too, came of the same parents. They might be thinking that my room, too, is not free of bombs and ammunitions!

(The students burst into hilarious laughter.)

STUDENTS: Sir, pray, tell us something in favour of Aurobindo Ghosh.

MANO: Well, my boys, truth is a very sacred thing. I do not use it so often as you people do.

STUDENTS: But why?

MANO: The reason is so simple. The more you use it the sooner it gets spoilt.

STUDENTS: For our sake, for your beloved students’ sake use it at once.

Act V, Scene 5

RASH BEHARI: Aurobindo Babu, please do not take me amiss. We admit that Nationalism is an invaluable thing. But to preach it in the College, we believe, is not advisable. You always insist on admitting the boys who have been rusticated from Government institutions on political grounds. You say that they are just the sort of stuff that you want for this College. Moreover, it is not safe at all. The Government have already started looking upon our College with an eye of suspicion.

AURO (after heaving a deep sigh): I think our College must have an ideal of its own. Will you be pleased if it follows other Colleges in toto?

GURUDAS: Not at all. But the thing is, if the students pay more attention to politics and nationalism than to their studies, then their studies will go to the dogs.

AURO: I don’t think politics and nationalism stand as a bar to their mental culture. One has to adore one’s Motherland first. Mere mental information is of no use. I believe that one who has no love for his country is no better than a learned fool, although one may be rich in mental attainments.

GURUDAS: I must say, you are quite ahead of our age. Nationalism, politics and mental culture — these three cannot go together.

AURO: I am sorry, I fail to share your views. The name of our College is Bengal National College. Will it not be a negation of the raison d’être of the College if it keeps clear of Nationalism?

Act V, Scene 6

AUROBINDO: I have been told that you wish me to speak a few words of advice to you. But in these days I feel that young men can very often give better advice than we older people can give.⁷

(One of the students stands up.)

STUDENT: Excuse me, Sir. If so, they speak of inspiration received from outstanding leaders like you. (Cheers.)

AURO: When we established this college and left other occupations, other chances of life, to devote our lives to this institution, we did so because we hoped to see in it the foundation, the nucleus of a nation, of the new India which is to begin its career after this night of sorrow and trouble, on that day of glory and greatness when India will work for the world. (Thunderous applause) ... When I come back I wish to see some of you becoming rich, rich not for yourselves but that you may enrich the Mother with your riches. I wish to see some of you becoming great, great not for your own sakes, not that you may satisfy your own vanity, but great for her, to make India great, to enable her to stand up with head erect among the nations of the earth, as she did in days of yore when the world looked up to her for light. Even those who will remain poor and obscure, I want to see their very poverty and obscurity devoted to the Motherland ... Work that she may prosper. Suffer that she may rejoice.

(Repeated cries of Bande Mataram. In reply one of the students stands up.)

STUDENT (with a choked voice): Words cannot express our feelings. The brilliant future of our country you have called up before our minds has impressed itself upon our hearts. We feel, too, that it can be realised by us if we have a leader of your stature to guide us. We give you our soul’s word that we will follow you, your noble ideal, your noble sacrifice.

(Loud cries of Bande Mataram.)

Act V, Scene 7

PAL: Aurobindo Babu, I have come to you with a special request. I know, you won’t say nay, nor am I going to take nay from you. The Bande Mataram has now become much too big a burden for me to carry single-handed. I need your personal help as Assistant Editor. It must cope successfully with the rapid growth of the Nationalist movement. I could think of no better person to take up the job than you. Besides, I have every hope that from your powerful pen it will go on producing the needed type of food the country requires from day to day. Now tell me “yes”.

AURO: Thank you for your confidence in me, Mr. Pal. I agree to take up this work provided I have a free hand in the matter.

PAL: Assuredly you will have everything entirely your own way. It’s no business venture. There is no clash of ideals in the Party. So there is no question of interference with your work.

AURO: Thanks again, Mr. Pal.

PAL: Now that the Bande Mataram has your magic pen, I am sure India will no longer remain a slumbering Nation.

AURO: And your trumpet voice will remain hushed? Your ceaseless stream of eloquence runs direct from your heart to inspire and conquer the hearts of our countrymen.

PAL: Ah, pray, do not extol me to the skies. My voice, you may at best compare it with a sword. But who can ever deny that the pen is mightier than the sword?

AURO: If I have extolled you to the skies, to what super-skiey ether would you be said to have extolled me?

PAL: Now, Aurobindo Babu, I expect you to join hands with me at once. The rising tide of Nationalism must suffer no stemming because of any failure on our part to rise to the situation as it develops, henceforth perhaps from moment to moment.

AURO: His work will be done by Him. We are mere instruments. But as instruments, we must be ready, too.

PAL: I fully agree. May Mother India bless you. Good-bye. Let us meet this evening at the Bande Mataram Office.

AURO: Very well.

Act V, Scene 8

BHUPEN: You know I have been accused of sedition for two articles in the Sandhya. But I wish to offer defence in court.

AURO: Defence! You, Bhupendra Nath Dutt, brother of the indomitable Narendra Nath Dutt, will offer defence! No, never shall you do so.

BHUPEN: But why? May I know the cause of your objection?

AURO: It is very simple. Bhupen, it does not become you, a fiery revolutionary, to recognise an alien court. You must always be ready to meet prosecution with absolute indifference. You must accept all punishments in utter silence as a matter of course with erect head and dauntless heart. This is the spirit with which you must be surcharged to drive away the British from India.

BHUPEN: I am now convinced, Chief. And I consider myself to be a thing of some worth, for it is from you that I have taken oath of the revolutionary movement. I am ever at your service.

AURO: Bhupen, be sure, India cannot perish. Ours is a race that can by no means become extinct. In us is the abode of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion. A day shall come when this Religion of ours will be the future Religion of the entire world. Our high mission is to purge barbarism out of humanity and to Aryanise the world. To this end India must recognise herself first. This is the peerless work. To initiate this work Sri Ramakrishna came into the world. His dearest disciple, Naren, walked through fire and water to preach it all over the world.

BHUPEN: I needs must remain beholden to God at least for one thing.

AURO (bursting into laughter): That’s fine. You are not much indebted to God. Only for one thing... And what is it?

BHUPEN: It is this, that God had not sent his representatives — Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Aurobindo — at one and the same time. Ramakrishna played his divine role in secret and left the earth. Now, Chief, you have come on the scene. I am sure you, too, will meet with tremendous success. If God had sent all the three at a time, undoubtedly I would have been a terrible loser.

AURO: How do you mean?

Act VI, Scene 1

BARIN: Nolini, will you please go to Sejda’s place to bring him here? He told me that he will come here to see our activities.

NOLINI (pride and delight brighten up his face.): I, I to bring him?

BARIN: Yes, you go. You know, he is at the residence of Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick.

NOLINI: Yes, Barinda, I'm off.

(Exit Nolini.)

BARIN (turning to the revolutionaries): So, Sejda is coming to-day. I hope he will be pleased with our revolutionary activities.

Act VI, Scene 2

AUROBINDO: Who are you, please? Where do you come from?

NOLINI: Barinda has sent me to take you to our garden.

AUROBINDO: Tell Barin that I have not yet had my lunch. So it is not possible for me to go there to-day. I shall go some other day.

Act VI, Scene 3

SHYAM SUNDAR: It seems to me that the more the writings of Aurobindo Babu are coming out in the Bande Mataram, the faster is India progressing towards the goal of her freedom.

HEMENDRA PRASAD: My friend, it is a pity that only a limited circle knows who is behind the great ideal of the Boycott movement, Passive Resistance and National Education. Aurobindo doesn’t care a straw for fame. He is all for action.

(A big procession passes by the side of the Bande Mataram Office. The self-dedicated volunteers send up to the skies their inspiring cry of Bande Mataram. Song after song is sung, filling the atmosphere with fervent love of the country.)

Act VI, Scene 4

SUREN BANERJEE: I propose Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh to the chair.

TILAK (getting up): I propose Lala Lajpat Rai to the chair.

THE MODERATES (addressing Tilak): Sit down, please sit down.

THE NATIONALISTS: How dare you, you fellows? One more shout at our Tilak Maharaj and you get the lesson of your life.

THE MODERATES: Don’t yell. Your force is in your throat; ours in our arms.

(Chairs and tables are hurled about by the Moderates. The Nationalists, too, hit them back. Amid a great uproar there starts an exchange of blows.)

TILAK: I declare the Congress closed.

THE MODERATES: Shut up, you deliberate breaker of the Congress.

(One could read on the self-composed face of Sri Aurobindo his poignant thought.)

AUROBINDO: Alas, is this the India of my dream?

Act VI, Scene 5

TILAK: So, Aurobindo Babu, they dub me the deliberate breaker of the Congress.

AUROBINDO: How could you expect anything better from such fools? Would they ever care to know that to no one else is the catastrophe so great a blow as to your patriotic heart? You are absolutely right in disliking the do-nothingness of that assembly. That you valued it both as a great national fact and for its unrealised possibilities and hoped to make of it a central organisation for practical work is a matter of great joy to me. I am sure you will be remembered by all “so long as our Motherland has pride in its past and hope for its future.”

Act VI, Scene 6

AUROBINDO: I need your help in my sadhana.

LELE: I see in you a jnani-bhakta — a rare blessing. But why are you so weighted with thoughts?

AUROBINDO: Wave after wave of thought. How difficult it is to escape their onrush!

LELE: But I always take you to be an exception. Come, let us sit down on the floor.

(They sit down.)

LELE: Sit in meditation, but do not think, look only at your mind; you will see thoughts coming into it; before they can enter throw these away from your mind till your mind is capable of entire silence.

AUROBINDO: Let me try.

(He accepts Lele’s statement with absolute faith and follows his instructions to the letter. He begins to meditate. After one day all thought ceases. Three days, during which a little food is taken mechanically from a plate, pass by. There is the full realisation of Nirvana. Lele communicates again with Aurobindo on the third day.)

LELE: Wonderful! What I wanted from you, you have done within three days. It took me six long years to still my mind. And, even so, what you have achieved seems something much vaster than I had expected. I cannot quite fathom that look on your face...

Act VI, Scene 7

AUROBINDO: I see the whole busy movement of Bombay as a picture in a cinema-show, all unreal and shadowy. The entire material world is quite unsubstantial, void. Ever since I had the experience of the vacant state of Nirvana the silent Infinite alone has become real to me.

(Enter Lele.)

AUROBINDO (with a bowed head): Quite a success. I made a perfect void of my mind and followed your instructions to the letter after my Namaskar to the audience. Soon a voice from within me started speaking. Immediately there were thundering cheers.

LELE: Arvind, I was fully aware of it. Your inner Guide spoke through you.

AUROBINDO: Quite so, Lele Maharaj. Before I received your assurance I was in great anxiety. Not even one useful thought flashed across my mind. How could I constructively address a big gathering? But it all turned out wonderfully well. Lele Maharaj, you may read my heart and see how grateful I am to you.

Act VI, Scene 8

AUROBINDO: Can you do one thing for me?

SUDHIR: Certainly. Please tell me what.

AUROBINDO: Take this note to Sundari Mohan Das. Just read it.

SUDHIR (reads aloud): “The bearer is my friend, Sudhir. Kindly give him your opinion by word or in writing.” (Turning towards Aurobindo.) I am not your equal. How on earth could I ever be called your friend? In learning, in intelligence and in age, in what respect am I your equal?

AUROBINDO: Why can’t you be my friend? You love the country, so do I. Our ideal is one. So we are friends.

Act VI, Scene 9

BARIN: All’s over. No hope left.

(Any form of cremation, burial or covering up the body is quite out of the question.)

BARIN: The first casualty in our first battle. Let it remain as it is. Our next step is our immediate return.

(Young Nolini’s grief breaks the silence.)

NOLINI: Five we came. Four we go.

Act VII, Scene 1

SAROJINI (waking up Aurobindo): Sejda, Sejda! Police! Police!

(Aurobindo gets up. Enter Police Superintendent Creagan and party.)

CREAGAN: Are you Mr. Aurobindo Ghosh?

AUROBINDO: Yes.

CREAGAN (pointing to the police): Handcuff and tie him up, ransack the whole house. (Turning to Aurobindo.) They say you are a B.A. Is it not beneath your dignity to sleep in such a small, unfurnished room?

AUROBINDO: I am poor, and live a poor life.

CREAGAN (at the top of his voice): Then to become rich you have done all this? Now take the consequences. (To the police.) Wait, I'm coming back.

(Exit Creagan.)

AUROBINDO (to himself): Poor obtuse Englishman, how can you appreciate the values of self-imposed poverty and of self-dedication to the cause of one’s Motherland?

(Enter Krishna Kumar Mitra, Editor of Sanjibani, uncle of Aurobindo, and solicitor Bhupen Bose. His uncle is unable to resist tears. Re-enter Creagan.)

BHUPEN (addressing Creagan): You are not entitled to treat Aurobindo like that. Take off the handcuffs and the rope.

Act VII, Scene 2

FIGURE: How do you find your jail life here?

AUROBINDO: To me it’s no jail. It is my Yogashram.

FIGURE: Yogashram?

AUROBINDO: Decidedly.

FIGURE: Your enemies have put you here.

Act VII, Scene 3

BIRLEY: Do you wish to make a statement before me?⁸

BARIN: Yes.

BIRLEY: Do you understand that your statement being made before a Magistrate will be admissible as evidence against you?

BARIN: Yes.

BIRLEY: Is your statement being made voluntarily or has any pressure been put upon you to make it?

BARIN: It is quite voluntary.

BIRLEY: Will you tell me what you have to say?

BARIN: Whatever I had to say I have said in a written statement.

BIRLEY: Have you any objection to making that statement to me here?

BARIN: Shall I begin at the very beginning?

BIRLEY: Yes... When were you arrested?

BARIN: The day before yesterday, early in the morning.

BIRLEY: Where?

BARIN: At 32 Muraripukur Road.

BIRLEY: Who else was there?

BARIN: Ullaskar Dutt, Upendra Nath Banerji, Indra Bhusan Rai, Bibhuti Bhusan Sarkar, Paresh Chandra Mallick, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Kunja Lal Saha, Sachindra Nath Sen, Purna Chandra Sen, Hemendra Nath Ghosh, Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Bijoy Kanta Nag and others.

Please take down my motive for disclosing these names. Our party was divided as to the propriety of disclosing these names. Some thought they would deny everything and take the consequences but I persuaded them all to give written and oral statements to inspector Ramsaday Mukerji because I believe that, as the band was found out, it was best not to do any other work in the country, and because we ought to save the innocent.

Act VII, Scene 4

NORTON (asking the first witness): Have you seen any of them?

FIRST WITNESS: Yes, I have.

NORTON (cheerfully): Point them out.

(The witness slowly passes along the line, points out one or two and then withdraws. Enter the second witness.)

NORTON (To the second witness, the signal cabinman of Jesidih Railway Function who is expected to identify the persons involved in the local event): Look at these men. Point out those you saw over the crossing on their way to Dighiriya Hill.

(The witness passes by the accused including Nolini. And, befooled by his cleverly studied movements, the witness fixes upon Sudhir as the culprit amidst a roar of laughter by the visitors and the accused. Enter the third witness.)

NORTON (to the third witness): Whom among these have you seen?

WITNESS: I know nothing, I know none of them. Neither do I know why the police have brought me here.

Act VII, Scene 5

AUROBINDO: Ten days’ fast, with sleep once in three nights, has left me no whit weaker, rather I feel greater energy. Now it’s time for sirsasana. (He stands on his head. Enter Andrews Frazer, Lieutenant Governor, Bengal, with his aide-de-camp. He is surprised to see the Yogic posture of balancing the body on the head.)

FRAZER: What is all this, Mr. Ghosh? (No answer.)

FRAZER: Mr. Ghosh! (No answer.)

AIDE-DE-CAMP: He is practising Yoga.

FRAZER: What is Yoga?

AIDE-DE-CAMP: It is a process of seeing God.

FRAZER: Queer! Sheer nonsense.

(Exeunt Frazer and his aide-de-camp. Aurobindo is sitting relaxed. Enter a Scotch sergeant.)

SERGEANT (in a tone of bravado): So, Arabinda, you are at last caught.

AUROBINDO: Yet shall I escape.

(Enter the Jail doctor, Mr. Daly.)

DALY: It pains me to see you confined to this solitary cell. The jail Superintendent has kindly listened to my request. He has allowed you to have a walk in the open courtyard.

Act VII, Scene 6

AUROBINDO: I wonder from where this fragrance is coming. There is no flower near by, nor even a gentle breeze.

(A voice breaks out in the silence.)

VOICE: I am Vivekananda. I want to speak to you about the workings of the consciousness above the mind.

AUROBINDO: Above the mind?

VOICE: Yes. I myself had no idea of such workings while I was in the body. Now I have it and I will help you with it. For this I shall visit you every day for about two weeks.

AUROBINDO: I believe these workings would lead towards some Supreme Dynamic Knowledge.

VOICE: That is for you to discover. I can but show what I have found. The world’s burden of progress rests upon your shoulders. It is a great happiness to find you ready to bear it. Godspeed.

Act VII, Scene 7

FIRST PATRIOT: We must not rest satisfied with our own contributions. The expenses are large and the whole country must meet them along with us.

SECOND PATRIOT: That is my feeling, too. We most work our hardest to collect funds from door to door.

FIRST PATRIOT: There is no other way of contacting the people face to face.

SECOND PATRIOT: We have to plan an organised effort.

(Enter the two patriots and greet Sarojini.)

PATRIOTS: We have brought in our humble mite. (Each handing to Sarojini a hundred-rupee note.) We are planning a door-to-door collection.

SAROJINI: That’s all to the good. So far I have received less than half the sum required. Sixty thousand, that’s the estimate of legal experts. The amount so far received is twenty-three thousand.

(Enter a Punjabi postman.)

POSTMAN (handing a ten-rupee note to Sarojini): Mataji, please accept this poor man’s offer. Aurobindo Babu is our god. We pray for his victory.

(Enter a bearded Muslim cabman.)

CABMAN: Baji [elder sister], Babuji has used my cab many, many times. I have received higher and higher Bakshis every time. I have wept and prayed to Allah for his release. Allah, Allah, help him out of the trouble! Kindly take this petty sum for his defence.

(Handing a five-rupee note to Sarojini, with a salaam he goes out. Enter a street coolie of Oriyan origin. Tears rolling down from his perspiring face.)

Act VII, Scene 8

VASUDEVA (coming in front of Aurobindo): Look at me, my child. I am He whom you have been seeking. I come to tell you that from now and for ever you will be finding me in you, with you, around you everywhere. The second thing is that your work for India in Bengal is now done. I have decreed India’s independence. The rest of the work for it will be done by others yet to come. I sent you on earth to do my work for world-liberation and world-transformation. That will require a very long and intensive preparation on your part. Henceforth, concentrate on it according to my guidance. As regards your case here, it is my concern. Leave it all to me. I will instruct your counsel, speak through him and see you released. You will remain ever free from all their blind efforts afterwards to force you out of the sphere of your work — for the moment in India, then the world over.

Act VII, Scene 9

BEACHCROFT: Mr. Norton, you know Arabindo Ghosh was a very brilliant scholar in England. He had no equal at St. Paul’s. He won a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge. He was a contemporary of mine in the I.C.S. We both won honours at the University and, at the final examination of the Indian Civil Service, Arabindo the prisoner beat Beachcroft the Judge to second place in Greek and Latin. This is called the irony of Fate! Poor Arabindo!

Act VII, Scene 10

C.R. DAS: “... My appeal to you is this, that long after this turmoil, this agitation will have ceased, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India but across distant seas and lands‚...”

Act VII, Scene 11

FOREMAN (turning to the Judge): Your Honour, our fully considered verdict is unanimous so far as Aurobindo is concerned. We all are of the opinion that he is Not Guilty. As regards the others...

BEACHCROFT: I accept your verdict and acquit Arabindo of the charges brought against him. (Turning towards C.R. Das.) Mr. Das, I congratulate you on your laborious study, patience, endurance and your able conduct of the case concerning your client Arabindo.

C.R. DAS: I thank Your Honour for your kind appreciation of my personal efforts. I thank also the members of the jury for their unflagging patience and energy in following the case in detail from day to day and for giving their well-considered verdict.

NORTON (coming forward and shaking C.R. Das by the hand): You have the reward of your labour. I congratulate you.

Act VIII, Scene 1

SUDHIR: Government are holding out temptations before us. They promise to take us to Europe or America for our education, with the prospects of high posts afterwards. All this to have our secrets. What must we do?

AURO: Think of the Mother. Think of me. We will always be with you.

(The police take away the sentenced ones. C.R. Das takes Aurobindo and his released companions to his house. His carriages move slowly through surging crowds on both sides of the streets amidst deafening cheers of joy and cries of Bande Mataram. The whole family of C.R. Das along with a body of nationalist leaders receive Aurobindo and his party with loud cries of Bande Mataram and repeated blowing of conch shells. Garlands, bouquets and flowers are showered upon the party from all sides.)

After lunch and rest, while Aurobindo is sitting among others in a room, the younger ones of C.R. Das’s house are peeping in. They retire after having a long look at Aurobindo from their unseen positions. One of them is accosted by a group of young men coming towards C.R. Das’s house.)

YOUNG MEN: Sudhi, we are coming to see Aurobindo Babu. Certainly you have seen him?

SUDHI: Oh, yes, I have.

YOUNG MEN: Sudhi, Sudhi, tell us, how does he look?

SUDHI: Go in and see for yourselves, with your own eyes. His looks have to be seen and not described.

YOUNG MEN: We will. But you give us your own impression, Sudhi.

SUDHI: I found him sitting quiet and unperturbed amidst exuberant scenes of joy and happiness. He seems to be in his own atmosphere, among all yet isolated, in-drawn with a distant look, silence incarnate.

Act VIII, Scene 2

SAROJINI: Sejda, oh that you were here to see how your countrymen, even of the lowest ranks, showed their heart’s love for you by coming to me, singly or in groups, to make their offerings to your defence fund. Their love flowed in tears and in sacrifice of their day’s earnings. The amounts were mostly poor, but immeasurably rich in their goodwill.

AUROBINDO: Saro, I was, no doubt, not here to see the touching sight. But I could somehow sense it from the impact of their love upon me. Look at the heaps of telegrams and letters on my release. I repeat to you the concluding lines of what I have written to the Editor of the Bengalee: “If it is the love of my country which led me into danger, it is also the love of my countrymen which has brought me safe through it.”

SAROJINI (taking the letter from her Sejda’s hand and reading aloud):

> To the Editor of the Bengalee.

> Will you kindly allow me to express through your columns my deep sense of gratitude to all who have helped me in my hour of trial? Of the innumerable friends known and unknown, who have contributed each his mite to swell my defence, it is impossible for me now even to learn the names, and I must ask them to accept this public expression of my feeling in place of private gratitude. Since my acquittal, many telegrams and letters have reached me and the love which my countrymen have heaped upon me in return for the little I have been able to do for them amply repays any apparent trouble or misfortune my public activity may have brought upon me. I attribute my escape to no human agency, but first of all to the protection of the Mother of us all who has never been absent from me but always held me in Her arms and shielded me from grief and disaster, and secondarily to the prayers of thousands which have been going up to Her on my behalf ever since I was arrested. If it is the love of my country which led me into danger, it is also the love of my countrymen which has brought me safe through it.

Act VIII, Scene 3

AUROBINDO (after triumphant cheers from the audience): “When I was asked to speak to you at the annual meeting of your Sabha, it was my intention to say a few words about the subject chosen for to-day, the subject of the Hindu religion. I do not know whether I shall fulfil that intention; for as I sat here, there came into my mind a word that I have to speak to you, a word that I have to speak to the whole of the Indian Nation. It was spoken first to myself in jail and I have to speak it to my people... I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover. This was the first use of the deeper vision He gave me. I looked at the prisoners in the jail, the thieves, the murderers, the swindlers, and as I looked at them I saw Vasudeva, it was Narayana whom I found in these darkened souls and misused bodies... Afterwards when the trial opened in the Sessions Court, I began to write many instructions for my Counsel as to what was false evidence against me and on what points the witnesses might be cross-examined. Then something happened which I had not expected. The arrangements which had been made for my defence were suddenly changed and another Counsel stood there to defend me. He came unexpectedly — a friend of mine, but I did not know he was coming. You have all heard the name of the man who put away from him all other thoughts and abandoned all his practice, who sat up half the night day after day for months and broke his health to save me — Srijut Chittaranjan Das. When I saw him, I was satisfied, but I still thought it necessary to write instructions. Then all was put away from me and I had the message from within, ‘This is the man who will save you from the snares put around your feet. Put aside those papers. It is not you who will instruct him. I will instruct him.’ From that time I did not of myself speak a word to my Counsel about the case... I had left it to him and he took it entirely into his hands, with what result you know... Always I listened to the voice within: ‘I am guiding, therefore, fear not. Turn to your own work for which I have brought you to jail and when you come out, remember never to fear, never to hesitate. Remember that it is I who am doing this, not you nor any other. Therefore, whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impossibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult. I am in the nation and its uprising and I am Vasudeva, I am Narayana, and what I will, shall be, not what others will. What I choose to bring about, no human power can stay.’ ...I said, ‘Give me Thy Adesh. I do not know what work to do or how to do it. Give me a message.’ In the communion of Yoga two messages came. The first message said, ‘I have given you a work and it is to help to uplift this nation. Before long the time will come when you will go out of jail; for it is not my will that this time either you should be convicted or that you should pass the time, as others have to do, in suffering for their country. I have called you to work, and that is the Adesh for which you have asked. I give you the Adesh to go forth and do my work.’ The second message came and it said, ‘Something has been shown to you in this year of seclusion, something about which you had your doubts and it is the truth of the Hindu religion. It is this religion that I am raising up before the world, it is this that I have perfected and developed through the Rishis, saints and Avatars, and now it is going forth to do my work among the nations. I am raising up this nation to send forth my word. This is the Sanatan Dharma, this is the eternal religion which you did not really know before, but which I have now revealed to you... When you go forth, speak to your nation always this word, that it is for Sanatan Dharma that they arise, it is for the world and not for themselves that they arise. I am giving them freedom for the service of the world. When therefore it is said that India shall rise, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall rise. When it is said that India shall be great, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall be great. When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists’... I say that it is the Sanatan Dharma which for us is nationalism. This Hindu Nation was born with the Sanatan Dharma, with it it moves and with it it grows. When the Sanatan Dharma declines, then the nation declines, and if the Sanatan Dharma were capable of perishing, with the Sanatan Dharma it would perish. The Sanatan Dharma, that is the Nationalism. This is the message that I have to speak to you.”

(Exit Aurobindo. Some members of the Dharma Rakshini Sabha speak to one another.)

FIRST MEMBER: I have attended big political meetings addressed by veteran leaders. But this meeting, could I or anybody else foresee it? A set subject had been placed before him to speak on with sufficient time given him to think over it. But you see, how he soared unexpectedly higher over it to another subject of far-reaching scope and of deep significance.

SECOND MEMBER: Yes, he soared not only above the fixed subject but above the environment. He made us forget that we were at Uttarpara listening to one of our invited guests.

THIRD MEMBER: He spoke not in a human voice and I doubt whether it was he who spoke.

Act VIII, Scene 4

FRIEND (addressing Mrs. Mitra): Sister, a thought has just occurred to me and I have come to tell it to you.

MRS. MITRA: Yes, I am all ears.

FRIEND: Aurobindo Babu is in your house. The Intelligence Department knows it. Krishna-da is in detention in Agra Jail. The I.B.'s report, that you are harbouring the terror of the British Government in your own house, will spell disaster. Who knows that your house will not be a centre of the watch-dogs? For your friends and relatives to visit your house will certainly be to risk their safety. You can never want your neighbours, friends and relatives to be the objects of the I.B.'s attentions. Harassment of innocents, I am sure, is the last thing you could think of. Over and above all this, there is the case of Krishna-da. If he is detained simply on suspicion, Aurobindo Babu’s stay in your house will confirm it. All this will surely mean his indefinite detention.

MRS. MITRA (smiling): Now...

FRIEND: Now for your safety and for the safety of all else concerned as well as for an early release of Krishna-da I should like you to request Aurobindo Babu to remove to some other place apart from his relatives.

MRS. MITRA: I appreciate your goodwill and your concern for our well-being. But, dear sister, to be on God’s earth and at the same time to be in constant fear of danger to personal safety and personal interest, without believing in His Protection, is it not sacrilege? (In a choking voice.) Auro is more than my Auro. He is Mother India’s chosen child. If my friends and relatives dare not visit my house, I shall be sorry for them. Mother India needs her children to be of sterner stuff. If they cannot rise to the occasion, I repeat, I shall be sorry for them. But I cannot do otherwise. My heart revolts against the very idea of seeing Auro off from his beloved uncle’s house. And what would your Dada think of me? I know him, perhaps, more intimately than anybody else. His love of truth, his love of country are the same in substance and in spirit as his love for Auro. So, my sister...

Act VIII, Scene 5

AUROBINDO: Nolini, have you any desire to learn European languages, French, for instance, to start with?

NOLINI (taken aback): If you are pleased to help me, most certainly.

AUROBINDO: The National College⁹ has a stock of my books, I have lent them to it. (Handing him a short note.) Take this to the College Library. They will give you a volume of Molière’s works.

(Nolini goes out with the note and returns with the book.)

AUROBINDO (selecting “L'Avare”): Start here.

NOLINI (overwhelmed with surprise): Such a big leap for a beginner!

AUROBINDO (smiling): Shake off old ideas. Come along with me. Read as I do.

(Sri Aurobindo reads, Nolini follows — the former occasionally correcting the latter in pronunciation.)

Pronunciation well learnt, the thoughts and sentiments will present no difficulty. I will facilitate your understanding by writing the English meanings of difficult words in the margins.

Act VIII, Scene 6

NIVEDITA: Excuse me, Mr. Ghosh, I have to interrupt you. I have just had it from an authentic source that the Government have completed a plan to deport you outright from India. They are going to execute it any moment.

AUROBINDO: Then?

NIVEDITA: I am come to ask you to leave British India forthwith.

AUROBINDO: I will foil their plan.

NIVEDITA: How?

AUROBINDO: I am going to publish, over my own signature, immediately in the Karmayogin “An Open Letter To My Countrymen” setting forth our policy and plan of work.

NIVEDITA (with a note of anxiety in her voice): Will that suffice?

AUROBINDO: It will. And you will agree with me when you read it through.

NIVEDITA: I take you at your word, as always. I shall read it only to make my senses doubly sure. Nothing can give me greater delight than to find you safely at work, here in our midst, for your dear land.

Act VIII, Scene 7

NIVEDITA (raising her head): Listen, Sudhira, and tell me who could write like this? (She reads out.) “All great movements wait for their Godsent leader, the willing channel of His force, and only when he comes, move forward triumphantly to their fulfilment... Our ideal of Swaraj involves no hatred of any other nation nor of the administration which is now established by law in this country. We find a bureaucratic administration, we wish to make it democratic; we find an alien government, we wish to make it indigenous; we find a foreign control, we wish to render it Indian. They lie who say that this aspiration necessitates hatred and violence. Our ideal of patriotism proceeds on the basis of love and brotherhood and it looks beyond the unity of the nation and envisages the ultimate unity of mankind...”

SUDHIRA: Who but Mr. Ghosh?

NIVEDITA: Right. These words will pass into history and materialise in the life of India. Mr. Ghosh is not simply India’s glory. He is the glory of God in the world.

SUDHIRA: It is a thousand pities that the Government should think of him as a menace to their existence.

Act VIII, Scene 8

RAMCHANDRA (turning towards Aurobindo in a low voice): I have just heard from Father that in a day or two the Government will forcibly enter our office and arrest you.

(Aurobindo in contemplation.)

SURESH: Is it actually true?

BIJOY: Authentic?

NOLINI: Is it possible? Have not the Government taken note of “An Open Letter to My Countrymen”?

RAMCHANDRA: They have. But they know their own way. They are led by secret reports.

AUROBINDO (abruptly): Chandernagore.

SURESH: Chandernagore?

AUROBINDO: I am starting at once for Chandernagore. I am going by a back route to the bank of the Ganges.

(Aurobindo and party come to the Ghat. Aurobindo steps into a boat. Suresh and Biren follow him. The boat is rowed by two men.)

AUROBINDO (to Suresh and Biren): Have no fear. I have heard the voice from Above.

Act VIII, Scene 9

AUROBINDO: Biren, go to Charu Chandra Roy and ask him if he agrees to my stay in his house.

(Exit Biren. Biren comes to the residence of Charu Bhandra Boy.)

CHARU: Yes, please?

BIREN: Aurobindo Babu wants to know if you can agree to his stay in your house without letting anybody know. He is at the Ghat, waiting in a boat for your word.

CHARU: Please ask him to excuse my inability. With a heavy heart I tell you this. My connection with the Government you know...

(Biren comes out. Sisir Ghosh follows him.)

SISIR: My young friend, do not lose heart. I shall take you to somebody who will gladly receive him.

BIREN (delighted): Who, who is he?

SISIR: He is Motilal Roy.

(They now reach Motilal Roy’s residence.)

SISIR: Aurobindo Babu whom you regard so highly is at the Ghat. Can you arrange for his secret stay in our town?

MOTILAL: Why this question of secrecy?

BIREN: The Government were planning to arrest and deport him. A timely warning came and, after a little concentration, he has got the command from Above to come here and remain in secret.

Act VIII, Scene 10

MOTILAL: It seems you are in another world. You look absorbed in your depths. Will you tell me if I have a chance of taking to Yoga?

AUROBINDO: Certainly you have.

MOTILAL: My family tie...

AUROBINDO: That’s nothing.

MOTILAL: Then, pray tell me how I can take up the spiritual life.

AUROBINDO: Try to surrender everything to God.

MOTILAL: Will it be possible for me?

AUROBINDO: Why not? God is within and without us. He himself will do your Yoga.

MOTILAL: Then please show me the easiest path.

AUROBINDO: Surrender, that is the easiest. Try to surrender all you have and all you are.

MOTILAL (bowing down to Aurobindo’s feet): Please give me your Blessing.

Act IX, Scene 1

VASUDEVA: I am glad that you have come over here as I wished. It is high time you plunged deeper into Yoga. You will feel more and more that it is I who am doing Yoga within you. Now I want that nothing may stand in your way. Hence, my chosen place for you is Pondicherry, South India. There your concentrated Tapasya will hasten the descent of a force which will facilitate the descent of a far higher Force to consummate your work.

(The Figure disappears. Enter Motilal Roy.)

AUROBINDO: Pondicherry, Pondicherry.

MOTILAL: What do you mean?

AUROBINDO: I am to start for Pondicherry. The sooner, the better.

MOTILAL (taken aback): But why? Anything wrong?

AUROBINDO: Nothing at all. I have just got an adesh — a higher command to move straight to Pondicherry.

Act IX, Scene 2

BIJOY: Now you are Jyotindranath Mitter, and I am Bankim Chandra Basak. Are we justified in passing ourselves off as other than we are?

AUROBINDO: No, not in the eyes of the moralists.

BIJOY: I am the last fellow to go in for morality. But why, of all places, Pondicherry?

AUROBINDO: It is His choice.

BIJOY: But how long will you be there?

AUROBINDO: As long as He wills.

BIJOY: What will be your plan of work there?

AUROBINDO: I will follow whatever plan He reveals to me.

BIJOY: I am afraid your work will be much more inward than now.

AUROBINDO: I feel so.

BIJOY: Then we have no place there.

AUROBINDO: How? My work will be for all, for all the world.

BIJOY: The purpose?

AUROBINDO: The Supreme Transformation of the world.

BIJOY: In what way can such a transformation come about?

Act IX, Scene 3

SRINIVASACHARI (reading the note most carefully): My dear friend, I find it difficult to believe you. Aurobindo Ghosh has chosen Pondicherry for his stay!

SUBRAMANIYAM: Unbelievable, impossible.

MONI: I am shocked to see that you do not take this note to be genuine. It is in Aurobindo’s own handwriting.

SRINIVASACHARI: Can anybody imagine that such a great national figure would come down to Pondicherry, a French pocket?

MONI: I give you my word of honour. If I am telling a lie, you may do anything with my life.

SRINIVASACHARI: You want simply a house for him?

MONI: Yes.

SRINIVASACHARI: Nothing further?

MONI: For the present, no.

SRINIVASACHARI: Then I, too, give you my word of honour that as soon as he arrives here I will arrange a house for him.

SUBRAMANIYAM: That’s a fine idea.

MONI (turning towards Srinivasachari): Well, Sir, I think it would be better if you kept it ready for him beforehand.

SRINIVASACHARI: When is he coming?

MONI: On April 4.

SUBRAMANIYAM: And if he doesn’t turn up?

MONI: Then you may do with me anything you like.

SRINIVASACHARI: The time is so short. I am thinking of giving him a public reception.

MONI: I beg your pardon. He is coming over here incognito.

SRINIVASACHARI: Where have you yourself put up?

MONI: I am coming straight to you from the station. I don’t know where to put up.

SRINIVASACHARI: Well, you will be in my house. (He takes Moni into an adjacent room, and returns to his friend, Subramaniyam.)

SUBRAMANIYAM: He may be a spy.

SRINIVASACHARI: I don’t think so.

SUBRAMANIYAM: Anyhow, it is better to be on one’s guard.

SRINIVASACHARI: I shall be on the alert. But I must find a suitable house for Aurobindo Ghosh. Pondicherry will be blessed by his presence, be it long or short. But in this dilapidated town can I find an accommodation suitable for him?

SUBRAMANIYAM: You can have a talk with Shanker Chetty. His house is three-storeyed. He can easily spare the needed accommodation.

Act IX, Scene 4

MONI (pointing to two figures): Oh, there, there!

Act IX, Scene 5

Act IX, Scene 6

SRINIVASACHARI: I am sorry I suspected your emissary. I have instructed him to come a little later with your companion and your luggage. You and I can proceed in a pousse-pousse waiting for us.¹⁰

AUROBINDO: First have a cup of tea before we land.

SRINIVASACHARI: Thanks, Aurobindo Babu, thanks. The fish-shaped biscuits play upon my nerves.

AUROBINDO: Biscuits are biscuits. There is no fish in them. What is your objection then?

SRINIVASACHARI: My conscience would prick me all the same.

(Moni and Bijoy, amused, exchange glances, and smile. Then they both empty the dishes.)

SRINIVASACHARI: My heart is too full of joy at your arrival to say anything. One of my friends has suggested to me that Shanker Chetty’s house would suit you best. So I have taken a part of it for your use. Come along with me to the shore. We have first to board a catamaran.

Act IX, Scene 7