Aurobindo (Conversations, 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"aurobindo" |"aurobindo's" |"aurobindos"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...ago Bengali culture was very much adored all over India. Even one big politician, Gandhi's guru, Goke, Gokule, he remarked, "What Bengal thinks today, other provinces will think tomorrow." He said like that. And actually all big, big movements started from Bengal. The national movement also was started from Bengal. Whatever we may criticize Vivekananda, when... He's a Bengali. He went first for preaching Indian religion. Rabindranath Tagore, he's a Bengali. All big, big...

Jayapatākā: Aurobindo.

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo is a Bengali.

Devotee (2): Paramahaṁsa Yogananda is also a Bengali.

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Doctor's land, Dr. Durgacaran Bannerjee Road, they belonged to very respectable family of that quarter, Bannerjee family. And Surendranath Bannerjee was the first I.C.S. I.C.S. He passed I.C.S. examination, Indian Civil Service, but he did not accept it. Aurobindo Ghosh was made by Surendranath Bannerjee. He was born in London. Aurobindo Ghosh's father, Manmohan Ghosh, he was a medical man in London. He was born... He's English birth. Well, later on, he became English-hater.

Jayapatākā: French-lover.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayapatākā: Lover of the French.

Prabhupāda: He?

Jayapatākā: Aurobindo?

Prabhupāda: No, who says?

Jayapatākā: He always had some French people with him?

Prabhupāda: No, no. That... One French girl entrapped him. That woman spoiled him. He was actually practicing yoga very nice. After his release from political entanglement, actually he became a yogi, but this Frenchwoman, who became later on "Mother," she spoiled her ca..., his career. He became a bhogī then. (laughter) Instead of yogi... Otherwise, he was becoming yogi. You'll find from his photo. In the beginning, he was very lean and thin, and later on, when he died, he was very fatty. Means bhogī.

Morning Walk -- February 28, 1976, Mayapura:

Kīrtirāja: He said they have..., these translations of Aurobindo and Ramakrishna are modernized.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Kīrtirāja: I think they are modernized and compromised. That's why they are so popular, because you can do whatever you want...

Prabhupāda: It is not popular, not very.

Kīrtirāja: Yeah, and they aren't even popular, no.

Dayānanda: Popular amongst the mūḍhas.

Prabhupāda: They are mūḍhas. They do not know anything, and they write books.

Morning Walk -- March 22, 1976, Mayapura:

Pañcadraviḍa: Can you repeat why you said you have been successful where others have not?

Prabhupāda: Because I stick to Kṛṣṇa's word. I, therefore, present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. We do not make any amendment nor accept any amendment. And, therefore, we decry everything—Gandhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Aurobindo, this, that—all rascals. Because they tried to amend it. That is admitted by the science professor. They have all tried to make it modernized, but I have not done. Here is the spiritual master in the disciplic succession, so we remain indebted to him to understand the original traditional knowledge.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is bhakti. "Never mind, I do not agree with Kṛṣṇa, but I see that He wants it, I must do." This is bhakti. Kṛṣṇa should be given preference. That is bhakti, not my whimsical way. That is not bhakti. And because we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, therefore Kṛṣṇa is giving direction.

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

(BG 4.34)

Go to the person who has seen actually and take information. Simply by reading you will be misleaded. Even persons like Gandhi or Dr. Radhakrishna, Aurobindo, they were misled because they wanted to manufacture their own meaning. They did not like to act as Kṛṣṇa says.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: These two parts of India... (Hindi) Bengal and Kerala, they're highly educated communities. They are the, I mean, advanced Communists also, both the countries. In Gujarat there is no communism, though we are educated. (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: Just like assassin is aside.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And otherwise you will find Caitanya and other, so many big, big men. Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Bannerjee, Vivekananda, and so on, so on. (Hindi) Aurobindo was condemned to death.

Dr. Patel: His brother.

Prabhupāda: No, no, he.

Dr. Patel: No, sir, I think...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. He was condemned to death, then C.R. Das saved him. Then he decided, "This politic has no value. Let me go to Kṛṣṇa consciousness." He dreamed at night, "Why you are bothering with these things?" This is the history. So just after getting off, the judge, immediately left.

Dr. Patel: He came back Candranagar(?), to his place. (Hindi) He never came. After svarājya he never came.

Prabhupāda: But that is all nonsense. That is...

Dr. Patel: (break) ...find fulfillment there only, God consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). This is the sign of bhakti, that he has no more taste in anything material. That is bhakti.

Interview with Trans-India Magazine -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: So I was trying for this purpose in India. I approached many friends, that "You have got four sons. Give me one son so that I can train him how to become a real preacher of Bhagavad-gītā, how one can understand." Because Bhagavad-gītā is being misinterpreted. So I wanted to preach it as it is. That was my mission. So practically nobody joined me. Then I decided to come here. And these boys cooperated. So I have got great desire to... Because India is by nature Kṛṣṇa conscious, but our modern leaders keeping them suppressed. That is the difficulty. There are so many other difficulties, and leaders are misinterpreting Bhagavad-gītā. To tell you frankly, there are so many commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā by Dr. Radhakrishna, by Gandhi, by Tilak, by Aurobindo, or many others. But nobody has said that "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa."

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: What about that French professor who has written an elaborate review?

Hari-śauri: The one that mentions about Aurobindo...

Bhagavān: I sent you this summer.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: Those two...

Hari-śauri: Yes, Prabhupāda's just asking about him.

Bhagavān: Oh, yes, he's waiting to see you.

Prabhupāda: Invite him to come to India.

Jayatīrtha: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: He likes me.

Bhagavān: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: He has studied very nicely. Otherwise how he could catch Aurobindo, a doctor of...? In a scholarly way he has attacked him.

Bhagavān: Do you have that in English? I gave you in English.

Hari-śauri: Yes, he got that one. It's in the files.

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: ...is to approach God. This is the Indian tradition. But, as you have mentioned Aurobindo's name, Aurobindo's idea was to make a better situation of this world. He wanted by yoga practice, a better situation of the world. But our tradition says that is not possible.

Bhūgarbha: He asks what is meant by the situation in this world.

Prabhupāda: The situation is you have to suffer. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is a place for suffering, and that also you cannot stay here. Even if you make compromise, "All right, I shall suffer and stay," Kṛṣṇa says no. You suffer, and after you make adjustment, you will be kicked out.

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Saurabha: Just on the other side of the plateau you have that RMA, ARA?

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo?

Saurabha: No.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and it is being accepted all over the world. People are very much, those who are scholars, they say that even Rādhākrishnan and Aurobindo, they presented Bhagavad-gītā making some compromise with Western ideas. But here is presentation of Bhagavad-gītā in India's original traditional way. So they welcome it. And this is our, I mean to say, object also, that we cannot allow Bhagavad-gītā to be understood by anyone's imagination. No. That is not possible. And that is not allowed in the Bhagavad-gītā by the author. Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter that as soon as the paramparā system of understanding is lost, then the whole thing is lost.

Room Conversation -- November 18, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They are not going to do all this protest against Transcendental Meditation.

Hari-śauri: No.

Prabhupāda: That means here they are feeling the weight. You see? These protests, this combination, this endeavor to collapse our..., that means they are feeling more weight. And what is this movement, Transcendent...? They never formed against any case, anything, Transcendental... They know that is farce. There are so many other groups. Yogi Bhajan, Transcendental Meditation and what is he? Guru...?

Hari-śauri: Guru Maharaji.

Prabhupāda: Guru Maharaja. So many. Ramakrishna is not very prominent. Sai Baba. (aside:) Little, little, everyone. Who asked for them? Aurobindo. Even Aurobindo. Who will protest against Aurobindo? Aurobindo has got some influence in the Western...

Jagadīśa: Not so much.

Hari-śauri: I never heard of him before.

Room Conversation -- November 18, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: (laughs) I never heard of Aurobindo. If someone is interested in Eastern philosophy, generally they read books about Aurobindo and stuff like that, because up till now that's been the only literature that's been available in the West.

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo?

Hari-śauri: Yes. People like that.

Prabhupāda: And now it is worthless.

Press Interview -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Indian man: What does, as you were telling about Gandhi and Aurobindo or Tilak or Gyaneshwar. What...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why you are asking? You study then whether they have spoken something else or Bhagavad-gītā. It is your business. Why you are asking me? But we say anyone who says against Bhagavad-gītā, he's a rascal.

Indian man: No, but they have said something in favor of Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: But I don't see that they have made one single Kṛṣṇa bhakta, neither they were Kṛṣṇa bhakta. What kind of Bhagavad-gītā they have read I do not know. I see by the result. The last word of Bhagavad-gītā is man-manā bhava mad-bhakto... Mām eva... Sarva-dharmān. That is study of Bhagavad-gītā. They do not speak of Kṛṣṇa anywhere, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person, you become a devotee." Now how he has read Bhagavad-gītā? I shall take it? Simply make jugglery of words? We have to see the result. They have neither made one Kṛṣṇa bhakta, neither they were Kṛṣṇa bhakta. How he has read Bhagavad-gītā? Tell me. This is the test. They... Whole country is after Gandhi or Aurobindo or big, big. But who is Kṛṣṇa bhakta under their direction? Now we are simply following Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Just see. Thousands are become Kṛṣṇa bhakta. See by practical.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is one hall, Aurobindo Hall, in Baroda.

Dr. Patel: All followers of Aurobindo are Bengalis and Gujaratis.

Prabhupāda: Hm. No, there are others in foreign countries. He was scholar.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Everything is clearly said in the Bhagavad-gītā. I speak, therefore, to my disciples that "You simply repeat like parrot Bhagavad-gītā and follow by your life. Don't try to become very big scholar, do interpretation. Remain foolish and believe in Kṛṣṇa. Then life is perfect." And actually that is happening. They never tried to eschew and... What is called, the English word? Draw out some meaning. Eschew or something?

Jagadīśa: Eschew is the right word.

Prabhupāda: They do, everyone. The Tilak has done like that, Gandhi has done like that, Vinod Bhave is doing that. Dr. Radhakrishna has done like that, Vivekananda has done, Aurobindo has done—everyone. Nobody would take directly, that "Here is God."

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Some portion. He wanted to prove himself that he is Puruṣottama.

Dr. Patel: He's not Puruṣottama. He does not say that. Puruṣottama is really reality in true sense and...

Prabhupāda: But his disciples say he is more than Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: Disciples..., disciples...

Prabhupāda: That means why he has created such nonsense? If the disciples say something wrong, then that means he is also wrong. These people will never say that "Our Guru Mahārāja is more than Kṛṣṇa." They are not so nonsense. They will say "My Guru Mahārāja is servant of Kṛṣṇa and I am his servant."

Dr. Patel: He has said Puruṣottama is svarūpa. It cannot be a... Anything which is infinite cannot be grasped by finite senses. That's what he said.

Prabhupāda: This is going on. But disciples say that Aurobindo is more than... This is their knowledge.

Girirāja: That means he's failed as a guru. He hasn't...

Prabhupāda: He could not give them right knowledge. Phalena paricīyate. The paricīya is to be understood by the result. The disciple is the result. If they are so fool, then what is the guru?

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: In Aurobindo āśrama the same thing. Aurobindo said that "You simply think of me. Then you will be pure."

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: The Aurobindo was a hippie. (laughter) He had that long hair, and he was victimized by that mother. She brought... She was young, and she brought money, and Aurobindo was killed. In the beginning he had some yogic practice, but since that mother came, woman can conquer any rascal. (laughs) So she also... She conquered, and then nobody was allowed to see him in his secluded meditation. Only this mother was allowed. She would supply food, supply... And nobody could see. And she would give darśana only one day in the year. He would not speak with anyone, and the disciples were advised, "Simply think of Aurobindo. You have nothing to do." That's it.

Evening Darsana -- January 23, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: You read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. You read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Because Gandhi or Vinobha or Vivekananda or Aurobindo, they did not come in the paramparā system. They have made themselves important by their own ideas. That we want to check. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. You cannot make any amendment or correction in the Bhagavad-gītā. But these people, unfortunately, they take advantage of the popularity of Bhagavad-gītā and give their own comment.

Mr. Pandiya: To suit their purposes.

Prabhupāda: That's all. This is the dangerous... And they are considered as big men, and people follow, and they are misled. Otherwise, in India, so much fallen condition due to these rascal leaders. That I am speaking repeatedly, although it may be very harsh. But we have to say that. Everyone has distorted.

Morning Walk -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: They never talk about Vivekananda. They don't like him.

Prabhupāda: He was rascal number one. He brought three women with whom he had intimate connection. That is very easy to make intimate connection with woman in America. With money also. He brought. And with their money. Aurobindo also, the same thing. With woman's money they became rich, not like me, with hard labor of writing books and selling. I could also do. There was chance. But this is not my business to make intimate relation with woman and get money. I could do. There was chance. When attempt was failed, the man who introduced that woman to me, he one day said, "I have seen many swamis, but none like you." (laughter)

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: They prefer. Public likes Indian medical men because they take more care.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're more intelligent 'cause they know about the soul. They care about the person more.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I know. In England they like Indian doctors. And last time, when I was in London, the Civil Surgeon, he was a Bengali. This Aurobindo's father, he was a medical practitioner. Aurobindo was born in London. He was English-born, yes. His father, Dr. Monmohan Ghosh, he was medical man there. So although he was British-born, he became enemy of the British. (drinks medicine?) Very bad medicine. (laughs)

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: "...Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan, they have compromised with the Western idea, but here is the real tradition of India." Actually that's a fact. All of them, they have tried to make a hodgepodge. And from the beginning my idea was I shall present as it is. That's all. Therefore I gave this name, "As It Is." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Why shall I manufacture idea? Present this as it is. All right. Let us do our duty. (devotees offer obeisances) (break) So at any cost, I am still dictating. I'll go on dictating so long I live. That's all.

Room Conversation -- March 1, 1977, Mayapura:

Gargamuni: In the Book Fair there's other... Ramakrishna is there, Aurobindo. They have their books, but no one is going. (Prabhupāda chuckles) They have booths, Ramakrishna Mission, Aurobindo, Yogananda.

Prabhupāda: I don't think they have so many books also.

Gargamuni: No, very few books. The stalls are also very small. Our stall is three times as big as theirs. And their books are these cheap paperbacks.

Prabhupāda: Their days are finished.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...the planes. It was kept checked by these rascal leaders. Dr. Radhakrishnan, Aurobindo, this, that, nonsense, interpreting in a different way, Gandhi. It could not distribute its brilliance. Now it is being distributed to show the brilliance and the knowledge first of all. Is it not?

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here, "The whole city is expected to... The temple... The planetarium will be ready in three years." But how is that possible to be built...? And that "The whole city will be done in ten years." Says here, "A Vedic city with fifty thousand brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras living around a Kṛṣṇa temple."

Prabhupāda: So they have criticized that "Your city, there will be forty...," "Aurobindo..." You have seen it?

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Asked whether his city would not meet the same fate as Auroville..."

Prabhupāda: That...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "It was started nine years ago near Pondicherry with the same target of fifty thousand but has still a population of only four hundred, mostly foreigners." In other words, this is... The idea is that just as Auroville is a farce, any one of us, we're also farcical.

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: They fabricated. That's the whole thing.

Prabhupāda: How they can fabricate in their own way? From... (pause) Rather, they have criticized that "This fantastic thing, it is going to be like Aurobindo's city, list of fifty thousand, 404 acres." They are not taking it very seriously. Otherwise why he has remarked? Indirectly he has said, "This man is speaking like lunatic." They are not taking very seriously. That very remark shows that "It is going to be meet the same fate." So many fantastic ideas.

Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You must take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Then there is authority. You cannot change it. If you change it, where is the authority? Can you change the simple law, "Keep to the right; keep to the left"? No. It is authority. If the direction is "Keep to the right," you must keep to the right. You cannot say that "What is the wrong if I keep to the left?" Then there is no authority. So Gandhi, Tilak, and Aurobindo and so on, so on, they took Bhagavad-gītā as a childish play. Whatever they want, they interpret that. And Vivekananda supported, yato mata tato patha: "You can have your own opinion." These are all nonsense. Therefore country is ruined. You must take as it is. Then it will be... You cannot change the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya... (BG 18.44)..

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The whole thing was conceived by this Aurobindo.

Prabhupāda: He wanted to leave British possessions. No, Pondicherry was French.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, French. So that Pondicherry was Aurobindo's idea? What was the motive?

Prabhupāda: He wanted to become a famous yogi to bring the world atmosphere in order.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Complete failure.

Prabhupāda: Complete failure. Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "It is a place for suffering." This rascal wanted to make it for enjoyment. Everyone is trying. Everyone is trying to make the commode a very nice room.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: He was very envious, that Auroville, of what is going on.

Jayādvaita: They're nothing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They are nothing. No one ever heard of them outside of India.

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo never preached in Hindi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughs) He was speaking in English?

Prabhupāda: Um hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You should have said that. "Why don't you follow your master? He spoke in English." That would have been a good point. You could say, "We are following our spiritual master. He speaks in English. Why don't you do the same?"

Prabhupāda: He wrote all books in English.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And who can understand those books?

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You once described Aurobindo's writing, Śrīla Prabhupāda, giving the example of your childhood friend from school. He had to take the examination. So because he... Instead of writing normally, he made up so many big words, and the professors thought, "Oh, he's very intelligent."

Prabhupāda: (speaks some made-up words)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Did you hear that, what Prabhupāda just said, Jayādvaita?

Jayādvaita: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You didn't follow the Sanskrit?

Jayādvaita: I couldn't hear.

Brahmānanda: It's very important. If you can't understand it, it means it's important. (laughter)