Dear Friends,
Chunibhai Patel (19.6.1903—19.8.1992) was a Gujarati sadhak who was renamed ‘Dyuman’ (“the luminous one”) by Sri Aurobindo on 24 November 1928. He visited Pondicherry for the first time on 11 July 1924 and surrendered himself to Sri Aurobindo. He became an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in May 1927. He was in charge of the Dining Room and looked after the Granary. A dedicated worker to the core, the Mother made him one of the Founder-Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust on 1 May 1955. He became the Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust in 1991.
We are happy to announce that Overman Foundation has received permission from Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust to publish Dyuman’s Correspondence with the Mother in its online forum. We are extremely grateful to Shri Manoj Das Gupta, Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, for giving us the said permission. We are also thankful to Shri S. Ravi, co-editor of Mother India journal and teacher at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education for providing these letters to us.
The first installment of Dyuman’s Correspondence with the Mother—consisting of letters written between 12 June 1929 and 21 March 1934—was published in the online forum of Overman Foundation on 23 June 2015. The second installment of the said correspondence—consisting of letters written between 26 March 1934 and 10 July 1934 has been published in the online forum of Overman Foundation. Please note that these letters are not included in the Collected Works of the Mother.
With warm regards,
Anurag Banerjee
Founder,
Overman Foundation.
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The Mother with Dyuman and Champaklal
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Mother,
When I started turning myself towards God 22 years ago or so, I never imagined that this could happen to me, not even when Sri Aurobindo openly questioned me: “Who has given you this Yoga?”
Now it has happened: that unfailing confidence and courage got shaken, and I had a breakdown. Yet in all this nervousness, my love for You, my faith in You and our relation is just the same, or rather, we have become closer. You have treated me like a sick baby—Your baby—and it is Your love that is curing me.
Yes, you have only to keep your faith unshaken and to be patient—everything will be all right.
We are not speaking of work just now, because we want you to rest quietly without any worry—but we have no intention of changing your work. It is waiting for you and you will take it back as soon as you are quite all right.
26 March 1934
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Mother,
I feel that the persons who were connected with me in a personal relation are definitely wishing for my recovery. What will be my relation with them when I shall be out? Mother, You will settle it, and I shall obey You.
The most important thing will be not to allow them to eat you up as they used to do before.
Mother, I am quite at rest and the days are passing so quickly.
Yes, rest, rest, rest—be quiet and gather strength and force, not only to do work but also, chiefly, to achieve the Transformation.
With love and blessings.
30 March 1934
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Mother,
I have no confidence in the body; it is too sensitive. I cannot be rash. I still fear to drink cold water from the kuja, I go to the filter each time for water. I cover myself before going to sleep.
A fear and a feeling of weakness have entered the body, but this fear and this feeling are not true. They are falsehoods that are to be shaken away and replaced by the contrary conviction and feeling—the conviction that the body will get stronger than before and the feeling that the physical strength, like the rest, belongs to the Divine and that there is no reason why the body should not receive it in plenty.
8 April 1934
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Mother,
Now I realise that if I could love You with all my being and keep Your Presence in every single cell and atom, it would not be an inferior work to any outer work or activity.
My dear Mother, do with me as You want. I remain completely quiet, obedient, surrendered and cheerful.
Yes, keep quiet and gather peace and strength. When the time has come I shall ask you to start work again and you will see that it will be done quite smoothly.
With love and blessings always.
8 April 1934
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Mother,
Today the head is strained—by what I do not know. I feel a great heaviness on the head, as if the whole sky has come down. The body does not want to move, it asks only for rest. When I sit down my eyes close by themselves; at once I feel still, quiet, as if frozen, yet full of life within.
Be very, very quiet, do not think about what the work will be. This week take complete rest, and sleep as much as you feel inclined to sleep. It is perfectly strong and rested, with the head free, that you must take up the work again. It is very important that the head should be neither heavy nor strained.
14 April 1934
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Mother,
This auspicious Darshan day has given me a new life, a new consciousness and a new aspiration. I feel that a force of transformation has gathered and it will transform me. I bow down to Thee, dear Mother, and with Your Love and Blessings I begin the new life.
Yes, a special protection accompanies my blessings today and a certitude of Victory is included in my love.
24 April 1934
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Mother,
I am happy to be working again. All Your Love, Grace and Protection are with me, Your Presence is in me, and, Mother, surely the Divine Grace shall manifest.
Keep this quietness and this faith, let nothing disturb them. If there are things to be changed, do it slowly, not in a hurry—time is a great helper when we know how to make use of it—and change only what is quite indispensable. Rules must not be too rigid—the Divine’s working needs suppleness and plasticity—and for the workers, a too rigid rule is a big strain for the nerves. It is only when the liberties taken are dangerous and harmful that they must be checked.
And be sure that all will be all right.
With love and blessings.
24 April 1934
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O my beloved Mother,
Surely You are giving me a bath in Your Love.
Whatever people may say of me—good or bad—I have my dear Mother in my heart, holding me close to Her bosom. I know also that when dangers are outside, when there is bad will, my Mother keeps me under Her wings and then nothing can touch me, nothing can affect me.
Yes, my child.
You are always in my arms, bathed in my love which must be the strongest protection against all attacks of any kind. Keep your entire faith and confidence: we shall cross victoriously through all difficulties.
13 May 1934
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Mother,
X asked for less curds, but Y served her the ordinary cup. She began to return the cup, but he would not take it, so she left it on the table. Then he asked her to get Mother’s sanction if only half a cup of curds was required. X complained to me about all this. I said: “I shall see tomorrow.”
Truly we cannot interfere in such petty things. Those who constantly forget that they are not here to lead the most silly ordinary life cannot expect us to deal with their stupid quarrels.
27 May 1934
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O Lord Buddha, the forces of Mara attacked You, but You were unshaken, concentrated, calm, quiet, peaceful; then the Light descended, the hostile forces disappeared and there was peace on earth.
O Mother, let us all remain consecrated to the Truth, always peaceful, calm, quiet and unshaken, unmoved by any circumstances, and the hostile forces shall vanish.
Yes, this is excellent. It is by a quiet, strong and persistent peace that the true victories can be won.
With love.
28 May 1934
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Dear Mother,
Let my entire being remain turned only towards You.
Be very careful to remain always calm and peaceful and let an integral equanimity establish itself more and more completely in your being. Do not allow your mind to be too active and to live in turmoil, do not jump to conclusions from a superficial view of things; always take your time, concentrate and decide only in quietness.
My love and blessings are always with you.
30 May 1934
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Mother,
I am tired of my nature. I must rise above it if I want to fulfil the work. Again and again it knocks me down and tries to drag me into an unquiet state full of doubt, lack of confidence, and ego.
Mother, life me once more out of this turmoil in my nature and let me breathe in the free and vast air of Your infinite Love.
It is not in one day that one can overcome one’s own nature. But with patience and enduring will the Victory is sure to come.
1 June 1934
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Dear Mother,
I actually see the waves of hostility against me, yet I am quiet; my being remains firm, poised and concentrated in Your Love and Presence.
Yes, be quiet. We have only to work patiently without being disturbed by anything and keep unshaken the faith in the inevitable Victory.
With love and blessings
6 June 1934
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Mother,
Z and I have a nick-name now: Pagal, which means madcap.
Do not mind the stupidity of others.
8 June 1934
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Dear Mother,
The Divine Consciousness descends, fills the earth and penetrates deeply. It is sure to bring about the complete recovery of the earth.
You have worked out many things in me within these few days. You have given me Your patience, quietness and peace, an energy that works and works and a firm faith in the infinity of time.
Yes, the certitude of the Victory gives an infinite patience with the maximum of energy.
Always with you.
9 June 1934
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Dear Mother,
I do not find it difficult to deal with X. I believe that I can exert a good influence upon her and bring her back to You. Arrange that we may come in contact with each other under the pretext of work or anything You like. I know that if I go, I am surrounded with Your love and protection. I dare to do so because You have kept me in the protection of Your love.
It is true that the Divine Protection is always around us, but it works completely only when we are faced by dangers which were unavoidable; that is to say, when doing some work for the Divine if dangers suddenly rise on the way then the protection works at its best. But to take up some work that is, after all, not at all indispensable and not even surely useful and which is extremely dangerous, counting on the divine protection to save us from all possible consequences, this is a movement which is like a challenge to the Divine, and the Divine will never agree to it.
I will explain myself—if it were indispensable that you should learn her work (which is, in fact, not only not indispensable but absolutely useless) and if X was the only person who could teach you (which is not the case, because Y knows almost as well as she does) then we could overlook the very real dangers that await you by meeting X regularly, and this meeting could perhaps, with the Divine’s help and protection, have some good results for X.
But to pretend to learn the work only with the purpose of acting on X’s character, is putting a worm of insincerity in the very seed of the action and we can only have disastrous results.
With love and blessings.
10 June 1934
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Dear Mother,
The work at the Dining Room is being done and it will always be done; the cupboards, floor and cloths there are cleaner than at any other place. But something else must be done now: we must rise above falsehood and our false nature.
Yes, this is the important thing. Once falsehood is conquered, all these difficulties will go.
22 June 1934
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Mother,
Today I was threatened with clouds, dark clouds; but now all that has passed away quietly. Mother, forgetfulness of Your Loving Presence, even for a few minutes, brought such a death-like condition—it was quite unbearable. I felt so relieved when it passed away.
I do not understand how clouds can come to you now and am quite sure that they cannot remain at all. You must have caught it from somebody. Be careful to always keep the living Presence and Protection around you when you speak to people.
With all love always.
26 June 1934
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Mother,
I worked with Z or rather I replaced him for a few minutes. I felt so happy to see him. You have joined us as friends for Your work and taken us to such a state of conscious understanding, knowledge and love that misunderstanding, disharmony, intolerance and anger have no place.
What you say is quite true. There is a deep and true Consciousness in which all can meet in love and harmony.
28 June 1934
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My dear and beloved Mother,
Today I was very badly disturbed—the disturbance of all those ladies was rushing upon me. I refused to listen to anything; I said to myself: “The Divine is the Truth; the same Divine element is in all. See that, live that. Harmony, love, peace and happiness is the life of the Ashram.”
I am happy to see that you have kept the right attitude and remained unshaken by these superficial and silly storms.
Always with you in the love and the protection.
6 July 1934
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Mother,
The serving room has become a place to read the newspapers. Can it be allowed? Had there been the works of Sri Aurobindo or Your “Prayers”, it would be all right. But novels, monthlies and dailies—how can they be read there?
I suppose it is difficult to interfere in this matter. If the readers don’t feel we cannot impose it upon them.
7 July 1934
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Dear Mother,
It has always seemed to me that I do not know the meaning of Bhakti. But like a river, my entire being flows and flows towards You. This is all that I know, Mother, and I wish that it may flow more and more, rise in floods, break all limits and disappear once and for all into Your Love.
This is bhakti and nothing else.
10 July1934
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Reading these letters perhaps for the first time. Not published in Book form before?
No, Kirit-ji, these letters have never seen the light of day in book form.
With warm regards,
Anurag
thanks Anurag for giving this treasure to the world , as they are the most valuable inkling into his personality , as were the forst series…
outstanding surrender…unflinching commitment…as an Indian, brings great pride!
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