Esha's recollections of some episodes of her life, as narrated to Nirodbaran in Bengali, who translated it in English. This is presented here in form of a book.
Sri Aurobindo : Contact
Nirodbaran on Esha's story : Esha, the late Dilip Kumar Roy's niece, was a little girl visiting the Ashram when I came to know her through my niece Jyotirmoyee with whom she had become very friendly. She wanted to settle in the Ashram, but her mother did not want it as she was still a minor. When after many years she came to the Ashram again and stayed with Sahana Devi, I became more closely acquainted with her. By that time she had already married and obtained her divorce and had decided to settle here. I came to her help and made all possible arrangements for the purpose. Since then I have come to know her well and listened to her narration of the incidents of her life. As I found them interesting I began to note them down and was thinking of publishing them in Mother India when somehow she got wind of it and strongly objected to it. As I felt I had Sri Aurobindo's sanction for it, I did not listen to her. In spite of my disregarding her objection, luckily she did not stop recounting her saga. Of course she narrated it in Bengali and later I put it down in English as faithfully as I could. When the story began to appear in Mother India, she insisted more than once that I should stop it. My answer was that I believed it could be helpful to many readers and that Sri Aurobindo seemed to support me.
THEME/S
The other day I was bemoaning the tragic fate that had overtaken Rajiv Gandhi, and was saying to myself, "He was such a fine personality. What a desperate condition India has been reduced to, these days! There has never been such chaos, confusion and violence since India gained independence. No one seems to be safe today." While I was lost in these gloomy thoughts, I heard Sri Aurobindo telling me, "There is nothing to be surprised about. Among the present leaders there is hardly a true lover of India. Almost all of them want power, position, fame, and money. Corruption is rampant everywhere, so what else can you expect? In our time, we truly loved India. People sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Motherland. We never forgot God. We felt his power working through us. All the leaders were the disciples of yogis. And the cry of 'Bande Mataram' acted like a mantra. It echoed from shore to shore, State to State. That was India then. And today? Nobody takes the name of God. Or raises the cry of 'Bande Mataram'! So long as it is like that, India will suffer. This trouble will continue for a long time. Then a change will come. You may not be alive to see that change. But I will raise up India."
(Editor's Note: Here it will be relevant to quote some words by the Mother given many years ago; and a relevant extract from my book Nirodbaran's Complete Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo):
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