One of the joys of the internet is the ability it offers to pick up relatively rare books from even obscure book shops anywhere in the world. I had managed to pick up the 1967 Kumbhabhishekam Souvenir published by Sri Ramanasramam (mentioned in "The Turning Point" post earlier) by ordering it over the internet.
At around the same time I also found this innocuous looking issue of Life magazine, issue of 30th May 1949, on an online catalogue of an old books store in the US
It is an important story in a historical sense; because in those days “Life” was probably the greatest magazine on earth, and that it chose to carry a story out of Tiruvannamalai, deep in the hinterland of India
A word on Winthrop Sargeant: In 1949 he was one of the 3 “Senior Writers” of Life magazine, making him an influential writer of that time. Previously he had been with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as a violinist, and then a music critic for Life magazine. He left Life magazine in 1949 to become a music critic and writer for “The New Yorker”. He died in 1986 at the age of 82. His encounter with Bhagavan seems to have affected him more than he lets on in this write-up, because he subsequently took up the study of the Bhagavad Gita as a life-long quest. He learnt Sanskrit and even published his own translation in 751 pages, with the rather ponderous subtitle: “The Bhagavad Gita - An interlinear translation from the Sanskrit, with word-for-word transliteration and translation, and complete grammatical commentary, as well as a readable prose translation and page-by-page vocabularies”; Doubleday , NY
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| Winthrop Sargeant |
Also fascinating is how, so blithely, the editors of that time have interspersed the story on a “Holy Man” non pareil, with advertisements of whiskeys, of sun tan lotion with a bikini clad girl and what not. The latter is particularly incongruous, as it is juxtaposed with a picture of a severe and austere looking Chinna Swami sitting at his desk in his spartan ‘office’. I can imagine the sensation the magazine may have caused in 1949 when a few copies would have doubtless landed up in Tiruvannamalai, and have been perused by conservative devotees.
A word too on the pictures accompanying the story: they were taken by the celebrated photographer Eliot Elisofon and form part of his “India
Here then is the story on Bhagavan in that Life issue. The images are not however scanned from the copy I have. The almost broadsheet sized Life magazine makes for a glorious read, but is difficult to scan. I found the entire story freely available off the internet.
[Note: To enable the text to be read, I had to upload the images in extra large size. Still cant figure out how to enable a picture large enough for the text to be readable to be opened on double-clicking or something. Sorry about that].
[Note: To enable the text to be read, I had to upload the images in extra large size. Still cant figure out how to enable a picture large enough for the text to be readable to be opened on double-clicking or something. Sorry about that].
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| Cover of Life Magazine Issue dated 30.5.1949 |
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing this article. :)
A good friend told me that Mr. Sargeant's commentary on the Gita is one of the better ones around.
I wonder what Mr.Sargeant really thought about the interesting notion of Sri Aurobindo playing a pivotal role in the demise of Hitler!
Best regards,
Thanks m, appreciate the comment.
Sorry for a delayed response. I wanted to quote from Sri Aurobindo’s and the “Mother’s” writings, and it took me a while to locate the appropriate passages.
Winthrop Sargeant talks about Sri Aurobindo’s devotees having the belief that he caused Hitler’s demise and then goes on to say that he is not sure whether the ‘Master’ would endorse this view. The ‘Master’, Sri Aurobondo here, clearly does. In fact Sri Aurobindo himself wrote to that effect as under (writing about himself in the third person):
[From: “Sri Aurobindo - Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest”, Pg 65-66]
“But this did not mean, as most people supposed, that he retired into some height of spiritual experience devoid of any further interest in the world or in the fate of India. It could not mean that, for the very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise the Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all world activity into the scope of this spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on the Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. In his retirement Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened whenever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action; for it is part of the experience of those who have advanced far in Yoga that besides the ordinary forces and activities of the mind and life and body in Matter, there are other forces and powers that can act and do act from behind and from above; there is also a spiritual dynamic power which can be possessed by those who are advanced in the spiritual consciousness, though all do not care to possess or, possessing, to use it, and this power is greater than any other and more effective. It was this force which, as soon as he had attained to it, he used, at first only in a limited field of personal work, but afterwards in a constant action upon the world forces. He had no reason to be dissatisfied with the results or to feel the necessity of any other kind of action. Twice however he found it advisable to take in addition other action of a public kind.
The first was in relation to the second World War. At the beginning he did not actively concern himself with it, but when it appeared as if Hitler would crush all the forces opposed to him and Nazism dominate the world, he began to intervene. He declared himself publicly on the side of the Allies, made some financial contributions in answer to the appeal for funds and encouraged those who sought his advice to enter the army or share in the war effort. Inwardly, he put his spiritual force behind the Allies from the moment of Dunkirk when everybody was expecting the immediate fall of England and the definite triumph of Hitler, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the rush of German victory almost immediately arrested and the tide of war begin to turn in the opposite direction. This he did, because he saw that behind Hitler and Nazism were dark Asuric forces and that their success would mean the enslavement of mankind to the tyranny of evil, and a set-back to the course of evolution and especially to the spiritual evolution of mankind: it would lead also to the enslavement not only of Europe but of Asia, and in it India, an enslavement far more terrible than any this country had ever endured, and the undoing of all the work that had been done for her liberation. It was this reason also that induced him to support
[Cont at 2 below]
[2]
publicly the Cripps’ offer and to press the Congress leaders to accept it. He had not, for various reasons, intervened with his spiritual force against the Japanese aggression until it became evident that Japan intended to attack and even invade and conquer India. He allowed certain letters he had written in support of the war affirming his views of the Asuric nature and inevitable outcome of Hitlerism to become public. He supported the Cripps’ offer because by its acceptance India and Britain could stand united against the Asuric forces and the solution of Cripps could be used as a step towards independence. When negotiations failed, Sri Aurobindo returned to his reliance on the use of spiritual force alone against the aggressor and had the satisfaction of seeing the tide of Japanese victory, which had till then swept everything before it, changed immediately into a tide of rapid, crushing and finally immense and overwhelming defeat. He had also after a time the satisfaction of seeing his previsions about the future of India justify themselves so that she stands independent with whatever internal difficulties. (Written 7th November 1946; revised and published 1948)”.
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Similarly, we have the “Mother’s” writings telling of how she played an even more direct role in bringing about Hitler’s downfall:
[from the “E-Library” on the Sri Aurobindo Ashram website, marked as Pgs 16-18 in “Agenda – Vol 06”; talks dated January 12, 1965]
“(Regarding an old "Playground Talk" of March 8, 1951, in which Mother spoke of the being that possessed and "guided" Hitler). Hitler was in contact with a being whom he considered to be the Supreme: that being would come and give him advice and tell him all that he had to do. Hitler would withdraw into solitude and wait long enough to come into contact with his 'guide' and receive inspirations from him which he would afterwards carry out very faithfully. That being whom Hitler took for the Supreme was quite simply an Asura, the one called in occultism 'the Lord of Falsehood,' and he proclaimed himself to be 'the Lord of Nations.' He had a resplendent appearance and could pull the wool over anyone's eyes, except one who truly had occult knowledge and could thus see what was there, behind the appearance. He could have deluded anyone, he was so splendid. He generally appeared to Hitler wearing a breast-plate and a silver helmet (with a sort of flame coming out of his head), and there was around him an atmosphere of dazzling light, so dazzling that Hitler could hardly look at him. He would tell him all that he had to do - he would play with him as with a monkey or a mouse. He had set his mind on making Hitler do all possible kinds of folly ... until the day when he would come a cropper, which is what happened. But there are many cases like that one, on a smaller scale, naturally. Hitler was a very good medium, he had great mediumistic capacities, but he lacked intelligence and discernment. That being could tell him anything and he would swallow it all. That's what prodded him on little by little. And that being would do that as a pastime, he didn't take life seriously. For those beings, people are very small things with which they play as a cat plays with a mouse, until the day when they eat them up."
[Cont at 3 below]
[3]
“I knew that being very well (for other reasons ... the story would be too long to tell), and once, I knew he was going to visit Hitler - I went before he did: I took his appearance, it was very easy. Then I said to Hitler, "Go and attack Russia." I don't exactly remember the words or the details, but the fact was that I told him, "Go ... In order to have the supreme victory, go and attack Russia." That was the end of Hitler. He believed it and did it - two days later, we got the news of the attack. [The lightning offensive of June 22, 1941]. And then, the next day, that is, when I came back from Hitler, I met that being and told him, "I've done your job!" Naturally enough, he was furious!
But all the same, in that consciousness, there is with that being (the Lord of Falsehood, one of the first four Emanations), there is despite everything a very deep relationship, of course. He said to me, "I know, I know I will be defeated eventually, but before my end comes I will wreak as much destruction on earth as I can."
Then, as I told you, the next day, the news of the attack came, and that was really the end of Hitler. As for Sri Aurobindo ... (you know that there is a place in Russia where they were defeated [Stalingrad, on February 2, 1943]), Sri Aurobindo had foreseen the defeat and had worked the night before, and that's how it happened - we knew ALL THE DETAILS.
We never told this, of course, but it was perfectly precise.
But I knew that being, I had already seen him in Japan - he called himself "the Lord of Nations." And he really was a form of the Asura of Falsehood, that is, of Truth which became Falsehood: the first Emanation of Truth, who became Falsehood. And he hasn't been destroyed yet.”
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Personally, I don’t really know what to make of it all. Who knows why Spiritual Masters do and say the things that they do and say!
Best wishes
Arvind,
Thanks for locating and posting these passages. I am not familiar with Sri Aurobindo's works. I was under the impression that it was just a case of a devotee attributing the good that happened as the handiwork of his guru, but that passage is fascinating.
I too, like you, do not know what to make of this. Poor historians, who are still writing about that war have missed out on an important piece of information!
Arvind,
Sounds like 'A connecticut yankee in the Holy man's court':-)
Ravi,
“Constantinopolitanischerdudelsackspfeifenmachersgesellschafft!”
:-)
Best wishes
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