14 Dec 2011

Three Letters of Sudha Sinha to Manoj Das Gupta

No need to mention that the editing of Sri Aurobindo’s works cannot be left in the hands of a fraudulent characterless loafer who harbours hatred towards India. That a fraud cheated us by wearing a mask of deception does not mean that, when we have discovered the cheat, we must place him in the panel of experts. (Extract from Third Letter)

Sudha Sinha’s First Letter to Manoj Das Gupta

(Mother, may I not write a single word that is untrue and inappropriate)

 Manoj-da

I am writing with great anguish; how nice it would have been if you did not allow Peter’s affair to get so much complicated and I would not have had to write this letter. I am not writing this only on my behalf, but on behalf of many persons whom I know and who are hurt by Peter’s shameless conduct.

You may remember many years ago, when this document [Lives of Sri Aurobindo] full of denigrating falsehood had not yet come to light, I had met you at your residence having taken time from you. There was only one purpose of my interview with you, to make you aware of Peter’s licentious behaviour. I had told you that this man uses foul language towards Sri Aurobindo which I find difficult to tolerate. I had also told you that this man with no faith towards Sri Aurobindo is not trustworthy and it is wrong to let him have access to Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts. You had given me a hearing and assured me that you will look into the matter.

That day I had told you only this much that this man is not only disrespectful towards Sri Aurobindo, but also spiteful. But I did not tell you that he is also characterless; I had it in my mind even at that moment, but felt it would be irrelevant. Today I am telling you that his character’s logical disease is so acute that even while writing about the Supreme Master he is possessed  by his lust. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa had said that your belch will smell of the food you have eaten, so what is in Peter’s stomach has spread its foul odour in his writing.

I had also not told you that Peter is a first rate ‘racist’. He made the environment heavy with his ‘we Americans’ and ‘these Indians’ mentality. In this work his collaborator was Richard Hartz, who is no less in his anti-Indian attitude and lack of character. In fact, encouraged and nourished by your letters, he is now spreading his wings, getting in touch with people who are out to spread misconceptions about Indian culture in a systematic manner.

I do not know how seriously you will take my words. You and a handful of people who are encouraging Peter through their words are disrespecting the feelings of a large section of those who are hurt by Peter’s crime. Maybe you will succeed for the moment in your deceptive plan due to your power, but in the end it is Truth that wins and not falsehood. Your saying that he who was troubling you drowned in the sea sounded so childish to me! Manoj da! There are so many people against Peter that the sea will be too small to drown them all.

Valmiki has said that even in Kaliyuga there will be such persons who will take the side of Truth regardless of their personal loss or gain; I can see that the numbers of those who would stand by Truth are increasing by the day. They want to know what is making you helplessly side with falsehood! If you are under some threat, then do let us know that as well! What is the dilemma that is making you collaborate with the person who is out to drag down the prestige of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram on a global level to the filth and mire of earth?

Sudha Sinha
28.06.2010


Sudha Sinha’s Second Letter to Manoj Das Gupta

(Mother, whatever I write may be favourable to your work)

Sub: Asuric interference in the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Manoj-da

Everybody expected that you will understand this; that you will feel the obstruction of the asuric resistance against the vast divine work that is being done upon earth by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The expectation was even more so from you since you have been nurtured and grown up in the atmosphere of the embodied Presence of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. But it seems now that your condition is like the ladle described in the Vedas that, though dipped in the soup for all its life, yet knows not its taste. You have said that Nolini-da cautioned you towards money and sex; fortunately, I too have received qualitative blessings from Nolini-da – he must have cautioned you against power as well! Because he believed false pride of power to be the root of all ills!

You believe that many persons are with you. But when I studied the situation carefully, then I found that everyone believes that semi-literate, lustful taxi driver Peter has staged a dangerous deception to enter the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, and the book his organizers have made him write is a grave offence against Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram and those who are moving ahead on this path.

But an even more heinous offence is, having known and understood everything, yet to be in league with the offender.  It is not merely an offence of the outer practical world, but it is that subtle offence, which Sri Aurobindo describes as collaborating with falsehood.

Why do you feel that people are with you? Being practical most persons do not wish to spoil their relation with you due to your power and position. This is somewhat like the secularism of present day Indian politicians who, to win Muslim votes, will participate in Iftar parties during the day but quietly ask for forgiveness at the Hanuman temple in the evening. Deceiving themselves and you, they pray in their hearts to that Mother! You know everything, it is a question of our bread and butter! – and the Mother would forgive Her helpless children because She has limitless patience. But She is waiting as well. And this time-bound wait is linked to Her form of Kali. Do not think that I am trying to scare you just as you tried to scare those who went to meet you regarding Peter by childishly narrating the story of your opponent drowning in the sea. I am not trying to scare you by warning you of the wrath of the Divine Mother, but saying only this much not to harbor the illusion that these people are with you. In reality, all those who have chosen to come and live here for whatever reason are under the Mother’s Protection. And they who are under the Mother’s Protection are with the Truth, and the outer aspect of truth is this that this book which Peter has written is insulting towards Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram and those who are advancing along this path; it is also against the laws of the legal world; its publication should be cancelled and the book thrown into the dustbin and action  taken against Peter and his collaborators. The inner truth that is not in our sight, is that through this episode the downward forces must get eliminated. We are also sorry that you have to labour so much to save this crooked swindler and fraudster; you must also be feeling pained to misuse the money from the Ashram treasury for this purpose. That is why right from the beginning, I have tried to remind you that Nolini-da must have recounted to you the dangers of pride and power; he used to say that the man who is lying in vanity loses his ability to think.

With humility

Sudha Sinha
1st July, 2010


Sudha Sinha’s Third Letter to Manoj Das Gupta

(Mother! Grant me your blessings so that my memory and expression remain faultless)

Having come to Pondicherry with the aim of offering my services to the Ashram, after retirement from government services, I met Shri Jayantilal Parikh, the founder and main person in charge of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives. I learnt that he was in search of a person who was good at Hindi. I carried with me one or two earlier publications of mine which he glanced through cursorily and asked me a few questions. I gathered that he felt reassured about me. He told me to join work the very next day and added that he will inform the person who is looking after the inmates’ work distribution that I am working at the Archives. He also fixed up the time for me and said that for now he would want me to start translating Sri Aurobindo’s unpublished writings on Kalidas. He arranged for me to have the original manuscripts in English and I started the work immediately remembering the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Till that time there was no English-Hindi dictionary at the Archives; I took a copy of Dr Kamil Bulke’s English – Hindi dictionary and respectfully placed it there amidst other books of reference.

The joy of translating lines from Sri Aurobindo was beyond description. I was experiencing that divine joy and upliftment. One day I was stuck at a certain portion; I felt as if I neither had the words nor the skill to express it. I tried to gather everything possible from all the corners of my mind, but this mental effort was of no use. Feeling lost, I stopped working; but before leaving the place I did this much -- I noted the difficult passage in my diary.

My mind kept hovering over the lines till I was awake. A sense of otherness came on me. I sleep well; so it must have been that day as well! It was around 3 in the morning, I woke up fresh and felt like writing something. Something? I did not understand what was happening – something started coming from somewhere and like an instrument I opened my diary and translated those lines[1], and that too in poetic form. I couldn’t believe it; it was actually poetry. I read it again and again, there was no need to change anything much; I prepared a second draft (I had not yet started working on computers till then).

On reaching the Archives I went straight to Jayantilal-da and told him my experience. I recounted it spontaneously. The state with which I had been overcome while translating those lines, I felt Jayantilal had entered that state himself, and his throat was full of that feeling. The sense of what he conveyed to me with great emotion was that he was very happy and that I was open to the positive forces that helped me while writing. On that day itself, he took the decision that when the book with those essays will be published, it will carry this passage as its foreword. So did it happen. The words that Jayantilal-da said in praise of me and the blessings he gave, I would like to keep them to myself; but this much I can tell that his last blessing-command was – ‘Keep it as it is’.   

Just then Peter came up to him like a comet. He had some papers in his hand. He started raising his voice to say something to him. He was showing him those pages shaking his hands. What I could understand was that he had come to quarrel with Jayantilal-da for having raised objection to his editing some of the unpublished portions of Sri Aurobindo in a capricious manner. He was as excitable as Jayantilal-da was calm. At that moment I asked to take leave of him and he permitted me with a nod of his head.

Jayantilal-da started keeping ill health. His naturally smiling countenance began to be enveloped by a shadow of gloom and repentance. He could not survive long with the grief and pain he bore in his heart owing to Peter. One day, when he was disturbed due to Peter’s insulting attitude, I went to ask him something. He said – ‘I am fed up with this man!’ He then spoke in Hindi – ‘I will have to do something.’ But before he could do anything, before he could save the Archives from Peter’s dark hands, he left this world. After the influence of Jayantilal-da’s physical presence was gone, the asura got a free hand. He started robbing the place. He started speaking openly against Sri Aurobindo. It is only after this that I met Shri Manoj Dasgupta and brought to his notice Peter’s unabashed deeds. But I found that Peter and his collaborators were never restrained. That unfortunate, semi-literate, unrefined profligate kept writing books against Sri Aurobindo while sitting inside the Archives room. The mask of deception was that he was editing Sri Aurobindo’s new set of works. There was nobody to keep an eye on the delay in the work and the inner treachery; even now there is none, because the Ashram’s administration is in the PIT of Peter.

There is a need to look carefully at all the books that Peter has touched with his dirty hands; it is necessary to investigate and remove whatever and wherever he may have put objectionable things. Towards this end there is a need for a team of highly learned men to work day and night who 1. understand Sri Aurobindo’s literature, 2. have faith in Sri Aurobindo, 3. are conversant with Sri Aurobindo’s original conceptions of ‘Integral Yoga’ and ‘Supermind’, 4. are able to take their vision up to those aspects of Indian culture that Sri Aurobindo has seen.

No need to mention that the editing of Sri Aurobindo’s works cannot be left in the hands of a fraudulent characterless loafer who harbours hatred towards India. That a fraud cheated us by wearing a mask of deception does not mean that, when we have discovered the cheat, we must place him in the panel of experts. As of now there is only this mistake that a school drop-out, lusty American taxi driver managed to enter that department of the Ashram, which had place only for learned persons. Now that everything is exposed, then what is the purpose of taking sides with that scoundrel? Foolish ego of a few petty-minded persons or a hand in glove with that habitual offender! Some persons with a ‘Yes Boss’ mentality are afraid of losing some personal privileges! A hypocritical peace for a few beloved children of the Mother! Come out of this self created prison house! Look inside yourself! Does not your soul bleed with the insult hurled at the Supreme Master?

With humility

Sudha Sinha
17 July, 2010



[1]No one who has not lived the life of India, till it has become part of his breathing and woven in with every thread of his imagination, can fully appreciate the poem. If one does not know the charm of its hills, the scent of its flowers, the beauty of its skies, (the) flowing sacredness of its rivers with all the phases & emotions of an Indian river's life, if one cannot distinguish & thrill to the touch of its various winds, if one cannot clothe its local places with ancient historic & mythical associations or people them with the strange host of beautiful & weird figures & faces which the imagination of its people has created, if one does not recreate for himself the ancient splendours of its cities, the sense of peace & infinity in its temples & hermitages and the simple sweetness of its rural life, for him the Meghaduta offers only its shell.   

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