Chapter 9Life in Baroda, 1893–1906 · Service in Baroda State

He should begin all again from the beginning and try to re-nationalise himself; . . .

There was no unhappiness for that reason, nor at that time any deliberate will for renationalisation — which came, after reaching India, by natural attraction to Indian culture and ways of life and a temperamental feeling and preference for all that was Indian.

*

He was leaving, he wished to leave, and yet there was a touch of regret as well at the thought of leaving England. . . . He felt the flutter of unutterable misgivings and regrets; he achieved escape from them by having recourse to poetic expression.

There was no such regret in leaving England, no attachment to the past or misgivings for the future. Few friendships were made in England and none very intimate; the mental atmosphere was not found congenial. There was therefore no need for any such escape.

*

Aurobindo was going back to India to serve under the Gaek-war of Baroda; he cast one last look at his all but adopted country and thus uttered his “Envoi”.

No, the statement was of a transition from one culture to another. There was an attachment to English and European thought and literature, but not to England as a country; he had no ties there and did not make England his adopted country, as Manmohan did for a time. If there was attachment to a European land as a second country, it was intellectually and emotionally to one not seen or lived in in this life, not England, but France.

*

The steamer by which Aurobindo was to have left England was wrecked near Lisbon. The news came to Dr. Krishnadhan [Ghose] as a stunning blow. He concluded that all his three sons were lost to him for ever.

There was no question of the two other brothers starting. It was only Aurobindo’s death that was [reported]8 and it was while uttering his name in lamentation that the father died.

*

After his father’s demise the responsibility of supporting the family devolved on him and he had to take up some appointment soon.

There was no question of supporting the family at that time. That happened some time after going to India.

*

[The name “Aurobindo Acroyd Ghose”]

Sri Aurobindo dropped the “[Acroyd]”9 from his name before he left England and never used it again.

8 MS reposed 9 MS (dictated) Ackroyd

Sri Aurobindo was first introduced to H.H. Sri Sayajirao, the great, Maharaja of Baroda by Mr. Khaserao Jadhav in England.

Not true. Sri Aurobindo made the acquaintance of Khaserao two or three years after reaching Baroda. Cotton introduced him to the Gaekwar.

Struck by the brilliance and the learning of the young Ghose, the Maharaja invited him to be his reader and in that capacity Sri Aurobindo came to Baroda.

Reader. Nothing of the kind. There was no such invitation and this post did not exist. Sri Aurobindo joined the Settlement Department, afterwards went to the Revenue and then to the College.

Sri Aurobindo used to read voluminously and make valuable notes for H.H. with whom he had free and illuminating discussions on various subjects.

Not at all. There were no such discussions.

The Maharaja . . . made him Naib Khangi Kamgar i.e. Asst. Private Secretary.

He had nothing to do with the Khangi Department and was never appointed Private Secretary. He was called very often for the writing of an important letter, order, despatch, correspondence with [the] British Government or other document; he assisted the Maharaja in preparing some of his speeches. At one time he was asked to instruct him in English grammar by giving exact and minute rules for each construction etc. It was only miscellaneous things like this for which he was called for the occasion, but there was no appointment as Secretary except once in Kashmir.

In this office Sri Aurobindo had to study many important affairs of the administration and though still very young and quite new to the post, he acquitted himself with marvellous keenness and precision, and boldly expressed his views in a straight-forward manner, whether H.H. agreed with him or not. The Maharaja appreciated this frankness, and admired him all the more. Sometimes his drafts used to fix many au-thorities into a puzzle, as they were invulnerable in reason and clear and thrusting in style.

The whole of this para is pure fancy.

The Maharaja had taken him on tour to places like Kashmir, Ooty and Mahabaleshwar.

Sri Aurobindo was sent for to Ooty in order to prepare a pr´ecis of the whole Bapat case and the judicial opinions on it. He was at Naini Tal with the Maharaja. In the Kashmir tour he was taken as Secretary, for the time of the tour only.

Sri Aurobindo always loved a plain and unostentatious life and was never dazzled by the splendour of the court. Invariably he declined invitations to dinners and banquets at the palace though he received them repeatedly.

Sri Aurobindo had nothing to do with the Court; he does not remember to have received any such invitations.

Among his brother officers the most intimate with him were Khaserao Jadhav and Barrister Keshavrao Deshpande, with whom he discussed the problems of Philosophy, Spiritual life and the reconstruction of India.

The most intimate friend at Baroda was Khaserao’s brother, Lieutenant Madhavrao Jadhav who was associated with him in his political ideas and projects and helped him whenever possible in his political work. He lived with M. in his house most of the time he was at Baroda. There was no such discussion of prob-lems; Sri Aurobindo took no interest in philosophy at all at that time; he was interested in the sayings and life of Ramakrishna and the utterances and writings of Vivekananda, but that was almost all with regard to spiritual life; he had inner experiences, from the time he stepped on to the shores of India, but did not associate them at that time with Yoga about which he knew nothing. Afterwards when he learned or heard something about it from Deshpande and others, he refused to take it up because it seemed to him a retreat from life. There was never any talk about the reconstruction of India, only about her liberation.

He played cricket well.

Never. He only played cricket as a small boy in Mr.. Drewett’s garden at Manchester and not at all well.

It was at Sardar Majumdar’s place that he first met Yogi Lele and got some help from him in spiritual Sadhana.

No. Lele came from Gwalior in answer to a wire from Barin and met Sri Aurobindo at the Jadhavs’ house; Lele took him to Majumdar’s house for meditation on the top floor.

*

Shri Arvind Ghosh . . . joined Baroda State Service in February 1893 as an extra professor of English in the Baroda College . . .

Incorrect.

. . . on a salary of Rs. 300/–a month.

It was 200/ not 300/.

His age as recorded in State papers on 31st July 1899 was 26 years, 2 months and 22 days.

Incorrect. 11 months, 16 days

In 1900 his transfer to some other department was under consideration but was postponed. . . . On 17–4–1901 he was transferred to the Revenue Department. . . . Next year (1904) in April, H.H. ordered that Shri Ghosh should work from 1st June as his Asst. Private Secretary . . .

All this certainly incorrect. I did not start with service in the College. I was put at first in the Settlement Department, not on any post, but for learning work. Afterwards I was put in the Revenue-Stamps Department, then in the Secretariat (not as Private Secretary). There were some episodes, I believe, of learning work in the Vahivatdar’s office. My first work in the College was as Lecturer in French, but this was for an hour only, the rest of the time being given to other work. I have no recollection of being appointed Assistant “Private” Secretary. When I became English Professor in the College (which was after a long time) it was a permanent appointment and I went on in it uninterruptedly till I was appointed Vice-Principal, until, in fact, I left Baroda.1 This is what I remember. Perhaps by Private Secretary is meant an appointment in the Secretariat; but the English term does not mean that, it would mean work directly with the Maharaja. What work I did directly for the Maharaja was quite irregular and spasmodic, though frequent and I used to be called for that from my house, not from the office.

*

1901. Transfer to Revenue Department 17.4.1901 (not in college) par Rs. 360/–. Chairman of Debating Society and College Union President.

At what time of the year was this? If I was in the Revenue Department, I could not at the same time be occupying [

]2 these posts.

If I was in the Revenue Department from 1901–1904, what 1 See Table 2, page 568. — Ed. 2 MS be occupying