Letters to M.

                                                                                 3 July, 1912

Dear M.
                   Your money (by letter and wire) and clothes reached safely. The French Post Office here has got into the habit (not yet explained) of not delivering your letters till Friday; that was the reason why we wired to you thinking you had, not sent the money that week. I do not know whether this means anything, - formerly we used to get your letters on Tuesday, afterwards it came to Wednesday, then Thursday and finally Friday. It may be a natural evolution of French Republicanism. Or it may be some- thing else. I see no signs of the seals having been tampered with, but that is not an absolutely sure indication of security. The postman may be paid by the police. Personally, however, I am inclined to believe in the Republican administration theory,- the Republic always likes to have time on its hands. Still, if you like, you can send important communications to any other address here you may know of, for the present (of course, by French post and a Madrasi address). All others should come by the old address, - you may be sure, I think, no letter will be actually intercepted, on this side. By the way, please let us know whether Mr. Banomali Pal received a letter by French post from Achari enclosing another to Parthasarathi.
                     I have not written all this time because I was not allowed to put pen to paper for some time, - that is all. I send enclosed a letter to our Marathi friend. If he can give you anything for me, please send it without the least delay. If not, I must ask you to procure for me by will-power or any other power in heaven or on earth Rs. 50 at least as a loan. If you cannot get it elsewhere, why not apply to Barid Babu? Also, if Nagen is in Calcutta, ask him whether the Noakhali gentleman can let me have anything. I was told he had Rs. 300 put aside for me if I wanted it; but I did not wish to apply to him except in case of necessity. The situation just now is that we have Rs. 11/2 or so in hand. Srinivasa

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is also without money. As to Bharati living on nothing means an uncertain quantity. The only other man in Pondicherry whom I could at present ask for help is absent sine die and my messenger to the South not returned. The last time he came, he brought a promise of Rs. 1000 in a month and some permanent provision afterwards, but the promise like certain predecessors has not yet been fulfilled and we sent him for cash. But though he should have been here three days ago, he has not returned, and even when he returns, I am not quite sure about the cash and still less sure about the sufficiency of the amount. No doubt, God will provide, but He has contracted a bad habit of waiting till the last moment. I only hope He does not wish us to learn how to live on a minus quantity like Bharati.
                    Other difficulties are disappearing. The case brought against the Swadeshis (no one in this household was included in it although we had a very charmingly polite visit from the Parquet and Juge d'lnstruction) has collapsed into the nether regions and the complainant and his son have fled from Pondicherry and become, like ourselves "political refugees" in Cuddalore. I hear he has been sentenced by default to five years imprisonment on false accusation, but I don't know yet whether the report is true. The police were to have left at the end of Pondicherry but a young lunatic (one of Bharati's old disciples in patriotism and atheism) got involved in a sedition-search (for the Indian Sociologist of all rubbish in the world!) and came running here in the nick of time for the police to claim another two months' holiday in Pondicherry. However, I think their fangs have been drawn. I may possibly send you the facts of the case for publication in the Nayak or any other paper, but I am not yet certain.
                      I shall write to you about Sadhana etc. another time.

                                                                                                            Kali

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                                                                                                                         [January,1913?]
Dear M.

We have received from you in December Rs. 60, and Rs.20, and in this month Rs. 10. According to N's account Rs. 10 belongs to November account, Rs. 50 to December; Rs. 20 we suppose to have been sent in advance for the January account. If so, we still expect from you Rs. 20 this month. I should be glad to know if there is any prospect of your being able to increase the amount now or shortly. Up till now we have somehow or other managed to fill in the deficit of Rs. 35 monthly; but, now that all our regular sources here are stopped, we have to look to mere luck for going on. Of course if we were Bhaktas of the old type, this would be the regular course, but as our Sadhana stands upon Karmayoga with Jnana and Bhakti, this inactive Nirbhara can only continue so long as it is enjoined on us as a temporary movement of the Sadhana. It cannot be permanent. I think there will have to be a change before long, but I cannot see clearly whether the regular and sufficient arrangement which must be instituted some time, is to come from you or from an unexpected quarter or whether I have myself to move in the matter. It is a question of providing some Rs. 450 a year in addition to what you send, - unless, of course, God provides us with some new sources for the sarirayiitra as He did two years ago.
                     All these matters as well as the pursuance of my work to which you allude in your last (commercial) letter, depend on the success of the struggle which is the crowning movement of my Sadhana - viz. the attempt to apply knowledge and power to the events and happenings of the world without the necessary instrumentality of physical action. What I am attempting is to establish the normal working of the Siddhis in life i.e. the perception of thoughts, feelings and happenings of other beings and in other places throughout the world without any use of information by speech or any other data; 2nd, the communication of the ideas and feelings I select to others (individuals, groups, nations) by mere transmission of will-power; 3rd, the silent compulsion on them to act according to these communicated ideas and feel-

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ings; 4th, the determining of events, actions and results of action throughout the world by pure silent will-power. When I wrote to you last, I had begun the general application of these powers which God has been developing in me for the last two or three years, but, as I told you, I was getting badly beaten. This is no longer the case, for in the Ist, 2nd and even in 3rd I am now largely successful, although the action of these powers is not yet perfectly organised. It is only in the 4th that I feel a serious resistance. I can produce single results with perfect accuracy, I can produce general results with difficulty and after a more or less prolonged struggle, but I can neither be sure of producing the final decisive result I am aiming at nor of securing that orderly arrangement of events which prevents the results from being isolated and only partially effective. In some directions I seem to succeed, in others partly to fail and partly to succeed, while in some fields, e.g., this matter of financial equipment both for my personal life and for my work I have hitherto entirely failed. When I shall succeed even partially in that, then I shall know that my hour of success is at hand and that I have got rid of the past Karma in myself and others, which stands in our way and helps the forces of Kaliyuga to baffle our efforts.
              About Tantric Yoga; your experiment in the smasona was a daring one, - but it seems to have been efficiently and skilfully carried out, and the success is highly gratifying. In these Kriyas there are three considerations to be held in view; 1st, the object of the Kriya. Of course there is the general object of Mukti-Bhukti which Tantriks in all ages have pursued, but to bring it about certain subjective results and conditions are necessary in ourselves and our surroundings and each separate Kriya should be so managed as to bring about an important result of the kind. Big Kriyas or numerous Kriyas are not always necessary; the main thing is that they should be faultlessly effective like your last Kriya or the small one with which you opened your practices. That is the second consideration viz. the success of the Kriya itself and that depends on the selection and proper use of the right Mantra and Tantra, - Mantra, the mental part, and Tantra, the practical part. These must be arranged with the greatest scrupulousness. All rashness, pride, ostentation, etc., - the rajasic

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defects, - also, all negligence, omission, slipshod ritual,- the tamasic defects, must be avoided. Success must not elate your minds, nor failure discourage. 3rdly, Angarakshana is as important as Siddhi. There are many Tantriks in this Kaliyuga who are eager about Siddhi, careless in Angarakshana. They get some Siddhi, but become the prey of the devils and Bhutas they raise. Now what is the use of the particular Siddhi, if the Sadhakas are destroyed? The general and real object, - Mukti and Bhukti, - remains unfulfilled. Angarakshana is managed, first, by the selection and arrangement of the right Siddhi- Mantra and Kriya, secondly, by the presence behind the Sadhaka of one who repeats what is called an Angarakshana Mantra, destructive of the Pretas and Rakshasas or prohibitive of their attacks. The last function I have taken on myself; it is your business so to arrange the Kriya that the Bhutas get no chances for [praves] or for the seizure and destruction of the Sadhaka. I have found that my Mantra has been more and more successful in protection, but it is not yet strong enough to prevent all  [upadrav] of a dangerous character. It will take some more [avrtti] to increase its power. It is for this reason that I do not yet tell you to go on swiftly in your course of practices. Still there is no harm in quickening the pace in comparison with the past. Remember always the supreme necessity of Mauna in Tantric practices. In Vedantic and Puranic exercises expression is not dangerous, but the goddess of the Tantra does not look with a favourable eye on those who from pride, ostentation or looseness blab about the Mantra or the Kriya. In Tantric-Sadhana secrecy is necessary for its own sake. Those who reveal Mantra or Kriya to the unfit, suffer almost inevitably; even those who reveal them unnecessarily to the fit impair somewhat the force of their Tantric action.

                                                                                                                                        Kali
P. S. Please send the rest of this month's money at once, if you have not already sent it, and next month's as early as you can.

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                                                                                                                                     [1913?]                                                                                                                            
Dear M.

    I write only about 3 points today.
   1. Your R. S. Sharma I hold to be a police spy. I have refused to see him because originally when he tried to force his way into my house and win my confidence by his extravagances I received a warning against him from within which has always been repeated. This was confirmed afterwards by two facts, -first that the Madras Police betrayed a very benevolent interest in the success of his mission, secondly, that he came to Pondicherry afterwards as sub-editor of a new Pondicherry paper, the Independent, subsequently defunct and replaced by another the Argus, belonging to the same proprietor who has been openly acting in concert with the British Police against us in Pondicherry. In this paper he wrote a very sneering and depreciatory paragraph about me, (not by name but by allusion) in which he vented his spite at his failure. Failing even so to get any footing here, for the Swadeshis were warned against him, he returned to Madras. He seems now to have tried his hand with you at Calcutta and succeeded, probably, beyond his expectations! I wonder when you people will stop trusting the first stranger with a glib tongue who professes Nationalist fervour and devotion. Whether you accept my estimate of him or not, you may be sure that his Bhakti for me is humbug, - as shown by the above newspaper incident, - and you must accept at least the facts I have given you and draw any conclusions that common sense may suggest to you.

                          2. Do not print Yoga and its Objects unless and until I give you positive directions. It cannot be printed in its present form and I may decide to complete the work before it is printed. In any case parts of it would have to be omitted or modified.
                         3. Next, money matters. I could not understand your arithmetic about the Rs. 40 and how we should gain by not getting it. The only reason why we wrote constantly for it, was that it was necessary to us in our present financial position, in which we have to provide anxiously for every need and the failure of any ex-

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pacted sum reduces us to difficulties. I had reckoned on the remainder of Madgodkar's money to pay the sum sti11 due for the rent of our last house. Fortunately, the litigation connected with the house has kept the matter hanging; but it may be demanded from us any day and we shall have to pay at once, or face the prospect of being dragged into court and losing our prestige here entirely. In future, let me ask you, never to undertake any payment to us which you are not sure of being able to fulfil, because of the great disorder in our arrangements which results.
                        Our position here now is at its worst; since all efforts to get some help from here have been temporarily fruitless and we have to depend on your Rs.50 which is insufficient. We have to pay Rs. 15 for rent, other expenses come to not less, and the remaining Rs. 20 cannot suffice for the food expenses of five people. Even any delay in your money arriving makes our Manager "see darkness". That is why we had to telegraph. We did not know then that your last remittance of Rs. 20 had arrived; and our available money was exhausted. Our correspondence agent has turned merchant and walked off to Madras indefinitely; in his absence we had great difficulty in getting hold of your letter and indeed it is only today that it reached our hands. Narayan will give you a new address to which please address all letters in future.
                          There is no "reason" for my not writing to you. I never nowadays act on reasons, but only as an automaton in the hands of Another; sometimes He lets me know the reasons of my action, sometimes He does not, but I have to act, - or refrain from action, - all the same, according as He wills.
                          I shall write nothing about Sadhana etc. until I am out of my present struggle to make the spirit prevail over matter and circumstances, in which for the resent I have been getting badly the worst of it. Till then you must expect nothing but mere business letters, -if any.      

                                                                                                 Kali

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[1913?]

Dear M.

               P.S. has sent to his brother an address for sending Yogini Chakras. He says it is approved by you. Now we want to know, not only whether they are religious people there, - he says you have assured him of that, - but whether there is any likelihood of these being taken by the P.O. authorities for anything else. There are religious people who are openly mixed up with politics. We do not think it wise to send our purely religious Tantric instruments to any such. Kindly answer by return post. If the answer is satisfactory and we get the money promised, we will send the Chakras. .
                    15th August is usually a turning point or a notable day for me personally either in Sadhana or life, - indirectly only for others. This time it has been very important for me. My subjective Sadhana may be said to have received its final seal and something like its consummation by a prolonged realisation and dwelling in Parabrahman for many hours. Since then, egoism is dead for all in me except the Annamaya Atma, - the physical self which awaits one farther realisation before it is entirely liberated from occasional visitings or external touches of the old separated existence.
                    My future Sadhan is for life, practical knowledge and Shakti, not the essential knowledge or Shakti in itself which I have got already, but knowledge and Shakti established in the same physical self and directed to my work in life. I am now getting a clearer idea of that work and I may as well impart something of that idea to you; since you look to me as the centre, you should know what is likely to radiate out of that centre.
                    1. To re-explain the Sanatana Dharma to the human intellect in all its parts, from a new standpoint. This work is already beginning, and three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so, but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed and the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He

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has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to re-explain the whole Vedanta and Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it and is one everywhere. In this way it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world and its destined saviour through the Sanatana Dharma.
                        2. On the basis of Vedic knowledge, to establish a Yogic - Sadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity and help in the restoration of the Satya Yuga. That work has to begin now but it will not be complete till the end of the Kali.
                        3. India being the centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected as a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means and instruments, not otherwise.
                       4. A perfect humanity being intended, society will have to be remodelled so as to be fit to contain that perfection.

                       You must remember that I have not given you the whole Yogic Sadhana. What I have given you is only the beginning. You have to get rid of Ahamkara and desire and surrender yourself to God in order that the rest may come. You speak of printing Yoga and its Objects. But remember that what 1 have sent you is only the first part which gives the path, not the objects or the circumstances. If you print it, print it as the first of a series, with the subtitle, The Path. I am now busy with an explanation of the Isha Upanishad in twelve chapters. I am at the eleventh now and will finish in a few days. Afterwards I shall begin the second part of the series and send it to you when finished.
                       I have also begun but on a very small scale the second part of my work which will consist in making men for the new age by imparting whatever Siddhi I get to those who are chosen. From this point of view our little colony here is a sort of seed plot, a laboratory. The things I work out in it, are then extended outside. Here the work is progressing at last on definite lines and with a certain steadiness, not very rapid, but still definite results are forming. I should be glad to have from you clearer knowledge of the results you speak of over there; for my Drishti is not 

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yet sufficiently free from obstructions for me to know all that I need to know at this stage.
                            What you say about the Ramakrishna Mission is, I dare say, true to a certain extent. Do not oppose that movement or enter into any conflict with it ----Remember also that we derive from Ramakrishna. For myself it was Ramakrishna who personally came and first turned me to this Yoga. Vivekananda in the Alipore Jail gave me the foundations of that knowledge which is the basis of our Sadhana. The error of the Mission is to keep too much to the forms of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda and not keep themselves open for new outpourings of their spirit, -the error of all "Churches" and organised religious bodies.
                           As to other work (Tantric), I am not yet in possession of knowledge. The Shakti is only preparing to pour herself out there, but I don't know what course she will take. You must remember I never plan or fix anything for myself. She must choose her own ("Paddhati") or rather follow the line Krishna fixes for her.
                           I am glad you have arranged something about money. It is indifferent to me whether you get it from others or provide it yourselves, so long as my energies which are badly needed for Sadhana, and for the heavy work laid on me are not diverted at present into this lower effort in which they would be sorely wasted. You will be relieved of the burden as soon as this physical resistance is overcome, but I do not know how soon or late that wilt be. Reward, of course, those who give to God shall have; but what reward He will determine. Remember the importance of keeping up this centre for all my future work depends on what I work out here.
                           I shall write about the Sikh pamphlet which is an excellent thing but with one or two blemishes; but I could not understand who wrote the accompanying letter or what gentleman he refers to.

                            The letter you sent me last time from a certain man in Chandernagore is practically answered here. Biren may have made some mistake about the shoes. It was intended that they should be got from--- The glass case theory is all right, only the exhi-
bits have got to be maintained.
                                                                                                                                          Kali

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 [Feb. - March, 1913?]

Dear M.

                  I have received Rs. 60 by wire and Rs. 20 by letter. It was a great relief to us that you were able to send Rs. 80 this time and Rs. 85 for March. Owing to the cutting off of all other means of supply, we were getting into a very difficult position. I welcome it as a sign of some preliminary effectiveness, through you, in this direction, in which hitherto everything has gone against us; also as one proof of several that the quality of your power and your work is greatly improving in effectiveness and success. I need not refer to the other proofs; you will know what I mean. But just now I find every forward step to be made is violently combated and obstinately obstructed. Our progress is like the advance of a modern regiment under fire in which we have to steal a few yards at a run and then lie down under cover and let the storm of bullets sweep by. I neither hope for nor see yet any prospect of a more successful rapidity.

                 I have been lying down under cover ever since the middle of February after a very brilliant advance in January and the early part of February. I keep the previous ground, but can make as yet no sure progress farther. There is only a slow preparation for farther progress. The real difficulty is to bring force, sureness and rapidity into the  application of power and knowledge to life,-  especially sureness, for it is possible to bring the force and rapidity, but if not attended by unfailing sureness of working, they may lead to great errors in knowledge and great stumbles and disasters in action which counteract the successes. On the other hand, if sureness has to be gained only by not stepping except where everything is sure (which is the first stage of action and knowledge necessary to get rid of rajasic rashness), progress is likely to be slow. I am trying to solve the dilemma.
                  I have not kept your last letter and I only remember that you asked me to write something about your Sadhana. I cannot just now, but I shall try to do it in my next as I expect by then to be clear of some of my present difficulties.

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  There is the pressing cry for clothes in this quarter as these articles seem to be with us to remind us now constantly of the paucity of matter. I have received Bepin Pal's Soul of India. Can you add [another?] by getting from Hiranyagarbha, - Sister Nivedita's My Master as I Saw Him? I am also in need, - as I wrote to you once before, - of R. C. Dutt's Bengali translation of the Vedas. Neither of these books is urgently required but please keep them in mind and send them when you can.                                                         

                                                                                    Kali

                                                                                                                   [June-July,1913?]

     Dear M.

                  Your letter, money etc. have reached me without delay or mishap. Please make it a rule, in future, not to be anxious or troubled when you get no answer; when I do not reply, it is not because I have not received your letters, but because silence was necessary, for my Siddhi, for yours or for the work that has to be done. At such times, keep calm, repel any suggestions of perplexity or anxiety and do not allow any disturbing mental waves to interfere between. A still heart, a clear mind and untroubled nerves are the very first necessity for the perfection of our Yoga.
                      I enclose a letter for C. R. Das. Please transmit it and get a reply written or verbal. You will see, I did not authorise Bhaga to ask him for money; at the same time, in doing so, he obeyed an unspoken general vyapti from myself which his mind seems to have got hold of and mixed up with its own desires and anxieties. I am drawing now towards the close of my internal Yogic Tapasya and the time is not very distant when I shall have to use its results for the work God has sent me to do in the world. For that work I shall need large sums of money. So long as I was only perfecting myself and sending out Shakti to others, all I needed was enough for the maintenance of myself and those who are with me. This charge I gave to you and the charge is not withdrawn; but, as you 

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know, it covers only the bare physical necessities of our life in Pondicherry. More than that, you are not likely to be able to afford; and certainly you could not provide me with the sums I shall need even in the earlier part of my work. To limit myself to the Rs. 85 a month you can send me, would be to deny myself the material means for doing what I have to do and to accept stagnation and quiescence. It is true I am not beginning that work immediately, but, before it begins, I have to bend circumstances to my will in this very particular so that the obstacle of paucity of means which has been my chief stumbling-block for the beginning may be got rid of once for all. My will has to be- come effective on this point above all and the impediments both subjective and objective to its mastery have to be eliminated. Therefore I have sent out the general vyapti I spoke of. Biren's action was one of the first responses, but, as it was an impure response, it has created more Golmal than effect. As to confining the appeal for pecuniary assistance to those who are entirely of one way of thinking with ourselves, it was a good rule for you to observe; but it cannot bind me when I begin my larger movement. From whatever quarter money or help comes to me, it comes from God. .
                       With regard to the Tantric books, the Psalmodist was here, and wrote to you and went away, expecting to return in a fortnight, but more than a fortnight has passed without his return. He has written to us to say he has received money from you and we have written to him to come here. He is expected daily, but he does not arrive. He will, no doubt, be a good Karmavira in time; but at present he is too rajasic, with intervals of Tamas, has too much faith in European religions and the arms of the flesh and too little faith in Yoga and the arms of the spirit. He went northward on his own initiative. I could have told him his efforts there would be fruitless, but it is always well for a man to get experience for himself, when he will not take the benefit of superior experience. Your scheme about the books is impracticable under present conditions of which you are ignorant. When he comes, we will consult together and see if any blameless way can be found. But there is a time for all things and the time for free publication of Tantric works has not arrived. Still, your

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particular order may be met. Your letter to him, if addressed to Pondicherry did not reach us; whether he got it in Madras or not, I do not know.

                Your working, remember, is not yet definitive working; it is still in the nature of experiment, with some minor results. When your working becomes more perfect, more proper and the necessary spiritual force can be sent from here, - then real Tantra can begin. Meanwhile, don't be over-eager; let nothing disconcerting discourage or perplex you. Eagerness, anxiety and discouragement are all different faces of one defect. I shall write to you on all matters connected with the Tantra after the Psalmodist arrives. Also about the Vedanta. If he does not come, I shall write all the same.
                 Bejoy was to have seen Ramchandra in Calcutta and given you news of us, on his way to Khulna; but from your not sending the June money and from Sudhir's letter, it seems the interview did not take place or else no report was given to you. Please send the money. I am going on somehow, but the money I am doing with, will have to be replaced. 

                                                                                                                                                      Kali

                 P.S. The Psalmodist has written announcing his immediate arrival here, but he has so often disappointed us that I end off this letter, without farther waiting. If he comes, I shall write to you as soon as anything is settled.

                                                                                                                        [August,1913?]

Dear M.

                 I enclose a letter to C. R. Das. Please let me know as soon as possible whether he has received the MSS. Also let me have the address of your West Indian friend in that connection which you omitted to give in your last letter, - of course in the usual formula. Please explain how you expect him to befriend you if there is any difficulty in the final stage of the publication. I am too

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Dear M.                 .

                         I send the proofs. Your Rs. 50 for Narayan etc.'s travelling expenses reached duly and were by him duly spent. He has promised to repay the sum, but I don't know when he will be able to do so. He will see you, he told me, when he first goes to Calcutta from his place; as his mother was ill, he would not stop to see you on the way. But perhaps other reasons prevented him just then, for I believe he did stop a day or two in Calcutta.
                         Biren is all right, I believe; he said nothing to anybody about that matter. There were some legitimate doubts in some quarters owing to his unsteady nature and other defects of character. I thought it right to give them as much value for practical purposes as was reasonable; therefore I wrote to you.
                        I do not write to you this time about the despatch of the books, because that is a long matter and would delay the proofs which have already been too long delayed. But I shall write a

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separate letter on that subject. I have also to write about your Tantric Yoga, but I think I shall await what else you have to tell me on that subject before doing so.

                                                                                                                                          Kali

                 P. S. Don't delay long in sending the money.

                  

                                                                                                  [July-Aug.,19131]

          Dear M.

                           I subjoin certain explanations about the matter of the Tantric books. I put them in cipher because there are certain things, as you can understand, not comme il faut according to the ideas of modern social decorum which ought not to fall under unfit eyes. It appears that you did not understand my last letter. However, from henceforth please leave this matter entirely in my hands. You will see from the explanations given how highly undesirable is the kind of correspondence you have been carrying on hitherto in another quarter. I have taken Rs.50 from S., but this sum or part of it (at least Rs.30) ought to be replaced for expenses attached to that particular transaction. Meanwhile I await Rs.35 for June and all the July money. I delay other matters in consideration of the urgency of the accompanying note.

                                                                                                                                           Kali

                            P.S. I received information of your Tantric Kriyas. It is clear that you are far from perfect yet. All the more reason why you should not be in a hurry to progress physically. Get rid of the remnants of sattwic Ahankara and Rajoguna, for that which we are within, our Karma and Kriya will be without. Kali demands a pure Adhara for her works, and if you try to hurry her by rajasic impatience, you will delay the success instead of hastening it. I will write to you fully about it later.  

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Dear M.                                                                                                  [April, 1914]

                 I send you today the electoral declaration of M. Paul Richard, one of the candidates at the approaching election for the French Chamber. This election is of some importance to us; for there are two of the candidates who represent our views to a great extent, Laporte and Richard. Richard is not only a personal friend of mine and a brother in the Yoga, but he wishes like myself, and in his own way works for a general renovation of the world by which the present European civilisation shall be replaced by a spiritual civilisation. In that change the resurrection of the Asiatic races and especially of India is an essential point. He and Madame Richard are rare examples of European Yogins who have not been led away by Theosophical and other aberrations. I have been in material and spiritual correspondence with them for the last four years. Of course, they know nothing of Tantric Yoga. It is only in the Vedantic that we meet. If Richard were to become deputy for French India, that would practically mean the same thing as myself being deputy for French India. Laporte is a Swadeshi with personal ambitions; his success would not mean the same but at any rate it would mean a strong and, I believe, a faithful ally in power in this country and holding a voice in France.
                     Of course, there is no chance, humanly speaking, of their being elected this time. Laporte is not strong enough to change the situation single-handed. Richard has come too late; otherwise so great is the disgust of the people with Bluysen and Lemaire, GaebeIe and Pierre that I think we could have managed an electoral revolution. Still, it is necessary, if it can at all be done, to stir things a little at the present moment and form a nucleus of tendency and, if possible, of active result which would be a foundation for the future and enable us at the next election to present one or other of these candidates with a fair chance of success.

                        I want to know whether it is possible without your exposing yourself to have the idea spread in Chandernagore, especially among the younger men, of the desirability of these candidatures

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and the abandonment of the old parochial and rotten politics of French India, with its following of interested local Europeans and subservience to their petty ambitions in favors of a politics of principle which will support one of our own men or a European like Richard who is practically an Indian in belief, in personal culture, in sympathies and aspirations, one of the Nivedita type. If also a certain number of votes can be recorded for Richard in Chandernagore so much the better; for that will mean a practical beginning, a tendency from the Sukshma world materialised initially in the Sthula. If you think this can be done, please get it done, - always taking care not to expose yourself. For your main work is not political but spiritual. If there can be a Bengali translation of Richard's manifesto or much better, a statement of the situation and the desirability of the candidature succeeding, - always steering clear of extremism and British Indian politics, - it should be done and distributed. I lay stress on these things because it is necessary that the conditions of Chandernagore and Pondicherry should be changed, the repetitions of recent events rendered impossible and the cession of French territory put out of the question. There would be other and more positive gains by the change, but these I need not emphasise now.
                 I have just received your letter and the money. I shall delay answering it for the present, as this letter must go immediately. I shall answer soon, however. I am only waiting till this election is over to give some shape to the decision I have arrived at to resume personally my work on the material plane and it is necessary that there should be some arrangement by which the Vedantic work can go on unhampered by the effects of errors in Tantric Kriya. For Tantric Kriya carried on in the old style, to which your people seem to be so undivorceably attached, can only help so far as to keep up the Yogic flame in the hearts of a few, while on the other hand it is full of danger to the spirit and the body. It is only by a wider Vedantic movement leading later to a greater Tantra that the work of regeneration can be done; and of that movement neither you nor Saurin can be the head. It needs a wider knowledge and a greater spiritual force in the Adhara through which it is engineered; it needs, in fact the

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greatest which India contains and which is at the same time willing to take it up. I see only Devavrata and myself who have the idea, - for the Dayanandas and others are a negligible quantity, and Devavrata seems to me to have gone off for the moment on a wrong route and through egoism has even allowed his spiritual force to be used against us by secret forces in the Sukshma world which he is not yet advanced enough to understand. Therefore, if God wills, I will take the field.

                                                                                                                                                K.

                    P. S. GaebeIe has given me strenuous assurances that Bluysen is not working for the cession of Chandernagore and has sworn that he (GaebeIe) will ever be a stern and furious opponent of any such cession as well as a staunch defender of the Swadeshi refugees! Such is the fervour of electoral promises! He has given a number of the Journal des Debats in which there is a full account of Bluysen's interpellations, from which it appears that both Bluysen and Doumergue were agreed that there can be no question of cession but only of "rectification of Pondicherry boundaries". But only then did Bluysen tell us solemnly that the cession was a "settled fact" and any refugee in Chandernagore must run to Pondicherry at once. However, I am trying to send you or get sent to Banamali Pal the copy of the Journal, so that Bluysen may have the benefit of his public declarations. They are in a sense binding, if anything can bind a French politician. If you don't get the Journal, at any rate contrive that the substance of it as given by me here should be known in Chandernagore, if it is not known already. For you must remember that Lemaire has made no such declaration and is not bound at all by any past professions, but has... been an advocate of the cession.

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Dear M.                                                                                                              17 April, 1914.

            The political situation here is as follows. In appearance Bluysen and Lemaire face each other on the old lines and the real fight is between them. Bluysen has the support of the whole administration, except a certain number of Lemairistes who are quiescent and in favour of it. The Governor Martineau, GaebeIe, the Police Lieutenant and the Commissaire form his political committee. By threats and bribes the Maires of all the Communes except two have been forced or induced to declare on his side. He has bought or got over most of the Hindu traders in Pondicherry. He has brought over 50,000 rupees for his election and is prepared to purchase the whole populace, if necessary. Is it British rupees, I wonder? The British Government is also said to be interfering in his behalf and it is certain that a Mahomedan Collector of Cuddalore has asked his co-religionists to vote for this master of corruption. A violent administrative pressure is being brought to bear upon both at Pondicherry and Karikal and the Maires being on his side the electoral colleges will be in his hands with all their possibilities of fraud and violence.
               Lemaire has for him most of the Christian and Renoncants (except the young men who are for Richard) and Pierre. But the Pierre party is entirely divided. Kosia[?] refuses to declare himself, most of the others are Bluysenites, the Comite Radical has thrice met without Pierre being able to overcome the opposition against him. Lemaire had two chances, one that if the people could be got to vote, Pierre's influence over the mass might carry the day for him, the other that Nandagopalu might intimidate the enemy and counteract the administration. But Nandagopalu instead of intimidating is himself intimidated; he is hiding in his house and sending obsequious messages to GaebeIe and Martineau. So great at one time was the despair of the Lemairistes, that Pierre offered through Richard to withdraw Lemaire, if GaebeIe withdraws Bluysen, the two enemies then to shake hands and unite in support of Richard or another candidate. Gaebele would have been glad to accept the offer, but he

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cannot, he has taken huge sums from Bluysen. The leaders are almost all bought over by Bluysen and those who remain on Lemaire's side dare not act. The only weapon now in Lemaire's hands is vague threat and rumour, that the Cabinet has fallen, that Martineau is suspended, that the new Police Captain is his man etc. There are also rumours of a sudden coup d' etat by Lemaire on the election day, of Appaswami being carried off Dr killed, of the Election Committee being in his hands and it is true that the President is a Lemairiste. But I do not see how these things are going to be done. There may, of course, be a sudden Lemairiste rally, but at present it seems as if Bluysen by the help of the Administration money, the British Government and the devil were likely to win an easy victory.
                  Laporte had some chance of strong backing at the beginning but his own indolence and mistakes have destroyed it. He is now waiting on God and Lemaire into whose shoes he dreams of stepping, - for Lemaire has promised him that if he gets no favourable answer from France he will desist in Laporte's favour and Laporte being a man of faith is sitting quiet in that glorious expectation.
                 Then there is Richard. He has neither agent, nor committee, nor the backing of a single influential man. What he has is the sympathy and good wishes of all the Hindus and Mahomedans in Pondicherry and Karikal with the exception of the Vaniyas who are for Bluysen. The people are sick to death of the old candidates, they hate Bluysen, they abhor Lemaire and if only they could be got to vote according to their feelings, Richard would come in by an overwhelming majority. But they are over- awed by the Government and wait for some influential man among the Hindus to declare for him. No such man is forthcoming. All are either bought by Bluysen or wish to be on the winning side. Under these circumstances the danger is that the people will not vote at all and the electoral committee will be forced to. manufacture in their names bogus votes for Bluysen. On the other hand an impression has been made at Karikal, where the young men are working zealously for Richard; some of its communes are going to support him; some of the leaders who are themselves pledged to Bluysen have promised to tell

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their followers that they are free to vote for Richard if they wish; the Mahomedan leaders of Karikal are for Bluysen or rather for his money, but the mass have resolved to vote neither for Bluysen nor Lemaire, and either not to vote at all or for Richard. At Pondicherry, Villenour has promised to declare for Richard the day before the election so as to avoid prolonged administrative pressure. Certain sections of the community e.g. the young men among the Christians and a number of the Mahomedans,-Richard is to speak at the mosque and a great number may possibly come over and a certain nucleus of the Hindus are certain to vote for him. We count also on the impression that can be given during the next few days. If in addition Chandernagore can give a large vote for Richard, there is a chance not of carrying Richard but of preventing a decisive vote at the first election, so that there may be a second ballot. If that is done, great numbers who hesitate to vote for Richard in the idea that Bluysen must carryall before him, may pick up courage and turn the whole situation, - to say nothing of the chances of Lemaire retiring and his whole vote coming over or a great part of it. There- fore, I say, throw aside all other considerations and let the young men of Chandernagore at least put all their strength on Richard's side and against the two unspeakable representatives of Evil who dispute the election between them. For if they do not, humanly speaking, Chandernagore seems to be doomed.
                I wrote to you in my last doubtfully about Bluysen's or rather Gaebele's professions about Chandernagore and the Swadeshis. Since then, even Martineau has condescended to let us know that he is trying to get the British police sent away from Pondicherry. But all this is either sheer falsehood or late repentance for the convenience of the moment. The damning facts are that Bluysen saw the Viceroy on his last visit, that it is known on this occasion the whole talk was about this cession of Chandernagore, that on his return he told Bharati the cession of Chandernagore was a settled fact and while before his trip northward, he was gushing over to the Swadeshis, afterwards he roundly declared that he could not help us openly because the Cabinet was pro-English and he must follow the Cabinet, that he went to Karikal and declared to a .number of people (this has only

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yesterday come to my knowledge) that Chandernagore was going to be ceded to the British with Bluysen's consent; that, on his second and present visit, he was entertained by the Collector of Cuddalore on his way and that that Collector has condescended to act as an electoral agent for him with his co-religionists. It is perfectly clear now that the man has told himself to England, - selling and buying himself and others seem to be his only profession in the world. Therefore every vote given for Bluysen in Chandernagore is a vote for the cession of Chandernagore to the British. On the other hand, if you vote for Lemaire, it means the same thing at a later date. For he was the first to broach the question in the public press in France, he has advised the suppression of the vote in French India, he has English connections and is an Anglophil. Not only so, but although asked by the Hindus to recant his former views if he wanted their vote, he has refused to do it, and this refusal has contributed largely to the failure of Pierre to carry the Hindus with him. Let these facts be widely known in Chandernagore both about Bluysen and Lemaire, let it be known that Richard is a Hindu in faith, a Hindu in heart and a man whose whole life is devoted to the ideal of lifting up humanity and specially Asia and India and supporting the oppressed against the strong, the cause of the future which is our cause against all that hampers and resists it. If after that, Chandernagore still votes for Bluysen or Lemaire, it is its own choice and it will have itself to thank for anything that may follow.
                I have more to write of these things from the spiritual point of view, but I shall leave it till tomorrow or the day after as this letter must go at once. Put faith in God and act. You have seen that when He wills He can bring about impossibilities. Do not look too much at the chances of success and failure in this matter. (Sanskrit written in Bengali script.) [karmalJyeviidhikiiraste].

Kali

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