T. Kodandarama Rao
T. Kodandarama Rao first met Sri Aurobindo in December 1920. A few months later he came to live near him in Pondicherry. He remained until 1924. After his return to Andhra Pradesh, he remained in contact with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and was present at many darshans.
(T. Kodandarama Rao:) “1920 was a special year in my life. The Non-Cooperation Movement was in full swing. Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and others were addressing mass meetings at Madras to revolt against the British, boycott schools and colleges and foreign goods, and win freedom for India. Dr. Besant, Arundale, Wadia and other Theosophists also launched the Home Rule movement to get Dominion Status for India. There was great turmoil in the country, and the student population became excited by the fiery speeches of the leaders. The contagion spread to our college also, which was considered to be the premier Government college in the then Madras State, manned by English professors with a bureaucratic outlook. Though the students in our college had great sympathy for the freedom movement, yet very few responded to the boycott of college education. My friend and classmate Tirupati, became prominent in the college by wearing khaddar and donning the Gandhi cap and created a sensation in the college. He stealthily took away my lace and silk clothes presented to me by my father-in-law, and made a bonfire of them, as they were of foreign cloth. I was happy when he told me about it after the event, as I was in an ascetic mood then.
At about this time, tossed between a desire to join the Non-Cooperation Movement, and a desire to renounce the world for spiritual practices, I happened to peruse the Arya, the immortal philosophical and cultural monthly journal edited by Sri Aurobindo, Paul and Mirra Richard, on the table of our hostel library. The pages of the journal were not opened by anybody though I was seeing it on the table for days together.”[1]
“It was about the last week of December 1920 and the College was closed for Christmas vacation. There was a heavy downpour of rain in Madras. Suddenly, an idea flashed in my mind that I must go to Pondicherry and have a darshan of Sri Aurobindo, and take his advice as to my future course of action. My friend, Tirupati, who came to know about my trip, decided to join me, and so we took the night train to Pondicherry.”[2]
“Sri Aurobindo was seated behind an oblong table covered with a blue cloth on the verandah and was glancing through the morning newspapers. We stood before him and saluted him with folded hands and he made a sign asking us to sit in the chairs before him. An effulgent personality he was, radiating light from his golden body. With his luminous eyes, he looked deep into me and I felt a thrill passing through my being, and I became speechless. My friend asked some questions about Yoga and whether we should appear for the final B.A. degree examination, which was to come off in the next three months, or give up our studies and join the political fray, or take up Yoga. He advised us to appear for the examination remarking that the question of Yoga or politics could be finally decided afterwards.”[3]
“As I was not corresponding with my relatives, they gave me up for lost or thought I was leading a wayward life somewhere. When I suddenly went to see my relatives, it was a surprise to them, and they thought that I would seek some employment; and they advised me strongly to do so. When I told them that I would go to my village and lead a quiet life, they dissuaded me and my father-in-law offered to finance me for my law examination. I was wavering and did not know what to do, whether to go back to the Master, or study for a Law course. I wrote to my Ashram friend, Sri Satyendranath Varma about my indecision, and he promptly wrote me affectionately to follow the inner call. The inner command was to go to the Master, but the external pulls were too strong and tempting and I told my people that I would pursue the Law course and took the amount of Rs. 200/– given to me by my father-in-law for paying the college fees etc., and started for Madras. After reaching Madras, I changed my mind and the inner command to go to the Master became resonant and clear. So, without joining the College of Law, I sped to my Master to practise Yoga. It was the beginning of July 1921. Sometime after reaching Pondicherry, I wrote to my father-in-law and other relatives that I was with the Master and that they need not be anxious about my whereabouts. It was of course a great shock to my wife who was only fifteen years old then and to her father and others.”[4]
“We used to spend our time in meditation in our rooms, and reading books on literature, philosophy and art and various journals, and contributing articles to journals. Nolini was a good football player and he used to go with Moni and Bijoy to play the game. I was going out for walks with Varma or other friends and sometimes alone. Mother was having meditation separately with Sri Aurobindo and it was said that she used to go into trance for long hours. Time did not hang heavy upon me and I felt as if transported into a higher world, always feeling happy, with an ever-present inner delight. I forgot completely everything about my friends and relatives in the outer world, and everything in the world appeared as play.”[5]
“[In 1922] I was faced with a big problem. My father-in-law wanted to bring my wife and leave her with me. I did not know what to do. I had no money to keep her separately with me. There were no woman sadhakas in the Ashram then, besides Mother and Datta, and the Master had no funds to feed me and my wife at that time. My father-in-law wrote again saying that he would finance me and wanted me to have my wife with me. I put this matter to the Master who consented to the proposal and asked me to live separately. So, my father-in-law came with his daughter and sister-in-law, rented a house in the Indian quarter and went away. For about two months I did not stay with my wife and [her aunt], but was messing and residing in the Master's Guest House. At the end of two months, my [wife's aunt] left Pondicherry leaving my wife alone. So, I had to go and live with her. … I tried to pull on with her in spite of economic difficulties. She began to learn English and to practise Yoga. For six months, Sri Aurobindo did not see her. But, I was telling him about her progress in sadhana now and then. After six months, she was permitted to have darshan of the Master. Thereafter she was allowed to see him once a week. She began to progress rapidly after she touched the Master's feet, and got His blessings.”[6]
“I came to the end of my financial resources by the end of May 1924. I painfully intimated this fact to the Master and he sympathised with me. He had himself no funds at the time to maintain us. He never appealed to anybody or the public for funds at any time, in any manner whatsoever. If any devotee obliged him with funds knowing his dire wants, he would consider the source and accept the same. The Arya, which was a source of a small income, stopped long ago. Under these circumstance I took leave of the Master, and left his august presence with my wife in June 1924 with great regret.”[7]
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