Dilip Kumar Roy and Nishikanto at Sri Aurobindo Ashram

A Mighty Person and Mighty Mother

During the course of his travels, Nishikanto came to Katwa where he took refuge under a Vaishnava sage in his Ashram. The sage developed an instant liking for the young man and Nishikanto too was impressed by his radiant personality. He told Nishikanto that he could stay in the Ashram as long as he wanted but at the same time he warned him of the physical sufferings his body would be subjected to. Nishikanto’s recurring fever got completely cured in the Ashram and out of gratitude he began to do errands for the sage whom he began to look upon as his Guru. The more he got the Guru’s company the more attracted he began to get. One day Nishikanto beseeched the sage to give him initiation, but the Guru replied: “No, I can’t give you the initiation you seek. Do you know whom I’m seeing behind you? There is Rabindranth Tagore and there is a Mighty Person and a Mighty Mother. They are your destination. My initiation is not for you.”

 

Nishikanto pondered who those two Beings could be. Regarding the prediction about Tagore he thought maybe he would have to return to Santiniketan, but no matter how much he thought about the “Mighty Person” and the “Mighty Mother” his mind was left without an answer. Little did he know that he was destined to meet them in Pondicherry nine years later.

 

The Ashram of the Vaishnava Guru had a beautiful garden in front of it and Nishikanto’s job was to pluck flowers from it at day-break for his Guru. One day when he was in the garden he saw two resplendent personalities standing near the gate. They were of fair complexion, quite tall, their hair reached their shoulders and had drops of sandalwood paste on their foreheads. They looked so beautiful that Nishikanto found it difficult to take his eyes away from them but then he felt that he must inform his Guru about the arrival of the guests. He rushed to his Guru and told him about the guests. When the Guru came to the garden with Nishikanto he saw there was no one in the garden. The resplendent beings had disappeared! Nishikanto tried to convince his Guru that what he had seen was no mirage. The Guru understood who those beings were as he could feel the fragrance of their subtle presence and he embraced Nishikanto and said: “Do you know whom you have seen? They were none other than Lord Chaitanya and Nitai! When I saw you for the very first time I understood that your eyes were rare. You could catch glimpses of the subtle world.” Years later the Mother would remark about Nishikanto: “He has the eyes of a visionary.”

 

Nishikanto observed during his stay in the Guru’s Ashram that in spite of being an ascetic his Guru wasn’t oblivious of the world. Revolutionaries and activists used to visit the Ashram and discuss with the Guru the condition of the world around. During one such discussion, Nishikanto heard the name of Aurobindo Ghose. He could feel the magnetic pull associated with the utterance of the name yet he hardly knew anything about him though he could recall that as a child he had heard his father and elder brother discussing about him. Nishikanto remembered that his Guru had seen a “Mighty Person” behind him. “Could it be Aurobindo Ghose?” he wondered. One day he asked the Guru: “Today you’ve to tell me whether the personality whom you had seen behind me was Aurobindo Ghose or not.” The Guru replied: “Yes.”

 

Soon after this revelation a group of sages came to the Ashram and invited the Guru to accompany them to the Himalayas. When the Guru gave his consent Nishikanto expressed his desire to follow him but he was refused. After the Guru left, his absence in the Ashram became unbearable for Nishikanto and after a few days he too left the Ashram for an aimless destination and continued to walk till he reached a railway station. He sat on a bench to rest and was immediately spotted by one of Sudhakanto’s friends. He failed to escape and was brought back to Santiniketan.

 

At the age of eighteen Nishikanto returned to Santiniketan and joined Kalabhavan. Sudhakanto too had left his job at Shiuri and returned to Santiniketan to work as Tagore’s secretary. Tagore was pleased to see Nishikanto; he could observe an indomitable spirit in his plump body. With his childhood friends Shantidev, Sagarmoy, Ramkinkar, Banbihari, Kankar, Prabhatmohan, Monimohan, Hiren and others he developed a world of bliss; he soon became a favourite of all, including Tagore who had marked the presence of a profound sensitivity in his poetry. When Nishikanto was a young boy of eight or nine Tagore had read a manuscript of his and had instructed Sudhakanto not to prevent him from writing poetry and had added that his imagery didn’t come from the apparent life. In Nishikanto’s earlier works Tagore had foreseen the arrival of a poet with a bright future and that’s why despite his thousand and one mischievous activities Tagore never scolded him. As he grew up Nishikanto’s poetry too became varied and forceful. He began to experiment with his poetry and while he did so Tagore kept a careful eye on him and disallowed the publication of Nishikanto’s poems without his prior approval.

 

One of the greatest milestones of Nishikanto’s pre-Pondicherry creations was the composition of Tukri. He had composed small poems in blank verse which were based on the day-to-day happenings around us. Those poems were revised, corrected and modified by Tagore himself and had appeared in the magazine Vichitra. Tukri was an experiment—a successful one—in which Nishikanto broke the limitations of rhythm and metre and gave more stress on expression.  Dhiraj Banerjee observes: “These were probably the only kind of verses with which Tagore had been familiar so far as [Nishikanto] was concerned. They were not quite connected one with another. Nor were they of a mystic genre like his later works. They owe much to a simplicity of thought and expression, they deal with human experience in life and have mundane themes. As such the poems themselves were also ordinary and direct; but beautifully written, and at the same time remarkable for their simplicity. Even so it must be noted that the real form of Nishikanto’s spirit wasn’t there, his poetic eye had not yet opened then.” [3]

 

In fact this poetic experiment of Nishikanto also inspired Tagore to conduct experiments with his poetry and very soon he created a new genre of poetry which was published in his book Punashchya [Post Script]. Years later in 1940 Tagore wrote to Buddhadev Basu that he was repentant for mercilessly correcting Nishikanto’s Tukri and added that it should be preserved in its best, i.e. original form. [4]

 

If Rabindranath had seen the prospects of a powerful poet in Nishikanto so did Abanindranath Tagore the signs of an artist in him. Abanindranath and Nishikanto met each other on the banks of the river Kopai where the former had seen Nishikanto looking for something. When he asked whether he was searching for jewels, Nishikanto replied: “I’m looking for ingredients of Khichuri [a preparation of rice and pulses].” “Let me see what you’ve gathered,” Abanindranath inquired and Nishikanto showed him various pebbles which resembled the ingredients. Abanindranath was very pleased to observe Nishikanto’s imaginative mind and began to call him the “Mad Artist.”

 

Nishikanto’s paintings can be divided into two parts—landscape and symbolic. Even when he was a student of Kalabhavan where he learned the art of painting from Nandalal Bose and received guidance for the same from Abanindranath, there was a distinct mark of symbolism in his paintings. Once on the occasion of Rabindranath’s birthday celebrations, an exhibition of the paintings made by the students of Kalabhavan was arranged. Among the other paintings there was one which was made by Nishikanto and it had a unique style and message. The painting was a symbolic representation of an expression in seven forms and was titled The Seven Suns; a dark-complexioned Titan was seen with a knife in his hand moving towards the Sun to assassinate it but the radiant rays of the Sun transformed the Titan into a ray of resplendent light. It denoted the eradication of darkness by the Light which in turn transformed life. Abanindranath was so pleased to see Nishikanto’s concept and his work that he instructed others not to teach him the style of painting that prevailed in Santiniketan and allow him to paint what he wanted.

 

Once Nishikanto and Bonbihari had gone to Ranchi to make some paintings of the scenery around. After they returned they showed their creations to Abanindranath and his elder brother Gaganendranath; both of them were extremely pleased with their work and Abanindranath wrote to Nandalal Bose asking him not to exhibit the paintings with that of the other pupils but to organize a separate exhibition where these paintings would be exclusively displayed.

 

Nishikanto had observed while playing with colours that every colour had a message. He who has heard the message can easily understand the philosophy of colour combination; with the silent mind if one gazes at a colour then the message could be heard and its force, according to Nishikanto, was far more superior than the vocal expression. At a later age, he admitted that whatever he couldn’t convey through his poems found expression through his paintings.

 

Sometimes Rabindranath would inquire about the progress Nishikanto was making in his studies. One day he asked Nishikanto: “Is it true that nowadays you’re sunk in the writings of Sri Aurobindo?” Nishikanto replied that Sri Aurobindo’s works were read not only by him but by many in Santiniketan and he added that books on Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and other saints have been read by him. Years later Tagore admitted that when he had heard of Nishikanto reading Sri Aurobindo’s works he had realized that Nishikanto would go out of his hands.

 

It is essential to note that Tagore wasn’t Sri Aurobindo’s critic. Years ago when Sri Aurobindo was imprisoned Tagore had written a laudatory poem on him: “Aurobindo, accept the salutation of Rabindranath.” In 1928 when Tagore had visited Pondicherry and met Sri Aurobindo, he had noted his experiences in the following words:

 

At the very sight I could realize that he [Sri Aurobindo] had been seeking for the soul and had gained it, and, through this long process of realisation, had accumulated within him a silent power of inspiration. His face was radiant with an inner light and his serene presence made it evident to me that his soul was not crippled or cramped to the measure of some tyrannical doctrine which takes delight in inflicting wounds upon life.

 

I felt the utterance of the ancient Hindu Rishi spoke from him of that equanimity which gives the human soul its freedom of entrance into the All. I said to him: “You have the Word and we are waiting to accept it from you. India will speak through your voice to the world: Hearken to me…

 

Years ago I saw Aurobindo in the atmosphere of his earlier heroic youth and I sang to him: “Aurobindo, accept the salutation of Rabindranath.” Today I saw him in a deeper atmosphere of reticent richness of wisdom and again sang to him in silence: “Aurobindo, accept the salutation of Rabindranath.” [5]

 

 But at the same time Tagore knew that it wouldn’t be possible to suppress the rebel in Nishikanto, who was inclined to break all traditional disciplines, from getting attracted to Sri Aurobindo’s writings.

 

Though he had heard of Sri Aurobindo as a child, it was through his friend Bonbihari that Nishikanto read for the first time Sri Aurobindo’s works published in the Arya. Very soon Nishikanto realized that Sri Aurobindo was the spiritual guide he was looking for and began to make up his mind of leaving Santiniketan for Pondicherry. Though the people of Santiniketan loved Nishikanto and his poetry but no praise or appreciation could bind him to the place. His aspiration for a higher spiritual life made him leave Santiniketan. Before his departure he distributed his paintings among his friends and burnt all of his poems. It was in the year 1933, Nishikanto was then twenty-four years of age. He went to stay with his friends Tarakumar, Mohitkumar and Bonbihari at Bali from where he went to his ancestral house at Shivhati to meet his aunt and offer his final obeisance to her. After spending a week at Shivhati he returned to Bali where he stayed for four months. Those four months formed the foundation of his future life. For a few days he worked as an art teacher in a local school and also made a few paintings, the notable among those was Gandhari’s Awakening (it was based on the early life of Gandhari and Dhritarastra). He took his paintings to Calcutta to show them to Abanindranath who was very pleased with his work and arranged for its exhibition and ensured proper sale of the paintings. Some of the paintings were sold at Mumbai in an exhibition organized by Vishwa Bharati.

 

With the sale proceeds of his paintings (which amounted to Rs 160) Nishikanto left Bali with a few clothes, a stove to cook on and some other items. He went on a pilgrimage and visited Gaya, Sarnath, Allahabad and Varanasi. One day while meditating on the banks of the river Niranjana, he saw the luminous figure of the Buddha appear and tell him: “Though I have obtained my realization here, I am not confined within its four walls.” When Nishikanto told the local Buddhist priests about his vision they refused to believe him on the ground that one who had attained Nirvana could not return to the earth. Nishikanto was offered a permanent abode by the pandits of Sarnath but he declined. [6]

 

At Bodhgaya, he met with a distant relative of Nirodbaran Talukdar and came to know about the one who would soon become his gurubhai. “Nirodbaran is his name? Is he whom I have seen in my vision? Then I am bound for Pondicherry.” [The background: one day Tagore had asked Nishikanto to give a name to one of the heroes of his novel and Nishikanto had suggested “Nirodbaran.” As he uttered the name a bright face had ‘loomed before’ him. Tagore was pleased with the name but he changed it to Nirodranjan as it meant lightning while Nirodbaran meant dark cloud.]  [7]

 

And Nirodbaran adds: “My relative also added fuel to his desire, as if Pondicherry Yoga hospital was the best asylum for anyone who was distracted by a vairagya mania. No permission nor consideration of adhikara was needed! It was hardly known to the outside world that the Ashram was a sanctuary where none could stay, nor even enter without a previous permission.” [8]

 

But Nishikanto was unaware of such detail. With a heart full of joy, faith and conviction he set out for Pondicherry. His inner self cried out:

 

Many a song have I sung just for the sake of singing,

Many a talk have I delivered just for the sake of talking.

Now let my songs bring communion with Thee,

Let the creepers of my talks blossom with Thy flowers in glee.

     Enough have I played for the sake of playing;

     Let the hours now pass in Your play enjoying,

All that is imperfect be perfected in me.”  [9]

 

[3] Nishikanto: The Mystic Poet and Artist, Mother India, p. 128

[4] Buddhadev Basu (30 November 1908—18 March 1974) was a poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic of Bengal. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award in 1967 and Padmabhushan in 1970

[5] Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi, Pilgrims of the Stars, pp. 80-81

[6] Selected Essays and Talks of Nirodbaran, pp. 169-170

[7] Ibid., p. 169

[8] Ibid.

[9] Nishikanto, Bonne Fête, p. 13