On Satprem and Sujata
An Interview By Anurag Banerjee
On the occasion of the second death
anniversary of
Satprem and Sujata Nahar, I had interviewed Nirmal Singh Nahar in which
he had
shared his reminiscences about them. What follows are the questions I
had put to
him:
What are your earliest recollections of
Satprem?
How and when did you meet him?
When Charles François Marie Baron came to
Pondicherry
as its Governor Satprem, who was then known as Bernard, was the First
Secretary
to the Governor and Information Officer. Just next to the Government
House there
was an annexe where Satprem’s office was situated. He was a chain-smoker
at that
time and charminar was his preferred brand. During that time as a
journalist I
was introduced to him. In 1964 when I went to Pondicherry for the first
time
after 1951, I was re-introduced to him by Sujata. At that time the
Mother was
regularly giving him interviews; he was recording her conversations
which later
became Mother’s Agenda. After the Mother left her body Pranab said
certain
things which were absolutely rubbish because in Mother’s Agenda, there
were
certain instructions related to the Mother’s cataleptic trance which
might look
like death. Since I used to go to the Samadhi regularly I could hear
Pranab
saying, “This happened to the Mother, that happened to the Mother” and
so on.
This was soon after the Mother’s passing away. I don’t exactly recall
what he
had said in detail but I had informed Satprem what Pranab was saying as
Satprem
wanted to know about it. At that time Satprem, Sujata and I used to go
to the
beach for a walk. Afterwards when Satprem and Sujata went to
Nandanam—Deer
House—we used to meet there. What happened next is known to all. They
left
Pondicherry and started living at Kotagiri. At Kotagiri I met him a
couple of
times. I have stayed there for a few days as well
During the period between 1964 and 1973
when the
Mother was speaking about her sadhana and was telling Satprem about the
development of his own sadhana, did you interact with him regarding the
nature
of the yoga he was doing?
No, I was unaware of any details. This was
because I
was not interested. I didn’t even know what Sujata was doing. I was busy
with my
life and so were they with theirs. I also didn’t know that Abhay Singh
[his
youngest brother and an Ashramite since 1940] was in-charge of so many
departments of the Ashram. I knew that he was looking after the Workshop
mainly.
Was the Agenda the sole reason for the
conflict
between the Trustees and Satprem?
Yes, because there are a few adverse comments
made by
the Mother on the Trustees in the Agenda particularly on Navajata. All
these
comments they wanted to edit and Satprem had strong objection about it.
He
argued that not a single line of what the Mother had said should be
edited. And
this is all recorded in the cassettes and still it is available in the
Mother’s
voice. So the question of superimposing anything on the Mother’s Agenda
does not
arise.
Was Sujata-di also expelled with Satprem?
No, Sujata was not expelled. Only Satprem was
expelled.
But did anyone in the Ashram protest when
Satprem
was expelled?
Many had protested but I don’t know who they
were. But
the main protest came from Sir C.P.N. Singh. Abhay Singh knew who among
the
Ashramites had protested.
But what about the confidants of the Mother
like
Nolini Kanta Gupta, M.P. Pandit who knew Satprem well? Did they also
remain mum?
Neither M.P. Pandit nor Nolini-da were the
Mother’s
confidants at that time. Only Pranab was the sole in-charge. All the
others were
mere puppets. Even the Mother’s son André was dictated by Pranab
what-to-do and
what-not-do and he obeyed. No one could utter a single word in front of
him. It
was only when all the preparations were complete and a new dress was put
on the
Mother that Nolini-da was informed of the Mother’s passing away. There
was no
scope for anyone to do anything. When Satprem asked the people to take
the
Mother’s body back to her room no one listened to him. Pranab could
never
tolerate Satprem. Nolini-da too couldn’t say anything. Pranab had told
very
clearly that he didn’t want to listen to anything. It is recorded in the
cassette. [See Mother’s Agenda, Volume XIII, 7 April 1973]
Tell us about their life from 1978 onwards,
that
is, after they settled at Kotagiri
.
Initially, we had no contacts for several
years. I
started visiting them after many years. Sometimes I used to receive
Sujata’s
letters. Satprem didn’t write. Only when he sent me books did he pen a
line in
them. I started visiting probably from the 1980s or 1990s. I didn’t go
straight
to Kotagiri. I went to Coimbatore and Sujata came there with Micheline
for a few
hours. Then once I went to Mysore with my wife and stayed there for two
days;
then we proceeded to Pondicherry. And subsequently it was like this that
we used
to go to Pondicherry every year and on our way back we used to go to
Kotagiri
and from Kotagiri back to Calcutta. In those days Satprem used to tell
me about
his sadhana and the difficulties he was facing. He was very much
perturbed to
see the deteriorating political scene of India. And he always insisted
that this
has to be broken completely, shattered like this [gesture of hitting the
left
palm with the right fist]. Three or four years before his passing away,
since he
was not keeping well we were advised not to go there because Sujata used
to look
after him and she could not assign any time to anything else.
The family members of Monsieur Baron used to
come to
meet Satprem. He was held in high esteem by them. He was highly
respected in
France. After his leaving the body, France and other European countries
gave a
lot of publicity to him but no publicity was given in India.
What sort of difficulties did Satprem face
in his
sadhana?
The same type of trouble that the Mother used
to face.
And how did he conquer them?
That I do not know.
Didn’t he reveal it?
No.
Did Satprem face any difficulties from the
Sri
Aurobindo Ashram after leaving it?
Oh, yes. They had a spy system. As it is
revealed in
the Notebooks [Notebooks of an Apocalypse], he was in Dehradun and the
notice of
his expulsion was served to him when nobody was supposed to know that he
was
there. For several years Satprem and Sujata stayed in France, they went
to
America also. After coming to Kotagiri, the reports revealed that they
were in
Kotagiri. It was known to J.R.D. Tata, C.P.N. Singh and few others who
became
the Trustees of Mother’s Institute of Research in Delhi.
How did you witness the development of
Satprem’s
sadhana?
He was always in deep concentration. Sometimes
he would
walk with his hand resting on my shoulder for support but most of the
time it
was Sujata who supported him. This was because he was unable to take
care of
himself. He was not aware of his physical well being. And sometimes he
used to
sit on the doorstep; we used to sit there and he used to talk or simply
meditate. Near a bush in the lawn of their house was a small
Shiva-lingam which
he used to worship regularly. And there was an idol of Ganesha at the
entrance;
everyday in the morning he used to go and offer some flowers to it.
In 2006 Satprem had sent a note to Kireet
Joshi in
which he wrote: “I have reached the goal.” What was the goal that he
referred
to? Was it the completion of the process of physical transformation or
fixation
of the supramental consciousness into his physical consciousness?
That I don’t know. Previously also he wrote to
me that
he had achieved the goal. What I know is that the supramental Light had
come
into his body. In his entire body there was a peculiar radiance. That
I’ve
observed. The way he used to walk showed he had no physical knowledge
about his
own body that’s why Sujata had to look after him.
Tell us something about Sujata-di’s
sadhana?
Sujata was very silent about her sadhana. She
had
reached a very high level in sadhana. But she never revealed it except
what she
had said in her private conversations. She would narrate some of her
experiences
and those revealed that she had reached a very high level. We could
understand
that her consciousness was on a very high level. The supramental
consciousness
was present in her but she used to live in such a simple manner and she
could
adjust herself so well that it had to be seen to be believed. She had
profound
compassion and that used to come out.
In November 2006 I had received a letter
from
Sujata-di in which she wrote about Satprem: “He is deep in his new
experiences…as he follows the footsteps of Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother.” But
within five months we learned about the passing away of Satprem followed
by
Sujata-di. Please tell us what you know about their last days.
Satprem did not fall ill. He had completely
lost
consciousness about his physical being. He himself didn’t know what he
was
doing. That’s why Sujata had to look after him day and night because the
condition was very intense for the last six months before he passed
away. Sujata
didn’t have even a wink of sleep. If she had gone to bed at night,
suddenly
Satprem called out “Ma Douce” (my dear) so naturally she had to look
after him
constantly. Gradually her health deteriorated and she too became
bed-ridden.
According to my nephew Pratip who saw her before her death she was not
in a
condition even to be moved to a hospital and she was not very conscious.
My
sister Suprabha and Pratip were the last ones whom she spoke to.
Didn’t you have a talk with her?
No, we didn’t have a talk. Almost a month and a
half
before Sujata passed away, when I had rung her up accidentally she had
answered
the telephone. That was the last time we spoke to each other. We just
exchanged
pleasantries. Before she left her body she was in a semi-conscious state
for
several days. I was in Palitana at that time. I used to ring up everyday
and
inquire about her health. I returned to Calcutta on 3 May 2007. Next day
in the
morning Suprabha told me that Sujata had left.
What happened to the mortal remains of
Satprem and
Sujata-di?
In Land’s End, that is, in the lawn of their
house at
Kotagiri, both Satprem and Sujata were buried side-by-side near the bush
where
the Shiva-lingam was placed.
Tell us something about the role Sujata-di
had
played in the sadhana of Satprem.
In one sentence I can say: Without Sujata
Satprem was
incomplete. And without Satprem Sujata would not have perhaps achieved
so much.
Basically Sujata had a beautiful soul since her childhood which
developed under
the Mother and Pavitra and then it bloomed in the company of Satprem.
ADDENDUM
What follows is a brief description of the
last days
of Satprem and Sujata Nahar that was reported to me by Shrimati Suprabha
Nahar,
youngest sister of Sujata Nahar and Shri Kireet Joshi:
Two months before Satprem left his body he had
said:
“The work is done.” His end came on the morning of Monday 9th April
2007. The
last word he uttered while taking his breakfast was: “MA.” He was helped
by the
lady who looked after him and Sujata Nahar to get up from the bed and
sit on the
sofa kept near the cot. When she went to remove the curtains so that the
morning
light could enter the room, she heard two guttural sounds. She came to
Satprem
and saw that he had left his body in the sitting position with one eye
closed
and the other eye looking at a photograph of Sri Aurobindo. The
following night
his body was laid to rest in his garden.
Sujata Nahar was already bed-ridden when
Satprem left
his body. She had stopped talking and would only indicate whether she
would take
the liquid food or not that was given to her. Occasionally she called:
“Ma, Ma.”
On 4 May 2007, exactly twenty five days after the physical departure of
Satprem,
she was reading a passage from Mother’s Agenda (20 April 1966, re:
Anousuya’s
demise). Afterwards she was given some water to drink which she took and
soon
after she left her body.
***
Nirmal Singh Nahar belongs to the Swetambar
Murtipujak
Oswal Jain sect. Born on 28 July 1922, he is the fourth son of Prithwi
Singh
Nahar and elder brother of Sujata Nahar. He received his early education
at
Santiniketan where he stayed with his family from 1929 to 1935. He did
his
schooling from South Subarban Branch School where he was initiated to
the
student movement. He raised the national flag in the school building and
as a
result he was transferred to South Subarban Main School where along with
other
students he raised funds for flood relief work and handed the money to
Subhash
Chandra Bose. In 1943 he joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and worked in
the
Cazanove garden where he started rice cultivation till 1946; then he
joined the
Book Sales Department of the Ashram. In 1947 he joined Reuters
Associated Press
of India and Press Trust of India as their special correspondent. In
1951 he
left the Ashram when he was declared a persona non grata by French India
Government and an arrest warrant was issued for exposing French misrule
in India
as a journalist. He joined the Bengali daily Jana Sevak as its chief
reporter
after returning to Calcutta. In 1964 he promoted Haldia Scooter Project
in
collaboration with Armachie Harley-Davidson SPA, an Italian firm. He is a
member
of Governing Council of All India Sri Swetambar Murtipujak Jain Tirth
Raksha
Trust and The Mother’s Institute of Research (New Delhi). He was also a
Founder-member of Sri Aurobindo Bhavan (Calcutta) and a member of West
Bengal
State Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Celebration Committee in 1971. He is
also
the author of the book Sri Aurobindo: His Birth Place.
all those jealousies. I couldn't understand any of it.
