After a First Class in Mathematics Hons. in B.Sc., Sri Dilip Kumar Roy had gone to Cambridge for three years where he passed his Mathematics Tripos Part | and Music Tripos. His search for truth brought him in contact with most great intellectuals of his time. Sri Dilip Kumar Roy refused to be labelled anything but 'a truth seeker' first and last. Nevertheless he was a born mystic, singer, composer, poet, and writer, the author of more than seventy-five books in Bengali and twenty-six in English. Son of the great dramatist and poet Dwijendra Lal Roy, he was brought up in one of the most cultured families of Bengal.
Dilip was thrilled to the core by our epics Mahabharata, Bhagavata, Rama- yana, Gita, the Upanishads and the Puranas. He said later on in his Pilgrims of the Stars: "My precocious mind became almost adult while I was still in my early adolescence. I grew to love our great Sanskrit language, the veritable custodian of our noble deeds and rich romance.
Sri Dilip Kumar was essentially a minstrel of God and can be well bracketed with Mirabai, Tulsidas, Kabir, and Tyagaraja. His sadhana or tapasya was through his songs; he sang not only through his golden voice but with every fibre of his being.
Returning from Europe for the second time, where he had gone to study Western music (only to enrich our music), he became a disciple of Sri Aurobindo who called him "a son, a friend and a part of my existence." He was one of the closest disciples of his master who wrote more than four thousand letters to him till the Mahayogi passed away in 1950.
Six of his books have been published by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Wings and Bonds, Kumbha, Yogi Sri Krishnaprem, Netaji the Man, Fall of Mevar and Six Illuminates of Modern India.
Of Sri Dilip Kumar Roy, the eminent jurist, Sri N. A. Palkhivala writes: "I had the privilege of coming in contact with Dilip Kumar Roy - 'Dada' to his countless admirers and disciples on several occasions. He was a true illuminate it was not possible to meet him without feeling your own life enriched and your inner strength replenished."
And of The Rounding Off Sri Palkhivala adds: "... Dada and Indira Devi are exceptional souls. In these luminous pages we have memorable glimpses of their eternal quest for Brahma-endless seeking after endless truth.... Both Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi urge the true seeker to break the bonds and shackles of the material... and... to listen for His footfall with every fibre of one's being.
"Indira Devi is the fine-tuned instrument who through her ability to achieve "bhav-samadhi' recounts, for the devotee, the inspirational songs of Mira, parables and incidents laden with a wealth of meaning and wisdom. Her intuitive knowledge of events yet to come, of miracles and incredible happenings, transport the reader to realms beyond the mundane.
"This book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit. Dada lived a life of childlike innocence and angel-like purity. Its beautiful 'rounding off' has now been brought within the covers of a book."
The Flute Calls Still, Part II is really the second part of our previous collection of letters entitled, The Flute Calls Still which, happily, found favour with many a spiritual seeker in India and abroad. I hope these letters, too, will be received by them with the same warmth of acclaim.
A few repetitions have been retained only to underline the truths as viewed from different angles or, shall I say, restated in different contexts.
I must acknowledge my debt to our dear friend Sri Rasiklal Desai, who got most of the letters retyped; to the cooperation of Aina, Rajan and Gopal and last, though not least, to my painstaking friend Sri Mohanta for his suggestions and help in sorting out the letters which are most likely to appeal not only to genuine believers and seekers but also to those who, living on the borderline of faith and agnostic denial, approach the world of the supra-physical (wrongly called supernatural) with an open mind. For these must realise-as Krishnaprem was wont to emphasize that "it is more harmful not to believe what one should believe than to believe what one should not believe."
Lastly, the great mystic-cum-scientist, Blaise Pascal, did hit the target when he stressed that "it is the heart which experiences God and not the reason. This, then, is faith: God felt by the heart and not by the reason And, he added: "The heart has its reasons which reason does not know."
Collected within the compass of the following few pages, are letters and reminiscences of Dilip Kumar Roy and his disciple, Indira Devi-who are Exemplars of Excellence and Explorers of Brahma. These fragrant fragments of experience are both revealing and evocative. In them we see the warm hand of the philosopher, comforter and guide. Dilip Kumar Roy speaks of the eternal, timeless truths and the inquiring spirit that seeks them. It is only when unquestioning trust is placed "in His infinite Compassion" that one can be led to "His Haven...the Eternal City of Krishna which waits in every heart."
"Give everything: ask nothing." In this nugget is the essence of Indian philosophy-a whole and complete philosophy by which to live. Both Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi urge the true seeker to break the bonds and shackles of the material-for they are the currency of the finite world which "counts for nothing in that other land - in my City"-and instead "to listen for His footfall with every fibre of one's being." Indira Devi is the fine-tuned instrument who through her ability to achieve "bhav-samadhi" recounts for the devotee the inspirational songs of Mira, parables and incidents laden with a wealth of meaning and wisdom. Her intuitive knowledge of events yet to come, of miracles and incredible happenings, transports the reader to realms beyond the mundane.
It is the mission of Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi to spread the message of pure joy and love, to stab the spirit broad awake, to enable it to realize the omnipresence of the Creator.
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