Spiritual Realisation in Jail
...I found these walks quite pleasant. The boundaries of my transient kingdom were marked by the jail factory on one side and the cowshed on the other. Whilst walking back and forth between these two boundaries, I would recite mantras from the Upanishads - mantras that were at once solemn, deeply-moving, eternal and potent. Or I would try to experience the presence of Narayana (God) in all that existed around me. I would silently repeat the mantra - Sarvam khalvidam Brahma (All this is the Brahman)- and seek to realize its essence in all objects, animate or inanimate. In this manner, I would attain a state where the perception of reality was no longer defined by the prison and its commonplace objects. The high enclosure, the iron bars, the blank surface of the wall, the tree with its green leaves shining in the sunlight - all seemed to come alive as if animated by a universal consciousness. A vibration of pure love seemed to radiate from them towards me. All of creation seemed to be just Nature's elaborate play, whilst a vast, pure, detached spirit, rapt in a serene delight, looked out from within. Sometimes one could as if see the Lord standing under the tree, playing upon his Flute of Delight and drawing out my very soul with His sweetness. I was accompanied by a constant sense of being held in the Divine embrace or on the lap of the Divine Mother. These experiences overwhelmed my body and mind. A pure and wide peace reigned everywhere; it was an indescribable state. The hard crust of my exterior personality was removed, thus enabling a free outflow of love for all creatures from within. Other Sattwic elements such as charity, kindness and Ahimsa began to now dominate the Rajasic bent of my nature. As the Sattwic aspects gained more prominence in the personality, the sense of delight intensified and the peace too deepened. The anxiety over the case had dissipated in the beginning itself. Now an unshakeable faith grew in me that God being Mangalamaya, has brought me to this prison for my own mangala and therefore my acquittal and the quashing of charges were foregone conclusions. This faith made me immune to hardships and all suffering in Prison ceased hereafter.
(Translated from Sri Aurobindo's Karakahini in Bengali)
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