Essays on the Gita (The Mother’s Institute of Research) - Track 102

And then, Sri Aurobindo gives a long account which I am not going to give just now, and then He continues and he says:

"He [Sri Krishna] turned the hearts of my jailers to me and they spoke to the Englishman in charge of the jail, 'He is suffering in his confinement; let him at least walk outside his cell for half an hour in the morning and in the evening.' So it was arranged, and it was while I was walking that His strength again entered into me. I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell, but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva. It was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door, and again, I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and I felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover. This was the first use of the deeper vision He gave me. I looked at the prisoners in the jail, the thieves, the murderers, the swindlers, and as I looked at them, I saw Vasudeva, it was Narayana whom I found in these darkened souls and misused bodies. Amongst these thieves and dacoits, there were many who put me to shame by their sympathy, their kindness, the humanity triumphant over such adverse circumstances. One I saw among them especially, who seemed to me a saint, a peasant of my nation who did not know how to read and write, an alleged dacoit sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment, one of those whom we looked down upon in our Pharisaical pride of class as Chhotalok. Once more He spoke to me and said, `Behold the people among whom I have sent you to do a little of My work. This is the nature of the nation I am raising up and the reason why I raised them.'

"When the case opened in the lower court and we were brought before the Magistrate, I was followed by the same insight. He said to me, `When you were cast into jail, did not your heart fail and did you not cry out to me, where is Thy protection? Look now at the Magistrate, look now at the Prosecuting Counsel.' I looked and it was not the Magistrate whom I saw, it was Vasudeva, it was Narayana who was sitting there on the bench. I looked at the Prosecuting Counsel and it was not the Counsel for the prosecution that I saw; it was Sri Krishna who sat there, it was my Lover and Friend who sat there and smiled. ‘Now do you fear?’ He said, ‘I am in all men and I overrule their actions and their words. My protection is still with you and you shall not fear. This case which is brought against you, leave it in My hand. It is not for you. It was not for the trial that I brought you here, but for something else. The case itself is only a means for my work and nothing more.’"

And then in this fashion, his experiences continued and the message that he received ultimately while doing the sadhana of the Gita is what Sri Aurobindo gives in the two messages that he received.

"I said, 'Give me Thy Adesh. I do not know what work to do or how to do it. Give me a message.’ In the communion of Yoga two messages came. The first message said, ‘I have given you a work and it is to help to uplift this nation. Before long the time will come when you will have to go out of the jail; for it is not My will that this time either you should be convicted or that you should pass the time, as others have to do, in suffering for their country. I have called you to work, and that is the Adesh for which you have asked. I give you the Adesh to go forth and do my work.’ The second message came and it said, ‘Something has been shown to you in this year of seclusion, something about which you had your doubts and it is the truth of the Hindu religion. It is this religion that I am raising up before the world, it is this that I have perfected and developed through the Rishis, saints and Avatars, and now it is going forth to do my work among the nations. I am raising up this nation to send forth My word. This is the Sanatan Dharma, this is the eternal religion which you did not really know before, but which I have now revealed to you. The agnostic and the sceptic in you have been answered, for I have given you proofs within and without you, physical and subjective, which have satisfied you. When you go forth, speak to a nation always this word, that it is for the Santana Dharma that they arise, it is for the world and not for themselves that they arise. I am giving them freedom for the service of the world. When therefore it is said that India shall rise, it is the Santana Dharma that shall rise. When it is said that India shall be great, it is the Santana Dharma that shall be great. When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Santana Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists. To magnify the religion means to magnify the country. I have shown you that I am everywhere and in all men and in all things, that I am in this movement and I am not only working in those who are striving for the country, I am working also in those who oppose them and stand in their path. I am working in everybody, and whatever men may think or do, they can do nothing, but help in my purpose. They are also doing my work, they are not my enemies but my instruments. In all your actions, you are going forward without knowing which way you move. You mean to do one thing and you do another. You aim at a result and your efforts subserve one that is different or contrary. It is Shakti that has gone forth and entered into the people. Since long ago I have been preparing this uprising and now the time has come, and it is I who will lead it to its fulfilment.’”

These are the two messages that Sri Aurobindo received while in the jail. And that contact with Sri Krishna continued, and in 1926, the Mother had given a special conversation on this subject about this particular date of 24th November 1926 when she said, "I used to see Sri Krishna all the time around Sri Aurobindo. Then I told Sri Krishna, ‘Why do you not enter into his very body and settle yourself into his body?’ And then Sri Krishna agreed and he entered into the very body of Sri Aurobindo." (Mother's Agenda, 2 Aug. 1961, Page 299),