Tales of Prison Life Sri Aurobindo-About the book

 🙏  🙏 Om  namo bagavathe sri aurovindaya 🙏

SRI AUROBINDO.

Tales of Prison Life-About the book

Dr. Sisir Kumar Ghosh translated this book from its original Karakahini publication in 1909–10 into English. The book includes three essays,a poem 'Invitation'  in English written in Alipore jail and a 'Uttarpara' speech in English, along with the main text.

 

I read this book twice, as it was very engrossing.

I gathered the courage  to write a few lines about the book. (I am not a high calibre person to write about Sri Aurobindo, a world renowned yogi and  an incarnation of Satchitananda.) .This book is an account of  his spiritual experiences in Alipore jail. On May 1, 1908, the British government  arrested him for conspiracy and released him after a year of solitary confinement. The cover photo depicts the Alipore prison room, where Sri Aurobindo found himself locked in seclusion.

" God took me to a prison and turned it into a place of meditation and His trysting ground"

"The only result of the wrath of the British Government was that I found God".

The prison life transformed the revolutionary nationalist Sri Aurobindo into a yogi. He expressed his displeasure over the British Raj prison administration and desired prison reforms. He spent his initial days in prison in great agitation, but doing yoga for an hour in the mornings and in the evenings brought peace to his mind. The police, by hook or crook, tried to  prove him guilty in the Muzaffarpur bomb blast case by collecting false evidence, but their efforts were all in vain. He mentioned sympathetic and good natured Britishers, Superintendent Emerson, and Doctor Daly in the book. They respected Indian nationalists, who were well educated, belonged to high class families.  In his Uttarpara speech,

 He revealed his tryst with Vasudeva. He sensed Lord Sri Krishna's presence in all living beings. During the trial in court, he even felt God's presence in Dacoits, Theives, and Magistrate and Prosecuting Counsel.

 

Along with this book, Bases of Yoga and The Mother books are helpful for beginners to understand Sri Aurobindo's philosophy. I strongly recommend this book to spiritual seekers.

🙏Om namo bagavathe sri aurovindaya 🙏

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1974,2018

Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department. Pondicherry 605002.

http://www.sadba.in