{"id":1642,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T08:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2013-11-28T15:19:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T23:19:51","slug":"25-experiences-in-alipur-jail-1908-1909-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram\/25-experiences-in-alipur-jail-1908-1909-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-25_Experiences in Alipur Jail 1908 – 1909.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\tExperiences in Alipur Jail <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\n1908 <\/b>
\n–
\n1909 <\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

Pain and Ananda
\n<\/b> <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

As for divine rapture, a knock on head or foot or elsewhere can<\/i>
\nbe received with the physical Ananda of pain or pain + Ananda or pure physical Ananda
\n\u2014  for I have often, quite involuntarily,
\nmade the experiment myself and passed with honours. It began, by the way, as far back as in Alipur jail when I got bitten in my
\ncell by some very red and ferocious looking warrior ants and found to my surprise that pain and pleasure are conventions
\nof our senses. But I do not expect that unusual reaction from others. And I suppose there are limits, e.g. the case of a picketer
\nin Madras or Dr. Noel Paton. In any case, this way of having rapture is better off the list and the Lilliputian doorway [against<\/i>
\nwhich the correspondent bumped himself <\/i>] was not a happy contrivance. <\/p>\n

\n13 February 1932 <\/font> <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

The Principle of Levitation
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You told me [in a private interview<\/i>]: “I haven’t had the experience of levitation itself but an experience I had could not have
\nbeen true if there was no levitation.” Could you kindly tell me what the experience was if, that is, it is tellable. I remember
\nX <\/i>once told me that it was at Alipur you found your body in equilibrium in a lifted angle. Is that it? <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

There were other things but not at present tellable! You can put it like this. “I take levitation as an acceptable idea, because
\nI have had myself experience of the natural energies which if developed would bring it about and also physical experiences
\nwhich would not have been possible if the principle of levitation were untrue.” <\/p>\n

\n11 March 1943  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 263<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

Opening to Painting
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can quite understand that the inner knowledge comes with
\nthe growth and heightening of consciousness. But what about the outer knowledge
\n\u2014  what we ordinarily call knowledge? <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

The capacity for it can come with the inner knowledge. E.g. I understood nothing about painting before I did Yoga. A moment’s illumination in Alipur jail opened my vision and since then I have understood with the intuitive perception and vision.
\nI do not know the technique of course but I can catch it at once if anybody with knowledge speaks of it. That would have been
\nimpossible to me before. <\/p>\n

\n29 December 1934
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

Don’t be desperate about your incapacity as a connoisseur of
\npainting. I was worse in this respect, knew something about sculpture, but blind to painting. Suddenly one day in the Alipur
\njail, while meditating saw some “pictures” on the wall of the cell and lo and behold, the artistic eye in me opened and I knew
\nall about painting except of course the more material side of the technique. I don’t always know how to express though, because
\nI lack the knowledge of the proper expressions, but that does not stand in the way of a keen and understanding appreciation.
\nSo, there you are. All things are possible. <\/p>\n

\n25 July 1936
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

Contact with Vivekananda
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was wondering if you had seen or met Vivekananda some
\nwhere. <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

No, not in the body. My contact with him was in the jail when
\nhe was speaking with me for about 15 days, giving me the first insight into the Intuition plane (not the intuitive mind which is
\nmental and not supramental) as the first opening to Supermind. <\/p>\n

\n21 October 1934
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

*    <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 <\/font>264<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

If it is not indiscreet would you ask Sri Aurobindo if it is true that in 1909
\n\u2014  in Alipore jail \u2014  seven years after his death \u2014
\nSwami Vivekananda came to him, not in vision, but in actual fact, to ask him to continue the work, that he had not yet
\nfinished? <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo says that Vivekananda came to him not in a visible
\nform but as a presence which was with him for a fortnight during which V. spoke certain things about the processes of the higher
\nTruth-Consciousness.1<\/font><\/sup> <\/p>\n

\n21 December 1938
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1 This reply was written by the Mother at Sri Aurobindo’s dictation or under his<\/i>
\ninstructions. \u2014  Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 <\/font>265<\/font><\/p>\n

\n \t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experiences in Alipur Jail 1908 – 1909   Pain and Ananda   As for divine rapture, a knock on head or foot or elsewhere can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","wpcat-37-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9620,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/9620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}