ARTICLE : Tales of Prison Life - 7

Posted By Srinivasa Chakravarthy (srini@monod.neusc.bcm.tmc.edu)
Tue, 11 Mar 1997 10:24:58 -0600

"Let me speak of two educated young men. These were the two Kavirajs of
Harrison Road, Nagendranath and Dharani. The manner in which quietly
and contentedly they too suffered this sudden mishap, this unjust
punishment was astounding. I could never find in them the slightest
anger or censure or annoyance over those for whose fault they
had to pass their youth in hellish prison. .. Both brothers were Sadhaks
but their natures were different. Nagendra was steady, grave,
intelligent.
He was very fond of godly conversation and religious topics.
...[when he asked] for the Gita he had been given th bible instead.
In the witness box he would tell me of his feelings on reading the
Bible.
Nagendra hadn't read the Gita but I noticed to my surprise that,
instead of speaking about the Bible, he was expressing the inner
sense of the Gita's verses...Without reading the Gita, to be able
to realise in the Bible the spirit of equality, renunciation of the
desire for the fruit, to see the Divine in all things, etc., is the
index of a not negligible inner life or spiritual capacity. Dharani
is not as intelligent as Nagendra, but he was obedient and tender by
nature, temperamentally a devotee. He was always wrapt up in the idea
of divine Motherhood, and looking at the Grace that shone on his face
his innocent laughter and gentle devotional attitude it was hard to
realise that we were confined to the jail...

"They are both innocent...they had been able to reject the
supremacy of external joys and sorrows and and succeeded in
preserving the freedom of their inner life. But the virtues of
the national character came out even among the real offenders... I
stayed
in Alipore for 12 months, and excepting one or two...we received from
all
and sundry good behavior. Rather it was in among those spoilt by
modern education that these qualities seemed to be lacking.
Modern education may have many virtues to recommend itself, but
civility and selfless service form no part of these. The kindness
and sympathy that are such valuable elements of Aryan education,
I found even among the theives and robbers...A Mohameddan convict
used to love the accused like his own children and at the time
of parting he could not restrain himself from shedding tears.
Pointing out their suffering and humiliation as the price of patriotism
he would tell others and express his sorrow by saying, "Look these
are gentlemen, sons of the rich, but they suffer here
because they have tried to help the poor and distressed." Those
who vaunt about western culture, I would like to ask them: Is this
self-control, charity, generosity, gratitude, godly love for
others to be found among the lower order of criminals, the thieves
and robbers of England? In fact Europe is the land of enjoyment,
India of sacrifice. The Gita describes two kinds of creatures -
deva and asura. The Indian is intrinsically of the deva kind,
the western of the asura. But in this age of deep darkness
(ghor kali) because of the disappearance of Aryan education
due to the predominance of inertia, in our national decline,
we are acquiring the inferior qualitites of the asura while the
westerners, because of the national progress and growth of manhood
are acquiring the qualities of the deva. But in spite of this, in their
deva qualities something of the asura, and in our asuric qualities
something of the deva can be imperfectly glimpsed. The cream among them
also cannot wholly get rid of the asuric qualities. When one compares
the inferior specimens of both the cultures, the truth comes out quite
strikingly."

Sri Aurobindo
From "Tales of Prison Life (karakahani)"
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