Book Four. The Book of Birth and Quest
Canto I Canto II Canto III Canto IV
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Canto Two
The Growth of the Flame
Her environment is rich in the fields of philosophy, sculpture, architecture, music, painting, dance, poetry, crafts, science. She assimilates their essence but feels their inadequacy and seeks to realise the larger and higher glories waiting to manifest. She extends herself to embrace all around and lift them Godward. But few respond to her call and fewer still feel her divinity. They cannot keep pace with her and fall back to their little human measure. She is their leader, close to their hearts yet far from their nature. They adore her, cling to her, but they cannot rise to her heights. Some seek to draw upon her for their own petty satisfactions, and rebel against her yoke of love which they do not want to lose either. None, however, is there who can stand up her equal and mate. She has to stoop to all and hold their souls as a Mother. She has to live within, alone. She often feels one with the sub-human world in Nature that responds readily to her. In a small circle she lives and learns, without any link with the wider world. But there is a growing sense of expectation in the air, word gets round and men begin to discover her and her name gets abroad. Still, she is admired and adored from afar. None can stand up her equal. She has to remain alone till her hour of fate arrives.
A
land of mountains and wide sun-beat plains The child Savitri, the embodied divine flame, grows up in a land lavishly endowed by Nature, physically, aesthetically and spiritually. There peaks are as abundant as plains, racing rivers join calm seas, Silence and Action exist side by side, beauty, grace and grandeur are native—a veritable paradise on earth.
Over
her watched millennial influences Ancient influences keep watch on the growing child. The godheads of the rich past of the earth those whose work is over—look on her and see new godheads who are to fashion the future coming to the earth as if invisibly pulled by the magnet that is Savitri.
Earth’s
brooding wisdom spoke to her still breast; Earth communicates her occult wisdom to Savitri in the depths of her being. She soars in her thoughts and goes beyond the reaches of the human mind; she expands her consciousness and delves into the cosmic vastitudes. She thinks what is unthinkable by others, sees what is not seen by others. She forces the huge doors of the Unknown realms and thrusts back the limited horizons of man into the limitless.
A
shoreless sweep was lent to the mortal’s acts, By her presence and inner action human activity in that land gains an unlimited range; art and beauty begin to arise from the depths of the being, not from the mental or vital superficies as they do in the common world of man. Not merely the soul, but nature too breathes and emanates a sublime nobility.
Ethics
the human keyed to imitate heaven; Human ethics are raised to resemble the verities of heaven. In .the milieu of this developed culture the sense is refined and its range enlarged so as to hear what is normally unheard and see what is normally unseen; the soul is trained to aspire to things beyond the known and the familiar, thereby inspiring mortal life to heighten itself and break out of its limits in order to reach out to the unseen world of the Immortals.
Leaving
earth’s safety daring wings of Mind There wisdom sits on her eternal throne. Savitri's adventurous mind leaps beyond the safe and trodden tracks of human thought, crosses the wide expanses of the higher consciousness that are baffling to mental reason, and takes her to the peaks that are close to the Sun of Truth. There on these altitudes reigns wisdom on her eternal throne.
All
her life’s turns led her to symbol doors Every event in life, every circumstance and movement turn into openings for contact with the occult Powers with whom she has affinity of origin. For Savitri the whole life is a delightful sacrifice: she is at once the wise guide who knows the truth, the priestess who is initiated in bliss, the divine acolyte who is trained in the school of Nature; seized with the wonder of creation, she pours the oblation of her inmost contemplation upon the alter of the Wonderful, the Divine adbhuta. Her hours are unbroken successions of ritual worship in the eternal temple of her existence, her acts significant gestures in her sacrifice.
Invested
with a rhythm of higher spheres As for her speech it is a sacred power. Every word is a mantra charged with the rhythm of the higher worlds, a holy means for the liberation of the soul imprisoned in living Matter into communion with the Gods who are its native companions. Vibrant with the rhythms of the supernal, the Mantra is a power that effects the release of the being from the holds of Ignorance and links it with the Gods above who are truly its companions in the Journey of the Spirit.
Or
it helped to beat out new expressive forms Or the Word helps in shaping new forms of expression for the Soul labouring in the midst of life to unveil the ultimate secrets of the Creation—the ancient Soul in the Creation ever in quest of the Reality that is unknown and unborn, instinct with a light from the Inexpressible.
Intense
philosophies pointed earth to heaven In this land philosophies are not mere speculations weaving unsubstantial, narrow systems of thought leading nowhere. They are a force directing the aspiration of man on earth to God beyond; they are broad-based as the universe itself—and as inclusive—and they raise the mind of the earth to peaks that surpass the human ranges.
Overpassing lines
that please the outward eyes Sculpture and painting are not confined to their outer forms which may be pleasing to the eye but often conceal their true significance within. They direct the perceiving sense to the governing motif within; they make visible in form something of the invisible Reality; they exhibit to sight the occult plan of Nature or present the very Divine in a concrete form.
The
architecture of the Infinite The wide and high architecture captures as it were the patterns that take shape in the brooding Idea of the Infinite in its mood for manifestation. The music embodies on earth the aspiration for heaven. The song holds the melted heart absorbed in the depths of rapture and joins the human note of anguish and call to the cosmic cry.
The
world-interpreting movements of the dance Dance interprets in its movements the world and its significance; it renders thought and feeling into rhythmic movement and posture. Delicate crafts capture in their subtle patterns some inspiration of a rapid moment or they show in the lines of a carving, in the design of a cup, the plans of the Unseen Spirit underlying the creative movement.
Poems
in largeness cast like moving worlds Poems are cosmic in their sweep; their metres have the ring of oceans. They translate in packed splendours of speech the beauty and the greatness of the forms of Nature, the intensities of her moments and her moods—all originally contained in the unexpressed grandeurs in Nature. Thus do these Powers raise the human world close to the world of the Gods.
Man’s
eyes could look into the inner realms; Man is able to study the workings in the inner realms of existence—not merely in the outer physical; he discovers the law governing numbers, builds up the system of astronomy and erects the scheme of creation as far as it is perceivable. He doubts and questions the modes of his thinking, or outlines a theory of the functionings of mind and life.
These
things she took in as her nature’s food, Savitri assimilates with ease these contributions in the various fields of life and thought. But she is not content to rest with them. They do not satisfy her wide being. To her they represent man's seeking which is limited by the knowledge it has garnered; they are great steps indeed but only the early, risky steps of a youthful adventurous spirit which has yet to learn to see in its own proper light.
It
tapped the universe with testing knocks These are tentative feelings on the surfaces of the universe, stretchings of the venturing spirit to lay its hands upon the right instrument to discover the truth of things. All these attempts do result in a many-sided expansion. But not yet is the full vision of the soul; not yet the unlimited, direct close touch which yields the full knowledge by identity; not yet the art and wisdom that the Gods have.
A
boundless knowledge greater than man’s thought, There is an unbounded knowledge which cannot be grasped by human thought; a happiness that is beyond the capacity of the human heart and sense to reach and contain. Both of these are imprisoned in the world and struggle to emerge. Savitri feels in herself their pressure for release. The glory in her awaits the right time and means to manifest itself; it seeks for objects around which it can take shape, looks out for natures that are strong enough to receive without reaction and contain the full impact of her natural, regal splendour, her greatness, her sweetness, her bliss, her possessing might and her vast power of love.
Earth
made a stepping-stone to conquer heaven, Her soul makes the earth a springboard to soar to the heavens, and even beholds the vasts beyond the heavens conceived by the human mind. It meets a great light from the Unknowable beyond and dreams of the action-range of the transcendent.
Aware
of the universal Self in all Around her she is aware of the universal Self in all, she encounters in these human beings reflections of her own being, complements, counterparts, extensions of herself. Though they are separated in the outer physical bodies and their mental constructions, they are linked to her spirit by inner ties.
Overcoming
invisible hedge and masked defence The invisible barrier that divides soul from soul acts also as a defence against invasion from outside. Savitri, however, overcomes this separative wall with a view to holding all in one large embrace. She seeks to contain in her inner extension all living things, raising them from their divided, dense obscurities into one gathered state of luminous awareness, uniting all with herself, Nature and God.
Only
a few responded to her call: But only a few respond to Savitri's call to rise and enlarge themselves. Still fewer are they who recognise the veiled divinity in her and make an effort to companion her godhead with the godhead of their own soul—by awaking and articulating it in life—, nor do they feel an affinity with her and climb to reach her heights.
Uplifted
towards luminous secrecies Even these few who are uplifted towards unknown luminous heights or those who leap high making an effort to reach the hidden splendour above of which they are aware, get only a glimpse of her unearthly light for a moment. And unable to hold that vision and power, they fall back to their old, dull life routine.
A
mind daring heavenly experiment, They feel themselves near a daring mind soaring high, growing wide, probing eagerly into the realm of the unknown, but their human nature keeps them tied down; they cannot keep pace with her, they are too small and restless to keep in rhythm with her large-paced will, their vision is too narrow to look with her gaze of the Infinite. Their nature tires soon of these things that are too great for it.
For
even the close partners of her thoughts Even those who are close to her thoughts and have the capacity to walk very near her effulgence, worship the power and light they feel in her, but are not in any sense her equals. She is but adored by them.
A
friend and yet too great wholly to know, She admits them into her friendship. But they find her too lofty to know her fully. She walks in their front and leads them towards a light still greater than hers; she rules over their hearts and souls; they hold her lovingly close to their hearts, but still she is divine and far from their human grasp.
Admiring
and amazed they saw her stride They watch her, in admiration and amazement, attempting either with a godlike swiftness to scale heights too distant for their human nature or with deliberate massive effort making towards an objective beyond their conception. Though they are thus unable to keep pace with her, they are obliged to follow her wherever she moves; they cannot do without her light. They desire her and reach out to her somehow; some even manage to follow with faltering steps the paths she has forged.
The
rest they could not see in visible light;
Or
bound by the senses and the longing heart, Some approach her in a vital way and cling to her for the inner nourishment and support they get from her; what else they derive they are unable to see dearly. They bear her greatness without knowing precisely what it is. Some are so ridden with their senses and desire that they approach her in a too human way, adore her with their impure love; these cannot grasp her mighty spirit; even close proximity fails to change them into her likeness—there is an inner gulf.
Some
felt her with their souls and thrilled with her; Some, however, can feel her from their soul-level and they thrill to her presence. Her greatness is felt close but it cannot be grasped by the mind i.e. understood by thought. Merely to see Savitri evokes spontaneous feelings of adoration; to come near her imparts a force that flows from attunement to a higher Source.
So
men worship a god too great to know,
Opened
to a breath is the new diviner air, This is how men adore a God who is too great to be grasped and known by the mind, who is too lofty and vast to be cabined in a shape small enough to suit human comprehension. They feel a high Presence; feel and obey a superior Might; they are thrilled by a rapturous Love which they adore. They increase their pace under the drive of the divine enthusiasms that flood their being and follow a higher law that uplifts their life. Thus they begin to breathe a fresher and diviner air. New vistas of a freer and happier world open to man and he sees the high-climbing steps leading to the Self, to the Light above.
Her
divine parts the soul’s allegiance called:
Her
will was puissant on their nature’s acts, Savitri's divinity claims the allegiance of the souls of those around her; the soul sees, feels and recognises the divinity embodied in her. Her will exerts itself on their active nature; her sweetness of heart is abounding and helplessly attracts their hearts; they love her whose reaches range far beyond their own; they cannot, indeed, measure up to her but they bear her touch joyously responding like the budding flowers to the sun; they ask for nothing more than to give themselves to her entirely.
One
greater than themselves, too wide for their ken, She is much too great for them, too vast for their comprehension; they cannot understand or entirely know her with their minds, but their lives respond to hers and go into action at her instance; they feel a divinity in her and obey its call; they follow her lead and participate in her work in the world, carrying out her wishes; their lives and natures are pressured into movement by her own. It is as if the greater truth of their own being, of which they are not conscious, has taken form in the divinity that is Savitri in order to raise them to a high level beyond the reach of their own physical nature.
They
felt a larger future meet their walk; They feel a wider future opening before them as they advance in her trail. She leads them, choosing their paths for them. They are urged by her towards great unknown things; though they do not know where they are led and impelled, they are drawn by sheer faith and by the joy of belonging to her. In her they live and with her eyes they see.
Some
turned to her against their nature’s bent; Some, however, turn to her against their own natural inclinations, on the one hand they do not accept her and rebel against her, but on the other they are filled with wonder and admiration, attracted by her charm, dominated by her will; they are possessed by her even though they struggle to possess her. They are impatient of her rule and yet their hearts are her prisoners and hold close to the bonds that tie them to her—though they outwardly protest against these bonds. They profess to complain against her yoke of beauty and love, but had they lost that splendid yoke they would have wept. Some pursue her with nothing more than vital desires, each wanting to monopolise her for himself, to possess all her sweetness that is meant for all for himself alone.
As
earth claims light for its lone separate need,
Or
they repined that she surpassed their grip, Just as the physical earth draws by its gravitation all life-giving light to itself—leaving other planets bare—they seek to monopolise her and ask of her such limited movements as can be grasped by their limited selves; they long to get from her responses in keeping with their own smallness. They complain that she exceeds their hold. They hope to bind and keep her near to themselves with the cords of their desire.
Or
finding her touch desired too strong to bear
Angrily
enamoured of her sweet passionate ray When they find her touch too strong for their small, impurified beings they complain of her tyranny—which, however, they love secretly—and shrink from it as one does from the dazzling sun. And yet they long for the very splendour they turn their backs upon. Because their weak earthly nature cannot bear her intense radiance which they so desire, they get angry but loudly protest when the touch is vouchsafed to them. They are unable to bear the presence of the divinity too dose. They become intolerant of a Force they cannot hold within themselves.
Some
drawn unwillingly by her divine sway
Or
forced to centre round her their passionate lives Some cannot resist being attracted to come under her sway, however much they may dislike it; they endure it as a sweet but foreign spell. Unable to rise to her sublime heights, they seek to bring her down to their own levels. When they are obliged to organise their active lives around her, they hope, for their own petty human needs, to draw upon her glory and grace to which their souls have fallen captive.
But
mid this world, these hearts that answered her call,
In
vain she stooped to equal them with her heights,
These
comrade selves to raise to her own wide breadths Some, indeed, respond to her with the best in them. But even among these none can equal her or companion her. She stoops to equal them, but in vain, her air is too pure for the earthly beings to breathe. She desires to raise them to her own amplitudes and pours into them her own power so that a greater and a diviner Force may enter and uplift them. For only by the breath of God can human life be greatened. It cannot rise beyond a certain level by its own effort.
Although
she leaned down to their littleness Savitri leans down to their smallness and lays the balm of her strong hands on their lives; by sympathy she knows their needs and wants; she plunges into the shallow waters of their lives and shares their joys and griefs; she bends to give succour to their sorrows and hurt pride;
Lavishing the might
that was hers on her lone peak She pours her unique might on them in order to raise their aspiration to her heights; she draws their souls into her vastness, surrounds them with her inner silence and holds them as the Divine Mother holds her children. Though she thus participates in their life, she is not lost in it; it is only her earthly exterior that suffers their impact and mixes its flaming purity and strength with their mortal nature. Her deeper and greater self lives within by itself, untouched, uninvolved.
Oftener
in dumb Nature’s stir and peace They answered to her with the simple heart. More often she feels a closeness with Nature around. Animals, birds, and other sub-human species are drawn to her by the Force within her. She joins her spontaneous delight to the unsophisticated, ardent lives of animals, birds, plants and flowers. They respond to her presence and touch with the simplicity that is natural to them.
In
man a dim disturbing somewhat lives; This free response from the sub-human creation is not possible from man. For in him there is a new element, a vitiating factor, the human mind. It disturbs the harmony achieved at the plant and animal level of creation. It perceives and recognises the divine Light which can illumine and complete its limited self if only it would open and surrender itself to its power. But it is perverse and it deliberately turns away from the greater Light preferring to wallow in the darkness of its ignorance.
Among
the many who came drawn to her There are many who are drawn to Savitri. But she does not find among them even one who could be her partner in the high tasks before her, who is designed by Providence to be her companion self, who is created along with her to be one with her, like God and Nature that are one in partnership
Thus
lighting earth around her like a sun, Puissant, apart her soul as the gods live. Some do succeed in approaching close to her; they are touched and catch her burning intensity; but they cannot keep it up, they fail after a time. Her demand proves too great to meet, her force too pure to bear. Thus does she live like the sun, herself aloof but lighting up all around her. There is a gulf between her and even those who are most close to her. She is, like the gods, powerful and apart from all.
As
yet with the great world she had no link; She has no connection yet with the world outside her immediate environment. She lives content in the little circle of her young fellow-spirits, growing in human life-experiences, blossoming like a flower in an unfrequented spot.
Earth
nursed, unconscious still, the inhabiting flame, Earth-Nature nurses this flaming child on her bosom, albeit unconscious of her greatness. All the same—though the Earth is not yet conscious of her greatness—there is something in the Earth Consciousness that knows vaguely and is moved to its depths; there is a stir and an intense call goes forth; there is bright dreaming and cheering hope of a luminous change in the air. An increasing expectation is abroad of something new, rare and beautiful.
Then
a faint whisper of her touched the soil, Then a vague intimation of her presence reaches life on earth; it comes as an answer to the felt need of all. The great wide world discovers Savitri and she is hailed in high wonder.
A
key to a Light still kept in being’s care, Her name is a key to the realm of Light not yet manifested. The inspiring name communicates itself from person to person, exalting and filling everyone with happiness like the notes of a celestial lyre or a mantra chanted by a far-ranged Seer.
But like a sacred symbol’s was that cult.
Admired,
unsought, intangible to the grasp
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