Book Five. The Book of Love
|
|
Canto Three
Satyavan and Savitri
Satyavan speaks: "Thou who art more than a mortal, what is thy name? I know that mighty Gods are friends of the earth; I have travelled long with my soul and I have seen behind forms many a wonder, beheld the nymphs and glimpsed the Godhead. I fear thou too art from the land of the immortals though I would rather that thou wert a human accessible to us. If thou canst dwell on earth's soil, descend from thy car and come down to us. My father's hermitage is close by." She answers: "I am Savitri, princess of Madra. But who art thou? Why art thou here when thy glorious youth demands heroic deeds from thee elsewhere?" Satyavan: "Dyumathsena was the king of all the tract behind these peaks before adverse Fate turned him blind and he came here in exile. I am his son, Satyavan; I have lived here content as I was not yet aware of thee. I have lived close to the earth in the bosom of Nature. I have caught echoes of the voice of God, felt his veiled touch but could not clasp his body. I have seen men, portions of one Self, living as fragments separate from each other, each shut within himself. I have sat with the forest sages entranced and glimpsed the One in all. But with all, Matter has continued to be without its Lord. Death and Ignorance continue. However, now that thou hast come, all shall change. My body shall be free like my spirit." Savitri: "Speak more of thyself, Satyavan, speak till my mind understands the truth of our relation which my being feels." Satyavan: "Savitri, words cannot speak what thou hast meant to me. All my life has moved towards this great moment, I see that I am the soul made ready on earth for thee. "Once I was like other men, living in the common rounds of life. But there came glimpses of a deeper Self and the Mystery behind life beckoned me. I searched for the meaning of life with my Thought but it proved an inadequate guide. I strove to find it through Beauty and Art, but Form could not unveil the indwelling Power. When I looked upon the world I lost the Self, when I found the Self, I lost the world. I could not get at the link; but now the golden link comes with thy feet; I feel a diviner breath. All is expectant and awaits thee. Descend, enter my life, thy shrine." Savitri: "I have heard thee and I know that thou art he." She gets down from the car, picks flowers, weaves a garland quickly and lays it on the bosom of Satyavan as a flower symbol of her offered life. She bows and touches his feet with worshipping hands. Satyavan gathers her up into his arms and Savitri feels her being flow into him as a river into a mighty sea. Both are lost in each other and become one. The wedding of the eternal Lord and his Spouse has taken place once again on earth and the Two begin a greater Age. Then he leads her on the narrow path and shows his hermitage through an opening in the woods. Savitri is deeply moved and speaks: "Now I must go back to my father's house, but my heart will stay here. I shall soon return to thee never to part again." She mounts her carven car and speeds back, but keeps her eye on the receding figure of Satyavan.
Out of the voiceless
mystery of the past
Yet in the heart
their secret conscious selves Thus do these two spirits—Savitri and Satyavan—meet in a present from which all memory of their past connection is shut off. All the same, at the first call of the heard voice, at the first sight of the destined face, some awareness of each other revives in their secret selves. The active being does not know; but the inner, deeper self which is more conscious begins to grow aware of the relation.
As
when being cries to being from its depths It happens at times that when two persons meet, the inner being of the one recognises the inner being of the other behind the veil of the outer senses; it struggles to find the right word that would unveil the concealed truth, and the intensity of its speech is a mark of the urgency felt by the soul. But the ignorant mind covers the inner vision and only a little of the inner perception and experience comes through the sense-made walls. So it happens with Savitri and Satyavan at this fateful moment; in their depths the mutual recognition is unmistakable and complete, but in the external mind the remembrance is not there. The oneness is realised deep within, but missed on the surface.
Thus
Satyavan spoke first to Savitri: Satyavan first addresses Savitri: "O thou who hast come to me from out of the distant silences of Time and yet whose voice awakens my heart to a bliss hitherto unknown, Immortal thou art; only thy body is mortal; for I feel something more than a physical voice speaking to me from thy soul and in thy eyes I see something more than physical eyes looking at me. What is the name by which thou art known among the humans?
Whence
hast thou dawned filling my spirit’s days, "Thou art the very sunlight moulded in the form of a golden maid. Whence hast thou come like a dawn filling the days of my soul, and dispelling the solitude of my life, thou who art brighter than summer, brighter than my flowers here?
I know that mighty gods are friends of earth.
Amid
the pageantries of day and dusk,
Earth
could not hide from me the powers she veils: "I am aware that great Gods are helping the earth. Day and night I have journeyed with my questing soul and have been struck by the wonder of even familiar things. Earth veils many of her powers from men, but she could not hide them from me. Amidst the plethora of the common things of the earth, my eyes have seen, in her many forms, the concealed Godhead regarding me from familiar scenes.
I
witnessed the virgin bridals of the dawn "I have seen the bridal festivities of the Golden Dawn behind the bright curtains of the sky; I have shared in the joys of the morns; I have traversed the vasts under the fierce sun.
Or
met the moon gliding amazed through heaven "I have seen the moon moving wondering through the changing night-skies, the stars marching on their appointed routes like sentinels with their spears of light. The day and dusk have shown to me hidden forms. From unseen shores of infinity, figures have sailed into my ken and happy faces have looked at me from light and fire.
I
have heard strange voices cross the ether’s waves, "I have heard many strange voices all around me; I have thrilled to the enspelling song of the centaur. I have glimpsed the celestial goddesses bathing in the pools, seen the wood-nymphs peeping through the forest leaves. The blowing winds have shown me the Maruts, their storm-gods. I have beheld the splendid Sun-Powers, the Guardians of Light, in their homes of Glory.
So
now my mind could dream and my heart fear
Although
to heaven thy beauty seems allied, "Having beheld all these wonders, I can well believe that thou must have come down to earth at an auspicious hour from some high world above. Thy beauty is indeed celestial, still I would rejoice to know that thou art a mortal, that thy heart can beat in response to a human call.
If
our time-vexed affections thou canst feel, "If thou canst feel our short-lived emotions, if the simple things of the earth can at all satisfy thee, if thy look can be content with the soil of the earth, if thy golden body—this epitome of Bliss—could experience the fatigue natural to life on this earth and lay the burden of its grace on our terrain, if the desire to taste the sweetness of our earthly food and drink the heady waters of the torrents, can stay thee for a while, then let thy journey cease, descend from thy chariot, come down to us mortals.
Close
is my father’s creepered hermitage
Amid
the welcome-hum of many bees "Come. My father's creeper-covered hermitage is close by, screened by these royally tall trees. The voices of the multicoloured denizens of the forest render in music the lush patterns of the boughs and fill the air with their melodious cries. The bees welcome thee with their hum; step into our sweet forest-kingdom and let me lead thee to the rich life prevailing there.
Bare,
simple is the sylvan hermit-life;
Wild
winds run—visitors midst the swaying tops, "Our hermit-life in the forest is indeed simple and bare, but it is rich with the gifts of the earth. Wild winds visit us shaking the tree-tops; from the purple skies, peaceful clouds look down on the luxuriant, secluded tract below and murmuring brooks flow chanting through it.
Enormous,
whispering, many-formed around
Apparelled
are the morns in gold and green, "Here, enormous, vibrant and many-visaged forest Gods have admitted, for a while, the human world into their empire. We, humans, are allowed to share in their glory. The mornings here are clothed in green and gold; sunlight and shadow weave ornamental designs on the walls to make this dwelling-place fit for thee."
Awhile
she paused as if hearing still his voice,
Musing
she answered: “I am Savitri,
What
trunk of kings watered by fortunate streams Savitri keeps silent for a while, as though unwilling to break the spell of his voice. Then slowly she speaks:"I am Savitri, princess of the house of Madra. But who art thou? What is the musical name by which thou art known to men? Which is that house of royalty that has at last produced this happy glory?
Why
is thy dwelling in the pathless wood "Why art thou here far away from the field of heroic actions that thy glorious youth calls for? Why this dwelling in the thick forest which is the natural habitation of anchorites and wild life, where thou roamest only witnessing things—not throwing thyself into action—in this awesome loneliness of Nature, engulfed by mighty silences and the absorbed murmur of ancient calm?"
And
Satyavan replied to Savitri: "In the days when his eyesight was intact, King Dyumathsena of the house of Shalwa, used to reign over all the domain that extends behind these forest heights, northwards.
But
equal fate removed her covering hand, But fate, that impartial dealer out of prosperity and adversity, withdrew her protection from him and darkness enclosed his life-journey; the splendorous Gods in heaven withdrew their casually given gifts, took away his eye-sight and led away from him the fickle goddess of wealth and glory.
Outcast
from empire of the outer light, Denied the world of external light, unable to live in the company of men that see with their physical eyes, he now lives between two solitudes—the solitude of the soul bereft of all involvements in things of the world and the solemn solitude of the forest without.
Son
of that king, I, Satyavan, have lived "I am the son of that king, my name is Satyavan. I have lived here contented because I was not yet aware of thee—if I had been aware I could not have lived so. The loneliness of my spirit has been filled with the presence of great beings and I have felt a close contact with the vital life of nature. Nurtured by the vastness that surrounds me, I have learnt to live in solitude.
Great
Nature came to her recovered child; "Great Nature helped me to recover from the grief at my father's loss. I reigned here in a different kind of kingdom, other and nobler than what the humans can build on the inert soil of Matter. I was greeted by the unsophisticated earth of old, I delighted in the company of the Godhead taking shape.
In
the great tapestried chambers of her state "In this vast palace of Mother Nature, nourished by her, I have lived with abandon. I have been brought up by her along with her other children of the forest deeps. I have lain free in the embrace of the skies, the radiant light of the sun bathed my face and at night the ecstatic moonbeams playing on my lids put me to sleep.
Awaking from my sleep I have felt earth's mornings to be specially mine. I have wandered in the woods following the voice of winds and waters, sharing in the joy of the sun, listening to the speech universal in the air. My contented being within has known that life is rich and our birth-right is as of the gods, whose intimate possessions are the earth and the skies.
Before
fate led me into this emerald world,
As
if to a deeper country of the soul "Even before fate brought me here to this forest-world, some foreshadowing movement within me awakened in my mind an affinity with the vital life of earth, vast and mute, which has now grown so intimate to me who has left the old pomps of a man-made world in order to live amidst the vast and complex murmur of the world of nature. An awakening, through an inner sense and eye, came to some deeper region of the soul presenting as it were the vivid imagery of the physical earth.
A
visioned spell pursued my boyhood’s hours,
An
early child-god took my hand that held, High beauty’s visitants my inmates were. "All through my boyhood this spell of vision continued. All things caught by the seeing physical eye were visioned again through the interpreting mind and converted into avenues to meet the soul. Some infant God took my hand and guided me to see the varied bright forms and colours that flitted across; these—whether impressed on page or on stone—were alive and conveyed their message to men. My consciousness was filled with these touches of high beauty.
The
neighing pride of rapid life that roams "The varied wild life produced a multiple impression on my being. The running horse left imprints of swiftness on my perceiving mind; the passing line of spotted deer in the background of the evening sky seemed a poem to my silent soul.
I
caught for some eternal eye the sudden "An unwinking eye in me registered the sight of the kingfisher suddenly diving into a pool; the white swan glistening on the blue waters of the lake floated through my dream; leaves of trees shaking with gusts of wind and roaming birds approaching from infinity, as it were, produced lasting impressions on my deeper sight. Mountains and trees stood like some thoughts of God.
Pranked
butterflies, the conscious flowers of air,
I
carved my vision out of wood and stone; "Spangled butterflies, living flames of the air, bright long-billed birds, the magnificent peacock,—all left deep and variegated impressions on my memory; I carved all I saw on wood and stone. Often I heard the echoings of a supreme, unearthly speech, put into metre the rhythm pulsating in the infinity and through music, listened for the Voice of God.
I
felt a covert touch, I heard a call, "I felt some hidden touch, I heard a call; but I could not feel and clasp the body of my God nor hold, between my hands, the feet of the World-Mother.
In
men I met strange portions of a Self "I met men—all portions of the one Self, but strangely enough living as divided fragments and seeing everything in division, each confined to himself, lived in and for himself alone, associating with others with but fragile links. Each lived lost in his surface joys and griefs; none looked within himself to find the Eternal dwelling in his secret chamber.
I
conversed with Nature, mused with the changeless stars,
I
sat with the forest sages in their trance: "I communed with Nature, contemplated on the unchanging stars shining like God's watchfires in the dark Night of Ignorance; I saw a ray of the Eternal's splendour lighting up the face of the Earth—in prophecy of the coming future. I sat in meditation with the sages of the forest in their trance and there I witnessed the flow of awakening streams of pure white light; there I got a glimpse of the presence of the One Reality in all.
But
still there lacked the last transcendent power
The
spirit was saved, the body lost and mute "I saw and experienced all these, still the ultimate transcendent power which alone can save all and change all was not there; Matter—my material frame—continued to be unconscious, bereft of its Master, the living Spirit. No doubt the Spirit in me was safe but the body was left to its own mute fallen state; it continued its companionship with Death and the sempiternal Ignorance; the black Inconscient was its foundation and the empty Void its destiny.
But
thou hast come and all will surely change: The child of the Void shall be reborn in God.
My
Matter shall evade the Inconscient’s trance, "But now that thou hast come, all will certainly change. In thy golden limbs I shall hold the Mother of the worlds, in thy sacred voice hear her wisdom. My being which has been for so long in the Void of Nescience shall be reborn in the splendour of the Superconscience. My material stuff shall escape the spell of the Inconscient and my body shall be liberated equally with my spirit; it shall be no more subject to Death and Ignorance."
And
Savitri musing still replied to him:
Speak
till a light shall come into my heart
It
knows that thou art he my spirit has sought Savitri contemplatingly replies: "Speak to me yet more of thyself. I want to know thee with the intimacy that comes from the eternal companionship of souls. Speak to me till a ray lights up my heart and my human mind is moved to grasp what the immortal being within me feels. That being knows for certain that thou art he for whom I have been searching amidst the crowding forms and faces of the earth, across the luminous passages of my life."
And
Satyavan like a replying harp Like a harp responding to the insistent notes of a flute, Satyavan answers her. He opens his heart to her in rich and colourful words.
“O
golden princess, perfect Savitri,
In
one great hour of the unveiling gods
For
now I know that all I lived and was "O perfect Savitri, words fail to express all that I wish to say of what thou, though unknown, hast meant to me, all that this sudden flash of love has revealed. In this one great hour of revelation when the gods have unveiled themselves, even thy brief proximity has given a new shape to my life. Now I know that the whole of my life has all along been moving towards this moment of rebirth of my being. As I look back on the possible meaning of my existence, I realise that I am the soul who has been made ready on earth for thee.
Once
were my days like days of other men:
A
truth was felt that screened its shape from mind, "Once my days passed like the days of other men—all life was occupied with the routine of thinking, acting, enjoying and breathing. Still there did come glimpses of some inner self that lives behind the surfaces of life and makes life act as she does. Some truth was felt by me which hid itself behind the external mind, some Greatness working towards a veiled goal. I perceived vaguely something looking out through the forms of the earth, something that life is not yet but must become.
I groped for the Mystery with the lantern, Thought.
Its
glimmerings lighted with the abstract word I could not live the truth it spoke and thought. "I tried to find and know the Mystery behind life with the aid of Thought as my lantern to light up the way. Its little glimmerings could only throw the light of its abstract words on a dim half-visible tract, though moving a little by little, it sketched out its own system of Self and God. But the truth it worked out was so dry and theoretical that I could not live it.
I
turned to seize its form in visible things, "I tried to seize this Mystery in the forms the eye. I hoped to determine its process by my human mind and to that end, I imposed the narrow structure of world-law concocted by the mind, upon the illimitable freedom of the Infinite; I constructed a rigid and hard frame of outer Truth, a mind-made scheme of a mechanical Power. All that the mind could achieve was to build a constricted frame of laws, external and so a partial truth and a mechanical Power.
This
light showed more the darknesses unsearched;
It
could not analyse its cosmic veil "This surface mental light served only to reveal more dark areas still to be traversed, it made the Mystery deeper still. It failed to break through the veil behind which cosmic workings go on or to get a glimpse of the hidden hand of the Wonder-worker and sketch the lines of his magic plans. Behind the veil the great Cosmic Artisan is at work on his magic plans, but the human mind of reason cannot reach there.
I
plunged into an inner seeing Mind The mystery was not solved but deepened more. "There I withdrew into the inner Mind that sees directly (does not have to reason out) and came to know the occult processes and magical workings by which Matter is made a dazed instrument and slave of the mind. Still the mystery was not solved; it only deepened further.
I
strove to find its hints through Beauty and Art,
It
evoked a mood of self, invoked a sign "I tried to find clues to the Mystery through Beauty and Art, but discovered that Form cannot reveal the Power that dwells in it, it is only a sign, a symbol of what it contains. This brought on a deeper mood and I became aware of a gathered and vibrating glory hidden in the sense-world. I lived in the derived ray of the sun's light but could not stand face to face with him.
I
looked upon the world and missed the Self, "When I turned my sight on the world, I missed the Self; so too when I found the Self, I lost the world. I could never have both. In my preoccupation with myself, I lost contact with others who are indeed my own selves, I also lost the universe which is but the body of God; I lost the link between the finite and the Infinite, the bridge between appearance and the Truth behind it, the secret aim in the creation of the world and the meaning of Immortality in terms of man.
But
now the gold link comes to me with thy feet
For
now another realm draws near with thee "But now with thy arrival that link is made for me. God's luminous Sun shines on me through thy face. For along with thee quite another realm of existence approaches me, diviner voices fill my ear; as thou lookest, a strange new world floats towards me like a star from mysterious heavens; a cry of celestial spheres comes with thee and a hymn of the flaming gods.The very air I now breathe is richer; and life has become more intense; my labouring mind is changed into a rapturous seer; a sprinkle from the waves of bliss has altered my heart and the earth around me. Everything is fulfilled with thy coming.Because of this change within me by thy gaze, all without undergoes a corresponding change: air, soil, stream wear a festive look to greet thee, the sunlight is like a pale shadow of thy hue. Do not disdain our mortal soil, descend from thy car of light, and come nearer. Here secret spaces seem made ready for thee, here forest groves long to shade thee.
Wilt thou not make this mortal bliss thy sphere?
"O Goddess from afar, wilt thou not make this mortal Joy thy sphere? Descend, O Happiness, with thy pure, luminous feet and enrich the earth on whose dormant bosom we lie.O my princess of bright beauty, Savitri, compelled by my delight and thy own joy, enter my life which shall be thy chamber and thy shrine.
In the great quietness where spirits meet,
"In this great quietude fit for a meeting place of spirits, thou wert drawn by my mute desire to this forest of mine. Now come further within, let the rustling arches of the trees bend over thee. Live here in communion with the spirit of the eternal, in close intimacy with me till the glorious hour of fruition, the hour which will be ever recalled in the murmurs and songs of the creatures living here.
Allured to her lashes by his passionate words
Moved by his passionate speech, Savitri's profound soul lights up her eyes and she looks at him; and in clear flowing accents she speaks: "O Satyavan, I have heard thee and I know the truth: I know that thou art he whom I have been seeking." She says only this much but in saying it she has said all.
Then down she came from her high carven car
Then Savitri comes down from her car with faltering haste; her many-coloured dress glistening in the light and mixing with the radiance of her body, looks like the charming plumage of a bird coming to rest. Her shining feet on the green gold grass tract scatter beams of light, and as they pass lightly and swiftly over the soil, earth expresses an unspoken yearning to hold her back.
Then flitting like pale brilliant moths her hands
Then with quiet but swift movements of her hands, she picks the spring flowers in clusters and weaves a simple garland as if composing a marriage hymn in flowers.
Profound in perfume and immersed in hue
The many-coloured and fragrant flowers of the garland breathe both passion and purity. She brings this flower-symbol of her offered life to Satyavan, a joyous offering in her loving hands. But as she comes near, her raised hands tremble --- even though her soul has desired this closeness—and they place on his bosom—so much cherished by her—the garland which is their bond of sweetness, and sign of their bright union.
As if inclined before some gracious god
As if she were bent before a gracious god who emerges bright out of the veiling mist of his solemn greatnessin order to delight his adorer, Savitri bows down and touches the feet of Satyavan with hands of worship. She lays her life before him to tread upon, offers her body as the chamber of his delight and her throbbing heart as a constant reminder of the bliss that is now his.
He bent to her and took into his own
Satyavan bends down and gathers Savitri into his arms. Their longing for each other is fulfilled; he feels as if a whole rich world (Savitri's) had united with all that he had been, and he was enriched.
Around her his embrace became the sign
His embrace becomes the sign of the intimate closeness that had developed through the slow passage of time across many lives. It is the first sweet touch of the delight yet to come, an intense moment that is the promise of the long life ahead. In that potent moment of their meeting Savitri feels her being flow into his like waves from a river rushing into a mighty sea.
As when a soul is merging into God
Like a human soul that is merging into God in order to live always in God—without break, without the least gulf—and realise the joy of His being, Savitri's consciousness becomes only a wave of Satyavan's and her entire individual self is merged in his.
As a starry heaven encircles happy earth,
Even as the bright heaven encloses this happy earth, Satyavan shuts Savitri into himself in a circle of bliss, and thus, as it were, he holds the whole world in their embrace. This limitless isolation from everything else makes them one. He becomes aware of her enclosing him and lets her penetrate into his inmost depths and occupy him as the world's spirit fills the world, as one subject to time grows aware of Eternity, as the finitie opens to the invading Infinite.
Thus were they in each other lost awhile,
And when they both come out of their blissful trance like spell, they emerge into quite a new world, a new state of being. Each now is part of the other. The world becomes the scene of the self-discovery of these twin souls; it is found to be the larger body of their own united being.
On the high glowing cupola of the day
Thus takes place again on earth the wedding of the eternal Divine Lord and his Spouse in the human forms of Satyavan and Savitri. The marriage is solemnised by Fate at the auspicious haloed morning hour before the witness Fire of the Sun. In the eternal drama of the world, a new act opens and the Two together intitate a greater Age.
In the silence and murmur of that emerald world
Thus join the two halves of Love and become one in the silent murmur of that green world, to the accompaniment of the chant of the priest-wind and the low canticle of the leaves. The natural miracle of two coming together in love and becoming one is effected once again. This one moment of human time comes to be recorded as eternal in the realm of the Ideal.
Then down the narrow path where their lives had met
Then Satyavan leads Savitri across the narrow path and shows her what is to be her world in future safe refuge of love and a happy solitude. At the end of the path, through an opening amid the trees she catches sight of a row of hermit dwellings and glimpses the cottage where Satyavan lives, the future home of her heart.
Adorned with creepers and red-climbing flowers
The cottage adorned with creepers and red mounting flowers looks like a veritable forest maiden, asleep dreaming in her chamber of verdant peace. Surrounding it all is the hermit forest musing in its own solitude.
Then moved by the deep joy she could not speak,
Then speaks Savitri to Satyavan in words quivering with a little of the ineffable joy deep within her: "Though I go far, my heart will stay here on the forest edge close to this thatched roof. There is no need to wander any further. But now I must hasten back to my father's house which is soon going to lose my accustomed steps and miss my voice. For I am going to return here soon so that this bliss of oneness that we have recovered shall not be lost again nor fate be allowed to part our lives as long as we live."
Once more she mounted on the carven car
Savitri gets back into her chariot. The noon is bright and fiery but less bright than the splendour of her thoughts and dreamings. She drives fast, her heart beats swiftly, but in her inner vision that is calm and clear she keeps seeing Satyavan through the shadowed passages of the thick woods.
A nave of trees enshrined the hermit thatch,
The memory of the hermit cottage enclosed by a cluster of trees, the new home of her happiness, her soul's temple more cherished than heaven, remains a constant scene in her heart.
|
|