{"id":10627,"date":"2014-07-12T00:35:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-12T07:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10627"},"modified":"2014-12-06T21:49:30","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T05:49:30","slug":"savitri-study-book-1-canto-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-1-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-1-canto-1","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-1-Canto-1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nIntroduction<\/a>   Notes<\/a>   Book 1<\/a>   Book II<\/a>   Book III<\/a>   Book IV<\/a>   
\nBook V<\/a>   Book VI<\/a>   Book VII<\/a>   Book VIII<\/a>   
\nBook IX<\/a>   Book X<\/a>   Book XI<\/a>   Book XII<\/a>
\n<\/br><\/br><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Book One. The Book of Beginnings<\/p>\n

Canto I <\/a> Canto II<\/a> Canto III<\/a> Canto IV<\/a>
\nCanto V<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
\n


\nBook One: Canto 1<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Symbol Dawn<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Summary<\/B>
The
\nhour of manifestation is not yet. The gods who preside over and
\nparticipate in the manifestation are still at rest.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBarring the path of the
\nDivine Manifestation, there lies immobile upon the bosom of Silence
\nthe mind of Night. Alone in the stretch of timelessness the mind of
\nNight is huge and portending.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIn that blind musing of the
\nNight one senses, as it were, the profounds of the Infinite without
\nform; it is an impenetrable obscurity. All is occupied by a
\nfathomless zero.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis mind, a power of the
\nself that was once boundless but had subsequently fallen, is awake
\nbetween two Nothingnesses\u2014the Void above and the Void below. It
\nremembers the dark womb of Nescience from which it had arisen and it
\nwishes to end itself in that void, turning away from the call of the
\nadventure of birth and the prospect of the meandering journey
\nfollowing it.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA dumb unformed figure of
\nthe Unknown, the Inconscient is in some stir; it goes on repeating
\nendlessly that unconscious act, prolonging the mechanical will behind
\nit and acts as a cradle to the cosmic drowse of an ignorant Force
\nwhose very rhythms of slumber go on to light up the suns in the
\nuniverse and carry the lives of creatures in this unconscious swing.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIn this immensitude of the
\nstill space where there is neither mind nor life nor soul, in this
\nVoid the Earth is spinning helplessly, lost once again in her
\nmechanical dreams, wholly forgetful of her spirit and her goal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIn this enigmatic darkness
\nsomething stirs. It is some movement, an insistent urge which wants
\nto be but does not know how, that awakes Ignorance in the
\nInconscient.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThere is a pang and a
\nquiver; an old unfulfilled want, inert so far in the subconscience,
\nraises its head searching for light with old memories. It looks as if
\nthere had survived in the depths of this Nought an entity from a
\nburied past which is obliged to raise itself and <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\nits effort and struggle in
\nanother bleak round.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAn unformed consciousness
\nwishes for light and a vague foreknowing sense seeks for a far away
\nchange. A longing arises and Night, the Mother of all, who has been
\nheedless so far is reminded of a Need to be fulfilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nImperceptibly there is a
\nbreak in that dark, a ray of light, of life, starts appearing; it is
\nas though a messenger from beyond has come searching for a sole,
\ndisconsolate spirit that has forgotten its past of bliss. With the
\nentry of this light of life in this hushed universe there creeps
\nthroughout a call for the adventure of consciousness and joy and it
\ncompels the reluctant Night-Nature to resume life, to see and to
\nfeel.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThat is the beginning: a
\nthought is sown, a sense is born, a memory stirs; it is as if a soul
\ndead long ago is moved to live again, but the aftermath of the
\nprevious cycle has obliterated all the remnants of the past.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAll that has to be rebuilt
\nand all the old experience gone through once again. But surely all
\ncan be done with the Grace of God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThus there arises a hope in
\nthat world of forlorn indifference. There comes a miraculous gesture
\nin a <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\nof heaven. A repetitive
\nmovement of light proceeds from there downwards. All this persistent
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\nof light transfigures the
\nscene. It prevails upon the darkness to yield to light and the
\ndormant world is touched by the beauty and wonder of life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe opening widens and
\nlight pours down with the darkness receding before it. There is an
\noutburst of magnificent hues and Dawn stands in her glory on the edge
\nof the creation with her message and promise of the Immortal Light to
\ncome.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Dawn shines for a brief
\nwhile on the slender border of life recording as it were in earthly
\nterms the Beauty and the Bliss and the greatness of the Divine Spirit
\non the verge of manifestation. She casts the seed of Splendour on the
\ndense vasts.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThen appears the Form of
\nthe Goddess of eternal Light opening the heavens. Seeing that the
\nspaces are ready for her feet, she steps forth with all her
\nomniscience and revelation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Earth feels her coming;
\nher ear hears the steps of the Goddess, her eye turns on her Form.
\nThe luminous smile of the Deity sets aflame all life that was still.
\nAll Nature rises in worship of the Divinity, the trees, the hills,
\nthe wind, the skies, the air\u2014all participate in the adoration. The
\nEarth is awakened to the Light of Life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe divine afflatus,
\nhowever, cannot last long as conditions on mortal earth are not ready
\nfor its stay. It withdraws leaving behind a living memory of its
\nPresence, a spiritual Beauty and an aspiration for its certain birth
\nin future.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWhat remains is the common
\nday. All wake up as usual and as usual spring to their daily tasks.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAmong those who so wake up
\nis Savitri. Though she lives among men who take to life with the
\ncustomary zest for its pleasures and rewards, Savitri does not
\nparticipate in these little joys of life. She is conscious of her
\ndifferent origin and mission and all that evokes eager response in
\nthe common human is felt as alien by her. The godly powers embodied
\nin her are restless at their confinement in the human mould. The
\nlittleness of earthly life cannot support, and wellnigh rejects, the
\nwideness, the bliss and the power that she has brought with her. The
\nearth which needs the sap of pleasure and tears refuses the boon of
\nher rapture, it offers her instead a love that leads to doom.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri freely radiates
\nwhat she carries, hoping that the greater consciousness will flower
\non earth. But as is the way of this world of ignorance with the sons
\nof God who bring the saving light with them, the earth nature repels
\nher light\u2014with hate and anger.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThus she lives in the world
\nfar from her natural felicity of the heights and equally away from
\nthe sorrows of mortal life which she has come to redeem.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nUnknown, unhelped, she
\nnurses the grief of human life preparing to confront death at its
\nhour. She is too great to communicate her peril and pain to those
\naround. She keeps it to herself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWith all this aloofness her
\nheart is open to all. Inwardly she identifies herself with all
\nNature. Hers is the love of the universal Mother. She sees in the
\nordeal that awaits her a projection of the evil that afflicts life at
\nits roots and, in preparing to meet her fate, she is really getting
\nready to face the Determinism that rules material Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIn her early life the being
\nof Savitri is ever at repose sharing the forgetfulness and somnolence
\nof the earth. She knows neither grief nor care. As she grows up there
\ncomes a faint remembrance; she feels an intimate, dragging ache in
\nher bosom, She tries to trace its cause but cannot do so because the
\nmind is still not conscious enough. The faculties of life and the
\nsenses are reluctant to work zestfully in the absence of their due
\nenjoyment. In time, however, she wakes up fully; her real spirit
\ncomes back, memory surges up and she finds herself at the centre of
\nthe cosmic combat among the three disputants: Earth, Love and Doom.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nLooking into herself she
\ncomes face to face with the spirit of pain enthroned in her nature
\nclaiming the oblation of sorrow and grief constantly.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe whole problem of the
\nearth-life becomes alive in her. She accepts the challenge and her
\nsoul arises to confront Time and Fate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nFor, this is the day when
\nSatyavan must die.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Zero<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nfathomless zero occupied the world. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBefore existence,
\nnon-existence; before being, non-being. Before this manifestation of
\nnames and forms came to be, it was all a state of indefiniteness, a
\nfeatureless Blank, as it were. There was simply the Unmanifest; it
\nwas an infinite Zero. But this was not an empty zero. It was
\ncontentful, holding in itself potentialities without end,
\nimmeasurable. And it was because this Nothing contained all in seed
\nin its bosom that things could at all manifest from it.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Zero is not a negative
\nVoid. It exceeds the farthest conception of the mind and strikes it
\nas a blank though it is full in a way that is beyond human
\ncomprehension. Out of this Zero issue the Numbers stretching into
\ninfinity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mystery<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nthe insoluble mystery of birth<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWhy do things come into
\nexistence? They are born, they live a while and they die. This
\nprocess goes on endlessly from the beginnings of time. What is the
\npurpose? Who is so born? If it is the soul that takes birth, what is
\nthis soul? If the soul is a portion of the Divine, what need has the
\nDivine to undergo this painful experience of earthly life? For, by
\nall accounts, the Divine is all Consciousness, all Bliss. Why should
\nhe forfeit his immortal state and venture into this world of
\nmortality? The mystery is insoluble for the creature involved in the
\nprocess.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Tardy Process<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd
\nthe tardy process of mortality<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMortality is not a
\npermanent truth of one’s existence. It is a condition through which
\nthe soul in embodiment progresses towards its eternal status of
\nimmortality. The process of this growth is evolution, development of
\nconsciousness with a corresponding development of forms to house it
\nat each stage. This movement is conducted primarily by Nature in her
\nown large and inevitably slow pace; it proceeds in an apparently
\nwasteful and zigzag manner till, with the arrival of man, the
\nconscious being, the direction is assumed by him and the progress
\nspeeded up.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Somnambulist Force<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nthe cosmic drowse of ignorant Force
Whose moved creative slumber
\nkindles the suns
And carries our lives in its somnambulist whirl.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe whole universe is
\nthrown up and formed by a gigantic Force whose appearance is that of
\nan energy without intelligence and whose working is of a mechanical
\ncharacter propelled by its own movement. It is vast in its range and
\noperates without any self-awareness or conscious direction; but its
\nresults are splendidly productive; it sets ablaze the suns and other
\nluminaries in the cosmic system, and man himself\u2014with all his
\nmoorings in inertia, tamas, and obscurity\u2014is carried forward in its
\nsweep till he wakes up and takes charge of his own destiny.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis it is able to do
\nbecause its nature of materiality, of insentience, is only its
\noutermost process. Behind is the working of a Power divine in its
\nsource and fully conscious of its working and its goal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ignorance from
\nInconscient<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSomething
\nthat wished but knew not how to be,
Teased the Inconscient to
\nwake Ignorance. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll evolutionary movement
\nis possible because involved in the densest Matter is an element of
\nconsciousness that presses for unfoldment. This element is not a
\nformed entity with an effective awareness, and yet it is instinct
\nwith a will. Without its pressure from within, all would remain
\nliterally dead matter. It is this oestrus of the Spirit that sets up
\na stir in the Inconscient which develops into a slow awakening to
\nself-awareness. The first forms taken by the imprisoned consciousness
\nare necessarily imperfect, incomplete, but they hold the promise of a
\nfuller development. Ignorance is the first stage of this emergence
\nfrom the sleep of Nescience.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Bygone Self<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike
\none who searches for a bygone self
And only meets the corpse of
\nhis desire. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is continuously on the
\nmove. What he is today is not what he was yesterday and what he will
\nbe a day hence is not what he is at this moment. His personality
\nwhich is developing from moment to moment in the incessant movement
\nof evolution goes on changing, putting away old forms as soon as
\ntheir utility for gaining particular experiences is over and taking
\non new ones for acquiring newer experiences. This change of person is
\nnot always evident because it goes on on the subtler levels of his
\nexistence; it is only when there is change on the gross physical
\nlevel in casting off the material body that it is marked. If during
\nthis succession of personalities, of selves, one were to look back
\nfor a particular personality that was active at one time, it is most
\nlikely that he would see only a dead remnant of the desire that was
\nthe motive-force for that formation. For, usually, it is some
\negoistic movement of desire that shapes a formation to fulfil it and
\nthe moment it is satisfied or effectively defeated, that form yields
\nplace to another. When one looks for that self, it is not there,
\nthere is only a trace of that desire that had actuated it into
\nexistence, desire fulfilled and past or frustrated and dead.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Eye of Deity<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArrived
\nfrom the other side of boundlessness
An eye of deity pierced
\nthrough the dumb deeps; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the beginnings of this
\nmaterial creation all is inert, immobile; it is a vast dormant
\nextension. Though there is an urge somewhere in the depths of this
\nexistence for movement, for life, that alone is not enough to animate
\nthe inconscient Matter. That has to be effected by a descent of a Ray
\nof the Life-Spirit from beyond the material plane. It is when the
\nDivine Consciousness comes down in the form of this Life-Force,
\npiercing through all the structural denseness of this universe, that
\nthe urge for life from below is taken up by the power of Life from
\nits own home and all earth awakes to life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Rebuild Old
\nExperience<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…all
\nthat was destroyed must be rebuilt
And old experience laboured
\nout once more. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nJust as man taking birth
\nfor a new life has to undergo again all the preliminary labour of
\npreparation through infancy and childhood before he is in a position
\nto launch upon the new career of experience or, ending his life for
\nany reason, has got to re-build all that he has wantonly destroyed
\nand work out that experience completely before he is allowed to
\nproceed further, so, in Nature too, each cycle of evolution has to
\nlabour to reconstruct what had been achieved in the previous cycle,
\nto restate and relive the past gains before it can go on to develop
\non its own curves of growth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
God-Touch<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\ncan be done if the god-touch is there. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLife presents to man task
\nafter task calling for effort and yet greater effort. And in the
\nmanner in which he meets this challenge man grows in his stature. His
\nwill and strength increase with each such exertion. There are,
\nhowever, occasions when the task is clearly impossible. All the power
\nand skill that man can summon are found unequal to the situation. But
\nit will not do to give up. There is a power greater than his\u2014the
\nPower of the Divine. In fact, what man calls his power is not his
\nown, but a pale reflection, a deflected, thin current of a mightier
\nPuissance that is Divine. If he can consciously open himself to this
\nDivine Power, link himself with it in some part of his being and let
\nit act in him, then there is nothing too difficult, nothing
\nimpossible. For the Power that acts is the Conscious-Force of the
\nSupreme that builds the worlds; it is irresistible. This Force is
\ninherent in the Divine Consciousness (sakti in cit) and wherever this
\nConsciousness is actively present, there the Force is at work
\neffecting all that is called for.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Transfiguring Touch<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\npersistent thrill of a transfiguring touch
Persuaded the inert
\nblack quietude
And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Nescience which covered
\nall at the beginning of things in this universe was characterised by
\na complete absence of the light of consciousness, movement and
\nactivity. It was only when the ray of Light from above\u2014an active
\nand supernal Consciousness\u2014played again and again on the surface of
\nthis In-conscience that an awakening was effected: a stir was set up
\nwhich under continuous pressure from above developed into a
\nlife-movement and all became vivified with a new element of Life and
\nLight.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dawn (I)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nbrief perpetual sign recurred above. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere
\nwas the outbreak of Dawn.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWhether it is the physical
\ndawn or the spiritual, the dawn of light is always brief, for it soon
\ngrows into the Day. It is perpetual, for it comes in cycles without
\nfail; each dawn is followed by another, albeit with an appropriate
\ninterval for its assimilation and the preparation for the next. The
\ndawn is a sign, a promise of the Glory that awaits its hour for
\nmanifestation. The dawns recur, more and more acclimatise the Nature
\nwith their characteristic Light and Life and a succession of dawns
\nbuilds up the new world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dawn (II)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nglamour from the unreached transcendences
Iridescent with the
\nglory of the Unseen,
A message from the unknown immortal Light
\n
Ablaze upon creation\u2019s quivering edge, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nappearance of dawn always carries with it an enchanting beauty
\nthat is not of this world but of one beyond; it is bright with hues
\nthat bespeak a splendour on which mortal eyes have not rested; it
\nbrings the tidings of assurance from a Divine Effulgence, an eternal
\nLight that is for ever; though not in evidence today in this world of
\nobscurity and death, it looms above and sends intimations of its
\nexistence and advent through the flares of its glow on the horizons
\nof its skies.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dawn (III)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDawn
\nbuilt her aura of magnificent hues
And buried its seed of grandeur in
\nthe hours.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe dawn brings with it
\nfresh concentrations of Light\u2014physical and spiritual\u2014and
\norganises their lines of manifestation, sets the design, as it were,
\nfor the efflorescence of the rich lustres it bears. But it does not
\nwait till its timeless contents manifest. It pours them into the womb
\nof Time and withdraws leaving their greatness to reveal itself in the
\nfullness of time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dawn (IV)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInterpreting
\na recondite beauty and bliss
In colour\u2019s hieroglyphs of mystic
\nsense,
It wrote the lines of a significant myth
Telling of a
\ngreatness of spiritual dawns,
A brilliant code penned with the
\nsky for page. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe bright pattern of hues
\nthat broke into the skies at the appearance of the Dawn was not just
\na crisscross occurrence of chance. It was a living message
\ncommunicating a Beauty and a Delight that are supernal. The various
\ncolours that held the eye were the distant glows of the Greater Light
\nthat was approaching. Each colour, each line in the sky carried its
\nown significance in the developing design, clothed the truth proper
\nto its nature. The entire phenomenon of the physical dawn was, as it
\nwere, a brilliant synopsis, in earthly language, of the saga of the
\nSpirit that was getting ready to be unfolded.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Epiphany<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlmost
\nthat day the epiphany was disclosed
Of which our thoughts and
\nhopes are signal flares; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere was revealed, at the
\nmoment of dawn, an advance picture, a pre-vision of the Manifestation
\nthat was gathering and this rapid revelation\u2014however
\nbrief\u2014established in the earth-atmosphere a loaded consciousness of
\nthe Truth to be formed. It is the presence of this Power that
\ninspires, directly and indirectly, all the upward effort of man, his
\naspirations and his strivings to embody the higher Light and
\nparticipate in its manifestation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Lonely Splendour<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nlonely splendour from the invisible goal
Almost was flung on the
\nopaque Inane. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe empty spaces of the
\nEarth were dense with obscurity and resistance, inhospitable to all
\nRays of Light. And yet a Radiance from the Beyond\u2014from the original
\nstation of the manifesting movement which is also its eventual
\ndestination\u2014was released on the Earth, for only so could it be
\nsaved and uplifted. The Light of Consciousness so reached from above
\nwas, however, not left to itself, alone, in that hostile environment.
\nThe Transcendent Source maintained its connection and direction.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ambassadress (I)<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInfinity\u2019s
\ncentre, a Face of rapturous calm
Parted the eternal lids that
\nopen heaven; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Infinite in itself has
\nneither a centre nor a circumference. But when it chooses to
\nmanifest, it collects itself for the purpose and formulates what is
\nto be expressed. The Goddess of Eternal Light is such a
\nself-formulation of the Infinite Divine, centering in herself the
\npotentialities to be put out, shaping and holding in herself the
\nblissful calm of the Ineffable.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIt is when she opens out
\nher Consciousness that the Light of creation streams forth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ambassadress (II)<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAmbassadress
\ntwixt eternity and change,
The omniscient Goddess .<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Goddess of Eternal
\nLight forms the link between Timeless Existence and this creation in
\nTime; she renders the truths of the former into terms proper to the
\nlatter. She is able to do it for she holds the knowledge of what is
\nto be worked out and in what precise manner. She knows the steps, the
\ncourse and the goal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Luminous Smile<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nscattered on sealed depths, her luminous smile
Kindled to fire
\nthe silence of the worlds. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe smile of the Goddess is
\naglow with the Light of Life, and when she casts it on the existence
\nbelow which lies dumb and still, under the spell of Inconscience, all
\nthere leaps to life; aspiration for her Light and Presence springs up
\neverywhere and all creation is caught into a movement upwards.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ambiguous Earth<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\nwhere our half-lit ignorance skirts the gulfs
On the dumb bosom
\nof the ambiguous earth, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe earth we inhabit gives
\nno clear clue to the purpose of its existence. Obscure in its
\norganisation, characterised by insentience in the mass, it is not
\neven articulate enough. The best light that is found wherewith to
\nguide our life-movement is that of an ignorance which is only a
\nhalf-light, a state of awareness that is not in possession of the
\ntruth but seeking for it, partially turned towards the knowledge. All
\nlife on earth is shot through and through with this disabling
\nignorance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Uncertainty<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\nwhere one knows not even the step in front
And Truth has her
\nthrone on the shadowy back of doubt, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis earth on which we live
\nis a field of growth, growth by struggle. For here meet and battle
\nLight and Darkness, Knowledge and Ignorance, Joy and Pain. There is a
\nconstant conflict of possibilities projected from either side and
\nthere can be no certainty of the issue at the next moment. The clash
\nis not only of forces of this world; there is ever an intrusion of
\nelements from other worlds adding to the unpredictability of things.
\nAlready veiled in its constitutional ignorance, the human mind cannot
\nbe sure of the next step in these shifting sands of Time. Even the
\ntruth of its conception is shadowed by a host of doubts, any one of
\nwhich might dislodge tomorrow the truth of today. The road of the
\nthinking mind lies across the woods of errors, half-truths and doubts
\nand whatever conclusions it comes to always prove tentative, as fresh
\nperceptions break upon it and demand modifications or radical changes
\nin the existing thought-structures.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Field of Toil<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nthis anguished and precarious field of toil
Outspread beneath
\nsome large indifferent gaze,
Impartial witness to our joy and
\nbale, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLife on earth is a field
\nfor the effort of man to build and speed up his evolution. He
\nparticipates in the general movement of progression in Nature, fights
\nhis way against the elements that oppose or arrest his advance\u2014both
\nwithin himself and without\u2014, now rises, now falls but is always on
\nthe move. This whole sequence of his march onwards through all its
\nups and downs, struggles and anxieties, joys and griefs, goes on
\nunder the watchful eye of the presiding Spirit which is more
\nconcerned with the broad lines of development rather than with
\nhappenings of local and temporary significance. These circumstances
\nare left to themselves to work out their bearings in the overall
\nsituation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Miracles<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\ntoo the vision and prophetic gleam
Lit into miracles common
\nmeaningless shapes; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEvery form, every object in
\ncreation has a meaning and purpose. When we lack the necessary
\nconsciousness to put ourselves in rapport with any form or forms,
\nthey appear to us as either worthless or much below their true
\nsignificance. We are thus apt to treat many things as insignificant
\nor useless. But they are not so experienced in realms of existence
\nwhere a higher Light of Consciousness is active. There each form is
\nrevealed in its innate truth; nothing is without meaning, and all is
\na splendid efflorescence of the Divine in manifestation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe radiance of the Goddess
\nof Eternal splendour lighted up all on earth, all that appear
\nordinary and common, into their revealing features even as it lights
\nup all for ever in its own domain above. For the moment things stood
\nrevealed in their glory on earth as well.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Too Perfect<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n… a
\nPresence and a Power
Too perfect to be held by death-bound
\nhearts, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe limited and imperfect
\nbeing of man is always uncomfortable in the presence of a Force or
\nConsciousness that is perfect and unlimited. For its very presence is
\na danger to the security and continuance of the limited formation;
\nthe larger consciousness is self-acting and exerts an automatic
\npressure on whatever comes in its range to expand, to grow out of its
\nlimited nature, to change. The normal reaction of mortal
\nimperfection, therefore, is one of hostility, rejection of the
\nPresence. Unless it modifies itself, dilutes its own nature to suit
\nthe temper of ignorant humanity, the higher Power is obliged to
\nwithdraw.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
God-Light<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\na little the God-light can stay: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEach state or formulation
\nof consciousness needs conditions appropriate to its vibrations in
\norder that it may act and live. The Divine Consciousness, for
\ninstance, whether in the form of Light or Power or Bliss, demands a
\ncertain readiness to receive and support it wherever it manifests. If
\nconditions favourable to its continuance are not ready or produced,
\nit withdraws. This is what has been happening all along in the
\nhistory of human evolution on earth. Man refuses to break from his
\nmoorings in Ignorance and Inconscience and change himself
\nsufficiently by way of aspiration, purification, enlargement, etc.,
\nto hold the Higher Light which comes down repeatedly to uplift him.
\nEven when he responds in the heat of the moment of the revelation,
\nhis past and his habitual inertia drag him down after a time and he
\nsinks down unable to keep pace with the steps of the manifest Power.
\nIt has perforce to withdraw and wait for a more propitious hour.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Masks<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSpiritual
\nbeauty illumining human sight
Lines with its passion and mystery
\nMatter\u2019s mask
And squanders eternity on a beat of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMatter and Time, the field
\nand circumstance of our creation, have a compelling power because
\nthey en-soul a Truth of the Spirit. Matter may be obscure, dense;
\nTime, fleeting, putting a stamp of transcience on everything. But
\nthat is only an appearance. Matter is a mask: behind its deceptive
\nexterior there is a beauty and an intensity of the Spirit which
\nattracts and at the same time baffles the eye. The brevity of the
\nhours hides the Eternity of the Supreme which is pouring itself into
\nthe succession of moments of time. Time is a flow of the Timeless.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Soul-Spark<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\nwhen a soul draws near the sill of birth,
Adjoining mortal time
\nto Timelessness,
A spark of deity lost in Matter\u2019s crypt
Its
\nlustre vanishes in the inconscient planes, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe soul is a portion, a
\nspark of the Divine and partakes of its Lustre. When it descends from
\nthe planes of eternal existence whence it is projected by the
\nmanifesting Divine and prepares to embody itself in physical birth,
\nit enters into the zone of human time. Its states of luminous
\nconsciousness are left behind and as it plunges into the density of
\nmaterial substance, it is overtaken by the nescience proper to that
\norganisation of Matter. The spark gets veiled in the nether darkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Excess of Beauty<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nexcess of beauty natural to God-kind
Could not uphold its claim
\non time-born eyes; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nJust as there are degrees
\n()flight that cannot be seized by human sight, states of sound that
\nare beyond the normal hearing of man, there are manifestations of
\ndivine Bliss, Beauty, Power that cannot be held and supported by
\nearthly receptacles. They are natural enough in their own realms of
\nunimpeded truth consciousness and force, but the mortal body and its
\nlimited consciousness are unable to bear their vibrations unless they
\nare specially prepared and developed to be able to contain the
\ncharge. They are dazed, they break under the impact. That is why such
\nhigher manifestations do not stay long, they appear and recede in a
\nflash.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Instant’s Urge<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nunforeseeing instant\u2019s urge, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe urge of the moment
\nplays a considerable part in the common life of creatures on earth,
\nhuman and other. It is some impulse in nature that stirs one into
\nmovement\u2014physical or vital or mental\u2014and one hardly pauses to
\nthink at that time what will be the likely consequences of the act.
\nThe deliberation may follow afterwards, but the usual tendency is to
\nobey the urge instantly it arises. The urge may be habitual or
\nsudden, but it always evokes a response.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Man<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd,
\nleader here with his uncertain mind,
Alone who stares at the
\nfuture\u2019s covered face, Man<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWith all his limitations of
\nbody, life-energy, sense-instrumentation and groping reason, man is
\nat the head of the evolutionary movement of Nature. He sums up in
\nhimself all the past effort of the evolution and represents a
\ndeparture from the mode of unconscious development followed so long
\nby Nature in her creations. For in him there is the birth of an overt
\nconsciousness and he can follow, direct and speed up the course of
\nhis evolution, unlike other creatures who are led by Nature in her
\nown tardy process. Of all the creatures on earth, man alone stands
\nerect, lifts up his head from the groundward position and looks
\nstraight upward. He alone has the capacity to think, to see ahead, to
\nplan, to control the course of life. He is the rightful leader of the
\nevolutionary progression in Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Alien Note<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ncall that wakes the leap of human mind,
Its chequered eager
\nmotion of pursuit,
Its fluttering-hued illusion of desire,
\n
Visited her heart like a sweet alien note. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe human mind springs into
\naction the moment the senses which are its couriers of perception
\nreport an object of interest to it. It begins to run after that
\nobject in all ways that are open to it and continues its pursuit in
\nspite of all interruptions and stumblings in its career due to
\ndistractions or oppositions. Its motivation is desire, which itself
\ngoes on changing its character in the course of its movement for
\nsatisfaction and, more often than not, proves itself to be illusory
\nin the hour of its fulfilment.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis call of the senses, so
\ncommon in the life of men, struck no chord in the heart of Savitri;
\nshe was human enough to sense its attraction but her being always
\nfelt it foreign to her.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Anguish of the Gods<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nthe anguish of the gods
Imprisoned in our transient human mould,
\n
The deathless conquered by the death of things. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe divinity that is
\nembodied in man is not the free, illimitable, blissful eternal that
\nit is in its own supreme state of existence. Here in man it is
\neffectively enclosed in a limited and limiting frame of materiality
\nwhich lasts for a period at the end of which it is always overtaken
\nby decay and dissolution. The immortal’s career is broken in by the
\nconstant invasions of death and it has to undergo all the pangs of
\nlimitation, incapacity, transitoriness and destruction in the course
\nof its journey till it overcomes them.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Denial<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nnarrow movement on Time\u2019s deep abysm,
Life\u2019s fragile
\nlittleness denied the power,
The proud and conscious wideness and
\nthe bliss
She had brought with her into the human form, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs a manifestation of the
\nDivine Consciousness, Savitri came with all the power, luminous
\nwideness and joy characteristic of that Consciousness but these
\npowers could not function in their effectivity on the human soil. For
\nin this rushing movement of Time, with no sure foothold, life stands
\nprecariously organised in brittle, small and divided forms and being
\nunable to assimilate the workings of powers beyond its accustomed
\nrange, contrary to its habitual nature, it rejects them.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Calm Delight<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ncalm delight that weds one soul to all,
The key to the flaming
\ndoors of ecstasy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe reactions of pain and
\npleasure to which man is normally subject are the result of his
\nself-limitation in the walls of his ego and consequent separation
\nfrom the rest in the world. He feels all contacts as coming from
\noutside himself and responds with pleasure or pain in the manner in
\nwhich they affect his consciousness, helpfully or otherwise. And
\nthese reactions fortify his sense of separativity from others. If,
\nhowever, he draws back from this surface action-reaction activity and
\nlearns to receive all contacts with some equality\u2014and that is
\npossible from a deeper base in the consciousness\u2014then there settles
\na calm in the being which is not disturbed by outside impacts. As
\nthis calm deepens he awakens to a coursing of sweet happiness, of
\nquiet joy behind all movements. In this calm delight he feels a
\ncloseness to others which develops in time into a natural oneness
\nwith all.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis quiet joy, as it
\nestablishes itself in the being, accustoms it to constant vibrations
\nof delight and the system gets ready to receive the divine ecstasy in
\nthe fullness of time and keep it without spilling it. An unprepared
\nbody can only break, unable to hold the intensities of the divine
\nAnanda.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Earth’s Grain<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEarth\u2019s
\ngrain that needs the sap of pleasure and tears <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEarth is the appointed
\nfield for growth and evolution. But this growth has to be made in the
\nface of the opposition of all the elements and forces of Inconscience
\nand Ignorance that are ranged against it. Every step of advance calls
\nfor incessant effort which is attended by success and failure,
\npleasure and pain, in its course of effectuation. This uneven passage
\nis inevitable as long as Earth-Nature is ruled by Ignorance. It is
\nonly as that Ignorance is displaced by the manifesting Truth that the
\ncourse can change and progress be possible from light to greater
\nlight, joy to greater joy without the inevitability of the
\nalternations of happiness and grief, of light and darkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
A Prodigal<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nprodigal of her rich divinity,
Her self and all she was she had
\nlent to men,
Hoping her greater being to implant
That heaven
\nmight native grow on mortal soil. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is so that humanity
\ngrows. Divine embodiments bring with them greater and greater
\nconcentrations of Consciousness, Knowledge, Power, Joy in order to
\nestablish them on earth and raise her being from obscurity to Light,
\nfrom ignorance to Knowledge, from mortality towards Immortality. They
\nceaselessly emanate their consciousness with all that it carries; a
\nfew that are open absorb it in themselves and advance, the generality
\nbenefit indirectly by the greatening of the life-movement. Repeated
\nmanifestations of this kind across the ages help the earth of Matter
\nto grow into the image of the of the Spirit.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Earth-Nature<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHard
\nis it to persuade earth-nature\u2019s change; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMatter and all that is born
\nof matter resist change. There is in it a strong element of
\ninconscience\u2014a blind insensibility,\u2014inertia, unwillingness to
\nmove from its position. It opposes every demand for a shift. It
\nsticks to its habit and acts as a dull dead weight on the life and
\nmind that embody themselves in it. This handicap is felt most when
\none tries to quicken the path of evolutionary progress which insists
\nupon a constant change of the old into the new. Physical nature acts
\nas a drag, an obstinate obstacle to further movement. It needs an
\nincessant pressure from above before it will consent to a change.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mortality And The
\nEternal (I)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMortality
\nbears ill the eternal\u2019s touch: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath-bound nature hugs the
\nvery things that bring about death, e.g. ignorance, limitation and
\nincapacity. It resists any influence that disturbs its habit of life
\nand threatens its tenure. Any power coming from the Divine, any touch
\nof the Divine Being that brings with it its characteristics of
\nKnowledge, Vastness, Strength, Immortality, raises its deepest
\nhostility… it is the revolt of darkness against the Light that
\nengulfs it, of division against the Oneness that absorbs it, of death
\nagainst the Immortality that dissolves its causes. The opposition and
\nthe battle given by the old and established order of mortality can
\ncompletely cease only when the forces and beings that support it are
\ndestroyed and it is replaced by a new order of the divine verities of
\nLight, Freedom and Immortality.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mortality And The
\nEternal (II)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt
\nfears the pure divine intolerance
Of that assault of ether and of
\nfire;
It murmurs at its sorrowless happiness,
Almost with
\nhate repels the light it brings;
It trembles at its naked power
\nof Truth
And the might and sweetness of its absolute Voice. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEverything that the impact
\nof the Divine carries with it is alien to the mortal nature on earth
\nas it stands organised at present. Its impurities of ignorance and
\nits obscurities feel threatened by the purity of the higher
\nConsciousness and the consuming power of its Force. Its habit of
\nindulgence in the backwaters of pain and sorrow looks askance at a
\nhappiness without interruption, its darkness of inconscience
\nfuriously lashes at intrusions of light that are sure to end it if
\nallowed full unobstructed entry. The falsehood that reigns here in
\ninnumerable forms and subterfuges quails at the prospect of the
\nadvent of the Truth that is bound to dissolve it by its natural
\npower; all feels insecure before the Divine Will that is irresistible
\nwith its force and compelling in its communion with the soul.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mortality And The
\nEternal (III)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInflicting
\non the heights the abysm\u2019s law,
It sullies with its mire
\nheaven\u2019s messengers:
Its thorns of fallen nature are the
\ndefence
It turns against the saviour hands of Grace;
It meets
\nthe sons of God with death and pain. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFearful of its loss of hold
\non man, ignorant human nature tries to fight and throw back the
\ndivine elements that seek to help and uplift him. Its only weapons
\nare those of obscurity, inconscience and falsehood which are part and
\nparcel of its texture and with them it assaults the great who come to
\ndeliver it out of its dark state, forces them to suffer its rule of
\negoism, division and violence, tars them with its own impurities and
\nmakes them undergo pain and even destruction. The hands of Grace
\noutstretched to save are struck to bleed by a nature that refuses to
\nbe saved.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sons of God (I)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nglory of lightnings traversing the earth-scene,
Their
\nsun-thoughts fading, darkened by ignorant minds,
Their work
\nbetrayed, their good to evil turned,
The cross their payment for
\nthe crown they gave,
Only they leave behind a splendid Name. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis is the common history
\nof those sent by God to the Earth with His tidings of Light and Joy,
\nHis assurance of deliverance. They light up life on earth wherever
\nthey move for the brief periods they are allowed to last; they cannot
\nhave a secure tenure. Their luminous gifts of knowledge are diluted
\nand shorn of their native brilliance by the recipients steeped in
\nignorance no sooner they are given; the power for upliftment brought
\nby them is misused and harnessed to opposite ends; their trust and
\nmission are betrayed. They bring with them glorious riches of
\nfulfilment for humanity but they are made to pay with their lives\u2014in
\nsuffering or death\u2014by a world that cherishes its own chains of
\nIgnorance and Inertia. And when they pass, their work undone, it is
\nonly their Name that remains to inspire those that follow with their
\nsplendid example.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sons of God (II)<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nfire has come and touched men\u2019s hearts and gone;
A few have
\ncaught flame and risen to greater life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNot all, however, has been
\nin vain. Each time a god man appears with a message, a special
\nTruth-seed to cast, he makes an impact on the general consciousness,
\nthough it may not last long enough or go deep enough. But always
\nthere are some, a few, who are ready to receive it. They open their
\nhearts and minds and respond to the call, they flock to the Saviour,
\nwork and suffer with him for the cause, and in the process greaten
\ntheir own lives in terms of the new Truth. Through them the mighty
\nwork continues.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
The Immortal’s Share<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nlive with grief, to confront death on her road,\u2014
The mortal\u2019s
\nlot became the Immortal\u2019s share. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Divine is all Bliss,
\nimmortal in its being. But when it comes down in this mortal world to
\nestablish some truth of its existence and takes on the human
\nembodiment for that purpose, necessarily it participates in the
\nscheme of life as it obtains, accepting all the limitations of its
\nnature. For only so can it work out the organisation of the truth it
\nholds, clearing the way, resolving the difficulties by meeting them
\nsquarely from within. The blissful undergoes the load of grief, the
\nimmortal passes under the shadow of death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Gods and Man<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ngodhead greater by a human fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe gods have their
\nsplendours but also their limitations. For they are typal beings,
\nfixed in their nature beyond which they cannot move. If they want to
\nchange, progress into a state that is greater than theirs, e.g. to
\nbecome one with the Divine, they are obliged to come to this Earth,
\nthe field of evolution and progress. They have to take a human birth
\nor draw upon human help in order to progress. It is given to man to
\nchange, to progress, to evolve because he has within him a psychic
\nbeing\u2014a soul whose nature it is to progress towards the Divine.
\nOther orders of beings are not possessed of this privilege. Thus it
\nis that a god assuming human birth, human life-load, is richer in
\npotentialities than his compeer in his own world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Too Great<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo
\ngreat to impart the peril and the pain,
In her torn depths she
\nkept the grief to come. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe great of spirit freely
\ngive out their joys and their hero-strengths, their treasures of
\nKnowledge, their unending streams of sympathy and help. But their
\nsufferings and their pains, their apprehensions and their
\nforeknowings, they keep to themselves; they do not add to the
\nunhappiness of others. In their inborn nobility they contain in
\nthemselves not only their own pains but also the pains of others if
\nthe burden of the less favoured be lightened thereby. They suffer
\nalone though they do not joy alone.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Unhelped<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHarbouring
\na foe whom with her heart she must feed,
Unknown her act, unknown
\nthe doom she faced,
Unhelped she must foresee and dread and dare.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is always a central
\nchallenge from established Nature which has to be met by those who
\ncome to open a new way, to give a new turn to the course of the earth
\nin evolution. This problem and the attendant struggle in solving it
\nis a constant occupation of these harbingers within their being;
\ntheir consciousness is always centred on this crux of opposition and
\nall energies are poured on its resolution. They do not turn to others
\nfor asistance because, living in ignorance, these have not the means
\nto help even if they would. The common men do not even have a glimpse
\ninto the nature of the task undertaken by these Saviours from the
\nSpirit nor into the peril that faces them in their mission; they lack
\nthat awareness. The chosen of God toil alone in their venture.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Nature<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNature
\nwalks upon her mighty way
Unheeding when she breaks a soul, a
\nlife; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe human mind seeks to
\nmeasure everything in life in its own terms. It is apt to apply its
\npetty standards to the workings of Nature and judge her to be brute,
\nblind, wasteful. But Nature has her own great objectives, her own
\nlarge lines of advance; she has within her an infallible Wisdom which
\nknows precisely what it wants and how it is to be effected. In the
\nvaster movement that is hers, what appears to be a waste to the
\nlittle human intellect is not really so. Each bit in its creation is
\nutilised to the best advantage though the purpose may not be evident
\nto a surface scrutiny at the moment. Even her experiments\u2014tentative
\nin appearance\u2014add to her resources in the long run. Failures,
\naccidents, breakages, are all incidentals in this great pulsation and
\ncosmic movement, and in that larger context they have little more
\nthan local significance. Things right themselves in the general
\nprocess sooner or later.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
All She Bore<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nApart,
\nliving within, all lives she bore;
Aloof, she carried in herself
\nthe world: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri was so unlike the
\nothers around her that there was a natural physical gulf between her
\nand the rest; she lived perforce aloof. But she did not, on that
\naccount, live alone; by herself she lived, but not for herself. For
\nshe normally dwelt in her soul-consciousness where all is one; there
\nher life was in union with all lives and in carrying her own burden
\nshe carried the burden of the entire world. Whatever the distance
\nthat obtained externally between her natural height of stature and
\nthe common folk in the world amidst whom she lived, within her being
\nshe had kept the doors of her consciousness open and there was a real
\nfree communion and union.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
One with the Cosmic<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\ndread was one with the great cosmic dread,
Her strength was
\nfounded on the cosmic mights; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri was not born to
\nlead an individual life, to live for herself as a person. She had
\nidentified herself with the cosmic life and set herself to face and
\nsolve the cosmic problem. Her dread of Death was so intense and
\nconsuming because it was really a concentrated projection of the
\nagelong terror exercised by Death on the whole universe. She could
\nface this gigantic challenge alone because the strength that was
\ncoursing in her being was derived from the divine Might manifest in
\nthe cosmos.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sword of Pangs<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAgainst
\nthe evil at life\u2019s afflicted roots,
Her own calamity its
\nprivate sign,
Of her pangs she made a mystic poignant sword. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri was aware that the
\npain and the dread that were gnawing at her were only her individual
\nshare of the evil of pain and suffering that is the malady affecting
\nall life in this world at its very roots. She decided to strike at
\nthis affliction at its fundamental base and for that purpose
\nsharpened her resolution with the intensities of the suffering she
\nwas put to. Each pang added an edge.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sharing the
\nImmortal’s Work<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nsolitary mind, a world-wide heart,
To the lone Immortal\u2019s
\nunshared work she rose. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo uplift the earth, to
\ndeliver life from its thraldom to death, to transmute all division,
\npain and suffering into oneness and delight, is the work undertaken
\nby the Divine in its plunge into this mass of Inconscience. The
\nDivine toils for man unaided. Savitri prepared herself to participate
\nin this work of the Divine. And this she could do because she had the
\nnecessary equipment to shoulder the burden. Though she lived among
\nmen given to ordinary pursuits of life, she was not lost in them; in
\nher thoughts she was alone and conscious of her purpose. In her
\nheart, however, she was one with all; her consciousness embraced all
\nlife and had the urgent sense of the problem that the world was beset
\nwith. Her firm standing ground and large consciousness fitted her for
\nthe chosen task.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Forgetful<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt
\nfirst life grieved not in her burdened breast:
On the lap of
\nearth\u2019s original somnolence
Inert, released into forgetfulness
\n
Prone it reposed, unconscious on mind\u2019s verge,
Obtuse and
\ntranquil like the stone and star. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike the evolving soul in
\nthe process of growth, the life of Savitri did not experience any
\nsense of pain or grief as long as it lay at repose in the folds of
\nmaterial consciousness not yet awakened to self-awareness. It was
\nlost in itself and remained immobile and unresponsive; there was no
\nactive awareness of the purpose for which it had embodied itself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Remote<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn a
\ndeep cleft of silence twixt two realms
She lay remote from grief,
\nunsawn by care,
Nothing recalling of the sorrow here. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe being of Savitri was
\nstill living in the state of unresponding silence that obtains
\nbetween the Inconscience below and the awakened consciousness above.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nStationed there, she was
\nnot troubled by any anxiety or apprehension or grief which are the
\ncharacteristic features of life awakened to consciousness. She was
\nnot yet aware of the problem of sorrow in life calling for a
\nsolution, to work out which she had taken birth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Old Ache<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\na slow faint remembrance shadowlike moved,
And sighing she laid
\nher hand upon her bosom
And recognised the close and lingering
\nache,
Deep, quiet, old, made natural to its place,
But knew
\nnot why it was there nor whence it came. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd when there arose in her
\nsome self-awareness in incipience, she became conscious too of an
\nintimate dull pain. It was sensed deep in her being and recognised to
\nhave been there for long, almost natural. She looked for its cause
\nbut was unable to trace it, she tried to find out whence it came but
\ncould not do it either.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Still Withdrawn<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nPower that kindles mind was still withdrawn:
Heavy, unwilling
\nwere life\u2019s servitors
Like workers with no wages of delight;
\n
Sullen, the torch of sense refused to burn;
The unassisted
\nbrain found not its past. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe consciousness had still
\nnot developed the awareness that sets the mind into motion. Neither
\nthe insensate life-energies nor the mute senses flowed into active
\nmovement in the absence of the enjoyment that comes into play with
\nthe formulation of the self-involved consciousness into a self-aware
\nentity. The brain apparatus lay unharnessed, as the force of
\nconsciousness that activates it had not yet come into operation. The
\norigin of the pain could not be recollected.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ancient Disputants<\/B>
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nEarth and Love and Doom,
The ancient disputants, encircled her <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhen Savitri’s
\nconsciousness was stirred into an acute awareness of the Problem in
\nthe Cosmos awaiting solution, the constituents of the situation
\nrevealed themselves to her in their pressing urgency. There was the
\nEarth rooted in Inconscience waiting to be delivered into full
\nconsciousness and then into superconscience; there was Love\u2014divine
\nin its origin\u2014struggling to keep its hold and extend its sway,
\nthrough whatever forms it could find\u2014imperfect and less
\nimperfect\u2014in order to manifest the Harmony and Oneness of the
\nSpirit; there was, towering over both, the Determinism of Nature
\nwhich contested the will of man at every step, Death, which
\nthreatened every form of life at every moment, challenged Love in its
\ncareer with the threat of termination.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Pain (I)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nguardian of the unconsoled abyss
Inheriting the long agony of the
\nglobe,
A stone-still figure of high and godlike Pain
Stared
\ninto space with fixed regardless eyes
That saw grief\u2019s timeless
\ndepths but not life\u2019s goal. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPain has come to be as a
\nresult of division in consciousness and the resultant limitation and
\nincapacity. Having appeared as a part of the process of evolution, it
\nhas established itself as a strong habit in nature and it resists all
\nattempts to eliminate it. It has constituted itself into an almost
\npermanent factor, an individualised formation which thrives on pain
\nand suffering. It exults in this experience and zealously safeguards
\nits right to sorrow. It never goes under but almost invites and bears
\nall pain with a stoic poise. Its gaze is ever on pain and on all that
\nfeeds the pain; it will not see that pain can have an end in the
\nprogression of life towards freedom.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri became conscious in
\nher being of this Pain personified.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Pain (II)<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAfflicted
\nby his harsh divinity,
Bound to his throne, he waited unappeased
\n
The daily oblation of her unwept tears. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis being of Pain,
\nnurtured on sorrow and grief, hardened by suffering, demands
\ninsistently that its due be paid. Imperious in its hold on human
\nnature, this pervert malformation looks for its satisfaction in the
\ndisappointments, struggles and griefs of everyday life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri perceived the
\npresence of this Pain-spirit which remained unsatisfied in spite of
\nall the unexpressed grief she contained in her breast.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sacrifice<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nsacrifice of suffering and desire
Earth offers to the immortal
\nEcstasy
Began again beneath the eternal Hand. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Earth advances in the
\ngreat steps of her spiritual evolution mainly through the efforts of
\na fewindividuals who appear at significant junctures, embody her
\naspiration and self-giving to the Divine, work out the transition in
\ntheir own lives and establish it in the Earth-Consciousness. Such an
\neffort of invocation of the Immortal Blissful Divine in this field of
\ngrief and death through the sacrifice of the cherished desires of
\nlife and the acceptance of all suffering inevitable in the process of
\ndispossessing the old and opening to the new, now commenced in the
\nperson of Savitri under the direct auspices of the Supreme Will.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dangerous World<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\nthis green smiling dangerous world, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAppearances are deceptive.
\nIn the luxuriance of Nature, the variegated panorama of life in all
\nits ranges of lush vegetation, rising hills, flowing rivers,
\nmagnificent beasts and birds beautiful of wing, men, women and
\nchildren, gay of spirit, bright with the glow of adventure, the
\nworld, presents an enchanting front. But behind that fascinating
\nexterior lurk the dangers of captivity, pain and suffering, and
\ndeath.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Soul Arose<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\nsoul arose confronting Time and Fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFully awakened to the need
\nof the hour, the soul of Savitri came into action. For it is only the
\nDivine Spirit\u2014and the soul which is a portion, a special
\nconcentration of it\u2014that can oppose and rise above the determinisms
\nof Cosmic Nature. The soul is not a creation of this Nature, like
\nother parts of the being, mind, life-energy etc. but potentially it
\nis its master. It has got the strength to prevail against the laws
\nand circumstances of Nature, transcend them and even\u2014if that be the
\nWill\u2014to change them.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Gathered Force<\/B> <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImmobile
\nin herself, she gathered force. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThat is the condition for
\nall effective evocation of power. It is on a calm base that strength
\ncan build itself and acquire unfailing power. Poised in the silence
\nof the soul, holding her nature from all movement, Savitri summoned
\nthe force of the Spirit within to collect itself for action. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

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

Introduction   Notes   Book 1   Book II   Book III   Book IV    Book V   Book VI   Book VII   Book VIII    Book IX   Book X   Book XI   Book XII Book One. The Book of Beginnings Canto I Canto II…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[244],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-1-savitri-study","wpcat-244-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627","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=10627"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11052,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions\/11052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}