{"id":10763,"date":"2014-07-13T23:16:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T06:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10763"},"modified":"2014-12-06T23:40:14","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T07:40:14","slug":"savitri-study-book-3-canto-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-3-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-3-canto-4","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-3-Canto-4"},"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 Three. The Book of the Divine Mother<\/p>\n

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

<\/br><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n
\n


\nBook Three: Canto
\nIV<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nVision and the Boon<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Summary<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n
Suddenly there
\nis a stir. A sound comes quivering, an influence approaches and a
\nmystic Form envelops Aswapathy’s earthly form. The Divine Mother whom
\nhe has worshipped is now before him and all of him flows to her. She
\nspeaks to him:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO Son of Strength
\nwho climbest the peaks of creation, what thou hast won is thine, but
\nask for no more. Do not pray for my descent in a world that is still
\ninconscient; man is too weak to bear the Infinite’s weight. Leave the
\nomniscient Power at work to follow its course. Thou shalt live in thy
\nown vast achievement, helping the world. Do not lose thyself in the
\nImmutable, in the Alone. Thou hast a task and thou shalt share the
\ntoil on earth with the missioned Force.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMan is an enigma.
\nArriving from a half-luminous Beyond into an unconscious world, he
\nhopes in vain to change the cosmic dream. But the Inconscience at the
\nbase, the titan Darkness, pursues him and defeats his efforts time
\nand again. Man is a link between the beast and the half-god.
\nContradictions riddle his existence. He is unable to save himself and
\nyet he would save the world. He journeys always but arrives nowhere.
\nHe is surrounded by Ignorance in his effort to win and establish
\nKnowledge. After all his struggle and toil, the world is where it
\nwas.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut that is, indeed,
\nnot the end of things. The Power that has made this world will not be
\ndenied and it leads the soul of man on its destined road, slowly but
\nrelentlessly. Man cannot pause till he has found himself; there is a
\nLight that leads, a Power that aids. There are Gods who watch and
\nhelp him with their influences, visits, infusions.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThou shalt not
\nfalter, thou shalt endure and continue thy toil. My light shall be in
\nthee, my strength shall be thy force. Let not impatience goad thee,
\nbe not content with a partial prize. The one boon thou shalt ask is
\nto greaten thy spirit, the one joy thou shalt seek is to raise thy
\nkind. Leave the result of thy work to the unchanging Will that stands
\nimmutable over all that struggle. All things shall change in the
\nappointed transfiguring hour.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe great Voice
\nceases. All is still, Aswapathy cries out:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n"How can I rest
\ncontent with the dull mortal life of the earth after seeing thy Face
\nbehind the cosmic mask? How long should we mortals struggle with the
\nNight? Why does not a gleam of thy light break on our life? We work
\nbut arrive nowhere. Our strength is too little, the light too faint.
\nWe strive that out of our labours may arise a greater Man who
\nincarnates the Truth of God. I know thy creation cannot fail. All is
\nfixed in an ascending scale. Man is not the crown.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA power arose from
\nslumber and I saw from above mortal space and time. There was a
\nmighty destruction. I saw the flaming pioneers of the Omnipotent come
\ndown to the earth, great creators, architects of immortality,
\nembodying the divine Glory. They shall one day change the face of the
\nsuffering earth and justify all the labour of the irrepressible
\nNature. Man will be followed by his divine successor and heaven shall
\nwalk on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut meanwhile the
\nworld is weighed down by its imperfections; the seals of bondage are
\nfirm. Do not tarry any further. Mission to our earth a living form of
\nThine and with one great gesture change all future time."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Divine Mother
\nresponds:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n"I have heard
\nthy cry. Yes, one shall descend who will break the iron Law and
\nchange Nature’s Doom by the Spirit’s Power. A seed shall be sown in
\nsome tremendous hour of Death, a branch of heaven transplanted to
\nhuman soil and Nature shall overleap her mortal step."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSlowly the Form
\nwithdraws, the strains of the Voice ebb away and Aswapathy’s soul
\ndraws back into the earth-world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWith a new
\nconquering spirit he resumes his labours.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nSacred Stir<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nsuddenly there rose a sacred stir. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAmid
\nthe lifeless silence of the Void
In a solitude and an immensity
\n
A sound came quivering like a loved footfall
Heard in the
\nlistening spaces of the soul;
A touch perturbed his fibres with
\ndelight. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nof a sudden there is a stir, a sacred stir. In th<\/FONT>at empty
\nsilence comes an approaching sound; a touch is felt by Aswapathy
\nexciting the very fibres of his being with delight.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>She
\nApproaches the Mortal Range<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn
\ninfluence had approached the mortal range,
A boundless Heart was
\nnear his longing heart,
A mystic Form enveloped his earthly
\nshape. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nat her contact broke from silence\u2019 seal;
Spirit and body
\nthrilled identified,
Linked in the grasp of an unspoken joy;
\n
Mind, members, life were merged in ecstasy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSome new influence
\nnears the human range. Aswapathy finds a vast Heart coming close to
\nhis own seeking heart. A spiritual Form covers his own earthly form.
\nAt this contact of the Divine Mother, the seal of silence over all
\nhis members is broken; his body and spirit are joined in a joyous
\nthrill of identity, his mind, life and other parts are lost in
\necstasy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>He
\nHeaves to Her<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIntoxicated
\nas with nectarous rain
His nature\u2019s passioning stretches flowed
\nto her
Flashing with lightnings, mad with luminous wine. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nwas a limitless sea that heaved to the moon. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\ndivinising stream possessed his veins,
His body\u2019s cells awoke
\nto spirit sense,
Each nerve became a burning thread of joy:
\n
Tissue and flesh partook beatitude. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe whole being of
\nAswapathy in ecstasy heaves towards the Divine Mother as the vast sea
\nto the moon. A divinising flow streams into his body and his very
\ncells awake to the presence of the Spirit; each nerve tingles with
\nintense joy; even his flesh shares that beatitude.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Body
\nAnswers<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlight,
\nthe dun unplumbed subconscient caves
Thrilled with the prescience
\nof her longed-for tread
And filled with flickering crests and
\npraying tongues. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\nlost in slumber, mute, inanimate
His very body answered to her
\npower. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe obscure, dim-lit
\nregions of his subconscient are lit up and are thrilled at the
\nprospect of the long-sought and long-awaited arrival of the Divine
\nMother; they call to Her with yearning. Even his material body, mute
\nand motionless in slumber, responds to Her Power.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>The
\none Appears<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nOne he worshipped was within him now:
Flame-pure,
\nethereal-tressed a mighty Face
Appeared and lips moved by
\nimmortal words;
Lids, wisdom\u2019s leaves, drooped over rapture\u2019s
\norbs. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe One whom
\nAswapathy has been worshipping is now within him. Pure-bright, her
\nbeauteous and mighty Face appears before him and her lips move in
\nimmortal speech. Her eyes bespeak rapture and their lids, wisdom.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Two
\nTranquil Eyes<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nmarble monument of ponderings, shone
A forehead, sight\u2019s crypt,
\nand large like ocean\u2019s gaze
Towards Heaven two tranquil eyes of
\nboundless thought
Looked into man\u2019s and saw the god to come. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer forehead shines
\nwith beauty, like a monument in marble to the ponderings of the mind;
\nher large tranquil eyes full of vast thought gaze into his human eyes
\nand see the emerging god in him.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Voice
\nSpeaks<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nshape was seen on threshold Mind, a Voice
Absolute and wise in
\nthe heart\u2019s chambers spoke: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA formation is seen
\non the threshold of the Mind and a Voice, imperative and wise, from
\nthe inner regions of her heart speaks.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Ask
\nno More<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cO
\nSon of Strength who climbst creation\u2019s peaks,
No soul is thy
\ncompanion in the light;
Alone thou standest at the eternal doors.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat
\nthou hast won is thine, but ask no more. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nDivine Mother speaks to Aswapathy:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nFlaming Force of
\nAspiration that thou art, thou hast climbed the summits of creation;
\nin the light thou hast attained, there is none beside thee; thou art
\nalone in front of the eternal doors of the Spirit. Whatever thou hast
\nconquered is thine; do not demand more.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>How
\nCanst Thou Speak?<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nSpirit aspiring in an ignorant frame,
O Voice arisen from the
\nInconscient\u2019s world,
How shalt thou speak for men whose hearts
\nare dumb,
Make purblind earth the soul\u2019s seer-vision\u2019s home
\n
Or lighten the burden of the senseless globe? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou art the
\naspiring Spirit, but thy body is ignorant; thy voice has the stamp of
\nInconscience from which it arises. How canst thou plead for those
\nwhose hearts are mute, how canst thou hope to convert the blinded
\nearth into a realm of the Soul’s luminous vision, how canst thou
\nreduce the burden of the globe which has not even the sense to feel
\nthe weight?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nI
\nam the Mystery beyond reach of mind,
I am the goal of the travail
\nof the suns;
My fire and sweetness are the cause of life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\ntoo immense my danger and my joy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAwake
\nnot the immeasurable descent,
Speak not my secret name to hostile
\nTime;
Man is too weak to bear the Infinite\u2019s weight. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTruth
\nborn too soon might break the imperfect earth. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTruth born too soon
\nmight break the imperfect earth. cosmic evolutionary course. My Power
\nand my bliss are at the origin of life. But the intensity of my Bliss
\nand the sweep of my movement are too great and vast for thy kind. Do
\nnot call into action the descent of my illimitable Being; utter not
\nmy saving Name in the hearing of the hostile host in Time. Man cannot
\nbear the weight of the Infinite in his present state of infirmity.
\nUnless the earth is made ready and capable of bearing the presence of
\nunadulterated Truth, it will break if the Truth were to manifest.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Leave
\nit to the All-Seeing Power<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLeave
\nthe all-seeing Power to hew its way:
In thy single vast
\nachievement reign apart
Helping the world with thy great lonely
\ndays. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is a divine
\nomniscient Power at work slowly building up the Earth; leave it to
\nthat Power to labour in its wisdom. Thou hast achieved much in
\nthyself, now live in thy glory, helping the world with thy solitary
\nattainment.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Merge
\nnot in the Alone<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nask thee not to merge thy heart of flame
In the Immobile\u2019s wide
\nuncaring bliss,
Turned from the fruitless motion of the years,
\n
Deserting the fierce labour of the worlds,
Aloof from beings,
\nlost in the Alone. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDo not let thy
\nflaming heart of aspiration merge in the vast self-existent Bliss of
\nthe Immutable. Do not withdraw from thy fellow-creatures, turning thy
\nback on the apparently fruitless coursings of Time, abandoning thy
\npart in the striving effort of the cosmos, and losing thyself in the
\nReality that is apart and alone.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Accept
\nthe Godlike toil<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHow
\nshall thy mighty spirit brook repose
While Death is still
\nunconquered on the earth
And Time a field of suffering and pain? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThy
\nsoul was born to share the laden Force;
Obey thy nature and
\nfulfil thy fate:
Accept the difficulty and godlike toil,
For
\nthe slow-paced omniscient purpose live. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHow can thy great
\nand valiant spirit rest when the earth is still ruled by Death, and
\npain and suffering still continue in creation? Thy soul was not put
\nforth to rest, but to participate in the workings of the charged
\nNature-Force. Thou shalt obey this truth of thy nature and fulfil the
\ndestiny for which thou hast come. The difficulty and the inspiring
\ntoil have to be accepted; there is an All-Wisdom at work, though it
\nmoves with slow steps; live in fulfilment of this purpose.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nThe
\nEnigma\u2019s knot is tied in human kind. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nlightning from the heights that think and plan,
Ploughing the air
\nof life with vanishing trails,
Man, sole awake in an unconscious
\nworld,
Aspires in vain to change the cosmic dream. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArrived
\nfrom some half-luminous Beyond
He is a stranger in the mindless
\nvasts;
A traveller in his oft-shifting home
Amid the tread of
\nmany infinitudes,
He has pitched a tent of life in desert Space. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn man lies the key
\nto the cosmic riddle. He brings to earth the power of thought and
\nvision, but he alone is conscious and awake in this world that is
\nunconscious. In this mass of obscurity and unconsciousness his
\naspiration to change the nature of the cosmic movement is in vain. He
\ncomes from a sphere that is half-luminous with the light of
\nconsciousness, but here in the vast space where mind is not, he feels
\na stranger. His body-tenement is constantly changing; in the midst of
\nthe many Powers of Infinity that are walking the earth his is a
\nmake-shift tent of life pitched in the desert of Space.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nHeaven\u2019s
\nfixed regard beholds him from above,
In the house of Nature a
\nperturbing guest,
A voyager twixt Thought\u2019s inconstant shores,
\n
A hunter of unknown and beautiful Powers,
A nomad of the far
\nmysterious Light,
In the wide ways a little spark of God. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is constantly
\nwatched over by the Supreme above and guided and led from there.
\nAlone of the creatures in Earth-Nature he is capable of thinking,
\nhence he questions everything and disturbs the fixed set-up of
\nmaterial life. He is not a stationery being; he moves from thought to
\nthought and his thoughts are endless. He is ever in search of new and
\nnewer, full and fuller Powers than those he has. Belonging to the
\ndistant regions of the transcendent Light, he is a wanderer on earth.
\nHe is a tiny spark of God developing in the large ways of
\nevolutionary Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAgainst
\nhis spirit all is in dire league,
A Titan influence stops his
\nGodward gaze. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAround
\nhim hungers the unpitying Void,
The eternal Darkness seeks him
\nwith her hands,
Inscrutable Energies drive him and deceive,
\n
Immense implacable deities oppose. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEverything is ranged
\nagainst him. His gaze towards God is obstructed and checked by the
\ninfluence of the Anti-God host; an unfeeling Nescience around him
\nseeks to swallow him up; the perpetual Darkness in the nether
\ncreation pursues him; Energies that baffle him push and lead him
\nastray; huge, unrelenting, Powers oppose his advance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAn
\ninert Soul and a somnambulist Force
Have made a world estranged
\nfrom life and thought;
The Dragon of the dark foundations keeps
\n
Unalterable the law of Chance and Death;
On his long way
\nthrough Time and Circumstance
The grey-hued riddling nether
\nshadow-Sphinx,
Her dreadful paws upon the swallowing sands,
\n
Awaits him armed with the soul-slaying word:
Across his path
\nsits the dim camp of Night. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBetween the two, the
\nblind, mechanical Force, Prakriti, and the passive, inert Soul,
\nPurusha, the world\u2014the scene of their play\u2014has been relegated
\noutside the pale of consciousness as Life and Thought. The massive
\nbase of Nescience below imposes its fixed law of Death and
\nCircumstance. The shadow of In-conscience and Ignorance pursues man
\nin his long journey across Time; the riddle of life posed by them
\nconfronts him everywhere and when he seeks an answer, a deadly
\nNegation awaits him. The darkness of Nescience clamps itself on his
\npath.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(V)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nday is a moment in perpetual Time;
He is the prey of the minutes
\nand the hours. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssailed
\non earth and unassured of heaven,
Descended here unhappy and
\nsublime,
A link between the demigod and the beast,
He knows
\nnot his own greatness nor his aim; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis life-span is but
\na moment in eternal Time; every moment he is swallowed up by the
\ncreeping stretch of Time. He is constantly attacked by the opposing
\nhosts on earth; he is not certain of help from the heaven above. He
\nhas come down from the higher regions and is unhappy on earth; yet he
\nis sublime in his soul-spirit and functions as the connecting bridge
\nbetween the animal below and the superhuman angel above. He is not
\naware of the glory embodied in himself nor has he a clear conception
\nof his goal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(VI)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nhas forgotten why he has come and whence;
His spirit and his
\nmembers are at war;
His heights break off too low to reach the
\nskies,
His mass is buried in the animal mire. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan has forgotten
\nhis own origin and also the purpose for which he has taken birth on
\nearth. There is a continuing conflict between his soul and his
\nnature\u2014mental, vital, physical. His aspiration and upward movements
\ndo not go high enough to reach this goal; they fall far short. He is
\nweighed down by the strong animality in his nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(VII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nstrange antinomy is his nature\u2019s rule. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nriddle of opposites is made his field:
Freedom he asks but needs
\nto live in bonds,
He has need of darkness to perceive some light
\n
And need of grief to feel a little bliss;
He has need of
\ndeath to find a greater life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis nature works
\nthrough a series of contradictions; his field of action and growth is
\nalso a scene of paradoxes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nHe aspires for and
\nseeks freedom, but he is not yet ready to come out of the seemingly
\nsafe walls of his separative ego into the flux of the universal
\nforces. He can perceive light only by distinction from darkness; he
\ncan feel some bliss only against a background of grief, therefore
\nsomething in him holds fast to darkness and grief. He needs to die
\nbefore he can break out of his limited, shallow, life into the ocean
\nof larger life; death is his means of growth from life to wider life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(VIII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nsides he sees and turns to every call;
He has no certain light by
\nwhich to walk;
His life is a blind-man\u2019s-buff, a hide and seek;
\n
He seeks himself and from himself he runs;
Meeting himself,
\nhe thinks it other than he. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan does not know
\nwhich way to turn; he looks at every side and answers to every Call.
\nHe has no definite light, no clear guidance, with which he can light
\nthe path of his journey. All his life is a hide and seek with eluding
\ndestiny. He seeks for his own truth and yet all his movements lead
\nhim away from it. And when he does come face to face with his real
\nself, he regards it as something alien, something different, from
\nhimself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(IX)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlways
\nhe builds, but finds no constant ground,
Always he journeys, but
\nnowhere arrives;
He would guide the world, himself he cannot
\nguide;
He would save his soul, his life he cannot save. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe is ever engaged
\nin building the edifice of his life, but he fails to find a firm base
\nin the flux of circumstances and forces. He is ever on the move but
\nultimately finds that he has arrived nowhere. He presumes to guide
\nthe world, but he is unable to control and guide his own faculties
\ntowards the chosen direction. He wants to save his inner soul from
\nthraldom to Ignorance and Death, but his immediate life he cannot
\nsave from decay and disintegration.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(X)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nlight his soul has brought his mind has lost;
All he has learned
\nis soon again in doubt;
A sun to him seems the shadow of his
\nthoughts,
Then all is shadow again and nothing is true:
\n
Unknowing what he does or whither he tends
He fabricates
\nsigns of the Real in Ignorance. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis ignorant mind
\nhas managed to lose the light which his soul brought with it;
\nwhatever knowledge the labouring mind acquires passes soon under the
\ncloud of doubt. He begins to doubt even the reality of the sun
\nshining in the skies, and wonders if it may not be a projection of
\nhis own idea; pursuing this line of thinking, everything loses its
\nreality, all seems to be untrue. He does not really know the sense of
\nwhat he finds himself doing; nor does he know the direction in which
\nhe is moving. He goes on constructing symbols of the Reality in the
\nmoulds of Ignorance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XI)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nhas hitched his mortal error to Truth\u2019s star. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWisdom
\nattracts him with her luminous masks,
But never has he seen the
\nface behind:
A giant Ignorance surrounds his lore. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWith all his error
\nman hopes to arrive at Truth. Wisdom which appears to him in so many
\nbright masks exercises a pull over him, and he fails to see the face
\nof truth behind the masks. All his acquired learning and knowledge is
\nsurrounded by a huge Ignorance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssigned
\nto meet the cosmic mystery
In the dumb figure of a material
\nworld,
His passport of entry false and his personage,
He is
\ncompelled to be what he is not;
He obeys the Inconscience he has
\ncome to rule
And sinks in Matter to fulfil his soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is charged with
\na mission to unveil the mystery of the cosmos in the mute material
\nworld to which he is sent. But there he finds himself forced to be
\nquite other than what he really is. The credentials he carries are
\nfalse. He is intended to master the Inconscience, but he comes under
\nits rule. And in order to fulfil the mission of his soul, he is
\nobliged to plunge into Matter.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XIII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAwakened
\nfrom her lower driven forms
The Earth-Mother gave her forces to
\nhis hands
And painfully he guards the heavy trust;
His mind
\nis a lost torch-bearer on her roads. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhen the
\nEarth-Nature awakes from her swoon in the unconsciousness of the
\nlower stages of existence where a mechanical energy drives all forms,
\nshe entrusts her forces to man the self-conscious being. It is a
\ntrust he guards with effort and labour; his mind acts as an
\nineffectual torch-bearer lost on the paths of Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XIV)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIllumining
\nbreath to think and plasm to feel,
He labours with his slow and
\nsceptic brain
Helped by the reason\u2019s vacillating fires,
To
\nmake his thought and will a magic door
For knowledge to enter the
\ndarkness of the world
And love to rule a realm of strife and
\nhate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe trains his
\nlife-awareness to think and the physical matter of his body to feel;
\nWith his slow and doubting brain, and the erratic movements of his
\nreason, he works to develop his thought and will to act as an open
\ngateway for knowledge to enter and light up the darkness of his
\nworld, for Love to come and rule his world of strife and hate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XV)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nmind impotent to reconcile heaven and earth
And tied to Matter
\nwith a thousand bonds,
He lifts himself to be a conscious god. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe is a mind unable
\nto reconcile the claims of the earth below and heaven above; he is
\ninvolved in the obscurities, inertia and inconscience of Matter in
\ninnumerable ways, and yet he strives and rises to become a conscious
\nembodied spirit, a god.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XVI)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\nwhen a glory of wisdom crowns his brow,
When mind and spirit shed
\na grandiose ray
To exalt this product of the sperm and gene,
\n
This alchemist\u2019s miracle from plasm and gas,
And he who
\nshared the animal\u2019s run and crawl,
Lifts his thought-stature to
\nthe Immortal\u2019s heights,
His life still keeps the human middle
\nway;
His body he resigns to death and pain,
Abandoning
\nMatter, his too heavy charge. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven when a high
\nglory of wisdom shines in him and his mind and spirit radiate an
\nimposing lustre uplifting this product of sperm and gene, this
\namazing result of plasm and gas, and even when with an animal past he
\nsucceeds in exalting his thought to the levels of the Immortal, even
\nthen his life continues to flow in the human middle way\u2014between
\nthat of an animal and that of a god and his physical body is left to
\nthe rule of pain and death; he abandons Matter which he finds too
\nheavy a load.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XVII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nthaumaturge sceptic of miracles,
A spirit left sterile of its
\noccult power
By an unbelieving brain and credulous heart
He
\nleaves the world to end where it began:
His work unfinished he
\nclaims a heavenly prize. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat with his
\nunbelieving brain and too-readily believing heart, he has no faith in
\nthe wonders he can effect, and thus his spirit is no more effective
\nin its innate occult power, and he leaves the world to cease where it
\nbegan; he does not complete the work with which he is assigned and
\nyet claims the prize of heaven.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XVIII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus
\nhas he missed creation\u2019s absolute. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHalfway
\nhe stops his star of destiny:
A vast and vain long-tried
\nexperiment,
An ill-served high conception doubtfully done,
The
\nworld\u2019s life falters on not seeing its goal,\u2014
A zigzag
\ntowards unknown dangerous ground
Ever repeating its habitual
\nwalk,
Ever retreating after marches long
And hardiest
\nvictories without sure result,
Drawn endlessly an inconclusive
\ngame. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBy thus stopping
\nmidway on his course, man fails to reach the ultimate goal of
\ncreation. Life in the world turns out to be a vain experiment long
\npursued, a noble conception badly and half-heartedly executed. The
\nworld’s life has been an erratic movement towards some goal unknown
\nand dangerous, mechanically repetitive, repeatedly falling back after
\nsubstantial advances, denied definite results even when the most
\ndifficult victories are registered, an endless game always
\ninconclusive.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XIX)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\nan ill-fitting and voluminous robe
A radiant purpose still
\nconceals its face,
A mighty blindness stumbles hoping on
Feeding
\nits strength on gifts of luminous Chance. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHowever that is only
\nan appearance. Behind all the irregularities and opacities of the
\nmovement there is a luminous purpose governing it. Blind
\nNature-Energy stumblingly rolls forward helped and nourished in its
\ncourse by interventions of a luminous Power wearing the face of
\nChance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XX)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBecause
\nthe human instrument has failed,
The Godhead frustrate sleeps
\nwithin its seed,
A spirit entangled in the forms it made. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe human instrument
\nhaving failed in its appointed task, the Godhead is unable to
\nmanifest; it is frustrated and lies shut up in its concentration. The
\nSpirit lies imprisoned in the forms of its own making.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXI)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nfailure is not failure whom God leads;
Through all the slow
\nmysterious march goes on:
An immutable Power has made this
\nmutable world;
A self-fulfilling transcendence treads man\u2019s
\nroad;
The driver of the soul upon its path,
It knows its
\nsteps, its way is inevitable
And how shall the end be vain when
\nGod is guide? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd yet the failure
\nof man is not an unredeemed failure. For man is led by God and when
\nGod leads there can be no failure. In spite of all discouraging
\nhappenings the march of the world goes ahead, however slow and
\nmysterious it may appear to the human mind. This changing world is
\nafter all created by an unchanging Power. Man is led by something
\nthat transcends him and his world and ever fulfils its purpose. It
\ndrives his soul on its destined course, knowing as it does its steps
\nand its sure way. Indeed when God is the guide how can the journey be
\nin vain?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHowever
\nman\u2019s mind may tire or fail his flesh,
A will prevails
\ncancelling his conscious choice:
The goal recedes, a bourneless
\nvastness calls
Retreating into an immense Unknown;
There is
\nno end to the world\u2019s stupendous march,
There is no rest for
\nthe embodied soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan’s mind and body
\nmay get exhausted and want to give up the effort, but a higher will
\nprevails cancelling his own preference. The horizon goes on extending
\nfarther and farther, an unbounded Vastness extends into an immense
\nUnknown. There is indeed no finish to the course of the world’s
\njourney, no cessation to the labours of the soul that has taken
\nbirth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXIII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt
\nmust live on, describe all Time\u2019s huge curve. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn
\nInflux presses from the closed Beyond
Forbidding to him rest and
\nearthly ease,
Till he has found himself he cannot pause. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe soul has got to
\nexert itself and cover the long curve of Time. There is a constant
\ndescent from above, from regions that are beyond man’s knowing, and
\nthat prevents him from relaxing into rest and creature comfort. He is
\nnot allowed to cease from his labours till he has discovered his own
\nreality.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXIV)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nLight there is that leads, a Power that aids;
Unmarked, unfelt it
\nsees in him and acts:
Ignorant, he forms the All-conscient in his
\ndepths,
Human, looks up to superhuman peaks:
A borrower of
\nSupernature\u2019s gold,
He paves his road to Immortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnknown and unseen
\nby him, there is a higher Light that leads him, a Power that helps
\nand acts in him.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThat is how, though
\nignorant himself, an all-knowing Consciousness grows in his depths;
\nthough human, he aspires to scale superhuman heights; though mortal,
\nhe draws upon the riches of Supernature and slowly forges his path to
\nImmortality.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXV)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nhigh gods look on man and watch and choose
Today\u2019s impossibles
\nfor the future\u2019s base. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\ntransience trembles with the Eternal\u2019s touch,
His barriers cede
\nbeneath the Infinite\u2019s tread;
The Immortals have their entries
\nin his life:
The Ambassadors of the Unseen draw near; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHigher Powers
\nsuperintend his growth and effort, they pose before him what appear
\nto be impossibles today, but turn out later to be springboards for
\nfurther flights. His brief life vibrates to the breath of the
\nEternal; his little self-enclosures break down beneath the impact of
\nthe Infinite. The immortal Gods enter into his life in various ways
\nand messengers from the unseen worlds approach him.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXVII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nSplendour sullied by the mortal air,
Love passes through his
\nheart, a wandering guest,
Beauty surrounds him for a magic hour,
\n
He has visits of a large revealing joy,
Brief widenesses
\nrelease him from himself,
Enticing towards a glory ever in front
\n
Hopes of a deathless sweetness lure and leave. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLove\u2014a Splendour
\nfrom above that gets soiled when it enters the human
\nenvironment\u2014passes through man but he cannot yet hold it. He has
\nmoments of beauty, and of a large joy that throws open many a hidden
\naspect of life. Short spells of expansion release him from his little
\nwalls of self-confinement. Hopes of an endless happiness draw him on
\nfarther and farther towards a glory that ever beckons in front, but
\nthese hopes leave unfulfilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXVIII)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nmind is crossed by strange discovering fires,
Rare intimations
\nlift his stumbling speech >To a moment\u2019s kinship with the
\neternal Word;
A masque of wisdom circles through his brain
\n
Perturbing him with glimpses half-divine. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNew
\nideas opening fresh vistas cross his mind; occa<\/FONT>sionally the
\ninspired Word of truth finds expression through his imperfect speech;
\nflashes of wisdom flit through his brain affording glimpses into
\nsemi-divine realms, sights that shake his complacency and set him
\nastir.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXIX)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nlays his hands sometimes on the Unknown;
He communes sometimes
\nwith Eternity. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nstrange and grandiose symbol was his birth
And immortality and
\nspirit-room
And pure perfection and a shadowless bliss
Are
\nthis afflicted creature\u2019s mighty fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt times he does
\nsucceed in encountering the Unknown, in communing with the Eternal.
\nHis birth was a signal and a symbol of a fresh and mighty outbreak in
\nthe manifestation of the Spirit on earth. He is afflicted with
\nimperfection and limitations no doubt, but his is the noble destiny
\nto achieve immortality, to embody the Spirit and live in it, to
\narrive at an untainted perfection and an unadulterated bliss.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\n(XXX)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\nhim the Earth-Mother sees draw near the change
Foreshadowed in
\nher dumb and fiery depths,
A godhead drawn from her transmuted
\nlimbs,
An alchemy of Heaven on Nature\u2019s base. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn man the
\nEarth-Mother sees arriving nearer fulfilment the dream she has
\nnurtured in her mute but blazing deeps. The change long foreseen
\ndraws near with his birth: a god-head shaped out of her transformed
\nelements, a miraculous transplantation of Heaven on the ground of
\nEarth-Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Help
\nHumanity<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAdept
\nof the self-born unfailing line,
Leave not the light to die the
\nages bore,
Help still humanity\u2019s blind and suffering life:
\n
Obey thy spirit\u2019s wide omnipotent urge. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nwitness to God\u2019s parley with the Night
It leaned compassionate
\nfrom immortal calm
And housed desire, the troubled seed of
\nthings. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHeir to a great
\ntradition of tapasya, O Aswapathy, do not abandon this ages-old light
\nto die, the light that has led aspiring humanity. Thou must continue
\nto help humanity in its blind sufferings. Thy spirit’s natural urge
\nis wide and omnipotent, obey it. Thy spirit has known the encounter
\nof the luminous Consciousness with the dark Nescience, of God with
\nNight, it has stooped in its compassion from its divine calm and
\nlodged in itself the goad of desire which is the root of all that
\ntroubles humanity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Toil
\nVast<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssent
\nto thy high self, create, endure. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nCease
\nnot from knowledge, let thy toil be vast,
No more in earthly
\nlimits pen thy force;
Equal thy work with long unending Time\u2019s.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nGive thy assent to
\nthe noble impulse of thy self, create, bear with all. Exert thyself
\nin the ways of Knowledge, let thy toil be for all. Do not cabin thy
\nforce within the limits imposed by earth; rather let thy labour
\ncorrespond to that of eternal Time, let it be as ceaseless.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Tread
\nthe Difficult Paths<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTraveller
\nupon the bare eternal heights,
Tread still the difficult and
\ndateless path
Joining the cycles with its austere curve
Measured
\nfor man by the initiate Gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy
\nlight shall be in thee, my strength thy force. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn thy journey thou
\nhast arrived and movest on the bare, eternal peaks. Walk still the
\nhard and ancient path that runs through the many cycles of time under
\nthe direction of the overseeing Gods. My light shall be thy guide, my
\nstrength shall be thy force.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Not
\nthe Partial Prize<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet
\nnot the impatient Titan drive thy heart,
Ask not the imperfect
\nfruit, the partial prize. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\none boon, to greaten thy spirit, demand;
Only one joy, to raise
\nthy kind, desire. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet not impatience
\novercome thee. Persevere, do not stop short with a partial prize, an
\nincomplete achievement. Ask of me only one boon and that is to
\nheighten thy stature in spirit. Desire only one joy and that is to
\nuplift the whole of humanity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAbove
\nblind fate and the antagonist powers
Moveless there stands a high
\nunchanging Will;
To its omnipotence leave thy work\u2019s result. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nthings shall change in God\u2019s transfiguring hour.\u201d <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAbove all the
\ncombating powers and the unseeing fate of the world, there stands
\naloft an immutable Will of the Supreme. It is omnipotent, leave to it
\nthe result of thy labour. When the hour of transformation fixed by
\nthis Will of God arrives, all things shall change with ease.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Aswapathy
\nReplies<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAugust
\nand sweet sank hushed that mighty Voice. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNothing
\nnow moved in the vast brooding space:
A stillness came upon the
\nlistening world,
A mute immensity of the Eternal\u2019s peace. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nAswapathy\u2019s heart replied to her,
A cry amid the silence of the
\nVasts: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe mighty Voice of
\nthe Divine Mother ceases. All is still again in that vast brooding
\nspace. There is only the silent peace of the Eternal. In that silence
\nrises the cry of Aswapathy’s heart.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>How
\nShall I Rest?<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cHow
\nshall I rest content with mortal days
And the dull measure of
\nterrestrial things,
I who have seen behind the cosmic mask
The
\nglory and the beauty of thy face? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI have seen that the
\nworld as it appears is not the whole truth. It is only a mask behind
\nwhich I have beheld the glory and the beauty of thy face. Having seen
\nthis truth of the Divine Presence, how can I stay content with the
\nordinary mortality and the dull rhythm and scale of terrestrial life?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>How
\nLong the Battle<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHard
\nis the doom to which thou bindst thy sons! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHow
\nlong shall our spirits battle with the Night
And bear defeat and
\nthe brute yoke of Death,
We who are vessels of a deathless Force
\n
And builders of the godhead of the race? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHard is the fate to
\nwhich we, thy sons, are bound by thee. How long shall this battle of
\nour spirits with the Night of Denial go on? How long should we suffer
\ndefeat and death, we who carry thy immortal Force and are the
\narchitects of the divine humanity to come?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Where
\nis Thy Ray?<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOr
\nif it is thy work I do below
Amid the error and waste of human
\nlife
In the vague light of man\u2019s half-conscious mind,
Why
\nbreaks not in some distant gleam of thee? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEver
\nthe centuries and millenniums pass. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhere
\nin the greyness is thy coming\u2019s ray? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhere
\nis the thunder of thy victory\u2019s wings? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\nwe hear the feet of passing gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf it be thy work
\nthat I do on earth amidst all the confusion and waste of human life,
\nin the obscure light of the half-awake mind, why is it that no ray of
\nthy Light however distant\u2014breaks in upon us? Ages fly past and yet
\nthere is no sign of thy advent, no rumour of thy victory. We only
\nhear the lesser powers passing by.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Changeless
\nRound<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nplan in the occult eternal Mind
Mapped out to backward and
\nprophetic sight,
The aeons ever repeat their changeless round,
\n
The cycles all rebuild and ever aspire. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nwe have done is ever still to do. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nbreaks and all renews and is the same. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is some plan
\nconceived in the creative Idea of the Eternal Being in which all that
\nhas gone before and all that is yet to come is seen simultaneously.
\nBut here in the world the ages turn round and round changing nothing;
\nthe cycles aim high and rebuild things that constantly disintegrate.
\nWhat has been done has got to be done again and again. Everything
\nbreaks down, is renewed and all is the same again.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Fruitless
\nGyre<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHuge
\nrevolutions of life\u2019s fruitless gyre,
The new-born ages perish
\nlike the old,
As if the sad Enigma kept its right
Till all is
\ndone for which this scene was made. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLife revolves in
\nfruitless rounds; every new age passes away like the old. It looks as
\nif this depressing riddle will continue to pose itself until the
\nobjective of this movement is fulfilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Too
\nUtile the Strength<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo
\nlittle the strength that now with us is born,
Too faint the light
\nthat steals through Nature\u2019s lids,
Too scant the joy with which
\nshe buys our pain. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\na brute world that knows not its own sense,
Thought-racked upon
\nthe wheel of birth we live,
The instruments of an impulse not our
\nown
Moved to achieve with our heart\u2019s blood for price
\n
Half-knowledge, half-creations that soon tire. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe strength we can
\nwield is too inadequate, the light we get is too faint, the joy in
\nlife for which we bear with all pain is too sparse. Ours is a
\nmechanical world which does not know its own meaning and purpose; we
\nlive in it, life after life, helplessly driven by thought, acted upon
\nby an impulse that is not our own. And all that we succeed in
\nachieving after all our intense efforts is a knowledge that is
\npartial, creations that are incomplete and fail soon.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>We
\nStill Survive<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nfoiled immortal soul in perishing limbs,
Baffled and beaten back
\nwe labour still;
Annulled, frustrated, spent, we still survive. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOurs is a soul that
\nis deathless, a portion of the Immortal; but it is defeated by the
\nbody which disintegrates. We are thus constantly baffled and pushed
\nback, and yet we toil. Our effort is again and again cancelled, we
\nare frustrated, drained of our energies, and yet we live on.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nLarger-Seeing Man to Arrive<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\nanguish we labour that from us may rise
A larger-seeing man with
\nnobler heart,
A golden vessel of the incarnate Truth,
The
\nexecutor of the divine attempt
Equipped to wear the earthly body
\nof God,
Communicant and prophet and lover and king. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThough we suffer, we
\nstill strive on in order that from our labours may arrive another
\nman, wider in vision, nobler of heart, a luminous receptacle of
\nmanifest Truth, effectuating the divine intention, ready to house in
\nhimself God’s embodiment on earth, messenger of the Spirit, seeing
\nfar ahead, exuding love and monarch of all.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Thy
\nSteps are Infallible<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nknow that thy creation cannot fail. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\neven through the mists of mortal thought
Infallible are thy
\nmysterious steps,
And, though Necessity dons the garb of Chance,
\n
Hidden in the blind shifts of Fate she keeps
The slow calm
\nlogic of Infinity\u2019s pace
And the inviolate sequence of its
\nwill. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nsteps are
\ninfallible; they do not falter or go wrong. Behind the mask of
\nChance, concealed in the determination of Fate, there works the
\nNecessity of an effectuating inviolable will working in the studied,
\nassured rhythms of the Infinite.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Life
\nin Ascending Scale<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nlife is fixed in an ascending scale
And adamantine is the
\nevolving Law;
In the beginning is prepared the close. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe whole
\nlife-movement is directed upwards in the scale of evolution; the
\ngovernance of the Law that is slowly shaping itself is firm. There is
\na direction from the very inception; at the beginning itself the goal
\nis anticipated.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nGod Greater By the Fall<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis
\nstrange irrational product of the mire,
This compromise between
\nthe beast and God,
Is not the crown of thy miraculous world. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nknow there shall inform the inconscient cells,
At one with Nature
\nand at height with heaven,
A spirit vast as the containing sky
\n
And swept with ecstasy from invisible founts,
A god come down
\nand greater by the fall. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan as he is, a
\nstrange product of matter’s mud\u2014whose movements belie his gross
\norigin , midway between animal and God, is certainly not the summit
\nof this wondrous world. I know that one day he will expand in his
\nawareness as wide as the universe, grow as high as the highest
\nheavens of the mind, even his inconscient cells will be lit with a
\nvast Consciousness of the Spirit, and he will be flooded with Bliss
\nfrom unseen founts. He will reveal himself to be a god who has come
\ndown to earth from his paradisal home above, but a god who is all the
\nricher and fuller for the experience and growth he has garnered here
\non earth a development that is not attainable in the worlds
\nelsewhere.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nPower Arose Out of My Slumber<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\npower arose out of my slumber\u2019s cell. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAbandoning
\nthe tardy limp of the hours
And the inconstant blink of mortal
\nsight,
There where the Thinker sleeps in too much light
And
\nintolerant flames the lone all-witnessing Eye
Hearing the word of
\nFate from Silence\u2019 heart
In the endless moment of Eternity,
It
\nsaw from timelessness the works of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nof ignorant Nature,
\nit shot up to the superconscient levels of the being where the
\nthought-mind is dazed into stillness and only a bare witnessing Eye
\nbums; it heard from the bosom of Silence the word of destiny and
\npoised in the Eternal, it regarded the workings of Time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Roar
\nof Death<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOverpassed
\nwere the leaden formulas of the Mind,
Overpowered the obstacle of
\nmortal Space:
The unfolding Image showed the things to come. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\ngiant dance of Shiva tore the past,
There was a thunder as of
\nworlds that fall;
Earth was o\u2019errun with fire and the roar of
\nDeath
Clamouring to slay a world his hunger had made;
There
\nwas a clangour of Destruction\u2019s wings:
The Titan\u2019s battle-cry
\nwas in my ears,
Alarm and rumour shook the armoured Night. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe rigid walls of
\nthe Mind were put behind, limitations of physical Space were broken
\nthrough; things to come revealed themselves in a terrible imagery of
\ndestruction of the past, of the thunder of falling worlds, of the
\nroar and fire of Death spreading over Earth wanting to slay the world
\nthat was originally created by the Hunger that is Death <\/FONT><\/FONT>[1]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP>
\nto serve as his
\nfood.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n[1]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP>
\nasanaya mrtyuh
\n(<\/FONT><\/FONT>Brihadaranyaka
\nUpanishad<\/I><\/FONT><\/FONT>)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe ominous sound of
\napproaching Destruction was gathering; the challenging cry of the
\nAdversary filled my ears. Alarm and rumour shook the defensive Night
\nof existence.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Omnipotent’s
\nPioneers<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nsaw the Omnipotent\u2019s flaming pioneers
Over the heavenly verge
\nwhich turns towards life
Come crowding down the amber stairs of
\nbirth;
Forerunners of a divine multitude
Out of the paths of
\nthe morning star they came
Into the little room of mortal life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere
\nI beheld the first adventuring powers of <\/FONT>the Omnipotent on the
\nborders of heaven turning towards earthly life; they came down the
\nglowing stairs of birth the first of the divine host that came out of
\nthe paths of the morning star into the petty field of mortal life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nI
\nsaw them cross the twilight of an age,
The sun-eyed children of a
\nmarvellous dawn,
The great creators with wide brows of calm,
The
\nmassive barrier-breakers of the world
And wrestlers with destiny
\nin her lists of will,
The labourers in the quarries of the gods,
\n
The messengers of the Incommunicable,
The architects of
\nimmortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI saw them crossing
\nthe dimlit passage of the beginnings of time, these luminous children
\nof wondrous dawn, great creators in a wide perspective of calm,
\npowerful dynamiters of all obstruction, challengers of Destiny in her
\ndetermination of Will, workers in the quarries of the gods for
\nbuilding up the Creation, messengers from the realm beyond human
\ncommunication, architects structuring the Immortal on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Carrying
\nthe Mystic Fire<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInto
\nthe fallen human sphere they came,
Faces that wore the Immortal\u2019s
\nglory still,
Voices that communed still with the thoughts of God,
\n
Bodies made beautiful by the Spirit\u2019s light,
Carrying the
\nmagic word, the mystic fire,
Carrying the Dionysian cup of joy,
\n
Approaching eyes of a diviner man,
Lips chanting an unknown
\nanthem of the soul,
Feet echoing in the corridors of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThey came into the
\nhuman sphere of fallen state. Their faces still carried the glow of
\nthe Immortal’s glory, their voices were still in tune with divine
\nthoughts, their bodies were graceful with the light of the Spirit.
\nTheir eyes were those of a man becoming divine, their lips were
\nchanting the glory song of the soul. Their tread echoed in the
\npassages of Time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Their
\nTread Shall Change the Earth<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHigh
\npriests of wisdom, sweetness, might and bliss,
Discoverers of
\nbeauty\u2019s sunlit ways
And swimmers of Love\u2019s laughing fiery
\nfloods
And dancers within rapture\u2019s golden doors,
Their
\ntread one day shall change the suffering earth
And justify the
\nlight on Nature\u2019s face. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThey are the
\ncustodians of wisdom, happiness, power and bliss. They open up the
\nsunlit paths of Beauty for man. They delight in sporting in the flood
\ncurrents of Love and thrill to divine rapture. Surely one day their
\ntoil will go to change this earth whose badge now is suffering and
\nthus justify what now appears to be an unwarranted light on Nature’s
\nface.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>All
\nShall Be Done<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlthough
\nFate lingers in the high Beyond
And the work seems vain on which
\nour heart\u2019s force was spent,
All shall be done for which our
\npain was borne. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDestiny still eludes
\nman; all his toil seems to have been in vain. Yet, it is certain that
\nthe purpose for which man has suffered all pain shall be fulfilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Divine
\nSuccessor of Man<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\nas of old man came behind the beast
This high divine successor
\nsurely shall come
Behind man\u2019s inefficient mortal pace,
Behind
\nhis vain labour, sweat and blood and tears:
He shall know what
\nmortal mind barely durst think,
He shall do what the heart of the
\nmortal could not dare. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nJust as in the past
\nthe animal was followed by man in the course of evolution, so man
\nshall be followed by a high divine successor. After man’s slothful
\npace, after his fruitless labour and struggle, this divine being
\nshall come. He shall know what man’s mind can barely dare to think
\nabout, he shall achieve what man’s heart can hardly dare to attempt.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Heavenly
\nLight Shall Visit Earth<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInheritor
\nof the toil of human time
He shall take on him the burden of the
\ngods;
All heavenly light shall visit the earth\u2019s thoughts,
The
\nmight of heaven shall fortify earthly hearts;
Earth\u2019s deeds
\nshall touch the superhuman\u2019s height,
Earth\u2019s seeing widened
\ninto the infinite. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe will inherit the
\nfruit of human labour and carry the responsibility of the Gods. Then
\nwill the mind of earth open to and receive the light of heaven; the
\nheart of earth will be strengthened with the might of heaven; the
\nactions of the earth will reach beyond the human summits and touch
\nthe superhuman; the vision of the earth will be enlarged to embrace
\nthe Infinite.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Heavy
\nWeighs the Imperfect World<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHeavy
\nunchanged weighs still the imperfect world;
The splendid youth of
\nTime has passed and failed;
Heavy and long are the years our
\nlabour counts
And still the seals are firm upon man\u2019s soul
And
\nweary is the ancient Mother\u2019s heart. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut as of now the
\nimperfection of the world continues, heavy and unchanged. The robust
\nyouthful period of its life has ended in failure. Our labour has been
\nlong and heavy and yet the bonds that tie the human soul are strong;
\nthe heart of Mother-Earth is weary.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Linger
\nnot Long<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nTruth defended in thy secret sun,
Voice of her mighty musings in
\nshut heavens
On things withdrawn within her luminous depths,
O
\nWisdom-Splendour, Mother of the universe,
Creatrix, the Eternal\u2019s
\nartist Bride,
Linger not long with thy transmuting hand
Pressed
\nvainly on one golden bar of Time,
As if Time dare not open its
\nheart to God. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO Mother of the
\nUniverse, O Truth who art still poised in thy luminous depths, do not
\nlinger any further with thy transmuting hand merely resting on a bar
\nof Time\u2014as if it was not possible for Time to open to the Divine
\ninfluence.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Incarnate
\nThy Force<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nradiant fountain of the world\u2019s delight
World-free and
\nunattainable above,
O Bliss who ever dwellst deep hid within
\n
While men seek thee outside and never find,
Mystery and Muse
\nwith hieratic tongue,
Incarnate the white passion of thy force,
\n
Mission to earth some living form of thee. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou art beyond the
\nworld and unattainable, yet art thou the luminous source of the
\ndelight aflow in the world. Thou art the Bliss which always dwells in
\nthe depths of the being within, but which men seek outside of
\nthemselves and so naturally fail to find. Thou art the insoluble
\nMystery, thou art the Muse with the authentic word. Embody thy force
\nin its pure intensity, send to earth a charged form of thyself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Fill
\nWith Thy Eternity<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne
\nmoment fill with thy eternity,
Let thy infinity in one body live,
\n
All-Knowledge wrap one mind in seas of light,
All-Love throb
\nsingle in one human heart. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImmortal,
\ntreading the earth with mortal feet
All heaven\u2019s beauty crowd
\nin earthly limbs! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWith that missioned
\nincarnation of thy force, let thy eternity clothe itself with Time
\nfor a brief while; let thy infinity dwell in one body; let thy
\nomniscience flood one mind with its light; let thy vast Love beat in
\none human heart; let thy Immortality walk the earth with mortal feet;
\nlet all the beauty of heaven take shape in an earthly form.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Change
\nFuture Time<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOmnipotence,
\ngirdle with the power of God
Movements and moments of a mortal
\nwill,
Pack with the eternal might one human hour
And with one
\ngesture change all future time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet
\na great word be spoken from the heights
And one great act unlock
\nthe doors of Fate.\u201d <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOmnipotent that thou
\nart, impart the power of God to the movements and moments of a will
\nembodied in human form, fill that human body with thy eternal might
\nand then, with a single gesture change the course of future time. Let
\nthe Word of power be spoken from the potent heights, let one great
\nact open the closed doors of Earth’s Fate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Consenting
\nVoice<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nprayer sank down in the resisting Night
Oppressed by the thousand
\nforces that deny,
As if too weak to climb to the Supreme. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nthere arose a wide consenting Voice;
The spirit of beauty was
\nrevealed in sound:
Light floated round the marvellous Vision\u2019s
\nbrow
And on her lips the Immortal\u2019s joy took shape. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAswapathy’s prayer
\nsinks, pulled downwards by the forces of negation, as if it is too
\nweak to reach upto the Supreme. But there rises the response of a
\nconsenting Voice. The spirit of beauty reveals itself in sound. Light
\nsurrounds the Face of the Divine Mother and the Immortal’s joy sounds
\nin her speech.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>One
\nshall Descend (I)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cO
\nstrong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne
\nshall descend and break the iron Law,
Change Nature\u2019s doom by
\nthe lone Spirit\u2019s power. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nlimitless Mind that can contain the world,
A sweet and violent
\nheart of ardent calms
Moved by the passions of the gods shall
\ncome. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Divine Mother
\nanswers:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO strong pioneer, I
\nhave heard thy anguished prayer. One shall go down and break the hard
\nlaw of material Nature that rules the earth and change the doom of
\nNature by the unaided power of the Spirit.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA boundless Mind
\nthat can embrace and contain the whole world shall come.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA heart that is at
\nonce calm, sweet and violent, with the intensity of the gods shall
\ncome.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>One
\nshall Descend (II)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nmights and greatnesses shall join in her;
Beauty shall walk
\ncelestial on the earth,
Delight shall sleep in the cloud-net of
\nher hair
And in her body as on his homing tree
Immortal Love
\nshall beat his glorious wings. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll possible
\nstrengths and greatnesses shall contain in her; heavenly beauty shall
\nwalk the earth in her form; delight shall stay for ever in her and
\nundying Love shall use her body as his native home.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMight, Beauty,
\nDelight, Love, all shall find their home in her.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>One
\nshall Descend (III)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nmusic of griefless things shall weave her charm;
The harps of the
\nPerfect shall attune her voice,
The streams of Heaven shall
\nmurmur in her laugh,
Her lips shall be the honeycombs of God,
\n
Her limbs his golden jars of ecstasy,
Her breasts the
\nrapture-flowers of Paradise. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHers shall be the
\ncharm of the melodies of unmixed happiness; her voice shall ring with
\nthe notes of the celestial harp; her laughter shall carry the murmur
\nof the streams of heaven. Her lips shall drip with the honey of God;
\nher limbs shall hold his ecstasy; her breasts shall be the flowers of
\nrapture of Paradise.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>One
\nshall Descend (IV)<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe
\nshall bear Wisdom in her voiceless bosom,
Strength shall be with
\nher like a conqueror\u2019s sword
And from her eyes the Eternal\u2019s
\nbliss shall gaze. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe shall carry
\nwisdom in her silent breast. Her strength shall be wielded like a
\nvictor’s sword. The bliss of the Eternal shall radiate from her eyes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nSeed in Death’s Hour<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nseed shall be sown in Death\u2019s tremendous hour,
A branch of
\nheaven transplant to human soil;
Nature shall overleap her mortal
\nstep;
Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will.\u201d <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the significant
\nmoment of Death, she shall sow a seed and transplant to the human
\nsoil on earth a branch of heaven i.e. establish on earth a part of
\nheaven. Evolving Nature shall move faster than her usual mortal
\nspeed. Fate shall be forced to change by her unchanging will.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAs
\na flame disappears in endless Light
Immortally extinguished in
\nits source,
Vanished the splendour and was stilled the word. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn
\necho of delight that once was close,
The harmony journeyed
\ntowards some distant hush,
A music failing in the ear of trance,
\n
A cadence called by distant cadences,
A voice that trembled
\ninto strains withdrawn. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Splendour
\nwithdraws and the Voice falls silent. The harmony that had come close
\nrecedes into some far-off hush, the musical rhythm fades and the
\nvibrant Voice is no more.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Vacant
\nInner Fields<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\nform retreated from the longing earth
Forsaking nearness to the
\nabandoned sense,
Ascending to her unattainable home. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLone,
\nbrilliant, vacant lay the inner fields;
All was unfilled
\ninordinate spirit space,
Indifferent, waste, a desert of bright
\npeace. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Form of the
\nDivine Mother draws back from the longing earth; it is no longer near
\nthe forsaken world; it ascends back to her home beyond the reach of
\nman. The inner fields of consciousness in which Aswapathy is awake
\nare vacant, their spirit space is empty; there is luminous peace,
\nindeed, but it is a blank.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Terrestrial
\nWave<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\na line moved on the far edge of calm:
The warm-lipped sentient
\nsoft terrestrial wave,
A quick and many-murmured moan and laugh,
\n
Came gliding in upon white feet of sound. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnlocked
\nwas the deep glory of Silence\u2019 heart;
The absolute unmoving
\nstillnesses
Surrendered to the breath of mortal air,
Dissolving
\nboundlessly the heavens of trance
Collapsed to waking mind…<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThen something moves
\non the distant border of the calm; a gentle wave of earthly sound of
\nnotes of grief and joy glides in. The depths of Silence are opened up
\nand the moveless stillness yields to the incoming mortal breath; the
\ntrance breaks as the mind wakes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Lids
\nCast Down<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEternity
\nCast down its incommunicable lids
Over its solitudes remote from
\nken
Behind the voiceless mystery of sleep. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ngrandiose respite failed, the wide release. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA curtain is drawn
\nupon the solitudes beyond the human ken, behind the mute mystery of
\nsleep, the great suspension, the wide release fails.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>His
\nSoul Draws Back<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAcross
\nthe light of fast-receding planes
That fled from him as from a
\nfalling star
Compelled to fill his human house in Time
His
\nsoul drew back into the speed and noise
Of the vast business of
\ncreated things. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nchariot of the marvels of the heavens
Broad-based to bear the
\ngods on fiery wheels,
Flaming he swept through the spiritual
\ngates. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nForced to return to
\nhis earthly habitation, the soul of Aswapathy draws back, across the
\nreceding planes of the Higher hemisphere, into the stir of the
\ncreation below. A moving miracle, capable of embodying the Gods in
\nhimself, he sweeps through the gates of the Spirit.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Amid
\nMaterial Scenes<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nmortal stir received him in its midst. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnce
\nmore he moved amid material scenes,
Lifted by intimations from
\nthe heights
And twixt the pauses of the building brain
Touched
\nby the thoughts that skim the fathomless surge
Of Nature and wing
\nback to hidden shores. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnce again Aswapathy
\nmoves in the material surroundings, receptive to uplifting
\nintimations from the heights of the Spirit, open to thoughts from the
\nunseen spheres during pauses of the activity of his brain.Higher
\ntouches can be felt and are effective only when the lower activity is
\nstilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Toils
\nwith the Measuring Mind<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\neternal seeker in the aeonic field
Besieged by the intolerant
\npress of hours
Again was strong for great swift-footed deeds. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAwake
\nbeneath the ignorant vault of Night,
He saw the unnumbered people
\nof the stars
And heard the questioning of the unsatisfied flood
\n
And toiled with the form-maker, measuring Mind. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBack in the ancient
\nfield of Tune, Aswapathy, the eternal seeker, is ready for his
\ncustomary dynamic action. In this world shadowed by Ignorance, he
\nsees innumerable points of light, listens to the unanswered queries
\nof Nature and works on with the finitising mind.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>The
\nLord of Life Resumes<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nwanderer from the occult invisible suns
Accomplishing the fate of
\ntransient things,
A god in the figure of the arisen beast,
He
\nraised his brow of conquest to the heavens
Establishing the
\nempire of the soul
On Matter and its bounded universe
As on a
\nsolid rock in infinite seas. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nLord of Life resumed his mighty rounds
In the scant field of the
\nambiguous globe. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA traveller from the
\nhigher unseen worlds that he is, working out the destiny of the
\ntemporal world, a veritable god in human form, Aswapathy raises his
\nwill to conquer the unattained realm, establishing the rule of the
\nsoul on the firm base of Matter and its finite world amidst the flux
\nof life. The Master of Life resumes his great Task in the little,
\ninadequate field of the uncertain earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n



\n<\/P>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\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 Three. The Book of the Divine Mother Canto I    Canto…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-3-savitri-study","wpcat-251-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10763","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=10763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11097,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10763\/revisions\/11097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}