{"id":10818,"date":"2014-07-15T21:41:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T04:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10818"},"modified":"2014-12-07T01:20:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T09:20:00","slug":"savitri-study-book-6-canto-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-6-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-6-canto-1","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-6-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 Six. The Book of Fate<\/p>\n

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

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

\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n
\n


\nBook Six: Canto I<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Word of Fate<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Summary<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n
From the
\nimmortal regions above, Narad comes chanting to the earth below. As
\nhe approaches the earth-scene of ignorance and strife a change comes
\nover his mood and the theme of his song changes. He descends into the
\npalace of King Aswapathy at Madra where he is warmly welcomed at the
\nroyal court.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nHe sings of the
\ntoils of men, the mystery of joy behind pain and of the lotus-heart
\nof love. As he is chanting, Savitri walks in with a swift and radiant
\ntread. A halo of wonder and joy surrounds her. Narad looks at her
\nwith an inner gaze and knows all, but he holds back his knowledge and
\nasks her whence she has brought the glory that shines around her.
\nSurely she has been to some brighter countries than those of earth
\nand has imbibed the joy of those celestial haunts of the gods ! He
\nspeaks of her beauty and her radiant happiness, but wonders if the
\nearth’s doom will allow them to remain safe.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe King catches the
\nominous note of doubt in Narad’s query and asks if dark adversity
\nmust visit his fair child of light and felicity, But Narad does not
\nanswer. He looks into the unseen future and then asks, as if
\nunknowing, where Savitri has been and whom she has met that she
\nshould carry such glory in her heart and paradise in her eyes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe King narrates
\nhow Savitri has been on a quest to find her lord and companion. He
\nasks her to reveal her choice.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri replies in a
\ncalm voice that she has chosen Satyavan, son of Dyumathsena, King of
\nShalwa, now in exile. She has met him in the forest and has made her
\nchoice.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAswapathy looks
\nwithin himself and sees a heavy shadow looming above the name but
\nchased by a stupendous light. He felicitates his daughter and
\napproves of her choice. Narad is about to speak, but the King appeals
\nto him not to reveal the danger awaiting them in the future and
\nimpose the ordeal of foreknowledge on mere mortal men. He asks him to
\nspeak only if he can thereby loosen the grip of Fate. Narad remains
\nsilent.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe queen is
\nalarmed. She asks the heavenly sage to give his blessings to this
\nunion of love and not to bring into being the danger they all feared,
\nby speaking of it. Yet if danger does lurk on the happy path of her
\nSavitri, then he must speak so that they could turn aside and avoid
\nthe hazard.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNarad replies slowly
\nthat future knowledge only adds to pain but cannot help in avoiding
\nFate. The queen is still more upset and she accuses the Godhead of
\nthe unchanging Law, she bemoans the sorry course of Love in this
\nworld and the dominant play of grief in human life. She entreats
\nNarad not to hide the truth of what lies in store for her child.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNarad speaks highly
\nof Satyavan, and describes his greatness but adds that he has only
\ntwelve more months to live.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe queen cries out
\nin pain complaining against the mockery of grace which gives largely
\nbut allows death to snatch away the gifts. She asks Savitri to go
\nforth once again and choose another for her mate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri declines
\nto change her decision. She affirms the strength of her spirit’s will
\nagainst the law of Fate. The queen appeals to her not to be too
\nvisionary and lose sight of the hard realities of life. Love is
\ntransient, all life is a play on the stage of the world. She reminds
\nSavitri that she is after all human and not of the gods who alone can
\ntalk with impunity as she does. She should follow calm reason which
\nis given as a guide to man and not be caught in the wild goose chase
\nof Love.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri is adamant
\nand refuses to yield. She now knows who Satyavan is, who she herself
\nis and why she is here on earth. She has been born to be with
\nSatyavan.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Narad
\nComes Chanting<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\nsilent bounds bordering the mortal’s plane
Crossing a wide
\nexpanse of brilliant peace
Narad the heavenly sage from Paradise
\n
Came chanting through the large and lustrous air. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad, the celestial
\nsage from Vaikuntha, the paradise of the gods, comes chanting across
\nthe vasts of luminous peace, to the borders of Silence surrounding
\nthe plane of the mortals<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>To
\nThis World of Toil<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAttracted
\nby the golden summer-earth
That lay beneath him like a glowing
\nbowl
Tilted upon a table of the Gods,
Turning as if moved
\nround by an unseen hand
To catch the warmth and blaze of a small
\nsun,
He passed from the immortals’ happy paths
To a world of
\ntoil and quest and grief and hope,
To these rooms of a see-saw
\ngame of death and life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is summer and the
\nearth looks to him like a shining bowl placed atilt on a table of the
\nGods, gyrating as if it were moved by an unseen guiding hand to catch
\nthe warmth and light of the physical sun much smaller than the suns
\nof other skies above. Attracted by it, he passes it from the happy
\ntracts of the Gods to this small world of struggle and search, grief
\nand hope, where the never-ending game of life and death is played.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>From
\nMind into the Material<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAcross
\nan intangible border of soul-space
He passed from Mind into
\nmaterial things
Amid the inventions of the inconscient Self
And
\nthe workings of a blind somnambulist Force. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThrough the subtle
\nrealms, he descends from the planes of Mind into the domain of Matter
\nfilled with the constructions of the Inconscience and the scene of
\nthe workings of a blind unconscious, mechanical Force.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Through
\nEther and Air<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBelow
\nhim circling burned the myriad suns:
He bore the ripples of the
\netheric sea;
A primal Air brought the first joy of touch;
A
\nsecret Spirit drew its mighty breath. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs he descends into
\nthis physical universe, Narad beholds the blazing galaxies of suns he
\nfeels the impact of the first ripples of the waves of Ether; then he
\nexperiences the joy of touch caused by movement in the primal Air.
\nThe secret Spirit of this universe draws its mighty breath in this
\nAir.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nContracting
\nand expanding this huge world
The secret might of the creative
\nfire
Displayed its triple power to build and form,
Its
\ninfinitesimal wave-sparks’ weaving dance,
Its nebulous units’
\ngrounding shape and mass,
Magic foundation and pattern of a
\nworld, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
Its
\nradiance bursting into the light of stars; Next he sees fire with its
\nthree-fold power of heat, light and electricity displaying its might
\nin forming and building things: it contracts and expands this huge
\nworld; its innumerable sparks seem to weave a dance in space, forming
\ninto shape and then condensing into mass; thus it lays, the magic
\nbase and pattern of a world; its lustre takes the form of the stars.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Life
\nand Matter<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nfelt a sap of life, a sap of death;
Into solid Matter’s dense
\ncommunion
Plunging and its obscure oneness of forms
He shared
\nwith a dumb Spirit identity. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe then feels the
\ntouch of the current of life and the current of death. Plunging into
\nthe dense trance of physical Matter and its obscure Unity-for this
\nunity of Matter is not a conscious unity-he enters into identity with
\nthe mute Spirit in the inconscient Matter.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Cosmic
\nBeing<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nbeheld the cosmic Being at his task,
His eyes measured the
\nspaces, gauged the depths,
His inner gaze the movements of the
\nsoul,
He saw the eternal labour of the Gods,
And looked upon
\nthe life of beasts and men. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe beholds the
\nUniversal Purusha at his work; his eyes scan the spaces, fathom the
\ndepths; his inner sight takes in the movements of the Soul in the
\nCosmos. He sees the ceaseless labour of the Gods who are building up
\nthe universal edifice. He looks upon the lives of men and beasts.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nChange in Mood<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nchange felt upon the singer’s mood,
A rapture and a pathos moved
\nhis voice;
He sang no more of light that never wanes,
And
\noneness and pure everlasting bliss,
He sang no more the deathless
\nheart of love,
His chant was a hymn of Ignorance and Fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs Narad surveys the
\nscene below, a change comes over his mood. His chanting voice moved
\nby rapture on seeing all God’s labour is now moved by compassion at
\nthe sight of the struggling life on earth. His theme changes. His
\nsong is no more of the unfading light, the oneness and unending bliss
\nor the immortal love of the heavens; it is now a song of the
\nIgnorance and the relentless Fate that rule the earth-world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>He
\nSings of Vishnu<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsang the name of Vishnu and the birth
And joy and passion of the
\nmystic world,
And how the stars were made and life began
And
\nthe mute regions stirred with the throb of a soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe sings the glory
\nof the Name of Lord Vishnu and of the celestial world of
\njoy-Vaikuntha. He sings describing the birth of the stars and the
\nbeginning of life and how with the advent of the soul the mute
\nregions began to vibrate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Inconscient
\nand its Secret Self<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsang the Inconscient and its secret self,
Its power omnipotent
\nknowing not what it does,
All shaping without will or thought or
\nsense,
Its blind unerring occult mystery,
And darkness
\nyearning towards the eternal Light,
And Love that broods within
\nthe dim abyss
And waits the answer of the human heart,
And
\ndeath that climbs immortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe sings of the
\nInconscient at the base of this material creation and its concealed
\nself,-for even in the Inconscient the self is there though heavily
\nveiled-of its effectuating power that builds without overt
\nconsciousness, of its occult mystery that is blind and yet faultless:
\nHe sings of the darkness of the universe yearning and growing towards
\nthe Light eternal, <\/FONT><\/FONT>[1]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP>
\nof the presence of
\nLove that broods in the obscure depths of existence waiting for an
\narticulate response from the heart of man, of death that slowly moves
\nup the ladder of Immortality in order to change itself into life
\neverlasting. <\/FONT><\/FONT>[2]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP><\/P>
\n

<\/P>
\n


\n[1]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP>tamaso
\nma jyotirgamaya (<\/FONT><\/FONT>Brihadaranyaka
\nUpanishad<\/I><\/FONT><\/FONT>)
\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>[2]<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SUP>mrtyormamritam
\n(<\/FONT><\/FONT>Ibid<\/I><\/FONT><\/FONT>)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Hidden
\nMother Wisdom<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsang of the Truth that cries from Night’s blind deeps,
And the
\nMother Wisdom hid in Nature’s breast
And the Idea that through
\nher dumbness works
And the miracle of her transforming hands,
Of
\nlife that slumbers in the stone and sun
And mind subliminal in
\nmindless life,
And the consciousness that wakes in beasts and
\nmen. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe sings of the
\nTruth that calls for release from the depths of Nescience in which it
\nis hidden, of the creative Intelligence that is concealed in the
\nheart of Nature, of the Truth-Idea that works itself out through all
\nthe mute states of Nature, of the miraculous work of the transforming
\npowers of Nature, of life that is dormant in all apparently lifeless
\nthings from stone to the suns, of the subtly conscious mind that is
\nawake in life which is yet to develop the outer mind, of the
\nconsciousness that is emerging in the animal and in man.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Glory
\nand Marvel to be Born<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsang of the glory and marvel still to be born,
Of the Godhead
\nthrowing off at last its veil,
Of bodies made divine and life
\nmade bliss,
Immortal sweetness clasping immortal might,
Heart
\nsensing heart, thought looking straight at thought,
And the
\ndelight when every barrier falls,
And the transfiguration and the
\necstasy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe sings of the
\nglory and the wonder still to be revealed on earth; of the emerging
\nGodhead casting of its last veil: of physical bodies transformed into
\ndivine forms; of life turned into bliss; of immortal joy joining
\nimmortal power; of heart directly feeling another heart-without the
\nnecessity of any mediation of sense-of mind becoming directly aware
\nof another mind; of the delight that enters when all dividing walls
\ncrumble down; of the transformation of the human into the divine and
\nthe ecstasy of it all.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Demons
\nWeep with Joy<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd
\nas he sang the demons wept with joy
Foreseeing the end of their
\nlong dreadful task
And the defeat for which they hoped in vain,
\n
And glad release from their self-chosen doom
And return into
\nthe One from whom they came. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs Narad sings of
\nthis glorious fulfilment to be the demons-hosts of anti-Divine
\nbeings-weep with joy. For, with the announced approach of the plenary
\nmanifestation of God, they now foresee the end of their horrid task
\nof opposition, see in sight their own defeat, which they had so long
\nsecretly longed for but in vain, a hope for release from the doom
\nwhich indeed they had chosen of their own accord,-when they had
\ndecided to deviate from the Divine Law and set themselves against
\nit-and anticipate a sure return into the One Divine Being from whom
\nthey had originally issued at the commencement of the manifestation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Narad
\nComes Down<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nwho has conquered the immortals’ seats,
Came down to men on earth
\nthe Man divine. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\nmight a lightning streak, a glory fell
Nearing until the rapt
\neyes of the sage
Looked out from luminous cloud and, strangely
\nlimned
His face, a beautiful mask of antique joy,
Appearing
\nin light descended where arose
King Aswapathy’s palace to the
\nwinds
In Madra, flowering up in delicate stone. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus does Narad who
\nhas won a place in the kingdom of the Gods and become a divine Man
\ncome down to the earth of the humans. Like a flash of lightning, with
\nhis unusual face revealing mature joy, he darts down towards the
\nearth till his rapt eyes looking across the luminous cloud catch
\nsight of Aswapathy’s palace rising up towards the sky in Madra.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nThere
\nwelcomed him the sage and thoughtful king,
At his side a creature
\nbeautiful, passionate, wise,
Aspiring like a sacrificial flame,
\n
Skyward from its earth-seat through luminous air,
Queen-browed,
\nthe human mother of Savitri. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere in the palace
\nNarad is warmly welcomed by King Aswapathy, wise and thoughtful. By
\nthe side of the king is the queen, royal in mien, beautiful, intense
\nand at the same time wise, aspiring high like the Flame on the
\nsacrificial altar soaring upwards through the luminous, sanctified
\nair. She is the human mother of Savitri-the divine Mother of Savitri
\nis the Supreme Divine Creatrix.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>His
\nRhythmic Voice<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere
\nfor an hour untouched by the earth’s siege
They ceased from
\ncommon life and care and sat
Inclining to the high and rhythmic
\nvoice,
While in his measured chant the heavenly seer
Spoke of
\nthe toils of men and what the gods
Strive for on earth, and joy
\nthat throbs behind
The marvel and the mystery of pain. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor a while, free
\nfrom earthly cares and preoccupations, they sit listening to the
\nrhythmic and uplifting voice of the sage as he chants of the toils of
\nmen, of the strivings of gods for the earth, of the joy that is
\nhidden behind the strange veil of pain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNarad draws
\nattention to the role of the Gods who are missioned to work for the
\nearth. He points out that pain is not the final answer. Behind the
\nmask of pain is the face of joy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Lotus-Heart
\nof Love<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsang to them of the lotus-heart of love
With all its thousand
\nluminous buds of truth,
Which quivering sleeps veiled by apparent
\nthings. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt
\ntrembles at each touch, it strives to wake
And one day it shall
\nhear a blissful voice
And in the garden of the Spouse shall bloom
\n
When she is seized by her discovered lord. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad sings to them
\nof Love in the heart of things with its innumerable shoots of
\ntruth-yet inchoate, yet to blossom, for of pure love the issues are
\nof unmixed truth-love being another facet of truth. Whatever the
\nnature of appearances, however contrary, love lies dormant but alive
\nin all things. At every impact it vibrates and tries to wake up. And
\nsurely one day this love shall hear the blissful call of God and
\nthere in the garden of Nature it shall bloom when she (Nature) is
\nseized by her Lord, discovered at long last.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nLove shall bloom in
\nfull when Nature and God become one.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Shudder
\nof Ecstasy<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nmighty shuddering coil of ecstasy
Crept through the deep heart of
\nthe universe. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOut
\nof her Matter’s stupor, her mind’s dreams,
She woke, she looked
\nupon God’s unveiled face. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs Narad sings the
\ntheme of Love and Truth a great shudder of ecstasy runs through the
\nheart of the universe; Nature waking up from the dull sleep of Matter
\nand the vague and futile dreams of the mind, looks upon the unveiled
\nFace of God, her Beloved.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Enters
\nSavitri<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\nas he sang and rapture stole through earth-time
And caught the
\nheavens, came with a call of hooves,
As of her swift heart
\nhastening, Savitri;
Her radiant tread glimmered across the floor.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nhappy wonder in her fathomless gaze,
Changed by the halo of her
\nlove she came; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhile Narad sings
\nand the rapture of his voice spreads from the earth to the heavens,
\nthe hooves of Savitri’s chariot-steeds are heard and with an eager
\nheart, Savitri hastens into the assembly hall. Her walk is radiant
\nher deep gaze is full of happy wonder. The bright warmth of her love
\nhas changed her.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Transformed
\nand New<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\neyes rich with a shining mist of joy
As one who comes from a
\nheavenly embassy
Discharging the proud mission of her heart,
One
\ncarrying the sanction of the gods
To her love and its luminous
\neternity
She stood before her mighty father’s throne
And,
\neager for beauty on discovered earth
Transformed and new in her
\nheart’s miracle-light,
Saw like a rose of marvel, worshipping,
\n
The fiery sweetness of the son of Heaven. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike one who returns
\nfrom a heavenly embassy having succeeded in an assignment she is
\nproud of, her eyes shine with a rich joy. As if carrying the sanction
\nof the Gods to her new-found love and its bright unending duration,
\nSavitri stands before her mighty father, Aswapathy, Eagerly looking
\nfor beauty in the world she has just discovered, transformed and
\nnew-made in the unearthly light in her heart, she beholds with a
\nworshipful look the brilliant sweetness of the heavenly sage Narad, a
\nrose a wondrous beauty.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Narad
\nReins back Knowledge<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nflung on her his vast immortal look;
His inner gaze surrounded
\nher with its light
And reining back knowledge from his immortal
\nlips
He cried to her, … <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad flings on her
\nhis vast divine look; his inner gaze encircles her with its light and
\nhe comes to know what has taken place, But he holds back this
\nknowledge from his celestial speech and calls out.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>From
\nwhere this Glory<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n…
\n"Who is this that comes, the bride,
The flame-born, and
\nround her illumined head
Pouring their lights her hymeneal pomps
\n
Move flashing about her? From what green glimmer of glades
\n
Retreating into dewy silences
Or half-seen verge of waters
\nmoon-betrayed
Bringst thou this glory of enchanted eyes? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWho is ties
\nflame-bright bride around whom the festive lights of marriage shine?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nFrom which range of
\nwoods or banks of moonlit waters dust thou bring this spell of
\nenchantment in thy eyes?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Earth
\nhas Expanses<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEarth
\nhas gold-hued expanses, shadowy hills
That cowl their dreaming
\nphantom heads in night,
And guarded in a cloistral joy of woods,
\n
Screened banks sink down into felicity
Seized by the curved
\nincessant yearning hands
And ripple-passion of the up-gazing
\nstream:
Amid cool-lipped murmurs of its pure embrace
They
\nlose their souls on beds of trembling reeds. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe earth has
\nbright-gold expanses, distant hills hide their indistinct peaks in
\nthe dark- ness of night, banks in the depths of the woods swoon with
\ndelight constantly ravished by the passionate waters of the flowing
\nstream.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Mysterious
\nPresences<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd
\nall these are mysterious presences
In which some spirit’s
\nimmortal bliss is felt,
And they betray the earth-born heart to
\njoy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere
\nhast thou paused, and marvelling borne eyes
Unknown, or heard a
\nvoice that forced thy life
To strain its rapture through thy
\nlistening soul? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMysterious presences
\nare there in all these places, making some immortal bliss of the
\nspirit felt and they deliver the heart born on earth to a causeless
\njoy. Thou must have paused in some such place and marvelled under the
\nspell of a sight or heard with thy soul’s listening a voice that has
\nenraptured thy life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Not
\nfrom Earthly Cup<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOr,
\nif my thought could trust this shimmering gaze,
It would say:
\nthou hast not drunk from an earthly cup,
But stepping through
\nazure curtains of the morn
Thou wast surrounded on a magic verge
\n
In brighter countries than man’s eyes can bear. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf I rightly gauge
\nthy shining gaze, then surely I would say that the bliss thou hast
\ntasted is not of the earthly kind. Thou hast been enveloped in realms
\nthat human eyes cannot bear.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>On
\nSlopes of Gundhamadan<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssailed
\nby trooping voices of delight
And seized mid a sunlit glamour of
\nthe boughs
In faery woods, led down the gleaming slopes
Of
\nGundhamadan where the Apsaras roam,
Thy limbs have shared the
\nsports which none has seen,
And in god-haunts thy human footsteps
\nstrayed,
Thy mortal bosom quivered with god-speech
And thy
\nsoul answered to a Word unknown. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSurely, invaded by
\nsurging voices of delight and seized amid the radiant gleams of faery
\nwoods, thou host been led to the slopes of the hill of Gundhamadan
\nwhere the Apsaras-celestial damsels of joy-roam and thou hast joined
\ntheir heavenly sports. Thou halt walked into the haunts of the gods,
\nthy mortal bosom has vibrated with the speech of the immortals and
\nthy soul has responded to a mighty Word from the Unknown.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Moon-Peaks
\nof Bliss<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat
\nfeet of gods, what ravishing flutes of heaven
Have thrilled high
\nmelodies round, from near and far
Approaching through the soft
\nand revelling air,
Which still surprised thou hearest? They have
\nfed
Thy silence on some red strange-ecstasied fruit
And thou
\nhast trod the dim moon-peaks of bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat melody from the
\nfeet of the gods, what blissful notes of heaven’s music, which it
\nseems thou continuest to hear, have fallen on thy surprised ear?
\nSurely the gods gave thee some strange fruit of ecstasy to eat which
\nhas transported thee to mystic peaks of Bliss!<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Reveal
\nWhence<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nReveal,
\nO winged with light, whence thou hast flown
Hastening bright-hued
\nthrough the green-tangled earth,
Thy body rhythmical with the
\nspring-bird’s call. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nempty roses of thy hands are filled
Only with their own beauty
\nand the thrill
Of a remembered clasp, and in thee glows
A
\nheavenly jar, thy firm deep-honied heart,
New-brimming with a
\nsweet and nectarous wine. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO bird of light,
\nreveal whence halt thou floated down to the earth with thy body in
\nrhythm to the call of the coil ? Thy bare hands are filled with their
\nown beauty-there is no need to beautify them with ornaments of
\nbeauty-and they thrill with the memories of a clasp by some other
\nhands. Thy firm and deeply ecstasied heart, like a shining celestial
\njar of honey, is filled with sonic new, sweet, ambrosial wine.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Not
\nwith Kings of Pain<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou
\nhast not spoken with the kings of pain. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLife’s
\nperilous music rings yet to thy ear
Far-melodied, rapid, grand, a
\nCentaur’s song,
Or soft as water plashing mid the hills,
Or
\nmighty as a great chant of many winds. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSurely, thou hast
\nnot encountered the kings of pain. The dangerous music of life is
\nstill wafting to thy ear majestic melodies from afar or soft
\nmurmurings as of the brooks chattering in the hills or mighty chants
\nas of many winds roaring abroad.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Thou
\nLivest in Bliss<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMoon-bright
\nthou livest in thy inner bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou
\ncomest like a silver deer through groves
Of coral flowers and
\nbuds of glowing dreams,
Or fleest like a wind-goddess through
\nleaves,
Or roamest, O ruby-eyed and snow-winged dove,
Flitting
\nthrough thickets of thy pure desires
In the unwounded beauty of
\nthy soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou livest secure
\nin the inner bliss of thy soul. Thou earnest like a silver-bright
\ndeer through rich groves of dream-buds or runnest like the goddess of
\nwind through the forest leaves or, O white dove ruby-eyed, thou
\nfittest through the shrubs of thy pure desires, the beauty of thy
\nsoul still unharmed.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Sister
\nof the Gods<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese
\nthings are only images to thy earth,
But truest truth of that
\nwhich in thee sleeps. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\nsuch is thy spirit, a sister of the gods,
Thy earthly body lovely
\nto the eyes,
And thou art kin in joy to heaven’s sons. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThy felicities are
\nonly distant images to the earth, They are true and real only to the
\nspirit which is dormant in thee, for thy spirit is akin to the
\nimmortal beings of heaven. Thy earthly body is beautiful to behold,
\nand in thy joy thou art of the gods in kind.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Dangerously
\nGreat<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nthou who hast come to this great perilous world
Now only seen
\nthrough the splendour of thy dreams,
Where hardly love and beauty
\ncan live safe,
Thyself a being dangerously great,
A soul
\nalone in a golden house of thought
Has lived walled in by the
\nsafety of thy dreams. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis great world to
\nwhich thou hast come is indeed full of peril; love and beauty are not
\nsafe here. Thou lookest at it now only through the glory of thy
\ndreams. Thou art great, thy very greatness portends danger. Thou art
\na soul living alone in thy golden hours of thought, safely ensconced
\nin thy dreams.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Leaving
\nDoom Asleep<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn
\nheights of happiness leaving doom asleep
Who hunts unseen the
\nunconscious lives of men,
If thy heart could live locked in the
\nideal’s gold,
As high, as happy might thy waking be! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf
\nfor all time doom could be left to sleep!" <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf only thou couldst
\nlive happily on the luminous heights of the Ideal, leaving asleep the
\ndoom which pursues unseen the unconscious lives of men on earth, then
\nthy waking here too might be as happy as thy enchanted state on the
\nheights of thy being. But will the doom sleep forever?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Knowledge
\nHeld Back<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nspoke but held his knowledge back from words. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\na cloud plays with lightning’s vivid laugh,
But still holds back
\nthe thunder in its heart,
Only he let bright images escape. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad has spoken.
\nBut like a cloud that scintillates with its lightnings and yet holds
\nback the thunder in its bosom, he has kept back his foreknowledge
\nfrom his speech. Only certain bright hints and figures has he let
\nescape his lips.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Speech
\nVeiling Thoughts<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nspeech like glimmering music veiled his thoughts;
Pitiful to
\nmortals, only to them it spoke,
As a wind flatters the bright
\nsummer air,
Of living beauty and of present bliss:
He hid in
\nhis all-knowing mind the rest. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis speech, like
\nbright music, has hidden his thoughts behind impressive words. Out of
\npity for the humans, it has spoken to them only of beauty that is
\nliving-not of that which is dead or dying-, of the bliss that is
\nactual-not of that which is lost or still to he found. His words add
\nto the happiness of those who hear them as a fair wind adds to the
\ncharm of the bright summer air. He has concealed the rest in his mind
\nthat knows all. He has not spoken at all of the ugliness and pain
\nthat abound in life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Veil
\non Future Pain<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nthose who hearkened to his celestial voice,
The veil heaven’s
\npity throws on future pain
The Immortals’ sanction seemed of
\nendless joy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo all who hear his
\nheavenly speech it looks as if the Gods have sanctioned for Savitri a
\nby without end. They do not perceive that his words have drawn a
\nmerciful veil on the painful future that is to come.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe Gods are indeed
\nkind when, out of pity for the creatures on earth, they hold hack
\nfrom them the knowledge of the pain that is certain to come in the
\nfuture, for that would double the suffering: first the dread and
\nstress of prior anticipation and then the actual suffering.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nBut
\nAswapathy answered to the seer;
His listening mind had marked the
\ndubious close,
An ominous shadow felt behind the words,
But
\ncalm like one who ever sits facing Fate
Here mid the dangerous
\ncontours of earth’s life,
He answered covert thought with guarded
\nspeech:
And lives in a great light of inner suns. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHowever, Aswapathy
\nhas marked a doubtful note in the closing of the sage’s speech; he
\nhas felt a shadow, sensed a danger behind the uttered words. But like
\none who has ever confronted Fate here in this world amid the
\ndangerous turns of life on earth, he is calm and answers the sage’s
\nveiled words in a guarded manner.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Ray
\nof my own Wish<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"O
\ndeathless sage who knowest all things here,
If I could read by
\nthe ray of my own wish
Through the carved shield of symbol images
\n
Which thou hast thrown before thy heavenly mind
I might see
\nthe steps of a young godlike life
Happily beginning luminous-eyed
\non earth; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO immortal sage who
\nknowest all things here on earth, if my own wishful thinking were
\nable to read thy mind behind the rich shield of symbol images that
\nthou hast thrown before it, I might see the happy and luminous
\nbeginning of a young god-like life on earth for Savitri.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Thy
\nHeavenly Mind<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBetween
\nthe Unknowable and the Unseen
Born on the borders of two
\nwonder-worlds,
It flames out symbols of the Infinite
And
\nlives in a great light of inner suns. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\nit has read and broken the hidden seals,
It has drunk of the
\nImmortal’s wells of joy,
It has looked across the jewel bars of
\nheaven,
It has entered the aspiring Secrecy, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis heavenly mind
\nof thine has been formed between the realms of the Unseen-above this
\npatent creation-and those of the Unknowable still beyond: it puts out
\nsignificant figures of the Infinite: its natural home is the light of
\nthe inner Illumination_ It has deciphered the hidden seals of the
\nCreator it has drunk from inexhaustible wells of the joy of the
\nImmortal; it has gazed across the luminous bars of heaven; it has
\nentered the dynamic secret chamber of the Spirit.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Beyond
\nTerrestrial Things<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt
\nsees beyond terrestrial common things
And communes with the
\nPowers that build the worlds,
Till through the shining gates and
\nmystic streets
Of the city of lapis lazuli and pearl
Proud
\ndeeds step forth a rank and march of gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt sees beyond the
\ncommon things of the terrestrial world it is in communion with the
\ncelestial Powers that shape the worlds and beholds the mighty deeds
\nof the gods issuing from their luminous abode.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Rare
\nTouch<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlthough
\nin pauses of our human lives
Earth keeps for man some short and
\nperfect hours
When the inconscient tread of Time can seem
The
\neternal moment which the deathless live,
Yet rare that touch upon
\nthe mortal’s world: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlthough there are
\nhappy breaks in our lives here on earth, these touches, when we seem
\nto get behind the mechanical tread of Time, glimpses of the eternity
\nin which the gods live, are rare.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Paradisal,
\nNote<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHardly
\na soul and body here are born
In the fierce difficult movement of
\nthe stars,
Whose life can keep the paradisal note,
Its rhythm
\nrepeat the many-toned melody
Tirelessly throbbing through the
\nrapturous air
Caught in the song that sways the Apsara’s limbs
\n
When she floats gleaming like a cloud of light,
A wave of joy
\non heaven’s moon-stone floor. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is very rare that
\na body and soul horn here on earth can keep the note of celestial
\nfelicity, repeat in the rhythm of its life the variegated melody of
\nheaven’s joy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Behold
\nthe Image<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBehold
\nthis image cast by light and love,
A stanza of the ardour of the
\ngods
Perfectly rhymed, a pillared ripple of gold! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\nbody like a brimmed pitcher of delight
Shaped in a splendour of
\ngold-coloured bronze
As if to seize earth’s truth of hidden
\nbliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLook at Savitri, a
\nveritable form of light and love, a perfect embodiment of the ardour
\nof the gods, shining gold-bright. Her body is like a full jar of
\ndelight, shaped in splendid bronze of golden hue, as if to seize and
\nhold the bliss that is the hidden truth of this earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n(Despite all
\nappearances to the contrary, there is an underlying bliss that bases
\nand sustains all life on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Untouched
\nby Tears<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDream-made
\nillumined mirrors are her eyes
Draped subtly in a slumberous
\nfringe of jet,
Retaining heaven’s reflections in their depths. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\nas her body, such is she within,
Heaven’s lustrous mornings
\ngloriously recur,
Like drops of fire upon a silver page,
In
\nher young spirit yet untouched with tears. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer luminous eyes
\nfringed with long dark lashes seem to belong to the realm of dreams;
\nthey still carry the light of heaven in their depths.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nJust as is her body,
\nwithin also she is lustrous with the intense glow of heaven; her
\nyoung and vivid spirit is still unstained by the tears of life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Beautiful
\nseems Eternal<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\nbeautiful things eternal seem and new
To virgin wonder in her
\ncrystal soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nunchanging blue reveals its spacious thought;
Marvellous the moon
\nfloats on through wondering skies;
Earth’s flowers spring up and
\nlaugh at time and death;
The charmed mutations of the enchanter
\nlife
Race like bright children past the smiling hours. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo her pure and
\nchildlike soul everything beautiful appears to be eternal and
\nfresh-there is no decay and death for beauty. The blue sky is
\nunchanging and it reveals its large thought; the marvellous moon
\nfloats across the wondering skies; flowers of the earth bloom and
\nlaugh at consuming time and death; life lays her spell and all speeds
\nin laughter and cheer.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Chant
\nThy Blessing<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf
\nbut this joy of life could last, nor pain
Throw its bronze note
\ninto her rhythmed days! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBehold
\nher, singer with the prescient gaze,
And let thy blessing chant
\nthat this fair child
Shall pour the nectar of a sorrowless life
\n
Around her from her lucid heart of love,
Heal with her bliss
\nthe tired breast of earth
And cast like a happy snare felicity. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf only this joy of
\nlife could last without pain rudely interrupting the happy rhythm of
\nher days!<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO singer with
\nforeseeing eyes, bless this fair child that her life may be ever free
\nfrom sorrow, that from her heart of love may always pour a stream of
\nbliss to heal the tired bosom of earth and throw around an
\nenchantment of felicity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Her
\nBright Dawning<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\ngrows the great and golden bounteous tree
Flowering by
\nAlacananda’s murmuring waves,
Where with enamoured speed the
\nwaters run
Lisping and babbling to the splendour of morn
And
\ncling with lyric laughter round the knees
Of heaven’s daughters
\ndripping magic rain
Pearl-bright from moon-gold limbs and cloudy
\nhair,
So are her dawns like jewelled leaves of light. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer dawns are of
\nglistening light, bright and glowing like a splendid flowering tree
\non the banks of the river Alacananda whose running waters laugh and
\ncling to the knees of the daughters of heaven at sport.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Flame
\nof Radiant Happiness<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo
\ncasts she her felicity on men. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nflame of radiant happiness she was born,
And surely will that
\nflame set earth alight:
Doom surely will see her pass and say no
\nword,
But too often here the careless Mother leaves
Her
\nchosen in the envious hands of Fate: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus does she cast
\nhappiness on all. She was born a flame of bright felicity and, I am
\nsure, that flame will light up the earth; doom will not harm her but
\nwill quietly let her pass. But often, too often, it happens here on
\nearth that the Mother-Power is not careful and leaves her chosen
\nchildren to the mercy of envious Fate-envious because these chosen
\nones have it in their capacity to surpass her workings.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Harp
\nof God Falls Mute<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nharp of God falls mute, its call to bliss
Discouraged fails mid
\nearth’s unhappy sounds;
The strings of the siren Ecstasy cry not
\nhere
Or sooner silenced in the human heart. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe celestial harp
\ncalling all to partake of the Divine Bliss falls silent, discouraged
\namidst the unhappy notes of the earth. The voice of the Ecstasy of
\nHeaven is not heard here on earth; even if heard, it is soon silenced
\nin the human heart which allows impure emotions to enter it.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nTest of Fire** <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOf
\nsorrow’s songs we have enough: bid once
Her glad and griefless
\ndays ring heaven here. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOr
\nmust fire always test the great of soul? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWe have had enough
\nof the plaints of sorrow. Bless that for once Savitri’s happy life
\nmay usher heaven here on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nOr, must it always
\nbe that those who are great-souled have to pass through the test of
\nfire?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n(Life imposes severe
\ntest on those who are great in spirit. Their share of difficulties
\nand struggles is always more than that of others of a lesser kind
\nbecause their mission is nobler and higher. )<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Let
\nUnwounded Pass<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlong
\nthe dreadful causeway of the gods
Armoured with love and faith
\nand sacred joy,
A traveller to the Eternal’s house
Once let
\nunwounded pass a mortal life." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nGrant that for once
\na human life-Savitri’s-pass unharmed across the dangerous pathway of
\nthe gods, fortified with love, faith and pure joy, to its goal in the
\nEternal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Narad
\nAnswers not<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nNarad answered not; silent he sat,
Knowing that words are vain
\nand Fate is lord. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nlooked into the unseen with seeing eyes,
Then, dallying with the
\nmortal’s ignorance
Like one who knows not, questioning, he cried:
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Narad does not
\nanswer; he is silent for he knows that words are powerless where Fate
\nis the master. With his perceiving sight he gazes into the future
\nthat is still unseen, then taking advantage of human ignorance he
\nquestions as if he does not know anything.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>On
\nwhat Mission?<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"On
\nwhat high mission went her hastening wheels? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhence
\ncame she with this glory in her heart
And Paradise made visible
\nin her eyes? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat
\nsudden God has met, what face supreme?" <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn what high mission
\ndid she go? From where does she come carrying this glory in her heart
\nand this evident bliss in her eyes? Who is the God she has met of a
\nsudden, whose is the supreme face she has obviously encountered?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>To
\nFind her Lord<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nwhom the king, "The red asoca watched
Her going forth which
\nnow sees her return. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArisen
\ninto an air of flaming dawn
Like a bright bird tired of her
\nlonely branch
To find her own lord, since to her on earth
He
\ncame not yet, this sweetness wandered forth
Cleaving her way with
\nthe beat of her rapid wings. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe king answers the
\nsage:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis red Asoca tree
\nsaw her leaving and now sees her hack. Like a bright bird tired of
\nbeing alone, she set out one glorious morning to seek out her lord
\nsince he had not vet come to her here on earth-though they had met on
\nother planes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Reveal
\nthe Name<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLed
\nby a distant call her vague swift flight
Threaded the summer
\nmorns and sunlit lands. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nhappy rest her burdened lashes keep
And these charmed guardian
\nlips hold treasured still. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nVirgin
\nwho comest perfected by joy,
Reveal the name thy sudden
\nheart-beats learned. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhom
\nhast thou chosen kingliest among men?" <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLed by a far-off
\nCall, she has swiftly covered many lands in this summer-heat. But as
\nyet she has held back her treasured secret with an air of quiet
\nhappiness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO virgin who hast
\ncome back perfected by the joy thou hast found, who is he whom thou
\ndidst suddenly recognise by the quickened beats of thy heart, what is
\nhis name? Who is that noblest of men that thou hast chosen?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAnd
\nSavitri answered with her still calm voice
As one who speaks
\nbeneath the eyes of Fate:
"Father and king, I have carried
\nout thy will,
One whom I sought I found in distant lands;
I
\nhave obeyed my heart, I have heard its call. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike one who speaks
\nunder the compelling gaze of Fate, Savitri answers with her quiet,
\ncalm voice:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO father and king, I
\nhave carried out thy command, he whom I sought. I have found in
\nfar-off lands. I have been guided by my heart. I have heard my
\nheart’s call.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>I
\nhave Chosen Satyavan<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn
\nthe borders of a dreaming wilderness
Mid Shalwa’s giant hills and
\nbrooding woods,
In his thatched hermitage Dyumathsena dwells,
\n
Blind, exiled, outcast, once a mighty king. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nson of Dyumathsena, Satyavan
I have met on the wild forest’s
\nlonely verge. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy
\nfather, I have chosen. This is done." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAmidst the giant
\nShalwan hills and thick forests, lives, in his thatched hermitage,
\nDyumathsena, formerly a great king but now blind, exiled and outcast.
\nHis son Satyavan have I met on the solitary borders of the wild
\nforest and chosen. The choice is made.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Shadow
\nChased By Light<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAstonished,
\nall sat silent for a space. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nAswapathy looked within and saw
A heavy shadow float above the
\nname
Chased by a sudden and stupendous light;
He looked into
\nhis daughter’s eyes and spoke: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll are astonished
\nand stay silent for a while. Then Aswapathy looks into himself and
\nbehold, he sees a thick shadow looming over the name Satyavan and
\nthat shadow is chased by a sudden and tremendous light.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThen he gazes into
\nSavitri’s eyes and speaks:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Secret
\nwill Works for Good<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Well
\nhast thou done and I approve thy choice. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf
\nthis is all, then all is surely well;
If there is more, then all
\ncan still be well. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhether
\nit seem good or evil to men’s eyes,
Only for good the secret Will
\ncan work. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou hast done well
\nand I approve thy choice. If what is apparent now is all, then all is
\nwell. If there be more to it than what is seen, even then all can be
\nwell. For the secret Will in things works for good alone whether it
\nappears good or evil in the short-seeing eyes of men.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Through
\nNatures Contraries<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur
\ndestiny is written in double terms:
Through Nature’s contraries
\nwe draw near God;
Out of the darkness we still grow to light. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath
\nis our road to immortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n‘Cry
\nwoe, cry woe’ the world’s lost voices wail,
Yet conquers the
\neternal Good at last." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur destiny here on
\nearth is written in terms of opposites. But through these contraries
\nwe progress towards God who is our goal. Thus do we move from our
\ndarkness and grow towards light. Death is our passage to immortality.
\nThe sinking voices may lament ‘ woe, woe’, but all the same, in the
\nend the eternal Good conquers.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Ordeal
\nof Foreknowledge<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nmight the sage have spoken, but the king
In haste broke out and
\nstayed the dangerous word:
"O singer of ultimate ecstasy,
\n
Lend not a dangerous vision to the blind,
Because by native
\nright thou hast seen clear. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImpose
\nnot on the mortal’s tremulous breast
The dire ordeal that
\nforeknowledge brings;
Demand not now the godhead in our acts. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad looks as if he
\nis about to speak, but the king intervenes and prevents him from
\nuttering his disturbing words. He tells him:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO chanter of the
\nsublime rapture. it is but natural that thou halt seen what is to be;
\nbut do not reveal that vision to us blind humans; that will prove
\ndangerous. Mortal man is too weak and unsteady to bear the ordeal
\nthat comes with foreknowledge: the strain of knowing beforehand the
\ninescapable hard fate that awaits him is unbearable. Only the
\nstrength of a god can bear it. Do not demand such a godlike reaction
\nfrom us.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Here
\nare not Happy Peaks<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\nare not happy peaks the heaven-nymphs roam,
Or Coilas or
\nVaicountha’s starry stair,
Abrupt jagged hills only the mighty
\nclimb
Are here where few dare even think to rise;
Far voices
\ncall down from the dizzy rocks,
Chill, slippery, precipitous are
\nthe paths. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere on earth are no
\nhappy peaks where the celestial damsels sport or the white summits of
\nKailas nor is there the brilliant stair of the paradisal world of
\nVaikuntha. Here are just jagged hills which only the mighty can
\nclimb; few dare even to think of ascending their heights. Voices from
\nfar constantly call down from their precipitous rocks: the paths are
\ncold, slippery and steep.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Gods
\nHard with Man<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo
\nhard the gods are with man’s fragile race
In their large heavens
\nthey dwell exempt from Fate
And they forget the wounded feet of
\nman,
His limbs that faint beneath the whips of grief,
His
\nheart that hears the tread of time and death,
The future’s road
\nis hid from mortal sight:
He moves towards a veiled and secret
\nface. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe gods who live in
\ntheir paradise untouched by Fate are indeed hard in their dealings
\nwith the fragile race of man. They tend to forget how much man
\nsuffers on the difficult path of life, the blows he bears of anguish
\nand grief and the dread fear he constantly feels because of his
\nawareness of passing time and inevitability of death. Man cannot see
\nthe road ahead of him; he moves-as he is compelled to-towards a
\ndestination that is veiled and hidden from him.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man’s
\nShrouded Fate<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nlight one step in front is all his hope
And only for a little
\nstrength he asks
To meet the riddle of his shrouded fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAwaited
\nby a vague and half-seen force,
Aware of danger to his uncertain
\nhours
He guards his flickering yearnings from her breath;
He
\nfeels not when the dreadful fingers close
Around him with the
\ngrasp none can elude. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan can only hope
\nfor just enough light to see but one step in front and no more; he
\nasks for a little strength, just enough to solve the riddle of his
\nveiled fate. On his path, a vague and partly-glimpsed force awaits to
\noverwhelm him. He is aware of this danger to his uncertain life and
\nguards his little hopes and aspirations from the ominous breath of
\nthis power; he is not aware when the dreadful hands of hostile fate
\nwill close around him with their inescapable grip.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Will
\nas Fate<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf
\nthou canst loose her grip then only speak,
Perhaps from the iron
\nsnare there is escape:
Our mind perhaps deceives us with its
\nwords
And gives the name of doom to our own choice;
Perhaps
\nthe blindness of our will is Fate." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO sage, speak only
\nif thou canst loosen this grip of fate. Maybe, there is an escape
\nfrom this iron hold of fate. Maybe, our mind tricks us with its
\nmisleading play of words, giving the name of alien doom to what is
\nreally our own choice. Perhaps what we call fate is nothing but our
\nown wilt which is blind but acts nevertheless.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Queen
\nLifts her Voice<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nsaid and Narad answered not the king. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nnow the queen alarmed lifted her voice:
"O seer, thy bright
\narrival has been timed
To this high moment of a happy life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nlet the speech benign of griefless spheres
Confirm this blithe
\nconjunction of two stars
And sanction joy with thy celestial
\nvoice. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Narad does not
\nanswer.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe queen is alarmed
\nand speaks in a raised voice:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO seer, thy bright
\narrival here has been well timed with this great moment in the happy
\nlife of Savitri. Let thy gracious speech of the blissful spheres
\nabove approve of this joyous coming together of the two stars.
\nSavitri and Satyavan; bless this felicity with thy celestial voice.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Let
\nnot Words Create Doom<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\ndrag not in the peril of our thoughts,
Let not our words create
\nthe doom they fear. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\nis no cause for dread, no chance for grief
To raise her ominous
\nhead and stare at love: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet us not call down
\ndanger by thinking of it; let us not talk of doom for words spoken in
\nfear of doom help create that very doom. In truth, here there is no
\ncause at all for fear, no reason for grief to turn her dreadful gaze
\ntowards love.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Single
\nSpirit is Satyavan<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nsingle spirit in a multitude,
Happy is Satyavan mid earthly men
\n
Whom Savitri has chosen for her mate,
And fortunate the
\nforest hermitage
Where leaving her palace and riches and a throne
\n
My Savitri will dwell and bring in heaven. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSatyavan whom
\nSavitri has chosen for her companion is an outstanding, unique and
\nhappy spirit amidst the multitude of earthly men. And lucky indeed is
\nthe hermitage where my Savitri, forsaking her throne and opulence,
\nwill live and create a paradise.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Push
\naway the Shadow<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nlet thy blessing put the immortals’ seal
On these bright lives’
\nunstained felicity
Pushing the ominous Shadow from their days. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo
\nheavy falls a Shadow on man’s heart;
It dares not be too happy
\nupon earth. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHence it is meet
\nthat thy blessings put the seal of the gods on the untouched
\nhappiness of these two radiant lives, and push away from them any
\nShadow of danger that may threaten.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMan does not dare to
\nbe too happy here on earth; for soon the doom casts its thick shadow
\nupon him. Happiness too long or too loud attracts its opposite.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Blow
\nDogging Vivid Joys<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt
\ndreads the blow dogging too vivid joys,
A lash unseen in Fate’s
\nextended hand,
The danger lurking in fortune’s proud extremes,
\n
An irony in life’s indulgent smile
And trembles at the
\nlaughter of the gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan’s heart dare not
\nbe too happy. For it is painfully aware of the inevitable blow
\nfollowing joys too exultant, the whip lash from the hand of Fate. It
\napprehends the danger that lurks in the extremes of fortune, is
\nsensitive to the irony in the smile of life that looks indulgently
\nupon its joys and excitements-for they cannot last long-and it dreads
\nthe merriment of the gods who play with the lives and fortunes of
\nmen.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Wayside
\nDoom<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOr
\nif crouches unseen a panther doom,
If wings of Evil brood above
\nthat house,
Then also speak, that we may turn aside
And
\nrescue our lives from hazard of wayside doom
And chance
\nentanglement of an alien fate." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOr, if doom lies
\ncrouching unseen like a panther on the way, if Evil haunts the house
\nchosen by Savitri, then also tell us, so that we may turn aside and
\nsave ourselves from the danger of this wayside doom and from an
\navoidable involvement in the fate of another.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Future
\nKnowledge is added Pain<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd
\nNarad slowly answered to the queen:
"What help is in
\nprevision to the driven? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSafe
\ndoors cry opening near, the doomed pass on. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nfuture knowledge is an added pain,
A torturing burden and a
\nfruitless light
On the enormous scene that Fate has built. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad replies
\ndeliberately:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nForesight is hardly
\nof use to those who are driven by fate. Even when doors of safety
\nopen near them calling their attention, they do not heed but pass on.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIn this vast field
\nof Fate, to know beforehand the doom that is to come, only adds to
\nthe pain; this knowing is a burden that tortures, a light that is of
\nno use because what is so foreknow cannot be averted.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Masked
\nPlay<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\neternal poet, universal Mind,
Has paged each line of his imperial
\nact;
Invisible the giant actors tread
And man lives like some
\nsecret player’s mask. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nknows not even what his lips shall speak. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Cosmic Mind, the
\neternal poet of this vast drama has fixed each line of the act an its
\npage. The mighty actors tread the stage unseen by us. Man is only the
\nmask of some invisible player. He does not even know what words he is
\nnext going to utter.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Mysterious
\nPower<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\na mysterious Power compels his steps
And life is stronger than
\nhis trembling soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNone
\ncan refuse what the stark Force demands,
Her eyes are fixed upon
\nher mighty aim;
No cry or prayer can turn her from her path,
She
\nhas leaped an arrow from the bow of God." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd that is so
\nbecause an unknown Power compels man’s steps. Life is more powerful
\nthan his unsteady soul. No man can deny the demand of this mighty
\nForce; she has a great aim of her own and her eyes are always fixed
\nupon it. Neither plaint nor prayer can deviate her course. She is a
\nswift arrow shot from the bow of God, with her mission and her
\ndirection fixed.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Help
\nby Calm<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nwords were theirs who live unforced to grieve
And help by calm
\nthe swaying wheels of life
And the long restlessness of transient
\nthings
And the trouble and passion of the unquiet world. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis words have
\npower. He is one of those who are above grief and by their very calm
\ncan help others who are tossed by the swift wheels of life, who
\nsuffer and are restless because of the impermanence of earthly
\nexistence, and who are seized by the troubles and intensities of this
\nunquiet world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nUnless one is
\noneself calm and detached, one cannot help those who are involved and
\ntroubled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Mother’s
\nBosom Pierced<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\nthough her own bosom were pierced the mother saw
The ancient
\nhuman sentence strike her child,
Her sweetness that deserved
\nanother fate
Only a larger measure given of tears. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe queen feels as
\nif her own bosom is pierced as she sees the old familiar decree of
\nfate strike her sweet child who deserved better but is now given more
\nthan her share of pain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Human
\nStill<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAspiring
\nto the nature of the gods,
A mind proof-armoured mailed in mighty
\nthoughts,
A will entire couchant behind wisdom’s shield,
Though
\nto still heavens of knowledge she had risen,
Though calm and wise
\nand Aswapathy’s queen,
Human was she still and opened her doors
\nto grief; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe has always
\naspired to grow into the consciousness of the gods; her lofty mind
\nfull of great thoughts is proof against all agitation; behind her
\nwisdom there is a silent and unpierced will; she has arrived at the
\ncalm heights of knowledge. Moreover she has been the queen and
\ncompanion of a great monarch like Aswapathy. Though thus naturally
\ncalm and wise, she proves to be still human and gives way to grief.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>She
\nAccuses<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nstony-eyed injustice she accused
Of the marble godhead of
\ninflexible Law;
Nor sought the strength extreme adversity brings
\n
To lives that stand erect and front the World-Power:
Her
\nheart appealed against the impartial judge,
Taxed with perversity
\nthe impersonal One. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe charges the
\nfixed Law that governs the universe, with blind injustice in the case
\nof her child.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nShe does not summon
\nthe strength that comes to those who stand up and boldly face the
\nchallenge of Fate in their hour of adversity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nInstead she appeals
\nagainst the Divinity that presides impartially over the universe; she
\naccuses the One who regards all impersonally, of deliberate
\nperversity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>She
\nArraigns<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer
\ntranquil spirit she called not to her aid,
But as a common man
\nbeneath his load
Grows faint and breathes his pain in ignorant
\nwords,
So now she arraigned the World’s impassive will: <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this hour of
\ntrial she does not summon the best in herself; she does not call her
\ncalm and tranquil spirit for help. But like any common mortal who
\nsuccumbs to the load of adversity and voices his pain in vibrant
\ncomplaint, she begins to accuse the imperturbable Will behind the
\nworld-movement.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Emerging
\nfrom her Past<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"What
\nstealthy doom has crept across her path
Emerging from the dark
\nforest’s sullen heart,
What evil thing stood smiling by the way
\n
And wore the beauty of the Shalwa boy? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPerhaps
\nhe came an enemy from her past
Armed with a hidden force of
\nancient wrongs, <\/FONT>
Himself unknowing,
\nand seized her unknown. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat secret doom
\nfrom the dark forest has crept across the path of my beloved child?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWhat is the evil
\nthat disguises itself in the beautiful form of the boy of Shalwa
\nhouse and awaits smiling on her path?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nPerhaps he is an
\nenemy from some past birth who has come to avenge past wrongs; may be
\nhe is not even aware of the force that moves him to seize her. He
\nknows not, nor she the harm he will cause her.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nHere
\ndreadfully entangled love and hate
Meet us blind wanderers mid
\nthe perils of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur
\ndays are links of a disastrous chain,
Necessity avenges casual
\nsteps;
Old cruelties come back unrecognised,
The gods make
\nuse of our forgotten deeds. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere on the
\ndangerous tracts of time where we wander blindly, love and hate meet
\nus helplessly entangled with each other. We do not know where love
\nends and hate begins or when hate ceases and love commences.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nOur present is but a
\ncontinuation of the past and is linked with the future. The whole is
\na chain that binds. Steps taken casually have inexorable
\nconsequences. Past deeds of cruelty strike back in forms that we do
\nnot recognise. We may have forgotten them, but the gods remember.
\nThey use our forgotten deeds to shape our future for weal or woe.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Our
\nown Minds are Justicers<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nYet
\nall in vain the bitter law was made. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur
\nown minds are the justicers of doom. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\nnothing have we learned, but still repeat
Our stark misuse of
\nself and others’ selves,
And fallen from his ethereal element
\n
Love darkens to the spirit of nether gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd yet this hard
\nlaw (of Karma) is not really effective enough to teach us. For in
\ntruth we ourselves decide our evil fate. We learn nothing from
\nexperience, but go on in our unmitigated misuse of ourselves and of
\nothers; as a result, even Love that comes from heaven and has the
\npower to save, loses his purity and gets deformed in the air of the
\nnether gods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Dreadful
\nAngel<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ndreadful angel angry with his joys
Woundingly sweet he cannot yet
\nforego,
Is pitiless to the soul his gaze disarmed,
He visits
\nwith his own pangs his quivering prey
Forcing us to cling
\nenamoured to his grip
As if in love with our own agony. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe angel of Love
\nturned dreadful, is angry because he cannot hold hack his joys, so he
\ncontrives to wound through these very joys. He is pitiless to those
\nwhom his gaze has made helpless. His trembling prey has to suffer his
\npangs. And in spite of all this, we are enamoured by his grip and
\nforced to cling to him as though we were in love with our own agony.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Lassoes
\nof Grief<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis
\nis one poignant misery in the world,
And grief has other lassoes
\nfor our life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur
\nsympathies become our tortures. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nStrength
\nhave I my own punishment to bear,
Knowing it just, but on this
\nearth perplexed,
Smitten in the sorrow of scourged and helpless
\nthings,
Often it faints to meet other suffering eyes. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis is not the only
\nsource of misery in this world. There are other nooses of grief. Our
\nsympathies for others become our torturers. I have the strength to
\nbear the punishment meted out to me as I know it to be deserved. But
\nmy strength fails when I see the suffering in other eyes, when I am
\nsmitten by the sorrow that engulfs these helpless creatures on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Not
\nGriefless Gods<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWe
\nare not as the gods who know not grief
And look impassive on a
\nsuffering world,
Calm they gaze down on the little human scene
\n
And the short-lived passion crossing mortal hearts. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWe mortals are not
\nlike the gods who do not know of grief and thus look unconcernedly
\nupon our suffering world; they gaze down calmly on what appears to
\nthem a little human scene and note unmoved brief gusts of passion
\npassing through the hearts of the mortals.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Ancient
\nTale of Woe moves us<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn
\nancient tale of woe can move us still,
We keep the ache of
\nbreasts that breathe no more,
We are shaken by the sight of human
\npain,
And share the miseries that others feel. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut we humans are
\nmoved even by tragedies that are legends of the past. We still throb
\nto the pain of those who live no more. We arc shaken by the sight of
\nothers in pain, we share the miseries that others feel.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Our
\nown Tragedies not enough<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOurs
\nnot the passionless lids that cannot age. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo
\nhard for us is heaven’s indifference:
Our own tragedies are not
\nenough for us,
All pathos and all sufferings we make ours;
We
\nhave sorrow for a greatness passed away
And feel the touch of
\ntears in mortal things. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur eyes are not
\never-calm and ever-fresh like those of the gods. The indifference of
\nthe gods to human sufferings is hard for us to bear. Further, our own
\nsufferings are not enough for us; we insist on making the sufferings
\nof others our own by participating in them. We grieve for the great
\nwho have passed away in the course of time and keenly feel the breath
\nof sorrow in all things mortal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Hide
\nnot our Doom<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven
\na stranger’s anguish rends my heart,
And this, O Narad, is my
\nwell-loved child. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHide
\nnot from us our doom, if doom is ours. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven if it were a
\nstranger, his anguish would tear my heart. Here, O Sage, it is my own
\nbeloved Child that is concerned. If doom is fated for us, conceal it
\nnot from us.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>To
\nknow is Best<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis
\nis the worst, an unknown face of Fate,
A terror ominous mute felt
\nmore than seen
Behind our seat by day, our couch by night,
A
\nFate lurking in the shadow of our hearts,
The anguish of the
\nunseen that waits to strike. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nknow is best, however hard to bear." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe worst that can
\nhappen is to sense and feel the ominous shadowing by some unknown
\nFate, day and night; this constant anguish of apprehension is a
\nveritable terror. It is bust to know for certain what is going to
\nhappen in the future though the knowledge of it may be hard to bear.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>The
\nSage Speaks<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\ncried the sage piercing the mother’s heart,
Forcing to steel the
\nwill of Savitri
His words set free the spring of cosmic Fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen does the Sage
\nspeak, His sharp words pierce the heart of Savitri’s mother, but they
\nstrengthen the will of Savitri to hold fast to her choice. With the
\nrelease of his speech, the whole machinery of cosmic Fate is set into
\nmotion.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nThe
\ngreat Gods use the pain of human hearts
As a sharp axe to hew
\ntheir cosmic road:
They squander lavishly men’s blood and tears
\n
For a moment’s purpose in their fateful work. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHuman pain is an
\ninstrument for the cosmic Gods. It is a sharp axe with which they cut
\nand lay the road of cosmic evolution. They use the blood and tears of
\nmen liberally even if it be for a moment’s use in this mighty work.
\nWhat for men is difficult to bear and therefore to be avoided does
\nnot appear so to the Gods in charge of the universal progression. For
\nthem it is a useful and rapid means for the furtherance of their
\npurpose.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Cosmic
\nNature’s Balance<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis
\ncosmic Nature’s balance is not ours
Nor the mystic measure of her
\nneed and use. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nsingle word lets loose vast agencies,
A casual act determines the
\nworld’s fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis is so because
\nthe values and the measure of Cosmic Nature are different from those
\nof us humans, Her need and use are cast in different proportions to
\nours.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThat is why what
\nappears to us a mere word has at times the effect of releasing into
\naction vast forces beyond comprehension. The cosmic agents use that
\nword as a spring button. Similarly what seems a chance goes on to
\ndecide the fate of the world by precipitating many an unanticipated
\nmovement. The mighty Powers of Cosmic Nature move behind the apparent
\ncasualness of an act.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nSo
\nnow he set free destiny in that hour:
"The truth thou hast
\nclaimed; I give to thee the truth. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nmarvel of the meeting earth and heavens
Is he whom Savitri has
\nchosen mid men,
His figure is the front of Nature’s march,
His
\nsingle being excels the works of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo does Narad, the
\ndivine seer, release a mighty destiny by his loaded speech.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThou hast asked for
\ntruth and truth thou shalt have. Satyavan, whom Savitri has chosen,
\nis a marvel in whom the earth and heaven meet. He leads in Nature’s
\nevolutionary march; he is her highest representative. His unique
\nbeing towers above all other products of Time in her creative
\nmovement.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Delightful
\nSoul<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nsapphire cutting from the sleep of heaven,
Delightful is the soul
\nof Satyavan,
A ray out of the rapturous infinite,
A silence
\nwaking to a hymn of joy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe soul of
\nSatyavan, an azure shoot from the profound peace of heaven, is
\ndelightful; it is a ray from the rapturous Infinite, a silence
\nawaking to a cry of joy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Spirit
\nand Sense Meet<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\ndivinity and kingliness gird his brow;
His eyes keep a memory
\nfrom a world of bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs
\nbrilliant as a lonely moon in heaven,
Gentle like the sweet bud
\nthat spring desires,
Pure like a stream that kisses silent banks,
\n
He takes with bright surprise spirit and sense. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is a divinity
\nand royalty about his look. His eyes bespeak a bliss that has been
\nlived before. Brilliant like the solitary moon in the skies, gentle
\nlike the sweet bud cherished of spring, pure like the flowing stream
\namidst silent banks, he is a happy meeting ground of spirit and
\nsense-which are normally foreign to each other.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Living
\nKnot of Paradise<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nliving knot of golden Paradise,
A blue Immense he leans to the
\nlonging world,
Time’s joy borrowed out of eternity,
A star of
\nsplendour or a rose of bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\nhim Soul and Nature, equal Presences,
Balance and fuse in a wide
\nharmony. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe is a live focus
\nof the luminous paradise, a rich infinity from above leaning to this
\nneedy world, a joy of the eternal formed in time, a high star of
\nsplendour, a beautiful rose of bliss. In him both Soul and Nature
\nfind an equal home in him they live in absolute harmony.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Takes
\nand Gives Joy<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nHappy in their bright ether have not hearts
More sweet and true
\nthan this of mortal make
That takes all joy as the world’s native
\ngift
And to all gives joy as the world’s natural right. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe hearts of the
\nGods happy in their high worlds are not more sweet and true than
\nSatyavan’s. He draws all joy as the natural gift of Nature and to all
\nhe gives joy as their natural right. Neither in the taking nor in the
\ngiving of joy is there any constriction.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Speech
\nCarries Light of Truth<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nspeech carries a light of inner truth,
And a large-eyed communion
\nwith the Power
In common things has made veilless his mind,
A
\nseer in earth-shapes of garbless deity. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis speech is
\nluminous with an inner truth. His eyes gaze wide and commune direct
\nwith the Power in common things and hence his mind functions without
\nthe veil of the outer senses. He sees the unveiled deity in
\nearth-forms.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>His
\nImages and Parallels<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
A
\ntranquil breadth of sky windless and stillWatching the world like a
\nmind of unplumbed thought,A silent space musing and luminousUncovered
\nby the morning to delight, A green tangle of trees upon a happy
\nhillMade into a murmuring nest by southern winds,These are his images
\nand parallels,His kin in beauty and in depth his peers.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nHis mind always
\nthinks and pictures in terms of the scenes of Nature around him-so
\nmuch like himself in beauty and equalling him in profundity: a calm
\nexpanse of sky, windless and still, watching the world below like a
\nmind of unmoving thought; a silent tract, bright and contemplative,
\nbreathing delight with the break of the morning; a fresh cluster of
\ntrees on a happy hill set amurmur by southern winds.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>His
\nWill to Climb<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nwill to climb lifts a delight to live
Heaven’s height companion
\nof earth-beauty’s charm,
An aspiration to the immortals’ air
\n
Lain on the lap of mortal ecstasy. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nsweetness and his joy attract all hearts
To live with his own in
\na glad tenancy,
His strength is like a tower built to reach
\nheaven,
A godhead quarried from the stones of life. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis delight in life
\nis uplifted by his will to rise high; for him the height of heaven
\npairs with the charm of earth’s beauty. From his human ecstasy flames
\na keen aspiration for the air of the gods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nHis natural
\nsweetness and joy draw all towards him into a happy closeness. His
\nstrength is like a rising tower reaching to heaven. He is a veritable
\ngodhead shaped from life-material.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>If
\nDeath Shatters<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nloss, if death into its elements
Of which his gracious envelope
\nwas built
Shatter this vase before it breathes its sweets,
As
\nif earth could not keep too long from heaven
A treasure thus
\nunique loaned by the gods,
A being so rare, of so divine a make! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat a loss it will
\nbe if death breaks up this beautiful and noble vase, that is
\nSatyavan, before it has enjoyed the fragrance of its flower-contents
\n! It will be as if earth could not detain too long this unique
\ntreasure lent by the gods from heaven, Such a rare being, of such
\ndivine make!<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>One
\nBrief Year<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn
\none brief year when this bright hour flies back
And perches
\ncareless on a branch of Time,
This sovereign glory ends heaven
\nlent to earth,
This splendour vanishes from the mortal’s sky:
\n
Heaven’s greatness came, but was too great to stay. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTwelve
\nswift-winged months are given to him and her;
This day returning
\nSatyavan must die." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne brief and bright
\nyear hence is all that is left to this kingly glory that heaven has
\nlent to earth. Then will this splendour disappear from the mortal’s
\nhorizon.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIt will be that
\nHeaven’s greatness has come to earth in the form of Satya.van. but is
\ntoo great to stay here for long.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nTwelve quick months
\nare given to him and her. On this day, a year hence. Satyavan must
\ndie.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Heaven
\nMocks with Gifts<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA
\nlightning bright and nude the sentence fell. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nthe queen cried: "Vain then can be Heaven’s grace! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHeaven
\nmocks us with the brilliance of its gifts,
For Death is a
\ncupbearer of the wine
Of too brief joy held up to mortal lips
\n
For a passionate moment by the careless gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNarad’s words
\nprophesying death fall on the assembly like a stroke of lightning.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe queen cries
\nback: If this be so, then it means that the grace of Heaven can be
\nineffective. In giving us brilliant gifts Heaven indeed mocks at us,
\nFor, of the wine of joy offered for a brief moment to mortal man by
\nthe indifferent gods, Death is the cupbearer. Joy is soon followed by
\ngrief.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Reject
\nthe Grace<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nI reject the grace and the mockery. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMounting
\nthy car go forth, O Savitri,
And travel once more through the
\npeopled lands. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlas,
\nin the green gladness of the woods
Thy heart has stooped to a
\nmisleading call. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut I will have none
\nof this Grace and this mockery of Heaven. O Savitri, mount again thy
\ncar and ride once more through the peopled lands. In the choice thou
\ndidst make in the bright green woods thy heart responded to a
\ntreacherous call.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Choose
\nonce Again<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nChoose
\nonce again and leave this fated head,
Death is the gardener of
\nthis wonder-tree;
Love’s sweetness sleeps in his pale marble
\nhand. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAdvancing
\nin a honeyed line, but closed
A little joy would buy too bitter
\nan end. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nChoose another.
\nLeave this one who carries an evil fate. He may be a wonder-tree but
\nit is tended by Death as its gardener. The sweetness of love is
\ncupped in the cold hands of Death. The path looks honeyed but it
\nleads to a dead end; a little joy on this path will bring only a
\nbitter end.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>A
\nChoice Less Rare<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPlead
\nnot thy choice, for death has made it vain. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThy
\nyouth and radiance were not born to lie
A casket void dropped on
\na careless soil;
A choice less rare may call a happier fate."
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDo not plead for the
\nchoice thou hast made. For sure death rules it out. Thy splendid
\nyouth and radiance were surely not born to lie waste like an empty
\ncasket cast aside indifferently. Choice of a person less unique may
\ndraw a better and happier fate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>My
\nHeart has Chosen<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nSavitri answered from her violent heart,-
Her voice was calm, her
\nface was fixed like steel:
"Once my heart chose and chooses
\nnot again. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nword I have spoken can never be erased,
It is written in the
\nrecord book of God. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri answers with
\na passionate heart, but her voice is calm, her face strong as steel.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMy heart has chosen;
\nit does not choose a second time. The word I have uttered cannot be
\nunsaid; it is inscribed in the eternal record book of God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>The
\nDice Fall once<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ntruth once uttered, from the earth’s air effaced,
By mind
\nforgotten, sounds immortally
For ever in the memory of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnce
\nthe dice fall thrown by the hand of Fate
In an eternal moment of
\nthe gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe truth once
\nspoken, even if it is forgotten by the mind and expelled from the
\nearth’s air, goes on reverberating for ever in the memory of Time. It
\nstays. The dice cast by the hand of Fate in an unending moment of the
\ngods fall only once. There is no recasting.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>My
\nHeart has Sealed its Troth<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy
\nheart has sealed its troth to Satyavan:
Its signature adverse
\nFate cannot efface,
Its seal not Fate nor Death nor Time
\ndissolve. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThose
\nwho shall part who have grown one being within? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath’s
\ngrip can break our bodies, not our souls;
If death take him, I
\ntoo know how to die. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy heart has
\nirrevocably given its word to Satyavan. Hostile Fate cannot erase its
\nstamp. Nor can Fate nor Death nor Time dissolve the seal fixed by it.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nHow can anyone part
\nthose like Satyavan and myself who have grown one being within? Our
\nbodies may be broken by the hand of Death, but certainly not our
\nsouls. And if Death were to overcome Satyavan, do I not know how to
\ndie and join him?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Fate’s
\nLaw may Change<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet
\nFate do with me what she will or can;
I am stronger than death
\nand greater than my fate;
My love shall outlast the world, doom
\nfalls from me
Helpless against my immortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFate’s
\nlaw may change, but not my spirit’s will." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI do not care what
\nFate does or can do with me. I am stronger than death, Iam greater
\nthan fate. My love shall not be broken by death or doomed by fate; it
\nshall outlast the world. The doom that threatens will have to fall
\nback, helpless against my innate immortality. The law of Fate may
\nhave to change, not so the unshakable will of my spirit.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Speech
\nlike Bronze<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn
\nadamant will, she cast her speech like bronze,
But in the queen’s
\nmind listening her words
Rang like the voice of a self-chosen
\nDoom
Denying every issue of escape. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nher own despair answer the mother made;
As one she cried who in
\nher heavy heart
Labours amid the sobbing of her hopes
To wake
\na note of help from sadder strings; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWith an unbending
\nwill Savitri casts her speech, firm and hard like bronze. In the mind
\nof the queen, however, Savitri’s words ring like the voice of a
\nself-elected Doom shutting off every door of escape.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAs if in reply to
\nher own despair, the queen speaks. She cries out like one who amidst
\nher tearful hopes, struggles to evoke some help at best from others
\nwho are sadder still.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Eternity
\nto Mortal Hope<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"O
\nchild, in the magnificence of thy soul
Dwelling on the border of
\na greater world,
And, dazzled by thy superhuman thoughts,
Thou
\nlendst eternity to a mortal hope. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO my child, in the
\nglory of thy soul, dwelling as thou dolt on the fringe of a world
\ngreater than ours, dazzled by thy own thoughts which are of an order
\nfar above the human, thou clothest a mortal hope with a vesture of
\neternity. But the hope is only mortal and transient despite thy
\ninvesting it with the eternal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>None
\nis for any<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere
\non this mutable and ignorant earth,
Who is the lover and who is
\nthe friend? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll
\npasses here, nothing remains the same. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNone
\nis for any on this transient globe. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn this earth where
\nignorance reigns and things are for ever changing, who can love or
\nbefriend truly and permanently? Here everything is passing, nothing
\nremains the same. In this fleeting world, nobody is permanently for
\nanybody.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Moment’s
\nPart upon Life’s Stage<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nwhom thou lovest now, a stranger came
And into a far strangeness
\nshall depart. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis
\nmoment’s part once done upon life’s stage
Which for a time was
\ngiven him from within,
To other scenes he moves and other players
\n
And laughs and weeps mid faces new, unknown. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe whom thou lovest
\nnow is truly a stranger who has arrived from somewhere and shall soon
\ndepart into a far unknown. He is like a player upon the stage of
\nlife. As soon as he has performed the brief part given him by the
\nsoul within, he moves on to other scenes and other players amidst
\nwhose new and unknown faces he laughs and weeps again.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Body
\nCast Away<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nbody thou hast loved is cast away
Amidst the brute unchanging
\nstuff of worlds
To indifferent mighty Nature and becomes
Crude
\nmatter for the joy of others’ lives. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe body that thou
\nhast loved is broken up and thrown back into the cauldron of Nature
\nwho cares little for these comings and goings in the worlds of her
\nmaking. It then forms the crude matter out of which other bodies are
\nshaped for the joy of other lives.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Magic
\nRound of Dance<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nfor our souls, upon the wheel of God
For ever turning, they
\narrive and go,
Married and sundered in the magic round
Of the
\ngreat Dancer of the boundless dance. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe wheel of God is
\nturning for ever and our souls turn upon it; they arrive, they
\ndepart, now coming together, now separating, in the magic round of
\nthe endless dance of the Cosmic Player.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Motions
\nDying Notes<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur
\nemotions are but high and dying notes
Of his wild music changed
\ncompellingly
By the passionate movements of a seeking Heart
In
\nthe incessant links of hour with hour. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOur emotions are the
\nhigh and fading notes of the wild music of this Dancer, a music
\ninevitably changing from hour to hour with the passionate beatings of
\nhis searching heart.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Love
\nDies before the Lover<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\ncall down heaven’s distant answering song,
To cry to an unseized
\nbliss is all we dare;
Once seized, we lose the heavenly music’s
\nsense;
Too near, the rhythmic cry has fled or failed;
All
\nsweetnesses are baffling symbols here. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLove
\ndies before the lover in our breast:
Our joys are perfumes in a
\nbrittle vase. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll that we can dare
\nto do is to call down the response of the high heaven to our appeal,
\nto cry to a bliss that is beyond our reach. Even if we somehow seize
\nthis song of heavenly bliss, we quickly lose its sense. When it is
\ntoo near us, its rhythms fail or flee. All the sweetnesses here in
\nour world are only symbols whose meanings escape us; they are not
\nreal by themselves. Love, for instance, dies in us even when the
\nlover is there before us; it does not last. All our joys are like
\nperfumes in a fragile vase.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>What
\nWreck!<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nthen what wreck is this upon Time’s sea
To spread life’s sails to
\nthe hurricane desire
And call for pilot the unseeing heart! <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO
\nchild, wilt thou proclaim, wilt thou then follow
Against the Law
\nthat is the eternal will
The autarchy of the rash titan’s mood
\n
To whom his own fierce will is the one law
In a world where
\nTruth is not, nor Light nor God? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO then, what a great
\nwreckage is this to let the ship of life be led by wild desire on the
\nsea of Time, making the blind heart its pilot? Art thou going to
\nrevolt against the Law which is the eternal will in existence, and
\nfollow the arrogant mood of the titan to whom his own fierce will is
\nthe law, for whom there is neither Truth nor Light nor God?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Think
\nnot like a God<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\nthe gods can speak what now thou speakst. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou
\nwho art human, think not like a god. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\nman, below the god, above the brute,
Is given the calm reason as
\nhis guide; <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly the gods can
\ndare to speak what thou hast spoken. Remember thou art only human, do
\nnot think in the manner of a god.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMan is above the
\nbrute in the scale of evolution, but he is below the status of a god.
\nTo him is given as his guide calm, deliberate reason.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Man
\nis not Driven<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe
\nis not driven by an unthinking will
As are the actions of the
\nbird and beast;
He is not moved by stark Necessity
Like the
\nsenseless motion of inconscient things. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is not
\nhelplessly driven by an unthinking will as is the animal creation.
\nNor is he impelled by the stern law of Necessity like the mechanical
\nmovements of inconscient things.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Middle
\nPath for Man<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe
\ngiant’s and the titan’s furious march
Climbs to usurp the kingdom
\nof the gods
Or skirts the demon magnitudes of Hell;
In the
\nunreflecting passion of their hearts
They dash their lives
\nagainst the eternal Law
And fall and break by their own violent
\nmass:
The middle path is made for thinking man. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe giant and the
\ntitan may dare to climb and violently storm the kingdom of the gods
\nabove, or they may sport along the demoniac regions of Hell below. In
\nthe unthinking passion of their hearts, they dash themselves against
\nthe Law eternal and fall and break by the weight of their own violent
\nmass.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNot for thee is this
\ncourse. Thou art human and for the human the middle path is
\nreserved-not the free spontaneity of the gods nor the unthinking
\nviolence of the titans.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>For
\neach his Goal<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo
\nchoose his steps by reason’s vigilant light,
To choose his path
\namong the many paths
Is given him, for each his difficult goal
\n
Hewn out of infinite possibility. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is given the
\nfreedom to guide his steps by the steady light of reason. Among the
\nmany paths that open before him, he is free to choose the path he
\nwants. Each man is left free to work his difficult way to his chosen
\ngoal out of the infinite possibilities that lie before him.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Love
\nDivine and Human Tie<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLeave
\nnot thy goal to follow a beautiful face. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\nwhen thou hast climbed above thy mind
And livst in the calm
\nvastness of the One
Can love be eternal in the eternal bliss
And
\nLove divine replace the human tie. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThou hast a goal to
\nreach, do not leave it in order to follow a beautiful face as thou
\nnow wishest to do.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNot here in the
\nhuman world, but there above in the calm vastness of the One Divine
\ncan love be eternal in the eternal bliss, only there can true divine
\nLove take the place of the human tie that men call love here below.
\nThou hast vet to climb and live there above thy mind before that
\ndivine Love can be attained.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Austere
\nForce<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere
\nis a shrouded law, an austere force:
It bids thee strengthen thy
\nundying spirit;
It offers its severe benignances
Of work and
\nthought and measured grave delight
As steps to climb to God’s far
\nsecret heights. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is an occult
\nlaw, a force of austerity which urges thee to fortify thy immortal
\nspirit within, It holds for thee its austere happinesses of work,
\nthought and solemn joy as so many steps leading to the distant secret
\nheights of God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Tranquil
\nPilgrimage<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nis our life a tranquil pilgrimage,
Each year a mile from the
\nheavenly Way,
Each dawn opens into a larger Light. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf we accept and
\nfollow this austere Law, an uncertain life turns into a calm and
\nserene pilgrimage to God, each year measures a further advance upon
\nthe way to the coveted Heavens, each dawn marks the break of a larger
\nLight.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Thy
\nacts thy Helpers<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThy
\nacts are thy helpers, or events are signs,
Waking and sleep are
\nopportunities
Given to thee by an immortal Power:
So canst
\nthou raise thy pure unvanquished spirit
Till spread to heaven in
\na wide vesper calm
Indifferent and gentle as the sky,
It
\ngreatens slowly into timeless peace." <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThy acts are meant
\nto be thy helpers on the Way; the events in thy life are indications
\nof deeper realities; both the states of waking and of sleep are
\nopportunities given to thee, by an immortal Power, to rise. With all
\nthese thou canst raise thy pure and unconquered spirit till it grows
\nand expands to heaven in a wide and quiet calm and slowly greatens
\ninto an eternal Peace.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>My
\nStrength is Gods<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut
\nSavitri replied with steadfast eyes:
"My will is part of the
\neternal will,
My fate is what my spirit’s strength can make,
My
\nfate is what my spirit’s strength can bear;
My strength is not
\nthe titan’s, it is God’s. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri
\nanswers with a steady look:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMy will is part of
\nthe eternal will of the Spirit-it is not something separate. My fate
\nis determined by the strength of my spirit-by what that strength can
\nachieve and what it can bear. Know that my strength is not of the
\ntitan in revolt but of God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Soul
\nof Love<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
I
\nhave discovered my glad reality Beyond my body in another’s being: I
\nhave found the deep unchanging soul of love,Then how shall I desire a
\nlonely good, Or slay, aspiring to white vacant peace, The endless
\nhope that made my soul spring forthOut of its infinite solitude and
\nsleep?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nI have discovered my
\njoyous self outside my body, in another’s being; I have found the
\nprofound soul of love that changes not with circumstance. Having done
\nso, how can I pursue my single happiness? How can I aspire for a
\nneutral, lone peace and, for that end, kill the eternal hope of union
\nin love that called forth my soul to adventure out of its boundless
\nsolitude and sleep?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Glimpsed
\nthe Glory<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy
\nspirit has glimpsed the glory for which it came,
Beating of one
\nvast heart in the flame of things,
My eternity clasped by his
\neternity
And, tireless of the sweet abysms of Time,
Deep
\npossibility always to love. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy spirit has had a
\nglimpse of the glory for which it has adventured, the glory of the
\none vast heart that throbs in this cauldron of the universe. My
\neternity has been clasped by his (Satyavan’s) eternity and despite
\nthe dangers that lurk in Time-dangers that are sweet for all their
\nawesome nature-I have seen the deep possibility of loving without a
\nbreak.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>First
\nand Last Joy<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis,
\nthis is first, last joy and to its throb
The riches of a thousand
\nfortunate years
Are a poverty. Nothing to me are death and grief
\n
Or ordinary lives and happy days. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis possibility to
\nlove always is the greatest joy before which even a thousand years of
\nunbroken fortune-unbroken but without love-are a pittance. What do
\ngrief and death matter to me who has found love? Who cares for happy
\ndays and uneventful lives?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>No
\nNeed to Draw back<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd
\nwhat to me are common souls of men
Or eyes and lips that are not
\nSatyavan’s? <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nhave no need to draw back from his arms
And the discovered
\nparadise of his love
And journey into a still infinity. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat do I care for
\nthe common souls of other men once I have found Satyavan? What need
\nis there for me to withdraw from the paradise of his love that I have
\njust discovered, and walk alone towards the still infinity beyond?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Not
\nall my Fate<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly
\nnow for my soul in Satyavan
I treasure the rich occasion of my
\nbirth:
In sunlight and a dream of emerald ways
I shall walk
\nwith him like gods in Paradise. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf
\nfor a year, that year is all my life
And yet I know this is not
\nall my fate
Only to live and love awhile and die. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI now cherish my
\nbirth solely for the discovery of my soul in Satyavan, I shall walk
\nwith him in sunlight and in the green of the forest-like the gods in
\nheaven. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf that is to be
\nonly for a year, let it be; my life is only for that year.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nAnd yet, I know
\nwithin myself that to live and to love only for a while and then to
\ndie is not my whole fate.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>The
\nEternal in a Human Face<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor
\nI know now why my spirit came on earth
And who I am and who he is
\nI love. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI
\nhave looked at him from my immortal Self,
I have seen God smile
\nat me in Satyavan;
I have seen the Eternal in a human face."
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI know now why I
\nhave come on earth, who I am and who Satyavan is whom I love. I have
\nregarded him with the eyes of my immortal Self and have beheld God
\nsmiling at me in Satyavan. Verily, I have seen the Eternal in
\nSatyavan’s human face.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
<\/FONT><\/FONT>Silent
\nthey Sat<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen
\nnone could answer to her words. Silent
They sat and looked into
\nthe eyes of Fate. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNone in the assembly
\ncan answer Savitri. All sit in silence and peer into the face of
\nFate, as if to discover what she holds in store for Savitri.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n



\n<\/P><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\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 Six. The Book of Fate 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":[246],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6-savitri-study","wpcat-246-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10818","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=10818"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11113,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10818\/revisions\/11113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}