{"id":10884,"date":"2014-07-16T12:53:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10884"},"modified":"2014-12-07T09:38:28","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T17:38:28","slug":"savitri-study-book-9-canto-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-9-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-9-canto-1","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-9-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 Nine. The Book of Eternal Night<\/p>\n

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

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

\n
\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n
\n


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


\nTowards
\nThe Black Void<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n


\n<\/P>
\n


\nSummary
Savitri
\nis alone in the huge forest with the dead body of her husband on her
\nbreast. She does not grieve, but leans over his body in great
\nstillness. Suddenly a change comes over her like what sometimes
\novertakes men in moments of crisis. The mind is no more, only the
\nspirit sees. A calm Power seated above the brows sees and moves
\nNature. The spirit grows and voices and thoughts come from on high. A
\nnew birth takes place.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nIt takes place in
\nSavitri. Her spirit soars high and joins its source on the summits of
\nher being. A new Force descends into her soul and she is totally
\nchanged. Her mortal elements are displaced by a young divine
\ninfusion. Pain, grief, all are left behind. Her mind is still.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nShe lays down the
\ndead body on the forest soil and turns to meet the dreadful God of
\nDeath who is a veritable Denial of all. He fixes his forbidding look
\nupon her and asks her to unclasp her hold upon the soul of Satyavan
\nand return back to earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri does not
\nmove. The Voice warns her that her husband suffers and she should let
\nhim go. She, then, draws back her heart’s force that has held him
\nstill and rises gathered in her strength. Death leans to the earth
\nand then rises; Satyavan forsakes his body and a new luminous form of
\nhim rises up.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri is unable to
\nreach this lustrous form through her mind and senses, but her spirit
\nknows his spirit. He stands between Savitri on one side and the God
\nof Death on the other. There is a silent struggle to draw him from
\neither side.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThey now move on,
\nSatyavan in front, Death behind him and Savitri behind eternal Death.
\nTheir journey proceeds through eerie spaces, as if on the tops of the
\nforest trees. The earth’s pull on Savitri increases. It looks, at one
\nstage, as if both Satyavan and Death are fast moving away from her
\nreach. But her passionate spirit soars towards Satyavan and she goes
\ninto deep trance. Human Savitri is forgotten. Her will oceans out and
\nholds Satyavan captive. They proceed on their course through strange
\nrealms where souls are not, only living moods exist.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThey arrive at the
\nbrooding gates of pillared rocks opening into the giant Night. They
\nhave reached a boundary. Death speaks to Savitri that she must now go
\nback and not aspire to accompany him to his home. She cannot survive
\nthere. Man can live safe only within human limits and she must be
\nsensible. Otherwise she is sure to perish.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri does not
\nanswer. Her high nude soul stands up against fixed destiny and the
\ngrooves of law and against the dark abysses piled up in front of her.
\nShe rises up like a columned shaft of fire and light.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri left
\nAlone <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo was she left
\nalone in the huge wood,
Surrounded by a dim unthinking world,
\n
Her husband\u2019s corpse on her forsaken breast.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe measured not her
\nloss with helpless thoughts,
Nor rent with tears the marble seals
\nof pain:
She rose not yet to face the dreadful god.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus Savitri is left
\nalone in the huge forest; around her spreads a world that is
\nsub-human; on her lone breast lies the dead body of her husband. She
\ndoes not brood over her loss helplessly, nor does she try to mitigate
\nher pain with tears. She does not rise yet to meet the dreadful god
\nof Death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She Clasps the
\nLifeless Form <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOver the body she
\nloved her soul leaned out
In a great stillness without stir or
\nvoice,
As if her mind had died with Satyavan.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut still the human
\nheart in her beat on.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAware still of his
\nbeing near to hers,
Closely she clasped to her the mute lifeless
\nform
As though to guard the oneness they had been
And keep
\nthe spirit still within the frame.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri’s soul leans
\nover the body of Satyavan in an intense hush \u2014 still, silent. It is
\nas though her mind has died with Satyavan. Her heart beats on, aware
\nthat his heart is still close to hers. She holds tight to her the
\ndead form of Satyavan as if to guard the oneness that they both had
\nbeen and to hold the spirit still within that frame.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sudden Change <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen suddenly there
\ncame on her the change
Which in tremendous moments of our lives
\n
Can overtake sometimes the human soul
And hold it up towards
\nits luminous source.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe veil is torn,
\nthe thinker is no more:
Only the spirit sees and all is known.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSuddenly a change
\ncomes over her, a change such as comes at times over our lives in
\ngreat moments; it gains ascendence over the soul and lifts it up
\ntowards its shining source above. The veil of the mind is torn, there
\nis no thought; only the spirit sees and all is known at once.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Calm Power <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen a calm Power
\nseated above our brows
Is seen, unshaken by our thoughts and
\ndeeds,
Its stillness bears the voices of the world:
Immobile,
\nit moves Nature, looks on life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen is seen a calm
\nPower above our eyebrows- the Centre of the thought-will; it is
\nunmoved by our thoughts and acts; its stillness supports the voices
\nof the world. From its immobility it guides Nature and surveys all
\nlife.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Its Gaze
\nControls <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt shapes immutably
\nits far-seen ends;
Untouched and tranquil amid error and tears
\n
And measureless above our striving wills,
Its gaze controls
\nthe turbulent whirl of things.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis calm Power,
\nthough immutable, visions and shapes its distant ends. Untouched and
\ntranquil amid all error and pain in life, immeasurable above our
\nstruggling wills, its calm gaze controls the stormy whirl of things.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
The Spirit Grows
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo mate with the
\nGlory it sees, the spirit grows:
The voice of life is tuned to
\ninfinite sounds,
The moments on great wings of lightning come
\n
And godlike thoughts surprise the mind of earth.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe spirit grows in
\norder to companion the Glory it beholds. The voice of life is attuned
\nto the sounds of the infinite. Charged moments come in flashes and
\ngodlike thoughts suddenly appear in the mind of earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
New Birth <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInto the soul\u2019s
\nsplendour and intensity
A crescent of miraculous birth is tossed,
\n
Whose horn of mystery floats in a bright void
As into a
\nheaven of strength and silence, thought
Is ravished; \u2026
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA new birth takes
\nplace in the splendour and intensity of the soul; the mystery of this
\nbirth glows in a shining void even as thought is filled with rapture
\nin a heaven of felicitous strength and silence.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
New Shapes <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 all this living
\nmortal clay
Is seized and in a swift and fiery flood
Of
\ntouches shaped by a Harmonist unseen.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA new sight comes,
\nnew voices in us form
A body of the music of the gods.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis living mortal
\nclay is seized and newshaped by an unseen Master of harmonies in a
\nseries of quick and fiery touches. A new sight is formed. New voices
\nfashion in us a whole pattern of celestial music.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Ecstasy of Will <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImmortal yearnings
\nwithout name leap down,
Large quiverings of godhead seeking run
\n
And weave upon a puissant field of calm
A high and lonely
\necstasy of will.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnspecified immortal
\nyearnings leap down; mighty throbs of godhead spread out questing and
\nin that powerful calm, intensify the will into a high and gathered
\necstasy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Spirit Soars <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis in a moment\u2019s
\ndepths was born in her.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNow to the limitless
\ngaze disclosed that sees
Things barred from human thinking\u2019s
\nearthly lids,
The Spirit who had hidden in nature soared
Out
\nof his luminous nest within the worlds.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike a vast fire it
\nclimbed the skies of night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSuch a miraculous
\nnew birth now takes place in a moment in Savitri. Things normally
\nbeyond the human sight are disclosed to her gaze. The Spirit so far
\nhidden in Nature soars out of its terrestrial dwelling; like a vast
\nfire it ascends the skies of night.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her Source <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus were the cords
\nof self-oblivion torn.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike one who looks
\nup to far heights she saw,
Ancient and strong as on a windless
\nsummit
Above her where she had worked in her lone mind
Labouring
\napart in a sole tower of self,
The source of all which she had
\nseemed or wrought,
A power projected into cosmic space,
A
\nslow embodiment of the aeonic will,
A starry fragment of the
\neternal Truth,
The passionate instrument of an unmoved Power.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe cords that had
\nheld her down in self-forgetfulness are rent. She looks up towards
\nthe heights of her being and there \u2014 on the summits of her mind
\n\u2014where she had worked in concentration in her solitary moments, she
\nsees the source of all that she had seemed to be or worked out: she
\nsees a power emanated into universal space, a slow formulation of the
\nancient will, a bright portion of the eternal Truth, an intense
\ninstrument of an immutable Power.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She is Changed <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA Presence was there
\nthat filled the listening world,
A central All assumed her
\nboundless life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA sovereignty, a
\nsilence and a swiftness,
One brooded over abysses who was she.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs in a choric robe
\nof unheard sounds
A force descended trailing endless lights;
\n
Linking Time\u2019s seconds to Infinity,
Illimitably it girt the
\nearth and her:
It sank into her soul and she was changed.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA Presence is there
\nfilling all the listening space; a central Pervasion takes up her
\nlimitless life. One, sovereign, silent and swift, that is herself
\nbroods over the depths. In a rush of strange sounds, a force descends
\nfollowed by endless lights, connecting Time to Infinity. It surrounds
\nboth earth and her. It sinks into her soul and she is changed.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mightiness
\nAssumes Form <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen like a thought
\nfulfilled by some great word
That mightiness assumed a symbol
\nform;
Her being\u2019s spaces quivered with its touch,
It
\ncovered her as with immortal wings;
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen, like a thought
\nwhich gets fulfilment when a great word expresses it, that mightiness
\ntakes a symbolic form. Her being trembles at its touch; it covers her
\nas though with immortal wings.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
It Enters her
\nMystic Lotus <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn its lips the
\ncurve of the unuttered Truth,
A halo of Wisdom\u2019s lightnings for
\nits crown,
It entered the mystic lotus in her head,
A
\nthousand-petalled home of power and light.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIts lips are curved
\nwith the burden of the Truth that is not yet uttered; a halo formed
\nof flashes of wisdom is its crown. It enters the mystic lotus of
\nthousand petals, the home of power and light, in her head.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Immortal Leader <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImmortal leader of
\nher mortality,
Doer of her works and fountain of her words,
\n
Invulnerable by Time, omnipotent,
It stood above her calm,
\nimmobile, mute.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is the immortal
\nleader of Savitri’s mortality, the real doer of her works, the source
\nof her speech. Unassailable by Time, omnipotent, it stands above her,
\ncalm, unmoving and mute.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Remnant of
\nHumanity Slain <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll in her mated
\nwith that mighty hour,
As if the last remnant had been slain by
\nDeath
Of the humanity that once was hers.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll in Savitri rises
\nto contain the inrush in that great moment. It is as if the last
\nvestige of her humanity had been cast away by Death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Young Divinity
\nFills <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssuming a spiritual
\nwide control,
Making life\u2019s sea a mirror of heaven\u2019s sky,
\n
The young divinity in her earthly limbs
Filled with celestial
\nstrength her mortal part.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOver was the haunted
\npain, the rending fear:
Her grief had passed away, her mind was
\nstill,
Her heart beat quietly with a sovereign force.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe young divinity
\nin her assumes a wide spiritual control, filling her life-energies
\nwith the spirit from above, infusing celestial strength in her human
\npart. The old haunted pain and tearing fear are over; her grief has
\npassed away, her mind is calm. Her heart beats quietly with an
\nimperious force.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She Rises to
\nMeet Death <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere came a freedom
\nfrom the heart-strings\u2019 clutch,
Now all her acts sprang from a
\ngodhead\u2019s calm.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nCalmly she laid upon
\nthe forest soil
The dead who still reposed upon her breast
And
\nbore to turn away from the dead form:
Sole now she rose to meet
\nthe dreadful god.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri is now free
\nfrom the hold of attachment. All her movements now issue from a
\ngod-like calm. Calmly she lays Satyavan’s body, which has been lying
\non her breast, upon the ground and bears the pang of turning away
\nfrom that dead form of his. Alone, she rises to meet the dreadful
\ngod, Death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mighty Spirit
\nGazes <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThat mightier spirit
\nturned its mastering gaze
On life and things, inheritor of a work
\n
Left to it unfinished from her halting past,
When yet the
\nmind, a passionate learner, toiled
And ill-shaped instruments
\nwere crudely moved.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe powerful spirit
\nthat fills her now turns its supreme gaze on the life around. It
\ninherits the work left unfinished from her unsteady past when her
\nmind, still an eager novice, had worked crudely with the imperfect
\ninstruments at its disposal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Human Rule
\nTranscended <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTranscended now was
\nthe poor human rule;
A sovereign power was there, a godlike will.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA moment yet she
\nlingered motionless
And looked down on the dead man at her feet;
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe inadequate human
\nrule is now exceeded. A sovereign power and a godlike will are now
\nthere. Still, for a moment she lingers without moving and looks down
\non the dead body of Satyavan lying at her feet.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Terror and
\nWonder of a Shape <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen like a tree
\nrecovering from a wind
She raised her noble head; fronting her
\ngaze
Something stood there, unearthly, sombre, grand,
A
\nlimitless denial of all being
That wore the terror and wonder of
\na shape. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen Savitri
\nrecovering herself raises her noble head. In front of her gaze stands
\nsomething unearthly, tearful, grand, a pervading denial of all being
\nwhich has taken a shape exciting wonder and terror at the same time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Pity and Irony
\nof the Tenebrous Form <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn its appalling
\neyes the tenebrous Form
Bore the deep pity of destroying gods.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA sorrowful irony
\ncurved the dreadful lips
That speak the word of doom. \u2026
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis dark Form bears
\nin its terrifying eyes the deep pity that the gods have when they
\ndestroy because they must. An irony full of sorrow curves its
\ndreadful lips that pronounce the word of doom.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Eternal Night
\nArises <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 Eternal Night,
\n
In the dire beauty of an immortal face,
Pitying arose,
\nreceiving all that lives
For ever into its fathomless heart,
\nrefuge
Of creatures from their anguish and world-pain.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEternal Night, with
\nan immortal face of dreadful beauty, rises in pity, receiving all
\nthat lives into its unfathomed heart, the final refuge of all
\ncreatures from their own anguish and world-pain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Nothingness made
\nReal <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis shape was
\nnothingness made real, his limbs
Were monuments of transience and
\nbeneath
Brows of unwearying calm large godlike lids
Silent
\nbeheld the writhing serpent, life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis shape is a form
\ntaken by Nothingness. His limbs are visible moulds of transience. His
\nlarge godlike eyes, beneath brows of untiring calm, behold in silence
\nthe writhing serpent of life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Immutable Orbs <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnmoved their
\ntimeless wide unchanging gaze
Had seen the unprofitable cycles
\npass,
Survived the passing of unnumbered stars
And sheltered
\nstill the same immutable orbs.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe eternal, wide,
\nunchanging gaze of those eyes has watched unmoved the passing of vain
\ncycles of time; it has been the witness of the appearance and
\ndisappearance of countless stars. Only these immutable orbs have
\nexisted always.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Two Oppose each
\nother <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe two opposed each
\nother with their eyes,
Woman and universal god: around her,
\n
Piling their void unbearable loneliness
Upon her mighty
\nuncompanioned soul,
Many inhuman solitudes came close.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHuman Savitri and
\nthe universal God of Death confront each other with their eyes. Many
\nvibrations of inhuman solitariness fling themselves upon her mighty
\nsoul, now uncompanioned.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Formidable Voice
\nArises <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nVacant eternities
\nforbidding hope
Laid upon her their huge and lifeless look,
And
\nto her ears silencing earthly sounds,
A sad and formidable voice
\narose
Which seemed the whole adverse world\u2019s. \u2026
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnending emptiness
\nimposes upon her, denying any hope. And, silencing all the earthly
\nsounds around, a sad and formidable voice, sounding like the voice of
\nthe entire hostile world, rises to her ear.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
"Unclasp <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 \u201cUnclasp\u201d,
\nit cried,
\u201cThy passionate influence and relax, O slave
Of
\nNature, changing tool of changeless Law,
Who vainly writhst
\nrebellion to my yoke,
Thy elemental grasp; weep and forget.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEntomb thy passion
\nin its living grave.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLeave now the
\nonce-loved spirit\u2019s abandoned robe:
Pass lonely back to thy
\nvain life on earth.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt cries:"O
\nslave of Nature who art but a changing tool of a Law that is
\nunchanging, who vainly rebellest against my yoke, loosen thy
\npassionate hold and relax thy primitive grasp upon Satyavan. Weep and
\nforget. Bury thy passion. Leave now the forsaken robe of this spirit
\nonce loved by thee. Go back to thy vain life on earth."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Voice Speaks
\nagain <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt ceased, she moved
\nnot and it spoke again,
Lowering its mighty key to human chords,\u2014
\n
Yet a dread cry behind the uttered sounds,
Echoing all
\nsadness and immortal scorn,
Moaned like a hunger of far wandering
\nwaves. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe voice ceases,
\nbut Savitri does not move. Then the voice speaks again lowering its
\nformidable note to suit the human ear. Yet behind the sounds uttered
\nby it, a fearful cry moans, like the moaning of hungry far sweeping
\nwaves, echoing all sadness and the lofty scorn of the gods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
"Thy
\nHusband Suffers" <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cWilt thou for
\never keep thy passionate hold,
Thyself, a creature doomed like
\nhim to pass,
Denying his soul death\u2019s calm and silent rest?
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nRelax thy grasp;
\nthis body is earth\u2019s and thine,
His spirit now belongs to a
\ngreater power.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWoman, thy husband
\nsuffers.\u2026 <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Thou art
\nthyself a creature like him, doomed to pass away as he has done.
\nSeekest thou to keep thy passionate hold upon him for ever and deny
\nto his soul the calm and the silent rest of death? Relax thy grasp;
\nonly his body belongs to earth and to thee, not his spirit. His
\nspirit now belongs to a greater power. O woman, thy husband Satyavan
\nsuffers; leave him."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri draws
\nback her Force <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026\u201d Savitri
Drew
\nback her heart\u2019s force that clasped his body still
Where from
\nher lap renounced on the smooth grass
Softly it lay, as often
\nbefore in sleep
When from their couch she rose in the white dawn
\n
Called by her daily tasks: \u2026
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFrom Satyavan’s body
\nSavitri draws back her heart’s force that had clasped it. Removed
\nfrom her lap, Satyavan’s body lay on the smooth grass below, as it
\nused to be so often before when Savitri rose at early dawn from their
\ncouch, called by her chores, while Satyavan lay in sleep.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She Rises in
\nReadiness <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 now too as if
\ncalled
She rose and stood gathered in lonely strength,
Like
\none who drops his mantle for a race
And waits the signal,
\nmotionlessly swift.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe knew not to what
\ncourse: \u2026 <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo also now Savitri
\ngets up as if she is called, and stands gathered in her lone strength
\nlike a runner who drops his mantle to begin the race and waits for
\nthe signal, swift in spirit though not yet in motion. She does not
\nyet know what is to be her course.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Spirit Watches <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 her spirit above
\n
On the crypt-summit of her secret form
Like one left sentinel
\non a mountain crest.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA fiery-footed
\nsplendour puissant-winged
Watched flaming-silent with her
\nvoiceless soul
Like a still sail upon a windless sea.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFrom the summit of
\nher secret form, her spirit watches in luminous silence, like a
\nsentinel from the mountain-top, along with her mute soul which is
\nlike a still sail upon a windless sea.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Waits for
\nImpulse <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhite passionless it
\nrode, an anchored might,
Waiting what far-ridged impulse should
\narise
Out of the eternal depths and cast its surge.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis stationed might
\nabove holds itself in pure calm, waiting to see what far-ranging
\nimpulse is going to arise out of the eternal depths of her being and
\nsurge forth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death Rises
\nErect <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen Death, the
\nking, leaned boundless down, as leans
Night over tired lands when
\nevening pales
And fading gleams break down the horizon\u2019s walls,
\n
Nor yet the dusk grows mystic with the moon.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe dim and awful
\ngodhead rose erect
From his brief stooping to his touch on earth,
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen, like night
\nleaning over tired lands in the pale evening as light fades out and
\nthe moon is not yet, Death leans down in his vastness. And from his
\nbrief stooping, his touch-down on earth, the dim and awful godhead
\narises erect.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Another Satyavan
\nRises <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd like a dream
\nthat wakes out of a dream,
Forsaking the poor mould of that dead
\nclay,
Another luminous Satyavan arose,
Starting upright from
\nthe recumbent earth
As if someone over viewless borders stepped
\n
Emerging on the edge of unseen worlds.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen, like a dream
\nawaking out of a dream, another luminous Satyavan rises up abandoning
\nthe dead form, standing up straight from the stretched earth. It is
\nas though someone stepped over unseen borders, emerging on the edge
\nof unseen worlds.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Between Woman
\nand God <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the earth\u2019s day
\nthe silent marvel stood
Between the mortal woman and the god.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSuch seemed he as if
\none departed came
Wearing the light of a celestial shape
\n
Splendidly alien to the mortal air.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe silent wonder of
\nthe arisen, luminous Satyavan stands between Savitri, the mortal
\nwoman, and the god of Death. It looks as if one dead has come back
\nwearing the light of a heavenly form, strikingly foreign to the
\nmortal air of the earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mind falls back <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe mind sought
\nthings long loved and fell back foiled
From unfamiliar hues,
\nbeheld yet longed,
By the sweet radiant form unsatisfied,
\n
Incredulous of its too bright hints of heaven;
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri’s mind looks
\nfor the old loved things in his new form, but falls back foiled from
\nthose strange hues; it sees and longs, it is unsatisfied by that
\nsweet luminous form; it finds it difficult to believe in its dazzling
\nhints of heaven.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Only the Spirit
\nKnew the Spirit <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nToo strange the
\nbrilliant phantasm to life\u2019s clasp
Desiring the warm creations
\nof the earth
Reared in the ardour of material suns,
The
\nsenses seized in vain a glorious shade:
Only the spirit knew the
\nspirit still,
And the heart divined the old loved heart, though
\nchanged. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer life accustomed
\nto the warm creations of the earth under the bright material sun,
\nfinds this brilliant phantasm too strange a form to grasp; the senses
\nrush to seize it but find it is only a glorious shade unseizable by
\nthem. Only her spirit recognises still the spirit in that form, her
\nheart feels in it the old heart it has loved, though now so much
\nchanged.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Powers not of
\nEarth <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBetween two realms
\nhe stood, not wavering,
But fixed in quiet strong expectancy,
\n
Like one who, sightless, listens for a command.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo were they
\nimmobile on that earthly field,
Powers not of earth, though one
\nin human clay.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSatyavan stands
\nbetween the two realms of earth and heaven (Savitri and Death), firm,
\nquiet, expectant, like one who cannot see, waits listening for a
\ncommand.Thus they wait, all three, immobile on that earthly field;
\nthey are not Powers of earth, though one of them (Savitri) is in a
\nhuman body.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Two Spirits
\nStrive <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn either side of
\none two spirits strove;
Silence battled with silence, vast with
\nvast. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut now the impulse
\nof the Path was felt
Moving from the Silence that supports the
\nstars
To touch the confines of the visible world.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn either side of
\nluminous Satyavan, the two spirits vie with each other. Silence
\nopposes silence, vast opposes vast. Soon the impulse to move is felt,
\nfrom that Silence that supports the stars to the borders of the
\nvisible world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
He Moves, Death
\nbehind Him <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLuminous he moved
\naway; behind him Death
Went slowly with his noiseless tread, as
\nseen
In dream-built fields a shadowy herdsman glides
Behind
\nsome wanderer from his voiceless herds,
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe luminous form of
\nSatyavan moves away; behind him Death follows slowly, noiselessly,
\nlike a dream herdsman following a straying member of his silent
\nflock.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri behind
\nDeath <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd Savitri moved
\nbehind eternal Death,
Her mortal pace was equalled with the
\ngod\u2019s. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWordless she
\ntravelled in her lover\u2019s steps,
Planting her human feet where
\nhis had trod,
Into the perilous silences beyond.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBehind eternal Death
\nfollows Savitri. Her human pace equals the god’s. Silently she
\njourneys in the steps of her lover, Satyavan, placing her human feet
\nwhere his have trod, into the dangerous silences beyond.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She moves in
\nWoods <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt first in a blind
\nstress of woods she moved
With strange inhuman paces on the soil,
\n
Journeying as if upon an unseen road.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAround her on the
\ngreen and imaged earth
The flickering screen of forests ringed
\nher steps. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt first Savitri
\nmoves in unseeing thick impenetrable woods with strange inhuman
\nimprints stamped on the soil. It is like walking on a road that is
\nnot visible. Her steps are ringed round by a quivering screen of
\nforests growing on the green earth seen as an image.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n

Emerald Robe Around<\/H3>
\n


\nIts thick luxurious
\nobstacle of boughs
Besieged her body pressing dimly through
In
\na rich realm of whispers palpable,
And all the murmurous beauty
\nof the leaves
Rippled around her like an emerald robe.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe thick boughs of
\nthe forest trees obstruct her movement with a commotion of palpable
\nwhispers all around; the soft rustling droning beauty of the leaves
\nripples round her like a green robe.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
They glide on <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut more and more
\nthis grew an alien sound,
And her old intimate body seemed to her
\n
A burden which her being remotely bore.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHerself lived far in
\nsome uplifted scene
Where to the trance-chained vision of
\npursuit,
Sole presences in a high spaceless dream,
The
\nluminous spirit glided stilly on
And the great shadow travelled
\nvague behind. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut gradually all
\nthis becomes an alien note. Her own physical body seems far-off to
\nher, a load which her being bears distantly. She feels herself in
\nsome high region from where she pursues her tranced vision, the
\nluminous spirit (Satyavan) gliding on in stillness followea by the
\ngreat shadow (Death); they are the only two presences in that high,
\nspaceless dream.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Senses feel
\nEarth’s Air <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nStill with an
\namorous crowd of seeking hands
Softly entreated by their old
\ndesires
Her senses felt earth\u2019s close and gentle air
Cling
\nround them and in troubled branches knew
Uncertain treadings of a
\nfaint-foot wind:
She bore dim fragrances, far callings touched;
\n
The wild bird\u2019s voice and its winged rustle came
As if a
\nsigh from some forgotten world.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nStill, her senses
\nfeel the earth’s clinging gentle air around them with longing hands
\nurged by old desires; they are aware of the coming of faint winds in
\nthe agitated branches. Dim fragrances waft towards her; distant calls
\ntouch her; the wild bird’s voice and the rustle of its wings come
\nlike a sigh from a forgotten world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Earth-Mother <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEarth stood aloof,
\nyet near: round her it wove
Its sweetness and its greenness and
\ndelight,
Its brilliance suave of well-loved vivid hues,
Sunlight
\narriving to its golden noon,
And the blue heavens and the
\ncaressing soil. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe ancient Mother
\noffered to her child
Her simple world of kind familiar things.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe earth stands
\napart and yet is near, weaving around her its sweetness, freshness
\nand delight, its brilliance of appealing vivid hues, its sunlight now
\nat its bright-gold noon, its blue skies and its soft warm soil. The
\nancient Mother-earth offers to her child her simple world of
\ngracious, familiar things.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her Body’s hold
\nCurbs <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut now as if the
\nbody\u2019s sensuous hold
Curbing the godhead of her infinite walk
\n
Had freed those spirits to their grander road
Across some
\nboundary\u2019s intangible bar,
The silent god grew mighty and
\nremote
In other spaces and the soul she loved
Lost its
\nconsenting nearness to her life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNow the sensuous
\nhold of her body seems to have arrested her pace. And the two spirits
\nare speeding along a grander road beyond the impalpable bar of some
\nboundary: the silent god (of Death) grows mighty and distant as he
\npasses into spaces that are different from those of the earth and the
\nsoul of Satyavan that she has loved lets go its contact with her.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Far from her <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInto a deep and
\nunfamiliar air
Enormous, windless, without stir or sound
They
\nseemed to enlarge away, drawn by some wide
Pale distance, from
\nthe warm control of earth
And her grown far. Now, now they would
\nescape. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen flaming from
\nher body\u2019s nest, alarmed,
Her violent spirit soared at
\nSatyavan. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBoth of them seem to
\ngrow away from her into a deep, strange, huge, stirless air, pulled
\naway from the warm hold of earth by some wide, pale, far space. She
\nis left far behind. And now it looks as if they would escape from
\nher.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSuddenly, stirred
\nand alarmed, her violent spirit soars out of its nest in the body and
\nrushes towards Satyavan.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mass of Golden
\nFire <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOut mid the plunge
\nof heaven-surrounded rocks
So in a terror and a wrath divine
\n
From her eyrie streams against the ascending death,
Indignant
\nat its crouching point of steel,
A fierce she-eagle threatened in
\nher brood,
Borne on a rush of puissance and a cry,
Outwinging
\nlike a mass of golden fire.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike a she-eagle
\nwhose little ones are threatened by danger, Savitri’s spirit surges
\nup, through the rocky expanses of heaven, in terror and a divine fury
\nagainst the ascending god, indignant at his threatening weapon of
\ndeath; her spirit, borne on the rushing wings of power and grief,
\nrises like a mass of golden fire.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri
\nForgotten <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSo on a spirit\u2019s
\nflaming outrush borne
She crossed the borders of dividing sense;
\n
Like pale discarded sheaths dropped dully down
Her mortal
\nmembers fell back from her soul.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA moment of a secret
\nbody\u2019s sleep,
Her trance knew not of sun or earth or world;
\n
Thought, time and death were absent from her grasp:
She knew
\nnot self, forgotten was Savitri.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri crosses the
\nborders of the tangible world on the flaming wings of her spirit;
\nlike old discarded sheaths, her mortal parts drop from her soul. A
\nmomentary loss of consciousness as she enters her subtle body makes
\nher forget the sun, the earth, the world; she is no more conscious of
\nthought, time and death; she is not even aware of her own self. The
\nhuman Savitri is forgotten.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Violent Ocean of
\nWill <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll was the violent
\nocean of a will
Where lived captive to an immense caress,
\n
Possessed in a supreme identity,
Her aim, joy, origin,
\nSatyavan alone.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHer sovereign
\nprisoned in her being\u2019s core,
He beat there like a rhythmic
\nheart,\u2014herself
But different still, one loved, enveloped,
\nclasped,
A treasure saved from the collapse of space.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll is now a violent
\nocean of her will. Satyavan who alone is her aim, joy, origin, is
\nheld captive in the waves of that will, possessed by her in a supreme
\nidentity. Though her sovereign, he is held imprisoned in the core of
\nher being where he beats like a rhythmic heart; he is herself and yet
\ndistinct, one who is loved, enveloped and clasped by her, a veritable
\ntreasure salvaged from collapsing space.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri Surges <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAround him nameless,
\ninfinite she surged,
Her spirit fulfilled in his spirit, rich
\nwith all Time,
As if Love\u2019s deathless moment had been found,
A
\npearl within eternity\u2019s white shell.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri’s conscious
\nwill surges around Satyavan, her spirit becoming one with his, rich
\nwith the content of all Time, as though the immortal moment of Love
\nhas been found \u2014 a veritable pearl of Love within the pure shell of
\neternity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mind Returns to
\nTime <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen out of the
\nengulfing sea of trance
Her mind rose drenched to light streaming
\nwith hues
Of vision and, awake once more to Time,
Returned to
\nshape the lineaments of things
And live in borders of the seen
\nand known. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt last her mind
\nwakes up out of its tranced condition, suffused with the light of the
\nvariegated vision and is once more cognisant of the duration of Time;
\nonce more it is able to observe the shape of things and to live
\nwithin the borders of the world that can be seen and known.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
The Three Move
\non <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnward the three
\nstill moved in her soul-scene.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs if pacing through
\nfragments of a dream,
She seemed to travel on, a visioned shape,
\n
Imagining other musers like herself,
By them imagined in
\ntheir lonely sleep.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe three of them
\nSatyavan, Death and Savitri \u2014move on in the scene of her soul, as
\nif walking through the spaces of a dream. She appears to herself a
\nvisible shape journeying onward; she imagines there other musing
\nshapes similar to hers, who imagine her in their rapt sleep.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Living Moods <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUngrasped, unreal,
\nyet familiar, old,
Like clefts of unsubstantial memory,
Scenes
\noften traversed, never lived in, fled
Past her unheeding to
\nforgotten goals.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn voiceless regions
\nthey were travellers
Alone in a new world where souls were not,
\n
But only living moods.\u2026
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike pieces of vague
\nmemories, old scenes often passed through before, but never lived in
\n\u2014 flee swiftly past her unnoticed to their unremembered goals. They
\nare lone travellers in these mute regions, where there are no
\nsoul-entities as such but only living moods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Strange World <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 A strange,
\nhushed, weird
Country was round them, strange far skies above,
A
\ndoubting space where dreaming objects lived
Within themselves
\ntheir own unchanged idea.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe world around
\nthem is strange, silent and unearthly; the skies above are strange.
\nIt is a place full of uncertainty in which dreaming objects lived
\nabsorbed in themselves and their unchanging ideas.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Weird
\nSurroundings <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWeird were the
\ngrasses, weird the treeless plains,
Weird ran the road which like
\nfear hastening
Towards that of which it has most terror, passed
\n
Phantasmal between pillared conscious rocks
Sombre and high,
\ngates brooding, whose stone thoughts
Lost their huge sense beyond
\nin giant night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEverything is weird,
\nthe grasses, the bare plains. Like fear hastening towards the very
\nthing of which it is in terror, the road runs weirdly, passing like a
\nphantom between living rocks like pillars, dismal and high, and
\nbrooding gates of stone rising in their might towards the huge night
\nbeyond.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Brooding Gates <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEnigma of the
\nInconscient\u2019s sculptural sleep,
Symbols of the approach to
\ndarkness old
And monuments of her titanic reign,
Opening to
\ndepths like dumb appalling jaws
That wait a traveller down a
\nhaunted path
Attracted to a mystery that slays,
They watched
\nacross her road, cruel and still;
Sentinels they stood of dumb
\nNecessity,
Mute heads of vigilant and sullen gloom,
Carved
\nmuzzle of a dim enormous world.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese brooding gates
\na veritable riddle of the sculpturesque sleep of the Inconscient,
\nsignifying approaches to the ancient darkness and monuments of the
\ntitanic reign of the Inconscient, opening to abysses like fearful
\njaws waiting for a traveller on a haunted path, attracting him to a
\nfatal mystery \u2014 watch Savitri across the road, cruel and still.
\nThey stand like sentinels of mute Necessity, silent heads of vigilant
\nand sullen gloom, well-cut openings of a dim, huge world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Satyavan looks
\nback <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen to that chill
\nsere heavy line arrived
Where his feet touched the shadowy
\nmarches\u2019 brink,
Turning arrested luminous Satyavan
Looked
\nback with his wonderful eyes at Savitri.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArriving at the
\nbrink of that shadowy march, a chill and scorched boundary, luminous
\nSatyavan, arrested, turns back and looks at Savitri with his
\nwonderful eyes.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death’s Cry <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Death pealed
\nforth his vast abysmal cry:
\u201cO mortal, turn back to thy
\ntransient kind;
Aspire not to accompany Death to his home,
As
\nif thy breath could live where Time must die.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut, then, Death
\ncries out in his tremendous voice to Savitri: "O mortal, go back
\nto thy transient world in Time. Do not hope to accompany Death to his
\nhome, as though thou couldst live there where Time must cease to be.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Thy Mind-Born
\nPassion Inadequate <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThink not thy
\nmind-born passion strength from heaven
To uplift thy spirit from
\nits earthly base
And, breaking out from the material cage,
To
\nupbuoy thy feet of dream in groundless Nought
And bear thee
\nthrough the pathless infinite.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Do not think
\nthat this passion born from thy mind is a strength from heaven that
\ncan lift up thy spirit from its base upon earth, free it from its
\nimprisoning material cage, sustain thy feet in the groundless Nought
\nand bear thee through the pathless infinite.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Man is Safe in
\nHuman Limits <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnly in human limits
\nman lives safe.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTrust not in the
\nunreal Lords of Time,
Immortal deeming this image of thyself
\n
Which they have built on a dream\u2019s floating ground.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan is safe only as
\nlong as he confines himself to the limits imposed upon the human
\nkind. Do not trust in the false masters of the realm of Time; do not
\nimagine that this image of thyself, which they have erected on the
\nfloating grounds of a dream, is immortal by any means.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dare not to
\nOutstep <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLet not the dreadful
\ngoddess move thy soul
To enlarge thy vehement trespass into
\nworlds
Where it shall perish like a helpless thought.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nKnow the cold
\nterm-stones of thy hopes in life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArmed vainly with
\nthe Idea\u2019s borrowed might
Dare not to outstep man\u2019s bound and
\nmeasured force. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nLet not thy soul be
\nmoved by any dangerous power to further its intrusions into worlds
\nwhere it shall perish like an alien helpless thought. Know the
\nterminals of thy hopes in life. On the impulse of the strength of an
\nIdea, dare not vainly to go beyond the limited and measured force
\ngiven to man."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dream of
\nDivinity <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIgnorant and
\nstumbling, in brief boundaries pent,
He crowns himself the
\nworld\u2019s mock sovereign
Tormenting Nature with the works of
\nMind. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nO sleeper dreaming
\nof divinity,
Wake trembling mid the indifferent silences
In
\nwhich thy few weak chords of being die.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImpermanent
\ncreatures, sorrowful foam of Time,
Your transient loves bind not
\nthe eternal gods.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Though he is
\nignorant and stumbling in his steps, confined within narrow
\nboundaries, man fancies himself to be the king of the world and
\nneedles Nature with the operations of his mind. O sleeper who
\ndreamest of attaining divinity, wake up and tremble amid the
\nindifferent silences in which thy few strands of being must die.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO transient
\ncreatures, pitiful foam-bubbles on the sea of Time, your fleeting
\nloves certainly do not bind the gods who are eternal."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dreadful Voice
\nEbbs <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe dread voice
\nebbed in the consenting hush
Which seemed to close upon it, wide,
\nintense,
A wordless sanction from the jaws of Night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe dreadful voice
\nof Death fades away in the consenting hush, wide and intense, which
\ncloses round it a silent sanction, as it were, from the jaw of
\ndarkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Columned Shaft
\nof Fire Rises <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Woman answered
\nnot. Her high nude soul,
Stripped of the girdle of mortality,
\n
Against fixed destiny and the grooves of law
Stood up in its
\nsheer will a primal force.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nStill like a statue
\non its pedestal,
Lone in the silence and to vastness bared,
\n
Against midnight\u2019s dumb abysses piled in front
A columned
\nshaft of fire and light she rose.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri, the Woman,
\nanswers not. Shedding the trappings of mortality, her high nude soul
\nstands up in its primal force of pure will against fixed destiny and
\nthe formed grooves of law. Firm and still like a statue on its
\npedestal, alone in that silence, confronting the vastness around, she
\nrises like a column of soaring flame and light against the dark, mute
\nabysses of midnight massed in front of her.<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P><\/p>\n

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

Introduction   Notes   Book 1   Book II   Book III   Book IV    Book V   Book VI   Book VII   Book VIII    Book IX   Book X   Book XI   Book XII Book Nine. The Book of Eternal Night 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":[249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-9-savitri-study","wpcat-249-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10884","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=10884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11134,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10884\/revisions\/11134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}