{"id":10887,"date":"2014-07-16T13:08:24","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T20:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10887"},"modified":"2014-12-07T09:39:40","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T17:39:40","slug":"savitri-study-book-9-canto-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-9-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-9-canto-2","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-9-Canto-2"},"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 2<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe
\nJourney in Eternal Night and the Voice of Darkness<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n<\/P>
\n


\nSummary
All
\npause for a while on the edge of the dark Night. Then Savitri steps
\nforward to journey through that eternal Night. A mysterious terror
\ncloses on her from all sides. Savitri vanishes into the dark. There
\nis no path, no goal; yet she moves on. She loses sight of the God of
\nDeath as well as of Satyavan. But she does not lose heart; she
\ncontinues to live and move.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSlowly a faint gleam
\nappears. It throws the Night into a bolder relief. The giant head of
\nNothingness tries to stifle the ray, but in vain. The light prevails
\nand Savitri recovers her lost self. Once again she hears the steps of
\nthe god and out of the darkness, Satyavan shows as a luminous shade.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThen is heard the
\nlethal voice of Death proclaiming that this dark Night, this
\nNothingness is the end and the source of all. Where in this stark
\nemptiness is there place for life and love? the voice asks mockingly.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri refuses to
\nanswer. She gazes into her soul and knows that she is eternal. Then
\nDeath, the dire god, opposes her with his endless night and calls:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThou hast survived
\nthe void and won a victory, but to what purpose? Thou cant only live
\nfor a little while without Satyavan. Man is a fragile creature with
\ndeath prowling round him in all directions. The gods have burdened
\nhim with a mind and sown in his heart an incurable unrest. He is the
\nCattle of the shepherd gods. If thou still hopest to live, to love,
\nreturn to the earth. But do not hope to win back Satyavan. Still,
\nthlt unique strength deserves a reward. Choose what tlfeft wilt, I
\nshall give.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nDeath is unmoved. He
\ncries out scornfully:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nDost thou forget
\nthat thou art a mere mortal? I, Death, have created all and I destroy
\nall. I reward, I punish. Flee back lest the Furies strike at thee.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri replies
\nwith equal scorn:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMy God is not the
\nGod of thy imagination. My God is Love that sweetly suffers all. To
\nhim who is irresistible I have offered my life. He is supreme, he
\nshall remake thy universe, O Death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nFor a while they
\njourney in silence in that trackless night. Then again Death speaks:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nWilt thou claim
\nimmortality, thou who art but a sparkling ferment in life’s sunlit
\nmire? Only I am eternal, I am the Vast. I am He, there is no other
\nGod. Man has no other help than myself. I am his final refuge. Even
\nif there were a being witnessing all, sole and absolute, neither
\nSatyavan nor Savitri exists beside him. There is no Love there, nor
\nTime nor Space. Forget Satyavan, be thou alone and sufficient to thy
\nsoul till I, Death, shall rescue thee from life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri replies:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO Death, thou
\nreasonest, I do not reason, I am, I love, I act, I will.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nDeath answers:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nKnow also. When thou
\nwilt know, then thou shalt cease to love and accept the impermanence
\nof things.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri replies:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nOnly when I have
\nloved for ever, shall I know. Love in me knows the unchanging truth
\nbehind all change. I know the transcendent God above, the Lord of the
\nuniverse, God the Indweller. I know my coming was a wave from God. I
\nknow that man was born with a mind and heart to conquer thee.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nDeath does not
\nanswer again. Compelled by Savitri, the three glide through the long
\nfading night.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
On the Brink <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAwhile on the chill
\ndreadful edge of Night
All stood as if a world were doomed to die
\n
And waited on the eternal silence\u2019 brink.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHeaven leaned
\ntowards them like a cloudy brow
Of menace through the dim and
\nvoiceless hush. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll stands still on
\nthe bleak edge of Night as though the world is doomed to die and
\nawaits death on the brink of the eternal silence. Heaven leans down
\non them like a menace through the dim and mute hush.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
They Pause <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs thoughts stand
\nmute on a despairing verge
Where the last depths plunge into
\nnothingness
And the last dreams must end, they paused; in their
\nfront
Were glooms like shadowy wings, behind them pale
The
\nlifeless evening was a dead man\u2019s gaze.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven as thoughts
\npause in dumb despair having reached a boundary when to plunge
\nfurther would lead to nothingness, where even dreams must end, pause
\nthese three \u2014 Savitri, Death, Satyavan. Ahead of them are realms of
\ngloom like shadowy wings on either side; behind them is the lifeless
\neve pale like the gaze of a dead man.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her Flame-Bright
\nSpirit <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHungry beyond, the
\nnight desired her soul.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut still in its
\nlone niche of templed strength
Motionless, her flame-bright
\nspirit, mute, erect,
Burned like a torch-fire from a windowed
\nroom
Pointing against the darkness\u2019 sombre breast.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Darkness ahead
\nlooks as if it is hungry and eager to swallow Savitri’s soul. But in
\nher heart of pure strength, her flame-bright spirit burns unobscured,
\nstill, straight, pointing as it were against the dark breast of the
\nNight.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She Affronts the
\nAbyss <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Woman first
\naffronted the Abyss
Daring to journey through the eternal Night.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nArmoured with light
\nshe advanced her foot to plunge
Into the dread and hueless
\nvacancy;
Immortal, unappalled her spirit faced
The danger of
\nthe ruthless eyeless waste.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri cares not
\nfor the Abyss; she dares to proceed ahead trough the eternal
\nDarkness. Protected by light she.raises her foot to step into the
\nawesome, blank vacancy. Immortal, undeterred, her fiery spirit
\nconfronts the danger of the insensible unseeing waste.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Gliding on <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAgainst night\u2019s
\ninky ground they stirred, moulding
Mysterious motion on her human
\ntread,
A swimming action and a drifting march
Like figures
\nmoving before eyelids closed:
All as in dreams went slipping,
\ngliding on. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe three move on
\nagainst the dark spaces of the night, Savitri is made to adjust her
\nhuman walk to mysterious movements, now a movement as of swimming,
\nnow a movement as of drifting, very much like figures moving before
\nclosed eyes. Everything goes on slipping and gliding as happens in
\ndreams.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Into the
\nTimeless and Nothingnes <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe rock-gate\u2019s
\nheavy walls were left behind;
As if through passages of receding
\ntime
The present and past into the Timeless lapsed;
Arrested
\nupon dim adventure\u2019s brink,
The future ended drowned in
\nnothingness. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe heavy walls of
\nthe sentinel gates are left behind. The present and the past
\ndisappear into the Timeless through the corridors of receding time.
\nHeld back on the dim edge of adventure, even the future sinks into
\nnothingness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dumb Procession <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAmid collapsing
\nshapes they wound obscure;
The fading vestibules of a tenebrous
\nworld
Received them, where they seemed to move and yet
Be
\nstill, nowhere advancing yet to pass,
A dumb procession a dim
\npicture bounds,
Not conscious forms threading a real scene.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe party wind
\nobscurely amidst collapsing shapes. They step into fast fading halls
\nof a dark world where they appear to be moving and yet to be still,
\npassing and yet not advancing. It is like a mute procession in a dim
\nframed picture rather than living forms weaving through a real scene.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Monstrous Throat
\nDevours <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA mystery of
\nterror\u2019s boundlessness,
Gathering its hungry strength the huge
\npitiless void
Surrounded slowly with its soundless depths,
And
\nmonstrous, cavernous, a shapeless throat
Devoured her into its
\nshadowy strangling mass,
The fierce spiritual agony of a dream.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA huge pitiless
\nvoid, a veritable mystery of unbounded terror, gathers its hungry
\nstrength, surrounds Savitri with its silent gulf and through its
\ncavelike, shapeless, monstrous throat, devours her into its dim
\nchoking mass. She feels the fierce spiritual agony of a dream.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Darkness Around <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA curtain of
\nimpenetrable dread,
The darkness hung around her cage of sense
\n
As when the trees have turned to blotted shades
And the last
\nfriendly glimmer fades away,
Around a bullock in the forest tied
\n
By hunters closes in no empty night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike a veritable
\ncurtain of impassable dread, the darkness hangs around her caging in
\nher senses. It resembles the scene of a crowded night closing upon a
\nsolitary bullock tied by hunters in a forest and left alone while the
\ntrees are fast turning into vague shadowy shapes and the last
\nfriendly glimmer of light is fading away.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Thought Unmade <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe thought that
\nstrives in the world was here unmade;
Its effort it renounced to
\nlive and know,
Convinced at last that it had never been;
It
\nperished, all its dream of action done:
This clotted cypher was
\nits dark result.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThought
\ndisintegrates in this realm. It gives up its effort to be and to
\nknow, convinced, as it were, that it never really existed. It dreams
\nno more of action, it perishes. This hardened zero is its ultimate
\ndark end.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sterile
\nEmptiness <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the smothering
\nstress of this stupendous Nought
Mind could not think, breath
\ncould not breathe, the soul
Could not remember or feel itself; it
\nseemed
A hollow gulf of sterile emptiness,
A zero oblivious
\nof the sum it closed,
An abnegation of the Maker\u2019s joy
Saved
\nby no wide repose, no depth of peace.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the engulfing
\nmovement of this mighty Nought, mind is unable to think, breath to
\nbreathe, the soul to remember or be aware of itself. All looks a
\nvacant gulf of barren emptiness, a zero unaware of what it ends, a
\ndenial of the joy of the world-Creator, with no large repose nor deep
\npeace to save the situation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Refusal of
\nEternal no <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn all that claims
\nhere to be Truth and God
And conscious self and the revealing
\nWord
And the creative rapture of the Mind
And Love and
\nKnowledge and heart\u2019s delight, there fell
The immense refusal
\nof the eternal No.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA stupendous denial
\nof the eternal Negation falls on all that claims here on earth to be
\nTruth and God, on the conscious self and the Word of revelation, on
\nthe creative delight of the Mind, on Love and Knowledge and the
\nheart’s bliss.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri Vanishes
\ninto Shadows <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs disappears a
\ngolden lamp in gloom
Borne into distance from the eye\u2019s desire,
\n
Into the shadows vanished Savitri.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLike a golden lamp
\ndisappearing into gloom, carried away from longing eyes, Savitri
\nvanishes into the shadows.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
No Path, No Goal
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere was no course,
\nno path, no end or goal:
Visionless she moved amid insensible
\ngulfs,
Or drove through some great black unknowing Waste
Or
\nwhirled in a dumb eddy of meeting winds
Assembled by the titan
\nhands of Chance.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is neither
\npath nor goal. Savitri moves on unseeing amidst unfeeling gulfs,
\ndrives through some great black unknowing Waste, is tossed about in
\nthe grip of whirling winds that are brought into collision by the
\npowerful hands of chance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
None with Her <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere was none with
\nher in the dreadful Vast:
She saw no more the vague tremendous
\ngod,
Her eyes had lost their luminous Satyavan.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nYet not for this her
\nspirit failed, but held
More deeply than the bounded senses can
\n
Which grasp externally and find to lose
Its object loved. \u2026
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that dreadful
\nVast there is none with Savitri; she sees no more the vague, huge god
\nof Death, nor does she any longer behold the luminous Satyavan.
\nStill, her spirit does not fail; it holds its beloved object more
\nsecurely than the restricted senses can, senses which grasp from the
\noutside and find their object only to lose it.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Intimacy while
\non Earth <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026. So when on
\nearth they lived
She had felt him straying through the glades,
\nthe glades
A scene in her, its clefts her being\u2019s vistas
\n
Opening their secrets to his search and joy,
Because to
\njealous sweetness in her heart
Whatever happy space his cherished
\nfeet
Preferred, must be at once her soul embracing
His body,
\npassioning dumbly to his tread.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhen they had lived
\non earth, Savitri had felt Satyavan straying through the glades of
\nher being which revealed their secrets to his search and joy, for in
\nthe possessive sweetness of her heart, wherever his beloved feet
\nchose to tread, there, intensely desiring their advent, her soul had
\nrushed to embrace his body.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Abysmal
\nLoneliness <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut now a silent
\ngulf between them came
And to abysmal loneliness she fell,
Even
\nfrom herself cast out, from love remote.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut now there is a
\nsilent gulf between her and him. She falls into a bottomless
\nloneliness far removed even from her own self, remote from love.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Travel in
\nDarkness <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLong hours, since
\nlong it seems when sluggish time
Is measured by the throbs of the
\nsoul\u2019s pain,
In an unreal darkness empty and drear
She
\ntravelled treading on the corpse of life,
Lost in a blindness of
\nextinguished souls.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTime is felt to pass
\ntoo slowly when the soul throbs in pain. For such long-seeming hours,
\nSavitri jour-eys in art unreal, vacant and dreadful darkness,
\nwalking, as it were, on the corpse of life, lost in a blindness of
\nsouls whose light has been put out.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She lives on <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSolitary in the
\nanguish of the void
She lived in spite of death, she conquered
\nstill;
In vain her puissant being was oppressed:
Her heavy
\nlong monotony of pain
Tardily of its fierce self-torture tired.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAlone in the anguish
\nof that void, despite the prevailing death all around, she lives on
\nunconquered. Her powerful being is oppressed in vain. Her heavy,
\nlong, monotonous pain slowly gets tired of its self-torture.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Faint <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt first a faint
\ninextinguishable gleam,
Pale but immortal, flickered in the gloom
\n
As if a memory came to spirits dead,
A memory that wished to
\nlive again,
Dissolved from mind in Nature\u2019s natal sleep.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere flickers a
\nfaint gleam in that gloom. The gleam is inextinguishable, pale but
\nimmortal. It is as if a memory revives in dead spirits, a memory that
\nseeks to live again though it has been dissolved mind in the brooding
\nsleep of Nature.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Serpentine
\nDarkness <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt wandered like a
\nlost ray of the moon
Revealing to the night her soul of dread;
\n
Serpentine in the gleam the darkness lolled,
Its black hoods
\njewelled with the mystic glow;
Its dull sleek folds shrank back
\nand coiled and slid,
As though they felt all light a cruel pain
\n
And suffered from the pale approach of hope.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis gleam wanders
\nlike a straying ray of the moon showing up to the night her soul of
\ndread. In this gleam the darkness is seen to hang like a serpent,
\nwith a mystic glow shining like a jewel on its black hoods; its
\nslippery folds shrink back and coil and slide away as if all light
\nwere a cruel pain inflicted upon them and they suffered from the pale
\napproach of hope promised by the gleam.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Night Assailed <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNight felt assailed
\nher heavy sombre reign;
The splendour of some bright eternity
\n
Threatened with this faint beam of wandering Truth
Her empire
\nof the everlasting Nought.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNight feels her dark
\nreign attacked. The radiance of some bright eternity threatens with
\nthis faint gleam of moving Truth her empire of unending Nothingness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Tenebrous
\nAbsolute <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nImplacable in her
\nintolerant strength
And confident that she alone was true,
She
\nstrove to stifle the frail dangerous ray;
Aware of an
\nall-negating immensity
She reared her giant head of Nothingness,
\n
Her mouth of darkness swallowing all that is;
She saw in
\nherself the tenebrous Absolute.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUnyielding in her
\nintolerant strength and confident that she alone not light \u2014 is
\ntrue, the Night tries to smother that frail but dangerous ray.
\nConscious of an all-negating immensity, she raises her huge head of
\nNothingness, swallowing with her mouth of darkness all that exists.
\nShe beholds in herself the dark Absolute.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Still the Light
\nPrevails <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut still the light
\nprevailed and still it grew,
And Savitri to her lost self awoke;
\n
Her limbs refused the cold embrace of death,
Her heart-beats
\ntriumphed in the grasp of pain;
Her soul persisted claiming for
\nits joy
The soul of the beloved now seen no more.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn spite of the
\nsurge of Night, the light prevails and grows. Savitri awakes to her
\nself which appeared to be lost till now. Her limbs refuse to die, her
\nheart rises above pain; her soul persists in claiming for its joy the
\nsoul of beloved Satyavan now no more visible.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Once more she
\nHears and Sees <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBefore her in the
\nstillness of the world
Once more she heard the treading of a god,
\n
And out of the dumb darkness Satyavan,
Her husband, grew into
\na luminous shade.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that stillness,
\nshe hears before her, once again, the tread of the god of Death. And
\nout of that mute darkness, Satyavan’s figure appears again in the
\nform of a lustrous shade.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death’s Lethal
\nCall <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen a sound pealed
\nthrough that dead monstrous realm:
Vast like the surge in a tired
\nswimmer\u2019s ears,
Clamouring, a fatal iron-hearted roar,
Death
\nmissioned to the night his lethal call.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen a sound peals
\nthrough that dead inhuman realm. Huge like the surge of the sea
\nroaring, clamouring and striking the ears of a tired swimmer, the
\ndeadly call of Death goes out into that night.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Tomb of Vanity
\nof Life’s Desires <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cThis is my silent
\ndark immensity,
This is the home of everlasting Night,
This
\nis the secrecy of Nothingness
Entombing the vanity of life\u2019s
\ndesires. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHast thou beheld thy
\nsource, O transient heart,
And known from what the dream thou art
\nwas made? <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this stark
\nsincerity of nude emptiness
Hopest thou still always to last and
\nlove?\u201d <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath speaks:"This
\nis my silent, dark immensity, this is the home of unending Night,
\nthis the mystery of Nothingness in which ends all the vanity of
\nlife’s desires. O heart that beatest for a while, hast thou now seen
\nthy real source and known from what the dream that thou art was
\nfashioned? And in this sheer, bare emptiness, dost thou still hope to
\ncontinue to live and love?"<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri Refuses
\nto Hear <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Woman answered
\nnot. Her spirit refused
The voice of the Night that knew and
\nDeath that thought.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn her beginningless
\ninfinity
Through her soul\u2019s reaches unconfined she gazed;
She
\nsaw the undying fountains of her life,
She knew herself eternal
\nwithout birth.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri does not
\nreply. Her spirit refuses to listen to the voice of the Night that
\nclaims it knows the truth \u2014it speaks to her differently and to
\nDeath that enforces his thoughts. She is conscious of the eternal
\ninfinity and gazes across the unbounded reaches of her soul; she
\nbeholds the deathless springs of her life; she realises that she is
\neternal without birth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death’s
\nTremendous Gaze <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut still opposing
\nher with endless night
Death, the dire god, inflicted on her eyes
\n
The immortal calm of his tremendous gaze:
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut still, Death,
\nthe dreadful god, opposes Savitri with his endless darkness and
\nimposes his formidable gaze of immortal calm on her eyes. He speaks:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Thy Sorrowful
\nVictory is Brief <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cAlthough thou
\nhast survived the unborn void
Which never shall forgive, while
\nTime endures,
The primal violence that fashioned thought,
\n
Forcing the immobile Vast to suffer and live
This sorrowful
\nvictory only hast thou won
To live for a little without Satyavan.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Thou hast
\nindeed survived the invasion of this unborn void which will never
\nforgive as long as Time lasts \u2014 the first creative assault that
\nengendered thought and forced the immobile Vast to live and suffer.
\nBut the victory thou hast won \u2014 sorrowful as it is \u2014 is only to
\nlive for a little while and that too without Satyavan.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Vain Labour of
\nLiving <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWhat shall the
\nancient goddess give to thee
Who helps thy heart-beats? Only she
\nprolongs
The nothing dreamed existence and delays
With the
\nlabour of living thy eternal sleep.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"What can the
\nancient goddess who helps thee to live, give to thee? She only
\nprolongs an existence which is but a dream dreamed by nothing; she
\nonly delays with the useless labour of living thy sleep eternal in
\nthe silence of Death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Man Erects Myth
\nof God <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA fragile miracle of
\nthinking clay,
Armed with illusions walks the child of Time.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo fill the void
\naround he feels and dreads,
The void he came from and to which he
\ngoes,
He magnifies his self and names it God.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Man, the
\nproduct of Time, a brittle miracle of the thinking clay of matter,
\nmoves equipped with illusions galore. He feels acutely the void
\naround him; he is afraid of this void from which he has come and into
\nwhich he is destined to disappear; to fill this void he exaggerates
\nhis own little self and calls it God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
He Calls the
\nHeavens <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe calls the heavens
\nto help his suffering hopes.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe sees above him
\nwith a longing heart
Bare spaces more unconscious than himself
\n
That have not even his privilege of mind
And empty of all but
\ntheir unreal blue
And peoples them with bright and merciful
\npowers. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Man looks to
\nthe heavens for help to realise his hopes that are constantly
\nthwarted. He sees above himself, with his heart full of longings,
\nbare spaces which are in fact more unconscious than he is and do not
\neven have a mind which he is privileged to have; they are empty and
\neven the blue that is seen in them is unreal. He imagines that those
\nempty spaces are peopled by bright and merciful powers to whom he can
\nturn for guidance, protection and succour.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Insecurity <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor the sea roars
\naround him and earth quakes
Beneath his steps, and fire is at his
\ndoors,
And death prowls baying through the woods of life.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMoved by the
\nPresences with which he yearns,
He offers in implacable shrines
\nhis soul
And clothes all with the beauty of his dreams.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Man is hemmed
\nin by threats of disaster: the roaring waves of the sea around, the
\nquaking earth below, fire at his door and death ever on the prowl.
\nStill there are certain supernatural Presences which move him to hope
\nand yearning and he offers his soul to Powers that are unyielding,
\ninvesting all of them with the beauty he dreams of.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Gods with
\nSleepless Eyes <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe gods who watch
\nthe earth with sleepless eyes
And guide its giant stumblings
\nthrough the void,
Have given to man the burden of his mind;
In
\nhis unwilling heart they have lit their fires
And sown in it
\nincurable unrest.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"The gods watch
\nthis earth with vigilant, unsleeping eyes’ and guide its huge
\nstumblings, through the void, towards its destiny. They have burdened
\nman with mind and have lit their fires of aspiration in his inert
\nheart that is unwilling to move and soar; they have planted in man
\nthe unceasing and incurable unrest that drives him on relentlessly.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mind a Hunter <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis mind is a hunter
\nupon tracks unknown;
Amusing Time with vain discovery,
He
\ndeepens with thought the mystery of his fate
And turns to song
\nhis laughter and his tears. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n"His mind hunts
\nfor things on unknown courses. Its discoveries, however, are
\ninconsequential in the long run. He enhances the mystery of his fate
\nwith thought and he renders his joys and pains into song.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Man, Cattle of
\nthe Gods (I) <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis mortality vexing
\nwith the immortal\u2019s dreams,
Troubling his transience with the
\ninfinite\u2019s breath
They gave him hungers which no food can fill;
\n
He is the cattle of the shepherd gods.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Man is verily
\nthe cattle shepherded by the gods. They harass his mortality with
\ndreams of immortality; they trouble his momentary life with the touch
\nof the infinite; they make him long for things which cannot be
\nattained in any measure.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Man, the Cattle
\nof the Gods (II) <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis body the tether
\nwith which he is tied,
They cast for fodder grief and hope and
\njoy:
His pasture ground they have fenced with Ignorance.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"His physical
\nbody is used by the shepherd gods as a tether for tying him down. For
\nfodder they give him grief, hope and joy. They enclose their cattle
\nin the pasture-ground of Ignorance.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Journey without
\nGoal <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nInto his fragile
\nundefended breast
They have breathed a courage that is met by
\ndeath,
They have given a wisdom that is mocked by night,
They
\nhave traced a journey that foresees no goal.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"The gods play
\na cruel game with man. They instill courage in him, but that courage
\nonly ends in death. They endow him with wisdom, but the light of that
\nwisdom counts for little against the confronting darkness. They set
\nhim a course of journey, but that journey sees no prospect of a goal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Bound to Gods’
\nChariot <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAimless man toils in
\nan uncertain world
Lulled by inconstant pauses of his pain,
\n
Scourged like a beast by the infinite desire,
Bound to the
\nchariot of the dreadful gods.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Man toils,
\nwithout an aim, in a world that is ever uncertain, wrongly assured by
\nfickle pauses of his pain; he is whipped like a beast by boundless
\ndesire; he is helplessly bound to the moving chariot of the awful
\ngods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Return to thy
\nShell <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut if thou still
\ncanst hope and still wouldst love,
Return to thy body\u2019s shell
\nthey tie to earth,
And with thy heart\u2019s little remnants try to
\nlive. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHope not to win back
\nto thee Satyavan.
\n
"But if thou cant hope still, if thou wouldst love still,
\nthen go back to thy body which is a shell with which the dreadful
\ngods enchain thee to the earth and try to live with what little
\nremains of thy heart. Do not, however, hope to get back Satyavan to
\nthyself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Gifts Offered <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nYet since thy
\nstrength deserves no trivial crown,
Gifts I can give to soothe
\nthy wounded life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe pacts which
\ntransient beings make with fate,
And the wayside sweetness
\nearth-bound hearts would pluck,
These if thy will accepts make
\nfreely thine. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nChoose a life\u2019s
\nhopes for thy deceiving prize.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"All the same,
\nsince thou hast a strength which deserves to be richly rewarded, I
\ncan give thee some gifts to soothe thy wounds \u2014 gifts that are like
\npacts between mortals and fate, like sweet fruits on the roadside
\nwhich those who are attached to earth would pluck. If thy will would
\naccept them, take these gifts freely. Choose these life’s hopes for
\nthy prize \u2014though it is but a deceptive prize."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Stir of Thoughts
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs ceased the
\nruthless and tremendous Voice,
Unendingly there rose in Savitri
\n
Like moonlit ridges on a shuddering flood
A stir of thoughts
\nout of some silence born
Across the sea of her dumb fathomless
\nheart. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAt last she spoke;
\nher voice was heard by Night:
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nthoughts like bright
\nglimpses which traverse the regions of her mute, deep heart. Finally
\nshe speaks. Her voice is heard by the enveloping Darkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death a Mask <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cI bow not to
\nthee, O huge mask of Death,
Black lie of night to the cowed soul
\nof man,
Unreal, inescapable end of things,
Thou grim jest
\nplayed with the immortal spirit.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"O Death, I do
\nnot submit to thee. Thou art but a huge mask, a black lie of Darkness
\nrevealed to the frightened soul of man; thou art the unreal
\nunavoidable end of things; thou art truly a grim jest played upon the
\nspirit immortal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I have Survived <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nConscious of
\nimmortality I walk.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA victor spirit
\nconscious of my force,
Not as a suppliant to thy gates I came:
\n
Unslain I have survived the clutch of Night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I move in full
\nconsciousness of my immortality. I have not come to thy door as a
\nsupplicant, but as a conquering spirit conscious of my force. I have
\nsurvived \u2014 as you see \u2014 unslain, the clutch of this Darkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
My Spirit shall
\nbe Strong <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy first strong
\ngrief moves not my seated mind;
My unwept tears have turned to
\npearls of strength:
I have transformed my ill-shaped brittle clay
\n
Into the hardness of a statued soul.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNow in the wrestling
\nof the splendid gods
My spirit shall be obstinate and strong
\n
Against the vast refusals of the world.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"My initial
\nstrong grief does not move my firm mind; my unshed tears have turned
\ninto pearls of strength. I have transformed the brittle ill-formed
\nclay of my nature into the statued hardness of my soul. In combat
\nwith the splendid gods, my spirit shall now prove itself to be
\nenduring and strong and prevail against the vast denials of the
\nworld.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I Stoop Not <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI stoop not with the
\nsubject mob of minds
Who run to glean with eager satisfied hands
\n
And pick from its mire mid many trampling feet
Its scornful
\nsmall concessions to the weak.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I do not stoop
\nalong with the crowd of subjected men who rush to gather with eager
\ncontented hands from the mire of the world, mid all the blows and
\nkicks of life, the petty, contemptuous concessions offered to the
\nweak.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Labour of Gods <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMine is the labour
\nof the battling gods:
Imposing on the slow reluctant years
The
\nflaming will that reigns beyond the stars,
They lay the law of
\nMind on Matter\u2019s works
And win the soul\u2019s wish from earth\u2019s
\ninconscient force.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I labour like
\nthe gods who battle against the hosts of the Adversary; they struggle
\nand impose on the slow, unwilling cycles of time the flaming will of
\nthe Supreme that reigns above; they establish the law of Mind in the
\nfield of Matter and exact the fulfilment of the wish of the soul from
\nthe earth’s inconscient force.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I Demand what
\nSatyavan Desired <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFirst I demand
\nwhatever Satyavan,
My husband, waking in the forest\u2019s charm
\n
Out of his long pure childhood\u2019s lonely dreams,
Desired and
\nhad not for his beautiful life.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nGive, if thou must,
\nor if thou canst, refuse.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"First I demand
\nwhatever Satyavan, in his lonely childhood in the forest, may have
\ndreamed of and longed for but did not get. Give that, if thou must
\ngive, or refuse, if thou canst refuse."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death Assents <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath bowed his head
\nin scornful cold assent,
The builder of this dreamlike earth for
\nman
Who has mocked with vanity all gifts he gave.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath bows his head
\nin disdainful, cold assent \u2014Death who builds this dream-like earth
\nfor man and mocks at him by the ultimate futility of the gifts he
\ngives.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Boons given <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nUplifting his
\ndisastrous voice he spoke:
\u201cIndulgent to the dreams my touch
\nshall break,
I yield to his blind father\u2019s longing heart
\n
Kingdom and power and friends and greatness lost
And royal
\ntrappings for his peaceful age,
The pallid pomps of man\u2019s
\ndeclining days,
The silvered decadent glories of life\u2019s fall.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nRaising his
\ncalamitous voice, Death speaks:"I shall be indulgent to the
\ndreams that are normally broken by my touch. I yield to the desire of
\nSatyavan’s blind father for his kingdom, power, friends and
\ngreatness, all of which he has lost, \u2014 the royal regalia for his
\npeaceful old age, pale pomps of the waning days of man, the
\nembellished, decadent glories of the fall of life.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Sight given <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo one who wiser
\ngrew by adverse fate,
Goods I restore the deluded soul prefers
\n
To impersonal nothingness\u2019s bare sublime.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe sensuous solace
\nof the light I give
To eyes which could have found a larger
\nrealm,
A deeper vision in their fathomless night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Adverse fate
\nhad made him wiser. But now I shall restore to him all the goods that
\nthe soul in delusion prefers to the bare sublimity of an impersonal
\nnothingness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nTo his eyes which in
\ntheir blind darkness could have gained a realm larger and a vision
\ndeeper than what is open to normal seeing eyes, I grant the
\nsense-satisfying solace of light. He shall see.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Go back <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor that this man
\ndesired and asked in vain
While still he lived on earth and
\ncherished hope.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBack from the
\ngrandeur of my perilous realms
Go, mortal, to thy small permitted
\nsphere! <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHasten swift-footed,
\nlest to slay thy life
The great laws thou hast violated, moved,
\n
Open at last on thee their marble eyes.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"This is what
\nSatyavan had desired and hoped for when he lived on earth.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNow, O mortal, draw
\nback from my dangerous realms and return to the small sphere
\nlegitimate to thee. Hasten, lest the great laws that thou hast
\nviolabd strike at thee."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I Tremble not <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri answered
\nthe disdainful Shade:
\u201cWorld-spirit, I was thy equal spirit
\nborn. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI am immortal in my
\nmortality. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI tremble not before
\nthe immobile gaze
Of the unchanging marble hierarchies
That
\nlook with the stone eyes of Law and Fate.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy soul can meet
\nthem with its living fire.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri answers
\nthe contemptuous dark Shade:"O World-Spirit, I was born as a
\nspirit equal to thee. Even in my human mortality, I am immortal. I do
\nnot quake before the unmoving look of the unchanging, fixed
\nhierarchical Powers that administer Law and Fate unfeelingly. My soul
\ncan front them with its living fire.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Give back
\nSatyavan <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOut of thy shadow
\ngive me back again
Into earth\u2019s flowering spaces Satyavan
In
\nthe sweet transiency of human limbs
To do with him my spirit\u2019s
\nburning will. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI will bear with him
\nthe ancient Mother\u2019s load,
I will follow with him earth\u2019s
\npath that leads to God.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Give me back
\nSatyavan freed from thy dark grasp into the blossoming spaces of
\nearth, in the sweet, though transient, human form so that I may
\nfulfil with him the flaming will of my spirit. With him I shall bear
\nthe load of the ancient Mother, Nature, with him I shall follow
\nearth’s road leading to God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Else I shall
\nPursue <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nElse shall the
\neternal spaces open to me
While round us strange horizons far
\nrecede,
Travelling together the immense unknown.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor I who have trod
\nwith him the tracts of Time,
Can meet behind his steps whatever
\nnight
Or unimaginable stupendous dawn
Breaks on our spirits
\nin the untrod Beyond.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWherever thou leadst
\nhis soul I shall pursue.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"If thou wilt
\nnot give, then I shall tread the immortal spaces opening before me
\nwhile strange horizons recede away, travelling together with him this
\nimmensitude of the Unknown. With him I have walked the roads of Time
\nand I can, following his steps, meet whatever dark night or
\nunimaginable mighty dawn breaks upon our spirits in the untrodden
\nBeyond. Wherever thou leadest his soul, I shall pursue persistently."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her claim
\nOpposed <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut to her claim
\nopposed, implacable,
Insisting on the immutable Decree,
\n
Insisting on the immitigable Law
And the insignificance of
\ncreated things,
Out of the rolling wastes of night there came
\n
Born from the enigma of the unknowable depths
A voice of
\nmajesty and appalling scorn.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn answer, a
\nmajestic and scornful voice comes out of the unending wastes of the
\ndark, born from the mystery of the unknowable depths. It opposes her
\nclaim and insists upon the unchangeable Decree of Death, upon the
\nirreducibility of Law and upon the transience of created things.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Almighty cry of
\nDeath <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs when the
\nstorm-haired Titan-striding sea
Throws on a swimmer its
\ntremendous laugh
Remembering all the joy its waves had drowned,
\n
So from the darkness of the sovereign night
Against the
\nWoman\u2019s boundless heart arose
The almighty cry of universal
\nDeath: <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe all-powerful cry
\nof universal Death arises out of the darkness of the pervading night,
\nagainst the boundless heart of Savitri like the storm-tossed sea
\ncasting its tremendous wave of laughter on a swimmer, remembering all
\nthe joy of life its waves have drowned.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I Create and I
\nDestroy <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cHast thou
\ngod-wings or feet that tread my stars,
Frail creature with the
\ncourage that aspires,
Forgetting thy bounds of thought, thy
\nmortal role? <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTheir orbs were
\ncoiled before thy soul was formed.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI, Death, created
\nthem out of my void;
All things I have built in them and I
\ndestroy. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI made the worlds my
\nnet, each joy a mesh.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Hast thou the
\nwings of the gods or the feet that can tread my skies, O frail
\ncreature with courage that soars forgetful of the limits of thy
\nthought, of thy role that is mortal? Those bounds were forged before
\nthy soul was fashioned. I created them out of my void, within them I
\nhave built all things and within them I destroy. I have made the
\nworlds my net and every joy is a mesh of that net.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Flee <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA Hunger amorous of
\nits suffering prey,
Life that devours, my image see in things.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMortal, whose spirit
\nis my wandering breath,
Whose transience was imagined by my
\nsmile,
Flee clutching thy poor gains to thy trembling breast
\n
Pierced by my pangs Time shall not soon appease.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"A consuming
\nHunger’ that passionately loves its suffering prey, Life that eats up
\nthings in order to live \u2014this is my image everywhere; regard that.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nO mortal, my casual
\nbreath forms thy spirit; my smile fancies thy transience. Clutch to
\nthy quaking breast the poor gains I have given to thee and flee; thy
\nbreast pierced by my pangs cannot soon be healed by Time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Do not Awaken
\nthe Furies <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBlind slave of my
\ndeaf force whom I compel
To sin that I may punish, to desire
\n
That I may scourge thee with despair and grief
And thou come
\nbleeding to me at the last,
Thy nothingness recognised, my
\ngreatness known,
Turn nor attempt forbidden happy fields
Meant
\nfor the souls that can obey my law,
Lest in their sombre shrines
\nthy tread awake
From their uneasy iron-hearted sleep
The
\nFuries who avenge fulfilled desire.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Thou art a
\nblind slave of my deaf force, whom I compel to deviate so that I may
\npunish, whom I compel to desire so that I may whip thee with despair
\nand grief at the non-fulfilment of thy desire and thou be forced to
\ncome to me at last bleeding, recognising thy nothingness, knowing my
\ngreatness. Do not try to enter the happy realms that are meant only
\nfor the souls that observe my law in case thy footsteps might awaken
\nfrom their restless, stony, unfeeling sleep the spirits in their
\ndismal shrines who cannot tolerate and will avenge every desire that
\nis fulfilled.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Tireless Wrath <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDread lest in skies
\nwhere passion hoped to live,
The Unknown\u2019s lightnings start and
\nterrified,
Lone, sobbing, hunted by the hounds of heaven,
A
\nwounded and forsaken soul, thou flee
Through the long torture of
\nthe centuries,
Nor many lives exhaust the tireless Wrath
Hell
\ncannot slake nor heaven\u2019s mercy assuage.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Fear, lest
\ninstead of hopeful passion the lightnings of the Unknown start and
\nthou art compelled to flee, terrified, alone, sobbing, pursued by the
\nhounds of heaven, wounded and forsaken, through the long torture of
\ncenturies, under the unyielding Wrath that thou hast provoked which
\nmany lives cannot exhaust and even the sufferings of hell cannot
\nsatisfy nor the mercy of heaven lessen.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Depart in Peace <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI will take from
\nthee the black eternal grip:
Clasping in thy heart thy fate\u2019s
\nexiguous doles
Depart in peace, if peace for man is just.\u201d
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I shall remove
\nmy grip over thee. Grasp the pittance allowed by thy fate (which I
\ngovern) and go back in peace \u2014 if at all the human kind deserves
\npeace."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
God Imagined by
\nNight <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri answered
\nmeeting scorn with scorn,
The mortal woman to the dreadful Lord:
\n
\u201cWho is this God imagined by thy night,
Contemptuously
\ncreating worlds disdained,
Who made for vanity the brilliant
\nstars? <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri, the mortal
\nwoman replies to dreadful Death with equal scorn:"Who is this
\nGod concocted by thy darkness, who creates in contempt worlds that he
\nlooks down upon, who has formed these brilliant stars only to feed
\nhis vanity?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Not my God <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNot he who has
\nreared his temple in my thoughts
And made his sacred floor my
\nhuman heart. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy God is Will and
\ntriumphs in his paths,
My God is Love and sweetly suffers all.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nTo him I have
\noffered hope for sacrifice
And gave my longings as a sacrament.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWho shall prohibit
\nor hedge in his course,
The wonderful, the charioteer, the swift?
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Certainly that
\nis not the God who has built his temple in my thoughts and made of my
\nhuman heart his sacred floor. My God is Will that ever triumphs, my
\nGod is Love that suffers all happily. To him have I given my hope in,
\nsacrifice and my longings as a sacred ceremonial gesture. Who can
\nstop or limit his course, he who is the wonderful, the charioteer who
\nleads, the swift one?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
My God <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA traveller of the
\nmillion roads of life,
His steps familiar with the lights of
\nheaven
Tread without pain the sword-paved courts of hell;
There
\nhe descends to edge eternal joy.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLove\u2019s golden
\nwings have power to fan thy void:
The eyes of love gaze starlike
\nthrough death\u2019s night,
The feet of love tread naked hardest
\nworlds. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe labours in the
\ndepths, exults on the heights;
He shall remake thy universe, O
\nDeath.\u201d <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"My God travels
\non the myriad roads of life, equally familiar with the lights of
\nheaven and the sword-studded floors of hell which he walks without
\npain; he descends into hell to enhance by contrast his eternal joy.
\nThe golden wings of his Love have it in their power to soothe thy
\nvoid; his eyes of Love gaze like stars through thy dark night; his
\nfeet of Love tread bare the hardest worlds. He labours in the depths,
\nhe glories on the heights. My God shall re-form thy universe. O
\nDeath."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death Answers <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nShe spoke and for a
\nwhile no voice replied,
While still they travelled through the
\ntrackless night
And still that gleam was like a pallid eye
\n
Troubling the darkness with its doubtful gaze.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen once more came
\na deep and perilous pause
In that unreal journey through blind
\nNought;
Once more a Thought, a Word in the void arose
And
\nDeath made answer to the human soul:
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor a while no voice
\nreplies to Savitri. They go on journeying through that pathless dark
\nand that gleam, like a pale eye, continues to disturb the darkness
\nwith its hesitant gaze.Then once again there is a deep and dangerous
\npause in that unreal journey through the blind Nought. Once more
\narises a Thought, a Word in the void and Death answers the human soul
\nof Savitri.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Lure of Bliss <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u201cWhat is thy hope?
\nto what dost thou aspire?
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis is thy body\u2019s
\nsweetest lure of bliss,
Assailed by pain a frail precarious form,
\n
To please for a few years thy faltering sense
With honey of
\nphysical longings and the heart\u2019s fire
And a vain oneness
\nseeking to embrace
The brilliant idol of a fugitive hour.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"What dost thou
\nhope for, to what dost thou aspire?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThy body is but a
\nfrail precarious form attacked by pain. And its sweetest lure of
\nbliss is to seek to satisfy its stumbling sense for a few years with
\nthe honey of physical desires, the intensities of the heart and the
\nseeking of a vain feeling of oneness to last a glittering hour
\nsnatched from the jaws of death.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Thou a Glorious
\nDream <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd thou, what art
\nthou, soul, thou glorious dream
Of brief emotions made and
\nglittering thoughts,
A thin dance of fireflies speeding through
\nthe night,
A sparkling ferment in life\u2019s sunlit mire?
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"And what art
\nthou, O soul, but a glorious dream made of brief emotions and
\nglittering thoughts, a flimsy dance of fireflies fleeting through the
\nnight, a ferment that sparkles for a while in the sunlit mire of
\nlife?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death only Lasts
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWilt thou claim
\nimmortality, O heart,
Crying against the eternal witnesses
That
\nthou and he are endless powers and last?
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath only lasts and
\nthe inconscient Void.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI only am eternal
\nand endure. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Wilt thou
\nclaim to be immortal, O Savitri, proclaim before the eternal
\nwitnesses that thou and Satyavan are eternal powers and will last for
\never? Only Death lasts, the inconscient Void lasts.I, Death, only am
\neternal, I only endure.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I am He <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI am the shapeless
\nformidable Vast,
I am the emptiness that men call Space,
I am
\na timeless Nothingness carrying all,
I am the Illimitable, the
\nmute Alone. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI, Death, am He;
\nthere is no other God.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I am the
\nfeatureless, mighty Vast; I am the emptiness that goes by the name of
\nSpace; I am an eternal Nothingness carrying all; I am the Boundless,
\nthe silent Alone \u2014 nothing else exists. I, Death, am God. There is
\ntruly no other God.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death the
\nSupreme <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll from my depths
\nare born, they live by death;
All to my depths return and are no
\nmore. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI have made a world
\nby my inconscient Force.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy force is Nature
\nthat creates and slays
The hearts that hope, the limbs that long
\nto live. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI have made man her
\ninstrument and slave,
His body I made my banquet, his life my
\nfood. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMan has no other
\nhelp but only Death;
He comes to me at his end for rest and
\npeace. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"All are born
\nfrom my depths; all live by me; all return to my depths and cease. By
\nmy inconscient Force have I created this world. My force is Nature
\nthat creates and slays the hearts that dare to hope, the limbs that
\ndesire to live. I, Death, have made man the instrument and slave of
\nNature. I have made of his body my banquet, of his life my food. Man
\ncan find no other help except in death: at the end, he has to come to
\nme for rest and peace.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death thy Refuge
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI, Death, am the one
\nrefuge of thy soul.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe gods to whom man
\nprays can help not man;
They are my imaginations and my moods
\n
Reflected in him by illusion\u2019s power.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThat which thou
\nseest as thy immortal self
Is a shadowy icon of my infinite,
Is
\nDeath in thee dreaming of eternity.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"O Savitri,
\nknow that I am the ultimate refuge of thy soul. The gods to whom man
\nprays cannot help him; for the gods are only my imaginations, my
\nmoods reflected in man by the power of Maya, illusion, \u2014they do not
\nexist in fact. That which thou seest as thy immortal self is nothing
\nbut a shadowy image of my infinity; it is myself, Death, dreaming in
\nthee of eternity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I have no Form <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI am the Immobile in
\nwhich all things move,
I am the nude Inane in which they cease:
\n
I have no body and no tongue to speak,
I commune not with
\nhuman eye and ear;
Only thy thought gave a figure to my void.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBecause, O aspirant
\nto divinity,
Thou calledst me to wrestle with thy soul,
I
\nhave assumed a face, a form, a voice.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I am the
\nMoveless in which all moves, I am the bare emptiness in which all
\nceases. Body I have none, nor tongue to speak. The human eye cannot
\nsee me nor the human ear hear. It is thy thought which has given a
\nform to my void. O aspirant to divinity, because thou hast called me
\nfor combat with thy soul, I have assumed a face, a form, a voice; in
\ntruth I have none of these.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
The one Lives
\nfor ever <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut if there were a
\nbeing witnessing all,
How should he help thy passionate desire?
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAloof he watches
\nsole and absolute,
Indifferent to thy cry in nameless calm.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHis being is pure,
\nunwounded, motionless, one.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne endless watches
\nthe inconscient scene
Where all things perish, as the foam the
\nstars. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe One lives for
\never. \u2026 <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Even if there
\nwere a being witnessing all this that passes, how would he help thy
\npassionate desire? He watches aloof, alone, absolute, unmoved by thy
\ncry in his nameless calm. His being is pure, unscarred, unmoving,
\none.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA boundless One
\nwatches this inconscient scene where all perishes, where the stars
\nend up in foam. The One alone lives for ever.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
The alone <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n\u2026 There no
\nSatyavan
Changing was born and there no Savitri
Claims from
\nbrief life her bribe of joy. There love
Came never with his
\nfretful eyes of tears,
Nor Time is there nor the vain vasts of
\nSpace. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt wears no living
\nface, it has no name,
No gaze, no heart that throbs, it asks no
\nsecond
To aid its being or to share its joys.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is delight
\nimmortally alone.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"There where
\nthe One is, Satyavan of the changing form is not born nor is Savitri
\nthere claiming her bribe of joy from transient life. There love does
\nnot come with distressed tears; there neither Time nor Space exists.
\nThat one does not wear a living face, carries no name; it has neither
\nthe eyes that gaze nor the heart that throbs; it does not seek a
\npartner to aid it or to share its joys. It is a self-delight,
\nimmortal, alone.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Be alone <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf thou desirest
\nimmortality,
Be then alone sufficient to thy soul:
Live in
\nthyself; forget the man thou lov\u2019st.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nMy last grand death
\nshall rescue thee from life;
Then shalt thou rise into thy
\nunnamed source.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"Hence,
\nshouldst thou desire immortality, thou must be alone, sufficient to
\nthyself, living in thyself, for getting the man thou lovest. And when
\ndeath comes to thee \u2014 my last great act \u2014 it shall rescue thee
\nfrom thraldom to life and thou shalt ascend to thy nameless Source."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
I Reason not <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri replied
\nto the dread Voice:
\u201cO Death, who reasonest, I reason not,
\n
Reason that scans and breaks, but cannot build
Or builds in
\nvain because she doubts her work.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI am, I love, I see,
\nI act, I will.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri replies to
\nthe awesome Voice:"O Death, thou reasonest; I do not reason.
\nReason counts, measures and breaks up; she cannot build things; even
\nif she builds, what she builds cannot last because she goes on
\ndoubting while she works and thus her work is self-defeating. I am
\njust natural. I exist naturally, I love naturally, I see naturally, I
\nact naturally, I will naturally."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Cease to Love <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath answered her,
\none deep surrounding cry:
\u201cKnow also. Knowing, thou shalt cease
\nto love
And cease to will, delivered from thy heart,
So shalt
\nthou rest for ever and be still,
Consenting to the impermanence
\nof things.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath replies with a
\ndeep cry that echoes round her:"That is not enough. Thou must
\nalso know the truth of things. When thou knowest, then shalt thou
\ncease to love and cease to will \u2014 knowing that it is vain to do so
\n\u2014 and thus absolved from the impulsions of the heart, thou shalt
\nrest for ever and be still, accepting the transience of all things."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Love Knows <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Savitri replied
\nfor man to Death:
\u201cWhen I have loved for ever, I shall know.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nLove in me knows the
\ntruth all changings mask.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI know that
\nknowledge is a vast embrace:
I know that every being is myself,
\n
In every heart is hidden the myriad One.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri replies to
\nDeath on behalf of mankind:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n"True, I should
\nknow. But I shall truly know only when I have loved for ever. The
\nlove in me knows the real truth that is veiled by all the changes
\nthat take place.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nI know that
\nknowledge comprehends all in a vast embrace. I know well that there
\nis no real division between myself and others; every being is
\nessentially myself. For in every one, in each heart is concealed the
\nmanifold one.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
My coming a Wave
\nfrom God <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI know the calm
\nTranscendent bears the world,
The veiled Inhabitant, the silent
\nLord:
I feel his secret act, his intimate fire;
I hear the
\nmurmur of the cosmic Voice.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nI know my coming was
\na wave from God.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nFor all his suns
\nwere conscient in my birth,
And one who loves in us came veiled
\nby death. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThen man was born
\namong the monstrous stars
Dowered with a mind and heart to
\nconquer thee.\u201d
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\n"I know too
\nthat the calm Transcendent above bears this world; he is the veiled
\nInhabitant here in each form; he is the silent Lord of all. I feel
\nhis secret action, his intimate fire of will; I hear the sound of his
\nVoice pervading the Cosmos.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nI know that my
\ncoming to earth was a surge from the Being of God; for all his suns \u2014
\ncentres of his radiation \u2014 were conscious when I was born; and he
\nwho loves all came in us veiled by death. It was then that man was
\nborn among these huge stellar systems, endowed with a mind and heart
\nthat would help to conquer thee, O Death."<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death answers
\nNot <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn the eternity of
\nhis ruthless will
Sure of his empire and his armoured might,
\n
Like one disdaining violent helpless words
From victim lips
\nDeath answered not again.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSure of his empire
\nand his mailed strength, in the constancy of his ruthless will, Death
\ndoes not answer again like one who scorns the violent but helpless
\nwords of protest from his victim.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
His Sombre Face <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe stood in silence
\nand in darkness wrapped,
A figure motionless, a shadow vague,
\n
Girt with the terrors of his secret sword.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHalf-seen in clouds
\nappeared a sombre face;
Night\u2019s dusk tiara was his matted hair,
\n
The ashes of the pyre his forehead\u2019s sign.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHe stands there
\nsilent, wrapped in darkness \u2014 a motionless figure, a vague shadow,
\nemanating the terrors of his secret sword. His dismal face is
\nhalf-seen in the clouds; night’s dusk forms, as it were, a crown on
\nhis matted hair and the ashes of the pyre, the sign on his forehead,
\nbhasma.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Journey Resumed <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnce more a Wanderer
\nin the unending Night,
Blindly forbidden by dead vacant eyes,
\n
She travelled through the dumb unhoping vasts.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAround her rolled
\nthe shuddering waste of gloom,
Its swallowing emptiness and
\njoyless death
Resentful of her thought and life and love.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThrough the long
\nfading night by her compelled,
Gliding half-seen on their
\nunearthly path,
Phantasmal in the dimness moved the three.
\n <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOnce again Savitri
\ntravels through those dumb hope-bereft vasts, in the endless Night,
\nthough forbidden blindly by dead vacant eyes around. All around her
\nrolls the shudder-causing waste of gloom, its engulfing emptiness and
\nchill death, resenting her thought and life and love.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThe three of them \u2014
\nSatyavan, Death and Savitri \u2014 move on in that dimness, phantomlike,
\ncompelled by the will of Savitri, through the long fading night,
\ngliding half-seen on their unearthly path.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n


\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-10887","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\/10887","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=10887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11135,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10887\/revisions\/11135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}