{"id":10890,"date":"2014-07-16T13:26:16","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T20:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saa.santansoftwaresystems.com\/?p=10890"},"modified":"2014-12-07T01:45:04","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T09:45:04","slug":"savitri-study-book-10-canto-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/savitri-study\/book-10-savitri-study\/savitri-study-book-10-canto-1","title":{"rendered":"Savitri-study-Book-10-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 Ten. The Book of the Double Twilight<\/p>\n

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

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

\n
\n
\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tBook Ten<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\nThe Book of the Double Twilight<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n
\n


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


\nThe
\nDream Twilight of the Ideal<\/B><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSummary
In this
\nland of Nought they drift without goal through dumb wastes. An
\neffective beam of light follows them. It is as if Savitri has to pay
\nfor the sin of having presumed to live and to think, for having dared
\nto will to be divine. In that formidable darkness she atones for the
\noriginal revolt of Consciousness in Nature that broke the seal of the
\nsleep of Inconscience. She is condemned to wander through eternal
\nNight.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nBut Maya is only a
\nveil of the Absolute; an occult Truth has made this great world.
\nThere is an Intelligence that works through the paradox of
\ncontraries. By Light we come and to the Light we go.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSlowly the Darkness
\npales and the struggling Dawn appears. Savitri finds herself in a new
\nhappy twilit world where everything is vague \u2014 vague scenes, vague
\nspirits, vague melodies, elusive forms. Nothing is fixed, nothing
\nstays. And yet there is a strange consistency of shapes. There is a
\nsweetness and an appeal that are unearthly. It is a world of
\nenchantment and strange fleeting joys.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nSavitri walks
\nthrough this realm besieged by bodiless touches, alluring cries,
\nimpinging thoughts and unhurting desires. Satyavan is there as the
\ncentre of this charm. Even the dreadful majesty of Death’s face does
\nnot affect this intangible lustre of the skies. Savitri almost seems
\nto be as slight as a thought mid floating thoughts. But she possesses
\nher soul throughout. Her spirit above watches all and lives on for
\nits high task, immutable like a fixed eternal star.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Walk in the Land
\nof Nought <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll still was
\ndarkness dread and desolate;
There was no change nor any hope of
\nchange. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this black dream
\nwhich was a house of Void,
A walk to Nowhere in a land of Nought,
\n
Ever they drifted without aim or goal;
Gloom led to worse
\ngloom, death to an emptier death,
In some positive Non-Being\u2019s
\npurposeless Vast
Through formless wastes dumb and unknowable. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll is darkness,
\ndreary and dreadful. Still there is no change, and no prospect of
\nchange. They drift without direction or goal in that black dream-like
\nstate which is verily a house of Void; it is a walk to Nowhere in the
\nland of Nothingness. Gloom leads to worse gloom, death to still more
\nempty death in that aimless Vast of some impacting Non-Being, through
\nwastes that are formless, voiceless and unknowable.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Beam of
\nSuffering Light <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn ineffectual beam
\nof suffering light
Through the despairing darkness dogged their
\nsteps
Like the remembrance of a glory lost;
Even while it
\ngrew, it seemed unreal there,
Yet haunted Nihil\u2019s chill
\nstupendous realm,
Unquenchable, perpetual, lonely, null,
A
\npallid ghost of some dead eternity. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThrough all the
\ndespairing darkness, an effective beam of light, suffering under the
\npressure of that darkness, follows their steps like the memory of a
\nlost glory. Even as the beam grows, it seems unreal in that setting;
\nyet it haunts that chill stupendous realm of Nihil, unquenchable,
\nconstant, alone, unreal, a pale surviving ghost of some eternity that
\nis dead.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her Original Sin
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt was as if she
\nmust pay now her debt,
Her vain presumption to exist and think,
\n
To some brilliant Maya that conceived her soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis most she must
\nabsolve with endless pangs,
Her deep original sin, the will to be
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIt is as though
\nSavitri has now to pay her debt to some Maya (Illusion) that
\nconceived her soul, for her vain temerity to exist and think,
\nforgetting that she does not in fact exist at all. But that which she
\nhas to atone for most, by endless pangs of suffering, is her deep
\noriginal sin of having determined to be, to exist.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Her Last And
\nGreatest Sin <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAnd the sin last,
\ngreatest, the spiritual pride,
That, made of dust, equalled
\nitself with heaven,
Its scorn of the worm writhing in the mud,
\n
Condemned, ephemeral, born from Nature\u2019s dream,
Refusal of
\nthe transient creature\u2019s role,
The claim to be a living fire of
\nGod,
The will to be immortal and divine. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIf the will to be
\nwas her original sin, her last and her greatest sin has been her
\nspiritual pride. Though made of earthly dust, she has dared to equal
\nherself with heaven, scornful of the lowly creatures writhing in the
\ncommon mud; born of Nature’s dream and hence transient and condemned,
\nshe has refused to accept for herself their fleeting role, has
\nclaimed to be a living fire of God, and entertained the will to be
\ndivine and immortal.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
She Atones For
\nAll <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that tremendous
\ndarkness heavy and bare
She atoned for all since the first act
\nwhence sprang
The error of the consciousness of Time,
The
\nrending of the Inconscient\u2019s seal of sleep,
The primal and
\nunpardoned revolt that broke
The peace and silence of the
\nNothingness
Which was before a seeming universe
Appeared in a
\nvanity of imagined space
And life arose engendering grief and
\npain: <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that bare, heavy
\nand formidable darkness, Savitri atones for the sin that all have
\ncommitted since that first act that gave room to the error of
\nbecoming aware of Tune, the breaking of the seals of the sleep of the
\nInconscient \u2014 that first and unforgiven revolt which broke the
\npeace and silence of the Nothingness that had prevailed before an
\nunreal but seeming universe appeared in the illusion of an imaginary
\nspace and life awoke begetting all consequent grief and pain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Great Negation <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA great Negation was
\nthe Real\u2019s face
Prohibiting the vain process of Time:
And
\nwhen there is no world, no creature more,
When Time\u2019s intrusion
\nhas been blotted out,
It shall last, unbodied, saved from
\nthought, at peace. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA great Nihil was
\nthe original appearance of the Real; and this gave no room for the
\nvain movement of Time. And the same shall be when this world is gone
\nand no more creature is left, when the temporary intrusion of Time
\nwill have been erased. The Negation alone shall survive, without
\nforms, free from thought, at peace.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Through Eternal
\nNight <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAccursed in what had
\nbeen her godhead source,
Condemned to live for ever empty of
\nbliss,
Her immortality her chastisement,
Her spirit, guilty
\nof being, wandered doomed,
Moving for ever through eternal Night.
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri is made to
\nfeel guilty for daring to exist; the fact of her source in divinity
\nis made to appear a curse; she is condemned to live bereft of bliss
\nfor ever; her innate immortality seems to have invited punishment.
\nThus exposed, Savitri’s spirit wanders endlessly, under the shadow of
\ndoom through the pervading, eternal Darkness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Maya is a Veil <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut Maya is a veil
\nof the Absolute;
A Truth occult has made this mighty world:
The
\nEternal\u2019s wisdom and self-knowledge act
In ignorant Mind and in
\nthe body\u2019s steps. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe Inconscient is
\nthe Superconscient\u2019s sleep. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut this imposing
\nMaya is only a veil, a front of the Absolute Reality. An unseen Truth
\nhas made this mighty world; Maya, Illusion, is not its origin. In the
\nmovements of the ignorant Mind and the pacings of the physical body
\nit is the wisdom and the self-knowledge of the Eternal Being that
\nact. What appears inconscient is only a sleep, a state of dormancy of
\nthe Superconscient.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Intelligence at
\nWork <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn unintelligible
\nIntelligence
Invents creation\u2019s paradox profound;
Spiritual
\nthought is crammed in Matter\u2019s forms,
Unseen it throws out a
\ndumb energy
And works a miracle by a machine. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn Intelligence that
\nis beyond the understanding of the mind poses this profound paradox
\nof contraries in creation. Spiritual thought is packed in forms of
\nMatter. From this unseen Spirit-fount springs a dumb material energy
\nwhich effects a miracle by its mechanical action.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Mystery of
\nContrarie <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll here is a
\nmystery of contraries:
Darkness a magic of self-hidden light,
\n
Suffering some secret rapture\u2019s tragic mask
And death an
\ninstrument of perpetual life. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere in this world
\nall is a mysterious play of opposites. Darkness is some magic of
\nself-concealed light, suffering only an unhappy mask of a secret
\nrapture and death an instrument, a process, of eternal life affirming
\nitself.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nAlthough Death walks
\nbeside us on Life\u2019s road,
A dim bystander at the body\u2019s start
\n
And a last judgment on man\u2019s futile works,
Other is the
\nriddle of its ambiguous face:
Death is a stair, a door, a
\nstumbling stride
The soul must take to cross from birth to birth,
\n
A grey defeat pregnant with victory,
A whip to lash us
\ntowards our deathless state. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nDeath is constantly
\nby our side in our journey of life: at the very start of the body’s
\nbirth, death is present in a vague form and it is the ultimate end of
\nthe vain life-activities of man. This is the appearance, but the
\ntruth of its real nature is different. Death is a passage, a ladder,
\na door, a precipitous step across that the soul must take to journey
\nfrom birth to birth; it is a dismal defeat but holds in itself the
\npromise of victory; it is a whip goading us to reach our real
\nimmortal state; through a long passage punctuated with death, the
\nsoul arrives at immortality.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Night our Dark
\nMother <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe inconscient
\nworld is the spirit\u2019s self-made room,
Eternal Night shadow of
\neternal Day. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nNight is not our
\nbeginning nor our end;
She is the dark Mother in whose womb we
\nhave hid
Safe from too swift a waking to world-pain. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThis world that is
\ninconscient at its base is a self-projection of the spirit. Eternal
\nNight is only a shadow of eternal Day. Night, Darkness, is neither
\nour beginning nor our end. She is, as it were, our dark Mother in
\nwhose womb we have hidden ourselves lest we wake up too soon to the
\nworld-pain around.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Light Conquers <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWe came to her from
\na supernal Light,
By Light we live and to the Light we go. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere in this seat of
\nDarkness mute and lone,
In the heart of everlasting Nothingness
\n
Light conquered now even by that feeble beam:
Its faint
\ninfiltration drilled the blind deaf mass;
Almost it changed into
\na glimmering sight
That housed the phantom of an aureate Sun
\n
Whose orb pupilled the eye of Nothingness. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nWe have come to the
\ndark Mother from a Light beyond; we are able to live because of the
\nLight and we move towards the Light.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nNow here in the
\npresent condition when Savitri is journeying through the eternal
\nNight, dumb and lone, in the very heart of unending Nothingness, the
\nLight gains over the Darkness even by a single weak beam. The faint
\nand steady entry of that beam makes holes in the pervading, unseeing
\nand unhearing mass of darkness. It almost changes into a glimmer of a
\nphantom golden Sun looking like the eye of that Nothingness.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nA golden fire came
\nin and burnt Night\u2019s heart;
Her dusky mindlessness began to
\ndream;
The Inconscient conscious grew, Night felt and thought. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAssailed in the
\nsovereign emptiness of its reign
The intolerant Darkness paled
\nand drew apart
Till only a few black remnants stained that Ray. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA golden fire comes
\nin and sets on flame Night’s heart. Her dark mindlessness begins to
\ndream; the Inconscient grows conscious, Night begins to feel and
\nthink. Then invaded in the pervading vacancy of her reign, the severe
\nDarkness pales and withdraws till only a few black vestiges remain
\nstaining that Ray of Light.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nBut on a failing
\nedge of dumb lost space
Still a great dragon body sullenly
\nloomed;
Adversary of the slow struggling Dawn
Defending its
\nground of tortured mystery,
It trailed its coils through the dead
\nmartyred air
And curving fled down a grey slope of Time. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut the vast
\nDarkness still looms on the receding edge of some unknown Space. This
\nopponent of the Dawn that is slowly struggling to be born, is
\ndefending its ground of dark and twisted mystery that is now being
\nassailed. Slowly through that dead martyred’ air, the dragon of
\nDarkness trails its coils and flees along a grey slope of Time.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nMartyred because it
\nhas died by being the forerunner of light.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Dawn of the Gods
\n<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is a morning
\ntwilight of the gods;
Miraculous from sleep their forms arise
\n
And God\u2019s long nights are justified by dawn. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere breaks a
\npassion and splendour of new birth
And hue-winged visions stray
\nacross the lids,
The dreaming deities look beyond the seen
And
\nfashion in their thoughts the ideal worlds
Sprung from a
\nlimitless moment of desire
That once had lodged in some abysmal
\nheart. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBefore the dawn of
\ncreation there is the hour of the awakening of the gods when they
\narise miraculously from their deep sleep. The periods of sleep
\nprepare for the coming dawn; thus are the long nights of darkness
\njustified.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nA passion and
\nsplendour of new birth breaks out and colourful visions float before
\nthe eyes of the gods; they look beyond the apparent scenes and in
\ntheir pregnant thoughts, they fashion the ideal worlds that issue
\nfrom a boundless moment of desire \u2014 the desire that originally rose
\nin the fathomless heart of the Transcendent Godhead.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThis Desire’ is at
\nthe root of creation.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Happy Twilit
\nWorld <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPassed was the
\nheaviness of the eyeless dark
And all the sorrow of the night was
\ndead:
Surprised by a blind joy with groping hands
Like one
\nwho wakes to find his dreams were true,
Into a happy misty twilit
\nworld
Where all ran after light and joy and love
She slipped;
\nthere far-off raptures drew more close
And deep anticipations of
\ndelight
For ever eager to be grasped and held,
Were never
\ngrasped, yet breathed strange ecstasy. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe heaviness of the
\ndark Night is no more; all its sorrow is dead. Savitri is surprised
\nby a blind joy and feels about like a person who wakes up to find
\nthat his dreams are happily true. She slips into a happy and vague
\nworld of twilight where all pursue light, joy and love. Distant
\nraptures draw close; deep anticipations of delight offer themselves
\nto be grasped but are never grasped and yet they breathe a strange
\necstasy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Vague Fields <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA pearl-winged
\nindistinctness fleeting swam,
An air that dared not suffer too
\nmuch light. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nVague fields were
\nthere, vague pastures gleaned, vague trees,
Vague scenes
\ndim-hearted in a drifting haze;
Vague cattle white roamed
\nglimmering through the mist;
Vague spirits wandered with a
\nbodiless cry,
Vague melodies touched the soul and fled pursued
\n
Into harmonious distances unseized; <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThere is a fleeting
\nand softly glowing indistinctness everywhere; it is an air that
\ncannot bear too much light. Everything is vague; vague fields, vague
\npastures, vague trees, vague shifting scenes, vague white cattle
\nroaming glistening in the mist, vague spirits wandering with an
\nunseizable cry, vague melodies touching the soul but fleeing into
\ndistant harmonies when pursued in vain.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Elusive Forms <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nForms subtly elusive
\nand half-luminous powers
Wishing no goal for their unearthly
\ncourse
Strayed happily through vague ideal lands
Or floated
\nwithout footing or their walk
Left steps of reverie on sweet
\nmemory\u2019s ground;
Or they paced to the mighty measure of their
\nthoughts
Led by a low far chanting of the gods. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSubtle, elusive
\nforms, half-luminous powers, with no goal for their strange,
\nunearthly course, wander happily through these vague ideal lands;
\nthey float without treading; or they walk in reverie recalling sweet
\nmemories; or they pace to the great rhythms of their thoughts led by
\na low, distant intoning of the gods.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Half-Heard
\nLowings <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA ripple of gleaming
\nwings crossed the far sky;
Birds like pale-bosomed imaginations
\nflew
With low disturbing voices of desire,
And half-heard
\nlowings drew the listening ear,
As if the Sun-god\u2019s brilliant
\nkine were there
Hidden in mist and passing towards the sun. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA wave of shining
\nbirds crosses the far skies \u2014 birds like pale imaginations, with
\nlow disturbing voices of desire. Indistinct lowings attract the ear,
\nas though the brilliant herds of the Sun-god were there, hidden in
\nmist and passing towards the sun.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Nothing Fixed <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese fugitive
\nbeings, these elusive shapes
Were all that claimed the eye and
\nmet the soul,
The natural inhabitants of that world. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBut nothing there
\nwas fixed or stayed for long;
No mortal feet could rest upon that
\nsoil,
No breath of life lingered embodied there. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese fugitive
\nbeings and these elusive forms are all that the eye sees and the soul
\nmeets in this realm. They are the natural denizens of this world.
\nNothing is fixed or stays for long. No mortal can stand upon this
\nsoil, no embodied life can last here.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Fine Chaos <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that fine chaos
\njoy fled dancing past
And beauty evaded settled line and form
\n
And hid its sense in mysteries of hue;
Yet gladness ever
\nrepeated the same notes
And gave the sense of an enduring world; <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn that chaotic
\nrealm joy flees dancing away; beauty avoids fixed line and form and
\nhides its presence in changing hues; yet gladness there ever repeats
\nthe same notes and thus creates the illusion of a permanent world.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nThere was a strange
\nconsistency of shapes,
And the same thoughts were constant
\npassers-by
And all renewed unendingly its charm
Alluring ever
\nthe expectant heart
Like music that one always waits to hear
\n
Like the recurrence of a haunting rhyme. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThough not fixed,
\nshapes recur with a strange consistency, while the same thoughts
\nconstantly pass by; everything renews its charm again and again,
\ndrawing the expectant heart like music that one longs to hear, like
\nthe repetition of a rhyme that haunts.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Call to Magic
\nHeaven <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne touched
\nincessantly things never seized,
A skirt of worlds invisibly
\ndivine. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs if a trail of
\ndisappearing stars
There showered upon the floating atmosphere
\n
Colours and lights and evanescent gleams
That called to
\nfollow into magic heaven,
And in each cry that fainted on the ear
\n
There was the voice of an unrealised bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere one touches but
\nis never able to seize anything; it is a hem of worlds that are felt
\nto be divine but not quite seen. Like a line of disappearing stars,
\nthere is a shower upon the floating air of colours, lights and
\nfleeting gleams that invite one to follow them to some strange
\nheaven; in each faint cry that the ear catches there is the note of a
\nbliss unrealised.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Elusive Beauty
\nand Delight <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn adoration reigned
\nin the yearning heart,
A spirit of purity, an elusive presence
\n
Of faery beauty and ungrasped delight
Whose momentary and
\nescaping thrill,
However unsubstantial to our flesh,
And
\nbrief even in imperishableness,
Much sweeter seemed than any
\nrapture known
Earth or all-conquering heaven can ever give. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAn adoration
\npervades the aspiring heart. There is a spirit of purity, and eluding
\npresence of unearthly beauty and ungrasped delight whose thrill,
\nthough momentary and always escaping our hold, though vague to our
\nsenses and though brief even in its imperishable quality, seems to be
\nmuch more sweet than any rapture known by us, any rapture that earth
\nor the supreme heaven can ever give.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Immortality of
\nHeaven and Earth <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHeaven ever young
\nand earth too firm and old
Delay the heart by immobility:
Their
\nraptures of creation last too long,
Their bold formations are too
\nabsolute;
Carved by an anguish of divine endeavour
They stand
\nup sculptured on the eternal hills,
Or quarried from the living
\nrocks of God
Win immortality by perfect form. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nBoth heaven which is
\never young and earth which is too old and fixed, delay the aspiring
\nheart by their immobility. Their delights of creation are too long.
\nTheir strong formations are too concrete and unchanging; shaped by
\nthe toils of a divine effort they are there permanently chiselled on
\nthe eternal hills of Nature; or excavated and dug up from the living
\nrocks of God, they are immortal in their perfect form.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
They are too
\nGreat <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThey are too
\nintimate with eternal things:
Vessels of infinite significances,
\n
They are too clear, too great, too meaningful;
No mist or
\nshadow soothes the vanquished sight,
No soft penumbra of
\nincertitude. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese formations are
\ntoo close to what is eternal. They carry boundless significance, they
\nare too clear-cut, too great, too full of meaning. Neither mist nor
\nshadow is about them to comfort the helpless vision, nor is there any
\nshade of incertitude.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Touch the Hem of
\nBliss <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThese only touch a
\ngolden hem of bliss,
The gleaming shoulder of some godlike hope,
\n
The flying feet of exquisite desires. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe things of this
\ntwilight world, however, touch only the bright hem of a supernal
\nBliss, brush against some shining godlike hope, draw awhile the
\nfleeting company of keen desires.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
On a Brink
\nbetween Night and Day <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOn a slow trembling
\nbrink between night and day
They shone like visitants from the
\nmorning star,
Satisfied beginnings of perfection, first
\n
Tremulous imaginings of a heavenly world:
They mingle in a
\npassion of pursuit,
Thrilled with a spray of joy too slight to
\ntire. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThey glisten, on the
\ntremulous border between night and day, like visitors from another
\nplanet contented beginnings of a perfection to come, the first vague
\nimaginations of a heavenly world. They mingle with each other in an
\nintensity of pursuit \u2014 they are ever fleeting \u2014, vibrating with a
\nsparkle of joy that is too light to be fatigued.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
All Shadowed,
\nnot Limned <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll in this world
\nwas shadowed forth, not limned,
Like faces leaping on a fan of
\nfire
Or shapes of wonder in a tinted blur,
Like fugitive
\nlandscapes painting silver mists. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHere vision fled
\nback from the sight alarmed,
And sound sought refuge from the
\near\u2019s surprise,
And all experience was a hasty joy. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this twilight
\nworld all is shadowy, nothing is dearly outlined \u2014 like figures
\ndancing on a sheet of fire or wondrous forms shaping in a hued blur,
\nor fleeting landscapes appearing as paintings on the silvery mists.
\nHere vision flees in alarm before the eye, sound ebbs away from the
\ngrasp of the ear, all experience is a hurried and fleeting joy.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Tremblings in
\nExpectation <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe joys here
\nsnatched were half-forbidden things,
Timorous soul-bridals
\ndelicately veiled
As when a goddess\u2019 bosom dimly moves
To
\nfirst desire and her white soul transfigured,
A glimmering Eden
\ncrossed by fairy gleams,
Trembles to expectation\u2019s fiery wand,
\n
But nothing is familiar yet with bliss. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe joys snatched in
\nthis realm are half-forbidden things. All are hesitant movements of
\nsoul felicity behind delicate veils. They are like the timid
\nthrillings of a goddess to the first advent of desire and the
\ntransmuting yieldings of her pure white soul which is like a
\nshimmering heaven crossed by rays of fairy gleams trembling in fiery
\nexpectation but not yet knowing real bliss.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
All is Strange <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll things in this
\nfair realm were heavenly strange
In a fleeting gladness of
\nuntired delight,
In an insistency of magic change. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAll is heavenly
\nstrange in this realm: there is a fleeting felicity of unflagging
\ndelight, there is a compulsion of magical change.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


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


\nPast vanishing
\nhedges, hurrying hints of fields,
Mid swift escaping lanes that
\nfled her feet
Journeying she wished no end: as one through clouds
\n
Travels upon a mountain ridge and hears
Arising to him out of
\nhidden depths
Sound of invisible streams, she walked besieged
By
\nthe illusion of a mystic space,
A charm of bodiless touches felt
\nand heard
A sweetness as of voices high and dim
Calling like
\ntravellers upon seeking winds
Melodiously with an alluring cry. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nSavitri journeys
\npast disappearing hedges and glimpses of fields rapidly passing
\namidst lanes that seem to flee beneath her feet; she has no wish to
\nend her journey through this enchanting realm. She walks surrounded
\nby the illusion of a mystic space like one walking through clouds
\nupon a mountain-slope and hearing the sound of unseen streams arising
\nout of unseen depths. She feels the charm of formless touches upon
\nherself, and hears sweet sounds like that of high and dim voices
\narising from the crest of questing winds and calling melodiously with
\na captivating cry.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Clinging
\nthoughts Andsinging Desires <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAs if a music old
\nyet ever new,
Moving suggestions on her heart-strings dwelt,
\n
Thoughts that no habitation found, yet clung
With passionate
\nrepetition to her mind,
Desires that hurt not, happy only to live
\n
Always the same and always unfulfilled
Sang in the breast
\nlike a celestial lyre. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThus all could last,
\nyet nothing ever be. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPassing suggestions
\ntouch her heart-strings like some music old and yet always fresh,
\nthoughts \u2014 though not finding a lodging in her \u2014 cling to her
\nmind passionately repeating themselves; desires that do not hurt and
\nare happy to be only allowed to live \u2014 ever the same and ever
\nunfulfilled \u2014 sing in her breast like a heavenly lyre.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\nThus all can
\ncontinue to last and yet nothing can ever be.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Satyavan Centre
\nof the Charm <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this beauty as of
\nmind made visible,
Dressed in its rays of wonder Satyavan
Before
\nher seemed the centre of its charm,
Head of her loveliness of
\nlonging dreams
And captain of the fancies of her soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nIn this beauty which
\nseems as though it were the invisible beauty of mind made visible,
\nSatyavan dressed in its wondrous rays appears before her as the very
\ncentre of its charm, the source of the loveliness of her longing
\ndreams and the captain of the fancies of her soul.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Death cannot
\nDarken <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven the dreadful
\nmajesty of Death\u2019s face
And its sombre sadness could not darken
\nnor slay
The intangible lustre of those fleeting skies. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nEven the fearful
\ngrandeur of Death’s face and its dismal sadness cannot darken or slay
\nthe impalpable lustre of these fleeting skies.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Beauty and
\nLaughter made Imperative <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe sombre Shadow
\nsullen, implacable
Made beauty and laughter more imperative;
\n
Enhanced by his grey, joy grew more bright and dear;
His dark
\ncontrast edging ideal sight
Deepened unuttered meanings to the
\nheart;
Pain grew a trembling undertone of bliss
And
\ntransience immortality\u2019s floating hem,
A moment\u2019s robe in
\nwhich she looked more fair,
Its antithesis sharpening her
\ndivinity. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nThe sombre Shadow
\nthat is Death, sullen and unappeasable, makes beauty and laughter all
\nthe more indispensable; heightened by his dismal air, joy grows
\nbrighter and yet more sweet; his dark contrast against the ideal
\nvision prevailing here deepens the unexpressed meanings of things to
\nthe heart; pain grows into a vibrating undertone of bliss; transience
\nis the floating edge of immortality, a robe of the moment in which
\nshe (immortality) looks more fair, the very contrast (of transience)
\nthrowing into bold relief her divinity.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri almost a
\nThought <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA comrade of the Ray
\nand Mist and Flame,
By a moon-bright face a brilliant moment
\ndrawn,
Almost she seemed a thought mid floating thoughts,
Seen
\nhardly by a visionary mind
Amid the white inward musings of the
\nsoul <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nA companion of the
\nRay of Truth and the Flame of Will and the Mist of the Ineffable,
\nSavitri \u2014 with her moon-bright face looking like a picture drawn in
\na brilliant moment \u2014 seems to be as intangible as a thought amidst
\nfloating thoughts, hardly glimpsed by a mind in reverie, amidst the
\npure white inward musings of the soul.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n
Savitri
\nPossesses her Soul <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nHalf-vanquished by
\nthe dream-happiness around,
Awhile she moved on an enchantment\u2019s
\nsoil,
But still remained possessor of her soul. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nAbove, her spirit in
\nits mighty trance
Saw all, but lived for its transcendent task,
\n
Immutable like a fixed eternal star. <\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n<\/P>
\n


\nPartly overcome by
\nthe dream-like happiness around her, Savitri moves for a while in
\nthat world of enchantment; but she continues to be in possession of
\nher soul. She is not lost in the enchantment. Above her is her spirit
\nunmoving like a fixed eternal star in its mighty trance, it sees all
\nbut lives aloof for its high task.<\/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 Ten. The Book of the Double Twilight Canto I   Canto…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-10-savitri-study","wpcat-240-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890","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=10890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11127,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions\/11127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}