{"id":1499,"date":"2013-07-13T01:35:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:35:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:15","slug":"42-the-meditations-of-mandavya-vol-05-collected-poems-volume-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/05-collected-poems-volume-05\/42-the-meditations-of-mandavya-vol-05-collected-poems-volume-05","title":{"rendered":"-42_The Meditations of Mandavya.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\n
\nThe
\nMeditations of Mandavya<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nONE<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n


\nO
\njoy of gaining all the soul\u2019s desire!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\nstranger joy of the defeat and loss!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\nheart that yearnest to uplift the world!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\nfiercer heart that bendest o\u2019er its pain<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\ndrinkst the savour!  I will love thee, O Love,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Naked
\nor veiled or dreadfully disguised;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Not
\nonly when thou flatterest my heart<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nwhen thou tearst it!  Thy sweet pity I love<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nmother\u2019s care for creatures, for the joys<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nlove thee that the lives of things possess,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nlove thee for the torment of our pains;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor
\ncry, as some, against thy will, nor say,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thou
\nart not.  Easy is the love that lasts<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Only
\nwith favours in the shopman heart!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Who,
\ntortured, takes and gives the kiss, he loves.
\n  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                     <\/span><\/p>\n

\nBlue-winged
\nlike turquoise, crimson-throated, beaked,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Enormous,
\nfluttering over the garden wall<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thou
\ncam\u2019st to me; some moments on a bough<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wast
\nperched, then flewst away, leaving my heart<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Enchanted. 
\nIt was as if thou saidst, \u201cBehold, my love,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

How
\nbeautiful I am!  To show thee this,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\ncame, my beauty. Now I flee away<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Since
\nthou hast seen and lov\u2019st.\u201d  So dealst thou always,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Luring
\nand fleeing; but our hearts pursue.
\n  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       <\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhile
\non a terrace hushed I walked at night,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

He
\ncame and stung my foot. My soul surprised<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Rejoiced
\nin lover\u2019s contact; but the mind<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thought
\nof a scorpion and was snared by forms.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Still,
\nstill my soul remembered its delight.
\n 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-86<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Denying
\n<\/span>mind, and midst the body\u2019s
\npain,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\nI
\nlaughed contented.
\n <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

All
\nis attained, attained! The pain is dead,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nstriving. <\/i>O thou joy that since this world<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Began,
\nwast waiting for me in thy lair.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\nWild Beast of the ways! Thou tearst my soul<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

With
\nrapture, O thou fierce delightful God.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\ncruelly divine! O pity fierce!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

O
\ntimeless rapture of the nights that pass<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Embraced!
\nO terror pure of Thy caress!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Humanity,
\nacceptable I find<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thy
\nages that have wept out sweat and blood,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Since
\nall was made to give its utter price<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

To
\none wild moment of thy hidden God.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Let
\nthe whole world end now, since all for which<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nwas created is fulfilled at last<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nI am swallowed up in thee, O God.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span>T W O<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/span>Who
\nmade of Nature here a tyrant? Who<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Condemned
\nus to be slaves? It was not God.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Nay,
\nwe ourselves chose our own servitude<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nwe ourselves have forged and heaped our chains<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

On
\nour own members. God only watched the while<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nmocked us sweetly at our childish task.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Then
\nif He seized us helpless in our bonds,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Then
\nif He played with us despite our cries<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nanswered with His dreadful laugh our wrath,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Ours
\nwas the fault who chose the bondage first,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Ours
\nis the folly whom His play affrights<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

While
\nall the time He tells us, \u201cIt is nought.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nnow we say we never can be free,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

For
\nNature binds us, for the fire must burn,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nwater drown and death must seize his prey,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\ngrief and torture do their will with us
\n 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-87<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And
\nsin be like a lion with the world,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Because
\n\u2019tis Nature.  Man\u2019s not infinite,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nproof is with us every day, they cry,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nGod Himself \u2019s a huge machine at last.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet
\nover us all the while Thought\u2019s lightning plays<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nall the while within us works His love.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Now
\nmore than when the play began, He laughs.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

  
\n                                  <\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Now
\nI believe that it is possible
\nTo manage the arising clouds, to silence
\nThe thunder when it roars and put our rein
\nUpon the lightnings.  Only first within
\nThe god we must coerce who wallows here
\nIn love with his subjection and confined
\nBy his own servants, wantonly enslaved
\nTo every lure and every tempting bond.
\nAnd therefore man loves power, but power o\u2019ercome,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Force
\nthat accepts its limits. Wherefore then
\nA limit? Why not dare the whole embrace,
\nThe vast attraction? Let us risk extinction then
\nIf by that venture immortality
\nAnd high omnipotence come near our grasp.
\n\u2019Tis not the little rippling wayward seas,
\nNor all huge ocean tumbled by its storms
\nThat can be our exemplar. The vault of heaven
\nIs not a true similitude for man
\nWhose space outgyres thought\u2019s last horizon. Something<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nis in us fears not the night beyond,
\nBut breathless sails, unanchored, without helm,
\nWhere all the senses end. Our naked soul
\nCan journey to the farther unshaped void
\nWhere nothing is except ourselves, arrive, hold on,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Not
\nshake, not ask return. Who accepts at last<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

His
\nlimit save the beast and plant and clod?
\nO to be perfect here, to exceed all bounds,
\nTo feel the world a toy between our hands!
\nYet now enough that I have seized one current
\nOf the tremendous Force that moves the world.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-88<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 
\n<\/span>I
\nknow, O God, the day shall dawn at last<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

When<\/span>
\nman shall rise from playing with the
\nmud<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\ntaking in his hands the sun and stars<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Remould
\nappearance, law and process old.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Then,
\npain and discord vanished from the world,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Shall
\nthe dead wilderness accept the rose<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nthe hushed desert babble of its rills;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Man
\nonce more seem the image true of God.
\n  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI
\nwill not faint, O God. There is the thirst,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nthirst supposes water somewhere. Yes,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nin this life we may not ever find;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Old
\nnature sits a phantom by the way,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Old
\npassions may forbid, old doubts return.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Then
\nare there other lives<\/span> here or
\nbeyond<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

To<\/span>
\nsatisfy us? I will persist, O Lord.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span>T H R E E<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/span>What
\nis this Love that I have never found?
\nI have imagined in the skies a God
\nAnd seen Him in the stirring of the leaves<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nheard Him in the purling of the brooks<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nfeared Him in the lightning\u2019s flashing tusk<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And<\/span>
\nmissed Him in the mute eternal night.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And<\/span>
\nwoke to Him in the returning Dawns.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nnow I say there<\/span> is no God at
\nall,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But<\/span>
\nonly a dumb Void that belches forth<\/p>\n

Numberless
\nlarvae and phantasmal shapes<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Into
\na void less happy than itself<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Because
\nthis feels. O if this dream were true,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\niron, brute, gigantic helpless toy<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They
\ncall a world, this thing that turns and turns<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And<\/span>
\nshrieks and bleeds and cannot stop,
\nthis victim<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Broken
\nand living yet on its iron wheel,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nif a Will created this, what name<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Shall
\nbest blaspheme against that tyrant God?
\n 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-89<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Let
\nall men seek it out and hurl it up<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Against
\nHim with one cry, if yet perchance<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Complete
\ndenial may destroy His life<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

With
\nhappy end to His unhappy world.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

For
\nwhere in all these stars is any sign of Love?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis not here, but that which seems like Love<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Is
\na sleek cruel cheat that soon unmasks,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sent
\nhere to make the final suffering worse,<\/span> \u2013<\/font><\/p>\n

Not
\nLove, but Death disguised that strokes its food!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nall good in the world is only that,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A
\ndeath that eats and eating is devoured,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\nis the brutal image of the world.<\/p>\n

<\/span>  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n                       <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Lo,
\nI have cursed Thee, lo, I have denied<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thy
\nlove, Thy being. Strike me with Thy rod,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Convince
\nme that Thou art. O leave it not<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

To
\nThy dumb messengers that have no heart,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

No
\nwrath in the attack, no angered love,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

No
\nexultation in the blow that falls,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\ncry that answers. Let me feel a Heart,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Even
\nthough an evil one, that throbs and is<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Against
\nour tears, our pressure and our search.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Beware,
\nfor I will send my soul across the earth<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nall men turn against Thee at my word.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nis no sign, there comes not any voice.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nyet, alas! I know He will return<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nHe will soothe my wounds and charm my heart;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nshall again forgive, again shall love,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Again
\nshall suffer, be again deceived.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nwhere is any end, O Heaven, O Earth?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nthere is never any end when one has loved.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

                       <\/span><\/p>\n

\nA
\nsudden silence and a sudden sound,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nsound above and in another world,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nsilence here and from the two a thought.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps
\nthe heart of God for ever sings
\n <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-90<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And<\/span>
\nworlds come throbbing out from every
\nnote;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps
\nHis soul sits ever calm and still
\nAnd listens to the music rapturously,
\nHimself adoring, by Himself adored.
\nSo were the singer and the hearer one
\nEternally. The anthem buoyant rides
\nFor ever on the seas of Space and Time
\nAnd worships the white Bliss from which \u2019twas born;<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nineffable Delight leans silent down
\nAnd clasps the creatures of its mystic cry
\nFor ever and for ever<\/span> \u2013<\/font> without
\nend.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       <\/span><\/p>\n

Who
\nart thou that pursuest my desire<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Like
\na wild beast behind the jungle\u2019s screen<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nthrow\u2019st a dread upon its fiercest fire,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A
\nshadow on its flowering joy and green?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thou
\nmadest and deniest me my need,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thou
\njealous Lover and devouring Greed!
\n <\/span>                 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who
\nspoke of God? There is <\/i>a hungry Beast<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nambush for the world who all devours,
\nYet is his <\/i>hunger sated not the least.
\nHe tears our beauty, strength and happiest hours,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\neats our flesh and drinks our blood and tears,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Ranging
\nas in a thicket through the years.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>                       
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

Dost
\nthou desire my last vain hope? Take it, <\/i>rejoice!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilt
\n<\/i>thou exact my dying bliss? <\/i>Tear it <\/i>and end!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\ngive me this at least, dying, <\/i>to hear thy voice,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

By
\nthee as foeman slain if never clasped as friend.<\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/font>                      <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-91<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Foeman
\nor friend, lover or slayer, only thee<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nneed and feel, O personal eternity.
\n  <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       <\/span><\/p>\n

 If
\nwhat thou gavest, thou must needs again exact,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Cancel
\nthy forms, deny thy own accomplished fact,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

With
\nwhat wilt thou replace them? Is thy void<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Embraceable
\nby arms? Or can the soul upbuoyed<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Rest
\non a shoreless emptiness without a name?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Can
\nLove find rapture by renouncing all his flame?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Thou
\nhast forgotten or our nature is misled,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Lur\u2019st
\nthou to utter1<\/sup> life
\nbeyond the silence dead?  <\/p>\n

\n                    <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Not
\nsound, nor silence, neither world nor void,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nthe unthinkable, absolute, unalloyed<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

One,
\nmultitudinous, nameless, yet a Name,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Innumerably
\nother, yet the same.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Immeasurable
\necstasy where Time<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nSpace have fainted in a swoon sublime!
\n   <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

                       
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf
\nsilence I have tired, from the profounder Night<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\ncome rejected. All the immensities overhead<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Are
\ngiven to my fierce upwinging soul at last<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Rapt
\ninto high impossible ranges huge outspread.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Unnumbered
\nvoices thrill the silent waiting Vast,<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A
\nmillion flames converge into the rayless Light.
\n  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1<\/font><\/sup> s<\/font>ilent<\/font> <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-92<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span>         
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Meditations of Mandavya   ONE     O joy of gaining all the soul\u2019s desire! O stranger joy of the defeat and loss! O…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-collected-poems-volume-05","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499","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=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}