{"id":2433,"date":"2013-07-13T01:41:35","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2020-10-09T21:29:46","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T04:29:46","slug":"01-the-sole-motive-of-mans-existence-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/01-early-cultural-writings\/01-the-sole-motive-of-mans-existence-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","title":{"rendered":"-01_The Sole Motive of Man’s Existence.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n\n
\n

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

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nSri Aurobindo
\nin Baroda, 1906<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPart One<\/font><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n
\nThe Harmony of Virtue<\/font><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n
\n<\/font><\/b>Sri Aurobindo wrote all the pieces in this part in
\nEngland between 1890 and 1892. He did not publish any of them during
\nhis lifetime.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\n
\nThe Sole
\nMotive of Man’s Existence <\/font>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nThe banquet
\nwas half over and the wine in lively progress round the table; yet
\nthe ladies did not retire. The presence of women over the wine was
\none of the cardinal articles of Julian’s social creed. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nThe
\nconversation turned on the Christian religion which finally emerged
\nfrom the arena stripped of all its plumes and in a condition
\nwoefully besmirched and bedraggled. Julian, who had taken the lead in
\nblasphemy, closed the subject by observing “The popular Gods should
\nbe denied but respected.””<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nYet you couple
\nwomen and wine in your banquet\u2014 room” said Erinna.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Ah, my
\nfriend, I only observe Nature’s ordinances: in social life sex does
\nnot exist. Besides conversation requires speech as well as reason.” <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“You
\ninsinuate?”<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Nature gave
\nman reason, speech to woman.” <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nThe men
\nlaughed.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“I will quote
\nyou two sentences from my new catechism, Julian” said Helen
\nWoodward. “To what end has man used reason? To make Truth incredible.
\nTo what purpose has woman employed speech? To say nothing.”<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nJulian felt
\nthat the tone of talk was becoming too serious and he glided away
\nfrom the subject. During the flow of the wine someone coupled the
\nnames of Aphrodite and Bacchus. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Ah yes” said
\nJulian “how is it that we have not honoured the goddess who presides
\nover this feast?” <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Let Julian do
\nit in his master’s fashion” suggested Corydon.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“I cannot
\ntread beaten ground, Lionel.” <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Ah but Love
\nis as bottomless as the sea.”<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Yet Plato was
\nan excellent diver and brought up the richest pearls.”<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPage \u2013 3<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\n“Scarcely in
\none dive, Julian” said Powell. <\/span> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“In
\nfive, if I remember aright.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“”Yet
\nAgathon’s pearl was not flawless.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Do you
\npropose to amend it?”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“I
\nshould but spoil it; but I could dive for a pearl of my own finding
\nperhaps.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“You
\nshall have a rich meed of praise.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“But, my
\ndear critic” said Erinna “what ground was untrod by Plato?”
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Agathon
\npainted the loveliness of Love but not Love himself.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Describe him then you” said Julian and raised his hand
\nfor silence. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPowell lay back a moment with his dark Welsh eyes
\nfixed upon the ceiling and then spoke. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“I am
\ntold to describe Love” began Powell “yet in order to
\ndescribe I must
\nfirst define. And how is that possible with a being intangible as
\nthe air and inconstant as the moon? For Love is as slippery and
\nmutable as Proteus, chameleon\u2014 hued, multiform, amorphous, infinite;
\nthe transmigrations of a Hindu soul are not more various and elastic;
\nthe harmony of his outlines are not blurred by chaos or the weird;
\nrather like poetry and summer he wraps himself in a cool soft robe of
\nvelvet air and his feet are kissed by the laughing sea. But the
\ntranslucent air which promises to reveal is a cloak far thicker than
\nthe gathering dusk. Thus the Eros of Praxiteles is not Love himself
\nbut the soul of the sculptor in one of her phases. Yet though Love
\nhas no one form, the idea, the soul of Love, that strange essence
\nwhich walks forever in the peopled Shadow\u2014 land, he is shackled in a
\nsingle and uniform shape. How then shall I paint the idea of Love?
\nThe Greeks have described a child with a warlike bow of horn and
\nbitter arrows tipped with steel, and modern poets inspired by this
\nrude conception have fabled of the smart which is the herald of
\nLove’s shaft. But these ideas however happy in themselves are by no
\nmeans suitable to Love; for they are without two of his most
\nessential elements, the subtle and the impalpable. The Hindus are
\nmore felicitous when they sing of Kama \u2014 for poetry<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPage \u2013 4<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\talone can express him \u2014 the divine and radiant youth mounted on [an]
\nemerald parrot, and bearing in his right hand a bow of flowers; the
\narrows too must be of the same soft and voluptuous material \u2014 for a
\npreference I would name the shefali, the only blossom which has a
\nsoul. For Love’s arrow never pains while in the wound \u2014 it is too
\nsubtle and flower\u2014 like \u2014 if a lover is in pain, it is because he
\nloves himself more than Love \u2014 and that is the fault of Nature, not
\nof Eros. Again Love has been painted as blind; and in this too the
\npoets of Europe have conceived a lyrical fiction; for they say that
\nLove looses his shafts and knows not whom they strike, whereas indeed
\nhe knows too well. It is his delight to unite those who should never
\nhave so much as met and to blind them to their own misery until the
\nshefali arrow has withered in their hearts; and this he does with
\neyes open and of deliberate purpose. So far poets have sinned; but it
\nis a vulgar error to suppose Love garrulous, a bastard child of
\nMomus and Aphrodite; whereas in truth he is the lawful son of
\nHephaistos; but he has swallowed his father down, and for that
\nreason those lovely lips, the scarlet portals of Passion’s treasury,
\ndo not yield up their store of pearls and rubies \u2014 nay dare not so
\nmuch as open lest Hephaistos escape and in his anger blast the world.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Thus
\nthen I paint Love.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA murmur
\nof applause flew like a wild spirit from mouth to mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Record
\nme a confirmed Pythagorean” said Julian “the soul of Agathon did not
\nperish in Macedonia.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Yet I
\ndare say, Vernon” replied Erinna “you do not believe a word of what
\nAgathon has been saying.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Yet
\nyour belief is the bastard of Momus rather than the heir of Peitho”
\nrejoined Helen Woodward.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“I confess, Powell” replied Julian “that the manner pleased me
\nbetter than the matter.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Your
\nreason, Julian?” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Your
\npicture was too beautiful to be true.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“That is
\na recommendation” said Erinna. “To the artist but not to the
\ncritic.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“How
\nwould you define Love, Julian?” asked Corydon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPage \u2013 5<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t“Give me a moment to think.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“You
\nwill be harshly criticised.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Heine
\nspeed me! How will this do \u2014 the smile of a drunken God.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere
\nwas applause. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Ah but
\nit is perfect” exclaimed Dufresne between a laugh and a sigh.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“But
\nMarc might give us a better” suggested Philip.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“In its
\nown way” assented Marc “Love is spiritual champagne, the best of
\nwines if the briefest.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe
\ncharacteristic answer set the echoes rocking to Homeric mirth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“A
\npoisonous purple flower” said Helen “but its chalice collects the
\npure wine of heaven.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“It is
\nthe paean of the soul heavenward or its dithyramb hell-ward”
\nsubjoined Corydon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO’Ruark dissented. “It is a strange mania which everyone is bound to
\ncatch, mostly at a certain age \u2014 in short the spiritual measles.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA burst
\nof laughter greeted this Irish flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Love is
\na runner in the race of life with the parsley wreath of joy for his
\nprize” said Philip, formulating the sensations of the moment in an
\naphorism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Alas,
\nto wear it for a day” said Pattison Ely “he is the
\nbridegroom of Sin
\nand the father of Satiety.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Ah no,
\nbut the child of Sin” corrected Julian “beautiful child of a more
\nbeautiful mother.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Is it
\nnot Sin itself” suggested Erinna “Sin, the true philosopher’s stone
\nwhich turns life from dull lead to gold.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“What is
\nSin?” asked Julian smiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“The
\ninvention of spiritual alchemists; it turns a leaden life to gold.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“A
\nmodern discovery, I think” said Powell. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“A
\nmodern revival” corrected Erinna “they lost the secret in the Dark
\nAges; that is why the history of the time is so dull. Sin was
\nlegalised and therefore gave no pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Julian
\nlaughed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPage \u2013 6<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t“You have given me what I have long been in search of.”
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“What is
\nthat, Julian?”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“A good
\nreason for the existence of Laws.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tErinna
\nsmiled and went on. “They lost the secret of Love too and found in
\nits place the gorgeous phantasm of chivalry. I maintain that Love is
\nonly a form of Sin.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Yet
\nthey recognise marriage.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“They
\nraise a monument over the corpse of Love.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“She who
\ncould best tell us what Love is, sits silent” said Helen Woodward,
\nlooking at Ella.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“It is
\nthe sole motive of man’s existence” replied Ella. It was the first
\ntime she had opened her lips but the thought in her mind leaped out
\nbefore she could bring it back. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere was tender laughter as of disillusioned
\nSeptember lenient to
\nthe emerald hopes of April; yet in the company no one save only
\nJulian had passed the farther bourne of youth. In these days men live
\ntoo fast to reckon their age by years. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut Helen Woodward looked at Ella with a world of compassion in her
\nbeautiful wild eyes.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNight flew on winged feet and the wine was in their speech.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAt last the ladies rose and left the room; to the heart of Ella it
\nseemed as [incomplete<\/i>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\nPage \u2013 7<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

  Sri Aurobindo in Baroda, 1906 Part One The Harmony of Virtue Sri Aurobindo wrote all the pieces in this part in England between 1890…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-early-cultural-writings","wpcat-49-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433","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=2433"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11873,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions\/11873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}