{"id":3291,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3291"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:14","slug":"10-book-6-canto-2-the-way-of-fate-and-the-problem-of-pain-vol-02-savitri-1951","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/02-savitri-1951\/10-book-6-canto-2-the-way-of-fate-and-the-problem-of-pain-vol-02-savitri-1951","title":{"rendered":"-10_Book 6 Canto 2 The Way of Fate and The Problem of Pain.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n
\nCANTO TWO<\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE WAY OF FATE AND THE PROBLEM<\/font> 
\nOF PAIN<\/font> <\/b>
\n\t<\/b>\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\nA SILENCE sealed the irrevocable
\ndecree, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe word of Fate that fell from the
\nheavenly lips<\/p>\n

Fixing a
\ndoom no power could ever reverse<\/p>\n

Unless
\nheaven's will itself could change its course.<\/p>\n

\nOr so it seemed, yet from the
\nsilence rose<\/p>\n

One
\nvoice that questioned changeless destiny.<\/p>\n

A will
\nthat strove against the immutable Will,<\/p>\n

A
\nmother's heart had heard the fateful speech<\/p>\n

That
\nrang like a sanction to the call of death<\/p>\n

And came
\nlike a chill close to life and hope.<\/p>\n

Yet hope
\nsank down like an extinguished fire.<\/p>\n

She felt
\nthe leaden inevitable hand<\/p>\n

Invade
\nthe secrecy of her guarded soul<\/p>\n

And
\nsmite with sudden pain its still content<\/p>\n

And the
\nempire of her hard-won quietude.<\/p>\n

Awhile
\nshe fell to the level of human mind,<\/p>\n

A field
\nof mortal grief and Nature's law<\/p>\n

She
\nshared, she bore the common lot of men<\/p>\n

And felt
\nwhat common hearts endure in Time.<\/p>\n

\nVoicing earth's question to the inscrutable power<\/p>\n

The
\nqueen now turned to the still immobile seer: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAssailed by the discontent in
\nNature's depths,<\/p>\n

\nPartner in the agony of dumb driven things<\/p>\n

And all
\nthe misery, all the ignorant cry,<\/p>\n

\nPassionate like sorrow questioning heaven she spoke.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAwhile she lost her spirit's
\ntranquil poise,<\/p>\n

Awhile
\nshe shared the lot of common souls<\/p>\n

And bore
\nthe heavy hand of Death and Time<\/p>\n

And felt
\nthe anguish in life's stricken deeps.<\/p>\n

\nLending her speech to the surface soul on earth<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n

Page   83<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nShe uttered the suffering in the
\nworld's dumb heart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd man's revolt against his
\nignorant fate. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"O seer, in the earth's strange twi-natured
\nlife, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBy what pitiless adverse Necessity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr what cold freak of a Creator's
\nwill, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBy what random accident or governed
\nChance <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat shaped a rule out of
\nfortuitous steps, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMade destiny from an hour's
\nemotion, came <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe direr mystery of grief and
\npain? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs it thy God who made this cruel
\nlaw? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr some disastrous Power has marred
\nhis work <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd he stands helpless to defend or
\nsave? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA fatal seed was sown in life's
\nfalse start <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen evil twinned with good on
\nearthly soil. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen first appeared the malady of
\nmind, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts pang of thought, its quest for
\nthe aim of life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt twisted into forms of good and
\nill <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe frank simplicity of the
\nanimal's acts; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt turned the straight path hewn by
\nthe body's gods, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFollowed the zigzag of the
\nuncertain course <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf life that wanders seeking for
\nits aim <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the pale starlight falling from
\nthought's skies; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt guides the unsure idea, the
\nwavering will. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLost was the instinct's safe
\nidentity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWith the arrow-point of being's
\ninmost sight, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMarred the sure steps of Nature's
\nsimple walk <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd truth and freedom in the
\ngrowing soul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOut of some ageless innocence and
\npeace, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrivilege of souls not yet betrayed
\nto birth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCast down to suffer on this hard
\ndangerous earth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur life was born in pain and with
\na cry. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlthough earth-nature welcomes
\nheaven's breath <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInspiring Matter with the will to
\nlive, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA thousand ills assail the mortal's
\nhours <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd wear away the natural joy of
\nlife, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur bodies are an engine cunningly
\nmade, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut for all its parts as cunningly
\nare planned, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nContrived ingeniously with demon
\nskill <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts apt inevitable heritage <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf mortal danger and peculiar pain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page  84<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIts payment of the tax of Time and
\nFate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts way to suffer and its way to
\ndie. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is the ransom of our high
\nestate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe sign and stamp of our humanity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA grisly company of maladies <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCome, licensed lodgers, into man's
\nbodily house, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPurveyors of death and torturers of
\nlife. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the malignant hollows of the
\nworld, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn its subconscient cavern-passages <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmbushed they lie waiting their
\nhour to leap, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSurrounding with danger the sieged
\ncity of life: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdmitted into the citadel of man's
\ndays <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey mine his force and maim or
\nsuddenly kill. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOurselves within us lethal forces
\nnurse; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWe make of our own enemies our
\nguests: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOut of their holes like beasts they
\ncreep and gnaw<\/p>\n

The
\nchords of the divine musician's lyre<\/p>\n

Till
\nfrayed and thin the music dies away<\/p>\n

Or
\ncrashing snaps with a last tragic note.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll that we are is like a fort
\nbeset: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll that we strive to be alters
\nlike a dream <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the grey sleep of Matter's
\nignorance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMind suffers lamed by the world's
\ndisharmony <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the unloveliness of human
\nthings. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA treasure misspent or cheaply,
\nfruitlessly sold <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the bazar of a blind destiny, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA gift of priceless values from
\nTime's gods <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLost or mislaid in an uncaring
\nworld, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLife is a marvel missed, an art
\ngone wry; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA seeker in a dark and obscure
\nplace, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn ill-armed warrior facing
\ndreadful odds, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn imperfect worker given a
\nbaffling task, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn ignorant judge of problems
\nIgnorance made, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts heavenward flights reach closed
\nand keyless gates, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts glorious outbursts peter out in
\nmire. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn Nature's gifts to man a curse
\nwas laid. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll walks inarmed by its own
\nopposites, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nError is the comrade of our mortal
\nthought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd falsehood lurks in the deep
\nbosom of truth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSin poisons with its vivid flowers
\nof joy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page   85<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOr leaves a red scar burnt across
\nthe soul; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVirtue is a grey bondage and a
\ngaol.<\/p>\n

At every
\nstep is laid for us a snare.<\/p>\n

Alien to
\nreason and the spirit's light,<\/p>\n

Our
\nfount of action from a darkness wells; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn ignorance and nescience are our
\nroots.<\/p>\n

A
\ngrowing register of calamities<\/p>\n

Is the
\npast's account, the future's book of Fate: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe centuries pile man's follies
\nand man's crimes<\/p>\n

Upon the
\ncountless crowd of Nature's ills; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAs if the world's stone load was
\nnot enough,<\/p>\n

A crop
\nof miseries obstinately is sown<\/p>\n

By his
\nown hand in the furrows of the gods,<\/p>\n

The vast
\nincreasing tragic harvest reaped<\/p>\n

From old
\nmisdeeds buried by oblivious Time.<\/p>\n

He walks
\nby his own choice into hell's trap; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis mortal creature is his own
\nworst foe.<\/p>\n

His
\nscience is an artificer of doom; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe ransacks earth for means to harm
\nhis kind; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe slays his happiness and others'
\ngood.<\/p>\n

\nNothing has he learnt from time and its history; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEven as of old in the raw youth of
\nTime, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen earth ignorant ran on the
\nhighways of Fate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOld forms of evil cling to the
\nworld's soul: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWar making nought the sweet smiling
\ncalm of life, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBattle and rapine, ruin and
\nmassacre <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAre still the fierce pastimes of
\nman's warring tribes; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn idiot hour destroys what
\ncenturies made, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis wanton rage or frenzied hate
\nlays low <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe beauty and greatness by his
\ngenius wrought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the mighty output of a nation's
\ntoil. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll he has achieved he drags to the
\nprecipice. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis grandeur he turns to an epic of
\ndoom and fall; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis littleness crawls content
\nthrough squalor and mud, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe calls heaven's retribution on
\nhis head, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd wallows in his self-made
\nmisery. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA part author of the cosmic
\ntragedy, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis will conspires with death and
\ntime and fate. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis brief appearance on the
\nenigmaed earth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEver recurs, but brings no high
\nresult <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page  86<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTo this wanderer through the
\naeon-rings of God<\/p>\n

That
\nshut his life in their vast longevity.<\/p>\n

His
\nsoul's wide search and ever returning hopes<\/p>\n

Pursue
\nthe useless orbit of their course<\/p>\n

In a
\nvain repetition of lost toils<\/p>\n

Across a
\ntrack of soon forgotten lives.<\/p>\n

All is
\nan episode in a meaningless tale.<\/p>\n

Why is
\nit all and wherefore are we here?<\/p>\n

If to
\nsome being of eternal bliss<\/p>\n

It is
\nour spirit's destiny to return<\/p>\n

Or some
\nstill impersonal height of endless calm,<\/p>\n

Since
\nThat we are and out of That we came,<\/p>\n

Whence
\nrose the strange and sterile interlude<\/p>\n

\nLasting in vain through interminable Time?<\/p>\n

Or if
\nthese beings must be and their brief lives,<\/p>\n

What
\nneed had the soul of ignorance and tears?<\/p>\n

Whence
\nrose the call for sorrow and for pain?<\/p>\n

Or all
\ncame helplessly without a cause?<\/p>\n

What
\npower forced the immortal spirit to birth?<\/p>\n

The
\neternal witness once of eternity,<\/p>\n

A
\ndeathless sojourner mid transient scenes<\/p>\n

He camps
\nin life's half-lit obscurity<\/p>\n

Amid the
\ndebris of his thoughts and dreams.<\/p>\n

Or who
\npersuaded it to fall from bliss<\/p>\n

And
\nforfeit its immortal privilege?<\/p>\n

Who laid
\non it the ceaseless will to live<\/p>\n

A
\nwanderer in this beautiful, sorrowful world,<\/p>\n

And bear
\nits load of joy and grief and love?<\/p>\n

Or if no
\nbeing watches the works of Time,<\/p>\n

What
\nhard impersonal Necessity<\/p>\n

\nCompels the vain toil of brief living things ?<\/p>\n

A great
\nIllusion then has built the stars.<\/p>\n

But
\nwhere then is the soul's security,<\/p>\n

Its
\npoise in this circling of unreal suns ?<\/p>\n

Or else
\nit is a wanderer from its home<\/p>\n

Who
\nstrayed into a blind alley of Time and chance<\/p>\n

And
\nfinds no issue from a meaningless world.<\/p>\n

Or where
\nbegins and ends Illusion's reign?<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps the soul we feel is only a dream,<\/p>\n

\nEternal self a fiction sensed in trance." <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page   87<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n   
\nThen after a silence Narad made
\nreply: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTuning his lips to earthly sound he
\nspoke,<\/p>\n

And
\nsomething now of the deep sense of fate<\/p>\n

\nWeighted the fragile hints of mortal speech.<\/p>\n

His
\nforehead shone with vision solemnised,<\/p>\n

Turned
\nto a tablet of supernal thoughts<\/p>\n

As if
\ncharacters of an unwritten tongue<\/p>\n

Had left
\nin its breadth the inscriptions of the gods.<\/p>\n

Bare in
\nthat Light Time toiled, his unseen works<\/p>\n

\nDetected, the broad-flung far-seeing schemes<\/p>\n

\nUnfinished which his aeoned flight unrolls<\/p>\n

Were
\nmapped already in that world-wide look: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n"Was then the sun a dream because
\nthere is night?<\/p>\n

Hidden
\nin the mortal's heart the Eternal lives: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe lives secret in the chamber of
\nthy soul,<\/p>\n

A light
\nshines there nor pain nor grief can cross.<\/p>\n

A
\ndarkness stands between thyself and him,<\/p>\n

Thou
\ncanst not hear or feel the marvellous Guest,<\/p>\n

Thou
\ncanst not see the beatific sun.<\/p>\n

\nO queen,
\nthy thought is a light of the Ignorance,<\/p>\n

Its
\nbrilliant curtain hides from thee God's face.<\/p>\n

It
\nillumines a world born from the Inconscience,<\/p>\n

But
\nhides the Immortal's meaning in the world.<\/p>\n

Thy
\nmind's light hides from thee the Etemal's thought,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nheart's hopes hide from thee the Etemal's will,<\/p>\n

\nEarth's joys shut from thee the Immortal's bliss.<\/p>\n

Thence
\nrose the need of a dark intruding god,<\/p>\n

The
\nworld's dread teacher, the creator, pain.<\/p>\n

Where
\nIgnorance is, there suffering too must come; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThy grief is a cry of darkness to
\nthe Light; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPain was the first-born of the
\nInconscience<\/p>\n

Which
\nwas thy body's dumb original base; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAlready slept there pain's
\nsubcoriscient shape: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA shadow in a shadowy tenebrous
\nwomb, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTill life shall move, it waits to
\nwake and be. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn one caul with joy came forth the
\ndreadful Power. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn life's breast it was born hiding
\nits twin; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut pain came first, then only joy
\ncould be. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPain ploughed the first hard ground
\nof the world-drowse. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBy pain a spirit started from the
\nclod, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page   88<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBy pain Life stirred in the
\nsubliminal deep.<\/p>\n

\nInterned, submerged, hidden in Matter's trance<\/p>\n

Awoke to
\nitself the dreamer, sleeping Mind; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt made a visible realm out of its
\ndreams,<\/p>\n

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

\nIt drew its shapes from the
\nsubconscient depths,<\/p>\n

Then
\nturned to look upon the world it had made.<\/p>\n

\nBy pain and joy, the bright and
\ntenebrous twins,<\/p>\n

The
\ninanimate world perceived its sentient soul, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nElse had the Inconscient never
\nsuffered change. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPain is the hammer of the gods to
\nbreak<\/p>\n

A dead
\nresistance in the mortal's heart,<\/p>\n

His slow
\ninertia as of living stone.<\/p>\n

If the
\nheart were not forced to want and weep,<\/p>\n

His soul
\nwould have lain down content, at ease,<\/p>\n

And
\nnever thought to exceed the human start<\/p>\n

And
\nnever learned to climb towards the Sun.<\/p>\n

This
\nearth is full of labour, packed with pain; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThroes of an endless birth coerce
\nher still;<\/p>\n

The
\ncenturies end, the ages vainly pass<\/p>\n

And yet
\nthe godhead in her is not born.<\/p>\n

The
\nancient Mother faces all with joy,<\/p>\n

Calls
\nfor the ardent pang, the grandiose thrill; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nF<\/font>or
\nwith pain and labour all creation comes.<\/p>\n

This
\nearth is full of the anguish of the gods; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEver they travail driven by Time's
\ngoad,<\/p>\n

And
\nstrive to work out the eternal will<\/p>\n

And
\nshape the life divine in mortal forms.<\/p>\n

His will
\nmust be worked out in human breasts<\/p>\n

\nAgainst the Evil that rises from the gulfs,<\/p>\n

\nAgainst man's ignorance and his obstinate strength,<\/p>\n

\nAgainst the deep folly of his human mind,<\/p>\n

\nAgainst the blind reluctance of his human hearty <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe spirit is doomed to pain till
\nman is free.<\/p>\n

There is
\na clamour of battle, a tramp, a march: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA cry arises like a moaning sea,<\/font><\/p>\n

A
\ndesperate laughter under the blows of death, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA doom of blood and sweat and toil
\nand tears.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMen die that man may live and God
\nbe bon<\/p>\n

An awful
\nSilence watches tragic Time. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPain is the hand of Nature
\nsculpturing men <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page   89<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTo greatness: an inspired labour
\nchisels<\/p>\n

With
\nheavenly cruelty an unwilling mould. <\/p>\n

\n

\nImplacable in the passion of their will,<\/p>\n

\nLifting the hammers of titanic toil<\/p>\n

The
\ndemiurges of the universe work; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThey shape with giant strokes their
\nown, their sons<\/p>\n

Are
\nmarked with their enormous stamp of fire.<\/p>\n

\nAlthough the shaping god's tremendous touch<\/p>\n

\nIs torture unbearable to mortal
\nnerves,<\/p>\n

The
\nfiery spirit grows in strength within<\/p>\n

And
\nfeels a joy in every titan pang.<\/p>\n

\nHe who would save himself lives
\nbare and calm; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe who would save the race must
\nshare its pain: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis he shall know who obeys that
\ngrandiose urge.<\/p>\n

The
\ngreat who came to save this suffering world<\/p>\n

And
\nrescue out of Time's shadow and the Law,<\/p>\n

Must
\npass beneath the yoke of grief and pain: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThey are caught by the Wheel that
\nthey had hoped to break,<\/p>\n

On their
\nshoulders they must bear man's load of fate.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHeaven's riches they bring, their sufferings count the price<\/p>\n

Or they
\npay the gift of knowledge with their lives.<\/p>\n

The Son
\nof God born as the Son of man<\/p>\n

Has
\ndrunk the bitter cup, owned Godhead's debt,<\/p>\n

The debt
\nthe Eternal owes to the fallen kind<\/p>\n

His will
\nhas bound to death and struggling life<\/p>\n

That
\nyearns in vain for rest and endless peace"<\/p>\n

Now is
\nthe debt paid, wiped off the original score.<\/p>\n

The
\nEternal suffers in a human form,<\/p>\n

He has
\nsigned salvation's testament with his blood: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has opened the doors of his
\nundying peace.<\/p>\n

The
\nDeity compensates the creature's claim, <\/p>\n

\n

The
\nCreator bears the law of pain and death; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA retribution smites the incarnate
\nGod. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis love has paved the mortal's
\nroad to Heaven: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has given his life and light to
\nbalance here<\/p>\n

The dark
\naccount of mortal ignorance.<\/p>\n

\nIt is finished, the dread
\nmysterious sacrifice,<\/p>\n

\nOffered by God's martyred body for the world; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nGethsemane and Calvary are his lot,<\/p>\n

He
\ncarries the cross on which man's soul is nailed; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  90<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis escort is the curses of the
\ncrowd; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInsult and jeer are his right's
\nacknowledgment,<\/p>\n

Two
\nthieves slain with him mock his mighty death.<\/p>\n

He has
\ntrod with bleeding brow the Saviour's way.<\/p>\n

He who
\nhas found his identity with God<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPays with the body's death his
\nsoul's vast light.<\/p>\n

His
\nknowledge immortal triumphs by his death.<\/p>\n

Hewn,
\nquartered on the scaffold as he falls<\/p>\n

His
\ncrucified voice proclaims, "I, I am God,"<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYes, all is God," peals back
\nHeaven's deathless <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe seed of Godhead sleeps in
\nmortal hearts,<\/p>\n

The
\nflower of Godhead grows on the world-tree: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll shall discover God in self and
\nthings,<\/p>\n

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

\n

\nBut when God's messenger comes to
\nhelp the world<\/p>\n

And lead
\nthe soul of earth to higher things,<\/p>\n

He too
\nmust carry the yoke he came to unloose; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe too must bear the pang that he
\nwould heal: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nExempt and unafflicted by earth's
\nfate,<\/p>\n

How
\nshall he cure the ills he never felt? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe covers the world's agony with
\nhis calm; <\/p>\n

\nBut though to the outward eye no
\nsign appears<\/p>\n

And
\npeace is given to our torn human hearts,<\/p>\n

The
\nstruggle is there and paid the unseen price; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe fire, the strife, the wrestle
\nare within. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe carries the suffering world in
\nhis own breast; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts sins weigh on his thoughts, its
\ngrief is his: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEarth's ancient load lies heavy on
\nhis soul; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNight and its powers beleaguer his
\ntardy steps,<\/p>\n

The
\ntitan adversary's clutch he bears; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis march is a battle and a
\npilgrimage.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLife's evil smites, he is stricken
\nwith the world's pain: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA million wounds gape in his secret
\nheart. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe journeys sleepless through an
\nunending night; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAntagonist forces crowd across his
\npath; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA siege, a combat is his inner
\nlife. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven worse may be the cost, direr
\nthe pain: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis large identity and
\nall-harbouring love<\/p>\n

Shall
\nbring the cosmic anguish into his depths,<\/p>\n

The
\nsorrow of all living things shall come<\/p>\n

And
\nknock at his doors and live within his house;<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page  91<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA dreadful cord of sympathy can tie <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll suffering into his single grief
\nand make <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll agony in all the worlds his
\nown. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe meets an ancient adversary
\nForce, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is lashed with the whips that
\ntear the world's worn heart; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe weeping of the centuries visits
\nhis eyes: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe wears the blood-glued fiery
\nCentaur's shirt, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe poison of the world has stained
\nhis throat. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the market-place of Matter's
\ncapital <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmidst the chafferings of the
\naffair called life <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is tied to the stake of a
\nperennial Fire, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe bums on an unseen original verge <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat Matter may be turned to spirit
\nstuff: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is the victim in his own
\nsacrifice." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Immortal bound to earth's
\nmortality <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAppearing and perishing on the
\nroads of Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCreates God's moment by eternity's
\nbeats. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe dies that the world may be
\nnew-born and live. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven if he escapes the fiercest
\nfires, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven if the world breaks not in, a
\ndrowning sea, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly by hard sacrifice is high
\nheaven earned: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe must face the fight, the pang who would conquer Hell.<\/p>\n

A dark
\nconcealed hostility is lodged <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the human depths, in the hidden
\nheart of Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat claims the right to change and
\nmar God's work. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA secret enmity ambushes the
\nworld's march; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt leaves a mark on thought and
\nspeech and act: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt stamps stain and defect on all
\nthings done; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTill it is slain peace is forbidden
\non earth. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere is no visible foe, but the
\nunseen <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs round us, forces intangible
\nbesiege, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTouches from alien realms, thoughts
\nnot our own <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOvertake us and compel the erring
\nheart; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur lives are caught in an
\nambiguous net. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn adversary Force was born of old: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInvader of the life of mortal man, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt hides from him the straight
\nimmortal path. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA power came in to veil the eternal
\nLight, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA power opposed to the eternal will <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDiverts the messages of the
\ninfallible Word, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page   92<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nContorts the contours of the cosmic
\nplan: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA whisper lures to evil the human
\nheart,<\/p>\n

It seals
\nup wisdom's eyes, the soul's regard,<\/p>\n

It is
\nthe origin of our suffering here,<\/p>\n

It binds
\nearth to calamity and pain.<\/p>\n

This all
\nmust conquer who would bring down God's peace.<\/p>\n

This
\nhidden foe lodged in the human breast<\/p>\n

Man must
\novercome or miss his higher fate. <\/p>\n

\nThis
\nis the inner war without escape.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n     Hard is
\nthe world-redeemer's heavy task;<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe world itself becomes his
\nadversary, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis enemies are the beings he came
\nto save.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThose he would save are his
\nantagonists: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis world is in love with its own
\nignorance<\/p>\n

Its
\ndarkness turns away from the saviour light,<\/p>\n

It gives
\nthe cross in payment for the crown.<\/p>\n

His work
\nis a trickle of splendour in a long night; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe sees the long march of Time, the
\nlittle won; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA few are saved, the rest strive on
\nand fail: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Sun has passed, on earth Night's
\nshadow falls.<\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthere are happy ways near to God's sun; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBut few are they who tread the
\nsunlit path; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly the pure in soul can walk in
\nlight.<\/p>\n

An exit
\nis shown, a road of hard escape<\/p>\n

From the
\nsorrow and the darkness and the chain; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBut how shall a few escaped release
\nthe world? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe human mass lingers beneath the
\nyoke.<\/p>\n

\nEscape, however high, redeems not life,<\/p>\n

Life
\nthat is left behind on a fallen earth.<\/p>\n

Escape
\ncannot uplift the abandoned race<\/p>\n

Or bring
\nto it victory and the reign of God.<\/p>\n

A
\ngreater power must come, a larger light.<\/p>\n

\nAlthough Light grows on earth and Night recedes,<\/p>\n

Yet till
\nthe evil is slain in its own home<\/p>\n

And
\nLight invades the world's inconscient base<\/p>\n

And
\nperished has the adversary Force,<\/p>\n

He still
\nmust labour on: his work half done.<\/p>\n

One yet
\nmay come armoured, invincible; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis will immobile meets the mobile
\nhour; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage   93<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe world's blows cannot bend that
\nvictor head; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCalm and sure are his steps in the
\ngrowing Night; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe goal recedes, he hurries not
\nhis pace,<\/p>\n

He turns
\nnot to high voices in the Night.<\/p>\n

He asks
\nno aid from the inferior gods; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis eyes are fixed on the immutable
\naim.<\/p>\n

Man
\nturns aside or chooses easier paths; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe keeps to the one high and
\ndifficult road<\/p>\n

That
\nsole can climb to the etemal's peaks; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe ineffable planes already have
\nfelt his tread; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has made heaven and earth his
\ninstruments,<\/p>\n

But the
\nlimits fall from him of earth and heaven; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTheir law he transcends but uses as
\nhis means.<\/p>\n

He has
\nseized life's hands, he has mastered his own heart.<\/p>\n

\nThe feints of Nature mislead not his sight,<\/p>\n

\nInflexible his look towards Truth's far end; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFate's deaf resistance cannot break
\nhis will',<\/p>\n

In the
\ndreadful passages, the fatal paths,<\/p>\n

\nInvulnerable his soul, his heart unslain,<\/p>\n

He lives
\nthrough the opposition of earth's Powers<\/p>\n

And
\nNature's ambushes and the world's attacks.<\/p>\n

His
\nspirit's stature transcending pain and bliss<\/p>\n

He
\nfronts evil and good with calm and equal eyes.<\/p>\n

He too
\nmust grapple with the riddling Sphinx<\/p>\n

And
\nplunge into her long obscurity.<\/p>\n

He has
\nbroken into the Inconscient's depths<\/p>\n

That
\nveil themselves even from their own regard: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has seen God's slumber shape
\nthese magic worlds. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has watched the dumb God
\nfashioning Matter's frame, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDreaming the dreams of its
\nunknowing sleep, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd watched the unconscious Force
\nthat built the stars. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has learnt the Inconscient's
\nworkings and its law, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts incoherent thoughts and rigid
\nacts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts hazard wastes of impulse and
\nidea, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe chaos of its mechanic
\nfrequencies, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts random calls, its whispers
\nfalsely true, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMisleaders of the hooded listening
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll things come to its ear but
\nnothing abides; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis heart is undismayed by adverse
\npowers, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  94<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll rose from the silence, all goes
\nback to its hush.<\/p>\n

Its
\nsomnolence founded the universe,<\/p>\n

\nIts obscure waking makes the world
\nseem vain.<\/p>\n

Arisen
\nfrom Nothingness and towards Nothingness turned<\/p>\n

Its dark
\nand potent nescience was earth's start; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt is the waste stuff from which
\nall was made,<\/p>\n

Into its
\ndeeps creation can collapse.<\/p>\n

Its
\nopposition clogs the march of the soul,<\/p>\n

It is
\nthe mother of our ignorance.<\/p>\n

He must
\ncall light into its dark abysms,<\/p>\n

Else
\nnever can Truth conquer Matter's sleep<\/p>\n

And all
\nearth look into the eyes of God.<\/p>\n

All
\nthings obscure his knowledge must relume,<\/p>\n

All
\nthings perverse his power must unknot: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe must pass to the other shore of
\nfalsehood's sea,<\/p>\n

He must
\nenter the world's dark to bring there light.<\/p>\n

The
\nheart of evil must be bared to his eyes,<\/p>\n

He must
\nlearn its cosmic dark Necessity,<\/p>\n

Its
\nright and its dire roots in Nature's soil.<\/p>\n

He must
\nknow the thought that moves the demon act<\/p>\n

And
\njustifies the Titan's erring pride<\/p>\n

And the
\nfalsehood lurking in earth's crooked dreams: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe must enter the eternity of Night<\/p>\n

And know
\nGod's darkness as he knows his Sun.<\/p>\n

For this
\nhe must go down into the pit,<\/p>\n

For this
\nhe must invade the dolorous Vasts.<\/p>\n

\nImperishable and wise and infinite,<\/p>\n

He still
\nmust travel Hell the world to save.<\/p>\n

Into the
\neternal Light he shall emerge<\/p>\n

On
\nborders of the meeting of all worlds; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere on the verge of Nature's
\nsummit steps<\/p>\n

The
\nsecret Law of each thing is fulfilled,<\/p>\n

All
\ncontraries heal their long dissidence.<\/p>\n

There
\nmeet and clasp the eternal opposites,<\/p>\n

There
\npain becomes a violent fiery joy; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEvil turns back to its original
\ngood, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd sorrow lies upon the breasts of
\nBliss: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe has learnt to weep glad tears
\nof happiness; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer gaze is charged with a wistful
\necstasy.<\/p>\n

Then
\nshall be ended here the Law of Pain.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage   95<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEarth shall be made a home of
\nHeaven's light,<\/p>\n

A seer
\nheaven-born shall lodge in human breasts; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe superconscient beam shall touch
\nmen's eyes<\/p>\n

And the
\ntruth-conscious world come down to earth<\/p>\n

\nInvading Matter with the Spirit's ray<\/p>\n

\nAwaking its silence to immortal thoughts,<\/p>\n

\nAwaking the dumb heart to the living Word.<\/p>\n

This
\nmortal life shall house Eternity's bliss,<\/p>\n

The
\nbody's self taste immortality.<\/p>\n

Then
\nshall the world-redeemer's task be done<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n.     Till then
\nmust life carry its seed of death<\/p>\n

And
\nsorrow's plaint be heard in the slow Night.<\/p>\n

\nO
\nmortal, bear this great world's law of pain,<\/p>\n

In thy
\nhard passage through a suffering world<\/p>\n

Lean for
\nthy soul's support on Heaven's strength,<\/p>\n

Turn
\ntowards high Truth, aspire to love and peace.<\/p>\n

A little
\nbliss is lent thee from above,<\/p>\n

A touch
\ndivine upon thy human days: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMake of thy daily way a pilgrimage,<\/p>\n

For
\nthrough small joys and griefs thou mov'st towards God.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHaste not towards Godhead on a
\ndangerous road,<\/p>\n

Open not
\nthy doorways to a nameless Power,<\/p>\n

Climb
\nnot to Godhead by the Titan's road.<\/p>\n

\nAgainst the Law he pits his single will,<\/p>\n

Across
\nits way he throws his pride of might.<\/p>\n

\nHeavenward he clambers on a stair of storms<\/p>\n

\nAspiring to live near the deathless Sun.<\/p>\n

He
\nstrives with a giant strength to wrest by force<\/p>\n

From
\nlife and Nature the immortals' right; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe takes by storm the world and
\nfate and heaven.<\/p>\n

He comes
\nnot to the high world-maker's seat,<\/p>\n

He waits
\nnot for the outstretched hand of God<\/p>\n

To raise
\nhim out of his mortality.<\/p>\n

All he
\nwould make his own, leave nothing free,<\/p>\n

\nStretching his small self to cope with the infinite.<\/p>\n

\nObstructing the gods' open ways he makes<\/p>\n

His own
\nestate of the earth's air and light; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA monopolist of the world-energy,<\/p>\n

He
\ndominates the life of common men. <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page  96<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis pain and others' pain he makes
\nhis means: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn death and suffering he builds
\nhis throne.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the hurry and clangour of his
\nacts of might,<\/p>\n

In a
\nriot and excess of fame and shame,<\/p>\n

By his
\nmagnitudes of hate and violence,<\/p>\n

By the
\nquaking of the world beneath his tread<\/p>\n

He
\nmatches himself against the Eternal's calm<\/p>\n

And
\nfeels in himself the greatness of a god: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPower is his image of celestial
\nself.<\/p>\n

The
\nTitan's heart is a sea of fire and force; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe exults in the death of things
\nand ruin and fall,<\/p>\n

He feeds
\nhis strength with his own and others' pain; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the world's pathos and passion
\nhe takes delight,<\/p>\n

His
\npride, his might call for the struggle and pang.<\/p>\n

He
\nglories in the sufferings of the flesh<\/p>\n

And
\ncovers the stigmata with the Stoic's name.<\/p>\n

His eyes
\nblinded and visionless stare at the sun,<\/p>\n

The
\nseeker's sight receding from his heart<\/p>\n

Can find
\nno more the light of eternity; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe sees the beyond as an emptiness
\nvoid of soul<\/p>\n

And
\ntakes his night for a dark infinite.<\/p>\n

His
\nnature magnifies the unreal's blank<\/p>\n

And sees
\nin Nought the sole reality: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe would stamp his single figure on
\nthe world,<\/p>\n

Obsess
\nthe world's rumours with his single name.<\/p>\n

His
\nmoments centre the vast universe.<\/p>\n

.He sees
\nhis little self as very God. <\/p>\n

\n

His
\nlittle "I" has swallowed the whole world,<\/p>\n

His ego
\nhas stretched into infinity.<\/p>\n

His
\nmind, a beat in original Nothingness,<\/p>\n

\nCiphers his thought on a slate of hourless Time. <\/p>\n

\n

He
\nbuilds on a mighty vacancy of soul<\/p>\n

A huge
\nphilosophy of Nothingness.<\/p>\n

On him
\nNirvana lives and speaks and acts <\/p>\n

\n

\nImpossibly creating a universe.<\/p>\n

An
\neternal zero is his formless self,<\/p>\n

His
\nspirit the void impersonal absolute.<\/p>\n

Take not
\nthat stride, 0 growing soul of man; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nCast not thy self into that night
\nof God.<\/p>\n

The soul
\nsuffering is not eternity's key, <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page  97<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOr ransom by sorrow, heaven's
\ndemand on life.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nO mortal, bear, but ask not for the
\nstroke,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nToo soon will grief and anguish
\nfind thee out.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nToo enormous .is that venture for
\nthy will;
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly in limits can man's strength
\nbe safe,<\/p>\n

Yet is
\ninfinity thy spirit's goal,<\/p>\n

Its
\nbliss is there behind the world's face of tears.<\/p>\n

A power
\nis in thee that thou knowest not; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThou art a vessel of the imprisoned
\nspark.<\/p>\n

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

\nIt seeks relief from Time's
\nenvelopment,<\/p>\n

And
\nwhile thou shutst it in, the seal is pain: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n'Bliss is the Godhead's crown,
\neternal, free,<\/p>\n

\nUnburdened by life's blind mystery of pain: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPain is the signature of the
\nIgnorance<\/p>\n

\nAttesting the secret god denied by life:<\/p>\n

Until
\nlife finds him pain can never end.<\/p>\n

Calm is
\nself's victory overcoming fate.<\/p>\n

Bear;
\nthou shalt find at last thy road to bliss.<\/p>\n

Bliss is
\nthe secret stuff of all that lives,<\/p>\n

Even
\npain and grief are garbs of world-delight,<\/p>\n

It hides
\nbehind thy sorrow and thy cry.<\/p>\n

\n"Because thy strength is a part and not God's whole, <\/p>\n

\n

<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nBecause afflicted by the little
\nself<\/p>\n

Thy
\nconsciousness forgets to be divine<\/p>\n

As it
\nwalks in the vague penumbra of the flesh<\/p>\n

And
\ncannot bear the world's tremendous touch,<\/p>\n

Thou
\ncriest out and sayst that there is pain.<\/p>\n

\nIndifference, pain and joy, a triple disguise,<\/p>\n

Attire
\nof the rapturous Dancer in the ways,<\/p>\n

\nWithhold from thee the body of God's bliss.<\/p>\n

Thy
\nspirit's strength shall make thee one with God,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nagony shall change to ecstasy,<\/p>\n

\nIndifference deepen into infinity's calm<\/p>\n

And joy
\nlaugh nude on the peaks of the Absolute." <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n     O mortal
\nwho complainst of death and fate,<\/p>\n

Accuse
\nnone of the harms thyself hast called; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis troubled world thou hast
\nchosen for thy home,<\/p>\n

Thou art
\nthyself the author of thy pain.<\/p>\n

Once in
\nthe immortal boundlessness of Self, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  98<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn a<\/b>
\nvast of Truth and Consciousness and Light <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe soul looked out from its
\nfelicity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt felt the Spirit's interminable
\nbliss, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt knew itself deathless, timeless,
\nspaceless, one, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt saw the Eternal, lived in the
\nInfinite. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen, curious of a shadow thrown by
\nTruth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt strained towards some otherness
\nof self, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt was drawn to an unknown Face
\npeering through night. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt sensed a negative infinity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA void supernal whose immense
\nexcess <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImitating God and everlasting Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOffered a ground for Nature's
\nadverse birth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Matter's rigid hard
\nunconsciousness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHarbouring the brilliance of a
\ntransient soul <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat lights up birth and death and
\nignorant life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Mind arose that stared at
\nNothingness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTill figures formed of what could
\nnever be; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt housed the contrary of all that
\nis. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Nought appeared as Being's huge
\nsealed cause,<\/b> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts dumb support in a blank
\ninfinite, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn whose abysm spirit must
\ndisappear: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA darkened Nature lived and held
\nthe seed<\/p>\n

Of
\nSpirit hidden and feigning not to be.<\/p>\n

The
\neternal Consciousness became the home<\/p>\n

Of some
\nunsouled almighty Inconscient; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOne breathed no more the spirit's
\nnative air.<\/p>\n

A
\nstranger in the insentient universe,<\/p>\n

Bliss
\nwas the incident of a mortal hour.<\/p>\n

As one
\ndrawn by the grandeur of the Void<\/p>\n

The soul
\nattracted leaned to the Abyss: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt longed for the adventure of
\nIgnorance <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the marvel and surprise of the
\nUnknown <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the endless possibility that
\nlurked <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the womb of Chaos and in
\nNothing's gulf <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr looked from the unfathomed eyes
\nof Chance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt tired of its unchanging
\nhappiness, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt turned away from immortality: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt was drawn to hazard's call and
\ndanger's charm,<\/p>\n

It
\nyearned to the pathos of grief, the drama of pain,<\/p>\n

\nPerdition's peril, the wounded bare escape, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  99<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe music of ruin and its glamour
\nand crash,<\/p>\n

The
\nsavour of pity and the gamble of love<\/p>\n

And
\npassion and the ambiguous face of Fate.<\/p>\n

A world
\nof hard endeavour and difficult toil<\/p>\n

And
\nbattle on extinction's perilous verge,<\/p>\n

A clash
\nof forces, a vast incertitude,<\/p>\n

The joy
\nof creation out of Nothingness,<\/p>\n

\nStrange meetings on the roads of Ignorance<\/p>\n

And the
\ncompanionship of half-known souls<\/p>\n

Or the
\nsolitary greatness and lonely force<\/p>\n

Of a
\nseparate being conquering its world,<\/p>\n

Called
\nit from its too safe eternity.<\/p>\n

A huge
\ndescent began, a giant fall: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFor what the spirit sees, creates a
\ntruth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd what the soul imagines is made
\na world. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Thought that leaped from the
\nTimeless can become, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIndicator of cosmic consequence <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the itinerary of the gods, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA cyclic movement in eternal Time. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThus came, born from a blind
\ntremendous choice, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis great perplexed and
\ndiscontented world, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis haunt of Ignorance, this home
\nof Pain: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere are pitched desire's tents,
\ngrief's headquarters.<\/p>\n

A vast
\ndisguise conceals the Etemal's bliss." <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n     Then
\nAswapathy answered to the seer: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"Is then the spirit ruled by an
\noutward world?<\/p>\n

\nO seer,
\nis there no remedy within ?<\/p>\n

But what
\nis fate if not the spirit's will<\/p>\n

After
\nlong time fulfilled by cosmic Force?<\/p>\n

I deemed
\na mighty Power had come with her; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIs not that Power the high compeer
\nof Fate?"<\/p>\n

But
\nNarad answered covering truth with truth; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n"O Aswapathy; random seem the ways <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlong whose banks your footsteps
\nstray or run <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn casual hours and moments of the
\ngods, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet your least stumblings are
\nforeseen above. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInfallibly the curves of life are
\ndrawn <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFollowing the stream of Time
\nthrough the unknown; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey are led by a clue the calm
\nimmortals keep.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page  100<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis blazoned hieroglyph of prophet
\nmoons <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA meaning more sublime in symbols
\nwrites <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThan sealed Thought wakes to, but
\nof this high script <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall my voice convince the
\nmind of earth? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHeaven's wiser love rejects the
\nmortal's prayer; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnblinded by the breath of his
\ndesire,<\/p>\n

\nUnclouded by the mists of fear and hope,<\/p>\n

\nIt bends above the strife of love
\nwith death; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt keeps for her her privilege of
\npain.<\/p>\n

A
\ngreatness in thy daughter's soul resides<\/p>\n

That can
\ntransform herself and all around,<\/p>\n

But must
\ncross on stones of suffering to its goal.<\/p>\n

\nAlthough designed like a nectar cup of heaven,<\/p>\n

Of
\nheavenly ether made she sought this air,<\/p>\n

She too
\nmust share the human need of grief<\/p>\n

And all
\nher cause of joy transmute to pain.<\/p>\n

The mind
\nof mortal man is led by words,<\/p>\n

His
\nsight retires behind the walls of Thought<\/p>\n

And
\nlooks out only through half-opened doors.<\/p>\n

He cuts
\nthe boundless Truth into sky-strips<\/p>\n

And
\nevery strip he takes for all the heavens.<\/p>\n

He
\nstares at infinite Possibility<\/p>\n

And
\ngives to the plastic Vast the name of Chance.<\/p>\n

He sees
\nthe long results of an all-wise Force<\/p>\n

\nPlanning a sequence of steps in endless Time,<\/p>\n

But in
\nits links imagines a senseless chain<\/p>\n

Or the
\ndead hand of cold Necessity; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe answers not to the mystic
\nMother's heart,<\/p>\n

Misses
\nthe ardent heavings of her breast<\/p>\n

And
\nfeels cold rigid limbs of lifeless Law.<\/p>\n

The will
\nof the Timeless working out in Time<\/p>\n

In the
\nfree absolute steps of cosmic Truth<\/p>\n

\nAppears a hard machine or meaningless Fate.<\/p>\n

FA
\nMagician's formulas have made Matter's laws<\/p>\n

And
\nwhile they last, all things by them are bound: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBut the Spirit's consent is needed
\nfor each act<\/p>\n

And
\nfreedom walks in the same pace with Law.<\/p>\n

All here
\ncan change if the Magician choose.<\/p>\n

If human
\nwill could be made one with God's,<\/p>\n

If human
\nthought could echo the thoughts of God, <\/p>\n

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


\n <\/font>Page  101<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMan might be all-knowing and
\nomnipotent; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut now he walks in Nature's
\ndoubtful ray.<\/p>\n

Yet can
\nthe mind of man receive God's light,<\/p>\n

The
\nforce of man can be driven by God's force,<\/p>\n

Then is
\nhe a miracle doing miracles.<\/p>\n

For only
\nso can he be Nature's King. <\/p>\n

\n

It is
\ndecreed and Satyavan must die; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe hour is fixed, chosen the fatal
\nstroke.<\/p>\n

What
\nelse shall be is written in her soul.<\/p>\n

But till
\nthe hour reveals the fateful script<\/p>\n

The
\nwriting waits illegible and mute. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFate is Truth working out in
\nIgnorance.<\/p>\n

\nO King,
\nthy fate is a transaction done<\/p>\n

At every
\nhour between Nature and thy soul<\/p>\n

With God
\nfor its foreseeing arbiter.<\/p>\n

Fate is
\na balance drawn in Destiny's book.<\/p>\n

Man can
\naccept his fate, he can refuse.<\/p>\n

Even if
\nthe One maintains the unseen decree<\/p>\n

He
\nwrites thy refusal in thy credit page: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFor doom is not a close a mystic
\nseal.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nArisen from the tragic crash of
\nlife,<\/p>\n

Arisen
\nfrom the body's torture and death,<\/p>\n

The
\nspirit rises mightier by defeat; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIts godlike wings grow wider with
\neach fall.<\/p>\n

Its
\nsplendid failures sum to victory. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n0 man, the events that meet thee on
\nthy road,<\/p>\n

Though
\nthey smite thy body and soul with joy and grief,<\/p>\n

Are not
\nthy fate; they touch thee awhile and pass; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEven death can cut not short thy
\nspirit's walk: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy goal, the road thou choosest
\nare thy fate. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn
\nthe altar throwing thy thoughts, thy heart, thy works, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy fate is a long sacrifice to the
\ngods <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTill they have opened to thee thy
\nsecret self <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd made thee one with the
\nindwelling God. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO soul, intruder in Nature's
\nignorance, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArmed traveller to the unseen
\nsupernal heights, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy spirit's fate is a battle and
\nceaseless march <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAgainst invisible opponent Powers, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA passage from Matter into timeless
\nSelf. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdventurer through blind
\nunforeseeing Time, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page  102<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA forced advance through a long
\nline of lives, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt pushes its spearhead through the
\ncenturies. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAcross the dust and mire of the
\nearthly plain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn many-guarded lines and dangerous
\nfronts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn dire assaults, in wounded slow
\nretreats, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr holding the ideal's battered
\nfort <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr fighting against odds in lonely
\nposts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr camped in night around the
\nbivouac's fires, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAwaiting the tardy trumpets of the
\ndawn <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn hunger and in plenty and in
\npain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThrough peril and through triumph
\nand through fall, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThrough life's green lanes and over
\nher desert sands, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUp the bald moor, along the sunlit
\nridge <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn serried columns with a
\nstraggling rear <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLed by its nomad vanguard's signal
\nfires, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMarches the army of the waylost
\ngod. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen late the joy ineffable is
\nfelt, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen he remembers his forgotten
\nself, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has refound the skies from which
\nhe fell. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt length his front's indomitable
\nline <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForces the last passes of the
\nIgnorance: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdvancing beyond Nature's last
\nknown bounds,<\/p>\n

\nReconnoitring the formidable unknown,<\/p>\n

Beyond
\nthe landmarks of things visible,<\/p>\n

It
\nmounts through a miraculous upper air<\/p>\n

Till
\nclimbing the mute summit of the world<\/p>\n

He
\nstands upon the splendour-peaks of God.<\/p>\n

In vain
\nthou mournst that Satyavan must die,<\/p>\n

His
\ndeath is a beginning of greater life,<\/p>\n

Death is
\nthe spirit's opportunity. <\/p>\n

\nA vast intention has brought the
\nsouls close<\/p>\n

And
\nlove and death conspire towards one great end.<\/p>\n

For out
\nof danger and pain heaven-bliss shall come,<\/p>\n

Time's
\nunforeseeing event. God's secret plan.<\/p>\n

This
\nworld was not built with random bricks of chance,<\/p>\n

A blind
\ngod is not destiny's architect; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA conscious power has drawn the
\nplan of life,<\/p>\n

There is
\na meaning in each curve and line. <\/p>\n

<\/i> <\/p>\n

It<\/i> is an architecture high and grand<\/p>\n

By many
\nnamed and nameless masons built <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page  103<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn which unseeing hands obey the
\nUnseen,<\/p>\n

And of
\nits master-builders she is one. <\/p>\n

\n  
\nQueen, strive no more to change the
\nsecret will; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTime's accidents are steps in its
\nvast scheme.<\/p>\n

Bring
\nnot thy brief and helpless human tears<\/p>\n

Across
\nthe fathomless moments of a heart<\/p>\n

That
\nknows its single will and God's as one: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt
\ncan embrace its hostile destiny; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt sits apart with grief and facing
\ndeath,<\/p>\n

\nAffronting adverse fate armed and alone.<\/p>\n

In this
\nenormous world standing apart<\/p>\n

In the
\nmightiness of her silent spirit's will,<\/p>\n

In the
\npassion of her soul of sacrifice<\/p>\n

Her
\nlonely strength facing the universe,<\/p>\n

\nAffronting fate, asks not man's help nor god's: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSometimes one life is charged with
\nearth's destiny, <\/p>\n

It cries
\nnot for succour from the time-bound powers.<\/p>\n

Alone
\nshe is equal to her mighty task.<\/p>\n

\nIntervene not in a strife too great for thee,<\/p>\n

A
\nstruggle too deep for mortal thought to sound,<\/p>\n

\nIts question to this Nature's rigid
\nbounds<\/p>\n

When the
\nsoul fronts nude of garbs the infinite,<\/p>\n

Its too
\nvast theme of a lonely mortal will<\/p>\n

Pacing
\nthe silence of eternity.<\/p>\n

As a
\nstar, uncompanioned, moves in heaven<\/p>\n

\nUnastonished by the immensities of space,<\/p>\n

\nTravelling infinity by its own light,<\/p>\n

The
\ngreat are strongest when they stand alone.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/b><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nA God-given might of being is their
\nforce,<\/p>\n

A ray
\nfrom self's solitude of light the guide; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe soul that can live alone with
\nitself meets God; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts lonely universe is their
\nrendezvous."<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA day may come when she must stand
\nunhelped <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn a dangerous brink of the world's
\ndoom and hers. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCarrying the world's future on her
\nlonely breast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCarrying the human hope in a heart
\nleft sole <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo conquer or fail on a last
\ndesperate verge; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlone with death and close to
\nextinction's edge,<\/p>\n

Her
\nsingle greatness in that last dire scene,<\/p>\n

She must
\ncross alone a perilous bridge in Time<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  104<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd reach an apex of world-destiny <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere all is won or all is lost for
\nman. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn that tremendous silence lone and
\nlost <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf a deciding hour in the world's
\nfate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn her soul's climbing beyond
\nmortal time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen she stands sole with Death or
\nsole with God <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nApart upon a silent desperate brink <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlone With her self and death and
\ndestiny <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs on some verge between Time and
\nTimelessness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen being must end or life rebuild
\nits base, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlone she must conquer or alone
\nmust fall. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo human aid can reach her in that
\nhour, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo armoured God stand shining at
\nher side. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCry not to heaven, for she alone
\ncan save. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor this the silent Force came
\nmissioned down; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn her the conscious Will took
\nhuman shape: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe only can save herself and save
\nthe world. 0<\/p>\n

\nO queen,
\nstand back from that stupendous scene,<\/p>\n

Come not
\nbetween her and her hour of Fate.<\/p>\n

Her hour
\nmust come and none can intervene; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThink not to turn her from her
\nheaven-sent task,<\/p>\n

Strive
\nnot to save her from her own high will.<\/p>\n

Thou
\nhast no place in that tremendous strife; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThy love and longing are not
\narbiters there,<\/p>\n

Leave
\nthe world's fate and her to God's sole guard.<\/p>\n

Even if
\nhe seems to leave her to her lone strength,<\/p>\n

Even
\nthough all falters and falls and sees an end<\/p>\n

And the
\nheart fails and only are death and night,<\/p>\n

\nGod-given her strength can battle against doom<\/p>\n

Even on
\na brink where Death alone seems close<\/p>\n

And no
\nhuman strength can hinder or can help.<\/p>\n

Think
\nnot to intercede with the hidden Will,<\/p>\n

\nIntrude not twixt her spirit and its force<\/p>\n

But
\nleave her to her mighty self and Fate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n     He spoke
\nand ceased and left the earthly scene.<\/p>\n

Away
\nfrom the strife and suffering on our globe,<\/p>\n

He
\nturned towards his far-off blissful home.<\/p>\n

A
\nbrilliant arrow pointing straight to heaven,<\/p>\n

The
\nluminous body of the eternal seer <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page  105<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAssailed the purple glory of the
\nnoon<\/p>\n

And
\ndisappeared like a receding star<\/p>\n

\nVanishing into the light of the Unseen; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBut still a cry was heard in the
\ninfinite,<\/p>\n

And
\nstill to the listening soul on mortal earth<\/p>\n

A high
\nand far imperishable voice<\/p>\n

\nChanted the anthem of eternal love. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEND OF BOOK SIX<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  106<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

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

CANTO TWO   THE WAY OF FATE AND THE PROBLEM  OF PAIN     A SILENCE sealed the irrevocable decree, The word of Fate that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-savitri-1951","wpcat-73-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291","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=3291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}