{"id":3298,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3298"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:18","slug":"16-book-7-canto-6-nirvana-and-the-discovery-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\/16-book-7-canto-6-nirvana-and-the-discovery-vol-02-savitri-1951","title":{"rendered":"-16_Book 7 Canto 6 Nirvana and The Discovery.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n

<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nNIRVANA AND
\nTHE DISCOVERY OF THE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nALL-NEGATING
\nABSOLUTE<\/font> <\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\n

A CALM slow sun looked down from
\ntranquil heavens.<\/p>\n

A routed
\nsullen rearguard of retreat,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The last
\nrains had fled murmuring across the woods<\/p>\n

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

\nOr failed, a sibilant whisper mid
\nthe leaves,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And the
\ngreat blue enchantment of the sky<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nRecovered the deep rapture of its smile.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Its
\nmellow splendour unstressed by storm-licked heats<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Found
\nroom for a luxury of warm mild days,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nnight's gold treasure of autumnal moons<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Came
\nfloating shipped through ripples of fairy air.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nSavitri's life was glad, fulfilled like earth's; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nShe had found herself, she knew her
\nbeing's aim.<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAlthough her kingdom of marvellous change within<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nRemained unspoken in her secret breast,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

All that
\nlived round her felt its magic's charm: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe trees' rustling voices told it
\nto the winds,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nFlowers spoke in ardent hues an unknown joy,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nbirds' carolling became a canticle,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nbeasts forgot their strife and lived at ease.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAbsorbed in wide communion with the Unseen<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The mild
\nascetics of the wood received<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A sudden
\ngreatening of their lonely muse.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nbright perfection of her inner state<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Poured
\noverflowing into her outward scene,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Made
\nbeautiful dull common natural things<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\naction wonderful and time divine.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Even the
\nsmallest meanest work became<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A sweet
\nor glad and glorious sacrament,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

An
\noffering to the self of the great world <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page  170<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOr a service to the One in each and
\nall.<\/P><\/p>\n

A light
\ninvaded all from her being's light; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHer heart-beats' dance communicated
\nbliss: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHappiness grew happier, shared with
\nher, by her touch<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ngrief some solace found when she drew near.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Above
\nthe cherished head of Satyavan<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

She saw
\nnot now Fate's dark and lethal orb; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA golden circle round a mystic sun<\/P><\/p>\n

\nDisclosed to her new-born predicting sight<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\ncyclic rondure of a sovereign life.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In her
\nvisions and deep-etched veridical dreams,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In brief
\nshiftings of the future's heavy screen,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

He lay
\nnot by a dolorous decree<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A victim
\nin the dismal antre of death<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or borne
\nto blissful regions far from her<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nForgetting the sweetness of earth's warm delight,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nForgetting the passionate oneness of love's clasp,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAbsolved in the self-rapt immortal's bliss.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Always
\nhe was with her, a living soul<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That met
\nher eyes with close enamoured eyes,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A living
\nbody near to her body's joy.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But now
\nno longer in these great wild woods<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In
\nkinship with the days of bird and beast<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nlevelled to the bareness of earth's brown breast,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But mid
\nthe thinking high-built lives of men<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In
\ntapestried chambers and on crystal floors,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In
\narmoured town or gardened pleasure-walks,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Even in
\ndistance closer than her thoughts,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Body to
\nbody near, soul near to soul,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Moving
\nas if by a common breath and will,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

They
\nwere tied in the single circling of their days<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nTogether by love's unseen atmosphere,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nInseparable like the earth and sky.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Thus for
\na while she trod the Golden Path; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis was the sun before abysmal
\nNight. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n   
\nOnce as she sat in deep felicitous
\nmuse,<\/P><\/p>\n

Still
\nquivering from her lover's strong embrace,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And made
\nher joy a bridge twixt earth and heaven,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

An abyss
\nyawned suddenly beneath her heart.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A vast
\nand nameless fear dragged at her nerves <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  171<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAs drags a wild beast its
\nhalf-slaughtered prey,<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt seemed to have no den from which
\nit sprang: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt was not hers, but hid its unseen
\ncause.<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\nrushing came its vast and fearful Fount.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nformless Dread with shapeless endless wings<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nFilling the universe with its dangerous breath,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A denser
\ndarkness than the Night could bear,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nEnveloped the heavens and possessed the earth.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nrolling surge of silent death, it came<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nCurving round the far edge of the quaking globe; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEffacing heaven with its enormous
\nstride<\/P><\/p>\n

It
\nwilled to expunge the choked and anguished air<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And end
\nthe fable of the joy of life.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

It
\nseemed her very being to forbid<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAbolishing all by which her nature lived<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nlaboured to blot out her body and soul,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A clutch
\nof some half-seen Invisible,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

An ocean
\nof terror and of sovereign might,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A person
\nand a black Infinity.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

It
\nseemed to cry to her without thought or word<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nmessage of its dark eternity<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And the
\nawful meaning of its silences: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOut of some sullen monstrous vast
\narisen,<\/P><\/p>\n

Out of
\nan abysmal deep of grief and fear<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nImagined by some blind regardless self,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nconsciousness of being without its joy,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Empty of
\nthought, incapable of bliss,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That
\nfelt life blank and nowhere found a soul,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A voice
\nto the dumb anguish of the heart<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nConveyed a stark sense of unspoken words; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn her own depths she heard the
\nunuttered thought<\/P><\/p>\n

That
\nmade unreal the world and all life meant.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

"Who art
\nthou who claim'st thy crown or separate birth,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nillusion of thy soul's reality<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\npersonal godhead on an ignorant globe<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In the
\nanimal body of imperfect man?<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Hope not
\nto be happy in a world of pain<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ndream not, listening to the unspoken Word<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ndazzled by the inexpressible Ray,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nTranscending the mute Superconsdent's realm <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  172<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTo give a body to the Unknowable, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr for a sanction to thy heart's
\ndelight <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo burden with bliss the silent
\nstill Supreme, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nProfaning its bare and formless
\nsanctity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr call into thy chamber the Divine <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd sit with God tasting a human
\njoy. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have created all, all I devour; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am Death and the dark terrible
\nMother of life, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am Kali black and naked in the
\nworld, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am Maya and the universe is my
\ncheat. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI lay waste human happiness with my
\nbreath <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd slay the will to live, the joy
\nto be <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat all may pass back into
\nnothingness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd only abide the eternal and
\nabsolute. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor only the blank Eternal can be
\ntrue. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll else is shadow and flash in
\nMind's bright glass, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMind, hollow mirror in which
\nIgnorance sees <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA splendid figure of its own false
\nSelf <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd dreams it sees a glorious solid
\nworld. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n0 soul, inventor of man's thoughts
\nand hopes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThyself the invention of the
\nmoments' stream, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIllusion's centre or subtle apex
\npoint, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt last know thyself, from vain
\nexistence cease." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA shadow of the negating Absolute, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe-intolerant Darkness travelled
\nsurging past <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd ebbed in her the formidable
\nVoice. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt left behind her inner world laid
\nwaste: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA barren silence weighed upon her
\nheart,<\/P><\/p>\n

Her
\nkingdom of delight was there no more; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly her soul remained, its emptied
\nstage,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAwaiting the unknown eternal Will.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\nfrom the heights a greater Voice came down,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The Word
\nthat touches the heart and finds the soul,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nvoice of Light after the voice of Night: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe cry of the Abyss drew Heaven's
\nreply, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA might of storm chased by the
\nmight of the Sun: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"0 Soul, bare not thy kingdom to
\nthe foe; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConsent to hide thy royalty of
\nbliss <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLest Time and Fate find out its
\navenues <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd beat with thunderous knock upon
\nthy gates. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  173<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHide whilst thou canst thy treasure
\nof separate self<\/P><\/p>\n

Behind
\nthe luminous rampart of thy depths<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Till of
\na vaster empire it grows part.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But not
\nfor self alone the self is won: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nContent abide not with one
\nconquered realm; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdventure all to make the whole
\nworld thine,<\/P><\/p>\n

To break
\ninto greater kingdoms turn thy force.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Fear not
\nto be nothing that thou mayst be all; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAssent to the emptiness of the
\nSupreme<\/P><\/p>\n

That all
\nin thee may reach its absolute.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Accept
\nto be small and human on the earth,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nInterrupting thy new-born divinity,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That man
\nmay find his utter self in God.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

If for
\nthy own sake only thou hast come,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

An
\nimmortal spirit into the mortal's world,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To found
\nthy luminous kingdom in God's dark,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In the
\nInconscient's realm one shining star,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

One door
\nin the Ignorance opened upon light,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Why
\nhadst thou any need to come at all?<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Thou
\nhast come down into a struggling world<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To aid a
\nblind and suffering mortal race,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To open
\nto Light the eyes that could not see,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To bring
\ndown bliss into the heart of grief,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To make
\nthy life a bridge twixt earth and heaven; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIf thou wouldst save the toiling
\nuniverse, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe vast universal suffering feel
\nas thine: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou must bear the sorrow that thou
\nclaim'st to heal; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe day-bringer must walk in
\ndarkest night. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

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

\nIf he knows not grief, how shall he
\nfind grief's cure? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf far he walks above mortality's
\nhead, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall the mortal reach that too
\nhigh path? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf one of theirs they see scale
\nheaven's peaks, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMen then can hope to learn that
\ntitan climb. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGod must be born on earth and be as
\nman <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat man being human may grow even
\nas God. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe who would save the world must be
\none with the world, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll suffering things contain in his
\nheart's space <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd bear the grief and joy of all
\nthat lives. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis soul must be wider than the
\nuniverse <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page  174<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd feel eternity as its very
\nstuff, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRejecting the moment's personality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nKnow itself older than the birth of
\nTime, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCreation an incident in its
\nconsciousness, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArcturus and Belphegor grains of
\nfire <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCircling in a comer of its
\nboundless self, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe world's destruction a small
\ntransient storm <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the calm infinity it has become. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf thou wouldst a little loosen the
\nvast chain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDraw back from the world that the
\nIdea has made, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy mind's selection from the
\nInfinite, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy senses' gloss on the
\nInfinitesimal's dance, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen shalt thou know how the great
\nbondage came. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBanish all thought from thee and be
\nGod's void. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen shalt thou uncover the
\nUnknowable <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the Superconscient conscious
\ngrow on thy tops; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInfinity's vision through thy gaze
\nshall pierce, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou shalt look into the eyes of
\nthe Unknown, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFind the hid Truth in things seen
\nnull and false, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBehind things known discover
\nMystery's rear. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou shalt be one with God's bare
\nreality <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the miraculous world he has
\nbecome <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the diviner miracle still to be <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen Nature who is now unconscious
\nGod <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTranslucent grows to the Eternal's
\nlight, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer seeing his sight, her walk his
\nsteps of power <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd life is filled with a spiritual
\njoy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Matter is the Spirit's willing
\nbride. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConsent to be nothing and none,
\ndissolve Time's work, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCast off thy mind, step back from
\nform and name. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnnul thyself that only God may
\nbe." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n     Thus spoke
\nthe mighty and uplifting Voice,<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nSavitri heard; she bowed her head and mused<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nPlunging her deep regard into herself<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In her
\nsoul's privacy in the silent Night.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Aloof
\nand standing back detached and calm,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nwitness of the drama of herself,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nstudent of her own interior scene,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

She
\nwatched the passion and the toil of life <\/p>\n

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


\n <\/font>Page 175<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd heard in the crowded
\nthoroughfares of mind<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nunceasing tread and passage of her thoughts.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

All she
\nallowed to rise that chose to stir; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nCalling, compelling nought,
\nforbidding nought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe left all to the process formed
\nin Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the free initiative of Nature's
\nwill. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThus following the complex human
\nplay <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe heard the prompter's voice
\nbehind the scenes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPerceived the original libretto's
\nset <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the organ theme of the composer
\nForce. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll she beheld that surges from
\nman's depths, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe animal instincts prowling mid
\nlife's trees, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe impulses that whisper to the
\nheart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd passion's thunder-chase
\nsweeping the nerves, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe saw the Powers that stare from
\nthe Abyss <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the wordless Light that
\nliberates the soul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut most her gaze pursued the birth
\nof thought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAffranchised from the look of
\nsurface mind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe paused not to survey the
\nofficial case, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe issue of forms from the office
\nof the brain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts factory of thought-sounds and
\nsoundless words <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd voices stored within unheard by
\nmen, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts mint and treasury of shining
\ncoin. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThese were but counters in mind's
\nsymbol game, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA gramophone's discs, a
\nreproduction's film, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA list of signs, a cipher and a
\ncode. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn our unseen subtle body thought
\nis born <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr there it enters from the cosmic
\nfield. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOft from her soul stepped out a
\nnaked thought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLuminous with mysteried lips and
\nwonderful eyes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr from her heart emerged some
\nburning face <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd looked for life and love and
\npassionate truth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAspired to heaven or embraced the
\nworld <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr led the fancy like a fleeting
\nmoon <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAcross the dull sky of man's common
\ndays, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmidst the doubtful certitudes of
\nearth's lore, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo the celestial beauty of faith
\ngave form <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs if at flower-prints in a dingy
\nroom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLaughed in a golden vase one living
\nrose. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA thaumaturgist sat in her heart's
\ndeep, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  176<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nCompelled the forward stride, the
\nupward look,<\/P><\/p>\n

Till
\nwonder leapt into the illumined breast<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And life
\ngrew marvellous with transfiguring hope.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A seeing
\nwill pondered between the brows; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThoughts, glistening Angels stood
\nbehind the brain<\/P><\/p>\n

In
\nflashing armour, folding hands of prayer,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\npoured heaven's rays into the earthly form.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nImaginations flamed up from her breast,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nUnearthly beauty, touches of surpassing joy<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nplans of miracle, dreams of delight:
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAround her navel lotus clustering
\nclose <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer large sensations of the teeming
\nworlds <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nStreamed their dumb movements of
\nthe unformed Idea; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInvading the small sensitive flower
\nof the throat <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey brought their mute, unuttered
\nresonances <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo kindle the figures of a heavenly
\nspeech. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBelow, desires formed their
\nwordless wish, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd longings of physical sweetness
\nand ecstasy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTranslated into the accents of a
\ncry <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTheir grasp on objects and their
\nclasp on souls. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer body's thoughts climbed from
\nher conscious limbs <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd carried their yearnings to its
\nmystic crown <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere Nature's murmurs meet the
\nIneffable. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut for the mortal prisoned in
\noutward mind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll must present their passports at
\nits door; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDisguised they must don the
\nofficial cap and mask<\/P><\/p>\n

Or pass
\nas manufactures of the brain,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nUnknown their secret truth and hidden source.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Only to
\nthe inner mind they speak direct,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Put on a
\nbody and assume a voice,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Their
\npassage seen, their message heard and known,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Their
\nbirthplace and their natal mark revealed,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nstand confessed to an immortal's sight,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Our
\nnature's messengers to the witness soul.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nImpenetrable, withheld from mortal sense,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\ninner chambers of the spirit's house<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nDisclosed to her their happenings and their guests; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEyes looked through crevices in the
\ninvisible wall<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nthrough the secrecy of the unseen doors<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\ncame into mind's little frontal room <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page  177<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThoughts that enlarged our limited
\nhuman range,<\/P><\/p>\n

Lifted
\nthe ideal's half-quenched or sinking torch<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or
\npeered through the finite at the infinite.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A sight
\nopened upon the invisible<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nsensed the shapes that mortal eyes see not,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nsounds that mortal listening cannot hear,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nblissful sweetness of the intangible's touch,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nobjects that to us are empty air<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Are
\nthere the stuff of daily experience<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And the
\ncommon pabulum of sense and thought.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nbeings of the subtle realms appeared<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nscenes concealed behind our earthly scene; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nShe saw the life of remote
\ncontinents<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ndistance deafen not to voices far; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nShe felt the movements crossing
\nunknown minds; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe past's events occurred before
\nher eyes. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe great world's thoughts were
\npart of her own thoughts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe feelings dumb for ever and
\nunshared, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe ideas that never found an
\nutterance, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe dim subconscient's incoherent
\nhints <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLaid bare a meaning twisted deep
\nand strange, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe bizarre secret of their
\ngrumbling speech, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTheir links with underlying
\nreality. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe unseen grew visible and
\naudible: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThoughts leaped down from a
\nsuperconscient field <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike eagles swooping from a
\nviewless peak, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThoughts gleamed up from the
\nscreened subliminal depths <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike golden fishes from a hidden
\nsea. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis world is a vast unbroken
\ntotality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA deep solidarity joins its
\ncontrary powers. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGod's summits look back on the mute
\nAbyss. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSo man evolving to divinest heights <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nColloques still with the animal and
\nthe Djinn; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe human godhead with star-gazer
\neyes<\/P><\/p>\n

Lives
\nstill in one house with the primal beast.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The high
\nmeets the low, all is a single plan.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

So she
\nbeheld the many births of thought,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

If
\nbirths can be of what eternal is; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFor the Etemal's powers are like
\nhimself,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nTimeless in the Timeless, in Time ever born. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page  178<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis too she saw that all in outer
\nmind<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n

\nIs made, not born, a product
\nperishable,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Forged
\nin the body's factory by earth-force.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nmind is a dynamic small machine<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nProducing ceaselessly till it wears out,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

With raw
\nmaterial drawn from the outside world,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\npatterns sketched out by an artist God.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Often
\nour thoughts are finished cosmic wares<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAdmitted by a silent office gate<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\npassed through the subconscient galleries,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\nissued in Time's mart as private make.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

For now
\nthey bear the living person's stamp,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A trick,
\na special hue claims them his own.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

All else
\nis Nature's craft and this too hers.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Our
\ntasks are given, we are but instruments; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNothing is all our own that we
\ncreate,<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nPower that acts in us is not our force: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe genius too receives from some
\nhigh fount <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConcealed in a supernal secrecy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe work that gives him an immortal
\nname. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe word, the form, the charm, the
\nglory and grace <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAre missioned sparks from a
\nstupendous Fire; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA sample from the laboratory of God<\/P><\/p>\n

Of which
\nhe holds the patent upon earth,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Comes to
\nhim wrapt in golden coverings; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe listens for Inspiration's
\npostman knock<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ntakes delivery of the priceless gift<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A hide
\nspoilt by the receiver mind<\/p>\n

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

\nOr mixed with the manufacture of
\nhis brain; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWhen least defaced, then is it most
\ndivine.<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAlthough his ego claims the world for its use,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Man is a
\ndynamo for the cosmic work; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNature does most in him. God the
\nhigh rest: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly his soul's acceptance is his
\nown.<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nindependent, once a power supreme,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nSelf-born before the universe was made,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAccepting cosmos, binds himself Nature's serf<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Till he
\nbecomes her freed man or God's slave.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This is
\nthe appearance in our mortal front; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOur greater truth of being lies
\nbehind: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  179<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOur <\/b>consciousness is cosmic
\nand immense,<\/P><\/p>\n

But only
\nwhen we break through Matter's wall<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

In that
\nspiritual vastness can we stand<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Where we
\ncan live the masters of our world,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And mind
\nis only a means and body a tool.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

For
\nabove the birth of body and of thought<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Our
\nspirit's truth lives in the naked self<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And from
\nthat height, unbound, surveys the world.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Out of
\nthe mind she rose to escape its law<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That it
\nmight sleep in some deep shadow of self<\/p>\n

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

\nOr fall silent in the silence of
\nthe Unseen.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

High she
\nattained and stood from Nature free<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And saw
\ncreation's life from far above,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Thence
\nupon all she laid her sovereign will<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To
\ndedicate it to God's timeless calm: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThen all grew tranquil in her
\nbeing's space,<\/P><\/p>\n

Only
\nsometimes small thoughts arose and fell .<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Like
\nquiet waves upon a silent sea<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or
\nripples passing over a lonely pool<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

When a
\nstray stone disturbs its dreaming rest.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Yet the
\nmind's factory had ceased to work,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no sound of the dynamo's throb,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\ncame no call from the still fields of life.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\neven those stirrings rose in her no more,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Her mind
\nnow seemed like a vast empty room<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or like
\na peaceful landscape without sound.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This men
\ncall quietude and prize as peace.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But to
\nher deeper sight all yet was there,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nEffervescing like a chaos under a lid; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFeelings and thoughts cried out for
\nword and act<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nfound no response in the silenced brain: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll was suppressed but nothing yet
\nexpunged; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt every moment might explosion
\ncome.<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\nthis too paused; the body seemed a stone.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

All now
\nwas a wide mighty vacancy,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nstill excluded from eternity's hush; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFor still was far the repose of the
\nAbsolute <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the ocean silence of Infinity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven now some thoughts could cross
\nher solitude: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThese surged not from the depths or
\nfrom within <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  180<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nCast up from formlessness to seek a
\nform, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpoke not the body's need nor
\nvoiced mind's call. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThese seemed not born nor made in
\nhuman Time, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChildren of cosmic nature from a
\nfar world, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIdea's shapes in complete armour of
\nwords <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPosted like travellers in an alien
\nspace. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOut of some far expanse they seemed
\nto come <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs if carried on vast wings like
\nlarge white sails, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd with easy access reached the
\ninner ear <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs though they used a natural
\nprivileged right <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo the high royal entries of the
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs yet their path lay deep
\nconcealed in light. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen looking to know whence the
\nintruders came <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe saw a spiritual immensity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPervading and encompassing the
\nworld-space <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs ether our transparent tangible
\nair, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd through it sailing tranquilly a
\nthought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs smoothly glides a ship nearing
\nits port, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIgnorant of embargo and blockade, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConfident of entrance and the
\nvisa's seal, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt came to the silent city of the
\nbrain <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTowards its accustomed and
\nexpectant quay, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut met a barring will, a blow of
\nForce <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd sank vanishing in the
\nimmensity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAfter a long vacant pause another
\nappeared <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd others one by one suddenly
\nemerged, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMind's unexpected visitors from the
\nunseen <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike far-off sails upon a lonely
\nsea. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut soon that commerce failed, none
\nreached mind's coast. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen all grew still, nothing moved
\nany more: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImmobile, self-rapt, timeless,
\nsolitary<\/P><\/p>\n

A silent
\nspirit pervaded silent Space. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n     In that
\nabsolute stillness bare and formidable<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas glimpsed an all-negating Void supreme<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That
\nclaimed its mystic Nihil's sovereign right<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

To
\ncancel Nature and deny the soul.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Even the
\nnude sense of self grew pale and thin: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nImpersonal, signless, featureless,
\nvoid of forms<\/P><\/p>\n

A blank
\npure consciousness had replaced the mind.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  181<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHer spirit seemed the substance of
\na name,<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nworld a pictured symbol drawn on self,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A dream
\nof images, a dream of sounds<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Built up
\nthe semblance of a universe<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or lent
\nto spirit the appearance of a world.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This was
\nself-seeing, in that intolerant hush<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

No
\nnotion and no concept could take shape,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no sense to frame the figure of things,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A sheer
\nself-sight was there, no thought arose.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nEmotion slept deep down in the still heart<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or lay
\nburied in a cemetery of peace: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll feelings seemed quiescent, calm
\nor dead,<\/P><\/p>\n

As if
\nthe heart-strings rent could work no more<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And joy
\nand grief could never rise again.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nheart beat on with an unconscious rhythm<\/p>\n

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

\nBut no response came from it and no
\ncry.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Vain was
\nthe provocation of events; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNothing within answered an outside
\ntouch,<\/P><\/p>\n

No nerve
\nwas stirred and no reaction rose.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Yet
\nstill her body saw and moved and spoke; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt understood without the aid of
\nthought,<\/P><\/p>\n

It said
\nwhatever needed to be said,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

It did
\nwhatever needed to be done.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no person there behind the act,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

No mind
\nthat chose or passed the fitting word: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll wrought like an unerring apt
\nmachine.<\/P><\/p>\n

As if
\ncontinuing old habitual turns,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\npushed by an old unexhausted force<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nengine did the work for which it was made: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHer consciousness looked on and
\ntook no part; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll it upheld, in nothing had a
\nshare.<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no strong initiator will; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAn incoherence crossing a firm void <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSlipped into an order of related
\nchance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA pure perception was the only
\npower <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat stood behind her action and
\nher sight. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf that retired, all objects would
\nbe extinct, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer private universe would cease to
\nbe, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe house she had built with bricks
\nof thought and sense <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the beginning after the birth of
\nSpace.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage  182<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis seeing was identical with the
\nseen; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt knew without knowledge all that
\ncould be known, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt saw impartially the world go by, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut in the same supreme unmoving
\nglance <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSaw too its abysmal unreality.
\n<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt watched the figure of the cosmic
\ngame, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut the thought and inner life in
\nforms seemed dead <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAbolished by her own collapse of
\nthought: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA hollow physical shell persisted
\nstill.<\/P><\/p>\n

All
\nseemed a brilliant shadow of itself,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A cosmic
\nfilm of scenes and images: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe enduring mass and outline of
\nthe hills<\/P><\/p>\n

Was a
\ndesign sketched on a silent mind<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And held
\nto a tremulous false solidity<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

By
\nconstant beats of visionary sight,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nforest with its emerald multitudes<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nClothed with its show of hues vague empty Space,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\npainting's colours hiding a surface void<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

That
\nflickered upon dissolution's edge,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The blue
\nheavens, an illusion of the eyes,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Roofed
\nin the mind's illusion of a world.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The men
\nwho walked beneath an unreal sky<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Seemed
\nmobile puppets out of cardboard cut<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\npushed by unseen hands across the soil<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Or
\nmoving pictures upon Fancy's film: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was no soul within, no power
\nof life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe brain's vibrations that appear
\nlike thought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe nerve's brief answer to each
\ncontact's knock, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe heart's quiverings felt as joy
\nand grief and love <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWere twitchings of the body, their
\nseeming self, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat body forged from atoms and
\nformed gas <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA manufactured lie of Maya's make, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts life a dream seen by the
\nsleeping Void. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe animals lone or trooping
\nthrough the glades <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFled like a passing vision of
\nbeauty and grace <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImagined by some all-creating Eye. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet something was there behind the
\nfading scene; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWherever she turned, at whatsoever
\nshe looked,<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt was perceived, yet hid from mind
\nand sight.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The One
\nonly real shut itself from Space <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  183<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd stood aloof from the idea of
\nTime.<\/P><\/p>\n

Its
\ntruth escaped from shape and line and hue.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

All eke
\ngrew unsubstantial, self-annulled,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nonly everlasting seemed and true,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Yet
\nnowhere dwelt, it was outside the hours.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nonly could justify the labour of sight,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nsight could not define for it a form; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis only could appease the
\nunsatisfied ear<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nhearing listened in vain for a missing sound; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis answered not the sense, called
\nnot to Mind. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt met her as the uncaught
\ninaudible Voice <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat speaks for ever from the
\nUnknowable. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt met her like an omnipresent
\npoint <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPure of dimensions, unfixed,
\ninvisible, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe single oneness of its
\nmultiplied beat <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAccentuating its sole eternity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt faced her as some vast Nought's
\nimmensity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn endless No to all that seems to
\nbe, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn endless Yes to things ever
\nunconceived <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd all that is unimagined and
\nunthought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn eternal zero or untotalled
\nAught, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA spaceless and a placeless
\nInfinite. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet eternity and infinity seemed
\nbut words <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVainly affixed by mind's
\nincompetence <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo its stupendous lone reality. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe world is but a spark-burst from
\nits light, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll moments flashes from its
\nTimelessness, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll objects glimmerings of the
\nBodiless <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat disappear from Mind when That
\nis seen. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt held, as if a shield before its
\nface, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA consciousness that saw without a
\nseer, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Truth where knowledge is not
\nnor knower nor known, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Love enamoured of its own
\ndelight <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn which the Lover is not nor the
\nBeloved <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBringing their personal passion
\ninto the Vast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Force omnipotent in quietude, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Bliss that none can ever hope
\nto taste. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt cancelled the convincing cheat
\nof self; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA truth in nothingness was its
\nmighty clue.<\/P><\/p>\n

If all
\nexistence could renounce to be <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page  184<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd Being take refuge in
\n.Non-being's arms <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Non-being could strike out its
\nciphered round, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSome lustre of that Reality might
\nappear. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA formless liberation came on her. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnce <\/b>sepulchred alive in
\nbrain and flesh <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe had risen up from body, mind
\nand life; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe was no more a Person in a
\nworld,<\/P><\/p>\n

She had
\nescaped into infinity.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

What
\nonce had been herself had disappeared,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no frame of things, no figure of soul.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nrefugee from the domain of sense,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nEvading the necessity of thought,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nDelivered from Knowledge and from Ignorance<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nrescued from the true and the untrue,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

She
\nshared the Superconscient's high retreat<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Beyond
\nthe-self-born Word, the nude Idea,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nfirst bare solid ground of consciousness; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBeings were not there, existence
\nhad no place,<\/P><\/p>\n

There
\nwas no temptation of the joy to be.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nUnutterably effaced, no one and null,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nvanishing vestige like a violet trace,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

A faint
\nrecord merely of a self now past,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

She was
\na point in the unknowable.<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

Only
\nsome last annulment now remained,<\/p>\n

<\/P><\/p>\n

\nAnnihilation's vague indefinable step: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA memory of being still was there <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd kept her separate from
\nnothingness: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe was in That but still became
\nnot That. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis shadow of herself so close to
\nnought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCould be again self's point d'appui
\nto live, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nReturn out of the Inconceivable <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd be what some mysterious vast
\nmight c<\/b>hoose. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven as the Unknowable decreed, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe might be nought or new-become
\nthe All, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr if the omnipotent Nihil took a
\nshape <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEmerge as someone and redeem the
\nworld. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven, she might learn what the
\nmystic cipher held, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis seeming exit or closed end of
\nall <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCould be a blind tenebrous passage
\nscreened from sight, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer state the eclipsing shell of a
\ndarkened sun <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage  185<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOn its secret way to the Ineffable. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven now her splendid being might
\nflame back <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOut of the silence and the nullity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA gleaming portion of the
\nAll-Wonderful, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA power of some all-affirming
\nAbsolute, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA shining mirror of the eternal
\nTruth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo show to the One-in-all its
\nmanifest face, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo the souls of men their deep
\nidentity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr she might wake into God's
\nquietude <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBeyond the cosmic day and cosmic
\nnight <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd rest appeased in his white
\neternity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut this was now unreal or remote <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr covered in the mystic fathomless
\nblank. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn infinite Nothingness was the
\nultimate sign <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr else the Real was the
\nUnknowable. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA lonely Absolute negated all: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt effaced the ignorant world from
\nits solitude<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ndrowned the soul in its everlasting peace.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage  186<\/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 SIX   NIRVANA AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE ALL-NEGATING ABSOLUTE     A CALM slow sun looked down from tranquil heavens. A routed sullen…<\/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-3298","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\/3298","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=3298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}