{"id":3304,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3304"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:21","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:21","slug":"20-book-9-canto-2-the-journey-in-eternal-night-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\/20-book-9-canto-2-the-journey-in-eternal-night-vol-02-savitri-1951","title":{"rendered":"-20_Book 9 Canto 2 The Journey in Eternal Night.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

   <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE JOURNEY IN
\nETERNAL NIGHT AND<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE VOICE OF
\nTHE DARKNESS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\nA WHILE on the chill dreadful edge
\nof Night<\/P><\/p>\n

All
\nstood as if a world were doomed to die<\/p>\n

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

And
\nwaited on the eternal silence' brink.<\/p>\n

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

Heaven
\nleaned towards them like a cloudy brow<\/p>\n

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

Of
\nmenace through the dim and voiceless hush.<\/p>\n

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

As
\nthoughts stand mute on a despairing verge<\/p>\n

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

Where
\nthe last depths plunge into nothingness<\/p>\n

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

And the
\nlast dreams must end, they paused, in their front<\/p>\n

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

Were
\nglooms like shadowy wings, behind them pale<\/p>\n

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

The
\nlifeless evening was a dead man's gaze.<\/p>\n

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

Hungry
\nbeyond, the night desired her soul.<\/p>\n

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

But
\nstill in its lone niche of templed strength<\/p>\n

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

\nMotionless, her flame-bright spirit, mute, erect,<\/p>\n

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

Burned
\nlike a torch-fire from a windowed room<\/p>\n

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

\nPointing "against the darkness' sombre breast.<\/p>\n

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

The
\nWoman first affronted the Abyss<\/p>\n

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

Daring
\nto journey through the eternal Night.<\/p>\n

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

\nArmoured with light she advanced her foot to plunge<\/p>\n

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

Into the
\ndread and hueless vacancy; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nImmortal, unappalled her spirit
\nfaced <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe danger of the ruthless eyeless
\nwaste. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAgainst night's inky ground they
\nstirred, moulding <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMysterious motion on her human
\ntread, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA swimming action and a drifting
\nmarch <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike figures moving before eyelids
\nclosed: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll as in dreams went slipping,
\ngliding on.<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nrock-gate's heavy walls were left behind,<\/p>\n

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

As if
\nthrough passages of receding time<\/p>\n

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

The
\npresent and past into the Timeless lapsed;<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n <\/font>Page  217<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nArrested upon dim adventure's
\nbrink,<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nfuture ended drowned in nothingness.<\/p>\n

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

Amid
\ncollapsing shapes they wound obscure; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe fading vestibules of a
\ntenebrous world<\/P><\/p>\n

\nReceived them, where they seemed to move and yet<\/p>\n

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

Be
\nstill, nowhere advancing yet to pass,<\/p>\n

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

A dumb
\nprocession a dim picture bounds,<\/p>\n

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

Not
\nconscious forms threading a real scene.<\/p>\n

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

A
\nmystery of terror's boundlessness,<\/p>\n

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

\nGathering its hungry strength the huge pitiless void<\/p>\n

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

\nSurrounded slowly with its soundless depths,<\/p>\n

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

And
\nmonstrous, cavernous, a shapeless throat<\/p>\n

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

\nDevoured her into its shadowy strangling mass,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nfierce spiritual agony of a dream.<\/p>\n

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

A
\ncurtain of impenetrable dread,<\/p>\n

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

The
\ndarkness hung around her cage of sense<\/p>\n

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

As when
\nthe trees have turned to blotted shades<\/p>\n

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

And the
\nlast friendly glimmer fades away,<\/p>\n

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

Around a
\nbullock in the forest tied<\/p>\n

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

By
\nhunters closes in no empty night.<\/p>\n

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

The
\nthought that strives in the world was here unmade; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nIts effort it renounced to live and
\nknow,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nConvinced at last that it had never been; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nIt perished, all its dream of
\naction done: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis clotted cypher was its dark
\nresult. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the smothering stress of this
\nstupendous Nought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMind could not think, breath could
\nnot breathe, the soul <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCould not remember or feel itself;
\nit seemed <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA hollow gulf of sterile emptiness, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA zero oblivious of the sum it
\nclosed, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn abnegation of the Maker's joy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSaved by no wide repose, no depth
\nof peace. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn all that claims here to be Truth
\nand God <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd conscious self and the
\nrevealing Word <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the creative rapture of the
\nMind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Love and Knowledge and heart's
\ndelight, there fell <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe immense refusal of the eternal
\nNo. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs disappears a golden lamp in
\ngloom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBorne into distance from the eye's
\ndesire, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto the shadows vanished Savitri. <\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage  218<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was no course, no path, no
\nend or goal: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVisionless she moved amid
\ninsensible gulfs,<\/P><\/p>\n

Or drove
\nthrough some great black unknowing Waste<\/p>\n

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

Or
\nwhirled in a dumb eddy of meeting winds<\/p>\n

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

\nAssembled by the titan hands of Chance.<\/p>\n

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

There
\nwas none with her in the dreadful Vast: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nShe saw no more the vague
\ntremendous god,<\/P><\/p>\n

Her eyes
\nhad lost their luminous Satyavan.<\/p>\n

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

Yet not
\nfor this her spirit failed, but held<\/p>\n

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

More
\ndeeply than the bounded senses can<\/p>\n

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

Which
\ngrasp externally and find to lose<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nobject loved. So when on earth they lived<\/p>\n

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

She had
\nfelt him straying through the glades, the glades<\/p>\n

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

A scene
\nin her, its clefts her being's vistas<\/p>\n

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

\nOpening their secrets to his search and joy,<\/p>\n

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

\nBecause to jealous sweetness in her heart<\/p>\n

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

\nWhatever happy space his cherished feet<\/p>\n

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

\nPreferred, must be at once her soul embracing<\/p>\n

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

His
\nbody, passioning dumbly to his tread.<\/p>\n

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

But now
\na silent gulf between them came<\/p>\n

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

And to
\nabysmal loneliness she fell,<\/p>\n

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

Even
\nfrom herself cast out, from love remote.<\/p>\n

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

Long
\nhours, since long it seems when sluggish time<\/p>\n

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

Is
\nmeasured by the throbs of the soul's pain,<\/p>\n

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

In an
\nunreal darkness empty and drear<\/p>\n

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

She
\ntravelled treading on the corpse of life,<\/p>\n

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

Lost in
\na blindness of extinguished souls.<\/p>\n

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

\nSolitary in the anguish of the void<\/p>\n

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

She
\nlived in spite of death, she conquered still; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn vain her puissant being was
\noppressed: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer heavy long monotony of pain<\/P><\/p>\n

\nTardily of its fierce self-torture tired.<\/p>\n

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

At first
\na faint inextinguishable gleam,<\/p>\n

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

Pale but
\nimmortal, flickered in the gloom<\/p>\n

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

As if a
\nmemory came to spirits dead,<\/p>\n

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

A memory
\nthat wished to live again,<\/p>\n

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

\nDissolved from mind in Nature's natal sleep.<\/p>\n

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

It
\nwandered like a lost ray of the moon<\/p>\n

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

\nRevealing to the night her soul of dread; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nSerpentine in the gleam the
\ndarkness lolled, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 219<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIts black hoods jewelled with the
\nmystic glow; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts dull sleek folds shrank back
\nand coiled and slid,<\/P><\/p>\n

As
\nthough they felt all light a cruel pain<\/p>\n

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

And
\nsuffered from the pale approach of hope.<\/p>\n

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

Night
\nfelt assailed her heavy sombre reign; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe splendour of some bright
\neternity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThreatened with this faint beam of
\nwandering Truth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer empire of the everlasting
\nNought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImplacable in her intolerant
\nstrength <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd confident that she alone was
\ntrue, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe strove to stifle the frail
\ndangerous ray; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAware of an all-negating immensity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe reared her giant head of
\nNothingness, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer mouth of darkness swallowing
\nall that is; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe saw in herself the tenebrous
\nAbsolute.<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nstill the light prevailed and still it grew,<\/p>\n

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

And
\nSavitri to her lost self awoke; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer limbs refused the cold embrace
\nof death,<\/P><\/p>\n

Her
\nheart-beats triumphed in the grasp of pain; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer soul persisted claiming for its
\njoy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe soul of the beloved now seen no
\nmore. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBefore her in the stillness of the
\nworld <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnce more she heard the treading of
\na god, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd out of the dumb darkness
\nSatyavan, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer husband, grew into a luminous
\nshade. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen a sound pealed through that
\ndead monstrous realm: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVast like the surge in a tired
\nswimmer's ears, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nClamouring, a fatal iron-hearted
\nroar, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDeath missioned to the night his
\nlethal call. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"This is my silent dark immensity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is the home of everlasting
\nNight, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is the secrecy of Nothingness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEntombing the vanity of life's
\ndesires. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHast thou beheld thy source, 0
\ntransient heart, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd known from what the dream thou
\nart was made? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn this stark sincerity of nude
\nemptiness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHopest thou still always to last
\nand love?" <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Woman answered not. Her spirit
\nrefused <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe voice of the Night that knew
\nand Death that thought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn her beginningless infinity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page  220<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThrough her soul's reaches
\nunconfined she gazed; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe saw the undying fountains of
\nher life,<\/P><\/p>\n

She knew
\nherself eternal without birth.<\/p>\n

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

But
\nstill opposing her with endless night<\/p>\n

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

Death,
\nthe dire god, inflicted on her eyes<\/p>\n

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

The
\nimmortal calm of his tremendous gaze: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"Although thou hast survived the
\nunborn void <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhich never shall forgive, while
\nTime endures, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe primal violence that fashioned
\nthought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForcing the immobile Vast to suffer
\nand live <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis sorrowful victory only hast
\nthou won <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo live for a little without
\nSatyavan. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat shall the ancient goddess give
\nto thee <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWho helps thy heart-beats? Only she
\nprolongs <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe nothing dreamed existence and
\ndelays <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWith the labour of living thy
\neternal sleep. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA fragile miracle of thinking clay, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArmed with illusions walks the
\nchild of Time. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo fill the void around he feels
\nand dreads, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe void he came from and to which
\nhe goes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe magnifies his self and names it
\nGod. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe calls the heavens to help his
\nsuffering hopes. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe sees above him with a longing
\nheart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBare spaces more unconscious than
\nhimself <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat have not even his privilege of
\nmind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd empty of all but their unreal
\nblue <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd peoples them with bright and
\nmerciful powers. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor the sea roars around him and
\nearth quakes <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBeneath his steps, and fire is at
\nhis doors, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd death prowls baying through the
\nwoods of life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMoved by the Presences with which
\nhe yearns, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe offers in implacable shrines his
\nsoul <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd clothes all with the beauty of
\nhis dreams. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe gods who watch the earth with
\nsleepless eyes <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd guide its giant stumblings
\nthrough the void, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHave given to man the burden of his
\nmind, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn his unwilling heart they have
\nlit their fires <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd sown in it incurable unrest. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis mind is a hunter upon tracks
\nunknown; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmusing Time with vain discovery, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page 221<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe deepens with thought the mystery
\nof his fate<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nturns to song his laughter and his tears.<\/p>\n

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

His
\nmortality vexing with the immortal's dreams,<\/p>\n

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

\nTroubling his transience with the infinite's breath<\/p>\n

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

They
\ngave him hungers which no food can fill,<\/p>\n

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

He is
\nthe cattle of the shepherd gods.<\/p>\n

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

His body
\nthe tether with which he is tied,<\/p>\n

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

They
\ncast for fodder grief and hope and joy: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis pasture ground they have fenced
\nwith Ignorance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto his fragile undefended breast <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey have breathed a courage that
\nis met by death, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey have given a wisdom that is
\nmocked by night, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey have traced a journey that
\nforesees no goal. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAimless man toils in an uncertain
\nworld <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLulled by inconstant pauses of his
\npain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nScourged like a beast by the
\ninfinite desire, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBound to the chariot of the
\ndreadful gods. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut if thou still canst hope and
\nstill wouldst love, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nReturn to thy body's shell they tie
\nto earth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd with thy heart's little
\nremnants try to live. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHope not to win back to thee
\nSatyavan. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet since thy strength deserves no
\ntrivial crown, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGifts I can give to soothe thy
\nwounded life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe pacts which transient beings
\nmake with fate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the wayside sweetness
\nearth-bound hearts would pluck, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThese if thy will accepts make
\nfreely thine. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChoose a life's hopes for thy
\ndeceiving prize." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs ceased the ruthless and
\ntremendous Voice, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnendingly there rose in Savitri <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike moonlit ridges on a shuddering
\nflood <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA stir of thoughts out of some
\nsilence born<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAcross the sea of her dumb
\nfathomless heart. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt last she spoke, her voice was
\nheard by Night: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"I bow not to thee, 0 huge mask of
\nDeath, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBlack he of night to the cowed soul
\nof man, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnreal, inescapable end of things, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou grim jest played with the
\nimmortal spirit. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConscious of immortality I walk. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA victor spirit conscious of my
\nforce, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNot as a suppliant to thy gates I
\ncame: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 222<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nUnslain I have survived the clutch
\nof Night.<\/P><\/p>\n

My first
\nstrong grief moves not my seated mind; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nMy unwept tears have turned to
\npearls of strength: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have transformed my ill-shaped
\nbrittle clay<\/P><\/p>\n

Into the
\nhardness of a statued soul.<\/p>\n

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

Now in
\nthe wrestling of the splendid gods<\/p>\n

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

My
\nspirit shall be obstinate and strong<\/p>\n

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

\nAgainst the vast refusals of the world.<\/p>\n

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

I stoop
\nnot with the subject mob of minds<\/p>\n

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

Who run
\nto glean with eager satisfied hands<\/p>\n

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

And pick
\nfrom its mire mid many trampling feet<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nscornful small concessions to the weak.<\/p>\n

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

Mine is
\nthe labour of the battling gods: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nImposing on the slow reluctant
\nyears <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe flaming will that reigns beyond
\nthe stars, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey lay the law of Mind on
\nMatter's works <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd win the soul's wish from
\nearth's inconscient force. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFirst I demand whatever Satyavan, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy husband, waking in the forest's
\ncharm <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOut of his long pure childhood's
\nlonely di earns, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDesired and had not for his
\nbeautiful life. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGive, if thou must, or if thou
\ncanst, refuse." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDeath bowed his head in scornful
\ncold assent, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe builder of this dreamlike earth
\nfor man <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWho has mocked with vanity all
\ngifts he gave. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUplifting his disastrous voice he
\nspoke: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"Indulgent to the dreams my touch
\nshall break, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI yield to his blind father's
\nlonging heart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nKingdom and power and friends and
\ngreatness lost <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd royal trappings for his
\npeaceful age, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe pallid pomps of man's declining
\ndays, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe silvered decadent glories of
\nlife's fall. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo one who wiser grew by adverse
\nfate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGoods I restore the deluded soul
\nprefers <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo impersonal nothingness's bare
\nsublime. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe sensuous solace of the light I
\ngive <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo eyes which could have found a
\nlarger realm, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA deeper vision in their fathomless
\nnight. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor that this man desired and asked
\nin vain <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhile still he lived on earth and
\ncherished hope. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page 223<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBack from the grandeur of my
\nperilous realms<\/P><\/p>\n

Go,
\nmortal, to thy small permitted sphere!<\/p>\n

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

Hasten
\nswift-footed, lest to slay thy life<\/p>\n

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

The
\ngreat laws thou hast violated, moved,<\/p>\n

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

Open at
\nlast on thee their marble eyes."<\/p>\n

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

But
\nSavitri answered the disdainful Shade: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"World-spirit, I was thy equal
\nspirit born.<\/P><\/p>\n

I am
\nimmortal in my mortality. <\/p>\n

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

I
\ntremble not before the immobile gaze<\/p>\n

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

Of the
\nunchanging marble hierarchies<\/p>\n

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

That
\nlook with the stone eyes of Law and Fate.<\/p>\n

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

My soul
\ncan meet them with its living fire.<\/p>\n

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

Out of
\nthy shadow give me back again<\/p>\n

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

Into
\nearth's flowering spaces Satyavan<\/p>\n

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

In the
\nsweet transiency of human limbs<\/p>\n

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

To do
\nwith him my spirit's burning will.<\/p>\n

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

I will
\nbear with him the ancient Mother's load,<\/p>\n

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

I will
\nfollow with him earth's path that leads to God.<\/p>\n

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

Else
\nshall the eternal spaces open to me<\/p>\n

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

While
\nround us strange horizons far recede,<\/p>\n

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

\nTravelling together the immense unknown.<\/p>\n

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

For I
\nwho have trod with him the tracts of Time,<\/p>\n

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

Can meet
\nbehind his steps whatever night<\/p>\n

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

Or
\nunimaginable stupendous dawn<\/p>\n

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

Breaks
\non our spirits in the untrod Beyond.<\/p>\n

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

\nWherever thou leadst his soul I shall pursue."<\/p>\n

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

But to
\nher claim opposed, implacable,<\/p>\n

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

\nInsisting on the immutable Decree,<\/p>\n

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

\nInsisting on the immitigable Law<\/p>\n

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

And the
\ninsignificance of created things,<\/p>\n

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

Out of
\nthe rolling wastes of night there came<\/p>\n

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

Bom from
\nthe enigma of the unknowable depths<\/p>\n

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

A voice
\nof majesty and appalling scorn.<\/p>\n

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

As when
\nthe storm-haired Titan-striding sea<\/p>\n

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

Throws
\non a swimmer its tremendous laugh<\/p>\n

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

\nRemembering all the joy its waves had drowned,<\/p>\n

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

So from
\nthe darkness of the sovereign night<\/p>\n

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

\nAgainst the Woman's boundless heart arose<\/p>\n

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

The
\nalmighty cry of universal Death: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"Hast thou god-wings or feet that
\ntread my stars, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page  224<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFrail creature with the courage
\nthat aspires,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nForgetting thy bounds of thought, thy mortal role?<\/p>\n

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

Their
\norbs were coiled before thy soul was formed.<\/p>\n

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

I,
\nDeath, created them out of my void; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll things I have built in them and
\nI destroy. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI made the worlds my net, each joy
\na mesh. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Hunger amorous of its suffering
\nprey, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLife that devours, my image see in
\nthings. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMortal, whose spirit is my
\nwandering breath, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhose transience was imagined by my
\nsmile, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFlee clutching thy poor gains to
\nthy trembling breast <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPierced by my pangs Time shall not
\nsoon appease. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBlind slave of my deaf force whom I
\ncompel <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo sin that I may punish, to desire <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat I may scourge thee with
\ndespair and grief <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd thou come bleeding to me at the
\nlast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy nothingness recognised, my
\ngreatness known, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTurn nor attempt forbidden happy
\nfields <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMeant for the souls that can obey
\nmy law, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLest in their sombre shrines thy
\ntread awake <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFrom their uneasy iron-hearted
\nsleep <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Furies who avenge fulfilled
\ndesire. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDread lest in skies where passion
\nhoped to live, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Unknown's lightnings start and
\nterrified, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLone, sobbing, hunted by the hounds
\nof heaven, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA wounded and forsaken soul, thou
\nflee <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThrough the long torture of the
\ncenturies, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNor many lives exhaust the tireless
\nWrath <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHell cannot slake nor heaven's
\nmercy assuage. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI will take from thee the black
\neternal grip: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nClasping in thy heart thy fate's
\nexiguous doles<\/P><\/p>\n

Depart
\nin peace, if peace for man is just."<\/p>\n

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

But
\nSavitri answered meeting scorn with scorn,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nmortal woman to the dreadful Lord: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"Who is this God imagined by thy
\nnight,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nContemptuously creating worlds disdained,<\/p>\n

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

Who made
\nfor vanity the brilliant stars?<\/p>\n

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

Not he
\nwho has reared his temple in my thoughts<\/p>\n

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

And made
\nhis sacred floor my human heart.<\/p>\n

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

My God
\nis Will and triumphs in his paths, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n <\/font>Page 225<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMy God is Love and sweetly suffers
\nall.<\/P><\/p>\n

To him I
\nhave offered hope for sacrifice<\/p>\n

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

And gave
\nmy longings as a sacrament.<\/p>\n

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

Who
\nshall prohibit or hedge in his course,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nwonderful, the charioteer, the swift?<\/p>\n

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

A
\ntraveller of the million roads of life,<\/p>\n

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

His
\nsteps familiar with the lights of heaven<\/p>\n

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

Tread
\nwithout pain the sword-paved courts of hell; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThere he descends to edge eternal
\njoy. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLove's golden wings have power to
\nfan thy void: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe eyes of love gaze starlike
\nthrough death's night,<\/P><\/p>\n

The feet
\nof love tread naked hardest worlds.<\/p>\n

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

He
\nlabours in the depths, exults on the heights; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe shall remake thy universe, 0
\nDeath."<\/P><\/p>\n

She
\nspoke and for a while no voice replied,<\/p>\n

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

While
\nstill they travelled through the trackless night<\/p>\n

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

And
\nstill that gleam was like a pallid eye<\/p>\n

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

\nTroubling the darkness with its doubtful gaze.<\/p>\n

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

Then
\nonce more came a deep and perilous pause<\/p>\n

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

In that
\nunreal journey through blind Nought; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnce more a Thought, a Word in the
\nvoid arose<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nDeath made answer to the human soul: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"What is thy hope? to what dost
\nthou aspire? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is thy body's sweetest lure of
\nbliss, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAssailed by pain a frail precarious
\nform, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo please for a few years thy
\nfaltering sense <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWith honey of physical longings and
\nthe heart's fire <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd a vain oneness seeking to
\nembrace <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe brilliant idol of a fugitive
\nhour. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd thou, what art thou, soul, thou
\nglorious dream <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf brief emotions made and
\nglittering thoughts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA thin dance of fireflies speeding
\nthrough the night, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA sparkling ferment in life's
\nsunlit mire? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWilt thou claim immortality, O
\nheart, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCrying against the eternal
\nwitnesses <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat thou and he are endless powers
\nand last? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDeath only lasts and the
\ninconscient Void. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI only am eternal and endure. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the shapeless formidable Vast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the emptiness that men call
\nSpace,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page  226<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nI am a timeless Nothingness
\ncarrying all, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the Illimitable, the mute
\nAlone. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI, Death, am He, there is no other
\nGod. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll from my depths are born, they
\nlive by death; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll to my depths return and are no
\nmore. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have made a world by my
\ninconsdent Force. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy force is Nature that creates and
\nslays <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe hearts that hope, the limbs
\nthat long to live. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have made man her instrument and
\nslave, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis body I made my banquet, his
\nlife my food. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMan has no other help but only
\nDeath; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe comes to me at his end for rest
\nand peace. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI, Death, am the one refuge of thy
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe gods to whom man prays can help
\nnot man; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey are my imaginations and my
\nmoods <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nReflected in him by illusion's
\npower. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat which thou seest as thy
\nimmortal self <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs a shadowy icon of my infinite, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs Death in thee dreaming of
\neternity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the Immobile in which all
\nthings move, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the nude Inane in which they
\ncease: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have no body and no tongue to
\nspeak,<\/P><\/p>\n

I
\ncommune not with human eye and ear; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly thy thought gave a figure to
\nmy void. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBecause, 0 aspirant to divinity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou calledst me to wrestle with
\nthy soul, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have assumed a face, a form, a
\nvoice. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut if there were a being
\nwitnessing all, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow should he help thy passionate
\ndesire? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAloof he watches sole and absolute, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIndifferent to thy cry in nameless
\ncalm. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis being is pure, unwounded,
\nmotionless, one. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOne endless watches the inconscient
\nscene <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere all things perish, as the
\nfoam the stars. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe One lives for ever. There no
\nSatyavan <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChanging was born and there no
\nSavitri <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nClaims from brief life her bribe of
\njoy. There love <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCame never with his fretful eyes of
\ntears, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNor Time is there nor the vain
\nvasts of Space. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt wears no living face, it has no
\nname, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 227<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNo gaze, no heart that throbs, ii
\nasks no second <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo aid its being or to share its
\njoys. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is delight immortally alone. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf thou desirest immortality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBe then alone sufficient to thy
\nsoul: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLive in thyself; forget the man
\nthou lov'st.<\/P><\/p>\n

My last
\ngrand death shall rescue thee from life; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThen shalt thou rise into thy
\nunnamed source."<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nSavitri replied to the dread Voice: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"O Death, who reasonest, I reason
\nnot,<\/P><\/p>\n

Reason
\nthat scans and breaks, but cannot build <\/p>\n

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

Or
\nbuilds in vain because she doubts her work.''<\/p>\n

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

I am, I
\nlove, I see, I act, I will."<\/p>\n

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

Death
\nanswered her, one deep surrounding cry: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"Know also. Knowing, thou shalt
\ncease to love<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\ncease to will, delivered from thy heart,<\/p>\n

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

So shalt
\nthou rest for ever and be still,<\/p>\n

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

\nConsenting to the impermanence of things."<\/p>\n

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

But
\nSavitri replied for man to Death: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n"When I have loved for ever, I
\nshall know.<\/P><\/p>\n

Love in
\nme knows the truth all changings mask.<\/p>\n

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

I know
\nthat knowledge is a vast embrace:<\/p>\n

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

I know
\nthat every being is myself,<\/p>\n

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

In every
\nheart is hidden the myriad One<\/p>\n

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

I know
\nthe calm Transcendent bears the world,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nveiled Inhabitant, the silent Lord: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nI feel his secret act, his intimate
\nfire; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI hear the murmur of the cosmic
\nVoice.<\/P><\/p>\n

I know
\nmy coming was a wave from God.<\/p>\n

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

For all
\nhis suns were conscient in my birth,<\/p>\n

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

And one
\nwho loves in us came veiled by death.<\/p>\n

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

Then man
\nwas born among the monstrous stars<\/p>\n

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

\nDowered with a mind and heart to conquer thee."<\/p>\n

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

In the
\neternity of his ruthless will<\/p>\n

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

Sure of
\nhis empire and his armoured might,<\/p>\n

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

Like one
\ndisdaining violent helpless words<\/p>\n

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

From
\nvictim lips Death answered not again.<\/p>\n

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

He stood
\nin silence and in darkness wrapped,<\/p>\n

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

A figure
\nmotionless, a shadow vague,<\/p>\n

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

Girt
\nwith the terrors of his secret sword.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage 228<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHalf-seen in clouds appeared a
\nsombre face; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNight's dusk tiara was his matted
\nhair,<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nashes of the pyre his forehead's sign.<\/p>\n

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

Once
\nmore a Wanderer in the unending Night,<\/p>\n

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

\nBlindly forbidden by dead vacant eyes,<\/p>\n

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

She
\ntravelled through the dumb unhoping vasts.<\/p>\n

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

Around
\nher rolled the shuddering waste of gloom,<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nswallowing emptiness and joyless death<\/p>\n

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

\nResentful of her thought and life and love.<\/p>\n

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

\nThrough the long fading night by her compelled,<\/p>\n

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

\nGliding half-seen on their unearthly path,<\/p>\n

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

\nPhantasmal in the dimness moved the three.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n END OF BOOK
\n\t\t\tNINE<\/font><\/P><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page 229<\/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 JOURNEY IN ETERNAL NIGHT AND THE VOICE OF THE DARKNESS     A WHILE on the chill dreadful edge of…<\/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-3304","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\/3304","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=3304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}