{"id":3308,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3308"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:23","slug":"22-book-10-canto-2-the-gospel-of-death-and-vanity-of-the-ideal-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\/22-book-10-canto-2-the-gospel-of-death-and-vanity-of-the-ideal-vol-02-savitri-1951","title":{"rendered":"-22_Book 10 Canto 2 The Gospel of Death and Vanity of The Ideal.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE GOSPEL OF
\nDEATH AND VANITY OF THE IDEAL<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\nTHEN pealed the calm inexorable
\nvoice: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAbolishing hope, cancelling life's
\ngolden truths,<\/P><\/p>\n

Fatal
\nits accents smote the trembling air.<\/p>\n

That
\nlovely world swam thin and frail, most like<\/p>\n

Some
\npearly evanescent farewell gleam<\/p>\n

On the
\nfaint verge of dusk in moonless eves.<\/p>\n

\n"Prisoner of Nature, many-visioned spirit,<\/p>\n

\nThought's creature in the ideal's realm enjoying<\/p>\n

Thy
\nunsubstantial immortality<\/p>\n

The
\nsubtle marvellous mind of man has feigned,<\/p>\n

This is
\nthe world from which thy yearnings came.<\/p>\n

When it
\nwould build eternity from the dust,<\/p>\n

Man's
\nthought paints images illusion rounds; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nProphesying glories it shall never
\nsee,<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt labours delicately among its
\ndreams.<\/p>\n

Behold
\nthis fleeing of light-tasselled shapes,<\/p>\n

Aerial
\nraiment of unbodied gods; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA rapture of things that never can
\nbe born,<\/P><\/p>\n

Hope
\nchants to hope a bright immortal choir; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCloud satisfies cloud, phantom to
\nlonging phantom<\/P><\/p>\n

Leans
\nsweetly, sweetly is clasped or sweetly chased.<\/p>\n

This is
\nthe stuff from which the ideal is formed: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIts builder is thought, its base
\nthe heart's desire,<\/P><\/p>\n

But
\nnothing real answers to their call.<\/p>\n

The
\nideal dwells not in heaven, nor on the earth,<\/p>\n

A bright
\ndelirium of man's ardour of hope<\/p>\n

Drunk
\nwith the wine of its own phantasy.<\/p>\n

 It is a
\nbrilliant shadow's dreamy trail.<\/p>\n

Thy
\nvision's error builds the azure skies, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page  240<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThy vision's error drew the
\nrainbow's arch; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy mortal longing made for thee a
\nsoul.<\/P><\/p>\n

This
\nangel in thy body thou callst love,<\/p>\n

Who
\nshapes his wings from thy emotion's hues,<\/p>\n

In a
\nferment of thy body has been born<\/p>\n

And with
\nthe body that housed it it must die.<\/p>\n

It is a
\npassion of thy yearning cells,<\/p>\n

It is
\nflesh that calls to flesh to serve its lust,<\/p>\n

It is
\nthy mind that seeks an answering mind<\/p>\n

And
\ndreams awhile that it has found its mate; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is thy life that asks a human
\nprop<\/P><\/p>\n

To
\nuphold its weakness lonely in the world<\/p>\n

Or feeds
\nits hunger on another's life.<\/p>\n

A beast
\nof prey that pauses in its prowl,<\/p>\n

It
\ncrouches under a bush in splendid flower<\/p>\n

To seize
\na heart and body for its food: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis beast thou dreamst immortal
\nand a <\/b> god. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n0 human mind, vainly thou torturest <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn hour's delight to stretch
\nthrough infinity's <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLong void and fill its formless,
\npassionless gulfs, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPersuading the insensible Abyss <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo lend eternity to perishing
\nthings, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd trickst the fragile movements
\nof thy heart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWith thy spirit's feint of
\nimmortality. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll here emerges born from
\nNothingness; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEncircled it lasts by the emptiness
\nof Space,<\/P><\/p>\n

Awhile
\nupheld by an unknowing Force,<\/p>\n

Then
\ncrumbles back into its parent Nought: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOnly the Mute alone can ever be. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the Alone there is no room for
\nlove. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn vain to clothe love's perishable
\nmud <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou hast woven on the Immortal's
\nborrowed loom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe ideal's gorgeous and unfading
\nrobe. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe ideal never yet was real made. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImprisoned in form that glory
\ncannot live; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto a body shut it breathes no
\nmore.<\/P><\/p>\n

\nIntangible, remote, for ever pure,<\/p>\n

A
\nsovereign of its own brilliant void,<\/p>\n

\nUnwillingly it descends to earthly air<\/p>\n

To
\ninhabit a white temple in man's heart: <\/p>\n

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

\n

Page 241<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn his heart it shines rejected by
\nhis life.<\/P><\/p>\n

\nImmutable, bodiless, beautiful, grand and dumb,<\/p>\n

\nImmobile on its shining throne it sits;
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nDumb it receives his offering and
\nhis prayer.<\/P><\/p>\n

It has
\nno voice to answer to his call,<\/p>\n

No feet
\nthat move, no hands to take his gifts: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAerial statue of the nude Idea,<\/P><\/p>\n

Virgin
\nconception of a bodiless god,<\/p>\n

Its
\nlight stirs man the thinker to create<\/p>\n

An
\nearthly semblance of diviner things.<\/p>\n

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

\nIts hued reflection falls upon
\nman's acts; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHis institutions are its cenotaphs,<\/P><\/p>\n

He signs
\nhis dead conventions with its name; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHis virtues don the Ideal's skiey
\nrobe<\/P><\/p>\n

And a
\nnimbus of the outline of its face: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe hides their littleness with the
\ndivine Name.<\/P><\/p>\n

Yet
\ninsufficient is the bright pretence<\/p>\n

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

\nTo screen their indigent and earthy
\nmake: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nEarth only is there and not some
\nheavenly source.<\/P><\/p>\n

If
\nheavens there are they are veiled in their own light,<\/p>\n

If a
\nTruth eternal somewhere reigns unknown,<\/p>\n

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

\nIt bums in a tremendous void of
\nGod; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor truth shines far from the
\nfalsehoods of the world; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow can the heavens come down to
\nunhappy earth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr the eternal lodge in drifting
\ntime? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall the Ideal tread earth's
\ndolorous soil <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere life is only a labour and a
\nhope, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA child of Matter and by Matter
\nfed, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA fire flaming low in Nature's
\ngrate, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA journey's toilsome trudge with
\ndeath for goal? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Avatars have lived and died in
\nvain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVain was the sage's thought, the
\nprophet's voice; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn vain is seen the shining upward
\nWay. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEarth lies unchanged beneath the
\ncircling sun; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe loves her fall and no
\nomnipotence <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer mortal imperfections can erase, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForce on man's crooked ignorance
\nHeaven's straight line <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr colonise a world of death with
\ngods. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO traveller in the chariot of the
\nSun, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHigh priestess in the holy fancy's
\nshrine <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 242<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWho with a magic ritual in earth's
\nhouse<\/P><\/p>\n

\nWorshippest ideal and eternal love,<\/p>\n

What is
\nthis love thy thought has deified,<\/p>\n

This
\nsacred legend and immortal myth?<\/p>\n

It is a
\nconscious yearning of thy flesh,<\/p>\n

It is a
\nglorious burning of thy nerves,<\/p>\n

A rose
\nof dream-splendour petalling thy mind,<\/p>\n

A great
\nred rapture and torture of thy heart.<\/p>\n

A sudden
\ntransfiguration of thy days,<\/p>\n

It
\npasses and the world is as before.<\/p>\n

A
\nravishing edge of sweetness and of pain,<\/p>\n

A thrill
\nin its yearning makes it seem divine,<\/p>\n

A golden
\nbridge across the roar of the years,<\/p>\n

A cord
\ntying thee to eternity.<\/p>\n

And yet
\nhow brief and frail! how soon is spent<\/p>\n

This
\ntreasure wasted by the gods on man,<\/p>\n

This
\nhappy closeness as of soul to soul,<\/p>\n

This
\nhoney of the body's companionship,<\/p>\n

This
\nheightened joy, this ecstasy in the veins,<\/p>\n

This
\nstrange illumination of the sense!<\/p>\n

If
\nSatyavan had lived, love would have died; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut Satyavan is dead and love shall
\nlive<\/P><\/p>\n

A little
\nwhile in thy sad breast, until<\/p>\n

His face
\nand body fade on memory's wall<\/p>\n

Where
\nother bodies, other faces come.<\/p>\n

When
\nlove breaks suddenly into the life<\/p>\n

At first
\nman steps into a world of the sun; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn his passion he feels his
\nheavenly element: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut only a fine sunlit patch of
\nearth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe marvellous aspect took of
\nheaven's outburst. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe snake is there and the worm in
\nthe heart of the rose. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA word, a moment's act can slay the
\ngod; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrecarious is his immortality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has a thousand ways to suffer
\nand die; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLove cannot live by heavenly food
\nalone, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly on sap of earth can it
\nsurvive. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor thy passion was a sensual want
\nrefined; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA hunger of the body and the heart; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy want can tire and cease or turn
\nelsewhere –<\/P><\/p>\n

Or love
\nmay meet a dire and pitiless end <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage 243<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBy bitter treason, or wrath with
\ncruel wounds <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSeparate, or thy unsatisfied will
\nto others <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDepart when first love's joy lies
\nstripped and slain: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA dull indifference replaces fire<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n

\nOr an endearing habit imitates
\nlove: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAn outward and uneasy union lasts<\/P><\/p>\n

Or the
\nroutine of a life's compromise.<\/p>\n

Where
\nonce the seed of oneness had been cast<\/p>\n

Into a
\nsemblance of spiritual ground<\/p>\n

By a
\ndivine adventure of heavenly powers<\/p>\n

Two
\nstrive, constant associates without joy,<\/p>\n

Two egos
\nstraining in a single leash,<\/p>\n

Two
\nminds divided by their jarring thoughts,<\/p>\n

Two
\nspirits disjoined, for ever separate.<\/p>\n

Thus is
\nthe ideal falsified in man's world; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTrivial or sombre, disillusion
\ncomes,<\/P><\/p>\n

Life's
\nharsh reality stares at the soul: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHeaven's hour adjourned flees into
\nbodiless Time.<\/P><\/p>\n

Death
\nsaves thee from this and saves Satyavan: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe now is safe, delivered from
\nhimself; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe travels to silence and felicity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCall him not back to the
\ntreacheries of earth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the poor petty life of animal
\nMan. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn my vast tranquil spaces let him
\nsleep <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn harmony with the mighty hush of
\ndeath <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere love lies slumbering on the
\nbreast of peace. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd thou, go back alone to thy
\nfrail world: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChastise thy heart with knowledge,
\nunhood and see<\/P><\/p>\n

Thy
\nnature raised into clear living heights,<\/p>\n

The
\nheaven-bird's view from unimagined peaks.<\/p>\n

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

\nFor when thou givest thy spirit to
\na dream<\/p>\n

Soon
\nhard necessity will smite thee awake: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPurest delight began and it must
\nend.<\/P><\/p>\n

Thou too
\nshall know thy heart no anchor swinging<\/p>\n

Thy
\ncradled soul moored in eternal seas.<\/p>\n

Vain are
\nthe cycles of thy brilliant mind.<\/p>\n

\nRenounce, forgetting joy and hope and tears<\/p>\n

Thy
\npassionate nature in the bosom profound<\/p>\n

Of a
\nhappy Nothingness and wordless Calm,<\/p>\n

\nDelivered into my mysterious rest. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage 244<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOne with my fathomless Nihil
\nall forget.<\/P><\/p>\n

Forget
\nthy fruitless spirit's waste of force,<\/p>\n

Forget
\nthe weary circle of thy birth,<\/p>\n

Forget
\nthe joy and the struggle and the pain,<\/p>\n

The
\nvague spiritual quest which first began<\/p>\n

When
\nworlds broke forth like clusters of fire-flowers,<\/p>\n

And
\ngreat burning thoughts voyaged through the sky of mind<\/p>\n

And Time
\nand its aeons crawled across the vasts<\/p>\n

And
\nsouls emerged into mortality."<\/p>\n

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

     
\nBut Savitri replied to the dark Power:
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n"A dangerous music now thou findst,
\n0 Death, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMelting thy speech into harmonious
\npain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd flut'st alluringly to tired
\nhopes <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy falsehoods mingled with sad
\nstrains of truth. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut I forbid thy voice to slay my
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy love is not a hunger of the
\nheart, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy love is not a craving of the
\nflesh; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt came to me from God, to God
\nreturns. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven in all that life and man have
\nmarred, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA whisper of divinity still is
\nheard, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA breath is felt from the eternal
\nspheres. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAllowed by Heaven and wonderful to
\nman <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA sweet fire-rhythm of passion
\nchants to love. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere is a hope in its wild
\ninfinite cry, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt rings with callings from
\nforgotten heights, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd when its strains are hushed to
\nhigh-winged souls <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn their empyrean, its burning
\nbreath <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSurvives beyond, the rapturous core
\nof suns <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat flame for ever pure in skies
\nunseen, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA voice of the eternal Ecstasy. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOne day I shall behold my great
\nsweet world <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPut off the dire disguises of the
\ngods, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnveil from terror and disrobe from
\nsin. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAppeased we shall draw near our
\nMother's face, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWe shall cast our candid souls upon
\nher lap; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen shall we clasp the ecstasy we
\nchase,<\/P><\/p>\n

Then
\nshall we shudder with the long-sought god,<\/p>\n

Then
\nshall we find Heaven's unexpected strain.<\/p>\n

Not only
\nis there hope for godheads pure; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe violent and darkened deities <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Page 245<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nLeaped down from the one breast in
\nrage to find<\/P><\/p>\n

What the
\nwhite gods had missed: they too are safe; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA Mother's eyes are on them and her
\narms<\/P><\/p>\n

\nStretched out in love desire her rebel sons.<\/p>\n

One who
\ncame, love and lover and beloved<\/p>\n

\nEternal, built himself a wondrous field<\/p>\n

And wove
\nthe measures of a marvellous dance.<\/p>\n

There in
\nits circles and its magic turns<\/p>\n

\nAttracted he arrives, repelled he flees.<\/p>\n

In the
\nwild devious promptings of his mind<\/p>\n

He
\ntastes the honey of tears and puts off joy<\/p>\n

\nRepenting, and has laughter and has wrath,<\/p>\n

And both
\nare a broken music of the soul<\/p>\n

Which
\nseeks out, reconciled, its heavenly rhyme.<\/p>\n

Ever he
\ncomes to us across the years<\/p>\n

\nBearing a sweet new face that is the old.<\/p>\n

His
\nbliss laughs to us or it calls concealed<\/p>\n

Like a
\nfar-heard unseen entrancing flute<\/p>\n

From
\nmoonlit branches in the throbbing woods,<\/p>\n

\nTempting our angry search and passionate pain.<\/p>\n

\nDisguised the Lover seeks and draws our souls.<\/p>\n

He named
\nhimself for me, grew Satyavan.<\/p>\n

For we
\nare man and woman from the first,<\/p>\n

The twin
\nsouls born from one undying fire.<\/p>\n

Did he
\nnot dawn on me in other stars ?<\/p>\n

How has
\nhe through the thickets of the world<\/p>\n

\nPursued me like a lion in the night<\/p>\n

And come
\nupon me suddenly in the ways<\/p>\n

And
\nseized me with his glorious golden leap!<\/p>\n

\nUnsatisfied he yearned for me through time,<\/p>\n

\nSometimes with wrath and sometimes with sweet peace,<\/p>\n

\nDesiring me since first the world began.<\/p>\n

He rose
\nlike a wild wave out of the floods<\/p>\n

And
\ndragged me helpless into seas of bliss.<\/p>\n

Out of
\nmy curtained past his arms arrived,<\/p>\n

They
\nhave touched me like the soft persuading wind,<\/p>\n

They
\nhave plucked me like a glad and trembling flower,<\/p>\n

And
\nclasped me happily burned in ruthless flame.<\/p>\n

I too
\nhave found him charmed in lovely forms<\/p>\n

And run
\ndelighted to his distant voice <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page  246<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd pressed to him past many
\ndreadful bars.<\/P><\/p>\n

If there
\nis a yet happier greater god,<\/p>\n

Let him
\nfirst wear the face of Satyavan<\/p>\n

And let
\nhis soul be one with him I love; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo let him seek me that I may
\ndesire.<\/P><\/p>\n

For only
\none heart beats within my breast<\/p>\n

And one
\ngod sits there throned. Advance, 0 Death,<\/p>\n

Beyond
\nthe phantom beauty of this world; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor of its citizens I am not one.<\/P><\/p>\n

I
\ncherish God the Fire, not God the Dream."<\/p>\n

But
\nDeath once more inflicted on her heart<\/p>\n

The
\nmajesty of his calm and dreadful voice: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n"A bright hallucination are thy
\nthoughts.<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nprisoner haled by a spiritual cord,<\/p>\n

Of thy
\nown sensuous will the ardent slave,<\/p>\n

Thou
\nsendest eagle-poised to meet the sun<\/p>\n

Words
\nwinged with the red splendour of thy heart.<\/p>\n

But
\nknowledge dwells not in the passionate heart; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe heart's words fall back unheard
\nfrom Wisdom's throne. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVain is thy longing to build heaven
\non earth. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArtificer of Ideal and Idea, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMind, child of Matter in the womb
\nof Life, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo higher levels persuades his
\nparents' steps, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInapt, they follow ill the daring
\nguide. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut Mind, a glorious traveller in
\nthe sky, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalks lamely on the earth with
\nfootsteps slow; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHardly he can mould the life's
\nrebellious stuff,<\/P><\/p>\n

Hardly
\ncan he hold the galloping hooves of sense: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHis thoughts look straight into the
\nvery heavens, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey draw their gold from a
\ncelestial mine, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis acts work painfully a common
\nore. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll thy high dreams were made by
\nMatter's mind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo solace its dull work in Matter's
\njail, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts only house where it alone seems
\ntrue. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA solid image of reality <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCarved out being to prop the works
\nof Time; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMatter on the firm earth sits
\nstrong and sure.<\/P><\/p>\n

It is
\nthe first-born of created things,<\/p>\n

It
\nstands the last when mind and life are slam,<\/p>\n

And if
\nit ended all would cease to be. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Page 247<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll else is only its outcome or its
\nphase: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy soul is a brief flower by the
\ngardener Mind<\/P><\/p>\n

\nCreated on thy Matter's terrain plot; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt perishes with the plant on which
\nit grows,<\/P><\/p>\n

For from
\nearth's sap it draws its heavenly hue: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThy thoughts are gleams that pass
\non Matter's verge, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy life a lapsing wave on Matter's
\nsea. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA careful steward of Truth's
\nlimited means, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTreasuring her founded facts from
\nthe squandering Power, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt tethers mind to the tent-posts
\nof sense, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo a leaden grey routine clamps
\nLife's caprice <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd ties all creatures with the
\ncords of Law. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA vessel of transmuting alchemies, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA glue that sticks together mind
\nand life, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf Matter fails, all crumbling
\ncracks and falls. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll upon Matter stands as on a
\nrock. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet this security and guarantor <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPressed for credentials an impostor
\nproves: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA cheat of substance where no
\nsubstance is,<\/P><\/p>\n

An
\nappearance and a symbol and a nought,<\/p>\n

Its
\nforms have no original right to birth: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIts aspect of a fixed stability <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs the cover of a captive motion's
\nswirl, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn order of the steps of Energy's
\ndance <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhose footmarks leave for ever the
\nsame signs, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA concrete face of unsubstantial
\nTime, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA trickle dotting the emptiness of
\nSpace: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA stable-seeming movement without
\nchange,<\/P><\/p>\n

Yet
\nchange arrives and the last change is death.<\/p>\n

What
\nseemed most real once, is Nihil's show.<\/p>\n

Its
\nfigures are snares that trap and prison the sense; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe beginningless void was its
\nartificer: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNothing is there but aspects limned
\nby Chance<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nseeming shapes of seeming Energy.<\/p>\n

All by
\nDeath's mercy breathe and live awhile,<\/p>\n

All
\nthink and act by the Inconscient's grace.<\/p>\n

Addict
\nof the roseate luxury of thy thoughts,<\/p>\n

Turn not
\nthy gaze within thyself to look<\/p>\n

At
\nvisions in the gleaming crystal. Mind,<\/p>\n

Close
\nnot thy lids to dream the forms of Gods. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage 248<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAt last to open thy eyes consent
\nand see<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nstuff of which thou and the world are made.<\/p>\n

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

\nInconscient in the still
\ninconscient Void<\/p>\n

\nInexplicably a moving world sprang forth: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAwhile secure, happily insensible,<\/P><\/p>\n

It could
\nnot rest content with its own truth.<\/p>\n

For
\nsomething on its nescient breast was born<\/p>\n

\nCondemned to see and know, to feel and love,<\/p>\n

It
\nwatched its acts, imagined a soul within; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n'It groped for truth and dreamed of
\nSelf and God.<\/P><\/p>\n

When all
\nunconscious was, then all was well.<\/p>\n

I,
\nDeath, was king and kept my regal state,<\/p>\n

\nDesigning my unwilled, unerring plan,<\/p>\n

\nCreating with a calm insentient heart.<\/p>\n

In my
\nsovereign power of unreality<\/p>\n

\nObliging nothingness to take a form,<\/p>\n

\nInfallibly my blind unthinking force<\/p>\n

Making
\nby chance a fixity like fate's,<\/p>\n

By whim
\nthe formulas of Necessity,<\/p>\n

\nFounded on the hollow ground of the Inane<\/p>\n

The sure
\nbizarrerie of Nature's scheme.<\/p>\n

I curbed
\nthe vacant ether into Space; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA huge expanding and contracting
\nbreath<\/P><\/p>\n

\nHarboured the fires of the universe: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI struck out the supreme original
\nspark<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nspread its sparse ranked armies through the Inane,<\/p>\n

\nManufactured the stars from the occult radiances,<\/p>\n

\nMarshalled the platoons of the invisible dance; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI formed earth's beauty out of atom
\nand gas, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd built from chemic plasm the
\nliving man. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen Thought came in and spoilt the
\nharmonious world: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMatter began to hope and think and
\nfeel, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTissue and nerve bore joy and
\nagony. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe inconscient cosmos strove to
\nlearn its task; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn ignorant personal god was born in
\nMind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd to understand invented reason's
\nlaw, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe impersonal Vast throbbed back
\nto man's desire, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA trouble rocked the great world's
\nblind still heart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Nature lost her wide immortal
\ncalm. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThus came this warped
\nincomprehensible scene <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage    249<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOf souls enmeshed in life's delight
\nand pain<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nMatter's sleep and Mind's mortality,<\/p>\n

Of
\nbeings in Nature's prison waiting death<\/p>\n

And
\nconsciousness left in seeking ignorance.<\/p>\n

This is
\nthe world in which thou movst, astray<\/p>\n

In the
\ntangled pathways of the human mind,<\/p>\n

In the
\nissueless circling of thy human life,<\/p>\n

\nSearching for thy soul and thinking God is here.<\/p>\n

But
\nwhere is room for soul or place for God<\/p>\n

In the
\nbrute immensity of a machine?<\/p>\n

A
\ntransient Breath thou takest for thy soul,<\/p>\n

Born
\nfrom a gas, a plasm, a sperm, a gene,<\/p>\n

A
\nmagnified image of man's mind for God,<\/p>\n

A shadow
\nof thyself thrown upon Space.<\/p>\n

\nInterposed between the upper and nether Void,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nconsciousness reflects the world around<\/p>\n

In the
\ndistorting mirror of Ignorance<\/p>\n

Or
\nupwards turns to catch imagined stars.<\/p>\n

Or if a
\nhalf Truth is playing with the earth<\/p>\n

\nThrowing its light on a dark shadowy ground,<\/p>\n

It
\ntouches only and leaves a luminous smudge.<\/p>\n

\nImmortality thou claimest for thy spirit,<\/p>\n

But
\nimmortality for imperfect man,<\/p>\n

A god
\nwho hurts himself at every step,<\/p>\n

Would be
\na cycle of eternal pain.<\/p>\n

Wisdom
\nand love thou claimest as thy right; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut knowledge in this world is
\nerror's make, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA brilliant procuress of Nescience <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd human love a posturer on
\nearth-stage <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWho imitates with verve a faery
\ndance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn extract pressed from hard
\nexperience, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMan's knowledge casked in the
\nbarrels of Memory <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHas the harsh savour of a mortal
\ndraught: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA sweet secretion from the erotic
\nglands<\/P><\/p>\n

\nFlattering and torturing the burning nerves,<\/p>\n

Love is
\na honey and poison in the breast<\/p>\n

Drunk by
\nit as the nectar of the gods.<\/p>\n

\nEarth's human wisdom is no great-browed power,<\/p>\n


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

\nAnd love no gleaming angel from the
\nskies.<\/p>\n

If they
\naspire beyond earth's dullard air, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage 250<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nArriving sunwards with frail waxen
\nwings<\/P><\/p>\n

How high
\ncould reach that forced unnatural flight?<\/p>\n

But not
\non earth can divine wisdom reign<\/p>\n

And not
\non earth can divine love be found; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHeaven-born, only in heaven can
\nthey live, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr else there too perhaps they are
\nshining dreams. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNay, is not all thou art and doest
\na dream? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy mind and life are tricks of
\nMatter's force. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf thy mind seems to thee a radiant
\nsun, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf thy life runs a swift and
\nglorious dream, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is the illusion of thy mortal
\nheart <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDazzled by a ray of happiness or
\nlight. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImpotent to live by their own right
\ndivine, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nConvinced of their brilliant
\nunreality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen their supporting ground is cut
\naway, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThese children of Matter into
\nMatter die. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven Matter vanishes into Energy's
\nvague <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Energy is a motion of old
\nNought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall the Ideal's unsubstantial
\nhues <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBe painted stiff on earth's
\nvermilion blur, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA dream, within a dream come doubly
\ntrue? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall the will-o'-the-wisp
\nbecome a star? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Ideal is a malady of thy mind, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA bright delirium of thy speech and
\nthought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA strange wine of beauty lifting
\nthee to false sight. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA noble fiction of thy yearnings
\nmade, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy human imperfection it must
\nshare: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts forms in Nature disappoint the
\nheart,<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nnever shall it find its heavenly shape<\/p>\n

And
\nnever can it be fulfilled in Time.<\/p>\n

\nO soul
\nmisled by the splendour of thy thoughts,<\/p>\n

\nO
\nearthly creature with thy dream of heaven,<\/p>\n

Obey,
\nresigned and still, the earthly law.<\/p>\n

Accept
\nthe light that falls upon thy days; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTake what thou canst of Life's
\npermitted joy,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nSubmitting to the ordeal of Fate's scourge<\/p>\n

Suffer
\nwhat thou must of toil and grief and care.<\/p>\n

There
\nshall approach silencing thy passionate heart<\/p>\n

My long
\ncalm night of everlasting sleep: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere into the hush from which thou
\ncam'st retire." <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 251<\/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 GOSPEL OF DEATH AND VANITY OF THE IDEAL     THEN pealed the calm inexorable voice: Abolishing hope, cancelling life's golden…<\/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-3308","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\/3308","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=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}