{"id":3389,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3389"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","slug":"15-book-2-canto-8-the-world-of-falsehood-the-mother-vol-01-savitri-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/01-savitri-1950\/15-book-2-canto-8-the-world-of-falsehood-the-mother-vol-01-savitri-1950","title":{"rendered":"-15_ Book 2 Canto 8 The World of Falsehood The Mother.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n

<\/p>\n

CANTO EIGHT<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE WORLD OF
\nFALSEHOOD, THE MOTHER<\/b><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\nOF EVIL AND
\nTHE SONS OF DARKNESS<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\n


\nTHEN could he see the hidden heart of Night: <\/font>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe labour of its stark unconsciousness<\/P><\/p>\n

Revealed
\nthe endless terrible Inane.<\/p>\n

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

A
\nspiritless blank Infinity was there; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nA Nature that denied the eternal Truth<\/P><\/p>\n

In the
\nvain braggart freedom of its thought<\/p>\n

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

Hoped to
\nabolish God and reign alone. <\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThere was no sovereign Guest, no witness Light; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nUnhelped it would create its own bleak world.<\/P><\/p>\n

Its
\nlarge blind eyes looked out on demon acts,<\/p>\n

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

Its deaf
\nears heard the untruth its dumb lips spoke,<\/p>\n

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

Its huge
\nmisguided fancy took vast shapes,<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nmindless sentience quivered with fierce conceits; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nEngendering a brute principle of life<\/P><\/p>\n

Evil and
\npain begot a monstrous soul.<\/p>\n

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

The
\nAnarchs of the formless depths arose,<\/p>\n

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

Great
\ntitan beings and demoniac powers,<\/p>\n

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

\nWorld-egos racked with lust and thought and will,<\/p>\n

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

Vast
\nminds and lives without a spirit within: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nImpatient architects of error's house,<\/P><\/p>\n

Leaders
\nof the cosmic ignorance and unrest<\/p>\n

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

And
\nsponsors of sorrow and mortality<\/p>\n

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

Embodied
\nthe dark Ideas of the Abyss.<\/p>\n

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

A shadow
\nsubstance into emptiness came,<\/p>\n

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

Dim
\nforms were born in the unthinking Void<\/p>\n

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

And
\neddies met and made an adverse Space<\/p>\n

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

In whose
\nblack folds Being imagined Hell.<\/p>\n

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

His eyes
\npiercing the triple-plated gloom<\/p>\n

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

\nIdentified their sight with its blind stare: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page 200<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAccustomed to the unnatural dark, they saw<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nUnreality made real and conscious Night.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA violent, fierce and formidable world,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAn ancient womb of huge calamitous dreams,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nCoiled like a larva in the obscurity<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThat keeps it from the spear-points of Heaven's stars.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIt was the gate of a false Infinite,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAn eternity of disastrous absolutes,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAn immense negation of spiritual things.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAll once self-luminous in the spirit's sphere<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTurned now into their own dark contraries:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nBeing collapsed into a pointless void<\/P><\/p>\n

That yet
\nwas a zero parent of the worlds;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nInconscience swallowing up the cosmic Mind<\/P><\/p>\n

Produced
\na universe from its lethal sleep;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nBliss into black coma fallen, insensible,<\/P><\/p>\n

Coiled
\nback to itself and God's eternal joy<\/p>\n

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

Through
\na false poignant figure of grief and pain<\/p>\n

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

Still
\ndolorously nailed upon a cross<\/p>\n

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

Fixed in
\nthe soil of a dumb insentient world<\/p>\n

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

Where
\nbirth was a pang and death an agony,<\/p>\n

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

Lest all
\ntoo soon should change again to bliss.<\/p>\n

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

Thought
\nsat, a priestess of Perversity,<\/p>\n

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

On her
\nblack tripod of the triune Snake<\/p>\n

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

Reading
\nby opposite signs the eternal script,<\/p>\n

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

A
\nsorceress reversing Life's God-frame.<\/p>\n

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

In
\ndarkling aisles with evil eyes for lamps<\/p>\n

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

And
\nfatal voices chanting from the apse,<\/p>\n

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

In
\nstrange infernal dim basilicas<\/p>\n

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

Intoning
\nthe magic of the unholy Word,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nominous profound Initiate<\/p>\n

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

\nPerformed the ritual of her mysteries.<\/p>\n

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

There
\nsuffering was Nature's daily food<\/p>\n

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

Alluring
\nto the anguished heart and flesh,<\/p>\n

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

And
\ntorture was the formula of delight,<\/p>\n

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

Pain
\nmimicked the celestial ecstasy.<\/p>\n

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

There
\nGood, a faithless gardener of God,<\/p>\n

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

Watered
\nwith virtue the world's upas-tree<\/p>\n

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

And,
\ncareful of the outward word and act,<\/p>\n

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

\nEngrafted his hypocrite blooms on native ill.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page 201<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAll high things served their nether opposite: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe forms of Gods sustained a demon cult; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHeaven's face became a mask and snare of Hell.<\/P><\/p>\n

There in
\nthe heart of vain phenomenon,<\/p>\n

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

In an
\nenormous action's writhen core <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

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

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

\n

\n
\nHe saw a shape illimitable and vague<\/P><\/p>\n

Sitting
\non Death who swallows all things born.<\/p>\n

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

A chill
\nfixed face with dire and motionless eyes,<\/p>\n

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

Her
\ndreadful strident in her shadowy hand<\/p>\n

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

\nOutstretched, she pierced all creatures with one fate. <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n
\n     When nothing was save Matter without soul<\/P><\/p>\n

And a
\nspiritless hollow was the heart of Time,<\/p>\n

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

Then
\nLife first touched the insensible Abyss; <\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAwaking the stark Void to hope and grief <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHer pallid beam smote the unfathomed Night . <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn which God hid himself from his own view. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn all things she sought their slumbering mystic truth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe unspoken Word that inspires unconscious forms; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nShe groped in his deeps for an invisible Law, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFumbled in the dim subconscient for his mind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd strove to find a way for spirit to be. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nBut from the Night another answer came. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA seed was in that nether matrix cast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA dumb unprobed husk of perverted truth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA cell of an insentient infinite. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA monstrous birth prepared its cosmic form <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn Nature's titan embryo. Ignorance. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThen in a fatal and stupendous hour <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSomething that sprang from the stark' Inconscient's sleep <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nUnwillingly begotten by the mute Void, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nLifted its ominous head against the stars; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOvershadowing earth with its huge body of Doom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIt chilled the heavens with the menace of a face. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA nameless Power, a shadowy Will arose <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nImmense and alien to our universe. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn the inconceivable Purpose none can gauge <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA vast Non-Being robed itself with shape, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe boundless Nescience of the unconscious depths <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nCovered eternity with Nothingness. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page 202<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nA seeking Mind replaced the seeing Soul: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nLife grew into a huge and hungry death,<\/P><\/p>\n

The
\nSpirit's bliss was changed to cosmic pain.<\/p>\n

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

Assuring
\nGod's self-cowled neutrality<\/p>\n

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

A mighty
\nopposition conquered Space.<\/p>\n

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

A
\nsovereign ruling falsehood, death and grief,<\/p>\n

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

It
\npressed its fierce hegemony on earth,<\/p>\n

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

\nDisharmonising the original style<\/p>\n

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

Of the
\narchitecture of her fate's design,<\/p>\n

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

It
\nfalsified the primal cosmic Will<\/p>\n

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

And
\nbound to struggle and dread vicissitudes<\/p>\n

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

The long
\nslow process of the patient Power.<\/p>\n

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

\nImplanting error in the stuff of things<\/p>\n

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

It made
\nan Ignorance of the all-wise Law,<\/p>\n

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

It
\nbaffled the sure touch of life's hid sense,<\/p>\n

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

Kept
\ndumb the intuitive guide in Matter's sleep,<\/p>\n

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

Deformed
\nthe insect's instinct and the brute's,<\/p>\n

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

\nDisfigured man's thought-born humanity,<\/p>\n

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

A shadow
\nfell across the simple Ray: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nObscured was the Truth-light in the cavern heart<\/P><\/p>\n

That
\nbums unwitnessed in the altar crypt<\/p>\n

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

Behind
\nthe still velamen's secrecy<\/p>\n

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

\nCompanioning the Godhead of the shrine.<\/p>\n

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

Thus was
\nthe dire antagonist Energy born<\/p>\n

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

Who
\nmimes the eternal Mother's mighty shape<\/p>\n

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

And
\nmocks her luminous infinity<\/p>\n

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

With a
\ngrey distorted silhouette in the Night.<\/p>\n

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

\nArresting the passion of the climbing soul,<\/p>\n

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

She
\nforced on life a slow and faltering pace,<\/p>\n

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

Her
\nhand's deflecting and retarding weight<\/p>\n

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

Is laid
\non the mystic evolution's curve: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe tortuous line of her deceiving mind<\/P><\/p>\n

The Gods
\nsee not and man is impotent; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nOppressing the God-spark within the soul <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nShe forces back to the beast the human fall. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nYet in her formidable instinctive mind <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nShe feels the One grow in the heart of Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd sees the Immortal shine through the human mould. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAlarmed for her rule and full of fear and rage <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nShe prowls around each light that gleams through the dark <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page 203<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nCasting its ray from the Spirit's lonely tent, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nHoping to enter with fierce stealth tread <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nAnd in the cradle slay the divine Child . <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nIncalculable are her strength and ruse, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHer touch is a fascination and a death;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nShe kills her victim with his own delight;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nEven Good she makes a hook to drag to Hell.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFor her the world runs to its agony.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOften the pilgrim on the Eternal's road<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIll-lit from clouds by the pale moon of Mind,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOr in devious by-ways wandering alone,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOr lost in deserts where no path is seen,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFalls overpowered by her lion leap,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA conquered captive under her dreadful paws.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIntoxicated by a burning breath<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd amorous groan of a destroying mouth,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOnce a companion of the sacred Fire,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe mortal perishes to God and Light,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAn adversary governs heart and brain,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA Nature hostile to the Mother-force.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe self of life yields up its instruments<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTo Titan and demoniac agencies<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThat aggrandise earth-nature and disframe:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA cowled fifth-columnist is now thought's guide;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHis subtle defeatist murmur slays the faith<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd, lodged in the breast or whispering from outside,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA lying inspiration fell and dark<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA new order substitutes for the divine.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA silence falls upon the spirit's heights,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFrom the veiled sanctuary the God retires,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nEmpty and cold is the chamber of the Bride;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe golden Nimbus now is seen no more,<\/P><\/p>\n

No
\nlonger burns the white spiritual ray<\/p>\n

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

And
\nhushed for ever is the secret Voice.<\/p>\n

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

Then by
\nthe Angel of the Vigil Tower<\/p>\n

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

A name
\nis struck from the recording book;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nA flame that sang in Heaven sinks quenched and mute,<\/P><\/p>\n

In ruin
\nends the epic of a soul.<\/p>\n

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

This is
\nthe tragedy of the inner death<\/p>\n

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

When
\nforfeited is the divine element<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 204<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAnd only a mind and body live to die. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n     For terrible agencies the Spirit allows<\/P><\/p>\n

And
\nthere are subtle and enormous Powers<\/p>\n

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

That
\nshield themselves with the covering Ignorance.<\/p>\n

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

\nOffspring of the gulfs, agents of the shadowy Force,<\/p>\n

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

Haters
\nof light, intolerant of peace,<\/p>\n

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

Aping to
\nthe thought the shining Friend and Guide,<\/p>\n

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

Opposing
\nin the heart the eternal Will,<\/p>\n

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

They
\nveil the occult, uplifting Harmonist.<\/p>\n

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

His
\nwisdom's oracles are made our bonds; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe doors of God they have locked with keys of creed<\/P><\/p>\n

And shut
\nout by the Law his tireless Grace.<\/p>\n

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

Along
\nall Nature's lines they have set their posts<\/p>\n

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

And
\nintercept the caravans of Light; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nWherever the Gods act, they intervene.<\/P><\/p>\n

A yoke
\nis laid upon the world's dim heart; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nMasked are its beats from the supernal Bliss,<\/P><\/p>\n

And the
\nclosed peripheries of brilliant Mind<\/p>\n

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

Block
\nthe fine entries of celestial Fire.<\/p>\n

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

Always
\nthe dark Adventurers seem to win; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nNature they fill with evil's institutes,<\/P><\/p>\n

Turn
\ninto defeats the victories of Truth,<\/p>\n

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

Proclaim
\nas falsehoods the eternal laws,<\/p>\n

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

And load
\nthe dice of Doom with wizard lies; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe world's shrines they have occupied, usurped its thrones.<\/P><\/p>\n

In scorn
\nof the dwindling chances of the Gods<\/p>\n

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

They
\nclaim creation as their conquered fief<\/p>\n

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

And
\ncrown themselves the iron Lords of Time.<\/p>\n

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

Adepts
\nof the illusion and the mask,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nartificers of Nature's fall and pain<\/p>\n

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

Have
\nbuilt their altars of triumphant Night<\/p>\n

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

In the
\nclay temple of terrestrial life.<\/p>\n

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

In the
\nvacant precincts of the sacred Fire,<\/p>\n

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

In front
\nof the reredos in the mystic rite<\/p>\n

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

Facing
\nthe dim velamen none can pierce,<\/p>\n

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

Intones
\nhis solemn hymn the mitred priest<\/p>\n

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

Invoking
\ntheir dreadful presence in his breast: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAttributing to them the awful Name<\/P><\/p>\n

He
\nchants the syllables of the magic text\n<\/p>\n

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

\nPage 205<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAnd summons the unseen communion's act,<\/P><\/p>\n

While
\ntwixt the incense and the muttered prayer<\/p>\n

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

All the
\nfierce bale with which the world is racked<\/p>\n

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

Is mixed
\nin the foaming chalice of man's heart<\/p>\n

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

And
\npoured to them like sacramental wine.<\/p>\n

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

Assuming
\nnames divine they guide and rule.<\/p>\n

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

\nOpponents of the Highest they have come<\/p>\n

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

Out of
\ntheir world of soulless thought and power<\/p>\n

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

To serve
\nby enmity the cosmic scheme.<\/p>\n

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

Night is
\ntheir refuge and strategic base.<\/p>\n

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

Against
\nthe sword of Flame, the luminous Eye,<\/p>\n

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

\nBastioned they live in massive forts of gloom,<\/p>\n

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

Calm and
\nsecure in sunless privacy: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nNo wandering ray of Heaven can enter there. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nArmoured, protected by their lethal masks, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAs in a studio of creative Death <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe giant sons of Darkness sit and plan <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe. drama of the earth, their tragic stage. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAll who would raise the fallen world must come <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nUnder the dangerous arches of their power; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFor even the radiant children of the gods <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTo darken their privilege is and dreadful right. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nNone can reach heaven who has not passed through hell. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n     This too the traveller of the worlds must dare.<\/P><\/p>\n

A
\nwarrior in the dateless duel's strife,<\/p>\n

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

He
\nentered into dumb despairing Night .<\/p>\n

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

\nChallenging the darkness with his luminous soul.<\/p>\n

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

Alarming
\nwith his steps the threshold gloom<\/p>\n

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

He came
\ninto a fierce and dolorous realm<\/p>\n

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

Peopled
\nby souls who never had tasted bliss; <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIgnorant like men born blind who know not light, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThey could equate worst ill with highest good, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nVirtue was to their eyes a face of sin <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd evil and misery were their natural state. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA dire administration's penal code <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nMaking of grief and pain the common law, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nDecreeing universal joylessness <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHad changed life into a stoic sacrament <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd torture into a daily festival.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage 206<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAn act was passed to chastise happiness; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nLaughter and pleasure were banned as deadly sins: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA questionless mind was ranked as wise content,<\/P><\/p>\n

A dull
\nheart's silent apathy as peace: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nSleep was not there, torpor was the sole rest,<\/P><\/p>\n

Death
\ncame but neither respite gave nor end,<\/p>\n

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

Always
\nthe soul lived on and suffered more.<\/p>\n

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

Ever he
\ndeeper probed that kingdom of pain; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAround him grew the terror of a world <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOf agony followed by worse agony, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd in the terror a great wicked joy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nGlad of one's own and others' calamity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThere thought and life were a long punishment, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe breath a burden and all hope a scourge, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe body a field of torment, a massed unease, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nRepose was a waiting between pang and pang. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThis was the law of things none dreamed to change: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA hard sombre heart, a harsh unsmiling mind<\/P><\/p>\n

Rejected
\nhappiness like a cloying sweet; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nTranquillity was a tedium and ennui: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOnly by suffering life grew colourful; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIt needed the spice of pain, the salt of tears.<\/P><\/p>\n

If one
\ncould cease to be, all would be well; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nElse only fierce sensations gave some zest: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA fury of jealousy burning the gnawed heart, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe sting of murderous spite and hate and lust, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe whisper that lures to the pit and treachery's stroke <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThrew vivid spots on the dull aching hours, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTo watch the drama of infelicity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe writhing of creatures under the harrow of doom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd sorrow's tragic gaze into the night <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd horror and the hammering heart of fear <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nWere the ingredients in Time's heavy cup <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThat pleased and helped to enjoy its bitter taste. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOf such fierce stuff was made up life's long hell: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThese were the threads of the dark spider's web<\/P><\/p>\n

In which
\nthe soul was caught, quivering and wrapt; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThis was religion, this was Nature's rule. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn a fell chapel of iniquity <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTo worship a black pitiless image of Power <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage 207<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nKneeling one must cross hard-hearted stony courts, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA pavement like a floor of evil fate. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nEach stone was a keen edge of ruthless force <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd glued with the chilled blood from tortured breasts; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe dry gnarled trees stood up like dying men<\/P><\/p>\n

\nStiffened into a pose of agony,<\/p>\n

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

And from
\neach window peered an ominous priest<\/p>\n

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

Chanting
\nTe Deums for slaughter's crowning grace,<\/p>\n

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

Cities
\nuprooted, blasted human homes,<\/p>\n

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

Burned
\nwrithen bodies, the bombshell's massacre.<\/p>\n

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

Our
\nenemies are fallen, are fallen", they sang,<\/p>\n

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

All who
\nonce stayed our will are smitten and dead,<\/p>\n

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

How
\ngreat we are, how merciful art Thou."<\/p>\n

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

Thus
\nthought they to reach God's impassive throne<\/p>\n

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

And Him
\ncommand whom all their acts opposed,<\/p>\n

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

\nMagnifying their deeds to touch his skies,<\/p>\n

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

And make
\nhim an accomplice of their crimes.<\/p>\n

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

There no
\nrelenting pity could have place,<\/p>\n

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

But
\nruthless strength and iron moods had sway,<\/p>\n

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

A
\ndateless sovereignty of terror and gloom: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThis took the figure of a darkened God<\/P><\/p>\n

Revered
\nby the racked wretchedness he had made,<\/p>\n

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

Who held
\nin thrall a miserable world,<\/p>\n

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

And
\nhelpless hearts nailed to unceasing woe<\/p>\n

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

Adored
\nthe feet that trampled them into mire.<\/p>\n

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

It was a
\nworld of sorrow and of hate,<\/p>\n

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

Sorrow
\nwith hatred for its lonely joy,<\/p>\n

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

Hatred
\nwith others' sorrow as its feast; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nA bitter rictus curled the suffering mouth; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA tragic cruelty saw its ominous chance.<\/P><\/p>\n

Hate was
\nthe black archangel of that realm; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIt glowed, a sombre jewel in the heart<\/P><\/p>\n

Burning
\nthe soul with its malignant rays,<\/p>\n

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

And
\nwallowed in its fell abysm of might.<\/p>\n

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

These
\npassions even objects seemed to exude,<\/p>\n

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

For mind
\noverflowed into the inanimate<\/p>\n

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

That
\nanswered with the wickedness it received,<\/p>\n

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

Against
\ntheir users used malignant powers,<\/p>\n

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

Hurt
\nwithout hands and strangely, suddenly slew,<\/p>\n

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

\nAppointed as instruments of an unseen doom. <\/p>\n

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

\n<\/p>\n

Page  208<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nOr they made themselves a fateful prison wall <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nWhere men condemned wake through the creeping hours <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nCounted by the tollings of an ominous bell. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAn evil environment worsened evil souls: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAll things were conscious there and all perverse.<\/P><\/p>\n

In this
\ninfernal realm he dared to press<\/p>\n

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

Even
\ninto its deepest pit and darkest core,<\/p>\n

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

\nPerturbed its tenebrous base, dared to contest<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nancient privileged right and absolute force: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIn Night he plunged to know her dreadful heart,<\/P><\/p>\n

In Hell
\nhe sought the root and cause of Hell.<\/p>\n

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

Its
\nanguished gulfs opened in his own breast; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nHe listened to clamours of its crowded pain, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe heart-beats of its fatal loneliness. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAbove was a chill deaf eternity. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn vague tremendous passages of Doom <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHe heard the goblin voice that guides to slay, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd faced the enchantments of the demon Sign, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd traversed the ambush of the opponent Snake. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn menacing tracts, in tortured solitudes <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nCompanionless he roamed through desolate ways <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nWhere the red Wolf waits by the fordless stream <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd Death's black eagles scream to the precipice, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd met the hounds of bale who hunt men's hearts <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nBaying across the veldts of Destiny, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn footless battlefields of the Abyss <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFought shadowy combats in mute eyeless depths, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAssaults of Hell endured and Titan strokes <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd bore the fierce inner wounds that are slow to heal. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA prisoner of a hooded magic Force, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nCaptured and trailed in Falsehood's lethal net <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd often strangled in the noose of grief, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOr cast on the grim morass of swallowing doubt, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nOr shut into pits of error and despair, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHe drank her poison draughts till none was left. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn a world where neither hope nor joy could come <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe ordeal he suffered of evil's absolute reign, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nYet kept intact his spirit's radiant truth. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIncapable of motion or of force, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn Matter's blank denial gaoled and blind,<\/font><\/P><\/p>\n

\nPage 209<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPinned to the black inertia of our base<\/P><\/p>\n

He
\ntreasured between his hands his flickering soul.<\/p>\n

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

His
\nbeing ventured into mindless Void,<\/p>\n

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

\nIntolerant gulfs that knew not thought nor sense,<\/p>\n

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

Thought
\nceased, sense failed, his soul still saw and knew.<\/p>\n

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

In
\natomic parcellings of the Infinite<\/p>\n

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

Near to
\nthe dumb beginnings of lost Self,<\/p>\n

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

He felt
\nthe curious small futility<\/p>\n

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

Of the
\ncreation of material things.<\/p>\n

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

Or,
\nstifled in the Inconscient's hollow dusk,<\/p>\n

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

He
\nsounded the mystery dark and bottomless<\/p>\n

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

Of the
\nenormous and unmeaning deeps<\/p>\n

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

Whence
\nstruggling life in a dead universe rose.<\/p>\n

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

There in
\nthe stark identity lost by mind<\/p>\n

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

He felt
\nthe sealed sense of the insensible world<\/p>\n

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

And a
\nmute wisdom in the unknowing Night.<\/p>\n

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

Into the
\nabysmal secrecy he came<\/p>\n

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

Where
\ndarkness peers from her mattress, grey and nude<\/p>\n

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

And
\nstood on the last locked subconscient's floor<\/p>\n

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

Where
\nBeing slept unconscious of its thoughts<\/p>\n

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

And
\nbuilt the world not knowing what it built.<\/p>\n

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

There
\nwaiting its hour the future lay unknown,<\/p>\n

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

There is
\nthe record of the vanished stars.<\/p>\n

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

There in
\nthe slumber of the cosmic Will<\/p>\n

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

He saw
\nthe secret key of Nature's change.<\/p>\n

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

A light
\nwas with him, an invisible hand<\/p>\n

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

Was laid
\nupon the error and the pain<\/p>\n

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

Till it
\nbecame a quivering ecstasy,<\/p>\n

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

The
\nshock of sweetness of an arm's embrace.<\/p>\n

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

He saw
\nin Night the Eternal's shadowy veil,<\/p>\n

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

Knew
\ndeath for a cellar of the house of life,<\/p>\n

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

In
\ndestruction felt creation's hasty pace,<\/p>\n

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

Knew
\nloss as the price of a celestial gain<\/p>\n

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

And hell
\nas a short cut to heaven's gates.<\/p>\n

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

Then in
\nIllusion's occult factory<\/p>\n

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

And in
\nthe Inconscient's magic printing house<\/p>\n

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

Tom were
\nthe formats of the primal Night<\/p>\n

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

And
\nshattered the stereotypes of Ignorance. <\/p>\n

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

Alive,
\nbreathing a deep spiritual breath,<\/p>\n

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

Nature
\nexpunged her stiff mechanical code\n<\/p>\n

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

\nPage 210<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nAnd the articles of the bound soul's contract,<\/P><\/p>\n

\nFalsehood gave back to Truth her tortured shape.<\/p>\n

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

Annulled
\nwere the tables of the law of pain,<\/p>\n

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

And in
\ntheir place grew luminous characters.<\/p>\n

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

The
\nskilful Penman's unseen finger wrote<\/p>\n

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

His
\nswift intuitive calligraphy; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nEarth's forms were made his divine documents, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe wisdom embodied mind could not reveal, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nInconscience chased from the world's voiceless breast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nTransfigured were the fixed schemes of reasoning Thought. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nArousing consciousness in things inert, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHe imposed upon dark atom and dumb mass <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe diamond script of the Imperishable, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nInscribed on the dim heart of fallen things <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nA paean-song of the free Infinite <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd the Name, foundation of eternity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd traced on the awake exultant cells <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn the ideographs of the Ineffable <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe lyric of the love that waits through Time <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd the mystic volume of the Book of Bliss <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd the message of the superconscient Fire. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThen Life beat pure in the corporeal frame; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThe infernal Gleam died and could slay no more.<\/P><\/p>\n

Hell
\nsplit across its huge abrupt fa9ade<\/p>\n

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

As if a
\nmagic building were undone,<\/p>\n

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

Night
\nopened and vanished like a gulf of dream.<\/p>\n

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

Into
\nbeing's gap scooped out as empty Space<\/p>\n

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

In which
\nshe has filled the place of absent God,<\/p>\n

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

There
\npoured a wide intimate and blissful Dawn,<\/p>\n

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

Healed
\nwere all things that Time's torn heart had made<\/p>\n

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

And
\nsorrow could live no more in Nature's breast: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nDivision ceased to be, for God was there.<\/P><\/p>\n

The soul
\nlit the conscious body with its ray,<\/p>\n

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

Matter
\nand Spirit mingled and were one.\n<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tEND OF CANTO BIGHT<\/span><\/font><\/P><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage 211<\/font><\/span><\/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 EIGHT   THE WORLD OF FALSEHOOD, THE MOTHER OF EVIL AND THE SONS OF DARKNESS     THEN could he see the hidden heart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-savitri-1950","wpcat-77-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","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=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}