{"id":3402,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3402"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:09","slug":"23-book-3-canto-1-the-pursuit-of-the-unknowable-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\/23-book-3-canto-1-the-pursuit-of-the-unknowable-vol-01-savitri-1950","title":{"rendered":"-23_ Book 3 Canto 1 The Pursuit of The Unknowable.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBOOK THREE<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Book of the Divine Mother<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE PURSUIT OF THE
\nUNKNOWABLE<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\nA LL is too little that the world
\ncan give: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIts power and knowledge are the
\ngifts of Time<\/p>\n

And
\ncannot fill the spirit's sacred thirst.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAlthough of One these forms of greatness are<\/p>\n

\n

And by
\nits breath of grace our lives abide,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAlthough more near to us than nearness' self,<\/p>\n

\n

It is
\nsome utter truth of what we are; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nHidden by its own works it seemed
\nfar off, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImpenetrable, occult, voiceless,
\nobscure. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Presence was lost by which all
\nthings have charm, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Glory lacked of which they are
\ndim signs. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe world lived on made empty of
\nits Cause, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLike Love when the Beloved's face
\nis gone. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe labour to know seemed a vain
\nstrife of Mind; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll knowledge ended in the
\nUnknowable: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe effort to rule seemed a vain
\npride of Will; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA trivial achievement scorned by
\nTime,<\/p>\n

All
\npower retired into the Omnipotent.<\/p>\n

\n

A cave
\nof darkness guards the eternal Light.<\/p>\n

\n

A
\nsilence settled on his striving heart; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nAbsolved from the voices of the
\nworld's desire,<\/p>\n

He
\nturned to the Ineffable's timeless call.<\/p>\n

\n

A Being
\nintimate and unnameable,<\/p>\n

\n

A wide
\ncompelling ecstasy and peace<\/p>\n

\n

Felt in
\nhimself and all and yet ungrasped,<\/p>\n

\n

\nApproached and faded from his soul's pursuit<\/p>\n

\n

As if
\nfor ever luring him beyond.<\/p>\n

\n

Near, it
\nretreated; far, it called him still.<\/p>\n

\n

\nNothing could satisfy but its delight: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nIts absence left the greatest
\nactions dull, <\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  277<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nIts presence made the smallest seem
\ndivine.<\/p>\n

When it
\nwas there, the heart's abyss was filled; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nBut when the uplifting Deity
\nwithdrew, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nExistence lost its aim in the
\nInane. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe order of the immemorial planes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe godlike fullness of the
\ninstruments <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWere turned to props for an
\nimpermanent scene. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut who that mightiness was he knew
\nnot yet. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImpalpable, yet filling all that
\nis, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt <\/b>
\nmade and blotted out a million worlds <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd took and lost a thousand shapes
\nand names. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt
\nwore the guise of an indiscernible Vast, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr
\nwas a subtle kernel in the soul: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA distant greatness left it huge
\nand dim,<\/p>\n

A mystic
\ncloseness shut it sweetly in: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nIt seemed sometimes a figment or a
\nrobe<\/p>\n

And
\nseemed sometimes his own colossal shade.<\/p>\n

\n

A giant
\ndoubt overshadowed his advance.<\/p>\n

\n

Across a
\nneutral all-supporting Void<\/p>\n

\n

Whose
\nblankness nursed his lone immortal spirit,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAllured towards some recondite Supreme,<\/p>\n

\n

Aided,
\ncoerced by enigmatic Powers,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAspiring and half-sinking and upborne,<\/p>\n

\n

\nInvincibly he ascended without pause.<\/p>\n

\n

Always a
\nsignless vague Immensity<\/p>\n

\n

\nBrooded, without approach, beyond response,<\/p>\n

\n

\nCondemning finite things to nothingness,<\/p>\n

\n

\nFronting him with the incommensurable.<\/p>\n

\n

Then to
\nthe ascent there came a mighty term: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nA height was reached where nothing
\nmade could live, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA line where every hope and search
\nmust cease <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNeared some intolerant bare
\nReality, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA zero formed pregnant with
\nboundless change. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn a dizzy verge where all
\ndisguises fail <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd human mind must abdicate in
\nLight <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOr die like a moth in the naked
\nblaze of Truth, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe stood compelled to a tremendous
\nchoice. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll he had been and all towards
\nwhich he grew <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMust now be left behind or else
\ntransform <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto a self of That which has no
\nname. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  278<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nAlone and fronting an intangible
\nForce <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhich offered nothing to the grasp
\nof Thought, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis spirit faced the adventure of
\nthe Inane. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAbandoned by the worlds of form he
\nstrove. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA fruitful world-wide Ignorance
\nfoundered there; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThought's long far-circling journey
\ntouched its close <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd ineffective paused the actor
\nWill. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe symbol modes of being helped no
\nmore, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe structures Nescience builds
\ncollapsing failed, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd even the spirit that holds the
\nuniverse <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFainted in luminous insufficiency. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn an abysmal lapse of all things
\nbuilt <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTranscending every perishable
\nsupport <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd joining at last its mighty
\norigin, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe separate self must melt or be
\nreborn <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto a Truth beyond the mind's
\nappeal. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll glory of outline, sweetness of
\nharmony, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRejected like a grace of trivial
\nnotes, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nExpunged from Being's silence nude,
\naustere, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDied into a fine and blissful
\nNothingness. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Demiurges lost their names and
\nforms, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe great schemed worlds that they
\nhad planned and wrought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPassed, taken and abolished one by
\none. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe universe removed its coloured
\nveil, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd at the unimaginable end <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf
\nthe huge riddle of created things <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAppeared the far-seen Godhead of
\nthe whole, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis feet firm-based on Life's
\nstupendous wings, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOmnipotent or lonely seer of Time, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInward, inscrutable, with diamond
\ngaze. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAttracted by the unfathomable
\nregard <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe unsolved slow cycles to their
\nfount returned <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo rise again from that invisible
\nsea. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll from his puissance born was now
\nundone; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNothing remained the cosmic Mind
\nconceives. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEternity prepared to fade and
\nseemed <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA hue and imposition on the Void, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpace was the fluttering of a dream
\nthat sank <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBefore its ending into Nothing's
\ndeeps. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe spirit that dies not and the
\nGodhead's self <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  279<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nSeemed myths projected from the
\nUnknowable; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFrom It all sprang, in It is called
\nto cease.<\/p>\n

But what
\nThat was, no thought or sight could tell.<\/p>\n

\n

Only a
\nformless Form of self was left,<\/p>\n

\n

A
\ntenuous ghost of something that had been,<\/p>\n

\n

The last
\nexperience of a lapsing wave<\/p>\n

\n

Before
\nit sinks into a bourneless sea,<\/p>\n

\n

As if it
\nkept even on the brink of Nought<\/p>\n

\n

Its bare
\nfeeling of the ocean whence it came.<\/p>\n

\n

A
\nVastness brooded free from sense of Space,<\/p>\n

\n

An
\nEverlastingness cut off from Time; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nA strange sublime unalterable Peace <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSilent rejected from it world and
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA stark companionless Reality <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnswered at last to his soul's
\npassionate search: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPassionless, wordless, absorbed in
\nfathomless peace,<\/p>\n

\nKeeping the mystery none would ever pierce,<\/p>\n

\n

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


\nIt brooded inscrutable and intangible<\/p>\n

\n

Facing
\nhim with its dumb tremendous calm.<\/p>\n

\n

It had
\nno kinship with the universe: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was no act, no movement in
\nits Vast: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLife's question met by its silence
\ndied on her lips,<\/p>\n

The
\nworld's effort ceased convicted of ignorance<\/p>\n

\n

\nFinding no sanction of supernal Light: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was no mind there with its
\nneed to know,<\/p>\n

There
\nwas no heart there with its need to love.<\/p>\n

\n

All
\nperson perished in its namelessness.<\/p>\n

\n

There
\nwas no second, it had no partner or peer; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly itself was real to itself. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA pure existence safe from thought
\nand mood, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA consciousness of unshared
\nimmortal bliss, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt dwelt aloof in its bare
\ninfinite, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOne and unique, unutterably sole. . <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Being formless, featureless and
\nmute <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat knew itself by its own
\ntimeless self, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAware for ever in its motionless
\ndepths, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUncreating, uncreated and unborn, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe One by whom all live, who lives
\nby none, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn immeasurable luminous secrecy <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGuarded by the veils of the
\nUnmanifest,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  280<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nAbove the changing cosmic interlude<\/p>\n

Abode
\nsupreme, immutably the same,<\/p>\n

\n

A silent
\nCause occult, impenetrable,<\/p>\n

\n

\nInfinite, eternal, unthinkable, alone.\n<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n END
\nOF
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCANTO ONE<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  281<\/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":"

BOOK THREE The Book of the Divine Mother   CANTO ONE   THE PURSUIT OF THE UNKNOWABLE     A LL is too little that…<\/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-3402","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\/3402","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=3402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}