{"id":3440,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:32","slug":"01-book-one-canto-one-vol-03-savitri-1954","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/03-savitri-1954\/01-book-one-canto-one-vol-03-savitri-1954","title":{"rendered":"-01_Book_One_Canto_One.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

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

\n
\nBooks I – III<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

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

\n
\n
\nBOOK ONE<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nThe Book of Beginnings<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

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

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nTHE SYMBOL DAWN<\/font> <\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nI<\/font>T<\/b> was the hour before the Gods awake,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Across the path of the divine Event<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn her unlit temple of eternity,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLay stretched immobile upon Silence’ marge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlmost one felt, opaque, impenetrable,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the sombre symbol of her eyeless muse<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe abysm of the unbodied Infinite,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA fathomless zero occupied the world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA power of fallen boundless self awake<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBetween the first and the last Nothingness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRecalling the tenebrous womb from which it came,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTurned from the insoluble mystery of birth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the tardy process of mortality<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd longed to reach its end in vacant Nought.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs in a dark beginning of all things,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA mute featureless semblance of the Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRepeating for ever the unconscious act,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nProlonging for ever the unseeing will,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCradled the cosmic drowse of ignorant Force<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhose moved creative slumber kindles the suns
\nAnd carries our lives in its somnambulist whirl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAthwart the vain enormous trance of Space, <\/span> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 3<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Its formless stupor without mind or life,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A shadow spinning through a soulless Void,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrown back once more into unthinking dreams,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEarth wheeled abandoned in the hollow gulfs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForgetful of her spirit and her fate.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The impassive skies were neutral, empty, still.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Then something in the inscrutable darkness stirred;
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA nameless movement, an unthought Idea<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInsistent, dissatisfied, without an aim,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSomething that wished but knew not how to be,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTeased the Inconscient to wake Ignorance. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA throe that came and left a quivering trace,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Gave room for an old tired want unfilled,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

At peace m its subconscient moonless cave<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

To raise its head and look for absent light,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStraining closed eyes of vanished memory,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike one who searches for a bygone self<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd only meets the corpse of his desire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt was as though even in this Nought’s profound,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven in this ultimate dissolution’s core <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThere lurked an unremembering entity,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSurvivor of a slain and buried past<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCondemned to resume the effort and the pang,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReviving in another frustrate world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAn unshaped consciousness desired light<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

And a blank prescience yearned towards distant change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs if a childlike finger laid on a cheek<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReminded of the endless need in things<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe heedless Mother of the universe,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn infant longing clutched the sombre Vast <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nInsensibly somewhere a breach began:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A long lone line of hesitating hue<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 4<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nLike a vague smile tempting a desert heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTroubled the far rim of life’s obscure sleep.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Arrived from the other side of
\nboundlessness <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAn eye of deity pierced through the dumb deeps, <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA scout in a reconnaissance from the sun,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt seemed amid a heavy cosmic rest,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe torpor of a sick and weary world,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

To seek for a spirit sole and desolate<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo fallen to recollect forgotten bliss, <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIntervening in a mindless universe,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts message crept through the reluctant hush<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCalling the adventure of consciousness and joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd, conquering Nature’s disillusioned breast,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCompelled renewed consent to see and feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA thought was sown in the unsounded Void,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA sense was born within the darkness’ depths,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA memory quivered in the heart of Time<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs if a soul long dead were moved to live:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

But the oblivion that succeeds the fall,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHad blotted the crowded tablets of the past,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd all that was destroyed must be rebuilt<\/span><\/p>\n

\nS And old experience laboured out once more.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

All can be done if the God-touch is there<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA hope stole in that hardly dared to be <\/span> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Amid the Night’s forlorn indifference.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs if solicited in an alien world<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith timid and hazardous instinctive grace,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOrphaned and driven out to seek a home,
\nAn errant marvel with no place to live,
\nInto a far-off nook of heaven there came <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA slow miraculous gesture’s dim appeal,
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe persistent thrill of a transfiguring touch<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 5<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nPersuaded the inert black quietude<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA wandering hand of pale enchanted light <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThat glowed along a fading moment’s brink, <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nFixed with gold panel and opalescent hinge <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA gate of dreams ajar on mystery’s verge.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

One lucent corner windowing hidden things<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForced the world’s blind immensity to sight. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe darkness failed and slipped like a falling cloak<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

From the reclining body of a god.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThen through the pallid rift that seemed at first<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHardly enough for a trickle from the suns,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOutpoured the revelation and the flame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n The brief perpetual sign recurred above.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA glamour from the unreached transcendences <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIridescent with the glory of the Unseen,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA message from the unknown immortal Light<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAblaze upon creation’s quivering edge,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDawn built her aura of magnificent hues<\/span><\/p>\n

\n And buried its seed of grandeur in the hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n An instant’s visitor the godhead shone:<\/span><\/font>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

On life’s thin border awhile the Vision stood<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd bent over earth’s pondering forehead curve.
\nInterpreting a recondite beauty and bliss
\nIn colour’s hieroglyphs of mystic sense,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt wrote the lines of a significant myth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTelling of a greatness of spiritual dawns,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA brilliant code penned with the sky for page.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlmost that day the epiphany was disclosed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf which our thoughts and hopes are signal flares;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A lonely splendour from the invisible goal<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlmost was flung on the opaque Inane.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 6<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Once more a tread perturbed the vacant Vasts;
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nInfinity’s centre, a Face of rapturous calm<\/span><\/p>\n

\nParted the eternal lids that open heaven;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A Form from far beatitudes seemed to near.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Ambassadress twixt eternity and change,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe omniscient Goddess leaned across the breadths<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat wrap the fated journeyings of the stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd saw the spaces ready for her feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnce she half looked behind for her veiled sun,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen, thoughtful, went to her immortal work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEarth felt the Imperishable’s passage close:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The waking ear of Nature heard her steps<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd wideness turned to her its limitless eye,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd, scattered on sealed depths, her luminous smile<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKindled to fire the silence of the worlds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll grew a consecration and a rite.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAir was a vibrant link between earth and heaven;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The wide-winged hymn of a great priestly wind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArose and failed upon the altar hills;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The high boughs prayed in a revealing sky.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere where our half-lit ignorance skirts the gulfs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn the dumb bosom of the ambiguous earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere where one knows not even the step in front<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Truth has her throne on the shadowy back of doubt,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn this anguished and precarious field of toil<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOutspread beneath some large indifferent gaze,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImpartial witness to our joy and bale,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur prostrate soil bore the awakening ray.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere too the vision and prophetic gleam<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLit into miracles common meaningless shapes;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Then the divine afflatus, spent, withdrew,
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nUnwanted, fading from the mortal’s range.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 7<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

A sacred yearning lingered in its trace,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n The worship of a Presence and a Power<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,<\/span><\/font>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The prescience of a marvellous birth to come.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Only a little the God-light can stay:<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Spiritual beauty illumining human sight<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Lines with its passion and mystery Matter’s mask<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And squanders eternity on a beat of Time.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

As when a soul draws near the sill of birth,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Adjoining mortal time to Timelessness,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A spark of deity lost in Matter’s crypt<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Its lustre vanishes in the inconscient planes,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

That transitory glow of magic fire<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

So now dissolved in bright accustomed air.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The message ceased and waned the messenger.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The single Call, the uncompanioned Power,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Drew back into some far-off secret world<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The hue and marvel of the supernal beam:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

She looked no more on our mortality.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe excess of beauty natural to God-kind <\/span><\/p>\n

\nCould not uphold its claim on time-born eyes;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Too mystic-real for space-tenancy<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her body of glory was expunged from heaven:
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n<\/i>The rarity and wonder lived no more.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

There was the common light of earthly day.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Affranchised from the respite of fatigue <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Once more the rumour of the speed of Life<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Pursued the cycles of her blinded quest.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

All sprang to their unvarying daily acts;<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The thousand peoples of the soil and tree<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Obeyed the unforeseeing instant’s urge,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n And, leader here with his uncertain mind,<\/span><\/font>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 3<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Alone who stares at the future’s covered face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMan lifted up the burden of his fate.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

And Savitri too awoke among these tribes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat hastened to join the brilliant Summoner’s chant<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd, lured by the beauty of the apparent ways,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAcclaimed their portion or ephemeral joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAkin to the eternity whence she came,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo part she took in this small happiness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA mighty stranger in the human field,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe embodied Guest within made no response,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe call that wakes the leap of human mind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts chequered eager motion of pursuit,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts fluttering-hued illusion of desire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVisited her heart like a sweet alien note.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTime’s message of brief light was not for her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn her there was the anguish of the gods <\/span><\/p>\n

\nImprisoned in our transient human mould,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe deathless conquered by the death of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA vaster Nature’s joy had once been hers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut long could keep not its gold heavenly hue<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr stand upon this brittle earthly base.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA narrow movement on Time’s deep abysm,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLife’s fragile littleness denied the power,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe proud and conscious wideness and the bliss<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe had brought with her into the human form,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The calm delight that weds one soul to all,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe key to the naming doors of ecstasy.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Earth’s grain that needs the sap of pleasure and tears<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Rejected the undying rapture’s boon:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Offered to the daughter of infinity<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer passion-flower of love and doom she gave.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 9<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

In vain now seemed the splendid sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA prodigal of her rich divinity,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer self and all she was she had lent to men,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHoping her greater being to implant<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat heaven might native grow on mortal soil.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Hard is it to persuade earth-nature’s change;<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mortality bears ill the eternal’s touch:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It fears the pure divine intolerance<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf that assault of ether and of fire;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It murmurs at its sorrowless happiness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlmost with hat" repels the light it brings;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

It trembles at its naked power of Truth<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nAnd the might and sweetness of its absolute Voice.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Inflicting on the heights the abysm’s law,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

It sullies with its mire heaven’s messengers:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Its thorns of fallen nature are the defence<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt turns against the saviour hands of Grace;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

It meets the sons of God with death and pain.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A glory of lightnings traversing the earth-scene,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Their sun-thoughts fading, darkened by ignorant minds,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Their work betrayed, their good to evil turned,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe cross their payment for the crown they
\ngave,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Only they leave behind a splendid Name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA fire has come and touched men’s hearts and gone;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A few have caught flame and risen to greater life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo unlike the world she came to help and save,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer greatness weighed upon its ignorant breast,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd from its deep chasms welled a dire return,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA portion of its sorrow, struggle, fall.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

To live with grief, to confront death on her road,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The mortal’s lot became the Immortal’s share.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Thus trapped in the gin of earthly destinies,<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 10<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Awaiting her ordeal’s hour abode,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOutcast from her inborn felicity,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAccepting life’s obscure terrestrial robe,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHiding herself even from those she loved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe godhead greater by a human fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA dark foreknowledge separated her<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom all of whom she was the star and stay;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Too great to impart the peril and the pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn her torn depths she kept the grief to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs one who watching over men left blind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTakes up the load of an unwitting race,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHarbouring a foe whom with her heart she must feed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnknown her act, unknown the doom she faced,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnhelped she must foresee and dread and dare.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe long-foreknown and fatal morn was here<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBringing a noon that seemed 3;ke every noon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor Nature walks upon her mighty way<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnheeding when she breaks a soul, a life,;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Leaving her slain behind she travels on:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Man only marks and God’s all-seeing eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven in this moment of her soul’s despair,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn its grim rendezvous with death and fear,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo cry broke from her lips, no call for aid;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

She told the secret of her woe to none:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Calm was her face and courage kept her mute.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYet only her outward self suffered and strove;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Even her humanity was half divine:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her spirit opened to the Spirit in all,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer nature felt all Nature as its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nApart, living within, all lives she bore;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Aloof, she carried in herself the world:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Her dread was one with the great cosmic dread;<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 11<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Her strength was founded on the cosmic mights;<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The universal Mother’s love was hers.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Against the evil at
\nlife’s afflicted roots,  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nHer own calamity its private sign,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf her pangs she made a mystic poignant sword.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA solitary mind, a world-wide hear<\/span><\/p>\n

\n To the lone Immortal’s unshared work she rose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt first life grieved not in her burdened breast:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

On the lap of earth’s original somnolence<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInert, released into forgetfulness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nProne it reposed, unconscious on mind’s verge,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nObtuse and tranquil like the stone and star.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn a deep cleft of silence twixt two realms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe lay remote from grief, unsawn by care,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNothing recalling of the sorrow here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen a slow faint remembrance shadowlike moved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd sighing she laid her hand upon her bosom<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd recognised the close and lingering ache,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeep, quiet, old, made natural to its place,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut knew not why it was there nor whence it came.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Power that kindles mind was still withdrawn:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Heavy, unwilling were life’s servitors<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike workers with no wages of delight;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Sullen, the torch of sense refused to burn;<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The unassisted brain found not its past.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly a vague earth-nature held the frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut now she stirred, her life shared the cosmic load.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt the summons of her body’s voiceless call<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer strong far-winging spirit travelled back,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBack to the yoke of ignorance and fate,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBack to the labour and stress of mortal days,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLighting a pathway through strange symbol dreams<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 12<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Across the ebbing of the seas of sleep.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her house of Nature felt an unseen sway,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIllumined swiftly were life’s darkened rooms,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And memory’s casements opened on the hours<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And the tired feet of thought approached her doors.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

All came back to her: Earth and Love and Doom,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The ancient disputants, encircled her<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Like giant figures wrestling in the night:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The godheads from the dim Inconscient born<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Awoke to struggle and the pang divine,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And in the shadow of her naming heart,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

At the sombre centre of the dire debate,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A guardian of the unconsoled abyss<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Inheriting the long agony of the globe,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A stone-still figure of high and godlike Pain<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Stared into space with fixed regardless eyes<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

That saw grief’s timeless depths but not life’s goal.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Afflicted by his harsh divinity,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Bound to his throne, he waited unappeased<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The daily oblation of her unwept tears.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

All the fierce question of man’s hours relived.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The sacrifice of suffering and desire<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Earth offers to the immortal Ecstasy<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Began again beneath the eternal Hand.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Awake she endured the moments’ serried march <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And looked on this green smiling dangerous world,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And heard the ignorant cry of living things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmid the trivial sounds, the unchanging scene<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer soul arose confronting Time and Fate.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Immobile in herself, she gathered force;<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

This was the day when Satyavan must die.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 13<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  PART ONE Books I – III BOOK ONE The Book of Beginnings CANTO ONE   THE SYMBOL DAWN   IT was the hour before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-savitri-1954","wpcat-78-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","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=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}