Savitri: Book VI Canto II (1948 Pathmandir Annual No. 7)

7/24/2019 Savitri: Book VI Canto II (1948 Pathmandir Annual No. 7)

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Savitri

6

GREATI l lus ion then, has bui l tthe

stars.

But

where then is the soul'ssecurity,

Its

place in the

circling

of unreal

suns?

Or

where begins andendsIllusion's reign?

Perhapsthe soul we feel is only a dream,

Eternal self a fictionsensedin trance."

"Was then the sun a dream

becausethere

is night?

The Eternal lives hid in thy mortalheart:

He is curtained in the chamber of thy soul

I n L i g h twhichpain and gr iefcan nevercross.

Outside the door they wait hungering for bliss.

A

darkness hangs

between thyself and him.

Thoucanstnot see the beatific

L igh t

Thou

canst

nothearor feel the marvellousGuest.

Where Ignorance is,theresuffering too must come.

Thy gr ief

is

a cry of

darkness

to the Light ;

Pain was the first-bom of the Inconscience;

Alreadysleeps

there

its subconscient shape:

Ashadow in its shadowytenebrouswomb.

I t waits t i l l life shall move, to wake and be.

I n

one caul

w i t h

joy

came

forth

its dreadful power.

Hidingits brighttw inin life's

breast

it was bom;

For paincame first then only joy could be.

Pain ploughed the

first

hard ground of the world's drowse.

Bypain a

spirit

started from the

clod.

Bypain Lifestirred in the subliminaldeeps.

Intemed, submerged, hidden in Matter'strance

Awoketo itselfthedreamer,sleeping M i n d ;

I t

madea visible realm out of

itsdreams.

An extract from 5aM rnBook VI, Canto I I


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SRI AUROBINDO M A N D I R A N N U A L

I tdrew itsshapes

from

the subconscient depths.

Then

turned tolookupon thew or ldit had made.

By

pain and joy the

bright

and tenebrous twins

The inanimate

wor ld

perceived its sentient soul.

Else had the Inconscient never suffered change.

Pain is the hammer of the gods to break

Adead resistance in the mortal's heart,

His

slow inertia as ofl ivingstone.

the heart were not forced to want and weep.

His

soulwouldhave laindown content, atease.

A nd

never thought to exceed the human start

A nd

never learned to

climb

towards the

S^m.

Thisearth is full of labour, packed w i thpain;

Throes of anendlessb i r thare wi thher still;

The centuries end, theagesvainlypass

A n d

yet the godhead in her is not bom.

The ancient Motherfacesall

w i th

joy.

Calls

for the ardent pang, the grandiose th r i l l ;

For

wi th

pain and labour all creation comes.

Thisearth is

full

of the anguish of the gods;

Ever theytravail

driven

by Time's goad.

Striving

toworkout the eternal wil l

A n d

shapethe

wor lddivine

in mortal forms.

His wil lthey mustworkout in humanbreasts

Againstthe Ev i lthat rises from thegulfs,

Againstman'signorance and his obstinate strength.

Againstthe

deepfolly

of

his

human

mind.

Againstthe bl indreluctance of his heart.

Painis the spirit's fate

t i l l

man is free.

Acry

ariseslike

a moaning sea,

A clamour of battle and a tramp and march,

Adesperatelaughter under the blows of death,

A

doom of

blood

and sweat and

to i l

and

tears.

Mendie that man mayliveand God be bora.

A n awful Silence watches tragicTime.

Pain is the hand of Nature sculpturing men

Togreatness:

an inspired labour chisels

W i t h

heavenly cruelty an

unwill ing

mould.

Implacable

in the passion of their w i l l

Lif tingthe hammers oftitanic toil


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S A V I T R I

9

The demiurges of the universework;

Theyshapew i t h

giant strokes their

own;

their

sons

Are

marked

w i t h

their enormous stamp of

fire.

Although

the shaping god's tremendous touch

Is torture unbearable to

mortal

nerves.

The fiery

spirit

grows in strength wi th in

A nd

feels a joy in every

titan

pang.

H e

whowould

savehimself

fives bare and

calm;

H e whowouldsavethe

race

must

share

its pain:

Thishe shall

know

who obeys that grandiose urge.

The

Great who came to

save

this

suffering

world

And rescue

out of

Time's

shadow and the Law,

Mustpass

beneath the yoke of

grief

and pain;

They

are caught by the Wheel that they had hoped to break.

O n

their shoulders they must

bear

man's load of fate.

O r

they pay the gift of

knowledgew i t h

theirlives.

The Son ofG od bom as the Son of man

Has dmnk the bitter cup, owned Godhead's debt,

The

debt the Etemal owes to the

fallen

mankind

His will

has bound to death and

struggling life

That

yeams in

vain

for rest and

endless peace.

Now

is the debt paid, the scorewipedoff

in full .

The

Eternal's

suffering

in a human

form

Has signed salvation's testament

w i t h

his

blood;

Opened are the doors of his

undyingpeace.

The Deity

compensates the creature's

claim,

The Creatorbearsthe law ofpainand death;

A retribution

smites the incamate God.

By

man's hate he has redeemed his love of men.

H is

love has paved the mortal's road to Heaven:

H e

has

given

his

life

and

l ight

to balance here

The

dark account of

mortal

ignorance.

I t

is

finished,

the dread mysterious sacrifice.

H is

sacrificed body

offered

for the

wor ld

Gethsemane and calvary his lot,

Carrying

the cross on

which

man's soul is nailed,

Insult

and jeer his right's sole acknowledgement,

Escorted by the

curses

of the

crowd,

Tw o

thieves slain

wi th

him to mock his

mighty

death.

H e

has

trod wi th

bleeding brow the Saviour's way.


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SRI

AUROBINDO M A N D I R A N N U A L

Listen

to the

sage

triumphant in his death

Hewn,quartered on the scaffold as he falls

His

crucified voice proclaims,

I ,

I am God;'

'Yes, all is God,'pealsback

Heaven's

deathlesscry.

outerpeaceenrings and

days

immune.

Yetwhen God'smessengercomesto help and lead

The aspirant soul of earth to higher things.

He too must carry the yoke hecameto unloose;

A llearth'sdisquietude he must make his.

Exempt and unafflicted byearth'sfate.

How

shall he heal the illshe never felt?

Although

to the outward eye is shown ho sign

Yetis the struggle there, theunseenprice;

The fire the strife, the wrestle are wi thin.

He carries the suffering

wor ld

in his own

breast;

Its

sinsweigh on his thoughts, itsgriefis his:

The

Titan

adversary'sclutch is

felt;

Earth's old grey load lies heavy on his soul;

His

march is a battle and a pilgrimage.

Night

and its powersbeleaguerhis tardysteps

A nd

smite himw i t hlife'seviland the world's pain:

A milUon

woundsgapein his

secretheart.

Asleeplessjourney in anendlessnight,

Atitan warfare is his inner

fife.

Even worse may be the cost of direst pain

Before the afflicting Power

wi l l

loose its

hold.

His

large identity and all-harbouring love

May

bring the cosmic anguish into his depths,

The sorrow ofall livin gthings shall come

Toknock at his doors and

live

wi th inhishouse;

A dreadful cord of sympathy has tied

AU

suffering into his single grief; it hasmade

A ll agony in all the worlds his own.

He is lashed w i t hthe whips of the antagonist Force;

The weeping of the centuries visits his

eyes:

Hewearsthe blood-glued fieryCentaur shirt,

The poison of the

wor ld

has stained his throat.

I n the market-place of Matter's capital

Amidstthe chafferings of the affair of life

He is tied to thestakeof the pereimial Fire


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SRI AUROBINDO M A N D I R

A N N U A L

From

the sorrow and the

darkness

and the chain;

Buthow shall a few

escaped

releasethe world?

The humanmasslingers beneath the yoke.

Escape,howeverhigh,redeemsnot life.

Lifethat is

left

behind on afallen earth.

Escapecannot uplift the abandoned race

Orbringto it

victory

and the reign of God.

Agreater power must come, a larger

light.

Although L igh tgrows on earth and

Night

recedes.

Yet t i l l the evilis slain in its own home

A nd L igh t

invades the world's inconscient

base

A ndperished has the adversary Force,

He stillmust labour on, his

work

half

done.

One yet may come armoured,invincible;

No blowcan bend his calm andvictor head:

Calm

andsureare hisstepsin thegrowingNight;

The goalrecedes,he hurries not hispace.

Heturns not tohighvoices in theNight;

He

asks

no aid

from

the

inferior

gods;

Hiseyesare

fixed

on his immutable aim.

Manturnsasideorchooses easierpaths;

He

keeps

to the onehighand difficult road

Thatsole can

climb

to the eternal's peaks;

The ineffable planes already have felthis tread;

Hehas made heaven and earth his instruments.

Butthe l imits fall from him of earth and heaven;

Their

law hetranscendsandusesas hismeans.

Hehas seizedlife'shandsand mastered his own heart

Thisnature and its feints cannot deceive;

Fate'sdeaf resistance caimot break his

wil l .

I nthe dreadfulpassages,thefatalpaths

Invulnerable

his soul, his heart unslain.

Helives through the opposition ofearth'sPowers

A n d

Nature's

ambushes

and the world's attacks.

Hisspirit's stature transcending pain andbhss

Hefronts

evil

and good

wi th

calm and equal

eyes.

Hetoo must grapple wi ththe riddlingSphinx

A nd

plungeintoherlongobscurity.

Hehas brokenintothe Inconscient's depths

That veilthemselves even from their own regard:


6/10

S A V I T R I

He

has

seen

God's slumbershape

these

magic worlds.

He

has watched the dumb God fashioning Matter's frame.

Dreamingthe dreams of its

unknowing

sleep.

A n d

watched the unconscious Force that

bu i l t

the

stars.

He has learnt the Inconscient's workings and its law,

Its incoherent thoughts and r igid acts.

Itshazardwastesof impulse and idea.

Thechaosofitsmechanic frequencies.

Itsrandom calls, its whispers falsely true,

Misleaders of the hooded listening soul.

A l l things come to its ear but nothing abides;

A l l rosefromthe silence, allgoesback to its hush.

Itssomnolence founded the universe.

Itsobscure

waking

makes the wor ld seemvain.

Arisen

fromNothingness and towards Nothingness turned.

Its

dark and potentnesciencewasearth'sstart;

I tis the waste

stuff

from

which

all was made:

Into

itsdeepscreation can collapse.

Its

opposition clogs the march of the soul,

I t is the mother of our ignorance.

He

mustcallhght

into

its dark abysms.

Else never canTruth conquer Matter's

sleep

A n d all earthlook

into

theeyesof God.

A l lthings obscure his knowledge must relume,

A l lthings perverse his power must unknot.

He must

pass

to the other shore of falsehood's sea.

He must enter the world's dark to

bring

there

l ight .

The heart ofevilmust be bared to hiseyes.

He must learn its cosmic dark necessity.

Itsrightand its dire roots in Nature's soil.

He must know the thought that moves the demon act

A n d justifies theTitanin his pride:

He must enter the eternity ofNight

A ndknow God'sdarknessas he knows his Sun.

For

this he must go down

into

the pit.

For

this he must invade the dolorous Vasts.

Imperishable and wise and infinite.

He

still

must travelH e llthe wor ld tosave.

Into

the etemal L i gh the shall emerge,

On

borders where all worlds meet and

fulfil


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SRI

AUROBINDO M A N D I R A N N U A L

Their secret law and heal their dissidence.

There meet and clasp the eternal opposites.

There pain becomes aviolent

fiery

joy;

Evi lturns back to itsoriginalgood,

A nd

sorrow lies upon the

breasts

of

Bliss

A ndlearns to weep gladtearsof happiness

A ndthe softgazeof

wistful

ecstasy.

Thenshall be ended here the Law of Pain,

Heaven'swisdomlodgew i th inthemortal breast;

The superconscient

l ight

shall touch men's

eyes

A ndthe truth-consciousw or ldenvelop earth:

Thenshall the world-redeemer's task be done.

Omortal,

bear

this great world's law ofpain;

Leaningfor thy support on Heaven's strength

Turn

towardshighTruth,aspire to love andpeace.

Receive the joy lent to thee from above.

CUmb

not to Godhead by the Titan's road.

I t

clambers back and spirals to the abyss.

The

Titan

rises on a stair of storms.

By

the clangour of

his

actsofmightand pain,

Byhis magnitude of hate and violence

He

feels inhimselfthegreatnessofagod:

Power is his image ofcelestialself.

The Titan's heart exults in dread and tears,

Hefeeds his strengthw i thhis own and others' pain;

His

pride and force

call

in the struggle and pang

A n d to cover his passion draws the Stoic's name.

But

thou, O

mortal,

bear,seeknot the stroke.

Too

soonwi l l

grief

and anguish findthee out.

Yet

bliss is there behind the world's face of tears.

Apower is in thee that thou knowest not;

Thouart a vessel of the Eternal's spark

That

seeks

relief from

Time's envelopment.

A n d

while

thou shutst it

in

the seal is pain:

Calm

is self's

victory

overcoming fate.

Painsigns the secret god denied by life:

Unburdenedby

life's

b l indmystery ofpain

Blissis the Godhead's crown,etemal, free.

Bear; thou shalt findat last the road to bliss.


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S A V I T R I

O f

all

that is thesecret

stuff

is bliss,

Even pain and

grief

aregarbsof a world-dehght

Thathidesbehind thy sorrow and thy cry.

Because

thy strength is a part and notGod'swhole

A n d

thyconsciousnessforgets to be divine

A n d

walks in the

vague

penumbra of the flesh

A nd

cannot bearthe world'stremendoustouch,

Thoucriest out andsaystthatthereis pain.

Att i re

of the rapturous Dancer in the ways.

Indifference, pain and joy, a triple disguise,

Withold f rom

thee

the body of

God's

bliss.

When thy spirit's strength shallmaketheeone w i thGod,

Thy agony shallchangeto

ecstasy.

Indifferencepassinto a rapturous calm

A n d

joy laughnudeon thepeaksof the Absolute.

O mortal who complainst ofdeathand fate.

Accuse not any of theharmsthoubearst;

This troubled

wor ld

thouhastchosenfor thy home

A n d

art thyself the author of thy pain.

Oncein the immortalboundlessnessof Self,

I n

itsvastof Truth andConsciousnessand

Light

The soul looked out

from

its felicity.

I t

felt

the Spirit's interminable bliss.

I t knew

itself

deathless,timeless,

spaceless,

one,

I t saw the Etemal, Uved in the

Infinite.

Then, curious of ashadowthrown by Truth,

I t

strained towards

some otherness

of self.

A nunknownfacepeering through the

obscure

night.

I t

sensed

a negative

infinity

A

void

etemalwhoseimmenseexcess

Offered a ground forNature'sdarkling

bir th

A n d

Matter's r igidhardunconsciousness

Harbouring the briUiance of a transient soul

That lights our

b i r th

anddeathand ignorant

life.

A M i n d

arose

thatstaredat Nothingness

T i l l

figures formed of what couldneverbe;

I thoused

the contrary ofa llthat is.

ANought

appeared

as Being'shuge

sealed

cause,

Its

dumb support in a blank infinite

I n

whose

abysm spirit must

disappear:


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SRI

AUROBINDO

M A N D I R A N N U A L

A

darkened Nature abides and holds the

seed

O f

Spirit

hidden and

feigning

not to be.

The etemal Consciousness becamethe home

O f

an unsouled almighty Inconscient;

I t l ivedno more as spirit's native air.

A

stranger in the insentient universe.

Bliss

was the incident of

a

mortal hour.

Asone drawn by the grandeur of the Void

The soul attracted leaned to the Abyss:

I t

longed for the adventure of Ignorance

A n dthe marvel and surprise of the

Unknown

A n dtheendlesspossibiUty that

lurked

I n

the womb ofChaosand in Nothing's

gulf

Orlookedfrom the unfathomedeyesof Chance.

I t tiredofitsunchanging happiness.

I t tumed away from

immortality:

I t was drawn to

hazard's

call

anddanger'scharm,

I tyeamed to the pathos of

grief,

the drama of pain.

Peril

of

perdition

and woundedbareescape,

The music ofru i nand its glamour and crash.

The savour ofpi tyand the gamble oflove

A n d

passion and the ambiguous face of Fate.

Aclash of forces, a vast incertitude.

The joy of creation out of Nothingness,

A

wor ldof hard endeavour and

difficult

toil

A n d

battle on extinction's perilous verge.

Strange meetings on theroadsof Ignorance

A n d

the companionship of

half-known

souls.

Or

the soUtary

greamess

and

lonely

force

O fa separatebeing conquering its wor l d

'Calleditfromits toosafeeternity.

A

hugedescentbegan, a giant

fall:

For what thespiritsees,createsa tmth

A n dwhat the soul imagines is made aw or ld .

A

Thought that leaped

from

the Timeless can become,

Indicatorof cosmicconsequence

A nd the itinerary of the gods,

A

cychc movement in etemal

Time.

Thus came, bom from ab l ind tremendous choice,

Thisgreat perplexed and discontented wor l d


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S A V I T R I

This

haunt of Ignorance, this home of Pain:

There arc pitched desire's tents, grief's headquarters.

Avast disguise conceals the Eternal's bliss."

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Savitri: Book VI Canto II (1948 Pathmandir Annual No. 7)

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