The English of Savitri. Volume 6

Description Author: Shraddhavan Print Length: 263 pages Publisher: Savitri Bhavan Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle Language: English Table of Contents Introduction Book Eleven – The Book of Everlasting Day Canto One: The Eternal Day The Soul’s Choice and the Supreme Consummation Section 1 : lines 1-267 Section 2 : lines 268-437 Section 3 : lines 438-606 Section 4 : lines 607-755 Section 5 : lines 756-958 Section 6 : lines 959-1123 Section 7 : lines 1124-1430 Section 8 : lines 1431-1495 Book Twelve – Epilogue The Return to Earth Section 1 : lines 1-226 Section 2 : lines 227-324 Section 3 : lines 325-346 Book Sample The English of Savitri volume 6 Canto One: The Eternal Day The Soul’s Choice and the Supreme Consummation Section 1 : lines 1-267 In Book Nine we read about Savitri facing and passing through the ordeals imposed on her by Death as she followed Satyavan’s soul through the black emptiness of the Eternal Night. Then in Book Ten we saw her continuing to follow her Beloved through two twilight states: the Dream Twilight of the Ideal and the Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real, resisting all Death’s threats and arguments, all his attempts to persuade her to return alone to earth, until at last, in response to his challenges, her highest self, the Supreme Divine Mother, took full possession of Savitri’s entire being and ordered Death to stand aside and release Satyavan, saying: “Relieve the radiant God from thy black mask: Release the soul of the world called Satyavan Freed from thy clutch of pain and ignorance That he may stand master of life and fate, Man’s representative in the house of God, The mate of Wisdom and the spouse of Light, The eternal bridegroom of the eternal bride.” Despite his resistance, Death has been defeated by the Light and Force of the Mother and has disappeared, leaving Savitri and Satyavan standing alone and unmoving, but separated still by an invisible barrier, as the entire universe waits for the supreme Will to be revealed. Now, at the beginning of this new Book, Savitri finds herself in the ‘Everlasting Day’, where she will eventually be offered the opportunity to make her soul’s ultimate Choice. But this does not happen immediately for, as we shall see, she will have to face more opposition before that moment comes. It is not easy for us to imagine the worlds of the ‘Everlasting Day’ nor to understand the imagery which Sri Aurobindo uses to help us glimpse or envision them; but let us read what he has to tell us and try to grasp as much as we can of his meaning. A marvellous sun looked down from ecstasy’s skies On worlds of deathless bliss, perfection’s home, Magical unfoldings of the Eternal’s smile Capturing his secret heart-beats of delight. That realm is illumined by ‘A marvellous sun’, looking down, not from our earthly sky but from ‘skies’ that are full of ecstasy, of intense delight, upon ‘worlds of deathless bliss’ which are the ‘home’ of ‘perfection’. We long for perfection, we aim for perfection, but we rarely glimpse or experience it; in those worlds everything is perfect: they express the magical beauty ‘of the Eternal’s smile’, revealed in their forms and movements which are able to capture ‘his secret heart-beats of delight’. God’s everlasting day surrounded her, Domains appeared of sempiternal light Invading all Nature with the Absolute’s joy. Her body quivered with eternity’s touch, Her soul stood close to the founts of the infinite. Savitri is surrounded by ‘God’s everlasting day’ where she becomes aware of ‘Domains’ – territories, countries, kingdoms – ‘of sempiternal light’. We are familiar with the word ‘eternal’. In the less familiar word ‘sempiternal’ it is combined with the Latin word ‘semper’ which means ‘always’ to emphasise and intensify its meaning: ‘sempiternal light’: everlasting light. In those ‘Domains’, those worlds, ‘all Nature’ has been invaded, filled with, ‘the Absolute’s joy’: the delight of the Supreme. Savitri’s body quivers with the intensity of ‘eternity’s touch’ and her soul stands ‘close to the founts of the infinite’. We cannot imagine the ‘infinite’ having a source, but perhaps we can think of fountains where infinity continually pours out all its endless riches and possibilities. Savitri’s soul now stands very close to those ‘founts’. Infinity’s finite fronts she lived in, new For ever to an everliving sight. ‘Infinity’s finite fronts she lived in’: she has entered a realm where the Infinite begins to limit and define some aspects of its limitlessness, endlessly new and fresh, wonderful approaches to the infinite and the eternal, where the power of vision is ‘everliving’ and forever new. In these frontier areas, the formless consciousness and spirit of Eternity translates some of its infinite possibilities into delightful forms: Eternity multiplied its vast self-look Translating its endless mightiness and joy Into delight souls playing with Time could share In grandeurs ever new-born from the unknown depths, In powers that leaped immortal from unknown heights, In passionate heart-beats of an undying love, In scenes of a sweetness that can never fade. There is a oneness behind all these many scenes and worlds because ‘Eternity’ is looking and seeing all these things as itself. They are itself, they are all emerging from itself. ‘Eternity multiplied its vast self-look’: the Eternal looking at itself and seeing some of its countless possibilities being expressed. The ‘endless mightiness and joy’ of ‘Eternity’ is translated into forms of ‘delight’ which can be shared by ‘souls’ who are involved in ‘playing with Time’. These are ‘Infinity’s finite fronts’. Infinity is expressing itself in a way that is limited, delimited in many different forms and individualities. It translates ‘its endless mightiness and joy’ into these ‘delights’ and into ‘grandeurs’ – wonderful marvellous grand things – which are constantly being ‘new-born from the unknown depths’, emerging from the infinite limitlessness. Eternity also translates itself as ‘powers’, possibilities, which are leaping down, showing themselves. They are ‘immortal’: they have always existed and will always exist, but Savitri perceives them coming down ‘from unknown heights’ into these ‘finite fronts’ of Infinity. The Eternal’s ‘mightiness and joy’ also get translated into ‘passionate heart-beats of an undying love’ which can be felt and experienced, and into landscapes: ‘scenes of a sweetness that can never fade’ – always fresh and new and delightful. …