Book Seven. The Book of Yoga
| Music | Book Seven. Canto One:The Joy of Union; the Ordeal of the Foreknowledge of Death and the Heart’s Grief and Pain |
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021 Once more she sat behind loud hastening hooves; 022 A speed of armoured squadrons and a voice 023 Far-heard of chariots bore her from her home. 024 A couchant earth wakened in its dumb muse 025 Looked up at her from a vast indolence: |
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074 Arrived in that rough-hewn homestead they gave, 075 Questioning no more the strangeness of her fate, 076 Their pride and loved one to the great blind king, 077 A regal pillar of fallen mightiness 078 And the stately care-worn woman once a queen 079 Who now hoped nothing for herself from life, 080 But all things only hoped for her one child, . . . 094 They parted from her with pain-fraught burdened hearts . . . 098 Helpless against the choice of Savitri’s heart 099 They left her to her rapture and her doom |
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201 A worshipped empress all once vied to serve, 202 She made herself the diligent serf of all, 203 Nor spared the labour of broom and jar and well, 204 Or close gentle tending or to heap the fire 205 Of altar and kitchen, no slight task allowed 206 To others that her woman’s strength might do. |
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253 But Satyavan sometimes half understood, . . . 256 The unplumbed abyss of her deep passionate want. . . . 288 Yet ever they grew into each other more 289 Until it seemed no power could rend apart, 290 Since even the body’s walls could not divide. 291 For when he wandered in the forest, oft 292 Her conscious spirit walked with him and knew 293 His actions as if in herself he moved; 294 He, less aware, thrilled with her from afar. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Two:The Parable of the Search for the Soul |
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008 Above her brows where will and knowledge meet 009 A mighty Voice invaded mortal space. . . . 015 As the Voice touched, her body became a stark 016 And rigid golden statue of motionless trance, 017 A stone of God lit by an amethyst soul. . . . 019 Her heart listened to its slow measured beats, . . . 021 “Why camest thou to this dumb deathbound earth, . . . 024 O spirit, O immortal energy, 025 If ’twas to nurse grief in a helpless heart 026 Or with hard tearless eyes await thy doom? 027 Arise, O soul, and vanquish Time and Death.” |
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028 But Savitri’s heart replied in the dim night: . . . 045 Why should I strive with earth’s unyielding laws 046 Or stave off death’s inevitable hour? 047 This surely is best to pactise with my fate 048 And follow close behind my lover’s steps 049 And pass through night from twilight to the sun 050 Across the tenebrous river that divides 051 The adjoining parishes of earth and heaven. . . . 056 The Voice replied: “Is this enough, O spirit? 057 And what shall thy soul say when it wakes and knows 058 The work was left undone for which it came? |
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076 Then Savitri’s heart fell mute, it spoke no word. . . . 081 A Power within her answered the still Voice: 082 “I am thy portion here charged with thy work, 083 As thou myself seated for ever above, 084 Speak to my depths, O great and deathless Voice, 085 Command, for I am here to do thy will.” |
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086 The Voice replied: “Remember why thou cam’st: 087 Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self, . . . 095 In the enormous emptiness of thy mind 096 Thou shalt see the Eternal’s body in the world, 097 Know him in every voice heard by thy soul, . . . 103 Then shalt thou harbour my force and conquer Death.” 104 Then Savitri by her doomed husband sat, 105 Still rigid in her golden motionless pose, 106 A statue of the fire of the inner sun. . . . 112 She looked into herself and sought for her soul. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Three:The Entry into the Inner Countries |
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031 Then Savitri surged out of her body’s wall 032 And stood a little span outside herself . . . 036 At the dim portal of the inner life . . . 043 A formidable voice cried from within: 044 “Back, creature of earth, lest tortured and torn thou die.” . . . 046 The Serpent of the threshold hissing rose, . . . 049 And trolls and gnomes and goblins scowled and stared 050 And wild beast roarings thrilled the blood with fear 051 And menace muttered in a dangerous tongue. 052 Unshaken her will pressed on the rigid bars: . . . 055 Her being entered into the inner worlds. |
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064 Across a perilous border line she passed 065 Where Life dips into the subconscient dusk 066 Or struggles from Matter into chaos of mind, 067 Aswarm with elemental entities 068 And fluttering shapes of vague half-bodied thought 069 And crude beginnings of incontinent force. . . . 114 This state now threatened, this she pushed from her. |
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130 Approaching loomed a giant head of Life 131 Ungoverned by mind or soul, subconscient, vast. |
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256 Then journeying forward through the self’s wide hush 257 She came into a brilliant ordered Space. 258 There Life dwelt parked in an armed tranquillity; 259 A chain was on her strong insurgent heart. . . . 371 There one stood forth who bore authority 372 On an important brow and held a rod; . . . 375 His sentences savoured the oracle. 376 “Traveller or pilgrim of the inner world, . . . 379 O aspirant to the perfect way of life, 380 Here find it; rest from search and live at peace. |
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397 Savitri replied casting into his world 398 Sight’s deep release, the heart’s questioning inner voice: . . . 401 “Happy are they who in this chaos of things, 402 This coming and going of the feet of Time, 403 Can find the single Truth, the eternal Law: . . . 409 Happiest who stand on faith as on a rock. 410 But I must pass leaving the ended search, 411 Truth’s rounded outcome firm, immutable 412 And this harmonic building of world-fact, 413 This ordered knowledge of apparent things. 414 Here I can stay not, for I seek my soul.” |
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415 None answered in that bright contented world, . . . 419 But some murmured, passers-by from kindred spheres: 420 Each by his credo judged the thought she spoke. 421 “Who then is this who knows not that the soul 422 Is a least gland or a secretion’s fault . . . 429 But others, “Nay, it is her spirit she seeks. . . . 433 But none has touched its limbs or seen its face. . . . 440 Another with mystic and unsatisfied eyes 441 Who loved his slain belief and mourned its death, 442 “Is there one left who seeks for a Beyond? 443 Can still the path be found, opened the gate?” |
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444 So she fared on across her silent self. 445 To a road she came thronged with an ardent crowd . . . 451 Guests from the cavern of the secret soul. . . . 461 And Savitri mingling in that glorious crowd, . . . 463 Longed once to hasten like them to save God’s world; . . . 471 Outstretching her hands to stay the throng she cried: 472 “O happy company of luminous gods, 473 Reveal, who know, the road that I must tread,- . . . 475 To find the birthplace of the occult Fire 476 And the deep mansion of my secret soul.” |
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477 One answered pointing to a silence dim 478 On a remote extremity of sleep 479 In some far background of the inner world. 480 “O Savitri, from thy hidden soul we come. . . . 491 Follow the world’s winding highway to its source. 492 There in the silence few have ever reached, 493 Thou shalt see the Fire burning on the bare stone 494 And the deep cavern of thy secret soul.” |
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495 Then Savitri following the great winding road 496 Came where it dwindled into a narrow path 497 Trod only by rare wounded pilgrim feet. 498 A few bright forms emerged from unknown depths 499 And looked at her with calm immortal eyes. 500 There was no sound to break the brooding hush; 501 One felt the silent nearness of the soul. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Four:The Triple Soul-Forces |
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001 Here from a low and prone and listless ground 002 The passion of the first ascent began; . . . 004 A Woman sat in a pale lustrous robe. . . . 016 The Mother of the seven sorrows bore 017 The seven stabs that pierced her bleeding heart: . . . 025 In soft sweet training words slowly she spoke: 026 “O Savitri, I am thy secret soul. 027 To share the suffering of the world I came, 028 I draw my children’s pangs into my breast. . . . 087 I am the hope that looks towards my God, 088 My God who never came to me till now; 089 His voice I hear that ever says `I come’: 090 I know that one day he shall come at last.” |
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091 She ceased, and like an echo from below 092 Answering her pathos of divine complaint 093 A voice of wrath took up the dire refrain, . . . 097 “I am the Man of Sorrows, I am he 098 Who is nailed on the wide cross of the universe; 099 To enjoy my agony God built the earth, 100 My passion he has made his drama’s theme. . . . 153 I am the doer of demoniac deeds; 154 I was made for evil, evil is my lot; . . . 157 What Nature made me, that I must remain. |
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159 And Savitri heard the voice, the echo heard 160 And turning to her being of pity spoke: 161 “Madonna of suffering, Mother of grief divine, 162 Thou art a portion of my soul put forth 163 To bear the unbearable sorrow of the world. . . . 167 But thine is the power to solace, not to save. 168 One day I will return, a bringer of strength, 169 And make thee drink from the Eternal’s cup; |
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178 On passed she in her spirit’s upward route. . . . 184 A Woman sat in gold and purple sheen, 185 Armed with the trident and the thunderbolt, 186 Her feet upon a couchant lion’s back. |
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212 Aspired the harmony of her puissant voice: 213 “O Savitri, I am thy secret soul. . . . 236 I am Durga, goddess of the proud and strong, 237 And Lakshmi, queen of the fair and fortunate; 238 I wear the face of Kali when I kill, 239 I trample the corpses of the demon hordes. . . . 276 I shall hear the silver swing of heaven’s gates 277 When God comes out to meet the soul of the world.” |
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278 She spoke and from the lower human world 279 An answer, a warped echo met her speech; . . . 305 The voice rose up and smote some inner sun. 306 “I am the heir of the forces of the earth, 307 Slowly I make good my right to my estate; . . . 381 When earth is mastered, I shall conquer heaven; 382 The gods shall be my aides or menial folk, 383 No wish I harbour unfulfilled shall die: 384 Omnipotence and omniscience shall be mine.” |
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385 And Savitri heard the voice, the warped echo heard 386 And turning to her being of power she spoke: 387 “Madonna of might, Mother of works and force, 388 Thou art a portion of my soul put forth . . . 396 Thou hast given men strength, wisdom thou couldst not give. 397 One day I will return, a bringer of light; 398 Then will I give to thee the mirror of God; 399 Thou shalt see self and world as by him they are seen 400 Reflected in the bright pool of thy soul. |
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407 Ascending still her spirit’s upward route 408 She came into a high and happy space, . . . 419 Here, living centre of that vision of peace, 420 A Woman sat in clear and crystal light: . . . 425 A low music heard became her floating voice: 426 “O Savitri, I am thy secret soul. 427 I have come down to the wounded desolate earth 428 To heal her pangs and lull her heart to rest . . . 491 I shall save earth, if earth consents to be saved. |
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495 She spoke and from the ignorant nether plane 496 A cry, a warped echo naked and shuddering came. . . . 536 “I am the mind of God’s great ignorant world 537 Ascending to knowledge by the steps he made; . . . 575 If God is at work, his secrets I have found. 576 But still the Cause of things is left in doubt, . . . 580 I know not and perhaps shall never know. . . . 616 Human I am, human let me remain 617 Till in the Inconscient I fall dumb and sleep. |
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625 And Savitri heard the voice, the warped answer heard 626 And turning to her being of light she spoke: 627 “Madonna of light, Mother of joy and peace, 628 Thou art a portion of my self put forth 629 To raise the spirit to its forgotten heights 630 And wake the soul by touches of the heavens. . . . 639 Even if thou rain down intuition’s rays, 640 The mind of man will think it earth’s own gleam, . . . 644 His hunger for the eternal thou must nurse . . . 646 And bring God down into his body and life. 647 One day I will return, His hand in mine, 648 And thou shalt see the face of the Absolute. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Five:The Finding of the Soul |
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001 Onward she passed seeking the soul’s mystic cave. 002 At first she stepped into a night of God. . . . 046 The face of Dawn out of mooned twilight grew. 047 Day came, priest of a sacrifice of joy 048 Into the worshipping silence of her world; 049 He carried immortal lustre as his robe, 050 Trailed heaven like a purple scarf and wore 051 As his vermilion caste-mark a red sun. |
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067 An awful dimness wrapped the great rock-doors 068 Carved in the massive stone of Matter’s trance. 069 Two golden serpents round the lintel curled, 070 Enveloping it with their pure and dreadful strength, 071 Looked out with wisdom’s deep and luminous eyes. 072 An eagle covered it with wide conquering wings: 073 Flames of self-lost immobile reverie, 074 Doves crowded the grey musing cornices 075 Like sculptured postures of white-bosomed peace. |
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076 Across the threshold’s sleep she entered in 077 And found herself amid great figures of gods 078 Conscious in stone and living without breath, 079 Watching with fixed regard the soul of man, 080 Executive figures of the cosmic self, 081 World-symbols of immutable potency. |
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102 There was no step of breathing men, no sound, 103 Only the living nearness of the soul. . . . 115 As thus she passed in that mysterious place 116 Through room and room, through door and rock-hewn door, 117 She felt herself made one with all she saw. 118 A sealed identity within her woke; 119 She knew herself the Beloved of the Supreme: 120 These Gods and Goddesses were he and she: . . . 127 The Adorer and Adored self-lost and one. |
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128 In the last chamber on a golden seat 129 One sat whose shape no vision could define; 130 Only one felt the world’s unattainable fount, 131 A Power of which she was a straying Force, 132 An invisible Beauty, goal of the world’s desire, 133 A Sun of which all knowledge is a beam, 134 A Greatness without whom no life could be. |
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135 Thence all departed into silent self, 136 And all became formless and pure and bare. 137 Then through a tunnel dug in the last rock 138 She came out where there shone a deathless sun. 139 A house was there all made of flame and light 140 And crossing a wall of doorless living fire 141 There suddenly she met her secret soul. |
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142 A being stood immortal in transience, 143 Deathless dallying with momentary things, . . . 155 She had come into the mortal body’s room . . . 165 But since she knows the toil of mind and life 166 As a mother feels and shares her children’s lives, 167 She puts forth a small portion of herself, 168 A being no bigger than the thumb of man 169 Into a hidden region of the heart 170 To face the pang and to forget the bliss, 171 To share the suffering and endure earth’s wounds 172 And labour mid the labour of the stars. |
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196 Here in this chamber of flame and light they met; 197 They looked upon each other, knew themselves, 198 The secret deity and its human part, 199 The calm immortal and the struggling soul. 200 Then with a magic transformation’s speed 201 They rushed into each other and grew one. |
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202 Once more she was human upon earthly soil 203 In the muttering night amid the rain-swept woods 204 And the rude cottage where she sat in trance: . . . 207 But now the half-opened lotus bud of her heart 208 Had bloomed and stood disclosed to the earthly ray; 209 In an image shone revealed her secret soul. . . . 212 In its deep lotus home her being sat 213 As if on concentration’s marble seat, 214 Calling the mighty Mother of the worlds 215 To make this earthly tenement her house. |
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216 As in a flash from a supernal light, 217 A living image of the original Power, 218 A face, a form came down into her heart 219 And made of it its temple and pure abode. . . . 223 Out of the Inconscient’s soulless mindless night 224 A flaming Serpent rose released from sleep. 225 It rose billowing its coils and stood erect 226 And climbing mightily, stormily on its way 227 It touched her centres with its flaming mouth; 228 As if a fiery kiss had broken their sleep, 229 They bloomed and laughed surcharged with light and bliss. 230 Then at the crown it joined the Eternal’s space. |
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247 All underwent a high celestial change: 248 Breaking the black Inconscient’s blind mute wall, . . . 251 Each part of the being trembling with delight 252 Lay overwhelmed with tides of happiness . . . 255 In the country of the lotus of the head . . . 257 In the castle of the lotus twixt the brows . . . 259 In the passage of the lotus of the throat . . . 278 In the kingdom of the lotus of the heart . . . 282 In the navel lotus’ broad imperial range . . . 286 In the narrow nether centre’s petty parts . . . 290 In the deep place where once the Serpent slept, . . . 293 A firm ground was made for Heaven’s descending might. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Six:Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute |
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035 Above the cherished head of Satyavan 036 She saw not now Fate’s dark and lethal orb; 037 A golden circle round a mystic sun 038 Disclosed to her new-born predicting sight 039 The cyclic rondure of a sovereign life. |
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065 Once as she sat in deep felicitous muse, . . . 068 An abyss yawned suddenly beneath her heart. . . . 074 A formless Dread with shapeless endless wings 075 Filling the universe with its dangerous breath, 076 A denser darkness than the Night could bear, 077 Enveloped the heavens and possessed the earth. |
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141 Then from the heights a greater Voice came down, 142 The Word that touches the heart and finds the soul, 143 The voice of Light after the voice of Night: . . . 146 “O soul, bare not thy kingdom to the foe; . . . 159 That all in thee may reach its absolute. . . . 184 God must be born on earth and be as man 185 That man being human may grow even as God. . . . 219 Cast off thy mind, step back from form and name. 220 Annul thyself that only God may be.” |
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221 Thus spoke the mighty and uplifting Voice, 222 And Savitri heard; she bowed her head and mused 223 Plunging her deep regard into herself 224 In her soul’s privacy in the silent Night. |
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289 Her body’s thoughts climbed from her conscious limbs 290 And carried their yearnings to its mystic crown 291 Where Nature’s murmurs meet the Ineffable. |
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405 Only sometimes small thoughts arose and fell 406 Like quiet waves upon a silent sea 407 Or ripples passing over a lonely pool 408 When a stray stone disturbs its dreaming rest. |
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458 Then all grew still, nothing moved any more: 459 Immobile, self-rapt, timeless, solitary 460 A silent spirit pervaded silent Space. |
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607 Unutterably effaced, no one and null, 608 A vanishing vestige like a violet trace, 609 A faint record merely of a self now past, 610 She was a point in the unknowable. |
| Music | Book Seven. Canto Seven:The Discovery of the Cosmic Spirit and the Cosmic Consciousness |
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059 Yet all was not extinct in this deep loss; 060 The being travelled not towards nothingness. 061 There was some high surpassing Secrecy, 062 And when she sat alone with Satyavan, 063 Her moveless mind with his that searched and strove, 064 In the hush of the profound and intimate night 065 She turned to the face of a veiled voiceless Truth 066 Hid in the dumb recesses of the heart 067 Or waiting beyond the last peak climbed by Thought,- |
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127 But now she sat by sleeping Satyavan, 128 Awake within, and the enormous Night 129 Surrounded her with the Unknowable’s vast. |
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210 Out of the infinitudes all came to her, 211 Into the infinitudes sentient she spread, 212 Infinity was her own natural home. 213 Nowhere she dwelt, her spirit was everywhere, 214 The distant constellations wheeled round her; 215 Earth saw her born, all worlds were her colonies, 216 The greater worlds of life and mind were hers; 217 All Nature reproduced her in its lines, 218 Its movements were large copies of her own. 219 She was the single self of all these selves, 220 She was in them and they were all in her. |