Book Five. The Book of Love
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Canto One
The Destined Meeting-Place
Nothing really appears by chance. That is only an appearance. Everything is guided by an Omniscience and things take place at the appointed place and time. Savitri now arrives at a spot of fresh life and felicity. A great expectation is in the air. Mountains, woods, waters, birds—all are bathed in a dreamy happiness. It is as if the Earth is having a romance with her lover, Heaven. Behind all is the majestic calm of Nature. Man has not yet come here to disturb the primeval peace of the region. At the borders of the tract are solemn hills that rise up in the skies like meditative ascetics. This is the scene chosen by the indefinable Mother of all in the form of Savitri for her brief felicity. Here in solitude commences her part in the joy and strife of the world. Here Love meets Savitri.
But
now the destined spot and hour were close;
For
though a dress of blind and devious chance Though unaware, Savitri is now nearing her goal; the place and the time for it are close. In life it looks as if all is a play of Chance, but it is only an appearance which hides the working of an all-wise Fate. Chance is but one of the agents of the determining Will. Our acts are really the renderings of an all-seeing Force that dwells in all things and compels their action. In this game of the Cosmos nothing ever takes place except at its appointed time and previsioned place.
To
a space she came of soft and delicate air Savitri arrives at a place full of soft and delicate air which looks like a home of youth and joy, a plateau of free and fresh delight where spring and summer are, as it were, engaged in friendly debate as to who should rule.
There
expectation beat wide sudden wings, A wide expectation is in the air. It looks as if a soul has looked out from the face of earth and all that is in earth has felt the imminence of a change, and putting behind the common joys and dreams of the day and responding to the call of Time and the decree of the Spirit, has allowed itself to be lifted to a rare beauty, calm and pure, in the sight of Eternity.
A
crowd of mountainous heads assailed the sky
Below
there crouched a dream of emerald woods Mountain peaks pierce the sky like the leaders of an armed phalanx; below stretches the prostrate earth. There lie green dreaming forests with silent, gleaming borders and mild running waters glimmering like strings of pearls.
A
sigh was straying among happy leaves;
The
white crane stood, a vivid motionless streak, There is an air of happy contentment in the plants; slow breezes laden with fragrance waft among the flowers; the white crane stands motionless; the peacock and the parrot brightly adorn the soil and the tree; the soft cry of the dove adds to the charm of the place while flame-hued drakes sail in the silver-white pools.
Earth
couched alone with her great lover Heaven,
In
her luxurious ecstasy of joy It is as if Earth is romancing with her lover, Heaven. She lies bare and uncovered to his bright eye, the sun. She expresses her ecstasy of joy in the gay and passionate love-music of the birds, and in the exciting shapes, scents and hues of the flowers. It is a festive riot of colour, fragrance and design.
A
cry and leap and hurry were around,
Magician
of her rapt felicities, The cry, the leap and the chase of the denizens of the forests are everywhere. All is warm in light and hue. The felicitous stream of life runs free, uninterrupted, it plays at hide and seek in sheer delight. Behind all this movement of mirth and joy, there broods the majestic calm of Nature.
Primeval
peace was there and in its bosom
Man,
the deep-browed artificer, had not come The ancient peace of Nature is here untroubled though it contains the strife of the animal kingdom. Man with his scheming intelligence has not come here to disturb the natural ease of this inconscient order; neither his disturbing thought nor reason nor self-will are here yet. Life is still harmonious; it has not yet strayed from its aim.
The mighty Mother lay outstretched at ease.
All
was in line with her first satisfied plan; Mother earth rests in ease. Everything is in accord with her first fulfilled plan. There is all around a universal will of joy, and instinct with it, the trees bloom in all their freshness and her wild offsprings brood not on pain.
At
the end reclined a stern and giant tract On the outskirts spreads out a huge tract of intricate depths and rising hills whose peaks look severe like austere souls, remote and grand like the infinities veiled by thought that lie behind the concentrated smile of Nataraja, the Cosmic Lord at dance.
A
matted forest-head invaded heaven The sight of a thick forest summit reaching out to the sky looks like a veritable ascetic of a Nilakantha—Shiva whose throat is stained blue with the poison of the world—gazing out from his strong mountain cell on the fleeting joys of earthly life, with his vast outspread spirit looming behind.
A
mighty murmur of immense retreat Savitri’s car is invaded on all sides by the great murmur of a vast retreat, like the sad and unbounded call of a being withdrawing from the world-scene.
This
was the scene which the ambiguous Mother This is the scene chosen by the indeterminable Mother of the universe, in the form of Savitri, for her brief felicity. Here away from the crowd and noise of the world, she commences to play her part in the joy and struggle of the world.
Here
were disclosed to her the mystic courts, Here open out to her experience areas of mystery, unexpected beauty and surprise, inaudible promptings, sweetness and fire.
A
stranger on the sorrowful roads of Time, Here Love who is a new-comer to the sorrowful roads of Time who, though immortal, subjects himself to the yoke of death and fate on earth, who has to continuously sacrifice by bearing the stings of the bliss and pain of the worlds, that Love meets Savitri in this wilderness of Nature.
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