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TO THE HEIGHTS To the Heights I UNWELCOME guests are prowling round about. At times they even knock at the door and try to peep through the windows. I have all the doors and windows bolted and barred. And I shall not open them, neither out of kindness nor curiosity. Let them howl in the chill night outside and go their way or perish. I await my own Guest who shall reveal himself from within; for him I keep the hearth clean and warm. I tend the fire patiently and assiduously. The flames brighten and mount upward -each a voice that calls and prays for the coming of the Beloved. O Soul! Listen to his sweet footfall. Lend not your ear to other voices. Gather together in silence all the eagerness of the heart. Lo! the profundities ring with the music of his anklets! II WHEN the flood-gates are swung wide, Where shall hide all the evil ones now so cosily lodged? The surging luminosities shall hurl themselves scouring and flooding And force each nook and corner, rush each bend and turn And
sweep all that cleaves and clogs, all that obscures
and is obscure! Page – 307 An
A thousand rivers of light flowing into it and rising out of it - Light playing with light, light woven into light- A solar world made of the glories of the gods! III ALL my heart melts into a fountain of gratitude And tears rush to the eyes - Such sweet tears, angel-stars that come from afar With healing Peace and Bliss. Love transcendent That disdains not our crawling mortalities, But embraces them with a passion beyond the little human heart to know, Love that in its supreme love has given itself away And become the clod of earth we are. . . . . . Yet human life is but a blind rejection, a heartless denial Of this one thing that makes life living. My poor limbs are all astir within, A faint and muffled echo sways along their closed and dark-some corridors! Is it the awakening of the sleeping goddess? Is it the resurrection of the self-immolated One? My heart yearns to welcome Him whom the ages have ignored. And melts into a fountain of tears! Page - 308 IV IN silence move the stars, In silence mounts the sap within the plant, The secret energies of Nature work and create in the deeps of silence. Out of the uttermost stillness the whirling universe was born - All the turmoil and tumult, the roar and fury that meet the eye Flourish upon an unfathomed quiet below. In the tranquillity of death a new birth prepares itself, The gathered calm of Night's ending ushers in the rejuvenated Sun . And were my wild senses to turn back, they would face the abysmal silence of the soul. The cry of the heart shoots up like a column of silence - That voice alone reaches straight to the High Throne and moves it to grace. The gods descend along a path of luminous silence spread in the farthest spaces of our inmost being. V I LAY myself bare-limb by limb, From the outmost to the inmost, from the highest to the lowest, From the crown of the head to the tip of the toe, From my senses to my soul. I lay myself bare - simply and wholly - To the
touch of the one who is our Beloved, Page - 309 Like a babe, all beauty in its sheer nakedness, Reposing ecstatic in the warmth of the mother's lap. The clothings and trappings, the pretences and falsities - All the proprieties that make up our adult wisdom- Cast to the winds -come as innocent as when you were born And bathe in the wide sunlight of the Love Divine. VI MAHESHW ARI VAST and serene as the infinite spaces, Far away from our little earthly world, And yet overarching and leaning down in a protective gesture- The Mother of Light, the Mother of all-comprehending wisdom, throned on the highest heights, Sheds, equal and unruffled, her benign compassion on obscure mortals, Draws them infallibly ever nearer to her through the rolling ages - Her very presence is the power that decrees, the grace that redeems. Page - 310 VII MAHAKALI SHE has burst open the veil and leaped to the front, Into the very thick of the combat Our Captain, our Warrior - her flaming sword, her
battering mace, Her thundering cry sweep the
field. She brooks no delay, has no mercy for weakness - Straight is her path and swift she speeds to the goal: Here and now shall be her victory. Terrible Mother who presses her children through blazing
fire, The sooner to burn out the dross and free the gold - The sooner to smother them with her passionate bliss! Her every tread crushes a demon's head, Unseals for mortals a fount of
immortality. VIII MAHALAKSHMI MOTHER of Delight- Of Love that moves the sun and stars! She is the Rapture that quickens our inmost heart, She is Beauty's self that enthrals our earthly senses; In her is the whole meaning of existence. She has come down close and intimate to a humanity avid of joy; She casts her noose of charm and captures us even by our
weakness;
Page - 311 Her radiant smile transfigures a whole world of gloom and
pain Into an Abode of Bliss - And we know not when have we
transcended our human frailties In our eagerness to contemplate her gracious form, To kiss those glorious feet of hers That trail the Dawn! Hasten to welcome her, O heart, hasten! 0Lest she turn away - For she will not force herself, Our adorable and shy Mother! IX MAHASARASWATI SUPREME Artisan and Fashioner of perfection, Atom by atom she builds up the world-she is slow,
patient, faultless. And by her consummate craftsmanship the universe-and each
object in the universe - Is a marvel of pattern, a model of divine arabesque, A carefully wrought jewel. Hers is the keen eye, hers the deft finger, the sure
handling And they compel intractable Matter To bend and bow down to her as to its
sovereign Mistress. She is the growing divinity within us that like
inevitable fate Is slowly taking possession of our human life, She is moulding
it as she wills it to be - A vessel and an instrument-a visible embodiment Of the Consciousness, the Power, the Bliss Of the Divine Mother.
Page - 312 ON this troubled world, distracted beyond measure, Erring in the double darkness of ignorance and ill-will, Seeking remedy and refuge from evil At Evil's gate, Pour, pour thy soothing Light, 0
Divine Compassion! When men
have passed through their little illusions, They will love thee and cling to thee the more
passionately, And understand thee with a clearer vision; They will know thee and will come back to thee At the end of all their
nightmare! Thou art the one pivot on which revolves the universe, The hidden spring that presses my heart to a ceaseless
beating; The light thou scatterest to
the farthest star Shines in my eye with a purer gleam; Thou art the gladness that makes the earth green and the
sky blue - Thou art the ecstasy that has turned the blood in my
veins To a crimson red! XI IT is the Eye of the eye and yet it is the object that
the eye contemplates; It is the Sense of the senses and still the senses can
apprehend it; It is not merely the inmost, it
is as well the outermost. It thins itself out to utmost tenuity
-even into nothingness, And it condenses itself to impenetrable solidity - It is Pure Consciousness and it is absolute Matter. Spirit is Matter sublimated, Matter is Spirit crystallised. Soul is Body introvert, Body is Soul extravert.
Page - 313 XII THOU hast fashioned thy limbs into the curves of every
human contact; Thou art neither too subtle nor too vast, neither the far
transcendent, nor the wide universal; Thou hast framed thyself into the limits of common
mortality, And standest
level upon the earth. This is thy utter self-giving and this thy supreme grace
- This smile of kindness has brought here below All the bliss of an unseizable
beyond, The words of thy mouth incorporate The inexpressible silence, And this Flesh has made the Immutable Truth Living and throbbing, warm to our embrace! XIII UPON this mortal earth thou buildest
a O Mother of Dreams, Mother victorious! Overwhelmed with wonder the heart lies prostrate at thy
feet, O Mother victorious! Saints and great souls sing to thee in adoration, O Mother omnipotent, Mother
victorious! Blind darknesses fall faint and
numb before the arrows of thy Light, Mother victorious! Saviour from all evil,
deliverer from pain is thy Great Name, O Mother victorious! A home of safety is the refuge at thy feet, O Mother of Bliss, Mother victorious! The fear of death and age vanishes today, O all-conquering Mother, Mother victorious!
Page - 314 The seas of sorrow disappear at the touch of thy Grace, O Mother of Peace, Mother victorious! The sheen of gold pales before thy hue that enthrals my soul, O Mother of Light, Mother victorious! In the heart of the devotee thou art the delight that is
heaven's nectar, O Mother of Love, Mother victorious! XIV MAHALAKSHMI DEAR to thee are gardens of the lotus, Where else shall I spread thy seat, O Mother? On the lotus of my heart press the dawn-roses of thy feet
and make it flower. Things ungainly afflict thee, O Mother, I will not cherish them anywhere in me even a little. O Queen of Beauty, charmer of the worlds, Keep abiding thy grace upon me. Thou sufferest not an arid
heart, So of thyself hast thou come and put on bonds of
affection - O Mother, by the magic of thy sweetness, quicken and upheave me with Love. [Translated from Bengali] XV GOD THE SUPREME MYSTERY HE is the Soul of our soul, He
is the Body of our body - Our eye veils Him, but He is revealed to the Eye of our
eye; He is Soul embodied and He is Body ensouled.
Page - 315 He is the farthest of the far and the highest of the high
- The senses cannot accost Him nor any human instrument
inveigle; He is the nearest of the near and the lowest of the low - The very earth of our body is kneaded out of His
substance. He is the goal towards which the
creation wheels in its ceaseless cycles, He is the firm foundation upon which the universe is
reared. The vast and fathomless Peace and Silence of Uncreation is He, He the vehement Energy that swirls out
in the aeons and the
worlds. He is the Father whose wise love
marshals our destinies, He is the Mother whose passion-white light accordantly fashions us and bears us
through, He is our own Self, ourselves beyond the ignorance and
the bondage of the moment. He is there and we are He - To bring down on earth and incorporate in this body Something of the high divinities that form His Nature - Through the travail and storm and stress of yearning
mortalities To give birth to an Immortality Secured and housed here below. XVI FAINT Heart! Kindle your faith and take courage! Stupendous obstacles block the way? But omnipotent is the Power that awaits you, And under her ensign you will conquer - Conquer all that looks unconquerable And much more besides, Worlds now beyond reach and out of
sight.
Page - 316 The little being within appears so small and so helpless! And yet it is the diamond-point That cuts through even the hardest matter as through
water, It is the streak of light that easily pierces The densest sway of darkness. There is a
breath that moves mountains, There is a touch that makes the dead arise, There is a voice that is the doom of Yesterday And the radiant herald of Tomorrow. XVII LORD, this is my prayer: May the voice of thy silence enter me, - Rousing every atom of my being, Till it vibrates to thy Truth, And is the harp of its utterance And is its visible embodiment. All the tumultuous surges of the wide world Rush towards me assured of victory- May they roll back in confusion and turn away upon
themselves And leave me as a virgin rock Tranquil and ever firm on its pristine
foundations. May the
universe dissolve, may it vanish Even like a dream - And thou alone appear, thou alone abide One in thy multitudinous reality; I shall find a new world in Thee, a world made of Thee; Therein each limb of mine shall realise its fullness of union with Thee And shall taste utter felicity.
Page - 317 XVIII LORD, thou hast heard our prayer, And come down into our mortal ways - Assumed the form, the flesh that build
our weakness, Thou hast deigned, to be close
to us and wear our make, To be with us and to be of us. But we have taken thy humanity in a too literal and
familiar way, We have forgotten the Aspiration and the Descent, the answering Grace that took shape
in thy advent; And now we blame thee and slight thee, because thou art become like
us-earthly and human. Divine, thou art too far-human, too near! For, the aberration of our petty minds knows no limits! :But thou sufferest all And keepest thy unruffled and
unabated benignity - On thy lips is the smile of eternal and infinite Grace, The smile that is thine
alone. XIX
THE MARCH INTO THE NIGHT ENDLESS, endless labours the way: Its meanderings seem always to come back near to the same
old familiar spot. We have travelled
through long ages and countless lives, Through immemorial vistas of Time, as though through all
the length of Eternity - And yet see we not the same old
sun jogging up and down Between its same old prison bars? The lone luminaries afar that appear
so close to the very heart of the Great Mystery,
Page - 318 Twinkle and blink as inconsciently
as ever; The cold and barren face of the moon stares as bland and
stupid as its wont; The same old shadow still lingers at our feet and
entangles them inexorably; And the eternal viper remains coiled fast into the
darkness of our entrails. . . . The march of aeons has brought us none the nearer to Light or Deliverance. Ah, Soul, we have indeed progressed into obscurity, Into a deeper and deeper gloom have we entered - Yet who is this intrepid voyager that has dared the other Unknown, the nether
profundities? It is thou, O my Soul, it is the
Light itself, the beacon from above! For whither else could Progress lie? Towards Light and more Light? But the Soul is All-Light and needs no illumination; It is Darkness that yearns for the Light And so the Soul has descended in answer Into the gloom - The gloom stretches interminable, The abyss seems fathomless, - Only to the spirit that ventures with its own lantern; But my Soul is never alone -the Mother of Light upbears it - A cataract of limitless blaze swirls behind And presses it forward in and through the gloom That will roll out and melt, Sooner perhaps than one may believe, - The soul and gloom and all - Right on the other side Into the free and infinite and sheer
translucence.
Page - 319 XX THERE is a deep within the deeps, There is a height beyond the farthest heights. . . . A cooling breath, a silence immaculate Abides for ever, Unbroken and ceaseless reigns over sinful earth A smiling Grace. A ray, the shadow of a Hand, The touch of a happy unspeakable sorcery, Bends down to our mortality held fast in pain and
ignorance - A wide quietude suffuses and masters the heat and turmoil
of the senses, We obey the gesture of a compassion that sees and feels,
that relieves and delivers. This surface is a veil, a tissue made of obscurity, It is a level plain that circumscribes a crawling vision
- Peel off the dull crust, release the living translucence
of inmost fires, Soar on the wings of the soul's high destiny to stellar
infinitudes. Deep is the obscurity, but there is a light behind, Long is the suffering, but there is a supreme joy in
which it culminates; For the utmost clearness of human day is but the faint
echo of another Sun, And the most exquisite, the purest pleasure on earth is
no more than a soon-sinking beacon That lures us on towards other Delights, intimate,
unseen, unfailing, ineffable.
Page - 320 XXI LET me not shame thee, my soul, Let me not profane thee - With a faithless glance or a straying step Or a sigh that heaves not for thee. Straight as the sun's ray, clear as the virgin spaces Let my whole being converse and fix upon thee. Thy voice is still and small - Oh the delicatest thing that ever
bloomed in a mortal frame! Thy slightest wish, the most casual inclination Be for me a thundering command and an impetuous drive To immediate embodiment. Thou art the Architect that builds from within, From the deepest foundations: The edifice thou rearest rises
inexorably; Nothing can mar it, nothing can shake it, It stands a marvel of ages - Time lies prostrate at its feet in awe and adoration. Thou art the Child that we carry as in a womb And nourish with the light that we press out of every cell
and every pore; Thou growest with each drop of
the Grace that distils
from above into our mortality- Our common clay that houses the Divine Inhabitant thins
out and dissolves, Like a shadow passes out and merges into thy substance.
Page - 321 XXII My eyes have followed the lines of thy beauty, The winging curves of grace that embody thee - In a delight that was gathered to its core of utmost
intensity, To its height of supreme exquisiteness.
. . . . . A light bathed them, a glory
suffused them slowly - A clear and vast vision entered, I stood face to face with the Truth - And the scales of Ignorance fell away! The enraptured contemplation of thy embodiment Quieted and soothed the heat and turmoil Of my feverish hungers That had rushed so long incontinent towards
a myriad mirages - My desire has found its one haven of rest, An unspeakable tranquillity holds my mind and heart, An
utter purity nestles me! My ears have drunk thy voice - Its ringing sweetness filters through the depths of my
being, And it awakens crystal listenings
that mirror and capture The mother-harmony of immemorial spheres, Thy rhythm divine that graces and moulds my life. My hands have touched the roses of thy feet - The very soul of fragrance has passed into the substance Of my transmuted earth. . . . .. This body has grown sheer into thee as if it were thy own
limb!
Page - 322 XXIII THERE is no darkness, we only close our eyes and shut out the Light; There is no pain, it is only our shrinking from an intense and unwelcome
Delight; There is no death, it is only
our dread of the Life Eternal that comes back upon us and
smites us. Our senses are tremulous and fearsome and cling to the empty littlenesses of the surface moment, they heed not the vast surges of
Infinitude that sweep and pass by. Calm, calm, my soul! Sink down and deep: Fashion the crystal bowl of thy heart with all the serene profundity
of the unknown spaces - and drop by drop will gather
there a bliss immortals only can
taste, and ray by ray will dawn the
Light supernal. . . . . . Or -be prepared for this too, soul, my soul - the down-rush of a myriad undyked cataracts, the sudden bursting of a whole
stellar conflagration. XXIV LEST I become proud of my strength thou hast revealed to me the
bundle of weakness that I am. . . . Lest I sink down and wallow in my weakness thou hast set blue-kissing wings
to my feet and made me soar high - high towards heights beyond all
my dreaming. Thou art the Strength of the strong, and the stronger he becomes the
more he knows it:
Page - 323 weakness is but thy absence - one has only to fill up the void
with thyself to be transformed into the very
store-house of power. Thy grace, 0 Lord, has made this dumb one eloquent, this
lame one it has made to cross the mountains. XXV I T bent, bent down and touched the earth - the gracious Light - even as the wide azure curves
and kisses the level horizon: all my soul flushed roseate with
delight, and this body stilled to trance
shone vibrant with an inly glow - a bride led to the altar. The scars of a thousand pangs that had branded the limbs through aeons
of ignorance are now smoothed out, and with
the freshness of a morning life my being is dowered whole and
entire. Behold! I am a new-born babe in the lap of the Immaculate
Mother - the glory of her love pulsates
in every cell and fibre, a whole futurity of her vision is incarnated in this frail
earthly vessel. A mighty secret is being wrought upon in the far depths - but it shall out one day and blaze like a rising sun on
the brow of creation.
Page - 324 XXVI I AM not ashamed of my failings, I do not claim to be an angel of heaven, I cannot boast that I have never faltered - I am not ashamed of my humanity. I possess not the halo of saintliness, nor do I wear the tares that
tangle me round as a crown of glory - Lord, thou hast made me humble, But I have known to be humble with humility. Through all my failings and errings thou hast proved me to be the
commonest of men, a child of clod and clay - Through my failings too thou hast led me on: across the shoals and marshes and
quagmires thou hast guided me on to higher
and firmer and surer footings - thy Grace in its chrysaline warmth has enveloped this earth-bound worm. Thou
hast proved, O mighty one, that the meanest of things here
below is rounded with a divine ending, and man is not all too human: there is a prophecy in mortal
creature that only bides its time, nothing is impossible even in
this sorry world - For, behold, I am no longer what I was.
Page - 325 XXVII NOT for me, not for me I breathe and move and act - not for me, not for me, but for the beloved Lord of my
life. I have cast myself away - oh, the rapture of looking up to
Him, of listening to Him alone: I am the slave of His Will, a plaything in His sweet hands. But I am no more - this is a mere vacant frame that
you see, its ancient substance has
dissolved - it is now my Lord's tabernacle,
it is His gestures that are traced there. The I that seems is an empty thing that bubbles up with His breath
as He chooses and utters and enshrines His
iridescent Delight and sinks back again and melts
into His tranced silence. XXVIII IN the wide, wide sapphire stillness of my heart's heaven
in trance, the diamond tips of other-world
raptures peep out and twinkle and beacon
- Oh, the radiant sisterhood of the benign Graces who distil upon my earth the Lord's
love-laden smile. Is it a gloom that invades? a
frown that menaces? But these hosts of the Enemy hurl themselves in vain
Page - 326 against the blazing armour that my Lord's
laughter has fashioned around me - they are turned back upon
themselves and are scattered. In the shade of the Light, a happy traveller I move on Ever secure and tranquil. I have heard His call and He has embraced me intimately from afar; Lo, I am grown into the translucency of His divine
serenity, the earth-made cells of flesh
are now spirit-stars that bear the undecaying lustres of immortality. XXIX GRACE is the golden lining to the dark cloud: it is the touch of love that
rounds off all our faults, he Divinity that lies imbedded
in our earth, revealing itself a-sudden like a
lightning flare. I t is the flaming heart of things that nothing has yet been able
to extinguish: it is that which breaks out, through the obdurate rock and
the damping water, in volcanoes and geysers. It is the vaulted infinite answering back to the unheard still cry, out at
the other end; it is the ardent call of the
Beyond that has travelled down to a forgetful Here
Below, awakening us to reminiscences of
our ancient and eternal estate, our only Home.
Page - 327 XXX TURN my gaze away from thousand nothingnesses
- One thing for me is enough and more, O Queen of hearts! What avails the senses each to pursue its luring fire That leads but to a dismal engulfing bog, To nothingness or worse? The Sense of the senses dwells at home And through its moon-lit grace distils Peace and ease and rapture exquisite! The essence of delights, the secret sap of blooms, The winkless Light beyond all flickerings, The one treasure intimate -it is Thou! My all has melted away and vanished Into the single orb of thy compassion, .0 my One and All! XXXI LIVE it, my soul, live the Truth Than which never a fairer or truer one Has been vouchsafed to man - Live it and be blessed! Earth carried it in her womb Ever since she was born - She was born to bear it And deliver to the expectant world. The shining divinities once came down: They anointed themselves with the earth of earth,
Page - 328 Entered the prison of ignorance and pain and grief And became the mortals that we are - Even as the blooming flower and the luscious fullness of
the fruit Once lay hid within the dark and dank tortuous striving
and travail of the roots! To come out and regain the native and pristine estate, To become the sun and the air and the glory that is
abroad, To be in flesh and bone the radiant secret self, To embody the prophecy that inspired the march of the
ages To fulfil,
the golden day is come! XXXII I SAW Her footsteps just flit
across the sky. . . . . . And the sun blazed up and still it burns incontinent And so the stars to the end of the world - But the little moon was consumed outright and became the
pale dead mass it is. The golden trail of Her
footsteps has kindled a quenchless Fire in my heart, And all my life is now a volcano with
its thousand tongues of flame leaping up to kiss the trail - But where are the little senses' little pleasures gone And all the spell of the near and the
dear and the small? They have gone the way of the lunar light and its
borrowed lamp When the sun is high. Lo, he is made to ride the comet that sweeps the
expanding spaces,
Page - 329 The creature who once crawled in
his murky pit...... A glance has melted, A touch has moulded A mortal into an Immortal! XXXIII I SLEPT away...... And awoke into a sunbright
wakefulness Far-gazing, untwinkling,
tranquil, intense! A breath from somewhere came a-sudden And wiped my memory out once for all.... I stood new-born, fresh with other thoughts, feelings,
urges High and clean and scintillating, Like rills that flow on summits and still bear the
pristine snow-touch. An utter distaste filled my mouth And this wide world of milk and honey turned mere sand
and dust. . . . Behold the sea of delight that burst upon me, The ecstasy that became my being! I died. . . . And emerged on the other shore Into the Life Immortal!
Page - 330 XXXIV THY Voice rings clear and loud In the 'bluest depth of my heart Through the gathered silence of unfathomed ethers...... It dims as it rises into the confused noise of my
thoughts and desires, , It is wholly lost amidst the turmoil and bustle of life
and the world. Thy Face shines bright and near limned in all its
compelling beauty, When I gaze beyond where
the golden sun-gate opens...... It dims and fades as its rays descend and are scattered
and dispersed here . In the muddled illusions, the swirling
mirages of life and the world. * * * Close eyes, close ears, close up
entire Even like a rose bud And hold within and be, O my soul, The stilled fragrance of Love unsensed. XXXV IN Thee I am a perfect slave, Sovereignly free and happy! Without Thee I become the master, Bound head to foot, a .figure of misery
! * The two worlds are cloven apart And a chasm yawns between,
Page - 331 The deluding midworld that with
its lurid shadow Divides Heaven and Earth! But one day they shall come close And the lightning fire leap out To consume the shadow track And turn it into the gleaming path For Heaven to descend upon earth. XXXVI THE sky is clear, the breeze is brisk.... Unfurl all the sails, my soul, And forward! The white waves are hurrying on with a gleeful murmur; They go tripping towards the verge of the world- The blue Infinite calls them! They keep me company, the little sisters Tossing their diamond tresses, Scattering their silvern
laughter; They fill my sails with the fragrant breath of their
little mouths- And forward drives my bark! Lo!
I have grown golden wings, And I soar into the blue of the high heaven, Right on the verge of the spaces! My little brothers are all around, The bright twinkling star-angels; A very galaxy of them escorts my winging voyage, Each holds aloft his blazing discus- Avaunt, Darkness and Night! Hail, Light of the Beyond!
Page - 332 XXXVII THE Fire shines there, but burns not...... It burns when it descends here below And lies imprisoned in the crust of
earth: Then its tongues leap out in red-hot wrath And consume the narrowing barriers And the entrenched darkness. The work done, it regains its own natural and superior
self, The keen and serene substance of Bliss that it is, The solar light with the soul of the Moon's concentrated
ecstasy. The Fire burns- It burns the dross, but illumines the core of gold; It tears and tortures the obdurate and the unwilling, It tones and braces the docile and the willing. I t is the pure energy of the Gods, The clear knowledge that fashions
bodies of delight. But the unregenerate flesh And the self-will of Ignorance Feel it as the dread devouring Flame. XXXVIII You think this thing you love and that, You hunger for this other with all the yearning of your
entrails, And without that other again your heart seems to cease
beating! In vain you seek to bind your soul to earthly moments: It pursues another orbit encompassing Infinity, And the myriad shadows on this side of life Veil not its glorious face for ever turned to the Eternal
Sun.
Page - 333 It heeds not the little joys the flesh offers it, Nor do tearing anguishes leave a scar upon its diamond
clarity: It passes through, undeviated,
gathering lights From out of the darknesses of its
many lives, Presses onward to the one goal, The fullness of Illumination in the Supreme Light! It is lone in its own orbit - Or, the One Companion is enough for it, The one inner Presence. Orbits may touch or cross each other, As they traverse the terrestrial zone - But the souls themselves rest apart - None waits, none looks for another, but all move on, Each absorbed in its one and single passion for That within, The Soul of souls. XXXIX I HAVE now learnt to love the sun, even the sun of the burningdesert. . . . Once I drew back from it and liked the shade and the
glade, Cool pleasant walks and humid grottoes, All that is darksome, dank and moist, The rippling curtain of ceaseless rains, The chillness and haze of a grey winter sky,
- All that narrowed down the being to its smallest stature, Hid from it far visions and wide extensions, All that shrank from the touch of the warm empty
distances, - For I chose to close the blinds and lie screened, In the cosiness of ignorant
moments, level with the sap and ooze of earth.
Page - 334 But now as I open my eyes with the rise of the sun, Scales fall off and I feel a glowing clarity coursing in
my veins, I yearn to scan and traverse, eagle-like, The vastnesses that lie bare
under the glare of the The torrid heat and the scalding sands and the steaming
air Throb with a naked and palpitating life, clean and ardent
and vigorous...... Even so the burning Truth brings me a male delight, It has drained and dried the marshes of small desires, Scattered the fog and mist of doubting fearsome mind, A glorious veilless heaven it
has branded upon my earth! XL
WAVES come from the immemorial past,
they sweep into the unending future; They who stand on the plains shall lose
their foothold and be carried away. Rise to the dry land of serene heights and let the flood
pass by underneath. There is no other way but to take wings and soar aloft - Never be tempted to wait and brave the onset of
centuries, The most skilful
swimmer is sure to come to grief: None can stop or retard the inexorable wheel of Time,
none who is within it; Only if you leap up and go beyond can you find the secret
that controls it. This human frame is a thousand-mouthed sponge, You cannot leave it on the flood-level and hope to find
it free from slime and water; Hold it up, as high as the farthest and bluest skies, Let it drink in and be satiate with the golden light of the sun.
October
3, 1936
Page - 335 XLI ASPIRE wholly, Ask for the fullness of Grace - But weigh not the measure of Response, Nor repine if it seems doled out scantily, niggardly. The high wisdom knows and gives just what is needed - Could we only rest contented and move in its rhythm an d
not transgress its will, Serene would be the path and perfect and even prompt the
achievement; But our greed and vanity and self-love Magnify our worth and distend our girth: We lay claim to that and pull at that which is beyond our
desert, We force the supreme Bounty and infinite Abundance, And in answer it condescends to come down.... But we are unable to contain it and the inflated
receptacle we have made ourselves to be Bursts and crashes a ruined and shattered heap! Give yourself wholly and ever more and more, It is your unreserved giving that will create the
spaciousness to hold safely the gift from the
Divine. October 9, 1936 XLII THE lamp lies unlit and dismal
dark - Bring to it the spark of your morning love and life, The lamp is lit and burns. The lamp burns low and dim - Bring to it your earnest loyalty and clear adhesion, The lamp burns high and bright.
Page - 336 The flame mounts slow uncertain - Bring to it your ardent yearning and unshakable faith, The flame mounts swift and firm. The flame sweeps tireless ever upward - Call unto it the bending Grace from beyond, The lamp has become the Sun! October 13, 1936 XLIII THE child has eyes for nothing else than its mother, Its entire bound of vision is rounded in by the radiant
presence of its beloved. It cannot but be so, for where does the Mother abide? -
Within its own eyes! Fearsome figures appear now and then - A night rife with dark and dangerous bodings, A whole sky of cloud scowling and rumbling - The child sees the mother at game and laughs-all
disappear: The beaming smile of the adored one alone is there! All beauties-the rising morn, the reposing eve, the bloom on the rose, the light of the
awakening soul in the human face - All, all are radiances from the sparkle of her eyes, The eyes that hide within the eyes of
the child. The child looks at itself, its own person - Lo, itself has become the
mother, And takes in its arms the entire world And fondles it as its child With the passionate love of innocence. October 18, 1936
Page -
337 XLIV WHITE - colour
of the moon poised on high in an autumn night - The soothing peace, the quiet heave of an in-gathered
rapture! White -colour of the sun glaring
overhead in a midsummer sky - White heat of the Energy that quickens the universe, The creative ardour of the light of Truth! White-colour of the pearl
reposing in the womb of the mother-of-pearl - Innocence of a little heart, delicate
and fine and strong in trust. White - colour of the diamond,
miracle of the black-souled ore transfigured - The immaculate consciousness of the Mother, the Mother
yet of a sin-bred earth! White-colour of the snow piled
on wind-swept peaks grim and bare - Naked and frigid austerity that juts sheer into the
inviolate worlds beyond! White-colour of the foam
breaking and bubbling exultant - All the passions of my entrails surging and speeding to
the tranquil refuge of Thy embrace! White-colour of the jasmine so candid and pure and unpretending - The smiling perfume of the Grace that has touched my
soul! White - colour of the lotus - the endless commiseration of my
Lord that has taken body upon earth! October 30, 1936
Page - 338 XLV QUIET the waves that roll and ripple, Hush the murmur that crowds the- air, Let the myriad glistening sparks die out In one seamless sheet of soothing blue. Draw back from the outgazing
facets, Veer round and dive into the core - The stop and pause and perfect repose, The rock of light self-luminous, The frozen sea of compact delight. This is the silence and annihilation, Beyond the little voices and lesser forms, The Mother of absolutes - This the Void that has devoured
all And still lies vacant! November 16, 1936 XLVI FIRE Red - the red wrath of Rudra that burns the dead mass of earth, melts
and consumes it into tongues of leaping ardour that cry out for Beatitudes beyond. Sun Red at dying eve - the breath of a god sweeping over the darkening horizon the debris of a vanishing life and world, scattering the last shreds of mortal ties
that yet strive to linger. Blood Red -the red sap of life that anoints the far Spirit and sets it
throbbing
Page - 339 and welling out into an earthly mould - immortal's homage to flesh-throned mortality. Wine Red - the quenchless thirst and passion, even the lust of the body wholly uplifted and transfused into the
ethereal Bliss, Bliss made here and now a sensuous rapture - poignant and exhilarating and undecaying. Ruby Red - the concentrated essence of the supreme substance brought down into our lower sphere and glowing and blushing with new-born
love in a human frame. November 28, 1936 XL
VII O my soul, once you lay Nude and innocent in the womb of the
Eternal. What dreams had you then? What hopes, what urges? Were there star-lit expanses, galaxied
blues, Constellated depths after depths? Or a rose-gold sun hanging on the rim
of infinite horizons? Or a radiant smile swaying the throb of
Timelessness' heart? It stands today, the self-same soul In daylight's rude broadness, Amidst the stone-hard reals, In the externals and the crusts, Under noon-tide's blazing eye... Oh, no longer the sweet simple innocence of yore: The child has grown and now its limbs are hewn Out of a marble-consciousness!
Page - 340 The Dream has become the
iron will, The secret urge the body's
urgent gesture: A human being that was has
yielded to the godhead's devouring embrace, The Divine is set in human
limbs.
Page - 341
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