<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"
xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; ">
<title>Sri Aurobindo: “Ahana and Other Poems”</title>
</head>

<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
	<tr>
		<td>

<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b>
<font size="4">Sri Aurobindo: “Ahana and Other Poems”</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:79.65pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b><i><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">WHAT is the world that Sri
Aurobindo sees and creates? Poetry is after all passion. By passion I do not
mean the fury of emotion nor the fume of sentimentalism, but what lies behind
at their source, what lends them the force they have­ – the sense of the
&quot;grandly real,&quot; the vivid and pulsating truth. What then is the thing
that Sri Aurobindo has <span class=GramE>visualised,</span> has endowed with a
throbbing life and made a poignant reality? Victor Hugo said: <i>Attachez Dieu
au gibet, vous avez la <span class=SpellE>croix</span> – </i><span
style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>Tie<i> </i></span>God to the gibbet, you
have the cross. Even so, infuse passion into a thing most prosaic, you create
sublime poetry out of it. What is the dead matter that has found life and glows
and vibrates in Sri Aurobindo's passion? It is something which appears <span
class=GramE>to</span> many poetically intractable, not amenable to aesthetic
treatment, not usually, that is to say, nor in the supreme manner. Sri
Aurobindo has thrown such a material into his poetic fervour and created a
sheer beauty, a stupen­dous reality out of it. Herein <span class=GramE>lies</span>
the greatness of his achieve­ment. Philosophy, however divine, and in spite of <st1:City><st1:place>Milton</st1:place></st1:City>,
has been regarded by poets as &quot;harsh and crabbed&quot; and as such unfit
for poetic delineation. Not a few poets indeed foundered upon this rock. A poet
in his own way is a philosopher, but a philosopher chanting out his philosophy
in sheer poetry has been one of the rarest spectacles.¹ I can think of only one
instance just now where a philosopher has almost succeeded being a great poet –
I am referring to Lucretius and his <i>De Rerum <span class=SpellE>Natura</span>.
</i>Neither Shakespeare nor Homer had anything<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;mso-line-height-alt:
8.6pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>¹ James H. Cousins in his <i>New Ways in English
Literature </i>describes Sri Aurobindo as &quot;the philosopher as poet.&quot;<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
8.6pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 52<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
8.6pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>like</span>
philosophy in their poetic creation. And in spite of some inclination to
philosophy and philosophical ideas Virgil and Milton were not philosophers
either. Dante sought perhaps consciously and deliberately to <span
class=SpellE>philosophise</span> in his <i>Paradiso. </i>I Did he? The less
Dante then is he. For it <span class=GramE>is</span> his <i>Inferno, </i>where he
is a passionate visionary, and not his <i>Paradiso </i>(where he has put in
more thought-power) that marks the <i>nee plus ultra </i>of his poetic
achievement.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.05pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And
yet what can be more poetic in essence than philo­sophy, if by philosophy we
mean, as it should mean, spiritual truth and spiritual realisation? What else
can give the full breath, the integral force to poetic inspiration if it is not
the problem of existence itself, of God, Soul and Immortality, things that
touch, that are at the very root of life and reality? What can most concern
man, what can strike the deepest fount in him, unless it is the mystery of his
own being, the why and the whither of it all? But mankind has been taught and
trained to live merely or mostly on earth, and poetry has been treated as the expression
of human joys and sorrows – the tears in mortal things of which Virgil spoke.
The savour of earth, the thrill of the flesh has been too sweet for us and we
have forgotten other sweetnesses. It is always the human ele­ment that we seek
in poetry, but we fail to recognise that what we obtain in this way is humanity
in its lower degrees, its surface formulations, at its minimum magnitude.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.3pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">We
do not say that poets have never sung of God and Soul and things transcendent.
Poets have always done that. But what I say is this that presentation of
spiritual truths, as they are in their own home, in other words, treated philo­sophically
and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed,
in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region> the
Gita and the Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if there were any. But for
one thing they are on dizzy heights out of the reach of common man and for
another they are idolised more as philosophy than as poetry. Doubtless, our
Vaishnava poets sang of God and Love Divine; and Rabindranath, in one sense, a
typical modern Vaishnava, did the same. And their songs are masterpieces. But
are they not all human, too human, as the mad prophet would say? In them it is
the human significance, the human manner that touches and moves<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 53<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>us</span>
– the spiritual significance remains esoteric, is suggested, is a matter of
deduction. Sri Aurobindo has dealt with spiritual experiences in a different
way. He has not clothed them in human symbols and allegories, in images and
figures of the mere earthly and secular life: he presents them in their
nakedness, just as they are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down
the rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate the
common human mind and heart. Nor has he indulged like so many poet philosophers
in vague generalisations and colourless or too colourful truisms that do not
embody a clear thought or rounded idea, a radiant judg­ment. Sri Aurobindo has
given us in his poetry thoughts that are clear-cut, ideas beautifully chiselled
– he is always lumi­nously forceful.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.55pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Take
these Vedantic lines that in their limpidity and har­monious flow beat anything
found in the fine French poet <span class=SpellE>Lamartine</span>:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=right style="text-align:right; text-indent:10.55pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It is He in
the sun <span class=GramE>who</span> is ageless and deathless,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>And into
the <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="0">midnight</st1:time> His shadow is thrown;<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>He was
seated within it immense and alone.¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>or</span>
these that contain the metaphysics of a spiritual life:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">King, not in vain. I knew the tedious bars<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>That I
had fled,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">To be His arms whom I have sought; I saw<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>How earth
was made<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Out of his being; I perceived the Law,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The
Truth, the Vast,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">From which we came and which we are; I heard<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The ages
past<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Whisper their history, and I knew the Word<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>That
forth was cast<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Into the unformed potency of things<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>To build the suns.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Through endless Space and on Time's iron wings<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>A rhythm
runs</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:13.5pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
9.8pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">¹ <span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>Sri Aurobindo: &quot;Who&quot;.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.8pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 54<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.8pt 20.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Our lives
pursue, and till the <span class=GramE>strain's</span> complete<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>That now so moans</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And falters, we upon this greenness meet,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>That
measure tread.¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>or</span>
take again such daring lines as:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:
.5in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">One from of old possessed Himself above<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in 31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Who was
not anyone nor had a form,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-indent:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in 31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Nor
yet was formless. Neither hate nor love<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in 31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>Could limit His perfection, peace nor storm.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in 31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">He is, we cannot say; for
Nothing too<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Is His conception of
Himself <span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>unguessed.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">He dawns
upon us and we would pursue,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-indent:31.4pt; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">But who has found Him or what arms <span class=GramE>possessed ?²</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">This is
sheer philosophy, told with an almost philosophical bluntness – may be, but is
it mere philosophy and mediocre poetry? Once more listen to the Upanishadic
lines:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-indent:31.4pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:31.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Deep in the luminous
secrecy, the mute<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Profound of things,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Where
murmurs never sound of harp or lute<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>And no voice sings,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Light is
not, nor our darkness, nor these bright<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=SpellE>Thunderings</span>,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">In the
deep steady voiceless core of white<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>And luminous bliss,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The
sweet vast centre and the cave divine<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Called <st1:place>Paradise</st1:place>,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">He
dwells within us all who dwells not in<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Aught that is.³<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:10.05pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">It
is the bare truth, &quot;truth in its own home&quot;, as I have said already
using a phrase of the ancient <span class=GramE>sages, that</span> is for­mulated
here without the prop of any external symbolism. There is no veil, no mist, no
uncertainty or ambiguity. It is clarity itself, an almost scientific exactness
and precision. In<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>¹ Sri Aurobindo: &quot;The Rishi&quot;. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>² &quot;<span class=SpellE>Parabrahman</span><span
class=GramE>&quot; .</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>³ &quot;The Rishi&quot;.</span></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 55<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>all</span>
this there is something of the straightness and fullness of vision that
characterised the Vedic Rishis, something of their supernal genius which could
mould speech into the very expres­sion of what is beyond speech, which could
sublimate the small and the finite into forms of the Vast and the Infinite.
Mark how in these aphoristic lines embodying a deep spiritual experience, the
inexpressible has been expressed with a luminous felicity:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-right:0in; 
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:0;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0">Delight
that <span class=SpellE>labours</span> in its opposite,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:32.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Faints in the rose and
on the rack is curled.¹<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:6.7pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>or</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>He made an
eager death and called it life,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:33.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>He stung
Himself with bliss and called it pain.²<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12pt; mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:33.35pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">To humanise the Divine, that is
what we all wish to do; for the Divine is too lofty for us and we cannot look
full in­to his face. We cry and supplicate to Rudra, &quot;O dire Lord, show us
that other form of thine that is benign and humane&quot;. All earthly imageries
we lavish upon the Divine so that he may appear to us not as something far and
distant and foreign, but, quite near, among us, as one of us. We take recourse
to human symbolism often, because we wish to palliate or hide the rigours of a
supreme experience, not because we have no adequate terms for it. The same
human or earthly terms could be used differently if we had a different
consciousness. Thus the Vedic Rishis sought not to humanise the Divine, their
pur­pose was rather to <span class=SpellE>divinise</span> the human. And their
allegorical language, although rich in terrestrial figures, does not carry the
impress and atmosphere of mere humanity and earthliness. For in reality the
symbol is not merely the symbol. It is mere symbol in regard to the truth so
long as we take our stand on the lower plane when we have to look at the truth
through the symbol; but if we view it from the higher plane, from truth itself,
it is no longer mere symbol but the very truth bodied forth. Whatever there is
of symbolism on earth and its beauties, in sense and its enjoyments, is then
transfigured into the expres­sion of the truth, of the divinity itself. We then
no longer speak in human language but in the language of the gods.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12pt; mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:33.35pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">We have been speaking of
philosophy and the philosophic<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:7.65pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:7.65pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>¹<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>&quot;Parabrahman&quot;.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:7.65pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>² Ibid.</span></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.65pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 56<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.65pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>manner</span>.
But what are the exact implications of the words, let us ask again. They mean
nothing more – and nothing less – than the force of thought and the mass of
thought content. After all, that seems to be almost the whole difference
between the past and the present human consciousness in so far at least as it
has found expression in poetry. That element, we wish to point out, <span
class=GramE>is</span> precisely what the old-world poets lacked or did not care
to possess or express or stress. A poet meant above all, if not all in all,
emotion, passion, sensuousness, sensibility, nervous enthusiasm and imagination
and fancy: remember the classic definition given by Shakespeare of the poet<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Of imagination all compact<span
class=GramE>.. . .</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The poet's eye, in a fine
frenzy rolling.¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The heart and its urges,
the vital and its surges, the physical impulses – it is these of which the
poets sang in their infinite variations. But the mind proper, that is to say,
the higher reflective <span class=SpellE>ideative</span> mind, was not given
the right of citizenship in the domain of poetry. I am not forgetting the
so-called Metaphysicals. The element of metaphysics among the Meta­physicals
has already been called into question. There is here, no doubt, some theology,
a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rather
rational intelligence is something other, something more than that. Even the
meta­physics that was commandeered here had more or less a decorative <span
class=GramE>value,</span> it could not be taken into the pith and sub­stance of
poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not <span class=SpellE>unoften</span>
a drag. I referred to the Upanishads, but these strike quite a different,
almost an opposite line in this con­nection. They are in a sense truly
metaphysical: they bypass the mind and the mental powers, get hold of a higher
mode of consciousness, make a direct contact with truth and beauty and reality.
It was Buddha's credit to have forged this missing link in man's spiritual
consciousness, to have brought into play the power of the rational intellect
and used it in support of the spiritual experience. That is not to say that he
was the very first person, the originator who initiated the movement; but at
least this seems to be true that in him and his authentic </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>¹ <i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>A Midsummer Night's Dream, </span></i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Act V, Sc 1.</span></span><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 57<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>followers</span>
the movement came to the forefront of human con­sciousness and attained the
proportions of a major member of man's psychological constitution. We may
remember here that Socrates, who started a similar movement of <span
class=SpellE>rationalisa­tion</span> in his own way in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>,
was almost a contemporary of the Buddha.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Poetry
as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and <span
class=SpellE>rationalised</span> knowledge – that seems to me to be the end and
drive, the secret sense of all the mystery of modern technique. The combination
is risky, but not im­possible. In the spiritual domain the Gita achieved this
miracle to a considerable degree. Still, the power of intelligence and reason
shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of the
faculty, something aloof and other-worldly­ – &quot;introvert&quot;, a modern
mind would term it – that is to say, something <i>a priori, </i>standing in its
own authenticity and <span class=SpellE>self­sufficiency</span>. A modern
intelligence would be more <i>scientific, </i>let us use the word, more
matter-of-fact and sense-based: the mental light should not be confined in its
ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at the
service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and
terrestrial; made immanent in the mundane and the ephemeral, as they are
commonly called. This is not <span class=GramE>an impossibility</span>. Sri
Aurobindo seems to have done the thing. In him we find the three terms of human
consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful
example of that fusion. The three terms are the spiritual, the intellectual or
philosophical and the physical or sensational. The intellec­tual, or more
generally, the mental, is the intermediary, the <span class=SpellE>Paraclete</span>,
as he himself will call it later on in a poem¹ magni­ficently exemplifying the
point we are trying to make out ­the agent who negotiates, bridges and <span
class=SpellE>harmonises</span> the two other firmaments usually supposed to be
antagonistic and in­compatible.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Indeed
it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to the spiritual body of
Sri Aurobindo. His poetry is philosophic, abstract, no doubt, but every
philosophy has its practice, every abstract thing its concrete application, – even
as the soul has its body; and the fusion, not mere union, of the </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">¹<span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'> &quot;Thought the <span class=SpellE>Paraclete</span>&quot;.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 58<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>two</span>
is very characteristic in him. The deepest and <span class=SpellE>unseizable</span>
flights of thought he knows how to clothe with a Kalidasian richness of
imagery, or <span class=GramE>a <span class=SpellE>Keatsean</span> gusto
of sensuousness:</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>. . . . <span
class=GramE>.O</span> flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning! </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Grasses his
<span class=SpellE>kine</span> have grazed and crushed by his feet in the
dancing!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Yamuna flowing with song, through the greenness always advancing!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>You unforgotten remind. For his flute with its sweetness <span
class=SpellE>ensnaring</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Sounds in our ears in the night and our souls of their teguments baring<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Hales them out naked and absolute, out to his wood­ lands eternal,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Out to his moonlit dances, his dalliance sweet and supernal<span
class=GramE>;¹</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
it would be wrong too to suppose that there is want of sympathy in Sri
Aurobindo for ordinary humanity, that he is not susceptible to sentiments, to
the weaknesses, that stir the natural man. Take for example this line so
instinct with a haunting melancholy strain:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:.5in;
mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:0in 31.2pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Cold are your rivers of peace
and their banks are leafless and lonely.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.1pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>or</span>,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:10.55pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Come to our tangled sunbeams, dawn on our twilights and
shadows<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>or</span>
again,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-line-height-alt:
11.5pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>Skies of monotonous calm
and his stillness slaying the ages?</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.5pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 286.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>All the tragedy, the entire pathos of human life is concen­trated
in this line so simple, yet so grand:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Son of man, thou hast crowned the
life with the flowers that are scentless,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 31.2pt 286.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;mso-line-height-alt:
7.65pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>¹ From
&quot;Ahana&quot; in Sri Aurobindo's <i>Ahana and Other Poems.</i></span><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'> </span></i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>There is a later version of
the poem in <i>Collected Poems and Plays, </i><span class=SpellE>Vol</span> II.</span></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.65pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 59<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.65pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.05pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And
the whole aspiration of striving mortality finds its echo in:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.05pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">A song not
master of its note, a cry </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">That
persevered into eternity.¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.3pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And
what an amount of tenderness he has poured into his little poem on childhood, a
perfect piece of chiselled crystal, pure and translucent and gleaming with the
clear lines of a summer sky:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:10.3pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>O thou
golden image,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Miniature
of bliss,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Speaking sweetly, speaking <span class=SpellE>meetly</span>!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Every
word deserves a kiss.²<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And yet, I
should say, in all this it is not mere the human that is of supreme interest,
but something which even in being human yet transcends it.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
here, let me point out, the capital difference between the European or rather
the Hellenic spirit and the Indian spirit. It is the Indian spirit to take
stand upon divinity and thence to embrace and mould what is earthly and human.
The Greek spirit took its stand pre-eminently on earth and what belongs to
earth. In Europe Dante's was a soul spiritualised more than perhaps any other
and yet his is not a Hindu soul. The utmost that he could say after all the
experience of the tragedy of mortality was:</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><i>Io no <span
class=SpellE>piangeva</span>, <span class=SpellE>si</span> <span
class=SpellE>dentro</span> <span class=SpellE>impietrai</span> –³<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">I grieve
not, into a stone I grew within.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">We have in Sri Aurobindo a
passage parallel in sentiment, if not of equal poetic value, which will bear
out the contrast:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">My mind within grew holy, calm and still <span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Like the snow.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>¹ <span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>&quot;Reminiscence.&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>² &quot;A Child's
Imagination.&quot;</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>³ <i>Inferno, </i>xxxiii. 39.</span></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 60<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>However
spiritual a soul, Dante is yet bound to the earth, he has dominated perhaps but
not conquered.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
Greek sings of the humanity of man, the Indian the divinity of man. <span
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>It </span>is the Hellenic spirit that has
very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic
world exists in the domain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in
that of earthly life and its sweetness. And as we are passionate about the
earthly life, even so Sri Auro­bindo has made a passion of the spiritual life.
Poetry after all has a mission; the phrase &quot;Art for Art's sake&quot; may
be made to mean anything. Poetry is not merely what is pleasing, not even what
is merely touching and moving but what is at the same time, inspiring,
invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always the beauty
that captivates the eye or the mere aesthetic sense.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
because our Vedic poets always looked beyond humani­ty, beyond earth, therefore
could they make divine poetry of humanity and what is of earth. Therefore it
was that they were <span class=SpellE>pervadingly</span> so grandiose and
sublime and puissant. The heroic, the epic was their natural element and they
could not but express themselves in the <i>grand manner. </i>Sri Aurobindo has
the same outlook and it is why we find in him the ring of the old-world manner.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Mark
the stately march, the fullness of voice, the wealth of imagery, the vigour of
movement of these lines:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>What though
it's true that the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>river</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName>Life</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>through</span> the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>Valley</st1:PlaceType>
 of <st1:PlaceName>Peril</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Flows? But the diamond shines on the cliff-side,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>jacinth</span> and beryl<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Gleam in the crannies, sapphire, <span class=SpellE>smaragdus</span> the<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>roadway</span> bejewel,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Down in the jaws of the savage mountains granite<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>and</span> cruel.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>See, how the <span class=GramE>coursers</span> divine champ spirited<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>pawing</span> the mountains!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Look, how the wide-pacing river of life from its<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>far-off</span> fountains<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Flows down mighty and broad like a war-horse<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:
11.75pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>brought</span> from its manger<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page –
61<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:20.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Arching its neck as it
paces grand to the gorges<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>of</span>
danger.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Headlong, <span
class=SpellE>o'ercome</span>, with a <span class=SpellE>stridulent</span>
horror the<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>river</span>
descending<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Shudders
below into sunless depths, along chasms<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>unending</span>,­–<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And the majestic sweep and
the wide rolling cadence of­<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">These wanderings of the
suns, these stars at play<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the due measure that
they chose of old<span class=GramE>.. . .</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The superb and the right
imperial tone instinct with a con­centrated force of<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Who art thou, warrior
armed gloriously<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Like the sun?<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Thy gait is
an empire and thine eye<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:.5in;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>Dominion.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:.15in;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">This
is poetry salutary indeed if there were any. We are so often and so much
enamoured of the feminine languidness of poetry; the clear, the sane, the
virile, that is a type of poetry that our nerves cannot always or for long
stand. But there is poetry that is <i>agréable </i>and there is poetry that is <i>grand,
</i>as Sainte Beuve said. There are the pleasures of poetry and there are the
&quot;ardours of poetry&quot;. And the great poets are always <i>grand </i>rather
than <i>agréable, </i>full of the ardours of poetry rat her than the pleasures
of poetry.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And
if there is something in the creative spirit of Sri Auro­bindo which tends more
towards the strenuous than the genial, the arduous than the mellifluous, and
which has more of the austerity of Vyasa than the easy felicity of Valmiki, however
it might have affected the ultimate value of his creation, ac­cording to
certain standards<span class=GramE>,¹</span> it has illustrated once more that<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>¹&quot;. . <span
class=GramE>.it</span> cannot be said that Aurobindo shows any organic
adaptation to music and melody. His thought is profound; his technical devices
are commendable; but the music that enchants or disturbs is not there.
Aurobindo is not another Tagore or Iqbal, or even Sarojini Naidu.&quot; – The <i>Times
Literary Supplement, </i><st1:date Year="1944" Day="8" Month="7">July 8, 1944</st1:date>.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 62<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>poetry</span>
is not merely beauty but power, it is not merely sweet imagination but creative
vision – it is even the <span class=SpellE>Rik</span>, the mantra that impels
the gods to manifest upon earth, that fashions divinity in man.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; 
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 63<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

  <p class=MsoNormal align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><a href="-00_Ccontent"><img src="/Nolini/Volume-2/_Gif_Image/home03a.gif" width="38" height="49" border="0"></a></p>

</div>

		</td>
	</tr>
</table>
</body>

</html>
