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<title>The Poet and The Seer</title>

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<span
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal; font-weight:700'><font size="4">The Poet and <span class=GramE>The</span> Seer</font></span></p>
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<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; 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">PLATO has exiled the poet
from his Republic – in his ideal society there is no place for the poet
– this is a stern condemnation. It is a matter of surprise to us, even of
disbelief. Especially when we notice that there is no dearth of poetry in Plato
himself – he was no dry-as-dust reasoner like his disciple Aristotle. In genius
and temperament he was a true poet. The literary grace that expresses itself in
his style is still regarded as something of an ideal. But why is he then so
averse to the poets?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:6.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Plato's charge is that poets are no worshippers of truth.
They are but servitors of imagination, of pseudo-truth or falsehood. Not only
that. Their entire skill is to make falsehood appear as truth and imagination
as reality; they give to an airy nothing a local habitation and a name – and,
what is worse, they make this falsehood and imagination as far as possible
beautiful and attractive. What then is the consequence? Men are easily deluded
and fascinated by the false beauty of a visionary world and depart from truth,
good and real beauty. Poetry, the sweetheart, is the enchantress, the Circe,
whose only work is to delude men and turn them into pigs or at least lambs.¹ <span
class=GramE>Do</span> you not see what a low opinion</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:6.0pt;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;text-indent:10.55pt;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;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'>Whatever may be the case of
the poet, it is not that such a notion does not prevail in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span
  style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>India</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'> at least about the votaries
of other arts. The Buddhist <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>Vishuddhi
Magga </span>has classed the painter with the cook, that is, both are taken to
serve the same purpose, both cater only to the pleasure of the senses.<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;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'>Manu enjoins that the
householder must abstain from vocal and instrumental music and from the dance.
A dancer, a singer and a house-builder have no right to be present in the
ceremonies performed for the departed</span></p><i>
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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 96 </span><i>
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style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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<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>of</span>
the gods is entertained by such a great poet as Homer? In what respect are such
gods superior to men? All the weaknesses of men are found in them, perhaps on
a bigger scale, in a more hideous form. These gods are recommended for worship
by poets!</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">The
poet indulges imagination and is by nature human in the extreme. Poetry has no
direct relation or inseparable connection at all with truth. The worshipper of
truth will find in poetry no utterance worthy of acceptance. Especially the
poet will not be able to furnish any clue to the truth that lies beyond the ken
of the human mind, beyond all that can be grasped by the daily experiences and
perceptions of men, and that truth which is really the deepest and supreme in
men. Plato's reasoning amounts to this in modern terms.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:225.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">What Plato says does not, on reflection, appear to be
utterly worthless. The vital world is the source of the poet and all other
artists who are creators. When the vital is stirred things spring up from it
and take shape. This vital <span class=GramE>itself</span> is the magic power
of the urge for enjoyment and action. For the satisfaction of these two urges
towards delight and enjoyment the vital is constantly engaged in creating
things. The spell of the vital does not care to find how far they are truth,
and how much is their worth in terms of the right and the ultimate good. It is
enough if it can build a castle in the air and derive joy from it. But it is
not at all necessary that the castle in the air should be a reality.¹ <span
class=GramE>It</span> is enough if it comes within the domain of experience and
gives satisfaction. This vital is again the field of all desires and impulses
of men. The attractions of the vital keep men confined to an absolutely human
plane. Poetry is the unrivalled drug to enslave men to the mortal world.<span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p>

<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:225.35pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">___________</p>

</i></b>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:225.35pt;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'>soul. Chanakya has put the
singer in the same category with the harlot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.8pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='mso-tab-count:1; font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>&nbsp;</span></i></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It may also be remembered in this connection
that portraiture and image making are prohibited in the Hebrew and the
Mohammedan religions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:9.8pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt;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'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>¹ Bernard Shaw has given the name of hell to
one such <span style="font-size:10pt;">world, vide his play Man and
Superman.</span></span><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
</i></b>

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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 97</span><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

</i></b>

<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 poet says,</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-indent:27pt; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The good that is awake in
the midst of all conflicts</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-indent:27pt; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Is the good which Thou <span
class=GramE>approvest.</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="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Or,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:
.25in;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Shadowless is thy Light...</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The beauty of which is
enhanced</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:
.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:25.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>By my tears.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:25.65pt;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">These
expressions are wonderful and sweet to the ear. But, the deep spiritual
realisation or the highest truth which these words pretend to convey is but
happy imagination and pleasant fancy. The true realisation of the spiritual consciousness
is quite a different thing.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:27pt; 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:27pt; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>Liberation?</span>
Where will ye find <span class=GramE>liberation,</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:
.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-.25in;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Where does it abide?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The Lord Himself has
donned</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:83.75pt;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;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>the</span> bondage of creation,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; margin-left:27pt; text-indent:
.25in;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:21.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>And is enchained with all.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:21.1pt;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-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Here
the poet for the moment puzzles us by his curious thought and skilful composition.
But it is doubtful if to the calm consciousness of the truth-seer there is
anything more than the movements of the natural man's complexes behind such an
emotion. This very thing is called 'Siren Song' in English.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">If
the poet be such a terrible creature then why is he called a Rishi? The Rishi
is the seer of truth. The poet is really a poet only when he is a seer, that is
to say, one who has the direct vision of truth. But the question may be asked:
&quot;What is this truth?&quot; One may say, as there is a spiritual truth so
there is a mundane truth; there is no hard and fast</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style="text-align:center; text-indent:11.25pt; padding:0in; border-style:none; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 98 </span><i>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

</i>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:
medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:
0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>rule</span> that the poet should be the seer
of the spiritual truth only. He has an insight into the nature of earthly beings;
therefore in this respect he is a seer. If he has realised the truth and beauty
of the life in nature and gives an expression to them, even then his status as
a Rishi will remain quite irreproachable. He will be called a poet and seer
even if he fails to see or show the real nature of the Ideal but can unfold
the reality of the practical life.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:
medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:
0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It is doubtful if Plato would recognise even a seer-poet of
this type. He might say the. poet whose heart is pure or has been purified,
whose consciousness has transcended the human consciousness, who has direct
vision of truth, that is to say, who seizes the 'Idea' by a vision in the
fourth dimension, he alone deserves to be called a seer-poet, one who can
express in a living manner the truth, the 'Idea' which is at once the supreme
beauty and the supreme good. If Plato had known the poets of our Upanishads he
might have changed his conception of the poet. The poetic genius can manifest
in two ways. The one is artificial <span class=GramE>imagination,</span> the
other is divine vision or direct experience. The artificial imagination is
nothing but fancy. This fancy may be superbly fascinating but that would be the
restive cleverness of the fickle vital and the outward senses – the delight of
thought, of the critical reason; on the other hand, the divine or direct
experience illumines the thing-in-itself, the truth. This is the truth-vision
of the soul, the Psychic Being. The poet who depends only on fancy may possibly
be a poet but never the seer-poet who sees with the divine vision and creates.
In fact, the seer-poet sees nothing save spirituality. We have shown above the
difference between the spiritual and the mundane aspect of the truth. But in
reality in the eyes of the seer-poet there is no such distinction at all. The
divine sees the Self not only in things spiritual but also in things
terrestrial. Even when the seer-poet speaks of the gross, the body, he speaks
of the truth behind the gross, the truth behind the body-self. The totally<i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
</i>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
tab-stops:21.0pt center 2.15in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;
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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
'>Page – 99 </span><i>
<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>

<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
'>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

</b>
</i>

<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>material</span>
and vulgar can never be the object of fine art.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Perhaps
Plato would not accept this kind of philosophy. He would not be prepared to
give an equal importance to the two phenomena – the ardours of the
life-process and the pleasures of poetry – balanced side by side as two
separate entities of the same value. It is well and good if the poetical
work can be made an aid to the discipline of life. Otherwise, just for the sake
of creation of beauty, for mere enjoyment, for the skilful and sweet display of
the ordinary intelligence and of the unregenerated vital, poetry should not be
harboured in our consciousness. Therefore Plato wants us to become hermits of
an absolute purity. Not the creation of the poet but that of the philosopher is
the thing needed.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.5pt; mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">The
poet wants to snatch beauty from the longings of the natural vital, Plato’s
wisdom is all for the ultimate truth seized out of the moral sense. But there
is no necessity of this duel between the poet and the philosopher. The true
poet will seize beauty through the pure sense of delight in the purified vital
and at the same time intuit the absolute truth with the divine vision. The
vision of the Truth breaks out of the sense of delight, while the sense of
delight finds its foundation in the truth-vision. Thus the poet and the seer become
united and the delightful and the good stand identified.<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
</i></b>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 100<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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