Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol, Book VII The Book of Yoga, Canto 2 The Parable of the Search for the Soul, pp. 474-477

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As in the vigilance of the
sleepless night, through the

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slow, heavy footed, silent
hours, repressing in her bosom

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its load of grief, she sat
staring at the dumb tread of

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time and the approach of ever
nearing fate.

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A summons From her being Summit
came a sound, a call that broke

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the seals of night above her
brows.

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Where will and knowledge meet?
A mighty voice invaded mortal

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space.
It seemed to come from

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inaccessible heights, and yet
was intimate with all the world

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and knew the meaning of the
steps of time, and saw eternal

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destiny's changeless scene
filling the far prospect of the

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cosmic gaze.
As the voice touched, her body

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became a stark and rigid golden
statue of motionless trance, a

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stone of God lit by an amethyst
soul.

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Around her body's stillness all
grew still.

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Her heart listened to its slow,
measured beats.

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Her mind renouncing, thought,
heard, and was mute.

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Why camest thou to this dumb
death bound earth, this ignorant

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life beneath indifferent skies,
tied like a sacrifice on the

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altar of time?
O spirit, O immortal energy, if

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twas to nurse grief in a
helpless heart, or with hard

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tearless eyes await thy doom,
Arise, O soul, and Vanquish time

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and death.
But Savitri's heart replied, in

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the dim night my strength is
taken from me and given to

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death.
Why should I lift my hands to

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the shut heavens, or struggle
with mute inevitable fate, or

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hope in vain to uplift an
ignorant race who hug their lot

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and mock the Saviour Light and
see in mind Wisdom's soul

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Tabernacle in its harsh peak and
its inconciant base, a rock of

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safety and an anchor of sleep.
Is there a God whom any cry can

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move?
He sits in peace and leaves the

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mortal strength impotent against
his calm omnipotent will, law

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and in conscience in the
almighty hands of death.

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What need have I?
What need has Satyavan to avoid

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the black meshed net, the dismal
door, or call a mightier light

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into life's closed room, a
greater law into man's little

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world?
Why should I strive with Earth's

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unyielding laws or stave off
death's inevitable hour?

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This surely is best to pactice
with my fate and follow close

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behind my lover's steps, and
pass through night from twilight

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to the sun, across the tenebrous
river that divides the adjoining

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parishes of earth and heaven.
Then could we lie in armed

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breast upon breast, untroubled
by thought, untroubled by our

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hearts, forgetting man and life
and time and its hours,

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forgetting eternity's call,
forgetting God, The voice

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replied.
Is this enough, O Spirit?

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And what shall thy soul say when
it wakes and knows the work was

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left undone for which it came?
Or is this all for thy being

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born on earth, charged with a
mandate from eternity, a

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listener to the voices of the
years, a follower of the

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footprints of the gods, to pass
and leave unchanged the old

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dusty laws?
Shall there be no new tables, no

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new word, no greater light come
down upon the earth, delivering

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her from her unconsciousness,
man's spirit from unalterable

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fate?
Canst, canst thou not down to

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open the doors of fate, the iron
doors that seemed forever

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closed, and lead man to truths
wide and golden Rd. that runs

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through finite things to
eternity?

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Is this then the report that I
must make?

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My head bowed with shame before
the eternal seat?

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His power he kindled in thy body
has failed.

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His labourer returns her task
undone.

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Then Savitri's heart fell mute.
It spoke no word, but holding

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back her troubled rebel heart,
abrupt, erect and strong calm,

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like a hill surmounting the seas
of mortal ignorance, its peak

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immutable of above mine's air.
A power within her, answered the

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still voice.
I am thy portion here, charged

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with thy work as thou myself
seated forever above.

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Speak to my depths, O great and
deathless voice command, for I

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am here to do thy will, the
voice replied.

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Remember why thou camest.
Find out thy soul.

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Recover thy hid self in silence.
Seek God's meaning in thy

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depths.
Then mortal nature change to the

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Divine.
Open God's door, Enter into his

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trance.
Cast thought from thee that

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nimble ape of light, in his
tremendous hush, stilling thy

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brain, his vast truth.
Wake within and know and see.

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Cast from thee sense that veils
thy spirit's sight in the

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enormous emptiness of thy mind.
Thou shalt see the Eternal's

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body in the world.
Know him in every voice heard by

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thy soul in the world's context.
Meet His single touch.

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All things shall fold thee into
his embrace.

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Conquer thy heart's throbs.
Let thy heart beat in God.

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Thy nature shall be the engine
of His works.

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Thy voice shall house the
mightiness of His word.

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Then shalt thou harbour my force
and conquer death.

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Then Savitri by her doomed
husband, SAT still, rigid in her

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golden motionless pose, a statue
of the fire, of the inner sun in

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the black night.
The wrath of storm swept by.

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The Thunder crashed above her.
The rain hissed, its million

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footsteps pattered on the roof,
impassive mid the movement and

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the cry witness of the thoughts
of mind, the moods of life, she

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looked into herself and sought
for her soul.