July 28, 2024
Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol, by Sri Aurobindo, Book II The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds, Canto 7 The Descent into Night, pp. 216-219
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Additional readings in Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol are located at Sri Aurobindo Studies
More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at http://www.aurobindo.net
The US editions and links to e-book editions of Sri Aurobindo’s writings can be found at http://www.lotuspress.com
YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871
#Sri Aurobindo #Savitri #yoga #integral yoga #aurobindo philosophy #spirituality #mystic poetry
1
00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:05,520
A lone discoverer in these
menacing realms, guarded like
2
00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:10,120
termite cities from the sun,
oppressed mid crowd and tramp
3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:15,600
and noise and flare, passing
from dusk to deeper dangerous
4
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,640
dusk.
He wrestled with powers that
5
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,800
snatched from mind its light and
smote from him their clinging
6
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,840
influences.
Soon he emerged in a dim wall,
7
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,880
Less space for now.
The peopled tracks were left
8
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,360
behind.
He walked between wide banks of
9
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,480
failing Eve.
Around him grew a gaunt
10
00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:43,960
spiritual blank, a threatening
waste, a sinister loneliness
11
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:49,400
that left mine bare to an unseen
assault, an empty page on which
12
00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,440
all that willed could write
stark monstrous messages without
13
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,240
control.
A travelling dot on downward
14
00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:03,280
roads of dusk, mid barren fields
and barns and straggling huts
15
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,040
and a few crooked and phantasmal
trees.
16
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,720
He faced a sense of death and
conscious void, but still a
17
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,080
hostile life.
Unseen was there, whose
18
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,080
deathlike poise, resisting light
and truth, made living a bleak
19
00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,640
gap in nullity.
He heard the grisly voices that
20
00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:31,200
deny, assailed by thoughts that
swarmed like spectral hordes of
21
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,720
prey to the staring phantoms of
the gloom and terror approaching
22
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,080
with its lethal mouth.
Driven by a strange will down
23
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:47,160
ever down the sky above, a
communique of doom, he strove to
24
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,320
shield his spirit from despair,
but felt the horror of the
25
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:57,160
growing night and the abyss
rising to claim his soul.
26
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,600
Then ceased.
The abodes of creatures and
27
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,560
their forms and solitude wrapped
him in its voiceless folds.
28
00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,639
All vanished.
Suddenly, like a thought
29
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:15,160
expunged, his spirit became an
empty listening gulf, void of
30
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,720
the dead illusion of a world.
Nothing was left, not even an
31
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,720
evil face.
He was alone with the grey
32
00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:30,040
Python night, a dense and
nameless nothing conscious mute
33
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,640
which seemed alive but without
body or mind lusted all being to
34
00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:41,600
annihilate that it might be
forever nude and soul as in a
35
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:47,200
shapeless beast's intangible
jaws gripped, strangled by that
36
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:52,720
lusting viscous blot, attracted
to some black and giant mouth
37
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,880
and swallowing throat and a huge
belly of doom.
38
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:02,040
His being from its own vision
disappeared, drawn towards depth
39
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,040
that hungered for its fall.
A formless void oppressed his
40
00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,760
struggling brain, a darkness
grim and cold be numbed his
41
00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,200
flesh.
A whispered grey suggestion
42
00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:20,200
chilled his heart, hailed by a
serpent force from its warm home
43
00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,680
and dragged to extinction in
bleak vacancy.
44
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,800
Life clung to its seat with
cords of gasping breath.
45
00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,920
Lapped was his body by a
tenebrous tongue.
46
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,040
Existence smothered, travailed
to survive.
47
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,960
Hope, strangled, perished in his
empty soul.
48
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,720
Belief and memory abolished,
died, and all that helps the
49
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,160
spirit in its course there
crawled through every 10th and
50
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:57,120
aching nerve, Leaving behind its
poignant quaking trail a
51
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:03,040
nameless and unutterable fear.
As a sea nears a victim bound
52
00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,960
and still the approach alarmed,
his mind forever dumb, Of an
53
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,640
implacable eternity of pain
inhuman and intolerable.
54
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,959
This he must bear his hope of
heaven.
55
00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:22,040
Estranged, he must ever exist
without extinction's peace.
56
00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:29,000
In a slow suffering time and
tortured space and anguished
57
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,760
nothingness.
His endless state, a lifeless
58
00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:37,440
vacancy, was now his breast, and
in the place where once was
59
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:42,840
luminous thought only remained
like a pale, motionless ghost,
60
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,120
an incapacity for faith and
hope, and the dread conviction
61
00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,520
of a vanquished soul, immortal
still, but with its Godhead
62
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,120
lost, self lost, and God and
touch of happier worlds.
63
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,920
But he endured, stilled the vain
terror, bore the smothering
64
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:11,720
coils of agony and affright.
Then peace returned, and the
65
00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,360
soul's sovereign gaze.
To the blank horror, a calm
66
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:22,080
light replied.
Immutable, undying and unborn,
67
00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:26,280
mighty and mute.
The Godhead in him woke and
68
00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:28,920
faced the pain and danger of the
world.
69
00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:34,560
He mastered the tides of nature.
With a look he met with his bare
70
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,560
spirit.
Naked hell.
00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:05,520
A lone discoverer in these
menacing realms, guarded like
2
00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:10,120
termite cities from the sun,
oppressed mid crowd and tramp
3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:15,600
and noise and flare, passing
from dusk to deeper dangerous
4
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,640
dusk.
He wrestled with powers that
5
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,800
snatched from mind its light and
smote from him their clinging
6
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,840
influences.
Soon he emerged in a dim wall,
7
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,880
Less space for now.
The peopled tracks were left
8
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,360
behind.
He walked between wide banks of
9
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,480
failing Eve.
Around him grew a gaunt
10
00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:43,960
spiritual blank, a threatening
waste, a sinister loneliness
11
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:49,400
that left mine bare to an unseen
assault, an empty page on which
12
00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,440
all that willed could write
stark monstrous messages without
13
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,240
control.
A travelling dot on downward
14
00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:03,280
roads of dusk, mid barren fields
and barns and straggling huts
15
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,040
and a few crooked and phantasmal
trees.
16
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,720
He faced a sense of death and
conscious void, but still a
17
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,080
hostile life.
Unseen was there, whose
18
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,080
deathlike poise, resisting light
and truth, made living a bleak
19
00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,640
gap in nullity.
He heard the grisly voices that
20
00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:31,200
deny, assailed by thoughts that
swarmed like spectral hordes of
21
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,720
prey to the staring phantoms of
the gloom and terror approaching
22
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,080
with its lethal mouth.
Driven by a strange will down
23
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:47,160
ever down the sky above, a
communique of doom, he strove to
24
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,320
shield his spirit from despair,
but felt the horror of the
25
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:57,160
growing night and the abyss
rising to claim his soul.
26
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,600
Then ceased.
The abodes of creatures and
27
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,560
their forms and solitude wrapped
him in its voiceless folds.
28
00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,639
All vanished.
Suddenly, like a thought
29
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:15,160
expunged, his spirit became an
empty listening gulf, void of
30
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,720
the dead illusion of a world.
Nothing was left, not even an
31
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,720
evil face.
He was alone with the grey
32
00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:30,040
Python night, a dense and
nameless nothing conscious mute
33
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,640
which seemed alive but without
body or mind lusted all being to
34
00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:41,600
annihilate that it might be
forever nude and soul as in a
35
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:47,200
shapeless beast's intangible
jaws gripped, strangled by that
36
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:52,720
lusting viscous blot, attracted
to some black and giant mouth
37
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,880
and swallowing throat and a huge
belly of doom.
38
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:02,040
His being from its own vision
disappeared, drawn towards depth
39
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,040
that hungered for its fall.
A formless void oppressed his
40
00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,760
struggling brain, a darkness
grim and cold be numbed his
41
00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,200
flesh.
A whispered grey suggestion
42
00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:20,200
chilled his heart, hailed by a
serpent force from its warm home
43
00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,680
and dragged to extinction in
bleak vacancy.
44
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,800
Life clung to its seat with
cords of gasping breath.
45
00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,920
Lapped was his body by a
tenebrous tongue.
46
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,040
Existence smothered, travailed
to survive.
47
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,960
Hope, strangled, perished in his
empty soul.
48
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,720
Belief and memory abolished,
died, and all that helps the
49
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,160
spirit in its course there
crawled through every 10th and
50
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:57,120
aching nerve, Leaving behind its
poignant quaking trail a
51
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:03,040
nameless and unutterable fear.
As a sea nears a victim bound
52
00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,960
and still the approach alarmed,
his mind forever dumb, Of an
53
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,640
implacable eternity of pain
inhuman and intolerable.
54
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,959
This he must bear his hope of
heaven.
55
00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:22,040
Estranged, he must ever exist
without extinction's peace.
56
00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:29,000
In a slow suffering time and
tortured space and anguished
57
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,760
nothingness.
His endless state, a lifeless
58
00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:37,440
vacancy, was now his breast, and
in the place where once was
59
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:42,840
luminous thought only remained
like a pale, motionless ghost,
60
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,120
an incapacity for faith and
hope, and the dread conviction
61
00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,520
of a vanquished soul, immortal
still, but with its Godhead
62
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,120
lost, self lost, and God and
touch of happier worlds.
63
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,920
But he endured, stilled the vain
terror, bore the smothering
64
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:11,720
coils of agony and affright.
Then peace returned, and the
65
00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,360
soul's sovereign gaze.
To the blank horror, a calm
66
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:22,080
light replied.
Immutable, undying and unborn,
67
00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:26,280
mighty and mute.
The Godhead in him woke and
68
00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:28,920
faced the pain and danger of the
world.
69
00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:34,560
He mastered the tides of nature.
With a look he met with his bare
70
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,560
spirit.
Naked hell.