Canto VII: The Descent into Night

Aswapati has now completed his descent into the Abyss. Thus Aswapati entered the pit of Inconscient, digging deep into the filth and mire of a distorted and perverse nature to prepare a field for sowing there too the seeds of light and faith and hope.

Aswapati now descends into the utter Inconscient to find its source of power and the key to its change.

Aswapati now moves from dusk towards the Night. His face is turned away from all that is human and living and joyous and beautiful. His steps take him towards the grim solitude of the Night.

All that is found in the higher states is recreated here as its dark imitation, thereby trapping the fallen beings in a web of lies and propaganda, mixed with terror and fear and the perverted joy of a fallen state.

Aswapati now reveals to us how Darkness and Hell have a hold on the human consciousness and influence our lives, creating here too a reign of Hell. Sri Aurobindo reveals to us what really is Evil and how it operates under the garb of organized religions and creeds.

Evil is not just a state or a domain, it is an institution in its own right. There are beings that live and thrive by evil, they are described as Rakshasa and Asura in Indian mythology and with similar terms in other mystic lores. Aswapati goes down into the pit where they live and draw their power from.

Hell has its own atmosphere, its own way of life and of being which is very different from higher states. We are shown step by step how to identify all that is inspired and moved by darkness and evil.

Evil twists the truth. It uses its body, drives away the original spirit and then twists it beyond recognition. Such is its action upon nature and man.

It is the dark side of Prakriti, and accordingly Aswapati encounters in this realm the dark feminine energies. These forces of darkness are rampant in the world of glamour and are often used by the Asuras to destroy humanity and lead it towards death and sin.

The journey towards the heart of darkness seems endless. It moves from grey to dark and further towards the dark extreme of creation.

Here Sri Aurobindo is cautioning us of what the aspirant may encounter on the Eternal’s Road. At the same time he reminds us of the ever-present Help and the Grace that we must always summon and pray for.

These cults spread to propagate falsehood under different names. Their way of life was cruel and intolerant of all that did not share their belief. Deception, hypocrisy, cruelty, intolerance was the very law of this world of falsehood.

Not only politics but even religion has come under the influence of evil that lives in the underbelly of creation. It has changed religion also into something dark and despicable.

Aswapati enters a domain of anarchy. There is no order, no rule, no harmony and each lives only for himself. Sri Aurobindo reveals to us in details what the world has become and can become under the influence of this darkness.

It was a world of treachery where even truth-speaking was used as a strategy by falsehood to further its own empire. It is when these dark worlds of falsehood and untruth influence human beings and take them in its strong grip that life here too becomes a hell.

Evil works in dubious and diabolic ways. It seldom comes declaring itself. Rather it often appears in the garb of good. Falsehood deceives us by imitating truth. We can see how quite a few religious teachers and even those who claim to be spiritual fall into this category. It reminds us of the need for caution and vigilance.

Aswapati now enters this land of deception where nothing is real or true and yet pretended to be so.

Falsehood draws its material from truth but gives it a twist thereby turning it into a lie. Its action is a distorting influence on things. Deception and terror is the law of life in this world. It is a world devoid of natural joy and good.