Canto VIII: The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness

The reign of Night ends the moment we face it fearlessly carrying the God-Light and Love in our hearts. Darkness has been smitten by the Light, the mask is torn and what stands there is the face of the Divine Beloved

Aswapati conquered the heart of Night and found the secrets of the Abyss. Thence he discovered the Wisdom working in the mask of Ignorance and the key to Nature’s change

In the core of Night too Aswapati discovers and uncovers the Divine Presence which was wearing this terrible mask.

Aswapati ventured into this dark and dangerous realm to know its source of power and remedy. He enters the pit and the cave of Night.

It is a dark philosophy that makes sorrow seem to be the path to the Divine. Of course one must face sorrow when it comes but to make it an object by itself is a dark philosophy. Tragedy, sorrow, suffering are not what the Divine wants in this world.

Religions that inspire fear are among the most susceptible to being captured by the dark forces. This is especially so when the founder is gone and it is left to ignorant men to interpret his words.

Suffering and pain are found wherever there is ignorance. Generally there is an instinctive urge to come out of this state. But in that hell suffering was the law and way of life, cherished as the rule of living.

The journey of yoga requires one to be a warrior soul since one has to meet enormous inner and outer challenges. This is true of all authentic yoga but much more so of the yoga of transformation.

There are not only forces but beings whose very task is to oppose God. Creating chaos and confusion in the world they help the Night to triumph and disorder to harden into Law. They invoke the powers of darkness to sustain and strengthen them.

In a sense there cannot be any enemy of God since all is He. But in the process of becoming and while discovering a dynamic principle of action we can see that there are forces and powers that are aligned to the Divine Will and help the great unfolding as also there are other forces that distract and pervert the original Will and oppose the great Plan.

The spiritual life is full of its own dangers due to these forces of darkness and falsehood that chase and cling to an aspirant’s feet. A great persistence, vigilance and sincerity are needed to pass through the devious traps laid down by the forces of Evil on the way.

Embedded in creation is the force that opposes our evolutionary advance. It keeps pulling the soul back towards the dark Inconscient out of which it rises towards Freedom, Unity, Peace, Light and Bliss.

It is indeed inconceivable as to the why and wherefore of Evil and darkness and error with our limited human intelligence absorbed in the outward and the immediate. Yet the Wisdom that works in the heart of Night is real and serves a purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Evil was born out of the womb of Night. It wore a form and shape and strove to conquer the world with its shadow.

Hell is not so much and outer condition as it is an inner space. It exists in some inner dimension of existence and sometimes its dark influence creeps up in our own life polluting it with its breath.

Darkness has no reality of its own. It is a shadow that claims our attention as if it were a self-existent reality. So too falsehood has no reality of its own. It is a twisting of the body of truth. Suffering has no reality of its own. It is an entanglement of delight into finite and transient forms.

Having revealed to us the general description and the atmosphere of various levels of descent into Hell, Sri Aurobindo now describes the beings and forces of evil and darkness, the parent power that gave them birth and finally, their nemesis and end.