This Canto deals with the slow and painful emergence of life involved in matter. At first this life is heavily dependent on matter and resembles it closely. Then slowly it crawls and climbs and begins to fly and roam in the forest and the wilds. Then a rudimentary emotional life emerges and an early mind serving life’s blind drift and small aims and petty satisfactions emerges. This mind, though a little point of light, is not capable of any higher upward and deeper movement. This too moves within a small range and narrow confines. Thus the Canto closes with this first crucial evolutionary stage which will be followed by many others.
A colossal black serpent guards the treasures of the vital world. It only yields to those who master humanity’s sexual impulse.
