Opening remarks
Yet this mind too serves a great purpose in the grand scheme of things. Kept in its place it can be useful. But out of place it becomes a great resistance to change, evolution and progress.
A smile from the Preserver
A smile from the Preserver of the Worlds
Sent down of old this guardian Mind to earth
That all might stand in their fixed changeless type
And from their secular posture never move.
The great Preserver of the Worlds ties down things to their own secure type. This avoids confusions since each has its small little place and its narrow limits within which it acts.
Faithful to its task
One sees it circling faithful to its task,
Tireless in an assigned tradition’s round;
In decayed and crumbling offices of Time
It keeps close guard in front of custom’s wall,
Or in an ancient Night’s dim environs
It dozes on a little courtyard’s stones
And barks at every unfamiliar light
As at a foe who would break up its home,
A watch-dog of the spirit’s sense-railed house
Against intruders from the Invisible,
Nourished on scraps of life and Matter’s bones
In its kennel of objective certitude.
This mind sticks to its mechanical round in fixed groves of habit and custom. Even when the world has moved on and humanity changed much, even when the conditions of living and the values have evolves, this mind prefers its old ways left on the wayside as time marched forward. Even as a dog faithful to its dwelling place even when it has crumbled and the master gone, this mind contuse to zealously guard tradition and custom and regards all change with suspicion and fear. It trusts only its outer senses and feeds itself on the left overs of life as it evolves further. It sticks to the outer field and disregard the inner impulse to grow. Thus it remains tied to and guards its old ways of life.
Measured greatness
And yet behind it stands a cosmic might:
A measured Greatness keeps its vaster plan,
A fathomless sameness rhythms the tread of life;
The stars’ changeless orbits furrow inert Space,
A million species follow one mute Law.
Yet this was necessary for creation to be. It keeps all things in their fixed orbits and within their limits set by nature. Each object follows the rhythm and routine determined for it by nature, the stars andf the species follow the laws of their motion within the range and groves fixed for them. Thus is the balance of creation kept.
Huge inertness
A huge inertness is the world’s defence,
Even in change is treasured changelessness;
Into inertia revolution sinks,
In a new dress the old resumes its role;
The Energy acts, the stable is its seal:
On Shiva’s breast is stayed the enormous dance.
It is this inertia to change which preserves the cosmic order even as it resists future evolution. Even the impulse to bring out something new is drawn down to the old pattern of life and the new gospel turns out to be the old wine in a new bottle. The great tremendous Energy, the Shakti acts carrying all things forward but Her rapid Feet are steadied upon Shiva’s breast so as to prevent chaos and disorder.
Closing Remarks
Each power of nature, each of its layers serves a certain purpose. The conservative spirit fixes things into a pattern but the same spirit becomes an obstacle when it is the hour of change and new things have to be brought down into the world.
