Ladder of Consciousness, pp. 524-525

Opening Remarks
Savitri enters the temple of the Soul. What she experiences there is described by Sri Aurobindo.

Walls covered with significant shapes
On the walls covered with significant shapes
Looked at her the life-scene of man and beast
And the high meaning of the life of gods,
The power and necessity of these numberless worlds,
And faces of beings and stretches of world-space
Spoke the succinct and inexhaustible
Hieratic message of the climbing planes.

The walls of that inner space were covered with significant shapes spanning the life of man and beast and all that the soul had experienced in lives that have gone before. There were also imprinted the life of the gods. The powers and necessity of the numberless worlds with faces of beings and stretches of world space were are presented there revealing inexhaustibly and succinctly the hieratic messages of the climbing planes.

Extension of the self of God
In their immensitude signing infinity
They were the extension of the self of God
And housed, impassively receiving all,
His figures and his small and mighty acts
And his passion and his birth and life and death
And his return to immortality.

These immense worlds rising like a tier towards infinity were seen as extensions of the Divine Self. Impassively they housed and received all, God’s figures and acts big and small as psychic imprints, The sketch of the passion play of birth and life and death staged by God for the soul’s return to immortality were all revealed to her inmost sight.

The triune Being
To the abiding and eternal is their climb,
To the pure existence everywhere the same,
To the sheer consciousness and the absolute force
And the unimaginable and formless bliss,
To the mirth in Time and the timeless mystery
Of the triune being who is all and one
And yet is no one but himself apart.

The ladder of consciousness climbed to the eternal Self, the pure existence everywhere, the sheer consciousness and absolute force and the unimaginable bliss, in one word Sachchidananda. These worlds emerged from Him, were sustained by Him and returned back to Him through the ladder of consciousness inbuilt within us as well as outside and around us. This ladder held within itself the play and mirth of Time and the timeless mystery of the Divine Sachchidananda who is all and one and yet no one but himself and apart.

Living nearness of the soul
There was no step of breathing men, no sound,
Only the living nearness of the soul.

There was no sound of steps or mortal men. Only the living nearness of the soul was felt.

God himself was there
Yet all the worlds and God himself were there,
For every symbol was a reality
And brought the presence which had given it life.

The soul dwells in the house of the Lord within us. And where God is, there all the worlds and powers and forces are there represented symbolically. Yet each symbol was a reality and brought out the living presence within it.

Closing Remarks
Savitri steps into the house of God within where all the worlds and their powers are represented.