Opening Remarks
The titans too can have a kind of bhakti for the Divine. But this is a bhakti that is completely tainted by the ego. Its hallmark is revolt and complaint rather than love and surrender.
Divided between wonder and revolt
Some turned to her against their nature’s bent;
Divided between wonder and revolt,
Drawn by her charm and mastered by her will,
Possessed by her, her striving to possess,
Impatient subjects, their tied longing hearts
Hugging the bonds close of which they most complained,
Murmured at a yoke they would have wept to lose,
The splendid yoke of her beauty and her love:
Others pursued her with life’s blind desires
And claiming all of her as their lonely own,
Hastened to engross her sweetness meant for all.
The Asuric nature despises the Divine. Yet even these were drawn to her by her charm and power, revolting in one part while wondering in another. They sought to possess her whereas in reality it is she who was possessing their hearts and reigning over them. Impatient and full of wishes and desires they complained of her closeness which they yet would not want to lose. She had bound them with her beauty and love. Others sought to become her sole agents and intermediaries as if her sweetness was meant only for a few.
Sole jealous clasp
As earth claims light for its lone separate need
Demanding her for their sole jealous clasp,
They asked from her movements bounded like their own
And to their smallness craved a like response.
Even as it seems that the earth seeks the light of the sun only for itself so too these beings driven by selfish egoistic desires projected their own limitations on the Divine thinking her to be as small as they are.
Surpassed their grip
Or they repined that she surpassed their grip,
And hoped to bind her close with longing’s cords.
Some complained that they did not understand her ways and hoped to bind her close with their earthly longings.
Shrank from too bright a sun
Or finding her touch desired too strong to bear
They blamed her for a tyranny they loved,
Shrank into themselves as from too bright a sun,
Yet hankered for the splendour they refused.
Some found her touch too strong even as too bright a sun. They shrank into themselves blaming her for being a tyrant imposing upon them Her Love. Yet did they hanker after the splendour they outwardly refused.
Angrily enamoured
Angrily enamoured of her sweet passionate ray
The weakness of their earth could hardly bear,
They longed but cried out at the touch desired
Inapt to meet divinity so close,
Intolerant of a Force they could not house.
Enamoured of her sweetness yet angry at being unable to bear due their weakness, they longed and yet complained at er desired touch. Unable to meet the Divine at such closeness they became intolerant of a Force they could not house or contain.
Sweet but alien spell
Some drawn unwillingly by her divine sway
Endured it like a sweet but alien spell;
Unable to mount to levels too sublime,
They yearned to draw her down to their own earth.
Others were drawn unwillingly to her divine sway enduring it like a sweet but strange spell. Unable to mount to heights towards which she naturally drew them they instead tried to draw her down to their level.
Bind her
Or forced to centre round her their passionate lives,
They hoped to bind to their heart’s human needs
Her glory and grace that had enslaved their souls.
Or else forces to centre their lives around her they kept on pulling at her for their unending human needs the glory that had enslaved their soul.
Closing Remarks
This as we see is another kind of humanity who is also drawn towards the Divine but is full of its own self-regarding ego.
About Savitri | B1C1-11 A Sacred Yearning (p.5)