Mind and the Unknowable, p. 305

Opening Remarks
Aswapati stands now at the doors of the Unknowable. It is here that he may find the very Home of Truth, the ultimate Source from where all emerge. Our mind’s knowledge is insufficient to reveal the face of Truth to us.

Spirit’s sacred thirst
All is too little that the world can give:
Its power and knowledge are the gifts of Time
And cannot fill the spirit’s sacred thirst.

The knowledge of the world and its powers and joys are finite whereas the soul in us thirsts for the Infinite. The spirit seeks the infinite and the eternal and can never be satisfied for long with transient and temporal things.
Impenetrable, occult

Although of One these forms of greatness are
And by its breath of grace our lives abide,
Although more near to us than nearness’ self,
It is some utter truth of what we are;
Hidden by its own works, it seemed far-off,
Impenetrable, occult, voiceless, obscure.

All things here in this lower triple world are born from the One and hence carry something of the Source within them. They exist because of the One and the Eternal. Thus, the Source, the One true Self is within us, it is our very truth and core and yet hidden by the immense cosmic forces that It has woven around it. Therefore it seems so far, difficult to penetrate, occult whose voice we cannot hear and only vaguely feel.

The Glory and the Presence
The Presence was lost by which all things have charm,
The Glory lacked of which they are dim signs.

When we are on this side of the creation we as if lose the Presence which is the very cause of charm in all things. It is veiled so to say. All Glory belongs to this wonderful Presence in all things. All creation is a clumsy attempt to reproduce Him in a sign language so to say.

Empty of its Cause
The world lived on made empty of its Cause,
Like love when the beloved’s face is gone.

It is this Presence which is the ultimate Cause of all things. It is the very core and Source while all other intermediary causes are instrumental. Without knowing Him we live as if in an empty shell that has somehow come into existence. Without knowing Him our life is meaningless and futile as love without the beloved.

All knowledge ended in the Unknowable
The labour to know seemed a vain strife of Mind;
All knowledge ended in the Unknowable:
The effort to rule seemed a vain pride of Will;
A trivial achievement scorned by Time,
All power retired into the Omnipotent.

It is here that we discover the limits of all that we can know with the mind. Even its highest flights cannot reveal us the ultimate mystery which remains Unknowable. That is why the last word of all our mental seeking, stretched to its ultimate possibility is agnosticism. Discovering the limits and limitations of our efforts it is easy to see the absurdity of our will ruling over dominions that are finite and ephemeral, a glow transient as a breath that Time can easily blow off. All power that conducts the million processes of creation seemed to enter into the Unknowable beyond our probe.

Cave of darkness
A cave of darkness guards the eternal Light.

To enter this realm of the Unknowable one has to pass through a state where all our knowledge and power collapses, a state of utter nothingness so to say.

Closing Remarks
Thus Aswapati prepares himself to enter the realm from where none returns to report.