What follows over the next twenty lines or so is a detailed description of sleep. There is also here a subtle contrast between Savitri’s sleep and how we ordinarily experience it.
At first life grieved not in her burdened breast: On the lap of earth’s original somnolence Inert, released into forgetfulness, Prone it reposed, unconscious on mind’s verge, Obtuse and tranquil like the stone and star.
The sleep beyond care and grief
Normally our sleep is a process of unburdening and cleansing. We forget the pains of the day that has gone by and are equipped to face the day that is dawning. The body enters into a state of oneness with the earth-nature; it shares the state of inertia and indifference that is a common property of matter.
In a deep cleft of silence twixt two realms She lay remote from grief, unsawn by care, Nothing recalling of the sorrow here.
A cleft of silence between two realms
Through gaps in the ladder of consciousness we then pass into a brief and momentary contact with the Sachchidananda state that rejuvenates us. Still, parts of our nature remain submerged in the subconscient regions burdened with grief and care. We cannot remain there for long and start returning to earth-nature, pulled by the strings that tie us. Savitri is however adept at entering this state consciously. She reposes in the Light, so to say. Her nights are a conscious entry into the superconscious realms.
Then a slow faint remembrance shadowlike moved, And sighing she laid her hand upon her bosom And recognised the close and lingering ache, Deep, quiet, old, made natural to its place, But knew not why it was there nor whence it came.
The faint remembrance
Then drawn back to her outer consciousness by the memory of the pain she had nurtured throughout the year that has rolled by, Savitri returns to the waking state by a thread of memory that was kept intact. The memory is faint and shadowlike, kept as a link to remain connected to earth, where she has a work to do.
The Power that kindles mind was still withdrawn: Heavy, unwilling were life’s servitors Like workers with no wages of delight; Sullen, the torch of sense refused to burn; The unassisted brain found not its past.
The slow and heavy return
Her being has now to adapt to the earthly body. This takes time. The powers and forces that move our bodily life, the senses and the mind must be reconnected so that she can once again be human upon earth and experience earthly life.
Only a vague earth-nature held the frame.
Vague earth-nature
While she had moved out of her body, her physical frame had been maintained automatically by the earth-nature.
But now she stirred, her life shared the cosmic load.
Sharing the cosmic load
The return to the human body meant tying herself down to the most material consciousness.
At the summons of her body’s voiceless call Her strong far-winging spirit travelled back, Back to the yoke of ignorance and fate, Back to the labour and stress of mortal days, Lighting a pathway through strange symbol dreams Across the ebbing of the seas of sleep.
Back to the labour
During her sleep, Savitri left her body and travelled far beyond the realms of waking and of sleep. But now at the call of her body, whose destiny she has come to change, she returns back, accepting the labour and struggle of earthly life. Her return is through higher regions (the world of symbol dreams), leaving behind the world of superconscient sleep.
Her house of Nature felt an unseen sway, Illumined swiftly were life’s darkened rooms, And memory’s casements opened on the hours And the tired feet of thought approached her doors.
Re-entering the human body
The last phase is marked by a certain rhythmic movement of the body as her being enters into it. With this entry, her house of nature (her human body) and the vital and mental parts of her bodily life are once again activated. She once again returns to the world of human thought and sense.
Closing remarks
Savitri is now fully awake, ready to take upon herself the burden of earthly life.
The Transition Between Sleep and Waking, p. 9
At first life grieved not in her burdened breast:
On the lap of earth’s original somnolence
Inert, released into forgetfulness,
Prone it reposed, unconscious on mind’s verge,
Obtuse and tranquil like the stone and star.
In a deep cleft of silence twixt two realms
She lay remote from grief, unsawn by care,
Nothing recalling of the sorrow here.
Then a slow faint remembrance shadowlike moved,
And sighing she laid her hand upon her bosom
And recognised the close and lingering ache,
Deep, quiet, old, made natural to its place,
But knew not why it was there nor whence it came.
The Power that kindles mind was still withdrawn:
Heavy, unwilling were life’s servitors
Like workers with no wages of delight;
Sullen, the torch of sense refused to burn;
The unassisted brain found not its past.
Only a vague earth-nature held the frame.
But now she stirred, her life shared the cosmic load.
At the summons of her body’s voiceless call
Her strong far-winging spirit travelled back,
Back to the yoke of ignorance and fate,
Back to the labour and stress of mortal days,
Lighting a pathway through strange symbol dreams
Across the ebbing of the seas of sleep.
Her house of Nature felt an unseen sway,
Illumined swiftly were life’s darkened rooms,
And memory’s casements opened on the hours
And the tired feet of thought approached her doors.