The Dual Being (SAP 035)

This sonnet reveals to us the two beings within us, one surface and the inner.

THE DUAL BEING

There are two beings in my single self.
    A Godhead watches Nature from behind
At play in front with a brilliant surface elf,
    A time-born creature with a human mind.

Tranquil and boundless like a sea or sky,
    The Godhead knows himself Eternity’s son.
Radiant his mind and vast, his heart as free;
    His will is a sceptre of dominion.

The smaller self by Nature’s passions driven,
    Thoughtful and erring learns his human task;
All must be known and to that Greatness given
    His mind and life, the mirror and the mask.

As with the figure of a symbol dance
The screened Omniscient plays at Ignorance.

                (Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo vol. 2 p. 612)