The Mother Reads Selections from Savitri by Sri Aurobindo
Book 7. The Book of Yoga
Canto 2. The Parable of the Search for the Soul
Above her brows where will and knowledge meet
A mighty Voice invaded mortal space.
. . .
As the Voice touched, her body became a stark
And rigid golden statue of motionless trance,
A stone of God lit by an amethyst soul.
. . .
Her heart listened to its slow measured beats,
. . .
“Why camest thou to this dumb deathbound earth,
. . .
O spirit, O immortal energy,
If ’twas to nurse grief in a helpless heart
Or with hard tearless eyes awake thy doom?
Arise, O soul, and vanquish Time and Death.”
[p. 474]
* * *
But Savitri’s heart replied in the dim night:
. . .
Why should I strive with earth’s unyielding laws
Or stave off death’s inevitable hour?
This surely is best to pactise with my fate
And follow close behind my lover’s steps
And pass through night from twilight to the sun
Across the tenebrous river that divides
The adjoining parishes of earth and heaven.
. . .
The Voice replied: “Is this enough, O spirit?
And what shall thy soul say when it wakes and knows
The work was left undone for which it came?
[pp. 474; 475]
* * *
Then Savitri’s heart fell mute, it spoke no word.
. . .
A Power within her answered the still Voice:
“I am thy portion here charged with thy work,
As thou myself seated for ever above,
Speak to my depths, O great and deathless Voice,
Command, for I am here to do thy will.”
[p. 476]
* * *
The Voice replied: “Remember why thou cam’st:
Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self,
. . .
In the enormous emptiness of thy mind
Thou shalt see the Eternal’s body in the world,
Know him in every voice heard by thy soul:
. . .
Then shalt thou harbour my force and conquer Death.”
Then Savitri by her doomed husband sat,
Still rigid in her golden motionless pose,
A statue of the fire of the inner sun.
. . .
She looked into herself and sought for her soul.
[pp. 476-477]End of Book 7 Canto 2
three dots stand for omitted lines, three asterisks indicate also a separate page in the video presentation
