Opening Remarks
Having heard the scroll of destiny, the queen and mother of Savitri tries to counsel her daughter persuading her to change her choice.
Only the gods can speak
Only the gods can speak what now thou speakst.
She bids Savitri not to speak as the immortal gods.
Thou who art human
Thou who art human, think not like a god.
Humans must live in the limits set for them and try to exceed and be as a god.
The place of man
For man, below the god, above the brute,
Is given the calm reason as his guide;
He is not driven by an unthinking will
As are the actions of the bird and beast;
He is not moved by stark Necessity
Like the senseless motion of inconscient things.
Man is somewhere between the brute beast below and the gods above. He has to be guided by the calm reason given to him as his guide. He is not meant to be driven by an unthinking will as animals and birds who are moved by instinct. Nor is he meant to live mechanically by stark necessity like senseless objects moving in space.
The middle path
The giant’s and the Titan’s furious march
Climbs to usurp the kingdom of the gods
Or skirts the demon magnitudes of Hell;
In the unreflecting passion of their hearts
They dash their lives against the eternal Law
And fall and break by their own violent mass:
The middle path is made for thinking man.
The giants and the titans march furiously to usurp the kingdom of the gods or challenge the fires of hell. They act under passion without reflection rebelling against the eternal Law and fall and break under their own weight. But for thinking man the path meant to be tread is the middle path.
Reason’s vigilant light
To choose his steps by reason’s vigilant light,
To choose his path among the many paths
Is given him, for each his difficult goal
Hewn out of infinite possibility.
Man must choose his path among many paths with help of the light of reason. It is this that is given to him to tread the difficult goal carved out of infinite possibilities.
Leave not thy goal
Leave not thy goal to follow a beautiful face.
She advices Savitri not to leave this middle path of reason chasing an impossible dream driven by the passion following a beautiful face.
Climbed above the mind
Only when thou hast climbed above thy mind
And liv’st in the calm vastness of the One
Can love be eternal in the eternal Bliss
And love divine replace the human tie.
She reminds Savitri that it is only when one has climbed above the mind and lives in the calm vastness of the One Divine can love find eternal bliss and our human love be replaced by the divine love.
Steps to climb to God
There is a shrouded law, an austere force:
It bids thee strengthen thy undying spirit;
It offers its severe benignancies
Of work and thought and measured grave delight
As steps to climb to God’s far secret heights.
The queen further shares her thoughts that there is a law of life that is not visible outside. It is meant to strengthen our spirit. It offers us work and thought and a limited joy as means to climb towards God’s far off secret heights.
Tranquil pilgrimage
Then is our life a tranquil pilgrimage,
Each year a mile upon the heavenly Way,
Each dawn opens into a larger Light.
It is thus that we can make our daily life a tranquil pilgrimage, each year a mile upon the roads to God and each morning dawn a step opening towards a vaster Light.
Thy acts are thy helpers
Thy acts are thy helpers, all events are signs,
Waking and sleep are opportunities
Given to thee by an immortal Power.
Our acts are the means given to us, events are signs, day and night are opportunities given to us by an immortal Power.
Timeless peace
So canst thou raise thy pure unvanquished spirit,
Till spread to heaven in a wide vesper calm,
Indifferent and gentle as the sky,
It greatens slowly into timeless peace.”
Thus can the unvanquished spirit slowly walk the way towards an upward climb till it reaches the wideness above and be as the indifferent gentle sky and greaten into timeless peace.
Closing Remarks
Thus the queen makes one final appeal to Savitri to reverse her choice.
