Towards Greater Heights and Wider Horizons, pp. 115

Opening Remarks
Aswapati is on a profound quest as a representative of earth and man. He is in search of the Master Key to make earthly life perfect with the Divine Perfection. This is not the place where he can find the key. He must go further into a yet greater Beyond.

A perfect picture in a perfect frame
A perfect picture in a perfect frame,
This faery artistry could not keep his will:
Only a moment’s fine release it gave;
A careless hour was spent in a slight bliss.

But Aswapati is not the one to be lured into this world. He takes a glance and rests for a while but soon prepares to advance further into the limitless Adventure of the Beyond. He is in pursuit of a Divine Perfection and not this limited perfection embodied in this world of perfect forms.

Hidden powers and deeper states
Our spirit tires of being’s surfaces,
Transcended is the splendour of the form;
It turns to hidden powers and deeper states.

Human aspiration cannot be confined to a limited sphere since its birthplace is the Infinite. Sooner or later it is bound to turn within and search for greater powers and states of consciousness that reach out towards the Divine.

Reaching out  to the Beyond
So now he looked beyond for greater light.

Knowing the limitation of this world, Aswapati prepares to go further towards a greater and all-encompassing Light.

The outer courtyard
His soul’s peak-climb abandoning in its rear
This brilliant courtyard of the House of Days,
He left that fine material Paradise.

Sri Aurobindo calls this space as a fine material Paradise where everything is provided for the form but very little for the soul’s growth. He leaves this radiant space which is like the outermost courtyard of the House of the Spirit. He must travel further and meet the Supreme in His own mansion.

His destiny lay beyond
His destiny lay beyond in larger Space.

Forward, ever forward, further, ever further is the call upon Aswapati from the invisible, intangible heights and he follows the call of his destiny.

Closing Remarks
We see here a moving description of the high climbing fire of aspiration that soars in Aswapati’s heart. He is willing to renounce the immediate joys and a limited perfection for the sake of what he aspires for. Such is the limitless aspiration for the Infinite that all must nurture who have the call for the Supramental Path.

END OF CANTO TWO