Two Vast Negations
He saw a world that is from a world to be
Yogi Aswapati is in the House of the Spirit and sees a new and marvellous creation ready to manifest upon earth, in fact a creation established by him only, an occult-yogic transcendental creation. Therefore his next practical concern is its manifestation. In that respect he has to first recognise and take care of something that is coming in the way. He notices that against the glory of spiritual states in the transcendent there are present here two vast negations:
A world that knows not its inhabiting Self,
Labours to find its cause and need to be;
A spirit ignorant of the world it made,
Obscured by Matter, travestied by Life,
Struggles to emerge, to be free, to know and reign;
These were close-tied in one disharmony,
Yet the divergent lines met not at all. ||87.2||
Three Powers governed its irrational course,
In the beginning an unknowing Force,
In the middle an embodied striving soul,
In its end a silent spirit denying life. ||87.3||
A dull and infelicitous interlude
Unrolls its dubious truth to a questioning Mind
Compelled by the ignorant Power to play its part
And to record her inconclusive tale,
The mystery of her inconscient plan
And the riddle of a being born from Night
By a marriage of Necessity with Chance. ||87.4||
This darkness hides our nobler destiny. ||87.5||
As yet thought only some high spirit’s dream
Or a vexed illusion in man’s toiling mind,
A new creation from the old shall rise,
A Knowledge inarticulate find speech,
Beauty suppressed burst into paradise bloom,
Pleasure and pain dive into absolute bliss. ||87.7||
A tongueless oracle shall speak at last,
The Superconscient conscious grow on earth,
The Eternal’s wonders join the dance of Time. ||87.8||
But now all seemed a vainly teeming vast
Upheld by a deluded Energy
To a spectator self-absorbed and mute,
Careless of the unmeaning show he watched,
Regarding the bizarre procession pass
Like one who waits for an expected end. ||87.9||
He saw a world that is from a world to be. ||87.10||
What or who is a tongueless oracle? He is a visionary, a prophet, an augur who does whatever has to be done without disclosing anything, things that are about to take place. Silently and unobtrusively he will work out the occult, that there will be the luminous awareness on the unfeeling and unknowing earth, that there will be joy and jubilation in the process of Time getting shaped by the wonders of the Eternal.
Let us scan a few lines of the passage:
A world| that knows| not its| in+hab|+it+ing Self,|
La+bours| to find| its cause| and need| to be;|
A spir|+it ig|+no+rant| of the world| it made,|
Ob+scured| by Mat|+ter, trav|+es+tied| by Life,|
Strug+gles| to e+merge,| to be free,|to know| and reign;|
These were| close-tied| in one| dis+har|+mo+ny,|
Yet the| di+ver|+gent lines| met not| at all. | 87.2
A tongue|+less or|+a+cle| shall speak| at last,|
The Su|+per+con}+scient con|+scious grow| on earth,|
The E+ter|+nal’s won|+ders join| the dance| of Time.| 87.8
He saw| a world| that is| from a world| to be.| 87.10
The featured image is a painting by Huta, Savitri, Book III Canto iii # 6

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