Book One: The Book of Beginnings

In this Canto we see Seer King Aswapati experiencing something new and unprecedented in the history of Yoga. In response to his new aspiration that wants perfection here upon earth, in the material frame itself, he is given a glimpse of the Splendours of the Spirit hidden in the higher hemisphere of existence.

What follows next is hurried glimpse of the Higher Hemisphere. What he has now glimpsed from the translucent screen of the Overmind must be entered into and experienced directly. This will be described in details later.

Aswapati now sees the worlds that lie concealed in the higher Hemisphere of existence. He stands now at the borders of the two hemispheres and from this vantage point gets a glimpse of the Supramental world, even though from the outside.

A complex play of forces hidden to our sight supports this visible universe from behind. This complex play of forces is arranged hierarchically as a ladder. This ladder will be described in detail in Book Two.

The Divine Maya is the Occult Power that works behind creation. She is not a power of illusion as is often believed to be, but a power of the Divine that receives her impetus from the Supramental Divine and turns it into real and living forms and figures, breathing into them something of her power.

Having hinted to us the workings of a supreme creative Intelligence behind forms and figures and qualities, Sri Aurobindo now gives us a glimpse of this Creative Power. She is not a mechanical energy but a conscious Power of God that has gone into creation.

There are powers that lie in the intermediary domains that connect the human mind to the Overmind, which can be that can easily be mistaken for the true Divine. Sri Aurobindo reminds us that this is but a mediating realm, the mediator divinity that connects matter with the Spirit.

The workings of Nature are at once a marvel and a wonder. Its complexity and the working out of several lines of forces at several levels together is enough to make us see that there is behind her workings an unseen Hand of Light and wonder.

Aswapati grows aware of the occult forces that stand behind creation and weave the texture and curves and circumstances of our life. New and divine possibilities begin to emerge and manifest spontaneously as the instruments of Nature are heightened, refined and progressively transformed.