Savitri Class in Hindi with Alok Pandey
Savitri Book Six: The Book of Fate, Canto Two: The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain
Prompted by question of seer-king Aswapati, Narad, the heavenly sage, touches in brief the problem of Freewill versus Fate. There is an eternal Will working out Its incalculable purpose. Man can align himself to this eternal Will or work at cross-purposes to It. Yet in either case, ultimately the eternal Will is bound to prevail. We can only choose the path towards that. Though, the highest truth is that even our errors and meanderings are in a way foreseen Above. This is the secret mystic truth which Sri Aurobindo reveals to us through the words of Narad.
Then Aswapati answered to the seer:
“Is then the spirit ruled by an outward world?O seer, is there no remedy within?
But what is Fate if not the spirit’s will
After long time fulfilled by cosmic Force?I deemed a mighty Power had come with her;
Is not that Power the high compeer of Fate?”But Narad answered covering truth with truth:
“O Aswapati, random seem the ways
Along whose banks your footsteps stray or run
In casual hours or moments of the gods,
Yet your least stumblings are foreseen above.
Infallibly the curves of life are drawn
Following the stream of Time through the unknown;
They are led by a clue the calm immortals keep.This blazoned hieroglyph of prophet morns
A meaning more sublime in symbols writes
Than sealed Thought wakes to, but of this high script
How shall my voice convince the mind of earth?Heaven’s wiser love rejects the mortal’s prayer;
Unblinded by the breath of his desire,
Unclouded by the mists of fear and hope,
It bends above the strife of love with death;
It keeps for her her privilege of pain.A greatness in thy daughter’s soul resides
That can transform herself and all around
But must cross on stones of suffering to its goal.
Although designed like a nectar cup of heaven,
Of heavenly ether made she sought this air,
She too must share the human need of grief
And all her cause of joy transmute to pain.The mind of mortal man is led by words,
His sight retires behind the walls of Thought
And looks out only through half-opened doors.He cuts the boundless Truth into sky-strips
And every strip he takes for all the heavens.He stares at infinite possibility
And gives to the plastic Vast the name of Chance;
He sees the long results of an all-wise Force
Planning a sequence of steps in endless Time
But in its links imagines a senseless chain
Or the dead hand of cold Necessity;
He answers not to the mystic Mother’s heart,
Misses the ardent heavings of her breast
And feels cold rigid limbs of lifeless Law.The will of the Timeless working out in Time
In the free absolute steps of cosmic Truth
He thinks a dead machine or unconscious Fate.A Magician’s formulas have made Matter’s laws
And while they last, all things by them are bound;
But the spirit’s consent is needed for each act
And Freedom walks in the same pace with Law.All here can change if the Magician choose.
If human will could be made one with God’s,
If human thought could echo the thoughts of God,
Man might be all-knowing and omnipotent;
But now he walks in Nature’s doubtful ray.Yet can the mind of man receive God’s light,
The force of man can be driven by God’s force,
Then is he a miracle doing miracles.
For only so can he be Nature’s king.[Savitri: 456 – 458]
(line breaks are added to emphasize separate movements)
