Opening Remarks
Aswapati now turns his gaze upwards to continue his journey further. He glimpses from below the greater light shining in the realms above.
Breathless stratosphere
Above in a high breathless stratosphere,
Overshadowing the dwarfish trinity,
Lived, aspirants to a limitless Beyond,
Captives of Space, walled by the limiting heavens,
In the unceasing circuit of the hours
Yearning for the straight paths of eternity,
And from their high station looked down on this world
Two sun-gaze Daemons witnessing all that is.
Above and overtopping the triple layered lower mind with its dwarf –like reach, he saw beings aspiring in the higher realms to go further towards some limitless Beyond. They were dwelling in the higher heavens waiting to further to the very Highest realms of shadowless Light. They sought to step out of the boundaries of Space and Time. From their high station they looked upon the world happenings with eyes filled with the intuitive light.
Voices of the Gods
A power to uplift the laggard world,
Imperious rode a huge high-winged Life-Thought
Unwont to tread the firm unchanging soil:
Accustomed to a blue infinity,
It planed in sunlit sky and starlit air;
It saw afar the unreached Immortal’s home
And heard afar the voices of the Gods.
There in that high clear and luminous realm a greater Thought, powerful and swift-winged, rode the skies of mind. It soared far above the heavy earthly tread towards its infinite Source. It longed to reach its immortal home navigating its flight through god-signs and in the company of luminous Gods.
Iconoclast
Iconoclast and shatterer of Time’s forts,
Overleaping limit and exceeding norm,
It lit the thoughts that glow through the centuries
And moved to acts of superhuman force.
This greater Thought could no more be penned within earthly limits. It shattered the mechanical formulas and forms built by the lower mind to imprison Truth. It shattered the norms and measures that chain the divine impulsion in creation. It illumined the already known with a new light and moved towards the future with a superhuman force.
Vistas of dream-fate
As far as its self-winged air-planes could fly,
Visiting the future in great brilliant raids
It reconnoitred vistas of dream-fate.
It went in search of the future on winged thought that raided the skies of mind with brilliant light illumining what was yet hidden in folds of dream-fate waiting to manifest.
Vision plans
Apt to conceive, unable to attain,
It drew its concept-maps and vision-plans
Too large for the architecture of mortal Space.
Too large for earthly limits and their small constructions, this thought conceived brilliantly but had not yet the power to attain. It was wide and visionary in its seeing but limited in its ability to achieve what it conceived.
A pure Thought-Mind
Beyond in wideness where no footing is,
An imagist of bodiless Ideas,
Impassive to the cry of life and sense,
A pure Thought-Mind surveyed the cosmic act.
This pure Thought-Mind dwelt in cosmic wideness and saw the truths that were yet to take a body upon earth. It was not held back by our surface vision of things or the appeal of emotions and the chain of senses imprisoning us to appearances of life.
Archangel
Archangel of a white transcending realm,
It saw the world from solitary heights
Luminous in a remote and empty air.
An Archangel of the sheer transcendent Light it saw the world from heights where few could dare to soar. It dwelt in a luminous and remote emptiness.
Closing Remarks
Thus comes to a close this Canto leaving us with a hurried glimpse of what lies further beyond Reason.
Closing Remarks for the Canto
This Canto describes in great detail the three layers of the little Mind that has so far manifested upon earth. First of this to appear is the physical mind centered around the bodily existence. Next appears the vital Mind that goes into the vital realm to draw its inspiration and breath. It soars on wings of imagination and creative impulsion of the vital worlds. Finally there comes the rational Mind, the mind that uses Reason to discover truth of things. All these are termed as the little Mind since despite their usefulness they remain bound to the senses and appearances and hence cannot free itself to soar towards greater heights of existence or dive deeper into the very heart of Reality. Beyond these layers there await our discovery kingdoms of the Greater mind that would emerge in the earthly play under the increasing pressure of the evolutionary Force.
