Opening Remarks
Describing the atmosphere of the life heavens, Sri Aurobindo now gives us a glimpse of the kingdom that borders on the higher worlds.
Unbelievable by human faith
Almost unbelievable by human faith,
Hardly they seemed the stuff of things that are.
It is impossible for human thought or imagination to conceive the splendours that await our discovery on the high peaks of nature where life is so different in substance and organization.
Images from a far scene
As through a magic television’s glass
Outlined to some magnifying inner eye
They shone like images thrown from a far scene
Too high and glad for mortal lids to seize.
At first they are seen from afar, brought close to our vision as if by some magical television. The inner eye witnesses them as images from a distant scene, too good to be true, too glad for our eyes to behold.
The hidden kingdoms of beatitude
But near and real to the longing heart
And to the body’s passionate thought and sense
Are the hidden kingdoms of beatitude.
And yet these worlds are near us if only we dive within our hearts and see them with the eyes of the secret soul. It is close to us and inspires the body’s sense and passionate thought to seek the Beauty and Joy in earthly life.
Wallowing in bliss
In some close unattained realm which yet we feel,
Immune from the harsh clutch of Death and Time,
Escaping the search of sorrow and desire,
In bright enchanted safe peripheries
For ever wallowing in bliss they lie.
But unlike our earth, these worlds are immune to death and time or the grip of sorrow and desire that makes us restless and fills us with a sense of want. These are worlds where bliss is the very substance of being and the law of life. It is their influence that makes us momentarily forget the stare of death and feel the call to bliss.
Figures of a perfect kingdom
In dream and trance and muse before our eyes,
Across a subtle vision’s inner field,
Wide rapturous landscapes fleeting from the sight,
The figures of the perfect kingdom pass
And behind them leave a shining memory’s trail.
Sometimes these worlds can be seen in trance and subtle vision, and passingly fill us with rapture leaving behind a trail of beautiful memory that lingers in our inner being.
Unreal seeming yet more real than life
Imagined scenes or great eternal worlds,
Dream-caught or sensed, they touch our hearts with their depths;
Unreal-seeming, yet more real than life,
Happier than happiness, truer than things true,
If dreams these were or captured images,
Dream’s truth made false earth’s vain realities.
These are worlds from where artists often draw their imagination and inspirations. To the practical man, to the physically rooted person, these truths seem unreal and yet, to the heart touched and moved by their breath, they are real and concrete in their effects. Though they may appear as dreams to our mortal vision, yet these dreams are of priceless value to humanity since they help us aspire and bring down beauty and joy and love that are not normally found upon earth.
Griefless countries
In a swift eternal moment fixed there live
Or ever recalled come back to longing eyes
Calm heavens of imperishable Light,
Illumined continents of violet peace,
Oceans and rivers of the mirth of God
And griefless countries under purple suns.
These are luminous heavens of where peace and rapture come together filling the space with God’s joy and shutting the doors to grief and sorrow and pain.
Closing Remarks
Such are the high heavens of Beatitude and Bliss that border on the Empire of the Sun.
