Opening Remarks
Narad now completes saying what he had to say, the purpose for which he had come, to reveal something of the scroll of fate, yet unseen by man. Having fulfilled his mission, he returns back to his celestial home.
O queen stand back
O queen, stand back from that stupendous scene,
Come not between her and her hour of Fate.
Having revealed what is written in Savitri’s fate Narad, the celestial sage advices the queen once again to stand back and rather not come between Savitri and her moment of destiny.
Her hour must come
Her hour must come and none can intervene:
Think not to turn her from her heaven-sent task,
Strive not to save her from her own high will.
Savitri has come to take the challenge of fate out of her own will. She must take the challenge and none can intervene. It is best not to turn her from her heaven given task or strive to change her own high will. This is his advice for the queen.
Thou hast no place
Thou hast no place in that tremendous strife;
Thy love and longing are not arbiters there;
Leave the world’s fate and her to God’s sole guard.
None, including the queen has any place or role in that tremendous strife. Our love and longings are not the forces or factors that are going to decide Savitri’s fate is what he reveals. Hence it is best perhaps to leave the world’s fate and her own to the sole guard of God.
No human strength can hinder or help
Even if he seems to leave her to her lone strength,
Even though all falters and falls and sees an end
And the heart fails and only are death and night,
God-given her strength can battle against doom
Even on a brink where Death alone seems close
And no human strength can hinder or can help.
Even if God seems to leave her to her lone strength, even if all falters and falls and sees an end and the heart fails and only are death and night, yet her God-given strength is equal to the task she has undertaken. Even on the brink of Death no human strength can hinder or help. For always in the Divine Providence we are given the exact strength and capacity to endure what we are called upon to bear.
Think not to intercede
Think not to intercede with the hidden Will,
Intrude not twixt her spirit and its force
But leave her to her mighty self and Fate.”
His final word to the queen once again is not to intercede with the ways and wisdom of God’s Will and His secret plan. He sums it up by asking her not to intrude between her spirit and its force but leave her to her mighty self to confront and take the challenge of fate.
He spoke and ceased
He spoke and ceased and left the earthly scene.
Having said what he had to say, Narad left the earthly scene.
Turned towards his far-off blissful home
Away from the strife and suffering on our globe,
He turned towards his far-off blissful home.
He turned away from this field of strife and suffering upon our globe towards his far-off blissful home where he dwells with his Lord.
Receding star
A brilliant arrow pointing straight to heaven,
The luminous body of the ethereal seer
Assailed the purple glory of the noon
And disappeared like a receding star
Vanishing into the light of the Unseen.
As a brilliant arrow pointing straight to heaven the luminous body of the ethereal seer went past the royal glory of the noon and disappeared like a receding star vanishing into the light of the Unseen.
Anthem of eternal love
But still a cry was heard in the infinite,
And still to the listening soul on mortal earth
A high and far imperishable voice
Chanted the anthem of eternal love.
He vanished but the cry of the seer continued to ring in the infinite and to the listening soul upon earth his high and imperishable voice continued to resound and chant the anthem of eternal love.
Closing Remarks
Thus ends Narad’s work who comes to caution everyone about the scroll of fate and advices the queen not to intervene or interfere. Having done what he had to do he returns back to his celestial home.
Closing Remarks for the Canto
Book Six Canto Two is all about the ways and workings of fate. Fate operates at different levels and there are different ways to look at it. Narad reveals all these subtle and profound truths and mysteries of existence, then knits them together harmoniously and beautifully weaving all the answers to man’s fate. Finally after building up the ways of fate in ordinary humanity and in great luminous beings who come from God for a particular work, he responds directly to the purpose for which Savitri has come and her adverse fate is part of that great secret Plan of God.
