Opening Remarks
Savitri seeks to pass beyond the world of mind in search of her soul.
None answered
None answered in that bright contented world,
Or only turned on their accustomed way
Astonished to hear questioning in that air
Or thoughts that could still turn to the Beyond.
None answered her there about her seeking further. They were too contented with the mind’s partial lights and continued about their accustomed ways of thought. They were astonished to hear someone still question and seek further to a yet greater Beyond.
Some murmured
But some murmured, passers-by from kindred spheres:
Each by his credo judged the thought she spoke.
Some yet murmured who were passers-by from kindered spheres judging her by their own credo as to what she may be seeking.
Who then is this
“Who then is this who knows not that the soul
Is a least gland or a secretion’s fault
Disquieting the sane government of the mind,
Disordering the function of the brain,
Or a yearning lodged in Nature’s mortal house
Or dream whispered in man’s cave of hollow thought
Who would prolong his brief unhappy term
Or cling to living in a sea of death?”
The material scientists and philosophers responded by saying that the soul is nothing else but a glandular secretion that disquiets the workings of the mind and creates disorders in the brain function leading to unusual experiences. It is a yearning in the frail and fragile bodily house or a dream in man’s subconscious mind, a wish to prolong our brief unhappy life. Or it is perhaps a will to live in a sea of death.
Others said
But others, “Nay, it is her spirit she seeks.
The religious minded said that it is her spirit she is seeking.
A splendid shadow
A splendid shadow of the name of God,
A formless lustre from the Ideal’s realm,
The Spirit is the Holy Ghost of Mind;
But none has touched its limbs or seen its face.
They continued their discourse that the soul is the spirit which is the splendid shadow of God, a formless lustre from the Ideal’s realm. It is the Holy Ghost of the Mind whose limbs none has touched or whose face none has seen.
Crucified son
Each soul is the great Father’s crucified Son,
Mind is that soul’s one parent, its conscious cause,
The ground on which trembles a brief passing light,
Mind, sole creator of the apparent world.
Each soul is the crucified son of the Heavenly Father born from the Mind which is its cause, the ground on which it trembles as a brief passing light. Mind is the sole creator of the apparent world.
Our own self
All that is here is part of our own self;
Our minds have made the world in which we live.”
All that is here is nothing else but creations of our mind, parts of our mental self.
Mystic eyes
Another with mystic and unsatisfied eyes
Who loved his slain belief and mourned its death,
“Is there one left who seeks for a Beyond?
Yet another with mystic tendencies harbouring dissatisfaction in his eyes whose belief was slain and he was deeply mourning the shattering of his thought system, asked if there is still someone who seeks for a Beyond?
Can still the path be found?
Can still the path be found, opened the gate?”
Stepping out of his shattered beliefs he wondered if the path to something Beyond can still be found and the gates opened for a more perfect understanding of life and experience of God.
Closing Remarks
Savitri passes through these various mental possibilities and then moves further.
