Opening Remarks
Now that Aswapati has glimpsed this immense ladder of Consciousness, he is called upon to undertake the immense journey to discover its constituent elements and energies in detail. He must first explore the world he aspires to change, know how it operates and influences earth-nature.
A Seer within
A Seer within who knows the ordered plan
Concealed behind our momentary steps,
Inspires our ascent to viewless heights
As once the abysmal leap to earth and life.
The All-knowing Divine Presence is hidden within us. He knows the steps of the great journey and walks with us all the way. Even as once creation leaped from His hands and plunged into the dark obscurity of Ignorance so too and through the same route it ascends towards Its unseen summits. It is He who calls us back to our Home and guides and acts within matter and plant and bird and beast and man pulling everything upwards, carrying everything towards the Divine Perfection inherent within.
Call of the Divine
His call had reached the Traveller in Time.
Even in our ignorance it is He who pushes us towards the heights but a time comes when we become conscious of this Divine Presence through intuition and faith. We feel Him near and hear His call and are drawn towards the deepest mysteries. But Aswapati has already discovered and identified himself with the Immanent and the Cosmic Divine. Now he hears the call of the Seer within, the Superconscient Truth that calls him for the great evolutionary ascension that has been so planned and willed by the One who hides behind name and form and conducts the Evolution of the Earth from within.
Bearing the burden of the world
Apart in an unfathomed loneliness,
He travelled in his mute and single strength
Bearing the burden of the world’s desire.
Once again we are being told that this journey undertaken by Aswapati is not for himself alone. Though apart and alone in his seeking solitude, he is yet the representative of the human race and embodies its anguish and its aspiration. Through him, it is human nature that advances further; through him a door of possibility opens for all. He must carry now the burden of the whole field of ignorant nature and not just release and annul his soul into the Transcendent.
A formless Stillness
A formless Stillness called, a nameless Light.
His Mind a Stillness grown, he is now moved by an inner impulsion towards the Glory of glories, the Light of lights that bears no Name and yet assumes a many names at the same time.
Above and around
Above him was the white immobile Ray,
Around him the eternal Silences.
In that state of utter Stillness, surrounded by the Silence of the Eternal, Aswapati dwells in the luminous wideness of the higher spiritual realms, aspiring to climb beyond to the Supramental Sun.
The invisible Magnet
No term was fixed to the high-pitched attempt;
World after world disclosed its guarded powers,
Heaven after heaven its deep beatitudes,
But still the invisible Magnet drew his soul.
No more driven by a brief life’s will, he is prepared to undertake this long and arduous journey never attempted before. Meanwhile even as he feels the subtle pull of the Beyond, domains of consciousness and their energies and powers and beings begin to disclose their secrets to him.
Nature’s giant stair
A figure sole on Nature’s giant stair,
He mounted towards an indiscernible end
On the bare summit of created things.
Aswapati is not only a free being but he is also the Avatara. Therefore he can move up and down the ladder of creation freely, study their laws and impact upon earth and humanity. He takes a good look at the entire field and range of creation which has been given to him for the Divine Work. Thus far he is alone on this tremendous venture.
Closing Remarks
Thus we see the broad foundation being laid for us to receive what is revealed to Aswapati, the seer and yogi. From the next Canto until the end of this Book we shall see and share Aswapati’s discoveries regarding these hidden worlds as they climb from Matter through worlds of life and mind towards the Supermind.
Closing Remarks for the Canto
This Canto not only gives us an overview of the many systems of worlds (to be described in detail later) but also reveals to us the secret of Evolution. We are also revealed how this material world came into existence and the great sacrifice of the Divine Mother that has gone into creation and builds its steps of return to carry us back towards the Divine state from which we fell. We may add that all this corresponds to Sri Aurobindo’s early period of stay in Pondicherry, before the Mother’s coming.
END OF CANTO ONE
