Opening Remarks
Man must be vigilant not to take the path of the Titan. He must rather walk the path of divine consummation revealed to him by the Divine.
Take not that stride
Take not that stride, O growing soul of man;
Cast not thy self into that night of God.
Man is being advised to exercise caution and not take the stride of the Titan in its rush and search for the Godhead. The ambitious Titan stumbles by his rashness and collapses under the expansion of his own ego. It will only cast oneself into the Night of God.
Suffering is not the key
The soul suffering is not eternity’s key,
Or ransom by sorrow heaven’s demand on life.
Inflicting suffering upon oneself or forcing open the doors of heaven by sorrow is not the key to eternal peace and bliss or to wisdom and light of Truth.
Ask not for the stroke
O mortal, bear, but ask not for the stroke,
Too soon will grief and anguish find thee out.
Mortal man should not take the path of suffering or ask for blows as the Titans do. Such an approach will only end up opening the doors to anguish and grief.
Too enormous
Too enormous is that venture for thy will;
Only in limits can man’s strength be safe;
Yet is infinity thy spirit’s goal;
Its bliss is there behind the world’s face of tears.
Man is weak and limited and while labouring under the ignorance is vulnerable. His strength is safe within the human limits. To venture along the roads of the Titan by aggrandising the ego is too enormous and dangerous. This is not to say that man must remain forever a limited being or tied to mortality and ignorance. His goal is indeed infinity whose bliss hides behind the world’s face of sorrow and tears.
A power is in thee
A power is in thee that thou knowest not;
Thou art a vessel of the imprisoned spark.
There is a power within man whose touch can liberate us from all grief and sorrow. It is spark of God imprisoned in the human body and the sheaths of ignorance. Man knows it not and yet it is the key to joining his finite parts with the infinite.
It seeks its release
It seeks relief from Time’s envelopment,
And while thou shutst it in, the seal is pain:
Bliss is the Godhead’s crown, eternal, free,
Unburdened by life’s blind mystery of pain:
Pain is the signature of the Ignorance
Attesting the secret god denied by life:
Until life finds him pain can never end.
This secret Godhead held within human hearts seeks its release and as long as we shut it in, we are besieged with pain. Bliss is the crown of this Godhead, eternal, free, unburdened by the mystery of pain that haunts all lives. Pain, on the other hand, is the sign of ignorance seeking the same Godhead whom life denies. Pain can never end until life finds this secret Godhead dwelling within human hearts.
Calm is self’s victory
Calm is self’s victory overcoming fate.
Calm is self’s victory over fate. It is the first thing needed to conquer adversity.
At last thou shalt find
Bear; thou shalt find at last thy road to bliss.
A great assurance is being given to man that if he bears, he shall at last find the road to bliss.
Bliss is the secret stuff
Bliss is the secret stuff of all that lives,
Even pain and grief are garbs of world-delight,
It hides behind thy sorrow and thy cry.
Bliss is indeed the secret stuff of all creatures. It wears the garbs of pain and grief. Behind the sorrow and cry there hides the world-delight.
Forgets to be divine
Because thy strength is a part and not God’s whole,
Because afflicted by the little self
Thy consciousness forgets to be divine
As it walks in the vague penumbra of the flesh
And cannot bear the world’s tremendous touch,
Thou criest out and sayst that there is pain.
It is because we identify with the part and not God’s whole that our strength becomes limited afflicted by the little self. It is because our consciousness forgets to be divine due to its identification with the bodily self and cannot bear the world’s tremendous touch that one cries out and experiences pain.
A triple disguise
Indifference, pain and joy, a triple disguise,
Attire of the rapturous Dancer in the ways,
Withhold from thee the body of God’s bliss.
Indifference, pain and joy are a triple disguise, the dress of the rapturous Divine Dancer on the roads of time withholding one from the body of Bliss.
Joy laugh nude
Thy spirit’s strength shall make thee one with God,
Thy agony shall change to ecstasy,
Indifference deepen into infinity’s calm
And joy laugh nude on the peaks of the Absolute.
Your spirit’s strength shall make you one with God and change agony into ecstasy. Then indifference will deepen into the calm of infinity and joy laugh bare and bright on the peaks of the Absolute.
Closing remarks
Sorrow, suffering and grief are the sign of Ignorance. They are appearances. Behind it all there is the Godhead of Bliss.
About Savitri | B1C3-11 Towards Unity with God (pp.31-33)