Index

Book Three Canto IV: The Vision and the Boon

Suddenly there is a stir. A sound comes quivering, an influence approaches and a mystic Form envelops Aswapati's earthly form. The Divine Mother whom he has worshipped is now before him and all of him flows to her. She speaks to him: “O Son of Strength who climbest the peaks of creation, what thou hast won is thine, but ask for no more. Do not pray for my descent in a world that is still inconscient; man is too weak to bear the Infinite's weight. Leave the omniscient Power at work to follow its course. Thou shalt live in thy own vast achievement, helping the world. Do not lose thyself in the Immutable, in the Alone. Thou hast a task and thou shalt share the toil on earth with the missioned Force.

Man is an enigma. Arriving from a half-luminous Beyond into an unconscious world, he hopes in vain to change the cosmic dream. But the Inconscience at the base, the titan Darkness, pursues him and defeats his efforts time and again. Man is a link between the beast and the half-god. Contradictions riddle his existence.

He is unable to save himself and yet he would save the world. He journeys always but arrives nowhere.

He is surrounded by Ignorance in his effort to win and establish Knowledge. After all his struggle and toil, the world is where it was.

But that is, indeed, not the end of things. The Power that has made this world will not be denied and it leads the soul of man on its destined road, slowly but relentlessly. Man cannot pause till he has found himself; there is a Light that leads, a Power that aids.

There are Gods who watch and help him with their influences, visits, infusions.

Thou shalt not falter, thou shalt endure and continue thy toil. My light shall be in thee, my strength shall be thy force. Let not impatience goad thee, be not content with a partial prize. The one boon thou shalt ask is to greaten thy spirit, the one joy thou shalt seek is to raise thy kind. Leave the result of thy work to the unchanging Will that stands immutable over all that struggle. All things shall change in the appointed transfiguring hour.”

The great Voice ceases. All is still, Aswapati cries out: "How can I rest content with the dull mortal life of the earth after seeing thy Face behind the cosmic mask? How long should we mortals struggle with the Night? Why does not a gleam of thy light break on our life? We work but arrive nowhere. Our strength is too little, the light too faint. We strive that out of our labours may arise a greater Man who incarnates the Truth of God. I know thy creation cannot fail. All is fixed in an ascending scale. Man is not the crown.

A power arose from slumber and saw from above mortal space and time. There was a mighty destruction. I saw the flaming pioneers of the Omnipotent come down to the earth, great creators, architects of immortality, embodying the divine Glory.

They shall one day change the face of the suffering earth and justify all the labour of the irrepressible Nature. Man will be followed by his divine successor and heaven shall walk on earth.

But meanwhile the world is weighed down by its imperfections; the seals of bondage are firm. Do not tarry any further. Mission to our earth a living form of Thine and with one great gesture change all future time."

The Divine Mother responds: "I have heard thy cry. Yes, one shall descend who will break the iron Law and change Nature's Doom by the Spirit's Power. A seed shall be sown in some tremendous hour of Death, a branch of heaven transplanted to human soil and Nature shall overleap her mortal step."

Slowly the Form withdraws, the strains of the Voice ebb away and Aswapati's soul draws back into the earth-world.

With a new conquering spirit he resumes his labours.