The next part of Savitri we shall discuss is as follows.

Here where our half-lit ignorance skirts the gulfs

On the dumb bosom of the ambiguous earth,
Here where one knows not even the step in front
And Truth has her throne on the shadowy back of doubt,
On this anguished and precarious field of toil
Outspread beneath some large indifferent gaze,
Impartial witness of our joy and bale,
Our prostrate soil bore the awakening ray.
Here too the vision and prophetic gleam
Lit into miracles common meaningless shapes;
Then the divine afflatus, spent, withdrew,
Unwanted, fading from the mortal's range.
A sacred yearning lingered in its trace,
The worship of a Presence and a Power
Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,
The prescience of a marvellous birth to come.
Only a little the god-light can stay:
Spiritual beauty illumining human sight
Lines with its passion and mystery Matter's mask
And squanders eternity on a beat of Time.

MEANINGS OF SOME DIFFICULT WORDS

Bosom = breast.

Precarious = uncertain.

Toil = hard work.

Bale = pernicious or destructive nature.

Afflatus = Inspiration.

Squander = to waste.

Anguish = Agony.
In our last post we discussed how Goddess Usha turns the Nature into consecration and how
every element of Nature adores Her. This was another proof of the most powerful line “All can
be done if god-touch is there”. Now let us see how next task accomplished.

Here where our half-lit ignorance skirts the gulfs

On the dumb bosom of the ambiguous earth,
Here where one knows not even the step in front
And Truth has her throne on the shadowy back of doubt,
On this anguished and precarious field of toil
Outspread beneath some large indifferent gaze,
Impartial witness of our joy and bale,
Our prostrate soil bore the awakening ray.

This is a long paragraph explaining a very significant matter. At first it may appear as a deviation
for the discussion so far, but once when you read the entire paragraph, at the end of it, you will
admire the poetry of Sri Aurobindo.

“Here where our half-lit ignorance skirts the gulfs, “On the dumb bosom of the ambiguous
earth”. Gulf is associated with some depth and here the depth refers to the knowledge of
Supreme. Therefore the gulf of Supremes Knowledge is skirted or masked by our “half-lit
ignorance”. Ignorance is referred to as “half-lit”, because ignorance is incomplete knowledge,
but not deadly opposite of knowledge like falsehood. Therefore, ignorance is knowledge in
making. Thus it is half-lit. If it were fully lit it would be knowledge, nut not ignorance. As our
ignorance masks His knowledge, this earth where we live and die is ambiguous. We are never
sure what is leading and where?

“Here where one knows not even the step in front”, we do not know what our next step is going
to be. We put our steps mechanically without any knowledge of its validity, credibility and result
it would yield. Because, our knowledge and vision are so limited as “our half-lit ignorance skirts
the gulfs”. “And Truth has her throne on the shadowy back of doubt,”. Whatever we believe as
true or accept something as Truth, we accept it with some doubt around it. Because whatever we
accept as truth or knowledge we get, it is by an intellectual, analytical or logical mindset. This is
a result of our education system. We tend to apply the same methodology to know The Supreme
also. His Knowledge, His Truth can never e understood intellectually. If we do so there will
always be doubt associated with it. The Eternal Truth can only be known by experiencing it. It is
possible only when we live in his Consciousness and His Spirit, and realize him within us.
Reading about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo is one thing. Surrendering ourselves to them is
entirely different Sadhana. Only complete and total surrender leads us to them, but not the
bookish knowledge. I have seen many devotees and Sadhaks from villages, who are illiterate,
who have never read any book about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, but they have surrendered
themselves completely to The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Because to grow to higher
consciousness and receive the Grace of our Masters, it is not the bookish knowledge, which is
necessary, it is our aspiration, devotion, and dedication to them. Therefore like this, every line of
Savitri is like a guide for self-perfection, a guide and mentor to find the true aspect of our life
and for our Sadhana.

“On this anguished and precarious field of toil”. The earth is a field of toil, which is full of
uncertainties, and is anguished or is full of agony, anxiety and turmoil. We can never be sure
whether our efforts (toil) will yield the desired results or not. Such a field of toil, our earth, is
“Outspread beneath some large indifferent gaze” which is “Impartial witness to our joy and
bale”. Our entire universe is being watched, being looked by the Gods who have a large and
indifferent gaze, which is an impartial witness to all our joys and sufferings. That is they watch
all our activities without interfering. They will never rejoice with our joy or cry for our
sufferings. Because they are perfectly impartial. Here this witnessing gaze belongs to Goddess
Usha undoubtedly. This picture of The Supreme’s impartiality can also be seem in Shri Mad
Bhagavad Gita. The Supreme is the creator of this universe and the One who is sustaining it till
its end and also the One who will terminate it. Everything in this world is controlled,
administered, or moved according to His Will , through the Nature – Tena Vina Trinamapi Na
Chalati. But still He is seated above all as if detached from everything, just being an impartial
witness. None of these works bind Him. For further reading on the same element you can read
Sri Mad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, and in Essays on Gita, please read the Essay entitled “The
Secret Knowledge”.

Finally the effect. “Our prostrate soil bore the awakening ray.” The gaze of Goddess Usha is
not a human gaze. It is a supernatural gaze, which turns the inconscience to consciousness. We
have already discussed this in our earlier parts. The soil, the earth, which has the attributes so far,
we discussed, now bears the awakening ray from the gaze of Goddess Usha. So far our soil was
without any mind or life. This awakening ray purifies it and springs the life into it or awakens it.
This is another justification for the epigram “All can be done if god-touch is there”. Under Her
supernal gaze, the earth, which is anguished, is a field of toil and is full of agony, is awakened
and springs to life.

Here too the vision and prophetic gleam

Lit into miracles common meaningless shapes;

The vision and prophetic gleam of Goddess Usha, the Divine Mother, which promised something
in the future to the Nature, lights up or turns the common meaningless shapes on this earth into
miracles. You can experience these lines. If you ever go to a hill station, please wake up well
before the sunrise; say around 4 AM, and go to a viewpoint, where in you can see the sun rise.
You cannot see the beauty of the Nature when it is dark. Everything will appear as some
meaningless shape, which is somewhat common. But when the sun rises and enlightens the
nature, slowly the beauty of the Nature is unveiled, as if a miracle. This is not just a mere
physical process implemented. Here also like we have seen before these lines carry a sublime
spiritual concreteness. The Vision of Divine Mother is never a human look. It is a Divine Gaze,
which when enters some one, brings a distinct change. My grandpa used to tell us that during the
Darshans and then subsequent Balcony Darshans, when The Mother used to look at devotees and
aspirants, those who could receive Her Grace, used to say that they felt a miraculous change in
themselves, as if their whole body is purified and all their sins washed away. Because Her gaze
is never human, it is a Divine Gaze, which is full of Eternal light, which enlightens our life by
sweeping away the ignorance of ours; it washes away all our sins, and springs the hidden Power
in us. (Supta Shakti).

Then the divine afflatus, spent, withdrew,

Unwanted, fading from the mortal's range.

Here, there is a sudden twist. Goddess Usha, who is a Divine Afflatus, that is divine Inspiration
or Revelation, spends some time here and now withdraws herself. Here Sri Aurobindo addresses
Goddess Usha as Inspiration. Please recall from our previous discussions that it was Goddess
Usha who inspired the Nature to take up the adventure of consciousness and joy and compels
consent from it, because of which now the Nature has seen so many changes. But why She has to
withdraw now? It is entirely because, She now feels that the Nature and its habitants are still in
“mortal’s range”, which is limited, limited with respect to aspiration, feeling, sight and
experience. Therefore, She feels “unwanted” and withdraws. Here there is another
interpretation. She is withdrawing but “unwontedly”. She is not willing to withdraw, because She
is a Divine Mother. She cannot leave the nature like this. Therefore, here withdraws means She
is withdrawing Her full Divine glory and Power, because Nature now is imperfect to sustain
them. Let us see the same in the following lines.

A sacred yearning lingered in its trace,

The worship of a Presence and a Power
Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,
The prescience of a marvellous birth to come.

While She withdraws Her full glory and Power, She leaves a trace, which is “A sacred
yearning” a poignant desire, which is not a material desire, but a sacred seeking, devotion for
Her. At this stage “The Worship” of Her “Presence” and Her “Power” is so perfect that our
death bound hearts cannot hold it and sustain it. Goddess Usha had sown the seeds of grandeur.
Also, here She leaves behind Her a sacred yearning or devotion for Her love and Grace.
Therefore, the prescience or an advance feeling or knowledge or a persistment for a marvelous
birth is still there.

Here you may raise an objection. Goddess Usha appears here, nourishes the Nature to this extent,
and now She feels that it is not yet ready for Her full Glory and She withdraws. Why? Why not
she let Her Grace flow on the Nature and make it perfect to sustain Her full Divine Glory and
Power? Because “All can be done if god-touch is there”!!!

But things are never like that. We do need the god-touch for all we do. But if our aspiration, our
devotion, and our dedication are not up to Her expectation, She will not unveil Herself to us. we
will see the same in the following lines and also the way out.

Only a little the god-light can stay:

Her light can stay only for a little time. Because, the Earth, and we are too imperfect, too impure
to hold and sustain Her Light for long. We can sustain it only for a while, for a very short period.
Then for the continual of Her Grace we need to continuously aspire. For those who really aspire
for it, it will repetitive visits and self-affirmations of such “god-light”, which results in a habit so
that the person ready to hold Her Grace, Glory, and Power naturally and then a series of such
experiences together leads to ultimate realization. It is so because our senses and our body are
such that Light of God cannot stay unadulterated, undeflected, for more than a little while.
Therefore, it is obliged to withdraw. But, within that little time it stays, it does all the difference.
It gives our life the true vision, the true aim. Then it is up to us to grow up to next or higher level.
If our aspiration grows, if our devotion deepens, and our dedication becomes complete, we will
see Her light again and again.

Spiritual beauty illumining human sight

Lines with its passion and mystery Matter's mask
And squanders eternity on a beat of Time.

Goddess Usha who is a “Spiritual beauty illumining human sight” now lines with her passion
wears the mask of the Matter and squanders or wastes her eternity on the “beat of time”. Here
the words “Lines with its passion” are very important. The passion of this Spiritual Beauty –
Goddess Usha – is to be there in the this creation in the hidden or veiled form and lead it, protect
it, and nourish it. Because She is the Divine Mother, and Mother cane leave Her Children alone
in any case. Though She veils herself, She is present everywhere, leading us protecting us,
guiding us to perfection. And unveils Herself to us, when we are perfect to receive Her full
Glory, Power and Grace. Therefore, in all the Matter, The Mother has Her presence. We can only
feel it if we realize it. And to realize we already know our aspiration for Her Grace should grow,
our devotion for Her should deepen, ad our dedication should grow to completeness,
continuously. This is what is our part of Sadhana. She does rest! ! .