He and You are One

My hymns to Him are hymns to You;

For He and You are one:

You are His radiating light,

And He the eternal Sun.

 

When I repeat His name I feel

That You respond to it;

You are, I'm sure, His other self

At whose feet we may sit.

 

Where'er You be He is present there

In His majestic mood;

Inseparably one you are both

In your mother-fatherhood.

 

He speaks to us in Your sweet voice,

And blesses with Your hand;

Your touch is His, maternal made,

As I can understand.

 

Your smiles of grace bloom in His heart,

The heaven of heavens all;

'Tis His command that we receive

In Your inspiring call.

 

You are the mother-mould in which

His glory on earth is cast;

In You is manifest His own

Perfection high and vast.

 

His Self Supreme lives in Your self

A natural life divine,

Whose seeds You are sowing on this earth

In a soil turned hyaline.

The ineffable Mystery

Whose hoarded ancient treasure

He dared and won is in Your charge,

And You spend it in Truth's measure.

He is the Thought, You are the Will

That makes it real on Earth;

He is the Silence, You the Word

That brings new worlds to birth.

His grace has made Your feet her home,

Where the heavens are all-time guests;

Prostrate before their diamond-dust

We are raised to eternal crests.

His golden aura's round Your face;

Your features melt in His;

And then the visioning heart enjoys

A heaven-mounting bliss.

In Your mysterious eyes we meet

The depths of His compassion,

Awaking us from death-like sleep

To a new divine creation.

He is the Ocean-Self enrapt;

You are His rain bowed grace,

Transforming deserts into Edens,

Homes of delight and peace.

He is the all-pervading heaven,

You are its star-life-bloom,

Awakening to a deathless light

World's Death-begotten gloom.

You are our Mother and Father both,

And so was He we know;

To You we turn with love and faith;

Where'er You lead we go.

All doubts dissolved, all wavering gone,

All weakness cast away,

We follow His lead that You are giving

To realise here His Ray.

He is hid behind a curtain now,

Earth's eyes can see Him not;

But in You always manifest

More real than Reality caught.

Your life is missioned for His work

Of Truth-creation here;

And His to crown You as its Queen,

Sovereign of His sphere.

His disembodied Soul Divine

With its quenchless life of Fire,

Warring and working at Your side

Shall vanquish all enemies dire.

The dawn of His golden sun shall brighten

The blinded worlds below,

And dark-faced Death shall melt away

In the Sun-god's deathless glow.

Then shall we see Him at Your side;

Once more shall we kiss His feet,

Receiving blessings of You both

With gratitude infinite.

Till then our whole life's energies

Without reserve we'll pool

To serve Your serving Self Supreme,

True, Good and Beautiful.

Our days and nights we'll dedicate

To Your God-given work,

And never tire and never stray,

And never a duty shirk.

With joyful heart and cheerful mind

We '11 conquer all desire,

We '11 work for You,

we '11 fight for You

Till comes the Immortal Fire.

20-8-1951

Our Mother

Thou art our Mother, great and glorious,

The All-Power of God for ever victorious!

No Titan however strong he be

Dare stand Thy gaze in fear of Thee.

Thou art our Mother, most wonderful;

A million moons are not so cool.

Thou art God's beauty's lotus white,

Pure, perfect and benignly bright.

Thou art on earth our highest heaven,

Rich with undreamt of ecstasies seven!

Thy nectars are unbounded seas

That fill our fathomless abyss.

Come, Mother! come, our hearts adorn;

Bring on Thy face God's dawn unborn:

Be Thou our life and light and love;

Come down, Sweet Mother! from above.

27-2-1952

Our Best Friend

We have a friend, the best of friends;

And 'tis our Mother, sweet Mother:

In pleasure and in pain we turn

To Her, and to none other.

 

She always helps us with a smile

And guides us with Her finger;

She warns us with the warmth of love

Whene'er we err or linger.

 

She always has the kindest word

And the loveliest of ways;

'Tis not the sun but it is She

That brightens all our days.

 

We often go astray, but then

She promptly finds us out,

And sets us softly on the path

Of Truth and Love, no doubt.

 

Most faithful is She our fastest friend,

Unfaithful though we be;

And so in spite of us we love

An seek Her ceaselessly.

 

28-2-1952

Flower of God

Thou art my best, my choicest flower;

The flower of my dream:

God's grace has blessed earth's yearning bower

With Thy beauty's gift supreme.

 

Thy grace has blessed this little one,

This baby butterfly;

For it the never setting sun

Of joy has risen high.

 

Thy beauty pure, serene and sweet

Invites my eager wings;

I rush to kiss Thy petalled feet,

The end of sufferings.

 

Thy heart is full of nectars new

Whose flow doth never cease;

Desiring these my eyes of dew

Have turned away from ease.

 

There's heaven in Thy fragrant air,

Moon's coolness in Thy touch;

Thy smile abounds in raptures rare

We lack and seek so much.

 

O Flower of God! O Mother Divine!

On wings of worship I come

To Thee whom I proclaim as mine,

Heavenly refuge and my home.

 

1-3-1952

March Twenty-nine

March Twenty-nine can light world-joy,

The new create and the old destroy,

Make bright the gloomy depths below

And heaven's nectars freely flow.

 

March Twenty-nine can carry us

To lands of power miraculous,

To sight our blinded living here,

And make us each a god's compeer.

 

March Twenty-nine and God's own flower

Smiles sweetly on our lucky bower!

Its very sight, a blessing bright,

Makes hearts a home of God-delight.

 

March Twenty-nine and time and space

Reveal to us a darling face;

Lost ones, we find our Mother dearest,

Our soul of souls, love living nearest.

 

March Twenty-nine and from above

Comes down to us life, light and love;

Death, darkness, hate shall disappear,

Fulfilled rejoice the ancient prayer.

 

March Twenty-nine and the seven seas

Yield their most precious Pearl of Peace

And Purity of the Soul Supreme

In the Mother's beauty, all earth's dream.

 

March Twenty-nine and there awaits

Before the open golden gates

Of the heart of God, the Diamond Land,

The Mother-source of glories grand.

March Twenty-nine and lo! we meet

The most beloved, the Mother's feet;

There mind and body, heart and soul

Reclaim and realise their goal.

9-3-1952

Thy Little Ones

We are Thy little ones, we all;

Thou art our Mother great;

We've come to Thee at Thy sweet call,

O Guardian of our fate.

 

Thy heart of boundless love's our home,

A heaven of heavens high;

In Thy Edens of delight we roam,

And bluest skies we fly.

 

We are free from care and full of cheer,

Safe in Thy Saviour arms;

No evil can ever dare come near;

Immune are we from harms.

 

Thou art our own and we are Thine,

O earth-born Love supreme!

Bless us with Thy gracious smile divine,

O Goddess of our dream!

 

3-7-1952

Longing

O give us wings to fly in Thy air,

With Thy angels of delight;

With songs of Thy glory and hearts of prayer,

And faces morning-bright.

 

Bathe with Thy beauty our eyes of love,

And let us kiss Thy feet.

And worship Thee with the Flowers of

Devotion infinite.

 

Accept us in Thy service divine,

And let us work Thy will;

O make us wholly and solely Thine;

Our hearts' desire fulfil.

 

7-7-1952

Our All

Thou art our all, our heart and soul,

Our life, our light, our spirits' goal.

For Thee is our all, since all is Thine;

We'd simply serve Thee, Love Divine!

 

Our days would wake to work for Thee

With a cheerful smile untiringly:

Our nights in Thine own peace would rest

In starlit worlds close to Thy breast.

 

Our joys would rise to reach Thy feet;

In sorrows' depths but Thee we'd meet;

Our journeying on Thy path proceed,

And nought can ever stay their speed.

 

The blessed day shall surely come

When in Thy heart, our pristine home,

We'll live a blissful life divine,

Thyself our own, our self all Thine.

 

9-7-1952

The Mother's Birds

We are birds of the Mother's own garden,

The garden of beauty and delight;

We have God as our wonderful warden

Who guards us by day and by night.

Evergreen are the groves where we're living

With flowers and honey and bees;

Love we receive and are giving

With a pleasure deep-dwelling in peace.

We are dancing and singing and winging

In the splendours of emerald spaces;

A heaven each moment is bringing

The smile of star-flowers on our faces.

3-8-1952

Our Aspiration

O take us in Thy arms, Sweet Mother!

O take us in Thy arms of love;

Protect us from all harms, Sweet Mother!

And place us in Thy Eden's grove.

We'll live with Thee, and with none other;

We'll walk and talk alone with Thee;

We'll play and work with Thee, Sweet Mother!

All day, all night, all happily.

Our soul shall be Thy Temple-home,

Our love shall be Thy simple seat;

Our prayers call, come, Mother! come;

And let us kiss Thy lovely feet.

11-9-1952

Give us Wings

Sweet Mother! give us wings to fly

High up in the holiest air;

We wish to measure the bluest sky

And see God's heavens fair.

 

We'd visit the home of the Golden Sun

And meet the nectared moon,

A race with the stars we'd like to run,

And win Thy smile as boon.

 

With angels hand in hand we'd walk

In the wonder-land of light;

With gods and goddesses we'd talk

And learn life's secrets bright.

 

And God inviting us we'd rush

To Him His grace to capture,

And find in His rubied heart of hush

The immortalising rapture.

 

14-9-1952

O Truth Supreme

O Truth Supreme! that shineth high above

In the glorious heart of the ever-lasting Sun,

O essence of all knowledge, of all love,

Make me Thy home on earth divinely won.

My aspiration, in answer to Thy call,

Shall, by a stairway leading to Thy door,

Mount up and meet Thee in Thy blissful hall,

And kiss with faithful lips its star-strewn floor.

My songs are dedicated to Thy name,

My life to Thy sweet service, and my heart

To love that wings to Thee as its one aim;

My being shall merge in Thee and be Thy part.

Let all my days be a record of Thy deeds,

My nights repose in Thee but wide awake,

My energies grow Thy chariot's noble steeds,

My soul the garb of Thy divinity take.

20-4-1953

O Grace Divine

O! Come to me, O! Come to me,

O! Grace Divine!

Come, make my heart, my heart of love

Thy sacred shrine.

 

Long have I waited for Thy feet,

For ages long;

How blessed I'm now that thou art here

To hear my song.

 

At last thou'st come, my cherished dream,

Embodied love,

In person life's fulfilment bright —

For which I strove.

 

Now step into my yearning heart

On feet of light

And bring in God's own golden day,

Supremely bright.

 

And make my being a throne for Thee,

And rule o'er me,

Thine be my dedicated life

Eternally.

 

By Thy good law of Truth divine

I shall abide;

And all my soul to Thee alone

I shall confide.

 

The nectar of Thy love as drink,

Delight as food

 I shall enjoy, bestowed by Thee

In Thy gracious mood.

By Thine own beauty beautified,

And strength sustained,

I live or die but for Thy work

By God ordained.

 

28-9-1953

Our All in All

Thou art our all-in-all, Sweet Mother!

Thou art our all-in-all,

Our life, our love, our soul and self,

Our lovely playmate doll.

 

Thou art our ever glorious sun,

The giver of golden days;

No more of swallowing nights for us;

We bathe in Thy brightest rays.

 

Sorrow and suffering are banished now,

And buried is all gloom;

In the presence of Thy moon-smile soft,

Life's lilies are all abloom.

 

Thine is the touch of celestial spring;

Soul's gardens are now in flower,

God's fragrance spreads from every crowded

Richly laden bower.

 

What need have we when Thou art there,

A treasure-house of bliss; But still,

Sweet Mother, our heart desires

Thy soul-enrapturing kiss.

 

18-10-1954

The Ever Green

Green and growing let us be,

Green and growing

Like the leaves of that good tree

In the sunshine glowing.

 

Always bathing in the light

Of the sun and stars,

Always living in delight,

Free from ugly cares.

 

We shall wear the lovely crown

Of the spring-tide bloom,

Spreading fragrant wide renown,

Smiles that know no gloom.

 

Winds and birds shall sing of us,

Hearts of love rejoice,

Souls of sweetness nectarous

Bless us with one voice.

 

3-11-1955

For Ever Yours

Yours, for ever Yours, my Lord!

For all eternity;

A breath of Yours, a thought of

Yours, Your power, Your purity.

I offer all my self to You:

Be You my all in all;

My father, mother, brother, friend,

Possession big and small.

Be You my highest happiness,

My joy beyond all measure,

My heights, my depths, my boundless breadths,

My fortune's greatest treasure.

Make of my heart Your home for ever,

Bright with Your sun-smile warm;

And let Your Presence near and dear

Grace this my creature-form.

1-6-1956

Our Greatest Treasure

Without Thee, Mother! what are we?

Mere lumps of human clay,

A living death, obscurity

Of night without a day.

 

Our life is born but from Thy breath,

Thy sun-smile is our light;

Thy beauty weaves for us the wreath

Of perfect pure delight.

 

Thou art our fortune's golden star,

Our hope's unfailing prop,

Our aspiration's aerial car,

The diamond-mountain-top.

 

Our love has found its home in

Thee; Thou art the heart of God:

Ambrosial gifts unceasingly

Are by Thy grace bestowed.

 

For ever in Thee, Oh! let us live

And work for Thee with pleasure!

Our self, our all, Oh! let us give!

Thy grace our greatest treasure!

 

1-8-1956

The Name

Repeat, my soul! repeat all time

The Mother's sweet and magic Name;

It is a power, it is a poise;

The wildest natures it can tame.

 

It is a vibrant wonder-house

Of diamond-gloried consciousness

That knows no limit Time-imposed

Whose splendour drowns all dark distress.

 

It is an intimate urgent call

To Grace of God, miraculous,

That hurries down to raise thee up

From earth's abysses dangerous.

 

Let it resound thy silent depths,

And wake the sleeping God within;

For 'tis His touch that can transform

Our death into a life divine.

 

7-8-1956

Good Wishes

May all be happy, hale and strong!

Let no one suffer here!

May all enjoy without a break

God's blessings and good cheer!

 

May all have sight to see the truth,

And strength to live the right!

Let love be born in every heart

Changed to a heaven bright!

 

All sorrows, struggles meet their end

With all the gathered gloom,

And peace become the law of life,

And beauty be in bloom!

 

May all find home in God's great heart

Of love and light and bliss!

And let their infant cheeks receive

His soul-entrancing kiss!

7-8-1956

Thy Smile

Thy gracious smile is all to me;

It makes me happy like a god;

It brings a rippling rhythmic life

Of nectar to this deathful clod.

 

It is a promise bright and sure

To my dull soul stuck deep in mire.

That it shall be redeemed and raised

To heaven's tier on shining tier.

 

It is a purifying force

Of Ganga true for sullied hearts;

Bathed in its light the nature turns

To jasmine-bloom in all its parts.

 

It comforts us in our distress

And brightens up our gloomy hours;

It helps and hews through hardships all

And leads us to God-haloed towers.

 

Thy smile, sweet Mother! is love's bloom

That's here to change and mould our earth

Into an Eden of delight,

Immortal's glorious home and birth.

 

9-8-1956

At Thy Feet

Who can describe the blessedness

One feels when at Thy feet?

For heaven itself is present there

Our heart's desire to meet.

 

A time by Fortune fixed arrives

For yearning souls to find

Themselves prostrate before their grace

With body, heart and mind.

 

'Tis then that love, its freedom finds

And rushes out in streams

To kiss the beauty of Thy feet,

The idol of our dreams.

 

All sorrows cease there instantly,

All stains there disappear,

All glooms to morning glory changed;

For light divine is near.

 

The soul enjoys ambrosia there,

And raptures fill its trance

In which with God it whirls in rounds

Of Vaikunth's wonder-dance.

12-8-1956

Thy Grace

I ask not anything of Thee

Save Thy maternal grace,

A constant vision of Thy smile

That moons Thy goddess-face.

 

It is the end of vile desires

That stain and wound the soul,

And raise a mammoth mountain-bar

Between us and our goal.

 

All moonlights from Thy smile emerge

To soothe, and clear our gloom,

And make our being's lilies bright

In perfect purity bloom.

 

A magic net of twinkling lights

Around Thy smile is spread,

And caught therein our dreaming soul

In ecstasy's cradle laid.

 

All that is true and good and great

Thy grace on us bestows;

And blest with it our soul becomes

Free from its ancient woes.

 

12-8-1956

The Blessing

Thy very presence on this earth

Is a blessing to all creatures,

A bright redeeming hope to all

Our erring fallen natures.

 

Thy sun awakes the spring in us

Of everlasting life;

Thy love, the cure for all our ills,

Weans hearts away from strife.

 

Thy soothing smile attracts all souls

From dark abysses deep

And bathes them in its moon-white peace

On snow-white summits steep.

 

Thy glance is a shining shaft of light

From suns beyond our ken;

It cleaves through the solid heart of night,

And slays the Beast in his den.

 

Thy touch is the touch of ecstasy Of

Ganga's dancing waves;

It drives away the hordes of sin

And gives us strength that saves.

 

Thy feet are the divine abode

Of bliss one never knew,

The birth-right of Thy blessed brood,

A heritage of the true.

 

13-8-1956

The Service Tree

Thee I salute, O Service Tree!

O selfless servant of the Lord,

Thou art our ideal of service free,

'With heart and soul in one accord.

 

Thou earnest here quite long ago,

Remembered by our gracious Master;

Slow, steady was thy growth, although

Thou wouldst have liked to have it faster.

 

The Mother kept Thee in Her arms,

No wrath could shake thy settled strength:

Thy greenness gathered free from harms,

Thy stature grew to lordly length.

 

Thy soul breaks forth as rain of gold,

Thy worship-flowers loved by us;

Thy gifts are more than we can hold,

Thy beauty shines miraculous.

 

Untried thou standest day and night,

To shade the Eternal's earthly bed;

Thy care is a soul-stirring sight;

To Sachchidananda thou art wed.

 

Grow thou within us ever so,

Receiving the homage of our soul,

That we on this blessed Earth below

May serve the Human God, our Goal.

 

22-1-1970

Our Mother's Darling

O Thou, our Mother's darling Service Tree,

O dedicated servant of the Lord,

Thy beauty blessed of godly greenery

Is soul-profound and rich beyond all word.

As I behold thy grand and graceful form,

An emerald glory of Eden come to light,

1 feel thy hidden heart, love's wonder warm

Slow-stealing into mine, a blessing bright.

My kith and kin thou art, my very soul

In thee I see and glad I am of it;

Around thee shines the occult aureole

Of Him, embodied Brahman, the Infinite.

Pulsating is thy plumage with the life

Of gods come down to earth for work divine;

Thy grandeur thousand-armed is radiant, rife

With goodness, Shiva's all-auspicious sign.

In thee the emblem blue of heavens high

Is held green-hued upon our dreaming Master

Whose grace has sought thee out to vivify

Dust with the life of worlds of vision vaster.

Thou art our great ideal of service sweet:

By day, by night, untried standing here

Before our God's all-gracious lotus-feet,

O bring them to our hearts more clear, more near.

1-3-1970

Service-Tree at the Samadhi

Calm thou standest here close by

The Master's deep material trance;

Thine is a silent prayer's cry

That mates with God's all-gracious glance.

 

Thy adoration ever grows

In emerald richness spreading round,

A pearl-white peace on all bestows

And leads them on to worlds unfound.

 

True service is thy chosen work,

To God-man's pleasure simply sold;

Not for a moment wouldst thou shirk

Its call in rain, or heat, or cold.

 

The Golden God thou servest here,

Thou hast the Mother's golden grace;

All gold thou shalt be, Soul sincere!

Shower gold upon this sacred place.

 

Upon earth permanently perched,

Thou art high heaven's blessed bird,

That long had been in lustres merged,

Now here to service deeply stirred.

 

Thy shade spreads out a peace profound

Such as the joys of Eden know,

In thee a brother we have found,

Our soul's companion here below.

 

Thy presence is a benediction,

Thy spirit's urge we too shall catch,

Transform our earth-life's ragged fiction

To Truth sun-clear no thought can match.

Thy wood-embedded being is

A spirit conscious and divine,

Replete with light and love and bliss

Of our One Master, mine and thine.

 

3-3-1970

Well-Deserving

All calm like the heart of a god thou art here,

Well-deserving the name of the Service Tree,

Ever thinking of serving the Lord of our sphere,

Whose grace thou receives in plenty and free.

By day thou art bathed by the rays of the sun,

At night by the moon and the stars of the heaven;

Through thy emerald-sieve light comes filtered anon,

Thou absorbent the power of bright nesses seven.

Thy joy sways on for ever and makes all hearts sway

In unison sweet of our souls that aspire

For the glance of the Lord of the deathless Day,

And the Fount of unquenchable God-lighted Fire.

How thou shadiest the Shade less, earth's arms have embraced,

Thy murmurs are rife with His name that's a rune,

The Heaven that He homes in the earth thou hast graced

With the shine of thy service, from fatigue immune.

The Mother of Heaven is shedding Her smile

On thy labour of love and thy service unceasing;

Thy soul is installed in Her diamond isle,

Thy body on earth in its glory increasing.

Thou art one with the One whom the heavens adore,

And whom Earth has cradled with fondness unshared,

And lo! Sachchidananda is now in her core,

The Highest made live in the lowest ensnared.

19-3-1970

The Samadhi

O Sacred spot, most holy pilgrim-place,

Athrob with Parabrahman brought to birth,

O home of God's immortalising grace,

And blessedness embracing yearning Earth,

Samadhi of the Lord of life and death,

The dweller on the peak of the Golden Mount,

The sun-crowned Seer of the Brahmic breath,

Distant divinity's unceasing fount!

Thou art the conscious core of slumberous clay,

The highest height inclined to the lowest layer,

The everlasting dark-dissolving day,

Love leniently responsive to our prayer!

The one support of all, supported here

On a bed of dust that has now grown divine

By His all-divinising touch so near,

So deeply sought for by hearts hyaline.

Thou art the central self of all that is:

How all awakened souls to thee now swarm;

For thou art light and love and life and bliss,

In the midst of deadening cold the embrace all warm.

The old, the young and even the unborn ones

Have fixed their eager hearts upon thy name;

 They kiss the unseen ray of the golden suns

That have become the cells of His earthly frame.

The seasons come to wait upon thy pleasure,

And adoration crowds to give its all,

This Service Tree sheds all its golden treasure

For a smile from thee to break through the blank wall.

Earth's life divine o'er flows from this one spot;

Here He, the heaven-hearted, waits unseen;

All-giving, He for our mean clay is bought

To fill our fortunes with His self serene.

Our Master, Father of aspiring souls,

Is here preparing that which never dies,

Herein is wrought the Goal of greatest goals,

And are imprisoned freedom's freest skies.

May He for ever be within, below,

Above and round us, be His Presence close;

Released from dark delusion let us grow

For His sole service life's divinest rose.

3-4-1970

At the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo

A Peace, immobile peace is reigning here,

A solid something stands supporting all,

A living breath trance-held frees us from fear,

A Deity deep-enshrined, quick to our call.

With arms of adoration ever-green

And flowers of gold in showers this Service Tree

Has worshipped with deep-rooted yet unseen

Devotion here its Lord unceasingly.

The thousand-armed great Lord of heaven, the Sun,

Has drawn his light from this Samadhi's heart;

The stars have learnt to wink from the wink less One,

Who dwelling everywhere dwells here apart.

The moon is but His smile the heavens caught

Through their long vigil bearing fruit at last,

Home of the immortalising Nectar, sought

By gods and demons from the Ocean vast.

It is because He is here that all the Good,

The True, the Beautiful has come to stay

With us on earth, beneath the emerald hood

Of tree-turned Shesha with the Lord in clay.

We, earth-born souls, have now one thing to do —

To worship and to serve and work His will

Of life-obeying laws of God we woo,

And make this planet home of the Ineffable.

4-5-1970

Happiest Heaven

We are living in the happiest heaven here

With Absolute Beauty brooding over us;

We are free from damning darkness and from fear,

And guarded by a grace miraculous.

For God has chosen this most blessed place

As His abode on earth to deal with Death,

Assuming as His mask a human face

And living as it were a life of breath.

In Him the Highest One lived for our sight

And lives for ever close to hearts of love,

Bestowing bliss on human days made bright

With suns undying shining from above.

His glory has been deep impressed on clay,

His peace supreme pervades horizons far;

A rune-word is His name, a power's play

That can accomplish all, break bar on bar.

Him we adore with all our heart and soul,

And serve His will embodied in the Mother;

For Him our all, His service is our role,

He is our Guru eternal and no other.

His Presence is with us, a life-long lease,

His Grace befriends us closely day and night;

He leads us on to far beatitude's ease

And fills our weakness with world-conquering might.

We are for ever His, and ours He is,

Our Father, Comrade, Lord, our all in all;

He is our realised Self of bourn less bliss,

Responsive ever to our aspiring call.

Eternally with Him we work His will,

From life to life and world to world we go,

One stream, one song, one speed increasing still,

Into His mould our human self we throw.

21-5-1970

At Midnight

The heart of stillness mutely beats

In rhythms yet unknown to word,

The midnight soul in silence meets

A Something, deeply dumbly stirred.

 

This tree is in a trance of peace,

Its darkened matted locks proclaim

A glory dim in this abyss

Of Night that hides the ancient flame.

 

The wandering of the clouds has come

To a sudden end, their face of gloom

Has now become a heaven's home

Midst far-off friendly stars abloom.

 

The wind wades through a cosmic calm,

Invading and pervading all;

Its murmurs chant a sacred psalm,

Whose echoes fill earth's empty hall.

 

A soul of silence wakes anon

And meets the Deity of the deep,

And finds that now all worlds are won

In God's omniscient wink less sleep.

 

27-5-1970

A Deep Desire

Thy service is my life-work, Lord Divine!

My births and deaths to Thee are dedicated;

Let nothing be in me I may call mine,

My being wholly to Thy light translated.

My busy dreaming days in Thee must end,

My waking nights be bright with Thy sun-smile,

My rosy morns in song Thy name befriend,

And eves in peace profound my toils beguile.

Let me be up each moment of my life,

My strength fulfilling but Thy will that knows;

I'll take as play all sorrow and all strife,

And meet Thy glance of grace in the murk of woes.

What difficulties dare beset Thy child?

Obstacles play for me a friendly part;

They re-enforce a nature weak and wild,

Build up a heaven-conquering hero's heart.

Relentless fervour for Thy work shall drive

My energies with never a thought of rest;

My soul in self-effacement's climate thrive,

While all that happens shall be for my best.

Thy name upon my lips shall murmur on.

Thy presence in my heart my movements guide

And carry me from dawn to brighter dawn

Triumphantly to the sun-world's vision wide.

By Thee I live, in Thee I dwell for ever,

In tune with Thee forgetting me and mine;

Time with his sword our union cannot sever.

My soul of love shall be Thy sacred shrine.

26-6-1970

Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi

This place is ever miraculous,

Here is a breath divine;

It animates the soul in us,

We drink an undrunk wine.

 

A thrill runs through the body rare,

Sensations sweet arise,

Before a light the being is bare,

The normal nature dies.

 

All fences fall and bonds break down,

The spirit is calm and free,

A wideness limitless we own,

Far wider than the sea.

 

The heart gets flooded with a love

That soon destroys all hates,

And soars sky-high to meet above

The Father of our fates.

 

Our sorrows are all swallowed up

By a sweetness ever new,

Our life becomes a nectar-cup

For God to take His due.

 

Our eyes begin to glow with dawns

And hearts to romp in rays,

Our tiny selves become but pawns,

And deathless grow our days.

 

We feel at one with all the earth,

And bluest is our sky;

A Some-one else has taken birth

This world to glorify.

This place is teeming with God's grace

Made universal here,

And we confront our Father's face

So dear to our souls, so near.

 

1-9-1970

When I am Out

When I am out with the blue sky above,

I see all walls around me breaking down;

A Some-one faces me with eyes of love,

The quarters four become my spirit's gown.

A more than universal Being is there,

His nearby breath enlivens all I am,

And lifts me up into a brighter air

Where nothing crowds the buoyant soul to jam.

The greenly waving trees, the hymning birds,

The butterflies unclasping flowers, their friends,

The passers-by with all their fleeting words,

Speak of the One who watches all our ends.

He leans down from above on days and nights,

He closes His embrace around all space,

From depths He rises up, the Might of might's,

To closed but burning eyes reveals His face.

His presence meets us whosesoever we go,

His smile delights, His touch awakes the soul

That like an arrow from the mystic bow

Straight shoots forth aiming at our distant Goal.

14-9-1970

For Ever Thine

A bud I came to Thee, O Lord!

To Thee and to the Mother-Force,

Of Love and Light and Life of love,

Of things divine the earthly source.

 

I left behind old things men prize,

And things that tie us down to earth,

And dived into Thy blissful heart

And had my being's brighter birth.

 

I chose to work Thy will in life,

And felt the blessedness Thou art;

A selfless service fills my days

And drives my dedicated heart.

 

Thy sweet and haunting Mother-name

Upon my lips has settled still;

My soul desires one-pointedly

To know and grow into Thy will.

 

A simple child I long to live

For ever at Thy feet divine,

And grow into Truth's image bright,

For ever Thine, for ever Thine.

 

10-8-1971

He

How blessed are we that He is here

With us wherever we may be,

Close to our hearts of love sincere

Adoring Him in ecstasy.

 

He is our Friend, He is our Guide,

Our soul's most intimate one He is,

His silent steps are at our side,

His presence makes for all our bliss.

 

He has made our hearts His human home,

His smile is a moon That never fades;

He blooms — a lotus in our loam,

A glory of God here in our shades.

 

To be with Him, to be in Him,

To live for Him's our true delight;

At one with Him we safely swim

Through seas of storm and darkest night.

31-1-1972

Sri Aurobindo

No words can tell the Light He is,

'Tis something far above

The largest leap of thinking mind,

The deepest plunge of love.

 

He is our Master and our God,

He is our very soul,

He is our Path, He is our Guide,

He is our destined Goal.

 

He is our all-in-all and more,

Without Him we are nought;

He is our long-lost Self Supreme,

Regained on Earth unsought.

 

Our life is but His intimate breath,

Our joy a wave from His,

His grace is all we wish to treasure,

To die for Him is bliss.

 

Him we adore with all our heart;

His smile alone we seek;

His service is our sweetest task,

Our love obedience meek.

 

His glory shall inspire our songs,

His beauty our budding art;

His calm against all odds shall steel

Our failing human heart.

 

We live in Him, He lives in us;

Most intimate friend is He,

Companion on His golden path

To Immortality.

We follow Him, His soldiers true;

We hear His holy tread

Inspiring us as we all march

On with His flag ahead.

 

He cheers in hours of dark despair

And helps in times of need,

He wants to make us heroes great

Who would to victory speed.

 

We 've vowed to live and work for Him,

We've vowed to realise

His life divine, His deathless light

On Earth made Paradise.

 

His golden sun's our guiding star,

His will our motive-power;

And at His feet our life fulfilled

We lay, a worship-flower.

 

His Presence fills us with delight

And brings us gifts divine;

He has offered all His boundless Self

To bless our mortal shrine.

 

He haunts each moment of our days,

He haunts us everywhere;

Awake asleep or dreaming far,

We breathe His mystic air.

 

He is our Father and our Friend,

Most intimate with us;

His unseen Hand works out for Earth

A fate miraculous.

His love for us is limitless,

Though ours is mean and maimed;

He lays no claim on us, although

His all we have always claimed.

 

He never has looked down on us

Though we so often fall;

Soothing, forgiving evermore,

He has raised us one and all.

 

Our Vedas are His words of Truth,

His Light, our glorious day;

His smiles of Grace, bright heavens in bloom,

His warmth our marvellous May.

 

His Silence holds the eternal Word,

The all-creating Power;

It brings to birth the world of Truth

That knows not Death's dark hour.

 

He moved in strange worlds far beyond,

Here midst us sitting still,

And trod upon untrodden heights

Of the Ineffable.

 

The lowest hells have known His hands

With patience working there,

Turning their wryness to His will,

Clearing their atmosphere.

 

He wanted heavens to be born

From the darkest womb of things;

And help the stumbling soul of man

Break forth archangel wings.

He worked with more than a Titan's strength,

And bore beyond all measure,

For nothing but to earn for Earth

Undreamt of sun-gold treasure.

 

His was the most heroic heart

No dusk could ever daunt;

The Devils in their dens He dared,

Won back life's nectar-font.

 

What has He not done for our Earth,

Ungrateful though she be?

He attempted all, accomplished all,

Left all — a legacy.

 

Unworthy though we be we are blessed;

We bend with gratitude

To kiss the dust of His Saviour-feet,

Home of Beatitude.

 

No lesser things shall claim our heart,

His vision of Heaven on Earth

Is the one aim we have fixed upon

In this and every birth.

 

Nor joy, nor sorrow shall turn us back,

Nor halt us on His way;

Through pleasure and pain, through life and death

We '11 pass to His golden day.

 

For ever with Him we shall rejoice

And feel His close embrace,

Our love shall labour with delight

But for His smile of grace.

 

1972