OUR LIGHT AND DELIGHT FOREWORD This book took shape originally in response to the Mother's birth-centenary. The first article appeared in the special issue of Mother India dated 21 February 1978. The last was expected to coincide with the issue of January 1979 completing the twelve months of commemoration. But there was so much to tell and the public appreciation so warm that the idea of a set period was put aside and the flood of recollection allowed to go on until it came to a natural stop in July of the same year. Occasionally, side by side with the regular series other articles were written, bearing on the Mother and her wo

13 The Divine and our Dullness — The Mother and Food — Not only Guru but True Mother — Grace towards Youngsters — Freedom and Discipline All of us have aspired for the grace of being allowed physical nearness to the Mother. The possibility to be in her presence hour after hour has seemed the greatest luck. Naturally I once exclaimed to her: "Oh Mother, I wish I could live with you!" Immediately she answered: "Do you think it is easy to live with me? There will be a tremendous unceasing pressure on you. You will have to be capable of standing before the highest idea of consciousness every minute." I realised how far I was from that idea

17 The Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's Way with Animals The Mother was known for her love of animals and her deep understanding of their nature. It was a delight to hear her speaking to a cat in a musical tone full of affection, a tenderly modulated baby-talk. She dealt with the Ashram cats as if they had been "persons" with rights. The man who was in charge of the Prosperity Room in the 'thirties was given strict orders not to interfere with the movements of the beautiful female cat Bite-Bite which had made this place its home. If a cupboard was left open by him and Bite-Bite got on to any shelf of it, he had to respect its right to be there: not only was he

-05_Milton^s Epic Lyricism.htm IV Milton's Epic Lyricism We have asserted the total effortlessness of Milton's complicated and deliberate-looking poetry. However, in asserting this, we must not imply that he did nothing to make such effortlessness possible. A hint of what he did is found in the mention in Book III of his mighty poetic outpouring - the passage from which we have already quoted some lines. It throws light on several matters. We shall first dwell upon its bearing on that effortlessness itself and, through the aspects disclosed by it in this connection, we shall proceed to the power behind Paradise Lost, as distinct from the power beyond the poem - what makes it, in

V The Preparation for Paradise Lost When apropos of Milton we speak of the lyric inspiration and of spontaneity, we must remember that he is spontaneous in a particular way that lyric poets are not. And here I mean more than the epic character of his lyricism. I mean what I have called the power behind in addition to the power beyond the poem, what he himself did to. make his total effortlessness possible. I may now specifically term it his sedulous cultivation of the inner mood - a deliberate travail seldom undergone by the lyric poets. And in the lines I have cited about harmonious numbers and the nightingale's nocturnal note we have the indica

-04_The Inner and Outer Process of Milton^s Composition.htm III The Inner and Outer Process of Milton's Composition The usual picture of Milton composing Paradise Lost is constructed from the testimony of a number of contemporary biographers. 1 Milton frequently composed lying in bed in the morning. It is supposed that this was his practice during winter. At other times we have to think of him as getting up early and, since he was already blind, impatiently waiting for his amanuensis to come and take dictation. At times he would have as many as thirty lines ready and, if the amanuensis arrived late, he would complain, saying "he wanted to be milked". When he was dictating, "he sa

VI Derivative Originality and Artistic Puritanism The paradox of the immense mood-cultivation by Milton for the inspired effortless composition of Paradise Lost leads us to yet another curiosity connected with him. We have spoken of the poetry of the past in which he steeped himself. From the literary point of view, what most constitutes his long preparation of the inner mood for his masterpiece is his constant immergence in the high holy fire of the Old and New Testaments, the wide steady light of the Greek and Roman Classics, the strange or sombre or changing chiaroscuro of the Mediaeval and Renaissance writers. Out of this immergence

X Why Paradise Lost Became What It Is We have seen how the manifold greatness of Paradise Lost was prepared by Milton through decades and how the growth towards it can be traced from youth along middle age to the poet's fifties. Nothing interfered with its evolution: even the twenty years of ecclesiastical, social and political controversy helped it. But just the things that helped the greatness were responsible for draining out or at least thinning the psychological diversity in which they were one intermixed element, and aggrandising it at their expense. The conventions of controversy in those days permitted harsh language, but Milton the poet

-08_Milton^s Art ~ His Plane of Inspiration and Shakespeare^s.htm VII Milton's Art His "Plane" of Inspiration and Shakespeare's Now we may note a few examples of Milton's art. On the more obvious yet none the less genuinely expressive level we have the four rivers of Hell conjured up, each by the appropriate phrase elaborating the etymological connotation of the river's Greek name and running in the right psychologically effective rhythm of vowels and consonants: Abhorrèd Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, named of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, Whose waves of torrent fire i

The Inspiration of Paradise Lost The Inspiration of Paradise Lost AMAL KIRAN (K.D. SETHNA) The Integral Life Foundation P.O. Box 239 Waterford CT. 06385 USA First published 1994 (Typeset in 10.5/13 Palatino) © Amal Kiran (K.D. Sethna) Published by The Integral Life Foundation, U.S.A. Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA