MOKSHA A giant earth-oblivion numbs the brain, A stroke of trance making each limb fall loose And narrow-hearted hungers crumble down! The soul has broken through the walls of time, The unlustred prison of the dreaming clay, To a palace of imperishable gold— No transient pauper day but shadowless dawn, Eternal Truth's sun-gated infinite. Sri Aurobindo's Comment "It is mental throughout except the last line which has a touch of Higher Mind; but it is fine all the same. Quite up to the mark." Page-104

GODS They give us life with some high burning breath, Life which but draws a golden road to death. In vain we lift warm hands that quiver and cry Unto the blue salvation of the sky. Above, transparencies divine are spread Of fusing fires—gay purple, eager red; But who there heeds our love? Thwarted, alone, We struggle through an atmosphere of stone. The heaven-coloured distances lie dumb— But all our hush is sleep or clay grown numb: A blinded beauty fills our heart, a sun Lost in gigantic self-oblivion. Those ever-shining quietudes of bliss How shall we know—pale wanderers from kiss to kiss? Sri

-055_A Poet^s Stammer.htm A POET'S STAMMER My dream is spoken, As if by sound Were tremulously broken Some vow profound. A timeless hush Draws ever back The winging music-rush Upon thought's track. Though syllables sweep Like golden birds. Far lonelihoods of sleep Dwindle my words. Beyond life's clamour, A mystery mars Speech-light to a myriad stammer Of nickering stars.— it is certainly the inner mind that has transformed the idea of stammering into a symbol of inner phenomena and into that operation a certain strain of mystic mind enters, but what is prominent is the intuitive inspiration throughout

A DREAM-VISION OF THE MOTHER       Outside Sri Aurobindo's room I was waiting for the Mother to come from the room in the eastern wing where she used to stand and receive people in the course of every morning. Some people were in that room. The Mother entered it, spoke with them and then turned and saw me. Smiling, she put both her arms forward as if to draw me towards her. I went and held her hands and told her "Mother, I am depressed because I've to see you only in my dreams — and that also not every night." She then took me near Sri Aurobindo's room and said a little angrily: "Why can't you open your eyes and see me whenever you want t

A POET IN THE MAKING   A LYRIC WITH SRI AUROBINDO'S CORRECTIONS  AND COMMENTS     In the early days of my stay in the Ashram, I wrote as follows to Sri Aurobindo about a poem by my sister Minnie, now Mrs. NF. Canteenwalla, who was eighteen years old at the time and had come with my mother and brother on a visit: "My sister has off and on been writing poetry. Here is her most recent effort, the first poem she has written in Pondicherry. In a few places I have made some corrections. Substantially the poem stands as she wrote it. Perhaps my most important change was to substitute 'phantom' for 'seductive' in stanza 5. Will you kindly

    THE SUN AND THE RAINBOW   THE SUN AND THE RAINBOW     APPROACHES TO LIFE THROUGH SRI AUROBINDO'S LIGHT Essays, Letters, Poems, Short Stories AMAL KIRAN (K.D. SETHNA)     Clear Ray Trust Puducherry - 605 012, India First Published: 1981 Second Edition: June 2008 (Typeset in 10.5/13 Palatino)       Price: Rs. 150/- ISBN: 978-81-87916-08-6       © Clear Ray Trust Published by Clear Ray Trust, Puducherry - 605 012 Printed at: All India Pres

DECEMBER 5       TWO STATEMENTS BY SEHRA IN 1956 AND THE MOTHER'S COMMENT     First Statement   This is my experience during the meditation. I had no sense of body. There was nothing except infinite space. Then I heard a voice which said: "From now on, I will rule the world." I asked "Who is that I?" The answer came: "The Supermind." Then I laughed and asked: "But who is the Supermind?" At the same time I said "Sri Aurobindo" as if addressing him — and then there was a sort of stroke on my mind and I knew that I had uttered the answer. It was all darkness. It was from this darkness that the voice

-032_The Mother Two Phases (Poem).htm THE MOTHER: TWO PHASES   Infinite Bliss at work In self-elected chains, Bearing with a luminous smile Love's load of a myriad pains — The Universal Mother, Eternity seized by Time, Dealing out hourly blessings To earth for a goal sublime. Infinite Bliss at play In a fetter light as flowers, Laughing with radiant motion In the midst of hampering hours — The Transcendental Mother, Triumphant over all, Swinging a care-free racquet As if earth were a tennis ball!     18.8.1954 Page-164

THE HERO     AN EPISODE OF THE EIGHTEEN-SEVENTIES     A SHORT STORY   Quiet, to a musician, is not relief from sound; it is only a chance to make him listen better to the voice of his art. Andre Chaudanson found night the happiest time, for he could then concentrate most intently on the sounds that rose and fell continually through his mind. And on this particular night he listened more intently than ever because he felt the sorest need of soothing harmonies. Life was breaking up all around him; discords were written on the face of every man he met. The Prussians were reported to be less than thirty miles from the town where he lived. Any

THE TWO SMILES   A LETTER TO A WESTERN VISITOR TO INDIA   Bombay, May 11,1952 1 think that during those few hours we met I smiled at you sufficiently to make up for all the unsmiling faces you have encountered in Delhi! And I assure you that you will find many smiling ones in various parts of India. The trouble is that mostly they are scattered, because the conditions that make for the Indian smile do not prevail in strength enough all over the country. I should like to make a few remarks about the Indian smile and the Western smile. Of course, human beings have the same qualities everywhere and authentic happiness beams out from the same sou