Vivekananda A PERSONAL reminiscence. A young man in prison, accused of conspiracy and waging war against the British Empire. If convicted he might have to suffer the extreme penalty, at least, transportation to the Andamans. The case is dragging on for long months. And the young man is in a solitary cell. He cannot always keep up his spirits high. Moments of sadness and gloom and despair come and almost overwhelm him. Who was there to console and cheer him up? Vivekananda. Vivekananda's speeches, From Colombo to Almora, came, as a godsend, into the hands of the young man. Invariably, when the period of despondency came he used to open the book, read a few pages, read them over again, a

Appendix I WORDSWORTH* I did not come to appreciate the poetry of Wordsworth in my school days, it happened in college, and to a large extent thanks to Professor Manmohan Ghose. In our school days, the mind and heart of Bengali students were saturated with the poetry of Tagore: . In the bower of my youth the love-bird sings, Wake up, O darling, wake; Opening thy lids lazy with love, Wake up, O darling, wake. . . This poetry belongs to the type once characterised as follows by our humorous novelist Prabhat Mukherji through one of his characters, a sadhu, describing the charms of the Divine Name: It has the sweetness and the s

Jules Supervielle JULES SUPERVIELLE is a French poet and a modern French poet. He belongs to this century and died only a few years ago. Although he wrote in French, he came of a Spanish colonist family settled in South America (Montevideo). He came to France early in life and was educated there. He lived in France but maintained his relation with his mother-country. His poetry is very characteristic and adds almost a new vein to the spirit and manner of French poetry. He has bypassed the rational and emotional tradition of his adopted country, brought in a mystic way of vision characteristic of the East. This mysticism is not however the normal spiritual way but a kind o

Of Desire and Atonement WHEREVER you meet a ray of real light, a gleam of genuine beauty, a particle of true truth- go back with it to its original source. Follow the track to the end and you will find yourself in the embrace of the Divine. *** Close not your senses -however earthly they may be. Fling them all wide open -open always and everywhere, but to the Divine. *** Life itself becomes Art - the very highest form of Art - when it is moulded in the rhythm of the Supreme Beauty, when its steps follow the cadences of the Divine. *** Every softening of the heart towards things of the earth is a hardening of it to the things of Heaven.

Boris Pasternak THE portrait of the late poet (for he is more of a poet than a novelist, as has been pointed out) on the cover of the British edition of his novel Dr. Zhivago seems to be the very image of the tragic hero. Indeed he reminds one of Hamlet as he stood on the ramparts of the castle of Elsinore. Curiously, the very first poem in the collection at the end of that book is entitled "Hamlet" and the significant cry rings out of it: Abba, Father, if it be possible Let this cup pass from me. Here is a sensitive soul thrown into a world where one has to draw one's breath in pain. Even like the Son of Man, the exemplar and prototype, he has to share in

Communism: What does it Mean? COMMUNISM, in India at least, has come to mean things which it was not the original or the main purpose of the word to imply. Communism meant "holding in common", that is to say, there is no private property, one can claim nothing as exclusively one's own-things are distributed, work as well as necessities, and one receives them, each in his turn, according to his need and desert, as determined by general planning. Let alone property, there are types of communism that speak of holding in common women and children even. In any case whatever one is given one possesses and enjoys only for the moment, there is nothing like permanent possession. All ha

Hymn to Darkness HERE is a modern poem in Bengali. It is characteristically modern, though perhaps not quite modernist. It is an invocation to Darkness: That darkness is no more, The darkness in which my heart plunged when you came, It is no more there. Many are the lights now around the heart Arrayed as in a festive illumination. Ceaseless now There is the earth's merry-go-round all the time. But beyond still, Outside Time, the mind, even this mind stands And sends its call to Thee alone. Yes, the Darkness is there no longer; And yet stretching out both the arms My mind yearns to reach the Darkness And itself becomes the D

The Poetry in the Making Is the artist – the supreme artist, when he is a genius, that is to say – conscious in his creation or is he unconscious? Two quite opposite views have been taken of the problem by the best of intelligences. On the one hand, it is said that genius is genius precisely because it acts unconsciously, and on the other it is asserted with equal emphasis that genius is the capacity of taking infinite pains, which means it is absolutely a self. conscious activity. We take a third view of the matter and say that genius is neither unconscious or conscious but superconscious. And when one is superconscious, one can be in appearance either conscious o

The Birth of Maya THE Divine is All-Light, All-Bliss, All-Power - in himself, in his essence and true being, always and for ever. But, somewhere, in a part of universal being the Divine chose to forget the Divine, a veil was allowed to interpose in front of the All-Light, the All-Bliss, the All-Power: A mixture became possible, the dualities were born. Ignorance entered into Knowledge, Pain invaded Delight, Weakness stole into Strength. For a new and extraordinary manifestation this movement was permitted, for the fullness of experience, for an immense contradiction turning to a luminous reconciliation and harmony. The Eternal negated his eternity, the Divine

TOWARDS THE LIGHT Of Love and Aspiration THERE is a Light before which all other light is darkness. There is a Strength before which all other strength is weakness. There is a Joy before which all other joy is suffering. *** Forward to the Farthest! Upward to the Highest! Downward into the Deepest! At the farthest awaits a humanity fulfilled and realised, At the highest broods the Divinity that propels and forges, At the deepest dwells the Instrument -the Individuality - that obeys and executes. Be aware of these triple elements, house their triple movements; Find your one and total self in the dynamic union o