ON UPANISHADIC THOUGHT Yama - Nachiketa (Katha Upanishad) VAJASRAVAS desired that he would give away all he had. He had a son named Nachiketas. As the boy saw the gifts being given, his heart was filled with respect and devotion, and he pondered: "The realm of undelight is his portion who makes a gift offering of kine that have drunk their last drop of water and eaten the last herb, have been sucked to the last drop of milk and have worn out their organs." So the boy said to his father, "To whom are you going to give me, father?" The father did not give an answer to the senseless question of his ignorant son. But the boy was insistent. . He a

Mute EVER in the heart's core rings a faint strain, The ringing of His hidden flute: Its dumb utterance evokes a sweet pain, The ardent desire of a burning love. In the moonlight haze, in the love-game, steps around me Brush past to avoid eyes meeting: Half-seen the body, foot-fall muffled, ­ The soul is ever athirst. In the dark a flickering smile, glimmering limbs, Some one unseen spinning around: Love binds my soul as if trapped in a prison, I am in search of the body, the golden mine of love. Lip to lip, hand in hand anon, A vain moment's thrill: Failure increases the greed, hopelessness sweetens the regret, Sorrowful am I

Hymn to Bhavani NOR father nor mother, nor friends nor brothers, Nor son nor daughter, nor servants nor master, Nor bride nor learning nor profession have I: Thou art the refuge, thou the sole refuge, O Bhavani! In this world, this shoreless ocean brimming with its dread suffering, I lie prostrate, full of desire, full of greed, full of delusion; For ever entangled I am in the meshes of Wrong movements: Thou art the refuge, thou the sole refuge, O Bhavani! I know neither benefaction nor meditation nor yoga, Nor do I know secret practices nor charms nor chants occult; I know not rites of worship, nor the process of renouncing: Thou art

MODERN BENGALI POEMS Release WILL the sun rise tomorrow? It is here now evening. Darkness spreads into every nook and corner, And in a blind rage drives onward a desperate cry. Night comes down the sky: Will the spell of darkness dissolve? New-moon Night is black. There is no mistaking; And the full moon even at stand-still With all its witchcraft cannot turn black. Oh, where is the heart kind to the poor? And where the generous soul? The honey-bee has ceased to hum and buzz: Only the chains jingle, fettering the honesty of the honest. Now it is time to journey back to you: Shall your eye ever turn to a helpl

THE THIRD SUKTA Life needs pure, calm and effectuating delight. It is through delight that knowledge, work and truth at revealed. The Page-100 more the inspiration of life-energy becomes divinely blissful and lasting, the more the aspirant is endowed with the pure intelligence, divine power and fulfilment, and at last he manifests in the waking consciousness the streams of the Vast, of direct sight and creation beyond mind and intelli­gence. In the present sukta there are four groups of three riks each, graded according to the spiritual progression. The first group begins with the invocation of the twin Riders. Who are these Riders? According to the narrat

THE SIXTH SUKTA The theme of this sukta is to awaken the power of Indra with the help of his followers, the Maruts. Who are the Maruts? We find in the Puranas that Vayu (the Wind-God) in the womb of Diti (the consciousness of duality) had been divided into forty-nine parts by the Lord Indra. As a result, the Maruts, sub-divisions or various forms of Wind, came into existence. We also know that Vayu is the life-energy and Indra is the divine mental being. Diti is the divided consciousness, the source of multiplicity. Aditi means the undivided, indivisible and infinite consciousness. When the wave of life-energy rises into the mind and expresses itself as multiple thoughts, it tur

Hymn to Saraswati WHITE-hued — white as the Kunda flower or the moon or the snow-range, robed in white She bears in her arms the marvellous vina, seated on the lotus. She is ever adored by Brahma and Vishnu and Shiva and all the Gods. May Saraswati save us, the Goddess, may she wipe out all our slothness unto the last. Oh Saraswati, thou art the great destiny, the supreme Knowledge, oh Beauty with lotus-eyes! The universe is thy form, thy gaze ranges wide, Oh Goddess, give us the Knowledge, I bow to thee. May she dwell on our tongue—she holds the Vina and the Book, The consort of the Supreme, the Mother Divine,

Hymn to Hara-Gauri SHE is anointed with camphor and sandal And He with ashes of the funeral pyre; She wears true ear-rings And He rings of swaying snakes; I bow to Her, I bow to Him. She is decorated with garlands of Mandara And He with garlands of human skulls; She is girt with heavenly robes And He with the vacant spaces; I bow to Her, I bow to Him. Her anklets stir and jingle And His, the serpent-hoods, gleam and swing; Her limbs are decked with gold And His with the heads of hissing vipers; I bow to Her, I bow to Him. Her eye is as the tremulous blue lotus And His the red lotus blooming; Her globes of vision ar

BENGALI ESSAYS AND POEMS OF SRI AUROBINDO Asceticism and Renunciation THE Discipline (Dharma) spoken of in the Gita can be fol­lowed by everyone; it is open to all. And yet the supreme status in this Discipline is not a whit less than that of any other. The Discipline of the Gita is the Discipline of desire­less works. In this country with the resurgence of Aryan Discipline a flood of asceticism has spread everywhere. A man seeking Rajayoga cannot rest content with the life or the work of a householder. For the practice of his yoga he needs to make tremendously laborious efforts to be able to meditate and concentrate. A slight mental disturbance

Hymn to the Mental Being RIGVEDA Mandala X: Sukta 58 (1) THAT Mind of yours which has gone afar, to the solar world of Divine Law ­— We bring back to you; so may you dwell here in life. (2) That Mind of yours which has gone afar, to the Heaven, to the Earth­ — We bring back to you; so may you dwell here in life. (3) That Mind of yours which has gone afar, to a realm whose four sides have crumbled down­ — We bring back to you; so may you dwell here in life. (4) That Mind of yours which has gone afar, to the great four quarters ­— We bring back to you; so may you dwell here in life. Page-16 That Mind of y