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

A Prayer IF thou must give something Give me the undying lamp, the lamp of thy Love: And silently shalll bow down and quietly depart. Give to my beggar heart the touch of thy Light, May it bloom like a morning flower on my bosom! O Mother, thy seat bounded by the moon and the stars is spread in the vast stilled spaces! And yet afar from there, oh, touch the earth's heart and pour down thy Grace! Let my soul, drowned here in loud noises, listen to the music, The music of silence filling my whole being: May the world with eyes wide open see Peace come down unending: O pour out the delight that shall enliven my journey, The l

VEDIC HYMNS Hymn to Indra RIGVEDA Mandala I: Sukta 84 (I) O INDRA, the delightful wine (Soma) has been pressed out for thee, most powerful art thou and the smiter of foes. May this Indra-Power fill thee even as the sun fills the firmament with its rays. (2) The twin bright carriers bring near unto us lndra of indomi­table might and also the Hymns of the seers and the sacrifices of men. (3) Take thy seat in the chariot, O slayer of Vritra the Coverer, the twin bright steeds have been yoked by the Supreme Word; may the stones, pressing out the wine of Delight by their perfect utterances, turn thy happy mind downward here. (4) O lndr