A poem by Sri Aurobindo
Majestic, mild, immortally august, In silence throned, to just and to unjust One Lord of deep unutterable love, I saw Him, Shiva, like a brooding dove Close-winged upon her nest. The outcaste came, The sinners gathered round that tender Flame, The demons, by the other sterner gods Rejected from their luminous abodes, Gathered around the Refuge of the lost, Soft-smiling on that wild and grisly host. All who were refugeless, wretched, unloved, The wicked and the good together moved Naturally to Him, the asylum sweet, And found their heaven at their Master's feet. The vision changed and in His place there stood A Terror red as lightning or as blood; His fierce right hand a javelin advanced And, as He shook it, earthquake reeling danced Across the hemisphere, ruin and plague Rained out of heaven, disasters swift and vague Threatened, a marching multitude of ills. His foot strode forward to oppress the hills, And at the vision of His burning eyes The hearts of men grew faint with dread surmise Of sin and punishment; their cry was loud, "O Master of the stormwind and the cloud, Spare, Rudra, spare. Show us that other form Auspicious, not incarnate wrath and storm."
The God of Wrath, the God of Love are one, Nor least He loves when most He smites. Alone Who rises above fear and plays with grief, Defeat and death, inherits full relief From blindness and beholds the single Form, Love masking Terror, Peace supporting storm. The Friend of Man helps him with Life and Death, Until he knows. Then freed from mortal breath He feels the joy of the immortal play; Grief, pain, resentment, terror pass away. He too grows Rudra fierce, august and dire, And Shiva, sweet fulfiller of desire.
Immortal, moveless, calm, alone, august, A silence throned, to just and to unjust One Lord of still unutterable love, I saw Him, Shiva, like a brooding dove Close-winged upon her nest. The outcasts came, The sinners gathered to that quiet flame, The demons by the other sterner gods Rejected from their luminous abodes Gathered around the Refuge of the lost Soft-smiling on that wild and grisly host. All who were refugeless, wretched, unloved, The wicked and the good together moved Naturally to Him, the shelterer sweet, And found their heaven at their Master's feet. The vision changed and in its place there stood A Terror red as lightning or as blood. His strong right hand a javelin advanced And as He shook it, earthquake stumbling danced Across the hemisphere, ruin and plague Rained out of heaven, disasters swift and vague Neighboured, a marching multitude of ills. His foot strode forward to oppress the hills, And at the vision of His burning eyes The hearts of men grew faint with dread surmise Of sin and punishment. Their cry was loud, "O master of the stormwind and the cloud, Spare, Rudra, spare! Show us that other form Auspicious, not incarnate wrath and storm." The God of Force, the God of Love are one; Not least He loves whom most He smites. Alone Who towers above fear and plays with grief, Defeat and death, inherits full relief From blindness and beholds the single Form, Love masking Terror, Peace supporting Storm.
The Friend of Man helps him with life and death Until he knows. Then, freed from mortal breath, Grief, pain, resentment, terror pass away. He feels the joy of the immortal play; He has the silence and the unflinching force, He knows the oneness and the eternal course. He too is Rudra and thunder and the Fire, He Shiva and the white Light no shadows tire, The Strength that rides abroad on Time's wide wings, The Calm in the heart of all immortal things.
Part IV : Calcutta and Chandernagore (1907-1910) > Short Poems Published in 1909 and 1910
How to read the color-coded changes below? 1. SABCL version : lines with any changes & specific changes 2. CWSA version : lines with any changes & specific changes
NOTES FROM EDITOR
Circa 1909. Published in the Karmayogin on 18 December 1909. Around 1913, Sri Aurobindo copied the Karmayogin text into a notebook, making a few deliberate changes as he did so. Later he revised the opening and close of this version. Three decades later, when Collected Poems and Plays was being compiled, the editors, not knowing about the 1913 version, sent the Karmayogin text to Sri Aurobindo, who made a few revisions to it. This version was used in Collected Poems and Plays (1942) and reproduced in Collected Poems in 1972. The editors of the present volume have selected the more extensively revised version of 1913 for the text reproduced here. The 1942 version is reproduced in the Reference Volume.
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