The Indwelling Universal

A poem by Sri Aurobindo


The Indwelling Universal

I contain the wide world in my soul's embrace:
    In me Arcturus and Belphegor burn.
    To whatsoever living form I turn
I see my own body with another face.

All eyes that look on me are my sole eyes;
    The one heart that beats within all breasts is mine.
    The world's happiness flows through me like wine,
Its million sorrows are my agonies.

Yet all its acts are only waves that pass
    Upon my surface; inly for ever still,
    Unborn I sit, timeless, intangible:
All things are shadows in my tranquil glass.

My vast transcendence holds the cosmic whirl;
I am hid in it as in the sea a pearl.



Part VII : Pondicherry (Circa 1927-1947) > Sonnets from Manuscripts (Circa 1934-1947)   




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

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  The Indwelling Universal
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- I contain the whole world in my soul's embrace:
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  In me Arcturus and Belphegor burn.
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  To whatsoever living form I turn
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  I see my own body with another face.

NOTES FROM EDITOR

15 July 1938. Two handwritten manuscripts.