साधनसाम्राज्यम्

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

YEARS ago when I thought of taking up Philosophy as my subject for University studies I consulted and sought the advice of the Author of the present work, Sri T.V. Kapali Sastriar. He suggested to me not to choose the "idler’s resort” and added that true philosophy is not learnt in class-rooms or from text-books. I was taken aback as I had thought Philosophy to be an indispen-sable guide for spiritual life. I did not imagine then that it has as much or as little to do with the inner life as any other subject of the Humanities. For the dis-tinction between philosophy and spiritual life is very real; the one is a living out of the deeper verities of the soul while the other is largely mental speculation on the nature of the ultimate Reality. Philosophy is thus mainly a province of the mind whereas the life of the spirit immediately concerns the inmost being or as in the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the whole being of man with the soul as its centre. A clear understanding of this position is necessary for a useful study of this poem which is more a testament of the Yogin in the Poet than a discourse by the philosopher.

Formed in śikhariņī metre, this work of twenty-five verses celebrates the Sadhana, spiritual discipline, in its sovereign sway over the seeker who has dedicated himself to the Truth of a higher life. Though it deals particularly with the Sadhana that is the central feature of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga, it applies in a large manner to all Sadhanas whose aim is to discover the true Self or God within and thus rise out of the lower life of ignorance into the felicities of the higher realms of the Spirit.

The Author makes it clear at the outset that entry into Sadhana does not lie in the thinkings of the mind. The mind of man will always go on circling in its whirl of speculations over the Problem of Existence without bringing him any nearer the solution. At the end of its labours he is left where he was, as far removed from the core of the Riddle as ever. (Verses 1-5)

It is indispensable that the seeker should get back from the running course of the restless mind into the Quiet that remains at the back of it. (6-8)

Meditation over the Lord is the easiest means of with-drawing from the customary preoccupations of the mind and relaxing oneself into the Quiet. (9)

But there must be a sincere recognition of the fact of Rulership of the Divine over All and a practical surrender of one’s little self to Him. (10)

It is only then, when the ego-bound self of man sheds its coverings and narrow enclosures and the barriers thus break down that his being opens into a profound silence: one begins to see and feel the world as a sacred habitation of the Lord. (11-12)

There are three indubitable results which are palpably seen once the touch of the Divine is active in one who has rendered himself receptive to it by an utter self-offering. They are a settled quiet in the mind, a flaming aspiration in the heart and a sense of the Vast governing the look and thought of the outward intelligence. (13)

These are not the outcome of human labour. Human effort can achieve certain results undoubtedly, but the aim and goal of this Sadhana which is to effect a com-plete conquest of the dense matter by the light of the Divine is not realisable except by the compassionate glance, kațākşa, of the Lord of the Yoga. A wakeful Peace and a processing Power are its active agents. (14-15)

The consciousness of the Vast overpowers the being now freed from the encumbrances of the revolving mind which has settled down to its pristine poise of a clear, transparent, reflecting mirror. (16)

This is the dawn of the Yogic consciousness in the wake of which the seeker becomes aware of a happy freshness in the mode and manner of interaction between his subjective being and the objective environment. (17-18)

With this progressive opening of the inner regions of the being to the action of the Yoga Force, there com-mences the music of the spheres which wells up from the profounds of the enveloping silence; the light of the Power at play begins to reveal itself more and more openly. (19)

The Higher Consciousness which is unrolling itself in him stamps his being with its innate nature of in-finitude and it is with effort that he has to adjust his movements to suit the demands of Time, Space and the Many around him that characterise the world of his living. (20)

To such a chosen soul is revealed by the Master of the Yoga the way to establish the Kingdom of the Immortal here in mortal man on earth; by him also is the most retiring disposition transformed into a con-summate capacity and readiness for manifold work, for the world’s weal. (21)

The Sadhaka of this Yoga does not decide his steps of his own accord except that he makes a determined choice of the Sadhana. It is the Yoga Shakti of the Lord that takes possession of him and works out the Sadhana, the only condition demanded of him being a vigilant receptivity to it and to her alone. (22)

The decisive turn however is reached when the seeker is vouchsafed a constant sānnidhya, the Presence of the Guiding Spirit and the larger Peace overpowers and begins to take shape in the body rendering it into a beauteous pedastal like a marble monument. (23-24)

It is the Master of this Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, in whom it lies to effect this glorious fulfilment of Man; to him who secures the execution of this purpose entrusted to the glance, kațākṣa of the Shakti, the Mother, let us bow in gratitude, concludes the author. (25)

Ever since I read this work, in 1947 when it saw the light of the day, and felt the ennobling grandeur and immediacy of appeal, it has been my earnest desire to make it accessible to others, to those who have an abiding interest in matters that pertain to the deeper being of man.

“Adequate rendering of poetry in any other language is never an easy task. It must be borne in mind that one can know the thought-content of a poem from translations. But that is not the same as understanding the poetry. True appreciation rises from allowing the soul and substance of poetry to invade and possess the sense, feeling and thought in the core of one’s being in communion with the spirit of Poetry. (That is the para-nirvști mentioned by Sanskrit Rhetors.) Of the untranslatable elements in Poetry the word-rhythm and word-order stand pre-eminently as the two wings of the soaring soul of Poetic sound.” These are the words of the Author, stated elsewhere, on the true character of Poetry. And Sanskrit poetry does not lend itself to an effective translation. Apart from the innate majesty of the language, it is quite impossible to communicate its sound-values in an alien tongue. The word, śabda has a power of its own and is as important as the meaning, artha. Naturally all that could be attempted here is to bring out as much of the artha as possible and not the soul of poetry which could be sensed only in the original. The translation has received the benefit of revision by the revered Author, while the Gloss written for elucidation has been broadly approved and in many places revised by him. While preparing the notes I have freely drawn upon the Author’s writings on the Upanishads, the Teachings etc. and have directly quoted from them where necessary, without giving reference, such passages being given in quotation marks.

This work, with translation and gloss, appeared serially in The Advent Quarterly of 1951.

M. P. PANDIT