RADIATION AND REFLECTION

AND REFRACTION

A Note on Sri Aurobindo’s Imagery

DR. K. V. S. MURTI, M.A., Ph. D.

According to C. Day Lewis, the special faculty of the poet is the ‘power of creating images.’ Sri Aurobindo calls this as ‘the finding of the inevitable word’ and ‘inspired phrase.’

–A. B. PURANI

A kindler of new, luminous constellations

On the verge of human sight;

A builder of light-pillars on the ocean

Of Time, impouring Light.

–PROF. V. K. GOKAK

Among the Indo-English writers, Sri Aurobindo is unique as ‘prose master, playwright, and poet laureate.’ He takes his stand on his feeling and experience’ about Perfection, as Keats did on his ‘about truth and beauty.’ ‘Plea of Perfection’ is the keynote of his literary art: the music (or song) of his spiritual perfection is radiated by his inevitable words and inspired phrases. ‘Spirit, or Self, or Soul’ recurs often in his poetry: it is his soul-term: he is the poet of the soul’:

Thought is the wine of the soul and the word is the beaker;

Light is the banquet-table–the soul of the sage is the drinker.

(“Silence Is All”)

Soul, my soul, reascend over the edge of life,–

(“Soul, my Soul”)

Being a ‘Sage-Saint-Sayer’, the philosophical ‘Concept of Triad’ pervades his works in its myriad patterns and connotations. There is One in Three and Three in One:

....bring thy Graces three,

The swift companions of thy mirthful mind...

(“Song”)

Love, wine, song, the core of living

Sweetest, oldest, musicalest.

(“A Doubt”)

My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,

My body is God’s happy living tool,

My spirit a vast sun of deathless light.

(“Transformation”)

In “A Vision of Science,” he speaks of the three Angels: Law, Science and Religion; in “Parabrahman,” tells: ‘The Almighty One knew labour, failure, strife’; in “Kama,” writes of ‘Desire, Ignorance, and Bliss’: ‘Kama here speaks as Desire the Creator, an outgoing, power from the Bliss of the Divine Reality to which, abandoning desire, one returns, anandam brahmano vidvan, possessing the bliss of the Brahman.’ “God’s Labour” is ‘too bright,’ ‘too frail,’ and ‘too splendid.’ “The Childern of Wotan” say they are ‘pitiless, mighty, and glad’: he describes “The Iron Dictators” as ‘Masters of falsehood, Kings of ignorance, High sovereign Lords of suffering and death’. Of ‘The Infinitesimal Infinite”, he states: ‘It lived, it knew, it saw itself sublime.’ Thus examples can be multiplied endlessly. And many of his poems are written in the form of three sections or stanzas, especially his poems in “New Metres.”

Sri Aurobindo is a classical scholar, a literary master, and a spiritual Hercules. In “A Doubt”, he writes:

... the old world’s gifts were three,

Dove of Cypris, wine of Bacchus,

Pan’s sweet pipe in Sicily.

He describes Greece and Ilion, Glaucus and Aethon, Lucifer and Sirioth, Deiphobus and Thaliard, Phaethon and Estella, Euphrosyne and Venus, Greek and Trojan heroes and gods. He writes of the Syrian World, Ireland, and England. And his verse radiates the influence of Spenser and Shakespeare, Milton and Hopkins, Keats and Shelley, primarily. He lays bare the hearts of Cosmic Man, Surrealist, and Vedantin; describes Pilgrim, Yogin, and Mahatma; discusses Jivatma, Paramatma, and Brahman. He salutes the genius of Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Madhusudan Dutt, and his grandfather Rajnarayan Bose. ‘Love’ is a recurring theme in his works: he celebrates the love of Alnuman and Zulleikha, Urjoona and Uloupie, Urjoona and Chitrangada, Ruru and Priamvada, Pururavas and Urvasie, Nala and Damayanti. Saraswati, Trishuncou, Kamadeva, Morcundeya, Manu are selected as the themes for some of his poems. He does not leave the cosmic dance of Krishna and Kali and Shiva. In the poem “The Rakshasas”, ‘the Rakshasa, the violent kinetic Ego’ tries to ‘establish his mastery of the world replacing the animal Soul’ for ‘the intellectualized but unregenerated...Asura’; but ‘each such type and level of consciousness sees the Divine in its own image, and its level in Nature is sustained by a differing form of the World-Mother.’ In “Ahana”, ‘Ahana, the Dawn of God, descends on the world where, amid the strife and trouble of mortality, the Hunters of Joy, the Seekers of Knowledge, the Climbers in the quest for Power’–the Bhakti Yogins, the Jnana-Yogins, and the Karma-Yogins-‘are loitering up the slopes’; she stands on the mountains of the East, and offers to lead to the snare of His foot- steps, of the Flute-Player. The poet deals with the miracle of “Human Enigma”, of life, love, and death; of birth, rebirth, and re-rebirths. In the atmosphere of his poetic world, “Cuckoo” and “Nightingale” and “Blue Bird” swing and sing enchantingly. Above all, the Sonnets radiate his evolution: transformation of the man into the Saint–realization of “God’s Labour”, “Godhead”, and “Parabrahman”; “Solitude”, “Silence”, “Liberation”; “Life-Unity”, “Golden Light”, “Bliss of Identity”; and finally “Nirvana”:

All is abolished but the mute Alone ...

There is no I, no Nature, known-unknown. ...

Only the illimitable Permanent

Is here” A Peace stupendous, fearless, still,

Replaces all,–what once was I, ...

The Saint–to borrow Shelley’s expression–goes out of himself, becomes one with the Object of his vision, and radiates in his poems that experience bridging the lightning nexus between the temporal the Spiritual.

II

Sri Aurobindo’s mind is like a blue Bird soaring into Light, rejoicing in mystic awe at every higher level attained. And the joyous spiritual mind (or sensibility) is reflected in his imagery, which is all ‘sounds, colours, joy-flamings.’ It is a grand blend of traditional and modern images and symbols. Traditional images–like ‘hell’, ‘earth’, ‘heaven’; ‘fire’, ‘flame’, ‘light’, ‘tree’, ‘flower’, ‘fruit’, ‘lake’, ‘river’, ‘ocean’; ‘star’, ‘moon’, ‘sun’, ‘bird’, ‘deer’, ‘animal’, ‘tiger’, ‘lion’, ‘man’; ‘journey’, ‘boat’, ‘goal’–abound in his poetry. Personification (or Apostrophe) is the tour deforce of the Saint-Poet. And he reflects the philosophical depths and levels and heights of his vision through such images as: ‘Radiation’, ‘Reflection’, ‘Refraction’; ‘Truth’, ‘ Beauty’, ‘Goodness’; ‘Illusion’, ‘Ignorance’, ‘Illumination’; ‘Pain’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Ecstasy;’ ‘Force,’ ‘Power,’ ‘Omnipotent;’ ‘Life,’ ‘Death,’ ‘Reality;’ ‘Mortal,’ ‘Immortal,’ ‘God’. For instance:

The darkness was the Omnipotent’s abode,

Hood of omniscience, a blind mask of God.

(“The Inconscient”)

His imagery is essentially modern: modern images–like ‘gun’, ‘shell,’ ‘smoke’; ‘ordnance,’ ‘battle,’ ‘war;’ ‘cup,’ ‘drink’, ‘venom’; ‘void’, ‘space’, ‘chaos’; ‘electron’, ‘atom’, ‘molecule’; ‘matter’, ‘liquid’, ‘solid’; ‘dressing-gown’, ‘drawing-room’, ‘dining-table’; ‘sperm’, ‘gene’, ‘cell’; ‘plasm’, ‘gas’, ‘vapour;’ ‘sweat’, ‘blood’, ‘tear’–recur abundantly. Often the poet reflects his spiritual vision and experience through modern images in such scientific expressions: ‘ocean of electrical energy’, ‘televised from the gulfs of Night’, ‘Nature’s plastic and protean change’, ‘self-winged airplanes fly’, ‘spiritual military’, ‘Necessity’s logarithmic table’, ‘calculus of destiny’, ‘being’s secret integers’, ‘Napoleon’s giant mind of war’, ‘algebra of the mind’, ‘cinema’s vacant shapes’, ‘page and summary of the Infinite’, and the like. ‘The unravelling of the cosmic panorama finds an apt image in the Japanese rolls of painting “a kakemono of significant forms.’ Sri Aurobindo seems to have special liking for ‘light and colour’ images. For instance, in “Mahatmas” he writes:

The seven mountains and the seven seas

Surround me. Over me the eightfold Sun

Blazing with various colours–green and blue,

Scarlet and rose, violet and gold and White,

And the dark disk that rides in the mortal cave–,

‘Rose’ is the key-image in his poetry: in expressions like ‘rose of life’, ‘rose of darkness and light’, and ‘rose of Power or God’, the image reflects the various levels of the poet’s spiritual consciousness:

Man is a narrow bridge, a call that grows,

His soul the dim bud of God’s flaming rose.

(“The Dumb Inconscient”)

The theory of ‘Evolution’ has its impact on the poet’s imagery and narration. He describes his spiritual evolution employing apt images “Ocean Oneness” “Dream-Boat”, “flame-Wind”, “Lost Boat”, “Ascent”, “Beyond the Silence”, “Life Heavens”, “Journey’s End”, and “Jivanmukta.” Similarly, in an evolutionary way, the Yogin’s spiritual progress is beautifully described in the tiny trilogy: “Thought the Paraclete”, “Moon of Two Hemispheres”, and “Rose of God.” In the first poem, the poet skilfully employs the triple image, ‘archangel’ and ‘hyppogriff’ and ‘paraclete,’ and the fine colour imagery, ‘green’ - ‘orange’ - ‘gold red’ - ‘pale blue’ - ‘crimson white’ - ‘white fire’ - ‘eternal sunned,’ to unravel the flight of the thought or spirit, leaving the corporeal self, towards the ‘Rose of God.’ In the second poem, the ‘moon’ image serves the poet to express the sailing of the ‘illumined star-thought’ from the dark hemisphere, through ‘Dawn,’ into the ‘Light Hemisphere’ of the ‘sun-face Infinite, the Untimed.’ In the third poem, the illumined spirit begs the ‘Rose of God.’ The rose is a symbol of God: Bliss, Light, Power, Life, and Love are the colourful petals of the Rose. The Rose of God is invoked: Bliss is invited to leap in human heart, Light to live in the mind, Power to ablaze the will, Life to transform the body, and Love to arise in the soul and ‘make the earth the home of the wonderful and life beatitude’s kiss.’

III

The Saint’s spiritual flight (or vision) refracts, in his imagery, towards the Normal, and the unseen Divine is brought through the imagery nearer, magnified and beautified, to the readers’ perception. The selected images, especially in his plays and epic, serve as symbols and expose the Divine Play. The Divine is Truth, Beauty and Goodness; or Love, Power, and Providence; and Creation, Desruction, and Redemption are His leela. Sri Aurobindo’s plays are a symbolic display of the Divine Play: ‘punishing Evil, redeeming Virtue.’ In other words: the characters are all images used as symbols to serve the purpose.

In The Viziers of Bassora, Anice-al-Jalice is Beauty and Nuraddene is Love. The Vizier Alfazzal is Goodness. The King of Bassora Evil and his Vizier Almuene is Malignity. Haroun-al-Rashid is providence: He punishes the Wicked, redeems the Good, and unites love and Beauty to reign supreme in the refined harmony of Bassora. In Perseus the Deliverer, the sea-god Poseidon is Evil, and his Priest Polydaon is Spite. The King is Goodness, and Princess Andromeda is Pity. She is accused guilty for her compassion, for releasing the to-be-sacrificed humans. Spite gets Pity chained to a rock for Evil to prey upon her. She submits to the Divine. The Divine Hero Perseus or Power descends in time, shatters Evil and Spite, and redeems Pity. And Pity and Power are united finally. In the three plays. Eric, Vasavadutta, and Rodogune, it is the play of Love that is exemplified. In Eric, Eric is Evil, and Aslaug is Spite. In the contest between the two, Love plays a sublime role. Love transforms Evil into Truth and Spite into Goodness. And Truth and Goodness are finally united harmoniously. In Vasavadutta, King Mahasegu traps his rival Udayan and places him in captivity under the control of his beautiful daughter Vasavadutta. Udayan is Truth, and Vasavadutta is Beauty. Mahasegu is Providence. Love plays the intended role: Truth and Beauty are united. Enmity is neutralised. Thus in the two plays ‘the leap of Love across the abyss of Hate’ is dramatized. In Rodogune, the theme is further raised to tragic glory. Beautiful Rodogune is placed as a captive attendant under the Syrian Queen. Her two sons, Antiochus and Timocles represent Truth and Spite (or Evil) respectively. Love acts as the bridging link between Truth and Beauty. Provoked by the Chancellor Phayllus or Malignity, Spite rages in war. Destruction delivers the lovers; and Love unites Truth and Beauty in Heaven. Thus, to dramatize the Divine play symbolically, Sri Aurobindo has aptly adopted ‘the mediaeval Syrian World of romance and enchantment.’

Savitri is the magnum opus of Sri Aurobindo, his ‘chief song of hope.’ The book is designed as the greatest modern epic for the world. The Saint openly declares that it is ‘A Legend and a Symbol.’ It is designed in three parts. The three major characters are: Savitri, Satyavan, and Yama. Next in importance are: Aswapathy, his Consort, and Narad. The epic describes three-tier action. At the legendary level: King Aswapathy worships the Divine Mother and obtains a boon, and Savitri is born as his daughter; she marries the ill-fated Satyavan, triumphs over Yama, and regains her dead husband. At the spiritual level: the Yogin Spirit invokes the Infinite Spirit, Who descends and rescues the Finite Spirit from the Spirit of Death. At the Cosmic Level: Savitri symbolizes Devotion, Beauty, and Power; Satyavan stands for Mankind, Love, and Truth; Yama denotes Darkneas, Fate, and Death; the cosmic ‘Time, Space, Action’ are displayed in terms of the ‘Victory of Power over Death, reinforcing Truth.’ Aswapathy is the Aspiring King, Yogin, and Witness of World-Transformation. The Yogin ascends in his dhyana, transcends Satchidananda; his spirit attains the immortal will and invokes the Divine to descend for the deliverance of Mankind. Savitri the Incarnation of the Divine becomes a Yogin, acquires Spiritual Power, and discharges the triple role’: ‘Devout Wife, Spiritual Saviour, and World-Deliverer’:

A power leaned down, a happiness found its home.

Over wide earth brooded the infinite bliss.

Thus the world is delivered from Darkness. Eternal Dawn illumines the Earth for the bliss of Mankind. Such is the robust optimism of Sri Aurobindo.

It is now clear that Sri Aurobindo’s imagery renders his muse strikingly spiritual, modern, and universal. To borrow W. B. Yeats’s words: the imagery serves as ‘a transparent lamp about a spiritual Flame’:

My mind is shoreless and still;

My song is rapture’s mystic art;

My flight immortal will.

“The Divine gives itself to those who give themselves without reserve and in all their parts to the Divine. For them calm, the light, the power, the bliss, the freedom, the wideness, the heights of knowledge, the seas of Ananda.”

–SRI AUROBINDO

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