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Treatment of Mysticism in Sri Aurobindo's Poetry: Issue 4 March 2019
Treatment of Mysticism in Sri Aurobindo's Poetry: Issue 4 March 2019
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every kind of religious ritualism and superstition. He combined in him the Sufi and
Bhakti traditions of the Islamic and the Hindu religions. The knowledge he had gained
and the Truth which he had realized were not the outcome of reading of the Sastras but of
his own spiritual experiences. Kabir composed songs for the common people and he
knew that the God of all religions is the same and considered himself to be a tool of God
(Tiwari, 1978). The founder of the great Sikh religion, Nanak, was greatly influenced by
Kabir’s teaching. Some of the attractive simplicity of Sikhism can be traced to Kabir.
Surdas was a blind bard and an ardent apostle of Krishna Bhakti. He was a seeker of
Truth, an explorer into the ultimate Reality. Surdas’ poetry embodies a whole gamut of
emotions. His writings still inspire and motivate people towards a spirituality, dedicated
and morally correct way of life (Verma, 1978). The common characteristic of all these
poets is their worship of God as a loving and intensely lovable Creator.
In the last two hundred years, Indian culture has been greatly influenced by the West. The
new developments are partly the result of the influence of Christianity, but not entirely.
Indian society has undergone considerable changes since the advent of the modern age
and it is only natural that this resulted in certain changes of ideas. The impact of modern
western culture brought into being a few movements which contributed much to the
making of modern India. Most of these movements started in Bengal. Raja Ram Mohan
Roy was the central figure in this awakening. He got inspiration from the modern
sciences of the West as well as from the ancient knowledge of India. He argued in favour
of a universal religion based on the principle of one Supreme God. Debendranath Tagore
was a saintly character who did much to consolidate the Upanishadic faith of the
BrahmoSamaj which was started by Ram Mohan Roy. Rabindranath Tagore’s
contribution to the mystical tradition is very significant. His mysticism is neither a creed
nor a philosophy, but a practical way of looking at the world with a pure soul and it is an
attempt at the purification of the soul. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa can be seen in a
direct line with the Bhakti movement and his disciple, Swami Vivekananda was intensely
interested in social problems who declared himself as a socialist, and wanted to make a
European society with India’s religion. RamanaMaharshi was an important figure of this
kind in the South; he taught no formal doctrine, but gave expression to the doctrine of the
‘Atman’ or self in his discourses.
Sri Aurobindo Ghose is a unique figure in this long lineage of mystics. He is an
intellectual mystic whose works are distinctively Indian and are a dynamic contribution
to world literature. Aurobindo and his philosophy still continue to inspire people of all
nations. A clear example of this fact is Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. In the
works of Aurobindo, we can see the blending of politics, Indian culture, social theory,
philosophy, yoga and poetry. But the focus here is only with his poetry, the hall-mark of
which is a mystic quality that enables us glimpses of a higher order.
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remained an influential figure among those who took part in the freedom movement. At
the end of 1926, Aurobindo stopped meeting with anyone except Mirra and one or two
others and devoted most of the time to his yogic practice. The management of the
Aurobindo Ashram was assigned to Mirra and Aurobindo asked its members to regard
her as their active spiritual guide or ‘Mother.’ From around this time, he became known
as ‘Sri Aurobindo,’ the honorific ‘Sri’ being regarded by his followers as an integral part
of his name.
From the mid-1930s, Aurobindo again found time to work on his poetry. His early work
had been traditional in form and romantic in style and substance (Iyengar, 1985). During
the early years in Pondicherry, he put most of his poetic energy into large dramatic and
narrative projects and in the thirties;he composed a series of seventy-three sonnets and a
number of shorter mystical poems. The most remarkable are first-person accounts of
spiritual experiences, seemingly written while the experience was going on. During and
after his recovery from an accident in November 1938, Aurobindo revised his major
prose works and published them as books. These include The Life Divine (1939-40), The
Synthesis of Yoga (1948), The Human Cycle (1949) and The Ideal of Human Unity
(1950). His epic work, Savitri, was published in two volumes in 1950 and 1951.
Aurobindo affirms that all life is yoga and that man has a greater destiny awaiting him
(Iyengar, 1985). Through a conscious aspiration, he can evolve into a higher being and
open himself to a higher consciousness which he called the Supramental. Aurobindo left
his body on 5th December, 1950 after a brief illness.
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uses poetry as a medium to convey to humanity, his deep and profound experiences of
spiritual life. The mystical plains are broadly classified by Aurobindo as occult, psychic
and spiritual. His poems reveal a dissolution or disintegration of the ego or the limited
self which is one of the cardinal features of mystic poetry (Sinha, 1979). There is a union
with the Absolute, an immediate communion of the soul with the transcendent source of
all beings in all his poems. Aurobindo’s mystical poetry reaches its height in Savitri,
where we find the mind energy with a vast sweep of thought. Here, his mystic poetry
strikes deep. It can stir the innermost and subtlest recesses of the life, soul and the secret
inner mind; at the same time, it can sometimes go beyond these into the pure most
psyche.
Aurobindo was of the opinion that the ultimate goal of his mysticism was the
regeneration and transformation of every human being, so that this earthly life of sorrow,
pain and death may become the Life Divine. The way of self-realization in his poetry
consists of a dual commitment namely effort and supplication. In order to achieve the
goal of complete self-realization, a man must first struggle towards God and then God
must lean down to man. This idea is developed to a great length in his great epic Savitri.
It is his magnum opus. It is cosmic in character and can be placed among great epics of
the world.
Savitri is based on the story of Savitri and Sathyavan as told in the great epic
‘Mahabharata’. Savitri with its twenty-four thousand lines divided into twelve books
spans earth and heaven in scope, comprises diverse occult worlds, and projects the drama
of life, death and immortality on the cosmic stage. In Aurobindo’s recounting, Savitri is
an incarnation of the Divine Mother brought down to earth by the aspiration of the sage
Aswapathi. Savitri marries Sathyavan, who, after a year of bliss, is taken away by the
Lord of Death. Savitri, having foreknowledge of the coming tragedy seeks for and
discovers her soul, with whose help she will face and overcome Death. Thus, Savitri puts
an end to earth’s estrangement from God. Savitri begins with a picture of darkness
passing into the day. Here it is the last dawn in Sathyavan’s life, a phenomenon, packed
with significance of the immortal light which Savitri has to win for earth by challenging
the decree of death so long accepted by man. The symbolic dawn is presented as follows:
It was the hour before the God’s awake,
Across the path of the divine Event
The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone
In her unlit temple of eternity,
Lay stretched immobile upon Silence; merge. (Book I, Canto I, 1-5)
Aurobindo never loses sight of the Super-Nature. The natural objects have been merged
in the realities of planes beyond the earth; a spiritual concreteness fuses with their
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material concreteness and makes them affect our senses with forms full of an unearthly
significance. It will be easy to appreciate this art of mystical fact by noting the following
lines:
Into a far-off nook of heaven there came
A slow miraculous gesture’s dim appeal.
The persistent thrill of a transfiguring touch
Persuaded the inert black quietude
And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God. (Book I, Canto I, 85-90)
Savitri has, in one form or another, a direct poetizing of the divine. But this does not
prevent the expression of human interests in any way. In fact, the human element is
unavoidable, as the figure from which the poem derives its name is the divine
consciousness descended into flesh. Her work is among terrestrial creatures; it is among
their joys and travails that she awakes on that fateful morning. Trees, animals and human
beings hold her in their midst, an immortal imprisoned in mortality. Aurobindo can be
seen at his best in the third part of Savitri, in the debate between Death and Savitri. There
are wonderful descriptions of the various seasons in Book IV and Aurobindo’s grand
manner, asserts itself in Love and Death in Book V. In Book VII, Canto VII, the heroine
journeys into the ‘inner countries’ in search of her true self, and this realization comes to
her at last. The outburst of the Goddess of Pity in Book VII contains more indignation
against social wrongs than many socialist poems. There are a number of lyrical passages
in Satitri, which are steeped in great and deep emotion. The utterances of the Mother of
Might and the Mother of Joy and Peace in the same Canto are also significant.
Aswapathy’s penance and vision of the Divine Mother and the boon vouchsafed him by
her, constitute the central situation regarding the fulfillment of the most cherished
aspirations of the human race. Savitri asks the Lord of Death for His Peace, His Energy,
His Joy but not for herself. She warns them for earth and for men, like Ganga coming to
the parched earth from heaven, the ‘mystic Rose’, the power and the glory, the bliss and
the love, the joy and the peace, should blossom here, on earth and men. According to
K.D. Sethna (1974), it brings our living symbols from the mystical planes, a concrete
contact with the Divine’s presence. Even when realities that are not openly Divine are
viewed, the style is of a direct knowledge, direct feeling, and direct rhythm from an inner
or upper poise. It is great also because it presents a vision which is interpretative and
inspiring.
Savitri has lines which ring like a mantra in our ears. As in the case of a mantra, the
effect of these lines depends on incantation. The passage, describing the avatarhood of
Savitri, keeps the mantra, ringing for dozens of lines. It is possibly the most mystical
portrait in all literature. Aurobindo paints the picture of a woman who would lead
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mankind from darkness to light and from ignorance of God to Knowledge of Him.
Aurobindo’s Savitri is the incarnation of the Godhead of Love. Savitri is not only a
legend but also a symbol that incorporates mystic vision and superhuman consciousness.
The depth of the work largely depends on this incorporation.
Aurobindo believed that integral philosophy that is based on the finest perceptions of
East and West could be the philosophy of the modern world. ‘Revelation’ is a mystical
lyric of great transparency written during his early days. As the title indicates, it is a
poem of revelation or vision. In a state of spiritual intensity, the poet saw someone
‘leaping from the rocks’ and having ‘wind-blown locks.’ That someone belonged to the
‘heavenly rout’ and gave little time or thought to the poet to realize him fully. The
following lines describe:
Just a cheek of frightened rose
That with sudden beauty glows,
Just a footstep like the wind
And a hurried glance behind,
And then nothing, ------------- (5-9)
‘Transformation’ is a poem charged with spirituality and divine inspiration. The poem
shows the poet’s transfiguration from a physical level to a spiritual level of divinity and
purity. The poet seems to be inspired and ecstatic in the complete identity with the
Infinite. This can be seen in the opening line itself:
My breath runs in a subtle rhythmic stream;
It fills my members with a might divine:
I have drunk the Infinite like a giant’s wine. (1-3)
The transformation has revealed to him the immortality of his spirit.
Aurobindo can be seen at his best in ‘Thought the Paraclete.’ It is a metaphysical poem
revealing the ascent of consciousness to the Supreme Power through different spiritual
planes. The meter of this poem has similarities to the Latin hendecasyllable. The Greek
word ‘paraclete,’ meaning ‘one called to help,’ or ‘intercessor,’ is borrowed from
Christian theology, where it is applied to the Holy Spirit.‘Rose of God’ is a poem of
ecstatic devotion and exultation that has the power to fascinate. It abounds in mystical
symbols and ecstasies of the soul at the possibility of God’s descent to earth. In this, a
pure mystical cry of the soul can be seen:
Rose of God, vermilion stain on the sapphires of heaven,
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Aurobindo’s poetic creations are prophetic illustrations of the processes through which
the Divinity shall manifest itself in an earthly form (Gokak, 1970). In them, we find a
vision of the past, knowledge of the present and a peep into the future. A single dominant
motive, namely, man’s aspiration for the higher and a more divinely fulfilled here and
now seem to run in all the works of Aurobindo.
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triumphant victory to be won by the spirit descended into earthly nature. Thus,
‘Supermind’ is something beyond mental man and his limits, a greater consciousness
than the highest consciousness proper to human nature.
Aurobindo’s teachings sounds the same as the true essence of the beliefs of the ancient
sages of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of Being
and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All beings are united in that One
Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separate consciousness, an ignorance of their true
Self and Reality in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological
discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true
Self, the Divinity within us and all. Aurobindo’s teachings states that this One Being and
Consciousness is involved here in Matter and that Evolution is the method by which it
liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having
appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and
develop towards a greater and greater perfection.
Life is the first step of this release of consciousness, mind is the second, but the evolution
does not finish with mind; it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness
which is spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be toward the
development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For
only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it becomes
possible for life to manifest perfection. It is not by the mental will in man that this
perfection can be attained, for the mind goes only move in a circle. A conversion has to
be made, a turning of the consciousness by which mind has to change into the higher
principle. This method is to be found through the ancient psychological discipline and
practice of Yoga. In the past, it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world
and a disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit.
Aurobindo teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which will not merely
release the spiritual Self out of the world, but release it in the world, replace the mind’s
ignorance of it’s very limited knowledge by a supramental Truth-Consciousness which
will be a sufficient instrument of the inner Self and make it possible for the human being
to find himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of his still animal humanity
into a diviner race. The psychological discipline of Yoga can be used to that end by
opening all the parts of the being to a conversion or transformation through the descent
and working of the higher still concealed supramental principle. This cannot be done at
once or in a short time or by any rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to
be taken by the seeker before the supramental descent is possible.
Man lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within
him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake. It is only a very restricted
influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit of a
greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. The first process of Yoga is therefore to
open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing his outward
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life by an inner light and force. In doing, so he discovers in himself his true soul which is
not this outer mixture of mental, vital and physical elements, but something of the Reality
behind them, a spark from the one Divine Fire. He has to learn to live in his soul and
purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow
afterwards an opening upward and descend of a higher principle of the Being, but even
then it is not at once the full supramental Light and Force. There are several ranges of
consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the supramental Truth-
Consciousness. These intervening ranges have to be opened up and their power brought
down into the mind, life and body. Only afterwards can the full power of the Truth-
Consciousness work in the nature. The process of this self-discipline and Sadhana is
therefore long and difficult, but even a little of it is so much gained because it makes the
ultimate release and perfection more possible.
According to Aurobindo, the idea of the supermind was already in existence from ancient
times. There was in India and elsewhere the attempt to reach it by rising to it; but what
was missed was the way to make it integral for the life and to bring it down for
transformation of the whole nature, even of the physical nature. There are many things
belonging to older systems like the opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the
sense of the Self and the Infinite, and emergence into what has been called the cosmic
consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions; and outward asceticism in not
essential, but the conquest of desire and attachment and a control over the body and its
needs, greed and instincts are indispensible. There is a combination of the principles of
the old systems, the way of knowledge through the mind’s discernment between Reality
and the appearance, the heart’s way of devotion, love and surrender and the way of works
turning the will away from motives of self-interest to the Truth and the service of a
greater Reality than the ego. The whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and
be transformed when it is possible for that greater Light and Force to work in the nature.
In this discipline, the inspiration of the Master, and in the difficult stages, his control and
his presence are indispensable – for it would be impossible otherwise to go through it
without much stumbling and error, which would prevent all chances of success.
The Master is one who has risen to a higher consciousness and being, and he is often
regarded as its manifestation or representative. He not only helps by his teaching but by
his influence and example, and by a power to communicate his own experience to others.
Aurobindo’s teaching and method of practice was not to develop any one religion or to
amalgamate the older religion or to find any new religion, for any of these would lead
away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by
which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolves into a
higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness, which
will transform and divinize human nature.
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Conclusion
The chief elements of the mystical experience such as the denial of death, the experience
of universal consciousness, the loss of an individual identity, the paradoxical questioning
after finding etc, are developed more fully in Aurobindo’s works, especially in his great
epic Savitri. For him, these are the ways, goals and the incentives to spiritual life. Many
concepts such as the dual movement of the ascent of man towards God and the belief in a
Divine Life to come are all the more developed in Savitri. His other poems also have the
quality of self-realization, ‘Ascent,’ ‘Nirvana,’ ‘Epiphany,’ ‘Thought the Paraclete,’
‘Rose of God’ etc testify to a fully developed, moving and potent, poetic and mystical
sensibility that is capable of lifting the reader to the highest states of consciousness.
These poems help to unveil the continuing enigma of Sri Aurobindo’s personality as
Mystic poet, and an enigma which was responsible for creating the great epic, Savitri. In
short, he was a great mystic and his goals and philosophy are visible in his poetic output.
Like the Vedic rishis, like Yeats and Heidegger, Aurobindo believed that the rhythmic
language of poetry could convey meanings that went much deeper than the intellectual
significance of the words. In The Future Poetry, he showed that this heightened power of
speech was not the prerogative of Sanskrit scriptures, but could be found to some degree
in the poetry of any language with a developed literature. Aurobindo believed that the
key to human unity was the spiritual conception of life, present in all civilizations but
best preserved and developed in India. It was to help fulfill his dreams of a ‘spiritual gift
of India to the world’ that he reinterpreted the Indian tradition in the light of modern
knowledge. His own philosophy, articulated in his chief prose work, The Life Divine
(1987) takes as its basis the omnipresent Reality or Brahman of the Upanishads, but
includes also the European idea of progress through evolution. This idea which
Aurobindo possessed marks him out from the rest of the mystics and also has a scientific
way of explaining his philosophy. The word ‘scientific’ normally cannot be applied either
to poetry or to mysticism. However, Aurobindo’s thought follows a pattern that is
intellectual and in harmony with the patterns of scientific thought. Thus, we can assert
that Aurobindo is an intellectual mystic. This is the distinctive feature of Aurobindo’s
mysticism.
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References
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