Adwaita

A poem by Sri Aurobindo

Adwaita

I walked on the high-wayed Seat of Solomon
Where Shankaracharya's tiny temple stands
Facing Infinity from Time's edge, alone
On the bare ridge ending earth's vain romance.

Around me was a formless solitude:
All had become one strange Unnameable,
An unborn sole Reality world-nude,
Topless and fathomless, for ever still.

A Silence that was Being's only word,
The unknown beginning and the voiceless end
Abolishing all things moment-seen or heard,
On an incommunicable summit reigned,

A lonely Calm and void unchanging Peace
On the dumb crest of Nature's mysteries.

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

+ − MINOR CHANGES IN SABCL & CWSA VERSIONS

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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Sri-Aurobindo/books/collected-poems/adwaita.txt +1 -1

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@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Where Shankaracharya's tiny temple stands
 Facing Infinity from Time's edge, alone
 On the bare ridge ending earth's vain romance.
 Around me was a formless solitude:
-All had become one strange Unnamable,
+All had become one strange Unnameable,
 An unborn sole Reality world-nude,
 Topless and fathomless, for ever still.
 A Silence that was Being's only word,

+ − ABOUT

NOTES FROM EDITOR

19 October 1939. Three handwritten manuscripts. This son-net was written about an experience Sri Aurobindo had while walking on the Takht-i-Sulaiman (“Seat of Solomon”), near Srinagar, Kashmir, in 1903.