The Cosmic Dance

A poem by Sri Aurobindo


The Cosmic Dance

Two measures are there of the cosmic dance.
    Always we hear the tread of Kali's feet
Measuring in rhythms of pain and grief and chance
    Life's game of hazard terrible and sweet.

The ordeal of the veiled Initiate,
    The hero soul at play with Death's embrace,
Wrestler in the dread gymnasium of Fate
    And sacrifice a lonely path to Grace,

Man's sorrows made a key to the Mysteries,
    Truth's narrow road out of Time's wastes of dream,
The soul's seven doors from Matter's tomb to rise,
    Are the common motives of her tragic theme.

But when shall Krishna's dance through Nature move,
His mask of sweetness, laughter, rapture, love?



Part VII : Pondicherry (Circa 1927-1947) > Three Sonnets   




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

Sri-Aurobindo/books/collected-poems/the-cosmic-dance.txt CHANGED
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ The Cosmic Dance
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  Two measures are there of the cosmic dance.
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3
  Always we hear the tread of Kali's feet
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  Measuring in rhythms of pain and grief and chance
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- Life's game of hazard terrible and sweet:
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+ Life's game of hazard terrible and sweet.
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  The ordeal of the veiled Initiate,
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  The hero soul at play with Death's embrace,
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  Wrestler in the dread gymnasium of Fate
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- And sacrifice a lonely path to Grace.
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+ And sacrifice a lonely path to Grace,
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  Man's sorrows made a key to the Mysteries,
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  Truth's narrow road out of Time's wastes of dream,
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  The soul's seven doors from Matter's tomb to rise,

NOTES FROM EDITOR

15 September 1939. Four handwritten and two typed manuscripts precede the Circle publication in 1948.