The Universal Incarnation

A poem by Sri Aurobindo


The Universal Incarnation

There is a wisdom like a brooding Sun,
    A Bliss in the heart's crypt grown fiery white,
The heart of a world in which all hearts are one,
    A Silence on the mountains of delight,

A Calm that cradles Fate upon its knees;
    A wide Compassion leans to embrace earth's pain;
A Witness dwells within our secrecies,
    The incarnate Godhead in the body of man.

Our mind is a glimmering curtain of that Ray,
    Our strength a parody of the Immortal's power,
Our joy a dreamer on the Eternal's way
    Hunting the fugitive beauty of an hour.

Only on the heart's veiled door the word of flame
Is written, the secret and tremendous Name.

The Universal Incarnation

There is a wisdom like a brooding Sun,
    A Bliss in the heart's crypt grown fiery white,
The heart of a world in which all hearts are one,
    A Silence on the mountains of delight,

A Calm that cradles Fate upon its knees;
    A wide Compassion leans to embrace earth's pain;
A Witness dwells within our secrecies,
    The incarnate Godhead in the body of man.

Our mind is a glimmering curtain of that Ray,
    Our strength a parody of the Immortal's power,
Our joy a dreamer on the Eternal's way
    Hunting the unseizable beauty of an hour.

Only on the heart's veiled door the word of flame
Is written, the secret and tremendous Name.



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




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-universal-incarnation.txt CHANGED
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ The incarnate Godhead in the body of man.
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  Our mind is a glimmering curtain of that Ray,
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  Our strength a parody of the Immortal's power,
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  Our joy a dreamer on the Eternal's way
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- Hunting the fugitive beauty of an hour.
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+ Hunting the unseizable beauty of an hour.
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  Only on the heart's veiled door the word of flame
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  Is written, the secret and tremendous Name.

NOTES FROM EDITOR

13 September 1939. Four handwritten manuscripts.



Manuscript