A Centenary Tribute

Bejewelled Craftsmanship: Tracing an Aurobindonian Influence in the Poetry of K.D. Sethna

Rita Nath Keshan

K.D. SETHNA was a poet and scholar of recognised merit even before he decided to settle down permanently in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. The poet's indifference to his early work and his consequent prominence in the Aurobindonian School of Poetry have deterred critics from judging the shift in Sethna's poetic sensibility. Secondly, Sethna's assertion about his dual identity as poet and as disciple has quite often raised this issue. Was his spiritual training responsible for his poetry or did the poet in him gain access to the great 'Overhead' heights? To this, Sethna (Amal Kiran) would probably reply that his inner progress was of paramount importance to him. A poet who was blessed with Sri Aurobindo's critical attention would care little for lesser beings with their yardsticks and measuring rods! P. Raja, who published a series of insightful interviews with K.D. Sethna in Bhavan's Journal, Mumbai (from August 15 to October 15, 1995), highlights the restless quest of this complex personality for a more meaningful vision of life. Here Sethna appears as the quintessential disciple who strove relentlessly to adopt a practical approach to Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga.

If such were the case then what can prompt my effort to evaluate his poetry? Sethna's voluminous book of poems The Secret Splendour (1993) reveals to the serious reader the spontaneity and the restraint in line after line. Even the abstract images, with their tag of 'Overhead' inspiration, tease us to follow the trail of the unknown.

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Due to his creative proximity to Sri Aurobindo, it is but natural that Sethna's poetry would bear some influence of his spiritual master. In The Secret Splendour (1993) the recurring references to precious metals and other gemstones help us recall a similar poetic method, refined and upgraded to the level of a tradition, in Savitri. Sri Aurobindo has encrusted the lines of his epic with an abundance of gold and precious stones in order to translate for the common reader something of that ineffable grandeur of the higher planes of consciousness. In his book Letters On Yoga Sri Aurobindo discusses the spiritual value of gold:

Gold indicates at its most intense something from the supramental, otherwise overmind truth or intuitive truth deriving ultimately from the supramental Truth-Consciousness.

(SABCL, Vol. 23, p. 959)

In Savitri gold, as a metaphor, has been used effectively to establish the presence of the spiritual element in earth-consciousness. Probably this influence permeates Sethna's poetry as well in an implicit manner. Some of his poems in The Secret Splendour offer us a glimpse of the glittering preciousness:

I had not bargained to behold

A rhythm of cerulean gold

Nor with an aching mouth impress

Calm firmamental nakedness!

("Earth-Heaven," p. 7)

With what other than the sky can the poet's free spirit mate? Here is an evocation of Keatsian sensuousness in the phrase 'aching mouth'. At the beginning of the creative process the poet does not foresee how his rhythm will throb in unison with the harmony of the universe. Here 'cerulean gold' could signify the manifestation of Truth in the illimitable blue spaces.

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Maintaining the Aurobindonian tradition of employing gold as a paradigm, Sethna voices the urge of a realised soul in the poem "Rishi Parasara's Invocation":

O merge my dazzled mind

 Into thy Truth's transcendent gold,

Lord of the Flame!

(p. 14)

The cumulative effect of 'dazzled, gold and Flame' nearly leaves us dazed as we visualise different shades of orange and yellow. Once the Rishi's mind merges with the Flames this canvas will keep expanding before us.

In a similar way, a realised soul is spellbound by a unique revelation:

He whose desire from mortal love is freed

 Catches the treasure veiled in Thy pure speed

And, from the bare white, views a luxury burst:

Truth-pulsing gold to which the sun were black,

A griefless carmine that all roses lack,

One ample azure brimming every thirst!

("Plenitude", p. 26)

'Pure speed' here denotes a new dimension or a divine dynamism into which the unencumbered soul can gain entry and possess the hidden treasure. This is seemingly quite a bargain because divine love stoops to the mortal's level when he detaches himself completely from others of his kind. The icon of treasure is extended to highlight 'luxury' in the third line. In this rarefied atmosphere a brilliance pulsates that proves the inadequacy of the sun. By contrasting sunlight with an even greater effulgence the poet reminds us of the scientific truth that there are stars brighter than our sun. He brings science and spirituality a little closer.

In these lines, the poet balances the precious glittering of 'truth-pulsing gold' with three different colours. 'Bare white' is a colour traditionally associated with ascetic spirituality.

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'Griefless carmine' conjures up before the mind's eye a life enriching correspondence with the Rose of God, though its exact connotations remain elusive. The limitless expansion of the sky is restricted in the single epithet' ample' implying that the liberated soul can ignore all restraints of time and space.

The Divine is portrayed as the 'Magic gem-cutter, the lapidary of light in the poem "Vision Splendid" (p.271).Out of the dead resistance of stone the Master Jeweller hews a race of beings that, after the process of 'alchemy, emergw with multi-faceted glory. Beads of glass or dull sublunary men are transformed into Kohinoor-like magnificence. The poet imagines the dark stretches of the universe encrusted with countless diamond-like human beings aspiring to divinity. 'An adamantine energy shall break' (line 13 of this poem), elaborating the conceit of precious gems and diamonds in the previous lines, almost echoes a similar expression in Savitri:

And adamantine is the evolving Law;

(SABCL, Vol. 28, p. 342)

In another poem "Equality" (p. 388), the poet addresses God as the great Jeweller who transforms the crude metal of the human soul into a perfect ornament. The poet admits the frailty of human nature and its reluctance to reflect a multi-faceted sparkle. God alone can create the necessary conditions for inner perfection since human nature has the tendency to slacken its pace of progress:.

Not every hour can glow a perfect gem:

Pallor of glass mingles with diamond fire—

Sethna reveals a strong awareness of the decadence on earth though he nourishes hopes of seeing its salvation. He is aware of the tug of war between the 'diamond fire' of divinity and the impenetrable darkness of despondency. Quite often, the poet contrasts gold with grey to express the stark difference between the sterling quality of godhead and the dross in earth-consciousness. We can compare such lines:

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Yet, through the passion of frail feet which stray,

A peace beyond all peace, a gold through grey

Felt goldener,...

("Height and Depth", p. 283)

'Grey' here is unmistakably an index of human frailty. Nevertheless, a tranquillity, transcending the entire gamut of peace, pervades the aspiring soul. Secondly, due to the flatness of 'grey' 'gold' is carved in high relief. We could also consider the following example:

God is intense

 With bliss undying that would gladly die

 If one time-creature's gold might never grey.

("The Great Face", p. 286)

The quibbling on dying focuses sharply on God's immortality and the essential finite nature of man. Since these two irreconcilable points cannot meet therefore God need not meet with human fate. At the same time man does not wish to alter his destiny.

In the poem "Giant Wheel" Sethna repeats the same image of smoky shades of human nature with greater intensity: "the dream-mystery of gold and grey." In the nebulous impressions of dream sequences gold and grey merge together. Is there a suggestion that at the level of the subconscient this kind of intermingling is but natural? Gold cannot retain its distinct purity in a region dominated by shades of ash colour.

Similarly, in the poem "Yoga of Sri Aurobindo" Sethna addresses his spiritual masters as 'wisdom-packed messengers twixt the deep gold and the grey of the out-gaze'. Here 'deep gold', in all probability, refers to the supramental Truth-consciousness. 'Out-gaze' seems to be a word coined by the poet or is it simply a contraction of the phrase 'outward gaze'?

Is there a realm beyond the gold? Human imagination, deprived of the actual experience of exploring unknown regions, can lean on its presumptions and rely on the poet's

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vision. The following lines from the poem "Mantra"(p. 713) suggest that the barriers were removed: All's struck away/ The gold and the grey (11.1-2). One has to step beyond the plane of perfection to discover another level since by its nature perfection is not absolute or final. There are endless gradations to it. The poet has been blessed with such a vision. The 'mystic silence' that envelops the poet prepares the right atmosphere for the descent of Mantra or the Creative Power.

Although 'gold' has dominated K.D. Sethna's imagination other precious stones and gems have also graced his poems. "A Diamond Is Burning Upward" (p. 140) in the eponymous poem refers possibly to the psychic aspiration limited by the seemingly roofless but walled enclosure of the mind. We continue to fancy that we are free but are bound in the 'narrow sky of a futile human face'. About this poem Sri Aurobindo commented:

It sounds very surrealistic. Images and poetry very beautiful, but significance and connections are cryptic. Very attractive though.

(The Secret Splendour, p. 140).

Like all poets, Sethna is anxious about avoiding verbosity and wishes to be 'niggardly of words'. He prays fervently:

Let me not utter five things in five words,

But by one word of densest diamond

Pack five things to a shining secrecy...

("Words", p. 276)

As in the poem "Mantra" so too in this one, condensed thought with magic expression flows down from the great heights above. The poet implies that just as the best diamonds are colourless and flawless so, in a similar manner, mystic poetry should not be tainted and flawed by the base colours of life.

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Though diamonds and gold enjoy a reverential attitude, rubies and pearls do not seem to fare well. Here there seems to be a deviation from the tradition crafted by Sri Aurobindo. In "The Adventure of the Apocalypse" ephemeral joys and sorrows are compared to 'small rubies and brief pearls' (p. 296). In "A Diamond Is Burning Upward" the two human eyes, blind to the soul's upward aspiration, are compared to ruby and emerald. However, this line 'Unless by pain's warm ruby-scattering opulence' ("Askesis", p. 445) reveals a metaphoric image of pain and life-blood and the rewards one subsequently receives.

Likewise, sapphire is used to describe both the sea and the sky without suggesting any inherent spiritual aspects. The precious gem is used as a synonym for the blue colour in poems like "In Horis Aeternum" (p. 483), "Garuda" (p. 425) and "O Voiceful Words" (p. 446).

Amethyst makes a brief appearance in one poem "Beginning of an Autobiography"(p. 519). Along with mauve, amethyst is projected as the signifier of an intermediate stage between the ordinary level of creativity and the top level of immutable and infallible inspiration. Pearls are treated as poor cousins to these precious gems.

In Savitri jewels and gold have been deployed effectively to provide poetic and spiritual connotations for plumbing the depths of this epic. Gems and precious metals become almost a medium for portraying the areas of spiritual experience beyond our ken. They are used as poetic embellishments, as strikingly new images where sound, sight and sense mingle and as parameters of truth, light and beauty. The word, the inspiration and the spiritual vision fuse together in Savitri. In a similar vein, Sethna has adopted something of this poetic tradition in his poetry that enhances his style, individuality and vision. The influence of his II miglior Fabbro is perceptibly there but does not overshadow Sethna's achievements.

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Works Cited

1. Sethna, K.D., The Secret Splendour: Collected Poems, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1993.

2. Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, SABCL, Vols. 28-29, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972.

Select Bibliography

1. Raja, P., "Life Is Great Fun At Ninety," The Sunday Statesman, Kolkata, 5.11.1995.

2.---, "Talks With K.D. Sethna of Sri Aurobindo Ashram," (a set of 12 interviews), Bhavan's Journal, Mumbai, from August 15 to October 15, 1995.

3.---, Interview (The Man and the Superman were so Intermixed), SABDA Newsletter, Pondicherry, December 1995. 4.---, Review (Expressing the Inexpressible), SABDA Newsletter,

Pondicherry, December 1995.

5.---, "Viewpoint: K.D. Sethna in Conversation with P. Raja," The  Scoria, Chandigarh, January 1996.

6.---, "Musings Of An Ascetic," Sunday Magazine: Deccan Herald, Bangalore, May 19,1996.

7.---, "The Story of 'Mother India': Straight from the Horse's Mouth," Mother India, Pondicherry, February-March 1999.

8, Korstange, Gordon, "An Interview With Amal Kiran", Collaboration, Berkeley, California, Summer 1994.

9. Chakraborty, Dilip, "A Poet in His Guru's Mould: K.D. Sethna - An Appreciation", Indian Book Chronicle, Jaipur, April 1992.

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