Savitri

 XV

      'THE KINGDOMS OF THE GREATER

KNOWLEDGE'

      Returning to consciousness "after a measureless moment of the soul", Aswapati knows that here once and for all has "closed the finite's crawl to the Infinite". This is an experience without parallel, and Aswapati feels new-made; renewed, purified, strengthened:

      Absolved from the ligaments of death and sleep

      He rode the lightning seas of cosmic Mind

      And crossed the ocean of original sound;...¹³⁵

He gains new insights into the heavens above and the abyss below, and he grows in the "wisdom of the timeless Child". One more effort at self-transcendence, and all that he has aspired for himself are now finally his; he is heir to primal Energy and overwhelming Light; he reads the book of the Overmind and he tingles with the rapture of the Oversoul:

      A borderer of the empire of the Sun,

      Attuned to the supernal harmonies,

      He linked creation to the Eternal's sphere.

      His finite parts approached their absolutes,

      His actions framed the movements of the Gods,

      His will took up the reins of cosmic Force.¹³⁶

And that is the end of Aswapati's ascent as a typical representative of the race. He has realised all for himself, and he has seen the Possibility open to the race. He has reached after endless trials and heroic persistence the shining tablelands of the Kingdom of the Greater Knowledge. He has been thrilled by the mighty currents in the "kingdom of the Spirit's power and light", and his inviews of Reality and outviews of Possibility have coalesced into a clear and ardent hope for the future of man and of the earth.

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