Act X, Scene 2
(1914. Calcutta. C.R. Das in his study with a friend. He is absorbed in reading the English version of one of the poems in his Sagar Sangit [Songs of the Sea] rendered by Sri Aurobindo. He reads aloud.)
All day within me only one music rings.
I have become a lyre of helpless strings,
And I am but a horn for thee to wind,
O vast musician! Take me, all thy mind
In light, in gloom, by day, by night express.
Into me, minstrel, breathe thy mightiness.
On solitary shores, in lonely skies,
In night’s huge sieges when the winds blow wild,
In many a lovely land of mysteries,
In many a shadowy realm, or where a child,
Dawn, bright and young, sweet unripe thoughts conceives,
Or through the indifferent calm desireless eves,
In magic night and magic light of thee,
Play on thy instrument, O Soul, O Sea.
C.R. DAS: Could any rendering be more beautiful than this? I, too, have attempted an English translation of the book. But mark the difference here between a born poet and a made poet. It can easily pass for original work, and as a true poet he has taken the liberty to improve upon the original in many places. To read his work is to enter into the splendour of Beauty that is Aurobindo. God has listened to my prayer. He had acted through me as an instrument in the Alipore Bomb Case and it was He who brought about Aurobindo’s release. Aurobindo is now His chosen instrument in His Play to save man from himself, the world from itself and set up His own Empire upon earth. Who knows that, in the great work of His re-creation of Man, Aurobindo will not release into our minds, hearts and souls a Himalayan stream of divine poetry?
FRIEND: Your prevision strikes an echoing note in the depths of my heart. The days are not far off when you may hear a call to participate in his great undertaking.
