The next portion of Savitri we shall discuss is as follows.

A hope stole in that hardly dared to be

Amid the Night's forlorn indifference.
As if solicited in an alien world
With timid and hazardous instinctive grace,
Orphaned and driven out to seek a home,
An errant marvel with no place to live,
Into a far-off nook of heaven there came
A slow miraculous gesture's dim appeal.
The persistent thrill of a transfiguring touch
Persuaded the inert black quietude
And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God.
A wandering hand of pale enchanted light
That glowed along a fading moment's brink,
Fixed with gold panel and opalescent hinge
A gate of dreams ajar on mystery's verge.
One lucent corner windowing hidden things
Forced the world's blind immensity to sight.
The darkness failed and slipped like a falling cloak
From the reclining body of a god.

MEANINGS OF SOME DIFFICULT WORDS

Forlorn = abandoned,

Opalescent = shining.

Nook = secluded place, lonely and peaceful place.

Brink = Edge or border of a steep place or riverbank.

Reclining = laying back or leaning movements.

Lucent = shining.

In the last posts we discussed the results of the appearance of Goddess Usha, and also the
wonderful epigram of Savitri – “All can be done if god-touch is there”. In these lines now we are
going to discuss, the appearance of Goddess Usha is fully realized by the inconscience, because
of the transfiguring touch of god, the Divine Will. Let us see how this appearance is now turning
into a full emergence.

A hope stole in that hardly dared to be

Amid the Night's forlorn indifference.

Now, slowly a hope appears in this sate of indifference of the inconscience. Sri Aurobindo
describes it as a state of abandoned indifference, because this Night was once reluctant to the
messenger of Sun, who “compels” consent from this Night. For example, in a group of members,
if a person is having some difference in the opinion, and is forced to act according as the
majority think, he may do so, but while he does so, still a feeling of indifference in his mind will
be active, but no one cares about it, even himself.
Now, what actually is this hope?

As if solicited in an alien world

With timid and hazardous instinctive grace,
Orphaned and driven out to seek a home,
An errant marvel with no place to live,
Into a far-off nook of heaven there came
A slow miraculous gesture's dim appeal.

This is a lengthy explanation. This hope is a “slow miraculous gesture”. It appears into this
atmosphere with a timidity that is shyness, “As if solicited in a alien world”, that is this gesture
is not sure about its longitivity. Further Sri Aurobindo emphasizes this timidity into two more
lines as “Orphaned and driven out to seek a home”, “An errant marvel with no place to live”.
But, this gesture comes with an “instinctive grace”. I still can’t find out why Sri Aurobindo says
as “hazardous instinctive grace”. May be it is hazardous for the inconscience. This is another
point for a discussion in this thread. It also appears that this gesture shows itself in a secluded
place in the heaven. Here heaven refers to “the other side of boundlessness” from where
Goddess Usha is coming.

Now, who is this miraculous gesture? My synthesis yields that it is none other than Goddess
Usha and her appearance is now turning into a full emergence. So far only a ray of light was
seen; the eternal light is yet to be seen.

The persistent thrill of a transfiguring touch

Persuaded the inert black quietude
And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God.

Please recall the epigram from our previous post “All can be done if god-touch is there”. This
touch has a persisting effect like a thrill, which persuades the “inert black quietude” to respond
to this touch. Here the word “quietude” is of importance. Sri Aurobindo in of his statements has
explained that why he uses the word “quietude”. He says this gives the Inconscience a spiritual
face. This will be clear to us at the end of this discussion. As a result, now the atmosphere, which
is a field of God, is stirred with Beauty and Wonder. Here beauty and wonder are the emotions.
In our previous discussions we saw how a vision (thought) and a sense are imparted to this
inconscient Night. But to see the consciousness and feel the joy, not only the physical senses are
required, also the emotions are utterly necessary.

At this moment in the sky –

A wandering hand of pale enchanted light

That glowed along a fading moment's brink,
Fixed with gold panel and opalescent hinge
A gate of dreams ajar on mystery's verge.

These are very important line explaining a very important process, very beautifully. “A
wandering hand of pale enchanted light” that is Goddess Usha now executes certain movement
with her hand, during this very end or edge of this fading moment of this Night. And here she
opens a gate or door, which has a golden frame with an opalescent, or shining hinge, and this
gate is located on “mysteries verge”. My personal opinion is that this gate is the gate of Heaven.
In the traditional literatures, it is said that the heaven has such gate with golden frame and also
not to forget some of previous lines that Goddess Usha appears “Into a far off nook of heaven”.
One lucent corner windowing hidden things
Forced the world's blind immensity to sight.

This golden gate which is now open, allows the light to break through, and forces the to sight,
the immense darkness or immense ignorance of the Night for the first time. This is nothing but
the consciousness of the Supreme bestowed on the Nature, because of its inner urge and the
descent of Grace (god-touch) from the above.

The darkness failed and slipped like a falling cloak

From the reclining body of a god.

The darkness prevailing fails as the light floods out, like cloak falling from the body of a God,
when he reclines. Where there was darkness now there is light. Where there was inconscience,
now there is consciousness, therefore, the Night fails revealing the body of the God who was
lurking behind this Night. This is a very subtle and sublime concept of Vedas.

Asatoma Sadgamaya |
Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya |
Mrityorma Amrutangamaya ||

Exactly here we had a prevailing inconscience, which is now replaced by the consciousness.
Where there was immense darkness, now the Nature is full of Light, and a God lurking in this
“core of dissolution” is now revealed.

There can be one objection here, how is possible that God is “hiding” behind the inconscience?
Can inconscience “hide” the God in it? This is another subtle and sublime Vedic element.
According to Vedas, there is a presence of Supreme in everyone. Being within us the He guides
very action of ours, everything of ours. But we cannot experience Him, because our Ignorance
(Ajnana) has formed a seal (Kavacha) around Him. As we gain His knowledge – by various
methods- this crust of Ignorance disintegrates and He manifests in us overtly. This is a very
deeper issue. I am not a suitable person to explain each and every thing of this to you. Also it
takes its own time to at least understand this issue.

As some more additional feeds to this element, I would like mention the excerpts from Book 1,
Canto 4 The Secret Knowledge.

The master of existence lurks in us

And plays at hide-and-seek with his own Force;
In Nature's instrument loiters secret God.
The Immanent lives in man as in his house; Page 59

One who has shaped this world is ever its lord:

Our errors are his steps upon the way;
He works through the fierce vicissitudes of our lives,
He works through the hard breath of battle and toil,
He works through our sins and sorrows and our tears,
His knowledge overrules our nescience;
Whatever the appearance we must bear,
Whatever our strong ills and present fate,
When nothing we can see but drift and bale,
A mighty Guidance leads us still through all. Page 66.
Also one more support to this answer to the objection is a statement of Sri Aurobindo recorded in
Sri A B Purani Sir’s book, on page number 130.

“I am not writing a scientific treatise, I am selecting certain ideas and impressions to form a
symbol of a partial temporary darkness of the Soul and Nature which seems to a temporary
feeling of that which is caught in the Night as it were universal and eternal. One who is lost in
that Night does not think of other half of the earth as full of light; to him all is Night and earth is
forsaken wanderer in an enduring darkness.”

I find both above references as self-explanatory. Therefore like this, there are lot of elements
from Vedic Knowledge, which are flowing in Savitri. We will be exploring them along our
journey. There is a eternal Truth which is common to Vedas, Sri Mad Bhagavad Gita and Savitri,
which needs to be identified, which we will be doing separately.

CONCLUSION
Therefore, we can conclude that now Goddess Usha has manifested overtly in the Nature. The
Inconscience, Ignorance, Darkness that prevailed, has now failed as the eternal Light has flooded
into the Nature. This itself is the adventure of consciousness and joy, which the Goddess Usha
had called upon; the inconscience has taken upon it and is seeing the consciousness. In the
coming portions, the revelation of Goddess Usha is described, which we shall discuss in the next
post.