'Invitation' by Sri Aurobindo

This is a poem by Sri Aurobindo written when he was in Alipore jail (~1909). It expresses a deep sentiment- one that comes to a great leader of men - at the start of a vaster struggle, a higher ascent, who will come with him? To tread on a journey to a height from which the struggles and the differences and the dissinant noises of the plains below pale away, but the path is one of daring and courage...

Invitation

With wind and the weather beating round me
Up to the hill and the moorland I go.
Who will come with me? Who will climb with me?
Wade through the brook and tramp through the snow?

Not in the petty circle of cities
Cramped by your doors and your walls I dwell;
Over me God is blue in the welkin,
Against me the wind and the storm rebel.

I sport with solitude here in my regions,
Of misadventure have made me a friend.
Who would live largely? Who would live freely?
Here to the wind-swept uplands ascend.

I am the Lord of tempest and mountain,
I am the Spirit of freedom and pride.
Stark must he be and a kinsman to danger
Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side.

'Ascent' by Sri Aurobindo

1 - The Silence

Into the Silence, into the Silence,
Arise, O Spirit immortal,
Away from the turning Wheel, breaking the magical Circle.
Ascend, single and deathless:
Care no more for the whispers and the shoutings in the darkness,
Pass from the sphere of the grey and the little,
Leaving the cry and the struggle,
Into the Silence for ever.

Vast and immobile, formless and marvellous,
Higher than Heaven, wider than the universe,
In a pure glory of being,
In a bright stillness of self-seeing,
Communing with a boundlessness voiceless and intimate,
Make thy knowledge too high for thought, thy joy too deep for emotion;
At rest in the unchanging Light, mute with the wordless self-vision,
Spirit, pass out of thyself; Soul, escape from the clutch of Nature.
All thou hast seen cast from thee, O Witness.
Turn to the Alone and the Absolute, turn to the Eternal:
Be only eternity, peace and silence,
world-transcending nameless Oneness,
Spirit immortal.


2 - Beyond the Silence

Out from the Silence, out from the Silence,
Carrying with thee the ineffable Substance,
Carrying with thee the splendour and wideness,
Ascend, O Spirit immortal.
Assigning to Time its endless meaning,
Blissful enter into the clasp of the Timeless.
Awake in the living Eternal, taken to the bosom of love of the Infinite,
Live self-found in his endless completeness,
Thy heart close to the heart of the Godhead for ever.

Vast, God-possesseing, embraced by the Wonderful,
Lifted by the All-Beautiful into his infinite beauty,
Love shall envelop thee endless and fathomless,
Joy unimaginable, Ecstasy illimitable,
Knowledge omnipotent, Might omniscient,
Light without darkness, Truth that is dateless.
One with the Transcendent, calm, universal,
Single and free, yet innumerably living,
All in thyself and thyself in all dwelling,
Act in the world with thy being beyond it.
Soul, exceed life's boundaries; Spirit, surpass the universe.
Outclimbing the summits of Nature,
Transcending and uplifting the soul of the finite,
Rise with the world in thy bosom,
O Word gathered into the heart of the Ineffable.
One with the Eternal, live in his infinity,
Drowned in the Absolute, found in the Godhead,
Swan of the supreme and spaceless ether wandering winged through the universe,
Spirit immortal.


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This kIrtana by annamAchArya has got to be one of his sweetest!

Jagadapu Chanavula...

I cannot thank sirIsha gAru enough for pointing me out to the blog archive of annamayya's kIrtanas by dn sravan..what a resource!

Here are the lyrics for this particular one:

జగడపు చనువుల జాజర, సగినల మంచపు జాజర

మొల్లలు తురుముల ముడిచిన బరువున, మొల్లపు సరసపు మురిపెమున
జల్లన పుప్పొడి జారగ పతిపై చల్లే పతిపై, చల్లే రతివలు జాజర

భారపు కుచముల పైపై కడు సింగారము నెరపేటి గంధవొడి
చేరువ పతిపై చిందగ పడతులు, సారెకు చల్లేరు జాజర

బింకపు కూటమి పెనగేటి చెమటల, పంకపు పూతల పరిమళము
వేంకటపతిపై వెలదులు నించేరు, సంకుమ దంబుల జాజర

JagaDapu tsanavula jAjara
Saginala mantsapu jAjara

The festival of squabbling intimacy
The festival of decorated bedsteads.

mOllai turumula muDicina baruvuna
mOllapu sarasEpu muripEmuna
tsallana puppODi jAgarapatipai
tsallErativalu jAjara

With their coifs heavy with decked flowers, with affectionate dalliance, the women sprayed pollen all a tingling on Venkateswara.

bhArapu kucamula paipai kaDu sim-
gAramu nErapEdi gandhavODi
cEruvapatipai cindagapaDatulu
tsArElu jallEru jAjara

With their heavy breasts all decorated with sandal powder, the maidens sprinkled coloured powder on Venkateswara who was near them.


bEnkapu kUTani pEnagETi camatala
pankapu pUtala parimaLamu
vEnkaTapatipai vEladulunincEru
sanku madambula jAjara

As their ardent love making resulted in perfumed perspiration, the womenfolk daubed javvAji ( a perfume) on Venkateswara.