Let us read Wordsworth’s She was a Phantom of Delight:
She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleam'd upon my
sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament:
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's, too, her dusky
hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful
dawn;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.
I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and
free,
And steps of virgin liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food,
For transient sorrows, simple
wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears,
and smiles.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful
breath,
A traveller between life and death:
The reason firm, the temperate
will.
Endurance, foresight, strength, and
skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly plann'd
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of an angel light.
And
O fairest of Creation, last and
best
Of all God's works, Creature in
whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be
formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or
sweet!
How art thou lost! how on a sudden
lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to
death devote!
Rather, how hast thou yielded to
transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to
violate
The sacred fruit forbidden! Some
cursed fraud
Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet
unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined; for
with thee
Certain my resolution is to die:
How can I live without thee! how
forego
Thy sweet converse, and love so
dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods
forlorn!
And here is the Rig Veda’s Sri
Sukta—Hymn to the Divine Mother
(Translation by Swami Krishnananda)
(1-2) Invoke for you O Agni, the
Goddess Lakshmi, who shines like gold, yellow in hue, wearing gold and silver
garlands, blooming like the moon, the embodiment of wealth. O Agni! Invoke for
me that unfailing Lakshmi, blessed by whom, I shall win wealth, cattle, horses
and men.
(3-4) I invoke Shri (Lakshmi, who has a line of horses in her front, a series
of chariots in the middle, who is being awakened by the trumpeting of
elephants, who is divinely resplendent. May that divine Lakshmi grace me. I
hereby invoke that Shri (Lakshmi) who is the embodiment of absolute bliss; who
is of pleasant smile on her face; whose lustre is that of burnished gold; who
is wet as it were, (just from the milky ocean) who is blazing with splendour,
and is the embodiment of the fulfillment of all wishes; who satisfies the
desire of her votaries; who is seated on the lotus and is beautiful like the
lotus.
(5-6) I resort to that Lakshmi for shelter in this world, who is beautiful like
the moon, who shines bright, who is blazing with renown, which is adored (even)
by the gods, which is highly magnanimous, and grand like the lotus. May my misfortunes
perish. I surrender myself to Thee, O Thou resplendent like the Sun! By Thy
power and glory, plants like the bael tree have grown up. may the fruits
thereof destroy through the grace of all inauspiciousness rising from the inner
organs and ignorance as well from the outer senses.
(7-8) O Lakshmi! I am born in this country with the heritage of wealth. May the
friends of Lord Siva (Kubera, Lord of wealth and Kiriti, Lord of Fame), come to
me. May these (having taken their abode with me), bestow on me fame and
prosperity. I shall destroy the elder sister to Lakshmi, the embodiment of
inauspiciousness and such evil as hunger, thirst and the like. O Lakshmi! Drive
out from my abode all misfortunes and poverty.
(9-10) I hereby invoke Lakshmi (Shri), whose (main) avenue of perception is the
odoriferous sense (i.e., one who abides mainly in cows); who is incapable of
defeat or threat from anyone; who is ever healthy (with such virtuous qualities
as truth); whose grace is seen abundantly in the refuse of cows (the cows being
sacred); and who is supreme over all created beings. O Lakshmi! May we obtain
and enjoy the fulfillment of our desires and our volitions, the veracity of our
speech, the wealth of cattle, the abundance of varieties of food to eat! May prosperity
and fame reside in me (thy devotee)!
(11-12) Lakshmi! You have progeny in Kardama. (Hence) O Kardama, may you reside
in me. Make Mother Shri with garlands of lotuses to have Her abode in my
(ancestral) line. May the (holy) waters create friendship (they being of
adhesive nature). O Chiklita (progeny of Shri)! Reside at my home; and arrange
to make Divine Mother Shri stay in my lineage!
(13-14) Invoke for me, O Agni, Lakshmi who shines like gold, is brilliant like
the sun, who is powerfully fragrant, who wields the rod of suzerainty, who is
the form of supreme rulership, who is radiant with ornaments and is the goddess
of wealth. Invoke for me O Agni, the Goddess Lakshmi who shines like gold,
blooms like the moon, who is fresh with anointment (of fragrant scent), who is
adorned with the lotuses (lifted up by celestial elephants in the act of
worship), who is the presiding deity of nourishment, who is yellow in colour,
and who wears garlands of lotuses.
Invoke for me O Agni, that Goddess
Lakshmi, who is ever unfailing, being blesses by whom I shall win wealth in
plenty, cattle, servants, horses and men.
We commune ourselves with the Great Goddess, and meditate on the consort of
Vishnu; may that Lakshmi direct us (to the Great Goal).
"Life is but a dream whose shapes return," wrote TS Eliot in The Waste Land. Is there an escape from
the dream, then? The Modernist can be critical, incisive; he has inner depth,
with a powerful inner mind but without inner life and inner physical, a mind
howsoever subtle or powerful but with no solution to offer. Extend it to the
technology-produced possibilities and the picture is as much if not more bleak.
Will the Phantom of Delight ever become the reality of our soul and our spirit?
Sri Aurobindo has opened out the prospects, but an enabling effort from our
part is essential. Will we put that in? He has given the Theory of Future
Poetry; he has also demonstrated it by conducting his classes in the Department
of Poetry, in the ‘30s; he has himself worked out its fullest scope, in sonnets
and in Savitri, for instance. If it is not practised any further, it is not his
fault; nor would that situation discredit his propositions. The future poetry
is the Poetry of the Creative Spirit and it can be written only if we grow
spiritually. One will have to wait till that happens, but happen it must if
there are post-human destinies. The Perfect Shrine—Matrimandir—is for tomorrow
and privileged are those who will enter into its courtyards, its majestic
halls, climb up the impressive ramps, and exceptionally so who will sit in the
sanctum sanctorum. There is awaiting the eternal Muse, the eternal Beatrice,
the eternal Savitri.