Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

CWSA.- Volume 2

Part Seven. Pondicherry
Sonnets from Manuscripts, c. 1934 – 1947

The Dual Being

There are two beings in my single self.

A Godhead watches Nature from behind

At play in front with a brilliant surface elf,

A time-born creature with a human mind.

Tranquil and boundless like a sea or sky,

The Godhead knows himself Eternity’s son.

Radiant his mind and vast, his heart as free;

His will is a sceptre of dominion.

The smaller self by Nature’s passions driven,

Thoughtful and erring learns his human task;

All must be known and to that Greatness given

His¹ mind and life, the mirror and the mask.

As with the figure of a symbol dance

The screened Omniscient plays at Ignorance.

Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 5.- Collected Poems.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Asram, 1972.- 625 p.

¹ 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.5: This

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