Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 1. On His Poetry and Poetic Method
On Some Poems Written during the 1930s

On Bengali Translations of Shiva and Jivanmukta [2]

These translations [of the line “Although consenting here to a mortal body”] only state what is true of everybody, not only of the jivanmukta. They have therefore no force. In the English the word “consenting” has a great force which makes the meaning of “He is the Undying” quite clear, viz. He is consciously that and his consenting to the mortal body does not diminish that consciousness — the consent being also free and quite conscious.

1934