Led by the Organist the soul broke into the wide rapture
Of a daring harmony in a moment of inner liberation.
Walls fell apart, boundaries were rescinded.
All the nations, men, women and children across the oceans
Joined in an immense upward venture even unknown to themselves.
Devotees aspiring for Truth beside the tomb of the Avatar at night,
Fortunate pilgrims conscious recipients of a New Light from Above,
Scientists in love with their work intent on finding out the secrets of life,
Astronomers sounding the spaces, technicians engaged in ballistic projects,
Mill-hands toiling in factories, mechanics bent over the lathes,
Farmers gathering a golden harvest of wheat, paddy and maize,
Women picking tea-leaves and oranges, flower-girls and vendors of laces,
Pilots concentrated on the dials of their supersonic jets,
Captains of cruisers, sailors and soldiers, famished minds seeking knowledge,
Leaders of finance, architects of highways, musicians, artists and poets,
Numberless humble people who grumble and take the crumbs offered by fate
And crawl through rainy days and sunny lanes to the natural end,
Fomenters of trouble, revolutionaries, gamblers and death-dealers,
Starving children, the dead and the dying, prisoners without ransom,
Perverted visionaries who would gladly blow up creation,
Even those who hate the Divine and work against His will,
All in that miraculous instant gathered around the sacrificial Fire of Grace,
Solicitous bees surrounding the Mother-Queen to draw their sustenance of Faith.
Unknown to us, our soul participates in a magnificent plan.
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Niranjan Guha Roy 1960