BENGALI WRITINGS

III. 2. Agni — The Divine Energy39the Divine. As the Consciousness and the Force of the Purushaof pure Existence are one, both of them being vibrationsof Ananda, so the Knowledge and the Power of Agni,who is the representative of the Divine, are inseparable andboth of them are beneficial and auspicious.The external appearance of the world is different; therefalsehood, ignorance, evil and failure are predominant. However,behind the mask which frightens the child, the Mother'sface is hidden. Inconscience, inertia and suffering areonly sorcery. That is why in the Veda our normal consciousnessis called night. Even the highest development of ourintellect is only a moon-lit and star-bedecked play of the divinenight. But within the bosom of this night hides her sisterUsha carrying the infinity-born light of future Divine Knowledge.Even in the night of earth-consciousness, the forceof Agni blazes again and again and with the glow of Usharadiates the light. It is the force of Agni which prepares thehour of the birth of Truth-conscious Usha in this blind world.The Supreme has sent the force of Agni into this world andestablished it there; remaining concealed in the heart of objectsand living beings, Agni regulates all the movements ofthe universe. In the midst of momentary falsehood, this Agniis the keeper of the eternal Truth; in the inconscient andthe inert, Agni is the secret consciousness of the inconscient,the formidable dynamic force of matter. Shrouded in ignorance,Agni is the covert knowledge of the Divine; inthe ugliness of sin, Agni is the pristine immaculate purityof the Divine; in the gloomy fog of misery and suffering,Agni is His burning delight of universal enjoyment; cladin soiled rags of weakness and torpor, Agni is his all-bearing,all-accomplishing efficient power of action. If we canonce pierce this dark envelope, uncover and kindle thisAgni in our hearts, release and direct him upwards, he willbring down Divine Usha into the human consciousness,