The Birth of Sin is a play written by Sri Aurobindo.
Lucifer is the Angel of Power. He is talking to the Sun and asks him to lift his rays over the troubled flood. Lucifer insists that the Sun obey his command.
The Sun questions Lucifer’s authority. He asks Lucifer as to who gave him this power to command over him and why he the Sun should obey Lucifer. He asks Lucifer: “Are you God?”. The Sun asks Lucifer to be humble and talk like a servant and not like the master who controls the stars.
Lucifer then asks the Sun as to who compels the sun to rise every morning and where does the sun come from?
The Sun answers that he is compelled by the Supreme Himself before whom all the Gods bow down.
Lucifer says that it does not matter whether the sun rises by his command or the Supreme’s command. He orders the sun to rise immediately and spread out his light and fire through the Space.
The Sun god is horrified by Lucifer’s command and tells Lucifer that there is no more calm in his eyes and a dark force has seized him.
Lucifer simply replies: “Obey”.
The Sun is too scared now. He says that Power leaps from Lucifer to himself and he is caught in fiery pangs and he has no other option but to obey Lucifer.
Lucifer then makes the following statement which captures the essence of birth of sin. He says “I have the Power to make and unmake the world and I am omnipotent.” Lucifer claims that he is the king of all the people in this world and universe. He says that God and I are one. So he argues that since God and himself are one then they both are equal. And as God keeps growing and developing, he who is younger than God is greater than the Power from which he sprang. He concludes his remark saying that new excels the old and that he is better than God.
Belial – The Angel of Reason asks Lucifer if he is really the Angel of God? He questions Lucifer as to why he is revolting against God and how did he get the force to overturn the world?
Lucifer responds arrogantly while saying that as the world keeps changing and progressing, God shall cease and he, Lucifer will be God.
Belial is now provoked and he says that Lucifer speaks like one who is possessed of madness. He asks Lucifer “If God be God, how can He change or cease? Belial is trying to show that Lucifer is unreasonable.
Lucifer finally says that he will prove to Belial the truth.
The play ends with these words. The play very beautifully shows that the birth of sin happens with the birth of ego and mind. The ego feels that it is equal to God and even superior to God. The ego feels that it is the king of the world and superior to everyone else in the world. This leads to arrogance and arrogance leads to sin. To reverse the ego, the ego has to feel that everyone in the world is superior to itself including God. Thus birth of sin can be changed to birth of humility by the reversal of the ego.
#SriAurobindo #CollectedPlays
Saraswathi.org 