"Our life is entrenched between two rivers of Light,"
Savitri 531
The Savitri Handbook
"Q: Savitri represents the Mother’s Consciousness, doesn’t she?
Ans: Yes.
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Q: What does Satyavan represent?
Ans: Well, he is the Avatar. He is the incarnation of the Supreme.”
The Mother
The Mother’s Centenary Works/Vol-5/p-390
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Savitri book proposes a Sadhaka to utilise Time and Space exclusively for fourfold Divine union and by this an increase and accumulation of Soul force is witnessed which must be utilised towards preparation of meeting the worst adversity in life or immobile in herself, Savitri gathered Soul force to meet the hour "This was the day when Satyavan must die." (Savitri-10)
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Fourfold Divine Union:
Jivatma's union with Paramatma
Jivatma's union with Para-prakriti
Paramatma's union with Para-prakriti in the heart centre
Para-prakriti's union with Apara-prakriti.
For this, the Savitri book proposes a Sadhaka to develop single-minded devotion, ekabhakti, through complete union of Psychic being with the Supreme Self or "Her consciousness grew aware of him (Satyavan) alone...Her aim, joy, origin, Satyavan alone....Give me back Satyavan, my only lord." (Savitri-410, 579, 637) The book emphasies Psychic Being in the heart as the virgin Mother and to live under its sole Influence which is elevated further as Spiritualised Psychic Being and Supramentalised Psychic Being or we have to be aware of the Maha Mantra of Savitri, "Virgin who comest perfected by joy...." (Savitri-424) and recognise it as "His only comrade is the Strength within." (Savitri-368) Sri Aurobindo proposes that 'even the most highly developed psychical consciousness cannot be absolutely safe unless the psychical is illumined and uplifted by a higher force...' (CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-896) The single Protection ("Only were safe who kept God in their hearts:" Savitri-211) promised by the Psychic being has to be secured and strengthened by the discovery of double and multiple protection by realisation of the verse, "‘Our life is entrenched between two rivers of Light.... Heaven’s leaning down to embrace from all sides earth....It (dynamic Spirit) is within, below, without, above." (Savitri-531, 716, 98)
We have to be aware of the Maha Vakya, Supreme Word of Savitri, which proposes to call down the Supreme Self, Paramatma and the Supreme Mother, Para-prakriti, to the heart Centre and through Their union open God's Supramental door. Or
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"If there is a yet happier greater god,
Let him first wear the face of Satyavan
And let his soul be one with him I love;
So let him seek me that I may desire."
Savitri- 614
This, Savitri handbook partly satisfies Sri Aurobindo’s directives issued in The Synthesis of Yoga, that ‘all truth and practice… must be constantly renovated by fresh streams of the spirit’¹ and ‘thus constantly renewed, relived, their stuff of permanent truth constantly reshaped and developed… continue to be of living importance’² and by this exercise alone a Sadhaka will trace a path of his own Sadhana and prevent the written truths from becoming ‘monuments of the past’² without any ‘actual force or vital impulse for the future.’² (Reference: 1: CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-5, 2: CWSA-19/Essays on the Gita/p-5,) ​
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The Mother had issued guidelines to her biographers, “If anyone ever wanted to write about me, the first thing I would say is: NOT ONE WORD about my personal life – not a word.” (The Mother’s Agenda- September 23, 1961) The Mother also insisted on the same rule for Sri Aurobindo’s biographers. She observed, "My book, of course, would be: What I have known of Sri Aurobindo – and on his supreme level. What I have known of Sri Aurobindo is ... what I have been able to perceive of the Avatar. What he represents. That’s how I see him. So, what I have known of Sri Aurobindo, expressed ‘spontaneously,’ with a minimum of external events, the very minimum, but with all the experiences of our meetings..." (The Mother's Agenda/ December 20, 1961)
This Savitri Handbook partly restates the history of Their inner life, which is a comprehensive movement on Consciousness extending over multiple ten planes or ten subtle bodies of our existence. This is not Their story of this birth (This life is a small fragment of all life.) but All Life extending from the beginning of creation to the end when the life of humanity will be divinised.
Our objective in preparing the Savitri Handbook is not to propagate Their Teachings (Soul-slaying truth) but to live Their Teachings (Soul-saving truth), to learn the lesson of ascent of the Soul and the descent of the Shakti; first intermittently, then continuously. Truth revealed through partial Divine union is identified here as Soul Slaying Truth and the Truth revealed through complete Divine union is identified as Soul Saving Truth. Here in this epic, Savitri's birth Mother and Death God are symbolically represented as symbols of soul-slaying Truth and King Aswapati, Narad, Savitri and Satyavan are symbols of soul-saving truth.
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OM TAT SAT
Savitri, the representative Symbol of The Mother's Consciousness:
Sri Aurobindo was able to accommodate His (and also The Mother’s) all life’s comprehensive high Spiritual Visions and experiences in symbolic characters of incarnations, emanations and instruments, depicted from the legendary epic Mahabharata where Savitri, the descending Godhead, Avatara, the all Mother, the Mother of all Time, Paraprakriti, knew her fiery Self and her Being’s aim of pursuing the Soul of earth, symbolised as Satyavan in his earthly form in each birth and in all life. She glimpsed the glory for which she had chosen earth and its atmosphere for gradual and subsequently constant, intense, comprehensive and instantaneous total descent of Divine attributes of Truth-Light, Power, Wisdom and Delight. She keeps her will alive to drive human Souls and fills in their brute elements, the endless hope to Divinise clay and confronts the riddle of Birth, inevitable Death, grooves of iron Law and stone eyes of fixed Fate in them with the sheer power of her unchanging Soul force manifested as living fire of Divine Love. She has chosen the Souls who have long suffered on this harsh globe, for the field of her sacrifice and action and she is even ready to walk and waste all infinity with wounded feet to accomplish her seemingly impossible task of transforming earth’s shadow, fixed destiny, grooves of iron Law, meaningless suffering, splendid failure, twilight and grey inhibitions. She leans with pity over earth-bound men in order to share the burden of ‘earth’s struggle and fate.’ (Savitri-698)
Satyavan, the incarnation of the Supreme:
Satyavan, a mere man of action, a woodsman, Nara, Jivatma, raised his consciousness to the status of the ascending integral Godhead, Avatara, Narayana, by the Power of consecration and loss of ego and was destined to fulfil Savitri’s mighty Mission of bridging the gulf between Heaven, Earth and Hell. He was also the Eternal Consciousness, a unique rare treasure loaned by Gods, who accompanied Savitri from the beginning of the creation as first ‘man and woman’ (Savitri-614) or first dual Incarnation and the Supreme had promised to grant physical immortality in all life when the first Avatara’s ‘heart dared death and suffered life.’ (Savitri-59) He continued his life in many successive births and bodies as ‘twin souls born from one undying fire’ (Savitri-614) of this mortal existence to endure in his human heart a million wounds representing the delegate Soul of earth. Through his long suffering in human form the God’s debt is paid. His Godhead status does not prevent him from living ‘in one house with the primal beast’ (Savitri-541) in the forest, colloquies with the Djinn and Asuras of the Subconscient world; thus in the Divine’s single plan he reveals solidarity with antagonist powers; ‘high meets the low’ (Savitri-541) or ‘God’s summits look back on the mute Abyss.’(Savitri-541) He accepts the small and human personality of woodsman on earth and his small beginning witnesses immense ascent of Soul and immense descent of Shakti, leading the creation towards a mighty end. While tracing the path of immortality he signed salvation’s testament with his blood and broke into the dangerous and dark Inconscient’s depth and if he were to meet the Spiritual fall in the form of death while attempting to break the wheel of earth’s doom and before bridging the gulf between Heaven and Earth in order to balance the dark account of mortal Ignorance then this would be a great loss for humanity. Or an Avatara, as a delegate Soul of Heaven lent to earth must live a brief period in human history in order to trace and build a passage in intermediate ranges of consciousness so that a large section of humanity will be able to bridge the gulf between Heaven and Earth and reconcile Spirit with Matter with less effort. This work is further accelerated if Divine Love becomes active in earth’s atmosphere through action and interfusion of dual Avatara. His Divine work on earth of invasion of the series of Light and Love is treated unfinished and half done till all the evils are slain or transformed in their Inconscient home.
King Aswapati, Symbol of Concentrated Tapasya:
Aswapati, King of Madra, the son of God, Vibhuti, destined to do some special Divine work, represents the human aspiration, hard Tapasya, askesis, and concentrated endeavour to explore all the multiple planes of Consciousness through vast and multiple identities. As Divine father, he fostered, nourished and served his Divine daughter selflessly without attachment and wanted his daughter to ‘set earth alight’ (Savitri-423) with her ‘flame of radiant happiness.’ (Savitri-423) Like all human fathers, he aspires that her mortal life be unwounded and to serve humanity with ‘glad and griefless days.’ (Savitri-423) His capacity to unite with new bliss and flame-white Love came by annulling all ‘the contact formed with time-born things.’ (Savitri-322) He was able to retrieve the earth’s lost Spiritual energies, discovered earth’s secret beyond all previously attained Spiritual wisdom, nurtured Almighty’s Power in silence and solitude, sought the Divine strength that was not yet manifested on earth and called down the Divine Mother in the form of his daughter, Savitri. As Spiritual Teacher, the Guru; firstly, he made her aware that her world Mission of awakening ‘Almighty powers’ that ‘are shut in Nature’s cells,’ (Savitri-370) ‘meet the Omnipotent in this house of flesh,’ (Savitri-370) ‘Out of Immortal’s substance you were made’ (Savitri-370) and hewing the path of immortality would be accomplished not by her own effort alone but by venturing to find her second Self, future Lord, unknown Lover, personal Godhead of the race and lyricist of her ‘soul’s most intimate chords’ (Savitri-374) in distant lands, who alone can match the measure of her waiting Soul, can walk with him like Gods in Heaven and can stand up as her equal comrade and peer; secondly, ‘must fire always test’ (Savitri-423) the purity and greatness of her Soul, who must wrestle with supernatural Darkness and must leave behind Death’s night to raise the fallen world. None can possess the kingdom of heaven and supreme Delight that has not passed through the ‘stones of suffering’ (Savitri-457) and tragic torture of giant sons of Falsehood; thirdly, she must continue her father’s unfinished Yoga and unfinished mission of ‘pure perfection and a shadowless bliss’ (Savitri-340) for the whole of suffering humanity and of changing all future time by unlocking the doors of human Fate. Narad’s pronouncement of Satyavan’s death did not perturb him because he could foresee double destiny above Satyavan’s head, one that of a ‘heavy shadow’ and the other that of chasing by a ‘sudden and stupendous (Divine) light.’ (Savitri-424) King Aswapati proposes that seekers of Immortality should understand the double destiny of men. One is that of fixed destiny born out of ‘blindness of our will,’ our Karma or bounded action of past and present birth and the other is our changeable Spiritual destiny which is born out of union and oneness with Divine Will, Divine Wisdom and Divine Love. So, one can escape untimely death and can live a long, secure life if one's Psychic being opens. For these Psychic and Spiritual Self opened Souls, Death is not a curse but a passage and choice (iccha mrityu) for higher life. King had seen in Savitri the manifestation of the Divine Mother who could fight against fate to change it and he had a strong conviction that the Supreme Will could work only for the good, independent of whatever it seems good or bad to man’s mind. King Aswapati’s Palace and Kingdom of Madra, stands as a symbol of the Supreme Self and Savitri left this highest Heaven permanently and had chosen the darkest forest of Shalwa as the symbol of the Subconscient and Inconscient Sheaths for illumination and Divine transformation.
Narad: The symbol of Overmental God:
Narad, the heavenly sage, the God, the instrument having the experience of oneness and complete union with the Divine. (The Gita identifies him as Vibhuti and the best among Divine sages. (The Gita-10.26)) He is a mediator between Heaven and Earth, who was aware of the source and mystery of human fate and was having the power to foresee the future of man and knowledge of Soul saving Truth behind this creation, came down to earth to make Savitri aware that Soul’s greatness is measured through the capacity to bear pains of hell. She must cross on the stones of supreme universal suffering to arrive at her high mission of manifeting Divine Love and Delight in the Subconscient and Inconscient Sheaths. However, he had no power at his disposal to change her destiny and hence incapable of changing human destiny. Savitri’s Psychic being has the ability to give shelter where all the ‘high Gods could live.’ (Savitri-531) This Divine stationed in the heart centre is also projected as ‘greater than the God,’ (Savitri-375) the Guru and personal Godhead and has the capacity to change her own destiny and the destiny of the race or ‘She only can save herself and save the world.’ (Savitri-461) To bring all the ten worlds under her loving control and to uplift her body’s destiny or destiny of the race, her Soul entered a series of world adventure in different planes of Consciousness to become one with Divine Will and with the growth of Consciousness, a sort of mastery, a harmony and peace preoccupied the cells of the body and further extended to her multiple Selves of Sun-vast Truth. Ordinary man 'rejects Divine Grace' (Savitri-431) and wastes time and space in earthly enjoyments. The Divine Grace will act when either of the four conditions below is satisfied. The Supreme Divine Grace will intensify only when the four conditions are simultaneously satisfied in Integral Concentration of (1) total and sincere surrender, (2) exclusive self-opening to the Divine Power, (3) constant and integral choice of descending Truth and (4) constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of mind, vital, body, surrounding world and Subconscient plane. Narad made Savitri aware of Supreme's Grace in the form of Satyavan which 'was too great to stay' (Savitri-431) and 'earth could not keep too long' this unique treasure loaned by God.
King Dyumatsena, the symbol of Spiritual fall
Dyumatsena, the self-exiled King of Shalwa, father of Satyavan, is the Divine’s Conscious instrument, Yantra, here fallen blind, limiting his capacity to three gunas and walks lamely on this dangerous world with slow evolutionary mental footsteps. Through this Spiritual fall he has lost the celestial inner kingdom of seven immortal Selves and through that loss its kingdom of outer glory and opulence. Due to this adverse fate, he now sojourns a wiser life in the solemn rustle of the wood and his yearning towards All meets two solitudes (1) that of outcast from the empire of the outer light symbolically represented as crutch upon which his faltering-limb supports and he helplessly stumbles in the rushing speed of hasty Time and (2) lost to the comradeship of five galloping hooves of sense that of sound, touch, sight, taste and smell symbolically represented as his sightless blind identity. This double doom of his father compelled Satyavan to live in the high peopled loneliness of the Spirit which called the Divine Mother to enter his earthly life in human form and finally helped his long pure childhood’s lonely dream to restore King Dyumatsena’s steady royal walk in high dynamic outer Kingdom and a deeper visionary eye of Divine Wisdom. Restoration of the outer Kingdom was also the outcome of his revival of the inner kingdom through sadhana in double seclusion. Savitri and Satyavan accepted double seclusion as the field of their ceaseless Tapasya and consecration and the forest of Shalwa stands as symbol of dark Subconscient and Inconscient Sheaths and the field of their Divine transformation.
Queen, symbol of Moderate Spirituality:
The Queen, the beautiful, passionate and the wise human mother of Savitri, the Divine’s unconscious instrument in Ignorance, child Soul, bala, represents mankind satisfied and preoccupied with earthly life of surface consciousness with having partial static Divine realisation through ‘sacrificial flame of aspiration,’ (Savitri-417) illumination of intellect, sattwic mind, limited light in Ignorance, and in her understanding of the mystery of creation and the Creator, the truth distorted and the Immortal’s meaning in the world was veiled. Thus, the limitation of her sattwic mind is here identified as soul slaying truth. As a human mother, she fostered, nourished and served her Divine daughter with self-interest and attachment. She understands perfectly the limitations of human love of ordinary life and static Divine Love of ascetics, which cannot illuminate material life and not aware of the dynamic aspect of Divine Love which can transform life and human love. She was unaware of the secret of abundant dynamic Divine’s Grace and Bliss that hunts behind all effort to accept danger and pain to resolve the fundamental problem of existence and hence to decline all greater adventure by rejecting the doomed Satyavan was identified by her as the best solution. She, like a common man, was oblivious of past births and was unable to recognise the greatness, nobility and action of world redemption of an Avatara and hence nourished no regard and gratitude towards him. She was also not aware that all unforeseen events are part of God’s secret plan and that He can overrule the Iron Law of Nature by conscious human effort and by dynamisation of His Super nature. So Narad asks the Queen not to interfere in matters that are beyond her understanding and power and to stand back from the stupendous scene and tremendous strife of her daughter’s heaven-sent task. The Queen was a representative Soul of moderate Spirituality or a beginner of integral Yoga and during the critical hour of her daughter’s choice of Satyavan, she experienced a spiritual fall as her Soul was not sufficiently trained to lean on the pure and tranquil Spirit for all necessary aid and help during the hour of extreme adversity. This suggests that to oppose Divine’s Will in carrying out her daughter’s ‘heaven-sent task’ (Savitri-461) of rescuing men is the cause of her Spiritual decline. Her only daughter and husband’s mighty Spiritual Presence did not help her to overcome this Spiritual fall of Consciousness and she lost the ‘empire of her hard-won quietude.’ (Savitri-437)
Savitri and Satyavan, The symbol of Incarnating dual Godhead:
In Savitri and Satyavan, Soul and Nature had realised equal Divine Presences and merged themselves in oneness of wide harmony and balance. Their Spirit and body were glad, fulfilled through their union, which drove them towards the discovery of ‘Love’s deathless moment,’ beings’ aim and richness extending over all Time. Their first meeting gives the most thrill by witnessing the dual Avatara in a secluded shrine of earth and in the secluded chamber of their heart, who carry all the memories of their past births and their unfulfilled world task. From time to time or from the beginning of the creation, the earth waits patiently for this destined meeting. Each meeting after the passing of many ages brings a new promise of Divine manifestation and the new hope becomes again visible in earth’s creatures. They had treasured the rich relation of their brief human birth through a subtle link of union or clasp of two eternities through many successive births and bodies of un-beginning past and felt the call of Spirit’s unending future joy; even they knew their Selves ‘older than the birth of Time.’ (Savitri-537) A vast intention of love’s unseen Presence has drawn these dual incarnating Powers closer in this life and their love asks to wait endlessly as if they have all eternity ahead for their self-fulfilment. Together they have disdained from the God’s everlasting Night of Inconscient world and turned away from His everlasting Day of Sachchidananda plane and returned to earth to wage a million war against the universal dark rebel forces attached to present unstable existence, to bear the earth Mother’s ancient adversary, to bear ‘world’s intolerable wrongs’ (Savitri-701) and to accomplish their double task of raising the world to God’s deathless Light, a permanent ascent of Divine Consciousness and bringing down Divine Shakti to earth and men, a permanent descent of Divine Consciousness.
Death God, temporary Guardian of this mutable World:
Death God, the dire universal impersonal dark Force, here personified as godhead of the Inconscient world, Yama, who as the intolerant dark instrument of the Divine, Yantra, having realisation of partial union with the Divine, and in his personality the escapist doctrine of mundane perfection, moderate Spirituality and later Vedantic Spirituality are reconciled. He guards and obeys the Divine’s fixed immutable law of Nature which is a part and derivation of Divine's dynamic Super nature and his hunger through world spreading death-net-trap can devour all, slay the infant Souls, those who are unable to open towards the Spirit’s changeable Supernature and endless truth. He was oblivious of his temporary instrumental action in Ignorance and considered himself as Omnipotent Supreme Power without the Spiritual experience of Divine Identity and Oneness. He was aware that the static Divine union of Saints and Avataras and the Ananda and Freedom gained through this union was not enough to dismantle death from outer existence. For him man’s identity was diminished as ‘the naked two-legged worm’ (Savitri-634) and he was not aware of the seven-fold personality of the Divine Lover, Divine’s mighty whole, total vision and swift evolutionary change in Knowledge through dynamic Divine union for His unfinished world existence and was aware only of that impersonal Divine where ‘there is no room for’ (Savitri-608) personal love and the incomplete task given to him during the passage of man’s tardy evolution in Ignorance within the boundary of three gunas. He was against the ancient Vedantic solution of life of reconciliation of Spirit with Matter as proposed by Savitri for whom Satyavan’s physical form is as important and real as his Soul and one need not die in order to find the Spirit. Death proposes Savitri to leave the dead husband Satyavan either through escapist moderate solution of life through procreation of children and multiple earthly enjoyments with ‘other men’ (Savitri-637) or later Vedantic/Nirvanist solution of life by escaping through Death’s door to supreme abode of Param dham and live a celestial life with Satyavan there and by forgetting the responsibility of emancipating the race here on earth. This Moderate and Ascetic solution of the problem of life proposed by Death was not acceptable to Savitri. Savitri’s Soul’s clarity and mind’s clarity made Death powerless. Death, like other cosmic Gods, has the immeasurable heart of silence, knowledge of past, present and future, trikaladristi and limited power of offering boons to the wounded mortals and in his understanding of existence, the Soul saving truth is thoroughly distorted and his Soul slaying words have denied contact with the dynamic Spirit and Divine Shakti. Savitri’s Mind and Soul’s clarity delivered Death partly from limitation of gospel of human love and twilight thought in which falsehood is ‘mingled with sad strains of truth’ (Savitri-612) and he became powerless before her greater God status of Psychic Being, universal Soul saving Power, Supramentalised Psychic Being and a superior incarnating Divine Mother Force. Those who can open themselves towards Savitri’s universal Soul saving Impersonal energy can confront Time and Fate. The future vision of Savitri promises that when she will enter the Spiritual experience of everlasting Day, this dreadful majesty of Death’s face and his pessimistic harsh philosophy will not be slain in his own inconscient home but will be changed into the beauty of suns and a sum of all sweetness will gather into his limbs. His grand fort of darkness, huge Inconscient’s grasp and sad destroying might will be abolished forever, his vague infinity filling the universe with dangerous breath will be transformed and he will emerge as a wonderful God. Now the Spiritual significance and utility of Death is identified as a passage in the Soul’s unending journey of all life in order to ‘force the soul of man to struggle for Light’ (Savitri-666) and a ‘whip to his yearning for eternal bliss.’ (Savitri-666) The Divine instrumentation of untransformed Death and its nobility is still hidden from humanity as he abruptly ends the parable of the charm of life through the ‘last gift of death.’ (Savitri-204) This greatness will be revealed to man when he will be aware of the Divine’s comprehensive plan extending over all life, confirming that death is a Spirit’s opportunity to begin a greater life. The Gita identifies Death as Vibhuti, the lord of the Law and insists ‘to see that Nature devouring her children, Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures.’ (CWSA-19/Essays on the Gita/p-382) Death God’s existence on earth is provisional or as identified in Savitri ‘a failing star.’ (Savitri-640) As long as Ignorance is there, Death is a Spiritual necessity. His business on earth will fail with more and more working of universalised Divine Love; his safe and secured throne in the Inconscient sheath will be questioned when more and more Sadhak of integral Yoga will hold Paramatma Satyavan in the heart centre and enter that dark Inconscient world with Supramental sword to confront that dark universal world force. Here, Sri Aurobindo projected Death as a ‘dark-browed sophist’ (Saviti-621) with experience of partial transformation of nature and Spiritual fall through return to his Inconscient home and left the issue of his complete transformation till the arrival of the last Avatar. Since Death is not a Divine’s instrument of Soul saving Truth, he proposes a Sadhak (or Savitri within) to live in the world with triple limitation/deficiency of human love. Firstly, human love cannot leave life pure and untouched and hence one is deprived of vast descent of Truth-Light. Secondly, Death God forces a Sadhaka to experience the sorrow of widowhood by forgetting Paramatma Satyavan in the heart centre or 'leave this fated head' (Savitri-431) or 'Leave then thy dead, O Savitri, and live.' (Savitri-656). Lastly, human love is identified as a weak bond and it cannot 'break earth’s seal of ignorance and death.' (Savitri-315) The triple efficiency of Divine Love is that, firstly, Death is intolerant towards Divine Love, which leaves life pure and untouched, calling down vast Divine Grace. Secondly, Divine Love is a strong bond between Jivatma and Paraprakriti, and Savitri within guards that seal against Death's 'rending hands.' (Savitri-633). And lastly, with the strong, ceaseless fourfold Divine union, Soul force accumulates, which can confront death and destiny. Savitri book reminds a Sadhaka to be aware of the triple Divine Love. They are identified as individual Psychic Love, universal Divine Love and Transcendent Divine Love. They are:
“Assailed, surprised in the fortress of her self,
Conquered by her own unexpected king (the Divine),” Savitri-87 (Psychic Love.)
"A captive Life wedded her conqueror (Supreme Lord)." Savitri-125 (Psychic Love)
"The calm delight that weds one soul to all," Savitri-6 (Activation of Universal Divine Love.)
"The wedding of the eternal Lord and Spouse
Took place again on earth in human forms:" Savitri-411 (Transcendent Supramental Love in the heart centre.)
Satyavan's birth Mother, symbol of developing Soul:
Satyavan’s birth mother is identified in this epic as the smallest character, the symbolic representation of child Soul and through her Sri Aurobindo gives the strongest message of true consecrated service to all earth-bound aspiring child Souls and their right relation with the Mother Soul; here symbolically represented as Savitri. Mother Soul serves earth from below as a slave and from above and beyond like strong sunlight and she trespasses the bound life of child Souls as strong Goddess and liberates them from their barren days. Like all other parents, Satyavan’s birth mother was not aware of the doom nearing her only child and aspired for him ‘All joy of earth, all heaven’s beatitude.’ (Savitri-467) A similar observation is marked in King Aswapati who aspired to pass the mortal life of his only child Savitri unwounded and further aspired for this young spirit untouched with tears, and be possessed by all new and ‘beautiful things.’ (Savitri-700)
“I am not doing it (Savitri translation) to show it to people or to have anyone read it, but to remain in Savitri's atmosphere, for I love that atmosphere. It will give me an hour of concentration, and I'll see if by chance. I have no gift for poetry, but I'll see if it comes! (It surely won't come from a mentality developed in this present existence there's no poetic gift!) So it's interesting, I'll see if anything comes. I am going to give it a try.
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I know that light. I am immediately plunged into it each time I read Savitri. It is a very, very beautiful light…
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So now I don't mind finishing The Synthesis (of Yoga). I was a little bothered because I have no other books by Sri Aurobindo to translate that can help me in my sadhana: there was only The Synthesis. As I said, it always came right on time, just when it was needed for a particular experience…
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All his other books that could help me are already translated. And with Savitri, the idea isn't to make a translation, but to SEE. To try something. To give me the daily experience of that contact.
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I had some magnificent experiences when I read it the first time (two years ago, I believe). Wonderful, wonderful experiences! And since then, each time I read those lines, the same thing happens – not the same experience, but I come in contact with the same realm.”
The Mother
The Mother’s Agenda-18.09.1962
“The importance of Savitri is immense. Its subject is universal. Its revelation is prophetic. The time spent in its atmosphere is not wasted. Take all the time necessary to see this exhibition. It will be a happy compensation for the feverish haste men put now in all they do.”
The Mother
TMCW-13/Words of the Mother-I/p-26