This canto is a stand-alone in many ways. First, we see here a brief review of Savitri’s life, especially with regard to the issue she is facing, that is, Satyavan’s death. It is interesting to note that Savitri does not see her destiny as merely an individual problem nor looks for some temporary and partial solution. She goes to the very roots of the issue and discovers in it a cosmic problem. Therefore, the remedy too must be as complete and radical as possible. Thus, we have in this canto, running parallel as it were, the problem of human life, the enigma humanity faces in its journey through Time, the riddle that our soul must confront with its birth in a material body, and the paradox of life where the harsh realities of the material world try to stifle the dreams of the Spirit. The ordinary viewpoint of this paradox is that such is the nature of earthly life and nothing can be done about it; our soul is subject to it by the inexorable law of karma. Its only hope is to discover a way to get out of this cycle, cut the enigmatic knot, and bypass the riddle rather than solve it. But Savitri is here not to repeat the past but to bring down a new possibility for the future. She has not come to show one more door of escape out of the dark and unforgiving law. She has come to change the law itself! In fact, She is missioned to do it since She is none else but an incarnation of the Divine Mother, the very fount of all strengths, the Origin of all power, the Source and womb of all things. In the end we are given a luminous hint, a summary of the new path that She is going to carve out of life: the possibility of man changing his destiny here and escaping the net of karma and subjection to the law of darkness even while in the body, here upon earth.
Opening Remarks | Canto Two: The Issue
This canto is a stand-alone in many ways. First, we see here a brief review of Savitri’s life, especially with regard to the issue she is facing, that is, Satyavan’s death. It is interesting to note that Savitri does not see her destiny as merely an individual problem nor looks for some temporary and partial solution. She goes to the very roots of the issue and discovers in it a cosmic problem. Therefore, the remedy too must be as complete and radical as possible. Thus, we have in this canto, running parallel as it were, the problem of human life, the enigma humanity faces in its journey through Time, the riddle that our soul must confront with its birth in a material body, and the paradox of life where the harsh realities of the material world try to stifle the dreams of the Spirit. The ordinary viewpoint of this paradox is that such is the nature of earthly life and nothing can be done about it; our soul is subject to it by the inexorable law of karma. Its only hope is to discover a way to get out of this cycle, cut the enigmatic knot, and bypass the riddle rather than solve it. But Savitri is here not to repeat the past but to bring down a new possibility for the future. She has not come to show one more door of escape out of the dark and unforgiving law. She has come to change the law itself! In fact, She is missioned to do it since She is none else but an incarnation of the Divine Mother, the very fount of all strengths, the Origin of all power, the Source and womb of all things. In the end we are given a luminous hint, a summary of the new path that She is going to carve out of life: the possibility of man changing his destiny here and escaping the net of karma and subjection to the law of darkness even while in the body, here upon earth.