Savitri has accepted the law of ignorance only so that she can change it. She has consented to descend into a world built by Death to transform it into a world of life divine. She has come armed with the powers to face the grim battle with Death in his own lair. One of the big difficulties however is the law of karma that compels man to remain tied to the wheel of destiny and swing between the dualities without ever finding true freedom. With human resistance on the one hand and the powers of darkness holding the cosmos in their control on the other, it is indeed a cosmic war that she must wage.
A colloquy of the original Gods Meeting upon the borders of the unknown, Her soul’s debate with embodied Nothingness Must be wrestled out on a dangerous dim background: Her being must confront its formless Cause, Against the universe weigh its single self.
The battle with the Night
Savitri has come armed with the power of the gods that reside in her soul. She must descend into the pit of darkness with these powers and wrestle with the powers of Death that have their roots in the Inconscient. She must do it alone facing the resistance of the whole universe which is under the influence of the Inconscient and its powers of death, falsehood, unconsciousness and darkness.
On the bare peak where Self is alone with Nought And life has no sense and love no place to stand, She must plead her case upon extinction’s verge, In the world’s death-cave uphold life’s helpless claim And vindicate her right to be and love.
The bare peak and the world’s death-cave
To change the law, Savitri must enter the very home of Death and convince it to allow life and love to bloom upon earth. Neither love nor life’s powers can make any claim there. The dark shadow is impervious to the cry of life and ordinary human love. However, Savitri has come armed with the power of divine Love, which alone can win the victory.
Altered must be Nature’s harsh economy; Acquittance she must win from her past’s bond, An old account of suffering exhaust, Strike out from Time the soul’s long compound debt And the heavy servitudes of the Karmic Gods, The slow revenge of unforgiving Law And the deep need of universal pain And hard sacrifice and tragic consequence.
Nature’s harsh economy
The balance of nature is indeed harsh. She is amoral and vast and often acts without concern about an individual’s life, the pain and suffering we undergo, as she moves towards her unseen goal. Any effort to change her established rules is met with resistance from past habits and patterns, the karmic energies we have set into motion. These energies multiply as they move out from us and return back upon us, prodding us to make the same mistakes again and again (compound debt). The karmic law, like any law, does not spare us because we were ignorant of it; it hits back nevertheless. The only way to mitigate it is through penance, that is, to burn it in a fire of purification and sacrifice. Not tears but sacrifice moves the cosmic powers. The gist of it is that as long as man labours under the yoke of ignorance, he must necessarily move through error and pain.
Out of a timeless barrier she must break, Penetrate with her thinking depths the Void’s monstrous hush, Look into the lonely eyes of immortal Death And with her nude spirit measure the Infinite’s night.
The soul’s meeting with Death
These are powerful lines that reveal the nature of Savitri’s work. The power to battle with the Night can only be found beyond the barriers of the cosmic consciousness. Savitri must go beyond and bring into the earthly play a new and greater Power from the Unmanifest. It is this Power with which she must confront the challenge of Death and triumph over its darkness that holds the human soul and earthly life captive under its shadow. Only the transcendent supramental Power can annul Death’s law and create upon earth a nucleus of super humanity freed from the clutches of ignorance and grief.
Closing remarks
After giving us a brief account of the karmic law that holds in its grip all humanity by the noose of ignorance, Sri Aurobindo reveals to us the secret that would liberate us from its clutches. But man cannot do it by himself. Therefore, Savitri has come to open the doors to a new Power; a Power from beyond the cosmic Ignorance; a Power that belongs to the transcendent Divine and has not yet manifested in creation. Armed with this Power, Savitri must enter the pit of darkness, falsehood and death and wrestle with the forces that guard the unforgiving law.
A Cosmic Battle, pp. 12-13
A colloquy of the original Gods
Meeting upon the borders of the unknown,
Her soul’s debate with embodied Nothingness
Must be wrestled out on a dangerous dim background:
Her being must confront its formless Cause,
Against the universe weigh its single self.
On the bare peak where Self is alone with Nought
And life has no sense and love no place to stand,
She must plead her case upon extinction’s verge,
In the world’s death-cave uphold life’s helpless claim
And vindicate her right to be and love.
Altered must be Nature’s harsh economy;
Acquittance she must win from her past’s bond,
An old account of suffering exhaust,
Strike out from Time the soul’s long compound debt
And the heavy servitudes of the Karmic Gods,
The slow revenge of unforgiving Law
And the deep need of universal pain
And hard sacrifice and tragic consequence.
Out of a timeless barrier she must break,
Penetrate with her thinking depths the Void’s monstrous hush,
Look into the lonely eyes of immortal Death
And with her nude spirit measure the Infinite’s night.