It is with delight and appreciation that I welcome this new comprehensive commentary by Dr Alok Pandey on Sri Aurobindo’s great epic poem Savitri. Dr. Pandey is widely-respected for his deep understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s teachings and his eloquent and engaging articulation of them to audiences around the world. He has been taking classes on Savitri since 2007, when Prof. Nadkarni invited Dr Pandey to take over his widely-known Savitri Study Camps (Savitri Upadhyaya) due to Nadkarni-ji’s declining health. Many of his recorded talks on Savitri are available online at auromaa.org. Dr Pandey’s earlier writings on Savitri have recently been published in four separate books. His books Talks on Savitri and Writings on Savitri provide important contextual perspectives, crucial insights into dominant themes, summaries of each of the cantos, and analyses of selected elements. Two other volumes, Glory of the Divine Mother as revealed in Savitri, and Glory of the Lord as revealed in Savitri, elucidate aspects and characteristics of the Divine Mother and the Supreme Lord that are revealed in Savitri through annotated selections from the poem. These talks and writings have established Dr. Pandey as an authoritative commentator on the epic. The present series of eight volumes, along with the original text of the poem, present illuminating commentaries on each book, canto, section, and passage of Savitri, while also providing helpful glossaries of terms used in the poem at the end of each volume.
Savitri, of course, is Sri Aurobindo’s literary masterpiece, his great gift to mankind, on which he worked for several decades up until a few weeks before his passing in 1950. It holds within it his spiritual teaching and is a wonderful guide in his spiritual discipline, but it is much more than that. Regarding the comprehensiveness of its content, perhaps the Mother put it best in her long conversation about Savitri with Mona Sarkar, who recalled it this way: “My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature; how the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny — all is there” (Sweet Mother: Luminous Notes, p. 48). Regarding its help as a guide, Mona Sarkar reported her as saying, “He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the Ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain Immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man” (Ibid). But Savitri is much more than its content, it is a revealed writing from the highest heights of consciousness, a mantra, a word of light and power that can awaken the consciousness and soul of the listener or reader. Sri Aurobindo described the deep nature of mantra in these lines: “The Mantra in other words is a direct and most heightened, an intensest and most divinely burdened rhythmic word which embodies an intuitive and revelatory inspiration and ensouls the mind with the sight and the presence of the very self, the inmost reality of things and with its truth and with the divine soul-forms of it, the Godheads which are born from the living Truth” (The Future Poetry, p. 218). Put simply, reading or listening to Savitri with concentration in a quiet mind itself awakens our consciousness to the Truth, to the Divine of which it is a direct outflow and vibrating expression.
Savitri, however, is not an easy book to read, and while listening to it has a direct effect upon the consciousness, understanding the significance of the developing story line and the poem’s ideas, images, symbols, allusions to earlier scriptures and literature, and the straightforward meaning of its lines and words are also important. This outer form of the poem in which the deeper vibrations of the spirit are embedded is a direct expression of the Truth carrying enormous value and its understanding is crucial for bringing out the full power of its mantric force. It is in his elaboration and elucidation of this outer form of the poem that Dr Pandey’s commentary is so beneficial. This is especially important in a poem like Savitri because so many of its lines are packed with subtle suggestions and deeper symbolic meanings which are easily overlooked or opaque to many readers. Moreover, the vocabulary is rich and wide, and the turns of phrase characteristic of such a mystical poetry is ofttimes difficult to follow. The poem as a whole is based on a story from the ancient Mahabharata, which Sri Aurobindo explains in his author’s note at the start of the poem is “one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle.” While Sri Aurobindo explained the primary symbols of this particular myth in the note, the poem also alludes to other Vedic myths that he has explained in his other works, as well as to various ancient Greek, Latin, Egyptian and European myths. In addition, the poem alludes to various principles of Indian spiritual thought and practice that have developed over the centuries. Nor does Sri Aurobindo neglect modern developments of thought in science, religion, politics and culture. In these aspects of the poem, and with his long study and eloquent explanations of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual philosophy which forms the core of Savitri’s message, Dr Pandey illumines our understanding such that the poetry transmits its uplifting power to us more effectively.
Dr Pandey’s comprehensive commentary on Savitri is a welcome addition to two others, and which contributes his unique perspective and style. MP Pandit’s 10-volume Readings in Savitri, which is available for reading online, transposes most of the sentences of Savitri into clearly readable prose while bringing out their deep psychological and yogic meanings. Shraddhavan’s recently published 12-volume series The English of Savitri, which like the present series is a complete passage by passage commentary, focuses on explaining the straightforward meaning of the lines and words of the poem while delving into their nuances and symbolic significances, as well as explaining allusions to various myths and religious and spiritual traditions. Dr Pandey’s commentary in this series carries something of the best of both, focusing on the psychological and yogic significances of the poem while elucidating the language and its allusions to myths and ancient and modern traditions. All three commentaries reflect a comprehensive understanding and experienced practice of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual teachings. There are numerous partial commentaries, too many to describe, but MV Nadkarni’s two books, Savitri the Golden Bridge, the Wonderful Fire and Invitation to Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri are especially notable, and Prema Nandakumar’s A Study of Savitri is a classic work with an academic approach. Moreover, there are excellent collections of articles on Savitri, including the two-volume On Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: Writings by Amal Kiran (KD Sethna), the two-volume collection of articles by various authors, Perspectives on Savitri, edited by RY Deshpande, and the recently published multiple-author collection Insights into Savitri, edited by Dr V Ananda Reddy and Dr Larry Seidlitz. There are other excellent books and articles by various esteemed authors, as well as many recorded talks and articles that are available online. Savitri is a masterwork of English literature and spiritual scripture; it will be read and analyzed for centuries to come, but commentaries such as this one that have been lit with both scholarly acumen and spiritual wisdom set a high standard for future work on the poem that will follow.
Reading Savitri with Alok Pandey | Foreword
It is with delight and appreciation that I welcome this new comprehensive commentary by Dr Alok Pandey on Sri Aurobindo’s great epic poem Savitri. Dr. Pandey is widely-respected for his deep understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s teachings and his eloquent and engaging articulation of them to audiences around the world. He has been taking classes on Savitri since 2007, when Prof. Nadkarni invited Dr Pandey to take over his widely-known Savitri Study Camps (Savitri Upadhyaya) due to Nadkarni-ji’s declining health. Many of his recorded talks on Savitri are available online at auromaa.org. Dr Pandey’s earlier writings on Savitri have recently been published in four separate books. His books Talks on Savitri and Writings on Savitri provide important contextual perspectives, crucial insights into dominant themes, summaries of each of the cantos, and analyses of selected elements. Two other volumes, Glory of the Divine Mother as revealed in Savitri, and Glory of the Lord as revealed in Savitri, elucidate aspects and characteristics of the Divine Mother and the Supreme Lord that are revealed in Savitri through annotated selections from the poem. These talks and writings have established Dr. Pandey as an authoritative commentator on the epic. The present series of eight volumes, along with the original text of the poem, present illuminating commentaries on each book, canto, section, and passage of Savitri, while also providing helpful glossaries of terms used in the poem at the end of each volume.
Savitri, of course, is Sri Aurobindo’s literary masterpiece, his great gift to mankind, on which he worked for several decades up until a few weeks before his passing in 1950. It holds within it his spiritual teaching and is a wonderful guide in his spiritual discipline, but it is much more than that. Regarding the comprehensiveness of its content, perhaps the Mother put it best in her long conversation about Savitri with Mona Sarkar, who recalled it this way: “My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature; how the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny — all is there” (Sweet Mother: Luminous Notes, p. 48). Regarding its help as a guide, Mona Sarkar reported her as saying, “He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the Ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain Immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man” (Ibid). But Savitri is much more than its content, it is a revealed writing from the highest heights of consciousness, a mantra, a word of light and power that can awaken the consciousness and soul of the listener or reader. Sri Aurobindo described the deep nature of mantra in these lines: “The Mantra in other words is a direct and most heightened, an intensest and most divinely burdened rhythmic word which embodies an intuitive and revelatory inspiration and ensouls the mind with the sight and the presence of the very self, the inmost reality of things and with its truth and with the divine soul-forms of it, the Godheads which are born from the living Truth” (The Future Poetry, p. 218). Put simply, reading or listening to Savitri with concentration in a quiet mind itself awakens our consciousness to the Truth, to the Divine of which it is a direct outflow and vibrating expression.
Savitri, however, is not an easy book to read, and while listening to it has a direct effect upon the consciousness, understanding the significance of the developing story line and the poem’s ideas, images, symbols, allusions to earlier scriptures and literature, and the straightforward meaning of its lines and words are also important. This outer form of the poem in which the deeper vibrations of the spirit are embedded is a direct expression of the Truth carrying enormous value and its understanding is crucial for bringing out the full power of its mantric force. It is in his elaboration and elucidation of this outer form of the poem that Dr Pandey’s commentary is so beneficial. This is especially important in a poem like Savitri because so many of its lines are packed with subtle suggestions and deeper symbolic meanings which are easily overlooked or opaque to many readers. Moreover, the vocabulary is rich and wide, and the turns of phrase characteristic of such a mystical poetry is ofttimes difficult to follow. The poem as a whole is based on a story from the ancient Mahabharata, which Sri Aurobindo explains in his author’s note at the start of the poem is “one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle.” While Sri Aurobindo explained the primary symbols of this particular myth in the note, the poem also alludes to other Vedic myths that he has explained in his other works, as well as to various ancient Greek, Latin, Egyptian and European myths. In addition, the poem alludes to various principles of Indian spiritual thought and practice that have developed over the centuries. Nor does Sri Aurobindo neglect modern developments of thought in science, religion, politics and culture. In these aspects of the poem, and with his long study and eloquent explanations of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual philosophy which forms the core of Savitri’s message, Dr Pandey illumines our understanding such that the poetry transmits its uplifting power to us more effectively.
Dr Pandey’s comprehensive commentary on Savitri is a welcome addition to two others, and which contributes his unique perspective and style. MP Pandit’s 10-volume Readings in Savitri, which is available for reading online, transposes most of the sentences of Savitri into clearly readable prose while bringing out their deep psychological and yogic meanings. Shraddhavan’s recently published 12-volume series The English of Savitri, which like the present series is a complete passage by passage commentary, focuses on explaining the straightforward meaning of the lines and words of the poem while delving into their nuances and symbolic significances, as well as explaining allusions to various myths and religious and spiritual traditions. Dr Pandey’s commentary in this series carries something of the best of both, focusing on the psychological and yogic significances of the poem while elucidating the language and its allusions to myths and ancient and modern traditions. All three commentaries reflect a comprehensive understanding and experienced practice of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual teachings. There are numerous partial commentaries, too many to describe, but MV Nadkarni’s two books, Savitri the Golden Bridge, the Wonderful Fire and Invitation to Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri are especially notable, and Prema Nandakumar’s A Study of Savitri is a classic work with an academic approach. Moreover, there are excellent collections of articles on Savitri, including the two-volume On Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: Writings by Amal Kiran (KD Sethna), the two-volume collection of articles by various authors, Perspectives on Savitri, edited by RY Deshpande, and the recently published multiple-author collection Insights into Savitri, edited by Dr V Ananda Reddy and Dr Larry Seidlitz. There are other excellent books and articles by various esteemed authors, as well as many recorded talks and articles that are available online. Savitri is a masterwork of English literature and spiritual scripture; it will be read and analyzed for centuries to come, but commentaries such as this one that have been lit with both scholarly acumen and spiritual wisdom set a high standard for future work on the poem that will follow.
Larry Seidlitz
Editor of the series