When Savitri Appears Too Difficult

The fire has the property of burning. Whether we understand how it works or not yet it burns and does its work. Savitri is such a fire but of another nature. When we read it, it does its work of burning away the coats and coverings of ignorance and thereby illumining us. The word Savitri itself means that which is born of the Sun, daughter of the Sun. She is born of that mode of the Sun which is hidden in the darkness, Savitr. We may say that Savitri just as its name suggests brings out the Light that is hidden in the folds of darkness. But the sun not only illumines but also burns. Savitri too burns away the dross and impurities of nature and thereby refines and purifies us. A third aspect of the Sun is that it is the giver of life. All life owes itself to the Sun. So too Savitri gives us a new life, the life divine replacing the old life from its very roots. The Sun is also the nourisher of life along with air and water and the earth. Savitri too nourishes us with its Light and the Love of the Divine Mother which is at the core of the epic. It also acts as a breeze to blow far away from us all that is hurtful and harmful creating for us a beautiful divine atmosphere through its magical mantric words for the seed of divinity to blossom within us. The Sun also uplifts all water and recycles it to earth through the clouds. Savitri too uplifts our waters of life and returns it back to nourish our soil after purifying it. Finally, even as the sun destroys all darkness so too Savitri destroys the siege of Night upon our soul and liberates it into freedom and vastness and delight. All this Savitri does and much more, naturally even as the Sun does all this even when we are not aware of its presence. So also opening ourselves to the light of Savitri does all that is needed to be done for the transformation of nature regardless of whether we understand it or not.

And who has truly understood the Sun, that brilliant summoner, the giver of all life and light, that source of all illumination, that lonely Splendour burning in the vast ethereal space through night and day, that destroyer of darkness and Night? We may draw inferences, analyse its structure, even bask and bathe in its presence describing it with magical words that bring it closer to us. But in the end, the only sure way to understand the sun is to go into its heart and see for oneself. Sri Aurobindo is precisely the seer and yogi who not only saw the sun from afar climbing upon some high peak of earth nature as some Vedic Rishis did but actually entered the Sun, the supramental glory of glories and brought for us this Prasad of Savitri. It is a pity that humanity still does not care to take this Prasad and only admires it in the bookshelf. Prasad is to be eaten for its effect. And when we take it as the gift of God then it works while any amount of analysis of its contents by experts still is no guarantee of its workings. So we should take this Prasad as a Their gift to us. Yes, Their gift, because though it has emerged through the consciousness of Sri Aurobindo, it is the story and experiences of the Divine Mother (and of course of Sri Aurobindo’s as well). Thus, it is a unique work that carries within it as a single unified whole the consciousness of the dual Avatara. Read it with faith, a little every day as Their supreme Prasad and all that is needed to understand will develop and all that is needed will be done.