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Widely integrated in Auroville's dialectics is,
of course, its Charter, but so are quotations from and references to
the text of Sri Aurobindo's epic poem 'Savitri'. The book's depth-in-depth-in-depth
mantric richness and force is loved and used by all, and you will find
repeated references to it on this site.
A legend and a symbol
Savitri is Sri Aurobindo's revelatory mantric
epic poem. The Mother has referred to it as "the supreme revelation
of Sri Aurobindo's vision". The writing of Savitri extended over
much of the later part of Sri Aurobindo's life. The first known manuscript
dates from 1916. By around 1930 he had begun to turn it into an epic
with a larger scope and deeper significance. Transformed into 'A Legend
and a Symbol' Savitri became his major literary work which he continued
to expand and perfect until his last days. In the late 1940s, when his
eyesight was failing, he took the help of a scribe, Nirodbaran, and
dictated the extensive final stages of revision. It was the last thing
he worked on, a few days before leaving his body in December 1950.
In his 'Author's Note' to the poem, Sri Aurobindo
writes :
The Tale of Satyavan and Savitri is recited
in the Mahabharata as a story of conjugal love conquering death. But
this legend is, as shown by many features of the human tale, one of
the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle. Satyavan is the soul carrying
the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip
of death and ignorance; Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the
Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save;
Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her human father, is the Lord of
Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps
us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; Dyumatsena, Lord
of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here
fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through
that loss its kingdom of glory. Still this is not a mere allegory,
the characters are not personified qualities, but incarnations or
emanations of living and conscious Forces with whom we can enter into
concrete touch and they take human bodies in order to help man and
show him the way from his mortal state to a divine consciousness and
immortal life.
Mother about Savitri
Savitri, this prophetic vision of the world's
history, including the announcement of the earth's future.*
The importance of Savitri is immense. Its subject
is universal. Its revelation is prophetic. The time spent in its atmosphere
is not wasted. **
She wrote that Savitri is:
The daily record of the spiritual experiences
of the individual who has written.
A complete system of yoga which can serve as a
guide for those who want to follow the integral sadhana.
The yoga of the Earth in its ascension towards
the Divine.
The experiences of the Divine Mother in her effort
to adapt herself to the body she has taken and the ignorance and falsity
of the earth upon which She has incarnated.***
She said in a diary containing quotations from Savitri:
Some extracts from Savitri, that marvellous prophetic
poem which will be humanity's guide towards its future realisation.
(1)
On other occasions she said:
For the opening of the psychic, for the growth
of consciousness and even for the improvement of English it is good
to read one or two pages of Savitri each day. (2)
I believe that it is his message; all the rest
are the preparations, but Savitri is the message.(3)
Savitri is a mantra for the transformation of
the world. (4)
* (from the introduction to Meditations
on Savitri, vol. 1, 1964)
** (from the message for the Meditations on Savitri exhibition, 1967)
*** (MCW 13:24)
(1) 27.11.1963 MCW 16:24
(2) to Norman Dowsett
(3) In 1963, to Satprem (MA 1963:86)
(4) to Udar Pinto
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