Special Double Issue On Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri, A Legend .

ChroniclesSavitri—A revelationby Mona SarkarFrom Mona Sarkar’s book, Sweet Mother:Luminous Notes, Sri Aurobindo Ashram,Pondicherry, 2010.When I went to see the Motheron my 26th birthday, Shespoke to me first about kindling the psychic flame. Then She spokeabout Savitri. She had spoken to me aboutSavitri earlier, but this time, it was in aspecial way, for it was a complete teachingthat She revealed. I remained as quiet andas concentrated as I could, in order to assimilate Her words.Back home, I wanted to note downwhat the Mother had explained to meabout Savitri. But something within mekept saying that the task was too difficult,that I would not be capable of renderingit, that it was too beautiful and much tooextraordinary and that I would spoil it all.So I put aside the idea of writing downwhat the Mother had explained.Years passed, but some phrases keptechoing in my mind, words like: “I havelaunched myself in a rudderless boat uponthe vastness of the infinite.” The Mother hadspoken to me these magical words of Sri Aurobindo. And likewise there were many others which came floating in occasionally. Buteven then, I did not like the idea of notingthem down. Then, one day, I was advised byNolini-da to put down what the Mother hadtold me, and I began my work.However, seven years had passed. Itwas a work which I would not have ventured even in my dreams to undertake. Icould only try to be as docile and receptivean instrument as possible. I then concentrated and what the Mother had told me,began to come back gradually: “Each verseof Savitri is like a Mantra which surpassesall that man possesses by way of knowledge and is arranged in such a way thatthe sonority of the rhythm leads you to4 Collaboration Summer & Fall 2011Mona Sarkar. (Photo courtesy Sri AurobindoAshram)the origin of sound which is OM. It is themost beautiful thing He has left for man,the highest possible.” So, slowly, bit by bit,almost the whole of it was written down,in French.Later on, I read to the Mother thisreport written from memory. She heardit and gave Her blessings. She intendedto work anew on the text and make somechanges. She started the work but perhapsthe time to reveal everything had notcome and the circumstances did not allowHer to finish.The Mother found this report—‘Compte-rendu note de memoire’ as Shecalled it—‘very useful.’ She once wrote toa disciple: “.years ago I have spoken atlength about it to Mona Sarkar and he hasnoted in French what I said. Some timeback I have seen what he has written andfound it correct on the whole.”[In the following, we give the Englishtranslation of Mona-da’s report of hisconversation with Mother about Savitri.]A report noted from memoryDo you read Savitri?Yes, Mother.You have read the whole of it?Yes, Mother, I have read it twice.Have you understood all that you haveread?Not much, but I like poetry, that is whyI read it.It does not matter if you do not understand Savitri, read it always. You will seethat every time you read it, something newwill be revealed to you. Each time you willget a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, thingsyou did not understand arise and suddenlybecome clear. Always an unexpected visioncomes up through the words and the lines.Every time you try to read and understand,you will see that something is added, something which was hidden behind is revealedclearly and vividly. I tell you, the very verses you have read once before, will appearto you in a different light each time you reread them. This is what happens invariably.Always your experience is enriched, it is arevelation at each step.But you must not read it as you readother books or newspapers. You mustread with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any otherthought; you must concentrate much,remain empty, calm and open; then thewords, the rhythms, the vibrations willpenetrate directly to this white page, willput their stamp upon the brain, will explainthemselves without your making an effort.Savitri alone is sufficient to make youclimb to the highest peaks. If truly oneknows how to meditate on Savitri, onewill receive all the help one needs. For onewho wishes to follow this path, it is a visible help, as though the Lord himself weretaking you by the hand and leading you tothe destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has itsanswer here, every difficulty finds here itssolution, indeed there is everything that isnecessary for doing the Yoga.*He has crammed the whole universe ina single book.* It is a marvellous work, magnificent and of an incomparable perfection.You know, before writing Savitri SriAurobindo said to me *'I am impelled tolaunch on a new adventure; I was hesitantin the beginning, but now I am decided.Still I do not know how far I shall succeed.I pray for help."* And you know what itwas? It was—before beginning, I warn youin advance—it was his way of speaking, sofull of humility and divine modesty. Henever. *asserted himself.* And the day

he actually began it, he told me: *I havelaunched myself in a rudderless boat uponthe vastness of the Infinite.* And oncehaving started, he wrote page after pagewithout intermission, as though it werea thing already complete up there and hehad only to transcribe it in ink down hereon these pages.In truth, the entire form of Savitri hasdescended "en masse" from the highestregion and Sri Aurobindo with his geniusonly arranged the lines—in a superb andmagnificent style. Sometimes entire lineswere revealed and he has left them intact;he worked hard, untiringly, so that theinspiration could come from the highestpossible summit. And what a work he hascreated! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. Itis an unequalled work. Everything is there,and it is put in such a simple, such a clearform; verses perfectly harmonious, limpidand eternally true. My child, I have read somany things, but I have never come acrossanything which could be compared withSavitri. I have studied the best works—inGreek, Latin, English and of course inFrench literature, also in German and allthe great creations of the West and theEast, including the great epics; but I repeatit, I have not found anywhere anything likeSavitri. All these literary works seem to meempty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality—apart from a few rare exceptions, andthese too represent only a small fractionof what Savitri is. What grandeur, whatamplitude, what reality: it is somethingimmortal and eternal he has created. I tellyou once again, there is nothing like it inthe whole world. Even if one puts asidethe vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of theinspiration, and considers only the linesin themselves, one will find them unique,of the highest classical kind. What he hascreated is something man cannot imagine.For, everything is there, everything.It may then be said that Savitri is arevelation, it is a meditation, it is a questof the Infinite, of the Eternal. If it is readwith this aspiration for Immortality, thereading itself will serve as a guide towardsImmortality. To read Savitri is indeed topractise Yoga, spiritual concentration; onecan find there all that is needed to realisethe Divine. Each step of the Yoga is notedhere, including the secret of all other Yogas.Surely, if one follows sincerely what is revealed here in each verse one will finallyreach the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guidewho never abandons you; its support isalways there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is likea revealed Mantra which surpasses all thatman possesses by way of knowledge, andI repeat this, the words are expressed andarranged in such a manner that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin ofsound, which is OM.My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the historyof evolution, the history of man, of thegods, of creation, of Nature; how the universe was created, why, for what purpose,what destiny—all is there. You can findthere all the answers to all your questions.Everything is explained, even the futureof man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has expressed themin beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve themysteries of the world may understand itmore easily. But the mystery is well hidden behind the lines and one must riseto the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All the prophecies, allthat is going to happen is presented witha precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find theTruth, to discover the Consciousness, tosolve the problem of what the universe is.He has also indicated how he has openedthe door of the Inconscience so that thelight may penetrate there to transform it.He has shown the path, how to liberateoneself from the Ignorance to climb upto the superconscience; each stage, eachplane of consciousness, how one can scalethem, how one can cross the very barrier of death and attain Immortality. Youwill find the entire route in detail, and asyou go forward you can discover thingsaltogether unknown to man. That is whatSavitri is, and yet much more. It is trulyan experience—reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possesses, he has revealedthem, as well as all that awaits him in thefuture; all this is found in the depths ofSavitri; but one must have the knowledgeto discover them,—the experience of theplanes of consciousness, the experienceof the Supermind, even the experience ofthe conquest of Death. He has noted allthe stages, marked each step needed inorder to advance in an integral way in theintegral Yoga.All this is his own experience, andwhat is most surprising is that it is also myown experience. It is my sadhana whichhe has described. Each object, each event,each realization, all the descriptions, eventhe colours are exactly what I saw and thewords, the phrases are also exactly whatI heard. And all this before having readthe book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, when he was writing heused to read it to me. Every morning I usedto hear him read Savitri, at night he wouldwrite and in the morning read it to me.And I observed something strange, that—day after day, the experiences he read outto me in the morning were those I had hadthe previous night, word for word. Yes, allthe descriptions, the colours, the pictures Ihad seen, the words I had heard, all, all, Iheard it, put by him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, they were exactly myexperiences of the previous night whichhe read out to me the following morning.And it was not just one day, but for daysand days together. And every time I usedto compare what he said with my previous experiences and they were always thesame. I repeat, it was not that I had toldhim my experiences and that he had notedthem down afterwards, no, he knew already what I had seen. It is my experienceshe has presented all along and they werealso his experiences. It is, moreover, thepicture of our adventure together into theunknown or rather into the Supermind.These are experiences lived by him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experiencedall these as one experiences joy and sorrow in a physical manner. He has walkedin the darkness of inconscience, even inthe neighbourhood of death, enduredthe sufferings of perdition, and he hasemerged from the mud, the world-misery,Summer & Fall 2011 Collaboration 5

to breathe the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda. He has traversedthem all, these realms, borne the consequences, suffered and endured physicallywhat one cannot imagine. Nobody tilltoday has suffered like him. He has accepted suffering to transform sufferinginto the joy of union with the Supreme.It is something unique and incomparablein the history of the world. It is somethingthat has never happened, he is the first tohave traced the path in the Unknown sothat we may be able to walk with certitudetowards the Supermind. He has made thework easy for us. Savitri is his whole Yogaof transformation, and this Yoga, it is forthe first time that we see it appear in theearth-consciousness.And I think that man is not yet ready toreceive it. It is too high and too vast for him.He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it isnot by the mind that one can understandSavitri. One needs spiritual experiences inorder to understand and assimilate it. Themore one advances on the path of Yoga, themore one assimilates and better. No, it issomething which will be appreciated onlyin the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow ofwhich he has spoken in The Future Poetry.It is too subtle, too refined,—it is not in themind or by the mind, it is in meditationthat Savitri is revealed.And men have the audacity to compare it and find it inferior in inspirationto that of a Virgil or a Homer. They donot understand, they cannot understand.What do they know? Nothing at all. And itis useless to try to make them understand.It will be known what it is, but in a distantfuture. It is only the new race with the newconsciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing underthe blue sky to compare with Savitri. It isthe mystery of mysteries. It is a *superepic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry,super-vision, it is a super-work even if oneconsiders the number of lines he has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needssuperlatives, hyperboles to describe it. Itis a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is. There are no properadjectives to describe what Savitri is, at6 Collaboration Summer & Fall 2011least I do not find them. It is of immensevalue—spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinitein its appeal, miraculous in its mode andpower of execution; it is a unique thing,the more you come in contact with it, thehigher will you be lifted up. Ah, truly it issomething! It is the most beautiful thinghe has left for man, the highest possible.What is it? When will man know it? Whenis he going to lead a life of truth? When ishe going to accept this in his life? This yetremains to be known.My child, everyday you are going toread Savitri; read properly, with the rightattitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mindas empty as possible, absolutely withouta thought. The direct road is throughthat—the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration youcan light the flame, the psychic flame, theflame of purification in a very short time,perhaps in a few days. What you cannotdo normally, you will do it with the help ofSavitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with thisattitude, with this something at the backof your consciousness; as though it werean offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know itis charged, fully charged with consciousness; as though Savitri were a being, a realGuide. I tell you, whoever wants to practise Yoga, if he tries sincerely and feels thenecessity, he will be able to climb with thehelp of Savitri to the highest rung of theladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be ableto practise it anywhere. Savitri by itselfwill be his guide, for all that he needs hewill find in Savitri. If he remains absolutelyquiet when he is faced with a difficulty, orwhen he does not know where to turn inorder to go forward and how to overcomeobstacles, for all these hesitations andthese incertitudes which overwhelm us atevery moment, he will have the necessaryindications, and the necessary concretehelp. If he remains absolutely calm, open,if he aspires sincerely, always he will be asif led by the hand. If he has faith, the willto give himself and the essential sincerity,he will reach the final goal.Indeed, Savitri is something concrete,living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledgeabove all human philosophies, all humanreligions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga,Tapasya, Sadhana, everything, in its singlebody. Savitri has an extraordinary power,it sends out vibrations for him who canreceive them, the true vibrations of eachstage of consciousness. It is incomparable,it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth SriAurobindo brought down on the earth.My child, one must try to find the secretthat Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us.This is the work before you, it is hard butit is worth the trouble.Mother’s comments on the textAfter having heard the full text, theMother said:It is good. Only, I do not rememberwhat I had said. I never remember whatI speak. When I speak, it comes downlike this (gesture). I speak of things whichcome down, for the moment, like inspirations and then it is over. When I havespoken once, I do not remember at all. Alldisappears from my mind. It is so strangethat I do not remember the thing that Ihave spoken just a moment ago. It is likethis, my child. When I speak, I say manythings which come at that moment, andthe next minute—it is gone. That is whyI do not remember what I had told you.Well, I do not know. I do not know whatI had said. I do not remember anythingat all.But, Mother, how do You find this?I find it very good. It is all right. Is ityou who have written it?Yes, Mother, I have noted down whatYou had told me.Is it your French?What You had told me, that I have written and then Nolini-da has corrected a bit.It is good. As an appreciation of Savitriit is correct. This is Savitri. But I do not remember what I said. That is why, I can saynothing. But all that is said here seems tome correct. It is true. It is good, my child.

Reading Savitri forprogress and delightby ShraddhavanFrom a talk given on 18 August 2001 at SriAurobindo Centre for Advanced Research,Pondicherry, and subsequently publishedin the journal Invocation, No. 14, February2002, pp. 25-35.Friends, it’s a great honor for me to beinvited to speak to you about Savitriand I would like to invoke the presence of the Mother and the Master to bewith us and give their illumination duringour time together.Although I am happy to be here, I faceyou with some trepidation, because thisis actually the first time that I will be addressing a large group of informed Aurobindonians like this. In fact I feel veryhesitant to speak about Savitri at all. AsAnanda mentioned when introducing me,my speciality has been reading, and I amgoing to cheat a little and spend the lastportion of our time toget

a scholar on Sri Aurobindo’s thought who works in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives Department on the publication of Sri Aurobindo’s Complete Works. Kailas Jhaveri (richardkailas@gmail.com) is a member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Her biogra-phy, I am with you, was published in