Welcoming Spring’s Smile

We as Mother’s children are gifted with a legend that lives along with us in our lives. We grow along with ‘Savitri’ – the dynamic woman portrayed in the legend by Sri Aurobindo. She touches every aspect of our growth, journeys along through the curves and serves as a light on the path laid down for us.

This article attempts to write few glimpses of a small part in this legend keeping with the theme of the Newsletter to describe the Spring season the earth is now going through.

The earth, very much our living space, is described as a stage and is prepared for a beautiful soul to take birth. It is like an introductory music, a music welcoming Savitri into the world. A poet’s way of singing Alaap.

 Then Spring, an ardent lover, leaped through leaves

And caught the earth-bride in his eager clasp;

The planet has gone through the winter season. Now, it is yearning for a fresh breath, for a colourful breeze. It becomes a beautiful bride. Spring is personified as the lover here; He comes gliding, touching the trees with green leaves and clasps the bride eagerly.

Impatient for felicity he came,

High fluting with the coil’s happy voice,

His peacock turban trailing on the trees;

Then, the lover Spring is, becomes our Eternal lover. The stealer of all our hearts. He enters with his peacock feathered turban and music emerging from his flute. He is described here as ‘impatient for felicity’. The place where his feet lay does become a celebration.

Gently, the magic of Spring is described in these lines –

The life of the enchanted globe became

A storm of sweetness and of light and song,

A revel of color and of ecstasy

Pale mango-blossoms fed the liquid voice

Of the love-maddened coil, and the brown bee

Muttered in fragrance mid the honey-buds.

The sunlight was a great god’s golden smile.

All Nature was at beauty’s festival.

(Savitri, Book 4, Canto 1)

It is as though the earth is showered with blessings for a precious event to occur. Sweet beads of words are stringed together in these lines to make up a fine jewel. The sunlight is bestowed on earth and described as a ‘smile’ from the gods above. Mother Nature is really in her festive mood. Indeed a gift to the world, a treasure is Savitri. She concretely lives among us sharing our joys and sorrows.

-         Sandhya