November 22nd and 29th -
Meditations and Discussions on Savitri (Book 9, Canto 1):
The great
wrestle of Savitri with Yama is over – and respite should have been. Instead,
Savitri is confronted with Yama transfigured – an arisen Godhead representing
the Supreme. Yet, this Godhead, while sweet and luminous and full of an
entrancing Ananda, nonetheless denies Savitri her prize: Satyavan resurrected.
This sets the
scene for the lines we studied these three weeks – some of the most musical,
potent and fiery in the whole of Savitri.
We read these lines in a circle, appreciating their beauty and absorbing the
magic of the Mantra. Then we
discussed these lines, seeking to appreciate something of their mysteries.
The scene begins
with temptation: The temptation of the Divine by the Divine – and luminous Yama
asks Savitri to leave the earth and ascend to her rightful home where she can
be eternally be with Satyavan. Yet Savitri refuses. In a series of sweet
images, she outlines her natural royalty and divinity, her right to the kingdom
of heaven that was “once her natural home” (l.542).
But she is the
embodiment of something greater: The sublime song of struggling earth. And she
is the magnificent Mother who embraces the labour and the battle and the pain:
“A heavier tread is mine, a mightier touch.
There where the gods and demons battle in night
Or wrestle on the borders of the Sun,
Taught by the sweetness and the pain of life
To bear the uneven strenuous beat that throbs
Against the edge of some divinest hope,
To dare the impossible with these pangs of search,
In me the spirit of immortal love
Stretches its arms out to embrace mankind.” (Savitri, Bk 9, Cant 1., ll.557-565)
To complete her
mission, Satyavan must return. The hilt and the blade must be made one.
But the God
still demurred. In a vast sweep of Vision and time, he outlines the story of
the worm-man, crawling through the mud, his spirit far from bursting a gray
chrysalis. He asks, commands even, Savitri to trust in the grand unfolding of
the aeons – when all that must be shall be done.
Again Savitri is
commanded to return to her “original might / On a seer-summit above thought and
world”.
Our study stops
here. Man’s destiny is now poised on a knife-edge. We await Savitri’s choice –
which will fix the evolutionary path of humanity.
December
6th - Readings from All India Magazine:
This week’s
reading and discussion is on the most advanced stage of the Integral Yoga: The
Yoga of the cells. We read several entries on how the Mother had been doing the
inconceivable work of impregnating her cells with the Supramental Force, putting
them totally under the influence of the Supreme. We also discussed the great
mysteries concerning the purpose of the Mother leaving her body and how this
may have facilitated her Work to transform the earth.
We also briefly
touched on the existing controversies between those who view the Yoga of the
cells as the ultimate stage of the Integral Yoga, being only feasible for those
who have been put into direct mental and vital contact with the Supramental
(something aligned to the views expressed in Sri Aurobindo’s writings) – and
those who believe that the Mother’s arduous work over thirty years has made the
Yoga of the cells a possibility for many more than a few supreme spiritual
athletes.
-
Jared
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