Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

Love


Love in the wilderness met Savitri.

 



Botanical Name: Punicacea
Common Name: Pomegranate
Spiritual Significance: Divine Love


The white crane stood, a vivid motionless streak,
Peacock and parrot jewelled soil and tree,
The dove’
s soft moan enriched the enamoured air
And fire-winged wild-drakes swam in silvery pools.

-       Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

From the Editor's Desk (February 2018)


We are once again riding on the most anticipated month of February. The Mother’s 140th Birth Anniversary falls on the 21st. In addition, The Mother’s dream on the road to realization, The City of Dawn, celebrates its 50th Birthday on the 28th.  This auspicious month, the theme that decorates the pages of our newsletter edition is, simply, Love. We explore Love in Savitri in its most romantic as well as sublime.

Savitri sets off to find her soul mate in another clime. Love meets her in the wilderness. Destiny brings her face to face with this being named Satyavan, whom she immediately recognizes as the one made and meant for her, to walk the highroad of destiny, in doing a work decreed by the Divine.

In the previous edition of the newsletter, we examined the roles of Savitri and Satyavan together with Aswapathy.   It will be pertinent to revisit the significance of Savitri and Satyavan as symbols before exploring further this idea of Love. Savitri is the daughter of the Sun, Light Supreme and Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being but descended into death and ignorance. Divine in his origin, bearer of divinity, there is in him a Divine seed waiting to manifest itself in all its splendour in this human body upon this material earth. Savitri is the Light who subsequently confronts the darkness, shadow and ignorance in the guise of Death. She stands steadfast in saving the human soul from its clutches so that God may reveal Himself. This then is the poignant relationship between Savitri and Satyavan, far elevated from the mere romantic, though celebrated.

Who was this woman who could look right within and recognize her soul mate? Of what stuff and substance was she made of? What was her psychological state? These are some questions we can start with before taking a glimpse at the theme of Love emerging in the environment and atmosphere of Savitri the epic poem. Instinctively we feel drawn to higher worlds within our own being as we confront these possibilities and enter into that of what is presented in Savitri. Who is this man, Satyavan, who likewise recognizes his soul support in her and takes her as his, within those short moments of chancing upon each other? What stuff is he made of, what substance and what psychological make up? Sri Aurobindo paints a vivid portrait of him in these lines (to be visited with deep concentration) that show us of signs of a living in higher vastitudes:

                            

His look was a wide daybreak of the gods,

His head was a youthful Rishi’s touched with light,

His body was a lover’s and a king’s……..

Out of the ignorant eager toil of the years

Abandoning man’s loud drama he had come

Led by the wisdom of an adverse Fate

To meet the ancient Mother in her groves.



The two souls meet and mingle, and Love stands crowned. Sri Aurobindo lashes out swift lines into our midst, arresting movements of the mind, drawing attention inwards:

To live, to love are signs of infinite things,

Love is a glory from eternity’s spheres.

Abased, disfigured, mocked by baser mights

That steal his name and shape and ecstasy,

He is still the godhead by which all can change.



May we know and worship Love at Its highest.