This month’s Newsletter edition carries as the theme the title of Canto two of Book seven of Savitri, “The Parable of the Search for the Soul”. In the previous edition, we saw the union of Savitri with Satyavan and the immense joy with which this was lived. At the same time, as a shadow to this joy, she lived the pain of the knowledge of Satyavan’s impending fate. It seemed as a reflection of our own state of being, with joy and pain as inevitable roommates in the same house, in a lesser or amplified degree. Her inner countries were out of her reach at least at that moment. She lived alone with the impending knowledge of Satyavan’s fate and sank into deep sorrow and dejection. In this episode, she sits alone in the night, her heart heavy with grief, each ticking moment tearing a page off her beautiful life with Satyavan. This scene paints in our minds a grim picture of an earnest young woman in distress, desperation and dejection.
Savitri’s is a noble nature, a being full of deep love and generosity, a being divine, if not wholly in view of her Divinity, at this point of the epic. There a force around that helps, a hand that guides. As an answer to her silent cry of despair, a voice arose in her at this curiously propitious moment and changed the course of her life. This was a defining moment, we will find, as it brought her on the path that she must take. It indicated to her the source she must reach and from which gain her strength and direction to conquer the cause of her current pain. Her initial reaction to that voice was an expression of dejection and hopelessness, a tendency to drift along with the whips of fate towards a natural progression to its end. However, that voice is persistent and reminds her of her mission upon earth. Something in Savitri awakes and overpowers the dejection of her surface being and takes over her life from thence. Without resistance, her mind falls silent, her heart still and she lets her real, truest Self reveal itself to her, from which she will receive all directions for her every move.
This canto, in a story, gives us the message of life as it is and life towards which we must progress. This canto is one of the many that reveals Sri Aurobindo’s vision for the human race. It recognises the plight that the race has put itself into, its plunge into the abyss of darkness and ignorance, a result of which is pain. It is clear that we are needed to rise above the stroke dealt on us by the hands of fate. In order to do that, one needs to pull one’s consciousness away from the exterior and focus within and live the reality within. This task requires from us a silencing of the mind and the stilling of the heart (or vital). We probably know what this entails, in the usual consciousness. Are we able to leave this heavy concentration on our outer lives and turn within? Are we able to silence our noisy mind which at best is a chaotic market place of varied transactions? Are we able to receive with equanimity all that comes our way or allow only those that uplift us? Then only the voice speaks to us in the silence and stillness of our being and the needed is done. Till then, this task of preparation is ours with the Guidance of Grace. This is the sadhana before us.
This month of August venerates the birth of Sri Aurobindo. Let us remember him for his vision for the human race and its evolution into a supramentalised race living the divine here on earth in matter and in life. Let us take stock of where we stand today as we prepare to salute him and hold his revelations before us for our progress. Let us be his true children and take a plunge into ourselves to know ourselves for what we are and transform for the better, all the time invoking the presence and guidance that alone can transform our nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment