SRI AUROBINDO’S<\/b><\/p>\n
LETTERS ON "SAVITRI"<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n \n \n <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n These letters are published at the end of<\/i> Savitri for their<\/p>\n rare value as a great poet’s informal self-commentary. Apropos<\/p>\n that value, a few facts of deep personal interest may be mentioned<\/p>\n about the coming of this poem to its close.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n Some months before his passing, Sri Aurobindo, as if in foreknowledge of the event, said: "I want to finish<\/i> Savitri soon."<\/p>\n The words took by utter surprise the disciple, his scribe, who had been<\/p>\n used to the grandly patient way in which so far it had been<\/p>\n composed and frequently retouched and amplified. Even when, in<\/p>\n the past, composition had been extraordinarily swift\u2014once four<\/p>\n to five hundred lines needing hardly any change were dictated in<\/p>\n succession\u2014there had been no hurry in the poet’s attitude to his<\/p>\n work. But now he increased immensely the general tempo of composition and revision. There seemed a race with time. And it was<\/p>\n almost towards the end that, after rapidly revising the long second<\/p>\n Canto of the Book of Fate, he paused with some satisfaction. Then<\/p>\n he inquired what still remained to be written. On being told about<\/p>\n the Book of Death and the Epilogue entitled The Return to Earth,<\/p>\n which were yet to be caught up into a larger utterance, he remarked:<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font>"Oh, that? We shall see about that afterwards."<\/p>\n 52<\/i> 8i7<\/font> \n <\/p>\n \n \n <\/p>\n Savitri, as the footnote to the Book of Death indicates, was<\/p>\n not completed in the common meaning of the term and indeed<\/p>\n Sri Aurobindo’s original plan was to give this part of the poem<\/p>\n as well as the Epilogue a thorough recasting. But his strange remark<\/p>\n suggests that later, for reasons of his own, he was not anxious about<\/p>\n them and that what he had thought necessary had been done. So<\/p>\n it is impossible to say definitely that he did not wish<\/i> Savitri<\/p>\n to be, on the whole, just as he left it after making corrections and<\/p>\n additions in the Canto already mentioned of the Book of Fate.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n in this epic of twenty-three thousand eight hundred and thirteen<\/p>\n lines, over which he had spent so many years. Among them, in view<\/p>\n of subsequent circumstances, three newly written passages in the<\/p>\n speech of Narad stand out most significantly. The first is about<\/p>\n the sacrifice the God-Man gives in history:<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \n <\/i><\/font> \n <\/i><\/font> \n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \n departure from the earth is packed:<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n \n <\/p>\n \n \nFor out of danger and pain heaven-bliss shall come,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n piece of poetry dictated by Sri Aurobindo, in which, with a sound<\/p>\n as of massive repeating bells, Narad admonishes King Aswapathy’s<\/p>\n wife when she protests against the fate of loneliness that will be her<\/p>\n daughter Savitri’s in consequence of the predestined passing of<\/p>\n Satyavan, even as it appeared to be that of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual co-worker, the Mother, at the time the Master of the "Integral<\/p>\n Yoga" withdrew from his body. Some lines may be quoted:<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nUnastonished by the immensities of space, <\/i><\/font> \nTravelling infinity by its own light,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThe great are strongest when they stand alone…<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nA day may come when she must stand unhelped<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nOn a dangerous brink of the world’s doom and hers,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nCarrying the world’s future on her lonely breast,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nCarrying the human hope in a heart left sole<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nTo conquer or fail on a last desperate verge.<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAlone with death and close to extinction’s edge,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nHer single greatness in that last dire scene,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nShe must cross alone a perilous bridge in Time<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAnd reach an apex of world-destiny<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nWhere all is won or all is lost for man…<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nFor this the silent Force came missioned down;<\/i><\/font> \n <\/p>\n \n \nIn her the conscious Will took human shape:<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n \nShe only can save herself and save the world…<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nEven though all falters and falls and sees an end<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAnd the heart fails and only are death and night,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nGod-given her strength can battle against doom…<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThink not to intercede with the hidden Will,<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nIntrude not twixt her spirit and its force<\/p>\n <\/i><\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBut leave her to her mighty self and Fate.<\/i><\/font> \n <\/p>\n \n SRI AUROBINDO’S LETTERS ON "SAVITRI" NOTE These letters are published at the end of Savitri for their rare value as a great poet’s informal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-savitri-1954","wpcat-78-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\n
\nNOTE<\/i> <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 817<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nThese corrections and additions were the last things he wrote<\/p>\n
\nHe who has found his identity with God<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nPays with the body’s death his soul’s vast light.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nHis knowledge immortal triumphs by his death.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n
\nThe second dwells on the inner meaning with which Sat<\/p>\n
\nHis death is a beginning of greater life…<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n
\nA vast intention has brought two souls close<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n
\nAnd love and death conspire towards one great end.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 818<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nTime’s unforeseen event. God’s secret plan.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n
\nThe third is the passage of seventy-two lines, absolutely the last<\/p>\n
\nAs a star, uncompanioned, moves in heaven<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 819<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 820<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"