Introduction to the epic poem Savitri of Sri Aurobindo (1951) in his own words (Notes of the Author)
"The tale of Satyavan and Savitri is recited in the Mahabharata as a story of conjugal love conquering death. But this legend is, as shown by many features of the human tale, one of the many symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle. Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance; Savitri is the Divine Word, daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truth who comes down and is born to save; Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; Dyumatsena, Lord of the Shining Hosts, father of Satyavan, is the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision, and through that loss its kingdom of glory. Still this is not a mere allegory, the characters are not personified qualities, but incarnations or emanations of living and conscious Forces with whom we can enter into concrete touch and they take human bodies in order to help man and show him the way from his mortal state to a divine consciousness and immortal life." Sri Aurobindo
Sketch of Sri Aurobindo by Mirra Alfassa "The Mother"
Characters in Savitri for the Golden Child
Aswapati, the King, Lord of the Horses and human father of Savitri
The Golden Child!
Navigation maps for Savitri for the Golden Child
Before telling you the
story of Savitri, I want to explain
you how the poem is "organized"; it is composed of 3 Parts or Theater Maps as Emanuele calls them in his
drawings.
Now, let's look at the
the first Part of Savitri: The Where
and the When, the Beginning's Place of Time, Space and Knowledge. This first part is composed of 3 books, each
subdivided in several
Cantos.
So I decided to start
telling you the story of Savitri
not quite at the beginning but at
Book 2 Canto 14:
The World-Soul.
Once upon a time,
there was a king (and he still exists…), a
king who was searching for the Truth in everything, in
each little detail. His name was Aswapati. He pursues this
Truth which is All-Love because she alone can save our world
from oblivion. Aswapati is the human father of Savitri, the princess
of this magnificent and omnipotent Truth that is here on Earth. This
story, this legend which exists inside any of us, tells their story
and… Ours. And this king lived in his Palace, the castle
of Madra, somewhere in India...
Where it all started...
And I give you : Aswapati's Palace!
To see more, plunge below :-)
