The Winds of Wonder

The primal sound in Savitri

The primal sound in Savitri

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RY Deshpande

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The primal sound in Savitri

This is from the Mother’s Conversation dated 27 January 1961. The revelation is about the foundation, the source of sound, she little by little ascending to the very Origin.

“It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages. … Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTY… .

A sound that can bring in the supramental Force?

Yes. While speaking, you see, I went back to the origin of sound (Sri Aurobindo describes it very clearly in Savitri: the origin of sound, the moment when what we called ‘the Word’ becomes a sound). So I had a kind of perception of the essential sound before it becomes a material sound. And I said, ‘When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to the new expression which will express the supramental world.’ I had the experience itself at that moment, it came directly. I spoke in English and Sri Aurobindo was concretely, almost palpably, present.”

https://incarnateword.in/agenda/2/january-27-1961

This is the bursting forth of silence into sound, the explosion, sphoat, स्फोट, as the ancients say, the Big Bang, the absolute Non-Manifest coming into manifestation, it happening because of its own omnipotent Force, शक्ति, setting herself into dynamic creative action. That is the Origin.

But the question to be answered in the context of her reference to Savitri is: Where precisely does in Savitri Sri Aurobindo speak of the primal sound? the origin of sound? where exactly, with the necessary poetic explicitness? We will have to look into it with some attention.

Obviously, the Mother is not going to write a thesis on the subject. Her approach towards Savitri is to always go to the original Savitri, to the place where Savitri was born.

Savitri is a miracle made real and dynamic by the Yogi-Poet himself, a wonder par excellence, and there should be the perception of that creative wonder. Yet in our own way one could possibly open oneself to that miracle and get at least a small glimpse of the marvel.

Here are the three passages in Savitri which could be taken as the ones the Mother is possibly referring to. The first is about Truth-Consciousness in the House of the Spirit (Book Three Canto Three) where Yogi Aswapati sees a hierarchy of lucent planes and hears ineffable voices, hears Word that ushers divine experience. The second passage is about the Mantra sinking in Yoga’s ear and effectuating its dynamism in action; Savitri has grown into full maidenhood but because of her fiery majesty and radiance no hero-prince dares approach her to claim her hand in marriage; her Yogi-Father in his deep meditation receives the intimation and bids Savitri to find herself her mate in the glorious wide world. (Book Four Canto Three) The third is in the context of Savitri in her beautiful carven golden chariot going from place to place to find her eternal lover, her destiny-making quest, (Book Four Canto Four), finally she meeting him in the spiritual splendour of hermitages in the Shalwa Woods. These narratives are as follows:

[1]

The speech that voices the ineffable,

The ray revealing unseen Presences,

The virgin forms through which the Formless shines,

The Word that ushers divine experience

And the Ideas that crowd the Infinite. ||86.14||

[2]

As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear,

Its message enters stirring the blind brain

And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;

The hearer understands a form of words

And, musing on the index thought it holds,

He strives to read it with the labouring mind,

But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth:

Then, falling silent in himself to know

He meets the deeper listening of his soul:

The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains:

Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self

Are seized unalterably and he endures

An ecstasy and an immortal change;

He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power,

All knowledge rushes on him like a sea:

Transmuted by the white spiritual ray

He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm,

Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech:

An equal greatness in her life was sown. ||98.58||

[3]

Intuitive knowledge leaping into speech,

Hearing the subtle voice that clothes the heavens,

Carrying the splendour that has lit the suns,

They sang Infinity’s names and deathless powers

In metres that reflect the moving worlds,

Sight’s sound-waves breaking from the soul’s great deeps. ||99.45||

Perhaps the Mother is alluding to the second quotation from Savitri, most visibly to the one beginning with “when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear”: The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self are seized unalterably and he endures an ecstasy and an immortal change; he feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, all knowledge rushes on him like a sea: transmuted by the white spiritual ray he walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech. With that intimation received from the highest sublimest wonder the Yogi-Father bids her glowing daughter:

One force shall be your mover and your guide,

One light shall be around you and within;

Hand in strong hand confront Heaven’s question, life:

Challenge the ordeal of the immense disguise. ||98.54||

Ascend from Nature to divinity’s heights;

Face the high gods, crowned with felicity,

Then meet a greater God, thy self beyond Time. ||98.55||

This word was seed of all the thing to be. ||98.56||

A hand from some Greatness opened her heart’s locked doors

And showed the work for which her strength was born. ||98.57||

An equal greatness in her life was sown. ||98.58||

Accustomed scenes were now an ended play. ||98.59||

Moving in muse amid familiar powers,

Touched by new magnitudes and faery signs,

She turned to vastnesses not yet her own;

Allured her heart throbbed to unknown sweetnesses,

The secrets of an unseen world were close. ||98.60||

That is the power of the Mantra, an impelling force, of rhythmic sound, attaining to the supreme realisation even in this world of wants and difficulties. Of course, it is not from a cold book or a scripture that that power comes; it comes from the intense fire of the Yogi releasing into action the dynamism of effectuation even in the terrestrial scheme of things, with vigour and strength for implementation, actualisation, realisation.

Occult-yogically the Mother went to that original source of sound and brought its operation, its working, in her essential Agenda.

29 August 2024

10 responses to “The primal sound in Savitri”

  1. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Here is the hymn from Rig Veda, X:125, describing the Goddess of Speech, Vāk:

    अ॒हं रु॒द्रेभि॒र्वसु॑भिश्चराम्य॒हमा॑दि॒त्यैरु॒त वि॒श्वदे॑वैः । अ॒हं मि॒त्रावरु॑णो॒भा बि॑भर्म्य॒हमि॑न्द्रा॒ग्नी अ॒हम॒श्विनो॒भा ॥ १०.१२५.०१ अ॒हं सोम॑माह॒नसं॑ बिभर्म्य॒हं त्वष्टा॑रमु॒त पू॒षणं॒ भग॑म् । अ॒हं द॑धामि॒ द्रवि॑णं ह॒विष्म॑ते सुप्रा॒व्ये॒३॒॑ यज॑मानाय सुन्व॒ते ॥ १०.१२५.०२ अ॒हं राष्ट्री॑ सं॒गम॑नी॒ वसू॑नां चिकि॒तुषी॑ प्रथ॒मा य॒ज्ञिया॑नाम् । तां मा॑ दे॒वा व्य॑दधुः पुरु॒त्रा भूरि॑स्थात्रां॒ भूर्या॑वे॒शय॑न्तीम् ॥ १०.१२५.०३ मया॒ सो अन्न॑मत्ति॒ यो वि॒पश्य॑ति॒ यः प्राणि॑ति॒ य ईं॑ श‍ृ॒णोत्यु॒क्तम् । अ॒म॒न्तवो॒ मां त उप॑ क्षियन्ति श्रु॒धि श्रु॑त श्रद्धि॒वं ते॑ वदामि ॥ १०.१२५.०४ अ॒हमे॒व स्व॒यमि॒दं व॑दामि॒ जुष्टं॑ दे॒वेभि॑रु॒त मानु॑षेभिः । यं का॒मये॒ तंत॑मु॒ग्रं कृ॑णोमि॒ तं ब्र॒ह्माणं॒ तमृषिं॒ तं सु॑मे॒धाम् ॥ १०.१२५.०५ अ॒हं रु॒द्राय॒ धनु॒रा त॑नोमि ब्रह्म॒द्विषे॒ शर॑वे॒ हन्त॒वा उ॑ । अ॒हं जना॑य स॒मदं॑ कृणोम्य॒हं द्यावा॑पृथि॒वी आ वि॑वेश ॥ १०.१२५.०६ अ॒हं सु॑वे पि॒तर॑मस्य मू॒र्धन्मम॒ योनि॑र॒प्स्व१॒॑न्तः स॑मु॒द्रे । ततो॒ वि ति॑ष्ठे॒ भुव॒नानु॒ विश्वो॒तामूं द्यां व॒र्ष्मणोप॑ स्पृशामि ॥ १०.१२५.०७ अ॒हमे॒व वात॑ इव॒ प्र वा॑म्या॒रभ॑माणा॒ भुव॑नानि॒ विश्वा॑ । प॒रो दि॒वा प॒र ए॒ना पृ॑थि॒व्यैताव॑ती महि॒ना सं ब॑भूव ॥ १०.१२५.०८

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    1. RY Deshpande Avatar
      RY Deshpande

      1. I TRAVEL with the Rudras and the Vasus, with the Adityas and All-Gods I wander.
      I hold aloft both Varuna and Mitra, Indra and Agni, and the Pair of Asvins.
      2 I cherish and sustain high-swelling Soma, and Tvastar I support, Pusan, and Bhaga.
      I load with wealth the zealous sdcrificer who pours the juice and offers his oblation
      3 I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.
      Thus Gods have stablished me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in.
      4 Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them,-each man who sees, brewhes, hears the word outspoken
      They know it not, but yet they dwell beside me. Hear, one and all, the truth as I declare it.
      5 1, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and men alike shall welcome.
      I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a Rsi, and a Brahman.
      6 I bend the bow for Rudra that his arrow may strike and slay the hater of devotion.
      I rouse and order battle for the people, and I have penetrated Earth and Heaven.
      7 On the world’s summit I bring forth the Father: my home is in the waters, in the ocean.
      Thence I extend o’er all existing creatures, and touch even yonder heaven with my forehead.
      8 I breathe a strong breath like the wind and tempest, the while I hold together all existence.
      Beyond this wide earth and beyond the heavens I have become so mighty in my grandeur.

      https://www.vedarahasya.net/rigbk10.htm

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  2. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    The spiritual communications to the ear, this morning, revealed themselves as the communications of two kinds of spirits,—those who are merely of the buddha plane, manasic, and given over to error, and those who stand on the borders of the sukshma and the mahat, receiving knowledge from the vijnanam, expressing it in the sukshma. Some of the latter are farther, some nearer to the borderline, some stand upon it,—and according to the proximity is the soundness of the expression of the knowledge to the mind and the fullness and force of its substance. Besides these manasic beings, there are the voices of the Suryaloka and Janaloka who have already manifested. The mere buddha voices are now very rare and weak. The siddhi has risen to the borders of the mahat and reached over into it, and none have power who are below its line of attainment. The thoughts, perceptions etc may also be classified as on the same levels; there is sometimes even a double movement of knowledge in the mahat echoed in the sukshma. The forward movement of the ananda is now being left to itself and another siddhi taken up, the relations of the Jiva (dasyam) with the Master of the Yoga and those whom he has chosen. All restraint by the mind or any other organ used by the Jiva is to be entirely abandoned. The Vani that announces appears as that of an Angel of God, controlling, but aware of the derivative nature of the control & allowing the vak to flow through her. The derivative control of the world by Angels, Powers, Gods, Mahatmas announced by this Vani preceded by a blowing of trumpets in the Anandaloka.

    Sri Aurobindo: Record of Yoga

    https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/10/13-january-1912

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  3. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    I shall first indicate the principle on which the roots of the devabhasha were formed. All shabda (vak) as it manifests out of the akasha by the force of Matariswan, the great active and creative energy, and is put in its place in the flux of formed things (apas) carries with it certain definite significances (artha). These are determined by the elements through which it has passed. Shabda appears in the akasha, travels through vayu, the second element in which sparsha is the vibration; by the vibrations of sparsha, it creates in tejas, the third element, certain forms, and so arrives into being with these three characteristics, first, certain contactual vibrations, secondly, a particular kind of tejas or force, thirdly, a particular form. These determine the bhava or general sensation it creates in the mind and from that sensation develop its various precise meanings according to the form which it is used to create.

    https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/14/word-formation

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  4. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    St John 1 KJV

    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    2 The same was in the beginning with God.

    3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

    5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

    6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

    7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

    8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

    9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

    10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

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  5. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Levels of Speech (Vak)

    The Tantriks locate these forms of speech in different chakras. Speech may be internal or external, either may have the stamp of the same power. But if it is to be measured by withdrawal from externality, then Para ought to mean something of the causal realm beyond mind.***

    Pashyanti is evidently speech with the vision of Truth in it—Para is probably the revelatory and inspired speech. I am not certain about the exact nature of the others [Vaikhari and Madhyama].

    https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/tantra

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  6. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    The words which we use in our speech seem to be, if we look only at their external formation, mere physical sounds which a device of the mind has made to represent certain objects and ideas and perceptions,—a machinery nervous perhaps in origin, but developed for a constantly finer and more intricate use by the growing intelligence; but if we look at them in their inmost psychological and not solely at their more external aspect, we shall see that what constitutes speech and gives it its life and appeal and significance is a subtle conscious force which informs and is the soul of the body of sound: it is a superconscient Nature-Force raising its material out of our subconscience but growingly conscious in its operations in the human mind that develops itself in one fundamental way and yet variously in language. It is this Force, this Shakti to which the old Vedic thinkers gave the name of Vak, the goddess of creative Speech, and the Tantric psychists supposed that this Power acts in us through different subtle nervous centres on higher and higher levels of its force and that thus the word has a graduation of its expressive powers of truth and vision. One may accept as a clue of great utility this idea of different degrees of the force of speech, each separately characteristic and distinguishable, and recognise one of the grades of the Tantric classification, Pashyanti the seeing word, as the description of that degree of power to which the poetic mind is called to elevate itself and which is original and native to its manner of expression. The degree of word-force characteristic of prose speech avails ordinarily to distinguish and state things to the conceptual intelligence; the word of the poet sees and presents in its body and image to a subtle visual perception in the mind awakened by an inner rhythmic audition truth of soul and thought experience and truth of sense and life, the spiritual and living actuality of idea and object. The prosaist may bring to his aid more or less of the seeing power, the poet dilute his vision with intellectual observation and statement, but the fundamental difference remains that ordinary speech proceeds from and appeals to the conceiving intelligence while it is the seeing mind that is the master of poetic utterance.

    This seeing speech has itself, however, different grades of its power of vision and expression of vision. 

    https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/26/the-word-and-the-spirit

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  7. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    The Mother:

    The power [of the mantra] is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn’t even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced “yoga” for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light…. I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, “Well!” Then I didn’t give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration—there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.

    https://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/may-11-1963

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  8. Prithwindra MUKHERJEE Avatar
    Prithwindra MUKHERJEE

    Dear RYD,

    A simple fascination by the enthusiasm that guides your investigation in the realm of SAVITRI finds me unable to utter any comment. Tons of research are available in Indian texts:echoesof some of them have found their place here.

    In mute appreciation

    Prithwindra

    prithwin.mukherjee@gmail.com

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  9. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Sri Aurobindo writes to Amal Kiran about the Mantra: “… it is a word of power and light and comes from the Overmind inspiration or from some very high plane of Intuition. Its characteristics are a language that conveys infinitely more than the mere surface sense of the words seems to indicate, a rhythm that means even more than the language and is born out of the Infinite and disappears into it, and the power to convey not merely the mental, vital or physical contents or indications or values of the thing uttered, but its significance and figure is some fundamental and original consciousness which is behind all these and greater.” [The Secret Splendour, pp. 75-76]

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