The Winds of Wonder

Savitri’s Promises to the Madonnas

Savitri’s Promises to the Madonnas

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By

RY Deshpande

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5–7 minutes

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Savitri’s Promises to the Madonnas

Savitri was told to find her soul, house in it the supreme Power and conquer Death. She sets herself to do it. In the Inner Countries she meets some luminous gods. One tells her to follow the world’s winding highway to its source. There in the deep silence she shall see the Fire burning on the bare stone and the deep cavern of her secret soul. She does it and on the way amongst many meets her own three soul-forces. They tell her what they are in the vast cosmic working, and also hears the opposite voices claiming their right of opposition. But Savitri assures them that when she returns they will have the fulfilment of their arduous task.

To the first Madonna she assures that the world shall be free from the anger of the Beast, he a tortured Titan once a God, the Man of Sorrows:

“Madonna of suffering, Mother of grief divine,

Thou art a portion of my soul put forth

To bear the unbearable sorrow of the world. ||122.39||

Because thou art, men yield not to their doom,

But ask for happiness and strive with fate;

Because thou art, the wretched still can hope. ||122.40||

But thine is the power to solace, not to save. ||122.41||

One day I will return, a bringer of strength,

And make thee drink from the Eternal’s cup;

His streams of force shall triumph in thy limbs

And Wisdom’s calm control thy passionate heart. ||122.42||

Thy love shall be the bond of human kind,

Compassion the bright king of Nature’s acts:

Misery shall pass abolished from the earth;

The world shall be freed from the anger of the Beast,

From the cruelty of the Titan and his pain. ||122.43||

There shall be peace and joy for ever more.” ||122.44||

After assuring to the Madonna peace and joy she meets another, with a formidable smile curving round her lips, august on her seat in the inner world of Mind, the Madonna of Might:

“Madonna of might, Mother of works and force,

Thou art a portion of my soul put forth

To help mankind and help the travail of Time. ||123.55||

One day I will return, a bringer of light,

Then I will give to thee the mirror of God;

Thou shalt see self and world as by him they are seen

Reflected in the bright pool of thy soul. ||123.59||

Thy wisdom shall be vast as vast thy power. ||123.60||

Then hate shall dwell no more in human hearts,

And fear and weakness shall desert men’s lives,

The cry of the ego shall be hushed within,

Its lion roar that claims the world as food,

All shall be might and bliss and happy force.” ||123.61||

The last one Savitri meets is the Woman whose smile could persuade a dead lacerated heart to live again and feel the hands of calm:

“Madonna of light, Mother of joy and peace,

Thou art a portion of my self put forth

To raise the spirit to its forgotten heights

And wake the soul by touches of the heavens. ||124.67||

The mind of man will think it earth’s own gleam,

His spirit by spiritual ego sink,

Or his soul dream shut in sainthood’s brilliant cell

Where only a bright shadow of God can come:

His hunger for the eternal thou must nurse

And fill his yearning heart with heaven’s fire

And bring God down into his body and life. ||124.70||

One day I shall return, His hands in mine

And thou shalt see the face of the Absolute. ||124.71||

Then shall the holy marriage be achieved,

Then shall the divine family be born. ||124.72||

There shall be light and peace in all the worlds.” ||124.73||

For the first two Savitri says, “One day I will return, a bringer of strength” and “One day I will return, a bringer of light”. But her answer to the third is, “One day I shall return, His hands in mine”. Certainly there is something deep and significant in “I shall return” of the third and “I will return” of the first two. While “strength” and “light” are assured there is a certain provisionality in the last. The achievement of the “holy marriage” depends upon a crucial factor, Savitri winning a victory over Death, a “huge mask, black lie of night, covering the Eternal’s face”.

To Death the transcendental Savitri says:

But now, O timeless Mightiness, stand aside

And leave the path of my incarnate Force. ||147.23||

Relieve the radiant god from thy black mask;

Release the soul of the world called Satyavan

Freed from thy clutch of pain and ignorance

That he may stand master of life and fate,

Man’s representative in the house of God,

The mate of Wisdom and the spouse of Light,

The eternal bridegroom of the eternal bride.” ||147.24||

In the last assault Death understands his inevitable defeat; his body gets eaten by light, his spirit devoured. There is the transfiguration of his, he now presenting himself as a Tempter to Savitri:

Night the dim mask had grown a wonderful face. ||149.5||

He offers to Savitri the boon of she staying with her husband Satyavan in the Transcendent. But she is conscious and alert to the purpose of her incarnation on earth, of a divine life in a divine body here, more than immortal deathless with the power to change form depending upon the needs of consciousness. She wills, she demands it. And there is the Sanction of the Supreme, that this earthly life become the life divine. ||155.71|| That “one day” has arrived.

The long wait for “one day” has borne fruit, in the tremendous sacrifice made by Savitri, the secret longing in the soul of the earth has its realisation now:

Our life is a march to a victory never won. ||54.41||

Yet still to ourselves we say rekindling faith,

“Oh, surely one day he shall come to our cry,

One day he shall create our life anew

And utter the magic formula of peace

And bring perfection to the scheme of things. ||54.43||

One day he shall descend to life and earth,

Leaving the secrecy of the eternal doors,

Into a world that cries to him for help,

And bring the truth that sets the spirit free,

The joy that is the baptism of the soul,

The strength that is the outstretched arm of Love. ||54.44||

One day he shall lift his beauty’s dreadful veil,

Impose delight on the world’s beating heart

And bare his secret body of light and bliss.” ||54.45||

But now we strain to reach an unknown goal …

NB: Please also see the following.

Supramental Realm and Causal World — Ask AI Answers

6 responses to “Savitri’s Promises to the Madonnas”

  1. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    There is the unmistakable mathematical precision in the poetry of Savitri, everywhere, not only mot juste but also unity of consciousness and contents in all their coherences and harmonies. All the aspects are present at once in one single moment waiting only for expression and manifestation in the wonder of Time.

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  2. claudechamberland Avatar
    claudechamberland

    Deshpande-ji,

    Vous terminez en disant: “But now we strain to reach an unknown goal …”. IT IS NOT AN UNKNOWNED GOAL. Voici pourquoi:

    Les liens que vous invoquez entre ces différents passages de Savitri sont très intéressants. Cette rencontre avec les 3 Madonnes fait partie de ce qui marque le plus le lecteur de Savitri en première lecture. Pour quiconque souhaite se préparer au yoga intégral, il faut également y ajouter les liens entre Savitri et les expériences de Mère qu’on peut lire EN PARTIE dans les Agendas, surtout à partir de 1960. Ces liens sont souvent très clairs, fascinants, et font partie de cette cohérence et de cette précision mathématique de l’ensemble de l’oeuvre de nos Maîtres, que vous évoquez.

    Devant ces réalisations vertigineuses qui nous semblent inatteignables (“unknowed goal”), il nous reste ensuite comme apprentis-sadhaks à nous mettre en route. Comment le faire? Le message donné par Mère au Centre Sri Aurobindo de Montréal en donne un indice. Je me permets de le reproduire ici en entier:

    “Une conscience nouvelle est à l’oeuvre sur terre pour préparer la venue de l’être surhumain. Ouvrez-vous à cette conscience si vous aspirez à servir l’Oeuvre Divine. Pour pouvoir entrer en rapport avec cette nouvelle conscience, la condition essentielle est de ne plus avoir de désirs et d’être tout à fait sincère”.

    Ce message est entièrement écrit de la main de Mère et se trouve dans notre salle de méditation.

    Mère nous convie donc à “servir l’Oeuvre Divine”, à nous ouvrir à cette nouvelle conscience, à qui elle a donné naissance le 1er janvier 1969. Il s’agit d’une conscience “nouvelle”, accessible aux humains que nous sommes. Il ne nous est demandé à ce stade intermédiaire, qu’à nous ouvrir à cette conscience, ce qui ne peut se réaliser qu’à la condition double de ne plus avoir de désirs et d’être tout à fait sincère.

    Question de Satprem: “C’est quelque chose qui va imprégner les corps qui seront prêts?”

    Mère: “Oui, je crois oui. J’ai l’impression que c’est la formation qui va pénétrer et qui va s’exprimer-pénétrer et s’exprimer- dans les corps, ce qui sera les corps du supramental. Ou peut-être…peut-être le surhomme. je ne sais pas? L’intermédiaire entre les deux. Peut-être le surhomme: c’était très humain, mais un humain à proportions divines, n’est-ce pas. Un humain sans faiblesses et sans ombres: c’était tout lumière-tout lumière et souriant et…douceur en même temps. Oui, peut-être le surhomme ” (4 janvier 1969).

    Le “peut-être le surhomme” est très vite devenu une certitude:

    Mère: Et cette descente de la conscience du surhomme…est-ce que je t’ai dit que je l’avais identifiée après?

    Satprem: Quand tu parlais la dernière fois, tu l’avais identifiée.

    Mère: Oui, mais j’avais dit “la conscience supramentale”.

    Satprem: Après, tu as dit: “Peut-être le surhomme”.

    Mère: Oui, c’est cela. C’est la descente de la conscience du surhomme. J’en ai eu l’assurance après. (8 janvier 1969).

    Cette conscience est à l’oeuvre sur terre depuis ce temps…

    C’est ainsi que cette citation de Savitri est en train de s’accomplir:

    “One day he shall descend to life and earth,

    Leaving the secrecy of the eternal doors,

    Into a world that cries to him for help,

    And bring the truth that sets the spirit free,

    The joy that is the baptism of the soul,

    The strength that is the outstretched arm of Love. “

    Ouvrons-nous à cette conscience, elle est tout près, souriante, active et toute puissante.

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    1. RY Deshpande Avatar
      RY Deshpande

      Ouvrons-nous à cette conscience, elle est tout près, souriante, active et toute puissante.

      “Let us open ourselves to this consciousness, it is very close, smiling, active and all-powerful.” Certainly, so beautifully said, “smiling”. The work is going on. And we have to offer ourselves to it, for nothing is imposed on us, not even the transformation; there has to be that opening within us, a receptivity, conditions for the dynamism to be effective in us. Yet it does not cease to be working. Otherwise, what’s the gain? But she has done all that was necessary to be done. Which also means perhaps even in the absence of her physical presence the thing “decreed” is going to take charge of everything. But she is never absent, since the beginning of the earth, a “significant centre” of the creation.

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  3. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    Savitri has received the supreme Boon, of life divine on earth, and with that she is coming back to the earth with the soul of Satyavan held by her close to her breast, like a bird. But then something most wonderful happens, the divinest. Following her come Krishna and Kali, the Being of Bliss and the Lady of Action terrible in her movements. It is under their auspices that the “holy marriage” will be consecrated and a divine family be born, what the Rig Veda intuited, divyam janam. Let us aspire to be a part of that family.

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  4. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    This is a wonderful and hopeful text, dear Deshpande.
    But the timeline is indefinite … and we are suffering the dark madonnas right now very much. It is of course consoling to know that in 200 or 500 or 1000 years things will have changed to beauty and peace and ananda, and no more fights, ego, wars, falsehood, corruption … but what does it help us NOW where we are suffering all this and more ?

    With love, always,

    Tine

    Aurogreen

    Auroville-605101

    RYD: The pity is, we are lending ourselves to “suffering the dark madonnas”. Time will take care of things. It is necessary that we do not allow the impatient Titan to drive our heart, that we do not ask the imperfect fruit. (Bk III Canto IV) We have to describe all Time’s huge curve. ||89.51||

    Let not the impatient Titan drive thy heart,

    Ask not the imperfect fruit, the partial prize. ||89.66||

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  5. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    An email:

    Dear Prof. Dr. Deshpande-ji,

    The text on Savitri’s promise is very inspiring. However, the following thoughts of yours in the comment-section also drew my attention:

    “Following her come Krishna and Kali, the Being of Bliss and the Lady of Action terrible in her movements. It is under their auspices that the “holy marriage” will be consecrated and a divine family be born, what the Rig Veda intuited, divyam janam.”

    It would be very important, in my opinion, to make a text of its own from the above quote.

    Kind regards,

    Andraz

    Yes, Krishna-Kali theme in Savitri is very important. Indeed, that is precisely the raison d’être of the Epic. Let us see if one of these days it can be taken up. In the case of Sri Aurobindo it started happening right from the beginning of his spiritual pursuit, since 1908.

    Thanks.

    RYD

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