Page 17, Savitri (A Legend, Symbol, the Mantric Epic of Sri Aurobindo):
For this she had accepted mortal breath;
To wrestle with the Shadow she had come
And must confront the riddle of man’s birth
And life’s brief struggle in dumb Matter’s night.
Whether to bear with Ignorance and death
Or hew the ways of Immortality,
To win or lose the godlike game for man,
Was her soul’s issue thrown with Destiny’s dice.
But not to submit and suffer was she born;
To lead, to deliver was her glorious part.
- (Book 1 Canto 2 Painting No. 9)
Savitri is a missioned child. She has accepted a mortal birth in order to awaken Satyavan from his fallen state in soul-less materialism. To battle against his Doom she has accepted to become human. On the three lower planes of the terrestrial world she must face the mystery of man's birth and his struggle in the darkness of unconscious Matter. This is the central issue, as the very title of this canto, 'The issue' denotes. It is a choice she has to make - Either she has to axe a way out from the thick jungle of death into immortality or bear the ignorance and death of this world. She has to conquer death and show the way for humans to follow. It is a godlike game where her soul's destiny will be decided by a throw of the dice. Even worse, the game is not for her own sake but for the sake of the whole human race. Yet her very nature is that of a leader and ultimately a Saviour who refuses to suffer and surrender but gloriously fights till the very end sacrificing everything in that work.
From Symbol to concrete real world examples: Does that not remind us of 'The Mother' who took up the whole project of 'Auroville' at the very end of her lifetime or H. P. Blavatsky who refused to give up before completing her magnum opus "The Secret Doctrine" on her deathbed ? To quote regarding the battle of one of a theosophical pioneer to assist in Savitri's work of theosophical movement (from adyar archives and the book on Damodar by Sven Eek):
"In December 1884 a committee was formed at Adyar for receiving letters and teachings from the masters, but it collapsed before any teachings were transmitted. KH explained why:
The secret Committee ... was ready, when a few Europeans ... took upon themselves the authority of reversing the decision of the whole Council. They declined (though the reason they gave was another one) – to receive our instructions through Subba Row and Damodar, the latter of whom is hated by Messrs. L. Fox and Hartmann.
Hartmann later described Damodar as a ‘mental pigmy’ who ‘imagined himself to be the mouth-piece of an invisible power’. He believed that Damodar had sometimes imitated KH’s writing to give his own views greater authority. It appears that during the Coulomb crisis Damodar did in fact precipitate a very important ‘KH letter’ without KH’s consent.
Damodar’s health was seriously affected by all the troubles at headquarters and by overwork. He began to cough blood, a recurrence of his previously arrested tuberculosis. He obtained permission to go to his master’s ashram in Tibet, and left Adyar with Blavatsky’s blessing on 23 February 1885. According to Blavatsky, ‘Damodar was ready from his last birth to enter the highest PATH and suspected it. He had long been waiting for the expected permission to go to Tibet before the expiration of the 7 years [of probation] ...’ When he came to bid her farewell, he told her: ‘I go for your sake. If the Maha Chohan is satisfied with my services and devotion, He may permit me to vindicate you, by proving the Masters do exist.’ Blavatsky herself was in poor health at this time, and left India a month later, never to return."
Image: "She who leads" by Nicholas Roerich 1943 in public domain, painting of a Savitri (Helena Roerich).
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