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Savitri Book 1: Canto Two, Racket of Modern Life

 Page 14, Savitri (A Legend, Symbol, the Mantric Epic of Sri Aurobindo):


A force of spare direct necessity
Reduced the heavy framework of man’s days
And his overburdening mass of outward needs
To a first thin strip of simple animal wants,
And the mighty wideness of the primitive earth
And the brooding multitude of patient trees
And the musing sapphire leisure of the sky
And the solemn weight of the slowly passing months
Had left in her deep room for thought and God.
There was her drama’s radiant prologue lived.



Sri Aurobindo continues portraying the wilderness of the forest where Savitri lived. A force of simplicity without any unneeded overload ensured only bare requirements were fulfilled. The daily bustle of a modern life of man, where much energy is spent in the burden of fulfilling outward needs was absent in that forest. The force reduced the requirements to bare needs of water, food and shelter. That left Savitri to absorb the peaceful aura of her natural surroundings. Patiently meditating trees growing on a grand wideness of pristine earth with its earthy scent (that fragrance of wet earth after rain...) underneath the azure of quiet retired deep blue skies and slow passing months one after the other. It was an ideal environment for Savitri to deeply contemplate on the Divine, an environment where she lived before her meeting with Satyavan.

A theosophical synthesis: Djwal Khul describes those lesser Savitris (disciples and initiates) that are now to carry out their work in modern material age in Discipleship in new age:  

"As has been said, the jungles of the Occident are of a different kind to those within the Eastern zone. They call for peace in turmoil; for power in fatigue; for persistence in spite of bad health; for understanding in spite of the clamour of Western life. Progress is, therefore, made in spite of, and not because of, existing conditions. For disciples, such as those I am now going to attempt to teach, there is no retiring from the world. There is no condition of physical peace and of quiet wherein the soul may be invoked and in which work—potent in results— may be achieved in the calm of silence and the rest of what the Hindu calls samadhi—complete detachment from the calls of the body and the emotions. The work has to go forward in clamour. The point of peace must be found in the midst of riot. Wisdom must be attained in the very midst of intellectual turmoil and the work of cooperation with the Hierarchy on the inner side of life must proceed amidst the devastating racket of modern life in the great cities. Such is your problem and such is my problem as I seek to aid you."

It also reminds us of Brother R, a senior initiate (of 4th Degree) of his ashram, who at times assisted Vicente Beltran Anglada living a modern life in the chaotic Indian cities of Delhi and Mumbai.  


Image: An illustrative scenic view of the Himalayan Mountains forest in Manali, HP, India (Shot credit: Sanket Barik) where Savitri lived providing her deep room for thought and God.






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