BOOK ONE
The Book of Beginnings

See Frame | View Outside Frame

BOOK ONE OVERVIEW:

[What follows is first an overview of Book One (of Part One), followed by detailed comments on the individual cantos. This approach is followed throughout this analysis-RP]

The Creator Spirit is Absent in the Creation
There is the Spirit, the Source of creation. But in creating a universe, it withdrew Its spiritual properties (of Delight, Knowledge, Oneness, etc.). Savitri arose to bring that Divinity of the Pure Existent into the world, into the lives of men. She will do this by overcoming the limitations that exist in life, including the essential Ignorance, division, duality, conflict, pain, etc. born of creation, through her inner, spiritual quest.

Savitri Arises to Bring Divinity to the Earth
Her Infinite Love of being is expressed through her Love for Satyavan. He however is doomed to die. She must overcome all of the ills of the earth to save him, including death itself. (Her love for him, and the threat of his death are the compulsion for Savitri to overcome the Darkness and limitations of life. Or to put it another way, the Divine person must bear the undivinity of the world to transform it.)

The King's Yogic Ascent, and Aspiration
Savitri's father King Aswapathy is a person who is going through his own willful conscious evolution -- i.e. yoga. Though he makes an initial effort to rise, he falls back in his efforts; but out of that he develops a new strength to rise again and go even higher. Thus, though there was difficulty in his ascent to higher consciousness, he develops an Equality of being that makes him more immune from the exigencies of the lower consciousness that wants to drag him down.

Aswapathy then  resumes his inner spiritual ascent, and experiences along the way a personal evolution culminating in Spiritual Transformation. Through that process, he comes to know his soul and true self within; he perceives the transcendent Spiritual reality, and feels the Force of the Divine Mother within himself. As a result, he comes to understand the deepest meaning and purpose of life, and begins to be released from the essential Ignorance and other limitations that weigh down our normal human consciousness. As a result, of his vast new awareness and experience, he aspires for the same for the world -- i.e. for the progress, evolution, and transformation of all of humanity. His daughter Savitri, has come to earth to fulfill the King's aspirations. However, she will need to do so by overcoming Satyavan's impending death.

(to be continued)

----------------

Additional Thoughts:

Symbolism of the Characters
We can say that King Aswapathy represents human aspiration for the realization of a divine life. Savitri, his daughter, and the eventual incarnation of the Divine Mother, is here to fulfill Aswapathy's and the world's aspiration for its own transformation and fulfillment. Satyavan can be said to represent the soul of the world and Man. Through Savitri's quest she will overcome the limitations of life, lift up the soul of the earth, as symbolized by the soul of Satyavan whom she loves.)

BOOK ONE DETAILS:

CANTO ONE

The Symbol Dawn

P.1+ 

(Top, "It was the hour ...")

It was the hour before the Gods awoke.

[Powerful and well-known opening lines of the poem.]

(Below lines above, "A fathomless zero ...")

The world is in a drowse, a void. It has forgotten its spiritual source; it is but a memory.

(Bottom)

But then a sliver of light enters.

-------------

P.4+ (Near top, "An instant's visitor ...")

Though the Spiritual power came, it withdrew thereafter because the earth could not hold it. Earth is then once again left with its ordinary existence.

-------------

P.6+ (New section, "And Savitri ...")

Amidst the ordinary, fleeting, transient life of the world, Savitri arose. Her spirit comes forward amidst the limiting human life of the earth to bring a reminder of the Divinity there once was.

[Perhaps we can say once was before creation, since the Spirit was really there as the Omnipresent Reality before the physical universe came into existence. The unconsciousness of the world really does begin with the creation of matter, or even before that in the inconscient energy and force that was enabled in the process of creation from the Omnipresent Reality on the way to creating the physical universe.]

-------------

P.7+ (New section, "Earth's grain ...")

Savitri brings Light to the Falsehood and Ignorance of the world.

-------------

P.8+ (Middle)

Savitri bears the secret of the pending doom of the death of Satyavan.

CANTO TWO

The Issue

P.11 (Top, "Awhile withdrawn ...")

Savitri's earliest years are described.

-------------

P.11 (Lower fifth, "An absolute ...")

A darkness even comes to one who comes near to the Divine, in order to move to a higher consciousness (as in the case of Savitri).

-------------

P.12

The endless process of generations and limitations of life is described. Savitri through the fate of Satyavan, must overcome these limiting aspects of life.

-------------

P.13

Savitri must overcome the normal Law of life; of karma, pain, etc. in order to prevent the death of Satyavan.

-------------

P.13 (lower fifth)

She kept the difficult knowledge of the potential death of Satyavan, and her quest to overcome it, to herself; held it close to her spirit within.

-------------

P.14 (lower fifth)

Savitri's spiritual nature is described.

-------------

P.17 (top)

The divine person must bear the undivinity in the world. It is the burden of being in this unfinished, incomplete (i.e. not fully evolved) world.

-------------

P.17 (middle)

The issue that this canto derives its name from is described.

-------------

P.20 (2/5ths down)

Connecting to the spiritual Force is described.

-------------

P.20 (Bottom, "He feels ...")

-The divinity in Savitri arose to meet the limits of life.

-She will become the Divine Mother on earth to overcome the limits of life.

CANTO THREE

The Yoga of the King:

The Yoga of the Soul's Release

P.22 + (Top, "A world's desire ...")

King Aswapathy's is the father of Savitri. The results of King Aswapathy's yoga is described in the ensuing pages. [These seem like Sri Aurobindo's own experiences and realizations, which they are of course are since he wrote this book out of his own yogic experiences and realizations. His own yoga is closely can be closely associated with that of the King.]

-------------

P.34 (Middle)

Here is described how the world, we cannot sustain the heights that the King has reached. There is thus a fall.

-------------

P.35 (Middle, "To the still heights ...")

Though there is a fall, the King is able to rise to an even higher plane of existence.

-------------

P.36 (Middle)

His spiritual presence and calm in the face of life's trouble is explained; i.e. his Equality of being.

-------------

P.36 (Lower fifth, "As a sculptor ...")

The overcoming of the essential Ignorance within him -- [that is actually in everyone] -- is described.

-------------

P.37 (Middle, "Even on the struggling ...")

[What is described in this area is something akin to the Spiritual Transformation of Sri Aurobindo's Triple Transformation.]

-------------

P.38 (New section, "Oft inspiration ...")

Her [the Divine Mother's] Force and Being enters the king.

[At this point Savitri has not come to know that she is the incarnation of the Divine Mother. She will later grow into that role.]

-------------

P.40

(Middle, "The balance ...")

-The reason and purpose of our existence is known to the King.

(Lower third, "In the immutable ...")

-He perceives the Real Ideas [i.e. the essential concepts that the Divine wishes to accomplish through creation] of the Absolute (i.e. the omnipresent Reality, Brahman).

-------------

P.44 (New section, "Thus came ...)

His release from the Ignorance is described.

-------------

P.44 (Lower fifth, "Apart he lived ...")

His aspiration for the overcoming of the limitations of life through the Divine action. [King Aswapathy essentially represents human aspiration for the realization of a divine life. We could posit that Sri Aurobindo aspired for the Spirit to descend into life. He spent his life calling down the Force. His answer came with the arrival of the Mother, who was/is the instrument of the (supramental) Force for those who aspire to bring on the next stage in human evolution. She later continued Sri Aurobindo's work by bringing down the Force into the earth's atmosphere (beginning in 1956). The King had the same experiences and aspiration, which begins to be fulfilled through the incarnation of the Divine Mother in Savitri.

CANTO FOUR

The Secret Knowledge

P.49 (New section)

Ordinary life seems without much purpose.

-------------

P.52 (Middle)

Yet there is a Divine Plan beyond life's strife and purposelessness.

-------------

P.52 (Bottom)

Our absorption in the outer existence [which prevents us from seeing the true unfolding, and meaning of life], and [thus] the need to move our center of consciousness within is described.

E.g. we see from the following quote that Sri Aurobindo is addressing the principle of inner-outer correspondence (and therefore the phenomenon of Life Response) here.

“Our outward happenings have their seed within,

And even this random Fate that imitates Chance,

This mass of unintelligible results,

Are the dumb graph of truths that work unseen:

The laws of the Unknown create the known.”

-------------

P.53 (Middle)

-The limits of living a mere outer existence; which causes us to be bound by Nature, by the past and future, is described.

-Not knowing one's fate and future [as a result of living in the outer existence] is described.

-------------

P.55 (Top 2/3)

Into this difficult world steals the Spirit.

-------------

P.57 (Lower 1/3)

How the immortal eyes sees our lives is described.

-------------

P.59 (1/3 down)

How the Infinite will come and overcome the limits of life is described.

-------------

P.60 (2/3 down, new section)

The Spirit in the Universe, i.e. Life that the Supreme created is described.

-------------

P.62 (Top third; from 'too wears ...')

The self-absorption (i.e. disappearance) of the Spirit in Creation/Life is described.

-------------

P.62 (Middle; from 'Although possessor ...')

The Divine Mother's action in life is described.

-------------

P.63 (New section)

The interaction between the King, who has embodied Spirit and Her, and the Divine Mother, who he surrenders to in life, is described.

-------------

P.66 (2/3 down; new section)

The Eternal has come into life, Man.

-------------

P.67 (1/5 down; 'The Absolute, the Perfect, ...')

Out of the Absolute comes life in the universe. Therefore, we can know how we can find the Spirit and Divine Nature there. [Since the world comes from, is an extension of the Absolute, which is Spirit in essence, the Spirit can be found in life as well.]

-------------

P.68 (Bottom third)

The King's symbolic "sea journeying" to the Infinite, the Supreme is described.

-------------

P.71 (Middle)

The King voyages into the deep of spirit, not knowing his goal or destination. [Again, these appear to be Sri Aurobindo's own direct experiences and realizations. The King is in essence the symbol of Sri Aurobindo's life.]

CANTO FIVE

The Yoga of the King:

The Yoga of the Spirit's Freedom and Greatness

P.74 (Lower third, new section)

The King's journey to the Within (the Soul) is described.

-------------

P.76 (Lower third, new section)

-The King's aspiration to bring the Divine into the world is reiterated.

-Life is lifted through the Divine power (as explained in these three pages).

-------------

P.79 (Middle 2/5th)

The experience of the silence within is described.

His opening to the Force is described.

He connected to the Transcendent Divine is described.

-------------

P.80 (Top)

The King ascends to meet the Infinite. [Note: The Infinite, the Supreme, the Divine, et al are interchangeable names for the ultimate Spiritual Reality, and Source of all things.]

-------------

P.80 (Bottom, new section)

The descent of Force into his being, and his newly experienced Nature is described. [Sri Aurobindo spent his days ascending to meet the supramental Force, and to bring it down into the earthly realm.]

-------------

P.84 (Top third)

The process of creation is described.

-------------

P.84 (Bottom)

The power of Mind to overcome Nature's slow and difficult ways is described. [Nature/Life normally progresses slowly, and through pain and suffering. Mind brings in a higher order that can enable progress with less pain and suffering. Ultimately spirit/soul connection will replace the slow and difficult methods of Nature.]

-------------

P.86 (Near top)

The Divine Mother is described once more.

-------------

P.89 (Lower two fifths)

The King came to see the link between the creation and the Ineffable.

The bringing of the Being into the Becoming; the finite into the infinite is described. [The goal in the evolution is to bring the spirit into the becomings of our daily lives, which will lead to perfection and divinization of life. It will also enable the infinite potentials of life to replace the current finites, limitations of life.]

-------------

P.91 (Last third)

The Knowledge beyond Ignorance is described. 

[In the evolved world there will be the moment to bring the Being into the Becoming, the Infinite where there is currently Finite, and the replacement of the essential Ignorance born of creation (which is limited, exclusive, false, error-prone), with the integral, many-sided knowledge of the truth of all aspects of life, whether the details of a given object, or the integral knowledge of how life works at all planes, or the knowledge of our true nature and purpose. Sri Aurobindo explains all of these Ignorances in The Life Divine in the chapter on the seven ignorances and the seven knowledges.]

-End of analysis of book one, The Book of Beginnings.

-To continue, click (book two) The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds (on the left).