Summary on Savitri by Dr. M.P Pandit

Passing beyond the subtle physical realms, Aswapathy enters into the domains of Life. He travels in the vasts spreading before him, their horizons ever receding. There is no fixity anywhere, all is in a flux. There is no seeking for safety, but instead there is everywhere a spirit of adventure careless of fall and pain. Life seems to follow a course perceived by some intelligence within, now crawling low, now shooting up but always on the move. She goes through all moods—of grief, of exultation, of rapture—but is ever dissatisfied. She remembers and dreams of her lost happiness and beauty and vainly strives to attain them. Her aim is in one direction—the heaven of bliss, but her steps move towards another—the hell of grief and suffering.

As he advances, Aswapathy perceives realms of griefless life looming above the worlds of struggle and suffering below. They appear bright with the splendour of the gods unlike any the human mind has conceived. And yet they are not outside the reach of man. For deep in his being are states of beatitude which are of this immortal nature. And man does get glimpses of them at rare moments of inner experience.

Aswapathy is attracted to the Life-planes at the summits which melt into the vasts of the Self where the Finite blends with the Infinite and where Time fades into the Eternal.

Out of this Eternal and One the World-Force brings out the Many into Space and Time. The cosmic act proceeds out of and is upheld by the Eternal’s Quiet. The One supports the Many and the Creative Force is impelled and guided by the Spirit as Intelligence within. All creation is a play of the Being and his Force, of God and Nature. In this process there are ups and downs and on the plane of Life Aswapathy beholds both the higher worlds where Life holds sway in all her glory and the nether worlds where Life suffers fall, diminution and deformation.

In the realms above all is laughter and joy, wisdom and freedom. In the realms below all is struggle and strife, fear and sorrow. It is as if Life is enamoured of her opposite—Death—and sports with it. This attraction and taste for the opposites of experience on the part of the Life-Force has converted this creation into a passion-play of contraries.

In between are worlds that are not beyond the human reach. Something of the high purity and bliss from above is patent here; the breath of God is palpable on their heights. There is a strong aspiration here for the Divine Love and Bliss to descend and rule. The sense here is purer and fiercer than the earthly sense. Creation is nearer God, nearer His Beauty, here than on earth. All the clashing contraries on earth are seen as complementaries here. There is here no falsehood and therefore no weakness can thrive. They are kingdoms of joy, of beauty, of love. Knowledge is one with Power. Life. is a rapturous consort of the illumined Spirit. There is no care, no fatigue, no decay. Work is play and play the only work. The beings of these realms are ever young, splendid and conquering. Mind functions naturally, without the instrumentation of labouring thought. Thrills of joy and bliss course in this creation where all lives and moves in utter freedom but in a spontaneous order. There is no crookedness to reduce the force of truth. Nature here is self-guided and there is yet no shadow to obscure her vision in her creative Dance weaving the patterns of the rhythms of God.

Aswapathy feels attracted to this world of bliss but feels a gulf in between. For there is still in his nature some legacy of the darkness, the pain and sorrow he has undergone during life on earth. This vitiation prevents him from responding naturally to the higher joy and light. The contraries of joy and pain, light and darkness are still part of his nature. That indeed is the ingrained habit of life-nature on earth.

In the primitive beginnings of the earth-creation, there was no life, no mind, no sense. All was dead matter. Slowly there gathered an urge within for movement, for expression and the original harmony was disturbed. There was an awakening and a call went forth to Life to descend from her native plane above and activate the myriad forms into movement. Life heard the call and invaded the material kingdom in order to fill it with all her joy and power. There was a wider movement of joy and happiness and the glory of Life thrilled in the swiftness of the beauty of beasts. It became possible for man to appear and front the world with his thought and soul. But before Life could establish her full sway a dark Power of Nescience cast its shadow on the soul and imposed a purposeful ordeal on the Spirit that was manifesting through its Life-Power. Life underwent an arrestation of her dynamisms, a diminution and deformation of her natural beauty and bliss. Her immortality got veiled and, in her constricted movement, desire and struggle afflicted Life. Life turned into a purveyor of Death.