Summary on Savitri by Dr. M.P Pandit

Book Two Canto VI: The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Life

Escaping from the anarchic world of lower life, Aswapathy enters the realms of greater life. The world he first steps into is an ineffectual one where there is but an intermittent will to live and no direction at all. He arrives at an indefinite tract where hope dares to be but is uncertain in its tenure. Life is in a strange state; she dreams and imagines but does not actually create yet. Beings are attracted to take birth into life but hold back on the verge. It is a world of enchantment but there is neither base nor goal.

A greater creation follows. The will to life is manifested in a more substantial way. The inner Spirit impresses itself on the innumerable forms of life, there is a rhythm and beauty, a light and joy which—however incomplete—bespeak a greater glory beyond.

This realm exerts great influence upon the earth; the higher movements of life on earth are inspired from here. Here is the pattern to which human seeking points. An endless possibility is seen here climbing high on a ladder of dreams, from height to greater height. An energy is at work perpetually though its results are transient, putting out forms, larger and larger. She tries by every means to regain the Bliss she has lost in the course of her devolution from her source in the supreme Spirit, but she fails to attain it. Though thus unable to achieve her ends, she strives on and on because she is impelled to do so by the Will of the Creator active in her. Her mission is to manifest the Unmanifest, to express the Eternal in terms of Time. All purposeful work is indeed done behind the veil. With her limited means she strives, fails, attempts again; the will to live persists and the myriad creation is projected.

The greater Life is in pursuit of the Unseen, the Light beyond; she feels the Silence and the touch of the Grace from above. She is close to the heavens of the Gods, but also to the worlds of the demons. She hungers for expansion, for elevation, for perfection, and goes on creating for that end. She almost achieves her aim but falls short ultimately.

Thus does Life exert herself and create on every plane of existence irrespective of the failures she may meet in the course of her toil. In whatever condition, she is productive in her labour. Even when she is apparently immobile, she works beneath the surface. In the utmost obscurity of Matter, she is still active. There is an Intelligence in her that guides, a Will that goads through darkness, non-sentience and inertia to an irresistible creative movement. Gradually sense, mind, heart, soul come into formation and the world procession upborne by her assumes a meaning and direction. Life means to recapture her lost eternity.

Life moves into action for the delectation of her Purusha. By a hundred means she seeks to hold his interest but he turns to his native state of immutable and formless peace. He is fast asleep in her profounds; gradually she awakens him to consciousness. The world she builds is a net in which he is held.

She is moved by a Knowledge that works under the cloak of Ignorance; she has a might that does the incredible. On the lower levels her workings hide their purpose, on the higher altitudes they are undisguised in their operations. But still, her forms are only tokens; the Truth is not yet concretely built; what is constructed is only a copy, a figure.

This is the character of the world that opens before Aswapathy. It is lit by a Truth, but not the Truth manifest. There is a freer space and larger air; life is lived from a deeper level, not from the surface. Life is the leading power, with mind and body following her trail. The dimensions are cosmic and the self of each being embraces the universe. Each is growing larger and taller in consciousness, but there are also many who imprison themselves in the attained greatness.

This world lies on the border of our mortal state. It inspires all great movements in the world below on earth and sets the patterns for formations below. In this world of greater Life there is an open confrontation between the true and the false, the good and the evil, and one is forced to make a choice between the hosts. The balance of values is other than that of earth: the inner determines the outer. All derives from the truth within. Sense is no barrier. The mind, emotion and feeling of one are not divided from those of others, but commune and fuse into each other. There is a live interchange. Still the ultimate oneness is not there. A soul, if it so wishes, can shut itself from others. There is no real identity. The miracle of Inconscience has been indeed overpassed, but the miracle of Superconscience is still a mystery looming overhead. This is a kind of mid-term between the two mysteries—an ambiguous life in an uncertain world.

Aswapathy follows the trails of the greater Life. At first no aim is visible but only a wide source of all things, pointing to a still wider source. There is a stronger pull from the Unknown above, a mightier and vaster formation of the Life-Force. Yet much remains unrevealed. Aswapathy tries to scan the tangled design spread before him but loses himself repeatedly in the labyrinth of signs and patterns. A thousand faces of the Truth stare at him, voices speak to him, Ideas flash; he watches with amazement the appearance and disappearance of Life’s hopes and joys and passions. He takes his poise in the Silence on the heights and sees Life losing herself in Infinity. He identifies himself closely with her so that he might learn the secrets of her soul. He is overpowered by her splendour and display of skill. But he sees also her being within that is disappointed at her failure to seize the truth. The Divine Beloved is still beyond.

Aswapathy feels the presence of the Spirit in the forms built by Life, the Spirit from which she derives her strength. But he is unable to decipher the design in her vision, though he catches some hints at that high level of Life-existence. He follows her course towards some infinitude and reads her signs aright by intuitive flashes.

All is a play of Life and Spirit, a game of hide and seek, gain and loss. The Spirit hopes to possess Life, but loses himself in her manifold play. Hopes and disappointments, joys and griefs, punctuate her routes. With all the pain and tears, however, it is a joy to live: for there is a Will behind each life; God has created everything on purpose. This element at the core gives meaning to Life though she has wandered far away from her governing truth in her plunge down from her spiritual home.

To manifest the Divine Reality was the mission with which Life was charged. But her performance has lagged behind her objective. She is not permitted to cease from her labours and she must endure, strive and move on. Life and the soul within her have no respite from the march. Each goal points to the next. Behind all effort, there is a memory of the lost glory and beyond all failures, there is a Splendour that beckons. Life is perpetually in toil to realise her dream. There is an abiding faith that a time must come when the Divine will respond to her Call and manifest His Verities of Truth, Beauty, Love and Bliss in Life’s creations and restore her to her true immortal state.

Till then her labours must continue, however vain, however fruitless they may seem and though her world appear a pointless mistake of the gods.