In one of the Vedic Riks we have the description of
Rishi Agastya digging—remember ‘digging’ in Sri Aurobindo’s A God’s Labour written in 1935—into the
darkness of the Night, khananam as it
says; in the Aurobindonian terminology this would correspond to bottom-most
Subconsceint, even entering into the Inconscient. But the Rishi found it
difficult to deal with the physical nature. He could not bring light to it. His
body was afflicted with a triple poison, and it could not bear the sunlight. It
was like an unbaked clay-pot, atapta tanu.
Similarly, Rishi Vamadeva could live here in a divine body, divya tanu, only for sixteen years, live
here so in this mortal world, mŗtyuloka.
These ancient Rishis certainly knew the difficulties
and also what could bring about the physical transformation, the Mahar or
Supermind, but they did not know its full modus
operandi; they were not in its possession. The attainment of immortality in
the luminous worlds, or divya loka,
is one thing and its knowledge in mŗtyuloka
is another. Not enough or qualifying tapasya had been done in the physical; Sri
Aurobindo had to “consciously enter into death”—as Georges van Vrekhem puts it—before
a glimmer of hope would be seen. The aspect of dynamic immortality in the
physical is the work of the executive Force and unless her incarnation takes
place it cannot be accomplished. Though the intuition of her descent to bring
about materially the transformation was there,—and that is what the significant
legend of Savitri narrates,—the field, the necessary resplendent psycho-spiritual
support, ādhāra, for its universal
action was not yet ready during those early days. The eighteen-year arduous
yoga-tapasya of Aswapati was exactly for preparing the ground for her
transformative action. In that respect, we see the importance of the radical
step that was taken by Aswapati, representing Sri Aurobindo. In fact, what he
achieved, he achieved precisely because of Savitri, that is, the Mother in her
full executive splendour, she accompanying him. This was not so earlier in the
Vedic era, where the Vedic-Vedantic aspect was more prominent than the Shakti
or Tantric aspect. Cycles of evolution had to be silently worked out to arrive
at this point of time. The psychic being of the earth was being prepared for
her dynamism to set into operation.
Yet if we go into the deep past, we have certain clues about the attempts which
were made earlier, the Vedic attempts. In this respect we have a very
perceptive comment from David Frawley alias Vamadeva Shastri: “It seems that
the urge to transform the Earth consciousness was stronger in the earlier ages
of light. It fell away during the worst of Kali Yuga, when it was enough for a
few individuals to gain liberation and the collectivity was too caught in
tamas. As we move back towards the ages of light it is arising again. The Rig
Vedic Rishis were at the dawn of this cycle of civilisation and were mainly
concerned with setting forth the seeds of the upcoming culture, particularly on
a spiritual level, but also as the social order. It is hard to say whether
physical transformation as Sri Aurobindo envisioned it was part of their yoga
but we do have the tradition that many Rishis lived for long periods of time
(which could have been done by various methods occult, tantric, yogic,
ayurvedic). They seem to have included the idea of transforming physical matter
as part of their long-term aspiration for humanity, but they were also aware of
Asuric forces in the material world that are very difficult to overcome.” But
one wonders if the Vedic without the Tantric is adequate for the physical
transformation. In fact, there has to be psychic also, giving its immortality
to the material; the Mother's work was primarily concerned with it.
Vamadeva further adds: “The Rishis’ pursuit of physical and spiritual
rejuvenation is reflected in the Vedic knowledge of Soma. There were many types
of Somas both external (prepared with herbs) and internal (produced through
yogic practices like prāņāyāma) for rejuvenating body and mind and for gaining
immorality on various levels. The Bhrigus were particularly known for their
knowledge of rejuvenation. Even Brihaspati of the Angirasas sent his son Kacha
to gain this knowledge from Shukra of the Bhrigus. Yet it is hard to tell
whether the Rishis ever tried to, or were in a position to, create a naturally
Divine body such as Sri Aurobindo envisioned. This would require the most
powerful form of Soma. It would be, as it were, a body naturally made of pure
Soma, matter with the capacity of perpetually rejuvenating itself. Yet there is
no reason to think that they were not aware of the possibility, given their
pursuit of Soma on all levels. We could also describe this as bringing the Soma
of Mahar Loka into the genetic matrix of physical matter. Of course the Asuras
would try to prevent this as much as possible as this would mean the end of
them.”
But now with the descent of Mahar itself in the
earth-consciousness this cannot happen. Asuras are helpless against it. That
was the truth seen by Sri Aurobindo and he worked towards it and firmly
established it in the earth’s subtle-physical. Things now will happen in the
dynamism of the Truth-consciousness itself. Can
In this context we may also recall the great Vedic revelation in which we see
Yama and our illustrious forefathers having together an ambrosial drink under
Supalash Vriksha. The mention of supalāśa in the Rik is extraordinarily
striking, particularly in association with Yama whom we take as the God of
Death. The reference to a cluster of palāśa
trees, palāśa-khaņda, by Vyasa in his
Savitri-narrative lifts up that narrative itself to another level of symbolism,
it embodying in its richness a whole world of bright future possibilities. The
botanical name of this tree is Butea Frondosa, which is popularly known as the
Flame of the
That lends another meaning to the Savitri-legend itself. Savitri’s winning back
the soul of Satyavan from Yama therefore acquires another sense that points
towards this marvellous realisation. But in order that this should happen, the
dark sombre veil which has been worn by Yama must be removed. Radiant Savitri,
the daughter of the Sun-God, kanyā tejasvinī,
alone can do that. In fact Yama has put on a double veil, the veil of the
incorrigible Antagonist, and the veil of the luminous Inveigler. Behind him is
indeed present the loving Supreme himself. It was the removal of this double
veil, this double transformation which was accomplished by Savitri. Thus,
behind the darkness of this creation, she meets her bright father to receive
authentic boons of divine life upon earth. The yoga-tapasya of Aswapati has, in
consequence, borne the rich fruits of godly felicity.
The Flame of the Forest is a medium sized tree, growing
from 20 to 4O feet high, and the trunk is usually crooked and twisted with
irregular branches and rough, grey bark. It is seen in all its ugliness in
December and January when most of the leaves fall: but from January to March it truly becomes a tree of flame, a riot of
orange and vermilion flowers covering the entire crown. These flowers, which
are scentless, are massed along the ends of the stalks—dark velvety green like
the cup-shaped calices—and the brilliance of the stiff, bright flowers is shown
off to perfection by this deep, contrasting colour. Each flower consists of
five petals comprising one standard, two smaller wings and a very curved
beak-shaped keel. It is this keel which gives it the name of Parrot Tree.
