SABDA eNews 12/05

BOOKS serve to stimulate our intellectual capacities and often to touch our deeper feelings. While reading we can experience a widening of the mind, a new opening in the heart, or a moment of psychic recognition. Not all books achieve these possibilities, but such an aspiration is often present and can make the reading experience a vehicle for progress and growth of consciousness.

The new books introduced in this issue have a broad appeal. The first is a reverent look at the Service tree that spreads its branches over the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The recollections of sadhaks who have worked in some connection to the Service tree, the poems written in homage to its inspirational presence, the paintings and photographs that capture its varied beauty through the day and the changing seasons—all these come together in the book Homage to the Service Tree. On page 31 there is a short entry by Richard Pearson titled “Why the Tree was Planted” that captures the tone of the book:
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The Service tree with branches spread over the Samadhi

The “Salon” is the name given to that green-carpeted room we pass through after coming down from the Mother’s room, before proceeding to Sri Aurobindo’s room on the 21st February.

It is in that room that Sri Aurobindo worked during the thirties.

During those early days the Mother decided to plant a tree to give shade to the Lord as he wrote on hot afternoons with the sun coming in from the west. And it is to the flowers of this tree that she gave the doubly significant name: Service.

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The Service tree in full bloom

The next book is Savitri: The Golden Bridge, the Wonderful Fire, an introduction to Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem by the noted scholar and lecturer Mangesh V. Nadkarni. This series of articles was written for the e-journal Next Future and the author’s approach here is very similar to that of his well-attended study camps on Savitri. The aim is to give the reader a rounded experience of the poem: a basic understanding of its meaning and structure, a note on its context in relation to the legend from the Mahabharata, an exploration of themes consonant with Sri Aurobindo’s other major works, and a shared wonder at its poetic power and beauty. The series ended with the passing of Dr Nadkarni in 2007. The last installment published describes the first part of Book XI, Savitri’s plea that the divine boons offered to her be granted instead for earth and all the men and women living on it. Here is a passage from that article:

Unlike Yama in Vyasa’s Mahabharata story, the God of Death in Sri Aurobindo’s legend is the quintessential Adversary. His aim is to thwart Savitri’s enterprise. So, as we have seen, he keeps opposing Savitri with all his power and with all the intellectual resources he can muster. But he is finally vanquished by Savitri, and he disappears and his place is taken by the enchanting figure of the Supreme God. When arguments and persuasion fail to have any effect on Savitri, he tries to win her over to his side by offering these four boons we have discussed in this chapter.…In the Mahabharata story, it is Yama’s feeling that Savitri might go back satisfied with what he has to offer her as his boons. Besides, he genuinely likes her and admires her for her learning and her virtuousness and for her understanding of Dharma. He wouldn’t like to send her back empty-handed. But in Sri Aurobindo’s legend, these boons represent one last attempt to persuade Savitri to give up her commitment to earth and to bringing Divine perfection to it.

Chapters 48 and 49 are transcripts of talks given in 2002 and 2003 that summarise Books XI and XII and give a succinct overview of the entire poem, thus rounding off the introduction that Dr Nadkarni could not finish for the Next Future series.

The third book, Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo by Aparna Banerjee, is a collection of essays that bring into focus some of the important themes in the socio-political thought and philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. The author shows that Sri Aurobindo’s commitment to human freedom and his conviction of an inevitable human unity are consistently reflected in his writings on subjects such as the evolution of the human mind and the social and political structures that develop as part of that evolution, the emergence of the latent faculties in students as the primary focus of education, and the necessity of a radical transformation of man’s nature as the only way to solve his ethical conflicts and achieve progress towards a genuine human unity.

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