SAVITRI IMMERSION WORKSHOP SERIES – 2012 The Mantric Poetry of Sri Aurobindo READINGS AND COMMENTARY BY ROD HEMSELL

YOGA SUTRA, YOGA MANTRA, YOGA TANTRA – PLACING SRI AUROBINDO’S SAVITRI IN THE TRADITIONS OF HINDU AND BUDDHIST YOGA

 The structure and process of Savitri belongs to the traditions of Tantric Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism, with deeper roots in Raja Yoga and Rig Veda, and as such it forms a central aspect of Sri Aurobindo’s synthesis of yoga. It provides a vehicle for the working of the Divine Shakti in us to transform consciousness.

What is being transmitted by Savitri is fundamentally not information for the mind. What Sri Aurobindo is trying to do is to transmit the force of truth from the highest planes of consciousness. At some point in our development and our ability to hear, we are no longer gathering information or interpreting anything, but we are in the presence of the goddess of illumined speech. She is invoked, becomes present, and fills one with the divine force. 

 Ultimately the purpose of the Vedic sacrifice of self-offering through Yoga, is the descent of the divine force, here and now, in the invocation. The magical aspect of Savitri is that this energy of transformation is brought to us through the mantric speech of Sri Aurobindo. This is the goal and the path of  Savitri. All the teachings and paths of Yoga are contained in this – knowledge, devotion, practice, service.