The Post-Boon Aswapati by R.Y. Deshpande

Let us pose the following question: After receiving the Boon from the supreme Mother for a divine Daughter what was Yogi Aswapati busy with? The attempt is to discern from the details that are present in Savitri and the Mother’s Essential Agenda.

1

The story of Aswapati in Savitri does not end with his receiving the boon of a divine daughter from the supreme Mother. It continues even into the end, as the epic arrives at the following:

Numberless the stars swam on their shadowy field

Describing in the gloom the ways of light. ||159.4||

Then while they skirted yet the southward verge,

Lost in the halo of her musing brows

Night, splendid with the moon dreaming in heaven

In silver peace, possessed her luminous reign. ||159.5||

She brooded through her stillness on a thought

Deep-guarded by her mystic folds of light,

And in her bosom nursed a greater dawn. ||159.6||

His occult-yogically luminous continuing occupation has always been to nurse this greater dawn.

Aswapati’s intense yoga-tapasyā has won for him, more importantly for the soul of the earth, for the evolutionary creation, won from the supreme Mother, the executive Power of the Absolute, the divine boon of a radiant daughter who will change the death-haunted fate of this mortal world. She shall come and displace the cosmic law, the iron law, of death, transform it.

But after the birth of hers what does Aswapati himself do, with what is the tireless assiduous Yogi occupied? Would that mean that his yoga-tapasyā stopped after receiving the boon, he having no further objective in his soul? We shall try to see this in the rich but silent text as perhaps it could be discerned and presented.

Savitri has grown into full maidenhood, and must have a life’s partner to carry out the mission for which she has accepted the “mortal birth”. But as a boon of the Divine Mother incarnating herself here, so glowing is she, that no hero prince dares to approach her to claim her hand in marriage. Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata story tells that she is a radiant daughter, kanyātéjaswinī, कन्यातेजस्विनी, she of a divine form, dévarūpinī, देवरूपिनी. This becomes a matter of concern for her father, Yogi-King Aswapati. In Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri itself she is this, ready to descend:

A limitless Mind that can contain the world,

A sweet and violent heart of ardent calms

Moved by the passions of the gods shall come. ||91.5||

All mights and greatnesses shall join in her;

Beauty shall walk celestial on the earth,

Delight shall sleep in the cloud-net of her hair

And in her body as on his homing tree

Immortal Love shall beat his glorious wings. ||91.6||

A music of griefless things shall weave her charm;

The harps of the Perfect shall attune her voice,

The streams of Heaven shall murmur in her laugh,

Her lips shall be the honeycombs of God,

Her limbs his golden jars of ecstasy,

Her breasts the rapture-flowers of Paradise. ||91.7||

She shall bear Wisdom in her voiceless bosom,

Strength shall be with her like a conqueror’s sword

And from her eyes the Eternal’s bliss shall gaze. ||91.8||

And when she is born in answer to the “earth’s yearning” carried by Yogi Aswapati to the Divine Mother, she comes as a “greatness from our other countries” [||94.1||]; the poet says, “Once more that Will put on an earthly shape.” [||94.11||]

A lamp was lit, a sacred image made. ||94.2||

A spirit of its celestial source aware

Descended into earth’s imperfect mould … .||94.4||

Survivor of death and the aeonic years,

Once more with her fathomless heart she fronted Time.||94.5||

An invisible sunlight ran within her veins

And flooded her brain with heavenly brilliancies

That woke a wider sight than earth could know. ||94.34||

The body that held this greatness seemed almost

An image made of heaven’s transparent light. ||94.49||

And

At once she seemed to found a mightier race. ||94.18||

But

Only a few responded to her call:

Still fewer felt the screened divinity

And strove to mate its godhead with their own,

Approaching with some kinship to her heights. ||95.19||

She remains

A single lamp lit in perfection’s house,

A bright pure image in a priestless shrine,

Alone amid surrounding crowds she dwelt,

Apart in herself until her hour of fate. ||97.13||

Savitri is the image, idol, statue, mūrty, pratimā, in this priestless shrine, priestless because for her there is no votary as yet to worship her. He has yet to enter into it and offer to the image the flowers of adoration and wave the lamp of devotion, consecrate his all to her.

The poet had described earlier Savitri herself as a perfect shrine for the God of Love to live in it:

Here with the suddenness divine advents have,

Repeating the marvel of the first descent,

Changing to rapture the dull earthly round,

Love came to her hiding the shadow, Death. ||3.27||

Well might he find in her his perfect shrine. ||3.28||

Since first the earth-being’s heavenward growth began,

Through all the long ordeal of the race,

Never a rarer creature bore his shaft,

That burning test of the godhead in our parts,

A lightning from the heights on our abyss. ||3.29||

And in the Quest, as if the Lover himself is engaged in it,

A stranger on the sorrowful roads of Time,

Immortal under the yoke of death and fate,

A sacrificant of the bliss and pain of the spheres,

Love in the wilderness met Savitri. ||101.22||

If we take the last line only then, as an inversion, it could also be read like this: Savitri met Love in the wilderness: Love <— met Savitri; Love met —> Savitri.It is actually Savitri in her golden chariot, haimam-ratham, हैमंरथं,who is going from place to place in search of Love. But it must also go with “Love came to her hiding the shadow, Death.” [||3.27|| Love may never be aware of that shadow; it is Savitri who has to be made conscious of it. Narad does it and in the sequel initiates her into Yoga, the Yoga of Conquest of Death.

The sentence went through various drafts and printed versions as follows. The first two lines

A stranger on the sorrowful roads of Time,

Immortal under the yoke of death and fate,

have remained throughout unchanged. The third line however underwent changes as follows:

A hierophant of the bliss and pain of the spheres,

A sacrophant of the bliss and pain of the spheres,

A hierophant of the bliss and pain of the spheres,

A sacrificant of the bliss and pain of the spheres,

And the last line:

In Nature’s solitudes Love met Savithri.

In Nature’s solitudes Love met Sâvithrî.

In the green wilderness Love met Savitri.

In Nature’s solitudes Love met Sâvitrî.

Love in the wilderness met Savitri.

In any case, if Savitri is a “survivor of death and the aeonic years”,[||94.5||, so too must be her mate. She is the “survivor of death” because in this mortal world she continues to come again and again, it is to do the job she has undertaken in her “mortal birth”; she takes up again and again “her divine unfinished task”; there is a continuity of it in each life of hers. So is her lover’s. But now there is something extremely significant in this appearance of hers, to accomplish “her divine unfinished task” things have matured up for that to happen. There is going to break a morn that is “a new creation’s front”.

It is in that significance that the Yogi-father, Aswapati, awakes to the glorious stipulations that have come through the action and implementation in the working of the designed time.

A morn that seemed a new creation’s front,

Bringing a greater sunlight, happier skies,

Came, burdened with a beauty moved and strange

Out of the changeless origin of things. ||98.1||

An ancient longing struck again new roots. ||98.2||

This morn appearing as a new creation’s front is of course going to be universally terrestrial. But there also seems to be a kind of specificity for it being for Aswapati. No doubt it is Savitri who will be the bringer of a greater manifesting sunlight, of bright illumination not only in the realisation of the splendorous Knowledge but also the operative dynamics of the supreme Love. But here the reference is to Aswapati who has to specially attend to the epic greatness of the moment in the evolutionary history of the earth and its future. His word is going to be the most efficacious in the context. She has to be shown “the work for which her strength was born”, shown because she has entered into the mortal Ignorance, assumed mortality’s parameters. That prods the narrative, that Savitri must go ahead with the quest of a life’s partner, Aswapati prompting it, prompting with the efficacious occult-yogic force in it.

2

The Mahābhārata story of Savitri describes the episode as follows:

साविग्रहवतीवश्रीर्व्यवर्धतनृपात्मजा |

कालेनचापिसाकन्यायौवनस्थाबभूवह ||२५||

तांसुमध्यांपृथुश्रोणींप्रतिमांकाञ्चनीमिव |

प्राप्तेयंदेवकन्येतिदृष्ट्वासंमेनिरेजनाः ||२६||

तांतुपद्मपलाशाक्षींज्वलन्तीमिवतेजसा |

नकश्चिद्वरयामासतेजसाप्रतिवारितः ||२७||

अथोपोष्यशिरःस्नातादैवतामभिगम्यसा |

हुत्वाग्निंविधिवद्विप्रान्वाचयामासपर्वणि ||२८||

ततःसुमनसःशेषाःप्रतिगृह्यमहात्मनः |

पितुःसमhपमगमद्देवीश्रीरिवरूपिणी ||२९||

साभिवाद्यपितुःपादौशेषाःपूर्वंनिवेद्यच |

कृताञ्जलिर्वरारोहानृपतेःपार्श्वमास्थिता ||३०||

यौवनस्थांतुतांदृष्ट्वास्वांसुतांदेवरूपिणीम् |

अयाच्यमानांचवरैर्नृपतिर्दुःखितोभवत् ||३१||

इदंमेवचनंश्रुत्वाभर्तुरन्वेषणेत्वर |

देवतानांयथावाच्योनभवेयंतथाकुरु ||३६||

एवमुक्त्वादुहितरंतथावृद्धांश्चमन्त्रिणः |

व्यादिदेशानुयात्रंचगम्यतांचेत्यचोदयत ||३७||

साभिवाद्यपितुःपादौव्रीडितेवमनस्विनी |

पितुर्वचनमाज्ञायनिर्जगामाविचारितम् ||३८||

साहैमंरथमास्थायस्थविरैःसचिवैर्वृता |

तपोवनानिरम्याणिराजर्षीणांजगामअह ||३९||

The Princess grew like the goddess Fortune herself incarnate, fair and beautiful; then, in course of time she entered into youthful maidenhood. [25] With large hips and a slender waist graceful as she was, like a golden statue, people beholding her believed that some heavenly damsel had descended amidst them. [26] Her eyes were like full-blown lotuses and she seemed in her beauty to be flaming with splendour; indeed, warded off by that fiery brilliance, no one approached her asking for her hand. [27] Once, on a festive ceremonial day, she fasted and then took a holy bath from over her head and thereafter went to worship the god; there, with the chanting of the hymns of benediction by the wise ones, she offered ritual oblations to Agni. [28] Then, accepting the remains of offerings, for the great-souled one, well-pleased she, who looked graceful like goddess Lakshmi herself incarnate, went to her father. [29] First giving the prasāda to her father she touched his feet in obeisance; then, that beautiful maid stood, with her hands folded, close by the side of the King. [30] Seeing his daughter grown up and in full youth, and heavenly and effulgent in form, the King was very much distressed that none had yet come for her as a suitor. [31]He spoke to her: Listen and make speed abroad in search of a husband; do such this deed that by the gods I may not be put to blame. [36] Having thus spoken to his daughter, he then commanded his elderly ministers to make necessary preparations for the journey, and to proceed forthwith along with her. [37] Blushing somewhat, the high-minded daughter bowed at her father’s feet and, without a further thought, taking his words as an order, set out at once. [38] Riding her golden chariot and accompanied by the elderly counsellors, she travelled through several lovely woods of penance of the royal sages. [39]

That is a straightforward narrative of the life of Aswapati in framework and stipulation of a dhārmic conduct, of righteous living as we have in the original story: “Long ago in Madra there reigned a saintly king, devout and a follower of the dharma; he lived in the pious company of the Brahmins and of the great virtuous, and he was united with the truth, and had conquered the senses. Performer of Yajnas, presiding over charities, skilful in work, loved by the city-dwellers and by all the people of his kingdom, one who was absorbed in the welfare of everybody, there ruled the Sovereign of the Earth, named Aswapati. Of a forgiving nature, one whose speech was truth, and who had subdued the senses, though he was so he had no issue; with the advancing of age this increased his affliction greatly.”

After getting the boon of a daughter from the Divine Savitri there is this continuity of life of Aswapati based on the principles of Dharma. Indeed, it is in the greatness of Dharma, of truth-right conduct does Savitri argue with Yama the God of Death who has seized the soul of her husband Satyavan, he dying exactly one year after the marriage. “Those endowed with nobility honour and serve the dharmic practices of eternal value; in that they strive for the supreme good of one another, and at each other do not look otherwise.By the Truth the saints lead the sun; by askesis the saints uphold the earth; the past, present and future find their refuge in the saints.” That is the efficacy maintained by the Dharma in the conduct of life and Aswapati is its steadfast follower, both in asking for a boon from Divine Savitri and in the rule of the kingdom.

That takes us straight to a question apropos of Aswapati in Savitri given to us by Sri Aurobindo: After getting a boon from the supreme Mother for a divine daughter what was the Yogi Aswapati busy with? She has now grown up to the marriageable age, of 18-20 years, and what was he engaged with? His compelling plea to her, to the radiant fountain of the world’s delight, was to incarnate the white passion of her force, to mission to earth some living form of hers:

Immortal, treading the earth with mortal feet

All heaven’s beauty crowd in earthly limbs! ||90.39||

He wanted her with one gesture to change all future time, with one great act to unlock the doors of Fate. And the boon is, this shall be: “One shall descend and break the iron Law.” He returns to his palace. The mortal stir receives him in its midst. With it a mighty action’s blaze has come and things will be done in its growing mightiness. The flame-child has been conceived and has taken birth in the earth’s mortality.

Across the light of fast-receding planes

That fled from him as from a falling star

Compelled to fill his human house in Time

His soul drew back into the speed and noise

Of the vast business of created things. ||92.8||

The Yogi has to now attend to the needs and demands of the business of the created things, the nitty-gritty of daily life with its aspirations and expectations in the nobility of living actions.

A chariot of the marvels of the heavens

Broad-based to bear the gods on fiery wheels,

Flaming he swept through the spiritual gates. ||92.9||

The meeting with the supreme Mother was on the Unknowable’s borders, at the threshold Mind, and even as she withdraws into her far-off abode, does Aswapati the Yogi par excellence come back to be in his palace in Madra on the banks of Alacananda.

The mortal stir received him in its midst. ||92.10||

There is an applauding gladness in the reception he gets back home, that the “mortal stir” will carry in it’s the elements of immortal movements.

Once more he moved amid material scenes,

Lifted by intimations from the heights

And twixt the pauses of the building brain

Touched by the thoughts that skim the fathomless surge

Of Nature and wing back to hidden shores. ||92.11||

“Once more” — he has been the ruler of Madra kingdom and, in the Mahābhārata, after the long yoga-tapasyā of eighteen years in a forest he is back to resume his duties as the sovereign of the land; he is moving amid material scenes, the routine quotidian tasks of governance. But even while active in the thousand issues of the day he does receive intimations from the higher source of knowledge and power, the fathomless surge of Nature. His is a silence listening to the cry of life seeing the crowd of moments streaming towards a greatness that has to be in time.

The eternal seeker in the aeonic field

Besieged by the intolerant press of hours

Again was strong for great swift-footed deeds. ||92.12||

What are the swift-footed deeds that concern him, do occupy him? These are human activities, to prepare the mass which is not ready for the mighty paces by which time will be moving.

Awake beneath the ignorant vault of Night,

He saw the unnumbered people of the stars

And heard the questioning of the unsatisfied flood

And toiled with the form-maker, measuring Mind. ||92.13||

The greatest problem of humanity is the measuring mind. While at one stage in the evolution its appearance is a desirable necessity, to put brakes on the wilderness of life’s enthusiasm and vivacity, its licentiousness, but now it is coming in the way of the intuitive age into which the humanity must first step in, to proclaim the arrival of post-human destinies.

A wanderer from the occult invisible suns

Accomplishing the fate of transient things,

A god in the figure of the arisen beast,

He raised his brow of conquest to the heavens

Establishing the empire of the soul

On Matter and its bounded universe

As on a solid rock in infinite seas. ||92.14||

To accomplish the fate of transient things, — that’s the thing. Only one who is a wanderer from the occult invisible suns can have that kind of entitlement to pursue those objectives. Aswapati is committed to it every living breath of his, and even otherwise everything of his, is to attain, to realise the loftiest will in the greatness and nobility towards which this creation has to move.

The Lord of Life resumed his mighty rounds

In the scant field of the ambiguous globe. ||92.15||

This accomplishment of the fate of transient things, of the mortal, is much deeper than the Gita’s lokasaṅgraha. Sri Aurobindo writes about it in the Essays on the Gita:

The liberated lives in the life of humanity, lives for the one Self in humanity, for God in all beings, acts for lokasaṅgraha, for the maintaining of all in their Dharma and the Dharma, for the maintenance of their growth in all its stages and in all its paths towards the Divine.

https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/19/the-divine-birth-and-divine-works

3

Only one who is the Lord of Life can accomplish the fate of transient things. Aswapati has become the Lord of Life, justifying his name अश्वपति, ashwa-pati, ashwa, horse, life-force, pati, lord, master. He is engaged in the welfare of every being, सर्वभूतहितेरतः, accomplishing the fate of transient things. What is the real essence of the welfare of every being, of सर्वभूतहितेरतः? In the ultimate reckoning, in the evolutionary reckoning it is the arrival of a new race, the intermediate race preparing for the gnostic or supramental race.

In the ardency and intensity of yoga-tapasyā of the Yogi has the flame-child taken birth in the earth’s mortality. It is she who will remove the foreboding mind of Night standing across the path of the divine Event. But it is also a part of the Yogi’s pledge and commitment to the mortal lot that the flame-child, the growing flame, is kindled, is brought up to be occult-yogically good enough for the missioned task.It is a kind of supernatural necessity, an esoteric dharma, the righteousness that the infant develops with the indispensable preparatory capacities. So also are all actions in her life. The occult-yogic basis, the support, ādhāra, is the continuing yoga-tapasyā of the Lord of Life. And that is present till the divine boon of life divine in mortal forms, of “earthly life becoming the life divine” is realised. Aswapati is most actively present during Savitri’s battle with Death, even when, transfigured, he offers the temptation of a heavenly life with her husband in the transcendental realm which she at once dismisses. She says:

Thy embrace which rends the living knot of pain,

Thy joy, O Lord, in which all creatures breathe,

Thy magic flowing waters of deep love,

Thy sweetness give to me for earth and men. ||153.51||

That is Yogi Aswapati dynamically rewarded, fulfilled, applauded. It is indeed she who brings that preciousness to the divine Incarnate, and he waits for that to happen, to be achieved.

Let us in the meanwhile scan the passage we are seeing here:

A+cross| the light| of fast|-re+ced|+ing planes|

That fled| from him| as from| a fall|+ing star|

Com+pelled| to fill| his hu|+man house| in Time|

His soul| drew back| in+to| the speed| and noise|

Of the| vast bus|+i+ness| of cre+at|+ed things.| 92.8

A char|+i+ot| of the mar|+vels of| the heav+ens|

Broad-based| to bear| the gods| on fier|+y wheels,|

Flam+ing| he swept| through the spir|+it+u|+al gates.| 92.9

The mor|+tal stir| re+ceived| him in| its midst.| 92.10

Once more| he moved| a+mid| ma+te|+ri+al scenes,|

Lift+ed| by in|+ti+ma|+tions from| the heights|

And twixt| the paus|+es of| the build|+ing brain|

Touched by| the thoughts| that skim| the fath|+om+less surge|

Of Na|+ture and| wing back| to hid|+den shores.| 92.11

The e+ter|+nal see|+ker in| the ae|+onic field|

Be+sieged| by the| in+tol|+er+ant press| of hours|

A+gain| was strong| for great| swift-foot|+ed deeds.| 92.12

A+wakebe+neath the ig+no+rant vault of Night,

He saw the un+num+beredpeo+ple of the stars

And heard the ques+tion+ing of the un+sat+is+fied flood

And toiled| with the| form-mak|+er, meas|+ur+ing Mind.| 92.13

A wan|+der+er| from the oc|+cult in+vis|+i+ble suns|

Ac+com|+plish+ing| the fate| of tran|+si+ent things,|

A god| in the fig|+ure of| the a+ris|+en beast,|

He raised| his brow| of con|+quest to| the heav+ens|

Es+tab|+lish+ing| the em|+pire of| the soul|

On Mat|+ter and| its bound|+ed u|+ni+verse|

As on| a sol|+id rock| in in|+fi+nite seas.| 92.14

The Lord| of Life| re+sumed| his might|+y rounds|

In the| scant field| of the| am+big|+u+ous globe.| 92.15

The last line is sheer beauty with a spondee sandwiched between two pyrrhics in the beginning and expanding into iamb-anapæst in the end. While the silent work of the Yogi in the “vast business of created things” continues to be carried out, he sees in the entry of Savitri into her glowing gorgeous maidenhood signs of the arrival of the creation’s new dawn; there will be the arrival of a greater sunlight that never was here. Because of the blaze of Savitri’s beauty a new sight seems to have come to the exceptional Yogi.

A morn that seemed a new creation’s front,

Bringing a greater sunlight, happier skies,

Came, burdened with a beauty moved and strange

Out of the changeless origin of things. ||98.1||

This is true for both Aswapati and Savitri, and more significantly of course for the earth too. The “vast business of created things” has, without missing any intermediary stages, leap-frogged into the most marvellous. Aswapati gets “intimations from the heights”:

He heard the voice repressed of unborn Powers

Murmuring behind the luminous bars of Time. ||98.5||

The cause for this new sudden experience of the Yogi is the dazzle and the original divine beauty of the incarnate Savitri, a beauty now on earth. A new sight has opened out in him.

King Aswapathy listened through the ray

To other sounds than meet the sense-formed ear. ||98.4||

He heard the voice repressed of unborn Powers

Murmuring behind the luminous bars of Time. ||98.5||

Again the mighty yearning raised its flame

That asks a perfect life on earth for men …

And Truth embodied in an ignorant world

And godhead divinising mortal forms. ||98.6||

A word that leaped from some far sky of thought,

Admitted by the cowled receiving scribe

Traversed the echoing passages of his brain

And left its stamp on the recording cells. ||98.7||

That is the magic of the incarnate beauty; the Yogi is seeing it perhaps for the first time in this earthly greatness. He has an extraordinary realisation, of the divine beauty in the physical.

Awaked from the close spell of daily use

That hides soul-truth with the outward form’s disguise,

He saw through the familiar cherished limbs

The great and unknown spirit born his child. ||98.39||

That is the greatest reward Aswapati has now received as a result of his silent yoga-tapasyā in the “vast business of created things.” His word has power to mould destiny in its truthfulness.

As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear,

Its message enters stirring the blind brain

And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;

The hearer understands a form of words

And, musing on the index thought it holds,

He strives to read it with the labouring mind,

But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth:

Then, falling silent in himself to know

He meets the deeper listening of his soul:

The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains:

Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self

Are seized unalterably and he endures

An ecstasy and an immortal change;

He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power,

All knowledge rushes on him like a sea:

Transmuted by the white spiritual ray

He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm,

Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech:

An equal greatness in her life was sown. ||98.58||

Let us scan these marvellous lines, imperative in their utterance:

As when| the man|+tra sinks| in Yo|+ga’s ear,|

Its mes|+sage en|+ters stir|+ring the| blind brain|

And keeps| in the| dim ig|+no+rant cells| its sound;|

The hear|er un|+der+stands| a form| of words|

And, mus|+ing on| the in|+dex thought| it holds,|

He strives| to read| it with| the la|+bour+ing mind,|

But finds| bright hints,| not the| em+bod|+ied truth:|

Then, fall|+ingsi|+lent in| him+self| to know|

He meets| the deep|+er lis|+ten+ing| of his soul:|

The Word| re+peats| it+self| in rhyth|+mic strains:|

Thought, vi|+sion, feel|+ing, sense,| the bod|+y’s self|

Are seized| un+al|+ter+a|+bly and| he en+dures|

An ec|+sta+sy| and an| im+mor|+tal change;|

He feels| a Wide|+ness and| be+comes| a Pow+er,|

All know|+ledge rush|+es on| him like| a sea😐

Trans+mut|+ed by| the white| spir+it|+u+al ray|

He walks| in na|+ked heav|+ens of joy| and calm,|

Sees the| God-face| and hears| tran+scend|+ent speech:|

An e|+qual great|+ness in| her life| was sown.| 98.58

In fact these can be recited in the ghana-style as follows, repetitive iteration of phrases and lines carrying more the power of sound than the sense, volumes of sound holding the substance:

As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear, | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear, | As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear, | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear, | As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear, | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | [1]

Its message enters stirring the blind brain | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;| And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;| Its message enters stirring the blind brain | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;| The hearer understands a form of words | The hearer understands a form of words | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | Its message enters stirring the blind brain | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | The hearer understands a form of words | [2]

And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | The hearer understands a form of words | The hearer understands a form of words | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | The hearer understands a form of words | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | The hearer understands a form of words | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; | The hearer understands a form of words | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | [3]

The hearer understands a form of words | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | The hearer understands a form of words | The hearer understands a form of words | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | The hearer understands a form of words | The hearer understands a form of words | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | [4]

And, musing on the index thought it holds, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind,| And, musing on the index thought it holds, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | And, musing on the index thought it holds, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | [5]

He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | Then, falling silent in himself to know | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | He strives to read it with the labouring mind, | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | [6]

But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | Then, falling silent in himself to know | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | [7]

Then, falling silent in himself to know | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | Then, falling silent in himself to know | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | Then, falling silent in himself to know | Then, falling silent in himself to know | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | [8]

He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | He meets the deeper listening of his soul: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | [9]

The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Are seized unalterably and he endures | [10]

Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Are seized unalterably and he endures | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self |Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self | Are seized unalterably and he endures | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | [11]

Are seized unalterably and he endures | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Are seized unalterably and he endures | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | Are seized unalterably and he endures | Are seized unalterably and he endures | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | [12]

An ecstasy and an immortal change; | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | An ecstasy and an immortal change; | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | [13]

He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | [14]

All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | [15]

Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | Transmuted by the white spiritual ray | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: [16]

He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. |[17]

He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | [18]

He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, | Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: | An equal greatness in her life was sown. | [19]

4

About the power of Mantra the Mother says:

Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation [Ashram Playground on 29April 1958]. … I suddenly heard a distinct voice, coming from my right, say ‘OM,’ like that. And then a second time, ‘OM.’ What an impact it had upon me!

https://incarnateword.in/agenda/01/may-11-1958

… we can say that the active power of words comes from three different causes.The first two lie in the word itself, which has become a battery of forces. The third lies in the fact of living integrally the deep thought expressed by the word when we pronounce it.Naturally, if these three causes of effectiveness are combined, the power of the word is considerably enhanced.

1) There are certain words whose resonance in the physical world is the perfect vibratory materialisation of the more subtle vibration produced by the thought in its own domain.2) There are other words which have been repeated in certain circumstances for hundreds of years and which are instinct with the mental forces of all those who have pronounced them. They are true batteries of energy.3) Finally, there are words which assume an immediate value when they are pronounced, as a result of the living thought of the one who pronounces them.

… here is a very powerful word, for it can combine the qualities of all three categories: it is the Sanskrit word “AUM”.More than any other sound, this sound “AUM” gives rise to a feeling of peace, of serenity, of eternity.

In China, a similar effect is obtained with a word of identical meaning and somewhat similar sound, the word “TAO”. Our western languages are less expressive; in their present form, they are too far removed from the root language which gave birth to them. But we can always animate a word by the power of our living and active thought.

https://incarnateword.in/cwm/02/18-june-1912

The power [of the mantra] is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn’t even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced “yoga” for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light…. I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, “Well!” Then I didn’t give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration—there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.

https://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/may-11-1963

The luminous weighty commanding Mantra has sunk in the soul of Savitri and in her golden chariot, haimam-ratham, हैमंरथं, she is set to explore the wide world. “The world-ways opened before Savitri.” ||99.1||The beauty is, in this world full of anguish, unknown somewhere in the deep emerald setting gifted does love exist. That glowingly speaks of Aswapati’s ceaseless yoga-tapasyā gathering more and more power in the dynamics of creation’s futureward march. It is as though a bodiless will has acquired the diamond-lustrous solidity of will of the divine body. Salutations to the exceptional Yogi. The world-ways lead her to the discovery of love. That love has to become here divinely death-free. The divine work has to triumphantly continue.

5

Here are some relevant and revealing disclosures from the Mother:

Between the beings of the supramental world and men, almost the same separation exists as between men and animals. Some time ago I had the experience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do not understand us; their consciousness is so constructed that we elude them almost entirely. …

The experience I had on the third of February is a proof of this. Before that I had had an individual subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on the third of February I moved in it concretely, as concretely as I once used to walk in Paris, in a world that exists in itself, outside all subjectivity.

It is like a bridge being thrown between the two worlds. Here is the experience as I dictated it immediately afterwards:

(Silence)

The supramental world exists permanently and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had the proof of this even today when my earth-consciousness went there and remained there consciously between two and three o’clock in the afternoon. Now, I know that what is lacking for the two worlds to unite in a constant and conscious relation, is an intermediate zone between the physical world as it is and the supramental world as it is. This zone remains to be built, both in the individual consciousness and the objective world, and it is being built. When I used to speak of the new world which is being created, it was of this intermediary zone that I was speaking. And similarly, when I am on this side, that is, in the field of the physical consciousness, and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly penetrating matter, it is the construction of this zone which I see and in which I participate.

I was on a huge boat which was a symbolic representation of the place where this work is going on. This boat, as large as a city, is fully organised, and it had certainly already been functioning for some time, for its organisation was complete. It is the place where people who are destined for the supramental life are trained. These people—or at least a part of their being—had already undergone a supramental transformation, for the boat itself and everything on board was neither material nor subtle-physical nor vital nor mental—it was a supramental substance. This substance was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance which is closest to the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a mixture of gold and red, forming a uniform substance of a luminous orange. Everything was like that—the light was like that, the people were like that—everything had that colour, although with various shades which made it possible to distinguish things from each other. The general impression was of a world without shadows; there were shades but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything went on regularly and in silence. And at the same time one could see all the details of an education, a training in all fields, by which the people on board were being prepared.

This immense ship had just reached the shore of the supramental world and a first group of people who were destined to become the future inhabitants of this supramental world were to disembark. Everything had been arranged for this first landing. At the wharf several very tall beings were posted. They were not human beings, they had never been men before. Nor were they the permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of the whole thing from the beginning and all the time. I had prepared all the groups myself. I stood on the boat at the head of the gangway, calling the groups one by one and sending them down to the shore. The tall beings who were posted there were inspecting, so to say, those who were landing, authorising those who were ready and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training on board the ship. While I was there looking at everybody, the part of my consciousness which came from here became extremely interested; it wanted to see and recognise all the people, see how they had changed and check which ones were taken immediately and which ones had to remain to continue their training. After a while, as I stood there observing, I began to feel that I was being pulled back so that my body might wake up—a consciousness or a person here—and in my consciousness I protested, “No, no, not yet, not yet! I want to see the people!” I was seeing and noting everything with intense interest…. Things continued in this way until suddenly the clock here began to strike three, and this brought me back violently. There was a sensation of suddenly falling into my body. I came back with a shock because I had been called back very suddenly, but with all my memory. I remained quiet, without moving, until I could recollect the whole experience and keep it.

On the boat the nature of objects was not the one we know on earth; for instance, clothes were not made of cloth and what looked like cloth was not manufactured: it formed a part of the body, it was made of the same substance which took different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it took place, not by any artificial and external means but by an inner operation, an operation of consciousness which gave form or appearance to the substance. Life created its own forms. There was one single substance in everything; it changed the quality of its vibration according to need and use.

Those who were sent back for fresh training were not of a uniform colour, it was as if their body had greyish, opaque patches of a substance resembling earthly substance; they were dull, as if they had not been entirely permeated with light, not transformed. They were not like that everywhere, only in places.

The tall beings on the shore were not of the same colour, at least they did not have that orange tint; they were paler, more transparent. Except for one part of their body, one could only see the outline of their form. They were very tall, they seemed not to have any bones and could take any form according to their need. Only from the waist down had they a permanent density, which was not perceptible in the rest of their body. Their colour was much lighter, with very little red, it was more golden or even white. The parts of whitish light were translucent; they were not positively transparent but less dense, more subtle than the orange substance.

When I was called back and while I was saying “Not yet”, each time I had a brief glimpse of myself, that is, of my form in the supramental world. I was a mixture of the tall beings and the beings aboard the ship. My upper part, particularly the head, was only a silhouette whose contents were white with an orange fringe. Going down towards the feet, the colour became more like that of the people on the boat, that is, orange; going upwards, it was more translucent and white and the red grew less. The head was only a silhouette with a sun shining within it; rays of light came from it which were the action of the will.

As for the people I saw on board the ship, I recognised them all. Some were from here, from the Ashram, some came from elsewhere, but I know them too. I saw everybody but as I knew that I would not remember them all when I returned, I decided not to give any names. Besides, it is not necessary. Three or four faces were very clearly visible, and when I saw them, I understood the feeling I had here on earth when looking into their eyes: there was such an extraordinary joy…. People were mostly young, there were very few children and they were about fourteen or fifteen, certainly not below ten or twelve—I did not remain long enough to see all the details. There weren’t any very old people, apart from a few exceptions. Most of the people who went ashore were middle-aged, except a few. Already, before this experience, some individual cases had been examined several times at a place where people capable of being supramentalised were examined; I had a few surprises and noted them; I even told some people about it. But the ones whom I put ashore today, I saw very distinctly; they were middle-aged, neither young children nor old people, apart from a few rare exceptions, and that corresponded fairly well with what I expected. I decided not to say anything, not to give any names. As I did not remain until the end, it was not possible for me to get an exact picture; the picture was not absolutely clear or complete. I do not want to say things to some and not to others.

What I can say is that the point of view, the judgment, was based exclusively on the substance of which the people were made, that is, whether they belonged completely to the supramental world, whether they were made of that very special substance. The standpoint taken is neither moral nor psychological. It is probable that the substance their bodies were made of was the result of an inner law or inner movement which at that time was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.

When I came back, simultaneously with the recollection of the experience I knew that the supramental world is permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that only a missing link was necessary for the connection to be made in the consciousness and the substance, and it is this link which is now being forged. I had the impression—an impression which remained for quite a long time, almost a whole day—of an extreme relativity—no, not exactly that: the impression that the relation between this world and the other completely changed the standpoint from which things should be evaluated or appraised. This standpoint had nothing mental about it and it gave a strange inner feeling that lots of things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended on the capacity of things, on their aptitude in expressing the supramental world or being in relation with it. It was so completely different, sometimes even altogether contrary to our ordinary appraisal. I recollect one little thing which we usually consider to be bad; how strange it was to see that in truth it was something excellent! And other things we consider to be important have in fact absolutely no importance at all: whether a thing is like this or like that is not at all important. What is very obvious is that our appraisal of what is divine or undivine is not right. I even laughed to see certain things…. Our usual feeling of what is anti-divine seems artificial, seems based on something that’s not true, not living—besides, what we call life here did not seem living to me compared with that world—anyway, this feeling should be founded on our relation between the two worlds and on how things make the relation between them easier or more difficult. This would make a great difference in our appraisal of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what separates us from Him. In people too I saw that what helps them to become supramental or hinders them from it, is very different from what our usual moral notions imagine. I felt how… ridiculous we are.

https://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/19-february-1958

The Mother speaks of the mental construction and wonders if it’s a refusal or an incapacity to emerge from it. But she is definite that the action of the new Consciousness manifested earlier in the year, 1 January 1969, is working pitilessly shows. For it the entire mental construction is false. We are born in that construction, and the result is that the Truth passes us by. This difficulty is in the very organization of the body itself. Therefore Action of this new Consciousness seems to impose itself with an extraordinary power, with a sternness. That is its pitilessness, its harshness to remove all resistance to its working.

She remembers the time when Sri Aurobindo was here. At that time the inner part of the being used to enter into a consciousness that felt and saw things according to the higher consciousness when the inner part and the higher consciousness were quite different. There was the accident to Sri Aurobindo in November 1938 and the body, the BODY used to say constantly, “Those are dreams, those are dreams, it’s not for us; for us bodies, this is how it is.” The body never had the sense that it could be different, that it could be a part of working of the new Consciousness. It was so miserable and so petty and so obscure and so apparently inescapable at the same time that it never saw the possibility of it getting changed. Pressure of the Consciousness is a pressure for things as they were to change, to leave the antiquated past behind.

But with this new Consciousness, truer and more luminous IT’S THE BODY’S experience. Before, those who had inner experiences would say, “Yes, up above, but here …” Now the “but here” will soon cease to be. This tremendous change is what’s being conquered, so physical life may be ruled by the higher consciousness. It’s the REAL CHANGE, that will enable the new Consciousness to express itself. And the body is learning. Change IS DONE. Material conditions are no longer like those earlier ones. The physical is CAPABLE of receiving the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness, and of man-i-fest-ing it. It has taken this Consciousness a little more than a year to win this Victory. It’s done.

That was the work Sri Aurobindo had given me, she says. And everything disappeared! The body is beginning to feel, it has that joy, that joy of the lived Marvel.

How far will the body be able to go? There too, the body is PERFECTLY peaceful and happy: it has the conviction of as You will.” The body KNOWS that it’s over. To disappear, it may take centuries, but it’s over now.

This has happened only because of the work Sri Aurobindo has done in his subtle-physical. “How he has worked since he left, oh! It looks like a miracle in the body. Things have moved fast.”

[Abstracted from the Mother’s Conversation dated 14 March 1970]

You have to concretely feel that Sri Aurobindo’s full Power of expression is there (I don’t mean the words, it’s not a question of words), but the power to transmit knowledge (not mental knowledge, experience). It’s constantly there. So… an attentive silence—but be very patient, because as soon as the Force comes, something begins to stir in the mental regions. Then there is also a sort of eagerness to seize hold—and it ruins the thing.

https://incarnateword.in/agenda/02/october-15-1961

But to be transformed, matter needs the bodily presence. That’s right. Sri Aurobindo can’t do that. But he is working ALL THE TIME. But that he can’t do — that transformation of matter. That’s what we might call the individual work. Only, to what extent can this transformation be integral? That’s the question. I’ve said it’s a much accelerated work, obviously, but in spite of that, you feel the amount of experiences necessary for the transformation is so tremendous that … the limits of a lifetime are too short. [29 June 1968]

*

About the Author: Born on 17 April 1931 Dr. R.Y. Deshpande is a professor, philosopher, author, poet and inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. After graduating from Osmania University, Hyderabad, he joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai as a research physicist in 1955 and worked in this organization till 1957. In 1957 he joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai where he worked till 1981 and headed several Atomic Energy and Space Projects in Advance Technology with Dr. Raja Ramanna. Having received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics in 1964, he worked at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California USA from 1964 to 1965. He has some fifty research papers published in national and international scientific journals. He was also an examiner for a number of Ph.D. theses in the field of Solid State Physics. In 1981 Deshpande joined Sri Aurobindo Ashram of Pondicherry. For thirty years, he taught physics and a few other subjects such as Astrophysics, Savitri, The Future Poetry, Science and Society at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. For eight years he was the associate Editor of Mother India, a Monthly Review of Culture, published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. During 2007-2008 Deshpande was the editor of a web-magazine titled Science-Culture-Integral Yoga founded in Los Angeles. His published works in prose and poetry include titles like Sri Aurobindo and the New Millennium, Vyasa’s Savitri, The Ancient Tale of Savitri, “Satyavan Must Die”, All Life is Yoga, Nagin-bhai Tells Me, The Rhododendron Valley, All is Dream-Blaze, Under the Raintree, Paging the Unknown, The Wager of Ambrosia, Savitri: Notes and Comments, Elements and Evolution, Sri Aurobindo’s Narad, The Birth of the Sun-God, Hymns to Becoming, These Mountains, The Secret Knowledge, Savitri Talks: The Symbol Dawn, Islam’s Contribution to Science, Big Science and India, Running Through Savitri, A Look at the Symbol Dawn: Observations-Comments-Discussions, Savitri: The Poetry of Immortality,  and Sanatana Dharma: An Aurobindonian Perspective to name a few. He has also edited the following books: Nirodbaran: Poet and Sadhak, Amal Kiran: Poet and Critic and Perspectives of Savitri.