Date: June 23, 2025
Venue: Online
Watch the Recording
As part of a natural follow-up to a webinar titled ‘Sri Aurobindo, the Seer-Poet‘, organised by BhāratShakti on December 7, 2024 a special online talk was organised on June 23, 2025 on the topic “Love and Death: Two Protagonists in Savitri.”
The invited speaker for this special talk was Dr. Ananda Reddy, the Founder-Director of Sri Aurobindo Center of Advanced Research (SACAR), Pondicherry. He is an internationally acclaimed foremost scholar in Sri Aurobindo Studies, especially Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy, yoga and poetry, and has given innumerable talks and written several books highlighting various key themes explored in Savitri.
Thirty participants attended this online programme which began with Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti welcoming all. She highlighted that this contemplative experience on Savitri comes up soon after International Yoga Day because as the Mother reminds, reading Savitri, the mantra of transformation, is Yoga in itself.
She then briefly introduced Dr. Ananda Reddy. An ex-student of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE), Dr. Reddy, with the blessings of the Mother, joined Auroville in 1969, where he looked after the Aspiration School in its initial stages, till 1976 when he went to Hyderabad to pursue higher studies. He has advanced degrees in Literature and Philosophy with a PhD in Sri Aurobindo’s thought and has taught at Pondicherry University and then later at Assumption University, Bangkok. His teaching portfolio also includes conducting weekly classes at Savitri Bhavan in Auroville, and teaching for the Higher Course at SAICE.
Dr. Mehra welcomed and invited Dr. Reddy to share his insights on the topic for the evening. Speaking on the theme, Dr. Reddy began by referring to the poem “Love and Death” which Sri Aurobindo had written at a young age about Ruru and Priyamvada where Ruru in order to revive a dead Priyamvada sacrifices half his life. Whereas in Savitri, it is the wife who confronts Death and succeeds in reviving her dead husband Satyavan.
Though the theme for both the poems is the same, i.e., Love and Death, the level of inspiration is different, said Dr. Reddy. In the earlier poem it was a human and vital love whereas in case of Savitri it is a Divine Love. Savitri’s love is free from attachment and desire. Dr. Reddy here explained that the Mother had explained that Divine Love was free from the two taints of ‘attachment’ and ‘the need to please the other’. Divine Love can begin only after these two are eliminated, and Savitri as presented by Sri Aurobindo is an embodiment of Divine Love.
Referring to the story of Creation as told by the Mother, Dr. Reddy then spoke about the four emanations of the Divine Mother: Consciousness, Life, Truth and Love. And he added that these happen to be the quintessence of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy as well as his Yoga. He explained that as Creation proceeded, it moved away from the original source of these four powers and finally became their opposites: Consciousness became Ignorance, Life became Death, Truth became Falsehood and Love became Suffering. It is this separation that created the whole disorder. And the whole of Yoga is nothing but a return to the original source. In fact, this separation was a wilful separation where the Supreme decided to become manifold in his manifestation and plunged into the Inconscience. The spiritual journey is a journey in the reverse direction where the Divine seeks to return from the inconscient base to its original source.
Coming to Savitri, he referred to Aswapati’s tapasya which represented humanity’s aspiration. It was as a response to that the descent of the Divine Mother in the human body of Savitri takes place. This is actually a concrete representation of the formula expressed by Sri Aurobindo in his book, The Mother: an unfailing aspiration that calls from below and the Supreme Grace from above that answers. Dr. Reddy made a few parallels between Savitri and the ancient story of the Rig Veda where the Sun of Truth and the Herds of Light and Force were stolen by the Dasyus and hidden in a cave. He said that Savitri is actually a retelling of that Vedic lore. He further made an important statement that Sri Aurobindo was the ascending Avatar in the same way that the Mother was the descending Avatar.
Coming to the question of Death, Dr. Reddy spoke about how Yama has been treated in other scriptures like the Kathopanishad where he is shown as a knower of Brahman. Whereas in Savitri, he is shown as the Lord of Death, unlike the way he is shown in the Vedic-Vedantic literature. He reminded the audience that according to the Mother, in Savitri Death represents a materialistic view of life. All that man is today in his materialistic consciousness is represented by Death. He derides and ridicules all the higher values of life – of philosophy, wisdom, religion etc.
Dr. Reddy explained that in fact, the dialogue between Savitri and Death essentially represents a debate between a materialistic mind and a spiritualistic vision of life. Death presents his spirit-negating arguments on a very superficial and mundane level. In fact, in a humourous vein, the Mother made fun of Death and his arguments and called him a “Joker”! Dr. Reddy gave an account of how the Mother took numerous humourous barbs on the rewards offered by Death to Savitri like “sons and daughters”. As if humans can aspire for nothing higher than wealth and progeny! According to her, Sri Aurobindo portrayed Death in an unflattering manner to counter the Illusionists and Nirvanists.
In earlier scriptures like Kathopanishad, Death is the one who imparts the higher wisdom, but Death as portrayed in Savitri is a defeatist who dissuades man from aspiring for a higher life. It’s an “Everlasting No” to use a phrase similar to the one that appears in Savitri; the source of all doubt, denial and falsehood.
However, in the larger scheme of things, Death too has its role since it is a power of the Supreme Divine, reminded Dr. Reddy. If the spur of Death had not been there man wouldn’t have grown in his consciousness. And towards the end of the battle between Death and Savitri, Death is consumed by light of the Divine which signifies a transformation through purification and Love.
The audience were spellbound by Dr. Ananda Reddy’s powerful and scholarly talk. The session ended with a small interactive discussion where Dr. Reddy addressed a couple of queries. Dr. Mehra profusely thanked Dr. Reddy for his time and for imparting his wisdom and understanding to our audience.