The Lives of Sri Aurobindo published last year by the Columbia University Press dismisses Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri as a possible source for getting some idea about the yoga-sadhana of Sri Aurobindo. Here is what we have on p. 398: “Because his talks entirely ceased and his correspondence virtually so, there are no first-hand accounts of Sri Aurobindo’s sadhana after 1941. One is tempted to mine Savitri to make up for the lack. Sri Aurobindo’s accounts of Aswapathy’s voyage through the worlds of matter, life, and mind before reaching 'the kingdoms of the greater knowledge,' and Savitri’s transit through the 'inner countries' until she reaches the inmost soul certainly are based on his life and the Mother’s experiences; but the poem is a fictional creation, and Sri Aurobindo said explicitly that 'the circumstances of this life have nothing to do with' its plot. [ref: 144, Letters on Poetry and Art, p. 276] …” Let us examine this in some details.

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During the course of his travels, Nishikanto came to Katwa where he took refuge under a Vaishnava sage in his Ashram. The sage developed an instant liking for the young man and Nishikanto too was impressed by his radiant personality. He told Nishikanto that he could stay in the Ashram as long as he wanted but at the same time he warned him of the physical sufferings his body would be subjected to. Nishikanto’s recurring fever got completely cured in the Ashram and out of gratitude he began to do errands for the sage whom he began to look upon as his Guru. The more he got the Guru’s company the more attracted he began to get. One day Nishikanto beseeched the sage to give him initiation, but the Guru replied: “No, I can’t give you the initiation you seek. Do you know whom I’m seeing behind you? There is Rabindranth Tagore and there is a Mighty Person and a Mighty Mother. They are your destination. My initiation is not for you.”

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