No one has written more movingly about the passion of Christ than Sri Aurobindo in Savitri

Re: 01: Savitri Awakes among the Human Tribes

RY Deshpande Thu 11 Jan 2007 08:12 AM PST

In that perfection the daughter of infinity accepts suffering, accepts to pass through the portals of a birth that is a death. The theme of crucifixion is the perfect illustration of the mystery of this occult working. Here let me quote Sonia Dyne [Savitri by Heart] regarding the Image of the Cross in Savitri:

Images of the crucifixion of Christ are so frequently a part of the architecture of churches around the world that they have lost a great part of their ability to shock or provoke a question in the mind of the viewer, unless he or she is a committed Christian. Sri Aurobindo has much to teach us about the meaning of the cross in human history, for his vision of the Divine was not limited to the doctrine of any one religion but soared above to find the essential truth behind the lives of the great avataric teachers of mankind.

In one of his aphorisms he writes: ‘There are four very great events in history, the siege of Troy, the life and crucifixion of Christ, the exile of Krishna in Brindavan, and the colloquy with Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra.’ He goes on to say that ‘Christ from his cross humanised Europe.’ This death had an impact on human consciousness that changed the world we live in today, wherever that may be. In what way did Christ from his cross bring about such a far-reaching effect on the consciousness of the West?

According to Sri Aurobindo, each of the great avatars manifested on earth an aspect of the Divine, and Christ himself manifested in human terms the divine love and compassion at a time when man was in danger of losing touch with these qualities of his soul. The divine Love Christ manifested in his life and death brought not only a new hope and strength of purpose to those who had felt powerless and full of despair in a world seemingly given over to oppression and evil, but in a mystical sense it also delivered mankind from subjection to these powers. The popularity of the film The Passion of Christ has once again focused attention on the meaning of the life of Jesus. The film follows the events leading to the crucifixion and final journey along the Via Dolorosa - the way of suffering...

No one has written more movingly about the passion of Christ than Sri Aurobindo in Savitri (The Book of Fate, 6.2). To him, the cross was a symbol of ‘a seemingly eternal world-pain which appears falsely to replace the eternal bliss.’ It is the world-soul which hangs upon the cross, until the time when mankind will cease to embrace and accept the drama of conflict and fratricide. Men are in love with grief and sin, says Sri Aurobindo-.’Therefore Christ still hangs on the cross in Jerusalem’. (Thoughts and Aphorisms)