Living in The Presence

I used to go for the Mother's blessing every Sunday morning. Now I don't recollect the year. It was on one such Sunday. I asked the Mother, "Mother, I would like to do a dance-drama on Savitri. Can I do it?"

    She was selecting the flowers from the flower-tray then. She did not say anything. She kept handing me the flowers silently into my hands and then said, "Do you want to do the dance-drama on Savitri?" She mimed some movements with both Her arms and added, "You'll dance like this.? Like this?" Both of us laughed. She remained silent for some time and then said, "I would rather Savitri were only recited, in a very simple way, without adding any unnecessary outer drama or emotion. Very simply. No director can reach that lofty height from where Sri Aurobindo wrote Savitri. That's why it is better not to play with it. Either a simple, very simple recitation, or simply meditate on the lines." I replied, "Oh, Mother, there are such marvellous lines in Savitri on Nature!" "Yes, you could take those," the Mother answered, "but not the ones that express deep, spiritual experiences." While She kept giving me flowers, She added, "Why don't you choose something else other than Savitri ? Leave Savitri alone."

    After hearing these words from the Mother, I never raised this topic of wanting to do a dance-drama on Savitri again.