This above line comes from Paradiso Canto 3:

Anzi è formale ad esto beato esse
tenersi dentro a la divina voglia,
per ch’una fansi nostre voglie stesse;

sì che, come noi sem di soglia in soglia
per questo regno, a tutto il regno piace
com’a lo re che ‘n suo voler ne ‘nvoglia.

E ‘n la sua volontade è nostra pace:
ell’è quel mare al qual tutto si move
ciò ch’ella cria o che natura face

Chiaro mi fu allor come ogne dove
in cielo è paradiso, etsi la grazia
del sommo ben d’un modo non vi piove.

The essence of this blessed life consists
in keeping to the boundaries of God’s will,
through which our wills become one single will;

so that, as we are ranged from step to step
throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills
that which will please the King whose will is rule.

And in His will there is our peace: that sea
to which all beings move-the beings He
creates or nature makes-such is His will.”

Then it was clear to me how every place
in Heaven is in Paradise, though grace
does not rain equally from the High Good.

[There is probably a defect in your solar plexus which makes it refuse to thrill unless it receives a strong punch from poetry — an ornamental, romantic or pathetic punch. But there is also a poetry which expresses things with an absolute truth but without effort, simply and easily, without a word in excess or any laying on. of colour, only just the necessary. That kind of achievement is considered as among the greatest things poetry can do.

A phrase, word or line may be quite simple and ordinary and yet taken with another phrase, line or word become the perfect thing.

A line like "Life that is deep arid wonder-vast" has what I have called the inevitable quality; with a perfect simplicity and straightforwardness it expresses something in a definite and per­fect way that cannot be surpassed; so does "lost in a breath of sound" with less simplicity but with the same inevitability. I do not mean that highly coloured poetry cannot be absolutely in­evitable, it can, e.g. Shakespeare's "In cradle of the rude impe­rious surge" and many others. But most often highly coloured poetry attracts too much attention to the colour and its brilliance so that the thing in itself is less felt than the magnificence of its dress. All kinds are legitimate in poetry; poetry can be great or perfect even if it uses simple or ordinary expressions, e.g. Dante simply says "In His will is our peace" and in writing that in Italian produces one of the greatest lines in all poetic literature. 1.4.1938]

Document: Home > E-Library > Works Of Sri Aurobindo > Future Poetry Volume-09 > The Process, Form And Substance Of Poetry

I discovered that also a professor on comparative religion in California has written some chapters in two books comparing Dante and Aurobindo and stating that Aurobindo was inspired by Dante. If I remember well, Satprem writes in “the Adventure of Consciousness” that Aurobindo wanted to learn Italian to be able to read the Divine Comedy in its original, so she is probably right.

The professor’s name is Brenda Deen Schildgen and her books where she included these chapters on this subject are “Other Renaissances” and “Dante in India; Sri Aurobindo and Savriti”. It would be interesting to see if she shares your judgement. I have not read them and could not find the books on Amazon but if you are interested I include some links here:

http://www.palgrave.com/products/Catalogue.aspx?is=1403974462

http://www.brandeis.edu/programs/interdepartmental/italian/dante/adb2002.htm

Savitri is a poem in blank verse, i.e. iambic pentameter with usual variations. You have rightly insisted on the poetry aspect than any teaching and I hope you will allow yourself a little more time to delve into it before passing any judgment.

The perspective of literature was actually started by Tusar by his remark “For his poem Savitri, he ranks along with Dante, Milton, and Goethe.” Those three did not write from the perspective of a teaching that they wanted to put into the world like Aurobindo, although obviously Dante and Goethe were spiritual developed. So when Tusar says Savriti ranks along with Dante, Milton and Goethe he is coming from the perspective of literature.

And I don’t think that you can maintain Savriti is on the same level as the Divine Comedy here. And this is not a subjective experience thing. Specialists in the field of literature and poetry are the ones would have the last say in this. Well, those specialists have written libraries full of praise for the Divine Comedy and they did not and will not do so for Savriti. And again this is not because I don’t like Aurobindo, because I do, but I also want to keep things in perspective and stay realistic. In my view, Tusar’s comment was not realistic.

—–

(From Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo)

Disciple : What is meant by saying that the Supreme is the True, the Good and the Beautiful ’satyam-sivam-sundaram?’

Sri Aurobindo : That is a different thing. The “True” can be the mental form of the Supreme Truth, the “Good” has a relation to morality. Whereas “Beauty” is different with different men, there is no one standard of beauty.

There are certain things, however, which all people consider beautiful: for instance, the rose.

Disciple : What did Christ look like ? Were the Rishis beautiful ?

Sri Aurobindo : None can say, because there is no record.

Disciple : On what does the creation of beauty depend ?

Sri Aurobindo : True beauty is a creation from the Ananda plane.

Disciple : But some people say there is beauty in everything.

Sri Aurobindo : Yes. There is a stage in which everything has its beauty. For a perfect creation of beauty three elements are needed:

1. The fundamental element of beauty which is present in everything.

2. The pervading quality or Guna.

3. The expression or form.

Where these three are in agreement then there is the perfect expression of the Ananda.