Born in 1941 on the 9th of September in Hansot, a small village in Gujarat, Dr Ashwinbhai Kapadia is one of the foremost propounders of the teachings and the actions of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in the world.

Dr Kapadia became the instrument whom the Divine Mother had chosen in 1971 when She gave him the book of “Savitri”, with the goal of understanding it and revealing its transformative power to the future. Savitri, the longest epic in the English language spanning over 24,000 verses, was described by the Mother as the message of Sri Aurobindo to the world as the advent of Supramental consciousness and the establishment of the Life Divine upon the Earth. Savitri was worked on by Sri Aurobindo over the span of 50 years and is an autobiographical depiction of the life, work, and spiritual experiences of his own and The Mother.

The Mother describes it as a message and says: “everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the Gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny – all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions therein. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of evolution, all that nobody yet knows.” For any sincere seeker, this inevitably turns out to be true.

The Mother gave the book to Dr Kapadia with her blessings and the certitude that “Rest assured, time will come when the Lord himself will start speaking through him.” Since any great discoveries made by noteworthy personalities are difficult for ordinary people to understand, we require someone who can help, someone who is more adept at the subject than we are. We know them as professors. Dr Kapadia can be regarded as one such professor who worked as The Mother directed him. He decoded and exemplified the verses of Savitri for the understanding of the mass with relevant examples or drashtants from all different Indian philosophical darshans of Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Jaina, Buddhism, mahakavyas of Ramayana and Mahabharata, tales of Sufism, many Indian devotional figures and more interestingly, the latest scientific discoveries also. This led him to call Savitri as the Veda and the Master scripture of the future age. This, and much more, is what one can receive in his 7-day discourses or saptahs, with each session lasting around 2hrs. With those blessings and that assurance of The Divine Mother, Dr Kapadia, for the past 50 years, has so far conducted more than 453 such 7-day saptahs around 18 countries in the world, and countless single day and 3-4 day sessions expounding the Truth about Savitri. These saptahs and sessions have helped many awaken to a greater life, rise to the new age of universal spirituality, and simultaneously have been the guide for practising the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

This is, so to say, a brief introduction of what he has done, but it still does not capture the full extent of the personality that he is. It is a common experience of advancing seekers that when the sense of awakening grows stronger in oneself, one cannot but feel the material atmosphere of samsāra to be suffocating and limiting one’s growth. Then it is very tempting to live in an Ashram giving a conducive atmosphere to one’s spiritual growth, not needing to go through the sordid tribulations of samsāra and be at peace with one’s exclusive attention given to the soul realisation. However, Sri Aurobindo gave to the world a message that “All Life is Yoga”. That is to say, every aspect of life, every moment of life, can lead us to the union with the Divine. All difficulties, all struggles and pangs of life are but necessary opportunities to knead the nature, the prakriti and divinise it, to offer all that one has, does, and is to the Divine. Dr. Kapadia is one such powerful example who lived out his message. Despite having a clear conviction that spiritual realisation stands topmost priority, he did not renounce his life but accepted and lived every aspect of it. He was married, raised two kids, and taught English Literature at South Gujarat University where he eventually became the vice-chancellor. At the same time, he devoted his life to the mission that began with the assurance of the Divine Mother. He studied and imbibed Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri from 1971 onwards and conducted seven days saptahs on Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri around the world. The count has now reached 453, bringing the total number of days spent exclusively for doing the saptahs to 3171 days since 1978, when he conducted his first one. Many renowned and high-ranking sadhaks who spent their entire life in Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry have attended his saptah. The most noteworthy was the one he conducted in 1985, which marked his 100th saptah on Savitri. It was attended by Sundaram, Nirodbaran, Champaklal Purani, Basindhar Purani, Ansuyaben Purani, Sumitraben Merchant, Dyumanbhai, Dikshitji, Madanlalji, Vidyavati Kokil, Chote Narayan Sharmaji, Dr. H. Maheshwari and many others.

He stands as a living example of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga, proving his words and actions a concrete reality. That spirituality and Yoga are not simply meant for an end-of-the-life salvation but can transform one’s present life into a manifestation of the Divine. Even today, at the young age of 82, he is giving his 458th Savitri saptah in the United States. One can see it live or recorded on the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Savitri Mission.