VI. PONDICHERRY (1920-26)         The Mother was back in India, back in Pondicherry, that small town in the South-East where Sri Aurobindo had been pursuing his integral yoga-path since 1910. Her return was now final and she was never again to leave India, the country of her choice. Her relationship with Paul Richard was at this stage coming to a breaking-point since she could follow her destiny now and establish an ever closer collaboration with Sri Aurobindo. It was probably clear to Paul that the Mother was now completely giving herself to Sri Aurobindo and that there was a kind of collaboration and development in their relationship which he could not follow any more. He could recognize Sri A

XIV. THE SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION         Sri Aurobindo's Weltanschauung is dynamic-evolutionary. In his vision (which is identical with the Mother's vision, but has been specially expressed by him in philosophical terms) the world is not a vain illusion, of which you have to get rid, but the manifest Spirit which embodies itself in manifold forms. Sri Aurobindo thus overcomes the unsatisfactory philosophy of Indian Illusionism which could never properly answer the question why the soul has to incarnate itself in a body which is illusion, in a world which is illusion, in order to escape this deception through a method which is illusion as well. This is basically a negative philosophy which mak

I. BIRTH AND GIRLHOOD (1878-1896)         The Mother was born in Paris on 21 February 1878 at 10.15 a.m. The house of her parents was at the boulevard Hauss-mann near the Opera. Her father, Maurice Alfassa, was a Turkish banker from Adrianople, whilst her mother, Mathilde Ismaloun, came from Cairo. The Mother was thus of Turkish-Egyptian descent, a fact which is significant in so far as these two countries are on the threshold between Orient and Occident. It became evident later that the Mother, like no one else, knew how to bring together these two worlds in a happy synthesis.         She was given the name Mirra and grew up in Paris where she was to spend the first part of her life. Her

XI. SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM AND THE WORLD (1938-50)         The ancient Indian Scriptures abound with reports on the struggle between the asuric (undivine, hostile) and divine forces. This subject is already dealt with in the Veda, but some Western scholars have imagined that it refers to a conflict between invading Aryans and native Dravidians, even though there is no evidence at all in the ancient literature for such an invasion. Sri Aurobindo has given an elaborate commentary on this curious misunderstanding which had even political consequences in the form of an unnatural antagonism between the speakers of the so-called Dravidian languages who live in South India and those who speak the so-call

. THE MOTHER A SHORT BIOGRAPHY     WILFRIED         SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY PONDICHERRY First Edition: 1986 Tenth Impression: 2011     Rs. 60.00 ISBN 978-81-7060-015-2     © Sri Aurobindo Society 1986 Writings and photographs of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are copyright Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry Published by Sri Aurobindo Society Pondicherry - 605 002   Website: sriaurobindosociety.org.in Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA

XVII. THE SUPERMAN-CONSCIOUSNESS         The Mother continued all her activities in the Ashram and on the Playground up to the end of 1958. She held her classes on Wednesday and Friday with the students of the International Centre of Education, which were also joined by many sadhaks, and they studied extracts from Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine and later Thoughts and Aphorisms. But on 9 December 1958 the Mother fell ill - we have to remember here that 'illness' always meant a crisis of transformation for her -and all these activities were stopped. Instead of that, from January 1960 collective meditations were held twice a week on the Playground, and this practice is still being continued toda

VIII. SADHANA         The Ashram was formed with the object of providing a suitable background for the sadhana, the spiritual discipline, of the seekers. Even at young age the Mother had conceived the idea that there should be a place where seekers of God could completely dedicate themselves to spiritual life without any material worries and problems. Such a place was taking shape now and the Mother supervised its development in all details, whilst Sri Aurobindo was opening a path towards Supermind which should eventually be within reach for all sadhaks. The aim which he had set himself went far beyond the traditional aim of moksha, spiritual liberation of the aspirant. The Mother explains, in

X. FOUR ASPECTS OF THE MOTHER         A sadhak once asked Sri Aurobindo why the Mother had such a different appearance at different times, even on the same day. Even physical changes could be observed. Sri Aurobindo answered that it depended on the personality which she was manifesting at that time, "she has many personalities and the body is plastic enough to express something of each when it comes forward."1 In a short writing, entitled The Mother, Sri Aurobindo has described the personalities of the Mother and their respective functions. The centre-piece of this classical writing is the description of her four main aspects:         "Four great Aspects of the Mother, four of her leading

REFERENCES   Most of the quotations in this book have been taken from Nilima's Glimpses of the Mother's Life (GL) and K. R. S. Iyengar's On the Mother (IY). With a few exceptions the references are to these two works which comprise two volumes each. The Mother's Collected Works (Centenary Edition) are abbreviated as CW.       Introduction Chapter IV 1. GL 1 101 1. GL 1 : 113 2. GL 2 113 2. IY 1 : 79 3. GL 1 : 128 Chapter I 4. GL 1 : 129 1. GL 1 14 5. GL 1 : 131 2. GL 1 14-15 6. IY 1 : 88 3. GL 1 17 7. IY 1 : 106 4. GL 1 19 8. GL 1 : 160 5. GL 1 22

INTRODUCTION         "Here is a little story: one of my friends had made a trip to India and was requested to give an account of his travels. An old very credulous lady was there and she asked him, 'In India, do they count the souls?' He answered, 'Yes.' 'How many are there?' asked the old lady. He answered, 'One only.'"1         This humorous story which the Mother once told her disciples serves well to form the opening of our book. Even though the Soul may be one everywhere, it is so in a special way in India which has a high spiritual mission on Earth. And thus it happened that a small town in the South-East of this blessed country was chosen to be the place where a formidab