Symbolic Names Symbolic Names of Rooms in the Ashram Main Building The symbolic names of rooms in the Ashram main building seem to have been given by the Mother during the years 1928-1932. The period when the names were given can be determined by the change of function of the room called "Communion with the Divine". This room was used by the Mother to distribute soup to the disciples from 1928 to 1931. It became the Reception Room in 1932, after the Mother fell ill in October 1931 and the soup distribution was stopped. The names given to the rooms on the first floor of the New Secretariat - "La Reserve" (Green Room or the Mother's Boudoir) and "Occultis

The Mother's Rooms on the Second Floor The Mother's Room The Mother did not have a room of her own [until 1953]. She used to rest in a hall [the Salon] adjoining Sri Aurobindo's rooms. But it was a sort of public hall. People were constantly coming in and going out, so the Mother was never left in peace. But being the Divine Mother, she never uttered a word against it. She was accustomed to putting up with all kinds of discomfort, disturbance and inconvenience. But this caused great pain to Dyuman. He began thinking of how to have a separate room for the Mother. One day she felt indisposed and returned from the Playground

Preface Sri Aurobindo and the Mother stayed for over half a century in a block of four houses that came to be known as the Ashram main building at Pondicherry. It was the centre of life in the Ashram when they were physically present and will remain so even in their physical absence. Hundreds of people go inside daily to breathe the serene atmosphere and come out spiritually charged. On special occasions, long queues are formed and visitors wait patiently to get a glimpse of their rooms. The building has become a means of contact with their subtle-physical presence. It is this reverence for the House of the Lord that has inspired this book on the Ashram main building.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram The Story of the Main Building First edition 2008 Rs 550 ISBN 978-81-7058-892-4 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2008 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, Pondicherry 605 002 Web http://www.sabda.in Printed at: Sudarshan Graphics 27 Neelakanta Mehta Street, T. Nagar, Chennai 600 017 PRINTED IN INDIA Front cover painting by Jayantilal Parekh, 1939 Back cover painting by Krishnalal Bhatt, 1948

The Story of the Samadhi The Samadhi A visitor to the Ashram building today would admire the perfect arrangement of the pillars and the Service Tree in relation to the Samadhi. The tree gives shade to the Samadhi and the courtyard around it and the pillars support the tree. The pillars also provide the supports for the cloth canopy above the Samadhi. The crossbeams around it give vantage on the east for people to stand and concentrate while leaving enough space on the other three sides to kneel down comfortably. The visitor would naturally assume that the Samadhi came first, the tree next and the pillars last. It was not so. The tree cam

Earliest Plans and Photographs Earliest Ground Floor Plan of the Ashram Main Building The earliest ground floor plan that we have of the entire Ashram main building is dated 17 June 1931. Drawn by Chandulal, the Ashram engineer, it represents an already advanced stage of construction. The Old Secretariat has been demolished and the Balcony block and the rooms on the ground floor connecting it to the Meditation House have been built. Page-28 Old Secretariat The ground and first floor plans of the Old Secretariat were drawn in July 1929, before it was demoli

Subject Index labels on photographs sent to her son .... 69, 71, 73 letters to her son Andre .... 21, 25 Sri Aurobindo meditation with Pavitra .... 78 change in the sadhana from the vital to the physical level .... 21 moving to the Library House .... 2, 6-7, 10 glass case for preserving his body in 1950, possibility of .... 110-111 moving to the Meditation House .... 21, 24-25 moving to the Library House .... 2, 6-7, 10 path to the Prosperity Stores in 1929 and 1932 .... 166-169 moving to the Meditation House .... 21, 24-25 rooms of, passage from Old Secretariat

References to Texts 13 (p. 24) Haradhan Bakshi, Documents in SAAA 14 (p. 24) Champaklal, Champaklal Speaks (2002), p. 75 15 (p. 25) The Mother, CWM, Volume 16, p. 3 C WM: Collected Works of the Mother 16 (p. 25) Punamchand, Documents in SAAA SA AA: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives 17 (p. 50) Ramakant Navelkar, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Drawing Office 18 (p. 77) Sahana Devi, Breath of Grace (1973), p. 108 1 (p. 2) Sahana Devi, At the Feet of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, pp

The Four Houses The Ashram Main Building By "Ashram" is meant the building in which the Mother and Sri Aurobindo lived. This building consisted of four small and big houses. They were at first separate; when the Ashram was formed they were one by one bought and, after they had been broken, repaired, their parts joined here and there or doors made, they were welded into one large building. These houses occupying the four corners in a rectangular fashion were constituted into one whole structure, which we call the Ashram. More correctly, it is the main building of the Ashram. When one enters here through the main gate, the two-storey building that

Perspectives and Elevations Pondicherry Town The plans for building the town of Pondicherry were first prepared by the Dutch and later developed by the French during their occupation. The oval shaped town had a series of parallel roads running east to west and north to south with roads on the periphery marking the limits of the town area. These roads were called the North, South, East and West Boulevards, beyond which were villages and agricultural lands. The town was practically divided by a Canal running from north to south, which carried drainage as well as rain water to the sea. To the east of this Canal were mostly administrative