6 'This was that, the work that Sri Aurobindo had given to me' And we come now to the decisive point which Mother has explained in her conversation with Satprem on l4th March 1970. 14.3.1970 .... And the action of this Consciousness... (how to say?) it is almost merciless in showing to what extent the whole mental construction is false—everything, even the reactions which look spontaneous, all that is the result of an extremely complex mental construction. But it is merciless. One is born into it and it seems so natural to feel according to it, to react according to it, to organise eve

Preface The more one studies Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, the more is one wonderstruck by the breathtaking sweep of their experimentation and their victorious achievements. It is impossible to present even a distant idea of the crucial significance of their realisations to the expanding horizons of knowledge and to the possibilities of evolution and mutation of the human species. What has been attempted in this book is to present only a few glimpses. It would be useful to explain some of the important terms that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have used in describing their experiences and realisations. In doing so, it would be necessary to present a brief account of what

-08_The Mother Continues Sri Aurobindo^s Work.htm The Mother with Jawaharlal Nehru, Kamaraj, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri at the playground of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry 5 The Mother Continues Sri Aurobindo's Work I am only realising what He has conceived. I am only the protagonist and the continuator of His work. This is what Mother wrote in answer to some people who wanted to get Mother nominated for the Nobel peace prize. While declining the proposal, she said that she did not want name and fame. As Mother explained: Some people wanted to get me nominated for the Nobel peace prize; I was asked for a statement and that's what I w

Sri Aurobindo emerged in the first decade of the century as a revolutionary leader of the struggle for India's freedom, who electrified the nation through his writings in the Bande Mataram and Karmayogin, and chalked out a radical programme of action which guided, in a significant measure, the future course of the struggle. The field of his work widened rather rapidly and after a series of yogic experiences, he withdrew in 1910 to Pondicherry and plunged into a more revolutionary struggle related directly to the evolutionary crisis through which mankind is passing today. In 1914, Mother (Mirra Alfassa) came to Pondicherry from France and joined Sri Aurobindo. Thus began a

3 The Mother Meets Sri Aurobindo On March 7, 1914, Mother was aboard the Kaga Maru sailing for Pondicherry. 'He whom we saw yesterday is on earth.' Thus Mother wrote in her Prayers and Meditations of her meeting with Sri Aurobindo on 29th March 1914. 'Exactly my vision'—she narrated much later on. He whom she was seeing in her vision since 1904 corresponded exactly with Sri Aurobindo. In her own words: I came here.... But something in me wanted to meet Sri Aurobindo all alone the first time. Richard went to him in the morning and I had an appointment for the afternoon. He was living in the house that's now part of the second dormitory, the o

4 Sri Aurobindo and The Mother An ocean of knowledge was poured by Sri Aurobindo in his monthly journal, Arya. By 1920, when Mother returned to Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo had already expounded in the pages of the Arya much of his studies which were not confined merely to philosophical and spiritual knowledge, but which extended also to fields of literature, psychology, and social and political thought. The all-embracing idea was, however, that of spiritual evolution, which subsumed within itself the latest knowledge of physics and biology. Warrior and hero of Indian independence, Sri Aurobindo had now scaled vast heights of knowledge and

BIBLIOGRAPHY Works of Sri Aurobindo I. INDIAN CULTURE First Published The Foundations of Indian Culture, 'Arya', Dec. 1918 Jan. 1921 1953 On the Veda, 'Arya', August 1914 -July 1916 1956 Hymns to the Mystic Fire 1946 Isha Upanishad (Sanskrit text with English translation and notes) 'Arya', August 1914 - May 1915 1921 Eight Upanishads (Sanskrit text with English translation and notes) 1953 Kena Upanishad (Sanskrit text with English translation and notes)

Introduction Sri Aurobindo was born on the 15th August 1872 at Calcutta. At an early age of seven, he was taken along with his elder brothers to England for education, since his father wanted him to have no Indian influence in the shaping of his outlook and personality. And yet, even though Sri Aurobindo assimilated in himself richly the best of the European culture, he returned to India in 1893 with a burning aspiration to work for the liberation of India from foreign rule. While in England, Sri Aurobindo passed the I.C.S. Examination, and yet he felt no call for it; so he got himself disqualified by remaining absent from the riding test. The Gaekwar of Baroda happened

1 Sri Aurobindo It is well known that Sri Aurobindo had a thorough Western education, and he had a period of agnostic denial. But from the moment he looked at yogic phenomena, he could never take the attitude of doubt and disbelief which was for so long fashionable in Europe. Abnormal, otherwise supraphysical experiences and powers, occult or yogic, always seemed to him something perfectly natural and credible. It was after a long stay in India at Baroda that Sri Aurobindo turned decisively to Yoga in 1904. He had, however, a few spiritual experiences even in his pre-yogic period. The first was in London, in 1892, the year of his departure from E

2 The Mother The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) was born in Paris on the 21st February, 1878. Her mother was Egyptian and her father was Turkish—both of them were perfect materialists. As a result, although she had inner experiences, including that of the divine Presence, right from her childhood, she was in her external life an atheist until she entered into adulthood. In her early years, she had a good grounding in music (piano), painting and higher mathematics. At the same time, she used to have spontaneous experiences including those of coming out of her body to discover inner realities without understanding what they really meant. Let us note a few of the