Table of Illustrations Page Frontispiece Sri Aurobindo around 1919, writing for the Arya (from Abhay Singh Nahar's collection) 29 Front page of India, a Tamil weekly 33 The old pier at Pondicherry (Abhay Singh's collection) 34 A horse cart like the ones used around 1910 (Abhay Singh's coll.) 38 Shankar Chetty's house (Abhay Singh's coll.) 49 V. Ramaswamy Iyengar (Va. Ra. of Tamil literature) 151 A view of Pondicherry in 1790 154 Duplex and his wife 155 Ananda Ranga Pillai 160 Map of Pondicherry by de Fer (1705) 169 Monument to Aayi in Pondicherry's park (Abhay Singh's coli .)

9 Some English Friends This was not the first time that the Government was questioned by the members of the House of Commons on its India policy and, more specifically, on the ongoing events in Bengal. India did have some English friends1 who took interest in her. A few were in the Parliament. Even at the risk of displeasing their party bosses and of their renomination in Parliament, some members took a bolder stand than the Moderates of the Indian Congress. A few names spring to mind: Sir Henry Cotton, Mr. Keir Hardie, Dr. H. V. Rutherford, Mr. Frederic Mackarness, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, all members of the House of Commons. They were ably assisted by a nu

33 The Quest "Living the dream of the Upanishads ..." "I left British India in order to pursue my practice of Yoga undisturbed," Sri Aurobindo stated in his 21 July 1911 letter to The Hindu. It was indeed a statement of fact, like the fact that the sun rises in the east. The British bureaucrats could be as sceptical as you like! After all the bureaucracy, British or otherwise, is notorious for its stationary ideas and fixed ways. Quite unlike the character who frequently said, "My ideas changed, so I changed my ways!" as portrayed by our Bengali poet D. L. Roy. In point of fact, all those who had known Sri Aurobindo during the intense political period of h

35 The Training His upward gaze fixed on what? Once in' Chandernagore Motilal Roy put the question to Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo replied that before his eyes "some writings come floating, I try to decipher their meanings." He called them lipi, which in Sanskrit could mean a letter, or written characters, or the alphabet of a language. He also said that "Gods of the invisible world take form. These forms also are as significant as the lipi—and they want to convey something, which I strive to discover." Sri Aurobindo called these visions or seeing of forms rupa-drishti. Rupa in Sanskrit stands for form as well as beauty; drishti is seeing. That upwardly

30 He Knows Latin, He Knows Greek Though Governor Duprat gave a certificate of good conduct to the British secret police stationed in Pondicherry, in reality its conduct was not all that good. Even if the French government thought that with the Bengal Partition undone the threat from violence would subside, the British never thought so. That is why when they saw that the French were disinclined to expel the Swadeshi refugees from their territory, they tried to provoke some incidents there. After all, it is an English saying that 'all's fair in love and war,' isn't it? And hadn't they declared war on the Swadeshis? Let us note that for the A

41 The Kundalini The Cosmologist was also a Cosmographer. Not only did Sri Aurobindo say that there were no gaps between the planes but he also explained that each plane is "in communication with various worlds that belong to it." He gave a graphic description of how the being is organized. "There are in fact two systems simultaneously active in the organisation of the being and its parts: one is concentric, a series of rings or sheaths with the psychic1 at the centre; another is vertical, an ascension and descent, like a flight of steps, a series of superimposed planes with the supermind over mind as the crucial nodus of the transition beyond the huma

26 Nandanam In the 1970s we, Satprem and I, lived for a few years in Nandanam. Nandan in Indian parlance means a heavenly garden where gods have a perfectly happy time. We not being gods did not have a 'perfectly' happy time. It was rather turbulent.1 But no matter. The orchard was indeed a pleasure to behold. A very large property with a big furnished bungalow, it had a small pond at the entrance. Inside were two wells at some distance from each other. There were stands of coconut palms, breeze or wind playing soft or loud music on their fronds. Big, old tamarind trees drew patterns of lace against the evening sky. Cashew bushes full of juicy fruits. Satprem told me

15 Pondicherry We spoke of a wedge when India broke free of the land-mass Gondwanaland and joined the Eurasian mass. A glance at the map of the Deccan does give us an impression of a triangle, which tapers to a point at Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin). The point is the meeting ground of three seas. It is washed by the Bay of Bengal from the east, and by the Arabian Sea from the west; mingling with them is the Indian Ocean. Bordering the Arabian Sea are the Malabar and Konkan coasts. The western coast extends from the Cape almost in a straight line towards the north up to the Gulf of Khambat, where Mahi, Narmada and Tapti rivers end their overland journey. Along the Bay

50 Pondicherry Elections Well, the Richards were in Pondicherry. In 1910 Paul Richard had come to French India for electioneering. He was a friend of Paul Bluysen's, a candidate. Mother told us that after becoming a lawyer, Richard entered politics. "He was a first-class orator who fired his audiences with enthusiasm." That is why Bluysen sent him to Pondicherry to canvass for him. "And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a 'Master,' a yogi." Instead of launching himself in politics, the first thing Richard did upon arrival was to make known that he was seeking a yogi. Mother went on, "Someo

MOTHER'S CHRONICLES - Book Six - Mother's Chronicles book six MIRRA IN SOUTH INDIA SUJATA NAHAR INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES ÉVOLUTIVES, Paris, THE MOTHER'S INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH, NEW DELHI, & MIRA ADITI, MYSORE Already published: Book One:MIRRA Book Two:MIRRA THE ARTIST Book Three:MIRRA THE OCCULTIST Book Four:MIRRA-SRI AUROBINDO Book Five:MIRRA MEETS THE REVOLUTIONARY To be published: Book Seven: MIRRA IN JAPAN Book Eight: MIRRA THE MOTHER The publication of this book