CHAPTER 24 SURRENDER AND GRACE I At long last, after a month's suspense, anxiety and longing, on the morning of 24 November 1931 the Mother came down, although still convalescing, to accept Pranam and prepare the disciples for the afternoon's Darshan. It was a blissful occasion for the sadhaks. Speaking for the Ashram community as a whole, Sahana Devi thus recalls the occasion: All this while we were very heavy of heart. When we again met her at Pranam what a joyful day it was! The intensity of our feelings was as thrilling as when we had the occasion of Sri Aurobindo's Darshan. It is quite impossible to express in words the feelings of joy, a

CHAPTER 7 CONSECRATION I After the elections, from sometime in June, the Richards lived at 7, Rue Dupleix (now 3, Jawaharlal Nehru Street), a north-facing house not far from Sri Aurobindo's in Rue François Martin. In course of time there seems to have developed a certain rhythm in their meetings. Mirra would come to Sri Aurobindo daily in the afternoon between 4 and 4.30, bringing sweet-meats prepared from coconut; she would make cocoa too. Mirra and Sri Aurobindo would compare notes, as it were, regarding their occult and spiritual adventures. They had their hopes and dreams about the future, and in the early months Mirra started learning Sanskrit

CHAPTER 27 JOINT ADVENTURE I During the seven years between 1931 and 1938, there was, as we have seen, a decisive progress in the sadhana, the lead of course being given by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and the disciples too - most of them - were no slackers, and were reasonably responsive to the demands of the Yoga: some moved fast, some at a moderate but steady pace, and there were laggards as well, and even a few detractors. However in a collective sadhana involving so many sadhaks, - the number had increased from about 100 in 1931 to over 150 in 1938 - such inequalities couldn't be helped, and the crucial thing was the force imparted by the Engineer

PART ONE MIRRA Do not ask questions about the details of the material existence of this body; they are in themselves of no interest and must not attract attention. Throughout all this life, knowingly or unknowingly, I have been what the Lord wanted me to be, I have done what the Lord wanted me to do. That alone matter.* THE MOTHER *The Mother's message of 22 June 1958 to Flame of White Light by T. V. Kapali Sastry (1960). See also MO 13: 45. Page – 1 CHAPTER 1 CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD I Since the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of Consciousne

CHAPTER 22 INTEGRAL SADHANA I Some of the Mother's evening talks during 1930-31 in the Prosperity Room were recorded by Amal Kiran, and were published twenty years after as Words of the Mother, Third Series. Reminiscing about them, the Mother said on 14 May 1951, "We were a small group of twelve to sixteen, gathering regularly." She had often given them "the peace", but the sadhaks couldn't retain that blissful experience for long.1 And yet the experiment of replenishment had gone on time and again! There are twenty-five short talks, followed by a bunch of short writings culled from the Mother's answers to some disciples. The main exhortation

CHAPTER 60 GRACE ABIDING I 1973 - And the Mother's New Year message: When you are conscious of the whole world at the same time, then you can become conscious of the Divine.1 And her New Year prayer for the students: Let our effort of every day and all time be to know You better and to serve You better.2 These linked up with her message for the previous Darshan on 24 November 1972: Beyond all preferences and limitations, there is a ground of mutual understanding where all can meet and find their harmony: it is the aspiration for a divine consciousness.3 The Mother had also said on 31 December 1972: Th

CHAPTER 56 YEAR OF WONDERS I It was to be a year of wonders, 1968, and the Mother's New Year message was a radiant exhortation: Remain young, never stop striving towards perfection. In her message for her ninetieth birthday on 21 February, she elaborated her idea of 'youth' and 'age': It is not the number of years you have lived that makes you grow old. You become old when you stop progressing. ... ...When you feel that what you have done is just the starting-point of what remains to be done, when you see the future like an attractive sun shining with the innumerable possibilities yet to be achieved

The Mother ON THE MOTHER THE CHRONICLE OF A MANIFESTATION AND MINISTRY by K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar Reprinted (third edition) 2004 SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF EDUCATION, PONDICHERRY "I stretch it out to Thee with both arms in a gesture of offering and I ask of Thee: If my understanding is limited, widen it; if my knowledge is obscure, enlighten it; if my heart is empty of ardour, set it aflame; if my love is insignificant, make it intense; if my feelings are ignorant and egoistic, give them the full consciousness in the Truth".¹

CHAPTER 43 "I WANT ONLY YOU" I The year 1954 was a time of all-round progress in the history of the Ashram. The de facto merger of Pondicherry with India on 1 November and the freer two-way traffic resulting therefrom were but the outer recognition of an inner aspiration and of a progressive deeper reality. Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's writings went round the world and, encountering the elect in unpredictable places, effected remarkable conversions. Thus, from 1 February, Savita Hindocha, who was later to acquire the Ashram name of "Huta", began writing down in her mother tongue Gujarati, her intense prayers to the Divine Mother with single-pointed devo

CHAPTER 33 AFTER INDEPENDENCE I In August 1947, the Congress leaders stampeded by Lord Mountbatten to some extent - had agreed, to the Partition in the hope of averting further communal strife and the resultant bloodshed. Actually, the "tryst with Destiny" - the midnight hour preceding the dawn of 15 August - was to prove the signal for the flow of rivers of blood in the Punjab. The anticipated moment of triumph and fulfilment was surpassed by shame-faced perplexity and the benumbing sense of fatality. The butcher's knife of vivisection let loose unimaginable horrors and the desecration of cherished national and all humane values. Lahore, Multan, Rawalpind