Criminal Cases In December, 1976 my residence was raided by the police. Those were the days of the Emergency and no reason had to be given by the political higher-ups for arranging raids. The police raid lasted the whole day till late in the evening. Several other premises and offices were also raided as per the list finalised at Delhi by C.P.N. Singh, a politician and Kireet Joshi, an Ashramite turned bureaucrat. The Lt. Governor of Pondicherry became the Chairman of the Auroville Enquiry Committee which appointed a high ranking IAS Officer to go into the accounts and other seized documents. After a thorough enquiry, the officer concerned made his detailed report, and

The Magnet Draws In the pre-1971 period my visits to Mother did not relate to any work. There was little to speak and that was done through correspondence, since published under the title En Route (On the Path). Yet there are certain things which it will be interesting to say and which I can remember. I begin from the time when I was not going to Mother. On 27.4.64 I wrote to Mother, How can I express my gratitude to the Divine? She answered, Grow in consciousness and in consecration. On 28.8.64, I wrote, How to grow in consciousness? Is aspiration the way? Mother answered orally, Yes, evidently, and a steady effort. On 1

André During my November 1949 visit to the Ashram, I stayed at Golconde. One day there was a bit of stir in the fixed routine of the house. Monsieur Andre Morisset was coming on a visit from France and a room on the top floor in the eastern wing was being made ready for him. In fact, at Golconde there is nothing much like making a room ready, for the whole house is always kept in a tip-top condition. The stir, in reality, was due to the whispering that Monsieur Andre was the Mother's son and that it would be his first visit since the Mother settled down at Pondicherry in 1920. They were going to meet after a gap of 29 years, we calculated, and for me it was doubly interesting t

Indra Sen Dr. Indra Sen, en erudite disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, used to attend study circles, seminars and conferences including the sessions of the Indian Science Congress and All-India Philosophic Associations. He had carved out a name for himself in the intellectual circles as an able exponent of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and Yoga. Earlier, already an M.A., LLB, he had got his doctorate from the University of Freiburg in Germany and taught Psychology and Philosophy at the Hindu College in Delhi. My elder sister's husband Shri Vindeshwari Prasad Gupta, a resident of Delhi, also a devotee of Sri Aurobindo, was a good friend of his. Indra Sen had contacts with

Auroville Architect—Roger Anger I heard of Roger Anger the day Mother spoke to Navajata about him in connection with Auroville. That was when the Auroville idea was just getting known. An offer was received from him in his firm's name for the architectural services to be rendered by him to Auroville. "I am giving you a costly architect," Mother said to Navajata when she gave him the paper of offer, and asked him, "Are you willing?" With his characteristic enthusiasm Navajata had expressed his readiness and given me the offer for comments. It was the usual commercial type of offer and needed a lot of finance. When I told Navajata that he was incurri

Rishabhchand Just a few days after my arrival at Pondicherry, when my host came to know about my literary taste, he took me to Rishabhchand, who was a relative of his and one of the early Ashramites. Rishabhchand hailed from a Jain family settled at Calcutta, the ancestors having lived in the interior of Bengal. The family had grown in silk business; they were the owners of the famous Eastern Silk House. Rishabhchand himself was involved in the family trade before joining the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Well-versed in the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, a man of refined taste and culture, engaged in sadhana, unassuming, he took kindly to me when I was introduced to h

MOTHER STEERS AUROVILLE From day one when Mother gave me the Auroville work it started in right earnest. The very next morning she asked me about what I had done the day before. Precious are the memories of the days that followed upto the end. The overall impression is indelible, though difficult to express. From 23.2.72 I maintained daily notes of the work transacted with Mother. I had almost forgotten them till I now discovered them lying safe with me. And a few notes for 1971 also came into my hands. That was the year for which daily notes, if kept, would have made a big bulk. I now share these papers the way they were written.

In Civil Courts Apart from the criminal prosecution, I was also subjected to proceedings in civil courts. First I speak of some suits filed by Sri Aurobindo Society against me and my daughter Manju for rendition of accounts. When Counouma, the Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, came to know of the harassment caused to Manju by bringing a Commissioner to our house on the basis of exparte Court orders, he sent me a long letter in which he expressed his resentment against it, but the Society paid no heed to it. Later, as a result of the intervention of Nathmal Himatsingka, a respected well-wisher from Calcutta, Navajata agreed to withdraw these suits

Suvrata Gaebele At Calcutta I had taken lessons in French at the Alliance Francaise and was able to read some of the Mother's books and her writings in the Bulletin in the original French. After settling down at the Ashram I wanted to improve my knowledge of this language, especially for speaking and writing. For this purpose I turned to Madame Suvrata, an elderly French lady, who had received her new name from Mother. Formerly she was Yvonne Robert Gaebele. Her husband had been the Mayor of Pondicherry and she herself had worked at the Museum and the Historical Society, etc., retiring as the Chief Librarian of the Romain Rolland Library. I had got acquainted with

Vasudha Vasudha was the name she got from her parents. At the Ashram she was called Akka by the younger generation as well as the visitors. (Akka means sister in Marathi), In her letters Mother addressed her as "My little smile". The letters have since been published as a book. Vasudha was a girl of 14 when she came to the Ashram in 1928 and stayed on. She lived in an apartment next to the Ashram on the eastern side at the south-east corner. The same premises housed the Ashram Embroidery set up and looked after by her. In course of time she became a personal attendant of the Mother. Many a time I noticed her going to or coming from Mother at fixed hours with a shoulder-bag