In the shadow of the gallows         After returning to Calcutta, Barin became obsessed with the idea of killing Magistrate Kingsford. Douglas H. Kingsford was an unpopular man: he had presided over several cases against nationalist publications, among them Yugantar and Bande Mataram, and had condemned a boy to be flogged for protesting against actions by the police. The authorities knew that the judge was a prime target for a terrorist attack and therefore transferred him on 26 March 1908 as District Magistrate to Muzaffarpur, a small town north of Patna, in Bihar, where nothing of importance ever happened. Page-120 Barin chose his executioners: Sushil Kumar

The burden of the Forerunner         In fact, no decisions had to be made, at least not on the level of thought and volition, which is where we make our decisions. The decisions were made by her Self, the Great Mother whom she perceived to be identical with the Master of the Yoga. It might even be said that the decisions were made in eternity, at the origin where the Avatars emanate, and that those decisions now were projected or actualized on the scene of the material manifestation. The Mother in the Sadhana accepted them in total surrender because they could not be anything else but the will and the action of 'the Lord.' Ce que Tu veux, ce que Tu voudras...       

Tlemcen — the second visit Tlemcen — the second visit (1907)         Mirra arrived for her second stay with the Théons on 18 July 1907. There is a huge difference between Mirra's relationship to the Tlemcen masters and that of somebody like Claire Themanlys. Claire was a neophyte, still curious to have Alma show her powers and as yet hardly receptive to the influence of the occult force the masters were trying out on her. Mirra, on the contrary, was already an experienced occultist before her first visit to Tlemcen and had already had her first major spiritual realization. True, Théon and Alma taught her a lot, and she would remain thankful for this even long after they were gone; but she also 'worke

Laying down the body More and more, and in an absolute way, I see — I see, yes, I see, I feel —; everything has been decided. And you understand, life, existence, indeed the world itself would make no sense if it were otherwise.36  — The Mother.       Towards the end, the Mother's conversations became shorter and shorter. Almost every time she would say that she would not, could not, or was not allowed to speak. Peux pas parler... Her Consciousness was absolutely clear, she confirmed, and she was working uninterruptedly on many levels, but this was, of course, not what one saw on the outside.

Part Two   The Road Together     Six   Speaking the Word   When I came to Pondicherry a programme was dictated to me from within for my Sadhana. I followed it and progressed for myself but could not do much by way of helping others. Then came the Mother and with her help I found the necessary method.1 — Sri Aurobindo   First questions   When Mirra met A.G. as Aurobindo Ghose was known since his arrival in Pondicherry, she had her questions ready. These questions were the natural result of her effort of inner development, and some of them we know because she has mentioned them.     

Life on the outside (continued)         When the Mother's yogic exploits allowed her to function in the world of human beings, she took up the daily burden we have described before and which would be trying for a person half her age and free from the ordeals she had to endure. She had become famous and few still saw her as 'the French Lady.' In the eyes of the public, Indian and international, she was now a spiritual personality of the first rank, and people of all kinds went to see her or wrote to her for advice, for her decision in all kinds of matters, or simply for blessings. She seldom refused anything. Living concretely in the great Unity, she considered every deta

The supramental Manifestation         'The lights had been turned off at the Playground after the reading of some passages from The Synthesis of Yoga and the children's questions. They all sat on the ground in a semicircle around her. One heard the sea in the distance, and the beam of the lighthouse swept over the top of the walls — two short flashes, one long. It was the "Wednesday meditation." One saw Mother in the dark, seated in her low chair, bent somewhat forward, with a Plumeria flower between her motionless fingers. She always looked white, this Mother, even when dressed in red or in whatever colour, as if something radiated through her body, a kind of white lumi

Queen Tiy         'About two years ago,' the Mother said in May 1956, 'I had a vision in connection with Z's son. She had brought him to me — he was not quite one year old — so I had just seen him in the room where I receive people. He gave me the impression of someone very well known to me, but I didn't know who or what. Then, in the afternoon of the same day [during her midday rest], I had a vision. It was a vision of ancient Egypt, and I was somebody there: I was the High Priestess, or whomever. I didn't know whom, for [during the experience] one doesn't tell oneself "I am so-and-so." The identification is complete, there is no objectivation, so I don't know.         'I was in an a

Tokyo         The first year of their stay in Japan was spent for the most part in Tokyo, in the house of Dr Shumei Okawa and his wife. Okawa was a university professor in Tokyo, teaching Asian History. He was also a member of the Black Dragon Society and 'the leading spirit of the pan-Asiatic movement in Japan... a person of considerable influence, who is deeply interested in Indian affairs and is bitterly opposed to British rule in India' — according to a Government of India document reporting the publication of 'a photograph of Arabindo Ghosh and a eulogistic article on his work'   Page-172 by Okawa in AsiaJiron8 (The Richards were shadowed by people spying for the British durin

Pondicherry merges with India         On 15 August 1954 the French comptoir of Pondichéry became a Union Territory of India. On that day the Mother read aloud her application for dual citizenship. 'I want to mark this day by the expression of a long cherished wish, that of becoming an Indian citizen. From the first time   I came to India — in 1914 — I felt that India is my true country, the country of my soul and spirit. I had decided to realize this wish as soon as India would be free. But I had to wait still longer because of my heavy responsibilities for the Ashram here in Pondicherry. Now the time has come when I can declare myself.