CHAPTER 50 WINGS OF EXPANSION I Of the Mother's invisible ministry for the earth and man from the occult and spiritual planes, we know nothing - or hardly anything - whatsoever. The playground classes were on a different footing: people could see her, hear her, meditate with her, receive her blessings and even feel the force of her occasional ineluctable silences. Some daily went up to her to report and to receive instructions, most had their daily Balcony darshan in the morning, and there were also the four special Darshans during the year. There were her rare outings too, like the visits to the Island at Ariyankuppam wooded with casuarina trees or to h

CHAPTER 42 THE NEXT FUTURE I The Great Secret,1 subtitled "Six Monologues and a Conclusion", was conceived and written by the Mother with the collaboration of Nolini, Pavitra, Andre and Pranab. The Mother visualised a situation of extreme limit, as it were on the edge of time. A ship carrying six famous men indifferent spheres of life, and an unknown young man, who are all on their way to attend a World Conference on Human Progress, is wrecked in mid-ocean, and these seven "brought together, apparently by chance", take refuge in a lifeboat. The six famous men are the Statesman, the Writer, the Scientist, the Artist, the Industrialist and the Athlete. The Un

CHAPTER 9 DIVINE MAN-MAKING A couple of issues of the Arya had come out by mid-September 1914, but the War in Europe only raged the more furiously. Mirra was of Course busy with a hundred details relating to the new Society, the Arya (the English and French) and her own great sadhana for the earth. Her early morning meditations, the musings of her soul, and her dialogues with the Divine continued without a break, and the deeper poise and purpose of her being prevailed over the surface shadows and disturbances. On 30 September 1914, Mirra records an uplifting experience with Vedic as well as futurist intimations. "The realisation has appeared in all

CHAPTER 37 MOTHER ON EDUCATION I In her series of essays on education, the Mother discourses on its divers aspects - physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual - which together constitute the unified spectrum. Integral education is the inclusive white ray which, when seen through a prism, reveals the rainbow-colours. The Mother's book On Education thus embodies a complete vision, but it is also a step by step presentation. The first of the six essays, "The Science of Living: To Know Oneself is to Control Oneself",1 is rather more than a mere introduction to the series. Surely the science (or art) of living is much more than what passes for educa

CHAPTER 8 LAUNCHING THE ARYA I The decision to launch the Arya and its French counterpart, was taken by Sri Aurobindo and the Richards probably on 1 June 1914, and the prospectus (with specimen pages) was ready by mid-June to facilitate the enrolment of subscribers. It was decided that the first issue should come out on Sri Aurobindo's forty-second birthday, 15 August. All the three names - Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Paul and Mirra Richard - were to appear on the cover-page as Editors, and the journals were to be published from 41, Rue François Martin, Pondicherry. Writing to Motilal Roy in July, Sri Aurobindo expressed the fear that, if pronounced revoluti

CHAPTER 3 ENCOUNTERS AND EXPLORATIONS I The Woman I behold, whose vision seek All eyes and know not; t'ward whom climb The steps o' the world, and beats all wing of rhyme, And knows not; 'twixt the sun and moon Her inexpressible front enstarred Tempers the wrangling spheres to tune; Their divergent harmonies Concluded in the concord of her eyes, And vestal dances of her glad regard. FRANCIS THOMPSON A deathless meaning filled her mortal limbs; As in a golden vase's poignant line They seemed to carry the rhythmic sob of bliss Of earth's mute adoration towards heav

PART TWO MOTHER In her deep and great love for her children she has consented to put on herself the cloak of this obscurity, condescended to bear the attacks and torturing influences of the powers of the Darkness and the Falsehood, borne to pass through the portals of the birth that is a death, taken upon herself the pangs and sorrows and sufferings of the creation, since it seemed that thus alone could it be lifted to the Light and Joy and Truth and eternal Life.* *Sri Aurobindo, The Mother, SABCL Vol. 25, pp. 24-25. Page – 237 CHAPTER 16 FOUNDING THE ASHRAM I It is difficult if not impossible, even for those w

CHAPTER 35 MYSTERIOUS SACRIFICE I During 1949, Sri Aurobindo had busied himself, along with other activities, with the revision of his book. The Ideal of Human Unity, and dictated a postscript chapter bringing the discussion to the post-1945 era of Big Power rivalry and the cold war. This addition appeared as "The Ideal of Human Unity" in The Advent of February 1950. The War had no doubt ended in total victory for the Allies, but the new 'cold war' attitudes persisted and cast ominous shadows ahead: The actual danger presents itself rather as a clash between two opposing ideologies, one led by Russia and Red China and trying to impose the Com

CHAPTER 10 RETURN TO FRANCE I After a modest celebration of her birthday (she had completed thirty-seven years) on 21 February 1915, Mirra left for France the next day. She boarded the Japanese boat, the Kamo Maru, at Colombo, and the voyage was attended with all the uncertainties and dangers of the global War. Was she happy? was she sad? - she did not know. The surface mind was a blank for the nonce, it was as though she had been projected into a dark tunnel. Pondicherry and what that sanctified spot contained were left behind; but was all Pondicherry blotted out? Impossible! Where was she being carried - what clouds were they - what hideous o

CHAPTER 45 A NEW WORLD IS BORN I Time and again the Mother had reiterated by word, gesture, silence and action that Sri Aurobindo's Yoga was not for half-hearted or bargaining people. The consecration needed was akin to that of the poor woman of the woods who offered to a beggar - who was really Shiva in disguise - her only belonging: a half-eaten mango; and yet she was "filled with an inner glory", for she had made a perfect and absolute gift of all she was and had. When people came to the Mother asking for a restful life, she told them: "Not here. This is not a place for rest because you have worked hard, this is a place for working even harder than be