THE
MOTHER'S LIFE AND WORKS
Who is the Mother? Sri Aurobindo has declared in no uncertain terms : "The one whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence." And the Divine Mother, in her great love for humanity has taken a human body for only so could we, her children, approach her and follow her in the path of the Supramental Yoga. She once said : "I belong to no nation, no civilisation, no society, no race, but to the Divine. I obey no master, no ruler, no law, no social convention, but the Divine. To Him I have surrendered all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His Will, with complete joy; and nothing in His service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight."
The Mother was born in Paris on 21st February 1878. But her parents were not French. Her father, Maurice Alfassa, was a wealthy Turkish banker from Adrianopolis and her mother, Mathilda Ismaloun, came from Cairo. Turkey and Egypt are, in a way, a physical link between the East and the West. Later in her life, the Mother was to become a "golden bridge" in the domain of the spirit. A year before her birth, her parents settled in France, France which was then the fountain-head of Western culture. The Mother's childhood name was Mirra. From the beginning Mirra was an unusual child. At a very young age she became conscious of her mission upon earth:
" Even at the age of five Mirra felt that she must know herself and be master of herself and not a mere plaything in the hands of other forces: "I
knew nobody who could help me and I did not have the chance that you have, someone
who can tell you: `This is what you have to do!' There was nobody to tell me that.
I had to find it out all by myself. Mirra went to school in Paris and in everything she studied there was a difference. She describes how her mother dealt with her: "When, as a child, I used to complain to my mother about food or any such small matter she would always tell me to go and do my work or pursue my studies instead of bothering about trifles. She would ask me if I had the complacent idea that I was born for comfort. `You are born to realise the highest ideal,' she would say and send me packing. She was quite right..." With her studies Mirra started playing tennis, a sport she remained fond of throughout her life. To progress faster, instead of playing with her comrades of the same age, she chose older and better players. It did not matter that she lost. As she said : "I never won, but I learnt much." Presence of a Supra-Human Force Mirra was always conscious of a more than human force behind her, often entering her body and working there in a supernormal way. This force she knew to be her own secret being. In Mirra's school there was a boy of thirteen, a bully who used to mock at girls, saying that they were good for nothing. Mirra was only seven, but one day she confronted him and asked him, `Will you shut up?' He kept mocking. Suddenly she took hold of him, lifted him up from the ground and threw him down with a thump. She later realised that this was a manifestation of the force of Mahakali. Mirra often liked to play in the forests of Fontainebleu. One day when she was climbing a steep hill, her foot slipped and she began to fall down. The road below was strewn with sharp black flint stones. Suddenly she felt somebody supporting her, in a lap as it were, and slowly bringing her down. Her companions were glad and astonished to find that when she reached the ground she was standing safely on her feet. But the most beautiful of her experiences of this early period has been described by the Mother in her "Prayers and Meditations". Mirra took an interest in everything but was specially fond of music and painting. At the age of sixteen she joined one of the biggest studios in Paris to learn drawing and painting. She was the youngest there. Mirra was always grave and busy with her work. Her fellow-students called her the Sphinx. They came to her for advice, to settle some quarrel or even to take up their case before the authorities. Mirra could read their thoughts and she replied more often to their thoughts than to their words, which sometimes made people very uncomfortable. Mirra grew up in Paris, the metropolis of the great painters of Impressionism. It was the time of Matisse, Manet, Cezanne, and Mirra lived and moved in this rich and creative cultural milieu. She had completed her studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and some of her paintings had been exhibited at the Salon. She had also become a gifted musician. But it was always the call of the Spirit which was foremost in her life. She later said: "Between the ages of 11 and 13 a series of psychic and spiritual experiences revealed to me not only the existence of God, but man's possibility of uniting with Him, of realising Him integrally in consciousness and action, of manifesting Him upon earth in a life divine. This, along with a practical discipline for its fulfilment, was given to me during my body's sleep by several teachers, some of whom I met afterwards on the physical plane. Later on, as the interior and exterior development proceeded, the spiritual and psychic relation with one of these Beings became more and more clear and frequent." Although Mirra knew little of Indian philosophy and religion at that time, she called the special Being "Krishna". She made a sketch of him and was firmly convinced that one day she would meet him on earth. Actually it was none other than Sri Aurobindo... Apart from these inner visions Mirra had no one to turn to for guidance or help.
Union with the Divine Presence "Between the ages of eighteen and twenty I had attained a conscious and constant union with the divine Presence and... I had done it all alone, with absolutely nobody to help me, not even books, you understand! When I found one - there came to my hands a little later Vivekananda's Raja Yoga - it seemed to me so wonderful a thing, you see, that someone could explain something to me! This made me gain in a few months what would have perhaps taken me years to do. " When Mirra was 21 she met an Indian in France who gave her a copy of the Bhagavadgita. It was a very bad French translation but the Indian asked Mirra to take Krishna as the Immanent Godhead, the Divine within ourselves. For Mirra this was now the most important thing to be discovered, which had to be put before everything else. And she revealed afterwards that in one month the work was done and she had the experience: "When I found, as I said, a book, a man, just to give me a little indication, to tell me, `Here you are. If you do this the path will open before you', why, I rushed headlong like a... like a cyclone, and nothing could have stopped me." Mirra was deeply absorbed in her inner life which made her sometimes oblivious to the outer surroundings. But she was also well shielded by a powerful force. Once while walking near the Luxembourg Gardens, she crossed a dangerous intersection completely absorbed in a deep inner concentration. Suddenly she received a shock like a blow, as if something had hit her. She jumped back instinctively. The next moment a tram went past. "It was the tram that I had felt at a little more than arm's length. It had touched the aura, the aura of protection - it was very strong at that time. I was deeply immersed in occultism and I knew how to keep it - the aura of protection had been hit and that had literally thrown me backwards, as if I had received a physical shock." It was a time of one-pointed effort in the spiritual life. And though the work was all within, spiritual seekers were naturally drawn to her. It was thus in 1906 that a small group called "Idea" was formed under her guidance. This was the first of many such groups which formed around her from time to time. The participants met regularly for several years on Wednesday evenings and discussed spiritual and occult matters with Mirra taking the lead. She was then twenty-eight. Occultism
"Tlemcen is a small town in Southern Algeria, almost on the borders of the Sahara... The population there is mainly Arabs and rich merchants; indeed, the city is very prosperous - it was, for I don't know what it is like now; I am speaking to you about things that happened at the beginning of this century - there were very prosperous merchants there and from time to time these Arabs came to pay a visit to Monsieur Theon. They knew nothing, understood nothing, but they were very interested. One day, towards evening, one of these people arrived and started asking questions, ludicrous ones besides. Then Madame Theon said to me, `You will see, we are going to have a little fun'. In the verandah of the house there was a big dining-table, a very large table, like that, quite wide, with eight legs, four on each side. It was really massive, and heavy. Chairs had been arranged to receive this man, at a little distance from the table. He was at one end, Madame Theon at the other; I was seated on one side. Monsieur Theon also. All four of us were there. Nobody was near the table, all of us were at a distance from it. And so, he was asking questions, as I said rather ludicrous ones, on the powers one could have and what could be done with what he called `magic'... She looked at me and said nothing but sat very still. Suddenly I heard a cry, a cry of terror. The table started moving and with an almost heroic gesture went to attack the poor man seated at the one end! It went and bumped against him... Madame Theon had not touched it, nobody had touched it. She had only concentrated on the table and by her vital power had made it move. At first the table had wobbled a little, then had started moving slowly, then suddenly, as in one bound, it flung itself on that man, who went away and never came back! She also had the power to dematerialise and rematerialise things. And she never said anything, she did not boast, she did not say, `I am going to do something', she did not speak of anything; she just did it quietly. She did not attach much importance to these things, she knew they were just a proof that there are other forces than purely material ones. When I used to go out in the evenings - towards the end of the afternoon I used to go for a walk with Monsieur Theon to see the countryside, go walking in the mountains, the neighbouring villages - I used to lock my door; it was a habit with me, I always locked my door... But when I returned from the walk and opened my door - which was locked, and therefore nobody could have entered - I would always find a kind of little garland of flowers on my pillow. They were flowers which grew in the garden, they are called Belles de Nuit; we have them here, they open in the evening and have a wonderful fragrance. There was a whole alley of them with big bushes as high as this; they are remarkable flowers - I believe it's the same here, on the same bush there are different coloured flowers: yellow, red, mixed, violet.... When I came back, these flowers were in my room!... She never told me how she did it, but she certainly did not go in there. Once she said to me, `Were there no flowers in your room?' `Ah! Yes, indeed', I said. And that was all. Then I knew it was she who had put them there."
When Mirra returned to Paris Theon accompanied her. While at sea they were assailed by a violent storm. The sea became very rough with high waves and the ship was tossed about so badly that the passengers got panicky. Theon looked at Mirra and asked her to stop it. The Mother described what happened:
The well-known Tibetologist, Madame Alexandra David Neel was a member of the study group started by the Mother in Paris. She describes her impressions of the Mother: "We spent marvellous evenings together with friends, believing in a great future... I remember her elegance, her accomplishments, her intellect endowed with mystical tendencies. In spite of her great love and sweetness, in spite even of her inherent ease of making herself forgotten after achieving some noble deed, she couldn't manage to hide very well the tremendous force she bore within herself." After her return from Algeria, Mirra had started another study group called `Cosmique' having significantly twelve members. She gave a talk to this group on "What is the aim to be achieved, the work to be done, and the means of achievement." She spoke here of the New Consciousness which has to be brought down and of founding collectively an ideal society in a place suited to the flowering of the new race, that of the `Sons of God'. Mirra was only thirty-four. It would be another two years before she would meet Sri Aurobindo and another fourteen years before the Ashram would come into being. But already she had chalked out clearly her future programme of collaboration with Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry in 1910. The same year Mirra's husband, Paul Richard, also came to Pondicherry for some political work. He met Sri Aurobindo several times and on his return to France told Mirra about him. Mirra now felt irresistibly drawn towards India and decided to come here. At this time she maintained a spiritual diary where she noted every day her aspirations and experiences. This was published later as "Prayers and Meditations" of the Mother: In the introduction the Mother wrote: "Some give their soul to the Divine, some their life, some offer their work, some their money. A few consecrate all of themselves and all they have - soul, life, work, wealth; these are the true children of God. Others give nothing, these whatever their position, power and riches are for the Divine purpose valueless cyphers. This book is meant for those who aspire for an utter consecration to the Divine." On 3rd March 1914, two days before leaving Paris, the Mother wrote in her diary: "As the day of departure draws near, I enter into a kind of self-communion; I turn with a fond solemnity towards all those thousand little nothings around us which have silently, for so many years, played their role of faithful friends; I thank them gratefully for all the charm they were able to give to the outer side of our life. I wish that if they are destined to pass into other hands than ours for any length of time, these hands may be gentle to them and know all the respect that is due to what Thy divine Love, O Lord, has brought out from the dark inconscience of chaos. Then I turn towards the future and my gaze becomes more solemn still. What it holds in store for us I do not know nor care to know; outer circumstances have no importance at all; my only wish is that this may be for us the beginning of a new inner period, in which, more detached from material things, we could be more conscious of Thy law and more one-pointedly consecrated to its manifesting; that it may be a period of greater light, greater love, of a more perfect dedication to Thy cause. In a silent adoration I contemplate Thee..." On 6th March 1914 Mirra and Paul Richard boarded the Japanese ship "Kaga Maru" and sailed for Colombo. The moment was approaching which was to bring about a momentous change in the Mother's life and the world's history. The Mother was then thirty-six. | the mother | her life & works | symbol | photo gallery | audio message | | home | sri aurobindo | about sas | sas activities | calendar | feedback | |
Today,
"I
started contemplating or doing my Yoga from the age of four. There was a small
chair for me on which I used to sit still, engrossed in my meditation. A very
brilliant light would then descend over my head and produce some turmoil inside
my brain. Of course I understood nothing, it was not the age for understanding.
But gradually I began to feel, `I shall have to do some tremendously great work
that nobody yet knows.
"When
I was a child of about thirteen, for nearly a year every night as soon as I had
gone to bed it seemed to me that I went out of my body and rose straight up above
the house, then above the city, very high above. Then I used to see myself clad
in a magnificent golden robe, much longer than myself; and as I rose higher, the
robe would stretch, spreading out in a circle around me to form a kind of immense
roof over the city. Then I would see men, women, children, old men, the sick,
the unfortunate coming out from every side; they would gather under the outspread
robe, begging for help, telling of their miseries, their suffering, their hardships.
In reply, the robe, supple and alive, would extend towards each one of them individually,
and as soon as they had touched it, they were comforted or healed, and went back
into their bodies happier and stronger than they had come out of them. Nothing
seemed more beautiful to me, nothing could make me happier; and all the activities
of the day seemed dull and colourless and without any real life, beside this activity
of the night which was the true life for me. Often while I was rising up in this
way, I used to see at my left an old man, silent and still, who looked at me with
kindly affection and encouraged me by his presence. This old man, dressed in a
long dark purple robe, was the personification - as I came to know later - of
him who is called the Man of Sorrows." 
Krishna
During
this time Mirra met a Polish Jew, Max Theon and his wife Alma. Both of them were
very advanced in occultism and lived at Tlemcen, near the Sahara in South Algeria.
Mirra spent about two years at Tlemcen, practising occultism. She recounted one
day, some very interesting incidents of that period to the children of the Ashram:
"I
went to my cabin, lay down there, and leaving my body went freely to the open
sea. There I found innumerable formless beings were madly jumping about and creating
havoc over the waters. I approached them and very humbly and sweetly appealed
to them to stop this mischief saying, `What can you gain by torturing these poor
people? Please calm down and save their lives.' I went on remonstrating and appealing
to them for half an hour, after which they refrained from their activities. The
troubled sea became calm. I then went back to my body and came out of the cabin.
When I went on deck I found all the people gathered there happily engaged in jovial
talk."   |  |
   | |