The Mother

The Mother was born on 21 February 1878 in Paris. A student at ,the Academie Julian, she became an accomplished artist. Gifted from an early age with a capacity for spiritual and occult experience, she went to Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1906 and 1907 to study occultism with the adepts Max Theon and his wife Alma. Between 1911 and 1913 she gave a number of talks to various groups of seekers in Paris.
  In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondicherry , South India, to meet,the Indian mystic SriAurobindo. After a stay of eleven months, she was obliged by the outbreak of the First World War to return to France. A year later she went to Japan, where she remained for four years.ln April 1920 the Mother rejoined Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, Six years later, when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded, Sri Aurobindo entrusted its material and spiritual charge to her, for he considered her not a disciple but his spiritual equal and collaborator, Under her guidance, which covered a period of nearly fifty years, the Ashram grew into a large, many faceted spiritual community. She also establisheda school, the Sri Aurobihdo International Centre of Education, in 1952, and an international township, Auroville, in 1968. The Mother Left her body on 17 November 1973.