She is the Force, the inevitable Word,
Savitri
The magnet of our difficult ascent,
The Sun from which we kindle all our suns,
The Light that leans from the unrealised Vasts,
The joy that beckons from the impossible,
The Mother
Mirra Alfassa, known as The Mother, was the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo and the guiding force behind the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. Born on February 21, 1878, in Paris to a Turkish father and Egyptian mother, she pursued art and occult studies early, experiencing profound spiritual visions as a child. She met Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry in 1914, recognizing him as her destined partner in the work of transforming human consciousness through Integral Yoga.
Early Spiritual Quest
The Mother traveled widely, including to Japan, before settling permanently in Pondicherry in 1920 after World War I. Her inner experiences aligned with Sri Aurobindo's vision of supramental consciousness, leading her to embody the Divine Shakti or creative Force. By 1926, when Sri Aurobindo withdrew into seclusion, she assumed leadership of the small group of disciples, formally establishing the Sri Aurobindo Ashram on November 24 of that year.
Ashram Development
Under her direction, the ashram expanded from a few dozen members into a thriving spiritual community, managing daily life, finances, and sadhana with meticulous care. She introduced practices like collective meditation and emphasized free progress in yoga, turning the ashram into a laboratory for spiritual evolution. In 1952, she founded the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education to nurture the youth for a divine life.
Auroville and Legacy
On February 28, 1968, The Mother inaugurated Auroville, an experimental township near Pondicherry dedicated to human unity and supramental transformation, with soil from over 120 countries in its foundation urn. She became an Indian citizen in 1954 while retaining her French roots, declaring India as her soul's country. The Mother passed away on November 17, 1973, continuing Sri Aurobindo's mission until the end.
The Mother
This yoga implies not only the realisation of God, but an entire consecration and change of the inner and outer life till it is fit to manifest a divine consciousness and become part of a divine work. This means an inner discipline far more exacting and difficult than mere ethical and physical austerities. One must not enter on this path, far vaster and more arduous than most ways of yoga, unless one is sure of the psychic call and of one's readiness to go through to the end.
Sri Aurobindo
Now remember one thing.
The Mother
Sri Aurobindo and myself are one and the same consciousness, one and the same person. Only, when this force or this presence, which is the same, passes through your individual consciousness, it puts on a form, an appearance which differs according to your temperament, your aspiration, your need, the particular turn of your being. Your individual consciousness is like a filter, a pointer, if I may say so; it makes a choice and fixes one possibility out of the infinity of divine possibilities.
Since, the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of Consciousness, I was there.
To walk through life armoured against fear, peril and disaster,
only two things are needed, two that go always together:
the Grace of the Divine
and on your side an inner state made up of
faith, sincerity and surrender.
Let your faith be pure, candid and perfect.
- Sri Aurobindo
Om Anandamayi chaitanyamayi satyamayi perme.
This yoga implies not only the realisation of God, but an entire consecration and change of the inner and outer life till it is fit to manifest a divine consciousness and become part of a divine work. This means an inner discipline far more exacting and difficult than mere ethical and physical austerities. One must not enter on this path, far vaster and more arduous than most ways of yoga, unless one is sure of the psychic call and of one's readiness to go through to the end.
Sri Aurobindo
as The Mother
is the divine Conscious Force
that dominates
all existance.
- Sri Aurobindo
O Sun-Word, thou shalt raise the earth-soul to Light
Savitri
And bring down God into the lives of men;
Earth shall be my work-chamber and my house,
My garden of life to plant a seed divine.
When all thy work in human time is done,
The mind of earth shall be a home of light,
The life of earth a tree growing towards heaven,
The body of earth a tabernacle of God.
The Mother
All Nature dumbly calls to her alone
- Savitri
To heal with her feet the aching throb of life
And break the seals on the dim soul of man
And kindle her fire in the closed heart of things.