Blanketed In Her Bliss-The Mother, Pondicherry

By Staff

Monday, February 4, 2008, 12:45

Her mortal remains rests in Pondicherry, India but She rests eternally in the hearts of all, ever active and vibrant to the spiritual and material calls of her devotees. 'The Mother', as she is fondly adored and worshipped, her original name Mirra dropped as people started identifying her inherent motherly qualities.

Early Life
Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris to her Turkish father and a Jewish Egyptian mother in 1878. Maurice and Mathilde Ismaloun were their names. Mother recoganized her spiritual tendencies at the tender age of five.

She often went into a blissful trance while she rested in an easy chair or during meals. She was exposed to psychic and spiritual experiences at between the age of eleven and thirteen. She was able to travel out of her body at the age of twelve through occultism. She provided refuge to people at the early age of thirteen.

Mother was enrolled in a art school at fourteen. At fifteen she wrote a mystical essay for school called 'The Path Of Later On' which could have been as a result of her peep into her future. At around nineteen and twenty she experienced a conscious and constant union with the prevailing divinity. Mother was then exposed to Vivekananda's 'Raja Yoga' and the Bhagvatgita which helped her to progress rapidly in spirituality. Mother was exposed to encounters with a dark figure of an Asian in her dreams which she related to Krishna.

In about 1905 Mother was tutored in occultism under the guidance of Max Theon and his wife. She attracted a a lot of spiritually inclined to the group she founded under the name 'L'Idee Nouvelle' ( The New Idea). Later in 1912 Mother founded another group called the 'Cosmique' for those seeking self knowledge. In 1910 Mother came to the complete orbit of divine will with the withering of her personal will in all her undertakings.

The Mother And Aurobindo
On the 7th of March 1914, Mother met Sri Aurobindo with her husband Paul Richard. She later related that, on seeing Sri Aurobindo Her mind flung into a depth of peace with an imposing silence without the interruption of thoughts. Mother and Paul had to leave from Pondicherry for Paris in 1915 on account of the First World War. They then migrated to Japan where they spent the next four years. It was there Mother was said to have met Rabindranath Tagore. However in 1920 Mother returned to Pondicherry with Paul and worked with Sri Aurobindo on bringing down the Supramental power to be established in the earthly life.

Mother also engaged in regular evening talks and group meditation. With the increasing number of participants a need to develop an ashram was considered. The Aurobindo Ashran was founded on 24th November 1926. Sri Aurobindo soon chose to retire from the public view announcing that Mother would hence forth be the caretaker of the ashram. He further identified Mother with 'Sakti'. In His letter's and instructions to His disciples, Sri Aurobindo asked them to take to the path of spiritual surrender unto Mother.

Sri Aurobindo also encouraged Mother to wear saris which she accumulated about five hundred of them. It is said that when she was offered a lakh (1,00,000 ) for a single one, she sold them to in order to raise funds for the ashram during the financially difficult years following Sri Aurobindo's physical departure. A few others she distributed among the devotees.

Mother also considered flowers of possessing spiritual significance. She gave spiritual names to over 800 varieties of flowers. Flowers are considered as carriers of Her blessings and Grace. It is a common sight to find Mother's devotees worshipping Her with colourful flowers.

Auroville
Auroville is the materialization of Mother's dream to have a common place for spiritual aspirants without the difficulty for food and shelter. Auroville or 'City Of Dawn' houses above 2000 people at present .The Matrimandir in Auroville has in its centre a meditation hall. It is constructed in such a way that sun light from a small hole in the roof entered the place. A newly added lens facilitates in having the light focused on a crystal in the central chamber. The dream city was inaugurated by Mother and the soil from all the independent nations of that period, 1960s, was mixed and placed in a lotus shaped urn to signify unity and brotherhood.

The Mother was an embodiment of spirituality guiding all those who took refuge under Her until she shed her body on 17th Nov 1973. Numerous are the miracles performed by Mother in the lives of Her devotees, be it spiritual or material. It is a continuing story of Her grace manifesting itself in different aspects of Her devotees' life. Hence lets hail the Mother divine to fill us with Her bountiful bliss