The Mother (of Sri Aurobindo Ashram)

Born in Paris to wealthy parents, Mirra Alfassa's spiritual quest brought her to India where she joined forces with Sri Aurobindo for the realisation of his vision of the future. She was the main force behind the setting up of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry, and while Aurobindo was the guru, she became the 'Mother' to the inmates of the Ashram. Their vision of a world populated by 'superconscious' men is of special relevance today, when most of the civilized world, recoiling from the 'progress glut' is trying to remove the disharmonies it has inherited inherited in the wake of technological advances. The benign and fascinating personality of the Mother is brought to life in all its vividness and complexity in this short biography published on the eve of the mother's centenary on 21 February 1978.

About the Author

Prema Nandakumar is well known for her standard critical study of Sri Aurobindo's Savitri and for her learned books on poet Bharati's life and works and sensitive renderings of his poems into English. As a child, she grew up ' in an environment where the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were living presence'. This is reflected in the perceptive descriptions of the Mother-her vision, and the efforts to realize that vision.