Читать книгу All Life Is Yoga: The Divine Mother - Sri Aurobindo - Страница 49

The Mother was born in Paris on 21 February 1878. Mirra, as the child was named, received her early education at home and at a private school. Later she attended an art studio in Paris belonging to the Academie Julian. An accomplished artist, some of her works were exhibited at the Paris Salon. She was also a talented pianist and writer.

Concerning her early spiritual life the Mother has written: “Between eleven and thirteen 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 a life divine.” In 1906 and 1907 the Mother studied occultism in Tlemcen, Algeria, with a Polish adept, Max Theon, and his wife. Returning to Paris she founded a group of spiritual seekers. Between 1911 and 1913 she gave many talks to various groups in Paris.

In 1914 the Mother sailed to Pondicherry, India, to meet Sri Aurobindo, Indian patriot, poet, philosopher and mystic. After a stay of eleven months she returned to France for a year and then went to Japan for nearly four years. In April 1920 the Mother returned to Pondicherry to resume her collaboration with Sri Aurobindo. With her coming, the number of disciples around Sri Aurobindo gradually increased. This informal grouping eventually took shape as the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. From its inception in November 1926 Sri Aurobindo entrusted the full material and spiritual charge of the Ashram to the Mother. Under her guidance, which covered a span of nearly fifty years, the Ashram has grown into a large, many-faceted community.

Among the Mother’s other accomplishments during this period were the creation of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in 1952 and the founding of Auroville in 1968. This growing township, located eight kilometres from Pondicherry, is a bold experiment in international living with a high spiritual ideal.

The Mother personally supervised the daily activities of the Ashram until the age of eighty-four. In March 1962 she retired to her room, but from there continued during the next decade to guide the Ashram and receive people regularly. On 17 November 1973, at the age of ninety-five, the Mother left her body.

About the relationship between the Mother and himself, Sri Aurobindo has written: “The Mother’s consciousness and mine are the same”, and again: “There is no difference between the Mother’s path and mine; we have and have always had the same path, the path that leads to the supramental change and the divine realisation....”

On her ninetieth birthday, the Mother summarised her life and work in this way: “The reminiscences will be short.

“I came to India to meet Sri Aurobindo, I remained in India to live with Sri Aurobindo. When he left his body, I continued to live here in order to do his work which is, by serving the Truth and enlightening mankind, to hasten the rule of the Divine’s Love upon earth.”

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