A portrait of love, care, sincerity, ceaseless work and spiritual luminosity

Book Review TAMIL The Mother PREMA NANDAKUMAR VARAM TARUM ANNAI: Pa. Su. Ramanan; Vikadan Prasuram, 757, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002. Rs. 50. The Hindu Tuesday, Feb 27, 2007

SHE WAS born Mirra Alfassa in France in an affluent family, was drawn to Eastern religions, came to Puducherry in 1914, met Sri Aurobindo and collaborated with him in the yoga of transformation. When Sri Aurobindo experienced a spiritual descent he withdrew into seclusion in 1926. From then onwards he concentrated on his yoga and writing of the epic, Savitri. Mirra Alfassa took over the day-to-day running of the Ashram and became the spiritual guide of the sadhaks who converged upon Pondicherry in search of illumination. Henceforth she came to be known as the Mother. When Sri Aurobindo entered mahasamadhi in 1950, she continued to inspire his disciples who were now spread all over the world.

During the 53 years the Mother lived in Puducherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram expanded triumphantly under her direct guidance as she established an international centre of education and inaugurated the global township of Auroville. This is a very brief introduction which carefully avoids hagiology and presents a portrait of love, care, sincerity, ceaseless work and spiritual luminosity. Appropriately placed photographs and an excellent get-up make the monograph a dependable guide to the Aurobindonian world.