1914 – 1915 - Paris to Pondicherry

  • Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry in 1910. The same year Mirra’s husband, Paul Richard, also came to Pondicherry for some political work. He met Sri Aurobindo several times and on his return to France told Mirra about him. Mirra now felt irresistibly drawn towards India. At this time, she maintained a spiritual diary where she noted every day her aspirations and experiences. This was published later as the Prayers and Meditations.
  • On March 6, 1914 Mirra and Paul Richard boarded the Japanese ship Kaga Maru and sailed for Colombo. The moment was approaching which was to bring about a momentous change in the Mother’s life and the world’s history. The Mother was then thirty-six.
  • After disembarking at Colombo, Mirra and Paul Richard reached Pondicherry in the early hours of March 29, 1914. While approaching, the Mother had a vision of a huge column of light in the centre of Pondicherry and there was such a change in the physical quality of the atmosphere that she knew they were entering the aura of Sri Aurobindo. They met Sri Aurobindo on the very same day in the afternoon, and everything changed. The Mother saw in front of her the Krishna of her vision, who had been guiding her all along. She knew immediately that her place and work were at his side, here in India.
  • This was the beginning of a great spiritual collaboration. Its immediate outer expression was the publication of two journals, one in English and the other in French called the Arya. The Mother was the chief executive of the publications and took care of the smallest details. She wrote in her artistic handwriting the list of subscribers and maintained all the accounts. It was in the Arya that Sri Aurobindo poured forth, month after month, all the spiritual knowledge he had gained in the pursuit of yoga, and in which all his major works were published serially for the first time.