The Mother (Mirra Alfassa)

Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, to a Turkish-Jewish father and an Egyptian-Jewish mother. She studied art and exhibited as a painter in Paris, and from her youth had inner experiences that she later described as spiritual. In the first years of the twentieth century she studied occultism, spending time in Algeria with the occultist Max Théon, and led a small spiritual study group in Paris.

In 1914 she travelled to Pondicherry with her husband, Paul Richard, and met Sri Aurobindo, whom she recognized as her spiritual guide. With him they launched the review Arya. After several years in France and Japan, she returned to Pondicherry in 1920 and remained there for the rest of her life.

When Aurobindo withdrew into seclusion in 1926, she took charge of the community that became the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, organizing its life, work and schools, and Aurobindo described her as the embodiment of the divine Mother. After his death she continued his work, and in 1968 founded Auroville. Her talks and conversations, including those recorded in her last years, were published in many volumes. She died in Pondicherry in 1973.