Indian Lives Series Book 4 – The Mother

by Peter Heehs

English 352 pages 1 edition

In 1914, a Frenchwoman named Mirra Alfassa arrived in India and met the revolutionary-turned-philosopher Sri Aurobindo. She would come to be known as the Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator and the guiding force behind his ashram in Pondicherry. Born into a family of well-to-do Ottoman Jews, Mirra’s early life was shaped by art, intellectual inquiry and a longing for spiritual awakening. Her journey took her across countries, from Paris and Algeria to Japan and finally India, where she embraced a vision of unity that transcended national and cultural boundaries. Declaring herself ‘Indian by choice’, she sought to harmonize the wisdom of the East with the modernity of the West. Based on Peter Heehs’s extensive research in the archives and libraries in France, Israel and India and his vast knowledge of Mirra’s writings and talks, The Mother is a captivating portrait of a foreign-born woman who made India her home and left an indelible imprint on it. This is the fourth book in the Indian Lives series, edited and curated by Ramachandra Guha.