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. In the introduction the Mother wrote:
“Some give their soul to the Divine, some their life, some offer their work, some their money. A few consecrate all of themselves and all they have-soul, life, work, wealth; these are the true children of God. Others give nothing, these whatever their position, power and riches are for the Divine purpose valueless cyphers. This book is meant for those who aspire for an utter consecration to the Divine.”
On March 3, 1914, two days before leaving Paris, the Mother wrote in her diary:
“As the day of departure draws near, I enter into a kind of self-communion; I turn with a fond solemnity towards all those thousand little nothings around us which have silently, for so many years, played their role of faithful friends; I thank them gratefully for all the charm they were able to give to the outer side of our life. I wish that if they are destined to pass into other hands than ours for any length of time, these hands may be gentle to them and know all the respect that is due to what Thy divine Love, O Lord, has brought out from the dark inconscience of chaos.
Then I turn towards the future and my gaze becomes more solemn still. What it holds in store for us I do not know nor care to know; outer circumstances have no importance at all; my only wish is that this may be for us the beginning of a new inner period, in which, more detached from material things, we could be more conscious of Thy law and more one-pointedly consecrated to its manifesting; that it may be a period of greater light, greater love, of a more perfect dedication to Thy cause. In a silent adoration I contemplate Thee...”
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.
The Mother also experienced immediately the great power of Sri Aurobindo's realizations:
“[W]hen I first met Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, I was in deep concentration, seeing things in the Supermind, things that were to be but which were somehow not manifesting. I told Sri Aurobindo what I had seen and asked him if they would manifest. He simply said, ‘yes’. And immediately I saw that the Supramental had touched the earth and was beginning to be realised! This was the first time I had witnessed the power to make real what is true.”
The next day the Mother wrote in her diary:
“It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth.”
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.
Along with this a society was founded to unite all those who were open to these ideas and wanted to work for its realization. It was called ‘L’Idée Nouvelle’ or ‘The New Idea’.
