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The Mother considered the birthday as a "very special day" in one's life because it is "one of those days when our soul comes in contact with the Eternal", she once said to a disciple.
In the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, birthday is considered as a day of Grace. During the early years in the Ashram, sadhakas used to meditate with the Mother on their birthdays. The Mother also used to give birthday messages to many of them.
This book presents a facsimile collection of birthday messages given to Champaklal and Kamalaben regularly since 1940 by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The book also includes a few of the symbolic paintings offered to the Mother by Tehmi, a devotee, which she later gave to Champaklal on his birthday.
About the Authors:
Born in Paris in 1878, the Mother studied painting at an art studio and became an accomplished artist. Primarily interested in inner development, she was associated with several groups of spiritual seekers in France.
In 1914 she journeyed to India to meet the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo in Puducherry and settled there permanently in 1920. For nearly fifty years, she was the head of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, from its founding in 1926 until her passing in 1973. She also established a school, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, in 1952, and an international township, Auroville, in 1968.
Sri Aurobindo was an Indian/Hindu nationalist, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. After a short political career in which he became one of leaders of the early movement for the freedom of India from British rule, Sri Aurobindo turned to the development and practice of a new spiritual path which he called the "integral yoga," the aim of which was to further the evolution of life on earth by establishing a high level of spiritual consciousness which he called the Supermind that would represent a divine life.
Sri Aurobindo wrote prolifically in English on his spiritual philosophy and practice, on social and political development, on Indian culture including extensive commentaries and translations of ancient Indian scriptures, on literature and poetry including the writing of much spiritual poetry.
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