My visit to Pondicherry and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram reconnected me with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. There is definitely a strong shakti present in the town, the Mother’s force that is almost palpable. It came over me like a wave and took me out of my ordinary consciousness, sometimes for hours on end. It literally flattened me, putting me in a state in which I didn’t want to move. Sri Aurobindo’s force was also there, particularly at his samadhi shrine, in which I could feel and experience his life and teachings. But the Mother’s shakti permeated the entire city and never left one.

Pondicherry provided the opportunity to visit with M.P. Pandit, who I had not seen since he stopped coming to the West a few years earlier. I had kept in touch with him by correspondence and he had reviewed my various books that had come out in the meantime.

One day I was attending one of Pandit’s weekly meditations that followed his weekly talks. Suddenly I started to breathe deeply and felt my consciousness open up to a higher plane. The vision of the Mother of the ashram unfolded a  the White Goddess Tara, a figure of great beauty, light and compassion. Tibetan monks were doing chants to her and seeking to project her energy in order to help save the human race from the ignorance and illusion in which it was mired. They were meditating upon suffering humanity and using the Mother’s force to uplift people.