Mother & the Balcony Darshan

April 24, 1920 has a special place in the hearts of every devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It was this day that the Mother (originally known as Mirra Alfassa) arrived in Pondicherry, India to spend the rest of her life here.

The above is the photo & the video of the Mother. She can be seen giving darshan to her devotees. When the Mother was alive, she used to give darshan in the mornings from her balcony, which faced the Rue Saint Gilles situated in the Ashram building. When Mother was giving Darshan from the balcony, She was doing a spiritual feat everyday. She took a look at each member assembled on the road, gathered their aspirations into Her, and offered them all to the Lord. Then She turned Her face upwards.

How the balcony darshan started...
The origin of this Balcony Darshan was the obstinacy of Sri Aurobindo’s cook. Sri Aurobindo’s kitchen was across the road from the balcony. One day when there was some delay or difficulty about cooking, Mother appeared on the balcony and moved things with the cook. The next day the cook insisted on Mother appearing on the balcony for her to start cooking. Sadhaks gathered under the balcony to have a Darshan of the Mother. The Balcony Darshan came to stay.


The Mother had come to meet Sri Aurobindo in 1914. But, after staying here for 11 months, she had to return to France due to the First World War. She lived in France and Japan for about five years and returned to Pondicherry.

The Mother's Darshan clips. This video above has been superposed on Her reading of the prayer "Gloire a Toi, Seigneur (Glory to Thee O Lord)." Sri Aurobindo's translation into English follows:

Glory to Thee, O Lord, who triumphest over every obstacle.

Grant that nothing in us shall be an obstacle to Thy work.

Grant that nothing may retard Thy manifestation.

Grant that Thy will may be done in all things and at every moment.

We stand here before Thee that Thy will may be fulfilled in us, in every element, in every activity of our being, from our supreme heights to the smallest cells of the body.

Grant that we may be faithful to Thee utterly and for ever.

We would be completely under Thy influence to the exclusion of every other.

Grant that we may never forget to own towards Thee a deep, an intense gratitude.

Grant that we may never squander any of the marvellous things that are Thy gifts to us at every instant.

Grant that everything in us may collaborate in Thy work and all be ready for Thy realisation.

Glory to Thee, O Lord, Supreme Master of all realisation.Give us a faith active and ardent, absolute and unshakable in Thy victory.

On 12 October 1959, the Mother wrote to a young disciple:
"Every morning at the balcony, after establishing a conscious contact with each of those who are present, I identify myself with the Supreme Lord and dissolve myself completely in Him. Then my body, completely passive, is nothing but a channel through which the Lord passes His forces freely and pours upon all His Light, His Consciousness and His Joy, according to each one's receptivity."


Consequently, this daily darshan too used to affect variously different individuals, and even the same individual on different days. Some have glimpsed in the Mother one or another of their favourite Powers and Personalities of Mahashakti.


She further explains....
"At the Balcony, for example. When I come on the Balcony I make a special concentration, you notice that I look at everybody, don't you; I look, see, pass my eyes over every one, I know all who are there, and where they are, and I give each one exactly what he needs; I see his condition and give him what is necessary. It can go fast, because otherwise I would keep you there for half an hour, but I do it, that's what I do. That's the only reason why I come out, because otherwise I carry you in my consciousness. I carry you in my consciousness always, without seeing you, I do what is necessary. But here it is a moment when I can do it by touching the physical directly, you see; otherwise it is through the mind that it acts, the mind or the vital. But here I touch the physical directly through the sight, the contact of sight; and that's what I do -- each time."

What people see around the Mother is first her aura. ..and, secondly, the forces of Light that pour out from her when she concentrates, as she always does on the roof for instance. ...People do not see it usually because it is a subtle physical and not a gross material phenomenon.'"

The sadhaks and disciples who had developed this subtle sight -and those that had the higher psychic sensitivity were able to see the aura, and even after the Mother's withdrawal from the balcony, some of the devotees are known to have stayed on for a while longer with an abstracted and self- absorbed air, perhaps seeing the Mother still, and the aura around her .