Introduction
Blanche
Rachel Miriam (Mirra) Alfassa (1878-1973), later known
to some of her followers as "The Mother" is considered
a Hindu spiritual leader by a large group of followers in
India. In this essay, I will explain the history of this distant
relative of mine. I will explain that she was a Jew, a lost
Jew.
Childhood
Mirra
was born in Paris on Thursday, February 21, 1878 at about
10:15am in the morning. Mirra was the third child of her parents,
Maurice Alfassa (his mother was Rachel Hillel), born 1843
at Adrianople [modern Edirne] and Mathilde Ismaloun, born
1857 at Alexandria, Egypt, both locations that were then part
of the Ottoman Empire. At some point Maurice traveled from
Adrianople to Egypt. There he met his wife and in 1876 they
had a son named Matteo
at Alexandria. During the period, it as not uncommon for Sephardic
Jews to holiday in Alexandria which was an Egyptian gem. The
relationship between Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire and France
lends itself to the educational institution known as the Alliance
Israélite Universelle (AIU) which brought the modern
French educational system to Jewish children throughout the
Mediterranean and beyond. After many of the families learned
French, it was not uncommon for some to migrate to France
and other French speaking locations.
The
family emigrated to France in 1877 and Mirra was born the
following year. She was reported to be born on the, "boulevard
Haussmann near the Opera" located in the heart of Paris.
Purportedly, Mirra once stated that when she and her brother
were children, her mother:
Spent
her time dinning into our hearts that one is not on earth
to have a good time, that it is constant hell, but one has
to put up with it, and the only satisfaction to be got out
of life is in doing one's duty…I had a father who loved
the circus, and he came and told me, 'Come with me, I am
going to the circus on Sunday.' I said, No, I am doing something
much more interesting than going to the circus!
In
1888 Alfassa joined an "exclusive school for the rich,"
a formal academic education. "I never went to a public
school," she said , "because my mother considered
it unfitting for a girl to be in a public school." "She
was not interested in learning for the sake of 'having a knowing
air'. She wanted to understand all that she did and it was
understanding that brought her great joy." "…
all my studies were like that, the whole time. I enjoyed myself-enjoyed,
enjoyed, enjoyed... it was all enjoyable." Mirra once
wrote that between eleven and thirteen, she said, a series
of psychic and spiritual experiences revealed to her the existence
of God and man's possibility of uniting with Him. In 1893
she traveled to Italy with her mother. While at the Palazzo
Ducale in Venice she recalled a scene from a past life where
she was strangled and thrown out into the canal.
Adulthood
At
age 16 in 1894 Mirra Alfassa joined the Ecole des Beaux Arts
where she acquired the nickname, "the Sphinx". There
she studied drawing as a student of the French painter Gustave
Moreau and was said to have exhibited at the Paris Salon.
During her career as a painter, she was said to associate
with Rodin, Monet and other (now) famous artists.
On
September 26, 1897, at age 19, she married François
Henri Morisset (Son of Henri Georges Louis Morisset and
Marie Naudet). The couple had a child in 1898, Andre (of which
nothing else is known except that in 1945 he visited India
to see her). She dabbled in the occult and eastern religions,
and traveled to North African to more formally investigate
these interests. Between 1905 and 1906 she studied in Tlemcen,
Algeria with an Ashkenazi Jew calling himself "Max Theon"
whose Arab name was Aia Aziz, a man who once said his father
was Rabbi Judes L. Bimstein of Warsaw. Max, an interesting
character, was a man whose long hair never once touched a
pair of scissors. It was from Louis M. Themanlys (a Jew),
Matteo's
college friend, that Mirra first heard about Max and his Cosmic
Philosophy.
Development
of a Guru
Max
was said to have given "rational explanation of the spontaneous
experiences she had had since her childhood." He introduced
Mirra to a man born in India, Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) whose
cult-like leadership captured both of their imaginations.
Max studied and lead a program called Cosmic Philosophy which
according to Mirra (and others) was based on Jewish practices
of kabbalah. Aurobindo liked Jews. He once pointed out that
"the contribution of the Jews towards the world's progress
in every branch is remarkable."
Indeed
the Jewish race has produced not only prophets like Elijah
or philosophers like Spinoza, but also the greatest of our
modern scientists, Albert Einstein, born one year after Mirra.
Besides, my acquaintances of that race are all people of refinement.
Mirra
once said that in 1904 at age 26 she met during a dream, a
dark Asiatic figure whom she called Krishna. She said that
Krishna guided her in her inner journey. She came to have
total implicit faith in Krishna, and was hoping to meet him
one day in real life. She returned to France where she expanded
her study on various Hindu practices and soon would give over
her life to the study. She is quoted as saying about Judaism,
that God is basically "depicted as the Judge of mankind,
and not its Lover as in Hinduism." Perhaps it was also
against this sense of severity that Christ rebelled?"
From these thoughts, we can get a glimpse of Mirra's thoughts,
we can see that they were inconsistent with Judaism.
In
1906 she founded a group of spiritual seekers in Paris which
was named l'Idée Nouvelle. This group met at her home
on Wednesday evenings, first at Rue Lemercier and then at
rue des Lévis. In 1908 she divorced Henri and abandoned
her sons to his sisters, marrying a lawyer and former Christian
pastor, Paul Richard of Lille, France. Paul and Mirra lived
at Rue du Val de Grace, in a small house at the back of a
garden or courtyard. Andre, then around twelve, was a regular
visitor who came around to see his mother. Paul had an interest
in Hinduism and went to India in search of meeting a Hindu
leader. He met a man named Aurobindo who had just been released
from prison for revolutionary activities against the British.
Aurobindo had just given up on politics and entered the Hindu
spiritual world. After Paul returned from India, he introduced
his wife to the teachings of Aurobindo.
On
7 March 1914, Mirra and Paul embarked for India aboard the
steamer Kaga Maru, reaching Pondicherry on the 29th. There,
Paul founded a Hindu publication called Arya. Paul eventually
went back to serve in the French Army during WWI. Mirra left
because of the war, but returned in 1920. Sometime during
this decade they had moved to Japan where they stayed for
four years. Eventually they went back to Pondicherry, where
Mira would stay until her death in 1973. Her marriage would
fall apart, and Mira became close to Aurobindo who then called
her Mirra Devi (goddess Mirra). She eventually was
put in charge of the community and followers became numerous.
Having
left two ex-husbands and a young son in Paris, Mirra Alfassa
settled permanently in India in 1921 and was soon declared
a Hindu goddess. Renamed "the Mother", she spent
the next 50 years as a spiritual leader (a guru). In
1926 Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa founded the location
of their spiritual base, an ashram in Pondicherry, India.
As the ashram grew, many departments sprang up including an
office, library, dining room, press, workshops, playground,
art gallery, dispensary, farms, dairies, flower gardens, guest
houses, legal department. In the 1920s the daughter of Woodrow
Wilson, the US President, came to the ashram and chose to
remain there for the rest of her life. In later years Mirra
met with other individuals, including the king of Nepal. She
had a significant meeting with the Dalai Lama who had
recently escaped from Chinese occupation of Tibet. In 1950
Aurobindo died and in the next decade Mirra and her followers
would dedicate Auroville
(i.e. town of Sri Aurobindo) in his name. Indira Gandhi and
Mirra had a close relationship; Indira Gandhi was a devotee
of Mirra and often sought her counsel on various issues.
In
1951 Mirra founded the Sri
Aurobindo International University to modernize and expand
the scope of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. Today
in 2005, the Center's subjects include English, French, Sanskrit,
Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Applied Sciences,
Computer Science, History, Geography, Indian languages, foreign
languages, Music, Dance, Drawing, Painting and Handwork.
Revisionists?
Some
of the people who "follow" Mirra have been in denial
that she was Jewish, some of her followers have taken the
time to invent a story and circulate it that she was "A
Parisian of Egyptian descent" when in fact she was solely
Jewish.
Her
followers write of her:
"Immediately
after her birth, she was Christened by her father as Mirra
Alfassa. And the nurse in the maternity clinic wrote at
the corner of the cloth, M.A. Her nick name became 'Ma'
which was liked by her father. Ma means mother in
many languages. So she became mother right from her birth."
This
is ridiculous! Her father was Jewish, and Jews don't get
"christened."
It was said about her parents that her father was a secular
Jew, a banker and a first-rate mathematician, her mother
was a disciple of Marx (a communist) until the age of eighty-eight.
Another account states he knew German, English, Italian
and Turkish, "He liked very much birds and circus.
His career of banker was not fruitful."
They
continue…
"At
her birth she was named - seemingly an Indian name-Mirra
Alfassa. Thus her initials were M.A., and all her clothes
and belongings carried the initials MA. So she was called
MA (Mother) even from her childhood!"
"Her
mother, Mathilde Ismaloun was from Egypt and she was said
to be descendent of the Egyptian pharaohs. The father, Maurice
Alfassa, was from Turkey, dominated by the Islamic faith.
Just a year before The Mother's birth the parents had shifted
from Egypt to Paris - the heartcentre of Europe."
"grand-daughter
of an Egyptian Prince"
"Mathilde
was an Egyptian but her father Maurice was a Turk. Her parents
migrated to France in 1877. Both her parents were down-to-earth
and practical. They did not care for the existence of God."
Yes,
Turkey was an Islamic country, but it had hundreds of thousands
of Spanish Jews living there. Alfassa is a Sephardic Jewish
surname, something they obviously do not realize or maybe
do not want to admit. The idea that she is related to Egyptian
pharaohs is preposterous and probably perpetuated as a way
to make her ancestry more appealing to her cult followers.
Research will show the investigator that the relation to "Egyptian
pharaohs" comes from a story Mirra told her mother while
on a trip to Italy at age 15 in 1893.
Alfassa
means "one from Fes" (as in the city of Fes in modern
Morocco) however it is obvious these people do not know this.
Many Jews with the name Alfassa, DeFes or Alfasi lived in
Turkey, specifically Adrianople. A common ancestor and one
of the most important rabbis in Jewish history was Isak
Alfassi (known as the RIF) came from Fes and moved to
Spain in the 11th century. Alfassi/Alfassa surnames can be
found in Spain since that time. With the bloody carnage thrust
upon the Jews in Spain by members of the Catholic Church in
the 14th and 15th century, thousands of Jews fled to Turkey,
later, hundreds of thousands were forced out in 1492 and also
went there.
Her
father Maurice was said to have been, "born in Adrianople"
which was in Turkey. This is logical, as there was a large
group of Alfassas' living in Adrianople in the early 20th
century. The story of having roots in both oriental and occidental
countries is often exploited by her followers to make her
sound more interesting. I guess they can't accept the account
that she was born Jewish, with plain Jewish roots. Her followers
continue with their propaganda saying she was born into a,
"family of mixed race and religion and nationality."
This is pure fabrication. Again, she was born a Jew to Jewish
parents who were Ottoman citizens. Mirra Alfassa's grandparents
were Mirra Pinto and Matteo Ismaloun who married in Ottoman
Alexandria. Mirra Pinto (daughter of Saïd Pinto) was
born in Ottoman Cairo. Pinto is a Sephardic name, a name Spanish
& Portuguese Jews brought with them from Iberia in the
15th century to the Ottoman Empire. It is an old surname,
from Castile. In the Sephardic Jewish tradition of naming
children after the living, both Mirra and her brother have
first names which were their grandparents.
Converted
to Hinduism
Hindus
believe in life after death and that for every action there
is a reaction. Every action, even every thought produces a
reaction. Hindus believe that every thought and every action
is weighed on the scales of eternal justice. Hindus believe
that the body alone dies, the soul never dies. The path the
soul takes is decided upon by the past actions. Sound familiar--these
concepts come straight out of Judaism. Even though these ideas
are similar, there is much which is definitely foreign to
Judaism and utterly opposed to it.
Her
followers quote Mirra:
"The
Jewish temples in Paris have such beautiful music. Oh, what
beautiful music! It was in a temple that I had one of my
first experiences. It was at a wedding. The music was wonderful.
I was up in the balcony with my mother, and the music, I
was later told, was music of Saint-Saens, with an organ
(it was the second best organ in Paris - marvellous!) This
music was being played, and I was up there (I was fourteen)
and there were some leaded-glass windows - white windows,
with no designs. I was gazing at one of them, feeling uplifted
by the music, when suddenly through the window came a flash
like a bolt of lightning. Just like lightning. It entered-my
eyes were open-it entered like this (Mother strikes her
chest forcefully), and then I... I had the feeling of becoming
vast and all-powerful. And it lasted for days."
Mirra's
lack of Judaism at home sent her searching for something.
In 1899 at the age of 21 she was proselytized by a Hindu,
"I met a man, an Indian... who told me about the Gita...
He gave me the key... The man said, 'Read the Gita, and take
Krishna as the symbol of the immanent Divine, the inner Divine.'"
Like most sincere converts, she jumped into her newly found
religion with full zeal. Her story is no different than other
apostates who because of a lack of knowledge of their own
religion became idol worshipers.
Her
Brother
Matteo Mathieu Maurice Alfassa (her brother) was born 13 July
1876 at Alexandria, Egypt. He graduated polytechnic at Paris,
and was said to have a library of some 2,000 books at home.
There was a French politician with the same name, and it can
be concluded this is the same person. Matteo Mathieu Maurice
Alfassa (aka Governor General Alfassa) held the following
posts through out French occupied lands:
·
Governor of Middle Congo and Congo (Brazzaville)
o August 1919 - August 1922
§ (Part of French Equatorial Africa, now known as the
People's Democratic Republic of Congo. Middle Congo existed
until 1960).
· Governors-general Congo (Brazzaville)
o July 1924 - October 1924
§ (French Equatorial Africa)
· Governor of [French] Martinique
o 1934-1935
· Governor of [French] Mali (Sudanese Republic)
o November 1935 - November 1936
Today
the Embassy of France in Brazzaville, Congo is situated on
a street called "Rue Alfassa." The tourism ministry
of Martinique is located on "Alfassa Boulevard"
that skirts the edge of sea with greenery and flowered alleys
and beautiful large royal palm trees.
Closing
Thoughts
On
May 20, 1973 Mirra was struck down with chronic illness and
had to be visited by a physician each day for six months.
In November she asked for help to try to walk, but she was
too weak. On November 17 she went into cardiac arrest and
although CPR was given to her, she died at the age of 95.
Today, cultists from all over the world visit Pondicherry,
in South India to worship this Jewish woman, a heretic to
her religion, a woman deprived of the legacy of her heritage.
Today
her teachings are worshiped in Auroville which is called an
international city "dedicated to Human Unity." It
is said to be a growing and vibrant community of about 1500-2000
persons from over 30 countries. In 1968 the center was moved
to this location which is six miles north of Pondicherry.
A publication of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization discussed the center in India:
The
city was established on the principles set forth by Aurobindo
and French artist and visionary Mira Alfassa, who worked in
India for "a new creation, beginning with a model town
and ending with a perfect world." According to its charter,
Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole, it is a place of
unending education and constant progress, it serves as a bridge
between the past and the future, and it is a site of material
and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual
Human Unity. Today, 700 people from some 25 countries live
in Auroville, which has been transformed from a bare wasteland
into a thriving universal town characterized by forests and
grasslands, educational and scientific research, community
services, and cooperation among residents.
In
1999, a reporter for The New York Times recommended
Auroville as a primary destination for tourists who go to
India. Money has no role to play in Auroville. Cars are banned.
No administration with authority over the lives of the members
is created. No one is appointed as the head or leader whom
all should obey. However, there is a temple where Mirra is
worshiped called the Matrimandir. It is a 100 foot high imposing
elliptical sphere. Inside the upper portion of the huge structure
is the meditation chamber, a 12-sided room whose walls are
lined with white Italian marble. At the center of the chamber
is a sphere of pure crystal, illuminated by sun light channeled
from an opening at the top of the chamber.
Postscript
So
what do I make of all of this, well, not that much. I had
a great-great-aunt whom was sadly lost due to assimilation.
She was proselytized and led off by new age Hindu thought
which was popular in the early 20th century among some in
the French intellectual circles. She had lost her ancestry,
her religion, her culture and her roots. She marginalized
herself from her family, and today has a following for she
is still thought of in the Hindu world as a spiritual leader.
Today this woman is worshipped by thousands in India. Imagine
what a woman like this could have done if she directed her
energies towards her own faith and culture.
