This book describes the lives of an exceptional man and woman, two major figures of Indian spirituality.

First comes the Indian philosopher-poet, Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950). We discover this leader of the Indian independence movement’s struggle, which landed him in jail before sending him into exile in Pondicherry. That setback became an opportunity for him to develop integral yoga, a new spirituality that reconciles mind and matter. The founding idea is that we are at an intermediate stage in our “evolution of being.”

At that point in the story, the other main character arrives: a Frenchwoman called Mirra Alfassa. Sri Aurobindo and Mirra realize that they have always had the same goal: transformation of the self. Because wanting to change the conditions in which we live upon earth without changing the consciousness is “vain chimera.” The young woman, usually referred to as “The Mother,” accompanies Sri Aurobindo and runs the Ashram he founds as a “laboratory of evolution.”

A tale brimming with travel and feeling, which follows these two exceptional beings’ path step by step, as if together, complementing and enhancing each other, they formed the path to a new life.