Preparing for the Miraculous

sri aurobindo’s descent into death 179in return. A wonderful sight it was, though so strangelyunlike Sri Aurobindo who had rarely called us even by ournames in these twelve years.” 13 The Avatar took leave ofhumanity in one of its purest representatives.At 11 p.m. on the 4th of December the Mother helpedSri Aurobindo take a drink. At midnight she came againinto his room. This time he opened his eyes and the twolooked at each other in a steady gaze. “We were the silentspectators of that crucial scene,” writes Nirodbaran.At 1 a.m. on the 5th of December the Mother cameagain. Her face was calm, there was no trace of emotion. SriAurobindo was indrawn. The Mother asked Dr. Sanyal in aquiet tone: “What do you think? May I retire for an hour? ...Call me when the time comes.” On this Nirodbaran reflects:“It may appear strange to our human mind that the Mothercould leave Sri Aurobindo at this critical moment.” Yet, theMother’s clarification is quite different: “As long as I was inthe room he could not leave his body. I used all my power toprevent him from departing. So there was a terrible tensionin him: the inner will to leave and then this kind of thing[i.e. the Mother] that was holding him there, like that, in hisbody – because I knew that he was alive ... He had to givea sign so that I would go into my room, supposedly to rest(which I didn’t do). And as soon as I had gone out of theroom, he left.” He drew up his arms and put them on hischest, one overlapping the other. “Then they called me backimmediately.” 14Soon afterwards the main personalities in the Ashramwere informed and the Ashram photographers called beforethe endless queue would form to pay their last homage. Twoof the photographers’ testimonies are worth comparing.13 Id., p. 275.14 Mother’s Agenda, vol. II, p. 288.