Mirra Alfassa, revered as The Mother, stood as the originating consciousness and practical founder of Auroville. She conceived it as a universal town belonging to no nation, where people from all countries could live in peace and progressive harmony, beyond all creeds, politics, and nationalities. In her vision, Auroville was to be a living experiment in human unity and collective spiritual evolution, a concrete expression of the integral ideal she shared with Sri Aurobindo. She described it as a place of unending education, of constant progress, and of a youth that never ages, thus giving it both a spiritual aim and a cultural ethos.

Her role was not merely inspirational but also juridical and structural, for she authored the Auroville Charter that set out the town’s essential principles. This brief but decisive document affirmed that Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole, that it is to be a place of unending education and progress, and that it is dedicated to material and spiritual research for future forms of society. She further characterized Auroville as a bridge between the past and the future and between all cultures, thereby situating it within a larger evolutionary movement of consciousness. Through this Charter, she provided the normative framework within which the community was to grow and self-discover.

The Mother also gave decisive guidance to Auroville’s physical form and symbolic center. She participated in the initial urban vision, endorsing the “Galaxy” city plan and placing at its heart the Matrimandir, conceived as the spiritual center of the township. Around this center were envisaged residential, cultural, industrial, and international zones, so that daily life, work, and inner seeking could interpenetrate rather than stand apart. In this way, the very layout of Auroville was meant to mirror its inner aspiration toward integral harmony and a more conscious collective life.

From its inauguration, which took place under her direct guidance, she continued to offer both spiritual and practical direction to the emerging community. Through messages, interviews, and written instructions, she clarified the deeper meaning of Auroville’s ideals and the way they were to be embodied in work, education, and communal living. Her presence functioned as the town’s central inspiration and authority, shaping its early development as an experiment in collective yoga and human unity. Thus, Auroville may be seen as her deliberate attempt to create a living laboratory for the transformation of life in the light of a higher consciousness.