Mirra Alfassa’s spiritual life can be understood as the concrete, lived expression of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga, with its central aim of transforming human consciousness rather than escaping the world. The goal was not merely liberation from ignorance, but the progressive manifestation of a supramental consciousness in mind, life, and body, so that divinity might be expressed in the very texture of earthly existence. This involved a movement beyond the ordinary mental level toward what was described as a supramental or gnostic consciousness, while still fully engaging with material life. In this vision, evolution of consciousness is the very purpose of existence, and each individual is seen as a unique expression of the Divine with a specific role in this cosmic unfolding.

Her practical teaching distilled Integral Yoga into a few essential inner movements: aspiration, rejection, and surrender. Aspiration meant a constant, sincere yearning for the Divine and for transformation; rejection meant refusing egoistic and ignorant movements that obstruct the Divine’s manifestation; surrender meant a complete self-giving to the Divine Will, allowing the Divine Shakti or Mother-force to work within the being. These were not abstract ideals but disciplines to be lived in the midst of daily activity, relationships, and responsibilities. Work, in this light, became a form of worship, a field where consciousness could be purified and offered to the Divine.

A distinctive feature of her practice was the emphasis on the psychic being—the soul-center behind the heart—as the true guide in the journey. Contact with this psychic being was understood to bring genuine aspiration, discernment, and a spontaneous devotion that could reorient the mind, vital nature, and body. Transformation was envisaged on all these levels: mental quietude and openness to higher consciousness, purification and dedication of the vital energies, and, ultimately, a physical transformation in which even the body would become more receptive to the supramental force. The body, therefore, was not treated as an obstacle to be discarded, but as a divine instrument capable of evolution and even cellular change.

Her outlook rejected rigid external methods and traditional renunciation in favor of an inner, individualized discipline. External forms—rituals, ascetic practices, or fixed techniques—were considered secondary, valuable only insofar as they supported sincerity, inner silence, and vigilant self-observation. She affirmed the Divine as both transcendent and immanent, present in all things, and thus saw no contradiction between spiritual realization and active engagement with the world. This vision naturally extended to collective life: the Ashram and later Auroville were conceived as experimental fields for conscious evolution, where education, community living, and human development could be organized around the ideal of a progressive manifestation of the Divine in earthly existence.