Can Sarada Devi be compared with Mother Mira?

Although comparisons are not of great help in terms of our seeking, a question has been received of comparing Sarada Devi and Mother Mira. Both of them have their unique spiritual standing and experiences, but the differences however are too striking to be missed.

As far as I know, Sarada Devi’s marriage to Sri Ramakrishna was solemnised as a child (as was the custom those days) and all her spiritual development took place along with if not directly under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna. On the other hand, Maa Mira had most of her spiritual development by herself and spontaneously almost since 2 years of age. She was already an adept in the Buddhist yoga, had realised the yoga of the Gita, known Sri Krishna as a friend and beloved (She later recognized him in and as Sri Aurobindo), had the entire awakening of the Kundalini and profound detailed occult knowledge before she came in contact with Sri Aurobindo. The breadth and depth and heights of her spiritual realisations even before meeting Sri Aurobindo are simply astounding and can easily qualify as the highest and most integral and comprehensive than any spiritual seeker or Master ever had. All this is based on documents and not on the sentiments of disciples.  Her handwritten diary itself is a unique gift to mankind (among many other gifts of Grace) and points to Her many-sided spiritual efforts and realizations. But this apart, her nature reveals a many-sided branching out towards divinity in an effort to manifest Him through Art and Music and Painting and Philosophy and Physical Education to name a few prominent aspects. She lifted even fields so far untouched by the spiritual light such as beauty, aesthetics, revealing to man the silent language of bird and beast and flowers. Her rendezvous with beings of the other worlds and her work to make a safe passage for the departed is itself something daunting and unprecedented. All this before she met Sri Aurobindo.

On a note of comparison, Sarada Mata represented the highest spiritual ideals of a spouse and woman of the Old World order. She restored the glory of the ancient Satis (women steadfast in chastity and truth) married to the Rishis of yore. On the other hand, Maa Mira set new standards of womanhood and spiritual feminism consistent with the New Age of mankind that she was born and missioned to usher. The power and sweet intensity, as well as the immensity of love and surrender, is prominent in both but its completeness and transformative alchemy are prominent in Maa Mira in whom we see love uplifted beyond the highest human to the Divine Love opening doors to an entirely new possibility.

In terms of Yoga too we notice the difference.  Sri Ramakrishna represented the highest spiritual possibility of the old world, synthetic no doubt but one that excluded life and world, which looked upon the body as something to be discarded once its purpose of releasing the soul into the Divine was over. It was like a launching pad or a womb to be discarded after the baby was born. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the other hand not only gave to the world and life and even the body its due importance but looked upon their transformation as the penultimate part of the Divine Plan in creation.  It is not enough to realise God, which is no doubt the first indispensable step, but once realised, to manifest Him in the world and the manifold activities of life including the bodily existence is the ultimate purpose of his yoga. Not to lose oneself in the Divine Perfection but to bring that Perfection here is the goal. Maa Mira exemplified this new aspiration whose seed they have planted in man. We see her therefore entering with the Divine Force into every sphere and citadel of life including sports, science, arts, human relationships, marriage and children, birth and life and death. If the first represented a static poise of calm and benign tranquillity of the gracious Mother, the latter included along with this poise of peace the dynamic dance of the Divine Enchantress who has woven the system of worlds with hands of Joy and a heart of tremendous Love using threads of delight and the fabric of light. Her Grace brings not only Peace but progress, not only liberation but also transformation, not only the delight of the soul uniting with the Divine but also the ecstasy of our fallen human nature lifted up to heights of Divine Supernature that She brought with Her for earth and men.