Sri Aurobindo’s Legacy – Matagiri Center
by Julian Lines
Early Followers of Sri Aurobindo’s Work in America
The early followers of Sri Aurobindo in the US included Eleanor Montgomery, who was a fashion editor at Vogue magazine. She had read about Margaret Woodrow Wilson, the President’s daughter, who had studied Vedanta and spent her final years in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Eleanor created the Sri Aurobindo International Center Foundation to support the Ashram school and raised funds to send scientific and sports equipment to India. Her Board included an artist and collector of Tiffany glass, Joseph Heil, who commissioned a bust of Sri Aurobindo. One is at the Ashram library in Pondicherry and the other is in the Matagiri Library.
Joseph explored many different spiritual paths and was a great lover of music. His extensive collection of albums and tapes were donated to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram library which held a weekly music appreciation hour. He also had one of the special albums of all the photos taken by Henri Cartier Bresson when the famous photographer visited the Ashram in 1950 and took the last photographs of Sri Aurobindo before he passed.
When Sam Spanier visited Eleanor’s apartment and heard a recording of Mother’s voice, he knew he had to go to India to meet her.
A Vision of Matagiri
Sam had an extraordinary interview with Mother in February of 1962. He literally had a “vision” of establishing a Center in the US after Mother told him “you will be a link between East and West.”
Sam returned with Eric to Pondicherry in 1964, but Auroville was still in gestation. That was his last trip to India. Auroville’s foundation ceremony was in February of 1968 and in August Mother blessed the name “Matagiri,” Mother’s Mountain.
The daily community life of Matagiri was centered around three daily readings and meditations, maintenance of the property and running the handmade paper and incense business which were cottage industries. Matagiri imported 100% rag paper made in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Beautiful hand-marbled cards were featured but there were stationery sets as well along with an ever-expanding inventory of blank books, bottle bags and gift cards.
Community Life and Creative Industry
This import and export business provided some of the funds to keep the community going. They also kept chickens and sold the extra eggs and a number of residents had outside jobs. Eric did freelance editing work, one taught school, another made baked goods and visitors were always asked to contribute some karma yoga tending the garden or cleaning the windows.
They did trade shows in New York and at one point had regional representatives selling on their behalf. Crates of paper would come by ship, then trucked to Mount Tremper and unloaded onto the driveway where they would be uncrated. Much of the stationary would be repacked for retail sales.
Matagiri also published a journal, Collaboration, which just celebrated its 50th year. The archive is online with numerous articles chronicling the history of the integral yoga in America as well as many articles about Auroville: collaboration.org.
At one point Matagiri was the largest distributor of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s books outside of India. They published a catalog which was distributed nationally and Sam’s cousins, Joe and Muriel Spanier, would go on sales tours. Sam called Muriel’s selling strategy “the velvet steamroller.” In her very quiet voice, she would start talking with the bookstore owner about the integral yoga and two hours later they had placed a large order without knowing exactly how or why.
At one point another house was rented across the street to provide more bathrooms and bedrooms for the growing community, a number of whom came from the Boston Center headed by Eugene “Mickey” Finn.
Over the years people came and left, partnered, visited the Ashram or Auroville with some moving there for the rest of their lives.
Expanding the Work and Lasting Influence
Rijuta, Mother’s secretary, reported Matagiri’s activities regularly to Mother who gave words of encouragement saying that Matagiri would serve as a lever for uplifting America.
Many Aurovilians visited but Sam and Eric’s primary focus was on the integral yoga in the U.S. Eric’s knowledge of the yoga was encyclopedic. He especially was taken with Mother’s conversations with Satprem about her own yoga. These were published first as Notes on the Way and later in an unedited transcription of the original cassette tapes as the 13 volumes of Mother’s Agenda.
Eric did a painstaking original translation and sent out copies in packets of 30 pages to a select group of devotees. Many of these formed the basis of an official translation which was published a few years later.
One of the people passing through Matagiri was Dakshina who later was instrumental in establishing the Atmaniketan Ashram in Pomona, CA which evolved into Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham in Lodi. They distribute a line of products under the brand Auromere. For years their soaps were made in Auroville and their incense in Pondicherry. To this day they donate 10% of their profits from selling ayurvedic projects and books to Auroville.