Pavitra (from the Sanskrit word for 'pure') was one of the very early disciples of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The name was one of Srimati Radharani's 1000 names. He was born Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. In 1914 he graduated from the Ècole Polytechnique

École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

 with a degree in Engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. He served in the army in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as an artillery officer, and after the war worked as a junior engineer in Paris, at the Ministry of transport and communication.

He was interested in occultism, and in 1920 departed for Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 to study Zen Buddhism. In 1924 he left Japan and spend time with tantric

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

 lama

Lama

Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...

s in monasteries

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 in North China and Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

.

In 1925 he came to India and met Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...

 and The Mother

Mirra Alfassa

-Early life:Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of a Turkish Jewish father, Maurice, and an Egyptian Jewish mother, Mathilde. She had an elder brother named Matteo. The family migrated to France the year before she was born. For the first eight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevard...

 in Pondicherry, where he was accepted as a sadhak, and Sri Aurobindo gave him the name Pavitra ("Clearness"). In 1951 the Mother appointed him director of the just founded Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. He served in this position for eighteen years, as well as the general secretary of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Sri Aurobindo Ashram

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 . At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram...

, until his passing in 1969. The Mother reports in (Agenda May 1969 link that Pavitra left his body in a totally yogic

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 way and merged with her.

According to Satprem

Satprem

Satprem was a French author and an important disciple of The Mother.-Life and work:Satprem was born Bernard Enginger in Paris and had a seafaring childhood and youth in Brittany. During World War II he was a member of the French Resistance. He was arrested by the Gestapo in late 1943 and spent one...

(see note to "On Pavitra and Pavitra's Death"), Pavitra left some very interesting memoirs of his conversations with Sri Aurobindo and Mother in 1925 and 1926, large parts of which were destroyed (almost a third of Pavitra's notebooks) by his closest collaborator, with the pretext that it would be "better left unsaid". What was left was published as Conversations avec Pavitra.

Partial bibliography

• L'évolution future de l'Humanité a compilation of texts by Sri Aurobindo (1962)
• The message of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.- Podicherry, (1954)
• Conversations avec Pavitra. Paris: "Fayard". Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. Pondicherry, 1972

External links and references

• Pavitra
• Name Index - brief bio
• Pavitra
• http://www.lightendlesslight.org/Pavitra%20Notebook/Pavitra_01.htmPavitra's Notebook - The conversation with Sri Aurobindo - 1925-1926(also - Saturday, November 6, 1926 - mentions that pages have been torn out)
• On Pavitra and Pavitra's Death - From Mother's Agenda