->Rathfelder: removed Category:People from Paris; added Category:Engineers from Paris using HotCat

2021-09-12T19:23:06Z

removed Category:People from Paris; added Category:Engineers from Paris using HotCat

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{{for|the films|Pavitra (1986 film)|Pavitra (2013 film)}}
{{Sri Aurobindo}}

'''Pavitra''' (January 16, 1894 – May 16, 1969) (from the [[Sanskrit]] word for "pure") was one of the very early disciples of [[Sri Aurobindo]] and [[Mirra Alfassa|The Mother]]. The name was one of [[Srimati Radharani]]'s 1000 names.

==Early life==
He was born Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire in [[Paris]]. In 1914, he graduated from the [[École polytechnique|Ècole Polytechnique]] with a degree in [[Engineering]]. He served in the army in [[World War I]] as an artillery officer, and after the war worked as a junior engineer in Paris, at the Ministry of transport and communication.<ref name=Search>{{cite web | url=http://www.searchforlight.org/lotusgroove/Pavitra/Index.htm | title=Pavitra | publisher=Searchforlight.org | accessdate=January 3, 2013}}</ref><ref name=Intyoga>{{cite web | url=http://intyoga.online.fr/pavitra.htm | title=Pavitra (1894-1969) | publisher=Intyoga | date=February 10, 2002 | accessdate=January 3, 2013}}</ref>

==Quest==
He was interested in [[occultism]], and in 1920 departed for [[Japan]] to study [[Zen Buddhism]]. In 1924, he left Japan and spend time with [[Vajrayana|tantric]] [[lama]]s in [[Monastery|monasteries]] in North China and [[Mongolia]].<ref name=Search/>

In 1925 Saint-Hilaire came to India and met [[Sri Aurobindo]] and [[Mirra Alfassa|The Mother]] in Pondicherry, where he was accepted as a [[Sādhaka|sadhak]], and Sri Aurobindo gave him the name ''Pavitra'' meaning "Pure". In 1951 The Mother appointed him director of the newly founded [[Sri Aurobindo International University Centre]]. He served in this position for 18 years, as well as being general secretary of the [[Sri Aurobindo Ashram]], until his death in 1969.

==Death==
The Mother reports in [[The Agenda (Mother)|Agenda]] of May 1969 <ref>[http://intyoga.online.fr/pavdeath.htm link]</ref> that Pavitra left his body in a [[yoga|yogic]] way and merged with her.<ref name=Search/>

According to [[Satprem]] (see note to "On Pavitra and Pavitra's Death"), Pavitra left 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''.<ref name=Search/>

==Partial bibliography==
* ''L'évolution future de l'Humanité'' a compilation of texts by Sri Aurobindo (1962)
* ''The Message of Sri Aurobindo Ashram'', Pondicherry, (1954)
* ''Conversations avec Pavitra''. Paris: "Fayard". Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. Pondicherry, 1972

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050510084349/http://www.aurobindo.ru/persons/main_e.htm Name Index] - brief biography
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051216072843/http://www.lightendlesslight.org/Pavitra%20Notebook/Pavitra_01.htm Pavitra's Notebook - The conversation with Sri Aurobindo - 1925-1926(also [http://www.searchforlight.org/lotusgroove/Pavitra/Pavitra1972.htm - Saturday, November 6, 1926] - mentions that pages have been torn out)
* [http://intyoga.online.fr/pavdeath.htm On Pavitra and Pavitra's Death] - From Mother's Agenda
{{Integral Yoga|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Converts to Hinduism]]
[[Category:French expatriates in India]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Japan]]
[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Engineers from Paris]]
[[Category:Sri Aurobindo]]
[[Category:20th-century translators]]

Pavitra - Revision history

->Rathfelder: removed Category:People from Paris; added Category:Engineers from Paris using HotCat