While Sri Aurobindo was in jail, Swami Vivekananda appeared before Him, gave Him the Gita and showed Him the Supermind. He did not tell Him how to reach the Supermind. It took Sri Aurobindo ten years to discover it. Like Buddha and Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo refused to accept moksha for himself while all the other souls languished in the darkness of the earth. One should reach Supermind and bring it down so that it would transform the earth - abolish Ignorance, suffering, evil and death. Sri Aurobindo said that if twelve or a hundred yogis reached the Supermind, it would descend on earth. He could not find anyone, other than the Mother. So, He decided to leave the body and work from the subtle plane.
In 1956 on February 29th, while Mother was in meditation at the playground with all the sadhaks, She saw a golden door and a golden hammer. She broke that door with the hammer. A Golden Light, the Supramental Light, flooded the earth. Up rose the earth's tamas and swallowed the descending Force. Mother said, "Henceforth, Feb. 29th will be the Day of the Lord." It is known as Supramental day and celebrated once in four years. Auroville was founded a day prior to that day. The Mother was watching that Force organise Itself on earth. She began to meet Sri Aurobindo in the subtle plane from 1959 and converse with Him. He told Her that the governments would come under the influence of that Force from 1967. The date 4-5-67 was thus chosen to be celebrated.
She saw the Force organising itself as a person, the Consciousness of a Person, on the New Year day of 1969. Until 1973, She was speaking to a sadhak about that Force organising Itself for action. When strange events were brought to Her notice, She commented how the Force expressed Itself through those events. Sri Aurobindo was always golden in the subtle plane, but after the descent, many sadhaks had visions of the Golden Purusha. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have not left us. They are very much there in the subtle plane. Devotees with subtle vision see them in their dreams or dhyana. One thing all those who have lived before the descent know is, any prayer now is more quickly answered, and more fully too. Mother was sorry that no one was aware of the descent. Even now, every four years we celebrate the descent. It is a pity we are so dense and unconscious. We do not see the Force. Of course, many feel it in the atmosphere as a powerful Presence.