Mohan Mistry: the Man with a Heavenly Voice by Anurag Banerjee

On Thursday, 10 July 2025, at 12.30 a.m. the golden voice of a singer who had enchanted the hearts of thousands of lovers of devotional music fell silent. His songs on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in Gujarati, Sanskrit and Hindi—which were set to tune by him—could send the listener to the seventh heaven of ecstasy with ease. His songs did not merely captivate the heart, they touched one’s very soul. Such was Mohan Mistry, the man with a heavenly voice.

Mohan Mistry was born on 25 November 1937 in the city of Navsari in Gujarat. Quite early in life he developed a spontaneous love for music which was nurtured and encouraged by his music-loving family. His education began in a Parsi school at Navsari. His family ran into hard times when his father, who was a carpenter, passed away in 1950 when Mohan was in his early teens. Having learnt music for seven years in a local music school, he worked as a music teacher in Tata School at Navsari. When Atul Limited, a chemical company founded by Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the legendary industrialist, was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 March 1952 at the company’s manufacturing plant in the village of Atul situated in Gujarat, Mohan was a witness to this significant event—as it marked the inauguration of the first private sector company in independent India by the Prime Minister—because he was a volunteer in the Sevadal music group which participated in the cultural programmes held during the inauguration. During 1956-57, Mohan went to Shivananda Ashram where he met Vinoba Bhave and walked with him all the way from Vyara to Surat.

Mohan Mistry came to know of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 15 August 1958. Every morning he used to take a walk at lunsikui, a locality in Navsari. On that day while he was walking, he saw some people coming in and going out of a bungalow nearby. Out of sheer curiosity, he went to the bungalow, stepped in and saw the photographs of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It was the day of the inauguration of the Navsari Centre. As soon as he saw the photographs of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, something happened within him. He felt as if he belonged to these two divine personalities. This was the beginning of a lifelong association.

Every Sunday, collective meditation was organized at the Navsari Centre and young Mohan made it a point to attend it without fail. The gentleman who had started the Centre had heard Mohan sing in a soiree. He gave some recordings of devotional songs written by Nishikanto and Sundaram on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to Mohan and asked him to learn them. Mohan learnt the songs by heart and every Sunday he sang them before the devotees who assembled at the Centre.

Gradually, Mohan developed a strong urge to visit Pondicherry and have the Darshan of the Mother. Along with his sister and a group of devotees from Surat, he travelled to Pondicherry and reached it on 23 April 1959. That very day, he had the Darshan of the Mother when She appeared on the first-floor balcony situated at the back of the Ashram main building. It was known as the ‘Balcony Darshan’. On 1 May he had another Darshan of the Mother when She gave him a kilogram of sugar from New Horizon Sugar Mill on the occasion of ‘Prosperity Day’. On the first of every month, the inmates of the Ashram used to receive directly from the Mother essential items for their daily needs. That is why the first of every month was known as the ‘Prosperity Day’ in the Ashram. Young Mohan was thrilled to receive this unexpected gift from the Mother for, after all, he was not an inmate of the Ashram.

After spending fourteen blissful days in Pondicherry, it was time for Mohan to return to Navsari. He was so overwhelmed with the thought of leaving Pondicherry that he could not suppress his tears. He met and told M.P. Pandit that he would like to join the Ashram. M.P. Pandit replied: “You are so young. Come after a few years.”

After returning to Navsari, Mohan would cry and pray fervently to the Mother to call him to Pondicherry. His prayer was answered—very soon.

Towards the end of 1959, a workshop for three days was arranged at the Mumbai Centre. Mohan went to attend it. It was during this sojourn that he came to know that the Mumbai Centre would like to have someone to look after it. So Mohan joined the Centre in December 1959 for an honorarium of sixty rupees a month and was associated with it till February 1960. He played a significant role in celebrating the first anniversary of the manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness at the Mumbai Centre on 29 February 1960.

However, Mohan was not quite happy in Mumbai. He longed to visit Pondicherry. When he expressed his desire to travel to Pondicherry to his brother, the latter told him that he would accompany him to the land of his dream. So, along with his mother, brother and two sisters, Mohan arrived at Pondicherry. While the rest of his family visited holy places like Madurai, Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram, Mohan stayed back at Pondicherry. Eventually, when his family was preparing to return to Navsari, Mohan said that he would like to stay in Pondicherry for a few more days. And he stayed back for good.

In those days Ravindra (26 January 1917—24 August 2001) used to allot work to the inmates and volunteers of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Mohan went to him and expressed his aspiration to join the Ashram. Ravindra went and informed the Mother accordingly who accepted Mohan as an inmate. Generally, the Mother used to see a person before selecting him as a permanent member of the Ashram. But in Mohan’s case She accepted him without seeing him. Thus, Mohan joined the Ashram on 23 April 1960.

Mohan started his life as a sadhak and practitioner of Integral Yoga by joining the Dining Room. After some time, he came to know that Charu Chandra Mukherjee alias Bula who was in charge of the Electricity and Water Departments of the Ashram needed a helping hand. He joined the Electricity Department and worked in it for eighteen years—from 1960 to 1978. To Mohan, Bula was the living example of a perfect worker so he would pray to the Mother to make him like Bula. The Mother also knew him as ‘Bula’s Mohan’. He also worked in the Art Gallery of the Ashram and Corner House, a wing of the Physical Education Department where the children and elderly members of the Ashram are served food.

Every Wednesday, Mohan used to go to the Mother’s apartments in the Ashram main building to clean Her water filter which was situated at the back of Her room. On one occasion, when he was cleaning the filter, the Mother heard some noise and asked Vasudha, Her attendant: “Who’s there?” She came to the window and saw Mohan carrying two baskets in his hands. The joy of such an unexpected Darshan of the Mother remained etched in Mohan’s memory. On another occasion, when he had gone to the Mother’s room, She asked him in French: “Do you know French?” As he had not become proficient in French, in a fit of nervousness, Mohan replied in French: “Oui, Mère!” (“Yes, Mother.”) Fortunately, Vasudha was present nearby and She explained whatever the Mother said to him. 

Once, Mohan’s brother was diagnosed with gangrene in one of his legs. The condition was so bad that the doctors advised amputation of the limb as the only way to save his life. When the Mother was informed about it, She gave a blessings packet to Mohan and asked him to keep it under his brother’s foot at night. That night, Mohan’s brother felt as if a force was descending into his body. Later, Mohan came to know that on that very night the Mother had high fever. Interestingly, Mohan’s brother recovered completely and that too without any surgery and lived up to the age of eighty-four.

It is not known to many that in 1964 Mohan had made a satin gown for the Mother and offered it to Her. As he was an avid photographer, he was allowed by the Mother to take thirteen photographs of Her. He used to print varied sizes of the Mother’s photographs under the supervision of Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, the Mother’s attendant and Director of the Physical Education Department of the Ashram. He also made cards—big and small—for the Mother. On the occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s birth centenary in August 1972, he had made fifteen big cards and offered them to the Mother. On each card the Mother personally wrote 15-8-72 and put Her blessings.

With the Mother, Mohan had a very intimate inner relationship. He did not write to Her frequently as he did not want to bother or disturb Her with the troubles he was facing. All he craved was to be sincere and conscious in the path of Yoga. On 1 January 1967, on a ‘Prosperity’ chit, he wrote to the Mother requesting Her to make him ‘more sincere, more conscious and more true’ in his aspiration. The Mother replied ‘Granted’ and gave Her blessings.

Mohan used to take piano lessons from Richard Rigos. Every day he would visit Richard’s residence and practise on his piano for three hours. However, Richard felt disturbed and complained against Mohan to the Mother. She later told Mohan not to go to Richard’s house and assured him that She would arrange for a key to the piano room in the house of a sadhika named Olga. It was at Olga’s house that Mohan continued to practise piano for a few years.

On Saturday, 17 November 1973, there was a film-show in the Ashram Playground. Mohan, who was present at the Playground, somehow did not enjoy watching it. Something was pulling him towards the Ashram. He came to the Ashram, stood near the Samadhi, looked up at the Mother’s apartments and suddenly tears came pouring out of his eyes. He prayed to the Mother and retired to his room. Early next morning, he was informed that the Mother had left Her body on the previous day. The vault above Sri Aurobindo’s Samadhi—which was filled with sand since December 1950—had to be emptied to make room for the Mother. Along with fellow-sadhaks Norman Dowsett and Lal Babu, Mohan cleared the upper vault of the Samadhi where the Mother’s physical body was put to rest on 20 November 1973.

To cite an instance of how profound Mohan’s inner bond with the Mother was, here is an account of a dream he had had several years ago. Once, he dreamt that it was raining heavily and the Mother wanted to go to Bula’s room. Mohan offered his palm to the Mother and requested Her to walk on them.

In 1986 Mohan was given work in Sri Aurobindo’s room after Lallubhai Patel, a senior inmate who used to work there, fell ill. Mohan’s duties in Sri Aurobindo’s room included sweeping the floor and dusting, cleaning and polishing the furniture used by the Lord. Nirodbaran, Sri Aurobindo’s scribe and servitor, had remarked to Mohan: “It is a great help that you have come.” He worked in the Master’s apartments for fifteen years till 2002 when something happened and Kumud-ben, the Mother’s attendant who was in charge of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s apartments till her death in 2012, asked him to discontinue working in Sri Aurobindo’s room. This became a blessing in disguise because it enabled Mohan to devote more time to music.

As mentioned already, Mohan worked as a music teacher at Navsari. After joining the Ashram, he learnt Sitar for five years. He was already known in the Ashram community for his melodious voice and had taught music not only to the students of the Ashram School but also to the inmates of the Ashram. He set to tune several songs composed by the Ashram poets in Hindi, Gujarati and Sanskrit and also popularized devotional songs of Mirabai, Kabir and Guru Nanak.

In 1986, he visited the West for the first time. In 1988 he accompanied Champaklal, the most faithful servitor of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, during the latter’s visit to the West. He had set to tune forty-seven prayers of Champaklal written in Gujarati which Mohan had termed as a ‘spontaneous outpouring’. Champaklal was very fond of these songs and he used to remark: “I sing through Mohan.”

Mohan Mistry with Champaklal

In 2002 Mohan visited the United States of America and had performed at the Lodi Ashram on 17 November. At the invitation of devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Mohan had travelled not only to various cities in India Mohan Mistry with Champaklalbut also to Austria, Vienna, France, Canada, England, Toronto, Montreal, etc. to give musical performances. Through the musical series ‘Dhyana’ composed by him, Mohan had endeared himself to the Aurobindonian community. He would call his music ‘the Mother’s love’ because it was through the Grace of the Mother that he could reach out to unnumbered souls through his music.

For the past few years, owing to failing health Mohan Mistry was staying in Desiree where aged members of the Ashram are looked after. Recently he suffered a stroke and was admitted to the General Hospital where he stayed in the ICU for two days. He was brought back to Desiree where on 10 July 2025 he chose to leave his body and unite with his Gurus—the day being ‘Gurupurnima’, a most auspicious occasion for all Hindus.

Time would pass by; men and governments would come and go. But Mohan Mistry would continue to live till eternity because his rich musical legacy has immortalized him.

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About the Author: Born on 13th October 1984 to Jayanta and Sanghamitra Banerjee (eminent actress of Bengali cinema), Anurag Banerjee is a multiple award-winning poet, essayist, researcher, biographer and translator. A former faculty at NexGen Institute of Business and Technology, Kolkata and Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research (SACAR), Pondicherry, he established the Overman Foundation, one of India’s leading research institutes dedicated to the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, at the age of twenty-five in March 2010. He has lectured in several national symposiums and seminars organized by Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, Sri Aurobindo Bhavan (Kolkata), National Council of Education and Jadavpur University and authored more than two hundred and fifty research papers which have been published in anthologies and journals of repute. He is a Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre Trust which runs the Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir School at New Alipore, Kolkata, and editor of Srinvantu, one of the oldest bi-annual journals of West Bengal dedicated to an exposition of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In April 2011, he received the prestigious Nolini Kanta Gupta Smriti Puraskar awarded by ‘Srinvantu’ and Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata. In December 2021 he received the Shiksha Bharati Award’ from the Indian Achievers’ Forum ‘in Recognition of Outstanding Professional Achievement & Contribution in Nation Building’. In 2024 he received the Golden Book Award (declared Asia’s most prestigious book award by the Business Standard newspaper) for his magnum opus, Sri Aurobindo and His Ashram in Contemporary Newspapers.

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Mohan Mistry: A Pictorial Tribute

In the following three photographs, Mohan Mistry is seen with Champaklal and Kamalaben.

Mohan Mistry with Narad

Mohan Mistry at Desiree.

Photographs courtesy: Facebook

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