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MIRA

Maud LALLEMENT known as MIRA is a free and independent spirit, a curious soul who loves to go to the heart of things. She is now over 90.

Maud LALLEMENT worked for UNESCO all her life. She was the assistant of M. Vladimir STEPANECK, Secretary of the Executive Council. One of her "bosses" called her "Maud know-it-all" (in French a pun on Mao Tsé-Tung) thus underlining her love of research and discovery.

Linked to this, her love for books and knowledge soon led her to the Unesco library stacks, open to all at those times. There she found a book on the Indian sage Vivekananda and a small leaflet inviting interested readers to get in touch with the Vedantic Centre at Saint-Mandé. It was a bit outdated, and she had to go to Gretz to meet Swami SIDDHESWARANANDA the sage sent to France by the Belur Math monastery (Calcutta) at the request of a number of Sorbonne university intellectuals (Paris) who wanted to study Vedantic philosophy.

For Mira then began a life shared between her Paris job during the week and week-ends all spent at Gretz. The centre teemed by life and creativity. Many intellectuals, scientists, artists, musicians, philosophers gathered at week-ends with the Swami for both happy and profound exchanges.

When the Swami became bed-ridden after a massive heart attack, he chose Mira as his private secretary. She was in charge of the numerous letters the Swami exchanged with a large number of people. During all these years, she collected and preciously kept all the documents she dealt with.

She thus drafted the presentation of the 3 books "Swami Siddheswarananda and his time" which she later wrote : "Sketch from a "family album" based on a few notes and letters, programmes, articles, memories and photographs gathered by a modest seeker in tribute to the memory of Swami whose 100th birthday was celebrated in 1997."