The East-West Cultural Center

The East-West Cultural Center was founded by Judith M. Tyberg,, a direct disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, to whom Sri Aurobindo had given the name Jyotipriya, or Lover of Light. On May 1, 1953, Jyotipriya started the Center in a small room in the home of a friend in Los Angeles. The Center offered language classes in Hindustani, Sanskrit, Pali and Greek; courses in the Art, Culture, Religions and History of India; studies in Comparative Religions and the Sacred Scriptures and study groups in Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's works. There were opportunities for research and Jyotipriya's Oriental Library was open to the public. In 1955, the Center moved to a home of its own with a 125-capacity auditorium.

After Jyotipriya's passing in 1981, the Center moved to its present location in Culver City. In keeping with the growing spiritual awareness of the region, it was decided to focus on the special work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which is the integral opening to a supramental source and the consequent transformation of our ordinary life to a divine life on earth. This emphasis received a firm and permanent binding with the sanction of Sri Aurobindo's Relics and their Installation on His Birth Anniversary on 15th August, 1991.

Presently, the Center is primarily concerned with being a place whose spiritual fount is the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo for individual and collective transformation. Towards this end, it seeks to increase the exposure to the Work and Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and of Their Ashram in Pondicherry, India ; to promote Indian and Western spiritual culture as a work of preparation; to provide opportunities to friends and aspirants to offer in cash , kind, time and/or consciousness to the Mother; and to foster a collective unity in Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of sadhaks and devotees, putting each in relation to the whole. The Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles