Eric Hughes passed away Sunday evening, March 6th, 2016 after suffering a stroke. He was 84 years old.

Winner of the Edward Albee award for his play “The Empty Room”, Eric had a deep love of theater and the opera. He worked as a copy editor for many years both in Manhattan and in upstate New York.

He met his partner of over fifty years, Sam Spanier, in Manhattan. Sam, an accomplished painter who had been a student of the Gurdjieff work with Madame Jeanne de Salzmann in Paris, became a disciple of the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. Both men went to Pondicherry and had profound spiritual experiences from their contact with her which changed the course of their lives.

Sam and Eric co-founded Matagiri (Mother’s Mountain) as a Sri Aurobindo Center on 48 acres outside of Woodstock, NY and later incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

Eric read deeply in Sri Aurobindo and Mother’s published works and translated the 13 Volumes of Mother’s Agenda of the Supramental Action Upon Earth from the original French which contributed to the official translation.

He also edited a book entitled “On Collective Yoga” containing quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and had an extensive correspondence with disciples. Auromere in Lodi, CA produced a CD of his reading On Love, a compilation by Pavitra.

Sam and Eric were joined by others in a small community and over the years received thousands of people at Matagiri. After Sam’s death, Eric continued to greet visitors and share insights until his passing.

Matagiri continues under a Board of Trustees including Julian and Wendy Lines, whom Eric named as his successors. They both have been students of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga since the early ’70s.