Sept 2019 1Some Musings on the Holy Mother

SWAMI BALABHADRANANDA

Sri Ramakrishna says in the Kathamrita(The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna):

“Whenever anyone assumes a human form,he has to come to the domain ofAdyashakti.” He further says, “With thehelp of Adyashakti, God sports as anIncarnation. God through his Shaktiincarnates himself as man. Then alone doesit become possible for the Incarnation tocarry on his work. Everything is due toShakti of the Divine Mother.” So whenSwami Vivekananda places the HolyMother on a higher pedestal than SriRamakrishna, it must not be taken as amere emotional exuberance — it is correctfrom this point of view. Pure Brahman maybe higher than Adyashakti, becauseAdyashakti is but Brahman’s Shakti, butan Avatara or Divine Incarnation is not.

An Avatara is always subservientto Adyashakti, and remaining so only hefulfills his divine mission in the manner andmagnitude it is needed for the world. Thisis the eternal law concerning an Avataraand his divine mission. That is why, perhaps,in most cases when God incarnated himselfas Avatara, Adyashakti also preferred tomake her advent as a human being. Sheperhaps felt that she could help theAvatara better in his divine mission if sheexperienced the same prevailing conditionsof the earth along with the Avatara. Thatis why, perhaps, the world has witnesseddivine couples such as Radha and Krishna,Sita and Rama, Vishnupriya and Chaitanya,Yashodhara and Buddha. We may need touse many a ‘perhaps’ in this essay, as weare aware that we are discussingAdyashakti or Mahamaya here whose

ways are inscrutable and that whatever wesay about her can at best be a conjectureand not a conclusion.

This was true of all Incarnations inthe past; also that their divine consortsprovided them with the powers that wererequired for the fulfillment of theirrespective missions. But unlike the HolyMother, in this Age, they played their rolesfrom the background, quietly. Perhaps theythemselves wished so, which is why theirgreat silent roles defied the attention andcomprehension of people at large.

The Chandi says, once as expressedby the sage Markandeya and again as whatthe gods themselves felt, that man can havemoksha, liberation from bondage, onlywhen the Divine Mother is pleased withhim. The Mother herself declares in theChandi, as excerpted from one of theHindus’ fundamental scriptures, Rigveda,that if she wishes she can make of a mana rishi, a seer of the Supreme Truth oranything else .

The same Adyashakti has appearednow as Sarada Devi, in her first-ever rolein a human body as a tangible, universalMother — as the mother of the wicked aswell as the mother of the virtuous. We hadnot experienced any goddess to be somotherly and any mother to be so godly,every day and at every moment. So far,only a handful of realized souls might havecomprehended in the innermost recessesof their hearts the universal motherhoodof the Divine Mother. But after studyingthe unique life of Sri Sarada Devi on thisearth, everybody can comprehend that toa great extent. One can now believe more

Swami Balabhadrananda is the Assistant General Secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission.

2 Samvit Sept 2019

easily that love and affection for humankindactually exists in the unseen hearts of theunseen goddesses—just as Sri Sarada Devihad. Goddesses Durga, Kali and othersowe this comprehension to Sri Sarada Devi.

To enable the world to accept SriSarada Devi with due shraddha, theAvatara of this age himself came forward.Sometimes he would declare his consort’sgreatness straightaway, referring to herdivinity as: O ki je se? O amar Shakti (Don’tconsider her as one of the common run ofwomen. She is my Power). At other timeshe would only give hints to the effect,saying: “Have I married someone who liveson leaves and stems of gourds?” By this hemeant that he could never have married anordinary woman. The one whom Godaccepts as His consort, cannot but be anincarnation of the Goddess Herself. Heonce warned Hriday, who dared to behaverudely with the Holy Mother: “If the Oneresiding in this (pointing to himself) becomesangry with you, you may still have chancesto survive. But if the One residing in Her(meaning Sri Sarada Devi) is displeased withyou, even Brahma, Vishnu or Maheshwarawill not be able to protect you.”

By his behaviour with Sri SaradaDevi also, Sri Ramakrishna sometimesclearly indicated her greatness. One dayhe mistook her for his niece, Lakshmi, whohe thought had brought him his meal forthe night and without looking at her, hesaid, “Jabar samay darjata bandha korediye jas (close the doors when you leavethe room)” Now, the word ‘jas ’corresponds to the English word ‘go’ butthe form in which Sri Ramakrishna used theword was only proper for addressingjuniors who need not be shown muchrespect. The appropriate word in this caseshould have been ‘jeo’ instead of ‘jas’. The

Holy Mother gave a single-word reply inthe affirmative. Hearing her voice, SriRamakrishna immediately realized hismistake and said apologetically: “Oh, it isyou! I took you for Lakshmi. Please donot mind!” But still, he could not sleep theentire night. At day-break, he immediatelywent to her and said, “Look, I couldn’tsleep the whole night. I felt very bad foraddressing you so disrespectfully.”

Why was Sri Ramakrishna soconcerned that he inadvertently expressedeven the slightest disrespect to Sri SaradaDevi? Why did he repeatedly try to drawour attention to Sri Sarada Devi’s greatness?Because knowing her as the Divine Motheror at least as divinely powerful wasnecessary for both the spiritual and materialwell-being of the people of the world. Timeand again, Sri Ramakrishna pointed out thatMaya, who casts her intriguing knowledge-covering shroud on everyone in theuniverse, not sparing even Brahma, Vishnu,and Maheshwara from her sway, makesan exception only in one case: If anyoneaddresses her as ‘mother’, she does notbewitch him or her. It is as if she feelsashamed to do so. So the only way to winover Maya is to treat her as one’s mother.It is, therefore, a great blessing for theentire mankind that the ever-enchantingMaya, on Her own, has appeared in thisAge as a natural motherly personality, inthe form of Sri Sarada Devi. Because ofher advent, people of the world can nowlook upon the Maya-incarnate, Sri SaradaDevi, spontaneously as their own motherand get enabled thus, even ignorantly, togo beyond Maya and reach the supreme.That is why Sri Ramakrishna repeatedlydraws our attention to Sri Sarada Devi’sgreatness, because if we fail to recognizeher as Mahamaya or the Divine Mother, it

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will be a great spiritual loss to us. We willnot be able to pierce through the veil ofMaya to see our resplendent Self, whichwe are in a position now to do more easilyby our prayers and submission to the HolyMother. That is why we find SriRamakrishna apologetic and repentant inthe incident narrated above, although hismistake was totally unintentional. Hewanted to drive home through the incident,as a lesson for mankind, that the greatpower that has descended in our midst inthe form of Sri Sarada Devi, cannot beshown the slightest disrespect evenunknowingly.

We know that Sri Ramakrishnaalways considered himself as a child of theDivine Mother. One day at Dakshineshwarwhile he was going to the Kali Temple topay his daily respects to the Mother, hefound the stairs slippery due to rain onprevious few days. He went down on allfours, like a child, to climb the stairs, withthese words on his lips, “Mother, see thatI do not fall.” Again, when Totapuri offeredto teach him Advaita Vedanta, he said, “Ido not know anything about it. My Motheronly knows whether or not I should learnthis from you.” Totapuri said, “Then go andask your mother.” Totapuri was under theimpression that Sri Ramakrishna wasreferring to his biological mother. But SriRamakrishna actually went to Mother Kaliin the temple to seek permission andreturning from the temple reported toTotapuri that he had received herpermission. So we find that from thesimplest daily act to an issue of supremespiritual importance — he would be everdependent on the Divine Mother. He wouldtry to instill this total dependence on theMother into the hearts of his youngdisciples also. Once Swami Shivananda,

then Taraknath Ghosal, complained to himthat he could not concentrate his mind wellwhile he attempted to meditate. SriRamakrishna’s solution was as simple asthis: “Ore Ma-kebal, Ma-kebal (My boy,report it to the Mother)”. By this heperhaps meant that the Mother, who rulesthe universe, rules our minds also.Therefore, if she wills, she can send ourmind into meditation in no time. Mothercan do everything and is doing everything.

That is why Sri Ramakrishna’ssadhana began with Mother-worship andproceeding through diverse spiritual pathswithin and outside Hinduism, it ended againin Mother-worship, with the difference thatthe Mother was worshipped in the lastcase not in any image but in the human formof his own consort, and as GoddessShodashi. After this, he had an effortlessvision of Christ, followed by innumerablevisions of gods, goddesses, andincarnations throughout the rest of his life,for which he did not need to undertakeany new sadhana. His sadhanas actuallyended with the Shodashi Puja.

Sri Ramakrishna had performed thisShodashi Puja in his own room on the nightof Phalaharini Kali Puja and when theworship was over, he surrendered himself,his rosary, and the fruit of his life-longsadhana at the feet of the living image, SriSarada Devi. It may seem from it thatwithout any self-effort, Sri Sarada Devithus became the overnight inheritor of theimmeasurable spiritual treasures of SriRamakrishna. As if, Sri Ramakrishna wasthe giver and Sri Sarada Devi, the receiver.But actually it was not so. It was not acase of transmission of Sri Ramakrishna’sspiritual powers to Sri Sarada Devi. TheShodashi Puja was but a process by whichthe Divine Powers, which were ever Sri

Some Musings on tne Holy Mother

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Sarada Devi’s, were invoked. Without thisinvocation, the Divine Mission of theavatara of the Age could not be initiated,and also it was true that this invocationcould not be effected by anybody otherthan the Avatara himself.

Once the Holy Mother’s dormantpowers were awakened, Sri Ramakrishna’smission as an avatara also started becauseher powers were the powers with whichSri Ramakrishna was toaccomplish his DivineMission. He was nowfound to be preachingamong Keshab Sen andother Brahmo leaders ofCalcutta, who,impressed by his spiritualtalks and his frequentcommunion with God,began to publish abouthim in the Brahmojournals. This wasinstrumental in drawingsincere young men toDakshineshwar at hisfeet, the foremost amongwhom wasNarendranath, the futureSwami Vivekananda.

We will now lookat the Shodashi worshipby the Master from theTantric perspective. Tantra in India is saidto have two systems or streams. Thesystem prevalent in the eastern region,especially in Bengal, is called Kàli-kula whilethe one practised in the South is called Shri-kula. The presiding deity of the Kàli-kulais obviously Goddess Kali, while thepresiding deity of the other school isGoddess Shodashi, also known asShrividya. It is said that without attaining

fulfillment in the spiritual practices enjoinedby the Kali-kula, one is not entitled topractice in the mode of the Shri-kula. Wefind that, as though by the will of the DivineMother, Sri Ramakrishna first plunged intospiritual practices following the Kali-kulatradition, and after attaining perfection inthat mode only, he had switched to thesadhana of Shri-kula mode.

Incidentally, the sannyasins of theRamakrishna Orderbelong to the Puri sect,one of the ten sectsintroduced byShankaracharya, as SriRamakrishna wasinitiated into sannyasa byTotapuri who belongedto this sect. Now, thepresiding deity of this Purisect is Kamakshi who isalso known as Shodashi,S h r i v i d y a ,Tripurasundari, Lalita andRajarajeshwari. Theseare all different names ofthe one and the samesupreme Para-shakti orPrimordial Mother. InKanchipuram in SouthIndia, there is a temple ofGoddess Kamakshi, inwhich the idol of

Shodashi as well as the Shri Yantra (themystical diagram) were set up by noneother than Sri Shankaracharya. We haveseen that the Master first attainedperfection in the disciplines prescribed bythe Kali-kula stream of Tantra, and onlyafter that, Totapuri gave him sannyasa. Inother words, before he became aPuripanthi monk, he became eligible toundertake sadhana as per the Shri-kula

Bhavatarini at Dakshineswar

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system. And having come to the Shri-kulathrough his sannyasa, he now preparedhimself to worship the presiding deity ofthis tradition, Goddess Shodashi. How didhe perform this worship? He did thisworship neither in an image of the GoddessShodashi, nor in the Shri Yantra, but in theliving image of Sri Sarada Devi herself.

Sri Ramakrishna described Sri SaradaDevi as Saraswati. Swami Vivekanandacalled her the living Durga. Swamiji alsoreferred to her as Devi Bagala. And SaradaDevi herself confided to Shibu Dada(Shivaram, her nephew) that she was Kali.From the above statements it could meanthat all deities are the same. However, theyare not exactly the same.

I beg the opportunity here to narratean incident on a personal note. When wejoined the Ramakrishna Math to becomemonks, revered Swami NirvananandaMaharaj was the senior-most Vice-President. He was held in very high esteemin the Order because he was a disciple aswell as sevak (attendant) of SwamiBrahmananda, who had blessed him sayingthat he would attain the knowledge ofBrahman in this very life. SwamiShivananda, another disciple of SriRamakrishna, predicted the same thing.When I was a brahmachari at the TrainingCentre at Belur, I had the opportunity ofserving him a little. At that time I askedhim once: “Maharaj, Holy Mother herselfis the Goddess Durga, isn’t she?” Helistened but said, “There is somedifference.” His answer could not satisfyme, because Swami Vivekananda himselfsaid that Sri Sarada Devi was the “LivingDurga”. I thought he was perhaps in adifferent mood now; that was why he saidso. So later, one day, I got anotheropportunity to ask him the same question,

but that time also I got the same reply—“There is a difference.”

Much later I came across theinterpretation of Sri Ramakrishna’sShodashi puja, which I have explainedearlier, and in an article by SwamiHiranmayananda in Shatarupe Sarada. Thenonly I realized that a knower of Brahman,such as, Swami Nirvanananda was notspeculating —Holy Mother’s true naturehad been revealed to him. WhatRamakrishna said about her, that she wasSaraswati, is true. That she was GoddessDurga or Bagala, as Vivekananda said ofher, is also true, and also true is what SriSarada Devi herself said of herself, that shewas the Goddess Kali. All these statementswere true in the sense that Durga,Saraswati, Jagaddhatri, Lakshmi, and allothers are but partial manifestations of theperennial Cosmic Power (Adyashakti) orthe Divine Mother, while Shodashi is thatPower in its entirety. Therefore, as theincarnation of Goddess Shodashi, SriSarada Devi is the concentrated and highestmanifestation of Adyashakti; Saraswati,Durga, Kali and others are her constituentparts and aspects.

There is a mantra in the Tantra calledthe Trikuta Mantra which has three parts.One part is called—vak-bhava-kutacomprising these five letters: ka e ii lahreem. This part of the mantra stands forknowledge or jnana and Saraswati is itspresiding deity. Another part of the mantrais kama-raj-kuta comprising the letters ha,sa, ka, ha, la, hreem. This part of theTrikuta Mantra represents iccha, the desireor will, and its presiding deity is Kali. Thethird and last part of the Mantra is calledShakti kuta having the four letters sa,ka, laand hreem in it. It represents kriya, activityand energy. Durga is its presiding deity.

Some Musings on the Holy Mother

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What about Goddess Shodashi or ShriVidya? She is the presiding deity of theTrikuta Mantra as a whole, representingthe entire gamut of Divine Powerexpressed through jnana, iccha and kriya.That is to say, she is the quintessence ofthis mantra in which there are GoddessesSaraswati, Durga, Kali and all others. Thusit is clear that the power that descendedas Ma Sarada on the earth in this Age wasthe Adyashakti or Primordial Power herself.

Before the Shodashi puja, HolyMother’s power lay dormant. However,borrowing from that power itself, SriRamakrishna performed all his sadhanas.Sri Sarada Devi was not aware of her ownpower at that point and the time was alsonot ripe for that. One may recall in thiscontext one incident concerning them both.When the Holy Mother was about fourteenyears old, Sri Ramakrishna went toKamarpukur and spent a few days. In theevening, local women would come to theMaster to listen to his holy words. Motheralso came there from Jayrambati and wouldjoin the other women to hear his words.But she would fall asleep in no time, as shewould be very tired after doing the day’shousehold chores. Other women would tryto awaken her. But Sri Ramakrishna wouldtell them, “Don’t rouse her now. If shelistens to all these talks on God, would sheremain here (on this earth) anymore? Shewould run back hastily.”

Surely no one there could understandthe significance of these words of SriRamakrishna’s. Unlike others, Sri SaradaDevi did not require any further spiritualelevation for which Sri Ramakrishna’swords are ever sought after. Rather, shewas the giver of bhakti and mukti andeverything spiritual, being the DivineMother incarnate. Sri Sarada Devi,

therefore, neither needed to hear theambrosial words of Sri Ramakrishna norwas it good for mankind that she heardthem at that point of time. Was it not truethat till then Radhu (Holy Mother’s niece)was not as yet born and the future discipleshad not started coming? Till then, there wasnothing around her to bind her pure mindwith the world. Any reference to God orspiritual matters could have reminded herof her real Self and she would have goneback to her divine realm without eveninitiating the destined role she was to playas Sri Ramakrishna’s divine consort. Andwithout her, Sri Ramakrishna’s DivineMission also would not have commenced.

In the famous article in Bengalientitled Hindu dharma O Sri Ramakrishna,Vivekananda describes Sri Ramakrishna asthe most perfect among all the Incarnationswho has come in the previous Ages. He isendowed with all spiritual ideals possible.By his advent as the incarnation of this Age,he has nourished all the branches oflearning. He is, in fact, the renewedmanifestation of the earlier founders ofreligions. Elsewhere Swamiji describes SriRamakrishna as avatara varishtha, thegreatest among the incarnations. Taking ourcue from what Swamiji has said in theaforementioned article on Sri Ramakrishnaand Hinduism, we can say that by referringto him as the ‘greatest’ he meant that Godrevealed his divine qualities and powers tothe greatest extent possible hitherto, in thepersonality of Sri Ramakrishna.

The need of this age was great forsuch a manifestation. And the main criterionof the greatness of the Incarnation of thepresent Age lies not in the supersession butin the acceptance of the greatness of allthe previous incarnations and theirteachings. But he is the greatest, in the

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sense just described, only because theAdyashakti or Primordial Energy appearedthis time with her greatest power. She asShodashi Sarada, our Holy Mother,provided all power and support to Sri

Ramakrishna’s divine mission and enabledhim to be avatara varishtha. One,therefore, cannot but marvel at the depthand expanse of the Ramakrishna-SaradaIncarnation.

On a Stormy Night Came She

– DEVANJALEE SEN

On a stormy night came She,

A nd asked for a corner of my house to rest;

“I only need a corner to rest” - pleaded She.

Seeing H er plight, joyfully I offered

A corner in my tiny altar.

B efore I could know,

Q uietly She stretched H er legs

A nd intruded my territory.

A nd stealthily, She broke into my shrine

and coloured it with H er love,

M aking me H er bond servant forever thus!

Some Musings on the Holy Mother

8 Samvit Sept 2019

SUMITA ROY

I

However much is spoken or writtenabout the unique relationship of the

Great Master, Sri RamakrishnaParamahamsa and his divine consort theHoly Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, stillsomething remains unsaid, un-thoughtabout.

When his family was at its wit’s endto find a bride for Gadai, in order to curtailhis divine “madness”, it was this God-intoxicated young man who pointed outthe child bride from Jayrambati speciallyordained for him. And when after marriagehe met this pure little girl bride intermittentlyduring his visits to his native village, thethought came to his mind that she wascompletely dependent on him for hergrowth and development. He took thisresponsibility very seriously, and joyously,thus beginning to mould his first discipleand one of the greatest supports for hisfuture spiritual mission.

Long before it became evident thata silent revolution of positive and inclusivespirituality was being incubated in thewomb of time, began the fashioning of thelady who would steer its course in the mostunobtrusive yet illuminating way, and growinto the sangha janani of the Order whichwould come into existence decades later.

Many hints and pointers to the kindof training the Master gave to youngSarada are scattered in the literatureavailable to us today. He made spiritualitysimple with live examples: pointing to themoon, he told her that just like the moon iseveryone’s uncle (in Bengal the popular

appellation is ‘chand mama’), so also is Godthe nearest and dearest of every individualwhoever is genuinely seeking thisrealization. He was strict where necessary:when he found young Sarada and hercompanion, his niece Lakshmi in bed at thetime of meditation during the auspicioushour of dawn, he did not hesitate to pourwater on their bed to teach them a lesson.He tested Sarada at various times: aftershe arrived in Dakshineswar for the firsttime, Sri Ramakrishna asked her whethershe wanted a worldly union implying thatthis would drag his mind to a lower plane;Sarada passed the test with flying colourswhen she replied that she had come onlyto assist him in his chosen path and not tobe an impediment. Awakening her divinityby the worship he offered to her duringthe Shodashi Puja, the Great Masterestablished the primacy of the motherhoodof God and gave an exceptionalinterpretation to our ancient traditions.

In addition to this obvious spiritualdimension, the Mother’s training includedmany so-called mundane, householders’tasks or secular tenets. We are told thatcooking was one of them—the amount ofsalt to be put in a preparation reveals muchabout the person’s inner qualities; she learnthow to prepare betel rolls with the rightamount of chun/chunna (calciumcarbonate) and how to roll it so that itwould not come undone even when tossedaround; she was told how to trim the wickof a lamp; another lesson was on properetiquette for interpersonal contexts, that

Prof. Sumita Roy is the Former Head of Department of English, Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Master Teaches Mother: Secular strictures withSpiritual Significance

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is, how to make people one’s own by beingnon-judgemental and adaptable. She laterdescribed how Sri Ramakrishna had taughther the art of massaging by doing thispractically on her own body. She learnt therules of travel—how to get into a boat firstand get off last, how to care for theluggage, how not to put her arm out of atrain window when she had a preciousamulet on her arms.

Thus we readabout an entirecourse in educationwhich seems to farexceed in excellencethe modern day hi-tech education. Togo into the deepersignificance of someof these would bethe thrust of thepresent discussion.

II

To begin with,trimming the wick ofa lamp may seemsuch a marginal tasktoday when light isgot from sourcesother than the lamp.But it has such subtle and far-rangingnuances that we can learn much aboutinwardness from this brief description ofwhat the Master communicated to theMother. In a village of the 19th century,the lamp was an important part of everydayexistence as electricity was somethingunheard of. To get the maximum light froma lamp, the wick has to be of proper length,right thickness, etc.; it needs to be cleanedeveryday so that the black soot sticking

to it does not make the flame smoke.All this teaches attention to detail.

The soot can be metaphoric of the worldlyblackness that collects on the surface ofthe mind which unless scrapped every daymakes the mind sluggish and unfit for higherrealization. A well-trimmed wick is easyto light while an untrimmed wick requiresmuch wasted effort to kindle.

Also theMaster compared aflickering flame to adisturbed mind and asteady flame to amind capable ofrealization. Unlessthe wick is placedcorrectly, smearedwith oil and keptaway from directbreeze, a steadyflame cannot beobtained. Everyaspect of caring forthe lamp including itsdaily polishing forshine are metaphorswhich the Masterhas used to guide anaspirant on thespiritual path.Therefore, the

mention of the Master teaching the Motherhow to trim the wick of a lamp is not justa casual observation—it is an entire coursein spirituality.

III

Cooking/preparing betel rolls wasanother of the lessons for the Motherwhich leaves a lasting message forposterity. A person who is able to judge

Sri Sarada Devi

Master Teaches Mother

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the right amount of ingredients in a recipehas to exercise various skills of mind andbody. The Master often said that it wasdue to the cooking of the Holy Mother thathis body was preserved in good health forsuch a long time. The Mother on her partcould undergo any number of hardshipsonly to ensure that the Master got thenourishment he needed—going so far asto boil the milk to thicken it so that hewould not object to being overfed, in spiteof the discomfort to herself of workingtirelessly over a hot flame.

The Mother’s behaviour and attitudehere teach us how to do such an apparentlyinsignificant job as cooking. The personwho is cooking has to do the job withwholehearted concentration. We oftenfind in these days of “take-aways” thatpeople are reluctant to cook and if anyonedoes it, there is most often no pleasure inthe task. It seems like a reluctant drudgery.One can cite the example of the Mothercooking day and night for the numerousdevotees who came to her life-long. TheMaster’s and Mother’s covert message hereis that food cooked with a negative mindis like poison and one which is cooked withjoy is like amrita.

Serving food is the first step tospirituality as it has been famously notedthat no spiritual progress is possible on anempty stomach. We recall the Mother’sassurance that she would take theresponsibility of the spiritual progress ofthe Master’s “sons” when she was askednot to give them too much food whichwould hinder their spiritual austerities.

Another important point toremember is that our traditions lay greatemphasis on the kind of food one eats andthe gunas that ensue as a result. Food notonly converts to physical energy and

mental felicity but has a huge role to playin the path of spiritual evolution. In whichcase food and cooking and serving moveout of the mundane ambit and acquiretransformative meaning.

Similarly, rolling betel leaves withproper ingredients and folding them neatlyare not indicative of efficiency in actionalone. It has various other implications.One of them is evident in the Mother’s replyto a devotee who asked her whether shewas preparing special paan for the Masterand ordinary ones for the others. To thisthe Mother said that the Master wasalready her own, so she need not make aneffort to make special ones for him. Butthose guests who came to visit for the firsttime had to be endeared so the specialeffort of making paan with various specialingredients.

And the point about preparing rollsthat could be tossed around withoutspoiling the shape is a subtle hint that aspiritual person has to be dextrous in allmatters; spiritual elevation is no excuse forslipshod ways of performing any taskhowever unimportant it may seem. Inother words, real spirituality impliesefficiency in all aspects of life—a messagethat is oft repeated in the Gita.

IV

Travel and family are two importantpointers in this training which the Motherwas acquiring from her beloved Master.Boat rides were a part of her repeatedjourneys from her village to Dakshineswar.In spiritual terms the journey of life is oftencompared to a boat-ride and the world asan endless expanse of water which theindividual has to traverse in order to reachthe shore of liberation.

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The Master told the Mother that sheshould get into the boat first, meaning thatwith each new passenger entering the boatit would rock and she would be thesteadying influence to keep the balance of“the boat”. One is reminded in this contextthat before leaving his mortal frame, theMaster entreated the Holy Mother tocontinue the spiritual work which he hadstarted and she had at first seemedhesitant. But later she became that shorewhere hundreds found spiritual succour andin the promise to leave the boat last, aftereveryone has disembarked, the HolyMother gives hope to posterity that as longas there is even a single person who needsher help she is not going to abandon “theboat”.

Next is the interpersonal relationshipswithin the large families that were a normin those times. The Master taught HolyMother how to adapt to circumstances andhow to be self-effacing in order to win theregard of other members of the family. Weread how the little Sarada would eat spicyfood prepared by the Master’s guruBhairavi Brahmani and praise it althoughtears came out of her eyes and no otherwomen in the house could even touch thathot and spicy dish. Later in life her inclusionof her nieces in the decision makingprocesses and telling everyone to make “theworld your own” shows that the Motherbecame adept at human interaction. Sherefused to find fault with anyone or sayhurtful truths because she knew that thiswould disturb the harmony of thehousehold and take away peace of mind.

Mental peace is an essential prerequisitefor inward progress and therefore a spiritualaspirant’s first goal. Again and again innumerous places both the Master and theMother have spoken about the mind andits control. And the best way to ensureinner discipline and exhibit a controlled mindis to practice these lessons in the family.

Innumerable such instances lead usto conclude that the Master was teachingthe entire humanity through the Mother andthe Mother being a model learner waspassing on these invaluable lessons to theworld.

V

In what has come to be consideredas typically the style of the Great Master,in this training which he so carefullyimparted to the Holy Mother we find aninclusive aspect which does not categorizeanything as good or bad, secular or sacred,important or unimportant. Every aspect oflife is central if it is coloured with thethought that every path leads to the chosenideal and every task is a service ofdedication.

So we march ahead keeping in mindthat life itself is a lesson; nothing happenswithout the will of the Divine; the CosmicController has a blueprint for our progresswhich we are actualizing, whetherconsciously or otherwise does not matter;because the final end of the teaching andtesting is going to be a report card whichis ensured by the loving Mother and theaffectionate Master.

Master Teaches Mother