A Place where devotees gather to share inspiration.
"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda
Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California
Continued from above:
On Wednesday [July 2] of the same week, the day being Ekadashi, and himself keepingVivekananda at Cassipore the fast in all strictness, he insisted on serving the morning meal to the same disciple [Nivedita]. Each dish as it was offered–boiled seeds of the jackfruit, boiled potatoes, plain rice, and ice-cold milk–formed the subject of playful chat; and finally, to end the meal, he himself poured the water over the hands, and dried them with a towel.
“It is I who should do these things for you, Swamiji! Not you for me!” was the protest naturally offered. But his answer was startling in its solemnity — “Jesus washed the feet of His disciples!”
Something checked the answer — “But that was the last time!” — as it rose to the lips, and the words remained unuttered. This was well. For here also, the last time had come.
There was nothing sad or grave about the Swami during these days. In the midst of anxiety about over-fatiguing him, in spite of conversation deliberately kept as light as possible, touching only upon the animals that surrounded him, his garden experiments, books, and absent friends, over and beyond all this, one was conscious the while of a luminous presence, of which his bodily form seemed only as a shadow or symbol. Never had one felt so strongly as now, before him, that one stood on the threshold of an infinite light. Yet none was prepared, least of all on that last happy Friday, July the 4th, on which he appeared so much stronger and better than he had been for years, to see the end so soon.
On the day of the Mahasamadhi itself, whether consciously or intuitively, his actions were most deliberate and full of meaning. His solitary meditation for three hours in the morning from eight to eleven was the most striking. He rose rather early that day and, after partaking of his tea, entered the chapel of the monastery. After some time it was noticed that he had closed all the windows and bolted all the doors. What transpired there, no one will ever know. In his meditation his own Master and the Divine Mother — to his own realization One and the Same Personality — must have been present, for, when he had finished, he broke forth in a touching song in which the highest Jnana mingled with the highest Bhakti.
Descending the stairs of the shrine, he walked back and forth in the courtyard of theVivekananda at Chicago monastery, his mind withdrawn. Suddenly the tenseness of his thought expressed itself in a whisper loud enough to be heard by Swami Premananda who was nearby. The Swami was saying to himself, “If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood what Vivekananda has done! And yet, how many Vivekanandas shall be born in time!!” This remark startled his brother-disciple, for never did the Swami speak thus, save when the flood-gates of his soul were thrown open and the living waters of the highest Consciousness rushed forth.
Thank you for your warm and gentle words.
Especially today, on the 90th Anniversary of Holy Mother's MahaSamadhi.
Here is a quote from "In the Comany of the Holy Mother":
Her final message to an afflicted world torn by hate, she gave five days before her death.
Note: this was only two years, after the end of the First World War, of 1914-18
To a woman devotee, who was weeping, she said, "Let me tell you something. If you want peace of mind do not look into the faults of others. Rather to look into your own deficiencies. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child. The whole world is your own."
On Tuesday, July 21, 1920, at half past one in the morning she breathed heavily several times and entered into a deep samAdhi from which she never returned to the consciousness of the physical world. Peaceful sleep settled over her body, ravaged by long illness, which now suddenly relaxed and gave off a celestial light. Many of her disciples were deceived by this light and thought for a time that she was still with them.
The body, decorated with garlands and flowers, was taken to Belur Math, across the GangA, and cremated on a pyre of sandalwood. Now a white temple stands on the spot, in loving memory of her immaculate life.
Another white temple has been erected over her birthplace at Jayrambati, from the top of which flies a flag emblazoned with the single word "Ma", recalling to her devotees, from far and near, her words of reassurance:
"I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous. Whenever you are in distress, only speak this to yourself, 'I have a mother'."
Excerpted from: Holy Mother Tribute Page
