04-April-2012 (Wednesday)
Reminiscences of The Holy Mother!!!
SWAMI GAURISWARANANDA - 10

At that time there were very few educated people in Jayrambati. Two or four among women could write their names in Bengali. Mother would exclaim, “The Banerjees have a daughter-in-law come recently from Kolkata; she knows how to wind a clock.” She considered the ability to wind a clock a feat of great skill, for she had not come across any girl with a university degree or wearing a wristwatch. She herself could not clean a hurricane lamp. She would say to me, “Son, you better do it. What with all its mechanism – it’s beyond me.” When Mother had completed the lessons of Part I of Varna Parichay and had just gone on to learn the first line of Part II – aikya (unity), manikya (jewels), kuvakya (bad words) – Hriday had snatched the book from her hands declaring, “Too much learning isn’t good for women. It has an adverse effect on their character, leading them to enter into clandestine correspondence with men and reading plays and novels.” Such was the state of Mother’s formal education. What was wonderful, however, was Mother’s consummate mastery of spiritual knowledge despite being hardly literate. I was only an adolescent then. Mother’s education being limited to “kuvakya”, I used to have misgivings about her ability to answer the varied questions with which devotees, monks and brahmacharins came to her, and I used to wonder why they did not take their queries to the revered monks at Belur Math – Swamis Brahmananda, Shivananda, Saradananda and such others – who were well conversant with the scriptures. But Mother never told them, “go to Rakhal, Tarak or Sharat” for the answers to these queries. She used to listen to everyone’s questions and her answers were such that all their doubts were resolved. Being too young, I neither understood their questions not Mother’s answers to them, but the questioners went away obviously satisfied.

(REMINISCENCES OF Sri Sarada Devi by Monastics, Devotees, and others - Compiled and Edited in Bengali by SWAMI PURNATMANANDA - Translated by MALOTI SEN GUPTA : P 83-84)

Location: Bangalore, India

I am enjoying very much a book called "Reminiscences of Sri Sarada Devi" and especially the stories remembered by one, Ashutosh Mitra.

As pertaining to Mother's ability to write, he remembers the following:

p. 203

"Regarding her education, Mother once mentioned how she, a housewife (at Kamarpukur), used to secretly learn (the alphabet) from Lakshmi-didi who attended a primary school and taught Mother what she learned there. I felt a sudden urge to obtain Mother's writing in some form and pressed her for it. Mother refused firmly, but later gave in to my persistence, saying, "Then let me write your name." I gave her a piece of paper on which she wrote my name. I have preserved it to this day."

Location: New Bern, NC

I just learned via internet, that Ashutosh Mitra, the personal attendant of Holy Mother, was also the Brother of Swami Trigunatitananda of the Hindu Temple in San Francisco...

Location: New Bern, NC

What a coincidence sister... I am also posting these reminiscences from the same book. Yes, Ashotosh Mitra was Swami Trigunatitananda's brother and had also taken sannaya. His monastic name was Swami Satyakamananda. A****osh served Maa for almost 13 years.
Jai Maa...

Location: Bangalore, India

Dear Brother Satwik,

My home computer has been "down" for several weeks.
So I hurriedly made the previous post last night while under a time limit at the library. After I slept on the matter, it occurred to me that we were quoting from the same book!! Brother Ankur recently sent me this book from India and I have been "skipping around" in reading the various authors. This book is simply a treasure!!!! It is wonderful that you are sharing the stories here.

Your Sister,
Rosemary

Location: New Bern, NC