(Now) all round gongs are beating, and bells are ringing, for it is the time of evening worship. I go up to my roof and lie there quietly to watch the stars come out…
I call it the Hour of Peace…The idea of this worship is that ‘Candle-light’ has just begun, and when the servants bring up the lights, the ladies in the zenana prostrate before a sacred picture or an image, and then it is the use of Sarada Devi’s household, which is really a convent, to go to meditation. For an hour or two before you will see some of the ladies counting their rosaries quietly…(LSN, To Mrs. Eric Hammond, 2/5/1899, Vol. 1, 1982, p. 134) So the air is full of worship and the evening bells sounding at this moment are so sweet! Life without meaning – what an infinite relief! All evening and star-light, and the new moon and prayer. It is like the Holy Mother’s presence. That too is like the concentrated sweetness of the twilight…especially when she is at worship – oh, how wonderful!... (LSN, To Mrs. Ole Bull, 5/3/1905, Vol. 2, 1982. P. 726.)
(REMINISCENCES OF Sri Sarada Devi by Monastics, Devotees, and others -
Compiled and Edited in Bengali by SWAMI PURNATMANANDA - Translated by MALOTI SEN GUPTA : P 114-115)
