23-February-2015 (Monday) Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
23-February-2015 (Monday)
Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
Story of the Present of fried Rice – 04
On another occasion, when the Mother was again at the Udbodhan, the same devotee, when returning to Calcutta, carried with him a few mangoes from the mango tree planted by Sri Ramakrishna himself, and some quantity of tasty vegetable called Patal, grown at the Koalpara Ashrama. How happy the Mother was on getting these! The mangoes were still a little green and had not yet ripened properly. Ambol (Chutni) was prepared with it and offered to the Master! On that same occasion, the devotee had come passing through Vishnupur, where he paid visit to Sureswar Babu’s house. The devotees of that place gave him some Sal leaves to be used as leaf-plates by the Mother. The sal leaves of Vishnupur were very much liked by the Master because even the thin soup of Kalai pulse would not leak out of it. The joy that the Mother felt at getting these offerings of the devotees, though trivial, was just like what a child feels at getting a doll or a ‘Moa’ (a sweet ball made of puffed rice and molasses). Her preferences for these simple things to the many costly ones towards which she would not even turn her gaze would fill many with wonder. The Mother used to say, “Is the value of a thing to be gauged by its price? It is the love and devotion with which a thing is offered that really counts!”
[Mother As I Saw Her (Being Reminiscences of Holy Mother Sarada Devi) – Swami Saradeshananda. Translated by Prof. J. N. Dey. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore Madras-600004: p 108-109]
