29-March-2015 (Sunday) Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
29-March-2015 (Sunday)
Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
Mother’s Life for Her Devotees: Her Letters – 11
10. Another wrote: At their place they had a shrine in which the pictures of the Master and the Holy Mother were installed on a wooden throne. Their children did the worship, including making food offerings (Bhog) and Arati. One day, their youngest daughter who performed the worship that day, finished the Arati and placed the burning wick-light under the wooden throne of the Deity. The cloth hanging from the throne caught fire, and the throne itself as well as the pictures of the Master and the Mother on it, were all burnt and reduced to ashes. Filled with great fear and apprehension, they were now approaching the Mother for her ‘assurance’ and ‘mercy’. Hearing about the incident, the Mother was filled with great sorrow and concern. She said, “This kind of Puja and Arati are not to be treated lightly. They are rather difficult to perform and should be done with great care. It is only places like the Maths and the Ashramas that can undertake them. Otherwise, can I also not wave the incense or the light in my chapel every night-fall?” After expressing her regret again and again, she ultimately had a reply sent to them in which she bestowed her ‘assurance. To them but also cautioned them to be careful in future.
[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 120]
