18-June-2015 (Thursday)
Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
The Mother at Kamarpukur – 2

I have heard that at that time Laha’s daughter, the aged Prasannamayi, and Shankari, the younger sister of the Master’s foster-mother Dhani the blacksmith woman, took affectionate care of the Mother as their own kith and kin. I have heard of another child-widow, whose name I do not at present recollect. She was the daughter of the Master’s boyhood friend, the devotee Srinivas or Chinu, the bangle-seller. She was of moderate means but still had, like Prasannamayi, leanings towards the service of the Deities and the Sadhus. These three ladies had parental love and devotion towards the Master and the Mother, and so long as they were living, they always made enquiries about the Mother and helped her in various ways, loving her as they did, like a daughter. If the necessity arose, Shankari would even stay for the nights in the Mother’s room. When the Master got into the divine mood and left his work as priest, the authorities of the Dakshineswar Kali temple had arranged that his daily share of temple Prasad and his monthly monetary remuneration should be continued to be given to him. The Master himself did not take the money, which therefore used to be paid to the Holy Mother. This payment, however, was stopped when she left Dakshineswar. Though Narendranath and other disciples of the Master tried to get it restored, they did not succeed. The Master had arranged to keep a small amount of money for the Mother. This gave her a small monthly income – her only provision. The Master had also got some land bought at Sihar and endowed it for the service of Raghuvir, the family deity. This gave her some quantity of paddy. She received also a portion of the paddy as her share from the yield of the piece of land known as Lakshmi Jala, measuring a Bigha and ten Chhataks in extent, presented t her father-in-law, Kshudiram, by Sukhalal Goswami at the time the family settled at Kamarpukur about the year 1815. The Mother pounded the paddy herself to make it into rice. She cooked a little of this rice and any greens or vegetables she could procure, offered it to the Master, and maintained herself with the Prasada. Her mind being always in a superconscious plane, she did not pay attention to these physical hardships. The Master had asked her to live at Kamarpukur after his time, and she was obeying his command. It may be asked what the monastic disciples of the Master were doing. Could they not help the Mother? They themselves had no roof over their head and no food for their stomach. And besides, they had not the slightest inkling about the hardships in regard to food and clothing that the Mother was going through then. However, when the news about these privations of the Mother reached their ears, they contacted the householder devotees and had the Mother brought to Calcutta from Kamarpukur with their help.

[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 153-154]

Location: Bangalore, India