Reminiscences by – by Swami Gauriswarananda

Streams of people used to visit Mother for initiation and I used to watch them come and go. By and by, it occurred to me that I too should obtain initiation from Mother. But doubtful as to whether she would grant my wish due to my short height and my age being a mere seventeen years, I consulted an old woman, a disciple of Mother, whose son was an advocate and who lived in Jayrambati to serve Mother. I confided to her, “Here I am, desirous of being initiated. You are a close companion of Mother. Do you think she will initiate me?” She answered, “Brother, it seems quite likely that she will. If you fail to turn up on a Saturday afternoon, Mother mentions you twenty times. She keeps saying, ‘Why hasn’t Rammoy come, is he down with fever?’ Again, ‘He is an intelligent, scholarly boy. Perhaps he is deeply engaged in studies. There may be some approaching examination and he has forgotten me,’ and so on. She keeps fretting about you. Since she is so fond of you, she will initiate you. However, if she says that you should wait till you grow up a little, that’s another matter.” I was already grown up. I looked young only because I was short for my age. Anyway, when I approached Mother she was happy. She said, “Well, if you desire initiation, then spread out the asana and sit here after saluting the Master.” Besides Mother’s own, there were two asanas of carpet for any couple to be initiated together. I spread out one of those before Mother, and after offering pranam to the Master and Mother, I sat down. Taking water from the kosha with the kushi, she sprinkled it on me saying, “May the sins of previous birth perish, may the sins of the present birth, committed consciously or unconsciously, perish.” Thus she purified my body. Then she mentioned a god and suggested, “He is your Ishta isn’t he?” Lest I fail to understand, she repeated, “It is him that you revere most, adore most, don’t you? I shall impart that mantra to you which symbolizes him.” Upon this, I replied, “Mother, you have guessed correctly that I revered him the most. But now that I have gone through the Master’s teachings, all gods and goddesses are one and the same to me. Well, if I ask for a particular mantra, will you give that to me?” Mother said, “Speak.” When I mentioned the mantra, she asked, “If you receive this mantra, will that make you happy?” I said, “Yes.” Then she pronounced the relevant mystic words and showed me how to repeat the mantra 108 times. After telling me a few dos and don’ts, she said, “Always consider your Guru and your Ishta to be one and the same, never consider them separate.”

MOTHER AS I KNEW HER – by SWAMI GAURISWARANANDA (REMINISCENCES OF Sri Sarada Devi by Monastics, Devotees, and others - Compiled and Edited in Bengali by SWAMI PURNATMANANDA - Translated by MALOTI SEN GUPTA : P 78 – 80)

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