19-July-2014 (Saturday)
Mother As I Saw Her – Swami Saradeshananda
The Mother’s Sense of Sharing – 03

Nabasan’s wife** was indeed very fortunate. The way she had served the Mother during the last few years of life, remaining always with her like her very shadow, was marvellous. She looked after the bodily wants of the Mother, nursed her in her sick bed, and washed all her soiled clothes. All this she did with a care, devotion and love which only those who had seen could understand. It can truly be said of her that she had made her human birth blessed by serving the Mother of the Universe as a Daughter and as a Mother in one and the same body. There is no doubt that she was given this privilege as a result of her good deeds in previous births. It is doubtful if there was anybody else who had this good fortune of serving the Mother in such a double role.

**
'Nabasan’s wife' as translated by Prof. J. N. Dey gives the impression that the lady's husband's name was Nabasan. Well, this is how Swami Gambhiranandaji elaborates about her in Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi page 294 footnote:
...the widow (Mandakini Roy) of Navasan: She was married in a Kayastha family of Navasan, a village within the Goghat police station of the Hoogly district and only a few miles away from Kamarpukur and Jayrambati. She had no issue and her husband died early. She became a disciple and then an attendant of the Mother. In the Mother's household she was known as the daughter-in-law of Navasan. For convenience, we refer to her as 'the widow'. (Courtesy: Ruchiraji)

Most Revered Pravrajika Bharatiprana Mataji in her reminiscences of the Holy Mother mentions this devotee of Maa as: “The bou (married woman) from Nabasan” (PRAVRAJIKA BHARATIPRANA - At the Feet of the Holy Mother. Vedanta Kesari June 2004 p: 212)


[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 84-85]

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