22-11-2016 Tuesday
Holy Mother By Swami Nikhilananda: 272

Chapter 12 – Spiritual Ministry : 015

Whenever a devotee took leave of her at Jayrambati she would be distressed, like an earthly mother, at the thought of parting with her child. She would walk with the devotee some distance from her house and bid him farewell with tears in her eyes. A personal experience comes to the present writer’s mind. He and Gauri-Ma were returning to Calcutta. As he was about to take leave of the Mother in her room, she gave him some rice-pudding of which she had touched a little to her tongue, thus making it Prasad.1 ( Food offered to the Deity or partaken by the guru or a holy man is called Prasad. It is believed to be spiritually potent.) She caressed him affectionately, touching his chin. ‘Mother, I am going,’ he said. At once she corrected him and said: ‘Never say that. Say, “Let me come again.” You come from East Bengal and do not know the custom.’2 ( The expression ‘I am going’ denotes a kind of final parting, like ‘farewell’ or ‘good-bye’ in English. But the parting words ‘Let me come again,’ like the German auf Wiedersehen, denotes the possibility of meeting again. A few days before the Master’s death, as Yogin-Ma was leaving for Vrindavan, Sri Ramakrishna said to her absent-mindedly, ‘Go.’ After she departed he was sorry for having used such an unlucky word. They never met again in the physical body.) The Mother shed tears of grief and fervently prayed to the Master for their safe trip. She said: ‘Master, please look after their welfare; they are undertaking a long journey.’ Gauri-Ma was a dynamic woman, an organizer and lecturer. In her younger days she had travelled all over India as a wandering nun. Vehemently she assured the Mother that it was only a night journey by train and they would return safely Calcutta. The more she roared, the more humble the Mother became. As the writer watched the scene, he said to himself: ‘Here is a woman who does not possess a millionth part of the Mother’s power and she is bubbling all over. And the Mother has suppressed all her power and is acting like an ordinary mother.’ Even after a lapse of forty-five years the scene remains vivid with him. On another occasion, in 1920, the writer took leave of Holy Mother at the Udbodhan, probably for the last time. He went out to the house and walked to the end of the street, and as he looked back he saw the Mother standing on the north porch of the house wistfully looking at him.

-------
Holy Mother - Being the Life of Sri Sarada Devi Wife of Sri Ramakrishna And Helpmate in his Mission By Swami Nikhilananda p: 168 – 169

Location: Bangalore