05-12-2016 Monday

Holy Mother By Swami Nikhilananda: 283



Chapter 13 – In the Role of Teacher : 002



Holy Mother did not seek disciples. She once said: ‘Those who care to come to me will do so of themselves after severing the shackles of the world. I shall not send for them.’ She herself lived a secluded life unknown to the public. Very few knew of her existence. The present writer, in 1916, expressed the desire for initiation to Swami Premananda at the Belur Math and suggested the name of one of Sri Ramakrishna’s foremost disciples. The Swami asked him to go to the Mother. In his utter ignorance the writer asked who the Mother was and received a thorough scolding from the Swami. Nothing was written about her, except for a brief mention in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. A life of the Master in Bengali which spoke Holy Mother was read by only a very few. Her pictures were not shown in public. How, then, did people come to know about her?



Some were recommended, as was the present author, by the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna or other Swamis of the Ramakrishna Mission. Some heard about her from friends or relatives who had already been initiated. Some came to know of her through a dream or vision. And there were some who came to pay their respects to her as a holy person and received her grace unsolicited. She also initiated people at the request of her own disciples. Once when Holy Mother was going to Calcutta she had to wait for the train at the Vishnupur railroad station. A poor porter came running to her and said: ‘You are my Janaki.1 (1 A name of Sita, the consort of Rama.) How long I have been searching for you! Where have you been all this time?’ With these words he began to weep profusely. Holy Mother consoled him, asked him bring a flower to offer at her feet, and initiated him then and there. Some received initiation from her in a dream. When they told her about it, she explained the meaning of the mantra to them and asked them to continue to repeat it, and sometimes she gave an additional mantra. In the choice of her disciples Holy Mother looked into their hearts and did not consider their race of social position. Thus among them one finds not only Bengalis, who naturally form the majority, but also men and women of South India, Europeans, and a Parsi. It may be mentioned that she neither understood nor spoke any language except her mother tongue, Bengali.



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Holy Mother - Being the Life of Sri Sarada Devi Wife of Sri Ramakrishna And Helpmate in his Mission By Swami Nikhilananda p: 177 – 178

Location: Bangalore