Evolution of love

JAI MAA

At times without any noticeable cause, many abnormal symptoms became visible on Her person.

Her breath became deep and prolonged; Her whole body would twist right or left with an expression of

languor and fatigue- She would then lie down on the floor or roll up Her body like a bundle.

She had physical consciousness at that time and when any question was put to Her,

She would respond with one or two words in a very faint soft voice.

On enquiry we learnt from Her later that while She was in this condition

She would feel a fine threadlike upward current of life flowing from the lower end of the spinal cord

right up to the topmost center in the brain and along with it, a thrill of joy would run through every fiber

of Her body and even through the pores of Her hair. She would feel at that time that every particle of

Her physical frame danced as it were with infinite ripples of bliss.

Whatever She touched or saw appeared to Her to be a vital part of Herself.

Her physical body gradually ceased to function.

At this time if Her backbone was massaged or the joints of Her body were rubbed for a long time,

She would remain quiet for some time and recover Her normal condition. It was at this stage that

She was found to be brimming over with blissful joy and Her looks had all the indications of one

lost in universal love.

In the midst of the routine of everyday life, while Mother was lying down, smiling and talking to

people that came to see Her, it was found that Her limbs had become ice-cold, Her nails and toes blue.

Even by vigorous massage the stiffness of Her limbs could not be lessened, although the hands of those

who rubbed Her limbs became benumbed with cold. One day it took Her nearly twelve hours to recover

Her normal warmth.

One evening, just at dusk, Mother was lying in a state of sarnadhi .

Our Didima was on the bed by Her side. Pitaji was also in the room.

At about 2 A.M. I was seated on the verandah meditating on Mother’s lotus feet.

I felt a thrilling sensation in my heart produced by the sound of Mother’s footsteps.

I opened my eyes and could not notice anything. I heard some feeble sound inside the room.

When I left my seat I noticed two tiny foot-prints of Mother’s wet feet.

On entering the room I found Mother in bed. I enquired from Didima (Mother’s mother)

if Mother had gone out; the reply was, “no”. The night passed. Next morning

She was on the plane of consciousness for a brief interval. Though She recovered Her sense on

the following day it took three or four days more to regain Her normal ways of life.

A few days later I said to Mother, “I have heard that during sarnadhi it is not possible for

anybody to move about in his physical body; how was it that I noticed two of your footprints on the floor that night?

Mother said, “Is it possible for man to explain all things in words ?“ and resumed silence.

On one occasion, I asked Mother,—”What are the signs of a sadhaka ? (one who strives hard for spiritual uplift)

Mother said, “When a devotee reaches a certain level of mental purity, he may behave like a child, or become

unresponsive to worldly stimuli like a clot of inert matter, or violate all canons of social life like one insane, or

at times be swayed by flashes of higher thought or emotion and pass for a saint. But through all these varying

modes of life his aim remains fixed upon his central target. If at this stage he forgets his final aim his progress is

arrested there.

“But if with intense effort he strives on and on towards his goal, all his activities will center round his

supreme objective. You will always find that even though he looks like a mass of inert matter, quite

indifferent to external stimuli, he is full of cheerfulness and bliss as soon as he regains physical consciousness.

Gradually as this joyous mood settles down in him all his relationship with men and things becomes imbued

with a spirit of joy and happiness, so as to make him lovable and adorable to all. His inner and outer life

becomes an expression of the One Supreme Bliss.

“At the next stage the devotee reaches a level where even the concept of one universal existence melts away.

Then his way of life cannot be explained by ordinary canons of human reasoning. In this condition all the

vibrations of his mind-body are suspended and there is every likelihood of the soul departing from the mortal frame.

But if there is a residue of strong samskara (Persistent desire acquired from this and previous births to alleviate

the sufferings of humanity) to secure human welfare, he may live for a certain period longer.

Yet he remains unchanged under all circumstances of life. Although we think he is subject to change,

simply because he retains his body.

“The only difference between such a devotee and the yogi who gives up his body, is that the latter

leaves his body by his own effort of will. Even at the moment of exit from the physical, he retains the

consciousness that he has a body which he is leaving, whereas the man who gives up his mortal frame in absolute

samadhi [complete withdrawal into the universal cosmic soul] is neither conscious of an individual body

nor of any effort to give it up. The samskaras about life and death cease to function in his soul and as

soon as the karma of his past lives is worked out, the body naturally drops off.”

On another occasion, Mother said in the course of conversation

“(i) Purity of heart and mind comes through concentration on one unit of thought or idea according to one’s

particular disposition.

(ii) Gradually as a man progresses, all his other scattered ideas come to be unified with this one object.

(iii) Next when various streams of thought flow along the same channel, the devotee becomes apparently

motionless and inert.

(iv) Thereafter he finds a resting-place in the One Universal Being and is engulfed in one unitary existence.”

Ordinarily Mother does not say these things to all men; She sometimes stops suddenly in the course of

conversation. She is usually surrounded by many bhakta . What She utters for their welfare cannot always

be recorded and many of Her ideas are not intelligible to everyone.

Her instructions are of a universal type meant for all men, yet their real import is not always comprehended by

people like us. Still, when some of Her words illumine the mind of a particular person, what he realizes by his

own limited knowledge, finds expression in his life according to his own capacity to move forward.

It is not easy to imagine how infinitely various are the streams of water flowing from the Himalayas to the

plains of India through glaciers, cataracts, rivers, stream-lets and springs, enriching and fertilizing many sterile tracts.

Although the Himalayas do not lose anything by sending out these perpetual streams, the welfare of the world is

being secured by them. It is similar in the case of Mother and Her devotees.

We hardly find words to express the changes that little by little are coming upon us at every moment of

our lives, through Her contact, Her suggestions, words and smiles. There is a false impression amongst us

that if we try to express how Her blessings have moulded many little incidents of our everyday life, we shall be

belittling Her Infinite Grace or Influence. But I am inclined to feel that by such efforts we should only be

singing hymns to Her glory as well as advance our spiritual uplift in no small measure.

At the same time it would be a way of linking our grateful souls to Her Grace at every moment of our lives.