Evolution of love

JAI MAA

In Baisakh 1334, her birth anniversary was cel­ebrated for the first time. On the 19th of Baisakh, there was Kirtan and a full-meal offering to God. During this period, Dr. Sashanka Moharl took MA to his house at Tikatuli and formally worshipped her feet. While under a spell MA told Dr. Sashanka Mohan (later took Sanyas and was known as Akhandananda) that he did not require anything more to perform formal wor­ship. In her words “One is asked to do work accord­ing to one’s level. Everybody is not of the same disposition.” She also taught his disciple a special method of controlling breathing by practising which the ailing doctor found relief from his heart disease. MA’s presence was increasingly being sought by devo­tees in their homes. One of them, the widow of late Dinesh Babu, landlord of Dhanjora, took her on sev­eral occasions to arrange Kirtan at her place.
At times MA’s actions seemed strange, myste­rious. She could not board a boat, the slow rocking by waves sent her in a trance and she wanted to jump into the water to be one with the waves. For some days, she could not climb the stairs - the effort sent her into a trance. She would avoid the steps and try to climb through space. Lying in bed, she would go on talking - unintelligible words. At times English words would come out, at other times words of other foreign languages. She would read the minds of others, if she felt like it. She would foretell future events which would come true. But she was genuinely against the external manifestation of a saint’s divine powers. In her words, “There should be no expression of inner realisation - keep them locked in a box. If something spills out of an over-full box, do not care, proceed along your own path. If by chance some indications are revealed, do not bother but take care that you yourself do not let them out in the open”.
In 1334, probably in the pre-dawn hours of a Shravana night, MA along with Bholanath left Dacca. It was her express desire that no one should know about their departure, nor should anyone see them departing - They travelled to Narayanganj, Rajehahi, Calcutta and Deoghar before reaching Vindhyachal. Within days of her leaving Dacca, Jyotish (Bhaiji) also left for Vindhyachal for a change of climate. He later went to Chunar where MA also went. Later, every­body realised that she had reserved a special blessing for Bhaiji, who had received a new lease of life through her kindness.
After returning to Dacca, she went out again to her parents at Vidyakoot where relations and neighbours happily recalled the memories of her child­hood years. From there, she went to Kheora, her maternal uncle’s place, where she was born. There, to the amazement of everybody, she pointed out the exact spot where she was born, when none, including her mother Mokshadasundari could remember it cor­rectly. After some days she returned to Dacca via Vidyakoot.
There was another trip to Calcutta, this time to attend the marriage ceremony of the son and daugh­ter of Pyaribano. There were celebrations on her ar­rival in Calcutta and she had to bless the marriages in person at two different places on the same night. While she was in Calcutta and staying with Pyaribano, Basanti Devi, wife of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das came to pay her tribute. Her first words were “I saw this very image in my dream”. Strangely enough, MA hap­pened to see a photo of Deshbandhu and his wife, who were totally unknown to her, a little before the death of Deshbandhu. Pointing to the photo of Basanti Devi, MA had predicted that an imminent calamity was to befall the lady who would lose her husband soon.
MA, of course, was much above these divine gifts and was happy to shower her kindness on all. One day at Dacca, she herself cooked a number of dishes to entertain Pyaribano, who was thrilled with the honour. Pyanbano was an ardent devotee; she offered a gold necklace for the icon of Kali.
In Ashwin 1334, the annual worship of Durga was traditionally celebrated by Dr. Shashanka Mohan at his Tikatuli home. On MA’s bidding, the formal worship was performed by Sashanka Mohan and MA was present throughout the ceremony supervising arrangements.
The hut built at Siddheshwari needed repair. The hut was built of clay with a thatched roof. Devotees decided that this time a permanent construction was needed to set up a hermitage. Half the cost of land and construction was donated by Dr.Sashanka Mohan, the rest of the devotees donating the balance. The construction of the hut and the sacred altar was done under MA’s direction.
One day at Shahbag during a Kirtan session, while in a trance, MA went out of the house. Crossing the garden in darkness, she reached the mazar of a Fakir (Muslim saint). A group of bewildered devotees followed her carrying lamps. A Muslim caretaker opened the door to the mazar and MA went round the mazar loudly reciting from the Holy Koran. Then she offered namaz in the fashion of a devout Muslim. Everybody was stunned as MA was never known to have received any teaching of Islam. From the mazar she returned with his followers to the place of Kirtan, where they sang the glory of Han, with the Muslim companion participating and feeding MA with a piece of candy with his own hand.
When Pyaribano came to Dacca and heard of the incident, she requested MA to visit the mazar again and to recite from the Holy Koran. She fulfilled her desire. Those who came from the house of Nawab to be present on the occasion, easily recognised the portion of the Koran from where MA was quoting, though this time she was not as spontaneous as on the earlier occasion. The incident, however, amply demonstrated that all religions received equal respect from MA, and its influence was far-reaching.
In the first part of 1928 MA and her party went to Gauhati to visit Kamakshya. They decided that from Gauhati they would go to Lamding, Pirozepore and Baisari before returning to Dacca.
At Kamakshya, she had the feeling of being in company of the well known Gods and Goddesses as well as saints and hermits. One night she was stand­ing alone on the hillock when she found the whole atmosphere charged with a divine mood. Groups of Gods and Goddesses were frolicking around, all of them, even familiar ones like Ram and Krishna in their childhood. Saints and hermits, although having long tresses of hairs and beards looked to be in their child­hood. There were so many of them that the hillock was not visible. She confirmed later that all of them looked as if they had not crossed their childhood years. At Kamakshya, Bholanath made a formal worship of MA during which she went into a trance achieving a total Samadhi.
After spending a few days in the hills, she started for Pirozepore via Lumding. The year was 1335 (1928 AD). One has to travel by steamer and then a dis­tance in country-boats. As soon as her boat reached the spot, she again went into a trance with devotees singing Kirtan all around. With half closed eyes and tresses flowing down her back, a very relaxed MA walked along with the singing party, her body swing­ing lightly to the rhythm of the music. She looked like a Goddess in a procession and those who were for­tunate to see her on that day had an experience of their lifetime. After two days at Pirozepore, she moved to Baisari and stayed in the house of Girija Babu. She was surrounded by the devotees singing Kirtan, the glory of God, for all the three days that she was in Baisari. From there she went to Dr. Biren’s house in Sohagadal village, covering the distance partly by boat and partly on foot and followed by innumerable devotees. She was moving from village to village in this manner when she suddenly decided one day that she must move elsewhere.

She paid a quick visit to Calcutta, from there to Rajshahi, Calcutta again and then to Dacca. During this period, she set peculiar rules for her own meals. One day she decided to eat only that much that the left hand could hold; another day she decided to eat her food from the floor and not from a plate. Some other day she told Bholanath, that she did not like to ‘eat from bronze plates. Bholanath told her in jest; “Will a silver plate do?” She agreed in earnest. Strangely, without being aware of this conversation, Bhaiji sent a silver plate for her use.
There were miracles on certain occasions. One day, Pramatha Babu developed some doubt about MA’s divinity and thought within himself that the doubt could be cleared if MA could appear before him in the very image that he had in his mind. He actually thought of the headless form of the Eternal Power - the Chhinnamastya image, and was frightened when MA actually seemed to appear before him in the same image that night. She stood up and bent her head to touch her own back, with the tresses streaming down the body. Pramatha’s orderly who was present could see a few more forms of the Shakti in her that day which Pramatha missed. The orderly was more for­tunate than Pramatha possibly because Pramatha wanted to test MA while the orderly had a complete devotion.
After some time MA set out again, this time to Giridih via Calcutta to visit Parasnath temple. Coming back to Calcutta, she went out again to Vindhyachal via Chunar and Mirzapur. In between, she also paid visits to Navadweep, Jaipur and Bharatpur. When she started her journey from Shahbag in Dacca, Prafulla Babu’s wife told her in jest that unless she came back early she would not be allowed to enter Shahbag again. Somehow, this proved to be true as Shahbag went under the care of a Court of Ward with the result that Bholanath, Yogesh and Bhudev all lost their jobs. MA once remarked, “One must be careful while speaking as at times even casually uttered words, good or bad, may turn out to be true”.
Anyway, MA found a new place in Dacca when she returned there in Baisakh 1335 (1928 AD). It was a rented house at Tikatuli where the Kali icon was installed. All the inmates at Shahbag moved into the new house. The construction of the larger building at Siddheshwari was completed and MA’s birth anniversary was celebrated for the second time at that place. This time it lasted several days starting from 19th of Baisakh. At the exact time of birth, Bholanath performed a formal worship of MA in full splendour. From ten in the night onwards MA was with her Mother (Didima) and the devotees, holding a flower in her hand collected from her garland. At the exact time of birth, she offered that flower at the feet of Grandma. Father Bipin Behari was with the Kirtan singers and MA put a garland on his neck and touched his feet.
After the birth celebrations MA went to Tangail. While she was away, a house was rented in Dhakeshwari in Jaistha 1335 where the Kali image was installed. With this, the image was transferred to a new location for the third time. On returning from Tangail, MA moved into the new house - Uttama Kutir - a two store structure, MA staying in the upper floor.
She paid a visit to Barisal at the invitation of Chintaharan Samaddar. After a few days, she went to Munshiganj and Vikrampur. She made boat jour­neys from village to village - Tantar (Aunt’s place), Bejgaon (Parents-in-law of Bholanath’s niece), Aatpara (her own village), Chhaygaon (Mathur Babu’s place) and Dokachhi (Sitanath’s place). The village people were delighted to have MA who also enjoyed her stay. She would take a stock of sweetmeat or a pot of pickles from somebody’s house and distribute among villagers, or would ask for something from a house to enjoy herself.
On reaching Dacca, she received a telegram carrying the message of the serious illness of Jogendra Kundu and Nandu. She promptly left for Calcutta and came back when the patients were on their way to recovery.
Within a short time, she journeyed to Varanasi where Kunja Mohan Mukhopadhya had arranged a worship. She had a few companions, including Bholanath, Gurupriya and Dr. Shashanka Mohan. There was a halt at Tangail where Dinesh Babu’s wife performed a formal worship of MA. To get a steamer-launch, the party had to travel by boat for a distance. MA burst into tears during the boat journey and tried to jump into the river. Several persons had to physically hold her back as MA pleaded that the journey be cancelled. The party had to return to Dinesh Babu’s house. Actually, there was some incident during the stay which offended Bholanath. The inmates were full of regret. MA was deeply hurt by the developments. She refused to go away without clearing the misun­derstanding. She settled the matter to everybody’s delight on the second visit and proceeded on her way the next day.
There were celebrations, worship and Kirtans at Varanasi as MA remained in Samadhi most of the time. Once, while in a trance, she performed worship of infants, showering flowers on them. There was a meeting for the first time with the Principal of Kashi Sanskrit College, Mahamahopadhya Gopinath Kaviraj. He was simply charmed by her. Various questions used to be put to MA by the visitors everyday and she would answer them in the simplest language to the admiration of the renowned scholar. Gopinath Kaviraj would sit by MA with a hand fan to cool her body.
Many learned men, scholars, and men of posi­tion came to see her during this visit. Every evening, she would be seated in a large open place for the visitors to have a glimpse and talk to her. At about 10 in the night she moved to the terrace of the house where individuals would be allowed to talk to her priva­tely. Until three in the morning she would be there. By four devotees would start pouring in.
Her first meetings with Swami Shankarananda and Jogendra Roy also took place at Kashi. Jogen Babu regaled MA with many of his Kirtan recitals.