Evolution of love

JAI MAA

THE HIMALAYAS AND WESTERN INDIA
1937 (April to December)
She moved again and halted at Bareilly for about a week. Waves of devotees flooded the town; devo­tees tried to savour every moment of her stay there. She left Bareilly for Nainital on Chaitra 26 where the same scene was witnessed. She would take a cruise in the lake, wander around in the hills, mixing with the hill folk singing Kirtans with them and generally filling the atmosphere with her blissful presence. One day, addressing a group of employees, MA said, “You have a job and do your regular duties. When you retire you will be entitled to a pension. In the same way, if you do your daily service to God, you will get another kind of pension, a payment which never ends, which will be paid to you as long as you live.”
On Baishakh 4, MA paid a visit to “Bhumiya Dhara” a place four miles from Naina temple. Two days later, the priests and worshippers of Naina temple performed a Vedic Yagna with MA as the central figure.
On Baishakh 10, she went to Almora to stay at Nandadevi Temple. Every day a huge crowd came to pay homage to her. Whenever MA walked out, people lined up the streets, and showered flowers on her. They addressed her as ‘Kalika Jagadamba.’
One of them: ‘What is Samadhi of the inanimate (Jar-Samadhi)?’
MA said: “If one can truly concen­trate on HIM only, then not only the body, even the mind can turn inanimate depending on the state of spiritual attainment.”
Another asked, “Do we imagine the existence of Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, or are they real”?
MA’s reply was: “All are real so long as you have vision, you create. The three states of Creation, Preservation and Destruction are the real forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. The way you demarcate the land ownership of Zamindars, you can also demarcate their control areas as Brahmalok, Vishnulok and Shivalok.”
According to her, creation, preservation and de­struction are manifestations of God’s will. He is impartial. People suffer as a result of their actions (Karma). But action is an essential requirement. Without striving one cannot hope to earn the bless­ings of great souls.
Answering a Western lady one day, MA said: “The same indivisible consciousness permeates every element in the universe, but human beings re­flect the greatest manifestation of God. Creation and destruction are part of the same process”.
Baisakh 15 and MA was on the road again. She touched Bareilly, Lucknow, Faizabad and Kashi on her way to Jamshedpur. While she was waiting at Howrah station to change trains, the well-renowned author, musician and sadhak Dilip Kumar Roy came to pay his respects.
Her birth anniversary was being celebrated at Jamshedpur. MA was with the devotees for a few days before coming back to Calcutta to grace the celebrations, which were already in progress in the city. In Calcutta, the renowned patriot, Sarat Chandra Bose, paid her a visit. MA visited a Girls’ school on Baisakh 25 where she told the students, “I plead with you to devote a little time to God every day, in the way you attend to your lessons. Your happiness and peace of mind will increase if you do.”
Within three days she was at Baisari in Eastern Bengal and villagers - Hindus and Muslims alike - came in hundreds to have a glimpse of her and hear her words. She told a youth there that work done with enjoyment led to further action whereas a work done grudgingly would be unproductive from the start.
She moved again - to Banisal, Chandpur, I, Comilla, Kasba and Kheora. The whole village turned out to receive her at Kheora braving torrential rain. She went to every house, remembering every inmate by name. It was a pleasant homecoming as every­body recalled her early days at the village.
Nevertheless, nothing can bind her. She was out on the roads again within 24 hours, to go to Dacca during the birth anniversary celebrations after many years. Dacca went mad with joy.
At midnight on Jyeshtha 14, the Kali icon inside the sacred pit at Dhakeswari was worshipped, follow­ing which the temple door was opened to the public, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Within two days, she left Dacca for Calcutta.
On the benefit of keeping company with men of purity MA said “Usually, every being is unaware of its true identity; yet if it can accept another being as a liberated soul, then that acceptance would generate an excitement which may be apparently temporary but would leave a deep impression. Nothing goes waste. This is a benefit of keeping company with pure souls and you would do well to remember it.” She was back in Calcutta on Jyeshtha 18 to prepare for a journey to Kailash. Meeting devotees at several places on the way, she reached Kathgodam on the 25th and Almora on the 27th to stay at her favourite place at the temple of Nandadevi. Rabindra Nath Tagore’s daughter-in­ law, Pratima Tagore, paid a visit to MA at Almora, the next day. The journey to Kailash started on Jyestha 30 with a large group of followers, including some of her closest attendants. The group was helped by some 25 porters. Several horses and mules were taken to complete the journey. Gurupriya later wrote, “As MA walked along the hilly track we could realise that she was one with the surroundings, her charm radiating into the hills and vegetation all around. She was easily carrying with her a splendour of greatness marked by simplicity.” By the second day, the party covered some 18 miles. On the fifth day it reached Ankot. The pilgrims reached Khela by the river Kaliganga where a disciple of Sharada-ma, Ruma Devi, had a darshan of MA and became a devotee. The journey became more arduous as the party gradually proceeded towards Kailash negotiating unfriendly rocks and swift flowing hill streams after covering a distance of 136 miles from Almora. The party took a few days rest at Garbiang.