TWO SPECIAL DARSHANS OF THE MOTHER

 This is the account of two unique Darshans that Mother gave to me (and others), experiences that will live for ever in my soul. 

The Ashram Choir

 In 1961 I made my first journey to the Ashram. Jyotipriya had written Mother sending Her my photograph and a sample of my handwriting. Mother replied: “He may come and stay as long as he likes.” I arrived on Nov. 23, the evening before Darshan. In the weeks to come I had my first interview with Mother and She arranged for me to teach music in the Ashram school. Since my love for music had been strongly influenced by the choral tradition, I soon began a choir.  

There were many good singers among the young men and women who joined, yet even more important, an enthusiastic willingness to rehearse and a joy in singing that infused each work we sang. Having sufficient sheet music for a cappella choir, primarily from the religious repertoire, we soon built a program of choral music from many centuries. 

Everyone had an aspiration to learn the scores and to blend their voices, individually and by section, one of the great challenges to all choirs. After numerous rehearsals I can say that the choir had developed into a finely honed ensemble. Most of the singers were in their late teens and early to mid twenties and we all expressed an aspiration to sing for Mother. I wrote Mother of our wish to sing for Her but received no reply.  

During this time I was seeing Marilyn Widman regularly and she, in her role as an elder sister, encouraged me to write Mother again. I did so and once more there was no reply. I felt that Mother was too involved in Her work to be able to devote the time to listen to our choir. Being a callow youth I was deeply influenced by Marilyn who insisted that I write Mother again since She may not have received my letter or was too busy to answer. Marilyn instructed me to write Mother that we would sing for Her under Her balcony on a fixed date and hour. This time Mother replied, fixing the date and time, and saying that it would be better if we would stand by the Samadhi. She would come down the stairs and sit by the window overlooking the Samadhi. 

Although at times I have been deeply pained that I troubled Mother and disturbed Her work, I also realize what an extraordinary blessing She gave us. We were all shocked when we entered the ashram courtyard and found that it was almost completely filled with disciples, for little did we realize how quickly the word had spread that there would be a special darshan. 

A place was made for the choir on the east side of the Samadhi looking up towards the window where Mother was seated. Suddenly, all was silent and it was time to begin our choral offering. The choir was facing Mother and since I was conducting I faced the Samadhi. All was silent as I gave the tones to the various voice parts. I brought my hands up, gave the downbeat and the most awful cacophony resounded through the Ashram courtyard! 

The first piece was a total disaster! It was so completely out of tune it was painful. I realized then that we had a serious problem. We had not previously rehearsed out-of-doors and the wind was playing havoc preventing the different sections from hearing each other! And there were still six or more works to sing. 

At this point I turned around and lifting my eyes to the window where Mother sat, I prayed simply: “Mother, we are singing for You, please help us.” The remainder of the concert was perfect, not a missed note, everyone in perfect harmony, a blend of voices that would make the angels proud. As we concluded, we all looked to Mother in gratitude and today, nearly forty years later, I can remember the joy amongst all of us for this very special Darshan. 

As everyone began to leave the courtyard I met Dimitri who told me that after our out-of-tune rendition of the first piece on the program, each composition thereafter was indeed perfectly sung.  

In the Service Tree

 When Mother gave me the work of caring for the Service Tree immediately after the cyclone broke the massive branch that was directly over the Samadhi, facing south, I began a program of pruning and fertilizing the tree throughout the 1970’s to 1981. During the 1980’s I lived in the U.S. and in the 1990’s once again took up the work, now with many able assistants, among them Montu and Andreas. 

This is the story of a day in 1970 (or 1971, I no longer recall exactly) when I was still climbing without a safety harness, often going very high into the top of the tree to prune branches. This particular day I had much to do as there were numerous dead branches to be pruned, diseased areas to clean out, jagged edges to be smoothed, etc. Climbing throughout the tree, section by section, I came finally to the eastern side and, turning a bit north, I saw Mother in Her room! Perhaps I should not have glanced at Her golden form in that vast space where I felt no walls, but can the bumble bee not incline towards the honeyed flower? Though I could have fallen from the tree, so powerful was the experience, who kept my feet in place and my balance intact? How could one not have looked at She who is “The magnet of our difficult ascent”? 

Today, more than 30 years later, I remember that moment high up in our beloved Service Tree, and Mother’s DARSHAN. Now, things are different and many of our sages and seers have commented on how long it will take for the supramental race to be established on earth. I know very little, nothing really, but I do know that She resides in us and we in Her, now and for all ages. In one of the last meetings with Nolinida here is what he said: “Your body (pointing to Mary Helen) and your body (pointing to me) and my body may all look different but they are not, they are all the same...they are all Her body, really. She has put a part of Herself into each of us”