Such is She, Love Incarnate,

Emperor of our hearts ...

Extracts from the book

'The Mother of Love' by M. P. Pandit

With sheer love She has come into this world of hate and falsehood to front the Enemy in his own fief. Unknown to man for whose delivery She has come, She developed Her physical embodiment into a live mould for the Earth's aspiration and when She stepped on the scene, it was Sri Aurobindo, the Seer sempiternal, who proclaimed Her advent to the sons of God and laid at Her feet the domains of the three worlds awaiting transformation, placed in Her hands all the treasures of the Spirit He had garnered from of old.

Such is She, Love Incarnate, Emperor of our hearts, whose one single look is enough to transport us to heights of heroism, extremes of self-abnegation, sublimities of ecstasy. To serve Her in whatever way She allows us to do is our life's highest privilege. To see Her, to get a word from Her gives a sense of fulfilment to our deepest soul.

Speaking today in 1965, in the 87th year of Her golden body through every pore of which seep the soothing drops of Love Divine, through the limpid blue eyes of which stream forth torrents of melting Compassion, this writer cannot but recall the first day he met Her, over twenty five years ago. Oh, the marvel of that moment! His soul burst out of its prison-bars in a flood of tears and tears and tears and each time he looked up to Her, She spoke through Her indrawn eyes in the only language they have ever spoken to him thereafter, the language of Love.

Much has happened during the intervening years. Much has he tried Her phenomenal patience; much has he hurt Her heart of tender solicitude; much has he strayed in the blindness of his ego which She suffered in silence. But not once did She greet him without that familiar glance of Love.

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Gradually, increasingly, totally there came over a change. She had dug and dug tirelessly into the hard layers of his ignorance and lit the chambers of his soul which leaped into the arms of its Maker. All became a sea of Love.

Every day She stoops to pick up the infant clinging to Her knees and dips him into these Waters that transmute. How far is the day when he would walk in the wake of Her strides?

Meanwhile, he is on the sands of the Sea and here are a few of the precious pebbles collected on the shore.

Courtesy: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry

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"The name acted on me like a mantra"

"My first contact with Sri Aurobindo took place in a strange way. I was thirteen. One afternoon I was idly browsing among books in the office-cum-library of my brother who was an advocate. The dusty bookshelves were full of old leather bound volumes of All-India Law reports. Among them was a big green book which excited my curiosity. I pulled it out and found it was entitled 'Ali pore Bomb Case' . I opened it and my eyes fell on a photograph with the words ARAVINDA GHOSE beneath. The name acted on me like a mantra and I found myself repeating it with obvious delight. It was something sweet and melodious. Later I spoke to my brother of this experience. He wrote about it to my mentor Sri Kapali Sastry who told me that the meaning of my finding the photograph in the book would become evident as I grew up. And so it did."

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In 1937, Madhav had his first Darshan of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on August 15. He wrote later, "It was overwhelming and I felt the only thing comparable to Him was the Himalayas."

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At that time the Mother personally saw to each sadhak and kept a discreet but detailed note of all his actions. Once when Madhav was not in his office, She came in and went through all the shelves and drawers. She found everything kept neatly, beautifully arranged, perfectly organised. Not one thing was out of place. She was so happy that She immediately went to Sri Aurobindo and described what She had seen: the order, the harmony and the organisation. Later one of the attendants narrated this to Madhav and he was naturally delighted.

Spontaneous faculties opened up within him as a natural outcome of his spiritual development. Mother noted once in a letter to him that within the span of a few days he had made the progress of several lives.

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The Mother had remarked to Kapali, "He is a speaker!"

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Even much later when the Matrimandir was being built, the Mother asked him to go there regularly to give talks on the Synthesis of Yoga.

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When writing one of his earliest articles, he recalls, Kapali Sastriar was pacing outside deep in meditation, and there was a special charge in the room. Later when the article was read out to Sri Aurobindo by an attendant, He remarked that He had already heard it before. The attendant explained that it had just been typed. But Sri Aurobindo insisted that He had already heard "every word of it. " On being informed of this Kapali smiled knowingly, and Madhav was overwhelmed with a deep sense of humility.

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In the early days of Ashram life, Madhavji's life was organized around the Mother's daily schedule. He would sleep around nine-thirty, and wake up early at one o'clock, or if there was much work even at twelve-thirty. By two o'clock he would be at work.

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It was in these early hours long "before the gods awake" that he typed or wrote many of his works including his Readings in Savitri which more and more people are now discovering and benefiting from.

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It is interesting to recall that when he first joined the Ashram, Kapali Sastri told him of the Mother's opinion that he had the potential to be one of the first twenty-five supermen upon earth. Extract from the booklet 'Madhav Panditji' by Shraddhalu Ranade

Courtesy: Publisher

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