APPENDIX THE MOTHER'S LETTERS TO A STUDENT 1-6-60 Sweet Mother, Can you hear me whenever I call you? My dear child, Be sure that I hear you each time you call and my help and force go straight to you. With my blessings. 30-8-63 Bonne Fête! ]e t'embrasse de tout cœur et te donne mes bénédictions pour l'accomplissement de ton aspiration la plus haute. Avec ma tendresse. [I embrace you with all my heart and give you my blessings for the fulfilment of your highest aspiration. With my love.] 30-8-64 Bonne Fête! Avec toute une collection de roses (surrender) pour que ton aspiration se réalise et que tu deviennes mon e

III PLUNGE INTO DARKNESS As soon as we reached Chittagong, I received a telegram from my relatives in Rangoon that a Government post had fallen vacant and I was sure to get it, if I applied for it. I was in a fix, for I had told the Mother that I would practise in my home town. Fate now decided otherwise and I sailed for Burma. That post was, however, not available, but in its stead another job offered itself almost unasked for and unexpectedly. I had gone to pay a courtesy-call to a Professor in the Rangoon Medical College, an I.M.S. who was an Edinburgh graduate. He spoke to me of a job that was going to be vacant and he wanted me to apply for it. Not only s

-11_My Family and the Mother^s Grace.htm XI MY FAMILY AND THE MOTHER'S GRACE By "my family", I mean my old mother, my sister and her children. Most unexpected was their arrival here, particularly of my sister; and most generous, I should say magnanimous, was the Mother in her acceptance of them all. My mother came first followed by my sister with her children, but they arrived in batches. When the last batch wanted to come, the Mother said, "Let us first see how these get on." After a year or so, all of them found shelter under her wide protective wings. She observed later on before Sri Aurobindo that they were a "success". I remember Amrita going about and looking for a house where the ent

XVI SWEETNESS AND LIGHT 1971-1973 The Mother's unexpected sanction and encouragement for writing Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo, spurred me to action and I began working on the book. She seemed to have pumped a Force into me at the same time so that I had to be constantly busy and active which is against the grain of my nature. My personal contact with her had stopped owing to her illness. Now I felt that it should be renewed: then I might draw some inspiration directly from the contact. My prayer was granted and I started seeing her once a week. It was not quite the same Mother as I had seen in 1967 and 1968. Physically she had become frail, but her face was

II INITIATION All this happened in the first week of January 1930. In February my niece and I visited the Ashram for the Darshan and stayed about a month. The inspiration came from her and I believe she enjoyed the stay much more than I did. I was still uncommitted. It was an altogether new mode of living, an esoteric life of the initiates into which I had stumbled without the least preparation. We took part in all the functions and observed the discipline of the Ashram: we never went out to the bazaar to have any refreshment, though we were often hungry during the day or at night. I had not yet become a tea-addict. The simple beauty, purity and quietness of the atmosph

VI THE MOTHER TAKES UP MEDICAL CORRESPONDENCE Neat about 1937 Sri Aurobindo had some trouble with his eyes. All correspondence had to be suspended. Though I carried on my medical duties without the Mother's guidance, both the patients and the doctor felt the need of her physical support. The Mother, therefore, came to our rescue and took up the correspondence herself. I shall give in these pages some instances of her direct instructions. An old sadhak had contracted TB. I wrote to the Mother that the case was serious, but that there was still hope. The medical treatment possible was next to nil (I am talking of the 'thirties). "If

VIII LIGHT INTERLUDE After all these serious talks, let us see the Mother in her lighter moods, just for a change, but no chronological order is intended in the narration of the various incidents. I had now the chance of seeing the Mother along with the others every morning. It was the time of the morning Pranam. Some young students were going to the Gingee Hills for an outing during the holidays. They invited me as a teacher to join them. Their captain Prabhakar brought a list of names to the Mother for her sanction. As she scanned the list, she found that my name was also there. "Will you be able to climb the hills?" she asked me. I replied, "Oh yes, Mother!" I

Back-Page Thanks to Nirod, we have the revelation of an altogether unknown side of Sri Aurobindo. It is extremely interesting and very instructive. This was the Mother's comment on Nirodbaran's book Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo which he wrote for Sri Aurobindo's Birth Centenary, the 15th of August 1972. Next, Nirodbaran paid his homage of love to the Mother on her Birth Centenary, the 21st of February 1978 in The Mother — Sweetness and Light. And from his personal contact with her, he revealed one of the most intimate aspects of the Mother, of which he was the grateful and happy recipient and witness. One of the personal attendants of Sri Aurobindo, Nirodbaran w

-10_The Mother^s magnanimity.htm X THE MOTHER'S MAGNANIMITY A young man came to me with a letter of introduction from a friend in Calcutta. Our friendship went back to Scotland days but we had hardly met since our arrival in India. This man had gathered all particulars about me from that friend, and, adding that he too was a doctor, said he would like to stay here. He also said he knew Dr. Sanyal. From other details it appeared that he was well- connected in Calcutta. Quite impressed, I arranged for him a room in Golconde. I informed the Mother about him and even consulted him in a medical case. Some days passed; he was gaily moving about and telling many tall stories to the young people.