Evolution of love

JAI MAA

There was a rare assemblage of holy men at the Kashi ashram to attend the closing ceremony of the Savitri Yagna. These included - Haribaba, Chakrapaniji and Akhandanandaji from Vrindavan, Trivenipuriji from Khanna, Devigiriji from Uttarkashi, Krishnanand from Bombay, Avadhutji from Punjab, Prabhudatta Brahmachari from Jhusi and the sightless sadhu Sharananandji. There was non-stop reading from Gita and religious scriptures. The holy men enlightened the devotees on the various ways of reaching God; Avadhutji spoke on Gyanmarg, Sharananandji on Bhaktimarg.
There were various functions. MA tirelessly su­pervised all arrangements and looked after the guests, but the strain took a toll of her health. The whole night previous to the final day was spent in hectic preparations under her supervision. The Savitri Yagna reached its conclusion the following day with a ‘Purnahuti’ in the Yagna fire amidst chanting from the Vedas. As fire leapt towards the sky MA instructed that a flame should be preserved to be installed at the new Yagna Mandir on top of the Ashram.
Gurupriya had been asked by MA to increase the number of ‘Jap’ but she was not being able to manage it. She was, however, absorbed in ‘Jap’ at the time of ‘Purnahuti’ and suddenly had a vision of a fiery red form rising towards the sky from the Yagna­pyre. She was startled to have a vision of MA sitting by her also rising in the same manner from the Yagna­kund and disappearing into the sky.
MA led thousands of devotees on Magh 1 who took out a procession singing Kirtans, and moved along the streets of Kashi. After the ‘Saraswati Puja’ she and Haribaba moved to Vindhyachal.
Speaking on the virtues of meditation, she said one day “If all of you can decide on a fixed time to be reserved for jap or meditation on God, then all of you can achieve a transcendent mood, and the achieve­ments will have a multiplying effect on all others.”
MA moved around the country disregarding her health, suffering mainly from serious digestive disor­ders. Haribaba wants to go on a fast and pray for her recovery but was refused permission by MA. Haribaba in mild protest stopped eating regular food and lived only on milk and fruits. In a playful mood MA decided to be a little naughty. She went to the kitchen and, disregarding all restrictions, ate whatever had been prepared for general consumption. She repeated the mischief next day also, and told Haribaba, “Look I have eaten the standard food, you can as well do that.” Haribaba readily agreed.
Within six days of this incident, MA reached Vindhyachal on Falgun 27. The spicy food she took at Vrindavan had strangely acted well on her digestive system. At Vindhyachal, she took a full bath after almost a year.
On Chaitra 27, she was at Hardwar for the Kumbh Snan on the 30th. She did not have a dip on the day but only splashed a little water on her head and face. She went for a dip in the Ganga on Baisakh 1,1357. While in the water, she suddenly had an idea of immersing into the river. For some time she was not visible. Later she said, “Had the mood been more intense there was a chance of (my) not coming out of the water.”
At Kashi on the 7th, a distinguished devotee, Nepal Chakrabarty, formally renounced the world, assuming a new name Narayanananda Teerth. Several others embraced sannyas at the same time. They included Brahmachari Swaroop (Swaroopananda) presently General Secretary of the Sangha), Prakash (Prakashananda), Chinmoy (Chinmoyananda) and Keshav (Keshavananda).
The birth anniversary this year was celebrated in Calcutta for three days. Before her departure for Pun on Baisakh 29, the then Governor of West Ben­gal, Dr. Kailashnath Katju, came to pay his respects to MA and sought her blessings for peace in the coun­try.
After spending a month at the sea-side Anandamayee ashram at Puri, she reached Patna on Asad 9, but came back to Pun in another 11 days. This time, on Asad 25 she was almost on the point of leaving this world. The pulse rate became imperceptible; the external sensory organs became almost non-functional.
While walking, the senses of vision and hearing suddenly left her, she sat down on mud and slush, stretched her legs and lay down sideways as if the end was near. The whole night she spent in that senseless condition. Her recovery was slow and pro­longed.
By Shravan 3, she was on the move again - to Kashi via Calcutta to attend the Guru Poornima fes­tival. But she had not come back to normal after the incident at Pun. She looked weak and as if she had lost control over her limbs. While talking one day lying on a bed she went still - unblinking eyes gazing on nowhere. She took several days to get back to normal.
Towards the end of Shravan she was in Delhi. She was asked by one “How could one turn one’s mind towards God.” Her reply was, “One should try to submit all actions to God: these would include all activities - eating, moving, seeing, hearing or speak­ing. Submission of a particular moment’s activity is a manifestation of that moment’s expression of the indi­visible whole. To submit whatever one considers as one’s own, is to realise one’s own self.”
She moved again - to Dehradun, Viswanathpuri, and Etawa. She took part in a Nam-Yagna and Kirtan­around-the-town (Nagar-Kirtan) at Etawa. She was seated on a landau which was drawn by devotees themselves instead of horses. She then went to Allaha­bad, Jhus, and Kashi before proceeding to Berhampore via Calcutta to attend the Durga Puja. Maharaja Shri Chandra Nandy and his consort Maharani Nilima Devi of Cossimbazar paid their homage to MA at their palace.
Back to Calcutta, and she went for a visit to Ramknishna Ashram at Baroda village in Midnapur for two days. After visiting Jamshedpur, Kharagpur, Pun and Calcutta, she arrived at Kashi to be present at the Annakut festival due on Kartik 24. On that occasion, a new temple of Annapurna was set up where the icon of the deity brought from Dacca and two Shivalingas were installed.
On Agrahayan 9, specially requested by the Vice-Chancellor of Benaras Hindu University, Dr. Parija, MA was a guest of honour at the annual convocation of the University.
She went to Narendranagar, capital of Tehri-­Garhwal State of those days at the fervent request of the bereaved widow of Maharaja who had died in a car accident. After some days, she went to Dehradun and Delhi and onwards to a few places in Gujarat.