Evolution of Love 2

REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS

During those years I used to pay visits to the Ashrams where Ma was in residence. The crowd of visitors grew from year to year and one did see among them some people whose reputation for honesty was not very high. Why did Ma extend to these people the same kindness and consideration as She did to others ? There were audible comments on this among the lady devotees. Ma told me once ------- it was extraordinary how She answered questions unasked ------- She did not ask anybody to come to Her or anybody to leave. Each one would find his way, She said. I then remembered the young man whom I had seen during my first visit to Ma at Kalkaji. Not having seen him anywhere subsequently I enquired about him and was told that he and his wife had stopped seeing Ma within a few months. Obviously, after his appeal against the order of dismissal was rejected by Government, he saw no further need for Ma Anandamayi's grace. Still another case comes to my mind. In October, 1971 the ' Samyam Saptaha ' had ended in Vrindaban and Ma asked me if I could escort Bunidi ( As a young girl she left her parents and her home and devoted herself entirely to Ma's service. She passed away in the Vrindaban Ashram while Ma was in residence there. ) and afew other Brahmacharinis to Delhi. I agreed, of course. We were within sight of the railway station at Mathura when our Jeep broke down. The train was due in a few minutes. I felt helpless. Bunidi then turned to me and said, " Do you see that big factory across the road, Dada ? Some years ago Ma formally inaugurated the factory with great fanfare. Thereafter, whenever Ma came to Vrindaban, the owner, a big industrialist, used to place three or four cars at Ma's disposal. His business has failed and his visits have ceased and, of course, the supply of cars." Suddenly, another Jeep came from behind. The owner-driver offered us a lift and we reached the station in time.
But who I am to criticise ? How few of us sought Ma's company in a purely spiritual quest ? Was there no material motivation in us, expressed or unexpressed ? It would, therefore, be wrong for anybody to assume a holier than thou attitude. As the Bible has said ( Matthew Sermon on the mount ) " why seest thou the mote in the brother's eye and perceivest not the beam in thine own eye ?"
It was painful occasionally to hear loose talk among the inmates of an Ashram. When I came to live with Ma at Varanasi in 1965 ------- permanently as I had thoughtlessly hoped ------- Ma one day casually told me that people with different backgrounds, some of whom had received initiation elsewhere, had come to live with Her and one should not expect them all to look at things from the same angle. I thought it rather odd that Ma should make such remark. Some years later, in 1971, before the annual Durga Puja at the Kalkaji Ashram, a senior lay devotee spoke to me in sorrow, tinged with some bitterness , that Didi distributed the expensive sarees presented to Ma among her favourites. I was rather upset to hear of this and mentioned the complaint to Ma. It was not fair to say so, Ma said. Didi invariably consulted Her before disposing of any present. Ma added that the ladies who gave expensive sarees would like to receive them back to keep as treasured mementos and, therefore, these were given back to them with Ma's blessings. One feels sad that we are always ready to believe the worst of others. Self-reformation is not a easy process. Jai Maa !!!