She is the first to pay attention to our cries of despair, discontentment, sorrow or even anger. She tightly holds our hands to make us remain under her secure protection but we are often possessed by our illusionary ego that compels us to run away from her. The biological mother too never leaves her child’s hands and can hear her cry even while asleep. How would one describe in words with our lower mental being, the fathomless and the manifold love of the Mother Divine who has graciously descended into this human body? She used to appear a very common and normal person managing and involving perfectly and meticulously in all the activities of the Ashram that we often would forget that it was the Divine Mother with whom we were interacting in her physical form. Each member in the Ashram would write to her about all mundane questions and she, like a most patient and persevering physical mother, would listen to each one as if she had her full time for only one child.
This reminds us of the beautiful imagery that the great devotional poet Surdas (15th century blind poet) gave us about Sri Krishna: ‘he appeared to each Gopi in Bridanvan as if he was only dancing with her and loving her alone’. More intimate is the Divine love when it is incarnated in the form of a mother excessively indulging and pampering, correcting our errors and weaknesses without loosening her tight grip around us, always forgiving us with her eternal smile of immense grace. It was she who would do the sadhana for us to transform our ignorant egoistic being and demands only surrender from us. The increase of surrender is directly proportional to the decrease of our rigid ego. This may sound very simple. Yet, it takes several lives to arrive at a state of unconditional surrender to the Divine and become its conscious instrument.
Everybody in the Ashram was given some regular work to perform and it was the Divine Mother who used to decide the external allocation of work. She would not take into consideration our mental or physical skills as is mostly done in the world outside but would act with some higher purpose of spiritual growth aspired for all of us through means of action done as an instrument where the very human will was expected to get synchronized with the higher Divine Will leading us towards a perfect state of Ananda.
There are four kinds of devotees, as per Sri Krishna, who worship the Divine: ‘ the afflicted, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of worldly possessions, the man of wisdom’ (ArthO, jijnAsu, arThArThI, jnAnI cha BharatharShaBah BG 7.16)
Her grace is equally bountiful on all those who call her but it is the ‘person of wisdom who consciously surrenders to her and becomes her unconditional instrument’ that she most cherishes as she moulds us and guides us along the arduous path of sadhana, herself removing the thorns and clearly showing us the way ahead.
‘Mysterious are the ways of the Divine’ when our ‘life is a paradox with God for key’. On this 131st birth anniversary of our Divine Mother, may we, her children, aspire to improve our surrender at her feet and experience the embrace of her divine love! One single formula of surrender and the rest is taken care of!
- Sundari
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