Champaklal – The Mother’s Lion

Champaklal (February 2, 1903 - May 9, 1992) was not only a respected member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, but almost an institution in himself. His devoted and meticulous personal service to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for over fifty years was an inspiring example of selfless service. His helpfulness to devotees who sought the Mother's blessings and advice on personal questions made him a friend and well-wisher of all. It is surprising that in spite of the rigours of his constant attendance upon Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and his innumerable small but essential tasks, he could still find time to develop his artistic interests. This was only possible because of his deep urge to express himself through form and colour.



Champaklalji was extremely fond of this photograph of his with the Mother (photo on the right) which she captioned it "My Lion". While choosing it as the cover for the Gujarati edition of ‘Champaklal Speaks’, he noted this incident: Once, on seeing this photo, Pranab's uncle Charubabu exclaimed, "Mother, here Champaklal looks like Durga's lion!" And Mother forcefully replied, "He is my lion!"



There was one special artistic duty which Champaklal had to perform, often on an urgent basis. On birthdays and other occasions, the Mother used to send to sadhaks and devotees, pictorial cards with her blessings and sometimes a personal message. It was Champaklal's duty to prepare these cards. It was his originality and artistic skill which made them very often unique in design. It became indeed a craft of skill in his hands and the Mother complimented him on a number of occasions. She even wrote, "Champaklal is an artist." This work was not as simple as it may appear. It took hours of labour and ingenuity. At times, he had to make eight or ten such cards in one day. Can one imagine that he did this work, besides other things, for thirty years or more? On Champaklal's birthday in 1964, the Mother wrote:

To Champaklal

The great doer of cards

This card is to tell him my appreciation of all what he has done and

my expectation for still better things to come.....



We present below some paintings of Champaklal – done either by him or inspired by his visions.

Fire of Aspiration

Champaklal: About 20 days back I saw a fire flame coming out of a lotus. At that time I thought it was only my imagination. Today I see something like that on the cover of the book The Mother. I have tried to draw it. Has it any meaning?

Sri Aurobindo: It must be the fire of aspiration rising from the opened consciousness to the Sun of Truth with all its colours (forces) around it.

- 18.11.1933

The Sun and The Flower/ A Vision

Champaklal: Early morning a vision came to me. I have tried to represent in the picture what I saw. Is there any meaning in it? Or is it my own mental construction?

Sri Aurobindo: The sun is of course the Truth and the building is the material consciousness that has become capable of receiving the light. The flowers indicate our presence in the material consciousness.

- 25.8.1934

The Avatar

Then above the red lotus Mother wrote: The Avatar Sri Aurobindo And under the white lotus she wrote:

To Champaklal With blessings to my dear child

- 02.02.40

With a beautiful affectionate smile Sri Aurobindo said: "Umm." Then he wrote above the white lotus:


Aditi

The Divine Mother

And under the red lotus he wrote:

To Champaklal

With blessings

- 02.02.40