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MY
WORK WITH THE MOTHER
I once asked Mother: Do you find in me the right attitude
to work ?
MOTHER: Otherwise why should I call
you ? When I was ill, I wanted someone who could look
after things. I spoke to Sri Aurobindo about it and
mentioned (referring to you), this is the boy who can
stay and work with me. But at that time you were not
ready, now you are and I have called. Your way, your
development is quite different; you will get experience,
you will get everything you want.
C: I am very slow, Mother, I feel
so.
MOTHER: No, no, no, I don't think
so. (Then she drew a line on my forehead, moved her
finger thrice from end to end of the forehead continuously.)
Sometimes you are dreaming of something and I have to
pull you out. That is why you feel that.
C: I am becoming more and more egoistic
!
MOTHER: No, no, you are becoming more
and more free from your mind; your personality is increasing.
You must become free.
One day the Mother asked: I
am very severe, is it not ? Do you feel like that
?
C: No, no, I feel it is my own
home.
MOTHER : Ah! Then it is all
right.
THE
GRACE ARRANGES MY WORK
One day I asked Mother: Mother, I would
like to wash my father's Dhoti.
Mother smiled and said that
she would ask Sri Aurobindo.
The next day when I went to Sri Aurobindo he looked
at me and said:
You want to wash my Dhoti ? C: Yes.
SRI AUROBINDO: Are you ready ?
I looked at him astonished and asked
myself why he questioned that way.
SRI AUROBINDO: You know, people will
mock at you, laugh at you, joke at you. Are you ready?
In spite of this when I gladly offered
myself to do this work he looked at me affectionately
and smiled.
He said so because the Ashram atmosphere
was like that at that time. But Mother changed it entirely
very soon.
As I look back, I clearly see that
it was Mother who made me ask for it; for by temperament
I am averse to ask for anything for myself and by myself.
True, I had aspired always to be able to spend all my
time and all my energy in the service of Mother and
Sri Aurobindo. This aspiration got fulfilled in a number
of ways, often to my utter surprise.
MADHAV: Yes, I have noted it. Once
when I was sitting by your side on the landing, waiting
for Mother to call us, you had told me that every aspiration
of yours had been or was in the process of being fulfilled.
At that time, I had asked you why you did not spend
all the time in Mother's room, a thing which you could
very well have done. But you said: "No, it has
to arrange by itself. The aspiration is there of course,
but I know it will be realised in due time." And
in the course of a few months I did see it come to pass.
You found yourself there practically all the time. That
made a deep impression on me and convinced me that sincere
aspiration, even when not expressed in words, evokes
response from the Grace. Your life has been a standing
example of this truth.
Sorry, to interrupt you, Champakbhai, please
proceed.
C: During those early days, Mother herself
used to prepare a pudding. Of that pudding she would
put aside a small quantity in a small dish; she would
add a little milk to it and stir it with a spoon till
it became liquid and consistent. She showed me how to
do it and was particular that no grains should be left
unmashed. And when she passed on the work to me, I followed
her directions to the letter .
And
do you know for whom this portion of the pudding was
meant ? For cats. Later on I learnt that they
were not really cats but something more. You would be
interested to know that at times Sri Aurobindo also
kept fish ready for these 'cats', removing the bones
etc. It was a sight to see him working at it with Chinese
sticks.
Then
there was another kind of work. During those times there
were no filters as we have these days. But Mother was
using filtered water. The mechanism was simple. One
filter candle was put in one big enamel jug which was
kept on the window sill. A tube was joined from it to
a Kuja which was placed on the floor. I had specially
arranged for a big Kuja. Mother used to wash this candle
every day with a brush. As she brushed the candle, I
would pour water from a kettle over it. It was such
a joy to work with her.
One
by one, so many kinds of work went on adding, each one
giving me the privilege of working with her in close
physical proximity. Of course in those days, this was
possible because she was not seeing people as later
on and she had more time at her disposal.
Though
I have not written down details of life in those days,
as perhaps you would have done, I have such sweet memories
of them; as I tell them to you, I relive them and my
being bows to Them in gratitude.
RAPID CHANGES
You know I came here with the object of God-realisation.
Here I found the stress on Transformation. Very
soon, however, both receded and Service took
hold of my being entirely.
VASE
OF ROSES
As I told you, Sri Aurobindo
used to keep fish ready for cats, while in the Library
House.
After coming to
the Meditation House, he was bringing out at night all
the flower vases from the rooms and leaving them on
the table in the passage -just where you step in on
opening the stair- case door -near the small cupboard
on the wall-side.
During those days Mother did not like
flowers to remain in the rooms at night, especially
the flower signifying falsehood.
Sri Aurobindo used to arrange one
vase of roses every day. We still have that vase.
HOUSE
FOR MEMENTOES
It was sometime in 1923 when I had just started work
near Mother. She was writing letters to her mother.
At times she would show me the address she had written
on the envelope. She wrote it with a brush and it was
so pretty to see. At times she used to seal the cover.
The first time I was present when she did that, she
lighted the candle (for sealing with lac) and kept the
match stick aside. After she finished, she gave me the
match stick to throw. I asked humbly: Can I keep it?
Mother looked at me and smiled. In
an affectionate tone she said: You can, surely. But
you see, you will require a whole house to keep things
like that.
And she smiled. Then she held the
match stick and placed it on my palm, gently putting
pressure.
On another occasion I said to Mother:
In Gujarat, my mother had altogether a separate house
for keeping things. I used to go and fetch things for
her from that house whenever needed. I was then very
young.
PRECIOUS
It was in the beginning of 1923.
There was a small tea-pot which the Mother
used for pouring tea to Sri Aurobindo. One day when
I came for work, I saw the tea-pot lying broken in bits
in a corner where obviously the servant had thrown them.
I collected them, glued them together and remade the
pot. It is still with me !
The Mother was extremely pleased and said:
Wonderful, you are a genius, genius ! She appreciated
it very much.
The kettle was so precious because Sri Aurobindo had
also been handling it.
PEN
AND ANGEL
Sri Aurobindo had given a small pencil to the Mother.
She had kept it very preciously guarded. It was of the
old kind, small in size, somewhat fanciful. Whenever
she showed it she would say, with a specially notable
expression: You see, it is Sri Aurobindo's pencil.
One day, however, she lost that pencil.
I found it and gave it to her. On
receiving it she exclaimed: O Champaklal, truly you
are an angel; O Champaklal, truly you are an angel !
Then Mother gave me a pen holder as
a present. She used to say it was her cadeau.
DILEMMA
During those days, as you know, Sri Aurobindo
used to smoke cigars. The empty boxes were being disposed
of in the market, through me. Each time, however, I
had a temptation to retain the boxes for myself and
give the market price to the Mother but I always managed
to resist the desire.
One day Mother brought an old
timepiece from Sri Aurobindo's room and gave it to me
to be disposed of at the watch repairer's at whatever
price he offered. Dutifully I took the timepiece to
the shop and he offered a rupee and a quarter or perhaps
two rupees and odd. I could not bring myself to part
with the timepiece, brought it back and told Mother
what had happened.
Can I keep this ? I asked her
with trepidation.
She smiled beautifully. "All
right", she said, but took back the timepiece with
her.
Imagine my surprise when the
next morning Sri Aurobindo smiled, held the timepiece
in his hand and asked me: Champaklal, you want the clock
?
And he placed it in my hands.
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