Jhumurdi's life has always
revolved around the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. She came to the Mother when
she was two; more than half a century later, she is one of the most
significant teachers at the Ashram school and a woman with a simple and
refreshing perspective on
life...
The Mother Asked To Be
Informed The Day I Was Born.
I was born in Calcutta. My grandmother and later my mother's older
sister were among the first to turn to Sri Aurobindo. My father had been taught
since childhood to pray to Sri Aurobindo and when they were married, my parents
received a telegram from Sri Aurobindo. Later, when my infant brother was very
ill, my mother took to writing to the Mother every day to ask her to have him
taken away...
The Mother asked to know the day I was born and I came
to the Ashram when I was two years and three months. I have been living in Art
House ever since.
No One Else Could
Have Had Such A Privileged Childhood.
The Ashram was then a small
community of 300 people, and I belonged to the first batch of children. We got
so much love and care... Pondicherry was our playground and I remember, the
Governor's House was far more beautiful then (we Indians don't know how to keep
things well). We were not allowed to go into the
Ashram till we were four, but we
used to try to get in anyway.
When people at the Ashram told her we
were trying to sneak in, Mother decided it was time to teach us something. We
never had classes for spiritual training. She taught and established values and
principles without seeming to. She would buy us beautiful things; but she
taught us detachment as well.
Yet,
We Could Turn To The Mother For Everything.
Sri Aurobindo was God,
remote. But, Mother's words, we understood; we went to her for everything. If
you had fever, she would give you a flower, which you keep under your pillow. We
believed in Mother's force, and it worked.
Birthdays were very
special- she would ask you what you wanted, and we would find ourselves asking
for things we never thought we would ask for -- progress, for example.
After the passing away of Sri Aurobindo in 1971, the Mother began to
teach us. The books, 'Conversations' and 'Questions & Answers' were actually
what we discussed in class. She taught us the things that are the raison d'etre
of our existence.
But she didn't really teach -- she let you grow
like a flower, and as you learnt to love her, you couldn't help doing the things
that she would want you to do.
For
Mother, flowers are very special.
She gave us states of
consciousness when she gave us flowers. According to her, the orchid symbolised
attachment to the divine; the pink lotus was the 'arata aditi'. We associate
flowers with our inner lives. Their beauty is an expression of the divine -- but
even if you see only the flower, you are still in touch with an attempt at
perfection.
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