said, "Mother, you are
muktakesi,1 indeed! Therefore what will you do but keep your hair unbraided?"
One day the wife of a Munsiff (a judicial officer) came to the Mother. The women present there were discussing the World War. The Munsiff's wife asked the Mother, "Everybody says that the war is going to extend over here. If so, what will happen to us, Mother?" The Mother replied, "These are but rumours. Why should the war spread up to this place? The warfare is not as intense there even as it should have been. Why should it then extend over here?" Many others present spoke variously on this subject. The Mother sat quietly, seemingly disinterested.
Famine was raging throughout the country. The Ramakrishna Mission was rendering much relief to the famine-stricken people. One day the Mother narrated the famine conditions very vividly. She spoke of the distress of people at various places, the amount of money the Mission was spending to redress their sufferings and the way the monastic members of the Order were working. It seemed to me that she was feeling in her heart of hearts all the sufferings of the world.
Off and on I used to call upon Lakshmi-Didi at Dakshineswar. She often spoke to me in confidence, "Tell the Mother that I do not like to stay here. The nieces who attend upon me here don't like any devotee to come to me. But I cannot stay at a place where there are no devotees. Tell the Mother that I shall go to Vrindavan and that I shall take you along with me." I told Mother everything. The Mother said, "See, daughter, Lakshmi goes mad at the sight of devotees. That's why those two girls (nieces of Lakshmi-Didi) feel annoyed at the coming of devotees there. They should not be blamed, dear. Tell Lakshmi, I shall go to her one day. Besides, you should not go to any place in her company. If she comes across a devotee on her way, she would stay there for a week. Someone has to be always with her to guard her. She wants to stay in Vrindavan. People are so pestered with monkeys there. Will she be able to stay there?" I passed on to Lakshmi-Didi everything the Mother had said. I further added, "You are now in such a mental state that if you are to be sent anywhere, some special arrangements are to be made for you.
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1 One of the names of Goddess Kali. It literally means a woman with locks flowing