companions. Why should you worry about it? Stay here. You may leave this place on the 4th or 5th of Jaistha (May).
Monday, 12 Jaistha (May-June)
Swami Santananda and Swami Harananda had come from Varanasi. Manindra, too, had come again. In the morning Swami Santananda and Manindra went to salute the Holy Mother. The devotees were put up in the Koalpara monastery and the Mother was staying in the Jagadamba Ashrama.
Santananda: How is your health, Mother?
Mother: I am keeping all right.
One young man, released from internment,
1 had come there the previous day. Anticipating trouble from the police, the devotees tried to send him away then and there. When the Mother was asked about it, she said, "Keep him here for the day. He will go away tomorrow." Swami Kesavananda, instead of keeping the young man in the monastery, placed him somewhere else; for the village policeman used to visit the monastery every evening and record the names and addresses of new arrivals. The next day the Mother enquired about the young man. "Where is that young man? Has he already left?" she asked.
Manindra: He hasn't left. He will go after his noon meal.
Mother (to Swami Santananda): Where did he spend the night?
Santananda: I don't know, Mother. He didn't tell me.
Mother: Do you have rain in Varanasi also, when the monsoon sets in here?
Santananda: No, Mother. There the rainy season begins in the month of Sravan (July-August). But in some years storms take place in the month of Vaisakh (March-April) and destroy the mango and other crops. The old women who, go to Varanasi with the desire of dying there suffer terribly. Sometimes the remittance from home is stopped. Besides, they have to live in damp dark rooms on the ground floor.
Mother: Yes, I myself saw the extent of their suffering when I stayed in the house of Bansi Dutta at Varanasi. I saw them taking a small quantity of rice procured by begging and soaked in water. They didn't cook.
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1 In connection with the Freedom Movement.