happen next?" She replied, "I shall sprinkle the contents of this pitcher of nectar." It seems that this vision is coming true. I heard from my mother that when famine sets in, it continues for three consecutive years. Has it continued for two years now?
Manindra: War has been going on for a long time.
Mother: There has been war for the last four or five years. That's something different. Has the famine continued for two years? If so, it may last for one year more.
The Mother then asked, "What's the price of paddy?" She was told the price in terms of the local rate.
Mother: Is it so costly? And everything else-cloth, oil, and all such things-must also be expensive. Those who have these things are also likely to be worried. This time "I shall eat your skin, and you will eat mine."
1One has to gracefully accept the sorrows and miseries that God is bestowing. Whatever He wills comes to pass.
Prabodh Babu: Mother, since even you have to suffer so much, what hope is there for others?
Mother: It's as if I have been put in a cage. I can't move about; there is no way for me to escape.
Praboqh Babu : Problems have again cropped up regarding the plot of land owned by the Master's family at Kamarpukur.
2
Mother: Who is creating the problems? Is it Mahim Babu?
Prabodh Babu : No, Fakir Babu and Hem Babu.
Mother: What's the point in these trifles? Will the shifting of the boundary fence solve the problem?
Prabodh Babu : I have already fixed posts at the four corners of the plot. The area goes up to the road. Mahim Babu is rather pleased with the arrangement. We would have done better to fix the boundary posts, a little further ahead. Then in the event of their raising objections, these could be moved back gradually. When one has to deal with such a businessman; one has to apply the same kind of intelligence.
On hearing this strange solution to the problem, the Mother laughed heartily.
Prabodh Babu: I have written to Sarat Maharaj. We shall do whatever he advises.
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1 The Mother was quoting a village proverb.
2 To erect a temple on the birth-spot of Sri Ramakrishna, his ancestral home had been purchased. This refers to some litigation problems regarding the plot of land.