Srimati Sudhira, the former Superintendent of the Nivedita Girls' School, was then staying at Jayrambati. At noon that day the Mother sent for me and said, "Look, Sudhira will travel along with you up to Vishnupur. Please move cautiously. The bullock cart carrying her should be placed in between those of your party. You are all my own, my children."
Disciple: Certainly we shall escort her. And we shall strictly follow your instruction.
While we were taking our night meal, the Mother sat nearby and begin to chat. Someone raised the topic of initiation of a boy who was about seven years old. The Mother said, "How can he have initiation? He is still quite young. He has perhaps not even learned how to bathe or wash himself! The boy is a devotee; let him live long. Let him be a servant of the Lord's devotees. "
As the conversation proceeded, I asked her, "Mother, we take food from anybody and everybody-will this be spiritually harmful to us?"
Mother: The Master emphatically objected to one's partaking of food of the
sraddha ceremony
1; for it affects the devotion of the person. Although in all such ceremonies Narayana, the Lord of Yajna is worshipped, he prohibited the taking of the food offered at a
sraddha ceremony.
Disciple: Then what should we do in the case of
sraddha ceremonies of our near relations?
Mother: Well, how can you avoid it in the case of your near relations? You can't.
The next day I went to see her at about 2 p.m. The Mother was seated on the floor in an absent-minded mood. A few days earlier a devastating flood from the Damodar river had caused havoc. I told her all that I had learnt from newspapers and hearsay. She listened patiently and then said in a voice full of pathos, " My son, do good to the world." Hearing these words from her lips, I mentally prayed to her to grant me the opportunity of serving the Lord manifested as the universe. As I saluted her before coming out of the house, I heard her murmur, "Only money !money! money!" Hearing these words, I got alarmed. I presumed that Mother was perhaps commenting on my excessive attachment to money.
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1 The annual death anniversary rites in the name of ancestors.