Archive for July, 2014

Incarnation of Love

Saturday, July 5th, 2014

 – Kumari Jyoti K Hirani

O Love! I give myself to Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be.

Twenty-fourth day of November 1957 is indeed the most memorable and fortunate day in my life, for on that day I saw Mother for the first time, and a new chapter of my life was begun. On that day, my parents and I were, by some mysterious power, taken to Arya Krida Mandal Hall at Thana. In the morning we had read in the Sunday Edition of the Sindhi paper “ Hindwasi ” that there was to be on that day a bhajan of Sri Rama Devi Bhaktha Mandali where Sri Rama Devi would also be present. We had not seen, heard or known her before.

I belong to a family, the members of which were not accustomed to attend bhajans or discourses by any person anywhere. But on that day, as I have said before, some irresistible power attracted us to the hall. When we entered it, we found it already packed with men, women and children and there was no room for us even to stand. But a brother devotee who happened to be with us at that time took my aged father by hand and the rest of us followed him. He got us seated in the front row.

I then looked at the platform. Mother was not there and I learnt that there was still some time for her to come. But I saw seated there the sisters of our Bhaktha Mandali whom I did not know at that time. They were wearing sarees of saffron colour, generally worn by sannyasinis. So I thought Mother also must be a sannyasini. But when she came and sat on the sofa placed for her on the platform, to my surprise I saw instead of a sannyasini, a very sweet, extraordinarily handsome Devi. Her face shone with beauty divine, and from her eyes radiated love.

It is but natural that different people, with different outlook and inclinations and different temperaments, should see Mother in different aspects. But the aspect of Mother I have seen which some others also have seen-and of which I write is that of love-love sweet and bliss-bestowing. She is an ocean of love, boundless and limitless-deep, majestic and infinite. Her intense spirituality, absolute purity, overflowing love and life of self-abnegation provide lessons for all who seek the way of God. I rush to her lotus feet, bow my head in deep reverence and feel quite gratified when I place a garland of flowers round her neck and wait for her to bestow a glance and a smile on me. It makes no difference to me, whether I understand her words or not. Only to see her, feel the radiance, the presence, the love and the bliss, is what matters to me, and in return all that I can offer her is my devotion, and that, she will never reject.

She is accessible to all irrespective of caste or creed, be he or she worldly or other-worldly. When one sits at her lotus feet in silence, one feels a certain joy-not the joy which we get when our desires are fulfilled, but the joy of pure and sublime love, which cannot be expressed in words. This is not only my experience but also the experience of many others. I know of a devotee who always used to be present when Mother gave discourses. He sat near her in silence. One day our beloved Mother asked him if he did not feel tired by sitting for so long, particularly as he could not understand her discourses as the language in which she spoke was foreign to him. He said “ Mother, I do not get tired ; on the contrary by sitting at your lotus feet I get joy, the like of which I will not get from discourses, even if I understood them”.

Many worship her as an avatar of para sakti. Some regard her as a Jeevana-mukta, a liberated and illumined soul, having attained that state by sadhana or yoga. I do not know. I leave it to those who are well learned and have philosophical bent of mind, to speak on it, if they are so inclined. But I, who have got no load of such learning in my head, take her as an avatar of Love and Love only.