– SRI & SMT.L.B.MALKANI (1961)
The mystery of life is unfathomable. The more we try to fathom it, the more baffled we become. But the Lord in His infinite mercy periodically sends great sages, saints and Himself appears as avatar to unravel that great mystery, which gives us a glimpse of a new world. In the scheme of the universe, it has been so ordained that such high personalities should descend on this earth to stem the tide of spiritual decadence. One such great personality is Mata Sree Rama Devi, who has stirred the hearts of devotees and moved them to great heights of faith and devotion. It is through the contact of such saintly souls that our faith in God becomes more living, and the way becomes clear for us for treading on the path that ultimately leads to God-realisation, that is, unto immortality or liberation from birth and death.
Thousands of people of different castes and creeds have benefited from her personal contact; many have listened to her enlightened spiritual discourses with rapt attention; many have been uplifted by her soul-stirring kirtan. Her very presence inspires us and stimulates the current of our spiritual thoughts.
Our first darsan was at Parel, Bombay. Devotees had come to put her some questions on some spiritual topics. When our turn came, we also put her a question and asked her: “Does God hear or listen to our prayers?” At the mere mention of the word God, all of a sudden she seemed to have become galvanized and replied: “God does listen to, and answer your prayers”. “You can hear Him. You can even see Him”. Saying these words, Mataji at once went into samadhi.
From that time onwards the personality and charm of Mataji held a great influence on us. We were drawn to her as if by some invisible power.
The day of her departure from Bombay was approaching. In a couple of days she was to leave Bombay for Mangalore. A sudden urge came upon us to invite her to our place so that she may bless our home at Worli. That day in the afternoon there was Bhajan programme at Parel, where we wished to go and request her to come to our place after the programme was over. On the way, we bought a garland of flowers with which we wished to garland her when she visited our house. When bhajan was over we were waiting for an opportunity to approach Mataji and request her to visit us, when we learnt that Mataji had another programme for the evening and was going away with some devotees to Marine Drive, a place far away from where we were residing. We were naturally disappointed and felt that it was no use now asking her to come to our place. So we garlanded her there and came back. It was 7 o’clock in the evening. The sun had already set when we got back home. After a short while we came out for a walk at Worli Sea Face. We had hardly walked a furlong or so, when we heard the familiar voice of Mataji. We stopped spell-bound. It had by this time grown dark; we turned our faces to the direction from which the voice had come. There to our great astonishment and wonder we saw Mataji sitting on the low wall with some of her lady devotees. We approached her in great joy and reverence and told her how we had wished her to come to our place and how in a most extraordinary manner she had come to us and was very near our home. She smiled and at once consented to come to our house, thus fulfilling the desire of our hearts.
Prostrations to her, again and again.