4. The Mother and Her Devotees

Though the Ashrams and swamis are exclusively devoted to the pursuit of the Spirit, in view of the reservoir of power that accumulates in them, the common people approach them with a view to solving some of their insoluble problems. Rajen Babu was an asthma patient who was advised to seek the blessings of Ramana Maharshi. He stayed at Tiruvannamalai for a month in the hope of having his asthma cured by the Maharshi. A villager came to Gnanananda swami and said his cow was not yielding enough milk and wanted vibhuti from the Swami. Great souls always listen to such prayers and grant them, though these activities are outside the pale of their central pursuit.

Several people not necessarily interested in yoga have come to The Mother with their prayers and have had them answered. As this is a place outside of the Indian tradition, people generally come to Mother after trying every other avenue. Parents come when a child has lost his speech or when a boy has run away; industrialists bring their woes of strikes; unemployed graduates pray for jobs; girls who remain unmarried for a long time pray for early marriage; patients with incurable diseases visit the Ashram to find out whether there is any hope for them. All of them go back rewarded. If any problem or news is brought to the notice of The Mother or even the message enters the area of Mother's power or is brought to the Ashram, it means that that problem can be solved. (Mother says she holds herself responsible for everyone who has seen Her, even if it is only for a second).

I give below some experiences that are within my personal knowledge: (1) Anyone addressing a prayer to Mother finds the prayer answered. (2) If someone who has no faith suffers from a difficulty, another who is interested in him finds his prayer answered. (3) Unintended, unconscious relationship with Mother or the Ashram wipes out existing difficulties or creates fresh prosperity. (4) Diseases known to have no cure disappear at the touch of Mother's force. (5) Difficulties given to a devotee turn into great luck for him. (6) When a man faces a problem in life-having foolishly exhausted all the life possibilities-for which there is no known solution, Mother creates fresh situations just to answer this devotee's prayer. (7) A long-suffering patient given up by his doctor, whose prayers to his own faith have not borne fruit, chooses to pray to Mother and is relieved. (8) Unambitious people who come to Mother without a thought in their head about progress in life find themselves compelled by circumstances to accept better situations. (9) When both rivals to a post seek Mother's blessings, both are rewarded in time. (10) Men who have casually seen Mother find themselves freed without their effort from impending, grave punishments.

1. A boy of 20 lost his speech and was in the hospital for three weeks. He did not know Mother or Her power. Someone sent him a flower from the Samadhi and requested him to pray to Mother whom he did not know. On the third day he spoke one sentence. His older brother was overjoyed and rushed to tell everyone that the first signs of speech had come. When this brother went to the devotee who had spoken to him about Mother and returned home, he found that his younger brother had come home from the hospital and was speaking normally.
2. A man took to bad ways of life and was found to be getting worse with the passing years. Ten years passed and his family gave up on him. His wife and children were depressed. One of the family members became a devotee of The Mother and the prosperity of the family began to pick up. Soon it became a respected family in the area because of its wealth and status. What had not hurt the family earlier now began to make itself felt. The behaviour of this truant member became regrettable. The devotee member secretly sought some advice and began to pray that the truant member should change his ways. He was told that on the day he could pray to Mother without fail each time the problem came to his mind, the problem would be solved. The devotee intensified his prayer. Two weeks passed. One day the truant member broke permanently with his former friends, vowed not to return to those ways, went home and offered to take care of the family establishments.
3. A man was separated from his temperamental wife for several years. He was willing to put up with her in spite of her temperament, but she insisted that he not support his own family, which depended on him. The separation lasted years. When this man wanted to meet a friend of his in another location, they fixed a date and place at Pondicherry. When he went to meet his friend, he discovered that there was a crowd waiting to have the Darshan of Mother and they had somehow chosen that place. He too had Mother's Darshan, met his friend and returned home. A week later he was reunited with his wife when his father-in-law brought his wife back to his house. She has remained with him since then.

A man was in a temporary government employment as an officer for four years. He could not pass the necessary tests. Therefore, he sought another permanent employment at a lower salary, which he got. During this period he happened to accompany some devotees to the Ashram and on the same day the scales of pay for his temporary job were revised to a high level. As he had exhausted all scope for remaining in the department on temporary assignment, he was in despair. He was advised that if he took full effort to pass the tests now, the Grace that gave him the fresh opportunity would also help him in all other fields. It was quite a task for him to secure an extended exemption, pass two tests that were anathema to him, and retain the job at the level of the higher revised salary.

4. A man was suffering from TB for 20 years, and his doctors told him that the bacteria was resistant to drug treatment. He was under the personal care of a doctor and moved to the town where the doctor had been transferred. A time came when one of his lungs had to be removed. It was at this time that he came to the Ashram. It was explained to him that if he took any medicine now with faith in Mother, the faith would cure him through the medicine. He opted for Ayurvedic medicine. When the doctor gave him powdered coral stone, he was disappointed as he had had enough of it already. However, after eight months he was cured and began to assume independent charge of his farms, often traveling long distances.

5. An officer came to the Ashram accompanying his superior, who was going to meet Mother. He also had Her Darshan and became Her devotee. Quickly his position was raised in his organisation. He became the junior-most at the top level. This was an all-India institution with great power. Officers at the top level would join together to act as they chose, but not always in the best interests of the organisation. This new officer at their level was a very honest man and hence an inconvenience to them. They moved strings and sent wild stories about him to the Ministry. The Minister became alarmed and had an inquiry ordered. The inquiry revealed that the devotee was the best of the top officers. The next year, the chief executive's post became vacant. The Minister decided to appoint this devotee, overlooking more than ten of his seniors.
6. A foolish, dull boy struggled his way through ten years of schooling up to SSLC level and failed in the selection examination. In the next three attempts he also failed. Those were the days when only four attempts were allowed. Everyone advised him to take the exam only in the subjects that he failed in order to earn what is called a ‘complete SSLC' degree, which is regarded as the same as the normal SSLC degree, except that he would not be eligible for government employment. The candidate was stubborn. He said he would rather fail than take the complete SSLC degree. He tried a fourth time and failed again. Now his poor family, which had been anxiously waiting for him to pass and get a job, was dismayed. At this time he came to see Mother's Darshan. Someone who sympathised with him prayed for him, not knowing what to pray for. The next week the government changed the rules and allowed more than four attempts.
7. An orthodox Brahmin was suffering from an incurable skin disease with bad eruptions all over his body. He tried every medicine and prayers of all the usual forms. He made offerings at famous temples, but even though his suffering became less, the disease remained. His son was visiting the Ashram and suggested he pray to Mother. Being an orthodox person, he thought it was not right to pray to any person outside his religion. His disease as well as his suffering became acute. Without the knowledge of his son, he wrote to the Ashram asking for Mother's flowers. The flowers cured him fully.
8. For five years, an old man was trying to sell 27 acres of land. He could not sell them because the land was sandy and nothing would grow there. At last he found someone and fixed a price of Rs.27,000. This buyer was anxious to buy, but for some reason the old man did not respond for several months. One day he visited his friend, a devotee, who had arranged for the sale and the buyer too was there. The sale talk was resumed, but the devotee friend was really anxious to know why the old man had not responded for a long time. The old man said he had had another offer for Rs.81,000 that had fallen through. The devotee then explained to the buyer that he had suspected some such thing had happened, because he had seen the buyer in one of Mother's Darshans. The old man was exasperated because that offer was now lost. He was told that what once had come to him from Mother would not be lost, if only he were willing to pray. The old man took the clue and even visited the Samadhi to offer a prayer that the lost opportunity might be restored. When he returned home, the buyer was waiting for him and the sale was closed for Rs.81,000.
9. Friends of two presidential candidates approached Mother for blessings. She gave both of them Her blessings, some flowers from Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi. One candidate waited for it, received it with care and kept it with him. The other candidate was more eminent and his friend could not reach him at all with Mother's blessings. At last one day when the friend finally met the candidate and was about to hand over the flowers, some VIP's walked in and took him away. Most unexpectedly, the first candidate was elected. The friend of the eminent candidate never had the courage to open the subject of Mother's blessings to the loser. Years passed. Finally one day he mustered courage and handed over the dried flowers to the candidate, who received them with devotion. The next year this candidate was elected unanimously to the post. When asked by the press how Mother's blessings dated many years ago had been delayed, he was unable to know why. He said it might be that they had been misplaced.
10. In a village feud two groups quarreled and one man was killed. The leader of the other group and his father were given the death sentence. One of their relatives was a devotee of Mother. He was disturbed. In the meantime, he found out that the leader had once visited the Ashram for Mother's Darshan. The devotee was told that if a man had once seen Mother, he would not die this type of death. Encouraged by this, the devotee approached his relative, the convict, with a request that he pray to Mother. His punishment was set aside on appeal.