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25. Token Offering

An American devotee of Mother returned to the USA after living in the Ashram for three years and met an old school friend. His friend Marc was a salesman for a large computer company. They sat together to exchange their experiences over the last three years. Marc told a sad tale of how he had been the best salesman in the company in the previous year, but now he was the worst. Everything in his life was going wrong. He was unable to sell even half as much as before. He lost interest in his job. His wife was unhappy and he was constantly weighed down by a heavy depression. The devotee also told his friend how he had spent the last three years in Pondicherry. When he spoke about Mother, Marc became very interested and asked him to tell more. By the end of the first hour, his friend's sad face began to smile. In the second hour his friend began to laugh and beam with joy. He said, "I feel wonderful just hearing about Mother. I haven't felt so happy in years."  They agreed to meet a week later.

When they next met, Marc was smiling even more. He told the devotee that in one week his whole life seemed to be changing. He felt happy, his wife had stopped complaining and he was invited to an interview for a new job in an even larger company at a far higher salary. But he was afraid that with his poor performance for the last year, they would never select him.

The devotee told him to simply remember Mother during the interview and imagine that the interviewer was Mother. He also suggested that his friend give a small token offering to Mother, which he happily did. Three days later Marc called him to say that he got the job.

In the next few months, Marc and the devotee met often and spoke about Mother. Marc reported one good event after another. Within four months he was offered an even better job to head a new computer department of another company at nearly twice the salary that he was earning six months earlier.

Marc wanted to visit India to see the Ashram before taking the new job, but he was afraid he could not afford the expense of Rs.20,000 and the loss of three weeks salary, which was another Rs.20,000. Anyway he decided to spend his last savings and go.

Marc and the devotee met in Pondicherry. Marc said he had never known so much peace and joy before. After returning to the USA, he wrote to the devotee saying that on his return he had received an unexpected gift of Rs.40,000, exactly the amount he had lost by going to India!

Marc was so happy with the changes in his life that he started talking to many of his employees about Mother. He also began sending monthly offerings to the Ashram as an expression of his gratitude. One day he was sitting in a company meeting and several employees were complaining that their pay cheques were nearly one month overdue. Marc started telling them about Mother and told them to offer the problem to Her. To everyone's great amazement, even Marc's, the company treasurer walked in five minutes later and handed everyone in the room their salary cheques.

Marc's wife also became devoted to Mother. Her father, who lived in a city 500 miles away, called her one day to say that he had been fired from a job he had had for 20 years and he was now too old to ever get another good job. Marc's wife told this to her husband and he told it to his devotee friend. Marc did not like his father-in-law, but he felt sorry for the man's problem. The devotee suggested a way out. The next day Marc's wife called her father and asked him to send her a little money without asking any questions as to why she was asking for it. She was afraid to mention Mother, because her father was a very strict Christian. Her father said that he had faith in his daughter and agreed to send the money. When it arrived, she sent it to Mother as an offering.

One week later her father called back to say that he had been hired as a temporary employee for two week's time. A month later he called to say that he still had the temporary job. Even six months later he still had the same job. After nearly seven months, one day Marc received a call from his father-in-law, who was bubbling over with joy. He told Marc that he had been offered a new permanent job with a reputable company in Los Angeles in the very same building where Marc was working!  Marc was very happy for his father-in-law's good fortune, but sorry that they would be moving so close to his own home!

Marc's story of good fortune still continues. The last we heard he had become a partner in a computer company earning five times as much as before he came to Mother.



book | by Dr. Radut