Passages from Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play! 01-May-2021 - 329
Satwik Joglekar
01-May-2022
Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play! 329
Passages from “Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play”: p 328 -329
By Swami Chetanananda
Vedanta Society of St Louis
CHAPTER 20
Holy Mother in the Midst of Her Family – 16
Holy Mother’s Nieces – 02
Nalini was very sentimental. One day she became very angry for some reason and refused to eat in order to get her aunt’s attention. Holy Mother attempted to coax her to eat, but Nalini continued to fast. Finally she told Nalini: “Don’t consider me to be merely your aunt. If I wish, I can give up this body right now.”23 [23 Mayer Katha (in one volume), Udbodhan Office: Calcutta, 2004, p.303]
Nalini’s sister Maku was very unhappy and restless. She was married at a young age, and her husband was poor. His meager income was not adequate to support his wife and their son. Maku and the boy lived with Holy Mother most of the time, and the Mother took responsibility for them. She sent Maku to school and looked after her son, Neda. Holy Mother always maintained a good relationship with Maku’s in-laws and sent presents to them.
In Chapter 19 we described how Maku’s son, Neda, died from diphtheria. Holy Mother cried profusely at his death, and realized how much people suffer when their children or other loved ones pass away. When Narayan Iyenger saw Holy Mother weeping, he asked, “Mother, why do you weep like an ordinary person at the death of that child?”
She replied: “I live as a householder. I must taste the fruit of the tree of the world. That is why I weep. The Master once remarked: ‘When God is incarnated in a human body, he acts exactly like a man. He feels the same hunger, thirst, sickness, grief, and fear as others do. Even Brahman weeps when caught in the trap of the five elements.’”24 [24 Swami Nikhilananda, Holy Mother, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre: New York, 1962, p. 130]
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