The Life and Teachings of the Mother By E. Bharadwaja (Matrusri Publications, Bapatla, (A.P.) India. Price: Rs. 1-75.)
This short study which runs into one hundred and ten pages and classified into six parts was undertaken by the author with the modest aim of furnishing a visitor’s guide to the seekers who go in quest of spiri ual solace to the Mother. But it exceeds the simple claims and succeeds to a remarkable degree in introducing the Mother to those who have not seen her and to those who have not basked in the sunshine of her radiant presence.
Mr. Bharadwaja here offers a faithful record of the tremendous impact nade by the Mother on his young and impressionable mind which is charged with spiritual fervour. The book does not offer a regular factual chronicle but an inspired and inspiring sequence of significant impressions. The leit-motif of the book is contained in the Mother’s words “I am not anything now that I was not earlier. If there is a difference, it is only in your understanding of me.” The author approaches the theme in a spirit of deep devo tion and marshalls incidents and facts which go to prove that Anasuya Devi is not a mere mortal but the Mother from the begin. ning, even though the revelation came to the people around her by degrees. His conviction that none can measure her and that she is the measrue of everything, animates every line that he has written. The few biographical details furnished in the book unfold the human, humane and divine aspects of the Mother and induce in the reader & mood of humility and adoration. Mr. Bharadwaja portrays the Mother as a great awakener of man’s innate spirituality who sanctifies the dross in nature through the baptism of tears. She embodies love which accepts all and rejects none and which inun dates the high and the low, the deserving and undeserving in bounteous showers of mercy and grace. “If I were to judge people according to their qualities, not one would be allowed to come to me. There is no one who is free from a single flaw” says the Mother in a tone that cheers up every erring spirit and holds forth a hope for redemption through love and grace. Bharadwaja succeeds in providing insights into the mysterious depths of the Mother’s love that touches with equal warmth the forlorn, the lowliest and the lost.
The alchemy of the Mother’s love is vividly described by references to the lives of those who have undergone the sea-change and blossomed into “something rich and strange”. Transforming the lives of men and women who seek shelter at the Mother’s feet by a soothing touch, a gentle smile or tender glance is a miracle of all miracles!
The value of the book is greatly enhanced by a judicious selection of the sayings of the Mo her, offered in its concluding pages. They make us pause and ponder over. Some lines “tea us out of thought as doth eternity.” Some ring in our mi like a sweet refrain which we bear in our hearts long after it is heard no more. The Mother’s declaration “I have no sishyas, all are my sisus” reverberates through the silent sanctuary of the heart illuminating it with ineffable love.
Mr. Bharadwaja deserves grateful thanks for having giv a brilliant introduction to the Mother’s splendour and myste within the short span of a hundred and ten pages written in a cle simple and forceful style which matches its exalted theme. Stark sincerity rings through the sentences and renders the reading of the pages a stimulating experience.
4th Line, 19th cross,
Brodiepet, Guntur.
N. SASTRY M.A.
(AMARENDRA)