The Sun and The Rainbow

Preface

In regard to Sehra's relation to the Mother I may draw attention to just a couple of points as a brief introduction.

Both are contained in the chapter, "What came out of an Easter Egg", in my book, Our Light and Delight: Recollections of Life with the Mother, a chapter first published in Mother India before Sehra passed away.

What primarily stands forth as an act of super-Grace on the Mother's part is the letter she wrote to Sehra after I

As there were some temperamental hitches, as well as unfavourable-seeming circumstances, in the way of Sehra's entering the Ashram along with me that very year, I told the Mother: "If you directly ask her to come, she will." The Mother said: "I have never directly asked anybody to come and stay here." Half jocularly half seriously I ventured to suggest: "Why not make a good beginning now? Do invite her." The Mother kept quiet with a thoughtful face. But a day or so later she did write a letter of direct invitation.

Unfortunately Sehra received it in surprise and dismay and a surface reaction as if she had been put in a fix and forced to come in spite of her sense of un timeliness. Afterwards there was a deeper understanding of the Mother's unique gesture. Sehra begged the Mother to forgive her, and expressed her willingness to accompany me in the near future.

On 19 February 1954 we arrived at the Ashram for permanent stay. At the end of a few uncertain months Sehra opened so beautifully to the Mother for good that the extraordinary

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letter seemed justified. And here comes the second of the two things I wish to record.

Once the Mother said to me in Sehra's presence; "She knows better than you how to love. Do you know where her soul is?" Then the Mother pointed to the middle of her own chest and continued: "It dwells here quite snugly all the time."

Of course the psychic being's keenly devotional move towards the Divine does not change one's whole nature at once. The rest of the being has itself to consent to change. In measuring progress many factors need weighing. Still, intense love for the Mother is the golden key to a divine future — and whenever we think of Sehra in the wake of her departure from life at about 10.15 a.m. on 24 April 1980, we may remember the Mother's pointer to where her devoted disciple's soul had permanently settled during her life in the Ashram.

AMAL KIRAN

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