Champaklal Speaks

Burden on Mother

As you know, in the early days people used to offer roses or jasmines with their nice fragrance. After Mother gave significances to flowers, people began bringing more and more flowers of different kinds to her. They started giving in Mother's hand flower after flower, one by one; and some would bring them in dishes some in baskets. Of course there were those who came without flowers.

Now as long as people were few it worked. But when the number increased, Mother had to spend more and more time in receiving flowers in this manner. But she never expressed any reluctance or unwillingness; on the contrary people got the impression—at any rate some of them—that the Mother was very pleased at the way things were being done. For some it appeared very easy way of doing sadhana. As if one had only to offer the flower Sincerity or Discipline and one automatically attained it! They felt a certain satisfaction in having done something and went on to spend the rest of the day as they pleased.

Perhaps it is human nature. Take my own case. On one of my birthdays, in the beginning, I took the flower Unselfishness, and started going to Mother. Then I added one by one Gratitude, Surrender, Humility, Purity, Devotion, Tapasya, and finally a flower of Divine's love placed in one of Gratitude. Then as I was about to go to Mother with all these, the idea came to me: “What am I doing? The same thing for which I find fault with others!” Then I left all other flowers except Gratitude with Divine's love and Humility placed within it.

I felt—and I still feel—that one flower is enough. In sadhana if one truly gets one thing, say, devotion, or sincerity, then all else comes through it. The question is whether one really aspires for them and whether the time has come. This is not to say that sincere people did not benefit by this offering of flowers. They did.

Once I expressed my feeling in this matter to Mother. She supported what I said and added something more also, which, however, is not too pleasant for people in general. She was very particular that things should not develop into a ritual or a cult. Later sometimes, she was obliged to write notices like these:

“No flower offering tomorrow, Thursday. Only Pranam.”

“Henceforth the flower offering will be only on Tuesday.”

At times she had to announce that there would be no Pranam and that only flowers would be given by Mother. Still some people insisted on doing Pranam. And they were allowed.