Champaklal Speaks

My Portrait

1944-10-06

I showed to Mother my portrait done by her on my birthday in 1935. Some small yellow spots had appeared on the paper.

Mother: “That happens when the paper is not good.”

C: “But this paper is of a good quality.”

Mother: “There must have been some defect in the making of this paper. It is a pity. The picture is wonderful, very nice.”

You know, this portrait was done by Mother with her eyes closed. She finished it in a few minutes and when she saw it, she was so happy with it that she took it immediately to Sri Aurobindo.

It was regarding this picture that she said: “If I were to write the name Leonardo da Vinci here [as the artist who made this] nobody would question it.... The pencil just went on moving.”