Champaklal Speaks

Two Lotuses

I wanted to offer something to the Mother. And I got the idea of painting two lotuses, one white and the other red.

Curiously, I received two beautiful lotuses and took up the painting. But due to other work I could not finish them in a day. These too, like my other paintings, I did during my lunch time as it gave me great joy. It took some days before I could finish them little by little. Naturally it would have been better if the colouring could have been done in one sitting. However the result was not bad and it was with great joy that I took the paintings to Mother on my birthday on 2 February 1940.

She received them very well indeed and exclaimed: “Oh! Very pretty! Very pretty!” She wondered how I could get time to do them. She took them in both hands and with a broad smile said: “I give them to you, Champaklal! Take them, they are for you. They are very pretty. You keep them.”

I did not answer and did not take them. And she repeated: “Take them, Champaklal, I give them to you as my present.”

C: “But Mother! I have done them for you.”

Seeing the state of my mind she found a way out. She gave another broad smile and said softly, almost in a whisper: “Champaklal, I will take them to Sri Aurobindo and I will ask him to write on them.”

I said: “Mother! Are you taking them to Sri Aurobindo? If so, it would be very nice if you ask him to write the significance. Mother! Sri Aurobindo will write on the white lotus and you will write on the red one.”

When Mother brought them to Sri Aurobindo I was there. She showed them to him and said: “See, how nice they are! Today is Champaklal's birthday; he has done these paintings for me. If you write the significance on them I will give them to him. He wants you to write on the white lotus and I on the red.”

With a beautiful affectionate smile Sri Aurobindo said: “Umm.” Then he wrote above the white lotus:

Aditi
The Divine Mother

And under the red lotus he wrote:

To Champaklal
With blessings

2.2.40

Sri Aurobindo

After writing, he looked at me and gave a sweet smile. Then above the red lotus Mother wrote:

The Avatar
Sri Aurobindo

And under the white lotus she wrote:

To Champaklal
With blessings to my dear child

2.2.40

Mother

Then Mother told me not to show the lotuses to anybody.

But you know that after many years blocks were made out of these paintings and printed for distribution. Do not ask me why I was told not to show them to anybody at one time as later things were changed. Obviously circumstances changed and the Mother never stood rigidly by what she said on an earlier occasion under different conditions. There are so many instances of this kind.