Champaklal - The Artist and a Yogi

The Grace Arranges my Work

One day I said to Mother: “Mother, I would like to wash my father's dhoti.” She smiled and said that she would ask Sri Aurobindo. The next day when I went to Sri Aurobindo he looked at me and said: “You want to wash my dhoti?”

C: “Yes.”

Sri Aurobindo: “Are you ready?” looked at him in surprise and wondered why he asked that.

Sri Aurobindo: “You know, people will mock at you, laugh at you, joke about you. Are you ready for all that?”

When he saw that I was eager to do this work in spite of such possibilities, he looked at me affectionately and smiled. He said so because the Ashram atmosphere was like that at that time. But very soon Mother changed it entirely.

As I look back, I clearly see that it was the Mother who made me ask for this work. For it is not in my nature to ask anything for myself. True, I always aspired to be able to spend all my time and all my energy in the service of Mother and Sri Aurobindo. This aspiration got fulfilled in different ways, often to my utter surprise...

There are thus many incidents where the Mother herself arranged my work without my asking. Actually her grace is constantly showered on each and everyone of us, but we cannot see it. When the time comes she herself makes us aware of it. Madhav: “Once when I was sitting by your side on the landing, waiting for Mother to call us, you told me that every aspiration of yours had been or was in the process of being fulfilled. At that time, I asked you why you did not spend all the time in Mother's room, a thing which you could very well have done. But you said: 'No, it has to be arranged by itself. The aspiration is there, of course, but I know it will be realised in due time.' And in the course of a few months I did see it come to pass. You found yourself there practically all the time. That made a deep impression on me and convinced me that sincere aspiration, even when not expressed in words, evokes response from the Grace. Your life has been a standing example of this truth. Sorry to interrupt you, Champak-bhai, please proceed.”....

(Ref: Champaklal Speaks. 3rd Edition. P: 48-52)