My Savitri work with the Mother

01 November 1963

On 1st November 1963 I offered to the Mother the book Charanvandana, which I wrote in Gujarati. Later I translated it into English and published it under the title of Salutations.

Day and night I think again and again of Savitri—the Mother who is my everything.

If I write the description of the work which the Mother and I have done in paintings, I do not suppose it can ever be expressed fully in writing. However, I am trying to put on paper a few things which I cannot resist.

While explaining picture six, Book Two, Canto 3, the Mother told me about The Life Angel who has pearly wings. She said:

In the beginning of the 20th century, two Angels were always with me on either side; they were protecting me constantly. They were very nice and beautiful creatures indeed!

For picture three, Book Two, Canto 5, the Mother wrote:

I looked at the other pictures and found nothing special to be noted. But I feel sure you will make something out of it—so I tell you 'go ahead'.

Let yourself go to the fancy of the inspiration. It goes without saying that I will be with you.

And there we are! I did the painting of the Atom, which she liked. Sometimes, she made me use my inspiration. By her Grace, then eventually everything became all right.

For picture two of Book Two, Canto 7 of Savitri the Mother saw the vision of the Lord. She drew a sketch and underneath she wrote:

Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord.

The Mother explained to me fully how to paint the picture. I did the painting of the Lord's Face. I copied her handwriting underneath the painting according to her wish, and sent it to her. She wrote on 12th January 1963:

You can keep it as it is. It is powerful.

Our Savitri work was going on—only the difference was, I used to go to the Mother three times a month or sometimes four times; all depended on her work, for she was attending to numerous things.

Here I must explain why Book Two, Canto 8, The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness was rejected by the Divine Mother. The Divine Mother said:

I have already fought with the Mother of Evil, and now I do not wish at all to give forms to the Falsehood in painting and then put the pictures in front of humanity, so that they can easily get into the false consciousness. No, I am not going to give them forms. Drop the Canto 8 altogether.

And with great pleasure, we skipped Canto 8 of Book Two, and started doing the paintings of Canto 9, Book Two.

For picture two of Canto 14 the Mother saw the vision of a glowing mouth. She explained to me about the interior of the mouth through her coloured sketch. She sometimes made coloured sketches with crayons.

I thought that the mouth meant a real mouth, so I did the sketch of a wide open mouth with teeth and tongue, etc. Along with other sketches, I sent this sketch to the Mother for her approval. Unhappily, the Mother did not approve the sketch of the mouth. She wrote:

It is better to drop the fourth one as it is not at all what I meant and would not look nice. This is not at all what I meant, just the opposite—better drop it altogether.

Well! How was it possible for me to drop one of her visions? So I copied exactly according to her sketch and made the painting. And lo! she liked it.

When we were doing Book Three, The Book of the Divine Mother, in one of the paintings we had to show the Divine Mother in Aswapathy's heart. Here I cannot possibly forget the Mother's sense of humour, for I love it. She said:

Now look! If we show the Supreme Mother's face in his heart, then surely people will think that Aswapathy had fallen in love with a woman. So I think it is better we show the golden and white Light enveloping Aswapathy.

I could not check my laughter. She joined me too.

It was an immense joy to work with the Mother. I marvelled at her practicality, refinement, aesthetic sense—mere words cannot do justice to her aristocracy, nobility and greatness. I relished her sparkling sense of humour time and again.

Unhappily, we could not publish Volume III of the Meditations on Savitri in August 1964, due to certain circumstances. After that it was decided by the Mother that instead of in August, the books should be published every year in February. So Volume III was published on 21St February 1965. She wrote this introduction:

If you want to enjoy these meditations", you must put aside all conventional notions about art and painting.

Concentrate silently your vision behind the apparent form of the picture and you will reach the meaning.

Huta is the painter.

When I happened to read the introduction, I requested the Mother to erase my name, because it was not going to add any glory.

Then the Mother withdrew the whole introduction and said that it was not necessary. But how was it possible to publish the book without her introduction? So I asked for the introduction as a present on my birthday, and it was happily granted. But then also, she never erased my name. So I knew that it was not at all sensible to interfere in her work.

During that time, I did several paintings. One painting I did was from one of the Mother's photographs when she was only five years of age. It was printed and the Mother used it as a New Year card. When I asked the Mother to give the meaning to the painting, she asked me to fetch the Volume of Savitri which we always kept upstairs in our cupboard along with sketch-books, pencils, files and things like that. The Mother said:

You will open the book three times and I too will do the same. And we shall see then, what is appropriate for the painting. First I shall open. You will see...

She opened the volume. And when I opened it, twice the same lines appeared. The lines were:

There was a voice unheard by ears that cried:
Choose, spirit, thy supreme choice not given again;
For now from highest being looks at thee
The nameless formless peace where all things rest... ||153.36||

The Mother passed some remarks which I cannot recall now. First she opened the book, then I did, again she did it. Thus, we opened it 6 times, thrice each in turn. Then she chose the lines which appeared when she opened the book the first time:

In a haven of safety and splendid soft repose
One could drink life back in streams of honey-fire,
Recover the lost habit of happiness... ||3.36||

I also did a painting from the Mother's photograph playing an organ. When I showed the painting to the Mother, she liked it very much and on the right corner of the painting she wrote:

A toi petit

Then she concentrated on the painting for a few minutes and said:

I have filled this painting with music. If you will concentrate on it, you will surely hear the music with your subtle ears.