My Savitri work with the Mother

14 December 1956

It was a fine cool morning on 14th December 1956. I entered the Meditation Hall upstairs. I surveyed the whole setup at a single glance. There were a small easel, a stool, the painting materials, and a low table with a vase holding three white flowers—Hibiscus Mutabilis. The Mother gave the significance to this flower:

The Divine Grace—Thy goodness is infinite; I bow before Thee in gratitude!

These flowers were arranged against a background formed by a cloth hung over the back of a chair.

Jayantilal and Champaklal were present. We waited for the Mother. The minutes ticked by and I became impatient and nervous. I was shaken considerably by this trial, which had not been of my seeking.

The Mother came smiling—but, as she had a cold, she sneezed once or twice. She gave a fleeting smile to us and then sat on the small stool before the easel, and instructed Jayantilal to squeeze certain colours out from the tubes onto the palette. This done, in one hand she had the palette, with brushes of various sizes laid across her fingers. She picked up one brush with the other hand and started painting. Her hand moved artistically over the board. She was silent but time and again a smile touched her lips; it proved that she really enjoyed doing the painting in spite of her heavy cold. She made me sit on her left so that I might see every move of hers, the composition of flowers, the arrangement of light and shadow.

The Mother was so absorbed in this work that time flew by more quickly than we had anticipated. She sat for more than two hours, yet the painting remained unfinished, but it was truly unusually beautiful. In fact, the Mother only wanted me to learn how she had used different colours and strokes.

Afterwards she asked Jayantilal to clean the palette. Turning to me she said:

Now you must watch how the palette is cleaned. These remaining colours can be used on a canvas-board to make an interesting background for a new painting.

Then she gave me three flowers of Plumeria Obtusa to paint and asked me to show her the painting that same evening in her room at the Playground.

The Mother gave the following significance to these flowers:

Perfect Psychological Perfection—Psychological Perfection in all parts of the being.

I set up everything in my room in Golconde and started doing the painting in the very spirit the Mother had done in the morning. Unhappily, I could paint only one flower on a tiny board 14.2cm x 19.3cm.

In the evening she saw my painting for a few moments and said tenderly:

Child, it is your first attempt and it is quite good. You should only express the proper effect by showing the depth of the flower, so that it stands out and looks real. Use a little grey with white to give that impression. You see, there is always a play of light and shadow, and you should bring out the reality of the flowers by giving precise strokes with the exact colours required for the objects or flowers.