My Savitri work with the Mother

15 September 1956

On 15th September 1956 the Mother called me to see her paintings as arranged by her previously. I went to the Meditation Hall upstairs. There, taking in the entire scene at one glance, I gasped in sheer wonderment. The Mother's many paintings lay all over the place—some were on chairs, some others on tiger skins, a few on a divan and the rest on small stools. This full display gave me the impression of a small exhibition.

The Mother entered the Hall with a bunch of white roses, which she gave me. Then with a smile she started introducing each of her paintings with eagerness and enthusiasm. I was fascinated by her descriptions.

Later, I recounted more fully the Mother's explanations regarding her paintings and sketches in my book The Story of a Soul Volume Two, 1956, Part Two, which was published by the Havyavahana Trust in 2009. Earlier, some of this information had been published in a long article in the Ashram review Mother India. Krishnalal and Vasudev—both artists—asked for off-prints of this article to keep in their record. Later Vasudev gave it to Jayantilal—artist—for certain references when the book The Mother: Paintings and Drawings was printed. In connection with that book, I gave a full statement which was published in Mother India of July 1993.

The Mother asked me to clean her two beautiful carved cupboards which stand opposite to her high-backed carved chair in the Meditation Hall upstairs. They are packed with objets d'art, old and new, from all over the world. She wanted my hands to be trained to handle the most delicate objects with full awareness and with great care. At that time I never knew that the Mother would send me rare objects from these cupboards as models to paint.