The Story of a Soul

08 November 1955

The Mother's loving care, both materially and spiritually, continued. She wrote:

8.11.55

My dear little child,

When I said to send you a letter pad from Prosperity, it was not because I disapproved of your writing on a note book sheet to me—it was quite all right and I have no objection—it is because I was not sure you are receiving from Prosperity the things you need, and I wanted you to know that you can get from there whatever is necessary.

So far I had been using things which my sister-in-law Manjula had brought for me. Now I received my requirements from Prosperity.

I learnt to economise in everything. For example I would preserve the small unusable remnants of Lux bath-soap and stick them together to make a bigger piece that could be used further. As a general rule we received our requirements on the first of each month. My long hair needed a lot more soap than was usually given. When I ran short in the course of the month, I requested Maniben to spare me something. She only had washing soap, so I would use a piece of that: what a contrast to the beauty-products I had been accustomed to in Africa!

I took my meals in the General Dining Room. Dyuman was kind enough to accompany me there for some time. The Mother once asked him whether I had any difficulty with the food. He replied that I had none, and it was true.

Here I may recount an example of the way the Mother worked on our habits and desires. In Africa I had a special liking for sweet corn (maize). I could eat it endlessly, and there was a constant supply of it, for our family had several kitchen gardens where maize was grown throughout the year.

The Mother used to distribute eatables, such as potato-wafers, groundnuts, toffees or sweets, in the Playground each evening. One evening I saw to my delight that she was distributing sweet corn. My mouth simply watered. As I moved nearer to her in the queue, my gaze was rivetted on the delicious stuff. When I reached her she looked at me intently, then took my hand and said,

Child, you seem to have a slight fever. Your hand is rather warm. Take a blessing packet from me and you will be all right.

My face can be imagined! Instead of the sweet corn I got the blessing packet. But indeed, this was a stupendous Grace. For immediately my hankering dropped away and never returned.

Maniben was close behind me in the line. Knowing my preference, and seeing my plight, she offered to share her portion with me. But I refused. I felt that the Mother had done something in me to help me surmount my petty desire. Not only was it obliterated, but all specific taste in matters of food was taken away, so that I really began to eat merely to sustain my body. This was truly a miracle, performed by a small packet of flower-petals surcharged with the Mother's Force.

About the power of her blessings she has stated:

My blessings are very dangerous. They cannot be for this one or for that one or against this person or against that thing. It is for ... or, well, I will put it in a mystic way:

It is for the Will of the Lord to be done, with full force and power. So it is not necessary that there should always be a success. There might be a failure also, if such is the Will of the Lord. And the Will is for progress, I mean the inner progress. So whatever will happen will be for the best.

She also said,

There are some petals, flower petals, inside, but they are charged with force, and if you keep them upon you, the contact with me is kept. So if you refer inside, you can establish the contact and even have an answer.