The Story of a Soul

20 February 1955

On February 20th, despite the heavy work she had because of her birthday the following day, the Mother wrote to Laljibhai:

Laljibhai,

Where is your faith in the Divine? Having faith in the Divine you ought to rejoice that Savita has received the inner call and decided to lead the divine life; you ought to be made happy by this sign of the Divine's Grace and feel grateful for it.

The offering that Savita has made of herself has been accepted and from now she is no more Savita but Huta.

Quietly face the social difficulties with equality and cheerfulness; then you will know that my love and blessings are with you.

The Mother, Words of the Mother - I: Coming to the Ashram

By this time I had already joined one of the groups in the Playground. I was in E Group. The uniform consisted of a white shirt, white shorts, a kitty-cap of white net, and white tennis-shoes. I had never before exposed my legs above the knees—I was used to wearing elegant frocks, skirts and blouses. At first I felt terribly embarrassed and shy in this outfit.

Each group had its own prayer to the Mother, and her reply to each group was illuminating. The prayer of E Group was:

We want to be what You want us to be.

The Mother's response was:

I have full trust in your good will. Trust in my help.

On special occasions we would wear an embroidered badge on the left side of our shirts. It depicted the Mother's symbol upon a silver-blue background. This was a miniature of the flag-design which is printed on the cover of the Bulletin. The Mother has explained about this flag and the cover:

The flag which is printed on the cover of this Bulletin is a full-blown lotus in gold with two rows of petals (4 inside and 12 outside) exactly in the centre of a square field of silvery blue.

This blue is the blue of the Spirit, and the gold is the colour of the Supreme Mother. The red of the cover surrounding the flag signifies an illumined physical consciousness.

The flag was originally intended to be only the flag of the J.S.A.S.A.; but later, on the day when India's liberation was celebrated here (15th August, 1947), it was found that it expressed also the spiritual mission of the whole of India. It is therefore to us the symbolic flag of resurgent, united and victorious India raising itself out of the torpor of centuries and having cast off the shackles of enslavement and passed through all the pangs of a new birth, to emerge once more as a great and united nation leading the world and its humanity to the highest ideals of the Spirit.

We consider ourselves therefore very fortunate to have as our flag one with such a symbolism and we cherish it deeply.

The following is written by Amal Kiran:

The Spiritual Flag of India

The Mother's Flag

"A full-blown lotus in gold with two rows of petals (inside 4, outside 12) exactly in the centre of a square field of silvery blue, the ratio of the side of the square to the diameter of the lotus being 6:2.5—the Mother's flag symbolises the Spiritual Reality at work in Sri Aurobindo's Ashram. Out of the concentrated Seed-Shakti that is the centre, four primary powers of divinity are shown as breaking: they are Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati—goddess-personalities of wisdom, dynamism, harmonious beauty, flawless organisation. These four are then depicted as putting forth twelve manifesting forces that operate within the periodic time-process. The supreme infinity, the all-containing and all-supporting spiritual Self is the silvery blue background, the foundational mystery from which the Divine's revelation—emblemed by the lotus—stands out in gold suggestive of sovereign Truth-consciousness. The roundness of the lotus combined with the squareness of the background betoken perfection and omni-competence of being, and there is in the whole flag the suggestion not only of a sky with an ethereal flower poised in it but also of a stretch of water with an earthly bloom afloat. The ever-existing ideality above and the secret wonder that is to be revealed below are both compassed in the symbolism. Here, then, is a flag charged with India's spiritual mission, the mission of rendering victorious the Divine Mother, the infinite Self and Shakti. In this symbolism is the promise both of India's own unity and of a world-union; for, the genuine indefeasible oneness can come only of a sense in all men of the one God who is their true reality."

Leena Dowsett, a sadhika, was our captain; she was training a few beginners like me in the tennis court. We often committed comical mistakes; but she was very considerate and patient with us, and we relished her sense of humour.