Living in The Presence

My birthday of 1956. For this birthday, I wrote a poem in French to offer to the Mother. It was called La Gratitude. I decorated the paper containing the poem with a hand-drawn Outline frame. Hardly had I got into Her room that She greeted me with "Bonne Fete, mon enfant!" I offered my poem to Her saying, "Mother, I've written a poem for you in French." She was very happy and replied, "Ah! you've written a poem in French? Very good!" and She took the paper from my hand and started reading the poem. As I had not kept a copy of the paper I offered to the Mother, I am unable to reproduce that here. The theme of the poem was the profound gratitude I felt towards the Mother, gratitude first for bringing me here, for giving me shelter at Her feet, for Her constant love and compassion that continue to surround and protect me. The Mother read the poem and then looked at me for a long time. Then, She remarked, "The poem is beautiful, very beautiful!" Once again, She penetrated my being with Her intense look, as if She was going deeper and deeper to see how sterling and

rooted was my gratitude. Then She said in a deeply contented voice, "You've given me such a beautiful poem, now What can I give you?" Champaklal-ji was standing next to Her. She took a pad and a pen from a side-table and began writing something. In the meantime, I just sat on at Her feet, and kept savouring every moment of being in Her presence. After a while, She handed the paper to me, "Here, take this. This is a small poem from me. Recite it every morning on waking up." Here is the poem She gave me:

Je te salue, O Mere,
Dans une gratitude intense.
Que dans ma vie rayonne
Ton unique presence.

    The Mother repeated, "Recite this every morning on waking up," then offered me a book, some flowers, this poem and blessed me.