Living in The Presence

Conversation About The Body

    I - Mother, I get a lot of pain in my heels.

    Mother - How did it start?

    I - I was doing hop-tep-and-jump, Mother. I hurt my-self, then.

    Mother - Where were you doing this?

    I - At the Tennis-ground.

    Mother - How did you hurt yourself?

    I - I don't know, Mother. I was practising during my Group activities.

    Mother - It will go away.

    I - Should I do the athletics competition tomorrow?

    Mother - Of course! Why would you not? Please do.

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    Mother - What.? You can't hear.?

    I - I don't hear as well as I should, Mother. If someone speaks to me into my right ear, then I hear a kind of Vibration.

    Mother - This could be due to a cold or cough.

    I - I had a similar pain when I was in Calcutta. I had shown Dr Sanyal then. He also said it was due to a cold and cough.

    Mother - Then, Why don't you show Dr Sanyal again?

    I - No, Mother, I don't want to show to any doctor. Now I have come to You, You cure me. Mother, You cure me.

    Mother - Then, don't worry about this any longer. You are worrying all the time about it and that's Why this troubles you. Don't think about it, it will get all right.

    A few days after the Mother's telling me this, the pain disappeared.

    I - Mother, how can my aspiration be awakened?

    Mother - Aspiration? Keep calling. (Saying this, the Mother joined both her paint: on in a namaskar. Then She plotted Her hand on my shoulder and gently tapped it and then went back to the namaskar position.) Like a little girl, like a child, pray for it.

    Then, the Mother closed Her eyes, joined Her palms in salutation and began repeating, " 'Give me aspiration. Give me aspiration.' It will come. Aspiration will come. Aspiration will come." Then once again, She placed Her hand on my shoulder and patted me affectionately.

    I - Mother, I have back pain.

    Mother - What have you done?

    I - Hop-step-and-jump and Marching. Tomorrow, I have the hop-step-and-jump competition. .

    Mother - Do the competition. The best thing to cure something is to keep working with it. Don't do any practice, just go straight for the competition tomorrow. I tell everyone this: either you practise the whole year round in a regular way or you don't do the competition. But here, nobody does regular practice. They have gymnastics, they have games, this

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thing and the other. On top of that, they do more practice. Then, they get pain. Tomorrow, join the competition. After that, no more practice. Do the competition without any practice tomorrow. We will see what happens. If you don't do well, nobody is going to tell you anything! That's why, do the competition tomorrow.

*

    I - Mother, my back hurts very badly. I am unable to do anything.

    Mother - This comes from the kidney. You need to exercise a lot.

    I - But, Mother, I do a lot of exercises, but the pain is still there.

    Mother - Then, show Dr Sanyal.

    I - Mother, from time to time, I go to see Hriday and I take hot water fomentation. I get a lot of relief from it,

    Mother - If it does you good, then continue with it. (The Mother selects some flowers to give me) Aurevoir, my dear child.

    I - Aurevoir, Douce Mere.
            
On getting back home I began regretting the way I had spoken to the Mother. I started feeling a strange pain in my heart. Is this how one should speak to the Mother, the divine Mother.? I am supposed to listen to what the Mother tells me, to follow the advice She gives me, but instead I proffered to Her my opinion, my way of looking at the problem! How very silly and stupid of me, how insolent! I began to feel quite disturbed. I told myself inwardly, "Mother, I don't know how to speak to the divine Mother! Please forgive me!"

    After having had that discussion with the Mother about my back pain, I began waiting for an opportunity to rectify my unbecoming behaviour. The very next day, I found the occasion. As soon as the Mother's interview got over in the Playground, I got inside the room and asked if I could speak to Her for two minutes. She consented. I began in a hurry:

    I - Mother, I have showed my back to Dr Sanyal. He said it was rheumatism.

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    Mother - I had told you so.

    I - So I should do a lot of exercise, as you told me;

    Mother - Yes, my dear child. Yes, my child, tell Pranab about your back pain, he will show you some exercises for it.

    The Mother placed Her hand on my shoulder and caressed me affectionately. My heart was filled with He; compassion. I felt Mother was truly Divine! She certainly felt my sense of regret and had forgiven me. Slowly, the black shadow of my stupidity melted from my heart. Bowing down to The Mother, I came back home with a tranquil heart.

    Mother - Sanyal was saying that he has to operate your tumor. I told him there is no need for an operation, you get yourself treated through homeopathy. Do you knew Dr Satyanarayan, Debranjan's father?

    I - Yes, Mother.

    Mother - Go to him, go and tell him about your tumor. Take medicine from him. There is no need for an operation

    After saying this the Mother selected some flowers from the tray and gave them to me and blessed me.

    This happened after a few days. I had gone for the Mother's darshan on the first floor when She asked me:

    Mother - Have you been to Satyanarayan?

    I - Yes, Mother, he has started the treatment.

    Mother - Good.

    I - Mother, Satyanarayan-da was telling me that it would take some time to remove the tumor. Should I then discontinue my Group activities for some time.?

    Mother - Why? Why should you stop the Group activities

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if you have a tumor on your heel? You have other parts of your body, exercise them. Don't do any running or jumps. But you can do the throws, you can do some gymnastics. Tell Pranab to show you some light exercises, do these regularly. Don't stop your Group activities, go daily.

    So in deference to the Mother's instruction, I went for my Group activities every day. I exercised all the other parts of my body as far as I could. It took almost a year and a half for the tumor to disappear, but after that my foot became absolutely normal.

    In the evening, with that very heavy heart, I went to the Playground. I knew that I would be an object of ridicule, when the Mother Herself had laughed that way about it. In any case, I was resigned to my fate. There was nothing for me to do! What I could not do, I could not do! Later, I would try and learn to do better. This was my mental state at the start of the ball drill. The ball drill started. When it was time for me to do the forward roll, I felt as if someone was guiding my back gently and turning me over! I had performed a

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