Living in The Presence

I went to see the Mother, taking a bouquet of flowers and the salwar-kameez for Her packed in a pasteboard box. She first took the flowers from my hand and looked at them attentively. She selected some from this bunch to give to me and kept these in Her hand. Then She had a look at the salwar-kameez, at the design and the embroidery and then exclaimed, "It's very beautiful! You have a fine aesthetic sense. Beautiful, my child. Would you like me to wear this for the evening?" "As you wish, Mother," I replied. "Then I will wear it this evening," She said. Then, once again she looked at the salwar-kameez closely and handed over the box to Champaklal-ji. Then She looked at me in silence with a very joyful expression. A little later, She asked, "What would you like from me today?" On every birthday, the Mother used to give us books and toffees. Probably She wanted to know which book I wanted, but this time I felt She was asking the question in a somewhat different way. I, therefore, understood this question from the divine Mother in a much deeper way. I really felt it was the divine Mother, the Mother of the world, asking me what I wanted on my birthday. Why should I then ask for something very ordinary, very material like a book or toffees? So I told Her, "Mother, make me one of the noblest of human beings." Maybe the Mother was not expecting such an aspiration from me. She straightened up in Her chair and very intently fixed Her eyes on me. In silence. Then taking the birthday card from Champaklal-ji, She wrote on it:

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    (Happy Birthday to Shobha!