Living in The Presence

The Mother And Arup

    When Arup was eleven, he went to Calcutta for his annual

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school holiday. When he was returning from there to Pondicherry, he developed, on the way, very high fever and both his legs became numb. He couldn't even move them. My second brother, Robi, was escorting Arup and his mother to Pondicherry. Unable to find a doctor on board the train, he got down at a station where the train had halted, and rushed a telegram to the Mother, informing Her about Arup' s condition and praying for Her blessing. When the train arrived the next morning in Madras, Robi discovered a friend of his, resident of Madras, standing on the platform. He was a disciple of the Mother and his name was Jaikishan Baheti. He told him about Arup' s condition. Promptly, Jaikishan-da took Arup to his family doctor who at once gave him an injection. Unbelievably, Arup recovered. However, the doctor advised them not to take Arup back to Pondicherry immediately but rest for a few days in Madras. And so, Arup, Boudi and Robi stayed on in Jaikishan-da's house. When Arup had recovered his health a little more, Robi asked Jaikishan-da what had brought him to the Madras Central Station that day, so early in the morning? Jaikishan-da's answer left Robi nonplussed. He said, "Robi, you know I wake up very early in the morning. That morning, as soon as I woke up, I heard a voice telling me to take the car to the Central Station. At first, I ignored these words, but then I heard the same instruction again much louder, I could not ignore it this time and drove straight down to the Central Station. At the station, I found you and the difficulty you were in! Arup was very ill!" Robi was so overwhelmed by this, that on arriving in Pondicherry, he went straight to Nolini-da to tell him about Arup's illness and requested him to inform the Mother about Jaikishan-da's experience. "Yes, I know", the Mother replied when She was told about this, "after Robi's telegram, I knew everything that happened to Arup." After receiving the Mother's blessing, Arup regained his health fully and resumed school again.

    From his very childhood, Arup had had a gift for painting. He adored drawing. Once on his birthday in 1964, when he was 12 years old, he offered the Mother three paintings of

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his. I was with Arup on that day. With great attention, the Mother looked at each of his paintings and asked him, "Have you done these paintings?" Arup told the Mother that he had painted them and he had brought them to Offer them to Her. The Mother was very happy to see these paintings and said, "Arup, whenever you paint something new, send it to me with your aunt, she comes to see me. I want to see all your paintings."

    Then the Mother gave Arup some flowers and blessed him. After this, whenever Arup painted anything, I would take it to the Mother. Most of the time, the Mother would look at his painting and tell me something about it. I would like to share with you some of Her comments. I came to know from Tanmay-da that the Mother had shown Pavitra-da, the director of the School, the three paintings by Arup. She had asked Pavitra-da to inform Tanmay-da that whenever Arup needed anything for his drawings (paper, paints etc.) the school should provide him with everything. Arup was then part of the 'Free Progress' system. Some time later,when Tanmay-da went to see the Mother about school work, She instructed him that if ever Arup felt like painting in the middle of a class, he should be permitted to do so. If, while painting or at any other time, he felt like listening to music, the school should provide the facility. Arup was very fond of Sunil-da's music. Let me present here some of the Mother's comments on Arup's paintings:

    1. The Eagle: Arup had once painted an eagle. A golden eagle sitting over the earth. The eyes, the nose, the whole expression of the eagle's face was extraordinary. As soon as She received this painting, She looked at it very attentively and said to me, "The painting is superb. The eagle is very expressive, this eagle is the harbinger of the new life to come upon earth." The Mother looked at me in her compassionate way and said, "Tell Arup that the eagle's eyes are exceptional. I really like the painting very much."

    2. Golden Earth: A higher Power carrying out the transformation of the earth. The Mother's comment: "Ah, how beautiful!"

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    4. Another time, Arup did a beautiful painting - Arup's old being that he seeks to transform is lying on the ground and his transformed being stands in front of the sprawled out old being - it is a powerful, transformed being.

    As soon as She took the painting in Her hand, She said forcefully to me, raising Her right hand, 'Can you see, his soul is talking! Marvellous! Tell Arup that this is an admirable attempt!"

    5. Once, Arup was going through a low phase. He did a painting and sent it to the Mother. The Mother's comment: "Try to find your psychic being. In that endeavour, you will find help."

    6. This is about another painting - piercing a totally black sky, like lightning, a golden light was descending upon the earth. The top portion of the earth is illumined by this golden light. It's quite an extraordinary piece. The Mother's comment: "The supramental light descending into the Inconscience - it is penetrating the lower depths of the Inconscience, right into the deepest recesses of obscurity."

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Let me tell you about one more brief charming incident about Arup and move on to the next chapter. Arup must have been eleven or twelve then. I had been working with a group of boys from the Ashram at the Theater on a Bengali story by Sri Aurobindo entitled Swapna (A Dream) that I had also dramatized. Arup was to play the role of Sri Krishna and Swadesh was Harimohan. During our rehearsals at the Theater, Arup used to play a lot of pranks. Being a little boy, he did not quite understand the importance of a role like Sri Krishna's. Despite all my efforts, both at home and on the stage, he just could not realise its real dimension. So one day, for one of his mischievous pranks, I scolded him quite harshly and told him that I would ask some other boy to take up Sri Krishna's role. I felt I had somewhat overdone the scolding, and that too in front of all the participants. Arup became absolutely speechless. He stayed quiet. I did not pay much attention to the evening's incident.

    Two days later, it was a Sunday, I went to the Mother for Her darshan. The Mother told me, "Arup has written to me asking for forgiveness. He has promised that he will not do any mischief again during the rehearsals. Don't change his role in the play. Let Arup play Sri Krishna."

    The day of the performance arrived. The Mother seemed to have done some magic with Arup. When in the play, Harimohan says, "If I find Keshto, I will have him whipped to teach him a lesson", seeing the little Sri Krishna on stage, an irresistibly sweet smile on his lips, holding his flute, dressed in a golden dhoti with a peacock feather adorning his head, his presence rendered even more enchanting with Runu's marvelous flute, the spectators were enthralled! After the programme,everyone had the same reaction - Sri Krishna's role was very well enacted, it was extraordinary. The Mother's words echoed in my ears, "Don't change his role in the play. Let Arup play Sri Krishna."

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