One of those days when I had gone to the Mother, She told me, "I would like you to prepare a dance-drama." "When, Mother?" I asked. "I will let you know the date later." She said nothing after that. I took the flowers from Her and She blessed me. I came down from Her room. A few days passed. Then, I wrote a letter to the Mother:

Douce Mère,
You have asked me to prepare a dance-drama. Can I do something on the seasons?

    Do I have Your consent for doing a dance-drama on the seasons?

The Mother's reply:
    Yes, that's fine. Take a few lines from Sri Aurobindo.

   So, the theme was chosen. I began work in full earnest. After the Mother's consent, lots of ideas started churning in my head. I started working wholeheartedly on the script which was very hard and demanded a lot of time. On the very first occasion of our meeting after this, the Mother gave me some

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lovely suggestions - how seasons have been circulating around the earth since time immemorial, what each season contributed to the planet, etc. I forgot to note all these down, but at that time they were still fresh in my mind. The Mother had asked me to select some lines from Sri Aurobindo. And so I began the script with lines from Savitri, Book One, Canto One.

The programme would begin with Sunil-da's music and this was followed by the Mother's recorded reading of these lines from Savitri:

It was the hour before the Gods awake.
Across the path of the divine Event
The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone
In her unlit temple of eternity,
Lay stretched immobile upon Silence' merge.

There was no dance with these lines, just Sunil-da's music and Tej-da's play of lights. Then, some more lines from Savitri followed in the Mother's words (without any dance):

Almost one felt, opaque, impenetrable,
In the sombre symbol of her eyeless muse
The abysm of the unbodied Infinite;
A fathomless zero occupied the world.

Sunil-da's music would play on. The Mother's voice once again:

Then something in the inscrutable darkness stirred.

At this point, the earth is vaguely visible on stage. There's a marvellous play of lights around the earth to show how the life-giving Force quickens within the heart of our planet. Now, from within the earth and circling around it, will emerge the seasons:

Three thoughtful seasons passed with shining tread
And scanning one by one the pregnant hours
Watched for a flame that lurked in luminous depths,
The vigil of some mighty birth to come.

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I began working slowly on the script. Since it was the Mother's wish to get this programme done, I felt it important to organise it in an appropriate way. I used the lines from Sri Aurobindo, especially from Savitri, as my descriptive support. Lines from Sri Aurobindo's epic poem, Savitri, in the Mother's own voice, slokas from the great poet Kalidasa's Ritu Samhar set to music, songs of nature from the Poet of poets, Rabindranath, all these were woven into something quite impressive. When the script was ready, I myself was moved to read it. How was I able to prepare such a script? The words of the Mother echoed in my ears: When I give someone a responsibility, I also give that person the force to carry it out. I felt the Mother's help and inspiration constantly guiding me during the entire preparation of this programme. The first part of the programme was based on the script. The second part was to be music. At that time I was already responsible for organising visiting artists' programmes. I would come in contact with a lot of artists, get to know some more deeply. I decided to seek the collaboration of some of them after obtaining the Mother's consent. Among these was Bhubaneswar Mishra, a violin-player, music composer and director of the Cuttack All India Radio station, with whom I was very closely connected. I acquainted him with this programme. He was delighted to take charge of the entire orchestration. He got the musicians of the Cuttack radio station to record some of his superb compositions for the programme and sent them to us. Raghunath Panigrahi, the celebrated singer, agreed to compose all the Sanskrit slokas from Kalidasa's poem. Sahana-di took charge of the songs of Rabindranath. Tarit Chaudhuri, a Rabindra-sangeet singer, sang some very beautiful compositions of Tagore under Sahana-di's direction.

I remember the day of the programme. The curtains were drawn and the programme started. The extraordinary lines from Book One, Canto One were heard! Then the descent of Mother Earth accompanied to Tarit-da's singing:

O enchantress of Earth's heart, O Mother,
O gentle limpid sunlit Earth, O Mother of the world.
O enchantress of Earth's heart, O Mother.

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I still cannot forget the poignaent mood that was created by Tarit-da's heart-rending song. This was followed by Maya Mitra's extraordinary sitar-playing. A lot of singers from the Ashram had lent their voices in the chorus for the Rabindra-sangeet under Sahana-di's direction. The musical side became a very lovely aspect of the programme. Tej-da was in charge of the lighting. Except for the dance, everything was arranged. I decided to take help from Roshan-ben and Anu-ben but they could not help me with the dance on stage. So I asked the Mother what I should do about the dance. As the script was written by me, the Mother suggested that I look after the dance choreography, in addition to the direction and everything else connected with the programme. I could not say anything to Her. In the midst of lines from such luminaries like Sri Aurobindo, Kalidasa, Rabindranath, music by such talented musicians like Bhubaneswar Mishra, Raghunath Panigrahi, Maya Mitra and Sahana-di, Tarit-da and Sunil-da, I just wondered how my ordinary dance-compositions would look! Moreover, I had given up dancing then. I just could not pluck up enough courage to tell anything to the Mother. I suggested to the Mother that Sanjukta Panigrahi could come one week before the actual show, and enact the role of Mother Earth, which was a very-pivotal role. I could also ask her for help for my other dance-compositions. The Mother agreed to my proposal and asked me to try working it out. I am talking of a time when the telephone was not so much in vogue yet. Thus, I sent Sanjukta a letter. She was absolutely thrilled and honoured to have been chosen by the Mother to participate in an Ashram programme. She began to work on her dance while I continued to work on the programme on my side. By this time, Bhubaneswar Mishra had sent me his orchestrated music from Cuttack. I was impressed with the beauty of his compositions played by professional musicians of the radio station.

In the Ashram, an air of great expectation arose around this programme. We were all extremely busy with our respective responsibilities. One day, Nolini-da sent for me. He told me that the Mother had selected the date for the programme:

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3.5.1967. As a large crowd was expected for the special Darshan of 45.67, the programme was to be put up on two days, on 3.5 and 5.5. The Mother had asked me to do this programme for this special occasion. I handed over a paper to Nolini-da and told him that I had two possible titles for the programme, The Eternal Rhythm or Omnipresence. Could he request the Mother to select one?

The Mother crossed out The Eternal Rhythm and wrote in Her beautiful handwriting The Rhythm Eternal. And so this is how our dance-drama came to be called. Everyone in the Ashram waited eagerly for this programme organised on the occasion of the 4.5.67 special Darshan of the Mother. One day, at around 10 in the morning, I went to the Meditation hall to sit quietly for a while. I saw Udar-da coming down the staircase. He came to me and enquired, "Shobha, I hear you are doing a dance programme for the special Darshan of the Mother on 4.5.67?" I nodded. "You know," Udar-da continued, "that this is a programme on the occasion of a very special Darshan. A lot of people are coming. Will you be able to handle such a special programme?" "Well, it is the Mother who asked me to do it," I replied. "Ah, it is the Mother who asked you?" he asked. I did not respond to that and left for my work. A few days went by and I completely forgot about this meeting. Then one morning, a car began honking loudly outside Red House. There was no door-bell to our house in those days. I went out and saw Udar-da in his car. He stretched out his right hand from the window towards me. I did not quite understand why he wanted to shake hands with me. He said, "Dear Shobha, do you know what happened? I asked the Mother if She had asked you to do the special programme for 4.5.67. The Mother confirmed it, so I asked, 'Do you think Shobha will be able to do it?' To which once again the Mother replied, 'Yes.' I was overjoyed to hear this from Her. Truly overjoyed." I looked at Udar-da and said, "Thank you, Udar-da."

The day of the programme was nearing. It was almost time for Sanjukta to arrive. I was more or less ready with my part

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of the work. Bhubaneswar-da, Tej-da, Raghunath, Tarit-da who lived outside Pondicherry were requested to come one week before the programme in order to watch the final show. In the meantime, two unexpected events took place. I developed carbuncles on both my thighs which made walking or even sitting difficult. I was seriously worried :as I had so much work and responsibility on my shoulders that there was no time for even the slightest rest. Then a telegram arrived from Sanjukta for the Mother asking Her to forgive her as due to some unavoidable urgent work, she was unable to participate in the programme. How was I to get over these two setbacks? The carbuncles were at such a place and the pain so bad that even normal activity became terribly arduous. Plucking all the courage I was capable of, I dragged myself to the Theater every evening for the rehearsals. Sanjukta's absence from the programme was also a huge source of worry. Quite crestfallen, I implored the Mother, praying to Her to give us some guidance in this pathetic situation. The Mother reassured me saying that since I had composed the rest of the dances for the programme, I could easily choreograph the dance for 'Mother Earth' as well. In fact, She insisted that I compose the dance. But what about my carbuncles? She simply ignored that bit, gave it absolutely no importance, as it were! Helplessly I went on with my physical problem, "Douce Mere, I'm unwell. How will I dance? Can't we change the date of the programme?" "No, no," the Mother replied at once, "how can that be? Everything has been finalised now. This is a special programme and, therefore, we cannot change the dates." The Mother caressed my head a few times and said, "Everything will be fine. You will dance on the day of the programme." After hearing this from the Mother, I simply kept quiet. I did not tell this to anyone, not even to Ma. Those who. had a part in this programme and those who knew about Sanjiukta's coming to portray Mother Earth, kept asking me repeatedly about her. They may have found out from Tej-da, Bhubaneswar-da and Raghunath that she was not coming. Then the countless questions arose, one by one: who is going to dance then? How will

Page 169

you dance? You can hardly walk! Why don't you take someone else? And so on and so forth. I remained absolutely still within. I just said what was essential and kept my silence. It was the day of the light-trial. The entire programme was ready, it looked and sounded quite fine. The following day was our dress-rehearsal. I was awfully busy. Millie-di was a great help with the costumes. We did a run-through of the whole programme: the first part in costumes, then the second part also with appropriate costumes. When I saw the dances in their respective costumes, I realised that The Rhythm Eternal was slowly taking a beautiful shape. If all the aspects progressed in the same way, then the programme would stand on its feet rather well.

The day of the programme arrived. The Ashram was chock-a-block with people who had come for the Darshan. On the morning of 3^rd May, I sent a letter along with a bouquet of flowers to the Mother on behalf of all the participants and I prayed to Her for Her blessings so that I would come out successfully in this test. I have already mentioned earlier that the 1st December or any other programme was to us an offering to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. This day also, my call to Them was as sincere and intense: I just kept calling Her all the time. The Theater started filling up. Everything was ready for the offering. The gong sounded at the appointed hour, 8 o'clock. Sunil-da's music filled the auditorium and the Mother's voice resounded:

It was the hour before the Gods awake...

Tej-da's marvellous play of lights followed by the Mother's voice once again and then again Sunil-da's music echoed in the air. Then, the play of lights brought the stage alive accompanied with the Mother's voice. Now, the spotlight fell on me. I just lost myself in that celebration of flooding light and I danced movements that my body had never incarnated before, poses filled the stage that I had never seen myself. The entire programme began unfolding before my eyes like a dream. All trace of pain just vanished from my body. My

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dancing body moved with such fluid grace and uninterrupted rhythm that I myself was taken aback. It was now time for the last scene. I had to dance a duet with Spring. Bhubaneswar-da's remarkably orchestrated music played on and created a veritable atmosphere of gaiety. Spring in the heart of the Earth! New life and a new spirit infused Mother Earth as the concluding lines from Savitm' were heard in the Mother's voice. This combined with Sunil-da's music and Tej-da's lights brought an otherworldly feeling to the Earth as the six Seasons circled around her. And against a light-blue golden backdrop the curtains gently closed to the sweeping uplift of Sunil-da's brilliant composition.

The curtains were now drawn and silence reigned for a while. Krishna who had played the role of Spring as well as all the others who had danced with me (whose names I do not recollect now) stood around me on the stage in silence. After these few seconds of silence, the auditorium burst into applause and it continued for quite some time. The stage was still dark. Everyone around me left the stage to go into the green-room. Some people came backstage to express their appreciation. Udar-da was the first among them. There were also Tej-da, Bhubaneswar-da, Raghunath, Vishwanath-da and many more. I remained absolutely tranquil as if a huge flood of peace had inundated my mind, heart and body. Some-where deep within me I had the conviction and faith that when the Mother had assured me that I would dance on the final day, She would also make it happen. And yet, a slight spot of doubt also lurked somewhere in the being: would I be capable of being a worthy instrument of Her grace?

The Rhythm Eternal has left an indelible mark on my life, a deeply rooted experience. The atmosphere created by Sri Aurobindo's lines from Savitri, Sunil-da's music, Tej-da's lighting had transported me to some other world and this feeling remained with me for several days after the programme. I observed a great change within me. After the programme was over, my mind quite stilled and that deep experience I had gone through well-protected in my inner being, I returned home.

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The following day when I went to see Nolini-da, I came to know that a proposal had been put forward to the Mother to have one additional show besides the one slated for the 5^th of May. And the Mother had agreed. After talking to Pranab-da, the Mother had asked Nolini-da to inform me about this show being fixed for the 7^th. After telling me this Nolini-da said to me that he had gone to see the dance-drama and had liked it very much. I requested Nolini-da to ask the Mother if She would agree to see me for Pranam for a very short while on the 5^thor the 6^th of May. He told me to come back the following afternoon at half past two for the Mother's answer. The Mother gave Her consent for me to go and see Her on that 5^th afternoon itself at 3.30 after seeing some other people. I went up to Her with some flowers. She held both my hands in Hers and looked into me for quite some time. She seemed to be in Her Mahalakshmi aspect. Then She said, "My dear child, do you know what you have done? You have conquered the impossible. I knew that you were capable of this." The Mother had to see a couple of other people after me and so I could not stay with Her for very long. However, these few words from Her and Her blessings have guided me all along my life. Under the influence of the Mother's divine force, our inner and outer beings were deeply touched and the programme itself had been rendered possible in a way that our ordinary human endeavour could never have been able to achieve.

That is why today as I remember that descent of the Mother's extraordinary divine force, my whole being sings aloud:

Victoire à la Douce Mère!

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