Down Memory Lane

Deaths in the Family

My father did not join us when we closed our Calcutta establishment and moved to Pondicherry finally in Decenber 1964, as he wanted to take an independent decision for himself in due course. He joined us at Pondicherry some months later. After years of a very active life as an industrialist, freedom fighter and Member of Parliament, he had a quiet life at the Ashram with some sadhak friends around and was enjoying the Ashram atmosphere, getting free from the past associations.

After a time he hurt his leg and had a spell of sickness which ended with his expiry on 13.10.1966 at 12.22 a.m. On 27th September he had completed 79 years.

Regarding the birthday card he had received from Mother he told me next morning that he had a very good experience with it and that I should keep it carefully.

Earlier, the report of his sickness was going to Mother in the usual course and Mother had made some observations.

"When he came on his last birthday I had seen that his subtle body had already separated and there was only a small link with the gross body."

"What is the use of keeping this body unless he wants to do supramental Yoga?"

"Yes, food is necessary to live."

(When asked whether we should tell him in Mother's name that he should eat, she did not reply.)

"If he does not want medicine it should not be given. Don't force him.

I would like to leave it in writing that if I happen to be unconscious, no injection should be given to me."

(The doctor was of the view that his mind was not working, so he was not eating. Mother said, "No, he is conscious.")

Page 78

On 11th October Mother asked, "Does he care for my blessings?" and added, "All right, we will see", and gave a flower with great concentration.

On 12th Oct. it was reported to her that his condition was much worse.

"How?", she asked.

"Physically."

"No, he is much better. Yesterday when I sent the blessing flower, I was watching his response. He received it wonderfully well."

Shortly after midnight the end came.

Mother fixed the funeral for the afternoon. When asked about the shaving of my head according to family custom, she wrote a big No and underlined it twice. My mother, in spite of her orthodox background, took it well.

When my mother's proposal for Brahmin feeding according to our custom was put before Mother, she agreed. Amrita who was sitting there offered himself as an invitee, saying, "Mother, I am a Brahmin; my name should be on the list." "Everyone in the Ashram is a Brahmin", someone remarked. Finally, some Brahmins were invited from outside the Ashram and my proposal of a special item for the whole Ashram Dining Room also was approved by Mother. Later, the Ashram Dining Room started getting special dishes on occasions of deaths. And of marriages. Also of births.

My mother accepted my proposal that we should inform our relatives and friends not to come for condolences. The result was that we were saved from the bother of formal condolence guests.

To come back to the main subject. The end came very peacefully and the atmosphere around was very calm throughout.

Mother said about his passing away: "He is in peace and in rest.

It was one of the most natural deaths I have ever seen. The soul had decided to separate.

I had put a force so that his will might not yield to people around him.

It was a simple and natural death."

Page 79

(2)

My elder sister's husband Vindeshwari Prasad Gupta died at Bombay on 23 July 1969. Next morning he came to me and said that he was very happy. I thought of speaking of it to Mother but didn't. On 25th morning when I went to Mother she wrote something on a piece of paper, saying that it was in answer to what was going on within me.

She wrote,

"Only those who depend exclusively on their body to be conscious lose consciousness when the body dies. Those who have a consciousness independent of their body, continue to live consciously."

After the arrival of my sister from Bombay we, the family members, had gone to Mother. Mother asked, turning towards my mother, whether she was interested to know about the departed one. Of course we all were. Mother said, "Tell her, his soul is one with the Divine". Then, turning towards my sister, Mother said that his psychic was looking after her and she should maintain a contact with his psychic.

It may be mentioned that along with the news of the death, when Mother was asked about my sister's wish that the body be brought to Pondicherry for burial at the Cazanove Gardens, Mother had agreed, but then it did not happen.

I must say here that he was perhaps the very first one to introduce me to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and the happiest when I made my first visit to the Ashram.

(3)

In October 1981 when I was lying in bad shape in the Ashram Nursing Home, my mother came to see me in spite of her difficulty in climbing the stairs. An hour after she went back, I heard that she had a fall on the Ashram pavement. She was brought to the room next to mine in the Nursing Home. It was a serious fracture and she had intense pain. But she continued to be anxious for my welfare throughout the few days she was there. She passed away uttering the name of Sri Badrinath and Sri Kedarnath, the supreme deities for most of the Hindus.

Page 80

Peace reigned over her when the end came.

Carlo Schuller felt that my mother had offered her life to the Divine to save my life. I learned later that she had been talking anxiously those days to some Ashramites about me and what could be done for my well-being.

(4)

My elder sister Gyaneshwari died of cancer in 1991.

At the time of cremation, when the chanting of sn' aravinda saranam mama was over, I saw Sri Aurobindo picking up something from her and handing it over to the Mother and then both of them ascending up and up...

Madhav Pandit commented that it was unusual that both Sri

Aurobindo and Mother came.

Page 81