Contact with The Mother

DISPENSER OF PEACE AND COURAGE

I was a person of a very nervous constitution. Hardly could I tolerate any painful scenes. They would make me fall unconscious. In 1953 I was admitted into a hospital for an operation. The date of the operation was fixed: it was to be two days after my admission. The fear of the impending operation made me pale and almost faint. In the meantime I had a glimpse into the operation room where another patient was being operated on. No sooner did I look in than I fell unconscious. The doctor advised me not to move towards the operation room. I failed to understand how I would be able to bear the operation. To add to my distress, I saw that all the cases, similar to mine, were coming out of the operation room almost half-dead.

The next day I was to be operated on. I sat down just at 8 p.m. in the hospital cabin and began to read Prayers and Meditations of the Mother. I not only felt but saw clearly that streams of peace, just like a downward flow of cold water, were entering into my head and inundating my whole body. Within four or five minutes all my fears and agonies disappeared and I became careless and fearless as if nothing were going to happen.

The following day, peacefully and gladly I entered the operation room at the appointed hour and lay waiting on the operation board for two and a half hours but laughing and delivering a lecture on “what Sri Aurobindo’s Ashram is” and “Who is the Mother?” etc. etc. To the great astonishment of all, I asked the civil surgeon to operate deeply and radically. Another patient, who was to be operated on after me, was weeping at the gate of the operation room. I explained to him how fearless I felt. Rather I was speaking as in a conference. Such extraordinary happenings moved the civil surgeon and turned him into a devotee of the Mother.