Contact with The Mother

THE ENGINEER GRACE

The construction of the Golconde, a marvel of engineering, the only of its kind in India and standing among the rarest types of building-work, was started in 1938 with the help of Antonin Reymond, an American architect of Czech birth, a Japanese engineer named Sundaram by Sri Aurobindo, and Chandulal, an Indian engineer.

This three-storeyed building, with two wings each of nine rooms on a storey (54 large rooms in all), has a whole set of rooms for stores and dining in the basement.

During the construction work, an engineering problem arose. None of the engineers could find a solution to it. Chandulal suggested: “Why not go to the Mother and seek her advice?” The others opined that the Mother could very well remove the spiritual difficulties, but wondered how she could help in technical difficulties of engineering.

Somehow they agreed to go to her on the plea that even though she might not be able to help them out of their difficulties, she could at least give them some advice on their next move and, besides, it could well be an extra occasion to have the Mother’s company for some time.

They went upstairs to her and put their problem before her. Each one of them had sought its solution in a different way and come to a point from where he could not proceed further. The Mother asked where, in particular, each one’s obstacle lay. After she had given each a concentrated and quiet hearing, without hesitation she told them, “Why don’t you try this way?...” and she explained to them what could possibly be done.

As soon as she had told this to them, their minds started converging on a common plan, amazed how none of them had thought of that solution, which was indeed the right one.

Similarly another Ashram engineer had once a difficulty in a building work in the Playground.

A wall was in a dangerous condition. So he showed it to the Mother on the spot, and asked her what he should do. After a little concentration, she told him, “Buttress it from here and plaster it afterwards. That will be all right.”

The solution, to the utter surprise of the engineer, was correct. He could not help asking the Mother, “But how could you know this?”

“I kept quiet for a time and contacted Engineer X and got the answer from him,” she replied smiling.