Mother

Mother of All Creation

Sarada Devi was Sri Ramakrishna's lifelong companion. Those who love him love her too and know her as Holy Mother. On leaving this world, he asked her to care for people whom he had not been able to meet, for all who might come to her for spiritual help or comfort. For he knew her motherly, all-embracing nature and wished her to play her part.

There are many stories – in fact, whole books – about her loving kindness to one and all, especially, of course, to the devotees and, yes, to her troublesome relatives as well.

Mother's heart was tender toward all living creatures. She was fond of the family cows (as most Hindus are!) and could not bear it when thoughtless people were cruel to animals. Her niece, Radhu, kept a cat. One glass of milk was given every day to the cat, who used to sleep near Holy Mother's feet. "When it misbehaves," she once said, "I threaten it with a stick, but the cat is not afraid. Once a boy who came here picked up this cat and threw it to a distance." Mother showed much sorrow in telling this. Someone complained that the cat might be stealing milk from others' houses. "Can you call it stealing?" Mother asked. "It is cats' nature; who will give them milk with love?" Once it got into a cat fight and one leg was injured. Holy Mother asked aloud how it could possibly hunt now; she asked a doctor-friend to come. He bandaged the wound, and in a few days it healed.

She kept a parrot, who hearing her being called "Ma" all the time, would call out loudly at any time, "Ma! Ma!" And after worship, she would feed the parrot with prasad fruits and sweets.

One day somebody came to her village, Jayrambati, on a small elephant. Mother gave cooked rice to the elephant and put a tilak (holy mark) on its forehead.

A man who came one day asked Holy Mother: "Are you really the mother of everybody?" and she replied "Yes!" "Of the birds and insects too?" "Yes, of them, too," she said.

I think though that she, like most wise people, may have been cautious around snakes. Raised in the village, with wells and water-pumps, Mother made her first acquaintance with a standpipe when she came to the city. Turning it on for the first time, she heard a hissing noise and ran away! Of course it was just the air coming out of a pipe not recently used.

From The Compassionate Mother
by Swami Tanmayananda