Motherly Love

The most amazing cook
When I was picked up from school I would often go with mum to Ashley Gardens, a block of flats where Mother was living then. I always loved going to Mother’s house because Mother is the most amazing cook and to this day I remember the taste of Her dal and the smell of Her dal. There is something absolutely magical about the food that Mother cooks. However simple it may be, just rice and dal, it is out of this world. She was so caring and so loving and She would always make sure I had food and She would always make sure I was happy and content and, by this time, I was six.
Auriol W.

She asked for it and ate it
Someone was cooking pizza for everyone when Mother was at Crosscraig. I wanted to make one for Mother so my mother gave me a little piece of dough and I made a small pizza. It went into the oven with all the other bigger pizzas but because it was so small when the other pizzas came out mine was burnt. I still wanted to give it to Mother but my mother said it was too burnt. Nevertheless, I must have taken it to Mother or somehow She heard about it but anyway She asked for it and ate it, and said it had good vibrations, because of the love with which it was made.
Auriol W. 

They lasted so much longer
When Mother was living at Ashley Gardens, before I got there I stopped at a local flower shop and I saw some really beautiful blue flowers: orchids and they looked really wonderful. I thought, I’ll get those for Shri Mataji, they look really really nice. So I got them and gave them to Her, and She said to the servant ‘Put them in the bathroom’.
I felt really disappointed about the fact that they were put in there but I came back there two weeks later and the flowers were still there, looking as fresh as if I had just given them to Her.
Douglas F.

The perfect Lakshmi
Mother had gone to the States to do some public programmemes in New York and possibly elsewhere. However, Sir C.P. had some extremely important guests — heads of state or people of that magnitude — and he asked Mother to come home from New York to arrange a dinner. At this time, Mother was still living at Her beautiful flat, Ashley Gardens, Victoria. But She immediately cancelled the New York programmes and flew home on the next plane in time to prepare the reception and dinner for the guests. Mother duly cooked for Her husband and the dignitaries — the perfect Lakshmi — and returned to the States a day or so later to complete Her tour.
Anonymous English Sahaja Yogi

Greet me as you would greet your mother
My second visit to Ashley Gardens was with two friends, one who was completely new to everything and had with her her six month old son. The other, who had attended one programmeme a few months earlier, was having emotional problems because she was breaking up with her partner.
When Shri Mataji entered the sitting room to meet us, the friend, who was completely new, moved towards Shri Mataji and said, ‘I don’t know how to greet you.’
‘Greet Me as you would greet your mother.’
So my friend threw her arms around Shri Mataji and gave Her a big hug, which, of course, Shri Mataji returned.

Shri Mataji began bandhanning the little baby and put a lot of attention, saying, ‘I’m giving him so many bandhans because in these terrible times the born-realized are under so much attack.’
To the other friend, Shri Mataji exhibited Her powers of understanding everything, for She outlined the situation the girl was in without her or any of us having opened our mouths. Her Holiness went into accurate detail, which could not be explained except that Mother knows everything. She explained with great care what this girl should do to ease her emotional pain and how to save the relationship, all said, in such a gracious, easy, humble, grandmotherly way, which belied the power She was exhibiting and kept us at our ease.
Marylin L.

Bubbling with Joy
At the time, 1978, I already had my Realization, but I didn’t know really what it was. I had with me pictures of Shri Mataji, but at the time there was nothing written, no material, no explanation, no raising kundalini, no bandhan, no meditation, no Self Realization exercise, so I just had Shri Mataji’s pictures with me and nothing else.

So we were going to London with a lot of expectation and a lot of enthusiasm and we didn’t realize the luck we had and the privilege we had when Shri Mataji received us in Her flat, which was in Ashley Gardens. We entered the house and everything was so soft and so sweet and so full of love and we waited for a while in Mother’s living room. Shri Mataji came in, with a big, big smile when She saw all of us. Then we sat down and She started to talk. She was looking at my brother, Arneau, and She was just laughing and smiling.

‘He’s great. He’s really great,’ She said. There were some channa and I had never seen channa before in my life. I was so attracted to that.
‘Take, take, take,’ said Shri Mataji. Then She said, ‘No, take some more. Take some more.’ I didn’t know at the time that it was so good for the Nabhi, but I was felt it was so fulfilling and doing something within us. Mother looked after us with such love and such a care.

At that moment, incredibly, it started snowing. It never snows at that time of year in London, as it was already April. So we stayed quite a long while in Mother’s house and we were just absolutely overwhelmed by love and joy, like a smooth atmosphere. When we left, our hearts were just bubbling with joy and we didn’t know how to express it.
Marie-Laure C.