The Holy Mother - Sri Sarada Devi
Sri Sarada Devi (1853-1920): If the motherly love inhabiting the hearts of all the mothers in the world were to be put together and churned, the nectar that would issue forth would perhaps approximate to Sri Sarada Devi. Sri Ramakrishna left her in this world to uphold the ideal of universal motherhood. Born of humble and pious parents at the village of Jayarambati in Bengal on the 22nd December 1853, Sri Sarada Devi grew up practically like any other village girl of those days with little schooling but plenty of work at home and in the fields.
Though united with Sri Ramakrishna in wedlock at the age of hardly six, she lived with her parents most of the time in the early years. It was only in the first part of 1872 when she was about eighteen, that she arrived at Dakshineswar and started living with her saintly husband. It was during this year that Sri Ramakrishna worshipped her as “Shodasi”, an aspect of the Divine Mother. With no trace of cupidity in heart and yet overflowing with the most tender love and concern for each other, the couple has left to the whole world, the supreme example of conjugal life. The next fourteen years of her life until the demise of Sri Ramakrishna in 1886 were a veritable saga of self-effacing service to her husband and his disciples. It was also a period of intensive training for her by her godly husband, who could well foresee her future role as a spiritual teacher in her own right.
The next phase of her life from 1886 to 1909, when a permanent abode (the Udbodhan House) was built for her at Calcutta, was rather chequered. She spent much of this time in pilgrimages and spiritual ministry. The last eleven years until her Mahasamadhi on the 21st July 1920 were more hectic. Apart from spiritual ministration to the earnest seekers, she had also to guide the activities of the Ramakrishna organizations. Her rare insight into the problems of Indian women who were handicapped by obsolescent social customs on the one side, and exposure to the modern western culture on the other, made her recognize the need for their education and even economic independence. That is why she was an ardent supporter of Sister Nivedita’s endeavours in the field of education of Indian women. Her last message, `If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others; rather find out your own fault and rectify them. No one is a stranger in this world. The whole world belongs to you!’ is a typical reflection of her own immaculate life.
Some Saying's of Holy Mother
- God is one’s very own. It is an eternal relationship.
- Ordinary human love results in misery. Love for God brings blessedness.
- One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties.
- As wind removes the cloud, so the Name of God destroys the cloud of worldliness.
- My child, you have been extremely fortunate in getting this human birth. Have intense devotion to God. One must work hard. Can one achieve anything without effort? You must devote some time for prayer even in the midst of the busiest hours of the day.
- Do the Master’s work, and along with that practise spiritual disciplines too. Work helps one to keep off idle thoughts. If one is without work, such thoughts rush into one’s mind.
- One must perform work. It is only through work that the bondage of work will be cut asunder and one will acquire a spirit of non-attachment.
- One should always discriminate and strive hard for the realization of God.
- Even water, which has a natural tendency to flow downwards, is drawn up to the sky by the sun’s rays. In the same way, God’s grace lifts up the mind which has got a tendency to run after sense objects.
- Through spiritual disciplines the ties of past karma are cut asunder. But the realization of God cannot be achieved without ecstatic love for him.
- It is idle to expect that dangers and difficulties will not come. They are bound to come. But for a devotee they will pass away under the feet like water.
- Can you call a person who is devoid of compassion a human being? He is a veritable beast.
- I tell you one thing – if you want peace, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.
- When a man sees defects in others, his own mind first gets polluted. What does he gain by finding faults in others? He only hurts himself by that.
- All teachers are one. The same power of God works through them all.
- I am your true mother, a mother not by virtue of being your guru’s wife, nor by way of empty talk, but truly the mother.
- I am the mother of the virtuous as well as the wicked.
- If my son wallows in the dust or mud, it is I who have to wipe all the dirt and take him on my lap.
- My son, if a thorn pricks your foot, it hurts me like a spear entering my heart. Never fear, and whenever you are in distress just say to yourself, “I have a mother”
Recommended for further reading
- Swami Gambhirananda, Sri Ma Sarada Devi, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
- Compilation, The Gospel of Holy Mother, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
