On February 17, 1974, which marked exactly the third month of the passing of the Mother, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, in the course of her tour of the South, came to pay respects to the Mother’s Samadhi and, according to her own expressed wish, take her lunch in the Ashram’s Dining Room.
Her helicopter, which had taken off from Madras, touched down at Lawspet in Pondicherry at noon. Mr. K. Kamaraj had accompanied her. She was received at Lawspet by the Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, Mr. Chhedi Lal, and some other prominent figures of the town.
A fleet of cars sped towards the Ashram along roads lined on either side by enthusiastic admirers of the Prime Minister. All the cars were hooded except Mrs. Gandhi’s. Hers was open, and she stood erect in it under the scorching sun, only her sari over her head. Right and left she smiled to her people, accompanying the smile with a grateful namaskar to their love for her.
As I watched her from the roadside, my mind went back to the last visit of her celebrated father, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as he too had gone by, standing straight in his open car to the deafening cheers of the crowd. I remembered how my heart had leapt towards him, just as now it leapt to his distinguished daughter—both father and daughter true children of India, patriots first and politicians after, and both of them drawn in admiration and affection towards the Mother.
Jawaharlal Nehru receiving the guard of honour from the students of the Ashram School on 16 January 1955.
Nehru had met the Mother on each of his three visits. On one of them Mrs. Gandhi, along with Mr. Kamaraj and Mr. Lal Bahadur Sastri, had come with him and had the Mother’s darshan. Two other darshans she had in the years that followed—one of them just before her overwhelming victory at the polls and the other some time later. On the last occasion the Prime Minister of India had refused the chair offered to her in the Mother’s room and had sat down on the floor at the Mother’s feet, choosing to be just one more child of the Light and Love that had become incarnate on earth and that had adopted the India of Sri Krishna and Sri Aurobindo as her soul’s country and the centre of her world-wide work with Sri Aurobindo whom she always addressed as “Lord”.
At the Ashram gate the Prime Minister was received by Nolini Kanta Gupta, the oldest disciple of Sri Aurobindo, and by Surendra Mohan Ghose who had been Sri Aurobindo’s trusted representative for years in the political field and a close friend of Pandit Nehru as well as of Mrs. Gandhi. A few paces away, in the Ashram’s Reception Room, a small group was waiting to be introduced to the Prime Minister. After the introductions, she was led, in the company of Mr. Kamaraj and the Lt. Governor, to the Samadhi. There, taking her shoes off, she went round the Samadhi behind Nolini. Mr. Kamaraj did the same. Then she laid, among the varicoloured flowers upon the Samadhi, her own bouquet.
After this gesture to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, she left her companions and, except for her security officers, went alone with Nolini and Surendra Mohan to the Hall where stood the couch on which the Mother’s body had lain in state for two days. After some moments of silence she came into the front verandah. She was asked if she would like to freshen herself after the tiring journey. She said she would. Thereupon, Champaklal and Kumud, two of the Mother’s constant attendants, invited her to come upstairs to the first floor.
When she had finished freshening up, Champaklal and Kumud prepared to lead her downstairs again. But instead of going down she walked rapidly towards the staircase mounting up to the Mother’s room on the second floor. Reaching there before her, Champaklal threw open the door and requested her to enter. She held back and asked him to go in first. This he did and welcomed her into the room where the Mother’s sacred presence still charged the atmosphere. The Prime Minister paid her homage to the Mother’s chair and then silently descended to the ground floor.
Nolini was waiting with some presents for her: a sari, a handkerchief and a small wood-carved elephant. He said to Mrs. Gandhi, “This is a sari of Sri Aurobindo’s Birth Centenary. Mother distributed such saris to all her daughters. She always counted you as a daughter. The handkerchief is one that Mother herself has used. And here is a very nice animal. It has been made by an Ashram girl. Mother has explained its symbolism. The elephant stands for Material Success and Prosperity.” The Prime Minister thanked Nolini for the gifts and handed them to the security officers to keep.
On her way out Charupada met her near the Book-sales Room and presented her with specimens of all the Ashram products. Giving them to her men, she walked to the waiting car and started for the Ashram Dining Room. This time the car had its hood up. In the Dining Room a long table had been made ready for her and for a few guests of honour as well as for some Ashramites. Smaller tables had been set for several other people who also had been invited. Among the guests of honour was Monsieur Edgar Faure, formerly Prime Minister of France, at present President of the French National Assembly and Chairman of Unesco’s International Commission for Education. He was on a visit to Pondicherry to survey the working of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education and the Auroville schools.
The Prime Minister had previously insisted that she would do what the Ashramites did—that is, take her plate to the counter where the Dining Room workers would fill it with food. She had also wanted that no special cooking should be done for her: the food should represent the Ashram’s daily fare. Everything took place according to her wishes.
Indira Gandhi with Udar Pinto and Kireet Joshi at the Ashram Dining Room on 17 February 1974.
After the lunch which Mrs. Gandhi declared to have been “delicious”, she walked to the Dining Room gate, smiling to both sides of her and making namaskar to all. She got into her car and went to her waiting helicopter. The helicopter took off for Karikal. After delivering a speech there to a mammoth crowd she returned to Pondicherry and gave a speech at Lawspet to over a lakh of people. Mr. Kamaraj also spoke. Then both of them helicoptered to Madras.
This was the end of the historic visit of India’s Prime Minister. All of us are deeply thankful to her and will not forget her natural dignity, dynamism, graciousness and modesty.
(Courtesy: Mother India, March 1974)
*
About the Author: K. D. Sethna (25.11.1904 — 29.6.2011) was a Parsi sadhak who joined Sri Aurobindo Ashram at the age of twenty-three in December 1927. He was a noted poet, author, scholar and cultural critic whose published works include more than fifty titles. In 1930 he received the name of Amal Kiran from Sri Aurobindo. He was the editor of the monthly magazine Mother India from the time of its inception in 1949. Some of his notable books are The Secret Splendour, The Poetic Genius of Sri Aurobindo, The Adventure of the Apocalypse, The Passing of Sri Aurobindo: Its Inner Significance and Consequence, The Indian Spirit and the World’s Future, Sri Aurobindo on Shakespeare, The Vision and Work of Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo—The Poet, Altar and Flame, The Mother: Past-Present-Future, The Problem of Aryan Origin: From an Indian Point of View, Ancient India in a New Light, The Spirituality of the Future: A Search Apropos of R.C. Zaehner’s Study in Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin, Aspects of Sri Aurobindo, The Beginning of History for Israel, The Inspiration of Paradise Lost, Problems of Early Christianity, Problems of Ancient India, Our Light and Delight: Recollections of Life with the Mother, Science, Materialism, Mysticism: A Scrutiny of Scientific Thought and The Development of Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Thought and the Mother’s Contribution to it.
Mother said to Nirod da once: ” Of all the political leaders she receives 10% of my force”. But the force must have withdrawn in 1975. It was decided that Siddhartha Shankar Ray would be PM till she wins back. Sanjay Gandhi said, ” He wouldn’t leave for you. Don’t trust him. ” The rest is unpleasant history. The most unpleasant thing was the rags to riches story of Mukherjee, who did all the dirty things for her.
It is nice description
I happened to be waiting with a bouquet for Kamrajji after PM took the first one from my senior Pratik Ghose , which LG Chhedi lal snatched from my hands before Kamrajji reached me, and followed Nolinida behind the PM , sorry state of affairs.
During my first visit at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram I was staying in a small Ashram guesthouse in Nehru Street. I went to the balcony and saw the car with a lady with folded hands, intensely concentrated, the head covered… Indira Gandhi, it was surreal…
This memory came back when, recently, I went through the private archive of Shyam Sunder, Mother’s late secretary to Auroville. Among the many gems, I found his correspondence with Indira Gandhi. She had mastered the French language during her school days in Switzerland and on 29 August 1972 the Mother wrote to her, who was the Prime Minister:
“A Indira
Le Seigneur veut l’Inde grande et libre.
C’est dans une foi ardente que se trouve le salut.
En derniere analyse, c’est le Seigneur Supreme qui fait tout.
Il faut que nous soyons des instruments fideles.
Benedictions
Mere”
Translation:
“To Indira.
The Lord wishes India great and free.
In an ardent faith salvation rest.
In the last analysis, it is the Supreme Lord who does everything.
We must be faithful instruments.
Blessings
Mother”
Shyam Sunder had forwarded the request to publish Mother’s message in the journal Sri Aurobindo’s Action, of which he was he editor. On 14 September 1983 Indira Gandhi (paper heading: Prime Minister House New Delhi), accepting the publication in the journal, replied:
“…Being close to the Mother, you would be in a better position to know what she meant by a great and free India. I would say it meant that the Indian people should be more alive to their rich philosophical and cultural heritage and try to observe these high ideals in their daily life. This would strengthen us individually and help us to build a strong nation which would continue our long and ancient tradition of tolerance.
We must be firmly rooted in the soil of India but be ever ready to take and adopt anything that is good and relevant to us from elsewhere.”
Shyam Sunder clarified with the Information Adviser to the PM that his “intention was to communicate to her the idea that some day she could write a book on her reminiscences of The Mother, Anandamayi Ma, the saints and godly beings. The book could be illustrated and with an artistic get-up. …”
Indira Gandhi thanked, regretting her inability to contribute her reminiscences of the Mother for Shyam Sunder’s journal. On 29 October 1983 Shyam Sunder, thanking, replied that it will be published, and added:
“You had contact with the Mother over a span of several years. Now also you are in inner contact. I wanted to suggest that you could write your reminiscences of the Mother. And then I think that you could also write about your experiences with Ma Anandamayi, Swami Shankaracharya and other spiritual personalities. Just now you are too busy otherwise, but when you wish to do so and get any time for it, if you need any assistance in editing or printing from here, we will be glad to know about it.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely (Shyam Sunder) Editor”