LIVE THE LIFE 5

We are Mother's children and need to behave as such. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi is the Divine Mother of the universe. Of this there can be no doubt for Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda have both vouched for it. Scepticism may be one's birthright and one may reject this thesis outright but, pray, tarry awhile brother before you throw overboard Ramakrishna-Vivekananda's spiritual assertions about the identity of Holy Mother. Do read through the works of Swamiji and the life of Holy Mother, then meditate in absolute purity for a few years before you draw your conclusion. Democratically speaking, however, you are at liberty to accept or deny straightaway. My request is that you be scientific in your investigation as to her divinity before rushing to conclusion. Be it as it may, there are millions today who consider themselves to be the children of Sri Sarada Devi and feel proud to do so for what higher parenthood can one expect than that one's mother is Sarada Devi and father Sri Ramakrishna.

However, Holy Mother may not altogether be pleased with the way we, her children, conduct ourselves in our daily lives. She is not only the mother of the privileged but she is the mother of the despoiled and the destitute as well. Her heart used to go out for all during her terrestrial play and there is no reason to believe that she has since changed her compassionate attitude towards all her children, specially, the suffering ones. She has left behind us a legacy of love for humanity which we as her children ought to be the worthy recipients of. She once made this pronouncement which is her divine decree on all her children : HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT (GIVE AWAY IN CHARITY) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT (SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY). This simple commandment contains within it Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi's divine will and is binding on us, we who proudly proclaim ourselves to be her children. Let us carry out her commandment by helping the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION through abundant donations so that the monks of the Order may have adequate funds to carry out speedily the many welfare projects that are right now lying in wait owing to paucity of funds. Let us earn honestly, scrupulously adhering to national laws and let us spend on ourselves judiciously that we may save for the Mission's work. Millions are daily being pushed to destitution, a fate we can arrest if we pull in our might by contributing our mite for the Cause for which Swamiji stood in his life and for which he built the twin organizations of the RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION. Thakur was poor, so was Swamiji and his spiritual brethren, but the poorest of them all was Holy Mother who took upon herself the misery of the masses, so to say, and endured untold hardship in her terrestrial existence. Her plight continues as she keeps on mutely witnessing the myriad miseries of the masses, waiting patiently for a few heroic children of hers to bring to fruition her grand dictum: HE WHO HAS, LET HIM MEASURE OUT ( DONATE) ; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE, LET HIM CHANT ( SPREAD WAVES OF SPIRITUALITY ).

With these words I welcome you all into the grand mansion that is our common heritage, THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT.