SHRI M.B. REGE'S RARE LETTER ON RADHAKRISHNA AYEE Part 1

SHRI M.B. REGE'S RARE LETTER ON RADHAKRISHNA AYEE Part 1

Sri Gurudev

28, South Tukoganj,
Indore,
3rd September 1968
Dear Brother Sridhar,

Your letter of the 30th ult. reached me yesterday afternoon. I have wired you this morning, as this letter will not reach you on 4th inst., as desired by you.

Now regarding my Divine mother Radhakrishna Ayee. I shall relate some incidents which will show her worth and what the master thought of her.

You are aware that I went to Shirdi for the first time in December 1910 consequent on a vision in which I saw my Kula Devi Shanta Durga of Kareta (Goa) with Shri Maha Vishnu and my Master, and Shri Maha Vishnu said that the three were in fact one, and that Shri Sai Baba would be my saviour. You may find some more details in Sri Narasimha Swamiji's "Life of Sai Baba, Vol.III" (Ankita Devotees).

In my first visit, the master asked me to go to mother Radhakrishna whom He described as His mother and mine. My association with her and I owe my spiritual life to her – left no doubt in my mind that she was the Yoga Maya like the Yogini, who gave Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa his training in `Tantra' Mother Ramakrishna, whom the master always referred to as Ramakrishni, was to me an ideal of the Madhura Bhakti of the Gopis. All her belongings in the world were a durrie (cotton mat) a blanket, a pair of dhotis, Eknath Maharaja's Bhagwat, abhangas of Sri Thukaram and a lota. She had an idol of Lord Krishna – she called it `Chahabi' and occasional singing of Bhajans in which she would get unconscious in a deep trance.

The devotee I met at Shirdi had views of their own regarding Bhakti and each one or a group thought that His or its own way was the right one; and very often there was intolerance of other views. Mother Radhakrishna's view was that the master should, like the idols at Thirupati, Mathura or Dwaraka and Pandarpur, have good clothes, ornaments, Palki Rath, etc. Other devotees of note like Sri Dasganu Maharaj, Sri Dabolkar thought that Baba was a Fakir and ostentation was against His creed. Indeed when once velvet chhava (overcoat) was being put on Baba, one of such devotees, when Baba in his own way refused to have it put on, said `Fix some nails to fix it'. The last scandal completely alienated such persons and since the sketches of Baba were mostly written by them, a reference to the mother in them, cannot be expected.

Sri Dasganu was a great devotee; and we find in his `Kirtanas', references to the love of Gopies; but he probably thought that what was proper for Lord Sri Krishna was not so for a fakir. Being confined to the residence and company of the mother, I was a personanon-grata and was far from Dasganu Maharaj until after the Master's Mahasamadhi. He then came to Indore and stayed with me. Then with tears in his eyes he said,'Baba saheb, you were very fortunate in living with a devotee of the highest order in Madhura Bhakti. I do kirtans of Mirabai, Janabai, Kanhopatra, and gopis, and tears flow from my eyes but I could not appreciate the Madhura Bhakti of Radhakrishna Ayee in real life', and referring to mother's sad end, he said there were instance in the Puranas of birth without sexual relations.

In 1911, I thought of practicing Yoga. I invoked my Master and wanted no other Guru. Relying on the story of Ekalavya who got Shastra and Astra Vidya from a mud image of Dronacharya, I began Asana and Pranayama, sitting before the picture of my Master. I could control my breath and stop five or six beats of my heart in about a year's time. Once in 1912, talking of Yoga and control and functions of the body, the mother told me that she had succeeded by Rajayoga in stopping her monthly periods!

Mother Radhakrishna was of ordinary build, about 5 feet high, but had an iron will and the strength of a giant. She used to fetch water from a well about a furlong away in large pots, which she picked alone with her hands, when a strong man would need the help ofanother for the purpose. She once gave me a blow on my chest and said, "You are a `samsari'. Is this hollow", she then asserted that she was much stronger than me. I replied that I was only a child. She then suggested a trial of strength, and insisted on it in spite ofme. The road leading to Rahata used to be deserted in the afternoon and she said we should run with the other on the back. I told her to get on my back and I would run first. I ran about two furlongs and the mother said she was satisfied and I may stop. She then made me get on her back and ran much more than two furlongs, and asked whether she was not stronger, and when I said it was doubtless so, she asked me to get off her back. I said I was happy on the back of my mother and would not leave it. She threatened to throw me off and I replied that the world would stare if a fond mother did so. Eventually I got a promise from her that she would carry me on Her back on the spiritual path. It appears to me that this was pre- ordained by the Master, as, when we return to mother's residence, I was called by Baba and asked what we were doing. When I told him about our race and mother's promise, the Master said `She will take you on her back and so will I'. But then he directed me to give up the practice of Yoga. `Do Bhakti', He said, `nothing is more necessary. Only let your Heart, Head, and hand be in tune'. (He pointed to the head, heart, and hand, said, `let these be one')


Mother Radhakrishna hated publicity. A gentleman from Mumbai took some snap shots of her without her knowledge; but some one spoke of it as the gentleman was leaving Shirdi in a tonga. She ran after the tonga for about a mile, wrested the camera and smashed it. Tatya Koti Patil, an intimate devotee of Baba, told me of this in her presence.