Chapter (অধ্যায়): DAKSHINESWAR DAYSPage: 36 of 89
For about thirteen years the Holy Mother
lived at Dakshineswar with short intervals now
and then when she would go to Jayrambati. At
her father s house she lived a very hard life, but
her life at Dakshineswar was even harder.
Whereas at Jayrambati she had freedom of movement
and always enjoyed fresh air, at Dakshineswar
she was cooped up in the Nahabat, a small
room not more than fifty square feet in area. The
Master himself used to say, When a free bird is
kept imprisoned in a cage its health suffers, and
he was anxious about her health. So considerate
was he that when there was nobody near the
Nahabat at noon, he would ask the Holy Mother
to visit the ladies of the locality and escort her as
far as the temple gate. She would return in the
evening when the service began in the temple
and all people would be drawn there. She was
very shy by nature, and hardly anybody could
see her though she lived at Dakshineswar for such
a long time. An officer of the temple once