Chapter (অধ্যায়): TRIALS AND SUFFERINGSPage: 55 of 89
had been seized with spiritual longing and
impelled by that spirit wandered from place to
place; so they did not know the sufferings of the
Holy Mother, nor did it strike any of them that
there was a possibility that she might be in such
great difficulty. The Holy Mother also would not
speak of her personal hardships to anybody. Faith
in God was her only refuge and support. Once at
repeated invitations of her mother she went to
Jayrambati. Shyamasundari Devi at once found
out the abject poverty through which she was
passing, but could not extract from her the actual
condition. She tried her best to keep her daughter
at Jayrambati, but the Holy Mother would not
agree to stay. She returned to her husbands birthplace
just to wait and see how circumstances
would shape themselves for her.
Despite all her attempts to hide the real situation
the news leaked out to the outside world
that she was passing through a period of great
privation. When the devotees in Calcutta heard
about it they became alarmed and grave. After
consulting among themselves they wrote to the
Holy Mother earnestly requesting her to come to
Calcutta. But there was this difficulty. Whatever
might be her spiritual relation with the disciples
of the Master, what would the villagers think if
she went to Calcutta to stay among strangers, as
they would say? At last, at the persuasion of an