I wanted to say ‘Mother’

I met Shri Mataji in Rome in the autumn of 1981 when I was thirty years old. Gregoire and Catherine de Kalbermatten had given me realisation in early August. Catherine was busy with her baby so Gregoire and I organized programmes for Shri Mataji, who came in November. She had accepted to give four public programmes in Rome.

At last, the big day arrived. I had never met Shri Mataji and there was a group of Swiss yogis who came for these programmes. We went to the airport to greet Shri Mataji and She arrived with the Australian lady, Kay McHugh. We were waiting at Arrivals and I had a little bouquet of flowers. At first, when Shri Mataji arrived, I did not realise it was Her because She was not tall, and had a coat over Her sari and a scarf. I did not expect to see Her like that, knowing Her from the photos. Shri Mataji immediately took me in Her arms.

‘My child,’ She said. I wanted to say, ‘Mother.’ I had this word ‘Mother’ in my throat, but I could not say it because I was just overwhelmed with emotion or joy. It was an extraordinary moment to at last meet Shri Mataji, and see Her. We drove back, Mother in the front with Gregoire and I was in the back with Kay and for the first time I heard Shri Mataji in Her human form, talking and chatting.

The same evening was the first programme, so all the yogis went first to do the introduction and I was to drive Shri Mataji there after a while. I drove Her to the programme, and I was alone with Her in my little car.

While Shri Mataji gave the talk, She demonstrated raising the Kundalini on me and showed the audience how it was happening. You can imagine with what strength I felt my Kundalini going up then! It was absolutely great and to translate for Shri Mataji was certainly a great moment. After the programme, we went to eat pizza with Shri Mataji in a Roman trattoria and they sat me next to Her. So the first day I met Shri Mataji, I had this extraordinary chance of being able to drive Her, translate for Her and then eat sitting next to Her.

So it went on for the next few days. There was a lot to do, and Gregoire gave the introductory talks. I would drive Shri Mataji for shopping or whatever and then I translated for Her; it was really a great, great week.

The day after I met Shri Mataji was a Sunday and She agreed that we should do a little puja to Shri Mahalakshmi. Shri Mataji said it would be a good idea to have the puja at my home, as I was going to stay in Rome, whereas Gregoire was going to leave a few months later, and we received that phone call at my place where I was, with about ten or fifteen Swiss yogis staying. We rushed to prepare the house: we put clean sheets on the bed and a set of clean red towels, but nothing was new and nothing was only for Shri Mataji.

She came and said She needed to have a bath before the puja, so we prepared the bathroom. It was all so exciting, and we arranged my lounge for a puja. There was a marvellous puja and She asked me to come and wash Her Feet. I had never washed Her Feet and at that time there were no videos of Shri Mataji, and I had no idea of how I was supposed to do it, so I started rubbing them.

‘Ruth, I have just had a bath,’ She told me. ‘My Feet are not dirty. You don’t need to clean them.’

You can imagine how embarrassed I felt, but it was beautiful anyway. That week was extremely intensive and was an amazing time for me, as I was so new in Sahaja Yoga.

            Ruth Eleanore