I attended my first Caxton Hall programme in the early summer of 1978. In those days, Mother held programmes every Monday near St. James Park in London. Even outside Caxton Hall and across the road there was this sensation of tranquility. There were three of us; we were late and Shri Mataji had already begun the programme. Caxton Hall seemed unusually beautiful that sunny evening and I felt like a child. There was a small lecture room with shoes, sandals and chappals piled up outside. Inside Shri Mataji was seated on an armchair, upon a slightly raised rostrum in front of the window. She had Her left hand upon the Sahasrara of a young woman, who sat on the floor with her back towards Shri Mataji, slightly to Her left. There were two or three other young people sitting on the rostrum around Her Feet.
My first impression was of a large, confident personality, full of warmth and humour, completely different to the silent little Madonna I had expected. Her hair was loose about Her shoulders. Her arms seemed huge and powerful. I noticed Her smile. As we entered, She broke off from the talk She was giving to greet us.
‘Hello. Come, come. Are you new?’ She called out in a warm and friendly manner. A small international group of alternative-type young people were seated respectfully on rows of chairs, facing Mother, with their hands out, palms upward. Shri Mataji indicated for us to go and sit near Her on the rostrum. She told us to close our eyes and to put our hands, palms upward, out to Her. Then She asked those seated around to watch and see if our eyelids flickered. Mine did and somebody pointed it out. When She turned to me and inquired about my fluttery eyelids, I told Her that I occasionally suffered from tension, although I felt so peaceful there.
‘Oh, My poor child,’ She said, and got me to remove the giraffe-hair bracelet that I was wearing. The fluttering stopped. She told us to stop thinking. It was very easy. I felt wonderful. She turned to me a couple of times, saying to the others, ‘Look, she’s beautiful.’ I looked around me and everyone was radiant, with innocent, open faces.
Shri Mataji worked on each and everybody. She was the nucleus, calling out to every one of us whilst we worked, ‘How is she?’ or ‘Where is he catching?’ ‘Has she got it?’ We were all taking vibrations from Her, whilst we worked and meanwhile She would be personally working on someone else and often giving a talk at the same time. Sometimes She would sit someone down in front of Her.
‘How is he? Which chakra is blocked?’ Shri Mataji would ask everybody. She was creating the collective.
Marilyn Leate