In 1984 we arrived in Vaitarna towards the end of the group and about fifteen or twenty of us went to sleep in the house where Mother was staying. We were sleeping in the hallway and on the floor. In the morning, Shri Mataji came out of Her room, still in Her sleeping sari.
One of the American ladies was having difficulty putting on her sari, so Shri Mataji came over and smiled and laughed and helped her to put it on, talking to her all the time. When She had finished, She stood back and realized She had put it on back to front. So She took it off and then put it on again the right way, talking and laughing. At the end She took the palloo, the end of the sari that is usually left hanging, and tucked it in round the front, as you do if you are working.
There, that’s how the soldiers wear them and you are all My soldiers,’ She said.
Elizabeth O’Gorman