A middle-aged disciple of Swami Nigamananda died of an incurable disease. His mother and his wife were thrown into a sea of sorrow. The mother became practically insane with grief. She said to a picture of their Master which was hanging on the wall, “Why do we have to keep you? You have no power; you are useless! I am throwing you into the pond!”

She grabbed the picture and started carrying it towards the pond. All of a sudden she heard someone behind her crying, “Mother! Mother!” with a tearful and sorrowful voice. She turned around and saw their Guru, Nigamananda, with tearful eyes saying to her, “Mother, let us go back home. Do not cry for your son anymore. I will be your son. Your son is with me, inside me and for me.”

The woman was greatly consoled and returned to her house with the picture of her Guru. At the hour that all this occurred Nigamananda was actually four hundred miles away, giving spiritual lessons to his disciples who were living at his ashram.

Commentary:

Unlike divine love and divine worship, human love and human adoration are always based on personal interest. Whenever personal interest is in the picture, the closeness of inner oneness can never be achieved. At that time the seeker finds himself divided even from his dear ones by inner walls. Attachment-world eventually has to meet with an atom-bomb-destruction.

Sri Chinmoy