Part III — 1963

1 January

Sumantra's mother came with Munnu's little sister and said: " Bonne année" to Nolini-da. Nolini-da was extremely pleased with the child's French pronunciation. Himangshu Niyogi touched Nolini-da's feet and made his most respectful pranam. The poet Sundaram came with a Gujarati lady and offered something to Nolini-da. Dinesh came and made his pranam to Nolini-da. Rajen-da came with some beautiful flowers, which Nolini-da asked me to take upstairs.

Udar came with Lilu and gave twenty-five copies of the new diary to Amrita-da. Amrita-da said: "Udar, please don't cover Lilu. I want to appreciate her sari. She looks so beautiful today."

Udar moved aside saying: "Look, Amrita-da, look and appreciate Lilu's beauty."

In the afternoon Sisir-da came and said: "Nolini-da, please give me ten New Year's calendars."

Nolini-da said: "Ten! Sisir, I can't give you ten."

"But I need them."

"Then tell me the names of the people you need them for."

Sisir-da started giving the names. When he mentioned Sisir Ghose of Shantiniketan I said: "He is in Missouri in America."

Sisir-da said: "That I know. He will be back in March. On his return he will definitely expect one from me." He then mentioned a few more names.

Nolini-da said: "Enough enough, and handed ten calendars to Sisir-da with a smile.

Then Sisir-da said: "Please give me ten copies of the New Year's message which you have translated into Bengali. I wish to send them to some of my acquaintances in Calcutta."

"What will they do with that?"

"Why? I am sure they will appreciate God's Hour."

Nolini-da said: "Do you think that outsiders believe in what we say and do here? Sometimes it seems to me they don't believe in our spiritual activities at all."

From:Sri Chinmoy,A service-flame and a service-sun, Agni Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sf