Part IV

SCA 420-425. The interview with Mr. Radhakrishna Pathak, Associate Editor of a newspaper in Delhi, took place on 2 September 1996 at Aspiration-Ground.

This is Mother Kali

Sri Chinmoy: Your wife is a great devotee of Mother Kali. Does she know that I am also a devotee of Mother Kali? I am still alive because of Mother Kali. When I was a young boy, in my teens, I was a great athlete. I was brought up in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There I was decathlon champion for two consecutive years. I stood first overall in ten items. I am bragging! I was also the fastest sprinter for sixteen consecutive years. According to Indian standards I was quite good.

Now I am coming back to Mother Kali. One day we had a 400-metre race. I ran the fastest for the first 300 metres. Then I became tired and exhausted. For the last 100 metres I was about to collapse. Finally, when I completed the 400 metres, I did collapse. My soul left my body while I was lying down at the finish line. Then, while my soul was going up, whom did I see? My Mother Kali! She very forcefully grabbed my soul and put it back inside my body. That is why I am still alive. Otherwise, my soul would have left for good.

Of all the Cosmic Goddesses, Mother Kali is my dearest Mother. She is the Mother of fastest speed, and again she is the Mother of Compassion. All the divine Mothers, the divine Cosmic Goddesses, have Compassion, but Mother Kali is the fastest in everything. We can make mistakes hundreds of times. We can wallow in the pleasures of ignorance for a long, long time. But if her Grace descends, in the twinkling of an eye, all our weaknesses, shortcomings and so-called sins can be nullified, illumined or purified. This is Mother Kali. I am so happy to learn that your wife is a great devotee of Mother Kali, since I also happen to be the same.