With that desire in mind, I started spending more of my time in solitude, keeping away from the students. I devoted my leisure hours to good reading and good thinking. That routine got further confirmed as time passed. Mostly I would be at school only until the afternoon, after which I went to the Hanging Gardens. There used to be a spring. I enjoyed sitting by the spring. I would sit in the beautiful and peaceful atmosphere for hours, dipping my feet in the spring. I often spent my evenings there. Sometimes I would stroll on the wide Chowpatty beach. When I went to the Hanging Gardens, I felt as though I were entering a great university. What else is Nature if not a great university? What man learns from Nature is by no means less that what he learns within the stone and brick walls of a university. If man keeps his eyes open and if he has an eagerness to imbibe things, he can acquire tremendous knowledge, sitting on the lap of Nature. Rivers, brooks, oceans, sky and trees, flowers and the colors of dawn and dusk can give him remarkable lessons in wisdom and show him ways of changing his life. That has been my own experience.
This does not mean that I dislike school subjects. I had a special liking for school studies. However, because I had confidence in my intellectual capacity, I did not worry too much about my studies. I worked very hard at the examination time, so that I got good results. Mostly I used to be one of the first three top students. The teachers treated me nicely for that reason.
In those days, I had formed a habit of getting up in the small hours of the night and praying. Hence, as a rule, I slept alone on the terrace for which the Superintendent had granted me the permission. I would get up at about one o’clock at night and pray to God regularly. I knew of no particular method of meditation. I mostly tended to stop the breathing process because I believed that that led to the state of ‘Samadhi’. Like Ramakrishna, I had also started meditating after discarding all clothes. But how can one reach the state of ‘Samadhi’ so easily? It needs extraordinary practice. Nevertheless, I did find joy even in that state of mine.
I did not have any idea of the methodology of prayer either. All I knew was that God was the Mother of the World and I was Her child. God was present everywhere, but it had become extremely hard to realize God for want of purity and love. To attain the state of purity and love and reach God, One must pray from the depth of heart. One must open up his heart before him. I felt overwhelmed while I engaged myself in prayer. Sometimes I would be so overwhelmed with emotion that I would start rolling on the terrace or in the Chowpatty sands. Moreover, sometimes, remembering my blunders, would rub my head on the ground in remorse. Hours would pass like this in prayers. That experience of feeling love grew more intense day by day. Then I started feeling the presence of Mother in every leaf and every tree. I felt Mother was embracing me in the form of the waves of the Chowpatty sea. I felt only the presence of Mother in the sands on the shore, in flowers, in wings of butterflies, in the melodious tunes of birds. I experienced only Mother’s love. I had got into the habit of bowing to a woman on the road, thinking her to be Mother’s manifestation.
This does not mean that I dislike school subjects. I had a special liking for school studies. However, because I had confidence in my intellectual capacity, I did not worry too much about my studies. I worked very hard at the examination time, so that I got good results. Mostly I used to be one of the first three top students. The teachers treated me nicely for that reason.
In those days, I had formed a habit of getting up in the small hours of the night and praying. Hence, as a rule, I slept alone on the terrace for which the Superintendent had granted me the permission. I would get up at about one o’clock at night and pray to God regularly. I knew of no particular method of meditation. I mostly tended to stop the breathing process because I believed that that led to the state of ‘Samadhi’. Like Ramakrishna, I had also started meditating after discarding all clothes. But how can one reach the state of ‘Samadhi’ so easily? It needs extraordinary practice. Nevertheless, I did find joy even in that state of mine.
I did not have any idea of the methodology of prayer either. All I knew was that God was the Mother of the World and I was Her child. God was present everywhere, but it had become extremely hard to realize God for want of purity and love. To attain the state of purity and love and reach God, One must pray from the depth of heart. One must open up his heart before him. I felt overwhelmed while I engaged myself in prayer. Sometimes I would be so overwhelmed with emotion that I would start rolling on the terrace or in the Chowpatty sands. Moreover, sometimes, remembering my blunders, would rub my head on the ground in remorse. Hours would pass like this in prayers. That experience of feeling love grew more intense day by day. Then I started feeling the presence of Mother in every leaf and every tree. I felt Mother was embracing me in the form of the waves of the Chowpatty sea. I felt only the presence of Mother in the sands on the shore, in flowers, in wings of butterflies, in the melodious tunes of birds. I experienced only Mother’s love. I had got into the habit of bowing to a woman on the road, thinking her to be Mother’s manifestation.