It was the day after the programme in Graz in 1986 and Shri Mataji was leaving our ashram for Munich. As often, everything was late (according to our schedule), and when lunch for Shri Mataji was ready we actually had to leave. She suggested She would eat in the car and asked to sit in front. We quickly rearranged the car and Shri Mataji took Her seat with two ladies sitting in the back serving Her, while I was driving. Shri Mataji made all this seem very normal and while She was eating from Her plate on Her knees She playfully engaged me in a very demanding conversation. I don’t remember the exact topic, but it was about e ‘big things of the universe’, and She asked me lots of questions.
All this was while I was driving through the streets of Graz towards the small airport, a trip of about twenty minutes. We started very late, but Shri Mataji did not leave me any chance to think about that, as She kept the conversation going. Just to be sure, I had practiced the route to the airport prior to Mother’s arrival in Graz, remembering the traffic lights and turns. Graz is not a big city and it was fairly easy to reach the airport from the ashram.
At some point of our trip Shri Mataji looked directly at me and asked me another question, when I realised that I had lost my way. I quickly looked left and right and truly had no idea where we were, I had never before been in this neighbourhood! How was that possible? I made a few attempts to turn left or right to get back on the route, but did not recognize anything familiar around me.
‘I think you should turn left here,’ Shri Mataji said, almost casually, just when I started to feel a sense of panic rising within me. I did as She asked, and saw the airport right in front of us. We had arrived from the opposite direction and how we got there certainly She alone knew.
Herbert Reininger
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