It was April 1993 and we were waiting for Shri Mataji to arrive at Rome Airport. It was very, very hot and there were no fans or air conditioning. Shri Mataji’s plane was four hours late and it was so hot! Katey Headlam was in a very smart skirt and jacket, and she had put a yellow daisy, in the lapel of her jacket, but it had completely wilted.
Shri Mataji finally came through, sat down and we were all given the opportunity to offer our flowers. We gathered around Her, about thirty of us, waited on one side and then moved off to the other side after giving our flowers. When it came to my turn, there was a man in front of me who bowed down after giving his flower. Shri Mataji took Her attention from him to me with such love and looked at me like a mother who is so proud of Her child. She made me feel so good, about all the conditionings I’d been through, and all the problems that had been overcome since my realisation eight months before, everything was worthwhile, from that moment on. That one look, seemed to say, ‘Now you are coming up.’ I bowed down and had the joy of offering my flower, and I had the joy of watching other people had at those moments too.
Then it came time for Shri Mataji to go to the Rome ashram, to Her little house there. Just as we were leaving the airport, I saw Katey again and looked at the flower on her lapel. It was as if it had just been picked: fresh, yellow and as if it was a completely different flower from the wilted one earlier.
‘Look at your flower!’ I said
‘Yes, it’s Shri Mataji!’ she replied.
Madhavi Fordham
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