Darshan Through Train Window

16 March 2000, Lucknow

It was on the train line between New Delhi and Calcutta, sometime in the middle of the night. The Rajdhani Express pulled into the station at Lucknow, and chanting rose from the platform: "Om Amriteshwaryai Namaha!" the voices called out. "Om Amriteshwaryai Namaha!" Devotees were there, yearning for at least a glimpse of their Beloved Mother and Guru, Amma, Whom they knew to be travelling that night on that train. Would they have the blessing of seeing Her? They must have been praying hard, for She emerged from Her compartment and ran to the door of the carriage. "Can you open it?" She asked Jani, one of Her American daughters who was there in the corridor. Jani tried to open the latch, but couldn't. But Mother was not to be stopped: She leaned down to the door window, and smiled lovingly at Her children there on the platform. They surged forward, reaching out to touch Her ---or, at least to touch the glass between them and Her. She pressed Her palm to the window, matching it to a son's palm pressed there on the other side. Then again, and a daughter's hand was "touched", even though through the glass.

The crowd was ecstatic, and pushed forward. Eeveryone must have this beautiful darshan! And it seems everyone did. With the kind help of the police who stepped into "line monitor" roles, pushing people forward and pulling them back, each devotee was able to come as close as possible to Amma. What love poured through that train window ---that obscure piece of glass which both joined and kept apart this loving Mother and Her eager children!

The train began to pull out of the station, and Mother returned to Her compartment. There, the window glass was a little less obscure: it was dark, and the children could not see in-but Mother could see out. She saw them moving along beside the train, calling out to Her, raising their hands over their heads in a farewell salute, touching the glass because, at least, it was Her window... What they didn't know, perhaps, was that although they couldn't see Her, Amma was right there, seeing and loving them. Amma said, "This is how the world is: I can see them, but they can't see me. The Guru sees everything and everyone, but no one really sees the Guru."