When her devotees protested against the many personal services she rendered them, Mother silenced them. "What, after all, have I done for you? Am I not your mother? Is it not the privilege of a mother to serve her child in every way -- even to clean the dirt with her own hand?" A Mother's Assurance
"Suppose one of my children has smeared himself with dirt. It is I, and no one else, who shall have to wash him clean and take him in my arms.
To make mistakes is man's very nature; but few of those who criticize know how to correct them."
"Now that you are with your mother, what's the need of so much Japa (repetition of the Holy Name) and meditation? I, indeed, am doing everything for you. Now eat and live merrily, free from care."
"I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous. Never fear. Whenever you are in distress, say to yourself, 'I have a mother.'"
"I can never refuse anyone who addresses me as Mother."
From The Teachings of Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 1983.
