37. Eyesight

A good friend and a longtime devotee who is an agriculturist was waiting for me since morning outside my room, while I was engaged in a serious discussion with some Aurovillians. I had not known that my friend was waiting outside. I felt sorry and somewhat outraged that he should wait for me without informing me, as this was a meeting which would be prolonged for hours. Immediately I excused myself from the meeting and went outside to see my friend. I planned to be severe with him for not informing me and had a prepared sentence to deliver, "Why should you not come in and join the meeting?"  On seeing him, I understood why he could not come in and join as usual. He was with two other people. One of them had come requesting a blessing packet from the Ashram, as he was going for an eye operation. He was a college student and a relative of my agriculturalist friend. I promised them to secure a blessing packet and asked all of them to meet me later. I had different ideas on his proposed operation than he had.

Later my friend and the student met me at the appointed time, and I gave them the blessing packet I had secured from the Ashram in the meantime. The student was not a devotee in the full sense of the word, but had accompanied my friend, who was his cousin, several times to the Ashram, Mother's Darshan, etc. as his native village was very near Pondicherry. He often visited my agriculturist friend as part of family work. As soon as I delivered the blessing packet, both were visibly pleased and were about to leave. Perhaps they were in a hurry or some other people were waiting for them elsewhere. On my enquiry they explained that neither was the case, but they were anxious to go to the Samadhi now that they had received the blessing packet.

Knowing their mind, I persuaded them to wait and explain to me the history of the eye disorder and gently hinted that the operation might not be necessary. My hint electrified them and they lost their hurry. The boy narrated, "From my early childhood I had no sight in one eye, but no second person could discern any defect in the formation of the eye. Over the years we went to several doctors. Each time I was advised to undergo an operation. Neither my family nor I approved of the idea of operation. Thus, it was going on ever since I was a child. I had never lost the hope of having my eye cured without an operation sometime or other. With that in mind, whenever I went to another town or heard of an expert eye doctor, I would contact him. Again and again I got the reply that it should be operated upon. Now that I am in this college and the volume of study causes strain to the sight, finally my parents advised me to have the operation. They took me to Madras, had me examined by an eye surgeon, fixed a date for the operation, and made arrangements to move to Madras for ten days. That was why I requested uncle to secure a blessing packet for me. I am very happy I have gotten one. Uncle tells me a lot about Mother and the power of the blessing packet. I have heard him narrate so many events to so many people about all this, but I do not fully understand it all. I too believe in Mother and have faith that Mother will bless me to have my operation successfully and restore my sight."

As soon as he finished, I clearly saw that his faith was pure, though simple-minded. It was obvious that my hint of avoiding the operation was of great interest to him, but his faith could not match it. As his explanation showed, his faith was there in Mother that She would help the operation to be successful. So I spoke as follows: "I see you have faith, but what the doctors have told you over the years has a strong hold on your mind. As your operation is not something urgently called for, I wish that you speak to your parents to have the operation postponed by a couple of weeks and try Mother's method. I will be happy if you agree to my suggestion and your parents endorse it, unmindful of the appointment fixed and arrangements made. Mother has a place here called "School of Perfect Eyesight". It is run by a devotee who is a famous doctor. He has borrowed some ideas from a New York doctor and developed a new method of curing illnesses of the eye. He bases himself on Mother's Force more than on his method. Please go to the school and let us know what they feel about your eye condition. Let us try and see. If anything cures you, it will be Mother's Force."

They both seemed happy. I could see in their faces some ray of hope that the operation can be avoided. On their part, both agreed to try, but had to consult the elders in the family. They returned after a few days to announce that their family consented, and they proceeded to the eye school. Later in the evening when they returned, they reported that the school had given them confidence and prescribed eye exercises for thirty days. The school asked the patient to stay in Pondicherry for the first seven days and said that if he learnt the exercises well, he could go home and practice. They ended saying that the school  too emphasized that Mother's Force alone cured.

I could see that they were really satisfied, but the very routine fashion in which the twenty year old problem was handled somewhat mystified them. Fortunately, it had not shaken their faith.

My friend, who used to meet me often, was regularly reporting improvement by the treatment. After a week the boy felt a marked improvement. His confidence grew. He continued the exercises. Full eyesight was restored within one or two months.

My friend brought the boy to me when all was over. His face was full, his eyes were gleaming. After my friend finished speaking, I turned to the boy to listen to him. He looked at me with a full face and a dumb mouth. I could see his heart was too full for him to speak.