Thursday, September 07, 2006

Meeting The Mother changed her destiny

Homage to Smt K Padmavathy Born 6thOct 1930 – Departed 6thAug 2006

Smt K Padmavathy, was born in a village near Nidadavole, Andhra Pradesh. She was the eldest of three, with one younger sister and brother. Sri Chakka Satyanarayana her father was a well known business man and freedom fighter. He turned into a staunch Gandhian and the entire family was raised under the influence of national leaders of that era. From early childhood, she worked with her father and mother in the movement, and also suffered a great deal with the father jailed during the freedom movement.

Following Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of avoiding everything that was English, she and her sister were sent off to Madras, Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha to do their graduation and post graduation in Hindi. It was an avante-garde step to send young daughters to a far off destination for studies. She belonged to one of the early batches, where her classmates too were the children of eminent freedom fighters. She developed an intense love for the Hindi language, and was fortunate to be taught by literary giants like Dinkar. She did her masters in Hindi language and became a Hindi Teacher.

She was fortunate to work for months with Sri Vinobha Bhave during the movement, and was exposed to Brahmo-samaj and Arya Samaj thought and practices. She was married to Sri K Kurma Rao, a Sanskrit scholar who was also in the freedom movement in 1952.

In 1950 she visited Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram and met The Mother for the first time. That meeting changed her destiny and that of the entire family for ever. She became an ardent devotee of The Mother, and placed both her daughter and son at the Ashram for education from the 60’s. Though she always expressed the desire to settle down in the Ashram, her family duties prevented her to do so, and only since 1995, she settled there permanently. She spent a few delightful years, as per her wishes in Pondicherry.

Since childhood, she was of frail health suffered much with multiple problems. Still, she battled bravely all through the years, and was the pivot of the family giving strength, support and motivation to all. The all encompassing love and affection she could express to one and all effortlessly, the intensely positive spirit and outlook to life despite all the challenges she faced, and the ability to see only the positive within all were the hallmarks of her loving personality. With her caring touch, she connected with people from the heart, and she will be sorely missed by her loving students, servants, old folks, friends, family and certainly the entire neighborhood. Hopefully, her ideals will continue to inspire and guide the next generation, amongst the family and friends.

The last 15 months of her life, she suffered with cancer and that was the last challenge. She kept her cheer and never lost hope. Her deep faith and spiritual orientation kept her going. She took refuge saying The Divine Mother will decide for her. And, as the end was nearing, she displayed such equanimity and poise, as if she was readying for and awaiting the call. She desired that she must be cremated the Ashram way and only meditation should be held. She celebrated and welcomed the idea of going to The Divine Mother. She indeed is with HER. - Family members Contact us Articles Sitemap Links

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