to quote the Mother's own words, 'Maya laid her hands' on her, such external expressions of her inner beauty ceased altogether.
When most of her disciples saw her, she was in a declining state of health owing to age and frequent attacks of malaria. Her general appearance had by then deteriorated to a great extent. Her complexion at that time was somewhat dark, but even then there was in it a mellowness and subdued glow, lending an exquisite grace to her form. A monk who saw her at the age of forty describes her as having in her countenance the delicacy and tenderness of a maiden, as speaking only words of sympathy and compassion, as possessing an inexpressible celestial luminosity in her looks, and as conveying to one and all the impression that she was one's own mother. It was in fact a subtle grace and quiet dignity, rather than any extra-ordinary physical beauty or awe-inspiring majesty of form, that marked her out from others. But this was evident only on careful scrutiny and owing to her plain looks and unassuming manner, a superficial observer unacquainted with her could never pick her out from the company of other women. Once, while she was in Banaras, a Marwari woman came to see her. The Mother was then seated with Golap-Ma who had a rather imposing appearance. The woman took Golap-Ma to be the Holy Mother and went towards her to make prostration. She thereupon pointed out the Mother to her, but the Mother, out of a spirit of mischievous fun, directed her to Golap-Ma as the saintly woman she was seeking. Golap-Ma once more showed the Mother to her, but the Mother was