Sister Maria was in a very depressed mood that evening. So without thinking of the consequences, she broke her cross by squeezing it tightly inside her right hand. Blood flowed down her fingers. As soon as she licked the blood she became temporarily invisible. Just as the Mother Superior came into the room, the invisible Maria gave her one good kick and left the convent. The whole city of Rome slowly woke up from the New Year’s celebrating as Maria began her search for happiness. The first person she met was a young nobleman’s son named Leonardo. Maria took up quickly with Leonardo and became his mistress. Leonardo promised Maria that he would marry her if she helped get his father murdered. Then they would live the life of the rich without any worries. Maria was young and trusting. So she readily agreed to do anything that would make her lover happy. All she could think of was being alone in his arms. So when no one was looking, Maria touched the broken cross and became invisible. She poured a deadly poison into the wine of Leonardo’s father. That evening while Leonardo’s father was having diner with his family, the old man gave one loud cough and fell under the table. The family ran around crying hysterically about the old man’s sudden death. But the son who would have his father killed, would have a bitter lesson to teach Maria.

Leonardo refused to marry Maria. She was not from his own social class. For him, she was no better than a common whore. So a heart broken Maria was thrown out of Leonardo’s house onto the streets. This lesson produced a bitterness in her heart against all young rich men of Rome. Now Maria in her blind rage decided to have her revenge against them. She seduced many of Rome’s richer young men into bed with her and used her power of invisibility to strangle them. After thirty-seven young men had been strangled in their beds, the nobles of Rome decided to have a secret meeting with the Pope in Vatican City. A committee of rich nobles promised huge donations to the Catholic Church if the Pope could intercede with God to catch the hidden murderer. The rich nobles believed very much in this Pope because he had led a life of absolute purity free from any taint of wealth or sex. All of Rome believed that the prayers of their Pope went instantly straight up to heaven and were always answered. Such was the mentality of the people in the year 1666. Since all of Rome was talking about the meeting of the nobles with the Pope, Maria also found out about it.

It was Sunday morning and the Pope was blessing the faithful in Saint Peter’s Square. It was a huge and enthusiastic throng of worshippers numbering over 250,000 souls. But there was one angry unbeliever in the crowd touching a hidden broken cross. She had a plan to humiliate the Pope in front of his crowd of believers. Suddenly great balls of horse dung came out of the air from nowhere. The flock of believers was astounded when the balls of horse dung hit the face of their beloved Pope. 250,000 people became silent for a time that seemed like eternity. But this Pope was no ordinary man. He did not show humiliation. Instead he took out his rosary and prayed to the holy Mary Mother of Jesus to reveal the culprit in the midst. Suddenly the sky became darker and a great wind blew violently through Saint Peter’s Square. From out of the pocket of Maria, the broken cross fell to the ground. She became clearly visible again with the traces of horse dung on her hands. As she was grabbed by the crowd, she knew that her end was near. This crime against Christ’s representative on earth could not be forgiven. All the people were convinced that Maria was a willing agent of the great eternal deceiver named Satan the evil one. So that afternoon Maria was burned at the stake to pay for all her wickedness. As the flames reached higher and higher, Maria cursed the Virgin Mary as the dark evil one who ruined her life.

For over 200 years the soul of Maria lived in a dark hell world created out of the gloom and suffering of her own mind. Slowly in that dark astral world, she was absorbing the lesson that sensual desires and wealth did not bring permanent happiness to her soul. She awoke to find herself in a new body having much darker skin than her previous body when she lived in Rome. Now the soul of Maria was living in a body with the Bengali name of Nirmala Choudhrey. The year was 1886 and the city was Calcutta. She was in a crowd watching the body of a man being burnt. But the people were not sad. There were no tears. People were screaming: victory, victory, victory, the Master has merged with the Mother. There were dozens of young men dressed in orange robes beating drums and clanging cymbals. Nirmala asked one young man dressed in orange about who was the Master and the Mother that the people were talking about. The man in orange had such fierce large hypnotic eyes that Nirmala instantly became a devotee. She listened to his thundering and yet sweet voice. Her will became his to command. But unlike in her previous Maria incarnation, this voice was one of absolute good not evil.

Swami Vivekananda told Nirmala in detail about the holy life of his Master Sri Ramakrishna who by meditation and devotion had realized God as the radiant Mother Kali. Ramakrishna had renounced the world, and that is why the spirit of God had seized his soul. Nirmala begged Swami Vivekananda to initiate her into the spiritual life so that she could follow in the footsteps of his Master Sri Ramakrishna. For a long time Swami Vivekananda’s piercing diamond eyes looked deep into the soul of Nirmala Choudhrey. Then he suddenly screamed and recoiled in horror. He saw wicked scenes of lust and murder in her past lives. Slowly he composed himself and spoke again to Nirmala. His Master Sri Ramakrishna had just attained Mahasamadhi, so he did not feel that now he could give spiritual initiation to her soul. Instead he pointed in the direction of a small room. He told her to knock on the door and follow without reserve whatever the person who opened the door would say to her. So with disappointment in her heart, she slowly walked past a temple of the black Goddess Kali and past the hands of numerous beggars sitting on the way.

There straight ahead was the door that Swami Vivekananda had told her about. So Nirmala got up all her courage and knocked twice. What lay behind this door she thought. A young lady dressed all in white opened the door. An immense burst of light flooded Nirmala’s heart. The world of suffering quickly disappeared for her all at once. This was Sarada Devi, the young widow of the great master Sri Ramakrishna. Sarada told Nirmala that she knew what Nirmala wanted and why Swami Vivekananda sent her here. Sarada told Nirmala that she would have to have nerves of steel and a heart filled with absolute renunciation and courage if she wanted to tread the spiritual path. Sarada told Nirmala to open her mouth and stick out her tongue. She took a needle and wrote a mantra on Nirmala’s tongue. Nirmala was ordered to immediately go into the jungle and repeat the mantra: Jai Ramakrishna Ma Kali Shakti continuously for twelve years. Then God in the hidden form of Sri Ramakrishna would visit her in a test of her courage. The holy hand of Sarada Devi touched Nirmala’s head and layers and layers of bad karma instantly vanished. So with fast steps and confidence, Nirmala left the city of Calcutta and entered the dark jungle to find God.

Years passed and still Nirmala did not give up. She was constant in her chanting of the mantra Jai Ramakrishna Ma Kali Shakti. She constantly remembered the life story of Master Sri Ramakrishna that Swami Vivekananda had illuminated her soul with. She could never forget the presence and mystic touch of Sarada Devi. Ten miles away from where she was meditating in the jungle, loud shots were heard. A group of white skinned men wearing red uniforms were on horses during a tiger hunt. This was the era when the British were ruling India and all the natives were treated no better than beasts. But of such things, Nirmala had long ago been detached from in her quest to find God. With her eyes closed and her heart chanting the mantra, the roar of a tiger was heard coming closer and closer. Suddenly Nirmala remembered what Sarada Devi had told her many years ago. She knew that if she broke her meditation and opened her eyes, a tiger bringing death would appear in front of her. But she strongly believed that if she continued her meditation, God’s radiant form would bless her soul within and bring liberation. So Nirmala followed the second course of action. The soul is always given the choice of which way to choose.

The tiger’s roar changed into a continuous ringing AUM sound. The lotus of her heart opened. There was the radiant form of Master Sri Ramakrishna sitting looking intensely into her soul. Then the Master’s form merged into that of Mother Kali. Nirmala felt an unending joy arising in her heart. All throughout the universe was the blissful four armed form of Mother Kali. The hand that slays became the hand that blesses. Nirmala felt absolute oneness with Mother Kali. Nirmala realized that her soul was eternal and free from birth and death. Her consciousness expanded into every corner of the fourteen worlds. There was no place where her soul was not. Mother Kali held her daughter’s hand on this tour of the universe. In Mother Kali’s embrace there was no room for sorrow or death. All existence flowed with the infinite breath of the Spirit. Then Mother Kali’s form transformed itself again into the blissful shape of the Master Sri Ramakrishna. The Master gave Nirmala a holy mission to perform. He told her to go and upraise all the fallen women sunk in the net of maya. She was to follow always the example of Sarada Devi in bringing hope and peace to the suffering masses. So Nirmala left the jungle and again knocked on the door of Sarada Devi. Sarada embraced Nirmala and was glad that Sri Ramakrishna had told her the path of realization to follow.