India - the Mother

January 14, 1966

(A few hours after the signature of an Indo-Pakistan agreement at Tashkent, India's prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died, officially of a heart attack.)

There was this sudden death of Shastri. To me it was obvious. Strangely enough, I was told (long ago) that they were to meet in Russia, and when I was told that, I spontaneously answered, "If he goes there, he will die." (I never knew why, but that's how it was.) ... In between, someone met Shastri about my message [of September 16, 1965] and he answered that for him it was the expression of the truth, but ... "What can I do about that? I am a small man." That's what he said. After that I kept quiet, and when I was told about the conference, I thought, "We should at least get the 'best' out of it"—I "charged" him to the full. But I "charged" him as if he were a powerful man.... That's dangerous!

But I knew the time at which they were in conference, and all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, I was woken up with a start by someone calling for help—it was him.

The next day, early morning, I was told he was dead. It didn't strike me as "news"! I said, "But of course! It goes without saying, that's how it is." And it seems (I heard all the details afterwards—long afterwards, in the course of the day), it seems the going was very tough and when the talks ended in what he considered to be a success (it was obviously the "best" (!) that could happen there), he was exultant and quite happy;⁵⁴ then he went into his room and after a few minutes, opened the door and called for a doctor, and in no time it was over. That's probably when he called. But it was decided a very long time ago.

There was nothing to be "exultant" about! They lost what little advantage they had gained during the war.

Yes (Mother shakes her head). It seems that was the best they could conceive.

I find it sad.

No, it's the continuation of the same story.⁵⁵

... For the moment, everything is in suspense.

But it [Shastri's death] was necessary. If something was to change, it was necessary.

Certainly.

Because he wasn't a bad man, of course.

Oh, no!

He was very small.

... The resistance of the forces of Falsehood has reached a climax, they are in a state of acute violence—acute.

Mother's Agenda: January 14, 1966