Kamalaben was born in Jadeshwar, Gujarat, on 11 February 1915. Her
father was Kashibhai and her mother was Raiba. She had two brothers,
Maheshbhai and Jagadishbhai, and one sister, Yashodaben, who got married to
Sardar Vallabhai Patel's son. Kamalben was the youngest. They all
came to Pondicherry and stayed for a few years; then all of them went back
except Kamalaben and Kashibhai who stayed on in the Ashram. According to
Champaklal, Sri Aurobindo once said, "Kashibhai wants to go to heaven with the
members of his family."
Kamalaben lost her mother when she was one year old. Her grandmother
wanted to bring her up, but she was very dear to her father, who took her to
Kansia with him and looked after her with the utmost care, almost like a mother,
up to the age of seven. Then he left her in the care of her
grandmother and grandfather and went to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, leaving her
behind in tears. At the age of nine she got permission to come to the
Ashram but her uncle Haribhai did not allow her to go there. Later at the
age of twelve Kashibhai called her to Pondicherry. She came to the Ashram
with four persons - Maheshbhai and Shantabhabhi, her elder brother and
sister-in-law, and two cousins Ramjibhai and Dayaben.
She had inherited a liking for the spiritual life from her father, who was a
devotee of Lord Krishna and had founded an Ashram at Kansia, a beautiful island
a few miles from Bharuch, where he lived a spiritual life. He took a very
keen interest in moulding the lives of his children, for whose sake he often
invited saintly persons to his Ashram. He was a very kind, helpful and
generous person, a great reformist but also a strict disciplinarian.
Champaklal had a very high respect for him, and he joined the Kansia Ashram when
he was seventeen.
Auromere Ayurvedic Imports
