The Pendant
The pendant with a rectangular locket hanging above the black looped larger one around the neck of Mother Mary Mar Maier as may be seen in the larger picture has a history.
During the first visit of 1950-51 of Faridpur Sri-Angan by Mother Mary Mae Maier, she was fascinated by the locket of the pendant, as it contained a miniature picture of Prabhu Jagadbandhu. A young brahmachari of Faridpur Sri-Angan, Sri Utpal Bandhu Brahmachari by name, was putting on the pendant at the time. As Mother Mary Mae Maier saw it, she aspired to have one like that and expressed her desire to Sri Udhdharandasji, the then Secretary of Mahanam Sampraday, staffed at Faridpur Sri-Angan. In fact, Mother Mary Mae Maier had long cherished to have a pendant like this, ever since she had received a picture of Prabhu Jagadbandhu from Sri Mahanambrata Brahmachari in Chicago at the time he was studying for his Ph.D. degree program in the University of Chicago during mid 1930’s. She also had seen Sri Mahanambrata Brahmachari putting on a similar pendant at that time and a hidden desire for a locket like this remained dormant in her mind. On seeing the locket on Sri Utpal Bandhu Brahmachari’s neck this time, her old desire came into being once again. After Sri Udhdharandasji came to know of the desire, Mother Mary Mae Maier was to leave Sri-Angan the next day for Calcutta (now called Kolkata). Sri Udhdharandasji could well realize that it was not practicable to have the pendant in such a short time. So he had no choice but to command Utpal Bandhu to give Mother Mary Mae Maier his own pendant and Utpal Bandhu happily abided.
This pendant as seen in the picture of Mother Mary Mae Maier was a part of her daily existence, being a perpetual companion, till she passed away in 1970 inside her own property, ‘The Inn’ on Mount Shasta city downtown neighborhood. This locket was not found on her neck after she had passed away. As Sri Jeff Whittier, a close friend and associate of Mother Mary Mae Maier, who has written her short Biographical Sketch and also has been writing a full-length biography about her, put it, "She took it away with her.", he meant - as she left this material world!Further about the necklace and locket:
“There is a further detail about the necklace which isn't in U.C. Chakraborti's book, which she told me herself. It is that the beads of the necklace itself were what was so important to her. A young monk was near Jagadbandhu when Jagadbandhu rose up out of a meditative state, and ripped of his own necklace, as if he was renouncing the world, his last possession. The young monk carefully picked up each bead, and re-strung the necklace with Jagadbandhu's picture attached. This is the necklace which later was willing given to her, because the young monk who now wore it believed she was the one who would further Jagadbandhu's work. The necklace was on her body when she died, and along with her other cherished necklaces given to her by Native Americans, was removed and carefully put in a closed box by Linden Carlton and Robert Williamson. It disappeared from this closed box, and I believe she took it with her.”Jeff Whittier, December 1, 2002