During his itinerant days, Subodhananda would sometimes sleep under a tree by the side of a road. The ground was his bed, and his arms were his pillow. He described one night’s experience while he was passing through Bihar or Uttar Pradesh: “Once on my way I slept under a banyan tree at night. After a while I had a dream. I saw an old woman telling me: ‘You get up. Because of you the snakes are unable to get out of their holes. Go forward a little, and you will find a police station. You can spend the night there.’ ‘Will they allow me to stay?’ I asked her. She said: ‘Yes, they will allow you to sleep there. When you knock at their door, they will ask, “Who are you?” Say to them, “I am a mendicant.”’ I awoke and according to the instructions of the old woman, I got shelter in the veranda of the police station. The next morning I went to check the ground under the banyan tree and found many holes. The local people told me that the place was infested with cobras.” Someone asked the swami, “Who was that woman?” After a brief silence, the swami replied, “It was the Divine Mother.”