when Jnana dawns

[Guest guest]

Ranganathan:

"When, after making some efforts for a job at Madras, I returned to

Bhagavan he said, "You told me you had provided for your wife and

children. Your elder brother told me they are undergoing hardship." I

did not reply, for Bhagavan knows all and is also all powerful. I

again went to Madras, and finding my efforts for a job there were in

vain, returned to Bhagavan and stayed with him for some time.

During that time, one night, when I was sleeping outside on a double

cot that was lying there, Bhagavan suddenly came and sat near my

feet. Seeing this I got up. Bhagavan asked me, "What is the matter

with you? Are you restless and not getting sleep because of your

family troubles? Would it be enough for you if you get rupees

10,000?" I kept silent.

Once when Bhagavan and I were going round the hill he said, "There are

herbs on this hill which could transmute base metals into gold." Then

also I kept silent. Bhagavan used often to joke with me and laugh

asking "Oh! Are you suffering very much?" He then told me, "When a

man sleeps he dreams he is being beaten and that he is suffering

terribly. All that would be quite real at that time. But when he

wakes up he knows it was only a dream. Similarly when Jnana dawns,

all the miseries of this world would appear to be merely a dream."

In a few days, I returned to Madurai and through a friend got a

manager's job in a motor company. Later, I was also appointed as an

agent for the sale of buses in Ramnad and Madurai by another company,

with a commission of 5 percent on all sales effected by me. From this

and in other ways I got rupees 10,000; and I spent them on the

marriages of two of my daughters and for clearing off debts.

I never used to mention my family troubles to Bhagavan, nor ask Him

for anything. He was himself looking after me and my family, so why

should I make any requests for this or that in particular? I left

everything to him. I used to tell Bhagavan frequently, "I have

entrusted my body, possessions, soul, all to Bhagavan. The entire

burden of my family is hereafter yours. I am hereafter only your

servant, doing only your behests. I am a puppet moved by your

strings." Bhagavan used to laugh and say "Oh, Oh." It never occurred

to me to ask him for any wealth. ""

(The Maharshi, No. 1 1997)