Ramana's hug of Annamalai Swami - From the Maharshi News Letters

June 20, 2005

I got this story from the

HS website. Originally from the Maharshi Newsletters.

"Annamalai

Swami"

Annamalai Swami, a

lifelong devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi, was absorbed in his Master on

November 9, 1995. He was 89-years-old. The Swami's remarkable story was

edited by David Godman and published in 1994 by the Sri Annamalai Swami

Ashram Trust.

Annamalai Swami

came to the Maharshi in 1928 and, at the Sage's behest, undertook the

supervision in the construction of the Goshala (cow shed), Dining Hall,

Dispensary and various other projects. In the mid-1940s, Bhagavan

instructed him to leave the ashram and engage in intense sadhana. He

would then occasionally meet the Maharshi on his walks, but never again

in the fifty years that followed did he reenter Sri Ramanasramam,

preferring to live a quiet, austere life in Palakottu. His small ashram

borders the western boundary of Sri Ramanasramam and he was well known

to many devotees and visitors to Tiruvannamalai.

In the passage

below, excerpted from Living By the Words Of Bhagavan, Annamalai Swami

relates the incidents preceding his departure from Sri Ramanasramam.

My days as an

ashram worker were coming to a close, although I didn't realize it at

the time. In retrospect I can remember only one small incident which

indicated that Bhagavan knew that my time in the ashram was coming to

an end.

I was doing some

digging with a crowbar when Bhagavan came and asked me, "Did you decide

to do this work yourself or did Chinnaswami ask you to do it?"

I told him that

Chinnaswami had asked me to do it. Bhagavan was not very pleased.

"So, he has given

you work. So, he has given you work. Why is he giving you work like

this?"

A little later

Yogi Ramiah remarked to Bhagavan, "Annamalai Swami is working very

hard. His body has become very weak. You should give him some rest."

Bhagavan agreed

with him. "Yes, we have to give him some rest. We have to give freedom

to him."

A few days later I

went to Bhagavan's bathroom to help him with his morning bath. Madhava

Swami and I gave him the usual oil bath and massage.

When the bath was

over Madhava Swami asked a question: "Bhagavan, the people who take

ganja lehiyam (an ayurvedic preparation whose principal ingredient is

cannabis) experience some kind of ananda (bliss). What is the nature of

this ananda ? Is it the same ananda that the scriptures speak of?"

"Eating this ganja

is a very bad habit," replied Bhagavan. Then, laughing loudly, he came

over to me, hugged me and called out, "Ananda! Ananda! This is how

these ganja-taking people behave!"

It was not a brief

hug. Madhava Swami told me later that he held me tightly for about two

minutes. After the first few seconds I completely lost awareness of my

body and the world. Initially, there was a feeling of happiness and

bliss, but this soon gave way to a state in which there were no

feelings and no experiences. I did not lose consciousness, I just

ceased to be aware of anything that was going on around me. I remained

in this state for about fifteen minutes. When I recovered my usual

world-consciousness I was standing alone in the bathroom. Madhava Swami

and Bhagavan had long since departed for breakfast. I had not seen them

open the door and leave, nor had I heard the breakfast bell.

This experience

completely changed my life. As soon as I recovered normal consciousness

I knew that my working life at Sri Ramanasramam had come to an end. I

knew that henceforth I would be living outside the ashram and spending

most of my time in meditation. There was a rule that only those who

worked for the ashram could live there full-time. Those who wanted to

spend their time in meditation had to live somewhere else. I thus knew

that I would have to leave the ashram and fend for myself, but the

thought of losing my regular meals and my room never troubled me.

I made a belated

appearance in the dining room to eat my last breakfast. As soon as I

had finished eating I went up onto the hill to look for Bhagavan. I

found him sitting on a big rock.

"I have decided to

leave the ashram," I said. "I want to go to Palakottu to live alone and

meditate."

"Ah! Very good!

Very good! Very good!" exclaimed Bhagavan. The decision clearly had his

approval. How could it be otherwise since it was Bhagavan himself who

gave me the experience which precipitated the decision?

After getting

Bhagavan's permission I packed my possessions and locked my room. I

also locked all the other places that were in my charge. I took the

bunch of keys to Chinnaswami and told him, "I have decided to go and

live in Palakottu. Please take these keys and keep them."

Chinnaswami was,

quite naturally, very surprised. "Why are you leaving?" he asked. "You

have constructed all these buildings. You have done so much here. How

can you go after doing all this work? Where will you sleep? How will

you eat? You will have many troubles because you have no way of

supporting yourself. Don't go, stay here."

I told him that I

would not change my mind. I also tried to give him the keys but he

refused to accept them. I didn't want another argument with him so I

just handed over the keys to Subramaniam, who was also in the office,

and left.

It was an abrupt

change in my life. Within a few hours of having the experience I was

walking to Palakottu, knowing full well that I had left all of my old

working life behind me."

June 21, 2005

Dear Harsha,

Thank you so much for sharing this story about Anamalai Swami....

I went to visit him while at Ramana Ashram about 1990...urged on by

a friend. I was in dire straits...suffering immensly about a

personal dilemma. We were packed like sardines in this little room

and he walked in followed by an interpreter..

People were asking him all sorts of questions and the urge for me to

speak to him (despite my shyness) was getting stronger and stronger

and stronger. Suddenly I blurted out to him...."I am feeling a deep

peircing in my heart"....I was in tears by now and in the room you

could hear a pin drop..Suddenly he turned his gaze toward

me....looking me straight in the eyes. (It felt like an eternity

passed) Then he said to me "To whom does this appear" I responded

quickly--- "to me". A long silence. Then he said, "And,who are

You"? The words went in and in and in....then everything changed.

The pain was gone and in its place an incredible joy. The tears in

my eyes flowed even more and I fell on my knees and bowed to him. I

was totally out of control...it wasn't even me bowing...it was just

happening and I could not take my eyes off of him nor stop bowing

down to him. He smiled at me, stood up and at that point left the

room. I could not move for a long time....waves of bliss swept over

me. I finally left with my friends that had invited me and we

danced our way down the street toward Ramana Ashram.

That was my rather incredible only meeting with Anamalai Swami. I

suppose I shall never forget it.

So it was great to hear your story Harsha of that dear, dear

Sage....Anamalai Swami

Yours,

Jim

, Harsha wrote:

> I got this story from the HS website. Originally from the Maharshi

> Newsletters.

>

> "Annamalai Swami"

>

> Annamalai Swami, a lifelong devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi, was

absorbed

> in his Master on November 9, 1995. He was 89-years-old. The

Swami's

> remarkable story was edited by David Godman and published in 1994

by the

> Sri Annamalai Swami Ashram Trust.

>

> Annamalai Swami came to the Maharshi in 1928 and, at the Sage's

behest,

> undertook the supervision in the construction of the Goshala (cow

shed),

> Dining Hall, Dispensary and various other projects. In the mid-

1940s,

> Bhagavan instructed him to leave the ashram and engage in intense

> sadhana. He would then occasionally meet the Maharshi on his

walks, but

> never again in the fifty years that followed did he reenter Sri

> Ramanasramam, preferring to live a quiet, austere life in

Palakottu. His

> small ashram borders the western boundary of Sri Ramanasramam and

he was

> well known to many devotees and visitors to Tiruvannamalai.

>

> In the passage below, excerpted from Living By the Words Of

Bhagavan,

> Annamalai Swami relates the incidents preceding his departure from

Sri

> Ramanasramam.

>

> My days as an ashram worker were coming to a close, although I

didn't

> realize it at the time. In retrospect I can remember only one

small

> incident which indicated that Bhagavan knew that my time in the

ashram

> was coming to an end.

>

> I was doing some digging with a crowbar when Bhagavan came and

asked me,

> "Did you decide to do this work yourself or did Chinnaswami ask

you to

> do it?"

>

> I told him that Chinnaswami had asked me to do it. Bhagavan was

not very

> pleased.

>

> "So, he has given you work. So, he has given you work. Why is he

giving

> you work like this?"

>

> A little later Yogi Ramiah remarked to Bhagavan, "Annamalai Swami

is

> working very hard. His body has become very weak. You should give

him

> some rest."

>

> Bhagavan agreed with him. "Yes, we have to give him some rest. We

have

> to give freedom to him."

>

> A few days later I went to Bhagavan's bathroom to help him with

his

> morning bath. Madhava Swami and I gave him the usual oil bath and

massage.

>

> When the bath was over Madhava Swami asked a question: "Bhagavan,

the

> people who take ganja lehiyam (an ayurvedic preparation whose

principal

> ingredient is cannabis) experience some kind of ananda (bliss).

What is

> the nature of this ananda ? Is it the same ananda that the

scriptures

> speak of?"

>

> "Eating this ganja is a very bad habit," replied Bhagavan. Then,

> laughing loudly, he came over to me, hugged me and called

out, "Ananda!

> Ananda! This is how these ganja-taking people behave!"

>

> It was not a brief hug. Madhava Swami told me later that he held

me

> tightly for about two minutes. After the first few seconds I

completely

> lost awareness of my body and the world. Initially, there was a

feeling

> of happiness and bliss, but this soon gave way to a state in which

there

> were no feelings and no experiences. I did not lose consciousness,

I

> just ceased to be aware of anything that was going on around me. I

> remained in this state for about fifteen minutes. When I recovered

my

> usual world-consciousness I was standing alone in the bathroom.

Madhava

> Swami and Bhagavan had long since departed for breakfast. I had

not seen

> them open the door and leave, nor had I heard the breakfast bell.

>

> This experience completely changed my life. As soon as I recovered

> normal consciousness I knew that my working life at Sri

Ramanasramam had

> come to an end. I knew that henceforth I would be living outside

the

> ashram and spending most of my time in meditation. There was a

rule that

> only those who worked for the ashram could live there full-time.

Those

> who wanted to spend their time in meditation had to live somewhere

else.

> I thus knew that I would have to leave the ashram and fend for

myself,

> but the thought of losing my regular meals and my room never

troubled me.

>

> I made a belated appearance in the dining room to eat my last

breakfast.

> As soon as I had finished eating I went up onto the hill to look

for

> Bhagavan. I found him sitting on a big rock.

>

> "I have decided to leave the ashram," I said. "I want to go to

Palakottu

> to live alone and meditate."

>

> "Ah! Very good! Very good! Very good!" exclaimed Bhagavan. The

decision

> clearly had his approval. How could it be otherwise since it was

> Bhagavan himself who gave me the experience which precipitated the

decision?

>

> After getting Bhagavan's permission I packed my possessions and

locked

> my room. I also locked all the other places that were in my

charge. I

> took the bunch of keys to Chinnaswami and told him, "I have

decided to

> go and live in Palakottu. Please take these keys and keep them."

>

> Chinnaswami was, quite naturally, very surprised. "Why are you

leaving?"

> he asked. "You have constructed all these buildings. You have done

so

> much here. How can you go after doing all this work? Where will

you

> sleep? How will you eat? You will have many troubles because you

have no

> way of supporting yourself. Don't go, stay here."

>

> I told him that I would not change my mind. I also tried to give

him the

> keys but he refused to accept them. I didn't want another argument

with

> him so I just handed over the keys to Subramaniam, who was also in

the

> office, and left.

>

> It was an abrupt change in my life. Within a few hours of having

the

> experience I was walking to Palakottu, knowing full well that I

had left

> all of my old working life behind me."

>

> >

June 21, 2005

, "jimrasa" <jimrasa@n...> wrote:

>

> Dear Harsha,

> Thank you so much for sharing this story about Anamalai Swami....

>

> I went to visit him while at Ramana Ashram about 1990...urged on by

> a friend. I was in dire straits...suffering immensly about a

> personal dilemma. We were packed like sardines in this little room

> and he walked in followed by an interpreter..

> People were asking him all sorts of questions and the urge for me

to

> speak to him (despite my shyness) was getting stronger and stronger

> and stronger. Suddenly I blurted out to him...."I am feeling a

deep

> peircing in my heart"....I was in tears by now and in the room you

> could hear a pin drop..Suddenly he turned his gaze toward

> me....looking me straight in the eyes. (It felt like an eternity

> passed) Then he said to me "To whom does this appear" I responded

> quickly--- "to me". A long silence. Then he said, "And,who are

> You"? The words went in and in and in....then everything changed.

> The pain was gone and in its place an incredible joy. The tears in

> my eyes flowed even more and I fell on my knees and bowed to him. I

> was totally out of control...it wasn't even me bowing...it was just

> happening and I could not take my eyes off of him nor stop bowing

> down to him. He smiled at me, stood up and at that point left the

> room. I could not move for a long time....waves of bliss swept

over

> me. I finally left with my friends that had invited me and we

> danced our way down the street toward Ramana Ashram.

>

> That was my rather incredible only meeting with Anamalai Swami. I

> suppose I shall never forget it.

>

> So it was great to hear your story Harsha of that dear, dear

> Sage....Anamalai Swami

>

> Yours,

> Jim

>

dear jim, thank you for this. there is nothing more valuable that

direct, personal experience. your story is a treasure making the sage

a live, warm and precious presence.

thank you again

yosy

June 23, 2005