Sri Ramana's Nirvana period in Samadhi #2

[Guest guest]

"Days and nights would pass without my being aware of their passing. I

entertained no idea of bathing or cleaning of teeth or other cleansing

activities even when I had defecated and had no baths. The face got begrimed,

the hair had become one clotted mass like wax and the nails grew long. When

anyone thought that I should have food, I would stretch a hand and something

would drop on my hand. My hands were not useful for any other purpose. I would

eat and rub my hand on my head or body and drop again into my continuous mood.

This was my condition for some years from the time of my arrival. For many years

I ate only off my hand without using any leaf plate.

 

 

 

"While at Gurumurtam, I had a fairly large number of persons calling to see me

and in a sense a reputation had been established. A number of persons wished

that I should eat what each of them had brought every day. The difficulty of

eating all was solved this way. A bit of what each of them had brought, be it

solid or liquid, sweet or salted, fruit or rice all would be taken up and mixed

into a sort of sauce and given to me as a cupful. This would be my night meal

and I would drink it not minding how this compound mixture tasted.

 

 

 

"I was very much constipated while at Gurumurtam. I would pass hard, solid,

steel like square blocks. I would just sit somewhere and after sometime try to

get up. I would raise myself from my haunches half a foot at a time and at once

feel faint and giddy and resume my old position. Sometime later I would try to

get up and raise myself a foot or so then feel the same reeling sensation and

sit down again. On one such occasion after many such failures I got up and tried

to go out and was clutching the front door. Then Palaniswami came and held me is

his embrace. I turned to him and asked him {through sign language} why he

behaved thus. He said that he noticed that I was about to fall and so he had

seized me to prevent the fall. But I was holding to the door with both my hands

outstretched and was not aware that I was about to fall. This difficulty of

getting up on account of reeling was a constant feature of my life at

Gurumurtam.

 

 

 

Narasimha Swami continues the narration thus: "As Swami continued to neglect his

comfort, and even cleanliness, he rose in popular esteem. His body was besmeared

with unwashed dirt, his hair became a clotted mass and his fingernail grew so

long and curly that his hands were not useful for any purpose. He sat for some

weeks on a floor which was always infested by ants and despite their constant

crawling and biting, he sat for hours with eyes closed, leaning against the wall

in samadhi, and left on it the imprint of his back. The visitors could not

endure for even a few minutes the ants, which he endured for hours, days and

weeks, losing his body consciousness. The Swami was therefore provided after

some time with a stool in a corner, the feet of the stool being placed in water.

But even then his leaning on the wall gave the ants their access to him. People

swarmed to see this height of self-neglect. Some said: "This Swami must be very

old", and pointed to the length of his nails as proof. Many people jumped to the

conclusion that, being so saintly, he could grant them all the boons they

desired, such as wealth, health, issue and salvation, and poured praises into

this ears and offering at his feet."

 

 

 

Fron Timeless in Time by Natarajan