T

[Guest guest]

Friends,

 

When visiting Tiruvannamalai in 2003, monks from our ashram had the

opportunity to visit a number of sadhus in the vicinity. One was Swami

Ramanananda, who lives on the west side of Arunachala on the outer

pradakshina marg. Below is an excerpt from our email correspondence

with our ashram <http://www.atmajyoti.org/pl_monks_letters_2.asp> ,

retelling his stories:

 

When visiting Swami Ramanananda for today's lunch, he as usual kept

our attention with his stories. It seems that during his forty plus

years in Tiru he has made the acquaintance of many sadhus here, and due

to his knowledge of the agamas, it has fallen to him on many occasions

to perform the samadhi rites upon the passing of sadhus. He said that he

has found that the state of the sadhus sometimes becomes evident during

and in the days after their burial, casting a sort of twilight glimmer

of that attainment over his mind for a period, which then dissipates as

the subtler koshas dissipate after a number of days.

 

One such sadhu was Natanananda Swami, a close disciple of Bhagavan, a

Tamil scholar who actually worked with Ramana Maharshi in the

formulation and finalization of certain of Bhagavan's Tamil works.

He had the desire for sannyas which he took, but soon thereafter went

back to wearing white, while of course still living the life of a

sannyasi. As his end approached, Ramanananda was with him, as were a few

others, including Kunju Swami. When Ramanananda saw that he no longer

had strength to move his pillow, he knew the end (or beginning) was

near. At one point, Natanananda asked the time, which was then 3:30 a.m.

When told, he said, " Now is a good time." Ramanananda then

asked, " a good time for what?" Natanananda simply looked at

Ramanananda, and then breathed his last. Ramanananda then prepared the

body in lotus before rigor set in, and told the ashram authorities of

the passing. Anyhow, as time passed, ashram officials came to him to see

to proper shastric burial. During the ritual and for the next ten days

or so Swamiji said he experienced a very great blessing and upliftment

from Natanananda.

 

Natanananda's passing was one of several that affected him as

described above, as well as Muruganar, and a Swami called by people

"Po Swami" which means Flower Swami. He was an eccentric-seeming

sadhu, who daily did pradakshina of the hill and was sort of a

"bag-lady" type, carrying around all kinds of strange and

useless stuff. He would sometimes be seen speaking animatedly to some

tree or other as if using it as a substitute for people, or mankind in

general, reprimanding it in quite colorful language for some fault or

sin. Sometimes when Ramanananda, who knew him well, would enquire into

the nature of his tirade, he would, now showing no eccentricity at all,

simply smile and say‚ "This is not for you." He would often

cover his closely shaven face and head with vibhuti so that only the

dark circles of his eye sockets showed so that he looked like a clown.

In his daily parikramas he would gather flowers and offer them in

various temples, singing hymns of devotion, frequently with tears in his

eyes. Ramanananda provided for him in various ways during their long

acquaintance, as he continues to do for many of the sadhus in the area.

When toward the end Flower Swami was showing signs of exhaustion, and

Ramanananda suggested he take it easy, He said, "This body must

eventually drop, let it drop going round Arunachala." In the end he

succumbed to fatigue, and was taken care of by friends of Ramanananda. A

couple of days later, as he was thinking strongly of him, friends came

and informed him of Po Swami's passing. It came as somewhat of a

surprise to Swamiji when, after Po Swami's burial, such a strong

spiritual state began to affect him (which he considered as an echo of

Flower Swami's attainment), as he had not previously ascribed to him

such an advanced stature. But he said such experiences as this

overshadowing are only temporary, diminishing in time, and can only

serve as a goad to making attainment one's own.

 

Photos of Ramanananda and other Tiru sadhus can be seen at Tiru Sadhus

<http://www.atmajyoti.org/images/india_photos/tiru_sadhus/tiru_sadhus.as\

p> .

 

I hope you enjoy this.

 

Swami Tarakananda