Tiru Sadhus

[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