Fwd: Ramana Maharshi's disciple Sampurnamma experiences in Ramanashramam

[Guest guest]

, Prasanth Jalasutram <jvrsprasanth

wrote:

 

IN 1932 I went to Tiruvannamalai with my sister and her husband Narayanan.

We found Bhagavan in a palm leaf hut built over his mother's Samadhi.

Dandapani Swami introduced me to Bhagavan saying, " This is Dr Narayanan's

wife's sister " . The days that followed were days of deep and calm happiness.

My devotion to Bhagavan took firm roots and never left me. I was able to sit

for long hours in Bhagavan's presence without any mental activity and I

would not notice the passing of time. I was not taught to meditate and

surely did not know how to stop the mind from thinking, It would happen

quite by itself, by his grace. I stayed for twenty days. When I was leaving,

Bhagavan took a copy of Who am I? and gave it to me with his own hands.

 

I came back to Ramanasramam after a period of absence and I was asked to

help in the kitchen. Bhagavan helped us in the kitchen, I soon learnt with

his guidance the Ashram way of cooking. Bhagavan's firm principle was that

health depended on food and could be set right and kept well by proper diet.

He also believed that fine grinding and careful cooking would make any food

easily digestible. So we used to spend hours in grinding and stewing.

 

He paid very close attention to proper cooking. He was always willing to

leave the hall to give advice in the kitchen. He would teach us numberless

ways of cooking grains, pulses and vegetables.He would tell us stories from

his childhood, or about his mother, her ways and how she cooked sampurnam

(sweet filling).

 

Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge. Keep your mind on him constantly. It is

His light that fills all space.

 

In the kitchen he was the master cook aiming at perfection in taste and

appearance. One would think that he liked good food and enjoyed a hearty

meal. Not at all. At dinner time he would mix up the little food he would

allow to be put on his leaf -- the sweet, the sour, and the savoury --

everything together, and gulp it down carelessly as if he had no taste in

his mouth. When we told him that it was not right to mix such nicely made up

dishes, he would say, " Enough of multiplicity, Let us have some unity " .

 

It was obvious that all the extraordinary care he gave to cooking was for

our sake. He wanted us to keep good health and to those who worked in the

kitchen, cooking became a deep spiritual experience. " You must cover your

vegetables when you cook them, " he used to say, " Then only will they keep

their flavour and be fit for food. It is the same with the mind. You must

put a lid over it and let it simmer quietly. Then only does a man become

food fit for God to eat " .

 

 

He would allow nothing to go to waste. Even a grain of rice or a mustard

seed lying on the ground would be picked up, dusted carefully, taken to the

kitchen and put in its proper tin. I asked him why he gave himself so much

trouble for a grain of rice. He said, " Yes, this is my way. I let nothing go

to waste. In these matters I am quite strict. Were I married no woman could

get on with me. She would run away " . On some other day he said, " This is the

property of my Father Arunachala. I have to preserve it and pass it on to

His children " . He would use for food things we would not even dream of as

edible. Wild plants, bitter roots and pungent leaves were turned under his

guidance into delicious dishes.

 

Once someone sent a huge load of brinjals on the occasion of his birthday

feast. We ate brinjals day after day. The stalks alone made a big heap which

was lying in a corner. I was stunned when Bhagavan asked us to cook the

stalks as a curry. Bhagavan insisted that the stalks were edible and so we

put them in a pot to boil along with dry peas. After six hours of boiling

they were as hard as ever. We wondered what to do and yet we did not dare to

disturb Bhagavan. But he always knew when he was needed and he would leave

the hall even in the middle of a discussion. As usual he did not fail us,

and appeared in the kitchen. He asked, " How is the curry getting on " ? " Is it

a curry we are cooking? We are boiling steel nails " , I exclaimed laughing.

He stirred the stalks with the ladle and went away without saying anything.Soon

after we found them quite tender. The dish was simply delicious and

everybody was asking for a second helping. Everybody except Bhagavan praised

the curry and the cook. He swallowed one mouthful like medicine and refused

a second helping. I was very disappointed, for I had taken so much trouble

to cook his stalks and he did not even taste them properly. The next day he

told somebody, " Sampurnam was distressed that I did not eat her wonderful

curry. Can she not see that everyone who eats is myself? And what does it

matter who eats the food? It is the cooking that matters, not the cook or

the eater. A thing done well, with love and devotion, is its own reward. What

happens to it later matters little, for it is out of our hands " .

 

In the evening before I left the Ashram for the town to sleep, he would ask

me what was available for cooking the next day. Then, arriving at daybreak

the next morning, I would find everything ready -- vegetables peeled and

cut, lentils soaked, spices ground, coconuts scraped. As soon as he saw me

he would give detailed instructions as to what should be cooked and how. He

would then sit in the hall awhile and return to the kitchen. He would taste

the various dishes to see if they were cooked properly and go back to the

hall.It was strange to see him so eager to cook and so unwilling to eat.

 

As a cook, Bhagavan was perfect. He would never put in too much or too

little salt or spices.

 

Once Subbalakshmiamma and myself were going round the hill early in the

morning chatting about our homes and relatives. We noticed a man following

us at a distance. We had to pass through a stretch of forest, so we stopped

to let him pass and go ahead. He too stopped. When we walked he also walked.

We were quite alarmed and started praying, " Oh Lord! Oh Arunachala! Only you

can save us " ! The man said suddenly, " Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge.

Keep your mind on him constantly. It is His light that fills all space " . We

wondered who he was. Was he sent by Bhagavan to remind us that it was not

proper to talk of worldly matters when going round the hill? Or was it

Arunachala Himself in human disguise? We looked back but there was nobody on

the path. In so many ways Bhagavan made us feel that he was always with us,

until the conviction grew and became part of our nature.

 

Bhagavan's Sayings

 

A traveller in a cart has fallen asleep. The bullocks move, stand still or

are unyoked during the journey. He does not know these events but finds

himself in a different place after he wakes up. He has been blissfully

ignorant of the occurrences on the way, but the journey has been finished.

Similarly with the Self of a person. The ever-wakeful Self is compared to

the traveller asleep in the cart. The waking state is the moving of the

bulls; samadhi is their standing still (because samadhi means

jagrat-sushupti, that is to say, the person is aware but not concerned in

the action; the bulls are yoked but do not move); sleep is the unyoking of

the bulls for there is complete stopping of activity corresponding to the

relief of the bulls from the yoke.

 

Source: RAMANA SMRTI Book

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram

 

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