SRI KUNJU SWAMI

March 5, 2005

Sri Kunju Swami

In our last issue we regretfully reported the passing of the revered disciple of Sri Bhagavan, Sri Kunju Swami. We also began translations from his Tamil book, Enadu Ninaivugal. We continue here with reminiscences from Kunju Swami's early life, translated by J. Jayaraman of Sri Ramanasramam.

The Yelappondi Kuppandi Swami then wrote out on a palm leaf the following six verses from Kaivalya Navaneeta in Malayaalam, and asked me to go home and return at the same time the following day after reading it.

1. I worship the ever-shining Pure Consciousness, which manifests as Brahma, Vishnu, or Mighty Siva, accordingly as He creates, preserves or withdraws (the universe), and also as the countless individual beings, yet remaining ever-free and perfect as the Blazing Sun over the ocean of Bliss.

2. All the ancient sages drew from the boundless ocean of milk, namely the Vedanta, and filled their pitchers (their works). I boiled them all on the fire of the Master's words, churned them with the churn of self-enquiry, and I now present this cream of Emancipation - Kaivalya Navaneeta - to all.

3. The sages say that there are four prerequisites for realization of the Truth:

(1) Viveka: discrimination between the temporary and the permanent; (2) Vairagya: indifference to the enjoyment of pleasures here or hereafter; (3) the group of six qualities and (4) Mumukshatvam: the longing for liberation.

4. & 5. The six qualities are sama, dama, uparati, titiksha, samadhana and sraddha. Of these -

sama is control of mind; dama is control of the senses; uparati is cessation of activities (relating to caste, creed, family, etc.); titiksha is control of passions, and includes endurance; samadhana is, according to the sages, the settling down of the mind to reflect on the Truth, as revealed by the scriptures and the sages; sraddha denotes faith in the Master and the scriptures. Such are the meanings of the six terms of this category.

6. No one can achieve anything in the world without being properly equipped for the task. For the same reason, only those who are equipped with these four categories of prerequisites can gain illumination. A novice cannot get it so readily. If so gained, it follows that the person has been successively purified in countless past incarnations.

I memorised these six verses even on the road towards my home. When reaching home, my father inquired about what transpired during my visit with the Swami. I related what happened, finishing with the recitation of the above six verses.

I visited the Swami every day for the next fifteen days during which time I committed one hundred verses of the Kaivalya Navaneeta to memory. My father told me the mere memorizing of the verses is useless and I should ask the Swami for the meaning also. This I did and was taught the meanings.

About this time Rangaswami Gounder of Pollaachi Taluk came to see the Swami. Seeing me there he made inquiries and with my father's permission took me and the Swami to his home. At his home in Puduppaalayam the study of the Yoga Vasishta in Tamil verse began. The text abounded with stories of multifarious samadhi experiences, of which I had not the least inkling. So I asked the Swami in private if such study of the scripture is enough to gain these samadhi experiences, or is there something more to be done. Swamiji replied that mere study was not enough and then taught me certain spiritual practices, which he advised me to perform diligently. Accordingly, I supplemented the Vedantic study with the practices.

When I found that no special experiences were coming my way I again approached the Swami. He told me that I should continue in silence, with greater intensity, and then these experiences would occur. After some months passed in Puduppaalayam, I felt I could return home and continue the practices. So, with the Swami's permission I returned home, practiced hard, but still had no results. Not only that, but my earlier state of peace seemed gone and since no new experiences were coming, I felt distraught. This unsettled condition continued for the next two years.

Meanwhile, the Swami went on a pilgrimage to some places throughout Tamil Nadu. When he returned with the Puduppaalayam Gounder and some other wealthy patrons, he announced that he would enter Jeeva Samadhi (conscious death) on a certain day two years hence, and that all these VIP's with him had gathered to handle the arrangements.

At a designated samadhi spot, three miles from our village, work began in earnest on a cavernous construction. Swamiji spoke to my father and got me to help him. He began introducing me to all and sundry as his principle disciple and the successor to head his Ashrama. All this pomp and arrangements repulsed me. My mind was in great turmoil. One day I laid bare before the Swami all my disappointments and apprehensions, adding, "Alas, I have been singularly deprived of any spiritual experiences. Are there not any living saints or Maharshis like those we read about in the scriptures ?"

Immediately came the Swami's reply: "Yes. Why not? There is a great soul known as Ramana Maharshi living in Tiruvannamalai. He shines with the splendorous experience of Jnana, which he gained as a mere boy of sixteen. I too have had his darshan."

On hearing this, my mind stood still, stunned, as if an electric shock had struck me. I was plunged into a hitherto inexperienced ecstasy. Right then I decided I must go to Tiruvannamalai and asked the Swami for his permission. He exploded with anger: "I am to enter Jeeva Samadhi in just six months and you must supervise all the arrangements. How can you go! You may go wherever you please after my samadhi." I felt helpless at his reply.

A week later Ramakrishnan, my friend from the neighboring village, came to see me. He was one year elder to me and, as I seemed to be shaping up to be a sadhu, he had affection and respect for me. In fact, he too wished for such a life, though he came from a wealthy family, who were at that time planning his marriage. Detesting his state of affairs, he asked me for some suggestions. I told him that there seems to be a great saint named Ramana Maharshi living in Tiruvannamalai and that he should go immediately to his Ashrama, adding that I was also anxious to go there but because the Swami has forbidden me, I must wait six months until his Jeeva Samadhi. "Please leave for there now, write to me about the Maharshi's instructions, and I will join you in six months," I told him.

I put him on the train that very day. Two days later his relatives came to me saying, "Where has he gone? Surely you are the one behind all this."

I replied, "I didn't send him away. He simply asked me for the way to Tiruvannamalai and I told him." A week later I received a letter from Ramakrishnan, along with a photo of Ramana Maharshi. The moment I set my eyes on the holy form of Sri Bhagavan I was filled with ineffable joy and peace.

The day of Swamiji's Jeeva Samadhi drew near. The crowds began to swell as the news spread throughout the land. With three days left the Swami began taking only milk. On the scheduled day police were called in to manage the large, unruly crowd of spectators. At 3 p.m. He descended into the samadhi cavern. Only family members and his chief disciple, that is myself, were allowed to be near him. He told us that his head would sway for a while, and when it stopped we should immediately close the cave with the large stone slab.

Well, we all waited. A half an hour went by; an hour went by; things did not go as planned. The Swami, with much agitation, fled the cave, merged into the vast crowd and vanished from sight. The crowd resorted to some heckling and abuse, then finally dispersed. Along with a few others I went in search of him and discovered him under a tree in a nearby grove. He was quite distressed and nervous. Devoid of any intention of defrauding the public, he had genuinely felt that he was ready for Jeeva Samadhi. He had first deluded himself and then others.

He asked us to return to our homes and left the area the next day. He also advised me to continue with the daily study of Vedanta and the spiritual practices. I returned home and my parents where overjoyed to see me. I stayed only two days, as my mind was already in Tiruvannamalai.

(to be continued

FROM

THE MAHARSHI

1-2/1993

Celebrate 's 10th Birthday! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web