Letters from Sri Ramanasramam 20

[Guest guest]

3rd January, 1946

 

A SQUIRREL

 

Do you know how much liberty our brother squirrel

 

has with Bhagavan? Two or three years back, there used to

 

be one very active and mischievous fellow amongst the

 

squirrels. One day it so happened that when he came for

 

food, Bhagavan was reading and otherwise occupied and so

 

delayed a bit in giving him food. That mischievous fellow

 

would not eat anything unless Bhagavan himself held it to

 

his mouth. Perhaps because of his anger at the delay he

 

abruptly bit Bhagavan's finger, but Bhagavan still did not

 

offer him food. Bhagavan was amused and said, " You are a

 

naughty creature! You have bit my finger! I will no longer

 

Letters from Sri Ramanasramam 35

 

feed you. Go away! " So saying he stopped feeding the squirrel

 

for some days.

 

Would that fellow stay quiet? No, he began begging of

 

Bhagavan for forgiveness by crawling hither and thither.

 

Bhagavan put the nuts on the window sill and on the sofa

 

and told him to help himself. But no, he wouldn't even touch

 

them. Bhagavan pretended to be indifferent and not to notice.

 

But he would crawl up to Bhagavan's legs, jump on his body,

 

climb on his shoulders and do ever so many things to attract

 

attention. Then Bhagavan told us all, " Look, this fellow is

 

begging me to forgive him his mischief in biting my finger

 

and to give up my refusal to feed him with my own hands. "

 

He pushed the squirrel away for some days saying,

 

" Naughty creature! Why did you bite my finger? I won't

 

feed you now. That is your punishment. Look, the nuts are

 

there. Eat them all. " The squirrel would not give up his

 

obstinacy either. Some days passed and Bhagavan had finally

 

to admit defeat because of his mercy towards devotees. It

 

then occurred to me that it was through pertinacity that

 

devotees attained salvation.

 

That squirrel did not stop at that. He gathered together

 

a number of his gang and began building a nest in the roof

 

of the hall exactly above the sofa. They began squeezing

 

into the beam bits of string, coconut fibre and the like.

 

Whenever there was wind, those things used to fall down; so

 

people got angry and began to drive them away. Bhagavan

 

however used to feel very grieved at the thought that there

 

was not sufficient room for the squirrels to build a nest and

 

that the people in the hall were driving them away. We have

 

only to see Bhagavan's face on such occasions to understand

 

the depth of his love and affection for such beings.

 

When I told Bhagavan that I had written to you about

 

the squirrels in my usual letter, he remarked with evident

 

Letters from Sri Ramanasramam 36

 

pleasure: " There is a big story about these squirrels. Some

 

time back they used to have a nest near the beam above me.

 

They had children and then grand children and thus the

 

members of their family grew very large. They used to play

 

about on this sofa in whatever way they liked. When I went

 

out for my usual walk, some little squirrels used to hide under

 

the pillow and when on my return, I reclined on the pillow,

 

they used to get crushed. We could not bear the sight of this,

 

and so Madhava drove the squirrels out of the nest and sealed

 

it by nailing some wooden boards over it. There are lots of

 

incidents about them if one cared to write them. "