Bhagavan relates a story

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Day by Day with Bhagavan________19-10-45 AfternoonBhagavan related the following: "When my uncle NelliappaAiyar came to see me I was in the Mango tope (grove) nearGurumoortham. The direct and shortest route to that place fromthe Railway station lay through a place where a Swami(non-english script) was living. My uncle, meeting that Swami,and in his anxiety (because I had come away directly from myschoolboy life and so could hardly know anything about religionor spiritual truths), enquired of the above Swami whether I reallyknew anything in the path on which I had entered. The Swamitold my uncle that I knew nothing, but was sitting with eyesclosed in a firm and obstinate manner, doing some sort of hathayoga. So my uncle, who had a notion that none could knowanything of value in spiritual life without reading Vedanta sastras,had a very poor opinion of me and felt only pity for me. Later,when I was in Virupakshi Cave, one day I was explaining thefourth stanza in Dakshinamurti Stotra to a young man who usedto come to me frequently and who had requested me to explainthe Stotra. In those days I was still generally silent and peoplethought I was observing mauna. My uncle suddenly appearedon the scene and I was caught in the act of explaining the Stotra.I was taken aback and for a moment hesitated whether I shouldcontinue the talk or observe mauna. But, seeing my uncle hadalready learnt that I did not mind talking, I continued the discourse.This convinced my uncle that I knew a great deal which he thoughtI could not have known." Bhagavan added, "The Swami whoinformed my uncle first that I knew nothing had also to changehis opinion. This is how it happened. One day, returning frommy pradakshina round the hill, I entered the Easanya Mutt andthere I found this Swami. He showed the Vivekachudamani andasked me about some stanza there. When I explained it, quotingother portions from the same book and also other books, hecompletely changed his estimate of me."I may also record here, since it does not seem to havebeen recorded so far, that Bhagavan told us that when hisuncle came and had to send a written message to Bhagavanbefore he could get admittance, the poor gentleman had noink or pen and wrote his message on a piece of paper withsome twig for pen and the juice of prickly-pear fruit for ink.