SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI SHOWERS HIS GRACE ON A PARSEE LADY

[Guest guest]

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.

 

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI SHOWERS HIS GRACE ON A PARSEE LADY

 

Roda MacIver (nee Kamdin) hailed from Bombay. She writes:

 

 

I first heard about Bhagavan in 1940 from Mrs.Taleyarkhan, a well-

known devotee. She gave me some books and photos and told me that

Maharshi was a very great man. I could not understand the books but I

was strongly moved by the photos. I felt an urge to go and see him,

and as time passed, the urge became stronger and stronger. There was

no outer reason for this urge; my position in Bombay was good, both

financially and socially, but somehow I was not satisfied. I felt

restless, eager to break off, and anxious to move on. And I did so in

1942.

The time I arrived at the Ashram, Maharshi had gone up the

hill. I was told to wait on the footpath for his return. I was

expecting to see a man walking down the hill, but when Maharshi

finally appeared, I couldn't believe that I was watching a glorious

sunrise unfold: a distant glimmering of light that, as it approached,

became more and more radiant until the blazing sun itself was

standing next to me. I was overawed and humbled by this display of

utter magnificence. Standing in the glow of that radiant presence,

something shifted inside me, some new awareness manifested that I had

never had before. I was caught by him and his love, and in that

moment my soul became his.

During the next two years I was visiting the Ashram

constantly. One day in 1944 when I went into the hall, Bhagavan was

reading some papers. I sat down and looked at him. Suddenly he put

away the papers and turned his luminous eyes on me. I could not

stand the gaze, so I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face.

When I opened my eyes he was still looking at me. My heart flooded

with joy and an inner calmness! Later my friend Munagala

Venkataramiah [Compiler of the well-known volume Talks with Ramana

Maharshi] told me that I was very fortunate to have received

initiation from Sri Bhagavan.

Next morning, when I was in the hall somebody asked Bhagavan

what was the use of sitting before him. Does he give initiation?

Bhagavan replied that initiation can be given in three ways: `by

silence', `by look', and `by touch.' When saying, `by look', he

looked at me. Then I had no doubt that I had received initiation

from Bhagavan, my most revered Master!

After a month's stay when I returned to Bombay, there was a

complete change in my life. Worldly pleasures ceased to attract me

and I wanted to be alone as much as possible. I decided to leave

Bombay and settle down at Tiruvannamalai, but did not know where to

stay. But I knew Bhagavan was guiding me and so I did not worry

much. And it so happened that two days before leaving Bombay I met

my husband to be. [He was David MacIver who stayed in

Tiruvannamalai. Arthur Osborne, a great devotee of Sri Ramana, had

left his family with him. The last month's issue carries an article

on Osborne.] He told me to go and stay in his house in

Tiruvannamalai and so I left happily. Soon after, with Bhagavan's

blessings, we got married at Ramanasramam. Bhagavan showed visible

interest in the proceedings.

From the beginning, I had a strong desire to touch Bhagavan's

feet, but I knew this was not allowed by his attendants. I confided

this desire to Mrs.Taleyarkhan, thinking she would keep it a secret.

But in the hall, in front of everyone, she told Bhagavan, " Roda has a

strong desire to touch your feet. " I was so embarrassed. Bhagavan

said nothing at the time; but after lunch that day, he stopped near

me, said something in Tamil to a nearby devotee, and asked him to

translate it for me. The devotee said, " Bhagavan says, why should

she want to touch my feet? My feet are always on her head. " I was

overwhelmed with joy. Everyone around congratulated me on my good

fortune on getting a blessing like this. People who had been with

Bhagavan for years and years said they had never heard him make a

remark like this to anyone else.

One day I was feeling some mental agony while being seated in

front of Sri Bhagavan. He took out an unburnt charcoal from the urn

and said, " Do not burn your mind. Keep the mind as fresh and clean as

this coal. " From that time onwards I gave up worrying over any

problem.

Once, two visitors came to Bhagavan. One of them addressing

Bhagavan said, " My friend has taken as his guru a man who is not

even a sadhu. To show him what a sadguru should be, I have brought

him here. " Bhagavan replied sternly, " Who are you to say who is the

right guru for him? By what power can you make out what a man really

is? In fact, the guru is not as important as the disciple himself.

If one worships with utmost devotion, even a stone would become the

Supreme Lord. "

Once I thought what Bhagavan needed was a pretty silver box

for the nuts he kept for his birds and squirrel friends. The little

iron tin he had was old and ugly. No sooner had the thought crossed

my mind than someone brought a silver box as I had in mind and

offered it to Bhagavan. Bhagavan exclaimed, " A silver box! No.

Please take it back. What have I to do with silver boxes? " While

saying this, he looked at me as if to say, " The same would have

happened to you and to your silver box! "

Maurice Frydman, a well-known devotee, once brought a glass

of orange juice to Bhagavan, who remarked, " Is that all? It will not

be enough " , adding after a pause, " for everyone! " Frydman said that

he had brought it only for him as his health was declining. However,

Bhagavan would not even touch it. Anything, not shared by all was

like poison to him.

 

Attendant Krishnaswami would beat monkeys who played mischief

in the hall or tried to stealthily take away the fruits. Once

Bhagavan told him, " It is not the monkeys that are receiving your

beatings. It is I. The suffering is mine. " When some devotees

complained to Bhagavan about their troubles with the monkeys, he

said, " All this land was once a jungle in which the monkeys could

roam about freely. It has been their natural habitat for centuries.

We are trespassers. Is it fair to complain? Why not put up with a

little inconvenience. "

 

 

 

UNDERSTANDING THE REAL: Can a top spinning with speed do so without a

firm base, a non-moving ground on which it spins so fast? Could

picture be seen in the absence of the white screen? We ignorantly

admire the spinning top forgetting the non-moving base; we are lost

in the maze of names and shapes that come and go on the screen (the

base), blissfully forgetting the adhara, the screen, without which

the objects seen cannot have any existence. In short, we miss the

gold (the Truth, the Self) for the nama rupa, non-self. We miss the

forest for the trees. – M.C. Menon

 

This world appearance is a confusion even as the blueness of the sky

in an optical illusion. It is better not to let the mind dwell on it,

but rather ignore it. Neither freedom from sorrow nor realization of

one's real nature is possible as long as the conviction does not

arise in one that the world-appearance is unreal. The object world is

a confusion of the real with the unreal. – The Yoga Vasishta