SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI – REMINSCIENCES OF AN ARDENT DEVOTEE

[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 – REMINSCIENCES OF AN ARDENT DEVOTEE

 

The following has been abstracted from the book Sri Ramana Bhagavan

by K.R.K Murthy, B.E (Elec.), Chief Electrical Engineer, Government

of Andhra Pradesh. He writes:

 

Once in 1937, I read in a newspaper that an eminent personage was

going to Tiruvannamalai to have darshan of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I

had great respect for that gentleman and was anxious to meet him. So

I made up my mind to proceed to Tiruvannamalai as well as Maharshi.

 

I went straight to the hall and placed the packet of sugar candy,

purchased as an offering to Maharshi, on a stool near him and sat

down along with a number of people of both sexes. All people were

sitting like silent statues and the only offender in the gathering

was the clock on the wall. Physical activity in the hall was nil but

for the scented sticks, which were briskly throwing up curls of

smoke. I waited patiently for sometime but still the same silence

continued. It looked very strange and odd, as I had never seen such a

silent gathering before. I wanted to know something about Maharshi,

but whom to ask?

 

Several people were coming and prostrating before Maharshi and going

or sitting quiet in the hall. This was also an unfamiliar sight,

which left a deep impression on my mind. After a while, Maharshi rose

up and then everyone in the hall got up and prostrated. When Maharshi

left for a walk towards Arunachala hill people began to appear in

their true colours and I witnessed the usual work-day-world.

 

The punyas or merit that I earned previously bore fruit only after

Sri Janaki Matha (Wife of Dr. Ganapati Iyer, District Medical

Officer, Kurnool, where I was working as Municipal Electrical

Engineer), a highly elevated soul and a great devotee of Maharshi,

explained in a convincing way that Maharshi was Sarva daiva

swaroopa. , sarva sakti samanvita, and sarva mangala dayaka. From

that time I began to visualize Maharshi as Bhagavan. He was no more a

human being occupying a limited space but the all pervading Almighty

who could protect his devotees wherever they are. [ The write-up on

Janki Matha as recorded by her daughter Padma Sitapati, would appear

in our next issue, i.e., January, 2006.]

 

One superficial observer told me that Maharshi sits quiet without

doing anything useful to anybody and even without talking or

explaining. My very real personal experience has convinced me that

Maharshi was always lending his helpful hand actively and silently in

his own characteristic way.

 

Once, as I was entering the hall I saw Maharshi holding his left hand

forefinger with his right hand. There were several people in the hall

at that time. Some might not have noticed this and some might have

dismissed this as insignificant. But to me it is unforgettable

because the pain I was for long experiencing in my left forefinger

was permanently cured. Maharshi used to help the devotees so secretly

that no one knew anything about it except the recipient, sometimes

even the recipient of the help remained in the dark.

 

I may narrate another incident here. After an accident, I was

experiencing much pain in my elbow, which persisted for a long time

in spite of medical attention. One day I saw Bhagavan in a dream

taking meals at our house. After the meals I handed over a mug of

water to him to wash hands. He took the mug and poured some water on

my elbow before washing his hands. Next day onwards there was no pain

in the elbow. If it had been a mere dream, could it have such an

effect on the physical body?

 

On one occasion, I saw the writing of Bhagavan in Telugu. It was just

like print. I had a keen desire to preserve some letters written by

Bhagavan, but felt delicate to ask before so many people in the hall.

Just then someone in the hall said loudly that I had written in

Telugu script some Tamil songs. Bhagavan asked for my notebook and

patiently corrected the first stanza of a song. I was overjoyed.

Thus Bhagavan satisfied my desire without appearing as though he was

showing a special favour to me.

 

Bhagavan never lectured to any audience. When questions were asked he

used to reply in his own characteristic way. Sometimes the questions

were answered in monosyllables and sometimes by signs. The golden

words full of significance used to ring in the ears and were

treasured in the memory. Not only that, the person concerned could

not help broadcasting the same at the earliest opportunity.

 

Once, arrangements were made for feeding the poor in the Ashram.

People were rushing into the place set apart for dining. Then someone

in authority told loudly that sadhus should keep out. When food was

to be served, it was found that Bhagavan was not present. People

rushed in all directions and found Bhagavan sitting under a tree.

When requested to join the devotees, Bhagavan said, " You never wanted

sadhus to remain there. Being a sadhu I left the place. " Bhagavan

identified himself with the lowest. He used to rectify the wrong not

by showing anger but by self-denial or self-punishment.

 

The Ashram was developing a garden. Some inmates had put forth their

best efforts to secure plants and nurse them. One day, some Ashram

cows entered the garden and grazed off the inviting plants. The

inmates were very unhappy. The event created much stir and reached

Bhagavan's ears, who smiled and said, " Why should cows be blamed? Do

they know that they were not to graze in certain places? If the

garden is properly fenced, the cows will not get in. Bhagavan saw the

other side of things, which the normal people fail to see.

 

Many people used to address Ganapati Muni as nayana, i.e.,father.

Bhagavan also began to address him the same way. The Muni protested

saying that Bhagavan, who was his guru, should not call him like

that. Bhagavan's reply was, " Nayana is a term of endearment, which is

applied by the father to his own children. " This other meaning of the

word did not strike any one till Bhagavan himself had explained. "

 

Bhagavan used to occupy a sofa and many people thought it be a

luxurious seat. Someone even remarked why should a sannyasi require

such a seat, forgetting that Maharshi was accustomed to the roughest

and hardest possible seats throughout his life, and only much later

the sofa was imposed upon him. One day, Bhagavan was giving

instructions to an attendant about binding the books. To show

personally how to do the job, he sat down on the floor and remarked

that it was very pleasant to sit on the ground. It may be noted that

a high seat was necessary for Bhagavan for enabling a large number of

devotees to have darshan simultaneously. Though the sofa was for the

convenience of the devotees, ordinary people thought it was a nice

seat.

 

[The story of how Sri Ramana was reluctant to have the sofa has been

recorded by David Godman. He says: Sometime in 1928-29, one

Rangaswami Gounder brought a sofa and requested Bhagavan to occupy

it. When Bhagavan refused, he started crying. And for three

successive days he was crying in the hall, begging Bhagavan to accept

the gift. Finally, on the night of the third day, Bhagavan got off

the bench, on which he had been sitting till then, and went to occupy

the sofa. Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p.40.]

 

With a view to recording Bhagavan's voice, some devotees referred to

the sound recording machines. Seeing that Bhagavan was favourably

disposed towards them, they wanted to pursue the matter further and

fix a date for recording the voice. At that moment Bhagavan said, " My

real voice is silence. How can you record the same? And he narrated

the story of Tattvaraya, whose guru by his dynamic silence, stilled

the minds of several people for days together.

 

[ The story as told by Sri Ramana is:Tattvaraya who composed a

bharani (A kind of poetic composition in Tamil) in honour of his

guru, invited an assembly of learned men to hear him. The pandits

raised the objection that a bharani could be sung only in honour of a

warrior who had killed a thousand elephants and certainly not in

honour of a mere ascetic. Then the poet said, " Let us all go to my

guru and settle the matter in his presence. " They went to the guru

and the poet reported the pandits' objection. The guru sat salient

and so did all others. Thus days passed, with no thought occurring

to any of them. At the end of the long, silent session the guru made

a slight movement of his mind and the assembly declared with one

voice: " Vanquishing a thousand elephants is nothing before this

man's power to quell the rutting elephants of our egos. " And they

called upon Tattvaraya to proceed to read his bharani.]

 

(The book was published by the author from 1-8-7/13, Sarvodaya

Colony, Chikkadapalli, Hyderabad-20.)