HOW SRI RAMANA COPES WITH THE WISH TO BRING THE DEAD SON BACK

[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.

 

HOW SRI RAMANA COPES WITH THE WISH TO BRING THE DEAD SON BACK

 

P.V. Sastri, an Andhra lawyer, came to Sri Ramana in 1945 in the

aftermath of death of his 23-year-old married son.

 

The event was so terrible and caused such grief that I thought I

would not survive it. I neglected practically all my worldly duties

for some time.Later, I got somehow attracted to Sri Ramanasramam and

went there with my whole family. Having read about Sri Krishna's

bringing His guru Sandipani's son back to life, we were so mad as to

think to get our son restored to life by the grace of Bhagavan Sri

Ramana.

We reached Tiruvannamalai and entered the hall where Bhagavan

used to sit. Our one idea was to beseech him to bring our son back to

life; but despite our intense desire we found that we could not open

our mouths to speak. We simply sat silent till Bhagavan rose for

dinner and everyone went out. Then we too went back to the place

where we stayed. We went to the hall again in the afternoon with the

same purpose but with the same result.

In this way, we went to the hall each morning and afternoon

continuouly for seven days to implore Bhagavan to bring our son back

to life but we could not utter a word in his presence. On the eighth

day we talked it over together after coming out of the hall and

decided that it was no use staying any longer since our purpose had

not been fulfilled, and we decided to leave next morning.

At this time, a gentleman Subbarao met us. He was formerly a pleader

at Nellore and had come to Tiruvannamalai and settled down as one of

the resident devotees. We became friends perhaps because I also was

a pleader. He asked me what we were talking about, and I told him

the whole story. I admitted that we felt peace in Bhagavan's

presence, but the moment we left the hall our grief bursts out again

like a volcanic eruption; and yet, we were unable to speak out and

put our desire before Bhagavan.

Subbarao promised to take us to Bhagavan next day and

introduce us to him. We agreed. The next day, on being introduced,

we told Bhagavan about our grief and in a general way asked for his

help. Bhagavan nodded his head and said, Seri, Seri (All right, all

right), but we still found ourselves unable to talk any more, still

less to tell him what it was that we really wanted. Again, we felt

constrained to sit there speechless. That evening we decided to

leave, since even the intervention of Subbarao had not helped us.

But Sri Ramana would not let us go. A thought occurred to me that I

should buy some books published by the Ashram. When I went to the

bookstall, the gentleman in charge was in meditation but opened his

eyes immediately and asked us to come in. On being questioned by him,

I repeated the whole story. He said that the Maharshi was capable

of bringing the boy back to life, but since the boy was a highly

religious and a devout young man he would have gone to better regions

and would not like to come back to us. I assured him that he loved

us so much and we loved him so much that he would really come back,

if it were possible. The gentlemen then put me another question.

" Suppose Bhagavan brings him back to you and then both of you

die, what will the position be then? " This question dispelled the

thick cloud of illusion that had enveloped us and at last we saw that

our attempt to get our son back was sheer madness. I felt at the

time and feel even now that it was not the bookseller talking to me,

but really Sri Bhagavan was speaking through him.

We abandoned the hope of getting our son back to life and

also our plan of leaving immediately. We stayed for about twelve more

days. The rest of our stay at the Ashram was only for the purpose of

obtaining peace. Sri Ramana's `all right' had been meant to help us

in the only way in which a realized guru will help. His grace was

bestowed on us and he began to work silently in our hearts to remove

the thick clouds of sorrow and end the volcanic outbursts of grief.

He began to instill peace and develop real knowledge in us. Silently

and slowly the grace is still working in that direction. We were

blessed with his grace and felt uplifted in the right way. (Source:

Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi – the forthcoming publication

of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad.)