Ramana Maharshi's earliest Devotee Akhilandamma

[Guest guest]

Akhilandamma was born in 1871 in a small village called Desur, located

about fifty kilometres northeast of Tiruvannamalai. Following a tradition

that was still prevalent at the time, she was ‘married’ at the age of five.

Such child brides usually lived with their parents till they reached

puberty, at which point they would move to their husband’s home. However,

since Akhilandamma’s husband died when she was only seven years old, she

spent all her childhood and youth at her parents’ home. Under the social

conditions that prevailed at the time, it was not possible for her to

remarry, so when she grew up she decided to devote her life to serving

sadhus. Though she was primarily attracted to Ramana Maharshi, she also

served Seshadri Swami and Vitthoba, an eccentric saint who lived in Polur,

about thirty kilometres north of Tiruvannamalai.

 

She first saw Bhagavan in 1896 while he was residing in the Arunachaleswara

temple. On that occasion she saw the temple priest collecting the abhishekam

milk from the Amman shrine and giving it to Bhagavan. This darshan did not

make a great impression on her. It was not until 1903, when she visited Sri

Bhagavan on the hill, that she first felt his power. From 1903 onwards she

was a regular visitor. She invariably came for Bhagavan’s birthday

celebration, for the Deepam festival and for Jnanasambandhar Guru puja. She

frequently came at other times during the year. On each visit she would

bring food for Bhagavan and his devotees.

 

When she stayed in her native village with her mother, many of Bhagavan’s

devotees used to come and stay at her house. With the object of serving such

devotees, Akhilandamma and Masthan Swami (whom she introduced to Bhagavan)

established a math or centre there in 1914. Called Sri Ramanananda

Mathalayam, it was the first ‘Ramana Centre’ to be established outside

Tiruvannamalai. Many of Bhagavan’s early devotees such as Kunju Swami,

Ramaswami Pillai, Madhava Swami and Ramanatha Brahmachari were taken there

to recuperate from various illnesses they had contracted in Tiruvannamalai.

 

Kunju Swami, one of her cured patients, made this comment in the

introduction to her biography: ‘I know that for the last forty years this

lady has been engaging herself in serving food to Bhagavan Sri Ramana

Maharshi and Mahan Seshadri Swami. Even from the days when Bhagavan was

living at Skandashram, whenever any devotees there fell ill, it was her

custom to take them to the math in her village and look after them. She

would only send them back after curing their illness.’

 

There are two principal sources for information on Akhilandamma’s life: a

Tamil biography written by Sadhu Om in 1960, and a Telugu account by

Nageswara Rao. Nageswara Rao, who interviewed Akhilandamma himself,

incorporated many of Sadhu Om’s stories in his own account, but also added

incidents that Sadhu Om did not cover. The following story, from Nageswara

Rao’s account, was published in the Arunachala Ramana magazine in 1982. It

does not appear either in Sadhu Om’s account or in the ‘Power of the

Presence’ chapter on Akhilandamma:

 

Whenever Ganapati Muni saw me coming, he would exclaim with delight, ‘Oh!

Akhlkandamma has come!’

 

Emboldened by this, his favourable disposition towards me, one day I asked

Ganapati Muni in a plaintive tone, ‘I am utterly unlettered while you, I am

told, are a Master of all the Vedas and the Upanishads. What is the way for

me?’

 

The great scholar explained to me, with great respect and sweetness,

‘Akhilandamma, you are really blessed. You are feeding Bhagavan Ramana who

is the very avatar of Kumara Swami. This is a sure sign of the Lord’s

grace. Bear

it in your mind and take heart. No austerities can give fruit by themselves.

Remember this always: it is Iswara who is the dispenser of the fruit [of

karma]. Sent by that Iswara himself, Sri Ramana has come down to earth. So

what can please Iswara more than devoted service to Sri Ramana? When you

recognise this secret, your fruit will increase all the more.’

 

I have already acquainted you with the fact that my family was very poor. We

were always beset with economic difficulties. In addition to this, there

arose, at one time, differences in the family. Unable to bear that

affliction, I came before Bhagavan, cried, and broke down I tears.

 

Bhagavan, after remaining silent for some time, opened his mouth and kindly

said, ‘Tesuramma [“Mother from Desurâ€, her village], you are under the

impression that difficulties have come to you alone. This life is a blend of

pain and pleasure. One should have no elation when there is pleasure, and no

dejection when there is pain. Take my example. I came here at the age of

seventeen. I had no mother or father here. I have spent my time in caves and

under trees in sun, in showers, and in the cold. I begged alms to pacify my

hunger. It is only nowadays that all of you have come here to minister to my

needs.’

 

Still shedding tears, I said to Bhagavan in a begging tone of voice, ‘You,

Bhagavan, are an incarnation, so you can bear all that. But what about a

woman like me? I have no one but you to help me. You alone have to have

compassion on me.’

 

These plaintive words moved Bhagavan, and his eyes became moist. After

remaining grave and serious for a while, slowly and steadily these supreme

words emerged from his mouth: ‘Hereafter, remember me whenever you face

calamities.’

 

With these mighty words of grace ringing in my heart, I came out of the

cave, followed by Ganapati Muni.

 

‘Akhilandamma!’ he cried with great elation. ‘Your virtue has ripened.

Bhagavan has bestowed a rare boon on you. Never before have I seen Bhagavan

bestowing a boon like this. And this boon is for future lives also. This day

is one of extreme rejoicing for me, for the mighty power of conferring

boons, till now hidden in Bhagavan, has now broken out for your sake. The

hidden powers of a great and genuine Guru do not easily come out to work in

the external world; they do so only for the sake of worthy disciples. The

credit of drawing them out, pure lady, goes to you now.’

 

It was really a boon to me as my subsequent experience proved. When

difficulties surrounded me like threatening clouds, when life itself became

a dungeon, I would utter ‘Lord Ramana, my Lord Ramana’, and call on his

protection and help. Then, in a trice, the difficulties would disappear.

However severe the calamity, because of Bhagavan’s protection, my mind would

not get agitated.

 

Desuramma alias Akhilandamma, who was serving food for Bhagavan Ramana, was

in due course, desiring to take up 'sannyasa' by wearing ochre robes. She

wanted to have inititation by Bhagavan Ramana, by one of the three methods

mentioned in Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai,that is either by 'look', 'touch'

or through His thought. She narrated her intention to Chinnaswami, who said

that it would be difficult to

persuade Bhagavan Ramana in the matter, since He did not initiate anyone and

further, even if He took an exception, many others like Echammal and

Kamakshi Ammal would also desire to have initiations by Him.

 

Akhilandamma kept quiet for a few months but she was eager to embrace

sannyasa with initiation by Bhagavan Ramana. One day she had a dream where

Bhagavan Ramana gave her vibhuti. She took this dream as a good omen, and

then made the white sari into an ochre sari by dipping it in the red dye,

dried up the sari and kept it in a vessel, closed it with a leaf and went to

the Asramam next morning. She was scared as to how to go about further. She

merely kept the vessel in the presence of Bhagavan Ramana and was waiting

with bated breath. Bhagavan Ramana knew everything even without words. He

came to the Hall, opened the vessel and looked at the robes, as if there was

some food, and then looked at Akhilandamma.No one knew the implication. The

eyes that burnt Tripura and also the karmas of devotees, the eyes of

Siva-Ramana gave her inititation. Akhilandamma rushed back to her home and

came back to the Hall in the new attire!

 

Elsewhere in in Nageswara Rao’s account Akhilandamma recounts some of the

incidents from Bhagavan’s early days on the hill when he was harassed by

jealous sadhus. These have been well documented in other books, but

Akhilandamma adds a few details that I have not seen elsewhere. Before I

give her version of events, I should mention that many of these stories

appeared in the first edition of Self Realization that came out around 1930.

Bhagavan had not been shown the book prior to publication. When he saw all

the stories about the hostile sadhus, he asked that they be removed from the

next edition. He was not questioning the validity of the stories, he was, in

characteristic fashion, trying to avoid causing offence to the people who

had given him so much trouble. He apparently said that many of these sadhus

were still alive and might be upset if they found their stories in print.

Towards the end of his life Bhagavan said that the accounts could be

republished because the sadhus had all passed away, and were therefore

beyond taking offence. However, they were not included again until a few

years ago when Sri Ramanasramam made a reprint of the first edition of Self

Realization that included all the original incidents.

 

Here are Akhilandamma’s sadhu stories:

 

I found that Arunachala is the abode of sadhus, and that among these there

are both good and evil ones. In truth, the evil far outnumber the good. Even

Bhagavan Ramana had been severely molested by these devils of sadhus. Sri

Ramana himself treated us time and again to those incidents, which he

narrated to us as interesting anecdotes. Now I shall recall one or two of

them which still linger in my memory.

 

Bhagavan would be surrounded by devotees and these would offer fruits to him

– a glorious sight. But this became an eyesore to a sadhu from Kerala, who

out of sheer envy, rolled down a big boulder against Bhagavan and

Palaniswami, who were seated at a lower lever on the hill.

 

Palaniswami began to cry.

 

‘What’s the matter, Palani? What has happened?’ enquired Bhagavan.

 

Then Bhagavan discovered that the attack had badly cut one of his toes, and

that it was bleeding.

 

‘Oh,’ said Bhagavan, ‘is it for this that you are crying?’

 

Bhagavan then took the flesh that was hanging from his toe, restored it to

its original place, and stroked it a couple of times. How strange! By the

next day it had become whole, without even leaving a scar.

 

At one time there was another sadhu living in the same cave as Bhagavan. He

would tell all the devotees who came to see Bhagavan that he himself was

Bhagavan’s Guru, and he would gather into his own bag all the fruits and

coins that had been offered to Bhagavan. This was too much for Palaniswami,

who rebelled against the cheating sadhu.

 

The sadhu himself brought pressure on Bhagavan to drive out Palani, but

Bhagavan paid no attention to his demands. The devil-sadhu, having been

rebuffed by both Palaniswami and Bhagavan, became enraged and spat squarely

on Bhagavan’s face. Even that did not affect Bhagavan’s silence or

demeanour.

 

Later on a third sadhu appeared on the scene. He was foolish enough to offer

to pass on his spiritual energy to Bhagavan. Bhagavan declined the sadhu’s

offer, but despite this the sadhu put his hand on Bhagavan’s head to effect

the transmission. The result? The foolish sadhu passed out and became

unconsciousness.

 

Last in this list of stories is that of a sadhu from North India.Approaching

Bhagavan, he said, ‘I have come at the command of God himself to initiate

you with the mantra of Lord Dattatreya, so you must take it.’

 

Bhagavan, ever-resourceful, responded by saying, ‘Good! Let the same Lord

God appear to me and direct me to take the mantra. Then I shall surely do

it.’

 

Sources:

 

1)

http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/2008/06/akhilandamma-ganapati-muni-and-j\

ealous.html

2) Arunachala's Ramana Volume I

3) Sri Ramananubhavam. Reminscences of Desur Akhilandamma and Balarama

Reddiar. Tamil. Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.

4) http://www.arunachala-ramana.org/forum/index.php?topic=2191.0

 

--

à°“à°‚ నమో భగవతే à°¶à±à°°à±€ రమణాయ

à°ªà±à°°à°¶à°¾à°‚తౠజలసూతà±à°°à°‚

à°ªà±à°°à±‡à°®à±‡ శాశà±à°µà°¤à°®à±