Incidents Related To Ramana Maharshi In The Ramana Ashramam Kitchen

[Guest guest]

In the early years at Ramanashram the food was quite simple, it was only in

later years that there were large numbers of visitors, so it did not take long

to cook the meals. In Ramanas words, “A big vessel used to be put on the fire.

Whatever vegetables were received till noon used to be cut and put into it,

boiled and sambar made. There was no ladle even to stir and mix them. We used to

take a piece of firewood, chisel it and use it for stirring those vegetables in

the vessel. That preparation was the only side dish. When we mixed it with rice

and ate, it used to be very tasty. The labour also was comparatively less.

 

As the Ashram grew and the number of visitors increased, the cooking also became

more complicated and time-consuming. Up until the late 1920s Chinnaswami acted

as the main cook, with the assistance of Dandapani Swami and others. When he

became the Ashram manager, he was replaced in the kitchen by a number of Brahmin

widows - Santammal, Lokammal, Subbalakshmi Ammal,Sampurnamma and others. Only

members of the Brahmin caste were allowed to do the cooking.

 

Work with Sri Ramana had both its difficult moments and its pleasant

moments. Although he was full of kindness he was also a strict

disciplinarian and would not tolerate the slightest negligence. Everything had

to be done perfectly and with full awareness. He demanded that his instructions

be followed to the letter.

 

One evening a disciple who was a solicitor, insisted on helping with the work.

He was asked to move a vessel containing sambar.As he moved it some drops

spilled over the sides. At once Bhagavan said, “You are fit only for arguing

before the Court. This work is not for you.

 

Kunju Swami narrates, Sri Bhagavan used to go into the kitchen by 4 a.m. and

start cutting vegetables; one or two of us would also join and help. Sometimes

the amount of vegetables used to startle us. Bhagavan managed to cut much more

and more quickly than the rest of us. At such times we would look up at the

clock in our impatience to finish the job and try and have another nap. Bhagavan

would sense our impatience and say: Why do you look at the clock? We tried to

bluff Bhagavan saying: If only we could complete the work before 5, we could

meditate for an hour. Bhagavan would mildly retort: The allotted work has to be

completed in time. Other thoughts are

obstacles, not the amount of work. Doing the allotted work in time is itself

meditation. Go ahead and do the job with full attention.

 

An unwritten rule demanded that the kitchen helpers had to continue working

until the last meal had been served and cleared away.Chinnaswami did not allow

any of them to stay in the Hall to meditate or to listen to the talks when they

were supposed to be working. Sundaram reports, When we would sneak in and hide

ourselves behind peoples backs, Bhagavan would look at us significantly,as if

saying, Better go to your work. Dont ask for trouble.

 

When the cook Subbalakshmi Ammal wanted to meditate more and complained that the

kitchen work would take up all of her time, Ramana answered, If you identify

yourself with the body, you are bound to dualities. Work would appear difficult.

Even if we free ourselves from work will the mind cease to wander? It does not

let us even sleep in peace. It keeps wandering as in dreams.

 

For each vegetable Ramana knew a special kind of preparation.Nothing was thrown

away. If he cut spinach, he separated the leaves, the stalks and the roots. With

the leaves he made the curry,the stalks were bound together, cooked and put into

the sambar and the roots were washed carefully, squeezed and their juice put

into the rasam. Any orange peel or apple peel was put into the chutney. The

leftovers from the previous day were warmed up and served at the following

breakfast, along with the iddlies. If there was any soup or vegetables left,

they were put into the sambar. This was against the

caste rules of the Brahmins, according to which leftovers may not be used the

following day. But Ramana insisted that the avoidance of waste was more

important than anything else.

 

Sampurnamma recounted another story along the same lines,“Once a feast was

being prepared for his birthday. Devotees sent food in large quantities: some

sent rice, some sugar, some fruits.Someone sent a huge load of brinjals and we

ate brinjals day after day. The stalks alone made a big heap which was lying in

a corner.Bhagavan asked us to cook them as a curry! I was stunned, for even

cattle would refuse to eat such useless stalks. Bhagavan insisted that the

stalks were edible, and we put them in a pot to boil along with dry peas. After

six hours of boiling they were as hard as ever. We were at a loss what to do,

yet we did not dare to disturb Bhagavan. But he always knew when he was needed

in the kitchen and he would leave the

Hall even in the middle of a discussion. A casual visitor would think that his

mind was all on cooking. How is the curry getting on? he asked. Is it a curry we

are cooking? We are boiling steel nails! I exclaimed, laughing. He stirred the

stalks with the ladle and went away without saying anything.Soon after we found

them quite tender. The dish was simply delicious and everybody was asking for a

second helping. Bhagavan challenged the diners to guess what vegetable they were

ating.Everybody praised the curry and the cook, except Bhagavan. He swallowed

the little he was served in one mouth-full like a medicine and refused a second

helping. I was very disappointed, for I had taken so much trouble to cook his

stalks

and he would not even taste them properly.

 

The next day he was telling somebody, Sampurnamma was distressed that I did not

eat her wonderful curry. Can she not see that everyone who eats is myself? And

what does it matter who eats the food? It is the cooking that matters, not the

cook or the eater. A thing done well, with love and devotion, is its own reward.

What happens to it later matters little, for it is out of our hands.

 

On another occasion he said, What is taste? It is what our tongue tells us. We

think that taste is in the food itself, but it is not so. The food itself is

neither tasty nor not tasty; it is the tongue that makes it so. To me no taste

is pleasant or unpleasant, it is just as it is. Although Sri Ramana was an

excellent cook, took great care in the preparation of the meals and did not

tolerate any carelessness on the part of the cooks, the pleasure of eating

seemed to mean nothing to him.

 

At the end of the 1930s he stopped cooking, as the stream of visitors was

growing ever larger and building projects increasingly demanded his attention.

But even so he still remained in constant contact with the kitchen.

 

Source: Ramana Maharshi: His Life A biography by Gabriele Ebert