Ramana Maharshi Devotees Mr And Mrs Syed

[Guest guest]

A visitor started wailing before Bhagavan that he was being quite crushed

under the enormity of his sins.

 

Bhagavan asked: " When you sleep, are you a sinner? "

 

D: " No, I am just asleep. "

 

Bh: " If you are not a sinner, then you must be good. "

 

D: " No, I am neither good nor bad when I am asleep. I know nothing about

myself. "

 

Bh: " And what do you know about yourself now? You say you are a sinner. You

say so because you think so. Were you pleased with yourself, you would call

yourself a good man and stop telling me about your being a sinner. What do

you know about good and evil except what is in your mind? When you see that

the mind invents everything, all will vanish. The good will vanish, the evil

will vanish, and you will remain as you are. "

 

Dr. Syed was a Muslim scholar and a great devotee of Bhagavan. His wife too

became a devotee without losing her faith in the ways and conventions of the

Muslim religion. She would not appear before other men. Stealthily she would

come to the Ashram, hide herself in one of the rooms and implore her husband

to ask Bhagavan to come to see her. It was a most unusual request, but such

was Bhagavan's grace and compassion that even this was granted. Mrs. Syed

would at first keep silent, rather than talk to Bhagavan through her veil;

then later she would talk to him without a veil. But it took a long time for

her to venture into the Hall without a veil and sit there like everybody

else.

 

Dr. Syed and his wife used to stay in a rented house outside the Ashram and

cook their own food. One day she felt a very strong desire to invite

Bhagavan to their house for food. She nagged her husband, but he did not

have the courage to request something so unusual. Meeting his wife outside

the Hall was unusual enough, and twice he had asked Bhagavan to consent to

it; that Bhagavan should go to their house for food seemed unthinkable. But

the intrepid lady went on pressing her husband until he became more afraid

of her than of the enormity of her request and hinted her wish to Bhagavan,

who smiled and kept quiet. She would not give up. She was certain that

Bhagavan would grant her wish if the matter were put before him in the

proper spirit and form. At last, while Bhagavan was going up the hill, Dr.

Syed and his wife stood before him and told him her desire. Bhagavan just

laughed and went up the hill.

 

When they returned home in the evening, there was quite a row in their

house, she accusing him that he had not asked Bhagavan in the proper way. At

last he had enough of it all and said to her: " How am I responsible? The

truth of the matter is that your devotion is deficient. That is the reason

why Bhagavan refused. " These words of his must have touched her deeply and

she sat in meditation throughout the night. She wanted by sheer intensity of

prayer to bring Bhagavan to dinner. During the early hours of the morning

she must have dozed. Bhagavan appeared to her in a dream or vision and told

her: " Why are you so obstinate? How can I leave the Ashram and come to your

house for food? I must dine along with others, or they won't eat. Besides,

as you know, people are coming from distant places, facing a lot of trouble

to see me and to have food with me. How can I leave all these guests and

come to your place? Feed three devotees of mine and it will be the same as

feeding me. I shall be fully satisfied. " In her vision she saw the three

devotees whom she had to invite. One was Dr. Melkote, the second Swami

Prabuddhananda and the third was myself.

 

She told of her vision to Dr. Syed, who invited all the three for food in

his house, telling us that we could not possibly refuse. We were astonished

and asked him the reason. Dr. Syed told us the whole story. We were all

Brahmins and, although we were delighted to represent Bhagavan at the feast,

we were afraid of what the Ashram Brahmins would say. For a Brahmin to eat

in a Muslim's house is a serious breach of convention.

 

Dr. Melkote was in the guest room near the flower garden. I went to him and

asked him, " What are you thinking about? "

" I am thinking of the dinner at Syed's place. "

" Are you going? "

" I wonder. They are Muslims. "

''If we go, we are bound to get into a lot of trouble. "

" Yes, they may turn us out of the Ashram. "

" Then are you going? "

" I am going, " said Dr. Melkote. " I am taking it as Bhagavan's direct order.

Otherwise, how could Mrs. Syed pick us? How could she know our names and

faces so as to show us to her husband? "

" Prabuddhananda can go, for he is a sannyasi and can eat anywhere. Besides,

he is not afraid of the Ashram authorities, for he cooks his own food. But

we are taking serious risks, " I said.

" Well, " said Dr. Melkote, " we are going, and Bhagavan will attend to the

risks. "

 

In spite of these brave words Dr. Melkote was perplexed. We were to dine in

a Muslim's house. Even if the food were vegetarian, what about the kitchen

and vessels? What do Muslims know about the Brahmin rules and habits

concerning cleanliness? How would we explain our going to a Muslim house for

food? Why should we trust the vision of some Muslim lady? Could we really

say that we were merely obeying Bhagavan's orders? Who would believe us?

Surely not the Ashram Brahmins! And what an assortment we three made! One

was a Kanarese householder, the other an Andhra bachelor, the third a

Bengali sannyasi!

 

The next day when the bell for dinner was rung, we three went before

Bhagavan and bowed. Bhagavan did not ask us the reason, he merely looked at

us. Instead of going to the dining hall with others we marched out of the

Ashram, passing before Chinnaswami who-O wonder!-did not ask us why we were

going out without taking food.

 

Mrs. Syed got up early in the morning, swept the kitchen and washed the

vessels carefully herself. She would not allow the servant girl to enter the

kitchen. She had been scolded repeatedly by her relatives and the Muslim

Moulvis for her devotion to a Hindu saint. She told them that while she used

to say her prayers she would see the Prophet standing by her side. Since she

met Bhagavan, the Prophet had disappeared and Bhagavan was coming to watch

her pray. So great was her devotion!

 

After getting everything quite clean, she lovingly prepared dish after dish,

and when we arrived, we found the food excellent. After the meal she offered

us betel with her own hands.

 

When we were returning to the Ashram, Dr. Melkote had tears in his eyes. He

said: " I come from Hyderabad and I know well the Muslim ways and customs. A

Muslim lady will give betel leaves with her own hands to nobody except her

husband or a fakir (a saint). In her eyes we were fakirs, the forms Bhagavan

took to go to her place. "

 

When we returned to the Ashram we were astonished that nobody enquired why

we had not been present in the dining hall, where we had gone or what we did

in a Muslim's house. How wonderfully does Bhagavan protect those who obey

him!

 

- From Ramana Smrti Souvenir

 

Source: http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/1998/?pg=jul-aug

 

--

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±