HOW I CAME TO THE MAHARSHI VI

[Guest guest]

the mountain path

April 1965

he aim of this journal is to set forth the traditional wisdom of all religions and all ages, especially as testified to by their saints and mystics, and to clarify the paths available to seekers in the conditions of our modern world.

 

How I Came To The Maharshi - VI

By Firoza Taleyarkhan

 

Many people ask me why I am living here in Tiruvannamalai, so I would like to write about my experiences and how my Lord Ramana brought me here and kept me here.

I have been very fortunate from childhood up in coming in contact with high souls and saints, amongst them the renowned woman saint Babajan whose life was a mystery, no one knowing where she came from or how old she was.

It happened one day that I took her for a drive in Poona when we were there and as we passed the Fort she pointed to it and said, "King Shivaji and I used to play here." I was stunned because that would make her several centuries old. She was a great saint. Thousands of people benefited from her blessings. Poor people became rich and others became sadhus or saints. Even now prayers made at her shrine are answered. She showered her Grace on me and played a great part in my life, but here I have no space to write about all that.

Then there was Harilal Baba who stood in the Ganges at Benares looking at the sun from sunrise to sunset. He never stirred even when there were storms and floods and the water passed over him. He became blind from staring at the sun, but his inner light was powerful. I had the wonderful experience of his Grace and blessings.

I became attached to dear Gandhiji and Ba, his wonderful wife, who was a little saint. Gandhiji invited me to stay with him. I could have chosen that kind of life. His love and kindness were overwhelming. But I felt that politics were not my line; I was in search of something real which I did not know.

I was in Budh Gaya for ten years making sadhana. Of course, there was great benefit and I had wonderful experiences; still my heart was aching to meet someone who could really show me God.

One day of Grace I met someone who told me about Ramana Maharshi. I had never heard of him before. The moment I opened the book about him I was struck by the beauty of his face. I immediately wrote to Ramanashram but did not receive an encouraging reply, so I dropped the idea of going there.

Swami Yogendra and I planned to open an ashram for ladies together called 'The Home of Devotion'. (The Swami now has an Ashram at Khar.) We started trying to organise it but then I thought that before embarking on our new venture I would go to Tiruvannamalai to ask the Maharshi for His blessings.

I stayed there for four days and showed him the prospectus of our scheme and asked for his blessings on it. I left thinking that I had them, as it was not his way to say definitely 'yes' or 'no' when people told him their schemes. But to my great surprise we shortly received a refusal from the government to rent us the land and buildings on Kadevly Hill which they had promised us.

You can imagine my disappointment. I really lost my temper with Sri Bhagavan. I was wondering why they called him 'Bhagavan', for what sort of blessings were these? It was only much later that I understood that I had had his Grace all along.

I went back to Tiruvannamalai longing to say: "How can I believe in you after what has happened to my cherished scheme?" Meanwhile a lady came to the Ashram and told Bhagavan that she was working hard to collect money to help people in distress and asked him whether that was not a good thing to do. Bhagavan took a book and showed her a passage to read. As I was sitting beside her, I could read it too and it made me smile. Bhagavan looked at me and said: "It's for you too."

It said: "A frail woman who has the peace of God can do more to help a country or mankind than all the intellectuals put together."

That very moment something within me told me that he was right.

He knew that I was not yet ripe for the responsible work of helping others. I needed to cure myself before trying to cure others. For the first time I got up and prostrated before him and from that moment my life, mind and heart changed and I felt his unbounded Grace flowing over me. I will tell one or two things that happened later.

I was sitting on the Hill talking to Visvanathan, an old devotee1 one afternoon and asked him what had happened to the house where Bhagavan was born. He said that he had no idea. I was shocked to hear this and told him that in Western countries the birth places of great men were preserved just as they were left, and even more so that of Bhagavan should belong to us and be kept as a place of pilgrimage. I ran straight away to the office of the Sarvadhikari, Niranjanananda Swami2 and asked him about it.

He said that there was a school in the house. I asked him to write that very evening and say that I wanted to buy it.

Now it is Ashram property and regular puja is performed there.After this the Sarvadhikari asked me to go to Madras and see the Minister Sri Bhaktavatsalam about the possibility of getting a railway connection to Tiruchuzi, Bhagavan's birthplace. I went but I was shocked when I heard how much it would cost. I decided to leave it to Bhagavan and thought no more about it, but imagine my joy some years later when Sri Bhaktavatsalam became Chief Minister of Madras and the line was actually constructed. Tiruchuzi has now become a much more important town.

Bhagavan's Grace is sufficient to accomplish anything, big or small, if one's entire life and soul are laid at his feet. He has brought about many seemingly impossible things for me.

I also had the grace of Bhagavan when Mr. Tarapore, a Parsi friend, took up my plan for renovating the Patala Linga, an underground cavern where Bhagavan had sat performing austerities as a youth when he first came to Tiruvannamalai. He did this beautifully at his own expense and Sri Rajagopalachari, the then Governor-General of India, came over to perform the opening ceremony. This also has now become a place of pilgrimage.

Before I close I must mention also the loving devotion of the Sarvadhikari and the strong faith and selfless service with which he worked. It is due to him that we have these whole magnificent Ashram buildings where formerly was nothing but bare ground._1. Author of the article on Sri Ganapathi Muni in this issue. (Editor) 2. For an account of whom see our 'Ashram Bulletin' of January 1964 (EDITOR)