Ramana Maharshi's disciple Sampurnamma experiences in Ramanashramam

[Guest guest]

IN 1932 I went to Tiruvannamalai with my sister and her husband Narayanan. We found Bhagavan in a palm leaf hut built over his mother's Samadhi. Dandapani Swami introduced me to Bhagavan saying, " This is Dr Narayanan's wife's sister " . The days that followed were days of deep and calm happiness. My devotion to Bhagavan took firm roots and never left me. I was able to sit for long hours in Bhagavan's presence without any mental activity and I would not notice the passing of time. I was not taught to meditate and surely did not know how to stop the mind from thinking, It would happen quite by itself, by his grace. I stayed for twenty days. When I was leaving, Bhagavan took a copy of Who am I? and gave it to me with his own hands.

I came back to Ramanasramam after a period of absence and I was asked to help in the kitchen. Bhagavan helped us in the kitchen, I soon learnt with his guidance the Ashram way of cooking. Bhagavan's firm principle was that health depended on food and could be set right and kept well by proper diet. He also believed that fine grinding and careful cooking would make any food easily digestible. So we used to spend hours in grinding and stewing.

He paid very close attention to proper cooking. He was always willing to leave the hall to give advice in the kitchen. He would teach us numberless ways of cooking grains, pulses and vegetables.He would tell us stories from his childhood, or about his mother, her ways and how she cooked sampurnam (sweet filling).

Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge. Keep your mind on him constantly. It is His light that fills all space.In the kitchen he was the master cook aiming at perfection in taste and appearance. One would think that he liked good food and enjoyed a hearty meal. Not at all. At dinner time he would mix up the little food he would allow to be put on his leaf -- the sweet, the sour, and the savoury -- everything together, and gulp it down carelessly as if he had no taste in his mouth. When we told him that it was not right to mix such nicely made up dishes, he would say, " Enough of multiplicity, Let us have some unity " .

It was obvious that all the extraordinary care he gave to cooking was for our sake. He wanted us to keep good health and to those who worked in the kitchen, cooking became a deep spiritual experience. " You must cover your vegetables when you cook them, " he used to say, " Then only will they keep their flavour and be fit for food. It is the same with the mind. You must put a lid over it and let it simmer quietly. Then only does a man become food fit for God to eat " .

He would allow nothing to go to waste. Even a grain of rice or a mustard seed lying on the ground would be picked up, dusted carefully, taken to the kitchen and put in its proper tin. I asked him why he gave himself so much trouble for a grain of rice. He said, " Yes, this is my way. I let nothing go to waste. In these matters I am quite strict. Were I married no woman could get on with me. She would run away " . On some other day he said, " This is the property of my Father Arunachala. I have to preserve it and pass it on to His children " . He would use for food things we would not even dream of as edible. Wild plants, bitter roots and pungent leaves were turned under his guidance into delicious dishes.

Once someone sent a huge load of brinjals on the occasion of his birthday feast. We ate brinjals day after day. The stalks alone made a big heap which was lying in a corner. I was stunned when Bhagavan asked us to cook the stalks as a curry. Bhagavan insisted that the stalks were edible and so we put them in a pot to boil along with dry peas. After six hours of boiling they were as hard as ever. We wondered what to do and yet we did not dare to disturb Bhagavan. But he always knew when he was needed and he would leave the hall even in the middle of a discussion. As usual he did not fail us, and appeared in the kitchen. He asked, " How is the curry getting on " ? " 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. Everybody except Bhagavan praised the curry and the cook. He swallowed one mouthful like medicine and refused a second helping. I was very disappointed, for I had taken so much trouble to cook his stalks and he did not even taste them properly. The next day he told somebody, " Sampurnam 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 " .

In the evening before I left the Ashram for the town to sleep, he would ask me what was available for cooking the next day. Then, arriving at daybreak the next morning, I would find everything ready -- vegetables peeled and cut, lentils soaked, spices ground, coconuts scraped. As soon as he saw me he would give detailed instructions as to what should be cooked and how. He would then sit in the hall awhile and return to the kitchen. He would taste the various dishes to see if they were cooked properly and go back to the hall.It was strange to see him so eager to cook and so unwilling to eat.

As a cook, Bhagavan was perfect. He would never put in too much or too little salt or spices.Once Subbalakshmiamma and myself were going round the hill early in the morning chatting about our homes and relatives. We noticed a man following us at a distance. We had to pass through a stretch of forest, so we stopped to let him pass and go ahead. He too stopped. When we walked he also walked. We were quite alarmed and started praying, " Oh Lord! Oh Arunachala! Only you can save us " ! The man said suddenly, " Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge. Keep your mind on him constantly. It is His light that fills all space " . We wondered who he was. Was he sent by Bhagavan to remind us that it was not proper to talk of worldly matters when going round the hill? Or was it Arunachala Himself in human disguise? We looked back but there was nobody on the path. In so many ways Bhagavan made us feel that he was always with us, until the conviction grew and became part of our nature.

Bhagavan's SayingsA traveller in a cart has fallen asleep. The bullocks move, stand still or are unyoked during the journey. He does not know these events but finds himself in a different place after he wakes up. He has been blissfully ignorant of the occurrences on the way, but the journey has been finished. Similarly with the Self of a person. The ever-wakeful Self is compared to the traveller asleep in the cart. The waking state is the moving of the bulls; samadhi is their standing still (because samadhi means jagrat-sushupti, that is to say, the person is aware but not concerned in the action; the bulls are yoked but do not move); sleep is the unyoking of the bulls for there is complete stopping of activity corresponding to the relief of the bulls from the yoke.

Source: RAMANA SMRTI Book

-- Om namo Bhagavate Sri RamanayaPrasanth Jalasutram

[Guest guest]

Dr.Raju wrote:

 

Bhagawan is extraordinarily ordinary.He used to assist his mother

 

in cooking during childhood.Once while cooking in asram a new devotee

 

came directly to Bhagawan in kitchen and asked him who is Bhagawan

 

and when he is expected in old hall.Bhagawan told him without

 

revealing his identity to the stranger that Bhagawan will come in

 

one hour there.The new devotee is surprised to see Bhagawan sitting

 

in old hall,whom he mistook as cook.He never behaved as a Guru to

 

anybody though he is an incarnation of Lord Siva himself.

 

Thank you all~Dr.Raju.

 

 

, Prasanth Jalasutram <jvrsprasanth

wrote:

>

> IN 1932 I went to Tiruvannamalai with my sister and her husband Narayanan.

> We found Bhagavan in a palm leaf hut built over his mother's Samadhi.

> Dandapani Swami introduced me to Bhagavan saying, " This is Dr Narayanan's

> wife's sister " . The days that followed were days of deep and calm happiness.

> My devotion to Bhagavan took firm roots and never left me. I was able to sit

> for long hours in Bhagavan's presence without any mental activity and I

> would not notice the passing of time. I was not taught to meditate and

> surely did not know how to stop the mind from thinking, It would happen

> quite by itself, by his grace. I stayed for twenty days. When I was leaving,

> Bhagavan took a copy of Who am I? and gave it to me with his own hands.

>

> I came back to Ramanasramam after a period of absence and I was asked to

> help in the kitchen. Bhagavan helped us in the kitchen, I soon learnt with

> his guidance the Ashram way of cooking. Bhagavan's firm principle was that

> health depended on food and could be set right and kept well by proper diet.

> He also believed that fine grinding and careful cooking would make any food

> easily digestible. So we used to spend hours in grinding and stewing.

>

> He paid very close attention to proper cooking. He was always willing to

> leave the hall to give advice in the kitchen. He would teach us numberless

> ways of cooking grains, pulses and vegetables.He would tell us stories from

> his childhood, or about his mother, her ways and how she cooked sampurnam

> (sweet filling).

>

> Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge. Keep your mind on him constantly. It is

> His light that fills all space.

>

> In the kitchen he was the master cook aiming at perfection in taste and

> appearance. One would think that he liked good food and enjoyed a hearty

> meal. Not at all. At dinner time he would mix up the little food he would

> allow to be put on his leaf -- the sweet, the sour, and the savoury --

> everything together, and gulp it down carelessly as if he had no taste in

> his mouth. When we told him that it was not right to mix such nicely made up

> dishes, he would say, " Enough of multiplicity, Let us have some unity " .

>

> It was obvious that all the extraordinary care he gave to cooking was for

> our sake. He wanted us to keep good health and to those who worked in the

> kitchen, cooking became a deep spiritual experience. " You must cover your

> vegetables when you cook them, " he used to say, " Then only will they keep

> their flavour and be fit for food. It is the same with the mind. You must

> put a lid over it and let it simmer quietly. Then only does a man become

> food fit for God to eat " .

>

>

> He would allow nothing to go to waste. Even a grain of rice or a mustard

> seed lying on the ground would be picked up, dusted carefully, taken to the

> kitchen and put in its proper tin. I asked him why he gave himself so much

> trouble for a grain of rice. He said, " Yes, this is my way. I let nothing go

> to waste. In these matters I am quite strict. Were I married no woman could

> get on with me. She would run away " . On some other day he said, " This is the

> property of my Father Arunachala. I have to preserve it and pass it on to

> His children " . He would use for food things we would not even dream of as

> edible. Wild plants, bitter roots and pungent leaves were turned under his

> guidance into delicious dishes.

>

> Once someone sent a huge load of brinjals on the occasion of his birthday

> feast. We ate brinjals day after day. The stalks alone made a big heap which

> was lying in a corner. I was stunned when Bhagavan asked us to cook the

> stalks as a curry. Bhagavan insisted that the stalks were edible and so we

> put them in a pot to boil along with dry peas. After six hours of boiling

> they were as hard as ever. We wondered what to do and yet we did not dare to

> disturb Bhagavan. But he always knew when he was needed and he would leave

> the hall even in the middle of a discussion. As usual he did not fail us,

> and appeared in the kitchen. He asked, " How is the curry getting on " ? " 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. Everybody except Bhagavan praised

> the curry and the cook. He swallowed one mouthful like medicine and refused

> a second helping. I was very disappointed, for I had taken so much trouble

> to cook his stalks and he did not even taste them properly. The next day he

> told somebody, " Sampurnam 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 " .

>

> In the evening before I left the Ashram for the town to sleep, he would ask

> me what was available for cooking the next day. Then, arriving at daybreak

> the next morning, I would find everything ready -- vegetables peeled and

> cut, lentils soaked, spices ground, coconuts scraped. As soon as he saw me

> he would give detailed instructions as to what should be cooked and how. He

> would then sit in the hall awhile and return to the kitchen. He would taste

> the various dishes to see if they were cooked properly and go back to the

> hall.It was strange to see him so eager to cook and so unwilling to eat.

>

> As a cook, Bhagavan was perfect. He would never put in too much or too

> little salt or spices.

>

> Once Subbalakshmiamma and myself were going round the hill early in the

> morning chatting about our homes and relatives. We noticed a man following

> us at a distance. We had to pass through a stretch of forest, so we stopped

> to let him pass and go ahead. He too stopped. When we walked he also walked.

> We were quite alarmed and started praying, " Oh Lord! Oh Arunachala! Only you

> can save us " ! The man said suddenly, " Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge.

> Keep your mind on him constantly. It is His light that fills all space " . We

> wondered who he was. Was he sent by Bhagavan to remind us that it was not

> proper to talk of worldly matters when going round the hill? Or was it

> Arunachala Himself in human disguise? We looked back but there was nobody on

> the path. In so many ways Bhagavan made us feel that he was always with us,

> until the conviction grew and became part of our nature.

>

> Bhagavan's Sayings

>

> A traveller in a cart has fallen asleep. The bullocks move, stand still or

> are unyoked during the journey. He does not know these events but finds

> himself in a different place after he wakes up. He has been blissfully

> ignorant of the occurrences on the way, but the journey has been finished.

> Similarly with the Self of a person. The ever-wakeful Self is compared to

> the traveller asleep in the cart. The waking state is the moving of the

> bulls; samadhi is their standing still (because samadhi means

> jagrat-sushupti, that is to say, the person is aware but not concerned in

> the action; the bulls are yoked but do not move); sleep is the unyoking of

> the bulls for there is complete stopping of activity corresponding to the

> relief of the bulls from the yoke.

>

> Source: RAMANA SMRTI Book

>

> --

> Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

> Prasanth Jalasutram

>