Fascinating Ramana

Chapter 6

6. Fascinating Ramana

You should be capable of making use of even the dust, while at the same time you should also be ready to reject the entire cosmos as mere dust!" These were the potent words given by Sri Bhagavan to Sri Viswanatha Swami, when they were together cutting vegetables. Bhagavan was keen on using every bit of the vegetables for cooking ; usually, the stem portion of a brinjal is cut off and thrown away. Bhagavan would gather these 'rejects' and utilise them in some other preparation. He would use the whole spinach, the stem and all, and not just the green leaves alone. He would grind the stems, take out their juice and use it in rasam. Bhagavan frowned on wastage. Like vegetables, paper too was to be used with the utmost care and economy. Every bit of paper would be preserved by Him ; He would bind them into small note-books, according to their size . He Himself would bind them ; He kept with Him gum, calico, needle and twine. He would use these materials too only when and to the extent they were required. His day-to-day life was by itself a great lesson for every one of us. He did not preach brevity on economy alone; He exemplified brevity of expression while talking and writing too. How much He said in so few words!

Sri Viswanatha Swami once told me of Sri Bhagavan's love and knowledge of The Divya Prabandham, the Vaishnavite hymns. He admired the intense love fo the Alwars not only for the Lord but for each other and used to relate the following thrilling story. Bhagavan dramatised vividly the meeting of the Alwars, said Sri Viswanatha Swami; even a professional actor could not hold a candle before His so fine an expressive action.

The story is :

The Saiva saints are called 'Nayanmar' and the Vaishnava saints are called 'Alwar'. The first three Alwars were Poigai Alwar, Bhutattu Alwar and Pey Alwar.

One evening Poigai Alwar, on his pilgrimage, reached Tirukoilur and took shelter in a very small and narrow room. It became dark and he had enough space to stretch himself. After some time another man arrived there and asked whether he could come in . Poigai Alwar joyously got up and accommodated him, not knowing who he was, saying : 'Space for one to lie down, but enough for two to sit up!' After some time a third man came and wanted some space to stay. The two occupants gladly got up and welcomed him, saying: 'Plenty of space for one to lie down, for two to sit up and for three to stay standing!' The three did not know each other, but were exchanging in ecstatic descriptions of the Lord. Lord Vishnu had tricked the three saints to meet in this narrow passage, wanted to bless these saints and also to partake of their jubilation. So, He created a sudden dense darkness and very heavy rain. Also, He assumed a huge form and entered into that small room. The three saints immediately felt the new Presence which caused no physical congestion but heightened their jubilation. They wanted to see who it was.

So, Poigai Alwar in his ecstasy sang a song, in which he made the whole world as the vessel, poured the oceans in it as the oil and lighted it with the lamp of the sun. Listening to this glorious verse^[1], Bhutattu Alwar, out of joy, composed for his part another verse^[2], in which he 'lighted the lamp of Jnana, in the vessel of love through the oil of Faith and with joy-filled mind as the wick' and Lo ! they all witnessed the grandeur of the Lord Vishnu standing very close to them, filled the small dungeon with joy and light! Pey Alwar was thrilled and sang the following song:

"Today I have seen, in my Ocean-blue Lord, His golden Form, the beautiful colour of the shining Sun, the golden wheel which wins all battles and the Conch!"

The three saints recognised each other and were thrilled to know that it was Lord Vishnu who had made them meet in that place only to revel in His Name and Glory!

Now, when many Ramana Kendras all over the world offer puja by chanting the Ramana Ashtothram — the Ashtothram approved and authorised by the Master — I recall the words of Sri Viswanatha Swami. He told me once the following:

"My mother was a great scholar both in Tamil and in Sanskrit. Her devotion to Bhagavan was very intense. She was worshipping a very tiny note-book daily and not allowing anyone to even look at it! Only after her passing away could we know that it was a precious note-book, stitched by Bhagavan Himself and handed over to her. On the cover it was written 'Sri Ramana Ashtottara Satanama Stuti', the Ashtothram written by me on Sri Bhagavan. Bhagavan had copied it in such beautiful small letters, in Grantha script so that it was too precious for mother to share it with others!"

He added: "I had a great urge to write the 108 Names of Sri Bhagavan. I used to write a few namavalis and place them before Bhagavan. He showed them to Nayana (Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni) saying: 'Our Viswanathan is writing an Ashtothram on me'. Each such sheet was thus passed on by Bhagavan to Nayana, who would make some alterations here and there and return it to Bhagavan. This is how the whole Ashtothram has had the approval of my Lord Bhagavan and my teacher Nayana."

He continued: "Talking about Ashtothram, you should know its greatness and importance, as well. Once when one of the close devotees of Sri Bhagavan asked Him to select a sthotra for his parayana, Bhagavan gave him this 'Ramana Ashtothram'. Again, on another occasion, when someone wanted to write a biography of Bhagavan in Telugu, Bhagavan Himself suggested to him: 'If each Name in the Ramana Ashtothram is elaborated it will itself become a biography!'"

Sri Prabhakar came to Bhagavan in 1949. The story of how he came to the Master is of absorbing interest. Prabhakar was a pure rationalist and was averse to anything spiritual. Though he had heard about Bhagavan and seen His photos, he ignored Him. A total change in his life took place suddenly. One night, Bhagavan appeared in his dream. In that dream his boss pointed to Bhagavan and asked him whether he knew Him. On replying in the negative, Prabhakar was told that he was none other than Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and that he had to go to Arunachala and have His darshan. Prabakar proudly replied he felt no such need and in any case he had no money to travel. His boss offered to give him the required money. He demanded: I will need Rs.60/-'. At this, he woke up from his dream.

He hesitated to narrate this dream to his boss, though he did to one of his close friends. Prabhakar was persuaded by his friend to approach his boss with his dream story. One day he picked up courage and fully narrated his dream to his boss ( avoiding the portion dealing with money ). The boss was unmoved. He said: 'Anyhow, pay more attention to your job and thus save some extra money, with which you could go to your Bhagavan'. Before Prabhakar tried to move away, there was a sudden change in his boss' attitude and he hastened to say: 'Do you yourself have a deep desire to pay a visit to Bhagavan?' On Prabhakar replying in the affirmative, his boss asked him how much money he would require. Even before Prabhakar opened his mouth to reply, his boss wrote a cheque for Rs.60/- and handed it over to him! Receiving the exact amount indicated in the dream, Prabhakar saw that it was all Sri Bhagavan's Grace and immediately left for Tiruvannamalai. More than all these happenings was the fact that Bhagavan was looking intently at the entrance to the Hall as if waiting for some one to arrive and as soon as Prabhakar entered He gave a beaming smile and a welcome nod acknowledging his arrival! For the first time in his life, Prabhakar did sashtang namaskar (full prostration) to a great man. With his very first glimpse of Sri Bhagavan he became a full-fledged bhakta!

He asked Bhagavan: "Did you summon me?" Bhagavan nodded His head in assent. He repeated the question twice; Bhagavan nodded it each time. This stabilised Prabhakar's bondage to Bhagavan. During his stay he used to ask questions and Bhagavan would reply to every one of them. Once, Bhagavan told him: "You say 'I am Prabhakar', who is this Prabhakar? Why do you accept that you are Prabhakar? Your parents called you so; you being a rationalist, why should you accept it? Who is this Prabhakar? Use your reasoning faculty and search for 'who you really are'. Then, the Prabhakar of this particular form and name will drop off and the real being alone will shine. The wrong thought that you are the sufferer of all these troubles will cease once for all."

Prabhakar led a peace-filled life, inspite of odds and obstacles, because of his faith in and devotion to Bhagavan. He composed Prapatti Satakam in Sanskrit, though he was not well-versed in that language. Many corrections were made and Bhagavan had it included in the collection of poems preserved in the Ashram achives. It has a very moving beginning: 'The fullness of my devotion to you. Oh Bhagavan, is due not to the excellence of my reasoning power or my spiritual maturity, but only to the lustre that you shed on me in such abundance!"

Sri Viswanatha Swami's younger brother, Sri R.Sivaraman, is not much known among Ramana-bhaktas. But his devotion to Sri Bhagavan and his understanding of His teachings are very deep. Though I knew of Sri Sivaraman even during my college days (he is a voracious reader and I used to supply him with books!), I came to know of his deep involvement with Sri Ramana only in the last days of Sri Viswanatha Swami. The following is what I gathered from this pious and humble Ramana-bhakta (in his own words ) :

"My first visit to Arunachalam (in those days even the Railway Station board bore the name Arunachalam) was in 1923 when I was only nine years old, along with my parents, who then made a futile attempt to take back to our house my brother, Visvanna (Sri Viswanatha Swami) — a mission that failed. For the first time I travelled in a train and was amazed to see the electric lamps ! In sheer exuberation I kept awake throughout the night. In the morning, half a dozen persons received us at the Tiruvannamalai Railway Station. 'Where is Visvanna?' I eagerly asked my father. He showed me a person with dhoti above the ankles and with six-months' beard on his face. I gaped in astonishment. We stayed in Vasudeva Śāstṛi's house in the town and used to visit the Ashram in the morning and return in the evening. Ramanatha Brahmachari, Chinna Ramanathan, Annamalai and others used to accompany us.

"Having had no sleep the previous night, I promptly fell asleep. Sri Bhagavan gently woke me up saying : 'Don't sleep. Get up. There are delicious mangoes waiting to be eaten'. I got up and Bhagavan gave me a plate with sliced mangoes and asked me to give a piece each to the two dozen persons sitting there. I did so. Sri Bhagavan asked me: ' Have you served every one ? ' 'Yes', I nodded my head. In all tenderness, Sri Bhagavan pointed out a person sitting behind a pillar, telling me : 'You have missed him!' I repaired the omission. I noticed how keen Bhagavan was in equal distribution to every one present!

"Morning. Sri Bhagavan was sitting on the ground cutting vegetables; I squatted in front of Him. Chinnaswami (Sri Niranjanananda Swami, then Sarvadhikari) was coming from the town with a basket on his head. On my asking Bhagavan what he was carrying, He replied: 'Last night one of the dogs was badly mauled by a pig. He took the wounded dog to the veterinary Hospital'.

"Kamala, Karuppan and Jackie were the three dogs. I took the conch that was lying in the Hall and blew on it. The dogs howled. Sri Bhagavan advised me to stop blowing it, as it irritated dogs. The concern He had even for the animals got imprinted in my heart!

"The most significant incident that took place during this visit of mine was the way Sri Bhagavan asked me to tell Him a story from the western legends and how He listened to it, like a small baby with such rapt attention and avidity ! One day, after food, Sri Bhagavan asked me to tell Him a story adding: 'It seems you have read so much'. I began quite seriously to tell the fairy tale of a King and his three sons, a garden with fruit trees, particularly the one with the golden fruit ripening every full-moon night and disappearing with the dawn; the King setting his three sons to catch the thief; the two elder heartless sons failing in the mission; the third son, all goodness and innocence, being helped by an old woman, a dog and so on, to catch the thief. Finally, how he succeeded in recovering the golden fruit and handing it over to his father, the King. Even at this distance of time, when I recollect the facial expressions of Bhagavan as He sat listening, I am thrilled how like a child He thoroughly enjoyed the story. Only a Jnani could become a child instantaneously, while yet abiding firmly in His high state of steady Wisdom!

"Another recollection of mine about the fascinating Ramana happened in 1943. During this visit I was accompanied by my wife and our baby-girl, Vimala, aged 1 1/2 years, I was eager to see Skandashram; I even got permission from Bhagavan to do so. So, myself, Visvanna, my wife with the baby started to go up the Hill towards Skandashram. We had hardly gone 100 yards when an attendant of Bhagavan came running towards us carrying a parcel. He handed it over to us and it contained fruits, sugar and other eatables. Before our happy surprise or gratitude could be expressed, the attendant hurriedly remarked: 'Bhagavan said: "What will they do if the child gets hungry and cries? Go and give these eatables to them", and here I am!' How remarkable was His compassion! I saw Sri Ramana as a Mother on that day.

" The greatest moment in my life was when I had the last darshan of Sri Bhagavan. It happened like this. I was busy touring all over India with my boss, a strict taskmaster. A letter came suddenly from Visvanna: 'Do not delay. Proceed to Tiruvannamalai at once'. I hurried to Arunachala and Visvanna rushed me into the queue standing to have darshan of Sri Bhagavan. Visvanna was behind me. When my turn came, I was face to face with Bhagavan, the Master of Compassion shedding pure Bliss and Grace in abundance! Visvanna whispered with only lip movements: 'Sivaraman, Sivaraman', as if introducing me to Sri Bhagavan. That Hill of Love gave a near-imperceptible nod that He knew! The purpose of my life is fulfilled in that single nod of Bhagavan. I am recognised, I am accepted, I am saved!"

Sri Sivananda Swami, a close attendant of Bhagavan, narrated to me how Bhagavan was keenly observant and profoundly compassionate. He said: "It might be morning 10 O'clock. Bhagavan was returning from the Goshala and when He neared the well, before entering the Hall, He noticed some peculiar sound coming out of the well, similar to the flapping of the wings by a bird or a large insect struggling in the water. He stood still and looked into the well and found out that it was a large insect with wings. He told me: 'Please see whether it is in a playful mood fluttering its wings on the water or struggling to escape drowning. If the former, don't disturb it ; if the latter, please quickly release it from the water.' I reached the insect with the help of a bamboo and rescued it ; it flew out joyously!"