Omniscient Ramana

Chapter 15

Most of Bhagavan’s devotees were family people. Living with their wife and children and yet, fully surrendered to Sri Bhagavan, they saw no contradiction between work and the pursuit of wisdom. Even while discharging their worldly obligations, they followed the teachings of Sri Bhagavan with steadfastness and immense profit.

Sri N. Nataraja Iyer (also known as ‘Station-Master’ and ‘N.N.Rajan’) came to Bhagavan in 1935 when he was 29 years old. His first visit made such a strong impression upon Nataraja Iyer that he applied for a transfer to Tiruvannamalai railway station. This transfer came about soon, under circumstances which were almost miraculous! N.N. Rajan would go to the Ashram whenever he was off duty and sit in Bhagavan’s presence. He enjoyed the calmness of meditation and often he was overcome by tears of ecstasy.

His dedication to Sri Bhagavan or to spiritual practices did not stand in the way of attending to his official duty or to his family affairs. In fact, his wife, Smt. Kamala, became a more ardent devotee than he. Even his small children basked in the Presence and received many marks of affection as blessings from Him. If on duty-days Nataraja Iyer overstayed at the Ashram, Bhagavan would remind him that it was time to go to the railway station! Bhagavan expected devotees to do their duties punctually and diligently.

Nataraja Iyer, now 83 years old, is very agile and goes round the Hill as often as possible during his frequent visits to the Ashram.

During a stay at the Ashram Nataraja Iyer poured out his praise of the Master.

“When we address Him as Bhagavan, it is not a mere reverential term. The knower of the source and end of all, of birth and death, who sees the Self alone in others, who is ever established in the blissful state of Pure Being and one who is omniscient and omnipotent, He alone is Bhagavan. When we talked to or of Bhagavan, we referred to Him as adu (‘It’), neuter gender, for the Jnani is neither male nor female, but the Eternal That. True, He sat and ate with us and spent all His 24 hours with us, but we should not forget that He was God Himself who walked on earth clothed in human form. His whole life was lived in perfect harmony. All His utterances were supremely pure and perfect. He ever abided in the Self. Hence peace and bliss radiated from Him all the time. He used to jokingly call Himself as ‘Pani-leni-vadu’ (‘one without any work’). When He did anything—cooking, binding a book, making a walking stick or reading proofs — there was always the stamp of perfection and the utmost precision on it. Though devotees referred to Him as ‘That’, He Himself said: “I did”, “I sat”. Bhagavan was not only a Jnani, a fully realised being, but a Sahaja Nishta, dwelling naturally in Eternity while seeming to be one of us!”

After a pause, Nataraja Iyer continued:
“Bhagavan never lay flat, at night, and none knew whether He slept at all. At 3:00am He would get up from His sofa and after easing would start cutting the vegetables. Then He would enter the kitchen and prepare the ingredients for that day’s cooking. He would start grinding and go on steadily at a measured speed. At times he made Uppuma and it would be delicious!

“In summer it would be very sultry inside the kitchen. If some one tried to fan Him with a palm-fan, He would say: ‘You are perspiring. First help yourself!’ When He cut vegetables, the sizes of all slices, would be identical. For each vegetable He had a specific way of cooking. Nothing was wasted. Every particle of vegetable had to be utilised in some part of the cooking. Left-over eatables were not to be given to the servants or thrown out. Bhagavan insisted that all were equal and that nothing should be wasted. Left-overs would again be heated and mixed together and served at the breakfast time along with iddlis. Orange peel and apple rind were gathered and made into a chutney. Bhagavan knew every minute detail of the culinary art, but while He ate He would mix everything together, showing no signs of enjoying the taste! By 6:00am He would return to the Old Hall. Then would follow bath and breakfast; then a walk up the Hill for half-an-hour.”

Here are a few anecdotes narrated by Nataraja Iyer.

“I recall an amusing incident. On occasions, a purgative was given (a special decoction of herbal roots and leaves) to all at the Ashram, including Bhagavan. Bhagavan would show keen interest in its distribution. I am reminded of what TPR (T.P. Ramachandra Iyer) once told me. He was practising law in Madras. Every Friday night he would start from Madras by train (there were no buses plying from Madras to Tiruvannamalai then) and would return to Madras by Sunday night train. On one such Friday he had skipped lunch and dinner and on Saturday morning arrived at the Ashram ravenously hungry. When he entered the Old Hall Bhagavan welcomed him with a beaming smile and told him to go straight to the kitchen. But what awaited him there was only this decoction which he promptly swallowed since Bhagavan had directed him! He came back to Bhagavan and narrated his plight and laughed aloud. Bhagavan joined him in the laughing spree. Those were golden days and one knew nothing but joy.”

“Bhagavan’s solicitude was seen in His prompt attention to the incoming post and His insistence that replies should go the same day. Also, if some devotee wrote that he would arrive on a particular date Bhagavan would remember it and on that day remind the concerned person. Once, a devotee from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) wrote that he was starting from Colombo on a particular day and would be reaching the Ashram. He forgot to mention the time of his arrival at Tiruvannamalai. So, Bhagavan asked me to find out from available time tables when the steamer started from Ceylon, when it reached Dhanushkoti and when he could be expected to reach Tiruvannamalai. Only after I found out the details and told the exact date and time, was He satisfied. I was moved to tears by Bhagavan’s karuna to this devotee from Ceylon!

“Sometimes monkeys would snatch away eatables that were being brought into the Old Hall from the kitchen for distribution to Bhagavan and devotees. He would plead the case of the monkeys and say, ‘You were careless. So, who should be punished?’ Once I was bringing eatables in a large open vessel. Cow Lakshmi followed me, eating from the vessel unnoticed by me. Bhagavan remarked, ‘Enough, Lakshmi enough! Leave something for us.’ So saying, He gave some more to her and sent her away. The attendant ridiculed and chided me for being careless. But, Bhagavan out of His Grace said: ‘Why do you blame him? Poor man, he is too innocent to notice all this.’ I have received this certificate of ‘innocence’ from my Master, What more do I require in this life?”

Sri N.Balarama Reddiar told me a revealing anecdote concerning Bhagavan’s Death Experience. Sri Reddiar said:

“One winter evening around 6:30pm after Veda Parayana, Bhagavan, as usual, was stretching Himself on the sofa. As He was doing so, without any occasion whatsoever for the utterance, He said suddenly and spontaneously: ‘It is said that I took twenty minutes to realise. It is wrong!‘ After a few seconds He added: 'It may be a moment'. But, again He corrected Himself: ‘Even that is not correct. Where is the time-element in it?”.

Sri Balarama Reddiar continued:

“After hearing this I thought to myself: ‘Why should Bhagavan make this statement? Usually He does not say anything without being asked. So, He must have been prompted by some mysterious force from within to speak thus. The time element did not enter into His Realisation of the Self, ’.”

Sri Tapas Swami narrated the following:

“When I was meditating in the presence of Sri Bhagavan, the radio announced that Mahatma Gandhi had been shot dead. There were some communal disturbances in the town that night. The following day there were incidents of arson and looting. The Sarvadhikari asked some of us to keep vigil at night so that nobody trespassed into the Ashram.

“Next day when we were sitting before Sri Bhagavan, suddenly there were shouts of ‘Catch them. Don’t let them go.’ A big crowd was moving in the direction of the Ashram. Salem Rajagopala Iyer bolted the doors and windows of the Hall so that nobody could come in. Chasing some Muslims, some Hindus ran towards the road through the Ashram.

“Unperturbed by all the noise and commotion around Him, Bhagavan was quietly going through some proofs! I realised how a jnani could be unaffected by things happening around Him.”

He continued:

“I recall another incident. It was the time when Bhagavan was known to have cancer. One day, He asked Sri Viswanatha Swami whether he remembered the verse in Yoga Vasiṣṭha, which said that a Jnani would remain unaffected in the face of any difficulty. Sri Viswanatha Swami could not recall it nor could I. Sri Bhagavan asked for the book and had the passage read out to Him.

‘He who sees Himself as free from the body (idea) knows it not even when the body is cut asunder, in just the same way as the sugarcandy whether dried in fire or cut remains sweet. Just as the wife carried on with the household chores though ever doting on her husband, so too the Jnani remains ever in the Supreme State though engaged in activity.’

“Christ remained unaffected when crucified. He only felt pity for those responsible for His crucifixion and prayed to God to forgive them as they ‘know not what they were doing’.”

Smt.Kanakamma narrated the following as told by Sri Muruganar:

“A disciple of a reputed Swami of South India came to Bhagavan to have His darshan. With some hesitation he started telling Bhagavan about his guru’s strict injunction that each one of his devotees should do so many thousands of japa daily and surrender the phala to the guru as their offering and that they were following it without fail.”

“Bhagavan smiled and observed: ‘Is it so? It is to be appreciated. So much gain for the guru with no strain on his part!’ While Bhagavan was saying this, Muruganar entered the Old Hall. Turning to him Bhagavan said: ‘Do you know? His guru commands each one of his disciples to perform so many thousands of nama-japa and surrender the phala to him, as guru kanikkai. After that will there be any balance for the disciples? It looks like one keeping the principal and surrendering the interest to the guru as offering. How do you appreciate this?”

“Muruganar with tears in his eyes replied: ‘Bhagavan! Their guru is far better. He at least leaves the principal and demands only the interest. But this guru here (pointing to Bhagavan) is worse. He takes away the principal itself; then where is room for interest? He demands the devotees’ moolam (principal) and vaddi (interest) all at once!’ Bhagavan gave a benign smile enjoying the poet’s joke with deep meaning.

Sri Annamalai Swami considered every utterance of Sri Bhagavan as direct upadesa.

One day Annamalai Swami and Bhagavan were walking by the Odai (stream) at the back of the Ashram, towards Palakotthu. There was an overhanging branch of a tree which Annamalai Swami did not notice and which hurt his forehead. Rubbing the spot, he said: “I shall axe the obstruction immediately upon returning.” Bhagavan told him, half in jest. “This idea occurred to you only after getting a bump on your forehead, did it?”. Sri Annamalai Swami understood it to mean that he should be more mindful in future.

On a Deepavali day, there was a sumptuous feast at the Ashram and like some others Annamalai Swami had overeaten. He went later to Bhagavan during the rest hour and complained of heaviness. Bhagavan said with laughter in His eyes, “There is a sure medicine for that”. He then asked for four rectangular granite sized blocks to be brought and told Annamalai Swami to drive them into the earth next to the well (east of the Old Hall, eastern window) in such a way that a square gap was formed in the middle, where a lamp (laandar) post could be firmly fixed. Bhagavan was at hand right through insisting that there be not a crevice visible and that all the outer sides of the four blocks be chipped to a perfect smoothness! It was hard work carried out in the scorching sun. Annamalai Swami happily recollected, “Even before the job was completed, I began to look forward to the dinner bell!”

Sri Kunju Swami related how Bhagavan explained Tirobhava (the power of obscuration or forgetting) which is often thought of as evil to be got rid of: “God in His mercy has withheld the knowledge of the past from people. If they knew that they were virtuous, they will grow proud; contrariwise, they will be depressed. Do you know the present life so well that you wish to know the past? Why do you wish to burden yourself with more knowledge and suffer more? Just as sleep rejuvenates and without it life soon becomes unbearable, so too this Tirobhava with the other functions of the Lord, viz., Sriśti (Creation), Sthiti (Protection), Samhara (Destruction) and Anugraha (Illumination) — serves a most wholesome function.