Mrs.Roda Mac Iver
Hailing from a priestly Parsee family in Bombay, Roda Kamdin was in her childhood instructed to say her prayers, morning and evening, though she did not understand what she was praying for. She lost her mother at the tender age of eleven, Her prayers continued, but her problem was how to see God. When her father also passed away during her 23rd year she was left alone. Though she was free in a sense and not compelled to say her prayers, her wish to see God persisted.
A photo of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi drew her to Sri Ramana, though she could actually see Him only in 1942. Her very first darshan of the holy sage convinced her of His supreme saintliness ; but more than all, her long cherished wish to directly see God was fulfilled then! She felt drawn to the Maharshi like a piece of iron to a magnet. Her surrender and dedication to Him became complete from her very first darshan of Him. Her life’s ambition having been totally fulfilled, she had no other wish and no urge at all to put any question to Him.
That did not mean that she was unaffected by sorrow. One day when she was feeling some mental agony while being seated in front of Sri Bhagavan, He took out a piece of unburnt charcoal from the urn and showed it to her and said: “Do not burn your mind. Keep the mind as fresh and clean as this coal.” From that time onwards she gave up worrying over any problem.
In the beginning of the forties when she saw some devotees touching Sri Bhagavan’s feet, Mrs.Mac Iver had a great desire to do the same. She wanted to touch His feet before she left the Ashram. One of her friends to whom she had expressed her wish, warned her that it was against the rules of the Ashram. That day while taking their lunch at the Ashram, surprisingly that friend suddenly said in a loud voice: ‘Bhagavan! Roda wants to touch your feet’. She was shocked, afraid of dire consequences to follow. All stood in a line to allow Sri Bhagavan to wash His hands, When He was near Roda He said in Tamil, making gestures showing His feet and His head while speaking: “Why do you want to touch these feet? Bhagavan’s Feet are ever over your head.” On listening to these words of nectar from Him, her desire to touch Him disappeared completely. She started feeling that she was always blessed by His Holy Feet on her head.
On another occasion, her husband, Mr. David Mac Iver, well-versed in scriptural lore and learning, was discussing seriously with his friends spiritual matters using high-sounding technical terms. Mrs. Roda felt sad that she could not at all follow what they were talking about. She went to Bhagavan and reported it, while He was going up the Hill and He replied in English: “Why are you sad over it? Your path (devotion) is far greater than their intellectual jargon.” This confirmed her in her innocent, blind devotion to Sri Bhagavan – her God. And she stuck on to Him, in spite of adverse circumstances. After the Brahma Nirvana of Sri Bhagavan, one day, when she was feeling His physical absence very much, she was thrilled to hear an inner voice vividly telling her: “I AM always with you.” Even today Mrs. Roda, who is living in her cottage opposite to the Ashram, comes to the shrine of Sri Bhagavan, both in the morning and evening to meditate on her chosen God and Guru, knowing well the value of prayer !