Introducing

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Sri Jayadevlal Davey, banker, comes of a pious family of Gujarati Brahmins. This is how he came to Sri Bhagavan. When he was about twenty his mother sent him one day with biksha (food offered in alms to sanyasins) to Sri Dandapaniswami, who was then living in the Ekambareswara temple situated in Sowcarpet, Madras. This Swami, a devotee of Sri Bhagavan, showed Davey a photograph of Him, and strongly advised him to go to Sri Ramanasramam and meet Sri Bhagavan. Accordingly Sri Davey soon proceeded to Tiruvannamalai taking with him a garland of roses and some sweets. When he entered the Ashram he saw Sri Bhagavan and His attendant, Sri Madhavaswami, coming towards him. He placed the garland and the sweets in Sri Bhagavan's hands and paid his obeisance to Him, and then followed Him into the Hall. Sri Bhagavan's presence and the peaceful surroundings had a remarkably soothing effect upon him.

This first visit was made in 1928. Thereafter Sri Davey began to visit the Ashram frequently, very often bringing his wife, Rajibai, with him, for darshan of Sri Bhagavan. He once prayed to Sri Bhagavan to give him some upadesa (spiritual instruction). Upon this Sri Bhagavan asked him whether he was practising any sadhana. When he replied that he was repeating the Gayatri Mantra daily Sri Bhagavan said: “The word dhimahi occurring in the mantra means “I meditate” Now, do you know who is this “I” who meditates? If you do not, you must find him out.” From this time onwards Sri Davey began to love Sri Bhagavan with the love of a son for his father.

On another occasion Sri Davey's wife, Rajibai persuaded him to ask Sri Bhagavan to bless them with a child. All their four children had died in infancy and they were therefore anxious to have a child who would not meet with premature death. Sri Bhagavan thereupon explained to them that just as all the flowers of a mango tree do not produce fruits and as all the fruits do not become ripe, so also all the children who are born do not live to a ripe old age and that people must put up with their losses, consoling themselves with the thought that everything happens according to the will of God. This explanation consoled the husband and wife and thereafter they never felt any grief over the loss of their children or longed for another child.

In 1937, Sri Davey took a photographic film of Sri Bhagavan. This film is of immense interest and is even now exhibited to the devotees who gather on occasions like the Jayanthi. Sri Davey was also in a way responsible for bringing out the valuable Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi by Swami Ramanananda Saraswati, a well-known and important publication of the Ashram, by offering to get the manuscript in form of a diary typed out.

At the time of the Kumbhabhishekam of the Mathrubutheswarar Shrine in 1949 he placed his spacious house in Madras at the disposal of the Sarvadhikari, to whom he was devoted, the latter's visit being for the purpose of collecting stores and materials required for the ceremony. Although there were numerous devotees who came to see the Sarvadhikari all of them always enjoyed Sri and Smt. Davey's generous hospitality.

Sri Davey and his wife were present at the Ashram at the time of the Mahanirvana of Sri Bhagavan. They first saw a bright light come out of Sri Bhagavan's body and, like a mist, cover the whole Ashram and every one in it. They next saw (like others) a bright star-like object in the sky which started to move northwards at the precise moment of the Mahanirvana. They continue to visit the Ashram regularly even after the Mahanirvana rarely missing any important function like the Jayanthi or the Aradhana.

– 'The Mountain Path' January 1970, p.44, and reproduced by the Hartford Satsang group for their 2008 Saranāgatī function