How Nayana got his name

A devotee asked, “Why does Bhagavan call Ganapati Sastri ‘Nayana’ (Nayana means father)?”

“There is a reason for it,” he replied, “it is my custom to address all people with respect. Moreover, he was older than me. I therefore always used to call him Ganapati Sastri Garu. That was very distressing to him and so he begged me times out of number not to do so, saying, ‘Am I not your disciple? You should call me by a familiar name. This is very unfair.’ I did not pay any heed to his protests. At last one day he insisted on my giving up the formal way of addressing him and adopting a familiar one.

All his disciples call him ‘Nayana’, you see. So I made it an excuse and said I too would call him ‘Nayana’ like the others.

He agreed to it because ‘Nayana’ means a child and a disciple could be addressed as one’s own child. I agreed because ‘Nayana’ also means ‘father’ and hence it would not matter so far as I was concerned. I was still addressing him in respectful terms. Whenever I asked him to come here or go there he was still uncomfortable because after all that he had done, I continued to talk to him with the respect due to elders,” said Bhagavan.

-- From Letters from Sri Ramanasramam (Letter 111)

Nayana Day: 25 July 2007

Nayana (Ganapathi Muni) mainly stayed in the Mango Tree cave on Arunachala and used to visit Bhagavan off and on. Nayana used to discuss shastras, with him and get his doubts cleared. He was a mighty scholar, while Bhagavan was just literate, yet Nayana would say,

"Without Bhagavan's grace, the intricacies of the scriptures are beyond one's power of understanding. One word from him makes everything clear."

.

When Nayana would see someone sitting in front of Bhagavan, meditating with his eyes closed, he would scold the devotee saying,

"When the sun is shining in front of you, why do you need to close your eyes? Are you serious or do you only want to show what a pious fellow you are?"

Those were happy days indeed, and I was blessed with many visions of deities and divinities. It was all due to Nayana's powers and Bhagavan's grace.

-- A lifetime with Bhagavan, by T.K.Sundaresa Iyer
Please also see arunachala-ramana, Ganapati Muni in Ramana Leela, Nayana and the Ramana Gita.

Be with us always

A lady devotee prayed to Bhagavan, "My only desire is that you may always be with us".

Bhagavan exclaimed, "Look at her, she wants us all to turn into stones, so that we may sit here forever"

-- Recounted by Chalam

Sri N Subramanian absorbed in Bhagavan

On Monday, July 2, Appachi Mama, the head priest of Sri Ramanasramam, passed away at a Vellore hospital due to a sudden stroke. He was 80 years old and had served in Sri Ramanasramam since his youth. His departure has saddened all those who have benefited by his devotion and service all these decades. In his usual modest manner, Appachi Mama briefly
described his life in a recent video interview. The following text has been extracted from this interview.

I joined the Ashram Vedapatasala on January 8, 1942 and finished my course in 1950. During those years the Patasala boys had to perform most of the Ashram chores. This included assisting the priest in the Mother’s temple, cleaning the kitchen after every meal, grinding the coffee beans every evening, shifting huge vessels from the fire, spreading rice for mixing at the poor feeding, serving the devotees and the servants. The rest of the time we had our Veda lessons.

Once, while serving Bhagavan and others, Bhagavan asked for some more buttermilk. I went to the kitchen and
took the bucket containing the buttermilk and served Bhagavan, not knowing that this was the sour buttermilk
which was put aside for the servants. Bhagavan drank the buttermilk and never said anything. But the kitchen staff
took me to task. I was shocked to know that inadvertently I served sour buttermilk to Bhagavan. I was too shy and frightened to face him. Even during the morning and evening Veda Parayana in the hall I sat at a distance from him and at meals avoided serving him. However, after two days had passed and finding that he did not mention anything about the incident I took courage and started serving him again.

In 1950 after Bhagavan’s Maha Nirvana, I joined a secondary school and after finishing the eighth standard I took a teachers training course. I then served as a teacher for three years in Tirukoilur and Tanjore. At the time my pay was 45 rupees per month. Krishnamurthy (Kittu), who was working as a priest in the Ashram, wrote to me and asked me to return to serve in the Ashram with a salary of only 15 rupees per month. Though the pay was low, I thought it was a call from Bhagavan himself to serve him, and heeding this call resigned my job, came and settled at the Ashram.

In those days the Ashram income was insufficient and irregular. Consequently, we used to be paid only when there
were enough funds. These days, of course, even before the end of the month we get our pay. Things have changed
considerably.
As the electrician and plumber would not come to the Ashram when called, I also took up that work. I did most of
the electrification and plumbing to the newly built cottages. I also had to prepare naivedya, do the grinding work for the
temple, go to the town for collecting papers, get signatures from the trustees maintaining accounts, etc. All these
responsibilities devolved on me. Later on the situation improved and the Ashram had its own plumber and
electrician, and the other jobs were taken over by the office staff. In this manner, I have been at the service of Bhagavan
for more than 50 years.
SRI N. SUBRAMANIAN
(APPACHI MAMA)
Taken from the Maharshi Newsletter, July-Aug 2007

In Your Arms

Even if you were to throw away my dead body in these thorny bushes I do not mind, but I must end this life in Your arms.
-- Bhagavan's Mother to Him

Bhagavan, your dear Mother spoke for all of us.  

See also Ramana Devotees.