Sundaram's mother

In continuation to yesterdays account of Sundaram's vision at the Subrahmanya Temple, is the remarkable response of his mother:
Once while he was reading the Sri Ramana Vijayam to his mother, his mother said:
'I see the Lord of the hill before me. He points you out and wants that I should hand you over. He says you are His.
So I hand you over.
Go on this right path by which you will bring emancipation to 21 generations of this family.'

~~~
4. Was it for Thy pleasure or for my sake Thou didst win me? If now Thou turn me away, the world will blame Thee, O Arunachala!

Bhagavan calls Sundaram

A remarkable aspect of his (Sundaram's) life was that he received his spiritual guidance at the shrine of Lord Subrahmanya at Tiruchendur. While he once heard these words: 'Regard all women as your mother. Regard them as Valli Herself (consort of Lord Subrahmanya)'. At the shrine it also flashed in his mind:
'Here I am a God who does not talk. Go to Tiruvannamalai. There I am a talking, walking God.'
-- Reminiscences of Sundaram (Swami Trivenigiri), p93 UY, who came to the ashram in 1933.

~~~
3. Entering (my) home and luring me (to Yours) why did You keep me prisoner in Your Heart's cavern, O Arunachala?

The suffering is mine

Attendant K was a veritable enemy of the monkeys. When the monkeys played mischief in the hall or tried to stealthily take away fruits he would beat them ignoring Bhagavan's protests. Once Bhagavan told him,
'It is not the monkeys that are receiving your beatings. It is I. The suffering is mine.'
-- Roda McIver, p63 Unforgettable Years (a compilation).

[Update: Please also see Bhagavan's warning call to monkeys.]
~~~
1. (a) You root out the ego of those who meditate on You in the Heart, O Arunachala!

Silence

Once, a devotee while observing silence wrote out a long list of questions and handed it over to Bhagavan. He looked at it and returned it observing,
'Is this silence? It is the mind which has to be silent.'
[Roda McIver recollects, p62, Unforgettable Years]

Silence

Another devotee was continuously prostrating to Bhagavan. He remarked:
Is this a gymnasium? Have you come for exercise? If you have devotion, demonstrate it by your silence.

Devotion greater than intellectual jargon

On one occasion, Roda's husband, who was well-versed in scriptural lore and learning, was discussing seriously with his friends spiritual matters using high-sounding technical terms. 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'

[Rod McIver was drawn to Bhagavan upon seeing a photo of His. Her first darshan was in 1942. Excerpted from Unforgettable Years, p 59]

The one in everyone is Swami

Santamma who used to work in the kitchen wanted to express her love for Bhagavan by serving food to Him first. Bhagavan told her:
'Swami does not mean this body only. The one in everyone of these devotees is the Swami alone. If you serve them first, the Swami will be happy.'

[Rangaswamy's remembers, Unforgettable Years, p 54]

Am I not by your side

I had come very early one morning. I was scared at the prospect of coming alone on a deserted path at that time. As if reading my thoughts Bhagavan said, 'Why are you afraid? Am I not by your side?' Immediately my fear vanished.

Whatever the work in which He might have been engaged, He somehow or the other found time to come to the kitchen and make enquiries about the helpers there. How can i describe His grace on all of us, the workers of the kitchen!

Our days were filled with joy. We were not conscious of our surroundings. The passage of time would go unnoticed. The toughest of jobs would seem light. Even a little exertion would tire us at home. But in his company we would always be energetic, and ready to take on any amount of work. All this was only because we were certain that Bhagavan cared for us.

[Sampoornamma lived in the ashram from 1930. She would readily recall those wonderful two decades with Ramana. She had so many opportunites to be near Him, particularly in the early years. This excerpt is from Unforgettable Years, page 65 (Ed A R Natarajan, RMCL).]

You are the Light

Bhagavan, You are the Light !

For more, see this.

God shines in their hearts

For those who say that God exists, He exists in their Heart as consciousness. But in the venomous mind (of those who do not believe in Him), He will never exist (never shine). If by purifying the venomous mind, one sees without delusion, He will shine triumphantly and unalloyed as Self.

-- GVK (1083)

"I am also Bhagavan"

... I (Annamalai Swamy) had tried to give Bhagavan some nungus (palmyra fruit). ... When Bhagavan came past, He looked at me suspiciously and asked several times, "Why have you come here?"

After some hesitation, I told Bhagavan, "I came here to cut and give these nungus to Bhagavan." Bhagavan accepted the fruit, but said at the same time, "You should have eaten them yourself, and while you were eating them you should have thought, 'I am also Bhagavan'."

Bhagavan then dug out many of the fruits and with His fingers sucked the juice. Finally after exclaiming, "Appadi*! I cannot carry the stomach", He walked away.

[* expression of contentment]

Oho! You belong to us!

Some people cane from the south for Bhagavan's darshan. Among them was a 5-year old boy. He did namaskar and then approached Bhagavan and looked at Him very lovingly. Bhagavan placed His left hand on the boy's head and asked Him, "What do you want?"

The boy replied firmly, "I don't want anything."

"Oho!", said Bhagavan, "You belong to us."

Then, addressing the people he came with, He added, "If he remains in the "dont wan't" state, everything will come to him".

Last year of Bhagavan thru Annamalai Swamy's eyes

The last year of Bhagavan Ramana as experienced by Sri Annamalai Swamy (please read Living By the Words for account) forms perhaps the most moving account of a devotee of Bhagavan. For those of us for whom Bhagavan's life on earth was the most beautiful event in the history of the "phenomenal" world, the last year of Sri Annamalai Swamy is a most heart-rending account. Although he does not recount it in that way, (his account is very factual), but
one can gather what he would have felt given his life-long devotion to Bhagavan.

In addition, Bhagavan once remarked to another devotee, that those who were physically present had their minds elsewhere, whereas Annamalai Swami who was elsewhere always had his mind on Bhagavan.

Sri Annamalai Swamy was most blessed to be showered with Bhagavan's love and concern
(most deservedly). In the end, he was asked to meditate away from Ashram, and eventually asked not to interact with Bhagavan, so that he may find the real Bhagavan in his Heart.

So in Bhagavan's last year, He never got to speak with Bhagavan at all. When Bhagavan's health began to fail, and He could not walk past Palakottu, Sri Annamalai Swamy would have not had a darshan of His most beloved Bhagavan. During Bhagavan's last "mortal" moment, Sri Annamalai Swamy was in great physical pain, and praying for his own death, and praying that he should die before Bhagavan.
Although, that was not to be, however Bhagavan took with Him Sri Annamalai Swamy's physical pain.

Sri Annamalai Swamy described his last (second-hand) "contact" with Bhagavan's physical body -- the factual account indicates the deep emotions running within.(Spoiler: Annamalai Swamy did not get to have a darshan of Bhagavan even after Bhagavan's mahasamadhi.)

Last words between Annamalai Swamy and Bhagavan

The last words exchanged between Bhagavan and Sri Annamalai Swamy form a very moving account of how a guru attempts to break the discples attachment to his form. Some excerpts:

"If one has no faith in God one will commit a lot of sins and be miserable. But you, you are a mature devotee. When the mind has attained maturity, in that mature state, if one thinks that one is separate from God, one will fall into the same state as an atheist who has no belief in God."

I left the ashram and never went back again, Although my room is only about 200 yards from the ashram gate, I have not visited the ashram once since that fateful day in the 1940's.

Though Bhagavan has asked me not to come to the ashram any more, I still thought that I had the freedom to talk to Him when He visited Palakottu. Bhagavan disabused me of this notion shortly afterwards, when I went to see Him while He was walking on the hill.

He turned to me and said, "You are happier than I. What you had to give, you have given. What I had to give I have given. Why are you still coming to me?"

These were His last words to me. I obeyed his instructions and never approached Him again.

Bhagavan had once told me: "Do not cling to the form of the Guru for this will perish; do not cling to His feet for His attendants will stop you. The true Bhagavan resides in your Heart as your true Self. This is who I truly am."

Source

The benefit of reciting Bhagavan's verses

The benefit of reciting Bhagavan's verses

When one group of villagers who had just been given Arunachala Stuti Panchakam (Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala) to recite left the hall, a devotee asked, ' How can such uneducated people understand the literary Tamil in these poems?'

'They don't have to understand the meaning,' replied Bhagavan, 'they will get some benefit from merely repeating the verses.'

On another occasion, with respect to Echammal's granddaughter, Bhagavan said, 'In future when trouble comes to her, the remembrance of these verses (Essence of Instruction) will help her.'

This girl is now an old woman. When I saw her a few months ago, she told me, 'The verses have stayed in my memory all my life, but it is only recently, by the grace of Bhagavan, that I have begun to understand their meaning.'

(Memories of Sri Annamalai Swamy)

Related:
Echamma (Sri Ramana Leela) and her passing away
Echamma (Letters from Sri Ramanashramam)

Peanut Parayana

I recollect one amusing incident that took place early one morning, just before the Parāyana (ed: reading of scriptures) was to be chanted. For several weeks, Bhagavan had not been eating much food in the evening. As a result he tended to get a little hungry at about 4 a.m. the following morning. To assuage his hunger Bhagavan used to roast peanuts on His kumutti (ed: charcoal grill) and eat them. After he had roasted them He would offer some to Krishnaswami, His attendant, and to anyone else who happened to be in the hall at that time.

On this particular morning Bhagavan took out his peanuts and told Krishnaswami, 'Before they start the Veda Parāyana let us do peanut parāyana.'

(Recollections of Sri Annamalai Swamy)

Bhagavan mistaken for stone image !

23rd November, 1938

Talk 584.

A certain visitor began to pull the pankah (fan). Sri Bhagavan said: "Because it is cold , they have placed fire by my side. Why should the pankah be pulled?"

Then he continued: "On a cold morning, when I was in Virupaksha cave, I was sitting in the open. I was feeling cold. People used to come, see me and go back. A group of Andhra visitors had come. I did not notice what they were doing. They were behind me. Suddenly a noise `tak' - and water over my head! I shivered with cold. I looked back. They had broken a coconut and poured the water on me. They thought that it was worship. They took me for a stone image."

Photo of Bhagavan's statue in Mother's temple taken by author, free to copy/use.
Acalayoga

God is not separate

You now think that you are an individual, there is the universe and that God is beyond the cosmos. So there is the idea of separateness. This idea must go. For God is not separate from you or the cosmos. The Gita also says:

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः ।
अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च ॥१०- २०॥

The Self am I, O Lord of Sleep, In every creature's heart enshrined. The rise and noon of every form, I am its final doom as well.
B. G., X. 20.

Thus God is not only in the heart of all, He is the prop of all, He is the source of all, their abiding place and their end. All proceed from Him, have their stay in Him, and finally resolve into Him. Therefore He is not separate.
(Talk 649)

Bhagavan Reminisces

When He was sitting under a tree in the temple compound He was covered with dirt, for He never used to bathe.

In the cold nights of December He used to fold up the legs, place his head between his legs and remain there without moving. Early in the morning the layer of dirt on His body was soaked with dew and mist and appeared white. After drying up in the sun it appeared dark.
(Talks 357)

Surrender Oneself

Talk 208

It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one's being. Do not delude yourself by imagining such source to be some God outside you. One's source is within yourself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge in it. Because you imagine yourself to be out of it, you raise the question "Where is the source?" Some contend that the sugar cannot taste its own sweetness and that a taster must taste and enjoy it. Similarly, an individual cannot be the Supreme and enjoy the Bliss of that state; therefore the individuality must be maintained on the one hand and God-head on the other so that enjoyment may result! Is God insentient like sugar? How can one surrender oneself and yet retain one's individuality for supreme enjoyment? Furthermore they say also that the soul, reaching the divine region and remaining there, serves the Supreme Being. Can the sound of the word "service" deceive the Lord? Does He not know? Is He waiting for these people's service? Would not He - the Pure Consciousness - ask in turn: "Who are you apart from Me that presume to serve Me?"
Full Story: http://benegal.org/ramana_maharshi/books/tw/tw208.html
--
The Self alone, the Sole Reality,
Exists for ever.