In the cold winter month of December, many great men
took birth in many parts of the world. In the Land of
Bharata (India), Mārgazhi
(Mid-December to mid-January) is an auspicious time. A
wonderful birth took place in Mārgazhi
to bring amity to the people.
Among the help, there was an elderly woman. She was a
multiparous woman. She raised many children. Then, her
eyesight was poor. She sat in a corner and was
dispensing advice to others, which was of great help to
the less experienced.
Though she had poor eyesight, her mind was on labor and
delivery. She wished the baby emerged healthy.
As soon as the baby was born, they gave the baby in the
hands of the elderly woman. Instantaneously, her vision
came alive. She wondered, “Was this the baby or a Great
Light?” In so dark a place, so bright is the child. The
astrology announced the infant was a Mahāṉ
(The Future Mahā Periyava / Ramanamaharishi).
Budhan in the 2nd house, Sukkiran, in the 5th
Guru, very special. This is the evidentiary proof
for the birth of Jñavāṉ
(Wise man).
The 5th
place is the site for Pūrva
Puṇṇiya
Stāṉam
(The place for merit from previous birth).
The dominance of Guru in Pūrva
Puṇṇiya
Stāṉam
is an evidence of very great man. Sundaram Iyar’s house
had a demerit (சாபம்
= curse).
A recluse coming for food and lodging many generations
ago was chased and beaten; that predicated the fate that
in each generation, one member would become a recluse.
This time, no one worried about it.
Sundaramaiyar’s Kuladaivam (Family deity) was
Venkataramana Swami and therefore, the child was named
Venkatraman. The child was plump. He grew up smart. What
singing, what dancing…what an alacrity! He never stayed
still. That worried the mother and made her tired. She
raised him with love and tenderness.
The parents admitted him in Maṉṉar
Sēthupathi
School. It was fascinating to see him go to the school,
strong of body, with a loin cloth, bare chest, a slate,…
No day without learning.
No fault finding by anyone.
It was ecstasy to see him with folded hands and to hear
him read aloud with other children. That child’s praise,
the whole world will announce. That child’s words of
grace, the world will hear. The people of the world give
up all faults, fall prostrate at his feet and enjoy
tranquility and rapturous joy. The town or the child’s
parents had no prescience of the future of this blessed
child.
“Hey… Shall we
build a ship and launch it? (Venkatraman said.)
“We need a heavy paper!” -His friend said.
Venkatraman brought a few sheets of extra heavy paper
and built many paper ships. He took them and floated
them in the temple sacred pond. They floated and sailed
the gentle waves propelled by the gentle breeze.
The heavy papers were the home ownership documents
scribed on the so-called Stamp paper.
“Let
him shed the shirt here and leave town! He can’t come
back home. That paper belonged to client of mine. What
am I going to tell him?” – Sundaramaiyar coming to know
of it, yelled loudly.
Venkatraman, terrified, ran away, not to be
found.
Evening came. The night was imminent. There was no
Venkatraman. The neighborhood people went searching. The
whole town went searching for him here and there.
There was not much of a crowd in the temple.
Midnight service in the temple was
over. The priest having performed Naivēttiyam to Ambal
and extinguished the flaming wick, heard something move
behind the Ambal idol, exited the premises, and shouted,
‘Who is there?’
Venkatraman’s face stuck out from behind the
idol.
“Little
calf! Are you here? The whole town is looking for you,
child! Your mother went around the temple twice. Poor
woman is crying. What are you doing here?
“Father will thrash me.”
“Fearing it, you are hiding. Is it the place to hide?”
Śivācchāriyār put the calf on his shoulder and took him
home.
Venkatraman knew at that age without awareness to seek
refuge with the omniscient God.
Venkatraman went to Dindukkal for higher education. Play
first and read later were his modus operandi. Those who
pay attention to the worldly activities, there was no
need for education: That became his discipline in the
future.
‘The sapling (is known) by the sprout.’ It is a proverb.
Not all know how to scrutinize. The sprout does not
reveal its secrets.
He played well like other children. He won in all play
activities because he was of fit physique.
Children wished to join him. They begged him to
include them in his team.
Finishing fifth grade in Tirucchuzhi, he joined sixth
grade in Dindukkal City School. Dindukkal is a bigger
town and many friends joined his team.
A fort built by Kurunila kings was in Dindukkal. It went
by the name
Ūmaiyan
Kōttai.’
Ūmaiyan
ruled his kingdom from the fort. When the British laid
seize on the fort, the king dug a hole in the wall and
escaped. When Venkatraman and friends wanted to enter
the court, the guards did not allow them in. They jumped
the perimeter wall and played inside. The guards chased
the boys. Venkatraman led the other boys to escape
through that hole in the wall.
.
Because of these bold and innovative actions,
Venkatraman’s fame heightened among his friends.
He played hard
and slept deep for long time. He was left home alone
under an order to study and keep a watch on the house.
Once they left the house, he pretended to read for a
while, shut his book, the windows, the front doors, and
the rear doors. He spread the sleeping mat. He went to
sleep. The occupants, returning from the event, banged
on the doors, yelled aloud…Venkatraman never woke up.
That sleep was more than deep sleep. It was a bodiless
sleep; it was beyond mind; it was deeper than deep
sleep. Somehow the occupants of the house found a way
into the house, shook him hard and awakened him.
Because of birth with a body, he spent his youth
sleeping to satisfy the total needs of sleep for the
rest of his life and after a certain age, he knew no
phenomenal sleep but immersed in Conscious Sleep
(‘Wakeful Sleep’). Nobody knew the wonder of Wakeful
Sleep he experienced later in life.
They called him by unflattering names: SleepFace,
Kumbakarṇa…
Sleep haunted him not only at home but also in the
classroom. The teacher twisted his ears, and hit him
with his knuckles to wake him up in the classroom. He
was subjected to insults. To avoid going to sleep in the
classroom, he tied a thread between his tuft and the
nail in the wall and read his book. When he nodded his
head with sleep, the pull of the string would wake him
up. He had the God-given gift of sleep anywhere,
anytime, at any cost…from his childhood.
Venkatraman’s father died in Tirucchuzi when Venkatraman
lived in Dindukkal. He left for Tirucchuzi and met his
father on the deathbed. His father’s death was traumatic
to young Venkatraman and caused life changes.
His father’s premature death broke the family
unit.
Mother remained in Tirucchuzi; oldest brother, sister,
older brother Nagaswamy and Venkatraman took refuge in
uncle Subbiah’s house. The uncle and the aunt embraced
and supported them.
But, no one knew then Venkatraman would live without the
support of the near and dear but only with that of God.
-
தரிசிப்போம்...
படம் சு. குமரேசன்
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