11Ramanamaharishi20100908.html
11Ramanamaharishi 20100908
சக்தி விகடன் - 08 Sep, 2010 2010-09-08-part1
ஸ்ரீரமண மகரிஷி = SriRamana Maharishi
அண்ணாமலையே சரணம் = Surrender to Aṇṇāmalai. Revised on June 19, 2018


                                                                                                                 
                                                                   
Extreme weariness and disgust are necessary to shed the creature comforts of the world. What other weariness could come to a youngster who knows nothing more than eating and sleeping. Here is a different chemistry. Once you regard the world as God, what other desire could afflict him? This divine sense can occasionally appear in people. Venkatraman plunged into the God-sense and was lost. This is fate. A great Divine Blessing.
He went past the Mandapam and the processional Temple Car; he went on the Sannidhi Street, nothing impressed him. At the end of the street, there was a big lake: Ayyan Kuḷam (Brahma’s pond or lake). Near the pond there was Aruṇagirināthar Temple, named after the presiding deity of the temple. It is a very ancient temple. He peeked at the temple and went to the lakeside. He had in his hands snacks and a few coins in the bag. Once he made up his mind that all is for Aṇṇāmalaiyār, he thought where the need was for snacks and coins. He threw the snacks in the lake, which the fish ate eagerly. The coins jostled by the undercurrents and spinning on their axes descended to the lakebed and bedded themselves in the soft mud.

Standing on the lakeside and taking in the sights, his attention was distracted by someone saying, “Do you need a head shave.” His face had the looks of an out-of-towner. Where is the attraction for a local boy to spend time at the lakeside? On the North side of the lake, the women from Agrahāram (Brahmin quarters) were washing the clothes. On the west side of the lake, he was the lone visitor.
Hearing this, with no thought, he assented to the proposal with the shake of the head. He (the tout) took him to a barber and the long black tuft was sheared off his occiput. Now the money for the shave.  The coins are in the lakebed. That long tresses are the payment, the youngster thought. There is big money in the sheared hair, when made into a braid. The barber accepted the the long tresses as payment and left with the hair. Venkatraman stood there with the sheared bald head. He took off his shirt and threw it on the lakeshore. Where is the need of a shirt for a reclusive boy? He was giving up the world for love of God. He tore his loincloth into loin pieces (கோமணம்) and wore it as a loin cloth. He walked towards the temple.
How can you leave after a head shave without a bath? It did not occur to him. When he was walking towards the temple, Aruṇāchalēśvarar came down as rain shower and bathed him.
Having no rain for a long time in Tiruvannamalai, the scorched earth sucked up the rainwater eagerly. Upon the fall of the feet of the jñāni on the earth, the earth was happy to have received the blessings. Wet and dripping, Venkatraman came to 1000-pillar Mandapam and sat there. He was hungry. He did not want to ask for food from anyone. He closed his eyes and silence was his abiding companion inside him.
Hunger was there but did not bother him. He felt his hunger, more by the body than by the mind. He did not have the thought to eat. Feeding him is the job for Aruṇāchalēśvarar. He was calm inside. He sat there throughout the night without eating a morsel of food. A Swamy charged with cleaning the premises saw the youngster sitting there motionless and having a famished look on his face.
Pazhaṉi Swamy communicated with another Sadhu in the language of silence, ‘That child is sitting there motionless. He looks famished. Give him some food.’ Pazhaṉi Swamy was the caretaker of the temple gardens.
Pazhaṉi Swamy served him in a tin can of old rice, a pinch of salt, and a pickle. Venkatraman ate the food. The hunger abated. Aruṇāchalēśvarar gave him his first meal in the temple grounds. This is the first contact with the disciple. It was Prasada obtained without asking for it.
“See here the bald pate, motionless like a statue. – a boy pointed to Venkatraman.
“Will he or will he not move? If I fling a stone, he will move. See it now. I will make him move!” Another boy challenged. The boy caught in the cruel hold of fate of prarabda was instigated by another boy. The rock thrown bounced off the stone pillar and grazed his head.
“He did not move!”
He cast another stone. That stone also flew by him without hitting Venkatraman. That stone missed its mark. Two more boys tried their luck. Drinking with drunks, getting angry with irate people, doing demerits to the sinner... are bad enough. Going after a harmless boy is sin. Caught by fate, the boys continued to throw stones. Then, a good samaritan chased the urchins out of there.
‘This location is not safe!’ Bālaswāmy (Venkatraman with shaved head) stood up. He was not sad. No face, he remembered. He moved out of that site, probably thinking and wishing beningly that the urchins did not accumulate sins by casting stones on him.
That was a Mandapam in ruins. Under the Mandapam, there was a subterranean Sivalingam, named ‘Pātāla Liṅgeśvarar,’ a derivative name. It was a Liṅgam placed on the grave of an unknown person. The site belonged to a sect, which a king bought, tore down and built the stone Mandapam in its place. The Sivalingam was left in place. Since the stone Mandapam was built around and above the Lingam, so it was easier for the gamins to throw stones at Venkatraman, now called Bālaswāmy (young deity).
Hiding behind the columns, the guttersnipes were throwing stones at Bālaswāmy. A few stones fell on him. He remained motionless. He knew little of what happened around him. He did not know what was around him. The seat was moist. The poisonous insects were abundant around him. Centipedes bore holes in his thighs. The ants bit him. Leeches attached to his body were sucking on the blood and  the body fluids.
Losing his body awareness, he delved deep into his mind, held on to it fast, and did not know the happenings on and around him.
“This Bald Pate did not come out though we threw stones at him, and remains motionless."
The malevolent boys screwed up their eyes, knitted their eyebrows and looked into subterranean darkness intently. They found their intended target. They threw the collected street stones at him with a passionate determination so the stones will make him move or at least his eyelashes. Bālaswāmy was not the only one, the object of their stone-flinging malicious mischief; they did it to others before him. They threw stones at Tiruvannamalai Śeṣādri Swamy (deity) looking at the sky laughing, resting his hands on his waist and talking to himself.
‘The insane talks to himself and to the sky.’ They were taught such things. No one told them, talking in a self-introspective poise may appear as talking to oneself. Their elders did not have the wherewithal to teach them such sattvic things. So, throwing stones at Sadhus was sports. Śeṣādri Swāmygaḷ who sustained such abuse in the past under similar conditions, hastened to the Mandapam and chased the miscreants out of there.
‘Who is there?’ The voice rang in the cave below. He saw a vague shadow of a person. There was no movement.
He called Mauṉa Swamy and Pazhaṉi Swamy. All three went into the dark and dingy subterranean space and carried Bālaswāmy out of the forbidding dark space. They sat him down in the Mandapam. The ants and other insects ate his back. The back was raw, exuding ugly pearls of pus.
‘This must have given him considerable pain!’ He put up with the pain and remained in Samadhi. Such was the depth of his Samadhi! Could that be possible? What kind of a Swamy is he? What a Tapas this is! How did he ever perfect this Tapas?’
They wondered. They stood him up and applied unguents. They supported him by the armpits, took him to the Nandavanam, sat him down and fed him rice.
Śeṣādri Swāmygaḷ told them not to interrupt his Tapas. They fed him at mealtimes. The trouble continued there too.
‘You escaped from there! We will never leave you here alone.’ Another mob of howling scalawags gathered. Once you find pleasure in malicious mischief, giving up the sport is hard. Their collective mind nourishes and dwells on cruelty. This is Pūrvajeṉma Karma (Past life Karma). It was the carry-over curse from the past life to the present. The curse multiplies a hundredfold, becoming the instigator of the present malicious mischief.
Bālaswāmy remained with closed eyes under some tree in Nandavanam full of oleander plants. When he is awake with open eyes, he finds himself moved to the shade of another tree.
He will sit closing the eyes, not knowing his earlier movement, what moved, how he moved…The Tapas faced no interruption, whatever may be the troubles, impedimets and miseries. The mind was one-pointed, abiding and steady; asceticism never diminished.
No… This is not Tapas. Tapas has an object. There was no aim or ulterior motive. He was his own Witness. He was immersed inside himself. He was in great ecstasy continuously. Aṇṇāmalaiyār desired to offer him a peaceful place for his use. People with those benign intents gravitated to him, (as impelled by Aṇṇāmalaiyār).
There is no worry for those who took refuge in God. God will save them. How does he save them? That secret is known only to God.
- தரிசிப்போம்... Let us get Darśan
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                                                                                   Author: Sarukesi

Part 2 Sakthi Vikatan. 2010, September 8 கருணை தெய்வம் காஞ்சி மகான் = Kanchi Mahan offering compassion.
குரு தரிசனம் Guru Darśan. Author
Pattābhi Iyar forgets himself drawn by and immersed in old memories, when the talk delves on Kānchi Muṉivar. The eyes brim with tears.
He observed, “As public service pertains to Vedic injunctions, people should observe their own birth Dharma and perform Karmic injunctions without fail.” Periyava started 25-30 years ago an association ‘Jīvātmā Kaiṅkarya Sabhai’- Final Rites. It is Periyava’s opinion that the funeral rites are performed for the dead orphans. Sometimes, calls come from Hospitals and the police. They performed the final rites under the Government rules, sprinkle Ganges water on the mortal remains of the Hindu body and committed it to crematory rites. This initiative by Periyava was of great help to the government.
There were 50-60 Tyagis in the voluntary outfit. They were all youngsters waiting for and carrying out their duties at the request of Periyava with no hesitation. To this day, the service is extant. Now, as before, getting volunteers is difficult.
‘The dead is unknown to any one…that person is neither related nor close to any known person. That being so, could we remain aloof? If the dead is a known Hindu, the relatives were grief-stricken. If Periyava was so compassionate towards the dead, think of the extent of his compassion to the living. He arranged for schooling, books, uniform…for the children of the incarcerated. He arranged for the health and welfare of the spouses of the jailed. For this purpose, in Kumbhakoṇam, he started and maintained Advaita Sabha.
Vākkiyārttha Sathas (Chanting or explication of a sacred passage) happened there often. This was started by Periyava. Here the sacred passages receive minute analysis. On important holidays, the volunteers go to the jail house to improve the mental health of inmates, explain the importance of devotion to God, teach them good citizenship and wish them well.
Likewise, they went to the patients in the hospitals, chant Rāma Nāmam, Śiva Nāmam and give aṭcatai (rice mixed with turmeric), sacred ash, and Kum-kum as articles of benediction and worship. These alone cure half of their maladies. For the terminally ill patients, we sit by their side, recite Japam and make them drink 10 drops of Ganges water.
  A cancer patient was restless with pain. We sat by his side daily and recited Siva Namam and Rama Namam. He told us movingly, “I don’t feel the pain. I am ready for death.” The 15 days he lived, he was free from pain. We learnt from Periyava only, what a great service it is to give pain relief to a terminally ill fellow human.
Another great plan from Periyava is to donate a measure of rice to the needy. We collected rice and cooked it in Kerukampākkam Sri Nīlaṇdēśvarar Temple and offered it as Prasadam to all on the 2nd and the 4th Sundays. Periyava had similar desire to do the same on the last Friday of the month in Tiruchi Akilāndēśvari Temple
A compatriot named Sundaram joined us in our service. When 10 bags of rice are cooked for Sweet Pongal, imagine the amount of raw unrefined sugar needed. Four people breaking the Sugar (Jagary)molds and four people cooking: We start cooking at 2:30 a.m. There is a choultry in North Street. Periyava conducted Gōsālai (Cow protection service). Ṛg Veda teaching was taking place on the side. The Prasada is distributed there. On the last Friday in Ādi month (July-August), free food distribution takes place. In that celebration, the locals and even the North Indian devotees participate.
Periyava admonished saying, “Should only the family members eat the sweets?” In his free food distribution, South Indian Vegetarian Fare with sweets are given. We keep telling not to waste food. Periyava’s calculus is that the sign of satiation is some recognizable food remnants on the Banana leaf plate after the people engorged themselves with the food. To that extent one should serve food to satiate the hunger and find some leftovers on the plate. That was the holy posture of Periyava.
Katalādi is a village in the Tiruvannamalai district. It is a forested area with a mountain. In olden days, there were predatory animals. There were distant relatives of Periyava in that village. A few are still there now. The village was the source of Bamboo Cane for Periyava. They cut the bamboo and beat it in the water. If it does not break it is the thick male bamboo. We take only the young bamboo for Periyava. If the cane becomes impure, Periyava changes the cane. On his Yātrā, the retinue takes 25 staffs (தண்டம் = Thaṇḍam = daṇḍa = Staff = Bamboo stick).
Near Kānchi Katalādi, there is Parvatha Malai (mountain). It is a huge mountain, hard to climb and demanding utmost care. A little slip: That is the end. Mallikārjuṉa Swamy Temple is on the mountain. Ambal’s name is Brahmarāmbhikai. Circumambulation of the mountain is a mere 36 km distance. Periyava had done it many times. We accompanied him many times.
We had 25 big bags of rice. We prepared Tamarind rice. We made 15,000 Jāṅgri (sweets). We took the food by truck and distributed the food from three locations. We dispense Prasadam like this once a year as a custom. The inspiration and impetus came from Periyava.
Only when a stream of love springs from the heart and mind, it finds expression in compassion. Periyava’s mind is such. He is the god of mercy. If we are lucky to be soaking wet in his rain of mercy, what else do we need?