Ramanamaharishi21
Sakthi Vikatan 2011 January 25.
Sri Ramanamaharishi Soul Realization. Author: Balakumaran
Friends and devotees drawn by him and desiring to learn from him, stayed
around his place where Bālaswāmy, later known as Sri Ramana Maharishi
lived.
Sri Ramanasramam publication titled ‘Satguru Sri Ramana Mahaṛiṣi: His
history and Tenets’ has entries on his devotees. This book has eight
sections of which one section has 750 pages.
The book deserves to be a coffee table book, the sweetest and
lofty publication with stories of devotees, of whom some get mention
here.
Perumālśāmi and Kanthasāmi, the two devotees, every morning sound a long
note on their conches, once from the mountain, once at the foot of the
hill and once on the street before they go on their daily begging
rounds. Hearing the conch,
the householders get ready to offer
Pikkuṇi
(=
பிக்குணி =
pikkuṇi, n.
< Pkt. bhikkuṇi < bhikṣuṇī = ritual begging by a Seer.).
The City of Tiruvannamalai has a public feeding Choultry (a
pillared hall = Soup Kitchen, Resting Place for pilgrims), commonly
called in the west ‘Soup Kitchen.’ It is ‘Ōyā Madam’ (=
ஓயா
மடம்)
meaning 24/7 availability of food to the Sannyasins and the indigents.
Perumālśāmi and Kanthasāmi go to that choultry and beg for food. They
carry the food to Bālaswāmy, who shares the food with them.
Once two more Mutt people joined the begging duos. The manager of the
choultry questioned why two more people are there in the choultry. All
the four ashamed and shocked, withdrew.
Thinking not to depend on this manager for free food, they sounded the
conch and go on the streets seeking the feeding hands of the women of
the houses.
Every house gave different foods: sweet, spicy, sour… The begging team
took the food to Balaswamy who mashed up the foods together and
distributed the balls to his caretakers. That food had a peculiar taste.
The food was enough for the assembled people.
Instead of going empty-handed and asking for free food, they chanted ‘Akṣara
Maṇamālai’
composed by Bālaswāmy. The
choultry gave good food: rice, Kuzhambhu, vegetables and other
varieties. Since they
abandoned the choultry for their food supply, they went to 25 houses and
received many kinds of foods piled up one on top of another in the
begging vessel. The foods were all mashed up together and shared.
This resulted in giving up eating food by items and taste.
The Sakthi, that created you, created the world too. The Great Sakthi
that saves you, saves the world. Since God has created the world
the succor is his responsibility. It is not your work. -Sri Ramana
Maharishi
Bālaswāmy had the power of reading the mind of others because of his
severe austerities, inner silence…
Kuzumaṇi
Nārāyaṇa
Sāstry
the disciple of Śeshādri Swāmigaḷ lived in Tiruvannamalai and published
the biography of his Guru. One day he took a bunch of bananas to
Bālaswāmy. On his way, he went to Aṇṇāmalaiyār Temple, took a single
banana, and offered it to Sambandha Vinayakar with mental worship. The
rest of the bananas were offered to Aṇṇāmalaiyār in mental worship.
Later, he went up the hill to see Bālaswāmy. He gave the bananas to a
volunteer-devotee for storage inside, Bālaswāmy suddenly stopped the
devotee and said, ‘Hold it. The bananas offered to Vinayaka, we can
take.’ Kuzumaṇi
Nārāyaṇa
Sāstry
was jolted. He came to know that Bālaswāmy
had the preternatural power of ‘Citta Samhit’ – ability to know the mind
of others.
In his mind he prayed, ‘With you having this kind of power, why don’t
you order that for which I came here.’ He had thoughts in his mid to
present to Bālaswāmy his prose rendition of Valmiki Ramayanam.
Suddenly, Bālaswāmy said, ‘It is time to read Ramayanam.’ Kuzumani’s
shock increased further. That shock gave him the humility and devotion.
He formally made a presentation of prose rendition to Bālaswāmy.
A grandmother from Gudiyattam near Vanthavāsi surrendered to Bālaswāmy.
No information except her place of origin, was available. Everyone
called her Kīraip-pātti
(Greens-Grandma. Greens = leafy vegetables). Why she was called such is
not known?
The elderly woman having received cereals, pulses and rice from donors,
cooked them, offered the food to Bālaswāmy and then ate it herself. In
the foothills of the mountain, she lived in a room in the cave Mandapam,
Guhai Namasivaya. She stored the provisions in the Mandapam. She allowed
no one inside the storage space.
She boiled water in a pot for bathing, used the same pot for
boiling rice, prepared Kuzhambhu in the same pot, offered them
ceremonially to the deities engraved on the pillars of the Mandapam,
took them up the mountain and served Bālaswāmy.
A thief came along to steal from the poor matriarch. The door opened. He
examined the provisions laid on the floor.
The matriarch woke up and yelled, “Thief, thief.” The shout fell
on the ears of the mountain-dwelling Bālaswāmy, who said, “Here I am,
coming down.” He came in the night knocking and tottering down the hill.
The assembled asked her what the matter was. The old woman’s sound of
alarm was not heard in the nearby Namasivaya cave or other
cave-Mandapams. But the voice reached the cave up the mountain. Others
mocked her saying, she had a dream and blabbered. Bālaswāmy came at the
opening in the door and saw the provisions were scattered around on the
floor, confirming that a thief was there before.
The Greens-grandma reached the feet of God in 1972, having been devoted
as a life mission to feed the Tapasvins, Sadhus… Her body was buried at
the bottom of Tamarind tree opposite to the Dhakshinamurthy Temple near
Ramanasramam. Tradition says that the cow maintained by the old woman
was reborn as Lakshmi.
When the talk touches on the old woman, Ramana Maharishi will go silent.
Ramanamaharishi commented that the Greens-grandma came from
Gudiyattam when someone said that the cow was brought in by Arunachalam
Pillai from Gudiyattam.
Once Bālaswāmy and Pazhaṉisāmi sat inside the temple after making a trip
around the mountain.
Īsāṉya
Mutt chief with his disciples entered the temple. After the Darśan, the
Mutt chief and the disciples came out, surrounded Bālaswāmy and insisted
he went with them.
Bālaswāmy signaled them with his hands he won’t do it.
The disciples of the Mutt lifted Bālaswāmy in one scoop,
deposited him in the cart and took him to the Mutt. Bālaswāmy determined
from before not to ride the bullock cart anymore, was forced to ride it.
They sat him down in the
Īsāṉya
Mutt and served him varieties of food on a banana leaf.
The Madāthipathi
insisted that he stayed in their Mutt.
He ate a few of the served items and escaped from their
love-hold.
When Bālaswāmy was on his way around the mountain, Isāṉya Mutt inmates
paid homage to Bālaswāmy, invited him inside. Sometimes, he used to go
on his own initiative. They served food on the banana leaf. He ate some.
The leftovers were mixed and eaten by the disciples as Bālaswāmy’s
Prasada.
Seeing the eating of his leftover food by them, Bālaswāmy stopped eating
on the leaf. Bālaswāmy begged for food at the entrance to the Mutt. The
disciples served him food used as Naivēdya (offerings) to Sivaperuman.
It had no added salt. Not caring, Bālaswāmy ate the food that
fell on his cupped palms, wiped his hands and went on his way.
Sakti Vikatan 2011 January 25.
Part 2. Kanchi
Mahan, God of Mercy
The ancestors whose lives are based on Dharmasāstras
say that the Sastras do not allow travel overseas. A devotee of Kanchi
Periyava held Sāstraic
injunctions as his life guidelines. He received an acceptance letter for
a job abroad. He took the job offer for family welfare and his future.
Though the work environment and nature of his job were satisfactory, the
notion, “I transgressed the Sāstraic injunctions,” caused distress in
him. He meditated on Mahāperiyava daily as remedy for his mental
confusion and contradictions.
Akilā Karthikeyan described the incident regarding Kanchi Mahan’s grace
with melting heart.
“During his holidays, he made arrangements for India visit with a great
anticipation. He was excited to have Darśan of Periyava more than
visiting with his family.
On arriving at Chennai airport, he took a taxi to Kanchipuram.
In the Kanchi Mutt, Mahāperiyava was talking with the workers on
preparing meals that day. People assembled for Darśan wondered about the
personal interest Periyava took in the details of the food items and
preparations for that day. He has not taken similar interest so far:
That surprised them.
The devotee arrived in the Mutt under such prevailing conditions. At
the sight of Periyava, he fell flat in an eight-limb prostration before
Periyava. Blessing Kārttikēyan,
Periyava ordered the workers, “Get food ready for the visitor.”
The workers were not sure why Periyava was so insistent and bent on
serving meals to the visitor who just arrived. But the devotee came from
abroad and ran for Darśan. Does he not know his condition? He does.
(Later we find out, the plane
traveler did not eat during his travel as a matter of observing
injunctions.)
Having eaten food to the point of satiety, the devotee appeared before
Periyava. He looked at him intently with ebullient parental affection
and tender mercy and asked, “Did your Viratam (vow) come to fruition?”
The devotee stood there astonished. He was groping for words. He kept on
saying with tears streaming down his face, ‘Periyava, Periyava…’.
With a soft smile, Periyava said, “I will tell it myself.” “You are
coming from abroad. You did not take any meals during your travel until
you saw me, according to the vow you took. Looking at Karthikeyan with
sweetness, Periyava continued, “Did I say everything correctly.”
That is it… The standees for Darśan were taken back. Should we ask the
devotee? Karthikeyan stood there with a melting heart.
Another incident happened in-between. When Karthikeyan from abroad was
dining, Periyava asked the Darśan-devotees, “The visitor from abroad:
what should I ask him to give me?
Let me hear it.”
The devotees were amazed to hear it. Periyava asked no one, ‘Give me
this, give me that.’ The devotees not knowing how to react, stood there
frozen, speechless and astounded.
That time, Karthikeyan finished his meals and came for Periyava’s
Darśan. Periyava smiling at
the assembled servitors said, “No one suggested what I need to get from
the devotee from abroad.” He continued.
“ Alright, alright… Take him out to buy me
Sesame Seed Oil-cake and stitched leaf plate for my benefit,” said
Periyava.
That great devotee, in an ecstatic exuberance said with melting heart,
“Divinely Kanchi Mahan asked for and received from me.”
But the regular workers at the Mutt were unhappy but hesitated to
challenge Periyava.
Could Periyava not cognizant of the feelings of the Mutt volunteer
workers? Looking at them in
the eye, Periyava smiled and observed, “This Baktha has been devoted and
affectionate to me. Because of his love for me, he desired to give me
something as a token of his love. Dharma stops me from accepting a gift
from a person who returned from an overseas trip. Is not a devotee
important for me? Could I hurt his heart and mind?” He stopped for a
moment and continued talking.
“Now the sesame oil-cake will be fed to the Mutt cow. Give me milk from
that cow for my use. I will
accept it happily. Since the Mutt cow ate the oil-cake, the milk from
the cow is free of flaw or demerit. Any demerit that passes through a
cow is expunged. Therefore,
Karthikeyan’s wishes were fulfilled and it appears I accepted the gift.”
That was Periyava’s explanation.
With no assault on Dharma and the mercy shown by Periyava for his love
and devotion, the devotee was ecstatic. Who else could have such
perspicacious judgment other than Periyava?
Darśan will continue |