THE MAHARSHI AND HIS MOTHER

By A.R. Natarajan

RELIGIOUS historians like Prof. D. S. Sarma have unhesitat-
ingly stated that Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi is the greatest
exemplar of jnana marga after Adi Sankara.

Some people are under the erroneous impression that
jnana ^[?], which involves total disidentification with the
body-mind complex, implies a certain lack of emotional
depth. It is assumed that since people, events and things are
viewed by jnanis purely as witnesses, with total detachment,
they would not have the normal human feelings in their
relationship with their relatives and others. The fact however
is the exact opposite and it is only jnanis who can truly
bestow total undistracted love on one and all including their
own blood relations.

It seems to me that the best way to illustrate the truth of this
statement would be to refer briefly to the relationship that some
great spiritual geniuses had with their mothers, and to deal more
exhaustively with the relationship which Bhagavan Sri Ramana
had with his mother. The example of the mother has been taken
not only because the Vedic texts extol the greatness of the mother
as embodiment of God-head, but also because the mother-child
relationship is peerless in its own way.

It is said that the great Sankara had promised his mother
while taking sannyasa ^[?] that he would come back and be at her
bed-side if she thought of him at the time of her death. Not
only was he by her side at the time of her passing away, but
he also performed the final obsequies, ignoring the orthodox
injunctions against a sannyasin ^[?] performing these rites.

In the life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa there are several
instances of his having acted with the tenderest of concern for
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his mother, Chandra Devi. When he went on a pilgrimage to
Brindavan, he was so taken by the spiritual atmosphere with
which that place was surcharged that he wanted to stay on there
itself. He most reluctantly left the place because of his
consideration for his old mother who, he felt would have been
left uncared for if he stayed far away in Brindavan.

Another incident showing his concern for his mother is
worth recalling. One of his brothers, Rameswar, died at a
comparatively young age. Sri Ramakrishna was afraid that
this news would break his mother's heart. Therefore, instead
of communicating the news to her he straightaway went to
the temple of Kali and prayed to the Divine Mother to give
the necessary strength of mind and detachment to his mother
so that she would be able to bear the great loss.

Coming to the life of Ramana Maharshi we find an
extraordinarily beautiful and tender relationship between
Sri Ramana and His mother, Alagammal. For ostensible
purposes, one finds three different stages in the
relationship, but throughout, the undercurrent of love Sri
Bhagavan had for his mother and the regard and love she
had for him are evident.

In the biography of Sri Bhagavan we first find a detailed
account of this relationship when his mother went to
Tiruvannamalai in 1898 to persuade him to return home.
Seeing Sri Bhagavan with his matted hair and dirty loin cloth,
his mother's heart bled and she used all kinds of persuasion
to take him back home.

Sri Ramana who was then observing mouna ^[?] wrote in Tamil
on a sheet of paper, "The Lord, remaining everywhere, gives
the fruits of all actions at the appropriate time. That which is
destined not to happen will not happen despite any amount of
effort. What is destined to happen cannot be prevented. The
best course is, therefore to have an attitude of resignation".

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Knowing that it was not possible for him to go back, Sri
Ramana thought that the only recourse open to him was to
give his mother the appropriate advice.

In 1914, while returning from a trip from the shrine of
Venkataramana at Tirupati, she stayed for some time with Sri
Ramana at Virupaksha cave on the Arunachala Hill where
she fell ill with typhoid. On this occasion when her condition
became serious Sri Bhagavan composed touching poems in
Tamil on Arunachala praying for the recovery of his mother.
Two of these verses are given below:

Hill of my refuge that cures
The ills of recurring births!
O Lord! It is for Thee
To cure my mother's fever.

O God that smitest Death itself!
My sole refuge! Vouchsafe Thy grace
Unto my mother and shield her from
Death. What is Death if scrutinised?

This is the only known instance of prayer by Sri Bhagavan
to change the course of events. Needless to say, Alagammal
recovered.

From 1916 to 1922, the mother was in Tiruvannamalai and
spent the last few years of her life with Sri Ramana. These
years were used by Sri Bhagavan to hasten her spiritual growth
and make her fit for liberation.

So deep was the mother's love for Sri Bhagavan that she
even refused to go to her daughter's place for a brief spell
when the daughter had built a house and had invited her just
to set her foot in it. It is reported that she told Sri Ramana,
"Even if you throw my dead body on these thorny bushes, 1
must end this life in your arms". Sri Ramana, on his part,
used every opportunity to guide his mother in the spiritual
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path. The famous Appala Pattu (song of the pappad) came to
be composed for her spiritual edification.

On 19 May, 1922, the mother took seriously ill, and the
Maharshi, knowing that the time had come, sat by her side
with his right hand on her chest, and the left hand on her
head. At about eight in the night Alagammal attained
Mahasamadhi. When somebody said that she had passed
away, Sri Ramana corrected him with the curt remark, "Not
passed away, absorbed". Further explaining what happened
in the ten or twelve hours when his hands were on the head
and heart of his mother, Maharshi said:

Innate tendencies (vasanas ^[?]) and the subtle memory of past
experiences leading to future possibilities became very
active. Scene after scene rolled before her in the subtle
consciousness, the outer senses having already gone. The
soul was passing through a series of experiences, thus
avoiding the need for rebirth and effecting union with the
Supreme Spirit. The soul was at last disrobed of the subtle
sheaths before it reached the final Destination, the Supreme
Peace of liberation from which there is no return to ignorance.

Maharshi had already stated that in jnana ^[?] there was no
difference between man and woman and that the body of a
woman liberated from life should not be cremated for it was a
temple. Accordingly, she was buried in the southern slopes of
Arunachala, and a lingam ^[?], Matrubhuteswara was installed
on the Samadhi. Within a few months, Bhagavan shifted from
Skandasramam to the site of the Samadhi where Sri
Ramanasramam has grown through the years.

In 1949, devotees of Sri Bhagavan completed the building
of a beautiful shrine over the mother's Samadhi and now the
shrine of Bhagavan Sri Ramana and that of the mother are
adjacent, underscoring the beauty of their wonderful
relationship.

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