MY LIFE MY LIGHT
By Varanasi Subhalakshmiamma
ONCE we went on a pilgrimage to Kaveri Pushkaram and on
our way back we stopped at Arunachala. We were told that a
young Brahmin saint was living on the hill for the past ten years.
The next morning we went up the hill along with the others. We
found the young swami near Virupaksha cave. As soon as I saw
him I was convinced that God Arunachala Himself had come in
human form to give salvation to all who approached him.
The next time I visited Bhagavan he was living at the foot
of the hill. He was seated on a couch and about a dozen devotees
were sitting on the bare floor. We sat in silence for ten minutes
and returned to the town. Bhagavan's presence gave me the
experience of inner silence and mental stillness, but away from
him I could not regain it and I spent a year vainly trying to free
myself from all thought. But soon I got a chance to visit
Tiruvannamalai. I met Bhagavan the same day. The next day
after the midday meal Bhagavan was explaining a verse from
the Bhagavad Gita to Sri Yogi Ramaiah. As no one else was in
the hall, I gathered courage and asked, "What is Atma? Is it the
limitless ether of space or the awareness that cognizes
everything"? Bhagavan replied, "To remain without thinking
this is Atma and that is Atma, is itself Atma". He looked at me
and I felt my mind melt away into nothing. No thought would
come, only the feeling of immense, unutterable peace.
Several times I was invited to work in the kitchen, but I felt
that the Ashram ways were not orthodox enough for me. One
day Bhagavan's own sister asked me to take her place in the
Ashram kitchen as she had to leave for some time. I could not
refuse. Though I was very happy to work in the kitchen directly
under Bhagavan's supervision I wanted to go home. I left and
after a year returned to Ramanasramam to discover that I
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belonged there. Yet I would feel restless, thinking that I should
spend my time in meditation. One day Bhagavan looked at me
intently and said "It looks as if you are still hankering after
meditation". I replied, "What have I got except endless work
in the kitchen"? Bhagavan said with deep feeling, "Your hands
may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that
which never moves. Realise that and you will find that work is
not a strain. But as long as you think that you are the body and
that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an
endless toil. In fact it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even
if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet? Even in
sleep the mind is busy with its dreams".
Regarding the need to fast as enjoined by scriptural texts
Bhagavan explained, "It does not mean that you should starve.
You need not torture the body. It only means not giving the body
more than it needs. With your mind, hold on to enquiry and just
keep the body going so that it does not become a hindrance. For
this, pure and fresh food, simply prepared and taken in moderation
is a great help". Once I prepared curds and served it to Bhagavan
alone while all the others were served buttermilk. The moment
he saw the curds on his leaf he looked at me. That look scorched
me to the very depths of my soul! When we went to take leave of
him in the evening he turned away his face from me. He stopped
taking buttermilk. I suffered agonies and remorse for disobeying
Bhagavan. At last I got a chance to ask for his forgiveness and
prayed that he should start having his buttermilk again. He said,
"No, no, why do you worry? I happened to have a cold and is not
buttermilk bad for colds"? That very afternoon Echammal brought
some curds and Bhagavan said, "Tell Subbalakshmi not to suffer.
I shall have my buttermilk".
Once five or six devotees sat down before Bhagavan and
sang a hymn in praise of the Guru. He got up in the middle of
the recitation and went away, saying, "Prayers and praises
will not take one far. It is the merciful look of the teacher that
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bestows true knowledge". I felt elated. But the next day he
said, "Unless one becomes a six-month old baby, there is no
hope for him in the realm of Self-knowledge". My heart sank.
Although I lived in the presence of Lord Arunachala Himself,
I was far from becoming an infant.
I made a habit of offering him a few dry grapes whenever I
came from the town. He disliked all formal devotion. One day
when I gave him the grapes, he started scolding us, "Why all
this show of respect and devotion? Who taught you all this
hypocrisy? Can't you just be natural? What is needed is a heart,
pure and sincere. How can you please me with a show"? It
went on for quite a long time. Addressing Muruganar, he
complained that our devotion was shallow and its expressions
cheap. He told some stories about false disciples, "They take
their Guru in procession and parade him before the crowd. When
they have done with him, they dig a pit and ask him, `Will you
get into the pit yourself or shall we push you in'"? That day
even Muruganar was afraid to do the usual prostrations to
Bhagavan, who continued, "When people come here they are
quite sincere, but as soon as they settle down they become the
masters of this place. The swami must do their bidding and
ignore their mischief; in return for their prostrations the swami
has to put up with all the mess they create around him. They
think it is his duty to carry them on his head".
During the meal I would pour rasam (soup) into
Bhagavan's hands. He would sip it slowly and when his palms
were empty I would fill them again. One day he asked me to
pour rasam over the rice and go. He would not cup his hands
as before. I thought I had offended him in someway and asked
Santammal to find out the reason. Bhagavan told her, "When
she serves me, she makes others wait". Despite my
remonstrations he never took rasam again in his palms.
Bhagavan wanted us to learn well the lesson that God is
present in every being in all his glory and fullness and must be
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given equal reverence. He would ruthlessly sacrifice the little
comforts we so loved to provide for him, as soon as he noticed
a trace of preference. The law that what cannot be shared must
not be touched was supreme in his way of dealing with us.
Separative and exclusive feelings are the cause of the `I' and
therefore the greatest obstacles in the realization of the One.
No wonder he was exterminating them so relentlessly.
One day I saw him grinding black gram. We always felt
ashamed when we saw him working, but when we offered to
take over, he would get cross and stop coming to the kitchen,
which would make us sad; for in the hall he belonged to
everybody but in the kitchen he was our own. That day I
summoned courage and asked him to let me grind the gram.
To my astonishment he got up and said, "Yes, finish it. I was
waiting for you to come". When I finished grinding and went
back to the kitchen I saw him boiling pumpkin in a huge
cauldron. The day was hot, the fire and the steam rising from
the cauldron were hot and Bhagavan was bathed in
perspiration. So it was to save me from this tiresome work
that Bhagavan invited me to grind for him! The stew was
boiling vigorously and a piece of pumpkin fell on Bhagavan's
finger. The next day we saw a big blister and when somebody
asked about it he replied, "Oh, it is only a ring. I wanted some
jewellery". Thus I learned not to interfere.
Nothing brought to the Ashram could be wasted, not even
when it was obviously useless. In this Bhagavan was adamant.
A pious offering was Arunachala's own property and had to
be looked after. Even the water in which bitter gourd was
boiling could not be thrown away. With salt added it would
be taken to the cows.
One had to live and work with him to know what a great
teacher he was. Through the trifles of daily life he taught us
Vedanta [?] in theory and practice. He led us with absolute wisdom
and infinite kindness and we were changed to the very root of
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our being, not even knowing the depth and scope of his
influence. Sri Krishna in his mercy became a cowherd to teach
simple milkmaids the way to salvation. Similarly Bhagavan,
the same supreme being in another form, took to cooking in
order to save a few ignorant women.
The Lost Sheep
Poovan, a shepherd, says that he knows Sri Bhagavan since
thirty years ago, the days of Virupakshi cave. He used at times
to supply milk to the visitors in those days.
Some six years ago he had lost a sheep, for which he was
searching for three days. The sheep was pregnant and he had
lost all hopes of recovering her, because he thought that she
had been set upon by wild animals. He was one day passing
by the Asramam, when Sri Bhagavan saw him and enquired
how he was. The man replied that he was looking out for a
lost sheep. Sri Bhagavan kept quiet, as is usual with Him.
Then He told the shepherd to help in lifting some stones, which
he did with great pleasure. After the work was finished, Sri
Bhagavan told him, "Go this way", pointing the footpath
towards the town. "You will find the stray sheep on the way".
So he did and found the lost sheep with two little lambs.
He now says, "What a Bhagavan is this! Look at the force
of his words! He is great! He never forgets even a poor man
like me. He remembers my son Manikkam also with kindness.
Such are the great ones! I am happy when I do any little work
for Him, such as looking to the cows when they are in heat".
--From Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, No.296, 16th December 1936.
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