Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

I myself felt it unmannerly but kept quiet as she was to
go away presently. One of the attendants, Rajagopala Iyer,
could not however put up with it and so respectfully
suggested to her to sit cross-legged. Bhagavan saw that and
said smilingly, “When they find it difficult even to sit down
on the floor, should you force them to sit cross-legged also?”
“No, No! As they do not know that it is disrespectful to stretch
their legs towards Bhagavan, I merely told them so, that is
all,” said the devotee. “Oh, is that so? It is disrespectful, is it?
Then it is disrespectful for me to stretch my legs towards
them. What you say applies to me as well.” Saying that in a
lighter vein, Bhagavan sat up cross-legged. All of us laughed
but we felt a bit troubled in our minds. Those foreigners
stayed there for about half an hour and then went away,
taking leave of Bhagavan.

Bhagavan spent the whole of yesterday stretching out
his legs from time to time and then folding them, saying
that it might be deemed disrespectful. His legs get stiff in
ten minutes if he folds them and the stiffness will not
disappear unless the legs are stretched out for at least half
an hour afterwards, not to speak of the pain that results.

This afternoon when I went into the hall, there were not
more than two or three persons there. Bhagavan began
stretching his legs saying, “I do not know if I can stretch
them. They say it is not good manners.” Poor Rajagopala
Iyer was standing there crestfallen and with a repentant look.

Bhagavan is, after all, full of compassion! He stretched out
his legs as usual. We all felt happy. Looking at me seated in
the hall, he began telling us the story of Avvaiyar.

“Seeing that Sundaramurthi was going away on a white
elephant which had come from Kailas, the Rajah of Chera
whispered in the ear of his horse the panchakshari mantra
and got upon it to go to Kailas. Avvaiyar, who was at the time
doing puja to Lord Ganesar, saw them both going to Kailas
and so tried to hurry up her puja as she too wanted to go to
Kailas. Seeing that, Ganesar said, ‘Old woman, don’t hurry.

Let your puja be performed as usual. I shall take you to
Kailas before they reach it.’ Accordingly, the puja was
performed in due course. Waving his hand around, he said,
‘Old lady, close your eyes.’ That was all. When she opened
her eyes, she found herself seated in Kailas in front of Parvati
and Parameswara. By the time Sundaramurthi and Chera
Rajah reached the place, they found her already seated there.

Surprised at that, they asked her how she had gotten there.

She told them how Lord Ganesar helped her. They were
overjoyed to hear how her bhakti was rewarded ultimately.

She was very old and so she sat opposite to Parameswara
with her legs stretched out like me. Parvati could not bear
that sight. She was worried because to sit with legs thus
stretched out towards Swami, she felt, was a great insult. She
respectfully suggested to Parameswara that she should be
permitted to tell the old lady about it. ‘Oh, don’t speak, don’t
open your mouth. We should not say anything to her,’ said
Ishwara. Even so, is not Parvati His better half? How could
She put up with that insult? She therefore whispered into the
ear of her maid to tell the old lady about it. That woman
approached the old lady and said, ‘Grandma, Grandma, don’t
keep your legs outstretched towards Ishwara.’ ‘Is that so? Tell
me on which side Ishwara is not present. Shall I turn this
side?’ said Avvaiyar. So saying, she turned her outstretched
legs to another side when Ishwara got turned that side; and
when again she turned to a different side, He also got turned
the same side. Thus Swami got turned to whichever side she
turned her legs. Looking at Parvati, Ishwara said, ‘Do you see
now? You would not listen to me. See, how she turns me this
side and that. That is why I told you not to open your mouth.’
Then Parvati requested the old lady to excuse her. It is similar
to that when people are asked not to stretch their legs towards
Swami. Where is He not present?”
That devotee then said, “There is a similar incident in
the story of Namadeva, is it not?” “Yes, that is so,” said
Bhagavan and began relating that story thus:
“Namadeva used to pride himself on the fact that Vittal
was always more fond of him than others and so once
Jnanadeva and others took him to the house of
Gorakumbhar for a feast. After food, all of them sat in a row
and, during conversation, one of them said in an allegorical
manner to Gorakumbhar, ‘You are used to making good pots,
aren’t you? Now tell us which amongst these pots are good
and which are bad?’ Gorakumbhar thereupon took a potter’s
testing rod and began hitting them on the head, one by one.

“They all kept quiet out of regard for him and just kept
their heads bent. When it came to the turn of Namadeva, he
expressed his resentment at the procedure and refused to
undergo the test. Kumbhar forthwith declared that that was
an immature pot. All the others burst into laughter at that.

Poor Namadeva could not contain his anger. He began saying
that they all had conspired together to humiliate him thus
and went to Vittal with tears in his eyes to complain. ‘Well,
what is the matter?’ asked Swami, and Namadeva related
the whole story. ‘That is all right; but tell me what did the
others say when they were tested?’ asked Swami.

Namadeva: They all shut their mouths and bowed when
tested with the rod.

Vittal: And you?
Namadeva: Am I like them? How intimate I am with you!
Am I to be beaten like that for a test?
Vittal: That is called ahankara (ego). All of them knew
my real Self and had a contented mind. You
are not so.

Namadeva: But you are kind to me; and what more is there
for me to know?
Vittal: That is not it. You must serve elders if you want
to know the truth. What am I? If you dance, I
dance. If you laugh, I laugh. If you jump, I
jump. If you find out the truth, you will not
have these jumpings and bumpings.

Namadeva: You say, elders. Who is there older than you?
Vittal: Who? There is a temple in the nearby forest.

In that temple there is a sadhu. Go to him and
you will realise the truth.

“When Namadeva went to that temple in the forest, he
saw an unkempt man lying there. ‘How could this man be a
sadhu?’ he thought and, when he went closer to that person,
he found the legs of the man on a linga. Shuddering at the
sight, he said with trepidation, ‘Sir, what is this? You are
putting your legs on the head of God!’ That man said, ‘Oho!
Nama, is that you? Vittal sent you, didn’t he?’ Taken aback
at this and wondering how the sadhu could know about him,
he asked again, ‘Sir, you are a sadhu, aren’t you? How could
you put your legs on a linga?’ ‘Is that so, my dear son? I
don’t know all that. I am unable to lift my legs. Will you
please lift them for me and move them away from the linga?’
he said. Namadeva, agreeing to do so, lifted them and tried
to put them elsewhere but found that there was another
linga there also. Thus wherever he tried to put the legs, he
found a linga there and so finally, he placed them on himself,
when he himself became a linga. That is to say, by the touch
of those holy feet, he had jnanodaya (dawn of knowledge of
the Self). Namadeva stood up dazed. The sadhu asked, ‘Yes,
do you now realise (the truth)?’ Saying, ‘Yes, I have realised,’
he bowed before Visobakesar, disciple of Jnaneswar, went
home, sat in his room and got immersed in dhyana and
stopped going to Vittal.

“After some days, Vittal came there running and asked
him, ‘Nama, how is it you haven’t been coming to me of late?’,
when Namadev said, ‘Oh, Prabhu (Lord)! Where is the place
in which you are not present? I see you here at all times. I am
you and you are me. That is why I do not go to you.’ ‘Oh, I
see, that is good,’ so saying Vittal vanished.”
Bhagavan concluded the story and simultaneously
released the legs that were kept crossed.