Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Bhagavan told me with some feeling, “Look! These are verses
written by Ramanatha himself; there is also another song
with the pallavi (refrain) ‘Thiruchulinathanai Kandene’. That
also was written by him. There is an interesting story in this
connection. During my stay in Virupaksha Cave, on one full-
moon day we all started out on a giri pradakshina. Chidambaram
Subramanya Iyer was here at that time. The moonlight was
bright and all were in high spirits. They all decided to hold a
meeting and each person was to deliver a lecture on a
different subject. Subramanya Iyer was elected chairman of
the meeting. The first lecture was by Ramanatha. The topic
chosen by him was ‘The similarity between the Paramatma
dwelling in the cave of the human heart, Lord Nataraja in
Chidambaram and Sri Ramana in Virupaksha Cave’. The
chairman allowed him half an hour. There was no end to
the points of similarity elucidated by him. When the chairman
declared that the time was up, Ramanatha said, ‘Just half an
hour more please’. It was a meeting of people who were
continuously walking. Saying, ‘A little more time, sir, a little
more’, he went on with his speech for full three hours, when
the chairman firmly put a stop to his further talking. You
should have seen the enthusiasm with which he spoke that
day. Subsequently, he summarised the points of the lecture
into a song of four stanzas entitled, ‘Thiruchulinathanai
Kandene’. Since the words ‘Andavane’ had occurred in the
song several times, Ramanatha himself began to be called
‘Andavane’. Pranavanandaji attempted to translate the song
into Telugu but the translation did not come out well.”
“Oh! Is that the reason why he is called ‘Andavane’?” I
said and read the song. Though it may not be much from a
literary viewpoint, it was pleasant to hear it as it was composed
with a fullness of heart. Its purport is as follows:
“I saw Thiruchulinathan* and, being unable to turn
back, stood there transfixed. He is the Lord that dances in
Chidambaram and that protects the helpless and is merciful
to them. The same Thiruchulinathan manifested himself as
God in Virupaksha Cave on the hill in the sacred
Tiruvannamalai.

“Jiva was ruling unjustly in the town called Kayapuri,
with the karanas as his subjects and ahankara as his minister.

“After some time, jiva took up the sword of God’s grace
and cut off the head of his minister, ahankara.

“Having so cut off the minister’s head, jiva stood with
God who was dancing all by himself in the cave called
Daharalaya.

* Thiruchuli is the village in South India where Bhagavan was
born; it is also said to signify ‘Srikara’ and ‘Omkara’.

“He is this Thiruchulinathan; I saw him and stayed
there, being unable to get away.”