Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

As some alterations were made this morning in the
birthday verses, I wanted a small piece of white paper to
note them down and paste them in my notebook but on
searching for it in the hall, there was none. I had no patience
to go home to fetch the paper and so, without any hesitation
or fear, I told Bhagavan that I would ask for some from the
office. When I went there, they showed me some nice paper.

I took one sheet for myself and also said that it would be
nice for Bhagavan to write on, if only some sheets of paper
are supplied to him. “Then take them,” they said, and gave
me four sheets. I took them to Bhagavan and suggested that
he should use them for his writings, so that they could
afterwards be pasted in a book. I asked if the paper should
be put on the shelf. He said, “Where is it from? Did you get
it from the office?” I said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Why do I
need it? If you want, you can keep it for yourself. I shall tear
bits of paper from the newspapers, keep them carefully and
write on them. Why do I need such good paper?” As I could
not answer, I put it on the shelf.

It was about 9 a.m. After the post was received and
disposed of, Bhagavan began reading the newspaper. He
saw there a blank portion of about four inches. He began
folding it and tearing it off. He was smiling at me, but I
could not understand why. After tearing it off he folded it
nicely and, putting it on the shelf said, “Look, I shall use this
paper for my writings. How else could I get any paper?
Where can I go to get any? Isn’t this good enough for my
writings?” I replied, “So this is to teach us a lesson. Bhagavan
is always teaching us lessons, but we are not learning them.”
Bhagavan smiled and kept quiet.

Sometimes people here who receive books by post bring
the books into the hall together with the papers wrapped
around them. Bhagavan nicely folds the wrapping and says
to the attendants, “Look! Keep this carefully. We shall cover
some other book with it. How can we get such paper if we
need it? What is thus acquired is a net gain.” Daily the inward
letters are brought from the office for Bhagavan’s perusal.

Amongst them, officials like you fold the paper and write on
one side, leaving the rest unused. Bhagavan tears off such
bits of unwritten paper and keeps them. The same is the
case with pins. After reading the papers, the pins are taken
out and handed over to the attendants, saying, “These will
be useful when we want them. They will otherwise be merely
thrown away. We shall use them. How should we get new
ones? They have to be bought. Where is the money?”
While living on the hill, Bhagavan personally used to
prepare ladles, spoons, cups and the like from out of coconut
shells. Till recently he was making cups and spoons of coconut
shells and polish them like ivory and tell the attendants,
“Look, keep these carefully. They will be useful on occasions.

How could we get silver and gold articles? These are our
silver cups and golden spoons. The hands won’t get burnt.

They won’t be contaminated like metalware. It will be pleasant
to use them.” Not only that, when he takes any refreshments
or Malayalam kanji (gruel) Bhagavan uses only those articles.

Whenever Batavia or Kamala oranges and the like are
received, the skins are not allowed to be thrown away, and
chutneys and pickles are made out of them. They are also
used in soup or put to other such uses. Besides this, while
taking food, not a morsel is thrown away or discarded. He
thus shows us, by his own example, that not a single useful
article should be wasted.

If someone brings roses and presents them, Bhagavan
presses them against his eyes, puts them on the clock, eats
the petals when they get dry and fall off and gives some of
them to those near him. Once when someone brought a rose
garland, it was used to decorate the idol in the Mother’s
temple and afterwards thrown out by the priests into a waste
basket along with other flowers. Bhagavan saw that when he
went out and, getting angry with them, collected all the petals
and had them mixed with payasam (pudding), which thus
got a delicious flavour and excellent taste. On his way to the
hill, if he chances to see any useful leaves, he will pluck them
along with his attendants, give instructions about cooking
them and thus arrange for a delicious dish. He likes
preparations which do not cost anything rather than those
that are costly. All this may appear to be quite commonplace,
but if we think it over carefully, we will find it a good lesson
for us. It means, he teaches us that we could live comfortably
on small means.