Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

If about ten houses are built around the hill, this itself is a
great empire. Sankara must have intended this only,’ so said
Nayana. He followed it up by arranging the whole
administrative set up by saying, ‘Here is the commander-
in-chief, that man is the treasurer, he is this, he is that.’ It
used to be very amusing when he was here. All used to sit
together and say, ‘What are the refreshments today for our
Durbar?’ Then they used to draw up a programme, cook,
and eat. They used to conduct the programme as if they
were ruling an empire. This Sundaresan and that Kalyanam,
were they like this then? Oh! Each person used to be highly
active and hilarious. They used to think that they were great
warriors,” said Bhagavan.

“When was all that?” asked Sivanandam. “That was
while we were in Virupaksha Cave. Nayana actually drew
up a plan on paper for the city to be built. A special place
was allotted for me in that plan. Afterwards he used to draw
up plans suitable for the administration of the empire. No
king, no kingdom — plans, however, were got ready. Many
plans were prepared like that. Where was the king? Where
was the kingdom?” asked Bhagavan. Subba Rao, a disciple
of Nayana, said, “Why, was there no king? He is just opposite
to us. Only this king wears a loin cloth. What is wanting?
Haven’t houses been built around the hill? Isn’t the place
where Bhagavan sits, like a king’s palace? The whole
administration here is going on like a king’s household. Only
there are some differences between an ordinary kingdom
and this. That is all.”
“That is all right. Nayana also used to say that the
position of a Maharaja and a Mahajnani is the same. When
astrologers predicted that Tathagatha (Buddha) would
become either an Emperor or a sannyasi, full of wisdom and
knowledge, his father prevented him from going out
anywhere, kept him in the palace and tried his best to interest
him in the pleasures and luxuries of the palace. At last when
he (Buddha) somehow managed to go out on some pretext,
he saw all the sufferings of people in the world. So, he ran
away and took sannyasa. One of the two empires, material,
or spiritual,” said Bhagavan.