Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

As it was received just as Bhagavan was about to take his
food, Bhagavan accepted it.

Next day, she again prepared it in the same way and
sent it to the Ashram. But this time, looking at his attendants,
Bhagavan said, “Why this daily? Please tell her not to send it
henceforth.”
The lady, however, sent it the following day too.

“There!” said Bhagavan, “It has come again. She will
not stop sending it. I should have said ‘No’ at the very
beginning. It was my mistake to have accepted it.”
A devotee said, “At present, Bhagavan is much run down.

She is perhaps sending it because a liquid preparation with
grapes might be good for Bhagavan’s health.”
“Oho!” Bhagavan exclaimed, “Is that so? And have you
authority to plead on her behalf?”
“That is not it, Bhagavan. I am saying so because I
thought that such preparations might be good for the health.”
“May be so,” rejoined Bhagavan, “but such things are
for rich people, not for us.”
“That devotee says that she herself will prepare it and
send it,” persisted the devotee.

“That is all right,” replied Bhagavan, “and if so, please
find out if she could supply the same thing for all the people
who sit here.”
“Why to all people?” asked the devotee.

“Then why to me alone?” said Bhagavan.

“It is possible to do it, if it is for Bhagavan alone, but
would it be possible to prepare the same costly food for
everyone?” said the devotee.

“Yes, that is just it,” said Bhagavan, “everyone says the
same thing, ‘We will do it for Bhagavan alone’. Yet, if it is
good for Bhagavan, is it not good for all others? If, with the
amount spent on this preparation, broken rice were brought
and rice-gruel (kanji) prepared, a hundred people could
partake of it. Why this expensive preparation for me alone?”
“Our anxiety is that Bhagavan’s body should be healthy.”
“That is all right,” Bhagavan rejoined, “but do you
mean to say that health could be maintained only if soup
prepared from grapes and costly vegetables is taken? If it
were so, then rich people should all be enjoying good
health. Why is it then that they are more unhealthy and
sickly than the others? The satisfaction that poor people
get by taking sour rice-gruel cannot be had from anything
else. In olden days, when we were doing the cooking during
summer, we used to have a pot into which we put all the
cooked rice left over, fill it up with water, a little buttermilk,
a little rice-gruel, dry ginger and lemon leaves, and set it
aside. It would get sour, cool and clear. The liquid used to
be drunk with a pinch of salt by all of us by the tumblerful,
and we used to feel very happy. No one had any illness
whatsoever. Even now, if I were to drink two tumblerfuls of
such water, all my ailments would disappear. But then
nobody prepares it for me. ‘Aye! Aye! How could we give
sour milk gruel to Swami?’ they say. What is to be done? To
prepare soup of this sort will cost a rupee. If, with that
money, millet (ragi) were brought and ground into flour, it
would last for about a month for preparing gruel from it
which is very healthy and nutritive. The amount spent on a
single meal could be utilized for the living of a person for a
month. I took all those things while I was on the hill and I
used to be very satisfied. Now, who will do that? Grape
juice, tomato soup and the like are offered to me. Why do I
require such things? Tell her not to send the soup from
tomorrow.”
The thing stopped there. Bhagavan told us several times
that while he was living on the hill he was eating bilva fruit
(a sort of wood-apple) for some days and sustaining himself
on it. Bhagavan does not like to eat any food without sharing
it with the people around him.