Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

On the 16th instant he translated the first two slokas into Tamil
verse in venba metre and showed them to us. All of us said it
would be good if all the other slokas also got translated. In
spite of saying, “Why? Why?” he wrote some more during the
next two days and said, “Though I have been disinclined and
have been putting off writing them, they come to me from
time to time, one after another and stand in front of me. What
am I to do?” I said, “If you write down whatever comes to
you, the whole thing may be over in a month’s time. That will
be good.” “Several people have written it,” said Bhagavan.

“Why should I do it?”
I said, “Will any of them be like Bhagavan’s writings?”
By the 19th, he wrote some more and said, “These
appear to be suitable for children only, but I am unable to
resist the urge to write.”
“Are we not all your children?” I said.

The 20th instant was Vyasa Purnima (full moon, Guru
Purnima day). By then thirteen verses were completed.

Addressing Venkataratnam, Bhagavan said, “This won’t leave
us now. Stitch them into a book,” and so saying he wrote a
verse by way of introduction.

“Anmavin bodhamarul ashanam sankaran...” It means:
Could Sankara, who wrote the “Atmabodha”, be other than
the Atma? Who else could it be than Himself that was in
my heart and made me write this in Tamil?
By the 27th instant all the sixty-eight stanzas got
translated into verse and on concluding the work Bhagavan
said, “These stanzas were written in Malayalam Script in that
small notebook which, as I said, was our first possession forty
years ago, but somehow it never occurred to me then to
translate them.”
A devotee said, “For everything the right time must
come.”
Bhagavan with a smile said, “Yes, that is so. If I write
one thing now another presents itself. How is it I feel I
have read this before? Is it possible that someone has already
written this?”
Muruganar: “No one has written it in venba metre. What
surprise is there if one verse after another occurs to Bhagavan?
It is said that in every kalpa* the Vedas appeared as though
they were standing before Brahma. This also is like that.”
Bhagavan: “Yes. It is said that the Vedas are anadi
(without a beginning). That is true.”
Muruganar: “Is not atma vidya also anadi? For Bhagavan
even that atma vidya is effortless.”
Bhagavan said with a smile, “That is all right. As in the
case of the story of Jayadeva, someone might come and claim
authorship of these verses.”
* A day of Brahma or thousand Yugas, being a period of 432
million years of mortals and measuring the duration of the world.

The one in which we now live is known as Svetha Varaha Kalpa.

Devotee: “What is that story, Bhagavan? Please tell us.”
And Bhagavan began telling us that, as follows:
“Jayadeva’s story is found in Panduranga Bhakta Vijayam.

After writing the Gita Govindam, Jayadeva wrote Bhagavatam
also in Sanskrit. On hearing about that, Krauncha Raja
appealed to Jayadeva to read the Gita Govindam in the Durbar
Hall and so he began reading it. People who heard him were
so impressed with the writing and with his discourses that his
fame spread in all directions and people came in large numbers
to hear him. His fame spread so far that Jagannatha Swami of
Puri (the deity of the temple) was eager to listen to him. So he
started in the guise of a brahmin and one day while the discourse
was going on, he entered the Durbar Hall of the king. After
blessing the king, he said, ‘Sir, I am a resident of Gokula
Brindavan. I am a pundit well versed in all sastras. I have
been searching all the world over for someone who could
discuss the sastras with me on equal terms but so far I have
not found any one. I am therefore itching for a discussion. I
learned that Jayadeva was with you and so I came here. Where
is he?’ When the people pointed out Jayadeva to him, he said,
disdainfully, ‘Oho! You are Jayadeva. Let me see. Let us
discuss any one of the sastras you have studied,’ and looking
at him steadily, said, ‘What is that in your hands?’ Without
waiting for a reply, he snatched the book from his hands and
said, ‘Oho! This is Bhagavatam. So you are a Pauranika? (one
who gives discourses on the Epics). Who wrote this?’. With
fear and devotion Jayadeva said, ‘Sir, I am not a pundit to
hold discussions with you. I humbly seek the blessings of elders
like you. Though I do not have the courage to say before you
that I wrote this book, still as it will be a fault not to tell you
the truth, I admit that I am its author.’ That brahmin pretended
surprise and said, ‘What! If it is you who wrote it, tell me, how
could I have learnt all its contents by heart?’ So saying and
without opening the book he began repeating the contents
quickly, chapter by chapter. The king and the audience were
amazed. Realising that Lord Jagannatha Himself had come
in that form to shower His grace on him, Jayadeva prayed to
him to reveal His real form (of Vishnu) with the conch, mace,
chakra (discus), etc. Pleased with the stotras (prayers), Lord
Jagannatha showed Himself in the various forms in which
Jayadeva had invoked Him in his stotras, blessed him and
disappeared. In the same way, some one may quarrel with me
saying that he had written the ‘Atmabodha’!”