10. THE GREAT JOURNEY
THE sun was setting. A maulvi seated in the samecompartment was narrating the stories of different
sages to his fellow passengers, who were absorbed in his
narration. But this young man was indifferent, did not
even open his eyes. Curious, the maulvi approached him
and asked, "Swami, where are you going?"
Venkataraman: Tiruvannamalai.
Maulvi: I am also going there.
Venkataraman : Is it so?
Maulvi : Not exactly, but to Tirukkoilur the station adjacent to it.
Venkataraman : (Surprised) Is there a train to Tiruvannamalai?
Maulvi : Of course. To which station did you buy your ticket then?
Venkataraman : To Tindivanam.
Maulvi : Oh my! Why to Tindivanam? You have to get off at Villupuram and take another train that goes to Tirukkoilur and Tiruvannamalai.
The Father was lending a hand to lead His son! If
not, why did the maulvi get into that very compartment?
Why did he accost him and give him so many details?
Maybe, the one with matted hair, Siva, guided him.
Gladdened, Venkataraman resumed his meditation.
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By the time he reopened his eyes, darkness had
enveloped all round, the train reached Tiruchchirapalli
station. Quite strangely, the maulvi who said he was going
to Tirukkoilur was not to be seen; equally strangely, until
then Venkataraman was not hungry at all. It was dinner
time and then he felt hungry — as if he was duty-bound to
feel so. He bought two country apples and began to eat.
He just had two bites by which time he felt satiated. This
again, was quite strange. Normally he had a substantial
meal but on that occasion a meagre meal sufficed.
He fell into meditation again. At the early hours of
the next day the train reached Villupuram. Venkataraman
got down and began looking for the way to
Tiruvannamalai. He was hesitant to ask anybody. Yet his
Father carried on his duty! As Venkataraman walked along
he saw several guide posts one of which pointed towards
"Mambalapattu". But he did not know that Mambalapattu
was on the way to Tiruvannamalai.
He roamed about hungry and tired and reached a
hotel where he was told that meals would be ready only
by noon. He decided to wait and sat there and fell into
meditation. The owner of the hotel was observing the lad
who was bright, very fair with thick dark hair, earrings,
without any luggage and lost to the world! Who could he
be? By noon the food was ready; the hotel owner woke up
Venkataraman and served him. Venkataraman offered to
pay for it but the hotel owner declined to take it on
learning that Venkataraman had very little money. Maybe,
that was the Lord's way of showing His grace!
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With that meagre amount Venkataraman could buy
a ticket to Mambalapattu. He travelled by train upto that
point and then began walking. He walked on till it was
quite dark. He reached Arayaninallur.
Arayaninallur, also known as Sivalankapuri, is a great
pilgrim centre. On a small hillock near the village is situated
the Atulyanatheswara Temple. The great poet-saint Jnana
Sambandar sang in praise of Atulyanatheswar. He also
consecrated an image of Arunachaleswara there. When
Sambandar sat in meditation, Arunachaleswara appeared
first as a column of light and later as an old Brahmin but
Sambandar could not recognise him and made enquiries.
The visitor replied that he belonged to Arunagiri and that
he visited Arayaninallur every day to collect flowers for
Arunachaleswara. Sambandar asked the Brahmin to take
him also to Arunagiri to which he agreed. On the way,
the Brahmin disappeared. A band of robbers surrounded
Sambandar and his retinue and robbed them of their
belongings. Sambandar was taken aback and prayed to
the Lord, who revealed himself and told Sambandar that
the robbers were part of His retinue (ganas). He promised
to take him across if Sambandar stayed back as his guest
for dinner and also offered to return all the articles stolen.
Normally, Sambandar never ate without serving some
guests but on that occasion, himself became a guest of
Easwara. How Sambandar reached Arunachala and sang
in praise of Arunachaleswara is a different story.
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Tired and exhausted, Venkataraman reached the temple
only to find the doors closed, as the priest had not arrived.
He waited till the priest came. The priest went in and got
involved in the pooja. Venkataraman walked in and settled
down in a corridor, shut his eyes, opened his heart and
began his mental pooja of Easwara. It was at that very spot
that Jnana Sambandar saw the column. Sambandar was
also barely sixteen when he had the experience.
All of a sudden, a bright light, from a source unknown
to Venkataraman, enveloped him. He opened his eyes and
saw nothing but bright light all around. He thought it could
be the light of the Deity and walked towards the sanctum
sanctorum. But by the time he reached it, the light vanished.
The sanctum was dark, the light could not be from there.
But where had it come from? Did his atma-jyoti shine
forth from his Heart? Or did Arunachaleswara come to
invite him just as he invited Jnana Sambandar? Did
Easwara whom Venkataraman always meditated upon,
grant him knowledge of the Self? (Did not Chokkanatha
appear in the form of the maulvi and promise to accompany
Venkataraman till Tirukkoilur — after all, Arayaninallur
was a part of Tirukkoilur. Possibly, there his jurisdiction
ended and that of Arunachaleswara commenced thereafter
-- possibly also he came in this form and assumed the
responsibility of protecting Venkataraman thenceforth)
Venkataraman returned from the dark sanctum to
his former place in the corridor and resumed his
meditation. The temple priest completed his pooja and
called out, "Who is there ? it is time to close the doors of
the temple. Get up and go." Venkataraman came out of
his meditation and pleaded for a little prasad. The priest
said brusquely, "There is no food ready for you here."
"Alright, at least let me rest here this night," asked
Venkataraman. The staff of the temple intervened and
said, "Kilur is about a mile from here. You have a
Virateswarar temple there. Maybe you can get some prasad
there. Come along." Venkataraman accompanied them.
At the temple, he fell into meditation as long as the pooja
was going on. After the pooja the priest who was
distributing prasad flatly refused to offer him any. One of
the temple musicians took pity on the boy who was tired
and suggested to the priest that his share of prasad might
be given to the lad.
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Someone took Venkataraman to a nearby house for
water. By the time Venkataraman reached that house he
fainted — nobody knew whether it was due to weakness
or sleep or meditation. He revived a little later and noticed
that he was at a different spot. All the food was scattered
on the ground, and a crowd gathered round him, watching
him. Venkataraman picked up the food, drank some water
and slept on that street.
The following day was Gokula-Ashtami August 31st
1896. He was hungry and still had to go twenty miles.
As Venkataraman was walking down the street he
saw the door of one house ajar but nobody was to be seen
inside. He went in and asked the owner, Muthukrishna
Bhagavatar who was taking his bath, in the back yard for
food. The Bhagavatar had a widowed sister who looked
after the house, but at that moment she had gone to the
nearby river to fetch water. There were no other female
members in the house. The Bhagavatar asked him to wait
till she returned.
In due course, she came and seeing the boy asking
for food looked upon him as Krishna himself come in the
form of a Brahmin youth seeking food! She saw the hungry
look on his face and though she commenced cooking she
felt the lad would not be able to withstand the delay. She
said to him, "Come along, I shall serve you some left
overs for the present." Venkataraman had barely two
morsels when his hunger vanished. But the lady would
not leave him till he ate all that was served.
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Venkataraman had no energy left to walk any further.
Nor did he have any money to purchase a train ticket.
What if he sold the ruby earrings? But he had no experience
in such deals. Finally he thought it best to raise a loan and
approached the Bhagavatar. He answered all the
Bhagavatar's questions and added for good measure, that
he had lost his luggage in the train. He gave his real address
also — in the confidence that at that distant place there
was no chance of the news reaching any of his relatives.
The Bhagavatar examined the earrings and was satisfied
with their quality. He estimated that the earrings would
cost twenty rupees at least whereas the lad was asking for
only four rupees. He saw no reason to suspect anything
wrong and gave Venkataraman the money he wanted.
By then, the food was ready. The lady of the house
invited both of them and served them a sumptuous meal
— it being a festival day her joy knew no bounds as she
thought that her guest was none other than Krishna
himself. She also prepared several sweets to offer to
Krishna that evening. She gave a packet of them to her
guest even before offering the sweets to Krishna. How
blessed she was!
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Venkataraman promised the Bhagavatar to take back
his earrings as soon as possible. He collected the packet of
sweets and set out for the station. At a little distance away
from the house he tore to pieces the slip of paper
containing the Bhagavatar's address — was he to get
involved in worldly affairs any more? He reached the
station and slept there that night. The train was to arrive
early in the morning. Venkataraman purchased a ticket
for Tiruvannamalai.
We have spoken several times about Venkataraman's
hunger. It is true, he experienced hunger, his body felt
weak and on several occasions would faint. But when he
attempted to eat, even a little food would suffice. No
reason could be given for this.