14. THE KINGDOM OF YOGA

VENKATARAMAN now came to be known as
Brahmana Paradesi. In the Tamil region, Saivite non-
Brahmins used to take to sannyasa ^[?] and go about
Arunachala in hundreds whereas such wandering Brahmin sannyasins
were few. They came to be known as Brahmana Paradesis.

      The new Paradesi took his place at a platform in the
thousand pillared hall for his meditation. Winter was just
approaching, the monsoon had not abated. He had no
clothes either to spread on the floor or to cover himself
with. He never sought people's company and even if any
such company came his way he moved away. He sat
silently, with his eyes shut. Even while walking about he
never spoke to anyone. He never sought food from anyone
and if anyone offered him food while he was wide awake,
he would accept it. He abided in the Self, he held his
senses captive and controlled his mind. He was enjoying
the Kingdom of Yoga. This lad never sought anything.
However, even if he left others alone, they would not
leave him alone. For them he was an object of curiosity,
or ridicule or blame but for a few, he was an object of
respect. He was at a new place, helpless, unprotected ?

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but was he unprotected really? His only refuge were the
feet of Siva but that Siva never appeared before him!

This lad became the target of the local urchins who
looked upon him as a madcap. Did not `Mad Seshadri'
arrive at that town four years earlier? Just as they showered
pebbles, or pieces of pots on Seshadri they did the same to
this lad also. But they threw their missiles from a distance
lest the `mad-man' retaliate. As a result, the missiles missed
their target. But they disturbed his meditation. To avoid all
this he moved to the Pathala lingam ^[?] — the cellar. The urchins
were afraid of entering that place. The insects and other
fauna who had the place all for themselves had now a
competitor in their midst. While the lad sat in padmasana
and was enjoying the bliss of atma, the vermin enjoyed his
flesh and blood. In his meditative mood the Swami was
not at all conscious of what was happening. Among those
who visited the place during the deepam festival some
admired the boy's severe austerities. One among them was
Ratnammal, wife of Velayudha Chetty. She fetched him
food occasionally and, moved by his condition, begged
him to stay at her house. But the Swami's attention was
elsewhere. He scarcely heard what she said. Where was the
question of his acceptance? She was disappointed. Yet she
left a piece of cloth for his use -- either to cover himself or
to use on the floor. The Swami in meditation remained
that way, so also the cloth stayed where it was kept.

      How did Ramana, in his deep tapas ^[?], get his food?

On the day he reached Arunachala, Ramana had no food
at all. On the following day, when he was in the thousand
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pillared hall Maunaswami of the Gopura Subrahmanya
shrine, a Malayalee, visited the hall and observing the boy
utterly exhausted, asked one of his followers to fetch him
some food. Some food — that too obtained as alms -- was
brought. It consisted of coarse rice, a little salt, and pickle.
It was served to the lad. Thereafter his requirements of
food were taken care of by Maunaswami.

      The nuisance of the urchins did not stop — they
continued throwing all sorts of things into the cellar. The
Paradesi had no fear of being hurt — he was beyond these.

      Once some Muslim boys also joined the urchins and
tried to enter the cellar but fear held them back. So all that
they could do was to throw things. At that very moment one
Venkatachala Mudaliar passed that way. He knew that the
Swami was in the Pathala linga. He immediately got hold of
a tree branch and rushed towards the urchins. Seeing him
thus armed they took to their heels. Out of the Pathala linga
emerged a dust-laden Seshadri Swami. An anxious Mudaliar
asked Seshadri Swami if he was hurt. Seshadri Swami said
that Chinna Swami who needed attention was inside the
cellar and went his way. Mudaliar went down and in the
darkness could see nothing at first but later the outlines of
the Swami — covered with dust and seated in the padmasana
became visible faintly at first and a little better later.

      Mudaliar at once went to the Vazhaithotam where
Palaniswami was staying with his disciples. He took four
or five of them for help and went back to the cellar.
They lifted the Swami and brought him out and seated
him. It was only then that the Swami regained his senses.

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"It is blasphemous to disturb the tapas ^[?] of such a one,"
they thought and left the place.

      Thereafter the Paradesi became Brahmana Swami.
As long as Brahmana Swami stayed at the Gopura
Subrahmanya shrine, Maunaswami who lived there looked
after him. Right from day one he took care to ensure that the
"silent Brahmin young boy" had food. He shared his food
with him especially fruits and milk collected after abhishekam
to Uma Devi. The milk was mixed up with water, turmeric,
sugar, pieces of fruit and camphor. Brahmana Swami had no
preferences and gulped down whatever was offered. One of
the senior priests noticed this and was sorry that this
concoction was being offered to him and henceforth arranged
that milk alone was given to the Swami after the abhishekam
without other items being added. If on any day there was
delay someone would run to the Brahmana street and arrange
for food being offered to the Swami — this was known as
bhiksha. Thus two months passed by.

NANDANAVANAM:

Vazhai garden was to the west of the thousand pillared
hall. As noted earlier it was a flower garden but not a
plantain garden as suggested by the name. There were
well-grown creepers of pink flowers known as Kasturi patte
. Brahmana Swami moved over there from the shrine.
He commenced his meditation under one bower and by
the time he completed it he found himself under another.
With the passage of time his codpiece tore and towards
the end of 1896 he was unclothed for some time to which
the temple authorities took exception.

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VAHANA MANTAPAM (VEHICLE HALL):

This was the next place chosen by the Swami for his
tapas ^[?]. Here also during meditation the Swami's body
would move and find a place in between the wheels of
two chariots. He would spend most of the time near the
wall in semi-darkness.

      Later he spent some time near the Sivaganga tank,
first under the bilva tree and later under the ippa tree. Winter
had set in by then. It was 1897, January-February. He had
nothing to cover himself with. It was quite chill. The only
place where he could stay was the base of a tree with the sky
above and the dusty ground below, wet with dew. It is said
that rishis of yore did their tapas ^[?] in the middle of water ?
this tapas ^[?] of the Swami was no less severe!

At a village called Tirumani near Vandavasi lived a
Saivite renunciate named Uddandi Nayanar. Being
averse to living with his family he lived apart in a math ^[?].
Later he studied numerous Tamil philosophic texts but
could experience neither peace nor the Self. He visited
Arunachala in December 1896 and during his
circumambulation noticed the young tapasvi in deep
tapas ^[?], lost to the world. Nayanar was deeply impressed
and thought: "This is tapas ^[?]. This is abidance. If such a
one does not experience the Self who else will? By serving
him I may also experience the Self." He firmly believed
in this. Nayanar also decided to stay under another
nearby tree in that chill weather and devote himself to
the service of the young tapasvi: Much later the Swami
himself described Nayanar as a person of detachment.

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      Except when Nayanar had to go out to cook his
food, at all other times he stood guard over the Swami
and prevented curious crowds from collecting there. It
was no easy task — the urchins harassed the Swami
whenever Nayanar went out for food. Once, when no
one was around and the Swami was unaware of his body,
a particularly vicious urchin passed urine on the back of
the Swami and ran away complimenting himself on his
`cleverness'. After regaining consciousness the Swami
understood what had happened. What could Nayanar do
in such circumstances? The Swami was a personification
of tolerance but Nayanar could not bear it and felt deeply
hurt.

      Nayanar had another grievance. He did not wish to
speak to the Swami unless the latter spoke to him first.
On the other hand, the Swami never even opened his
eyes. Nayanar used to sit at a distance studying such
philosophic texts as Jnana Vasishtam, Kaivalya Navaneetam
and looked forward to his Swami's grace.

      Nayanar was the first attendant of the Swami.