24. HARASSMENT BY
SADHUS
LONG ago Sankara said that there were far too manypretenders among sadhus. The scriptures have
condemned them, yet their number has increased and in
the present times substantial amounts are wasted by the
public on them. Such hypocrites have anger as well as fear
towards true sannyasis and hence do everything possible
to harm them. But the reputation of truly noble men only
gets enhanced by such acts of the pretenders, whose true
nature gets revealed.
From the very moment the Swami settled down on
the hill, Arunachala, the income of the hypocritical sadhus
began dwindling and instead started pouring at the Swami's
feet. The Swami's great vairagya [?] and his teachings were
attracting people in large numbers. This caused heartburn
to the sadhu [?] pretenders. Among them was one, Jataswami
who had some tapas [?] to his credit and was also learned. In
fact, the Swami used to visit him frequently and consult
the books available with him. Jataswami was celibate and
frugal in his eating habits but his great weakness was
jealousy. He had the habit of rolling rocks towards any
real sadhu [?] who attempted to settle on the hill and most of
them went away apprehending some approaching
Page 108
earthquake. Jataswami employed the same trick towards
the Swami but it had no effect; on one such occasion the
Swami climbed up further and caught the elderly Jataswami
who, strangely, not only did not express any remorse but
merely laughed it off as a practical joke.
Jataswami's friend was Balanandaswami, a peculiar
Brahmin character. He was acquainted with English,
French, Marathi, Hindustani, Sanskrit and Malayalam.
He studied the Prasthana Traya [?] (scriptures). Appearance-
wise also he was attractive with sharp features and good
complexion. He also had the gift of the gab and by spinning
yarns was able to win over any stranger. As darkness is
dispelled when the sun rises, with the arrival of the Swami
on the hill, Balanandaswami's glamour began to fade. But
he was not one to give up. He tried to win over the
Swami by all kinds of tricks. He would tell all visitors that
the young Swami was his disciple and would ask them to
give his "disciple" something to eat. Not only that, he
would place a lot of eatables in front of the Swami in the
presence of visitors and urge him to eat.
The Swami was guileless yet he could easily notice
the hypocrisy of Balanandaswami but was not inclined to
act against evil which was why possibly he never exposed
him. Quite brazenly Balanandaswami said to the Swami,
"I will declare you to be my disciple and make some money
thereby. What do you lose, just be silent". After 1908 a
number of persons learned and unlearned, rich and poor,
children and elderly - became devoted to the Swami. They
began showing their resentment towards Balanandaswami
Page 109
at first indirectly but later, directly. Balanandaswami went
to ridiculous lengths to establish himself as the Swami's
guru without realizing that his acts were harmful to himself.
The climax came one night with his passing urine in the
verandah of Virupaksha cave before leaving the place.
Palaniswami who guessed that it could only be the act of
Balanandaswami washed the place. After the Maharshi
and others went to have a bath at a distant teertha,
Palaniswami threw out the bundle of Balanandaswami's
clothes, among them were some costly ones too, and left
the place locking up the cave. Palaniswami also felt that
even if he did not express it the Maharshi must have been
revolted at Balanandaswami's act.
Balananda returned and became furious at what
happened to his clothes and began ranting "this must be
Palani's work". As soon as Palani returned he belaboured him
and said to the Maharshi, "This fellow Palani is quite arrogant,
see how he threw away my clothes. Get rid of him at once."
The Maharshi did not respond, Palani did not stir. With
uncontrollable anger Balananda spat on the face of the
Maharshi, even then the latter kept silent. For some unknown
reason the Maharshi's devotees present at the spot also kept
quiet. Another disciple, Muthaiah, living in a different cave
got to know of this and with great fury was about to beat the
forty year old Balanandaswami with a stick, when the
Maharshi intervened and stopped him. Balanandaswami
realized that his ways would not succeed and decided to
leave the place but even then his pride would not leave him.
He said, "This hill does not deserve to be the place for me to
Page 110
do tapas" and left for the railway station. He seated himself
in an upper class compartment. Even there he did not behave
himself. There was a young couple already seated in the
compartment. Balanandaswami began ordering about the
young man who, naturally, ignored his commands. Furious
at this, Balananda shouted at him: `By ignoring my words
you are insulting me. This is because of your infatuation
with this tart." At this, the young man took out his sandals
and beat up Balananda. After this treatment, Balananda
disappeared from Arunachala.
Two or three years later, when the Maharshi was
residing at the mango tree cave, Balananda reappeared,
stood before the cave and sent for the Maharshi. The
latter, assuming that Balanandaswami was reformed came
out. When no one was about, Balananda asked the
Maharshi, "Have you heard what had happened at the
railway station?". The Maharshi gave an affirmative
answer. Balananda resumed, "Possibly, I needed that
experience also! I regret having spat on you the other
day, when I was beside myself with anger. If you so wish
you may now spit on me as many times as you like" and
went closer to the Maharshi. The Maharshi who had no
trace of revenge in him did nothing of the kind.
But true to his form Balananda began ordering about
everybody from the very next day. Naturally, nobody
cared. A few days later he came to the mango tree cave
and said to the Maharshi, "I shall teach you how to attain
nirvikalpa samadhi." So saying he forcibly took him to
the pial opposite the cave. Turning to Vasudeva Sastry
Page 111
and other disciples of the Maharshi he said, "What business
have you in the company of elders? You had better go."
He looked again at the Maharshi and said, "You keep
looking into my eyes and take a deep breath." He
cautioned the Maharshi to relax-thus he harassed the
Maharshi for about half an hour and at the end, he himself
fell asleep. The Maharshi and his disciples quietly went
back to the Virupaksha cave.
Balananda indulged in such antics on one more
occasion. He ordered Rangaswamy Iyengar, a disciple of
the Maharshi to fetch a twig for him to brush his teeth.
Rangaswamy Iyengar brought a big branch and said, "For
the elderly, is this not the appropriate thing?" Balananda
ordered another disciple so fetch some fire to light his
cigar. He, in turn, brought burning pieces of coal in a
huge basin. Bringing it close to Balananda's face he asked,
"What should be lighted?"
Balananada realized that the Maharshi's disciples
would no longer care for him and thought it better to
leave the place before they drove him out. Before leaving,
he addressed the Maharshi thus: "This hill is unfit for
persons like me. On top of it your disciples have insulted
me. It was I who gave you various powers and because of
them people are reverential towards you. I am withdrawing
all the powers. Henceforth no one will respect you." So
saying he left for the town.
He went to a sweetmeat shop owner and boasted
about what he had done. The shop owner had great regard
for the Maharshi; upon hearing what Balananda said he
Page 112
got ready to thrash him. With that, Balananda left
Arunachala again. Sometime later Balanandaswami
returned to the Maharshi and saying that he had no
attachment towards the body, he became nude and
behaved in a repulsive manner with the Maharshi's
attendant. All those present were incensed but the
Maharshi was as usual indifferent. After this event
Balananda left Arunachala for good. Nobody heard of
him any more.
Another sadhu [?] also tried to project himself as the
Maharshi's guru. This Mahaswami had learnt the preliminary
lessons of philosophy; he performed mantra japa, and was
acquainted with music also. He resented the Maharshi who
did not perform any japa but who still `earned' a lot of money.
He would go to the post office and collect all the letters
addressed to the Brahmana Swami (by which name also the
Maharshi was known). His justification was that he also was
a Brahmin residing on the hill! Once he returned from a
pilgrimage to Kalahasti and said to the Maharshi, "I returned
only for your sake. I shall initiate you in the Dattatreya-
mantra". The Maharshi did not jump with joy at this unsought
for attention. He was, as usual, indifferent. But the
Mahaswami would not give up. "God appeared in my dream
and ordered me to initiate you" he said. The Maharshi replied
"If He appears in my dream also and orders me to receive the
upadesa I shall do so". "No, no it is a very brief mantra, get
up and we shall commence" said the Mahaswami. The
Maharshi replied "What is the use of this upadesa when I
have no inclination towards performing any Japa?"
Page 113
The Mahaswami got angry and whenever any of his
visitors expressed a wish to have the darshan of the
Maharshi, he would try to dissuade them saying that the
Maharshi was not great nor learned enough to be able to
give any instruction to them. The Maharshi heard this
but as usual kept quiet. One day when the Mahaswami
was in meditation at the banana grove near the temple he
had a vision of the Maharshi who said to him "Don't be
deceived," and disappeared. With that, the Mahaswami
trembled and realized that Ramana was no ordinary person
and that he did possess certain powers. Thereafter he
decided not to trifle with the Maharshi. He ran to the
Maharshi, and narrating his experience pleaded with him
to see that he no longer had such visions. The Maharshi
replied calmly "I have no such powers. Further I have no
hatred towards you at all." Mahaswami got pacified with
these words and went his way.
Round about 1916, a group of sadhus planned to
abduct the Maharshi. They came to him at the Virupaksha
cave in a drunken state and said, "We are from Podigai
the place where the sage Agastya is still in penance. He
ordered us to take you to Srirangam first, where a meeting
of the siddhas is on, and later bring you to him. He said
that there were some elements still in your body which
were preventing your attaining complete Siddhi and that
he would remove them for your own benefit. He also said
that he would initiate you in the proper manner."
The position was critical but the Maharshi just did
not utter a single word. Perumalswami who was there,
Page 114
was quite strong and quick-witted. He intervened and
said to the visitors, "We have been already told by God of
your impending visit and He ordered us to fry you in a
pan. What do you say to this?" He further turned towards
Mastan, a fellow disciple, and asked him to make necessary
preparations for this. This acted as an excellent antidote
which made the visiting sadhus run away.
It is not that such "gentlemen" were wanting among
the educated classes, either. In the early days of the
establishment of the Ashram some rich gentlemen of
Madras, felt that the administration of the Ashram was
not being carried out properly. They chartered a bus from
Madras and arrived at the Ashram with the objective of
changing the management or failing that, taking the
Maharshi away to Madras. They entered the hall where
Bhagavan sat. He was serious, immobile and silent. Each
one of the visitors developed cold feet and having nothing
to say they simply returned to their bus and went away.
The Maharshi later on came to know as to why they came
in the first place. He said, "I did not know why they
came. Did they come here to imporve the Ashram or
themselves?"
So long as one lives in the world even a jnani [?] may
have to face critical situations. There is no escape from
prarabdha for any one — that is the moral of these episodes.