32. THE MOTHER'S
NIRVA NA
"May you have a permanent residence in that worldwhere all treasures, happiness and pleasures abound!"
— Bhavabhuti.
ALAGAMMA'S spiritual training had commenced. It
was as if the Maharshi intended to provide eternal
life for her who had provided him with physical life. But
for a liberated state to arise it was essential that all latent
tendencies should vanish. Alagamma had some orthodox
observances like untouchability and madi. The observances
were of minor importance but attaching any significance
to them only made them hindrances to spiritual progress.
At the ashram there were no caste distinctions, all were
welcome. In order to ensure that she no longer clung to
several orthodox observances the Maharshi would make
fun of her on every possible occasion. For instance,
orthodox women did not partake of anything which
contained onion. So, the Maharshi would point at some
onions in the ashram and joke that they or a drumstick,
which was also taboo, could block her way to heaven. He
would also tell her that the observances had a limited
purpose and that religion was not confined only to these
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regulations. The mother gradually got reconciled to the
situation and thought that one should be satisfied with
what was available. Even if she was not able to observe
her orthodox ways she realised that the Maharshi's greatness
would take care of her transgressions, if any.
Another latent tendency of hers was her strong
attachment to the Maharshi, her son. She loved him
and expected him to love her equally strongly. This bond
could not be swept away, though it needed to be swept
away . Whenever she demonstrated her love through
any act the Maharshi admonished her. On several
occasions he pulled her up, upon which she wept. The
Maharshi would then say "Cry and cry more. It does
you good. The more you cry the more satisfied am I".
She could not understand why he was so harsh towards
her. On some other occasions he would not give her any
reply but would converse with other ladies, which hurt
her. She felt that he slighted her deliberately. All that he
would say was: " All women are my mothers, what is so
special about you?" Apart from this, the Maharshi who
always helped in household chores, intentionally refused
to help his mother whenever she sought it. Once, she
asked him to help her in preparing appalams. Instead of
doing so, he gave her a song — famous as the "appalam
song". The song goes like this:
Try and make some appalams.
Eat them and your longing satisfy.
Don't roam the world disconsolate.
Heed the word, unique, unspoken
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Taught by the teacher true who teaches
The truth of Being -Awareness-Bliss
Try and make some… satisfy
1. Take the black-gram, Ego-self,
Growing in the fivefold body field
And grind it in the quern,
The wisdom - quest of "Who am I??"
Reducing it to finest flour
Try and make some… satisfy.
2. Mix it with pirandai - juice,
Which is holy company,
Add mind-control, the cummin seed,
The pepper of self - restraint,
The salt of non-attachment,
And asafoetida , the aroma
Of virtuous inclination.
Try and make some… satisfy.
3. In the heart mortar place the dough.
And with mind -pestle inward turned,
Pound it hard with the strokes of `I' `I',
Then flatten it with the rolling - pin
Of stillness on the level slab (of Being)
Work away, untiring, steady, cheerful
Try and make some… satisfy.
4. Put the appalam in the ghee of Brahman
Held in the pan of infinite silence
And fry it over the fire of knowledge.
Now as I transmuted into That,
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Eat and taste the Self as Self,
Abiding as the Self alone.
Try and make some… satisfy.
— Tr. K. Swaminathan
Alagamma could not appreciate this type of a
behaviour nor did she think it appropriate.
In course of time she came to understand the
Maharshi's behaviour and grasped that attachment was
not proper. She realised that she had come to the ashram
not as the Maharshi's mother but as a devotee keen on
attaining spiritual knowledge. There was only one way
by which she could win his grace and that was by service
without any desire, but with contentment and
detachment. With this realisation her old body toiled day
and night to serve the ashram inmates. Finally she donned
ochre robes, gained detachment and listened to Vedantic
matters. She surrendered herself to the Maharshi, certain
in the belief that he was her saviour.
In the last two or three months of her physical life
she was sick, hence it had become necessary for someone
to look after her. The Maharshi was her first servant. He
nursed her day and night but how long could that old and
tired body survive?
May 19, 1922 (Dundubhi year and Vaisakha month)
was her last day; everyone could sense the impending end
that day. Yet they had to do whatever was possible in a
spirit of detachment leaving the result to the Lord. As long
as she was conscious, Bhagavan gave her spiritual
instructions. When she lost consciousness Ganapati Muni
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and others commenced vedic chants, some others chanted
the Rama-nama.
After the violent gasps (urdhva-swasa) began,
Bhagavan placed his right hand on her heaving heart and
the left one on her head. He looked at her intently. The
day passed that way. Subsequently Bhagavan himself
narrated what had happened thus:
The latent tendencies and thoughts which are the
cause of future births flared up. She had just then
lost consciousness of the external world. Hence in
the subtle world her subtle body was witnessing scene
after scene of what was to happen. By this sequence
of experiences, the soul went through the future births
and travelled towards the highest.
How could she experience this? It was because of the
current of Bhagavan's spiritual power transmitted by touch
that she experienced all within herself, without having to
be born over and over again. There was a battle between
her soul forces and Bhagavan's spiritual power in which
her latent tendencies gradually weakened and ultimately
got vanquished. Bhagavan actually described the scenes
she witnessed in the subtle state including their intensity.
The end came peacefully by eight in the night. Among
those present, Ganapati and Niranjanananda Swami heard
a sound indicative of the mother's death.
In this manner, the mother's individuality submerged
in Atma, God. She attained mahanirvana. She had no more
births. Due to her son, who was Arunachala in human
form, she attained mukti [?] or became established in the Atma.
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As the mother's end was nearing nobody in the ashram
ate anything that day. After her end, the Maharshi got up,
and with no trace of grief said, "We may now eat. There
is no pollution." How could there be any pollution when
they were in the presence of the Lord in whom the holy
lady merged? Such a body was a holy shrine in itself. The
ashramites had a quiet meal.
The entire night passed in the singing of devotional
songs. According to Manavasi Ramaswamy Iyer,
"Bhagavan had no grief whatever. On the other hand, he
appeared to be relieved like a bird released from a cage."
These words were recorded in his diary. True, why did he
have to grieve?
The mother attained the supreme state. Some days
after the event somebody remarked to the Maharshi,
"Mother has passed away." Immediately Bhagavan
corrected him saying "No, mother has merged, she has
become one." On another occasion, when the matter of
his according mukti to the mother came up, Bhagavan
said, "Yes my attempt in her case was successful. Earlier,
in the case of Palaniswami I attempted the same. Thinking
that he had attained the ultimate I removed my hand,
thereupon he opened his eyes. The prana [?] passed through
the eyes. That is how my attempt at that time failed." On
still another occasion, Bhagavan said, "Where has mother
gone? She is here." Hence there need be no doubt as to
where Alagammal had departed. The Maharashi meant
that she merged in Easwara and was with him (as he also
was abiding in the atma).
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The question as to whether the body was to be cremated
or buried came up on the very night of mother's expiry.
Bhagavan pointed out that according to chapter 13 of
Ramana Gita the body of one who attained mukti [?] was to
be buried and not cremated. The disciples decided to bury
the body. Early next dawn, they carried the body from
Skandasramam down the hill to a spot near Paliteertham.
Meanwhile, some relatives from other places came and
though they argued in favour of a cremation, they were
overruled. The news of the mother's death passed round
the town, in spite of every effort to keep it private. As a
result, numerous people turned up at the burial ground.
A pit was dug below an aswatha tree. The body was
lowered into it. The pit was filled with camphor, vibhuti,
salt and other aromatic materials and later covered. The
disciples erected a brick samadhi and by some coincidence,
a Siva linga from Kasi arrived just then. It was placed atop
the samadhi and named, Matrubhuteswara (Mother who
was Easwara).
The Swami was watching the proceedings as a mere
witness. With the samadhi of the mother the son's filial
duty ended.
As Swami had entreated Arunachala in 1914, the
mother was consumed not by the fire of cremation but by
the fire of Jnana .
For the Mahapooja day, Ganapati Muni wrote six
verses entitled Soundaryamba shatkam (Six verses on
Soundaryamba) ? (Soundaryamba has the same meaning
as Alagamma). This is the substance of the verses:
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1. In the first quarter of the night of Friday, the ninth
day of the dark fortnight of Vaisakha month, Dundubhi year
2. Wife of Sundaram born in the exalted lineage of
Bharadwaja, Parasara and mother of Ramana Maharshi born
as an avatara of Guruguha (Subrahmanya), the blessed lady,
3. One devoid of any attachment, one cleansed
by bhakti [?] to Siva, one whose prana [?] was arrested by the
touch of Guha (Ramana Maharshi), one whose tendencies
were all destroyed that very moment
4. She, Soundaryamba, became that Light which
can be known only by the Vedantic Vakyas, which is all-
pervasive, and which was known by her son.
5. At that samadhi of Soundaryamba the stream
which poured out of the lotus palms of Ramana Maharshi
became a new teertha, the Aghasamana teertha (the teertha
which removes all sins).
6. Glory to the holy mother of sacred Ramana!
Glory to the samadhi!
Glory to the linga consecrated by the Maharshi!
Glory to the new Aghasamana teertha!
The Maharshi later said something interesting. After
her passing away, Alagammal's body acquired a new
brilliance which persisted till the abhisheka on the following
day at the time of samadhi; it disappeared soon after water
was poured. Further, at the last breath in all cases a faint
sound emanates. In the mother's case, Bhagavan did not
notice it but others present did.
Every year, to commemorate the anniversary, pooja
is performed to Matrubhuteswara. Thousands of devotees
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from various parts of the world assemble to join the
observance.
With this chapter, that part of the book dealing with
the Maharshi's life on the hill comes to an end. The
Maharshi had numerous disciples but brief stories of only
some of them who had significance from the writer's
standpoint and who might serve as examples to us, have
been described here. Palani was an innocent bhakta,
Ganapati was a scholar par-excellence with great
prescience, Lakshmi Ammal was a pious lady who got out
of that torment of samsara, Ramaswamy Iyer was beset by
illness, Natanananda simply had the samskara of the East,
Sivaprakasam had the samskara of the West, Seshayya was
balanced. Speaking of different paths, Lakshmi Ammal
had reached the stage of attaining samadhi through
ashtanga yoga by the time she reached Bhagavan, Seshayya
was a votary of Ramanama, pranayama [?] and was also
interested in yoga, Ganapati was a master at mantra japa,
Sivaprakasam was a logician totally, Ramaswamy Iyer had
no specialisation, Humphreys belonged to the siddha [?]
school, Natanananda was simply a believer. To grant
spiritual benefit to such diverse persons by making them
focus on a single subject is a matter of profound grace.
In the remaining chapters of this book, Sri Bhagavan's
life at the Ashram nestling at the foot of the hill,
Arunachala, will be described.