46. SOME ANECDOTES
1. No photograph of Bhagavan as a child isavailable. Young Venkataraman was once photographed
with his uncle. For that photograph he was asked to place
his hand on a big book as if he was very studious. Suddenly
a fly landed on his face to drive away which he lifted his
hand. It was at that very moment that the photographer
clicked the camera. Naturally, the photo was no good;
even that could not be traced anywhere. The first
photograph of Bhagavan now available was taken in or
about 1900 at Virupaksha cave by a devotee from
Kumbakonam, Nalla Pillai.
2. Here is another anecdote narrated by
Bhagavan: An old, lame man of Arunachala wished to
leave his family in disgust and began walking with the
help of a stick. He took the giri pradakshina road to leave
the town. He had earlier performed the pradakshina several
times but as he was about to leave the town, he felt very
sorry. Suddenly a Brahmin youth appeared from nowhere
and took away the stick from the old man saying: "Do
you need this still?" and disappeared. From that moment
the old man became normal. At the time of this story
Bhagavan was on the hill but he never said that it was he
who set right the old man's foot. A similar story can be
found in Arunachala Purana.
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3. A European devotee set out to explore the
Arunachala hill all by himself without any guide. As he
did not return even by late evening, people at the Ashram
became anxious. Bhagavan was at that time sitting near
Ramana Teertham and looking at Arunachala with a pair
of binoculars. A little after dusk the devotee returned,
exhausted and narrated that while on the hill he had lost
his way and that Bhagavan had guided him back to the
Ashram. Everyone was astonished to hear this and
wondered how Bhagavan who was in the Ashram all the
time could have guided the devotee.
4. Rudraraj Pandey, Principal of a College at
Khatmandu, visited the Arunachaleswara temple to have
the darshan of the Lord. He took the help of a guide at the
temple. As they neared the sanctum sanctorum the guide
began chanting aloud "Arunachala." Pandey wanted to
have the darshan of the linga but all that he could see was
the pleasant, smiling countenance of Bhagavan all over
the place. Overwhelmed, Pandey shed tears of joy.
5. A devotee once sought Bhagavan's permission
to take to sannyasa [?] as he was no longer able to face the
problems of family life. Bhagavan advised him against it
but the devotee persisted saying, "You came away but
you say that we should not." Bhagavan replied "When I
came, I did not seek anyone's permission". At this, the
assembled people broke into laughter.
6. Bhagavan had a fine sense of humour and his
comments were polished, never hurting anybody. When
the pain in his joints became pronounced, not only his
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attendants but even some devotees took part in massaging
his legs. A seventy year old retired judge also wished to do
the same. When Bhagavan asked him the reason he said
"Let me earn some punya," Bhagavan then said, "All of
you please be quiet for some time. I also wish to earn
some punya massaging these legs," and actually began doing
so.
7. An asthma patient requested Bhagavan to grant
him relief from the ailment. Bhagavan said, "I also have
the same problem; at least you have a Swami to whom
you can appeal, what about me? I see no Swami. One has
to accept whatever befalls him."
8. A youth once asked Bhagavan to tell him the
"way to moksha [?]". Bhagavan replied, "Go back along the
same way as you have come." The youth did not grasp the
meaning and sat disappointed. Others present clarified
the matter for him thus, "What Bhagavan says is correct.
First of all arose the I-thought and thereafter other thoughts,
that is the mind, arose. To enquire into the source of all
thoughts is what is meant by `going the same way as you
have come'."
9. Behind the darshan hall there was a mango
tree. Instead of climbing the tree to pluck its fruits some
people were using long sticks to beat it and in the process
a number of leaves and twigs also fell down. At that
moment Bhagavan happened to pass that way and he
admonished them, "Enough, enough. In return for the
fruit it gives we are destroying the tree. Quite a nice thing
to do. Please go away."
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Similarly, Echammal once wished to perform a vrata
of a "hundred thousand leaves." But she could not collect
the required number of leaves and she told Bhagavan about
it. Bhagavan suggested that she pinch her body instead
and fill up the gap. Echammal could not follow and asked
"What is that?"
Bhagavan: If you pinch your body you feel the pain
but you think that by plucking the leaves the plant does
not feel any pain.
10. A well dressed man walked into the hall even
without leaving his footwear outside and asked Bhagavan,
"Have you seen God?" Bhagavan put on an innocent face
and asked "God? Who is he?" The young man was
dumbfounded, while everyone else laughed. A little later
he asked Bhagavan if he could take a photograph of
Bhagavan. "Yes, if it is possible," said Bhagavan. (The
youth could not understand the import of this.) What
Bhagavan meant was that he was the atma and that it was
impossible to photograph it. Yet the youth clicked his
camera and went his way.
11. Bhagavan once heard from somebody that a
yogi observed in his subtle body how far the aura of
Mahatmas spread. In that process he claimed to have seen
the aura of the Buddha spread over a mile, Sri Aurobindo's
seven furlongs whereas Bhagavan's went over three miles
but still continued going. As a result, he could not see the
end. After hearing the story Bhagavan said, "If only he
enquired into what his subtle body was, all these problems
would have been solved."
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12. During his stay at Virupaksha cave Bhagavan
used to take a myrobalan (Karakkai, in Telugu) every day
as a preventive for constipation. At one point of time all
the myrobalans in the ashram were over and Palaniswami
was planning to go to the town to fetch them. Just then
a villager came to the ashram with a bag-full of those fruits
and offered them to Bhagavan. It so happened that as the
villager set out to have Bhagavan's darshan by his cart,
some myrobalans began leaking from a bag placed in
another cart which was moving just ahead of him. The
villager picked them up thinking they would be useful for
Bhagavan. He reached the ashram just as Palaniswami
was setting out. Similarly, on another occasion, Palani
was about to get some grapes for Bhagavan when Bhagavan
said to him, "What is the hurry?" Just then the brother of
Seshayya came with a packet of grapes and offered them
to Bhagavan. He did so as a matter of courtesy not because
he knew that the ashram did not have grapes just then.
Bhagavan's attendant Ayyaswami used to say that whatever
be the requirements of Bhagavan they used to be met in
time without any effort.
13. Sundaresa Iyer who belonged to
Tiruvannamalai came to Bhagavan quite early in his life.
Much later he had to take up a job at a different place but
was reluctant to leave Bhagavan. He went to Bhagavan
and wept. Bhagavan asked him, "How long have you
been with me?" Sundaresa Iyer replied, "Forty years".
"Look," said Bhagavan addressing everybody in the
hall. "He has been with me for forty years listening to me.
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Yet he says he cannot go to a place where I am not."
Bhagavan possibly meant that there was no such place.
14. Bhagavan resolved the difficulties of his
devotees and of those who sought refuge in him. Sundaresa
Iyer had to write the foreword for a collection of
Bhagavan's Tamil works about to be published. He
concluded the foreword saying, "It is believed that those
who read these works will be blessed." Bhagavan corrected
this, removing the expression `believed' and said, "Those
who read these works will be blessed."
15. To Sivaprakasam Pillai, Bhagavan said, "One
who has the grace of the Guru will surely attain liberation,
the Guru will never forsake him. A sishya coming to a
guru is like something that falls in the jaws of a tiger."
To a Dutch devotee, Hartez, Bhagavan said, "Even if you
leave Bhagavan, he won't leave you." Someone immediately
asked Bhagavan, "Is this special to him or does it apply to all."
"It applies to all," came the reply.
Bhagavan said to Kitty, Osborne's daughter, "If Kitty
thinks of Bhagavan, Bhagavan also thinks of Kitty."
16. A disciple once lamented, "If you do not take
pity on me what can I do? There is no sinner like me."
Bhagavan: What is the connection between me and
you?
Disciple:
You are my Gurudeva.
Bhagavan: You say I am your Gurudeva but have you
given me any guru-dakshina?
Disciple:
I have always been ready to make an
offering but Bhagavan had never been ready
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to accept it. Please let me know what I
should offer.
Bhagavan: Are you sure you will not back out?
Disciple:
How can you say so, will I ever break a
promise?
Bhagavan: You gift me the fruits of all your
meritorious
acts (punya).
Disciple:
Why not? But I have no punya to my
credit.
Bhagavan: Give me whatever punya you have.
Disciple:
I hereby gift all the fruits of my punya to
Ramana.
Bhagavan: You said that you could give only a little,
why not gift that which you have in
abundance?
Disciple:
I shall do so. But let me know what I can
give.
Bhagavan: I will, but you must not back out.
Disciple:
Never, I shall never back out.
Bhagavan: If so, give me all your sins.
Disciple:
Oh Bhagavan! I have committed
innumerable sins.
Bhagavan: I am not concerned with that. Will you
give or not?
With great anguish the disciple said, "I gift all my
sins and their fruits to Ramana as ordered by him. I have
nothing to do with them any more."
Bhagavan: Now see, you have neither merit nor de-
merit any more. As you are the Atma you
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don't have to grieve any more. Simply be,
do nothing.
17. To another devotee Bhagavan said, "Even if
you go to hell I shall follow you. But my question is why
should you do acts that could lead you to hell?"
18. Another devotee said to Bhagavan, "Bhagavan,
so long as we are in your presence we are all good people
but once we return to our place we resume our usual
activities. I have been coming here for so many years now
but I do not seem to have progressed even a little bit."
Bhagavan: Those who travel by first class inform the
guard of the train where they have to get down and
ask him to wake them up. Thereafter they shut the
windows and go to sleep. Do they wake up midway
and ask themselves whether they had crossed their
destination already? You are all like first class
passengers. You have informed the guard about your
destination. Does not the guard know what to do?
When your destination arrives the guard himself will
come and wake you up.
Can there be a greater reassurance than this?