Life Of Ramana Maharshi - 4

December 24, 2000

Part – 3:

.... We will see about His family background in the next part.

Part – 4:

Lord Brahma worshipped vishNu bhagavAn’s feet in satyaloka by offering

water. That water fell through all the worlds as Mother Ganga. After

BhagIratA’s penance Lord Shiva agreed to receive the furious flow of Ganga

on His matted locks and conduct it to the earth and hence bless bhagIratA’s

ancestors and thus the entire world. Mother Ganga approached vishNu

bhagavAn and plaintively asked that if she cleaned all the dirt (sins) of

men who came to her, then she would be defiled. vishNu bhagavAn consoled

Her saying that she need not worry. Saints who are pure at heart, who have

renounced the samsAra and who have devoted their entire lives to the Lord

would come to bathe in Her waters. By cleaning their fett, the waters would

also be cleansed. So blessed vishNu bhagavAn. This story is quoted to show

that the very physical presence of a saint has a purifying influence on the

surroundings. The very soil they tread upon, the articles they use, the

clothes they wear, the food they eat – all get sanctified by their very

association with the saints. Seeing them removes all sins, touching them

removes all ills and listening to them removes all ignorance.

Sri Sundaram Iyer (RM’s father) was a man of good character. He was widely

respected in the village. He worked as a rural lawyer. They were of

middle-class economic status. He had built the house where RM was born. I

had happened to visit the house. Seeing the white chunnam (plaster) and

red-oxide painted floors one gets the impression that it had been renovated

later. But the house was divided into two compartments one half for the

family and one half for the guests. (This was a common arrangement in older

homes in the villages). Sri Sundaram Iyer was known for his calm

temperament and generous nature.

However his family had a curse. One day a wandering mendicant on being

denied food, pronounced the curse that one person in every generation of

their family would take to begging and wandering. One of Sundaram Iyers

paternal uncle in the previous generation and his elder brothers had taken

to sanyasa. But nothing seemed to be wrong with his own family.

Venkataraman (RM) was a normal boy. He had an elder brother named Nagaswami

who was two years elder to him. Six years younger to him was his little

brother called Nagasundaram. Alamelu, his sister was the youngest of them

all and was eight years younger to RM.

Venkataraman (RM) was fond of playing. They played in the “kalyaNa madapam”

by the side of the temple of Bhuminatha. Classes were also held there

sometimes. Going by the pictures of His handwriting, he seemed to have a

clean and ornate handwriting in English. He studied in the English Middle

School in Tiruchuzhi (the picture of the school now only shows a dilapidated

building). One day when RM was 6 years old, he was taken to task for

making kites and paper boats out of the case bundles of his father. RM was

deeply hurt and disappeared. They could not find him anywhere. That

evening when the priest of Sri Sahayavalli (consort of Lord Bhuminatha) was

about to perform pUja, he found a boy seated silently behind the idol. It

was Venkatarman(RM). He was deeply hurt and seemed to have confided and

sought solace with Sri Sahayavalli. (Must have been very sensitive!).

This was late 1800’s. No Barbie-dolls, Pokemon-cards, Scooby-doo shows or

Tele-tubbies. The children of the village played either in the nearby

streams or fields or the temple environs.

In the month of Magha, water rises in the temple little every day till it

reaches the brim. He used to recall that as a boy he and his friends would

mark signs on the walls of the tank to see how much the water had risen for

that day. Everyday it would grow and submerge the signs one by one, until

on the full moon day (which would fall on the day of the star Magha), it

would become full. Recalling the incident, He said, “To us it was great

fun”.

Venkataraman (RM) was generally loved by all. Especially women who did not

have children thought of him as their own child.

The demise of His father ...

Continued in Part-5 ...

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