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MAHAPATRA DAVE, WHO STARTED THE FIRST SRI RAMANA GROUP AT HYDERABAD

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MAHAPATRA DAVE, WHO STARTED THE FIRST SRI RAMANA GROUP AT HYDERABAD

 

Dave was born in Mahaboobnagar in 1915. He taught at the Gujarati

School, Secundrabad.The following is abstracted from an article by

G.V.Rajeswara Rao in Sri Ramana Jyothi of November 1981.

 

Having a religious bent of mind from the very beginning, when Dave

read Who am I? in 1939, he concluded that Sri Ramana was his guru.

He longed to have His darshan. The opportunity came only in 1943,

when the father of one of Dave's students requested him to take his

son on some sort of a tour to broaden his horizon. The father agreed

the journey could be to Tiruvannamalai. Bhagavan thus provided him

the badly needed money, which came in the way of his undertaking the

journey earlier.

 

When Dave went to the hall and sat before Bhagavan, all questions

he wanted to ask were answered in silence. Suddenly he felt as if

someone was twisting the right side of his heart. There were no more

questions, no more doubts; it was only bliss – he surrendered

himself to Bhagavan. After about a month's stay, Dave returned home

happily having realized his cherished desire. After this Dave could

manage to visit the Ashram every six months or so despite his

slender purse. To alley the fear of his parents that Dave may become

a sadhu by such frequent visits, he started taking his wife with

him.

 

 

Dave started the Ramana Meditation Centre in his house, which came

to be known as Ramana Bhakta Mandali, which was the first Ramana

group in Hyderabad. Numerous devotees, including Prof. Shiva Mohan

Lal and Sishtla Subba Rao participated in the satsangs, which were

held on Thursday evenings. The Mandali also brought out a

publication Ramanasthuthi in 1956.

 

Dave used to remember many incidents through which Bhagavan's grace

manifested for him. Some of these are:

1. Dave's mother was prone to arthritis. He asked her to apply with

faith the ashes which fell from the burning of incense sticks placed

before Bhagavan's portrait. She did so and got rid of her disease.

Having developed faith in Bhagavan, she went to the Ashram with his

son in 1945. After being introduced to Bhagavan by Dave, she sat in

the hall. She very much wanted to ask Bhagavan to better their

financial position and improve the health of Dave, which was always

poor. But once before Bhagavan, she forgot everything and realized

that things happened according to one's prarabdha. She being a great

devotee of Lord Krishna prayed to Bhagavan to bless her with His

darshan. Suddenly she found the people and Bhagavan disappearing

before her eyes in the hall, and Krishna appearing with his

resplendent face. She was thrilled. Next day she prayed for the

darshan of Sri Rama and goddess Lakshmi, both of which appeared

before her in all their splendor, and after a while merged into a

round ball of light, which got set in her heart. She was overjoyed

and became an ardent devotee of Bhagavan.

 

2. Dave and Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal wanted to go to the Ashram for the

Golden Jubilee jayanti of Bhagavan in September 1946. They got held

up at Vellore due to a bus strike. The jayanti fell on the next day

and fifty miles were to be covered. When the Prof. proposed to walk

the distance, Dave asked, " What about the luggage? " A little later,

a military truck came to the lodge where they were staying (from

where, nobody knows) and took them to the outskirts of

Tiruvannamalai. They could reach the Ashram in time for the

celebrations.

 

3. Dave's father had no faith in Bhagavan. Dave's prayers were heard

when due to the Razakar oppression, the Hindus were fleeing

Hyderabad. The family decided to shift to Tiruvannamalai. Two

month's stay at the Ashram made Dave's father a devotee of Bhagavan.

 

4. In 1946, when the Gujarati School management (where Dave taught),

got sore on his being on leave too often, he resigned. Immediately

thereafter, he got an offer from a printing press in Secundrabad to

work as manager; the new management agreeing to all his conditions.

Here Bhagavan's Upadesa Saaram was translated in Gujarati and got

printed.

 

5. Once, when Dave was having his meals at the Ashram's dining hall,

Bhagavan asked the server to give him some groundnut preparation

saying that it was good for his health. But relying on his medical

knowledge that groundnuts were not good for asthmatic patients like

him, he took only a little of what was served to him and passed on

the rest to his wife. He always regretted that had he eaten the

preparation fully, he would have got cured of his asthma.

 

6. Dave remembered the day he gave a helping hand to Bhagavan when

He was about to fall near the old guest house. Bhagavan said, " Leave

it. " When he asked the attendants as to why they did not help Him,

they replied that they have been forbidden. Dave recalled that

though Bhagavan's body was constantly exposed to sun and weather, it

was very soft and tender.

 

7. Dave got an accountant's job with the Saurastra government in

1947. In 1949, when he heard of Bhagavan's illness he wanted to go

to Tiruvannamalai. When the superior officer refused leave, he began

to fast and got 15 days leave. He went to the Ashram in September

1949, resigned his job and was there till Bhagavan's mahanirvana. On

the fateful April 14, 1950, he and his wife were reciting

Aksharamanamali and bhajans throughout the night. Everybody present

felt the presence of Bhagavan in their hearts.

 

Dave bought a piece of land in Tiruvannamalai to stay near the

Ashram. As he could not stay there after Bhagavan's mahanirvana, the

site was given by him to Natesan, who had served as Bhagavan's

barber for 22 years.

 

Dave used to say: " Bhagavan was not a person who knew Brhaman. Where

is the knower and where is the known? He is Brhaman Himself. "

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.

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