The Kingdom of Yoga
This lad became the target of the local urchins who looked upon him as a madcap. Did not ‘Mad Seshadri’ arrive at that town four years earlier? Just as they showered pebbles, or pieces of pots on Seshadri they did the same to this lad also. But they threw their missiles from a distance lest the ‘mad-man’ retaliate. As a result, the missiles missed their target. But they disturbed his meditation. To avoid all this he moved to the Pathala lingam – the cellar. The urchins were afraid of entering that place. The insects and other fauna who had the place all for themselves had now a competitor in their midst. While the lad sat in padmasana and was enjoying the bliss of atma, the vermin enjoyed his flesh and blood. In his meditative mood the Swami was not at all conscious of what was happening. Among those who visited the place during the deepam festival some admired the boy’s severe austerities. One among them was Ratnammal, wife of Velayudha Chetty. She fetched him food occasionally and, moved by his condition, begged him to stay at her house. But the Swami’s attention was elsewhere. He scarcely heard what she said. Where was the question of his acceptance? She was disappointed. Yet she left a piece of cloth for his use – either to cover himself or to use on the floor. The Swami in meditation remained that way, so also the cloth stayed where it was kept.
The place of tapas for Ramana
As we enter from the east in the first perimeter we see a hall, in the southeast a flower garden and to the north a thousand pillared hall. To the southwest is an underground cellar where there is a linga of Easwara. But at the time of our story no poojas were performed here and the place was utterly dark, damp and unkempt. But as it had been the place of tapas for Ramana, in 1949 a devotee, Taleyarkhan, got the place cleaned, repaired and electrified. Here, a picture of Sri Bhagavan is placed and poojas offered regularly.
Did a jnani need tapas?
For a sannyasi, the caves of a hill, the banks of a tank, a temple, the trees of a forest – are all suitable say the sastras.
As his cherished goal was Arunachala
At first hazily, a little later more clearly and finally explosively the peak of Arunagiri, its middle, its foothills and its base, with the temple towers touching the stars all these came into view. Venkataraman’s heart was immersed in an ocean of joy, his body quivered, his eyes brimmed with tears which came in the way of his beholding his beloved Arunachala to his heart’s content.
The Great Journy
The sun was setting. A maulvi seated in the same compartment was narrating the stories of different sages to his fellow passengers, who were absorbed in his narration. But this young man was indifferent, did not even open his eyes. Curious, the maulvi approached him and asked, “Swami, where are you going?”