Deliverance of a Thorn Bush

One of the devotees who had heard of the verses written by Bhagavan about the deliverance of Lakshmi, the cow, approached Him and said, “Swami, we ourselves see that animals and birds are getting deliverance in your presence; but is it not true that only human beings can get moksha?” “Why? It is stated that a great saint gave moksha to a thorn bush,” said Bhagavan with a smile. The devotee eagerly asked who that great saint was and what was the story about the thorn bush.

The Lord Himself Comes

A new Tamil translation of Sankara’s Atmabodha with a commentary was sent to the Ashram. After glancing through it, Bhagavan sent it to the library. It was noticed that Bhagavan did not seem pleased with the translation. Sending for a copy of Sankara’s Atmabodha from the library, Bhagavan began looking intently into it and after two days rendered two slokas into Tamil verse and showed them to the devotees. Overjoyed at seeing Bhagavan’s translation they asked him to finish the whole work. Although Bhagavan said, “Why, why?” he wrote some more saying, “though I feel disinclined to compose more verses, one after another comes and stands in front of me. What am I to do?”

Mutual Curse

This part is taken from Various Stories & Tales in “Spiritual Stories” as Told by Ramana Maharshi Indra approched ahalya  (wife of Gautama) taking the form of Gautama and she yielded without knowing that he was not her husband. Without ascertaining the...

Kamal, Son of Saint Kabir

A devotee asked, “Can the place between the eyebrows be said to be the seat of the Self?” Bhagavan replied, “The fact is that a sadhaka may have his experience at any centre or chakra on which he concentrates his mind. But, that particular place of his experience does not for that reason become ipso facto, the seat of the Self. There is an interesting story about Kamal, the son of Saint Kabir, which serves as an illustration to show that the head (and a part of the space between the eyebrows) cannot be considered the seat of the Self.”

Kabir

This part is taken from Various Stories & Tales in “Spiritual Stories” as Told by Ramana Maharshi Kabir was a great bhakta (devotee) who lived in or near Benares some centuries ago. Although he had siddhis (psychic powers), he earned his livelihood by...