[Advaita-l] Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - Annamalai Swami

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

EPIDEMICS DURING BHAGAVAN’S TIME – THE 1905 PLAGUE

The End of the 1905 Plague Epidemic

All in all, it was a peaceful time for Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and the
few sadhus who were with him at the Pachiamman temple during the six month
long quarantine there. Words such as quarantine were perhaps unknown then.
Such things made no difference to Bhagavan who had renounced the world and
had been living on a self-quarantine for almost a decade when the bubonic
plague of 1905 struck Tiruvannamalai.

Bhagavan used to swim in the Pachaiamman temple tank and roam about on the
hill side. As he would say later, “இந்த மலை மேல என் கால் படாத இடமே கிடையாது
There is no place on this hill which I have not set foot on.” He would also
go round the hill and perhaps his friends, the tigers and leopards would
also roam with him. As he would often say in the 1940s, reminiscing,
“அதெல்லாம் அந்த நாள்! Those were the days!”

When the epidemic was over after a long six months, public health workers
and police officials came to sanitize the town. They sprayed disinfectants
and got rid of the remaining rodents which were in the first place
responsible for the plague. When they completed their work they arranged a
bhajan and kirtan celebration. They established tents near Pachaiamman
Temple and since some of the prominent members among them had been coming
to visit Bhagavan during his stay, they requested Bhagavan to attend the
bhajans. When Bhagavan expressed his disinclination to join them, they
continued to press him. Suri Nagamma records Bhagavan’s enthusiastic
narration of the event in her 'Letters from Ramanasramam':

“There was a tank opposite Pachaiamman temple. They erected several tents
adjacent to the tank and arranged for the bhajan there. The bhajan,
however, was not of the ordinary type. In the big tent they left the
required open space in the centre and arranged chairs and benches around it
as in a circus tent. They brought edibles as for a tea-party and arranged
them all systematically as in an exhibition. There was no limit to the
flower garlands they brought. Collectors, Tahsildars and police were all
there. They arranged a special platform for me. As soon as I arrived, they
all got up, bowed before me, and requested me to sit on the dais. I felt
embarrassed. But, what to do? I never knew they would make such a fuss
about it. Having gone there, I had no alternative but to sit on the
platform. They tried to garland me, but I declined saying that they should
garland their own dignitaries. They did accordingly.

Till that was done, they did not begin the bhajan. After I had sat down,
they asked for permission to start the bhajan. After one party had
finished, another started, while the others took refreshments, soda and
other drinks. Till early morning there was thus continued eating and
continuous bhajan, by turns. I was the only one who did not touch or do
anything. I merely sat there. I felt satisfied and contented that they did
not press me to do anything. By daybreak all was over and there was not a
single soul, all had left along with the tents. Oh, they were all very
enthusiastic and exhilarated!”

The Supreme Jnani, who is just the சாட்சி மாத்திரம் साक्षी मात्र witness of
the world, witnessed the wild celebrations without himself participating in
any of it and without any reaction  With this all night celebration, the
epidemic of 1905 came to an auspicious end. Bhagavan and his devotees then
returned to Virupaksha cave.

On Mon, 20 Apr, 2020, 2:25 PM Divya Meedin, <divyameedin at gmail.com> wrote:

> Blessed to know. These are unprecedented times, indeed. May Bhagavan's
> grace be upon all.
>
> Divya
>
> On Mon, 20 Apr, 2020, 14:21 Raghav Kumar Dwivedula, <
> raghavkumar00 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for that. I stay in Tiruvannamalai but the ashram is closed. They
>> did a live stream of the morning pooja at Bhagavan's samadhi.
>>
>> Om
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 20 Apr, 2020, 2:08 PM Divya Meedin, <divyameedin at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I had typed out the excerpt from the hard copy, actually.
>>>
>>> Here's a link for the pdf:
>>> https://archive.org/search.php?query=living%20by%20the%20words%20of%20bhagavan&and[]=mediatype%3A%22texts%22
>>>
>>> Divya
>>>
>>> On Mon, 20 Apr, 2020, 13:56 Raghav Kumar Dwivedula, <
>>> raghavkumar00 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thank you for that quotation. Do you have a pdf of the living by the
>>>> words book?
>>>>
>>>> I bought a hard copy sometime back but I want a pdf badly, so it's easy
>>>> to search and look for specific references.
>>>>
>>>> Much appreciated if you can share a pdf.
>>>>
>>>> Om
>>>> Raghav
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, 20 Apr, 2020, 1:45 PM Divya Meedin via Advaita-l, <
>>>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On the 70th Aradhana of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, an excerpt from
>>>>> 'Living by the Words of Bhagavan' (Conversations with Sri Annamalai
>>>>> Swami,
>>>>> pages 211-212):
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Bhagavan gave me his grace and then severed the personal relationship
>>>>> between us. The bond of love and devotion was not separated; it was
>>>>> just
>>>>> restricted to the mind and the heart.
>>>>>
>>>>> When Bhagavan became very sick at the end of the 1940s I was sorely
>>>>> tempted
>>>>> to visit him. I never succumbed because I knew that Bhagavan had
>>>>> instructed
>>>>> me to stay away from his presence. Some people who were not aware of
>>>>> what
>>>>> Bhagavan had told me thought that I was being disrespectful by staying
>>>>> away. One devotee even asked Bhagavan about this.
>>>>>
>>>>> 'Annamalai Swami served Bhagavan for a long time,' he said, 'but he is
>>>>> not
>>>>> coming to see Bhagavan now that Bhagavan is seriously ill.'
>>>>>
>>>>> Bhagavan, detecting a certain self-righteousness in the questioner,
>>>>> remarked, 'He is the one who is not causing any trouble.'
>>>>> Then he added, 'You people are here but your minds are elsewhere. He is
>>>>> elsewhere but his mind is here.'
>>>>>
>>>>> Rangaswami, Bhagavan's attendant, reported this to me later that day.
>>>>> It
>>>>> was good to hear that Bhagavan was consciously aware that I was
>>>>> constantly
>>>>> thinking and worrying about him.
>>>>>
>>>>> During the last year of Bhagavan's life I suffered from a continuous,
>>>>> severe stomach pain. Some of the doctors who came to treat Bhagavan
>>>>> treated
>>>>> me as well but none of them was able to relieve the pain. I was unable
>>>>> to
>>>>> eat anything except gruel, and even that only in small quantities. If I
>>>>> tried to eat a lot of gruel, or any different kind of food, the pain
>>>>> in my
>>>>> stomach would become unbearable. In the last days of Bhagavan's life
>>>>> the
>>>>> pain got much worse.
>>>>>
>>>>> It got so severe that I remember thinking, 'Let me give up this body
>>>>> before
>>>>> Bhagavan gives up his. I cannot stand this pain any longer.'
>>>>>
>>>>> I finally decided to pray to Bhagavan, not for good health, but for
>>>>> death.
>>>>> At that time there were some steps going up to my flat roof. I climbed
>>>>> up
>>>>> them very slowly and painfully and looked in Bhagavan's direction.
>>>>>
>>>>> 'Please Bhagavan,' I prayed, 'let me attain Samadhi before you attain
>>>>> Samadhi.' At that moment I saw the great light in the sky, the light
>>>>> that
>>>>> signified that Bhagavan had died. Many people saw this light and most
>>>>> of
>>>>> them reported that it resembled a meteor. It appeared to me in a
>>>>> different
>>>>> form: I saw a great column of light about twenty feet high and 1 1/2
>>>>> feet
>>>>> wide in the middle of the sky. While it was manifesting for a period of
>>>>> about two minutes it was slowly descending towards the ashram. A few
>>>>> minutes later a Saadhu came and told me that Bhagavan had passed away.
>>>>> At
>>>>> the exact moment when he told me the news, my stomach pains vanished
>>>>> and
>>>>> never reappeared again.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *****An except from Diary Extracts (in the aforementioned book), page
>>>>> 231:
>>>>>
>>>>> Question: I am thinking of leaving my village to go into a forest to
>>>>> perform Tapas. I have decided to go with the permission of Bhagavan.
>>>>>
>>>>> Bhagavan: One may leave the village but one cannot leave oneself. If
>>>>> the
>>>>> village exists apart from oneself, it may be left. To live alone at the
>>>>> place of Self is like living in the forest. If you leave the Self,
>>>>> even if
>>>>> you go and live in a forest, it will be the same as living in a city.
>>>>> The one who thinks he is a sannyasin is not a sannyasin. The
>>>>> householder
>>>>> who does not think he is a householder is a sannyasin.
>>>>> The one who does not think that he is the one who is doing all his
>>>>> actions
>>>>> is superior to the one who thinks that he has renounced everything.
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>>>>