CHAPTER X. THE FAMILY DEITY

When my father went to Sringeri in 1904 or so to pay his respects to the then Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Sachchidananda Siva Abhinava Narasimha Bharati-Swaminah, His Holiness asked him “Are you having any Puja in your house?” Just at that time a Bairagi from the North came to the presence of His Holiness and placed before him a big Mahalinga saying “I got this in the River Narmada. I thought it was proper for this to be here and so I brought it.” His Holiness directed His attendants to suitably reward him and then turning to my father said “Just when we were opening the topic, the Lord himself has come here in person. He has come only for your sake. We shall keep Him in our Puja for a few days and give Him to you when you return home?” He accordingly gave the Mahalinga to my father a few days later with His gracious blessings. Since then it was duly worshipped by my father.

About seventeen years later, my father went to Sringeri for the purpose of taking up Sannyasa. He took the Mahalinga there with him and handed it over to the Mutt when he took Sannyasa. It remained thereafter in the daily Puja of His Holiness the next Acharya. When I went to Sringeri in 1923 His Holiness was Antarmukha and it was not possible for me to request Him to give the Mahalinga to me. When I next met Him at Erode in 1924 it was the time of the busy Navaratri festival and then also I found no opportunity to place my request before Him. In 1925 His Holiness was touring in the Chettinad villages and I thought of going to Him there and making the request. I did go there. As there was a large crowd in the morning, I decided to make the request in the evening when He would be comparatively free. When I went and prostrated before Him, He asked me to sit down and, to my great surprise; His first words were “What have you got for Puja in your house?” “Only our Acharya’s Sandals”, I replied. He at once said “Do they seem only to you?” I hastened to explain “I did not use the word in any such sense. I only meant that there was no Banalinga, Salagrama or other ingredients of Panchayatana Puja. He said “To you, the Guru’s Sandals are quite enough. Nothing more is required for you”. After this definite statement of His Holiness even before I could formulate my request, I could not with any propriety muster the courage to ask Him for the Mahalinga.

Some months later I went to Him again at Tirumangalam and found the Mahalinga missing from His Puja. I somewhat regretted my want of courage and felt keenly that I had allowed a valuable treasure to slip away from my hands. I did not care to ask who took it away. Whoever it might be, what could I do? It was lost to me for ever. In this disturbed state of mind, I prostrated before His Holiness without my mentioning anything about it, His Holiness said. “Sri Ramananda’s Bana Linga has been installed in the Siva Temple at Mullipallam village near Madura.” It was some satisfaction to me that, though I was not fortunate enough to get it, no other person got it and that it was installed only in a Temple. Thereafter I gave up all thoughts of enlarging my Puja.

I had a sister who was the second wife of her husband. His first wife had died soon after a delivery and before she was free from pollution. As the necessary rites were evidently not properly performed for her, her spirit chose to enter my sister’s body very often and give her trouble. She would insist upon the concerned people going to Rameswaram and giving her relief. But as her husband’s circumstances did not permit him to carry out her request, many years passed away without his being able to go to Rameswaram.

When I went to Chettinad and was one day sitting near His Holiness, a Brahmana gentleman came there and said to Him “My wife is having some possession very often. She loses consciousness then. I pray your Holiness will give us relief.” His Holiness replied “There are two kinds of losing consciousness. In one of them the possessing spirit itself will say what it wants; in that case, relief can be obtained by carrying out its directions. In the other kind of unconsciousness, the patient will fall down speechless and breathless; if so, I must see the patient before I can suggest any remedy.” The gentleman said “My wife lies like a log of wood. I shall bring her here at some convenient time later on,” took leave of His Holiness and went away.

After his departure I mentioned to His Holiness “The other variety of spirit is troubling my sister but somehow it has not been possible to carry out till now its directions.” “Is it so?” was the only reply of His Holiness. Some days later when I went to take leave of Him, He gave me a small packet along with the usual Mantrakshata. I asked “May I know what this is?” His Holiness said “The other day you mentioned about a sister. This is for her. When you return home, send it on to her and ask her to wear this Vibhuti also on her forehead along with the usual Kunkuma every morning after she had purified herself. Ask her to do it without fail.” Accordingly when I returned home I sent the packet on to her and conveyed to her His Holiness’ directions also. Before that small quantity of Vibhuti was used up, she and her husband with the members of his family found it possible to go to Rameswaram and perform all the necessary rites. There can be no doubt that all this was due to the gracious blessings of His Holiness.

It is necessary to refer to a few more incidents connected with this matter. After the Vibhuti was received and before the party left for Rameswaram, there were two occasions when my sister had this spirit trouble. On both these occasions, her husband reprimanded the spirit saying “Our Acharya has graciously sent us Prasada. Why do you any longer trouble us?” The reply on both the occasions was “Why did she not wear the Vibhuti today?” At once the Vibhuti was taken and put on her forehead. She at once was free from the trouble. It appeared that, in her preoccupation with her household duties, she forgot to wear it on those days.

After their return from Rameswaram after performing the ceremonies there, Brahmanas were given the usual feast one day. On that night again my sister got trepidation in her whole body and her lips and eyes were quivering, the usual symptoms of possession by the spirit. Her husband said “With the Acharya’s blessings we went to Ramesvaram and have now returned. Are you not satisfied even now? Why do you trouble us?” The spirit replied “I have not come for causing any trouble. I have come just to take leave of you.” He said “Is that so? Go safely.” But she said “It will not be enough if you simply ask me to go. You must give me a proper send off. You must tie up a cocoanut, fruits, betel, arecanut and turmeric in my cloth.” This was accordingly done. Then she said “Be happy and prosperous. I take leave.” My sister who was sitting up till then reclined and rested. A few minutes later she woke up. The cocoanut, fruits, betel and arecanut were missing from her waist cloth. Except a single piece, the rest of the turmeric also was gone. The modern-day researchers unable to explain such phenomena will take the short cut of denying that they ever happened. But to those who believe that there are many a thing beyond our ken, there will be no surprise or disbelief in such happenings.

Some years later this same sister was suffering from consumption. Every kind of medical treatment was tried but with no success. One day my mother came upstairs and said to me “There seems to be no use at all in medical treatment. Though our Acharya has been informed, we have not yet received His Prasadam. Can we not ask some competent Mantrika to see her?” I told her “There is a gentleman known to me. He is a rich man and not a professional Mantrika. He is very capable and a devotee. I shall send a man to fetch him.” Just when I was saying this, an alarming cry was heard from the room in which my sister, was laid up. My mother and myself immediately ran down in fear and haste and found my sister who was incapable of the slightest movement before, sitting up in her bed. Her eyes were closed but quivering. Her lips also were quivering a great deal. Suspecting that it was the old spirit trouble, I asked “What is the matter?” In a very firm tone came the answer “What were you consulting about upstairs?” I said “There has been no cure by the use of medicines. We were considering whether we may not call in a Mantrika.” In the same tone the reply was “No Mantrika ought to enter this house. There is no need for it. If it is possible, I shall myself take care of it.” A minute later the voice asked “Do you know who I am?” I said “It must be only our family diety. So far as I know, there is no family deity for us other than our Acharya”. When saying this I had in my mind only the previous Acharya for He alone had then attained freedom from embodiment and was therefore omnipresent and capable of blessing all His devotees. So I was somewhat taken aback by the next question put to me. “If you are so sure about it, why did you not give her the Vyasa Akshata and Kunkuma that I sent to you?” I replied “I have not given them to her as she has not been bathing for some time.” “It does not matter. Give them to her” was the direction got. I made myself immediately ceremonially pure, took the Akshata and Kunkuma from the Puja and gave them to my sister. She then slowly lay down and slept. No Prasadam was received at all from Sringeri and she passed away a few days later.

It was then that I realised the full significance of the words “If it is possible, I shall myself take care of it.” It was then again that I realised that the first wife’s leaving a turmeric piece behind was an indication that my sister also would pass away during her husband’s life.

But this incident aroused a doubt in my mind. When the figure of the previous Acharya was before my mind’s eye as the family diety, the expression “The Vyasa Akshata which I sent” was used without contradicting me and it could properly relate only to the Acharya then seated in the Peetha. I could find no solution for this doubt. At that time His Holiness had completed His South Indian tour and had returned to Sringeri. The Vyasa Akshata and Kunkuma came only from Sringeri. I shall mention presently how this doubt got resolved. I shall mention however even now the solution. His Holiness and His Guru were distinct only in their physical encasements but were not distinct in their essence. If we apply this principle to the previous Acharyas also, we will easily realise that all of them were essentially Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada Himself and, if we pursue it still further, we will realise clearly that none of them was really distinct in essence from God the Prime Acharya of the universe. Ordinarily we attach importance to the limiting encasements and forget the identity of spirit within. Even if we are reminded about this truth, our habits of thought prevent us from grasping and realising it.

One night I had a vivid dream that I went to Sringeri. Just at that time His Holiness had finished His Puja and was performing Deeparadhana. He was standing on a high platform with a very spacious shed in front to accommodate the devotees who had gathered there in great numbers to see the Puja. As I did not like to disturb anybody then, I stood at the entrance of the shed and witnessed the Deeparadhana. As soon as it was over, the curtain in front of the platform was dropped as usual to enable His Holiness to prostrate before the Deity. Taking advantage of this interval, I slowly made my way towards the platform and reached it just in time to see the curtain raised. On my way there I seemed to hear some recital of Stotras and even clapping of hands to beat time. The voice that I heard did not resemble that of His Holiness but seemed to resemble that of the previous Acharya. As I was positive that I saw His Holiness doing the Deeparadhana, this mystified me a great deal. Imagine my surprise that, when the curtain was raised, it was the previous Acharya that was actually standing on the platform. He graciously turned towards the crowd with His beaming smile and, after blessing me with a significant look and smile, He got down the steps and entered His residence. It was the previous Acharya; there was no doubt about it; but there was an extraordinary growth of hair on His face which puzzled me as I had never seen Him like this before. The Mutt Pandit Sri Krishna Sastrigal happened to be standing by my side and I asked him “What is the matter? His Holiness does not seem to have had a shave for a very long time.” He said in reply “When did you see Him last?” I said “It would be more than twenty years.” “Is that not sufficient for the hair to grow so long?” was his ready answer. This somehow satisfied my dream mind but another doubt arose. “But I have come here three or four times during this period but I have not met Him at all. How is that?” The Pandit answered “He has been here throughout. Evidently you did not know that He was here and so failed to see Him.” This was the end of the dream and I woke up. This dream began to trouble me a great deal for I realised that, whenever I went to Sringeri, I had always thought that the previous Acharya was no more in our midst and could not therefore be seen. I did not think of Him as still living. I felt that God gave me this dream so that I might know for certain that the previous Acharya was not dead but was still with us though in a subtle form. This made me resolve to go to Sringeri in person and sense the living presence of the Acharya there. With this as my main object, I went to Sringeri in 1932. His Holiness asked “What takes you here so unexpectedly?” I told him about the dream and added “I feel I have been guilty of a very great wrong in assuming that the revered Acharya was no more here and my main object in coming here now is to get rid of that impression.” His Holiness simply said. “Your experience is a good one” and did not offer any suggestions.

To realise my object, I would go daily, both in the mornings and in the evenings, to the shrine close resemblance to those of the previous Acharya. I came to the conclusion that they were really identical in essence, that if I longed to see the previous Acharya I must see Him in His Holiness Himself and that He really continued to live as the latter. This conclusion was most satisfactory to me and seemed to be the only one possible. But it was not possible to have it verified by asking anybody about it for he might think I was making too much of a dream. Nor was it possible or proper for me to ask His Holiness Himself about the accuracy of my conclusion, for how could I ask Him if He was one in essence with the previous Acharya and how could He answer that He was. Anyhow as I was quite satisfied with this solution, I did not worry myself about it any further. I stayed on for a few more days at Sringeri and then one evening I went to His Holiness.

R. K: If Your Holiness will permit me, I desire to leave for home to-morrow morning.

H. H: Yes, you may do so. When are you starting?

R. K: At about nine in the morning. the Junior Swami seated side by side. When His Holiness gave me leave to depart, He moved the cup of Mantrakshata towards the Junior Swami and said “He is starting for home. Please give him Mantrakshata”. I accordingly had the Mantrakshata, took leave of them both and started for home. Though I am quite conscious that I failed at the very first test made by His Holiness and that it has not been possible for me to carry out in full the lesson that I learnt from this incident, I can confidently assert that I have never failed to bear in mind this very valuable lesson. It is quite obvious that the ideal of oneness of spirit is impossible of realisation as long as we attach importance to external forms It is equally obvious that such an ideal must be realised in the end, however long it may take us to do so. The Supreme Spirit which is pervading and assuming the forms of the several Acharyas must alone be sought for our guidance.