28. गणनीयगुणोज्ज्वलः Gaṇanīya-guṇojjvalaḥ

One who was radiant with noble virtues

This nāma describes His Holiness as being ujjvala, lustrous, with guṇas, qualities, that were gaṇanīya, worthy of regard. Nāma 20 described Him as One with qualities that could only be venerated, while this nāma indicates that His Holiness possessed many qualities that not only inspire awe but are also meant to be imbibed to whatever extent possible.

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Sri Gudalur Krishna Sastrigal, who was staying in Narasimhavana during a visit to Sringeri, asked His Holiness one morning, “I noticed last night that the lights of Your Holiness’s room were on even past midnight. Did Your Holiness not sleep last night?” His Holiness replied, “I was unwell, running high temperature, and so I could not sleep. Hence, rather than wasting time, I was reading a book on Vedānta.”

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Simple living and high thinking characterise Mahātmans. His Holiness was particular about doing His personal work Himself. He took His attendant’s assistance only when that was essential or related to His pontifical duties. He maintained His things methodically, and being meticulous and tidy was innate to Him.

He arranged His books so well that He could locate a book placed by Him even years later, without the least difficulty. Sri Mahabala, His personal attendant, recalled that when His Holiness wanted him to fetch a book, rather than telling him the name or the author of the book, both of which would have been unfamiliar to him, His Holiness specified to Him the room where that book was, in which bookshelf in that room, the shelf in that bookshelf, the relative position of the book in that shelf and even its size and colour. Whenever Mahabala searched as per His directions, he invariably located the desired volume.

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His Holiness was an avid lover of nature. Not just pleasant scenery, trees, flowers, and crops but also animals, birds, fishes and even insects interested Him. One day, when He was nearing sixteen years of age, He beheld a wasp in the course of His walk. It was bringing a motionless grasshopper to the mouth of a hole prepared by it. His keen power of observation and knowledge of insects led Him to know that the grasshopper was not dead; it had been paralyzed by a sting of the wasp. The wasp entered the hole, emerged and then dragged the grasshopper in. Thereafter, it closed up the hole and went away. He had heard that the wasp lays an egg and provides a grasshopper as food for the larvae that emerge from the egg. He desired to see the developments within the hole but did not want to partially uncover it. Nature, however, favoured Him. The next time He came to the spot, He found that the mud cover of the hole had a small opening. He brought His face close to it and peeped in. He saw the larvae that looked different from an adult wasp. He decided to examine the larvae and the grasshopper in greater detail. For this purpose, He required a magnifying glass but had not

90 29. Citta-nairmalya-sandāyī brought one. He did not want to put off His study to another day. Being resourceful, He picked up a dried leaf, poked a small hole into it and put a droplet of rain water on the hole He had made. Suitably holding the leaf, He used the water drop as a magnifying glass and conducted His studies.

On another occasion, He beheld a monkey sitting seemingly pensively with its hand in the small gap between two very low-lying, horizontal branches of neighbouring trees. He placed His head close to the ground to see what was in the monkey’s hand. He noticed that it held an apple which, apparently, someone had dropped there. As the monkey was unwilling to let go of the fruit, it was unable to extricate its hand and leave. “In spite of its intelligence, this simian does not choose to let go of the fruit, withdraw its hand and then pick up the same fruit by grasping it from below the gap,” thought His Holiness. He felt pity for the monkey. With a plan to free it from the bondage of its own making, He peeled a banana and took the fruit near its mouth. The monkey leaned forward and began to eat the fruit but continued to hold on to the apple. He peeled a second fruit. This time, He kept it at some distance from the monkey. The simian had no choice but to release the apple in order to get the banana it wanted. As it was eating the banana, He pulled out the apple and presented the same back to the monkey.

His Holiness has said, “God’s creation is so fascinating. Nature reminds us of God and is, in fact, His manifestation before all. When one watches the ocean, one is overcome with peace and when one looks at the starry sky at night, one experiences tranquillity and becomes conscious of how very miniscule one is in the enormous cosmos. Sun-rays playing on the ripples in water, green fields, the pranks of monkeys, the affection of cows etc., are delightful. Even insects that many tend to spurn have so much to teach us. Nature is a free, lovely show available for all to experience. Strangely, many ignore it and, spending much money and time, corrupt their minds by watching vulgar movies and listening to music with cheap lyrics.”

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