← In the Vision of GodHis autobiography, book two

CHAPTER X

Kalady – Kasaragod – In the Steamboat

(i) Birth-place of Sri Shankaracharya

One evening Ramdas was unusually inebriated with ecstasy. In the presence of some friends, of whom V. Iyer was one, he talked with great fervour on the universal aspect of God. Iyer was eagerly listening.

“The whole universe is permeated through and through with God,” said Ramdas. “The visible and invisible worlds are all He – as manifest and unmanifest. There is nothing and none but He. All, all is He. Such is the truth. Where then is the idea of ‘I’ and ‘you’ – ‘mine’ and ‘yours’. All are He and His.”

In this strain Ramdas spoke on. The words flowed out of him in an irresistible stream. Ramdas saw that a blissful light had filled the room and the people sitting in it were like faint shadows. The compelling words and the atmosphere produced a marvellous effect on Iyer. His face was aglow with a strange lustre; his eyes became moist.

“I have, then, no relations and no home; where shall I go to?” he cried out with a touch of deep pathos and anxiety. He trembled and swayed on one side. The other friends at once held him and led him out of the room and made him lie down on a bench. He fell into a trance-like sleep for half an hour, after which he returned to outer consciousness. Now, coming to Ramdas, he said:

“Swami, I am going home.”

“So you have recovered the ego which you had lost for a while,” Ramdas observed with a smile. He nodded in the affirmative and left.

Sanjivrao and the other friends proposed to take Ramdas on a visit to Kalady – the birthplace of the renowned Shankaracharya situated at a place, a few stations from Ernakulam. A party of about a dozen people consisting of the friends and their families started. They reached the small village in due time. They directed their steps to a garden on the bank of the Alwaye river where stood two temples – one of Sharada and the other of Mahadev. In front of the temples there was a raised plastered pedestal – rectangular in shape – signifying the spot where the remains of Shankaracharya’s mother had been interred.

The surrounding scenery was most fascinating. It possessed all the beauty, simplicity and calmness of the countryside. Around the shrine, groves of jack-fruit and mango displaying exuberant verdure, and the tall cocoanut trees shooting up from their midst to a great height and nodding their crested tops in the breeze, yielded shade and coolness, and cast a bewitching spell on that sacred spot.

An aged Brahman – an old resident of the place – recounted to the party the ancient episodes and legends relating to the place, and also told them of the visits of eminent personages to the shrine. He said that he had the unique privilege of serving Swami Vivekananda when he came to Kalady, during his itinerant life.

The well-known incident in Shankaracharya’s life which determined his adoption of sannyas, when he was still a boy, took place on the bank of the river Alwaye. The boy Shankara was insisting upon his mother to permit him to live a life of utter dedication to God, instead of the ordinary life of a householder, immersed in the worldly cares and desires. The mother would not agree.

One day, when the mother had taken the boy as usual for a bath in the Alwaye river and he was knee-deep in water, a crocodile suddenly caught his leg and began to drag him away into the deep waters.

“Mother, mother,” he called out, “a crocodile has caught hold of my leg and is dragging me down into the depths of the stream. I will presently sink and be devoured by it. There is only one way to save me and that is, if you would consent to my adoption of sannyas, the crocodile will set me free.”

The situation alarmed the fond mother. In an instant she saw she would rather prefer her only son alive, though a sannyasi, than he be a prey to death in the guise of the crocodile.

“All right, my son – I agree,” she answered desperately.

The crocodile disappeared leaving the boy to come up free and safe. The mother kept her word and Shankara became one of the greatest philosophers the world had ever produced.

The party had their ablutions in the sacred river and, after darshan of the deities in the temples, returned to their rooms in the dharmashala where dinner was cooked by the mothers to the accompaniment of devotional songs. Altogether, it proved to be a most blissful trip. By evening the party reached back Ernakulam.

During his stay at Sanjivrao’s, he and his wife and children treated Ramdas with all love and kindness.

(ii) Untouchability – A Tar Stain

Ramdas now felt a call from Kasaragod and wrote to Anandrao about it requesting him, at the same time, to arrange for an abode in a solitary place for his stay. In due course he arrived at Kasaragod and was put up in a thatched hut on the Pilikunji Hill.

Here he lived on goat’s milk and plantains. The raja yogi again came to him and together they danced in the nights to the chant of Ram-mantram. Later on, a new sannyasi from Buntwal also joined them. In the evenings, with other friends from the town, he would also dance in ecstasy to the music of God’s Name in the front yard of the hut.

Ram willed that a dinner should also be given to the poor of Kasaragod. In this instance Ramdas worked actively for collection of funds. He visited the most prominent men of Kasaragod for contributions and also accepted small sums from the poorer classes. On request Anandrao managed the affair. The hillock of Ramgiri was selected for the feeding, and a Saturday was fixed for the purpose.

Due preparations were made, and by midday nearly a thousand people assembled at the appointed place. The principal classes represented were cobblers, pariahs and fishermen. Although these classes were looked upon as untouchables by the higher castes, even as among themselves they had distinctions. They sat down for meals in three different lines. The meals were served. Ramdas felt that he should also join them in the dinner. So he took his seat in the line of the pariahs. The raja yogi and the new sannyasi, seating themselves in front of Ramdas, ate with him from the common leaf. Whilst eating thus the precious gift of the gods, he experienced inexpressible joy.

For Ramdas there was no distinction of any kind. The idea of superiority and inferiority on any ground is born of utter ignorance. Wars, strife, and misery in the world are all there because of these inequalities. While the inner spirit of all life and manifestation is one, where is room for caste, class, creed, race and colour distinctions? The darkest blot on the purity and beauty of the universal life is “untouchability”. It is like a tar stain on a white canvas. Harmony, peace and freedom can be attained only by the realisation of the inner unity of all life, and equality in all its outer expression.

Ramdas’ Gurudev who lived with his son Anandrao, one day came to the hut on the hill with great difficulty. The infirmities of age had told upon his otherwise strong constitution. He brought with him a tender cocoanut and some sweet home-made bread. Ramdas was continuing to live merely on milk and fruit. Gurudev insisted on his eating the bread. Ramdas begged of him to be excused. Being touched, and tears welling up in his eyes, Gurudev urged him again to eat the bread, but he was firm and would not have it. He however drank the water of the tender cocoanut. Soon after, Gurudev returned home. During this incident there were in the hut about half a dozen visitors. Now one of them, affected by disappointment felt by Gurudev, said with a touch of reproach in his voice:

“You say he is your Gurudev and still you refused to eat the bread offered by him with such love; how do you explain this?”

“It is He within and without;” Ramdas replied with a smile, “from without He says, ‘Eat’; from within He again says, ‘Don’t eat.’ Ramdas always obeys the voice within.”

“Why should He speak externally in a manner different from your inner prompting?” interrogated the friend again.

“That is His wonderful lila,” Ramdas answered.

The friend did not press the matter further.

One day Ramcharandas came suddenly, as if he dropped from the clouds. He carried with him a well-tanned tigerskin and a yoga-danda. He said that, after wandering over some parts of Northern India, he felt a keen longing to see Ramdas again; so he was here.

“Swamiji, I have brought this tigerskin for you all the way from Jhansi where a devotee presented it to me. Pray accept it,” said Ramcharandas.

“Ramdas does not need it, Ram,” replied Ramdas, “since he goes about with only one cloth. You may keep it for yourself.”

“It is intended for you and you must have it,” he urged. “I shall carry it for you. I shall follow you wherever you go. I am not going to leave you this time,” he added with emphasis.

“What is that wooden cross for?” asked Ramdas.

“It is for dhyan. It is a great help for sitting erect during meditation,” he explained.

“As you are young and energetic, you should not depend upon this contrivance. It is an unnecessary encumbrance. Give it up,” Ramdas suggested.

But Ramcharandas argued at great length in favour of it and showed his aversion to renounce it. However, he sought to stick to Ramdas again. At this time, Gurudev fell seriously ill and, at the juncture, Ramdas received a letter from Madhavrao of Anjangaum, inviting him to attend a religious festival to be shortly performed in his house. It was a nine days’ festival. The letter was soon followed by a telegram, stating that the presence of Ramdas at the function was indispensable. He felt the urge from within but hesitated owing to the serious nature of Gurudev’s illness. Now he placed the matter before Gurudev himself, begging him to decide.

“Would you leave your Gurudev in this condition?” he questioned.

Ramdas could no longer resist. He abandoned the idea of responding to the call from Anjangaum. Madhavrao was informed accordingly by wire. In reply he again telegraphed that Ramdas should not fail him. This time he left the question entirely to Ram, remained calm and waited. Ram has always His own ways!

The following day, when he went to see Gurudev, he found him not only feeling much better but also strong enough to move about. Ramdas asked him if he would approve of his leaving for Sholapur District. He willingly gave his consent.

Lord! Thy ways are indeed mysterious!

(iii) Goa Policeman – Smitten

Before starting, Ramdas made Ramcharandas understand that no purpose would be served by his accompanying him. But he was as stubborn as ever.

Ramdas reached Mangalore in the evening, of course, followed by Ramcharandas. It was decided to start by steamboat leaving Mangalore the next day for Bombay. From Kasaragod arrangement had already been made for Ramdas’ boat ticket. He advised Ramcharandas to stay on the Kadri hill and devote his time to meditation and communion with God. But Ramcharandas would not submit to the advice. He left Ramdas in the night with the object of collecting the amount necessary for his boat-fare. At Sitaramrao’s where he had halted, Ramdas’s aunt by the former life, coming to know the situation regarding Ramcharandas, paid twenty rupees for his boat-fare. She pressed this amount on Ramdas, asking him to hand it over to Ramcharandas who, she fully believed, would meet him at Mangalore Port. The mother was a kind, pure and noble soul.

Next day, he looked for Ramcharandas at the harbour but could not find him. He got into a steam-launch and crossing the river reached the boat, and went aboard. What was the first thing that met his gaze as he stepped on to the deck? Our ubiquitous friend Ramcharandas was quietly sitting in a corner on a bench with his tell-tale tigerskin. Ramdas went and sat beside him. The yoga-danda had disappeared.

“Swamiji, I came by an earlier launch,” he said smiling.

Ramdas then handed to him the money presented by the kind mother.

The boat sailed and reached the port of Marmagoa the next morning. There was a halt of about two hours at this port. Meanwhile, some Goa policemen entered the ship for inspection. One of these, while passing through the deck, cast a casual glance at Ramdas. Ramdas was a deck or third-class passenger on the boat. The sight of Ramdas seemed to have produced an extraordinary effect on him. He stopped and, leaning against the railing opposite Ramdas, began to gaze intently on him. The policeman could hardly take his eyes off Ramdas who was also watching his strange behaviour. About half an hour later he came to Ramdas.

“Follow me, both of you,” he said.

They obeyed. He escorted them directly to a Hindu restaurant in the harbour, ordered tea and eatables for both, while he sat on the bench in front observing them. He paid the charges of the tiffin and they followed him back to the deck. Except for the first few words that he spoke, he was perfectly reticent. Thereafter, again until the steamer whistle sounded announcing departure from the port, the policeman was quietly looking at Ramdas from his position by the railing. He was somewhat disturbed when he had to leave the boat. With many a backward glance he finally jumped down on the dock. The steamboat left the port.

Intimation had been sent from Mangalore about the date of Ramdas’ arrival in Bombay. In Bombay he found himself in the blessed home of Sanjivrao – blessed because both Sanjivrao and his wife were embodiments of love. They simply deluged him in their overflowing love. Many neighbours in the chawl and others from outside came to see him and engaged him in talks on the greatness of God and His Name. Evenings were spent in devotional music. Throughout his stay at Sanjivrao’s he enjoyed pure ecstasy.

Time to leave Bombay at last came. He started with Ramcharandas by the night train and reached Angar station in the afternoon next day. At the station he was greeted and embraced with exceeding joy by Govind Joshi who was waiting with milk for him. After partaking of the milk they proceeded on foot to Anjangaum. Before sunset they reached the outskirts of the village where in advance hundreds of the village people were eagerly looking forward to his arrival. He was taken in procession to the house of Madhavrao who welcomed him with rapturous delight.