Ernakulam – Allappey

(i) What Do You Make of It?

A humorous and instructive story in the life of a high official of Ernakulam may be cited here. The incident was related by the official himself who was a sincere and pious soul. He narrates:

“I am earning a sufficiently large salary for the upkeep of my family, but cupidity is one of the greatest failings to which human nature is subjected. Craving for wealth is an insatiable fire. The more you feed the fire the more furious it grows. My wife is a devout soul. She would always be praying to the Almighty to bestow on me a higher post than I now hold so that I might draw a larger salary. But her appeals remained unheeded. So one day she proposed to perform a special propitiation of the goddess of wealth in order to induce her to yield her favour. She got a clay image of the Devi made and installed it in the room in which the family deity was worshipped. When I asked her for the reason, she said that she intended to worship the new image with a view to my being granted promotion. She added that she had warned the goddess that if she did not fulfil her wish in a month’s time she would abandon her worship. A month’s time and notice for the poor goddess!

“Worship went on from day to day with great assiduity and offerings of choice prasadam. I was not particular about the number of days she performed the worship. One day I found the place empty. The image was not there. I called my wife and questioned her about the disappearance of the goddess.

‘I have done with her,’ she replied with a look of disgust. ‘I did all I could to please her but she has not granted my prayer. The month has passed away and no sign of your promotion. I have thrown her out.’

“Later, I discovered the rejected image lying piteously in a heap of rubbish in a pond, at the back of the house! Wonderful indeed is her bhakti! What do you make of it?” The listeners broke out into a loud laughter.

The raja yogi was growing cooler everyday, because more sufferers from the effects of the pranayama practice poured in. Ramdas was consulted in the matter by these people and he advised them point-blank to put a stop to the practice altogether. About the same time he received complaints on the same subject from Bangalore and South Kanara where this practice had been widely disseminated by other yogis of the same ilk. Ramdas could not remain unconcerned any longer. He was made to write a strong article, which was published in newspapers, warning the people neither to take up nor prosecute, if already adopted, this practice, if they were not prepared to fulfil the other conditions of the yoga, as it would otherwise cause incalculable harm to them. Ramdas also spoke about the matter to the raja yogi.

“You have observed, Ramji, what mischief this practice of yours is causing to those who cannot observe the other rules which necessarily go with the yoga discipline. So you will do well in future not to initiate indiscriminately everybody who comes to you without judging whether he or she is fit for it or not.”

Now about the vakil who was preparing for sannyas. He broached the subject to Ramdas. The latter discouraged him and said:

“If you are so anxious to dedicate yourself entirely to God, you may retire from public activity and have a small kuti on your landed property and lead a life of contemplation and meditation on God. Don’t think you can attain God merely by donning the orange robe.”

He replied that he had once for all decided upon taking sannyas, and that he was determined about it.

“God’s will be done,” Ramdas submitted.

He was an elderly man of means having a family. One night he came with a set of ochre-coloured clothes and said to Ramdas:

“Swamiji, I have made all arrangements for the maintenance of my family and have made over all the rights of my property to the proper persons. I am free. Tomorrow I will leave Ernakulam. I wish to travel from place to place without funds as you did during your first year’s itinerant life as chronicled in your book ‘In Quest of God’.”

Next day he left Ernakulam. The raja yogi accompanied the vakil – an opportunity which he could not miss of getting out of the unpleasant situation in which he found himself. Ramdas learnt that the vakil had after a few months’ wanderings returned to his professional work. Now he is intimately associated with the activities of Anandashram.

Once again, the old malaria that had left Ramdas for a few months made its appearance. Ramdas began to have periodical attacks of fever.

Sanjivarao and his family were all love and kindness to Ramdas. The Ram-mantram had so firmly captured Sanjivarao that he would not forget it for a single moment. This always happens when it once takes possession of the mind. Even when you are busy with work, the mantram would be unconsciously revolving in the depths of the mind and automatically. Such was the case with him at the time. He was experiencing the opening of the fountain of joy and peace within him. This was all apparent from his serene, radiant and blissful face.

News came to him that Ramdas’ daughter by the old birth, Ramabai had been betrothed to Chandrashekarrao, son of Ramdas’ sister, and that the marriage was to take place in a short time in Kasaragod.

(ii) A Christian Sadhu

Mark Sanjivrao was Ramdas’ cousin by the old birth. From early boyhood he and Ramdas were great chums. When he was still young, he renounced the Hindu faith and embraced Christianity. The great Christ, as a supreme ideal, fascinated and captured him, and as an earnest seeker of the everlasting life, i.e. the kingdom of God, he became Christ’s disciple. The friendship between him and Ramdas continued unhampered. Ramdas admired his courage in taking a step which threw him into odium and made him an object of ridicule from the Hindu public. He bore the cross of persecution calmly because he had the courage of his convictions. He associated with pure and saintly souls amongst the Christian missionaries and imbibed from them the spirit of a dedicated life.

Ramdas’ new birth and purified vision had brought about a momentous change in his life. On his return after a year’s absence from South Kanara, Mark Sanjivarao paid a visit to him, and Ramdas felt great joy on seeing him. Now his love for Ramdas had increased a hundredfold. He was instrumental in bringing Ramdas in close touch with the sublime teachings of Christ in the New Testament. Ramdas had no predilection for any particular creed or religion. He held in the highest veneration the founders of all the great religions of the world, Sri Krishna, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Mohammed. Now Ramdas knows that these great ones are the torch-bearers of Truth who show to the deluded souls the path to the supreme Reality, a Reality which is revealed by these torch-bearers.

Mark Sanjivarao was a preacher of the Christ’s Gospel and his sphere of work covered an extensive field. He came to Ernakulam on his way to Alleppey and Kottayam in the Travancore State. He paid a visit to Ramdas in his retreat and proposed to take him to these places. Ramdas at once fell in with the idea. They started and reached Alleppey in due time. Here they were put up in a commodious building called the Christian Institute. In the Institute, Ramdas came in touch with two self-sacrificing Christians, sadhu Mathai, an elderly man, dressed in ochre-coloured robes, and Thomas, a young man. Both of them showed great love for Ramdas. Thomas was quiet in his ways whereas Mathai was not; he set about hammering into Ramdas Christ’s teachings as the only true revelation of God. He worked at the proselytism in season and out of season with all the ardour of a Christian missionary. Ramdas told him finally:

“God has given Ramdas’ head a permanent shape. You may hammer on as much as you like but you cannot change its shape into what you wish it to be!”

Mark Sanjivarao, who was watching, burst into roars of laughter. He would ask Ramdas humorously:

“Has Mathai been able to change the shape of your head?”

“Mathai cannot perform the impossible. Ramdas’ head is cast in such a mould that a permanent shape has already been given to it,” Ramdas would reply. And they would laugh. Whenever Mathai approached, Ramdas would remark: “The hammer has come.” At last Mathai gave up his futile task and Ramdas concluded that the hammer had broken!

Those were jolly days that Ramdas spent in the Institute. In the spacious upstair rooms of the building, Ramdas freely frisked, danced, jumped, and ran about like a playful kid. Sanjivarao remembered Ramdas’ oft-repeated expression, ‘wild joy’.

Sanjivarao delivered in the Institute two sermons on “Why I became the disciple of Christ.” After a few days’ stay, Ramdas with Mark Sanjivarao and Thomas proceeded to Kottayam. On the day he reached the place, he had an attack of malaria. He was accommodated in the house of a pious Christian who was all hospitality and kindness. The fever continued only for one night.

The following day a lecture by Sanjivarao was announced to the public. The local Y.M.C.A. building was the appointed place for its delivery. A resident missionary was in the chair. There was a crowded audience. Next morning, Ramdas, of course in the company of Sanjivarao, visited the Christian High School. The Principal, clad in khadi, offered Ramdas a glad welcome and arranged for a speech to the students by Ramdas. The latter spoke in English on “God is Love” as revealed in the teachings of Jesus Christ for half-an-hour. The Principal interpreted the same in Malayalam to the assembled students.

In the evening there was another lecture by Sanjivarao at the Y.M.C.A. At the pressure of the friends, Ramdas spoke for about fifteen minutes before the regular speaker took the platform. Ramdas dealt with the unity of religions and pointed out that in their teachings all the great incarnations of the world of different ages perfectly agreed. Next followed the speech of Sanjivarao. This time there was no president. The president was God Almighty who was seated in the hearts of the speakers and the audience themselves.

After a couple of days they returned to Ernakulam. Now Ramdas got the idea of visiting the ensuing Kumbhamela of Hardwar. The prospect of seeing the Himalayas again made him quite enthusiastic. But before proceeding towards the north, he left Ernakulam with the intention of paying a visit to Kanara.