Meetings with Sages and Saints
In this chapter
MOTHER RAMA DEVI
Life
Some of us are surely going to feel it strange that today I am going to share with you, almost the opposite of what I asserted in our last session. That is, in the 1960s, Mataji Krishna Bai commanded me to stay at Sri Ramanasramam, bring back the Old Devotees and take care of them. Today, I am going to share about yet another great Saint – Mother Rama Devi – commanding me to give up my stay at Sri Ramanasramam, to go away and to take up a job in the world !
True spirituality is filled with apparent contradictions ! Yet, the end result in essence will prove that they will have to be raised in the life of a spiritual aspirant only to fulfill – in all its wholeness – his spiritual aspiration. In my life, such an apparent contradiction took place; and, it proved that it was for my spiritual benefit only !
* * * * *
Rama Devi was born in 1911 at Mangalore, to a devout family of Gowd Saraswat Brahmins. She showed indications of a deeply spiritual nature right from her childhood. While sitting for hours in meditation at the shrine of the goddess in her home, she would recite verses from the Bhagavad Gita, and would also have spiritual trances and divine visions.
As a child, she looked upon her parents, teachers and elders as embodiments of the divine. She was married at the age of fourteen. Her intense quest for the Absolute began immediately after her marriage. During the day, she would plunge into meditation when she got a respite from household duties. Her nights, on the other hand, were devoted exclusively to communion with the divine. But, even in the intense madness of divine ecstasy, she did perform her household duties, meticulously.
She had many mystic experiences and exalted visions of prophets and incarnations of different religions during her twelve years of rigorous sadhana. Acutely aware of divine intervention in the problems she faced in everyday life, she exemplified the ideal of utter renunciation, purity of divine aspiration and one-pointed tapas.
It was at the end of the twelfth year of her sadhana that Mother Rama Devi attained nirvikalpa samadhi, the supreme state of absorption in the Absolute - in the privacy of her home and amidst the tests and trials of marital life. Emerging from the deep absorption of samadhi, Mother Rama Devi beheld with wide open eyes, the enchanting and radiant form of her chosen deity, Lord Rama, bearing in his hand his matchless bow. After reminding her of the mission she had to fulfill on earth, the Lord changed into a mass of Light and mysteriously entered into Mother’s body.
While Lord Rama appeared to Mother Rama Devi at the end of her sadhana, Lord Krishna was a constant companion of Mother right from the start. Before she got the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi for the first time, it is said that she had visions of Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Chaitanya Mahabhrabu, the Hindu Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu, Siva - and various other forms of the Divine. She also had a vision of God manifested as the Divine Mother of the Universe, which subsequently formed the basis of her teachings.
Of the vision of Sri Krishna, she said, “Mother preferred service to her husband and the worship of dharma even more than the ecstasy of God-vision and the peace of samadhi. The vision of Lalita Devi, the Divine Mother, by which Rama Devi realized her identity with the Divine Mother of the Universe, transformed her into the highest expression of Divine Motherhood.
These three visions of Sri Rama, Sri Krishna and the Divine Mother Lalita Devi, each represented a distinct phase of Mother’s spiritual personality and the message she delivered to the world. Sri Rama signifies the ideal of loyalty to dharma to which Mother Rama Devi strictly adhered to throughout her life. Sri Krishna symbolizes the supreme experience of universal love and sympathy, which was the outstanding characteristic of Mother’s personality. The Divine Mother Lalita Devi signifies the expression of Cosmic Motherhood in her. It was this overpowering motherly love that attracted thousands of seekers to her presence and guidance.
Sri Rama
Sri Krishna
Divine Mother Lalita Devi
After realization of the Absolute, Mother Rama Devi spontaneously had various mystical experiences of supreme love.
Even before spiritual attainment, Mother had a vision which resolved once for all the conflict between the unmanifest Supreme and the manifest divine, her husband. The vision of the immanent Godhead had brushed aside the human aspect of her husband’s personality so completely from her consciousness that she could identify her husband with the Lord Rama of her heart’s devotion.
Referring to her spiritual personality, the elderly philosopher, K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, wrote: “In Mother Rama Devi, we see the self-expression of the great spiritual truth revealed in the first verse of the Isavasya Upanisad: ‘Know that God is immanent in all the beings that move on earth.’ Thus, she teaches how to combine and unify self-surrender with Self-knowledge and self-reverence with self-control.”
Though well established in the constant consciousness of non-dual Brahman, the highest ecstasy of God-love found expression in Mother. A mere utterance of the holy Name of God was enough to throw Mother into samadhi. Those who were blessed to see the exalted ecstasy of Mother felt inwardly uplifted. At times, during her discourses and kirtans, she suddenly would plunge into a higher transcendent consciousness, like the famous saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal and receive the worship of her bhaktas. She would, meanwhile, bless them through compassionate glances and voice profound spiritual truths which in turn, lifted her devotees to divine ecstasy. But on returning to normal consciousness she was once again her normal self, the compassionate Mother, sweetness incarnate, a picture of utter simplicity, divine humility, tender motherly love and boundless mercy.
For her, householders had a duty and opportunity to change their home into a hermitage of peace dedicated to the service of mankind and pursuit of perfection. Grihasthashrama according to Mother, should represent the distilled essence of asceticism and dynamic spirit of non-attached actions. She advised householders to transmute their earthly connections into a divine relationship with the soul, through the discipline of meditation and yoga under the able guidance of a realized Master. Her vision was to have seekers realize the highest goal - not by renouncing the worldly life, but rather by living it, by transforming worldly ties of family life into a sacred communion of two souls, in which the husband and wife looked upon each other as an embodiment of the Divine and an object of love, adoration and service.
Like, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and other mystics in India and abroad, the Mother has established the incomparable supremacy of the Divine Wisdom over scholastic attainments. Though educated only up to the fifth class of a primary school and though a stranger to the world of scriptures, her discourses covered all aspects of spirituality and gave intimate knowledge of hidden truths. Her supreme wisdom came to her directly – without the help of scriptural knowledge.
Mother Rama Devi attained Mahasamadhi on 1st November, 1978.
Mother Rama Devi
THE TEACHING
“Life in the body is so unsteady as the drops of water on a lotus leaf. But this period of earthly sojourn is precious for, here is the door to life eternal. Know that the only object of your having assumed the body is the realization of the Self.”
“Be a lover of God and you will not lack anything.”
“Be free of enslaving desires. A man without desires is the richest man in the Universe, his wealth being the inexhaustible wealth of contentment.”
“To reach the consummation of life, namely the vision of God, four things are absolutely necessary: pure aspiration, right association, dedicated effort and devotion to the ideal.”
MOTHER RAMA DEVI AND ME
In the 1960s, there was not much activity in Sri Ramanasaram. There were hardly any visitors. Added to this, as there were a number of court cases going on, the atmosphere of the Ashram was one of pensive passivity. It looked almost deserted. The lady cooks, who were used to cooking enormous quantities of food in giant vessels during the lifetime of Sri Bhagavan, used to jokingly remark, “When we were children, we used to play the ‘father-mother game’. Our parents too encouraged us by buying toy vessels that were tiny replicas of all types of large vessels used in cooking for a big family. The vessels now used in the Ashram kitchen remind us of those toy vessels!”
One day, after a couple of months, the apparently sleepy Ashram suddenly woke up, as it were, to jubilation and activity. The reason was that Mother Rama Devi was coming from Mangalore with her retinue, exclusively to be at the Ashram and pay homage to Sri Bhagavan at his Shrine of Grace. N. Balarama Reddiar and Mrs. F. Taleyarkhan were actively involved in making arrangements for the Mother’s visit. On the appointed day, she arrived and was accommodated at the Sathanur Project Guest House, while her retinue was put in the Morvi Compound. The Mother and her retinue of devotees were regularly visiting the Ashram. But, I was not very much interested.
Munagala Venkataramiah
That day, while I was working at the Ashram office, Munagala Venkataramiah, the author and compiler of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, came to me and said, “You have read about Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, right? One of the many things wondrous about that spiritual colossus was his Bhava Samadhi (going beyond body consciousness in ecstasy while remaining in a particular posture). All of us have only read or heard about it. But, none of us have ever seen one absorbed in that ecstatic state. Mother Rama Devi also gets into genuine Bhava Samadhi, effortlessly. I believe there is going to be bhajan by her devotees today. I am told that the Mother often goes into Bhava Samadhi during the course or at the end of the bhajan. Come, sit with me. I will explain to you.” I obeyed him. The bhajan was arranged in the open space in front of the Ashram office and there was quite a good crowd.
According to Arunachala Mahatmya - a scripture about the greatness of Arunachala - when Mother Parvathi was performing intense, one-pointed penance at Arunachala to be re-absorbed with Lord Siva, a demon named Mahishasura violently disturbed her. The Mother warned him not to hinder her tapas. But, the demon persisted. Then, the Mother assumed a fierce form, fought with the demon and destroyed him. This great victory of the Divine Mother has been vividly described in the beautiful and popular Sanskrit hymn -- Mahishasura Mardani Stotra – it is a long hymn of praises, set in rhythmic tunes.
‘…..the Mother assumed a fierce Form, fought with the demon and destroyed him…..’
The disciples of Mother Rama Devi started singing this hymn in chorus and it was really inspiring to hear. When the verses describing the details of the battle between the Divine Mother and the demon were being sung, Mother Rama Devi who was until then in deep meditation, got up with her eyes still closed and started dancing in perfect rhythm, her hands expressing the meaning of the verses with mudras – traditional vocabulary of Indian classical dance that is expressed with hands. As the singing reached a crescendo, Mother Rama Devi went into Bhava Samadhi ! It was a divine sight, even for a novice like me ! The Mother stood for fifteen minutes in a posture in which it would be impossible to maintain the body’s balance. Especially, considering the generous heft of the Mother’s body. The peculiar posture of triumphing over the demon, with one leg up on the air, the arms swinging and the body slanted fully to one side - even a circus acrobat couldn’t have remained in that strange posture for that long. The disciples now started singing a pacifying song in low soothing tones, and the Mother slowly came back to her normal state. All prostrated to her. Munagala urged me also to follow suit. I did it willingly and happily, for I was deeply affected by the divine fervour of Mother Rama Devi’s Bhava Samadhi. Munagala explained to me the nuances of that special samadhi state, which enhanced my understanding and inner joy of conscious participation. Without doubt, it was one of the greatest spiritual experiences in my life.
The next day, Balarama Reddiar, an Old Devotee of Sri Bhagavan and an Ashram resident, took me to his room and taking me unawares, pleaded that I should go back to the world, take up a job, earn well, get married and lead the life of a grihastha – a family man. I was shocked! Despite all my reverence for him, I flatly refused. He became very angry and told me that this was also the earnest wish of Nagu, my mother and that I had to obey her. In the evening, my mother called me and confirmed what Reddiar had told me that morning. I was totally nonplussed! Why this sudden plot to drive me away from my haven, the Ashram, into the hell of worldly life? I made up my mind not to give in and never move out of the Ashram.
Within a few days, the news of Mother Rama Devi’s presence at the Ashram spread all over the town and beyond. Large crowds rushed to the Guest House where she was staying to have darshan of her. Restrictions were imposed on the timings of her darshan. I didn’t take notice of any of these activities as I was deeply hurt and disappointed, feeling that I had been unjustly let down by everyone. My mother’s support to this plot intrigued me. How could she join hands in drowning me in the mire of worldly entanglements? Oh, my dear mother, you too!
A day or so later, Dr. Gopalakrishnan, the able secretary of Mother Rama Devi, approached me with the message that the Mother wanted to see me at 2.30 in the afternoon. He was kind enough to add, “Ganesan, you know, it is very rare that the Mother gives private interviews of her own accord. Hundreds of people long to have it, but are unable to. You are very fortunate that she herself has invited you. So, don’t miss this golden opportunity. It is a great boon bestowed on you.” Despite my disturbed condition, thanks to my good fortune, I replied that I would definitely go and meet the Mother.
When I went to meet her, the Mother was seated alone in a big hall on a comfortable chair. She was all graciousness in welcoming me. I prostrated and kneeled in front of her. She told me in very good English, “Child! I am happy you readily agreed to come. You are well educated. You have also chosen the right thing to serve Sri Bhagavan’s institution. My blessings are on you.” I felt very happy over those words of confirmation.
I was emboldened to say, “Mother, I have come for good to the Ashram and am very serious in taking to a life of surrender and sadhana. I want to dedicate myself to the teaching of Sri Bhagavan all my life and attain Atma Satshatkar, Self Realisation. Please bless me, Mother.” She put her holy hand on my head and said, “I bless you, child! You will be crowned with success in your spiritual efforts. Bhagavan Ramana will guide you, protect you and absorb you as his own. Be assured of that.” With great elation, I again prostrated to her.
Then, she started talking to me in intimate terms, “Ganesa! You are my own child. I am very happy you are responding in a positive manner. Such ready response is a spiritual trait. Please listen to me further. Your father brought your mother here and your mother prayed to me to advise you to take up a job and start involving yourself in the regular worldly life. I plead with you that you implicitly obey your mother’s wish. Such compliance on your part will bring you all that is good for you and your spiritual aspiration.”
This was like a bolt from the blue! I did not expect such an instruction, that too from the Mother who had just blessed me and my spiritual aspiration. Yet, the soothing, luminous presence of the Mother was influencing me in a positive way. Managing to assume a balanced state of mind, I replied, “Mother! You are the Divine Mother, who knows everything - past, present and future. You will definitely know that my most sincere desire is to serve my Master and adhere to his teaching, by staying at his Ashram. I pray to you, my dear Mother, please bless me that I achieve this sincere spiritual aspiration of mine!”
“Child, I fully comprehend your genuine aspiration. That is why I am advising you to make your mother happy, by agreeing to her request.”
“How is it logically possible, Mother? You just now blessed me that I will achieve my spiritual goal. Yet, if I am advised to go away from the spiritual quest and get drowned in the quicksand of the world, how am I going to succeed in my spiritual efforts? Isn’t it completely contradictory? How can you advocate both to me, simultaneously? On the one hand you say I will be crowned with success in my spiritual quest and on the other suggest the diametrically opposite course of going into the world and getting involved in the cobweb of worldly affairs.”
Mother touched my head again and smiled at me graciously. With a countenance, filled with peace and bliss she replied in a pleasant but firm tone, “Child, I fully understand your predicament. It seems logical to you. But, you overlooked the most important thing I told you – ‘First, fulfill the wish of your mother’. Yes, I advised you to leave the Ashram and take up a job elsewhere. I did this keeping your spiritual fulfillment in my heart. I bless you again that you are sure to attain Atma Sakshatkar. I too am very keen on it. That is why I am requesting you to first obey your mother.”
I couldn’t understand the full import of Mother’s explanation. Fortunately, no resistance rose up within me. I appealed to her to bless me with greater clarity. The Mother was pleased at my readiness to continue to listen to her. “Child, according to nature’s laws, water drenches, fire burns and air cools. These laws are never interchangeable. That vehicles should be driven only on the left side of the road in India, but on the right side in America, are man-made laws. Likewise, there are scientific, medical and architectural laws. In the same way, there are spiritual laws, too. Though everyone is governed by such spiritual laws - no one is outside their purview - the ignorant can never grasp them. But, Sages know them. The difference between the Sages and the ignorant is that the Sages are conscious of these laws while the ignorant are affected by them unconsciously. For your clarity, I shall give you an elementary law: ‘Your mother is the cause of your birth’ - this is easily understood by everyone. But, according to spiritual law, ‘You are the cause for the birth of your mother’. Can you grasp its significance? No, it is difficult, right? Look, you know that Adi Sankara and Bhagavan Ramana revered their mothers and did extraordinary things for them. Bhagavan Ramana even actively gave Liberation to his mother. Ordinarily, it will be taken that they did so out of their filial love. But, only Sages realize its full import, its spiritual content. Child, one’s mother’s full concurrence, consent and satisfaction are critical to one’s final spiritual attainment - this is the spiritual secret. Both Sankara and Ramana had already attained the highest possible spiritual state. Yet, they did their best for their mothers’ final emancipation - this is a teaching from them that aspiring seekers must emulate. No one is exempt from this spiritual law. Bhagavan Ramana has clearly narrated the process of his giving Liberation to his mother by putting his left hand on her head and his right on her Heart and making her pass through many lives until there was no residue left. But, how many understand what he described? Sages abide by the spiritual law - they never transgress it. It is in this light child, that I ask you to abide by your mother’s wish.”
It was thrilling to hear the Mother explain the secret about the spiritual law. Yet, I needed further elaboration, greater clarification in the matter. Why should one’s mother alone be extolled? What about one’s father who is also responsible for one’s birth? Mother Rama Devi must have read my thoughts. She gave a pointed smile that almost bordered on laughter and continued, “You doubt why one’s mother alone is given total importance and why the father is left out, don’t you? I will explain it to you. It is common knowledge that the birth of a child is due to the physical union between the father and the mother. But, this is merely on the physical plane. Just like the foetus growing in the mother’s womb. But, something remarkable takes place in the seventh month - the Atma, call it Spirit or Soul, enters the foetus. Only then, does what we call a ‘child’ come into being. Bringing in the Atma is done exclusively by the Mother Principle. The Mother Principle is a unique spiritual energy which the intellect can never grasp aright. You have to simply accept the declarations of Sages and Saints in this respect. This is the spiritual uniqueness of the mother. Further proof of the physical uniqueness of the mother is that only a mother can bear two Atmas simultaneously – hers and the child’s. This is the glory of the Matru Tattwa ! Adi Sankara and Bhagavan Ramana were only revering this Mother Principle in their mothers. No father has this unique spiritual feature, though the Father Principle too has special spiritual qualities. So, my child, obey your mother and fully satisfy her wishes. This is my commandment to you!”
I could clearly see that Mother Rama Devi was not using any psychic powers to cow me down. She was logically -- pointing out a spiritual truth, which I understood clearly only years later - whatever is to happen, Saints participate in its early and sure fruition. By now, though I was not opposed to her suggestion, I was still genuinely reluctant to leave the Ashram and go away. So, I appealed to the Mother, “Mother! It is great of you to condescend to come down to my level and explain things to make me agree to your suggestion. My spirit too, is willing to implicitly obey your commandment. But, my conviction to take up a spiritual life is so fervent that I find it impossible to say ‘yes’. Mother! If you make my attachment to Ashram-life drop off, I will immediately agree.” The Mother, with a pleased look, looked pointedly at me. Our eyes met - hers shone very powerfully. She said, “From this moment onwards, your mind will not dwell on perpetuating your stay at the Ashram. You will also willingly take up a job elsewhere and enter a new life. This is my blessing. Don’t worry! I will be with you, protecting you wherever you are!”
A miracle took place - like a garment falling from one’s body, the clinging thought that I couldn’t go away from the Ashram, dropped from me, instantaneously! I prostrated to her and exclaimed, “Mother, you have removed the thought that I will not go away from the Ashram. That phantom’s octopus like grip over me is gone. I am happy and free now.”
Mother Rama Devi gave me an embrace and blessed me with raised hands, “I am proud of you, my child. You have come successfully through the difficult test that I put you to. You are a dheera, a brave man. Now, go home. And happily, willingly, report to your mother that you will leave the Ashram and take up a job outside. Receive her blessings in full! Go, child, go!”
My mother was pleased and blessed me with tears rolling down her cheeks. I went to Chittoor and got employed as a sub-editor in the same English daily for which I was working in Bombay. Strangely, never even once did the faintest thought of going back to the Ashram occur to me. On the other hand, I was planning to get a better job with a higher salary in any one of the reputed English dailies being published from other cities - I applied to all of them.
Three months passed smoothly. Then, one night I woke up to find my pillow completely wet, thoroughly drenched by what I realized were my tears - I had cried for a long time in my sleep. Within a moment of this realization, the old phantom caught me tightly, almost to the point of suffocation. From where did this come and where had it gone these three months? I didn’t want to succumb to its tantrums. I went out for a walk, even though it was an odd hour– one o’clock in the morning. The hold of the phantom did not loosen up. I clearly saw that I was not clinging to the thought of going back to live in the Ashram. Despite this, it was tightening its grip over me, like a ghost. The next morning, I wrote to Mother Rama Devi about all that had happened and seeking her protection so that I could continue undisturbed in my job. She wrote back that it was a trick of my mind and that I should fight it out and win over it. I tried, sincerely, but I could not. For two weeks the tussle went on.
Then, my body started to get affected. I started having loose motions. I went to the doctor and took medicines to stop the diarrhea. Nothing worked. The ailment not only continued unabated, but also terribly weakened my whole system. I was trying my best to obey Mother Rama Devi’s advice of suppressing the thought. One day, I couldn’t come out of the bathroom, so frequent was the purging. After a few hours, I struggled hard and managed to come out. Something in me, impelled me to write a direct appeal to my Satguru Sri Ramana. So, I wrote a letter addressed to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, c/o Sri Ramanasramam, Sri Ramanasramam P.O., Tiruvannamalai. I narrated my condition - the mental fight being put up by me as guided by Mother Rama Devi; and, my utter physical instability. I prayed for his grace for success in my fight with my phantom mind.
My Mother : Nagalakshmi Ammal
Within two days, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from my mother – Nagalakshmi Ammal -- advising me to resign the job, come back to the Ashram and never to go back anywhere else. I was delighted, not only because I was going back to live in the Ashram but also because the final words of Mother Rama Devi on that day of taking leave of her were repeating themselves in my ears, “Your spiritual aspiration will get fulfilled, undoubtedly, if you obey your mother by leaving the Ashram and taking up the job. Don’t ask me again, ‘How?’ You will yourself realise and rejoice when it takes place!” How true Mother Rama Devi’s words of wisdom proved to be!
Before leaving Chittoor, I wrote to Mother Rama Devi, enclosing a copy of the letter that I received from my mother and seeking the Mother’s continued blessings. No sooner I reached the Ashram, I wrote to her about resuming my Ashram duties and again sought her blessings.
A few days later, I got a short letter from Mother Rama Devi, “My blessings are always with you, child !”
I shed tears of joy !
The gap of those months away from the Ashram - I realized - had actually rejuvenated me to rededicate myself in the arduous task of my making efforts to bring back the Old Devotees of Sri Bhagavan to the Ashram and attending on them – the sadhana specifically prescribed for me by Pujya Mataji Krishna Bai !
My mother Nagalakshmi Ammal’s involvement in this whole affair of causing me to leave the Ashram, remained a great puzzle, as I considered my mother my ‘Guru’. I got it cleared by her later – only after many years – when she was on her death bed. She clarified, “Balarama Reddiar and your father came home and forcefully told me that I should say so to Mother Rama Devi, for your own good. I wanted you only to be in the Ashram and serve Sri Bhagavan all your life.”
Sri Bhagavan’s Grace ever rules supreme, indeed !
‘The ever peaceful Sri Ramanasramam’