Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Supplement to: “Meetings with Sages and Saints ”

“ EPILOGUE ”

The title of this book, ‘Meetings with Sages and Saints ’ has apparently raised a baffling question among a few Ramana devotees : “When Sri Bhagavan is Ganesan’s Satguru, why did he seek guidance from others that he classifies as saints and sages?”

My humble request is that they should read this book. Its contents will release them from the grip of ajnana, sandheha and viparidhajnana -- ignorance, doubt and wrong knowledge.

In addition to the 25 Mahatmas I have shared about in this book, there were many more Siddha Purushas who blessed me. As they remain ‘nameless’ and ‘formless’ -- in the sense no one knew their names nor were there photos of them -- I felt they could not be contained in the pages of a book !

As an example, I’d like to share the following :

In the 1990’s, I started staying in ‘Ananda Ramana ’ for longer periods of time. When I had to go to the Ashram, it was my practice to stand on the main road and try to hitch a ride. On one such occasion, a stout, middle aged man jumped over the forest fence, came up to me and extended his hand. When I gave him a five rupee note, he declined. Strangely, he only accepted when I gave him a one rupee coin! After this, he ran back, jumped over the fence and disappeared back into the forest.

This happened regularly over the next several months. The surprising thing was that he appeared only when I was troubled by emotions of anger, jealousy, envy and hatred that others had against me. And each time, he would demand just one rupee, nothing more, nothing less.

One day, I was alone on the main road filled with joy and gratitude to Bhagavan for his Grace on me ! On that day, the Siddha Purusha came up to me and instead of demanding his usual due, thrust a new one rupee coin into my hand and disappeared back in the forest around the holy hill.

The very next day, Chinnaraj, my Man Friday, whom I treated like my brother, came to me and reported that the ‘One Rupee Swami ’ was found dead on a rock at the foot of the hill and that people were rushing to see his body which was in a frog like yogic posture !

I felt that the demanding of a rupee from me every time I was troubled, was this Siddha Purusha’s way of taking over my problems and freeing me to be established in Inner Silence. And his giving me a one rupee coin was his way of confirming my being established in that Inner Peace.

Sri Bhagavan often used to quote from Kaivalya Navaneeta about how it was essential to be firmly established in Truth even after one has grasped it. He used the analogy of putting up a flag post. One has to dig a hole, put the post in it and then cover it with mud. Kaivalya Navaneeta further states that this too is not enough. It illustrates this fact by pointing out how the loose soil around the base of the post has to be repeatedly pounded and pressed until the base of the post can stand firm even in a hurricane !

I had a very good grasp of Bhagavan’s direct teaching of Self Enquiry. But, perhaps, my understanding needed strengthening. That is why, I feel, Bhagavan sent me to those 25 Saints and Sages. All of them told me, as if in one voice, “Stay here in Ramanasramam. Don’t go anywhere else searching for Truth. Bhagavan is the Truth. Arunachala is your home. The Lord’s blessings are fully on you.”

Whenever I travelled overseas to share Bhagavan’s direct teaching of Self Enquiry, it was at the persistence of two Mahatmas^* -- Yogi Ramsuratkumar and Koti Swami. Has not Bhagavan himself revealed that everyone of us and everything that we see is ‘Arunachala Swaroopa’ ?

The four page supplement that follows is meant to share the grandeur of each and every ‘Arunachala Swaroopa’ that I was blessed to meet and mingle with.

May Sri Bhagavan bless us all !

V.Ganesan

^* See pages 90 and 299 for more on these two Mahatmas.