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I Meet Papa

O OMNIPRESENT Papa! In response to my humble appeal, you paved the way for my coming to Kasaragod. You induced Dr. Rama Rao to decide upon a trip to foreign countries for higher studies and practice of surgery. Dr. Rama Rao and his wife Sundari loved me and took care of me so well that my children and I were to them like their own children. Their aim was to make me ever happy. As the doctor planned to leave India for Europe he left his house at Sirsi. Both the doctor and Sundari told me that in the circumstances I could go to reside in any place I chose. I expressed my wish to stay with Sundari at her father’s house in Kasaragod. They agreed and in their company I came to Kasaragod on 7th June, 1928.

O infinite Papa! The people at Sundari’s parental home were frequently visiting your Ashram which was opened on 3rd June, 1928. From the time they saw you, one and all of them in the house were talking highly of your spiritual attainments and qualities. This they did with great affection and enthusiasm. As Dr. Rama Rao was a constant reader of Jnaneshwari, he knew to some extent the principal qualities of a saint. Whenever he was told by his mother about any saint she had met, he would plainly say that the saint did not possess the signs described in the Jnaneshwari. But after seeing you, he said that he discovered in you all the characteristics of a saint as described in the Jnaneshwari. When I heard so much in your praise I desired to have your Darshan. Moreover, Sundari was pressing me daily to accompany her to the Ashram. Since my feeling to see you grew more and more in intensity as time passed, a hazy notion developed in me that if I once went out of the house I might not return to it. So I hesitated to pay you a visit. At last, with a view only to see you and come back, I started to proceed to your Ashram escorted by the people of the house in which I lived.

O mother Papa! As I neared your Ashram I experienced a rare and inexpressible joy, similar to what a child would feel when it was about to meet its mother after a long period of separation. Thenceforward, I began visiting the Ashram for your Darshan daily in the company of friends.

O all-pervading Papa! The sublimity of your presence was simply indescribable. The moment I saw you, the passions that were vexing me disappeared and bliss established itself in my heart. At home I was never content however long I talked about you to the people therein. I was feeling a peculiar joy in relating your talks to all I met. Your very remembrance made my hair stand on end and my joy overflow.

O Papa, who is full of compassion! On the lapse of about a year in this manner, the occasion arrived for us to go to Dharwar to attend the marriage of Anasuyakka’s younger brother’s daughter. There I had Darshan once more of Sri Chandekar Maharaj. When Anasuyakka met the Maharaj in the past he had told her that as there was in me excessive Tamas it would not be possible for me to realise God. In those days I hesitated to converse with him, but this time I talked to him familiarly about you. Seeing this he remarked in a tone of surprise, “Who is that Swami Ramdas who has raised you to Sattwa! and brought about such a marvellous change in you. He seems indeed to be an extraordinary personage. Some day I must also have his Darshan.”

O kindness-incarnate Papa! From Dharwar I went to Hubli for the Darshan of Sri Siddharudha Swami who was laid up with illness. On return to Dharwar my condition was like that of a hungry child crying for its mother. The separation from you for some time created in me a keen longing to see you again. However, without much delay, you brought me back to Kasaragod. When I joined your presence on this occasion, I engaged myself in Your service with a greater zeal than before. Soon after, I completed two crores of my Japa.