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New Anandashram

O PAPA, the birthless and deathless! When I was in this condition, one day Lakshmi Devi, your elder sister of Purvashram, and her husband, Trikannad Bhavanishankar Rao came to invite us for the opening ceremony of their newly-built house at a distance of three miles from Kanhangad. We told them that we did not wish to go for it, and after some time they left the Ashram.

Subsequent to their departure, one night at about 10 o’clock you came to the Ashram in the form of two drunkards. I was then seated a little behind where you sat. Near us there was a lantern burning. Now, while one of them engaged you in talk for some time, the other threw the lantern away into the yard. The lantern having broken, the light was extinguished, causing utter darkness. The man who flung away the lantern came towards me with the object of clutching my throat, but in the darkness he got hold of my shoulders tightly. Sensing what was happening, you came behind him and in order to free me from his hold, pulled him back with all your strength. Then the other man tried to drag you away from behind. Immediately you uttered the name “Ram” three times. From my mouth also issued automatically the name “Ram” twice. At this the man who held me pushed me down forcefully and both of them ran away in fright. By the push from the man I fell down on the copper water-pot nearby and from there rolled down into the yard. By this fall I received a severe hit on the small of the back. On your enquiry I told you that all was well with me.

O Papa, without beginning and without end! The sound of Ram Nam uttered by us fell on the ears of a farmer who was residing nearby. He ran to us and came to know what had taken place and offered to sleep in the Ashram that night. But considering that to stay there any longer was not proper, and declaring that it was all the will of Ram, you left the place for good that very night, taking me with you. The farmer accompanied us as far as Rame’s house and then departed.

O compassionate Papa! While we were proceeding to Rame’s house that night, on the way I humbly begged of you, “I will come with you wherever you go. I have no other shelter than you. So don’t abandon me.” At first you did not respond favourably but in the end you could not refuse to abide by my request.

O Purushottam Papa! In spite of the chaos that resulted in our leaving the Ashram, since you had already merged me into your eternal Being and also granted me the experience that the universe was myself and still I was beyond it, these outward incidents produced no effect on me. So I did not harbour any ill-will towards the men for their violence on us in the Ashram.

O kindness-incarnate Papa! When we reached Rame’s house, her husband, Trikannad Chandrashekhar, pressed us to accept his father Bhavanishankar Rao’s invitation and go to their new house. So we came to Kanhangad and after a stay of one or two days at Bhavanishankar Rao’s mother’s house at Hosdrug we came to his new house.

O Papa who is love-incarnate! After we had reached Bhavanishankar Rao’s house, he, his mother, brother and sisters suggested to us to have an Ashram built on a nearby hill and make it our dwelling place. Accordingly, having received monetary help from some devotees, you started the construction of an Ashram on a hillock. By the untiring service of Bhavanishankar Rao’s brother, Ganesh Rao, the Ashram building came up without much delay. Until the construction of the Ashram was over we remained at Bhavanishankar Rao’s home. The Ashram in Kasaragod was called Anandashram. So this Ashram was also named Anandashram. Even after the completion and opening of the Ashram buildings, Bhavanishankar Rao and his wife were offering us help in various ways.