Sri Bhagavan and animals, birds etc.,

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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Q: Is the world created for happiness or misery?

Sri Ramana Maharshi : Creation is neither good nor bad; it is as it is. It is the human mind which puts all sorts of constructions on it, seeing things from its own angle and interpreting them to suit its own interests. A woman is just a woman, but one mind calls her mother', another `sister', and still another `aunt' and so on. Men love women, hate snakes, and are indifferent to the grass and stones by the  roadside. These value-judgments are the cause of all the misery in the world. Creation is like a peepul tree: birds come to eat its fruit, or take shelter under its branches, men cool themselves in its shade, but some may hang themselves on it. Yet the tree continues to lead its quiet life, unconcerned with and unaware of all the uses it is put to.

It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help. Is God so partial as to give peace to one person and sorrow to another ? In creation there is room for everything, but man refuses to see the good, the healthy and the beautiful. Instead, he goes on whining, like the hungry man who sits beside the tasty dish and who, instead of stretching out his hand to satisfy his hunger, goes on lamenting, 'Whose fault is it, God's or man's ?

- 'Be as you are'

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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Glory of chanting "Arunachala Siva". Please read. "Mr. David Mclver was fortunate enough to stay with Bhagavan and under His guidance translate into English almost all the works of Sri Bhagavan. Then, he was attracted to a yogi near Trivandrum, took him as his guru and settled down there. "David who was very fond of me and my wife, felt very strongly that we should also go over there and take his guru as our guru too. His contention was that for spiritual fulfillment a 'physical' guru was absolutely essential and that since Bhagavan never claimed Himself to be a guru, we should leave Him and accept a guru who was prepared to accept us as his disciples. There was a spate of correspondence between us in this regard. All these letters 'from and to David' were "shown to Bhagavan without fail. My replies claiming Bhagavan as my only guru were all approved by Him, with a nod of His head. "One day, I received a nasty letter warning me of dire consequences if I did not immediately leave Ramana and go over to his guru. I did not show this letter to Bhagavan. I was terribly upset over it. I thought I might show it to Him that evening. In the afternoon, I was doing some weeding work in the garden, head bowed and knees bent. Suddenly, I heard a 'thud' sound behind me - some animal jumping down a tree and approaching me from behind. In no time, it got on my back and sat down. I felt it should be a bear for it had a lot of hair and was holding on to me with its hind legs gripping me around my chest from behind. "My feeling at that time was not one of curiosity to know what it was, nor fear, not even unpleasantness; it was calm detachment. I was undisturbed-and continued the weeding work. Noticing my indifference, the animal started increasing its size and weight. Soon I had to bend forward owing to the burden of the back' the weight became unbearable.

Still I was undisturbed and felt no fear. Suddenly, it gripped my throat with its hairy hands and started throttling me. I was becoming breathless, the grip was tightening more and more. All this didn't produce in me a tinge of fear. I remained mentally fully alert and undisturbed. I felt I could breathe no more. The grip still continued to be tightening. Without any trace of fear, I felt I was going to die. Then, the miracle took place! At the thought of death I heard within me a sound 'Arunachala Siva! Arunachala Siva! I was not making the sound but something else within me was doing it. The intensity, volume and speed of chanting of the japa increased. It was a delightful experience to hear within you a japa pronouncing itself and at the same time your being aware of the grip of death! As the Japa continued, the grip on my throat started loosening. The size and weight of the animal grew less and less. All the while the ajapa-Japa within me was going on of its own accord. Suddenly the animal jumped away from my back and started running towards the tree-l could hear its steps rushing back. lt climbed the tree and disappeared. Immediately, I got back to my normal senses. The ajapa-japa continued,  uninterruptedly. I got up and searched for the beast, but could not find it. I was very happy, listening within me to the chant, 'Arunachala Siva'.

"The next day, while Bhagavan was returning from His stroll up on the Hill, I met Him and showed Him the letter and then narrated to Him what had happened the previous evening. Bhagavan with His benign smile, listened to me and when I stopped, He said: "That is all 'they' can do. Everything is all right." By 'they' He must have meant the guru who was a past master in black-magic and who made David write to me that threatening letter.

Bhagavan was a purna-jnani (Perfect Sage). When you come under the protection of a perfect Sath-Guru even a bad experience caused by black-magic proves a blessing in disguise. I had thus the good fortune of being initiated into the ajapa-japa of 'Arunachala Siva'!"

- Arthur Osborne

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Q: I am puzzled by some aspects of this teaching. There is no doubt that Bhagavan was realized, but in that state he was still aware of his body. When Bhagavan was ill he didn't say, 'I have pain,' he said, 'It has pain' . Since he had awareness of that pain in the body he must still have been a little identified with it?
AS: Even when the body was experiencing pain, Bhagavan was beyond it. He was not affected by anything that was happening to the body.

Q: He was beyond in the sense that he was not concerned or troubled by it, but he was still aware that the body was experiencing pain.
AS: There was an awareness of pain but there was no feeling, 'This is my body; I have pain'. You can be aware of birds flying in and out of a tree without thinking, 'I am this tree, these birds are mine' similarly Bhagavan could be aware of bodily sensations without thinking 'I am this body; this pain is mine'; Bhagavan wore a body in the same way that other people wear a dhoti. You are attaching too much importance to bodies, both Bhagavan's and your own. It is possible to exist without' being aware of the body in any way. Your experience in deep sleep should satisfy you that this is possible. Your questions and doubts are all coming from the body-mind level, from the idea that you are a body and a person. You can find out what the relationship between the body and the Self is by experiencing the Self as it really is. But to get that experience you must first be willing to give up the idea that you are a body and a person. You will never have the experience while you are still clinging to erroneous ideas about the body. You will not resolve your doubts about the body by discussing them, you will only resolve them by giving them up.

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p. 331

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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The talk turned to various recipes suggested by various people about kaya kalpa [a medicinal preparation for longevity].

Bhagavan mentioned a few kalpas based on camphor, a hundred year old neem tree, etc., and said,

"Who would care to take such trouble over this body? As explained in books, the greatest malady we have is the body, the disease of birth, and if one takes medicines to strengthen it and prolong its life, it is like a man taking medicine to strengthen and perpetuate his disease. As the body is a burden we bear, we should on the other hand feel like the coolie engaged to carry a load, anxiously looking forward to arrival at the destination when he can throw off his burden."

- from 'Day by Day with Bhagavan',

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
------------------------------------

The relation between the Self and the body or the mind may be compared to that of a clear crystal and its background. If the crystal is placed against a red flower, it shines red; if placed against a green leaf it shines green, and so on. The individual confines himself to the limits of the changeful body or of the mind which derives its existence from the unchanging Self. All that is necessary is to give up this mistaken identity, and that done, the ever-shining Self will be seen to be the single non-dual Reality.

- (TALK 616)

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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- Although the Lord is all-pervasive it appears, from passages like 'adorning him through His grace', that He can be known only through His grace. How then can the individual soul by its own efforts attain Self-realization in the absence of the Lord's grace?

- As the Lord denotes the Self and as grace means the Lord's presence or revelation, there is no time when the Lord remains unknown. If the light of the sun is invisible to the owl it is only the fault of that bird and not of the sun. Similarly can the unawareness by ignorant persons of the Self which is always of the nature of awareness be other than their own fault? How can it be the fault of the Self? It is because grace is of the very nature of the Lord that He is well known as 'the blessed grace'. Therefore the Lord, whose nature itself is grace, does not have to bestow His grace. Nor is there any particular time for bestowing His grace.

- Words of Grace, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 2005

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
------------------------------------

One day when Bhagavan was seated in the midst of his disciples, he suddenly got up and strode quickly toward the hill. Kunju Swami said, ― I was very curious. Bhagavan usually never did anything unpredictable. Whenever he did, on rare occasions, there was some significance behind it. Kunju Swami was waiting for Bhagavan to instruct him to come, but the guru went alone. From a distance he could see Bhagavan surrounded by monkeys. After half an hour or so, Bhagavan came back with his eyes swollen from shedding tears. ―We were alarmed and asked what happened,Kunju Swami narrated. Bhagavan replied, ―These monkeys have been searching for me at Skandashram. When I left, they searched all over the hill, putting their lives in peril. Monkeys live in kingdoms, and if they wandered into another territory, they could be killed by rival monkeys. These monkeys have come with their children at risk and are begging me to come back to Skandashram because they miss me there. It took me a long time to persuade them. I explained my situation and asked them to go back. I gave them my assurance that they will get back safely.

- The Human Gospel of Ramana Maharshi

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
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Bhagavan rarely asked for anything. Once, a stranger approached him. Bhagavan looked at him and asked, ―Next time, will you please bring me some cashew nuts?‖ Everybody was flabbergasted. Bhagavan was a shy person and usually did not talk to strangers. Here, most extraordinarily, he was not only volunteering to talk to a stranger, but also almost begging him to bring something for him. And how did he know there was going to be a ―next time? Soon, everyone knew the reason. It was that the squirrels, fifty or sixty of them, would not eat peanuts or anything else; they would eat only cashew nuts. The Ashram management would say, ―They are only squirrels. If they are hungry, they will eat everything. We can feed them peanuts. But they never touched the peanuts. Six or seven squirrels stood in front of Bhagavan and there they were cajoling him. That is what Bhagavan said, ―They were cajoling me and asking me where their food was. World War II was going on at the time and cashew nut production had been nationalized, making cashews unavailable in the market. There were no cashews in the Ashram kitchen and the store had only a little, which the cooks wanted to save for their cooking. Bhagavan sent for cashews four times but they said, ―No, these cashew nuts are for making sweets, we won?t give them. Finally, Bhagavan's extraordinary influence procured cashews through the visitor. Bhagavan could often be seen breaking the cashew nuts into small pieces and keeping them in a small box. The only thing he asked for was cashews for the squirrels.

- The Human Gospel of Ramana Maharshi

[Krishnan]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
------------------------

At meal time, Bhagavan would ask to be served very little, and he would carefully clear the leaf-plate of the last grain of food before getting up. I once remarked, "If we we clear out dining leaves so scrupulously, the dogs, cats, monkeys, rats and ants will starve." Bhagavan's response was, "If you are so compassionate, why not feed the animals before taking food yourself?"

Bhagavan's kindness and solicitude also extended to vegetation and plants. Once the Sarvadhikari of the Ashram asked a workman to clear the dead leaves of an almond tree. The man started chopping right and left. Bhagavan called out to the man, "Hey, you are torturing the tree too much. Don't you know it is alive? Imagine what would happen if I suddenly grabbed you by the hair and pulled. Your hair may have no life, yet you would feel it. Better leave the poor tree and go away!"

- Krishna Bhikshu