(104) HEADSHIP OF A MUTT
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5th April, 1947
[* A Mutt/Math is an independent monastary.]
The same devotee who questioned Bhagavan yesterday about human effort in the individual’s action, today told him about his ill health, treatment by doctors and services rendered to him by his servants and said, “Swamiji! We are unable to keep this body of ours in good condition and so entrust it to the care of doctors and servants. When the body itself is not under our control, what is the use of people talking of reforming the world?” Do you know that for the last five or six months Bhagavan is not allowing anybody to touch his legs or massage them with oil, and that he himself does it whenever necessary? Hence he did not reply to the devotee’s question immediately, but in the evening, when the devotees all gathered, he began massaging his legs with oil, and looking at the questioner with a smile, said, “We are our own doctors and our own servants.”
Again the questioner said, “What are we to do if we do not have strength like Bhagavan’s to attend to our own work?”
Bhagavan’s reply was, “If we have the strength to eat, why should we not have the strength to do this?” The questioner could not say anything and so kept silent with bent head. Just then the post arrived. After looking through the letters, Bhagavan began narrating as follows:
“Once a certain sannyasi was anxious to be the head of a mutt. He had to have disciples, you see. He tried his level best to secure some. Any one who came, soon found out the limited knowledge of the person and so went away. No one stayed on.
What could he do? One day he had to go to a city. There he had to keep up his position, but he had no disciple. ‘No one must know this’, he thought. His bundle of clothes was on his head. So, he thought he would place the bundle in some house unobserved and then pretend to go there afterwards. He wandered throughout the place. Whenever he tried to step into a house, he found a number of people in front of it. Poor chap! What could he do? It was almost evening. He was tired.
At last, he found a house with no one in front. The door was open. Greatly relieved, he placed the bundle in one corner of the house and then sat in the verandah. After a while the lady of the house came out and enquired of him who he was. ‘Me! I am the head of a mutt in such and such a place. I came to this city on some work. I heard that you were good householders. I therefore sent my belongings through my disciple to put them in your house, thinking that we could put up with you for the night and go away next morning. Has he done so?’ ‘No one has come, sir,’ she said. ‘No, please check. I asked him to put the bundle here, go to the bazar and get some things. Kindly see if he has put it in any corner,’ he said. When the lady searched the house, she saw the bundle in one corner.
Thereupon her husband and she welcomed him and gave him food and a room to sleep in. Rather late in the night, they asked, ‘How is it, sir, your disciple has not come yet?’ He said, ‘Perhaps that useless fellow has eaten something in the bazar and is wandering about. You please go to bed. If he comes, I will open the door for him.’ “That couple had, by then, understood the sannyasi’s true position. They thought they would see further fun and so went into the house to lie down. Then the person started his pretensions. He opened the door and closed it, making a loud noise so as to be heard by the members of the household.
He then said loudly, ‘Why! What have you been doing so long? Take care, if you do it again, I shall beat you black and blue. Be careful henceforth.’ Changing his tone thereafter, he said in a plaintive voice, ‘Swami, Swami please excuse me. I shall not do it again.’ Assuming the original tone, he said, ‘All right. Come here, massage my legs, here; no, there; please hit lightly with your fists. Yes, a little more.’ So saying, he massaged his own legs and then said, ‘Enough; it is rather late, go to bed.’ So saying he went to sleep. There was a hole in the wall of the room where the couple were staying and through it they saw the whole farce.
In the early morning the sannyasi again began repeating the evening’s performance, saying, ‘You lazy fellow! The cocks have begun to crow. Go to so and so’s house and come back after doing such and such work.’ So saying, he opened the door, pretended to send him away and went back to bed. The couple saw this also.
In the morning he bundled up his belongings, put the bundle in a corner, and went to a tank nearby for bathing, etc. The couple took the bundle and hid it somewhere. The sannyasi returned and searched the whole room but the bundle was not found anywhere. So he asked the lady of the house, ‘Where is my bundle?’ The couple then replied, ‘Sir, your disciple came here and took away the bundle saying you wanted him to bring it to you. It is the same person who massaged your legs last night.
He must be round the corner. Please see, Swami.’ What could he do then? He kept his mouth shut and started going home.”
Letter 103
(103) HUMAN EFFORT
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4th April, 1947
A devotee who was a frequent visitor to the Ashram arrived two or three days ago. Ever since his arrival he has been looking all round the hall frequently. I was expecting him to ask Bhagavan some questions. This afternoon he sat near Bhagavan and slowly commenced asking questions: “Swamiji! Everyone in this hall is seated with his eyes closed. Do all of them get results?”
“Certainly! Each person will get results according to his thoughts,” Bhagavan replied humorously.
Question: Vasishtam also says the same thing. In some places it is stated that human effort is the source of all strength. In others it is said that it is all divine grace. It is not clear which of them is correct.
Bhagavan: Yes, they say that there is no God other than the karmas of the previous birth, that the karma done in the present birth in accordance with sastras is known as purushakara, (human effort), that the previous and present karmas meet for a head-on fight like rams, that the one that is weaker gets eliminated. That is why they say one should strengthen purushakara. If it is asked what is the origin of karma, they say, such a question should not be raised as it is like the eternal question, which is earlier, the seed or the tree? Such a question is for mere argument and not for deciding finally what is what.
That is why I say, first find out who you are. If one asks ‘Who am I? How did I get this dosha (fault) of life?’ then there will be Self-realisation. Dosha will get eliminated and shanti will be obtained. Why even obtained? It (the Self) remains as it IS.” In Vasishtam, in the second canto of Mumukshu Vyavahara, there are slokas containing this bhava (import):
‘Who am I? How did this faulty samsara come into being?’
Such investigation is known as the ‘Path of Enquiry’ (Vichara). By Vichara, Reality is understood, and such understanding brings repose in the Self; then follow tranquillity of mind and cessation of all sorrow.
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4th April, 1947
A devotee who was a frequent visitor to the Ashram arrived two or three days ago. Ever since his arrival he has been looking all round the hall frequently. I was expecting him to ask Bhagavan some questions. This afternoon he sat near Bhagavan and slowly commenced asking questions: “Swamiji! Everyone in this hall is seated with his eyes closed. Do all of them get results?”
“Certainly! Each person will get results according to his thoughts,” Bhagavan replied humorously.
Question: Vasishtam also says the same thing. In some places it is stated that human effort is the source of all strength. In others it is said that it is all divine grace. It is not clear which of them is correct.
Bhagavan: Yes, they say that there is no God other than the karmas of the previous birth, that the karma done in the present birth in accordance with sastras is known as purushakara, (human effort), that the previous and present karmas meet for a head-on fight like rams, that the one that is weaker gets eliminated. That is why they say one should strengthen purushakara. If it is asked what is the origin of karma, they say, such a question should not be raised as it is like the eternal question, which is earlier, the seed or the tree? Such a question is for mere argument and not for deciding finally what is what.
That is why I say, first find out who you are. If one asks ‘Who am I? How did I get this dosha (fault) of life?’ then there will be Self-realisation. Dosha will get eliminated and shanti will be obtained. Why even obtained? It (the Self) remains as it IS.” In Vasishtam, in the second canto of Mumukshu Vyavahara, there are slokas containing this bhava (import):
‘Who am I? How did this faulty samsara come into being?’
Such investigation is known as the ‘Path of Enquiry’ (Vichara). By Vichara, Reality is understood, and such understanding brings repose in the Self; then follow tranquillity of mind and cessation of all sorrow.
Letter 102
(102) MOTHER ALAGAMMA
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3rd April, 1947
The other day there was a talk in Sri Bhagavan’s presence about old songs. Bhagavan said, “Mother used to sing ‘Dakshinamurthy Stotra’ and other Vedantic songs. They used to be full of meaning. Nobody cares about them nowadays but it would be very good if they were edited and published.” On hearing that, I remembered about the old philosophic songs in Telugu also and felt that it would be beneficial spiritually to our ladies if those songs also could be edited and published, and wrote an article about it. In it I mentioned the “Appalam Song”[*] which assumed much prominence in Bhagavan’s teachings to Mother Alagamma, and which is considered to be one of the best of songs. When I told Bhagavan that I wanted to send the article to the Telugu magazine Griha Lakshmi, he asked me to read it out to him.
[*Appalam in Tamil, Poppadam in Malayalam, Appadam in Telugu, is a very thin, round cake made of black gram flour fried crisp.]
On hearing it, Bhagavan said, “There is a big story about this song,” and at my request he was pleased to narrate it.
“In the early days when Mother came to stay with me in Virupaksha Cave, there was no cooking. If Echamma or anybody else brought her any food she used to eat it, clean the vessels and then go to bed. That was all. One day she thought I had nothing special to eat and as I was fond of the twin appalams, she thought it would be a good idea to make some for me. Being well experienced, she could not refrain from making them. Without my knowledge she asked the Mudaliar old lady, Echamma and some others to get everything ready and one evening she set out, saying that she was going to the village. I wanted to see where she was really going, and so when she left, I waited silently under the tree outside. She thought I did not know anything. She went to several houses, collected all the required things in a big vessel and returned. I closed my eyes and pretended complete ignorance. She put them away carefully in the cave till all the visitors left.
After nightfall, I had my usual meal and lay down pretending to sleep. Leisurely, she took out the wooden roller, wooden seat, loose flour and the balls of paste and commenced making appalams. There were about two to three hundred to be made. She could not prepare them all single-handed. I knew the job. So she quietly began telling me, ‘My boy, please help me with it.’ I got the opportunity I was waiting for. If I were lenient in this, she would start something else. I wanted to put a timely stop to it. I said, ‘You have renounced everything and have come here, haven’t you? Why all this? You should rest content with whatever is available. I won’t help you. I won’t eat them if you prepare them. Make them all for yourself, and eat them yourself.’
She was silent for a while and again started saying, ‘What, my dear son, please help me a little.’ I was adamant. She continued to call me again and again. Feeling it was no use arguing any more, I said, ‘All right. You make these appalams; I will make another kind’, and I started singing this ‘Appalam Song’. She used to sing a rice song, soup song and other such songs, all with Vedantic meanings.
None appears to have written an appalam song. So I felt I should compose one. She was very fond of songs. So she felt that she could learn another song. By the time the preparation of the appalams was over, my song also was finished. ‘I will eat this appalam (the song about the appalams), and you eat those that you have made,’ I told her. That happened sometime in 1914 or 1915.” “What a big story! I wrote it in brief in this essay. This won’t do,” I said. “Why all this in that essay?” asked Bhagavan.
I said I would write all this in my “Letters” (to my brother) and Bhagavan agreed to it. He was then reminded of some other incident, and said, “Some time after the ‘Appalam Song’ was composed, we all set out one day on giri pradakshina.
Someone said, ‘Swamiji! Please tell us the meaning of the “Appalam Song”’. I started explaining thus: ‘Take the words ‘thanugani pancha kosa kshetramunnada (in the body with the five elements)’ — there are many authorities about the ‘pancha kosa kshetra’ in the Bhagavad Gita and other Vedantic texts. I quoted them all. Similarly for every word there are many authorities. I gave them all, explaining their meanings and significance. We finished our round of the hill, returned to the Virupaksha Cave and sat down. I was still explaining. All the essence of the Vedanta is incorporated in that one song. If properly commented upon, it would make a big volume by itself.”
I said, “It would have been good if somebody had recorded all that when Bhagavan explained. Who can comment upon the song as Bhagavan does! Why not somebody record it even now?” “That is all very well!” he said laughing. After hearing all the commentary, I said, “I am not satisfied with this article and so I will not send it to Griha Lakshmi.”
Bhagavan said, “Just as you please,” and resumed his talk, “Though I was remonstrating with my mother, she slowly started cooking, first a vegetable, then soup, and so on. We went to Skandasramam afterwards. She used to wander all over the hill, gather something or other, and say, ‘He likes this vegetable and that fruit’. She took no notice of my remonstrations. Once, while she was coming to the jungle at this side, her saree got in a thorny bush. It was only then that this path was cleared of all bushes and the like. She said she would not leave me and go anywhere else. If she went anywhere, she was afraid that she might die there. She was particular that she should die in my arms. When Alamelu (Bhagavan’s younger sister) built a new house in their village near Manamadurai, she begged mother just to go over there and see the house. She said it was enough if she (mother) just set her foot in it. But she never went. She declined because she was afraid that in case she fell ill there, there might not be trains running properly at that time to bring her back here and in that case, she might not die in her son’s arms.
She used to say, ‘Even if you were to throw away my dead body in these thorny bushes I do not mind but I must end this life in your arms.’” As he was saying that, his voice began to falter through emotion. My eyes got moist. I said, “Renunciation should be as firm as that with everybody.” “Yes, yes!” he said and was silent.
Because she said, “Even if you were to throw away my body in these thorny bushes,” we now see that the place of her burial is adorned by a temple fit to be worshipped by kings and emperors.
See Appalam Song, and Dakshinamurthy Stotra.
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3rd April, 1947
The other day there was a talk in Sri Bhagavan’s presence about old songs. Bhagavan said, “Mother used to sing ‘Dakshinamurthy Stotra’ and other Vedantic songs. They used to be full of meaning. Nobody cares about them nowadays but it would be very good if they were edited and published.” On hearing that, I remembered about the old philosophic songs in Telugu also and felt that it would be beneficial spiritually to our ladies if those songs also could be edited and published, and wrote an article about it. In it I mentioned the “Appalam Song”[*] which assumed much prominence in Bhagavan’s teachings to Mother Alagamma, and which is considered to be one of the best of songs. When I told Bhagavan that I wanted to send the article to the Telugu magazine Griha Lakshmi, he asked me to read it out to him.
[*Appalam in Tamil, Poppadam in Malayalam, Appadam in Telugu, is a very thin, round cake made of black gram flour fried crisp.]
On hearing it, Bhagavan said, “There is a big story about this song,” and at my request he was pleased to narrate it.
“In the early days when Mother came to stay with me in Virupaksha Cave, there was no cooking. If Echamma or anybody else brought her any food she used to eat it, clean the vessels and then go to bed. That was all. One day she thought I had nothing special to eat and as I was fond of the twin appalams, she thought it would be a good idea to make some for me. Being well experienced, she could not refrain from making them. Without my knowledge she asked the Mudaliar old lady, Echamma and some others to get everything ready and one evening she set out, saying that she was going to the village. I wanted to see where she was really going, and so when she left, I waited silently under the tree outside. She thought I did not know anything. She went to several houses, collected all the required things in a big vessel and returned. I closed my eyes and pretended complete ignorance. She put them away carefully in the cave till all the visitors left.
After nightfall, I had my usual meal and lay down pretending to sleep. Leisurely, she took out the wooden roller, wooden seat, loose flour and the balls of paste and commenced making appalams. There were about two to three hundred to be made. She could not prepare them all single-handed. I knew the job. So she quietly began telling me, ‘My boy, please help me with it.’ I got the opportunity I was waiting for. If I were lenient in this, she would start something else. I wanted to put a timely stop to it. I said, ‘You have renounced everything and have come here, haven’t you? Why all this? You should rest content with whatever is available. I won’t help you. I won’t eat them if you prepare them. Make them all for yourself, and eat them yourself.’
She was silent for a while and again started saying, ‘What, my dear son, please help me a little.’ I was adamant. She continued to call me again and again. Feeling it was no use arguing any more, I said, ‘All right. You make these appalams; I will make another kind’, and I started singing this ‘Appalam Song’. She used to sing a rice song, soup song and other such songs, all with Vedantic meanings.
None appears to have written an appalam song. So I felt I should compose one. She was very fond of songs. So she felt that she could learn another song. By the time the preparation of the appalams was over, my song also was finished. ‘I will eat this appalam (the song about the appalams), and you eat those that you have made,’ I told her. That happened sometime in 1914 or 1915.” “What a big story! I wrote it in brief in this essay. This won’t do,” I said. “Why all this in that essay?” asked Bhagavan.
I said I would write all this in my “Letters” (to my brother) and Bhagavan agreed to it. He was then reminded of some other incident, and said, “Some time after the ‘Appalam Song’ was composed, we all set out one day on giri pradakshina.
Someone said, ‘Swamiji! Please tell us the meaning of the “Appalam Song”’. I started explaining thus: ‘Take the words ‘thanugani pancha kosa kshetramunnada (in the body with the five elements)’ — there are many authorities about the ‘pancha kosa kshetra’ in the Bhagavad Gita and other Vedantic texts. I quoted them all. Similarly for every word there are many authorities. I gave them all, explaining their meanings and significance. We finished our round of the hill, returned to the Virupaksha Cave and sat down. I was still explaining. All the essence of the Vedanta is incorporated in that one song. If properly commented upon, it would make a big volume by itself.”
I said, “It would have been good if somebody had recorded all that when Bhagavan explained. Who can comment upon the song as Bhagavan does! Why not somebody record it even now?” “That is all very well!” he said laughing. After hearing all the commentary, I said, “I am not satisfied with this article and so I will not send it to Griha Lakshmi.”
Bhagavan said, “Just as you please,” and resumed his talk, “Though I was remonstrating with my mother, she slowly started cooking, first a vegetable, then soup, and so on. We went to Skandasramam afterwards. She used to wander all over the hill, gather something or other, and say, ‘He likes this vegetable and that fruit’. She took no notice of my remonstrations. Once, while she was coming to the jungle at this side, her saree got in a thorny bush. It was only then that this path was cleared of all bushes and the like. She said she would not leave me and go anywhere else. If she went anywhere, she was afraid that she might die there. She was particular that she should die in my arms. When Alamelu (Bhagavan’s younger sister) built a new house in their village near Manamadurai, she begged mother just to go over there and see the house. She said it was enough if she (mother) just set her foot in it. But she never went. She declined because she was afraid that in case she fell ill there, there might not be trains running properly at that time to bring her back here and in that case, she might not die in her son’s arms.
She used to say, ‘Even if you were to throw away my dead body in these thorny bushes I do not mind but I must end this life in your arms.’” As he was saying that, his voice began to falter through emotion. My eyes got moist. I said, “Renunciation should be as firm as that with everybody.” “Yes, yes!” he said and was silent.
Because she said, “Even if you were to throw away my body in these thorny bushes,” we now see that the place of her burial is adorned by a temple fit to be worshipped by kings and emperors.
See Appalam Song, and Dakshinamurthy Stotra.
Letter 101
(101) DELUSION AND PEACE OF MIND
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28th March, 1947
Yesterday a youth arrived from Andhra Pradesh. From his looks he appeared to be simple-minded. He approached Bhagavan this morning and asked, “Swamiji! I came here ten months ago for your darshan. I got a desire to have your darshan again now, and so immediately set out and came here. I could not delay even for a moment. Can I do so in future also, whenever I have such a desire?” Bhagavan replied, “Whatever happens, happens. Everything happens according to what we deserve. Why worry in advance about it?”
He again asked, “Can I come whenever I have such a desire at any time in the future? Or, should I suppress the desire?” “Things happen of their own accord, if you stop thinking ahead to the future,” replied Bhagavan.
Question: “I am not able to suppress this desire even for a moment. Is it a self-deception?” Bhagavan looked at me with a smile, and said, “It seems he came here some time ago, and again had a desire to come here now, and so he came immediately. He is asking me whether he may do so whenever he has such a desire in future.” The youth intervened and said, “Whenever I get the desire to see Bhagavan, I am not able to control it even for a moment. I am only asking whether it is mere mental delusion.” I said, “How can a desire to have darshan of a great person be mere mental delusion? While there are so many delusions of the mind to be controlled and suppressed, does this desire alone appear to you to be a mental delusion?” There was no further question.
There were some Andhra visitors in the hall who had come there on pilgrimage. One of them got up and asked, “Swamiji! How does the soul attain peace?” Bhagavan replied, laughing, “What! What is peace for the soul?” “No, no! I mean for the mind.”
“Oh! for the mind! The mind attains peace if the vasanas are suppressed. For that, one must enquire and realise who one is. How can one get peace by merely saying, ‘I want peace, I want peace!’ without first enquiring what is peace? First make efforts to recognise and realise what already exists.”
There was a Pandit among them. He asked, “Life itself becomes extremely hard in some places. How is one to perform sadhana in such places?”
Bhagavan replied, “The place is within you; you are not in the place. When you are in all places, where is the question of difficulties in some places, and not in others? All are within yourself. How can they cause you difficulties?”
“But we get no peace of mind at all in some places,” he protested and Bhagavan replied, “That which always exists is peace. That is your natural state. You are not able to recognise your natural state. You get deluded by aberrations which are unreal and feel sorry that there is no peace. If you realise your self, all places will become equally suitable for sadhana.”
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28th March, 1947
Yesterday a youth arrived from Andhra Pradesh. From his looks he appeared to be simple-minded. He approached Bhagavan this morning and asked, “Swamiji! I came here ten months ago for your darshan. I got a desire to have your darshan again now, and so immediately set out and came here. I could not delay even for a moment. Can I do so in future also, whenever I have such a desire?” Bhagavan replied, “Whatever happens, happens. Everything happens according to what we deserve. Why worry in advance about it?”
He again asked, “Can I come whenever I have such a desire at any time in the future? Or, should I suppress the desire?” “Things happen of their own accord, if you stop thinking ahead to the future,” replied Bhagavan.
Question: “I am not able to suppress this desire even for a moment. Is it a self-deception?” Bhagavan looked at me with a smile, and said, “It seems he came here some time ago, and again had a desire to come here now, and so he came immediately. He is asking me whether he may do so whenever he has such a desire in future.” The youth intervened and said, “Whenever I get the desire to see Bhagavan, I am not able to control it even for a moment. I am only asking whether it is mere mental delusion.” I said, “How can a desire to have darshan of a great person be mere mental delusion? While there are so many delusions of the mind to be controlled and suppressed, does this desire alone appear to you to be a mental delusion?” There was no further question.
There were some Andhra visitors in the hall who had come there on pilgrimage. One of them got up and asked, “Swamiji! How does the soul attain peace?” Bhagavan replied, laughing, “What! What is peace for the soul?” “No, no! I mean for the mind.”
“Oh! for the mind! The mind attains peace if the vasanas are suppressed. For that, one must enquire and realise who one is. How can one get peace by merely saying, ‘I want peace, I want peace!’ without first enquiring what is peace? First make efforts to recognise and realise what already exists.”
There was a Pandit among them. He asked, “Life itself becomes extremely hard in some places. How is one to perform sadhana in such places?”
Bhagavan replied, “The place is within you; you are not in the place. When you are in all places, where is the question of difficulties in some places, and not in others? All are within yourself. How can they cause you difficulties?”
“But we get no peace of mind at all in some places,” he protested and Bhagavan replied, “That which always exists is peace. That is your natural state. You are not able to recognise your natural state. You get deluded by aberrations which are unreal and feel sorry that there is no peace. If you realise your self, all places will become equally suitable for sadhana.”
Letter 100
(100) NO WASTE
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12th March, 1947
Recently Bhagavan wrote the birthday verses and “Ekatma Panchakam”, didn’t he? He was writing them on bits of rough paper that absorbed ink and as I felt pained that the divine letters that looked like a string of pearls should have been written on bits of rough paper, I said to him, “It would be better if they are written in a notebook.” “This is all right,” he replied, “if I write them in a notebook somebody will recognise my writing and take it away. There is no such fear now. The Swami is the common property of all.” And he declined to accept my suggestion.
As some alterations were made this morning in the birthday verses, I wanted a small piece of white paper to note them down and paste them in my notebook but on searching for it in the hall, there was none. I had no patience to go home to fetch the paper and so, without any hesitation or fear, I told Bhagavan that I would ask for some from the office. When I went there, they showed me some nice paper.
I took one sheet for myself and also said that it would be nice for Bhagavan to write on, if only some sheets of paper are supplied to him. “Then take them,” they said, and gave me four sheets. I took them to Bhagavan and suggested that he should use them for his writings, so that they could afterwards be pasted in a book. I asked if the paper should be put on the shelf. He said, “Where is it from? Did you get it from the office?” I said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Why do I need it? If you want, you can keep it for yourself. I shall tear bits of paper from the newspapers, keep them carefully and write on them. Why do I need such good paper?” As I could not answer, I put it on the shelf.
It was about 9 a.m. After the post was received and disposed of, Bhagavan began reading the newspaper. He saw there a blank portion of about four inches. He began folding it and tearing it off. He was smiling at me, but I could not understand why. After tearing it off he folded it nicely and, putting it on the shelf said, “Look, I shall use this paper for my writings. How else could I get any paper? Where can I go to get any? Isn’t this good enough for my writings?” I replied, “So this is to teach us a lesson. Bhagavan is always teaching us lessons, but we are not learning them.” Bhagavan smiled and kept quiet.
Sometimes people here who receive books by post bring the books into the hall together with the papers wrapped around them. Bhagavan nicely folds the wrapping and says to the attendants, “Look! Keep this carefully. We shall cover some other book with it. How can we get such paper if we need it? What is thus acquired is a net gain.” Daily the inward letters are brought from the office for Bhagavan’s perusal.
Amongst them, officials like you fold the paper and write on one side, leaving the rest unused. Bhagavan tears off such bits of unwritten paper and keeps them. The same is the case with pins. After reading the papers, the pins are taken out and handed over to the attendants, saying, “These will be useful when we want them. They will otherwise be merely thrown away. We shall use them. How should we get new ones? They have to be bought. Where is the money?” While living on the hill, Bhagavan personally used to prepare ladles, spoons, cups and the like from out of coconut shells. Till recently he was making cups and spoons of coconut shells and polish them like ivory and tell the attendants, “Look, keep these carefully. They will be useful on occasions.
How could we get silver and gold articles? These are our silver cups and golden spoons. The hands won’t get burnt.
They won’t be contaminated like metalware. It will be pleasant to use them.” Not only that, when he takes any refreshments or Malayalam kanji (gruel) Bhagavan uses only those articles.
Whenever Batavia or Kamala oranges and the like are received, the skins are not allowed to be thrown away, and chutneys and pickles are made out of them. They are also used in soup or put to other such uses. Besides this, while taking food, not a morsel is thrown away or discarded. He thus shows us, by his own example, that not a single useful article should be wasted.
If someone brings roses and presents them, Bhagavan presses them against his eyes, puts them on the clock, eats the petals when they get dry and fall off and gives some of them to those near him. Once when someone brought a rose garland, it was used to decorate the idol in the Mother’s temple and afterwards thrown out by the priests into a waste basket along with other flowers. Bhagavan saw that when he went out and, getting angry with them, collected all the petals and had them mixed with payasam (pudding), which thus got a delicious flavour and excellent taste. On his way to the hill, if he chances to see any useful leaves, he will pluck them along with his attendants, give instructions about cooking them and thus arrange for a delicious dish. He likes preparations which do not cost anything rather than those that are costly. All this may appear to be quite commonplace, but if we think it over carefully, we will find it a good lesson for us. It means, he teaches us that we could live comfortably on small means.
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12th March, 1947
Recently Bhagavan wrote the birthday verses and “Ekatma Panchakam”, didn’t he? He was writing them on bits of rough paper that absorbed ink and as I felt pained that the divine letters that looked like a string of pearls should have been written on bits of rough paper, I said to him, “It would be better if they are written in a notebook.” “This is all right,” he replied, “if I write them in a notebook somebody will recognise my writing and take it away. There is no such fear now. The Swami is the common property of all.” And he declined to accept my suggestion.
As some alterations were made this morning in the birthday verses, I wanted a small piece of white paper to note them down and paste them in my notebook but on searching for it in the hall, there was none. I had no patience to go home to fetch the paper and so, without any hesitation or fear, I told Bhagavan that I would ask for some from the office. When I went there, they showed me some nice paper.
I took one sheet for myself and also said that it would be nice for Bhagavan to write on, if only some sheets of paper are supplied to him. “Then take them,” they said, and gave me four sheets. I took them to Bhagavan and suggested that he should use them for his writings, so that they could afterwards be pasted in a book. I asked if the paper should be put on the shelf. He said, “Where is it from? Did you get it from the office?” I said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Why do I need it? If you want, you can keep it for yourself. I shall tear bits of paper from the newspapers, keep them carefully and write on them. Why do I need such good paper?” As I could not answer, I put it on the shelf.
It was about 9 a.m. After the post was received and disposed of, Bhagavan began reading the newspaper. He saw there a blank portion of about four inches. He began folding it and tearing it off. He was smiling at me, but I could not understand why. After tearing it off he folded it nicely and, putting it on the shelf said, “Look, I shall use this paper for my writings. How else could I get any paper? Where can I go to get any? Isn’t this good enough for my writings?” I replied, “So this is to teach us a lesson. Bhagavan is always teaching us lessons, but we are not learning them.” Bhagavan smiled and kept quiet.
Sometimes people here who receive books by post bring the books into the hall together with the papers wrapped around them. Bhagavan nicely folds the wrapping and says to the attendants, “Look! Keep this carefully. We shall cover some other book with it. How can we get such paper if we need it? What is thus acquired is a net gain.” Daily the inward letters are brought from the office for Bhagavan’s perusal.
Amongst them, officials like you fold the paper and write on one side, leaving the rest unused. Bhagavan tears off such bits of unwritten paper and keeps them. The same is the case with pins. After reading the papers, the pins are taken out and handed over to the attendants, saying, “These will be useful when we want them. They will otherwise be merely thrown away. We shall use them. How should we get new ones? They have to be bought. Where is the money?” While living on the hill, Bhagavan personally used to prepare ladles, spoons, cups and the like from out of coconut shells. Till recently he was making cups and spoons of coconut shells and polish them like ivory and tell the attendants, “Look, keep these carefully. They will be useful on occasions.
How could we get silver and gold articles? These are our silver cups and golden spoons. The hands won’t get burnt.
They won’t be contaminated like metalware. It will be pleasant to use them.” Not only that, when he takes any refreshments or Malayalam kanji (gruel) Bhagavan uses only those articles.
Whenever Batavia or Kamala oranges and the like are received, the skins are not allowed to be thrown away, and chutneys and pickles are made out of them. They are also used in soup or put to other such uses. Besides this, while taking food, not a morsel is thrown away or discarded. He thus shows us, by his own example, that not a single useful article should be wasted.
If someone brings roses and presents them, Bhagavan presses them against his eyes, puts them on the clock, eats the petals when they get dry and fall off and gives some of them to those near him. Once when someone brought a rose garland, it was used to decorate the idol in the Mother’s temple and afterwards thrown out by the priests into a waste basket along with other flowers. Bhagavan saw that when he went out and, getting angry with them, collected all the petals and had them mixed with payasam (pudding), which thus got a delicious flavour and excellent taste. On his way to the hill, if he chances to see any useful leaves, he will pluck them along with his attendants, give instructions about cooking them and thus arrange for a delicious dish. He likes preparations which do not cost anything rather than those that are costly. All this may appear to be quite commonplace, but if we think it over carefully, we will find it a good lesson for us. It means, he teaches us that we could live comfortably on small means.
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