It is difficult, rather impossible, to make others understand Godliness by explaining what it is. Godliness is something which should be experienced and realized. Yet, as Kamban puts it, "Due to my love for Rama, I write Ramayana", I venture to write about Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the Godchild of Tiruvannamalai, due to my love. '

It is a boon of this Yuga to have the omnipresent, all pervasive Brahman in our midst in human guise of Yogi Ramsuratkumar. As Rama in Treta Yuga, and Krishna in Dvapara Yuga, Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar has incarnated in this Yuga.

The very word 'Avatar' brings before our mind the picture of Rama with His bow and Krishna with His flute. Krishna made others recognize Him as an Avatar by His childhood 'lilas'. Rama revealed the secret of His incarnation only to great souls who were ripe enough to realize God and the purpose of His Avatar. Adorned math palmera fan and coconut shell, Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar reveals Himself as an Avatar by His countless compassion and the miracles He performs.

The truth that Yogi Ramsuratkumar is an Avatar is assured by a great Jnani. In Coimbatore district, near Pollachi, there is a small village called Puravipalayam. The great Kodi Swamigal lived in this village. He is said to be a contemporary of Totapuri who was Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's Guru who taught Advaita Sadhana to Sri Ramakrishna when He was in Dakshineswar. It is a hearsay that Totapuri and Kodi Swamigal were contemporaries. Thousands and thousands of spiritual seekers went to Kodi Swamigal to quench the spiritual thirst. One day a devotee of Yogi Ramsuratkumar went to have darshan of Kodi Swamigal. This devotee wanted to talk about Yogiji to the Swamigal. Then the Swamigal said, "Avatara Purusha, Avatara Purusha". He uttered it twice as if in a trance.

Jnanis recognize the Avatars by their Jnana, but the poor, ignorant, cornmon folk try to recognize them through the miracles performed by the great souls in the lives of their devotees and others. Usually an Avatar's life is extraordinary differing from an ordinary man's life. It will be a chain of extraordinary events and miracles. Is not Krishna's life full of such miracles from his childhood pranks to Kurukshetra warfare? In Rama's life, in Christ's, Buddha's and Baba's, don't we see such unusual and adventurous events? Only by looking at such events, people were able to identify them as Avatars. So also, by His extraordinary life and the miracles He performs, Yogi Ramsuratkumar enables the world to recognize Him as an Avatar.

Many have had the golden opportunity of getting a glimpse of the divinity in Bhagavan. "I am infinite and so are you and so is every one, my friend. But there is a veil. Do you follow me? You can see only an infinitesimal part of me. Just like when a man stands on the seashore and looks out over the great ocean, similarly, everyone can see only a small part of me. The whole cosmos is but an infinitesimal part of me. The whole cosmos is but an infinitesimal part of the real man, but how can a man see the whole cosmos?", says Bhagavan. But we are fortunate, being blessed by Bhagavan to stand on the shore and look at the waves of the great ocean of mercy.

Our Idea about God and faith in Him is based on our feeling and experience. If we feel that Yogi Ramsuratkumar is an Avatar, it is because of our personal experience. Some of Bhagavan's devotees look at Him as their father, some as mother, some as friend, some as child, and many as their Guru.

My first meeting with Bhagavan is evergreen in my mind, because it was then that I saw God. Those were the days when Ma Devaki and myself were working in Sarada College, Salem. I had a problem. There was a lump in my right breast. The doctors suspected malignancy and advised operation. I was upset. Looking at my mental agony, one of rny colleagues, Miss Jayakumari of Zoology department advised me to see Bhagavan. Before starting to Tiruvannamalai, I went to Devaki's room. It is there I first saw Bhagavan's picture. Showing His picture, she said, "Don't be deceived by His beggarly appearance. He is Lord Rama Himself in the guise of a human being." With these words she directed me to Tiruvannamalai.

It was a fine day. At about 1:00 PM, I was standing before No.1, Sannidhi Street house with great expectations and prayers. Both the outer and the inner doors had been closed. We waited. Suddenly the inner door opened and like lightning, Bhagavan carne and stood behind the outer door iron bars. The majestic personality, the radiant face, the Tejas, the compassionate bold eyes -- no exaggeration. He was Rama Himself. I felt the presence of God. I was happy, very happy and confident. The Lord spoke, "Go to the Temple and come at 4 o'clock in the evening." We obeyed. My husband and my daughter were with me. When we came in the evening, he was very kind to us. After hearing my name and whereabouts, he asked, "What do you want from this beggar." I said : "Bhagavan. I have a growth in my breast and the doctors doubt it to be malignant." Immediately Bhagavan said, "Why doubt? There is no need to doubt. It is there, but you will be alright. My Father blesses Kamalam. Kamalam will be alright". Hesitantly I put the next question : "Bhagavan, what course of treatment am I to take , allopathic or siddha?" "Take whatever treatment you want, you will be alright," said God. Encouraged by His blessings, I went through the operation and am alright now.

Bhagavan is omnipresent. He could be seen everywhere. He comes to the rescue of his devotees wherever and whenever it is required.

A devotee of Madras has had an interesting experience. One day a beggar had come to her door steps two times. She helped him, but when he came a third time, she lost her temper and shouted at him saying, "What a nuisance with you beggars." The beggar disappeared. After a few days, this sister had come to see Bhagavan. When she was seated in front of Bhagavan, He said : "People don't like beggars. What a nuisance with beggars !" He repeated it twice or thrice. Suddenly it dawned on her mind that it was Bhagavan who came to her as a beggar. Who knows why this kalpataru went there with a begging bowl ?

Bhagavan is omniscient. Nothing can stir without His knowledge. He knows our thought currents too. Distance is not a bar.

It was December 1, Bhagavan's birth day. "Don't go to Tiruvannarnalai on Bhagavan's birth day. You won't be able to see Him. Nobody knows where He goes," Ma Devaki had told me. So I celebrated Bhagavan's birth day at home. Decorating His picture with white and red lotuses, I performed puja. While meditating, I thought, "Bhagavan, where do you go on your birth day. Devaki says, nobody knows where you go? Do you go to your abode Kailas?" After two days, i.e. on 3rd December, I went to Tiruvannamalai with my family. My husband, my daughter and myself were seated before Bhagavan. Nobody else was there. The front door was bolted inside, Then, an aged man came. From the street he could see Bhagavan. From there he asked, "Swami, where were you these two days? I was looking for you yesterday and the day before. You were not to be seen. Where were you?". "I had been to Kailas," was the prompt reply by Bhagavan. Saying this twice, He laughed divinely. 1 have had this type of experience many times.
Bhagavan is omnipotent. Many incidents could be cited to show dùs aspect of Bhagavan and many of His devotees have had the golden opportunity of experiencing this aspect. I am one among them.

One day, my left hand was paining terribly. When checked, three inches above the elbow, there was a lump in a depression. I was worried first. Then I thought, why should I worry when there is 'Vaidyanathan', the master of all doctors. I went straight to Bhagavan. I was seated at a distance of four feet from Him. He asked me to stretch my hand straight, looked at it for a while and closed His eyes, Opening the eyes he asked, "Has the pain gone?" "There is a little, still," I said. He again closed His eyes. After a second, He opened his eyes asking, " How is it, now?" There was no pain and so I said, " No pain, Bhagavan!" Bhagavan blessed us and we took leave. Just after coming out of the house, I checked my hand. What a miracle! There was no trace of either lump or the depression.

Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar is Compassion incarnate. We have read that if a man takes one step towards God, God takes ten steps towards him. My family was fortunate to experience this.

Those were days when we used to go to Tiruvannamalai very often. We used to stay at Ramanashram. We had the habit of doing Giripradakshinam (circumambulation of the hill) early in the morning, having darshan in the temple, breakfast and then having Bhagavan's darshan. This was our usual procedure. We wanted to follow the same that day also, but due to circumstances, we were late to start the Giripradakshinam. When we finished, it was around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It was the month of May. We felt as if we were walking on fire. My daughter, Anbugeeta, was five years old, and due to heat, she was unable to walk barefooted. So my husband took her on his shoulders. Half walking and half running, we finished Giripradakshinam. I told my husband, "See, we should not repeat this mistake of starting Giripradakshinam late, especially in May." I also said, "Now the temple would have been closed. Without darshan we cannot have food. We cannot disturb Bhagavan also at this hour of the day. So, I think, we can wait near the temple till 4 o'clock, have darshan in the temple, then tiffin and then Bhagavan's darshan." We didn't have breakfast. Even then, my husband and my child agreed to my plan. We reached the temple. We crossed the main Gopuram, Kambattu Ezhiya Perumal Sannidhi and the big Nandi. When we reached the steps leading to the main doors of the temple, we got a shock, a very pleasant shock. What if the doors were closed. The Lord Arunachala was present on the door step with His palmera fan and coconut shell. The May sun was scorching from above and it was a furnace below, but Bhagavan was sitting with a smiling face as if expecting somebody. Bhagavan's compassion melted us. We washed His lotus feet with our tears, "Arutperum Jyoti, Tanipperum Karunai, Arutperurn Jyoti, Tanipperum Karunai," were the words uttered by me unconsciously. Bhagavan was sitting there for ten to fifteen minutes without a word. Suddenly He took two neem leaves and gave it to my daughter asking her to give it to me. I preserve and cherish these leaves still. "Let us leave now," said Bhagavan and walked off majestically. Bhagavan walked the distance slowly as if walking on a flower carpet, but we felt sad because it was burning like hot iron beneath. After He left, I turned to a person who was standing there watching us, and asked him whether Bhagavan was seated there for a long time. He said, "No Madam, He came just a few minutes before you came." So it was clear that he waited there for us unmindful of the scorching sun. I have seen Bhagavan in the temple campus in different poses, in different places and in different situations, but I could never forget this scene. It will be ever green in my mind.

Bhagavan's actions are purposeful. There will be some deep meaning in whatever he does. One day Bhagavan was talking to me. An extraordinary conversation, Bhagavan was orally answering my silent questions. As soon as a question arose in my mind, there came a prompt reply from Bhagavan. This wonderful conversation lasted for ten to fifteen minutes. Then came a devotee from Belgaum. He and Bhagavan were conversing both in English and Hindi. In the course of their talk, the devotee said, "Bhagavan, Gnanadeva's commentary on Bhagavadgita, 'Sri Gnaneswari', originally written in Marathi, has been translated by T.P. Kothandaraman in Tamil and I have given a number of copies to Kanchi Mutt." They were talking for rnore than an hour. In between their conversation, Bhagavan turned to me and said, "Kamalam is lucky, because this friend had come here today, Kamalam is lucky." He repeated this twice. After that devotee had left, Bhagavan turned to me and asked me to go to Kanchi Mutt immediately and get a copy of 'Sri Gnaneswari'. My husband, my daughter and I started immediately. When we returned from Kancheepuram, it was too late. So we went to Bhagavan the next day at 6 o'clock in the morning. Bhagavan asked me to read 'Sri Gnanesvari'. After providing tea, He took us to Nadar Lodge, There we stayed the whole day with Bhagavan, reading 'Sri Gnanesvari'. Two ladies from Sivakasi were also in the room. Bhagavan asked them also to read 'Sri Gna'nesvari'. One of them read 'Ramayana' by Swami Chidbhavananda. In the evening at 6 o'clock, Bhagavan took us to Sannidhi Street and gave us blessings and leave in front of his home. I don't know the significance of this compassionate gesture of Bhagavan, but I am sure, He should have worked some good on my faniily that day.

Just like Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows, shedding tears for the welfare of the people, Bhagavan is constantly working for the welfare of the world. Looking at Bhagavan reading news papers and preserving them in bundles carefully, I used to think whether he is preserving the world peace safely in those bundles. It is no doubt that the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God has come in the guise of Yogi Ramsuratkumar to save the world, From my own experiences and what I have read and heard, I believe that He is none but Lord Arunachaleshvara, the Almighty. My humble pranams at His Lotus Feet.