God is complete, perfect, infinite and infallible. Being a slice of God, a guru also has to be so. But there are some who believe that no human being can be a perfect Jnani. According to them, the divinity of a guru may be, to a negligible extent, tainted by the body that holds it. In this view we find an explanation for Sankara's discomfiture at the hands of the Chandala and Sri Ramakrishna's longing for a Kashmiri shawl. Yet, by and large perfection has been the hallmark of the lives of spiritual luminaries, though, to appearance, they function in the body more or less as we do. Even the secular side of their lives generally reflected their divine perfection. This is particularly the case with Bhagavan, Yogi Ramsuratkumar Maharaj. Only another enlightened one can understand and explain the sacred side of his life, It is so subtle and inscrutable. Therefore, one is, hopefully, on firm ground, when one deals with the secular side of his behaviour.

All those who have had occasions to study closely the behaviour of Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the man, will agree that his hospitality is what impressed them first and most. (His love is excluded, for it is divine.) 1 had the first taste of it on the 25th of April 1983, while being seated in his divine presence at his abode near the temple in Tiruvannamalai. (In fact, it was my second visit). 1 had called on him with a friend of mine. After briefly discussing Indian poetry in English, Spiritual Sadhana, Ramnam and Ramdas, we were permitted to meditate for a while. Then Bhagavan ordered milk for all of us, including his dog. Thus blessed by his hospitality, my friend and I took leave of the divine 'beggar'.

Thereafter, for ten long years my ignorance kept me away from him. However, I continued my so-called Spiritual Sadhana, without bothering much about any guru in flesh and blood. Then, in January 1994, I happened to write a providential letter to Ma Devaki (She was my wife's colleague before she moved into Sudama), about a friend who was in a bad state of health and going through a bad period in his life. I was pleading with her to get him Bhagavan's blessing. (His condition has since considerably improved by Bhagavan's grace.) The reply to my letter contained Bhagavan's call, which was welcomed by me with copious tears of joy.

So, on the 31st January 1994, my wife, son and I reached Sudama at 10.15 a.m. But, much to our disappointment, we found the abode of divinity locked. As if to reinforce our disappointment, Bhagavan's driver told us that Bhagavan was at Mr. Sundararaman's house attending a betrothal and would return only late in the evening. Thoroughly nonplussed, we walked to the thatched Darshan Mandir. Hardly had we settled down to pray, when Bhagavan's devotee Mr Rajagopal appeared at the Mandir with Bhagavan's car and driver and asked us whether we were from Salem. He, it seems, was charged by Bhagavan to take us to Mr. Sundaraman's house, after receiving us at the bus stop near Ramanashram ! So, we were soon ushered into the presence of Divinity. It is difficult to say whether it was divinity, love or hospitality that greeted us with the sweet words, 'Have they come ?'. Perhaps, the truth is that it was all the three and much more in one.

As we sat bathing in his grace, Bhagavan ordered breakfast for us. A little later, I was asked to sit by his side. Bhagavan started caressing my arm and back. He liberally uses touch for Shakti Sanchara (transmission of spiritual power). Soon it was time for lunch. All the guests of Mr Sundararaman had lunch upstairs and we in the holy company of Bhagavan and Devaki. (On such occasions, Bhagavan never fails, making sure that his guests have been served.) After rest and coffee Bhagavan enveloped us in grace by his characteristic gestures and asked Mr. Sundararamai to take us to the bus stand by car. We were just in time for a bus bound for Salem !

Later, I understood from Sister Rajalakshmi, one of the Sudama sisters, that Bhagavan had asked Mr. Sundararaman, a couple of days before our arrival, whether he would mind our presence at the function. What demands our attention is the trouble Bhagavan takes for the sake of his guests. My family and 1 have enjoyed his exemplary hospitality on many such subsequent occasions too.

On the 25th February 1994 we were again in Tiruvannamalai, for it was Bhagavan's gracious command that I should be one of the speakers the next day, at the Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Ashram. It was about 8 p.m., and as on the previous occasion, Sudama was without its divine occupants ! I was about to write a message that we were going to Mr Sundararaman's house, when Mr. Mani, one of the present trustees, approached us asking for the people from Salem'. He handed over the key for Room No. 9 of Udipi Brindavan Lodge, and followed us to the lodging house to ensure that we were comfortable there! One can hardly find a more hospitable host than Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar.

On the 26th, I was the last to speak in the evening, and it was past 6 p.m. already. But in spite of his physical discomfort and fatigue, Bhagavan stayed through my prattle. Obviously, his courtesy subjected him to a severe endurance test. Later, he took the trouble of sending word that he liked the so-called speech I had attempted for the first time in the presence of divinity in flesh and blood. Bhagavan never fails to acknowledge and appreciate even the least you do for him.

He can be said to be a stickler for proprieties and procedures. Once at the request of Ma Devaki, I had borrowed for her from the Ramakrishna Math Library in Salem, the book, 'Practising the Presence of God'. I had sent it specifying the date by which it was to be returned by me. Bhagavan insisted on the book being sent back to me by the due date, though Ma Devaki had not finished reading it to him. He does the right thing at the right time in the right manner.

Sometimes he asks me to speak to his devotees, at the Ashram. On a couple of such occasions, he deigned to formally introduce me to the listeners himself, in his emphatic English. Imagine God introducing this worm of a seeker to a galaxy of his ardent devotees !

Humility is another salient characteristic of Bhagavan. I have seen him touch the feet of some of his devotees. Whenever I go to the Ashram alone, without fail, he sends "by me," his 'Pranams' to my wife. Once, when 1 told him that 1 would convey his 'blessings', Bhagavan insisted on my conveying exactly what he sent and revealing his high sense of humour, asked Sister Rajalakshmi (then my wife's colleague) to verify what exactly 1 conveyed. Needless to say that the situation was consummated by his vibrant, holy laughter.

1 have never seen Bhagavan waver. He is exact and emphatic whenever he says something. You have to be very alert, if you are reading something to him, or listening with him to some holy book read to him, for the lapses in your comprehension are sure to be pointed out with surprising diligence.

How can Bhagavan be otherwise ? Being an enlightened one, every cell of his is sacred. The refinement of his secular side originates from the divinity and love at the core of his being. In other words, it is a manifestation of his divinity., So, in a sense it is foolish to attribute a secular side to such a sacred person. Yet, living in the grip of duality, we would do well to study the seemingly secular side of spiritual luminaries. Perhaps, they are deliberately playing their secular parts also perfectly, with a view to setting examples for us and teaching us how to sublimate the secular. Let us assiduously follow all the examples they set, until the secular and the sacred merge in us.