SHRADDHANJALI TO MY DIKSHA GURU Sadhu Prof. V. RANGARAJAN

The above quotation is from the thought-provoking saga of the ancient Aryans, Return of the Aryans, by the renowned author, Bhagwan S. Gidwani.

proclaims our scriptures. In the Raamaayana, Lord Ramachandra makes a fervent appeal :

God comes to the earth to set Himself as an Ideal Man so as to enable man to follow His example and elevate himself to Godhood. Such Divine Souls who tread on the path set by God attain the state of Godhood, but they live among men as ordinary men, often incognito, until other yearning souls discover in them the Ideal to follow.
Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar, my deekshaa guru, who used to call himself a 'mad beggar', and lived the life of a carefree wayfarer in the early days of his sadhana, living under roadside trees, on railway platforms, in busy market places, and in front of temples, attained to Mahasamaadhi in the premises of a big Ashram built by His devotees, at Tiruvannamalai, on Tuesday, February 21, 2001, at 3-20 AM. He was 84.

Born on December 1, 1918, in an agricultural family in a remote village in the Balia district of U.P., Ramkumar was deeply religions in his childhood. An accidental death of a bird which was hit by a rope he had flung while drawing water from a village well made him ponder over the ephemeral nature of worldly existence and impelled him to seek the company of saints and sadhus to learn the meaning and pm-pose of life. Though he underwent university education at Allahabad and got a degree in teaching to establish himself as a teacher and he also got into the family life marrying Ramaranjini and begetting three daughters - Yashoda, Maya and Veena, and a son, Amitab, his spiritual urge drove him again and again to the sannyasins frequenting the banks of River Ganga. It was on one such occasion, a Mahatma advised him to go to Pondicherry to find his Master in Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo. He visited Pondicherry in 1947 and from there, on hearing about Bhagavan Ramana, travelled to Tiruvannamalai. There he carne to know about Papa Ramdas of Anandashram at Kanhangad in Kerala and visited the abode of that saint too. It took time for the wandering soul to find its final destination and therefore, he returned to his home to come once again to all the three places in the next year. Even in that visit, his yearning did not find its fulfilment and he travelled to the north. When he got the news of the Mahasamadhi of both Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramana Maharshi, in 1950, he felt that be could no more miss a chance and rushed to Papa Ramdas to find his Guru in him. He carne once again to Papa in 1952 and this time he got initiation into the Ramanama Taraka Mantra - Aum Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram - from Papa. Though he wanted to be by the side of Papa, Papa had something else destined for him. Papa asked him to leave the Ashram and go and engage himself in incessant sadhana of the Japa. Ramsuratkumar tried to visit Papa wherever the latter went on tour in the northern India and Papa advised him to give up this mad pursuit of the Master and settle down at Girnar and engage in his sadhana. However, Ramsuratkumar was destined to seek his final resting place in the sacred abode of Lord Arunachala and in 1959 he arrived there to make it his permanent home.

In the early days, people in and around the Arunachala Hill in Tiruvannanialai round in Ramsuratkumar only an eccentric north Indian beggar in dirty, rustic garments, sitting under a tree in front of the railway station or in front of the temple or some roadside shop, puffing off his cigarette and sometimes wandering aimlessly. Even some of those who had known him as a visitor to Anandashram took him to be a "mad Bihari" and thought that Papa had kept him away because he was a nuisance to other devotees of the ashram as he often went into ecstatic emotional outbursts. Was not Lord Shiva Himself subjected to disrespect and condemnation in the court of His own father-in-law, Daksha, as he roamed as a mad beggar and a resident of cremation grounds?

Even after some blessed souls identified him as a saint in the garb of a beggar and started frequenting him regularly, adoring him and worshipping and addressing him as Yogi and God-child, Ramsuratkumar continued to call himself a "dirty, mad, beggar'. Men and women in high positions, like vice- chancellors, judges, bureaucrats and politicians came seeking his darshan and blessings, but he used to keep all at a distance, with the least intention to create a following for himself and pose as a spiritual leader and to set up an ashram or spiritual organisation named after him. Even when a house was presented to him for his stay, he converted it only into a dumping ground to throw all that were thrust into his hands and used to spend most of his time sitting in the verandah, receiving visitors whether they were men in high positions or humble and simple rustic people. Sometimes people adored and worshipped him and some other times when they round that this adoration and worship could not bring them the fulfilment of their selfish materialistic desires and ambitions, they rejected him as an impostor. However, praise as well as condemnation had no effect on him, for he lived entirely in a different realm where the so called devotees could never reach. He had nothing to expect from them nor had be anything to give them. He believed in the dicturn of Bhagavad Gita that one has to uplift oneself. Therefore, he just showed the way leaving the devotees to choose their own path and pursue. Even after the setting up of a big -Ashram by his devotees at Tiruvannamalai, he only used to frequent it once or twice a day to give darshan to the hundreds of people who thronged there, but he never thought of organizing them to set up a spiritual organisation and creating a big following. Only when his health started failing, making it inconvenient for him to make frequent trips to the Ashram, he started living there, at the fag end of his earthly life, and that too for the convenience of the devotees.

Adi Shankaracharya says that three things arc rare indeed and are due to the grace of God - nainely, a human birth, the longing for Liberation and the protecting care of a perfected sage. lndeed, it is the punya that this Sadhu had done in his previous births that led him to the sacred feet of Yogi Ramsuratkumar and gain the unique blessing of getting initiated by hirn into ihe mantra that the Master received from his Guru, Papa Ramdas. On the auspicious day of the 104'h Jayanti of Papa Ramdas, on Apffl 26, 1988, when this Sadhu was invited to address the celebrations in the Banyan Tree Cave on the top of the Arunachala Hill where Papa had sat and meditated, he had the unique honour of being encountered by the great Yogi, dragged into the cave and being initiated rnost unexpectedly. While initiating him, Yogi Ramsuratkurnar imparted to him the very fondamental 'iessons on sacrifice and renonciation. "Renunciation is not taking up anything or giving up anything, but it is a change in your attitude", lie said and added, "Till yesterday you were doing things as if you were the doer, but from today, my Father is going to work through you." He entrusted to this Sadhu the work of spreading the mission of his Master, Papa Ramdas, -- spreading the Ramnam Taraka Mantra -- and commanded him to strive for the successfui completion of the 15,500 crore Nama Japa Yagna started by his illustrious Gurubhagini, Mataji Krishnabai. This Sadhu readily dedicated his decade old institution, Sister Nivedita Academy, at the feet of the Master, for his work and the Master also guided the work of the organisation at every step till his last days. Even though this Sadhu was drawn into the work of the Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram by the Master, due to special circumstances, he insisted that this Sadhu's concentration should always be on the work of his Master, Papa Ramdas, in spreading the Ramnam inside the country and abroad.

Spiritual Master's come from time to time, especially in this holy land of Bharatavarsha to set the path for God-realization to the yearning and devout souls. Sometimes blind adoration and superstitions and ritualistic worship of these Mahatmas lead to idolization of these great men, defeating the very purpose of their mission. My Master never wanted to be worshipped as an idol, but strove to be an ideal. By idolizing a Mahatma, one sacrifices his ideal. The greatest homage that we could give to our Master is to honestly and sincerely try to follow his footsteps as best as we can. My Master was an embodiment of humility. He respected even those who failed to respect him. This Sadhu's only prayer to his Master is that He must give this Sadhu the strength to emulate all those noble qualities that he found in his Master and to go ahead with the work entrusted to him by the Master, whether he receives recognition or he is ignored, whether he is praised or condemned, whether he meets with success at every step or failure and disappointments stare at his face, until the goal set for him by the Master is reached.

My Master was not merely a Yogi, but a great patriot who firmly believed in the words of his Master, Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo, that Bharatavarsha is going to be the Loka Guru and the spiritual heritage of this holy land will engulf the whole world, elevating the entire humanity Io its Divine Destiny. Our humble Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram & Yogi Ramsuratkumar Indological Research Centre, founded with the blessings and grace of my Master, will strive to play its humble role in the realization of the dream of these great Masters. Sister Nivedita Academy, which is completing, with the grace and blessings of my Master, its twenty fifth year of yeoman service to the cause of this Holy Land of Bharatavarsha and the Hindu Diaspora, in April, next year, rededicates itself to His work.

A Psalm of Life, Longfellow. Following the footsteps of our Master, Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar, we too will make our lives sublime and will leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. Vande Mataram!