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"Malice towards none, friendship and charity for all, devoid
of 'l' and 'Mine', bearing with equanimity of mind, happiness
and sorrow, always contented, the yogi who is self-restrained
and of firm resolve, whose mind and intellect are surrendered
to Me, that devotee is dear to Me."(Gita XII-13 & 14)
-- So declares Bhagavan Krishna in His "Song Celestial".
Who is such a Yogi? Where can he be found?
One day, at the foot of Mount Arunachala, two devotees of Arunachala
Siva were sitting in friendly chat. They knew each other for a
long time as fellow pilgrims on a path Divine. Both had trodden
the path for a long distance. Childish simplicity had gripped
their hearts. Suddenly one of them caught hold of the hand of
the other who was senior to him and demanded, "You are a
Yogi, now you must show me your power. I won't leave your hand".
He started pressing the hand of the Yogi very hard. The Yogi protested,
"No, no. I am an ordinary Beggar. Please leave me. I am
not a Yogi". The younger one, a foreigner now turned
into a recluse and occupying one of the caves on Mount Arunachala,
could not compel this Yogi to show out his power, in spite of
his intimate friendship with the other. The Yogi, referring to
the incident, says, "Oh! How he crushed the hand of this
Beggar. This Beggar cried out that he is no Yogi. But he did not
leave this Beggar." -And the Yogi laughs hilariously and
heartily.
That Yogi is none other than Yogi Ramsuratkumar Maharaj of Tiruvannamalai.
He never claims himself to be a Yogi, nor does he demonstrate
his powers. He always calls himself a 'Beggar'.
Lee Lozowick, a 'crazy poet' who has '- turned into a spiritual
seeker and has set up a spiritual community in Arizona, U.S.A.,
wrote a letter in verse to the 'mad Beggar' whom he has met a
few times during his visits to this Land of Spiritual Light. In
this whole country, Lee could find only one Mahatma who called
himself a Beggar. Naturally, Lee fell under the spell of this
'Beggar' whoM he calls as "The Yogi". This poem which
Lee had sent was duly received by the Yogi. But, what has he to
do with praise or condemnation? It just found a place among waste
papers which the Yogi was preserving with assiduous care. When
this author, a servant of the Beggar, approached the Yogi for
some 'material' on him, the Yogi laughed and started searching
in the midst of the waste papers. At first he could not trace
it and he smiled and said, "Oh! it is gone! Somebody wrote
something and it is gone". Seeing the disappointment writ
large on the face of this poor servant of the mad Beggar, the
spring of compassion and pity surged up in the heart of the Beggar
and he searched again. At last he found it in one of the heaps
of 'waste paper' accumulated in his abode. This writer felt as
though he had struck a gold mine when the Yogi gave it to him
with a sympathetic smile.
This writer once asked the Beggar to initiate him into a rnantra.
"Why? You have got initiation from a great mahatma! What
can this Beggar give you?" Yes, he never wanted to be
a guru. But still, his fatherly heart could not bear the sight
of restlessness and discontentment manifest on the face of this
writer. While taking leave of him, he came up to the doorstep.
He noticed the feeling of pain and agony in this writer's mind.
All of a sudden he caught hold of this writer's hands, sat on
the foot steps leading to the street. Then followed a long spell
of silence. The Yogi was immersed in deep meditation when this
writer's heart was throbbing with intense devotion. Suddenly he
burst out,
A spontaneous upsurge of intense peace and bliss engulfed the
heart of this humble servant of the Beggar. With tears of gratitude,
he took leave of the Beggar.
His compassion and kindness reaches out to all his devotees, to
all beggars, to all beings. He will go and sit in the midst of
beggars who have made the precincts of Arunachaleswara temple
their abode. Sometimes, the law and order machinery of the Government
ruthlessly acts and the beggars, dubbed as nuisance, are rounded
up and later driven off. But this "Beggar" is very sore
about that. He says, "In our country, begging was never
an offence, it was never prohibited. Beggars were respected, given
alms, in those days. But this present government arrests them
and harasses them. In Bharatavarsha, beggary was never prohibited.
It is not right to harass beggars."
Once a few devotees including a sannyasini came from South Africa
and accompanied this writer to the presence of this Beggar. They
had brought with them packets of various fruits. The Yogi received
the visitors and when they placed before him their love offerings,
he said, "Why all these? This Beggar doesn't need all this".
Just at that time a beggar reached his door step and cried out
: "Yogi Ramsurat Maharaj Ki Jai!" The Yogi immediately
summoned one of his devotees, "Swaminatha, take all these
and give it to him". All the fruits were dumped into the
stretched palms of the beggar. The Yogi called out to him, "Go
and share it with all others sitting there (around the temple)."
The Yogi has no 'mamakaara' or ' ahamkaara' . He is one with all,
a friend of all. A Professor of Philosophy from Madras called
on him. After a friendly chat with him, the Yogi found out that
the Professor used to smoke. "Why don't you smoke with me?",
he asked the Professor. The Professor was taken aback. But the
Yogi persisted. The Professor then tried to take out a cigarette
pack from his pocket. But the Yogi said, "No, no. I will
give you my cigarette." He took out his cigarette and offered
it to the Professor. Not only that, he even lighted the cigarette
for the Professor. The Professor made an appeal to the Yogi: "You
must allow me to preserve the cigarette butt." The Yogi gave
out a hearty laugh and permitted him to do so.
Once some devotees from Canada, Italy and Madras accompanied this
writer to the abode of the Divine Mother Mayee at Salem. On our
way back they wanted to have darshan of the Yogi at Tiruvannarnalai.
But, when we reached Tiruvannamalai, it was midnight. The devotees
were sceptical. "Will the Yogi be awake? Will he see us now?"
"That which is night for all beings is the, time when
the Self-disciplined is awake; that which is considered to be
a waking state by the beings is just a night to the Seer."
(Gita 11-69)
When we approached the abode of the Yogi, he was immersed in deep
meditation. Rising up from the 'meditation, he received all of
us at that odd hour and even spent one hour in blissful conversation
and singing bhajans.
The Yogi is a great Bhakta., His Guru bhakti is unparalleled.
He always speaks of his Guru as his Father'. When one of the devotees
who had accompanied this writer and who was instrumental in bringing
out this writer's book on the Yogi, told the Yogi that he was
a Gauda Saraswat, the Yogi revelled in extreme joy. "Oh,
you are a Gauda Saraswat! You belong to the clan of MY FATHER,
Swami Ramdas!"
Yet another time, he asked this writer's little, daughter, "Your
friend is starting a travel service. Where would you like to go
first?" Quite innocently the girl answered. "I would
like to go to Kanhangad?" The Yogi burst into limitless joy
and hilarious laughter. 'Oh! Nivedita wants to go to MY FATHER's
place."
The Yogi's deep foresight is net very often exhibited, though
he guides his devotees at times. This writer's son, Vivekanandan,
got a sudden urge to see the Yogi before his public examination.
The Yogi promptly received him and enquired about his preparations.
The boy replied that he has prepared very well in all his subjects,
but was yet to prepare for the language papers. "You will
write all the papers very well. You will write the language papers
also well. But be alert in Mathematics", the Yogi warned.
After the examinations were held, the newspapers reported that
the Mathematics paper of the year is the toughest. The Yogi's
timely warning did help the boy.
Tulya nindaa stutir mauni, santushto yena kenachit -- "One
who is silent whether he is praised or condemned and is contented
with what he has" is a Yogi. When this author's biographical
account of the Yogi was published, he sought one copy of it. A
hundred copies were rushed to him. The Yogi who accepted them
all bundled them up later and handed over to a devotee, of course,
with clear instructions, "Open this bundle after a week and
whatever you find inside, distribute them to the deserving."
And to the author, the Yogi gifted a dhoti suggesting renunciation
-- renunciation of the idea of authorship. This writer sought
a message from the Yogi to be delivered to Indians abroad during
his proposed tour to the Caribbean countries. The Yogi said, "What
message has, this Beggar to give. I am not so great. Ramakrishna,
Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Ram Tirtha, Ramdas, Ramana, J.K., all
are great and they have given their message. Whatever message
they have given is MY FATHER's message. This Beggar has no other
message to give." Then, with a voice choked with emotion,
he said, "Let them remember the names of Rama, Krishna and
Shiva. Then they will ever remain Bharatiyas. They will all come
back to this Holy Land of Bharatavarsha." The Yogi's utterance
echoed the voice of Swami Vivekananda: "if there is any land
on this earth that can lay claim to be the blessed Punya Bhumi….
the land to which every soul that is wending its way Godward must
come to attain its home, .... it is India".
We the children of Mother India are blessed to live in the living
presence of these great Yogis and Mahatmas. Let their Grace enable
us to be one with them and through them with the Divine.
Vande Mataram!