Ramana Maharishi

THE LOOK OF PEACE

"As children our attitude to Bhagavan was perhaps slightly different from that of the adults. We of course knew that He was God and a wonderful person to be near - truly a magical feeling, but we accepted this quite naturally and without a feeling of awe. However sometimes even children can be awed:

...

One of these memories i have is rather strange because to this day i recall my amazement and yet nothing actually happened at all. A lady came to Tiruvannamalai from North India; in those days all 'foreigners' whether they were North Indians or Norwegians were sent to our home. I was about ten years old at the time and not an especially sensitive child but even i could not bear to stay in the room with her as she was so tense, nervous and unhappy that it made me most uneasy.
Her story was that she had married a man she loved very much although her parents had not approved as he was of a different caste - however they had overcome all the opposition and they went to the seaside somewhere for their honeymoon. They had a week of great happiness until one day he was killed by a shark right in front of her eyes. All this had happened about 2 years earlier and the distraught widow was traveling through India, going to various ashrams and seeing various holy men. She had a list of questions which she asked at each place - all more or less a demand why such a thing should happen if there was a God of Justice and so on. She was an unhappy and aggressively angry lady and my heart sank when my mother asked me to show her the way to the hall where Bhagavan sat.. I led in silence and she followed me, i showed her the hall and went off to play. A while later i realised it was lunch time and i went to collect her and bring her home - most reluctantly.

I will never, never forget the change that had come over her in just an hour or so. She was calm and relaxed and peaceful and happy! I was so awed and intrigued that i hung around anxiously waiting for my mother to ask her what Bhagavan had said to her. Whatever it was it must have been words of the greatest wisdom and power to have such an effect. Eventually my mother did ask and the lady answered that she had gone into the hall and sat down and Bhagavan had just looked at her - just looked -with such infinite compassion that she felt that her questions were of no importance any more. She sat there and felt the peace and no word was spoken ...."
(from 'Moments Remembered, by V. Ganesan)

There was a man from the state of Kerala who had written a biography of Sri Ramana Maharishi in Malayalam (that state’s regional language). Before sending the manuscript to press he decided to visit the Ashram and have it read aloud before Bhagavan.

As Kunju Swami was born in Kerala and spoke fluent Malayalam, Bhagavan asked him to read the manuscript aloud, and also to look after the author’s needs during his visit.

As Kunju Swami began reading, he could not believe what was written. The book stated that Maharishi was married and was the father of several children, and that one day, while living in the South Indian town of Madurai, he closed his eyes and was somehow magically transported to the Arunachala Hill. The book went on like this, containing many fictional accounts.

After the reading took place, the author had to leave quickly in order to catch a train back home. Maharishi was very gracious to him and asked Kunju Swami to be sure he had something to eat before leaving, and see to it that he reached the train station on time.

After seeing off the visitor, Kunju Swami hurried back to the Ashram, anxious to hear what Bhagavan thought of this highly exaggerated manuscript, which was about to go to press.

Back at the Old Hall, he found Ramana Maharshi quietly attending to some small chore, completely unconcerned about anything else. Kunju Swami waited as patiently as he could, wondering if Maharshi might raise the subject. But he just quietly chatted with those present and sat silently.

Finally, Kunju Swami could not contain himself any longer and asked: “Bhagavan, how could you allow this book to get printed? It is full of inaccuracies. In fact, most of it is untrue.”

Bhagavan looked at Kunju Swami for a moment then replied: “Oh, I see. You mean only this is untrue, and everything else is true?”

The book was never printed!