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| Yogi Ramsuratkumar |
V. Ganeshan: I was twenty-three years old when I came to stay at Sri Ramanasramam. For more than thirty years of my stay inside the Ashram, I had the unique privilege of associating myself very closely with all the Old Devotees of Sri Bhagavan. They guided me, not by preaching to me but by their exemplary living. Until the age of fifty, I was treated and nurtured like the child of the Ashram. I was even fondly addressed by the Old Devotees as ‘Kuzhandhai Swami’, meaning ‘Child Swami’.
But, it was Yogi Ramsuratkumar who commenced my Ashram life in 1959, when Pundit T.K. Sundaresa Iyer drew my attention to the presence and greatness of this Siddha Purusha! It was also Yogiji who wrote the closing chapters of my Ashram life, by truly guiding me and moulding my life with specific spiritual instructions. I share the following moving incident, with a surrendered heart and with an overwhelming sense of profound gratitude to Yogiji.
The eventful day when my friend Anuradha took me to Yogi Ramsuratkumar was a marked milestone in my spiritual life. My life took a ‘U’ turn, a right-about-turn, on that day! I have dealt in detail about the whole event in Ramana Periya Puranam ( p.450 ) Look at
Yogiji’s powerful guidance:
“Swami! Ganesan is going through a lot of stress with a printing press issue and he wants to commit suicide,” Anuradha blurted out with pain to Yogiji. Pat came the response from him, “Ganesa! What did our master, Bhagavan Ramana, teach us? You have to enquire into the source of thoughts and kill the ‘mind’ and not the ‘body’. The ‘body’ has served you well, all these years. Why take it out on the ‘body’?” I felt cornered and murmured, “Let me then run away from Arunachala.” With a spark of inquisitiveness in his eyes, Yogiji asked me, “Where will you go if you leave Arunachala?” Without taking time to think, I spontaneously replied, “To Kashi, Swami!” Seizing the opportunity, Yogiji asked me with intense enthusiasm, “Will you promise to go to Kashi if the problem is solved?” I expressed full consent.
As assured, I spent a whole year in 1988-89, very peacefully at the Krishnamurti Foundation of India, Rajghat, Varanasi, the sacred land where Mother Ganga flows. When I returned to Arunachala after that serene period I noticed a marked change in me - I had developed an attitude of detachment to managing the Ashram. Meanwhile, my younger brother, Mani, was managing the Ashram as its administrator. On my arrival, however, Yogiji sent me to Mataji Krishna Bai as she was on her death-bed. Mataji blessed me profusely and made me stay with her for two months in her peaceful presence.
After those two months of spiritual bliss, when I tried to settle down again at the Ashram, a thunderbolt hit me out of the blue: Someone had sent an anonymous letter to all my close and respected friends, which included Swamijis of different Ashrams, in which I was accused of various misdeeds and abused roundly. This totally disturbed my mental poise. An Ashram worker took me to Yogiji. After listening to all the details, Yogiji said, “This is pure poison. Our Lord Siva became immortal by swallowing poison. You too have to do it. Swallow this poison, Ganesa! This beggar is with you!” He held my hand with deep affection throughout the time he spent with me. He got a cup of tea, covered it with his hand for a long time and then made me drink it. His words, his touch and his overflowing love, quietened my agitated mind. I returned to the Ashram with a clear heart – with an attitude of indifference to whatever happened in and around me, and determined to serve the Ashram no matter what.
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| V.Ganeshan and Yogi Ramsuratkumar |
Yet, after a few days, I had to face much bigger and deeper attacks. I started receiving letters of disapproval and reprimand from reputed people. My mind was so deeply disturbed that I ran to Yogiji again, taking with me all those letters. After listening to the details, Yogiji said, “You remember, this beggar requested you a few days back to swallow the poison. You were kind enough to oblige this beggar. Now, this beggar begs of you, Ganesa, to digest the poison! Digest it! Father’s blessings are fully on you!” He held my hand for two full hours! All the while I was shedding tears. I appealed to him again that I was still deeply upset and disturbed. Yogiji replied, “Adverse situations do afflict sadhakas. Lot of insults are hurled upon them. Our ancient works, like Periya Puranam and Thiruvilayadal Puranam abound with such stories and how when they patiently bore them all, Lord Siva blessed them and merged them with Himself!” Yogiji continued his tender and affectionate attention on me and added, “You are not the mind, Ganesa! Mind is only a phantom. It is only a bundle of thoughts. Our master, Bhagavan Ramana, guided us to only enquire into the source of thoughts and not to entertain the mind’s wandering thoughts. There is no mind, at all. Enquire and it will disappear. Release yourself from the clutches of the mind. You are never the mind, Ganesa!”
It is an amazing fact that using the pretext of my ‘press problem’, Yogiji piled many trials and tribulations on me. And it was he himself who removed them all, then guided me to leave the Ashram and settle down in my house, ‘Ananda Ramana’. He was and ever is Vighna Vinayakar, the god who creates and removes obstacles. Indeed, it was Yogiji who helped me release myself, free myself, from the bondage to my body and mind. I became calm, like a clean slate!
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