The Deliverance of Lakshmi the Cow - Suri Nagamma Letters

In my letter to you under the caption “Worship of the Cow,” I described to you the grandeur of Lakshmi, the queen of the cows, and the amount of love Bhagavan had for her. To that queen, as for his own mother, Bhagavan on Friday the 18th of June gave Videha Mukti (liberation). That morning when I went to the Ashram, I was told that Lakshmi was seriously ill and would not survive the day. So I went straight to the cow shed, without seeing Bhagavan even. The room built for the calves was vacated, cleaned and Lakshmi was given a bed of straw to lie down upon. As it was Friday, she was as usual decorated with turmeric paste, vermilion mark on the forehead and a garland of flowers round the neck and horns. Venkataratnam was sitting by the side fanning her. Lakshmi was lying down with her majestic look spreading lustre all round. She reminded me of Kamadhenu going to Kailas to do abhishekam with milk over the great Lord Siva.

When I went to Bhagavan and prostrated before him and got up, he looked at me with a divine look. Taking it as an order, I said I would go and stay with Lakshmi. He nodded his head in assent and I went immediately. Venkataratnam gave me the fan and left. Sitting in that place I began repeating Ramana Dwadasakshari (twelve letters of Ramana Mantram), Ashtotharam (108 names of Ramana), etc. and Lakshmi appeared to hear them attentively.

When Bhagavan came to the cowshed at 9-45 a.m. as usual he came to see Lakshmi. Bhagavan sat on the hay by her side, lifted her head with both his hands, and passing one of his hands lightly over her face and throat, and then

placing his left hand on the head, began pressing with the right hand fingers her throat right down to the heart. After pressing like that for about a quarter of an hour he said, addressing Lakshmi, “What do you say, mother? Do you want me to stay here alone? I could stay, but what to do? All people could be around you as in the case of my mother. Even so, why? Shall I go?” Lakshmi remained calm, devoid of all the bonds of this world and of the pains of her body as though she were in samadhi. Bhagavan sat there unwilling to move and with a heart full of compassion. I was overwhelmed at the sight and exclaimed involuntarily, “Oh! Mother Alagamma had the greatest luck. So has Lakshmi now.” Bhagavan looked at me with a smile. Subramaniam came and said, “It seems the doctor will not be coming till 10-30 as there is no immediate danger to Lakshmi.” “All right. So Doctor will not be coming now. Have you brought the medicine for injection?” asked Bhagavan. Turning towards Lakshmi and gently stroking her head and neck, he said, “What do you say? May I go?” Subbulakshmi said, “She will feel happy if Bhagavan is by her side.” “That is so, but what to do?” So saying and looking into the eyes of Lakshmi, Bhagavan said, “What? May I go? Won’t you tell me?” Lakshmi looked at him proudly. What reply Bhagavan got, we do not know but he got up and went away saying, “See that the flies do not get into the mouth.” I assured him that we would take due care of Lakshmi and Bhagavan left the place very reluctantly.

With the divine touch of Bhagavan, the outer breath of Lakshmi began subsiding and the movement of the body began to decrease. When the doctor came at 10-30 and gave an injection Lakshmi remained unaffected as if the body was not hers. There was no death agony. Her sight was calm and clear. The doctor turned her over into the posture of

Nandi, put some medicine on the boils and went away instructing us to keep some support for the head. As it was 11-30 by then, Venkataratnam came back after having his meal. He asked me to hold up the head saying he would bring some more hay. The tongue touched me and it was icy cold; the life of Lakshmi reached the feet of Sri Ramana and was absorbed in Him.

Ten minutes later, Bhagavan came into the shed saying, “Is it all over?” and squatted by her side, took her face in both his hands as though she were a little child, and lifted it and said, “Oh Lakshmi, Lakshmi,” and then, to us, controlling his tears, he said, “Because of her, our family (the Ashram) has grown to this extent.” When all were praising Lakshmi, Bhagavan asked, “I suppose the doctor has not troubled her much, did he? How did her life cease?” We told him all that had happened. “That is all right. Did you notice this? The right ear is uppermost now. Till yesterday she was lying down on her other side. Because of the boil she was turned over to this side. So this ear had to come up. Look, in the case of people who die in Kasi, people say Lord Siva will whisper into the right ear. Lakshmi too has her right ear up,” said Bhagavan, and showed that ear to all people there. By that time, crowds gathered. After a quarter of an hour, Bhagavan got up and said, “Ramakrishna has been saying for the last ten days that a good tomb (samadhi) must be built for Lakshmi.” Bhagavan then went away to the hall.

18th June, 1948*

(194) BURIAL OF LAKSHMI THE COW

Thinking of Lakshmi all the time today we had our usual meal and some rest. When at 2-30 p.m. I went to the cowshed Bhagavan was already there. We went and saw the body of Lakshmi. The face did not show any sign of death. We came back to the hall and sat down. Till evening Bhagavan was telling us stories about Lakshmi and was giving instructions to the people concerned about the arrangements for the burial. “It was the same thing in the case of Mother. Until the abhishekam (pouring of the holy water over the body) was done, the lustre of the face did not fade. The body could hardly be seen from under the garlands and camphor that were thrown upon it by people from time to time. There were bhajans, Nagaswaram music, etc. all around. We brought the body down at night and kept it under the pipal tree with the intention of burying it somewhere near the Pali Tank before daybreak. There was, however, some delay in bringing bricks and slaked lime for constructing the tomb. Meanwhile many people gathered round and put up a big show. On the tenth day, even shops were newly opened. Just see what all will happen now.” Always hearing and feeling that Bhagavan was giving undue importance to Lakshmi’s burial, one of the devotees, Govindarajula Subbarao, said, “We see many instances here of animals getting deliverance more often than human beings. Bhagavan has told us several times that they come here to work out the balance of their karma. It looks as if they are better looked after by Bhagavan than ourselves.”

* The letters have been numbered by date, but the three letters that chronicle the Cow Lakshmi’s liberation, burial and history have been rearranged in the order of events.

Bhagavan remarked: “Will it be possible to say so in all instances? Is anybody making all these arrangements deliberately? And do we have the money for all that? When the time comes people spontaneously take up the work and all the required articles come in automatically. The work is done in a trice. Sadasiva Iyer came here the day before yesterday; perhaps he has come specially for this purpose. He knows the full details of erecting a tomb. He is there now on the spot, giving all the directions. He says he will go away tomorrow. It is individual luck; what can we do? Were it an ordinary animal, the butcher would drag it away. For this (Lakshmi) the tomb is going to be erected on a scale equal to that of a Mahatma. Look at this white peacock. How many peacocks have come and gone? They are different from this one. This goes about meekly and mixes freely with all people. Where is Baroda and where is Arunachala? It was born there and has come here. Who wanted it?” said Bhagavan.

Towards the hill side and near the dispensary, the tombs of a deer, a crow and a dog were erected long ago. Now a pit was dug near them and the work for the construction of the tomb was begun.

All was ready by 6 p.m. People had come in large numbers. Some of them even sat on the compound wall. The Sarvadhikari brought the body of Lakshmi in a wooden cart. Bhagavan came and sat on a chair. Lakshmi’s body was placed opposite to him. Devotees brought water in pots and poured it over the body of Lakshmi. After that, abhishekam was done with milk, curds, ghee, sugar and rose water. Incense was burnt, a silk cloth was covered over the body, the face was smeared with turmeric powder and vermilion and the body was covered with flower garlands. Sugar candy was offered and arati (waving of lights) was performed. Lakshmi’s face beamed with beauty and charm when she was thus decorated.

By about 7 p.m. devotees lowered the body of Lakshmi into the grave with cries of “Hara Hara Mahadev.” Bhagavan was visibly affected. After Bhagavan had touched the holy leaves, they were thrown on to Lakshmi by the Sarvadhikari. After that, devotees sprinkled turmeric and vermilion powder, camphor, holy ashes, sandal paste, flowers and salt, and finally, earth was thrown in to fill the grave. After the burial was over, Bhagavan came back to the hall. The prasad was then distributed. The whole thing ended like a marriage festival. Lakshmi the cow is no longer in the cowshed. She has been freed from the bonds of the body and now is merged in the lustrous Atman of Sri Ramana.

In the early morning hours of the night Bhagavan wrote a final epitaph in Tamil on Lakshmi. At our request he wrote it in Telugu and Malayalam also. Hereunder is the Telugu verse: Venba:

sri sarvadhari samvatsara jyeshtakhya

masasita dvadasim bhargava vasaramu

taraka visakha sahitamm avu Lakshmigati

cheru dinamani cheppu. It is hereby recorded that Lakshmi the cow was liberated under the star of Visakha, on Friday the twelfth day of the bright half of Jyeshta, in the year Sarvadhari.