Help for Good Works

You remember in March-April 1946, I had written the Telugu translation of the conversation between Vithoba and Jnaneswar contained in Bhakta Vijayam. That happened under peculiar circumstances.

You remember in March-April 1946, I had written the Telugu translation of the conversation between Vithoba and Jnaneswar contained in Bhakta Vijayam. That happened under peculiar circumstances. In 1944, ever since Manu Subedar came here and left and the English translation of the debate between a Siddha and a Sadhaka had been sent to him by a devotee, I have been inclined to translate it into Telugu. When Subbaramayya and Venkatakrishnayya were here I asked them about it in Bhagavan’s presence. “You can speak Tamil very well,” they said. “It would be better for you to have the Tamil text read out by somebody and write it yourself, instead of our translating it from English.” So saying they entrusted the work to me and went their own way.

Noticing this, Bhagavan one day told Muruganar about it in my presence. In the evening when Bhagavan went out,

Muruganar looked at me and said, “From what Bhagavan has said now, it appears that you will have a lot of work to do with Tamil literature. Why don’t you learn Tamil? I would not ask you to learn it, if it were any other language. Normally Bhagavan writes and speaks in Tamil only. That is why I am suggesting that you learn it.” I took it as Bhagavan’s orders. Accordingly I obtained a copy of Balabodhini, a Tamil-Telugu dictionary which is in the library, wrote down the alphabet by myself slowly by frequent reference to the te xt, superscribed the letters over and over again and, in a week’s time learnt to read and write. I did not care to read primary lessons about the dog and the fox, but asked the librarian to give me a copy of Bhakta Vijayam. He did so. When he was giving it to me, Bhagavan looked at it and said, “Have you learnt, to read Tamil?” I said, “I learnt a little of it,” and told him all that had happened. Saying it was all right and good, Bhagavan asked me why I had taken Bhakta Vijayam in the very beginning. I told him that I had chosen devotional stories as they would be interesting to read. Bhagavan asked me if I would like to read the debate between Vithoba and Jnaneswar. When I expressed my willingness to do so, he asked me to fetch the book saying that he would show me the portion concerned. Accordingly I got him the book whereupon he picked out the relevant portion and marked it with red ink. He casually enquired whether I would translate it into Telugu. I told him that I had taken it merely to read and I was not sure that I could understand it sufficiently well to be able to translate it. Then he said that I could do it but I should seek the help of some Tamilian if I wanted to translate it into Telugu.

Subsequently I told Viswanatha Brahmachari about Bhagavan’s suggestion and requested him to help me, to which he agreed. He kept, however, putting it off. Some

days passed like that. One evening he came to me suddenly and said, “Shall we do the translation without telling Bhagavan? If we tell him he would ask for it and then correct it, thereby straining himself unduly. We would thereby be giving avoidable trouble to Bhagavan in his delicate health. What do you say?” I told him that the work ought somehow to be completed. Things would take their own course and that we should not worry over anything. We thereupon began the work and went on with it continuously till 10 p.m. we completed it. You know what happened in the meantime? As it was the bright half of the month, several Europeans wanted to go round the hill in the moonlight. So, at 1 p.m., they went to Bhagavan and requested him to give them the help of some one who knew the path. Looking at the people near him, Bhagavan said that it would be good if Viswanathan was sent with them as he knew English. So he was sent for. People went one after another to Palakothu and searched everywhere, but could not find him anywhere. Bhagavan wondered as to where he could have gone. No one could give any reliable information. Subsequently people were sent to all the houses in Ramana Nagar to which he was in the habit of going; still he could be found nowhere. Whereupon Bhagavan sent someone else as a guide to the Europeans.

When Viswanathan returned to his room after 10 p.m. his neighbours told him about what had happened. Thinking it was no longer possible to avoid telling Bhagavan, Viswanathan woke up early morning and went straight to Bhagavan. No sooner did Bhagavan see him than he asked whether he had gone to town the night before, as he was not to be found anywhere in Ramana Nagar. Viswanathan told him the facts. On hearing them, Bhagavan remarked that the people had not gone to Nagamma’s to search for him as

he was not accustomed to going there. He then enquired if he was reading anything there. What could he say? He could not help telling the truth. After learning that the Vithoba- Jnaneswar discussion had been translated completely, Bhagavan said with a laugh, “I see. So that was it! Anyway, a good work has been completed. For a long time Nagamma has been asking people to translate it into Telugu. There is nothing wrong in what has been done. It is after all a good work. It does not matter if I was not told beforehand. But could you not have told the people in the next room? See how many people searched for you and felt worried,” said Bhagavan.

Next morning I went to the Ashram at 7.30 as usual. As soon as he saw me, Bhagavan began laughing to himself. I could not understand why. As soon as I had prostrated and got up, he asked me if it was a fact that the translation work was completed the previous night. I was taken aback and could not reply. Then Bhagavan told me that he had learnt it from Viswanathan early in the morning and pointed towards him. When I looked at Viswanathan, he smiled and said nothing. Then Bhagavan asked me for the copy. When I told him it was yet to be fair copied. Bhagavan told me that I could do it at my leisure.

When Bhagavan went out, Viswanatha Brahmachari told me all that had happened and said, “We wanted to translate it quietly without anybody’s knowledge but every one has come to know about it now. Who can hoodwink Bhagavan? When he himself is asking for the copy, there is nothing for us to be afraid of now. Write out the fair copy and give it to him.”

Bhagavan enquired every now and then about the fair copy, and when I gave it to him ultimately, he returned it to me duly corrected. You know all that happened subsequently.

Bhagavan suggested that it should be published as a supplement to Part I of the Letters from Ramanasramam and you agreed to it. Thus, you see, Bhagavan always helps people when they want to do any good work.