Where to Stay? Where to Go? - Suri Nagamma Letters

Sometime in 1943/1944, one of the devotees who is familiar amongst the circle of devotees, built a house in Ramana Nagar and before the housewarming ceremony, approached Bhagavan and said in an undertone, “It would be nice if Bhagavan could come to my place.” With a smile Bhagavan said, “What a request! Where is Bhagavan to come? Why not think that whoever comes for the function is Bhagavan himself? If all people come, is it not something like Bhagavan himself coming? Please go. Finish the housewarming ceremony.” Sending him away with those words Bhagavan remarked to those nearby, “Do you see? He says Bhagavan must go over there. Everyone says the same thing. Were can I go?”

Another devotee said, “Is it not a fact that someone said that a temple for Bharata Mata was being constructed and that Bhagavan should lay the foundation stone?”

“Yes, yes. It must be about five or six years ago. There was no invitation. Nothing whatsoever. It was however published in the papers that Bhagavan would be attending the ceremony and that a first class berth had also been reserved. Several people came and asked me whether I was

going, and I gave the reply, ‘Where to stay and where to go? There is no place to which I could go,’” said Bhagavan.

“Arrangements were once made for going to Tirupati also, weren’t they?” asked another devotee.

Bhagavan replied, “Yes. It is true. That was when I was in the Virupaksha Cave. At that time I was not covering the upper part of the body with anything. For some unknown reason the trouble from mosquitoes was unusually great that year. Jayaraman bought a good shawl and pressed me to cover my body with that. I did not even touch it. He waited for some time. The shawl remained folded. The mosquito trouble continued unabated. Unable to bear the nuisance, the people near me conferred amongst themselves and without the knowledge of outsiders, made all preparations for going to Tirupati. They told me that we should go by this way and should come back by that way and the like. I nodded my head in assent to all that they said. They fixed an auspicious day for the journey, packed everything and, before starting, came to me saying, ‘Swami, shall we start?’ I said, ‘Yes. Do go and come back.’ ‘What about Bhagavan?’ ‘Where can Bhagavan go? Where is he staying?’ I said. They said, ‘We are unable to bear this mosquito trouble, you see.’ I said, ‘If you are not able to bear it, you may go and come back. Is it for my sake that you are going? Did I say that I was not able to bear the mosquito nuisance?’ What more could they say? They felt that it was no use arguing further, gave up their journey, and began pressing me to cover my body with the shawl. Jayaram’s son Pichandi was at the time a very young fellow. He used to come every day covering himself with an old rug. As I felt that they would not leave me in peace until I covered my body to avoid the mosquito bites, I told them that I would wear the old rug if they gave that young man the new shawl in exchange. What could they do? Unwillingly they exchanged the new rug for the old one and I covered myself with the rug. That was the beginning of my covering the body with anything. When I began covering myself with that prickly type of rug, the mosquitoes did not dare to come anywhere near me. It used to be warm too,” said Bhagavan.

Another person asked, “It seems that someone requested permission to take you round the whole of the country for propaganda and for preaching.” Bhagavan replied, “Yes. That was Swami Rajeswarananda himself. You know, he used to live here some years ago. At that time, he was drawing up plans for touring the whole of India; to which important places we should go for delivering lectures; how a special train was to be arranged for travel; how many days to stay in the various places, and so on. I used to hear all that he said and keep quiet. He mistook my silence for consent. Ultimately he arranged to travel by first class, packed all things and said, ‘Swami, shall we start?’. ‘Yes, why not? Go and come back,’ I said. ‘What about Bhagavan?’ he said. ‘Me, Why?’ I said. ‘You must preach the essence of the advaita to people in the whole of India, Swami,’ he said. ‘Is that so? What can I do? Where to stay? Where to go? I have no place to go to,’ I said. He was taken aback.

“During the early days of the arrival of motor cars into this country, several people used to buy cars, bring them here and say, ‘If Bhagavan gets into the car but once, we will take it round the hill and return immediately. Please get in.’ Where was I to go, getting into such things,” said Bhagavan.

See what is stated in Mahavakya Ratnamala: What is there for me to do, where am I to go, what am I to accept and what am I to discard, since I pervade the entire universe like the waters of the final deluge.