Lately i have been reading RAMANASRAMA LEKHALU, a detailed treatise on Ramana Maharshi and it was such a joy....Exciting and at the same time strangely soothing...i found myself riding on a wave of bliss....only there is no ebb to this one...,
To be sure, Ramana was no stranger in the sense ,that it was not as if i have heard of him for the first time....When i was a child of ten, i caught hold of RAMANASRAMA LEKHALU,and with the naivete that comes at such an age , thought i could understand it and read it through...( To think that since i knew ABCD,i could read anything..:).The other day,during a discussion with one of my cousins a mention of this book was made.Both she and me are now at a stage and age of semi retirement,having discharged our responsibilities...and i told her that i read it long back...in my fifth class....She was surprised and with a new look of reverence on her face enquired "oh''now..did you?."..."yes.." i told her.."i remember having read how he made a drink out of the gruel brought by a poor farmer,how he made cups out of used up coconut shells,how he narrated the recipe on making a chutney of raw mangoes and bitter gourd"....She split her sides on hearing this...
Well..but ofcource i was aware of his philosophy, about his introspection of WHO AM I?, and his greatness..Had heard of him and knew HERE is pure gold..,but this is the first time i was reading of him in detail...and what a legend?...
But , this post is not about my eulogies of him...He does not need any credentials, that too from me..It is about one significant fact, a strong belief of his followers, that he was an incarnation of lord Subrahmanya ...Many citations have been made in the book in this regard,....Many instances of his followers experiencing his oneness with the lord...Though the maharshi himself was never said to have admitted to this or for that matter , to any other god either...It seems he scrupulously avoided being made a godhead and vehemently opposed to poojas or rituals performed to his person...It is only to some close devotees and at rare instances,that he allowed sharing this confidence...He was once heard to have muttered ANGE SWAMI INGE VANDHIRIKKAR..to someone who thought of making a trip to Thiruthani...
I know it is a confusing task to define god and delineate multiple gods out of the eternal one...yet,still,it is a widely held belief that he takes on many forms and avataars...Personally, i myself don"t have any problem in believing it...After all, if you believe there is only one ,---- matter,energy,or god or some other thing---and it can become supernovas,galaxies,stars,planets,water,fire,fish,animal,subbarao and kanaka rao and tom, dick and harry,..it could easily become Ram,Krishna,siva and subrahmanya also..
Having read this allusion of maharshi to the lord,i was struck by this similarity in appearance in both the forms...The same standing up figure, staff in hand...the loin cloth..and the smiling face aglow with the fire of knowledge...After all,HE was GURUGUHA...isn"t he? a teacher..The only difference being maharshi was an old man while the lord murugan was a boy...
It is interesting to observe how different forms of gods come to be venerated....Sai baba"s form is invariably worshipped as an old man..Never in his youthful figure......Krishna"s upasana roopam is as a crawling child stealing butter...Shiva is worshipped as a symbol of fertility,not as an image..while skanda is always a boy...There might be a reason, a charm ,behind these appearances...or else why would they draw multitudes of people to them spell bound?..It was said,Sai baba cautioned a painter as he tried to capture him on canvas,to be careful in drawing his portrait as,---in his own words--Hum galli galli mein me rehnewale hai----And i sincerely believe there is a DEVA RAHASYAM too behind maharshi"s attire...
