Reminisces Of Ramana And Rangan

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To bask in the Master's overwhelming presence is what a devotee yearns for. Stories of arduous efforts taken by ardent devotees explicitly demonstrate the craving to be with one's Master. In the case of devotees who are denied of His physical presence ( who come under His fold after the shedding of His body), they delight in reminiscing the experiences of those who had partaken the glory of His physical manifestation. To those of us, reminiscing is relishing! The experiences of Velacheri Ranga Iyer, popularly known as Rangan, the class mate of Bhagavan Ramana takes one back to those glorious days.

Surrender is no more an effort when the truth of one's true nature dawns on one. Rangan who had surrendered unreservedly to Bhagavan entrusted his worldly woes to Him. Once on his pursuit to find a job in Chennai, He visited Bhagavan in Sakandashram and returned back to Thiruvannamalai with his efforts being fruitless. Bhagavan that night sat beside him and enquired about his financial problems and asked whether rupees ten thousand was sufficient for him per annum. Bhagavan also gave His usual bit of teaching that all his worries will disappear as a dream when he knows his true self like the sufferings in the dream that is illusionary in the waking state. Soon he got a job with rupees ten thousand with which he was able to settle his debts and get his daughters married.

Rangan's brother who was also a devotee, visited Bhagavan when tuberculosis had taken a toll over his health. When he was about to take leave he broke into tears which caused Bhagavn's eyes to well up When Rangan visited Bhagavan, Ramana told him that his brother never believed of Bhagavan's love for him but the tears were an outcome of the very love for him.

Bhagavan kept Rangan under His guarded grace in the ashram when his horoscope stated a bad phase. He concernedly asked Rangan to get back to the ashram one night immediately after having escorted his friend to the station. Rangan's wife was undergoing severe pain in her hip with treatments being of no avail. She fainted as she sat in the hall in Bhagavan's presence. Since then there was no trace of the pain to haunt her body.

The afflictions of the body did not seem to bother Bhagavan as he was totally free from the body, mind complex. Once when Rangan enquired about the red spots on Bhgavan's feet that extended up to His thighs, Bhagavan who seemed to be unaware of the bubbles said that it might have been the outcome of some sparks that rested on His legs while kindling the fire. A another instance was when Rangan and Bhagavan in the course of their climb on the Arunachala. A thorn pricked Rangan's foot which Bhagavan removed it. When Rangan tried to pull out the thorn that pricked Bhagavan's foot, there were a number of them in both the feet. Bhagavan jocularly asked whether he would pull out the old ones or the new first?

Rangan was drunken with devotion for Bhagavan, that his attempts were arduous when it came to seeking Bhagavan's darshan. He once missed his connecting train to Thiruvannamalai. The station master, a friend of him put him in a goods train. When the train slowed to disembark Rangan, he hastily jumped out in his earnestness to seek Bhagavan's darshan the first thing in the morning. He thus presented himslf with his body injured and bruised. Bhagavan enquired about it and said that the yearning for darshan is even more superior to begetting the actual darshan itself!

Rangan benefitted the teachings of Bhagavan when he gave them out on many occassions to people who flocked around Him. Once Rangan asked Bhagavan what He had to say about the fact that the egoism of the people who visited Him soar instead of diminishing? Bhagavan replied that all that was lying latent within had to pour out just like the water being put on the stove that spills out when boiled.

Bhagavan while reading the Ribu Gita, explained to Rangan that even the God of death had to be humble in seeking to escort a Jnani when the allotted span came to an end. He would have to leave meekly if the Jnani wished otherwise to stay back !

Thus the soul steering experiences of those who enjoyed His physical presence actually present Ramana physically before one's mind's eye. After all what does physical attributes have to do with the one who is extended far beyond it. His undefinable and undeniable presence is felt by one and all who have turned towards Him!