Wednesday, 21 September 2016

IN SEARCH OF MASTERS PART 1 - Ma Devaki On Bhagavan Sri Yogi Ramsuratkumar

"I can tell you this about Devaki she has always been a rare devotee, so confirmed in her perceptions, so sure and so committed, that there is no question left, no need to rethink about anything. For her to look at him, even if she did not receive a look from him, was enough for the day. She could live on that. She would come all the way from Salem and stand in the sun there and maybe get a glimpse of him, with no chance of going into the house. And she would go back [to Salem] happy and contented. Five days later, if she could come, she would do that again. That's what Devaki was always." - Dwaraknath Reddy, 2003






Many a day and, night I have shed tears and wept profusely, wandering in search of a great preceptor, a self-realized soul. I have spent sleepless nights for about four years, undertaking continuous travels with a yearning heart in search of a Ramakrishna, a Ramana Maharshi, in whose perception, contact and service I could dissolve myself. Little did I realize at that time that the Ideal Man whom I was searching in Uttar Kashi, Gangotri and Brindavan was strolling very near as a Godchild in the premises of Arunachaleswara temple in Tiruvannamalai at a distance of just four hours journey from Salem.
In October 1986, when l was preparing for the M. Phil examination in Madras Presidency College, a fellow student who had knowledge of astrology predicted : "You will get soon a great man as your preceptor. Your life will totally change thereafter. A very rare opportunity is awaiting you !" To me who wondered in disbelief, even when I heard about our Bhagavan, a distressful thought came and veiled my eyes : "How many great men have I seen and prostrated before. Still the mind is not in control. Love doesn't spring up within."
Yet, unable to control my yearning, I went to Ramanashram, along with two colleagues, during Christmas holidays. It was about 7-00 P.M. when we reached the Ashram. Due to power failure, the lights were off and it was all darkness. My heart broke when I could not see, in the dim light of the oil lamp, the picture of Sri Ramana which was placed in the meditation hall of the Ashram into which I entered. "Oh Sri Ramana! Is there darkness here too? Will I never see in my lifetime a god like you or Sri Ramakrishna? Will there be no light in My life?" I waited in distress and Io! In the next two minutes, the power came splashing light everywhere. I felt as though the merciful eyes of Sri Ramana were uttering something! Bliss surged in the heart.
I had the courage and good fortune of knocking at the doors of that house near the temple car, on the Sannidhi street, only in the evening of 27th December 1986, though I had reached Tiruvannamalai three days earlier, on 24th itself. (Later I came to know that December 27th was the sacred Sannyasa Day of Swami Ramdas, the Guru of Bhagavan). It was a pleasant sight never before seen by me when that Divine Person opened the doors and came and stood before me. My mind rolled and fell at His feet. Without knowing the reason, tears trickled down my eyes. It is impossible for ordinary people like me to describe so beautifully as Sri T.P.Meenakshisundaram has done in his "Sri Ramji Akaval" (Hail Sri Ramji), the Divine Resplendence which surpassed the unkempt hair and soiled garb of Bhagavan.
That wonder called Yogi Ramsuratkumar took us inside the 'house and made us sit, There were some other devotees too. He came and sat before me and asked in a compassionate voice, "Do you want to say anything to this beggar?' The same eyes that I saw in the picture of Sri Ramana three days earlier! The same compassion and kindness! The same light!
Controlling my tears, I said slowly - "I want to see God." "Oh! Devaki wants to see God!" He spoke aloud and, after a minute's silence, continued, 'Devaki will see God. She ls a pure soul. Devaki will see God!' My colleague told Him: "Swami, we do not know whether we are pure or not. Because these words come from your mouth, from this moment we have become pure." That's all! With a big hum, with face turned into red and eyes sparkling light, raising both His hands, He blessed us continuously for ten minutes.
All the three of us sat there spell bound, experiencing a vibration in the body and immersed in a Divine feeling. When He came out and saw us off, our mind became light and a divine peace reigned over lt. There was a sense of fulfilment that we had stumbled upon something which we were searching and searching through births.
The next day, in the early morning, when a lady, who had accompanied me to Tiruvannamalai, and I were waiting for a bus in front of Ramanashram, a person looking like a beggar came out of the Dakshinamurthy temple which was on the opposite side and rushed towards us. My friend, who got scared, moved a little away. When I stood motionless, the man, who rushed toward us, stood a little away from me, perambulated me and ran back into the temple. This amusing Incident seemed to be significant.
However, for the next fifteen days, I was immersed in such an intense peace that I was not able to think about anything. A peace that was not affected by happiness, sorrow, disappointment, anger or anything else. Everything that happened around seemed to be scenes in a dream. Attending to the classes or engaging myself in the college work was more brisk than even those subtle theories in Physics, which required intense study for an hour, could be understood even by a cursory glance for 10 minutes! Tremendous change! The peace was so natural that even the change was not cognised!
Just as Devaki Ma recalls her very first meeting with Yogi in the above video interview, about the very moment she set her eyes on him, the first twelve hours of her life-altering meeting, she has described how she came back again and again to him in the introduction to Sri T.P. Meenakshisundaram's book on the Yogi.
For seven years [from Dec. 1986] I was running towards Him again and again for His darshan. Realizing that it is an unquenchable thirst, on the 15th of July last year [1993], I once for all gave up my job and obtained the good fortune of being ever in His presence and service. (Since her first meeting with the beggar-saint in December 1986, Devaki's devotion had never wavered. On July 15, 1993, she gave up her job as a university professor of physics. Immediately afterward, she moved from Salem, with Yogi Ramsuratkumar's permission, to the Sudama residence in Tiruvannamalai that she had rented with the other women who were serving the master at every possible opportunity.- Source: Chapter 29 - Only God - Ramsuratkumar, http://www.beezone.com/Ramsuratkumar/DevakiMa.html)

I stand enchanted in a corner, in front of that ocean of mercy whom Sri T.P. Meenakshisundaram calls, "The Siva who descended from the Heavens to save the Earth." All the tests, sufferings and pleasant experiences in the last few years were the leelas of Bhagavan to make me perfect.

When I resigned my job at last with His permission and reached Tiruvannamalai, it was 11 o'clock in the night. Along with the tiresomeness of the journey there was also an anxiety in the mind: "Oh Yogi Ramsuratkumar! For You I have come giving up everything and everyone. Will You not accept and welcome this one?"

The moment I got down from the bus and stood in front of Ramanashram I heard sacred music to the accompaniment of musical instruments. I turned with surprise and found a big crowd moving from the same Dakshinamurthy temple, holding lamps in their hands and chanting sacred hymns. A Professor known to me emerged from the crowd, came towards me and said, "Amma, Namaskar! Welcome to you! We are happy to see you. It is the auspicious hour marking the beginning of the month. We have, just completed pooja in the Dakshinamurthy temple and are on our way to perambulate the Sacred Hill." She took leave of me. What an immense compassion is that of the Swami! Who can He be other than the All-pervasive Ultimate Reality!

The next morning when I went for the darshan of the Swami, He called me, who was sitting somewhere behind the audience, made me sit by His side and asked me with a laughter of an Innocent child: "When you stepped down on this soil yesterday night, what happened?" Happiness surged in my heart when he burst into waves of laughter. Mind melted in "His compassion to His children comparable to the love of a cow to its calf."
Devaki Ma earned the praise of the Yogi for being the Eternal Slave.
During either October or November (reports vary) of this year, 1993, within the period of this health crisis, Yogi Ramsuratkumar made a startling announcement to the world. "Devaki is this Beggar's eternal slave," he told those around him, and those who came to visit him. After years of invisible and selfless service, she had proven herself worthy to sit at his side forever.
Vijayalakshmi, one of the Sudama sisters, recounted that Bhagwan explained that this "eternal slave" had been sent by "His Father to help this beggar in all his work." "Devaki" was now referred to as "Ma Devaki" - Yogi Ramsuratkumar had introduced her as "Mother," a term of the highest respect, indicating her identification with the sublime virtues of the divine feminine. The beggar further noted that the four Sudama sisters were also helping his work, and that their treatment of him at Sudama house was deeply treasured. With awe and innocence, and with tears in his eyes, Yogi Ramsuratkumar told many people, "Devaki and the Sudama sisters are taking so much care of this beggar that this beggar cannot live without them."
This piece at http://www.beezone.com/Ramsuratkumar/DevakiMa.html further speaks wonderfully about Devaki Ma's surrender to her God and Guru.
"What will you do if you are thrown out by the master?" a devotee of Yogi Ramsuratkumar's asked Devaki in the early days of her apprenticeship, shortly after she moved from Salem.
"I will sit in a corner and chant His Name," was her immediate reply.
Dwaraknath Reddy, speaking of Devaki's orientation to her master's will, aptly described the characteristics of such a "slave": She asked for nothing, she wanted nothing. She's not even seeking for explanations. So Devaki was taken into this circle. It must have been surprising even to Devaki; she is not the one who would ask a question. If you put a crown on her head, she would just sit quietly and accept it. If you threw her into the gutter, she would just sit there until he asked her to get up. That has been Devaki all along.
This I say with personal knowledge of that human being and the conviction I carry. The position she was put into was not of her asking, not of her seeking, and so she just said: "I don't have a right to ask for it, what right have I to say yes or no to what my guru says, and God says." She has just been wherever she has been placed, and she has done what her supreme Lord told her to do. That was her point of view.
We all talk of surrender, but I don't think I have seen anyone who can exceed her in really surrendering. Whatever happened to her it just happened -- she was not an actor, not a doer in that at all. This Devaki I am talking of, one I knew so closely ten years back . . . 

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