Interesting but Forgotten Places II

The Bathroom

Can a lowly bathroom be really important; and also qualify as an ‘interesting’ place? Yes it can - as this particular one was used by Sri Bhagavan for most of the time He lived in Sri Ramanasramam.

Most of us are familiar with Bhagavan’s “bath” room, which is the one kept locked always and is behind the Samadhi Hall, next to the well in the courtyard. This was used by Sri Bhagavan for taking His bath only, and does not contain a WC.

All of us are also familiar with the bathroom next to the Nirvana room. This one was constructed along with the Nirvana room once it was clear that due to His severe illness, Bhagavan was too weak to walk the relatively long distance to the bathroom which He regularly used.  

Bhagavan’s own bathroom was located just adjacent to the Goshala. Bhagavan used to walk around 100 yards to this bathroom from the old hall each time He had to go. The entrance to this bathroom is just next to the rear entrance of the old Goshala building. To get there, go past the front entrance of the old Goshala building (described earlier in the post on Cow Lakshmi's Nirvana Room), then turn left at the corner to go around to the back.

The bathroom is open to all at present, but used mostly by the Ashram workers. Many of the outsiders who use the toilet would be unaware that they are in the same room that Bhagavan regularly used for 20 years and more. At some point in the past the Ashram management had the bathroom completely done over. It was retiled and re-WC-ed (Indian style) and generally modernized to enable it to be useful for all. Only an old picture of Bhagavan, in a small group, is hung near the door. I was told by a senior member of the Ashram management that this picture was taken at the entrance of this bathroom only, though now the frontage is quite different.

I must confess, though, I have never used the toilet; each time I happen to be around in the Goshala area, I go till the entrance of this room, do namaskars to Bhagavan’s picture there, and come away.

To get there: at the corner of the Old Goshala Building

To get there: turn left above and walk down this path

To get there: the entrance of Sri Bhagavan's old Bathroom



Inside: I can assure you that this is NOT how
it looked in Bhagavan's time!





The lovely picture of Bhagavan in a small group;
this hangs in the narrow corridor just inside



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Addendum (repeated from the previous post in this series!): Folks, am sure any devotee who is a regular visitor would have his own hidden gems, some unusual places associated with Bhagavan within Sri Ramanasramam or Tiruvannamalai, which are not so well known. Grateful if you would share your own little gem in the “Comments” below.

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Addendum I:  

"Bhagavan's Rock". Please see David's comment below.

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Addendum II:

Bhagavan's Rock as it is today. Please see the comment below.

 

 

The Ocean and Vichara

Here is another one of my favourite reminiscences concerning Sri Bhagavan. This little gem appeared in the Mountain Path 1989, Pg 49, titled “Maharshi in our Midst …”. The anecdote was recorded by Sri M. J. Kalyanarama Iyer but originally related by Sri G. Venkatramier, a renowned poet and scholar, and a contemporary of Sri Ganapati Muni.

Personally, I have found this little instruction from Bhagavan enormously helpful. Every time I struggle with the mind, I remind myself of this anecdote and then feel as if Bhagavan is telling me to carry on regardless, to try harder to "duck under the wave" …

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“Maharshi In Our Midst …”

This happened during the early Skandasramam days. Sri Bhagavan is seated in His usual place on one side of the verandah. Sri Easwara Swami is seated nearby. Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni is a little distance away while G. Venkatramier is seated near Him.

Venkatramier addressed Sri Bhagavan thus: “Whichever way one turns, one finds that the mind has to be subdued. We are told it has to be controlled. Can this really be done when on the one hand the mind is an entity not easily grasped and on the other one continues to have worldly worries?”

Kavyakantha moved his head slightly towards Venkatramier as if registering surprise that he should have chosen to enquire about something quite general.

Sri Bhagavan remained silent for a while and then said: “Hmm. A person who has never seen an ocean must make a trip to it to know about it. Standing there before the huge expanse of water, this person may wish to bathe in the sea. Of what use is it if, seeing the roaring and rolling of the waves, he were to just stand there thinking, ‘I shall wait for all this to subside. When it does, I shall enter it for a quiet bath just as in the pond back home?’ He has to realize either by himself or by being told, that the ocean is restlessness and that it has been so from the moment of Creation and will continue likewise till Pralaya (Destruction). He will then resolve to learn to bathe in it, as it is. He may wade into it by and by, and perhaps, through prior instruction, learn to duck under a wave and let it pass over him. He would naturally hold his breath while doing so. Soon he would be skilled enough to duck, at a stretch, wave after wave, and thus achieve the purpose of bathing without coming to grief. The ocean may go on and though in it, he is free from its grip.”

Bhagavan then added, after a pause, “So too here.”