- Mahatma Gandhi.
The magnificent role played by the spiritual books in manifesting divine intervention with timely guidance, particularly when one is in doldrums or when the mind goes astray, is a thrilling experience for me too.
The event took place in September 2011, the days when I was having frequent visitors on account of monthly yoga meets at my home. In one corner of the large hall among other things there was an earthen jar with beautiful Japanese figure but with faded colours. My son suggested one day that either the charmless jar should be removed from the hall or try for repainting it, on the original design to bring back its attractive look. I thought for a while and decided to try for renovation with bright colours. After finishing the job, I wondered at the jar with new life. Appreciations from my son and other visitors made me feel proud of the painting, ' I did it'. As a part of my daily chores I opened up a spiritual book, 'My Ramanashram Days' by Suri Nagamma. I started reading....' An Andhra lady who came to stay at Ramanashram (Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu), used to enthral the Bhagavan and his devotees by her melodious voice singing bhajans and songs on Ramana Maharshi, claiming that they were written by herself. Bhagavan was however suspicious about her claims. When the matter went to the extent of translating into English, Suri Nagamma could not brook further and revealed the mischievous copying of other authors' works by the Andhra lady. The translation work was put off and the Andhra lady had to bow down in shame before the devotees and Bhagavan.
In the above context, Bhagavan himself narrated another episode about a devotee by name Perumallu Swamy, who used to bring a poem every four days and read before the Bhagavan, claiming it as his own work. Being suspicious about the familiar stanzas he had read before, Bhagavan asked his devotees to bring 'Tiruvuralpavu' written by popular author Ramalingaswamy and verified. By replacing 'Ramana' for 'Rama' in the poetry 'Ramapadikam' in the book, Perumallu Swamy tried to claim ownership about the poems. Being exposed before the devotees for the manipulation he became a laughing stock.
When the divine hand made me peep through these two passages of the book , my egoistic proud about the repainting had a steep slide with humility, The real credit should belong to the skilful potter who worked hard day and night to create the earthen jar and painted a beautiful Japanese figure on it, with vivid eye catching colours, to turn it into a marvellous art piece. The Almighty opened my eyes cautioning me not to feel proud about the simple task of repainting. With all humility, I admired the 'Potter' who subdued my Ego !
Om Shanti!
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