13. Bhagavan Mahanirvana

THE STORY OF SRI ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Bhagavan leaves his body

Sri Annamalai Swami recollects the incidents that occurred during the final year of Bhagavan’s life, and how Bhagavan’s care for him continued even as he was leaving his body.

Bhagavan’s final years

When Bhagavan became very sick at the end of the 1940’s I was sorely tempted to visit him. But I never succumbed because I knew that Bhagavan had instructed me to stay away from his presence. Some people who were not aware of what Bhagavan had told me thought that I was being disrespectful by staying away. One devotee even asked Bhagavan about this:
‘Annamalai Swami served Bhagavan for a long time, but he is not coming to see Bhagavan now that Bhagavan is seriously ill.’

Bhagavan detecting a certain self-righteousness in the questioner, remarked, ‘He is the one who is not causing any trouble. You people are here but your minds are elsewhere. He is elsewhere but his mind is here.’

Rangaswami, Bhagavan’s attendant reported this to me later that day. It was good to hear that Bhagavan was so consciously aware that I was constantly thinking and worrying about him.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi in his later years.

The final miracle

During the final year of Bhagavan’s life I suffered from a continuous, severe stomach pain. Some of the doctors who came to treat Bhagavan, treated me as well but none of them was able to relieve the pain. I was unable to eat anything except kanji (gruel), and even that in small quantities. If I tried to eat more, the pain in my stomach would become unbearable. In the last days of Bhagavan’s life the pain got much worse.

I finally decided to pray to Bhagavan, not for good health but for death. I slowly and painfully climbed up the steps to my flat roof and looked in Bhagavan’s direction.

‘Please Bhagavan,’ I prayed, ‘let me attain samādhi before you attain samādhi‘.

At that moment I saw the great light in the sky, the light that signified that Bhagavan had died. Many people saw this light and most of them reported that it resembled a meteor. It appeared to me in a different form: I saw a great column of light about twenty feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide in the middle of the sky. While it was manifesting for a period of about two minutes it was slowly descending towards the ashram. A few minutes later a sādhu came and told me that Bhagavan had passed away. At the exact moment when he told me the news, my stomach pains vanished and never reappeared again.

The last Prasādam

Bhagavan was buried the following day. Swami Satyananda, one of my neighbours in Palakothu, assisted with the burial. I saw him returning to Palakothu at about 8:30 that evening, his whole body covered in vibhūti (sacred ash). I naturally asked him how this happened.
‘I put Bhagavan’s body in the samādhi pit’, he said. ‘Since devotees had put a lot of vibhūti there, I inevitably got covered with it. Can you give me some water for a bath?’

Before I gave him the water, I tightly embraced him in an attempt to cover my body with this vibhūti. Since it had touched Bhagavan’s body I regarded it as his final prasādam.

I received two other forms of prasādam that evening. A girl who used to work for me collected some of the water that had been used to bathe Bhagavan’s body and brought it to me. I drank it with great pleasure. Another woman who had a reputation for being slightly mad brought me one of the garlands that had adorned Bhagavan’s dead body. I plucked a few flowers from this garland and ate them. The water and the flowers were the last contact I had with Bhagavan’s body.

In the years that followed I tried to remain in contact with the real Bhagavan, the Bhagavan who exists, eternally in the Heart.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 - April 14, 1950).

All of the above memories were narrated by Sri Annamalai Swami himself, during his Satsangs with devotees who came to visit him at the Ashram.

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