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Date Posted: 01:40:39 03/06/04 Sat
Author: Hendrik - 1 Feb 2004
Subject: Re: Yogi Ramiah
In reply to: Anon - 1 Feb 2004 's message, "Re: Yogi Ramiah" on 01:40:08 03/06/04 Sat

You're welcome. I will add as a bonus some excerpts from the fourth volume of Ramdas' autobiography which I am just reading; I sent those today to a friend.

Once when I stayed in Benares I got a taste of the incredibly warm-hearted affection among some country folks who had traveled to the city to take part in a local puja, mirroring some of Ramdas' experience when he stayed elsewhere in the Indian countryside.

The following is a report about a trip from 1937. When Ramdas arrived in Sholapur district in Maharashtra, he was welcomed by 1,500 village people at the station of whom many followed him at every turn.

I wonder whether the mentality down there is still the same today.

Hendrik


"One remarkable event that happened here, as given out by the devotees, was that the food that was prepared only for a limited number, sufficed for a much larger number of people who came to dine, leaving a surplus too. Another noteworthy feature was that whenever Ramdas was leaving one village for another, the villagers, especially the devotees in the house in which he had lived, would start crying like children. Ramdas has gone over many places in India and witnessed the varied expressions of pure love overflowing the hearts of devotees. But what he saw here was simply unique. It was a flood of the purest emotion, in which Ramdas was carried away, filled with indescribable ecstasy. These simple country folk, unable to bear their separation from him, would follow him to the next village, giving up all thought of home and belongings. They were simply drawn away by a force which they did not seek to understand, but which they obeyed in a spirit of perfect self-abandon. Blessed, indeed, is Sholapur - blessed is Maharashtra - blessed is India - nay, blessed is the Earth, where devotion fills the yearning hearts of devotees with the splendour of such pure sentiments.

Another interesting incident occured at Ambejavalge. A devotee, Ramakrishna Hari, who got deeply attached to Ramdas during his last tour in Sholapur District, was somehow mysteriously led to the bus stand where Ramdas got down from a bus. Ramakrishna Hari was not aware of Ramdas' trip to Sholapur. Naturally, he was overjoyed to see Ramdas. For sometime he was unable to speak due to excitement. When he started speaking, he could do so at first only in monosyllables. He followed Ramdas to Yavli, the next place of halt.

"Before Ramdas closes the account of his tour in Sholapur District, he feels he should not fail to refer to the fervent manner in which these simple village folk would worship Ramdas doing Padapuja in the orthodox style. Some of them were so much over-powered by love and devotion that they forgot themselves and behaved in a strange manner. Thus at Kaudgaon, Ramdas was taken to the house of a devotee where many people had gathered for performing Padapuja. The time was short and the number of those who had prepared themselves to do the Puja was great. Above all, the fervour of these worshippers was tremendous. The Puja went on, one after another. One of the devout mothers brought all the articles of worship, and placing them before Ramdas, was lost in a trance. Her attention had to be brought to her immediate task by repeated reminders.

She started the Puja. The Puja articles consisted of three kinds of fragrant powders, Tulsi leaves and flowers, milk, sugar, plantains and a pot of water, with a small brass lamp made up of cotton wick dipped in ghee. The usual procedure is to wash the feet with water, apply the fragrant powders, place Tulsi leaves on them, and towards the end of the Puja, before waving the light round the feet, to put sugar and milk into Ramdas' mouth. What happened was that the mother, forgetting herself, instead of applying the powders to the feet, placed sugar and poured milk on them and shoved the three fragrant powders into Ramdas' mouth. Ramdas quietly enjoyed the entertainment and swallowed the powders!

At some other places, they laid their heads on Ramdas' feet and fell into a trance so that, after some time, they had to be bodily lifted up and taken away. Their explanation, given later, was that they got so saturated with peace that they lost all thought of time and space. Similarly, Ramdas at some places found that devotees licked his big toes, and even went to the length of gently biting them.

--Swami Ramdas, Call of the Devotee

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