13-6-46

Visitor: I do japa ^[?] with an image of Lord Subrahmanya
with Valli and Daivayanai on either side, but as soon as I close my eyes the image of Subrahmanya as the Palani Andavar, that is as a beggar with a staff, appears before my mind's eye. I don't know what that means. Should I change the image I have before me for japa ^[?]?

Bhagavan did not reply. I said to Bhagavan: It is strange that when a man does
japa ^[?] before an image another image though of the same God should appear before his mind's eye.

Then the visitor added: There is one more thing I must
add. I used to do japa ^[?] before a Palani Andavar image; but my mother said that such an image is not auspicious in a household and that I should change it for one of Lord Subrahmanya with Valli and Daivayanai.

I said: Now it is understandable. That is probably the
explanation.

But still Bhagavan made no reply. An ascetic claiming to be a native of Bagdad, naked,
keeping silent and holding his right arm permanently aloft in the air, has been staying in Palakothu since the 11th. He claims to have been with Sai Baba for 25 years. If this is true he must be at least 65 now, though he looks only 30 or 35. He met Bhagavan this morning when Bhagavan was returning from
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his morning walk and asked for Bhagavan's blessing. I went to see him out of curiosity. He sent the following question to Bhagavan through Ramasubba Aiyar: "What is my future?"

First Bhagavan said, "Why does he bother about the
future and not the present?" Later he added: "Tell him his future will be as his present is."

I told Bhagavan that I was not impressed with him. When
I told Bhagavan that his finger nails were five or six inches long, Bhagavan said, "That means nothing. When I was at Gurumoortham I found that in less than a year the nails grow an inch long. Matted locks also grow very long in a few years. Ordinary hair does not grow so long. I remember when Udhandi Nayanar had matted hair only five or six inches long and twenty-five years later it was fifteen feet long. So however long and imposing nails and matted hair may be they are no sign of great age."

I recalled how Bhagavan had once told us that in those early
days people used to look at his nails and say: "He is ever so old; he has been like this for years." And Bhagavan said, "Yes, yes."