Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Did you hear about what the monkeys did last
Independence Day? A few days before, on the 11th or 12th,
while Bhagavan was seated in the Jubilee Hall, an army of
monkeys came clamouring for fruit. Krishnaswami, the
attendant, tried to drive them away by shouting, whereupon
Bhagavan said, “Remember, the 15th of August is an
Independence day for them as well. You must give them a
feast on that day instead of driving them away.”
On the 14th, while some of the Asramites were busy making
arrangements for the hoisting of the flag, the army of monkeys
came again and again. One of the servants tried to drive them
away. Seeing this, Bhagavan said with a laugh, “Do not drive
them away, please. They too have attained independence, have
they not? You must give them Bengal-gram, lentils and parched
rice and feast them. Is it proper to drive them away?” “But
tomorrow is the Independence Day, Bhagavan,” said the
servant, “not today.” Bhagavan laughed, “So that’s it, is it? But
when you are making arrangements for the celebrations, should
they not make their own arrangements? That is why they are
busy, don’t you see?”
You know what happens with the monkeys on other
occasions? One of the attendants will be sitting with a basket
to receive the fruit offered to Bhagavan by devotees. Off
and on the attendant sits with closed eyes being drowsy or
listening to the radio. Waiting for a suitable opportunity,
some of the monkeys come and snatch away the fruit. When
the people in the hall try to scare them away, Bhagavan would
say, “When these attendants are immersed in deep meditation
(dhyana samadhi), the monkeys come and see to the work of
the attendants. Someone has to look after the work! The
attendants put the fruit into the basket, the monkeys put the
fruit into their stomachs; that is all the difference. While
people forget themselves while listening to the music over
the radio the monkeys busy themselves in enjoying the sweet
juice of the fruit. That is good, isn’t it!” If the monkeys come
while no attendants are there, Bhagavan says, as soon as one
returns to duty, “See, not one of you was here and so the
monkeys have been looking after your work. They are
actually helping you. So you can take some rest. When I was
on the hill, they were my constant companions. You now
drive them away, but in those days, theirs was the empire.”
Sometimes these great monkey-warriors knock the fruit
out of the hands of newcomers, while on their way to
Bhagavan, and at times even snatch away the fruit which
people keep by their side after having had it given back to
them as prasadam* by Bhagavan’s attendants. Noticing these
things Bhagavan would say, “They take their share of the
fruit, why be angry with them? There is the concentrated
look, the ‘lakshya drishti’. Somehow they find out where the
fruit is kept and in the twinkling of an eye, all of them come
and take away their share. Their attention is always on the
fruit. That is why, in Vedantic parlance, the monkey’s look is
given as an illustration of the concentrated look, lakshya drishti.

The moment the Guru makes a sign with his eye, the disciple
should understand; otherwise the disciple cannot achieve
his aim.