Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Two days before the auspicious day, while still in
Vijayawada, the child suddenly died. They decided to leave
for this place that very evening and reached Bhagavan’s
presence the next day at 3 p.m.

As though Bhagavan had inspired the question in order
to be able to reduce the grief of these people, a devotee
asked, “Swami, it is said that by breath control (pranayama)
and other practices this body can be made to last for a long
time and that some people indulge in these practices to enable
them to become Realized Souls, Jnanis. Is it true? Is it good
to do such practices?”
“Yes,” Bhagavan gently replied, “people do live long if
they do these practices, but does a person become a Jnani, a
Realized Soul, by living long? Does realization depend on
how long one lives? Sankara lived for only thirty-two years,
Manikkavachakar thirty-two years, Sundarar eighteen and
Sambandar left the body in his sixteenth year. Were they not
Realized Souls? A Realized Soul has really no love for his
body. For one who is the embodiment of bliss, the body itself
is a disease. He will await the time to be rid of the body.

When he has the body, he has to clean its teeth, has to walk,
bathe, and give food to the body; and has to do many other
things besides. If a boil grows, it has to be washed and dressed;
otherwise it becomes septic and emits a bad smell. In the
same way, if the body is not kept clean, it will get diseased. A
Realized Soul looks upon his body in the same way that a
coolie does regarding his load. He will look forward to putting
down the load at the destination. That being so, will he try
to keep on his body and prolong its existence by breath
control and rejuvenation (kayakalpa) processes? Those are
the methods adopted by men in pursuit of powers, siddhas.

When I was on the hill, I had seen siddhas of that sort. If
anyone went to see them, they would make them sit, enquire
the name of their village and the names of their fathers,
grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and tell them that they
had once, during the great-grandfather’s time, been to their
village. Surprised at that, and wondering how such old men
could not only live so long, but could also remain so strong,
the villagers would give them several presents and depart.

All this was done to impress on the public their greatness,
but will people become Realized Souls by such methods? In
the Vasishtam it is stated that Rama, after his return from a
pilgrimage, found that the whole world was itself a cause of
misery. He therefore left everything to others, even things
like eating and drinking and remained motionless. When
Viswamitra asked Dasaratha to send Rama to guard his
oblations ceremony (his yagna), Dasaratha said that Rama
was like a mad man and described some of the signs of his
madness. On hearing them, Viswamitra said that he was very
pleased to hear of those symptoms, that such madness did
not come to many people and that he would like to see him
and asked for him to be brought. Rama accordingly came,
prostrated before all those present and sat down.

“Viswamitra saw him and asked him the cause of his
madness, and addressing Vasishta, said, ‘Please teach Rama
the knowledge of the Self, the knowledge which Brahma taught
you and me.’ Vasishta agreed to do so. While he was teaching,
siddhas from all over came to listen to him and they thought to
themselves, ‘Rama has gained so much knowledge at such a
young age; how surprising! how great! What is the use of our
living so long?’ Do you see how all this is?” said Bhagavan.

“Yes, it is true,” said another devotee. “Some people
say we have lived for fifty years, what more is needed? As
though living so long were a great thing!”
“Yes,” said Bhagavan with a laugh, “that is so. It is a sort
of pride and there is a story about it. It seems that in the olden
days, Brahma once felt proud of the fact that he was long-lived.

He went to Vishnu and said, ‘Do you not see how great a person
I am! I am the oldest living person (chiranjeevi)’. Vishnu told
him that that was not so and that there were people who had
lived much longer than he. When Brahma said that that could
not be, since he was the creator of all living beings, Vishnu took
him with him to show him people older than him.

“They went along, until, at a certain place, they found
Romasa Mahamuni.* Vishnu asked him his age and how
long he expected to live. ‘Oho!’ said Romasa, ‘You want to
know my age? All right, listen then and I will tell you.

“‘This era (yuga) consists of so many thousands of years.

All these years put together make one day and one night for
Brahma. It is according to these calculations that Brahma’s
life is limited to one hundred years. When one such Brahma
dies, one of the hairs of my body falls out. Corresponding to
such deaths as have already occurred, several of my hairs
have fallen out, but many more remain. When all my hair
falls out, my life will be over and I shall die.’
“Very much surprised at that, they went on to
Ashtavakra Mahamuni, an ascetic with eight distortions in
his body. When they told him about all the above calculations,
he said that when one such as Romasa Mahamuni dies, one
of his own distortions would straighten, and when all the
distortions had gone, he would die. On hearing this, Brahma
got crestfallen. Similarly, there are many stories. If true
realization is attained, who wants this body? For a Realized
Soul who enjoys limitless bliss through realization of the Self,
why this burden of the body?”
The devotee asked, “Is it possible to gain knowledge
without the blessings of a Guru? Even Rama, who was like a
dullard in his early life became a Realized Soul only with the
help of his Guru.”
* Romasa: full of hair
“Yes,” said Bhagavan, “how can there be any doubts?
The grace of the Guru is absolutely necessary. That is why
Thayumanavar praised his Guru in his hymns, and another
said, ‘Oh, Gurudeva, your look falling upon it, a tiger
becomes gentle like a goat, a snake like a squirrel, and a bad
man becomes a good man. And what else may not happen?
With your gracious look everything becomes good. How can
I describe your greatness?’ Thus he sang. The guru’s grace
is extraordinary,” said Bhagavan.

Hearing all these stories, the people from Vijayawada
were overjoyed and said, “Blessed are we that the grace of
the Guru has been showered on us! Bhagavan has told us all
these stories and relieved us of our grief.”