Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Noticing this, Bhagavan one day told Muruganar about
it in my presence. In the evening when Bhagavan went out,
Muruganar looked at me and said, “From what Bhagavan
has said now, it appears that you will have a lot of work to do
with Tamil literature. Why don’t you learn Tamil? I would
not ask you to learn it, if it were any other language. Normally
Bhagavan writes and speaks in Tamil only. That is why I am
suggesting that you learn it.” I took it as Bhagavan’s orders.

Accordingly I obtained a copy of Balabodhini, a Tamil-Telugu
dictionary which is in the library, wrote down the alphabet
by myself slowly by frequent reference to the text,
superscribed the letters over and over again and, in a week’s
time learnt to read and write. I did not care to read primary
lessons about the dog and the fox, but asked the librarian to
give me a copy of Bhakta Vijayam. He did so. When he was
giving it to me, Bhagavan looked at it and said, “Have you
learnt, to read Tamil?” I said, “I learnt a little of it,” and told
him all that had happened. Saying it was all right and good,
Bhagavan asked me why I had taken Bhakta Vijayam in the
very beginning. I told him that I had chosen devotional
stories as they would be interesting to read. Bhagavan asked
me if I would like to read the debate between Vithoba and
Jnaneswar. When I expressed my willingness to do so, he
asked me to fetch the book saying that he would show me
the portion concerned. Accordingly I got him the book
whereupon he picked out the relevant portion and marked
it with red ink. He casually enquired whether I would
translate it into Telugu. I told him that I had taken it merely
to read and I was not sure that I could understand it
sufficiently well to be able to translate it. Then he said that I
could do it but I should seek the help of some Tamilian if I
wanted to translate it into Telugu.

Subsequently I told Viswanatha Brahmachari about
Bhagavan’s suggestion and requested him to help me, to
which he agreed. He kept, however, putting it off. Some
days passed like that. One evening he came to me suddenly
and said, “Shall we do the translation without telling
Bhagavan? If we tell him he would ask for it and then correct
it, thereby straining himself unduly. We would thereby be
giving avoidable trouble to Bhagavan in his delicate health.

What do you say?” I told him that the work ought somehow
to be completed. Things would take their own course and
that we should not worry over anything. We thereupon began
the work and went on with it continuously till 10 p.m. we
completed it. You know what happened in the meantime?
As it was the bright half of the month, several Europeans
wanted to go round the hill in the moonlight. So, at 1 p.m.,
they went to Bhagavan and requested him to give them the
help of some one who knew the path. Looking at the people
near him, Bhagavan said that it would be good if
Viswanathan was sent with them as he knew English. So he
was sent for. People went one after another to Palakothu
and searched everywhere, but could not find him anywhere.

Bhagavan wondered as to where he could have gone. No
one could give any reliable information. Subsequently people
were sent to all the houses in Ramana Nagar to which he
was in the habit of going; still he could be found nowhere.

Whereupon Bhagavan sent someone else as a guide to the
Europeans.

When Viswanathan returned to his room after 10 p.m.

his neighbours told him about what had happened. Thinking
it was no longer possible to avoid telling Bhagavan,
Viswanathan woke up early morning and went straight to
Bhagavan. No sooner did Bhagavan see him than he asked
whether he had gone to town the night before, as he was not
to be found anywhere in Ramana Nagar. Viswanathan told
him the facts. On hearing them, Bhagavan remarked that
the people had not gone to Nagamma’s to search for him as
he was not accustomed to going there. He then enquired if
he was reading anything there. What could he say? He could
not help telling the truth. After learning that the Vithoba-
Jnaneswar discussion had been translated completely,
Bhagavan said with a laugh, “I see. So that was it! Anyway, a
good work has been completed. For a long time Nagamma
has been asking people to translate it into Telugu. There is
nothing wrong in what has been done. It is after all a good
work. It does not matter if I was not told beforehand. But
could you not have told the people in the next room? See
how many people searched for you and felt worried,” said
Bhagavan.

Next morning I went to the Ashram at 7.30 as usual. As
soon as he saw me, Bhagavan began laughing to himself. I
could not understand why. As soon as I had prostrated and
got up, he asked me if it was a fact that the translation work
was completed the previous night. I was taken aback and
could not reply. Then Bhagavan told me that he had learnt
it from Viswanathan early in the morning and pointed
towards him. When I looked at Viswanathan, he smiled and
said nothing. Then Bhagavan asked me for the copy. When
I told him it was yet to be fair copied. Bhagavan told me that
I could do it at my leisure.

When Bhagavan went out, Viswanatha Brahmachari
told me all that had happened and said, “We wanted to
translate it quietly without anybody’s knowledge but every
one has come to know about it now. Who can hoodwink
Bhagavan? When he himself is asking for the copy, there is
nothing for us to be afraid of now. Write out the fair copy
and give it to him.”
Bhagavan enquired every now and then about the fair
copy, and when I gave it to him ultimately, he returned it to
me duly corrected. You know all that happened subsequently.

Bhagavan suggested that it should be published as a
supplement to Part I of the Letters from Ramanasramam and
you agreed to it. Thus, you see, Bhagavan always helps
people when they want to do any good work.