Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

“Arrangements were once made for going to Tirupati
also, weren’t they?” asked another devotee.

Bhagavan replied, “Yes. It is true. That was when I was
in the Virupaksha Cave. At that time I was not covering the
upper part of the body with anything. For some unknown
reason the trouble from mosquitoes was unusually great that
year. Jayaraman bought a good shawl and pressed me to
cover my body with that. I did not even touch it. He waited
for some time. The shawl remained folded. The mosquito
trouble continued unabated. Unable to bear the nuisance,
the people near me conferred amongst themselves and
without the knowledge of outsiders, made all preparations
for going to Tirupati. They told me that we should go by
this way and should come back by that way and the like. I
nodded my head in assent to all that they said. They fixed
an auspicious day for the journey, packed everything and,
before starting, came to me saying, ‘Swami, shall we start?’ I
said, ‘Yes. Do go and come back.’ ‘What about Bhagavan?’
‘Where can Bhagavan go? Where is he staying?’ I said. They
said, ‘We are unable to bear this mosquito trouble, you see.’
I said, ‘If you are not able to bear it, you may go and come
back. Is it for my sake that you are going? Did I say that I
was not able to bear the mosquito nuisance?’ What more
could they say? They felt that it was no use arguing further,
gave up their journey, and began pressing me to cover my
body with the shawl. Jayaram’s son Pichandi was at the time
a very young fellow. He used to come every day covering
himself with an old rug. As I felt that they would not leave
me in peace until I covered my body to avoid the mosquito
bites, I told them that I would wear the old rug if they gave
that young man the new shawl in exchange. What could
they do? Unwillingly they exchanged the new rug for the
old one and I covered myself with the rug. That was the
beginning of my covering the body with anything. When I
began covering myself with that prickly type of rug, the
mosquitoes did not dare to come anywhere near me. It used
to be warm too,” said Bhagavan.

Another person asked, “It seems that someone
requested permission to take you round the whole of the
country for propaganda and for preaching.” Bhagavan
replied, “Yes. That was Swami Rajeswarananda himself. You
know, he used to live here some years ago. At that time, he
was drawing up plans for touring the whole of India; to which
important places we should go for delivering lectures; how a
special train was to be arranged for travel; how many days
to stay in the various places, and so on. I used to hear all
that he said and keep quiet. He mistook my silence for
consent. Ultimately he arranged to travel by first class, packed
all things and said, ‘Swami, shall we start?’. ‘Yes, why not?
Go and come back,’ I said. ‘What about Bhagavan?’ he said.

‘Me, Why?’ I said. ‘You must preach the essence of the advaita
to people in the whole of India, Swami,’ he said. ‘Is that so?
What can I do? Where to stay? Where to go? I have no place
to go to,’ I said. He was taken aback.

“During the early days of the arrival of motor cars into
this country, several people used to buy cars, bring them
here and say, ‘If Bhagavan gets into the car but once, we will
take it round the hill and return immediately. Please get in.’
Where was I to go, getting into such things,” said Bhagavan.

See what is stated in Mahavakya Ratnamala:
What is there for me to do, where am I to go, what am I
to accept and what am I to discard, since I pervade the
entire universe like the waters of the final deluge.