II
M. S. Nagarajan

SRI M.S. NAGARAJAN, a staunch devotee of Bhagavan,
comes from Mambattu, a village in the Polur Taluk of the
North Arcot District of the state of Tamil Nadu. Even as a
young boy he used to accompany his parents when they came
to TiruvannamaIai for the yearly Deepam festival, at which
time and on similar occasions, his father, who was a devotee
of Bhagavan, used to take him to the Ashram. Thus he came
to know Bhagavan in his childhood. When he was ten years
old, his friend, who was a nephew of Echammal, spoke to
him about the greatness of Bhagavan. He and this friend used
to practise dhyana ^[?] and yogic asanas (sitting postures) every
day in the early morning. In the evening they meditated on
Bhagavan. Sri Nagarajan used to have frequent visions of
Bhagavan and Lord Murugan in his dreams. At about this
time Ranga Rao, an old devotee of Bhagavan, now no more,
had set up an ashram at Polur named Indra Ashram, to which
other devotees of Bhagavan used to go and talk about Bhagavan
and other spiritual matters. In 1930, when Sri Nagarajan was
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15 years old Ranga Rao brought him to Sri Ramanansramam.

Here he was allotted the work of doing puja, and helping in
the bookstall etc. But what he valued most was the privilege of
cutting up vegetables and grinding the pulses and coconut
gratings for chutney in the kitchen with Bhagavan. But most
of the time he was in the hall attending to some minor work
or other. He had thus the opportunity of listening to the replies
which Bhagavan gave to the questions put to him by visitors
and devotees. As a result of this he became a firm believer in
the path of Self-enquiry taught by Bhagavan.

At the end of six months Sri Nagarajan went home but
soon returned and stayed on for four years. Jobs were offered
to him but he was not interested in them since the acceptance
of a job would mean parting from Bhagavan. But one day a
letter came from his mother informing him that a job had been
found for him. This letter came to the hands of Bhagavan along
with the Ashram post. After reading it Bhagavan said,"Look
here, a job has been found for you. Go and accept it
immediately."Tears came into the eyes of Sri Nagarajan at the
thought of parting from Bhagavan. But Bhagavan said again,
"You can go on Wednesday and join duty on Thursday."

Unwillingly he left the Ashram. Thereafter he came to the
Ashram as often as he could get leave.

While Sri Nagarajan was employed at Sattur from 1955
to 1958 he organised a Ramana Mandali where Bhagavan's songs
like The Marital Garland of Letters were sung and devotees
meditated every day. Talks were given periodically at this Mandali
-- Bhagavan's Jayanti and Aradhana were also celebrated in a
fitting manner. Sri Nagarajan also established a school named
Sri Ramana Vidya Mandiram Elementary School at Sattur in
memory of Bhagavan.

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After holding several important posts in the firm of
Burmah Shell, Sri Nagarajan has now retired. Since then he has
lived for some time in Tambaram and later joined the Ashram
to render his service.