From ~~~ Ramana Smrti, Sampurnamma, P.188. -Sri Ramana Maharishi

12/11/2017

Sampurnamma served as a cook
at the Ashram for decades:

On my way from the town to the Ashram and back,
I had to walk in the dark along a jungle path skirting the hill
and I would feel afraid.
Bhagavan knew this and once said to me,

“Why are you afraid, am I not with you”?

Chinnaswami,
Bhagavan’s brother and the manager of the Ashram
once asked me whether I was not afraid to travel alone in the dark.
Bhagavan rebuked him saying,

“Why are you surprised?
Was she alone?
Was I not with her all the time”?

Once Subbalakshmiamma and myself were going round the hill
early in the morning chatting about our homes and relatives.
We noticed a man following us at a distance.
We had to pass through a stretch of forest,
so we stopped to let him pass and go ahead.
He too stopped.
When we walked he also walked.
We were quite alarmed and started praying,

“Oh Lord! Oh Arunachala!
Only you can save us”!

The man said suddenly,

“Yes, Arunachala is our only refuge.
Keep your mind on him constantly.
It is His light that fills all space”.

We wondered who he was.
Was he sent by Bhagavan to remind us that it was not proper
to talk of worldly matters when going round the hill?
Or was it Arunachala Himself in human disguise?
We looked back but there was nobody on the path.

In so many ways Bhagavan made us feel
that he was always with us,
until the conviction grew and became part of our nature.
Those were the days when we lived on the threshold
of a new world — a world of ecstasy and joy.
We were not conscious of what we were eating,
of what we were doing.
Time just rolled on noiselessly, unfelt and unperceived.
The heaviest task seemed a trifle.
We knew no fatigue.

Commenting on our early completion of work in the kitchen
on one occasion, Bhagavan pointed out,

“The greatest spirit,
Arunachala is here,
towering over you.
It is He who works not you”.

~~~~~~