Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi story on Bhakta Ekanath

A discussion in the hall centred on the story ofKulasekhara Alwar, which had appeared in the Visionmagazine. During a Harikatha, Kulasekhara identifyinghimself so completely with the situation of the story, felt ithis duty as a worshipper of Rama to at once hasten to Lankaand release Sita. He ran to the sea and entered it to crossover to Lanka, when Rama appeared with Sita andLakshmana and showered His grace on him. This led othersin the hall to remark, “Some Maratha saint also did a similarthing. He leaped up to the roof, I think.” Thereupon SriBhagavan related the story.

Eknath was writing the Ramayana, and when hecame to the portion in which he was graphically describing thatHanuman jumped across the ocean to Lanka, he so identifiedhimself with his hero Hanuman that unconsciously he leapedinto the air and landed on the roof of his neighbour’s house.This neighbour had always had a poor opinion of Ekanath,taking him for a humbug and religious hypocrite.

He heard athud on his roof, and coming out to see what it was, discoveredEkanath lying down on the roof with a cadjan leaf in one handand his iron stile in the other. The cadjan leaf had verses describing how Hanuman leapt across the sea. This incidentproved to the neighbour what a genuine bhakta Ekanath wasand he became his disciple.After a pause Bhagavan also related: “God appeared in adream to Ekanath and asked him to go and repair the tomb of Jnaneswar.

When Ekanath went there accordingly, he founda contractor ready to do all the work and take payment at theend. The contractor opened a big account in which all expenseswere entered, with the names of all the workmen and wagespaid. Everything went on systematically. When the work ofrepairs was completed, the accounts were looked into and thecontractor paid his dues. Then the contractor and his bigaccount book totally disappeared. Then alone Ekanath cameto know that God was his contractor and did the work. Suchthings have happened.”