Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ramana Maharshi spending last moments with Lakshmi (Cow)


In my letter to you under the caption “Worship of theCow,” I described to you the grandeur of Lakshmi, the queenof the cows, and the amount of love Bhagavan had for her. Tothat queen, as for his own mother, Bhagavan on Friday the18th of June gave Videha Mukti (liberation). That morningwhen I went to the Ashram, I was told that Lakshmi wasseriously ill and would not survive the day. So I went straightto the cow shed, without seeing Bhagavan even.
The roombuilt for the calves was vacated, cleaned and Lakshmi wasgiven a bed of straw to lie down upon. As it was Friday, shewas as usual decorated with turmeric paste, vermilion markon the forehead and a garland of flowers round the neck andhorns. Venkataratnam was sitting by the side fanning her.
Lakshmi was lying down with her majestic look spreadinglustre all round. She reminded me of Kamadhenu going toKailas to do abhishekam with milk over the great Lord Siva. When I went to Bhagavan and prostrated before himand got up, he looked at me with a divine look. Taking it as an order, I said I would go and stay with Lakshmi. He noddedhis head in assent and I went immediately. Venkataratnamgave me the fan and left. Sitting in that place I began epeatingRamana Dwadasakshari (twelve letters of Ramana Mantram),Ashtotharam (108 names of Ramana), etc. and Lakshmiappeared to hear them attentively.

When Bhagavan came to the cowshed at 9-45 a.m. asusual he came to see Lakshmi. Bhagavan sat on the hay byher side, lifted her head with both his hands, and passingone of his hands lightly over her face and throat, and thenplacing his left hand on the head, began pressing with theright hand fingers her throat right down to the heart.
After pressing like that for about a quarter of an hour he said,addressing Lakshmi, “What do you say, mother? Do you wantme to stay here alone? I could stay, but what to do? All peoplecould be around you as in the case of my mother. Even so,why? Shall I go?” Lakshmi remained calm, devoid of all thebonds of this world and of the pains of her body as thoughshe were in samadhi.
Bhagavan sat there unwilling to moveand with a heart full of compassion. I was overwhelmed atthe sight and exclaimed involuntarily, “Oh! MotherAlagamma had the greatest luck. So has Lakshmi now.”
Bhagavan looked at me with a smile. Subramaniam cameand said, “It seems the doctor will not be coming till 10-30as there is no immediate danger to Lakshmi.”
“All right. So Doctor will not be coming now. Have you brought themedicine for injection?” asked Bhagavan. Turning towardsLakshmi and gently stroking her head and neck, he said,“What do you say? May I go?”
Subbulakshmi said, “She willfeel happy if Bhagavan is by her side.” “That is so, but whatto do?” So saying and looking into the eyes of Lakshmi,Bhagavan said, “What? May I go? Won’t you tell me?”Lakshmi looked at him proudly. What reply Bhagavan got,we do not know but he got up and went away saying, “Seethat the flies do not get into the mouth.” I assured him thatwe would take due care of Lakshmi and Bhagavan left theplace very reluctantly.
With the divine touch of Bhagavan, the outer breath ofLakshmi began subsiding and the movement of the bodybegan to decrease. When the doctor came at 10-30 and gavean injection Lakshmi remained unaffected as if the bodywas not hers. There was no death agony. Her sight was calmand clear. The doctor turned her over into the posture ofNandi, put some medicine on the boils and went awayinstructing us to keep some support for the head. As it was11-30 by then, Venkataratnam came back after having hismeal. He asked me to hold up the head saying he wouldbring some more hay. The tongue touched me and it was icycold; the life of Lakshmi reached the feet of Sri Ramana andwas absorbed in Him.
Ten minutes later, Bhagavan came into the shed saying,“Is it all over?” and squatted by her side, took her face inboth his hands as though she were a little child, and lifted itand said, “Oh Lakshmi, Lakshmi,” and then, to us,controlling his tears, he said, “Because of her, our family(the Ashram) has grown to this extent.”
When all werepraising Lakshmi, Bhagavan asked, “I suppose the doctorhas not troubled her much, did he? How did her life cease?”We told him all that had happened. “That is all right. Didyou notice this? The right ear is uppermost now. Tillyesterday she was lying down on her other side. Because ofthe boil she was turned over to this side. So this ear had tocome up. Look, in the case of people who die in Kasi, peoplesay Lord Siva will whisper into the right ear. Lakshmi toohas her right ear up,” said Bhagavan, and showed that earto all people there.
By that time, crowds gathered. After aquarter of an hour, Bhagavan got up and said, “Ramakrishnahas been saying for the last ten days that a good tomb(samadhi) must be built for Lakshmi.” Bhagavan then wentaway to the hall.
source: From Letters From Sri Ramanasramam

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