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A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi 39 Many peacocks settled in the Ashram but it seemed that not all were able to remain in such surroundings. Two were brought there by some villager but did not stay though they were brought back two or three times. Bhagavan remarked that they were not yet ready. This is most interesting and shows that all were not fit to remain in his presence, and that even animals came there with a purpose. He also told us how, at times, people would reincarnate in the body of some animal just for a chance to be near him. There is, of course, the famous example of Lakshmi, the cow.
The Rani of Baroda gave Bhagavan a white peacock and two white peahens to go with him. The male was especially devoted to Bhagavan and never wanted to leave his side. Bhagavan was then living in a shed at the side of the old Hall, which owing to the increasing number of visitors he had out-grown. So a perch was put up there by the side of his couch and there the peacock slept at night. People used to say that it was Madhavaswamy, Bhagavan's late attendant who had passed away some time before. Bhagavan would nurse this peacock and pick lice off its body. He taught it not to eat caterpillars and other insects but to be a strict vegetarian. On the night of Bhagavan's passing it stood on the roof of the small room where Bhagavan was lying and screeched without intermission. It died in town some years later as the coloured peacocks always drove it away whenever it came near the Ashram. However they did not treat the peahens in the same way, but through them created numerous progeny.
