Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 37

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi
31
The dining-room was divided into two by a screen which extended almost the whole breadth of the room. Bhagavan sat in the opening at right angles to the screen and so was visible on both sides. On one side of the screen sat the Brahmins and on the other side the rest. Many people used to complain about this and especially at Bhagavan for allowing such things, for was he not beyond all caste? Yes, certainly he was, and that was why he took his meal with both sides.
“But why does he allow it?” people asked. Not only did he allow it but he insisted on it.
Brahmins would come to the Ashram, say that with Bhagavan all were equal and sit down on the non-Brahmin side of the screen. But Bhagavan would object.
“Do you eat with non-Brahmins in your own home?" he would ask.
“No, but with Bhagavan it is different,” they would
answer.
“So you want to use Bhagavan as an excuse for breaking your caste rules?” Bhagavan would ask. “If you do not observe caste outside, there is no objection to your doing the same here. But you are not going to use Bhagavan as an excuse for doing something which you consider at home to be wrong.”
Bhagavan would never eat during an eclipse of the sun or moon, a custom that still continues in the Ashram, where food may only be cooked after the eclipse is finished. He told me that the stomach did not digest while the eclipse was proceeding and so it was bad for the health to