Spiritual Stories

Author(s): Raman Maharshi
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 62

54
doing tapas. At last Iswara was pleased and gave him darsan of his “Nataraja Dance” in the month of Dhanus when the Ardra star was predominant. It was at that time Gautama is reported to have lived under the tree and performed tapas. After seeing the dance of Iswara, Gautama worshipped Iswara, went to his original place and began to perform his rituals as usual.
Later on Ahalya became purified by the dust of the feet of Sri Rama and regained her normal form.
Devotee: “The statement that Ahalya turned into a stone applies only to her mind and not to her body. Is that not so?”
Bhagavan: “That is so. If it is not for the mind, could it be for the body? It is only ordinary people that say her body turned into a stone and that Rama restored her to her original form by putting his foot on the stone. How is that possible? It only means that the mind lost its awareness of the Self, and unable to think of anything else, she became dull like a stone. That dullness got relieved by the darsan of a great personage. As she herself was a great tapasvini she could immediately become aware of the Self. She worshipped Sri Rama as the embodiment of the Self. This inner meaning could be found in the Ramayana. The moment Rama set his foot in Gautamasrama, the mind of Ahalya was restored to its original state, like the blossoming of a flower.”