Spiritual Stories

Author(s): Raman Maharshi
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 65

57
DELIVERANCE OF A
THORN BUSH
One of the devotees who had heard of the verses written by Bhagavan about the deliverance of Lakshmi, the cow, approached Him and said, “Swami, we ourselves see that animals and birds are getting deliverance in your presence; but is it not true that only human beings can get moksha?”
“Why? It is stated that a great saint gave moksha to a thorn bush,” said Bhagavan with a smile. The devotee eagerly asked who that great saint was and what was the story about the thorn bush.
IN CHIDAMBARAM, THERE was a jnani by the name of Umapathi Sivacharya. He was a poet and also a pandit. As he was in a transcendental state of spirituality (athita sthithi), he did not pay much attention to the usual brahminical practices. Hence, the dikshitars of the place became angry with him, especially since he was a learned man and knew all the precepts of the Hindu religion. They forbade him from living in the village or even visiting the temple. He therefore lived in a small hut built on a raised ground outside the village. A low caste man called Pethan Samban used to supply him with all that he required and also helped him in a general way. As things went on like this, one day, when Pethan was carrying on his head a bundle of firewood to the hut, Iswara Himself met him on the way in the guise of the dikshitar in charge of the temple. He wrote a verse on a palmyra leaf and gave it to him, telling him that it was to be handed over to Umapathi Sivacharya, and then disappeared.