Arunagirinathar followed Muruga’s instruction and spent the next few years touring South India, singing songs in praise of Muruga wherever he went. After his extensive pilgrimages, encompassing at least 200 towns, Arunagirinathar finally returned, settled down in Tiruvannamalai and spent the remainder of his life there. The traditional story of his life includes several incidents that took place during this period either in the Arunachaleswara Temple or nearby. In the first of these stories Pravuda Devaraya, the local king, invited him to appear in court because he had heard of Arunagirinathar’s high reputation as both a poet and a saint. Arunagirinathar, who had no interest in the affairs of the world, ignored the invitation. Pravuda Devaraya, who had a high regard for scholars and sadhus, then came in person and requested that Arunagirinathar come for a visit to the royal palace. Arunagirinathar, noticing that the king was a devout man, accepted the invitation, went to the palace for a visit and had several honours bestowed on him by the king.
In the court of this king there was a famous scholar, Sambandandan, who had a tendency to boast both about his spiritual attainments and his religious knowledge. He had managed to establish himself as a favourite of the king. When he heard about the reception accorded to Arunagirinathar, he felt that his position in court might be threatened. His jealousy motivated him to hatch a plot against Arunagirinathar which he hoped would belittle his new rival in the eyes of the king. Sambandandan had done great tapas earlier in his life, so much so that he had obtained a boon from Kali, his ishta devata (chosen deity), that for a period of twelve years she would appear before him whenever he summoned her. Knowing that he could call on Kali to appear at any time, Sambandandan proposed to the king that he and Arunagirinathar should have competition in which each would try to make his chosen deity manifest in a form that would be visible to everyone. Sambandandan not only persuaded the king to agree to the competition, he also persuaded him to add a stipulation that the loser of the competition should leave the kingdom and never return. Although the king agreed to the rules of the competition, it seems that he did not pass on the full details to Arunagirinathar. He merely told him that he had organised a competition in which the two devotees would try to summon their favourite deities. Arunagirinathar agreed to take part, saying that if Lord Muruga could be persuaded to appear, he would give the king darshan and bless him.
The first courtyard of the Arunachaleswara Temple. The shrine on the right is the location of the poetic combat.
The competition was held in public in the Arunachaleswara Temple. Sambandandan, full of confidence, undertook to manifest his God first. To the accompaniment of great pomp and ceremony, he called on Kali to appear, but for some reason she refused to manifest herself. In some versions of the story it is said that the twelve-year period of the boon had expired the previous day, so she was no longer under any obligation to appear. Since Sambandandan was still able to communicate with her, even though he could not make her appear, he got a promise from her that she would hold Muruga tightly in her arms so that he would be unable to manifest when Arunagirinathar called on him.
Arunagirinathar began his attempt by singing a song. After praising Muruga at length in verse form, he summoned him to appear:
…O Lord Muruga who resides in the heart of Pravuda Devaraya in such a way as to make it dance with joy! O Lord of Lords! Come dancing, O Lord, come dancing in such a way that when you dance, everything dances…
In some versions of the story Muruga manifests immediately, but in other accounts he fails to appear because he is being held tightly by his mother, Kali. In the version in which Muruga is restrained, Arunagirinathar devised a strategy to counter Kali’s influence. He first sang another song that was so entrancing, Kali unconsciously began to loosen her grip on her son, Muruga. When Arunagirinathar sensed that this was happening, he sang a different song that summoned Muruga’s vahana, his peacock, to appear and dance before Muruga and Kali. The peacock promptly appeared and danced in such an enticing way, Kali momentarily forgot to hold on tightly to Muruga. At this crucial moment Muruga leapt out of her arms, mounted his peacock and entered the physical world through one of the pillars of a mantapam in the Arunachaleswara Temple, breaking it in the process. A temple has since been built around this broken column to commemorate this great event. The manifestation of Lord Muruga was so dazzling, the light he emanated caused Pravuda Devaraya, the king, to lose his eyesight.
This traditional story is so full of improbable events, it would be tempting to dismiss the whole episode as quaint myth. However, the central event of the story, the manifestation of Lord Muruga in public in response to Arunagirinathar’s pleas, finds some corroboration in two verses from the Tiruppugazh:
In the midst of the assembly of Your devotees who deserved Your compassion… You came once in Tiruvannamalai…
O Victor on the peacock! You came to my help in Tiruvannamalai in a way that people of the world can perceive and praise your great compassion.
There is no mention of a competition in any of the verses, nor are the activities of Sambandandan and Kali alluded to, but there seems to be enough textual evidence in the Tiruppugazh to suggest that, prompted by Arunagirinathar, Muruga appeared, mounted on a peacock, before a large assembly of people, including the king, who had gathered there with the express purpose of determining whether or not Arunagirinathar could make his chosen deity appear.
So much for the traditional story. I mention it because the pujari who performed the puja for Maragathamma said he lived in the temple that had been built over the broken pillar in the precincts of the Arunachaleswara Temple. When one allies that with the fact that he declared himself to be Dandapani, one of the many names of Muruga, it is clear that Muruga Himself appeared before her in the temple and conducted the puja for her.
After having darshan late in the evening, the party waited until the next day before proceeding to Ramanasramam to have Ramana Maharshi’s darshan. This is the account that her biographer wrote of the events that followed:
After darshan at the temple, they all went to see Ramana Maharshi. It was a Monday, and a pradosha day at that. There was a large number of people for his darshan. When Amma entered the ashram she felt a great joy, and although this was her first visit, she had a feeling of being familiar with all her surroundings from a long time ago. She forgot herself and was oblivious of her companions. Her mind stopped and all the five senses completely ceased their functions. Yet she could vaguely see from afar only Bhagavan Ramana in his reclining posture with eyes closed. His face was beaming with a brilliance and there was not a shadow of the pain he was actually suffering from. She felt as if she was floating in an ocean of bliss and was being carried away beyond the dualities.
When Amma came near Bhagavan she was abruptly shaken from her stupor as if by an electric shock. The whole body started trembling and her heart was pounding hard. She prostrated before him and looked up. At that instant Bhagavan’s gaze fell on her. His eyes were shining brilliantly and showering compassion all around. From them a streak of light like that of lightning flashed out. He gave her an initiation, through the eyes, of the Shadakshari Mantra. This pierced her soul and once and for all the darkness of ignorance in her heart was completely removed. The great truth behind the mahavakya flashed in her and she realized the secret of ‘WHO AM I?’ This gave her an ecstatic experience of merging her individual soul with that of the supreme soul and in this unique state she felt the whole universe within her only.
She was in a daze and she could just visualise her party offering various fruits at Bhagavan’s feet. Amma had brought only seedless grapes.
Maharshi that morning was in a jovial mood and remarked, ‘Have you had the darshan of Dandapani?’ His mention of the word ‘Dandapani’ sent a thrill through the heart of his listeners since they felt that the Maharshi was confirming that the boy who had done puja for them the previous night was no other than Lord Muruga Himself!
And then pointing to the grapes brought by Amma, Ramana Maharshi said, ‘These grapes this body likes very much’. He took a grape and put it in his mouth and distributed the rest to all.
It may seem a little incongruous that Bhagavan initiated her into this particular mantra, but that seemed to be part of her destiny. Throughout her life, whenever she came into the presence of great beings, she found herself being initiated into this particular mantra. It happened six times in all. In this case, though, it seemed to be accompanied by a direct experience of the Self, the true import of the mantra. Bhagavan not only gave her the mantra, he also gave her the fruit of chanting it.
The party left Tiruvannamalai that day, but two weeks later Maragathamma returned because she had heard that Bhagavan was seriously ill. A second darshan ensued:
Devotees in the darshan line outside the nirvana room a couple of days before Sri Ramana passed away
On 12th April 1950 Amma and others went to see Ramana Maharshi again as his physical condition was reported to be very serious. His left arm, which had been operated on, was under bandage. There was a stream of visitors to see him and so each visitor was allowed just a minute to tarry by his side. Amma’s turn came. She wanted to prostrate to the Maharshi but she held in her hand a copy of Ramana’s photo which she had bought earlier at a stall. Even as she was wondering where to place it, Ramana himself took it from her and held it in his right hand, enabling Amma to do proper pranam to him. Then he smiled, gave her back the photo copy and held his right hand in abhayamudra. Amma felt sad at not being able to converse with him. Two days later the world heard the news that the Maharshi had attained Mahasamadhi.
The blissful state in which Amma remained for quite some time was brought out by her in a short drama which she wrote on the 19th of June after returning to Madras. This was titled Jiva-Brahma Aikya [The Union of Jiva and Brahman].
Chengalvarayan Pillai
Amma gave the above script to Chengalvarayan Pillai for perusal. At that time Muruganar, a Ramana bhakta, was with Pillai. Pillai read through the drama appreciatively and then handed it over to Muruganar who took it with him to his own place. Going through the drama he was highly thrilled and commented that even after being with Bhagavan for a long period, he could not get such an experience, and even if he had one, he would not have been able to give such vivid expression to it. Amma’s exposition and the explanation of the blissful state of samadhi were so convincing that Muruganar asked Chengalvarayan to get it published. So the script was given to Sri Pani for publishing. Unfortunately however, it was eaten away by termites while on the shelf. Pani was quite upset and ran to Amma and requested her to write it out again. But Amma, who was not in the least perturbed, said that once the jiva-Brahma aikya had taken place, there was no need for any article or drama, and that was probably why the manuscript got destroyed.
