Lakshmi the Cow

[Bhagavan did not give Lakshmi special treatment simply because he regarded her as a favoured pet. He allowed her the freedom of the ashram because he recognised that she was a highly advanced devotee who had taken the form of a cow in order to be with him:]

Shantammal: She [Lakshmi] would come daily to the ashram, have her meals, graze on the ashram land, enter the hall and sit contentedly near Bhagavan. In the evening she would go back to the town with the other women.

Once, when Lakshmi was pregnant for the third time, she came into the hall after lunch. Bhagavan was reading a newspaper at the time. Lakshmi came near him and started licking the papers.

Bhagavan looked up and said, ‘Wait a little, Lakshmi,’ but Lakshmi went on licking. Bhagavan laid his paper aside, put his hands behind Lakshmi’s horns and rested his head against hers. They stayed like this for quite a long time. I stood nearby looking at the wonderful scene.

After about ten minutes, Bhagavan turned to me and said, ‘Do you know what Lakshmi is doing? She is in samadhi.’

I looked at her and noticed that tears were flowing in streams down her broad cheeks. Her breathing had stopped and her eyes were fixed on Bhagavan.

After some time Bhagavan changed his position and asked, gently, ‘Lakshmi, how do you feel now?’

Lakshmi moved backward, as if reluctant to turn her tail towards Bhagavan, walked round the hall and went out.

Four days later Lakshmi gave birth to a calf. The man with whom Lakshmi used to stay brought her with her progeny and left them in the ashram for good. Lakshmi, with her three calves, came into the hall and lay down by the sofa.

Bhagavan saw her and remarked, ‘All these days Lakshmi had to go in the evening to the town. She always left in tears. Today she is delighted because she need not go away anymore. She knows that her home is here now. We shall have to look after her. Look at her! With what self-assurance she has stretched herself out!’

[The previous account is taken from ‘Eternal Bhagavan’ by Shantammal in Ramana Smrti Souvenir. Suri Nagamma has recorded another incident in which Lakshmi lost consciousness of her body in the presence of Bhagavan. It happened during a veena concert that was being given in the hall. See The Mountain Path, 1980, p. 145.

T. S. Ananta Murthy noted in his biography of Bhagavan that Lakshmi would ask Bhagavan to look at her new calf whenever she gave birth:]

The cow became so attached to Sri Ramana she would, of her own accord, walk from the shed to the hall every morning and kneel at his feet…

What was equally interesting was that Lakshmi would walk into the hall from her shed a few minutes after the birth of her new calf and stand mutely before him. Sri Ramana would then address the cow as follows: ‘Lakshmi, you have come to tell me that you now have a new baby. I will come to the shed and see your child.’ (Life and Teachings of Sree Ramana Maharshi, by T. S. Ananta Murthy, p. 147).

[Shantammal was not the only devotee to report that Lakshmi went into samadhi in Bhagavan’s presence.]

Sadhu Natanananda: Sri Bhagavan himself once pointed out the sanctity of Lakshmi by saying, ‘What tapas she must have performed in her previous births! It may be that she is living in our midst now only to complete her unfinished tapas.’

Once, when she came as usual for Bhagavan’s darshan and was standing in his presence, Sri Bhagavan, looking out at her with great affection, started stroking her head.

Then, turning to the other devotees with a smile, he asked, ‘Do you know what state Lakshmi is in now?’

When no answer was forthcoming, he astonished us by saying, ‘She is in nirvikalpa samadhi,’ thus revealing the extraordinary power of his grace and the spiritual maturity of Lakshmi. (Ramana Darshanam, by Sadhu Natanananda, p. 17).

[Lakshmi’s special status in the ashram gave her the freedom to help herself to any food that was brought by devotees because Bhagavan would always support her if devotees complained. He would also take her side if anyone tried to prevent her from coming to see him:]

Subbalakshmi Ammal: On the afternoon of our first visit we took cashew nuts and sugar candy as an offering to Bhagavan and went to his ashram. After entering the hall we placed our offerings on a stool before him and sat down. The cow Lakshmi, who happened to be lying near Bhagavan’s sofa, got up and began to chew our precious offerings. Bhagavan looked on and said nothing. His attendant, Madhava Swami, did not even bother to look.

We thought it might be impious to disturb the cow, but soon I got exasperated and exclaimed, ‘Please remove the cow!’

Madhava Swami replied innocently: ‘Why? I thought you offered those sweets to Lakshmi!’ (‘My Life, my Light’, by Subbalakshmi Amma, in Ramana Smrti Souvenir)

N. N. Rajan: Once I was bringing eatables in a large open vessel. Cow Lakshmi, who had come behind me, was eating from the vessel unnoticed by me.

Bhagavan remarked, ‘Enough Lakshmi, enough! Leave something for us.’

So saying, he gave some more to her and sent her away. The attendant ridiculed and chided me for being so careless.

But Bhagavan, out of his grace, said, ‘Why do you blame him? Poor man, he is too innocent to notice all this.’

I have received this certificate of innocence from my Master. What more do I require in this life? (Moments Remembered, by V. Ganesan, p. 88).

Suri Nagamma: One morning in January 1947 Lakshmi the cow entered the hall hurriedly with her legs, body and tail full of mud, with blood oozing out of her nose and with a half-severed rope around her neck. She went straight to the sofa where Bhagavan sat. The attendants began saying with some disgust that she had come in with mud on her body.

Bhagavan, however, said with affection, ‘Let her come. Let her come. What does it matter how she comes?’

Addressing the cow, he said, ‘Come, my dear. Please come near.’

So saying, he passed his hand over the body lightly, patted her on the neck and looking at the face said, ‘What is this? Some blood is oozing!’

One of the attendants said, ‘Recently they put a rope through her nose’.

‘Oho! Is that the reason? That is why she has come here to complain about it. Is it not very painful for her? Unable to bear the pain, she has come running to complain to me even without washing her body. What to do? Give her some iddlies or something,’ said Bhagavan, evincing great solicitude for her predicament.

The attendants gave her some plantains and thus managed to send her out. I went to the kitchen, brought some iddlies and gave them to her. She was satisfied and went away to her usual place.

After all of us returned to the hall and sat down, Bhagavan remarked, looking at the attendants, ‘Do not all of you come to me to relate your troubles? She too has done the same thing. Why, then, are you vexed with her for coming here with mud on her? When we have troubles, do we consider whether our clothes are all right or our hair is properly brushed?’ (Letters from and Recollections of Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma pp. 74-5)

Krishna Bhikshu: One day the cow Lakshmi came to the hall. She went straight up to Bhagavan, put her head on Bhagavan’s shoulder and wept. Bhagavan sat very quietly and gently stroked her head.

‘Why are you so sad?’ he whispered in her ears. ‘Who has hurt you? Cheer up, my dear, stop crying. I am here to befriend you.’

Lakshmi stopped crying, gave Bhagavan a few licks and went away comforted. (‘The Bhagavan I knew,’ by Krishna Bhikshu, in Ramana Smrti Souvenir)

Annamalai Swami: Whenever Lakshmi came for darshan she would walk very fast, not caring about anyone who stood in the way. It was left to the devotees to decide whether they wanted to get out of the way or be trampled on. When she reached Bhagavan’s couch, she would often stand in front of Bhagavan and put her head on his feet. If she came a little closer, he would gently caress her head and neck. Often, they would be so close together, Lakshmi’s saliva would fall on Bhagavan’s body. If any special food was served in the ashram, Bhagavan would serve some to Lakshmi in the hall itself. I have seen him serving her iddlies, payasam and vadai, all on a banana leaf, just as if she were a human being. Sometimes he would take the food directly to the cowshed and serve her there.

On one occasion, when there was very little grass in the ashram, Bhagavan noticed that Lakshmi was not getting enough to eat. That day when he went to the dining room he refused to eat the meal that had been served to him. Instead, he asked the servers to give it to Lakshmi. When news of this strange gesture reached the cowshed, the workers there realised that he was indirectly protesting against the maltreatment of Lakshmi. Some fodder was brought from the bazaar, enabling both Bhagavan and Lakshmi to resume their normal meals.

It has been widely reported that Lakshmi often gave birth to a cow on Bhagavan’s birthday. I once saw one of these calves, pure white in colour, sitting in front of Bhagavan in the hall. Because of its colour and position, it looked just like Nandi, the mount of Siva. At that time Bhagavan was sitting on a tiger skin, Valli the deer was sitting nearby, the charcoal burner was glowing in front of the sofa, and there was a silver cobra nearby which was being used as an incense holder. With all the accoutrements of the mythical Siva in evidence, it looked like a scene from Mount Kailash, the mountain in the Himalayas where Siva is said to reside. (Living By The Words Of Bhagavan, 1st ed., pp. 86-7 )

[When other cows were given to the ashram in the early 1930s, it was decided that a proper cowshed should be built for them:]

Bhagavan: After Lakshmi came to stay here, cows from different places were brought by devotees and left here. So the cattle shed grew in size. In the beginning they were tied up here and there under a thatched shed. When Salem Sundaram Chetty, a judge, came here, he decided to construct a cowshed and fixed an auspicious time for the laying of the foundation stone. Half an hour before the appointed time, when everything was being made ready, Lakshmi broke loose from her tether and came to me running, as though to tell me that a house was being constructed for her and that I should be there. When I got up, she led me to the spot. She did the same for her housewarming ceremony also. Somehow she used to understand everything. Very smart indeed! (Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, letter 50, 24th July, 1948.)

[In Sri Ramana Reminiscences (p. 179) G. V. Subbaramayya reported: ‘[Bhagavan] told me that, though she was in the form of an animal, she could understand every syllable of what we said.’

A donation of Rs 500 had been given, enough to build a small cowshed. At this point Bhagavan made a very unusual intervention:]

Annamalai Swami: Chinnaswami had made an arrangement with a local mason to build a small cowshed that would cost not more than Rs 500. Bhagavan wanted a bigger cowshed…

At about 10 a.m. one morning, before the construction began, Chinnaswami organised a small inauguration ceremony on the site of his small cowshed. [This was the function that Lakshmi brought Bhagavan to attend.]

After everyone had left Bhagavan took me aside and told me that the plan must be changed.

‘Many cows will come here in the next few years,’ he said. ‘Even if we build a big cowshed, there will be so many cows that some of them will have to be kept outside. We must make a larger cowshed and you, rather than this mason, must supervise its construction.’

He took me to the corner of the ashram where the cowshed now stands and showed me where I should build it by marking lines on the ground. We didn’t measure the length of the lines but Bhagavan told me that he wanted all four walls to be forty-eight feet long…

Bhagavan often came to the cowshed to give instructions and to see what progress had been made. He even used to visit the site during the night.

Once, as we were supervising the work together, Bhagavan told me, ‘If you build this cowshed for Lakshmi, we will get all the necessary punya [merit or good karma that accrues from performing virtuous acts] to build a bookstore, a dining room and a shrine for the mother. All this will happen in due course. This will eventually become a town.’

Lakshmi herself often came to see how we were progressing with her new home. If Bhagavan were there, he would often pat her on the head and say, ‘You must wait for a few more days. The work isn’t finished yet.’

In those days Lakshmi could wander wherever she wished. Sometimes someone would take her to graze near the Samudram Lake, but mostly she stayed in the ashram. (Living By The Words Of Bhagavan, pp. 46-7, 53)