Lessons From Ramana

Sri Annamalai Swami

Never Shirk Your Duties/Responsibilities:

There was a room near the kitchen which was rarely cleaned. It was dusty and dirty and the floor was usually covered with old banana leaves and vegetable cuttings. Many people walked through this room but no one ever took the trouble to tidy it until Bhagavan (B) himself took a broom and completely cleaned the whole room. While B was doing the job several devotees tried to stop him, saying, "Please Bhagavan, let me do this work. I will clean this room." B refused to hand over his broom. To all volunteers he gave the same reply: 'Only now your eyes are on this. Did you not see the mess before?' B collected all the rubbish on a large piece of paper, took it outside and thew it away. From that day on the room was cleaned regularly.

Do Not Waste Anything:

Once, as the midday meal was being prepared, a few mustard seeds fell on the ground. The cooks ignored them but B picked them up one by one with his fingernails and put them in a small pot. Sama Iyer, one of the brahmins who worked in the kitchen, remarked, "B is taking these few mustard seeds and saving them. B is also very miserly about saving money. For whom is B saving all this?"

"All these things are created by God", replied B. "We should not waste even small things. If it is useful for someone, it is good to keep it."

B often ignored our many faults but he rarely kept quiet if he witnessed any devotees being wasteful. In June 1939, when B was returning from one of his walks on the hill, I saw him accost the son of T. K. Sundaresa Iyer and gave him a stern lecture.

"Your father tells me that you are buying many useless things. Don't spend in excess of your income. You must be thrifty. Fire, debt, sense objects and poison. Even a drop of any of these is capable of destroying us."

B gave me a similar lecture while I was supervising the construction of the new dining room. He had given me a rusty bent 1 1/2 inch nail and asked me to clean it, straighten it, and use it in the dining room.

"But Bhagavan, we have just received many kilos of brand new nails. We don't need old nails like this.", I protested.

B disagreed. After telling me that everything that was useful should be used, he repeated his instructions about renovating the nail.

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From Srimad Bhagavad Gita:

Perform action always without attachment. For, by working without attachment a man attains the Supreme. Men like Janaka verily attained to perfection by work alone. You ought to work for the good of the world. 

Whatever the noblest persons do, the ordinary man imitates. The standard they set, the ordinary men follow.

Neither is there anything that I have to gain, nor anything that I cannot gain. Still I am always engaged in work. O son of Prtha, if I did not ever continue in action unwearied, men all around would have followed My way.