No Price For Moksha

Sri Annamalai Swami

Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) told me, "If you want moksha, copy this book (ellam ondre) into your notebook. Then study it and live according to its precepts."

I told B, "You are keeping me very busy. I have no time for copying. If someone else writes it down I will happily read it and study it."

B refused to accept my excuse. "You have time to write your mekedu (daily list which showed how much Chinnaswami should pay to each worker). Are you trying to get moksha by paying a price for it? I asked you to write it yourself because if you do it this way it will get impressed on your mind. If you write it once it is the equivalent of reading it ten times. Write a little every day. There is no hurry. Even if it takes a month you should do it yourself."

From that day on I put aside a little time each day to do the copying. Bhagavan himself assisted me by writing down the headings for each chapter on the contents page of my notebook. He also completed the copying by writing the last line himself. When the copying was over he went through the notebook and corrected all my mistakes. Although I could read fairly well I had never taken the trouble to learn to write properly. 

On another occasion, while he was giving me some building plans, he wrote out a verse from the Tirukkural and gave it to me: 'The state of oneness in which one is established in the Self is greater than a big mountain.'

I still have that verse. It is now posted under a photo of Bhagavan in my room.