"Sri Nanna Paramatmane Namaha" - (By Padmaja, Narsapuram)

I had the good fortune of Sri Nannagaru’s darshan in the discourse meeting at Darbharevu. Clad in clean white clothes, he was seated on the dais. The whole hall seemed to be filled with peace- a kind of peace that I have never experienced before. He gave me the taste of the bliss of the Self. I heard the whole speech drowned in this bliss, totally forgetting my little self. I was not using my mind or intellect at that time. Whatever thoughts arose seemed to spring forth from the Guru in the Heart.

Who in this world could impart this kind of teaching? To think that we should greet him or prostrate at his feet felt grossly inadequate. Even if I were to peel my skin off and make slippers for him out of it, it would be an insufficient and trivial return. These thoughts did not come from the ‘little I’. They seemed to spring from the Heart. Soon after the speech, I waited for a long time in desperate longing before I was granted his darshan. Without any conscious effort, I fell at his feet. “Padmaja! My child! I shall come to your house” he said. It didn’t cross my mind then that he meant the Heart and not a physical house.

Once, In Arunachala, I had the chance of going to Ramanasramam with Sri Nannagaru. We all gathered in Matrubhooteshwara temple. I had the good fortune of sitting close to him. With a grace filled smile, he said, “Move away from the path. Go back. Move away from the path, go back.” I moved to the back and sat, but was totally immersed in peace. According to the body’s destiny, I had to move backwards and away from him. But, he brought forth intuitively to my mind that his words are always aimed at pushing the mind backwards …towards its roots...towards the Heart which is His true abode; and not meant only movement of the physical body. The actual work done was that he ordered the mind with its tendencies, attributes and weaknesses to move backward and make way; in the process, giving me the sweet taste of the peace and bliss from the self. From that very day, my mind starting making effort, all the time, to stay immersed in that bliss. The peace, love, compassion that flows through his gaze passed on to me the bliss of the Self. Thereby the mind unknowingly set the muhurtam (auspicious time) to annihilate itself.

Once, in Jinnuru, when Sri Nannagaru was seated in the verandah, I went to Him and asked for a chant (naamam, to repeat as mantra).

“Which name of God are you interested in?” He asked.

I replied, “I am interested in your naamam”. Then he said, “Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramana” and made me repeat.

I was surprised. I expected the naamam ‘Om Sri Nanna Paramaatmane Namaha’. But He gave me Bhagavan’s name, telling me indirectly that, that itself was his name. I felt that through this anecdote He revealed to me that He was indeed an incarnation of Sri Ramana.