KRISHNA BHIKSHU, part 25

Sambasiva Rao was the eldest brother of a large family who came from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. All of them were devoted to Bhagavan. They were introduced to Bhagavan shortly after their father, Venkatachalamaiah Garu, passed away. A few days later his wife had a dream in which her late husband appeared in their puja room. He was worshipping the gods there along with someone she had never seen before. 

Venkatachalamaiah Garu spoke to her and said, 'I am going away now. I am leaving my entire family in this man's charge.' 

It was not until much later that his wife identified the other man in the dream as Bhagavan. 

It was the third brother, Satyanarayana Rao, who was the main cause of the rest of the family coming into contact with Bhagavan. When he was employed as a schoolteacher in Vellore, he became acquainted with Pranavanandam Garu, a great bhakta of Bhagavan. Since Vellore was only about fifty miles from Ramanasramam, he visited regularly and soon became a devotee. 

Satyanarayana Rao opened the first bookstore in the ashram in 1930. Prior to that, the ashram's books were sold only in the Arunachaleswara Temple by a group of Bhagavan's devotees who lived there. When Chinnaswami took over the running of the ashram in 1929, Satyanarayana Rao collected all the books that were lying in the temple, brought them to the ashram and opened a bookstore there. 

I was present when Narasinga Rao, the youngest brother asked Bhagavan about the divine force that animates us all. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Bhagavan's sofa. The hall was almost empty. 

'Bhagavan,' he said, 'Now I am sitting here, without moving. You tell me that a sakti [a divine power] is animating everyone and that it will fulfill the purpose for which a bodv is born. Now, how that force will move me, I shall see.' 

Bhagavan replied, smiling, 'Yes, yes, you will sit like this for a while. When it is 5.30 p.m., the time that you usually go to town, your mother will get up and prostrate to me. Your sister and wife will also do so. Then you will get up, prostrate and accompany them to town, since you have come to Tiruvannamalai to help them. Later on, who is it that will go to Nellore to practice as a lawyer, you or I? This force, this sakti, makes the body do the destined work for which it has come into existence. Nothing else is involved. No you, no "I". There is no other force to counteract it. There is only one force, and mind and prana [the animating life force] are its branches.' 

Though all the five brothers eventually became devotees of Bhagavan, Sambasiva Rao initially had very little interest or devotion. When he came to see Bhagavan, he would not even care to bow and took his presence very much for granted. On one visit he told Bhagavan that he was going home to Nellore without even the courtesy of asking permission to leave. 

Bhagavan looked at him seriously and merely said, 'Yes'. 

Surprisingly, Sambasiva Rao found that he just couldn't leave. The first day it was raining too hard, the next day he was late for the train, and on the third day he had fever. When he again tried to leave, the horse-cart did not come in time. He thought it was all Bhagayan's magic and was quite indignant. Having nothing else to do, he would sit all day in a corner of the half, inwardly fuming and swearing. 

While he was sitting there he overheard Bhagavan saying to somebody: 'If you have to get angry, get angry with good people. If you get angry with bad people, you may get it back with interest.' 

Sambasiva Rao was startled, thinking that the words were meant for him. 

'Bhagavan,' he said, 'is there no danger in abusing good people?' 

Bhagavan smiled and said, 'When good people are abused, they may not retaliate, but they are hurt, and because of that the' abuser may have to suffer. There is also a saying in the scriptures that he who curses good people gets all the bad that may be still left in them. 

If you want to curse at all, curse Bhagavan. He will not be hurt and he is without sin. You are safe in cursing him. He wants only to be remembered. The mood in which you remember him is of less importance. Were it otherwise, how could Ravana and Sishupala get salvation?'

Sambasiva Rao heard it in silence and his way of behaving with Bhagavan changed completely. 

- The Power of the Presence, III

- Sambasiva Rao sits beside Bhagavan