Dr. M. Anantanarayana Rao

In December 1948, while I was massaging Bhagavan's hand, I felt a small nodule above his elbow. In July 1949, the damaged tissue flared up. I begged him to make a resolve to heal himself. He smiled and sat silent till I repeated my request. 
He then answered, "There is no mind here, so the question of a resolve does not arise."

To Bhagavan, the body with its ills did not exit. While dressing a large wound, pain is inevitable, but he did not show any pain and even assisted with his right hand in adjusting the bandage, as if it were an arm belonging to another.
During dressing of the tumour, I had to wipe it with rectified spirits.
One day the spirits from the swab flowed on his arm and body. He at once said that he had a 'spirit bath' and that all should have such baths. I did not
understand the significance of this and asked him to kindly explain the same.

He smilingly said, "Fish are always in water and cannot survive on coming out of it. Similarly, we are in Spirit or Pure Consciousness and should always be in it as fish in water. One should always consciously remain in Pure Consciousness or Self." 

That made me believe that he was always in sahaja samadhi. Often on seemingly small matters he spoke great words of instruction. Those instructions had a grip on us.
In the course of a conversation in 1949 he described to us that tears flow from the outer canthus of the eye of a man when he is very
happy and from the inner canthus when he is sad. It is a correct observation.

On the evening of his nirvana day (April 14, 1950), I was in that room among others. At his request he was assisted to sit up, with legs stretched in front. He had kept his eyes closed, and his breathing was gradually becoming shallow. The devotees outside began singing 'Arunachala Siva'.
He opened his eyes, looked at the direction from where the voices came and then closed the eyes. Tears came gushing from the outer canthus of
the eyes. I felt that it was the visible sign of the Supreme Bliss of rejoining the ONE without a second. The body was discarded very peacefully.

- Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi. (88).

Dr. M. Anantanarayana Rao was for a long time doctor-in-charge of the Ashram's dispensary.

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