An American lady unaccustomed to squatting on the floor somehow managed to sit in the hall by stretching her legs towards Bhagavan’s sofa.

One of the attendants suggested to her that she sit cross-legged. When Bhagavan saw that he said smiling, “When they find it difficult even to sit down on the floor, should you force them to sit cross-legged also?” “No, no! As they do not know that it is disrespectful to stretch their legs towards Bhagavan, I merely told them so, that is all,” said the devotee.

“Oh is that so! It is disrespectful, is it? Then it is disrespectful for me to stretch my legs towards them. What you say applies to me as well.” Saying this in a lighter vein, Bhagavan sat up cross-legged.

Even though the rheumatism in Bhagavan’s legs rendered them painful and stiff after ten minutes of being folded, he continued to sit cross-legged stretching them from time to time, saying that it might be deemed disrespectful.

Even after the visitors took leave he kept his legs folded saying, “I do not know if I can stretch them. They say it is not good manners.” The attendant stood by Bhagavan’s side crestfallen and repentant. Bhagavan, full of compassion, stretched out his legs as usual and began telling this story.

Seeing that Sundaramurthi was going away on a white elephant which had come from Kailas, the Rajah of Chera whispered in the ear of his horse the panchakshara mantra and got upon it to go to Kailas.

Avvaiyar, who was at the time doing puja to Lord Ganesa, saw them both going to Kailas and so tried to hurry up her puja as she too wanted to go to Kailas.By the time Sundaramurthi and Chera Raja reached the place, they found her already seated there. Surprised at that they asked her how she had got there and were overjoyed at her bhakti. After all, she was very old. So she sat facing Parameswara with her legs stretched out like me. Parvati could not bear that sight. She was worried because to sit with legs stretched out towards Swami, she felt, was a great insult.

She respectfully suggested to Parameswara that she should be permitted to tell the old lady about it. “Oh, don’t speak, don’t open your mouth. We should not say anything to her.”

How could Parvati put up with that insult? She, therefore, whispered into the ear of her maid to tell the old lady, who said, “Grandma, Grandma, don’t keep your legs outstretched towards Iswara”. “Is that so?” She replied, “Tell me on which side Iswara is not present. Shall I turn this side?” asked Avvaiyar. So saying, she turned her outstretched legs to another side and Iswara got turned to that side; and when again she turned in a different direction, He also got turned to the same side. Then Parvati requested the old lady to excuse her. It is similar to that when people are asked not to stretch their legs towards Swami. Where is He not present?

Seeing that, Ganesa said, “Old woman, don’t hurry. Let your puja be performed as usual. I shall take you to Kailas before they reach it.” Accordingly, the puja was performed in due course. Waving his hand around, he said, “Old lady, close your eyes.” That was all. When she opened her eyes, she found herself seated in Kailas in front of Parvati and Parameswara.

Thus Swami got turned to whichever side she turned her legs. Looking at Parvati, Iswara said, “Do you see now? You would not listen to me. See how she turns me this side and that. That is why I told you not to open your mouth.”

Umadevi, a Polish lady had traveled in Kashmir and brought some photos which were shown to all in the old hall. Bhagavan humorously remarked, “We have seen those places without the trouble of travelling.”

A devotee thereby said, “I wish to go to Kailas.” Sri Bhagavan said, “1 can see these places only if destined. Not otherwise. After seeing all, there will still remain more – if not in this hemisphere, may be in the other. Knowledge implies ignorance of what lies beyond what is known. Knowledge is always limited.”

After sometime Sri Bhagavan related the following story.

Appar was decrepit and old and yet began to a travel to Kailas. Another old man appeared on the way and tried to dissuade him from the attempt, saying that it was too difficult to reach there.

Appar was however obdurate and said that he would risk his life in the attempt. The stranger asked him to dip himself in a tank close by. Appar did so and found Kailas then and there. Where did all this happen?

In Tiruvayyar, 9 miles from Tanjore. Where is Kailas then? Is it within the mind or outside it? If Tiruvayyar be truly Kailas, it must appear to others as well. But Appar alone found it so.

Similarly it is said of other places of pilgrimage in the South, that they are the abodes of Siva and devotees found them so. This was true from their standpoint. Everything is within. There is nothing without.

At some other time another visitor started wailing before Bhagavan that he was being quite crushed under the enormity of his sins. Bhagavan asked: “When you sleep, are you a sinner?” “No, I am just asleep.” “If you are not a sinner, then you must be good.” “No, I am neither good nor bad when I am asleep. I know nothing about myself.” “And what do you know about yourself now? You say you are a sinner. You say so because you think you are. Were you pleased with yourself, you would call yourself a good man and stop telling me about your being a sinner. What do you know about good and evil except what is in your mind? When you see that the mind invents everything, all will vanish, and you will remain as you are” - The Bhagavan I Knew by Voruganti Krishnayya. As told to G. Vankatachalam. Translated from Telugu by Surya Prasad Ramana Smrti Souvenir.

“What will it be like when one achieves Self-realization?” somebody asked. “The question is all wrong, one does not realize anything new,” said Bhagavan. “I don't get you, Swami.” “It is very simple. Now you feel like you are in the world. There you feel like the world is in you,” explained Ramana Maharishi.

Ramana Maharshi mainly gave his grace through silence. On some rare Occasions Ramana Maharshi used to answer seeker's questions and some times narrated short stories to make the point clear to the seekers. While telling stories Ramana Maharshi used to get very much involved. On one occasion while describing Gautama’s joy at Goddess Parvati’s coming to his Ashram, Sri Bhagavan could not go on, for tears filled his eyes and emotion choked his voice. Trying to hide his plight from others, he remarked, “I don’t know how people who perform Harikatha explain such passages to audiences and manage to do it without breaking down. I suppose they must make their hearts hard like stone before starting their work".