In Profile Venuammal
Venuammal, the younger sister of the devoted Echammal, was herself a deeply committed devotee of Bhagavan. Like her sister, she endured great sorrow early in life.
Married at the age of fifteen, she soon gave birth to a daughter but was widowed not long afterward and left to raise the child alone.
Echammal had come to Bhagavan as a widow in 1906, and Venuammal followed a few years later. At Skandasramam she assisted Bhagavan’s mother, Alagammal, in the kitchen, and a close bond grew between them. Alagammal is said to have regarded Venuammal as her own daughter. When Bhagavan’s Mother fell ill, it was Venuammal who nursed her with tender care until her final hours in May 1922.
Though Venuammal was poor, she managed to get her daughter married at the age of seventeen. On 20th October 1920, her daughter, Balakuchambal gave birth to a baby girl who was named Rajalakshmi. Venuammal was overjoyed.
But like Echammal, Venuammal’s happiness would not endure. Tragedy struck with the sudden death of her daughter in 1923. Inconsolable, Venuammal came from town late in the night and poured out her sorrow before Bhagavan. Bhagavan shared her grief and consoled her by telling her that the purpose for which her daughter had been born in this world was over and of necessity she had to leave it. Moreover, he said, the body dies whereas the atman is deathless. Consoled by his words, she returned home.
Venuammal’s granddaughter was now displaced as the girl’s father was employed and could not look after her. So, it was decided that the motherless child, not yet three years old, should come and live with Venuammal. Thus in 1923, Venuammal took the responsibility of mothering her young granddaughter.
By this time, Bhagavan had already come down from the Hill and was settled near his mother’s samadhi on the plot of ground that would come to be called Sri Ramanasramam.
Venuammal served at the Ashram, but her house was in town. So, each morning, she took her granddaughter along with her to the Ashram.
Her granddaughter and Bhagavan got along famously. She called Bhagavan Thatha or ‘grandpa’ and Bhagavan happily played the part.
In the first months at her new home, the youngster often cried for her mother who was no more. Bhagavan used to tell her that both he and she were in the same boat since he too had just a year earlier lost his mother.
The Cooking Game
In those years, Bhagavan would sometimes sit near Pali Tirtham on a raised platform under a tree and the girl would come and play near him. Once, when she was playing the ‘cooking game’, she offered small stones as cooked rice to Bhagavan and asked him to eat them. Bhagavan readily complied and put the stones into his mouth, pretending to eat them. On seeing this, Venuammal asked Bhagavan why he was putting stones in his mouth. Bhagavan replied that he and Rajalakshmi were playing the ‘cooking game’ and the stones she happily offered to him as food should be put in his mouth, otherwise the game would be spoiled.
On another occasion, the girl was seated next to Bhagavan in the dining hall when Venuammal was serving. When she served her granddaughter some brinjal, the girl asked for more. Venuammal recited a Sanskrit proverb, Aasaa aasaa parama dukham, Niraasa parama sukham (‘Desire is the supreme suffering, and contentment is the supreme happiness’) and refused to give her more. Just as she was about to serve more brinjal to Bhagavan, Bhagavan repeated the same proverb and refused to accept a second helping.
Venuammal told Bhagavan that the proverb was meant for the child, not for him. Bhagavan replied that what was applicable to the child was also applicable to him; if the young child could not be served more, then neither should he.
Venuammal’s Sri Chakra
Her own devotion was marked by simplicity and inwardness. During the Skandasramam days, the women were in the habit of chanting the Lalita Sahasranama and had on the altars in their homes the Sri Chakra,[1] forged in the five-metals, that they used during their recitation. The Sri Chakra is the sacred geometric diagram of the Sri Vidya tradition, formed by nine interlocking triangles around a central bindu, symbolizing the union of Shiva and Shakti and the non-dual cosmos. Venuammal had no such image and felt that her devotion during her Lalita Sahasranama chanting suffered because of it. Seeing this, Bhagavan sat and drew her a Sri Chakra by hand, colouring in at the appropriate places and bringing life to Venuammal’s life of devotion—a sacred gift that became the centre of worship in her family for generations.[2]
In 1950, when Venuammal prepared to undertake a pilgrimage to Kashi, Bhagavan asked her to bathe in the Ganges on his behalf. One night, while immersed in the holy river and meditating on the name “Ramana,” she beheld a brilliant shooting star streaking across the sky. The following morning, she learned that, at that very moment, Bhagavan had shed the mortal body. For devotees, the coincidence bore the quiet mark of grace linking the sacred river, the Guru’s passing, and the heart of a faithful servant. Venuammal’s life, like that of her sister Echammal, was woven of suffering, endurance, and unwavering devotion. —
[1] Encircled by lotus rings and a temple-like square, it represents creation, consciousness, and bliss, and in three dimensions appears as Mount Meru.
2 Adapted from articles by Rajalakshmi’s son, A. Viswanathan for The Mountain Path, 2008, Aradhana pp. 38-39 and Advent pp. 28-33.
[1] Encircled by lotus rings and a temple-like square, it represents creation, consciousness, and bliss, and in three dimensions appears as Mount Meru.
[2] Adapted from articles by Rajalakshmi’s son, A. Viswanathan for The Mountain Path, 2008, Aradhana pp. 38-39 and Advent pp. 28-33.
