A SQUIRREL

3rd January, 1946
(20) A SQUIRREL
Do you know how much liberty our brother squirrel
has with Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi)? Two or three years back, there used to
be one very active and mischievous fellow amongst the
squirrels. One day it so happened that when he came for
food, Bhagavan was reading and otherwise occupied and so
delayed a bit in giving him food. That mischievous fellow
would not eat anything unless Bhagavan himself held it to
his mouth. Perhaps because of his anger at the delay he
abruptly bit Bhagavan's finger, but Bhagavan still did not
offer him food.

Bhagavan was amused and said, " You are a naughty creature! You have bit my finger! I will no longer feed you. Go away!" So saying he stopped feeding the squirrel
for some days.
Would that fellow stay quiet? No, he began begging of
Bhagavan for forgiveness by crawling hither and thither.
Bhagavan put the nuts on the window sill and on the sofa
and told him to help himself. But no, he wouldn't even touch
them. Bhagavan pretended to be indifferent and not to notice.
But he would crawl up to Bhagavan's legs, jump on his body,
climb on his shoulders and do ever so many things to attract
attention.

Then Bhagavan told us all, "Look, this fellow is begging me to forgive him his mischief in biting my finger and to give up my refusal to feed him with my own hands."

He pushed the squirrel away for some days saying,
" Naughty creature! Why did you bite my finger? I won't feed you now. That is your punishment. Look, the nuts are there. Eat them all." The squirrel would not give up his
obstinacy either. Some days passed and Bhagavan had finally
to admit defeat because of his mercy towards devotees. It
then occurred to me that it was through pertinacity that
devotees attained salvation.
That squirrel did not stop at that. He gathered together
a number of his gang and began building a nest in the roof
of the hall exactly above the sofa. They began squeezing
into the beam bits of string, coconut fibre and the like.
Whenever there was wind, those things used to fall down; so
people got angry and began to drive them away. Bhagavan
however used to feel very grieved at the thought that there
was not sufficient room for the squirrels to build a nest and
that the people in the hall were driving them away. We have
only to see Bhagavan's face on such occasions to understand
the depth of his love and affection for such beings.

When I told Bhagavan that I had written to you about
the squirrels in my usual letter, he remarked with evident
pleasure: " There is a big story about these squirrels. Some time back they used to have a nest near the beam above me. They had children and then grand children and thus the members of their family grew very large. They used to play about on this sofa in whatever way they liked. When I went out for my usual walk, some little squirrels used to hide under the pillow and when on my return, I reclined on the pillow, they used to get crushed. We could not bear the sight of this, and so Madhava drove the squirrels out of the nest and sealed it by nailing some wooden boards over it. There are lots of incidents about them if one cared to write them."

See Letters and Books
(Madhava Swami was one of Bhagavan's attendants, More on his passing away is posted here under Letter 51, and is available in David Godman's book, Living by the words of Bhagavan. There is also an interesting link with the peacock Madhav who behaved exactly like Madhava Swami in the book)

WON’T YOU PLEASE HEAR MY SPEECHLESS APPEAL

Letter 19: 2nd January, 1946

You have seen Jagadiswara Sastri, haven't you? When
he was here, a dog used to go into the hall with him. It was a
particularly intelligent dog. When Sastri or his wife came
into Bhagavan's hall, it used to come in and sit like a well-
behaved child and go out along with them. It was very keen
on living in the house. People did whatever they could to
prevent it entering the hall but it was no use.
Once the old couple entrusted it to somebody when they
went to Madras and did not return for 15 days. At first, during
the first four or five days, it used to search in the halls go
round the hall, and then go about all the places which they
used to frequent. Having got tired, perhaps disgusted, with
those fruitless efforts, one morning at about 10 o'clock it came
to Bhagavan's sofa and stood there, staring fixedly at Bhagavan.
At that time I was sitting in the front row. Bhagavan was
reading the paper. Krishnaswami and others tried to send the
dog out by threats, but in vain. I too asked it to go out. No, it
wouldn't move. Bhagavan's attention was diverted by this
hubbub and he looked that way. Bhagavan observed for a
while the look of the dog and our excitement. He then put
the paper aside and, as if he had by his silence understood
the language of the dog, waved his hand towards it and said,
" Why, what is the matter? You are asking where your people have gone? Oh, I see, I understand. They have gone to Madras. They will be back in a week. Don't be afraid. Don't be worried. Be calm. Is it all right? Now, go."

Hardly had Bhagavan completed his instructions, when
the dog turned and left the place. Soon after that Bhagavan
remarked to me, "Do you see that? The dog is asking me
where its people have gone and when they are returning.
However much the people here tried to send it away it
wouldn't move until I answered its questions."

Once, it seems, the lady of the house punished the dog
with a cane for something it had done and locked it up in a
room for half a day. After it was let out, it came straight to
Bhagavan as if to complain against her and stayed at the
Ashram without going to their house for four or five days.
Bhagavan arranged to feed the dog and admonished the
lady thus: "What have you done to the dog? Why is it angry with you? It came and complained to me. Why? What have you done?" Finally she admitted her fault in Bhagavan's
presence and, with a good deal of cajoling, got the dog to go
home.

Taken from Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, Suri Nagamma, Letter 19, p 33
See also http://bhagavanramana.blogspot.com/