Because of his meagre income as a school teacher, T. K. Sundaresa Iyer (TKS) could afford to take only a small quantity of sugar candy or puffed rice as an offering to Bhagavan.

One day, he did not have even that much. Sad, he went empty handed and fell at the feet of Bhagavan, “Bhagavan, I am so unhappy. I do not have any money, so I could not bring you any offering.”

Bhagavan smiled and said, “Why, you brought the most important thing. Everything else is unimportant.”

TKS was puzzled.

“You brought yourself!” declared Bhagavan.

The case in point here is that you should never exclude yourself from the spiritual journey. It is very easy to extol the guru and his teachings. In the process, you should never exclude yourself – you are equally important.

As the days passed, he was often filled with doubts. Once, he asked Bhagavan, “What is that one thing Bhagavan, knowing which all doubts are resolved?”

Bhagavan replied, “Know the doubter; if the doubter be held, the doubts will not arise. Recognize for certain that all are jnanis, all are realized beings. Only a few are aware of this fact. Therefore, doubts arise. Doubts must be uprooted. This means, that the doubter must be uprooted. When the doubter ceases to exist, no doubts will rise. Here, the doubter means the mind.”

TKS asked, “What is the method, Bhagavan?”

Bhagavan answered sharply, “Enquire „Who am I?‟ This investigation alone will remove and uproot the doubter mind and thus establish one in the Self, the transcendental state.”

On another occasion, TKS had another doubt. He was a pundit, a traditional man, who had read many scriptures. Thus, the six chakras, the psychic centres, kundalini and so on, fascinated him.

He asked Bhagavan about them and Bhagavan replied,

“The Self alone is to be realized. Kundalini shakti, visions of God, occult powers and their spell binding displays are all in the Self. Those who speak of these and indulge in these have not realized the Self. Self is in the Heart and is the Heart itself. All other forms of manifestations are in the brain. The brain itself gets its power from the Heart. Remaining in the Heart is realizing the Self. Instead of doing that, to be attracted by brain oriented forms of disciplines and methods is a sheer waste of time. Is it not foolish to hold on to so many efforts and so many disciplines that are said to be necessary for eradicating the non-existent ignorance?”

~ Excerpt from Ramana Periya Puranam (The Inner Journey of 75 Old Devotees) compiled by Sri V. Ganesan.