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The Komitti Chetty called out to Rajagopalan. Rajagopalan was a very short-tempered man and could not tolerate anyone who disturbed him from his set goal. He turned towards the Chetty angrily mingled with surprise that someone should find him in this jungle at this hour! He was shy of any propaganda (of his devotion to the Lord) and that someone should have found him, raised his anger. "Who are you? Why have you come here at this hour?" he asked the Chetty angrily. The Komitti Chetty explained, "Perumal appeared to me and said that you were His devotee. It was He who showed me this place, as He is concerned about your safety. The Lord has bid me to take you away from here to a safe place. So I have come to take you. Please come with me."

Rajagopalan was dumbstruck at the kindness of the Lord in answering his prayers. He rushed to a nearby rock and hit his head against it as he realized that if only he had demanded to 'see' the Lord 'He' would have appeared to him. He said to himself, "Oh! Lord! I asked You for a proof of Your existence and You have given it to me. Curse on me that I did not demand to have Your darshan!" He accompanied the Chetty to his room and later went to Perumbakkam, near Madras, his father-in-law's town. He told his family that he had been robbed of all his things. Such bluffs are pardonable when one is on the path of God realization.

After a while Rajagopalan accepted an offer to teach English to a child of a Chettiar. He offered to go over to the Chettiar's house everyday to teach the child. In this house he found a beautiful picture of Lord Kodandarama. (Lord Rama holding a bow and arrow). The picture was vibrant. When he was asked about his fees for the tuition he requested in all earnestness, "Will you permit me to perform puja to this Rama? I ask this as my fees for teaching English to your child!" The father of the child was surprised as well as delighted with this request and said, "You are a great devotee of the Lord. It is our pleasure that one such as you should perform puja to Sri Kodandarama. You can come here any day, any time and perform the puja for any length of time as you wish." This was enough for this devotee of the Lord. He visited the Chettiar's house regularly but said to them, "Whatever puja that you people perform regularly please do it and I will do mine later. This is because my puja might take hours!" Yes, it was indeed so. His puja was a never-ending one. He would start offering flowers in archanai. As he uttered the 'Nãmavali' his mind's eye would see the various divine plays of the Lord and he would be lost in it. He would speak to Rama, "Oh! Rama! How much affection You bestowed on the old woman Sabari! Valmiki says, 'You are an ocean of compassion that you will not remember the biggest sin commited but will remember even the smallest good deed done."

Sri Swamigal explained, "Real Bhaktas will not curse themselves. Cursing is 'râjasa (Emotions like anger, passion, etc.) bhakti'."

One day as Rajagopalan performed puja to Lord Kodandarama, the 'Kodandam' - the bow - from the picture of the Lord fell out onto him! And Rajagopalan cried out, "Rama! Rama! Seethe! Seethe! Kodandamã? (Is it the bow)" and fell in a state of Samadhi! He remained in this state of Samadhi for six months!

Since the Lord had answered a prayer of his it encouraged him to demand a darshan of Him. One early morning he filled a coconut shell with poison and went up to Chembarampakkam Lake. He declared to the Lord, " I now demand Your Darshan. If I am not blessed with it by dusk I will drink this and give up my life. Of what use is this life if I cannot have Your Darshan?" It was deep faith. A very obstinate person that he was the whole day he sat chanting the Lord's Nãma, awaiting the Lord's Darshan. It was dusk and the Lord had not appeared. Determined as he was Rajagopalan picked up the cup of poison and placed it to his lips to drink it up when a 'Gaurda' (the divine vehicle of Lord Vishnu) flew down from nowhere and carried away the cup in its beak. Rajagopalan was at a loss to know what to do. He lamented, "Oh! Lord! You will neither bless me with Your Darshan nor let me die."

In Madras on the terrace of the English company where he worked he did his Sandya Vandanam. He sat there doing Nãma Sankirtanam. He was then around 35-40 years of age. He sang out loudly, "Vasudeva pãhimãm! Vasudeva Pãhimãm!" He heard someone repeat after him and looked about angrily. He called out, "Who is that?" It was the Devas! They had gathered there to hear him do Nãma Sankirtanam with such deep devotion. They had formed a circle high above and went round clapping their hands, repeating the Lord's Nãma after Rajagopalan and also declaring, "He is a Siddha! (Siddha here means one who has realized the Self) He is a Siddha!" The Devas showered flowers on Rajagopalan.

To be continued......

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