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Kitchen Upanishad

The ladies who worked in the kitchen of Ramanasramam lamented that they missed out on the spiritual discussions that took place in the main hall. One day, as Bhagavan was helping the ladies make offerings for a festival, they ran out of filling and had to share from each other's portions. Bhagavan used this as an opportunity to teach them about a verse from the Isha Upanishad, which states that the whole remains the same whether a part is taken or added. He showed them they had proven this truth through their practical actions in the kitchen, without even realizing it. This incident demonstrated how Bhagavan taught spiritual principles to ordinary people in simple, everyday ways.

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115 views3 pages

Kitchen Upanishad

The ladies who worked in the kitchen of Ramanasramam lamented that they missed out on the spiritual discussions that took place in the main hall. One day, as Bhagavan was helping the ladies make offerings for a festival, they ran out of filling and had to share from each other's portions. Bhagavan used this as an opportunity to teach them about a verse from the Isha Upanishad, which states that the whole remains the same whether a part is taken or added. He showed them they had proven this truth through their practical actions in the kitchen, without even realizing it. This incident demonstrated how Bhagavan taught spiritual principles to ordinary people in simple, everyday ways.

Uploaded by

Ravi Sridhar
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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KITCHEN UPANISHAD

The ladies working in the Ramanasramam kitchen, mostly early widows,


had their work cut out for them and would be engaged throughout the
day almost. All ladies had to leave the ashram at 6 p.m. That was the
rule. The ashram did not then have facilities to house ladies within its
premises. 

The kitchen ladies Shantamma, Tenamma, Varanasi Subbulakshmi,


Lokamma, Sampurnammal and others always used to feel that they were
missing the uplifting discussions taking place in the Darshan Hall with
Sanskrit, Vedic and Upanishadic scholars asking Bhagavan various
philosophical questions and Bhagavan answering them. Their time with
Bhagavan would be in the early mornings when he would come at 3 a.m.
to the kitchen, cut vegetables, prepare the ingredients for grinding and
give instructions on the method of cooking the dishes etc. Oh, yes, he
was a great cook himself. But the ladies, always lamented that their lot
was just to fry, grind, boil and serve and that they were not gaining
spiritually.

Came Vinayaka Chaturthi one year. Modakam (கொழுக்கட்டை


kozhukkaTTai in Tamil) had to be prepared. Rice powder was cooked
and made into small choppus, hollow round balls, to hold the pUrNam.
The pUrNam, made out of jaggery, coconut and cardamom, all cooked
together, according to Bhagavan’s instructions was ready. The rice
choppus had to be filled with pUrNam. 

Bhagavan sat together with 6 ladies and all of them began filling the rice
choppus with pUrNam. In course of time, one lady who did her work
quickly, found that she had run out of pUrNam. She asked another lady,
“என்னோட பூர்ணம் ஆயிடுத்து. உன்னோட
பூர்ணத்திலேர்ந்து கொஞ்சம் குடு Hey, my pUrNam is over.
Give me some of your pUrNam”. And another lady who found her
pUrNam running out asked Bhagavan himself, “பகவானே,
என்கிட்டே இருந்த பூர்ணம் ஆயிடுத்து.
உங்களோடலேர்ந்து கொஞ்சம் குடுங்கோ Bhagavan, my
pUrNam is over, give me some of yours”. 

This happened about 4 times and all the while, Bhagavan was doing his
work with a mischievous smile dancing on his face. The next time this
happened, Bhagavan remarked,

“Look, do you realize what you are doing? You people are just proving
the Isha Upanishad mantra in action. What does the mantra say?   

ॐ पुर्नमद पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात पूर्ण मुदच्यते  पूर्णस्य  पूर्ण मादाय पूर्णमेव


वसिष्यते ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्ति

Om purnamadah purnamidam purnaat purna mudacyate


purnasya purna-maadaaya purnamevaa vashisyate
Om Shantih shantih shantih

If purna (the whole) is taken away from purna, what remains is purna. If
purna is added to purna, what remains is again purna. That is peace, that
is the Eternal Truth. You all, who are illiterate, have proved the truth of
the Upanishads by your action here in the kitchen.”

This was how Bhagavan taught practical wisdom to the simple, illiterate
folks. Needless to say, the kitchen ladies never again felt the "loss" of
the "scholarly discussions" in the Darshan Hall.

 Photo: 1) Bhagavan, getting ready to eat, in the Dining Hall; 2) Group


Photo with Bhagavan and some of the lady cooks, Santhamma, Varanasi
Subbulakshmi, Lokamma etc., along with Bhagavan’s sister Alamelu
standing to his left behind him. Sitting on the ground is Bhagavan’s
younger brother Niranjanananda Swami’s son, the then 14 year old
T.N.Venkataraman, who became President of Ramanasramam in 1953
and ruled the ashram for 41 years till 1994. He passed away at the age of
93 in 2007. This group photo was taken in 1928 when Bhagavan was 49
years old.

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