Ranga Rao

Ranga Rao hailed from a very pious family. While he was studying at Dindugal, Chandrasekara Saraswati Swami the future Paramacharya of Kanchi mutt and our own Viswanatha Swami were his classmates.

While he was living in Cuddalore with his family, they heard of a Brahmanaswami living on the slopes of Arunachala. He had his first darshan of Bhagavan in 1912 in Virupaksha cave and was deeply moved by the peaceful experience.

His next meeting did not happen until 12 years later in 1924. Between 1912-1924, Ranga Rao had lost most of his family members including his wife. He was still employed in Kanhangad and he used to meet Swami Ramdas in Kanhangad at least once a week. On one occasion the Swami was in deep samadhi and after some time remarked “It is time to catch the train. You can go now.”

Next day while at his work desk, he had a sudden awakening about the futility of his employment since he had no one to support. His only surviving family member was his father, a pensioned retiree not exactly dependent on him for sustenance. He lost the will to continue working for money. Nothing made sense. He left his home with no particular destination in mind. He left behind all his belongings and trusting the generosity of total strangers embarked on an arduous journey. After a fortnight of travel on foot and by train, he reached Tindivanam and decided to proceed to the Vindhyas. However, remembering Bhagavan, he decided to have His darshan before proceeding farther. By this time Bhagavan was staying at the foot of Arunachala in the fledgling Sri Ramanasramam. He spent three days with Bhagavan. He used to eat in a local hotel. Chinnaswami was responsible for the cooking then. On the fourth day, he asked Ranga Rao to stay for food. Ranga Rao found Chinnaswami preparing the food and offered to help. Chinnaswami was pleased with his work and asked him to stay on as an inmate of the ashram. That same day, Bhagavan heard Ranga Rao’s story intently and from that day onwards Bhagavan also came to the kitchen and took over the cooking along with Ranga Rao thereby ending Chinnaswami’s kitchen duty.

Being an early riser, he was one of the few devotees who could get to the kitchen around the same time as Bhagavan and he got to spend some exclusive time with Him. Though he had no culinary training, working alongside Bhagavan, his culinary skills blossomed and he cooked with flair which everyone appreciated. Yet, he continued to nurture the dream of going away to the Vindhyas. Around Navaratri of that year, that urge overwhelmed him and he even went as far as Tindivanam but had a sudden change of heart and returned much to the relief of all including Bhagavan who exclaimed “Rayar is back!”

Around this time Upadesa Saram had just been published and Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni was giving discourses on Upadesa Saram in the ashram. Bhagavan introduced Ranga Rao to Kavyakantha and like many, he was completely taken in by the flawless erudition of the Muni. He started spending a lot of time with Kavyakantha.^[1]

In addition to the kitchen, he helped with pooja in the Mother’s shrine. He was an endearing devotee who had moved well with all the ashramites.

One of the early Veda patasala students, Sri Narasimha Iyer recalls that when the ashram was able to print invitations for Mahapuja, he along with Ranga Rao would eagerly go in person and distribute the invitations to various patrons.^[2]

[2] Saranāgatī Enewsletter article

In Kunju Swami’s 'Rreminiscences' there is letters/1992/jul-aug#article.5n instance mentioned where Muruganar was contemplating about doing the annual death ceremony for his mother and Bhagavan volunteered to be one of the Brahmins and counted Ranga Rao as the other to partake food in that ceremony.

He was also one of those devotees who, along with Kunjuswami, Ramanatha Brahmachari, and Nondi Srinivasa Rao, used to go on pilgrimage to Polur, Velacheri etc to visit devotees and have satsang.

As the number of kitchen workers grew, he spent more time studying under Kavyakanta as well. He had developed a keen understanding of herbs and remedies and was becoming adept in Ayurveda.

Once, while pursuing his Sadhana in Anandashram at Sirsi under the guidance of Kavyakanta, he had an intense desire to go to Ramanasramam and serve Bhagavan for a month or so. He told Kavyakanta that by serving Bhagavan he intends to earn His blessings and that would be placed as the ultimate gurudakshina at Kavyakanta’s feet. Kavyakanta was extremely moved by the sincerity and determination of Ranga Rao’s devotion. (Source: Epistles- letters from Kavyakanta to Bhagavan, ashram publication)

By 1932 the ashram kitchen had a few lady cooks as well. Ranga Rao, who was adept in local herbs and remedies along with proper knowledge of Ayurveda set up an Ashram in Polur called “Indra Ashram”. It became a hub of not only physical but also spiritual well-being for a lot of fellow seekers. Some of the future devotees who served ashram in the later years attribute their call to serve Bhagavan emanating from this ashram in Polur.

The name “Indra ashram” begs one to speculate. He very likely came under the spell of Kavya Kanta’s social awakening clarion call - The Indrasena. Though in Polur, he would come to assist Niranjanananda frequently especially during festive days and Jayanthi, Mahapuja etc.

There are a couple of archival photographs where we also see his father whose name is not mentioned anywhere but was noted to be assisting in the day-to-day affairs of the ashram.

Back in Sri Ramanasramam, by 1938 the kitchen building was completed and Ranga Rao was asked to manage the increasingly busy and demanding kitchen. With utter humility and total surrender, he managed the kitchen from then on until Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana. It is likely that, given his Ayurvedic background, he would have prepared many medicinal concoctions for Bhagavan during the time of his illness. There is one account in GVS’s reminiscences where Ranga Rao is noted to be changing the dressing for Bhagavan after one of his surgeries.

This blessed and surrendered devotee, after a fulfilling life of service, reached the holy feet of Bhagavan in 1964.