DIVINE GUIDANCE

When I first worked in the kitchen, there were no proper jars for foodstuffs. Everything was kept in tins and pots, which would leak and spill and make the floor in the kitchen messy and slippery. Once, when I scrubbed the kitchen very carefully, Bhagavan congratulated me on the neatness in the kitchen.
I sighed: 'What is the use, Swami. People will come and spill the oil and scatter the flour and it will be all the same again. We must have proper jars and containers.'
Ten days later I was called to the hall. Attendants were opening wooden boxes that contained six beautiful jars.
'You wanted jars, now you have jars. Take them to the kitchen,' said Bhagavan. On inquiry it was found that some stationmaster had mistakenly booked them to the ashram.
Such mysterious coincidences happened almost daily, both at the ashram and in the homes of the devotees. Unless one has witnessed this for oneself, it is hard to believe that such strange coincidences could happen so often.
I often found it difficult to convince others that all the things that happened in front of me were true. Such things happen even now.
A few days ago [this was written in the 1950s] I was taking a lady visitor to the ashram. I did not feel well and wanted to go home and have some change from the ashram rice. I stayed in the dining room for the lady's sake but did not eat. Subbalakshmi, who did not stay for food, went home, made some wheat cakes, packed them in a leaf, brought them to the ashram, and gave them to me to eat. She told me that she did not know why she was baking the cakes or who was going to eat them until she heard later that I wanted to eat something other than rice. To me it was clearly Bhagavan's care, but how can I convince others?
I can give another example. Once I had no money and badly needed some.
I prayed silently to Bhagavan: 'Ramana, how can I get hold of a little money?'
Three days later a money order came for me from Dr. Srinivasa Rao, whom I did not even know. It seems he was reading an account of Bhagavan's life, and on reading the name of Shantammal decided that it would be nice to send her some money. How can such spontaneous actions be explained?

Shantammal in 'The Power of the Presence', part III