A divine appearance

There is a beautiful story of Sri Ramana Maharishi appearing to a devotee in the form of Lord Subramanya in the Mountain Path, a journal published by Sri Ramanasramam. When the Maharishi was alive, there was a visitor who arrived at the darshan hall where the sage was seated. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Subramanya, (the second son of Lord Shiva, also known as Murugan, Kartikeya, Kumara, Skanda and Shanmukha) since his childhood. And he had scrupulously followed the practices prescribed in the scriptures with respect to the worship of Lord Subramanya.

Soon after entering the darshan hall, the gentleman prostrated before the Maharishi and said plaintively: “O Swami! All my life since my childhood, I have devoted myself to Lord Murugan and yet in all this time, I’ve not been blessed with a vision of the Lord.” The Maharishi continued to sit in silence, casting but a mere gaze in the direction of the devotee.

It is said that the celebrated Tamil poet Muruganar, (one of the Maharishi’s foremost devotees), happened to listen to this conversation. Normally reticent and preferring silence to a conversation, Muruganar would seldom speak or even acknowledge anyone. He would definitely not entertain a casual visitor to the Ashram. But on this occasion, he emphatically lifted his hands in Bhagawan’s direction and said: “You have been waiting for the day to have Lord Subramanya’s darshan. Why, dear man, the day you’ve been waiting for has arrived!”

Then without the slightest hesitation, he gestured toward the Maharishi’s majestic form reclining on the sofa before them and said poignantly, “Who else do you think is here in front of you? Can you not see him sitting right here in front of you?”

What followed was nothing short of a miracle because the Maharishi’s form underwent a dramatic transformation before this visitor’s eyes and indeed shone as Lord Subramanya! The man stood still and was speechless. It is said that he began to rub his eyes not trusting that what he was seeing was real and not some trick of sight. Finally, with his eyes wide open, his mouth agape and his countenance full of wonder, profuse tears began to stream down the devotee’s cheeks. His voice quivered and cracked as he shouted loud before the entire gathering: “Ammam, Ammam! (Meaning yes, yes.)