in the Self there is no Space-Time

Spotty came bounding into the cave.

"Some devotees have just arrived! They came all the way from somewhere terribly far away. Maybe Pluto, or somewhere! Totally azausted, both of them." Spotty loved delivering exciting news.

"Have they seen Bhagavan?" asked Arunacub.

"Did they come on a spaceship?" asked Omcub.

"Are you sure it was Pluto?" asked Tirucub.

"It might have been even further!" said Spotty dramatically. "Peru."

"Oh, Peru!" said Tirucub. "That is on earth."

Omcub looked a bit disappointed.

"And they haven't seen Bhagavan yet. Let's go!"

The four cubs sprang up and dashed down the hill.

A few minutes later, Meditator Tiger came along looking for Spotty (so he said, but Mum Lioness saw him scanning areas that were much more likely to contain Ramana Munches than a little leopard cub, such as the kitchen counters and cupboards.) Just as he had feared, every last morsel had been distributed as prasad by Bhagavan's attendent, or given out as prizes at the Annual Games. He and Mum Lioness decided to lope down the hill to see if there was any truth to Spotty's rumour.

Sure enough, they found a couple from Peru telling the story of their long, arduous journey to Bhagavan. As the couple narrated all the hardships they had gone through, Bhagavan listened and then remarked, "You need not have taken all this trouble. You could well have thought of me from where you were, and so could have had all the consolation of a personal visit."



The couple appeared baffled by this remark. Bhagavan did not want to take anything away from their happiness at being beside him, so he said no more.

Later in the evening Bhagavan was asking about their day-to-day life, and incidentally their talk turned to Peru. The couple began picturing the landscape of Peru and were describing the sea-coast and the beach of their own town.

Bhagavan asked them, "Is not the beach of your town paved with marble slabs, and are not coconut palms planted in between? Are there not marble benches in rows facing the sea there and did you not often sit on the fifth of those with your wife?"

Bhagavan's questions astonished the couple. How could Bhagavan, who had never gone out of Tiruvannamalai, know so intimately such minute details about their own place?

Bhagavan only smiled and remarked: "It does not matter how I can tell. Enough if you know that in the Self there is no Space-Time."