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... Keep silent.” On his birthday, 12th December — Sitaram went upstairs, to Sri Aurobindo’s Room. He had difficulty (physical) but felt better afterwards. When the February Darshan was approaching, he said he would go “upstairs” although by now he was ill and weak. Those close to him said, “You can’t climb all those steps. You said you are weak.” Sitaram protested, “No, no, I must go .” He even conspired... Boka , — how then you ask me — ‘How are you busy?’.” This is one of those unbelievable things you have to believe — because it is Sitaram who says it. He was one of those rare men by whom you judged the event. On the 3rd of March, about 12:30 p.m. Sitaram evinced some pain in his stomach. He was given some medicine. The night came on and early morning at 4:30 a.m. — Prashant had to call Dr... Nursing Home. But Sitaram had already warned his close friends not to take him to the Nursing Home even if he suffered. So there he lay — his breathing became heavy. He then called softly to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo five times and left this world as quietly as he had lived in it. The day was a full moon day — Holi Poornima — a day when the gods of our town went for a sea-bath. Sitaram too took a holy ...

... ashramites and devotees passed in a queue to receive a flower from Her. She waited along with two or three others who attended on Her, and people like Sitaram (or even unlike Sitaram) were able to reach Her. Some thought this was not right. They reproached Sitaram for keeping the Mother waiting. She heard of their reproach and was not sympathetic to Her ‘wellwishers’. She asked them to keep quiet and said... was the real Sitaram. He remained steadfastly “Sitaram” — never a word of complaint or very probably never an unnecessary word. Yet the body moved towards ‘Old Age’ without fuss or fretting. His eyes troubled him. One developed a problem — the retina dried. His friend (late) Dr. Venkataswamy Naidu did take him to Madurai, did whatever was possible — yet the eye lost its vision. Sitaram continued with... the more popular source was not required. The Dining Room expanded, changed in quality too. More young workers joined, some old ones left, but Sitaram was always around. But Kaala (Time) is a friend (or foe) of everyone, living or non-living. Sitaram was getting older and he would never say ‘No’ to work. Fortunately help did come. Vijayalakshmi (our teacher — physicist) rendered yeoman service ...

... lesser depths, to share with others. Sitaram was a Tamilian, born in the village Gobichetty-palayam in Coimbatore district on the 12th of December 1920. His father was Sri Venkatakrishnan Iyyer (so a pukka Brahmin). Sitaram was a year old when his mother passed away. His father remarried. There were eight children in the family and Sitaram was the eldest. Sitaram later went to his uncle’s (or grandfather’s)... often call Sitaram (or Sitaram’s brother) for tea and seemed inordinately fond of him — hovering over him like a parent would on a son’s visit after a long absence. Some time later, Sitaram got a job in Chennai in Post & Telegraph Department — a step closer to “Home” and to his chosen deities. Two years went by. Natesan was transferred from Chennai. Sitaram came alone to the Ashram. Sitaram one day... Sitaram Among the Not So Great Sitaram: The Silent Seeker Underneath all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time. Thomas Carlyle Sitaram — not many of today know him. He is a man lost in the backwaters (or ‘washing waters’) of our Dining Room. ...

... dream.) With that I would end my story of Sitaram the Silent. One must read two writings of Sitaram’s — rather than just go through my story of him. The first one is a transcript of a radio broadcast (AIR). Sitaram was one of five chosen by the Mother for the talk. (Pavitra-da was another.) This talk of Sitaram’s gives us a glimpse of the inner Sitaram — albeit only the bit he reveals — it is quite... Sitaram Among the Not So Great The Dreams (1) I was in the Dining Room courtyard, and had collected many flowers. The Mother appeared in front of me and said, “Give me the flowers.” I gave Her the flowers. (2) I was standing in the queue at the Counter, but my dish contained flowers. The ‘Mother’ appeared and asked me to give her the flowers. I understood... and then be close to a beautiful person. We might easily have missed him. Thankfully we didn’t. The second — a free rendering of Subramanya Bharati’s poem on Kannan — makes one feel that Sitaram “enjoyed”, as did Subramanya Bharati, the suffering dealt out by Kannan (Krishna). ...

... Sitaram Among the Not So Great His Work His first work was to learn by teaching (in our School). I was never in his class, so cannot say first-hand anything about his “teacher-ship”. He didn’t teach for too long. Soon the Mother, maybe on Ravindra-ji’s suggestion, had other ideas for him. The Dining Room washing section was in a disarray. Sitaram was... Many of us have worked five decades in one place — but the similarity in most cases ends there. We will soon try to gauge the man by his works and more importantly by the ways of the works. Sitaram was a true gentleman, as gentle as they come. To look at, he was just ordinary. He had a good compact figure with good enough features. Gentle eyes, an aquiline nose and a faint smile made up the face ...