Lakshmi the Cow

"Lakshmi the cow was brought to Bhagavan as a calf in the 1920s. Her love and devotion to Bhagavan soon became apparent. She remained at the ashram for almost twenty years and produced innumerable calves, many of which were born on  Bhagavan's birthday. She and Bhagavan had a teleptahic communication that enabled Sri Ramana to be aware of her day-to-day needs. He went out of his way to ensure that her housing and food requirements were always meticulously attended to.

When she passed away in 1948, Bhagavan declared that she had been fully liberated. He even composed a verse to that effect that is now inscribed on her samadhi shrine. The only other devotee whose liberation was publicly confirmed by Bhagavan was his own mother..." ~ The Power of Presence

"The oldest account of Lakshmi is the one written by B. V. Narasimha Swami in 1930. Even at that early stage of her life at Ramanasramam she had established herself as a favourite of both Bhagavan and the devotees:

On a festive day two years ago both of them [Lakshmi and her mother] were brought to the ashram. Since then Lakshmi runs up every morning [from town] and gets the entire pasture of the ashram to herself. She certainly does not content herself with that. She knows meal and tiffin times and on both occasions she walks right into the hall and places her head on the Maharshi who strokes her with affection and calls out to the people in the kitchen to give her food.

She sometimes seizes an entire bunch of eight to ten plantains that someone has brought or dirties the hall with her excreta; perhaps a disciple in attendance threatens to beat her. Maharshi at once intercedes on her behalf. If she trespasses on the small vegetable garden, he objects to her being scolded or roughly treated.

‘You must fence your plot better. The fault is there and not with Lakshmi,’ he says.

On festive occasions she gets a good bath, turmeric paste and a little dot of vermilion powder on her forehead, with possibly one or more garlands of flowers round her neck. She goes up to the Maharshi and takes leave every evening before leaving the ashram for the town and before parting receives the presents that may be available. She is the Sakuntala [beloved adopted daughter] of the ashram now. (Self-Realization by B. V. Narasimha Swami, 1993 ed. pp. 165-6)

Bhagavan did not give Lakshmi special treatment simply because he regarded her as a favoured pet. He allowed her the freedom of the ashram because he recognised that she was a highly advanced devotee who had taken the form of a cow in order to be with him:

Shantammal: She [Lakshmi] would come daily to the ashram, have her meals, graze on the ashram land, enter the hall and sit contentedly near Bhagavan. In the evening she would go back to the town with the other women.

Once, when Lakshmi was pregnant for the third time, she came into the hall after lunch. Bhagavan was reading a newspaper at the time. Lakshmi came near him and started licking the papers.

Bhagavan looked up and said, ‘Wait a little, Lakshmi,’ but Lakshmi went on licking. Bhagavan laid his paper aside, put his hands behind Lakshmi’s horns and rested his head against hers. They stayed like this for quite a long time. I stood nearby looking at the wonderful scene.

After about ten minutes, Bhagavan turned to me and said, ‘Do you know what Lakshmi is doing? She is in samadhi.’

I looked at her and noticed that tears were flowing in streams down her broad cheeks. Her breathing had stopped and her eyes were fixed on Bhagavan.

After some time Bhagavan changed his position and asked, gently, ‘Lakshmi, how do you feel now?’

Lakshmi moved backward, as if reluctant to turn her tail towards Bhagavan, walked round the hall and went out.

Four days later Lakshmi gave birth to a calf. The man with whom Lakshmi used to stay brought her with her progeny and left them in the ashram for good. Lakshmi, with her three calves, came into the hall and lay down by the sofa.

Bhagavan saw her and remarked, ‘All these days Lakshmi had to go in the evening to the town. She always left in tears. Today she is delighted because she need not go away anymore. She knows that her home is here now. We shall have to look after her. Look at her! With what self-assurance she has stretched herself out!’

The last account is taken from ‘Eternal Bhagavan’ by Shantammal in Ramana Smrti Souvenir. Suri Nagamma has recorded another incident in which Lakshmi lost consciousness of her body in the presence of Bhagavan. It happened during a veena concert that was being given in the hall. See The Mountain Path, 1980, p. 145.

T. S. Ananta Murthy noted in his biography of Bhagavan that Lakshmi would ask Bhagavan to look at her new calf whenever she gave birth:

The cow became so attached to Sri Ramana she would, of her own accord, walk from the shed to the hall every morning and kneel at his feet…

What was equally interesting was that Lakshmi would walk into the hall from her shed a few minutes after the birth of her new calf and stand mutely before him. Sri Ramana would then address the cow as follows: ‘Lakshmi, you have come to tell me that you now have a new baby. I will come to the shed and see your child.’ (Life and Teachings of Sree Ramana Maharshi, by T. S. Ananta Murthy, p. 147)

Shantammal was not the only devotee to report that Lakshmi went into samadhi in Bhagavan’s presence.

Sadhu Natanananda: Sri Bhagavan himself once pointed out the sanctity of Lakshmi by saying, ‘What tapas she must have performed in her previous births! It may be that she is living in our midst now only to complete her unfinished tapas.’

Once, when she came as usual for Bhagavan’s darshan and was standing in his presence, Sri Bhagavan, looking out at her with great affection, started stroking her head.

Then, turning to the other devotees with a smile, he asked, ‘Do you know what state Lakshmi is in now?’

When no answer was forthcoming, he astonished us by saying, ‘She is in nirvikalpa samadhi,’ thus revealing the extraordinary power of his grace and the spiritual maturity of Lakshmi. (Ramana Darshanam, by Sadhu Natanananda, p. 17)

Lakshmi’s special status in the ashram gave her the freedom to help herself to any food that was brought by devotees because Bhagavan would always support her if devotees complained. He would also take her side if anyone tried to prevent her from coming to see him."

~ sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com