Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Are not all these siddhis? While we experience ever so many
siddhis at all times, why do you clamour for more siddhis?
What else is required?”
About two years back, Manu Subedar, a member of
the Indian Legislative Assembly and translator of the
commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Jnaneswara, came to
have darshan of Bhagavan, and asked Bhagavan during a
conversation why it was that there were writings about siddha
purushas in all books but none about sadhakas, and whether
there were any books about sadhakas. Bhagavan said, “In
Bhakta Vijayam, in Tamil, there is a conversation between
Jnaneswara and Vithoba, his father. That is a discussion
between a siddha and a sadhaka. The state of a sadhaka can
be seen in that conversation.” So saying Bhagavan sent for a
copy of Bhakta Vijayam from the Ashram library, read out that
* Semi-divine people supposed to be of great purity and holiness
and said to be particularly characterised by eight supernatural
faculties called siddhis.

portion himself and explained it in detail. On reaching home,
Manu Subedar asked for a copy of the conversation. Bhagavan
sent a copy after getting it translated into English. Manu
Subedar added it as a supplement to the third edition of his
Jnaneswari. Recently I translated that conversation into Telugu.

You remember when you came here last full-moon day, during
some conversation, Bhagavan said that Jnaneswara was a siddha
while Vithoba was a sadhaka. Hence it was named “Siddha-
Sadhaka Samvadam” (Conversation between a siddha and a
sadhaka.)
Bhagavan often says, “To know oneself and to be able
to remain true to oneself, is siddhi, and nothing else. If one’s
mind is absorbed in the enquiry of self, the truth will be
realised some time or other. That is the best siddhi.”
I give below an extract from the prose writings of
Bhagavan regarding these siddhis in his “Unnathi
Nalupadhi”* which bears this out:
Siddhi is to know and realise that which is ever real. Other
siddhis are mere dream siddhis. Would they be true when
one wakes up from one’s sleep? Those who are wedded to
truth and who had got freed from maya, will they get
deluded by them? Please understand.

Reality in Forty Verses, verse 35
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* “The Forty Verses” on Reality or Existence, originally composed
by Bhagavan in Tamil under the title “Ulladu Narpadu”, is called
differently in different language versions: “Unnathi Nalupadhi,”
“Sad Vidya,” “Saddarshanam,” “Truth Revealed,” etc.