Rama Navami is the festival that marks the
advent of the Lord as Rama. Many years, the festival occurs when
Swami is in Kodai. On such occasions, the festival becomes a
truly memorable day for the boys. On one such Rama Navami day,
Swami materialised the pearl necklace that Sita gifted to
Hanuman at the time of Rama's Coronation. Rama was distributing
various gifts to members in the assembly but somehow, He seemed
to skip Hanuman. Sita was troubled by this apparent indifference;
how could such a loyal one like Hanuman be overlooked
on an
occasion like this? So, she whispered to Rama that Hanuman
should not be forgotten. Rama whispered back that Hanuman was
way above material gifts. Sita was not quite satisfied by this
reply; so she took out a pearl necklace that she was wearing and
offered it to Hanuman. While receiving the necklace, Hanuman
gave it a suspicious look. He then placed the necklace near one
of his ears as if to check whether the individual pearls were
emitting some sound. He appeared to examine every pearl in the
necklace, and once in a while, he would bite a pearl. Sita was
shocked by this behaviour. Was Hanuman proving that, after all,
he was a monkey? She demanded an explanation from Hanuman for
what he was doing. With great humility Hanuman replied, "Mother,
for me the Name of Rama is supreme. An object is worthless if it
does not resound with the Name of Rama. Some of these pearls are
not emitting the proper sound and so I am chewing them up." Sita
was neither convinced nor amused and tersely remarked, "Pearls
do not emit sound." Hanuman replied, "Everything that is
saturated with the Rama Principle will always chant the Name of
Rama. Let me demonstrate." So saying, Hanuman plucked a hair
from his body and offered it to Rama. When Sita took it near her
ear, she could clearly hear the chant of Rama's Name! This was
the way Hanuman proved to the world how intense true devotion
really is.
After narrating the story and materialising
the necklace, Swami passed it around and asked the boys to
carefully examine it. Sure enough many pearls had teeth marks!
After everyone present there had had a look, Swami made the
necklace disappear!