Venuammal, Echammal’s younger sister,
was a committed devotee and did service in the days at Virupaksha. She came to
Bhagavan at an early age, having been widowed shortly after becoming a mother.
Raising her daughter on her own, she found time to assist Bhagavan’s mother in
the kitchen at Skandasramam and cared for her in the final hours of her life in
May 1922. When Venuammal’s daugther died, she took refuge in Bhagavan. She was
once again saddled with the responsibility of raising a child on her own, this
time her two-and-half year old granddaughter, Rajalakshmi. One day Bhagavan
painted a Sri Chakra and gave it to her.
In 1950 when Venuammal took leave of
Bhagavan to go on pilgrimage to Kasi, Bhagavan asked her to bathe in the Ganges on his behalf. In Kasi she had a dip one night in
the river while meditating on the name ‘Ramana’. At that very moment, she saw a
huge shooting star trailing the sky. The next morning she learnt that Bhagavan
had shed his body.
