Lakshmi the Cow

Sep 29, 2026 · Spirituality/Ramana Maharshi/Devotees · 8 min read · #liberation-accounts

Lakshmi the Cow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-POLMrAspw

Points touched upon

Arunachalam Pillai’s dream, the calf brought to Sri Ramana, and Ramanatha Brahmachari and Pasupati looking after her early on.
Lakshmi growing close to Bhagavan, her daily visits, her punctuality, her fondness for idlis and her uncanny understanding.
Her nine calves, the births on Bhagavan’s Jayanti, the way she communicated with him, and Suri Nagamma’s accounts of their bond.
Her move to the Ashram for good, the start of its cattle and dairy, and Bhagavan stepping in, unusually, over her feeding and the cowshed with Annamalai Swami.
The belief that Lakshmi might have been Keerai Paati reborn, and Bhagavan’s remarks on the tapas of her past births.
Her last moments with Bhagavan, her samadhi, and Devaraja Mudaliar asking about her liberation.

Cow Lakshmi and Matru Tattva (English) || June 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--uNVRU_XPE

Points touched upon

Bhagavan’s presence and mauna, with devotees, animals, birds and even trees all seen responding to it.
Seeing the same Self in all beings, something Bhagavan fully lived.
Living in the world with prarabdha, likes and dislikes, and staying inwardly undisturbed while dealing with people and situations.
Bhagavan’s gaze and silent presence as upadesha or diksha, and practising seeing Ishwara or the Self even in someone one dislikes.
Early Ramanasramam, Virupaksha Cave, Skandashram, Bhagavan coming down from the hill, and the Ashram slowly taking shape around him.
Lakshmi the Cow, Arunachalam Pillai and Ramanatha Brahmachari, her rare bond with Bhagavan, satsanga, the cowshed, her final moments and Bhagavan declaring her liberated.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Cow Lakshmi and the Goshala - 90 years in restrospect : PART I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIAwmUHNLzk

Points touched upon

Early Ramanasramam, the Mother’s samadhi and the Old Hall, when the Ashram was still mostly open ground and grass huts as Lakshmi arrived.
Arunachalam Pillai’s dream, Lakshmi brought as a calf, Ramanatha Brahmachari taking charge of her, and Pasupati Aiyar caring for her in town.
Her deepening bond with Bhagavan, daily walks in from town, how she got the name Lakshmi, and her final move to the Ashram.
Sofa Gounder, Chinnaswami, the first goshala turning into a store, and the big 48-foot goshala later built for Lakshmi despite money troubles.
The Prince of Vijayanagar’s donation, Burmese teak, the goshala’s inauguration, and Bhagavan’s view that building for Lakshmi would help the Ashram grow and prosper.
Her nine calves, her almost human devotion to Bhagavan, her last days with him, her burial with the rites of a saint, and Bhagavan confirming she attained nirvana.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Cow Lakshmi and the Goshala - 90 years in restrospect : PART II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnWXsOyRHus

Points touched upon

Dr. Narayana Reddy, the government vet who treated Lakshmi in her last days, coming to Bhagavan through her and later becoming a devotee.
Keerai Paati, one of Bhagavan’s earliest devotees, feeding him from his first days in Tiruvannamalai, and the widely held belief that she was reborn as Lakshmi.
Bhagavan never saying Lakshmi was Keerai Paati, while explaining that an animal can work off karma and that we can’t know which soul has come in a given body.
The white peacock linked with Madhava, its oddly human ways, and Bhagavan’s remarks on animals coming into his presence.
Lakshmi’s visits to Bhagavan, her going into samadhi before him, and many accounts of her remarkable, almost human and divine nature.
How the Ashram goshala began and grew from Lakshmi, the large cowshed, later generations of cows, and the tradition carried on with cows like Punita.

Cow Lakshmi Aradhana day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ceycrv03U

Lakshmi the Cow article by David Godman Page 1

https://www.davidgodman.org/lakshmi-the-cow/

Points touched upon

David Godman setting Osho’s badly inaccurate story of Lakshmi against the real one, taken from his chapter in The Power of the Presence.
Arunachalam Pillai bringing a cow and her calf to Bhagavan in 1926 after a dream, Bhagavan’s reluctance, and Ramanatha Brahmachari offering to look after them.
The calf named Lakshmi because she came on a Friday, her playful raids on the vegetable garden, and Pasupati taking her into his care in town.
Lakshmi learning the way to the Ashram after an eclipse-day bath in the Pali tank, coming every day, and turning up exactly at mealtimes.
Her tears when pregnant for the third time, her move to the Ashram for good in 1930 with three calves, and the start of the Ashram’s cattle and dairy.
Calves born on Jayanti day, her nine deliveries, and B. V. Narasimhaswami’s 1930 account of her as the Sakuntala of the Ashram.

Lakshmi the Cow article by David Godman Page 2

https://www.davidgodman.org/lakshmi-the-cow/2/

Points touched upon

Shantammal and Sadhu Natanananda on Lakshmi sitting by Bhagavan and going into samadhi, even nirvikalpa samadhi, and Bhagavan on the tapas she must have done in past births.
Lakshmi coming to tell Bhagavan each time she had a new calf, and Bhagavan going to the cowshed to see it.
Bhagavan always taking her side, feeding her iddlies and other treats, hearing out her complaints, and treating her almost like a human devotee.
Suri Nagamma, Krishna Bhikshu and G. V. Subbaramayya on her tears, her closeness to Bhagavan, and her understanding every word that was said.
Salem Sundaram Chetty, Chinnaswami and Annamalai Swami, the decision to build a cowshed, Lakshmi fetching Bhagavan for the ceremonies, and Bhagavan enlarging the plan himself.
Bhagavan predicting that many cows would come, the 48-foot cowshed, and his words that building it for Lakshmi would bring the punya for a bookstore, a dining room and Mother’s shrine.

Lakshmi the Cow article by David Godman Page 3

https://www.davidgodman.org/lakshmi-the-cow/3/

Points touched upon

Bhagavan, normally so frugal and rarely involved in running the Ashram, ordering a huge granite-and-teak cowshed for Lakshmi.
Annamalai Swami, Chinnaswami and the cowshed project, with Bhagavan saying that serving Lakshmi would bring the punya for the bookstore, dining room and Mother’s shrine.
Lakshmi leading Bhagavan to the cowshed ceremonies, refusing to enter her new home until he went in first, and the Ashram’s later growth that Bhagavan put down to her.
Lakshmi’s last illness, with Suri Nagamma, Venkataratnam and G. V. Subbaramayya there, and Bhagavan sitting by her, holding her head, pressing down to her heart and looking into her eyes.
Bhagavan saying Lakshmi’s vasanas were spent, comparing her with his mother and Palaniswami, and treating her death as liberation, not an ordinary passing.
The belief that Lakshmi was Keeraipatti reborn, Devaraja Mudaliar on their special bond, and Bhagavan never confirming or denying it outright.

Lakshmi the Cow article by David Godman Page 4

https://www.davidgodman.org/lakshmi-the-cow/4/

Points touched upon

Keeraipatti’s early years with Bhagavan at the Guhai Namasivaya temple, gathering greens and fuel, cooking for him every day, and never eating before he had.
Bhagavan sometimes helping her gather and cut vegetables, eating with her, and remembering her devotion, trust and fearlessness.
The night a thief broke into her place, her cry of “O Annamalai” reaching Bhagavan, and Bhagavan running down with Palaniswami.
Suri Nagamma’s and Devaraja Mudaliar’s accounts of Keeraipatti, her burial opposite the Dakshinamurti shrine, and the long-held belief that she came back as Lakshmi.
Rani Mazumdar asking how Keeraipatti could be reborn as a cow, and Bhagavan replying that he had never said so.
Bhagavan on human birth not necessarily being the highest and even an animal being able to realise the Self, followed by his praise of Lakshmi’s remarkable intelligence.

Lakshmi the Cow article by David Godman Page 5

https://www.davidgodman.org/lakshmi-the-cow/5/

Points touched upon

Bhagavan on animals and birds attaining moksha, with the story of a mahapurusha giving liberation even to a thorn bush.
Lakshmi’s burial at the Ashram in Suri Nagamma’s words, the elaborate rites, and Bhagavan comparing the arrangements with those for his Mother.
Govindarajula Subbarao’s remark that animals seemed to get more of Bhagavan’s grace, and Bhagavan putting it down to individual destiny.
The white peacock believed to be Madhava Swami reborn, Annamalai Swami’s reasons, and Bhagavan sometimes calling it “Madhava”.
Lakshmi’s samadhi beside those of a deer, a crow and a dog, Bhagavan visibly moved at the burial, and the day ending like a wedding festival.
Bhagavan’s Tamil verse on Lakshmi’s liberation, and his reply to Devaraja Mudaliar that vimukti there meant nirvana.