RAMANA SMRTI Sri Ramana Maharshi Birth Centenary Offering - Part 4

RAMANA SMRTI

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Birth Centenary Offering

1980

SRI RAMANASRAMAM

The Magician Ramana

(Three stanzas from Muruganar’s ‘Suttaruttal’

translated by Prof K. Swaminathan)

Awareness wherein brightly shine

These many forms of persons, places, time,

All separate-seeming though in substance One:

Into that same Awareness he transmuted

This ‘I’ of mine. Now, nothing to be known,

My past undone, my being his,

I stand, unruffled Bliss,

Untouched by any shock.

Lord Siva-Venkatesa he who,

King of kings, came conquering

And made me his alone.

What is this ‘I’ that rises from within?

Only a thought that, like a bubble, floats

Up to the troubled surface of Awareness.

In sleep the sea is still, no bubble rises:

Then too you are.

You’re not the ‘I’ that rises and then sets,

You are the sole Awareness in the All,

The eternal, uncreated Light of Being.

No form or feature has he of his own,

Yet form and feature to all beings gives;

Knowledge and ignorance, both to him unknown,

Each human mind from him alone derives.

He brought me into being but to think

Of him as ‘you’, of me and mine as ‘yours’;

And he has left me wordless, deedless, prone,

Helpless on death’s brink.

Only the vast beatitude endures.

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Pradakshina

By Charles Reeder

IN the Colorado mountains I look into a cluster of pine needles.

In the autumn sun they radiate clear and pure from the bough.

Has it really been eleven years since we first came to

Arunachala, to Bhagavan? Time itself has rotated like those

needles in the sun, and we can no longer find the point where

we started. And that itself is happiness, the endless turning

around of small pebbles in the swift current of his grace.

It is wonderful that Bhagavan’s path of enquiry is not

something that gives itself to exact description or mapmaking,

for it is the stirring of the self in each of us. If we point to the

way or the Self as an object, we pretend to be strangers in our

own home. It is only Bhagavan who makes it clear to us —

we see it so plainly in his smile — for who is he but our own

Self? And it is he who tells his devotees that wherever they

go in the world or beyond it, they continue to circle around

him and within him who is Arunachala.

And that is not all, for time and space themselves are forever

doing this pradakshina around their source. So we cannot speak

in some ordinary way about Bhagavan’s centennial, for he was

not one who merely appeared and disappeared in time. The

centennial itself is doing pradakshina around him; the blue

sky is doing it as well. He sits with the deepest absorption in

the centre, blessing those who move. The pradakshina itself is

but his in-breathing and out-breathing, manifesting the original

pattern of being to all who can receive it.

To speak of Bhagavan’s birth and passing is to do

pradakshina to our small conception of who he is, but this

too is resolved in him, for he is the most infinitesimal being

as well as the great one who manifests the being of all the

world systems. No matter which path we may take, we

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ultimately find ourselves worshipping in the most fundamental

sense that primal being who dwells within each of us. It was

and is Bhagavan’s gift to the world to manifest this being so

unmistakably and so lovingly. On this, his centennial, the

human beings, the animals and the mountains, the dwellers in

the six realms, whether consciously or unconsciously all join

in the pradakshina of that unutterably great being.

Idol Worship

By C.L. Narasimha Rao

Softly, your head resting on your left palm,

You look at me from the corners of your eyes.

I feel a sensation creep from toe to top.

You smile, white teeth vying with white beard,

Face lit up with the glance and the smile.

Are you angry with me for dwelling thus on your

outer form?

What else can I do but stare at that

As if it were you?

Do I not think my body is ‘I’?

How can I see the light behind

The brightness of your face?

How can I see the God in the idol.

While I am an idol, nothing else?

An idol can only worship an idol.

But the god in that idol stirs to life

The god in this.

That sat swallows this aham

So in Soham, I in That

Disappear and cease to be.

And yet I am, I am, for I

Am now You and You are That.

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A TRIBUTE TO BHAGAVAN

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

By Jack Dawson

PROSTRATIONS to Bhagavan Sri Ramana, ever-living, everpresent

sage, who is lighting lights throughout the world!

Several years had passed since I was at Sri Ramanasramam.

Now the real work began, as the understanding that had been

grasped there was slowly supplied to life in the West, with all

its complexities. Years of arduous mountain-climbing, a

foothold here, a handhold there, several feet upwards and not

infrequently a disappointing slide downhill, and then the

ascent towards the summit was resumed. At times

breathtaking, panoramic views would present themselves, but

the climb itself remained of utmost, desperate importance.

As time went by, something kept saying, as though a

compassionate voice from a peak far above, “Why all this

strain? Who is it that is climbing this mountain”? At first, I

paid little heed to these words, which, while comforting,

were as yet beyond my understanding for any practical use.

I went on with the climb, struggling harder than ever, hoping

to reach the topmost summit, hoping possibly also to catch

another word from this quiet voice, a refreshing drink of

cool mountain water. Sometimes feelings of guilt and

hopelessness and the like would nearly engulf my being,

extinguishing most of my remaining strength to climb any

further. The voice would say again, “Stop, relax, take rest.

Be the witness of this ascent”. Gradually the words began

to make a little sense, if for no other reason than that I was

worn out by then. The climb continued, although somewhat

differently now. Attempts were made at standing back a little.

Then to my surprise, foot and handholds would become

apparent when needed; downhill slips would occur, but

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recovery would come almost instantaneously, leaving barely

a scratch. The beauty of the mountain also began to reveal

itself, with its glistening rocks, enchanting lakes and

flowering meadows. “Who are you? Become now

comfortable with the Self that you are and will be forever

— it is right here, and now! Bliss is obtainable only through

Self-enquiry”. A totally new kind of relief came over me.

The wielder of the magnificent divine weapon of Selfenquiry,

Bhagavan Ramana, had taken a stand — a mighty,

yet gentle and completely rational stand — against ego.

Not only did sadhana begin to improve, but relationships

did too. Where previously there had always been a gnawing

need to be liked by others, simple application of the enquiry

would replace these thoughts with a natural self-esteem, a

knowledge that one truly is all right, and that the best business

to engage in now was to silently acknowledge others as Self,

infinitely worthy of esteem. Worried thoughts such as, ‘How

am I doing in my sadhana’? also vanished instantly. The

answer came in question form — ‘Who am I?’

Whence came this mountain-like sage, benevolent giver

of the powerful medicine of Self-knowledge, whom we

affectionately call Bhagavan? That we could have such a

Master in times like these, capable of guiding millions to

peace, is almost unbelievable.

Endless thanks to Bhagavan, fountain of grace!

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SADHANA WITH BHAGAVAN RAMANA

By Ursulla Muller

IN the night of December 21-22, 1964, I was told by the Lord

Himself:

Within you I fulfill my word;

Behold I am creating all anew.

These words arose out of the boundless depth of blissful

silence and faded away again, leaving naught but an unlimited

expanse. Throughout the night these words were repeated at

long intervals until the young day was breaking.

At that time, I had been meditating already for about six

years in accordance with Sri Ramana’s teaching. All the same,

and especially at first, I felt I was not mature to receive such

a communication from the one Father of all, and there was

none to whom I would have dared speak of this new spiritual

experience. Yet, in spite of the hardship of those days, I was

always aware of the gracious hand of Sri Ramana whose

glorious renewal of ancient lore had made me tread the blissful

path to Arunachala Siva. Thus, I was able to realize in course

of time that the Lord alone is the doer, within and without,

while I was to stay silent to allow the divine in me grow and

the poor ego decrease.

During my sadhana there was always Bhagavan Ramana’s

guidance. He had for instance advised me to stop reading

unnecessary things, at times with an apparent sense of humour,

as can be deducted from the following incident.

Once after meditation late in the evening, I had gone to

bed. In order to improve my knowledge of the English

language, I would read some pages in English before

sleeping. That evening I was going to have a short look into

a copy of the Readers’ Digest. However, being tired, I was

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not able to read but was staring at some text in the booklet

without taking in its contents. Suddenly I felt Bhagavan

Ramana looking in smiling surprise over my shoulder at the

text I was reading. Only now I cognized the heading of the

article I was staring at, which was, Famous Recipes of

German Housewives, a topic I for sure would not have

selected consciously from the table of contents. It was now

my turn to laugh silently at myself and to end the mistaken

enterprise by switching off the light.

Again there was Sri Ramana’s loving guidance when I was

physically and spiritually exhausted on account of having

undertaken a new task without considering carefully enough,

my daily meditation practice as well as my demanding part time

office job. Having started hatha yoga at a yoga school, Ramana

Maharshi wanted me to go on with my daily hatha yoga exercises

despite my fatigue, as I learned from the following incident: One

early morning, while sitting on the carpet ready to start my

exercises, yet feeling tired, I suddenly found myself kneeling at

the feet of Sri Ramana touching them with my forehead in utter

devotion. Immediately I knew in my heart that I was to continue

my regular exercises without considering my body’s condition. I

have been following Bhagavan’s advice strictly until this day

and am much better now.

On the other hand, when I was too fatigued for sitting in

padmasana posture for meditation, Bhagavan taught me that

silence alone is important and not the physical posture

observed along with it. Subsequently I learnt to sit comfortably

in an easy-chair during meditation time. This has been a great

help for my continuous sadhana during the past years, and I

gratefully bow down at Sri Ramana’s holy feet.

Kinder far art Thou than one’s own mother.

Is this then Thy all-kindness, Oh Arunachala?

1 Marital Garland of Letters, Verse 6.

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My newest experience of Sri Ramana’s unceasing grace is

only some days old. I had to stay at home on account of a sudden,

serious cold and felt miserable, supposing that my hatha yoga

practice might be too poor. Two or three days later, still in bed,

I happened to take in hand an old copy of The Mountain Path

and open it on page 117 where my eyes fell exactly on the

passage, “Bhagavan’s feet are ever over your head”. A wave of

bliss ran through my mind and body and a little later I could

think of going on with my sadhana again.

May Sri Ramana’s grace be with all of us!

Sayings of Sri Bhagavan

A crippled disabled Brahmin came and complained: “O

Bhagavan, right from my birth I have been suffering. Is it due

to my past actions?”

Sri Bhagavan said:

We have to say that it is due to past actions. Then, if one

asks what is the cause of those past actions, we have to bring

in previous past actions and so on with out end. Instead of

enquiring into karma or actions, why not enquire whose karma

it is? If we are the body, then let the body ask the questions.

When you say, you suffer, it is your thought. Happiness is our

natural state. That which comes and goes is the ego. We think

we are miserable, because we forget our essential nature,

which is Bliss. Even an emperor, in spite of his wealth and

power, often suffers because of his disturbed mind. The sage,

who does not know where his next meal will come from, is

ever happy. See who enjoys Bliss.

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WHY RAMANA?

By Kumari Sarada

Life pours forth from the incomparable grace of Thy

steady and shining eyes”. The light which pours forth from

Sri Bhagavan’s vibrant eyes gives meaning and fulfilment to

our lives. His serene presence draws us in silence and envelops

every tiny detail of our daily existence. I too have partaken of

his extravagant grace, my parents having been drawn to

Bhagavan even before I was born. His loving grace and gentle

smile solve all my problems, answer every question and clear

all confusion. His presence, I feel, is the source of perennial

joy for me. Our Master is an ocean, and blessed as I am, I am

eager that all should share my blessedness. To satisfy such

sceptics as may look down upon this subjective experience

and in my eagerness to share my joy I would like to emphasise

the objectivity and universal applicability of Bhagavan’s

method of Self-enquiry, which will stand always as the

simplest solution to every problem. I say this because Selfenquiry

as taught by Sri Bhagavan only requires keen, alert

and constant search for one’s own identity, by observing the

source of the I-thought. Since the mind is a bundle of thoughts

and all thoughts revolve round the I-thought, watching that

thought introverts the mind back to its source, the Heart, our

true identity.

The process of Self-enquiry is scientific and does not

demand blind faith. On the other hand, constant awareness,

alertness and keen, continued questioning is advocated. Ah!

There is still scope to criticise — it is far too dry and

intellectual! It is hridaya vidya, the knowledge of the Heart.

One who is aware of the power of the immensity of the Heart

through Self-enquiry experiences its presence in every activity

so that even a routine activity like reading a newspaper is an

act done with total absorption and spontaneity. Every act is

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natural — how then can it merely be intellectual or dry? The

alertness to every minute of life is not an intellectual process

but an awareness and aliveness of being which responds fully

in all naturalness and hence most appropriately.

The method which Sri Bhagavan has taught and the

perfection it implies appear too simple to be accepted by the

mind. The human mind, which has conquered many

complicated fields through scientific research, prefers not to

accept the fact that in such a simple method lies the answer to

everything. When Copernicus explained simpler orbits of the

planets, he was burnt at the stake. Many may prefer to go in

for things complicated and ornate, for the mind can revel in

the glory of mastering such techniques.

Sri Maharshi’s teaching, easy as it is, gives no scope for

this pride of mastery. Yet the method is attractive to the mind,

because the mind is the fulcrum of Self-enquiry.

Self-enquiry as taught by Bhagavan Ramana is the greatest

adventure as it is the adventure into the world of the spirit. It

includes the adventure of science in its rational analysis, that

of the explorer, as it explores the very nature of one’s being.

And it is the adventure of the artist in its spontaneous creativity.

What does it create? It creates and infuses life and beauty

into our routine habits of existence. It is the simplest of

methods but, being the greatest of adventures as well, it does

not allow us to wallow in ease.

Why Ramana? Because his life was the living of this

method, not in order to practise what he preached, not as an

intellectualisation, but out of the spontaneity, the naturalness

synonymous with Self-enquiry. I say naturalness because,

Self-enquiry implies the constant awareness of our true nature.

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CELEBRATING THE BIRTHDAY

By Jean Dunn

BHAGAVAN Sri Ramana Maharshi was requested by

Vasudeva Sastri in 1912 to allow his birthday to be celebrated

by his devotees. Bhagavan refused to be drawn into our

illusion and, as do all his actions and words, his reply on

this occasion serves as a guide to bring us out of illusion

into reality:

You who wish to celebrate the birthday, seek first whence

was your birth. One’s true birthday is when one enters that

which transcends birth and death — the Eternal Being.

At least on one’s birthday one should mourn one’s entry

into this world (samsara). To glory in it and celebrate it is

like delighting in and decorating a corpse. To seek one’s

self and merge in the Self — that is wisdom.

Sri Bhagavan had no reasons of his own for anything he

did. All was for our benefit. By ‘our’ I mean all of us who

have been drawn to him and all those who in the future will

be drawn to him. What was he teaching us by this verse?

What does it mean, “Seek first whence was your birth”? Aren’t

we all aware of who our parents are and the date of our birth?

Yes, but that is the date of the birth of a body and the parents

are the bodies from which this body is born. Are we the body?

If so we will surely die. What did Bhagavan do when, as a

youngster of sixteen, he was faced with the overwhelming

certainty of immediate death? By a deep enquiry he discovered

that he was not the body, that he was never born and would

never die. That was his true birthday, when he “entered that

which transcends birth and death — the Eternal Being”. He

was reborn as the spirit Immortal. Ignorance had vanished

and he knew his true identity — the Eternal Being. The illusion

that he was a body in time and space died. We can only imagine

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that state, but because of Bhagavan, we know that it is possible

for us also to attain. In truth, as he tells us, there is nothing to

attain, only question the illusion and it will disappear.

“To seek one’s self and merge in the Self, that is Wisdom”.

How to seek one’s self? Bhagavan has told us repeatedly to

enquire, in every situation, whatever happens, “to whom is

this happening?” “Who am I?”, to keep our attention focused

on this ‘I’. Gradually our mind will lose interest in the magic

show of the world and our own self will grow stronger. We

have so many concepts about everything — our self, the world,

God, and even the Absolute. These concepts we have gathered

from others and made our own, thereby imprisoning ourselves.

No one else binds us, we bind our self with bonds of illusion.

The mind tends to be satisfied with words. If we can name a

thing, we think we know it; we fail to seek the meaning of

words. Bhagavan was uncompromising in his insistence that

we need only remove illusion; no effort is needed for

realization because it is already there. By persistent enquiry,

ignorance will vanish. This is wisdom. We have great joy and

good cause for celebration in the birth of Sri Ramana

Maharshi, the great sage whose presence will guide us out of

our ignorance to wisdom. Although the body has died, the

truth which is Bhagavan, our own Self, lives eternally.

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MERCIES OF BHAGAVAN

By Dr. S. Siva

HE came into my life when I was at a tender age. In 1938 1

accompanied my parents to Ramanasramam. I remember

sitting in the old meditation hall watching Bhagavan. The

hall was crowded with people. Restlessly I waited to go

outside to play with the peacocks and roam the Ashram

grounds.

After our return home I began worshipping Bhagavan as

God. I had seen this God with my own eyes and it was easier

to visualise his form than God in other forms.

Some years later I was sent to live in the home of an ardent

devotee of Bhagavan. He was a shining example of a true

bhakta and all around him were drawn closer to Bhagavan.

When Bhagavan shed his body I thought he had left us

forever. Many years were to pass by before I felt his presence

once more. Worldly activities turned me away from him time

and again, but mercifully I would always return to his lotus

feet. Like a ship lost at sea, seeking a lighthouse to guide it

safely to port, I would seek him in troubled moments and let

him carry me to safety.

Then, during one especially difficult period of my life, I

surrendered totally to him. I began for the first time to study

his teachings in earnest. All doubts and problems began to

fade. I visited his Ashram again after a lapse of thirty years.

Nothing had changed; Bhagavan’s presence was felt

everywhere. I had finally come home.

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THE CALL

By I.S. Varghese

THE Divine Call comes to man in several guises. It may be

through a devastating incident in life; it may be through

admonition from a very insignificant quarter; it may be

through a ‘small voice’ speaking to one from the depths of

the heart; it may be through anything. But the common factor

is that the person to whom it comes recognises it

unmistakably as the Divine Call.

This is closely connected with a basic axiom of Hindu

religious thought, that anyone or anything can serve as Master

(Guru). In common language this just means that one may

learn a profound spiritual truth from anyone or any quarter.

This is a fact, however much some people have tried to

represent truth as confined to their own pet scriptures and

premises. The former President of India, the late Dr

Radhakrishnan, very aptly expressed this fact when he wrote,

“It is a persistent delusion of the Semitic race that a particular

theology is necessary for salvation”. This delusion has been

the cause of much conflict and cruelty and the loss of

innumerable lives throughout history. That the guru may be

anyone or anything has been explicitly stated by Sri Ramana

Maharshi in his reply to Dilip Kumar Roy, the famous singer

of Sri Aurobindo Ashram:

What is a guru? Guru is God or the Self. . . He need not

necessarily be in human form. Dattatreya had twentyfour

gurus — the elements, etc. That means that any form in

the world could be his guru.

In the case of Sri Ramana Maharshi he had no visible

guru. He was initiated by God Himself. The call name to

him in July, 1896, when he was a boy of sixteen years. It

was in the form of a confrontation with death which drove

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him inwards into the innermost recesses of his being till he

realised that he was the Atman (Spirit or Self) and not the

body or the mind. In his own words, he came to the conclusion:

So I am the Spirit. All this was not a feat of intellectual

gymnastics, but came as a flash before me vividly as living

truth, something which I perceived immediately, almost

without any argument. ‘I’ was something very real, the

only real thing in that state, and all the conscious activity

that was connected with my body was centred on that .

The ‘I’ or myself was holding the focus of attention with a

powerful fascination. Fear of death vanished at once and

for ever. The absorption in the Self has continued from

that moment right up to now.

Young Ramana’s conviction that he had received the call

is reflected in the message he left for his relatives before

leaving home for Tiruvannamalai:

I am starting from this place in search of my Father and in

obedience to his call. This is a virtuous enterprise. Therefore

none need grieve about this, or spend any money to trace

this out.

There are many touching anecdotes about the Divine Call

coming to mortals who appeared to be quite unworthy by all

human standards. We have the case of Arunagirinathar, who

was called when he was a riotous and dissolute young man

always full of strong drink and profanity and addicted to

visiting wayward women. One day he wanted to visit one of

his paramours and worried his sister for money. She got so

annoyed and disgusted that she cried out in anguish, “I know

why you want the money. If you are so much in need of a

woman, take me”. This utterance penetrated the heart of the

young man. The enormity of his sinful life was brought home

to him. In great remorse he rushed away shedding copious

tears and went straight to the Arunachaleswara temple of

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Tiruvannamalai. He climbed one of the gopurams of the

temple and cast himself down to end his miserable life. The

invisible Lord supported him and he came down slowly, as if

he were a feather, and landed softly on the ground. The grace

of God overwhelmed him. He used his own sister’s words,

“Lord! Here I am, take me”. He was called indeed. Today his

soul-stirring devotional hymns and the story of his life move

devout hearts and he is venerated as one of the Saivite Saints.

There are other such cases among the twelve Alwars and

sixtythree Nayanmars (saints) of South India. In the Christian

tradition we have St. Paul, who as Saul in his purvasrama

(previous station in life) persecuted the early Christian Church.

He had a vision on the road to Damascus and was transformed

into the main apostle of Christ in person. It is significant that

about half the New Testament is made up of the epistles of St.

Paul. Coming nearer our times, we have the case of Bernadette

Soubirous of Lourdes in France (later St. Bernadette), the poor

asthmatic girl whose father was a labourer and mother a

washerwoman, who was graced with a vision of St. Mary, the

mother of Christ. Now Lourdes is a premier place of Christian

pilgrimage in the world, second only to Jerusalem, and it is

the venue of small and great favours from above to all and

sundry without distinction of caste, creed or race.

In the case of many, the Divine Call does not come as an

overwhelming experience but as messages to lead them on

the road to sanctity. It is just as Jesus Christ has said, “The

wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes,

but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.

It is the same way with everyone who is born of the Spirit”.

As for Tiruvannamalai, the holy hill, it is very significant

that Sri Maharshi was called to take his abode there and be

there continuously for a period of over fifty years, thus

confirming the sanctity of the hill. There is nothing peculiar

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about a place being considered holy. In the Old Testament of

the Bible there are many references to God declaring Zion in

Jerusalem as his holy hill and as His abode. In Exodus we get

the account of Moses facing the burning bush and God asking

him to remove his shoes as he was standing on holy ground.

Tiruvannamalai has been calling people continuously to the

life in the Spirit, more loudly after Sri Maharshi made it his

abode. The place has unmistakably shown truly evangelical

characteristics — the signs of Divine presence — peace,

healing and amendment of life.

The call of Tiruvannamalai has been mainly through the

printed word and oral testimonies. The very first devotee of

Sri Ramana Maharshi of whom we have record, Sivaprakasam

Pillai, who approached him with some doctrinal questions in

1901, had come to know of the Maharshi from oral testimony.

So also, the first Western devotee, Frank Humphreys, Assistant

Superintendent of Police, came to know of the Maharshi in

1911 from his Telugu tutor, one Narasimhayya. A very large

number of people, especially Westerners, came to know of

the Maharshi through that remarkable book, A Search in Secret

India by Paul Brunton, the well-known writer on religious

and esoteric subjects. From then onwards the name and fame

of Tiruvannamalai and the Maharshi have been spread abroad

by many Ashram publications and innumerable visitors from

all parts of India and abroad.

There is no doubt that many have been called, and out of

those the fortunate ones have responded. It is for them to heed

the advice given to St. Bernadette by her Father Confessor,

“Great grace has been shown to you — should you not try to

deserve it?

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BOUNDLESS LOVE

By Gladys De Meuter

GRACE is always there”. Sri Ramana Maharshi said these

words to one of the countless hearts who came to him for

spiritual guidance and solace. Is not the sage grace embodied?

Once, when Sri Bhagavan was asked whether grace was

not the gift conferred by the guru, he replied, “God, guru and

grace are synonymous terms. They are immanent and eternal”.

Grace! Here lies the heart of spiritual life!

From this source wells forth the infinite variety of forms

which grace assumes, as it were, in order to dissipate the mists

of the chimera called ignorance. These are relative terms, for

on a loftier level, Sri Bhagavan taught that there is neither

seeker nor goal, for Self alone is.

Few are ready, however, to follow the Sage’s supreme

teaching or Maha Yoga; others must take hold of the Ariadne

thread which will lead them out of the labyrinth of wrong

identification with the spurious ego. This thread is made of

simple twine, and every pilgrim may take hold of it. One

qualification is necessary — sincerity! The sage of Arunachala

knew who was sincere. In the questions answered by Sri

Bhagavan it is striking how infinitely gentle and patient he

was with certain humble enquirers, and how he refrained from

replying in like vein to other persons whose questions were

not sincere.

Without the mysterious operation of grace, no seeker would

be aware that there was something lacking which must be

found, or something lost which must be rediscovered. Grace

may be likened to an exquisite love song which is an invitation

to the sacred grove of silence where all who have ears to hear

may hear this divine call, and enter. Sri Ramana Maharshi

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radiated grace, and his compassion excluded none. His

wisdom-power-love was, and remains, measureless.

Faith without works is dead. This is so true, for to pay

homage to Sri Bhagavan without following his path would be

to pay but lip service whilst the heart is not alive. The Ariadne

thread is there, but those who revere the Sage of Arunachala

should ever bear in mind that ahimsa in thought, word and

deed must be observed faithfully and put into practice daily.

As in days of yore, by the fruits shall be known the devotees

of the Master!

Sri Bhagavan’s teachings have been brilliantly expounded by

eminent scholars, poets and devotees, and different individuals

may be attracted to different facets of the sage’s life.

To this heart, ever vividly present is Sri Maharshi’s infinite

tenderness towards even the tiniest creatures. His beautiful

smile greeted the mother-bird busily preparing her nest for

her family in the meditation hall. The wild monkeys, including

Nondi the lame one, knew that they had nothing to fear from

Sri Bhagavan. Likewise came many other animals. One

remembers especially Lakshmi the cow, whose great love for

the Master is deeply touching and is beautifully told by Arthur

Osborne. The gentle solicitude, patience and compassion

shown by Sri Ramana Maharshi towards all forms of life is

not mere sentimentality. It has profound meaning. Every action

of the Maharshi is of utmost importance.

Sri Bhagavan showed reverence for life by example. This

reverence for life extended to all living things. When someone

declared that surely he could not be compared to a tree, the

quiet reply of the sage was most revealing, “You may call a

tree a standing man, and man a walking tree”.

We cannot pretend to comprehend fully the sagacity of a

sage, but throughout history we find that the true measure of

the sage is that he is compassion itself, and this Sri Ramana

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Maharshi is. Whether Sri Bhagavan gently guided a devotee

on the path of surrender, or another to follow the steep vichara

method, or yet another to practise his or her own form of

worship, whether it be along the lines of Hinduism or another

religion, the sage always taught according to the receptivity

of the enquirer. Unfailingly, his love forged a spiritual link

which would never be severed. A striking example of this is

the scene when a devotee asked heart-rendingly, “What if 1

go to hell”? The sage assured him that even there he would

not let go of him.

Whether Sri Bhagavan walks the earth in physical frame,

or whether he has shed it, does not matter, since his love is

everpresent. everpowerful, everactive. Whatever path one

follows, surely the greatest comfort is to know that the guru

within is truly there, as Sri Bhagavan has taught.

To quote but one example:

It is night. A passenger peers out of an aircraft window.

Suddenly, from the desert below, a glow of light is perceived.

From the tempest-torn heart of this passenger a prayer pours

forth, “God, be my light in the night of life’s day”. This person

had never beheld the physical form of Sri Ramana Maharshi,

yet the presence is here-now-always. How did this

spontaneous prayer come about? It sufficed that one day a

hand was guided to a book which bore a countenance, one

with starlike eyes, a visage which radiated a glory which

beggars description. Thus was the love song heard!

The Sage of Arunachala does not belong to any specific

time or place. He is beyond both. Only in this context does he

emerge in his true grandeur.

As homage to that wondrous love song, which, once heard,

is never forgotten or silenced, a modest spiritual bouquet is

tendered to the Beloved:

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Thou who alone knowest how to love —

Blessed am I to know that Thou lovest me.

Thou wilt never forsake me.

No matter What manner of misfortune befalls me,

When I am shunned, derided, cast aside by others,

Thou art ever there, folding me in tender protectiveness.

When aloneness, fears, doubts, temptations and other

foes assail me,

Thou art there to disperse them and put them to flight.

Thou art my true eternal Love!

In Thee alone do I find repose

How to thank Thee, O boundless Love?

By offering Thee my poverty-stricken heart!

The Answer

By Wei Wu Wei

“Where could Maharshi go”?

Out of voidness, from which he perceived, where could

he go?

‘Void’ has neither ingress nor exit.

Concerning ‘void’ nothing could ever be said, for about

no thing there could not be anything to say.

Hence three hundred pages by ‘Sages’?

Three hundred or three thousand pages may be written

concerning concepts termed ‘void’, as about any other

conceptual object, but concerning ‘void’ as such no word could

ever apply, for no thought could ever think itself, and no eye

could ever see what is looking.

Note: ‘Void’, of course, can also be discussed as ‘Noumenon’,

which is discussion concerning the discussing of discussion.

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REMEMBRANCE

By Barbara Rose

RAMANA is the saviour of this life. At the mere thought of

his name there is a burst of harmony inside this physical frame

which reverberates and joins in the song of the heavenly

spheres and the song of the most minute life-unit, wheresoever

that consciousness extends! That name and harmony form

the theme and background to every breath and motion. Thanks

to them, the perceived world becomes a place of remembrance.

Slowly we learn to look through the peep-holes of the circus

tent to the quiet beyond. Slowly comes the strength to focus

not on the scenes of the fleeting wonders of the mind, but to

see with our hearts more and more. Happily, to see the blue

sky and to let its vastness fill us till the mind becomes serene.

Peacefully, to hear the tiny songbird, insignificant to the grand

organ of sight, but so much in tune with what IS.

The faith grows, the trust grows, thanks to the grace of Sri

Bhagavan. He is the mother, tirelessly gentle, ready to cradle

the devotee in caring arms when it bruises itself so often

because of stubborn vasanas of the past. He is there to hear

the prayer of which the tongue and heart never tire, “Please

help us to love more in our hearts each day”. He is the father,

ever watchful and ready with the reminder of what we are

here for, reminding us that our one and only freedom is in

remembrance, in being with him and in him.

Thank you for your guidance, Bhagavan. It is in everything.

The blessings pour in. They are for all nature. They are for

me. They are for all humanity.

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EMBODIMENT OF PURITY

By Robin E. Lagemann

BHAGAVAN alone IS. . . Such a deed, abiding and assured

awareness fills the heart with relief and rejoicing.

Awakening from the dream of samsara to find Sri

Bhagavan as the Being, the Reality, is relief beyond

comprehension — it is so complete. Then, knowing this

and realizing through his grace that consciousness

surrendered to him can never again be engulfed by samsara

makes us rejoice beyond expression. For, with no samsara

there is only him to abide with forever. What joy is more

complete than that?

Self-realization is the only purpose of human birth, its

highest experience and its supreme good. Most wonderful

of all is that it is one’s natural state. How simple! But

then Sri Bhagavan is simplicity itself. And, if we feel it

is lost, Sri Bhagavan reminds us to enquire, “To whom is

it lost”? And so, to abide in That is to remain as one IS —

without concepts.

Remaining free from concepts means annihilation of thoughts.

The enquiry, ‘Who am I’? effectively quells the onrush of ‘I am

this or I am that’ which engenders ‘we’ and ‘they’ and the manifold

problems arising therefrom. Sri Bhagavan’s method of Selfenquiry

causes an abiding interest in the ‘I–am’ which leads to

the eternally existing ‘I’ beyond all qualifying concepts. As a

result, even that ‘I’, like the stick used to stir the fire which is

then itself thrown in, disappears, for as Sri Bhagavan has said,

“There really is no such thing as ‘I’”.

What inexpressible relief and restoration of joy it is to know

that one is neither this nor that, neither God nor man etc. One

only IS.

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So, in Him who manifested as Sri Bhagavan Ramana,

embodiment of purity and wisdom, personification of the

eternal dharma, may we be eternally consumed.

Let the Master’s words conclude:

Devotee: Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered

the direct means to jnana?

Bhagavan: Because every kind of sadhana except that of

Atma Vichara presupposes the retention of the mind as the

instrument for carrying out the sadhana, and without the

mind it cannot be practised. The ego may take different

and subtler forms at different stages of one’s practice, but

itself is never destroyed. The attempt to destroy the ego or

the mind through sadhanas other than Atma vichara, is

just like the thief turning policeman to catch the thief, that

is, himself. Atma vichara alone can reveal the truth that

neither the ego nor the mind really exists, and enables one

to realize the pure, undifferentiated Being of the Self or

the Absolute. Having realized the Self, nothing remains to

be known, because it is perfect Bliss, it is All.

***

The ignorant man, attached to his body, is controlled by

the impressions and tendencies created by his past deeds, and

is bound by the law of karma. But the wise man, his desires

being quenched, is not affected by deeds. He is beyond the

law of karma. Since his mind rests in the Atman he is not

affected by the conditions which surround him, though he

may continue to live in the body and though his senses may

move amongst sense objects. For he has realized the vanity

of all objects, and in multiplicity sees one infinite Lord. He is

like a man who has awakened from sleep and learned that his

dream was a dream.

— Srimad Bhagavatam.

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HOW BHAGAVAN CAME INTO MY LIFE

By Karin Stegemann

ALREADY in early childhood 1 felt a deep religious longing.

But only after many years of seeking and intense study of religion

and philosophy did 1 finally find the answers to my questions in

Buddhism. Later on it was the practice of Zen Buddhism in

particular which guided me on the path of realization.

In 1952 my husband founded a Buddhist Society in

Hamburg, Germany. 1 became his colleague and worked for

more than twenty years, my main duty being the editing of a

journal. During this time I first saw Sri Ramana Maharshi’s

photograph and it made a deep impression on me. 1 also found

in the book, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, a dimension

of spiritual experience which attracted me as if by magic.

From that time onwards this book became my daily spiritual

food, and my longing to see the places where the sage had

lived grew daily.

The love of Bhagavan was with me most powerfully when

1 sat for meditation. This was immediately after the passing

away of my husband. In those days 1 experienced a Being

beyond birth and death, and he revealed himself to me as the

Sadguru, working from within. Many years had to pass until

I was able to arrange everything in such a way that all my

activities could go on without me for some time. This set me

free for my first pilgrimage to Sri Ramanasramam.

Never in my life was I so happy and so full of deep peace as

during that blessed time at the foot of Arunachala! After my

return to the West, I expressed my gratefulness in a series of

lectures in which 1 showed slides of all the sacred places where

the sage had lived in the body and of those who work nowadays

in a selfless way to keep the Ashram running and to preserve

the atmosphere as it was during his bodily presence.

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After a second visit I was certain that Bhagavan is working

within us beyond time and space, and that it is only the body

which travels from one place to the other. After my first

journey there was still the painful dualistic feeling of

departing; now it had disappeared. Where is coming and

going? In a similar way I experienced that sickness and other

difficulties cannot disturb the inner peace, once the wrong

identification has dropped off.

To meet the wishes of my friends for a seminar on

Bhagavan, I studied anew all available material on the sage,

which points to the incomparable greatness of this Enlightened

One, who, almost as a child, experienced the true nature of

man without any help from outside, without a further

development, without falling back into ignorance. After his

great experience he remained once and for all the embodiment

of the supreme wisdom of India. May his birth centenary

remind us to follow gratefully and wholeheartedly the path

which he has opened to all.

Sayings of Bhagavan

“What will it be like when one achieves Self-realization?”

a devotee asked. “The question is wrong, one does not realize

anything new”, said Bhagavan. “I do not get you, Swami”,

persisted the devotee. “It is very simple. Now you feel you

are in the world. There you feel that the world is in you”,

explained Bhagavan.

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WHERE HAS BHAGAVAN GONE?

By Swami Virajananda

THEY are despondent that Bhagavan is going to leave them

and go away. Where can he go, and how”? These words of Sri

Bhagavan contain the whole truth of what he is; they are assurance

and more than that, they are fact. But how are we to grasp this

promise, how to understand this mysterious eternal presence?

Imagine, if you will, an endless sheet of pure light. Call it

the Absolute, or Brahman, or That Which Is ... it does not

matter. All the names and forms you wish to behold —

mountains, rivers, plants, countless beings — see them as if

painted on this sheet, some of them completely opaque, so

that you cannot see any of the underlying light, some fully

transparent, others partly transparent, according to the

predominance of the various gunas. Now see in the middle of

each being a tiny aperture, as in the lens of a camera. That is

the Self, seated in the hearts of all, and it is of course identical

with the substratum; the less ego, the more is it open, and the

more the light can come through. What an infinite combination

of light transparencies and aperture-sizes God has thus made!

How do the sages, the jivanmuktas, look ? There is no

question any longer of transparency or darkness, for, being

devoid of ego, their aperture has opened until it reached the

outline of their shape, so that, except for this outline, the

underlying light is all there is. And all that happens when

their bodies die is that this outline gets erased. What remains

is the light they always were — call it God, or Brahman, or

That Which Is. This is why there is no question of Bhagavan

going away; this is why he is our very Self.

The Smriti says:

Neither inward nor outward turned consciousness, nor the

two together; not an undifferentiated mass of dormant

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omniscience; neither knowing nor unknowing, because

invisible, ineffable, intangible, devoid of characteristics,

inconceivable, indefinable, its sole essence being the

assurance of its own Self; the coming to peaceful rest of

all differentiated, relative existence; utterly quiet; peaceful,

blissful, without a second: this is Atman, the Self, which is

to be realized. 1

1 Mandukyopanishad, V.7.

Bhagavan’s Silence

By S. Bhanu Sharma

I came to Bangalore in 1935 with the blessings of Bhagavan

Sri Ramana. I was under the care of a Polish engineer, Mr.

Maurice Frydman, who was a frequent visitor to the Ashram.

In 1937 one of his Dutch friends, Dr. G.H. Mees, a staunch

philosopher, came to visit him and was discussing philosophy

with him. Dr. Mees said that he had not been able to get

clarification on certain points in Indian Philosophy, despite all

his efforts. Mr.Frydman suggested that he go and meet

Bhagavan and that from him he was sure to get what he wanted.

I was asked to accompany Dr. Mees to introduce him to

Bhagavan. Dr.Mees noted down all his questions on a sheet

of paper. We arrived at about 8.30 a.m., prostrated before

Bhagavan and sat down in the Hall in front of him. Several

devotees were putting questions and Bhagavan was answering

them. Dr. Mees kept silent, and at 10.45 I reminded him about

his questions. He said that he no longer had any doubt on any

point and that all of the answers had become clear to him

after the darshan of Bhagavan.

Thus was the grace of Bhagavan bestowed on devotees

without their asking, when they went to him for his blessings.

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ARUNACHALA AND RAMANACHALA

By K. Subrahmanian

THE Maharshi and Arunachala embody the same principle

of stillness. The Maharshi too was achala, the stillness of

Awareness. He was the utsava vigraha, the hill the mula

vigraha. He never moved away from Tiruvannamalai, from

the day he arrived there in his sixteenth year till he merged in

its light in April, 1950. As the hill is rooted in the earth, Sri

Ramana is rooted in the Self. The hill still draws people to it.

Sri Ramana too, unmoving, draws people towards himself.

Even people who had not seen him during his lifetime are

drawn towards him and the hill.

The Sage appealed to humanity through silence. This silence,

like the hill’s own silence, is more potent than the eloquence

of preachers. It brings about silence of the beholder’s

mind. It is not the negation of speech but the pure awareness

which is the source and end of all sound.

Going round the hill is recommended by Sri Bhagavan, as

this physical movement results in mental calm. Strangely

enough, one feels no fatigue in going round the hill. Going

round Sri Bhagavan was thought equal to going round the

hill and was found by some to yield the same mental calm.

However, he discouraged this practice. The hill and the

Maharshi are two forms assumed by the formless Self.

Smaranad Arunachalam — If one thinks of Arunachala,

one gains liberation. Like Arunachala, Ramana too brings enlightenment

by ending the illusion that the body is oneself.

The hill is Lord Siva himself. And Ramana lived and moved

as Sivananda. And he is present still as we sit in silence in his

Ashram or walk round the hill.

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MY BELOVED BHAGAVAN

By Swami Ramdas

What shall I say of Him who towers high,

A veritable Everest of spiritual glory,

A resplendent sun who sheds light on all.

He is our soul, our life and sole refuge.

The sage par-excellence dwells on the Sacred Hill,

Arunachala, the abode of holy ones, the Rishis.

His compassionate eyes pour forth nectar on all He sees,

Drowning us in a sea of joy and ecstasy.

Our lives are aflame with divine wisdom

At a moment’s touch of His world-redeeming feet.

He is God Himself who walked on earth.

His grace and delight enter our hearts,

Transforming us into His beauteous image.

He belongs to the dizzy heights ;

Still He stands firm on the earth of ours

To redeem and save those who behold

His face reflected in the mirror

Of His toe-nails, which glow with celestial radiance.

The care-worn go to Him and become

Free and cheerful like children at play.

The earnest aspirants approach Him

To return deeply permeated with knowledge eternal.

Verily, to be in His presence is to know

All that exists is Himself, His grandiose being and form.

His unfailing power of love is most potent;

How He draws me to Him is a mystery.

O Lord! like a rudderless boat adrift

On that vast ocean of the world, I wandered

Hither and thither seeking in darkness

The supreme light and goal that liberates life

From galling bondage and depthless sorrow.

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Lo! Thy grace drew me to Thy feet

And I came to Thee a vagrant and a beggar.

Thy very sight was burning with the all-consuming

fire of the world.

The instant my head touched Thy holy feet

The fever of my soul left me for ever.

I felt lightness and freedom and peace;

Then Thine eyes, redolent with Thy Infinite Grace

Tenderly looked on me and I was thrilled.

I stood before Thee, a figure of pure bliss,

Fully bathed in Thy divine halo.

Now, I am Thy child, free and happy.

My face is suffused with smiles drawn from Thee.

My life is entirely enlightened

With Thy Love, Knowledge and Power.

Thou art my Mother, Master and Friend, my only

Beloved.

All glory to Thee! All glory to Thee!

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YEARS OF GRACE

By R. Narayana Iyer

I first saw Bhagavan in 1913 at the Virupaksha Cave. But it

was in 1936 that I really met him. When I reached the Ashram

and entered the hall, Bhagavan pointed at me and said, “He

has come from Madras”. I thought myself very fortunate in

having been blessed by his attention immediately on my

arrival. That evening while sitting in the hall, Bhagavan looked

at me intently for about five minutes. It was an extraordinary

experience. The experience, the feeling, remained long after

I returned home.

I took voluntary retirement from service in order to pursue

the spiritual path and shifted my family to Tiruvannamalai

so as to be near Bhagavan. One day while trying to meditate

in the presence of Bhagavan I just could not fix my thoughts

and became restless. In the meantime a boy who used to

come daily and give a performance of numberless

prostrations gave us a super show that day. Bhagavan

rebuked him, “What is the use of your prostrations? Control

of the mind is real worship”. Somehow these words had a

tremendous effect on me.

There are many instances of Bhagavan’s compassion that have

graced my life. My wife died of small pox. On that day it rained

in torrents. I was afraid that the cremation would be delayed.

Bhagavan sent some Ashram workers to help me. When

Bhagavan was told that the rain was too heavy for the funeral, he

said, “Go on with it, never mind the rain”. When the body was

taken to the cremation ground, the rain stopped, and when the

body was burnt to white ashes, it started raining again!

A few days later my daughter was singing in the hall.

Suddenly she stopped and then, after a pause she continued.

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Bhagavan asked, “Why did you stop in the middle? Was it

the grief for your mother? Why do you grieve for her? Is she

not with Lord Arunachala”?

In 1942 I had to arrange for the marriage of my daughter. I

had a suitable boy in mind, but he raised some objections.

Anxiously I showed his letter to Bhagavan, who said, “Don’t

worry, it will come off”. Soon afterwards the boy himself came

and the marriage was celebrated.

After Bhagavan left the body I spent two years in my village

and then came to the Ashram again. There were difficulties in

my spiritual practices, but I felt Bhagavan’s guidance very

clearly.

I had muscular rheumatism at that time and wrote to my

son, who was coming from Madras to bring some medicine.

He however forgot. The next day Sundaram’s brother, coming

from his village brought the very medicine I wanted. I asked

him how he had thought of bringing them. He told me that he

saw them in his house unused and that it occurred to him that

it might be of some use to me. It dawned on me that it was

Bhagavan’s love for us that filled our lives with miracles.

On another occasion a nerve in my leg got inflamed. I was

all alone and puzzled, when unexpectedly, Sundaram came

from his village. When I asked him why he came, he said, “I

just felt like coming”. From the very next day I had high fever

and Sundaram nursed me for a fortnight. Who could have

arranged all this but Bhagavan?

During the years after Bhagavan left his body I felt His

continued guidance very clearly. How carefully he watches

over every legitimate need of his devotees!

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ETERNAL BHAGAVAN

By Shantamma

MY search for a Master who would lead me to salvation began

when I was 40 years old. It was ten years later, in 1927, that I

went to Tiruvannamalai in the company of three ladies. When

I went to Ramanasramam, Bhagavan was seated on a cot in a

grass-thatched shed. As soon as I saw him I knew that he was

God in human form. Muruganar, who was a native of Ramnad

like me, was by his side. I bowed to Bhagavan and said, “Today

I am blessed. Please grant that my mind does not trouble me

any more”. Bhagavan turned to Muruganar and said, “Ask

her to find out whether there is such a thing as mind. If there

is, ask her to describe it”. I stood still, not knowing what to

say. Muruganar explained to me, “Don’t you see? You have

been initiated in the search for the Self.

We stayed for forty days. We would cook some food, and

take it to the Ashram. Bhagavan would taste it and the rest

was given to the devotees. In those days, Bhagavan’s brother

Chinnaswami was cooking in the Ashram. Often there were

no curries or sambar, only plain rice and pickles. Though I

wanted to stay on until Bhagavan’s birthday, my companions

had to leave. When I went to Bhagavan to take his leave, He

asked me to wait a day longer for the newly printed Upadesa

Saram. The next day he gave me a copy with his own hands.

The thought of leaving him broke my heart and I wept bitterly.

Bhagavan graciously said, “You are going to Ramnad, but

you are not leaving Arunachala. Go and come soon”.

Fortunately by his grace I was able to attend the next

jayanti. It was the experience of every devotee that he who is

determined to visit him, finds that all obstacles somehow

vanish. This time Bhagavan was seated on a sofa in a newly

built hall. He was explaining something from Ulladu Narpadu

to Dandapani Swami. When he saw me his first question was,

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“Have you a copy of this book? I asked them to post one to

you.” How my Lord remembers us by name and how loving

is his personal attention to our needs. From dawn to dusk I

stayed at the Ashram and engaged myself in its chores.

After the celebration, the guests were leaving and I felt

that I too would have to go. I gathered sufficient courage and

told Bhagavan about my deep desire to stay on. “As long as I

am with you Bhagavan, my mind is at peace. Away from you,

I am restless. What am I to do”? He said, “Stay here until

your mind gets settled. After that you can go anywhere and

nothing will disturb you”. It seemed miraculous when minutes

later I was asked to stay and cook for two months, as

Chinnaswami who was cooking for the Ashram was sick and

had to leave for Madras for treatment. Thus I came to stay —

not for two months, but forever.

During that period in the history of the Ashram, Bhagavan

used to be active working both in the kitchen and outside. He

would clean grain, shell nuts, grind seeds, stick together the

leaf plates we ate from and so on. We would join him in every

task and listen to his stories, jokes, reminiscences and spiritual

teachings. Occasionally he would scold us lovingly like a

mother. Everything we did, every problem we faced, was made

use of in teaching the art of total reliance on him.

One morning a European came in a horse carriage to the

Ashram and went straight to Bhagavan. He wrote something

on a piece of paper and showed it to Bhagavan. Bhagavan did

not answer, instead he gazed at the stranger steadily. The stranger

stared back at him. Then Bhagavan closed his eyes and the

stranger also closed his. Time passed and the whole atmosphere

was silent and still. Lunch hour struck but Bhagavan would

not open his eyes. Madhavaswami, the attendant, got

Bhagavan’s water pot and stood ready to lead him out of the

hall. Bhagavan would not stir. We felt afraid to go near, such

was the intensity around him. His face was glowing with a

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strange light. Chinnaswami was talking loudly to attract

Bhagavan’s attention. Even vessels were banged about, but all

in vain. When the clock was striking twelve Bhagavan opened

his eyes. They were glowing very brightly. Madhavaswami took

up the water jug; the European got into the carriage and went

away. It was the last we saw of him. Everybody was

wonderstruck at the great good fortune of the man, to have

received such immediate initiation from Bhagavan.

Once the Maharaja of Mysore visited the Ashram. He asked

for a private interview. Of course, Bhagavan never allowed

such a thing. Finally it was decided that Maharaja be brought

in when Bhagavan was having his bath. Trays and trays of

sweets and other costly presents were laid at Bhagavan’s feet.

For ten minutes the Maharaja just stood looking and then

prostrated before Bhagavan. Tears flowing from his eyes made

Bhagavan’s feet wet. He told Bhagavan, “They made me a

Maharaja and bound me to a throne. For the sin of being born

a king, I lost the chance of sitting at your feet and serving in

your glorious presence. I do not hope to come again. Only

these few minutes are mine. I pray for your grace”.

Once the cow Lakshmi came into the hall. She was pregnant

at that time. It was after lunch time and Bhagavan was reading

the newspapers. Lakshmi came near 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 put his head against

hers. They stayed thus for quite a long time. All of us watched

the wonderful scene. After sometime Bhagavan turned to me

and said, “Do you know what Lakshmi is doing? She is in

samadhi”. Tears were flowing from Lakshmi’s eyes. Her eyes

were fixed on Bhagavan. After sometime Bhagavan asked her,

“Lakshmi, how do you feel now”? Lakshmi moved backward,

reluctant to turn her tail towards Bhagavan, and went out of

the hall. On the fourth day she gave birth to a calf. The man

with whom she was staying in town brought her with her three

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calves and left them in the Ashram for good. Lakshmi and her

three calves came into the hall and lay down beside Bhagavan’s

sofa. He said, “All these days Lakshmi had to go back in the

evening and she used to be in tears. Today she is delighted for

she need not go away anymore. She knows that her home is

here now. We have to look after her. Look at her with what selfassurance

she has stretched herself out”!

In the early days of the Ashram, a harijan used to stand

near the well and accompany Bhagavan whenever he went

up the hill. One day Bhagavan called him near and said, “Go

on repeating ‘Shiva, Shiva’”. It was very unusual for an

untouchable to receive this kind of initiation. He could never

have secured it without Bhagavan’s infinite grace. After that

the man disappeared.

Once I related to Bhagavan some vision I had and he said:

Yes, such visions do occur. To know how you look you

must look into a mirror, but don’t take that reflection to be

yourself. What is perceived by our senses and mind is never

the truth. All visions are mere mental creations, and if you

believe in them, your progress ceases. Enquire to whom

the visions occur, who is their witness. Free from all

thought, stay in pure awareness. Out of that don’t move.

A visitor while taking leave of Bhagavan expressed a wish

that Bhagavan should keep him in mind as he was going very

far away and would probably not come back to the Ashram.

Bhagavan replied:

A jnani has no mind. How can one without a mind remember

or even think? This man goes somewhere and I have to go

there and look after him? Can I keep on remembering all

these prayers? Well, I shall transmit your prayer to the Lord

of the Universe. He will look after you. It is his business.

After the devotee departed, Bhagavan turned towards us

and said:

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People imagine that the devotees crowding around a jnani

get special favours from him. If a Guru shows partiality,

how can he be a jnani? Is he so foolish as to be flattered by

people’s attendance on him and the service they do? Does

distance matter? The Guru is pleased with him only who

gives himself up entirely, who abandons his ego forever.

Such a man is taken care of wherever he may be. He need

not pray. God looks after him unasked. The frog lives by the

side of the fragrant lotus, but it is the bee that gets the honey.

When I cooked, Bhagavan would come to the kitchen to

taste the food and see whether the seasoning was just right.

Once he said, “The Maharajas employ special taste experts

and pay them huge salaries. I wonder what will be my pay”.

“I am a beggar Bhagavan, and all I can offer is my life”, I

said, to which Bhagavan nodded his head lovingly.

In the kitchen there were no proper jars for storing foodstuffs

and everything was kept in tins and pots which would leak and

spill and render the floor slippery. Once I scrubbed the kitchen

floor carefully. Bhagavan on seeing it congratulated me on the

neatness in the kitchen. I sighed, “What is the use Bhagavan?

People will come, spill oil, scatter flour and the kitchen will be

the same again. We must have proper jars and containers”. Ten

days later they called me to the hall. Attendants were opening

wooden boxes and there were six beautiful jars. “You wanted

jars, now you have them”, said Bhagavan. On enquiry it was

found that some railway station master had booked them in the

name of our Ashram for no ostensible reason. Such mysterious

coincidences occurred almost daily, both at the Ashram and in

the homes of devotees.

One day, when I was still new in the kitchen, I served

Bhagavan with a few more pieces of potato than the rest.

Bhagavan noticed it and got very angry with me. He turned

his face away and did not look at those who were serving

food. In the evening the women working in the kitchen would

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take leave of him. Usually he would exchange a few words

with us. That evening he called me near and asked:

“What did you do today”?

“I don’t know Bhagavan. Have I done something wrong”?

“You served me more curry than you served others”.

“What does it matter. I did it with love and devotion”.

“I felt ashamed to eat more than others. Have you come all

this way to stuff me with food? You should always serve

me less than the others. Do you hope to earn grace through

a potato curry”?

“Out of my love for you I committed a blunder. Forgive

me Bhagavan”.

“The more you love my people, the more you love me”,

said Bhagavan.

A good lesson was learned and never forgotten. Many

mundane occurrences in the kitchen and in the dining hall during

meal times showed us the silent ways in which Bhagavan

pointed out to us the path of realization. Bhagavan was a stern

task master and one had to implicitly obey him. Each day was

a day of trial and lesson in spirituality. Those who have not

lived through it cannot appreciate the deep spiritual effect of

these anxieties and conflicts. Our ‘I’ would hurl itself against

the rock of truth and the rock would not yield. The ‘I’ had to

yield and in that yielding was the highest blessing. His anger

would sometimes seem to shatter us to pieces, and blessed are

they indeed who have seen in His wrath His utmost grace.

One day there was talk about a devotee having come under

the influence of another Swami. Bhagavan said:

Once a man has surrendered his life here, he belongs here.

Wherever he may go, he shall return. For him this is the

door to liberation.

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SRI RAMANASRAMAM

By Lokammal

MY intense desire to go to Ramanasramam was fulfilled when

I got a chance to go to Tiruvannamalai along with some

friends. We arrived in the evening and took shelter for the

night in a dharmashala. The next morning we went to the

Ashram which at that time was a mere thatched shed. I looked

at Bhagavan and could not take my eyes off Him. I even forgot

to offer him the fruits I had brought with me. That was my

first meeting. As my friends returned from Tirupati I had to

leave for home. When I asked Bhagavan permission to go

home he exclaimed, “What, you are going”? I told him all

about the trouble I had at home for wanting to come to the

Ashram. I said that I had no attachments and prayed to him to

keep me at his feet.

Bhagavan was at that moment reading Upadesa Saram.

Muruganar came in and Bhagavan said to him, “She wants

some instructions to take home with her. Read this to her”.

He gave him his copy of Upadesa Saram and Muruganar read

out some points for me. Before leaving I asked Bhagavan to

give me the book. Bhagavan said if this copy were given away

the Ashram would be without a copy. Just then Somasundara

Swami told Bhagavan that he had a copy which he would

give to the Ashram and requested Bhagavan to give me his

copy of Upadesa Saram.

After this first visit I used to come to the Ashram often and

stay for a month or two. One day I was asked to cook some

dhal (split pulses) and some curry for the next day. I came very

early but Bhagavan was quicker than me. He told me that the

dhal was ready and that I had only to prepare the curry.

Very often we found ourselves caught in the trap of

outmoded customs and conventions that discriminated against

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the less fortunate, especially women and the lower castes.

Bhagavan was strict in treating all equally. He often said, “The

Ashram does not see any differences. There are no

untouchables here. Those who do not like it may eat elsewhere.

At Skandashramam there used to be the same trouble with

mother. She would not give food to the man who brought us

firewood. She would insist that I eat first, then she would eat

and then the woodcutter could have the remnants left outside

the Ashram. I would refuse to eat until the man was decently

fed. At first she would not yield and would suffer and weep

and fast, but I was adamant too. She then saw that she could

not have her way in these matters. What is the difference

between man and man? Am I a Brahmin and he a pariah? Is

it not correct to see only God in all”? We were all astounded.

The rebuke went deep into our hearts. We asked Bhagavan to

make our minds clear and our hearts pure so that we would

sin no more against God in man.

One morning I was singing a Tevaram Song in front of

Bhagavan and read one verse incorrectly. Bhagavan noticed

it and asked, “Is it written like that? Better read it again”. I

read it wrong several times. At last Bhagavan said sternly,

“Find out by yourself where you made the mistake. I shall

not correct you. If I do, you will not learn to see where you

are wrong and you will repeat the same mistake again and

again”. Kunju Swami was in the hall and wanted to help me.

But Bhagavan ordered him to keep quiet. Then K.V. Ratnam

begged Bhagavan to show me where I was wrong, but he

refused firmly, saying, “No, I must not do it. She is reading it

incorrectly again and again because her secret wish is that I

should correct it”. I went on reading the passage trying to

find out where I was reading it incorrectly. It was nearing

noon and I had to help serve lunch. When I was about to go to

the kitchen, Bhagavan told me to sit down. He said, “No, you

cannot go. First find out your mistake. You must not just run

away. Better sit down”. The bell rang for lunch. Bhagavan

got up from his sofa and went to the dining hall.

After lunch I went to Somasundaram Pillai who showed me

my mistake. I came to Bhagavan and recited the verse correctly.

“Who has shown you the mistake”? he asked. “It is useless to

do so. Only when you yourself have found out where you were

wrong will it remain firmly in your mind and you will have the

knowledge and the capacity not to go wrong again.”

On some other occasion Bhagavan gave me Vasudeva

Mananam to read. I finished the book and brought it back to

Bhagavan. “Have you read it”? he asked. “Yes, I did, but I

understood nothing at all”. “That does not matter. We remember

even if we do not understand at the moment. We may come to

understand much later. We may think we forgot it, but nothing

of real value is ever forgotten.” said Bhagavan graciously.

Once we had only some dried vegetables for the soup to

eat with our rice and I did my best to make it palatable. After

the meal I asked Bhagavan how he liked the soup. He replied,

“What is taste? It is what our tongue tells us. We think the

taste is in the food itself. But it is not so. The food itself is

neither tasty nor tasteless, it is the tongue that makes it so. To

me no taste is pleasant or unpleasant, it is just as it is.”

Bhagavan’s sayings

One day when the doctor was dressing Bhagavan’s arm,

they chatted about taking photos. Bhagavan said, “In a pinhole

camera, when the hole is small, you see shapes and colours.

When the hole is made big, the images disappear and

one sees only clear light. Similarly when the mind is small

and narrow, it is full of shapes and words. When it broadens,

it sees pure light. When the box is destroyed altogether, only

the light remains.

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GLIMPSES OF SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

By Raja Iyer

IN 1911 when I was in the high school in Tiruvannamalai,

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi was living in Virupaksha Cave.

At that time we boys would climb the Arunachala hill in small

parties to visit Bhagavan. He was usually found sitting on the

elevated place outside the cave. He would smile at us as a

sign of recognition and would allow us to sit at his feet and

sing devotional songs to our hearts’ content. When the singing

was over, we would share with him the food we had brought

and wash it down with the cool water from a spring just above

the cave. We would then return home in high spirits.

After high school I used to stay with Bhagavan whenever

I felt like it and eat and sleep there. By that time, he had left

the cave which was too small for the crowd that came to see

him and moved a little higher to Skandasramam where the

devotees had built some terraces and huts. Echammal,

Mudaliar granny and a few others made it their duty to bring

cooked food up the hill regularly for Bhagavan. This enabled

some of us to stay with him permanently. The food was meant

for him, but there was enough for all. He would not allow

any discrimination in matters of food. It was shared equally

and what remained was consumed the next morning. Nor were

there regular hours for food. We would sit down for food when

there was food and when we felt the need. Bhagavan would

not eat food from the previous day; but he was willing to

cook for all and he made me his kitchen boy.

Then Bhagavan’s mother and his younger brother

Chinnaswami came to live with him. The mother started a

regular household. Devotees would bring rice and other

provisions and all partook of the frugal meals, oftentimes

consisting of some rice, buttermilk and pickles.

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While in Skandasramam, Bhagavan used to build walls,

embankments and stone and mud benches, the poor man’s

furniture in India. Once he was plastering a wall with mud.

Bespattered with mud, with a rag tied round his head, he looked

like an ordinary labourer. Some visitors came up the hill in

search of Bhagavan and one of them shouted, “Hey coolie,

where is the swami who lives hereabouts”? Bhagavan looked

round and said, “He has gone up the hill”. A visitor protested

that they were told that he could be found there at that hour.

Bhagavan shrugged his shoulders and said, “He has gone up

the hill. I can’t help it”. While the disappointed visitors were

going down the hill Echammal met them. She told them that

the swami would not go anywhere at that time. She offered to

show them the swami. In the meantime Bhagavan had washed

himself, smeared his body with sacred ash, and was sitting in

the classic yogic padmasana posture. The visitors greeted him

very reverently but were all the time looking for the coolie.

After they left Echammal asked Bhagavan why he had played

a joke on them. He said, “What else could I do? Do you want

me to go around proclaiming, ‘I am the swami’, or to wear a

board, ‘This is Sri Ramana Maharshi’”?

While Bhagavan was still at Skandasramam he often went

round Arunachala. We used to take with us what was needed

for cooking some food by the roadside. Food was usually cooked

at Palakottu and what remained was taken along and eaten at

Gautama Ashram, which we would reach at about nine in the

evening. We would sleep there, get up early in the morning and

walk to Pachaiamman Temple, which was, according to

Bhagavan, the most spiritually charged of all the Pachaiamman

temples. Bhagavan used to walk round the hill so slowly that a

walk with him was like a festival procession. We would reach

Skandasramam by ten or even later.

Though I was married I was not interested in family life.

My wife also passed away sometime after marriage and I was

free to roam about and live as I wished to.

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I am not by nature a willing worker but for the sake of staying

at the Ashram I was ready to work. Bhagavan had come down

from the hill after his mother’s samadhi and an Ashram grew around

him. I did odd jobs like collecting flowers for worship, drawing

water from the well, grinding sandalwood paste etc. For sometime

I was performing the puja at Bhagavan’s mother’s shrine.

One day Chinnaswami asked me to take up the preparation of

the morning iddlies, the steamed rice and pulse cakes common to

South India. This gave me a chance to become a permanent resident

of the Ashram. In preparing iddlies I achieved such excellence

that visitors commented that nowhere had they tasted iddlies

comparable to those of the Ashram.

Once the workers in the kitchen asked me to grind some pulses

to a paste. Try as I might I could not do it. I was told not to leave

the kitchen without finishing the job but I just refused to continue.

Bhagavan heard the quarrel and advised me to add some salt. When

I did so the grinding became easy, and eversince the dislike for

grinding left me completely. Very often Bhagavan would work

with us side by side cutting vegetables etc. He kept a watchful eye

on me and taught me the right way of doing everything. He was

very particular about avoiding waste. He showed me how to use a

ladle so that not even a drop of food would fall on the ground, how

to avoid spilling while pouring and how to start a fire with just a

few drops of kerosene. If all this were not a part of my spiritual

discipline, why should he have bothered? When we prepared iddlies

we would send him two, steaming hot. He would eat one and give

the other to the people present. At breakfast everybody would get

two iddlies and a cup of coffee, But Bhagavan would take only

one iddlie, counting as his first, the one he took earlier.

In 1937 a post office was opened in the Ashram and I was

made the Postmaster. On the first two days Bhagavan came

to the post office and did all the stamping. Prior to that I used

to bring the mail from the town post office to the Ashram.

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“Oh, the postman has been made the Postmaster”, remarked

Bhagavan. I thus had the opportunity of serving Bhagavan

and the Ashram for several years.

In whatever manner and at whatever level the devotee

approached him, he responded in the same way, fulfilled his

needs and made him happy. Bhagavan showed us tangibly to

what extent all devotion will find its way to him, whatever its

level, provided it is sincere.

The White Peacock

Bhagavan seems to have developed a fancy for the white

peacock which devotees think to be the incarnation of the late

Madhavasami, his old attendant who died about two years ago.

Today (18-6-1948) the famous cow Lakshmi died. Some believe

that she was a disciple of Bhagavan in her previous birth. They

draw this conclusion from her birth, the events of her life, her great

attachment to him, etc. After finishing the history of Lakshmi,

Bhagavan takes up that of the white peacock, which had been

brought from such a great distance as Baroda. It was born in October

1946, three months after the death of Madhavasami (July 1946)

and brought to Madras in April 1947 by the Maharani of Baroda

and to Ramanasramam by Mr David MacIver on the same day.

Bhagavan then watched the peacock’s movements. It used to

go to the cupboard where books were kept and touched its glass

door with its beak in a straight line from east to west, as if scanning

the titles of the books. Secondly it used to appear in the hall and

quit it at the very hours when Madhava used to come and go.

Thirdly it used to sit in the very places where Madhavasami used

to sit and, like him, used to visit the office, bookshop, library,

etc., also at the hours he used to visit these places. Its habits used

to be a copy of Madhava’s. Hence the conclusion of several

devotees that he was Madhava reincarnated.

From Residual Reminiscences by S.S. Cohen.

BHAGAVAN’S COOKING

By Sundaram

WITH the death of my wife the bond between me and my

family snapped. The desire to serve God had been in my mind

for quite a long time. I gave up my job. I had heard a lot about

Bhagavan. So I decided to go to Ramanasramam. Immediately

after my arrival I was fortunate to be taken on the Ashram

staff. I was looking after the Ashram’s correspondence. Still

later I was asked to work in the kitchen. There I had the good

fortune to work under Bhagavan’s direct supervision.

I was suffering for long from Asthma. It gave me a lot of

trouble while cooking, but I never mentioned it to Bhagavan.

I felt that I should endure it to the very end.

Bhagavan used to prepare various kinds of chutney, usually

made of coconut with fragrant herbs and condiments. He was

very fond of using the cheapest and most commonly found

herbs and seeds and was a wizard in making wonderful dishes

from the simplest ingredients. When something unusual was

ready, he would give everybody in the kitchen a pinch to taste

and we would take it with eyes closed, deeming it to be prasad.

On one such occasion he gave me a pinch of some chutney

and said, “This is medicine for you”. Without giving much

thought to it I swallowed the titbit and soon realised that I

was completely cured of asthma.

Once somebody complained to Bhagavan that the Ashram

food was very pungent. He said, “When sattvic food is

essential for spiritual practice how is it that the Ashram food

is so heavily spiced”? Bhagavan explained that as long as the

ingredients were pure and prepared in a pure place and in the

proper way, seasoning was a matter of taste and habit and did

not make food less sattvic.

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An unwritten rule in the Ashram demanded that until the

last meal was served and cleared, the workers should attend

to their duties only. Sitting in meditation or in Bhagavan’s

hall was strongly discouraged. The manager argued, with good

reason, that devoted service to the Ashram was itself spiritual

practice of the highest order and no other practice was needed.

He would not allow us to linger in the hall during working

hours, which was often tantalising because of the interesting

discussions and happenings that were going on there. When

we would sneak in and hide ourselves behind people’s backs,

Bhagavan would look at us significantly, as if saying, “Better

go to your work. Don’t ask for trouble”.

At night, after dinner, we would all collect around

Bhagavan. The visitors would have left by that time and we

had him all to ourselves. We felt like a big family collected

after a day’s work. During this short hour Bhagavan would

enquire about our welfare, chat with us, make us laugh, and

also give instructions for the next day.

With time I realized that working with Bhagavan in the

kitchen was not mere cooking, but definitely a form of spiritual

training. The first lesson in spiritual education to learn, and

to learn for good, is to obey the guru implicitly without

questioning or using one’s own judgement in the least. Even

if we knew a better way of doing it, we had to do it exactly as

the Master told us. It might have appeared that by obeying

him the work would be ruined, but still one had to obey. One

must master this art of instantaneous and unquestioning

obedience, for the secret of realization lies in this utter

surrender and renunciation of one’s own judgement.

Bhagavan himself was an excellent cook and made a point

of teaching us to cook properly. Cooking is the most rewarding

work, for good cooks are usually poor eaters, and all profit

goes to others. That is probably why Bhagavan selected

cooking as a training ground for some of his devoted disciples.

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It was Bhagavan’s order that the leftovers should be used as

stock for the next day’s breakfast. Iddlies with sambar being

the standard breakfast at the Ashram, the leftovers from the

previous day would come in handy. Bhagavan would come

into the kitchen in the early hours of the morning, warm the

leftovers, dilute it and add some more ingredients for the

morning sambar. The injunction against taking food from the

previous day was very much respected among the higher

castes. He insisted that avoidance of waste overrules

everything else, and he would never permit God’s gifts to be

thrown away. As to giving leftovers to beggars, it was not

practicable, for he insisted that beggars be given the same

food as everybody else and not some inferior stuff. Even dogs

had to be fed from the common meal, and first, too!

Every morning just before breakfast Bhagavan would enter

the kitchen. The vessels containing coffee, iddlies and sambar

were kept ready, covered and shining bright. He would lift

the lid, look inside and say, “This is coffee. These are iddlies.

This is sambar”. We all felt that this consecrated the food

before it was distributed to the visitors and inmates.

Once he came to the kitchen before dawn and put some of

the previous day’s soup on the fire for heating. Some leaves were

washed and cut and he told me to mix them in the soup and

continue mixing until they lost their bright green colour. For a

long time he did not return. The leaves would not change colour,

the soup was getting dry and I was afraid there might be no sambar

for breakfast. Bhagavan came in just before breakfast. “What,

you are still mixing”? he asked with a bright smile. He was

pleased that I had implicitly obeyed him and asked me to continue

mixing. The gravy was ready in time and was delicious.

Once Bhagavan was frying a large quantity of condiments in

a big iron pan over a strong fire. I was standing beside him when

he quietly asked me to remove the pan from the fire at once.

Probably he saw that more heating would burn the spices. There

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was nothing nearby to hold the pan with, so I caught the pan

with my bare hands, lifted it and put it on the ground. I was not at

all afraid to touch the hot iron, nor was I surprised that I could lift

it without feeling its weight. The surprise came later when I

realized how utterly impossible was all that had happened. It

was a striking instance of the power of obedience to one’s guru.

Sometimes I was fortunate enough to be able to serve food to

Bhagavan with my own hands. I studied carefully how I should

serve to please him and was very alert and careful. Yet he would

be more alert than me and notice the slightest mistake. “Why did

you serve me more than usual? Do I need more food today than

yesterday? And why do I get more sweets and dainties than

others? How do you dare to make distinctions”? People nearby

would plead for me. “No, Bhagavan”, they would say, “Sundaram

did not serve you more. Look, we got as much as you did”. But

Bhagavan would not be easily appeased. “You do not know, the

ego is strong in him. His giving preference to me is the working

of his ego”. I could not find out where I was at fault, but I took

his scolding as a kind of blessing and would not worry.

The women working in the kitchen were so orthodox that

they could not accept the previous day’s food. Once when some

leftover sambar was taken to a devotee’s house, a special

ceremony was ordered to purify the house. On hearing that

Bhagavan told the ladies, “Call the purifiers and get your kitchen

purified. I shall never more enter your kitchen”. The women, for

the sake of their orthodox customs, lost Bhagavan’s constant

presence, company and guidance. It was a real tragedy. Each

devotee in the Ashram believed that Bhagavan was God Himself

who had come to purify and bless him and put his feet firmly on

the path to liberation. Yet when God Himself went against their

religious customs, they would rather cling to their customs than

to God. Blessed were those who had no other rule but obedience

to Bhagavan. It was clear that he was trying to teach us the simple

lesson that in his presence no rule was valid except the rule of

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absolute surrender. But it was not an easy lesson to learn. Again

and again old habits and loyalties would assert themselves and

make us pit our will against his, to our greatest harm.

Bhagavan was not a rebel or a reformer. He did not

discourage people from following their religious customs at

home. But in the Ashram he would not take all customs for

granted. In the Ashram he was the religion and the custom,

and those who forgot it had to face his very strong will.

APOLOGY TO HORNETS

One day a disciple said to Bhagavan, “When you stepped

on a hornet’s nest, mistaking it for a bush and the hornets

attacked your leg and stung it badly, why did you feel remorse

for what had happened only accidentally, as if you had done

it intentionally?”

Bhagavan replied:

When I was stung by hornets in revenge

Upon the leg until it was inflamed,

Although ‘twas but by chance I stepped upon

Their nest, constructed in a leafy bush;

What kind of mind is his if he does not

At least repent for doing such a wrong ?

The story relating to the above is as follows: One day when

Bhagavan was climbing about the Hill as was his wont in the

early days of his sojourn in Tiruvannamalai, his leg struck

against a hornet’s nest and disturbed the hornets. They attacked

him in a body and stung his leg and thigh very badly so that it

became terribly swollen and painful. Bhagavan expressed

great sorrow for what he had done unwittingly. He would not

move from the place till they had finished the punishment

and flown away.

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A DAY WITH BHAGAVAN

By P. L. N. Sharma

IN 1932 I had the good fortune to attend a conference of cooperative

organisations which was held at Tiruvannamalai. It

enabled me to see the holy Arunachala hill and also pay a

visit to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. When I saw him he

was in his hall, reclining on a couch. The hall was clean and

cool and the sofa was well covered with coloured shawls and

a tiger’s skin, but Bhagavan himself had only a loin cloth on

his body and nothing more. In the subdued light of the hall

his body shone like burnished gold and his eyes were

luminous, full of flashes of some very intense inner life. The

more I looked at him, the more his face seemed to be radiating

a mysterious light, the source of which was somewhere deep

within. I found myself unable to guess his mental state. I could

not make out whether he was aware of the world or not,

whether he saw me or not, whether he was in some yogic

trance or in contemplation of something quite beyond my

vision and knowledge.

The hall was full of silence, serenity and peace. About

twenty people sat on the ground, apparently in deep

meditation. When the bell rang for the midday meal, he invited

us all with a nod of his head and we followed him to the

dining hall. After food I was asked to clean the spot where I

had eaten and take away the banana leaf which was used as a

plate. Anywhere else I would have taken it as a sign of

disrespect; but I told myself that it may have been a necessary

lesson and swallowed my pride.

The next morning I went again to the Ashram and sat near

the door facing Bhagavan. Some government officer,

accompanied by a retinue of peons, entered the hall and at

once started telling Bhagavan how corrupt the government

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servants were, how they abused and misused their positions,

how they quarrelled and fought among themselves making

the administration inefficient and unreliable, how he had been

entrusted with the task of cleaning up the government

machinery and how he was busy fighting against all the evils

of the world. He complained that in his loyalty to his superiors,

who had given him their confidence, and in his anxiety to

make a success of himself, he had lost his peace of mind and

had come to ask Bhagavan to make him calm and contented.

It was clear that he thought himself to be a very important

person whose request must be promptly met. After he had

finished talking he looked expectantly at Bhagavan, as if

saying, “Now it is your turn to show what you can do”.

Bhagavan did not even look at him. The clock was striking

hours, but Bhagavan was completely silent. The officer lost

patience, got up and said, “You are silent, Bhagavan. Does it

mean that you want me to be silent too”? “Yes, yes”, said

Bhagavan, and that was all.

On the last day of our conference all the delegates went in

a body to Ramanasramam and sat in the hall before Bhagavan.

Sri Veruvarupu Ramdas, the President of the conference,

addressed him, “Bhagavan, we are all social workers and

disciples of Mahatma Gandhi. We have all sworn our lives to

work for the removal of untouchability from our religion and

customs. Be gracious to tell us what your views are on the

subject”. Again there was no reply from Bhagavan. One could

not even make out whether he had heard the question. Time

was passing. The delegates were getting tired of sitting quietly

and began whispering to each other. The situation grew

embarrassing. Sri Yagnanarayana Iyer, the principal of

Pachayappa College in Madras, got up and said, “Bhagavan,

our question concerns worldly life. Perhaps it was improper

to put it to you. Kindly forgive us”. “There is nothing to

forgive”, said Bhagavan quite readily, and with a bright smile.

167

“When the ocean is surging and carrying away everything

before it, who cares what are your views or mine”? The

delegates could not find much sense in the answer. Only the

great events a decade later gave meaning to it.

On the fourth day of the conference I went to the Ashram all

alone, with the intention of asking Bhagavan a personal

question. I was told by others that in Bhagavan’s presence

doubts get cleared spontaneously, without the need of questions

or answers. Nothing of the kind happened to me. On the three

previous days I tried to catch his eye, but could not. Several

times I got up to ask a question, but was not encouraged and sat

down again. On the fourth day I managed to address him, while

he seemed to be looking into some infinity of space. “Bhagavan,

my mind does not obey me. It wanders as it likes and lands me

into trouble. Be merciful to me and tell me clearly how to bring

it under control”. Even before I completed the question

Bhagavan turned to me and looked at me affectionately. He

spoke to me most kindly and his words sparkled with meaning:

All religious and spiritual practices have no other purpose

than getting the mind under control. The three paths of

knowledge, devotion and duty aim at this and this alone.

By immersing yourself in your work you forget your mind

as separate from your work and the problem of controlling

the mind ceases. In devotion your mind is merged in the

God you love and ceases to exist as separate from Him.

He guides your mind step by step and no control is needed.

In knowledge you find that there is no such thing as mind,

no control, controller, or controlled. The path of devotion

is the easiest of all. Meditate on God or on some mental or

material image of Him. This will slow down your mind

and it will get controlled of its own accord.

Somehow I felt satisfied and there was deep peace in me

when I looked at him for the last time.

(Continued  ...)

 

My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Bhagavan Sree Ramana Maharshi
and also gratitude to Bhagavan’s great devotees   for the collection)