Maharshi Ramana

Bhagavan Ramana didn't have a human guru (other than himself). He repeatedly said that his guru was Arunachala, a holy mountain in Tamil Nadu.

Young Ramana now commenced his life of total inner absorption in the great Universal Self. The first few days he spent in the thousand-pillared hall, but peregrinate to other spots in the temple complex and finally to the Pathala-lingam (under ground Lingam) vault so that he might remain undisturbed. For days, and weeks on end he was disoriented in samadhi, unaware of the world and his body. Insects and vermin crawled over his body and chewed his flesh but he was thoroughly unaware of it. His only consciousness was swimming in the vast ocean of Universal Awareness. His body commenced to lose weight and debilitate but he took no notice of it.

A Sadhu, dwelling at the temple descried the fine young lad, lost to the world in samadhi and adopted him into his care. Some other devotees came rarely to the temple and coerced Ramana to eat food from their hands. The young Maharshi was hardly cognizant of their presence or what he was eating, and never spoke or appeared to take any notice of what was going on. Visually perceiving the appalling condition of his body, lastly a group of devotees picked him up bodily and carried him out of the damp, dark temple recesses and to the nearby shrine to Subramaniam. Here he perpetuated to sit motionless in samadhi, dead to his circumventions. In one of these states, he moved into the temple gardens and sat among the tall bushes, lost in samadhi. He would rarely come to partial consciousness and question where he was and how he had gotten there.

To Top ⇑

Bhagavan Ramana taught a technique called self-inquiry in which the learner focuses constant attention on the "I"-thought in order to find its source. Initially this requires effort, but sooner or later something deeper than the ego takes over and the mind disappear in the heart center.

Ramana Maharshi is beloved by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Taoists alike for the inspirational power of his teachings, which transcend all religious differences.

When asked by devotees as to how he was transformed, Sri Ramana Maharshi said:

"It was so unexpected. One day I sat up alone on the first floor of my uncle's house. Even though I was in my usual good health, a sudden and unique fear of death seized me. I felt I was going to die and at once set about thoughts as to what I should do. I did not care to discuss with anyone, be he a doctor, elder or friend. I felt I had to unravel the problem myself then and there. The shock of the fear of death made me at once thoughtful or 'introverted'. I said to myself, 'Now that death is come, what does it is indicate? Who is it that is dying? This body dies'. I at once sensationalized the situation. I extended my limbs and held them stiff as though rigor mortis had set in. I replicated a corpse to lend an air of reality to my further search. I detained my breath and kept my mouth closed, pressing the lips tightly together, so that no sound could get away. 'Well then' I said to me, 'this body is dead. It will be carried to the crematory and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of my body, am I dead? Is the body I? This body is silent and motionless. But I am still aware of the full force of my personality and even of the sound of "I" within myself as apart from the body. The material body dies, but the Spirit rise above it cannot be touched by death. I am for that reason the deathless Spirit'. All this was not a feat of brain gymnastics, but came as a flash before me vibrantly as living Truth, which I perceived right away, without any argument almost. I was something very real, the only real thing in that state, and all the conscious activity that was connected with my body was centered on that. The "I" or myself was holding the focus of attention with a powerful attraction. Fear of death vanished at once and for ever. The absorption in the Self has continued from that moment right up to now".

To Top ⇑

Death

Owing to I-am-the-body notion, death is feared as being the loss of oneself. Birth and death pertain to the body only but they are superimposed on the Self.
Forgetfulness of your real nature is the present death; remembrance of it is the rebirth. It puts an end to successive births. Yours is the eternal life.
It is the loss of the awareness, the consciousness is feared not the loss of the diseased body.

~ Bhagwan Ramana

At Thiruvannamalai, Ramana lived in a cave on the sacred mountain, Arunachala. After some years, due to the incrementing visitors population, the cave became too diminutively minuscule. Maharshi and his adherents peregrinate to Skandasramam, a little higher up the mountainside cave. His mother gave up the world and came to join him there and she commenced to cook for the little group. The Mother died in 1922 and she was buried at its foot at the southern-most point of Arunachala. It was less than half an hour's walk from Skandasramam to this place and the Maharshi would go there daily. Then, one day, he stayed there. It was the place where the Ramanasramam sprang up.

Ramanashram did not spring up straight away. In the early days there was only a shed with bamboo uprights and a roof of palm leaves. The Maharshi himself perpetuated the same detached attitude, and he sustained to live in utmost simplicity and ashram organization was not his solicitousness. He asked nobody to come and told no one to go; if any one wanted to come they could, if any one wanted to subside there they could, but each had to make his own preparations. His work was absolutely spiritual: silently channeling the ever-growing family of devotees that assembled around him and radiating his Grace upon them.

As the Maharshi became more popular, offerings flowed in and a whole complex of buildings arose. It was his younger brother, Sri Niranjanananda, who managed the construction of buildings and the magnification of the Ashram. It was never a residential Ashram in the conventional sense; on the other hand, a large dormitory was put up where devotees could spread their bedding on the floor. But, all this proved insufficient, and was of no help to women, who were not authorized to stay overnight in the Ashram. A number of folowers built their own houses near the ashram, and thus a housing estate grew up. Sadhus made a settlement near the Ashram and lived in caves and huts. A Maharaja offered a guesthouse. It is how the ashram spread out its branches.

There is no spiritual bellwether for the ashram, no heredity successor to Maharshi in human form. The Manifestation of the Ramana is so intensely powerful and all-pervasive that it is clear to all his adherents that Maharshi is the eternal Guru and presiding deity here. The spiritual instructions that he has left behind are absolute in every way and spiritual help comes directly from him; all that is needed is practice.

To Top ⇑

To Top ⇑