Ramana Maharshi

 

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
"The Sage of Arunachala"
(30 December 1879 to 14 April 1950)

Throughout the history of mankind spiritual giants have appeared on very rare occasions to exemplify the Highest Truth. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was the perfect embodiment the ultimate truth of Self-realisation, or complete absorption in the Supreme Itself.

Drawn from His home by the power of Arunachala (mountain) at the age of sixteen, he remained at Its feet throughout the rest of His life and became known as the Sage of Arunachala.

He wrote very little. He preferred to communicate through the power of overwhelming Silence, a silence so deep and powerful that it stilled the minds of ardent seekers who were attracted to Him from all over the world. However, he was always willing to answer the questions of sincere aspirants and never failed to guide them in the right direction.

His highest teaching of 'Self-enquiry' (vichara) was understood in the infinite silence of his presence. Through this silence, countless numbers of devotees and visitors experienced the pure bliss of True Being.

This act of perfect grace can be experienced anywhere, but it is especially palpable at the foot of the holy Arunachala Hill, a hill that has attracted saints and sages for thousands of years. The Maharshi's teaching of 'Self-enquiry' (Pure Advaita) is simplicity itself, requiring no outward formalities, no outer change of life, only a simple change in 'point of view' and a sustained effort on the part of the seeker. The goal is no heaven after death or a faraway ideal, but rather the removal of the ignorance that prevents us from knowing that we are eternally One with our Source, the Supreme Self, or God. It is an experience than can be had NOW! All that is required is a sincere effort, which earns us the necessary grace.

—Excerpted from the Ramana Maharshi Web site, www.sriramanamaharshi.org/

__________________________________

Paramhansa Yogananda writes about Ramana Maharshi:

An English lady once visited the sage Ramana Maharshi, in India. "I've come here all the way from London," she announced, "just to find you."

"You haven't moved at all," was his reply. "Your view of the world has simply changed."

As far as our own perceptions are concerned, we are forever at the center of the universe.

—Swami Kriyananda, ch. 7, "Meditation Is Finding Your Center," Awaken to Superconsciousness

***

By Swami Kriyananda, about Master and Ramana Maharshi:

"I also met another fully liberated soul," he told me. "His name was Yogi Ramiah. He was a disciple of the great master, Ramana Maharshi. It does happen, occasionally, that a disciple becomes more highly advanced than his guru." (Yogi Ramiah, when I myself met him in 1960, was known by the name, Sri Rama Yogi. He is mentioned again later in this book.)

—Conversations with Yogananda, #76

***

He once told me, "When I met Yogi Ramiah, in Ramana Maharshi's ashram, it was a true meeting of souls. We walked hand in hand around the ashram together. Oh! if I'd remained in his company another half hour, I could never have brought myself to leave India again! He represented everything that is, to me, the true India. It is why I love that country so much.

—Conversations with Yogananda, #176

***

"Paul Brunton, whom I met there, was another disciple of Ramana Maharshi's. Brunton once told me that, during meditation one day, Yogi Ramiah had materialized before him and asked him to send him my photograph. He wanted to put it in his room. It is sitting there still."

—Conversations with Yogananda, #195

***

I asked the Master why he hadn't included Ramana Maharshi among the saints in Autobiography of a Yogi. He replied, "I didn't include him because Paul Brunton had already written about him in his book, A Search in Secret India."

Though I didn't say so, I wondered whether there might not have been another reason also. For these two great masters, Paramhansa Yogananda and Ramana Maharshi, had very different roles to play. There is a book about Ramana Maharshi in which is described a visit Yogananda paid to that ashram. Few books about the masters show real understanding of their lives. That book, too, suggested no inwardness in the encounter. Yogananda told a brother disciple of mine, Debi Mukherjee, "Ramana Maharshi's brother [who was known, among the 'ashramites,' as something of a martinet], tried to engage me in argument. Ramana Maharshi saw him and shook his head a little sternly, saying, 'Come away from there.'"

—Conversations with Yogananda, #196

***

Sri Rama Yogi, whom I (Walter) met in 1960 in India, said to me, "Always ask yourself, 'Who am I?'" This was the fundamental teaching of his great guru, Ramana Maharshi.

"That wasn't what my own Guru taught us," I replied.

Sri Rama Yogi smiled wryly. "If all the disciples of the great masters really understood what their gurus taught, there would not be the bickering one finds everywhere in religion!"

I reflected, then, that of course the Master had said repeatedly, "Know who you really are. You are not this little ego: You are the infinite Self."

—Conversations with Yogananda, #197

Use your browser's Back Arrow to return to the Ananda Pilgrimages site.