Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi

I had heard previously much about the spiritual pre-eminence of Sri Maharshi; it is only recently that I had the good fortune of coming into direct contact with him.

One of the most remarkable features about Sri Maharshi is that his teachings are mirrored to perfection in his life.

Abidance in the Self, declares the Sage, is the highest attainment, and it is in this State Transcendent does one find him at all times.

It is a still more remarkable fact that this harmony we now find between the Sage’s
precept and practice had commenced with his boyhood life at the Hill of Arunachala.

Sri Maharshi does not preach a complicated code of sadhana.
The simplicity of his teaching may be explained by the fact that the Sage himself had his realisation in its pristine purity and without the prop of scholastic learning. His teachings have a strong rational appeal,
evidently because his own realisation, being based entirely on his own experience, is independent of all extraneous authority. It is due to this rational appeal that we find today men of all castes and creeds, of all races and religions and from distant parts of the globe paying their homage to the venerable Sage.

Perhaps there is no instance in history where a sage, who, during his lifetime, had so influenced the thoughtful aspirants in his own country as well as in foreign lands, while he himself did not stir for more than fifty years from the place he chose for his abode.

What has appealed to me most is the divinity and grace that radiates from the countenance of the Sage, who has captivated the heart of the educated and illiterate, of the young and old, the prince and pauper, men, women and children, nay,
even animals and birds.

- Prof. S.V. Ram, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of Political Science, Lucknow University.