Playing One’s Role in the World
Realising the truth of Self
within your heart and
ever abiding as the Supreme,
play according to the human role
[that you have assumed]
as if experiencing pleasures and pains along with the [people of this] world.
It is not right for the Wise One
to behave improperly,
even though He has known
all that is to be known and
attained all that is to be attained.
Therefore,
observe the code of conduct
which is befitting to
your outward mode of life.
The last line refers to religions, caste, and so on.
- The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Guru Vachaka Kovai. Verses 81 & 82.
An Analysis of the Truth. Chapter 5.
Playing One’s Role in the World.
Realising the truth of Self
within your heart and
ever abiding as the Supreme,
play according to the human role
[that you have assumed]
as if experiencing pleasures and pains along with the [people of this] world.
It is not right for the Wise One
to behave improperly,
even though He has known
all that is to be known and
attained all that is to be attained.
Therefore,
observe the code of conduct
which is befitting to
your outward mode of life.
The last line refers to religions, caste, and so on.
- The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Guru Vachaka Kovai. Verses 81 & 82.
An Analysis of the Truth. Chapter 5.
Playing One’s Role in the World.
If we progress the world progresses. As you are, so is the world. Without understanding the Self what is the use of understanding the world? Without Self-knowledge, knowledge of the world is of no use. Dive inward and find the treasure hidden there. Open your heart and see the world through the eyes of the true Self. Tear aside the veils and see the divine majesty of your own Self.
Ella Maillart, a Swiss travel writer and photographer, met the Maharshi in the 1940s. Two captivating photographs of Sri Ramana shot by her are in the photo-album Radiance of the Self, published by the Ramana Maharshi Centre, Bangalore.
I don’t think it is within my power to depict the subtle atmosphere which renders the place [the Ashram] unique in its setting of dry and hard beauty.
Westerners who come to know the Maharshi feel constrained to say how puzzled they are by the inactivity of the Sage. We have identified ourselves with our bodies are convinced that one has to be visibly active. We forget that inactivity is the basis of its corollary activity; that the useful wheel could not exist or move without a motionless center.
I felt strongly at Tiruvannamalai that such great ones as the Maharshi are the salt of the earth. Something intangible emanates from these realized men; they sanctify the land through their presence. The Sage has attained a certitude which makes him free from restlessness, free from fear, desire, and doubt – he can do things none of us can do because he is egoless.
Those who live near him have the conviction that he knew what he was talking about, who knew the ‘why and how’ of what had been harassing them. They stopped worrying continually about problems they were never meant to solve.
He is a link between what we call the concrete world and the Unmanifest. He is a living symbol of that knowledge without which the humanity of today is but a pitiful joke. He implants a lasting peace in the center of every man’s heart.
What do we see in the West of today? Every moment adding to the despair of men lost in fruitless researches. Hopelessness gaining ground, each one is obliged to seek a solution along alleys most of which become blind.
The Sage of the Vedanta symbolizes a link between the unknowable ultimate and man. The Sage relies on actionless activity and carries on wordless teaching.
— Face to Face
I don’t think it is within my power to depict the subtle atmosphere which renders the place [the Ashram] unique in its setting of dry and hard beauty.
Westerners who come to know the Maharshi feel constrained to say how puzzled they are by the inactivity of the Sage. We have identified ourselves with our bodies are convinced that one has to be visibly active. We forget that inactivity is the basis of its corollary activity; that the useful wheel could not exist or move without a motionless center.
I felt strongly at Tiruvannamalai that such great ones as the Maharshi are the salt of the earth. Something intangible emanates from these realized men; they sanctify the land through their presence. The Sage has attained a certitude which makes him free from restlessness, free from fear, desire, and doubt – he can do things none of us can do because he is egoless.
Those who live near him have the conviction that he knew what he was talking about, who knew the ‘why and how’ of what had been harassing them. They stopped worrying continually about problems they were never meant to solve.
He is a link between what we call the concrete world and the Unmanifest. He is a living symbol of that knowledge without which the humanity of today is but a pitiful joke. He implants a lasting peace in the center of every man’s heart.
What do we see in the West of today? Every moment adding to the despair of men lost in fruitless researches. Hopelessness gaining ground, each one is obliged to seek a solution along alleys most of which become blind.
The Sage of the Vedanta symbolizes a link between the unknowable ultimate and man. The Sage relies on actionless activity and carries on wordless teaching.
— Face to Face
THE SUREST WAY
Q: How can I control the mind?
M: The mind is intangible. In fact, it does not exist. The surest way of control is to seek it, then its activities will cease.
Seek the mind. On being sought, it will disappear. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is a thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will vanish automatically. The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise. Dive within. You are now aware that the mind rises from within. So sink within and seek. You need not eliminate the wrong 'I'. How can 'I' eliminate itself? All that you need do is to find its origin and abide there. That is as far as your efforts can extend.
Then the Beyond will take care of itself. You are helpless there; no effort can reveal it."'
Our analyses are ended, that is, so far as the intellect goes, but they are not enough. Eliminating the 'not I' is not enough. The process is only intellectual. The truth cannot be directly pointed out, hence the process. Now begins the real inner quest.
The 'I'-thought is the root to be sought now at its source. Find out who it is and abide there.
— Conscious Immortality
Q: How can I control the mind?
M: The mind is intangible. In fact, it does not exist. The surest way of control is to seek it, then its activities will cease.
Seek the mind. On being sought, it will disappear. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is a thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will vanish automatically. The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise. Dive within. You are now aware that the mind rises from within. So sink within and seek. You need not eliminate the wrong 'I'. How can 'I' eliminate itself? All that you need do is to find its origin and abide there. That is as far as your efforts can extend.
Then the Beyond will take care of itself. You are helpless there; no effort can reveal it."'
Our analyses are ended, that is, so far as the intellect goes, but they are not enough. Eliminating the 'not I' is not enough. The process is only intellectual. The truth cannot be directly pointed out, hence the process. Now begins the real inner quest.
The 'I'-thought is the root to be sought now at its source. Find out who it is and abide there.
— Conscious Immortality
Discover your undying Self and be immortal and happy.
The Allurement of the World
Just as the goat’s beard
wanders and wags for nothing,
people roam about merrily but in vain,
doing Karmas for the fulfilment
of their worldly desires,
while despising the disciplines
[followed by aspirants]
which lead to eternal Moksha in Self.
Ah, what a pitiable spectacle
is the condition of these worldly people!
Longing for a tiny grain of pleasure,
people toil so hard using the mind
to plough the field of the five senses,
but they never wish for the flood of Bliss
which is the fruit that comes
by ploughing the Heart,
the Source of the mind,
with [simple] Self-attention.
Ah, what a wonder!
The moon-like jiva [the mind],
ever wedded to the sun-like Self,
should always remain in her home,
the Heart;
to forsake the Bliss of Self
and go astray for worldly pleasures,
is like the madness of a wife
who spoils her precious chastity.
Only when the world’s allurement is lost
will true Liberation be possible
[and its allurement cannot be lost
unless it is found to be unreal].
Hence, to try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated lover who tries to foist chastity upon a prostitute.
Sadhu Om: A lover foists chastity upon a prostitute only because of his infatuation with her, and similarly some schools of thought argue and try to insist upon the world’s reality, only because of their immense desire for the enjoyment of this world. Therefore Liberation, which is the
fruit of desirelessness, is absolutely impossible for them.
— The teachings of Sri Ramana.
Guru Vachaka Kovai. Verses 71 - 74.
An Analysis of the Truth. Chapter 3.
The Allurement of the World.
Just as the goat’s beard
wanders and wags for nothing,
people roam about merrily but in vain,
doing Karmas for the fulfilment
of their worldly desires,
while despising the disciplines
[followed by aspirants]
which lead to eternal Moksha in Self.
Ah, what a pitiable spectacle
is the condition of these worldly people!
Longing for a tiny grain of pleasure,
people toil so hard using the mind
to plough the field of the five senses,
but they never wish for the flood of Bliss
which is the fruit that comes
by ploughing the Heart,
the Source of the mind,
with [simple] Self-attention.
Ah, what a wonder!
The moon-like jiva [the mind],
ever wedded to the sun-like Self,
should always remain in her home,
the Heart;
to forsake the Bliss of Self
and go astray for worldly pleasures,
is like the madness of a wife
who spoils her precious chastity.
Only when the world’s allurement is lost
will true Liberation be possible
[and its allurement cannot be lost
unless it is found to be unreal].
Hence, to try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated lover who tries to foist chastity upon a prostitute.
Sadhu Om: A lover foists chastity upon a prostitute only because of his infatuation with her, and similarly some schools of thought argue and try to insist upon the world’s reality, only because of their immense desire for the enjoyment of this world. Therefore Liberation, which is the
fruit of desirelessness, is absolutely impossible for them.
— The teachings of Sri Ramana.
Guru Vachaka Kovai. Verses 71 - 74.
An Analysis of the Truth. Chapter 3.
The Allurement of the World.
Is God personal?
M: Yes, He is always the first person, the I, ever standing before you. Because you give precedence to worldly things, God appears to have receded to the background. If you give up all else and seek Him alone, He alone will remain as the I, the Self.
— Maharshi's Gospel
M: Yes, He is always the first person, the I, ever standing before you. Because you give precedence to worldly things, God appears to have receded to the background. If you give up all else and seek Him alone, He alone will remain as the I, the Self.
— Maharshi's Gospel
First one sees the Self as objects, then one sees the Self as void, then one sees the Self as Self, only in this last there is no seeing because seeing is being.
— 'Day by Day with Bhagavan', 21-7-1946
— 'Day by Day with Bhagavan', 21-7-1946
DEATH AND REBIRTH ARE FOR THE EGO
There is really no such thing as a dead or a living body. That which does not move we call dead, and that which has movement we call alive.
In dreams, you see any number of bodies, living and dead, and they have no existence when you wake up. In the same way this whole world, animate and inanimate, is non-existent.
Death means the dissolution of the ego, and birth means the rebirth of the ego. There are births and deaths, but they are of the ego;
not of you.
You exist whether the sense of ego is there or not. You are its source, but not the ego-sense.
Deliverance (mukti) means finding the origin of these births and deaths and demolishing the ego-sense to its very roots. That is deliverance. It means death with full awareness.
If one dies thus, one is born again simultaneously and in the same place with Aham sphurana known as ‘Aham, Aham (I, I)’. One who is born thus has no doubts whatsoever.”
— Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 11th September 1947
There is really no such thing as a dead or a living body. That which does not move we call dead, and that which has movement we call alive.
In dreams, you see any number of bodies, living and dead, and they have no existence when you wake up. In the same way this whole world, animate and inanimate, is non-existent.
Death means the dissolution of the ego, and birth means the rebirth of the ego. There are births and deaths, but they are of the ego;
not of you.
You exist whether the sense of ego is there or not. You are its source, but not the ego-sense.
Deliverance (mukti) means finding the origin of these births and deaths and demolishing the ego-sense to its very roots. That is deliverance. It means death with full awareness.
If one dies thus, one is born again simultaneously and in the same place with Aham sphurana known as ‘Aham, Aham (I, I)’. One who is born thus has no doubts whatsoever.”
— Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 11th September 1947
Self-Knowledge
(Atma-Vidya)
A devotee once wrote on a slip of paper that Self-knowledge is the easiest thing, since one already is the Self, and handed it to Bhagavan, asking him to write a poem on the subject. Bhagavan responded with the following poem:
Lo, very easy is Self-Knowledge,
Lo, very easy indeed.
Even for the most infirm
So real is the Self
That compared with it the amlak
In one’s hand appears a mere illusion.
True, strong, fresh for ever stands
The Self. From this in truth spring forth
The phantom body and phantom world.
When this delusion is destroyed
And not a speck remains,
The Sun of Self shines bright and real
In the vast Heart-expanse.
Darkness dies, afflictions end,
And bliss wells up.
The thought ‘I am the body’ is the thread
On which are strung together various thoughts.
Questing within, enquiring ‘Who am I?
And whence this thought?’ all other thoughts
Vanish. And as I, as I within the Heart-cave The Self shines of its own accord.
Such Self-awareness is the only Heaven,
This stillness, this abode of bliss.
Of what avail is knowing things
Other than the Self?
And the Self being known,
What other thing is there to know?
That one light that shines as many selves,
Seeing this Self within
As Awareness’ lightning flash;
The play of Grace; the ego’s death;
The blossoming of bliss.
For loosening karma’s bonds and ending births,
This path is easier than all other paths.
Abide in stillness, without any stir
Of tongue, mind, body. And behold
The effulgence of the Self within;
The experience of Eternity; absence
Of all fear; the ocean vast of Bliss.
Annamalai the Self, the Eye
Behind the eye of mind which sees
The eye and all the other senses
Which know the sky and other elements,
The Being which contains, reveals, perceives
The inner sky that shines within the Heart.
When the mind free of thought turns inward,
Annamalai appears as my own Self.
True, Grace is needed; Love is added.
Bliss wells up.
(Translated by Prof. K. Swaminathan)
— The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi
(Atma-Vidya)
A devotee once wrote on a slip of paper that Self-knowledge is the easiest thing, since one already is the Self, and handed it to Bhagavan, asking him to write a poem on the subject. Bhagavan responded with the following poem:
Lo, very easy is Self-Knowledge,
Lo, very easy indeed.
Even for the most infirm
So real is the Self
That compared with it the amlak
In one’s hand appears a mere illusion.
True, strong, fresh for ever stands
The Self. From this in truth spring forth
The phantom body and phantom world.
When this delusion is destroyed
And not a speck remains,
The Sun of Self shines bright and real
In the vast Heart-expanse.
Darkness dies, afflictions end,
And bliss wells up.
The thought ‘I am the body’ is the thread
On which are strung together various thoughts.
Questing within, enquiring ‘Who am I?
And whence this thought?’ all other thoughts
Vanish. And as I, as I within the Heart-cave The Self shines of its own accord.
Such Self-awareness is the only Heaven,
This stillness, this abode of bliss.
Of what avail is knowing things
Other than the Self?
And the Self being known,
What other thing is there to know?
That one light that shines as many selves,
Seeing this Self within
As Awareness’ lightning flash;
The play of Grace; the ego’s death;
The blossoming of bliss.
For loosening karma’s bonds and ending births,
This path is easier than all other paths.
Abide in stillness, without any stir
Of tongue, mind, body. And behold
The effulgence of the Self within;
The experience of Eternity; absence
Of all fear; the ocean vast of Bliss.
Annamalai the Self, the Eye
Behind the eye of mind which sees
The eye and all the other senses
Which know the sky and other elements,
The Being which contains, reveals, perceives
The inner sky that shines within the Heart.
When the mind free of thought turns inward,
Annamalai appears as my own Self.
True, Grace is needed; Love is added.
Bliss wells up.
(Translated by Prof. K. Swaminathan)
— The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Whenever I went up the hill to see Bhagavan, I used to buy something to eat and take it with me as an offering.
One day I had no money.
I stood before Bhagavan Sri Ramana in a dejected mood and said:
“This poor man has brought nothing.”
Bhagavan looked at me enquiringly and
remarked:
“Why you brought the main thing.
All else is unimportant.”
I wondered, not knowing what I brought.
“Don’t you understand?
You brought yourself,”
Laughed Bhagavan!
— "At the Feet of Bhagavan" book
One day I had no money.
I stood before Bhagavan Sri Ramana in a dejected mood and said:
“This poor man has brought nothing.”
Bhagavan looked at me enquiringly and
remarked:
“Why you brought the main thing.
All else is unimportant.”
I wondered, not knowing what I brought.
“Don’t you understand?
You brought yourself,”
Laughed Bhagavan!
— "At the Feet of Bhagavan" book
At Skandasramam a peacock would follow Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi everywhere.
One day a huge black cobra appeared in the Ashram and the peacock attacked it fiercely.
The cobra spread its hood and the two natural enemies were poised for a fight to the death, when Bhagavan Sri Ramana came quite near the cobra and said:
“Why did you come here?
That peacock will kill you.
Better go away at once.”
The cobra immediately lowered its hood and slithered away.
— "At the Feet of Bhagavan" book
One day a huge black cobra appeared in the Ashram and the peacock attacked it fiercely.
The cobra spread its hood and the two natural enemies were poised for a fight to the death, when Bhagavan Sri Ramana came quite near the cobra and said:
“Why did you come here?
That peacock will kill you.
Better go away at once.”
The cobra immediately lowered its hood and slithered away.
— "At the Feet of Bhagavan" book
Jackie the dog…was brought to the ashram when he was very young. He never mixed with other dogs, nor did he play much. Instead, he lived the life of a sadhu. He would sit in front of Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] on an orange cloth that had been provided by a devotee and stare intently at Bhagavan’s eye. Because Bhagavan had a lot of love for him, and because he always behaved in such an exemplary fashion, he was always very well looked after… Whenever prasad [food that has been offered to God in a ceremony, then distributed to devotees] was distributed, Jackie would not eat until Bhagavan began to eat his own portion. On such occasions he would watch Bhagavan’s face intently. As soon as Bhagavan put a morsel into his mouth, Jackie would start to eat his own portion.
I remember one incident concerning Jackie that occurred while Bhagavan was sitting by the well, surrounded by devotees. Jackie was sitting with the devotees, looking intently at Bhagavan, when a stray dog entered the ashram through the back gate. Jackie, distracted by the newcomer, began to bark.
Bhagavan gently chided him by saying, ‘You just close your eyes. You just close your eyes. You just close your eyes. If you do this you will not be able to see the dog.’
Jackie obeyed at once but some of the rest of us continued to look at the stray dog.
When I saw what was happening I laughed and remarked, ‘This is a good teaching. It is not only for Jackie, it is for everyone.’
David Godman from
Living by the Words of Bhagavan
I remember one incident concerning Jackie that occurred while Bhagavan was sitting by the well, surrounded by devotees. Jackie was sitting with the devotees, looking intently at Bhagavan, when a stray dog entered the ashram through the back gate. Jackie, distracted by the newcomer, began to bark.
Bhagavan gently chided him by saying, ‘You just close your eyes. You just close your eyes. You just close your eyes. If you do this you will not be able to see the dog.’
Jackie obeyed at once but some of the rest of us continued to look at the stray dog.
When I saw what was happening I laughed and remarked, ‘This is a good teaching. It is not only for Jackie, it is for everyone.’
David Godman from
Living by the Words of Bhagavan
Lakshman Brahmachari from Sri Ramakrishna Mission asked:
Enquiry of ‘Who am I?’ or of the ‘I-thought’
being itself a thought,
how can it be destroyed in the process?
Sri Ramana Maharshi .:
When Sita was asked
who was her husband among the rishis
(Rama himself being present there as a rishi)
in the forest by the wives of the rishis,
she denied each one as he was pointed out to her,
but simply hung down her head
when Rama was pointed out.
Her silence was eloquent.
Similarly,
the Vedas also are eloquent in
‘neti’ - ‘neti’ (not this - not this) and then remain silent.
Their silence is the Real State.
This is the meaning of exposition by silence.
When the source of the ‘I thought’ is reached it vanishes and
what remains over is the Self.
~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,130
Enquiry of ‘Who am I?’ or of the ‘I-thought’
being itself a thought,
how can it be destroyed in the process?
Sri Ramana Maharshi .:
When Sita was asked
who was her husband among the rishis
(Rama himself being present there as a rishi)
in the forest by the wives of the rishis,
she denied each one as he was pointed out to her,
but simply hung down her head
when Rama was pointed out.
Her silence was eloquent.
Similarly,
the Vedas also are eloquent in
‘neti’ - ‘neti’ (not this - not this) and then remain silent.
Their silence is the Real State.
This is the meaning of exposition by silence.
When the source of the ‘I thought’ is reached it vanishes and
what remains over is the Self.
~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,130
WILL POWER MEANS EQUANIMITY
D.: I try to gain will-power. After these years I find myself only where I began. There is no progress.
M.: (No answer)
D.: What are the means for gaining will-power?
M.: Your idea of will-power is success ensured. Will-power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one’s attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man’s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure, on the other hand, is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself.
Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore, one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again, success and failure are the results of prarabdha and not of will-power. A man may be doing only good and noble actions and yet prove a failure. Another may do otherwise and yet be uniformly successful. This does not mean that the will-power is present in the one and not in the other. …
M.: Personality is the root-cause of external activities. It must sink for gaining the highest good.
- Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi no 423
D.: I try to gain will-power. After these years I find myself only where I began. There is no progress.
M.: (No answer)
D.: What are the means for gaining will-power?
M.: Your idea of will-power is success ensured. Will-power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one’s attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man’s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure, on the other hand, is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself.
Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore, one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again, success and failure are the results of prarabdha and not of will-power. A man may be doing only good and noble actions and yet prove a failure. Another may do otherwise and yet be uniformly successful. This does not mean that the will-power is present in the one and not in the other. …
M.: Personality is the root-cause of external activities. It must sink for gaining the highest good.
- Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi no 423
*Sri Ramana gives Rama Darsan *
In May 1933, on my 36th birthday,
after the usual bath and prayers,
I sat in Sri Bhagavan’s presence in a pensive mood.
I addressed a prayer in the Tamil Viruttam style to Sri Bhagavan, complaining:
“O Bhagavan, I have completed three and half decades,
and yet have not had the experience of the real You.
Pray let me have this day the touch of Your Grace.’’
Handing over this slip of paper I prostrated to Him.
Bhagavan bade me sit down and gazed steadily at me;
I was still in a pensive and meditative mood.
All of a sudden I lost body-consciousness,
and was absorbed in Sri Maharshi.
I was turned inward,
and the voice of Sri Bhagavan bade me see whatever I desired.
I felt that if I could have the darshan
of Sri Rama my life would have been fruitful,
as I was very much devoted to Sri Rama.
I had then immediately a darshan of Sri Rama, with Sita,
Lakshmana, Bharata, Satrugna and Hanuman.
The ecstasy of the vision defied description;
I simply sat on, with Maharshi perhaps gazing on me without my being aware of His gaze.
Two hours may thus have passed in pin-drop silence, lost in the vision, until it vanished.
I prostrated at the feet of Sri Maharshi,
with tears of ecstasy in my eyes and my hairs standing on end.
To Bhagavan’s enquiry I replied that I of course had seen my dear Rama.
~ Leaves from the Diary of T. K. Sundaresa Iyer
In May 1933, on my 36th birthday,
after the usual bath and prayers,
I sat in Sri Bhagavan’s presence in a pensive mood.
I addressed a prayer in the Tamil Viruttam style to Sri Bhagavan, complaining:
“O Bhagavan, I have completed three and half decades,
and yet have not had the experience of the real You.
Pray let me have this day the touch of Your Grace.’’
Handing over this slip of paper I prostrated to Him.
Bhagavan bade me sit down and gazed steadily at me;
I was still in a pensive and meditative mood.
All of a sudden I lost body-consciousness,
and was absorbed in Sri Maharshi.
I was turned inward,
and the voice of Sri Bhagavan bade me see whatever I desired.
I felt that if I could have the darshan
of Sri Rama my life would have been fruitful,
as I was very much devoted to Sri Rama.
I had then immediately a darshan of Sri Rama, with Sita,
Lakshmana, Bharata, Satrugna and Hanuman.
The ecstasy of the vision defied description;
I simply sat on, with Maharshi perhaps gazing on me without my being aware of His gaze.
Two hours may thus have passed in pin-drop silence, lost in the vision, until it vanished.
I prostrated at the feet of Sri Maharshi,
with tears of ecstasy in my eyes and my hairs standing on end.
To Bhagavan’s enquiry I replied that I of course had seen my dear Rama.
~ Leaves from the Diary of T. K. Sundaresa Iyer
The Self is only one.
If limited it is the ego.
If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality.
If limited it is the ego.
If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality.
Readers would have guessed by now that Bhagavan had occult powers just like siddha purushas. Bhagavan himself once said that he moved in different lokas simultaneously and that he lived in different forms in the different lokas.
Once Bhagavan revealed that Arunagiri had a vast interior in which even an army battalion could stay and that several yogis performed tapas there. This was something no ordinary mortal could say.
Bhagavan's act of grace in appearing to Ganapati Muni at Tiruvottiyur has already been described. Here is one more instance of the same type.
Amritanatha, one of the questioners in Ramana Gita, had been to Haridwar once. He and his friend, Sankarananda, were performing tapas at the Turiya ashram. During a conversation Sankarananda remarked that after Vidyaranya there were no more siddhas and jnanis in the country.
Amritanatha disagreed with this and cited the instance of Bhagavan as a complete siddha and jnani. But Sankarananda did not accept it. Thereupon Amritanatha said,
"You are a devotee of Kartikeya, and we think that Bhagavan is an avatar of Kartikeya. Here is a picture of Bhagavan. You may sit in front of it and perform Kartikeya japa for some time. If you do not experience Bhagavan's grace by then, I am prepared to agree with you."
Taking up the challenge Sankarananda performed Kartikeya japa for half an hour each day. Four days passed. On the fifth day at dusk when Sankarananda was at his japa a great light entered Bhagavan's picture and said to him,
"You are not performing the japa in the proper way."
"What is the proper way?" Sankarananda asked.
"You have to perform pooja and dhyana of the image in Kadhirkamam of Ceylon:" said Ramana in the picture.
Sankarananda said, "I have never been to Kadhirkamam, what does that image look like?"
"Here it is," said the picture and placed the image in front of Sankarananda.
He then began watching the image with one eye and Ramana's picture with the other. Suddenly a lizard fell on his lap and he was distracted. When he turned to look at the image and Ramana neither of them was there. He ran out and made enquiries of some labourers who were working outside the cottage.
They said that nobody had either entered the cottage or left it all the while. By then Amritanatha arrived. Sankarananda asked him,
"Is there any difference between your Swami and the picture?"
The reply was "There is grey hair to mark out the forehead and the rest is dark."
Sankarananda immediately set out for Arunachala and after an eventful journey of some months reached Arunachala and met Bhagavan at Skandasramam. Immediately on seeing him Bhagavan asked him in Malayalam,
"Aren't you coming from Haridwar?" Sankarananda was stunned.
The person he saw at Haridwar was Ramana. But everyone said ? "Ramana never left this place."
Sankarananda authored the Ramanashtakam, stayed at Parrot cave for two months and served Bhagavan. He also wrote Sri Ramanaashtotharasata Namavali and the method of performing Ramana japa and submitted them to Bhagavan along with five slokas. As the climate of Arunachala did not suit him he went back to Uttara Kasi.
The miracles which would take place in the presence of Bhagavan were legion. Here are a few examples.
On a Jayanti day a golden-hued mongoose went up the hill like the rest of the devotees, everyone was watching its movements in amazement. The mongoose first went to Virupaksha cave, saw Palaniswami there and moved about like a long-time friend, inspected the cave and not finding Bhagavan there walked up to Skandasramam. The mongoose passed by the people and went close to Bhagavan. After he caressed it, the mongoose sat on his lap for some time and went inside the ashram and came out. During meal time the mongoose walked up and down gravely as if inspecting everything. It did not partake of any food but after a while moved out in the southern direction of the hill but not down the hill.
On one occasion when Bhagavan was coming down the hill to go on a giri-pradakshina, suddenly he experienced that the sky was waist-high and that the stars were revolving round him. On another occasion, while on a giri pradakshina at Gautama Ashrama Bhagavan experienced six stars going round the hill one after another. Similarly on another occasion of giri-pradakshina a brilliant light enveloped Bhagavan's party of about fifteen persons and stayed that way for a few minutes and disappeared. This was seen by everyone.
While Bhagavan and his party were resting at the Adi Annamalai temple on one occasion somebody reciting the Sama Veda was heard. But nobody, not even Bhagavan, saw the singer.
Some devotees of Bhagavan said to him: "Bhagavan, you often say that the Heart is on the right side of the chest but we do not experience it." Bhagavan invited them to touch his Heart on the right side of the chest. Each one felt three palpitations and an interval thereafter. They also felt a new energy surging in them.
Ashramites had innumerable experiences of Bhagavan's miracles, even in relatively minor matters. But Bhagavan would be totally unconcerned about them all.
~ Sri Ramana Leela,
Chapter : 48
Once Bhagavan revealed that Arunagiri had a vast interior in which even an army battalion could stay and that several yogis performed tapas there. This was something no ordinary mortal could say.
Bhagavan's act of grace in appearing to Ganapati Muni at Tiruvottiyur has already been described. Here is one more instance of the same type.
Amritanatha, one of the questioners in Ramana Gita, had been to Haridwar once. He and his friend, Sankarananda, were performing tapas at the Turiya ashram. During a conversation Sankarananda remarked that after Vidyaranya there were no more siddhas and jnanis in the country.
Amritanatha disagreed with this and cited the instance of Bhagavan as a complete siddha and jnani. But Sankarananda did not accept it. Thereupon Amritanatha said,
"You are a devotee of Kartikeya, and we think that Bhagavan is an avatar of Kartikeya. Here is a picture of Bhagavan. You may sit in front of it and perform Kartikeya japa for some time. If you do not experience Bhagavan's grace by then, I am prepared to agree with you."
Taking up the challenge Sankarananda performed Kartikeya japa for half an hour each day. Four days passed. On the fifth day at dusk when Sankarananda was at his japa a great light entered Bhagavan's picture and said to him,
"You are not performing the japa in the proper way."
"What is the proper way?" Sankarananda asked.
"You have to perform pooja and dhyana of the image in Kadhirkamam of Ceylon:" said Ramana in the picture.
Sankarananda said, "I have never been to Kadhirkamam, what does that image look like?"
"Here it is," said the picture and placed the image in front of Sankarananda.
He then began watching the image with one eye and Ramana's picture with the other. Suddenly a lizard fell on his lap and he was distracted. When he turned to look at the image and Ramana neither of them was there. He ran out and made enquiries of some labourers who were working outside the cottage.
They said that nobody had either entered the cottage or left it all the while. By then Amritanatha arrived. Sankarananda asked him,
"Is there any difference between your Swami and the picture?"
The reply was "There is grey hair to mark out the forehead and the rest is dark."
Sankarananda immediately set out for Arunachala and after an eventful journey of some months reached Arunachala and met Bhagavan at Skandasramam. Immediately on seeing him Bhagavan asked him in Malayalam,
"Aren't you coming from Haridwar?" Sankarananda was stunned.
The person he saw at Haridwar was Ramana. But everyone said ? "Ramana never left this place."
Sankarananda authored the Ramanashtakam, stayed at Parrot cave for two months and served Bhagavan. He also wrote Sri Ramanaashtotharasata Namavali and the method of performing Ramana japa and submitted them to Bhagavan along with five slokas. As the climate of Arunachala did not suit him he went back to Uttara Kasi.
The miracles which would take place in the presence of Bhagavan were legion. Here are a few examples.
On a Jayanti day a golden-hued mongoose went up the hill like the rest of the devotees, everyone was watching its movements in amazement. The mongoose first went to Virupaksha cave, saw Palaniswami there and moved about like a long-time friend, inspected the cave and not finding Bhagavan there walked up to Skandasramam. The mongoose passed by the people and went close to Bhagavan. After he caressed it, the mongoose sat on his lap for some time and went inside the ashram and came out. During meal time the mongoose walked up and down gravely as if inspecting everything. It did not partake of any food but after a while moved out in the southern direction of the hill but not down the hill.
On one occasion when Bhagavan was coming down the hill to go on a giri-pradakshina, suddenly he experienced that the sky was waist-high and that the stars were revolving round him. On another occasion, while on a giri pradakshina at Gautama Ashrama Bhagavan experienced six stars going round the hill one after another. Similarly on another occasion of giri-pradakshina a brilliant light enveloped Bhagavan's party of about fifteen persons and stayed that way for a few minutes and disappeared. This was seen by everyone.
While Bhagavan and his party were resting at the Adi Annamalai temple on one occasion somebody reciting the Sama Veda was heard. But nobody, not even Bhagavan, saw the singer.
Some devotees of Bhagavan said to him: "Bhagavan, you often say that the Heart is on the right side of the chest but we do not experience it." Bhagavan invited them to touch his Heart on the right side of the chest. Each one felt three palpitations and an interval thereafter. They also felt a new energy surging in them.
Ashramites had innumerable experiences of Bhagavan's miracles, even in relatively minor matters. But Bhagavan would be totally unconcerned about them all.
~ Sri Ramana Leela,
Chapter : 48
Jnana does not come gradually, little by little, day by day.
It blazes forth all at once in all its fullness,
when the practice has matured to perfection.
— Sri Ramana Git, Ch. 17, v3.
It blazes forth all at once in all its fullness,
when the practice has matured to perfection.
— Sri Ramana Git, Ch. 17, v3.
While speaking of the brain and the Heart, Sri Bhagavan recalled an incident of old days as follows:
Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni once argued that the brain was the most important centre and Sri Bhagavan maintained that the Heart was even more so. There were others watching the discourse. A few days after Sri Bhagavan received a letter containing a short poem in English on that discourse from a young boy, N.S. Arunachalam, who had not yet matriculated.
That poem is remarkable for its poetic imagination. Sri Bhagavan, Kavyakantha, and the assemblage of other persons are represented as the Heart, the brain and the body respectively; and again as the sun, the moon and the earth also.
The light from the sun is reflected on the moon and the earth is illumined. Similarly the brain acts by consciousness derived from the Heart and the body is thus projected.
This teaching of Sri Bhagavan is found in Ramana Gita also. The Heart is the most important centre from which vitality and light radiate to the brain, thus enabling it to function.
The vasanas are enclosed in the Heart in their subtlest form, later flowing to the brain which reflects them highly magnified, corresponding to a cinema-show at every stage. That is how the world is said to be nothing more than a cinema-show.
Sri Bhagavan also added: Were the vasanas in the brain instead of in the Heart they must be extinguished if the head is cut off so that reincarnations will be at an end. But it is not so. The Self obviously safeguards the vasanas in its closest proximity, i.e. within Itself in the Heart, just as a miser keeps his most valued possessions (treasure) with himself and never out of contact.
Hence the place where the vasanas are, is the Self, i.e., the Heart, and not the brain (which is only the theatre for the play of the vasanas from the greenhouse of the Heart.)
~ Talk 402
Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni once argued that the brain was the most important centre and Sri Bhagavan maintained that the Heart was even more so. There were others watching the discourse. A few days after Sri Bhagavan received a letter containing a short poem in English on that discourse from a young boy, N.S. Arunachalam, who had not yet matriculated.
That poem is remarkable for its poetic imagination. Sri Bhagavan, Kavyakantha, and the assemblage of other persons are represented as the Heart, the brain and the body respectively; and again as the sun, the moon and the earth also.
The light from the sun is reflected on the moon and the earth is illumined. Similarly the brain acts by consciousness derived from the Heart and the body is thus projected.
This teaching of Sri Bhagavan is found in Ramana Gita also. The Heart is the most important centre from which vitality and light radiate to the brain, thus enabling it to function.
The vasanas are enclosed in the Heart in their subtlest form, later flowing to the brain which reflects them highly magnified, corresponding to a cinema-show at every stage. That is how the world is said to be nothing more than a cinema-show.
Sri Bhagavan also added: Were the vasanas in the brain instead of in the Heart they must be extinguished if the head is cut off so that reincarnations will be at an end. But it is not so. The Self obviously safeguards the vasanas in its closest proximity, i.e. within Itself in the Heart, just as a miser keeps his most valued possessions (treasure) with himself and never out of contact.
Hence the place where the vasanas are, is the Self, i.e., the Heart, and not the brain (which is only the theatre for the play of the vasanas from the greenhouse of the Heart.)
~ Talk 402
On this day, April the 14th, 1950, this story occurred -
"One day while Baba [Neem Karoli Baba] was talking to people at Haldwani Furniture Mart, he suddenly became absorbed in deep thought and remained silent for some time. Then he said faintly, "Pooran [Pooran Chandra Joshi], give a spoonful of water to drink. He is in great agony." I could not understand what the matter was, but I nevertheless poured two spoonfuls of water into Baba's mouth. After some time, two tears fell from Baba's eyes, and he said to me, "Ramana is no more. India has lost a great saint today." This incident occurred on the day that Ramana Maharshi left his physical body in Arunachala." (from Divine Reality)
We honor you today Sri Sri Ramana Maharshi! Suk-ek! Thank you for allowing us to be part of your family! Jai Sri Ram!
Blessings!
"One day while Baba [Neem Karoli Baba] was talking to people at Haldwani Furniture Mart, he suddenly became absorbed in deep thought and remained silent for some time. Then he said faintly, "Pooran [Pooran Chandra Joshi], give a spoonful of water to drink. He is in great agony." I could not understand what the matter was, but I nevertheless poured two spoonfuls of water into Baba's mouth. After some time, two tears fell from Baba's eyes, and he said to me, "Ramana is no more. India has lost a great saint today." This incident occurred on the day that Ramana Maharshi left his physical body in Arunachala." (from Divine Reality)
We honor you today Sri Sri Ramana Maharshi! Suk-ek! Thank you for allowing us to be part of your family! Jai Sri Ram!
Blessings!
The Sage tells us that disciples are of four grades, comparable to gun-powder, dry charcoal, ordinary fuel, and wet fuel.
The first kind of disciple needs only a word, like a spark, to consume his ignorance at once.
The second kind needs some teaching and personal effort.
The third kind needs a long course of teaching, training and practice.
The fourth kind needs to be made fit for discipleship by practices suitable to his condition.
— Maha Yoga, Chapter 11
The first kind of disciple needs only a word, like a spark, to consume his ignorance at once.
The second kind needs some teaching and personal effort.
The third kind needs a long course of teaching, training and practice.
The fourth kind needs to be made fit for discipleship by practices suitable to his condition.
— Maha Yoga, Chapter 11
Though Bhagavan would make no adverse remarks about traditional practices, he did not support his devotees if they did so.
Echammal, one of his greatest devotees, told him with great pride about her puja with one lakh leaves.
Bhagavan remarked,
“Instead of pinching the plant, could you not pinch your own skin one lakh times and perform puja that way?”
A significant number of Bhagavan’s devotees were orthodox Brahmins. They ate in a separate enclosure in the dining room. Bhagavan never objected to this arrangement. But he did show his disapproval if any of the Brahmins looked down on members of the lower castes. A Brahmin woman in the Ashram avoided all non-Brahmins because she felt that any
contact with them would pollute her. If she were ever touched by a non-Brahmin, she would go up to Bhagavan and touch him to purify her. Once, on a jayanti day, someone touched her accidentally. She went to Bhagavan and said, Bhagavan, a Sudra has just touched me; please touch me to remove the impurity.
“Go away, I will not oblige you!” said Bhagavan angrily.
Bhagavan’s mother was a very orthodox lady, full of caste prejudices and superstitions. Bhagavan did not tolerate any of her ideas. He criticised her many times and was quite ruthless in destroying all that stood in the way of her emancipation from ignorance and fear. When she refused to
cook onions, which are taboo to a Brahmin widow, Bhagavan would show her one and say, “How mighty is this little bulb! It can stop my mother from going to heaven.”
— Excerpts from: Face to face with Ramana Maharshi. Chalam. (49).
Echammal, one of his greatest devotees, told him with great pride about her puja with one lakh leaves.
Bhagavan remarked,
“Instead of pinching the plant, could you not pinch your own skin one lakh times and perform puja that way?”
A significant number of Bhagavan’s devotees were orthodox Brahmins. They ate in a separate enclosure in the dining room. Bhagavan never objected to this arrangement. But he did show his disapproval if any of the Brahmins looked down on members of the lower castes. A Brahmin woman in the Ashram avoided all non-Brahmins because she felt that any
contact with them would pollute her. If she were ever touched by a non-Brahmin, she would go up to Bhagavan and touch him to purify her. Once, on a jayanti day, someone touched her accidentally. She went to Bhagavan and said, Bhagavan, a Sudra has just touched me; please touch me to remove the impurity.
“Go away, I will not oblige you!” said Bhagavan angrily.
Bhagavan’s mother was a very orthodox lady, full of caste prejudices and superstitions. Bhagavan did not tolerate any of her ideas. He criticised her many times and was quite ruthless in destroying all that stood in the way of her emancipation from ignorance and fear. When she refused to
cook onions, which are taboo to a Brahmin widow, Bhagavan would show her one and say, “How mighty is this little bulb! It can stop my mother from going to heaven.”
— Excerpts from: Face to face with Ramana Maharshi. Chalam. (49).
Beings
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