Face To Face With Sri Ramana Maharshi

FACE TO FACE WITH
SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

Ode to Sri Ramana Maharshi
Eternity has worn a human face,

Contracted to a little human span,
Lo, the Immortal has become a man,
A self-imprisoned thing in time and space.
.
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
pp. 63-4
FACE TO FACE WITH
SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI
Enchanting and Uplifting Reminiscences of

202 persons
Compiled and Edited by

Professor Laxmi Narain
Chief Editor, Sri Ramana Jyothi
(Monthly Journal of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad)
(Formerly Dean, Faculty of Commerce,

Founding Head and Professor,
Department of Business Management,
Osmania University, Hyderabad.)
Foreword by
Padma Vibhushan Dr. T. N. Chaturvedi
Formerly Governor of Karnataka
2009
Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

@ Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad
Published by:
Sri Ramana Kendram
2-2-1109/A Batkammakunta
Sivam Road, Hyderabad - 500 013.
Phone: (040) 2742 4092
First edition: 2005

Reprint, with extended index: 2007
Second edition: 2009
Price: Rs. 250
The material contained in this book can be

freely used in any form, including translation,
provided President, Sri Ramana Kendram,
Hyderabad, is informed about it.
ISBN: 81-903538-0-2
Distributed by:
Jaico Publishing House E-mail: [email protected]
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers E-mail: [email protected]
Also available at Sri Ramana Kendram,

at the above address, after satsangs
from 9 to 10.30 a.m. on Sundays.
Cover picture (1948):

Sri Ramana Maharshi – Overflowing Joy and Eternal Peace
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152, DLF, Industrial Area, Faridabad - 121 003 (Haryana)
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PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
The pages that follow contain first-hand experiences of a hun-
dred and sixty (160) individuals, including twenty eight foreigners from
across the globe, who visited / interacted with Sri Ramana Maharshi
(1879-1950). Some of these persons also had an opportunity to serve /
live with him. The book provides a comprehensive, not exhaustive, record
of such experiences. The figure 160 is the extent to which we could go!
The number of beneficiaries of the Maharshi’s grace while he
was in the mortal frame is very large, but the limitation as usual was lack
of inclination and inspiration of the individuals to record the event. We
are indeed grateful to the chroniclers for leaving behind a record of ex-
periences of their visits / stay at the Ashram.
The reminiscences tell us about the Maharshi’s philosophy, his
teachings and his love for all living beings, including animals and plants.
They reveal how sincere aspirants felt the impact of the irresistible light
of the Maharshi’s eyes which penetrated their inner being, and also how
the peace and bliss got transmitted through celestial vibrations released
by the Maharshi’s presence.
Many write-ups in the book bring out the Maharshi as a perfect
being, notwithstanding the overpowering and debilitating vrittis (tenden-
cies) inherent in human beings. This is indeed unique, as even our ava-
tars could not always transcend the constraints of their physical form.
Many descriptions in the text make us feel that the jivanmukta (eman-
cipated while yet in the physical body) and the sthitaprajna (a person of
steadfast wisdom) as envisoned in our scriptures, are not mere concepts
but the reality authenticated by the Maharshi.
The encomiums showered upon the Maharshi by the contibutors
make the reader recall Einstein’s historic tribute to Mahatma Gandhi:
“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in
flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”
The reader of these pages will discover that spirituality is not
something vague and uncertain but substantial and proven as got mani-
fested in the Maharshi.
The text offers an insight into the myriad dimensions of the life
at the Maharshi’s ashrams on the Arunachala hill and in its vicinity. It
vi Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
also helps us to understand the Maharshi’s philosophy, which is to achieve

Self-realisation through persistent and intensive introspection on the ba-
sic question – Who am I? It is essentially the same approach as enunci-
ated by celebrated Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 B.C.) – “Man
know thyself. The unexamined life is not worth living.”
The reminiscences presented here have no particular order and
are independent of each other. They begin with the chronicler’s brief
biographical sketch, which sounds limited in many cases due to lack of
information. This is because many devotees have chosen the tradition of
underplaying the self.
. The views and experiences of the chroniclers have at places
been edited to make the presentation incisive and precise.
Some sentences in the text signifying the exalted state of
the Maharshi are in bold face, at our instance. The word ‘Ashram’
when it refers to Sri Ramanasramam, is with capital ‘A’.
. Many chroniclers have reverently referred to Sri Ramana as
Bhagavan, the title by which he was widely known during his life time.
Some authors have also used capital letters, e.g., He or His, while refer-
ring to the Maharshi.
The text is almost wholly based on the publications of Sri Rama-
nasramam,Tiruvannamalai; Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning,
Bangalore; and David Godman’s three-part The Power Of The Pres-
ence – Transforming Encounters with Sri Ramana Maharshi. We
feel deeply indebted to these sources for their permission to use the
material.
Glossary at the end is intended to explain non-English, italicised
words. It also contains brief notes on important Sanskrit and Tamil works
referred to in the text. References of the Sources of Material Used
furnish details of source in each case. This is followed by Alphabetical
List of Contributors.
Index is preceded by a collection of Accolades Showered upon
Sri Ramana, which seem to defy all laudations and extolments.
I am grateful to Padma Vibhushan awardee Dr. T.N. Chaturvedi,
Governor of Karnataka and formerly Comptroller and Auditor-General
of India, for acceding to my request to write the Foreword.
I am thankful to Dr. V. Ramadas Murthy for his meticulous proof
reading, and to Smt. Lalitha Krithivasan, Sri V. Krithivasan, Sri N.S.
Ramamohan, Sri P.S. Sundaram, Sri C.R.P. Setty, Prof. Shiv K. Kumar,
Preface to First Edition vii
Prof. M. Sivaramakrishna, Sri David Godman, Sri J. Jayaraman, Dr.

Sushma Narayan and others for their help in the preparation of this book.
I sincerely thank Sri N.S. Ramamohan and Smt. Uma Sudhakar
Rayilla – self-effacing and sincere devotees of our Kendram, Sri
Nrupender Rao, Chairman, Pennar Industries Ltd., Hyderabad, and my
daughter Dr. Sushma Narayan, a paediatrician in Delhi, for funding the
production cost of the book. Thanks are due to them all the more be-
cause they would not have liked to be identified.
The printing cost of the book is an offering to Sri Ramana by my
former student Sri Vijay R. Raghavan of Sai Security Printers Ltd., New
Delhi, who deserves my sincere thanks.
The photographs in the book are an offering to Sri Ramana from
my son-in-law Sri Sanjiv Narayan, for which I am thankful to him.
This book is a humble offering at the feet of Sri Ramana
Maharshi on his 125th jayanti, which is also the Silver Jubilee
Year of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad.
Laxmi Narain
([email protected])
Notes:
1. Chinnaswami alias Niranjananandaswami was sarvadhikari (chief manager)
of Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai from 1928 to 1953. At present, the chief
of the Ashram is called ‘President’. Sri Ramana Maharshi, who attained
mahanirvana in April 1950, continues to be the sole spiritual head.
2. The Mountain Path is being published quarterly by Sri Ramanasramam, since
1964. The journal The Call Divine, devoted to Sri Ramana Maharshi, published
from Bombay, first appeared in 1952 and ceased publication in 1975.
3. David Godman, a Britisher who made Tiruvannamalai his home in 1976, has
made substantial and valuable contribution to Sri Ramana literature.
The Ashram’s web site is: www.sriramanamaharshi.org
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The addition of 42 reminiscences takes the total to 202 (101+101).
The effort is to have a comprehensive collection of the impressions,
feelings, and experiences of those who had the privilege of being in the
vicinity of Sri Ramana – the Maharshi.
The chroniclers added in this edition include Sri C.
Rajagopalachari (no.192) and Sri Apa B. Pant (no.199). They later served
as Governor-General of India, and India’s High Commissioner in U.K.,
respectively. Sri Shankarlal Banker (no.167), a close associate of Mahatma
Gandhi, regularly communicated his elevating experiences to the
Mahatma. Of the five foreigners – one each was from U.K. (no.173),
France (no.175) and Poland (no.194). The two from U.S.A. (nos. 163
& 198), stayed at the Ashram for three years, and one of them (Sri
Robert Adams) devoted himself to preach Sri Ramana’s philosophy back
home.
The reminiscences provide an insight into the spiritual height of
the twentieth century maharshi, who was self-obliteration personified,
and who spoke through silence. A British journalist records, “I like him
greatly because he is so simple and modest, when an atmosphere of
authentic greatness lies so palpably around him.” (P. 18) One can easily
count up the number of words he uses in a single day.” (P. 17)
As before, the reminiscences have no particular order and are
independent of each other. While retaining the original contents, the matter
has been edited as necessary.
My thanks are due to many for their willing help and support. In
particular, I am indebted to Smt. Lalitha Krithivasan, Sri V. Krithivasan,
Sri P.S. Sundaram, Prof. M. Sivaramakrishna, Sri T.V. Chandramouli,
Sri David Godman, Sri G. Srihari Rao, Sri Ramamani, Sri J. Jayaraman,
Sri N.S. Ramamohan and Sri V.S. Ramanan.
I am beholden to my former student Sri Vijay R. Raghavan whose
Sai Security Printers at Faridabad, has been considering the printing cost
as an offering to the Maharshi.
Laxmi Narain
([email protected])
GOVERNOR RAJ BHAVAN
KARNATAKA BANGALORE
FOREWORD
Sri Ramana Maharshi is one of the unique shining stars on the
spiritual firmament of our country which is legitimately proud of its rich
and variegated heritage as well as of its saints, seers and sages from
times immemorial.
As a young boy in quest of self-realisation Ramana Maharshi
arrived in Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu) and lived on or near the sacred
hill – Arunachala, for a contiunous period of 54 years, till he left the body.
He mostly kept silence but his silence was eloquent in that it attracted
seekers from far and wide. He was looked upon by many as an incarnation
of Lord Siva in the form of Dakshinamurthi. [See annexure-V, p. 415.]
The Maharshi’s message is the summation and essence of the
teachings of our ancient scriptures.
The Maharshi’s luminous personality radiated serenity and
provided solace to those who approached him. The doubts and skepticism
of many would just vanish by the glow of his eyes. Always resting in the
depths of his own inner self, his very glance will many times answer and
resolve the questions that the visitors and devotees would have liked to
ask.
The Maharshi was neither a philosopher nor a preacher but a
realised soul. People of great distinction and knowledge have testified to
it. His teachings, focused on the query “Who am I”, are both simple and
profound. They are largely contained in his pithy replies to the questions
put before him or doubts expressed by the seekers.
Over the years Ramana literature, both biographical and
philosophical, has grown and is growing. The present book Face to Face
with Sri Ramana Maharshi belongs to both categories. It contains the
living testimony of those who came in touch with or had the good fortune
to have the Maharshi’s darshan and could feel the elevating and enlight-
ening impact of his magnetic presence. The compilation contains extracts
from their writings, bearing witness to what the Maharshi meant to them
and how they got illumined in their spiritual quest.
x Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
The book representing the extensive and deep study of the compiler-
editor, Prof. Laxmi Narain is not merely scholastic but imbued with shraddha
(reverential faith). Wherever deemed necessary, apart from providing
biographical information, he has given annotations which facilitate better
comprehension of the significance of Ramana Maharshi to the common
reader. This book is certainly a companion to one seeking the path. It is
indeed a valuable addition to the growing corpus of Ramana literature.
Prof. Laxmi Narain is presently the Chief Editor of Sri Ramana
Jyothi, monthly journal of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad, as a labour
of love. He is a highly reputed economist and his pioneering and path-
breaking books on public sector or state undertakings and their different
aspects brought him great renown in the country and abroad. Decades
back I met him and got to know him in that capacity. It came as a pleasant
surprise when he asked me to write a foreword to the present compilation
which he has so labouriously and imaginatively prepared. I feel deeply
touched by this unmerited honour and would like to express my thanks to
my learned friend, Prof. Laxmi Narain.
I believe that the book will have the welcome that it richly deserves
by its discerning readers and devotees. With this earnest hope I commend
this work of Prof. Laxmi Narain which seems to me to be the sublime,
symbolic and subtle vehicle of the Grace of Ramana Maharshi which
may always abide with him and with us all.
June 26, 2005 T.N. CHATURVEDI
Padma Vibhushan awardee Dr. Triloki Nath Chaturvedi is a rare blend of administrative,
academic, political, accounting, spiritual and governing distinctions. He was Secretary,
Ministry of Education and Culture and thereafter Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India. He is Chairman of the premier research and training institute of the
country in the area of public administration – Indian Institute of Public Administration,
New Delhi, and was the editor of its prestigious journal for 28 years. Doctorates honoris
causa have been conferred upon him by Punjab University, Chandigarh, and by Lal
Bahadur Shastri Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, a deemed university. He was
Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for six years. Elected to the Rajya Sabha in
1992 and reelected in 1998, he was a member of the panel to preside as vice-chairman of
the Rajya Sabha. He was Chairman of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Industry. He
was a member of the Executive Board of the UNESCO, and was President, Shri Ramana
Kendra, New Delhi, for more than a decade.
CONTENTS
Preface to First Edition v
Preface to Second Edition viii
Foreword ix
Contents xi
List of Poems in Praise of Sri Ramana xxi
List of Pictures xxii
Sri Ramana Maharshi – A Life Sketch 1-12
REMINISCENCES
1. Dr.Paul Brunton was a British journalist whose writings made Sri
Ramana known the world over. ... ... ... 13
2. Sadhu Ekarasa (Dr.G.H.Mees, M.A., LL.D.) was a Dutch scholar. 24
3. Prof. Banning Richardson, M.A. (Hons.) (Cantab.), A.B.
(Princeton) was Professor of English Literature. ... ... 27
4. Justice K.Sundaram Chettiar, B.A., B.L., was High Court Judge,
Madras. ... ... ... 27
5. Manu Subedar was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly. 28
6. William S.Spaulding (Jr.) was from New York City. ... 29
7. Grant Duff (Douglas Ainslie) was a scholar and a senior government
official at Madras. ... ... ... 29
8. Dilip Kumar Roy belonged to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.
He authored many books and was also a musician. ... ... 31
9. B.Sanjiva Rao, B.A. (Cantab.) belonged to the pre-Independence
Indian Educational Service. ... ... ... 33
10. Justice N.Chandrasekhara Aiyar was High Court Judge, Madras. 34
11. Eleanor Pauline Noye was from California. ... ... 35
12. K.S.Venkataramani, M.A., B.L., was Adviser to the former Alwar
State (Rajasthan). ... ... ... 37
13. Dr. C. Kunhan Raja was Director of the Adyar Library,
Theosophical Society, Madras. ... ... ... 37
14. Madan Mohan Varma was Chairman, Rajasthan Public Service
Commission, Jaipur. ... ... ... 39
15. Ella Maillart was a Swiss travel writer and photographer. ... 40
16. Swami Siddheswarananda was Head, Ramakrishna Mission, Paris. 41
xii Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
17. T.M.Krishnaswami Aiyar, B.A., B.L., was Chief Justice of the

former Travancore State (Kerala). ... ... ... 43
18. K.S.Ramaswami Sastri, B.A., B.L., was Chief Justice of the
former Pudukottah State (Tamil Nadu). ... ... ... 43
19. Dr. K.C.Varadachari, M.A., Ph.D., was a scholar based in Tirupati. 44
20. Giridhari Lal belonged to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 45
21. Prof. B.L.Atreya, M.A., D.Litt., was Head, Dept. of Philosophy
and Psychology, Benaras Hindu University. ... ... 46
22. Oliver Lacombe was L’Attache Culturel, Consulat General de
France, Calcutta. ... ... ... 47
23. Prof. Syed M.Hafiz, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt., was Head, Dept. of
Philosophy, Allahabad University. ... ... ... 47
24. A.S.Panchapagesa Ayyar belonged to the former Indian Civil
Service. ... ... ... 49
25. Prof. T.M.P. Mahadevan, M.A.,Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of
Philosophy, Madras University. ... ... ... 51
26. Duncan Greenlees, M.A. (Oxon.), was a British scholar and a
Theosophist. ... ... ... 52
27. H.Ghosh, M.A., was Principal, Holkar College, Indore (Madhya
Pradesh). ... ... ... 57
28. C.S.Bagi, M.A., was Principal, Lingaraj College, Belgaum (Karnataka). 57
29. Rudra Raj Pande, M.A., was Principal, Tri-Chandra College, Nepal. 59
30. Prof. S.V.Ram, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of Political Science,
Lucknow University. ... ... ... 61
31. Chinta Dikshitulu, B.A., L.T., was a distinguished Telugu author. 62
32. Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, a poet and artiste, was younger
brother of Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India. ... ... 63
33. Dr. K. Subrahmanian was Professor of English, Central Institute
of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He was the Founder
President of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad. ... ... 65
34. N.Balarama Reddy, M.A., who authored My Reminiscences, lived
closely with Sri Ramana for over a decade. ... ... 69
35. A.Devaraja Mudaliar, who authored the well-known Day by Day
with Bhagavan and My Recollections of Bhagavan Sri Ramana, moved
closely with Sri Ramana for over a decade. ... ... 72
36. Maurice Frydman, a Polish Jew, was a research engineer who
worked in Karnataka. ... ... ... 75
37. S.S.Cohen, an Iraqi Jew, was a qualified accountant who adopted
Sri Ramanasramam as his home in 1936. He authored Guru Ramana
and Residual Reminiscences of Ramana. ... ... ... 78
Contents xiii
38. K.K.Nambiar was Chief Engineer, Highways, Madras Presidency.

He authored The Guiding Presence of Sri Ramana. ... ... 84
39. Suri Nagamma authored the famous Letters from Sri Raman-
asramam. ... ... ... 88
40. Arthur Osborne was an Oxford-educated Britisher. He was the
Founder-editor of The Mountain Path and authored five books on Sri
Ramana. ... ... ... 94
41. Prof.G.V.Subbaramayya taught English at a college in Nellore,
Andhra Pradesh. He was also a Telugu scholar. He authored Sri Ramana
Reminiscences. ... ... ... 102
42. Major A.W.Chadwick O.B.E., who became Sadhu Arunachala,
lived in the Ashram from 1935 to 1962. He authored A Sadhu’s
Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi. ... ... ... 110
43. Prof. K.Swaminathan taught English at Presidency College, Madras.
He authored Sri Ramana – The Self Supreme and Ramana Maharshi. 117
44. Rangan (Velacheri Ranga Iyer) was a classmate of Sri Ramana. 122
45. M.Sivaprakasam Pillai, a Government employee, was the first
person to collect (in 1902) Sri Ramana’s teachings, later published as
the famous booklet Who am I? ... ... ... 125
46. Akhilandamma served food to Sri Ramana for forty years. 127
47. Sadhu Natanananda (Natesa Mudaliar) was a scholar who
authored many books on Sri Ramana. ... ... ... 129
48. Prof. N.R.Krishnamurti Aiyer taught physics for decades at the
American College, Madurai (Tamil Nadu). ... ... 134
49. Chalam (Gudipati Venkatachalam) was a famous Telugu writer
who authored Bhagavan Smritulu (Telugu). ... ... 138
50. Souris was daughter of Chalam (no.49). ... ... 143
51. Swami Madhavatirtha was a prolific Gujarati author. ... 146
52. Kunju Swami was Sri Ramana’s attendant from 1920 to 1932. 150
53. Muruganar (C.K.Subramania Iyer) was an outstanding Tamil
poet who sang nothing but glory of Sri Ramana in thousands of
poems. ... ... ... 154
54. T.P.Ramachandra Iyer was a laywer who acted as an interpreter
and also attended on Sri Ramana. ... ... ... 159
55. Chhaganlal V.Yogi, a Gujarati devotee, authored Sri Ramana Mahima
(Gujarati). ... ... ... 161
56. Lakshmana Swami of Gudur (Andhra Pradesh) was a sadhaka of
great merit. ... ... ... 167
57. Viswanatha Swami, a Tamil and Sanskrit scholar, translated many
Ashram publications into Tamil. ... ... ... 171
xiv Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
58. Ramanatha Brahmachari authored Ramana Strotra Anubhuti

(Tamil). ... ... ... 174
59. Mastan, a Muslim weaver, got drawn to Sri Ramana in 1914. 175
60. Echammal served food to Sri Ramana for decades. ... 176
61. Mudaliar Patti brought or sent food to Sri Ramana for 40 years,
without missing a day. ... ... ... 176
62. Krishna Bhikshu (Voruganti Krishnayya), a lawyer, authored
Ramana Leela (Telugu). ... ... ... 178
63. Lakshman Sarma authored Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad
(Sanskrit). ... ... ... 183
64. Natesa Iyer served for long as a cook at the Ashram. ... 184
65. Sampurnamma served as a cook at the Ashram for decades. 186
66. Shantammal served as a cook at the Ashram for decades. ... 189
67. Sundaram (Sadhu Trivenigiri) was a spiritually-minded person
on the staff of the Ashram. ... ... ... 191
68. Subbalakshmi Ammal served for long as a cook at the Ashram. 193
69. Wolter A. Keers was a Dutch teacher and writer who lectured on
yoga and Advaita in Europe. ... ... ... 196
70. Annamalai Swami looked after construction projects at the Ashram
under direct supervision of Sri Ramana. ... ... ... 201
71. Mouni Sadhu (M. Sudouski), an Australian, authored the classic
In Days of Great Peace. ... ... ... 205
72. Kumar was a Bangalore-based journalist. ... ... 209
73. Swami Ranganathananda was till recently President of Sri
Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, Howrah (West Bengal). ... 209
74. Swami Desikananda was a sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order. 211
75. Pascaline Mallet, a French writer and seeker, authored Turn
Eastwards. ... ... ... 212
76. Gunturu Lakshmikantam was biographer of Ganapati Muni (no.91). 214
77. Ethel Merston, a French devotee, visited Sri Ramana in 1939. 215
78. A European Sadhak, who withheld his name ... ... 217
79. M.A. Piggot was the first English lady to visit Sri Ramana. 218
80. J.P. Vaswani is Head, Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Pune. ... 221
81. Swami Ramdas was the founder of Anandashram, Kanhangad,
Kerala. ... ... ... 223
82. Swami Tapovanam was the guru of Swami Chinmayananda. 224
83. Swami Chinmayananda was the founder of famous Chinmaya
Mission. ... ... ... 225
Contents xv
84. Swami Muktananda was the founder of the well-known ashram

at Ganeshpuri near Mumbai. ... ... ... 226
85. Eliot C. Clark was a renowned American painter. ... 228
86. Swami Abhishiktananda was a Christian monk who lived as a
sannyasi. ... ... ... 229
87. Ramanadasa Sadananda (Seshagiri Iyer), a high school teacher,
authored Sri Ramana Dasakam (Tamil). ... ... 230
88. Dr. M. Anantanarayana Rao was a doctor at the Ashram
dispensary. ... ... ... 232
89. N. Ramachandra Rao authored Sri Ramana’s first biography in
Kannada. ... ... ... 234
90. Papaji (Hariwansh Lal Poonja) was a great Krishna bhakta who
relinquished his commissioned post in the army in favour of spiritual
attainments. ... ... ... 235
91. Ganapati Muni, Kavyakantha was a renowned Sanskrit scholar
and poet. ... ... ... 243
92. F.H. Humphreys, a police official, was the first European to meet
Sri Ramana in 1911. ... ... ... 245
93. Raghavachariar was Superintendent, Public Works Dept.,
Tiruvannamalai. ... ... ... 247
94. Manavasi V.Ramaswami Iyer was Supervisor, Public Works
Dept. Tiruvannamalai. ... ... ... 248
95. N.N.Rajan (N.Nataraja Iyer) was Station Master,
Tiruvannamalai. ... ... 249
...
96. Rama Varma Appan Tampuran was Maharaja of Cochin (Kerala). 251
97. Swami Rajeswarananda was a sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order
and a life-long devotee of Sri Ramana. ... ... ... 252
98. Dr.Lt.Col. P.V. Karamchandani was District Medical Officer
of North Arcot district in Tamil Nadu. ... ... ... 253
99. Dr.T.N.Krishnaswami was a prolific photographer of Sri
Ramana. ... ... ... 256
100. R.Narayana Iyer was Sub-Registrar at Chetput, Tamil Nadu. 258
101. Suddhananda Bharati was a patriot who worked in the field of
Tamil literature and social reconstruction. He authored Ramana Vijayam
(1931), first biography of Sri Ramana in Tamil. ... ... 262
102. Ramanapadananda (V.S.Kuppuswami Aiyengar) was a
businessman. ... ... ... 264
103. Col.A.N.S.Murti’s mother’s hometown was Tiruvannamalai. 265
104. V. Kameswara Rao met Sri Ramana after revelation in a dream. 267
xvi Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
105. Prof. V.B.Athavale of Kirloskarvadi (Maharashtra) was a scholar

of the Gita. ... ... ... 269
106. G. Lakshmi Narasimham, B.L. has translated two of Sri Ramana’s
works into Telugu. ... ... ... 270
107. P.V.Sastri was a lawyer who came to Sri Ramana in the aftermath of
his son’s death. ... ... ... 272
108. M.M.Menon was from Palghat (Kerala). ... ... 274
109. N.V.Gunaji was an advocate from Belgaum (Karnakta). ... 275
110. Sister Lalita belonged to the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu). ... 276
111. C.V.Subramania Iyer was Assistant Director, Public Health,
Madras. ... ... ... 276
112. Jagadeeswara Sastri, a distinguished Sanskrit scholar, was
associated with Sri Ramana for four decades. ... 278
...
113. Ramanananda Swarnagiri authored Crumbs from His Table. 280
114. Mercedes de Acosta, a Spanish American, was a Hollywood
socialite and a scriptwriter for films. ... ... ... 282
115. T.K.Sundaresa Iyer was a school teacher at Tiruvannamalai. He
served as an interpreter for English-speaking visitors at the Ashram and
authored At the Feet of Bhagavan. ... ... ... 285
116. T.R.Kanakammal authored Cherished Memories (original Tamil). 289
117. Srikrishnaprem was a British professor who became a Vaishnavite
sannyasi. ... ... 291
...
118. Prof. Pryns Hopkins was an American social psychologist. 292
119. Major-General V.N. Parameswaran Pillai was G.O.C. of the
former Travancore State (Kerala) Forces. ... ... 293
120. N.O.Mehta was a devotee from Gujarat. ... ... 295
121. Madhavi Ammal was the lady who wrested diksha from Sri Ramana. 296
122. Dr.Shankar Rao was a medical officer who attended on Sri Ramana. 297
123. Emmanual Sorensen (Sunya Baba) was a Danish devotee. 298
124. Lokamma was a kitchen worker at the Ashram. ... ... 299
125. Raja (V.Rajasubrahmania) Iyer was the first Ashram Postmaster. 300
126. Roda MacIver (nee Kamdin) hailed from a Parsee family of
Bombay. ... ... ... 301
127. Meenakshi was the wife of great poet Muruganar (no.53). 304
128. Nagaiah V. Chittoor was a legendary Telugu actor. ... 305
129. Padma Sitapati was daughter of Sri Ramana’s famous devotee Janaki
Matha of Tanjore (Tamil Nadu). ... ... ... 306
Contents xvii
130. Swami Pranavananda (S.Narasimham) was uncle of India’s

former President S.Radhakrishnan. He authored many books on Sri
Ramana in Telugu. ... ... ... 307
131. T.R.Rajagopal was a devotee from Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh). 308
132. Santanam Iyengar was a school Headmaster at Tanjore (Tamil Nadu). 309
133. Prof. Sista Subba Rao taught English at the Hindu College,
Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh). ... ... ... 309
134. Mahapatra Dave was a teacher at the Gujarati School, Secundrabad
(Andhra Pradesh). ... ... ... 312
135. Subbalakshmi was the wife of Dr. M.R.Krishnamurthi Iyer (no.155). 315
136. Vajreswari was the daughter of Ganapati Muni (no.91). ... 316
137. Kundalmal A. Mahatani was a devotee from Karachi (now in
Pakistan). ... ... ... 316
138. Santha Rangachary was a career journalist. ... ... 317
139. T.R.A.Narayana was manager in a large British firm in Madras. 320
140. K.R.K.Murthi, B.E. (Elec.) was Chief Electrical Engineer, Electricity
Dept., Government of Andhra Pradesh. ... ... ... 323
141. Srimat Puragra Parampanthi, a renowned Swami of his time, has
authored many books. ... ... ... 326
142. K.Arunachalam was a Gandhian social worker. ... 327
143. Panthulu Lakshmi Narayana Sastri was a Sanskrit and Telugu
scholar. ... ... ... 329
144. B.N.Datar was a famous philosopher based in Hubli (Karnataka). 331
145. Y.N. (alias Bhaurao) Athavale was one of the few Maharashtrian
devotees of Sri Ramana. ... ... ... 333
146. Dr. Haribhai M.Adalja was a disciple of Swami Madhavatirtha
(no. 51). ... ... ... 334
147. Sadhu Bramanian, earlier Dr. R.Subramanian, was Director of Public
Health, Madras. ... ... ... 335
148. M.V.Krishnan was the son of Munagala S.Venkataramiah who
compiled the well-known volume Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. 336
149. N.Ponniah, who lived in Malaysia, visited Sri Ramana in 1948. 337
150. Swami Satyananda was Sri Ramana’s attendant. ... 338
151. Henri Hartung was a Swiss devotee. ... ... 339
152. Swami Chidbhavananda was Head, Sri Ramakrishna Ashram,
Ootacamund, 1926-40. ... ... ... 340
153. C.R.Pattabhi Raman was a Central Government minister. 342
xviii Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
154. Maha Krishna Swami established ‘Bhagavan Sri Ramana

Ashramam’ in Brazil. ... ... ... 343
155. Dr.M.R.Krishnamurthi Iyer was the first doctor at the Ashram
dispensary. ... ... ... 344
156. Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal was Head, Dept. of Philosophy, Osmania
University, Hyderabad. ... ... ... 345
157. Prabhakar was the author of Prapatti Satakam (Sanskrit). 348
158. Lakshmi Ranganadham was referred to as ‘Our Lakshmi’ by Sri
Ramana. ... ... ... 349
159. Ramaswami Pillai was a long-standing devotee of Sri Ramana. 350
160. Morarji Desai was Prime Minister of India. ... ... 352
161. M.V. Ramanachalam’s father was a boyhood friend of Sri Ramana. 353
162. Swami Ramanananda Saraswati (T.N.Venkataraman) was
President of Ramanasramam for over 40 years. ... ... 355
163. Robert Adams, an American, was with Sri Ramana for three years –
1947-50. ... ... ... 358
164. Ramakrishna Madhavpeddi, an attorney at Madras High Court,
visited Sri Ramana in 1948. ... ... ... 361
165. M.G. Shanmukam’s Tamil biography of Sri Ramana was published
in 1937. ... ... ... 362
166. Taleyarkhan, Firoza, born in Hyderabad, belonged to an affluent
Parsi family. ... ... ... 364
167. Shankarlal Banker was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. 366
168. K. Venkatarathnam was an attendant of Sri Ramana from 1944 till
the mahanirvana. ... ... ... 368
169. Swami Lakshman Joo Raina was pre-eminent exponent of
Kashmir Saivism. ... ... ... 370
170. Swami Rama is the author of the well-known Living with Himalayan
Masters. ... ... ... 371
171. Swami Paramahansa Yogananda is the author of the well-known
Autobiography of a Yogi. ... ... ... 372
172. Swami Tapasananda was president of Ramakrishna Mission,
Madras, for two decades. ... ... ... 374
173. J.C. Molony, I.C.S., was a district collector in Madras Presidency. 375
174. T.S. Anantha Murthy, a judge at Bangalore, authored Life and
Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. ... ... ... 376
175. Suzanne Alexandra from Paris, met Sri Ramana in 1936. 377
176. The anonymous chronicler, a science student, met Sri Ramana in
1946. ... ... ... 379
Contents xix
177. P.L.N. Sharma, a Gandhian, met Sri Ramana in 1932. ... 381
178. B.C. Sengupta, M.A., B.L., was principal of a college in Bengal. 382
179. C.R. Rajamani first visited Sri Ramana in early 1940’s. ... 384
180. Rajalakshmi’s grandmother was younger sister of Echammal
(no. 60). ... ... ... 386
181. Sab Jan (M. Abdul Wahab) was Sri Ramana’s classmate at
Madurai. ... ... ... 387
182. Dhiruben Patel of Bombay got Sri Ramana’s grace in 1940’s. 388
183. K.Vithoba Kamath, a Gandhian, visited Sri Ramana in 1946. 390
184. T.V. Kapali Sastri, a born scholar, met Sri Ramana in 1911-2. 391
185. Atmakuri Govindacharyulu, an Andhra, first visited the Ashram
in 1944-5. ... ... ... 393
186. Keerai Patti was the first lady to supply food to Sri Ramana on a
regular basis. ... ... ... 394
187. Padma from Madras was a devotee of Sri Ramana. ... 395
188. D.S. Sastri was an official of the then Imperial Bank of India. 395
189. Sankarananda, an Andhra, was a police officer. ... 397
190. Seshadri Sastrigal served in the dining hall of the Ashram. 397
191. M.S. Nagarajan, a staunch devotee, belonged to Polur (District
Tiruvannamalai). ... ... ... 398
192. C. Rajagopalachari was Governor-General of India. ... 399
193. T.S. Narayanaswami saw Sri Ramana two months before the
mahanirvana. ... ... ... 400
194. Uma Devi (Wanda Dynowska), a Pole, wrote Teachings of Sri
Ramana Maharshi. ... ... ... 401
195. Prof. D. Gurumurthi came to see Sri Ramana during his last days. 401
196. Gouriammal, an earnest devotee, had built her house near the
Ashram. ... ... ... 402
197. Krishnaswami came to Sri Ramana in 1936 and was his attendant till
the mahanirvana. ... ... ... 403
198. Thelma Rappold, an American was with Sri Ramana during
1947-50. ... ... ... 404
199. Apa B. Pant was India’s High Commissioner in U.K. ... 405
200. Vaikuntavasar was an attendant of Sri Ramana and later a trustee of
the Ashram. ... ... ... 406
201. Saroja Krishnan’s uncle Rajagopala Iyer had witnessed the will
executed by Sri Ramana in 1938. ... ... ... 406
202. Shanti (pseudonym) visited Sri Ramana in 1943. ... ... 408
xx Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Annexures
I Mountain Arunachala and Temple of Arunachaleswara in
Tiruvannamalai ... ... ... 410
II Karthikai Deepam or Deepam Festival ... ... 411
III The Periapuranam’s Story of Great Siva Bhakta –
Kannappan Naayanaar ... ... ... 412
IV The Cow Lakshmi ... ... ... 414
V Dakshinamurthi – The Great Silent Guru, an Incarnation
of Lord Siva ... ... ... 415
Glossary of Non-English Words and Important

Sanskrit and Tamil Books Referred to in the Text ... 417
References of the Sources of Material Used ... ... 427
Alphabetical List of Contributors ... ... ... 434
Accolades Showered upon Sri Ramana ... ... 438
Index ... ... ... 445
LIST OF POEMS IN PRAISE
OF SRI RAMANA
1. Heart’s Homage to Sri Ramana by Sadhu Ekarasa ... 26

2. With Sri Ramana of Arunachala by Grant Duff ... 30
3. To Sri Ramana Maharshi by Dilip Kumar Roy ... 32
4. Sri Maharshi – The Alchemist by Giridhari Lal ... 46
5. Sri Arunachala Ramana by Duncan Greenlees ... 56
6. The Leonine Power by C.S. Bagi ... 59
7. The Thrice Marvellous Sri Ramana and A Lyric to
Sri Ramana by Harindranath Chattopadhyaya ... 63
8. Two extracts from the poems by Maurice Frydman ... 77
9. An extract from the poems by Arthur Osborne ... 101
10. Surrender and Will You Let Me Go? by A.W.Chadwick ... 115
11. Sri Ramana – the Self Supreme by K. Swaminathan ... 121
12. A Stanza in Maharshi’s Praise by Swami Desikananda ... 212
13. My Beloved Bhagavan by Swami Ramdas ... 224
14. Who am I? by Robert Adams ... 360
LIST OF PICTURES
(18 pictures are at the end)
1. Two views of mountain Arunachala, known to be Lord Siva

Himself, who drew Sri Ramana to Tiruvannamalai.
2. Ancient Siva temple which sheltered Sri Ramana for many months
after he reported arrival in 1896 to his Father Lord Siva in the
temple.
3. (i) Virupaksha cave on mountain Arunachala which was Sri
Ramana’s abode from 1899 to 1916.
(ii) Samadhi of Virupakshadeva inside the cave.
4. (i) Front room in Virupaksha cave.
(ii) Skandasram on mountain Arunachala which was Sri Ramana’s
abode from 1916 to 1922.
5. Sri Ramana with large and penetrating eyes – Earliest available
photo.
6. Sri Ramana exuding peace and shakti in his late 1930’s.
7. Sri Ramana on the couch in the old hall where devotees benefited
from his presence for more than 20 years.
8. Sri Ramana – Detachment incarnate.
9. Blissful radiance of Sri Ramana – Two images.
10. Sri Ramana on his afternoon stroll.
11. Sri Ramana rests on the lap of his beloved Arunachala.
12. Sri Ramana showers affection on the Ashram’s cow.
13. Swami Paramahana Yogananda and Paul Brunton with Sri
Ramana.
14. Entrance to the shrines of Sri Ramana and the Mother at Sri
Ramanasramam.
15. Ramaneswaralingam, samadhi shrine of Sri Ramana.
16. Matrubhuteswaralingam, samadhi shrine of the Mother.
17. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Jamana Lal Bajaj and devotees at the
Ashram with Sri Ramana.
18. Sri Ramana on his seat in the Jubilee Hall.
SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI –
A LIFE SKETCH
Birth and Early Years

Venkataraman (later Sri Ramana Maharshi) was born on
December 30, 1879 at Tiruchuzhi, a small village in Tamil Nadu, some
thirty miles off Madurai and eighteen miles from Virudhunagar, the nearest
railway station. Venkataraman’s mother Alagamma was a pious, devoted
person and his father Sundaram Ayyar was a pleader, who practised
mostly before the local magistrate. Venkataraman had a brother, two
years his senior. His other brother and his sister were both younger to
him by a few years. It was a happy, well-to-do middle class family.
When Venkataraman was twelve, Sundaram Ayyar died and the
family was broken up. He and his elder brother were sent to live with
their paternal uncle, Subbier, who had a house in Madurai. Here,
Venkataraman first attended the Scott’s Middle School and then joined
the American Mission High School for his ninth standard. At school, his
one asset was an amazingly retentive memory, which enabled him to
repeat a lesson after hearing it just once.
Endowed with a stronger constitution than most of his classmates
and with a spirit of independence that marked him off from other students,
Venkatraman found school games and outdoor life more congenial than
studies and reading books.
In his boyhood years Venkataraman was prone to abnormally
deep sleep. Speaking about it in later years he said: “The boys didn’t
dare to touch me when I was awake, but if they had any grudge against
me they would come when I was asleep, carry me wherever they liked,
beat me, paint my face with charcoal and then put me back, and I would
know nothing how it happened until they told me next morning.”
The Origin of his Awakening
In November 1895, an elderly relation spoke to Venkataraman
about his visit to Arunachala, the sacred hill in Tiruvannamalai,
2 Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Tamil Nadu. The word ‘Arunachala’ somehow had evoked in him since
childhood an inexplicable awe and love. He enquired from the relative
the whereabouts of Arunachala and ever afterwards found himself haunted
by its thoughts.1
A little later, a copy of the Periapuranam fell into Venkata-
raman’s hands. This purana contains stories of sixty-three Tamil saints
who could secure Lord Siva’s grace by their exemplary devotion. As
Venkataraman read the book, he was overwhelmed with ecstatic wonder
that such faith, such love and such divine fervour was at all possible.The
tales of renunciation leading to Divine union filled him with awe and
admiration. Something greater than all dream lands, was proclaimed real
and possible in the book.2
From that time onwards, the spiritual current of awareness began
to waken up in the young boy. This grew ever stronger with the passage
of time and after a few months, sometime in the middle of July 1896,
when he was just sixteen and a half years old, Venkataraman realised
the Self in a miraculous manner. Years later, he described the event himself
in the following words:
About six weeks before I left Madurai for good, a great change
took place in my life. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room in
my uncle’s house, when a sudden fear of death overtook me. There was
nothing in my state of health to account for it. I just felt, ‘I am going to
die’ and began thinking about it. The fear of death drove my mind inwards
and I said to myself mentally, ‘Now that death has come; what does it
mean? What is it that is dying? Only this body dies.’ And at once I
dramatised the occurrence of death. I held my breath and kept my lips
tightly closed and said to myself, ‘This body is dead. It will be carried to
the cremation ground and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this
body am I dead? Is this body ‘I’? I am the spirit transcending the body.
That means I am the deathless atman.’
What happened next is difficult to comprehend, though easy to
describe. Venkataraman seemed to fall into a profound conscious trance
wherein he became merged into the very source of selfhood, the very
essence of Being. He quite clearly perceived and imbibed the truth that
the body was a thing apart from the atman that remained untouched by
death.
Venkataraman emerged from this amazing experience an utterly
changed person. He lost interest in studies, sports, friends and so on. His
chief interest now centered in the sublime consciousness of the true Self,
Sri Ramana Maharshi – A Life Sketch
which he had found so unexpectedly. He enjoyed an inward serenity and

a spiritual strength, which never left him.
The new mode of consciousness transformed Venkataraman’s
sense of values and his habits. Things he esteemed earlier had now lost
their appeal. In his words: “Another change that came over me was that
I no longer had any likes or dislikes with regard to food. Whatever was
given to me, tasty or insipid, I would swallow with total indifference.”
Leaving the House for Arunachala
Venkataraman’s uncle and elder brother became critical of his
changed mode of life, which seemed to them utterly impractical. Then
came the tangible crisis on August 29, 1896. Venkataraman was then
studying in tenth standard, preparing for his public examination. His
teacher had given him an exercise in English grammar to be written
three times. He copied it out twice and was about to do so for the third
time when the futility of it struck him so forcibly that he pushed the
papers away and, sitting cross-legged, abandoned himself to meditation.
His elder brother who was watching this, scolded him for behaving like a
yogi while still staying in the family and pretending to study. Such remarks
had been made constantly during the last few weeks, and had gone
unnoticed. But this time they went home. “Yes”, thought Venkataraman,
“What business have I here?” And immediately came the thought of
Arunachala that had caused such a thrill in him a few months ago. He
decided then and there to discover the fabulous and legendary Arunachala
of his dreams.
Venkataraman knew that it was necessary to use some guile
because his family would never otherwise let him go. So he told his
brother that he had to attend a special class at the school. Unintentionally
providing him with funds for the journey, his brother said, “Take five
rupees from the box and pay my college fees.” Venkataraman took only
three rupees, no more than what he thought was necessary for reaching
Tiruvannamalai. In the note he left (which fortunately is preserved), he
wrote in Tamil:
“I have set out in quest of my Father in accordance with His
command. It is on a virtuous enterprise that ‘this’ has embarked, therefore
let none grieve over this act and let no money be spent in search of
‘this’. Your college fees have not been paid. Two rupees are enclosed.”
The note ended with the word ‘Thus’, and a dash -- in place of
his signature.
It is significant that the opening sentence in the note began with

‘I’, but later Venkataraman used ‘this’ in reference to himself.Thus, what
left Madurai for Tiruvannamalai was not the spirit, which had already got
absorbed in the Lord, but the body, now viewed as distinct from the
spirit. The personality which began with ‘I’, got merged into ‘this’, and at
the end there was no person left to sign; hence the note remained
unsigned.3 The note made it clear that the writer was driven by a Divine
command, which had to be obeyed.
Reaching Tiruvannamalai on the early morning of September 1,
1896, after a series of trials and tribulations, Venkataraman went straight
to the great Arunachaleswara temple4 and stood before his Father. His
cup of bliss was now full to the brim. It was the journey’s end, and his
homecoming. [For a view of the temple, see photograph no. 2 in the
book.]
Tranced Years and Fresh Moorings

Coming out of the temple, the youth got his head shaven and
threw away all his belongings and clothes except for a strip he tore off
his dhoti to serve as a loincloth. Thus renouncing everything, he went
back to the temple complex and got immersed in the Bliss of Being,
sitting motionless, day after day, night after night.
One Seshadri Swami, a learned ascetic of high spiritual attain-
ment, took it upon himself to look after Brahmana Swami, as Venkata-
raman began to be called. Some schoolboys started throwing stones at
him as they were intrigued to see someone not much older than themselves
sitting like a statue. And as one of them put it later, he wanted to find out
whether he was real or not. To avoid the situation, Brahmana Swami
took shelter in the Patala Lingam, an underground small Siva shrine within
the enormous temple complex, where ants and vermin fed on his flesh
during the weeks he spent there. But the young Swami, absorbed in bliss,
remained unmoved.
When some devotees discovered the Swami in the vault, oblivious
of the dreadful condition he was in, with worm-infested wounds and
oozing pus, they removed him to a nearby shrine within the temple
complex. From then on, he continued to move within the complex to
various other shrines and groves away from curious onlookers. In all
these places, he was looked after by mendicants, devotees from the
town, temple functionaries and others. He continued to remain absorbed
Sri Ramana Maharshi – A Life Sketch 5
in the Self and was virtually dead to the world: he had to be shaken by
the shoulders before he would accept water or food, which some
devotees brought for him.
Years later, the Maharshi recalled how he had been forcibly
administered a bath by a motherly devotee, the first in four months after
his arrival in Tiruvannamalai. It was twelve months later that another
such devotee gave him a second bath. Likewise, his hair remained uncut
and his face unshaven for some eighteen months. He told Suri Nagamma
(no. 39): “The hair had got matted and woven like a basket. Small stones
and dust had settled in it and the head used to feel heavy. I had long nails
and a frightful appearance. When some people pressed me to have a
shave, I yielded. When my head was shaven clean, I began to wonder
whether I had a head or not, I felt so light.”
In February 1897, the young Swami was removed to the
Gurumurtam – a math, some distance away from the town, where he
lived for about nineteen months. He continued to remain Self-absorbed
and was looked after mainly by a sadhu named Uddandi Nayanar and
his friend Annamalai Thambiran. Pilgrims and sightseers began to throng
the math and many would prostrate themselves before the Swami, some
with prayers for boons and some out of pure reverence.
As the crowd became large, a bamboo fence was put around the
Swami’s seat to prevent the public from touching him.There was no difficulty
about food, as several devotees wished to supply it regularly; the more
pressing need was to keep away the crowd of sightseers and visitors.
About this time, a Malayalee sadhu named Palaniswami, living
in great austerity, was devoting his life to the worship of Lord Vinayaka.
One day his friend Srinivasa Iyer told him, “Why do you spend your life
with this stone swami? There is a young swami in flesh and blood at the
Gurumurtam. He is steeped in tapas like the young Dhruva. If you go
there and attach yourself to him, your life will attain its purpose.” When
Palaniswami went to the math, he was stirred to his depths at the very
sight of the Swami and felt that he had discovered his saviour. He devoted
the remaining twenty-one years of his life serving the Maharshi as his
attendant.
As the Swami’s body was utterly neglected, it got weakened to
the limits of endurance. When he needed to go out, he had barely the
strength to rise. Many times it so happened that he would raise himself
by a few inches and then sink back again.
One Venkatarama Iyer, head accountant in a government office

in the town, used to visit the Swami everyday before going to his work.
One day, he placed before him a sheet of paper and a pencil and besought
him to write his name and place of origin. When the Swami made no
response to his pleading, he declared that he would neither eat nor go to
office till he received the desired information. Then Sri Ramana wrote in
English ‘Venkataraman, Tiruchuzhi’. His knowledge of English came as
a surprise.
Search for the Lost Boy and Mother’s Visit

In the meantime, Venkataraman’s relatives were making anxious
enquiries and searches at various places, but he could not be traced.
Annamalai Thambiran (mentioned in the second para of the previous
page), who had learnt the young Swami’s name and native place at the
math, happened to visit Madurai. He spoke to one of Venkataraman’s
family friends about the well-known young saint at Tiruvannamalai who
belonged to Tiruchuzhi. Immediately after getting this information,
Venkataraman’s uncle set off for Tiruvannamalai. He pleaded in vain for
the Swami’s return and left for Madurai empty-handed.
After sometime, the young Swami began to reside at the
Pavalakunru shrine on the Arunachala hill, where also he would sit as
before, immersed in the Bliss of Being. It was here that mother Alagamma
came to take back her son, whom she recognised despite his wasted
body and matted hair. With a mother’s love and concern, she lamented
over his condition and pressed him to go back with her, but he sat unmoved
despite her repeated entreaties. One day, pouring out her grief to the
devotees around him, she beseeched them to intervene. Seized by the
mother’s plight, one of them told the Swami, “Your mother is weeping
and praying; at least give her an answer. The Swami need not break his
vow of silence, but he could certainly write what he has to say.”
Venkataraman took a pencil and wrote in Tamil: “The Ordainer
controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdha-karma.5
Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try hard as you may.
Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent
it.This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.”
The last sentence applied to the mother, who was asking what
could not be granted. It applies to people in general in the sense that ‘it is
no use kicking against the pricks,’ opposing the destiny that cannot be
altered. But it does not mean that utmost sincere efforts to succeed are
not made. The man who says, “Everything is predestined, therefore I
need make no effort”, is indulging in the wrong and tricky assumption
that he knows what is predestined. The mother returned home and the
Swami remained absorbed in the Self, as before.
The Swami Moves to Virupaksha Cave
Early in 1899, the young ascetic, accompanied by his attendant
Palaniswami took up his residence in the Virupaksha Cave, named after
the thirteenth century saint Virupakshadeva, whose remains lie buried
there.The cave is curiously shaped to resemble the sacred monosyllable
OM, the tomb being in the inner recess. He stayed in this cave for about
seventeen years. [See photograph nos. 3 (i) & (ii) and 4 (i) in the book.]
Here also the young Swami maintained silence for the first few
years. His radiance had already drawn a group of devotees around him
and an ashram had come into being. He occasionally wrote out instructions
and explanations for his disciples, but his silence did not impede their
training because his most effective way of imparting instruction was
through the unspoken word. The penetrating silence became the hallmark
of the young sage, as indicated on pages mentioned under the head
‘Silence of M’ in Index.
Some Early Visitors
Sivaprakasam Pillai (no. 45), an officer in the Revenue
Department and an intellectual, heard of the young Swami residing on
the hill. At his very first visit in 1902, he was captivated by the Swami’s
aura and became his life-long devotee. As the Swami was maintaining
silence he answered fourteen questions of Pillai by writing on a slate.
These were later expanded and arranged in a book form Who am I?
This is perhaps the most widely appreciated prose exposition of the
Maharshi’s philosophy.
Ganapati Muni (no. 91), a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet,
was another devotee who visited the Swami from 1903 onwards and
accepted him as his guru in 1907. It was the grateful Muni who named
the Swami as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, and sang of him as an
incarnation of Subrahmanya, son of Lord Siva. The Maharishi’s answers
to the questions put by the Muni and his disciples, largely constitute the
well-known work Ramana Gita. The most quoted sloka of this book
(II. 2) tells us: In the interior of the Heart-Cave [right hand side of the
chest, not left] Brahman alone shines in the form of atman. Enter deep
into the Heart with a questioning mind, or by diving deep within, or with
breath under check, and abide in the atman.
The earliest Western seeker to come under the Swami’s influence
(in 1911) was F.H. Humphreys (no. 92). When he asked how he could
help the world, Sri Ramana replied, “Help yourself, and you will help the
world. You are not different from the world, nor is the world different
from you.”
The number of devotees increased greatly over a period of time.
The text provides a record of experiences of a large number of such of
those devotees who felt inclined to write or communicate through others.
Consideration for the Down-trodden and Lowly
The text contains many instances of Sri Ramana’s concern for
the underprivileged. One such incident was narrated by Sri Ramana himself
many years after the event to Suri Nagamma: When we were on the hill,
at midday some women of the lowest caste, who carried heavy loads of
grass on their heads, would frantically search for water to quench thirst
and relieve exhaustion. But as they were not permitted to go near the
well, I would wait near the well and pour water in the cup of their hands,
which they drank with great satisfaction. They had to reach home quickly
to look after their children, and used to come to us with hope and
expectation. (Pp. 93-4.)
For more incidents of the Maharshi’s consideration for the
depressed, see Index - ‘M’s concern for the underprivileged.’
Skandasram and Sri Ramanasramam
In 1916, as the number of resident devotees increased, Sri
Ramana shifted to the more commodious Skandasram, named so as it
was built through Herculean efforts of his staunch devotee Kandaswami.
[See photograph no. 4 (ii) in the book.]
After the death of his mother in 1922 (who had come to stay
with her ascetic son six years before and had got nirvana in his hands),
her body was laid to rest at the foot of the Arunachala hill. The present
Ashram, named Sri Ramanasramam, has developed around the mother’s
samadhi called Matrubhuteswara, God in the form of Mother. [See
photograph nos.14 &16 in the book.]
The Ashram, which began with a single thatched shed over the
mother’s samadhi, has developed into a fairly large complex of buildings,
the most important of which, according to many sadhakas, is the Old

Hall where Sri Ramana spent most of his living time for over twenty
years on a couch gifted by a devotee.6 [See photograph no.7 of Sri Ramana
on the couch in the hall.] The shrine over Sri Ramana’s samadhi, which
has a large, bright, and airy meditation hall attached to it, regularly draws
a large number of devotees and visitors throughout the year. [See
photograph no. 15 in the book.]
After Sri Ramana came down to live in the Ashram at the foot
of the hill, he made it clear, though not explicitly, that giving darshan and
communicating with people through silence or brief messages of
deliverance was his sole goal in life. A large number of seekers in various
stages of spiritual evolution came to him and found peace, clarity and
strength of mind in his presence, as detailed in the text.
Some Characteristics and Approach of Sri Ramana
Among the qualities that endeared Sri Ramana to thousands,
was his soulabhya – easy accessiblility. He sacrificed all privacy of
time and sat in the hall day in and day out, and even slept in the presence
of all. He did everything possible to make himself available to the
devotees. With advancing age, the Ashram management thought of some
rest for him after lunch by closing the doors of the hall for two hours.
When Sri Ramana learnt about it, he sat outside the hall after lunch
saying: “To see me, people come from different parts of the world. They
may have some other urgent work. The management is welcome to
close the doors but I am free to meet the visitors outside.” It took a lot of
persuasion to make him relent.7
Equally charming was his sahajata – the utter normality of
behaviour. His manners were so natural that the newcomer immediately
felt at ease with him. By a single glance, a nod of the head or by a simple
enquiry from him, the visitor felt that Sri Ramana was his very own and
that he cared for him. He was extremely humble and unassuming. There
was no pontifical solemnity in his expositions; on the contrary, his speech
was lively. When a devotee asked why his prayers were not being
answered, Sri Ramana laughingly said, “If they were, you might stop
praying.”
Much could be written about the way Sri Ramana practised
samatva – equality. In his presence all were alike: high or low, rich or
poor, man or woman, child or adult, human or animal. He would never
tolerate any consideration or attention being shown to him more than to
any other in the Ashram. Last two paras at p. 74 show how Sri Ramana
opposed any physical concession to himself. If some little excess was
served to him of any dish or any delicacy above the quantity served to
others, he would chide whoever was responsible. Refer Index under the
head ‘Samatva’ for some incidents.
Sri Ramana had compassion for all species of life. His love for
plants gets illustrated at pp.179 and 291. The text contains many episodes
of his love for animals. Reference to these can be found in Index under
the head ‘Animals and birds, M’s attitude towards’.
Sri Ramana taught the Ashram inmates more by example than
precept. This gets illustrated in the last para at p. 204.
Sri Ramana stressed that the path to peace is through service,
and he himself set an example in the daily life at the Ashram. He would
diligently correct manuscripts and proofs, cut vegetables, clean grain,
shell nuts, stitch leaf-plates and assist in cooking, thus exemplifying the
dignity of labour and charm of simplicity. Karma was, for him, not some
special ritualistic action, but the daily tasks that are our common lot.
(Refer last two paras at page 368.)
Sri Ramana’s teachings were mirrored to perfection in his life.
He declared that to abide in the Self was the highest attainment, and it
was in this State Transcendent that one found him at all times. He had
the characteristics of a jivanmukta – emancipated, while yet in the
physical body. According to the Yoga Vasistha, to such a person:
“Pleasures do not delight, pains do not distress. He does not work to get
anything for himself. There is nothing which he has to achieve. He is full
of mercy and magnanimity. He rests unagitated in Supreme Bliss.”
Sri Ramana always laid stress on maunam – the silence, which
is not meant to be negation of activity. It is something very positive. It is
Supreme Peace, immutable like a rock that supports all activities, all
movements. Answering the puzzlement of her Western friends about the
‘inactivity’ of Sri Ramana, Ella Maillart writes: Having identified ourselves
with our bodies, we are convinced that one has got 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 base. (P. 40.)
Sri Ramana never consciously did anything to make an impact
or to carve out a niche for himself in the annals of history. He shunned
all publicity and image building. He had successfully effaced himself.
Paul Brunton, a British journalist, who lived near Sri Ramana for a few
weeks in 1930, writes: “I like him greatly because he is so simple and

modest, when an atmosphere of authentic greatness lies so palpably
around him; and also because he is so totally without any traces of
pretension and he strongly resists every effort to canonize him during
his lifetime.” (P. 18.)
Sri Ramana never gave discourses, much less went on lecture-
tours. After leaving home, he lived continuously for fifty-four years on or
near the Arunachala hill. When people went to him and put questions, he
answered them in his own simple way, devoid of solemn discourses.
Sri Ramana was much against miracles. He once said, “A
magician deludes others by his tricks, but he himself is never deluded. A
siddha who manifests his siddhis is inferior to the magician as he is
deceiving others as much as himself.” The ‘miracles’, which used to
happen from time to time looked like coincidences, and if brought to Sri
Ramana’s attention he would just laugh them away. Sri Ramana would
use the term ‘Automatic Divine Action’ for the ‘miracles’ and he made
the devotee believe that he had no part to play in the matter. For a list of
‘miracles’, refer Index under the head ‘Miracles of M - Episodes’.
Sri Ramana did not found a new cult or religion. He did not insist
on compliance with any established religious mode, ritual or line of conduct.
He emphasized the unity of Being and its accessibility through one’s own
efforts. According to him, the practical path to realization is atma-vichara,
the search for the Self, through constant and deep meditation on the
question Who am I? The approach is neither a religion nor a philosophy.
It entails no belief, no scholarship and no psychological doctrine.
In Sri Ramana’s view the trouble afflicts us due to the mistake
of limiting ourselves to the body. Constant self-questioning helps us to
understand and imbibe the true knowledge about our identity, which is
our Higher Self (atman), residing in the body.
Sri Ramana clarified that Who am I? is not a mantra to be
repeated. The purpose of asking the question is to withdraw the mind
from going outward and diving deep within one’s own Self. The monkey-
mind which is only a bundle of thoughts, would eventually vanish through
persistent and serious meditation on the question Who am I?
Sri Ramana maintained that we become unhappy because we
have failed to appreciate our true nature, which is happiness and which
is inborn in the True Self. The constant urge of all of us to secure happiness
in life is an unconscious search for our True Self.
The Last Days

Towards the end of 1948, a small nodule appeared above the left
elbow of Sri Ramana. Operations were performed but the malignant
tumour appeared again. The disease did not yield to any treatment.The
sage was quite unconcerned and remained supremely indifferent to his
suffering. Entries at no. 98, pp. 253-6 and no.122, pp. 297-8 by the doctors
who attended on Sri Ramana are significant in this regard.
Sri Ramana allowed himself to be operated to satisfy his devotees.
Major Chadwick (no. 42) writes: “The night before the last operation I
went to see Bhagavan and on my knees begged him not to have it. It was
obvious that it could do no good. Each time the tumour had grown bigger
and bigger. I prayed that this extra suffering was useless and that he
would let us be spared of the strain. But he refused, for, as he said, the
doctors had taken so much trouble, it would be shame to disappoint them
now. Bhagavan’s attitude had all along been to let everybody have a
chance; no one should be disappointed.”8
Sri Ramana had compassion for those who grieved over his
‘suffering’ and he sought to comfort them by referring to the basic truth,
the core of his message, that we are not the body. In his unique way he
would ask whether we ever retained the leaf-plate after the meal was
over.
The end came on April 14, 1950 at 8.47 p.m. At that very moment
a bright comet moved slowly across the sky, reached the summit of hill
Arunachala and disappeared high in the sky. The super soul reached its
source.
1. Refer annexure-I, p. 410 regarding Arunachala.

2. An abbreviated version of one of the famous stories from this book is at
annexure-III, p. 412.
3. Incidentally, after leaving Madurai, throughout his life Sri Ramana never
put his signature or name anywhere, not even on his will which was executed
in 1938.
4. Iswara manifested as Arunachala. Refer annexure-I, p. 410.
5. Destiny to be worked out in this life, resulting from the balance sheet of
actions in past lives.
6. Refer p.116, footnote no. 1 for the story of the couch.
7. Refer Index - ‘Soulabhya’ for episodes of accessibility.
8. A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi by Sadhu Arunachala (A.W.
Chadwick ), Sri Ramanasramam, p. 78.
13
REMINISCENCES
The following provides a first-hand account of the

perceptions, experiences and feelings of persons who
had an opportunity of living, serving, interacting, or
just being in the presence of Sri Ramana Maharshi. In
the write-ups below, many speak of the Maharshi in
awed tones, which stir and overwhelm the reader. The
text also provides glimpses of the Maharshi’s divinity
and a peep into his philosophy.
1
Dr. Paul Brunton (1898-1981), a British journalist, attracted by
Indian mysticism first visited India in 1930. Author of eleven
books, he has emphasized the value and importance of the Self
within us. He is generally considered as having introduced
meditation to the West. He once wrote: “Sri Ramana was a spiritual
torch carried to the waiting souls in the West. I was only the
unimportant ‘link-boy’, the humble carrier.” The Paul Brunton
Philosophic Foundation, New York, has posthumously published
his post-1952 writings (the year when his last book The Spiritual
Crisis of Man was published), in 16 volumes. He was awarded a
doctorate in philosophy by the Roosevelt College, USA.
During his first visit, among many saints and yogis, Brunton
also met Sri Ramana. He stayed for a few weeks in an impro-
vised shelter very close to Sri Ramana’s Ashram.The number
of full-time devotees being limited at that time, Brunton had
ample opportunity of observing the Maharshi at close quarters
and interacting with him. He provides a dispassionate, illumi-
nating and intimate account of the Maharshi’s divinity and its
impact in his A Search in Secret India published from London in

1934. In his inimitable way he says:
There is something in this man which holds my attention as steel
filings are held by a magnet. I cannot turn my gaze away from him. I
become aware of a silent, resistless change, which is taking place within
my mind. One by one, the questions which I prepared with such meticulous
accuracy drop away. I know only that a steady river of quietness seems
to be flowing near me; that a great peace is penetrating the inner reaches
of my being, and that my thought-tortured brain is beginning to arrive at
some rest. I perceive with sudden clarity that intellect creates its own
problems and then makes itself miserable trying to solve them. This is
indeed a novel concept to enter the mind of one who has hitherto placed
such high value upon intellect.
I surrender myself to the steadily deepening sense of restfulness.
The passage of time now provokes no irritation, because the chains of
mind-made problems are being broken and thrown away. And then, little
by little, a question takes the field of consciousness. Does this man, the
Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual peace as the flower emanates
fragrance from its petals? I begin to wonder whether by some radioactivity
of the soul, some unknown telepathic process, the stillness which invades
the troubled water of my soul really comes from him.The peace
overwhelms me.
The Maharshi turns and looks down into my face; I, in turn, gaze
expectantly up at him. I become aware of a mysterious change taking
place with great rapidity in my heart and mind. The old motives which
have lured me on begin to desert me. The urgent desires which have sent
my feet hither and thither vanish with incredible swiftness. The dislikes,
misunderstandings, coldness and selfishness which have marked my dealings
with many of my fellows collapse into the abyss of nothingness. An
untellable peace falls upon me and I know that there is nothing
further that I shall ask from life.
The Sage seems to carry something of great moment to me, yet I
cannot easily determine its precise nature. It is intangible, imponderable,
perhaps spiritual. Each time I think of him a peculiar sensation pierces me
and causes my heart to throb with vague but lofty expectations.
I look at the Sage. He sits there on Olympian heights and watches
the panorama of life as one apart. There is a mysterious property in this
man which differentiates him from all others I have met.
He remains mysteriously aloof even when surrounded by his own
Paul Brunton 15
devotees, men who have loved him and lived near him for years. Sometimes
I catch myself wishing that he would be a little more human, a little more
susceptible to what seems so normal to us.
Why is it that under his strange glance I invariably experience a
peculiar expectancy, as though some stupendous revelation will soon be
made to me? This man has freed himself from all problems, and no
woe can touch him.
The Sage seems to speak not as a philosopher, not as a pandit
trying to explain his own doctrine, but rather out of the depth of his
own heart.
I am not religious but I can no more resist the feeling of increasing
awe which begins to grip my mind than a bee can resist a flower in all its
luscious bloom. The [Maharshi’s] hall is becoming pervaded with a subtle,
intangible and indefinable power which affects me deeply. I feel, without
doubt and without hesitation, that the centre of this mysterious power is no
other than the Maharshi himself.
His eyes shine with astonishing brilliance. Strange sensation begins
to arise in me. Those lustrous orbs seem to be peering into the inmost
recesses of my soul. In a peculiar way, I feel aware of everything he can
see in my heart. His mysterious glance penetrates my thoughts, my emotions
and my desires; I am helpless before it.
At first, his disconcerting gaze troubles me; I become vaguely
uneasy. I feel he has perceived pages that belong to a past, which I have
forgotten. He knows it all, I am certain. I am powerless to escape; somehow,
I do not want to, either.
I become aware that he is definitely linking my own mind with
his, that he is provoking my heart into that state of starry calm, which he
seems perpetually to enjoy. In this extraordinary peace, I find a sense
of exaltation and lightness. Time seems to stand still. My heart is
released from its burden of care. Never again, I feel, shall the bitterness
of anger and the melancholy of unsatisfied desire afflict me. My mind is
submerged in that of the Maharshi and wisdom is now at its perihelion.
What is this man’s gaze but a thaumaturgic wand, which evokes a hidden
world of unexpected splendour before my profane eyes?
I have sometimes asked myself why these disciples have been
staying around the Sage for years with few conversations, fewer comforts
and no external activities to attract them. Now I begin to understand –
not by thought but by lightning like illuminations – that through all those
years they have been receiving a deep and silent reward.
Hitherto, everyone in the hall has been hushed to a death-like

stillness. At length, someone quietly rises and passes out. He is followed
by another, and then another, until all have gone. I am alone with the
Maharshi! Never before has this happened. His eyes begin to change;
they narrow down to pinpoints. The effect is curiously like the ‘stopping
down’ in the focus of a camera lens. There comes a tremendous increase
in the intense gleam which shines between the lids, now almost closed.
Suddenly, my body seems to disappear, and we are both out in space! It is
a crucial moment. I hesitate – and decide to break the enchanter’s spell.
Decision brings power and once again I am back in the flesh, back in the
hall. No word passes from him to me. I collect my faculties, look at the
clock, and rise quietly. The hour of departure has arrived. I bow my head
in farewell and depart.
The following relates to Brunton’s second visit and stay near Sri
Ramana, a few months later:
Whatever I am doing I never fail to become gradually aware of
the mysterious atmosphere of the place, of the benign radiation which
steadily percolates into my brain. I enjoy an ineffable tranquility merely
by sitting for a while in the neighbourhood of the Maharshi. By
careful observation and frequent analysis, I arrive in time at the complete
certitude that reciprocal inter-influence arises whenever our presences
neighbour each other. The thing is most suitable. But it is quite unmistakable.
A force greater than my rationalistic mind awes me until it ends by
overwhelming me.
The realisation forces itself through my wonderment that all
my questions are moves in an endless game, the play of thoughts which
possess no limit to their extent; that somewhere within me there is a
well of certitude which can provide me all waters of truth I require;
and that it will be better to cease my questioning and attempt to realise
the tremendous potencies of my own spiritual nature. So I remain silent
and wait.
I am perfectly aware that the sublime realisation which has
suddenly fallen upon me is nothing else than a spreading ripple of telepathic
radiation from this mysterious and imperturbable man.
The Maharshi once told me, “The greatest error of a man is to
think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and
strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires
and thoughts, but not himself.” His words came as an invigorating tonic.
They refresh and inspire me. From another man’s lips, from some lesser
Paul Brunton 17
and feeble soul, I would refuse to accept them at such worth and would
persist in refuting them. But an inward monitor assures me that the Sage
speaks out of the depth of a great and authentic spiritual experience and
not as some theorizing philosopher on the thin stilts of speculation.
Not a few Western minds will inevitably consider that the life of
the Maharshi is a wasted one. But perhaps it may be good for us to have
a few men who are apart from our world of unending activity, and survey
it for us from afar. It may also be that a jungle Sage, with self lying
conquered at his feet, is not inferior to a worldly fool who is blown hither
and thither by every circumstance.
Day after day brings fresh indications of the greatness of
this man. His silence and reserve are habitual. One can easily count
up the number of words he uses in a single day.
I am learning to see that the Maharshi’s way of helping others is
through unobstrusive, silent and steady outpouring of healing vibrations
into troubled souls. Science will one day be required to account for this
mysterious telepathic process.
It is clear that his mere presence provides many with
spiritual assurance, emotional felicity and, most paradoxical of all,
renewed faith in their creed. For the Sage treats all creeds alike, and honours
Jesus no less than Krishna.
During daily meditation in the potent neighbourhood of the Sage, I
have learnt how to carry my thoughts inwards to an ever-deepening point.
Again and again, I become conscious that he is drawing my mind into his
own atmosphere during these periods of quiet repose. And it is at such
times that one begins to understand why the silences of this man are more
significant than his utterances.
There are moments when I feel this power of his so greatly
that I know that he has only to issue the most disturbing command
and I will readily obey it. But the Maharshi is the last person in the
world to place his followers in the chain of servile obedience, and
allows everyone the utmost freedom of action. In this respect he is
quite refreshingly different from most of the teachers and yogis I
have met in India.
The gist of his message is: “Pursue the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’
relentlessly. Analyse your entire personality. Try to find out where the ‘I’
thought begins. Go on with your meditations. Keep turning your attention
within. One day the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will
mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition, let your thinking stop and it will
eventually lead you to the goal.”
I struggle daily with my thoughts and cut away slowly into the
inner recesses of the mind. In the helpful proximity of the Maharshi, my
meditations and self-soliloquies become increasingly less tiring and more
effective. A strong expectancy and a sense of being guided inspire my
constantly repeated efforts.There are strange hours when I am clearly
conscious of the unseen power of the Sage being powerfully impacted on
my mentality, with the result that I penetrate a little deeper still into the
shrouded border land of being, which surrounds the human mind.
I study him intently and gradually come to see in him the child of a
remote past when the discovery of spiritual truth was reckoned of no less
value than is the discovery of a gold mine today. It dawns upon me with
increasing force that, in this quiet and obscure corner of South India, I
have been led to one of the last of India’s spiritual supermen.
The serene figure of this living Sage brings the legendary figure of
this country’s ancient rishis nearer to me. One senses that the most
wonderful part of this man is withheld. His deepest soul, which one
instinctively recognises as being loaded with rich wisdom, eludes one. At
times he still remains curiously aloof, and at other times the kindly benediction
of his interior grace binds me to him with hoops of steel. I learn to submit
to the enigma of his personality, and to accept him as I find him.
I like him greatly because he is so simple and modest, when
an atmosphere of authentic greatness lies so palpably around him;
because he makes no claim to occult powers and hierophantic knowledge
to impress the mystery-loving nature of his countrymen, and also because
he is so totally without any traces of pretension and he strongly resists
every effort to canonize him during his lifetime.
It seems to me that the presence of men like the Maharshi ensures
the continuity down history of a divine message from regions not easily
accessible to us all. It seems to me, further, that one must accept the fact
that such a sage comes to reveal something to us, not to argue anything
with us. At any rate, his teachings make a strong appeal to me.
He brings no supernatural power and demands no blind faith. He
avoids the dark and debatable waters of wizardry, in which so many
promising voyages have ended in shipwreck. He simply puts forward a
way of self-analysis which can be practised irrespective of any ancient or
modern theories and beliefs which one may hold, a way that will finally
lead man to true self-understanding.
Again and again, I am aware that the Maharshi’s mind is imparting
something to my own, though no words may be passing between us.
Paul Brunton 19
Spiritually my life is nearing its peak.

I enter the hall and straight away assume my regular meditation
posture. An intense interiorization of consciousness comes with the closing
of eyes. The Maharshi’s seated form floats in a vivid manner before my
mind’s eye. Then the picture disappears leaving me with nothing more than
a strongly felt sense of his intimate presence.
Tonight I flash swiftly to a pin-point of concentration. Some new
and powerful force comes into dynamic action within my inner world and
bears me inwards with resistless speed. In the next stage, I stand apart
from the intellect, conscious that it is thinking, and watch thoughts with a
weird detachment. The power to think, which has hitherto been a matter
for merely ordinary pride, now becomes a thing from which to escape, for
I perceive with startling clarity that I have been its unconscious captive.
It is strange enough to be able to stand aside and watch the very
action of the brain as though it were someone else’s and to see how thoughts
take their rise and then die, but it is stranger still to realise intuitively that
one is about to penetrate into the mysteries which hide in the innermost
recesses of man’s soul. I feel like some Columbus about to land on an
uncharted continent.
Finally it happens. Thought is extinguished like a snuffed candle.
The mind takes its rise in a transcendental source. I remain perfectly calm
and fully aware of who I am and what is occurring.Yet my sense of
awareness has been drawn out of the narrow confines of the separate
personality; it has turned into something sublimely all embracing. Self still
exists, but it is a changed, radiant self. With it arrives an amazing new
sense of absolute freedom, for thought is like a loom-shuttle which always
is going to and fro, and to be freed from its tyrannical motion is to step out
of prison into the open air.
I find myself outside the rim of world consciousness. The planet,
which has so far harboured me, disappears. I am in the midst of an ocean
of blazing light. The latter, I feel rather than think, is the primeval stuff out
of which worlds are created, the first state of matter. It stretches away into
untellable infinite space, incredibly alive.
I, the new I, rest in the lap of holy bliss. I have drunk the Platonic
Cup of Lethe, so that yesterday’s bitter memories and tomorrow’s anxious
cares have disappeared completely. I have attained a divine liberty and an
almost indescribable felicity. My arms embrace all creation with profound
sympathy, for I understand in the deepest possible way that to know all is
not merely to pardon all, but to love all. My heart is remoulded in rapture.
With the fall of dusk I take my farewells of everyone except

the Maharshi. I feel quietly content because my battle for spiritual
certitude has been won, and because I have won it without sacrificing
my dearly held rationalism for a blind credulity. Yet when the Maharshi
comes to the courtyard with me a little later, my contentment suddenly
deserts me.
This man has strangely conquered me and it deeply affects my
feelings to leave him. He has grappled me to his own soul with unseen
hooks that are harder than steel, although he has sought only to restore a
man to himself, to set him free and not to enslave him. He has taken me
into the benign presence of my spiritual self and helped me, dull Westerner
that I am, to translate a meaningless term into a living and blissful
experience. My adventure in self-metamorphosis is now over.
The following are a few of the many anecdotes recorded in A Search
in Secret India:
(i) Among the strangely diversified company of human beings
who pass through the hermitage, a pariah stumbles into the hall in some
great agony of soul or circumstances and pours out his tribulation at the
Maharshi’s feet. The Sage does not reply, for his silence and reserve are
habitual. Instead he gazes quietly at the suffering man, whose cries
gradually diminish until he leaves the hall two hours later a more serene
and stronger man.
(ii) A cultured Brahmin, college-bred, arrives with questions. One
can never be certain whether the Sage will make a verbal response or
not, for often he is eloquent enough without opening his lips. But
today he is in a communicative mood and a few of his terse phrases,
packed with profound meanings as they usually are, open many vistas of
thought for the visitor.
(iii) A peasant and his family have travelled over some hundred
miles to pay a silent homage to the Sage. He is totally illiterate, knows little
beyond his daily work, his religious rites and ancestral superstitions. He sits
on the floor quietly after having prostrated himself three times. The family
stays for a few hours, hardly speaking, and gaze in reverence at the
Maharshi. It is clear that the Maharshi’s mere presence provides
them with spiritual assurance and emotional felicity.
(iv) A large group of visitors and devotees are in the hall when
someone arrives with the news that a certain man, whose criminal reputation
is a byword in the town, is dead. Immediately, there is some discussion
Paul Brunton 21
about him, and as is the wont of human nature, various people get engaged
in recalling some of his crimes and the more dastardly phases of his
character. When the discussion appears to have ended, the Maharshi opens
his mouth for the first time and quietly observes, “Yes, but he kept himself
very clean, for he bathed two or three times a day!”
Brunton records in his second book The Secret Path:
In the Maharshi I discovered the last remnants of that ‘Mystic
East’ about which most of us often hear, but which few of us ever find. I
met an unusual man who quickly earned my humble veneration. For although
he belonged by tradition to the class of Wise Men of the East, a class
which has largely disappeared from the modern world, he avoided all record
of his existence and disdained efforts to give him publicity.
The world wants its great men to measure their lives by its puny
foot-rule. But no rule has yet been devised which will take their full height,
for such men, if they are really worth their name, derive their greatness, not
from themselves but from another source. And that source stretches far
away into the Infinite. Such sages dwell outwardly apart, keeping alive the
divine secrets, which life and fate have conspired to confide in their care.
The Maharshi interested me much despite the fact that his wisdom
was not of a kind which is easily apparent and despite the strong reserve
which encircled him. He broke his habitual silence only to answer questions
upon such recondite topics as the nature of man’s soul, the mystery of
God, the strange powers which lie unused in the human mind, and so on,
but when he did venture to speak I used to sit enthralled as I listened to his
soft voice and inspiration gleamed in those luminous eyes. Each phrase
that fell from his lips seemed to contain some precious fragment of
essential truth.
In the presence of the Maharshi one felt security and inward
peace. The spiritual radiations that emanated from him were all-
penetrating. I learnt to recognise in his person the sublime truths which
he taught, while I was no less hushed into reverence by his incredibly
sainted atmosphere. He possessed a deific personality which defies
description. I might have taken shorthand notes of the discourse of the
Sage, I might even print the record of his speech; but the most important
part of his utterances, the subtle and silent flavour of spirituality which
emanated from him, can never be reported.
One could not forget that wonderful pregnant smile of his, with its
hint of wisdom and peace won from suffering and experience. He was
the most understanding man I have ever known; you could be

sure always of some word from him that would smooth your way a
little, and that word always verified what your deepest feeling told
you already.
The words of the Maharshi flame out in my memory like
beacon lights. “I pluck golden fruits from rare meetings with wise men”,
wrote trans-Atlantic Emerson in his diary, and it is certain that I plucked
whole basketfuls during my talks with this man. Our best philosophers of
Europe could not hold a candle to him.
Brunton writes in his fourth book A Message from Arunachala:
I found my own good fortune and needed no other, for I
discovered one of the last of India’s spiritual supermen, the
Illuminated Sage of Tiruvannamalai. I ‘sat at his feet’, as the ancient Indian
phrase of pupilship poetically terms it, and thereby learned, through a
dynamic experience, of what divine and deathless stuff man is really made.
What higher fortune than that can we, pitiful mortals, require?
He sat as immobile as a rock in the ocean, cross-legged in
meditation. We foolishly imagine that such a man has failed to put up with
the bustling procession of life; it never occurs to us that he may have far
out-stepped it.
The Maharshi said, “Suffering turns men towards their creator.”
Such simple words – yet what a whole philosophy is congealed within
the phrase. You may think them to be platitudinous, and they would be,
did they not derive from a man who knew what he was talking about
because he ascended to spiritual regions beyond our ken, to
regions where God is.
The following is from The Note Books of Paul Brunton (vol.10):
Ramana Maharshi was one of those few men who make their
appearance on this earth from time to time and who are unique, themselves
alone – not copies of anyone else. Face to face with the Maharshi,
sometimes one felt in the presence of a visitor from another planet, at
other times with a being of another species.
Gazing upon this man, whose viewless eyes are gazing upon
infinity, I thought of Aristotle’s daring advice, “Let us live as if we were
immortal.” Here was one who might not have heard of Aristotle, but who
was following this counsel to the last letter.
The following is from The Silent Power: 1
Paul Brunton 23
(i) A Pure Channel for a Higher Power: Forty years have

passed since I walked into his abode and saw the Maharshi half-reclining,
half-sitting on a couch. After such a long period most memories of the past
become somewhat faded, if they do not lose their existence altogether. But
I can truthfully declare that in this case nothing of the kind has happened.
On the contrary, his face, expression, figure and surroundings are as vivid
now as they were then.What is even more important to me is that – at
least during my daily periods of meditation – the feeling of his radiant
presence is as actual and as immediate today as it was on that first day.
So powerful an impression could not have been made, nor continued
through the numerous vicissitudes of an incarnation which has taken me
around the world, if the Maharshi has been an ordinary yogi. I have met
dozens of yogis, in their Eastern and Western varieties, and many exceptional
persons. Whatever status is assigned to the Maharshi by his followers, my
own position is independent and unbiased. It is based upon our private talks
in those early days when such things were still possible, before fame brought
crowds; upon observations of, and conversation with those who were around
him; upon his historical record; and finally upon my own personal
experiences. Upon all the evidence one fact is incontrovertibly clear
that he was a pure channel for a Higher Power.
No physical phenomenon of an occult kind was ever witnessed
then; nothing at all happened outwardly. But those who were not steeped
too far in materialism to recognise what was happening within him and
within themselves at the time, or those who were not congealed too stiffly
in suspicion or criticism to be passive and sensitive intuitively, felt a distinct
change in the mental atmosphere. It was uplifting and inspiring: for the
time being it pushed them out of their little selves, even if only partially.
(ii) A Spiritual Torch: Since the day when I first found him,
absorbed in the mysterious trance of samadhi, I have travelled in many
lands but always my thoughts turned towards Tiruvannamalai as the
Muhammedan turns his face during prayer towards Mecca. I knew that
somewhere in the wilderness of this world there was a sacred place for
me.
At the Sage’s feet, I picked up a spiritual torch and carried it to
waiting souls in the lands of the West. They welcomed the light with
eagerness. There should be no virtue to be accredited to me for that, for
whatsoever benefit has accrued to Western seekers comes from the torch
which was lit by the Maharshi himself. I was only the unimportant ‘link boy’
the humble carrier. [ See Paul Brunton in photograph no.13 in the book.]
1. An anthology published by Sri Ramanasramam.
2
Sadhu Ekarasa (Dr. G.H. Mees, M.A., LL.D.) was a Dutch scholar
who came to the Maharshi in 1936. For him it was a case of deep
devotion from the very first meeting.
When Kon-Fu-Tse met Wen-Poh-Hsuche-Tse, he did not speak a
word. Then his companion, Tse-Lu, said, “Master, for a long time you have
wished to see Wen-Poh-Hsuche-Tse. Why is it that you don’t speak, now
that you see him?” Kon-Fu-Tse answered, “One only needs to look at
someone like him. There is no need for speaking. One must see a sage in
order to experience him.”
In the presence of the Maharshi, the same thing happened to me
when I saw him for the first time, and during the many years that I visited
him again and again, especially during the three years that I stayed near
him almost without interruption. It is for this same reason I find it ever
difficult to speak or write about the Maharshi, as I am often asked to do.
For a sage who always lives in the realisation, St Dionysius’s words hold
good: “All that you may say about God is untrue, for God is beyond speech
and therefore what you say about God relates to something else.” Therefore,
if in India someone asks me to speak or to write about the Maharshi, I am
inclined to answer that the questioner ought to visit the Maharshi and see
for himself.
Westerners have often asked me, “What exactly does the
Maharshi do?” One should in fact answer, “The daily occupation of the
Sage is to be himself.” Because he really succeeds in doing so, the
Maharshi makes such a great impression on many of his visitors.The
Maharshi effects drastic changes in the lives of many like me. That’s
what he does, and he does so by doing nothing at all. Often ‘the great of
this earth’ feel like small schoolboys while standing before him. The late
Maharaja of Mysore kneeled humbly before him and stood motionless
for a long time with tears in his eyes. He kneeled once more and departed
without a word.
If a man were to do the greatest deed in the world and come and
sit in the presence of Ramana Maharshi he would realise that his deed was
nothing compared to the perpetual deed of Self-realisation of the Sage.
Sadhu Ekarasa 25
If a man were to write the greatest book in the world and come
and lay it as an offering before the Sage he would realise that the Sage
was a greater Book, which is written from day to day, not with the medium
of pen, ink and paper, without intermediation, and even without any
conscious effort, in the inner being of all who care to come and read it.
In the case of other personalities it is always possible to make a
distinction between theory and practice, or between spirituality and intellect
on the one hand and action on the other hand. With the Maharshi no such
distinction exists.
The Maharshi is above the spirit of time. His immortality
stands out from his every word and look. It lives in the inner heart
of all who have had the great privilege to come and sit in his
presence. It is reflected only poorly in the books and articles that have
been written about him. How could it be otherwise? No one can truly
describe God or Truth. Even so, no one can truly describe a Son of God
and an embodiment of Truth.
After having studied the lives and ways of teachings of saints and
sages of the world, it strikes one that Sri Ramana falls into a class of his
own. No one has achieved God-Realisation merely by hearing a name of
God. Sri Ramana received ‘initiation’ by merely hearing the name of
Arunachala, pronounced only for the purpose of conveying information
about a journey.
Sri Ramana claimed his spiritual heritage without even having been
told there was a heritage to claim. He is a Guru in the true sense of the
word – the word means ‘dispeller of darkness’. The Maharshi’s way is as
direct as it is simple. But it is so profound that it fails to reach the
consciousness of many. Many come to him for something definite, or, in
other words, finite. They do not understand that they stand in between the
true Initiation into the Mystery of Being and themselves.
Many times it has happened that visitors and resident disciples
have asked the Maharshi to vouchsafe them initiation, grace, blessings or
spiritual experience, and that he replied, “I am always giving it. If you
cannot comprehend it, what am I to do?”
In contradiction to gurus of a less exalted level, who are inclined
to be aware of their spiritual superiority, Ramana Maharshi considers all
beings to be potential jnanis with God-Reality shining within them, even if
they are not aware of it. Some of his utterances run parallel to that of the
eighth century mystic Hui Neng who said: “The only difference between a
Buddha and the average man is that one realises what the other discards.”
Sri Ramana proclaims that the Divine Heritage is ever there, waiting to be
received; God-Reality is ever present within the Heart of all.
The average man is inclined to pity the Sage, whom he regards as
having foregone the pleasure of life.The Sage, however, pities his
sympathizing fellow human beings, because the latter do not know what
real happiness is.
From the point of view of the restless worldly mind, which delights
in movement and change, an unbroken stay of fifty years in one place
seems to be a tremendous achievement. It is indeed unique. But surely Sri
Ramana has never looked upon it as being in any way remarkable. He has
attained the Great Magnet of the world, the centre of the Heart, and became
as immovable as his Father, Lord Arunachala.
Extracts from his poem:
Heart’s Homage to Sri Ramana
To that incomparable Maharshi, the father and mother of all,

In whom Siva and the Goddess are ever united in Bliss,
To that Sage, whose presence delights the heart,
And whose leela is the wonder of all –
To him be offered mind, heart, body, – all creation!

If future generations will ask what was

The special note of Ramana the Sage,
I shall reply: If any, it is certainty;
The certain safety of a Rock, unmoved,
Unchallenged in a storm-swept sea,
The immovable solidity of a mountain
In an ever-wavering world of doctrines and philosophies,
Yea, truly art thou the Sage of ‘Arunachala’!

Banning Richardson / K. Sundaram Chettiar 27
3
Prof. Banning Richardson, M.A. (Hons.) (Cantab.), A.B. (Princeton),
came to teach English literature at St. Stephens College, Delhi, in
the 1930s. He felt ‘ravished’ by the description of the Maharshi in
A Search in Secret India (no. 1).
In the presence of Sri Ramana Maharshi I felt an inward joy,
which suffused my consciousness, and made thinking seem superfluous.
I had come into touch with spiritualism of the finest type. When I
was in the presence of the Master I was so filled with joy and peace that
the desire to ask questions disappeared.This happened throughout the
brief three days [In May 1937] I stayed at Sri Ramanasramam.
When one comes into the presence of a man who is ‘good’ not
merely because he shuns ‘evil’ but because his love is universal and falls
alike on the just and unjust, then one experiences immediate recognition
of a soul that is not great as the world values greatness, but great when
compared to an absolute standard of values – a precious stone, an emerald
without flaw. It is a difference not merely of quality, but of kind. What
Jesus the Christ taught 2000 years ago that “I am in my Father
and my Father is in me. My Father and I are one” is the same as
He who teaches today at Tiruvannamalai.
4
Justice K. Sundaram Chettiar, B.A., B.L., of Madras High Court
wrote a foreword to the first well-known biography of Sri Ramana
by B.V. Narasimha Swami entitled Self Realization (1931).
The years 1909 and ’10 and the earlier part of 1911, when I was
the District Munsif of Tiruvannamalai, I deem it to be auspicious in my life
for the only reason that I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Sri
Bhagavan.The more I came in contact with him, the greater was my
devotion to him. Sri Bhagavan is a mine of Wisdom. Questions on abstruse
subjects have been answered with clarity and directness, which would not
be possible except for a realized soul or jivanmukta. He sees everything
in himself and himself in everything. Whatever seems to happen in the
world is incapable of affecting his peace, which passeth understanding.

He has gone beyond the pair of opposites and looks at events in the
light of the Absolute. At no time the Sage has done anything on his own
initiative as if he has a particular desire for something, nor he has directed
others to do anything in fulfilment of any purpose. He has all the characteristics
of a sthitaprajna described in the Gita.
His very presence generates an atmosphere of peace which
is felt by devotees visiting him with sincerity and faith. Some of those who
approached him with a few questions in their mind found that the answers
were given anticipating their questions. Some find their doubts cleared
while sitting silently within his aura, without any speech by him.
5
Manu Subedar was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly
in pre-Independence era.
I was alone in the car from Katpadi to Tiruvannamalai and wanted
to go over my questions and revise them, if necessary. As I formulated
each question, I found I knew the answer! So when I went and had the
darshan of the Maharshi, I had really no question to ask.
I presented to the Maharshi the Avadhoota Gita and the
Ashtavakra Gita published by the Sastu Sahitya Mudranalaya Trust,
Ahemadabad, of which I am the chairman, and drew his attention to the
first verse of the Avadhoota Gita, which says: “It is only through the
Grace of God that in men with knowledge is born a desire to experience
cosmic unity, a desire which protects them from the great dangers of
samsara.”
With infinite compassion in his eyes the Maharshi looked at me
and instructed one of the followers to bring a book. This was the Maha
Bhakta Vijayam of Nabhaji. Bhagavan opened the book and began to
read. (I noted with awe that the book opened exactly at the page where he
intended to read.) The Maharshi seemed to relish reading the discourse.
There are teachers who mystify in order to impress the pupil. The
Maharshi, on the contrary, has the direct method. He discloses the truth
and the whole truth in the simplest form in which he has not only formulated
it as a thought, but lived it as an experience.
The look, which the Maharshi gives you, is a question. At least I
Manu Subedar / William S. Spaulding / Grant Duff 29
felt it so. The question is: “I see a unity, but you keep grasping at the
variety. Why don’t you know yourself properly and realise your true self?
You can then march on to the realisation of the unity of self with the Self.”
Nothing is so helpful as the august presence of the Maharshi for those who
seriously intend to progress on the spiritual path.
There is spiritual communication and kindliness in his looks,
eliciting what is best in a person. His presence during the silent
hour acts as a catalyst, enabling us to secure our spiritual yearning.
There is grace and benignity in the way he looks at the devotees as
a mother looks at her children.
6
William S. Spaulding (Jr.) of New York City visited Sri Ramana in
the 1930s.
As I sat in His Presence for the first time, the most powerful
impression was that of what I can only call an almost palpable ‘golden
radiance’, the visual effect of a tremendous spiritual force. There was
an intense and subtle radiation that seems to flow from Him continually –
and once having sensed this, words, questions, techniques of meditation,
etc., seemed to dissolve immediately. The Maharshi also possessed
to a high degree of that quality which is described as ‘divine
indifference’, attributed to certain saints of the Christian Church.
This must not be taken to mean what is generally associated with the
term ‘indifference’, but rather as a beneficent, unfettered out-pouring of
healing radiations of a Realised Being.
7
Grant Duff (Douglas Ainslie), a scholar and a senior government
official in Madras Presidency in the 1930s, was nephew of Sir
Mountstaurt Grant Duff, Governor of Madras in the 1880s.
I do not know what happened when I saw the Maharshi for the
first time, but the moment he looked at me, I felt he was the Truth
and the Light. There could be no doubt about it, and all the doubts and
speculations I had accumulated during the past many years disappeared in
the Radiance of the Holy One. Though my visits to the Ashram were brief,
I felt that every moment I was there I was building up within me what
could never be destroyed.
There it did not take me long to see that I was in direct
contact with one who has passed beyond the boundaries of the
senses and was indeed already merged in the Absolute of his true
Self, though manifesting here for our benefit for a few brief years. [When
asked how he got such an impression, he frankly confessed] I cannot
reply; as I should to one who asked me how I saw the sun on looking out of
the window, by saying that I did so by the use of my eyes and incidentally
of all other senses collaborating. I do not need any algebraic or other proof
of the existence of the sun. I do not need any other proof of the divinity of
Ramana Maharshi.
Should those who have it in their power to visit the Ashram delay,
they will have only themselves to blame in future lives. Never perhaps in
world history was the Supreme Truth – Reality, Sat – placed within
such easy reach of so vast a multitude. Here and now through no
special merit of our own, we may approach Reality. The sole difficulty is
that of paying for the journey1 but the reward is Knowledge of the Self.
The Maharshi has extraordinary insight into other beings. He sees
and knows everything about all those who come before him. The Maharshi
has particularly appealed to me because of his extreme politeness
and gentleness. He is gentle to a degree that surpasses gentleness.
My visit to the Sage of Arunachala has been the greatest event in my life.
With Sri Ramana of Arunachala
I’ve wandered far: Yes I have been

From land to land to land:
Sages I’ve seen, great kings and queens
The lovely, wise and grand.
But only there – at the Asramam
By Arunachalam –
Have I known that joy without alloy,
I am! I am! I am!

Dilip Kumar Roy 31
1. This was written from London in 1935. Refer ‘Introduction’ to Sri Ramana Gita
published by Sri Ramanasramam.
8
Dilip Kumar Roy of Sri Aurobindo Ashram was a well-known
personality of his time and has authored many books. He was a
bhakta and a musician. Sri Ramana’s famous quote, “Bhakti is
jnanamata”(the mother of jnana) was in reply to his query
whether Sri Ramana advocated jnana and disparaged bhakti.
I first heard of Ramana Maharshi when I was a member of the
Ashram of Sri Aurobindo. I asked Sri Aurobindo about the Maharshi and
he wrote back that he was a yogi of remarkable strength and attainments
and that his tapasya had won ‘glory for India.’ On another occasion he
characterised him as a ‘Hercules among the yogis.’ So I longed to pay
a visit to Sri Ramanasramam.
When I arrived at the Ashram, I felt a deep malaise. How could I
hope to get peace and inspiration from the Maharshi if I had failed to get it
at the feet of my own Guru, who was surely no less great? Yet I felt
sincerely that I had done well in coming to seek inspiration from the great
yogi who was venerated by spiritual aspirants of every category.
I entered the hall of the great sage, where he has been living a
singular life, blessing all, but belonging to none, interested in everything but
attached to nothing. He gave the impression of Siva, the great God of
compassion, living a blissful, free and open life, with no walls of ego to
cabin the summit vision. What I saw impressed me deeply, though I find it
far from easy to portray what I saw or rather experienced. Here was a
man who lived like a god, supremely indifferent to all that we worldlings
clamour for without cease. Dressed in a bare koupin (loincloth) he yet sat
ensconced in grandeur of plenary peace and egoless bliss which we could
but speculate upon, yet never fathom.
I touched his feet and then, without a word, sat down near him
on the floor and meditated, my heart heaving with a strange exaltation
which deepened by and by into an ineffable peace and bliss which lasted
for hours and hours. Words seem utterly pale and banal the moment you
want to describe an authentic spiritual experience, which is vivid, throbbing
and intense.
Later, as I reclined, bathed in peace, in an easy chair under the

stars at which I gazed in an ecstasy of tears, I felt deeply grateful towards
the Maharshi. I recalled a pregnant saying of his: “Just be. All is in you,
only a veil stands in between. You have only to rend the veil and then, well
just be.” I had found this favourite remark of his rather cryptic till now. But
at this moment I understood for the first time and wrote a poem in homage
to the Maharshi.
The Maharshi’s self-obliviousness was enchanting for me.
Greatness sat easily on him as beauty on a sunset cloud, but with a
devastating effect. All our ideas as to how the great should act seem to
be dismissed by him with a smile of simple disavowal. I saw with my own
eyes day after day during my five-day stay at the Ashram of this unique
sage, the like of whom I am sure is not to be met within this vast world.
I have never in my life of varied experience and wide
travelling met a man so utterly indescribable and yet so profoundly
moving. I cannot say why he moved me to my depths with eyes where no
soft light of emotion presided, and yet it bathed me when I met his gaze
with a peace that I find as unaccountable as it was delectable.
The Maharshi has not the slightest use for pretentiousness
and self-importance. He is for no trappings either of speech or
learning.
I saw indeed a man, who in his exterior was anything but distinguished,
far less handsome or captivating, and yet – how shall I put it – he was so
compelling and so disarming! I shall never forget how deeply stirred I was
when I saw his austere yet kind face in the light of electric lamps. The peace
I felt reminded me of the startled, though unvoiced query, of Paul Brunton
[No. 1]: “Does this man, the Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual
peace as the flower emanates fragrance from its petals?”
I sang songs more than once in his presence. And everytime I
was ravished by his kind glance and bewitching smile. I realised for the
first time what is really meant by the word ‘sacred’.
To Sri Ramana Maharshi
O Son of Dawn! Who only knowest the Sun,

And through His eyes of Light see’st all that lies
Revealed – a flawless Plentitude which none
But Sun’s own children ever might surmise!
B. Sanjiva Rao 33
For only the chosen few so far have won

The Truth that shines beyond world’s wounds and cries;
Who see Thee, throned in the high dominion
Of Self’s invulnerable Verities,
Enjoy a glimpse of Bliss of the Beyond.
Thou singest: ‘Nay, ‘tis here’ – yet without Thy
Compassion’s pledge – how few would understand?
Homage to Thee, O minstrel of Clarity!

9
B. Sanjiva Rao, B.A. (Cantab.), belonged to the pre-Independence
Indian Educational Service.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi is a strange figure – one of the

strangest and yet one of the most fascinating and striking personalities of
all times. As a matter of fact he belongs not to any age, but to all
ages, not to time but to eternity.
The Maharshi has renounced as valueless all that the
modern world values most. He has no use for money; he is no
respecter of rank and position. His detachment is as complete as it
is perfect. Nothing seems to possess the power to disturb his
superpoise, his marvellous tranquility and peace. Tragedy does not
move him in a personal way. Pilgrims who come to witness the yearly
festival of lighting of the Beacon on the top of the Hill [Refer annexure -
II, p.355.] and worship it as the symbol of Siva, instinctively recognise the
presence of that same power in the Sage and give to him the same worship.
There is little doubt that an ageless Wisdom, as old as the Heart of the Hill
shines through those wonderful eyes which look with such perfect tranquility
and yet such deep compassion upon the suffering world.
The Maharshi is a living proof of the ancient advaitic thought.
He demonstrates the reality of Self-transcendence. He states that the
Ego-less state is the natural, the real state, that the Ego-state is the
unnatural and the false state. In the Ego-less condition, the true ‘I’ stands
apart from the apparent reaction of the mind. The Sage watches the
movements of the mind with the same objective detachment and
impartiality as the scientific investigator of a physical phenomenon. The

immediate effect of such self-scrutiny is quietening and stilling of the mind.
The Maharshi represents a very perfect instance of the
Ego-less state. He speaks little and only when he finds it necessary
to do so. Silence is to him the most powerful expression of Being,
which speech only hinders. He uses the Power of this Silence in a
most effective fashion. When any visitor presents him with a problem
for solution, he vouchsafes no answer but retires in the depths of his own
being. He becomes the embodiment of the very essence of Silence, and
in that tranquil quietness, the visitor finds his mind becoming still under an
overpowering radiation from the sage. In that stillness, the problem
dissolves and the visitor leaves the august presence marvelling what
mysterious power has come to his aid.
The Ego is the atom of the psychic world. If the disintegration of
the atom has given us so much power, what may not be accomplished by
the annihilation of this ego-self? The Sage of Tiruvannamalai can answer
this question. He himself is the living answer.
10
Justice N. Chandrasekhara Aiyar was High Court Judge at Madras.
I paid my homage to the sage only twice, and was struck by his
large luminous eyes, through which the very soul peeps into us, as it were.1
When he fixes his keen gaze on us, it looks as though he is
seeing the inner clockwork of a mechanism in a transparent case;
and you get the feeling that a mild current of grace is flowing into
you from him.
He is a veritable storehouse of spiritual energy and wisdom.
He radiates shanti or Peace, and those who come into contact with him
feel a subtle, pervasive and godly influence greatly spreading over them.
Such men belong to a superlative category of their own. He speaks
very little, but when he does speak his words roll out slowly, with deliberate
and telling effect. His silence is however more eloquent than his
speech. The tremor of his head is suggestive of the famous Upanishadic
teaching - not this, not this.
Perfect detachment, indifference to pain and pleasure, absolute
renunciation, true mental equipoise are hallmarks of the Indian rishis. Sri
Ramana belongs to this great hierarchy of Seers.
N. Chandrasekhara Aiyar / Eleanor Pauline Noye 35
To be in his presence is by itself a stirring experience in

the elevation of the soul; to receive a few words of counsel from
him is a rare blessing; to be the recipient of his benediction is to be
assured of a special fortune.
1. Refer Paul Brunton (no. 1): ‘In so far as the human eyes can mirror divine
power, it is a fact that the Sage’s do that.’ A Search in Secret India.
11
Eleanor Pauline Noye of California visited the Ashram twice in 1940
and stayed for about ten months.
My heart throbbed with expectation as I was taken to the
hall. As I entered, I felt the atmosphere filled with Sri Bhagavan’s
Purity and Blessedness. One feels a breath of the Divine in the Sage’s
presence. When He smiled it was as though the gates of Heaven
were thrown open. I have never seen eyes more alight with
Divine Illumination – they shine like stars. His look of Love and
Compassion was a benediction that went straight to my heart. I was
immediately drawn to Him. One feels such an uplifting influence in
His saintly presence and cannot help but sense His extraordinary
spirituality.
It is not necessary for Him to talk, His silent influence of love and
light is more potent than words could ever be. I do not think there is another
like Him on earth today. To see Him is to love Him. As I looked upon Sri
Bhagavan’s serene face and into His eyes which beamed with mercy, my
soul was stirred. He knew how much I needed Him, while He looked
straight into my heart. Everyone who comes to Him is blessed; the inner
peace which is His is radiated to all.
I had not slept well for years, although I had been taking medicine.
I said nothing to Sri Bhagavan about this. The amazing thing was that I
slept soundly the first night and thereafter without taking any medicine. I
received ‘the Medicine of all medicines’, the unfailing grace of the Lord.
I arose next morning, feeling refreshed, as though I were born anew.
Soon after, as I was standing by the gate one afternoon, Sri Bhagavan
stopped while on His way to the hill and asked me, “If I had more peace.”
His loving solicitude made me feel quite at home; and when He smiled
my joy knew no bounds.
When I left America, I longed for peace. Here at the feet of the
Lord of Love, peace and happiness garlanded me and enriched my
being. I know that Bhagavan led me to this heaven of rest. Mere words
can never express the peace and joy felt in His Presence; it must be
experienced. There one truly has a glimpse of the Eternal. The most
Blessed experience of my life was my stay at the feet of Bhagavan
Sri Ramana Maharshi.
The Ashram is so primitive, but therein lies its charm. It is truly the
Holy-land. The air is permeated with His peace and love. On full moon
night it is especially inspiring to go round the hill. In this deep silence and
quietude one readily hears the voice of God.
I reluctantly made plans to leave the place. I had grown to love it
and was very sad during those last days. Sri Bhagavan said, “I will always
be with you, wherever you go.”
When the last day arrived, I could not stop crying. In the
afternoon when I sat before Sri Bhagavan He smiled and said, “She
has been crying all day; she does not want to leave me!” Later I went
to Him for His blessings. The pain of parting was almost more than I
could bear; with tears in my eyes I knelt with deepest reverence and
devotion before my beloved Master. May He always be my Father,
Mother and God; and may I always be His child, and whatever I do,
may it be in His name.
She wrote the following after the Maharshi’s mahanirvana:

What tribute can a candle pay to the sun? What we best conceive,
we fail to speak. Words cannot express the infinite love and tenderness
we experienced during those days beside him. He seemed to clasp us to
his bosom as a mother clasps her child. As we beheld his utter submission,
one could not help but think of Lord Jesus before the crucifixion. Sri
Bhagavan treated his body as something apart from him. As the body
grew weaker his face became more radiant, his eyes shone like two stars.
He was ever abiding in the Self. A few days before he passed away, he
remarked, “They say I am dying, but I shall be more alive than before.”
Now he is all pervading.
Internationally renowned psychologist Dr. C.G. Jung of Zurich
has said, “What we find in the life and teachings of Sri Ramana is the
purest of India with its breadth of world liberated and liberating humanity,
it is a chant of the millenniums.”
K.S. Venkataramani / C. Kunhan Raja 37
12
K.S.Venkataramani, M.A., B.L., was Adviser to the former
Alwar State (Rajasthan).
Truth or Reality is indescribable, and words obscure more and
reveal less. Words take us nowhere in Self-realisation. Therefore, nothing
like an immersion in Sri Bhagavan’s immediate presence.
His presence kindles your swanubhava and sets you on the
immortal path of Self-enquiry. His silence ambushes your hundred doubts
of the mind in his presence.
Sri Bhagavan is an ocean of tranquility. There is Peace in
his presence that passeth all comprehension. He greets you and
clasps you not by the monkey-hand of the mind, but by the invisible
divine feelers of his heart. He touches you by a fourth-dimensional
touch: the touch of the Master that detaches the mind from the
fetters of its own dear ego-world.
How infinite is the Grace of Sri Bhagavan, but how little we profit
by it! He rolls on sublimely like a deep river in flood, unmindful of the
wastefulness and the ignorance of the human dwellers on the banks. There
is an elemental sublimity about Sri Bhagavan like that of the winds and the
waves, the sun and the stars.
Sri Bhagavan’s sovereign sadhana for Self-realisation is ‘Self-
enquiry’. It requires no asana or yogic ritual, but a strenuous turning of the
mind inward. It is the shortest though the most rugged short cut to attain
the sublimation of the mind. It is a process that makes the mind first fatigued,
annoyed and churlish. It may set free at first only dense smoke and no
spark, like green fuel on fire. But if you persist long enough, you will be
surely rewarded with the flame of illumination, smokeless and glowing.
13
Dr. C. Kunhan Raja was Director of Adyar Library, Theosophical
Society, Madras.
While I was in the Hall during the one day I was in the Ashram, I
took my seat along with others. I sat for hours together both in the forenoon
and in the afternoon. Except for the first few words of greetings and my
reply thereto, I did not talk at all. Though there was no actual talk between
us, there was an unbroken communion.
What produced on me a great impression is the repose,
the unruffled calmness that prevailed in the place as a result of the
presence of the Maharshi. He seldom spoke. There was always a
look of serene joy in his face; sometimes it glowed up into a lustre
of bliss; at times I noticed that he rose into a state of samadhi or
trance. But that look of blissful peace was always there. I cannot say
he was unaware of his surroundings; indeed, he was always in the fullness
of unbroken awareness, but the surroundings made no fluctuations in him.
When people prostrated themselves before him or when they offered
presents, there was the same look on his face. The mode of salutation and
the mode of approach made no difference to him. To him, it was one,
continuous state of serene peace and joy – ananda.
While he appears quite unconcerned with things around him, he
was not only attentive but also alert in correcting pronunciation in the
recitation of Tamil verses.
The very fact that the Maharshi makes enquiries about the visitors,
looks into his correspondence, pays attention to the cleanliness and tidiness
of his environment, keeps certain programmes in his daily routine and sticks
to them with punctuality, shows that to him this physical world is an integral
part of the Reality.
The Maharshi is a linguist, knowing, besides his Tamil in which he
is a great author and poet, English, Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam. He
spoke the three South Indian languages with perfect ease.
It was a great privilege for me to visit the Ashram. Till now I had
only read about the Maharshis in the puranas. The presence of a Maharshi
in this world at a time when there is utter anarchy in science, must be an eye-
opener for the scientists, in that they will think of expanding the scope of
science so as to include the truth of the scientist himself, instead of confining
science to what the scientist is aware of as external, objective reality.1
1. Refer Paul Brunton: “The most astounding discoveries will come when our
scientists turn away for a while from metal and stone and electricity to examine
and explore the nature of self within the laboratory of man. Scientists already
know that the real seeing agent in sight is not the eye but the mind that uses that
organ. They have yet to discover what it is that works the mind. And when they
do that they will come into contact with the real Self of man, the being out of
whom both mind and body derive their existence and maintain their lives.” A
Message from Arunachala (1936).
Madan Mohan Varma 39
14
Madan Mohan Varma, Registrar, University of Rajputana was later
Chairman, Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Jaipur.
For fifty years the Purusha [God] has chosen for the benefit of
humanity, to keep the mortal frame known as Ramana, radiating through
it to all who can see, hear and ‘feel’ the LIFE sustaining the frame.
Humanity reaches its high watermark in such a life, so indeed such a
life is a blessing to humanity.
Shaken by a personal bereavement, the reaction of which at
once laid bare the hollowness of the writer’s previous religious studies
and pretensions spanning over 25 years, and epitomised his deluded
intellect, the writer dragged himself over a distance of 2,000 miles to
Tiruvannamalai.Five days at the Sage’s Ashram, but no miracle.The writer
came back somewhat soothed but also somewhat disappointed. He had
hurled scores of ‘questions’ on religious matters at the Maharshi. But he
was indifferent. Only when the writer sought the permission to leave –
with sorrow still darkening his heart – he smiled a gracious blessing which
is still fresh in the writer’s memory, a blessing which seemed to arise
from the secret recesses of the Heart, and the like of which he had never
received before from any mortal.
The writer had occasion to meet many a great man in the
past, to listen to their orations, to read their teachings and to follow
their instructions. Often he was inspired and uplifted. But like the sea
wave it all appeared to recede as time passed. But this time, O
Maharshi! What ‘Time Bomb’ you stole into my being which has
since, as if from beneath, been mining many a fond castle of ego.
Even though the outer life remains the same as ever, a plaything of
gunas, the ship of life finds its course changed, all unknown. And
while all the old bonds are visible in their majesty as before, the gold
fetters somehow seem to be losing their ‘gold’. From ‘outside’ you
pushed me ‘inside’. You have blessed me with your contact and
removed many a cobweb of the deluded intellect, and pulled me
from the ‘circumference’ to the ‘center’. A tribute? You need no
tribute from me. And what tribute can a poor candle pay to the
sun?
15
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 having
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 realised 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 centre 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 being obliged to seek a solution along alleys most of
which become blind.
The Sage of the Vedanta symbolises a link between the
unknowable ultimate and man. The Sage relies on actionless activity
and carries on wordless teaching.
Ella Maillart / Swami Siddheswarananda 41
16
Swami Siddheswarananda, an erudite scholar of Vedanta was Head,
Ramakrishna Mission, Paris.
In an article, Prof. M.Lacombe of the University of Paris wrote
about the Maharshi as follows: “His person sheds a force consisting of
intelligence and mastery of the Self. A flashing eye, intense and fixed without
hardness, Olympian softness of gesture, slender and delicate in an immobile
body, he is considered by excellent judges to be a very authentic yogi to
have reached the highest Realisation.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi expounds a system of thought and philosophy
of life which incarnates the essence of Vedantic teachings.The Maharshi
discovered Truth; he found it of his own accord, without any exterior help.
He had the direct experience of the Self. It is called aparokshanubhuti.
It is distinct from all knowledge obtained by intellectual effort. He who has
this direct experience of the Self is considered to be liberated even while
he is still alive. He is called jivanmukta.The existence of such
individuals, who are living incarnations of the Truth, renders the
Truth demonstrable. The Vedantic realisation of these great beings gives
in effect the possibility of a practical application, and their realisations raise
the level of human consciousness.
The Maharshi is a tattva jnani and the field of his search and
experience is much greater than that of a mystic. The Sage transcends the
limits of the three gunas.
Whoever has occasion to examine at first-hand the Maharshi, knows
full well that he is neither an ‘extrovert’ nor an ‘introvert’. He is the most
normal human that one can ever find. He is in effect a sthitaprajna, the
man whose intelligence is solidly founded. I have seen him apparently plunged
in himself, but when someone at the end of the hall made a mistake in the
recitation of certain Tamil verses, the Maharshi opened his eyes, corrected
the mistake, then again closed his eyes and returned to his former state.
When I saw him I found in him the perfect example of the
description which Sri Sankaracharya gives in his Vivekachudamani,
when he explains what characterises a jivanmukta. According to verse
429: He who even when his mind is merged in Brahman, is nevertheless
entirely awake, but is at the same time free from the characteristics of the
waking state and whose realisation is free from all desires, should be
considered a man liberated while still alive.
At my request, the Maharshi recited certain lines from the
composition of the Saint Manikyavachakar where the author spoke of the
condition of the soul melted in love; hardly had the Maharshi pronounced a
few lines when there was a brilliance in his face. He who rarely expresses
his inner emotion in any outward form, could not restrain a few silent tears.
A slanting ray of the morning sun from the hillside made the scene still
more vivid. A peace that passeth all understanding pervaded the whole
atmosphere. For more than an hour there was perfect silence. It looked as
if one of the fresco paintings of Ajanta had come to life.
The Maharshi can be best described in the words of the Gita:
One who is satisfied in the Self by the Self (II. 55); the self-controlled one
(XII. 14); one with firm determination (XII. 14); the desireless one (XII.
16); one who has renounced all enterprise (XII.16); content with anything
(XII.19); sitting like one unconcerned (XIV. 23). Further, he is the man
who revels here and now in the Self alone, and in the Self alone is content
– for him there is no work which he must do (III. 17); he who is inwardly
happy, revels within, and who likewise becomes the Light within, that yogi
becomes the Brahman and realises the transcendental Bliss of the
Brahman (V. 24).
Based on the commentary of Sankara on the 89th Karika of the
4th chapter of Mandukya Karikas, the Maharshi is Mahadhi, or the
man of the highest intellect, as he has understood that which
transcends all human experiences. His omniscience is constant
and remains undiminished.
He is the person with no tendency at all to proselytise. He has
no mission to achieve. According to Sankara in the Nirvanashtaka, he
alone can say, “I have no death nor fear, no distinction of rank or class.
I have no father, no mother, no friend, no master, no disciple; I am
Absolute Knowledge and Bliss. I am the all-pervading Self, I am the
all-pervading Self.”
Like the great fire which burns on the Hill Arunachala,1 the
Maharshi is a veritable lighthouse for those who wish to find in
modern India the revivifying effects of the teachings of Upanishads
consecrated by time.
1. Refer annexure-II, p. 411.

T.M. Krishnaswami Aiyar / K.S. Ramaswami Sastri 43
17
T.M. Krishnaswami Aiyar, B.A., B.L., was Chief Justice of the
former Travancore State (Kerala).
I first saw the slim figure of a yogi who seemed to be the flame of
a candle. The candle has now grown into Sri Ramanasramam. The flame
is still there as it was. The paradox is that the flame feeds the candle and
not the candle the flame.
Bhagavan Ramana is a remarkable personality. He has now
become an expanding atmosphere. The Ashram cannot interest those who
have not learnt to seek the treasures of man’s inner consciousness, or to
catch the message of silence. For him who yearns to look without, Bhagavan
Ramana will show the world within.
Bhagavan Ramana has frequently told the seekers after truth that
if one learns about oneself as every being the ‘I’ of itself, one knows
oneself as well as the world. It must mean the illumination of the spirit and
its upheaval.
The message of peace and love, of meditation and realisation, and
of service and universalism has a great value in setting humanity on a
higher plane. Sri Ramanasramam is an oasis in the desert of the
modern world. It is the life-spring of love and life.
18
K.S. Ramaswami Sastri, B.A., B.L., was Chief Justice of the
former Pudukottah State (Tamil Nadu).
I have gone to the Maharshi often during these forty years and
more [written in 1946]. I have seen him when he was in a small cave up
the hillside absorbed in mysterious and unbroken silence. I have also seen
him when he came down the hillside. I used to ply him with questions about
the soul and he used to smile and give brief, bright, blessed replies dispelling
doubt.The world-intoxicated mind became subdued, calm and
purified in the holy atmosphere of the Sage.
When we sat before him, time rolled on while we were oblivious
of its course. Each felt a sense of inner release and was happy as a bird
sailing through the vast expanse of the blue sky. The inner Fullmoon of
Divine Rapture rose in the sky of the hearts of all. Then came to my
mind the great passage in Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis about Christ:
“Indeed, that is the charm about Christ; when all is said, He is just like a
work of art. He does not really teach one anything, but by being brought
into His presence one becomes something.” I felt that I was predestined
to the Sage’s presence and went into the stillness of the night, moving
away from him physically but feeling drawn nearer to him in spirit like a
steamer borne against the wind.
The Maharshi lived in unbroken communion with the Self and
became sthitaprajna (the man of steadfast wisdom). The Maharshi’s
religion is the most universal of all faiths: Change your mentality,
why change the environment and run into a forest? Attain self-control,
self-knowledge and self-reverence. Atma-siddhi is the highest siddhi.The
Maharshi’s Gospel of Self-enquiry is the Upanishadic gospel. It sublimates
and merges the mind or ego in the Self.
19
Dr. K.C.Varadachari, M.A., Ph.D., was a scholar based inTirupati.
Sri Ramana Maharshi opens up a dawn in the spiritual under-

standing of the modern day. We enjoy the perfume of his presence, but
we cannot obviously know to which infinite stretches of space the perfume
is being carried.
In April 1937, I had the good fortune of beholding him face to
face. This darshan of the Sage is an experience in itself. It is not
capable of being described. So very casual yet pregnant, so very
unobstrusive yet deeply significant, pleasant, deeply penetrating
and inspiring somewhere in the depth.
Sri Ramana’s consciousness illumined with tremendous power of
discrimination proceeds to find out the nature of the Self, that which all of
us call the ‘I’, its origin, so to speak. ‘Who am I?’ is the fundamental
question posed by Sri Ramana. This question is comparable to Kant’s1
famous question: ‘How is experience possible?’ Instead of walking down
the corridor to the ‘phenomenal’ being like Kant, Sri Ramana ascended up
the ‘noumenal’ being [which in Kantian philosophy is a thing in itself,
independent of sensory or intellectual perception.]
K.C. Varadachari / Giridhari Lal 45
Sri Ramana brings back to mankind the Reality of the ancient

seers, rishis. He reveals the Himalayan possibilities of peace - soul-peace,
that annihilates all strife, and of the perennial life that tolerates no distrust
or disruption.
The life of Sri Ramana bears witness to the ever-abiding reality of
the teachings of the Vedic seers, and continues uninterrupted the spiritual
tradition of the sanatana philosophy. May Sri Ramana be with us forever
and ever more!
1. A well-known German philosopher.
20
Giridhari Lal was a resident of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondi-
cherry in the 1940s.
Day by Day with Bhagavan by Devaraja Mudaliar (no. 35) has the
following entry dated March 18, 1946:
In response to Giridhari Lal’s question, “When the kali yuga,
which consists of so many thousand years, would end?” Bhagavan said: I
don’t consider time real. So I take no interest in such matters. We know
nothing about the past or the yugas which were in the past. Nor do we
know about the future. But we know the present exists. Let us know about
it first. Then doubts will cease. Time and space always change, but there is
something which is eternal and changeless. For example, the world and
time, past or future, nothing exists for us in sleep. But we exist. Let us try
to find out that which is changeless and which always exists. How will it
benefit us to know that the kali yuga started in such and such year and
that it would end so many years from now?
Regarding the devotee’s query as to why the puranas give the
exact duration of each yuga, Bhagavan replied: The immensity of the
periods of time assigned to each yuga may be a mere device to draw
man’s attention to the fact that even if he lived upto hundred years, his life
is such a trifling, insignificant fraction of a yuga. Therefore, he should take
a proper view of his humble place in the entire scheme and not go about
with a swollen head, deeming himself as of great importance. Instead of
saying, What is man’s life compared to eternity? They have taught him
to consider how short his span is.
Sri Maharshi – The Alchemist

What Maharshi knew at seventeen, we don’t know at seventy. Why?
Ah! We lack the fire; our hearts are cold and our heads are hard.
Alas! What shall we do?
Go to Maharshi? Yea; He’ll lend us fire, warm our hearts – now cold –
And turn the stones in us into Gold.
That is Maharshi, the Alchemist.

21
Prof. B.L.Atreya, M.A., D.Litt., was Head, Dept. of Philosophy
and Psychology, Benaras Hindu University.
I had the privilege of being at the Ashram of Ramana Maharshi
for a short time in March 1940. He made a deep impression on my mind, a
mind that has been moulded by a study of scientific and philosophic writings
of the East as well as of the West. The greatest peculiarity of Ramana
Maharshi’s life is that although he has moulded and perfected his personality
on the lines of Advaita Vedanta, a purely Indian way of Self-realization, he
is highly appreciated and resorted to by the Western seekers and by those
Indians who have been educated on Western lines.
Ramana Maharshi’s greatness is deeply founded. It is based on
his actual living by the creed of the Advaita Vedanta, which holds that the
reality is one without a second, that everything in this universe is but one
Reality, which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. True to his creed, he
regards nothing alien, none as other, no event as undesirable. For him the
ideal is the real and the real is the ideal. He has no other relation with any
body but that of love. Love, affection, kindness, mercy etc., which are
expressions of one and the same thing, and the feeling of unity with all,
ever flow from him. Jnana is like akasha [the sky]. The supreme Self
which is to be known through sadhana is like the ether. The various objects
we see in the world as well as the souls are also like the ether. Therefore,
who is to know which? What is to be known by what? The supreme
realization is that there is no plurality. True knowledge is ‘distinction-less’.
B.L. Atreya / Oliver Lacombe / Syed M. Hafiz 47
That knowledge is the Self, the light divine. That knowledge is Bhagavan
Ramana.This is the secret of the Maharshi’s unique greatness and
consequent popularity. The whole of humanity owes its homage to
this great Sage amidst us.
22
Oliver Lacombe was L’Attache Culturel, Consulat General de
France, Calcutta.
The visit I had the honour to pay in May 1936 to Tiruvannamalai
was only a short one. It was long enough, anyhow, to impress with a strong
feeling that I had met there, for a few moments, with a genuine vidvan,
an exceptionally true representative of Hindu spirituality.
Sri Ramana Maharshi has gone through a series of psycho-
spiritual experiences that are as old as the Upanishads. The teaching
of the Sage Ramana, by its aphoristic character, as well as because
of the intense personality of its author, enhances to the highest pitch
the whole Advaitic tradition. The Maharshi’s method is comprised
within the simple interrogation: ‘Who am I?’ With him, three words
only are enough to sum up the long traditional description of the way
of liberation. As mentioned by the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, “Lo,
verily, it is the self that should be seen, that should be harkened to,
that should be thought on, that should be pondered on …”
Ulladu Narpadu’s1 startling simile of the diver expresses most
vividly his method: As one who dives, seeking to find something that has
fallen into water.
1. Reality in Forty Verses written by Sri Ramana.
23
Prof. Syed M. Hafiz, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt., was Head, Dept. of
Philosophy, Allahabad University.
Unlike all the saints, sages and prophets, the Maharshi is the only
sage who has realised the Truth Eternal that keeps the flame of spiritual
wisdom alive. He is the perennial source of inspiration to the earnest aspirant

on the path of spiritual development. Without him the world would not have
had the light of the spirit to dispel the darkness of material existence. Sri
Ramana embodies in him the Truth that is beyond time and space. He
stands supreme in the realm of spiritual attainment and is the true
benefactor of the whole of the human race. In him we see that glorious
realisation which at once includes and transcends all religions. His teachings
give the clearest expression to that one - inexpressible, universal, spiritual
experience, seeking which every earnest aspirant treads the path of inward
spiritual development.
The Maharshi never dogmatised, he never sermonized, never
gave any mantra, or expected people to follow any set mode of worship.
What the Maharshi does for us cannot be conveyed by word of
mouth. His invisible gaze, silently, unobstrusively transforms the lives of
the men and women who, by virtue of their past good deeds, are gathered
around him, waiting for his benign attention and paternal guidance. All his
great work for the improvement and betterment of mankind is done invisibly
and silently. His silence is more eloquent, more effective, more far-
reaching than the sermons of any number of teachers put together.
His grace is ever ready for us. All that we have to do is to qualify ourselves
by our self-effort and self-purification to make ourselves worthy of his
attention.
In March 1935, I read A Search in Secret India by Brunton [No.1],
and visited the Ashram in December of that year. I visited the Maharshi
again in 1936. The year 1937 was the most momentous in my life. I had to
stay in one of the rooms of the Ashram for over a month due to my serious
illness. It was during those days that I realised vividly his greatness as
a divine master endowed with all spiritual and human qualities. While
I was lying ill with high fever the Maharshi was considerate enough to visit
me three times and prepare upma for me with his own hands.
My eyesight was affected by high fever. When parting from him
I took hold of his toes and touched my eyes with them. That was sufficient
guarantee of the fact in my heart that my eyesight would not fail me. So it
has not. I shall never forget his grace that he gave me during my serious
illness. I had no idea of what it was till I returned to my place in North India
and felt its purifying effect on my life. From 1943 onwards, I never missed
a year when I did not visit him. His sense of humanity was as great as
his sense of spirituality. The mere sight or tale of human suffering
touched his heart.
A.S. Panchapagesa Ayyar 49
All he expected of us was to closely and critically analyse the

content of our own being, to discover what we really were, to see if there
was anything in us which survived the decay of our bodily frame. His
words went straight into our heart because he lived what he taught.
Contact with Ramana Maharshi can change our outlook and
convince us not only of the reality but also of the immense utility of spiritual
values. He does not believe in propaganda of any kind, nor does he lecture
to any of his numerous admirers and devotees. Most of the time he sits
silently transforming the hearts and minds of those who are
privileged to be near him. By the living example of his intensely
methodical and practical life he helps and reforms us. His plain, simple and
unsophisticated philosophy vividly reflected in his day-do-day conduct serves
as a key to unlock the mystery of life and solves in a practical way some of
the complicated social, political and economic problems that confront us
today.
He enjoins on us that there is only One Self, One Life which is
vibrant in every atom, One Light which is vibrant in every creature, One
Love that embraces all in Oneness. According to Sri Ramana, unless you
realise purity and goodness in yourself, you cannot do anything really good
to ‘others’.
The Sage of Arunachala is really a spiritual scientist, who
has adopted the scientific method of approach to Truth by investigating
the realm of the Unknown with the aid of his intuitive genius, which has
assimilated reason. He has attained self-realisation through his own self-
effort and intensive introspection. He is the greatest of modern Sages
of India.1
1. For an interesting episode of Prof. Syed’s wife being insistent about Sri
Ramana to have dinner at her place, refer pp.181-2.
24
A.S. Panchapagesa Ayyar belonged to the Indian Civil Service of
pre-Independence era.
I was first attracted to the great Sage Ramana by reading his

book Who Am I? I liked immensely his clear exposition of the matter
which was only the typical Hindu exposition, viz., that the real ‘I’ is not the
gunny-bag of the body, or the Decca muslin of the mind, or the spider’s
web of the ego, but something above and beyond all this, viz., the atman.
He said to one and all, “Look within. Don’t look around”
Just as a skilled financier is required to direct the nation’s finances,
and create surpluses to pay off the debts and secure redemption, so too,
individuals will require a man of God, like Ramana Maharshi, to guide
them, to enable them to increase their merit and decrease their demerit,
and secure redemption. No wonder then, that men of diverse temperaments
have been flocking to Sri Ramanasramam to see the Sage and profit by his
presence and his instruction.
The Maharshi’s life is ‘sacrifice of knowledge’, by dissemi-
nating it to all and sundry. Anyone can go and sit near him, invited or
uninvited. Anyone can partake of the homely meal in the Ashram, whether
native or foreigner, high caste or outcast. The Maharshi has not the least
tinge in him of caste, creed, colour, race, class, sex or country. He has not
only sacrificed all ideas of private possession in his supreme attempt
of possessing the soul, he has sacrificed even the privacy of time. He
sits, day in and day out, in that little hall of his, and even sleeps in the presence
of all. He is a sublime example of what a sage ought to be. He has
never known the hold of lust for woman or money – kamini or kanchanam,
to use the expressive words of Sri Ramakrishna, and is a perfect
brahmachari. He is an embodiment of the Hindu truth that karma, jnana
and bhakti are all one, and that man can attain God even in this life. He does
not believe in disciples, though many claim to be his disciples. He does not
advise practice of yoga, or even silence, though he has practised both.
Concentrating on silence as a muni, he has begun to teach as a rishi.
To a man who stated that he could not understand the world at all,
Sri Ramana replied, “As you are, so is this world. Without understanding
yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world?” To another
individual, who asked the Maharshi persistently, “Why is God so unjust?”
The Maharshi’s cool retort was, “Why ask me? Go and ask Him?” On
being told that he could not go to Him to ask Him, the swift retort was,
“When you cannot reach Him, how can you question Him?”
We are indeed lucky in having the Maharshi in our midst. It
will be a thousand pities if a spiritual dynamo like that of Sri Ramana is not
utilised to its fullest extent. He requires no permission; he charges no fee;
he does not require conformity to any dogma. He is like the rivers and
mountains, the common property of mankind.
T.M.P. Mahadevan 51
25
Prof. T.M.P. Mahadevan, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of
Philosophy, Madras University.
We hear of Shuka and Yajnavalkya; and we read of Gaudapada
and Sankara. But here we have before our eyes a contemporary witness
to the Eternal Truth of the Vedanta, an eloquent commentary on the
Upanishads. We for the most part seem to be so small in his presence,
bound as we are in the coils of time.
The Maharshi tells that we will never get at Reality if we take the
appearance to be real: the dream world appears all too real to us so long as
we are in it; but as soon as we are awake, we realise its unsubstantiality.
The Maharshi seldom talks. He believes that the Self is best taught
in silence. He says, “Silence is ever speaking, it is the perennial flow of
language.” For the benefit of those who cannot understand the language
of Silence, the Maharshi sometimes talks, but he warns at the same time
that questions and answers lie within the region of avidya. Till the dawn of
wisdom, doubts will necessarily arise. Once the Self is realised there will
be no problem to be solved.
The Maharshi’s method of Self-enquiry ends in mental suicide; it
provides an instrument whereby the mind destroys itself, thus revealing the
Self. The Maharshi directs us to put ourselves the question, ‘Who am I?’
But this is not an empty formula or a barren mantra to be muttered. Patient,
intelligent and unsparing effort is required before progress could be
registered on this arduous journey.
The Maharshi teaches that the Heart, on the right side of the
chest, is the seat of the Self. He makes it very clear that any reference to
the physical body is only from the empirical point of view. From the absolute
standpoint it is impossible to locate the Heart or Self in any place either
inside the body or outside. So, when any particular part of the body is
spoken of as the seat of the Self, it is so described only as an aid to the
layman’s understanding.
It would not be possible to realise the Self, if there is attachment to
the objects of senses. The Maharshi told a grihastha (who was tormented
by the thought that this was a despicable position, unhelpful to spiritual
achievement): “Whether you continue in the household or renounce it and
go to the forest, your mind haunts you. The obstacle is the mind; it must be
got over whether in the home or in the forest.” These words, however,
should be interpreted with great care. They were given in an answer to a
grihastha who was trying to assess the relative value of his own asrama
and sannyasa. If he was really keen on renunciation, he would not have
argued or hesitated. One who feels the burning heat of a red-hot iron rod
does not take even the space of a moment to let go his hold of it.
When I first saw the Master, his head had begun to nod. The
shaking head seemed to me saying ‘neti’, ‘neti’, (not this, not this). Many
who came with long list of questions used to depart in silence after sitting
for a while in the Master’s presence. When he chose to answer questions,
each sentence was like a text from the Upanishad, so full of meaning that
it required calm, silent pondering over in order to be understood fully.
Having been a student of the Gita since childhood I saw in Bhagavan
a vivid and living commentary on that great scripture. In 1948-49, during my
lecture tour of the United States, I often said that if there was anyone living
in India answering to the truth of the Vedanta, it was Ramana Maharshi.
The critics of advaita usually say that the advaitin is an austere
intellectual in whom the wells of feeling have all dried up. Those who have
seen the Master will know how unfounded such a criticism is. Sri Ramana
was ever brimming with the milk of divine kindness. Even members of the
subhuman species had their share of the unbounded love of the Master.
He was a consummate artist in life. Anything that he touched became
orderly and pleasant.1
1. The write-up, except the last three paras, was written in collaboration with
Swami Rajeswarananda, no. 97.
26
Duncan Greenlees, M.A. (Oxon.), a scholar and a Theosophist,
visited India on a teaching assignment in the 1930s.
The writer who first felt repelled after reading about the greatness of
Sri Ramana in A Search in Secret India by British journalist Brunton
(no.1), says:
The book struck me somehow as a piece of journalism of the
lower kind. For a few days it almost dissuaded me from going to
Tiruvannamalai. Had the Maharshi stooped to allow this kind of vulgar
Duncan Greenlees 53
advertisement for himself, almost like a quack doctor seeking testimonials?

Of course, I soon threw this foolishness off my mind, and went to see for
myself.
I saw the Maharshi. It did not take long for me to be sure that I
was in front of one who had, in that very body, solved life’s problem for
himself. The radiant peace around him proved it beyond all cavil. The
calm, like that of the midnight sky, was something too real to
question for a moment. The part of my search thus was over, even
at the first glimpse. In a flash I had seen a ‘Master’. I knew he was
what the books call a jivanmukta. Please don’t ask me how I knew for I
cannot answer that. It was just as one knows that water is wet and the sky
is blue. It could not be denied – self-evident is the word.
I had brought the usual list of questions to be asked. Shyness kept
me silent while sitting in the Hall during those first days. And before I
broke that silence, the unspoken questions had solved themselves in their
own irrelevance. It was a common experience; I only add my own testimony
to that of many others. Before I left that hallowed spot, I did put questions
to the Maharshi, which were answered in a wonderful way that was new
to me. I was wholly satisfied and filled with joy.
The four days I had planned were soon over. But I could not tear
myself away before the last date of the vacation [of the educational
institution where he was teaching], and stayed on, delighted, enthralled and
pacified. That stillness of eternal depths had somehow seeped itself into
my heart. I had met a Master who could quell the waves with a silent
word, ‘Peace, be still!’ I knew myself to be absolutely one with that incarnate
Peace on the sofa, and therefore to be one equally with the Unmanifest in
whose stillness he was so obviously poised.
God’s grace is such that He gives at His will what He likes to give
to any soul. We cannot earn His grace, even by crores of years of effort.
One can never be worthy of His blessings, but receives it purely out of His
mercy. His darshan can never be the fruit of sakama tapasya, whatever
certain books may say. It is only the overflowing love of the Lord that
brings Him to us.
The peace that Bhagavan had put upon me remained in my heart,
like a shining cloud of transparency through which all things passed dreamlike
for about three weeks. The mind was caught and held in that peace in
a blissfulness it had never known before. It is a pity I cannot bring
about this mood at my own will: it can come only from the touch of
the real Teacher of souls, as I have found.
One day in the Hall I was browsing a notebook of extracts on

yoga. Bhagavan hardly ever spoke to me first (indeed there was very little
actual talking between us during the years; it did not seem necessary,
somehow), but that day he spoke to me in English: “What is that book?” I
answered him. He said quietly, “Read Milarepa”.1 I read the book; it thrilled
and stirred deep places in my heart. Somehow, I feel Bhagavan had seen
that it would be so and therefore gave me the only order of the sort he had
ever given me.
I have taken all the descriptions of the jivanmukta I could find in any
scripture – Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Muslim, Jain etc. I have
watched Bhagavan under all kinds of circumstances, and checked up what I
have seen with those descriptions. I have not the smallest doubt that he alone,
of the men I have seen, dwells always in sahaja samadhi. Of course, I am not
qualified to judge, for none but the saint can know the saint.
I have seen him in a humorous mood. I have seen him play the
host with delicate grace that seemed almost awkward at times. I have
seen him quickly, motionlessly, challenging and defeating injustice or
unkindness. I have seen him cutting vegetables for the Ashramites long
before the dawn. I have seen again and again how he solved the doubts,
the agonies, the loss of faith of people of many types – often with a word,
often with his healing silence and a soft distance in his unmoving gaze. I
have looked at his perfect handwriting in many scripts, all a model of beauty
and care. I have heard him correcting the singers of hymns in his own
glory, with an absolute impersonality that was obvious.
I have watched his reactions to the noisy devotee, the lazy worker,
the mischievous monkey, the crazed adorer, the over-bold flatterer, the one
who would exploit his name. I have seen how totally impervious he was to
all considerations of power, place, prestige, and how his grace shined equally
on prince and peasant. Then, can I doubt that here indeed we have, if
not God Himself – for He is omnipresent – at least Greatness
incarnate, the majesty of the ancient hills blending with the
sweetness of the evening star?
Sit before him, as we used to sit those summer evenings, and we
knew that we were not that foolish excited little person sitting there, but the
eternal Self out of whom this world has spun its cobweb yarn of forms.
I know no other man whose mere presence has thus enabled
me to make the personality drop down in the abyss of nothingness,
where it belongs. I have found no other human being who so emanates
his grace that it can catch away the ordinary man from his stillness
and plunge him deep in the ecstasy of timeless omnipresent being.
Duncan Greenlees 55
His grace, which of course is the grace of God whose

representative and messenger he is, has been enough to give brief glimpses
even to me of that infinity, wherein he always seemed to live.
He will brush away all this nonsense of my talk with a wave of
hand and a smile, while saying as he once did, “It is the same in this and
in another place. That bliss you feel is in the Self, and you superimpose
it upon the place or environment in which you are bodily set.” But,
Bhagavan, we say what we like about you and the blessings we have
received from you; we shall not let you interrupt our foolish words. It is
our chance to publicly proclaim our debt to the silent Teacher of
Tiruvannamalai.
Those who are in the Ashram are very gentle, considerate and
kindly. The generous services were given by a friend who used to
translate for me the Tamil answers to my English questions and got
translations approved by Bhagavan himself before giving them to me.
Even the human hospitality of Bhagavan himself, though sometimes a
little embarrassing to my innate shyness perhaps, was always a delightful
thing.
His very presence among us is a benediction. His attaining
a clear and unflickering vision of the Self has raised the whole world
a little nearer to the Truth. His words have been an unfathomed ocean
of comfort and inspiration to thousands. His silent peacefulness has revealed
the Eternal in human form, as mountains, seas and skies above can usually
reveal It.
The following was written after the Maharshi’s mahanirvana:
Can we say he is dead? Bhagavan dead? The word could have
no meaning. How can he who lives in the entire universe ever taste of
death? “You think I am going away? But where am I to go? I shall
remain here with you.” That was his promise while he was preparing
us for separation. And those of us who lived in Tiruvannamalai hold
firmly to the faith, which we feel confirmed by continual experience,
that he has kept that promise and is still to be contacted here in the
Ashram as of old.
Like Surdas2 darkening the physical sight so that he might see
clearly the light within, he has dimmed our outer sight so that the inner
vision might be filled with his eternal light. He has veiled the outer form we
loved so well, that its beauty might no longer draw our gaze away from the
everlasting presence enthroned in our inmost Heart. His Light shines, with
the everlasting clarity of God’s own Light.

Sri Arunachala Ramana
Crowds gather always at His flower-feet,
The fragrant blossom does not seek the bee,
Its essence floats upon the waiting air,
And fainting creatures hasten to the Source,
To lose themselves within the sweetness hid
Deep in its resting Heart, and there to swoon
Away in all-transcending endless bliss.

O Siva-Yogi, Mighty God, to Thee,

Incarnate in this Silent One, whose gaze
Can shrivel at a glance dark Passion, and
The clouds of ignorance that swirl around.
The ever-blissful and all-seeing Self,
To Thee we offer flowers of our desire.
Inspire within our hearts the soaring Flame
That burns each Kartik on this Glory-hill.

Oh Arunachala, Reveal the one

The only Being Immanent, the Self
Within the dreaming self. Strike down our fears,
And in our eager souls drop quietly
The fragrant dews of the One Guru’s grace,
Till at their magic touch all bonds decay, –
Sivatma reigning, Sea of motionless Peace,
Still as the rocks of Arunagiri.

Stayed in Heart of Arunachala

Is Lord of Silence and Self of all.

1. Dr. Evans-Wentz’s book Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa.

2. Famous Hindi poet who is reputed to have made himself blind.
H. Ghosh / C.S. Bagi 57
27
H. Ghosh, M.A., was Principal of Holkar College, Indore, Madhya
Pradesh.
When I first had the good fortune of being introduced to the Great
Sage of Arunachala, my imagination was struck by the austerity and
simplicity of his sublime countenance. This austerity is indelibly marked on
his face and cannot escape the attention of even a casual observer. One
great outcome of this austere simplicity is humbleness of the mind.
We are enjoined by the Maharshi to forsake, once and forever,
our petty selves and to approach our divine self. The noblest pursuit,
according to the Maharshi, is the pursuit of our Overself. The joys are
perennial and the pursuit eternal.
Sri Bhagavan is not a mere mystic. He does not look into some
future world, but gazes intently on what is real and eternal in him. Heaven
to him is not a far-off place: here in your heart and nowhere, the soul of all
things is to be found. Only those who have put away all selfish longings
may see clearly the radiance of happiness. Something of this happiness the
worst sinners among us will feel in the presence of this exalted and self-
illumined Sage of Arunachala.
Many devotees go to Sri Bhagavan for a miraculous cure of their
physical ailments or for a wondrous change in their worldly destiny. Sri
Bhagavan rightly warns us against the allurements of miracles or
clairvoyance or prophetic powers. But if anyone invokes Him in a spirit of
absolute trust, his prayers will be answered.
In all humility I confess that I am the least competent to write
about Sri Bhagavan. The finite can never know the Infinite and the Illimitable.
A silent look or an encouraging word from Him will do much more
good than all the sermonic literature of the world.
28
C.S. Bagi, M.A., was Principal of Lingaraj College, Belgaum,
Karnataka.
Sri Bhagavan’s existence and operations being mysteries, their
explanations can have no finality. In explaining one mystery we straightaway
land ourselves in others equally, if not more perplexing. It is easy to

remember but impossible to know Sri Bhagavan.
Every man judges Sri Bhagavan by the measure of his own self.
But no judgement of him can be right unless the judge transcends himself.
Sri Bhagavan is the Immutable Law. His greatness is in preserving the
Law and not in playing juggler’s tricks of turning cocks into bulls and vice
versa. Every adjective we employ in describing Him does more
justice to our own sentiments with regard to Him than His with
regard to Himself. He is not the duality we are. But this is certain:
whether indifferent or sympathetic, in either case the world gains
by Him as it does from skies whether they are sulky or sunny.
Mysterious are His ways with men. Though nothing unusual happens
at the time of darshan to a curious pilgrim, a mild surprise overtakes him
later when he begins to note subtle proclivities in his mode of living and
thinking – nay, perhaps in external affairs too. Sins of whole lives are
forgiven by one act of His Grace. Faith and hope are the only price
the sinner pays for His forgiveness.
Sri Bhagavan’s life is a demonstration of the great potentials that
lie hidden in the most ordinary and unpromising souls. We learn from Him
what self-deceived shadows we are all, entombed in toiling body-minds –
mere fantasies of a narrow dream called life. The wary of us will question
themselves, ‘Is this life a toilsome delusion?’ Who is to blame? Should we
not rather blame ourselves who take the delusion seriously, when our better
judgement asks us to wake up?
‘Know thyself’ is the burden of Sri Bhagavan’s teaching as it is
the breath of His being. As a process it is the persistent inquiry into the
uninquiring self. The question ‘Who Am I’ is a razor’s edge and cuts through
all other questions that earthly imagination may conceive. All questions
resolve themselves into it. Who Am I? is the question of questions and
goes directly to the root of every problem and sums up the entire spirit of
quest.
The mind seems to conspire against itself. The limpid stream of
pure consciousness called ‘I’ is contaminated by throwing into it the rubbish
of not-‘I’.We are a stranger to ourself by claiming everything ours except
ourself.
We surrender our judgement to Sri Bhagavan whose life has been
to us a reassurance against gloom and despair. May His pleasure be our
aim in what we think and talk, and His remembrance in what we do. He
knows all our errors and sins. We err even to ask for deliverance. May His
Grace be everywhere!
Rudra Raj Pande 59
One word more. Whatever may be written about Sri

Bhagavan, there is no such thing as knowing Him. Remembrance
is all. May He be in the remembrance of all who seek the Truth about
themsleves!
An extract from his poem:

The Leonine Power
Oh flaming Lion, Stern, Majestic, Holy,
Who can approach, yet who escape Thy Paws?
Oh Sovereign Lord, to be Thy sport is jolly,
For after Sport I dine in Nectarine Jaws!
Yet spare me not my Lord, destroy me all,
Lest slipping Thee I suffer shameful fall!

29
Rudra Raj Pande, M.A., was Principal of Tri-Chandra College,
Nepal.
When I read A Search in Secret India by Brunton [No. 1], a
passion grew in me to see the Maharshi. On reaching Tiruvannamalai,
when led to the presence of the Sage, I was surprised not to find at first
sight anything particularly remarkable about him.
Before visiting the Ashram, I had carefully formulated many
questions to be put to the Sage. However, when I listened to what the
Maharshi said in reply to questions put to him by others, I could not help
feeling that all my questions ceased to have any particular significance. I
found out later that many a visitor had similar experience.There must be
something in the personality of the Sage to explain all this. But I was still
very skeptical. I even abstained from prostrating at his feet.
As I had to leave Tiruvannamalai the same day, I thought of visiting
the great Siva Temple,1 and asked the Maharshi’s permission to go there.
My guide took me to the interior of the temple, which was rather dark. As
he shouted “Arunachala” all my attention was directed to the lingam in
the sanctum sanctorum.
But, strange to say, instead of the lingam I saw the image of the
Maharshi, his smiling countenance, his brilliant eyes looking at me. And
what is more strange, it is not one Maharshi that I see, nor two, nor three
– in hundreds I see the same smiling countenance, those lustrous eyes, I
see them wherever I may look in the sanctum sanctorum. My eyes did not
catch the full figure of the Maharshi, but only the smiling face above the
chin. I am in raptures, and beside myself with inexpressible joy. That bliss
and calmness of mind I then felt, how could words describe? Tears of joy
flowed down my cheeks. I would never forget the deep intimate experience
I had in the ancient temple.
I hurried back to the Ashram. A swami presented me to the
Sage and told him in Tamil that I was to leave to be in time at the station.
The Maharshi looked at me and smiled. I felt as if he was enquiring
whether I felt satisfied with what I saw in the temple. Satisfied! Sri
Bhagavan’s Grace has captivated my heart. My gratitude to him knew
no bounds. I lovingly cherish the sublime experience I had.
People may call the vision I had in the temple, a hallucination, but
that bliss, that peace, that depth of feeling which melted my very being and
made it over to the care of the Lord, the joy and deep sense of gratitude I
now feel while I recollect the past – these certainly are no optical illusions.
The Lord in my heart is my eternal witness, I meekly put myself under his
care and I am his forever. Thus ended my first visit to Sri Ramanasramam.
Based on his study of Sri Ramana literature and second visit to the
Ashram after sometime, he wrote:
We want to draw a circle without caring to decide or even to
consider in the first instance as to where the center should be. And having
drawn hardly a fraction of the circumference, we go on shifting the center.
What wonder then that in the end we do not at all complete the figure of a
circle? To be able to achieve anything commensurate with man’s intellectual
capacity, he must seek in the first instance the center of his being and be
firmly established therein. To achieve this end atma-vichara is the means
par excellence.
Sri Ramana does not consider the question of reality or otherwise
of the world as of first importance. According to him, it is both undesirable
and foolish to dispute the reality or unreality of the world, when one has not
the right knowledge of oneself. Sri Ramana shifts the emphasis from the
“What is the nature of the world?” to the much more vital question, “Who
am I?”This in my view is the most substantial contribution the Maharshi
makes to the world thought.
S.V. Ram 61
My earnest conviction is that both believers and skeptics will

benefit immensely by a little close association with the Sage. How
skeptics become believers in the light-radiating presence of the “Light of
Arunachala” - Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, is quite an ordinary
occurrence of Sri Ramanasramam. My own experience may be adduced
in proof of the point. To quote Grant Duff [No. 7]:“Should those who
have it in their power to visit the Ashram delay, they will have only
themselves to blame in future lives.”2
1. Refer annexure-I, p. 410.

2. The quote is from the preface of Sri Ramana Gita, Sri Ramanasramam. It
was written in London in 1935.
30
Prof. S.V. Ram, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of Political Science,
Lucknow University.
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.
31
Chinta Dikshitulu, B.A., L.T., was a distinguished Telugu author.
When you, the unseen Bhagavan, appear before me, I get perplexed,
not knowing what I should do. I long to see you without a wink of the eye. I
gaze at you with the deep desire to imprint Your image on my heart.
In ever so many ways and poses of beauty, in ever and ever so
many ways I see You bestowing Your grace on the devotees. But, why
is it, O Bhagavan that You vanish from my heart after staying but for a
moment?
That beauty of Yours in the majesty of being seated, that supreme
serenity and grace in Your charming gaze while You recline on the pillow,
that lordship of Maheswara that marks the beauty of Your form while You
are standing; that majesty, that self-awareness, that love and beauty that is
expressed by your slow gait; that lion-like majesty, that mercy and
condescension revealed in your glance bestowed on the devotees while
You turn back and look at them – why is it, O Bhagavan! That all these
charming views and Your Presence I took in through my eyes to retain
them within myself, all these are slipping away, on my return home, why is
it so, Bhagavan?
Do You say that if my heart is to be Your abode, it should be made
fit for the purpose? Can I do it, O Bhagavan? Can’t You, O Bhagavan,
dispel those shades of darkness with the Light of Your Form? Won’t You
wipe out the impurity through Your mercy, O Bhagavan?
I recollect the verses which devotees have composed on You. I
tally those descriptions with You, and with the aid of those expressions I
take hold of Your Form and try to establish You in my heart. But you
escape those expressions. What to do, O Bhagavan?
Live in my heart, O Bhagavan, that by itself will do for me, O
Bhagavan ! Won’t You, O Bhagavan, won’t You?
Chinta Dikshitulu / Harindranath Chattopadhyaya 63
32
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, poet and artiste was younger brother
of Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India.
The entry in Devaraja Mudaliar’s Day by Day with
Bhagavan dated June 5, 1945 refers to a remark by Prof. Subba-
ramayya (no.41) in the hall that he came across a copy of Chatto-
padhyaya’s verses at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, with Sri Aurobindo’s
notes at the margin highly commending some verses. There upon,
Chattopadhyaya told Bhagavan that while at Sri Aurobindo Ashram
for two years he composed about 4,000 sonnets and a poem of 5,000
lines. He gave a recitation of two of his poems before Bhagavan
and acted a piece from his play in which a dock-labourer groaning
under his work bursts out into a complaint. These were greatly
appreciated.
Extracts from his poems:

The Thrice Marvellous Master – Sri Ramana
Eternity has worn a human face,
Contracted to a little human span,
Lo, the Immortal has become a man,
A self-imprisoned thing in time and space.

Upon a narrow couch you see him sit,

Vision of tenderness and grace and calm;
Upon the finite compass of His Palm
He holds the secrets of the Infinite.

Thrice marvellous pure Master on the height,

Towards whom we dumbly yearn, each one apart,
Striving to hold Thy image in the heart,
O cleave our darkness with your searching light !

A Lyric to Sri Ramana
You are the light that never pales,

The beacon-light that never fails,
Nor flickers in the ruddiest gales
Blowing across life’s darkened slope.

You are the comfort which endures,

The constant kindly touch that cures,
The voice that ever re-assures
The heart when it is losing hope.

You are a huge horizon bent

Over a world of discontent.
Even in storm you strike a note
Of safety while our floundering boat
Gives up all hope of reaching shore.

O human body thrice divine!

How very silently you shine
Lamp-like upon the borderline
Of all our struggle, all our strife.

Give us the high-illumined grace

To make the heart your dwelling place,
And may we evermore contain
Your presence in each passing pain.

Increase our silence and our power,

Be with us every fleeting hour.

K. Subrahmanian 65
33
Dr. K. Subrahmanian (Dr.K.S.) (1928-98), the founder of Sri Ramana
Kendram, Hyderabad, was Professor of English at the Central
Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. The
following is extracted from what he wrote about himself in 1992.
My father who worked as a teacher in Municipal High School,
Tiruvannamalai, met the Maharshi in 1927 and asked a question for which
he was very sorry in the later years of his life: “There are so many sadhus
wandering around, how am I to know who is a genuine one?” The Maharshi
most graciously said, “He is a real sadhu in whose presence you get an
indescribable peace without making any effort.”
From 1928 to 1961 my father taught at a convent school in
Kodaikanal. During this period, for seven years he was tutor to the princess
of Nabha (a princely state in the Punjab), whose Maharaja was brought to
Kodaikanal as a punishment by the British. The Maharaja and Maharani
were deeply impressed with the life and teachings of the Maharshi, about
whom my father talked to them.
In 1944, when the Maharaja was not too well, he asked my father
to go and seek the blessings of Bhagavan.When my father spoke to
Bhagavan about the Maharaja’s condition, he listened with great attention
but kept silent. The Ashram authorities gave prasad for the Maharaja.
After opening the cover containing the prasad, the Maharaja told my
father, “Krishnaswami, the Maharshi has intimated that I am not going to
live long. You see in this envelope there is no kumkum. There is only
vibhuti.” The Maharaja passed away four months later.
Hearing from my father and uncle that Bhagavan used to read
letters written to him by devotees, I used to write to him occasionally from
the hostel of the high school at Tirukattupally, where I studied from 1941 to
1945. Once I went to Bhagavan with my uncle and was looking at him.
Bhagavan asked my uncle about me. On being told that I was his nephew,
he said, “So you are the person writing letters to me.” This gave me a
strange feeling of awe, coupled with great joy, and I said in a low voice,
“Yes.” Bhagavan remarked, “Does your father send money to you so that
you can write these letters?” and laughed. I wasn’t quite sure whether
Bhagavan was being sarcastic or made the remark in a light vein. I sweated
for a while, continuing to look at Bhagavan.
After completing my SSLC in 1945, I appplied for admission to

American College, Madurai. On the day I was to leave for Madurai, I
went to Bhagavan, prostrated to him and took leave of him. On enquiry,
I told him that I was going to Madurai for admission to college.
Bhagavan asked, “Which College?” I wanted to say American College
but instead said Madura College. Bhagavan smiled and said, sari [All
right]. I could not get admission to American College, but got admission
in Madura College, Madurai.
In 1949, I attended the kumbhabhishekam of Mathrubhuteswara
temple, which was an elaborate solemn affair. In the evening, after arati
was offered to the deity in the temple, it was brought to Bhagavan. I was
sitting very close to him in the hall attached to the temple. It was a
moving sight when Bhagavan extended his hands and touched the arati
with great reverence, closing his eyes.
Soon after every operation was performed on Bhagavan’s arm,
I used to visit him. Sometimes I cried uncontrollably looking at Bhagavan
from a distance. As far as Bhagavan was concerned, he was ever the
same serene, blissful self. He behaved as if the disease belonged to
somebody else.
Once in 1946, when I was an 18-year old student, I was walking
towards the old meditation hall with my head down, thinking of something.
When I looked up, I saw Bhagavan talking to a devotee near the well,
adjacent to the hall. I did not expect Bhagavan to be there. When he
looked at me sideways I stood still, as I did not want to disturb him. I felt a
powerful light penetrate and engulf me. The bliss that I experienced was
unique. I was in that state for about 20 days.
Sometime in 1949, I sat at the entrance of the new hall, outside
the Mother’s temple, looking at Bhagavan. Then I thought to myself, “I
have been coming to the Ashram so often, but have had no experience of
real meditation. Bhagavan has not granted me this experience.” Thinking
along these lines, I kept looking at Bhagavan for a considerable time and
then closed my eyes. I do not know how long I was in that state.When I
opened my eyes I found the meditation hall empty. Bhagavan and the
devotees must have gone past me as I was sitting at the entrance. When
I realised that I had been sitting when Bhagavan went past me, I was
horrified. But suddenly I realized that Bhagavan, out of his unbounded
grace had granted me an experience whereby I was completely oblivious
of my surroundings.
In August 1949, I visited the Ashram from Madras, where I was
K. Subrahmanian 67
studying. After his second operation, Bhagavan was sitting in the new
hall. People were not allowed to sit inside the hall. They could enter,
prostrate and leave the hall. On August 16, I planned to leave for Madras. I
went to the hall, prostrated, and went close to Bhagavan to say, ‘I am leaving’.
Normally he would say ‘sari,’ but that day he turned his face to the other
side. I came out, sat outside for sometime and went in again. I prostrated and
said that I was leaving. Again he turned his face to the other side. Once
again I came out and sat for sometime. For the third time I entered, prostrated
and said ‘I was leaving’, yet, again he turned his face. I was puzzled.
As I was getting late for the train, I decided to leave for the station.
Hardly had I gone some distance, I felt it difficult to proceed. I came back
and decided to leave only after Bhagavan’s consent. When the next day I
went to the hall, prostrated and said that I was leaving, to my joy and
surprise, Bhagavan said, ‘sari’. Till today I do not know why Bhagavan
did not give me permission to leave the previous day.
My final year examinations for B.A.(Hons.) were in March
1950. In February, T.V. Krishnaswami Iyer, my sister’s father-in-
law, a great devotee of Bhagavan, gave me a copy of Muruganar’s
commentary on Aksharamanamalai, which ran over one hundred
pages. Deeply impressed with the manuscript, I copied it in its entirety
in a few days, without worrying for the examination. I felt this was
more important than the examination. The first paper, Old English,
contained passages for translation from old English to modern English.
I had not prepared well. The day before the examination I opened the
book at random and translated the passage that I found on that page
and went to sleep. In the examination hall, I was astonished to find
the same passage which I had translated the previous night.
Bhagavan treated animals and birds with great affection and
concern. Sometimes a couple of monkeys would walk into the meditation
hall. Some devotees used to get agitated. Bhagavan would gently call the
monkeys and give them cashewnuts or groundnuts. They would go away
screeching with delight. Sometimes a squirrel would scramble up the
couch. Bhagavan would fondle it and give it whatever was available and
it would leave without disturbing anybody. Similarly, a peacock would
come and get some puffed rice from his hand.
Once an Ashram deer was attacked by some animals and the
wounds turned from bad to worse. Bhagavan sat near the deer, held its
face in his hand, looking at its tearful eyes. The sarvadhikari of the Ashram
asked my uncle who was standing close, to look after the deer and relieve
Bhagavan. Bhagavan heard this but did not make any response, and sat
there till the deer breathed its last. There is a samadhi for the deer near
that of the cow Lakshmi.1
My uncle, when young, asked Bhagavan, “Is it true that Ravana
had ten heads?” Bhagavan replied, “How does it help you to know whether
he had ten heads or not?”
When the Mathrubhuteswara Temple was being constructed,
Bhagavan used to lift the bricks and offer them to the mason. He told my
uncle, “I am helping construction work.”
On one occasion a large number of people came to the Ashram
unexpectedly and they had to be provided lunch. One of the cooks went to
Bhagavan and said, “We are worried because there isn’t enough food.”
Bhagavan said, “Don’t worry. There will be enough.” My uncle was present
in the dining hall along with others. Bhagavan looked at almost every one
before he started eating. My uncle said that even before eating most of the
people felt full. So each one ate very little and what had been prepared
was more than enough.
Viswanatha Swami (no. 57), a scholar and author of the famous
Ramana Ashtothra, told the following to Dr. K.S.:
Once someone enquired of Bhagavan as to what he would request
if Lord Siva appeared before him on His bull prompting him to ask for a
boon. Bhagavan is reported to have said, “Do not try to deceive me. He
has no form. I don’t want to be tempted by your question. He is the formless
Self in all.”
When Bhagavan had blisters on his hands due to grinding chutney
everyday and did not heed to the request of Viswanatha Swami not to
undertake the job, Swami went to the kitchen early and did all the work
Bhagavan used to do. Bhagavan asked him why he had done his work in
the morning. When Swami said that he could not bear to see Bhagavan
grinding chutney with blisters on his hands, Bhagavan said, “In the early
days I used to go for bhiksha. Now I am getting free food in the Ashram.
That is why I do some work or the other in the kitchen. Today you have
done my work. Please give me your dhoti. I will wash it for you.” When
Swami heard this he was moved to tears.
1. Refer annexure-IV, p. 414.

N. Balarama Reddy 69
34
N. Balarama Reddy, M.A. (1908-95), was brought up in spiritually-
oriented surroundings in a village in Andhra Pradesh. He switched
over to Sri Ramana in 1937 from Sri Aurobindo ashram, where he
had gone in 1931. My Reminiscences details his long years of spiritual
life and sadhana at Sri Ramanasramam.
Sri Bhagavan was a being whose advent into this world would
bless the earth goddess. There is a line in the Bhagvatam which says:
“They put their feet on the earth and the earth feels blessed.” To my mind,
Bhagavan was one of the most glorious beings that have ever visited this
earth. The more you live with him, the more you feel that you had
done something in the past, something great which entitled you to
deserve association with Bhagavan. Being with him is being
elevated. You need not talk with him; you need not try to learn from him
through speech. He was pouring out his grace like the rays of the sun – no
stopping ever. Even now he will answer your call provided you are sincere
– utterly sincere.
It is hard to describe and a wonder to see how Bhagavan bound
all with his love. Words would never pass between Bhagavan and his long-
standing devotees. Nevertheless, these devotees – whether men, women
or children – knew that Bhagavan’s love and grace were being showered
on them. By a single glance, a nod of the head, or perhaps by a simple
enquiry from Bhagavan, sometimes not even directly but through a second
person – the devotee knew that he was Bhagavan’s very own and that he
cared for him. In his presence all distinctions and differences were resolved.
Bhagavan was the most considerate and kind-hearted. Even if he
appeared indifferent to onlookers, he still took a keen interest in the progress
of the seekers. I was helped many times by Bhagavan. For instance, due
to a crisis in my family, I was informed that my continuous presence in the
village was required. It meant I would have to leave Bhagavan for good.
When I received the news I went and explained it to Bhagavan
who listened and then simply nodded his head. I understood the meaning of
this nod only upon receiving a letter from my mother, who wrote that I
need not leave the presence of Bhagavan and that she would attend to all
the affairs in the village. This was a turning point in my worldly life and it
was due, no doubt, to the direct intervention of Bhagavan’s grace.
In the first year of my settling down in Tiruvannamalai [where he

had shifted for good in 1937], I was sitting in the hall and Bhagavan was
explaining a particular spiritual point to me. During the discussions he asked
me to bring a book from the almirah in the hall. Not finding the book, I
returned to Bhagavan and sat down again facing him. Then Bhagavan
slowly and majestically walked over to the almirah and immediately pulled
out the book he had asked me to find. He closed the almirah and, to my
surprise, instead of walking back to the couch, came and sat on the floor
right next to me.
He opened the book and holding it before my face, asked me to
read the particular passage. Bhagavan’s attendants used to tell me that his
body was like a furnace. Only then, when he sat so close to me, did I
understand what they meant. I felt spiritual power emanating from his
body like an electric dynamo. I was thrilled to the core of my being.
In Bhagavan we found a being that was so surcharged with
Reality that coming into his presence would effect a dynamic change
in us. The Divine Power of his presence was something remarkable,
entirely outstanding.
I always felt there was something tangibly distinct in Bhagavan’s
hall. When we walked into the hall and sat down, we immediately
felt that we had entered a different plane of existence. It was as if
the world we knew did not exist – Bhagavan’s presence, his other-
worldliness, would envelop the atmosphere. When we walked out
of the hall we were again confronted with the old world we knew all
too well.
Usually, we could not tell if Bhagavan was asleep or awake, though
in reality he was always awake – awake to the Self. How he managed to
remain in that unbroken state of universal awareness and still functioned in
a limited, physical form remains a mystery. We cannot understand that
state. In spite of his exalted state, he interacted with us at our level. He
took considerable interest in the functioning of the Ashram and the
accommodation of visitors.
His actions were spontaneous and natural, and by watching him
we learnt how to live in the world. His example was the greatest teaching,
and his divine presence far outweighted a lifetime of strenuous sadhana.
Just to think of him or sit in his presence used to raise us to higher
levels of blessedness.
He understood human frailty and was determined to teach us how
to transcend it, not dwell upon it.
N. Balarama Reddy 71
Bhagavan’s whole life was simply an offering to the world.

Everything he did was for others only. He wanted to liberate us from the
mistaken belief that we are this body, mind and ego. For this he gave the
method of Self-enquiry and showed us how to practise it. He effectively
aided seekers by his powerful presence and grace.
One day, when he was still convalescing in the Ashram dispensary,
I stood at his bedside and simply rested my eyes on him. No words passed
between us, but I can never forget those cool, compassionate eyes that
opened and bathed me in peace and love. This small event may seem
insignificant to the onlooker. Yet, by that one look, soaked with immeasurable
peace and grace, I felt complete security and confidence that his blessings
would always be with me. Even now, more than forty years after he left
his body, I feel that the same grace is flowing, enveloping and guiding me.
How can it be described in words?
Once the private secretary to the Governor of Pondicherry came
to the Ashram with a long list of questions written in an elaborate, complex
style of French. Handing over the paper to Bhagavan, he sat on the window
sill opposite the couch. Finding the questions in French, Bhagavan asked
me to translate them.1
As I was struggling with word-by-word translation and was finding
the French difficult to translate, Bhagavan said, “That’s not necessary, just
tell me the gist.” I scanned the questions and told Bhagavan that he really
didn’t want oral answers but rather in the form of an experience.
Bhagavan paused for a moment, and then slowly turned his face
in the direction of the questioner and rested eyes on him. After about 30
seconds, I noticed the man’s body trembling and shaking all over. Then he
blurted out, “Oh no, Bhagavan, not now! Please, Bhagavan, not now!” I
was standing at the side of Bhagavan, watching this extraordinary scene
and wondering what a being this Bhagavan was. He was a storehouse of
power, yet so kind, gentle and compassionate.
In early 1950, Sitarama Reddy, a minister in Madras government
arrived at the Ashram. I was asked by the management to take him to
Bhagavan in the Nirvana Room. When we walked into Bhagavan’s
presence I noticed a peculiar radiance or a strange kind of soft splendour,
pervading the room. I thought I was seeing this because of my devotion to
Bhagavan. As soon as we came out of the room the minister turned to me
and asked, “What was that radiance, pervading the Maharshi’s room?”
When he said this without any probing from me, I remembered Ganapati
Muni’s [no.91] second verse from Chatvarimsat – “Who is the repository
of all the highest virtues, whose beatific effulgence is hidden by the sheath
of the gross body, like the blazing sun hidden behind the clouds.”
Many incidents in my life have instilled faith in the guiding presence
of the Maharshi. I also felt assured that surrendering to him as my Guru
was the best decision I had ever made.
1. Before coming to stay at Sri Ramanasramam, Balarama Reddy was for many
years at Sri Aurobindo’s ashram in the French territory of Pondicherry, and had
acquired a working knowledge of French.
35
A. Devaraja Mudaliar, a lawyer, used to address Sri Ramana as
‘my father and mother’ and sign as Ramana’s child – Ramana
Sei. He authored the famous Day by Day with Bhagavan and
My Recollections of Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
From about 1936, I used to go to Bhagavan regularly, once almost
every month, and stay at the Ashram for three to five days each time. In
1937, I had a remarkable proof of Bhagavan’s grace – my office (i.e., the
Official Receiver’s Office, Chittoor) was audited, and as a result of a
stupid mistake of my clerk there was a deficit of Rs.70 in the cash balance.
I paid the amount as soon as I was told it was missing. If the authorities
had taken a strict legal view they could have called the mistake temporary
misappropriation. I was terribly upset because I always had a great name
for integrity and was afraid it would be damaged. That night Bhagavan
appeared in my dream as a young Brahmin, very handsome and valiant in
appearance, and easily, without any effort, picked up a big snake that was
approaching me and put it aside. The audit report did not cause me any
harm and my explanation of its being the clerk’s mistake was accepted
without any further remark.
I gave up my legal practice in 1939 and decided to live in the
Ashram, where I was allowed to build a one-room cottage. Such permission
was rarely given, and had been given only to Major Chadwick [No.42] and
Yogi Ramaiah.
One day, a piece of grit got into my eye. Dr. G. S. Melkote, a
devotee from Hyderabad, examined the eye and said that the grit had got
fixed and he would have to take me to the hospital at Tiruvannamalai, and
if that failed, to Madras, or the eye would be permanently damaged.
A. Devaraja Mudaliar 73
I was thoroughly upset and was telling Bhagavan mentally, “I came

here to have a quiet time and enjoy the peace and happiness of your
company. Is it your will that all this should happen?” Then I told Dr. Melkote,
“Let me put a drop of castor oil and see if the lubrication will discharge the
grit.” He agreed. We went to Bhagavan’s hall. I prostrated before him,
without telling him anything. Then I took a little castor oil from Bhagavan’s
attendant and left for my room along with the doctor. By the time we
reached the corner, I felt a distinct relief. When we got to the room he
examined the eye and found nothing there. He then said, “I cannot explain
how the grit disappeared. It is clearly the work of your Bhagavan.”
After a stay of one or two days at the Ashram I found that the
food there did not suit me. This apart, I generally took a very small quantity
of rice. Once Bhagavan observing my leaf-plate, asked, “How do you
manage with so little food?” I replied, “Even when I take so little my
stomach gives trouble after one or two days. I cannot properly digest even
this quantity.” Bhagavan kept quiet, but thereafter I had no more trouble
with my stomach even when I stayed continuously in the Ashram and took
all the meals.
Because of the poor health of my daughter and of the interval of
about ten years since her previous confinement, I was extremely anxious
about her delivery. The medical assistance available at her husband’s place
was minimal. I communicated all this anxiety to Bhagavan through a letter.
I got a reply from the Ashram that I need not be anxious and that my
daughter would have a safe delivery.1 This was not the sort of reply that
was usually sent from the Ashram. What was usual was something like
the following: ‘We hope that by Bhagavan’s Grace the confinement will be
safe.’ I came back to the Ashram telling my son-in-law that I would be of
no particular use there and to wire me if there was need. After I had been
with Bhagavan for two or three days, I got a letter from my son-in-law
stating that my daughter’s delivery was safe and smooth.
About the end of 1946, I got a call from my brother to help him in
a certain case between him and another close relation of ours in a court at
Madras. I earnestly prayed to Bhagavan that the case should end without
any trial. I wrote to Bhagavan that it was humiliating for me when close
relations have proceedings in the court and our domestic concerns get
exposed. I was mentally very anxious that the case should not come up for
trial. But both parties were stubborn and cantankerous and a compromise
was very improbable. Still Bhagavan’s grace did not fail; the case ended
without any trial, but on account of a circumstance which I could never
have dreamt of : the party who had complained against my brother and his
advocate were both absent when the case was called, and so the complaint
was dismissed.
A whole volume could be written describing how Bhagavan
practised samatva (equality) and taught us constantly by his example. In
his presence all were alike, high or low, rich or poor, man or woman, child
or adult, human or animal. Just as he himself treated all alike, he would
never tolerate any special consideration or attention being shown to him
more than to any other in the Ashram.
Many a time it happened that if he observed even a little excess in
what was served to him of any dish or any delicacy above the quantity
served to others, he would flare up with indignation and rebuke whoever
was responsible. He used to say, “By doing such a thing you are disgracing
me. There cannot be a greater disgrace than this.”2
Once a visiting European lady was sitting opposite to Bhagavan
in the hall. Being unaccustomed to squatting on the floor with legs crossed,
she stretched out her legs in front. One of the attendants considered this
disrespectful to Bhagavan and asked her to fold her legs. The poor lady
felt that whereas she came to show respect she had done something
disrespectful, and I had the impression that she almost wept with chagrin.
Bhagavan who reads the hearts and not acts, felt unhappy for the distress
caused to the lady. He told her there was no harm in sitting as was most
comfortable to her, however she could not be persuaded again to do so.
Bhagavan himself was stretching out his legs on the couch, since
the rheumatism in his knees had made it painful to sit cross-legged for
more than a short time. However, he now sat up cross-legged and could
not be persuaded to relax again the whole day. He said, “If it is a rule for
her, it is a rule for all. I too should not stretch out my legs.” However much
we begged Bhagavan not to take notice of a foolish act on the part of an
attendant, he could not be dissuaded at all. It was only the next day that we
succeeded in getting him to stretch out his legs as usual whenever he felt
like it.
1. Sri Ramana never wrote any letter or signed any paper. The letters addressed to
him were read out to him and the replies were sent by the Ashram office as
desired by him.
2. Refer reminiscences of the cooks at the Ashram at p.190, last para; and
p.195, paras 1-3.
Maurice Frydman 75
36
Maurice Frydman (1900-76), a Polish Jew, was working as a
research engineer in France when the then Diwan of Mysore, struck
by his originality and drive, brought him to Mysore. He effected
improvements in the charkha1 and earned the name ‘Bharatananda’
from Mahatma Gandhi in recognition of his intense love for India.
He first met Sri Ramana around 1935.
Just six months after I came to India, I was left alone and had no
friends. The person whom I loved died and I had nothing to attract me in
life. Quite accidentally, just for fun, I dropped in at Tiruvannamalai. I went
direct to the Swami and remained there for two hours. Then I understood
that I had met someone, the like of whom I had never met before. I did not
then know what was meant by words like the Maharshi and Bhagavan. I
had no preconceived ideas and yet I felt that there was something
extraordinary in that man. I was told about his teachings but they were far
too high for me. I did not understand what they meant but I felt a strong
affection for him, just as a dog would have towards his master.
Afterwards, whenever I felt worried, I used to go to the Ashram,
and sit in his presence. In the early days I would be asking questions, but
later when I began to visit him more and more, discussions with him grew
less and less. Then I began to visit him almost every month. I knew no
sadhana or dhyana. I would simply sit in his presence. To my questions,
the Maharshi would say, “Find out who you are.” I could not make out
anything, but all the same I felt happy. Slowly, some change came in me.
Just as the egg grows and hatches only with the aid of the
warmth of the mother, I was getting into shape slowly and steadily
in his presence. My mind became quieter than before. Previously it was
unhappy and dissatisfied, now a kind of security and peace began to be felt
spontaneously. I felt that the Maharshi was coming nearer and nearer as
time passed. Afterwards I used to think of him whenever I felt unhappy.
His affection was always there and as fire melts ice so his affection made
my worries melt and my struggle for life got transformed into a blissful life.
It was the immense privilege of the writer to meet a few
gigantic spiritual men, but nobody ever produced on him a deeper
impression than Ramana Maharshi. In him the sublime majesty of
the divine life stood and moved in all simplicity. The ultimate had
revealed itself as the immediate, and the undreamt had become

the actual.
The burning regret, which many probably share with me, is that
full advantage was not taken of those happy and precious days when he
was with us physically also – eating, talking, laughing, welcoming all, open
to all. The reality was there – in abundance for taking, but we enclosed
ourselves in timidity, in false humility, in self-deception and false excuses.
We took a cupful when the ocean was at our feet.
In one of his letters to Sri Ramanasramam Frydman wrote:
“The Maharshi is with me not only when I think of him but also
when I am not thinking of him. Otherwise, how do I live?” 2
A.R. Natarajan records in his book Timeless in Time:
Frydman was childlike in nature and would put frank questions with
freedom. Once he asked with dramatic gestures, “Why should not the ego
be cut down with one stroke and destroyed so as to give supreme bliss to the
devotees?” Then Sri Ramana broke out into laughter and asked Frydman to
hold out his ego so that he could strike it down. Everyone including Frydman
joined in the laugher. “Yes, now I understand”, said Frydman.
S.Bhanu Sharma writes in Ramana Smrti:
In 1935, I happened to work in Bangalore under a Polish engineer,
Maurice Frydman, who was a frequent visitor to the Ashram. In 1937, one
of his Dutch friends Dr.G.H.Mees [No.2], a scholar, told him that he was
not able to get clarification on certain points on Indian philosophy, despite
all efforts. Frydman suggested to him to go to Tiruvannamalai and meet Sri
Bhagavan, and I was to accompany him in the mission. Dr.Mees noted
down all his questions. We arrived at about 8.30 a.m. and sat down in the
hall in front of Bhagavan. Several devotees were putting questions and
Bhagavan was answering them. Dr.Mees kept silent. At 10.45 a.m. I
reminded him about his questions. He said that he no longer had any doubt
on any of his points.
G.V. Subbaramayya records in his book Sri Ramana Reminiscences:
Many Western visitors came for the jayanti celebrations of 1936.
One of them, Maurice Frydman, a Polish Jew of subtle intellect, plied
Bhagavan with ingenious pleas for practical guidance for self-realisation.
Bhagavan followed his arguments with keen interest but kept silent all the
Maurice Frydman 77
time. When pressed to say something, Bhagavan quoted from the Bible,
“Be still and know that I am God”, and added a rider that the Lord said,
“‘know’ and not ‘think’ that I am God.”
Extracts from Frydman’s poems:

I am at the end of the tether and can’t break the cord
All my going ahead is a deceitful dream,
All my thinking not true, all my feeling not pure,
All my doing not right, all my living not clear.
I am tied to myself by myself through myself,
The knot out of reach, I am in your hands.
There is a Heart and a mind, and a body and soul
Waiting for you. You will come when you choose,
And whatever you like you are welcome to do.

Heavy with the mud of many lands I was flowing lazily,

Making obstacles of myself out of my unholy accumulations.
Suddenly I awakened to the freshness of endless beauty,
And felt the eternal environment of endless peace.
My beloved I have found you, and yet never were we separated,
Every drop of my being is you and yours is the force of my flow,
Never are we apart and yet I always strive after you.
The flow of creation will go on with me or without me,
Only do not make me forget that I am none and that you only exist and
create in ever-changing mobility.

1. Reference here is to the spinning wheel used by Mahatma Gandhi, and at

his instance by millions of others in India to counter the use of imported
cloth.
2. Entry no.74, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramanasramam.
37
S. (Suleman) S. (Samuel) Cohen, an Iraqi Jew, was a qualified
accountant. He came to India in 1927 in search of the key to the
mystery of life. He worked in Bombay for a few years before
joining the Theosophical Society at Madras, where he heard of
the Maharshi and read some of his books. This worked as magic
and he adopted Sri Ramanasramam as his home in 1936. He died
in 1980, and lies buried in the Ashram campus. He is the author
of Guru Ramana, Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
and Residual Reminiscences of Ramana.
It was then the Ashram’s custom to honour the newcomer by
giving him his first meal in a line directly opposite the Maharshi’s seat.
After food, someone announced that the Maharshi was coming to the hall.
I rushed there. Behind me calmly walked in the tall, impressive figure of
the Maharshi with leisurely though firm steps. I was alone in the hall with
him. Joy and peace suffused my being, never before had I such a
delightful feeling of purity and well-being at the mere proximity of
a man. After a while, I saw him looking at me with large penetrating eyes,
rendered divinely soothing by their child-like innocence. I became
absorbed in the entrancing personality of this magnificent human
magnet – Sri Ramana Bhagavan. It is needless to say that from that day
Sri Ramanasramam became my permanent home.
A few days after my arrival, I sat in the hall almost alone after the
Maharshi’s return from breakfast. He saw a leather-bound book by my
side and asked me, “What book is that?” taking it, I guessed, for a scriptural
manual. I answered that it was a notebook. He chuckled and said to the
interpreter: “Vellai karan (the white man) does not move about without a
notebook.” This opening encouraged me to broach the subject of sex. I
said, “Last night Mr.Brunton and myself had a heated discussion on the
question of sex and marriage, especially as it affects the spiritual life. What
does the Maharshi think about it?”The Maharshi kept silent for a moment
and remarked, “As far as sadhana is concerned, brahmacharya means
dwelling in Brahman,” leaving me to take it as I willed.
I constructed a hut for my residence near the Ashram in March
1936. I hardly stayed in it in the daytime: my mind was wholly fixed on the
Master. So I spent my days and a part of my nights in the hall, where the
S.S. Cohen 79
Maharshi lived and slept. There I quietly sat and listened to the visitors’
talks with him and to his answers, which were sometimes translated into
English, particularly if the questioner was a foreigner or a North Indian.
His answers were fresh and sweet. His influence was all-pervasive in his
silence not less than in his speech.
To the serious-minded, Bhagavan was a beacon light in an
otherwise impenetrable darkness, and a haven of peace.
Bhagavan was the most liberal of gurus. At no time did he consider
the need to frame rules and regulations to control the lives of his disciples;
nor did he believe in a common, enforced discipline, for he himself had
attained the highest without them. He left his disciples completely free to
mould their lives as best as they could. This physical freedom considerably
helped me to tide over the first few difficult months of my new existence.
The years 1936-38 were very blissful indeed. We could gather
around Bhagavan’s couch, speak to him intimately as to a beloved father,
tell him our troubles without let or hindrance. Bhagavan related to us stories
yielding to transportation of emotions when he depicted a scene of great
bhakti, or great human tragedies to which he was sensitive to the extreme.
Then he shed tears, which he vainly attempted to conceal.
Some stories are memorable like that of Kabir1 who had siddhis
yet he earned his livelihood by weaving, which was his profession. One
day, when Kabir was working on his loom, a disciple entered in great
excitement and said, “Sir, there is a juggler outside who is attracting large
crowds by making his stick stand in the air.” Thereupon Kabir, who like all
true saints, discouraged the display of jugglery, wanting to shame the man,
rushed out with a big ball of thread in his hand and threw it in the air. The
ball went up and up unwinding till the whole thread stood stiff in mid air.
The people including the juggler were stunned in amazement, and
Bhagavan’s eyes acted the amazement, while his hand stood high above
his head in the position that of Kabir when he threw up the ball.
On another occasion, Bhagavan recited from memory a poem of
a Vaishnava saint, in which occurred the words ‘Fold me in thy embrace,
O Lord’, when the arms of Bhagavan joined in a circle round the vacant
air before him, his eyes shone with devotional ardour, while his voice shook
with stifled sobs which did not escape our notice. It was fascinating to see
him acting the parts he related, and be in such exhilarated moods as these.
The notion that the guru always watched his disciples continued
lurking in my mind. But as I discovered later, Bhagavan was doing nothing
of the kind. He was Supreme Detachment incarnate. The strict
aloofness which appeared to me at first as sheer callousness on the part of

the Maharshi, turned out across the years to be more potent in its action to
purify, guide, reform and mature the disciples’ consciousness than the guru’s
conscious interference. Without this detachment, the guru is bound to grow
partial and discriminative.
Renunciation and surrender is the cornerstone of sadhana,
and with the Maharshi it was the ‘completest.’ There were a number
of deluded deovtees who tried to ingratiate themselves with him, but
Bhagavan never deviated from the neutrality in his spiritual attitude towards
them. Answering spiritual questions he always did, but he never attempted
consciously to give Self-realisation to any in all the 14 years of my contact
with him, either by touch or mental projection or any other means.
Early mornings I went alone for Giri pradakshina – an eight-
mile trek around Arunachala hill, which took me almost three hours to
accomplish. This had its own special benefis. At that early hour I generally
was in a walking meditation mood, particularly as I expressly made a habit
of it. Another factor to a successful pradakshina and, to me, the greatest,
was the determination at the very start not to retrospect – not to look back
upon the past – throughout the walk. I would never allow memory to ruin
my calmness. Each time I caught memory sneaking in, I immediately
brought my attention to the rhythm of my footfalls till the mind regained its
restful state. The partial fatigue experienced in the latter half of the journey
automatically induced this mental rest without much effort.
Speaking of retrospection, sadhakas must be warned against the
tricks of memory. It cannot be too often recommended to them to forbear
looking into the past with its trials and errors, acts of omission and
commission, regrets, fears, passion, love and hatred, personal tragedies etc.
Everything is dust, everything transitory, including the seemingly indissoluble
human ties, more so wealth and fame, are thus not worth a moment’s
regret. Nothing is changeless and lasting but the natural state of Pure Being.
Three years rolled by. The Master used to pass by my hut almost
everyday. Often he took shelter from the midday sun on my verandah for
two or three minutes, during which I made myself scarce, in order not to
inconvenience him, till one day I foolishly placed a chair for his use on the
sly, which made him once and for all boycott the verandah. Despite his full
knowledge of our adoration for him, he was extremely sensitive to the
slightest trouble which might ensue from him to us, or, for that matter, to
any one: thus placing a chair for him, or expecting him everyday at a fixed
hour, he interpreted as interfering with my rest, hence the boycott.2
S.S. Cohen 81
After three years’ stay at the Ashram, I got Bhagavan’s permission

to go on a yatra to the South. He smiled approval and enquired about the
date and time of my starting, and whether I had made arrangements for
my stay in the various places of my visit. Extremely touched by his
solicitude, I answered that I was going as a sadhu, trusting to chance for
accommodation.
During my leisurely tour in south India, I visited temples and stayed
in holy places for long or short durations, as the spiritual mood took me.
Everywhere I was well received. Wherever I went Bhagavan’s name
acted like a charm, particularly as I had adopted the Indian dress from the
beginning (1936), lived in Brahmin streets, and ate Brahmin food. I even
for the time discarded the wearing of footwear, bathed in Hindu bathing
tanks and attended evening temple worship with the smearings on my
arms and forehead.
During my yatra I used to plunge in reflections on Bhagavan’s
blissful silence and calm repose. The stillness of his mind haunted me
wherever I went. I felt his influence in the depth of my soul and I cried:
“O Bhagavan, how mighty you are and how sublime and all-pervasive is
the immaculate purity of your mind! With what tender emotions do we,
your disciples, think of your incomparable qualities, your gentleness; your
serene, adorable countenance; your cool, refreshing smiles; the sweetness
of the words that come out of your mouth; the radiance of your all
embracing love; your equal vision towards one and all, even towards
stray animals!”
The influence of the Maharshi on genuine seekers, who leave the
world behind and turn pilgrims on the path of the Absolute, is indeed great;
for such aspirants touch a sympathetic chord in his soul, evoking spiritual
responses of great magnitude. A close friend of mine once related to me
his experience when a brief talk with the Master made him stop his fruitless
pursuit of the occult and take to the path of knowledge (jnana). In the
words of my friend:
“I was convinced that the Maharshi spoke from direct, valid expe-
rience and I made up my mind to speak alone with him, before the hall got
filled with devotees. It was eight in the morning. Bhagavan had just entered
and had hardly settled in his usual place, when I drew near his sofa and
squatted on the bare floor. Nothing, I knew, gave greater pleasure to the
Maharshi than to listen attentively to his devotees’ spiritual difficulties and
give his advice. This knowledge encouraged me to explain to him slowly
and briefly in clear, simple English the agitations of my mind. After I finished,
he remained pensive for a few seconds and then, in the same language but
with considerable deliberation, said, ‘Yes, you are right; all preconceptions
must go, practice alone will show you where the truth lies.’ Apart from the
words which he uttered, I was suddenly gripped by an overwhelming urge
to surrender unreservedly to him to guide me in my spiritual hunger. My
fate and all that I was, passed from that moment into the sacred hands of
Bhagavan forever.”
The constant influx of visitors was of some help in that it afforded
the much-needed relaxation to an otherwise tense life. Secondly, the peculiar
problems which visitors brought with them were a useful study – study of
the human mind and the endless ills to which it is subjected. The problems
of the mind and conditions which give rise to them are infinitely more
numerous than the variety which the physical universe presents to the
human sense. Moreover, watching the masterly way Bhagavan tackled
these problems was sadhana in itself. Rationality was the very essence of
his arguments whilst the ultimate answer to all the questions was always
the same, namely, ‘Find out who you are’. He first met every questioner
on his own ground, and then slowly steered him round to the source of all
problems – the Self – the realisation of which he held to be the universal
panacea.
Psychologists deal only with the working of the mind, but Bhagavan
goes to the source, the Self itself. It was a wonder that all visitors were
agreeably impressed by him, sometimes even without comp-
rehending the drift of his ideas.
People take siddhis as the sure sign of Perfection, but few
understand the subtle influence of the truly Perfect person, who without
the deliberate use of miracles, works out the transformation of the people
who come into contact with him, more so the genuine disciples, whom he
actually turns into muktas, or well on the way of mukti, something which
external siddhis are totally incapable of.
Many of those who have had the inestimable privilege of a
long stay with Bhagavan bear witness to the blessedness which his
mere presence conferred upon them.
The following brief extracts are from Cohen’s notes of Bhagavan’s
replies to questions in the 1930s and 40s. He says: Bhagavan always
spoke in Tamil, except when the questions were put in Telugu or
Malayalam, which he answered in the same language. The visitors
who knew none of these languages received answers through an
S.S. Cohen 83
interpreter in English.Although the Maharshi could read and

understand English well, he did not prefer to speak it.
The Real is ever-present, like the screen on which the
cinematographic pictures move. While the picture appears on it, the screen
remains invisible. Stop the picture and the screen will become clear. All
thoughts and events are merely pictures moving on the screen of Pure
Consciousness, which alone is real.
In a cinema-show you can see pictures only in a very dim light or
in darkness. When all lights are switched on, pictures disappear. So also in
the floodlight of the Supreme atman all objects disappear.
Think of God, attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait
till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will
have to wait for a very long time indeed.
It is every intelligent man’s experience that evil doing recoils on
the doer sooner or later. ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself ’ means that you
should love him, because he is your Self.
That which comes and goes, rises and sets, is born and dies is the
ego. That which always abides, never changes and is devoid of qualities is
the Self.
Pain and pleasure are to the ego, which is itself imagined. When
the ego disappears through a constant enquiry into its nature, the illusion of
pleasure and pain also disappears, and the Self alone remains.
Habits create the false notion that thinking is a permanent institution,
with which it is impossible to dispense, but enquiry and discrimination will
blast this fallacy. None succeeds without effort and the successful few
owe their victory to perseverance.
We are so accustomed to objectivity that we have lost the
knowledge of ourself simply because the Self cannot be objectified. We
are the Self, yet we ask how to know the Self.
I have never said that there is no need for a guru. All depends on
what you call guru. He need not be in a human form. Dattatreya had 24
gurus. The Upanishads say that none but a guru can take a man out of the
jungle of intellect and sense perceptions. Did I not sing hymns to Arunachala?
Guru is God or the Self. First a man prays to God to fulfill his desires. A
time comes when he will no more pray for the fulfilment of material desires
but for God itself. God then appears to him in some form or other, human
or non-human, to guide him to Himself in answer to his prayer and according
to his needs.
Meditation includes mind control, the subtle watchfulness against

intruding thoughts. In the beginning, efforts for control are greater than
for actual meditation, but in due course, meditation wins and becomes
effortless.
Heart is the seat of jnanam. It is represented in the physical body
by a hole smaller than the smallest pinpoint, which is always shut. When
the mind drops down in kevala-nirvikalpa3 it opens but shuts again after
it. When sahaja4 is attained it opens for good. The former is like the
mental bucket under the water, which can be pulled out any moment. The
latter is like the river that has linked up with the ocean from which there is
no return.
1. A great saint and top-ranking Hindi poet of 14th century who lived in Benaras.
2. Major A.W. Chadwick writes: In the early days of my stay (1935-36), I was living
in a big room adjoining the Ashram storeroom. Here Bhagavan often used to
visit me. On coming into my room unexpectedly he would tell me not to disturb
myself but to go on with whatever I was occupied at the time. I would remain
seated, carrying on with whatever I was doing at the time. I realize now that this
was looked upon as terrible disrespect by the Indian devotees, but it had its
reward. If one put oneself out for Bhagavan or appeared in any way disturbed
he just would not come in future; he would disturb no body, so considerate was
he. But if one carried on with what one was doing then he would himself take a
seat and talk quite naturally without the formality, which usually surrounded
him in the hall. I had no idea how lucky I was and how privileged, but certainly
appreciated the visits. A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi, p.23.
3. A high-level state of samadhi.
4. The highest level of samadhi.
38
K.K. Nambiar was Chief Engineer, Highways, Madras
Presidency. The Guiding Presence of Sri Ramana contains his
reminiscences.
In 1932, when I was an engineer at Salem, a friend of mine left
with me the booklet ‘Who am I?’ in Malayalam. There was a mention of
a ‘living Maharshi’ in the book. I had heard of the Maharshis in puranas
and doubted there could be one in flesh and blood living these days. A few
days later, when I mentioned about the booklet to Chettiar, President of the
Salem District Board, he confirmed the existence of the Maharshi, and a
trip was arranged to Tiruvannamalai.
K.K. Nambiar 85
We went to Sri Ramanasramam. On entering the hall I prostrated

before the Maharshi. Though no words passed between us, I felt an
indescribable influence and a sense of calmness settling over me. I
sat transfixed to the spot. Chettiar got up after about an hour and signalled
that it was time to go. We took leave of Bhagavan who nodded assent.
While leaving the Ashram, I felt that my heart was being
irresistibly attracted, as though by a mighty spiritual magnet towards
that Divinity in human form seated on the couch. My feeling at that
time can be best expressed in the words of poet Kalidasa: “The body goes
forward, but the restless heart runs backward like the cloth of a banner
which is being carried against the wind.” I prayed fervently that I might be
granted more opportunities to be with him. My prayer was answered. I
was posted as District Board Engineer of North Arcot with headquarters
at Tiruvannamalai.
During one of my trips to the Ashram, I made a contribution toward
a bhiksha.This meant feeding all Ashramites and visitors sumptuously.
Bhagavan also partook of the meal along with others. People started queuing
into the dining hall and I chanced to sit right in front of Bhagavan, who
gave me a gracious smile. I can still recall the ecstasy I felt while taking
meal right in front of Bhagavan, less than a yard separating our leaf-plates.
That was the happiest meal in my life.
By now my scepticism about a living Maharshi had vanished like
mist before the rising sun. My attitude towards work and play was
undergoing a beneficial change. I gave up shikar, vowing that I would not
kill any animal. The sudden change came when I shot a spotted deer and
brought it to the travellers’ bungalow of Hoganekal forest. In the adjacent
suite a swami was staying. Seeing the carcass, he spoke to me in a voice
choked with emotion, “Look at the eyes of the deer. How pathetic! Do not
kill such innocent creatures.” I took this intervention as an instruction from
Bhagavan himself.
By 1936, I had picked up courage to talk to Bhagavan now and
then. One of the first things I did was to place on record my complete
surrender to him, looking up to him as my sole protector and refuge. I
wrote a Sanskrit sloka on a piece of paper and after prostrating as usual,
placed the slip near his feet. The sloka meant: “I have no other refuge;
you are my only support Oh Ramaneshwara! Therefore have mercy on
me and protect me.” Bhagavan read it and gave it back commenting upon
the parody I had made of the well-known sloka. When I resumed my seat,
Bhagavan was steadily looking at me. The gracious look directed at me set
my mind completely at rest.
Not a day passed at the Ashram without some incident or other

depicting the mysterious ways in which Bhagavan was consoling and
comforting his devotees, clearing their doubts, imparting knowledge and
generally aiding them towards the goal of Self-realisation. Needless to say,
my faith in Bhagavan got intensified day by day. I looked up to him as God
in human form and surrendered all my cares to him. Gradually I lost interest
in visits to temples and allied rituals. More time was spent in meditation
while at the Ashram and also at home, when not preoccupied with other
pressing domestic or official matters.
One day, while sitting with eyes closed in meditation in the Hall I
had a sensation of numbness creeping all over my body and I saw my own
skeleton as in an x-ray picture. I spoke to Bhagavan about this. He said
that I should not give any attention to such things, but should intensely
continue the meditation without getting distracted.
During one of my visits, the Ashram authorities asked me to keep
company with Grant Duff [No. 7], nephew of a former Governor of Madras,
a philosopher and diplomat of high rank. He was sitting alone on a chair
outside Matrubhuteswara Samadhi shed. When I introduced myself as an
engineer in Government service, he congratulated me on having an
opportunity to be in Bhagavan’s presence frequently. He said that people
in this part of India and those born in this century were indeed lucky to be
able to meet Bhagavan – Divinity in human form. He said that he had
made a thorough comparative study of religions and had come to the
conclusion that the philosophy of Bhagavan alone could stand scrutiny in
the modern scientific age. In fact this was the thesis of his paper for the
International Philosophical Congress.
One day, some devotees were discussing the lure of siddhis
(supernatural powers) to a sadhaka. I asked Bhagavan, “Nowadays people
are so materialistically minded that they do not believe in any phenomenon
that cannot be explained in the light of scientific knowledge. The non-
believers could be easily converted and turned towards the spiritual path if
those possessing psychic powers exhibit some supernatural phenomenon
before their eyes. The miracles performed by Christ form the backbone of
the Christian faith. Why not modern saints do miracles likewise for the
salvation of mankind?” Bhagavan replied by putting a counter question,
“Did those saints of yore, referred to as having performed miracles, know
and act as though they were performing those miracles?”
Although Bhagavan was averse to the use and exhibition of any
mystical powers and had several times warned the devotees that craving
K.K. Nambiar 87
for or indulging in them will sidetrack them from their goal of Self-realisation,
miracles of some kind or other did happen at the Ashram or elsewhere.
When such things were pointed out to Bhagavan, his reply in general was
that such things happen due to Automatic Divine Action. I myself have
been a part of one such incident, which is as follows:
In 1944, I with my family went to Tiruvannamalai for Bhagavan’s
darshan and stayed with my friend, who was a Sub-divisional Magistrate.
When I was talking about my faith in Bhagavan and how he looks after his
devotees, my friend said, “Let us see about your journey back to Madras.
Getting accommodation in the connecting train at Villupuram is always a
gamble.” I said I had no worry, as Bhagavan would take good care of us.
At this he interjected, “Let us have a bet on this.” We alighted at Villupuram
and waited for the connecting train. When the train arrived, I went past all
the upper class compartments, but could find only two berths for my family
of five. I was all the while praying to Bhagavan. Musing to myself, I felt
like walking up to the front end of the train and found a first class bogie,
completely shuttered, being towed to Madras. I ran back along the platform
and spoke to the Ticket Examiner. When the railway official opened the
bogie, we found a compartment with all the six seats at our disposal. I
repeated ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya’. Later, my friend did
acknowledge that he lost the bet.
I helped the Ashram for procuring materials for construction
purposes, and also paper etc. for the bookshop. Bhagavan was aware of
and was watching the details of the construction work at the Ashram. For
example, once he asked me why I had arranged for a barrel of asphalt for
expansion joints. He also kept a watch on my official career and the nature
of the work I had to do. When I was recalled to the P.W.D. Highway
Department as Superintending Engineer, on the retirement of the then
European incumbent, Bhagavan asked whether I would be a loser in terms
of my emoluments. I replied that there could not be any reduction as per
rules. But despite all rules, I suffered reduction in my salary till I was
promoted as Chief Engineer.
On April 2, 1950, I dreamt Bhagavan lying on the bed in the nirvana
room talking to two persons. He could see me standing outside and told
those persons, “Nambiar is waiting outside, call him in.” On my entering
the room, Bhagavan got down from the bed and leaning on a walking stick,
walked outside followed by three of us. He took us to a spot parallel to the
Matrubhuteswara Shrine and drew a rectangle on the ground with his
walking stick, as though to indicate the place of his samadhi.
After Bhagavan’s mahanirvana on the night of April 14, a

large number of persons led by the sarvadhikari protested vehemently
against the idea of locating Bhagavan’s samadhi as a subsidiary to the
Mother’s shrine. They wanted a bigger shrine for Bhagavan. The
sarvadhikari told me, “You please keep these dreams and visions to
yourself.” Only after much argument and under heavy pressure he
had to give up.1
People who visited Bhagavan during his lifetime could not have
failed to observe the characteristic pose in which he reclined on the sofa
with eyes closed and his head supported with his left arm, particularly at
the time of Veda parayana. Some of us devotees sitting around used to
watch him intently during such periods.
On several occasions I used to pray mentally to him that on opening
his eyes, he should bestow a look at me and I must say I was never
disappointed. So, it was crystal clear to me that prayers to Bhagavan need
not be vocal, and he felt, knew and answered the inner prayer of all his
devotees.
There were also occasions when I sat at the feet of Bhagavan
and intently meditated on his form with closed eyes, and most often when
I opened my eyes, Bhagavan appeared to be watching me. It is a great
comfort even now to recall the experience of those exquisite moments
that stand out so vividly in my memory.
Bhagavan’s physical absence has been no handicap, for he
continues to guide me in dream visions, and in so many other ways.
1. Eventually, Bhagavan’s samadhi came up at the place he himself had indicated.

(See photograph no.15 of Sri Ramana’s shrine.)
39
Suri Nagamma (1902-80) is known for her 273 letters in Telugu,
written during 1945-50, at the behest of her elder brother, who
was an executive in a commercial bank and a devotee of Sri
Ramana. These letters faithfully record discussions the devotees
and visitors had with the Maharshi and happenings at the Ashram.
In addition to Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, her two other
books are: My Life at Sri Ramanasramam and Letters from and
Recollections of Sri Ramanasramam. Nagamma in a way acted as
Suri Nagamma 89
Sri Ramana’s secretary in regard to copying from scriptures,

writings etc., where Telugu language was involved.
My father passed away when I was four years old, and my mother,
when I was ten. When hardly eleven years, I was married. Only a year
later my husband passed away. As years rolled by, I began to understand
the ways of the world. Religious discourses, devotional songs and similar
matters began to attract me.
Being born in a village not having even an elementary school, I
looked after my education by learning to read and write with the help of
elders. I read Pothana’s Bhagavatam over and over again. One day I
prayed with all sincerity that I should have a siddha pursha like Kapila
Mahamuni1 for a guru. I wept and wept and getting tired, fell asleep.
During the sleep, I had the darshan of a sage seated in a padmasana
pose on a pedestal three feet high facing south with a mouna mudra like
Lord Dakshinamurthi.2 There was a holy aura around him. When I saw
that brilliant figure a thrill went down my spine. I tried to get up to offer my
salutations to him and so involuntarily opened my eyes. The vision
disappeared. That was in 1913. Since then I have had that vision imprinted
in my mind. Whenever I was reminded of that vision, I used to pray to God
that I should have the privilege of serving such a sage in my lifetime.
In 1941, my elder brother went on a pilgrimage to the South. He
happened to go to Tiruvannamalai also and have Bhagavan’s darshan.
Luckily for me, it occurred to him that I too would be greatly benefited by
going there. As the daughter of one of our uncles was at the Ashram after
her husband’s death, my brother agreed to send me there.
I entered the hall full of nervousness, bowed before Bhagavan
and sat with bent head in the place reserved for ladies. After about ten
minutes I lifted my head and found Bhagavan looking at me intensely. His
compassionate look calmed my mind, but as I could not withstand its intensity,
I involuntarily bent my head again. Though for the next ten days Bhagavan
had not spoken to me, I was deeply impressed by him. I found in him a
resemblance to the siddha purusha who had once came into my dream,
and also saw in him all the attributes of a jivanmukta as described in the
Vasistham and other vedantic books.
He seemed unattached to anything like water on a lotus leaf,
sparkling in the sun. As I observed Bhagavan from day to day, I felt convinced
that he was the person who could dispel my ignorance and that I should
surrender myself into his care. However, I could not summon enough
courage to say so.
One day, I took courage and wrote eight verses on saranagati

and, being afraid to handover them to Bhagavan personally, gave them to
his attendant Madhavaswami. The Master read the verses and said to
Madhavaswami, “Look, her name is Nagamma. These are verses on
saranagati, paste them in the book.”3 I felt very happy. I intuitively felt
that I have found my haven and decided to stay on at the Ashram
permanently.
After I received the grace of Bhagavan, like Ahalya getting rid of
her past ignorance by the touch of the dust of the holy feet of Sri Rama,
the darkness got dispelled from my mind. Bhagavan’s grace began to flow
towards me steadily like water flowing through a parched field, making it
blossom. I started my sadhana by enquiring into the origin of all thoughts.
Bhagavan gave me peace of mind and contentment.
It is natural for any devotee to sing praise of the guru after
receiving his grace. The tendency to write poems, which had been dormant
in me, began to come out. In 1943, I composed songs describing Bhagavan’s
life, which were sung before him. While going on the hill one afternoon, it
seems Bhagavan said to his attendant Rangaswami, “Look, people write
saying that I am this avatar and that. Do you know what Nagamma has
written? He is the omnipresent, omnipotent Self, and is born to show us the
path for realisation of the Self. Where is Vijayawada and where is
Arunachala? She has come from there and is staying here all alone. What
can we say about it? The nature of the people reveals itself according to
their samskaras. Her samskaras are like that.”
A few days later, I wrote four verses under the title ‘Prarthana’
and placed them before Bhagavan. Seeing them he began to laugh to
himself. Noticing this, Bhagavan’s another attendant Rajagopala Iyer asked
what had been written. With a smile he said, “These four verses are written
as a prayer. The second verse is amusing. It seems, after I left the hill and
settled down here, I have no monkeys to serve me. So, ‘why not accept
my mind which is a monkey for service? This monkey is after material
things. Tie it down or chastise it; but see that it does service to you.’ Adi
Sankara in Sivananda Lahari has written a sloka approximating to the
idea, wherein he says: “O, Lord Sankara! You are a bhikshu. Why not tie
down my mind, known as monkey, to your stick and go about begging?
You will then get alms in abundance.”
In 1943, I got a letter from my brother in Vijayawada asking me to
visit him. While Bhagavan was returning from the goshala, I approached
him saying that my relatives want me to visit them and I am afraid of
Suri Nagamma 91
falling again in the vortex of their family affairs. Smilingly Bhagavan said,
“When everyone is falling into us, where is the question of our falling into
others?” And walked away. I did not at that time understand the significance
of what Bhagavan had said till I reached Madras on my way to
Vijayawada. When I reached Madras, I found a message for me asking
me to wait till the arrival of my brother so that I may accompany them to
the Ashram, which they wanted to visit. I was greatly surprised.
Between 1943 and 1945, I wrote several verses such as
Nakshatramala, Arpana, Balakrishna Geetavali and Ramana Satakam.
I also commenced writing letters to my elder brother, as was desired by
him, about the happenings at the Ashram.
A lady from Andhra at the Ashram could sing melodiously. She
began singing devotional songs composed by reputable Andhra pandits
substituting the word Rama with Ramana. As the songs were pregnant
with meaning and she was an accomplished singer, everyone felt happy.
When asked, she said she herself had written the songs.
Some devotees asked her to write down the songs for translation
into English. She showed the songs to Bhagavan and requested him to get
them translated. Bhagavan merely handed them over to Munagala
Venkataramiah [author of the famous book Talks with Sri Ramana
Maharshi], who happened to be there at the time. Venkataramiah asked
me to explain the meanings of some difficult Telugu words. I agreed to do
so, and also told him that some elders wrote these songs about Rama long
ago. He straight went to Bhagavan, who smilingly said , “Oh! Is that so?
When I noticed the language and the great ideas behind them I thought
that ancient scholars must have composed them. What does it matter?
When people come here they feel like writing or singing something. Poets
write on their own; others copy the writings of someone else and substitute
Ramana for Rama. The words Rama and Ramana are one and the same.
So what do you say? Will you carry on with the translation?” Asked
Bhagavan. All kept quiet.
Servers in the kitchen usually devoted special attention to
Bhagavan. One night, milk pudding was prepared and a little more than
usual was served to Bhagavan. He burst out instantly: Again the same
nonsense. When it comes to serving Bhagavan, the ladle is immersed fully,
while it is immersed only half for others. How often have I told you not to
do so? When the ladle is in his hand, the server thinks he is powerful as the
District Collector and can do anything without fear. And Bhagavan went
on talking in that strain rebuking all concerned.4
One day in 1945-46, I went to the Ashram late in the afternoon.

Devotees were munching some ripe coconuts which had fallen on the
ground. As soon as Bhagavan saw me he said, “There she is, Nagamma
has come. Give her also a portion.” “Ayyo! It is all exhausted,” exclaimed
those nearby. Then Bhagavan called me near him and gave me all he
had in his hand. On my protest he said, “I have already eaten. Your share
only is leftover.” I accepted it as a mahaprasadam and ate it with relish.
To me it appeared like nectar. My joy was indescribable.
Once a devotee asked Bhagavan the significance of fasting. With
a benevolent look, he said, “If all activities of indriyas are given up, the
mind becomes single pointed. When such a mind gets concentrated upon
God, it is real upavasam. ‘Upa’ means near and ‘vasam’ means living.
Where is he going to live? He will live in his Self. Desires are the food of
mind. Giving them up is the upavasam. One who can ‘fast’ the mind, need
not fast the body. For those who cannot fast the mind, fasting the body has
been suggested so as to purify the mind.”
A lady devotee from Andhra staying at the Ashram, began to
conceive Bhagavan as Lord Krishna and herself as a gopika. She even
wrote to Bhagavan accordingly and started publicising about it. Bhagavan
remained untouched by such trivialities but I could not keep quiet after
seeing atrocious writings of her, which Bhagavan handed over to me. I
rebuked the lady. She flared up and began writing all sorts of nasty things
about me. On seeing them, Bhagavan said laughingly, “Here are the papers
from her. All about you only.” One day with tears in my eyes I told Bhagavan,
“I cannot read such letters. Please do not give me her letters,” and he
stopped doing so. Some days later the lady went berserk and her husband
had to be called to take her away.
Sometime in November 1949, I received a letter from her
enquiring about Bhagavan’s health as she had received reports about
his declining health. She had also apologised for what she had done to
me earlier, and requested for an early reply. I informed Bhagavan about
the letter. He simply said, “Is it so?” and kept quiet for about three
days.
During those days the usual graciousness in his look was absent
whenever I prostrated before him; instead he used to turn his face away
from me. It then occurred to me that the cause was my ill will towards that
lady, and not replying to her. I therefore immediately wrote back to her and
came to Bhagavan. When I got up after the usual prostration he looked at
me graciously. When I told him that I was coming after posting the letter,
Suri Nagamma 93
he told his attendants who were there, “Look, Nagamma has sent a reply
to that Telugu lady who had written to her that she had abused her sometime
back but now she realised her mistake and wanted to be excused and
know about Bhagavan’s health.” He thereafter turned to me with a benign
and benevolent look.
Narrating this incident I told someone that renunciation could never
be real if anger and resentment remained in the mind. Though the lady had
behaved senselessly, Bhagavan always had compassion for her. He also
made me understand in his inimitable way that I should not harbour any ill
will towards her.
When the summer set in, Bhagavan started staying all the time in
the Jubilee Hall.5 At midday, when it was hot, the attendants shifted
Bhagavan’s sofa to the north where there was a bower with crotons on
either side and water was sprinkled on khas-khas tatties 6 that were tied
around.
One afternoon I happened to go there. Bhagavan was seated with
a cloth over his body and the head. There was no one except his attendant
Krishnaswami. He was standing behind Bhagavan with a sprinkler in his
hand, which appeared to be full of rose water. He opened the screw cap to
sprinkle the rose water on Bhagavan like a light shower of rain. When
Bhagavan saw me, he said, “Look! They are doing abhishekam to me.
They have covered me with this wet cloth. They have tied tatties all around
and are sprinkling water thereon. This place is now cool like Ootacamund.”
After a while, Bhagavan in a reminiscent mood began to talk:
When I was in the Virupaksha Cave, we used to change over to
the Mango Cave during summer, as there was no water at the former. At
the Mango Cave, at midday, some women of the lower castes, with heavy
loads of grass on their heads and very tired, used to come in search of
water. Poor people, they start from their homes after taking a little gruel,
go up the hill and secure a head load of grass. As soon as they came to the
cave they would throw down their bundles, bend down and say, “Swami,
Swami, first throw a vesselful of water down our spines.” I would throw
water on them as desired, to make them recover from their exhaustion.
Then, making a cup of both the hands they would drink stomach-full of
water, wash their faces, take some rest and depart. They alone could
experience the happiness of it all.
When I enquired whether it was Bhagavan who poured the water,
he answered in the affirmative and added, “I knew they would be coming
at that hour and so I used to wait with the water. What could they do?
Being of low caste, they were not allowed to go near the tank and there
was no water anywhere else. The heat was unbearable. They could not
have food unless they sold the grass and got some money. They had children
at home. They must reach home quickly to look after them. What could
they do, poor people! They used to come to the cave in the hope that the
Swami will supply water. We were not cooking at that time. If any day we
did cook, we poured a lot of water into the rice while cooking and made
gruel by adding salt and ginger, if available. By the time they came, the
gruel water would be quite cool. When a tumbler of it was poured into
their hands, they drank it like nectar. They alone could know the taste of
that gruel and the happiness which followed the drink.” After saying this,
Bhagavan got filled with emotion and assumed silence.
1. Mentioned in the Bhagavatam.

2. Refer annexure-V on Dakshinamurthi, p. 415.
3. Big bound volume in the Ashram kept for this purpose.
4. Refer p.74 also for Sri Ramana’s displeasure in this regard.
5. The pandal erected outside the meditation hall at the time of the Golden Jubilee
celebrations in 1946.
6. Khas-khas is the grass obtained from the roots of a plant. It releases fragrance
and makes the air cool when water is poured on it. Tatties are like mesh made by
thin bamboo sticks in which the khas-khas is woven.
40
Arthur Osborne (1907-1970), an Oxford-educated Britisher,
had a high level of spiritual inclination since his university days.
He was the founder-editor of The Mountain Path. He edited
Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi and authored Ramana
Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge; Ramana-Arunachala;
My Life and Quest; Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings; and The
Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words.
He was greatly influenced by French philosopher Rene
Guenon, whose book La Crise du Monde Moderne was trans-
lated by him as The Crisis of the Modern World.
Osborne was a lecturer in English at a university in Bangkok.
In 1941 he came to India on long leave. While in Bangkok, Osborne
Arthur Osborne 95
had heard of the Maharshi and had received some of his writings
and photographs, which had ‘made a tremendous impact’ on him.
But as one of his Guenon group1 members, who had a house at
Tiruvannamalai reported to him that the Maharshi was not a guru
and did not give initiation, which he was looking for, he along with his
family went to other places in India for holidaying during his leave
period. When Osborne had to go back to Bangkok alone due to the
war condition, he left his wife and three children with his friend, David
MacIver 2 at Tiruvannamalai. Osborne came to Tiruvannamalai in
1945. Regarding the meetings his wife and he had with the Maharshi,
Osborne writes:
My wife entered the hall and sat down. Immediately, Bhagavan
turned his luminous eyes on her in a gaze so concentrated that there
was a vibration she could actually hear. She returned the gaze, losing all
sense of time, the mind stilled, feeling like a bird caught by a snake, yet glad
to be caught. She wrote to me that all her doubts had vanished; her objections
no longer mattered. She had complete faith. The most beautiful face, she
told me, looked commonplace beside him, even though his features
were not good. His eyes had the innocence of a small child, together
with unfathomable wisdom and immense love.
She felt Bhagavan’s power and guidance constantly. During the
years of our separation – most of those years with no news of one another
– she did not worry, although by temperament prone to worrying. When
offered a job she did not accept it: the time to go into the world would
come later; this was the time to be with Bhagavan.
Bhagavan was very gracious during these years both to her and
the children. They would come and show him their toys and tell their secrets.
In general, Bhagavan avoided touching people or being touched by them.
But each cool season when my wife brought the children back from the
hills, he touched Frania, the youngest, at some time or other, and once he
picked her up and carried her.
While communications were still open, I had received a letter from
my wife telling me that my eldest daughter Catherine and my son Adam
had gone to Bhagavan and asked him to bring me back safely and that he
had smiled and nodded. From then on, she said that she never doubted that
I should come out of it alive. There was also a letter from Catherine (seven
years), one of the most moving I have ever received. “Daddy, you will love
Bhagavan. When he smiles everybody must be so happy.”
Of all those I had known in the camp at Bangkok3 only Louis

Hartz, a Dutch, was drawn to Bhagavan and came to Tiruvannamalai.
Bhagavan was very gracious to him. He received initiation by look. Although
he was told by the devotees that this was Bhagavan’s mode of initiation,
he wanted to make quite sure and therefore said, “I want Bhagavan’s
initiation.” Bhagavan replied, “You have it already.”
This is the only occasion of which I know when Bhagavan explicitly
confirmed having given initiation. Hartz also desired an assurance from
Bhagavan. He perhaps feared that when he got back into life of the world
with all its distractions, his steadfastness might weaken. He asked Bhagavan
for some guarantee and was given the tremendous assurance: “Even if
you let go of Bhagavan, Bhagavan will never let go of you.” 4
Bhagavan did not immediately reveal himself to me. I felt far less
from his bodily presence than I had from his invisible support in the camp.
His photograph had been more real and vivid to me than any person, and
yet now that I saw him face to face I felt his presence much less.
I entered the hall before Bhagavan had returned from his daily
walk on the hill. I had expected something grander and less intimate. When
he entered, there was no great impression; certainly far less than his
photographs had made. Just a white-haired, very gracious man, walking a
little stiffly from rheumatism with a slight stoop. As soon as he eased himself
on the couch he smiled at me and then turned to those around and to my
young son and said, “So Adam’s prayers have been answered; his Daddy
has come back safely.” I felt his kindness but no more. I appreciated that it
was for my sake that he had spoken English, since Adam knew Tamil.
The change came a few weeks later at one of the yearly festivals.
There were huge crowds for the festival and we were sitting in the courtyard
outside the hall. Bhagavan was reclining on his couch and I was sitting in
the front row. He sat up, facing me, and his narrowed eyes pierced into me
with an intensity I cannot describe. It was as though they said, “You have
been told; why have you not realised?” And then I felt quietness, a depth
of peace, an indescribable lightness and happiness.
Thereafter, love for Bhagavan began to grow in my heart and I
felt his power and beauty. Next morning for the first time, sitting before
him in the hall, I tried to follow his teaching by using vichara, ‘Who am I?’
I thought it was I who had decided. I did not realise that it was the initiation
by look that had vitalised me and changed my attitude of mind. Indeed, I
had only heard vaguely of this initiation and paid little heed to what I had
heard. Only later did I learn that other devotees also had such an experience,
Arthur Osborne 97
and that with them also it had marked the beginning of the active sadhana
(quest) and Bhagavan’s guidance.
Then, for the first time in my life, I began to understand
what the grace and blessings of a guru could mean. My love and
devotion to Bhagavan deepened. I went about with a lilt of happiness in my
heart, feeling the blessing and mystery of the guru, repeating, like a love
song, that he was the Guru, the link between heaven and earth, between
God and me, between the Formless Being and my heart. I became aware
of the enormous grace of his presence. Even outwardly he was gracious
to me, smiling when I entered the hall, signalling to me to sit where he could
watch me in meditation.
And then one day a vivid reminder awoke in me: “The link with
the Formless Being? But he is the Formless Being.” And I began to
understand why devotees address him simply as ‘Bhagavan’. So he began
to prove in me what he declared in his teaching that the outer guru seems
to awaken the guru in the heart. The constant ‘Who am I?’ vichara began
to evoke an awareness of the Self as Bhagavan outwardly, and also
simultaneously of the Self within.
The specious theory that Bhagavan was not a guru had simply
evaporated in the radiance of his Grace. Moreover, I now perceived that,
far from his teaching not being practical guidance, it was exclusively that.
I observed that he shunned theoretical explanations and kept turning the
questioner to practical considerations of sadhana, of the path to be followed.
It was that and only that he was here to teach.
Bhagavan was the most simple, natural, unassuming of men; he
was what a man should be, quite without affectation, like a child; and at the
same time with an indescribable beauty and wisdom and with such power
that many trembled in his presence and feared to speak to him. To address
him in the third person as ‘Bhagavan’, seemed appropriate than saying
‘you’ to one who was leading us beyond the duality of ‘you’ and ‘I’. In
simple daily affairs he would play the part of an individual, just as an actor
could play Lear’s frenzy without himself being frenzied, without supposing
he was Lear.5 Unfortunately, few in the West understand the possibility of
this supreme state.
There was an air of modesty, of utter simplicity, a childlike
defencelessness in Bhagavan. The mere sight of him walking across
the Ashram ground was enough to grip the heart.
His manner of life was the most normal. The love that shone in his
eyes, the luminous understanding, cannot be described. Someone has come
to the Ashram broken down with the hopeless grief of bereavement, and
Bhagavan, after hearing the story simply looked, no word spoken, and
peace flooded the soul.
He called nothing as his. He never asked for anything. He refused
to have any special consideration shown to him. He refused to have an
electric table fan because the devotees would not benefit equally. Later,
ceiling fans were installed and all benefited alike. He never asked anyone to
come or told any to go. He never pressed any to stay. And yet he watched
over each one with the loving solicitude of a mother for her only child.
He was affable and courteous to all comers. There was no pontifical
solemnity in his expositions; on the contrary, his speech was vivacious. A
devotee asked why his prayers were not answered and Bhagavan replied
laughing, “If they were, you might stop praying.”
Bhagavan Sri Ramana was meticulously exact. His daily life was
conducted with a punctiliousness that Indians today would have to call
pure Western. In everything he was precise and orderly. The books were
always in their places. The loincloth, which was all he wore, was gleaming
white. The two clocks in the hall were adjusted daily to radio time. The
calendar was never allowed to fall behind the date.
He was Divine Grace in human form.While fully human, he
was fully in samadhi, fully divine, alike when talking and when sitting
silent. He merely responded according to the need of those who approached
him. He was all love, and yet for weeks together he might not favour a
devotee with a single look or smile.
Bhagavan was a jivanmukta, emancipated while yet in the
physical body. He was indeed the universal Divine Guru.
One who has attained the supreme state is above all forms of
religion. They are the paths leading up to the peak, but he is the peak
itself, and everything else. He came to answer the need of our age,
proclaiming a path which, with his grace and support, can be followed
by aspirants of any religion, and indeed whether they observed any
formal religion or not.
Bhagavan’s initiation was not given freely and openly; it was
concealed. Had it been open, the constant stream of visitors from India
and abroad would have demanded it, putting Bhagavan under the necessity
of accepting one and rejecting another; for ordinarily many seek initiation
without pledging themselves to the quest, merely as a sort of spiritual tonic.
If asked, Bhagavan would never deny that he gave initiation, but he would
also not openly affirm it.
Arthur Osborne 99
Being the universal Guru, Bhagavan proclaimed his teaching openly.

It has been usual for a guru to maintain secrecy about methods of training.
Under Bhagavan’s guidance, however, understanding and aspiration were
the only qualifications, and their absence the only barriers.
Man has three functions: thought, action and being. ‘Being’ underlies
the other two and is the necessary substratum for them, and yet is almost
completely overshadowed by them. The simile Bhagavan made use of
was of a cinema screen on which film is shown. The spectators become
aware of the picture, which are only shadows on the screen, which is
unaffected by them. A fire in the picture does not burn the screen nor a
flood makes it wet. Sometimes he gave the example of the actor on a
stage playing a certain part, although knowing that he is not really that
person; sometimes of a bank cashier who pays out thousands coolly and
efficiently, knowing that it is not his money that he is paying.
After two or three years at Tiruvannamalai, when it became
necessary to earn an income, I took up a job as an assistant editor of a
newspaper in Madras.Thus, a period of intensive training was followed by
the practice of Self-enquiry in the life of the world. I took with me a life-
sized reproduction of the photograph painted over in oils, a gift from a
devotee, and showed it to Bhagavan before leaving. He took it in his hands
and then gave it back to me saying, “He is taking Swami with him.” Since
then it has looked at me with the love and compassion of a Guru and
spoken more profoundly than all other portraits.
Thereafter I went to Tiruvannamalai only for weekends and
holidays, and each visit was revitalizing. The graciousness of Bhagavan’s
reception melted the heart and awoke a feeling of guilt as to how
great was the reward for so little effort made. I was there on that
fateful April night of the body’s death. Since that day his presence in the
heart has been more vital, the outpouring of the grace more abundant, his
support more powerful.
After bringing out some books on Bhagavan, Osborne shifted to
Calcutta in 1952 as a school headmaster. He narrates the post-
mahanirvana experiences of himself and his family:
One June morning in 1956, the first awakening to Reality occurred.
I was alone in the room when I woke up and sat up in bed. I just was – my
Self, the beginningless, immutable Self. I had thought ‘nothing is changed’.
There was no excitement, no joy or ecstasy, an immeasurable contentment,
the natural state, the wholeness of simple being. There was the thought: ‘It
is impossible ever to be bored.’ The mind seemed like a dark screen that
had shut our true consciousness and was now rolled up and pushed away.
It is the mind that craves activity and feels bored when it does not get it;
the Self is untouched by activity and abides in its pristine state of simple
happiness.
From the window of my room in Calcutta I saw the roofs of
houses with crows wheeling between them. Again there was a paradox,
the feeling that all this was at the same time both real and unreal. This is
a paradox that has been much commented on, because it is stressed in
Zen teachings. It is what Tennyson was trying to express in the line of
‘The Princess’ where he says: ‘And all things were and were not’.
I do not know how long the experience lasted. In any case, while
it lasted it was timeless and therefore eternal. Imperceptibly the mind closed
over again, but less opaque, for a radiant happiness continued. I had my
bath, dressed and went into the sitting room, where I sat down and held the
newspaper up in front of me as though I was reading it. I was too vibrant
with happiness really to read. The after glow continued for several weeks,
only gradually fading out.
At about the same time my wife also had a glimpse of Realisation.
It was a great help and support to be together on the path and often our
experiences tallied. My daughter Frania (24 years) also had a glimpse
some eighteen months later. A Tamilian devotee living in Calcutta had
invited us to a celebration of Bhagavan’s jayanti. There was singing of
religious songs. I could see from the beauty and serenity of Frania’s face
that she was enjoying an exceptionally good meditation. Later I learned
that it was even more than that; when she wrote it down: “I am not the
mind nor the body – found myself in the heart; the me that lives after
death. There was a breath-taking joy in the feeling ‘I am’, the greatest
possible joy, and the full enjoyment of existence. No way to describe it.
Gradually – rapidly – my body seemed to be expanding from the heart. It
engulfed the whole universe. I couldn’t identify myself as any speck in
that vastness, there was only God, nothing but God. The word ‘I’ had no
meaning any more; it meant the whole universe – everything is God, the
only reality.”
Osborne left Calcutta for Tiruvannamalai in 1958, where he settled
for good. He wrote many books and was the founder-editor of The
Mountain Path from 1964 till his death in 1970, when his wife Lucia
succeeded him as editor till the end of 1973. Osborne wrote a large
number of poems on Bhagavan and Arunachala. A representative
Arthur Osborne 101
piece out of these is given below:
Heart of my being, seen outwardly as one

In human form, to draw my human love,
Lord Ramana, Guru, the risen Sun,
Self Manifest, the Guide of all who rove
Lost and alone
In tangled thought and vain misgivings.

Such have I known,

Him of lustrous eyes, Him whose sole look
Pierced to the heart, wherein the seed was sown
Of wisdom deeper than in holy books
Of Truth alone
Not to be learned but lived.

Thou art the Sun of suns,

Dispel my darkness,
Grant me wisdom, I beseech Thee
Shake me out of this torpor
I beseech Thee, Bhagavan.

A prey to my unsteady mind

I lack patience, I lack constancy, I lack purity.
Forgive the grievous wrong of that poor self,
And do as Thou wilt, Thou who knowest best.
But grant me only ever increasing love
For Thy Feet.

1. Followers of French philosopher Guenon, who said: ‘Being is one, and therefore
by realising your true Self you realise your identity with Divine, the Universal
Being.
2. No.126 relates to Mrs.MacIver.
3. The Japanese had put him and many foreigners in a concentration camp.
4. Sri Ramana never used any personal pronoun while referring to

himself. He mostly used the word as employed by the party addressing
him, which usually was ‘Bhagavan’.
5. Reference is to Shakespeare’s play King Lear.
41
Prof. G.V. Subbaramayya who taught English at a College in
Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, was also a scholar of Telugu. He was
one of the privileged few who moved with Sri Ramana with childlike
familiarity. His writings include rendering of Kalidasa’s Megha-
Doota into Telugu verse and collection of his English poems in
two volumes. His Sri Ramana Reminiscences was originally written
in Telugu. He translated Sri Ramana Gita into Telugu.
My first visit to Sri Ramanasramam was in June 1933. In the
previous December I had suffered bereavement when my two-year-old
son died suddenly. I had been reading the works of Sri Ramana and was
struck with wonder at the style of Telugu Upadesa Saaram, which in its
simplicity, felicity and classic finish could equal that of the greatest Telugu
poet Tikkana. I had felt convinced that a Tamilian who could compose
such Telugu verse must be divinely inspired, and I wanted to see Him.
But my immediate quest at the time was for peace and solace. I
had darshan of Sri Bhagavan in the Hall. As our eyes met, there was a
miraculous effect on my mind. I felt as if I had plunged into a pool of
peace, and with eyes shut, sat in a state of ecstasy for nearly an
hour. When I came to normal consciousness, I made bold to ask Him a
question: “The Gita says that mortals cast off their worn-out bodies and
acquire new bodies, just as one casts away the worn-out clothes and wears
new garments. How does this apply to the death of infants whose bodies
are new and fresh?” Bhagavan promptly replied, “How do you know that
the body of the dead child was not worn-out? It may not be apparent; but
unless it is worn-out it will not die.”
After a gap of three years, I went again to the Ashram with a note
of introduction. Bhagavan gave me a knowing nod and gracious smile and
said, “Why the introduction? You have come before. You are not new.” To
add to my wonderment, I now felt as though my dead father had come
back alive; the resemblance was so striking. That settled my relationship
G .V. Subbaramayya 103
to Sri Ramana for all time. My approach to Him has ever since been that
of a child to its parents, quite fearless, free and familiar.
After returning home, I wrote to the Ashram offering my literary
services. In reply I was asked to attempt a Telugu verse-translation of Sri
Ramana Gita. In Dasarah vacation, I offered the completed translation
at the feet of Bhagavan, who at my request scrutinized the manuscript and
made the necessary corrections. On the eve of my departure, I told
Bhagavan the suffering of my wife who was grief-striken by the
bereavement.“Has she no male child afterwards?” enquired He. I replied
“No”. Bhagavan sighed and said, “Alas! What a pity!” This took place on
October 18, 1936. My wife delivered a male child on August 1, 1937.
Later, seeing me busy with Sri Ramana Gita, Bhagavan jokingly
observed, “For your college work you draw a salary. What is your payment
for this labour?” I replied that I sought a much higher reward than monetary
remuneration. Curiously, I received a surprise offer next month of Chief
Examinership. It was so unexpected that in the circumstances I regarded
it as a miracle of His grace.
V.Ananthachari took immense pains in the printing of the Telugu
Sri Ramana Gita.When his services were appreciatively referred to in
the preface, he pleaded hard with Bhagavan that his name should not be
mentioned. Bhagavan told him, “Why do you worry? To ask for the omission
of name is as much egotism as to desire its inclusion. After all, who knows
who is Ananthachari?”
One morning, M.V.Ramaswami Iyer [No.94], who was sitting
beside me in the Hall, happened to go through my notebook which contained
my free verse compositions in English. He was so pleased that he at once
showed them to Bhagavan, who read aloud the piece “I and Thou”, and as
He reached the last words: “I without me am Thou. Thou without Thee art
I. Indeed I and Thou are one.” He burst into laughter. I casually quoted
Tagore’s song: “I run like the musk-deer, mad with my own perfume. I
seek what I cannot get, I get what I do not seek.” Bhagavan liked it so
much that He explained its meaning to His devotees in Tamil.
I enquired whether Poetry and other Fine Arts could be used as
a sadhana (means) for Self-realisation. Bhagavan said, “Anything that
makes for concentration of mind is a help. But in the cultivation of every
Art, there comes a stage when you feel that you have had enough of it,
and you would then transcend it.” When I pointed out that some learned
persons consider rasa (aesthetic pleasure) as Brahmananda sahodaram
(akin to the Bliss of the Absolute), Bhagavan said, “Why sahodaram
(akin)? It is Brahmananda itself. For have not the scriptures proclaimed

raso wai sah (He is rasa)? Indeed Brahmananda is the real rasa.All
other rasas are only its shadows.”
The morning before I left, Dr. Syed, Professor of Philosophy,
Allahabad University [No.23], asked Bhagavan, “What is the purpose
of creation?” Usually Bhagavan gave replies in Tamil, Telugu or
Malayalam. This time He spoke directly in English, and asked, “Can
the eye see itself?” Dr. Syed replied, “Of course not. It can see
everything else, but not itself.” To Bhagavan’s question that “if it wants
to see itself”, he said, “It can see itself only in a mirror.” Bhagavan
then commented, “That is it. Creation is the mirror for the ‘I’ to see
itself.”
At Bhagavan’s instance I translated into Telugu verse His
selections from Yoga Vasistham. In the last verse which says, ‘whatever
part you have taken in life, play it well,’ I added in Telugu rendering the
phrase saisava lila (the sport of childhood). Bhagavan appreciated it by
saying, “It was a happy phrase and correctly portrays the attitude of mind
one should cultivate according to the slokas. Has not the Christ said, ‘Unless
thou be as children, thou shalt not enter the Kingdom of God?’”
Having learnt that Dr.Rajendra Prasad [Later President of India]
and Jamana Lal Bajaj [Treasurer, Indian National Congress] were coming
for Bhagavan’s darshan, I wrote and sent two verses in Telugu saying
that their visit to the Ashram was in keeping with the ancient Indian tradition
of rulers being entertained in the rishi ashramas. The Ashram in their
reply of August 16, 1938 wrote: “Sri Rajendra Babu was entering the Hall
when Bhagavan was reading your letter. How happy it would have been if
the whole country had but one language! Two stanzas were much
appreciated and have gone into the record.”
One morning Bhagavan quoted from a journal the following
sentence, “Where psychology ends, philosophy begins”, and added His
own remark, “Where philosophy ends spirituality begins.” When someone
asked how the sensuous, intellectual and spiritual joys are correlated,
Bhagavan said, “All other joys are like the foam and bubbles to the ocean
of Brahmananda (the joy of the Absolute).”
Bhagavan obeyed every Ashram rule scrupulously. When, for
instance, the dinner bell rang in the middle of some singing or parayana,
He would immediately get up saying jocularly, “The Ashram is giving
bhiksha out of grace. If we delay, they will be justified in refusing to
serve us food. So let us hasten!”
Bhagavan spoke commending the practice of going round the

Hill. He said, “Other sacred hills are described as the abodes of some
deity. But Arunachala is God Himself in the shape of a Hill. So special
sanctity attaches to going round Arunachala.”
One Somasundaraswami approached Bhagavan with a new
notebook and requested him to write one aksharam (letter) in it first.
Aksharam also means the indestructible (Self). So Bhagavan wrote in
Tamil, “One aksharam shines always of Itself in the Heart. How could it
be written?”
Once Bhagavan narrated in a most dramatic and thrilling manner
the story of King Janaka and Sage Ashtavakra to show how self-surrender
automatically brings about Self-realisation. Having read in the scriptures
that the Self could be realised in the interval between a rider putting one
foot in the stirrup and raising the other foot for mounting the horse, the king
summoned all pandits in his kingdom, who having failed to answer him
satisfactorily brought Sage Ashtavakra to save themselves.
The Sage asked the king to follow him alone with a horse outside
the city, where he asked Janaka to place one foot in the stirrup and raise
the other foot, and then said, “Now comes the supreme condition, you
must surrender yourself. Are you willing?” Janaka said, “Yes.” From that
moment Janaka stood transfixed with one foot in the stirrup and the other
dangling in the air, apparently like a statue. (Here Bhagavan imitated the
posture of Janaka). King’s people seeing him in that state begged the Sage
to show grace. Then, as the Sage said, “Janaka, why are you like this?
Ride home on the horse,” he rode home and obeyed the Sage in everything
like a bonded slave.
One day, while going up the Hill, Bhagavan referred to the
misunderstanding between two prominent devotees and wanted me to
convey to them the following message: “Whoever condemns us is our
friend. For he condemns only our body, which is our enemy. The enemy’s
enemy is the best friend. We should really beware of those who praise
us.” The next morning I met the two devotees to convey Bhagavan’s
message. Even before I opened my mouth, they both expressed their
eagerness to make up their quarrel.
One morning at breakfast, Bhagavan asked me, “Do you know
this chutney?” I replied, “No. It tastes excellent though.” He smiled and
said, “It is bitter-gourd.” It could hardly be believed but for Bhagavan
saying it, because it had no trace of bitterness. On the other hand, it was
very palatable. Then I composed a Telugu verse expressing wonder how
Bhagavan could remove bitterness so completely from raw bitter-gourd,

and praying that He might likewise wipe out the bitterness of ego from
within us. As soon as he returned from his usual walk on the Hill, I showed
him the piece. He explained that sour mango and coconut were mixed to
counteract and suppress the bitter taste in the chutney, and added, “Bitter-
gourd is good for digestion and it also acts as a laxative.”
In the evening Bhagavan referred to the description of the Self as
“the smallest of atoms, the biggest of big things.” He said, “The hailstone
falls in the ocean. At once it melts and becomes the ocean itself. Likewise,
the source of the Self is a pinpoint. When it is searched for, it disappears,
and only the fullness remains.”
The next day Bhagavan casually narrated the story of Mira Bai’s
visit to a well-known swami in Mathura, whose disciples refused her
permission for darshan on the ground that their guru did not meet women.
Mira Bai observed: “I thought that there is only one Purusha [her Girdhar
Gopal] and all the rest of us are women.” When these words were
communicated by the disciples to the guru, he at once realised that Mira
Bai was a jnani, and he came out and saluted her.
At the time of Bhagavan’s shashtipurti in December 1939, when
I reached the Ashram, I was suffering from severe partial headache, which
was the aftereffect of a fever. A devotee friend noticing signs of suffering
on my face, enquired about my ailment in a loud tone. I came out of the
Hall and told him about my trouble. As soon as I returned to my seat, Sri
Bhagavan enquired what the matter was and got details of my disease and
treatment. Unable to sit on account of pain, I went and lay behind a shelf
in the bookstall. At about 10 a.m. an Ashram worker brought coffee for
someone and missing him, pressed me to take it. The moment I drank it,
the pain suddenly subsided and never recurred afterwards.
One day in December 1939, Devaraja Mudaliar [No.35], an
intimate devotee, asked how Bhagavan could observe distinction among
His devotees. “For instance”, he added, “Shall we be wrong if we say that
Subbaramayya is shown a little more favour than others?”Bhagavan
smilingly replied, “To me there is no distinction. Grace is flowing like the
ocean ever full. Every one draws from it according to capacity. How can
one who brings only a tumbler complain that he is not able to take as much
as another who brought a jar?” Once Bhagavan quoted two Tamil verses
of poet Muruganar [No.53], and explained them as follows: (i) That which
is said to be beyond the beyond and which is at the same time inside of the
inside and shines within the Heart itself, the Real Self is verily Sri Ramana,
do adore Him. (ii) Like the cock that throws aside the diamond taking it to
be a pebble, you may also belittle this Arunachala Ramana mistaking Him
for a common fellow man, while He is really the Supreme Self. So beware!
In June 1940, I was blessed with the rare good fortune of working
with Bhagavan in the kitchen, where He would come punctually at 2.30
a.m. and spend some time in cutting vegetables with the workers and
devotees. Then He would prepare sambhar or chutney for breakfast, and
occasionally some extra dishes also. As I saw Bhagavan perspiring
profusely near the oven, I tried to fan Him, but He objected. He would not
allow any special attention to be shown to Him. I stopped, but as He got
engrossed in work, I gently repeated fanning. He turned to me, laughed
and said, “You want to do it on the sly. But do not even know how to do it
effectively; let me teach you.” So saying He held me by the hand and
taught me the proper way of waving the fan. Oh! How I was thrilled at
His touch and thanked my ignorance! From the kitchen He would adjourn
to another room for grinding the mixture. I did not know at first how to hold
the pestle and grind. Bhagavan placed His hand upon mine and turned the
pestle in the proper way. Again, what a thrill! How blessed was my
ignorance! After the work was finished, He would take out a bit from the
dish, taste a little and give us the remainder to taste, and sometimes when
our hands were unwashed, He would Himself throw it into our mouths.
That would be the climax of our happiness.
One day, at about 3 a.m. when we were with Bhagavan, I was
called and told that a party of women and children from my area wanted
Bhagavan’s darshan and blessings, before starting to go round the Hill.
When I went inside after curtly telling them that it was impossible to see
Him at that time, Bhagavan asked me what the matter was, and said,
“Poor people! Why should they go away disappointed? Tell them to come
to the back door and I shall meet them there.” When informed, they ran
there. The whole party fell at His feet, touched them, kissed them and
bathed them with tears. I envied the good luck of the party and realised the
full force of calling Him karunapurna sudhabdhi (the nectareous ocean
of grace).
It was June 10, 1940. Bhagavan, Narayana Iyer [No.100] and
myself were at work in the grinding room. When the radio announced the
fall of Paris to Germany, Narayana Iyer observed, “France, a first-rate
power has fallen in three days. Then do you think our Britain could hold
out longer than three weeks at the most?” Upon this, Bhagavan observed,
“Um! But Russia.” Abruptly, He cut short His speech and resumed silence.
Neither of us had the courage to ask Him what Russia was going to do,
though it appeared strange that He should mention Russia who was at that
time friendly to Germany. It will be remembered that war broke out between
Germany and Russia only one year afterwards, and it was Germany’s
attack on Russia that turned the tide of fortune in favour of the Allies. This
incident affords a peep into the omniscience of Bhagavan.
As kitchen workers failed to carry out certain directions of
Bhagavan to avoid wastage, He discontinued going to the kitchen. When
no amount of apologies and entreaties made Him change His decision, I
wrote a Telugu poem Pakasala Vilapam1 which He read out dramatically,
enacting the scene in the poem, but did not change His decision. He laughed
and told me, “Things happen as they must. It is all for good. These people
must not always hang upon me. They must learn to do things by themselves.
So don’t you worry about it.”
Once, after my wife’s death in 1942, I complained to Bhagavan
saying, “Nowadays she does not even appear to me in dream. So even
that comfort is denied to me.” At this Bhagavan said, “What! Do you find
comfort in a dream vision?” “Yes! Bhagavan, I should be a hypocrite if I
hid my real feeling.” On hearing this, He sighed and kept silent.
That night when I lay opposite where Bhagavan was sleeping, I
dreamt a big choultry. The door was ajar. A group of elderly Brahmins
blocked the entrance and were peeping in. I heard my old uncle of Benaras
saying, “Look there. She is the eldest daughter-in-law of the house. She is
not an ordinary woman. She is all gold.” On hearing this, I too was
impelled by curiosity to stand tiptoe behind the Brahmins and beheld my
dear, departed wife. She was seated on the floor, and I must confess that
never when she was alive did I have such a clear and vivid vision of her as
now. A flood of bliss engulfed me for how long I knew not, until there
suddenly rushed upon me the consciousness that it was all dream.This
thought let loose on me such overpowering sorrow that I started sobbing.
It was then 5 a.m. Bhagavan noticed me and asked “What, why
are you like that? Did you have the dream?” Then He said, “Why do you
grieve now? You wanted the dream vision and you had it. You thought it
would bring comfort, instead it has proved a crushing grief.” As if to divert
my mind, He enquired, “Did you observe anything beside the choultry?”
On hearing this query, I recollected that there was a big river
flowing nearby and I told Him so. Then He remarked that the river might
be the Ganges and the place Benaras. His words somehow had a soothing
effect on my nerves, and lifted the load of sorrow from my heart. That
morning I got a letter from the same uncle of Benaras reminding of the
date for my wife’s monthly ceremony and asking me to return home in
time. When I showed the letter to Bhagavan, He said, “This is really
wonderful. This uncle of yours pointed out your wife early this morning,
and again now he is pointing to her in this letter.”
The whole incident was a grand mystery and made me recollect
the famous lines of Shakespeare in his play Hamlet: “There are more
things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
On April 19, 1950, a devotee returning from the Ashram
informed me that on account of the vast crowds that flocked for
Bhagavan’s darshan during his last days, the Ashram provisions were
utterly depleted and the Ashram was badly in need of rice. He urged
that we both should approach some rich friends. As I was then connected
with the University Examinations, I was unwilling to go to anyone for
any obligation. He then suggested that I might approach at least
N.Venkata Reddy, a philanthropist, who was my old student. But I was
reluctant even for that.
Early the next morning what was my wonder to see Venkata
Reddy himself drive to my house for the first time since he had been
a student many years ago. He said that he came to consult me
regarding the scheme for a poor students’ scholarship fund that he
wanted to institute. He casually noticed the picture of Bhagavan
hanging in front and referring to His recent mahasamadhi he enquired
whether I would go to the Ashram to attend the ceremonies performed
after death. I replied in the affirmative and asked whether he would
be willing to contribute rice needed for the occasion. He at once
replied, “Yes Sir. What greater good can I do than that? I shall carry
out whatever you suggest.” And as suggested, he sent 1200 kgs of
rice to the Ashram. A few days later, another friend volunteered to
contribute 600 kgs.
This incident was a godsend to me. For, after the demise of
Bhagavan I was passing through the worst depression of mind and
spirits. I was feeling like the Pandavas after the passing away of Sri
Krishna. I thought that I was now utterly helpless and that the usefulness
of my life was at an end. This incident came as an eye opener:
Bhagavan was still as powerful as when in flesh and blood and,
moreover, was pleased to use me still as His instrument.
1. ‘The agony of the kitchen on being deserted by Sri Ramana.’

42
Major A.W. Chadwick O.B.E. (1890-1962) was in the British army
serving in South America. After getting captivated by Brunton’s
A Search in Secret India (no.1), he resigned his post, came to Sri
Ramanasramam in November 1935, and remained there for good.
He became Sadhu Arunachala and lies buried in the Ashram
campus. He rendered into English all the original works of Sri
Ramana, which were perused by the Maharshi himself. He
authored A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi (1961).
When I first entered the Hall, he greeted me with his lovely smile
and asked if I had my breakfast, and then told me to sit down. Bhagavan
talked to me the whole morning and asked me many questions about my life
and myself. All this seemed quite natural. He was very interested to hear
about Brunton whom I had met in London. I felt the tremendous peace of
his presence, his graciousness. It was not as though I was meeting him for
the first time. It seemed that I had always known him. In spite of being
entirely new to India and its customs, nothing that happened in the first days
of my stay at the Ashram seemed strange to me; it was all quite natural.
Whenever people came to Bhagavan with their family stories he
would laugh with the happy, and at times shed tears with the
bereaved. He never raised his voice. He would never touch money
because he never had need of it and was not interested in it. He
preferred every sort of simplicity and liked to sit on the floor, but a
couch had been forced upon him and this became his home for most of the
twenty four hours of the day.1 He would never, if he could help it, allow
any preference to be shown to him. If any attachment to anything on earth
could be said of him, it was surely to the Hill.2 He loved it and said it was
God itself.
Bhagavan was invariably kind to all animals. Snakes and scorpions
were never allowed to be killed. For dogs he always had a tender spot. At
one time a small puppy would always relieve itself near the office.The
sarvadhikari got furious and tried to drive it out of the Ashram. Bhagavan
came to its rescue saying that if some child did the same thing nobody
would be angry, and the puppy was only a child and knew no better. He
seemed specially to love monkeys and often said that in many ways they
were better than human beings. He would often give directions that they
A.W. Chadwick 111
should be fed, and encouraged them in many ways to the annoyance of the
management to whom they were a great nuisance. He also told us how, at
times, people would reincarnate in the body of some animal just for a
chance to be near him. There is, of course, the famous example of Lakshmi,
the Ashram cow.3
Bhagavan was a very beautiful person; he shone with a
visible light or aura. He had the most delicate hands I have ever seen
with which alone he could express himself, one might almost say talk. His
features were regular and the wonder of his eyes was famous. His forehead
was high and the dome of his head the highest I have ever seen. His body
was well-formed and of only medium height, but this was not apparent as
his personality was so dominant that one looked upon him as tall. He was
always scrupulously clean and his body gave off a faint perfume,
though he never used any scented soap.
Bhagavan always radiated tremendous peace, but on those
occasions when crowds were attracted to the Ashram such as Jayanti
and Deepam,4 this increased to an extraordinary degree. The numbers
seem to call up some reserve of a hidden force, and it was a great experience
to sit with him at such times.5
Bhagavan had a great sense of humour, and when talking a smile
was never far from his face. He had many jokes in his repertoire and was
a magnificent actor; he would always dramatize the protagonist of any
story he related. When the recital was very pathetic he would be filled
with emotion and could not proceed.6
On the question of attaining Self-realisation, Bhagavan told me
that in the early stages a person who was regularly meditating would usually
at first go into a trance which would probably last for some thirty minutes,
and if he continued with his tapas properly, such samadhi would become
more frequent. A person can still carry on with the ordinary day-to-day
business but he no longer identifies himself with the activities, but watches
them like a dreamer watching a dream.
While knowing Bhagavan’s teaching, that all is only an appearance
and a creation of mind, I found his teaching on dreams hard to understand
and would often question him on the subject. The waking state seemed to
me continuous, going on from day-to-day. I awoke into the same world
each day whereas my dreams were always different, they were distinct.
However, Bhagavan never accepted this distinction and repeated that the
criticism only arose in the waking state and never in that of dreams. Then
I myself had a dream:
I was having an argument with somebody on the subject of dreams

and in the course of this I said, “Whatever you say, Bishop Berkeley was
right, things are only in the mind, there is no reality outside that. Things do
not exist; so dream and waking experience must be exactly the same.
They are only mental concepts.” “You say that now”, the other replied,
“but you would not talk like that in a dream.” And then I woke up. The
whole thing was intensely vivid.
Some people would fail to see how this applies to the above. But
the point is that the dream was so real that I never questioned it to be
anything but the waking state. The two were exactly the same.
Bhagavan said that the mind was like a monkey, never still for one
second, it was an almost hopeless task to try and quieten it; the best thing
to do was to give it a productive employment and never allow it to fritter
itself away. Let it concentrate on ‘Who am I’? And then there will be no
room for any other thought.
Many people identified Bhagavan with Dakshinamurthi, the
silent Guru,7 who gave the instruction to four Kumaras in silence;
because no word can express that which is beyond all words and no
mind can grasp that which is beyond mind. How eloquent silence could
be for the seeker can be illustrated by the following episode, which I
witnessed personally.
A gentleman from Kashmir came to the Ashram with his assistant
who could not speak a word of any other language except his native
Kashmiri. One night when the Hall was almost dark except for the pale
glimmer of a single hurricane lantern, the assistant came into the Hall and
stood before Bhagavan in a respectful manner jabbering something rapidly
in his language. Bhagavan said nothing but lay quietly gazing at him. After
a while, the assistant saluted and left the Hall. Next morning his master
came to Bhagavan and complained: Bhagavan, you never told me you
could speak Kashmiri, was it fair? When Bhagavan asked how he thought
so, he said: Last night my assistant came to you and asked several questions
in his language. He tells me that you answered him in the same language
and cleared all his doubts. “But I never opened my mouth”, replied
Bhagavan.
Bhagavan never initiated by touch. He always refused to place his
hands on a person’s head though very many besought him to do so. However,
in one case he made an exception. An old sannyasi, who was an ex-
stationmaster, came from Mysore. Bhagavan seemed from the first very
sympathetic and unusually kind towards him. When he was leaving the Ashram,
A.W. Chadwick 113
he entered the Hall, which happened to be empty at the time. The sannyasi
prayed to Bhagavan to place his hands on his head and knelt quite close to
the couch, resting his head against it. Bhagavan turned towards him and
placed both his hands on his head for a few minutes without saying anything.
Then the sannyasi rose and left the Hall showing great emotion.
The Taylors, an American couple, came to the Ashram. Taylor
was a retired postmaster. They became much attached to Bhagavan. One
day, Mrs.Taylor suddenly said in the Hall, “Bhagavan, I want Self-
realisation.” “Wait”, replied Bhagavan, “it will come in due time.” “No”,
she answered, “that is no good. I want it here and now.” Bhagavan tried to
explain to her that when she was ready everything would work out all
right. But she insisted: she must have it here and now and it was up to him
to give it to her. Bhagavan said nothing but gazed at her steadily in the eyes
for some minutes or so. She suddenly burst into tears and rushed out of the
Hall, but would never tell anybody what had happened.8
One evening I asked permission to go to Pondicherry. Bhagavan
asked, “Why?” I replied that I was having trouble with one of my teeth and
wanted to consult the dentist. As he kept quiet, I did nothing. Later he
asked me, “I thought you were going to Pondicherry, you are still here.”
“But you never gave me leave”, I replied. Bhagavan kept quiet. It turned
out that my trouble righted itself; something that had jammed against the
gum became loose and there was no need for a dentist. A few months later
I again had trouble, this time with another tooth. On asking permission and
telling Bhagavan the reason why I wanted to go, he immediately said,
“Yes, go.” This time the journey did prove necessary.
Bhagavan said that the principal sadhanas we should practise
were to eat only sattvic food and observe satsanga. He laid no other
rules. He said that the mind was entirely created by the food we ate.
Bhagavan never taught morals, and had no special abhorrence to
sex. He once said in answer to troubled disciples in my hearing, “It is better
to do it than to be always thinking about it.” This reminds one of the Gita,
“Thoughts are acts in their infancy.”
One day Bhagavan said, “Why do you think that you are the doer?
It is absurd, as it is obvious that ‘I’ does nothing. ‘I’ is always the witness.
Concentrate on being the witness and let things take their course, they will
go on anyhow, you cannot prevent them.”
Bhagavan was insistent on ‘means’ and taught that we should
leave the ‘ends’ to look after themselves.
Bhagavan said, “Don’t worry about what other people are doing
or saying, you have quite enough to do in worrying about yourself. First

reform yourself and then it will be time enough to think about the world.
How can you help the world until you have helped yourself?”
If asked about Self-realisation, what it was like, or what would be
our state in future, he would always reply, “Why worry about something in
future? It is here and now which are important. You are always Self-
realised, but only ignorant of the fact.”
Bhagavan was deeply interested in the construction of the shrine
built on his mother’s samadhi. He attended every function connected with
it. At night, when no one was about, he would walk round and round the
construction consecrating it. That he should take such a demonstrative
part in anything has a very deep significance. It was extremely rare and
has been doubted by many, but I myself was an eyewitness to these things
and can vouch for their truth.
The philosophy of this greatest sage can be summed up in just
three words, “There is nothing.” So simple yet so supremely difficult. This
entire world that we see, this mad rush of people after money and
‘existence’ is just a fabricless thought. We are like the shadow of a leaf
cast by the moonlight, intangible and unsubstantial. You may justly turn to
me and ask, “Who wants this purely negative state?” I can only reply, “It is
just a question of taste.” 9 But this being nothing, there must obviously be a
state which is something. That state is Self-realisation. Not only it is
something but it is everything.
An Australian journalist in the course of his visit to the Ashram,
came to my room. It was obvious from the first moment that I was a
tremendous problem to him. Why a European should shut himself away in
a place like this was beyond his comprehension! He asked many questions
but none of my replies satisfied him. At length he could not contain himself
and bluntly asked me what I was doing here. I just said that here I found
peace of mind. I know it was an inadequate answer but hoped it would
stave off further enquiries. He looked at me seriously for a few minutes
and then said pityingly, “Oh, I see, I have never been troubled in that way
myself.” All I had succeeded in doing was confirming his conviction that I
was insane.
But let us return to the question and admit straightaway that even
now I am unable to reply satisfactorily. I can only say, I came because I
wanted to. And why do I stay? Because I want to. To my metal Bhagavan
was a magnet and as yet his magnetism has lost none of its forces. I am
helpless.
A.W. Chadwick 115
I see him sitting in the Hall completely detached, entirely unmoved

by the happenings which seem so momentous to me, his face wreathed
in the most lovely of smiles, and an expression of serenity and
beauty on it which is impossible to describe, or even believe unless
you have seen it yourself. No books written in the past, no stories of
former saints can convey the same message: after all there is always the
chance that they may have been frauds. But this is absolutely genuine and
I am unable to doubt any longer even if I want to. Here we are on the
bedrock of certainty in an ever-changing and uncertain world.
I doubt if we realise how lucky we are. One is inclined to
get used to things and take them for granted. But there is no taking
Bhagavan for granted, he is always surprisingly different, and that
is one of the greatest wonders of his presence.

Surrender
I say that I have surrendered

But what have I given up?
It’s easy to talk in this fashion
Though it’s nothing but empty words,
Which came from the tongue too glibly
In a sentimental way.

It is all just show and pretending,

Prostrating and that sort of thing.
Quoting of texts and of shastras,
Perfect in word not in deed.
I’am sick, sick, sick of this business,
I want to start fresh but I can’t.

Transmute me until I am blended

With you so that both are as One.
When there’s no longer the talk of surrender
Then alone has surrender begun.

Will You Not Let Me Go?
Will you not let me go?

Here, in an alien land I pass my hours,
Far from my country and all former ties.
A restless longing slowly me devours
That me all wordly happiness denies.
And so, will you not let me go?

Will you not let me go?

I am a fool that I should try to flee;
For here, there is a peace I’ll never find
When I the least am separate from Thee,
Then I’ll be but a slave to caitiff mind.
And so, I do not wish to go.

1. David Godman says: Sometime in 1928-29, Rangaswami Gounder brought a

sofa and asked Bhagavan to sit on it. When Bhagavan refused, he started
crying. For three successive days he was crying in the hall, begging
Bhagavan to accept the gift. Finally, on the night of the third day, Bhagavan
got off the bench (on which he had been sitting till then), and occupied the
sofa. Living By The Words Of Bhagavan, p. 40.
2. Refer annexure-I, Mountain Arunachala, p. 410.
3. Refer annexure-IV, The Cow Lakshmi, p. 414.
4. Refer annexure-II for Deepam festival, p. 411.
5. Annamalai Swami also says: “Many devotees, including myself, felt that he
radiated more than the usual amount of power and grace on jayanti days.”
Living By The Words Of Bhagavan, David Godman, p.77.
6. This, for example, happened when Sri Ramana was narrating a story from
the Periapuranam to the devotees in the hall. Refer last three paras, p. 286.
7. Refer annexure-V, p. 415.
8. Refer paras 3 to 5 at p. 71 for a similar incident.
9. ‘It is a question of taste’, reminds us of a Hindi couplet, according to which:
The lust and attachment to the world, renounced by saints and hugely
sought after by fools, is the same as the dog eating with relish what a
human being vomits.
K. Swaminathan 117
43
Prof. K. Swaminathan (1896-1994) taught English at the Presidency
College, Madras. He was the Chief Editor of the monumental 100-
volume Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, and for some time
edited The Mountain Path. He authored Sri Ramana – The Self
Supreme, and for the National Book Trust he authored Ramana
Maharshi. He translated into English verse Muruganar’s 1282
stanzas of Guruvachaka-Kovai and 1851 verses of Ramana Sannidhi
Murai. In his letters to the Ashram, he would address Sri Ramana
as Ammaiappa – one who combines the attributes of mother and
father, and sign as ‘Ramana sei’ – Ramana’s child. He was awarded
the Padma Bhushan in 1972.
I was told about Bhagavan in 1927, but then I was not interested
in someone sitting still and doing nothing when so much was needed to be
done to change this mad, bad world, and Mahatma Gandhi strode the land
doing so many things ‘socially relevant’. In 1940, I had many baffling
problems and mental conflicts. Sir P.S.Sivaswami Iyer, my pater familias
after my father’s death, advised me to take a series of lessons on the
Brahma Sutras from a great Sanskrit pandit in Bangalore. Then I could
see that behind this apparent laziness of Bhagavan there was something
very profound. And, that man said, this is not mere theory, you go to
Tiruvannamalai and see for yourself.
As one deeply interested in poetry, I have read the poems of
Muruganar [No.53] and said to myself, good heavens, the man who could
inspire this kind of poetry is divine. It moved me completely; Muruganar
completely converted me. Then, when Grant Duff [No.7] came to my
college, I took him around. After I spent a week with him, he casually
asked me, “Have you seen Ramana Maharshi?” I said to myself, here is
an Englishman steeped in Italian philosophy telling me about the Maharshi.
I felt ashamed, and I was ashamed. All these events convinced the obstinate
camel that the oasis he badly needed was near and easy to reach.
When I told Sir Sivaswami about my decision to visit the Ashram,
he said, you are a young man with many responsibilities; when you go to
Bhagavan you will be swept off your feet and fall into an abyss. Don’t go
alone, tie yourself in many bonds; take somebody you like, you are attached
to, to hold you. So I took my wife and two of my students with me.
The Maharshi deprived me of none of the persons or pleasures

that were dear to me. He left them all with me enriched and sanctified.
Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth and the Bible meant much more for me
when illuminated by the light he shed on all he saw. From the Bible he
often cited the key passages like: Be still and know that I am God; the
kingdom of God is within you; my Father and I are one.
My first darshan of the Maharshi on September 29, 1940, was
the most memorable event of my life. The last darshan occurred a fortnight
before his mahanirvana on April 14, 1950. In between, during many
weekends and college vacations, repeated visits to the Ashram kept me
(as spells of sound sleep keep one) in health, happiness and taut efficiency.
The pure happiness I enjoyed was that of a child when it sits securely
in its mother’s lap.
Bhagavan was a perfect Impersonality, like the sun in the
sky or like unnoticed daylight in an inner chamber. This impersonal
being would suddenly become a Person full of sattvic power, highly
human, charming, mother-like, who could communicate with sharp
precision his own Awareness Bliss to other persons according to
their needs and moods. The sun now came down and played with
us as the light of the moon to illuminate the mind, or as the fire in
the home to cook our food.
Bhagavan listened like a child to passages from Shakespeare’s
plays and Keats’ letters and quickly and convincingly revealed the universal
truth in each flower unique in its own beauty. On Keats’ letter on ‘negative
capability’ his passing comment was: “So there are Upanishads in English
as in Sanskrit.” After a passage from Shakespeare was read, discussed
and duly praised, Bhagavan said, “Shakespeare the Self enjoyed writing
this, so that, born again as we, he might enjoy reading it.” No wonder then
that Bhagavan not only permitted and encouraged Muruganar in his copious
outpourings but also often joined him in playing the grand game of rhyming
and chiming in words that double a common joy. Was he not the sole
begetter of thousands of marvellous poems by Muruganar and so many
others?
Bhagavan often equated Gandhi with Hanuman, the humble and
heoric servant of Sri Rama. He once said: We say that Hanuman is
chiranjivi (immortal). It does not mean that a certain monkey goes on
living forever and ever. It only means that there will always be on earth
someone who serves Rama as your Gandhi does now.
Once Rangachari, a Telugu teacher in a Vellore college, asked the
K. Swaminathan 119
Maharshi to explain nishkama karma (desireless action). There was no

reply. After a time, the Maharshi went up the hill followed by a few devotees
and Rangachari. There was a thick, strong, thorny branch lying on the way
which the Maharshi picked up and began working on. The spikes were cut
off, the knots made smooth and the surface polished with a rough leaf.
Hours of hard and careful work resulted in a nice stick that Maharshi
presented to a passing shepherd boy who appeared dejected because he
had lost his stick. Rangachari confessed that he had learnt a new lesson in
the art of teaching, for this silent practical demonstration was the Sage’s
perfect answer to his earnest question.
In one article the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung contrasted Sri
Ramakrishna and Sri Bhagavan and saw in this succession the progressive
advance from bhakti to jnana. On hearing this, Bhagavan promptly sat erect
and protested against the comparison, saying: When one has reached the
mountain-top, no matter from which side and by which path, one knows and
understands all other paths. What is there that Sri Ramakrishna did not know?
In a like manner he deprecated comparison by some devotees
between himself as a jnani and Mahatma Gandhi as a karma-yogi. The
eye that sees and the hand that works are like organs of one and the same
Eternal Goodness. Bhagavan saw only adhyatma sakti (the Supreme
power) working everywhere. Different persons perform different functions;
arranging them in an order of merit is ‘the mischief of the ego’.
Sri Bhagavan preferred to speak in Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam.
But he corrected mistranslations in English. He used the phrase, ‘automatic
divine activity’ while explaining prarabdha through the analogy of the
electric fan which goes on getting slow before it finally stops. And he
added smilingly, “But you can stop it straightaway with a stick if you want.”
Despite the Maharshi’s profound reverence for and frequent
reference to the gods, his predominant concern was with impersonal jnana.
He also maintained strict silence on irrelevant, speculative issues like the
nature of God. This brings him close to the Buddha. In his technique of
self-enquiry, the exploration of consciousness, which gives energy
and meaning to the whole human life and breaks down the barriers
between sacred and secular, he resembles the scientist.
The experience of the peace conferred by the Maharshi’s
presence, testified to by so many devotees, accords with his reply to a
visitor who asked which of the many spiritual teachers he should follow:
“Choose that guru from whom you get santi (peace).” The Maharshi was
fond of the story of Tattvaraya who composed a bharani in honour of his
guru and invited an assembly of learned men to hear him.The pandits

raised the objection that a bharani could be sung only in honour of a
warrior who had killed a thousand elephants and certainly not in honour of
a mere ascetic. Then the poet said, “Let us all go to my guru and settle the
matter in his presence.” They went to the guru and the poet reported the
pandits’ objection. The guru sat silent and so did all others. Thus days
passed, with no thought at all occuring to any of them. At the end of the
long, silent session the guru made a slight movement of his mind and the
assembly declared with one voice: “Vanquishing a thousand elephants is
nothing before this man’s power to quell the rutting elephants of our egos.”
And they called upon Tattvaraya to proceed to read his bharani.
Bhagavan’s special mission was to convince all and sundry that
by self-enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ (his brahmastra), and self-surrender, anyone
of us can and should live securely, comfortably and happily in both worlds,
the Timeless and time.
Bhagavan succeeded in being a friend of every one – saint or
sinner, prince or peasant, learned or ignorant, cow, dog or monkey.
J.C.Molony, I.C.S. (a district collector) has noted how his hound preferred
the hermit’s company to his own. He records: After visiting the sage on
the hill, when I reached my camp, one of my dogs was missing. In the
evening arrived the holy man leading the truant on a string. The sage said,
“He came back to me, and I should have liked to keep him. But why
should I steal him from you?”
Women and harijans were no less welcome to his charmed circle.
Bhagavan gave freedom to all to enjoy his saameepya (proximity, nearness),
and his soulabhya (easy accessibility).
Once in the 1940s, I was sitting outside the hall with many devotees.
Bhagavan was reclining on a couch. A group of learned pandits was
discussing passages from the Upanishads with great enthusiasm and
profundity. All, including Bhagavan, appeared to be attentively listening to
the interesting discussion when, all of a sudden, Bhagavan rose from the
couch, walked some distance and stood before a villager who was standing
looking lowly with palms joined. All eyes turned to Bhagavan and the villager
who was standing at a distance. They appeared to be conversing. Soon
Bhagavan returned to his couch and the discussion was resumed.
Being curious to know why Bhagavan had to go out to meet a
villager, I slipped away from the discussion and caught up with the villager
before he left the Ashram. He told me that Bhagavan was asking why I
was standing so far and also asked my name, about my village, what I did,
K. Swaminathan 121
and about my family etc. I enquired, “Did you ask him anything?” The
villager replied, “When I asked him how I could earn his blessings, he
asked whether there was a temple in my village and the name of the
temple deity. When I told him the deity’s name, he said, go on repeating the
name of the deity and you would receive all the blessings needed.”
I came back to Bhagavan’s presence, but lost all interest in the
discussions. I felt that the simple humility and devotion of a peasant had evoked
a far greater response from our Master than any amount of learning. I then
decided that though a scholar by profession, I should always remain a humble,
ignorant peasant at heart and pray for Bhagavan’s grace and blessings.

Sri Ramana – the Self Supreme
You are the Perfect, One praised of old

The Gita’s Jnani, the Jivanmukta
of ‘The Crest Jewel of Discrimination’
Inactive Doer of all deeds done
Wishing no wish and taking no side
Contemplative witness of things that pass
Steadily established in Satchidananda
Nothing topical, temporal, novel
No noise, no struggle and no change
The pole star, Truth, forever the same.

Steep uphill is the way You have taken

To the shining mountain-top of truth
Steep, yet short and straight and clear
Free from darkness, confusion and peril.

Rock of faith, O Dawn of Hope,

Child of Charity, Holy Sage,
O Silent Presence on the Mount,
O Tiger bright with burning eyes!
You sought us, and you have caught us;
Forsake us not; consume us quite;

Sri Ramana of Aruna.

44
Rangan (Velacheri Ranga Iyer) was a classmate of Sri Ramana.
In June 1907, I saw Bhagavan for the first time since we were at
school together. I asked, “Do you recognise me?” Bhagavan uttered
‘Rangan’ with difficulty. In those days he spoke little and found it difficult
to use his voice. My mother had already told me about her first visit in the
late 1890s when Bhagavan was residing in a temple on a mound near the
main Arunachaleswara Temple,1 Tiruvannamalai.
Many years later, talking to me about my mother’s visit, Bhagavan
said, “When your mother came to see me, she was frightened by my
ascetic appearance and attire. My hair was all matted and my body was
completely covered with dust.” He added that at that time he was never
aware of the passage of time. Sometimes, when he tried to stand up, his
head would reel and he would lose his balance. When this happened he
concluded that he must have spent many days in a state in which he had
not been conscious of the world. Apart from these periodic bouts of
weakness he had no other way of detecting the passage of time. When
asked whether he had any food in those days, he replied, “ When there is
no consciousness of the body, the bodily functions are also suspended.”
At the time of my departure after the first visit, I told Bhagavan,
“You have reached great heights.” His reply was, “The far off mountains
look even and smooth.” I felt that he was telling me that one could become
a jnani even while living an ordinary householder’s life. He seemed to be
telling me that there was nothing special or great in physical renunciation.
The next time I met Bhagavan, I was on my way to Madras in
search of a job. My financial circumstances were in a bad state at the
time. Bhagavan seemed to know this even though I never mentioned the
subject. My attempts for a job being unsuccessful, I returned home via
Tiruvannamalai. As soon as I saw Bhagavan, he brought up the subject of
my financial problems. That night when I was lying, Bhagavan came and
sat next to me. I got up and sat by his side. “Rangan”, he asked, “Are you
worried about the financial difficulties? Will ten thousand rupees be enough
Rangan 123
for you?” Eventually, I got a job in an automobile company, selling buses.

Since I got a commission on each bus sold, I was able to raise the Rs.10,000
that Bhagavan had spoken about. This money was enough to pay off my
debts and to perform marriages of two of my daughters.
Living with Bhagavan induced a spirit of renunciation in many,
including myself, but Bhagavan always discouraged his devotees from
taking the final steps of physical renunciation. My urge to take sannyasa
subsided and eventually disappeared.
There were many occasions when I needed help and I soon got
into the habit of telling Bhagavan all about my family troubles on my visits
to the Skandasram. On one occasion he turned to me and said, “You think
that your own troubles are very great. What do you know of my troubles?
Let me tell you about one incident.
Once, while climbing a steep part of the mountain, I was holding
on to a rock to keep my balance. The rock was loose and would not take
my weight. I fell back and was partly buried by a small avalanche of
stones. I managed to remove them but found my left thumb dislocated. It
was hanging loosely near the finger. I pushed back the thumb into its socket.”
Bhagavan’s mother told me that she could not bear to recall that accident.
He came home bleeding all over.
I got on very well with Bhagavan’s mother because we had known
each other when she lived in Madurai. On one occasion she told me, “One
day when I was looking steadily at Bhagavan, his body gradually disappeared
and in its place I saw the lingam. The lingam was very bright. I could not
believe my eyes. I rubbed my eyes but I still saw the same, bright lingam.
I was frightened because I thought my son was leaving us forever.
Fortunately, the lingam gradually transformed itself into Bhagavan’s body.”
After hearing her account I looked at Bhagavan for confirmation or
comment, but he just smiled and said nothing.
When my son was writing a book called Bhagavan Parinayam
(The marriage of Bhagavan) in which Bhagavan marries jnana kanya
(the bride jnana), I had told him about the incident and he incorporated
it in his manuscript. A few months later, when my son read out his book
before Bhagavan, he was asked how he knew about the incident. “My
father told me”, replied my son. ‘Oh!’Said Bhagavan, “Did he really
tell you all about that?” The other devotees were curious to know
more about the incident because none of them had heard about it, but
Bhagavan said, “It was nothing,” and diverted their attention to
something else.
Once, I went out of the Skandasram for a short period of time,

leaving Bhagavan sleeping inside. When I returned, I saw him sitting outside
on a bed. I thought nothing of it until I went inside the ashram and saw
Bhagavan was sleeping inside, in the position I had seen him when I left
the ashram. When I told Bhagavan about this later, he smiled and said,
“Why did you not tell me then itself? I could have caught the thief!”
This was typical of Bhagavan’s response to the supernatural. If
such events were reported to him, he would either ignore them or pass
them off as a joke. This was because he didn’t want any of his devotees to
be sidetracked from their main goal of realising the Self into an unproductive
interest in miraculous phenomena.
Although Bhagavan preferred to keep his exalted state a secret
from the public, he would occasionally show us glimpses of his power and
knowledge. Once, for example, a devotee, who was sitting at a distance
from Bhagavan, copying some Sanskrit verses, had a doubt about what he
should write. Bhagavan, without even being asked, called over to him and
cleared his doubt; but he rarely showed his omniscience so openly.
I witnessed another manifestation of Bhagavan’s power on one
of my visits to the Skandasram. Two men came from a village and asked
Bhagavan to give them vibhuti with his own hand. They refused to collect
the vibhuti from the place where it was kept, even when told by Bhagavan
to do so, and eventually left disappointed. I followed them and asked, “Why
did you want the vibhuti from Bhagavan’s own hands? Why were you so
insistent?”One of them told me, “I used to have leprosy. I once came to
see Bhagavan and he gave me some vibhuti with his own hand. I applied
it to my body and soon there were no signs of the disease. This is my
friend. He also has leprosy. That is why I ask for vibhuti from Bhagavan’s
hands.” Bhagavan must have known that he had inadvertently cured the
leper of his disease. He probably refused to repeat it because he didn’t
want to acquire reputation as a ‘miracle man’.
Because my brothers and I had received so much benefit from
being in Bhagavan’s presence, we made it a point to encourage other
people to go to Tiruvannamalai and have Bhagavan’s darshan. A friend
of ours, who went to see Bhagavan at our behest, on his return told us,
“What a useless swami you sent me to! On an ekadasi day he was
cutting onions.”
Once Bhagavan told me, “You and your brothers have broadcast
the news that there is a Maharshi here. Some people believe you until they
come here and see me sitting in a corner. Then they think, oh, is this the
man? They get disappointed and go away cursing you.”
M. Sivaprakasam Pillai 125
Although Bhagavan managed to maintain a façade of ordinariness,

he was able to see the spiritual worth of everyone who came to see him,
and would not let himself be understood by the undeserving.
Bhagavan could recognise spiritual maturity in the people around him.
He could also discern it in the animals that came to him. One day, Bhagavan’s
mother asked, “Why does that dog always like to stay in your lap?” Bhagavan
turned to me and said, “This dog is always in unwavering samadhi. A great
soul has come in the form of a dog. Mother does not know this.”
That Bhagavan had ceased to identify with his body was clear to
me when he and I were walking on the forest path around the mountain.
Having stepped on a thorn, I was lagging behind. Bhagavan stopped, came
back to me and removed the thorn. Later, Bhagavan stepped on a big
thorn. Lifting his foot, I was astonished to find many thorns sticking out of
it; some were old and some were new. I lifted the other foot and found the
same. “Which thorns will you remove?” asked Bhagavan with a laugh.
Then he crushed the protruding thorn with the foot in which it was embedded
and happily continued to walk.
I felt that I was not making much spiritual progress, so I once
asked Bhagavan, “How many times will I have to be born to get jnana?”
Bhagavan answered, “There are no factors like time and distance. In one
hour we dream that many days and years have passed by. Don’t you see
in a cinema film mere shadows being transformed into great seas, mountains
and buildings. The world is not outside you. The small world that is in the
mind appears as a big world outside. The annihilation of the mind is jnana.”
1. Refer annexure-I, p.410.
45
M. Sivaprakasam Pillai (1875-1948), a graduate in philosophy, an
officer in the Revenue Dept. of the South Arcot Collectorate, first
met Sri Ramana in 1902. He is best remembered for his role in
getting Sri Ramana write down his teachings on Self-enquiry, later
published as Who am I? Pillai’s experiences and feelings about the
Maharshi in his verse biography Sri Ramana Charita Ahaval,
published in 1923, are sampled below in prose form.
Even though the people who approach you with restless and tired
minds are sinners without devotion, like a mother who comforts her child
on seeing its suffering, you melt with love, comfort their disconsolate minds
with eyes full of compassion.You become the father and mother of all
those who approach you. You give them food, generate knowledge in them
and in this way destroy their misery.
With kind words you said, “The meaning of the word ‘I’ is the one
reality that exists as supreme bliss, as knowledge. It is indestructible, and
although it is within this fleshly body, it is still different from it. If you desire
to know this supreme essence, you must first get rid of the attachment that
takes the body as ‘I’ and then enquire, Who am I? If one repeatedly dives
within [like the pearl diver searching for the pearl] one can know oneself.
This Self-knowledge is liberation.”
I had a vision while sitting before you [on May 5, 1913]. All around
you I saw an incomparable effulgence like the splendour of many full
moons. Your divine body shone with light of the sun, belittling the lustre of
shining gold. Your beautiful eyes were shedding divine grace. In you was
the majesty of the Lord of Lords, along with the power of giving bountifully.
A little later I saw your whole body smeared with white, bright, sacred
ash. My stone-like heart melted and became like water. I saw these visions,
but those near me did not see them. I did not ask you about them, nor did
you speak to me about them. From the day I realised that you are my Lord,
and all the dangers and difficulties I encountered disappeared by your
grace like mist disappearing before the sun.
The Supreme Lord has assumed a human body as an act of
grace and resides at Arunachala under the name Ramana. Ramanadeva,
if people in the world say that you too are a human being like us, that is the
same as describing dense, rain-filled clouds as mere smoke cloud.1
Is it possible for my one mouth to describe your glories? No one is
capable of describing your glories unless you yourself reveal them through
your grace. You have raised me as your devotee. Somehow, please do not
throw me away on account of my unworthiness. Ramanadeva, kindly make
me submissive to you.
Ramana Sadguru, Supreme Self! Like a deer trapped in a net,
not knowing the way to escape, I fall at your feet again, saying, “Your feet
alone are my refuge.” By answering, “There is no need to get agitated,”
you freed me from fear and saved me. In this way you became my Lord,
my father and my mother.
About Pillai, Michael James (www.happiness of being.com) says:
In his poems he repeatedly prays for the Grace of Bhagavan
expressing his own inability to follow the upadesa given by Him. When a
Akhilandamma 127
devotee asked Sri Bhagavan, “Sivaprakasam Pillai, who is such an ardent

devotee and a long-standing disciple, has written that Bhagavan’s instructions
could not be carried out by him effectively in practice, what would be the
lot of others then?”
Bhagavan replied, “Adi Sankara also says similar things when he
composes songs in praise of any deity. How else can they praise God? If
one adopts the jivabhava (the attitude of being an individual soul) and
praises God, one cannot but sing of the limitations and shortcomings of
one’s individual existence.”2 This can be seen from the hymns sung by
Bhagavan himself in praise of Arunachala.3
On Pillai’s death, a telegram was sent to Bhagavan conveying the
news. After seeing the telegram Bhagavan said in Tamil, “Siva prakasam
Sivaprakasamanar”, that is, Sivaprakasam has become Siva-Prakasam,
the light of Siva.
1. A rain cloud and smoke cloud may look similar, but only the rain cloud can
give rain.
2. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk no. 630.
3. A 108-verse poem addressed to the mountain Arunachala. For details refer
Glossary / Books, p. 425.
46
Akhilandamma, born in 1887, was ‘married’ at the age of five.
Her husband died two years later. As per the then social custom,
‘remarriage’ not being possible, she decided to devote her life to
serving sadhus. In 1903, she visited Sri Ramana on the hill and
felt his power. She served food to him for four decades.
In 1903, while wandering near the hill for gathering flowers, I
saw many people walking towards the Sadguru Swami Cave. A person
from the crowd told me, “There is one Brahmana Swami there who
sits motionless.” These words kindled in me a desire to see him. I
bought a little sugar candy as a token offering and went to see him.
What a sight he was! For the first time I saw the magnetic Lord who
draws towards him the minds of those who see him. Even though he
was unwashed and covered with dust, his body glowed like gold.
When I went for darshan again, Bhagavan was sitting inside the
Virupaksha Cave. On seeing Bhagavan my mind flowed towards him with
uninterrupted, boundless love, but along with this emotion there was a sort
of inexpressible regard and fear. It is only natural for people to feel a sense
of awe and reverence while they are near Bhagavan. It is also natural
for the individual self to subside in his presence. There was a
gracious power that prevailed in that holy place. It numbed the
mind, the power of speech and the body so effectively that the
visitors were automatically silenced. There were no rules about silence,
but in that holy presence casual visitors who had come for darshan would
automatically remain calm and quiet.
When Bhagavan first moved to the Skandasram, no cooking was
done there. Bhagavan and the devotees depended upon the food offerings
brought everyday. Kamakshi Ammal and myself often used to take food
to the ashram. One day, five or six heads of various maths came
unexpectedly to the ashram to have Bhagavan’s darshan. Since we had
not known about this in advance, the food was falling short. When it was
time to eat, a devotee approached Bhagavan and said, “They are all waiting,
may we take food?” Bhagavan who knew about the shortage, replied,
“Let us wait a while.” Sometime later, a group of people unexpectedly
came, bringing with them big vessels full of food. Bhagavan asked them to
first serve the food to everyone who was present. Only then did he stand
up to indicate that he was ready to eat.
Once I went to the Skandasram with fruits and milk. But
Bhagavan’s mother was unwilling to have the stuff brought by a non-
Brahmin. Bhagavan who understood his mother’s mind said to her, “All
right, it is better that you go back to your house in Madurai.” He then ate
some of the offering and gave some to his attendant, who returned what
remained to me as Bhagavan’s prasad.
One day when I went up the hill with all the required foodstuff to
serve a bhiksha, a swami told me, since it was a full moon day, it was an
auspicious time to receive upadesa from great souls. I approached
Bhagavan, bowed, stood up and said, “ Bhagavan, kindly tell me something.”
Bhagavan stared at me and asked, “About what am I to tell you?”I was
both puzzled and nonplussed. A mixture of fear and devotion along with an
eagerness to hear Bhagavan’s gracious words welled up within me,
rendering me incapable of speech. I just stood mutely. Bhagavan understood
my predicament. No one can hide anything from him. He can understand
the state of mind of anyone who approaches him, merely by looking at
Sadhu Natanananda 129
him. He looked at me graciously and said, ‘unnai vidamal iru’, that is,
‘Be without leaving yourself.’
I could not comprehend the meaning of this high-level upadesa,
but as soon as the words came from Bhagavan’s mouth I felt an immense
satisfaction and wonderful effulgence in my mind. These gracious words
welled up in my mind again and again like the rising of tides.The feeling
they produced gave me an indescribable happiness. I stood there delighting
myself in the feelings produced by this one phrase. Even today, the sound
of that upadesa rings in my ears and bestows immense peace on me.
Though I didn’t understand what Bhagavan had told, I immediately
experienced the state that the words were indicating without ever really
understanding what they meant. I came to understand through this exper-
ience that in Bhagavan’s benign presence a single gracious utterance can
produce the fruit and the fulfilment of all spiritual practices such as sravana
[hearing], manana [thinking or reflection] and nididhyasa [contemplation
or abidance].
In Bhagavan’s last days, while I was staying at my village, I was
frequently thinking and worrying about his health. I went to the Ashram
but was prevented from entering the gate as thousands were waiting to
have his darshan. By Bhagavan’s grace an inmate of the Ashram who
knew me somehow came to the place and informed Bhagavan that I had
arrived. I was given permission to have darshan.
I tried to suppress my emotion but the feeling that I would soon
be losing my one and only God completely destroyed my self-restraint.
I cried out to him: “Bhagavan! Bhagavan has decided to give up this
body. What can I do?” After I left the room, Bhagavan sent me the
following message via the devotee who had opened the door for me:
“Why do you feel sorry for this mortal body?” It occurred to me that
Bhagavan was consoling me by saying: Don’t feel worry about this
body, I am always your saviour!
47
Sadhu Natanananda (Natesa Mudaliar) (1898-1981) was a scholar.
His dialogues with Sri Ramana are contained in Upadesa Manjari
(Tamil). He authored Sri Ramana Darsanam.
In 1917-18, I was a schoolmaster. Being of a pious disposition, I
used to go about from place to place frequently to have darshan of the

deities in temples. A noble soul who saw this brought to me, of his own
accord, two books in Tamil, namely, Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam and
Vivekananda Vijayam. After reading them, I was seized with an intense
longing for getting God’s vision and for finding a guru to show me the way.
At this juncture, I heard about the extraordinary greatness of Bhagavan,
whom I met in May 1918 for the first time at the Skandasram.
I beseeched him fervently saying, “It is my great desire that I
should actually experience your gracious wisdom. Kindly fulfil my desire.”
In those days Sri Ramana was not speaking much. Still he spoke kindly
as follows, “Is it the body in front of me that desires to obtain my grace?
Or is it the awareness within it? If it is the awareness, is it not now
looking upon itself as the body and making this request? If so, let the
awareness first of all know its real nature. It will then automatically
know God and my grace. All that you have to do hereafter is that you do
not identify yourself with the body, the senses and the mind. You have to
convert the state of ignorant deep sleep in which one becomes formless
and unattached, into conscious deep sleep.You should never forget that
this experience will come only through long practice. This experience
will make it clear that your real nature is not different from the nature of
God.”
Bhagavan never used to prescribe discipline for any one. His
nature was to instruct by following himself the discipline of conduct
enjoined upon spiritual aspirants. When someone complained that
Bhagavan was not censuring the conduct of some devotees, he said,
“Who is to correct whom? Is it not the Lord alone who has the authority
to correct everyone? All we can do is to correct ourselves. That itself is
correcting others.”
Although Sri Ramana was adored by his devotees as Bhagavan,
the Maharshi, and by some as a divine incarnation, to others he showed
himself as an ordinary person. However, to see his external form was
itself adequate to experience the bliss of peace. Not only was he aware of
his own real nature, he clearly knew the truth of others. Even when he
was in the midst of thousands of devotees, he always remained steadfast
in the awareness of the Supreme Self, without swerving in the least from
his state.
Even though Sri Ramana indicated the truth by ever abiding in the
Self, he has, at the same time appeared to many in their visions as God
incarnate. The story of a Polish lady who came all the way for Bhagavan’s
darshan should serve as an example:
The lady once went alone to see the Skandasram. On her return
she started feeling very thirsty. Not finding any way of quenching her
thirst, she began to think, “If it is true that Bhagavan is the omnipotent,
universal Self, why can’t he appear here and remove my thirst?” The
next moment Sri Bhagavan appeared with water in his water pot and
satisfied her thirst. When this took place Bhagavan was sitting in the
Ashram in his usual place, completely unaware of the drama that was
unfolding on the hill.
The Polish lady, who had both pure love and devotion, was a devout
Christian who had the tendency of only believing that a person was Christ-
like if he exhibited supernatural powers. The supremely compassionate
Bhagavan, caught by devotion, appeared before her in conformity with her
belief and fulfilled her wish.
Although incidents like these are a great help in increasing and
intensifying the devotion and faith of devotees, Bhagavan always dis-
couraged people from deliberately trying to produce such phenomena.
Bhagavan used to say, just as air, which is blemishless by its nature,
has foul or good odour by virtue of what it associates with, association
with the wise is the means for effecting transformation. Realising this
truth, some devotees used to tell Bhagavan that the tranquility of mood
experienced effortlessly in his presence could not be obtained elsewhere
even by great effort. Bhagavan would say: Yes, Yes, just as the mother of
pearl converts the raindrop it receives into pearl, the mature ones are
redeemed by the divine look of the sadguru as his grace. But the immature
ones, despite staying in guru’s presence even for a long time, do not realise
anything. They are like a donkey that carries precious camphor without
being aware of its value. The impure minds are not able to obtain the
benefit of the guru’s grace.
Bhagavan took special interest in the spiritual welfare of the
devotees spending their time serving him with the belief that service to
Guru is the best form of tapas. Bhagavan would exhort devotees to try to
attend to the Self all the time. He told a gentleman from the West who was
sweeping up the leaf-plates that were lying near the dining room: “Is
sweeping the used leaf-plates the means to get salvation? Is it to perform
this tapas that you came here all the way? Go inside. The service of
purifying your heart is the highest service. That alone can redeem you.”
A certain lady would prostrate to Bhagavan, touch his feet and
then put the hands that had touched Bhagavan’s feet on her eyes. After
noticing that she did this daily, Bhagavan told her one day, “The pure
awareness, which is shining as the inward illumination is guru’s gracious
feet. The contact with these [inner holy feet] alone can give you true
redemption.”
Some of those who came for the Maharshi’s darshan used to
perform ashtanga namaskaram. Bhagavan, addressing one such devotee
said, “The benefit of performing namaskaram to the guru is only the removal
of the ego. Self realisation cannot be attained by bowing of the body, but
only by bowing of the ego”.
In August 1938, Rajendra Prasad (later first President of India)
along with Jamana Lal Bajaj,1 visited the Ashram. [See photograph no. 17
in the book.] When taking leave of Bhagavan, the latter said, “Mahatmaji
has sent me here. Is there any message that I can take to him?” Bhagavan
replied, “What message is needed when heart speaks to heart? The same
sakti (Superpower) that is working here is also working there.”
Sarojini Naidu2 after having darshan of Bhagavan said, “There
are two great persons living in our midst today. One of them never permits
anyone to keep quiet even for a minute. The other does not allow anyone
to raise one’s ‘I’ even for a moment.” This concise statement indicates
the Mahatma’s life of self-sacrifice devoid of ‘mine’ and the Maharshi’s
life of jnana devoid of ‘I’(ego).
Almost everyone who approached Bhagavan wanted to get some
special upadesa from him. To one such seeker, Bhagavan said, “Jnana is
given neither from outside nor from another person. It can be realised by
everyone in his own heart. Since the meaning of the word upadesa
(upa+desam) is only ‘being in the Self’ or ‘being as the Self’, so long as
one is seeking the Self from outside, Self realisation cannot be attained.”
Although this was the normal stance adopted most of the time, as
an exception, Bhagavan once imparted a mantra to a harijan devotee,
who was worshipping Bhagavan with great devotion and used to have his
darshan everyday from a distance in conformity with the prevailing social
custom. Bhagavan, who had noticed this for many days asked him one
day to come near. Melting with great compassion because of his wonderful
devotion, Bhagavan gave him a gracious look and told him, “Always keep
meditating Siva, Siva. Never forget this even in your dreams. This itself
will make you blessed.”
Once Bhagavan was putting together the proof pages of an Ashram
publication to make them into a book. A rich devotee felt that the effort
was unnecessary and said, “When I come next week I shall bring a new
bound copy of the book.” Bhagavan replied with a smile, “Why is that
necessary? What we need is only the contents, which will be the same in
the book and these pages.”
On one occasion, a maharaja came for Bhagavan’s darshan.

When he was leaving, a resident devotee followed him in the hope of
getting a donation for the Ashram. Bhagavan did not approve of this and
said, “To a sannyasi even a king is mere straw,” and illustrated it by
recounting a story : A Muslim saint, learning that Emperor Akbar very
much liked to associate with sadhus, went to the palace to obtain a
favour for his devotees. He saw Akbar in prayer, asking favours from
God. Immediately he left the palace.When Akbar heard of the saint’s
visit, he called him and asked why he left without seeing him.The saint
replied, “To fulfil a small need of my devotees I thought of approaching
you. But I found that you yourself have needs and were praying to God
for their fulfilment. As the scene reminded me the truth that God alone
can fulfil everyone’s needs, I left the palace.”
One night in 1924, some thieves came to the Ashram and were
breaking windows to get inside. Bhagavan told them: Why are you taking
trouble to enter the room, we will open the door for you to take whatever
you want. And he then had the door opened. Despite this, the thieves
physically abused Bhagavan. A devotee who could not bear this wanted
to retaliate. Bhagavan intervened and said, “Patience! Patience! What
kind of action is this? They are thieves. They have taken theft as their
profession. To achieve their end, they are prepared to do whatever is
necessary. If we sadhus also repeat the evil acts of those who do not
pay attention to right and wrong, what then is the difference between
them and us?” By such judicious advice he pacified the devotee, and
said that sadhus should under no circumstance slip from their sannyasa
dharma. 3
Towards the end of Bhagavan’s life, a devotee who firmly
believed in the omnipotence of the great ones, could not bear to see the
Maharshi weak because of the disease. He appealed to the Maharshi
with great feeling that he should transfer the disease to him and stay in
the body for some more time to save many other helpless devotees.
Wondering at the devotee’s childlike innocence, Bhagavan looked at him
with compassion and replied graciously, “Who created this disease? Is it
not He alone who has the freedom to change it? Is it not enough that I
have borne till today all by myself this load of flesh that [once it is dead]
must be carried by four persons? Should I continue bearing it henceforth?”
Through these words he made it clear that in the physical world the law
of destiny was inexorable. The jnani merely remains as a witness
established in his natural state.
Bhagavan was never tired of telling the devotees that he was not
the body and that they should not identify him with a physical form. A well-
known incident illustrates this. A devotee came for Bhagavan’s darshan
for the first time. Bhagavan was not in his usual seat and was engaged in
some activity. Not knowing that he was Bhagavan, the devotee asked,
“Where is Ramana?” Immediately, Sri Ramana replied with a smile,
“Ramana? See, he is here”, and pointed out to a brass vessel on which the
name Ramana had been engraved. When Bhagavan saw that the newcomer
was puzzled by the remark, he pointed respectively to his body and the
vessel and explained, “This is also a form like the vessel. At least the name
Ramana is on that. Even that is not here.” Then he resumed his activity.
Bhagavan’s non-identification with the body was witnessed by
those who saw him in the last few months of his life, when he was affected
by cancer. He remained indifferent to the treatment arranged by devotees
and allowed the doctors to do their job as wished by the devotees. He said,
“Our job is to remain a witness to all that happens,” and added, “Thinking
this body alone to be Bhagavan, they are grieved that Bhagavan is suffering
because of illness. What to do? They are worried that Swami is going to
leave. Where to go? How to go?”
1. He was treasurer of the Indian National Congress. Gandhiji shifted his

ashram from Sabarmati to Wardha at his instance. He once mentioned to a
close relation of the Compiler-Editor that all questions formulated by him
somehow got answered even before they were put to the Maharshi.
2. She was deeply involved in the freedom struggle of India and was a member
of the Congress Working Committee. A well-known poetess, she was referred
to as the Nightingale of india.
3. The duty of a person who has renounced the world.
48
Prof. N.R. Krishnamurti Aiyer (1898-1994) taught physics for 33
years at the American College, Madurai. He was a regular visitor
to the Ashram in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. He authored The Essence
of Ribhu Gita.
In April 1914, on their way to Tirupati my parents went to see
Bhagavan at the Virupaksha Cave. When I made my obeisance to
Bhagavan along with everyone else, his benign and divine gaze was fixed
N.R. Krishnamurti Aiyer 135
upon me, but I paid little attention to him as I ran about the place along with
other boys. After my return home a great change came over me. Till then
I had never cared to go to any temple, but now I felt dragged, as it were,
by some mysterious fascination to the huge and magnificent Mathrubhu-
teswara Lingam in the rock temple in my town Tiruchirapalli. Once inside
the temple, a great peace overwhelmed me and the joy I felt was
indescribable.
In January 1919, when I had an occasion to visit my sister’s house
in Tiruvannamalai, I had Bhagavan’s darshan at the Skandasram. This
time also, Bhagavan’s gracious look was impressed upon me. Reaching
home, when I slept after breakfast, for over two hours I was fully conscious,
but at the same time totally unconscious of my body and surroundings.
Even after being roused for lunch, I felt that everything around me was
like a dream. The people who saw my puzzled expression made fun of
me.
In 1923, at the end of the first year of my teaching career, I again
visited my sister in Tiruvannamalai and went to the Ashram. At that time I
was very sympathetic towards people like Ganapati Muni [No.91], who
were working for the political uplift of India. I also felt anger towards
people like Bhagavan who were not lifting a finger for the country’s liberation.
I was then an agnostic. I said nature could take care of itself. Where is the
need for a creator?
At that time, there were no buildings in the Ashram except for a
shed covering the mother’s samadhi. I saw Bhagavan seated on a bench
under a tree, stroking a dog near him. Among us Brahmins, the dog is an
animal which will defile purity. A good part of my respect for the Maharshi
was gone. I asked him, Sir, you are sitting like this, what is your next sthiti
(move)?
My idea was to elicit from him the reply that there is a soul that
survives the dissolution of the body, which later gets unified with God. I
wanted to have a verbal fight with him so that I could prove that this was
not so. Minutes passed but no reply was forthcoming. I said to myself, “Is
this man taking shelter under his dumb-indifferent silence from answering
an inconvenient question?” Just then Bhagavan’s ringing voice exploded,
“Sthiti, what do you mean by sthiti?”
I was not prepared for the question. I said to myself, “Oho, this
man is very dangerous, he is dangerously alive. I have to answer with
proper care.” I began to think: If I ask him about the body, it is a useless
question; the body will be buried or burnt. Now, if I say that the question is
about the state of mind, he will naturally ask me to define mind, for which
no answer was forthcoming within me. I landed in a void, and was like a
helpless mute. There was a fierce glow in Bhagavan’s eyes that held my
own eyes in a tight grip. I lost awareness of both the body and the world.
I do not know how long it continued. When I came to myself, I was terribly
afraid of the Maharshi. In spite of myself, I prostrated and made a headlong
flight.
At my next visit, the sarvadhikari of the Ashram invited me to
lunch and told me that a few weeks prior to my arrival, my father and
mother had come to the Ashram and had given a bhiksha to Bhagavan
and the Ashramites. After lunch, he presented me a photo of Bhagavan
and two small books – Arunachala Stuti Panchakam and Ramana Stuti
Panchakam. When I approached Bhagavan with these gifts, he corrected
some printing errors in the two books with his fountain pen, passed his
palm over them and gave back to me with his blessed hands.
After the evening meal was over, I followed Bhagavan on his
short stroll and asked, “ Bhagavan, I am doing Rama mantra japa. Is not
Arunachala mantra japa superior to this?” “No! No!” said Bhagavan
vehemently, “Both are identical. ‘Ra’ means ‘that is’ and ‘ma’ means ‘thou’.
‘A’ in Arunachala means ‘that’, ‘ru’ means ‘thou’ and ‘na’ means
‘art’.”Then he added, “Using your mind as your mouth, let the name Rama
revolve continuously like the Vishnu’s chakra (discus) within your mind.
Let no other know that you are doing japa.”
Before leaving the Ashram, the sarvadhikari asked me to send
him a photograph of Nataraja, the majestic idol in the Meenakshi Temple,
in front of whom the boy Ramana stood for long spells of time, shedding
copious tears of ecstasy, before he left Madurai for good. He also wanted
a photograph of the house where Ramana was born in Tiruchuzhi and of
some other places there. These were meant to be placed in the Tamil
biography Sri Ramana Vijayam by Suddhananda Bharati [No.101]. I could
succeed in implementing the request with the help of P.R.S.Mani, my
student and an expert photographer.
Towards the end of 1930, I was bedridden. My pain and suffering
was so great that I was seriously contemplating suicide, simply because I
could not stand the pain any more. My wife wired to her parents that my
life was in danger. The following day I told my wife that I might not live for
more than a couple of days.
Scarcely had I spoken these words, Vilachi Mani Aiyer, a boyhood
friend of Sri Ramana, who had just returned from Tiruvannamalai and
happened to be there, took out Bhagavan’s vibhuti and kumkum prasad.
N.R. Krishnamurti Aiyer 137
He placed a dot of kumkum on my forehead and rubbed the vibhuti on my

eyebrows. Immediately, a thrill of joy shook my frame, infusing me with a
feeling of good health. I sat up in my bed and told my wife, “I am quite
well, I will not die. Don’t fear.”
The same night my wife’s parents arrived with my cousin Dr.
Rajagopal, who took us to his home in Karur and treated me for a month,
by which time I was fully restored to health. I then recollected the song I
heard at Trichy: ‘Jai Sri Ramana! Victory unto my Lord Ramana, Siva!’
My soul sang the same song.
My sixty-six year old father was suffering from both hernia and
asthma. These troubles got aggravated due to frequent trips between
Madurai and Tiruchuzhi, which were necessary for negotiations needed to
acquire the house where Bhagavan was born. After the deal was concluded
and the property acquired for Rs.3000, my father along with others involved
in the negotiation, returned to Tiruvannamalai, where he got struck with
strangulated hernia.
The attack was sudden and severe. It was not possible to take
him by car to the Vellore hospital. The resident Ashram doctor Kuppuswami
Aiyer, a staunch devotee of Bhagavan, took courage in both hands and
improvised an operation table in the local hospital.
Before taking up the operation he came to Bhagavan and prayed
to him for success. My father survived the operation which the specialist
in Madurai had said earlier would be fatal at that age and condition of
health.
When it became clear that the life of my father had been spared,
I prostrated before Bhagavan and said, “This one time Bhagavan has
worked a miracle and saved my father’s life!” Bhagavan interjected
and said, “Why are you saying ‘one time’? Why are you not saying
‘three times’?” How Bhagavan could remember or know about those
two earlier occasions when his grace was sought and secured years
ago to save my father’s life in similar situations, will always remain a
mystery to me.
Prof. Aiyer who in his old age stayed with his son at Tiruvannamalai
told the following to V. Ganesan:
In Bhagavan’s daily life one noticed personal cleanliness, tidiness

of dress, habitual wearing of vibhuti and kumkum on the forehead; equal
sharing of all enjoyment with those around him; strict adherence to a
time schedule; performing useful work however ‘low’ it may be; never
leaving a work unfinished; the pursuit of perfection in every action;

incessant activity except while sleeping or resting after a spell of hard
work; never considering oneself superior to others; speaking the truth
always, or strict silence if the expression of truth would hurt or lower the
reputation of others; perfect self-help; never asking another to do a piece
of work which can be done by oneself; taking full responsibility for failure,
if any, without shifting the blame on others; accepting success or failure
with equanimity; never disturbing the peace of others; leaving the leaf-
plate clean after eating; complete non-interference in the affairs of others;
never worrying about the future.These are the lessons Sri Ramana taught
by example to his devotees.
49
Chalam (Gudipati Venkatachalam) (1894-1979) was a famous Telugu

author. When he first met Sri Ramana in 1936, he was a radical and
militant social campaigner. He worked as an Inspector of Schools.
He moved to Arunachala in 1950 and spent the remaining years of
his life there. He compiled reminiscences of nineteen Sri Ramana
devotees, including his own and of his daughter, in Bhagavan
Smritulu (Telugu).
I was a very orthodox Hindu when studying in high school, even
more so than my elders. Later, when I began my career I found my personal
life in a mess. I could not see any connection between the idea of an all-
merciful God and a world filled with grief, flaws and difficulties. I lost my
faith and began to doubt the very existence of God. I had come to a dead-
end after having experimented with various things in my life.
At this stage a friend of mine, Dikshitulu [No.31] took me to Sri
Ramanasramam in 1936, on a casual visit. On the way, he asked me to
buy some fruits for Bhagavan, but since I had no faith in swamis, I
refused. I also refused to prostrate before Bhagavan until Dikshitulu
forced me to do so.
On this first visit I found it insufferable to sit silently among the
people who had come to see Bhagavan. From the moment of our arrival I
was pestering Dikshitulu to take me away from the Ashram. The more I
watched the devotees, the more was my dislike for the people in the Ashram.
Chalam 139
I asked Dikshitulu, “You say that this Maharshi is a great man who can
transform people. But why is it that people who have attached themselves
to him for years still look like this?”
On the afternoon of the second day, I saw Bhagavan coming
down the hill. Devotees were standing around in groups, talking to each
other. As Bhagavan came near, everyone except for me stepped aside to
give him more room. I stayed where I was because I thought there was
more than enough space for him.
As Bhagavan came nearer, Dikshitulu pulled me to one side.
Bhagavan walked past me and then suddenly stopped. He turned back,
looked at me, gave me a great smile and went on his way. At the time I did
not have any particular feeling for him, but when I recollected the incident
later, I felt that Bhagavan won my heart in that one brief moment.
When the time came for us to return, Dikshitulu asked me to go
along with him to take leave of Bhagavan. I refused saying, “What
relationship is between him and me? Why should I ask for his permission
to leave? I do not follow these old traditions.” He said, “You were a guest
of the Ashram for three days. Won’t you at least show the minimum courtesy
and say goodbye to him?” I reluctantly accepted the suggestion and went
with him. After Dikshitulu had asked Bhagavan for permission to go, I
murmured feebly, “I am also going.” Bhagavan looked back at me and
smiled. That smile caused an unexpected change in me. I don’t know
what happened to me except that I suddenly felt Bhagavan was saying to
me, ‘If you go away, how can I carry on living here? How lonely I will
feel!’ My feet refused to move as I considered the idea of staying a little
longer. But when I remembered the people, the hall and the silence that
had offended me so much, I felt I could not stay on.
I left the Ashram, reached the station and there ordered hot toast,
poached eggs, tea and cigarettes. I did so in a mood of vengeance, as I had
been kept away from these things for all the days I had been at the Ashram.
When I reached Vijayawada, my children asked me about the
Maharshi. I told them what I had seen and tried to explain Bhagavan’s
philosophy to them. My words made a strong impression on my elder
daughter Souris [next entry].
Out of curiosity, I began to practise the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’
Souris also took up the practice after I had explained to her how to do it. I
continued to sit for meditation and soon started getting very good results.
Often, without any effort on my part, the meditation caught hold of me,
made me sit and took over for a while. At such times my mind used to stop
completely. When it became clear to me that it was Bhagavan who was

causing this improvement, my faith in him increased and spiritual hopes
were kindled.
In those days I did not know that Bhagavan was just giving me a
taste of the experience of the Self in order to increase my faith in him. I did
not have much faith in Bhagavan’s philosophy, but I still felt that he was
leading me somewhere. My attitude was to let him lead me.
My path to Bhagavan was a long and arduous one. Having a
strong atheist background, I had to undergo many years of doubts and
sufferings before I could generate enough faith to accept implicitly that
Bhagavan was guiding me and protecting me all the time. Other luckier
devotees had faith right from the beginning of their association with
Bhagavan.
I remember in particular one devotee who had both faith and the
intellectual simplicity that I lacked. He was an old Telugu man living in the
Draupadi Temple about 300 meters from Sri Ramanasramam. His only
possessions were an iron pot and an axe that he used to cut firewood for
cooking. He would beg food in the town and cook it in his pot. Each day,
for hours together, he could be seen standing and looking at Bhagavan. He
would spend the night in the Temple, which was then dilapidated, abandoned
and surrounded by jungle.
I once found him standing alone in front of the Temple. When I
asked him what he was doing in such a remote spot, he told me that he
slept there. I exclaimed, “You sleep here all alone. Are you not afraid?”
“Afraid of what?” retorted the old man: “Bhagavan throws his light on me.
All night I am surrounded by a blue radiance. So long as his light is with
me, how can I be afraid?”
This encounter made me deeply humble. Bhagavan’s love and
light are given in full measure to a poor old beggar, but there are many in
the Ashram like myself, who called themselves his devotees but who had
failed to receive such grace because we were too busy attending to the
contents of our mind.
I used to spend a lot of time watching Bhagavan in the hall, taking
note of different ways in which he responded to the events that were
going on around him. He was always something of an enigma to me. This
is not really surprising since mere devotees cannot comprehend the state
of realised souls. There is no set standard for a jnani, no yardstick to
judge him by. Jnanis cannot be understood because their minds have been
destroyed. Sometimes we may feel that their actions have no rational
Chalam 141
explanation. But it is sheer ignorance to search for an explanation in apparent

contradictions in the behaviour of a jnani. Bhagavan used to speak and
behave according to the need, the state and situation of each person. Not
being aware of these factors, we are in no position to pass judgement on
him.
The events, activities and dialogues in the hall sometimes seemed,
to uninformed observers, to have a bizarre or irrational character because
they were not aware that the power of Bhagavan orchestrated the scene
in such a way that everything that needed to happen happened automatically.
One inexplicable incident might be a message only for one devotee in the
hall. That devotee might understand the import of the message. The rest
of us, not knowing the full circumstances, would merely be bewildered.
Or, in another case, Bhagavan might notice that the ego of a devotee
sitting before him was rising, and he may rebuke him in some way. The
others in the hall might interpret this as an unprovoked attack.
I relate an incident that produced a reaction in Bhagavan, which I
alone could understand. A friend of mine, who had no faith in swamis,
came to the Ashram. Having decided in advance not to prostrate to
Bhagavan, he spent the time of his brief visit wandering around the Ashram.
In the evening, as it was summer, Bhagavan’s chair was placed outside
near the well. Bhagavan sat on it, surrounded by the devotees. My friend,
wandering in the area at that time, felt an irrepressible desire to prostrate
and he fell full length at Bhagavan’s feet. Bhagavan laughed loudly. None
of the devotees, except for me, knew why Bhagavan had suddenly laughed.
Everyone else was looking around, trying to ascertain the cause of
Bhagavan’s laughter.
Bhagavan was never impressed by the achievements, reputation
or pedigree of the people who visited him. They might have done a lot of
sadhana, but it made no difference when they appeared before him. When
many such people came, he would not even raise his eyes to look at them.
Sometimes he would laugh and show great love towards particular devotees,
but at other times he would be totally indifferent to the same persons. For
some visitors, he would come down to their level and answer each of their
questions with great patience, but he would not even open his mouth if the
same questions were put by someone else.
Though Bhagavan would make no adverse remarks about
traditional practices, he did not support his devotees if they did so. Echammal
[No. 60], 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?”
Sometimes Bhagavan would be indifferent to all the events that
were going on around him, but at other times he would show a keen interest
in the trivia of everyday life. Once he took great care of an sparrow’s egg,
which had fallen down from the nest, until the baby sparrow emerged.
Afterwards he showed the baby sparrow to everyone. But the next moment,
he might reply uninterestedly, “Oh, is that so?” if it was reported to him that
someone who was considered to be a known devotee had passed away.
Bhagavan was a great champion of the oppressed, and he had a
natural tendency to side with the social underdog in any dispute. He insisted
that he would not eat in the dining room until all the poor at the Ashram
gate that were awaiting food, had been fed. If the Ashram prepared diluted
sambhar for the poor, Bhagavan would get angry and insist that he be fed
with the same. Even when he was ill, he would insist that the fruit and milk
that were given to him for medicinal reasons should be distributed among
all those present in the hall.
Bhagavan frequently made it clear that he did not want devotees
to be prevented from seeing him. In view of his declining health, Bhagavan
needed rest. Guards were placed outside his room with strict instructions
to avoid any disturbance from the visitors. A sadhu who happened to
arrive at the Ashram, wanted to see Bhagavan. But the guards and the
office staff turned down his request firmly. The disappointed sadhu started
walking sadly towards the gate. Bhagavan might have overheard his
request, for when the sadhu passed Bhagavan’s room, he was astonished
to find Bhagavan standing outside, waiting for him. They gazed at each
other for sometime. The sadhu went on his way and Bhagavan returned
to his room.
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.
Souris 143
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.”
Although Bhagavan was half-naked and lived in a very
unostentatious way, most people were afraid to approach him to
speak with him. Important men such as senior army officials, or
highly placed persons who held important positions in various fields
trembled and were afraid to go up to that decrepit old form that had
neither temporal power nor even a significant following.
Bhagavan’s appearance changed periodically. When he sat looking
out beyond horizon, he would remind us of Lord Dakshinamurthi in dhyana
posture. When he sat in his majestic unmoving posture, which he often did,
there was unspeakable beauty and grace in his figure.Wearing only a
loincloth he would bring to our minds an emperor wearing magnificant
robes, sitting on a diamond-studded throne, with all the paraphernalia of his
estate. But then, when somebody called ‘Bhagavan’, he would come down
from some unknown region to this earth to attend to the call.
Gurus like Bhagavan are manifestations of God in human
form. To relieve and redeem the suffering of mankind, the Lord
occasionally comes down to earth and manifests in a physical form.
[The Mountain Path records: When Chalam complained to Sri
Ramana that he felt sleepy during the sadhana, the sharp answer was,
‘Then go to sleep’.]
50
Souris, daughter of Chalam (preceding entry), bore a Westernised
name and her family’s way of living was also Westernised. Her father
had rejected Indian systems and traditions.
When I saw Bhagavan’s photo for the first time in The Sunday
Times, I wondered who that ugly person could be. I thought, ‘not only does
he get himself photographed half-naked, he also gets the picture printed in
newspapers’. At the same time I loathed him and what he stood for. I
discovered that his name was Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, which sounded
harsh and artificial to my ears. Bhagavan, Ramana and Maharshi: I did not
see any relation between these names. I felt that he had added these titles
merely for the sake of self-advertisement, to show himself off.
My aesthetic feelings were so hurt that if I ever saw the Maharshi’s
photo in a newspaper I used to turn the page as quickly as possible. At
that time, when I was fourteen years old, I couldn’t stand the sight
of him. But now, today, I know no other beauty is comparable to
the beauty of the Maharshi. It is not merely a feeling; it is a
conviction, a sure knowledge. His enchanting smile, his melodious
voice, the nod of his head, his wonderful look that splits through
the maya of the world, these are found nowhere else in the world.
When my father returned from his first visit to the Ashram in
1936, I was lying down with a headache. Everyone except me crowded
round father to listen to his account of the visit. I initially ignored him, but
when I heard him say the name of Arunachala my heart got filled with joy.
I got up from my bed and sat near father because his story had begun to
fascinate me. As I joined him, father was describing Bhagavan’s philosophy
of Self-knowledge. He was explaining that Bhagavan teaches that the
mind, the intellect, the five sensory organs and the body are not real, and
we should know the real ‘I’.
Everyone was listening, but except for me, none of us could grasp
or understand the ideas that father was trying to explain. Since my childhood
I had wondered: Is the world real or is it a dream? I had known since
childhood that behind my mind there is an ‘I’ that has no connection with
the mind. I had tried unsuccessfully to reach and know this ‘I’ many times.
I knew that the mind was a barrier that prevented the goal from being
reached, but I had no idea how to bypass it. When I heard Bhagavan’s
teachings, I felt that they were pointing me in the direction of the truth I
was seeking.
I went to bed and stretched myself out. Father came and sat near
me. He applied some vibhuti he had brought from the Ashram to my
forehead and uttered Bhagavan’s name twice. I felt a cool power flowing
from my father’s fingers into my forehead. Immediately my headache
disappeared. Later I read the booklet Who am I? and started to practise
the technique.
At the beginning, each time I tried to banish thoughts one by one,
ten thoughts would arise in place of each one I banished. This made me
feel depressed. But about ten days after I started my practice, the figure
Souris 145
of Bhagavan appeared before me. Till then I had never seen him, except in
photos. Immediately all the thoughts in my mind subsided of their own
accord, filling my heart with joy and love. I would have stopped such a
difficult sadhana on account of my young age, but I soon discovered that
the headache that had troubled me since childhood vanished if I meditated.
Ever since I read Brunton’s A Search in Secret India [No.1], the
desire to see Bhagavan became intense. His name constantly filled my
mind. I spent a whole year yearning to go to Bhagavan before I got a
chance to see him. I went along with my parents. We entered Bhagavan’s
hall at 8 a.m. As soon as he saw me, Bhagavan smiled as if I were an old
acquaintance. It seemed to me that he had been expecting me for a long
time. I sat before him and almost immediately fell into a trance. It was so
natural; it was like a fish being put into water.
I went to see Bhagavan again with my father in the late 1930s.
Though I was often in ecstasy in Bhagavan’s presence, I could not escape
from some difficulties. The behaviour, traditions and methods of worship
at the Ashram continually grated on me. One evening, while I was sitting
in a trance, the person distributing prasad came up to me and said loudly,
“Take it.” I stretched out my left-hand because by birth I am left-handed.
He responded by rebuking me. I was unhappy since I did not like being
shouted at by the attendants.
I did not see meaning in many of the rituals. Whenever the priest
brought arati after puja, Bhagavan would stretch out his hand to the flame
and then apply vibhuti and kumkum to the forehead. I never understood
why Bhagavan behaved in this way like an orthodox Brahmin. I thought that
since he was a jnani who always saw the whole world as a foolish game, he
should not behave like this. There were many other occasions when I saw
him behaving in a way that seemed opposite to his teachings, as I then
understood them. I was confused. This confusion was so great that I felt my
love for him would diminish. But then I began to correct my attitude.
I said to myself, “What are we before him? If Bhagavan takes
arati very devoutly, why should I have any objection?” Because of all
these thoughts about Bhagavan and arati, my meditation used to get
disturbed. Then, one day, I saw Major Chadwick [No.42] take arati very
devoutly and apply vibhuti and kumkum to his forehead. It moved me
very much. If, for a Hindu by birth like me, there does not appear much
meaning or rationale in the arati, it should appear even more meaningless
to a foreigner such as him. From that day on I saw beauty in whatever
Bhagavan did.
For me, being in Bhagavan’s presence was like being in

heaven. If I am to write how Bhagavan has impressed me, all the
vocabulary I can command in the three languages I know would not
suffice. When a word issued forth from his lips – generally he did not speak
much at all – it was just as astonishing as it would be if words had come forth
from an inanimate idol. Above all else I noticed his sparkling eyes; even in the
dark one could see them sparkle. And when he looked at us, his sight, like an
arrow, pierced right into the deepest recesses of the heart.
At the Ashram I felt that apart from this place the entire world is
non-existent. I didn’t like to go away, leaving Bhagavan. I only wanted to
stay there.When I came back from the Ashram in 1939, home seemed like
a jail to me. But whenever I thought strongly of going back to Arunachala,
Bhagavan would appear in a dream and counsel me, “Why do you worry?
I am always with you.”
In one of my dreams Bhagavan appeared and asked me, “Will you
choose a writing career or Self-realisation?” I replied in the dream that I
would choose Self-realisation. After this dream, people who had read my
published stories used to ask, “What are you writing nowadays?” When I
answered, “Bhagavan told me to stop,” they would look at me in disbelief.
I continued my sadhana at home. If Bhagavan had not guided
me through my dreams during that long period (before I moved to
Arunachala permanently in 1950), I would have gone astray many times
and would have been deceived by many.
In January 1950, when Bhagavan was in the last stages of his life,
I, along with my father, packed up all our belongings and moved to
Arunachala, our only refuge, to take up permanent residence there. Within
a few weeks of our arrival, Bhagavan gave up the body. We had come to
die in his presence, but instead he passed away before our very eyes. We
stayed on near his samadhi. For us, there was nowhere else to go.
51
Swami Madhavatirtha (1895-1960) was a prolific writer on a wide
variety of spiritual topics. He had studied Vedanta and found himself
increasingly attracted to the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, which failed
to satisfy him. His first and only visit to the Ashram for two weeks
Swami Madhavatirtha 147
took place in 1944. In his book The Life and Teachings of Ramana
Maharshi (original in Gujarati), he wrote that the visit substantially
changed the course of his life.
I should like to refer to a somewhat mystical experience I had
during my visit. It is rather difficult to describe such an experience but I
shall try to convey some idea about it by borrowing an analogy from the
Bhagavatam. Sometime before the birth of Lord Krishna, it is said, the
Lord entered the heart of Vasudeva, who then shined like the sun. Later,
that light passed into Devaki through a mere look of Vasudeva, after
which she shined like the moon.
On the very first day of my darshan of the Maharshi in the dining
hall, I found in the look of the sage the dazzling brilliance of the sun. On a
subsequent day, while in the presence of the Maharshi in the hall, I
recognised the same brilliance in the look of the sage. It seemed
to pierce me to the core of my being, even as the light of the Lord
passed into Devaki through the look of Vasudeva. My breath seemed
to stop for a while and my mind was elevated into some spiritual
realm of unutterable peace and happiness.
I had authored a small book entitled Maya in which I had attempted
to relate certain ideas on the reality of the world to those propounded by
Einstein in his theory of relativity. I had sent the Maharshi a copy of my
book prior to my visit. It was a revelation to me that the Maharshi could
judge offhand, as it were, such modern theories as that of relativity,
proceeding entirely on the basis of his own experience of the Absolute.
While sitting in the hall, I observed the Maharshi resting on his
couch wholly unconcerned with what was taking place in his presence.
From the constant flow of visitors who prostrated before him and moved
one after the other, I could easily discern in him the attitude of oneness
with all. I can confidently say that it was through his abhinnabhava
(feeling of parity for all) that he touched the inner being of visitors, who
were then able to feel within themselves the presence of the universal
spirit, transcending thought.
Having realised that the Maharshi was radiating the power of the
Self in this way, I decided to ask how I could best prepare myself to
receive the transmission of grace while sitting in his presence. He said,
“You will get spiritual help sitting in this hall if you keep yourself still. The
aim is to give up all practices. When the mind becomes still, the power of
Self will be experienced. The waves of Self will be experienced. The
waves of the Self are pervading everywhere. If the mind is at peace, one
begins to experience them.”
The reciprocal relationship between the Maharshi and his
abhinnabhava and the aspirant sitting in his presence is analogous to that
of a radio transmitter and a receiver. If the visitor is anxious to receive the
fullest benefit of the benign influence radiating from the silent presence of
the sage, he must attune his mind, which according to the analogy will be
the receiving set tuned to proper wavelength.
The silence of the sage is constant and exercises uninterruptedly its
benign influence, whether the sage appears to be outwardly aware of the
world or not. Reverting to the analogy of the transmitter, I may say that so
far as the sage is concerned, his spiritual influence is transmitting unceasingly.
But from the point of view of the seeker, who is still subject to the veiling
power of maya, the continued beneficent influence exercised by the sage
will have no apparent effect unless the seeker is ready to receive it.
When I enquired whether I should gaze at his eyes or his face, or
should close my eyes and concentrate on a particular object, he replied,
“Gaze at your own real nature. Everywhere there is one, so it is all the
same whether you keep your eyes open or closed. If you wish to meditate,
do so on the ‘I’ that is within you. It is atman.”
When asked about the required sitting posture, the sage’s view
was that stability in Self was the real posture. The compulsion of having a
particular kind of posture could make the mind agitated.
Regarding the swaadhyaya (personal study) he said, “Self is the
real book. You can glance anywhere in that book; nobody can take it away
from you.Whenever you are free turn towards Self.Thereafter you may
read whatever you like.”
About the problem of weariness, fear and anxiety, he said, “Find
out to whom the problem occurs. By conducting this inquiry these things
will disappear. If you direct your mind towards Self, fear and anxiety will
go away.”
The Maharshi told me that ‘I’ (ahamkara) feeling is the root of
all thoughts. If you destroy the root, the leaves and branches will wither
away. Having put the question ‘Who am I’? before the mind, one should
search for the root of the ‘I’ and make very sincere and persistent efforts
to stop other thoughts. In all sadhanas the mind has to be kept quiet.
Further, to get the experience one should not rely on buddhi alone, but
should combine it with a firm conviction (bhavana) about one’s success
through continued effort against all odds.
Swami Madhavatirtha 149
The Maharshi said that when camphor burns nothing remains

afterwards. In the same way, while searching the Self all efforts must be
made to ensure that the mind is burnt out. So long as the world is not
realised to be false, thoughts of the world will keep on coming. Without the
mind there is no world. In sleep, since there is no mind, there is no world.
The world exists in relation to the mind. It is not a thing independent and
existing by itself.
Once a visitor asked, why does God allow so much injustice to go
on and why there is so much insufficiency among us?The Maharshi replied,
“Go to God and ask Him about it. If you cannot go to Him as you are
admitting, how to ask the question? Weak people do not get liberation.” In
answer to another question, the Maharshi said, “So long as the body is
there, some activity is bound to happen. Only the attitude ‘I am the doer’
has to be given up. The activities do not obstruct. It is the attitude ‘I did’
that is the obstruction. Further, so long as an external object is required [for
happiness], incompleteness is felt. When it is felt that atman alone is there,
permanent happiness stays.”
The Maharshi disagreed with Sri Aurobindo’s view that getting
established in the Self in a perfect manner is not possible through a normal
human body. For this, according to Sri Aurobindo, it was necessary to have
a vignanamaya sarira, that is, a body which will not be attacked by
disease and not die without one’s desire.
The Maharshi’s replies were always very cogent. Every word
seemed to have a force that made disputation entirely out of place.
Although the Maharshi gave forthright answers to questions, at
no point of time did he insist that he alone was right.
During one conversation that I noted down, he pointed out that the
evangelical fervour that can be found in many religious zealots is merely a
manifestation of their egos.
The Maharshi never wanted to impose Hindu ideas on those who
would not appreciate them. If Christians, Muslims and others came to him
for advice, he would propound the essential mystical teachings of their own
religion and ask them to strive for union with their own particular chosen God.
The Maharshi never encouraged worship of his form. He refused
to let himself be garlanded and would not permit any one to do puja to him.
Whether the Maharshi spoke in order to clear the doubts of an
earnest aspirant, or whether he sat in perfect silence, one received a fresh
illumination, a new angle of vision and sometimes a very inspiring
reorientation of one’s spiritual outlook.
Embodying the Advaitic truth, the one universal spirit transcending

the bounds of time and space, the Maharshi truly represents in himself
the University of Spiritual Education.
52
Kunju Swami served as one of the Maharshi’s attendants from 1920

till 1932. In 1977, he wrote his reminiscences.1 He says that his
guru Kuppandi Swami told him about the greatness of the Maharshi,
whom he had visited. Sometime in 1920, he left his home in Kerala
with great eagerness to have Sri Ramana’s darshan.
As I sat in the railway station my mind was dwelling so intensely
on my desire to see Bhagavan that hunger and thirst were forgotten. After
waiting for more than 12 hours for the train to Tiruvannamalai, I was told
that tickets were not being issued to that town; instead they issued a ticket
to Katpadi, about 50 miles north of Tiruvannamalai. I reached Katpadi at 4
a.m. and waited for the train to Tiruvannamalai, which was to leave at
6.30 a.m. When I went to the counter at 6 a.m. for getting the ticket, I was
told that the train came early and had left at 5.30 a.m. The next train was
to leave at 6 p.m. This news disoriented me for sometime.
I waited patiently and went to the ticket office at 5.30 p.m. to be
told that tickets were not being issued for Tiruvannamalai. I was bewildered
because, yet again, no reason was given. While wondering what to do, an
elderly gentleman called out to me and after learning about my destination
told me, “Due to an outbreak of plague, Tiruvannamalai has been quarantined.
If you buy a ticket to Tirukoilur (a station further down the line) you can
get down at Tiruvannamalai in the dark when the train stops there to deliver
the mail.”
As suggested, I asked for a ticket to Tirukoilur and handed over
all the money I had. The ticket clerk counted it and told me that the ticket
would cost a quarter rupee more than the amount I had. Extremely
disappointed I wandered out of the booking office and stood on the edge of
the platform. There I thought of Bhagavan and felt very sad that my sincere
attempt to see him had apparently been frustrated.
A few minutes before the arrival of the train, I noticed at some
distance from where I was standing, a glittering quarter rupee coin between
Kunju Swami 151
the two rails. I ran, jumped down, took it and managed to purchase a ticket
just as the train was entering the station.
When the train entered Tiruvannamalai station, I saw the person
sitting opposite me disembarking in the dark. I too got down and followed
him. It was Bhagavan’s will that I had missed the morning train at Katpadi
station. Had I taken that train, it would have been impossible to get off at
Tiruvannamalai.
I followed my fellow passenger without knowing where he was
going. He walked for sometime, stopped at a mandapam, lay down and
went to sleep. I joined him on the floor and immediately went to sleep, tired
but very happy. Next morning, I could not find the man who had guided me
to the mandapam, but I could see Arunachala before me. I reached
Bhagavan’s abode, based on the instructions got before leaving home.
When I reached the Skandasram, I felt a thrill on seeing Bhagavan.
I told him in Malayalam all about my boyhood, how I had been doing japa
and giving spiritual discourses. Bhagavan listened to everything with a
smile. In reply to my question as to what I should do to get over my confusion
and gain clarity, Bhagavan said, “First know who you are. See from where
thoughts arise. Turn your mind inwards and see in the Heart.”[ The point
on the right side of the chest meant for focussing attention.]
As we sat silently, Bhagavan’s gracious look was fixed on
me. At that very moment all my confusions ceased and I experienced
a peace and bliss I had never experienced before.
While we were together Bhagavan would often look at me; and
as he did so, I became aware that his eyes had a strange brilliance and
fascination in them. Whenever I looked into his eyes for any length
of time, I saw bright effulgence. I was also filled with a strange
peace and bliss. After each experience I would come back to my
normal physical state with a shudder. This occurred on each of the
eighteen days I stayed with Bhagavan. I was like someone intoxicated.
Back home, the meditative state experienced in Bhagavan’s
presence steadily declined. I slowly became my old restless self. While I
was dwelling on my disappointment, my friend Ramakrishna Swami, who
also had been to Bhagavan, came to my place and revealed that his
experience had been the same as mine. Feeling that it would be pointless
to stay at home, we both decided to take refuge in Bhagavan and reached
Tiruvannamalai. To help us out of our problem that it was a sin to eat at
Guru’s place without performing any service in return, both of us were
assigned responsibility to serve Bhagavan and his ashram.
One day when I asked Bhagavan why the experiences I had felt in
his presence did not continue after my return, he referred to verses 83 to
93 of the first section of Kaivalya Navaneeta. He then summarised the
verses and said, “The experience of the Self can occur in the presence of
the guru, but it may not last. The disciple has to continue to study, think and
practise until the distinction between knower, known and knowing no longer
exists.”
In the early days of my stay at the Skandasram, I found that I
could get all my doubts cleared merely by listening to the answers to questions
put by other devotees. Moreover, by listening to the answers I was able to
learn many new aspects of Bhagavan’s teachings.
On several occasions Bhagavan’s body would disappear in a flash
and disperse into its component atoms. A little later a smoke-like form
would appear and the atoms would come together in a form that resembled
particles of dust. Finally, the body would reappear in its normal form.2
Bhagavan wrote the Upadesa Saaram in four different languages.
The Telugu and Sanskrit versions are in couplets, the Tamil in three-line
stanzas, and the Malayalam in four-line verses. When I took the Malayalam
verses to a well-known Malayalam professor for his opinion, he marvelled
at the purity of diction achieved by a writer whose mother tongue was not
Malayalam.3
In his Arunachala Ashtakam (1913), Bhagavan gives the analogy
of film projection by saying that a series of subtle thoughts that appear
within us as shadowy spectacles of the world, appear without as the world
perceived by the five senses like a film projected through a lens.4
One of the earliest persons to recognise Bhagavan’s greatness
was Achyutadasa, a famous poet and a scholar. When Bhagavan was
staying at the Gurumurtam in the late 1890s, he went for Bhagavan’s
darshan. After performing bhajans for sometime, he sat near Bhagavan,
caught hold of his feet and hands and immediately went into a state of
ecstasy. When Achyutadasa’s disciples also wanted to hold Bhagavan’s
feet, he stopped them by saying, “This is a huge fire, and none of you can
get close to it.”
At the Skandasram we never saw Bhagavan lying on the bed
fully stretched out on his back or his side. Nor did we ever see him with a
pillow under his head. He never used to lie down and sleep like other
people. Instead, he would sleep sitting down in a semi-reclining position,
with a few pillows supporting his back. Sometimes, he would support his
head with his hand while sleeping.5
Kunju Swami 153
Bhagavan’s head would shake continuously and without the stick to

support he could not walk or even stand upright. These were not symptoms
of old age. Both the shaking of the head and his holding on to a stick date
back to very early days. These were the marks left on him by the stupendous
experience of atmanubhuti in Madurai! When asked about this condition,
Bhagavan remarked, “What do you think would happen to a small thatched
hut inside which a big elephant is kept tied up? Wouldn’t it be shattered?
Same is the case here!”6
An old woman living near Arunachaleswara Temple7 and some
other elderly people in the town had decided that they would eat morning
food only after Bhagavan’s darshan at the Skandasram. One day the lady
devotee could not come. Bhagavan asked her the next day as to why she
had missed a day. She answered, “Realising my infirmity you gave darshan
from near my house, while you were sitting on the rock near the ashram,
brushing your teeth.” She added, “I am not able to climb the hill everyday,
I would now have your darshan from my house.” From that day onwards,
even when the weather was bad, Bhagavan brushed his teeth sitting on
that rock. This proved convenient to many other elderly devotees who
wanted to have his darshan but were unable to climb the hill.8
In the Ashram kitchen only Brahmins were allowed to cook, because
Brahmins will not eat food cooked by non-Brahmins. Bhagavan approved
of this not because he favoured religious orthodoxy but because he didn’t
want to cause offence to the many Brahmins who stayed at the Ashram.
Once it became necessary for me to go to my place in Kerala. I
had just enough money to buy the train ticket and no extra money to buy
food on the way. That afternoon a devotee unexpectedly brought a lot of
pooris and served them to Bhagavan and others in the Ashram. We were
surprised to see that Bhagavan, who normally did not take more than two
pooris, happily accepted six from the devotee.When the serving was over,
he ate only one of the six and neatly packed and tied the remaining five
with his own hands and gave the packet to me. Everyone was deeply
touched by Bhagavan’s compassion.
We had the benefit of regularly receiving personal instructions
from Bhagavan. One of them was that we should get into a meditative
state before going to sleep. We were also advised to go into meditation for
sometime, immediately after getting out of bed.
In 1932, after spending about twelve years in personal attendance
on Bhagavan, I felt the urge to devote myself entirely to sadhana. I had
been debating the matter for some days when the answer came in a strange
way. As I entered the hall one day, I heard Bhagavan saying to others who
were there that the real service to him did not mean attending to his physical
needs, it meant following the essence of his teachings, that is, concentrating
on realising the Self. This cleared my doubts and I shifted to a room in
Palakottu9 to continue with my tapas, and at the same time remain in
close and regular contact with Bhagavan.
1. These were translated into English by Dr. K.Subrahmanian (no. 33), and got
printed by him for Sri Ramanasramam with the help of devotees of Sri Ramana
Kendram, Hyderabad.
2. David Godman says that when he spoke to Kunju Swami about this
phenomenon, the latter conceded that he had never personally seen
Bhagavan enter that state, but added that the story was a matter of common
knowledge when he was staying at the Skandasram. (Refer Godman’s book
The Power Of The Presence, part-II, p. 17.)
3. Refer no. 41, p. 102, where Telugu translation of Upadesa Saaram has been
extolled.
4. David Godman asked Kunju Swami how Bhagavan managed to acquire the
knowledge of the film projection system during the very early years of the
twentieth century. Sri Ramana used this analogy in Self-Enquiry as early as
1902. Kunju Swami’s answer was: “I don’t know. We always used to wonder
where he got his practical knowledge. He lived a very unworldly life, yet
somehow he amassed a vast repertoire of practical skills. He just seemed,
quite naturally, to know them.” (Source: The Power Of The Presence, op. cit.,
pp.28-9.)
5. Refer no.88, where Sri Ramana tells Dr. M.Anantanarayana Rao that “he had
not slept flat on the ground or on the couch ever since he came to
Tiruvannamalai,” p. 233.
6. Moments Remembered by V. Ganesan, Sri Ramanasramam, p.7.
8. The Skandasram is located on the hill facing Tiruvannamalai town.
9. Sadhus’ colony abutting on the Ashram.
53
Muruganar (C.K.Subramania Iyer) (1893-1973), an outstanding
devotee of Sri Ramana and a great poet, composed thousands of
poems praising Sri Ramana, or recording his teachings, or
expressing gratitude to him for having established him in the Self.
His poems are an ocean of devotion and veneration for the Maharshi.
Muruganar 155
Muruganar was a well-respected Tamil scholar before visiting Sri

Ramana. His father-in-law Dandapani Swami, an ardent devotee of
Sri Ramana, once gave him a copy of Aksharamanamalai,1 a reading
of which prompted him to go to Tiruvannamalai in 1923. He
immediately recognised that the Maharshi was the Guru he had
been actively seeking. He has described his visit and the
background that led up to it in his poetical compositions translated
below:
I heard from devotees who have redeemed themselves by the

grace of one at Tiruvannamalai, who is the embodiment of true jnana
and who shines as the flame of true tapas... Hearing them I was lost in
admiration and unceasing joy… Like one suffering from thirst comes
across a Ganges of cold water, I went to Ramana Maharshi with eleven
verses2 and met the ocean of mauna, the bestower of jnana…On seeing
him my mind dissolved in the same way as wax melts on encountering
fire. The hair on my body stood on end. Devotion surged in me like an
ocean that has seen the full moon.
I read the eleven verses with an unsteady and quivering voice. At
that very moment he graciously looked at me with his lotus eyes. From
that day on, the praises given out by my impartial tongue belonged only to
him… From the way he bestowed his grace becoming my Lord and Master,
I was completely convinced that he was Siva himself. As my new ‘owner’
he made my ‘I’ and ‘mine’ his own.
In the succeeding months I came to visit him on many occasions.
I was gradually influenced by him and my outlook on life was getting
altered. Sometime after my mother’s death, I left my job in 1926 and came
to Tiruvannamalai, making it my permanent residence.
The following extracts are from Muruganar’s Sri Ramana Anubhuti
first published in 1948, more than twenty years after he had the
experiences described below:
I was a learned fool. My flawed mind knew nothing till I came to
dwell with him whose glance filled my heart with the light of awareness. I
entered into union with the deathless state of knowledge of the Reality.
As the deadly delusion of a body-bound ego faded, a flower of
pure light unfolded at his holy feet. That radiance grew ever brighter with
my love until I realised the flawless knowledge of the Self, manifesting as
the unbroken awareness ‘I-I’ within my heart.
I was wandering deluded in the mind’s labyrinth of dreams, rushing

hither and thither, desiring one thing then another until the joy of union with
the Lord welled up within me. My body merged into the infinite light of
divine wisdom and my heart was filled with a deep inner tranquility.
He is the teacher of the eternal law through whose glance the truth
unfolded, filling my heart with the dazzling radiance of blissful consummate
grace, so that the body, ego and intellect were all no more. I became merged
in the divine silence, which is abiding knowledge of Lord Siva.
A noble lion, he fixed the victorious gaze of true knowledge upon
the rutting elephant of my ego, which was drunk with self-conceit, filling
me with the sweet nectar of union with Lord Siva, so that the inner
experience of divine wisdom became my whole existence.
My poor helpless mind was swept along in the swirling torrent of
objective phenomena until my Lord guided my deluded understanding into
the broad calm of his holy silence so that the light of his majesty shined in
my heart.
I read the scriptures but my mind could not grasp their meaning. It
was only through the gracious intervention of my wise teacher and Master,
working inwardly, that his own state of unbroken meditation became
permanent within me and my heart was penetrated and held in Reality’s
eternal grasp.
Languishing in the slough of my soul’s defilement, I knew not a
single moment of clear understanding until my Lord revealed to me myself
as Brahman. Transporting me into a realm of pure bliss, the vision of the
authentic Self expanded within my heart and I attained the state of grace
whose essence is love.
I, poor sinner, gripped by the bonds of excessive desire, I was
deluded by my ruinous attachment to the pleasures of the senses. But
when he conferred upon me the bliss of his true knowledge, all delusion
was dispelled. Dwelling thus as one with Sri Ramana is nothing less than
union with Lord Siva.
Setting me on the straight path of true knowledge he led me to the
glorious goal of union with him in the one-pointed state of holy silence. My
heart’s gracious jewel, true wisdom’s sun, he dissipated the dark clouds of
the senses’ illusory world.
And now within my heart full of joy I made for him a home I can
receive no other. Only he remains, the Supreme Self, manifesting as
consciousness, pure light, empty and yet replete.
Gaining a new life, I spent it singing praises to the lofty truth of his
glorious name, albeit in feeble words of little worth. But my Lord did not
Muruganar 157
deem my hymns unworthy. Embracing me in the outpouring of his affection,

with more than mother’s love, he banished my deadly delusion and made
me his servant.
Beneath my Guru’s gaze my heart was emptied of guile so that
the false understanding that has usurped my heart disappeared completely,
and there, in the silence of his holy feet, the pure ocean of the Self, swept
me into the deep bliss of the absolute Godhead.
Surrounded by desires that led me astray, my heart was hardened
and my understanding was tricked by the illusion of a personal self. Hail to
the Lord who through his love refreshed my heart, banishing my deluded
attachment to land ownership, wealth and women.
In the late 1920s Muruganar recorded the teachings of Sri Ramana
in 1,254 Tamil verses. The Maharshi himself went through them,
making innumerable changes and corrections, and also composed
28 new verses which were added at appropriate places in the text.
These were published as Guruvachaka-Kovai (A collection of the
Guru’s sayings). Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai of 1851 verses gives
further details of the circumstances that brought Muruganar to Sri
Ramana and the later events. A few extracts from the latter collection
are:
The Supreme Being Siva, abides as the real nature of one’s own
Self. It cannot be reached by those indulging in fallacious arguments.
Tolerating my immature conduct and treating me as if I have attained
freedom from impurities, [Siva] considered admitting me to the group of
his companions.
He became the incomparable sage at Arunachala, which is
praised even by the gods. Like the worm that becomes a wasp on being
stung by a wasp, through his mere presence and glance my ‘I’ and
‘mine’ were destroyed. Seeing me as his own Self, he enabled me to
experience Myself as enduring, pure being consciousness.With my body
and mind absent, I became full of Self. This is how he bestowed his
grace on this pitiable one.
You are the unmoving one; you are the compassionate one; you
are the skillful Lord of true knowledge. To poor me, who was totally lost
by not seeking consciousness, you are like the store laid down to be used in
times of adversity. You are the god who saved me from the mouth of the
crocodile, my past karma.
Human beings wallow in samsara regarding themselves as forms,
without realising the rarity of the grace-embodied form of the sadguru.
Through this form he has manifested to destroy the mass of their dark
vasanas. Those who are under the spell of the ‘I am the body’ delusion,
through their simple-minded view, which is prompted by ignorance, extend
the same notion [‘he is a body’] to the sadguru.
The Lord of Arunachala, which is solidified consciousness, is
Ramana, a delight to my mind. It is difficult to say whether he has a form
or is formless, whether he is masculine, feminine or neuter, one or many,
atomic or cosmic, Self or non-Self, joy or misery. So it is extremely difficult
to define his nature, his actions, his ways and their propriety. In essence,
Ramana’s real nature defies definition.
T.R. Kanakammal in her book Cherished Memories records:
Muruganar used to perform the ritualistic ceremonies prescribed
for the death anniversaries of his parents. Once, on the day of his mother’s
anniversary, he came to the Ashram kitchen very early in the morning. He
washed his dhoti and hung it up to dry. Then, with a wet towel around his
waist, he set about getting the vegetables ready. Having understood the
purpose of Muruganar being in the kitchen so early, Bhagavan, who
happened to be in the kitchen, said to Muruganar, “It is your mother’s
annual ceremony today, who are the Brahmins?”
Sri Ramana, who did not consider these rituals important, added
after tapping himself on the chest, “I could be one of the Brahmins.” Hearing
this, Muruganar felt so moved that he could hardly keep himself from
breaking down completely. He felt that at the very instance when Bhagavan
tapped his chest and said, “I shall be one the Brahmins for the ceremony,”
not only his parents but also several generations of his ancestors would
have attained liberation. Muruganar never again felt it necessary to perform
the annual ceremony of his parents.
However, on the next death ceremony of his mother he brought a
large jackfruit to the Ashram, with the intention of distributing it among the
devotees, in memory of his mother. Bhagavan saw Murganar with the
jackfruit and said, “It is your mother’s anniversary, is it not? I see you have
not yet managed to get rid of these sentimental attachments!” Hearing
this, Murganar exclaimed, “I will never do such a thing again.”
Even belief in rituals can bind one, and Bhagavan was very
particular about breaking every one of the ties binding his disciples.
[The poet refused to live with his wife Meenakshi, after he had
surrendered to Sri Ramana – see no. 127, p.304.]
T.P. Ramachandra Iyer 159
1. Refer Glossary / Books at p. 425.

2. These were written by the poet as his offerings to Sri Ramana at the first
meeting he had with him.
54
T.P. Ramachandra Iyer was a native of Tiruvannamalai. His
interest in religion and philosophy led him to Sri Ramana in
the 1920s. As a lawyer in Madras, he handled much of the
Ashram’s legal work. He also served as an interpreter and as
an attendant in the Maharshi’s hall.
I entered Sri Bhagavan’s hall and looked at him. I fell flat on my
face in prostration to him with an experience as totally consuming as it
was convincing. A discovery that ‘He’, whom I was hankering for all
these years, who could sway my entire being and guide my energies, was
here. He was so great yet so simple. I rose up. Bhagavan smiled and
bade me to be seated. All the emotions, thoughts and surging doubts were
nowhere! I felt I had found my refuge, and the greatest fortune of my life.
A lot of people are under the impression that Bhagavan talked
Advaitic philosophy all the time and prescribed self-enquiry to everyone
who asked for his advice. This is simply not so: Bhagavan’s advice could
differ according to the need of the situation.1
When the Ashram Post Office was opened, a high official of the
postal department, whose only son had died, came with his wife to the
Ashram. He said, “We loved the boy very much. After his death we have
known neither peace nor happiness. We have only one desire left. Can we
see our son in our next birth?” He wanted an assurance for this. After
some persuasion that did not prove effective, Bhagavan leaned forward,
raised his hand as if to assure them, and said, “Yes, in your next birth you
will see your son as clearly as you saw him in this birth.” This made the
man extremely happy. He touched Bhagavan’s feet many times and went
away in a very contented mood.
After he left, I said, “Bhagavan, why did you speak like this? How
is it possible?” Bhagavan replied, “What can I do? If I had not spoken in
this way, his faith would have been shattered to its foundations.”As I was
still sceptical, Bhagavan asked me to read a verse from the Gita which
meant: Knowledge should be given according to one’s ability to grasp it. If
we teach philosophy to those who are not ready to receive it, their faith will
be destroyed.
In 1945, Bhagavan told Dilip Kumar Roy [No.8] that bhakti is the
mother of jnana. When a follower of the bhakti marga declares that
bhakti is the best, he really means by the word bhakti what the jnana
marga man calls jnana. There is no difference in the state, or its description
by attributes or transcendence of attributes. Only, different thinkers have
used different words.
A few days later, Roy asked Bhagavan, “What is the best way of
killing the ego?” Bhagavan replied, “To ask the mind to kill the mind is like
making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch
the thief but nothing would be gained. So you must turn inward and see
from where does the mind arise and then it will cease to exist.”
When the mother’s temple was being built, there was an acute
shortage of funds.The sarvadhikari wanted me and Chhaganlal Yogi [Next
entry] to visit Jamana Lal Bajaj2 in Bombay for a donation of Rs.50,000.
This needed Bhagavan’s clearance, for which he had no courage. I collected
some devotees and went to Bhagavan to get his permission. We stood
before him for some time, but he did not even bother to look at us. Each
one of us wanted the others to speak. When we asked, he made no reply
for a long time. At last, he turned to us and said, “I have already told you
not to beg in my name. Now I am telling you again. Be satisfied with what
you have. Did all these buildings in the Ashram come up as a result of my
begging? It all happened in the way it had to happen. Nothing happens
purely as a result of personal efforts.”
We were all worried about Bhagavan’S health, particularly in the
last few years of his life, but Bhagavan himself was indifferent to the
various pains and problems that his body had attracted. If he had any
concern at all, it was that his assorted body problems might be an
inconvenience to the devotees who came to see him.
In The Mountain Path of October 1966, T.P. Ramachandra Iyer
records as follows:
My special subject in college was philosophy. Once, when I entered
the hall a discussion was going on about the nature of Self. Book learning
being fresh to my mind, I began to express what I had read about the
various grades of consciousness in the Western system. I particularly
mentioned the terms superconscious and subconscious. Bhagavan listened
and reactedly sharply: It is only with reference to something that you can
postulate a ‘super’ or ‘sub’ state to it. Consciousness being Truth, any
Chhaganlal V. Yogi 161
postulations of it are the creation of ignorance, clouding the mind but

appealing to the intellect. Truth is simple and direct, it knows no variations.
What exists is Consciousness, call it by any name, Self, Atman, Brahman.
I not only heard the words of Bhagavan but experienced something
else also. I felt and experienced my nature, dived deep into my
consciousness and swam in the ocean of bliss. I fell prostrate before
Bhagavan and cried aloud within myself: “O Bhagavan! My Master!
Dispeller of my darkness! Obeisance to you! Accept me as your servant!”
1. Refer last two paras at p.120.

2. The promoter of the Bajaj Group of companies in India. A rich businessman
who devoted his life to the service of Mahatma Gandhi.
55
Chhaganlal V. Yogi was a businessman of Bombay who authored Sri
Ramana Mahima. He first visited Sri Ramana in 1939.
When I was eighteen, I read a lot of books by Swami
Vivekananda and Swami Ramtirtha. These implanted in me the ideal of
plain living, high thinking and life dedicated to spiritual matters. At the
age of twenty I had the good fortune of contacting Mahatma Gandhi.
His ideals won my heart and for several years I faithfully tried to put
them into practice. At the age of thirty eight scepticism began to assail
me and I began to doubt the ideals of Gandhiji. It was in this period of my
life that I heard of Ramana Maharshi.
One day, while travelling as usual on the train to the office, I
happened to meet a friend who told me that he recently had been to Sri
Ramanasramam. I said, “I have an utter contempt for these so-called
saints.” My friend refused to give up. He insisted on impressing on me that
Ramana Maharshi was not a ‘so-called’ saint, but a genuine and authentic
sage. He gave me a book entitled Sri Maharshi written by Kamath,
editor of The Sunday Times in Madras.
I must confess, despite my prejudices, the book evoked in me
an interest in the Maharshi and I was sufficiently curious to borrow from a
friend his biography Self-Realization by B.V Narasimha Swami. My
interest in Sri Ramana began to grow without my being aware of it. Later,
I felt compelled to write to Sri Ramanasramam and got all the literature on
the Maharshi that was available in English.

On my first visit to the Ashram, I found Sri Ramana seated on a
couch, as quiet and unmoving as a statue. His presence did not seem to
emanate anything unusual and I was very disappointed to discover that he
displayed no interest in me. I had expected warmth and intimacy, but
unfortunately I seemed to be in the presence of someone who lacked both.
From morning till evening I sat waiting to catch a glimpse of his grace, of
his interest in me, a stranger who had come all the way from Bombay, but
I evoked no response. After pinning such high hopes on him, his apparent
lack of interest nearly broke my heart. Eventually, I decided to leave the
Ashram. My mind, which was deeply tormented, felt that the psychic
atmosphere in the hall was stuffy and choking. Unable to bear it any longer,
I walked outside to get a breath of fresh air.
A young man called Gopalan came up to me and asked where I
had come from. “Bombay”, I replied. He asked me if I had been introduced
to the Master and led me to the office and then proceeded with me to the
hall where he introduced me to Bhagavan. The Maharshi sent for a copy
of the Gujarati translation of the Upadesa Saaram by Kishorelal
Mashruwala, and asked me to chant verses from the book. While chanting,
I could feel Bhagavan keenly observing me. It seemed that the light of
his eyes was suffusing my consciousness. Even without my being
aware of it his silent gaze brought about a subtle but definite
transformation in me. My erstwhile sadness completely disappeared
leaving in my heart an inexplicable emotion of joy.
That evening I sat close to Bhagavan in the dining room. In my
exalted state the food I ate seemed to have an unusual and unearthly
taste. I quite literally felt that I was participating in some heavenly
meal in the direct presence of God.
During the three days of my stay in the proximity of the Divine
Master, I found my whole outlook entirely changed. After that short period,
I could find little evidence of my old self, a self that had been tied down
with all kinds of preconceptions and prejudices. I felt that I had lost the
chains that bind the eyes of true vision. I became aware that the whole
texture of my mind had undergone a change. The divine magician
opened up for me a strange new world of illumination, hope and
joy. I felt that his presence on earth alone constituted sufficient
proof that humanity, suffering and wounded because of its obstinate
ignorance, could be uplifted and saved. For the first time I fully
understood the significance of darshan.
At one time I felt that my political duty as a Gandhian demanded
that I should court arrest on the call of Mahatma Gandhi. But my domestic
duties bade me otherwise. I found myself in a dilemma and I could not
see the way out. The situation was so unbearable for me that I had to
turn to the Master for help and relief. I therefore set out for
Tiruvannamalai.
After reaching there I went and sat in the holy presence of the
Master. While sitting, I began to wonder how to place the difficulty before
him. I decided to pour forth my prayer from the heart with a silent plea
for Bhagavan’s help. I began to pray, and while I concentrated on my
mental plea, I watched his radiant face and sparkling eyes that were full
of love and kindness. And then, astonishingly, something like a miracle
began to happen. Bhagavan’s face transformed itself into that of
Mahatma Gandhi, while his body remained the same. As I stared at it
with awe and wonder, the two faces, those of Bhagavan and Gandhiji
began to appear to me alternately in quick succession. I felt my heart
filling with joy. Yet, at the same time, I was wondering whether what I
saw was real or not.
I turned my eyes away from Bhagavan and looked around me to
see if others were seeing what I saw. Seeing no sign of wonder on their
faces, I concluded that what I saw was a picture of my own imagination.
I closed my eyes and sat quietly for sometime. Then, as I began to look at
Bhagavan’s face, the vision immediately reappeared, but this time, in addition
to the faces of Bhagavan and Gandhiji, those of Krishna, the Buddha,
Kabir, Ramdas and a host of other saints began to show themselves in
quick succession. All my doubts vanished and I began to enjoy that grand
divine show. The vision lasted about five minutes. My mind dropped all its
worries and I found myself able to handover my problem to the capable
hands of the Master. Though he spoke no words to me, it came to pass
that the problem was solved without infringing either of my two duties. In
fact, both duties were fulfilled satisfactorily.
In 1945, I decided to wind up my printing press in Bombay and
settle down at Sri Ramanasramam. I had no prearranged plan for closing
down my business. I merely relied on Bhagavan. One day, in the early
hours of the morning, while I was still in bed and only half awake, I saw a
vision in which Bhagavan appeared before me. By his side stood a
gentleman whom I recognised as a friend of mine. He had neither been to
the Ashram nor had he ever exhibited any faith in Bhagavan. The following
conversation took place between Bhagavan and me.
Bhagavan: You want to sell your press, don’t you?
Me: Yes Bhagavan, but I must find a buyer.
Bhagavan: Showing my friend standing by my side – ‘Here is the buyer.

He will buy your press, so sell it to him.’
Me: Since Bhagavan has been kind enough to show me the buyer; may he
also favour me by stating the price at which I should execute the sale?
Bhagavan then showed me a five-digit figure on the opposite wall shining
as a neon sign. The amount indicated was reasonable.
Bhagavan and my friend then disappeared and the vision ended.
By itself the vision was astonishing enough, but there was more to come.
When I entered the press that day at 11 a.m., my friend from the vision
was waiting for me. Of course, he had come to see me about some other
work and had no idea that he had been singled out as a prospective buyer.
Feeling that Bhagavan had sent him to me, I told him about the vision I had
a few hours before. He listened to me very attentively.
When I had finished my tale, he simply commented, “I will buy
your press at the price indicated by your guru.” There was no limit to my
joy. My desire to sell was fulfilled by his grace and the sale was completed
in less than a minute.
My original plan was to dispose of my printing press in Bombay
and move to Sri Ramanasramam. However, when the devotees heard
what I was planning to do, it was suggested to me that I could be of more
use to the Ashram in Bangalore. I was asked to start a printing press
there that could execute all printing work of the Ashram. I agreed to the
idea and soon found myself in Bangalore, looking for suitable premises.
I began to suspect that Bhagavan had assisted the sale of my original
press because he had work for me to do in Bangalore.
Though a stranger in the city, I could soon locate an old press
that had been lying idle for some months. It was for sale. I saw its
proprietor and told him why I wished to buy the press. He agreed to sell
but we were unable to finalise the price. To break the deadlock, I proposed
that both of us would visit the Ashram and talk about the deal after
Bhagavan’s darshan. I thought that since Bhagavan wanted me to do
his work in Bangalore his darshan might help to lubricate the wheels of
the transaction.
The owner having agreed to the idea, we set off together for the
Ashram. On our arrival, I took him into the holy presence of Bhagavan
and informed him that I proposed to buy the press of the gentleman who
was accompanying me, and that I planned to do all the Ashram’s printing
work there. Bhagavan did not say anything; he nodded his head.
Within a few hours of having had Bhagavan’s darshan, there was
a wonderful change in the attitude of the owner of the press. He approached
me and agreed to sell his press for whatever price I was willing to pay for it.
When he had agreed to come and see Bhagavan with me he had made a
stipulation that no business talk should take place at the Ashram. However,
after seeing Bhagavan, he proposed that we settle our business immediately.
We drafted and signed a sale agreement in the Ashram itself, and within a
week of our visit the press came into my possession.
The new firm was named ‘Aruna Press’ by Bhagavan himself.
The press needed a lot of attention to get it functioning again. And by
Bhagavan’s grace I was soon able to take up the Ashram work as assigned
to me.
In 1946, the devotees proposed to bring out the Golden Jubilee
Souvenir to mark fifty years of Bhagavan’s arrival at Arunachala. Its
printing was entrusted to my press. Up till then, the press had only printed
small books for the Ashram. Since this was going to be a big volume of
several hundred pages, I was reluctant to accept the job because I felt I
would not have time to complete the job in time for the jubilee celebrations
on 1st September. However, eventually I accepted the job.
At first, my fears appeared to be justified. Up till ten days before
the target date, I could manage to print only a small part of the book. I lost
courage, rushed to the Ashram, prostrated before Bhagavan and told him,
“Unless the help of some other press is taken, the volume will not come
out on the first of September.” I then sat before him, enjoying his darshan,
waiting for his reply. After a few moments of silence he said in a low
melodious tone, “Do your work.”
These three simple words had a magical effect on me. They fired
me with fresh vim and vigour, and there arose in my heart a strong belief
that the volume would surely be out on the scheduled date. I had received
the order from my Master; I had simply to obey and ‘do my work’. I had
faith that other details would be looked after by Bhagavan.
I returned to Bangalore and told the story of my encounter to my
co-workers. All of them accepted Bhagavan’s order in the same spirit as I
had done. For the next few days all of us worked day and night with full
faith, zeal and enthusiasm. The amount of work turned out in those few
days was, in retrospect, simply astonishing. When only three days were
left for the deadline, a party of about ten devotees came to my house on its
way to the Ashram. They were going to Tiruvannamalai to attend the
Golden Jubilee Celebrations.Three of them turned out to be expert
bookbinders. I immediately enlisted their help and managed to complete
the work of the Souvenir a day before the deadline.
Between 1945 and 1947, the Aruna Press printed all publications
of Sri Ramanasramam. The work was complex and I often found myself
having to argue with the person at the Ashram, who had been put in
charge of the publications. The tension between us increased to the point
where both of us decided to go to Bhagavan to get our differences
resolved.
Bhagavan’s rest interval between noon and 2.30 p.m. was chosen
for the meeting because we wanted to be alone with him. We went to the
hall and waited for him to return from lunch. He saw both of us waiting for
him. Sensing that we had some business to discuss, he took his seat. Both
of us then placed our cases before him. He quietly listened and gave his
verdict in the language of silence. Smiling with great charm he maintained
complete silence both during and after the presentation of the arguments.
The judgement was the best possible for both of us.
Bhagavan’s silence healed the breach. Emerging from the hall
both of us had a spontaneous impulse to embrace each other. In those few
minutes our hearts had changed. We separated with the resolve to bury
the past and to treat each other with love and friendship.The silken tie with
which Bhagavan bound us on that day never snapped again.
Bhagavan’s language was that of silence. Once a Collector and a
Deputy Collector came for his darshan.The Collector narrated at length
the sadhanas he had done and all the spiritual literature he had read. After
him the Deputy Collector told his equally long story. Bhagavan continued
to remain in silence even after the speeches were over. The Collector said
in an aggrieved voice, “We have been speaking for a long time. Please tell
us something. Anything, however brief, will do.”
Bhagavan spoke saying, “All this time I have been speaking to
you, in my own language. What can I do if you won’t listen to it?”The
Collector, an intelligent man, caught the meaning of Bhagavan’s cryptic
reply. Suddenly overpowered by devotion, he fell at his feet. Both the
visitors sat before Bhagavan in silent meditation. They got the peace they
were looking for and departed satisfied.
Bhagavan used to say, “The state that is beyond speech and thought
is called mauna. Silence is eternal speech. It is the perpetual flow of
language; it is the supreme language.”
Bhagavan was undoubtedly one of those rare mahatmas
who had the power to banish the suffering through his presence,
merely through giving darshan.
Lakshmana Swami 167
56
Lakshmana Swami belonged to Gudur, Andhra Pradesh. When he
arrived at the Ashram in the later half of 1949, he was fully ready
for the divine spark.
I was brought up in my paternal grandfather’s house at Gudur.
My father had died when I was less than two years old. In my seventeenth
year, while still at school, an inexplicable incident changed my life.While
sleeping in my family’s house, an unknown malevolent force appeared to
descend on me. I woke up with a tremendous pressure bearing down on
my chest. I felt that some unknown evil force was trying to kill me.
Immediately and spontaneously the words ‘Rama’ ‘Rama’ erupted from
within me with a great roaring sound. I did not decide to say these words;
they just naturally burst out of me with great force. The evil presence
vanished. I had never repeated this mantra before, nor had it occurred to
me that this mantra had any power. Concluding that there must be some
power in the mantra, I began to repeat it on a regular basis. At the same
time I also started doing pranayama.
Soon after this strange incident my lifestyle began to change. I
started getting up at 3 a.m. and spend many hours in meditation. After I
passed my final school exam, I decided to go for higher studies at Nellore,
about 24 miles from Gudur. In the summer vacation of the college I returned
to Gudur, where I had my first major spiritual experience. Here I had
found a dried-up lakebed as a good place for my pranayama.
One evening, while I began my usual pranayama sitting in
padmasana, the mind suddenly became concentrated and utterly still. There
was a flash of light which encircled and engulfed me and within a few
seconds I lost all consciousness of the body. The effulgence of atman
within impressed on me the fact that atman is God Himself in the physical
body. My joy knew no bounds. The experience was brief . I tried on many
occasions to repeat the experience but failed. I came to the conclusion
that a guru in human form was necessary to bring about realisation.
On the last day of my second year at the college, I saw a large
crowd congregated in the main lecture hall. I was not able to enter the hall
as it was crowded. But looking over the heads of the students from the
back of the hall, I could see the lecture being given by my English professor
[G.V. Subbaramayya, no.41]. He was pointing to a portrait on the platform
and saying that the sage in the picture was Ramana Maharshi. Up till that
moment I had never heard of the Maharshi. However, as soon as I heard
the name, I felt an irrepressible longing to see him.
While returning home by train the following day, I saw a small booklet
Sri Ramana Maharshi at the bookstore on the platform. I eagerly purchased
it. On the first page of the book I read the famous verse composed by the
Maharshi himself, the first line of which was: “In the interior of the Heart
cave the one Supreme Being Brahman shines as ‘I-I’, verily the Atman.”
This verse made a deep and immediate impression on me.
Towards the end of 1948, I worked as a clerk-typist for about five
months in a local mica company because my family needed money. I had
no interest in the job, from which I resigned in the beginning of 1949 after
persuading my mother to accompany me on a trip to Sri Ramanasramam.
While waiting to board the train to Tiruvannamalai, my mother
started talking to two women and discovered that they were also heading
for the Ashram accompanied by Satyananda Swami, a long-time devotee
of the Maharshi.We were invited to join the party. Because we had arrived
with a devotee well-known to the Ashram management, there was no
problem in getting accommodation; but speaking to Bhagavan proved to
be difficult due to a large number of people always around him.
One day I saw Bhagavan sitting on a bench outside the hall, listening
to a group of Brahmins chant from the Vedas. As I looked at the scene in
front of me, the world completely lost its solid, substantial reality. I became
aware that everything I perceived in that scene was nothing more than a
dream-like projection. As I gazed at the scene I had the knowledge and
the experience that the real Ramana Maharshi was not the body I saw
before me, it was the formless effulgent Self that I had experienced on the
dried-up lakebed in Gudur.
I stayed only for three days on this first visit, but it was enough to
convince me that in the Maharshi I had found the guru I had been seeking.
I decided to change my japa from ‘Hare Rama’ to ‘Hare Ramana’; since
I felt that I could avail of my guru’s grace by chanting his name. After
three days, I left my mother at the Ashram and went back to Gudur to
devote myself wholly to meditation.
I decided to go to a village about 15 miles from Gudur, where my
relatives helped me to build a small hut in a quiet spot. The constant repetition
of the guru’s name made my mind very quiet. On a few occasions it became
absolutely still. When this happened, the question ‘Who am I?’ would
spontaneously arise inside me, and, as if in answer to the question, my
Lakshmana Swami 169
mind would automatically sink at its source, the Heart, and I experienced
the bliss of the Self.
At the end of about five months in the village, I was down with
severe malaria and had to be taken to Gudur, where the doctor declared
that I was likely to die. I, however, had a strong determination that I would
not die until I had seen my guru again. I placed a picture of Bhagavan by
my bedside and meditated on it throughout the ordeal. Whenever I looked
at the picture I felt as if Bhagavan was laughing or smiling at me. I am
convinced that it was the power and grace of Bhagavan that kept me alive
and enabled me to make a full recovery within two months.
I arrived at Sri Ramanasramam during the navaratri celebrations
of 1949. In the afternoon of the Vijayadasmi day, I stood in front of the
Mother’s shrine [See photograph no. 16 in the book], waiting for Bhagavan
to appear. He came accompanied by Swami Satyananda, entered the new
hall [Attached to the Mother’s shrine], and took his seat on the stone sofa.
I went up to him and made a full prostration. When I stood up, he looked
intently at me for a few moments. I withdrew and sat near a pillar outside
the hall where I could do Self-enquiry undisturbed.
Bhagavan could still see me from where he was sitting. Shortly
afterwards, I saw Muruganar taking a seat close to Bhagavan. After a
few minutes Muruganar came and sat down next to me. A few other
devotees came and sat near us. I closed my eyes and began meditation on
‘Who am I?’
Within a few minutes, the gracious smiling face of Bhagavan
appeared within me on the right side of the chest. There was something
like a lightning flash that resulted in a flood of divine light shining both
within and without. Bhagavan’s face was still smiling on the right side of
the chest. It seemed to be lit up with radiance that exceeded innumerable
lightning flashes rolled into one. The bliss and joy these experiences gave
brought tears to my eyes. Finally, the internal picture of Bhagavan
disappeared and the Self absorbed my whole being.
I remained in that state without body consciousness for about
three hours. The experience was so intense that even when I opened my
eyes I found myself incapable of either speaking or moving. I remained
where I was for another three hours because I was incapable of movement
of any kind. At about 9 p.m. I rose to my feet and very slowly made my
way back to my allotted place in the men’s dormitory of the Ashram.
Next day afternoon I went up to Sri Bhagavan, prostrated before
him and handed him a note via his attendant Venkataratnam. The note,
which I had written in Telugu said, “Bhagavan, in your presence and by

the quest [Who am I?] I have realised the Self.” He read the note, looked
at me for a moment, and then his face lit up in a radiant smile. For sometime
we looked at each other. Then he broke the silence by asking me where I
had come from. “Gudur”, I replied. “That is in Nellore district, isn’t it?”
Enquired Bhagavan. “Yes!” I answered. This was the only conversation
I ever had with Bhagavan. After giving him those two brief replies, I
didn’t speak again for another 13 years.1
As accommodation was in short supply at the Ashram, I found a
small thatched house about 250 yards from the Ashram. I shared it with a
boy called Raghavan, who was already living there. Since I had money
and he didn’t, he agreed to do all the cooking for me.
One of the first people to visit my new house was
Venkataratnam, Bhagavan’s attendant. On his first visit he said, “In all
the years I have been Bhagavan’s attendant, I have never seen anyone
present a note like this. I am experienced enough in the ways of
Bhagavan to know that the beaming smile he immediately gave you
was proof that the claim was genuine. He made no comment to me
about your note and the message it contained, but he did ask me to
check up on you to make sure that your needs are being taken care of
and that you are properly looked after.” From that day on,
Venkataratnam became a regular visitor. He would come and sit with
me whenever his services were not required in the Ashram.
Though I never sought to attract Bhagavan’s attention, he always
seemed to know if I was in vicinity, even if he couldn’t see me. On one
occasion, when he was giving darshan in the new hall, his view of me
was completely blocked by a newspaper that one of his attendants was
holding. He asked the attendant to remove the newspaper and then beamed
his usual smile at me.
On the evening of April 14, 1950, I was cleaning my room in
Palakottu 2 when a picture of Bhagavan kept on a stool in the corner of the
room fell to the ground. I put it back in its usual place, making sure that it
did not fall again. A few minutes later it fell to the ground for a second
time. I intuitively felt it as a sign that Sri Bhagavan was dead or dying. I
had a strong urge to go to the Ashram, but could not leave as I became
wholly absorbed in the Self for a period of about two hours. Consciousness
returned shortly before 9 p.m., when I heard a great noise coming from
the Ashram. I knew for certain that Bhagavan was no more. I rushed to
the Ashram only to find that Bhagavan had attained mahasamadhi.
Viswanatha Swami 171
I had seen Bhagavan for the last time earlier that day. On that
occasion, as we looked into each other’s eyes, I experienced a strong
wave of ecstatic bliss and I became completely oblivious of my surro-
undings.
I spent a total of seven months in Palakottu, mostly just sitting
quietly in my room. Towards the end of this period my skin turned yellow.
Around November 1950, I finally decided that I would accept my brother’s
offer to go back to Gudur to let my family look after me.3
1. David Godman says that once he asked Lakshmana Swami why he had
remained silent for so long. He replied, “The experience of Self is beyond
words and speech. It is impossible to explain it or talk about it. Since there
was nothing I could say about it, I kept quiet.” (The Power Of The Presence,
part-II, p.222.)
2. A colony abutting on the Ashram.
3. David Godman states that Lakshmana Swami spent most of his next three
years (after November 1950) in samadhi living in a small hut his family
built for him. Because of his ascetic lifestyle, sitting in padmasana for 20
hours a day and rarely eating, he attracted a large following. From the mid
1950s on, he lived a secluded life in a house near Gudur that had been
provided for him by a devotee. He began meeting people on a regular
basis in the 1960s, but always preferred to live a private, solitary life.
Around 1990 he moved back to Tiruvannamalai. His biography Yogeeswara
Sri Lakshmana is written by Ramana Das.
57
Viswanatha Swami (1904-79), a distant relative of Sri Ramana, was
brought up by the Maharshi’s mother. He fully surrendered himself
to Sri Ramana in 1923 and till 1950 spent most of his time either
with the Maharshi or with Ganapati Muni (no. 91). He was a scholar
of Tamil and Sanskrit and translated many Ashram publications into
Tamil. He edited The Mountain Path for some time and authored
the famous Ramana Ashtotra.
In my first darshan of Bhagavan at the Skandasram the very
sight of him thrilled me. Something very subtle, seemingly with its centre in
that body, shone forth, without limitation, engulfing everything else. I felt
swallowed by it. I stayed for a week with Bhagavan in that atmosphere of
utter purity and serenity. I saw in Bhagavan something quite arresting,
which clearly distinguished him from all others I had seen. He seemed to
live apart from the physical frame, quite detached from it. His look
and smile had a remarkable spiritual charm. When he spoke, the
words seemed to come out of an abyss. One could see immaculate
purity and non-attachment in him and in his movements. I sensed
something very lofty and sacred about him. In his vicinity, mind’s
distractions were overpowered by an austere and potent calmness.
In his presence the unique bliss of peace was directly experienced.
This I would call Ramana lahari – ‘the blissful atmosphere of Ramana’.
In this ecstasy of grace one loses one’s sense of separate individuality and
there remains something grand and all pervading, all devouring.
Some of the ten devotees living with Bhagavan at the Skandasram
used to sing Tamil songs in praise of Subramaniam.[Son of Lord Siva.]
Bhagavan used to keep time by tapping with two small sticks on the two
rings of an iron brazier in front of him.While Bhagavan’s hands were tapping,
his unfathomable look of grace gave a glimpse of the beyond in silence. It
was an unforgettable experience.
One morning, a devotee was singing with great fervour ‘Ramana
sadguru, Ramana sadguru, Ramana sadguru rayane.’ [Sri Ramana is
the true Master and our Lord.] When Bhagavan also joined in the singing,
the devotees were amused and began to laugh. Bhagavan then commented,
“What is extraordinary about it? Why should one limit Ramana to a form
of six feet? Is it not the all-pervading divinity that you adore when you sing
‘Ramana sadguru, Ramana sadguru?’ Why should I not join in the
singing?” We instantly felt ourselves in agreement with Bhagavan.
Once when Niranjanananda Swami told Bhagavan that I could
recite hymns in Sanskrit, he looked at me expectantly and I had to recite a
few verses. When I had finished, Bhagavan gently looked at me and said,
“You have learned all this. Not so in my case. Before I came here I knew
nothing and had learned nothing. Some mysterious power took possession
of me and effected a thorough transformation.”
Once I asked Bhagavan as to how I could rise above my animal
existence. He replied with great compassion, “It is only by awakening a
power mightier than the senses and the mind that these can be subdued. If
you awaken and nurture the growth of that power within you, everything
will be conquered. One should sustain the current of meditation
uninterruptedly. Moderation in food and similar restraints will be helpful in
maintaining the inner poise.” He added, “So long as you identify yourself
with the body, you can never escape sex thoughts and distractions.”
Viswanatha Swami 173
Bhagavan was opposed to any sort of waste or extravagance.

Once he scolded me for wasting kerosene in lighting the charcoal
stove, when the same results could be got with dry twigs and leaves
lying around. On another occasion, while visiting Ganapati Muni’s room
at Palakottu where I was also staying, Bhagavan saw scraps of paper
of about 1” x 6” size on the floor, which were leftovers from cutting
some sheets of paper to a uniform size. He wanted to stitch these
pieces together and make a little notebook of the size of a thumb and
use it for writing something on. To save Bhagavan the trouble, I offered
to do it myself. Later, he was happy to see 108 verses of the Indra
Sahasra Nama Stotra, copied in the tiny notebook. Bhagavan
scrutinized not only the contents of the notebook but also its stitching
and general appearance, as was his way. He then exclaimed with
pleasure, “You have kept your promise and made the best use of the
bits of paper.”
V. Mani Iyer, a senior schoolmate of Bhagavan, noted for his
physical strength and rough dealing with anybody whom he disliked,
was known as ‘Rogue Mani’. He accompanied his mother to Tirupati.
She wanted to break her journey at Tiruvannamalai for Bhagavan’s
darshan, while going back home to Madurai. Mani agreed on the
condition that he should be allowed to drag the bogus sadhu by the ear
and bring him back home.
However, on reaching the Virupaksha Cave, Mani looked and
looked at Bhagavan, and got more and more puzzled as he did so. There
was no trace of the ordinary boy Venkataraman whom he had known.
He saw an effulgent Divine Being seated in front of him, absolutely still
and silent. His heart melted for the first time in his life, tears rolled down
his cheeks and the hair stood on end. He fell prostrate before Bhagavan
and surrendered to him. He became a frequent visitor and a staunch
devotee of Bhagavan.
Those who were spiritually evolved had no difficulty in
recognising Bhagavan’s state. One such person was Narayana Guru of
Kerala. He once visited Bhagavan at the Skandasram. At lunch time
Bhagavan invited him to eat with him and other devotees. After reaching
Kerala, he wrote five verses in Sanskrit, calling them Nirvritti
Panchakam, describing Bhagavan’s way of obtaining the inner felicity
and sent them to Bhagavan. In later years, Narayana Guru used to be
greatly pleased whenever his disciples visited Bhagavan, and on their
return he would listen with delight to details of their visit.
58
Ramanatha Brahmachari, a student of the Veda Pathasala (school)
in Tiruvannamalai had a strong yearning for God. In 1912, when
he heard about the Maharshi, he went to the Virupaksha Cave to
see him. It was a defining moment in his life; one look from the
Maharshi stopped his mind and captured his heart. He gave up
his family to be with the Maharshi. When the news of his death
reached the Ashram in 1946, Tamil verses from Ramana Stotra
Anubhuti were being sung before the Maharshi, who said with
some feeling, “Look! These are verses written by Ramanatha
himself.” Brief extracts from this 32-verse Stotra, reflect
Brahmachari’s sentiments and emotions about the Maharshi.
The moment compassionate Ramana, who is God Subramaniam,
came and manifested in my heart, the bondage-producing evil karma was
destroyed and my anubhuti [experience] arose.
I had evil karma and did not know of any refuge. I was ignorant
and totally worthless; even so, he established me in the blissful ocean of
silence, the indescribable treasure of grace, severing all bonds.
Ramana who abides as embodiment of grace, granted me the
state that is totally free of ignorance in order to destroy the disease of the
mind which assumes the form of delusion, taking sense objects and their
enjoyment to be real.
My Lord at Arunachala stands alone as the human embodiment
of the fire of knowledge. With his feet as the raft to cross the ocean of
samsara which only causes trouble, he put me ashore.
Jnani – who made me rest, without letting me return to the forest
of delusion in which I was wandering, brother of the one who destroys the
family of sorrows [Reference to Ganapati], you are the inner light of those
who are intent upon merging with you, get to see!
The one who reigns over me is the Guru-Lord, the Lord who has
the form of the formless heart, the Lord who gives the bliss of the Self
shining within, and the incomparable Lord of this poor one.
The transmuting glance of the sage of Arunachala penetrated my
heart in a way that I, a worthless soul without true love, was redeemed
completely.
Venkata! You are the one who is both with form and formless, the
Ramanatha Brahmachari / Mastan 175
shining Guru, the dweller in the Heart-cave. You are the mountain of virtues,
the expanding space of consciousness which is awesome like an ocean.
59
Mastan, a Muslim, was a weaver by profession. Highly spiritual,

he made cloth for Sri Ramana’s use. He was drawn to the Maharshi
by Akhilandamma (no. 46) along with whom he saw the Maharshi
for the first time in 1914.
When I came to Bhagavan, he was seated like a rock. His
unwavering gaze was filled with grace, compassion and steady wisdom. I
stood by his side. After giving me a look, he opened the gate of my
Heart and I was established in his state. I stood like that for eight
hours without fatigue, filled with total absorption and peace. Bhagavan in
those days used to open our Heart with a simple gracious look, which
transformed us. There was no need for any questions since he made us,
by his look, like himself.
Akilandamma, who probably knew Mastan better than anyone else,
says:
Mastan and I would come to Arunachala from our village, 40
miles from Tiruvannamalai, to have the pleasure of serving Bhagavan. A
man of whims, Mastan would suddenly suspend his weaving and go to
live with Bhagavan for months on end. During this period he would keep
his body and soul together on alms that he begged. Bhagavan once
observed, “Mastan’s craft did not give food either to him or his parents
but gave me clothes.”
Once a mongoose larger than the ordinary size, of golden hue [not
grey as a mongoose is], made straight for Bhagavan. It sat on his lap for a
while. Later, it wandered around and closely inspected different parts of
the cave and then disappeared into the bushes on the hill. Mastan being
afraid that the mongoose might harm the peacocks was ready with a stick
in case it made an attack. Addressing Mastan, Bhagavan said, “Who do
you think he was? Do you think you could have caught him? He was a
sage of Arunachala who took on this form to visit me. How many times I
told you that sages come to see me in various forms.”
60
Echammal and Mudaliar Patti (no. 61) are remembered since they
both served food to Sri Ramana everyday from the first decade of
the last century until they passed away in the 1940s. Even when
the ladies grew old and the Ashram kitchen facilities expanded,
they could not be dissuaded from bringing food, and personally
serving Sri Ramana.
Echammal (Lakshmi Ammal) was native of a village near Tiru-
vannamalai. In a flood of misfortunes, her husband, her son and
two daughters died in quick succession. She had an inner confidence
that a guru could put an end to her sorrow.
On the advice of her relatives and friends, she went to see Sri
Ramana and stayed there for an hour. The Maharshi said nothing to her,
but in his presence all her sorrows melted away. From that day on, Bhagavan
attracted her like a magnet. She visited the cave repeatedly and began to
take food offering to Bhagavan. Initially, her father supplied her funds.
Later on her brother also made some contributions.
Once Echammal was going up the hill with her food basket. She
met a party of pilgrims returning with a sad look, as they could not find the
Maharshi in the cave. Promising to show them Bhagavan, she took them
with her. They were utterly amazed on seeing Bhagavan whom they had
seen earlier in a kaupina working alone at raising a mud wall. Mistaking
Sri Ramana for a labourer, they had asked him, “Where is the Swami?”
Bhagavan, it seems, had replied, “I do not know.” When Echammal, after
their departure, remonstrated with Bhagavan for having misled the poor
pilgrims, Bhagavan replied, “What can I do? Do you want me to tie a
placard round my head announcing that I am Ramana Maharshi?”
61
Mudaliar Patti and her family were greatly devoted to a saint
who before his death told Mudaliar Patti and her son Subbiah
that a great fortune was awaiting them at Tiruvannamalai, where
they would have darshan of a jnani and also a great opportunity
to serve him.
Echammal / Mudaliar Patti 177
When Subbiah got up after prostrating before Bhagavan, he

experienced a peace and bliss that he never had before. In 1909, the family
rented a house in Tiruvannamalai and Mudaliar Patti started getting food
to Bhagavan everyday. By the time she died in 1949, she had brought or
sent food continuously to Bhagavan, without missing a single day, for forty
years. Even when the Ashram expanded to the point when hundreds of
meals could be cooked everyday, she contributed her mite, and Bhagavan
always insisted on having some of it on his plate, and would not eat before
Patti’s offering had arrived.
On one occasion the Maharshi told Mudaliar Patti that she was
serving him more food than he could eat. She retorted with great familiarity
that she was doing nothing of the sort and shoved another handful on
Bhagavan’s leaf-plate, remarking, “It is all a matter of mind, isn’t it?”
Laughingly, the Maharshi confessed defeat and remarked, “She is paying
me back in my own coin.”
After losing her eyesight Patti expressed a wish to see
Bhagavan. When a devotee led her to Bhagavan’s presence, someone
nearby asked, “Granny, you have no eyesight to see Bhagavan, why
did you come?” Her faith-filled reply was, “It does’t matter if I can’t
see Bhagavan’s body, my body can be seen by him, and that is more
than enough for me.”
After her death, at Bhagavan’s instance her body was not taken
to the cremation ground but buried within the compound of her house,
which was not far from the Ashram. Her body was made to sit cross-
legged in padmasana, as it is done with the bodies of sannaysis. It was
garlanded, sprinkled with sacred ash and camphor and buried. In no other
case had Bhagavan intervened in this way, whenever anyone of his devotees
died.
Many years after her death, someone purchased her house. Having
got the advice that a samadhi in the compound would be inauspicious, the
new owner dug up Patti’s body, cut up its remains and scattered them a
long distance away from his land. Sometime later, the new owner was
killed in a train accident, the impact of which was so severe that his body
got cut into several pieces.
62
Krishna Bhikshu (Voruganti Krishnayya) had a degree in law but
he rarely practised, and preferred to devote his life to spiritual
pursuits. He authored Ramana Leela, an authoritative biography
of Sri Ramana in Telugu, and Ramana Yoga Sutras, which contains
teachings of the Maharshi. He was also attracted to Sri Aurobindo,
but in 1931 he finally decided that Sri Ramana was the guru he had
been seeking.
When in Madras preparing for my law degree, I met Ganapati
Muni [No. 91] whose very appearance was striking. “If the man is so
great, how much greater must be his master,” I thought. I went to Sri
Ramanasramam with a friend. As we arrived, Bhagavan was washing his
hands after the meals. Looking at us lovingly and earnestly, he enquired,
“Have you had your food yet?” To our reply that we had it in the town, he
said, “You could have had it here.”
The three days’ stay made a great impression on me. I
considered Sri Ramana to be a real Mahatma. I went to Benaras for a
month, returned to Pondicherry and spent five months there. Wherever
I would go people would find some fault or the other with me. Only
Bhagavan asked for nothing, and found fault with nothing. As a matter
of fact, there was nothing in me which entitled me to his grace. But
this did not matter with Bhagavan. He wanted me, not my goodness. It
was enough to tell him ‘I am yours’, for him to do the rest. In that way
he was unsurpassed.
To me Bhagavan was always a great and fatherly man. I trusted
him completely. He guided and I followed. I knew I was in safe hands and
I was well looked after. I just loved him with the whole of my being and
lived my life by his side, eating in the same room, sleeping in the same hall,
chatting and joking, but all the time being tied fast to him by his immense
love and attention. I am saying this without pride for, as he was to me, so
was he to all. Everybody felt connected to Bhagavan in some special,
indescribable way that was somehow unique. We all felt special. Bhagavan
loved us all, but each one differently.
With him I was like a child with his mother – completely safe,
completely happy. Whenever in difficulty, I turned to him and he would
solve my problem with ease. Even when I was away from him, it was
enough for me to utter ‘Ramana’ and I felt his helping hand, which would
Krishna Bhikshu 179
banish all my troubles, internal and external. What attention I got whenever
I went to the Ashram! He would ask me where I made my bed, what I
used for a pillow and so on. (We used to have blocks of wood for pillows
because they kept the head cool in the steamy summer nights.)
During one of my early visits to the Ashram, he had encouraged
me to carry on repeating the Gayatri mantra, since I had been repeating it
in the past. After sometime I asked, “Am I expected to know the meaning
of the mantra, and meditate on it?” He said, “I have only asked you to see
who is repeating the Gayatri or who is the one doing japa.” By making
me look for the one who was doing the japa, he was subtly and slowly
turning me towards the practice of self-enquiry.
Nobody could correctly guess the way Bhagavan would meet or
treat people. The high and mighty of the land might not even get a blank
look, while some insignificant wanderer would become the object of his
concentrated attention for hours or even days. Once Pranavananda Swami
[No.130] came to the Ashram. Being utterly exhausted he sat on the steps.
When Bhagavan was told about it, he came out, sat at the feet of
Pranavananda and started rubbing his legs, saying, “You had a long way to
walk tata,1 your legs must be paining very much.” The old swami protested
in vain. Bhagavan had his way and massaged the swami’s feet. Nobody
knew what great merit the old man had amassed to be the recipient of this
great fortune.
At meal time Bhagavan would ask to be served very little, and he
would carefully clear the leaf-plate of the last grain of food before getting
up. I once remarked, “If we clear our dining leaves so scrupulously, the
dogs, cats, monkeys, rats and ants will starve.” Bhagavan’s response was,
“If you are so compassionate, why not feed the animals before taking food
yourself?”
Bhagavan’s kindness and solicitude also extended to the vegetation.
Once the sarvadhikari of the Ashram asked a workman to clear the
dead leaves of an almond tree. He started chopping right and left. Bhagavan
called out the man. “Hey, you are torturing the tree too much. Don’t you
know it is alive? Imagine what would happen if I suddenly grabbed you by
the hair and pulled. Your hair may have no life, yet you would feel it. Better
leave the poor tree and go away.”
Bhagavan’s way was to influence rather than command. For
example, he never ordered Devaraja Mudaliar [No.35] to become a
vegetarian. As Mudaliar was not sure whether a vegetarian diet would
contain adequate nourishment for him, Bhagavan assured him categorically
that he would not suffer if he gave up non-vegetarian food.

Ramakrishna Swami, who had been serving Bhagavan for many
years, started visiting a woman in the town. Her relatives caught him in
her house, bound him hand and foot and locked him in a room. He managed
to escape and came running to the Ashram, pursued by his enemies. When
he entered the Ashram gate, they gave up the chase. He entered the hall
trembling and fell on the ground shouting ‘save me, save me’. After
Bhagavan had heard the man’s confession, he looked at the culprit with
understanding and pity and said, “You don’t need to have this fear any
longer. Go and sleep.”
The Ashram people requested Bhagavan to send the man away,
for his presence would tarnish the good name of the Ashram. Bhagavan
called the man and told him in front of everybody, “You have done some
wrong, but you were too foolish not to keep it secret. Others do worse
things, but they take care not to be caught. Now, the people who were not
caught want you to leave the Ashram because you were caught.” The
person was allowed to stay.
Bhagavan’s standard prescription was to attend to one’s own
faults and problems before turning to alleged defects of others. Once a
socially-minded person told Bhagavan, “What I would like to do is to
go round and set things right. I came to you for the strength and power
to do this work.” Bhagavan said, “You are like a beggar offering to
feast all comers. First set yourself right and then only set out to improve
others. But one must begin somewhere, and one can begin only with
oneself.”
It is difficult to exaggerate the consideration of Bhagavan for the
devotees. Dr. G. S. Melkote of Hyderabad was once treating Bhagavan
for eczema but there was no improvement. The doctor had a sudden and
urgent necessity to return home. He was filled with remorse at having to
leave Bhagavan in that condition. I advised him to pray to Bhagavan to
cure himself, which he did. From that night Bhagavan’s eczema responded
to treatment. The doctor literally wept at this miracle that enabled him to
leave without any compunctions.
Cow Lakshmi2 just could not spend a day without seeking
Bhagavan’s company some time or the other during the course of the day.
One day she came to the hall, went straight to Bhagavan and literally wept
on his shoulders. For half-an-hour Bhagavan kept consoling her, saying,
“Why are you so sad, dear mother? Am I not here to look after you?” and
so on, till she was pacified.
Krishna Bhikshu 181
A lawyer R. Ramakrishniah from Nellore came with a long list of

questions. He was quite proud of his questions and was sure that even
Bhagavan would find them difficult to answer. But when he came to the
hall and sat before Bhagavan his mind became paralysed and he could not
ask a single question.
Prof. Syed [No.23] and his wife were great devotees of Bhagavan.
They used to stay in a rented house outside the Ashram. One day Mrs.
Syed felt a strong desire to invite Bhagavan to their house for food. She
nagged her husband but he did not have the courage to ask for something
so unusual. The bold lady went on pressing her husband until he got more
afraid of her than of the enormity of her request. When he told Bhagavan
about his wife’s desire, he merely smiled and kept quiet. But the wife
would not give up. One day, while Bhagavan was going up the hill, the
couple stood before him and Prof. Syed told him her desire. Bhagavan just
laughed and went up the hill.
When they returned home, there was quite a row in the house.
The wife blamed the husband because she felt that he had not asked
Bhagavan in the proper way. At last, when they had had enough of the
quarrel, he told her, “How am I responsible? The truth of the matter is,
your devotion is deficient.” These words must have touched her deeply,
for she sat in meditation throughout the night. She wanted by sheer intensity
of her prayer to bring Bhagavan to dinner! During the early hours of the
morning she must have dozed, for Bhagavan appeared to her in a dream or
vision and told her, “Why are you so obstinate? How can I leave the Ashram
and come to your house for food? I must dine along with the people there,
otherwise they won’t eat.”
In her vision she saw three devotees, who, Bhagavan said, were
to be fed, and it will be the same as feeding me. These were: Dr. G. S.
Melkote, a Kanarese and a well-known personality of Hyderabad, Swami
Prabhuddhananda, a Bengali sannyasi, and myself, an Andhra bachelor.
She gave full details of her vision to Prof. Syed, who promptly invited all
the three for food to his house. We were all Brahmins. Although we were
delighted to represent Bhagavan at the feast, we were afraid of the reaction
of the Ashram Brahmins.
Dr. Melkote was in the guesthouse near the flower garden. I went
to him and asked, “What are you thinking about?” He said, “I am still
thinking about it. They are Muslims. If we go, we are bound to get into a
lot of trouble. They may turn us out of the Ashram.” I told Dr. Melkote, “I
am going because I take it as Bhagavan’s direct order. Otherwise how
could Mrs. Syed pick us? How could she know our names and faces well
enough to show to her husband?” Dr. Melkote replied, “Well, we are going,
Bhagavan will attend to the risks.”
In spite of these brave words, Dr. Melkote was perplexed. What
do Muslims know about the Brahmin rules and habits of cleanliness? Why
should we trust the vision of some Muslim lady? Could we really say that
we were obeying Bhagavan’s orders? Who would believe us?
The next day, when the bell for dinner was rung, we three went
before Bhagavan and bowed. Bhagavan did not ask us the reason. He
merely looked at us. Instead of going to the dining hall with the others, we
marched out of the Ashram, passing before the sarvadhikari who, wonder
of wonders, did not ask us why we were going out without eating the food.
After getting everything thoroughly cleaned, Mrs.Syed had lovingly
prepared dish after dish. We found the food excellent. At the conclusion of
the meal she offered us betel leaves with her own hands. As we were
walking back to the Ashram, Dr. Melkote had tears in his eyes. He said, “I
come from Hyderabad, and I know well the Muslim ways and customs. A
Muslim lady will give betel leaves with her own hands to nobody except
her husband or a fakir. In her eyes we were fakirs, the forms Bhagavan
took to go to her place.”
When we returned to the Ashram, we were astonished that no
body had enquired why we had not been present in the dining hall, or
where we had gone. How wonderfully does Bhagavan protect those who
obey him!
Once I wrote a poem in praise of Bhagavan in which I said, “May
you be with us in all your future births.” Bhagavan heard this and said, “Is
this birth not enough, that he wishes me many more?” People scolded me
for writing so disrespectfully. Some said Bhagavan was beyond rebirth.
Others maintained he was the son of great Siva Himself, who was never
in need of a human body. I exclaimed, “Bhagavan will be reborn many
times, not because he needs it but because we need him.”
Bhagavan listened carefully. ‘Right’, he said, and became very
quiet. The hall was filled with power and silence and immense love was
pouring from Bhagavan like a mighty sea.
1. A respectful form of address for elderly men.

2. Refer annexure-IV, The Cow Lakshmi, p. 414.
Lakshman Sarma
KKKKmKK 183
63
Lakshman Sarma who came to Sri Ramana in the late 1920s, spent
most of his life translating the Maharshi’s teachings into Sanskrit.
Sri Ramana closely supervised his Sanskrit translation of Ulladu
Narpadu. Other than Muruganar, he was the only person to have
received private lessons by Sri Ramana on the intent and meanings
of his works. His Sanskrit treatise Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad
(1950), contains teachings of the Maharshi, a few of which are:
The man who has not experienced his own real Self, thinking ‘I
am this body’ sees himself as ‘I’, the first person of grammar. He sees
another person whom he calls ‘you’, and refers to a third person as ‘he’.
These three distinct persons are not real. They are seen on account of the
false notion, ‘I am the body’. When the ego-soul is lost as a result of quest
of the real Self, only that Self, consciousness alone, will shine.
Just as one who has become wise to the truth of the mirage may
again see the mirage without being deluded, so too the sage, seeing this
world, does not think of it as real, as does the ignorant one.
When, forgetting the Self, one thinks that the body is oneself and
goes through innumerable births and in the end remembers and becomes
the Self, knows that this is only like awakening from a dream wherein one
has wandered all over the world.
If during the quest of one’s own Self, the mind turns outwards on
account of its attachment to objects of perception, the seeker should turn it
inwards again. He should bring the mind back again and again and re-
engage it in the quest. There must be a resolve to become aware of the
truth of oneself by means of the question, “Who is he that has this attachment
to objects of perception?” The answer to this question is not an intellectual
conclusion. The correct answer to it is only the experience of the real Self.
The quest of the source of the soul is named as ‘The Great
Yoga’. It is the yoga of action, the yoga of devotion, the yoga of restrain-
ing the mind and also the yoga of right awareness. By the practice of
meditation mental strength will be intensified. Therefore, meditation is
an aid to the quest. After first achieving stillness of the mind by meditation,
the valiant aspirant must seek the truth of his own Self.
Just as a woman, suffering intolerably in her father-in-law’s house,
obtains peace in her mother’s house, so the mind, harried by samsaric
(worldly) sufferings, wins peace by returning to the source: the Real Self.
To create empty space in a room one only has to remove the

encumbering, unwanted lumber. In the same way, to realise the Self
nothing more is needed than the removal of false knowledge that I am
the body.
For him that is established in the supreme state, desires do not
arise, because the desirer, the ego, has ceased to exist. The sage in that
state is ever contented. In the end the writer says:
To that supreme one, the Self of all creatures, who became our
Guru, Sri Ramana – let there be thousands of namaskarams until the
extinction of the ego is secured.
64
Natesa Iyer moved from Chidambaram to Tiruvannamalai and found
employment as a cook at the Ashram. Though Iyer has not left any
account of his stay and work with the Maharshi, David Godman has
collected information from devotees who knew him well.
When Natesa Iyer felt an urge to renounce the world, he left his
wife and daughter and came to Tiruvannamalai, where he came under
Bhagavan’s spell. When he started his job in the kitchen, most of the
cooking was done by a group of Brahmin widows, who made him work
very hard. Once he said laughingly that he ran away from one bossy woman
and ended up working under five.
At one point when he got tired of the way he was being treated
in the kitchen, he resolved to leave the Ashram without telling anyone.
On the way back to his home he reached Villupuram, about 40 miles
from Tiruvannamalai.There he put vibhuti on his forehead after the
bath, closed the eyes and as he was saying a prayer to Bhagavan, he
felt Bhagavan himself standing in front of him. “How did you get
here?” asked Iyer in amazement. Bhagavan smiled and replied, “How
far have you gone away from me.” Iyer, dissolved in tears, was unable
to reply.
The figure of Bhagavan began to walk towards Tiruvannamalai.
Iyer had no hesitation in following him. The figure eventually disappeared,
but Iyer felt that Bhagavan was always ahead of him and he reached the
Ashram. When he entered the hall and prostrated, Bhagavan repeated the
words, “How far have you gone away from me.” Iyer broke down and
cried. He went back to the kitchen and resumed his work.
Natesa Iyer 185
This incident initiated a process of surrender in Iyer that culminated

in the understanding that Bhagavan was not the body that everyone saw
moving about the Ashram. He once said, “Bhagavan is not something or
someone we can fathom with our minds. We have to admit our ignorance
and our inability to say anything about him that is true. I cannot tell anything
about Bhagavan because the real Bhagavan cannot be explained in words.
It is a sweet taste that you can only know by tasting it yourself.”
He loved to narrate his experience of the operation performed on
Bhagavan, when he was his attendant. In his words: “Bhagavan’s
behaviour throughout the operation showed very clearly that the
body was just something that he was wearing. The flesh was being
cut, blood was flowing, and I could see the radium needles that had been
inserted into the flesh around the cancerous growth. Bhagavan was fully
conscious but utterly indifferent to the procedures that were being carried
out on his arm. We were all consumed by the power of Bhagavan’s silence.
Even the doctors were sucked into it. When the operation had been
completed, the doctors spontaneously prostrated to Bhagavan. One of them
said, I have operated on many people, but I have never had an experience
like this.There was peace in the room that I have never felt anywhere
else. I cannot describe what it was like except to say that it was unlike
anything I have ever experienced before.”
V. Ganesan, a grandson of Bhagavan’s brother, records:
A few years after Bhagavan passed away, as I approached the
Ashram gate I was surprised to see Natesa Iyer seated on the steps of a
temple close to the Ashram. On enquiry he said, “The Ashram management
had asked me to leave. I have no other place to go. This is my sadguru’s
Ashram. I have decided to sit here because this is the closest I can get to
the Ashram.” Annoyed that he had been treated in this way, I went straight
to my father, the Ashram president. But he refused to take him back.
I was very agitated and went to see Muruganar [No.53], who
lived in a small cottage outside the Ashram. With tears in my eyes I told
him what has happened. Muruganar gave me a mischievous smile and
asked, “Why are you telling me about this? You could have gone directly to
Bhagavan and told him about the problem. Will he not listen to you if you
go to his samadhi?” I went to the shrine and shouted as loudly as I could:
“Bhagavan! Injustice has been done to Natesa Iyer! My heart aches!
Please allow him to come back to his job.” Fortunately, no one was there
to wintess my strange outbrust. I prostrated and left for giri pradakshina,
confident that Bhagavan would take care of the problem.
The following morning, when I went to the Ashram I saw Iyer

working at his usual place in the kitchen. When asked he told me, “When
the president was walking home last night, he stopped in front of the temple
and requested me to come back to the Ashram and take up the old job
again.”
Regarding Iyer’s passing away, Bhupati Narayana Raju wrote in
September 1983 issue of Arunachala Ramana:
Natesa Iyer knew in advance that he was to pass away. “Raju”,
he said to me in high spirits, “ Bhagavan is calling me. I am going in ten
days.” The next time I saw him, his spirits were still high: “Raju, only five
more days, I am going in five days.” His physical condition was deteriorating,
but he was still full of energy. Some of the people there said, “Madness
has got into his head.” I knew something strange was going on. He became
very weak and was unable to take even liquid food. On the tenth day he
lost consciousness, but his face suddenly became very bright. In a spirited
tone he enquired, “Has Bhagavan come? I am coming.” These were the
last words that came from his lips.
65
Sampurnamma (1899-1993), a Brahmin widow, served for long
as a cook at the Ashram.
When my husband died, I fell into a state of deep despair in
which I thought that life was no longer worth living. One day during this
period, when I came out after worshipping at the Meenakshi Temple,
Madurai, an old Brahmin asked, “Won’t you cook a meal for me?” It
was a strange request. A Brahmin would ask for already-prepared food,
but this man wanted food to be made for him. However, I invited him to
accompany me to our family house promising him to cook a meal for
him. Before going back with the Brahmin, I had to go inside the temple
for a short while. When I came out, the Brahmin was not to be seen. I
had good reasons to believe that the old man was Bhagavan himself and
the request was a summons to cook for him.
As Bhagavan was born in a village next to our village, many of
our people knew him. When he became a great saint my relatives often
used to go to see him. In 1928, I accompanied my sister and her husband
Sampurnamma 187
to Tiruvannamalai. I was able to sit for long hours in Bhagavan’s presence,

immersed in a strange state in which the mind would not have a single
thought. Those were days of deep and calm happiness in which my devotion
to Bhagavan took firm roots. On this first visit, I stayed for twenty days.
While leaving, I got a copy of Who am I ? from Bhagavan’s own hands.
Back in my village, I was restless. I longed to go to the Ashram;
and gladly accompanied my uncle who happened to go there. On my arrival
I was to help in the kitchen. I was not good at cooking, but Bhagavan was
always by my side, helping me with detailed instructions. His firm principle
was that health depended on food that could be digested easily. So, we
used to spend hours on grinding and stewing. Bhagavan was always willing
to leave the hall to give advice in the kitchen.
Once someone sent a huge load of brinjals and we ate brinjals day
after day. The stalks alone made a big heap, which was lying in a corner.
Bhagavan asked us to cook them as a curry! I was stunned, for even
cattle would refuse to eat such useless stalks. Bhagavan insisted that the
stalks were edible, and we put them in a pot to boil along with dry peas.
After hours of boiling they were as hard as ever. We were at a loss what
to do; yet we did not dare to disturb Bhagavan.
Bhagavan always knew when he was needed in the kitchen and
he would leave the hall even in the middle of a discussion. A casual visitor
would think that Bhagavan’s mind was on cooking. In reality his grace
was on the cooks. As usual, he did not fail us and appeared in the kitchen.
“How is the curry getting on?” he asked. “ Is it a curry we are cooking?
We are boiling steel nails! I exclaimed laughing. He stirred the preparation
with a ladle and went away without saying anything. Soon afterwards we
found the stalks quite tender. The dish was simply delicious, and many
diners were asking for a second helping.
As a cook, Bhagavan was perfect. He was very strict with us.
We soon learned that his orders were to be obeyed to the last detail. So
long as we followed his instructions, everything would go well with our
cooking, but the moment we tried to act on our own we were in trouble.
One would think from the care he took in cooking that he liked
good food and enjoyed a hearty meal. Not at all. When meals were served,
he would mix up the little food he would allow to be put on his leaf-plate
– the sweet, the sour and the savoury, everything together – and gulp it
down carelessly as if he had no taste in the mouth. When we would tell
him that it was not right to mix such nicely prepared dishes, he would
say, “Enough of multiplicity, let us have some unity.”
Bhagavan would allow nothing to go waste. Even a grain of rice

or a mustard seed lying on the ground would be picked up, dusted and
taken to the kitchen and put in its proper place. I asked him why he gave
himself so much trouble for a grain of rice. He said, “Yes, this is my way.
Everything is in my care and I let nothing go waste. In these matters I am
quite strict.”
While we were cooking he would tell us stories. He used cooking to
teach us religion and philosophy. He also taught us that work is love for
others. He imbued us with the spirit that we are to serve others. By his
very presence he taught us that we are always in the presence of God and
that all work is His.
As ladies were not allowed to stay in the Ashram at night, we had
our accommodation in the town. In coming to and going from the Ashram I
had to walk in along a jungle path. When Bhagavan noticed that it made me
afraid, he said, “Why are you afraid? Am I not with you?” Once when I
came before dawn, the sarvadhikari asked me, “How could you come all
alone? Were you not afraid?” Bhagavan rebuked him: “Why are you
surprised? Was she alone? Was I not with her all the time?”
Once another lady cook and myself decided to walk around
the hill. We started very early. We were very afraid of the jungle.
After walking a little way we saw a strange, blue light in front of us. It
was something mysterious and we thought it was a ghost, but it led us
along the path. When we realised it was guiding us, we felt safe with
it. It left us at dawn.
Another time, the two of us were walking around the hill early in
the morning and chattering about our homes and relatives. We noticed a
man following us at a distance. We had to pass through a stretch of lonely
forest, so we stopped to let him pass us and go ahead. He too stopped.
When we walked he also walked.
We got alarmed and prayed aloud, “Lord Arunachala, you alone
can save us.” The man caught up with us and remarked, “Yes, Arunachala
is our only refuge. Keep your mind constantly on him. Always have him in
mind.” We wondered who he might be. Was he sent by Bhagavan to
remind us that it is not proper to talk of worldly matters, while going round
the hill, or was it Arunachala himself in human disguise? We looked back.
But there was nobody on the path.
During their period days, women were not given Ashram food to
eat, nor allowed to enter the Ashram. Once, when Bhagavan was told that
I would not be coming for three days and was sitting in the mandapam in
Shantammal 189
front of the Ashram gate, he ordered that I be brought inside and served
the Ashram food. Everybody was shocked, for it was a clear breach of the
accepted rule. An ancient rule was thus broken and Bhagavan had sanctified
its breach.
I once suggested that we should eat our dinner in the open air.
Bhagavan agreed and we arranged the food to be served in the courtyard
near the hall. As Bhagavan sat with us, we saw a strong and clear halo
around his head. Was it the moonlight or some other cause? I cannot say,
but the halo was there and many could see it. Just before the meal,
somebody brought a big basketful of sweets, enough for all. Was it a
coincidence or Bhagavan’s wonderful play?
66
Shantammal, head cook at the Ashram, belonged to Ramana-
thapuram in Tamil Nadu.
In 1927, I, along with three other women, went to see Bhagavan.
He was sitting on a bench in a thatched shed with Muruganar [No. 53] at
his side. As soon as I saw him I knew he was God in human form. I bowed
reverently and said, “Grant that my mind does not trouble me any more.”
He 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 was very confused
since his upadesa meant little to me at the time, but I remembered to
honour Bhagavan by singing a verse from Ramana Stuti Panchakam:
“Your spiritual splendour fills the universe with its perfume. Attracted by it,
numberless beings turn their face to you. I too grew restless and sought
you eagerly. Where is he? I enquired, and now I have come to you.”
When Bhagavan asked me how I knew this verse, Muruganar said that he
had given me a copy of the book. On this first visit we stayed for forty
days.
After spending a year at my place in Ramanathapuram, I visited
the Ashram on a jayanti day. When I arrived, Bhagavan was explaining
something from Ulladu Narapadu to Dandapani Swami. 1 When
Bhagavan saw me, his first question was, “Have you received a copy
of this book? I asked them to post one to you.” I said to myself, my
Lord remembers me by name and how loving is his personal attention
to my needs!
At that time, Bhagavan was unusually active, working both in the

kitchen and outside. He would clean grain, shell nuts, grind seeds, stitch
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.
Once we had to fry a big quantity of snake gourd. This vegetable
is full of water and the usual way is to squeeze the water out of it to
shorten the frying time, but Bhagavan said it should be fried with water in
it. We were sitting near the fire, stirring the vegetable in a big iron pan with
long ladles. Suddenly Bhagavan let go his ladle and stared, motionless.
When I looked at him my mind stood still. Everything disappeared from
before my eyes.
After some time Bhagavan said, “The curry is noiseless, it is time
to add the spices.” It could refer to cooking the vegetables; it could also
refer to his poem Aksharamanamalai, in which he addresses Arunachala:
You drugged me with your charm and I woke up full of knowledge. When
the curry of mind is silent, then it is time to add spices of wisdom.
When I first worked in the kitchen, there were no proper jars for
foodstuff, which made the kitchen floor messy. I mentioned the problem to
Bhagavan. Ten days later I was called to the hall. Attendants were opening
wooden boxes that contained six beautiful jars. Bhagavan told me, “You
wanted jars. Take them to the kitchen.” On enquiry I found that some
person had booked them to the Ashram. Such mysterious incidents used to
happen every now and then.
I can give another example. Once I had no money and badly
needed some. I prayed silently to Bhagavan: “Ramana, how can I get hold
of a little money?” Three days later I received a money order from one
Dr. Srinivasa Rao, whom I did not even know. It seems he was reading an
account of Bhagavan’s life, and on reading the name of Shantammal
decided that it would be nice to send her some money.
The following year, I wanted to return briefly to Ramanathapuram
for the devi puja.2 Later, while I was sitting in the hall in meditation, I saw,
instead of Bhagavan, a little girl. She was full of charm and splendour,
intensely alert and powerful and she radiated a golden brilliance. The vision
soon ended and I saw the normal face of Bhagavan again. I understood at
once that Bhagavan was the goddess I had wanted to worship in
Ramanathapuram. Where, now, was the need for a pilgrimage to a goddess
when I was daily serving one in whom all gods are born?
When I was still new in the kitchen, I served Bhagavan with a
few extra pieces of potato. Bhagavan got very angry. Each night, after
Sundaram 191
the day’s work was over, the women who worked in the kitchen would
collect around the Maharshi and ask permission to leave.3 Usually, he
would exchange a few words with us, enquire who was accompanying
us, whether we had a lantern, and so on. That evening he gave me a sign
to come near and said, “You served me extra curry. I felt ashamed to eat
more than the others. You should always serve me less than other people.
The more you love my people, the more you love me.” The matter was
closed. A good lesson was learnt and never forgotten.
Once the Maharaja of Mysore visited the Ashram. Trays and
trays of sweets and other 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 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.”
A devotee while taking leave of Bhagavan said, “Swami, I am
going far away from you. The devotees who are staying in the Ashram
are enjoying the bliss of your company every minute. Please accept
me also in the same manner.” Bhagavan replied, “Everyone thinks that
special grace is bestowed on the devotees who stay here. If there is
such a preference how can he be a jnani? The Lord is bound to protect
a person who has surrendered to Him. In fact one who has surrendered
need not even pray; the Lord always remains close extending His
protection. The frog stays near the lotus but it is only the bees that
suck the honey of the flowers, from whatever distance they may come
from.”
1. Father-in-law of great poet Muruganar (no. 53).

2. Worship of a female deity.
3. Women were not allowed to stay in the Ashram at night.
67
Sundaram (Sadhu Trivenigiri) was a spiritually-minded person. He
came to the Ashram in 1933 and was taken on the staff. He worked
for long years in the kitchen.
In 1932, as I stood before the deity of the Subramaniyam temple,

the following words flashed into my consciousness: “Here I am God who
does not talk. Go to Tiruvannamalai. The Maharshi is a god who talks.”
This was how the Maharshi’s grace manifested itself to me. I had not
even seen him at that time.
In 1933, after my wife’s death, I gave up my job and came to Sri
Ramanasramam. As the sarvadhikari knew my family very well, he
immediately engaged me for the Ashram work.
Prior to my arrival, I had been suffering from asthma for many
years. It gave me a lot of trouble, but I did not mention it to Bhagavan.
Once Bhagavan gave me a pinch of chutney he had prepared and said,
“This is medicine for you.” I swallowed the same. Later I realised that I
was completely cured of my asthma.
At night, after visitors had left, we would all collect around
Bhagavan. We felt like a big family assembled after a day’s work. During
those short hours Bhagavan would enquire about our welfare, chat with
us, make us laugh and also give us instructions for the next day.
Bhagavan always felt concerned about the welfare of his devotees.
One day, for example, when Major Chadwick [No.42] was down with
fever, Bhagavan asked, “How is he now?” When I replied that I did not
know and had not seen him, he directed me to go and see him. He added,
“He left his country and travelled thousands of miles, staying with us and
making us his own. Should we not take care of him and look after his
needs?”
Once, when I served food to Bhagavan, he asked, “Why did
you serve me more than usual? How you dare make distinctions like
this?” The people nearby pleaded for me. “No Bhagavan,” they said,
“Sundaram did not serve you more. Look, we got as much as you did.”
But Bhagavan would not be so easily appeased. “You do not know, the
ego is strong in him. His giving preference to me is the working of his
ego”, he said.
One morning when I was cutting vegetables along with Bhagavan,
he said, “Sundaram! Take this hurricane light and pick up the mangoes that
have fallen from the tree.” I said, “Yes”, but continued cutting the
vegetables. Bhagavan said, “Sundaram, attend to what ‘I’ said first. It is
from me that everything arises. Attend to it first.” I took this as an adesha
and upadesa (order and instruction) to make the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ My
friends also felt so.
Subbalakshmi Ammal 193
One day the attendant Madhavan was binding a book. A devotee

wanted a book from the library. Bhagavan asked Madhavan to get it saying,
“You do my work; I will do your work.” And Bhagavan took the book and
went on with the binding while Madhavan got the library book.
Once while meditating in the presence of Bhagavan, my mind
persisted in wandering. I couldn’t control it. So I gave up meditation and
opened my eyes. Bhagavan at once sat up on his couch and said, “Oh! You
abandon it thinking it is the swabhava (nature) of the mind to wander.
Whatever we practice becomes the swabhava. If control is practised
persistently that will become the swabhava.” Yet another upadesa for me.
The injunction against the leftover food from the previous day
is very much respected in the higher castes of South India. But
Bhagavan insisted that avoidance of waste overruled everything else,
and he would never permit God’s gift to be thrown away. As for giving
the leftovers to beggars, it was not possible because Bhagavan insisted
that beggars be given the same food as everyone else, and not some
inferior stuff. Even dogs had to be fed from the common meal. Bhagavan
would come to the kitchen in the early hours, see the leftovers from
the night before, warm them up, dilute them, and add some more
ingredients to make them palatable.
Bhagavan was neither a rebel nor a reformer. He did not
discourage people from following their religious customs at home, but in
the Ashram he would not take any custom for granted. At Sri
Ramanasramam he was both the religion and the custom.
68
Subbalakshmi Ammal, a Brahmin widow, got Sri Ramana’s blessings
when she was sixteen, but she came to his fold 15 years later and
served as a cook at the Ashram for long.
After losing my husband at the age of 16, I went back to my
mother’s house, devoting my life in prayer and meditation. While returning
from a pilgrimage from Rameswaram with my mother, we stopped at
Tiruvannamalai. When we went up the hill, Sri Ramana was sitting outside
the Virupaksha Cave. He was about thirty at the time and wonderful to
behold. His eyes were blooming and clear like petals of a lotus and he
shone brightly like burnished gold. I, somehow, at once got a feeling that
god Arunachala himself had come in a human form. We returned to our
village in Nellore. I did not even dream at that time that my life would be
spent at the feet of the great Swami.
Fifteen years later, again on our return from a pilgrimage, we
stopped at Tiruvannamalai and enquired about the Swami. He was
sitting on a couch in the hall. We sat in silence for about ten minutes
before him. This gave me an unforgettable experience of mental
stillness. Away from him, I spent most of the next year vainly trying to
free myself from thoughts.
When I chanced to go to the Ashram again, I went to the hall. No
one else being there, I gathered courage and asked, “What is atma?”
Bhagavan replied, “To remain without thinking is atma.” Then he looked
at me and I felt my mind melt away into nothing. No thoughts came. Only
the feeling of immense unutterable peace was there.
One day Bhagavan’s own sister asked me to take her place in
the Ashram kitchen because she had to leave for some time. I could not
refuse. At that time Shantammal [No.66] was the chief cook and my
duty was to help her. To my great joy I discovered that Bhagavan worked
with us in the kitchen for most of the time. He soon taught me how to
cook tastily and neatly.
Once Bhagavan was grinding the dhal. It was heart-rending to
see him do so. Yet I did not have the courage to take his place lest he may
stop coming to the kitchen, which was far more important to us than anything
else. Later, when he asked me to take over I was happy thinking that the
Swami had got some relief. But when I went into the kitchen, I saw him
standing near the fire preparing some dish. He was sweating profusely. A
boiling vegetable piece fell on his hand causing it to swell. When asked
about it he joked, “Don’t you know? It is my special ring.”
Sometime later, I felt overburdened with work. I wanted to sit
quietly and meditate in solitude. I went back to my village, but my heart
was really at Sri Ramanasramam. At home, it seemed to me that I was
wasting my time.
On a festival day at the Ashram, Bhagavan announced, “Today
Subbalakshmi will turn up. Keep some pongal for her.” Bhagavan’s
prediction was correct; that was the day I returned to the Ashram,
unannounced, after a year. In the weeks and months that followed I wanted
to leave the Ashram many times, but Bhagavan held on to me far more
powerfully than I held on to him.
I used to keep fast quite often. I had read: “He who wants to
know himself and yet pays attention to his body is like a man who trusts a
crocodile to take him across a river.” When I showed the text to Bhagavan,
Subbalakshmi Ammal 195
he said, “It does not mean that you should starve. It only means that you
should not give the body more than it needs. With your mind, hold on to the
enquiry [Who am I?] and just keep the body going on so that it does not
become a hindrance. For this, fresh food, simply prepared and taken in
moderation is a great help.”
Bhagavan disliked being given preference in any form. For
example, he would refuse to eat pappadams, if out of our love we selected
a bigger one for him. Torn between attachment and obedience, we felt
lost. When our Lord wanted to be treated as equal with the humblest, we
felt ourselves to be the smallest of the small.
During the meal I would pour rasam into Bhagavan’s hands. He
would sip it, and when his palms were empty I would fill them again. One
day he asked me to pour rasam over the rice and go. I thought I had
offended him in some way and asked Shantammal [No. 66 ] to find out the
reason. Bhagavan told her, “When she serves me slowly, she makes others
wait.” Despite my protests and requests, he never took rasam again in his
palms.
He would ruthlessly sacrifice the little comforts we so loved to
provide for him, as soon as he noticed a trace of preference. The law that
what cannot be shared must not be touched was supreme in his way of
dealing with us. Separate and exclusive feelings are the cause of ‘I’ and
therefore the greatest obstacles in the realisation of the Self. No wonder
he was exterminating them so relentlessly.
Bhagavan loved retelling incidents from old devotional classics.
His face would light up as he recounted the amazing stories of saints of
long ago. He would be visibly moved when he recited their inspired poetry.
With children, Bhagavan was their playmate; to family people he
was a wise counsellor; to pandits he was a storehouse of knowledge; and
to yogis, he was God of victory. Everyone who came to him with a
sense of devotion was charmed by his love and kindness, his beauty
and wisdom, and by the overwhelming sense of unity he radiated. Crowds
would gather around him and each one would see him differently.
One afternoon a lady visitor sat near Bhagavan and exclaimed,
“How glad I am that I have met you, Swami! I have been desperate to see
you for such a long time, Swami. Please be kind enough to give me
salvation. That is all I want. I want nothing else.” After she left, Bhagavan
had a hearty laugh and said, “Look at her! Is salvation something to be
handed over on request? Do I keep bundles of salvation concealed about
me that I can give away when people ask fot it? She said, ‘I do not want
anything else.’ If what she says is true, that itself is salvation.”
Though Bhagavan did not mind our faults and mistakes, he made
us follow his instructions to the letter. While he was in the kitchen, he was
one of us; but in the hall, seated on the sofa, he was the great Lord of
Kailas. While in the hall he belonged to everybody, but when he came to
the kitchen, he belonged only to us.
Bhagavan would take any amount of trouble to teach us the virtues
necessary for self-discovery. Our life at the Ashram was a school of yoga,
and a hard school too.Through the trifles of daily life he taught us Vedanta
both in theory and practice. We were changed to the root of our being, not
knowing the depth and scope of his influence.
Bhagavan would make the small tasks of daily life into avenues
that led to light and bliss. We experienced ecstasy in grinding, rapture in
cooking, and joy in serving iddlies to the devotees. Why? Because while
we were doing these things, we were experiencing the state in which the
mind is in the Heart. One who has not experienced this cannot really know
how much bliss a human heart can contain.
Lord Krishna in his mercy became a cowherd to teach
simple milkmaids the way to salvation. Similarly, Bhagavan, the
same Supreme Being in another form, took to cooking in order to
save a few ignorant women.
69
Wolter A. Keers was a Dutch teacher and writer who lectured
extensively on Yoga and Advaita in Europe in the 1970s and
80s. Shortly before his death in the 1980s, he invited his friends
to a party at his house in his hometown. At the end of the party,
he informed his friends that he was going to give up his body.
He prostrated to a large photo of Sri Ramana that he had placed
on the floor. Then he placed a cushion in front of the photo, laid
down his head on the cushion at Sri Ramana’s feet and passed
away.
I brought a large amount of spiritual samskaras into this life. I
was born into a family of clergymen. All interest in our household was
focused on matters of religion. I must have been taught how to pray almost
before I could talk.
Wolter A. Keers 197
During a despairing phase of my life, I read Jnana Yoga by Swami

Vivekananda. It caused something of an explosion in me. There, in those
pages, I finally found someone who had been able to put into words what
I had been feeling intuitively. It was a relief to discover that countless
seekers down the ages had shared my own problem and spiritual hunger.
Not long after, I came across The Secret Path by Paul Brunton
[No.1]. When I read in those pages that there was a living sage in India
with whom one could talk, blue patches returned to my sky. There was a
photo of Bhagavan in the book. I used to focus on it during my meditation
and I also began to concentrate on the heart-centre that Bhagavan had
stated was on the right chest. It took a lot of effort and practice to become
fully absorbed in these objects of meditation, but I persevered because I
felt at the time that these were tools that had been given to me by Bhagavan.
I concentrated on Bhagavan more and more. Sometimes, I was
almost fighting with him, begging him to help me in my efforts to come and
see him. I know it sounds absurd to make such a claim, but there came a
point when I could confidently say ‘I won’. One day I looked at Bhagavan’s
photo and knew with a calm unshakable certainty that I would be travelling
to India. And the opportunity came in the beginning of 1950.
Roda Maclver [No.126], a Bombay devotee who had been living
near Bhagavan for several years took me to the Ashram and pointed out
Bhagavan to me. The mere sight of him made me tremble all over
because I had come face to face with the divine. This recognition
affected me so much that my body shook involuntarily. As I gazed at
Bhagavan, I felt I saw God himself sitting there.
In that early morning meeting I saw a blazing light that had
taken a human form. It was more radiant than anything I had ever
seen before. When I was very young, I had believed that God was
some magnificent being, having a human form that radiated light and
goodness. I had long since abandoned this childhood belief, believing it
to be a fairy story that was told only to credulous children. Yet now this
childhood belief turned out to be true, because here before me was a
human form that seemed to be made of light itself. God became manifest
before my eyes, announcing his presence to me by radiating a blazing,
penetrating light, a light that went right through me like x-rays.
When I had time to reflect on this first darshan, it seemed
amazing that such an air of normality could prevail around someone who
was radiating so much light and energy. Perhaps other people were not
seeing and feeling what I was experiencing. I asked Roda about this
later that day. She laughed and said, “Many people do have special
experiences when they see Bhagavan. For most of the time we all see
him as a normal, elderly person sitting on a sofa, but once in a while he
graces us with an experience, such as you had today, that convinces us
of his greatness and his divinity.”
There was a radiant power and energy in Bhagavan’s
presence that effortlessly swept through the mind and matter.
His grace silenced my mind, it filled my heart, and it took me to
realms that were way beyond the phenomenal. The light radiating
from Bhagavan filled my being, sweeping away all my darkness in
one stroke. Effort seemed redundant when his presence alone
was enough to evaporate the usual mental flow of thoughts, ideas
and problems.
For me, Bhagavan’s immediate presence was overwhelmingly
potent and nothing could distract or disturb me there. However, I began to
notice that the exalted state of experience in his presence gradually wore
off when I went back to my little house opposite the Ashram. Sitting in
Bhagavan’s presence I felt a quiet lucidity. All thoughts and problems would
be swept away, burnt in the raging fire of his potent presence. But after a
few hours of being alone in my room, I would realise that these states
were only temporary because my old thoughts and problems would
eventually rise up again. I felt I had to confront Bhagavan with this problem.
I had not come to him for blissful experiences; I had come to him to seek
a permanent end to my mind and all its problems.
That day when I passed in front of him, a quick smile passed over
his face. I somehow felt that he knew what I had come for. Was he smiling
at the audacity of my demand? I sat down among the crowd close to
Bhagavan, and began to bombard him with thoughts. With all the mental
energy I could summon up, I shot out my complaint at him: ‘Bhagavan, of
what use is all your radiance to me if I cannot solve my mental problems
the moment I leave you?’ This, with minor variations, I repeated again and
again. Bhagavan took no notice. He continued to go through his everyday
routine. Frustrated, I concentrated on him even more. I tried to shake his
indifference with my thoughts. I felt I was shaking him the way I would
shake a tree to get a fruit to fall off. The whole force of my will was
focused on one thought, ‘I must have an answer; I must have an answer.’
Finally, my mental persistence paid off. He turned in my direction and
looked at me with a smile of utter amazement on his face. Then his
expression changed and its new configuration exclaimed, ‘You are looking
Wolter A. Keers 199
for your glasses and they are on your nose!’ No words passed his lips, but
the message came to me with unbelievable clarity. There was no doubt or
conjecture or imagination. Bhagavan continued to gaze at me. Perhaps he
was waiting for some kind of response.
Suddenly his eyes emitted light and spat fire at me. I can think of no
other way of describing that sudden explosion in his gaze. His powerful look
went straight into me, boring away at everything that made me think I was
different and separate from him. I felt the right-hand-side heart getting warmer
as he continued to gaze at me, until I felt it to be a hot, fiery ball glowing
inside me. I felt as if he was charging it with some immensely powerful
spiritual electricity because, as he continued to look at me, I had the
unmistakable feeling that my heart-centre was some kind of spiritual dynamo
that was emitting sparks of light and energy. I felt as if some enormously
potent electrical apparatus had been suddenly transplanted into my chest.
I sat rigid and straight, my eyes glued to his. Fire flowed from his
glowing eyes and drilled into the core of my being. How long this
transmission lasted, I cannot say. Time and space had no meaning in that
never-ending moment when our eyes were locked together. At some point,
I realised that my body could no longer stand the strain. The fire in my
chest had expanded to the point where I felt that I was about to explode.
Mentally, I asked Bhagavan to let me go.
I had received what I had come for. There was a complete trans-
formation, inside and out, and it all happened without a word being spoken.
That communication through silence was clearer and more direct than any
explanation that could be given in words.
Having received the blessings and initiation, I gave my place in
the crowd to those who might still have been seeking their own final
benediction. Back in Bombay, where I stayed in a friend’s flat, I was
amazed to discover to what extent changes had occurred. Something had
clearly and demonstrably transformed my mind and my understanding.
My two months’ stay with Bhagavan had turned me inside
out and upside down. My mind and heart had been illuminated by
his grace, but I also knew that the time I spent with him had been too
short to remove all obstacles. Being with Bhagavan had given me the
unshakable conviction that he was looking after me. I knew that he was
supervising my spiritual welfare. I also knew that his guidance would not
cease simply because he had shed his body. Three months after his physical
departure I had a vision of Bhagavan that amply justified my faith that he
would continue to guide me.
I used to imagine myself in the hall, speaking with him. During one
of these imaginary exercises, I suddenly found myself transported back to
Sri Ramanasramam, and once more I was sitting opposite to him. He smiled
at me. How can that smile ever be described? It contained the whole
world. On this occasion I felt I was being bathed in a radiant glow of
love and light. I asked him what I should do about all the various mental
problems. He told me to spend time with another venerable teacher whose
name was mentally mentioned to me. I spent several years with this man
until I felt that all my problems had been overcome.
I still find myself being with Bhagavan. Sometimes it is with
form and sometimes it is without form. It is a kind of deep visitation that
touches and overwhelms me when it suddenly descends.When
Bhagavan’s presence makes itself known to me, I feel tears beginning to
flow. Deep emotions arise. I glow with happiness and my heart leaps
into the sky.
The first time I saw Bhagavan, I immediately recognised that
this was the being I had been looking for all my life. My immediate
experiences in his presence cemented that conviction. The problem I
always encounter when I start to speak or write about Bhagavan is that
the real Ramana the Maharshi is unimaginable and therefore
indescribable. Who, for example, can really describe happiness?
My experience of Bhagavan was pure happiness.The pure
radiance of his real, egoless state is unimaginable, beyond any
verbal description.
I was inclined to compare him with Jesus or the Buddha. But they
were images in my head, formed on the beliefs in which I had been brought
up and on the stories heard and read later on. Sri Ramana Maharshi, from
the second I saw him, was anything but an image in my head. He was a
bomb that exploded the myth of my life. His look blasted away
years of accumulated wrong ideas.
In his presence reality manifested itself. His presence revealed to
me how stupid I had been all my life. I came to Bhagavan for help to
climb a mountain, but after smiling at my idea of help, he showed
me that the mountain did not exist. I regarded myself as a poor man in
need of help. He revealed to me that I was more than a millonaire. He
showed me that I was the source of all things. He enabled me to realise
the timeless, unimaginable, unthinkable ‘I am’.
Simply by abiding in his luminous natural state, he made me
experience myself as a light. I will not say that in his presence my sense of
Annamalai Swami 201
‘I’ vanished completely; it simply diminished in significance. It took me

three or four years for the full impact of Bhagavan’s silence to settle in me
and become, if I may use such a phrase, ‘my own’.
Bhagavan encouraged us to examine through self-enquiry, questions
such as,‘Who wants to realise? Who feels exalted or miserable? Who
feels angry, desired or shunned?’ The purpose here is not to track down
the person who had these feelings or emotions, it is to discover that such a
person does not and never did exist.
By sitting in Bhagavan’s presence, there was a confrontation
between illusion and truth, and in that confrontation illusion could not sustain
itself. Whatever transformation took place in his presence happened
of its own accord, not because he desired it or willed it. Darkness
was exposed to light and ceased to be dark. Light did not orches-
trate it in any way. It simply expressed its inherent nature. If you
ask me how all this worked, my answer is, ‘I don’t know.’
70
Annamalai Swami (1906-1995) since his childhood had a
natural inclination towards spirituality. He came to Sri Ramana
in 1928 and got a job with the Ashram. After being closely
involved in many construction projects for ten years under
direct supervision of Sri Ramana, he shifted to Palakottu near
the Ashram to live alone and meditate.
In 1928, a wandering sadhu gave me a copy of Upadesa
Undiyar by Sri Ramana. It contained a photo of the Maharshi. As soon
as I saw the photo I had the feeling that this was my Guru. Simultaneously,
an intense desire arose within me to go and see him. That night I had a
dream in which I saw the Maharshi walking from the lower slopes of the
hill towards the Ashram. Next morning I decided to go and have his
darshan.
Having arrived at about 1 p.m., when I approached the hall, a part
of the dream I had repeated itself in real life. I saw Bhagavan walk down
the hill as I had seen in the dream. When I sat down and Bhagavan gazed
at me in silence for about 10-15 minutes, I had a great feeling of physical
relief and relaxation. It was like immersing myself in a cool pool after
being in the hot sun. I asked for permission to stay, which was granted and
I got a job as Bhagavan’s attendant. At that time Madhava Swami was

doing the job by himself.
About ten days after my arrival I asked Bhagavan how I could
attain Self-realisation? He replied, “If you give up identifying with the
body and meditate on the Self, you can attain Self-realisation.” As I was
pondering over these remarks, Bhagavan surprised me by saying, “I was
waiting for you. I was wondering when you would come.” As a new
comer I was too afraid to ask him how he knew, or how long he had
been waiting. But I was delighted to hear him speak like this because it
seemed to indicate that it was my destiny to stay with him.
A few days later I asked, “Scientists have invented and produced
the aircraft which can travel at great speeds in the sky. Why do you not
give us a spiritual aircraft in which we can quickly and easily cross over
the sea of samsara?” Bhagavan replied, “The path of self-enquiry is the
aircraft you need. It is direct, fast, and easy to use. You are already travelling
very quickly towards realisation. It is only because of your mind that it
seems that there is no movement.” In the years that followed, I had many
spiritual talks with Bhagavan but his basic message never changed. It was
always: “Do self-enquiry, stop identifying with the body and try to be aware
of the Self, which is your real nature.”
When I first came to the Ashram there were still some leopards in
the area. They rarely came into the Ashram but at night they frequented
the place where Bhagavan used to urinate. Once when a leopard appeared
he was not in the least afraid. He just looked at the leopard and said,
‘Poda!’ [Go away!] and the leopard walked away.
Soon after I came I was given a new name by Bhagavan. My
original name was Sellaperumal. One day Bhagavan mentioned that I
reminded him of Annamalai Swami, who had been his attendant at the
Skandasram. And within a few days my new identity got established.
When I had been an attendant for about two weeks, the Collector
of Vellore, who came for Bhagavan’s darshan, brought a large plate of
sweets, which I was to distribute to everyone in the Ashram. While I was
distributing the sweets outside the hall I went to a place where no one
could see me and secretly helped myself to about double the quantity that
I was serving to others. When I went back to the hall and kept the empty
plate under Bhagavan’s sofa, he looked at me and said, “Did you take
twice as much as everyone else?” I was shocked because I was sure that
no one had seen me do it. This incident made me realise that it was
impossible to hide anything from Bhagavan.
Annamalai Swami 203
After serving as an attendant for a month, Bhagavan asked me to

supervise construction work within the Ashram. My big assignment was
supervising the construction of the cowshed on a scale much bigger than
envisaged by the sarvadhikari, as Bhagavan wanted it that way. The
problem was of funds, which came almost under miraculous circumstances.
The editor of The Sunday Times, Madras, published a long
complimentary article about Bhagavan after he had his darshan. This
article came to the attention of a prince in North India, who was much
impressed by Bhagavan. Sometime later, the prince went for a tiger hunt.
He managed to track down the tiger but when he raised his rifle to shoot,
he felt paralysed by a wave of fear. Suddenly he remembered about
Bhagavan and prayed saying, “If successful, I will not only send you
Rs.1000, but also donate the head and skin of the tiger.” The paralysis left
him and he killed the tiger and saved his own life in the process, as the tiger
was within attacking distance.
Two days after all the quarrels about the size of the cowshed, the
postman appeared with Rs.1,000. I took the money to Bhagavan who
remarked in a most casual way, “Yes, I have been expecting the money
order. Take it to the sarvadhikari.”
Our finances were always in a precarious position but we never
experienced any real financial crisis. While the work was going on, enough
donations would come to cover all costs. If no building works were in
progress, no donations would come.1
Bhagavan took a keen interest in the construction work, guiding
me at all stages of the work. In the evening, when I went to him with my
daily report, he would tell me the work to be done the following day. For
any difficult jobs he would even explain how to go about.
I had hired both men and women for the construction of the dining
hall. Some of the women were quite attractive and I was occasionally
troubled by sexual desires. I told Bhagavan, “I don’t want moksha, I just
want that the desire for women should not enter my mind.” Bhagavan
laughed and said, “All the mahatmas are striving only for this.” To avoid
sexual thoughts, I decided to do away with women workers. Bhagavan
did not approve of this. He saw no reason why the women should lose
their jobs merely because I was unable to control my mind.
Bhagavan spent hours in our company on the construction work.
He often used to say, “When I am outside I am more healthy – that six-
feet long sofa is just like a jail for me.” He would go back to the hall when
informed that some devotees had come to the hall for his darshan. Once,
Bhagavan saw his attendant coming to tell him that some people had come,
he turned to me and said, “A new warrant is coming for my arrest. I have
to go back to jail.”
In the 1930s Bhagavan alone decided when and where the
buildings should be built, on what scale and what material be used. He
drew up the plans for Ashram buildings, and told me what to do. If instructions
were complicated he would sometimes sketch a few lines on a piece of
paper to clarify or illustrate what he was saying. When he gave me plans
he would always say that it was only a suggestion. He never presumed to
give me orders.
Bhagavan himself wrote in Tamil pakasalai 2 in big letters on a
piece of paper. These along with the year 1938 and Sri Ramanasramam
in devanagari script, appear today on the top of the eastern wall of the
dining hall.
Bhagavan would frequently come out to see what we were doing.
He bombarded us with advice and instructions and would occasionally join
in the work himself. But he would say, “I am not connected with any of the
activities here. I just witness all that happens.”
Bhagavan would start projects when no money was available to
pay, happily ignoring all predictions of imminent financial doom made by
the sarvadhikari. He never asked anyone for money and he forbade the
sarvadhikari from begging for donations3 yet somehow enough donations
came to complete every building.
Once when Bhagavan was very sick, Maurice Frydman [No.36]
gave Rs.1,000 to the sarvadhikari for buying fruits for Bhagavan. Knowing
that Bhagavan would not eat fruits unless everyone else was given an
equal share, he avoided the use of money for the purpose. Some months
later, Frydman complained to Bhagavan that his donation had not been
properly spent. Bhagavan said rather angrily, “When you give something
you should regard the matter as closed. How dare you use this gift to
further your ego?”
Bhagavan taught us a lesson by doing the work himself. A room
near the kitchen was dirty and dusty and was rarely cleaned. Many people
walked through the room but never thought of making it tidy, until Bhagavan
himself took a broom and completely cleaned it. Several devotees tried to
stop him saying, “Please, Bhagavan let me do this job. I will clean the
room.” Refusing to handover the broom he said, “Now your eyes are on it.
Did you not see the mess before?” From that day on, the room was cleaned
regularly.
Mouni Sadhu 205
Annamalai Swami moved to Palakottu (a colony abutting on the

Ashram) in 1938. Till the end of his life in 1995, he lived peacefully
and silently in his little ashram. He also provided spiritual guidance
to seekers who wanted his help and guidance. We can see Annamalai
Swami narrating some of his reminiscences in the video Guru Ramana.
1. The same thing happened in regard to construction activity at Sri Ramana

Kendram, Hyderabad. The devotee-in-charge of construction told the
compiler-editor how funds would come mysteriously in the Building
Fund Donation Box at the Kendram, and the construction work did not
suffer due to paucity of funds.
2. Dining room.
3. Refer 3rd para, p.160.
71
Mouni Sadhu (M. Sudouski), an Australian, authored the
classic In Days of Great Peace. He lived in the Ashram for
some months in 1949, after he got attracted to Sri Ramana
through Brunton’s A Search in Secret India (no.1).
At the age of 25 years, theosophy attracted my attention. I began
practising concentration and meditation. After some years of rather
fruitless efforts my enthusiasm began to diminish. I experimented with
many schools of occultism, magic etc. Finally, I happened to get A Search
in Secret India, the last two chapters of which convinced me that I had
found my true Master. I started practising the path of self-enquiry in a
Roman Catholic monastery in Paris. Months later I got firmly established
on the path; but it was only in 1949 that the vital transformation took
place in the presence of Sri Ramana.
I was struck by the softness and serenity of the gesture with his
hand as if inviting me to come a little nearer, so simple and dignified that I
immediately felt I was facing a great man. All theories, all acquired
knowledge fall into dust when standing face to face with the
Maharshi. One gets peace that passeth all human understanding.
Moments of inner experience with the Maharshi are so fraught
with consequences that they may influence not only one but many
incarnations. His face is full of inspiration, unearthly serenity and
power, of infinite kindness and understanding. He reigns in silence.
The atmosphere of utter purity and peace constantly radiated by

the Sage compels us to examine and verify, as it were, all our beliefs and
opinions; yet it comes by itself spontaneously, without any effort on our
part; it is not imposed, it is simply the result of a sudden enlargement of
consciousness. The inner process is accompanied by a sense of great
happiness.
The glow, the reflection of the Real which I see through the Master
illumines the mind. A wave of endless bliss surges through and overwhelms
me. It carries me beyond thought, beyond suffering and grief, neither death
nor change exist there, only infinite being. Time disappears – there is no
need of it any more.
The Maharshi’s spiritual alchemy could transmute the hard
materialism into something pure and noble. Sometimes when I
sat near him absorbing the invisible radiation of His light, I
thought: “To whom and when can I repay this bliss? Who is it that
is taking away the burdens and debts of my life?”The former young
dreamer was now sitting at the feet of and face to face with a
being who has solved all human problems.
The tragic comedy of earthly love now appears in all its unattractive
nakedness before the tribunal of his consciousness. A new vision was
entering the temple of my soul, just vacated by the impostors – a luminous
ideal, incorruptible, pure, devoid of any stains of selfishness, resplendent
with spiritual beauty and independent of all short-lived physical forms.
Here was no more possibility of disappointment, of friction, and of mis-
understanding.
The Maharshi has a strange power to awaken love for himself in
the hearts of all. The devotion uplifts his pupils, incalculably raising the
level of their lives, enabling them to touch the purest form of the power-
energy which is perhaps the creator of the universe.
I have never seen, and undoubtedly shall never see in
any other face, such an inexpressibly wonderful smile as the
Maharshi’s, a transcendent beauty reflected in physical form.
In the presence of the Saint the mind gets tuned to
silence, and does not dare to indulge in endless questioning as
it used to do.
The invisible, but in its influence the most efficacious, light
emanated by the Maharshi brings about a total change in our opinions
and in our appreciation of all the values of worldly life. He is like the
Mouni Sadhu 207
highest tribunal of our conscience, the Father Confessor whose

‘very presence purifies us from all sins’.
In the presence of the Master, our mind ceased to be a
hindrance to seeing Reality. I noticed for myself that questions and
problems which sometime ago were unintelligible or postponed for later
solutions got solved themselves.
Light and life are constantly flowing through the eyes of
the Maharshi with a majesty and intensity unimaginable to those
who have not seen them. A stream of peace, powerful yet sweet,
flows from his eyes.They glow with a perfect understanding of all the
weaknesses, defects and inner difficulties of those who look into them.
Whenever the Maharshi spoke to us his eyes had much sympathy, wisdom
and understanding. An incredible loving kindness radiated from them.
Like a lofty beacon whose beams point the way to a safe
harbour for all on the high seas who are searching for a haven, so
this great Rishi of India sheds light on those who have ‘eyes to see
and ears to hear.’ I felt that this light permeates our being through and
through to give us an insight into all the mistakes and imperfections of our
‘ego’, our little insignificant personality.
Being near the Maharshi one feels the presence of God as
a matter of course – no arguments or proofs are necessary. The
greatest miracle is the Maharshi himself. I know that not all are
able to feel or even guess it. Such miracles can be known only by
plunging into silence and into our own depths. The proximity of
the Maharshi makes the effort of stilling the mind infinitely easier
than it would be elsewhere. In the presence of the Maharshi we
are able to find intuitively by ourselves the proper attitude.
I approach him to bid farewell. He looks into my eyes. He has
seen each word in my mind even before I put them together. I bow my
head and feel the touch of his hand on my brow, the delicate touch of his
fingers along my head. A subtle current of power and purity passes through
my whole frame. Like in a lightning flash I realise that the power of this
moment will sustain me in all the years to come, and its light will forever
shine on my life.
At his feet, I learned to stop the thought-currents in my mind, a
thing that formerly devoured long years of effort and had never been
completely successful despite the many exercises. In some wonderful
way, the Maharshi seemed to supervise the inner processes in
us, just as an operator watches the working of a complicated

machine, which he knows thoroughly. He mysteriously helped in
the inner experiences, but how still remains closed to me. A man
emerged from these experiences greatly changed and often with
a totally different conception about everything in this world. For
myself, I call it the ‘spiritual alchemy of the Master.’
In an article immediately after Sri Ramana’s mahanirvana he wrote:
The light from those luminous eyes was forever engraved on my
memory when leaving the Ashram. It would be ridiculous to say that the
light of eternity has been extinguished. I know this light is not a material
one, though it is conveyed through a material body. So his death did not
deprive me of his reality.
There were most mysterious and inspiring evenings at the Ashram,
when the beautiful hymn ‘In Praise of the Lord of the Universe’ (Five
Hymns on Arunachala) was sung in the hall. Sri Bhagavan evidently
loved the hymn, for there would appear a peculiar expression of other than
human beatitude and delight on his face. And now I experienced once
again, the same beautiful melody heard before with my outer ears.
Letters came from devotees from other continents. My friends
tried their best to console themselves and me, saying that the physical
departure of the Master could not break our spiritual link with him. And
yet the ink in the last paragraphs of such letters was often blurred as
from fallen tears.
In an article sixteen years after the mahanirvana he wrote:
Enough time has now elapsed to permit us a certain desirable
perspective of the luminous appearance of the Maharshi on the spiritual
horizon of our small planet.
It is a well-known fact that in the Maharshi’s presence everyone
felt himself to be different and better than before in his everyday life. The
spiritual magnetism of the one who himself had found the final peace
and wisdom could not fail to radiate on all of us, just as the sun sheds its
rays on everything and everyone, good and bad alike. That is beyond doubt.
When I realised the greatness of the Maharshi’s achievements, I
involuntarily turned to myself and said, “Here sits the sage without boasting
of any titles or degrees, like the sun in comparison to my poor little candle.”
And then the first battle was won. I realised the emptiness of all human
titles and degrees.
Kumar / Swami Ranganathananda 209
He taught us that the attainment is as much possible in a noisy

London flat, as in a secluded ashram. And yet, so many people still worry
because they were unable to undertake a long and costly journey to a ‘holy
place’, in which they hope to achieve what they cannot otherwise.
72
Kumar was a Bangalore-based journalist.
Sri Maharshi sits on the bank of time and watches it flow, unmoved
and unaffected. He is ageless and therefore the birthday has no significance
to him. He is full and complete and perfect.
What a strange crowd is this jayanti [Birthday] congregation? It
contains people who propelled by the self-destructive urge of their egos, sit
before Sri Maharshi in a trance, allowing the latter’s grace to bake their
souls as much and as quickly as possible. It also has people who come to
seek the Master’s grace for perpetuating the conquests in the merry-go-
round of life and for getting more if that could be prayed for and got.
Sri Maharshi is the magnet of attraction, and people try to
use him in the way they want, for purposes they want. He is the sun
whose rays of grace fall and dance on the minds and hearts that are
open.
Sri Maharshi is today the repository and reflector of the spiritual
traditions of India. Those who read the Upanishads and the Gita and wrangle
over the immediate and the ultimate can see in him a silent achievement of
the highest. Those who dig their spurs into the sides of their race-horse-
mind and keep it hurrying towards worry and discontent, will see in Sri
Maharshi a God-man who has annihilated his mind and is therefore
a perfect stillness and bliss.
73
Swami Ranganathananda, a well-known sannyasi of the
Ramakrishna Order, was, till his recent demise, President of
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, Howrah (West Bengal).
I had been twice to Sri Ramanasramam. The first visit was in
1936. Bhagavan was an extraordinary personality who could draw the
minds and hearts of the people from all over the world. A verse in the
Srimad Bhagavatam describes the nature of the holy person, attachment
to whom becomes a liberating force. It is meant for those who are
extremely tranquil, whose mind is like the calm ocean without waves, who
are filled with compassion – a friend of all embodied beings. Another
feature is that an enemy is yet to be born for such a person. This fine
description fits our Bhagavan most.
The Maharshi had condensed in himself the immortal, the
eternal. Hence the tremendous stature of his life. He lived amongst us
like a simple human being. You could not measure him, just as the column
of light of Siva which had once appeared in Arunachala.[Refer para 1,
p.356.] You could not see the height, you could not see the depth.
Those who had seen the human form of Bhagavan are blessed
indeed. His touch was the touch of the immortal, a touch which
elevates and makes you feel that you are also someone worth-
while. In this age of physical verification, we find in Bhagavan, the
human form of that eternal truth.
Bhagavan was constantly in the divine awareness – whether he
was sitting alone and radiating his silent presence, whether he was
correcting proofs, whether he was reading the newspaper, whether he
was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, he was brimming with joy. He
was the very personification of the infinite, of the divine. Every
word he spoke was charged with the wisdom of atma vidya. He
exemplified the great teaching ‘I am that.’ Bhagavan says that this
experience is easy to come by. It is easy. There are no gymnastics to go
through. It is just changing the centre of our awareness.
We have seen Ramana Maharshi; we read about Suka of the
Bhagavatam. There is so much similarity between the two. They found
delight in and were revelling in the Self-experiencing infinite joy, free from
the bondage and yet filled with motiveless love. It is the eternal message
manifesting in a human dimension whom we call Ramana the Maharshi.
There is a beautiful verse in Sankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani,
which is so apt for the Maharshi: ‘Absolutely poor but full of happiness,
no army behind but infinitely strong, no experience of sense satisfaction
but always happy, none equal to him but he feels all to be his equals.’ I
would like to refer to just one instance.
When I arrived I had told him that I would be staying for three
days and would leave by train on the evening of the third day. I had
Swami Desikananda 211
forgotten. He looked at me at the right time and said, “Your tonga is

arranged, it is time for you to go.” How human – talking man-to-man, and
yet how gigantic.
What is said of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavatam applies equally to
Bhagavan.‘The more we hear, the more the desire arises to hear more
and more.’ May all of us be worthy of this tremendous spiritual dynamo
who enters our heart even without our knowing it.
74
Swami Desikananda – a sannyasi of the Ramakrishna Order, was
head of the Vedanta College, Mysore, for many years.
It was divine grace that brought me to the presence of Sri Ramana
in 1927. Entering the Ashram I saw the Maharshi seated on a couch,
surrounded by devotees sitting at his feet. The whole scene was reminiscent
of sages of yore. The Maharshi looked at me casually and made kind
enquiries as to where I came from and about my stay.
Next morning, I went to the Ashram and sat before the Maharshi
in meditation. I found I could easily concentrate in his presence and had
progressively longer spells of undisturbed meditation such as I had never
been able to achieve before anywhere else. When I told the Maharshi
about it and how enjoyable it was, he asked me whether I was sleeping at
the time of meditation. On my replying in the negative, he laughed and
enquired about my mode of meditation, which was to concentrate on the
light in the heart and offer a flower to my ishta daivam (chosen god)
whenever the mind wavered, as instructed by Swami Sivanandji Maharaj,
second president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.The Maharshi
said it was all right for me and I could continue in that way.
Bhagavan’s routine was to sit on the couch mostly in silence
till noon and again after food, and a little rest. He used to look through
the mail twice a day and go for a short walk on the Hill. He said on one
occasion that since there was no mind at all, there was also no concept
of anything. All was one full expanse in peace and happiness. He quickly
added that we cannot even say one expanse, as there was no second.
He was always immersed in sat - chit - ananda (existence -
consciousness - bliss).
I told Bhagavan on the ninth day of my stay that I had to leave.

Kneeling before him, I wept profusely. Consoling me, he said, “You can stay
on. Nobody asked you to go.” However, I took leave of him the next day.
By Bhagavan’s grace not only was I drawn into the fold of a sage
who had the highest realisation, but was helped in every way to experience
periods of supreme peace and bliss. This indeed forms the sheet anchor of
my life that was, that is, and that will be.
The silent aid and relief provided by Bhagavan will indeed
remain an eternal spring of spiritual joy and peace.
In the end:
A Stanza in Sri Maharshi’s Praise
How gracious art Thou Lord Dakshinamurthi
To have blessed mankind by Thy ministrations in human form.
To Bhagavan who is but the form of Satyam, Sivam and Sundaram
I offer my salutations again and again.

75
Pascaline Mallet, a French writer and seeker, whose book Turn
Eastwards was appreciated by Sri Ramana, details her nine-months’
pilgrimage in India in 1937.
In the Ashram we saw at one end of the hall a silent, motionless
figure reclining on a low couch, lost in deep meditation, oblivious, it would
seem, of everybody and everything. We slipped in quietly and seated
ourselves on the ground amongst the crowd. I took in slowly the strange,
unforgettable scene, my whole attention fixed on that central figure whose
calm majesty, serene strength and perfect poise seemed to fill the whole
place with unutterable peace. To look into his eyes, shining like stars,
was perhaps for the first time to know the meaning of Eternity and
to be caught up into bliss that passeth understanding.
Who was this Great one? On what rung of the ladder of human or
superhuman evolution did he stand? Such questions have but little value.
When the sun shines does one need to know why and how it shines? I
opened my heart to the Spiritual Life which radiated so intensely in the
Pascaline Mallet 213
Silence. I had the impression of being as it were, surrounded by a sea of

fiery Power, welding all present into a great Flame rising Heavenwards.
Not once did the silent figure turn or move or show any sign of interest in
the proceedings, that is, the recitation of the Vedas conducted as evening
prayers in the Ashram. It was as if he had been living in a sphere
beyond the limitations of time and space.
Later when we entered the pandal put up for the annual
festival of the Maharshi’s birthday, he was busy writing and reading.
[See photograph no.18.] But somehow I had the feeling that all the
while he lived in a state where time and space did not exist; in the
region of the absolute, at the very heart of the universe. This can hardly
be described, much less proved and only dimly sensed, but even so
constituted a never-to-be-forgotten experience. His utter
impersonality and supreme detachment did not in the least
exclude all-embracing compassion, sympathy, and understanding
of the many problems and difficulties which were continually being
submitted to him by the weary, sorrow-striken people who come to him
in the hope of finding comfort and help.
Undoubtedly, merely to live in his presence is the greatest
help that one could possibly receive. It is a fact that no one who
comes to the Ashram goes away empty-handed. Each receives to his
utmost capacity, be that capacity great or small, and many people got inner
experiences which have changed their lives.
The following is from the letter which Mallet wrote to Sri Ramana
in 1939 from Versailles (France):
“Two years have come and gone since I crossed the threshold of
Thy Ashram and yet in spirit I have ever remained there.
Though illusion still often veils the vision of Reality revealed
in the blessed Silence of Thy Presence, though the Silver Thread of
Self-awareness be often lost amidst changing light and shadows, still
the inner urge to realize the Self remains and grows stronger and
becomes more insistent as Grace and search go hand in hand.
At times, yet rare, with no apparent cause, spontaneous
awareness of ‘I’ springs up and bliss fills the heart with glowing
warmth.
I pray to Thee for light and guidance that I know are ever
there, and at Thy feet lay offerings of unchanging love.”
76
Gunturu Lakshmikantam was biographer of an outstanding
devotee of Sri Ramana – Ganapati Muni (no.91).
My guru, Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni used to always din into
my ears the glory of Bhagavan Ramana. He would say, “I am just an
atom. Bhagavan is the incomparable Meru.” [The legendary mountain.]
He had assured me that he would take me to Sri Ramana personally and
make me learn the hridaya vidya from him. I was eagerly looking forward
to it. Then the bolt from the blue came. My guru attained nirvana in 1936.
Everything was dark for me. I also lost hope of learning the truth from
Bhagavan directly.
In June 1937, I went to Arunachala for darshan of Bhagavan.
He was seated on a sofa. He was incomparable. His lustre would put to
shame a thousand suns. He did not see us. There was no sign of his having
noticed me. I felt discouraged. During the day, I was moving about in the
Ashram. I crossed his path several times in order to catch his attention, but
it was of no avail.
In the evening, Bhagavan was seated again on the sofa. All of
a sudden he called Narasimham who was copying Uma Sahasram of
Ganapati Muni in a notebook and asked, “Have you understood the
meaning of the verses?” Narasimham replied, “I get their general drift
but not their true import.” Bhagavan said, “How come you do not
understand? You are a scholar yourself ”and he then said:
“The light of the Self travels from the heart to the mind and from
there to various parts of the body. The discriminating one must, through
incessant effort, turn the light back to the heart wherefrom it has arisen.
Then one experiences the bliss of the Self. Though the heart is all pervasive,
since the individual identifies himself with the body, a physical location, the
right side, is indicated.” While uttering the last words Bhagavan looked
straight at my heart.
How can I describe the wonder of the experience which
followed? I was simply bathed in joy, the kind of which I had never
known before. He blessed me with the experience for which even the
greatest devas [gods] are waiting with eager longing. It was almost as
if he was saying, “You have got what Ganapati Muni had promised and
that for which you have been so eager. Now it is up to you to make it
your own by steadfast practice.”
Gunturu Lakshmikantam / Ethel Merston 215
77
Ethel Merston, a French devotee, came to Sri Ramana in 1939.
She settled down near Sri Ramanasramam for many years before
and after Sri Ramana’s mahanirvana. She wrote about her
meetings with Sri Ramana in The Call Divine.
In 1937-38, a small group of seekers in Paris was discussing
teachings of J.Krishnamurti and others. All of us had read Brunton’s A
Search in Secret India [No.1]. One of us – Pascaline Mallet [No.75] had
visited the Ashram and been much impressed. Pascaline had asked me to
help her to translate ‘Who am I?’ into French. The book made a deep
impression on me. We were curious to see the great man so eulogized by
Brunton.
Bhagavan drew me to Tiruvannamalai in 1939. It took me a few
moments after entering his hall to know that I was in the presence of the
greatest teacher I have ever met. From the first moment in his presence
he made me feel at home, and the peace in that little hall drew me as nothing
had before. We had planned to stay for two days. When finally I had to
leave, I knew that sometime I should return. The return came two years
later and from then on for five consecutive years, I visited the Ashram each
summer to sit in Bhagavan’s presence.Then in 1944 with my work in North
India coming to an end, I came to live permanently near him.
In the early days, the women sat on either side of the entrance,
facing the couch, while the men sat down on the other side at the foot of
the couch. Every kind of caste, creed and nationality came for darshan.To
each and everyone, from maharaja to sweeper, Bhagavan was the same
gentle twinkling-eyed friend. Newcomers including me, would begin by
asking him questions, but soon found no necessity to voice them; in one
way or another, without asking, the questions would be answered and
problems solved.
Once I had been mulling over a problem for three days without
finding the solution. The fourth day, while sitting opposite to Bhagavan,
and still harassed by the problem, Bhagavan suddenly turned his eyes
upon me. After a moment, he asked one of his attendants to find him
a certain book of puranic stories; he turned over the pages until,
finding the passage he wanted, he handed over the book to one of the
men who knew English and told him to read the story aloud. That
story gave me the answer to my problem.
He taught each seeker as suited his need. He was clairvoyant

and could read our thoughts. Of psychic powers, I saw him use none,
beyond conveying thoughts silently and so powerfully that the
vibrations would sometimes roll in waves down the hall almost
hurting one by the force with which they impinged on the body, not
only of the recipient, for whom the thought was meant, but on many of us
sitting there.
Bhagavan’s gaze was spellbinding. Once an elderly sannyasi
entered the hall. Bhagavan, who was reading, dropped his book
immediately and looked straight up at the man who took two strides
forward and stood near Bhagavan’s feet, returning his gaze. There was
such love and joy in Bhagavan’s gaze that one could almost hear him
say, “So you have come at last, my beloved brother.”The two went on
gazing at each other, without a word spoken aloud, but I could
literally feel them speaking to each other, the flow of the current
going back and forth between them. They talked thus voicelessly for
some ten or fifteen minutes, then suddenly the sannyasi dropped to the
floor and passed into samadhi for the next two hours. Bhagavan quietly
took up his book again and went on, remaining as though nothing had
happened, as doubtless indeed for him it had not. But for us it was an
unforgettable experience.
Quite apart from solving our problems, or helping us to do so,
just to sit in Bhagavan’s presence was to realize or get a feeling of what
true relaxation and a quiet mind might mean. It did not mean shutting
oneself away, isolating oneself, on the contrary, it meant being with all,
yet remaining within, being in the world and yet not of it.
During the last years of Bhagavan’s life, we learned many lessons
from him. But one, which he never ceased to hammer into us was that he
was not the body, the body might go, but he would not go. He always was
and always would be there with us, as now. I saw only three people cry as
we spent the night keeping vigil of the corpse. We just knew that Bhagavan
had not gone, so why cry for him, or rather, cry for a non-existent loss? We
who knew him in the body are not the only ones to feel his presence. Even
after he left the body, people in England who never knew him in the flesh,
have told me that after reading about him, they have had the experience of
his actual presence near them, even of his touch, ready with his grace to
help.
A European Sadhak 217
78
A European Sadhak, who withheld his name
Sri Bhagavan is unique, peerless. One gracious and
understanding look from him and a few sympathetic words from him had
always meant oceans to the earnest seeker, to the aspiring pilgrim. And
which sincere voyager has gone to him and returned empty-handed?
The intellectual quibbler might have got short shrift from him.
The dry philosopher might have found in him a steel wall. The eternal
doubter would have returned from him not any better. But those who
have unreservedly surrendered themselves to the pursuit of truth have
never failed to find in him a great guide. Sometimes the sought-for guidance
would come through an answer given to somebody’s question. Sometimes
it would be provided through a direct monosyllabic answer. And sometimes
it would come through an actual experience.These experiences are intimate
and are provided only for the personal spiritual advancement of the
particular aspirant. It is, therefore, not usually considered necessary to
take the world into confidence regarding such an experience. But since I
have been invited to write on how Sri Bhagavan has been helping the
aspirants, I venture to refer to just one experience of mine.
Once I was going on the eastern side of the hill in full belief and
confidence that I had unreservedly surrendered myself to Sri Bhagavan.
Suddenly, I saw a leper woman walking towards me. Her face was terribly
disfigured by the disease. Her nose had been completely eaten away and
in its place were found two holes. The fingers on her hands had all gone.
She advanced towards me, and extending the stumps of her hands asked
me to give something to eat. The sight of her disgusted me, frightened me.
My whole frame shuddered with terror that she might touch me. Overcome
with repulsion, I hastened to move away from her.
Suddenly, I heard the voice of Sri Bhagavan coming clear and
ringing from across the mountain. It said, “To surrender to me is to surrender
to every one, for the Self is in every one.” Hearing this, I regained my
poise and offered the leper woman the plantains that I had in my bag.
In a few minutes, I saw myself standing before not the disfigured
woman but before a tall old man with white long hair and beard. The man
looked like a rishi and was smiling. When the thought of prostrating before
the rishi entered my mind, I saw before me the old leper woman again. I
bowed, happy at heart though somewhat confused in mind and then resumed
my walk up the hill. I have cited this as just one of the ways through which
Sri Bhagavan teaches, guides and helps.
79
M.A. Piggot was the first English lady who visited Sri Ramana.
I had visited India before, but my first visit off the beaten track
was in 1932-33. It was my wish to meet one of the holy men of India, but
so far it had been a vain one.Then I was told of Ramana Maharshi. The
friend who gave me the welcome news offered to take me to him, and
so we arrived at Tiruvannamalai.
He was seated on a divan in front of which sandalsticks were
burning. About a dozen people were present in the hall. I sat cross-
legged on the floor, though a chair had been thoughtfully provided for
me. Suddenly I became conscious that the Maharshi’s eyes were
fixed on me. They seemed literally like burning coals of fire
piercing through me. Never before had I experienced anything
so devastating – in that it was almost frightening. What I went
through in that terrible half hour, by way of self-condemnation and
scorn for the pettiness of my own life, would be difficult to describe.
In the light of perfection all imperfections were revealed.
When we returned for the evening meditation, the hall was
compellingly still. The eyes of the Holy One blazed no more. They were
serene and inverted. All my troubles seemed smoothened out and difficulties
melted away. Nothing that we of the world call important mattered. Time
was forgotten.
From that time onwards started a routine that was to be the same
for many weeks.The rickety cart would turn up at six in the morning. It
took me to the Ashram and came back again for the evening journey. I
soon acquired a technique of balance that promised safety in the cart. I
was given a small hut, seven feet by seven, for my use during the day; the
Ashram did not provide night accommodation for ladies in those days.
Among those who had turned up at the Ashram was the well-
known author, Paul Brunton.We had many enlightening talks. Asking
questions in the open hall was rather an ordeal, but backed by him I lost
M.A. Piggot 219
some of my diffidence. An interpreter was always on hand; for although

the Maharshi understands English he does not speak it with ease. He
knows immediately, however, whether the exact shade of meaning has
been accurately translated, and if not, he perseveres until one has understood
him completely.
One day we brought up the question of guruship and asked, “Is
it necessary for spiritual attainment to have a guru?”The Maharshi
ordered a certain treatise to be read, in which it was stated that as in all
physical and intellectual training a teacher is sought, so in matters spiritual
the same principle holds good.” “And”, he added, “it is hard for a man to
arrive at the goal without the aid of such a one.” I turned to him and said,
“But you had no guru.”
A rustle of shocked horror ran through the hall. But the Maharshi
was not in the least disturbed by my thoughtless remark. On the contrary,
he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.Then he threw back his head and
gave a joyous whole-hearted laugh. It endeared me to him as nothing else
could. A saint who can turn the laugh against himself is a saint indeed!
One day a man rushed in and flung himself face down before the
Maharshi. He was crying bitterly. Great sobs tore his body. The Maharshi
said nothing. His head was turned aside, and he seemed indifferent. After
some little time, the violence of the man’s grief subsided and gradually he
became quiet. Then at last, reverently the man arose and made a deep
salutation.The Maharshi turned his head and smiled upon him. I felt
suddenly as if all the flowers of the world had poured their fragrance
into our midst.
Another time a poor person who had been bitten by a snake was
brought in and laid before him. We all watched, fear gripping our heart.
Not so he, who sat looking into the far distance, while the victim writhed in
pain. Calm and compassion was in that look, and infinite peace. After
what seemed like hours, the twitching ceased and the man appeared to be
in sleep. Then the one who had brought in the sufferer gently touched him.
The man rose, prostrated himself before the Maharshi and went out cured.
But this was unusual. The Maharshi did not heal in the accepted
form of the word. Talking about it one day, I asked him if one could use
spiritual power for healing. He remarked, “Yes, if you think it worthwhile,”
but added, “it required a great deal of force, which might be used more
profitably in other directions.”
That afternoon I had my farewell talk with the Maharshi. He was
so gentle and human. I again asked about the relation of the body to the
‘I’. He gave his smile, and said, “You came up from the bungalow this
morning in a cart, yet you do not say, “The cart came.” You say, “I came
up.” You did not make the mistake of identifying yourself with the cart.
In the same way, look upon your body as you do the cart. Treat it well,
and it will be a good servant and instrument. But do not be deceived into
thinking it is ‘I’. At the end of our talk, he quoted that wonderful saying
from the Upanishad, “When, to the man who understands, the Self has
become all things, what sorrow, what trouble can there be, to him who
has once beheld this unity?”
I had been in despair of ever getting the Maharshi alone. It is hard
to unburden the soul before a crowd. One morning, I went into the hall
early and found him there unattended, emanating a wonderful stillness and
peace. I asked quietly if I might talk with him. He nodded and smilingly
sent for someone to translate. My first question was, “What are the
hindrances to the realisation of the true Self?” He said, “Memory, chiefly
habits of thoughts, accumulated tendencies.” When I enquired, “How does
one get rid of these hindrances,” his answer was:
“Seek for the Self through meditation by tracing every thought
back to its origin, which is only the mind. Never allow thought to run on. If
you do, it will be unending. Take it back to the starting place – the mind –
again and again, and the thought and the mind will both die of inaction. The
mind only exsits by reason of thought. Stop that and there is no mind. As
each doubt and depression arises, ask yourself, “Who is it that doubts?
What is it that is depressed?” Go back constantly to the question, “Who is
the ‘I’? Where is it? Tear everything away until there is nothing but the
source of all remains. Live always in the present; there is no past or future,
except in the mind.”
Regarding meditation, he said, “Meditate on what you are in Reality.
Try to realise that your are not the body, emotions or intellect.” As the
days passed, I saw more and more clearly that this was no theoretical
philosophy. He himself lived it continuously and joyously.
He was one of the few I have met who were not only happy but
untroubled. Not that the sorrows of the world left him untouched, but
he knew where they belonged and was not identified with them. To
any sufferer his compassion was unlimited.
As I went to say goodbye in the evening, the Ashram people
clustered around for my departure, I felt I had made and was leaving true
friends. They were so simple and so genuine.
J.P. Vaswani 221
80
J.P. Vaswani is Head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Pune.
It was my great good fortune to have had darshan of Sri Bhagavan
– to have sat in his purifying presence – to have gazed into the liquid
depths of his mystic, luminous, compassion-filled eyes – to have listened to
his words of wisdom, which centred around the question, which indeed is
a question of all questions – the one eternal question, which if you once
answer you will have no more questions to answer, namely, ‘Who am I?’
‘Who am I?’ ‘Who am I?’
This happened in 1939. He sat in the Ashram hall on a couch.
As I went and sat in the midst of the devotees I recalled to my mind the
picture of Dakshinamurthi – the eternal youth, seated on a raised platform,
and at the feet of this young teacher, sat a number of old rishis with
white flowing beards and underneath the picture were written the words:
“The teacher sits in silence. His teaching is silence and the disciples’
doubts are cleared.”1
Sri Bhagavan sat in silence. His teaching was silence. Many came
to him – many from the East and some from the West. They came bringing
a hundred questions and a hundred doubts in their hearts, but no sooner did
they enter into his purifying presence than their minds were stilled. They
were filled with a strange feeling of peace. They forgot their questions and
their doubts. His silence was so profound. His silence was so sublime. His
silence was so unique. Sri Bhagavan says, “The guru’s silence is more
vast and more emphatic than all the scriptures put together.” Sri Bhagavan’s
silence was not passive. His silence was utter and complete. It was the
silence of the head and the heart put together. It was the silence of feelings
and emotions and thoughts. We may stand in silence, but our minds are
scattered and within us there is all the time the noise of unruly passion.
Within us there is the clamour of conflicting desires. The master’s silence
was deep. It was the silence which is the depths of the realised soul.
Sri Bhagavan had realised God. But he did not forsake humanity.
He came and lived in the midst of men to share with them the treasures of
the spirit. He spoke in the language of the masses. He lived as the simplest,
clad in but one loincloth, barely enough to hide his utter nakedness. From
morn till eve and sometimes late in the night the people thronged around
him. Everyone was welcome. He was a friend of all who came to him. He
took personal interest in their matters – matters such as the train by which
they came, the food they ate, the deaths or marriages that had occurred in
their families.
Sri Bhagavan said all spiritual paths could be brought together
under two main categories. The first being Self Enquiry – atma
vichara. Sitting in silence, entering into the silence of your Being, put
to yourself the question again and again, ‘Who am I?’ As you sit in
silence you find that there is a seemingly endless procession of thoughts.
They come and crowd into your mind.
An effective method of slaying the entire army of thoughts,
according to Sri Bhagavan is – whenever a question arises within
you ask yourself, ‘to whom does this question arise?’ The answer
naturally will be, ‘to me’. Then ask yourself again ‘who is that me?’
‘who is that ‘I’?’ Every time that you put this question you will find
that a thought which has come to lead you astray will itself slink
away. In this way you will be able to strike down thoughts until one
blessed day you will find that the mind is merged in the Heart, where
shines the true Self – the divine Self. Through persistent practice
and sincere efforts the mind can be merged at its source.The ego
will vanish and the true Self alone will remain. This is the path of atma
vichara.
The other path is saranagati – self surrender. “Surrender
yourself fully and whole-heartedly to the One Universal Force,” said
Sri Bhagavan, “and you will become one with that Force.”
In one of his most moving songs there are words on which I
have meditated and as I meditated on those words my eyes were touched
with tears. Sri Bhagavan says: “I came to swallow you, but you have
swallowed me. Now there is peace between us, Arunachala!”2
Sri Bhagavan was a jnani of the highest order that the world has
ever known. But remember, every true jnani is at the same time a bhakta
and a karma yogi. Sri Bhagavan said, “Cast all your cares on the Lord.
Throw all your burdens at His lotus feet. Remember, the Lord of the
Universe is one who carries all burdens, why must you carry your burden
yourself?” These are the words of Sri Bhagavan and every word that he
uttered came out of the depths of his own realisation.
You may read all the sastras that are in the world. But
what you gain by studying them will be nothing as compared to
the gain you get through hearing a few words sitting at the feet
of the self-realised guru like Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Swami Ramdas 223
What wondrous love Sri Bhagavan had for the poor, forsaken
and forlorn! When he was staying on the Hill, he once found that some
low caste women returning from their work everyday in the heat of the
mid-day sun, with throats parched with thirst, wanted to drink water.
But as they belonged to a low caste they were not allowed to draw
water from the well. Sri Bhagavan himself – Sri Bhagavan – Sri
Bhagavan – what was his stature! But he himself would come out and
wait for them. With his holy hands he drew water and when they said,
“Samy, Samy, we are thirsty, give us a little water”, he gave them the
water. I sometimes feel that I am like those low caste women and
again and again turning to the gracious face of the Maharshi, I say to
him “Samy, Samy, give me the water of life!”and he will give it to
every aspiring heart.3
1. Refer annexure-V on Dakshinamurthi, p. 415.

2. A 108-verse poem addressed to mountain Arunachala. Refer Akshara-
manamalai, p. 425.
3. This episode was mentioned by Sri Ramana himself to Suri Nagamma,
refer pp. 93-4.
81
Swami Ramdas was the founder of the Anandashram, Kanhangad
in Kerala. He authored the book In Quest of God.
The story below is as told by Swami Ramdas to Dilip Kumar Roy
(no. 8) and published in the book by Roy The Flute Calls Still:
One day, Ramdas went for the darshan of Ramana Maharshi
and addressed him thus: Maharaj, here stands before thee a humble
slave. Have pity on him. His only prayer to thee is that you give him thy
blessings. The Maharshi turned his beautiful eyes towards Ramdas and
looked intently for a few minutes into his eyes, as though he was pouring
into Ramdas his blessings through those orbs. Then he shook his head as
if to say he has been blessed. A thrill of inexpressible joy coursed through
the frame of Ramdas, his whole body quivering like a leaf in the breeze.
Ramdas had gone to the Maharshi in a state of complete obliviousness
of the world. He felt thrills of ecstasy in his presence. The Maharshi
made the awakening permanent in Ramdas.
Some people asked Ramdas, “You went to the Maharshi and you
got illumination. Give us illumination like that.” Ramdas responded, “You
must come to Ramdas with the same spirit as he went to the Maharshi.
Where was his heart? How intense was his longing? What was the world
to him at that time? If you come in that state you then you also get it.”
Extracts from Ramdas’s poem:

My Beloved Bhagavan
What shall I say to 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.

He belongs to the dizzy heights

Still he stands firm on this earth of ours.
Lo! Thy grace drew me to Thy feet
And I came to Thee a vagrant and a beggar.
The instant my head touched Thy holy feet
The fever of my soul left me forever.
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.
Thou art my Mother, Master and Friend, my only Beloved.
All glory to Thee! All glory to Thee!

82
Swami Tapovanam was guru of Swami Chinmayananda.
Silence is Truth. Silence is Bliss. Silence is Peace. And hence
Swami Tapovanam / Swami Chinmayananda 225
Silence is atman. To live this Silence should be the Goal. It is moksha. Sri
Ramana Maharshi was an embodiment of such a Silence. He was the
Silence itself.
I had the good fortune of having darshan of the Maharshi at
Tiruvannamalai when he was living in a cave along with his mother and
brother. A young brahmachari at that time, I climbed the hill and saw
the Maharshi there. The Maharshi looked lovingly into my face. That
was all. He spoke but Silence. Not a word passed between us. A supreme,
dynamic and divine Silence prevailed. An hour passed by, all in Silence.
He rose for his meals (bhiksha). I too rose from my seat, bowed again
and walked down the hill. The divine Silence sank deeper and deeper
into me at each step! Someone came running behind me and pressed me
to take some prasadam. I was full – full with the Silence. The Maharshi
called him back and advised him not to press me. Then I left the cave
and walked away.
The Maharshi was an idol of Peace and Silence. The ocean’s
surface dances in waves, laughs in sparkling foam, roars as its thunderous
waves clap and clash! And yet deep in its inner vaults it rests in eternal
Silence and Peace. Without such a divine and spiritual depth, the work and
activities of this universe would become worthless and aimless. Work
should be undertaken and pursued to take us ultimately to the workless
Abode of Divine Silence and endless Peace. This is the secret doctrine of
all our Vedas and ancient scriptures.
83
Swami Chinmayananda (Balakrishna Menon) was the founder of
the Chinmaya Mission.
I was just emerging from high school, exams were over. On a
package railway ticket I was roaming through South India. As the train
steamed through the countryside at a halting speed, most of the passengers
in my compartment suddenly peered through the windows in great
excitement and bowed reverently to an elaborate temple beyond.
Inquiring about it, I was told that it was the Tiruvannamalai Temple.1
Thereafter, the talk of my fellow travellers turned to Ramana
Maharshi. The word ‘Maharshi’ conjured up in my mind ancient forest
retreats and superhuman beings of divine glow. Though I was at that time
a convinced atheist, I was deeply drawn to visit the Maharshi’s Ashram. I

chose to take the next available train to Tiruvannamalai.
At the Ashram I was told that the Maharshi was in the hall and
anybody was free to walk in and see him. As I entered, I saw on the couch
an elderly man, wearing but a loincloth, reclining against a round bolster. I
sat down at the very foot of the couch. The Maharshi suddenly opened his
eyes and looked straight into mine: I looked into his. A mere look, that was
all. I felt that the Maharshi was, in that split moment, looking deep into me
– and I was sure that he saw all my shallowness, confusions, faithlessness,
imperfections, and fears.
I cannot explain what happened in that one split moment. I felt
opened, cleaned, healed, and emptied! A whirl of confusions: my atheism
dropping away, but scepticism flooding into question, wonder, and search.
My reason gave me strength and I said to myself, ‘It is all mesmerism, my
own foolishness.’ Thus assuring myself, I got up and walked away.
But the boy who left the hall was not the boy who had gone in
some ten minutes before. After my college days, my political work, and
after my years of stay at Uttarkashi at the feet of my master, Tapovanam
[No.82], I knew that what I gained on the Ganges banks was that which
had been given to me years before by the saint of Tiruvannamalai on that
hot summer day – by a mere look.
During the course of a talk in 1982 the Swami said:
Sri Ramana is not a theme for discussion; he is an experience; he
is a state of consciousness. Sri Ramana was the highest reality and
the cream of all scriptures in the world. He was there for all to see
how a Master can live in perfect detachment. Though in the mortal form,
he lived as the beauty and purity of the Infinite.
1. Refer annexure – I, p. 410.
84
Swami Muktananda was the founder of the well-known ashram at
Ganeshpuri near Mumbai.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi was a great saint who always
Swami Muktananda 227
occupied a high place of reverence in the minds of people; his divine

personality endeared him to all beings. The word ‘Ramana’ means ‘One
who plays’ (rameti iti Ramana). You may call him ‘atman’ or ‘Guru’;
both are synonyms indicating the same divine power of which this universe
is a game.
Ramana Maharshi was a divine soul, completely detached,
beyond all differences, highly self-restrained and playfully living in the
ocean of transcendental consciousness. I had the good fortune to be in
his company just for three days. Even during that short stay I found that
anyone entering his presence even for a moment would experience the
state of a fully realized soul in a transcendental state, beyond all thoughts.
Some believed him to be a siddha or great saint, and some believed him
to be an incarnation of God. Anyone going even once to the Maharshi
felt as if the Maharshi belonged to him.This was because he really
belonged to everyone and everyone to him.
Wearing only a loincloth, he used to sit relaxed on a sofa, but still
he looked more attractive than even the most richly attired princes
because, as my revered gurudev Nityananda used to say, the Maharshi
was beyond body-consciousness, beyond all attributes and beyond
dualities. This indicates that he was on a plane far above the body pain
and pleasure, a plane inaccessible to most of us mortals. Realization of
the Self was all-important in his teaching: to everyone who asked he
unhesitatingly gave the advice to meditate on the Self, worship the Self
and know the Self. This is because, according to Vedanta, there is nothing
worth knowing, hearing or seeing except one’s true Self.
The path in quest of truth shown by him will remain accessible
to all for a long time to come, because he proclaimed absolute truth
which remains unobstructed at all times, in all places and under all
conditions. His message appears to some the oldest among the old, to
others the newest of the new. Actually it is ancient and modern at the
same time because the concepts of old and new are imposed on the Self
by others, while it is really ageless and eternal. Some people call the
present times a new age, but according to the Maharshi all things, old or
new, are projections of the same eternal truth.
Those who loved the Maharshi got from him the true supreme
bliss attained by means of jnana, yoga and bhakti. He is the ever-
adorable Great Soul. My adorations to him.
85
Eliot C. Clark was a renowned American painter who visited Sri
Ramana in 1938.
The Maharshi sits half reclining upon a raised divan. He wears
only a loincloth. I have no preconceived thought but pass before his presence
respectfully. He seems quite oblivious, and if he has noted the stranger
there seems no reaction or awareness. Although I am the only foreigner
present, no one seems to have any visual or curious interest. I sit among
others on the floor. No word is spoken.
My attention is at first a purely objective one. I study the head
of the Maharshi. He is a man past sixty, with hair close cut and white,
a short moustache and a beard, his complexion rather light. His features
are not typically Hindu.The back of his head is unusually full and round;
high forehead, the brows almost in the center of the head, the eyes
high set, the ears long and pronounced, the body in a state of composure.
A tall, dark-skinned pilgrim enters. He is nude to the waist. Then
a woman enters. She kneels, bows her head three times.The Maharshi
shows no sign of recognition.
The collective quietude creates a natural tranquility. Objective
thought and self-consciousness gradually subside and one merges in the
prevailing unity.
At the moment I have deliberately ceased my curious interest and
am about to close my eyes in reverie, the Maharshi’s head is slightly turned,
his eyes meet mine and there is an inexpressible radiance, the slightest
indication of a smile. Then visual awareness ceases.
The teaching of the Maharshi is very simple.Quite impersonal in
content, it can only be realized by personal practice and experience. The
real teaching is in the revelation of silence: when the perturbation and the
fluctuations of the mind are stilled, the inner presence radiates itself.He
says: we know the mind only by its change; just as one is aware of the
motion from a static standpoint. The mind, like motion, is a relative
movement. We are made aware of its presence by change. But if the mind
turns inward in quest of its origin, the ‘I’-awareness vanishes in its Source.
The ‘I’ becomes identified, not with its egotistical consciousness and the
world of change but with its Source, which is constant. ‘I’-consciousness
is relative and finite; but the Source is infinite and eternal. In the womb of
silence the light is ever shining.
Eliot C.Clark / Swami Abhishiktananda 229
The Maharshi does not lecture. He will answer questions; but in

the magic of his presence the questions begin to vanish with the quietening
of the mind.
86
Swami Abhishiktananda earlier in his life was a Christian monk
called Father Henri Le Saux, who felt that Christian priests, as
sannyasis would find acceptance in India. He studied Hindu
scriptures and experimented with the devotional and meditational
practices they recommend. He authored Sacchidananda, Guru and
Disciple and The Secret of Arunachala.
Sri Ramana’s devotee Purusha [Fr. J. Monchanin] and I entered
the hall, saluted the Maharshi respectfully and sat among the crowd. I
concentrated on looking with attention at the Maharshi, of whom I had
read and heard so much. However, despite my fervent expectation – or
rather perhaps because of it – I felt let down, and in my disappointment,
sadness filled my heart. I continued to gaze intently at the Maharshi.
At eleven O’clock the gong sounded for meal. Following the
Maharshi, we all made our way to the dining hall. Purusha and I, as this
was our first meal, had the privilege of being seated exactly in front of the
Maharshi. All the time while I was eating, my eyes scarcely ever left the
Maharshi; so eager was I to discover his secret. He was sitting on the
floor just like us, ate with fingers from a plantain leaf as we did, and had
exactly the same food as ours. This was a principle that he maintained
inflexibly; since the beginning of his tapas he had always vehemently refused
to touch anything that could not be shared freely with all and sundry.
Once again and without doubt, I could see him as an excellent
grandfather. But the halo? In vain I strained my eyes trying to see it; all my
efforts were useless.
After the midday meal, Purusha took me to meet Ethel Merston
[No.77] whom he had met on a previous visit. She asked for my
impressions, and as I did not wish to conceal the truth, I told her of my
disappointment. She said, “You have come here with far too much
‘baggage’.You want to know, you want to understand. You are insisting
that what is intended for you should come to you by the path which you
have determined. Instead you should make yourself empty and be
receptive.”
Did I really try to make myself empty on the lines suggested by

Ethel? Or rather, was it the fever itself that got the better of all my efforts
to meditate and reason? When the Vedas began again,1 their spell carried
me off much further from things and from myself than had been the case
on the previous evening.
The fever, my sleepiness, a condition that was half dreaming,
seemed to release in me zones of para-consciousness in which all that
I saw or heard aroused overwhelmingly powerful echoes. Even before
my mind was able to recognise the fact and still less to express it, the
invisible halo of the Sage had been perceived by something in me deeper
than any words. Unknown harmonies awoke in my heart…In the Sage
of Arunachala I had discerned the unique Sage of the eternal
India, the unbroken succession of her sages; it was as if the very soul
of India penetrated to the very depths of my own soul and held
mysterious communion with it. It was a call which pierced through
everything, and opened a mighty abyss.
By the evening I knew that I had to leave. The fever was getting
worse. Again, the half-hour of jolting in the bullock cart, an exhausting
night on the railway in crowded compartments. Next morning I simply
fell into bed and stayed there for three days, unable to move.
But if the body was there, stretched out under the bedclothes,
the spirit was still at Sri Ramana’s Ashram. The Vedic chants, as I had
heard them there, still continued to sound in my ears. Before my eyes
still danced the picture of the old man stretched out on his couch and of
the crowd, which pressed devotedly, round him. In my feverish dreams,
when I was neither fully awake nor fully asleep, it was the Maharshi
who unremittingly appeared to me.When I came to myself again after
those days of fever, I realized to what a depth in myself this first meeting
with Sri Ramana had penetrated as part of the mystery of Arunachala.
1. The usual recitation from the Vedas at the Ashram.
87
Ramanadasa Sadananda (Seshagiri Iyer), a teacher in P.S.High
School, Madras, first visited Sri Ramana in 1915. He authored Sri
Ramana Dasakam (Tamil).
Ramanadasa Sadananda 231
I stood before Sri Ramana, the blazing sun of wisdom, at the

Virupaksha Cave. Never having seen such a being of bliss before, I could
not think, speak or do anything except to feel dumb-founded. I prostrated
before him, drank with avidity the nectar of his gaze on me, felt myself
freed from the pairs of opposites, and lifted above the never-ending din
and misery of worldly existence. Contagious was his bliss! He not
only sends forth beams of the light of jnana by his mere proximity
but also fills even the unhappy among us with joy and peace by his
very presence.
I myself went with a heavy heart at first, tossed and troubled by
misfortunes, haunted and hooted by cares and anxieties, worried and
flurried by soul-killing thoughts. If there is a place where such oppressing
and depressing ideas and feelings could disappear all of a sudden, as
dew or darkness dies before the sun, will any man hesitate to call it
Kailasa itself or its Lord Mahadeva himself?
A doctor may cure a patient of his sickness. Attractive natural
scenery may restore for some time cheerfulness to a troubled mind. But
where else, if not at Tiruvannamalai, could one find a place which can
easily rid one of all earthly woes and transport one to a Realm Divine,
the joy of which none who has not tasted it could tell!
At another time when I prostrated with my eyes impressed on
the sacred lotus feet of Bhagavan and begged of him to save me from
the crushing blows of cruel maya, I found the panacea for which I was
panting as the divine lips parted to say, “Whom do all these (worldly
woes) seem to trouble? Put that question to yourself as often as you
feel troubled. Thou art not the body, which will perish one day. Know
that thou art the atma of unmixed bliss. How then could any worldly
bugbear affect you?” His gracious words wrought a miracle. I was
suddenly raised above the cloud of misery that had enveloped and
distressed me till then. That very moment my dejection disappeared. I
cannot say which way it went. I felt as if I never knew sorrow or
misery in any shape. My mind was sunk in a sea of joy. That divine
magician’s word had its desirable balmy effect forthwith.
Day by Day with Bhagavan by Devaraja Mudaliar ( no. 37 ) records:
When Bhagavan was at the Skandasram, I [Ramanadasa] was
sitting on the steps leading up to the Ashram. A man came to the Ashram
with his family and stopped at the gate. He asked whether they could have
the Swami’s darshan, because untouchables could not think of entering

the Ashram. I wanted to ask Bhagavan, but then I hesitated and allowed
them to go inside. The whole party went in and prostrated before Bhagavan.
I well remember how for about ten minutes Bhagavan’s gracious look
dwelt on that untouchable and his family; and how many rich and notable
people have I seen falling at his feet without being vouchsafed such grace.
88
Dr. M. Anantanarayana Rao was for a long time doctor-in-charge of
the Ashram’s dispensary.
In July 1929, while travelling in a train, a fellow passenger gave
me a photo of Sri Ramana and also told me where he resides. Almost
immediately thereafter I went to England on study leave. On my return,
being busy with my official duties, I forgot about the incident of the
photograph. In May 1932, when I had to go to Tiruvannamalai on official
duty, I suddenly recollected the incident.
I went to see Sri Ramana. He was sitting in the open space near
the Ashram well. I asked him a couple of questions about my problems
when I meditated. His answers were short, clear and to the point. I at
once felt his greatness. My first visit to the Ashram ended in a couple of
days, but Sri Ramana’s smile and sparkling eyes had an irresistible
influence on me.
In 1942, I took long leave preparatory to retirement and lived
near the Ashram. In September that year I wished to see the Gurumurtam
and the adjoining garden where Sri Ramana stayed and did tapas in the
1890s. When I returned after visiting the place Bhagavan asked me
what I saw.
He then described to me the condition in which he then used to
be. He said that at one moment he felt it was morning and at the next
moment it was evening and that he was in a blissful state. He added how
happy he then was.
As we heard his description, we were transported into a very
happy condition and when he stopped his narrative we felt as if we were
suddenly dropped down back into the humdrum life of a busy world. His
grace flowed into us and made us happy.
Many people have experienced happiness when they sat
in Sri Bhagavan’s presence even without a word being spoken!
M. Anantanarayana Rao 233
I have had the privilege of massaging Sri Ramana’s legs, feet and
arms once when he had a shooting pain in the thigh up to the hip; I took his
permission to rub the part with some wintergreen oil. This gave him relief.
I then asked him to lie down on the bed and not to recline on the pillows as
he usually did. He smiled and said in his usual way that he had not slept flat
on the ground or on the couch ever since he came to Tiruvannamalai. He
told me that he could get in a few moments as much or more rest than
what we could by sleeping on a nice bed for hours. This puzzled me for
some time and then it struck me that Sri Ramana could establish himself
into samadhi of which we had no experience.
Bhagavan was always awake though in a state of samadhi. Once
I went to him with a small pot containing an ointment, which he wanted.
As I heard him snore lightly I thought he was asleep. I stood thinking
whether to keep the pot on the shelf quietly or wait till he was awake.
Within a moment he opened his eyes, smiled and asked me why I was
waiting without handing over the ointment to him. I replied that he was
asleep and I did not wish to disturb him. Sri Bhagavan at once asked me
how I concluded that he was asleep. I mumbled some reply, handed over
the pot to him and sat in the hall along with some others. Bhagavan again
closed his eyes and was snoring lightly.
At that time as some bhakta, a newcomer to the Ashram, came
near the couch and prostrated, he at once opened his eyes and smiled at
him. Again, Bhagavan reverted to the sleepy condition. When an Ashramite
came and prostrated, he did not open his eyes, but practically on the
Ashramite’s heels came a newcomer who prostrated and Bhagavan
immediately opened his eyes, saw him and smiled.
In December 1948, while I was massaging Bhagavan’s hand,
I felt a small nodule above his elbow. In July 1949, the damaged tissue
flared up. I begged him to make a resolve to heal himself. He smiled
and sat silent till I repeated my request. He then answered, “There is
no mind here, so the question of a resolve does not arise.”
To Bhagavan, the body with its ills did not exit. While dressing a
large wound, pain is inevitable, but he did not show any pain and even
assisted with his right hand in adjusting the bandage, as if it were an arm
belonging to another.
During dressing of the tumour, I had to wipe it with rectified spirits.
One day the spirits from the swab flowed on his arm and body. He at once
said that he had a ‘spirit bath’ and that all should have such baths. I did not
understand the significance of this and asked him to kindly explain the same.
He smilingly said, “Fish are always in water and cannot survive

on coming out of it. Similarly, we are in Spirit or Pure Consciousness and
should always be in it as fish in water. One should always consciously
remain in Pure Consciousness or Self.” That made me believe that he was
always in sahaja samadhi. Often on seemingly small matters he spoke
great words of instruction. Those instructions had a grip on us.
In the course of a conversation in 1949 he described to us that
tears flow from the outer canthus of the eye of a man when he is very
happy and from the inner canthus when he is sad. It is a correct observation.
On the evening of his nirvana day (April 14, 1950), I was in that room
among others. At his request he was assisted to sit up, with legs stretched
in front. He had kept his eyes closed, and his breathing was gradually
becoming shallow. The devotees outside began singing ‘Arunachala Siva’.1
He opened his eyes, looked at the direction from where the voices came
and then closed the eyes. Tears came gushing from the outer canthus of
the eyes. I felt that it was the visible sign of the Supreme Bliss of rejoining
the ONE without a second. The body was discarded very peacefully.
1. The refrain of famous hymn composed by Sri Ramana in praise of Mountain

Arunachala. Refer annexure-I, p. 410.
89
N. Ramachandra Rao authored Sri Ramana’s first biography in
Kannada.
I was a school teacher in Ooregaum. After my retirement I settled
down in Bangalore. I first came to know about the greatness of Bhagavan
in 1918. Immediately I went to Tiruvannamalai and met him at the
Skandasram. He enquired about my name and the place from which I had
come, and graciously asked me to partake of food at the Ashram.
His darshan, his gracious enquiry, his affectionate feeding, had a
tremendous impact which cannot be adequately described in words. Just
as a magnet attracts a needle, I got attracted to him. Thereafter until
Bhagavan’s mahasamadhi I used to visit and stay with him whenever I
got an opportunity.
A few months after my first visit, I took my wife with me.
Bhagavan, with great love made us sit on a platform and served us food
with his own divine hands. I cannot adequately praise the rich sweetness
of the holy prasadam we ate from his hands. My wife often used to feel
N. Ramachandra Rao / Papaji 235
sick and could not eat any food. When we consulted the doctors they said
that hers was a case of tuberculosis and hence nothing could be done.
However, one day Bhagavan appeared in her dream and blessed her.
Thereafter, to the great surprise of all, she was completely cured of her
disease without any medical treatment.
In the evening, we felt an intense desire to worship Bhagavan’s
holy feet. Even though it was against the custom of the Ashram, and his
disciples would not permit this, Bhagavan out of his abundant mercy
knowing our ardent desire brought about a situation wherein those present
went out for sometime for one reason or another. And we could offer
pada puja to our heart’s content.
But when I again went in 1923, he firmly declined repetition of
the puja as was done by us earlier. It looked as though Bhagavan avoided
traditional worship in view of the increasing number of visitors, who could
also have asked for the same privilege. Moreover, Bhagavan was very
much against worshipping his physical form in any manner.
90
Papaji (Hariwansh Lal Poonja) (1910-97), an Indian Army
officer, was born at Lyalpur, West Punjab. Since his boyhood,
his deep devotion to Krishna gave him vivid visions of the
Lord.
After relinquishing his commissioned post in Indian army in favour
of spiritual attainments, Papaji went from place to place and met
numerous spiritual gurus including Swami Ramdas(no.81), Swami
Sivananda, Swami Tapovanam (no.82) and Anand Moyi Ma, a
devotee of Sri Ramana. But no one could answer his oft-repeated
query: “Have you seen God? Can you show me God?”After all his
journeys, when he returned home ‘disillusioned and disappointed’,
a sadhu resembling Sri Ramana appeared at his door asking for
food, which was given to him. Then the sadhu was asked: Can you
show me God? If not, do you know of anyone who can? Papaji
says:
Much to my surprise, the sadhu said, “Yes, I know a person who
can show you God. His name is Ramana Maharshi and he lives at
Tiruvannamalai.” He gave me detailed instructions on how to reach there. I
noted these down carefully. But I had spent all the money I had saved from
my brief spell in the army on my unsuccessful pilgrimages. Through an

amazing coincidence, I came across an advertisement offering job to an ex-
army officer in Madras. After I got the job, my employer gave me money to
get to Madras and told me that I need not report for duty for one month, thus
giving me an opportunity to be in the Maharshi’s presence before I reported
for work. It was 1944, and I was thirty-four years of age.
As per sadhu’s instructions I reached Sri Ramanasramam. Before
entering the hall, I peeped through the window and saw, sitting on a sofa
inside, the same man who had visited my house in the Punjab. I was
disgusted. I said to myself : “This man is a fraud. He appears in my house
in the Punjab, tells me to go to Tiruvannamalai, and then hops on the train
so that he could get here before me.” I felt so annoyed that I decided to
leave the Ashram.
As I was preparing to do so, one of the residents asked,“Haven’t
you just arrived?” I told him the story as to how I got cheated. The person
said, “You are mistaken. He has not moved out of the town during the last
48 years. It is either a case of mistaken identity or somehow, through his
power, he managed to manifest himself in the Punjab while his physical
body was still here. Some girls from America came here once and told a
similar story. These things do happen occasionally.” This aroused my
curiosity and I decided to stay.
I had lunch in the Ashram. At the conclusion of the meal the
Maharshi went to the hall followed by his attendant. As he needed rest
after lunch, devotees were not allowed to see him during 11.30 a.m. to
2.30 p.m. Not knowing this, I followed him. While his attendant was
persuading me to come later, the Maharshi overheard the exchange, and I
was allowed to get in.
I approached the Maharshi in a belligerent way, “Are you the
man who came to see me at my house in the Punjab?”The Maharshi
remained silent. I tried again, “Did you not come to my house and tell me
to come here?” Again the Maharshi made no comment. Since he was
unwilling to answer, I moved on to the main purpose of my visit. I asked, “
Have you seen God? And if you have, can you enable me to see Him? I
am willing to pay any price, even my life, but your part of the bargain is that
you must show me God.” He answered, “No, I cannot show you God or
enable you to see God because God is not an object that can be seen. God
is the subject. He is the seer.” He also added, “You alone are God.” His
words did not impress me. I would have dismissed him and his words
without a second thought had it not been for an experience I had.
Papaji 237
As he looked at me and gazed into my eyes, my whole body

began to tremble and shake. A thrill of nervous energy shot through my
body. My nerve ends felt as if they were dancing and my hair stood on
end. Within me I became aware of the spiritual Heart. This is not the
physical heart; it is, instead, the source and support of all that exists.
Within the Heart I saw or felt something like a closed bud. It was very
shining and bluish. With the Maharshi looking at me, and myself in a
state of inner silence, I felt this bud open and bloom. I use the word bud,
but this is not an exact description. It would be more correct to say that
something that felt bud-like opened and bloomed in my Heart. It was an
extraordinary experience. It totally surprised me when it happened.
Though I had an immensely powerful experience, the Maharshi’s
statement that ‘You alone are God’ and his advice to find out who the seer
is did not have a strong appeal for me. I thought to myself, ‘It is no good to
be a chocolate, I want to taste chocolate’. I want to remain separate from
God so that I could enjoy the bliss of union with Him. My views on various
religious practices were limited. I thought to myself, ‘No one here in the
hall seems to be chanting the name of God. How can they consider
themselves to be good devotees? All these people may have been meditating
but so far as I was concerned, they were wasting their time.’
I still had some time before I had to report for duty in Madras. But
I did not want to spend it with all these ‘spiritually lazy’ people in the
Ashram. I found a quiet spot in the jungle on the other side of the Hill, and
settled down there to do my Krishna japa, alone and undisturbed. I stayed
there for about a week, immersed in my devotional practices. Krishna
would often appear before me, and we spent a lot of time playing together.
Before going to Madras to join my duty, I paid another visit to the
Ashram, partly to say goodbye and partly to tell the Maharshi that I didn’t
need his assistance for seeing God because I had been seeing Him everyday
through my own efforts. When the Maharshi asked where I had gone, I
told him with a great amount of smugness that I was playing with my
Krishna.
The Maharshi commented, “Very good, very nice. Do you see
Him now?” I replied, “I see Him only when I have visions.” The Maharshi
said, “What is the use of a God who appears and disappears? If he is a real
God, He must be with you all the time.” The Maharshi’s lack of interest in
my visionary experiences deflated me a little, but not to the extent to make
me listen to his advice. A lifetime of devotion to Krishna had left me
incapable of conceiving the spiritual quest in any other terms than that of a
quest for a personal god. Having therefore got, in my jaundiced opinion,

nothing from the Maharshi except a good experience and some bad advice,
I returned to Madras to take up my new job.
I found a nice house to live, and began my work. All my spare
time and energy were devoted to communing with Krishna. I synchronized
the japa with my breathing. Calculating that I breathed about 24,000 times
a day, I decided that I should repeat the name of God at least once for
every breath I took. One day, I found that when I tried to resume my
chanting, I could not repeat the name of Krishna any more. Somehow, my
mind refused to cooperate. Not finding any solution to my problem, even
after consulting well-known swamis in Madras, my thought turned to the
Maharshi. I said to myself, ‘This man came all the way to the Punjab in
some form and directed me to see him at Tiruvannamalai. I went there and
got a very good experience. I may as well go to him and see what he has
to say.’
Taking a train to Tiruvannamalai, I reached the Ashram. In order
to talk to the Maharshi alone, I went to the hall after lunch. As on my
previous trip, the attendant wanted me to come later. But again the Maharshi
intervened and I got an opportunity to tell him that for twenty five years I
have been doing sadhana, mostly repeating the name of Krishna. Now
my mind refuses to engage itself in thoughts of God. What has happened
to me and what should I do? The Maharshi looked at me and asked, “How
did you come here from Madras?” I did not see the point of his question
but told him politely, “By train.” Then he inquired, “What happened when
you reached Tiruvannamalai?” “Well I took a bullock cart which brought
me here.”
The Maharshi then explained what he was driving at: “The train
brought you to your destination. You got off it because you did not need it
anymore. Likewise, with the bullock cart. Now you are here, they are of
no use to you. That is what has happened to your sadhana. Your japa
and your meditation have brought you to your spiritual destination. You
yourself did not give up your practices; they left you of their own accord
because they had served their purpose. You have arrived.”
Then he looked at me intently. I could feel that my whole body
and mind were being washed away with waves of purity. His silent gaze
was purifying them. Under that spellbinding gaze I felt every atom of my
body being purified. It was as if a new body was being created for me. A
process of transformation was going on – the old body was dying atom by
atom, and a new body was being created in its place. Then, suddenly, I
Papaji 239
understood, there was a sudden impact of recognition as I became aware

of the Self. The silent gaze of the Maharshi established me in that primal
state that was permanent. The ‘I’ which had for so long been looking
outside perished in the direct knowledge and experience of the Self, which
the Maharshi had revealed to me. I cannot describe what the experience
was, but I knew that my spiritual quest had definitely ended; and the source
of that knowledge will always remain indescribable.
In a lifetime of spiritual seeking I have met hundreds of sadhus,
swamis and gurus, but none of them could reveal the truth the way the
Maharshi had done. I must make one more comment about the greatness
of the Maharshi: he could see that I had reached a state in which my
sadhana could never be resumed again. He knew I was ready for
realization and through his divine look he established me in his own state.
After my final experience in the Maharshi’s presence, my outer
life went on much as before. I went back to Madras, carried on with my
job, and supported my family. At weekends, or when I had accumulated
enough leave, I would go to Tiruvannamalai, sit at the feet of my Master
and bask in his radiant presence. The cynical, skeptical seeker, who
aggressively confronted the Maharshi on the first visit, had gone for good.
In the first few months after my realization, I did not have a single
thought. I could go to the office and perform my duties without ever having
a thought in my mind. It did not take me long to realize that a mind and
thoughts are not necessary to function in the world. When one abides as
the Self, some divine power takes charge of one’s life. All actions then
take place spontaneously and are performed very efficiently, without much
mental effort or activity.
On one of my visits to Tiruvannamalai, I took my seven-year old
daughter with me. She sat before the Maharshi and went into a deep
meditative trance. She spent several hours in that condition before returning
to her normal waking state. Major Chadwick [No.42], who was watching
all this, approached the Maharshi and said, “I have been here for more
than ten years, but I have never had an experience like this. This seven-
year old girl seems to have had this experience without making any efforts.
How can this be?”The Maharshi merely smiled and said, “How do you
know that she is not older than you?”
My daughter did not want to go back to Madras.The Maharshi
advised her to first finish her education and then come back if she wanted
to do so. If anyone asked her, “What happened that day when you were in
trance before the Maharshi?” she could not answer and just cried.
I would sometimes accompany the Maharshi on his walks

around the Ashram. I watched him remonstrate with the workers who
wanted to prostrate to him rather than carry on their work. Everything
he did contained a lesson for us. Every step he took was a teaching in
itself. The Maharshi preferred to work in a low-key and in an
unspectacular way. There was no demonstration of his power, just a
subtle emanation of grace, which seeped into the hearts of those who
came into contact with him.
One incident that I witnessed illustrates very well the subtle and
indirect way the Maharshi worked. A woman brought her dead son to the
Ashram. The boy had apparently died of snakebite. The woman cried and
begged the Maharshi to bring him back to life, but he did not respond to her
repeated requests. After a few hours, the Ashram manager made her take
the corpse away. As she was leaving the Ashram, she met some kind of a
snake charmer who claimed that he could cure her son. The man did
something to the boy’s hand where he had been bitten, and the boy
immediately revived.
The devotees attributed the miraculous cure to the Maharshi,
saying, when a problem is brought to the attention of a jnani, some
‘automatic divine activity’ brings about a solution. According to this theory,
the Maharshi has done nothing consciously to help the boy, but at a deeper,
unconscious level, his awareness of the problem has caused the right
man to appear at the right place. The Maharshi, of course, disclaimed all
responsibility for the miraculous cure.‘Is that so?’ was his only response
when told about the boy’s dramatic recovery. This was typical of him.
The Maharshi never performed any miracles. The only ‘miracles’
he indulged in were those of inner transformation. By a word, a look, a
gesture, or merely by remaining in silence, he could quieten the minds of
people around him, enabling them to become aware of who they really were.
In July 1947, a month before Independence, Devaraja Mudaliar
[No.35] told me about the problems which I could face if I did not bring my
family to India from the Punjab, which was soon to become a part of
Pakistan. I told him, “I am not going. I cannot leave the company of the
Maharshi.” I had reached a stage in my relationship with the Maharshi
where I loved him so much, I couldn’t take my eyes off him or contemplate
the thought of going to the other end of the country for an indefinite period.
When Mudaliar told the Maharshi that Poonja’s family seems to
be stranded in West Punjab and he did not want to go there, the Maharshi
told me, “There will be a lot of trouble in the area you come from. Why
Papaji 241
don’t you go and bring your family out?” Though this amounted to an
order; I was still hesitant. I then explained the main reason for my reluctance
to go: “I am far too attached to your physical form. I cannot leave you. I
love you so much that I cannot take my eyes off you.”
“I am with you wherever you are,” was his answer. From the
way he spoke to me I could see that he was determined that I should go. I
accepted the decision. I prostrated before him and for the first time in my
life I touched his feet as an act of veneration, love, and respect. He will not
normally let anyone touch his feet, but this was a special occasion and he
did not object. Before I rose, I collected some of the dust beneath his feet
and put it in my pocket as a sacred memento. I also asked for his blessings
because I had an intuition that this was our final parting.
I left the Ashram and made my way to Lahore. The atmosphere
there was every bit as bad as I had been led to expect. I went to the station
and bought a ticket for my hometown – Lyalpur. In those violent days,
Hindus and Muslims were travelling in separate carriages so that they
could protect each other in case there was any trouble. The nearly empty
carriages were those occupied by the Hindus. And then an inner voice, the
voice of my Master, said to me, “Go and sit with the Muslims in their
compartment. Nothing will happen to you there.”
Superficially it seemed like a good idea, but I had a doubt about
my ability to fool my Muslim fellow-passengers into believing that I was
one of them. I dressed differently and had a highly visible ‘Om’ tattooed
on the back of one of my hands. I listened to the voice and took my seat
with the Muslims. No one questioned my right to be there. Somewhere
in the countryside, Muslims stopped the train and all the passengers in
the Hindu carriages were gunned down. Nobody paid any attention to
me, even though I was clearly a Hindu sitting in a Muslim compartment.
After disembarking from the train I went to my family home and
found 34 members of my family, most of them women, stranded there. I
succeeded in bringing them back safely to India.
The Maharshi had sent me to the Punjab to do my duty. That was
typical of him because he never permitted his devotees to abandon their
family responsibilities. Telling me, ‘I am with you wherever you are’, he
sent me off to fulfill my obligations.
When I first heard this remark, I appreciated only its philosophical
significance. It did not occur to me that physically I would also be under his
care and protection. Yet this was manifestly the case. He had told me
where to sit on the train. For more than twenty hours after the massacre,
I had sat unrecognized in a Muslim carriage, despite having pierced ears

and an ‘Om’ on my hand, both of them classic Hindu identification marks.
Further, in an environment of utter anarchy I had secured seats for a vast
contingent of my family and got them out of danger on the last train that
left Lahore for India.1
I took my family to Lucknow because I had a friend there from
my time in the army. There was no question of returning to the Maharshi
because I was the only potential earner in my group. Arriving in India with
little more than the clothes we were wearing, it became my responsibility
to feed and support this vast group. I had to work night and day to keep the
family going.
At 8.47, on the evening of April 14,1950 2 I was walking down a
street in Lucknow. I suddenly felt an enormous spasm in my chest, which
nearly knocked me down to the ground. I thought it must be some sort of
heart attack. A few seconds later I saw a few people pointing to a large
meteor, which was trailing across the sky. This was the meteor that
thousands of people all over India saw in the first few seconds after the
Maharshi’s death.
Many years later, sitting on the banks of the Ganges, I had an
extraordinary vision of my various incarnations through time. I watched
the Self moving from body to body, from form to form. It went through
plants, through animals, through birds, through human bodies, each in a
different place at a different time. The sequence was extraordinarily
long. My own body finally appeared as the last one of the sequence,
followed by the radiant form of the Maharshi.The vision then ended.
The appearance of the Maharshi had ended that seemingly endless
sequence of births and rebirths. After his intervention in my life, the
Self that finally took the form of Poonja could incarnate no more. The
Maharshi had destroyed it by a single look.
Sometime ago, at one of the satsangs which I used to conduct
in Lucknow, a note handed over to me concluded: “My humble respects
and gratitude to you, especially to one who was a disciple of Ramana
Maharshi.” I couldn’t let this pass. I exclaimed, “Please correct your
grammar. I am his disciple! He is my master. How can I throw him
away into the past? I never think it is I, Poonja, who is speaking. If I ever
thought that this person called Poonja was speaking to you, I have no
right to sit here because whatever would come out of my mouth would
be false. It is my own master who speaks. I am sitting here introducing
you to my teacher and his teachings. He is the teacher; not I. Poonja has
Ganapati Muni 243
gone for good, but the Master remains and will always remain. He is
seated in my heart as my own imperishable Self.”
[David Godman, from whose book Nothing Ever Happened
the above has been extracted, says: Having just finished interviewing
Papaji in 1992, about the events when he was at Sri Ramanasramam in
the 1940s, I wanted to know as a conclusion, if he could say a few words
of gratitude or appreciation, summarizing what the Maharshi did for him.
Papaji opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. After two or
three seconds tears started flowing down his cheeks. Turning his head to
hide his tears, he said, “I can’t answer that question. I can’t speak about
it. No words can ever express it.”Godman however refers to a poem,
which Papaji wrote to one of his devotees in 1982: ‘My Master spoke in
silence. / My Master spoke through his eyes. / My Master spoke through
words. / All the three languages I have heard.’]
1. On an enquiry about any other case where Sri Ramana provided physical
protection to a devotee as happened in case of Papaji, David Godman, who
has done extensive research about Sri Ramana and his devotees, replied that
he knew no other example of this nature.
2. The time when the Maharshi entered his mahasamadhi.
91
Ganapati Muni (1878-1936), a renowned Sanskrit poet and
scholar, was known by his title Kavyakantha – one from whose
throat poems came out spontaneously. After meeting Sri
Ramana in 1907 and having got convinced of his spiritual
attainment he, for the first time, called him ‘Bhagavan’ and
‘Maharshi.’ These got popular in due course. He compiled
Ramana Gita which is based on the replies of Sri Ramana to
spiritual questions put by the Muni and his friends. He has
more than two dozen publications, mostly in Sanskrit, to his
credit.
Ganapati Muni, a great Siva bhakta, chose Tiruvannamalai, the
holy seat of Siva, for his tapas in 1903 and briefly met Sri Ramana on the
hill. In 1907, when he came again to Tiruvannamalai he found that nothing
tangible had emerged from his severe tapas. Disappointed, he climbed up
the hill and fell flat on his face holding Sri Ramana’s feet with both hands.
With a voice trembling with emotion he cried, “All that has to be read I
have read. I have performed japa to my heart’s content. Yet I have not up
to this time understood what tapas is. Pray, enlighten me about the nature
of tapas.”
After listening to the Muni, Sri Ramana silently gazed at him as
he sat in anxious expectation. Then he said in Tamil, “If a mantra is repeated
and attention directed to the source from where the mantra-sound is
produced, the mind will be absorbed in that. That is tapas.” 1 This short
instruction filled Muni’s heart with joy. He stayed on the hill for some hours
and composed five stanzas in praise of the Swami 2 in which he shortened
his original name Venkataraman to ‘Ramana’, which has stuck to the Swami
ever since. He wished his disciples to call him Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
The Muni must be given credit for this name.
In 1908, the Muni did severe tapas for 18 days in a Ganapati
temple near Madras. On the 18th day, when he was lying wide awake he
saw the figure of the Maharshi coming in and sitting next to him. Ever
since his arrival at Tiruvannamalai in September 1896, the Maharshi had
never left that place. When the Muni narrated the incident to the Maharshi
in 1929, the latter recollected the event in the following words:
“One day some years ago, when I was lying down, I suddenly
felt my body carried up higher and higher till all objects disappeared and
all around me was one vast mass of white light. Then suddenly my body
descended and objects began to appear. I said to myself, “evidently this
is how siddhas appear and disappear.” I was on a high road, on one side
of which, some distance removed from it, was a Ganapati temple. I went
in and talked, but what I said or did, I do not recollect. Suddenly I woke
up and found myself lying in the Virupaksha Cave. I mentioned this
immediately to Palaniswami.”[Attendant of Sri Ramana.]
Once the kundalini rose in the body of Ganapati Muni. He suffered
an unbearable burning sensation. The Muni felt that the pain would subside
if Bhagavan touched him. The Muni’s wife, son and some others took
Bhagavan to the Mango Tree Cave, where the Muni lived. Bhagavan
went there and sat beside the Muni, who took Bhagavan’s hand and put it
on his head and asked him to bless him. Bhagavan kept quiet for a while.
“It will be all right soon,” he said, and left. Ganapati Muni felt immediate
relief. On his way back to the Skandasram Bhagavan said, “He told me,
but to whom can I tell?” A devotee asked Bhagavan whether he also had
a similar experience. ‘Hm, Hm’, said Bhagavan smilingly.
F.H. Humphreys 245
The Muni by his thorough mastery of the Sanskrit language and

the ease and excellence of his Sanskrit poetry must, to some extent, have
influenced the Maharshi who was always receiving new ideas and learning
new languages from persons and books almost unconsciously. So long as
the Muni lived in Tiruvannamalai, the Maharshi consulted him on matters
of importance, especially publications and other activities of the Ashram.
T.K.Sundaresa Iyer records in his book At the Feet of Bhagavan:
After Ganapati Muni had composed 700 out of the 1000 verses
of the Uma Sahasram in praise of the Divine mother, he announced
that the complete work will be dedicated on a particular day in the
Arunachaleswara temple.3 On the evening of the dedication day, he
found that 300 verses were still to be composed. When the Maharshi
asked the Muni whether he was getting the event postponed, the Muni
assured him that the task would be completed here and now. The scene
that followed was unbelievable. The Maharshi sat silent and in deep
meditation. The eager disciples of the Muni watched in tense admiration
the sweet flow of Sanskrit verses as they came from the lips of
Kavyakantha and wrote them down. The job over, Bhagavan opened
his eyes and asked the Muni whether all that he said had been taken
down. The Muni’s grateful response was, “All that Bhagavan inspired
in me has been taken down.” It is noteworthy that whereas the Muni
revised the first 700 verses of this monumental work some six times,
he did not revise any of the last 300.
1. The source from where the mantra-sound is produced is not merely the
vocal organ but the central force from where the mind and the breath
arise, that is, the Self.
2. Till then Sri Ramana was known by the name of Brahmana Swami.
92
F.H. Humphreys came to India in January 1911 to join the
Police Department as an Assistant Superintendent. His deep-
seated spiritual inclination resulted in his meeting Ganapati
Muni (previous entry), and through the help of S.Narasimham,
who was the munshi to teach him Telugu, he along with Ganapati
Muni had an audience with Sri Ramana. The following account

is from his letters to a friend in England, which were later
published in the International Psychic Gazette.
Yesterday I got a day’s leave and went to the Maharshi along
with the munshi and Ganapati Muni. At two in the afternoon we went up
the Hill. On reaching the cave we sat at his feet and said nothing. I felt
lifted out of myself. For half an hour I looked into the Maharshi’s eyes,
which never changed their expression of deep contemplation. I began to
realize that his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost; I could only feel that
the Maharshi’s body was not the man; it was the instrument of
God, merely a sitting, motionless corpse from which God was
radiating terrifically. My own feelings were indescribable.
The Muni then said I might speak. I asked for enlightenment and
teaching. The Maharshi spoke a few sentences of broken English and in
Telugu, which conveyed worlds of meaning. The most touching sight was
the number of tiny children up to about seven years of age, who climb the
hill, all on their own, to come and sit near the Maharshi, even though he
may not speak a word or even look at them for days together. They do not
play, but just sit there quietly, in perfect contentment.
The Maharshi is a man beyond description in his expression of
dignity, gentleness, self-control and calm strength of conviction.
For his second visit, Humphreys was accompanied by Ragha-
vachariar (next entry). This time A.S.Krishnaswami Aiyar (the
District Munsif), who happened to be present, acted as interpreter.
In the words of the Englishman:
I went by motorcycle and climbed up to the cave. The sage smiled
when he saw me, but was not in the least surprised. He asked me a private
question, only known to him and me. Evidently, he recognised me the
moment he saw me. Everyone who comes to him is an open book,
and a single glance suffices to reveal to him its contents.
“You have not had your food” he said, “and are hungry.” I admitted
that it was so. He immediately called a disciple to bring food – rice, ghee,
fruit etc., eaten with the fingers, as Indians do not use spoons. Though I have
practised eating this way, I lack dexterity. So he gave me a coconut spoon to
eat with, smiling and talking during the time I ate. You can imagine nothing
more beautiful than his smile. When I finished, I was still hungry, and he
knew it and ordered more. He knows everything, and when others pressed
me to eat fruit when I had had enough he stopped them at once.
Raghavachariar 247
Whilst I was eating, he was relating my past history to others

and accurately too.Yet he had seen me but once before, and many
hundreds in between. He simply turned, as it were, on clairvoyance.
Later on I was thirsty, for it had been a hot ride, but I would not show
it, come what may. Yet he knew and told a disciple to bring some
lemonade. I sat for about three hours listening to his teachings. It is
strange what a change it makes in one to have been in his
presence. [Humphreys retired from service some years later and
became a Roman Catholic monk.]
93
Raghavachariar was Superintendent of Public Works Dept.
at Tiruvannamalai from 1910 onwards. He paid occasional
visits to Sri Ramana.
Whenever Raghavachariar went up the hill in 1910, he found a
crowd with the Maharshi in whose presence he felt disinclined to
speak. One day he went up with an intent to submit three questions
or requests: (i) Can you grant me a few minutes for private personal
talk – free from the presence of others? (ii) I should like to have
your opinion on the Theosophical Society of which I am a member.
(iii) Will you please enable me to see your real form, if I am eligible
to see it? He says:
When I prostrated and sat before him, there was a crowd of
about 30 persons; but they gradually dispersed. So I was alone with him,
and my first query thus got answered without my stating it. Then he asked
me, of his own accord, if the book in my hand was the Gita and whether
I was a member of the Theosophical Society, and remarked even before I
answered his queries, “It is doing good work.” My second question also
thus being anticipated, I waited eagerly for the third.
After half an hour, I opened my mouth and said, “Just as Arjuna
wished to see the form of Sri Krishna and asked for darshan, I wish to
have darshan of your real form, if I am eligible.” He was then sitting on a
platform with a picture of Dakshinamurthi painted on the wall next to him.
He silently gazed on as usual and I gazed into his eyes. Then his body and
also the picture of Dakshinamurthi1 disappeared from my view. There
was only empty space, without even a wall, before my eyes. Then followed
a whitish cloud in the outline of the Maharshi and of Dakshinamurthi, before

my eyes. Gradually, the eyes, nose etc. and other details were outlined in
lightning-like lines. These got broadened till the figure of the Swami and
Dakshinamurthi became ablaze with very strong and unendurable light. I
closed my eyes in consequence. I waited for a few minutes and when I
opened my eyes I found the Maharshi and Dakshinamurthi in the same
form as before. I prostrated and came away.
The impact of the above experience was such that I did not dare
go near the Maharshi almost for one month. Later, when I went up to the
Skandasram, I narrated the above experience and requested him to explain.
After a pause, he said, “You wanted to see my form. You saw my
disappearance. I am formless. Ganapati Muni had a similar experience
and you may consult him.” I did not consult the Muni.
B.V. Narasimha Swami in his book Self Realization records:
Raghavachariar was coming to Maharshi off and on. His wife
and mother feared that he might give up his social duties and become a
recluse. They went to the Maharshi and told him their fear. The Maharshi
consequently admonished Raghavachariar about the dangers of becoming
a recluse without the severe training required for it. The Maharshi was
giving similar advice to numerous others also.
1. Refer annexure – V, p. 415.
94
Manavasi V. Ramaswami Iyer was Supervisor, Public Works
Dept., Tiruvannamalai in 1908. The following is a brief extract
from his diary:
My soul was stirred and I appealed to him, “Sir, Jesus and
other great souls came into the world to redeem sinners. Is there any
hope for me?” The Swami said (in English) – “There is hope. Yes,
there is hope.” These are the very words and the following composition
was born:
“Thou art my sole refuge; I have naught else to turn to. Oh Sweet
and Fragrant Bouquet of Flowers, charming to the bees of the devotees
swarming to thy feet.”
Manavasi V. Ramaswami Iyer / N.N. Rajan 249
From that time I began to frequent the Swami. It became a habit

with me to sleep on the Hill every night, when at headquarters. Once I
found him sitting calm. When after half an hour or so he saw me, a burning
current entered my body. Previous to this, when sitting under a tamarind
tree, something entered into me which I could not then explain. Years later,
it was found that the mind had entered inside. Then I felt something else
entering my body, which was very pleasing.
I was all along a dyspeptic and could neither digest food nor sleep
properly. I was worrying, and the Swami asked me about it. I told him
about my health. Once a lady devotee brought in cakes and food for a
feast. I was living on kanji (gruel). Many had invited me but I always
declined, saying, ‘I cannot digest’. But the Swami pressed me, and so I
had a good feast of very hard and rich food. That night it was so very
strange, I slept profoundly. This was a great impetus to me to rely on the
Swami more fully. My people, who were averse to my going to him, began
to send my food to be eaten in his presence, as I was getting cured.
The mere look of the Swami stirred the soul. I have heard people
being blessed by the guru holding his palm on the head of the disciple;
but his look is more powerful. The Swami’s instruction is: Do not forget
the Self; all misery is due to forgetting the Self.
I was transferred to Berhampur in Orissa. Once many sores
came on my feet and did not respond to any treatment. One morning two
visitors came from Tiruvannamalai. They said they were on a pilgrimage
to the North and that Bhagavan had specially asked them to look me up.
Seeing my predicament they prescribed some simple home remedies
which effected a miraculous cure. Surely they were the messengers of
the compassionate Bhagavan. Spontaneously, I composed a song in his
praise – Saranagati – ‘My Refuge’.
95
N.N. Rajan (N.Nataraja Iyer) (1906-94), Station Master at Tiruva-
nnamalai Railway Station, came under Sri Ramana’s influence in
1935. He authored Sri Ramana Dhyanam and The Bloom of Inner
Glory.
Being a householder, I felt that it was not right for me to follow a
spiritual path alone, so I began taking my wife and children also to the
Ashram.Within a few months, I found to my astonishment, quite a
conspicuous change in my wife and noticed that she had outstripped me in

her understanding of Bhagavan. She had become a greater devotee and
was imbibing more peace from him. My children also enjoyed his presence.
Bhagavan had a special fondness for children and often used to joke with
them and touch or caress them, though he scrupulously avoided touching
adults or being touched by them. The children themselves derived a certain
peace and joy from his presence and would sometimes sit motionless before
him, as though under a spell, free from childish wrigglings.
I am not exaggerating when I say this. Once my daughter, who
was only just over two, sat quietly by herself in a corner of the hall for
about two hours, sitting cross-legged like adults and not even speaking.
My wife and I did not notice this as we were absorbed in meditation, but
the Maharshi did. When I went to the Ashram early next morning, I was
surprised and delighted to hear the Maharshi telling one of the devotees,
“Rajan’s little daughter Kutti was sitting cross-legged away from her parents
for about two hours and she never stirred the whole time.”
It was delightful to hear him talk about the incident and to realize
how closely he had watched her while we knew nothing about it. Of course,
it was due to his Grace; a child would otherwise never act like that. He
was omnipotent but was extremely unostentatious. He would never reveal
his powers openly and behaved quite simply like an ordinary man.
The following is from Rajan’s interview as recorded in the video Guru
Ramana:
Bhagavan is the Supreme Being in flesh and blood, perfection to
the core. They say an avatar, but he is not an avatar, just above that state.
He is Supreme Being personified. Face to face he sat among us; we slept
with him, took food with him and sat at his feet for years together.
We hear about rishis in the annals of history, but we do not hear
anything about such a great sage. He is the greatest sage of our time. In
the Vedic age also there were rishis but they had their own impulses: they
got anger, they got lust. Can we say any such thing about Bhagavan? No.
As Major Chadwick [No. 42] said, “If at all there is anybody fit to
express the greatness of Bhagavan, it is Bhagavan himself.” Will Bhagavan
ever do that? That is the greatness of Bhagavan. His bewitching smile, his
beaming forehead, his glittering radiant eyes, his sweet voice and measured
words and his majestic form are unmatchable.
The following is from Rajan’s diary dated November 6, 1943:
Rama Varma Appan Tampuran 251
After a brief discussion between Major Chadwick and Bhagavan

on the necessity of periodic action to ensure that the body remains healthy,
there was a ten-minute silence. Then a devotee asked, “It is stated that
one should dive into oneself with a keen one-pointed mind controlling
speech and breath. Is it necessary to control the breath also?” Bhagavan
replied, “If all thoughts are controlled, automatically the breath is also
controlled. By intense and sustained practice it will become habitual.
Controlling the breath through various yogic exercises is like putting brakes
to the train when the engine is working. But by watching the source of
the mind with full concentration, the thoughts would get controlled. This
method will be more effective and easy. It is like shutting the power of
the engine and thereby stopping the train completely.”
96
His Highness Rama Varma Appan Tampuran, B.A., was Maharaja
of Cochin (Kerala). He came to Sri Ramana in the 1930s, when
he was not the Maharaja. The visit had a profound effect on him.
The following is from his introduction to the Malayalam biography
of Sri Ramana by Appunni.
There is no limit to the surging rise or to the subsiding tranquility of
the mind. Nor is there any limit to its powers to chastise or control and to
confer a blessing. The mind is indeed the cause of both happiness and
misery, of enjoyment and of liberation. If it is recognised that samsara is
nothing but a work of the mind, then the mystery of the cycle of births and
deaths will be revealed.
The search for the mind has to be made within oneself. Self-
knowledge can never be achieved and realised through scholarship. The
path to Self-realisation is not easily accessible and it is extremely difficult
to tread. For this, faith and devotion and an ardent aspiration for liberation
are essential.
Self-realization dawned all at once for the Maharshi. The light
of the Self shone forth suddenly like the flash of lightning. The Supreme
Lord of the universe lifted him with His sacred hand and established him
at the very centre and source of Being, Awareness and Bliss. It is perhaps
on account of this we find in much of the teachings of the Maharshi,
ultimate knowledge revealed rather than the path leading to it, giving
preeminence to the end rather than to means.
. The sorrows of the distressed, the doubts of earnest seekers,

the disbelief of the sceptics who come to test him, and the pride of the
high and mighty, verily perish in the mere presence of the Maharshi. His
sacred abode confers peace and even induces spiritual trance which
yields the Bliss of Self-realisation.
The praise of the Maharshi like that of Sri Krishna is delightful
and beneficient alike to the worldly-minded sunk in the whirlpool of
egoistic attachment and wallowing in the ditch of blind infatuation, as
well as to those who seek liberation. It is indeed our good fortune to
live during the lifetime of such a distinguished and great Sage. Blessed
are the devotees who spend their time in his presence.
The life of the Maharshi is not the biography of an individual
but radiance of the universal self; not the expression of body’s acts but
manifestation of the Spirit within.
97
Swami Rajeswarananda, born in Madras, got his name as a sannyasi
of the Ramakrishna Order. He edited The Call Divine during its
first twelve years. He authored Erase the Ego and Teachings.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was the personification
of emancipation, the source of supreme peace, and the boundless
ocean of freedom. His solemn presence lifted us beyond our body
and mind to our true Self. The truth of Self-realization, in his holy
presence, was as if coursing through our veins, pulsating in our bosom,
tingling with every drop of blood and becoming consonant with our very
heartbeats. His words make us even today rest on the Glory of our Self,
the infinite, the eternal and the deathless. His silent and sacred look
imparted Self-knowledge that became a part and parcel of our constitution
and the very vitality of our life. Sri Ramana was the wonder of the
world with the perfume of spiritual peace. His life is a study in
divine illumination based on the dynamic silence. All worries and
wounds of the world simply melted in his presence like ice before
fire.
No school of philosophy, cult, creed, yoga and the like could claim
Sri Ramana, as he did not fit easily into any ready-made classification. He
lived free and remained free and let every one remain free likewise.
Swami Rajeswarananda / P.V. Karamchandani 253
A sage, a philosopher, a recluse, an incarnation of God – all these

terms do not adequately describe him. All these fall flat since he
transcends them. He was unique in remaining true to himself and
being himself. He was in himself the quest and the find.
He set before us, as the glory and goal of life, the realization of the
full divine consciousness of our Self. He proclaimed the Absolute as the
Self, ‘I Am’ in each individual life. He was himself a testimony for such an
august revelation that always stands at the very doorstep of one and all.
His was the cure-all that could restore the human race to its lost heritage
and happiness.
Sri Ramana kindles in every one of us an awareness of the spiritual
glory within. Bhagavan’s gospel is a practical expression of Self, the Reality,
Intelligence and Bliss.
Sri Ramana stands for the unity of existence, the non-duality of
the Godhead and the harmony of religions. His teachings are refreshingly
plain and powerful. They throw open the floodgates of the soul and make
the living waters of the highest consciousness rush forth. His gospel, free
from any dogma or doctrine, is not hampered by the fossilised traditions. It
is as broad as the sky, as deep as the sea, and as universal as the rays of
the sun. He awakens in every one of us the dormant Divinity.
His very life was a practical demonstration of the reality of
Brahman, the Supreme Self. His gospel reveals clearly the divinity of
the soul, the oneness of humanity and the indivisibility of the Godhead,
not as articles of belief or opinion, cult or creed, dogmas or doctrines but
as the truths of his own experience.
Even a single word from Bhagavan’s holy lips was enough to
enable us to carry it all through our life, to stir the soul, and awaken it to
its intrinsic immortality and infinity.
98
Dr. Lt. Col. P. V. Karamchandani was District Medical Officer of
North Arcot District.Tiruvannamalai fell within his jurisdiction.
One night, in February 1949 at Vellore, I could not sleep and kept
tossing in bed. That was something very unusual. At one a.m. a telephone
call came from Tiruvannamalai, a place 55 miles away, asking me to reach
there by 8 a.m. as Sri Ramana was very ill. Having received the call, I fell
sound asleep. I reached Tiruvannamalai without any emotion.My only

thought was that I was on a professional mission of attending on a patient.
The sainthood of Sri Ramana had no significance for me.
I conducted my examination in a strictly professional manner. I
carried no spiritual feelings for him. Nor did he speak a word with me. But
he had directed a momentary gaze of grace at me, which kept stirring me
deeply. Involuntarily I felt a new vista of spiritual consciousness open out
before me.
That wondrous gaze of Sri Ramana seemed to envelop me with
an aura of bliss. I felt the spiritual pull from him so irresistible that after a
few days I myself arranged a visit to Tiruvannamalai just for the sake of
having his darshan. I took my wife with me.
We visited Sri Ramana with a sense of curiosity and an indefinable
sense of expectation. We made our obeisance and sat by his feet. We did
not speak a word; nor did he. No speech seemed necessary. So
surcharged with spirituality was he that his spirituality wafted out
to us, completely enveloping us. Serenity seeped into us. Our minds
attained a state of blissful, ecstatic meditation.
The tumour that Sri Ramana was bearing must have given him
the most excruciating, nerve-wrecking pain. Such writhing pain would make
the toughest man wince and moan. But his godly face did not bear the
slightest sign of his agony. It reflected only joy and peace. He seemed to
have switched off his mind from the body to the divine.
The next occasion when I was summoned, Sri Ramana had
developed anuria. [Failure of the kidney to produce urine.] I went to his
Ashram not with the all-important feeling of a District Medical Officer.
I went in the spirit of a humble devotee to serve a saint of colossal
spiritual magnitude. My job as a doctor was to be coupled with the
devotion of a disciple. I was told that for the previous 24 hours he had
not taken any food, not even a drop of water and all earnest requests and
persuations had failed. I was requested to persuade him to eat something.
On examination I found that it was imperative that Bhagavan
should take some fluid. Ordering him in my capacity as a doctor was out of
question. I felt like asking him as a boon to accept my prayer. I prayed
inwardly and held a glass of buttermilk before him. He gazed at me for a
second, took the buttermilk in shaking hands and drank it. My joy knew no
bounds. There was relief and jubilation all around. I was thanked profusely.
But I felt infinitely grateful for Bhagavan’s overwhelming grace. He had
heard my silent prayer and granted my boon. Wonderful was the spiritual
exhilaration which I experienced in his holy presence.
P.V. Karamchandani 255
I was called again at midnight. As I entered his room, four

disciples were there. Bhagavan wanted them to leave the room. After
they left, I was alone with Bhagavan. As usual, he did not speak with
me. I was also silent. But the vibrations that emanated from him
were celestial. His body must have been in terrific, mortal pain. But
his heavenly spirituality was unaffected by it. A rapturous thrill electrified
my entire being.
I had an intense desire to worship this illumined soul. I had learnt
that Bhagavan did not allow devotees to touch his feet. But I felt a deep
urge not only to touch his blessed feet but also to press them lovingly. I
took courage in both my hands and pressed them. The wonder of wonders!
He let me do so! His grace was abounding. I considered myself in the
seventh heaven. I glorify those few minutes of my life.
Next time I was summoned was about three hours after
midnight. Pain must have been torturing his body. Still, he was sound
asleep. Holy silence filled the room. It was the ambrosial hour of the
dawn. I did not wish to disturb him. I sat quietly by his feet. Suddenly he
opened his eyes. His gracious gaze fell on me. He softly muttered
‘D.M.O.’The peculiar tone in which he mentioned me indicated that I
had been in his sacred thoughts and that he was expecting me. I felt
myself blessed. I silently worshipped him. My whole being seemed to
vibrate with ecstasy.
At that time I had been feeling restless about promotion as Surgeon-
General, being the senior-most I.M.S. officer in the Province of Madras.
However I tried to banish the idea of that coveted promotion from my
mind and said to myself, “Why am I fretting unnecessarily? The next time
I visit Bhagavan, I shall request him to grant me promotion!”
On my next visit, I went before him with my mind resolutely set
on requesting him for that boon. But a marvel happened. As soon as I saw
him, my mind melted, the resolution evaporated, and I felt filled with strange
contentment. A request did formulate itself within me, but it was an entirely
different request. I inwardly prayed, ‘Bhagavan, free me from my craving
for this promotion. I don’t want anything mundane. Instead, grant me my
soul’s evolution.’ My prayer seemed to be instantly granted. Effulgent joy
flooded the very depths of my being. I reverently bowed before him and
he gazed at me benevolently.
My last visit was on the day Bhagavan attained nirvana. On
visiting him I found that his body would not last beyond that day. I silently
prayed that he might retain his body till I brought my wife from Vellore
who wanted to witness how a great saint discards his body.
Now the finale – how my wife brought orange juice for the
Maharshi, how he would not accept any drink at all to avoid going to the
bathroom; how I devoutedly prayed that he may drink the juice to save
my wife from deep disappointment; how he accepted my unspoken
prayer and asked for the juice to the transcendental delight of my wife
and myself; and how, shortly afterwards, in utter tranquility, he passed
on.
During my two months’ contact with Bhagavan, I did not speak a
single word with him. But, what wonderful grace he poured into me through
his benign, benevolent gaze! A peerless spiritual experience indeed.
99
Dr. T. N. Krishnaswami was a prolific photographer of Sri
Ramana. Dozens of his shots are reproduced in Radiance of the
Self, Sri Ramana’s picture album, published by the Bangalore
Centre.
When I was studying medicine at Madras, together with a few
friends I set out on an excursion to Vellore with my camera. Someone
suggested that the temple at Tiruvannamalai was a huge and impressive
work of art, so we went there and admired the beautiful stone carvings
and the huge towers.
We also paid a visit to Ramana Maharshi who was living a couple
of miles away. When we arrived at the Ashram, the Maharshi had gone
out for a walk on the hill. We waited and saw a string of people following
a tall man walking with a stick and holding a kamandalu.When the tall
stately figure approached us and asked what the matter was, he was told
that the party from Madras wanted to take some pictures of Bhagavan.
“Oh! Is that so?” said the Maharshi. “Let them,” so saying he stood posing
for me with his hands on his hips and with his face in semi-profile. I lost no
time. I opened my camera and clicked. I was not looking for any spiritual
face and was not conscious of any holy atmosphere.
Bhagavan, as they called him, entered the hall and lowered himself
on the sofa which was carefully arranged for him. We also entered the hall
and sat a few feet away, in front of him. The Maharshi did not seem to
take notice of anything around him. He wore a calm and distant look. His
eyes were shining and there was something divine about his countenance.
The hall was badly lit for photography but still I took a few pictures
T.N. Krishnaswami 257
of the Maharshi. We then got up and mechanically prostrated before him

and left the hall. I returned to Madras, developed the films and sent a few
prints to the Ashram, as desired by them.
I settled down to my studies and had almost forgotten
Tiruvannamalai. One morning I received a letter inviting me to come
and take a group photo with the Maharshi, as the devotees were
impressed with the good pictures that I had made. I wondered if this
could not be put off till my examinations were over. But somehow I
found myself on train to Tiruvannamalai.
When I entered the Maharshi’s presence, he greeted me with a
smile and said, “They want a group photo and they want you to take it for
them.” I was highly flattered. To have been the object of the Maharshi’s
remark was exquisitely pleasing. I arranged the group, erected my camera
and took a few pictures. Then Bhagavan posed for me in the conventional
padmasana. He sat almost statue-like, with a clean-shaven head.
Whenever I went to the Ashram, though I usually stayed only
from morning till evening, I made it a point to accompany the Maharshi
and take as many pictures of him as possible. In the few hours I spent with
the Maharshi, I felt charged with an inexplicable peace and contentment
and I always returned home elated. My short walks with him gave me the
rare opportunity of listening and taking part in the conversations.
Once a devotee who had strong faith in the Maharshi brought the
corpse of her only child right into the hall. Crying and lamenting she said,
“My son is dead. I pray and beseech you to grant him life.”The Maharshi
sat silent for a while, as was his custom, and then gently said, “Please
remove the body to a nearby cottage and let us see what happens in the
morning.”
Nothing happened and the boy lay dead. But something happened
to the minds of the relatives and they removed the corpse and cremated
it, realizing that they should not expect the dead to rise. The Maharshi
later remarked: “Even an incarnate God cannot raise all the dead. He
has no individual will so he cannot decide to perform a miracle. If miracles
happened in his ambience, he witnessed them; that was all.”
One day, as we were going up the hill, the Maharshi picked up a
small glistening pebble from the path and held it out to me saying, “Someone
from abroad has written asking for a stone taken from a holy part of this
hill. He does not know that the whole hill is holy. This hill is Siva Himself.
As we identify ourselves with the body, so Siva has chosen to identify
Himself with this hill. The seeker will obtain guidance and solace by staying
near this hill.” These words sank into my heart. It never occurred to me to
weigh or examine the aptness of what was said. The hill was holy. The
Maharshi had said it and that was what counted with me.
So long as I was meeting the Maharshi, I felt drawn and attracted
to him. It gave me immense pleasure to take pictures of him. He was
more important to me than his teachings – every little movement, every
one of his acts and gestures, was highly gratifying. I was attracted to
him like a baby to its mother.
His mahanirvana gave me a severe jolt. I was shocked. I had
done nothing in the direction of spiritual sadhana. Had I wasted all my
time taking photographs, while I should have engaged myself in trying to
understand and practise his teachings in his very presence? ‘No’, I said to
myself, ‘this cannot be true.’I was sure that I had obtained some grace
from the Maharshi. He was somehow still here. Only, we have to learn to
feel his presence. We would never be forsaken for he had himself assured
us that he was not going away.
100
R. Narayana Iyer did personal service to Sri Ramana. He wrote
a number of articles in The Mountain Path under the pen name
Vishnu. When he first went to Sri Ramana as a young man, he
was a modernist and a freethinker.
In 1929, when employed as Sub-Registrar at Chetput, a town 30

miles from Tiruvannamalai, I was an out-and-out skeptic with no religion in
me, scoffing in my references to sadhus, sannyasis and swamis, whom I
considered impostors and parasites on society, who exploited the credulous
folk for personal ends.
My only friend and constant companion was Dr. Ramakrishna
Iyer, son of Lakshmi Ammal, a friend and playmate of Sri Bhagavan in his
boyhood days at Tiruchuzhi.1 He was well acquainted with Bhagavan and
an occasional visitor to the Ashram. He once asked me to accompany him
to Tiruvannamalai during the festival of Karthikai Deepam.2
The pomp and pageantry of the temple festival had no attraction
for me, yet I agreed, not wishing to hurt my friend’s feelings. However, I
requested him to let me stay with my parents, who had gone for the festival
and were staying in the town. He agreed. But on seeing the number of
R. Narayana Iyer 259
persons huddled in a small house in the town, I consented to stay at the

Ashram, which was less crowded. On the way, I repeated my opinion
about the so-called holy men and said to Dr. Iyer, “I will not come in or join
in any of your ‘foolish acts’. If by chance I meet your Swami, I will not
prostrate before him. I mean no insult but I cannot do what is against my
conviction.”
We walked in. A man in a white loincloth, a towel suspended on
his shoulder, a kamandalu in one hand and a walking stick in another,
stopped in his walk on seeing us. My friend hastened his steps and I
slowly followed. He was greeted very kindly and was asked about the
welfare of his mother and brother. Out of courtesy I looked at the
Maharshi.What a wonderful face and what a welcoming smile; bewitching,
fascinating and a powerful look too!
In a moment I was at his feet on the gravel ground! I soon
regained my self-possession and felt ashamed. With a pleasing smile he
said, “You have a couple of days’ leave, is it not so? You can stay in the
Ashramam.” I dared not say anything. I was dazed. Soon I recovered
and wanted to find out if he had written any books. I got a copy of
Reality in Forty Verses in Tamil. I tried to read the first stanza. I could
not follow. The words seemed too closely packed and somehow jumbled
together to form a stanza. I was flabbergasted. “What”, thought I, “can
he not say what he has to say in some intelligible language?” Someone
nearby said that it had been arranged that the Maharshi himself would
explain to us the Forty Verses that night.
At night, the Maharshi sat on a dais inside a shed containing his
mother’s samadhi. About half a dozen of us were seated on the ground
before him. A solemn stillness pervaded the air. There was absolute silence.
Maharshi read the first stanza. The mere reading of the stanza made the
meaning as simple as simplicity itself ! Stanza by stanza he read and
explained in a voice that was so sweet and melodious and coming as
though from ‘somewhere’. The climax came. Explaining one verse he
said, “God cannot be seen with our eyes or known by our sense
perceptions. This is what is meant by the saying: To see God is to become
God.” A stalwart person with a severe expression named Dandapani
Swami, interposed:“Is Bhagavan saying this out of personal experience?”
The question asked bluntly with such naivete was answered with
equal candour: “Else would I dare to say so?” What takes so much time to
think flashed upon me in a moment. God cannot be known by our sense
faculties. The only way was to become God. If God were to appear before
one in flesh and blood here He is. My body experienced a thrill from
somewhere deep down in me. Again and again, thrill after thrill quivered
and shook my frame. I went out to compose myself.
Well, I seemed caught in a net! The more I was with him; the
more I wanted to be with him. But I was shortly transferred to Arni, another
town within the same radius of thirty miles. Here I missed the company of
the doctor friend. Losing all delight in all other things, I turned the monthly
visits to the Ashram to weekly ones, coupling Sundays with other holidays.
And I was always welcome at the Ashram.
Sri Bhagavan had his head shaved once a month on the full moon
day. Natesan was the barber who used to do this service. Bhagavan sat on
a stool and Natesan would stand and shave him. Once Sri Bhagavan
suggested to Natesan in all seriousness that it would be more comfortable
for the barber to sit on the stool while he himself would sit on the floor!
I used to translate from Tamil to English Bhagavan’s replies to
letters received by him. I had made friends with the attendants, Madha-
vaswami, Satyanandaswami, Krishnaswami, Rangaswami and others.
They did not protest when I gradually introduced personal services to Sri
Bhagavan, such as massaging his legs, fomentations, etc.
There were occasions when his muscles became rigid or painful.
After his work like cutting vegetables and directing the task of the
kitchen workers in the early hours of the morning, he would be on his
couch in the hall sitting there or just reclining like a statue cut in alabaster
or like one posing for a painter or sculptor. Sitting in this manner all day
made his muscles hard and inflexible and so he required some massage.
Thus, by slow degrees a sort of familiarity and intimacy grew up between
Bhagavan and me.
Once I asked, “Bhagavan, you left your home in Madurai where
your relatives had been treating you with love and kindness and spending
money upon your education. You misappropriated their money for your train
fare to Tiruvannamalai. You sneaked your way to the railway station so as
not to be noticed by anyone. You posed yourself as a pilgrim who had lost his
kit. Was all this straightforward and proper?” He was silent for a while and
then replied, “This can be explained. It is said in the Kural3 that even
falsehood is akin to truth when it is unblemished good and harms none.”
I once told Bhagavan, “I have been here for many years. People
meditate and get into samadhi. I close my eyes for a minute and the mind
travels round the world ten times and so many long forgotten things come
up.” Upon this he said, “Why do you concern yourself about others? They
R. Narayana Iyer 261
may meditate or sleep and snore. Look to yourself. Whenever the mind
goes astray bring it back to the quest.”
Once a few very learned Sanskrit scholars were seated in the hall
discussing portions of the Upanishads and other scriptural texts with
Bhagavan. I felt in my heart, how great these people are and how fortunate
they are to be so learned and to have such deep understanding and ability to
discuss with our Bhagavan. I felt miserable. After the pandits had taken
leave, Bhagavan turned to me and said, “What?” looking into my eyes and
studying my thoughts, “This is only the husk ! All this book learning and
capacity to repeat the scriptures by memory is absolutely of no use. To
know the Truth, you need not undergo all this torture of learning. Not by
reading do you get the Truth. Be Quiet that is Truth. Be Still, that is God.”
Then very graciously he turned to me again, and there was an
immediate change in his tone and attitude. He asked, “Do you shave
yourself?” Bewildered by this sudden change, I answered trembling that I
did. “Ah”, he said, “For shaving you use a mirror, don’t you? You look into
the mirror and then shave your face; you don’t shave the image in the
mirror. Similarly, all the scriptures are meant only to show you the way of
Realization. They are meant for practice and attainment. Mere book
learning and discussions are comparable to a man shaving the image in the
mirror.” From that day onwards my long-standing sense of inferiority
vanished once for all.
Once I cried and told the Maharshi that I knew nothing about
Vedanta nor could I practise austerity, being a householder. I prayed to him
to help me by showing the Reality or the way to it. I also frankly told him
that his method of Self-enquiry was too hard for me. He then graciously
said, “You know Ulladu Narpadu [Truth in Forty Verses]. It imparts Pure
Truth, deals with it and explains it. Go on reading it verse by verse. The
words of the verses will in course of time vanish and Pure Truth (sat) alone
will shine, like the snake relinquishing its skin and coming out shining.”
One day I felt puzzled by the teaching that everything in the world
is maya or illusion. I asked Bhagavan how with the physical existence
before our eyes we can all be unreal and non-existent? Bhagavan laughed
and asked me whether I had any dream the previous night. I replied that I
saw several people lying asleep. He said, “Suppose now I ask you to go
and wake up all those people in the dream and tell them they are not real,
how absurd would it be! That is how it is to me. There is nothing but the
dreamer, so where does the question of dream people, real or unreal, arise;
still more of waking them up and telling them that they are not real. We are
all unreal, why do you doubt it? That alone is real.” After this explanation
I never had any doubt about the unreality of the objective world.
About the jivanmukta, Bhagavan said, “The jivanmukta is one
without any thoughts or sankalpas. The thought process ceases completely
in him. Some Power makes him do things. So he is not the doer but the one
who is made to do.”
Bhagavan’s compassion has graced my life many times – On the
day my wife died, 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 after the body was burnt to white
ashes, it started raining again. In 1942, I wanted to get my daughter married.
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.
. It is our greatest fortune that the Supreme Consciousness appearing
in the garb of a human body graciously undertook to come down to our
level of understanding and bore the tremendous task of imparting to us the
atma vidya. The contact and impact that I have had with Bhagavan
have been such as to make me feel that knowingly or unknowingly
I must have done something in the course of my lives to deserve
this unique blessing.
1. Birthplace of Sri Ramana.

2. Refer annexure – II, p. 411.
3. An ancient Tamil classic.
101
Suddhananda Bharati was a patriot who worked in the field of
Tamil literature, journalism and social reconstruction, during
the 1920s and 30s. His Ramana Vijayam (1931) is Sri Ramana’s
first biography in Tamil. His Arul Aruvi (Torrents of Grace)
contains songs dedicated to Sri Ramana.
My last political speech was delivered in Tuticorin under the
presidency of the heroic Chidambaram Pillai. As I was addressing the
Suddhananda Bharati 263
mammoth meeting in the Vattakinar Maidan, tears flowed from my eyes.

My subject was politics and I was speaking religion: “The spiritual India is
already free. The material India shall be free through spiritual force. Start
mass prayers and meditations. Purify and electrify your souls by yoga.
Send out waves of good and great thoughts. Send out the message of the
Upanishads. The waves shall transform the thoughts of humanity. The
Silent Force of a Silent Sage is working behind the destiny of India.”
I felt this and had a vision of this clearly. I came down the platform
and closed myself in meditation for a day. The vision was confirmed. The
need of the hour, I wrote to Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni [No. 91] was
“Yoga and silent development of power.”
By then I had the darshan of Maharshi Ramana. I hurried to
him finishing my political sojourn. I reached Sri Ramanasramam and
entered the small room adjoining the Mother’s shrine. Ganapati Muni
stood up exclaiming, “Welcome, Welcome.” Ramana’s gentle voice said,
“Let Bharati come in.” I saw no human form. I felt dazed. Effulgence
enveloped me. My mind disappeared into silence. I sat down, closed my
eyes and entered the inner cave of my heart. An hour passed like five
minutes. I came back to myself, opened my eyes and saw Ramana’s
lotus eyes riveted on mine. He appeared like a linga spreading rays of
burnished gold. After all these years of sadhana, here I experienced a
delightful inner reality which was beyond words and thought. I caught
hold of the Master’s feet and shed tears of delight singing with Saint
Manickavachakar1, who sang: “Today Thou hast risen in my heart like
the Sun destroying darkness.” The Muni congratulated me saying, “Like
myself, you have found the right guru in the right place!”
B. V. Narasimha Swami writes in his book Self Realization:
Contact with the Maharshi made Bharati feel more introverted;
his egotism sank so low that he began to refer to himself in the third person.
In this way he spent six months (in 1929) at Tiruvannamalai. Later he
wrote a brilliant piece of poetic prose Ramana Vijayam, every line of
which breathes intense devotion to the Maharshi.
1. A great Tamil poet of 9th century.

102
Ramanapadananda, born as V.S.Kuppuswami Aiyengar, came to
Sri Ramana in 1928, after many years in business.
I was a broker and my business took me all over India. Once,
when I was in Kashmir, I came to hear of Sri Bhagavan and his greatness.
So, soon after my return to Madras, I went to Tiruvannamalai and proceeded
to the Ashram. When I saw Sri Bhagavan he was sitting on a bench inside
a room thatched with coconut leaves put up over his mother’s samadhi.
This was in January 1928 when the Ashram consisted practically of this
structure alone and nothing else.The moment I saw him I was overcome
by an inexplicable feeling of joy and devotion. I burst into tears immediately
and could not stop them for a long time. I had had a chequered career and
I had no peace of mind. But in Sri Bhagavan’s presence I experienced
complete peace of mind. I also experienced an extraordinary bliss.
Although I had to return to Madras, my heart was with Sri
Bhagavan. So I visited him again in 1930 and was blessed by him with a
smile and a piercing look. This time also I was overcome by an uncontrollable
flow of tears of joy. The same thing happened when I visited the house at
Tiruchuzhi in which Sri Bhagavan was born.
In 1930, I proceeded to north India on a sudden impulse. I went to
Varanasi, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badarinath. At Badarinath I met Swami
Tapovanam [No.82] who was impressed by my devotion to Sri Bhagavan so
much that he composed a sloka in Sanskrit in which he invoked “Sri Bhagavan’s
blessings on Ramanapadananda who sheds copious tears at the very mention
of the name.” At Varanasi I was advised to wear the robes of sannyasins, as
.
a means of obtaining alms easily. I continued to wear them. But once when I
came before Sri Bhagavan in them, he burst out laughing and said, “Giving up
the ego is the real sannyasa, not the wearing of ochre robes.” At once I
discarded them and have since then worn only white.
Having been convinced that Sri Bhagavan was the substratum of
the universe and the most glorious avatar that has been witnessed till now,
I felt that it was my duty to make his greatness known everywhere. With
this object in view, I resigned my post in the well-known firm of ‘Bombay
Company’ at Madurai. I next proceeded to celebrate Ramana Jayanti
(Bhagavan’s birthday) at various places with puja, music, discourses,
Ramanapadananda / A.N.S. Murthi 265
processions, etc. I even proceeded to Ceylon, Burma and Malaysia and

celebrated Ramana Jayanti or Ramana Mela or installed Sri Ramana’s
portraits at all the places I visited.
Once I met Sri Bhagavan on his way up the hill and prostrated
myself before him and said, “I have now had Sri Bhagavan’s darshan, I
can go.” Upon this he smiled and said, “Whose darshan to whom? Why
don’t you say that I had your darshan?
It is Sri Bhagavan’s grace which finally brought me to the Ashram
to spend my last days near him.
103
Col. A.N.S. Murthi’s mother’s hometown was Tiruvannamalai.
He met Sri Ramana as a young boy.
Whenever I stayed with my mother in her hometown Tiru-
vannamalai, I used to climb up the sacred hill and go to the Virupaksha Cave
where Sri Ramana was staying. My mother used to say that this Brahmana
Swami, as he was then called, was unique in that he had attained Self-
realisation when he was a teenaged boy. He had by then become quite
famous in the town.
On one occasion, the Swami was speaking about monkeys sitting
very near him as though they were human beings. He would refer to one
as the ‘leader’ and eulogise his qualities of head and heart while the monkey
would grin and make faces at us as though he was not pleased with our
manner of receiving the Swami’s remarks. It was amazing to see the Swami
offer food in his hand and the grimacing monkey come and take it from his
hand as from a parent’s. How well behaved they were with him! Although
the next moment they hopped off and went away bouncing over the rocks
for their usual, wild, carefree life!
I saw the Swami again on the hill, while studying at college. One
day, I took a train from Vellore and went to him.The Swami’s golden skin
seemed to shine more than ever before, and I could feel his benign eyes
cool and soothe my body which had become hot in the midday summer sun
as I climbed up to his abode. After partaking of the fruit he gave and
prostrating for his blessings, I went back to my college, and soon forgot all
about him perhaps in the flush of success and in the attractions of the
metropolis, Madras, where I was studying.
It was many years before I saw him again.Though I had read

some of his Tamil works and newspaper articles about him, I had also
read works by Charles Bradlaugh and others on atheism, besides quite a
few articles on sadhus being the curse of our country, etc. Therefore,
when I went to him for his blessings I was not without a critical mind.
And so when I saw him from a distance reclining on a sofa, I, with my
ideas of asceticism, at once revolted. I did not prostrate before him, nor
did I go to sit near him. I sat afar challenging him mentally to call me if he
cared to remember me or if he could read my mind. He did not, except
for looking at me for a second with the almost fearfully blank but piercing
eyes of a stranger. I hurriedly left the Ashram.
The temple he was said to be constructing to perpetuate his
mother’s memory, the cheques he was said to be signing,1 the beating he
once received from dacoits and many other things I heard from the crowd
and from the town mayor, with whom I stayed, added to my doubts and I
gave him up.
One day when I went to draw some books from a library in
Bangalore, a youngster working there, perhaps to express his admiration
for my lectures which I gave occasionally on various subjects, quickly
drew from one of the shelves The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Maharshi by Arthur Osborne [No.40] and requested me to read it. On
seeing the title, I almost threw it back, but somehow within a split second I
decided not to. I took it home, where it lay among many other books for
quite some time. And then one evening, when I had the leisure, I opened it
and, to my own amazement, thereafter I carried it about with me and read
it with avidity and reverence like the Gita.
I found page after page a source of revelation and comfort. I
found answers to all my queries and doubts, not only about life in general
but also about the lives of saints I knew, and particularly about Brahmana
Swami of my boyhood days, who later became known as Bhagavan
Ramana Maharshi, but to whom I had become blind till Arthur Osborne
opened my eyes.
1. How misinformed the writer was at that time to believe that Sri Ramana
was signing cheques.In fact, after leaving Madurai, Sri Ramana never put
his signature anywhere as he felt that he had no individual identity of his
own. Even on the will he executed in 1938, he drew a small line and made
four cross marks as a token of his signature before the sub-registrar, who
had come to the Ashram for registration of the will.
V. Kameswara Rao 267
104
V. Kameswara Rao, a government employee, met Sri Ramana
in the late 1940s, after revelation in a dream.
Once I had a dream in which a saintly old man with a radiant smile
beckoned me to him. I told my wife about my dream, but could not identify
the saint I had seen. Could it be Ramana Maharshi, about whom I had read
in the book Self Realization?1 I asked a friend of mine, who often went to
Sri Ramanasramam, whether he would take me with him and he agreed.
We set off that very day, arriving at the Ashram next morning.
We went to the hall and there on a couch sat the Maharshi,
the saint of my dream. I felt that I was in the presence of God. I fell
prostrate before Bhagavan (for this was the name my friend used in
addressing him). A group of men and women were seated silently on the
floor on either side of him. Close to him sat an elderly bearded man binding
a small book.
Bhagavan asked me whether I had had my coffee. So I went out,
had my bath and breakfast.When I got back I found that Bhagavan himself
was stitching the book. I wondered why he should do it, and then I noticed
how carefully he worked at it and showed the bearded man how to do it.
As a government servant I had to pass an examination in a
second language within a prescribed period. I decided to take it in Tamil,
although I knew very little of the language. I was a bit worried about it
and wanted Bhagavan’s blessings for my success.When I told my
problem to Bhagavan, he replied ‘parava illai’ (don’t worry), which
made me feel very happy. He advised me to take the little book Nan
Yar? (Who am I?) and read it with the help of a Tamil tutor.
Next morning, I went and prostrated before Bhagavan and asked
his permission to leave. He gave it but asked why I was in such a hurry.
My friend expressed a doubt whether I would be able to go that day, in
view of what Bhagavan had said; but I had to get back. I bought the books
from the Ashram bookstall and went to the station to find a two-day strike
on the railway. When we went back and told Bhagavan about it, he smiled.
Two days later when I asked for leave to go, he said, ‘Very well’.
This time we walked to the station and a cart followed us with our baggage.
When we arrived, the train was already in but the cart was not yet in sight,
so I thought I would miss the train. I went to the stationmaster and
told him that this was my second attempt to leave the Ashram and asked
him to detain the train for a few minutes till my baggage arrived; he agreed.
When I got home, I engaged a tutor and stayed at home during
the summer recess of the law courts, for reading Who am I? in Tamil.
The written test came along. I had to translate an English speech into
Tamil. I cleared the test without much difficulty.Then there was the
more frightening oral test in Madras, but it also was made very easy
and I passed that too.
In February 1949, my eldest son had a severe attack of smallpox.
After a few days the doctor warned me that many people were dying of it
and the chances of recovery were slight. I sat at the boy’s bedside reading
religious poems so as to keep his mind on God, since he was not expected
to live. Then, the idea suddenly came to me to ask Bhagavan for his blessings.
So I wrote to him: “I pray for your blessings on the suffering child and his
parents.”
Early next morning my sister, who had been taking her turn sitting
by the boy during the night, told us that she had a vision of Ammavaru (the
spirit of smallpox) leaving our house and asking her to take care of the boy.
I also rece ived a letter from the Ashram stating, “Prasadam (sacred ash)
is sent herewith with Sri Bhagavan’s gracious blessings for your child laid
up with pox.” The letter thrilled me. But how did Bhagavan know that my
son had smallpox? Anyway, my son survived and is in good health. My
faith in Bhagavan increased enormously as a result of this, because it was
a matter of life and death for my boy and Bhagavan gave him life.
In March, 1949 a big ceremony was held at the Ashram for the
consecration of the temple over the samadhi of Bhagavan’s mother. I
decided to go and take my wife and my mother with me. A car was waiting
at the door to take us to the station. Suddenly I felt that I should not go. My
wife and mother naturally protested. Everyone was annoyed but I merely
said, “Perhaps Bhagavan doesn’t want me to see the function. I am sorry
but I can’t help it.”
At about nine o’clock that evening I received a telegram that the
only son of my sister was dangerously ill with meningitis, and that I should
send my mother there at once. I put her on the train together with my
sister. On arrival, the sister wrote me a frantic letter saying that the case of
my nephew was hopeless and the only chance of saving him, if at all, was
to invoke the blessings of Bhagavan. So, I again wrote to the Ashram.
In reply I received Sri Bhagavan’s blessing for the child and his
parents. My nephew recovered. We understood then why I suddenly had
V.B. Athavale 269
to cancel my journey to Tiruvannamalai. If we had gone, the telegram

would not have reached me, my mother and sister would not have gone in
time, and I would not have written asking for Bhagavan’s blessings. My
erratic decision, prompted by something unknown to me, saved the child.
1. First biography of Sri Ramana (1931) by B.V. Narasimha Swami.
105
Prof. V.B. Athavale of Kirloskarvadi (Maharashtra) was a Gita
scholar. He wrote many articles for The Call Divine.
I had the good fortune of meeting Ramana Maharshi in April 1944,
and observing for one week his state of Supreme Consciousness, where
worldly knowledge appears insignificant.
I had prepared a genealogical chart of some 350 persons mentioned
in the Rig Veda. I intended to show this chart to Ramana Maharshi and talk
to him about my Gita study. But when I found that no one talked in the hall,
I dropped the idea and settled not to talk about it unless the Maharshi showed
his intention. Next day, when I entered the hall at 8 a.m., I was surprised to
find that the Maharshi had asked one of his devotees to hand over a Gita
book to me, which contained 746 verses instead of the normal 700, and to
ask me what I had to say about the difference. Thus I got the chance of
opening the Gita topic. To avoid the disturbance of peace in the hall, the
Maharshi asked me to meet a pandit in the afternoon, and talk to him about
the Gita, and that the pandit should tell the Maharshi about it later.
I talked to the pandit for four days. One day, the Maharshi
saw my genealogical chart and asked me what I had to say about
‘tenaiva rupena chatturbhujena’, the reference to the four hands
of Krishna in the 11th chapter. I explained to the pandit that Arjuna
has addressed Krishna twice as ‘Vishno’ in the 11th chapter. In the
10 th chapter we are told that Krishna was Vishnu out of Adityas.
Though this expression is usually interpreted to mean the sun in the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, it cannot be correct, because the next
words say, “I am the sun among the stars.” The Rig Vedic expression
‘Astau putraso Aditeh’ says that Aditi had eight sons and Adhyaryn
Brahmana says, ‘Narayanaya vidmahe vasudevaya dhimahi, tanno
Vishnuh prachodayat’. It means that Vishnu was called Vasudeva
patronymically.Thus Krishna and Vishnu had the identical name

Vasudeva patronymically.
The Maharshi was pleased when he heard the explanation and
he gave me his blessings for the study and suggested that I should
write a commentary on the Gita. On April 24, I informed the Maharshi
that I was leaving in the evening and requested him to give me his
autograph. Someone told me that the Maharshi never signs his name. I
expressed regret for my ignorance of the rule and said that I wanted
the handwriting of the Maharshi and not his signature.The Maharshi
took a pen and a piece of paper and wrote a reply to a query raised by
me mentally, thus fulfilling my desire to have his handwriting.
106
G.Lakshmi Narasimham, B.L., greatly helped the Ashram
management through his services during the 1930s and 40s. He
translated into Telugu Five Hymns to Arunachala and Reality in
Forty Verses, works of Sri Ramana.
My contact with Bhagavan began in 1930, and I spent a
continuous period of three years at Sri Ramanasramam. It was a great
blessing.
I was a science graduate. I had learned about the atomic structure
of the universe and how the matter finally resolves into energy, and that the
mind also is a form of energy. So the entire world of the mind and the matter,
when traced to its source, is one uniform Energy or God, or whatever you
choose to call it.
This was the attitude of my mind when I first went to Sri
Ramanasramam. Bhagavan was then translating his Ulladu Narpadu into
Telugu. After completing it he gave the manuscript to me and said, “You are
an Andhra: see if there are any grammatical mistakes in it.” It was this
translation which made my mind turn inwards and set it on the right path.
The essence of what Bhagavan said in my talks with him was:
“You say that on final analysis all that I see or think or do is one; but that
really comprises two notions: the all that is seen; and the ‘I’ that does the
seeing, thinking and doing, and says ‘I’.Which of these two is the more
real, true and important? Obviously the seer, since the ‘seen’ is dependent
on it. So, turn your attention to the seer who is the source of your ‘I’ and
G. Lakshmi Narasimham 271
realize it. This is the real task. Up till now you have been studying the
object, not the subject. Now find out for what reality this ‘I’ stands. Find
the entity which is the source of the expression ‘I’. That is the Self, the
Self of all selves.”
This direct, simple teaching was like a tonic to me. It swept away
the unrest and confusion that till then had haunted my mind. It is, of course,
the essence of Ulladu Narpadu and the central theme of all Bhagavan’s
writings. The simplicity of it made me burst out, “Then Bhagavan, Self-
realization is very easy, just as you say in the poem Atma Vidya!”
Bhagavan smiled and said, “Yes, yes, it seems so at first, but there
is a difficulty. You have to overcome your present false values and wrong
identification. The quest requires concentrated effort and steadfast abidance
in the Source, when reached.” However, while warning me, he also added
words of solace: “But don’t let that deter you. The rise of the urge to seek
the ‘I’ is itself an act of Divine Grace, for which one has to pray.”
Once my mother said to Bhagavan, “You are God, kindly help
me.” He replied, “I, a God – I am only a believer in God’s existence. Don’t
say I am God. Then everyone will try to pick a hair of mine.”
My three-year old son suffering from acute liver ailment was taken
to the Ashram for a few days but died after two months. The incident was
brought to Bhagavan’s notice. When Bhagavan appeared in dream to a
close relation, he asked Bhagavan: “The child died even though he was
brought to you.” Bhagavan replied, “So many clients come to the lawyer in
your family. Does he not always say, “I will do my best.”? Does he always
win the case? So is the case with God also.
When a devotee failed in his attempt to get a suitable bridegroom
for his daughter, he sought Bhagavan’s help. He was given a Tamil verse
for chanting a certain number of times daily. The verse was a prayer to
Siva to take Parvati as his consort. After a month or two the devotee
succeeded in celebrating his daughter’s marriage.
My daughter was also of marriageable age and I thought of
following the same device. For getting Bhagavan’s clearance in the matter
I wrote down the verse on a piece of paper and showed it to him saying
whether there was any mistake in it. Bhagavan saw through it and asked,
“Why do you want this? You need not do all these things.When the time
comes, the bridegroom himself will come and take her away by hand.” I
gave up the idea; and my daughter was married as predicted by Bhagavan.
In December 1930, my brother’s newborn daughter was brought to
the Ashram for being named by Bhagavan.The two names familiar to him
were Lakshmi and Saraswathi. So, looking at the baby Bhagavan said, “Why
not give her the name Saraswathi?” When told that there was already one
Saraswathi, he named her Bala Saraswathi (Bala means younger).
Bhagavan insisted on parayana (repetition of sacred texts). He
felt that though one may not be able to understand them in the first instance,
gradually the ultimate meaning would flash by itself. Bhagavan also said
that writing once is equivalent to reading ten times.
In the early 1930s, a dog called Jackie fell sick. Bhagavan arranged
a soft bed for it in the hall and was tending it affectionately. After a few
days it got more sick and started emitting a bad smell. It made no difference
to Bhagavan’s attention on it. Finally, it expired in his hands. It lies buried in
the Ashram precincts, with a small monument over it.
107
P.V. Sastri, a lawyer, came to Sri Ramana in 1945 in the after-
math of death of his 23-year-old married son.
The event was so terrible and caused such grief that I thought I
would not survive it. I neglected practically all my worldly duties for some
time. Later, I got somehow attracted to Sri Ramanasramam and went
there with my whole family. Having read about Sri Krishna’s bringing His
guru Sandipani’s son back to life, we were so mad as to think to get our son
restored to life by the grace of Bhagavan Sri Ramana.1
We reached Tiruvannamalai and entered the hall where Bhagavan
used to sit. Our one idea was to beseech him to bring our son back to life; but
despite our intense desire we found that we could not open our mouths to
speak. We simply sat silent till Bhagavan rose for dinner and everyone went
out. Then we too went back to the place where we stayed. We went to the
hall again in the afternoon with the same purpose but with the same result.
In this way, we went to the hall each morning and afternoon
continuously for seven days to implore Bhagavan to bring our son back to
life but we could not utter a word in his presence. On the eighth day we
talked it over together after coming out of the hall and decided that it was
no use staying any longer since our purpose had not been fulfilled, and we
decided to leave next morning.
At this time, a gentleman Subbarao met us. He was formerly a
pleader at Nellore and had come to Tiruvannamalai and settled down as one
P.V. Sastri 273
of the resident devotees. We became friends perhaps because I also was a

pleader. He asked me what we were talking about, and I told him the whole
story. I admitted that we felt peace in Bhagavan’s presence, but the moment
we left the hall our grief bursts out again like a volcanic eruption; and yet, we
were unable to speak out and put our desire before Bhagavan.
Subbarao promised to take us to Bhagavan next day and introduce
us to him. We agreed. The next day, on being introduced, we told Bhagavan
about our grief and in a general way asked for his help. Bhagavan nodded his
head and said, Seri, Seri (All right, all right), but we still found ourselves
unable to talk any more, still less to tell him what it was that we really wanted.
Again, we felt constrained to sit there speechless. That evening we decided
to leave, since even the intervention of Subbarao had not helped us.
But Sri Ramana would not let us go. A thought occurred to me
that I should buy some books published by the Ashram. When I went to the
bookstall, the gentleman in charge was in meditation but opened his eyes
immediately and asked us to come in. On being questioned by him, I repeated
the whole story. He said that the Maharshi was capable of bringing the boy
back to life, but since the boy was a highly religious and a devout young
man he would have gone to better regions and would not like to come back
to us. I assured him that he loved us so much and we loved him so much
that he would really come back, if it were possible. The gentlemen then put
me another question.
“Suppose Bhagavan brings him back to you and then both of you
die, what will the position be then?” This question dispelled the thick cloud
of illusion that had enveloped us and at last we saw that our attempt to get
our son back was sheer madness. I felt at the time and feel even now that
it was not the bookseller talking to me, but really Sri Bhagavan was speaking
through him.
We abandoned the hope of getting our son back to life and also
our plan of leaving immediately. We stayed for about twelve more days.
The rest of our stay at the Ashram was only for the purpose of obtaining
peace. Sri Ramana’s ‘all right’ had been meant to help us in the only
way in which a realized guru will help. His grace was bestowed on us
and he began to work silently in our hearts to remove the thick clouds
of sorrow and end the volcanic outbursts of grief. He began to instil
peace and develop real knowledge in us. Silently and slowly the grace
is still working in that direction. We were blessed with his grace and
felt uplifted in the right way.
1. The legend has it that Lord Krishna brought back in flesh and blood his guru
Sandipani’s son, who was washed away by the sea.
108
M.M. Menon from Palghat (Kerala) came to Sri Ramana in the
late 1940s. He wrote articles for The Call Divine on Advaita
and great Indian sages.
During my second visit in May 1948, I was seated in the hall a few
yards away from the couch of Bhagavan, immersed in the serenity and the
peaceful silence emanating from him. After food, I approached the young
sannyasi who was attending on Bhagavan and requested him to
communicate to Bhagavan whether he would graciously clear a doubt of
mine. Bhagavan readily consented and cast his encouraging look at me. It
was easy for me to make the request, but I felt hopelessly embarrassed to
carry out my decision. I thought that it would be an unpardonable crime to
disturb the silence of the hall by my attempt to address Bhagavan and that
the people in the hall might not look with favour at my audacity. I was
confused and did not know how to start. I perspired profusely and felt very
shy. I had no courage to open my mouth, even though I felt a great urge to
talk to Bhagavan.
After about fifteen minutes Bhagavan beckoned to the sannyasi
and asked him to tell me to go ahead with my doubt. Again I felt very
shy and nervous and could not speak. Another quarter of an hour elapsed
and still I did not address Bhagavan, when Bhagavan told the sannyasi
again to ask me what my doubt was. Seeing how merciful and interested
Bhagavan was, I could not delay any longer and I blurted out in
Malayalam: “Bhagavan! I have heard about the vichara marga of
yours, but have no clear conception of it. Is it to sit in a quiet place and
ask oneself the question ‘Who am I?’ repeatedly or meditate on that
question as on a mantra?”
On hearing my words all eyes turned towards me. Bhagavan
replied tersely and clearly in Malayalam.“No, it is not repeating or
meditating on ‘Who am I?’. It is to dive deep into yourself and seek the
place from which the ‘I’ thought arises in you and to hold on to it firmly
to the exclusion of any other thought. Continuous and persistent attempt
will lead you to the Self.”
M.M. Menon / N.V. Gunaji 275
I was overwhelmed with happiness.Though I had some vague

idea akin to what Bhagavan has said, I felt Bhagavan had initiated me and
that His Grace had descended on me. The bliss I felt could not be described.
I could not contain myself and felt like sobbing. The happiness I felt then I
am able to recall even now in all its intensity and I consider myself especially
blessed by Bhagavan. I cannot recall the incident in my mind without
realising how infinitely merciful Bhagavan was.
109
N.V. Gunaji was an advocate at Belgaum, Karnataka.
Having heard about Sri Ramana, and having a sincere desire
and determination to see him, I succeeded in getting his address and
reached the Ashram in January 1935. When I went to the hall, I found
nobody except one man who welcomed me. I enquired about Bhagavan
and was told that He had gone up the hill and that He would soon
return. In a few minutes He did. I sat in the hall before Bhagavan for
about an hour or so and found then, and ever afterwards, that Bhagavan’s
mere presence was radiating peace and happiness and that my mind
was being stilled and becoming easy and light.
As Jnaneshwar, the premier sage-poet of Maharashtra, asked for
a boon at the end of his celebrated commentary of the Gita, in the same
strain I asked Bhagavan the following boon in the words (song) of the sage
Jnaneshwar. I first explained the meaning of the song in English to Bhagavan
as follows:
“Oh Bhagavan, if you are going to give us anything, give us this
– Our ego should vanish, our sight (vision) should be focussed (on the
self), thought should drop and the world should be no more. May we get
natural happiness which depends not on the forms and objects of senses.
As salt is dissolved in water, our minds should be merged in the Self.”
Hearing this, Bhagavan was mightily pleased. He stretched himself
up and in a loud voice proclaimed, “Take, take as much as you like, get in,
get in.” The features of Bhagavan at that time were a sight for the gods to
see. I shall never forget the joyful, happy and shining feature of Bhagavan
at the time.
In March 1949, I availed myself of an opportunity to go to the
Ashram in connection with the consecretion ceremony of the newly built
Mother’s temple. I then asked Bhagavan, “How to get in and stay there
when we get in?” Bhagavan laughed, looked at me and answered, “Leave
out the body-consciousness (the idea that I am the body) and then where
is ‘in’ and where is ‘out’? All life-consciousness is One throughout.”
What a fine and beautiful answer!
110
Sister Lalita from the Nilgiris has made a couple of contributions
to The Call Divine describing her impressions while sitting before
Sri Ramana.
So calm, so still, Bhagavan Sri Ramana sits. A pale gold ivory
figure, with a slim, aged, feeble body, and the face of a child. I felt a divine
peace, the glory of stillness.
The eyes are the most remarkable feature of his face. They are
the windows of everlasting spirit.They show the shining calm of God
within their delicate shells, clear, wide open, gentle, candid eyes; yet
deep, seeing into the Self within; innocent, yet understanding; all
compassionate, yet thoroughly weighing and understanding the play of
life. At times these eyes rest in mild scrutiny of the people around, singling
out for a moment one or another of the crowd, then pass on with complete
detachment, yet, with a gentle withdrawal, a wish to make others content.
Sometimes in deep thought he sits, chin resting on hand, the spirit
withdrawn to unknown heights. Sometimes in a gentle soft voice he
speaks a few words to someone whose thought beckons his attention.
What has this silent abstracted man to give to others? The fact
that there are others around him proves that he has something to give.
These are the thoughts I got, seated on the floor, in that quiet
room presided over by that silent figure.
111
C.V. Subramania Iyer, a regular visitor to the Ashram, was
Assistant Director, Public Health, Madras.
Once four ladies came to the Ashram and sat in the hall in front of
Sister Lalita / C.V. Subramania Iyer 277
Bhagavan. One of them, an American lady, asked Bhagavan, “Can we

have your grace for our spiritual development?” Bhagavan replied, “If you
had not the grace you would not have thought of coming here.”
Then the lady said, “Bhagavan, I am going back to America;
will you come there?” Bhagavan with a smile on His face and in a tone
expressing certainty replied, “I am already there. I am above time and
space.”
To an earnest enquirer Bhagavan would always say, “You are
already That, only the veil of ignorance has to be removed.” Swami
Vivekananda used to tell his followers: Don’t believe the self-possessed
teacher who says, ‘I see, but you cannot see.’ Bhagavan never observed
any secrecy with regard to His teachings.
His attitude was plain and always encouraging. He would say,
“You are already Real, you are not going to realize anything new. Your
effort must be directed towards removing the veil of ignorance by enquiry.”
Lord Arunachala chose Ramana as the suitable field or fitting
vehicle through which He could manifest Himself. Lord Krishna says
in the Gita (IV.7): “Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O
Bharata, and there is uprise of unrighteousness, I myself come forth.”
Even so Lord Arunachala chose to manifest himself as Ramana.
Accordingly, without any effort on His own part and purely through
divine will Ramana had the unique experience whereby He understood
clearly that the body is separate from the undying Self.
In all His subsequent activities Sri Ramana was merely an
instrument in the hands of an unseen power. Like an automaton, He left
a note before leaving home to His brother wherein He referred to the
call from His Father. He came to Tiruvannamalai and surrendered Himself
completely to Lord Arunachala. He lost His separate individuality and
realized that He was the one Self. When Bhagavan was once asked by
a devotee why He regarded Arunachala as His Father, He gave no reply
but just smiled.
It is a mistake to suppose that Sri Ramana performed severe
austerities. To all appearances He was doing hard tapas. But He had
already reached the goal without any effort on His part, for Arunachala
had given Him His own seat.There was no need for Him to perform
tapas. He sat silently without any effort on the Aruna Hill communicating
by silence the Divine Call to the people of the world.
112
Jagadeeswara Sastri (1894-1983) was a distinguished Sanskrit
scholar, associated with Sri Ramana for four decades. Devaraja
Mudaliar (no.35) used to call him the Sanskrit poet of Bhagavan’s
court. Sri Ramana called him Jagadeesa, indicating his affection
and closeness.
A.R.Natarajan records that in 1945 Sastri got a terminal illness
which did not respond to the best medical treatment. Sastri invoked
Sri Ramana’s grace, who had in some mysterious way a soft corner
for him. A natural poet, Sastri surrendered to Sri Ramana composing
eight exquisite pieces of poetry called Prapatti Ashtakam through
which he poured out his heart. Sri Ramana pulled him out of the
jaws of death, and blessed him with a long life.
Sastri told the following to Chhaganlal V. Yogi (no.55):
I went to Sri Bhagavan in the Virupaksha Cave1 to listen to his
spiritual talk. As the talk did not end till well after midnight, I decided to
sleep in front of the cave instead of returning to the town. This was a
brave act because in those days wild animals used to roam on the hill. I
was snoring in deep sleep. Bhagavan who felt concerned about my safety
put a pinch of snuff up my nose. I woke up startled and began to sneeze
uncontrollably. Bhagavan laughed heartily, and affectionately told me to go
and sleep inside the cave. I was so sleepy at the time that I stumbled inside
the cave and immediately fell asleep again.
Chhaganlal Yogi says that once Sastri and he were walking together
in Bombay. The tar roads of the city got very hot in summer and he
found it hard to believe that anyone could walk on them without
footwear. He asked Sastri whether his feet have not got burned walking
on the road. Sastri answered in the negative and added, “I have already
got ravi raksha (protection from the sun) from Bhagavan. I may walk
in any amount of heat but nothing ever happens to me.” Then Sastri
told him how he got ravi raksha:
One day, right in the middle of the afternoon, Bhagavan took his
kamandalu and asked me to accompany him on a walk about the mountain.
When I protested as to how we could move about in such weather, he said,
Jagadeeswara Sastri 279
“You can move just the same way as I do. Am I not a man with two
feet, just like you?” Having realised that it would be useless to argue
any more, I started walking with Bhagavan [Who never wore any
footwear.] The exposed stones were terribly hot because of the severe
heat of the sun, and walking on them made my feet burn. For some
time I bore the suffering, but when it became unbearable I cried out,
“Bhagavan, my feet are burning so much! I cannot walk one more
step. Even standing here is difficult. On all sides it is raining fire! If I
remain in this terrible heat any more, my head will crack open and I
will die.”
Bhagavan smiled and said in very quiet and deep voice,
“Jagadeesa, give up your fear and listen. You must have the bhavana
(mental conviction and attitude) that you are the sun. Start doing japa of
the mantra Suryosmi (I am the sun) with the conviction that it is really
true. You will soon see the effect of it. You yourself will become surya
swarupa, that is, you will have the characteristics of the sun. Can the
sun feel the heat of the sun?”
I followed Bhagavan’s instructions and started doing japa of the
sun mantra. In a short time, I began to feel the effect of the japa. The
severity of the heat lessened and eventually I began to experience, instead
of the severe heat, a pleasing coolness. As the burning sensation diminished,
I found that I was able to walk quickly alongside Bhagavan. Later, I was
astonished to discover that the effect of chanting this mantra was
permanent. Though I no longer chant it, I have never again suffered from
the heat of the sun. I can now walk in the summer on tar roads with bare
feet without discomfort.
Sastri was responsible for eliciting Sri Ramana’s famous Sanskrit
sloka.The story, recorded in 1948 by Suri Nagamma (no.39), as
related to her by Sri Ramana himself is as follows:
“One day in 1915, Jagadeesa wrote down on a piece of paper
‘Hridaya kuhara madhye’ and held it in his hand. When I asked him
what it was, he said that he wanted to write a sloka, but when he began it,
he could write only that much. When I advised him to write the rest, he
said that he was unable to do so however much he tried. After a time, he
went somewhere, leaving the paper under my seat. Before his return, I
completed the sloka, and wrote underneath the word ‘Jagadeesa’. I gave
it to him on his return. When he enquired as to why I had given his name
to it, I replied because Jagadeesa had begun it.”
[The sloka means: in the interior cavity of the Heart [on the right
side of the chest] the one Supreme Being Brahman alone shines in the
form of the atman with direct immediacy as ‘I’ ‘I’. Enter into the Heart
with one-pointed mind, either through self-enquiry, that is, constantly
enquiring within yourself as to who am I, or by diving deep within, or
through control of breath, and abide ever in the atman.”]
1. Sri Ramana lived here from 1899 to 1916. (See photograph nos. 3 (i) & (ii) and
4 (i) in the book.)
113
Ramanananda Swarnagiri authored Crumbs from His Table
(1937). The preface of this book states: The taste of the few
crumbs would alone be sufficient to induce the readers to seek
the bread of life itself at His hands, and serve my ambition to
create such an interest in Him and in His teachings.
In 1933 I visited Sri Avadhuta Swami at Sendamangalam, Salem.
While going round the idol of Sri Dattatreya on the summit of the hill,
where the Swami has his cave, I chanced to see a photo of a very young
ascetic, who looked like a boy just out of school, not more than twenty
years of age. The penetrating eyes and youthful appearance of the young
yogi captivated me. I was told that the sage lived at Tiruvannamalai and
was a perfect jnani.
I visited Sri Ramanasramam in March 1934 and prostrated before
Sri Ramana in the hall. Bhagavan asked me, “Who are you?” I said, “I am
Narayanaswami.” [His actual name.] He said, “Is it the body, the mouth or
the hands that represent the ‘I’ you are talking about?” and added, “you
are different from the body. You are the possessor, and the body is your
possession.” When I said, “I am different from my body, but I cannot
clearly see the line of demarcation between my body and my Self”,
Bhagavan suggested, “Put the question to your Self and you will know
who you are, tracing the source from which the ‘I’ springs.”
Sri Ramana had given me something to work on. I was satisfied
with the lesson and having purchased a copy of his Life and Teachings (in
Tamil) read it that very night at the Ashram itself. The more I read it, the
more I was attracted to Bhagavan, and his example and teachings appealed
to me immensely.
Ramanananda Swarnagiri 281
I was about to put a question to Bhagavan and just as I began to

do so, he answered me by referring me to Paul Brunton’s The Secret
Path and remarked that, as stated therein, speech only beclouded argument
and disturbed the silent communication of thought.
Sri Bhagavan was correcting and aiding some youngsters in
memorising his Upadesa Saaram. I was wondering at the futility of
coaching such youngsters who could not understand the ABC of the
philosophical verses. Though I had not uttered a single word, Sri Bhagavan
turned to me and remarked, “These childeren might not understand the
meaning of these verses, yet these would be of immense help to them,
and would be recalled with great relief and pleasure, when they come of
age and are in difficulties.”
The next day, in the company of some of my friends, I visited a
Sanskrit and Tamil scholar, who was for sometime a Sanskrit teacher in
one of the Local Board High Schools and who was living close to most
of the places where Bhagavan was reported to have spent his early life.
[The reference is to Ganapati Muni (no. 91)]. When we came to a place
where Bhagavan was said to have sat in the evenings, he took a small
quantity of the earth and smeared it on his forehead. He also dropped a
small bit of the earth into his mouth and said, “The very ground on which
such a holy person sat was sacred. His footprints were worth all the
spheres that rolled in the heaven.”
During my third visit, I saw a well-educated youth in the hall in a
meditative posture. He sat continuously for hours together and some
devotees appeared almost envious of his rapid progress. Perhaps to take
care of the doubt, Bhagavan said one day, “The boy was not meditating
upon God or Self, but praying to him [Sri Ramana] for his grace to get a
job.” He added, “Worldly people should obtain fulfilment of their desire
where it is available. I am a sannyasi without any possessions or work.”
The unemployed youth, who had overheard the conversation,
though he appeared outwardly oblivious to what was going on around
him, discovered that the cat was out of the bag.
Regarding food requirements for sadhana, Bhagavan often
remarked, “The aspirants should eat a very moderate quantity of whatever
food comes their way and not stipulate, discriminate, or pick and choose
in the matter of diet.” His insistence was on continuous one-pointed enquiry
(Who am I?), like thailadhara – unbroken flow of oil while being poured
from one vessel to another.
114
Mercedes de Acosta, a Spanish American who came to Sri
Ramana in 1938, was a Hollywood socialite and scriptwriter for
films. Long after meeting Sri Ramana she wrote the book Here
Lies the Heart, which was dedicated to: Thou Spiritual Guide –
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, the only completely egoless, world
detached and pure being, I have ever known.
A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton [No.1] had a profound
influence on me. In it I learned for the first time about Ramana Maharshi, a
great Indian saint and sage. It was as though some emanation of this saint
was projected out of the book to me. For days and nights after reading about
him I could not think of anything else. I became, as it were, possessed by
him. I could not even talk of anything else. Nothing could distract me from
the idea that I must go and meet this saint. The whole direction of my life
turned towards India. I felt that I would surely go there.
I had very little money, far too little to risk going to India, but
something pushed me towards my goal. I went to the steamship company
and booked myself one of the cheapest cabins on the S.S.Victoria.
In Madras I hired a car, and so anxious was I to reach the Ashram
that I did not go to bed and travelled by night, arriving about seven O’clock
in the morning. I was very tired as I got out of the car in a small square in
front of the Arunachaleswara Temple.1 The driver explained he could
take me no further. I turned towards the Ashram in the hot sun along the
two miles of dust-covered road to reach the abode of the Sage. As I walked
that distance, deeply within myself I knew that I was moving towards the
greatest experience of my life.
When I first entered the hall, I perceived Bhagavan at once,
sitting in the Buddha posture on his couch in the corner. At the same
moment I felt overcome by some strong power in the hall, as if an invisible
wind was pushing violently against me. For a moment I felt dizzy. Then I
recovered myself. To my great surprise I suddenly heard an American
voice calling out to me, ‘Hello, come in.’ It was the voice of an American
named Guy Hague, who had already been with the Maharshi for a year.
He came towards me, took my hand, leading me to a place beside him. I
was able to look around the hall, but my gaze was drawn to Bhagavan,
who was sitting absolutely straight looking directly in front of him.
Mercedes de Acosta 283
His eyes did not blink or move. Because they seemed so full of
light I had the impression they were grey. I learned later that they were
brown, although there have been various opinions as to the colour of his
eyes. His body was naked except for a loincloth. As he sat there he
seemed like a statue, and yet something extraordinary emanated from
him. I had a feeling that on some invisible level I was receiving
spiritual shocks from him, although his gaze was not directed towards
me. He did not seem to be looking at anything, and yet I felt he could see
and was conscious of the whole world. Hague whispered, “Bhagavan is
in samadhi.”
After I had been sitting for sometime, Hague suggested that I go
and sit near the Maharshi. He said, “You can never tell when Bhagavan
will come out of samadhi. When he does, I am sure he will be pleased to
see you.”
I moved near Bhagavan, sitting at his feet and facing him. Not
long after this Bhagavan opened his eyes. He moved his head and looked
directly down at me, his eyes looking into mine. It would be impossible to
describe that moment and I am not going to attempt it. I can only say that
at that time I felt my inner being raised to a new level – as if, suddenly, my
state of consciousness was lifted to a much higher degree. Perhaps in that
split second I was no longer my human self but the Self. Then Bhagavan
smiled at me. It seemed to me that I had never before known what
a smile was. I said, “I have come a long way to see you.”
There was silence. I had stupidly brought a piece of paper on
which I had written a number of questions I wanted to ask. I fumbled for
it in my pocket, but the questions were already answered by merely being
in his presence. There was no need for questions or answers. Nevertheless,
I asked, “Tell me, whom shall I follow – what shall I follow? I have been
trying to find this out for years.” Again there was silence. After a few
minutes, which seemed to me a long time, he spoke, “You are not telling
the truth. You are just using words – just talking. You know perfectly well
whom to follow. Why do you need me to confirm it?” “You mean I should
follow my inner self?” I asked. His response was, “I don’t know anything
about your inner self. You should follow the Self. There is nothing or no
one else to follow.”
I asked again, “What about religions, teachers, gurus?” He said,
“Yes, if they can help in the quest for the Self. Can a religion, which teaches
you to look outside yourself, which promises a heaven and a reward outside
yourself, be of help to you? It is only by diving deep into the spiritual Heart
that one can find the Self.” He placed his right hand on his right breast and
continued, “Here lies the Heart, the dynamic, spiritual Heart. It is called
hridaya and is located on the right side of the chest and is clearly visible to
the inner eye of an adept on the spiritual path. Through meditation you can
learn to find the Self in the cave of this Heart.”
I said, “Bhagavan, you say that I am to take up the search for the
Self by atma vichara, asking myself the question ‘Who Am I?’ May I ask
who are you?” Bhagavan answered, “When you know the Self, the ‘I’,
‘You’, ‘He’, and ‘She’ disappear. They merge together in pure Con-
sciousness.”
To write about my experience with Bhagavan, to recapture
and record all that he said, or all that his silences implied is trying
to put the infinite into an egg cup. On me he had, and still has, a
profound influence. I feel it presumptuous to say he changed my life. My
life was perhaps not so important as all that. But I definitely saw life
differently after I had been in his presence, a presence that just by
merely ‘being’ was sufficient spiritual nourishment for a lifetime.
I sat in the hall with Bhagavan three days and three nights.
Sometimes he spoke to me, other times he was silent and I did not interrupt
his silence. Often he was in samadhi. I wanted to stay on there with him
but finally he told me that I should go back to America. He said, “There
will be what will be called a war, but which, in reality, will be a great
world revolution. Every country and every person will be touched by it.
You must return to America. Your destiny is not in India at this time.”
Before I bid a sorrowful farewell to Bhagavan, he gave me some
verses he had selected from the Yoga Vasistha. These contained the essence
for the path of a pure life: (i) Steady in the state of fullness, which shines
when all desires are given up, and peaceful in the state of freedom in life, act
playfully in the world, O Raghava! (ii) Inwardly free from all desires,
dispassionate and detached, but outwardly active in all directions, act playfully
in the world, O Raghava! (iii) Free from egotism, with mind detached as in
sleep, pure like the sky, ever untainted, act playfully in the world, O Raghava!
When I returned from India, undiscerning people saw very little
change in me. But there was a transformation of my entire consciousness.
And how could it have been otherwise? I had been in the atmosphere of
an egoless, world-detached and completely pure being.

T.K. Sundaresa Iyer 285
115
T.K.Sundaresa Iyer (1896-1965), a school teacher at Tiruvan-
namalai, acted as an interpreter for English-speaking visitors at
the Ashram. He also helped the Ashram in regard to its corres-
pondence on spiritual matters, under the Maharshi’s guidance.
At the Feet of Bhagavan records his reminiscences.
In 1908, when I was 12 years old, Bhagavan was in the Virupaksha
Cave. My cousin, Krishnamurthy, used to go to Bhagavan everyday and
sing before him songs of devotion and worship. One day when I asked him
about his daily visits, he told me, “The Lord of the Hill Himself sits there in
human form. Why don’t you come with me?” I too climbed the hill and
found Bhagavan sitting on a stone slab, with about ten devotees around
him. Each one would sing a song. Bhagavan turned to me and asked,
“Well, won’t you sing?” I agreed. The substance of my song was: “Oh
Lord, grant that my tongue may repeat Thy Name even when my mind
strays.” Bhagavan felt happy and said, “Yes, that is what must be done”,
and I took it to be his teaching for me. From that time on I went to him
regularly for several years, never missing a day.
One day I wondered why I was visiting him at all. What was the
use? Going up the hill was a meaningless toil. I decided to end my visits.
After three months when I could suffer no longer, I ran up the hill. When I
fell at his feet, I could not restrain myself and burst out in tears. Bhagavan
pulled me up and asked, “It is over three months since I saw you. Where
were you?” I told him how I thought that seeing him was of no use. “All
right,” he said, “may be it is of no use, so what? You felt the loss, did you
not?” Then I understood that I did not go to him for profit, but because
away from him there was no life for me.
Whenever I went up the hill, I used to take some eatables as an
offering. One day I had no money. I stood before Bhagavan in a dejected
mood and said, “This poor man has brought nothing.” Bhagavan looked at
me enquiringly and remarked, “Why, you have brought the main thing. All
else is unimportant.” I wondered, not knowing what I brought. Bhagavan
said laughingly, “Don’t you understand? You brought yourself.”
In those days, Bhagavan’s figure was like a statue of burnished
gold. He simply sat and sat, and rarely spoke. He was an enchanting
personality, who shed a captivating lustre on all, and a life-giving
current flowed from him, charging all those nearby, while his
sparkling eyes irrigated all those around him with the nectar of his
Being.
The mantra ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’ had fascinated
me greatly in my early days. After coming to Bhagavan, I thought when
Ramana is himself Vasudeva, why should I worship Vasudeva separately?
I found ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya’ had the same number of
syllables. I told this to Bhagavan who gave his approval to the new mantra.
On an amavasya, as I had to perform my late father’s ceremony,
I refused to take breakfast at the Ashram along with others. Bhagavan
said as my father was already in heaven, nothing more need be done for
him and my taking breakfast would not hurt him in any way. Accustomed
as I was to the age-old tradition, I hesitated to sit. Bhagavan got up, made
me sit and eat some iddlies. From that time onwards, I gave up performing
ceremonies for ancestors.1
Once someone placed the Periapuranam in Bhagavan’s hands.
He began reading out of it. Now Bhagavan was a pastmaster at story
telling. His solo acting was ever the admiration of his devotees. His
modulation of voice of different characters, suiting gestures and postures
of each incident, were wonderfully effective. His devotees never missed a
chance of being in the hall on such occasions.
Bhagavan began with the life of the hunter-devotee Kannappan2
who worshipped Sivalinga with water carried in his mouth, flowers taken
from his hair, and beef prepared for his own meal. The way in which the
priest resented the intruding defiler of the sacred Sivalinga was embellished
by Bhagavan with his own explanations of the rites and the meanings of
the mantras used in the worship. Then came the scene of scenes. The
Lord in the Sivalinga tested the devotee by making blood trickle from the
eyes on that Linga. Kannappan ran to and fro for herbs to treat the Lord’s
eye with them. Finding them useless, he plucked out one of his own eyes
and fixed it to that in the Sivalinga. Seeing that the treatment was effective,
he ran into ecstasy of joyful dance.
When Bhagavan came to the story of how the forest devotee
was plucking out his second eye to heal the second eye of the Lord, and
of how the Sivalinga extended a hand to stop him, saying, ‘Stop
Kannappan’, Bhagavan’s voice got choked, his body perspired profusely,
his hair stood on end, tears gushed out of his eyes, he could hardly utter
a word, and there was pin-drop silence in the hall. All were dumbfounded
that this great jnani could be so overpowered by emotion and ecstasy at
T.K. Sundaresa Iyer 287
the hunter’s devotion. After a while, Bhagavan quietly closed the book,
dried the tears with the end of his towel and laid aside the book, saying,
“No, I can’t go on any further.”
About 1920, Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni came to reside at
Tiruvannamalai. He used to discuss sastras with Bhagavan and get his
doubts cleared. He was a mighty scholar, while Bhagavan was just literate,
yet the Muni would say, “Without Bhagavan’s grace, the intricacies of the
scriptures are beyond one’s power of understanding. One word from him
makes everything clear.” When Ganapati Muni would see someone sitting
in front of Bhagavan, meditating with his eyes closed, he would scold the
devotee, saying, “When the Sun is shining in front of you, why do you need
to close your eyes?”
At the Skandasram a peacock would follow Bhagavan
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 death. Bhagavan went near the cobra
and said, “Why did you come here? The peacock will kill you. Better go
away at once.” The cobra lowered its hood and slithered away.
In 1933, on my 36th birthday, I sat in Bhagavan’s presence in a
pensive mood. I addressed a prayer in Tamil to him 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 the slip of paper, I prostrated before him. He made
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 the
Maharshi. I got turned inward, and the voice of Bhagavan made me see
whatever I desired.
I was very much devoted to Sri Rama; I wanted to have his
darshan. Immediately I saw Sri Rama with Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata,
Satrughana and Hanuman. The ecstasy of the vision defied description. I
simply sat on, with the Maharshi gazing at me. Two hours may thus have
passed in pin-drop silence, lost in the vision, until it vanished. I prostrated at
the feet of the Maharshi, with tears of ecstasy in my eyes and my hair
standing on end.
Bhagavan gave us a tangible demonstration of God’s omni-
potence, omniscience and omnipresence.
Though outwardly we seemed to remain very much the same
persons, inwardly he was working to destroy the deep roots of separate-
ness and self-concern in us.
A couple from Peru, who had heard of the Maharshi’s greatness,

came to the Ashram. Being poor they had to save enough money for a few
years to become deck passengers. To the couple, the Maharshi’s presence
on the earth seemed the second coming of the Christ himself and they
longed to see him.
One evening when they sat before Bhagavan, the talk turned to
Peru. The couple was describing the seacoast and beach of their town.
Just then Bhagavan remarked, “Is not the beach paved with marble slabs,
with coconut palms planted in between? Are there not marble benches in
rows facing the sea, and did you not often sit on the fifth of those with your
wife?” This remark came as a great astonishment to the couple and as
they were wondering and were at a loss to understand as to how the
Maharshi could know such minute details, Bhagavan smiled and remarked,
“It does not matter how I can tell. Enough if you know that the Self is not
limited by space and time.”
Knowles, an Italian, well read in both Eastern and Western
philosophies once came to the Ashram and had many interesting talks with
Bhagavan. One morning, Bhagavan was describing the state of a
jivanmukta: “He is the ever-aware Self, the witness-consciousness
transcending space and time and causation, the fullness of Being. How he
is the non-actor, non-enjoyer, and yet at the same time the greatest of
actors, the greatest of enjoyers and so forth.” This was too much for
Knowles to digest. In the heat of the discussion he put a straight question
to Bhagavan, “Are you or are you not speaking to us?” Bhagavan gave
Knowles a meaningful look and said in a most emphatic tone: “No, ‘I’ am
not talking to you.” In an ecstatic mood, Knowles echoed: “No, Bhagavan
is not talking to us. He only exists. That is all.”
In the late 1930s, when Bhagavan’s Nool Thirattu (published as
Collected Works in English) was ready for the press, it was proposed that
a preface be written to it. But no one came forward for the job, each one
excusing himself that he was not qualified for the task. This drama, which
went on for long, was watched by Bhagavan quietly. At about 10.30 p.m.,
as I was passing beside the hall, Bhagavan looked at me and said, “Why
don’t you write the preface?” I was taken aback, but meekly said, “I
would venture to write only if I had Bhagavan’s blessings for the task.”
Bhagavan said, “Do write, it will come all right.” So I began writing at the
dead of night, and to my great surprise within three quarters of an hour I
made a draft as if impelled, driven by some Supreme Force. I altered not
even a comma of it, and by three O’clock in the early morning I placed it
T.R. Kanakammal 289
at the feet of Bhagavan. He was happy and approved it as all right.

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, entry dated July 20, 1936, records:
T.K.S.Iyer, a disciple, was agitated because someone in the town
had spoken disparagingly of the Master and he had failed to retort. So he
asked the Master what penalty should be paid for his failure to defend
him. The Maharshi replied, “Patience, more patience; tolerance, more
tolerance.”
1. Refer paras 2, 3 & 4, p. 158, for a similar incident.

2. Refer annexure – III, p. 412, for the story.
116
T.R.Kanakammal’s uncle Ramakrishna Iyer, a Munsif at Tiru-
vannamalai, was one of the earliest devotees of Sri Ramana. Her
father had also settled down in the town. Married against her wishes,
she never led a family life. The book Cherished Memories (originally
in Tamil) and the video Guru Ramana contain her memoires.
I have been visiting the Ashram regularly, but came to settle
permanently in 1946. A few days before shifting, I had a strange and
wonderful experience. It was my normal practice to get up at four in the
morning and spend time in meditation. One morning, when I had not risen
from the bed, I felt Bhagavan sitting beside me caressing my neck and
throat. He smiled and said, “What is it that you gave me? Why is it that I
love you so much?” All my senses were aware of Bhagavan’s presence
by my side. I have no idea how long I lay like that. Even after getting up, I
continued to be aware of some unusual feeling deep in my heart. A great
peace had taken possession of my senses. Though I carried on with my
routine activities, I was in a dazed state. My parents noticed the change in
me. They had no choice but to let me have my way, and allowed me to be
in Bhagavan’s company.
Living alone in a room near the Ashram, managing cooking and
handling many domestic chores, meant difficulties and frustrations. But
every morning my heart sang at the very thought of spending the day in
Bhagavan’s presence. Entering the Ashram I could feel a transformation
within myself. All my petty worries disappeared as if by magic. I also
found each one of my faculties slowly calming down. It is difficult to

describe this feeling. At times, it was as though I was totally detached
from my body. I was in a state of ecstasy.
Sometimes, I found Bhagavan directing his eyes at me. The
intensity of his gaze was, at times, almost impossible to bear. My mind
would get completely absorbed in the Self without any kind of effort on my
part. The peace and joy of the experience used to linger on for a long time
after leaving the hall.
One day, after I prostrated and settled down in the hall, Bhagavan’s
eyes stayed on me. Bhagavan’s gaze makes it impossible for you to
keep your eyes open. The intensity of his direct look is too much
for an ordinary human being to take. It is as though some invisible
power has entered you and made its way to the very core of your
being and there is nothing but the blissful awareness of the Self.
When this happened for a short while, I would gaze at Bhagavan
with my eyes open. But within a few seconds, my eyes would close of
their own accord and I got totally immersed in a peace, which is beyond
description. I do not know how long I would stay in that state of bliss.
When I managed to open my eyes, I saw that Bhagavan’s gaze was still
upon me. Then I saw Bhagavan getting up and going out of the hall. I
also stood up. Kameswaramma (a lady devotee) embraced me and with
tears in her eyes, said, “Kanakamma, you are indeed fortunate.
Bhagavan’s eyes were on you all the time. Not for a moment did he shift
his gaze. I was watching you and Bhagavan all the time. Bhagavan has
been extremely gracious to you today. What more can you want!” I was
unable to respond to these words because I was in a state beyond speech.
The state of my mind was indescribable. I felt a deep peace within me,
which stayed for many days afterwards. Everytime I think about that
day’s experience, I feel the same thrill of ecstasy.
One day a young, well-educated man came to Bhagavan,
prostrated and sat down. Addressing Bhagavan he said, “Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa was able to elevate Vivekananda to the state of
nirvikalpa samadhi with just a touch. Can Bhagavan do the same for
me?” Bhagavan did not say anything.The young man waited with obvious
impatience for Bhagavan’s reply. After a few minutes of silence,
Bhagavan looked at the youth and, in a soft voice asked, “You are
another Vivekananda, I presume?” The young man was taken aback.
He was at a loss for words. Greatly embarrassed, he left the hall quietly.
Srikrishnaprem 291
Bhagavan then told us, “It is difficult to appreciate the need for
self-analysis and self-criticism. The tendency is to think of oneself as perfect.
Though this person was eager to see whether I had the power of Sri
Ramakrishna, he was not bothered whether he himself merited comparison
with Vivekananda. That is because he assumed that he was perfect. Sri
Ramakrishna bestowed that rare state upon Vivekananda alone because
he was a person of rare spiritual merit.”
Once Subbalakshmi Ammal [No.68], a long-standing devotee and
a cook at the Ashram was indiscriminately plucking flowers from a bush.
Bhagavan asked, “What are you doing, Lakshmi?” She replied, “I am
plucking flowers for puja.” Pointing to the towel, which she had spread on
the ground to collect flowers, Bhagavan said, “You already have so many
flowers. Why pluck more?” The lady artlessly replied, “There are so many
flowers on this bush. I thought it would be better to gather them, rather
than let them go waste.” Bhagavan retorted, “You have already seen and
enjoyed the sight of the bush laden with beautiful flowers. Now you do not
care whether anybody else gets a chance to enjoy the same heart-warming
sight. Or may be you have some exclusive right over this bush. Did you
plant it and nurture it yourself, thus making it your personal property?”
Subbalakshmi Ammal told us that after the incident, she was reminded of
Bhagavan’s words everytime she saw a flowering bush!
117
Srikrishnaprem, formerly Prof. Ronald Nixon from England,
taught literature at Benaras and Lucknow universities before
he became a Vaishnavite sannyasi. He lived in Almora in the
Yashoda Mai’s ashram. The story of his visit to Tiruvannamalai
in 1948 is as told by his friend Dilip Kumar Roy (no. 8).
He entered the room where the Maharshi was reclining and sat
down among the devotees to meditate. As soon as he did so, he heard a
voice saying over and over again, Who are you? Who are you? Who are
you? He tried to ignore it but eventually he replied mentally, “I am Krishna’s
servant.” The voice still went on to ask, “Who was Krishna?” He answered,
“Nanda’s son. He is an avatar, the one-in-all, the resident in every heart.”
Next morning, when he sat down in the hall with other devotees,
the Maharshi gave him a lightning glance and smiled at him. He closed his
eyes. Then on a sudden impulse he found himself silently asking the
Maharshi, “Who are you?” When something made him open his eyes, he
found that the Maharshi’s couch was empty. He closed his eyes again; but
in a moment he opened them. The Maharshi who was reclining in his usual
place gave him a fleeting smile and a meaningful glance.
V. Ganesan in his book Moments Remembered records:
Srikrishnaprem would always carry a shoulder bag in which he
kept in a glass-case the images of Radha and Krishna. Only while going to
bed would he remove the bag from his shoulder. He was a staunch
Vaishnavite. He once quoted ‘sarvam Vasudevamayam jagat’1 and asked
Bhagavan, “Is not this the highest ideal?”
Bhagavan nodded his head in agreement and said, “Yes, Yes! It is
an exalted state of Consciousness. Yet, who is it that thinks that all that is
perceived is Vasudeva? Is it not you, yourself? While seeing the earth,
trees and plants as Vasudeva, don’t you wish to see yourself as He? If you
who see everything as Vasudeva, learn to see yourself as Vasudeva you
will become Vasudeva Himself. If he who sees is transformed into
Vasudeva, then that which is seen automatically becomes Vasudeva!
Acharya Sankara’s drishtim jnanamayeem kritva (infuse perception with
jnana) is simply this.”
Balarama Reddy in his book My Reminiscences records:
One evening, Srikrishnaprem was asked to sing bhajans before
Bhagavan. About seventy five devotees had gathered to hear him sing. He
sang with deep, genuine devotion, even pronouncing the words with an
Indian accent. All were moved by his renditions. Bhagavan later commented,
“Here is one Westerner who embodies the intensity and devotion of a true
Indian bhakta.”
1. Everything is pervaded by Lord Vasudeva, i.e., Krishna.
118
Prof. Pryns Hopkins (1885-1970), an American social psychologist,
has authored many books on his subject. He visited Sri Ramana
after reading Brunton’s A Search in Secret India (no.1).
Pryns Hopkins / V.N. Parameswaran Pillai 293
I was requested to take my seat in the front row and an interpreter

sat next to me. The Maharshi was saying that we only know the object
through sensation derived from it remotely. Physicists have shown that in
place of what we thought to be a solid object there are only dancing electrons
and protons.
I asked, “If the outer phenomena which I perceive have no reality
apart from my ego, how is it that someone else also perceived them? For
example, not only do I lift my foot higher to avoid tripping over that stool
yonder, but you also raise your foot higher to avoid tripping over it. Is it a
mere coincidence that each of us independently has come to the conclusion
that a stool is there?”
The Maharshi replied that the stool and our two egos were created
by one another mutually. While one is asleep, one may dream of a stool
and of persons who avoided tripping over it just as persons in waking life
did, yet did that prove that the dream stool is any more real? And so we
had it back and forth for an hour, the gathering feeling amused.
The Maharshi went on to say that the essential thing is to divorce
our sense of Self from what our ego and body are feeling or doing. We
should think, “Feelings are going on, this body is acting in such and such a
manner,” but never, “I feel, I act.”
I objected, “You have told us that all the animal propensities are
attributes of the ego. If when a man attains jivanmukti he ceases to feel
responsibility for the behaviour of his ego and body, won’t they run amok
completely?” The Maharshi replied, “When you have attained jivanmukti
you will know the answer to this question. Your task now is not to worry
about it, but to know the Self.”
I said, “Here before us is the Maharshi who has attained
jivanmukti, and so has withdrawn from all responsibility for the conduct
of his ego and the body. But though he declares them to be the seat of all
evil propensities, his ego and body continue to behave quite decorously
instead of running wild.” He retorted, “Let the Maharshi deal with that
problem if it arises and let Mr. Hopkins deal with who is Mr. Hopkins.”
119
Major-General V.N.Parameswaran Pillai, O.B.E., retired as
G.O.C. of the former Travancore State (Kerala) Forces. Even
while in service he had a deeply religious bent of mind. After
sannyasa diksha in 1958 he was known as Swami Paresananda.
In 1936, I was a Captain in the Travancore State Forces and an

A.D.C. to His Highness the Maharaja. His Highness and the Royal Mother
went to Madras from where they paid a visit to Sri Ramanasramam. When
the Maharaja returned, I wondered whether it was not my bad luck that I
was not taken as A.D.C. on that tour. In the meantime, one morning my
friend Narayana Pillai, the Controller of Stationery told me that he was
starting for Sri Ramanasramam the next day and asked whether I would
like to join him. I was, however, not confident of getting permission from
His Highness at such short notice.
A few hours later, when I reported for duty at the palace, His
Highness said, of his own accord, that if I wanted to visit Sri Ramanasramam
I could go with Narayana. This sudden and unexpected permission made
me speechless for a few seconds.
Narayana and I reached the Ashram. He being a frequent visitor,
accommodation was no problem. We proceeded to the hall for Bhagavan’s
darshan. The hall was almost full with visitors. As we entered, the scene
brought to my memory, slokas from Dakshinamurthi Stotra. I felt as if
Dakshinamurthi Himself was reclining on the couch.
Bhagavan noticed us, and after a while he sat up and beckoned
me. We did not know whom he was summoning. I was a stranger, Narayana
thought he was being called and he got up. Bhagavan signalled ‘No’. When
I was pointed out and the Maharshi nodded assent, everybody was surprised
and became curious about me. I was also surprised. After I postrated he
beckoned me to come nearer and gazed at me for a while and smiled.
Then he told his attendant, “Bring that book”. It was brought and the
Maharshi presented it to me. It was a Malayalam translation of the
Maharshi’s Tamil book the Gitasaram. I was overwhelmed with joy and
devotion.
Then it was time for the midday meal. In the dining hall the
Maharshi asked me to sit in the opposite row, just facing him. While eating,
he enquired tenderly, how was the food? and so on. He also said, take
enough rice, curry, eat slowly, etc. Throughout he was talking to me only.
This made others wonder who this favoured one might be. I felt that it was
all due to some merit accumulated in past lives. “Omniscient as he is, the
Maharshi understands the heart of every one,” this belief of mine was
confirmed.
N.O. Mehta 295
Narayana was a regular visitor to the Ashram, but the Maharshi

had never spoken to him. When I received such favours from him, it was
natural for Narayana to feel that there was something lacking in him. The
Maharshi could easily understand this. The same day he presented a book
to Narayana also and made him feel gratified.
120
N.O. Mehta was a devotee from Gujarat.
Dilip Kumar Roy [No.8] and myself reached the Ashram on
February 17, 1949, and promptly went to the Maharshi’s hall. Bhagavan,
as Maharshi is universally called here, was reclining on a sofa surrounded
by a low, wooden barrier to distance the worshippers from touching him.
Close to the couch was an incense burner, which was going on all the time.
There was one more burner containing incense sticks. The purifying smoke
was rising in the air.
People were coming and going out after prostrating before the
Maharshi. But all this homage left him untouched, or was it only my illusion,
for those wonderful eyes seemed to take in everything even though they had
a faraway, distant look.
Prayers from the Upanishads were being recited by three young
disciples. I felt the magnificent rhythm of the Sanskrit language more
powerfully than I had ever felt before. The recitation was wonderful, the
intonation accomplished and ‘egoless’, making one immediately hushed to
devout silence.
I felt that I was face to face with a Reality which has
transcended all that I had dreamt of him. Here was a great sage
whose darshan was undoubtedly a privilege. I instinctively felt
that here was India at its highest, for here was the deepest
realization of the Reality transcending all mundane factors and
bringing peace which surpasses all understanding. We were in a
world totally different from the one we had left behind.
We attended the evening prayer on the eve of our departure.
There could be no farewell, for Bhagavan’s presence would never be
forgotten. As we were bidding farewell to the Ashram, a friend said that
we could not possibly leave without taking Bhagavan’s permission. We
reached Bhagavan as he was coming out of the dining hall. Our reward
was immense. Bhagavan gave us a penetrating glance of immeasurable
grace, which even now, is one of the most abiding memories of our sacred
pilgrimage. It is astonishing how Bhagavan’s presence and his usual,
apparently routine activities cast such a magic spell over all those
who are blessed to come near him.
121
Madhavi Ammal was a sincere lady devotee who wrested
diksha from Sri Ramana.
I knew fully well that Bhagavan gave no formal initiation, but I
kept on asking for it whenever an opportunity presented itself. Invariably
Bhagavan used to reply, “Who is the Guru and who is the sishya [Disciple]?
They are not two. There is but One Reality. It is in you and it can neither be
given nor taken.” 1
On March 12, 1934 I went to the hall. Only the attendant Madhava
Swami was there. When I made my usual request Bhagavan laid aside the
newspaper he was reading and sat in padmasana, quite absorbed. I then
recited a hymn of praise to the guru in Telugu and also Akshar-
amanamalai.2
Bhagavan turned to Madhava Swami and said, “She has prayed
to Sri Arunachala.” This struck me as meaning that Sri Arunachala will
give the initiation and also that Bhagavan and Sri Arunachala are not two.
Bhagavan resumed his state of absorption and I had my persistent request
for upadesa. But he continued to sit motionless. Finally, I begged of him,
“Am I not a competent person to receive upadesa? Bhagavan should
himself tell me about this.”
Immediately on speaking thus, I found a bright light emanating
from Bhagavan’s face, and the effulgence filled the whole hall. I could not
see Bhagavan’s body but only the brilliance. I shed tears in profusion. The
whole incident lasted for a few seconds. I prostrated to Bhagavan. There
was a smile on his face but no movement otherwise. After a while he
turned to me as if to ask, “Have you got rid of your mania?” He then took
a piece of paper, wrote a sloka on it and gave it to me saying, “You can
make use of it in meditation.” The sloka was: “I adore Guha the Dweller
in the Cave of the Heart, the Son of the Protector of the Universe, the pure
light of Awareness beyond thought, the wielder of the weapon of jnana
sakti and the Remover of ignorance of blemishless devotees.”
Madhavi Ammal / Shankar Rao 297
1. It is of interest here to note Sri Ramana’s response to Brunton’s request,

made in 1930, to accept him as a disciple. Brunton writes: “In my heart I
know that I come as one seeking to take up the position of a disciple, and
that there will be no rest for my mind until I hear the Maharshi’s decision. I
put my request briefly and bluntly. He continues to smile at me but says
nothing. I repeat my question with some emphasis. There is another
protracted pause, but at length he answers me, disdaining to call for the
services of an interpreter and expresses himself directly in English. ‘What
is all this talk of masters and disciples? All these differences exist only from
the disciple’s standpoint. To the one who has realised the true Self there is
neither master nor disciple. Such a one regards all people with equal eye.’ I
am slightly conscious of an initial rebuff, and though I press my request in
other ways, the Maharshi refuses to yield on the point. But in the end he
does say, ‘You must find the Master within you, within your spiritual self.
You must regard his body in the same way that he himself regards it, the
body is not the true self’. ” A Search in Secret India, chapter xiv.
2. One hundred and eight hymns on Arunachala by Sri Ramana, refer p. 425.
122
Dr. Shankar Rao, a retired District Medical Officer, attended
on Sri Ramana almost from the start of his illness.
To have served Bhagavan as a doctor is no ordinary privilege and
no ordinary experience. It was an education of the highest type, a training
of a unique character. It provided me with vivid glimpses into the human as
well as the superhuman and god-like personality of Sri Maharshi.
When I first came to the Ashram in December 1948, Bhagavan
had a small nodule under the skin above the elbow. It was removed in
February 1949. A microscopic examination revealed it to be a malignant
tumour of the flesh. The wound did not heal and after a few days a new
growth appeared.The tumour subsided a little as a result of radium
treatment, but it again began to grow. In August, the tumour was removed
with the help of surgeons from Madras. In December 1949, a small nodule
again appeared in the middle of the arm which was operated. By the middle
of February 1950, the tumour again started growing. All treatment, including
homeopathic and ayurvedic failed. The general health of Bhagavan
continued to deteriorate and the end came on April 14, 1950.
Bhagavan’s attitude towards his body was one of complete

detachment. Disease and pain left no impression on his mind. If he allowed
himself to he treated for the ailment, it was more because his devotees
wanted it than because he desired relief. His attitude was always of supreme
indifference to bodily ailments. To everyone by his side, the way he bore
the pain, which was at times extremely excruciating, without showing signs
of suffering on his face, was a wonder.
One of my friends took photographs of Sri Bhagavan one
afternoon. During the night when we both were together and I was dressing
the wound, he referred to the photos and gave a profound spiritual discourse
using the science of photography as an illustration. He said, “For taking a
picture the silver salts are coated over a film in the dark and when the film
is exposed in the camera, you get an impression caused by light outside. If
the film is exposed to light before you put it in the camera there can be no
impression on it. So is it with our jiva. When it is still in darkness, impression
can be made on it by the little light that leaks in. But when the light of
knowledge has already flooded it, no impressions of external objects can
be obtained.” In a similar fashion, he used to entertain his medical attendants
with jokes interspersed with profound spiritual education.
To watch Bhagavan and listen even to his day-to-day talk was an
education to those who were near him. There was no need to read books
on religion or philosophy. His whole philosophy and the philosophy of ages
were in Bhagavan’s life. His life was an exposition of the highest philosophy.
123
Emmanuel Sorensen (Sunya Baba), a Danish devotee, was once
referred to by Sri Ramana as ‘a natural born mystic’. He visited
the Ashram many times during 1936-46. Most of his life was
spent living in an ashram near Almora in Uttaranchal.
In 1929, when in England, Rabindranath Tagore, invited me to
India. He discerned in the simpleton’s Being a quality of Sunya-Santi-
Silence and intuitive awareness, which was felt to be congenial and
appreciated in India. The invitation gave me the needed push or pull to
venture forth simply and solitarily in India, and the proposed 3 or 4 months
stay stretched into 45 years of Himalayan ananda – grace. The solitary
pilgrim in Consciousness had come ‘Home.’ In India I read the Vedas, the
Upanishads and the writings of genuine Masters.
Emmanuel Sorensen / Lokamma 299
I heard of Sri Ramana Maharshi while in Kashmir and Tibet from

Lamas, and later from Paul Brunton [No.1] and Dr.W.Y.Evans-Wentz1.
After spending several years in the Himalayas, I came to Sri Ramana the
Maharshi in 1936 and was introduced to him by Paul Brunton. I also came
three times or more later at a few years’ interval. But the first darshan of
the Maharshi remains an unforgettable experience, especially Sri Ramana’s
casual, as it were, statement, “We are always aware,” and this made a
most powerful impact on me. It resounded in my consciousness like a
chime and continued to linger in my memory like a mantra or echo. I also
remember some passages mentioned by him from the Bible:“I am That I
am”, “Be still and know that I am God”, “Know ye not that you are God.”
I found Ramana Maharshi’s was a pure Advaita experience, and
his chief language was radiant silence, to which only mature souls familiar
with solitude could easily respond. When Sri Ramana was questioned by
officious officials and was later asked if it had tired him, he said, “No; I did
not use my mind!” He was mind-free and ego-free.2
1. He was professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford, England.

2. The reference seems to be to questions put to Sri Ramana by the Commission
which came to the Ashram in 1936 to interrogate him in regard to dispute over
the ownership of the Ashram property. For details refer David Godman’s Living
By The Words Of Bhagavan, pp.136-43.
124
Lokamma was a kitchen worker at the Ashram.
I happened to meet Thenamma (a kitchen help at the Ashram),

who had been to Sri Ramanasramam. Her accounts of Sri Ramana’s life
and teachings ignited in me a longing to visit him. My family members
were dead against my going there and this began to affect my health. At
last, the long-denied consent was given and I went to the Ashram with a
group of pilgrims.
By a mere look, Bhagavan transmitted his power. I could feel it
coursing through my veins. With eyes brimming with tears of happiness, I
kept looking at Bhagavan, who asked Muruganar, “Is she the one about
whom Thenamma was talking?”After a week, while returning, I said,
“Bhagavan, I have none to call mine except you. Please bless me so that I
may always remain in your proximity.” Just then Muruganar came in and
Bhagavan asked him to read out Upadesa Saaram to me. I begged for a
copy, which I got.
Gradually, I became a regular visitor. I used to assist in the kitchen.
One day I was to cook some dhal and curry. I came early in the morning
so as to have some more time. But Bhagavan was quicker than me. He
told me that the dhal was ready and I have to prepare only the curry.
Bhagavan asked Thenamma what she was doing, and finding that she was
preparing special food for a lady having her menses, he got annoyed and
said, “Why should she eat food cooked separately? Make no differences,
serve her the food you have prepared for all.”
After the evening meal, Bhagavan asked me whether the lady
was given the common food. As I was assuring him about it, the Ashram
manager came near and told me in whispers that in case someone else
asked me what food was served to ladies during their period I should say
that separate food is prepared for them. Bhagavan overheard the manager
and scolded him, “Why do you ask her to tell lies? The Ashram gives food
to all and makes no difference. There are no untouchables here. Those
who do not like it may eat elsewhere.”
He went on to add, “There used to be the same trouble with Mother
at the Skandasram. Here we have menses and there we had pariahs. She
would not give food to the man who brought us firewood because she was
afraid of pollution! She insisted that I must eat first, then she would eat and
then the woodcutter could have the remnants left on the ground outside the
Ashram. I refused to eat until the man had been decently fed. At first she
would not yield and would suffer, weep and and even go without food. But
I was adamant; and she had to reconcile to my standpoint. What is the
difference between man and man? Is it not correct to see God in all?”
We were all astounded. The rebuke, addressed to the manager,
went deep into our hearts.
125
Raja (V.Rajasubrahmania) Iyer was the first postmaster at Sri
Ramanasramam.
My mother and elder sister had the utmost reverence for Bhagavan.
In the first few years after Bhagavan’s arrival at Arunachala, they would
not miss the opportunity of offering food to him.
Raja Iyer / Roda MacIver 301
I first met Bhagavan in 1911. Thereafter I used to go and see him

every now and then. From 1935 onwards, I began to stay permanently at
the Ashram. The circumstances under which I became a permanent inmate
are interesting. One day, I had a dream in which I saw Bhagavan ordering
me to pull the punkah overhead. I obeyed him with great joy. During my
next visit Bhagavan looked up as soon as I had prostrated and asked me to
pull the punkah. This was surprising and I connected it immediately to my
dream. I pulled the punkah joyously for a while, when Bhagavan asked me
to stop. By this Bhagavan had gently drawn me to his service.
The rule was that the inmates should do some work in return
for the permission to stay in the Ashram. I was assigned the job of
making iddlies. The grinding involved in the process was difficult.
Bhagavan sometimes would give useful tips to make it easy. Often
Bhagavan would work with us side by side, cutting vegetables, etc. He
was very particular about avoiding waste. He showed me how to use a
ladle to avoid spilling while pouring, and how to start a fire with just a
few drops of kerosene.
In 1937, Sri Ramanasramam post office was opened and I was
appointed the first postmaster. Prior to that I used to bring post from the
town. Bhagavan humorously remarked, “Yesterday’s postman is today’s
postmaster.”
Bhagavan used to wake up at four in the morning. Till nine at night
there would be a continuous stream of visitors and his solicitude for each
of them was touching. To provide some relief, the management decided to
close the the doors of the hall for two hours after lunch. When Bhagavan
learnt about it, he sat outside the hall after lunch saying that people come to
see him from long distances; they may have some other urgent work. The
management was welcome to close the doors but he was free to meet the
visitors outside. It took a lot of persuasion to make Bhagavan relent.
126
Roda MacIver (nee Kamdin) hailed from a well-to-do Parsee family
of Bombay.
I first heard about Bhagavan in 1940 from Mrs.Taleyarkhan, a
well-known devotee. She gave me some books and photos and told me
that the Maharshi was a very great man. I could not understand the books
but I was strongly moved by the photos. I felt an urge to go and see the
Maharshi and as time passed the urge became stronger and stronger. There
was no specific reason for this urge; my position in Bombay was good,
both financially and socially, but somehow I was not satisfied. I felt restless,
eager to break off, and anxious to move on. And I did so in 1942.
The time I arrived at the Ashram, the Maharshi had gone up the
hill. I was told to wait on the footpath for his return. I was expecting to
see a man walking down the hill, but when the Maharshi finally
appeared, I couldn’t believe that I was watching a glorious sunrise
unfold: a distant glimmering of light that, as it approached, became
more and more radiant until the blazing sun itself was standing
next to me. I was overawed and humbled by this display of utter
magnificence. Standing in the glow of that radiant presence, something
shifted inside me, some new awareness manifested that I had never had
before. I was caught by him and his love, and in that moment my soul
became his.
During the next two years I was visiting the Ashram regularly.
One day in 1944 when I went into the hall, Bhagavan was reading some
papers. I sat down and looked at him. Suddenly he put away the papers
and turned his luminous eyes on me. I could not stand the gaze, so I closed
my eyes, tears streaming down my face. When I opened my eyes he was
still looking at me. My heart got flooded with joy and inner calmness!
Next morning, when I was in the hall somebody asked Bhagavan
what was the use of sitting before him, if he does not give initiation?
Bhagavan replied that initiation can be given in three ways: ‘by silence’,
‘by look’, and ‘by touch.’ When saying, ‘by look’, he looked at me. Then
I had no doubt that I had received initiation from Bhagavan, my most
revered Master!
After a month’s stay when I returned to Bombay, there was a
complete change in my life. Worldly pleasures ceased to attract me and
I wanted to be alone as much as possible. I decided to leave Bombay
and settle down at Tiruvannamalai, but did not know where to stay. But
I knew Bhagavan was guiding me and so I did not worry much. And it so
happened that two days before leaving Bombay I met my husband to
be.1 He told me to go and stay in his house in Tiruvannamalai and so I left
happily. Soon after, with Bhagavan’s blessings, we got married at Sri
Ramanasramam. Bhagavan showed visible interest in the proceedings.
From the beginning, I had a strong desire to touch Bhagavan’s
feet, but I knew this was not allowed by his attendants. I confided this
Roda MacIver 303
desire to Mrs.Taleyarkhan, thinking she would keep it a secret. But in the

hall, in front of everyone, she told Bhagavan, “Roda has a strong desire to
touch your feet.” I was so embarrassed. Bhagavan said nothing at the
time; but after lunch that day, he stopped near me, said something in Tamil
to a nearby devotee and asked him to translate it for me. The devotee said,
“Bhagavan says, why should she want to touch my feet? My feet are
always on her head.” I was overwhelmed with joy. Everyone around
congratulated me on my good fortune on getting a blessing like this. People
who had been with Bhagavan for years and years said they had never
heard him make a remark like this to anyone else.
One day I was feeling some mental agony while sitting in front of
Sri Bhagavan. He took out an unburnt charcoal from the urn and said, “Do
not burn your mind. Keep the mind as fresh and clean as this coal.” From
that time onwards I gave up worrying over any problem.
Once two visitors came to Bhagavan. One of them addressing
Bhagavan said, “My friend has taken as his guru a man who is not even a
sadhu. To show him what a sadguru should be, I have brought him here.”
Bhagavan replied sternly, “Who are you to say who is the right guru for
him? By what power can you make out what a man really is? In fact, the
guru is not as important as the disciple himself. If one worships with utmost
devotion, even a stone would become the Supreme Lord.”
Once I thought what Bhagavan needed was a pretty silver box
for the nuts he kept for his birds and squirrel friends. The little tin box he
had was old and ugly. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than
someone brought a silver box as I had in mind and offered it to Bhagavan.
Bhagavan exclaimed, “A silver box! No. Please take it back. What have I
to do with silver boxes?” While saying this, he looked at me as if to say,
‘The same would have happened to you and to your silver box!’
Maurice Frydman [No.36] once brought a glass of orange juice to
Bhagavan, who remarked, “Is that all? It will not be enough”, adding after
a pause, “for everyone!” Frydman said that he had brought it only for him
as his health was declining. However, Bhagavan would not even touch it.
Anything, not shared by all was like poison to him.
Attendant Krishnaswami would beat monkeys who played mischief
in the hall or tried to stealthily take away the fruits. Once Bhagavan told
him, “It is not the monkeys that are receiving your beatings. It is I. The
suffering is mine.” When some devotees complained to Bhagavan about
their trouble with the monkeys, he said, “All this land was once a jungle in
which the monkeys could roam about freely. It has been their natural habitat
for centuries. We are trespassers. Is it fair to complain? Why not put up

with a little inconvenience.”
1. David MacIver, the person with whom Arthur Osborne’s family had stayed in
the early forties. See first para of no.40, p. 95.
127
Meenakshi was the wife of Muruganar, an outstanding devotee
of Sri Ramana and a great poet (no. 53).
Though my marriage was celebrated in a grand manner, I hardly
had any married life worth the name. Soon after my marriage, my father
left home and became a permanent inmate of Sri Ramanasramam and
lived as Dandapani Swami. My husband who was a Tamil teacher in a
Mission School got a copy of Aksharamanamalai from my father. After
reading it he left home and reached Sri Ramanasramam and got totally
absorbed in Bhagavan. When I reached there, I found him and yet did
not find him for he was now wholly of Bhagavan, and point blank refused
to accept me as his wife.Yet I stayed at the Ashram.
In those days, the Ashram comprised just two cottages set in the
most picturesque surroundings. There was the backdrop of the Arunachala
hill in all its majesty. Bhagavan would do the cooking and I would assist
him. The inmates were only about ten and we would literally feast on
Bhagavan. Sri Ramana would teach me some new Tamil devotional song
each day, and make me recite it the next day to ensure that I had learnt the
same properly.
One day while all were meditating, my thoughts strayed. I started
wishing for a cup of coffee. Bhagavan knew everyone’s thoughts. He
said, “While everyone is meditating on the Self, Meenakshi is meditating
on coffee.” Just then Manavasi Ramaswami Iyer [No.94] arrived with
iddlies and coffee for all of us. Bhagavan jokingly said, “Meenakshi’s
tapas has borne fruit, please serve her first.”
After being abandoned by Muruganar, who would not take me as
wife even after Bhagavan’s intervention, one day I wept bitterly before
Bhagavan. He asked, “Did anyone chide you?” “No Bhagavan, I was only
cursing my fate.” With a heart brimming with love he said, “Meenakshi,
Meenakshi / Nagaiah V. Chittoor 305
why don’t you have faith in my words? What is there in the family life of
which you are so enamoured? My protection is always there for you”.
128
Nagaiah V. Chittoor was a legendary Telugu cine artiste.
Known for his films Bhakta Pothana and Bhakta Thyagaraja,
he visited Sri Ramana in the 1930s.
When my wife died, the whole world looked bleak to me.
Everything seemed like an arid desert with no oasis in sight. I would be
reading the Gita over and over again. The slightest thought of my wife
would sink me into deep sorrow. To overcome it I would let my friends
force me into giving music concerts.
One day I left my house, and wandering here and there, reached
Sri Ramanasramam. To me it was like entering the heaven on earth. The
atmosphere of profound peace which surrounded the Maharshi and which
enveloped the place sank into me. At long last, my mind knew some rest.
The majestic silence of Bhagavan ended my suffering and my self-concern
about the bereavement.
Paul Brunton [No.1] and I became friends, and time passed happily.
One day a friend from Chittoor spotted me and cajoled me into accepting
a recording programme for his film. I told him that unless the Maharshi
gave his consent, I would not budge. I had not spoken a single word to
Bhagavan all this while nor had he to me. But there was some imperceptible
yet strong bond of love between us. To leave the majestic master who
filled my heart with peace was unthinkable. Still the seeds of desire had
been sown. I was looking for an opportunity to get the Maharshi’s
permission. When the permission was sought, he said, “Yes, you can go.
There is still a lot of work for you to do.” I could not comprehend the
implications of the statement at that time. The recording assignment took
me to the film world where name and fame came to me in a big way.
I would have withered away unhonoured and unsung but for the
grace of Bhagavan Ramana. He poured new life into me. The Maharshi
had an uncanny perception of each person’s need and would lead one
along the path best suited to that person.
129
Padma Sitapati was daughter of Janaki Matha of Tanjore, a well-
known mystic and a great devotee of Sri Ramana.
My mother had instilled deep love and reverence for Bhagavan in
me. I had visited Bhagavan innumerable times since my childhood days.
My three-year-old son Janakiramana developed high fever and
lost his eyesight. It was a tragedy we could not bear. My mother came to
my house and said, “Don’t be afraid. The God of gods and protector of
our family, Sri Ramana, will restore the eyesight.” These soothing words
did not sink in. Yet out of regard for my mother, I wrote a letter to
Bhagavan explaining my predicament and seeking his intervention. A
reply came: “By the Grace of Sri Bhagavan child Janakiramana’s eyesight
will be fully restored.”
My father Dr. Ganapati Iyer was with us treating my son. As
the months rolled by our faith, except that of my mother, faltered in the
face of the stark reality. We began to question her ‘blind faith’.
It was the day of Karthikai Deepam.1 My mother performed an
elaborate pooja. As she came out of the pooja room she said, “Padma,
Sri Ramana, our Sri Ramana has restored your son’s eyesight. Take him to
Siva’s temple this evening.” Half-heartedly we went to the temple. To our
amazement and abundant joy my son prattled, “Amma! I see Bhagavan
before my eyes. I can see.” Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks.
My mother ordered us to go to Ramanasramam to express our
gratitude to Bhagavan. Bhagavan was seated on the sofa when we
entered the hall. He listened to the whole story as if he had no part at all
in restoring the eyesight. This was Bhagavan’s way; he would never
take credit for his miracles.
In the evening, I again went into the hall and sat near Bhagavan.
As it became dark my son said, “Amma, I can see only Bhagavan’s
body, not his face.” Bhagavan heard this and questioned me. I had to tell
him that even though my son could now see clearly during the day, he still
suffered partial night blindness. Bhagavan looked at my son and told him,
“Ramana, look at me properly. You can see Bhagavan’s head.” By saying
this, he completed the miracle wrought by him. My son could see Bhagavan
fully, clearly and normally. His night blindness too got cured.
1. Refer annexure-II, p. 411.

Padma Sitapati / Swami Pranavananda 307
130
Swami Pranavananda (S.Narasimham before sannyasa), uncle
of Dr. S.Radhakrishnan, former President of India, was a munshi
in Police Training College and taught local languages to Euro-
peans. Among others, he wrote Ramana Maharshi Charitramu,
Sri Ramana Stutipaatalu and Sri Guru-Anugraha Avataramu.
He was the first to translate Who am I? into Telugu.
Once I came to the Ashram from Gudivada [Andhra Pradesh].
Bhagavan asked me in a tone brimming with affection whether Kallaturi
Seetharamaiah was all right. “Who is he?” I asked. “Dr. Kallaturi
Seetharamaiah”, said Bhagavan with emphasis and gave a detailed
description about him. I was overwhelmed at the thought of his love and
consideration for the devotees. This person had visited Bhagavan only
once or twice earlier. He was not the one to talk freely with Bhagavan;
he would only offer his respects and sit quietly in a corner.
A fortnight before Bhagavan’s mahanirvana we were all
having his darshan by filing past him in a queue. The sarvadhikari
told me, “Bhagavan is looking at you intensely and you can take liberties
with him. A doctor, Kaviraj, has been sent from Calcutta by Sri Rajendra
Babu specially to treat Bhagavan. Kindly recommend the doctor to
him.” Accordingly, I made the request. Bhagavan said, “Will anyone
preserve after the dinner the leaf on which he has eaten?” I then realised
that this body is like a leaf. When the purpose for which the body has
taken shape is over, it will have to be thrown away as a leaf on which
the food has been taken.
T.R.Kanakammal in her book Cherished Memories records:
One day, Bhagavan was sitting in the verandah with some
devotees. Suddenly a wounded crow flew in at great speed and fell at
Bhagavan’s feet, who picked it up and stroked it gently. When the crow
died in his hand, Bhagavan said, “Some siddha purusha has left his body
today”, and gave instruction for entombing the crow.1 Pranavananda who
was on the scene broke into tears and said, “Bhagavan, did you not grant
liberation to Jatayu in the last yuga?2 Now you have done the same for a
crow.” Hearing this, the devotees were moved by Pranavananda’s devotion
to Bhagavan, who himself looked on silently as though he accepted
everything.
1 The tomb of the crow is on the northern side of the compound near the old hall.
2. Reference is to the famous episode of Jatayu in the Ramayana.
131
T.R. Rajagopal was a devotee from Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh).

My financial affairs were a mess in 1947 due to losses in business.
Friends, relatives and even my wife cold-shouldered me. I realised that in
the last analysis one is really alone in life.
During this time of distress, in July 1947, I had a vivid dream in
which a sage with divine effulgence appeared and assured me of his
protection. I could identify him as Ramana Maharshi because I had seen
his picture in The Sunday Times. I could give no credence to the dream.
After all, I had not even visited him. Why should he care for me, an utter
stranger? Who was this Rajagopal to him? I kept pushing away the urge
to go to him, and resisted the pull of his luminous eyes. In the end he
won.
On November 30, 1947 I left Vijayawada for Sri Ramanasramam.
I did not have a single paisa. I ate whatever was given to me on the way
and reached Bhagavan’s presence on December 10. It was eight in the
morning. Joy swelled in my heart as he gave me a piercing look. We
exchanged glances, but I had to close my eyes as I was unable to bear the
power of Bhagavan’s eyes. I completely surrendered myself at his feet. A
new confidence surged within me. I was certain that Bhagavan would
protect me.
I returned and made earnest efforts to get a job. On February 19,
1948, while walking on Abids Road, Hyderabad, I came across my old
friend Cheruvu Parthasarathi who was Chief Accountant in A.P. Electricity
Dept. To my surprise, he made affectionate enquiries and got me a job in
Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd. on a salary of five hundred rupees per month. I
settled down comfortably at Sirpur, Kagaznagar, Andhra Pradesh. Is it
possible to explain the mystery of Sri Ramana’s protection? Why should
he care? Yet he came into my life in a forlorn hour and made it beautiful
beyond compare.
T.R. Rajagopal / Santanam Iyengar / Sista Subba Rao 309
132
Santanam Iyengar was headmaster in a high school in Tanjore.
He served as an accountant at the Ashram after retirement.
Till thirty second year of my life, I knew nothing about God or
Guru or Liberation. All of a sudden a complete change took place. I lost all
taste for worldly goals. I could see clearly their worthlessness. I felt that
the only thing that mattered was to attain the Self, since atman and God
alone are eternal.
After sometime I happened to read Swami Ramtirtha’s booklet
The True Atma. That set me thinking. Don’t the scriptures emphasize the
need for a sadguru for attaining Self-knowledge? Where could I find such
a sadguru? I knew only one recourse and that was to pray to Sri Rama,
my chosen deity. I prayed, “Oh Lord, please lead me to a sadguru who is
blemishless like you.”
One night I had a rapturous dream. I saw two cottages surrounded
by a forest situated in front of a hill. In one of the cottages a divine person
was seated in samadhi. I heard a voice urging me to go there saying, “He
is Ramana Maharshi, a true jnani for whom you have been yearning.”
This dream made such a strong impression on me that at the earliest
I proceeded to Tiruvannamalai to surrender at the feet of Sri Ramana.
Wonder of wonders, what I saw before my eyes was the exact reproduction
of my dream. Bright stars formed a halo behind Sri Ramana’s head. This
convinced me that there was no difference between‘Rama’ and ‘Ramana’,
a conclusion which has been with me ever since.1
1. It is of interest to note that Sri Ramana himself has confirmed that the words
‘Rama’ and ‘Ramana’ are one and the same. Refer p. 91, para 3.
133
Prof. Sista Subba Rao (1909-1980) taught English at the Hindu
College, Machhlipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He wrote his remi-
niscences in Telugu and later in English.
I first came to know of Bhagavan in early 1936 from Ramarao
Panthulu, my first guide on the spiritual path. He related an incident at the

Ashram which convinced me of the mysterious powers of Bhagavan. A
cobra crawled into a room. Several people gathered together and were
trying to drive it out when Bhagavan came upon the scene. He addressed
the serpent and said, “Please move away, these people are frightened by
your presence.” The serpent at once went out. Panthulu suggested that I
might get cured of the problem of my failing eyesight, if I sought Bhagavan’s
blessings.
On June 3, 1936, I prostrated before Bhagavan and gave an
account of my situation. Bhagavan remarked that my outer sight would be
all right if and when I would get my inner sight. I did not understand and
requested him to clarify. His answer was, “Not to have outer sight is to
have inner sight.” I then begged him to enlighten me on the subject of
developing the inner sight and he did so. This was a turning point in my life.
My failing sight was my obsession till that moment. But the Maharshi’s
upadesa brought about a change in my outlook. From that time, the question
of improving my sight receded in the background and I started in right
earnest my sadhana for getting the inner eye opened.
One evening, I had a peculiar experience during meditation. My
breath became long and sonorous till it resembled the hissing of a serpent.
My body became light and my hands, which were on my thighs, started
dangling in the air. I felt every particle of my body virbrating and
experienced a sort of inexpressible bliss. I did not however lose outer
consciousness. This perculiar experience of mine soon attracted the
attention of those seated in the hall. My wife was asked to bring some
water that was sprinkled on my face. After a while, my body and my
breathing came back to normal. I came out of the hall and went home.
After my departure, the devotees seemed to have asked Bhagavan what
the matter was with me. Bhagavan seemed to have replied that I was
unable to contain the intensity of the sadhana within and so I became
externalized. This I was told when I came to the Ashram next morning.
Inspite of our extremely frugal life, my finances were running out
short. There was absolutely no sign of improvement in my physical sight.
On the other hand, the vision was gradually deteriorating. The prospects
appeared very gloomy. There was every likelihood of the complete loss of
eyesight. How then am I to eke out my livelihood? Further, I had a dependent
in my wife. Thoughts of suicide often pressed themselves on me. There
were many ponds around and on the hill. We could under the cover of
darkness, easily drown ourselves in any of them.
Sista Subba Rao 311
I thought of presenting the facts to Bhagavan and beg him for a

solution; but courage failed me. For one thing, Bhagavan always sat in the
hall surrounded by a number of devotees; there was no privacy where I
could meet him. Secondly, I was hesitant to worry Bhagavan with my
personal worldly problems. But there was no alternative. One afternoon, I
wrote out on a piece of paper an account of my financial, physical and
mental condition and prayed for his grace. I handed over the paper to him
and stood near him. He read it through and gave it back to me, but said
nothing. I resumed my seat.
Soon there was a change in my outlook on life. I said to myself,
‘Suffering is the result of sinful deeds in the present or past life and everyone
must pay for his misdeeds, for every action has its own reaction. By putting
an end to the present life, we are adding interest to the principal. Our past
sins are the principal, while the suicide will be its interest. All karmic debts
are to be cleared to the last penny. It is cowardice to try to escape from the
hard facts of life.’ This changed attitude towards life put an end to all
thoughts of suicide that thronged the mind previously. I became a changed
person, ready to fight out the battle of life at all costs and under all
circumstances.
This incident gave me an inkling into the ways of the mahatmas.
They do not usually work physical or material miracles, but bring about
miraculous changes in the mental condition of the devotees.
A few days before Bhagavan’s jayanti in 1940 or 1941, I had
a sort of inspiration to compose a Sanskrit verse on Bhagavan. I did so
and sent it to the sarvadhikari of the Ashram. In reply he said that the
verse was read out on the jayanti day and was greatly appreciated by
the devotees. The verse was: “Dwelling on the slopes of Arunachala,
Sri Ramana, the Sun of Wisdom and Embodiment of Bliss, taught atma
vidya effortlessly. I continually think of this matchless and measureless
Guru.”
Sometime later, I saw Bhagavan in a dream seated on an elevated
place like a throne. His body was shining like molten gold. Standing before
him, I requested for my eyesight. He replied “That is not possible by me,
you may have to go to someone else.” The dream ended.
My brother, a devotee, was an advocate. His clientele was very
limited. He wanted to shift his practice to another place in expectation of
better luck. He sought Bhagavan’s opinion about it. Bhagavan replied
softly, “Is that so? Why don’t you consult an astrologer about it?” We
could not help laughing.
A devotee complained, “I am unable to have peace of mind. I am

planning to go to the Himalayas in search of it.” Bhagavan said, “You have
travelled 250 miles from Madurai and come here. How much mental
quietness have you got? Multiply it by the distance from here to the
Himalayas to measure the happiness you would get by going there.” Even
the questioner could not help laughing.
In reply to a visitor who remarked, “I have had enough of these
family troubles, my only recourse is sannyasa”, Bhagavan observed, “Now
you are crying over domestic worries; then you will have your share of
sannyasi’s problems. Mere change of clothes would not help. Find out the
one for whom there is sorrow.”
Once I sought Bhagavan’s blessings on the ground that all my
efforts to abide at the source of the mind had proved futile. When Bhagavan
asked, “What is the obstruction?” I answered, “It is my deep-rooted
tendencies. I need your grace.” His reply was, “Your repeated effort is
bound to erase them. All sadhana is meant for this purpose only.” He
further observed, “Keep up your practice. There is no need to remind God
about His business which is to keep an eye always on our welfare. The
mistake one is prone to make is to abandon effort under the mistaken
impression that God’s grace is absent. But one should not slacken, for
God’s grace is bound to operate at the ripe time.”
134
Mahapatra Dave, born in 1915 at Mahaboobnagar, Andhra
Pradesh, was a teacher at the Gujarati School, Secunderabad.
G. V. Rajeswara Rao, one of the founding members of Sri Ramana
Kendram, Hyderabad, who knew Dave closely, writes:
Having a religious bent of mind from the very beginning, when
Dave read Who am I? in 1939, he concluded that Sri Ramana was his
guru. He longed to have his darshan. The opportunity came only in
1943, when the father of one of Dave’s students requested him to take
his son on some sort of a tour to broaden his horizon. The father agreed
that the journey could be to Tiruvannamalai. Bhagavan thus provided
him the badly needed money, which came in the way of his undertaking
the journey earlier.
When Dave went to the hall and sat before Bhagavan, all questions
Mahapatra Dave 313
he wanted to ask were answered in silence. Suddenly he felt as if someone

was twisting the right side of his heart. There were no more questions, no
more doubts; it was only bliss – he surrendered himself to Bhagavan.
After about a month’s stay, Dave returned home happily having realized
his cherished desire. After this Dave could manage to visit the Ashram
every six months or so despite his slender purse. To allay the fear of his
parents that Dave may become a sadhu by such frequent visits, he started
taking his wife with him.
Dave started the Ramana Meditation Centre which came to be
known as Ramana Bhakta Mandali. This was the first Ramana group in
Hyderabad. Numerous devotees, including Dr. K. Subrahmanian [No.
33], Prof. Sista Subba Rao [No.133] and Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal [No.156]
participated in the satsangs, which were held on Thursday evenings at
Dave’s house. The Mandali also brought out a publication Ramanasthuthi
in 1956.
Dave used to mention many incidents through which Bhagavan’s grace
manifested for him:
Dave’s mother was prone to arthritis. He asked her to apply
with faith the ash which fell from the burning of incense sticks placed
before Bhagavan’s portrait. She did so and got rid of her disease. Having
developed faith in Bhagavan, she went to the Ashram with her son in
1945. After being introduced to Bhagavan by Dave, she sat in the hall.
She very much wanted to ask Bhagavan to better their financial position
and improve Dave’s health, which was always poor. But once before
Bhagavan, she forgot everything and realised that things happened
according to one’s prarabdha.
Being a great devotee of Lord Krishna, she prayed to Bhagavan
to bless her with His darshan. Suddenly she found the people and
Bhagavan disappearing before her eyes in the hall and Krishna appearing
with his resplendent face. She was thrilled. Next day she prayed for
darshan of Sri Rama and goddess Lakshmi both of whom appeared before
her in all their splendour, and after a while merged into a round ball of light,
which got set in her heart. She was overjoyed and became an ardent
devotee of Bhagavan.
Dave and Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal wanted to go to the Ashram for
the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in September 1946. They got held up at
Vellore due to a bus strike. The function was scheduled for the next day,
and fifty miles were to be covered. When Prof. Lal proposed to walk the
distance, Dave asked, “What about the luggage?” A little later, a military
truck came to the lodge where they were staying (from where, nobody
knows) and took them to the outskirts of Tiruvannamalai. They could reach
the Ashram on time for the Celebrations.
Dave’s father had no faith in Bhagavan. Dave’s prayers were
heard when due to the Razakar oppression, the Hindus were fleeing
Hyderabad. The family decided to shift to Tiruvannamalai. Two months’
stay at the Ashram made Dave’s father a devotee of Bhagavan.
In 1946, when the Gujarati School management, Secunderabad
(where Dave taught), got sore on his being on leave too often, he resigned.
Immediately thereafter he got an offer from a printing press in
Secunderabad to work as manager; the new management agreeing to all
his conditions. Here Gujarati translation of the Upadesa Saaram was
printed.
Once, when Dave was having his meals at the Ashram’s dining
hall, Bhagavan asked the server to give him some groundnut preparation
saying that it was good for his health. But relying on his medical knowledge
that groundnuts were not good for asthmatic patients like him, he took only
a little of what was served to him and passed on the rest to his wife. He
always regretted that had he eaten the preparation fully, he would have got
cured of his asthma.
Dave remembered the day he gave a helping hand to Bhagavan
when he was about to fall near the old guest house. Bhagavan said,
“Leave it.” When he asked the attendants as to why they did not help
him, they replied that they have been forbidden. Dave recalled that
though Bhagavan’s body was constantly exposed to sun and weather,
it was very soft and tender.
Dave got an accountant’s job with the Saurashtra government in
1947. In 1949, when he heard of Bhagavan’s illness he wanted to go to
Tiruvannamalai. When the superior officer refused leave, he went on a
fast and got 15 days leave. He went to the Ashram in September 1949.
Later on he resigned his job and was there till Bhagavan’s mahanirvana.
On the fateful April 14, 1950, he and his wife were reciting Akshara-
manamalai and bhajans throughout the night.
Dave had bought a piece of land in Tiruvannamalai to stay near
the Ashram. As he could not stay there after Bhagavan’s mahanirvana,
the site was given by him to Natesan, who had served as Bhagavan’s
barber for 22 years.
Subbalakshmi 315
Dave used to say: “Bhagavan was not a person who knew

Brahman. Where is the knower and where is the known? He
was Brahman Himself.”
135
Subbalakshmi was the wife of Dr. M.R. Krishnamurthi Iyer (no.
155).
My husband, Dr. Krishnamurthi, the first Ashram doctor, met
Bhagavan in 1924. During one of the Deepam festivals1 he introduced me
to him. In the early days of my married life, while living in Tiruvannamalai,
my husband (who worked in a hospital) would often run away to Bhagavan,
leaving me all alone. He never thought about the children or me. One day,
I was terribly afraid that my husband might become a sadhu. The next
night Bhagavan appeared in a dream and assured me, “Have no fear; your
husband knows where his duties lie. Give up all worries.” When my husband
narrated the dream to Bhagavan, he gave a gracious smile!
One day all of a sudden, I became extremely unwell. Neighbours
and friends felt that I was nearing my end. At that time my husband was
at the Ashram. When the message was sent to the Ashram about my
condition, Bhagavan, who was reading the newspaper at that time, went
into a trance for some time. Simultaneously, I became normal. This was
nothing short of a miracle. Later, when I met Bhagavan, he mischievously
told me, “It seems it is a new life for you.”
Once Bhagavan was narrating the life of the saint Siruthondar
Naayanaar. His voice was choked with emotion and tears kept trickling
from his eyes. No doubt he was a jnani par excellence but what a heart
he had!2
Bhagavan used to refer to my husband as the ‘town doctor’. He
enquired about him even on his mahanirvana day. I could not get
Bhagavan’s darshan on that day because of the long queue. Bhagavan,
however, graciously appeared in a dream and said, “Amma, how long should
I bear the body? Death is natural to it. It is like a leaf on which the food has
been eaten. It has to be thrown away.”
1. Refer annexture-II, p. 411.

2. Refer paras 3, 4, & 5, p. 286, when Sri Ramana got emotional and ecstatic
while telling the story of Kannappan Naayanaar.
136
Vajreswari was daughter of an outstanding Sri Ramana devotee,
Ganapati Muni, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet (no. 91).
My mother used to swallow vibhuti (sacred ash) endlessly. All
our efforts to wean her away from that habit were in vain. She too wanted
to get out of it but could not. She could take liberties with Bhagavan. She
would regard him as her father and he in turn would treat her like a child.
The real secret is that Bhagavan’s attitude towards us would
correspond to ours towards him.
One day my mother told Bhagavan about this habit of hers and
sought his help to get over it. Bhagavan said, “Why did you not tell me
about this earlier? All right, taste this vibhuti.” What a strange remedy!
Yet it worked. From then on my mother completely got rid of her habit.
Once a devotee brought her dead son in a box and prayed intensely
to Bhagavan to bring him back to life. Bhagavan could readily see the faith
and hope behind her prayer. Tenderly he told her, “Amma, don’t you see
that if I restore your son’s life, Sri Ramanasramam would be flooded with
corpses?” Then he spoke to her at length about life, death and the need to
be conscious of the state transcending both. He explained that all
experiences were centred round the individual and that the search for the
source of the ‘I’ alone would end all sufferings. These soothing words and
advice went home and the lady returned, consoled at heart. This was only
natural since Bhagavan’s words were loaded with power and grace.
After the lady left, a devotee asked, “Is it possible to revive the
dead?” Bhagavan replied, “Jnanis, siddhas and yogis can restore life,
but is it for this purpose that they have come?”
137
Kundalmal A. Mahatani belonged to Karachi (now in Pakistan).
After his first visit in 1944, he was a regular visitor to the
Ashram. Day by Day with Bhagavan contains answers to many
questions put by him to Sri Ramana.
I had the good fortune to hear about Bhagavan for the first time in
1942, through a friend who lent me Brunton’s A Search in Secret India
Vajreswari / Kundal A. Mahatani / Santha Rangachary 317
[No.1]. I was extremely impressed when I learnt that such a great sage as
Bhagavan, did exist in our land. I ordered all books containing Bhagavan’s
teachings and after having gone through them found the teachings profound
and easy to grasp. A great longing arose in me to have his darshan, but I
could visit the Ashram only in January 1944. In the meantime, whatever
doubts I had while reading the books I used to get them cleared through
letters to the Ashram.
I enjoyed Bhagavan’s presence for eleven months at a stretch.
After that I used to go to the Ashram every winter and stay three to
four months at a time till Bhagavan’s mahanirvana in April 1950. From
the point of view of the onlookers, he appeared to be suffering. When
many devotees lamented over his ailment, he laughed and said, “They
have not yet realised that I am not the body and that I am not going
anywhere.”
To me Bhagavan is more than all other gods or prophets so far
incarnated on this earth, such as Rama, Krishna, the Buddha, Christ,
Muhammad, Nanak and others. I have only read and heard about them
and cannot have proper conceptions of them. Even the numerous pictures
of them are only imaginary and naturally different from one another.
Therefore, it is impossible to have an exact conception of any of them. On
the other hand, I have seen Bhagavan and therefore I have a very clear
conception of an ideal to meditate upon.
In my humble opinion, Bhagavan was a jivanmukta. Many have
heard and read a great deal about the state of a jivanmukta, but he actually
demostrated that state of being above body-consciousness.
Even now I feel his presence just as before, when I see his large
photo on the couch in the old hall. It is as if he is sitting there just as usual,
with a smiling face and a compassionate look, with the only difference that
now he does not talk but is in mounam.
138
Santha Rangachary was a journalist. She also served on the

editorial board of The Mountain Path during 1980-88.
I desperately needed a confidante, an adviser, somebody preferably
outside the family, and out of the blue the name of Ramana Maharshi
came to me. His was the only name I had ever heard my father – a
stubborn, intolerant sceptic – mention without any adverse suffixes. I

decided, therefore, to write to the sage asking him directly: “Please, I
beg of you, help me with my temper problem.” Within a week I received
a reply signed by the sarvadhikari, containing the Maharshi’s message
that if I myself made a constant and earnest effort to overcome my
temper I would rid myself of it, and that he sends me his blessings.
My first reaction to that letter was one of astonishment at being
treated like a grown up, since I had always been told what to do, guided,
instructed, warned but never challenged except on a Sports Day. And here
was this great Guru telling me: “It is your temper, isn’t it? So, you yourself
deal with it.” He had simply batted the ball back to my court in the nicest
possible way by treating me as an individual in my own right. I rather liked
that.
Ramana Maharshi entered my life again a year or so later when
my sister took our family on a pilgrimage.We were to stay at Sri
Ramanasramam only for two days. But as it turned out, we stayed for the
whole week and I wept like a lost child when we had to leave. The visit
was a shattering experience for me. I do believe I literally fell in love with
Ramana Maharshi. I was in a daze, a trance, my tongue was gone, my
mind was gone, I was in a state of dumbfounded ecstasy. This love, which
had been awakened, was the kind which totally bypasses the physical
plane and creates an awareness of a different kind of consciousness which
can only be described as a mindless rapture, pure joy. It is an unlocated,
pervasive state of being sparked off by some kind of recognition and it
stays with you, and you are never the same again.
When we went to Sri Ramana’s hall, my mother, brother and
sister went ahead and quickly disappeared into the hall. I hung back,
unaccountably apprehensive. Then, as I at last composed myself and got
to the door and looked in, I saw reclining on a sofa, a golden-brown
figure with the most radiant countenance I had ever seen before or since
and, as I stood there riveted to the spot, the Maharshi looked at me.
When I remember it even now, more than forty years later, tears come
to my eyes as they did then. I stood there, God knows how long, just
looking at that face. Then, as in a trance, I moved forward deliberately
towards him and touched his feet. Fighting my way through the
disapproving glance that followed, as devotees were not allowed to touch
Bhagavan, I made my way to a place near the window.
Once seated, I let my tears flow. I remember I spent a good part
of that morning wiping my eyes. They were not tears of grief nor were
Santha Rangachary 319
they tears of joy. Maybe they were for something which I saw in the
Maharshi fleetingly and which I also want and shall forever seek. Yes, I
cried for myself then and I still do it now.
Never before had I seen in a human countenance a more
intense, inward life and yet one which remained so transparent
and childlike. There was about him an irresistible and indefinable
spiritual power, which simply overwhelmed me. I was conscious
of people sitting all around me but was totally incurious about them.
After an hour or so of silence I suddenly felt like singing. Without
hesitation or embarrassment, I lifted my 12 year-old voice in a rendition
of Tyagaraja’s Ninne kori Yunnanura, keeping time softly with my
fingers on my knee. After a few minutes, I threw myself with another
gush of abandon into Thelisi Rama Chintana. As I began the
anupallavi which exhorts the mind to stay still for a moment and realise
the true essence of the name of Rama, I saw the Maharashi turn his
eyes upon me with that impersonal yet arresting look of his, my heart
soared and I thought: ‘I want to be . here for ever and ever’.
For three hours every morning and every evening my vigil in the
hall continued for seven days. I sat in my seat near the window, still and
thought-free, just gazing at the Maharshi. Occasionally somebody would
ask a question and the Maharshi would turn and look at him, and you
got the feeling that the question had been answered. Or, somebody
would ask for the meaning of a particular phrase in a Sanskrit or Tamil
stanza and the Maharshi would answer softly, briefly.
The Maharshi was not a man of many words. His long years
of practised detachment from people made him absolutely brief in speech.
His knowledge of classical Tamil religious literature was considerable;
he could himself compose verses and he did. His enlightenment had not
been directed by a Guru but had come from his Self-consciousness. His
most effective form of communication was intra-personal through the
sense of sight and the medium of silence. He was very much a human
being, who laughed and joked occasionally, but he could suddenly plunge
deep into himself while sitting in a hall full of people and rest in that
stillness of spirit, which as he himself said, was being in God.
One afternoon, somebody showed the Maharshi some verses.
The Maharshi read them and made a brief comment. In those eloquent
silences that punctuated his brief remarks, one seemed to feel unspoken
thought flowing around the room touching and drawing everybody into its
illuminating course. That was a strange experience to me. In the presence
of the Maharshi, speech seemed redundant. I was totally and blissfully

satisfied just being in his presence.
That whole week I practically did nothing else but sit in the hall. I
had never before spent so many days talking so little, just sitting around so
much, or so lost in a single-minded pursuit of the Maharshi.
I shall not claim that my whole life was transformed after this
meeting. No. I went back to school and then to college, got married, set up
a house, had children, started a journalistic career of my own. My
grihastasram became my main preoccupation. But my visit to Sri
Ramanasramam had done something to me. It left a mark on my mind and
heart. The picture of the Ashram and of the Maharshi was always in my
mind like the background curtain of a stage. Whenever I was tired or
dispirited or perplexed, the wish to go to Sri Ramanasramam would possess
me like hunger. Even when I was so busy that I did not know whether I
was coming or going, a sudden look at a picture of the Maharshi hanging
on the wall would momentarily root me to the spot and my mind would
suddenly go blank.
Whenever I feel I want to go away somewhere, away from
home, family, friends, books, mistakes, fears, sorrows, my mind
automatically turns to Sri Ramanasramam.1 And my body follows. I make
the journey to Tiruvannmalai, walk into the Ashram, enter the hall, and I
am ‘home’ and totally at peace.
Every human being has really only one guru like one mother. Some
are fortunate enough to meet their gurus; some pass them by, like ships in
the night. I stumbled upon mine when I was twelve; I now stand alone in
myself. In a sense I am twelve-going-on thirteen all over again, standing
on another threshold, remembering, waiting.
1. Dr. Paul Brunton expresses the same feeling when he says: I have travelled
in many lands but always my thought turned towards Tiruvannamalai as
the Muhammedan turns his face towards Mecca. I knew that somewhere in
the wilderness of this world there was a sacred place for me. The Silent
Power, Sri Ramanasramam, p.76.
139
T.R.A. Narayana was manager in a large British firm in Madras.
He heard of Sri Ramana during a train journey in 1948.
T.R.A. Narayana 321
I was on a tour of small towns. As Parthasarathi, my assistant,

and I were boarding the train at Villupuram to go to Tiruvannamalai, we
noticed a young man trying to enter the compartment. He was so fat that
he heaved his bulky body this way and that, while another man on the
platform, obviously his servant, pushed him in through the door.
When the train had run for some minutes, the man came to us and
introduced himself as Ratilal Premchand Shah of Gondal [Gujarat], the
only son of a rich merchant of the place.
Cursed with so much fat in his body from his tenth year, now at
twenty five, he was a huge mass of flesh and misery. He told us that while
he was asleep at night, he saw an ascetic smiling and beckoning him. This
persisted for a long time, and stood clearly before his mental eye after he
woke up. Two days later his wife was reading a Gujarati magazine. Looking
over her shoulders he saw the picture of the ascetic he had seen in his
vision. He came to know that the ascetic was Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
He at once went to his father and arranged for his journey to Tiruvannamalai
with the trusted family servant. He felt sure that his suffering would end as
soon as he reached Bhagavan; the smile and the beckoning in his vision by
Bhagavan had given him that firm faith.
Parthasarathi had seen Bhagavan many times before and had
also read a good deal about him. He and Ratilal talked about Bhagavan
during the whole two-hour journey. I was apparently reading an English
novel but heard their conversation with interest and attention.
About 5 p.m. on that day, when Parthasarathi and I entered the
Ashram, we came to the verandah where about fifty people including Ratilal
and his servant were sitting. Bhagavan was not on his couch. After waiting
for some ten minutes and finding that Bhagavan had not come to his seat,
Parthasarathi suggested that we could in the meantime go around and see
the goshala and other places in the Ashram.
While returning from our brief tour of the Ashram, we heard a
child like voice say “Chee, asatthe!” (Fie, you creature!). We observed
movement among the leaves of the brinjal, lady’s finger and other plants in
the kitchen garden. Looking more intently, we saw a small goat, a little
monkey and a squirrel and Bhagavan who was sitting on his haunches with
his legs folded up to his breast. Bhagavan was holding a small paper
packet in his left hand and was picking groundnuts from it with his right-
hand fingers to feed the goat, the monkey and the squirrel and himself, by
turns. His remarks appeared to have been addressed to the monkey, which
had tried to snatch the nut he was going to place between the squirrel’s
lips. As we watched, the four companions went on enjoying the eating. All
the four seemed to be equally happy; the way they looked at one another
and kept close together was touching. We saw all the four only as good
friends despite the differences in their forms. No words could describe the
feelings which passed through my being at the sight.
The nuts over, Bhagavan threw the paper away and said:
“Pongoda!” (Go away, you fellows!), just as any old man speaking to his
grandchildren. The goat, the monkey and the squirrel left and Bhagavan
got up. We hurried away, feeling guilty of trespassing into the Divine, but
not sorry.
Soon after, Bhagavan came to his couch. His eyes were fixed on
something far above and beyond anything on earth. They were like screens
which shut the material world off from the light which was burning behind
them. Sparks of light shot out through the fibres of the screen at times,
sparks which cooled the eyes on which they fell, pierced the gross coverages
and lighted the wick inside them.
Bhagavan reclined on the pillow on the couch, supporting his head
on his left palm. We all sat down to look at his face. We sat and sat, and
looked and looked. No one spoke or made any noise. But the
confrontation was not a dead silence; it was a very live experience
in which the innermost being of each one of us communed with the
Supreme Consciousness which was Bhagavan.
My mind kept recalling that scene: how the goat had snuggled to
Bhagavan’s breast in perfect confidence in his love for it; how the monkey
had grinned in joy and how Bhagavan had returned the grin as both bit the
nut; how the squirrel had peered with its pinhead eyes into Bhagavan’s dream-
laden ones and scratched his nose tenderly with its tiny paw. The vision of
the Supreme Spirit underlying and overlaying the sense perception was spiced
with the lovely sight of the groundnut party in the kitchen garden.
Bhagavan got up from the couch. We also got up. It seemed tacitly
understood that we were to leave. We left. I felt a hitherto unknown peace
and joy inside me; the faces of the others also showed a similar condition.
I saw Ratilal and his servant get into their bullock cart at the Ashram
gate. There was a new spring in Ratilal’s movements. Bhagavan’s promise
in the vision appeared to be moving in the right direction.
In 1953, I was in Rajkot staying in a lodge. One day, while in the
dining hall, a man of about thirty accosted me, “Don’t you recognise me. I
am Ratilal of Gondal. You remember the darshan of Bhagavan Ramana
Maharshi, five years ago.” I looked at the man again. He was thin but strong.
K.R.K. Murthi 323
His face glowed with health and happiness. I shook his hand heartily. He
spoke again, “Sri Bhagavan fulfilled his promise wonderfully well. I am
now managing our family business. I have a son two years old.”
My mind went back to the kitchen garden and the four friends at
the groundnut party.
140
K.R.K. Murthi, B.E. (Elec.) was Chief Electrical Engineer,
Electricity Dept., Government of Andhra Pradesh. He authored
Sri Ramana Bhagavan.
Once in 1937, I read in a newspaper that an eminent personage

was going to Tiruvannamalai to have darshan of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I
had great respect for that gentleman and was anxious to meet him. So I
made up my mind to proceed to Tiruvannamalai.
I went straight to the hall and placed the packet of sugar candy,
which was purchased as an offering to the Maharshi on a stool near
him and sat down along with a number of people of both sexes. All
people were sitting like silent statues and the only offender in the
gathering was the clock on the wall. Physical activity in the hall was nil
but for the scented sticks, which were briskly throwing up curls of
smoke. I waited patiently for sometime but still the same silence
continued. It looked very strange and odd as I had never seen such a
silent gathering before. I wanted to know something about the Maharshi,
but whom to ask?
Several people were coming, prostrating before the Maharshi
and sitting quiet in the hall. This was also an unfamiliar sight which left a
deep impression on my mind. After a while, the Maharshi rose up and
then everyone in the hall got up and prostrated. When the Maharshi left
for a walk towards Arunachala hill people began to appear in their true
colours and I witnessed the usual work-a-day world.
A visitor to the Ashram once told me that Sri Ramana simply sits
quiet without talking and without doing anything useful to anybody. My
personal experiences, which are very real, have convinced me that
Bhagavan was always lending his helping hand actively and silently in his
own characteristic way. He used to help the devotees so secretly that no
one knew anything about it except the recipient.
Once, as I was entering the hall I saw the Maharshi holding his left
hand forefinger with his right hand. There were several people in the hall at
that time. Some might not have noticed this and some might have dismissed
this as insignificant. But to me it is unforgettable because the pain I was for
long experiencing in my left forefinger was permanently cured.
I was also cured of the pain in my elbow, which was persisting
in spite of all medical attention. One day I dreamt Bhagavan taking
meals at our house. After the meals I handed over a mug of water to
him to wash hands. He took the mug and poured some water on my
elbow before washing his hands. Next day onwards there was no pain
in the elbow. If it had been a mere dream, could it have such an effect
on the physical body?
Once arrangements were made for feeding the poor in the
Ashram. People were rushing into the place set apart for dining. Then
someone in authority told loudly that sadhus should keep out. When food
was to be served, it was found that Bhagavan was not present. People
rushed in all directions and found Bhagavan sitting under a tree. When
requested to join the devotees, Bhagavan said, “You never wanted sadhus
to remain there. Being a sadhu I left the place.” Bhagavan identified
himself with the lowest. He used to rectify the wrong not by showing
anger but by self-denial or self-punishment.
The Ashram was developing a garden. Some inmates had put
forth their best efforts to secure plants and nurse them. One day, some
Ashram cows entered the garden and grazed off the inviting plants. The
inmates were very unhappy. The event created much stir and reached
Bhagavan’s ears, who smiled and said, “Why should cows be blamed?
Did they know they were not to graze in certain places? If the garden is
properly fenced, the cows will not get in.” Bhagavan saw the other side of
things, which the normal people failed to see.
With a view to recording Bhagavan’s voice, some devotees
referred to the sound recording machines. Seeing that Bhagavan was
favourably disposed towards them, they wanted to pursue the matter
further and fix a date for recording the voice. At that moment Bhagavan
said, “My real voice is silence. How can you record the same?”
Once Bhagavan was asked whether it was true that by the grace
of the guru the highest state is reached in a moment. Bhagavan replied,
“Yes. If the disciple is in a ripe state, the ajnana (ignorance) will be
removed only by the avalokana (look) of the guru.” He added, “The
kripa (grace) flows towards one in proportion to one’s merit. If the
K.R.K. Murthi 325
vessel is small, the kripa received will be small; if the vessel is big, the
kripa will be proportionately more.”
Once an attendant of Bhagavan was reading some scriptures to
him at night. The attendant heard a snoring sound and stopped reading.
Immediately Bhagavan questioned him as to why he stopped. Again the
attendant continued and similar snoring sounds from Bhagavan made him
stop again. But Bhagavan was quite alert and asked him to continue.
One day a prince entered the hall with a few friends for Bhagavan’s
darshan. As there was no distinction between the prince and the peasant
before Bhagavan, the prince took a seat beside us. One of his friends
wanted to ask a question but was feeling shaky and hesitant. To his great
surprise and amazement almost the same question was put to Bhagavan
by someone else. Bhagavan’s reply gave great joy to the visitor. The prince
sat quietly for a time, and who knows what happened, he began to pour
forth streams of tears till he left the hall.
Once, going through an English daily as usual, Bhagavan read
somewhat aloud a sensational report of a new invention and smiled. After a
pause he gently remarked, “One may acquire any number of powers, but
without realising the yathartha (truth) one cannot acquire mano shanti
(peace of mind). When someone asked, “What is yathartha?” Bhagavan
replied, “That which exists always,” and added after a pause, “Peace is our
swabhava (nature). Just as a person who keeps a number of things in a
room and complains that there is no space in the room, we say there is no
peace. Is not the space obtained automatically when the things are removed?”
In the early days, the Ashram was a lonely cottage in a jungle.
One day thieves broke into the Ashram at the dead of night. They freely
used their sticks on everyone including Bhagavan, who restrained the
devotees who tried to pay them back in the same coin. He said, “Sahanam
(to tolerate) was sadhu dharma” and added, “Do we knock down the
teeth if they bite the tongue?”1
Bhagavan told us: “If one wants to commit suicide, even a small
implement or knife is sufficient. For murdering others, bigger things are
required. Similarly, for oneself, one or two words are sufficient but to
convince others, books after books have to be written.”
When a Westerner invited Bhagavan’s attention to the poverty of
the average Indian and his poorly furnished quarters, Bhagavan replied
that although the Indians did not possess many material comforts, they are
not less happy on that account; as they do not feel the want of the same,
they are able to enjoy life with what they have.2
Bhagavan’s handwriting was just like print. I had a keen desire to

preserve something written by Bhagavan. But I was feeling very hesitant
to ask in front of so many persons.Then, someone in the hall remarked
loudly that I had written in Telugu script the songs of Tamil saint
Tayumanavar as selected by Bhagavan. Now Bhagavan wanted to see
them. Asking me to handover the notebook, he patiently corrected some
mistakes. In this way, he satisfied my burning desire, even before I expressed
it, and without appearing to have done a special favour to me.
1. Dr. Paul Brunton in A Search in Secret India says: “ The Sage not only
bore their attack patiently, but requested them to take meal before they
departed. He actually offered them some food. He had no hatred towards
them in his heart. He let them escape freely, but within a year they were
caught while committing another crime elsewhere and received stiff
sentences of penal servitude.”
2. Prof. Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to India, has observed: “Indian
villagers are rich in their poverty.”
141
Srimat Puragra Parampanthi, a renowned swami of his time,
has authored many books including Advaita and Modern Physics,
The Cardinal Doctrines of Hinduism and The Meaning and Mystery
of Reincarnation.
I saw Sri Ramana for the first time on December 10, 1949. I
saw a tall, lean man in loincloth; the limbs were well proportioned and
well knit and long; the skin was smooth and glowing and the quivering
head was inclined towards the right side. There was a white bandage
on the left arm, which had been operated upon to remove a tumour. His
eyes shone with kindness and love, his face was lit up with a beatific
smile of benediction. I saw before me a yogi of the highest order –
a mystic of the supreme realisation, who radiated the living
presence of divinity within and without.
The next morning I saw him again. His ever-smiling face was
completely free from the ravages of illness, which was slowly and steadily
ruining his body. His spiritual presence was dynamic and clearly
perceptible. It touched and inspired us and simultaneously took us
Srimat Puragra Parampanthi / K. Arunachalam 327
to the high and rare sphere of spirituality. I felt suddenly the

presence of a spiritual power, which was ambient and edifying and
which raised the expectancy of all to a high pitch. The atmosphere
of the hall was distinctly attuned to a higher will and power which
influenced the entire gathering.
All eyes were fixed on the Maharshi. I wanted to know how and
by what irresistible force it had been possible for persons – young and old,
rich and poor, wise and simple, belonging to different races and religions –
to gather at the feet of this great yogi. I wanted to know how and why the
stubborn diversity has transformed into unity here – the persistent
dissimilarity into perfect harmony – the ‘many-ness’ into oneness!.
I realised that it had been possible solely due to the unifying
presence of the Maharshi. He was not only the preacher of truths of
unity and oneness, of identity of man and God, of spiritual brotherhood
of mankind – irrespective of caste or creed, race or position – he was
the living symbol of these truths.That was why his all-embracing
personality had become the centre of universal truth and the unifying
force cementing diverse races and religions into a harmonious concord.
Our narrow understanding cannot fully comprehend him;
his greatness is too vast – too immense to be captured within our
mental orbit. Just a part of his spiritual self, a tiny fraction of it is
visible to us and we rejoice in the partial vision of him because we
are in the dark and bound by the sad limitations of our senses.
He has passed away, yet he lives perpetually in the evergreen
memory of his thousands of devotees the world over, in his own undying
gospels and messages which will continue to uplift, inspire and guide all
along the right path towards the right and highest goal – God-realisation.
142
K. Arunachalam, a Gandhian social worker, hailed from
Madurai. He served as chairman of the Madurai Khadi Board.
In the summer of 1932, I was working with a group of young
men in the slums of Bangalore. I had been to my village in Madurai
district and was returning to Bangalore to resume my work in the Gandhi
School run by the Deena Seva Sangh. On my way back, as suggested by
a friend, I stopped at Tiruvannamalai to have Ramana Maharshi’s
darshan. I reached the Ashram and went to the hall where the Maharshi
was seated on a sofa. In a corner of the hall, on the top of a cupboard, I
saw an eighteen-inch statue of Mahatma Gandhi. I sat in front of the
Maharshi along with several others in meditation. A few were reading
silently some religious literature.The Maharshi himself was in samadhi.
Some were reciting slokas in a soft melodious tone. On the whole, the
atmosphere was an elevating one.
I sat in silence for hours together. When it was time for the night
meal, all the devotees got up and walked towards the adjoining dining
hall. I also went with them. After the meal some of us went back to the
hall. I decided to sleep in the hall as some others did. I could not sleep
because I was inquisitive to know what the Maharshi would do.
He got up from the sofa at 3 O’clock in the morning and walked
towards the pond. After the essential morning routine he had a dip in the
pond. He changed his kaupina (loincloth) and washing the used one, let
it dry outside. Then he walked back to the hall and reclined on the sofa.
After sometime, he got up, went to the kitchen and joined the group that
was cutting vegetables. He supervised the breakfast and ate with the
visitors and Ashramites.
During the daytime there was a stream of visitors who prostrated
before the Maharshi. Sometimes he opened his eyes and blessed them
with a smile. Occasionally he spoke a few words. When the daily newspaper
arrived, he glanced through its pages. Most of the time his eyes remained
half closed. There was a calm peace in the whole environment that
surpassed all understanding. I sat silently watching and enjoying the holy
presence of the Maharshi and spent a full three-day period like this.
Before leaving, I asked the Maharshi whom to follow. He
enquired about what I was doing. I gave him an idea of the slum-
settlement work in Bangalore and told him how we were engaged in
harijan uplift and prohibition work. He blessed the work and asked
me to continue it in the manner in which Mahatma Gandhi wanted such
work done. I asked the Maharshi for his autograph. He did not agree
but he wanted the sarvadhikari who was standing nearby to write my
name.When I gave him my name without initial, the sarvadhikari asked
my father’s name. The Maharshi immediately said,“How can
Arunachala have a father?” And he laughed.
I requested the Maharshi to clear a doubt of mine. He showed his
willingness by a broad smile. Taking courage, I posed the following problem:
“The Maharshi by his example directs his followers to keep quiet, but
Panthulu Lakshmi Narayana Sastri 329
Mahatma Gandhi whose statue is here, by his own example, goads

everyone to be continuously active.”The Maharshi’s face broadened with
an unparalleled smile. He asked, “Who told you that I am sitting quiet?”
I replied in all humility that I had seen it with my own eyes. He said,
“Why do you think that what you are seeing with your physical eyes is
the truth?” I had no answer for this question. I took leave of him and left
for Bangalore.
In 1951-52, during my tour of the southern United States I came
in touch with a group of Whites who were deeply involved in the
desegregation movement. They did not differentiate between one and
another whether black or white. I found in the study room of the leader
of this group a photo of Ramana Maharshi, whom he had never seen.
He revealed that it was the Maharshi’s teaching that was a driving
force in all his activities undertaken for bringing about equality between
the two races – the Whites and the Coloured. He evinced a deep interest
in the Maharshi’s mode of self-enquiry for self-realisation. Now I
understood the true import of the Gita’s teaching: “He who sees inaction
in action and action in inaction is wise among men; he is a yogi who has
accomplished all action.”
143
Panthulu Lakshmi Narayana Sastri was a scholar and adept in
composing extempore poetry.
In 1943, a close relative asked me to translate into Telugu, Ganapati
Muni’s Sanskrit work Uma Sahasram. I at once agreed. This was the first
time I saw Bhagavan’s picture, and it drew me like a magnet. During the
1946 summer vacation of the college where I served, my wife and I set
out on a pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai.
As we entered the hall, the Veda parayana was going on.
Bhagavan was seated majestically on the sofa. His first sight evoked
great faith and ineffable bliss in my heart. I was so moved that as
Bhagavan rose for breakfast I could not restrain myself and fell prostrate
at his feet. In the process, all the books which I had brought to present
to Bhagavan fell on the floor. A devotee picked them up and helped me
to go to the dining room. After breakfast I went to my lodging and
composed twenty verses in Sanskrit in praise of Bhagavan under the
title Atmabhista Nivedanam.
When I entered the hall again, I introduced myself to Bhagavan in

Sanskrit, not knowing that he spoke Telugu. When I said, “Uma Sahasram
maya Andhrikritham” (I have rendered Uma Sahasram into Telugu),
he replied, “Oh, you are translating Uma Sahasram into Telugu”, and
even corrected my use of the word Andhrikritham. Bhagavan somehow
knew that I had not finished the work, and when he enquired how far I
had gone with my translation, I confessed that I had translated only a
hundred slokas. Then I requested him to permit me to read out the poem
I had composed in my room. Bhagavan nodded his consent and I recited
the verses with a strong emotional fervour.
On the third day, I had the fortune of reading out the Uma
Sahasram which I had translated, and informed Bhagavan that I had
written to the publishers of the Sanskrit original for permission to publish
the translation, and was awaiting their reply. Bhagavan advised, “If you
meet Kapali Sastri in Pondicherry, he will help in obtaining the necessary
permission.”
While talking to Devaraja Mudaliar [No.35] I told him about my
inability to go to Pondicherry as I had taken a vow for a pilgrimage to
Chidambaram, and that if I went there, my finances would not permit a
visit to Pondicherry.
After reaching Chidambaram, I accommodated myself in a
pilgrims’ lodge. All the time I was spending money very thriftily in view of
my meagre finances. While talking to the steward of the pilgrims’ lodge, I
told him of my visit to Bhagavan and how I was unable to follow his
instruction to go to Pondicherry. He told me that a visit to Pondicherry
would not cost much and convinced me to extend my journey. He even
accompanied me to the bus station and voluntarily purchased a ticket for
me out of his own pocket.
I arrived at Pondicherry on May 10, 1946, and went to see Kapali
Sastri. I introduced myself in Sanskrit and presented him with a copy of
my Andhra Dhyanyalokam. In the afternoon I read out to him my
translation of Uma Sahasram. He listened carefully and commended
my translation and felt it was faithful and lucid. He promised he would do
whatever was necessary to get my work published. When I was about
to leave, he gently said, “As I am staying alone without my family, I am
unable to offer hospitality to you, so you must kindly accept at least this.”
So saying he forced five rupees into my hands. In retrospect, calculating
the additional expenditure on the trip to Pondicherry, I found to my surprise
that it had cost me only five rupees extra!
B.N. Datar 331
Before leaving, Kapali Sastri told me that I would be passing

through Tiruvannamalai on my way back to Vijayanagaram. I had not realised
this before and was elated at the prospect of seeing Bhagavan again.
As I was about to enter the Ashram, I saw some devotees near
the gate, one of whom was telling the others, “Sastriji is now coming from
Pondicherry.” I was surprised that they knew of my unexpected change of
route. I went up to them and asked how they knew I had been to Pondicherry.
I was told that after I had left for Chidambaram, one of the devotees told
Bhagavan about my departure. He had then replied: “He will go to
Chidambaram, from there to Pondicherry, and then come back here. He
will leave for Vijayanagaram only after giving us a performance of his
extempore poetry.”
At the Ashram, the devotees asked for a performance of my
poetry; the subject chosen was Bhagavan. When I started composing
poems, I felt as if some divine force had taken possession of me. An
advocate from Guntur jotted down the poems, twenty in all, while the
recitation was going on. When the recitation was over, he gave me the
paper, requesting me to fill in the blank spaces. I told him that the poems
came to my lips spontaneously by Bhagavan’s grace and I did not myself
remember what I had said. Bhagavan also remarked, “Even if he tries, the
original form cannot be recaptured.”
Later, I was told that when Devaraja Mudaliar had said to
Bhagavan, “It seems that Sastri is a great poet”, Bhagavan replied,
“Yes, I agree.” But he was quick to add, “All this is only an activity of
the mind. The more you exercise the mind and the more success you
have in composing verses the less peace you have. What use is it to
acquire such accomplishments if you don’t acquire peace? But if you
tell this to people, it does not appeal to them. As Ganapati Muni used to
say, in going forward one can run with speed, but when it is going
backwards, that is, running inwards, even one step is hard to take.”
When I came to learn about Bhagavan’s opinion on the composition of
extempore poetry, I greatly curtailed my poetic ambitions.
144
B. N. Datar, a famous philosopher, was based in Hubli, Karnataka.
He has written books for the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.
During my 16 or 17 annual visits to the Ashram, I was generally a

silent, though an observing member of the group of devotees that used to
assemble to seek blessings from Bhagavan. I was, in particular, very
keen on observing the attitude of various disciples towards Bhagavan
and his response to them in his inimitable way.
Once a spiritual seeker from the West, highly perturbed over the
then darkening clouds of the international situation (sometime before World
War II) came to the hall in a challenging and quarrelsome mood. He almost
took Bhagavan to task “for wasting his time and energies in a secluded
corner of the earth, and not taking active steps to turn the world’s attention
from the ways of the devil to those of the divine.”
His rebellious mood struck us dumb in the hall. He demanded
an immediate answer from Bhagavan, who quietly told him that he
would have it, and remained quiet without saying anything further. We
were all sitting anxiously in the tense atmosphere when, after half an
hour, quite suddenly, the questioner broke the silence by exclaiming
that he had got the answer. Bhagavan asked him to write it. He did so,
and when it was read out it breathed a sense of complete submission to
Bhagavan. He confessed in the writing that Bhagavan was serving
the best interests of mankind in his own unobtrusive and silent
ways, and that what was required from a seeker was not a mood
of challenge but one of submission to the higher forces, which
were working in their own inscrutable ways through great sages
like the Saint of Arunachala. The questioner, from that time onwards,
became one of the gentlest of Bhagavan’s devotees.
A few days before Bhagavan left this world, All India Radio at
Dharwar had requested me to broadcast a short talk on the great
personages that had influenced my life. I chose to speak on Bhagavan;
my speech to be broadcast on a date to be fixed later. As destiny would
have it, it was fixed for April 14, 1950, between 7.30 and 7.45 p.m. I
went to Dharwar and gave the talk, and thus had the good fortune of
broadcasting to the world my tributes just one hour before Bhagavan
departed from this world. I treat this as the highest blessing from Bhagavan,
and the greatest treasure of my life.
Even though Bhagavan is not with us in human form, I have
never felt his absence because he is living in my house and before my
eyes wherever I go. I experience that he is guiding every action of mine
at every moment of my life.
Y.N. Athavale 333
145
Y. N. (alias Bhaurao) Athavale was one of the few Maharashtrian
devotees of Sri Ramana. He used to sing Marathi bhajans before
Sri Ramana in the hall.
Even before I had darshan of Bhagavan, I was brought up in a
religious and spiritual atmosphere at home. From 1939 to 1942, I suffered
from sciatica due to over exertion in my engineering work, and became
very weak. I used to pray that I should have darshan of a great mahatma
like the swami worshipped by my grandfather, and whose grace had done
a lot of good to our family.
In February 1942, when I was in a state of utter depression, I had
a wonderfully vivid vision-like dream at dawn. I saw in a mountain cave, a
great mahatma and throngs of people going up the mountain to listen to
him. I was one of them. I waited and asked the people around me, “How
is it that the lecture has not started yet? Where is the Saint?” Near me sat
an old man who raised his hand and said, “Silence is the Master’s speech
and his disciples have no doubts left.” I asked, “Where is the Master?” He
replied, “He is sitting near you.” Searching near me, I found a slender
young man wearing a white codpiece, with a smile on his face. I bowed to
him and asked his name. Pointing a finger to his heart he said in Marathi,
“This is known as Ramana Maharshi.” Having said this he smiled in a
charming manner and instantly I woke up in delight. I took it to be the
answer to my repeated prayers and felt happy.
I had not heard much about Ramana Maharshi’s greatness, as
his name was not then (in 1942) well-known in Maharashtra. For about
ten or twelve days I was longing to get some information about him. All
of a sudden, one day a gentleman of my acquaintance told me that during
his pilgrimage to Rameswaram he went to Tiruvannamalai and had a
blissful darshan of Ramana Maharshi. He advised me to go. I reached
Sri Ramanasramam at 6 a.m. I saw Bhagavan coming towards us. My
joy knew no bounds. As I prostrated before him, he asked, “Have you
come from Poona? You seem to be quite exhausted.” I was wonderstruck
to hear this.
In the afternoon, when I sat before him in the hall, he enquired
about my health. I replied that I had been suffering terribly from sciatica
for three years, had no sleep, no desire for food and was growing from bad
to worse in spite of the treatment by the best of doctors. He graciously

said, “You can stay here in peace. Your disease is not incurable.” He
quoted a verse from the Gita (II.14): “O son of Kunti, the contacts between
the senses and their objects, which give rise to the feelings of heat and
cold, pleasure and pain, etc., are transitory and fleeting. O Arjuna, endure
them,” and pacified me. I felt extremely relieved. In three or four months
I was completely cured of the disease. Thereafter, I used to see him three
or four times a year up to 1950 and came in close contact with him. He
rejuvenated me physically and spiritually and brought me eternally into the
fold of his benign Grace, to describe which I have no words.
On receiving a telegram, I went to the Ashram on the day of his
mahasamadhi. My emotions and feelings were checked somehow during
the day he left the body. But next day, at night, I began to weep bitterly
feeling very uneasy that I shall never henceforth see Bhagavan in an
embodied form and enjoy the bliss of his presence. All of a sudden in the
dead of night, some footsteps were heard and lo! There came Bhagavan
with a lantern in his hand! He straightaway approached me, and said in a
soft, gentle, loving voice, “Why do you weep? Did I not tell you that I am
here?” I controlled myself and bowed down to him. By the time I raised
my head, he had disappeared, leaving me in utter surprise and desolation.
My thousand pranams to Ramana Bhagavan.
146
Dr. Haribhai M. Adalja was a disciple of Swami Madhavatirtha
(no. 51).
In 1946, I went to Sri Ramanasramam for Bhagavan’s darshan.
Devotees were seated in the hall in front of Bhagavan. I wrote a chit and
placed it before Bhagavan, stating, “I feel I have the experience of the
Self, but my mind does not agree with that.” After reading it, Bhagavan
ordered a copy of Ulladu Narpadu, turned to verse 33 therein, and
asked someone to show it to me. It read, “To speak I have not known
myself or I have come to know myself is ridiculous. What? Are there
two selves, one to objectify the other? The experience for all is that the
Self is only One.”
A year later, when I was coming down the Arunachala Hill and
Bhagavan was going up the narrow path, I stepped aside to give him
Haribhai M. Adalja / Sadhu Bramanian 335
room to go and stood with closed eyes and folded hands.When Bhagavan
came near me, to my utter surprise, he asked, “Do you still find two?”
Once I asked Bhagavan, “If waking and dream states are not
different, can a man realise his Self in the dream state?” He replied, “First
realise the Self in the waking state and then raise the question.”
Bhagavan was quoting an example of the relation of gold with
the ornaments, that only gold is real, while the name and form of gold
appearing as ornaments are unreal. I raised a query, “Though the
ornament is false, we see gold and also the ornament which is false,
which is not the case with the world, i.e.,when we see the world in
numerous forms we do not see the Reality, the substratum.” Bhagavan
explained, “In dream there is no world, and yet you see it just as in the
waking state. Both name and form are illusions; you see them only
when you see yourself in form and identify yourself with the ego sense.”
147
Sadhu Bramanian, earlier Dr.R. Subramanian, was Director of Public
Health in Madras Government. He was instrumental in ensuring
the best medical treatment during Sri Ramana’s terminal illness.
One day, Dr. Anantanarayana Rao [No.88] brought a ripe guava
to Bhagavan saying it was the first produce from his garden. Bhagavan
asked for a knife, a plate and some chilli powder. He cut the fruit into small
pieces, sprinkled the chilli powder over them, took a piece himself and
asked the rest to be given to those around him. That was the only dish
prepared by Bhagavan himself which I ever ate. It was also the most
delicious morsel I ever tasted.
Once Bhagavan had a mild attack of jaundice. As a part of the
treatment, his diet was reduced to bare buttermilk and rice. Dr. Shiva Rao
of the Ashram dispensary felt that Bhagavan was getting weaker. He
requested him to take some protein foods and vitamins, but he declined. I
happened to be in the Ashram then. One day as Bhagavan came out of the
bathroom, I prostrated before him and said, “Dr. Shiva Rao and others in
the Ashram are very anxious about Bhagavan’s health and want Bhagavan
to take some protein foods and vitamins. At least for their satisfaction I
request Bhagavan to agree.” He smiled and said, “Yes, you may arrange
whatever is necessary.” I came and told this to Dr. Shiva Rao.
Vitamins were available in the Ashram dispensary, but not the

protein food. I returned to Madras immediately and searched all prominent
drug stores. Since it was wartime, drugs were scarce and the protein food
was available only in one shop. I bought all the seven bottles available and
took them to the Ashram. I went to the hall with one bottle and a spoon,
and gave one spoonful to each of the few devotees present and then gave
one to Bhagavan. He took it and asked what it was. I said that it was
protein food and that he could mix one spoonful with the food thrice daily.
He asked me to give the bottle to Sama Thatha with instructions. After a
few days some overzealous devotee served two spoonfuls on his leaf-
plate. He immediately stopped taking it and asked the bottles to be given to
the dispensary for the use of the patients.
After his last operation, visitors were prohibited. But Bhagavan,
despite doctors’ instructions, insisted on lying outside the dispensary room,
where he was operated. This he thought was necessary to save dis-
appointment to the devotees many of whom were coming from distant
places to have his darshan.
148
M.V. Krishnan was son of Munagala S. Venkataramiah, a famous
devotee, who compiled the well-known volume Talks with Sri
Ramana Maharshi.
On August 29, 1896, Venkataraman (later Sri Ramana) left Madurai
for Tiruvannamalai. One week later, my father went home from Madurai
to Sholavandan and told my grandmother that a Brahmin boy who was
studying in Madurai at an adjoining school had run away from home. At
that time he little realised that he was to meet this runaway boy and become
his disciple, live in his close proximity from 1933 to 1950, and be the compiler
of the classic Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi.
In 1930, Dr. T.N. Krishnaswami [No.99] wanted to visit the Ashram
and be with Bhagavan during the weekend. On the roadside he saw a
woman selling the vegetable kovai kai and bought the lot (1½ kg.) for a
few annas1. When Bhagavan saw the contents he said that if kovai kai
were cooked with brinjals it would be tasty. The next morning a devotee
arriving from Madras brought brinjals! The curry was cooked in the morning
and all of us relished it.
M.V. Krishnan / N. Ponniah 337
In 1937, an elderly American came along with a group to visit

Bhagavan. The trend of the discussion was that the five senses were to be
kept under check. Since the old American was deaf he could not follow
the discussions. Bhagavan remarked that the American needed to control
only four senses as the fifth (hearing) was already under check. Someone
in the Hall explained this to the American and he beamed with joy.
I went to Delhi in December 1940 in search of a job, but did not
succeed till February 1941. My letter that I have to return, as no job was
available, was shown to Bhagavan who went through it and said, “Let him
stay on in Delhi.” In March I got a job. From then on I prospered very well.
In the beginning, there was only a thatched roof over the Mother’s
samadhi. Devotees decided to build a hall, and bricks were carried to the site
by the devotees. Bhagavan also wanted to work but the devotees would not
permit him. One moonlit night, when all were asleep, a devotee woke up and
saw Bhagavan bringing bricks to the site from the kiln opposite the Ashram.
1. One anna was one-sixteenth of one rupee.
149
N. Ponniah who lived in Malaysia happened to hear about Sri
Ramana in 1938 when Sri Ramana’s devoted disciple Ramana-
padananda (no. 102) had visited Malaysia to disseminate Sri
Ramana’s Gospel. He visited the Ashram a decade later.
Only in 1948 the opportunity came for me to visit the Ashram. I
was accommodated in the guesthouse. Devoid of all signs of so-called
civilised standards, this thatched cottage entertained me with inexpressible
homeliness in the company of resident sadhus and devoted visitors. Away
from the din and bustle of city life, the Ashram is ideally situated in the
midst of natural surroundings. There was no regimentation based on caste,
creed or colour or of any other type. As a background to this model of
ancient hermitages stood, in all its grandeur, the holy hill of Arunachala.
With a heightened reverential emotion, I entered the hall. Bhagavan
was reclining on the sofa, absorbed in the Self, silent and serene. I took my
place amongst the gathering. Pin-drop silence prevailed. Nothing seemed
more enjoyable in this blessed world than to sit in silence in that
place in the holy presence of the Maharshi. Darshan was not the
monopoly of human beings alone. At certain hours the squirrels from a

large tree by the side came down to claim their fair share. The beautiful
peacocks followed. Bhagavan looked at them most graciously. “Oh, you
are hungry!” he would say, and some grain was given to them. They would
then move away happily like a child after the mother’s feeding!
One day a barrister from Bombay broke the silence by raising
some puzzling questions, not capable of satisfactory answers. A discussion
followed at a high intellectual level. When an impasse was reached, the
Maharshi told the barrister about the futility of the theoretical enquiry.
He suggested that he could sit in silence and introspect and he will find
the answer. In the afternoon, the visitor said that he was clear on one
point, but could not reconcile on some others. Bhagavan replied, “That is
good, continue the analysis; answers to all questions would be found.”
Half an hour after the barrister had left, Bhagavan smiled and said, “He
thought this is the Bombay court.” Everybody enjoyed the observation.
Vedic chantings concluded the day’s programme.
Darshan of the Sage Ramana is a singular experience, which
words can hardly describe. I can only say that I felt an unusual
vibrating sensation, a sort of electric charge, which had transported
me for a moment. What is even more unforgettable are Bhagavan’s
melodious and inspiring expressions in Tamil, which often attuned to his
Holy Hermitage, reverberate in my ears.
150
Swami Satyananda was a personal attendant of Sri Ramana
from 1946 till the Maharshi’s mahanirvana in April 1950.
I was born in 1916 in Kerala. My mother being of a pious disposition
used to serve sadhus and help them in various ways. Her piety made me
turn to spiritual path when I was only eighteen. Once I went on a pilgrimage
to Rameswaram in the company of some sadhus. On the way, we stayed at
a math managed by one Narayanaswami. He spoke to me of the greatness
of Bhagavan and gave me the address of the Ashram on a piece of paper.
From Rameswaram I went to Tiruvannamalai. When we arrived,
Bhagavan was sitting in the hall alone. He looked at us and smiled. I can
never forget that smile. I spent seven years at the Ashram, begging my
food in the town. I then obtained, by Bhagavan’s grace, the good fortune
of serving him as his personal attendant.
Swami Satyananda / Henri Hartung 339
On the evening of April 14, 1950, we were massaging Bhagavan’s

body. At about 5 p.m. he asked us to help him sit up. Precisely at that
moment devotees started singing ‘Arunachala Siva.’1When Bhagavan heard
the singing, his face lit up with radiant joy. Tears began to flow from his
eyes and continued to flow for a long time. I was wiping them from time to
time. I was also giving him spoonfuls of water boiled with ginger.
Bhagavan’s breathing became gradually slower and slower and at 8.47
p.m. subsided quietly. There was no struggle, no spasm, none of the signs
of death. At that very moment, devotees who were outside saw a bright
meteor in the sky, which reached the summit of the holy hill Arunachala
and disappeared high in the sky.
1. The 108-verse poem addressed to mountain Arunachala. For details refer

Aksharamanamalai under ‘Books’, p. 425.
151
Henri Hartung (1921-88), a Swiss, ran a Ramana Centre in
Switzerland for many years. His French translation of Ulladu
Naarpadu went into several editions. Influenced by French
philosopher Rene Guenon 1, he authored Analogies of interest
between Guenon and Ramana Maharshi.
I came to Bhagavan in 1947. The long path to the Ashram became
for me the royal road to the discovery of oneself. I had learnt that Ramana
Maharshi was an authentic representative of the traditional wisdom. In
Bombay I met a Brahmin who told me without astonishment as if it were
an item of the everyday news, and even before greeting me, “I was waiting
for you, I have to escort you to the Maharshi.”
Two days and two nights of train travel followed. While admiring
the Indian landscape and especially the noisy and colourful scenes, which
occured during the stops, I tried to assess myself. Finally, I framed some
ten questions that remained essential for me – the meaning of my presence
on earth, what happens after death? Why? How? etc. I reached the
Ashram.
During the next ten days, I shared the ritual life of the Ashram,
sitting for hours in front of Sri Ramana in the meditation hall. On the day of
my departure, precise answers to every one of the questions I had prepared
were given to me, without my asking them. Sometimes through a few

words written by himself, sometimes through answers to questions,
sometimes through some shared domestic chores, especially in the kitchen,
most often in silence: all this being a really subtle transmission of an
exceptional spiritual reality.
Till his last day, the Maharshi will make it possible for his visitors
from the next town or from a remote place, on foot and penniless or in
luxurious cars, to see him, even to talk to him. They came to bow in front
of the living incarnation of the divine reality in human form. He was there,
amongst us, without ever showing any sort of ambition, or a particle of
pride. A smile of love and peace and the look which I feel while writing
these lines can never be described in words.
Thirty years after the first meeting, I am once again at Tiru-
vannamalai, with my wife. A pilgrimage, which goes to the depths of my
soul, as it did thirty years ago in 1947. The Maharshi’s life serves as a
concrete reference to our personal growth. He was the last link of a
chain of wise and holy men whose origin is beyond time and whose
influence gives a meaning to our life, a harmony to our behaviour and
peace to our hearts.
1. Another devotee of Sri Ramana who was influenced by Guenon was

Arthur Osborne. Refer no.40, p.94.
152
Swami Chidbhavananda was Head, Sri Ramakrishna Ashram,
Ootacamund from 1926-1940.
In 1923, a few of us religiously inclined college students undertook
a pilgrimage from Madras to Tiruvannamalai for a darshan of Ramana
Maharshi. The Ashram was then in its initial stage. An august person was
seated on a raised platform. Around him on the floor were seated a number
of devotees, all intently looking at him. Silence reigned supreme. This was
a novel experience for us.
We sat quietly. The Maharshi turned his penetrating gaze at us off
and on. We felt ourselves highly blessed by his friendly and kindly look.
Occasionally he spoke a word or two, which were always pertinent and to
the point. But his silence was more eloquent.
Swami Chidbhavananda 341
As head of Sri Ramakrishna Ashram at Ootacamund, I took as

many opportunities as possible to see the Maharshi. I was not inclined to
talk much with him; being seated in his presence was more than
sufficient. Occasionally he spoke, but his silence was what I sought
and prized every time I went to him. A purified enquirer makes a rich
harvest of the blissful calmness that prevails in his presence.
The Maharshi occupied a couch in a corner of a hall in the
Ashram. One day a man following the path of devotion came in and
occupied a place near the sage. Then he unburdened all that lay buried in
his heart. His speech was choked with feeling. He poured forth, “I have
gone on pilgrimage all over the land. I have been regular in my spiritual
practices. Many a sleepless night I have passed in prayer. Still to this day
I have had no mercy from the Lord. I am forlorn.” He cried bitterly, but
the Maharshi sat unconcerned. When all his suppressed feelings were
worked out, in a measured voice the sage said, “What is there to sob
about? Instead of being poised in the blissful Self, you go on wailing.”
This simple observation had a telling effect.The visitor saw that his problem
was self-created; and a new chapter started in his life.
On another occasion, a talkative man made his appearance.
He chose to sit near the sage and unceremoniously asked, “Bhagavan,
what is your view on birth control?” There being no answer that man
explained at length the importance of the topic. Again getting no reply,
he continued until he could say no more and then fell silent. Silence
reigned supreme in the hall. In the midst of this silence, the Maharshi
asked, “Do you know death control?” There was no response.
One day it was suggested to the Maharshi that no spiritual
progress could ever be made without sadhana or discipline. After a
pause he made these observations: Mind binds man, and the same mind
liberates him. Mind is constituted of sankalpa and vikalpa – desire
and disposition. Desire shapes and governs disposition. Desire is of
two kinds – the noble and the base. The base desires are lust and
greed. Noble desires direct us towards enlightenment and emancipation.
Base desires contaminate and cloud the understanding. Sadhana is
easy for the aspirant who is endowed with noble desires. Calmness is
the basis of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart.
Then the work is over. This is the essence of all spiritual discipline!
During one of my visits, I was seated at some distance from
the Maharshi. I remembered his injunction, ‘Plunge the purified mind
into the Heart’, and decided to practise it then. I gazed at him and he
gazed back at me. What followed was indescribable. His body
seemed a glass case from which a blissful brilliance streamed out.
More than half an hour passed this way. It was an experience unique
and unforgettable. It confirmed Sri Ramakrishna’s statement that spiritual
experience can be transmitted from one person to another in the manner
in which material things are handed over.
153
C. R. Pattabhi Raman was a minister at the Centre. He was son
of Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, who was Dewan of Travancore.
My first meeting with Ramana Maharshi was in the early 1930s
when I returned from England after my studies. I accompanied the
young Maharaja of Travancore to Tiruvannamalai. The Maharshi was
the same serene blissful self with a friendly and kindly look on his
face.When the Maharaja asked him what the first step was for atma
vichara, he said that the very fact that he had come to Tiruvannamalai
was the first step for him.
The next important occasion when I went to Tiruvannamalai was
a few days before the Maharshi’s bodily demise. I accompanied my father,
Dr. C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, along with a friend. We were taken to the
sage, who had been operated upon for a carcinomatous growth on his left
arm. Apart from a few beads of perspiration on his forehead, there was
nothing on his face to show that he was ill or suffering from pain. He
proved beyond doubt that pain or sorrow did not affect a realised
soul. A leading civil surgeon from Vellore expressed great surprise
that the sage did not even want anesthesia for the operation and
yet was able to stand the pain and the shock. Ramana Maharshi spoke
a few words to my father and we took leave.
As we were getting ready for dinner, my father said to me that he
did not want food and would have some milk. At that very moment an
attendant ran to us with a message from the Maharshi, “The elderly person
will say he will only have milk. Let him eat some fruits also.” It was
miraculous because the Maharshi was nearly half a furlong away and
could not have heard what my father was saying.
The Maharshi was unique in many respects. Like Dattatreya of
C.R. Pattabhi Raman / Maha Krishna Swami 343
the puranas, he did not have a guru as such. One could see on his face
expressions of joy when recitations from the Vedas and Upanishads
were taking place in the Ashram. His path of knowledge was not rigid
or exclusive.
Sri Ramana did not seek to establish any new cult but showed
the direct way to Self-realisation. He taught as a jivanmukta (liberated
soul), exemplifying Tat tvam asi (‘Thou art That’ of the Chhandogya
Upanishad). Like Suka of the Bhagavatam, he was characterised by
samatva (sameness in joy and sorrow and freedom from duality).
He frequently referred to verses from the Yoga Vashista
wherein the Sage Vashista advised the young Sri Rama to fulfil his
mission as avatara purusha, all the while abiding in the Self. The ideal
of Self-realisation is not visionary, but is the very goal of life. Unswerving
abidance in the Self, the one eternal Truth, whatever one may be doing,
is well described in the Yoga Vashista: Firmly established in the vision
that shines forth/ On the renunciation of all desires, and rooted/ In your
own Being as a jivanmukta / Act playfully in the world, Oh Raghava.
To have seen the Maharshi in flesh and blood and have
heard his word is our great fortune and most treasured memory.
154
Maha Krishna Swami who established ‘Bhagavan Sri Ramanasramam’
in Brazil, had stayed at the Ashram during 1938-40.
In 1938, I was taken to Bhagavan. His face radiated endless
love and serenity. I prostrated before him. He said to me, “It seems you
have been called.” After thus greeting me, he became deeply absorbed.
Without looking at anyone or anything, he was penetrating into my
innermost Self. Suddenly, he turned to me and, with a look that
acquired an indescribable intensity, aroused in me quietness, deep
peace and a great compassion for all living beings of the universe.
From that day on, I knew that Bhagavan was not an ordinary master
but a Universal Sadguru.
I then began to tune myself to his upadesa, which I perceived
was vitalizing and transforming me in every way. I knew that what I could
absorb of the light of initiation would be according to my own efforts. I was
to develop more and more control of my thoughts for receiving the subtle
vibrations radiated by Bhagavan.
One day Bhagavan told me, “Silence is the most powerful form
of teaching transmitted from the master to the adept. The soundless
voice is pure intuition. It is the voice of the spiritual mind speaking in
our innermost being. Self-enquiry is the only path we have in order to
eliminate spiritual unconsciousness, which is widespread. Self-enquiry
brings the consciousness of the divine, the universal truth and the light
that governs the universe. All this must be known, felt, lived and realized.
In order to realize this truth, we need to eliminate the thinking mind, to
dissolve it in the Universal Self.”
To forget the ego and discover the Universal Being, is the direct
path taught by Bhagavan. After practising Self-enquiry for a period of
time one awakens a current of consciousness, the supreme cons-
ciousness. Bhagavan recommends: “Effort is necessary to move oneself
deeper and deeper in the practice of Self-enquiry. Firm determination
is essential to achieve the experience.”
Diving into the right side of the chest, the adept enters into the
attitude of silence. Thoughts disappear and the state of consciousness,
‘I am that, I am that’, arises.
Bhagavan spoke very little and showed the world how
much could be transmitted by silence. With his attitude of serene
benevolence he set all at ease. I felt with absolute certainty that
all the knowledge to be gained would be simply assimilated from
his holy presence, for I had caught the truth that he is the link
to the formless Being.
155
Dr. M.R. Krishnamurthi Iyer was the first doctor of the Ashram
dispensary, which was started in 1929.
In the later 1930s, continuous hiccups gripped Sri Bhagavan. I

was treating him. Days passed and I had tried all the medicines known to
the profession; all in vain. I got thoroughly upset. I spoke no words to Him,
but standing in His presence, I prayed mentally that He should show me a
way to cure Him.
M.R. Krishnamurthi Iyer / Shiva Mohan Lal 345
I returned home grief-stricken and cried and cried like a child till I
fell asleep. In the early hours of the morning, Sri Bhagavan appeared in my
dream and asked, “Why are you crying?” I replied sobbing, “Bhagavan,
you know why. I don’t know how to save you from hiccups. What am I to
do?” Sri Bhagavan consoled me saying, “Don’t cry. In the courtyard of
your house there is a plant of Seenhikodi. Pluck some leaves from it, fry
them in ghee and then pound them along with dried ginger and jaggery,
make balls of it and bring them to me. Don’t worry!”
I woke up delighted. My wife and I went out with a hurricane
lamp and searched for the herb in the courtyard. Except for a small strip,
the courtyard was plastered in cement. In the small strip many bushes had
grown. There among them, we did find the herb; prepared the medicine
and almost ran to the Ashram. As we entered the hall very early in the
morning, we found Sri Bhagavan on His couch. With a smiling face, He
greeted us and extended His hand with these words: “Give me what you
have brought!” He swallowed a part of the medicine.When I spoke to
Him about the dream He looked innocent as if He knew nothing about it!
Needless to say, the hiccups stopped as expected and He was restored to
normal health. [See no.135, p.315 for the wife’s reminiscences.]
156
Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal (1900-83), Head, Dept. of Philosophy,
Osmania University, Hyderabad, an Urdu scholar, has translated
Who am I? and other books on Sri Ramana into Urdu. Most of
his family members are devotees of Sri Ramana.
I would often visit the Ashram, particularly during vacations. I
was very dedicated and attached to Bhagavan. Once I sent a telegram to
the Ashram: “My wife is suffering intensely due to labour pains. I seek Sri
Bhagavan’s blessings.” After the telegram was read out to Bhagavan, he
remarked, “Will it be done merely by reporting it to me?” Muruganar [No.
53] and others were present at that time.
Again, at 3 p.m. the same day another telegram was sent by me
stating that my wife had given birth and that the delivery was smooth.
Bhagavan simply acknowledged it with his usual ‘Um Um!’ Muruganar
who was there asked: “Bhagavan, you said in the morning, will it be done
by merely reporting it to me? But was it not because you were informed
and your blessings were sought that there was an easy delivery for Mrs.
Shiva Mohan Lal?” Bhagavan gave an understanding smile but did not
reply. He resumed his usual serene gaze, and stern silence.1
Once, while returning from the Ashram via Katpadi, I ran out of
British currency. My Nizam State’s coins were unacceptable at the station
to buy the ticket. Sitting on a bench as I started remembering Bhagavan,
a complete stranger came and asked whether I belonged to Hyderabad,
perhaps because of my typical Hyderabadi dress. He was interested in
having some silver coins of the Nizam State. This helped me to get my
ticket to Hyderabad.
My sister was greatly worried about her son being issueless. At
my behest she sought Bhagavan’s intervention in this regard. We went to
the Ashram along with her daughter-in-law, who presented a handful of
almonds to Bhagavan. He chose to pick up only two almonds out of the lot
presented to him, without uttering a word. In course of time, she was
blessed with two children.
Some reminiscences as recorded by G.V. Rajeswara Rao, a founder

member of Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad, are as follows:
Prof. Lal first heard about Bhagavan from one of his colleagues
in Osmania University. However, having seen a number of fake sadhus,
he was not interested in the Maharshi. Later, an article appeared in The
Hindu on Bhagavan’s life and teachings along with his photograph. Again,
the same colleague drew Prof. Lal’s attention to the article. But he
remained unmoved. That day, in the evening, when he came home and
was going to have his bath, he was amazed to see Bhagavan in the bath
room in the same posture as he had seen in the photograph in The Hindu.
He got thrilled and his joy knew no bounds. All his earlier doubts vanished
and he was irrevocably drawn towards Bhagavan.
Prof. Lal told about his vision to famous Swami Chinmayananda
[No.83], who advised him to go to Tiruvannamalai and have Bhagavan’s
darshan. On his first visit to the Ashram in 1938, he bought two baskets
of fruits at Madras for offering them to Bhagavan. In the train to Katpadi,
the very thought of Bhagavan sent him into raptures and he became
oblivious of his surroundings, which made someone knock off the fruit
baskets. Prof. Lal approached Bhagavan with a throbbing heart and eyes
brimming with tears. He prostrated before Bhagavan and stood tansfixed
until someone asked him to sit.
Shiva Mohan Lal 347
Subsequently, every visit had its own marvels. Bhagavan showered

his blessings on him and he was always in a blissful state in his presence.
He used to sit as near as possible to Bhagavan and with eyes closed, while
tears trickled down his cheeks. On one occasion when he sat before
Bhagavan, he saw only the empty sofa and realized that the formless had
taken a form out of compassion for the devotees.
On one of his visits, Prof. Lal gave some amount to the
sarvadhikari for a photo of Bhagavan. When he went next, Bhagavan’s
attendant Venkataratnam2 told him that the photo was ready. When
Prof. Lal and his wife approached Bhagavan, the former stretched his
hands eagerly for receiving the photo from Divine hands. “Why, Why”,
said Bhagavan with a gracious smile and gave the photo to Mrs.
Chandrani Lal. The photo which contains a sloka underneath written
by Bhagavan himself is now at Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad.
One winter morning, Prof. Lal took a nice shawl for Bhagavan
and gave it to his attendant, as Bhagavan rarely accepted any expensive
gifts. It was a pleasant surprise for the Prof. when he saw Bhagavan in his
seat wrapped in that shawl, with his face beaming with a sweet smile.
Prof. Lal was happy beyond words. T.P.Ramachandra Iyer [No.54]
remarked with affection – “You are really lucky.”
One day when Prof. Lal got up early for giri pradakshina, it
was raining. Still, he decided to stick to his schedule and went to Bhagavan
to inform him about it. Bhagavan nodded saying, “Yes, Yes”, despite the
rain. As Prof. Lal reached the Ashram gate, he was surprised to find a
person standing there with an umbrella for him! All the way round the holy
hill, he was thinking about Bhagavan’s consideration for his devotees.
Another case of Bhagavan’s uncanny ability to be aware of the
needs of his devotees occurred when a lady devotee had to return alone to
Kothagudem. Bhagavan asked Prof. Lal to accompany her on his way
back to Hyderabad and to assist her on the way. She reached home safely
and happily.
When Bhagavan saw Prof. Lal’s translation of the book History
of Indian Philosophy in Urdu,3 he told him to consider translating Who
am I? into Urdu. The Prof. did so and took copies of the translated book to
the Ashram on his next visit. He read them before Bhagavan with emotion
and came to the guest house exhausted. After a short while, Bhagavan’s
attendant came to him with a request to return to the hall, where Mrs.
Taleyarkhan4 was waiting for him. As she knew Urdu well, Bhagavan told
Prof. Lal to read the translation to her. She was all praise for the job so
well done. Subsequently, Bhagavan asked the Prof. to translate The

Maharshi’s Gospel 5 into Urdu which he did. Prof. Lal also wrote in
Urdu The Maharshi and His Message, which was published by the
Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute, Hyderabad.
Whenever Prof. Lal talked about Bhagavan, tears will trickle
down his eyes. V. Krithivasan (a staunch devotee of Hyderabad Kendram)
told the compiler-editor about his visit to Prof. Lal’s residence in Hyde-
rabad. When the Prof. came to know that Krithivasan’s mother tongue
was Tamil, he began to shed tears because he felt that he was lucky to
read Bhagavan’s hand-written documents in their original form.
1. The delivery related to Prof. S. Dhareshwari in 1939, who is a devotee at

Hyderabad Kendram. She retired as Head, Dept. of Ancient Indian History
and Culture, Osmania University, Hyderabad.
2. He was entrusted to Bhagavan’s care by Prof. Lal when he was a boy.
3. Urdu was medium of instruction in Osmania University till 1949 for all subjects
including medicine and engineering.
4. A great devotee of Bhagavan, who got the Pathala Lingam (where
Bhagavan had done tapas totally unconscious of his body) renovated
and had got it inaugurated by the then Governor General of India – C.
Rajagopalachari in 1949. Refer no. 166, pp.364-6.
5. This publication of Sri Ramanasramam contains answers to some of the
questions put to Sri Ramana from time to time.
157
Prabhakar, after getting convinced of Sri Ramana’s greatness,
wrote Prapatti Satakam in Sanskrit.
When I came to Bhagavan in 1949, I was a pure rationalist,
averse to anything spiritual. Though I had heard about Bhagavan and
had seen his photos, I ignored him. However, a total change in my life
took place suddenly. One night, Bhagavan appeared in my dream. In that
dream my boss pointed to Bhagavan and asked me whether I knew
Him. On replying in the negative, I was told that He was none other than
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and that I should go to Arunachala and
have His darshan. I replied that I felt no such need, and in any case had
no money to travel. My boss offered to give me the required money, that
is, Rs. 60. At this point, I woke up from the dream. I hesitated to narrate
Prabhakar / Lakshmi Ranganadham 349
the dream to my boss, though I did to one of my close friends, who

persuaded me to approach the boss with the story.
One day I picked up courage and narrated my dream to the boss,
avoiding the portion dealing with money. The boss was unmoved. He said,
“Give more attention to your job and save some money to pay for the trip
to your Bhagavan.” But before I could move away from the place, there
was a sudden change in the boss’s attitude and he asked, “Do you really
have a deep desire to visit Bhagavan?” On my replying in the affirmative,
he asked me how much money I would require. And even before I could
open my mouth he wrote a cheque for Rs.60! Receiving the exact amount
indicated in the dream, I felt that it was all Bhagavan’s Grace, and
immediately left for Tiruvannamalai.
More thrilling than this was the fact that while entering the
hall I felt as if Bhagavan was looking intently at the entrance to the
hall and waiting for someone to arrive. As soon as I entered, He gave
a beaming smile and a welcoming nod! For the first time in my life, I
did ashtanga namaskaram to anyone. At the very first glimpse of
Sri Bhagavan, I became a full-fledged bhakta!
I asked Bhagavan, “Did you summon me?” He nodded His head
in assent. I repeated the question twice; Bhagavan nodded each time.
This stabilised my bondage to Bhagavan. During my stay I used to ask
questions and Bhagavan would reply to every one of them. Once
Bhagavan told me, “You say I am Prabhakar. Who is this Prabhakar?
Why do you accept that you are Prabhakar? Your parents called you so;
you being a rationalist, why should you accept it? Who is this Prabhakar?
Use your reasoning faculty and search for ‘who you really are’? Then,
the Prabhakar of this particular form and name will drop off and the real
being alone will shine.”
In spite of odds and obstacles, I led a peace-filled life because
of my faith in and devotion to Bhagavan. I got all this not due to the
excellence of my reasoning power or spiritual maturity but because of
the lustre shed by Bhagavan on me.
158
Lakshmi Ranganadham was affectionately referred to as ‘our
Lakshmi’ by Sri Ramana.
I came to Bhagavan through my brother Narayana Rao. I stayed

in Tiruvannamalai with my mother, and used to visit the Ashram.
Chinnaswami was then doing the Ashram cooking all alone. I was asked to
assist him in the kitchen. One day while I was grinding rice for the next
day’s iddlies, suddenly Bhagavan came there and asked, “Why are you
doing it all alone?” Then He also sat with me and completed the grinding.
Even now my hairs stand on end when I think of it!
Bhagavan could be stern when we made mistakes. Once I made
some puris which were to be served in the afternoon. I fried them in oil,
but also made a few in ghee. I placed the specially made ones on top, so
that I could quietly serve them to Bhagavan. Everything was distributed.
When all was over, Bhagavan called me and said, “Lakshmi, don’t do this
again. If you try to differentiate, I will never touch any of your preparations.”
How did He know what I had done? I never repeated the mistake.
Bhagavan’s words were so powerful that one’s entire being got changed
with a single word of His.
159
Ramaswami Pillai (1895-1995) was a long-time associate of
Sri Ramana.
I first saw Bhagavan when I was studying in school. He looked
indescribably majestic. Since then He has been God to me in human form.
I did not ask for anything. He turned on me that look of heart-melting
grace that He so often bestows on newcomers. I felt filled to the brim just
by seeing Him.
Miracles did take place in the presence of Bhagavan. Strangely
people like me, very close to Bhagavan, never cared to notice anything
happening, as we were all so thoroughly absorbed in Him, in His
Presence! I am able to recollect a ‘miracle’ that took place. A person
from a town near Tiruvannamalai lost his eye sight owing to small pox or
severe fever. He was advised that if he went to Sri Ramanasramam,
Ramana Maharshi would give him back his eyesight. He arrived at the
Ashram and enquiring his way reached Sri Bhagavan’s hall.
A few days earlier, two young doctors had arrived for darshan of
Bhagavan. They were totally captivated by Him. They were to take leave
of Bhagavan before going back to Madras. They came to the hall, prostrated
Ramaswami Pillai 351
and went up to their car, when they had an urge to have one more glimpse
of Bhagavan. Meanwhile, the blind man had entered the hall and was
praying to Bhagavan that his eyesight be somehow restored by His Grace.
Bhagavan was listening to everything, but kept absolutely silent. The
doctors who witnessed this, voluntarily took the blind man in their car to
Madras and treated him.
After some months, I saw a man prostrating to Bhagavan with
deep and sincere gratitude for having restored his eyesight. Bhagavan
listened to him unmoved, as if He had nothing to do with it. This was the
natural way He performed miracles.
The other ‘miracle’ occurred when Bhagavan was staying at
the Skandasram. In those days, He was taking only one meal a day. In
the evening a disciple got rice and coconut as bhiksha. Bhagavan told
us to make gruel by grinding the rice and coconut, and add sugar to it.
But there was no sugar in the Ashram. Even salt, which Bhagavan
suggested as an alternative, was not to be found.
At about nine p.m. there was a knock at the Ashram’s door,
which was opened by me. To our great surprise, we saw two young
men, who had braved through the drizzling rain and darkness, with a
packet of sugar candy and a bunch of plantains. Bhagavan jokingly said,
“Aye! Sugar candy has come with bananas to supplement.” The sugar
candy was powdered and duly mixed with the gruel.
Bhagavan asked the visitors how it was that they had to come
at that time. One of them replied, “Bhagavan, it was my good fortune
to have read three articles by Mr. Humphreys [No. 92] published in the
International Psychic Gazette. Ever since, it has been my greatest
ambition to see Bhagavan and have His darshan. Somehow, it is only
today that we had the opportunity. As college students at Coimbatore,
we came for an excursion here and are going back tomorrow morning.
Not willing to lose this God-sent opportunity, we came here not minding
rain or darkness. We shall never forget this most memorable meeting.”
V. Ganesan in his Moments Remembered records:
One day, when Ramaswami Pillai entered the hall, discussion was
going on as to who was the greater of the two: Siva or Sakti. Bhagavan, as
usual, sat in silence, with a look of amusement. The trend of the talk was
that without Sakti, Siva could not do anything and this argument looked
infallible. Ramaswami Pillai also joined the fray and said, “Yes, yes! ‘He’ is
contained in ‘She’!” The Sakti party became jubilant. “But” interrupted
Pillai: “He can be independent and be without ‘She’; but ‘She’ cannot be
without ‘He’!” The Siva-party looked triumphant. Bhagavan laughed till
tears came to his eyes; he enjoyed the spelling-game thoroughly!
David Godman records:
Bhagavan could turn the most mundane event into an opportunity for
spiritual instruction. Once, for example, Ramaswami Pillai was searching
for a key that he had lost. After sometime he came into the hall and told
Bhagavan about the missing key, who said to him, “The key is where it
always was. It is not lost. Only your memory is lost. Atman (the Self) is
always there, but due to ajnana (ignorance) we spend our time searching
for it.”
160
Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (March 1977 to July 1979),
was President of Ramana Kendra, Delhi, 1968-70.
I had the privilege of seeing Ramana Maharshi in August 1935 in
the hall in which he usually sat. He was sitting on a sofa and wore only a
loincloth. I could see an aura on his face, which was glowing with peace
and joy. I sat opposite to him but did not ask him anything. He too did not
say anything to me. I sat just over an hour and just looked at his face. Till
today I have not seen that aura, that joy or peace on anybody else’s face.
That hour of perfect stillness in that silent presence has been a precious
memory ever since.
While I sat there, no questions arose in my mind, nor did I feel
any desire to ask anything. I was at complete peace with myself. It was
this experience which convinced me that Ramana Maharshi had realized
God or Truth. Some of his disciples who were present asked him some
questions, which he answered. He, however, said nothing of his own
accord.
I had to leave the place next day by train at about twelve. About
an hour-and-a half before the time of departure, I approached Ramana
Maharshi for permission to leave. He told me that I should go after I had
eaten. We sat down for lunch along with the Maharshi, at about eleven
O’clock. After lunch, I bowed down to him and left.
The visit left an abiding impression on me and convinced me that
Ramana Maharshi was a realised soul and that the ideal of ‘action in
Morarji Desai / M.V. Ramanachalam 353
inaction’ as propounded in the Gita is really attainable.

Presiding over the 99th Jayanti celebrations of Ramana Maharshi
at Ramana Kendra, New Delhi, on 13th January 1979, Morarji Desai
as Prime Minister, said:
The Maharshi seemed to know everything. He knew the
language of the animals. He listened to their complaints. He treated every
being in the same way, whether it was a cow or a dog, a crow or a
monkey. All were equal in his eyes, the beggar and the millionaire. He
never went out of Tiruvannamalai. He refused to go out and preach. He
said, “If I am a jnani, I consider everybody else a jnani too. What is
there to give?” He regarded everybody as himself. He made no attempt
to convert anybody. One got transformed by his very presence.
Many civilizations have flourished and then disappeared. But in
this country you find our old culture and the ancient religion still alive.
And it is this that keeps the country alive. It is persons like the Maharshi
who keep it alive…All learning should come from within. That is the
way the Maharshi showed. He did not criticize others way of life. He
said, “Stick to your own religion and follow it properly.” Ramana Maharshi
taught that one could do sadhana in one’s chosen way and reach the
goal.
161
M.V. Ramanachalam (1921-2003), son of M.S. Venkataraman Iyer,
was a boyhood friend of Sri Ramana.
My father Venkataraman was a few years younger to Bhagavan.
He and Bhagavan lived in the same house, which was situated close to
the Vaigai river, in Madurai. He would join Sri Ramana and his friends in
their nocturnal escapades [daring adventures done at night]. After sneak-
ing out in the dead of the night, the boys would go to the river bank and
practise ‘chilambam’ (a martial art using long bamboo poles).
Once, when my father returned late at night, my grandfather
caught him, tied him to a tree in front of the house and caned him. Sri
Ramana was watching this. Later, when my father heard about the young
Brahmana Swami dwelling in Virupaksha Cave at Arunachala he paid a
visit to him out of curiosity. But the moment he stepped into Bhagavan’s
presence he began to shed copious tears. To his amazement he found
nothing there of the former Venkataraman, his playmate. When he was

about to leave, Brahmana Swami asked him in a subdued tone, “Is that
tree still there in front of your house?”
From then on, my father, who was working in the District Board
Office, used to rush to Tiruvannamalai whenever he felt like visiting
Bhagavan. At times, he would be accompanied by my mother. At
Skandashram, Mother Alagammal, who was very fond of my mother,
taught her many songs pregnant with deep spiritual meaning. Later when
my mother sang them in front of Bhagavan, he would remark, “Oh! Did
Mother teach you all these?”
My father considered Bhagavan the Supreme Eternal. Whenever
the topic of Bhagavan was raised or Bhagavan’s name was even
mentioned, he would simply shed tears. As he was unable to refrain from
weeping in Bhagavan’s presence, Bhagavan gave him the name azhugani
siddhar – the one who attains siddhi, that is, liberation, by weeping for
God.
I remember visiting the Ashram when I was just five. I had high
fever and was sleeping near the door of Bhagavan’s hall. I felt delirious.
Bhagavan would now and then lift his head from the sofa and tell me to
go to sleep.
Once, as a boy, while leaving the Ashram, a deep sorrow suddenly
overtook me and I began to cry. I refused to go with my mother, telling
her that I wanted to stay with Bhagavan. Bhagavan, who was going that
way, stopped and told me gently, “Go with your mother now and come
back when you are 21.”
My father died in 1939 when I was just 17. After a few months
my mother took us for Bhagavan’s darshan. When she prostrated she
began to shed tears. As it was the custom in those days, my mother was
not wearing any jewellery. She had her head shaved and covered it with
her sari. She was wondering whether Bhagavan would recognize her
and asked, “Bhagavan do you recognize me?” He smiled and said, “Why
not? Only the makeup has changed (veyshamdhaan maari irukku).”
When 21, as I got posted at a place near Tiruvannamalai, I could
go to the Ashram on Sundays and holidays to sit at his feet. Once I took
his permission to go to the summit of the hill. There I scraped some
Kartikai Deepam [Refer p. 411] residue of soot from a rock and put it on
a leaf. I wanted to present it to Bhagavan. When I came down, the
sarvadhikari called and shouted, “Where were you? Bhagavan is wait-
ing for you. Go and join him for lunch.” After lunch, I approached him
Swami Ramanananda Saraswati 355
when attendant Krishnaswami was not there, for he would never allow
anyone to approach Bhagavan easily. I took out the Deepam ghee which
I had collected from the summit and offered it to him. He pulled my hand
closer and took the offered prasad, and with great reverence applied it
on his forehead saying, “Are you satisfied now?”
At times my mother used to help Bhagavan in the kitchen. One
day she was helping him in grinding. While turning the grinding stone
Bhagavan’s head butted against my mother’s head. Immediately
Bhagavan rubbed his head and exclaimed, “Ah! Parvatham, is it paining?”
I used to read religious books. Once I read a book which explained
Dakshinamurti’s chinmudra. Wonder of wonders, when I entered the
hall on the weekend he was explaining chinmudra. The purport of his
talk was: “It is just like when you point to God above with your index
finger. We then generally point to ourselves using our thumb. Joining of
the index finger and thumb is chinmudra, which is symbolically indicative
of ‘That thou art’(tatvamsi), the union of jivatma and Paramatma.”
A small book Arunachala Stuti Panchakam had a minor printing
mistake. Bhagavan wrote the correct letter on bits of paper and pasted
them in each copy of the book.
My mother wrote a letter to Bhagavan complaining that I had
refused to consider marriage proposals. When I came to the Ashram
next, Bhagavan asked in a serious tone, “Did you see your mother’s
letter?” I was stunned by Bhagavan’s disapproving voice and I came
away weeping. The sarvadhikari showed me my mother’s letter. Seeing
the writing on the wall, not long after that I got married and went to the
Ashram with my wife in March 1950. The sarvadhikari permitted us to
have Bhagavan’s darshan in the Nirvana Room. As soon as I prostrated,
Bhagavan talked to my wife in Malayalam. How he knew that she was
from Kerala is still a wonder to me.
162
Swami Ramanananda Saraswati, formerly T.N. Venkataraman
(1914-2007), was President of Sri Ramanasramam for over forty
years till 1994. After resigning his bank job he had moved to
Tiruvannamalai in 1938 to help his father Swami Niranjanananda,
the sarvadhikari, in managing the Ashram affairs.
My birth had the blessings of Bhagavan. When Bhagavan’s

mother (my grandmother) Alagammal came to the hill in 1913 along with
my mother, she told Bhagavan that Nagaswami (Maharshi’s elder brother)
had died issueless, Alamelu (Maharshi’s younger sister) also had no
children and his younger brother Nagasundaram’s wife, that is my mother,
had lost two issues in their childhood. She prayed that my mother be
blessed with a male child so that the family line might continue. Bhagavan
smiled graciously and she took this as his blessing. I was born a year
later.
My mother passed away when I was not yet three and my father
Nagasundaram, who was sarvadhikari of the Ashram, left me at the
house of my aunt Alamelu (Maharshi’s sister) and her husband Pichu
Iyer.
I was blessed with my first upadesam of Bhagavan when I was
six: In 1920, at Skandashram a plate of fruit and sweets had been put
aside for a lame monkey called ‘Nondy’. When nobody was around I
went near the plate, took a sweet and put it in my mouth. All of a sudden
the monkey appeared, limped towards me, slapped me and grabbed the
plate. Then Bhagavan appeared on the scene and said, “This is a lesson
for you; now understand that we should not desire things which belong to
others.” I fully understood the profound meaning of this upadesam long
afterwards when I was president of the Ashram.
With the exception of the saffron-robed grandma Alagammal,
no other woman could stay at night at Skandashram. So my aunt and
uncle would return to the town in the evening, taking me along with
them. As they had to carry me in their arms, on some days, they would
leave me at Skandashram. On those days Bhagavan would put me to
bed by his side and see that I slept comfortably. In the morning he would
brush my teeth and bathe me. He would sit outside on the stone couch
and ask me to sit beside him. He would say, “What are the pranks that
you play back home?” When aunt and uncle would come up the hill from
the town, he would look in their direction and tell me, “See there, your
aunt is coming” and would get up with a laugh.
In May 1922, when my grandmother (Maharshi’s mother) was
on her death bed, she wanted to see me, her only grandchild. A telegram
was sent to our place. We arrived only the day after the grandmother
had left the body which, by then, had been carried down the hill for
burial. It fell to my lucky lot to lay to rest the blessed mother who gave
birth to such a great jnani.
Swami Ramanananda Saraswati 357
Soon after our marriage, aunt Alamelu and uncle Pichu Iyer took
my wife Nagu (Nagalakshmi) to Bhagavan for his blessings. When she
came out of the hall after Bhagavan’s darshan, she was impressed by
the saree worn by a young lady, who had come from Madras, and told
her, “How beautiful is your saree!” The lady’s father who had heard
this, on returning to Madras, purchased two similar sarees and sent them
to the Ashram with a request that the packet be given to Nagu. All letters
addressed to the Ashram were invariably placed before Bhagavan, and
so was this packet and the covering letter.
Next day, when Bhagavan saw Nagu at the Ashram kitchen, he
said, “Nagu, when you see someone wearing nice ornaments or a nice
saree, you should think that you are wearing them.” Nagu, with her eyes
moist and voice tremulous, said, “Bhagavan, I did not ask for the saree,
I only said that the saree was beautiful.” But Bhagavan repeated his
upadesa and moved on. From that day onward till her last moment 55
years later, Nagu never asked for anything from anybody. She found
contentment to be the best of riches, thanks to Bhagavan’s gracious
upadesa.
It was Bhagavan who named everyone of my three sons and
four daughters. He would choose an apt name and explain the reason for
the choice.
A week before the mahanirvana, the cancerous growth near
Bhagavan’s left elbow had swollen to a big size with a bandage around
it. A number of doctors and many important people were in the Nirvana
Room. Aunt Alamelu took my last child, barely 11 months old, near
Bhagavan. The child started prattling ‘inga, inga’ unusually loudly. Alamelu
took the child far from Bhagavan but her prattle was audible to Bhagavan.
Those were the days when the smallest movement of any part of the
body would entail excruciating pain for Bhagavan. But he turned his
face in all directions and said, “I hear the voice of ‘inga’ baby. Is she
here? Poor child! if she raises her voice, she is carried far away!”
Someone ran to Aunt Alamelu who brought the child to Bhagavan, who
looked at her with compassion saying ‘inga’. The child shouted ‘inga’
and Bhagavan’s face was wreathed in smiles.
Perumalswami had served Bhagavan when he was on the hill.
He would also play with me when I was a boy. He later turned against
the Ashram and gave us much trouble, to the extent of involving the
Ashram in litigation. When he fell sick in 1945 and was evicted from his
place, he moved to a hut in Seshadri Swami’s place, adjacent to the

Ashram. I took pity on him and with Bhagavan’s blessings would take
food and medicines for him. One day Bhagavan told me, “Poor
Perumalswami! He did all sorts of mischief, but we should remember
the good that he did in the past. Once when I had suffered from serious
stomach upset and diarrhoea, he used to clean up and attend upon me
with devotion.”
I met Mahatma Gandhi at Madras in January 1946, and presented
him a photo of Bhagavan and some Ashram publications. Gandhiji kept
looking at the photo and said in Hindi, “What a great Sage!”
163
Robert Adams (1928-97), an American, had a vision of a small
Indian figure, appearing at his bedside. He consulted Paramhansa
Yogananda,1 who showed him the picture of Sri Ramana, which he
recognized as the figure in the dream. He visited Ramanasramam
and was with Sri Ramana for three years – 1947-50. His book
Silence of the Heart contains a summary of satsangs he held in
USA.
When 19, I arrived at Bombay on my way to Tiruvannamalai. It
was about 8.30 a.m. when I entered the hall. Sri Ramana was on his
couch reading the mail. I sat down in front of him. He looked at me and
smiled, and I smiled back. There were about 30 persons in the hall. The
Maharshi asked me if I had my breakfast. I said, ‘No’. He spoke to the
attendant, who came back with two giant leaves; one with fruits and one
with some porridge and pepper. After I consumed the food, I just lay
down on the floor. I was very tired.
The Maharshi had arthritis in the legs and could hardly walk at
that time [1947]. His attendants helped him to get up and he walked out
of the room. When he came outside he said something to his attendant
who motioned me to come. The Maharshi guided me to a little shack that
I might use while I was staying there. He came inside with me. I bet you
think we spoke about profound subjects. On the contrary, he was a natural
man. He was the Self of the universe. He asked how my trip was, where
I was from, and what made me come here. Then he said I should rest. I
lay myself down on the cot and he left.
Robert Adams 359
I was awakened at about five in the evening by Ramana himself,

who had brought food for me. Can you imagine that? We spoke briefly.
I ate and slept. The next morning I went to the hall. Everybody sat around
just watching Ramana. He would go through the mail and at times may
read it aloud, talk to some devotees, but his composure never changed.
Never did I see elsewhere such compassion and love.
Then people started asking questions. His replies were very
succinct. They weren’t like you read in a book. Apparently, what you
read in a book is his reply to three or four people. They condense it all
into one question and answer. People usually asked a question or made a
statement. If he agreed, he would nod or say yes. That is it. If he didn’t,
he would offer an explanation in, may be, one or two sentences.
There were Muslims, Catholic priests and people from many
races and nationalities at the Ashram. When I was there for a week or
so, two of his disciples were jokingly arguing about something at a meal.
I asked the interpreter what they were talking about. He said, “Ramana’s
couch is covered with lice, and he refuses to let us kill them. They climb
over this body and legs and he doesn’t care. We want to have the couch
fumigated, but he won’t let us.” Next day, when he went for his morning
walk, they sprayed the couch with DDT. On coming back he smelled the
couch, smiled and jokingly said, “Someone has tricked me.” He never
got angry or mad; I don’t think he knew what the words meant.
A few days later, there was a German lady who had come to the
Ashram, and had made a donation. She was not happy for some reason
and was complaining to Ramana, who just kept silent. I asked the
interpreter, “What does she want?” He told me, “She wants her donation
back and go back to Germany.” When she started arguing with the
manager of the Ashram, Ramana said in English, “Give back her donation
and add 50 rupees to it”, which was done, and she left. This was his
nature. He never saw anything wrong; he never took anyone out
of his love no matter what they did. He loved everyone just the
same.
Ramana used to quote from the scriptures; Jesus and Ramana
said basically the same things. Jesus said, “ the Kingdom of Heaven is
within you.” Ramana said, “The Self is within you. Search for and find it,
and awaken.” Jesus said, “Son, I am with you always, and all that I have
is yours.” Ramana said, “I can never leave you, I am always with you.”
His compassion never left him.
In April 1950, I was in Bangalore to see Papa Ram Dass. When

informed that Ramana has left his body, I went to Tiruvannamalai. The
crowds had already started to come, thousands and thousands of people.
So l climbed the hill and went into one of the caves, and stayed there for
five days. When I came down the crowd had dispersed. He had already
been interred. I enquired of his devotee who saw him last, “What were
the last words he spoke?” He said, “While he was leaving the body, a
peacock flew on top of a wall and started screeching. Ramana asked his
attendant, ‘Has anyone fed the peacock yet?’ Those were his last words.”
I have been to many teachers, many saints and many sages.
I was with Nisargadatta, Anand Mayi Ma, Papa Ram Dass, Neem
Karoli Baba and many others, but never did I meet anyone who
exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss as Ramana
Maharshi.
A sample from Adam’s poems:

Who am I?
Feel your reality,
in the stillness,
in the quietness,
where there is no mind,
no thought, no words,
who are You then?
You just are.
I AM I AM.
I am not this
I am not that.
I AM.
I am that which has always been,
I am that which will always be,
I AM THAT I AM.
1. Yogananda had visited Sri Ramana in 1935. See picture no. 13 in the book.
Ramakrishna Madhavpeddi 361
164
Ramakrishna Madhavpeddi, an Andhra and an attorney at the
Madras High court, visited Sri Ramana in April 1948.
I first visited Ramanasramam when 24. At that time I was very
much depressed owing to the sudden death at the age of twenty of my
very close relative [his wife]. My father was urging me to visit the
Maharshi. He had already visited him twice, with a list of doubts all of
which were cleared, without a single word being spoken by him. He had
also experienced complete peace in the Maharshi’s presence.
It was about 9 a.m. when I reached the Ashram. I was asked to
stay in the Guest House for Gents. As luck would have it, there I chanced
to occupy my place on the floor next to N. Balarama Reddy [No. 34], an
established devotee. In addition to my work in the courts, I also wrote
articles for various journals on Telugu literature and dabbled in poetry.
This helped in striking a conversation with him.
He took me where Sri Ramana was reclining on a sofa and
asked me to sit with eyes closed. Although there was absolute silence in
the hall I could not sit with eyes closed. I was restless and felt as if the
time was dragging. Slowly, my mind began to reflect on all my miseries,
one after another. Everyday, for three days, I accompanied Reddy to the
hall, and every time I sat down my thoughts would take off at high speed
and my misery increased. So, on the third day, I told Reddy that I had
come to the Maharshi for peace but I was only experiencing an increase
of pain and misery. He asked me to stay on for one more day.
On the morning of the fourth day I was sitting in the hall with
eyes closed. At one point I happened to open my eyes and saw the
Maharshi looking at me intently. Suddenly, all thoughts vanished from my
mind and I experienced a delightful blank or void. Then a resplendent
light enveloped me fully. I was empty of thoughts but full of immense
happiness. I was one with some indefinable peace and splendid glory.
After sometime, I again became aware of my body. This experience
made me believe in God for the first time. In spite of all my theories of
Marxism, dialectical materialism and atheism, I could not deny the truth
of this wonderful experience.
This condition continued for three days. I witnessed my body go
through its daily activities but I remained fixed in that immense peace.
The Maharshi’s look pierced into me when I sat before him and even
when I was not before him. The eyes of the Maharshi are the kindest
and most powerful energy of the universe. I left the Ashram after
six days. Remembering those days with the Maharshi brings ecstasy to
me even today.
165
M.G. Shanmukam’s Tamil biography Ramana Maharshi – Life and
Teachings was published in 1937. His father, a police officer, along
with the Swami of Ishanya Mutt, Tiruvannamalai, was instrumental
in the construction of the old hall during 1926-7, where Sri Ramana
lived for two decades.
During my 24 years of personal association with Bhagavan, I
found that he seldom preached elaborately. He would give hints which
keen seekers had to absorb carefully. He once said categorically, for
practising atma vichara everyday is auspicious. All other sadhanas
require external objects and congenial environment, but for atma vichara
nothing external to oneself is required. Turning the mind within is all that
is necessary. While one is engaged in atma vichara one can attend to
other activities also.
Traditional upbringing gradually involved me in the study of the
sastras, doing japa, bhajan, and regular puja three times a day. I came
to the conviction that the highest human attainment was the state of
jivanmukti (full enlightenment whilst still in the body). During 1921-25,
as a college student, I fervently prayed that I should meet a jivanmukta
and receive his blessings.
My prayers were soon answered! My father was transferred to
Tiruvannamalai. At Katpadi, while travelling in train towards
Tiruvannamalai, I had a remarkable vision of Bhagavan. Thus my sadguru
came to me and absorbed me even before l could have His physical
darshan!
When I arrived at the Ashram, Bhagavan gave me a warm
welcome with a benign smile. As He was seeing me for the first time,
His two spontaneous utterances surprised me. Like an affectionate
mother, He asked me, “When did you come?” and “How is your right
hand?” My right hand was badly fractured when I was 14 years old, and
though it had healed up, it remained bent and short. I used to cover it up
M.G. Shanmukam 363
with full sleeves and even my friends did not know of this serious de-
formity. How did Bhagavan know about it? And what affectionate
concern He showed! After Bhagavan inquired about it, my sense of
inferiority, because of the defect, totally disappeared. More than all this,
He asked me to be seated in front of Him. Gazing at Him I sat down and
I do not know what happened to me then. When I got up two hours had
elapsed. This was an experience I had never had before and I have
always cherished it as the first and foremost prasad and blessing received
from my sadguru. That day I understood the purport of the statement,
‘The sadguru ever gives unasked!’ That moment I knew I had been
accepted into His Fold. He allowed me to enjoy this strong bond until His
mahasamadhi, and even after.
Daily I would go to Him by two in the afternoon and return home
only at 8 p.m. Bhagavan would quote from Ribhu Gita, Kaivalya
Navaneetha, Yoga Vasishtam and other advaitic texts and explain to
me their greatness. All the while I felt that I was in the blissful presence
of a brahmajnai (one who has realised the Self), so highly extolled in
our scriptures.
Once sitting before Him, the following thoughts rose in my mind
with great force and were running repeatedly for a long time: ‘Do not
argue on controversial points of philosophy or read too much of
philosophical books.’ ‘Silently practise either vichara or dhyanam’
(meditation). ‘Do not do anything which you know to be wrong.’
Some of Bhagavan’s personal instructions to me were: (i) If you
observe the breathing one-pointedly, such attention will lead you into
kumbhaka (retention), which is jnana pranayama. (ii) The more you
humble yourself, the better it is for you. (iii) You should look upon the
world only as a dream. (iv) Except attending to the duty-work in life, the
rest of the time should be spent in atma nishta (absorption in the Self).
(v) Do not cause slightest hindrance or disturbance to others. (vi) Do all
your work yourself. (vii) Both likes and dislikes should be discarded and
eschewed. (vii) With attention focused on the first person and on the
heart within, one should relentlessly practice ‘Who am I?’ During such
practice, the mind might suddenly spring up; so you have to vigilantly
pursue the vichara ‘Who am I?’
Sri Ramana was a sarvajnani (all-knower). I got many proofs
of it. My father gave me pocket-money of three annas a day. For that
amount I would buy sambrani (incense), which was burnt in a brazier in
Bhagavan’s hall. One day I did not get the pocket money and therefore
refrained from going to Bhagavan. The next day, Bhagavan graciously
remarked, “Yesterday you did not come because you could not get
sambrani. Veneration in the heart is enough.”
My father was suddenly transferred to Vellore. None of us,
particularly myself, wanted to leave Tiruvannamalai since darshan of
Bhagavan would then be denied. We ventilated our grievance to Bhagavan.
He gave me a benign smile. A few days after, strangely, the transfer
order was cancelled!
I noticed the strange way in which the doubts in one’s mind got
answered. The doubt you had would mysteriously be got expressed by
someone else in the hall to Bhagavan and He would not only give the
answer but look at you with a smile as if to say, ‘Has your doubt been
cleared?’
Bhagavan would be seated like a rock with eyes open for hours
together and silence would pervade the hall; and everyone’s heart would
be filled with peace and stillness. This silence was His real teaching!
166
Taleyarkhan, Firoza (1898-1984) was born in Hyderabad. Her fa-
ther was in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad. She belonged
to an affluent Parsi family of Bombay, and had spiritual inclination
since her childhood.
I was in Buddha Gaya for doing sadhana. I had wonderful
experiences, but my heart was longing to meet a person who could show
me God. One day someone told me about Ramana Maharshi. The moment
I opened the book given to me, I was struck by the beauty of his face.
I first visited Tiruvannamalai in 1937. At that time I was planning
to open an ashram in Bombay to be called ‘The Home of Devotion’. I
thought that before embarking on the venture I should have blessings of
the Maharshi. I stayed at the Ashram for four days and showed him the
blueprint of my proposal. I left the Ashram thinking that I had his bless-
ings, as it was not his way to say definitely ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when people told
him about their schemes. But to my great surprise, I received a reply
from the government refusing to rent us the land and building on Khandivli
Hills, which they had promised us. I really lost my temper with Bhagavan.
Taleyarkhan, Firoza 365
It was only much later that I understood that I had had his grace all
along.
Meanwhile, a Polish lady [No. 194] came to the Ashram and
told Bhagavan that she was working hard to collect money to help people
in distress and asked him whether it was a good thing to do. Bhagavan
took out a copy of Kalyan Kalpataru [a monthly journal of the Gita
Press, Gorakhpur] and showed her a passage to read. As I was sitting
beside her, I could read it too, and it made me smile. Bhagavan looked at
me and said, “It is for you too.” The passage stated, “A frail woman who
knows how to find God’s peace through prayers can do more to help a
country or mankind than all the intellectuals put together.”
That very moment something within told me that the Maharshi
was right. He knew that I was not ripe for the responsible work of helping
others. I needed to cure myself before I cured others. For the first time
I got up and prostrated before him and from that moment my life, mind
and heart changed and I felt his unbounded Grace flowing over me.
Once the sarvadhikari asked me to go to Madras and see
Minister Bhaktavatsalam about the possibility of getting railway connection
to Tiruchuzi, Bhagavan’s birthplace. I went but was shocked to hear
how much it would cost. I decided to leave it to Bhagavan and thought
no more about it. But imagine my joy, when years later Bhaktavatsalam
became the Chief Minister of Madras and the line was actually
constructed. Bhagavan’s Grace is sufficient to accomplish anything, big
or small, if one’s life and soul are laid at his feet. He has brought about
many seemingly impossible things for me.
I had his Grace when T.H. Tarapore, a Parsi friend, took up my
plan to renovate the Patala Linga, an underground cavern, where
Bhagavan had sat performing austerities as a youth when he first came
to Tiruvannamalai. He did this beautifully and C. Rajagopalachari [No.
192], the then Governor-General of India, performed the opening
ceremony on May 14, 1949.
[In this regard the following has been recorded by Taleyarkhan
in her book1: That evening All India Radio broadcast a recording of the
function. When it was over, Bhagavan said with a sigh of relief that for
three or four days he was moving in dread lest I should pick him up and
take him to the function. What an opportunity I had missed, I shouted,
but Bhagavan motioned me kindly to resume my seat and said, he was
much relieved.]
For over a week after the mahanirvana I was quite desolate at
missing the physical presence of Bhagavan. I did not know what to do.
Between tears, thoughts of ending the life often came to my mind. One
afternoon as I lay asleep, I saw Bhagavan coming down Arunachala
with his stick and enter my house. He asked me, “Why are you weeping?”
and bade me wipe my tears assuring me he was always with me here.
Then he went out by the opposite door. This dream is yet vivid in my
memory and were I an artist I would have drawn a picture of the scene.
Some Muslim servants of mine, who protested to the presence
of the photo of Bhagavan, have been granted the vision of Bhagavan.
Now they not only do not protest but have themselves become his
devotees.
1. Sages, Saints and Arunachala Ramana by Bhagavan Priya Ma F. Taleyarkhan,

Orient Longman, 1970.
167
Shankarlal Banker, a close associate of Gandhiji, was imprisoned
with him for printing the latter’s controversial articles in 1922 in
Young India, of which he was the printer. A recent publication
records:
In 1934, Shankarlal met a high-ranking serving officer of the
German Air Force and a member, besides, of the German aristocracy. In
the course of their conversation the officer wondered whether he had
heard of Ramana Maharshi, who, he said, was a rare personality, and
suggested that he could visit him.
In 1935, during his visit to Madras, Shankarlal chanced to meet
the editor of Sunday Times, M. S. Kamath, a great devotee of Sri Ramana,
who agreed to take him to the Maharshi. Shankarlal joined other guests
and visitors in the hall where the Maharshi was present. He had plenty
of things on his mind. But in the hall, all anxieties seemed to vanish and,
as recorded by him, “I had the feeling that I was that ‘pure Brahman’
and the words ‘Sivoham, Sivoham’ [I am the Supreme Being] raced
through my mind. I was astonished at this phenomenon.” He wondered
whence came those thoughts, considering that he was not a very
spiritually-inclined person. To his surprise, he experienced a feeling of
“extraordinary self-confidence” and felt convinced that the experience
was real.
Shankarlal Banker 367
As he took leave of the Maharshi he experienced a great deal of

peace and encouragement. Later that month, he narrated his experience
to Gandhiji, who not only expressed his joy but also suggested to him that
on the next occasion he should stay longer at the Ashram.
In the summer of 1936, Shankarlal once again found himself in
the presence of the Maharshi. This time he made bold to ask the Maharshi:
“What books should I read for spiritual progress?” The reply startled
Shankarlal. “Books? Why books?” the Maharshi queried and repeated
the words, “Why books?” Then the Maharshi added, “Make your heart
pure and you are bound to see the light!” That was to make a lasting
impression on his mind and he kept thinking over it during his entire day’s
stay at the Ashram. On the train that was to take him to Madras, he later
recorded, “Around 4 a.m. I suddenly woke up and saw the picture of the
Maharshi floating before my eyes! I opened my eyes fully, rubbed them,
and wonder of wonders, I felt as if he was standing before me… I had a
continuous feeling of exultation and joy as if there was no need to think
or have any anxiety about anything in the world!”
He again reported this experience to Gandhiji who recommended
that he visit Tiruvannamalai more often. Gandhiji also told him, “After
listening to you, I have suggested to Rajendra Babu and Jamana Lal Ji
also to go there.” [They can be seen in a group photo (no. 17) in the
book, along with the Maharshi.]
Shankarlal was back in Tiruvannamalai in 1937. This time he
took with him pictures of famine-stricken people in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu.
He was seated in the hall along with others as Sri Ramana was talking of
Self-realization and the bliss of the soul. This distressed Shankarlal who
had seen starving people in Tirupur. How, could, he wondered aloud to
his friend Dr. Syed [No. 23], who was sitting next to him, one reconcile
misery with the bliss of the soul? And he showed him the photographs of
starving people, he had brought with him.
Dr Syed did the unexpected. He went over to the Maharshi and
placing the pictures in his lap said, “This gentleman here says, when
there is so much misery in the world, how can we think of the bliss of the
soul?” Instead of being fazed by the question, the Maharshi replied gently
that while all effort should be made to help those in distress, one should
not take individual credit for the act. The Lord alone was the saviour of
the people. The Maharshi added that he has seen people who had not
eaten for two or three days and they seemed to glow with some inner
joy. Where did that joy come from? Only the Almighty could give it to
them! When Shankarlal retrieved the snapshots and looked at them again,
he was to observe what he had not noticed before! Those poor starving
people engaged in breaking stones seemed to have smiles on their faces!
For Shankarlal it was a revelation.
Shankarlal met the Maharshi the next day quite unexpectedly.
This time he wondered how marvellous it would be if the Maharshi and
Gandhiji met. To which the Maharshi replied with a soft smile, “Distance
does not exist!” When Shankarlal next visited Wardha, he repeated this
conversation to Gandhiji who said, “Haven’t you understood? Distance
does not exist the way we think. I have written on the subject only three
days ago!” Gandhiji called for that article and read out to him what he
had written.
In 1939, when Shankarlal’s health deteriorated, he was advised
to devote himself to a life of manan and chintan – meditation and
contemplation, and withdraw his mind from all mundane activities, which
he found difficult to practise. Here again, Sankarlal got direction from
the Maharshi when he watched him engaged in cleaning and chopping
vegetables in the kitchen. He noticed that the Maharshi was going about
his work with remarkable expertise. He even heard the Maharshi telling
a devotee how to slice a pumpkin skillfully! It was, thought Shankarlal, a
lesson for him, too. Do a job, do it well, and do it with complete detachment!
He could not resist waking up the next day at 4 a.m. and go to
the kitchen. This time he heard Sri Ramana asking someone in Tamil, “Is
Banker there?” When he was told that Banker was present and sitting
outside, the Maharshi came out with a ladle full of cooked lentils and
looking quizzically at Shankarlal, invited him to taste it. “It is a bit hot. But
I cooked it myself,” said the Maharshi by way of explanation. Shankarlal
tasted it and exclaimed, “Why, it is very tasty!” At that the Maharshi
broke into laughter and went back to the kitchen. Shankarlal got the
answer to the problem that was bothering him, about engaging himself in
some activity even while involved in spiritual pursuits. Wasn’t the Maharshi
telling him by example that to be working actively was as important as
searching for spiritual bliss?
168
K. Venkatarathnam (1921-76), an Andhra, had a religious bent of
mind since childhood. After his sacred thread ceremony at the
K. Venkatarathnam 369
age of seven, he never failed to repeat Gayatri mantra even for a

day. He was advised by a religious teacher to go to Tiruvannamalai
and serve Sri Ramana. The following account is as given by
Rosner 1, who had come to Ramanasramam in 1968 and had
diligently served Venkatarathnam till his passing.
When Venkatarathnam came to Ramanasramam in 1944, he
happened to meet Prof. Shiva Mohan Lal [no. 156], whom he had known
before. Lal introduced him to the Maharshi. He sat down and began his
japa. But strangely he could not remember his mantra even though he
had repeated it so many lakhs times before. Suddenly, he felt an infinite
Expanse of Pure Consciousness, the atma, which lasted for some time.
He stayed for a few days and returned to his place; all the way back in
the train the same experience occurring again and again.
Later, when he came to the Ashram to serve Bhagavan, he
worked at the bookstall and at the Ashram library. Bhagavan personally
taught him how to bind books and also to read and write Tamil.
In 1949, Lal asked Bhagavan if Venkatarathnam could join as
one of his personal attendants. Bhagavan said he had no objection provided
the office gives the permission, which was given.
One day, Venkatarathnam quietly went behind the Maharshi in
the hall and started fanning him, forgetting that he had earlier made it
very clear that nobody need fan him. At this the Maharshi got angry
saying, “Oho, very good, very special, this fellow thinks he is doing a
great service. Why doesn’t he go and fan all bhaktas and get the punya
of fanning the devotees of the Guru.” He spoke off and on like this to
some devotees. Finally, when alone with the Maharshi, he broke down
and asked Bhagavan to forgive him for having made Bhagavan exert
himself so much to correct his fault. Bhagavan graciously said, “Never
mind, everybody makes a mistake.”
Bhagavan had a number of attendants, who would serve him in
shifts. Venkatarathnam chose to have 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift. It was the
time when he got his heart’s desire fulfilled to be intimately close to
Bhagavan. Many nights were spent in spiritual talk or simply gazing at
the Divine face of the Maharshi.
At the sight of blood, while dressing the wound on Bhagavan’s
hand [refer no. 122, p. 297 about Bhagavan’s illness], Venkatarathnam
would feel faintness. Bhagavan rebuked him saying, “Don’t come near
me. You people come here thinking that Bhagavan is sick and is dying. I
don’t want you to come near me if you have such thoughts.” When he
asked Bhagavan that without thinking that such and such thing must be
done to relieve the suffering, how could he serve him, he was told that he
should simply play his part as in a drama and do whatever is necessary
with mental attitude of a witness attending to the work as the situation
demands. Following Bhagavan’s instruction he began to feel that everything
was atma vilasa (the Divine play) and that Bhagavan was simply playing
a role as a sick person, although in reality he was the Paramatma Himself.
After the mahanirvana of the Maharshi he would feel sad
whenever he thought of the love and concern that the Maharshi had
towards him and would sometimes weep. After the 10th day following
the mahanirvana he left for his native place but continued to visit and
serve at the Ashram.
1. Neal Rosner, an American, got immersed into the spiritual heritage of India
under the guidance of Venkatarathnam. This gets elaborated in his book On
the Road to Freedoom: A Pilgrimage in India, Cassandra Press, P.O. Box
2044, Boulder, CO 80306. Rosner lived in Amritanandamayi’s Kerala Ashram
as Swami Paramatamananda.
169
Swami Lakshman Joo Raina, who passed away in 1991, is
recognized as the last living pre-eminent exponent of Kashmir
Saivism.
When I was in the twenties, some one told me of Bhagavan Sri
Ramana Maharshi. Then and there I left Kashmir and proceeded to
Tiruvannamalai. As I entered the Hall, I saw Bhagavan seated on a sofa
with his legs stretched. I was thrilled with joy. Bhagavan asked me to sit
in front of himself. I sat and gazed at his Feet and entered the blissful
state of samadhi. Those golden days were indeed divine.
One day, I was overjoyed by the nearness of Bhagavan and
composed a few slokas as my offering to him. These in effect stated:
“There are four types of body: the gross (sthula), the subtle (sukshma),
the causal (karana) and the void (sunya). Transcending these (four
types) is the great Hill Arunachala, which is praised as the form of the
all-knowing Supreme. We worship Sri Ramana, who blissfully abides in
Swami Lakshman Joo Raina / Swami Rama 371
His own true nature (swarupa), which is named Arunachala, the fore-
most among the foremost of Hills. I take refuge at the feet of the great
personage Ramana who had realized his identity with the Lord. I utter
the name of the accomplished yogi Ramana, ceaselessly. I always
contemplate on Maharshi Ramana, the realized soul. I offer my salutations
to the celestial being Maharshi Ramana, whole-heartedly.” When these
slokas were placed before Bhagavan, he was so pleased that he
explained them to the devotees who were seated in the Hall.
I used to go on Arunachala Hill with Bhagavan, where he used
to sit on a rock and I would be seated at his Feet. Once a devotee took
out a camera to take a picture of Bhagavan. At that time Bhagavan
addressed me, “Lakshmanjoo! Lakshmanjoo! Sit here by my side. This
man is going to take a picture of us.” I cannot express how Divine were
those days of my stay near Bhagavan and how kind he was to me.
I have received a copy of The Mountain Path (April 1983),
where the photograph shows me seated near Bhagavan. Eleanor Pauline
Noye [No. 11] is also seen in the group-picture. She shed tears of joy
when Bhagavan asked me to sit near him. Those were golden days for
me when I was near Bhagavan, my Divine Lord!
170
Swami Rama (1925-96), a well-known spiritual figure, was the head
of Karvipitham in South India, from 1949-53. He went to USA in
1969 and founded the Himalayan Institute to create a bridge
between the ancient teachings of the East and the modern
scientific approach of the West. He authored Living with
Himalayan Masters.
Dr. T.N. Dutta, a prominent physician from Gajipur in U.P., came
to see me at Nasik, where I was staying. He told me that he was very
anxious to take me with him to Arunachala to have darshan of Maharshi
Ramana. It was winter of 1949. My stay at the Ashram was brief, but
very pleasant. During those days, Maharshi Ramana was observing si-
lence. There were several foreigners staying in the Ashram.
In the Maharshi’s presence I found something that is very rare
and which I seldom found elsewhere. For those whose hearts were open
to that voice of silence, which was perennially radiating in the Ashram,

just sitting near the Maharshi was enough to find answers to questions
arising from within. It is true that to be in the presence of a great man is
the same as experiencing samadhi. “He is the greatest and holiest man
born on the soil of India within a hundred years’ period,” said Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan. A glance of such a great man purifies the way of the
soul.
According to the Maharshi, contemplating on the single query,
“Who am I?” can lead the aspirant to the state of self-realization. Though
this method of contemplation is the foundation stone of the philosophies
of both the East and the West, it was revived again by the Maharshi. The
entire Vedanta philosophy has been brought into practice by him. He has
put the Iliad 1 in a nutshell: By knowing oneself one knows the self of all.
After five days’ stay in the spiritually vibrant atmosphere of the
Ashram, we came back to Nasik. My visit to Arunachala and the darshan
of the Maharshi added fuel to the fire which was burning within me.
‘Renounce, and you will attain’: this echoed in my heart so powerfully
that my stay at Nasik became more and more impossible. It was not
easy for me to run away, abruptly leaving all the responsibilities – but one
day the courage came to me, and I left Nasik for my Himalayan home.
I have firm conviction that no one can be enlightened by anyone
else – but sages inspire and give inner strength, without which self-
enlightenment is impossible. In today’s world, human beings do not have
any example to follow. There is no one to inspire them, and that is why
enlightenment seems to be so difficult. Great sages are the source of
inspiration and enlightenment.
1. Iliad is a Greek epic poem attributed to Homer.
171
Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, a well-known spiritual guru,
visited Sri Ramana in November 1935. He has authored
Autobiography of a Yogi.
Before leaving South India, I made a pilgrimage to the holy hill of
Arunachala to meet Sri Ramana Maharshi. The sage welcomed us
affectionately and pointed to a nearby stack of East-West magazines.
Swami Paramahansa Yogananda 373
During the hours that we spent with him and his disciples, he was mostly
silent, his gentle face radiating divine love and wisdom.
To help suffering humanity regain its forgotten state of Perfection,
Sri Ramana teaches that one should constantly ask himself: “Who am
I?” – the Great Inquiry indeed. By stern rejection of all other thoughts,
the devotee soon finds himself going deeper and deeper into the true
Self, and the sidetracking bewilderments of other thoughts cease to arise.
The illumined rishi of South India has written:
Dualities and trinities on something do hang,
Supportless they never appear;
That support searched for, they loosen and fall.
There is the Truth. Who sees that never wavers.
Swami Yogananda asked the following questions:

S. How is the spiritual uplift of the people to be effected? What are the
instructions to be given to them?
M. They differ according to the temperaments of the individuals and
according to the spiritual ripeness of their minds. There cannot be
any instruction en masse.
S. Why does God permit suffering in the world? Should He not with
His omnipotence do away with it at one stroke and ordain the universal
realization of God?
M. Suffering is the way for Realization of God.
S. Should He not ordain differently?
M. It is the way.
S. Are yoga, religion etc. antidotes to suffering?
M. They help you to overcome suffering.
S. Why should there be suffering?
M. Who suffers? What is suffering?
No answer!
Two of the many questions asked by the swami’s secretary C.R.
Wright, were:
Q. How shall I realise God?
A. God is an unknown entity. Moreover, He is external. Whereas the
Self is always with you and it is you. Why do you leave out what is
intimate and go in for what is external?
Q. What is this Self again?

A. The Self is known to everyone but not clearly. The Being is the Self.
Of all the definitions of God, none is so well put as the Biblical
statement “I am that I am” in Exodus (Chap. 3). Knowing the Self,
God is known. In fact, God is none other than the Self.
172
Swami Tapasyananda, pre-monistic Balakrishna Menon (1904-91),
was a post graduate and an erudite scholar. His translations include
the Gita, Adhyatma Ramayana, Saundarya Lahari and many more.
He was head of Ramakrishna Mission, Madras, for two decades.
The Maharshi impressed me as a rare type of man. He simply
seems to exist, without waiting for anything, without being anxious
about anything. [This reminded the Swami of the Gita where the Lord
says about Himself, “Nor do these actions bind me. Like one unconcerned,
I remain unattached to these actions.” XI. 9]
The only activity of the Ashram in which he seems to take interest
is cooking. He cuts vegetables and prepares some of the dishes for the
day. Spicing and other processes of the culinary art are performed under
his directions.
Another point that struck me is his silence. When I asked him to
tell me something of spirituality, the first thing he said was that silence is
the highest teaching! His idea is that the ‘Advaitin has no position to
state, no siddhantas [theories] to propound.’ He regrets that these days
even advaita has become a siddhanta, whereas it is really not meant to
be so. When I asked him about a book that I purchased in the depot
there, how far the ideas stated therein are his teachings, he said, it was
very difficult to state that, as he had no definite teaching.
He told me that he has absolutely no inclination to write a book;
but due to entreaties of some people he has written some verses, and
also added that he is often troubled by men who take a fancy to translate
them into this language or that, and ask him about the faithfulness of the
translation.
Mostly, the Maharshi remains silent. People come, make
prostrations, sit before him for some minutes or hours and then go away,
Swami Tapasyananda / J.C. Molony 375
perhaps without exchanging even a single word! I have got my own

doubt whether people benefit by this teaching through silence. Yet people
come from long distances to hear this dumb eloquence and go back
satisfied.
Though he speaks but little, it is very instructive to watch his
face and eyes. There is nothing very prepossessing about his personality,
but there is a beam of intelligence and unruffled calmness in his
eyes, which are unique. His body is almost motionless except when he
occasionally changes his position or wipes his sweat in that hot place. I
was carefully observing his face; I found him seldom winking and never
yawning. I say this to show that I am sufficiently satisfied that the absence
of activity in him is not due to inertness.
I stayed at the Ashram for three days. The Maharshi talked with
me very kindly and quite freely on several questions I asked him. Although
his manner of replying was not so impressive as I expected, his thoughts
are always clear, concise and free from all ideas of narrowness. I am
convinced that he is a sweet and lovable person who is indifferent
to all things about him, who has no end of his own to gain, who is
always alert even when he seems to be most deeply absorbed,
and who may be said to be perfectly free from greed and vanity. In
seeing him I do believe I have seen a unique personage – a jnani,
a perfect sage.
173
J.C. Molony, I.C.S., was a district collector in Madras Presidency.
I was strolling with my dogs on the hill, when I stumbled upon an
ashram, a hermitage set in a cleft of rocks and overhung by trees. Water
bubbled from a spring and gathered in a stone basin. I spied the hermit
within, my dogs spied him too; and in a second three of them were all
over him, while the fourth plunged with a splash into the coolness of the
stone basin. I looked for a tempest of anger; hurriedly I prepared the
best apology that I could think of on the spur of the moment. There
emerged a tall, lean ascetic, smiling at me and my yelping companions.
“You like dogs?” he said. “I love them myself, but I have sent them away
from the summer heat. Why should not a dog like clean, cool water? No
harm is caused by the dog jumping in the basin. Ten minutes after she is
gone, the basin will have emptied itself and filled itself afresh.” So we sat
together on the parapet of the ashram and looked down on the hot,
dusty, town far below.
When I reached my camp one of my dogs was missing. In the
evening arrived the holy man leading the truant on a string. “He came
back to me, and I should have liked to keep him,” he said, “but why
should I steal him from you?”… As I write these lines, the fields before
my eyes are white with frost; but my thoughts travel back to the kindly
recluse on the sun-baked hill. You have learned that man adds naught to
his own sanctity by affected disdain of God’s dumb creatures.
174
T.S. Anantha Murthy, a judge from Bangalore, visited Sri Ramana
in 1937. He later published Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana
Maharshi (1972).
My wife and I entered the hall and felt awe as we stood and
looked at the great sage. For about thirty minutes four Brahmins continued
to recite verses from Taittiriya Upanishad. The Maharshi seemed to
be listening to the recitation of the sacred verses. His mind was, as we
could easily realize, absorbed within. I was astonished to see the sage
keeping his eyes wide open without blinking for such a long period of
time. I also felt that Sri Ramana who sat in front of me in such an
engrossed manner, was Brahman in human form and spiritual
illumination was enshrined in him. He was not only august to look
at but also an inspiring figure.
That evening after the meal was over, the Maharshi picked up
his stick and slowly walked into the hall. As I was eager to talk to him, I
went behind. He sat down on the sofa. A petromax lamp was illuminating
the hall. There was no other devotee. This was the opportunity I was
longing for, which by his grace became available without any effort on
my part. There was no need to draw his attention. The merciful sage
lifted up his face and smiled slightly. He did not utter even one word, nor
made any gesture. However, his gentle smile gave me sufficient courage
to address him.
With folded hands, I said, “Sir, I do not know Tamil. Please permit
me to talk in English. I have not been in good health for some months.
T.S. Anantha Murthy / Suzanne Alexandra 377
Dyspeptic troubles are the cause of my suffering. Doctors have failed to

cure me. My eyes are always burning and I feel giddy now and then. I
have come here to obtain your blessings.” Sri Ramana heard these words
patiently, lifted up his serene face and said, “All your troubles will disappear
of their own accord.”
These were the nine English words uttered by him in his mellow
voice. I was filled with delight and gratitude on hearing the blessing so
readily bestowed upon me by the great sage. I felt transformed. I
prostrated to him and left the hall with my heart filled with joy and relief,
and returned to the guest room. It was a memorable occasion indeed.
My long cherished desire to obtain darshan of Sri Ramana had been
fulfilled. In addition, within a few hours after I had set foot in
Ramanasramam all my bodily troubles ceased to torment me as a result
of the great blessing so readily bestowed upon me by the merciful saint.
During my ten days’ stay, one day when practising meditation in
the hall, I could not concentrate the mind in spite of my best efforts.
Desirous to know the way to surmount the difficulty, I approached the
sage and said in English, “Bhagavan, my mind is not steady today. What
is to be done?” The great sage raised his head and recited verses 5 & 26
from chapter VI of the Gita.1 After quoting the verses, the sage, in his
infinite mercy, said in English, “These two verses contain the needed
instructions. All efforts must be made to become effortless.” He then
closed his eyes.
1. These, in brief, state that one should raise oneself by one’s own efforts and that
we are our own friend and our own enemy. From whatever cause the unsteady
and restless mind wanders, it should be brought to control in the Self.
175
Suzanne Alexandra, born in Paris in 1896, was in the quest for
Truth from an early age. When 18, she joined the Theosophical
Society. A talented dancer and a doctor, she came to India in 1925
to attend the annual Theosophical convention at Adyar, where
she met a Buddhist monk and became a Buddhist nun. Based on
a newspaper article she visited Sri Ramana in 1936. After marriage
she became Sujata Sen. She ran a free clinic for the poor in
Tiruvannamalai for several years.
She was guided to the Maharshi by Raja Iyer, the postmaster of

the Ashram. She found the hall decorated and furnished in a simple way.
A frieze of blue flowers ran along the walls. A clock hung on the wall
facing the devotees. Below it, on a shelf, were a few tin containers. She
saw Maharshi take some nuts out of a container for the squirrel that had
run to him. Next to the couch was a revolving bookcase and further
down two cupboards holding more books and a small store of stationery.
No attempt had been made to create a mystical or spiritual background
for the Maharshi, yet the setting could not detract from the grandeur of
the sage. He was exceptional in just being himself. In every action
he did, whether he was correcting a manuscript or reading a letter, there
was complete naturalness and absence of pose. This is very rarely seen
elsewhere.
The Maharshi ate very frugally. He asked Suzanne whether the
food was not too pungent for her. These words of solicitude were the
first words he spoke to her…The Maharshi did not give any discourses.
He replied to questions put to him, usually very succinctly, as if to let the
one word or the few words he said make their way directly into the
understanding of the questioner. On the other hand, when a young man
struggled to grasp what the Self was, the Maharshi with great patience
guided him through his reasoning until at last he got some glimmering of
what the Maharshi meant. Apart from these exceptions to silence, there
were long quiet moments when the Maharshi said and did nothing, but
which were more effective in conveying the transcendent Truth than
any lecture or sermon would have been.
The evening session in the hall began with the recitation from
the Vedas. As the powerful Sanskrit syllables vibrated in the hall, the
Maharshi’s appearance underwent a remarkable change. His expression
became austere, his gaze inward. His face appeared translucent as if
lit by an inner illumination, whilst the constant slight trembling of the
body had now stopped completely. Yet even in this state it was evident
that he was not oblivious of his surroundings, and he had an awareness
of both the inner and outer reality…The Maharshi is an Adept of the
highest order, a king of Yogis. The splendour of his Realization
radiates like a sun. He lifts you far above the world.
When ladies had to leave the Ashram at sun set, Suzanne refused
to do so, considering it an act of discrimination, and to register her protest
she declared that since she could not stay at the Ashram, she would go
The anonymous chronicler 379
and spend the night at the Hill. She climbed the Hill somewhat afraid of
the wild animals and found a small cave for her stay. Her anger drove all
other thoughts from her mind. It was then that she had a vision of
Arunachala as a Hill of Fire, and she saw many worlds existing within
the Hill. [Another devotee, S.N. Tandon records a similar experience in
The Mountain Path of April 1970.] To protect Suzanne from the wild
animals, the Maharshi asked Cohen [No. 37], who knew her when at
Adyar, to persuade her to come down. Without further protests she agreed
to spend the rest of the night in a hotel room in town.
Suzanne was for long associated with the idea of a Master-
Disciple relationship through formal initiation, which was never done by
the Maharshi. In 1945, she decided to go to Swami Ramdas [No. 81], to
be his shishya (disciple) in a formal way. She sorrowfully mentioned
about her departure to the Maharshi, who kept quiet. But then something
strange and wonderful happened, for she saw the Maharshi as
Dakshinamurthi, the great silent guru. [Refer annexure-V, p. 415] As
she would write, “When I was talking to him, his appearance changed
and I thought that Dakshinamurthi was sitting before me. In the silence I
heard, ‘There is no separation, all gurus are one. They are the indwelling
Self of everyone. I shall ever remain as the Jewel shining in the lotus of
your heart.’” [In a group photo with the Maharshi, Suzanne can be seen
clad as a Buddhist monk. The Mountain Path, Aradhana, 2003.]
176
The anonymous chronicler, a B.Sc. final year student, met Sri
Ramana in 1946.
I bowed down and sat in the hall before the Maharshi. There
were many people present but the hall was quiet. I was unable to continue
sitting in a quiet manner, but did not know what to speak to the Maharshi.
There were a few books on a stand near the Maharshi. I picked up one
of them and began to read. The book had concepts such as “Being is
one”, “The world is unreal.” I could not understand them as my knowledge
was confined to science. I could not help feeling confused on the following
line of thoughts: “Why should God create me? Where was I? Where will
I be? Is all that I see false? I do know the presence of objects before me.
Don’t I see the Maharshi sitting before me?”
I could not read the book any more and fell into a contemplative
mood. Just at that time the Maharshi addressed me thus: “What is the
doubt?” I raised my head and said, “There is a human figure on the sofa.
There is one on the floor. With my eyes I perceive these two very clearly.
But you say that in reality there is only One. How can that be true?” The
Maharshi smiled and kept quiet. After a few minutes he said, “You must
be used to performing experiments in your laboratory. If you are examining
an object, the amount of details would depend upon the quality of the
instrument you use to examine the object. Now, even if your instrument
is fine, but your eyesight is poor you will know little about the object. If
the eyesight is good but the brain is not normal, the object’s true nature
will not be known to you. Again, if the brain is fine but if the mind does
not pay attention to what you are observing, the less you will know about
the object. In brief, the amount you know about an object is dependent
on an entity called mind.
What is mind? It is thoughts. All the thoughts spring up from a
single thought. This thought is ‘I am-the-body’ thought. It has two
components. One is the body and the other is I. The body being of transient
nature, is subject to change, and it depends on external factors for its
existence, such as food. But the nature of ‘I’ is different from that of the
body. What exists in truth should be existing always. The body does not
exist all the time, so it is not the truth. The ‘I’ exists in all states including
waking, dream sleep, and deep sleep. Hence ‘I’ is the truth; body is
untrue. Both of these combined can not exit as one entity. How can night
and day, light and darkness co-exist? Similarly, there is no entity that has
as its basis the co-existence of ‘I’ and the body. So ‘I am-the-body’
thought has no basis in truth. If we examine the world with this untrue
thought as the basis, how can we learn the Truth?”
At that moment, I felt the foundation of my knowledge being
shaken up, and my conviction in scientific pursuit as providing the ultimate
fulfillment suddenly disappeared. Further, the Maharshi said that one can
realize the truth about the world, after knowing the Truth about oneself.
The upadesa I received changed my mental attitude and, subsequently
my daily activities. I pursued life in the same environment I had before,
but looked for life’s fulfillment in the spiritual path, blessed by the Maharshi.
I felt that the grace of the Maharshi allowed me to lead a harmonious
life.
P.L.N. Sharma 381
177
P.L.N. Sharma, a Gandhian, met Sri Ramana in 1932, when he
went to Tiruvannamalai to attend a conference of co-operative
organizations.
In the subdued light of the hall Bhagavan’s 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 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 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 midday meal, the Maharshi invited us all with a nod of his head
and we followed him to the dining hall.
Next morning, I sat facing the Maharshi. A government officer
accompanied by his retinue entered the hall and at once started telling
Bhagavan how corrupt the government servants were, how they abused
and misused their positions, how he had been entrusted with the task of
cleaning up the government machinery and in his anxiety to make a success
of himself, he had lost his peace of mind and had come to Bhagavan to
make him calm and contented. It was clear that he thought of himself to
be a very important person whose request must be promptly met. After
he had finished his long oration, 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.
One day, all the delegates to the conference for which I had
come to Tiruvannamalai, went in a body to the Ashram. The president of
the conference said, “Bhagavan, we are all social workers and disciples
of Mahatma Gandhi. We have sworn to devote ourselves to work for the
removal of untouchability. Be gracious to tell your view on the subject.”
Again there was no reply. One could not even make out whether he had
heard the question. Time was passing. The delegates were getting tired
of sitting quietly. When the situation grew embarrassing, Yagnanarayana

Iyer, principal of Pachayappa College, 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. “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 years later gave meaning to it.
I was told that in Bhagavan’s presence doubts got cleared with-
out 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. On
the fourth day I managed to address him, while he seemed to be looking
into the infinity of space, “Bhagavan, my mind does not obey me. It
wanders as it likes and lands me into trouble. Be merciful and tell me
how to bring it under control.” Bhagavan looked at me affectionately
and spoke most kindly, and his words sparkled with meaning, “All reli-
gious and spiritual practices have no other purpose than getting the mind
under control. The three paths – Knowledge, Devotion, and Duty, aim at
this and this alone…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.” I felt satisfied,
and there was deep peace in me when I looked at him for the last time.
178
B.C. Sengupta, M.A., B.L., Principal, K.C. College, Hetampur,
Bengal, came to Sri Ramana in early 1940s.
My visit to Ramanasramam coincided with the Maharshi’s
birthday. He was seated in a big enclosure outside the hall. A continuous
stream of people passed before him for a couple of hours. I waited and
waited and went closer, but could not attract his attention. My whole
being was irresistibly getting drawn towards him. I was eager to put my
case before him, but was not getting an opportunity to do so.
On the third day of my visit I entreated an inmate of the Ashram
to help me put my case before the Maharshi. As advised by him, I wrote
down what I intended to say on a piece of paper. He kindly took the
paper and went to the hall, followed by me, and placed it before the
B.C. Sengupta 383
Maharshi, speaking something to him in Tamil. The Maharshi read it and

smiled. I was sitting there. As he looked at me I was overwhelmed and
a violent emotion convulsed my body, which set the Maharshi laughing.
He laughed merrily for sometime and then silently folded the paper and
left it on the book-shelf, which stood nearby. He did not speak to me nor
did he seem to pay any further attention to me. This made me very
depressed. There was nothing more to be done. I must return home.
After the night meal I sat in the hall and felt a pleasant coolness inundating
me. Is this the spiritual fragrance spoken of as emanating from the
Maharshi? [Refer Brunton’s experience, p. 14]
The next day, while sitting before the Maharshi, I experienced a
sudden pull in the region of the heart. I was astonished and as I sought to
observe it, it passed away. On the fifth day of my stay I thought that I
have obtained what I deserved and that nothing more would be gained
by a further stay at the Ashram. I wrote my intention to go home and
placed it before the Maharshi. He read it and kept it aside. I felt it was
yet another rebuff.
Next morning, I attended the usual prayers. Some discussion
was going on in the hall. As they were talking mostly in Tamil, my attention
was not attracted till I found some persons turning their heads and laughing
at me. On enquiry, I learnt that they were discussing the subject matter
of my note to the Maharshi. Though I was the laughing-stock, I was still
glad to find that the Maharshi had taken notice of me. As I was in the
back row, they asked me to come nearer to the Maharshi. The discussions
over, I heard the Maharshi say, “He is concentrating on the reflection
and complains that he cannot see the original.” It struck me forcefully.
What did he mean by the reflection and what was the original? I shut my
eyes and tried to find the meaning. Immediately I felt a pull in the region
of my heart. My mind was completely arrested – stilled, but I was wide
awake. Suddenly, without any break in my consciousness, the ‘I’ flashed
forth! It was self-awareness, pure and simple, steady, unbroken and
intensely bright, but as much brighter than ordinary consciousness as is
sunlight brighter than the dim light of a lamp. The world was not, neither
the body nor the mind – no thought, no motion; time also ceased to exist.
I alone existed and that I was consciousness itself, self-luminous and
alone, without a second. Suddenly, without any break in my consciousness,
I was brought back to my normal, ordinary consciousness.
A great miracle had been performed in broad daylight in the
presence of so many people, without their knowing it. No argument of

the greatest philosophers and scientists of the world will now make me
doubt the possibility of experiencing the ‘I’ in its pure state or pure
consciousness, without any subject-object relationship. I, an insignificant
creature, wallowing in the mud of mundane existence, and without any
sadhana, being granted this supreme experience !– an experience which
is rarely obtained even by great yogis after austerest spiritual practices
strenuously performed for ages together. Such is the wonder of His
Grace – immeasurable and unfathomable Grace! Truly it has been
said – “Unasked Thou give, this is Thy imperishable fame.”
As soon as I was brought to my normal consciousness, I opened
my eyes and looked at the Maharshi, but he appeared to be quite
unconcerned, as if nothing had happened. He was not even looking at
me. How could he have performed this miracle? Who can comprehend?
The experience so much amazed me that I even forgot to express my
heart-felt gratitude to the Maharshi. I could not at that time even properly
evaluate the supreme experience, which caused a very cheerful mood in
me. I felt completely carefree.
I stayed at the Ashram for a few more days. The thoughts of
home did not trouble me any further.
179
C.R. Rajamani, associated with the printing business at Madras,
first visited Sri Ramana in early 1940s.
I was in my early twenties when I first had darshan of the
Maharshi. I saw him seated on a couch. A cast-iron charcoal brazier
was radiating a comfortable warmth, and a pleasing aroma of the incense
thrown into it at regular intervals was pervading the entire hall. About
thirty people were seated on the floor facing the Maharshi. None spoke
or even whispered. What struck me was that no one seemed to show
even an inclination to talk. Some were meditating with closed eyes.
Sri Ramana’s body was luminous like burnished gold. He
was clad in his usual kaupinam, with a small towel across his chest. He
appeared to be occasionally dozing off and had to steady his head often.
He frequently stretched his palms over the fire and massaged his long
fingers. In spite of his apparent dozing, his eyes did not look drowsy. On
C.R. Rajamani 385
the contrary, they were extraordinarily bright and alert. He was not look-
ing at anybody in particular. I felt I was in the presence of an extremely
affable person with a lot of natural grace, at perfect ease and without
any pretension whatsoever.
I saw a white-skinned boy of about ten years sitting a couple of
feet to my left. Next to him was a white man, presumably his father.
Further to my left, was a white woman, whom I thought was the boy’s
mother. I then saw Bhagavan’s eyes alight on the boy for a brief minute.
I thought it was just a casual look. The boy was all the time looking at
Bhagavan with a sort of fixation, as if on the verge of asking a question.
But, no! He broke into tears. A cascade of tears came gushing out of his
eyes. They were not tears of pain, for his face was radiant with joy. I
could see that Sri Bhagavan’s glance, though only resting on him for a
brief moment, had opened in the boy’s heart a veritable reservoir of pure
joy.
I learned that the boy had come along with his parents, who had
come to attend the Theosophical Society’s convention at Adyar, Madras.
The boy’s parents arranged a trip to Tiruvannamalai, but he stoutly refused.
However, he changed his mind at the last moment and did make the trip.
Within an hour of his face-to-face meeting with Sri Bhagavan, his mental
barriers were reduced to nothingness. He shed tears for quite sometime
and later said to his mother, “I am so happy. I don’t want to leave his
presence. I want to be always with him!” His mother was most upset.
She pleaded with Bhagavan, “Swami, please release my son! He is our
only child. We will be miserable without him.” Bhagavan smiled at her
and said, “Release him? I am not keeping him tied up. He is a mature
soul. A mere spark has ignited his spiritual fire.” Turning to the boy, the
Maharshi said, “Go with your parents. I will always be with you.” He
spoke in Tamil throughout, but the boy understood him fully. He bowed to
Bhagavan and reluctantly left with his parents.
Whenever I recall this incident, it creates a feeling of being very
near to something truly Divine. Of course, I have had my own share of
Sri Bhagavan’s grace in my later years. I have also had some ever-fresh
visions which I dare not devalue as creations of a fevered imagination
for they have strengthened my faith in Bhagavan. Some of them occurred
decades after Sri Bhagavan’s mahanirvana. They have been firm
confirmations of his continued Presence and reassurances of his immortal
words: “They say I am going! Where can I go? I am always here!”
180
Rajalakshmi was the granddaughter of Venu Ammal, who was the
younger sister of an outstanding devotee Echammal (no. 60). She
lives in Chennai with her son.
On the death of my mother, my grandmother was completely
devastated, unable to bear the loss of her only daughter. She walked all
the way from Tiruvannamalai town to then distant Ramanasramam at 11
p.m. on a dark, lonely night. She cried uncontrollably and fell at Bhagavan’s
feet. The sarvadhikari of the Ashram, Bhagavan’s younger brother,
objected to her falling at the feet of Bhagavan for a worldly reason. To
this Bhagavan countered by asking, if he would have objected to his
sister Alamelu doing the same thing in a similar circumstance. Bhagavan
shared her grief in his inimitable way and consoled her.
I first saw Bhagavan in 1923 when I was three years old. My
grandmother, who was serving at the Ashram, took me along with her
every morning, returning home in the evening. Once, I was playing
‘cooking’ game by offering small pieces of stones as cooked rice to
Bhagavan, and I asked him to eat them. Bhagavan readily put those
stones into his mouth and pretended to eat. When my grandmother objected
to it, Bhagavan replied that the child was happily offering him the stones
as food and he did not want to disappoint her.
Once, when seated next to Bhagavan in the dining hall, I asked
my grandmother to serve me more of a particular preparation. She
declined. When she was about to serve more of the same preparation
again to Bhagavan, he refused on the ground that what was applicable to
the child was applicable to him.
Bhagavan taught me Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit starting from
the alphabets. He also taught me arithmetic. The first Sanskrit sloka he
taught me was from Upadesa Saram. Eventually I learnt all the thirty
slokas and recited them before Bhagavan, who was very pleased.
Bhagavan presented to me a copy of the book Ramana Vijayam by
Suddhananda Bharati [No. 101] after writing my name on it. The book
also tells the story of Bhagavan’s stay at Patala Linga. Being curious, I
visited that place in Arunachaleswara temple, but I could not go inside
due to bats flying around and the stinking smell from inside. I told Bhagavan
about my experience and asked how he could stay at a place like that for
such a long time. His reply was that he was not aware of his stay there
Rajalakshmi / Sab Jan 387
and that he came to know of it from others. This shows he was com-
pletely oblivious of time and space while inside Patala Linga.
In my school, children used to play kolattam (a game using two
wooden sticks). I did not have the sticks to play. My grandmother was
not willing to spend two paise (1/32 of a rupee) for the sticks. When I
told Bhagavan of my problem, he asked his attendant Madhava Swami,
to get a branch from a tree, out of which he made two beautiful kolattam
sticks and presented them to me.
Somebody told me not to address Bhagavan as ‘Thatha’
(grandfather). Bhagavan replied that as I was at the Ashram since
childhood, there was nothing wrong in calling him ‘Thatha’.
In early 1950, when Bhagavan was very ill, I was at Lucknow.
My grandmother, who was working at the Ashram, asked Bhagavan’s
permission to visit me and then go to Kasi. Bhagavan told her that when
she took a dip in the Ganges at Kasi, she could perform the ceremony on
his behalf too. After staying for a few days with me she went to Kasi
and while taking a dip in the evening, thinking of Ramana, somebody told
her to look up. She saw a large bright star trailing its light across the sky.
And this happened at the exact time of Bhagavan’s mahanirvana.
181
Sab Jan (M. Abdul Wahab), was closely associated with Sri Ramana
as his classmate in 4th , 5th and 6th forms at the school in Madurai.
Sri Ramana was very fond of this Muslim boy and addressed him
as Sab Jan.
Venkataraman was very learned in Tamil and stood first in the
class. He was particularly well-versed in aphorisms of Tamil grammar.
Our Tamil Pandit John Balakrishna was very fond of him. He was not
very good in English. In other subjects he was above average. In general,
he was not much interested in his school books. He was very fond of
playing games, particularly football.
Even as a student he was very religious, and would go round the
Subramania Swamy temple with fervent religious ecstasy. He used to
take me with him several times and make me go round the temple saying,
“God’s creation is alike. God is the same; the apparent differences in
gods are created by men.”1 Because of such universal outlook implanted
in me by him in those days, I could become an ardent devotee of Sri

Varadaraja Perumal of Kancheepuram. For 12 year I partook actively in
the Garuda seva by giving a shoulder to lift the deity of Perumal, while
going in procession in the streets of Kancheepuram.
When Venkataraman disappeared it was a shock to me that he
did not tell me about running away from his home. I was enlisted in the
police department. In 1903, in one of the shops at Uttaramerur, I was
surprised to see a portrait of Venkataraman, but completely different in
appearance. I was anxious to know how the shop-man happened to
possess the photo. I was told that this was ‘Brahmana Swami’ living in
Tiruvannamalai and that the Swami was in maunam then. I was eager to
meet my old friend and went to his abode. He was pleased to receive me
although he did not speak. He simply nodded his head with a radiant
face. I was thrilled to meet my classmate, who was all the more beautiful
and resplendent with a mark of saintliness.
Again I went there when I was Inspector of Police at Tirupathur.
At that time I was very sad, as my father had passed away. Sri Ramana
showed me his mother’s tomb, which consoled me. I understood from
his action that death was inevitable as far as the body was concerned.
After that I went to see him many times and on all occasions he gave
special attention to me and introduced me to whoever was present on
the occasion. He used to make me sit by his side while taking food in the
dining hall, which, later I came to know, was quite unusual with him.
I was transformed into being a devotee of Bhagavan from being
his friend. This inward change brought about by him is the greatest boon
he has showered on me. He manifested his greatness once through a
dream in which he showed signs of my wife passing away and in a
mysterious way consoled me and prepared me for the shocking incident.
It did take place very soon, and my wife passed away as predicted. But
by the grace of Sri Maharshi it did not affect me very much.
1. J. Jayaraman of Ramanasramam noted how Sri Ramana had the idea of sarva
dharma samabhava (all religions are basically same) long before his ‘death
experience’ and long before he sang verses 4 and 5 of Arunachala Ashtakam.
182
Dhiruben Patel of Bombay, a popular novelist of Gujarat, had re-
Dhiruben Patel 389
ceived Sri Ramana’s guidance in 1940s. When she visited the

Ashram in 2007, she agreed for a video graph of her experiences.
My mother was badly shaken at a tragic misfortune in 1944,
when my brother met with a drowning accident witnessed by her from
the shore. Chhaganlal Yogi [No. 55] suggested her to visit the Ashram.
When she saw Bhagavan she was so much impressed that she came
back to take the whole family to the Ashram. At that time I was 18 [now
81].
I had no interest in Bhagavan or his darshan. As I could not
defy my mother, I bowed to him with folded hands and closed eyes. But
as I raised my head, Bhagavan looked at me and in that very second I
was annihilated totally by his gaze. I didn’t exist any longer and there
was a great sense of release and peace. I felt a soft moon light around
me, with no boundaries and barriers. It was as if I was lost in a sky of
light and peace. I don’t know how many minutes or seconds I was in that
state; it seemed a life-time. When I came back to my material existence,
I could not accept what had happened.
We stayed five more days and I had Bhagavan’s darshan many
times, but that experience never got repeated. The event, however, made
me think very deeply and continuously: What was it? And how could I be
in that state constantly?
One day during our stay, we along with other devotees were
watching Bhagavan going for his walk on the hill after lunch. Suddenly,
my two-year-old nephew left us and caught hold of Bhagavan’s walking
stick. Everybody was aghast. The child was called back again and again
and asked not to bother Bhagavan. He just wouldn’t listen and went on
staring at Bhagavan. But as soon as Bhagavan put his hand on his head,
he let go of the stick and started weeping, not loudly, but tears were
streaming down his eyes, while he just stood looking at Bhagavan.
I saw Bhagavan again in 1950. There was a heavy bandage on
his arm and people filed by, single file, quietly. When I came near him I
couldn’t help saying, “Bhagavan call me again”. With infinite compassion
and immense love he looked at me and said, “Sari, sari.”[O.K.]. Now I
have come back after 57 years, and I am sure that he has called me. It is
a very strange thing that I do not feel the absence of Bhagavan. Perhaps
it is because during all these years I have always felt that he was near
me. I have at some level communicated with him, and have received his
grace. When you are facing a big problem and you do not know where to
turn or what to do, then Bhagavan really gives the answer in your heart
of hearts. I may be anywhere, Bhagavan is always with me, and it is all
due to the first wonderful moment when he had looked at me.
My mother used to rent a cottage near the Ashram, stay for two
or three months at a time, and meditate very regularly. What she
experienced, she spoke little. Back home, once she suffered a paralytic
stroke and was not able to speak. After a month or so her speech came
back but it was halting. Everybody was depressed about it. One evening
I happened to recite one or two lines of Upadesa Saram to her. Mother
picked up the recitation and concluded the thirty verses without a single
mistake. After this she was able to recite Bhagavan’s other works and
slowly became normal. In her last illness she made me promise that
Bhagavan should be with her when she goes and I was to be responsible
for this request. And by God’s grace and Bhagavan’s blessings it so
happened that during her last moments we could hold a big framed
photograph of Bhagavan before her eyes. She quietly gazed at it, slightly
turned her face and passed away.
183
K. Vithoba Kamath (1924 - ), a Gandhian, is an agriculturist. He
lives in Brahmavar, Karnataka, with his son.
I had read about the Maharshi from an article by M.S. Kamath,
and later when I read his book about the Maharshi, a magnetic attraction
arose in me to see him. Visiting the Ashram in 1946, I beheld the Maharshi
in the hall. I felt that he was not in any way attached to or connected
with anything around him. He radiated spiritual splendour through
sublime silence.
I used to sit in the hall in the last row. One day, an idea flashed
that I should see Lord Krishna. I intently looked at Bhagavan and saw a
dark cloud engulfing him and within that emerged the Lord. I was at my
wit’s end. I thought it was a hallucination and a projection of my own
mind. I wanted to try again. This time I thought of Gandhiji. Ramana was
nowhere, but in his place there was Gandhiji. Being bewildered, I looked
at Bhagavan. There! He was looking straight at me with a benign smile
on his face. I felt highly blessed.
Prior to my departure, I took courage to sit near Sri Ramana.
K. Vithoba Kamath / T.V. Kapali Sastri 391
Being the morning hour, there were few visitors. I verily felt vibrations
emanating from him which thrilled me. I asked Bhagavan with much
hesitation as to how to control the tossing of the mind. He simply looked
at me but didn’t give a reply. I thought it was not proper on my part, a
raw graduate, to have asked him. Meanwhile Devaraja Mudaliar [No.
35] came and sat by my side. Bhagavan, though he knows English, rarely
replied in that language. He asked me through Mudaliar, as to who was
asking this question: “Is it you or your mind?” I replied, “It is my mind.”
Bhagavan’s response was, “Mind is a bundle of thoughts. See who you
are, then these oscillations of the mind cease to exist.”
In the dining hall, I had the fortune of sitting in the row opposite
to Bhagavan. The Maharshi would observe the leaves of all and direct
the servers (mostly ladies) to restore any shortfall. He would take a
small quantity of food and mash it well with his fingers.
I remember well, as if it just happened today, the figure of
Bhagavan Ramana returning from his walk on the hill, radiating spiritual
aura, with eyes glittering like live stars, emanating bliss. Decades later,
the scene of that uplifting influence is still so fresh and inspiring.
184
T.V. Kapali Sastri (1886-1953), a born scholar, belonged to
Chennai. His family was known for its Sanskrit scholarship. He
mastered four languages – Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and English.
He received inspiration from Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramana, and
Ganapati Muni, who was his guru. At the instance of the Muni he
first met Sri Ramana in 1911-2.
What a meeting it was! The very first day wrought a remarkable
change in my being. No amount of tapas or japa would have given an
indubitable knowledge of spiritual consciousness and a correct
appreciation of the truth of spiritual life which the Maharshi gave me.
The personal attraction of the Maharshi was irresistible.
But I found his teaching too direct, immediate, seemingly simple, having
no step in between, i.e., the starting point and the goal; at any rate not
practicable to people circumstanced like myself.
When the Maharshi was on the hill, he used to take a few of us
with him for the giri-pradakshina. This used to last from 9 p.m. to 4
a.m. Once, while I was going with him he pointed his face towards the
sky and said, “ Look, there perhaps are the siddhas. They (people) say
they are nakshatras and pass them by.” As we walked on, he observed
that the very stars were beneath his feet. During one such round in May
1922, we got news that supervisor Ramaswami Iyer [No. 94] was taken
ill suddenly and was dying. The Maharshi went to the place on the Hill
where Ramaswami was lying and was having violent palpitations of the
heart. The Maharshi sat near him, placing his hand on his head. Within
five minutes, Ramaswami got up and was quite normal.
In 1930, when I went to the Ashram with Sunder (S.P. Pandit),
the Maharshi asked me to have a look at the Sanskrit rendering of a
Tamil work by Lakshmana Sarma [No. 63]. It was very imperfect, and
after hours of struggle I could finalize only a couple of verses. How to
complete the remaining 38 verses or so within the limited time haunted
me. In the evening, as soon as the Maharshi came to his seat, he asked
me to take up the work. It was amazing that within two to three hours I
finished almost all the verses. Later, Sunder told me what a magnificent
and inspiring sight it was to see the Maharshi sitting with his blazing eyes
transfixed on me all the while. He added that the Maharshi’s face and
head looked inordinately big during the time.
When I came to the last portion, I looked up and the Maharshi
asked me, with an exclamation of joy, “So, it is finished?” I answered,
“Yes, but the last verse does not come off in this particular metre.” “Does
not come in that metre?” queried the Sage and sank into silence. Within
a moment a strong upward movement gushed up from beneath the navel,
somewhere from the root of the spine, involuntarily a verse came out like
a cry from my mouth. It was the verse in the required metre!
The Maharshi was very particular about the food requirement of
the visitors to the Ashram. On the jayanti day, he did not take his meal
till the last man had had his food. When I asked him about this, he said in
effect, that when as a boy he set out from the house to Tiruvannamalai,
he had to starve for days together. And so he has been very particular
that nobody should suffer the pangs of hunger as he did.
When a visitor observed that devotees described him an avatar
of Lord Skanda, the Maharshi replied, “ Who am I to object or assent to
what people may say?”
Once a hunter was about to kill a peacock on the hill. When the
Maharshi forbade him to do so, he brushed aside his words saying, “Go
Swami, who is asking you?” The next day, it would appear, the man had
Atmakuri Govindacharyulu 393
an accident and his very arm had to be cut off. “I felt sorry for him,” said
the Maharshi speaking of it, “but what is to be done? People have to go
through these things before they would learn.”
185
Atmakuri Govindacharyulu, a known freedom fighter of Andhra
Pradesh, first visited the Ashram in 1944-45.
One day as I was dwelling on the name of Rama I heard
‘Ramana, Ramana.’ The sound was pleasant. I don’t know why it gave
me great joy. The yearning to see him grew day by day. Finally one
morning I reached the Ashram and went to the hall. I joined my hands,
prostrated and stood up and began to reflect, ‘How is it that this head
which had bowed to none but Mahatma Gandhi has prostrated?’ The
mind which had worshipped only Rama, becomes subdued here! It is
inexplicable!
I sat down on the floor near the Sage’s feet and began to gaze at
his countenance. Five minutes passed. Suddenly he turned his gaze upon
me and I could not stand it. My hair stood on end and an unknown force
began to rise throughout my frame. I prayed, ‘Thou alone art my refuge!’
Later, when introduced to the Sage, from the depth of that placid human
statue a smile emerged that seemed to say, ‘Don’t I know him?’ That
smile, mingled with that look of grace, stirred me deeply, and made me
tremble like one who has passed through blazing fire. I could not bear to
look at that face radiant like the sun.
The Maharshi is an ocean of peace. Whoever sets eyes upon
this sea or sits near it even for an instant, cannot fail to taste supreme
peace, their mental movement held, be it only for a while. Such is the
grace of this transcendent yogi, such is his motiveless activity. Whoever
gathers at his feet, he will not fail to shed on them at least a drop from his
unfathomable ocean of tranquility. He will not fail to shower on them the
transcendent seed that ends the ego and yields peace. He waters the
fields of their hearts with the elixir of devotion that passes unperceived
from his heart.
His handwriting is like a string of pearls. The style and the
exposition of the Truth are outstanding in his poems. What is impossible
for the perfect adept who has grasped the essence of all sciences? He
knows everything. I offered him my book Govinda Ramayana.

I stayed for three days and only once or twice a day I heard him
speaking. He rules all through silence. On the third day of my arrival,
I drew near the sea of love and prostrating said, “I take leave, bless me.”
He looked at me and nodded his head in assent. I stood transfixed, arrested
by the power of that look. I came out of the Sage’s hall with peace in my
heart. I said to myself, ‘I am blessed.’
186
Keerai Patti – the first lady to supply food to Sri Ramana on a
regular basis.
Regarding Keerai Patti1, Sri Ramana says, “Even when I was in
Arunachaleswara Temple, she was staying on the hill [in the mandapam
of Guhai Namasivaya Temple] and was visiting me now and then. After
I went to Virupaksha Cave [in 1899] she began coming to me frequently.
“She used to go out before sunrise, wander about the hill and
bring back leaves useful for cooking. She would cook them tastefully,
bring me a handful and persuade me to eat. She never failed to do so
even once. Sometimes I used to help her in cooking by going to her place
and cutting the vegetables. She had great confidence in me. She used to
go to the town daily, obtain rice, flour, dhal and the like by begging at
various houses. Once in a while she would prepare gruel with flour and
dhal and bring it with vegetable curry, saying, ‘Sami, Sami, yesterday
one good lady gave me a little flour. I have made some gruel Sami.’
“When she could not find any vegetable she used to sit depressed.
On such occasions I would climb the tamarind tree and pluck some tender
leaves for her. She was thus somehow supplying me food everyday. She
had great devotion. Even when eighty, she used to wander about all over
the hill.
“Once, at midnight a thief got into her place and was trying to
get away her things. She woke up and cried at the top of her voice, ‘Oh,
Annamalai, Thief, Thief.’ Her cries could be heard at Skandasram, where
I was. I shouted back saying, ‘Here I am. I am coming. Who is that?’ So
saying I ran down in hot haste. Hearing my shouting the thief ran away.”
It was believed that she was born later as cow Lakshmi. (See
annexure –IV, p. 414)
Keerai Patti / Padma / D.S. Sastri 395
1. In Tamil Keerai means green leaves and Patti means grandmother.
187
Padma and her husband Venkataraman, trustees of T.M.P.
Mahadevan (No. 25) Trust, Chennai, are devotees of Sri Ramana.
With my husband I went to see Bhagavan in 1947. After
prostrating we stood near him. I said, “Bhagavan I want
atmasakshatkaram” [Self realisation]. Bhagavan looked at me and
smilingly asked, “ Appadiah?” (Is it so?). The way Bhagavan asked me
took my breath away. It was so charming. Then my husband said, “She
wants to stay here permanently.” Bhagavan did not say anything but
looked at me steadily pouring forth his grace.
I used to sit in the hall spellbound for many hours; such was his
power. While engaged in meditation, old memories would well up in my
mind and disturb the flow of meditation. I wanted to find a way out to
quench all the vasanas. One day I got an opportunity to put my problem
before Bhagavan. His reply was, “You be the subject instead of the
object, then the vasanas would not trouble you any more.” This suggestion
and his grace worked for me.
Once at 4 a.m. I went for giri pradakshina alone. When I had
earlier sought Bhagavan’s permission before proceeding on my circuit,
he had told me to be careful. I did not feel any fear till I reached
Adiannamalai. Then I remembered what Bhagavan had said, and felt
sudden fear. At that time I saw somebody walking in front of me. It
looked like Ammani Ammal, one of the devotees known to me. I called
out her name loudly, but probably she could not hear me and kept on
walking. When we reached Esanya Lingam, it was broad daylight, and
to my amazement, I could not see the lady. Even now, when I think of
Bhagavan’s grace in sending someone when I needed, and withdrawing
the company when I no more needed it, I simply shed tears.
188
D.S. Sastri was an official of the then Imperial Bank of India. It
was at his behest that his sister Suri Nagamma (no. 39) wrote 273
letters to him during 1945-50, about happenings at the Ashram.

These are a treasure trove to any Sri Ramana devotee.
I had my first darshan in 1941, when I was on transfer from
Cochin to Ahemdabad. As I was mentally worried, I thought of going to
Tiruvannamalai and obtain some solace from the sage. Some years earlier,
a friend of mine had asked me to accompany him to the Ashram, but I
had refused as my experience of so-called holy men had been unfortunate.
Having nothing particular to do, I strayed into the bookstall.
Bhagavan, while returning from the bathroom, stopped near there to talk
to someone. The attendant pointed him out to me; a thrill went through
my whole body. What a difference from the swamis and holy men I had
seen before! That lustrous body, those shinning eyes, that beauteous smile,
that gentle speech and halting gait – all took me by surprise.
Later, on entering the hall, the ego in me did not permit my
prostrating before him. Instead, I just folded my hands by way of
namaskar and sat down, watching critically all that was happening. The
prevailing serene atmosphere was infectious. I sat motionless. I was lost
in wonder and admiration at the peace and silence. The thought uppermost
in my mind was: if people could be happy thus with a minimum of food
and clothing, why not I? Why grieve about official worries and domestic
calamities?
In the afternoon, when I sat before Bhagavan during
Vedaparayana in the open space adjacent to the hall, and the chanting
of the Vedic hymns began in those idyllic surroundings, I felt that I was in
another world altogether. It was only when the chanting was over and
devotees began leaving that I realised I was in this mundane world.
After supper, when Bhagavan came back from a short walk, he
sat on an easy chair in the open space between the hall and the well.
One of the few devotees present, asked him about an incident in the
Yoga Vasishta. Instead of just explaining it, he began narrating the whole
story at length. The pleasant way he spoke, the simple language he used
and the dignified manner in which he related the story captured our hearts
and kept us all spellbound. At the end of it, the devotees told me that I
was particularly lucky because Bhagavan rarely spoke much or for such
a long time. I felt extremely happy and gratified.
That night my wife and I fully agreed that we had reached our
haven and found our real guru. Thus began our attachment to Bhagavan
and the Ashram.
Sankarananda / Seshadri Sastrigal 397
189
Sankarananda, an Andhra, was an officer in the postal department.
As a result of a long practice of mantra japa, he attained mano-
laya, i.e., stillness of mind. He lost interest in all worldly things and could
not attend to his duties either in the office or at home. He used to come
and see Bhagavan often. Once he came to Bhagavan on a six-month
leave. He sat in the hall and soon lost outer consciousness. One day,
even after the lunch bell was rung he sat unmoved. Bhagavan brought
him back to consciousness by giving a mild push with his foot and took
him to the dining hall.
Since mano-laya would not lead one to the ultimate Truth,
Bhagavan asked some senior resident devotees to take him to the temple
in the morning and to Samudram lake in the evening and engage him in
one way or another throughout the day and talk to him about the path of
self-enquiry, thus preventing him from relapsing into laya. For many days
this process of keeping him awake in the daytime continued. After
sometime, by the grace of Bhagavan he became normal. At the end of
his leave he returned home and began to lead a normal life. He also
earned a promotion.1
1. It was Sankarananda who later took the sarvadhikari to Burma to procure

teakwood for the Matrubhuteswara temple.
190
Seshadri Sastrigal, who studied at the Ashram Veda Pathasala,
served in the dining hall.
Once when I was serving buttermilk to Bhagavan, I found I had
no more left with me. Bhagavan asked me, “Could you get some more
buttermilk for me?” This was very unusual as Bhagavan had never asked
for a second helping. I went into the kitchen, got some more and served
him. After tasting it he said, “There seems to be some difference between
the buttermilk you served me earlier and this.” As I did not know the
answer I went to the kitchen and asked the cooks. They told me that the
buttermilk served later was intended for the servants. Bhagavan asked,
“Why not the same for everybody?” From next day onwards, everyone
was served the same buttermilk.
During the rationing days, boiled wheat used to be served to the
devotees, instead of rice. One night, instead of wheat, rice was served
on Bhagavan’s leaf. When the sarvadhikari, who happened to be present,
was asked by Bhagavan as to why he got rice and others wheat, he said,
“Wheat is not good for Bhagavan’s health.” Bhagavan retorted, “Oho!
Are you a doctor? Serve me the same as is served to others. Make no
discrimination.”
191
M.S. Nagarajan, a staunch devotee, belonged to Polur Taluk in
Tiruvannamalai district. Even as a young boy, he used to
accompany his parents to the Ashram.
His friend, who was a nephew of the great devotee Echammal
[no. 60] spoke to him about the greatness of Bhagavan. In 1930, when
15 years old, he came to the Ashram and was allotted the work of puja,
help in the kitchen and bookstall, etc. But what he valued most was the
privilege of cutting vegetables and grinding pulses in the kitchen along
with Bhagavan.
At the end of six months, Nagarajan went home but soon returned
and stayed for four years. He records: In 1932, I was in charge of the
daily puja at the Mother’s shrine. A devotee called P.W.D. Ramaswami
Iyer arranged a special food offering of sarkarai pongal (a kind of rice
pudding) and vadai (a small round cake of black gram fried in oil). I had
many things to do and there was no one to help. So I got up very early,
took my bath, removed old flowers from the shrine, swept and cleaned
the floor and lit two fires, one for pongal and the other for vadai. I then
sat down to grind the black gram which I had soaked the previous night.
I had not prepared vadai previously any time. I took some dough and
tried to spread it out on a leaf to form a round vadai, but it would not
come out properly. I tried again and again without success. I got annoyed
and disgusted. The next moment I noticed Bhagavan standing behind me
and watching my effort to make vadai. He said quietly, “It doesn’t mat-
ter. You have added too much water while grinding the gram. Now make
round balls of the dough and fry them. They will be bondas.”
M.S. Nagarajan / C. Rajagopalachari 399
When the bondas were served, Ramaswami Iyer said to me

angrily, “Look here. Did I not ask you to prepare vadai?” I was afraid to
say anything and so merely looked at Bhagavan. He immediately turned
to Iyer and said, “What does it matter? If the cakes are flat they are
vadais, if spherical, bondas. The stuff is the same and the taste is the
same. Only name and forms are different. Eat prasadam and do not
make a fuss.” Everyone was astonished at Bhagavan’s apt reply. Later
in the day, when Ramaswami saw me he remarked how lucky I was to
get support from Bhagavan himself.
One day, a letter came from Nagarajan’s mother informing him
that a job had been found for him. This letter came to the hands of
Bhagavan along with the Ashram post. After reading it Bhagavan said,
“Look here, a job has been found for you. Go and accept it immediately.”
Tears came from his eyes at the thought of parting from Bhagavan, who
said again, “You can go on Wednesday and join duty on Thursday.” Most
reluctantly he left the Ashram, and came later as often as he got leave.
192
C. Rajagopalachari, former Governor-General of India, was a well-
known Congress leader of India.
I first visited the Ashram in January 1936. Besides Indian devotees
of Bhagavan, I found some foreign devotees also seated in the Hall. I
was struck by the high spiritual atmosphere of the place surcharged with
deep silence; Bhagavan radiating love and simplicity.
I am a person belonging to the Visishtadvaita [qualified Advaita,
expounded by Ramanuja] school of thought. Being impressed by
Bhagavan I asked him how to reconcile it with the Advaita school. After
a pause, Bhagavan said, “You have to workout your karma anyhow and
you are saved.” Ever since I have been pondering over that upadesa
and felt benefited.
The moolasthanams [sanctum sanctorums] of temples are places
where saints lived and had visions of Him. The Ashram is such a place
and I feel convinced that the aura that was there continues today.
193
T.S. Narayanaswami, a professional from Madras, went to see Sri
Ramana just two months before the mahanirvana.
Ramana Maharshi was a seer such as those born on this earth
once in a millennium. My cousin and I went to see him compelled by
sheer curiosity; we had no desire for spiritual advancement. We had
heard that the Maharshi was afflicted by sarcoma on his arm and he was
bearing the pain without any sign of suffering. In the opinion of the doctors
who attended on him, any other person would have been crying aloud
with pain, characteristic of this malady.
We entered the hall with a feeling of wonder and curiosity, as we
wanted to have a look at this remarkable man of God. We took our seat
along with other men. At seven in the morning appeared the tall, frail
frame of the Sage. Clad only in a loin cloth, with an indescribable radiance
on his face, he seated himself on a raised platform. Cries of
Annamalaikku Harohara (Hallowed be the Lord of Arunachala, Siva)
went up in the air as he took the seat.
He then cast his glance over every member of the audience.
Seated by my side was the chief minister of Mysore, K.C. Reddy, who
was a great devotee of the Maharshi. The entire gathering sat still for
about fifteen minutes in pin-drop silence. Then suddenly something within
impelled me to rise from my seat, proceed to where the Maharshi was
seated, and prostrate myself for a second and a third time before I resumed
my seat in the rear row of the audience. I still remember the Maharshi
nodding his head twice and casting his loving and gracious look at my
face, which was suffused with awe and reverence. To me it was like
Dakshinamurthi [See annexure-V, p. 415] Himself sitting before me,
speaking to me through His benevolent eyes in solemn silence, a silence
that was truly eloquent. I could feel a thrill, an ecstasy, and the calm of
the great peace that filled the heart!
We took leave of the Ashram and with a wrench of the heart
made our journey to Madras where the humdrum life of cares and
anxieties awaited us. Looking back with nostalgia, our visit to the Ashram
and the darshan of the Maharshi turned out to be the most fortunate
happening and the most momentous event of our lives.
T.S. Narayanaswami / Uma Devi / D. Gurumurthi 401
194
Uma Devi, a Polish lady (Wanda Dynowska), converted to Hindu-
ism, has authored The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, which
attracted seekers from Poland to Sri Ramana. She translated the
Gita into Polish. She started a publishing house that printed many
Indian texts in Polish. She was a frequent visitor to the Ashram.
She told the Maharshi about her vision of Siva and asked him as
to how it could be everlasting. Sri Ramana told her that a vision depends
on the subject. It would appear and disappear. The value of the vision is
the same as of the ‘seer’. A vision can never be eternal. Therefore
enquire ‘Who am I?’ Sink deep within and abide in the Self.
When she asked as to how to effect it as quickly as possible, the
reply was: There is no question of time. Surrender to Him and abide by
His will, whether he appears or vanishes, await His pleasure. If you ask
Him to do as you please, it is not surrender but a command. You cannot
have Him obey you and yet think that you have surrendered. He knows
what is best and when and how to do it. Leave everything entirely to
Him. His is the burden, no longer you have to have any cares. All your
cares are His. Such is surrender. This is bhakti.
Or enquire to whom these questions arise. Dive deep in the Heart
and remain as the Self. One of these two ways is open to the aspirant.
Think of the man who sees only the cloth and not the cotton of
which it is made, or the man who sees the pictures moving on the screen
in a cinema show and not the screen itself as the background; or again
the man who sees the letters which he reads but not the paper on which
they are written. The objects are the consciousness and forms. The
ordinary person sees the objects in the universe but not the consciousness
in these forms.
One cannot see God and yet retain individuality. The seer and
the seen unite into one Being. There is no cogniser, nor cognition nor the
cognised. All merge into One Supreme Siva only.
195
Prof. D. Gurumurthi came to see Sri Ramana during his last days.
On the day of our visit, we found Sri Ramana walking a few

steps to the verandah with great effort. His body looked extremely weak,
pale and limp. He could scarcely stand the weight as he moved forward.
But the moment he ascended the seat and settled down for one-hour
public darshan, a marvellous change came over him. It was as though
he was summoning the spirit to dwell visibly in his body. His face shone
radiant with peace. It was a marvel of conquest over the body.
As devotees advanced to the presence of the Maharshi and
bowed down in utter faith and fervent dedication, vibrations of power
could be felt. At every bow a wave of devotion would flow towards the
sage, and there would come a powerful flood of benediction from him to
the devotees on the ground. A veritable miracle was being performed.
An aged body bent down by terrific penances, exhausted and enfeebled
by a mortal illness, and yet the immortal spirit of the emancipated sage
triumphed over the weakness of the body, which was resplendent and
shedding benign grace on the assembled devotees. Few among mankind
have had the great privilege of participating in such a spiritual feast.
When I sat in the evening session of darshan, a question formed
in my mind. What will happen to the hundreds who will be deprived of
this spiritual nourishment? As I was mentally addressing this question to
Sri Ramana, radiance was felt by me. His physical form before me gradu-
ally became shrunken, smaller and smaller and vanished into radiance.
As the radiance grew deeper and more powerful, I felt I had the answer
to my query. Even though the body may disappear, concentration of spir-
itual power which was focused round it will continue to shed its influ-
ence. And as long as one can put oneself into attunement with that form
and with that radiance, one would draw spiritual sustenance.
196
Gouriammal visited Sri Ramana in Virupaksha cave as a child with
her father, an earnest devotee. She lived in her house in Ramana
Nagar, opposite the Ashram.
When I asked Bhagavan what I should do to be on the spiritual
path, he said, “Do what you want to do but keep doing it; don’t remain
doing nothing. Repeat the name, or think deeply or seek the source of
your ‘I’ consciousness, do atma vichara, but keep working on yourself.
Gouriammal / Krishnaswami 403
This is very important.”

Once a well-meaning but ignorant devotee insisted that Bhagavan
should take the glass of orange juice that he had brought. Bhagavan said.
“If you give anything to me without giving it to all, it will be like poison to
me.” When the devotee said that next time all would be given orange
juice, Bhagavan said, “What is the use because I tell you? You should
know by this time that they are all myself and what you give to them you
are giving me.”
Once my sister’s five-year old son was bitten by a snake and in
desperation she brought the child to Bhagavan. The doctors had given up
hope. The boy was perspiring profusely and was in great pain. The child
was already stiff with glazed eyes and was breathing heavily. The mother
was weeping inconsolably. When Bhagavan saw her he said, “Do not
weep. It is nothing.” He passed his hand over the child and within a few
minutes the boy recovered his senses and sat up. As the mother was
leaving, she saw a Muslim devotee in front of the hall. By profession he
was a snake charmer and a snakebite healer. He said, “Now the child is
safe, but the poison is still in his body and I had better chant some charms
to get it out.” He did so and asked her to go. Bhagavan had saved the
child but wanted the snake charmer to take the credit.
197
Krishnaswami was a native of Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. He came
to Sri Ramana in 1936 and was his attendant till the mahanirvana.
There was a lame puppy which would wag its tail whenever
Bhagavan went up the hill. He was fed with iddlies. One day after
having iddlies the pup went and urinated in front of the sarvadhikari’s
office. He got wild and ordered that no more iddlies be given to the pup.
When Bhagavan asked me why the pup was not fed, I disclosed the
reason. He got angry and told me, “Earlier many have come, ruled and
gone, one day you too have to go.” And thus feeding of the pup got
resumed. The same mongrel would come in front of Bhagavan with the
mouth full of filth. Bhagavan used to wipe her mouth clean with his own
towel and say, “Some great soul has come in this garb.” He never gave
me the towel for washing.
Bhagavan used to say with a laugh, “A person performs
namaskaram to the Swami and expects all his prayers fulfilled and boons
granted. Who wants this namaskaram? Even before they prostrate
physically, I prostrate to them mentally.”
One day he told me, “One could cause God through alchemy.
But even if that God tells you something don’t believe it. If I come in
front of you don’t believe it. The Seer is most important. You are. That is
most important. Concentrate on the Seer, not on the seen. All that you
see is false and the Seer alone is true. All knowledge you gather is use-
less, until you hold on to your Self. You are the Truth, not what is being
told to you, not what you see.”
198
Thelma Rappold, an American, had come to India and travelled
all over to find a guru. She landed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram,
Pondicherry, where she learnt about Sri Ramana, and was with
him during 1947-50.
On my way to Sri Ramanasramam, when I was in a state of
reverie, Sri Ramana appeared to me as a sort of dream. When I actually
saw him, it was the same face that I had seen in my reverie. I was really,
really shocked. When I sat in his presence, I felt that my little ego had
slipped away. I opened my heart and let those beautiful waves enter into
me. It seemed that the so-called problems I thought I had, just vanished.
I went through a cleansing process.
It always amazed me how Sri Ramana sat absolutely quiet and
motionless, yet his eyes were so penetrating. When I had questions I did
not verbalize them, because it wasn’t necessary; the questions were
answered almost immediately. It was our means of communication. It
was a mind-to-mind connection.
When I first met Sri Ramana, he told me: You are what you are
– accept it. When the time comes to give it up do it with grace. As the
years went by, I kept trying to ‘open’ as much as possible. I recognized
that we all choose our suffering because we do not open up and accept
what life brings; we don’t find out ‘who’ it is that is experiencing the
suffering. I had never, at any pervious time in my life, really let go and
tried to just ‘be’. When we can do this, love just pours out.
At the Ashram I had found my true home and teacher. It was as
Thelma Rappold / Apa B. Pant 405
if I had lived several life times in those few years that I was with him.
The person who came to him in the beginning was not the same person
that left. I had understood how to open up the power locked within me.
199
Apa B. Pant was High Commissioner for India in U.K. He visited
Sri Ramana in 1937 along with Maurice Frydman (no. 36).
I well remember the day Maurice and I reached Sri
Ramanasramam. There was some festival and the Maharshi’s hall was
overflowing. We found a seat in a corner and fell silent. In a minute or
two, I felt that there was radiance alight that was filling the whole hall. It
was so quiet, so still. The impression was so indelible.
I had just returned from England after doing my course on
philosophy, and thought I knew answers to the eternal questions. I wanted
to put those before Bhagavan. But, somehow, in his presence, I did not
feel like opening my mouth.
At night, as it was hot, we slept in the open. There was so much
of turmoil and noise all around. The whole night it was impossible to
sleep. In the morning I spoke to Maurice about it. He asked, “What
noise? There was no noise whatsoever; everything was peaceful.” I
was stunned! I was sure I had not slept a wink and here was Maurice
saying that there no noise at all. Then it dawned on me that Bhagavan
had given me a message. He had spoken without speaking that the mind
creates the noise and is chattering and arguing illusions and unless one
goes beyond this turmoil there can be no living in Truth, or Liberation. He
had given me in a flash the message that ‘Awareness is all’.
The same evening, Maurice said to Bhagavan that I do surya
namaskars [A type of physical exercise]. Bhagavan looked at me very
straight and said, “Let me see how you do it.” So, in front of all I did 12
surya namaskars with breathing and mantras as my father had taught
me. Bhagavan smilingly said, “Yes, it is a good exercise to be done after
you have been sitting for hours in meditation and your knees and other
joints feel a little stiff.” I never used to do any meditation at that time.
But I know now [30 years later] that it were these words which kept me
on the surya namaskars and led me to daily meditation.
200
Vaikuntavasar worked up his way to be Sri Ramana’s attendant in
1940. Later he also was a member of the Board of Trustees of Sri
Ramanasramam.
Before becoming an attendant, I had talked to Him only once,
soon after my arrival. After that there was no need for me to think of
anything else. Bhagavan was God for me. Everything I did for Him was
done with care and dedication. I used to devote considerable time to
wash the only two pieces of cloth Bhagavan had (loin cloth and a small
towel), as I wanted them to be spotlessly clean. Massaging His feet was
another duty I welcomed. Bhagavan’s rheumatism gave me an
opportunity to massage His feet and legs.
On great occasions like jayanti, Bhagavan would ask me, “Have
you attended to the ‘boys’ (monkeys)?” I used to take plenty of food and
spread it on the rocks. After they finished eating, the monkeys would
keep quiet, lying down content, and Bhagavan would remark, “Look,
how good they all have become and do not do any mischief now.”
Once there was a snake below my pillow. When I reported it to
Bhagavan, He laughingly remarked, “Oh, it is quite all right. What else
can make a better bed for you?” Such was His sense of humour.
[Vaikuntavasar is one of the names of Vishnu, whose bed is Adisesha.]
Once, about nine at night, Bhagavan walked towards the Hill. I
went along with Him. Bhagavan had gone a bit further to ease Himself.
Then I heard the sound of wooden sandals moving nearer and nearer
and passing on. There was no one to be seen. I was awe struck. I had
heard from Bhagavan about the siddhas living on Arunachala. I began
to sweat. When Bhagavan came near me, He looked at me and said,
“So, you too have heard it.”
201
Saroja Krishnan’s family had a close relationship with the Ashram.
Her uncle, Rajagopala Iyer was one of the attendants of Sri
Ramana. He had witnessed the will executed by Sri Ramana in
1938, in respect of Sri Ramanasramam.
Vaikuntavasar / Saroja Krishnan 407
When I was young I used to sit in the hall, watching with interest
the happenings around me. One day, Bhagavan’s eyes turned to me and
rested there; my eyes were locked in his, unable to turn away. How does
one describe the indescribable? Dark and wide, cool and bright, melting
with mercy and kindness, those heavenly orbs seemed to expand and fill
the room and all space, engulfing me. Looking back, I understand that
this was his nayana diksha [Initiation by look].
When fifteen or sixteen, I was undergoing mental suffering. My
husband was not in town. In despair, I tried to put an end to my life, but
did not succeed. My uncle Rajagopala Iyer chanced to take the family to
the Ashram. Even here my agony continued. The time came for us to
return home. One by one, all members of the family prostrated and took
Bhagavan’s leave. When I raised my head after prostration, my eyes fell
on Bhagavan’s feet, placed on a low stool in front of his sofa. My hands
shot forward as if propelled by some powerful force and I grasped those
feet only for a very short time. A fount of happiness seemed to burst
forth from somewhere deep within me. Wave after wave of bliss washed
over me and I seemed to be floating in it. I was oblivious of everything
else. Thoughts of Bhagavan and the surging happiness absorbed every
nook and corner of my being. Back at home, even though the old situation
continued, nothing touched me. In my lifetime I have never experienced
anything remotely resembling it.
Back to Tiruvannamalai with my mother for delivery, I did not
stop the daily practice of going round Bhagavan’s hall 108 times, carrying
the heavy load of advanced pregnancy. Medical facilities in
Tiruvannamalai were rather inadequate. So my mother was anxious and
decided to take Bhagavan’s advice. With this in mind she was entering
the hall, when she heard Bhagavan telling someone firmly and loudly,
“No, no, not here.” On hearing this my mother immediately decided to
take me to Vellore. Bhagavan’s advice was received, even though nothing
was asked!
I was in the third day of my dry labour, without making much
progress. The third night the doctors decided to do a Caesarean, often
very risky in pre-penicillin days. My mother and others were in great
distress on hearing this and sent off a telegram of appeal to the Ashram.
Bhagavan read the telegram in Tiruvannamalai and in Vellore my son
Ramana Kumar was born, by normal delivery. The doctors were
confounded that a normal delivery should occur in such a difficult situation
without recourse to even the forceps!

Once, Bhagavan was coming down the hill after his morning
stroll. Suddenly, a dove fell down at his feet. Bhagavan bent down and
picking it up, cradled it in his arms and gently soothed it by passing his
hand lightly over its back. Then he turned round to see how the bird
happened to fall. A young hunter was hesitantly standing a little distance
away with a catapult in hand. Bhagavan remarked in quiet voice, “This is
the poor boy’s food, but two annas [one eighth of a rupee] would do to
buy something to satisfy his hunger.” The amount was paid immediately
to the boy by my uncle.
The dove lay still and dazed in Bhagavan’s arms. It did not move
ever after Bhagavan came back to the hall. “A few drops of green grapes
juice applied on its head, would cure him.” As Bhagavan was saying this,
an out-station devotee entered the hall with a few bunches of green
grapes, as an offering to Bhagavan. “Hey, look, we are just talking about
green grapes and here they are!” exclaimed Bhagavan. Immediately, a
few grapes were squeezed on the dove’s head. In a short while, the bird
stirred, raised its head and looked around. After a few tentative steps, it
fluttered it wings and flew away. Who is the vet who taught Bhagavan
this treatment? I wondered.
202
Shanti (pseudonym) visited Sri Ramana in 1943.
I had earlier sent a letter to the sarvadhikari, who took me to
the dining hall where Sri Ramana had gone for his breakfast. He introduced
me to Bhagavan, who welcomed me with a soft and affectionate look. I
prostrated and when I got up he made a sign to take my seat nearby, and
I did so. From the moment Bhagavan’s eyes fell on me, my heart went
out to him in spontaneous love and reverence. The way he ate his
food, the way he sat, the way he walked, the way he talked, were
remarkably calm, and so very different from the manner of ordinary
men. It was only now that I understood the significance of Arjuna’s
question to the Lord in the Gita [2. 54], regarding the sthitaprajna.
At about 9 a.m. Bhagavan came to the meditation hall and we
too entered the hall and sat facing him. For the first time in my life, I
realized how dynamic shanti could be. Peace seemed to emerge from
Shanti 409
Bhagavan and fill the hearts of one and all. In his presence, the
mind became calm and tranquil of its own accord and consequently
doubts and questions became few, and finally vanished. I was very
happy. I felt kritakritya (one who has accomplished), and my heart
softly whispered within me the words, ‘dhanyoham, dhanyoham’(I am
blessed, I am blessed).
I had a desire to dedicate a Sanskrit stanza to Bhagavan, but my
knowledge of the language was not so much as to compose a verse with
any degree of confidence. In my heart I prayed for his grace to fulfil my
wish. That noon, when I got up from my usual siesta, a stanza occurred
to me. Apparently, without any conscious mental process, a poem was
formed in my mind ready to be transcribed. My prayer had been granted.
With great joy I wrote it down on a piece of paper, took it to Bhagavan
and placed it at his feet. He read the stanza twice and asked me to put
the words ‘Sona Sailam’ for the words ‘Ramana Maharshi’. I changed
the fourth line which read, “I meditate on Sona Sailam (Arunachala)”.
Thus Bhagavan revealed to me that he was none other than Arunachala
or Dakshinamurthi [Refer annexure-V, p. 415], who by his sublime silence
expounded to his devotees the mysteries of Self knowledge. At that time
it struck me so and my eyes were filled with tears of delight and gratitude.
According to Viveka Chudamani, the flight of steps leading to
jivanmukti begins with satsanga, the company of sages and saints. Our
Bhagavan is such a soul. I think we are too near Bhagavan’s time to see
him in correct perspective of history. As years roll on, his spiritual grandeur
will assume Himalayan proportions.
* * *
ANNEXURE – I
MOUNTAIN ARUNACHALA AND TEMPLE

OF ARUNACHALESWARA IN TIRUVANNAMALAI
The great Arunachala hill on which Sri Ramana lived for more than two
decades is in town Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. The town itself is named after
the mountain Annamalai, with the prefix Tiru / Thiru, which in Tamil is equivalent
of Sri.
The word ‘Annamalai’ in Tamil means ‘an inaccessible mountain’.
‘Annal’ is a special name for Lord Siva, who appeared in this place in the form of
a column of fire, neither the top nor root of which could be approached, hence
inaccessible. The mountain thus came to be known as Annal Malai (malai in
Tamil means mountain). Slowly the word got corrupted to Annamalai. Paul
Brunton (no.1), in his A Message from Arunachala writes that his geologist
friend from America held the view that Arunachala was thrown up by the earth
under the stress of some violent volcanic eruptions in the dim ages before even
the coal-bearing strata were formed.
The hill which has a circumference of around 10 kilometer rises up to
3000 feet (approx) from the sea level at its highest point. [See photograph no.1 in
the book.]
Arunachala is also known as Arunagiri. Sri Ramana explained that aruna
means ‘red’, ‘bright like fire’.This fire is the fire of wisdom (jnanagni). Achala or
giri is hill. So, it means the Hill of Wisdom. Adi Sankara has declared it to be the
legendary Mount Meru.
As noted in the life sketch of Sri Ramana at the beginning of the
book, the very word ‘Arunachala’ had somehow fascinated Sri Ramana since
his childhood. It was in search of Arunachala that he left his home. In the
note he left behind, he stated that he was leaving in quest of his Father. To
him Arunachala was no mere hill; it was a visible symbol of the Absolute
Spirit. His poem, a favourite of his devotees, Arunachala Akshar-
amanamalai means ‘the bridal garland of letters for Arunachala’. It is a fine
example of bridal mysticism (Madhura bhakti). Here Sri Ramana employs
the intimate language of love conversing with the Lord. He also pines for,
cajoles, chides, and quarrels with his beloved Arunachala. The poem was
composed by Sri Ramana in 1913, while he was making the 13 km circuit
round the hill. This ritual known as giri-pradakshina continues to be
performed with fervour by Siva devotees.
Annexures 411
Sri Ramana once said: “Someone from abroad wants a stone from the
holy part of the hill. He does not know that the whole hill is holy. The hill is Lord
Siva Himself. As we identify ourselves with the body, so Siva has chosen to
identify Himself with the hill.”
ARUNACHALESWARA TEMPLE
As the name indicates, this is the temple of Iswara (God) of Arunachala,
that is, Lord Siva. This is one of the biggest temples in South India and is over
a thousand years old. The temple is truly marvellous in its construction. Its
eastern tower (gopuram) goes up to 217 feet. [See photograph no.2 in the book.]
The huge temple has numerous shrines, mandapams, gopurams and enclosures.
According to Sri Ramana’s first biographer, B.V. Narasimha Swami, Sri
Ramana after alighting at Tiruvannmalai railway station on the morning of
September 1, 1896, proceeded straight to this great temple. When he marched to
the innermost shrine there was not a soul beside him. He addressed
Arunachaleswara (in the shape of lingam): “O God, obedient to Thy call, I have
come deserting all.” He stood there for a while in ecstasy and then left the
sanctuary. The first few months of Sri Ramana’s stay at Tiruvannamalai were
spent in deep meditation at various places in this temple.
ANNEXURE – II
KARTHIKAI DEEPAM OR DEEPAM FESTIVAL

This grand festival, which falls during November-December each year,
is attended by lakhs of people. The festival stretches over a period of ten days.
On the tenth day of the festival, a huge Deepam (lamp) is lit at the top of the hill
Arunachala. A large basin-like copper cauldron, kept on the summit of the hill, is
filled with ghee. The light which is lit with great festivity at 6 p.m. is visible from
a distance of almost 30 miles in all directions. In the early Tamil literature the
phrase ‘like a beacon on the top of the hill’ was used as an illustration of
widespread fame. This shows that the practice must have been in vogue from
time immemorial.
The origin of this tradition can be traced back to the legend of
Ardhanareeswara. According to the legend, the Divine Mother Parvati came to
Tiruvannamalai and did penance to be united with Her Lord. Lord Siva was
pleased with the penance, and appearing as a column of dazzling light took Her
into Himself. This merging of Sakti into Siva is represented by the
Ardhanareeswara (half woman and half man) form.1 This event occurred on the
full moon day in the Tamil month of Karthikai, which generally runs from mid-
November to mid-December. Ever since, it has been the practice to light a lamp at
the top of Arunachala hill on this day every year, and worship the Lord.
According to another legend, the big cauldron is lit in commemoration
of the episode of Lord Siva quelling the pride of Brahma and Vishnu by Himself
appearing before them as a huge column of fire, which got consolidated as
mountain Arunachala. According to a story in the Sivapuranam, once Brahma
and Vishnu were arguing about their respective superiority. Suddenly they saw
an endless column of fire beside them. They decided to find the limit of the
column, agreeing that whoever reached the end of it would be superior to the
other. Vishnu started to dig the earth to find the root, and Brahma flew in the sky
to find the top. In due course of time, having failed in their mission, both returned
to the earth. While Vishnu accepted his defeat, Brahma told a lie that he had
reached the top and showed a flower, which he claimed he had got from Siva’s
head. Lord Siva appeared on the scene and rebuked Brahma for telling a lie. The
huge column of fire, the form of Siva, eventually got frozen as mountain.
1 . In this manifestation, the left half represents Sakti in the form of Parvati and the right
half Siva. The image of Ardhanareeswara gives a mistaken impression that it represents
a being, which is half female and half male. In reality there is no such being. The
symbolic representation of Ardhanareeswara is to be seen as a metaphor, which
represents a being the whole of which is Siva and the whole of which is Sakti at the
same time. Siva and Sakti are two beings only by connotation. They in fact denote one
and the same being Siva. It is only when Siva is united with Sakti that He acquires the
capability of becoming the Lord of the Universe. (Who is greater – Siva or Sakti ? Refer
pp. 351-2.)
ANNEXURE – III
THE PERIAPURANAM’S STORY OF GREAT SIVA

BHAKTA – KANNAPPAN NAAYANAAR
Periapuranam was the first religious book gone through by Sri Ramana. The
book gives a moving account of the deep love, utter self-sacrifice and sublime
communion with the Lord, which marked the lives of sixty-three Tamil saints.
As he read on, says B.V. Narasimha Swami, the first biographer of Sri Ramana,
“surprise, admiration, awe, reverence, sympathy and emulation swept over
his soul in succession, thus paying a momentary homage to the grand ideals
Annexures 413
and ideas that had charmed the hearts and engaged the minds of his
countrymen for centuries.” The famous story of Kannappan Naayanaar from
this book is summarized below.
The tribe to which Kannappan belonged engaged itself in hunting and
practising cruelty on animals. The tribe had a chieftain named Naaga. He married
a lady from another hill tribe. Their great and long-standing desire to have a
child was fulfilled through worship at the shrine of Lord Muruga – son of Lord
Siva. The child being heavy to bear in hands was hailed as ‘the doughty one’
[Thinnan], which eventually became his name.
He was such a daring and strong boy that one day he thrust his hands
into the jaws of a tiger and came out unhurt. He also became a great expert in
archery. As the chief of the tribe grew weak with the passage of years, Thinnan,
a dedicated Siva bhakta, became the next chief. He and his tribesmen engaged
themselves in fierce hunting. Once they had to face a roaring bear with sharp
teeth. Thinnan decided to pursue it. The bear fled far away and stood at the base
of a hill. Thinnan strode towards the hill where he found a Siva temple, which
was being maintained by a local Brahmin.
Thinnan wanted to offer food and water to Lord Siva, but the only
water he had was his saliva and the food was the animal flesh. Next day, the
priest on his arrival was shocked to find meat scattered over the Lingam and he
cursed the person who was responsible for the defilement. He cleaned the Lingam,
went to take bath and came back. He worshipped the Lord in his usual way and
went home. After he left, Thinnan worshipped the Lord again in his way.
The priest hid himself to find the ‘culprit’. He saw Thinnan doing his
usual worship with great fervour and devotion. In order to show the depth of
Thinnan’s worship to the priest, the Lord made blood come out of His eye. As
Thinnan could not bear the sight of his beloved Lord suffering such pain, he
pulled out one of his eyes and put it in Siva’s image. Now the bleeding started
from the other eye of the Lord’s image. After losing his one eye Thinnan could
see only with the other eye and so he put his left leg to mark the place of the eye
in the image and then was about to pull out his second eye as well to put it in the
place of the bleeding eye of the Lord, he heard the Lord’s voice calling him to
stop. And then as the Lord appeared Himself, both the priest and Thinnan fell at
His feet. The Lord blessed them and restored Thinnan’s eye.
Thinnan came to be known as Kannappan, which means one who gave
his eyes to the Lord, and Naayanaars are great Siva bhaktas of yore.
(T.K. Sundaresa Iyer records how Sri Ramana became sentimental

and emotional and brokedown while enacting this story before the devotees in
the hall, Refer pp. 286-7.)
ANNEXURE – IV
THE COW LAKSHMI

The cow donated to the Ashram in 1926 was named Lakshmi by Sri
Ramana himself. She died in 1948. She had nine deliveries in all, four of which
were on the jayanti days of Sri Ramana. At the time of one such delivery, Sri
Ramana’s attendant Kunju Swami (no. 52) remarked, “It is auspicious that the
cow has delivered the calf on Sri Ramana’s birthday.” Sri Ramana interrupted
him to say, “Correct yourself Kunju, my birthday celebrations are taking place
on the day Lakshmi has calved.”
Sri Ramana would visit the cow shed regularly. Lakshmi also became
greatly attached to the Maharshi and would, of her own accord, walk from her
shed into the hall even when the hall was full of devotees. One day the cow came
to the hall, put her head on the Maharshi’s shoulder and wept. He gently stroked
her head and said, “Who has hurt you? Stop crying. I am here to befriend you.”
Lakshmi stopped crying, gave the Maharshi a few licks and went away comforted.
(Refer also p. 180.)
Lakshmi would walk into the hall from her shed a few minutes after the
birth of her new calf and stand mutely before the Maharshi, who would then
address her: “Lakshmi you have come to tell me that you have a new baby. I will
come to the shed and see your child.”
Lakshmi continued through the years as one of the favoured devotees
of Sri Ramana. Whenever she visited Sri Ramana, he would pay attention to her,
stroke her and feed her with plantains, rice cakes, etc. The possessive way in
which she approached Sri Ramana and the attention bestowed on her made
many devotees believe that there was some special bond between them in an
earlier birth. It seemed hard to explain in any other way the great solicitude and
tenderness that Sri Ramana always showed in his dealings with her. [ See
photograph no.12 in the book.]
Many old timers at the Ashram believed that Lakshmi was reincarnation
of an old lady by the name Keeraipatti, who had known Sri Ramana from his
earliest days in Tiruvannamalai and had occasionally prepared food for him
almost up to her death in 1921. (Sri Ramana has also referred to the fact of
reincarnation without committing himself.)
It is believed that Lakshmi brought a lot of luck and prosperity to the
Ashram, a fact that was mentioned by Sri Ramana himself.
On the day of Lakshmi’s death the Maharshi sat beside her, took her
head into his arms and gently stroked her neck. He fixed his gracious gaze on
her. She passed away peacefully and was given a ceremonial burial in the Ashram
premises. A samadhi shrine built over the grave with her true-to-life statue
Annexures 415
(though of a smaller size) is worshipped by the devotees to this day. An epitaph
written by the Maharshi in Tamil verse confirms her nirvana. When a devotee
asked the Maharshi whether the use of the word vimukti in the epitaph was
conventional or it really meant nirvana, the Maharshi replied that it meant
nirvana.
Other samadhis adjacent to that of the cow Lakshmi, are of the deer
Valli (Refer p. 67 last para), the dog Jackie ( Refer p. 272, 2nd para ) and the crow
( Refer p.307 last para).
ANNEXURE – V
DAKSHINAMURTHI
(The Great Silent Guru, an incarnation of Lord Siva)
It is said that Lord Siva manifested as Dakshinamurthi in order to instruct

and enlighten four ascetics. In the traditional version of this story, He appeared
in the form of a young boy sitting under a banyan tree. The four ascetics attained
enlightenment as a result of receiving Dakshinamurthi’s silent transmissions. A
verse from Adi Sankara’s Sri Dakshinamurthi Stotra goes on to say – “Look at
the wonder under the banyan tree! While the disciples are old and grey-haired,
the teacher is blooming youth. And though the Master’s speech is simple silence,
the doubts of the disciples are all resolved.”
Dakshinamurthi means ‘southward facing god’, and one finds Lord
Siva in this form on the outside of the southern walls of South Indian Siva
temples. Sri Ramana devotees generally believe that the Maharshi was a
manifestation of Dakshinamurthi. He took up residence on the southern side of
Arunachala hills, identified himself with Arunachala Siva, and he always preferred
to teach through silence.
The Maharshi has told the following story about Dakshinamurthi to
Muruganar (no. 53).
When four aged Sanakadi rishis [Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara
and Sanatsujata] first saw the youthful Dakshinamurthi sitting under a banyan
tree, they at once got attracted to him, and understood that he was the real
sadguru.
They approached him, did three pradakshinas around him, prostrated
before him, sat at his feet and began to ask very shrewd and pertinent questions
about the nature of Reality and the means of attaining it. Because of the great
compassion and fatherly love (vatsalya) which he felt for his aged disciples, the
young Dakshinamurthi was overjoyed to see their earnestness, wisdom and
maturity, and gave apt replies to each of their questions.
As he answered each consecutive question, further doubts arose in
their minds and they asked further questions. Thus they continued to question
Dakshinamurthi for one whole year, and he continued to clear their doubts
through his compassionate answers.
Finally, Dakshinamurthi felt that if he continued to answer the questions
more doubts would arise in their minds and there would never be an end to their
ignorance (ajnana). Therefore, suppressing the feeling of compassion and
fatherly love, which was welling up within him, he merged himself into Supreme
Silence.Because of their great maturity (which had got ripened greatly due to
their year-long association with the sadguru), as soon as Dakshinamurthi
assumed silence, they too got merged into Supreme Silence, the true state of
Self.
When Muruganar, who was hearing the story, remarked that no book
has mentioned about Dakshinamurthi ever speaking anything, Sri Ramana replied
curtly, “But this is what actually happened.” From the authoritative way in
which Sri Ramana reacted, Muruganar realised that Sri Ramana was none other
than Dakshinamurthi himself.
Glossary / Books 417
GLOSSARY OF NON-ENGLISH WORDS AND

IMPORTANT SANSKRIT AND TAMIL BOOKS
REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT
Abhishekam Sacred bath
Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of non-duality; the principal Hindu doctrine
that nothing exists apart from Absolute Brahman
(Supreme Spirit), which is the only ultimate reality,
everything else being a form assumed by the spirit
Advaitic Relating to Advaita philosophy
Advaitin One who believes and follows the Advaita philosophy
Ahamkara Egotism
Ajnana Ignorance (of the Reality)
Amavasya The last day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month
Ananda Bliss, felicity, delight
Anugraha Grace
Anupallavi The middle part of a song
Arati A ceremony performed in worshipping a god; a hymn
or prayer addressed to a deity
Arunachala Siva Mountain Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu,
which is considered by the devotees of Siva as Lord
Siva Himself
Asana Physical postures, the regular practice of which is a
standard feature of many schools of yoga
Ashtanga namas- Full prostration, where eight parts of the human body
karam touch the floor
Ashrama (i)Dwelling place of sages, yogis and their students
and disciples; a forest retreat of sages. (ii) As per the
Hindu tradition, hundred years of a person’s life should
ideally be lived in four equal parts, called ashramas,
namely, brahamacharya, grihasta, vanaprastha and
sannyasa
Atma siddhi Attaining full control over the self
Atman Soul, the immortal Self of all beings, which is a part of
Brahman
Atma vidya Knowledge of the soul and its relation to the Ultimate
Being
Atma vichara Reflection on the soul and its relation to the Ultimate
Being; self examination
Atmanubhuti Self realisation
Avatar A divine manifestation; incarnation of God
Avidya Spiritual ignorance that I am the body; want of learning
Bhagavan The Supreme Being; any revered person
Bhajans Devotional songs
Bhakta A devotee
Bhakti Love or devotion for the God incarnate
Bhakti marga The path to God through love and devotion
Bhiksha Food received as alms; the giving of such food; the act
of getting out to beg food
Bhikshu Supplicant; mendicant
Brahmachari A celibate student; one practising brahmacharya
Brahmacharya Celibacy; the first Hindu stage of life in which in ancient
times one studied under a religious teacher and remained
single with all attention towards Brahman. (See
ashrama)
Brahman The designation in Hinduism for the impersonal
Absolute Reality; the one formless, non-dual Absolute
substratum of all that exists
Brahmananda The joy of becoming one with the Absolute
Brahmin Member of the priestly class among the Hindus; first of
the four varnas (classes) among the Hindus
Brahmastra An unfailing weapon
Buddhi Wisdom, intelligence
Chit Consciousness
Choultry Place attached to temples/maths for providing shelter
to devotees during their pilgrimage
Darshan Literally ‘sight’; silent audience; to have darshan of a
sage; could be translated as to enjoy the grace of his
presence
Dasarah See Vijayadasami
Devanagari The alphabets used for writing Sanskrit, Hindi and some
other Indian languages
Dharma Code of social and personal morality; the eternal laws
of the cosmos inherent in the very nature of things
Dhal (In Indian cookery) split pulses
Dhyana Meditation; contemplation
Dhoti A rectangular piece of cloth, about four meters long,
worn by Indian men, wrapped around the waist
Diksha Initiation
Ekadasi The eleventh day of a lunar fortnight. Traditionally, the
Hindus observe a fast on this day
Fakir An ascetic (specially Muslim); beggar
Gayatri mantra The most famous and sacred Vedic mantra
Ghee Clarified butter used in Indian cooking
Giri-pradakshina Pradakshina is the circuit that is made of any holy
object or place, walking round with one’s right side
inward. Giri is hill. So, giri-pradakshina is going
round the hill, which here refers to mountain
Arunachala
Gopika /Gopis The female cowherds of Vrandavan who played and
danced with Lord Krishna; they are held to be
paradigms of loving devotion
Goshala Cow-shed
Grihastha Householder; one who carries out obligations of
domestic life
Grihastashrama The second stage of life in the Hindu system, after
Brahmacharya, and followed by Vanaprastha and
Sannyasa. In this stage a person takes the responsi-
bility of the family affairs. (See ashrama)
Gunas The three fundamental qualities – gunas or tendencies
which underlie all manifestations are: sattva, rajas and
tamas. The sattva represents purity and is free from all
evils. A sattvic person is wise, helpful and has
equanimity. The raja is activity. A rajasic person
relentlessly pursues his goals; he is ambitious. Tamas
is born out of ignorance. It makes one work under the
compulsion of the body, without applying power of
judgment. A tamasic person is averse to work or activity.
It is the mix of the gunas which differentiate one person
from another
Guru A spiritual teacher or preceptor (See also sadguru)
Hare Vocative singular of the word Hari, which is a name for
Vishnu and his incarnations
Harijans A devotee of Hari (God); a term used by Mahatma
Gandhi for untouchables among the Hindus
Hridaya The heart, the spiritual center in the body on the right
side of the chest. Some texts and Sri Ramana have
suggested the heart as the appropriate point to meditate
Iddlies Lens-shaped steamed cakes of ground rice and dhal,
commonly eaten in South India
Indriyas Senses
Iswara The God Supreme
Jai Victory
Japa Repetition of a sacred word or syllable for invoking
grace or vision of a deity, or for acquiring Self-knowledge
Jayanti In this book, the birthday of Sri Ramana and the
celebrations associated with it
Ji (Jee) A Hindi honorific suffix added to a name to denote
respect; a respectful form of address
Jivanmukta One who is liberated while still alive; one who is not
affected by the natural tendencies of a human being
while living
Jnana Divine knowledge; wisdom; inner awareness
Jnana marga The path to God through knowledge and analysis of
the self
Jnani One who is established in the Absolute knowledge; an
enlightened one
Kaivalya Ultimate Realization, the state of liberation
Kamandalu A water pot usually made from a coconut shell
Kaliyuga Last of the four yugas (aeons) as per Hindu cosmology
(See yuga)
Karika A collection of philosophical verses
Karma The destiny based on the law of cause and effect
Karma, jnana, Selfless action, true knowledge, and devotion – three
and bhakti important ways of Self-realization
Karma-yogi The person who performs his/her duties sincerely
without worrying about the results
Kaupina Codpiece, loincloth
Kripa Grace
Kumbhabhishekam Consecration – the ceremony of consecrating. (To
consecrate is to make or declare as sacred.)
Kumkum Red powder used as cosmetic bindi on the forehead or
between the eyebrows
Kundalini (sakti) A psycho-spiritual force that lies dormant at the base
of the spinal cord until activated by yogic practices.
Conceived as a coiled snake by the yogis, it uncoils
and rises up the spine reaching up to the crown of the
head, resulting in samadhi
Kural (Tirukkural) Ancient Tamil classic
Lila (Leela) Sport, play of God
Linga (m) A round vertical column of stone with rounded upper
end, which is installed in Siva temples and is regarded
as a physical manifestation of the deity
Mahanirvana Deliverance from re-birth of an enlightened being like
Sri Ramana Maharshi or the Buddha
Mahaprasadam See prasada
Mahapurusha A great man
Maharshi A great Hindu sage; literally, a great soul
Mahatma A holy person or sage; also a title as in Mahatma
Gandhi
Mahasamadhi Physical death of a great saint
Mandapam A bare hall, with or without the image of God
Mantra A sacred word or phrase given to a disciple by the
guru. (Repetition of the mantra is one of common forms
of sadhana.)
Math/Matham A Hindu centre or institution, often monastic in nature,
set up for honouring the memory of a saint, or for
singing bhajans, giving out teachings, etc.
Maya Illusion; the power that makes the unreal world appear
real
Maunam Silence; a synonym for the throught-free experience of
the Self
Mauna mudra To be in a silent posture
Mukta Those who get released from the cycle of rebirth
Mukti, Moksha Deliverance; in Indian philosophy, release from the
cycle of rebirth
Muni A seer, a sage
Munshi A language teacher or a secretary
Munsif A subordinate judge in India
Namaskaram Salutations; a traditional Indian gesture of greeting
made by bringing the palms together before the chest
and bowing
Navaratri The first nine days of the light half of month Ashwin,
during which goddess Durga is worshipped
Nirvana Extinction; deliverance from repeated births
Nirvikalpa samadhi The supreme super-conscious state; great ecstasy
Nishtha Devotion, allegiance
Om According to the Hindus it is the primordial sound from
which all creation springs. (It is an important element in
all mantras of Hinduism.)
Padmasana A particular sitting posture for meditation
Pada puja A ritual of worshipping the feet of guru as an act of
veneration
Pandal A large temporary shed erected at the time of a function
or festival
Papadam/pappadam A deep-fried crunchy round wafer
Parayana Singing or chanting from sacred texts. Literally, chanting
up to the end of the text
Pongal A South Indian dish of rice and dhal cooked with
various spices
Pradakshina See giri pradakshina
Prana The breath of life; the spirit or soul as opposed to the
body
Pranams Salutations
Pranayama A system of breathing exercises
Prarabdha Fate; destiny
Prarthana Prayer; earnest request; entreaty
Prasada / A sanctified present; food offered to a deity or guru, a
prasadam part of which is returned to the devotee who has offered it
Puja/pooja Ritualistic worship performed by the Hindus
Puranas Works dealing with Hindu mythology; literally, ancient
or old
Puranic Mythological
Puris (pooris) A small, round, flat piece of unleavened flour, which is
deep-fried
Purusha The spirit (Atma/atman). It is used more in the masculine
sense where Spirit is contrasted or coupled with
Substance (Prakriti)
Rishi A sage, a seer
Rasam A spiced liquid prepared with peper and temarind served
at most South Indian meals
Sadasiva Lord Siva
Sadhaka Spiritual aspirant or seeker; one who does sadhana
Sadhana Conscious spiritual exercise or quest; the technique of
spiritual effort
Sadhu One who has renounced home and property in quest of
God
Sadguru Literally ‘true teacher’; a fully enlightened guru; the
highest of gurus
Sahaja samadhi Continuous samadhi, not requiring trance or ecstasy
but compatible with full use of human faculties
Sakama tapasya Penance undertaken to fulfill worldly desires
Sakti/shakti In spiritual context - divine power
Samadhi (i) Absorption in the Spirit of Self with or without trance;
(ii) Tomb of a saint
Samatva The practice of treating all equally; seeing all alike as
manifestation of the Spirit
Sambhar A spicy liquid preparation made from dhal and cut
vegetables that accompanies South Indian meals
Samsaric Worldly
Samskaras Mental habits and tendencies particularly those which
have been carried forward from previous births
Samsara The cares and burdens of mundane life; the phenomenal
world of names and forms, especially as it appears to
the unenlightened mind
Sanatana Eternal
Sannyasa The fourth ashrama or stage of life in which one
completely renounces the world and all one’s relation-
ships, and in which one lives as a monk. (See
ashrama)
Sannyasi/n One who has renounced the world
Sarvadhikari The chief manager. It was the title of the administrative
head of Sri Ramanasramam for many years
Saranagati Total surrender to God or a person
Sat Truth
Satchidananda The God Supreme – the one who combines in itself
Truth (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda)
Satsanga Literally, ‘fellowship or company with truth’; the
conversation and/or company of a saint; the group of
seekers who form such a company
Sattvic The quality of truth, goodness and purity (in a person)
Sattva, rajas and See gunas
tamas
Sastra Scriptures
Shastipurti Sixtieth birthday celebrations
Sivalinga See lingam
Siddhi Supernatural power
Siddha (purusha) One who has supernatural powers whether or not he
has spiritual attainment
Sloka A stanza or verse in Sanskrit literature/ texts
Sri Literally, ‘the auspicious one’; used as an honorific
prefix for men. It also denotes the Divine Mother
Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu
Sthitaprajna Firm in wisdom; fully contented
Swami One’s own master; a spiritual guru; used as a respectful
term for monks
Swaraj Independence
Swabhava Nature; temperament
Swanubhava Self-determination
Thailadhara Continuous flow like oil being poured from one vessel
to another. The simile is often used for the state of
uninterrupted meditation
Tapas / tapasya Literally, ‘heat’. Arduous spiritual practices often
involving bodily mortification. It is our deep-rooted
conviction that severe restraint or discipline
(psychological heat) is needed for transformation
Tattva jnani One who knows the Reality behind the things
Thevaram Songs written by Tamil saints in praise of Lord Siva
Tonga A light horse-drawn two-wheeled vehicle
Upadesa Spiritual instruction
Upanishadic Relating to Upanishads
Upavasam Fast - abstaining from food/drink
Upma (uppuma) A dish made from semolina (rava), spices and a small
amount of vegetables
Vasana Habit of the mind; latent tendency
Vaishnavite A devotee of Lord Vishnu
Veda parayana Chanting of the Vedas, which are the oldest and most
respected scriptures of Hinduism. (See also parayana)
Vichara Thought, reflection
Vichara marga A path for self-realization through intelligent quest-
ioning about one’s true nature
Vibhuti Holy ash; it is applied to the forehead and smeared to
the body. Some people also eat a small pinch of it as
prasada
Vibhuti kumkum Two very small packets of paper containing the holy
prasada(m) ash and the red powder used for bindi on the forehead,
given to the devotees as Sri Ramana’s prasada at Sri
Ramanasramam. (Bindi is a decorative mark worn in the
middle of the eyebrows or on the forehead by the
Hindus, particularly by the Hindu women.)
Vidvan A scholarly person
Vijayadasmi The tenth day of the light half of the Hindu month
Aswin, on which the festival celebrating the victory of
Lord Rama over Ravana is held
Yatra Pilgrimage
Yoga The discipline aimed at training the consciousness for
state of perfect spiritual insight and union with the
Universal Spirit
Yogi One who practises yoga; a spiritually advanced or freed
soul
Yuga(s) A sub-division of kalpa, which consists of millions of
years. In Hindu cosmology a kalpa is a period for which
the manifest universe lasts prior to its dissolution. Each
kalpa has four yugas: the Satya, the Treta, the Dvapara
and the Kali.
BOOKS
Aksharamanamalai The 108-verse poem in Tamil addressed to the hill

Arunachala. Arunachala Aksharamanamalai means
‘the bridal garland of letters for Arunachala’. It is a fine
example of bridal mysticism. Here Sri Ramana employs
the intimate language of love conversing with the Lord.
He also pines for, cajoles, chides, and quarrels with his
Beloved Arunachala. The poem was composed by Sri
Ramana in 1913, while he was making the 13 km circuit
round the hill.
Arunachala- Eight verses on Arunachala composed by Sri Ramana
Ashtakam in Tamil.
Bhagavatam Also known as Bhagavata Puranam. This Sanskrit work
attributed to the great Sage Vyasa contains extensive
stories about Lord Krishna’s early life and also some
episodes concerning Lord Vishnu.
Brahma Sutra Composed by the great sage Vyas, it contains 555
aphorisms, mostly dealing with soul, universe and the
Supreme Consciousness.
Chatvarimsat A collection of 40 Sanskrit verses in praise of Sri Ramana
by Ganapati Muni (no.91).
Gita/Bhagavat Gita Literally, ‘song of God’. This most famous sacred text
of Hinduism consists of teachings by Lord Krishna to
Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the
Mahabharata.
Kaivalya Nava- An Advaitic work in Tamil by Thandavaraya Swami
neetha considered to be composed in fourteenth century.
Nirvanashtaka Famous six slokas of Adi Sankra meant to get
deliverance from rebirth.
Ramana Stuti A collection of five sets of Tamil verses in praise of Sri
Panchakam Ramana by one Satyamangalam Venkatarama Iyer.
Ribhu Gita It is an ancient Sanskrit work which brings out the
essence of advita. It is presented as spiritual instructions
from sage Ribhu to his disciple Nidaga.
Sat Darsana A Sanskrit rendering of Sri Ramana’s Ulladu Narpadu
by Ganapati Muni. (See Ulladu Narpadu)
Sivananda Lahari A work by Adi Sankara in praise of Lord Siva.
Sri Ramana Anubhuti A Tamil work by the great poet Muruganar (no.53) which
describes ‘experiencing Sri Ramana’.
Sri Ramana Gita A Sanskrit work by Ganapati Muni with eighteen
chapters like the Gita. It covers essential teachings
of Sri Ramana.
Ulladu Narpadu Forty verses on ‘That which is’ – Tamil verses by Sri
Ramana on Reality. (See Sat Darsana)
Uma Sahasram A Sanskrit work by Ganapati Muni containing 1000
verses in praise of goddess Uma.
Upadesa Undiyar / The Tamil work by Sri Ramana containing instructions
Upadesa Saaram to realize the Self. This work was later rendered into
Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam by Sri Ramana himself.
Yoga Vasistha/ The book contains a dialogue between Sage Vasistha
Vasistham and Lord Rama during which Advaita is expounded,
illustrated profusely with stories. Sri Ramana used to
refer the book frequently, and has incorporated nine
verses from it in his Reality in Forty Verses: Supplement.
Viveka Chudamani A popular Advaitic work by Adi Sankara which literally
means ‘The Crest Jewel of Discrimination’.
REFERENCES OF THE SOURCES OF
MATERIAL USED
Abbreviation ‘SRA’ is used for the material from Sri Ramanasramam,
Tiruvannamalai – 606603, ‘RMCL’ for the publications of Ramana
Maharshi Centre for Learning, Ramana Heritage Building, Bangalore –
560094, and ‘SRJ’ for Sri Ramana Jyothi, monthly journal of Sri Ramana
Kendram, Hyderabad.
A Life Sketch : The material is from numerous SRA publications,
particularly Self Realization. This well-researched biography of Sri Ramana
by B.V. Narasimha Swami, a leading lawyer of his time, was first published in
1931. Prof. K. Swaminathan’s Ramana Maharshi published in 1988 by the
National Book Trust, New Delhi, under its series of ‘National Biography’, is
also a good source of information.
Reminiscences:
1. This entry is mainly from A Search in Secret India, first published
in 1934 by Rider & Company, London. The other sources are – Paul
Brunton’s The Secret Path and A Message from Arunachala, both
from the same publisher. The Notebooks of Paul Brunton was
published in 16 volumes by Paul Brunton Philosophical Foundation,
11936 Route 414, Burdett, New York, 14818, in 1987. The Silent
Power, SRA, 2002, pages 229, is a collection of articles published in
The Mountain Path and The Call Divine.
2 These entries are based on the material in the Golden Jubilee Souvenir
to (first published, 1946), third edition, 1995, SRA. Additions from other
32. sources are as follows:
No.2. Surpassing Love and Grace, SRA, 2001, pp.274-81.
No.8. Forever Is In The Now, RMCL, 1993, p.156; Surpassing Love
and Grace, op.cit., pp.212-22; and Fragrant Petals, SRA, 2000,
pp.36-8.
No.11. Surpassing Love and Grace, op.cit., pp.249-50.
No.23. The Silent Power, op.cit., pp.38-42 & 158-68, and Fragrant
Petals, op.cit., pp.31-36 & 133-5.
No.26. I bid., pp.292-3.
33. Dr. K. Subrahmanian – A Tribute, Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad,
1979, pages 115.
34. My Reminiscences by N. Balarama Reddy, SRA, 1996, pages 121. A
few additions are from the interview recorded in the video cassette
Guru Ramana, SRA, 2002.
35. My Recollections of Bhagavan Sri Ramana by A.Devaraja Mudaliar,
SRA, 1992, pages 160.
36. The Silent Power, op.cit., pp.51-2; Timeless in Time, RMCL, 1999, pp.
259-61; Ramana Smrti, SRA, 1999, p.140; and The Advent Centenary
Souvenir (1896-1996), SRA, 1996, pp.181-3.
37. Guru Ramana – Memories and Notes, SRA, 1998, pages 146; and
Residual Reminiscences of Ramana, SRA, 1982, pages 38, both by
S.S.Cohen.
38. The Guiding Presence of Sri Ramana by K.K.Nambiar, SRA, 1997,
pages 73.
39. My Life at Sri Ramanasramam, SRA, 1993, pages 152; and Letters
and Recollections of Sri Ramanasramam, SRA, 1992, pages 191,
both by Suri Nagamma.
40. My Life and Quest, SRA, 2001, pages 217; Ramana Arunachala, SRA,
1997, pages 71; and Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, SRA, 2000,
pages 475, all by Arthur Osborne. Reference has also been made to
Timeless in Time, op.cit., pp.267-70 & 332-4; and First Meetings with
Ramana Maharshi, 1996, pp. 67-72, both by A.R. Natarajan, RMCL.
41. Sri Ramana Reminiscences by G.V. Subbaramayya, SRA, 1994, pages
224.
42. A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi by A.W.Chadwick,
SRA, 1961, pages 110; Golden Jubilee Souvenir, op.cit, pp.213-16 &
293-300; Surpassing Love and Grace, op.cit., pp.254-6; and The Silent
Power, op.cit., pp.81-2.
43. Sri Ramana – The Self Supreme by K. Swaminathan, SRA, 1997, pages
132; Golden Jubilee Souvenir, op.cit., pp.217-20; interview recorded
in the video Guru Ramana, op.cit.; The Mountain Path, Aradhana,
2003, pp.55-6; and Ramana Maharshi by K. Swaminathan, op.cit.
pp.47-8, & 57-60; and SRJ, March 1983, p.2.
44 The Power Of The Presence: Transforming Encounters with Sri
to Ramana Maharshi by David Godman, Part one, 2000, pages 294;
69. Part two, 2001, pages 269; and Part three, 2002, pages 349, published
by the author, SRA. Additions from other sources are as follows:
No.45. The Inner Circle by A.R. Natarajan, RMCL, 1996, pp.77-85.
No.47. Sri Ramana Darsanam by Sadhu Natanananda, SRA, 2002,
pages 146.
References of the Sources of Material Used 429
No.48. Video Guru Ramana, op.cit.; and Moments Remembered by V.
Ganesan, SRA, 1994, p.72.
No.49. The Mountain Path, 1979, p. 198.
No.52. Moments Remembered, op.cit., p.7.
No.53.Cherished Memories, op. cit., pp.152-3.
No.61. Ramana Maharshi by K.Swaminathan, op.cit., p.50.
No.62. Unforgettable Years by A.R.Natarajan, RMCL, 1997, pp.
99-103.
No.65. Video Guru Ramana, op.cit.; and SRJ, Dec.1981, p.4, and Jan.
1982, p.3.
No.66. SRJ, Dec. 1981, p.3.
No.67. Surpassing Love and Grace, op.cit., pp.30-2; Unforgettable
Years, op.cit., pp.93-6.
No.68. Unforgettable Years, op.cit., pp.90-1; and SRJ, op.cit., Dec.
1981, p.4.
70. Living By The Words Of Bhagavan by David Godman, 1998,
published by Sri Annamalai Swami Ashram Trust, Tiruvannamalai,
606603, pages 367.
71. In Days of Great Peace by Mouni Sadhu, SRA, 2001, pages 223.
Forever Is In The Now, op.cit., pp.122-4; The Silent Power, op.cit.,
pp.148-50; and Timeless in Time, op.cit., pp.271-4.
72 Forever Is In The Now – The Timeless Message of Sri Ramana
to Maharshi, edited and compiled by A.R.Natarajan, RMCL, 1993, pages
89. 224. Additions from other sources are as follows:
No.74. Surpassing Love and Grace, op.cit., pp. 65-8.
No.75. Sri Ramana: The Sage of Arunagiri by Aksharajna, SRA, 1984,
p.31; and Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, SRA, pp. 557-8,
entry of Jan. 8, 1939.
No.81. Fragrant Petals, op.cit., pp.61-3.
No.83. The Mountain Path, 1982, p. 71.
No.86. Nothing Ever Happened by David Godman, Avadhuta
Foundation, 2888 Bluff Street, Suite 390, Boulder, CO 80301,
USA, 1998, Vol. 1, pp.187-8.
No.87. Day by Day with Bhagavan by A. Devaraja Mudaliar, SRA,
1995, p.214, entry of June 3,1946.
90. Nothing Ever Happened, op.cit.,vol. one. (The whole book relates to
Papaji’s life.)
91. Self Realization, op.cit., pp. 86-95.
92. Ibid., pp.108-14.
93. Ibid., pp.105-7.
94. Ibid., pp.96-100; and Unforgettable Years, op.cit., pp.35-9.
95 Fragrant Petals – A Representative Anthology on Sri Bhagavan,
to SRA, 2000, pages 173. Additions from other sources are as follows:
111.
No.95. Video Guru Ramana, op.cit.; and The Mountain Path, 1982,
p.36.
No.96. Sri Maharshi, A Short Life Sketch, SRA, 2003, Appendix-I.
No.100. Ramana Smrti, op.cit., pp.144-5; and Surpassing Love and
Grace, op.cit., pp.103-5.
No.101. Ramana Smrti, op.cit., pp. 10-2.
112 Living with Ramana Maharshi by A.R.Natarajan, RMCL, 1996, pp.25-
to 6; The Inner Circle, op.cit., pp.32-4; and Unforgettable Years –
114. (Among others, it contains memoirs of 29 devotees of Sri Ramana
Maharshi), op.cit. Additions from other sources are as follows:
No.113.Crumbs from His Table by Ramanananda Swarnagiri, SRA,
1995, pp.45-7.
No.114. Timeless in Time, op.cit., pp.263-6.
115. At the Feet of Bhagavan, Leaves from the Diary of T.K.Sundaresa
Iyer, edited by Duncan Greenlees, SRA, 1988, pages 100; The Inner
Circle, op.cit., pp. 90-5; First Meetings with Ramana Maharshi,
op.cit., pp.11-14; and Ramana Smrti, op.cit., pp.170-83.
116. Cherished Memories by T.R.Kanakammal SRA, 2002, pages 217. The
video Guru Ramana, op.cit. also records some of her experiences.
117 The Silent Power, Selections from The Mountain Path and The Call
to Divine, SRA, 2002, pages 229. Additions from other sources are as
123. follows:
No.117. Moments Remembered, op.cit.,p. 108; and My Reminiscences
op.cit., pp.84-5.
124 Unforgettable Years, op.cit. Additions from other sources are as
to follows:
136. No. 124. SRJ, Dec. 1981, pp.3-4.
No.126. Moments Remembered, op.cit., pp.20 & 47-8; Silent Power,
op.cit., p.104-6; and The Power Of The Presence, part-III
op.cit., pp. 304-7.
No.130. Cherished Memories, op.cit., pp.214-5.
No. 133. SRJ, August- Sept. 1982.
No. 134. Ibid., Sept. 1981.
137 Surpassing Love and Grace, anthology of articles published in The
to Mountain Path and The Call Divine, SRA, 2001, pages 296. Additions
150. from other sources are as follows:
No.140. Silent Power, op.cit., pp.54-5 & 67-8; SRJ, Nov. and Dec.
1983; and Sri Ramana Bhagavan by K.R.K. Murthi,
Hyderabad, 1970.
151 Ramana Smrti, Sri Ramana Maharshi Birth Centenary Offering,
to SRA, 1999, pages 226.
154.
155. Moments Remembered, op.cit., pp. 6-7.
156. Ibid., p.100; SRJ, Oct. 1981, pp. 2-6; and information provided to
the compiler-editor by children of Prof. Lal.
157. Moments Remembered, op.cit., pp.29-30.
158. Ibid., p, 7.
159. The Power Of The Presence, op.cit., part-I, p.28; Timeless in Time,
op.cit., pp.320-23; and Moments Remembered, op.cit., pp.20 & 100.
160. The Story of My Life by Morarji Desai, Macmillan, 1974, vol. 1, pp.
127-8; The Mountain Path, April 1979, pp.127-8; and Ramana Manjari,
Ramana Kendra, Delhi, 1968, pp. 9-11.
161. The Maharshi, Nov.-Dec., 2007, a bi-monthly newsletter of Ramana
Maharshi Centre, New York, available at <www.arunachala.org>
162. Based on the material provided by the President, Sri Ramanasramam,
Tiruvannamalai.
163. Western Seekers by A.R.Natarajan, RMCL, 2005, pp. 103-6 and Robert
Adam’s book Silence of the Heart published by Nicole Adams, 2370 W.
Highway 89A, Box 182, Sedona, AZ 86336.
164. The Internet: Ramana Maharshi – Stories and Teachings.
165. Moments Remembered, pp. 77-9, op. cit. and Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol.
II, SRA, pp. 238 & 506-8.
166. Sages, Saints and Arunachala Ramana by Bhagavan Priya Ma F.
Taleyarkhan, Orient Longman, 1970, and The Mountain Path, January
1965.
167. The Maharshi, July-August, 2007, op.cit. (The original information is
from: Militant but Non-violent Trade Unionism - A Biographical and
Historical Study by M. V. Kamath and V. B. Kher, published by Navajivan
Mudranalaya, Ahmedabad - 380014)
168. The Maharshi, op. cit., Sep.-Oct., 2007.
169. www.ksf.org
170. Living with Himalayan Masters, published by Himalayan Institute, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
171. Autobiography of a Yogi, Jaico Publishing House, p. 384, Arunachala’s
Ramana, Vol. III, SRA, pp. 228-32; and Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,
SRA, entry dated November 29, 1935.
172. Maha Yoga by WHO, SRA, 2006, pp. 256-60.
173. Ramana Manjari, a souvenir produced in aid of the building fund for
Ramana Kendra, New Delhi, 1968, p. 90.
174. Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol. III, SRA, pp. 714-726.
175. Hill of Fire by Monica Bose (Daughter of Suzanne), published in 2002
by Orchid Press, P.O. Box No. 19, Yuttitham Post Office, Bangkok- 10907.
176. Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol. V, pp. 344-6. Based on a letter in Tamil written
by the contributor to Ramanasramam after his visit.
177. Ramana Smrti, op. cit., pp. 164-6.
178. Golden Jubilee Souvenir, op. cit., pp. 455-63. The write-up is under pen-
name ‘A self-styled devotee’.
179. google.co.in Ramana Maharshi – Stories and Teachings. Based on a
talk by Rajamani at Arunachala Ashram, New York, on April 25, 1998.
180. The Mountain Path, April-June, 2008, pp. 29-39.
181. The Silent Power, SRA, 2002, pp. 19-24. The article is based on an
interview of Sab Jan by V. Ganesan.
182. The Maharshi, op. cit., Sep.-Oct., 2008.
183. The Mountain Path, July, 1987, pp. 197-9; and October-December, 2007,
pp.73-77.
184. Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol. I, SRA, pp. 363-69 and Vol. IV, pp. 26-42.
185. Ibid., Vol. V, pp. 114-123.
186. Ibid., Vol. 1, pp. 176-8.
187. Ibid., Vol. VII, pp. 21-2.
188. Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 24-6.
189. Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 287-8.
190. Ibid., p. 342.
191. Ibid., p. 343-5.
192. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 256.
193. Ibid., Vol. VIII, pp. 358-61.
194. Timeless in Time, RMCL, pp. 266-7. Also refer, Talks with Sri Ramana
Maharshi, op. cit., February 3, 1938.
195. Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol. VIII, SRA, pp. 319-21.
196. Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 257-9.
197. Ibid., pp. 263-4.
198. Western Seekers by A.R. Natarajan, op. cit., pp. 95-8.
199. Arunachala’s Ramana, Vol. III, SRA, 726-8. The article first appeared in
The Mountain Path, July, 1970.
200. Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 49-52.
201. Ibid., pp. 242-50.
202. The Mountain Path, Jan.-March, 1987, pp. 45-8.
Annexure-I Various publications of SRA.
Annexure-II Cherished Memories, op.cit., pp.26-9; and The Mountain
Path, 1979, p.65.
Annexure-III Adapted from The Periapuranam.
Annexure-IV The Power Of The Presence, op.cit., part III, pp.271-97;
and The Life of Lakshmi the Cow, SRA, 2004, pages 90.
Annexure-V The Silent Power, op.cit., pp.48-9.
Glossary SRA publications, books by David Godman and many other
sources.
Ibid. – means ‘ditto’, that is, the same source as just above.
Op.cit. – means that full citation has been given earlier.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
A 26. Dhiruben Patel (P. 388)

27. Dilip Kumar Roy (P. 31)
1. Abhishiktananda, Swami (P. 229) 28. Duncan Greenlees (P. 52)
2. Akhilandamma (P. 127)
3. Anntha Murthy, T. S. (P. 376) E
4. Anantanarayana Rao, M. Dr.
29. Echammal (P. 176)
(P. 232)
30. Eleanor Pauline Noye (P. 35)
5. Annamalai Swami (P. 201)
31. Eliot C. Clark (P. 228)
6. Apa B. Pant (P. 405)
32. Ella Maillart (P. 40)
7. Arthur Osborne (P. 94)
33. Emmanual Sorensen (Sunya
8. Arunachalam, K. (P. 327)
Baba) (P. 298)
9. Athavale, V. B., Prof. (P. 269)
34. Ethel Merston (P. 215)
10. Athavale, Y. N., (alias Bhaurao)
35. European Sadhak (P. 217)
(P. 333)
11. Atreya, B. L., Prof. (P. 46)
G
B 36. Ganapati Muni, Kavyakantha
(P. 243)
12. Bagi, C. S. (P. 57) 37. Ghosh, H. (P. 57)
13. Balarama Reddy, N. (P. 69) 38. Giridhari Lal (P. 45)
14. Banning Richardson, Prof. (P. 27) 39. Gouriammal (P. 402)
40. Govindacharyulu, Atmakuri
C (P. 393)
15. Chadwick, A.W., Major (P. 110) 41. Grant Duff (Douglas Ainslie)
16. Chalam (Gudipati (P. 29)
Venkatachalam) (P. 138) 42. Gunaji, N.V. (P. 275)
17. Chandrasekhara Aiyar, N., Jus- 43. Gunturu Lakshmikantam (P. 214)
tice (P. 34) 44. Gurumurthi D., Prof. (P. 401)
18. Chhaganlal V.Yogi (P. 161)
19. Chidbhavananda, Swami (P. 340) H
20. Chinmayananda, Swami (P. 225) 45. Haribhai M. Adalja, Dr. (P. 334)
21. Chinta Dikshitulu (P. 62) 46. Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
22. Cohen, S. S. (P.78) (P. 63)
47. Henri Hartung (P. 339)
D 48. Humphreys, F. H. (P. 245)
23. Datar, B. N. (P. 331)
24. Desikananda, Swami (P. 211) J
25. Devaraja Mudaliar, A. (P. 72) 49. Jagadeeswara Sastri (P. 278)
Alphabetical List of Contributors 435
K 81. Meenakshi (P. 304)

82. Mehta, N. O. (P. 295)
50. Kameswara Rao, V. (P. 267) 83. Menon, M. M. (P. 274)
51. Kanakammal, T. R. (P. 289) 84. Mercedes de Acosta (P. 282)
52. Kapali Sastri, T.V. (P. 391) 85. Molony, J.C. (P. 375)
53. Karamchandani, P.V., Dr. Lt. Col. 86. Morarji Desai (P. 352)
(P. 253) 87. Mouni Sadhu (M.Sudouski)
54. Keerai Patti (P. 394) (P. 205)
55. Krishna Bhikshu (Voruganti 88. Mudaliar Patti (P. 176)
Krishnayya) (P. 178) 89. Muktananda, Swami (P. 226)
56. Krishnamurti Aiyer, N.R., Prof. 90. Murthi, A. N. S., Col. (P. 265)
(P. 134) 91. Murthi, K.R.K. (P. 323)
57. Krishnamurthi Iyer, M.R., Dr. 92. Muruganar (C.K.Subramaina
(P. 344) Iyer) (P. 154)
58. Krishnan, M.V. (P. 366)
59. Krishnaswami (P. 403) N
60. Krishnaswami Aiyar, T.M. (P. 43)
61. Krishnaswami, T.N., Dr. (P. 256) 93. Nagaiah V. Chittoor (P. 305)
62. Kumar (P. 209) 94. Nagarajan, M. S. (P. 398)
63. Kundalmal A. Mahatani (P. 316) 95. Nambiar, K. K. (P. 84)
64. Kunhan Raja, C., Dr. (P. 39) 96. Narayana Iyer, R. (P. 258)
65. Kunju Swami (P. 150) 97. Narayana, T. R. A. (P. 320)
98. Narayanaswami, T. S. (P. 400)
L 99. Natesa Iyer (P. 184)
66. Lakshman Joo Raina, Swami O
(P. 370)
67. Lakshman Sarma (P. 183) 100. Oliver Lacombe (P. 47)
68. Lakshmana Swami (P. 167)
69. Lakshmi Narasimham, G. (P. 270) P
70. Lakshmi Ranganadham (P. 349) 101. Padma (P. 395)
71. Lokamma (P. 299) 102. Padma Sitapati (P. 306)
103. Panchapagesa Ayyar, A.S. (P. 49)
M 104. Panthulu Lakshmi Narayana
72. Madan Mohan Varma (P. 39) Sastri (P. 329)
73. Madhavatirtha, Swami (P. 146) 105. Papaji (Hariwansh Lal Poonja)
74. Madhavi Ammal (P. 296) (P. 235)
75. Mahadevan, T.M.P., Prof. (P. 51) 106. Parmahansa Yogananda, Swami
76. Maha Krishna Swami (P. 343) (P. 372)
77. Mahapatra Dave (P. 312) 107. Parameswaran Pillai, V. N.,
78. Manu Subedar (P. 28) Major- General (P. 293)
79. Maurice Frydman (P. 75) 108. Pascaline Mallet (P. 212)
80. Mastan (P. 175) 109. Pattabhi Raman, C.R. (P. 342)
110. Paul Brunton, Dr. (P. 13) 140. Ranganathananda, Swami
111. Piggot, M.A. (P. 218) (P. 209)
112. Ponniah, N. (P. 337) 141. Robert Adams (P. 358)
113. Prabhakar (P. 348) 142. Roda MacIver (nee Kamdin)
114. Pranavananda, Swami (P. 301)
(S.Narasimham) (P. 307) 143. Rudra Raj Pande (P. 59)
115. Pryns Hopkins, Prof. (P. 292)
S
R 144. Sab Jan (M. Abdul Wahab)
116. Raghavachariar (P. 247) (P. 387)
117. Raja (V. Rajasubrahmania ) Iyer 145. Sadhu Bramanian (P. 335)
(P. 300) 146. Sadhu Ekarasa (Dr.G.H.Mees)
118. Rajagopal, T. R. (P. 308) (P. 24)
119. Rajalakshmi (P. 386) 147. Sadhu Natanananda (Natesa
120. Rajamani, C. R. (P. 384) Mudaliar) (P. 129)
121. Rajagopalachari, C. (P. 399) 148. Sampurnamma (P. 186)
122. Rajan, N. N. (N. Nataraja Iyer) 149. Sanjiva Rao, B. (P. 33)
(P. 249) 150. Sankarananda (P. 397)
123. Rajeswarananda, Swami (P. 252) 151. Santanam Iyengar (P. 309)
124. Ram, S.V., Prof. (P. 61) 152. Santha Rangachary (P. 317)
125. Rama Varma Appan Tampuran 153. Saroja Krishnan (P. 406)
(P. 251) 154. Sastri, D. S. (P. 395)
126. Ramachandra Iyer, T.P. (P. 159) 155. Sastri, P.V. (P. 272)
127. Ramachandra Rao, N. (P. 234) 156. Satyananda, Swami (P. 338)
128. Ramakrishna Madhavpeddi 157. Sengupta, B.C. (P. 382)
(P. 361) 158. Seshadri Sastrigal (P. 397)
129. Ramanachalam, M.V. (P. 353) 159. Shankar Rao, Dr. (P. 297)
130. Ramanadasa Sadananda 160. Shankarlal Banker (P. 366)
(Seshagiri Iyer) (P. 230) 161. Shanmukam, M.G. (P. 362)
131. Ramananda Saraswati, Swami 162. Shantammal (P. 189)
(T.N. Venkataraman) (P. 355) 163. Shanti (P. 408)
132. Ramanananda Swarnagiri (P. 280) 164. Sharma, P. L. N. (P. 381)
133. Ramanapadananda (V.S. 165. Shiva Mohan Lal, Prof. (P. 345)
Kuppuswami Aiyengar) (P. 264) 166. Siddheswarananda, Swami (P. 41)
134. Ramanatha Brahmachari (P. 174) 167. Sista Subba Rao, Prof. (P. 309)
135. Ramaswami Iyer, Manavasi V. 168. Sister Lalita (P. 276)
(P. 248) 169. Sivaprakasam Pillai, M. (P. 125)
136. Ramaswami Pillai (P. 350) 170. Souris (P. 143)
137. Ramaswami Sastri, K.S. (P. 43) 171. Srikrishnaprem (P. 291)
138. Ramdas, Swami (P. 223) 172. Srimat Puragra Parampanthi
139. Rangan (Velacheri Ranga Iyer) (P. 326)
(P. 122) 173. Subbalakshmi (P. 315)
Alphabetical List of Contributors 437
174. Subbalakshmi Ammal (P. 193) 190. The anonymous chronicler

175. Subbaramayya, G.V., Prof. (P. 102) (P. 379)
176. Subrahmanian, K., Dr. (P. 65) 191. Thelma Rappold (P. 404)
177. Subramania Iyer, C.V. (P. 276)
178. Suddhananda Bharati (P. 262) U
179. Sundaram (Sadhu Trivenigiri) 192. Uma Devi (P. 401)
(P. 191)
180. Sundaram Chettiar, K., Justice V
(P. 27) 193. Vaikuntavasar (P. 406)
181. Sundaresa Iyer, T.K. (P. 285) 194. Vajreswari (P. 316)
182. Suri Nagamma (P. 88) 195. Varadachari, K. C., Dr. (P. 44)
183. Suzanne Alexandra (P. 377) 196. Vaswani, J. P. (P. 221)
184. Swami Rama (P. 371) 197. Venkataramani, K.S. (P. 37)
185. Swaminathan, K. Prof. (P. 117) 198. Venkatarathnam, K. (P. 368)
186. Syed M. Hafiz, Prof. (P. 47) 199. Viswanatha Swami (P. 171)
200. Vithoba Kamath, K. (P. 390)
T
187. Taleyarkhan, Firoza (P. 364) W
188. Tapovanam, Swami (P. 224) 201. William S. Spaulding (Jr.) (P. 29)
189. Tapasyananda, Swami (P. 374) 202. Wolter A. Keers (P. 96)
ACCOLADES SHOWERED UPON SRI RAMANA
(A page-wise list)
The following encomiums bestowed on Sri Ramana Maharshi by the various

contributors, appear to be beyond the extraordinary. It seems doubtful
whether any other person in recorded history ever got similar adulations in
his lifetime or within a few decades thereafter. The contributors have
attempted to describe in myriad ways the indescribable Truth, which Sri
Ramana was. The Maharshi exemplifies Einstein’s historic tribute to
Mahatma Gandhi: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a
one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” No wonder that
the Maharshi is envisioned by the contributors as the highest pinnacle of
Truth and Wisdom towards which humanity will strive to move for
generations to come.
A spiritual superman, 18
He is eloquent enough without opening his lips, 20
Possesses a deific personality which defies description, 21
The silent flavour of spirituality emanating from him was unstoppable, 21
Each phrase that fell from his lips seemed to contain some precious fragment
of essential truth, 21
A visitor from another planet, 22
A being of another species, 22
Best philosophers of Europe could not hold a candle to him, 22
A pure channel for the higher power, 23
A spiritual torch, 23
Immortality stands out from his every word and look, 25
I had come in touch with spiritualism of the finest type, 27
His very presence generates an atmosphere of peace, 28
He was the Truth and the Light, 29
He is gentle to a degree that surpasses gentleness, 30
Hercules among the yogis, 31
Greatness sat easily on him, 32
Provides peace which is as unaccountable as it is delectable, 32
His detachment was as complete as it was perfect, 33
Nothing seems to possess the power to disturb his super poise, his
marvellous tranquility and peace, 33
He represents a very perfect instance of the Ego-less state, 34
He is a veritable storehouse of spiritual energy and wisdom, 34
His silence is more eloquent than his speech, 34
Accolades Showered upon Sri Ramana 439
To be in his presence is a stirring experience in the elevation of the soul, 35
When he smiled it was as though the gates of heaven were thrown open, 35
He is an ocean of tranquility, 37
Peace in his presence passeth all understanding, 37
He touches you by a fourth-dimensional touch, 37
He is a living example of knowledge without which the humanity of today is
but a pitiful joke, 40
He relies on action-less action and carries on a wordless teaching, 40
He renders the Truth demonstrable, 41
He is a perfect example of a jivanmukta, 41
He is a mahadhi – the man of the highest intellect, 42
His omniscience is constant and remains undiminished, 42
The world-intoxicated mind becomes subdued, calm, and purified in his
holy presence, 43
The darshan of the Sage is an experience in itself, not capable of being
described, 44
His greatness is based on his actual living by the creed of Advaita Vedanta, 46
The whole humanity owes its homage to this great sage, 47
A divine master endowed with all spiritual and human qualities, 48
His silence is more eloquent, more effective, more far-reaching than the
sermons of any number of teachers put together, 48
He is the greatest of modern sages of India, 49
He is a sublime example of what a sage ought to be, 50
He is like the rivers and mountains, the common property of mankind, 50
He was a consummate artist in life, 52
If not God himself – for He is omnipresent – the Maharshi is at least Greatness
incarnate, 54
The Maharshi’s grace can plunge the ordinary man in the ecstasy of timeless
Omnipresent Being, 55
His very presence among us is a benediction, 55
A silent look or an encouraging word from him will do more good than all the
sermonic literature of the world, 57
It is easy to remember but impossible to know the Maharshi, 58
Whether indifferent or sympathetic, in either case the world gains by him, 58
Whatever may be written about the Maharshi, there is no such thing as
knowing him, 59
Divinity and grace radiated from the countenance of the Sage, 62
Being with him is being elevated, 69
The Divine Power of his presence was something remarkable, entirely
outstanding, 70
Just to think of him or sit in his presence would raise us to higher levels of
blessedness, 70
In Sri Ramana the sublime majesty of the divine life stood and moved in all
simplicity, 75
In the Maharshi the ultimate had revealed itself as immediate, and the
undreamt had become the actual, 76
He was a beacon light in an otherwise impenetrable darkness and a haven
of peace, 79
He was Supreme Detachment incarnate, 79
Renunciation was the ‘completest’ with him, 80
His mere presence conferred blessedness upon those near him, 82
My heart was being irresistibly attracted as though by a mighty spiritual
magnet towards that divinity in human form, 85
For the first time in my life, I began to understand what the grace and
blessings of a guru could mean, 97
He was Divine Grace in human form, 98
He was indeed the universal guru, 98
His graciousness awoke a feeling of guilt as to how great was the reward for
so little effort made, 99
His face was wreathed in the most lovely smiles, with an expression of
serenity and beauty on it which is impossible to describe, or even believe
unless you have seen it yourself, 115
He was a perfect Impersonality like the sun in the sky or like the unnoticed
daylight in an inner chamber, 118
The Supreme Lord has assumed a human body as an act of grace and resides
at Arunachala under the name of Ramana, 126
Gurus like the Maharshi are manifestations of God in human form. To relieve
and redeem the suffering of mankind, the Lord occasionally comes down to
earth and manifests in a physical form, 143
I know no other beauty comparable to the beauty of the Maharshi, 144
If I have to write how the Maharshi has impressed me, all the vocabulary I
can command in all the three languages I know would not suffice, 146
In the presence of the Maharshi my breath seems to stop for a while and my
mind got elevated into the spiritual realm of unutterable peace, 147
The Maharshi truly represents in himself the University of Spiritual
Education, 150
He was so great yet so simple, 159
For the first time I fully understood the significance of darshan [of a sage], 162
The Maharshi undoubtedly was one of those rare mahatmas who had the
power to banish the suffering through his presence, merely through giving
darshan, 166
His look and smile had a remarkable charm. When he spoke, the words seem
to come out of an abyss. In his presence the unique bliss of peace was
directly experienced, 172
The mere sight of him made me tremble all over because I had come face to
face with the divine, 197
Effort seemed redundant when his presence alone was enough to evaporate
the usual mental flow of thoughts, ideas and problems, 198
How can his smile be described? It contained the whole world, 200
The Maharshi is unimaginable and therefore indescribable, 200
He was a bomb that exploded the myth of my life, 200
He enabled me to realize the timeless, unimaginable, unthinkable ‘I am’, 200
Whatever transformation took place in his presence, happened on its own
accord, not because he desired or willed it. Darkness was exposed to light
and ceased to be dark. Light did not orchestrate it in any way, 201
His face is full of compassion, unearthly serenity and power, of infinite
kindness and understanding, 205
He reigns in silence, 206
The Maharshi’s spiritual alchemy could transmute the hard materialism into
something pure and noble, 206
He is like the highest tribunal of our conscience, the Father Confessor
whose very presence purifies us of all sins, 207
Being near the Maharshi one feels the presence of God as a matter of course
– no arguments or proofs are necessary, 207
The Maharshi seems to supervise the inner processes in us just as an
operator watches the work of complicated machine, which he knows
thoroughly, 207-8
The Maharshi is the sun whose rays of grace fall and dance on the minds
and hearts that are open, 209
The Maharshi is a God-man who has annihilated his mind and is therefore a
perfect stillness and bliss, 209
The Maharshi has condensed in himself the immortal, the eternal, 210
The Maharshi’s touch was the touch of the immortal, which elevates you
and makes you feel that you are also someone worthwhile, 210
He was the very personification of the infinite, of the divine, 210
Every word he spoke was charged with the wisdom of atma vidya, 210
The Maharshi is a tremendous spiritual dynamo who enters our hearts even
without our knowing it, 211
The Maharshi is the form of satyam, sivam, sundaram, 212
In front of the Maharshi, for the first time I knew the meaning of Eternity. I
got caught up into bliss that passeth understanding, 212
The Maharshi was living in a sphere beyond the limitation of time and
space, 213
Undoubtedly, merely to be in his presence is the greatest help that one
could possibly receive, 213
He conveyed thoughts silently and so powerfully that the vibrations would
sometimes roll in waves down the hall almost hurting the one by the force
with which they impinged upon the body, 216
Sri Bhagavan is unique, peerless, 217
In the light of his perfection, all imperfections were revealed, 218
When the Maharshi turned his head and smiled I suddenly felt as if all the
flowers of the world had poured their fragrance into our midst, 219
You may read all the sastras in the world, but what you will gain is nothing
as compared to the few words you listen from the Maharshi, 222
Sri Ramana was the highest reality and the cream of all scriptures in the
world, 226
The Maharshi was beyond body consciousness, beyond all attributes, and
beyond all dualities, 227
He belonged to everyone and everyone to him, 227
In the Sage of Arunachala I had discerned the unique sage of the eternal
India, 230
He was the divine magician, 231
Many people have experienced happiness in his presence even without a
word being spoken, 232
His body was not of the man; it was an instrument of God, 246
Everyone who comes to him is an open book, and a single glance suffices to
reveal its contents, 246
You can imagine nothing more beautiful than his smile, 246
It is strange what a change it makes in one to have been in his presence, 247
The praise of the Maharshi like that of Sri Krishna is delightful and beneficial
to worldly-minded as well as to those seeking liberation, 252
The Maharshi was the personification of emancipation, 252
His solemn presence lifted us beyond our body and mind to our true Self, 252
His life is a study in divine illumination based on dynamic silence, 252
All worries of the world simply melted in his presence like ice before fire, 252
He was in himself the quest and the find, 253
So surcharged with spirituality was he that spirituality wafted out to us,
completely enveloping us, 254
He was a saint of colossal spiritual magnitude, 254
The vibrations that emanated from him were celestial, 255
His impact made me feel that I must have done something in the course of
my life to deserve this unique blessing, 262
Sri Ramana was the substratum of the universe and the most glorious avatar
that has been witnessed till now, 264
When I went to the hall I felt that I was in the presence of God, 267
When he smiled it seemed that I have never before known what a smile was, 283
To write my experience with him is like trying to put the infinite into an egg
cup, 284
I saw life differently after I had been in his presence, 284
He gave us a tangible demonstration of God’s omnipotence, omniscience
and omnipresence, 287
I felt that he was India at its highest, bringing peace that surpasses all
understanding, 295
It is astonishing how Sri Ramana’s presence and his usual and apparently
routine activities cast such a magic spell over all those who are blessed to
come near him, 296
His personality was super human and God-like, 297
His chief language was radiant silence, 299
His darshan remains an unforgettable experience, 299
When the Maharshi appeared before my eyes, I couldn’t believe that I was
watching a glorious sunrise unfold, 302
His majestic silence ended my suffering and my self concern about my
bereavement, 305
The Maharshi was not a person who knew Brahman; he was Brahman
himself, 314
He was a jivanmukta, 317
He is more than all other gods or prophets so far incarnated on the earth, 317
There was about him an irresistible and indefinable spiritual power, which
simply overwhelmed me, 319
In the presence of the Maharshi, speech seemed redundant, 319-20
We sat and sat and looked and looked. No one spoke or made any noise.
But the confrontation was not a dead silence; it was a very live experience
in which each one of us communed with the Supreme Consciousness, 322
He was a yogi of the highest order, a mystic of the supreme realisation, who
radiated the living presence of divinity, 326
His greatness is too vast – too immense, to be captured within our mental
orbit, 327
He was serving the best interest of mankind in his own unobtrusive and
silent ways, 332
Nothing seemed more enjoyable in this blessed world than to sit in silence
in the holy presence of the Maharshi, 337
Darshan of the Maharshi is a singular experience, which words can hardly
describe, 338
He was the living incarnation of the divine reality in human form, 340
His body seemed a glass case from which a blissful brilliance streamed out, 342
He was not an ordinary master but a Universal Sadguru, 343
He is the link to the formless Being, 344
One gets transformed by his very presence, 353
Never did I meet anyone who exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss
as Ramana Maharshi, 360
The eyes of the Maharshi are the kindest and most powerful energy of the
universe, 362
Sri Ramana was a sarvajnani (all knower), 363
He simply seems to exist, without waiting for anything, without being anxious
about anything, 374
There is a beam of intelligence and unruffled calmness in his eyes, which are
unique, 375
In seeing him I do believe I have seen a unique personage – a jnani, a perfect
sage, 375
He was Brahman in human form and spiritual illumination was enshrined in him.
He was not only august to look at but also an inspiring figure, 376
The splendour of his Realization radiates like a sun. He lifts you far above the
world, 378
His grace is immeasurable and unfathomable, 384
His body was luminous like burnished gold, 384
He radiated spiritual splendour through sublime silence, 390
The personal attraction of the Maharshi was irresistible, 391
The Maharshi is an ocean of peace, 393
His rules all through silence, 394
In his presence the mind became calm and tranquil of its own accord, 409
INDEX
(‘M’ denotes Sri Ramana Maharshi)
Achyutadasa, first person to declare M’s greatness: 152

Aksharamanamalai: 190; 67(deeply impresses Dr. K. Subrahmanian); 155 &
304 (far reaching impact on poet Muruganar); 410 & 425 (in nutshell)
Anecdotes told by M: 79 (Kabir); 105 (Janaka and Ashtavakra); 106 (Mira Bai);
119-20 (Tattvaraya); 133 (A Muslim saint)
Animals and birds, M’s attitude towards: 10; 67-8 (story of a deer and its
samadhi); 110-1,125, 375-6, 403 & 406 (consideration for dogs and monkeys);
142 (takes care of baby squirrel); 272 (sick dog expires in his hands); 287
(cobra saved from peacock); 303 (sides with monkeys); 321-2 (plays with
squirrel, monkey and goat); 324 (sides with cows); 338 (feeds squirrels and
peacocks); 360 (concern about peacock even on death bed); 408 (saves a
dove); 414-5 (story of cow Lakshmi)
Anger of M, occasions: 91 (at extra pudding served to him); 142 (discrimination
against the poor, for considering sudras as impure); 190-1 (at extra food item
served to him); 204 (at a complaint made to him); 369 (on being fanned)
Arunachala: 1-2 &25 (the word instantly grips M); 110 (M’s attachment to, );
105 & 257-8 (M considered the whole hill as Siva Himself and holy); 277 (M
regarded it as his Father); 379 (seen as hill of fire); 406 (presence of siddhas
at, ); 410 (some details of the hill)
Assurance by M: 55, 134, 317, 334 & 385 (of his availability after physical
death); 96 (to a foreign devotee); 159-60 (extraordinary, to sustain faith);
241-2 (unusual, which protects the devotee miraculously); 303 (to a devotee
desirous of touching his feet); 304-5 (to poet Muruganar’s wife)
Atma vichara: 11& 60 (practical path for self-realisation); 222 (compared with
sarnagati); 362 (the best way of sadhana)
Aurobindo’s tribute to M: 31
Australian journalist, Chadwick’s interesting encounter with, 114
‘Automatic Divine Action’, term as used by M to explain away his mystical
powers: 87; see also, p. 240
Bajaj, Jamana Lal: 104, 132, 160
Bhajans sang by a European get appreciation from M: 292
Bhakta rupa of M, gets emotional when reciting from scriptures: 42, 79, 286-
7, 315
Bhakti and jnana marga: 31 & 160 (difference between); 274 (vichara marga)
Bible, M quotes from: 77, 104, 118, 299, 359, 374
Birthplace of M, acquisition of: 137
Books referred to by M: 28 (Maha Bhakta Vijayam); 54 (Milarepa); 90
(Sivananda Lahari); 152 (Kaivalya Navaneeta); 261& 334 (Ulladu
Narpadu); 281 (The Secret Path); 284 & 343 (Yoga Vasistha); 334 (Gita)
Books and Sri Ramana-related poems referred to in the text – in alphabetical
order: Arunachala Ashtakam, 152. Arunachala Pancharatna – Five hymns
on Arunachala, singing of, impact on M, 208. Avadhoota Gita, 28. Bhagavan
Parinayam, a book on M, 123. Bhagavatam (Srimad), M compared with
Suka of, 210, 343. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, summation of M’s philosophy,
47. Chatvarimsat, enumeration of M’s greatness, 71-2. Message from
Arunachala, passages from, 22. Note Books of Paul Brunton, passages
from, 22. Periapuranam, its impact on M, 2; M gets emotional telling a story
from, 286; excerpts of a story from, 412-3. Ramana Stotra Anubhuti, substance
of, 174-5. Ramana Stuti Panchakam, Shantammal sings a verse from, to M,
189. Search in Secret India, highlights from, 14-21; its impact on: 27
(Richardson); 48 (Syed Hafiz); 52 (Greenlees); 59 (Pande); 110 (Chadwick);
145 (Souris); 205 (Mouni Sadhu); 215 (Merston); 282 (de Acosta); 292
(Hopkins); 316-7 (Mahatani). Secret Path, highlights from, 21-2; its impact
on Keers, 197. Silent Power, passages from, 22-3. Sri Ramana Gita, Telugu
translation of, 103. Ulladu Narpadu – forty verses on Reality by M, 47
(simile for finding Self within); 259 & 261 (M explains); 270 (M translates into
Telugu). Uma Sahasram, M gets 300 verses written in a mysterious manner,
245. Upadesa Saaram, 102 (classic finish of Telugu version); 152 (M writes
in four languages); 152 (high praise of Malayalam version); 162 (Gujarati
translation of); 281 (M justifies memorizing it, even without understanding
the meaning); 370 (main theme of). Vivekachudamani, characteristics of
jivanmukta, as provided by, 41-2; a verse from, as applicable to M, 210. Who
am I ? 215 (impact on a foreign devotee); 312 (transformational influence on
Dave); 347-8 (Urdu translation of). Yoga Vasistham, 104 (Telugu translation
of); 284 (M provides verses to a devotee for guidance); 343 (M refers to the
verses from, )
Buddha, M compared with: 119.
Child (Rajalakshmi): instances of M’s interest in, 386-7
Chin mudra: M explains significance of, 355
Christ, M compared with: 27, 36, 44, 359
Cinematography and photography, M’s knowledge of: 83, 125, 152, 154fn., 258
Cobra listens to M: 287, 310
Consciousness: 160-1 (nature of, M explains)
Couch of M: 110, 116 fn. (how it was forced upon him); 359 (lice in, )
Cow Lakshmi gets solace from M: 180; M’s unusual love for, 414-5
Crow, entombing of, dies in M’s hands: 307
Dakshinamurthi, M an incarnation of: 112, 212, 294, 415-6
Day-to-day activity of M: 24, 211, 328
Deepam festival: 411-2
Desai, Morarji, writes and speaks about M: 352-3
Index 447
Desegregation movement in South USA, draws inspiration from M: 329
Devotees, many dimensions of their affinity with M: 39 (feels like a candle
before sun); 72 & 117 (start signing as ‘Ramana sei’ (Ramana’s child); 75
(compares his affection as of a dog to his master); 85 (life style gets affected);
98, 118, 178 & 258 (feeling of being with one’s mother); 99 (feeling of guilt for
getting rewarded disproportionate to efforts); 107 (thrilling experience
working along side M in kitchen); 133 (prays M to transfer disease to him);
168 (irrepressible longing to see M just hearing the name); 178-9 (establishes
rapport through name utterance); 196 & 390 (sheds body in front of the
photo); 197 (communes through the photograph); 243-4 (holds feet and
cries for enlightenment); 253-6 & 305 (strong bond gets established with no
words spoken); 280, 302 & 358 (got drawn to M through photograph or
vision)
Devotees, M’s concern for them, interest in their affairs and help to them: 48
(experience of Hafiz); 69 (as perceived by Balarama Reddy); 80 (diverts the
route to avoid ‘disturbance’ to Cohen); 84fn. (experience of Chadwick); 87(ca-
reer of Nambiar); 92 & 93 (affection for Nagamma, drives home a lesson to
her); 105 (dispute between two devotees); 110 (enquires about Chadwick’s
breakfast); 129 (helps Akhilandamma in having darshan, consoles her); 131-
2 (suggests interiorization, and bending of ego); 140 (provides feeling of
safety in a lonely place), 146 (guides Souris through dream); 153 (suffers bad
weather to facilitate darshan, gives his share of pooris for devotee’s journey);
160 (feels worried about inconvenience to devotees due to his bad health),
163 (Chagganlal Yogi’s dilemma gets resolved); 169 & 170 (helps Lakshmana
Swami in spiritual fulfillment, sends attendant to look after his needs); 177
(takes interest in burial of Mudaliar Patti); 178-9 (enquires about meals and
comfort of Krishna Bhikshu); 180 (protection to Ramakrishna Swami); 188
(protection to lady cooks during their journey to Ashram); 189 (enquires
about receipt of book by Shantammal); 192 (concern about welfare of
Chadwick); 211 (Swami Ranganathananda reminded of departure time); 256
(answers prayer of Karamchandani); 267-8 (help to Kameswara Rao ); 274
(persists with Menon to get his doubts cleared); 278 (wakes up Jagadeeswara
Sastri to move to safety); 301 (insists on his availability even during lunch
rest); 307 (shows interest in Seetharamaiah); 355 (asks Ramanachalm to fulfil
his mother’s desire and get married); 358-9 (concern about Adam’s food and
rest); 362-3 (interest in deformity of Shanmukam’s hand); 386 (takes side of
Venu Ammal against sarvadhikari); 391-2 (ensures proper service in the
dining hall, and that none goes hungry); 394 (rushes for Keerai Patti’s help);
398-9 (advice to Nagarajan in cooking, supports his action, and insists on
his accepting a job); 409 (helps ‘Shanti’ in composing a verse); see also,
‘Miracles of M’, many of which relate to M’s interest in devotees, and ‘M’s
concern for visitors’
Divinity of M (i) as perceived by contributors: 29-30 (Grant Duff); 31 (Roy); 42
(Siddheswarananda); 55 (Greenlees); 63 (Chattopadhyaya); 69 (Reddy); 86
(Nambiar); 126 (Pillai); 143 (Chalam); 168 (Lakshmana Swami); 185 (Natesa
Iyer); 190 (Shantammal); 197 (Keers); 259-60 & 262 (Narayana Iyer); 315
(Dave); 326 (Parampanthi); 340 (Hartung); 402 (Gurumurthi); (ii) instances
of self-admission: 91 (‘words Rama and Ramana are the same’, says M); 172
(‘why limit Ramana to a form of six feet’? asks M); 247-8 (provides darshan
of his real swaroopa); 288 (tells Knowles he is beyond time and space)
Discipline: 130 (M against imposing it)
Discovering M, necessity of removing ‘baggage’, 229
Donations for Ashram, 133 & 160 (M did not approve asking for it, or use of his
name)
Dream visions, M’s way of operating through: 87 (hints location of his samadhi);
111-2 (Chadwick’s doubt about waking and dream state resolved); 146
(guidance to Souris); 163-4 (facilitates business deal); 271 (gives message
why child could not be saved); 289 (shows affection for a devotee); 311
(expresses inability to fulfill devotee’s expectation); 315 (worry gets resolved);
324 (elbow pain cured)
English language, use by M for: 82 (Cohen’s friend); 96 (Osborne); 104 (Syed);
119 (‘automatic divine activity’ – phrase used by M); 246 (Humphreys); 248
(Ramaswami Iyer); 297 fn. (Brunton)
Equality, M’s emphasis on: see, ‘Samatva’
Eyes of M: 15 (astonishing brilliance of); 16 (intense gleam of); 33 (having
ageless wisdom, perfect tranquility and deep compassion); 34 (large and
luminous); 35 (alight with divine illumination, shining like stars); 35fn. (mirror
of divine power); 36 (shone like two stars); 78 (large and penetrating); 95
(luminous, having innocence of a small child, together with unfathomable
wisdom and immense love); 97 (showing love and understanding beyond
description); 102 (affecting the mind miraculously) ; 111 (whose wonder was
famous); 126 (full of compassion, shedding divine grace); 136 (having fierce
glow); 146 (sparkling – even in dark); 151 (having bright effulgence); 193
(blooming and clear like petals of lotus); 199 (emitting light, spitting fire); 207
(radiating incredible loving kindness); 212 (shining like stars, reflecting
eternity); 218 (piercing, literally like burning coal); 221 (mystic, luminous and
compassion-filled); 224 (compassionate); 228 (having inexpressible radiance);
232 (sparkling); 250 (glittering, radiant); 256 (shining); 265 (benign, having
cool and soothing effect); 276 (windows of everlasting spirit); 283 (full of
light); 286 (sparkling, irrigating those around with nectar); 362 (kindest,
having most powerful energy of the universe); 375 (having a beam of
intelligence and unruffled calmness); 376 (could stay wide open without
blinking, for a long period of time); 381 (luminous); 385 (extraordinarily bright
and alert); 391 (glittering like stars, emanating bliss); see also, ‘Gaze and
look of M’
Index 449
Fasting: 92 & 194-5 (M tells significance and right approach to, )
Fear, unfounded, of getting trapped and deprived of family life by visiting M:
117-8
Fine arts, can they be means for sadhana? M’s view: 103-4
First darshan of M, impact of: see, ‘Proximity to M’
Freedom struggle: 135 (M’s ‘indifference’ to)
Ganapati Muni’s reverence for M: 281, 287
Gandhi, Mahatma: 117, 118 (compared with Hanuman by M); 119 & 328-9 (com-
pared with M); 132 (request to M for a message for, ); 163 (M provides vision
of, ); 328 (18-inch statue of, in M’s room); 358 (his tribute to M); 368 (the
meeting which didn’t take place)
Gayatri mantra, chanting of: 179 (M’s advice)
Gaze and look of M: 34 (unveils inner mechanism and provides a mild current of
grace); 71 (transformational); 96 (provides a depth of peace, an indescribable
lightness and happiness); 134-5 (results in an attitudinal change); 144 (splits
through maya of the world); 146 (like an arrow, pierces into deepest recesses
of heart); 147 (has dazzling brilliance of sun); 151 (gave peace and bliss
never experienced before); 162 (suffusing consciousness, bringing about a
subtle and definite transformation); 175 (opens heart’s gate and transforms);
199 (gave a feeling of fiery ball glowing inside the heart); 216 (spellbinding,
full of love and joy); 223 (causing a thrill of inexpressible joy); 226 (mesmerizing
and transformational); 237 & 238-9 (providing thrill of ‘experience’); 254
(deeply stirring, opening a new vista of spiritual consciousness); 255
(gracious, benevolent); 259 (bewitching, fascinating and powerful); 263 (leads
to experience of reality beyond words and thought); 264 (piercing, generating
tears of joy); 287 (helps in getting desired visions); 290 (too strong for
ordinary mortal to bear); 302 & 308 (having unbearable power); 319
(arresting); 340 (highly blissful); 343 (having indescribable intensity); 393
(which made hair stand on end); see also, ‘Eyes of M’
Giri Pradakshina: 80 (benefits of, as secured by Cohen); 105 (M commends
practice of)
Gita studies: 269-70 (M’s interest in)
God: 50 (why He is so unjust? M’s retort); 236 & 259 (can It be seen?); 312 ( ,not
to be reminded of His business)
Grace of M: 90 (like water to parched field); 106 & 324-5 (extent of, depends on
merit and effort of receiver); 120-1, 140 & 231-2 (descends upon humble and
deserving persons); 147 (to whom it flows?); 167-71 (unfolds much before
the devotee recognized it, case of Lakshmana Swami); 231 (what it could
mean, experience of Sadananda); 288-9 (facilitates writing the preface to M’s
book); 290-1 (sought as Vivekananda got from his guru); 308 (provided to an
utter stranger); 310-1 (saves devotee from contemplated suicide)
Guru: 83 (need for); 119 (hallmark of); 131 (grace of, M tells the requirement for
it to flow); 152 (role of, in securing ‘experience’); 303 (competence of, M did
not like judgement upon)
‘Guruless’, M asked about his being without a guru: 219
Halo behind M’s head: 189, 309
Handwriting of M, like a string of pearls: 393
Heart, the seat of Self, says M: 51 & 283-4 (on right side of chest); 84 (seat of
jnanam); 214 (hridya vidya explained)
Hridaya kuhara madhye, origin and meaning of: 279
Hui Neng (eighth century mystic), M’s utterances parallel to: 25
Human dimensions of M: 48 (mere sight or tale of human suffering touched his
heart); 79 (extremely sensitive to human tragedy); 110 (laughed with the
happy and shed tears with bereaved); 9, 111, 328 & 406 (had a sense of
humour); 319 (laughed and joked occasionally – refer ‘Laughter of M’); see
also, ‘Devotees, M’s concern for them’
Indian poverty: 325 (M’s views on)
Initiation, M’s way of providing: 96 (as conferred upon Hartz and Osborne); 98
(why M did not provide it openly and freely?); 112 (by touch, as provided to
a sannyasi); 128-9 (as provided to Akhilandamma); 132 (as imparted to harijan
devotee); 296 (as wrested by Madhavi Ammal); 302 (as provided to MacIver)
Jivanmukta, characteristics of: 10 (as in Yoga Vasistha); 41-2 (as in
Vivekachudamani); 262 & 288 (as stated by M)
Jnaneshwar’s commentary on Gita: 275 (M appreciates)
Jnanis, beyond comprehension, reason of: 140-1, 142, 145
Jung, Carl (Prof.), describes M: 36, 119
Kitchen work and M: 68 (hands get blisters due to grinding chutney); 105-6
(bitter gourd, explains usefulness and ingredients of its chutney); 107 (reaches
kitchen at 2.30 a.m., teaches devotee how to hold pestle for grinding); 187
(helps in getting a good dish out of brinjal stalks); 188 (helps spiritual growth
of cooks); 190 (gets lost in Self while cooking); 192 (gives family feeling to
cooks); 194 (teaches how to cook, sweats while preparing a dish); 196
(perceived as Lord by cooks); 300 (reaches kitchen earlier than cooks); 301
(works side by side with cooks); 304 (does cooking); 328 (cuts vegetables);
350 (grinds rice); 374 (does various roles)
Kundalini, rise of: 244 (relief provided by M)
Lacombe, M., Prof., University of Paris, describes M: 41
Languages used by M: 82-3, 104, 119
Laughter of M, occasions: 9, 76, 98, 103, 125, 141, 177, 195, 211, 219, 276, 328,
404, 406
Last words of M: Has anyone fed the peacock yet? 360
Leopard moves away at M’s bidding: 202
Index 451
M – as a story teller: 79, 105, 119-120, 396
M – Dimensions of his uniqueness: 9 & 265 (humility); 10, 41-2, 54, 288, 293 &
317 (a jivanmukta); 10-1, 18 & 21(aversion to publicity); 14 & 18 (aloofness);
25 & 265 (never conscious of spiritual superiority); 26 & 61-2 (half a century
stay at one place); 28 & 41 (sthitaprajna of Gita); 30, 219 & 246 (gentleness);
33-4 & 40 (ego-less); 37 (having a fourth dimensional touch); 38 & 256 (com-
munion without talking); 46 (true advaitin); 50 (sacrifice of privacy, no hold
of woman or money); 54 & 234 (always in sahaja samadhi); 71 (soft splendour
in his room); 74fn. (never signed, or wrote letters); 90 & 106-7 (refers to
poems written in his own praise); 91 (condones a plagiarist); 95, 195, 250 &
386-7 (communicative and open to children); 97 (true guru); 98 (meticulously
exact); 105 (accomplished story teller); 124 & 240 (avoids demonstration of
powers); 137-8 (personal qualities); 147 (could appreciate theory of relativity);
149 (always illuminating – whether silent or speaking); 172 (joins chanting of
his own name); 177 (laughs away devotee’s retort); 193 (takes over attendant’s
job sent out to fetch a book); 198-9 (devotee’s problem solved through
gaze); 232 & 256 (transmits happiness without a word being spoken); 240
(unspectacular, low key approach); 247 (clairvoyant, could read thoughts);
299 (answers court commission without using his mind); 307 & 315 (compares
his body with used leaf-plate); 319-20 (his presence made speech redundant);
324 (his real voice was silence); 375 (alert even when most deeply absorbed);
see also, ‘Tributes paid to M’
M – Instructive and interesting episodes: 20 (concerned only with positive
side of a person); 70 (sits next to devotee on floor); 71 & 113 (provides
instant ‘experience’ to foreigner visitors); 76 (rejoinder to a request to
annihilate ego); 92-3 (drives home the need to eschew resentment); 103
(insistence on exclusion from recognition is also ego); 105 (writes first word
in a new notebook); 107, 120-1 & 231-2 (concern for the underprivileged);
112 (‘speaks’ in devotee’s language); 118-9 (illustrates nishkama karma);
120 & 376 (Britisher’s hound prefers his company); 123 (gets injured
negotiating a cliff); 124 (visitor goes back unimpressed); 125 (dog lies in his
lap); 134 (did not want identification with his physical form); 135-6 (an
argumentative college teacher gets subdued); 141, 142 & 143 (discounts
traditionalism); 175 (Arunachala sage visits him); 176 (does not disclose his
identity to visitors); 177 (retribution suffered for destroying devotee’s
samadhi); 179 & 291 (concern for trees and plants); 217- 8 (helps European
seeker mysteriously); 219 (concern for the aggrieved); 233 (spiritual twist to
an event); 238 (discerns spiritual stage of devotee); 239 (seven-year-old
child gets into trance ); 244 (invisible flight to a distant place); 247-8 (provides
glimpse of his swaroopa); 255 & 313 (worldly desires get transformed in his
presence); 259 (a skeptic licks dust); 271-2 (names a new born baby); 278-9
(provides ravi raksha mantra); 293 (American professor’s attempt to argue
him out); 310 (peculiar experience of a devotee in meditation hall); 311 (consult
an astrologer); 316 (solace to lady seeking life for dead son); 321-2 (unique
kitchen garden party); 324 (his way of rectifying a wrong); 325 (a prince gets
overwhelmed); 331 (recital of Sanskrit verses in his praise); 332 (foreign
seeker gets subdued and transformed); 326 (devotee gets a sample of his
handwriting); 338 (tackles an inconvenient visitor); 344-5 (suggests medicine
for his own hiccups); 357 (concern for an infant); 359 (didn’t like even lice to
be killed); 359 (humaneness towards a German lady); 381 (tackles an
overbearing officer); 389 (two-year boy holds him back); 408 (saves a dove)
M – Some advices and actions: 16-7 (discover your true nature); 42 (recites
composition of Manikyavachakar); 51-2 (advice to a grihastha keen to
renounce household); 102 (answers query why infant should die); 113
(emphasizes‘means’ not ‘ends’); 119 & 219 (corrects translation of answers
to visitors); 127 (comment on death news of Pillai, a devotee); 128-9 (gives
upadesa at devotee’s insistence); 131-2 (provides perspective to an enthu-
siastic devotee); 132 (bow ego, not body); 136 (corrects mistakes in books
presented to a visitor); 160 (tells the way to kill ego); 172 (prescription for
rising above existence); 194 (explains nature of atma); 202 (renames
Sellaperumal as Annamalai Swami); 204 (sets example by self action); 211
(approves devotee’s method of meditation); 261-2 (explains illusion or maya);
272 (emphasizes writing of holy texts); 325 (explains sadhu dharma); 341
(helps a mentally harassed visitor, handles a talkative person); 357 (advises
devotee not to covet other’s possessions)
M’s concern for the underprivileged: 8, 93-4, 107, 120-1, 132, 140, 142, 193, 223,
231- 2, 300, 324
M’s classmate, consideration shown to Sab Jan: 388
M’s concern for visitors: 74, 107, 142, 221-2, 301, 336; see also, ‘Devotees, M’s
concern for them’
M’s keen interest in Ashram’s construction work: 87, 203-4
M’s non-identification with body, and attitude towards his disease: 125, 133,
134, 255, 298, 342, 369-70
M’s life: 1-2 & 353 (childhood); 2-3 (death experience leading to self-realization);
3-4 (leaves house for good, becomes Brahmana Swami, remains oblivious to
ants and vermin feeding on his flesh); 5 (had a bath after four months, body
becomes weak to limits of endurance); 6 (mother fails to persuade him to
return home); 7 (gets name as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi); 12 (last
days); 122 (physical appearance in late 1890’s); 232 (state of absorption
during 1897-8); 260 (justifies leaving home on sly); 297 (terminal disease, a
brief account)
M’s presence on this planet: 30 (advice to benefit from, ); 50 (must be utilized
fully); 76 (regret for not getting full advantage of, )
M’s public recognition as a saint, as early as 1903: 388
M’s response to Godship being attributed to him: 271
M’s shaking head, secret of: 153
Index 453
Mahanirvana of M: 36, 55, 134, 216, 258, 317 & 334 (assurances of continued
presence thereafter); 170 (premonition to a devotee); 234 (the scene before);
242 (meteor seen in Lucknow at the time of); 332 (radio broadcast coincides
with); 334 (gives darshan the day next to, ); 339 (chanting of ‘Arunachala
Siva’, impact of, just before, ); 365-6 (impact on Taleyarkhan); 370 (impact on
Venkatarathanam); 387 (meteor seen in Kasi at the time of, )
Maharaja of Mysore: 24 (kneels before M); 191 (sheds tears making M’s feet
wet)
Maharaja of Nabha and M: 65
Maharaja of Travancore and M: 342
Mano laya (stillness of mind) is not the end for a seeker, advises M: 397
Material possessions and happiness, M’s comments: 325
Maunam: 10 (M’s stress on, ); 136 (recommends mauna japa); 166 (maunam
defined)
Medical knowledge of M, explains origin of tears: 234
Meditation hall at Ramanasramam: 15 (pervaded with a subtle power); 215
(sitting arrangements at); 295, 323 & 327 (ambience of); 319 (unspoken
thoughts felt tangibly in); 328, 378 & 384 (description of); 405 (alight with
radiance)
Message of M, devotee’s efforts to spread it in India and abroad: 264-5
Mind: 125 &147-8 (importance and need to still, ); 193 & 260-1 (need for sus-
tained practice and persistent effort to control, ); 228 & 380 (nature of, ); 239
( ,not necessary to function in the world, devotee’s experience ); 251 (trace
the source to still, ); 382 & 391 (M tells method of controlling, ); 405 (need to
go beyond, )
Miracles: 11 (M’s views about); 86 (need they be performed to attract people
to spiritual path? M’s response)
‘Miracles’ of M – Episodes: 60 (M’s vision in place of lingam); 68 (insuffi-
ciency of food gets managed); 72-3 (relief from eye pain); 73 (stomach trouble
gets cured); 103 (gets blessed with son, and examinership); 106 (headache
disappears for good); 108 (gets desired vision of dead wife); 109 (required
rice gets donated to Ashram); 122-3 (devotee earns required amount); 123
(M appears as lingam); 123-4 (M appears and disappears); 128 (required
food arrives); 130-1 (M appears at the hill while sitting in the hall); 136-7
(Ashram’s prasad saves life); 137 (success in a difficult surgical operation);
150-1 (coin found for journey to M); 163 (dilemma resolved through a vision);
163-5 (help in business deal); 165-6 (Golden Jubilee Souvenir gets ready in
time); 180 (eczema starts getting cured); 181-2 (devotee’s desire to serve
dinner at her place fulfilled); 185-6 (devotee’s job gets restored); 187 (a tasty
dish gets prepared); 188 (lesson during giri pradakshina); 190 (required
kitchen jars arrive); 190 (Ashram cook gets badly-needed money); 192
(asthma cured); 203 (Ashram gets much-needed money); 217-8 (European
gets a vision); 235 (tuberculosis cured); 235-6 (seeker gets guided to
Tiruvannamalai); 239 (seven-year child gets into trance); 240 (snake-bite
cured); 241-2 (critical guidance provided in a far off place); 249 (dyspepsia
and sores get cured); 250 (two-year child goes into trance); 255 & 313
(mundane desires disappear); 262 (rain stops for cremation); 262 (suitable
match found); 268-9 (child recovers from disease); 271 (daughter’s marriage
gets facilitated); 287 (provides desired vision); 288 (surprise for a couple
from Peru); 292 (brief disappearance from couch); 306 (eyesight restored);
311 (transforms diffidence into confidence); 313 (provides desired vision);
313-4 (devotees’ visit to Ashram facilitated); 315 (life protected from sudden
attack); 323-4 (finger and elbow pain gets cured); 330-1(visit to Pondicherry
made possible); 333-4 (sciatica gets cured); 336 (brinjals arrive at Ashram);
337 (help in securing a job); 345-6 (smooth delivery for devotee’s wife); 346
(help in having train ticket); 346 (issueless lady gets children); 350-1 (eyesight
restored); 351 (needed food items arrive at odd hour); 364 (transfer gets
cancelled); 367 (gets vision in train); 367-8 (starving faces get smile); 377
(physical ailments disappear); 383-4 (devotee experiences the Self); 385 (a
ten-year’s affinity to M); 390 (desired vision provided); 392 (dying devotee
gets cured); 392 (translation work gets completed); 393-4 (hunter of peacock
gets punished); 395 (help during giri pradakshina); 403 (snake-bitten child
saved); 407 (smooth delivery gets effected)
Monkeys and M: 110-1 & 265 (talks to and befriends them); 303-4 (advises to
put up with them); 406 (gets food served to them)
Mother, M provides feeling of being near their own: 98 (Osborne); 118
(Swaminathan); 178 (Krishna Bhiksu); 258 (Krishnaswami)
Mother’s orthodoxy, M’s annoyance at: 128 (advises her to go back to Madurai);
143 (ridicules her prejudice against cooking onions); 300 (narrates an incident
of her intolerance for an outcast)
Mother’s samadhi: 66 (kumbhabhishekam); 68 (lifts bricks for the mason); 114
(consecrates construction by going round, )
Muruganar: 117 (whose poems made Swaminathan realize M’s divinity); 155-8
(M’s grandeur and glory, as sung by, ); 304 (gets absorbed in M, abandons
wife)
Muslim and Parsi devotees of M: 47-9 (Syed Hafiz); 175 (Mastan); 364-6
(Taleyarkhan); 387-8 (Sab Jan)
Natesan, M’s barber: 260, 314
‘Non-activity’ of M: 40 (in defence of); 117 & 329 (more apparent than real)
Non-Brahmins: 142 (M was against discrimination)
Non-vegetarian food: 179-80 (M’s view about)
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya: 286 (origin of)
Omniscience of M, incidents and situations indicative of: 107-8 (knew world
war’s course of events); 202 (discovers attendant’s theft); 207 (foreknew
Index 455
devotee’s mind); 246 & 247 (everyone an open book to him); 267-8 (knew
about hindrance in undertaking journey); 270 (answers a mental query); 284
(foresees world war); 303 (awareness about devotee’s thought); 305 (insight
about devotee’s great potential); 330-1 (predicts devotee’s travel plan); 342
(anticipates visitor’s need); 355 (knew the nativity of devotee’s wife); 363-4
(knew reason for devotee’s absence); see also, ‘Telepathic power of M’
Orthodoxy, M’s attitude to: 142-3, 153
Patala Linga, renovation of: 365
Peace: 312 (not in Himalayas, M’s advice); 331 (seekers of peace to avoid
intellectual gymnastics, an episode)
Peace in M’s presence: 14 (untellable); 28 (generated by itself); 37 (passeth all
comprehension); 53 (radiant); 102 (provided a state of ecstasy); 111
(continuous and tremendous); 151 (as never experienced before); 205 & 295
(beyond all understanding)
Pen picture of M: 228
Periapuranam, first religious book read by M: 2, 286, 412-3
Personal attributes of M: 17, 319 & 344 (reticent by nature); 30 (gentle to a
degree surpassing gentleness); 97 (modest, utterly simple, childlike defence-
lessness); 110 (never touched money); 110 (never raised voice); 111 (scru-
pulously clean); 149 (replies cogent, not assertive); 359 (incomparable
compassion and love, never got angry, never saw anything wrong). Usually
spoke with a smile on lips, see, ‘Speech of M’. See also, ‘Waste avoidance’
Personal freedom, loss of, resented by M, 203-4
Personal pronoun used by M while referring to himself: 102 fn.
Persons got called to M: 186-7 (Sampurnamma); 192 (Sundaram); 202 (Annamalai
Swami); 235-6 (Papaji); 267 (Kameswara Rao); 289 (Kanakammal); 308
(Rajagopal); 309 (Iyengar); 321 (Ratilal); 333 (Athavale); 343 (Mahakrishna
Swami); 348-9 (Prabhakar)
Physical appearance and features of M: 29 (almost palpable golden radiance,
having effect of tremendous spiritual force); 32 (exterior anything but distin-
guished); 38, 95 & 115 (expression of serenity and beauty on face, impossible
to describe or even believe); 70 (body like an electric dynamo); 97 & 143
(many trembled and feared to speak to him, mere sight of him walking across
the Ashram was enough to grip the heart); 98 (vivacious speech); 111 (visible
aura, delicate hands, high forehead, body well-formed and of medium height,
but personality so dominant that one looked upon him as tall); 127, 193 &
314 (body glowed like gold, shone brightly like burnished gold, very soft
and tender); 144, 250 & 259 (melodious voice); 147 & 214 (dazzling brilliance
of sun); 189 & 309 (a halo behind the head); 206 (transcendent beauty); 228
(complexion light, eyes high set, ears long and pronounced); 246 (motionless
corpse from which God radiated terrifically); 250 (majestic form, sweet voice,
measured words); 256 (tall, stately figure, divine countenance); 263 (effulgent,
spreading rays of burnished gold); 265 (golden skin); 276 (pale gold ivory
figure, face of a child); 283 (eyes – grey or brown?); 285 (a statue of burnished
gold); 302 (like glorious sunrise); 318 (a golden brown figure with most
radiant countenance); 319 (countenance – intense, transparent, childlike);
326 (limbs well proportioned, well knit and long, skin smooth and glowing,
head quivering, inclined towards the right); 343 (face radiated endless love
and serenity); 378 (face translucent as if lit by an inner illumination); 381
(body shone like burnished gold, face radiated mysterious light); 384 (body
luminous like burnished gold); 391 (radiated spiritual aura); 396 (lustrous
body, shinning eye, halting gait); 399 (radiated love and simplicity); 400
(indescribable radiance on face); 402 (body extremely weak, face shone radiant
with peace)
Physical worship: 149 & 235 (M’s disapproval of his)
Prarabdha: 6 & 119 (M explains)
Proximity to M, impact of, as perceived / experienced by chroniclers (transfor-
mational in some cases): 14, 16-8 & 21 ( Brunton); 24 (Sadhu Ekarasa); 34
(Sanjiva Rao); 35 ( Aiyar); 35-6 (Noye); 37 (Venkatramani); 44 (Varadachari);
54 (Greenlees); 58 (Bagi); 66 (Subrahmanian); 70-1 (Reddy); 75 (Frydman);
78, 79 & 82 (Cohen); 85 (Nambiar); 89 (Nagamma); 102 (Subbaramayya); 128
(Akhilandamma); 145 (Souris); 147 (Madhavatirtha); 151 (Kunju Swami); 152
(Achyutadasa); 155 (Muruganar); 159 (Ramachandra Iyer); 162 (Chhaganlal
Yogi); 169 (Lakshmana Swami), 171-2 (Viswanatha Swami); 174 (Brahmachari);
176 (Echammal); 198-201 (Keers); 201 (Annamalai Swami), 205-7 (Mouni
Sadhu); 213 (Mallet); 216 (Merston); 218 (Piggot); 223 (Ramdas); 226
(Chinmayananda); 227 (Muktananda); 231 (Sadananda); 232 & 237 (Papaji);
247 (Humphreys); 249 (Ramaswami Iyer); 250 (Rajan’s family); 252
(Tampuran); 254-5 (Karamchandani); 259 (Narayana Iyer); 263 (Bharati), 264
(Ramanapadananda); 267 (Kameswara Rao); 275 (Menon); 275 (Gunaji); 282-
3 (de Acosta); 287 (Sundaresa Iyer); 290 (Kanakammal); 295 (Mehta); 299
(Lokamma); 302 (MacIver); 318-20 (Rangachary); 327 (Parampanthi); 329
(Sastri); 337-8 (Ponniah); 341 (Chidbhavananda); 343 (Maha Krishna Swami);
346 (Shiva Mohan Lal); 349 (Prabhakar); 352 (Desai); 363 (Shanmukam); 366-
7 (Banker); 370 (Raina); 371-2 (Swami Rama); 391 (Kapali Sastri); 393-4
(Govindacharyulu); 395 (Padma); 396 (Sastri); 400 (Narayanaswami); 402
(Gurumurthi); 404-5 (Rappold); 407 (Saroja); 408-9 (Shanti)
Psychology, philosophy and spirituality: 104 (M talks about)
Publicity: 10-1, 18 & 21 (M’s aversion to)
Questions got resolved without asking, M’s presence, experience of: 14
(Brunton); 53 (Greenlees); 59 (Pande); 76 (Mees); 134 fn. (Bajaj);
181(Ramakrishniah); 207 (Mouni Sadhu); 229 (Clark); 247-8 (Raghavachariar);
283 (de Acosta); 312-3 (Dave); 339-40 (Hartung); 361 (Madhavpeddi’s father);
364 (Shanmukam); 402 (Gurumurthi); 404 (Rappold); 407 (Saroja)
Index 457
Questions put to M, 79 & 82-3 (language used for answering)
Radiance of M: 111 & 116 fn. (extraordinary increase on Jayanti and Deepam
functions)
Rajendra Prasad (Dr.): 104, 132, 307
‘Rama’ and ‘Ramana’ are the same, says M: 91
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa compared with M: 119
‘Rama mantra’ japa as good as ‘Arunachala mantra’ japa, says M: 136
‘Ramana’ meaning of the word: 227
Ramana sadguru rayane: 172 (M himself joins the singing of)
Ramanasramam: 36, 40, 43, 55, 220, 337; 87 & 203 (construction work at, M’s
personal interest in); 92 (a lady devotee considers herself a gopika and M as
Krishna, a story); 104 (M follows the rules scrupulously); 137 & 144 (salutary
effect of, prasad of, ); 145 (annoying behaviour of an attendant); 153 (cooks
– only Brahmins); 179 (use of wooden blocks as pillows); 188-9 & 193 (M
final arbiter in matters of customs at, ); 203-4 (M insists on continuance of
women workers, funds procured in a unique way); 229 (privilege to sit close
to M in the dining hall); 230 (impact of Vedic chants at, ); 245 (M seeks
Ganapati Muni’s help in activities of, ); 252 (benefits of visit to, ); 300 (M
scolds the manager of, ); 302 (marriage of a devotee at, ); 304 & 340 (at initial
stages); 320 (a resort of peace); see also, ‘Meditation hall at Ramanasramam’
and ‘Mother’s samadhi’
Religious orthodoxy: 141-2 & 158 (M’s disapproval)
Respect for other religions by M: 17, 149
Sadhana and sadhakas: 113, 148 & 172 (M’s advice)
Sadhu: 65 (M suggests test for identifying the genuine)
Samadhi – kevala-nirvikalpa and sahaja: 84 (nature of)
Samatva (i) no preference for self as practised by M: 9-10, 74, 386 & 398
(episodes); 91 (gives vent to his displeasure for extra pudding to him); 190-
1 (gets angry on extra potatoes being served); 192 (refuses to accept the
plea that more than normal was not served to him); 195 (refuses to eat
pappadam, if bigger piece served, stops drinking rasam to avoid delay of
service to others); 303 & 403 (refuses orange juice only for himself); 336
(refuses protein food, an anecdote); 350 (condemns serving of ghee pooris
only for him). (ii) 193 & 397-8 (emphasis on non-discrimination in regard to
food)
Sannyasa: 264 (giving up ego is the real, ); 312 (M’s advice against, )
Sarojini Naidu’s comment on philosophy of Gandhi and M, 132
Science: 38 (need to incorporate spirituality)
Self-deprecation: 127 (essential element of devotion, tells M)
Self-enquiry: 37 (shortest and most rugged shortcut to sublimate mind); 44
(compared with Kant’s question – ‘How is the experience possible?’); 51
(ends in mental suicide); 119 (breaks down barrier between sacred and
secular); 201 (purpose of); 202 (quickest way to self realisation); 220 & 222
(process of); 344 (some dimensions of)
Self-improvement, emphasis on, by M: 113-4, 130 & 180 (an episode)
Self-realisation, 76-7 (M’s reply to plea of guidance for, ); 111 (stages of, ); 114
( ,is everything); 184 (removal of false knowledge is, ); 261 (book-learning
not relevant to, )
Self-realisation of M was effortless: 2-3, 277
Sex and sadhana, 78, 113 &172-3 (M’s views)
Shakespeare and Keats: 118 (M’s comments on their works)
Sickness of M: 233, 253-6, 297-8, 369-70
Siddhis: 82; 11, 86-7, 219 & 316 (M’s approach to, )
Silence of M: 7, 10, & 21 (habitual); 34 (more eloquent than speech and ser-
mons); 37 (ambushes hundred doubts); 49 (transforming hearts and minds);
51 (perennial flow of language); 55 (reveals the eternal in human form); 79 (all
pervasively influential); 97 (floods soul with peace); 148 (provides benign
influence), 165-6 (heals the breach); 166 (impacts a Collector and his deputy);
201 (took three or four years to percolate); 221 (profound and sublime); 225
(supremely dynamic and divine); 254-6 (made speaking unnecessary); 341
(sought and prized by the devotee); 344 (most powerful form of teaching);
364 (was his real teaching); 375 (impact of); 378 (effective in conveying
transcendental truth)
Similes used by M: 99 (to illustrate detachment); 126 (to acquire self-knowl-
edge)
Siva and Sakti: 351-2 (M enjoys debate about their respective superiority)
Smile of M: 21 (wonderful, pregnant with hint of wisdom and peace); 32 (be-
witching); 35 (opened gates of heaven, made joy knew no bounds); 39 (bliss-
ful); 95 (makes everybody happy); 115 (most lovely); 144 (enchanting); 145
(as if for an old acquaintance); 172 (endowed with remarkable spiritual charm);
200 (indescribable, contained the whole world); 206 (inexpressibly
wonderful); 219 (like fragrance of all flowers in the world); 246 (unimaginably
beautiful); 250 (bewitching); 283 (as never known before); 338
(unforgettable); 340 (vested with love and peace); 346 (understanding); 376
(gentle and encouraging)
Soulabhya – M’s availability to all: 9, 221; incidents: 107, 142, 231-2, 336
Speech of M, usually laced with smile/laughter, instances of: 36, 43, 78, 90, 91,
98, 102, 119, 220, 233, 234, 239, 257, 265, 271, 276, 288, 289, 317, 338, 362, 382
Spiritual experience of: 19-20 (Brunton); 99-100 (Osborne); 237-8 & 239 (Papaji);
342 (Chidbhavananda); 361 (Madhavapeddi); 383-4 (Sengupta)
Spiritual maturity is not related to age, avers M: 239
Spirituality of M: 14 (beyond comprehension); 21 (penetrating); 32 (makes one
realize the meaning of word ‘sacred’); 35 (soul elevating); 70 (remarkable,
entirely outstanding); 85 (a mighty magnet); 172 (providing unique bliss of
peace); 208 (magnetic); 254 (enveloping, exhilarating, of colossal magnitude);
Index 459
283 (which gave shocks); 319 (irresistible, indefinable and overwhelming);
342 (unique and unforgettable)
Subrahmanya: 7 (M, incarnation of)
Surrender, M explains concept of: 401
Surya Namaskar, M tells usefulness of: 405
Swami Pranavananda: 179 (M presses legs of)
Swami Tapovanam (guru of Swami Chinmayananda) appreciates devotion to
M: 264
Swaroopa of M, real: 247-8
Tapas: 131-2 (M emphasizes inwardness); 244 (provides a definition of)
Teachings of M: 17 (gist of); 50 (look within and not around); 61 (reason for
their strong appeal); 83-4 (as recorded by Cohen), 113 (be like a witness in
the world); 114 (in three words); 130 (stop identification with body); 132 (be
as Self); 147 (still the mind, give up all practices); 148 (gaze at your real
nature); 172 (awaken power mightier than senses); 183-4 (as contained in Sri
Ramana Paravidyopanishad); 195 (avoid exclusiveness of treatment); 220
(removing hindrances to realisation – method of); 228 (realize silence within);
251 (regarding breath control); 253 (refreshingly plain and wonderful,
awakening dormant divinity); 261 (be quiet, be still); 270-1 (summarized); 274
(dive deep within); 276 (leave out body consciousness); 280 (go to source);
283 & 341-2 (plunge deep into spiritual heart); 299 (‘we are always aware’);
363 (summarized for Shanmukam); 368 (no clash between work and sadhana);
372 (by knowing oneself one knows the self of all); 374 (nothing definite
about it); 391 (too direct); 401 (as told to Uma Devi); 402-3 (practice atma
vichara); 404 (concentrate on the ‘seer’ not seen)
Telepathic power of M: 269, 270, 281, 304 & 326 (some instances of); see also,
‘Omniscience of M’
Theft at the Ashram: 133, 325, 326 fn.
Tiruvannamalai: 410 (meaning of the word)
Tolerance, M’s emphasis on: 133 & 325 (against thieves); 289 (against abuser)
Transformations wrought by M: 143-4 (from repugnance to adulation); 173 (of
his school mate); 258-60 (of a skeptic); 332 (of a rebellious visitor)
Tributes paid to M: 10, 27, 41, 53, 54, 89 & 317 (jivanmukta); 14 & 32 (emanated
perfume of spiritual peace); 25 (guru in true sense of the word); 34 (superlative
category of his own); 35 (provider of Medicine of all medicines); 38 (linguist);
41(tattva jnani); 42 (mahadhi – man of highest intellect); 46 (alchemist); 48
(divine master); 50 (perfect brahmachari, spiritual dynamo); 53 (peace in-
carnate); 85 (mighty spiritual magnet); 118 (perfect impersonality); 146 (like
being in heaven in his presence); 158 (solidified consciousness); 162 (divine
magician); 197 (blazing light that had taken human form); 209 (repository
and reflector of spiritual traditions of India); 225 (embodiment of silence,
silence itself); 226 (beauty and purity of Infinite); 250 & 264 (more than an
avatar, most glorious avatar); 252 (wonder of the world, perfume of spiritual
peace); 259-60 (God incarnate); 370-1 (all-knowing Supreme); 378 (exceptional
in just being himself); 394 (sea of love); see also, ‘M – Dimensions of his
uniqueness’; and pages, 438-44, for a vast array of tributes
Uniform language for the whole country, a desire expressed at the Ashram: 104
Upadesa: 132 (M explains meaning of)
Upavasam: 92 (M’s interpretation)
Vibrations of M: 95 (one could actually hear them); 216 (palpable); 255 (celestial)
Vignanamaya sarira, Sri Aurobindo’s premise, not agreed to by M: 149
Visions, inconsequential, advises M: 401
Visit to M, likely to remain unrewarded for three types of persons: 217
Visitors’ status inconsequential to M: 33, 141
Waste avoidance, as emphasized/practised by M: 108 (advice on wastage
ignored, discontinues visiting kitchen); 132 (stitches proof pages to form a
book); 173 (scolds for being wasteful, appreciates effort to avoid it, an
episode); 179 (cleans leaf-plate of last grain before getting up); 188 (picks up
grain particles from the ground); 193 (makes use of overnight leftover food);
301 (shows the way to avoid waste even in small matters)
Who am I?: 11 (explained); 44 (with reference to Kant’s philosophy); 49, 51, 58
& 274 (many dimensions of, ); 120 (brahmastra of M); 281 (needs to be
enquired into like thailadhara)
Women: 188-9 & 300 (M against discrimination during period days); 203 (M
disapproves suggestion for non-continuance of, construction workers)
Words spoken by M: 146, 172 & 259 (appeared as if coming from an idol or
abyss); 222 (weightier than all sastric knowledge); 253 (soul stirring)
Yugas: 45 (M tells significance of their time span)
* * *
1
Two views of mountain Arunachala known to be Lord Siva Himself, who drew
Sri Ramana to Tiruvannamalai, Refer p.1 & p. 410.
Colour Pages.pmd 1 12/23/2010, 10:40 AM

2
Ancient Siva temple which sheltered Sri Ramana for many months after he
reported arrival in 1896 to his Father Lord Siva in the temple. Refer pp. 410-1.

3
(i) Virupaksha cave on mountain Arunachala is about 1400 ft. above sea
level. It was Sri Ramana’s abode from 1899 to 1916.
(ii) Samadhi of Virupakshadeva inside the cave. Refer p.7.

4
(i) Front room in Virupaksha cave.

(ii) Skandasram on mountain Arunachala is about 1500 ft. above sea level.
It was abode of Sri Ramana from 1916 to 1922. Refer p. 8.

5
Sri Ramana with large and penetrating eyes.

Earliest available photo - 1900 or 1901.

6
Sri Ramana exuding peace and sakti in his late 30’s.

7
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7
12/23/2010, 10:40 AM
Sri Ramana on the couch in the old hall where devotees benefited from his presence for more than 20 years.
(December 1947 photo)
8
Sri Ramana - Detachment incarnate.

9
Blissful Radiance of Sri Ramana - two images.

10
Sri Ramana on his afternoon stroll.

He never wore footwear of any type. Refer pp. 278-9.

11
Sri Ramana rests on the lap of his beloved Arunachala. Refer pp. 410-1.

12
Sri Ramana showers affection on Cow Lakshmi. Refer pp. 414-5.

13
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13
12/23/2010, 10:40 AM
Swami Paramahansa Yogananda and Paul Brunton with Sri Ramana.
The lady on the left was accompanying Swami Yogananda. (November 1935)
14
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14
12/23/2010, 10:41 AM
Entrance to the shrines of Sri Ramana and the Mother at Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.
15
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15
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Ramaneswaralingam, samadhi shrine of Sri Ramana.
16
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16
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Matrubhuteswaralingam, samadhi shrine of the Mother.
17
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17
12/23/2010, 10:41 AM
Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Jamana Lal Bajaj (wife and daughter on his right) and devotees of
Sri Ramanasramam with Sri Ramana (August 1938). Refer p.104 & p.132.
18
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18
12/23/2010, 10:41 AM
Sri Ramana on his seat in the Jubilee hall. The shed was erected in 1946 for Golden Jubilee Celebrations of
Sri Ramana’s arrival at Tiruvannamalai in 1896. Sri Ramana also gave darshan in this hall for quite some
time after the Jubilee Celebrations were over.

Face To Face With Sri Ramana Maharshi

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FACE TO FACE WITH

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

Eternity has worn a human face,

Enchanting and Uplifting Reminiscences of

Compiled and Edited by

(Formerly Dean, Faculty of Commerce,

Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

First edition: 2005

Price: Rs. 250

The material contained in this book can be

Also available at Sri Ramana Kendram,

Cover picture (1948):

Printed by: Sai Security Printers Pvt. Ltd.

also helps us to understand the Maharshi’s philosophy, which is to achieve

Prof. M. Sivaramakrishna, Sri David Godman, Sri J. Jayaraman, Dr.

June 26, 2005 T.N. CHATURVEDI

17. T.M.Krishnaswami Aiyar, B.A., B.L., was Chief Justice of the

38. K.K.Nambiar was Chief Engineer, Highways, Madras Presidency.

58. Ramanatha Brahmachari authored Ramana Strotra Anubhuti

84. Swami Muktananda was the founder of the well-known ashram

105. Prof. V.B.Athavale of Kirloskarvadi (Maharashtra) was a scholar

130. Swami Pranavananda (S.Narasimham) was uncle of India’s

154. Maha Krishna Swami established ‘Bhagavan Sri Ramana

Glossary of Non-English Words and Important

1. Heart’s Homage to Sri Ramana by Sadhu Ekarasa ... 26

1. Two views of mountain Arunachala, known to be Lord Siva

Birth and Early Years

which he had found so unexpectedly. He enjoyed an inward serenity and

It is significant that the opening sentence in the note began with

Tranced Years and Fresh Moorings

One Venkatarama Iyer, head accountant in a government office

Search for the Lost Boy and Mother’s Visit

the most important of which, according to many sadhakas, is the Old

weeks in 1930, writes: “I like him greatly because he is so simple and

The Last Days

1. Refer annexure-I, p. 410 regarding Arunachala.

The following provides a first-hand account of the

impact in his A Search in Secret India published from London in

Hitherto, everyone in the hall has been hushed to a death-like

Spiritually my life is nearing its peak.

With the fall of dusk I take my farewells of everyone except

the most understanding man I have ever known; you could be

(i) A Pure Channel for a Higher Power: Forty years have

1. An anthology published by Sri Ramanasramam.

Extracts from his poem:

Heart’s Homage to Sri Ramana

To that incomparable Maharshi, the father and mother of all,

If future generations will ask what was

world is incapable of affecting his peace, which passeth understanding.

Extracts from his poem:

With Sri Ramana of Arunachala

I’ve wandered far: Yes I have been

Later, as I reclined, bathed in peace, in an easy chair under the

Extracts from his poem:

To Sri Ramana Maharshi

O Son of Dawn! Who only knowest the Sun,

For only the chosen few so far have won

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi is a strange figure – one of the

impartiality as the scientific investigator of a physical phenomenon. The