Ramana Maharishi: Icons of Bharatavarsha

Introduction

Sri Ramana Maharishi is probably the most famous sage of the twentieth century. He was renowned for his saintly life having attained complete self-realization. Also, he revealed the path of Self-enquiry to all mankind by awakening the immense spiritual power of Arunachala Hills which is a manifestation of Lord Shiva himself. Sri Ramana Maharishi was born on 30th December 1879 as Venkataraman Iyer in the village of Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu, India. He was the second of four children. His father was Sundaram Iyer and his mother was Azhagammal. He had two brothers and a sister. When his father, Sundaram Iyer, died suddenly in 1892, Venkataraman and his brother  stayed with their paternal uncle in Madurai.

Enlightenment and Initiation

In 1895, he came across the name Arunachala (The hill in Thiruvannamalai) and became quite attracted to it. Around the same time, he also started learning about the 63 Shaivaite Nayanmars and an irresistible urge to go to Arunachala came over him. In 1896, at the age of 16, he had a “death-experience” and  went into an altered state of consciousness that he understood as death and later returned to life. He felt himself to be an eternal entity, existing independent of the physical body. That’s when he became aware of a “current” or “force” which he identified as his true “self” or “I”. He later described this as “the state of mind of Iswara or the gnani”.

That experience remained with him for the rest of his life. This death-experience left him in a state of complete and final liberation such that he felt no need for any more meditation or yoga. Thus as someone who had no exposure to the spiritual life realized a state with little effort that others seek to attain spending a life time.

Six weeks later he left his uncle’s home in Madurai and journeyed to the holy mountain Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai. When he arrived in Tiruvannamalai, he went to the temple of Arunachaleswara and sought abode at the Patala linga vault to remain undisturbed. There he spent days absorbed in such deep meditative state that he became infected with sores and insect bites. He was unaware of his body and surroundings and even food had to be placed in his mouth to keep him from starving. He became a sanyasi (monk) though not formally initiated and remained there for the rest of his life.

Devotees and Prominence

Gradually many devotees started visiting him. An ashram grew up around him and visitors received spiritual advice by sitting silently in his company. Prominent visitors included Paramahansa Yogananda, Somerset Maugham , Mercedes de Acosta and Arthur Osborne. His teachings started reaching the West, resulting in his worldwide recognition as an enlightened being. Paul Brunton a famed British author of spiritual books was greatly inspired by Ramana Maharishi. In January 1931, published the book A Search in Secret India. In this book he describes how he was guided by the Paramacharya of Kanchi to meet Ramana Maharishi and the effect this meeting had on him. Brunton calls Ramana Maharishi “one of the last of India’s spiritual supermen”. He describes his affection toward Ramana Maharishi thus:

“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 claims to occult powers and hierophantic knowledge to impress the mystery loving nature of his countrymen; and because he is so totally without any traces of pretension that he strongly resists every effort to canonize him during his lifetime.”

His Teachings and Works

Ramana Maharishi’s main means of instruction to his devotees was silence, using words only sparingly. His method of instruction has been compared to Lord Dakshinamurti, which is Lord Shiva taking the form of a Guru, who teaches through silence. His method was self-inquiry in which the seeker focuses continuous attention on the ‘Self’. Though tough in the beginning, eventually the ego is removed and the mind and the heart come together to attain realization. He also recommended the path of bhakti and surrender which would ultimately converge with the path of self-enquiry. He also answered the questions by his devotees which have been transcribed and published.

During this period, Ramana Maharishi composed The Five Hymns to Arunachala, his magnum opus in devotional poetry. The first hymn is Akshara Mana Malai (marital garland in Tamil). It is a poignant work explaining the love and union between the human soul and God resulting in a marriage-like bliss. Consisting of 108 hymns in Tamil, it is sung in praise of Shiva, manifest as the mountain Arunachala. The four hymns include the following:

• Arunachala Pathigam (“Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”)
• Navamani Malai (“The Necklace of Nine Gems”)
• Arunachala Ashtakam (“Eight Stanzas to Sri Arunachala”)
• Arunachala Pancharatna (“Five Stanzas to Sri Arunachala”)

Apart from this, his answers were compiled by various devotees (Indians and foreigners alike) in the form of books such as ‘Vichaara Sangraham’ and ‘Naan yaar?’  (‘Who am I’)

Ramana Maharishi and Paramacharya

The two sages were contemporaries and yet they had never met each other physically. However, they held deep respect for each other. This is evident from the suggestion that Kanchi Paramacharya advised Paul Brunton to see Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi at Tiruvannamalai. When the sage of Kanchi was at Tiruvannamalai, he replied to query raised by a devotee thus: “When were we separate? Only if we were apart from each other, the question of meeting comes; but we were always one”.

Last days and Salvation

In November 1948, a tiny cancerous lump was noticed on Ramana Maharishi’s arm. Though several operations were performed he was not getting better. When devotees began to feel sad, he is said to have replied, “Why are you so attached to this body? Let it go”, and “Where can I go? I am here.” On 14 April 1950, he breathed his last in this world and became one with his creator Lord Arunachala. The French photographer Cartier-Bresson who was at the ashram noted a shooting star that appeared in the night sky over Arunachala at the same time. He said:

“I saw a shooting star with a luminous tail unlike any I had ever seen before moving slowly across the sky and reaching the top of Arunachala, the mountain … We raced to the ashram only to find that the master had passed in to Mahanirvana at that exact minute.” All the daily newspapers in Madras the next day documented this astronomical phenomenon.

His Legacy

Ramana Maharishi didn’t have a human guru. He often said that his guru was Arunachala, the holy mountain in South India. Although many claim to be influenced by him, he never publicized himself as a guru nor claimed to have disciples and never appointed any successors. He also did not publicly acknowledge any living person as liberated other than his mother. Like the innumerable saints of India, he lived a simple life that of a yogi and a recluse. He remained an embodiment of simplicity, self-enquiry and a beacon of enlightenment – a true Icon of Bharatavarsha.

Some quotes from his Teachings

Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.
No one succeeds without effort… Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance.
The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.

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