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The life of Ramana Maharshi

Sat, 08/04/2007 - 20:48 — Nirbhasa Magee

Sri Ramana Maharshi was known as the sage of Arunachala, after the great hill where he spent the vast majority of his time on earth. At the age of 17 he was struck with the sudden sense that he was going to die - this sparked off a remarkable experience where he turned within to ask what it is that actually dies, and found that it is only the body that dies, but there is something there that cannot be touched by death. He became more and more indifferent to the outside world after this experience, and shortly after, he left his parents home and set off on a journey that would eventually lead him to Arunachala.

There he began to meditate in a state of deep bliss, secluded from and oblivious to the world, in the temple at the foot of the mountain. Eventually some sadhus saw him this man in a blussful state and tried to protect him. He was moved out of the temple to various spots around the mountain. People came to hear of this man who radiated bliss and he gradually attracted visitors, some of whom stayed to become his disciples, even though at this time he spent his life in complete silence. His family came to bring him back but to no avail - Sri Ramana's written response to his mother was "What will not happen will never happen, whatever effort one may put forth. And what will happen will not fail to happen, however much one may seek to prevent it. This is certain. The part of wisdom therefore is to stay quiet." Fifteen years later, his mother and brother were eventually to become a permanent part of the Arunachala community. He eventually moved further up the hill to stay in various caves and eventually to a place called Ramanasram which his students built for him. He gradually started engaging more in practical affairs whilst still keeping his high meditative state - this is sometimes attributed to the transforming effects of another 'death' experience he had in 1915, when in the company of some of his disciples he seemed to exhibit all the signs of death for fifteen minutes.

Like any true spiritual teacher, Ramana Maharshi's blissful silences were the means by which he taught the art of silence to his students. However, he is most famous for suggesting the method of self-enquiry for spiritual progress - asking people to go deep within and ask themselves one simple question: Who am I? Indeed, he would humourously deflect any overly philosophical questions back onto the questioner by telling them to investigate who it is that wants to know these things, or by telling them to focus on the job of self-enquiry at hand. At the same time, if he saw that someone was more inclined to make progress through love and devotion ot a deity, he would direct them in that aspect instead.

He was especially well known for his compassion for all living things. One day some hooligans entered the spiritual community, and begame enraged there was nothing valuable there, one of them even hitting Sri Ramana. However he mantained his equanimity and even offered them some food before they left. However his compassion was not limited to ordinary human beings, and he was well known for his fondness to animals.

During the last two years of his life, Ramana Maharshi suffered from cancer, and yet through the pain still retained his blissful countenance. He would wave away any entreaties from his disciples to change the course of his fate, saying “Why are you so attached to this body? Let it go.” At the hour of his passing, on the morning of 14 April 1950, there were many reports all over India of a bright light like a comet, seen travelling in the sky.

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