LINGODBHAVAM --- SRI RAMANODBHAVAM

This Mahashivaratri let us recall Bhagawan's story. Sri Ramana's story is one of compassion and simplicity. There are no miracles to attract anyone, no dogmas or rituals. Sri Ramana taught by silence and his He is ocean of love for one and all.

Sri Ramana Maharishi was born Venkataraman in December 1978 on Ardra Darshan Day, the day when, tradition has it, Siva manifested as Nataraja. A blind nurse in attendance saw a wondrous light , and it was pondered what such signs could mean. In spite of this auspicious beginning, however , the child's early life met with calamity. Already at the age of twelve, the boy lost his father. Without a breadwinner, the family could no longer sustain the family home and young Venkataraman was forced to go and live with an uncle in Madurai. At the school, though his intelligence and prodigious memory impressed everyone, he showed little promise academically and lacked enthusiasm for study.

But at the age of sixteen his life took a dramatic turn. In July 1896, while sitting alone in his uncles house, the boy was seized with a gripping fear of death and the inexorable sensation that in that very hour, he was going to die. 

"Now death has come. What does it mean? What is it that is dying? The body dies." He extended his limbs and held them rigid like a corpse. He held his breath and kept his mouth closed: " This body is dead. It will be carried to the burring ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this body, am 'I ' dead? The material body dies, but the spirit transcending it cannot be touched by death. I am therefore deathless spirit."

In spite of these strong sensations, Venkataram did not meet with physical death that day. But he did find that he had undergone a substantial change.First of all, having conquered death, he no longer has any anxiety about the prospect of dying. But more significantly, from this time onward, he found himself in continuous state of meditative absorption, indifference to the events of ordinary life or the demands placed on him by outside world. Within weeks , he made up his mind to leave home ,never to return.

At ht end of August 1896, he set off in secret for Arunachala. On arrival , he has his head shaved, discarded hi thread, clothes and outer possessions , donned a loincloth and placed himself at the mercy of the Holy Hill. He later took up residence on the Mountain, principally at Virupaksha Cave (1900-1916) and Skandasramam( 1916-1922). In meantime , his whereabouts were made known to the family and younger brother came to join him at Skandasramam. 

In 1922 , when his mother attained final liberation in his arms, devotees carried her remains down to the foot of the hill for burial.Daily rites were performed at her tomb and few devotees shifted down to be on hand for that purpose. Within six months, Bhagawan Ramana also moved down, resulting in the founding of large ashram on the grounds surrounding her shrine. As the flood of devotees increased , buildings were erected and the community took the name Sri Ramanashramam.

For thirty years thereafter, Bhagawan Ramana received all who sought his darshan. From local householders to foreign dignitaries, as well as pundits, professors, writers and poets, Sri Ramana was tireless in marking himself available to all who came to him. As devotees began to write and publish accounts of their experiences , and as transcriptions and translations were made of Bhagawan's teachings and poetic compositions, the Sage's prominence grew and his fame spread throughout South India and the world.

In April 1950 , at the moment a shooting star descended beyond Arunachala's summit, Sri Ramana Maharishi left the body in the company of thousands of adoring devotees . In the decades that followed , the community that had grown up around him continued to thrive and endures until the present day.


SRI RAMANARPANAM

(Taken from " After the Rain: Silent Encounters with Sri Ramana Maharishi ) Copy right Sri Ramanashramam.

Does a Devotee Die

On 17th of August 1948 ,Mr. Rappold, an  American devotee opens his eyes from meditation in which he seems to have been deeply sunk and raises his voice:

Rappold : "Bhagawan , what should a devotee do at the time of death?"

Bhagawan: "A devotee never dies , rather he is already dead.(Then he stops and waits for a competent translator. Devaraja Mudaliar enters. Bhagawan completes the answer.) What should a devotee do at the time of death? What can he do? Whatever a man thinks in his life-time, so he does in his last moment- the worldly man thinks of his worldly affairs and the devotee thinks of devotion and spiritual matters. But a janani having no thoughts of any kind, remains the same. His thoughts , having died long ago, his body also died with them. Therefore for him there is no such thing as death."

Again people fear death because they fear to lose their possessions. When they go to sleep they do not have such fear at all. Although sleep resembles death in leaving all possessions behind, it causes no fear in their hears because of the knowledge that the next morning they will enter into their possessions once again. The jnani having no sense of possession, is entirely free from the fear of death. He remains the same after death as before it.

Sri Ramanaarapanam.

( From Guru Ramana :S.S Cohen's. Diary)