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Residing
at the Holy Hill |
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The
first place of Ramana’s residence
in Tiruvannamalai was the great temple.
For a few weeks he remained in the thousand-pillared
hall. But urchins who pelted stones at him
as he sat in meditation troubled him. He
shifted himself to obscure corners and even
to an underground vault known as Patala-lingam.
Undisturbed he spent several days in deep
absorption. Without moving he sat in samadhi,
unaware of even the bites of vermin and
pests.
But the mischievous boys soon discovered
even this retreat and indulged in their
pastime of throwing potsherds
at the |
young
Swami. There was at the time in Tiruvannamalai
a senior Swami by name Seshadri. Those who
did not know him took him for a madman.
He sometimes stood guard over the young
Swami, and drove away the urchins. At long
last he was removed from the pit by devotees
without his being aware of it and deposited
in the vicinity of a shrine of Subrahmanya.
From then on there was some one or other
to take care of Ramana. The seat of residence
had to be changed frequently. Gardens, groves,
shrines – these were the places chosen
to keep the Swami who himself never spoke.
Not that he took any vow of silence; he
just had no inclination to talk. At times
texts like Vasistham and Kaivalya Navaneetam
used to be read out to him. |
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A
little less than six months after his arrival
at Tiruvannamalai, Ramana shifted his residence
to a shrine called Gurumurtam at the earnest
entreaty of its keeper, one Tambiranswami.
As days passed and as Ramana’s fame
spread, increasing numbers of pilgrims and
sightseers came to visit him. After
about |
a
year’s stay at Gurumurtam, the Swami
– locally he was known as Brahmana-Swami
– moved to a neighboring mango orchard.
It was here his paternal uncle, Nelliyappa
Aiyar, traced him out. He was a pleader
at Manamadurai. Having learnt from a friend
that Venkataraman was then a revered Sadhu
at Tiruvannamalai, he went there to see
him. He tried his best to take Ramana along
with him to Manamadurai. But the young sage
would not respond. He did not show any sign
of interest in the visitor. So, Nelliyappa
Aiyar went back disappointed to Manamadurai.
However, he conveyed the news to Alagammal,
Ramana’s mother. |
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The
mother went to Tiruvannamalai accompanied
by her eldest son Nagaswamy. Ramana was
then living at Pavalakkunru, one of the
eastern spurs of Arunachala. With tears
in her eyes Alagammal entreated Ramana to
go back with her. But, for the sage there
was no going back. Nothing moved him –
not pitiable sobs of his mother. He kept
silent and sat still. |
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A devotee who had been observing the struggle
of the mother for several days requested
Ramana to write out at least what he had
to say. The sage wrote on a piece of paper
quite in an impersonal way: |
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The
Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance
with their prarabdhakarma (destiny to be
worked out in this life, resulting from
the balance-sheet of actions in past lives).
Whatever is destined not to happen will
not happen, try 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. |
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Disappointed
and with a heavy heart, the mother went back to
Manamadurai. Sometime after this event Ramana
went up the hill Arunachala, and started living
in a cave called Virupaksha after a saint who
dwelt and was buried there. Here also the crowds
came, and among them were a few earnest seekers.
These latter used to put him questions regarding
spiritual experience or bring sacred books for
having some points explained. Ramana sometimes
wrote out his answers and explanations. One of
the books that were brought to him during this
period was Sankara’s Vivekachudamani which
later on he rendered into Tamil prose. There were
also some simple unlettered folk that came to
him for solace and spiritual guidance. One of
them was Echammal who, having lost her husband,
son, and daughter, was disconsolate till the Fates
guided her to Ramana’s presence. She made
it a point to visit the Swami every day and took
upon herself the task of bringing food for him
as well as for those who lived with him. |
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In
1903 there came to Tiruvannamalai a great
Sanskrit scholar and tapasvin known Ganapati
Sastri. By the age of 21 he had mastered
Sanskrit, intently delved into all the major
Puranas and Vedas, engaged in austere tapas
at several holy places and had been awarded
the title Kavyakantha (one who had poetry
in his throat) by an august assembly of
scholars and poets in North India. His father
had initiated him into the secrets of the
worship of the Divine Mother and he intently
pursued the path set down by the ancient
scriptures of the land. Ganapati had visited
Ramana in the Virupaksha cave a few times,
but once in 1907 he was assailed by
doubts regarding his
own spiritual |
practices.
He ran up the hill, saw Ramana sitting alone
in the cave, threw himself on the ground
before the sage and appealed to him, saying,
“All that has to be read I have read;
even Vedanta Sastra I have fully understood;
I have done japa to my heart’s content;
yet I have not up to this time understood
what tapas is. Therefore I have sought refuge
at your feet. Pray enlighten me as to the
nature of tapas.” |
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Ramana
silently rested his gracious eyes on Ganapati
for some fifteen minutes, and then replied: |
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If
one watches whence the notion ‘I’
arises, the mind gets absorbed there; that
is tapas. When a mantra is repeated, if
one watches whence that mantra sound arises,
the mind gets absorbed there; that is tapas.
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To
the poet-scholar this came as a revelation, a
new spiritual path opened to mankind, and he felt
the grace of the sage enveloping him. He then
proclaimed that henceforth Brahmana Swami, which
Ramana was then called, should be addressed as
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He thoroughly surrendered
himself to the Guru, composed Sanskrit hymns in
his praise and also wrote the Ramana Gita, which
explains Ramana’s teachings. From that day
on the young sage was known as Ramana Maharshi,
the Maharshi, or just Bhagavan by his devotees.
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