Ramana Maharshi : Bhagawan Sri Ramaṇā (1879-1950) of Arunāchalam in Tiruvannamalai. “Among the popular pilgrimage centres in South India are the pancha-bhoota-lingam kshetra(s) representing the elements: Water at Jambukeshwara or Tiruvanaikkaval, Fire at Arunāchalam, Ether at Chidambaram, Earth at Kānchipūram, & Air at Kālahasti.” [Nāyanā by G. Krishna, Kāvyakantha Vasishtha Ganapatimuni Trust, Madras, 1978, p.41]
... will all drop off at death. The only change wanted is to get rid of the idea of ego and realise as true only the supreme Self, the Brahman. 25 June 1934 Ramana Maharshi I did not ask X to prevent you from going to Ramana Maharshi and I never had the least thought or intention of requesting him to intervene at all. He tells me that it is true he told you Sri Aurobindo had approved of his... simple or steady—too much kasrat and fighting with yourself. Ramana Maharshi seems a real Maharshi. He is more of a Yogi than a Rishi, it seems to me. The happiness theory does not impress me,—it is as old as the mountains but Page 169 not so solid. But he knows a lot about Yoga. 9 February 1936 Ramana Maharshi has seen the truth. Can he not be called a Rishi? He has e... etc. and he had inferred that from a phrase in my answer to a letter of his. But that inference was a mistake—the phrase did not carry that meaning, nor was there in the context any reference to Ramana Maharshi. He adds, "But I did not say I was authorised by Sri Aurobindo to try to detain him here." There was absolutely no reason why I should want to prevent you from going to the Maharshi. I have ...
... AUROBINDO: Madhusudan had a sympathy for Ravana Then Purani read out from a Hindi paper an article by some Arya Samajist attacking Ramana Maharshi, and also Agarwal—that is, one of our group—who had held a joint meditation in Gurukul. The Arya Samajist who went to Ramana Maharshi said that the Maharshi observes the caste system. When asked why this was so, the Maharshi replied, "Should all horses, donkeys... non-Brahmins. SRI AUROBINDO: He must have said that deliberately to Arya Samajist. PURANI: Yes, I know of an Arya Samajist who had an altercaation with Ramana Maharshi some time ago. This is probably the same man. It was said that Ramana Maharshi got excited and angry and began to shout. This man also says he became angry. SRI AUROBINDO: Angry? PURANI: Yes, Brunton too has said that he gets ...
... Yours sincerely, K. D. Sethna P.S. I have misplaced the pamphlet which first drew me to you. In it you had surveyed all the various Indian spiritual systems as well as referred to Ramana Maharshi. Page 24 February 23rd 1983 Dear Mr. Sethna, Thank you for your letter. I don't think that you have got my point about the relation of the resurrection to Sri Aurobindo's... itself in its identity with the 'ground' or substance of the universe. This experience underlies all the teaching of the Upanishads and all subsequent Hindu thought. It was the experience of Ramana Maharshi, to name but one, in the present century, as it was the experience of Sankara in the 8th and of the seers of the Upanishads in the 6th century before Christ" (p. 5). Well, if you grant that this... many sparks"? Are you theoretically bound to interpret every mystical realisation in terms of a fundamental dualism vis-à-vis the Supreme? Poor Vishwamitra and Yajnavalkya, poor Shankara and Ramana Maharshi - they were all deluded in their poise of tat tvam asi ("That art thou")! No doubt, the truth of the final identity of Atman with Brahman is not the only one. Sri Aurobindo, like the Gita and ...
... Asoka succeeded in being Asoka: that's all. NIRODBARAN: Ramana Maharshi was hardly known. It was Brunton who spread his name. SRI AUROBINDO: It is a strange measure of success people adopt in judging a spiritual man by the number of disciples. Who was a greater success-Ramana Maharshi surrounded by all sorts of disciples or Ramana Maharshi doing his sadhana in seclusion for years? Success to be ...
... An Aurobindonian does not run down any Yogi; he refuses, however, to be single-tracked. Ramana Maharshi, for instance, has a wonderfully luminous realisation of the Silent Self and all that he says is charged with its truth. Just because a man follows Sri Aurobindo, he does not reject Ramana Maharshi as a false guide: the latter has caught hold of spiritual Reality - but in one aspect out ...
... for then the instrument is in a healthy condition. But if you become restlessly eager to do nothing but japa and think of nothing but the Divine and of the "progress" you have or have not made (Ramana Maharshi says you should never think of "progress", it is according to him a movement of the ego), then all the fat is in the fire—because the system is not yet ready for a Herculean effort and it begins... prayers [ for death ]? It is not the soul's demand or need, but an outcry of vital weakness. X did not pray for death, but for light and progress out of his lower consciousness towards the Truth. Ramana Maharshi, whatever his objections to birth in this world, did not pray or seek for death, but for elevation to a height of consciousness for which there is neither birth nor death: he is certainly not so ...
... Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Ramana Maharshi 1950-04-20 When the Mother came to Sri Aurobindo's room today, she spoke of Kapali Sastri's devotion and his new opening. She also mentioned the new opening that Ganapati Sastri had. Mother said: “Ramana Maharshi had been coming to me for the last two days. I had not known, at that time, that ...
... eventually come to the Ashram to live? My father was a reader of philosophy. He collected books on spirituality and philosophy. He had plenty of free time in India and read Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Soon he discovered Sri Aurobindo’s The Life Divine. While in Calcutta, he went to the Sri Aurobindo Bhavan and met Rajen-da and Madan-da, who settled later in the Ashram. They encouraged him to ...
... movements. I put the pendulum over the stone, then I keep the stone touching the photo of Mother for several hours after which the pendulum begins to register up to three hundred movements. At the Ramana Maharshi Ashram in the Arunachala mountains, sacred to Lord Shiva, every stone picked up there is blazing with light and energy. The Samadhi also radiates these kinds of power waves to transform the earth ...
... not absolutely necessary for everyone to go through spiritual practice in order to have a transformation. There are cases of persons having a transformation without any spiritual practice. Ramana Maharshi had liberation after a brief profound experience at the age of 16 or 17, and there was no prior spiritual practice. One might say that, in such cases, there must have been spiritual practice in ...
... your Self and you will know the world and God, because your Self is the world and God. That concise Greek formula contains also, for instance, the whole message of the realized soul that was Ramana Maharshi, a contemporary of Sri Aurobindo. And Christ said: ‘The Kingdom of God is within you.’ Does not The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis provide the soul with a method, a discipline to experience ...
... Ashram for relief from the struggle is a different matter. I do not think, however, that residence in the Rarnana Ashram would be eventually helpful except for bringing back some peace of mind; Ramana Maharshi is a great Yogi and his realisation very high on its own line; but it does not seem to me that it is a line which you could successfully follow as you certainly can follow the path of bhakti ...
... labhyah" said the Upanishad. But, if "'none but strong deserved the fair Soul's favours", what hope was there for the likes of us who could not claim the strength of a Ramkrishna, a Shankar, a Ramana Maharshi or a Vivekananda? Thus I went on blowing my bubbles of sorrow, inveigled by their, phantom iridescence. But this time he did not choose to meet my banter with banter and wrote back in high ...
... moral life in itself is a fine thing, but it cannot be compared in greatness to the mystical life - the Life of a Krishna, a Buddha, a Christ, a Teresa of Avila, a Ramakrishna, a Vivekananda, a Ramana Maharshi. Nor can we deny that nothing short of the mystical life, the Yogic spirituality, is the beau ideal of the Upanishads and the Gita, the vibrant luminous essence of India's ancient wisdom. ...
... consciousness on the surface. The true measure of a man is the quality of his consciousness. One may even do next to nothing outwardly and yet be the acme of humanity. What did Ramakrishna or Ramana" Maharshi do by way of physical productivity? But this does not imply that doing things is set at a discount. It is assumed that one is doing something: only, we do not get the true measure of a man thereby ...
... the Asram for relief from the struggle is a different matter. I do not think, however, that residence in the Ramana Asram would be eventually helpful except for bringing back some peace of mind; Ramana Maharshi is a great Yogi and his realisation very high on its own line; but it does not seem to me that it is a line which you could successfully follow as you certainly can follow the path of Bhakti if ...
... resource, no possibility of transformation here, only escape Page 378 from life and mukti in Goloka, Brahmaloka, Shivaloka or the Absolute. Perhaps you are of the opinion of Ramana Maharshi, "The Divine is here, how can he descend from anywhere?" The Divine may be here, but if he has covered here his Light with darkness of Ignorance and his Ananda with suffering, that, I should think ...
... and rearticulated by a whole series of self-realised souls. In the 20 th century itself, which has just drawn to a close, we have had outstanding figures such as Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Sri Krishna Prem and a number of other men and women who, through the dint of their sādhanā and realisation have re-illuminated the path to the Divine. Sri Aurobindo ...
... the Gita and the world's other scriptures. If we are to run down those seers and later mystics like St. Francis and St. Teresa, Rumi and Baha-ullah, Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi as deluded fools, we needs must keep away from Sri Aurobindo. But all these mystics were, in a high sense, empiricists, practical masters, demanding that ...
... called the Chaitya Pumsha in the heart; the causal body is part of the Superconscious." Then the talk turned on the Atman or Self and the psychic being. Sri Aurobindo said they are not the same. Ramana Maharshi was brought in by Satyendra who said that the Maharshi had realised the Self and that Brunton had written of the Maharshi's hearing of the Voice in the heart. Sri Aurobindo remarked that the Voice ...
... France don't have the kind of poverty we have in India. That is because of their education; they are not so helpless. CHAMPAKLAL: About six thousand people were fed during the last birthday of Ramana Maharshi. But they say nobody is allowed to touch him; they have to stand at a distance, make pranam, have darshan and go away. Special consideration is shown in a few cases. SRI AUROBINDO: If all were ...
... mean some of our innocent servants who don't know what they are doing? (Laughter) PURANI: He says he has lost his peace and has come in search of it. SRI AUROBINDO: For peace he can go to Ramana Maharshi. When people come here for peace I always ask them to go to him. NIRODBARAN: Why? Can't they get peace here? SATYENDRA: They may even lose whatever peace they have! SRI AUROBINDO: They ...
... written about that. SRI AUROBINDO: Then his life could be written of as a hustle and bustle coming out of the silence. (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: At any rate he seems to be more interesting than Ramana Maharshi. SATYENDRA: Maharshi is another type. People say they feel great peace at his Ashram. And he himself looks like a rock of peace. SRI AUROBINDO: At any rate Maharshi is much more firmly e ...
... risks, perhaps? SRI AUROBINDO: How are they going to win? The English people were never like that. They have always taken risks. NIRODBARAN (after some time): A pupil of Sisir went to see Ramana Maharshi and asked him two questions about you. SRI AUROBINDO: About me? How would Maharshi know about me? NIRODBARAN: He asked Maharshi whether you had shut yourself up in passivity or were doing ...
... would be touched and you would not talk about typescripts and hibernation. I have given up (for the present at least) the attempt to minimise the cataract of correspondence; I accept my fate like Ramana Maharshi with the plague of Prasads and admirers, but at least don't add anguish to annihilation by talking about typescripts.' There are many reasons for Sri Aurobindo giving so much of his time to ...
... Aurobindo commented: "Yes, that is a spiritual experience." Another famous instance is that of Ramana Maharishi, the great Maharishi about whom Sri Aurobindo had a very high opinion. Ramana Maharshi had cancer in the upper part of one hand, near the shoulder, and had to be operated upon several times, but not being identified with the body and living in the Self, he was able to remain i ...
... comes with a similar chit give him the motorbike but let no one else touch the bike." He asked me then: "Where do you want to go?" We said: "We were going to visit the Ashram of Ramana Maharshi." The gentleman took us to a mechanic he knew and giving a, chit to him said: "Take your motorbike's rear wheel with you on a bus. Go to this place and you'll find this gentleman's bike ...
... of the body with eyes closed. He says, "Eyes are only a specialized organ." Other parts can as well be trained to see. But scientists refused to admit his demonstration. Disciple : Ramana Maharshi does not believe in the descent (of the Supermind). Sri Aurobindo : It–the descent is the experience of many Sadhaks even outside our Yoga. An old Sanyasi of the Ramakrishna Mission ...
... Sen, Debendranath Tagore, Vidyasagar, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Narayana Guru, Dayanand, Bankim Chandra, Ranade, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subramania Bharati, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo: these are among the more well-known names of the last one hundred and fifty years, men of light who had striven to throw back the recurring invasions of darkness. The old Fire ...
... would be touched and you would not talk about typescripts and hibernation. I have given up (for the present at least) the attempt to minimise the cataract of correspondence; I accept my fate like Ramana Maharshi with the plague of Prasads and admirers, but at least don't add anguish to annihilation by talking about typescripts! 11 March 1936 But concentration on "real work"? Good Lord, you do that ...
... 1928 As for the Mother's force, when one receives it the best is to be quiet till it is assimilated; afterwards it is all right, not lost by outward movements or mixing. 24 January 1935 Ramana Maharshi says that if "you meditate for an hour or two every day, you can then carry on with your duties. If you meditate in the right manner ..." A very important qualification. "then the current ...
... Mother cannot decide for you, she can only offer to you the Truth she has come here to bring to the world and, if you accept it, guide you towards it. 9 September 1933 Someone told me that Ramana Maharshi lives on the overmental plane or that his realisation is on the same level as Shankara's. How is it then that he is not aware of the arrival of the Divine, while others, for instance X's Guru, ...
... place in the Ashram?" I tell them, "Not here. This is not a place for rest because you have worked hard, this is a place for working even harder than before." So, formerly, I used to send them to Ramana Maharshi: 1 "Go there, you will enter into meditation and you will get rest." Now it is not possible, so I send them to the Himalayas; I tell them, "Go and sit before the eternal snows! That will do ...
... Other Spiritual Paths and the Integral Yoga Letters on Yoga - II Chapter IX The Teachings of Some Modern Indian Yogis Ramana Maharshi According to Brunton's description of the sadhana he (Brunton) practised under the Maharshi's instructions, 1 it is the Overself one has to seek within, but he describes the Overself in a way that is at once the ...
... Rishi is one who sees or discovers an inner truth and puts it into self-effective language—the mantra. Either new truth or old truth made new by expression and intuitive realisation. He [ Ramana Maharshi ] has experienced certain eternal truths by process of Yoga—I don't think it is by Rishilike intuition or illumination, nor has he the mantra. 10 February 1936 A Rishi may be a Yogi, but ...
... of great use, therefore practical. In themselves they are a proof of opening of the inner consciousness and also help to open it farther—though they are not indispensable for that. He [ Ramana Maharshi ] discouraged his disciples [ from having any occult dealings ] because his aim was the realisation of the inner Self and the intuition—in other words the fullness of the spiritual Mind—visions ...
... to keep people at a distance or to test them. But the outbreak of rage of this Swami which you recount seems to have been simply an outburst of fury due to offended egoism. His judgment about Ramana Maharshi is absurd in the extreme. 1 As to his asking for the nail, hair etc. and his presenting of clothes or jumper, it was probably to establish a physical means of establishing an occult influence ...
... do that and I again recall you to your promise. Nirvana itself cannot be so achieved, but only by rising above all other desires and attachments until one has the supreme liberation and peace. Ramana Maharshi himself would tell you that and I suppose you can believe him if you cannot believe me. It is difficult for me to say anything else since you have told me that no words of mine have any truth ...
... own initial premise that one who argues as much as Sri Aurobindo and who says so much cannot be experienced in spirituality, cannot have true spiritual knowledge. He contrasts Sri Aurobindo with Ramana Maharshi about whom he informs us: "Aurobindo remained knowledgeable but Ramana really knew. Ramana does not know the language of reason; he has no system; his statements are all atomic and he has little ...
... divine destiny. That destiny is met only when one moves towards the realisation of God by the via mystica. All may not have it in them to be a Saint Teresa or a Mirabai, a Meister Eckhart or a Ramana Maharshi — much less to come anywhere near the Mother or Sri Aurobindo. But all can make a beginning in the inner life. By the inner life I do not mean merely the practice of religion — going to Church ...
... In Bande Mataram of 24 April 1908 ( Cent. Ed., 1.875 ).. × Where a South Indian sage, Ramana Maharshi, lived; he died of cancer in April 1950. × In 1948 or 1949. ...
... Ashram for relief from the struggle is a different matter. I do not think, however, that residence in the Ramana Ashram would be eventually helpful except for bringing back some peace of mind; Ramana Maharshi is a great Yogi and his realisation very high on its own line; but it does not seem to me that it is a line which you could successfully follow as you certainly can follow the path of Bhakti ...
... then the instrument is in a healthy condition. But if you become restlessly eager to do nothing but japa and think of nothing but the Divine and of the "progress" you have or have not made (Ramana Maharshi says you should never think of "progress", it is according to him a movement of the ego), then all the fat is in the fire because the system is not yet ready for a Herculean effort and it begins ...
... forefront to deal with his disciples from day to day, we were physically in his presence on only four special occasions in the year and naturally there was silence during them. But, unlike a Yogi like Ramana Maharshi sitting quietly for hours and diffusing intense peace, Sri Aurobindo keeping silent filled us with what I may indicate by inverting a mantric line from his "Life-Heavens" thus: Rest one ...
... basically Spirit-in-action (it was obvious to Schelling and Hegel, for example). Nor was Aurobindo necessarily the most enlightened spirit in modern India (many would point to the illustrious Sri Ramana Maharshi in that regard). But nobody combined both philosophical brilliance and a profoundly enlightened consciousness the way Aurobindo did. His enlightenment informed his philosophy; his philosophy gave ...
... such prayers? It is not the soul's demand or need, but the outcry of vital weakness. Suchi did not pray for death, but for light and progress out of his lower consciousness towards the Truth. Ramana Maharshi whatever his objections to birth in this world, did not pray or seek for death, but for elevation to a height of consciousness for which there is neither birth nor death: he is certainly not so ...
... from God he would follow it to any length. But, of course, merely unconventional conduct by a Yogi is not a fall. Once a disciple got shocked because he saw me eating meat. He complained to Ramana Maharshi. Maharshi replied that it is a question of habit and, when the man had departed, Maharshi said to his followers, "What an imbecile!" In spiritual realisations there are any number of passages ...
... Inconscience it is trying to evolve and that process thus becomes a process of manifestation. But if one does not want to manifest the Divine, it is his own affair. Someone asked the Mother about Ramana Maharshi. The Mother said, "If the Divine in him does not want to undertake the transformation, it is not necessary for him." SATYENDRA: When S.D. asked Maharshi, he said, "There is not Sankalpa (will) ...
... including his disciples Coimbatore Thai and Veena Dhanam performed and the whole neighbourhood attended. The family worshipped regularly at the Thiruvottiyur Amman temple and later became devoted to Ramana Maharshi. A stronger facet of Appa’s personality burgeoned in 1904. Still a student at Law College, he became a disciple of Kavyakantha [12] Ganapati Muni – "Nayana" (the word means ‘Father’ ...
... without effort. Suddenly they got brilliant experiences and that opened them to higher planes. NIRODBARAN: Dilip challenges anybody to show a single example. SATYENDRA: Why? What about Ramana Maharshi? NIRODBARAN: I thought he had to make a tremendous effort. He himself says he did forty years' meditation sitting in one fixed place. SATYENDRA: That was after the realisation which came ...
... AUROBINDO: These things belong to the outer being and they are the last to change. That doesn't mean that there is no inner progress or experience. NIRODBARAN: Nothing should be visible outside? In Ramana Maharshi, for instance, they say one can see or feel peace, calm, etc. SRI AUROBINDO: Is there nobody in the Ashram who is quiet and peaceful? SATYENDRA: In the world also you find people who are ...
... (when some of the others had gone and Sri Aurobindo was resting) : There's a lady who used to feel your presence in her own home, just as at Darshan; but last time on her way home from here saw Ramana Maharshi and then lost that feeling. SRI AUROBINDO: Naturally. PURANI: At first she couldn't detect the reason why. Then she suspected the cause and I told her the Mother didn't approve of mixing ...
... 707 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, 16,19, 25, 48, 60, 188, 192, 193, 195, 197, 211, 278, 557-58 Ramalinga Swami, 60 Ramamurti's ("the modern Bhima Sen"), 276, 300-01 Ramana Maharshi, 16 Ramanuja, 9, 416,448, 498, 564 Ramayana, The, 5, 50, 69, 80ff, 140, 250, 341 Ramdas,9,118,280 Ranade, M. G., 16, 57, 60 Ranade, R.D.,511ff ...
... Page 85 So we packed some food and water into the car and proceeded to Tiruvannamalai. The Arunachalam hill stands near the town. And at the bottom of the hill is the temple. The Ramana Maharshi Ashram is near the temple. The deity installed within the temple is the "Teja-lingam" which is worshipped daily. Every year on the full moon of the month of Kartik a huge fire is lit on top ...
... point of leaving her body and dying, when suddenly she recovered. Evidently she was trying to receive something. SATYENDRA: Ramana Maharshi's cow Lakshmi is said to bow down to him. She is supposed to be someone connected with him in her past life who was attached to the Maharshi. This cow must be an exceptional one in South India. One can't really love Tamil cows: one gets so disgusted with their thin ...
... leg is hanging very well. DR. MANILAL: I have brought some Ayurvedic medicine for you. I got it from a Madrasi lady who is an automatic writer and has great bhakti. She keeps your photo and Ramana Maharshi's and goes into trances. In her planchette sittings, some Rishi comes and dictates to her. I asked her about the defective flexion of your knee and she gave me this medicine, which is quite harmless—it ...
... Mother said, “If we see him he must not write anything about us.” From what I was told he did get to see them but never wrote anything about them. He did, however, travel among sadhus, visited Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram, wrote another book called Secret Egypt, then some other philosophical books.] Pavita was the first teacher I remember and it was not a good experience. I remember her as being rather ...
... idea of transformation would become absurd since it would be possible to have the "form" perfect and absolute anywhere and by a purely earthly means, a purely earthly force. I am reminded of Ramana Maharshi's logical objection to my idea of the descent of the Divine into us or into the world on the ground, as he put it, that "the Divine is here, from where is He to descend?" My answer is that obviously ...
... activity of one or more states of being, an activity which constitutes the occult work.. .' 1928 Publication of Sri Aurobindo's The Mother. - Aug 14-30 Meets and meditates with Sri Ramana Maharshi's disciple Vasistha Ganapati Muni, Nayana, who recognises in her an exalted manifestation of the Supreme Shakti and composes Sanskrit verses on her. 1929 Plays with a few disciples a Flower ...
... wide gaping void in their life. He was the light on their path, their infallible guide and unfailing protector. His mission on earth, unlike Sankara's, was not to teach a doctrine, unlike Sri Ramana Maharshi's, not to give a mere direction, but to lead and carry humanity to its goal. 1 It followed that Sri Aurobindo, albeit screened from their view, must still be "ready with his help, guidance ...
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