SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF BHAGAVAN SRI
RAMANA MAHARSHI

By C.R. Pattabhi Raman

MY first meeting with Sri Ramana Maharshi was in the early
1930's when I returned from England after my studies. I
accompanied the young Maharaja of Travancore to
Tiruvannamalai. The Maharshi was sitting in a small building.
He was, as always, the same serene blissful self with a benign
look on his face. He spoke fluently in Tamil, Malayalam, English
and other languages. When the Maharaja asked him what the
first step was for atma vichara ^[?], he said that the very fact that he
had come to Tiruvannamalai was itself the first step for him.

The next important occasion when I went to Tiruvannamalai
was a few days before the Maharshi's bodily demise. I
accompanied my father, Dr C.P. Ramaswami Iyer along with a
friend. It was about nine in the night when we reached the
Ashram. We were taken to the sage, who had been operated
upon for a carcinomatous growth on his left arm. Sri Bhagavan
was lying on a sofa in an annexe away from the Ashram. Apart
from a few beads of perspiration on his forehead, there was
nothing on his face to show that he was ill or was suffering
from pain. He proved beyond doubt that pain or sorrow did not
affect a realised soul. A leading civil surgeon from Vellore
expressed great surprise that the sage did not even want
anaesthesia for the operation and yet was able to stand the pain
and the shock. Sri Ramana Maharshi spoke a few words to my
father and we took leave. We came to the main Ashram and got
ready for dinner. My father was just then saying that he did not
want food and would have some milk. At that very moment an
attendant ran to us with a message from Bhagavan, "The elderly
person will say he will only have milk. Let him eat some fruits
also". It was miraculous because the Maharshi was nearly half
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a furlong away and could not have heard what my father was
just then saying.

The Maharshi was unique in many respects. Like Sri
Dattatreya of the puranas, he did not have a guru as such.
One could see on his face expressions of joy when recitations
from the Vedas and Upanishads ^[?] were taking place in the
Ashram. His path of knowledge was not rigid or exclusive.
He was also a great bhakta of the Supreme Arunachala in the
form of the eternal fire.

Sri Ramana did not seek to establish any new cult but
showed the direct way to Self-realisation. He taught as a
jivanmukta (liberated soul), exemplifying Tat tvam asi (`Thou
art That', of the Chandogya Upanishad). Like Suka Brahman
of Srimad Bhagavatam, he was characterised by samatva
(sameness in joy and sorrow and freedom from duality).

His few writings in Tamil, like Ulladu Narpadu (Forty
Verses on Reality), have been translated into many languages.
They epitomise the truth enunciated by the ancient seers of
India. His teachings are universal, for the entire humanity,
and his presence is felt by devotees all over the world -- such
is his chaitanya or magnetism.

He frequently referred to verses from Yoga Vashista wherein
the Sage Vashista advised the young Sri Rama to fulfil his mission
as avatara purusha, all the while abiding in the Self. The ideal of
Self-realisation is not visionary, but is the very goal of life.
Unswerving abidance in the Self, the one, eternal Truth, whatever
one may be doing, is well described by Sage Vashista:

Firmly established in the vision that shines forth
On the renunciation of all desires, and rooted
In your own Being as a jivanmukta,
Act playfully in the world, Oh Raghava.

To have seen him in flesh and blood and have heard his word
is for us our great good fortune and most treasured memory.

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