ARUNACHALA RAMANA

By Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan

A very small house near the Southern gate of the great Minak-
shi temple received one day a traveller. His purpose, he had
thought, was to visit his relatives, but it turned out that he had
come without his knowing as a messenger from Arunachala.
The tidings he was to convey were intended for a young boy
of sixteen. "Where do you come from?", asked the boy. "From
Arunachala", was the answer. As if awakened from slumber
the boy began asking many questions, "What! From
Arunachala! Where is it?" He was told that Arunachala was
the holy mountain in Tiruvannamalai. Thus was conveyed
Lord Arunachala's call to his "Son". The word acted like a
mantra in the soul of young Venkataraman. As the weeks rolled
on, it seemed as if he had outwardly forgotten about the visit
from the relative, yet silently the power of Arunachala worked
on inside him, leading him to a book about the lives of the
sixtythree saiva saints. Devotion welled up from his heart
and, deeply inspired by the lives of these holy ones, he would
go to the temple, and stand in awed reverence and spiritual
longing before the sacred images.

Then came that fateful day that brought to him the profound
experience which was to turn the youth into a full-blown sage.
An unwarranted, inexplicable fear of death had caught hold
of him and, like the hero of our ancient tradition, he decided
to face it as Nachiketas had done. And the fear of death was
vanquished once and for all. His courage was rewarded by
the plenary experience wherein the distinction between life
and death disappears, leaving behind pure Being fully revealed
in all its splendour.

After this experience, death could never more frighten him,
but also life at home with his family had lost its meaning.

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"O Arunachala! Dragging me out of my house (the ego), Thou
hast made me enter into the Heart home and slowly Thou hast
shown me That itself as Thy home. (Such is Thy grace)". Thus
has sung the great sage reminiscing on his state of mind after
that experience in the well known hymn in praise of Arunachala
called Aksharamanamalai. At school as well as at home the
change in the youth was noticed and a rebuke from his elder
brother became the incentive for young Venkataraman to leave
the so-called comfort of life in a household. Where was he to
go? He remembered Tiruvannamalai, the dwelling-place of
Arunachala. That message from Arunachala through the relative
finally filled the young sage's consciousness; he realized that the
relative's visit had been an invitation from his Father. The note
he left behind for his family reads, "I have started from this place
in search of my Father in accordance with His command. This
has embarked only on a good enterprise. Therefore, let no one
grieve over this act. No money need be spent on looking for
this". Commenting on this later in life the sage sings, "O
Arunachala! The day when Thou didst say `come' and I by Thy
grace entered along with Thee into the Heart (that very day) I
lost my individual life. This is Thy grace!"

Externally he conceived of the relationship of Arunachala
and himself as father to son but inwardly it was a relationship
of identity. Much later this was expressed thus in the
aforementioned hymn, "O Arunachala! Thou dost root out
the egoity of those who think `I am verily Arunachala!"

The epic journey and the significant happenings on his arrival
are well known. Destiny initiated him into sannyasa ^[?] for, without
asking for his head to be shaved as is the custom for renunciates,
someone offered to do so. Nature herself assisted by sending
down a torrent of rain which became the ceremonial bath.

So engrossed was the young sage in the bliss of "the open
space of his heart", that to the outward world he looked as if
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silent and withdrawn. In fact people thought he was doing
severe austerities of not speaking, not eating, merely
meditating, etc. But as he pointed out later, it was not the
result of any sankalpa ^[?] or vow of penance. There simply was
no inclination to speak. It was a revelling in the kind of
enjoyment that is unknown to most human beings. He had
merged with his Father. God had taken possession of him and
his bodily form became the vehicle of infinite grace.

How could such a one remain unknown? No amount of
silence and seclusion would stop devotees from coming to him
for blessings and instructions. He taught mostly through silence.
Most of his valuable early teaching was not spoken but written
down in response to ardent aspirants during his early days at
Tiruvannamalai. Two sets of answers were given to two different
devotees who ventured to approach the young sage. One devotee
was Gambhiram Seshayya, an ardent Rama bhakta who was
interested in the practice of yoga. He was a mature man, holding
the position of Municipal Overseer at Tiruvannamalai, while
the Guru was only a lad of twentyone years. One is reminded
of the first Guru Dakshinamurti, the youthful preceptor
surrounded by elderly disciples. The divine youth of our century,
out of compassion, responded to the earnest supplications of
his devotee by writing out his earliest teachings on bits of paper.
Later the material was gathered and became the famous Vicara Sangraham
(the Compendium of Self-Inquiry).

The basic teaching that was received from the silent youth
was the ageless eternal teaching of Advaita. The plenary
experience which he had merged into is the non-dual Self, and to
discover this truth is the goal of all aspiration. Enquiry into the
nature of the Self is the way to this goal. When the mind identifies
with the not-Self (the body, senses, thoughts, etc.) there is bondage
to ever-fleeting plurality. But when this identification is
understood to be erroneous by means of the enquiry `Who am
I?', there is release. This enquiry into the Self was taught by the
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sage as the direct path. Luminous and clear explanations about
the proper purpose of established traditional disciplines such as
pranayama, dhyana and jnana ^[?] were imparted to the blessed
disciple. Devotees who compared his teaching with holy
scriptures would find, to their delight, that his teaching was the
same and they would read out to him relevant passages. These
he would cite sometimes as confirmations of the truth he had
discovered by himself in his own experience.

Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai was the other fortunate devotee. At
that time he was employed in the revenue department of the
South Arcot Collectorate. He had philosophical training, yet,
overwhelmed by this living embodiment of the highest in our
philosophy, he submitted in utter humility questions on spiritual
matters to this youth who had no academic degrees to his credit.

Still not inclined to speak, young Ramana did condescend
to answer these questions by gestures, and when these were
not understood, he would write on the floor or on a slate. Sri
Pillai carefully recollected the fourteen questions and answers
and this collection has come to be known as Naan Yaar? (Who
am I?). Along with `Self-inquiry', `Who Am I?' is the earliest
instruction gathered from the Master in words completely his
own. Here too, the main theme running throughout the questions
and answers is Self-enquiry. This is lucidly set forth in Naan Yaar
. Continuous enquiry should enable the mind to stay in its
source, without being allowed to wander away and get distracted
in the labyrinth of thought created by itself. All other disciplines
such as controlling the breath and fixed meditation on the chosen
form of God must be understood as auxillary practices. They
are very useful in getting the mind to become quiescent and
one-pointed. However, for the mind that has gained the ability
to sustain concentration, Self-enquiry becomes relatively easy.
By persistent enquiry thoughts are destroyed and the Self
realized. The plenary reality remains in which even the `I'
thought has vanished. In one of the five gem-like verses on
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Arunachala composed by Bhagavan Ramana there is a beautiful
expression of his devotion to this unique Holy Mountain coupled
with his teaching and experience:

He who enquires whence arises the `I' thought, with a mind
that is pure, inward-turned, and realizes his own nature,
becomes quiescent, O Arunachala, in Thee, as a river in
the ocean.

Let us celebrate the hundredth birthday of Bhagavan Sri
Ramana Maharshi by contemplating this luminous gem in
order to join him in the experience of non-separation.

Sayings of Sri Bhagavan

Two Congress volunteers asked the following questions:

Devotee: By obtaining wisdom through your grace, I want
to teach and spread the knowledge all over the world.

Bhagavan: First know yourself. Then if there is a world, you
may think of teaching it. Without knowing yourself first, how
can you help the world? It is like the blind leading the blind.

D: Why, can't I get the knowledge of the Atma from studying
the vedanta sastras, where it is said that `I am Brahman'?

B: The knowledge of the Atma is not in the vedanta sastras.

Study yourself to gain the knowledge.

D: How to study the Self?

B: Is there anything apart from the Self? Abiding as the
Self is studying the Self. Instead of this, if one learns sastras ^[?]
then he will get only garlands, good meals, wealth, name and
fame, which are hindrances to knowledge.

D: But still we suffer from samsara.

B: Look for whom the samsara is.

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