MY REMINISCENCES OF
SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

By Swami Chidbhavananda

IT was in the year 1921 that a few of us, religiously inclined
college students, undertook a pilgrimage from Madras to
Tiruvannamalai for a darshan of Sri Ramana Maharshi. The
Ashram was then in its initial stage. An august person was
seated on a raised platform, and it was evident he was the
sage whom we had come to see. Around him on the floor
were seated a number of devotees, all intently looking at him,
and we found our places among them. Silence reigned
supreme. The presiding deity of the Ashram was the author
of that silence -- hence its perfection. This was a novel
experience for us, but we took to this congenial environment
quite happily.

There was no such thing as the formal introduction of newly
arrived devotees. As others did, we sat quietly. Sri Maharshi
turned his penetrating gaze at us off and on. We felt ourselves
highly blessed by his benign look. Occasionally he spoke a
word or two, which were always pertinent and to the point.
But his silence was more eloquent. An occasional smile
revealed his bliss.

Visiting devotees often brought packets of sugar-candy or
some such thing and offered them to him. He would help
himself to a tiny piece from the packet and pass it on to the
assembled group. Then and there it would be shared by the
entire lot.

I made deeper personal contact with the Maharshi in the
year 1928. I had renounced the world in 1923 and joined the
Ramakrishna Math. In 1926 I entered the Order of sannyasa ^[?].
From 1926 to 1940 I was in charge of Sri Ramakrishna Ashram
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at Ootacamund. During that period, when I travelled between
Ootacamund and Madras I took as many opportunities as
possible to go to Tiruvannamalai in order to see the Maharshi.
I was not inclined to talk much with him; being seated in his
presence was more than sufficient. Occasionally he spoke,
but his silence was what I sought and prized every time I
went to him. A purified enquirer makes a rich harvest of the
blissful calmness that prevails in his presence.

The Maharshi occupied a couch in a corner of a middle
sized hall in the Ashram. Barring this corner the entire hall
was at the disposal of the visiting public, and anybody could
go into the hall at any time of day or night. Visiting devotees
would quietly steal in, sit for awhile in quiet meditation, and
then leave unobtrusively. One day a man following the path
of devotion came in and occupied a place very near the sage.
Then he unburdened all that lay buried in his heart. His speech
was choked with feeling. He poured forth, "I have gone on
pilgrimage all over the land. I have been regular in my spiritual
practices. Many a sleepless night have I passed in prayer. Still
to this day I have had no mercy from the Lord. I am forlorn".
He cried bitterly, but the Maharshi sat unconcerned. Eventually
all his suppressed feelings were worked out, and then in a
measured voice the sage said, "Funny man. He cries -- what
is there to sob about? Instead of being poised in the blissful
Self, he goes on wailing". This observation had a telling effect.
He saw that his problem was self-created, and a new chapter
in his life started.

On another occasion a talkative man made his appearance
in the hall. He chose to sit near the sage and unceremoniously
raised a question, "Bhagavan, what is your view on birth
control"? There was no answer, so the man explained at length
the importance of the topic. Again getting no reply, he
continued until he could say no more, and then fell silent.

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Silence reigned supreme in the hall. In the midst of this silence,
the Maharshi asked, "Do you know death control"? There
was no response.

One day it was suggested to Sri Maharshi that no spiritual
progress could ever be made without sadhana ^[?], or discipline.
After a pause he made these observations:

Mind it is that binds man, and the same mind it is that
liberates him. Mind is constituted of sankalpa ^[?] and vikalpa
-- desire and disposition. Desire shapes and governs
disposition. Desire is of two kinds -- the noble and the
base. The base desires are lust and greed. Noble desire is
directed towards enlightenment and emancipation. Base
desire contaminates and clouds the understanding. Sadhana
is easy for the aspirant who is endowed with noble desires.
Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the
purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over. This
is the essence of all spiritual discipline!

During one of my visits I was seated at some distance from
the Maharshi. There were many devotees in the hall and the
usual silence prevailed. I remembered his injunction, "Plunge
the pure mind into the Heart", and decided to practise it then.
I gazed at him and he gazed back at me. What followed was
indescribable. His body seemed a glass case from which a
blissful brilliance streamed out. More than half an hour passed
this way. It was an experience unique and unforgettable. It
confirmed Sri Ramakrishna's statement that spiritual
experience can be transmitted from one person to another in
the manner in which material things are handed over.

Bharata Varsha is ever the bestower of spirituality on
mankind. Sri Ramana Maharshi is verily a true spiritual son
of this holy land, who spontaneously and impersonally
showered benediction on mankind.

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