Showing posts with label sri ramana maharshi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sri ramana maharshi. Show all posts

3 July 2020

Video of Sri Ramana Maharshi Life Story








The above is a very nice video biography of Bhagavan made in 1980. 

The video starts from his childhood through his time at Arunachala and to his Nirvikalpa Samadhi on April 14, 1950. 

Many shots in the video are from the 1940s and show Arunachala, Arunachaleswarar Temple (Big Temple) and Tiruvannamalai in older, emptier, more peaceful times. 



14 April 2020

Duncan Greenless' Meetings with Sri Ramana Maharshi


Below is a beautiful narrative by Duncan Greenless (one of the earlier pilgrims from the West) setting out his meetings and experiences with Sri Ramana Maharshi.

For those who wish to read more about meetings of pilgrims with Sri Ramana Maharshi, there is an excellent free ebook brought out by the Aham Organisation entitled Ramana Periya Puranam. The book has been written by V. Ganesan and contains the stories of 75 direct devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

To download the free ebook in PDF format, click this link:



Duncan Greenlees

Duncan Greenlees, M.A. (Oxon.), a scholar and a Theosophist, visited India on a teaching assignment in the 1930s. The writer who first felt repelled after reading about the greatness of Sri Ramana in A Search in Secret India by British journalist Brunton says:

"The book struck me somehow as a piece of journalism of the lower kind. For a few days it almost dissuaded me from going to Tiruvannamalai. Had the Maharshi stooped to allow this kind of vulgar advertisement for himself, almost like a quack doctor seeking testimonials? Of course, I soon threw this foolishness off my mind, and went to see for myself.

I saw the Maharshi. It did not take long for me to be sure that I was in front of one who had, in that very body, solved life’s problem for himself. The radiant peace around him proved it beyond all cavil. The calm, like that of the midnight sky, was something too real to question for a moment. The part of my search thus was over, even at the first glimpse. In a flash I had seen a ‘Master’. I knew he was what the books call a jivanmukta. Please don’t ask me how I knew for I cannot answer that. It was just as one knows that water is wet and the sky is blue. It could not be denied – self-evident is the word.

I had brought the usual list of questions to be asked. Shyness kept me silent while sitting in the Hall during those first days. And before I broke that silence, the unspoken questions had solved themselves in their own irrelevance. It was a common experience; I only add my own testimony to that of many others. Before I left that hallowed spot, I did put questions to the Maharshi, which were answered in a wonderful way that was new to me. I was wholly satisfied and filled with joy.

The four days I had planned were soon over. But I could not tear myself away before the last date of the vacation [note: from the educational institution where he was teaching] so stayed on, delighted, enthralled and pacified. That stillness of eternal depths had somehow seeped itself into my heart. I had met a Master who could quell the waves with a silent word, ‘Peace, be still!’ I knew myself to be absolutely one with that incarnate Peace on the sofa, and therefore to be one equally with the Unmanifest in whose stillness he was so obviously poised.

God’s grace is such that He gives at His will what He likes to give to any soul. We cannot earn His grace, even by crores of years of effort. One can never be worthy of His blessings, but receives it purely out of His mercy. His darshan can never be the fruit of sakama tapasya, whatever certain books may say. It is only the overflowing love of the Lord that brings Him to us.

The peace that Bhagavan had put upon me remained in my heart, like a shining cloud of transparency through which all things passed dreamlike for about three weeks. The mind was caught and held in that peace in a blissfulness it had never known before. It is a pity I cannot bring about this mood at my own will: it can come only from the touch of the real Teacher of souls, as I have found.

One day in the Hall I was browsing a notebook of extracts on yoga. Bhagavan hardly ever spoke to me first (indeed there was very little actual talking between us during the years; it did not seem necessary, somehow), but that day he spoke to me in English: “What is that book?” I answered him. He said quietly, “Read Milarepa”. I read the book; it thrilled and stirred deep places in my heart. Somehow, I feel Bhagavan had seen that it would be so and therefore gave me the only order of the sort he had ever given me.

I have taken all the descriptions of the jivanmukta I could find in any scripture – Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Muslim, Jain etc. I have watched Bhagavan under all kinds of circumstances, and checked up what I have seen with those descriptions. I have not the smallest doubt that he alone, of the men I have seen, dwells always in sahaja samadhi. Of course, I am not qualified to judge, for none but the saint can know the saint. I have seen him in a humorous mood. I have seen him play the host with delicate grace that seemed almost awkward at times. I have seen him quickly, motionlessly, challenging and defeating injustice or unkindness.

I have seen him cutting vegetables for the Ashramites long before the dawn. I have seen again and again how he solved the doubts, the agonies, the loss of faith of people of many types – often with a word, often with his healing silence and a soft distance in his unmoving gaze. I have looked at his perfect handwriting in many scripts, all a model of beauty and care. I have heard him correcting the singers of hymns in his own glory, with an absolute impersonality that was obvious.

I have watched his reactions to the noisy devotee, the lazy worker, the mischievous monkey, the crazed adorer, the over-bold flatterer, the one who would exploit his name. I have seen how totally impervious he was to all considerations of power, place, prestige, and how his grace shined equally on prince and peasant. Then, can I doubt that here indeed we have, if not God Himself – for He is omnipresent – at least Greatness incarnate, the majesty of the ancient hills blending with the sweetness of the evening star?

Sit before him, as we used to sit those summer evenings, and we knew that we were not that foolish excited little person sitting there, but the eternal Self out of whom this world has spun its cobweb yarn of forms.

I know no other man whose mere presence has thus enabled me to make the personality drop down in the abyss of nothingness, where it belongs. I have found no other human being who so emanates his grace that it can catch away the ordinary man from his stillness and plunge him deep in the ecstasy of timeless omnipresent being.

His grace, which of course is the grace of God whose representative and messenger he is, has been enough to give brief glimpses even to me of that infinity, wherein he always seemed to live.

He will brush away all this nonsense of my talk with a wave of hand and a smile, while saying as he once did, “It is the same in this and in another place. That bliss you feel is in the Self, and you superimpose  it upon the place or environment in which you are bodily set.” But, Bhagavan, we say what we like about you and the blessings we have received from you; we shall not let you interrupt our foolish words. It is our chance to publicly proclaim our debt to the silent Teacher of Tiruvannamalai.

Those who are in the Ashram are very gentle, considerate and kindly. The generous services were given by a friend who used to translate for me the Tamil answers to my English questions and got translations approved by Bhagavan himself before giving them to me. Even the human hospitality of Bhagavan himself, though sometimes a little embarrassing to my innate shyness perhaps, was always a delightful thing.

His very presence among us is a benediction. His attaining a clear and unflickering vision of the Self has raised the whole world a little nearer to the Truth. His words have been an unfathomed ocean of comfort and inspiration to thousands. His silent peacefulness has revealed the Eternal in human form, as mountains, seas and skies above can usually reveal It."

The following was written after the Maharshi’s mahanirvana:

"Can we say he is dead? Bhagavan dead? The word could have no meaning. How can he who lives in the entire universe ever taste of death? “You think I am going away? But where am I to go? I shall remain here with you.” That was his promise while he was preparing us for separation. And those of us who lived in Tiruvannamalai hold firmly to the faith, which we feel confirmed by continual experience, that he has kept that promise and is still to be contacted here in the Ashram as of old.

Like Surdas darkening the physical sight so that he might see clearly the light within, he has dimmed our outer sight so that the inner vision might be filled with his eternal light. He has veiled the outer form we loved so well, that its beauty might no longer draw our gaze away from the everlasting presence enthroned in our inmost Heart. His Light shines, with the everlasting clarity of God’s own Light."

22 October 2011

Hidden Secrets of Arunachala


In connection with my previous posting on Kenneth Grant and his metaphysical interpretations of the Hill, in which appeared several quotes by Sri Ramana Maharshi. Below follows an extract taken from ‘Letters of Sri Ramanasramam’ by Suri Nagamma, which gives more information about the Hidden Secrets of Arunachala as revealed by the Maharshi..

“ . . . One of the devotees addressed Bhagavan: “You told us once that you had seen on this Hill temples, gardens and such like. Was that all during the period you were on the Hill?”

Bhagavan: “Yes. That was perhaps when I was in the Virupaksha Cave. I closed my eyes. I felt I was walking on the Hill itself towards the north-east. I saw at one place a nice flower garden, a big temple, a fine compound wall and a big Nandi (a bull, sacred to Siva, carved in stone). There was a strange light. It was extremely pleasant. As I was looking at all these, it was time for Puja (worship). The bell was rung and immediately after that I opened by eyes.”

Devotee: “Bhagavan told us some time back that there was a big cave also.”

Bhagavan: “Yes, yes. That also happened when I was living on the Hill. I was wandering about aimlessly, when I found at one place a big cave. When I entered the cave, I saw a number of waterfalls, beautiful gardens, tanks within those gardens, well-laid paths, fine lighting, everything there was most pleasing.

As I went farther and farther I saw a Siddha Purusha (Realised Sage) seated like Dakshinamurti under a tree on the banks of tank. Around him, a number of Munis (sages) were seated. They were asking something, and he was replying to them. That place appeared to me very familiar. That is all. I opened by eyes.

Subsequently, after some time, when I saw Arunachala Purana in Sanskrit, I found . . . slokas (which described) that cave and that Siddha Purusha, and so I was surprised that what had appeared to me in a trance was to be found in that book. So I wrote their translation in Tamil . . . Its meaning is ‘Though you are in the form of fire, you have kept away the fire and have taken the shape of a Hill, mainly to shower your blessings on people. You are always living here in the form of a Siddha. The cave that appeared to me is in you with all the luxuries of the world.’

“Recently (i.e. c.1949), when the temple in Adi Annamalai was renovated, it was reported that in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, a large tunnel was found, and when people tried to find out its extent they saw that it was extending to the very centre of the Hill. As they could not go in very far, they came back. I therefore thought that that which had occurred to me that which is in the Purana appear to be true, and that the tunnel was the way to the place I had seen.

It is reported that Siddha Purushas come from the cave inside to the temple through the tunnel night after night and go back after worshipping Ishwara. Why so far? Recently something like that was seen even here. I was going on to the Hill as usual when, as I was getting near the steps over there, a big city appeared before me. There were huge buildings of several varieties; well-laid thoroughfares; good lighting; and it appeared to be a great city. At one place, a meeting was being held; Chadwick was with me. He was even saying, ‘Bhagavan, all this is so self-evident. Who will believe if we say this is all a dream!” Everything appeared as if it was actually happening . . . “


7 September 2011

Vintage Photographs


Right Click on all photos to view enlargements



Below are a set of vintage photos taken in Tamil Nadu which show the lives of ordinary people at the end of the 19th Century.




Fishermen, Madras, c1870





House Servants, Madras, c1870







Priest Kotagiri Temples, Nilgiri Hills, c1870s



The next four vintage photographs are taken in the late 1940s and show spiritual Tiruvannamalai.




Sacred Grove Shrine, c1940s





Arunachaleswarar Temple, c1940s





Ramana Ashram Gate, 1940s





Sri Ramana, c1940s

9 June 2009

Mind and Self Enquiry


“It is the mind that is responsible for bondage or liberation. The negative mind takes you to negative actions. Negative actions bear negative results. The mind, when positive, will prompt you to take positive actions. And positive actions will give you positive results. Therefore, never entertain any negative thoughts.

Mind has no form. As is the thought, so is the mind. When the thoughts are good, there constitutes a good mind. When thoughts are bad, they make a bad mind. Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts . . when the thoughts are negative; so you are suffering. Once you know the thoughts are negative and make you suffer, come on! Give them up - throw them away! Don't entertain such thoughts, as negative thoughts will make you suffer. Why should you suffer? Brush them aside.

Similarly, once you know that the negative thought is making you suffer, drop it immediately!







All agitation will cease the moment one enters on the enquiry, “Who Am I?” This was the sadhana that Ramana Maharshi achieved and taught to his disciples. This is also the easiest of all disciplines.”

[Sri Sathya Sai Baba]

25 January 2009

V. Ganesan

V. Ganesan grew up till the age of fourteen in the presence of his great uncle, Sri Ramana Maharshi. After the mahanirvana of Bhagavan in 1950, Sri Ganesan went on to get a Master’s Degree in Philosophy. After his return to Arunachala, Sri Ganesan was able to absorb reminiscences of Bhagavan that had never been recorded before. In addition to this, his close contacts with saints, sages and seers like Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Nisargadatta Maharaj and J. Krishnamurti, helped him to deepen and widen his understanding of the essence of Bhagavan’s Teachings.





For thirty-five years Sri Ganesan was the manager of Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai, and for twenty-five years he was the managing editor of The Mountain Path, the ashram’s Newsletter. He looked after the old devotees of Sri Ramana as his sadhana, allowing him to absorb little-known reminiscences about Sri Ramana. His sessions of spiritual sharing are given at his home in Tiruvannamalai. He has authored several books on Sri Ramana Maharshi.

17 June 2008

Place your LIFE



"Place your LIFE
at the feet of the Lord of the Universe
who accomplishes everything.
Remain all the time steadfast in the heart,
in the Transcendental Absolute.
God knows the past, present and future.
He will determine the future for you
and accomplish the work.
What is to be done will be done
at the proper time. Don’t worry.
Abide in the heart and surrender your acts
to the divine."

[Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi]

Sri Nannagaru Visit

Yesterday, 16th June, Sri Nannagaru arrived at his Ashram, Sri Nannagaru Ashram, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Tiruvannamalai for a ten-day visit. While here he will be available to devotees and pilgrims. Early morning is a favourite time for some of Swami's devotees, and he generally gives a long darshan in the early mornings around 6 a.m.


I hadn't visited Sri Nannagaru Ashram since Swamiji's last visit, so the new structure covering the roof came as a very nice surprise - definitely feel nervous about bamboo roofs since my own flew off during gale force winds a couple of months ago!


Very nice job too, and also much more comfortable in times of rain and inclement weather.



The below photographs is of Sri Nannagaru with a photograph of his Guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi, in the background.



After a long time sitting, Swami wandered about the roof looking at Arunachala.



To find out more about this Advaitic Master, please check out his website at this link. I have also made many earlier postings on Swamiji, which you can access through the new 'search box' at the top left hand column of this page.



More information on Swami's visit to come.

24 March 2008

Sri Nannagaru at Andhra Ashram

Sri Nannagaru arrived at Arunachala on March 15 for an eleven day visit. He generally visits Arunachala three to four times a year, staying from anywhere to one to two weeks a time. You can find out more about this Advaitic Master, at an earlier post here.



Swamiji's primary Arunachala Ashram (Sri Nannagaru Ashram) is about one kilometre west of Ramana Ashram, just off the Chengam Road. While staying there, Sri Nannagaru has been giving darshan in the early mornings and evenings, and as is his general routine, performed girivalam (hillround) one day, visited the homes of some devotees, and also visited Ramana Ashram. He also travelled to Pondicherry one afternoon and returned in the evening of the same day.


In this series of photographs taken this afternoon, Sri Nannagaru is giving darshan at Andhra Ashram (which is his original and smaller Ashram here at Arunachala).




In the above photograph Sri Nannagaru sitting in front of a picture of Sri Ramana Maharshi, who he considers as his Guru, and through whom he attributes his own self realisation.


To find out more about Sri Nannagaru, you can visit his site at this link.


Holy Company, Satsang
“If you do not see the company of holy men, and do not have darshan of great souls, your egoism gets bloated. When we feel thirsty, we can quench it by drinking water. When we feel hungry, we can eat and satisfy our hunger. Similarly, because of our ignorance, we do not have peace.

By satsang (holy company) we can know God and get peace. When the person who speaks does not have clarity, we can conclude that the person doesn’t know anything. When a person is asleep, to wake him up you call him by his name. You need not touch him. He or she wakes up and asks: “Who woke me up?” The sound of your words woke him up. In the same way, when a jnani teaches you, the very sound of his words, one day or the other, takes you to self-realization.

Even if you are not able to have darshan of a jnani, if you cultivate the company of those who have made some spiritual progress, you are bound to be benefited. In this case, you invest a small amount, but you gain a huge profit. If you are performing japa, meditation etc., that is artificial air. Getting the company of an enlightened one, or seekers is like a natural breeze.

Fasting and such things you should do according to your abilities. But in the company of holy people, always be alert, awake. If you cannot remain in the awareness of the Self, cultivate the company of holy people. As a result of the influence of their company, you will reap benefits in the future. Their habits, their words are cooling in their effect. You naturally protect your life extremely carefully, similarly, if you want to free yourself from innate negative tendencies, you should protect your friendship with holy people with the same alertness.”

[Sadhana For Taming The Mind
By Sadguru Sri Nannagaru]

18 March 2008

Patala Lingam

On a recent visit to Arunachaleswarar Temple I noticed some great photographs on the walls of the Patala Lingam. It was in the cellar of the Lingam, that Ramana performed severe tapas, remaining in samadhi and totally oblivious to the wretchedness of his living conditions amongst scorpions and fireants.

The first photogaph is of the beautiful Pali Thirtam, which is the tank adjacent to Sri Ramana Ashram.


The below shows you the condition of the Patala Lingam during the 1940's before renovation.

And now the Patala Lingam after renovation.


Another photograph on the walls of the Patala Lingam, is a narrative recording the life of Bhagavan Sri Ramana and Tiruvannamalai. For those of you who haven't yet visited Tamil Nadu, I've left part of the Tamil translation, so you can see what the Tamil script looks like.


Below a photograph taken up at the caves on Arunachala, of the young Sri Ramana Maharshi at the age of 21.




Next is a split photograph, the top half being of Ayanakulam Tank (which is the tank that Sri Ramana disrobed when he came to Arunachala) and the bottom half of the photograph is of Pavala Kundru - one of the most beautiful Shakti Temples at Arunachala. It is the place that Parvati was meant to have lived whilst performing tapas at Arunachala. In more recent times, it is the place that Sri Ramana was living, when his Mother arrived at Tiruvannamalai.



The last photograph is of the top half Skandashram and the bottom Virupaksha Caves. Virupaksha Cave has a long history and was often inhabitated by saints and sages, including Sri Ramana Maharshi. But Skandashram is an original and was actually a labour of love constructed by a devotee name Skanda (thus Skandashram) for his Guru, Sri Ramana.

Arunachaleswarar Temple, with its huge 25 acre compound is replete with history - a fascinating and inspirational Temple to visit and spend time, again and again.



17 September 2007

Sri Seshadri, Madambakkam



A devotee of Sri Seshadri Swamigal, has built a Temple at Madambakkam, near Tambaram, Chennai, and has named it Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Brindavnam Trust.

"A Universal Shrine at Madampakkam near Tambaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Dedicated to the Mother Goddess in her form as the Maha Meru as per the ancient Sri Vidya tradition, to 18 Siddha Purushas masters of infinite enlightment and to the Sathguru the Universal Temple is today a temple of peace and solace to hundreds of disciples from varied classes, castes, religions and nationalities."

Sri Seshadri Swamigal
was a proponent of Sri Vidya and a devotee of Sri Kamakshi whose main Temple is located at Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. His ashram at the base of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai is located a stone's throw from the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi and in fact their lives interacted in many ways.

As to the Temple dedicated to Sri Seshadri at Madampakkam it certainly seems uniquely interesting - you can find out more about it at this link.

11 May 2007

Arunachala Power



Even though the same consciousness pervades the Universe, in Sri Arunachala Ashtakam [by Sri Ramana Maharshi Bhagavan] explains the Power of Arunachala and how the Hill acts upon the 'individual'.

"Thou art Thyself the One Being, ever aware as the self-luminous Heart! In Thee there is a mysterious Power (Sakti). From it proceeds, the phantom of the mind emitting its latent subtle dark mists, which, illumined by Thy Light (of Consciousness) reflected on them, appear within as though whirling in the vortices of prarabdha, later developing into the psychic worlds and are projected without as the material world and transformed into concrete objects which are magnified by the outgoing senses and move about like pictures in a cinema show. Visible or invisible, O Hill of Grace, without Thee they are nothing!"

Sri Arunachala Ashtakam (Verse 6)
[Ramana Maharshi]





"Though it is the only One, yet by its wonderful power it gets reflected on the tiny dot 'I' (the ego) otherwise known as ignorance or the aggregate of latent tendencies; this reflected light is relative knowledge. This, according to one's past karma now fructifying (prarabdha), manifests the inner latent tendencies as the outer gross world and withdraws the gross external world as the subtle internal tendencies; such power is called mind in the subtle plane and brain in the physical plane.


This mind or brain acts as the magnifier to that Eternal One Being and shows It forth as the expanded universe. In the waking and dream states the mind is outward bent and in sleep it is inward bent; with the mind as the medium, the one Supreme Being seems diversified in the waking and dream states and remains withdrawn in the sleep state. Therefore you are only That and cannot be otherwise. Whatever the changes, the same one Being remains as yourself; there is nothing besides yourself."

[#323; Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi]