Self Enquiry Information — Links and PDF downloads

 

Sri Nannagaru, a living Master who used to visit Arunachala during his lifetime, attributed his realisation to the Grace of Arunachala-Sri Ramana and stated that the core of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are set out in the slim booklet ‘Who am I?” And that an earnest seeker will receive incalculable benefit by daily reading a small part of that booklet.

 

Sri Nannagaru

Around 1902 a visitor to Arunachala, Sivaprakasam Pillai, visited Ramana Maharshi who was then living in silence at Virupaksha Cave on the slopes of Arunachala. On his visit the seeker posed a series of spiritual questions starting with ‘Who Am I?’ The questions posed were answered by the silent Saint in writing and constitute, what is believed to be, one of his first sets of spiritual instructions.

 

Answers specifically addressing Self-enquiry can be found in another booklet entitled “Self-Enquiry”. The book was compiled from answers to questions asked by Gambhiram Seshayya, a devotee of Lord Rama and yoga practitioner. In the same way as “Who am I?”, the questions raised by Gambhiram Seshayya were answered by the then silent Ramana living in the Virupaksha Cave in the 1900s.

 

To read more about Self Enquiry and to download a number of free PDF booklets including the above-mentioned, go to this link here.

 

 

 

Who Am I?

Question 14:    Is it possible for the residual impressions of objects that come from beginningless time, as it were, to be resolved, and for one to remain as the pure Self?

 

Ramana Maharshi:  Without yielding to the doubt “Is it possible, or not?”, one should persistently hold on to the meditation on the Self. Even if one be a great sinner, one should not worry and weep “O! I am a sinner, how can I be saved?”; one should completely renounce the thought “I am a sinner”; and concentrate keenly on meditation on the Self; then, one would surely succeed. There are not two minds — one good and the other evil; the mind is only one. It is the residual impressions that are of two kinds — auspicious and inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of auspicious impressions it is called good; and when it is under the influence of inauspicious impressions it is regarded as evil.

 

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

 

The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what concerns other people. However bad other people may be, one should bear no hatred for them. Both desire and hatred should be eschewed. All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth is understood who will not give to others? When one’s self arises all arises; when one’s self becomes quiescent all becomes quiescent. To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent there will result good. If the mind is rendered quiescent, one may live anywhere.

Guru Poornima 2023

 

The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, the guru is the Great God Shiva.
The guru is the Supreme Being right before one's very eyes.
To that guru do I reverently bow.

Guru Purnima Monday, 3 July, 2023

Guru Purnima is traditionally celebrated on full moon day in the month of Ashadh (July-August) of the Hindu calendar. Guru Purnima (which falls this year on Monday, July 3th) is the day on which the Guru is revered by devotees. Sri Dakshinamurti is an aspect of Lord Siva as the primordial master, the personification of ultimate awareness, understanding and knowledge.

 

Lord Siva as Arunachala

At Arunachala the manifestation of Lord Siva as Dakshinamurti is celebrated as the ‘silent Guru’. This day also celebrates the birth of the great author Veda Vyasa who wrote the epic Mahabharata.

Guru Purnima Timing 2023

Tithi starts at 08:21 pm on July 2, Sunday
Tithi ends at 5.08 pm on July 3, Monday

 

Lord Siva and His Worship

During the absence of Devi, when Lord Siva was alone, the sons of Brahma, (sages: Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara) went to have Darshan of Lord Siva. They prostrated before Him and entreated the Lord to teach them how to remove avidya and attain salvation. They admitted that in spite of their vast study of scriptures they had no internal peace and needed to learn the inner secrets—by knowing which they could attain salvation.

 

Lord Dakshinamurti frescoe Madurai Temple

"Lord Siva, hearing this appeal made by the sages, assumed the form of Dakshinamurti and remaining as the Guru Supreme, began to teach them the inner secrets by keeping Mouna and showing the “chinmudra” by His hand. The sages began to meditate on the lines shown by the Lord and attained the state of inexpressible and illimitable joy. Thus Lord Siva came to be known as Dakshinamurti".

[By Swami Sivananada]

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi on Dakshinamurti

Ramana Maharshi: Lectures may entertain individuals for a few hours without improving them. Silence on the other hand is permanent and benefits the whole of humanity.

Devotee: But silence is not understood.

Ramana Maharshi: It does not matter. By silence, eloquence is meant. Oral lectures are not so eloquent as silence. Silence is unceasing eloquence. The Primal Master, Dakshinamurti, is the ideal. He taught his Rishi disciples by silence.

Devotee: But then there were disciples for Him. It was all right. Now it is different. They must be sought after and helped.

Ramana Maharshi: That is a sign of ignorance. The power which created you has created the world. If it can take care of you, it can similarly take care of the world also.

[Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi]

 

Devotee: What is the significance of Guru's Grace in the attainment of liberation?

Ramana Maharshi:   Liberation is not anywhere outside you. It is only within. If a man is anxious for Deliverance, the Guru within pulls him in and the Guru without pushes him into the Self. This is the Grace of the Guru.

[Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi: Talk 547)

Shiva: The Adiyogi

The sacred day of Guru Poornima marks the first transmission of the yogic sciences from Shiva—the Adiyogi or First Yogi—to the Saptarishis, the seven celebrated sages on the banks of Lake Kantisarovar (near Kedarnath Temple in the Himalayas). Thus, the Adiyogi became the Adi Guru or the First Guru on this day. The Saptarishis carried this knowing offered by Adiyogi throughout the world. Even today, every spiritual process on the planet draws from the "knowing" created by Adiyogi.

 

Adi Yogi

The story goes that over 15,000 years ago, a yogi appeared in the upper regions of the Himalayas. Nobody knew what his origins were but his presence was extraordinary. He exhibited no signs of life, but for occasional tears of ecstasy that rolled down his face. After the crowds of onlookers dispersed, seven men remained. When the yogi opened his eyes, they pleaded that he share his experience with them. He ignored them, but as they persevered the yogi gave them a simple preparatory step and closed his eyes again.

Days rolled into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, but the yogi’s attention did not fall upon them again. After 84 years of sadhana, on the summer solstice that marks the advent of Dakshinayana (the earth’s southern run), the yogi looked at them again. They had become shining souls that could be no longer ignored. On the next full moon day, the yogi turned south and sat as guru to these seven men. Shiva thus became Adi Guru and expounded spiritual truths to the seven disciples. The seven were to be known as Saptarishis, who took their knowledge around the world.

Guru Purnima is held sacred in the yogic tradition because the Adiyogi opened up the possibility for a human being to evolve consciously. The seven different aspects of yoga that were put in these seven individuals became the foundation for the seven basic forms of yoga, something that has still endured.

In honour of this divine personage, spiritual aspirants and devotees either perform Vyasa Puja on this day, or worship their own spiritual preceptor. Saints, monks and men of God are honoured and entertained with acts of charity by householders with faith and sincerity. The period Chaturmas (the "four months") begins from this day; Sannyasins stay at one place during the ensuing four rainy months, engaging in the study of the Brahma Sutras and the practice of meditation.

The day of Guru Poornima is supposed to herald the settling in of the rains and is thus a time that aspirants commence or resolve to intensify their spiritual disciplines. The Srutis say: "To that high-souled aspirant, whose devotion to the Lord is great and whose devotion to his Guru is as great as that to the Lord, the secrets explained herein become illuminated".

 

Spiritual Teachings of the Sadguru

The upa-agama, Devilottara is the essence of all Agama Sastra and explains the supreme wisdom to be attained by mature souls and their mode of life, expounded by the Lord Siva to Devi.

 

Lord Siva with Parvati

This dialogue conveys the highest spiritual teachings between the Sadguru Lord Siva and His most surrendered devotee the Goddess Parvati.

To read these teachings go to this link here.

 

Turning the Mind Inward

Talks with Sri Ramana

Talk 213

30 June 1936

Mr. B.C. Das asked why the mind cannot be turned inward in spite of repeated attempts.

Maharshi:

It is done by practice and dispassion and  that succeeds only gradually. The mind, having been so long a cow accustomed to graze stealthily on others’ estates, is not easily confined to the stall. However much her keeper tempts her with luscious grass and fine fodder, she refuses the first time; then she  takes a bit; but her innate tendency to stray away asserts itself; and she slips away; on being repeatedly tempted by the owners, she accustoms herself to the stall; finally even if let loose she would not stray away. Similarly with the mind; If once it finds its inner happiness, it will not wander outward.

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba and Sri B.V. Narasimha Swami

A couple of days ago I started rereading the book “Self Realisation—The Life and Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi” by B.V. Narasimha Swami. This is a wonderful book, which is highly recommended. Please do read.

Anyhow, today Guru Poornima is an excellent example of the Divine synchronicity of Saints and Masters. This book on Ramana Maharshi is written by a devotee who dedicated his life to Sri Sai Baba; who is my own Sadguru.

Sri B.V. Narasimha Swami came to Ramana Maharshi around 1929 and during his stay was inspired to write the biography of Bhagavan upon which all later biographies are solidly founded on. In addition while at Tiruvannamalai, B.V. Narasimha Swami was also instrumental in collecting much information on Sri Seshadri Swami which he handed over to Sri Kuzhumani Narayana Sastri, who used it as the basis of a biography on that great saint.

Although endowed with a incisive mind (Ramana Maharshi said Narasimha Swami was a “person of sharpened intellect”) he was drawn to the path of devotion. He travelled north and settled at Shirdi and in later years when he returned to the South visited Sri Bhagavan before going on to live at Madras.

At Madras, B.V. Narasimha Swami worshipped a picture of Sai Baba under a tamarind tree on the street where the Sai Baba Temple is now located. Later, he moved the picture to a small house in Nanjunda Rao Colony in Mylapore and constructed the present temple with help from a Chettiar merchant. The Temple was completed and consecrated in 1952 with its main object being the propagation of the life and teachings of Sri Sai Baba.

This is the only Temple where devotees are allowed to touch, garland and photograph the divine idol, which in this case is a marble representation of Sai Baba. In actual fact it is the picture of Sai Baba (worshipped for many years by B.V. Narasimha Swami) that is considered the moolasthana. B.V. Narasimha Swami is entombed in Samadhi at the Sai Baba Temple, Mylapore.

This Temple at Mylapore, Chennai is a wonderful, sacred space. If you are visiting or staying in Chennai, please spend time there.

Blessings of Light to all readers and friends of Arunachala Grace.

Outside Shirdi Sai Temple, Mylapore, Chennai

 

Marble statue of Shirdi Sai, devotees allowed to touch

Picture of Shirdi Sai Baba regarded as Moolasthana

Paintings around the inside of Temple. The Master loved dogs!

Puja conducted on the marble idol of Shirdi Sai Baba

Aarti after a special function at Temple

2020 Guru Poornima

Blessings of Light and Grace on this Holy Day of Guru Poornima 

Efficacy of Self Enquiry

Recently uploaded new material on the Arunachala Samudra website. So please check out these new postings. 

In particular you might enjoy looking through the section on Self Enquiry, at this link here. 

The section which is Ramana Maharshi-centric is filled with His advice and suggestions regarding Self Enquiry and how to perform it. This is invaluable information in these trying times. 

As to the efficacy of Self Enquiry, Sri Sathya Sai Baba said: 

"All agitations will cease the moment one enters, "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] 

Just a little Self Enquiry helps still the mind. 

In this regard there is an interesting quote by Frank H. Humphreys, an Englishman who came to India in 1911 to serve as assistant superintendent of police in Madras. He was the first Western devotee of Ramana Maharshi. 

Later in his life, he turned away from worldly things, entered a monastery and became a monk. 

“The phenomena we see are curious and surprising—but the most marvellous thing of all we do not realize, and that is that one and only one illimitable force that is responsible for all the phenomena we see and the act of seeing them. Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of life, death and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual act of seeing them or perceiving them, but only of that which sees all these things, that which is responsible for it all. This will seem nearly impossible at first, but by degrees the result will be felt. It takes years of study and daily practice, but that is how a master is made. 

Give yourself a quarter of an hour a day. Try to keep the mind unshakably fixed on that which sees. It is inside you. Do not expect to find that ‘That’ is something definite on which the mind can be fixed easily—it will not be so. Though it takes years to find that ‘That’, the results of this concentration will soon show themselves in four or five months time—in all sorts of unconscious clairvoyance, in peace of mind, in the power to deal with troubles, in the power all around, always unconscious power. 

I have given you these teachings in the same words that the master gives to his intimate disciples. From now on, let your whole thought in meditation be not on the act of seeing, nor on what you see, but immovably on that which sees.” 

Sri Nannagaru at Arunachala

After a long absence from Arunachala due to health reasons, Sri Nannagaru was finally able to come to Tiruvannamalai and stay at his Ashram from August 22nd to September 2nd, 2014. While in residence he gave a number of speeches to his many devotees, most of whom had followed him from Andhra Pradesh. 

Devotees mostly from Andhra Pradesh

Swamji gave a number of speeches whilst at Tiruvannamalai

As is his usual custom Sri Nannagaru conducted daily interviews in his room. One morning Sri Sundaram, the President of Ramana Ashram came to visit Sri Nannagaru. They talked about the importance of Ramana Ashram publishing and disseminating the works of Sri Ramana Maharshi throughout the world. Sri Nannagaru requested that the President authorise the publication in Telegu of “Be As You Are.” The book, edited by David Godman, is a collection of conversations between Sri Ramana and seekers who came to his ashram for guidance. 

Sri Nannagaru and Sri Sundaram, President Ramana Ashram

“Be As You Are,” is one of the most widely read book on the seer’s teachings. Dialogues with Ramana are arranged by the following topics; The Self, Enquiry and surrender,The Guru, Meditation and yoga, Experience, Theory. 

 “The collection of conversations between him and the many seekers who came to his ashram for guidance contains the essence of his teaching. His concern throughout his long life of imparting his experience to others was to convince his listeners that self-realisation - or enlightenment - is not an alien or mysterious state, but the natural condition of man. This state can be easily discovered by undertaking the self-investigation clearly described in these talks. The lucid instructions to each section provide further illumination of this greater seer's message.” 

Sri Nannagaru

Sri Nannagaru asked that the Telegu publication of the book be expedited as in his opinion it is the best introduction to the teachings of Sri Ramana. Sri Sundaram promised that his officers would start to make arrangements for the book’s Telegu publication immediately on return to the Ramana Ashram office. 

To find out more about Sri Nannagaru, you can visit his website at this link here, and to read about the experiences of many of his devotees please visit a Blog put out by Bangalore devotees at this link here. 

Restoration of the Paul Brunton Compound at Palakottu

The below photographs are of the Paul Brunton Cottage located at Palakottu. Many sadhus lived in the Palakottu area (located directly west of Ramana Ashram) during the lifetime of the Maharshi. In those days there used to be a colony of varying types of residential structures which housed such personages as Muruganar, Lakshmana Sharma, Paul Brunton and Annamalai Swami.

Entrance to the Paul Brunton Compound

Compound and House have been enlarged over the years

In more recent times various pilgrims have lived in cottages around the Palakottu Tank. Sharon Muensch in December 1973 wrote of her short time living in the Brunton Cottage: “A few days later I moved into Brunton’s Cottage in Palakottu. Back then there were three simple huts in Palakottu, grouped around the water tank. There was direct access to the Ashram through the back wall. None of the huts had plumbing. And we fetched water from the street taps and walked out to the Hill for our toilet.” 

 

Brunton Compound

Main house and outlying cottages need renovation

Part of the Brunton Cottage

  

Subsequent to Sharon living in the Brunton house, a lady from Germany popularly known as Helga established a Trust which took over the Brunton House, built a Ganesha Temple and created a sadhu colony, in which a number of permanent sadhus are currently housed. Helga died several years ago after a long and happy life in her home at the foot of Arunachala.

 

Ganesha Temple built by Helga's Trust

Adjacent Lord Iyyapan Shrine

Sadhu Compound created by Helga

 

Recently a Canadian French lady Jacqueline Jacques (of Helping the World Foundation) has taken the Brunton cottage on a long lease and plans to repair and renovate the cottage and compound and also ensure that the beautiful Palakottu Tank, which is believed never runs out of water, is maintained in pristine condition amidst its beautiful forest glade. 

Jacqueline and her associate Agasthya Ganesha

Palakottu Tank

Set in pretty glade

 

Trees surrounding the Brunton Compound

 

Peaceful, area frequented by a wide variety of birds

 

Palakottu adjacent to Ramana Ashram

Voice of Sri Ramana Maharshi

Many photographs and several videos were taken of Ramana Maharshi during his lifetime but there is no known recording of his voice. I’ve sometimes wondered what his voice would sound like and have noticed that even in narratives of devotees, the timbre and quality of his voice is rarely mentioned. In this regard, the following passage recounted by K.R.K. Murthi, perhaps explains the intentional absence of a recording of the voice of Ramana Maharshi:- 

‘With a view to recording Bhagavan’s voice, some devotees referred to the sound recording machines. Seeing that Bhagavan was favourably disposed towards them, they wanted to pursue the matter further and fix a date for recording the voice. At that moment Bhagavan said, “My real voice is silence. How can you record the same?”’ 

[From:Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Page 324]

Swami Chinmayananda and The Holy Geeta

Swami Chinmayananda was born on May 8, 1916 as Balakrishna Menon (Balan) in Ernakulam, Kerala in a devout Hindu family. Graduating from Lucknow University, he entered journalism where he felt he could influence political, economic and social reform in India. But his life was changed when he met Swami Shivananda at Rishikesh and became interested in the Hindu spiritual path. 

Balakrishna Menon took sannyasin from Swami Shivananda and was given the name Swami Chinmayananda (the one who is saturated in Bliss and pure Consciousness). Swami Shivananda sent the young sannyasin to study under a guru, Swami Tapovan in the Himalayas, with whom he stayed for eight years. 

Swami Chinmayananda felt a powerful desire to make his knowledge available to the world and after completing his study with his guru, left the Himalayas to teach Vedanta. During his forty years of travelling and teaching, Swami Chinmayananda opened numerous centres and ashrams worldwide and also built many schools, hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. Swami Chinmayananda passed away on 3 August 1993 in San Diego, California. 

A most powerful incentive to the Swami’s spiritual journey was his meeting (while a high school graduate) of Sri Ramana Maharshi. His own recollection of the meeting goes thus: 

“I was just emerging from high school, exams were over. On a package railway ticket I was roaming through South India. As the train steamed through the countryside at a halting speed, most of the passengers in my compartment suddenly peered through the windows in great excitement and bowed reverently to an elaborate temple beyond. Inquiring about it, I was told that it was the Tiruvannamalai Temple. 

Thereafter, the talk of my fellow travellers turned to Ramana Maharshi. The word ‘Maharshi’ conjured up in my mind ancient forest retreats and superhuman beings of divine glow. Though I was at that time a convinced atheist, I was deeply drawn to visit the Maharshi’s Ashram. I chose to take the next available train to Tiruvannamalai. 

At the Ashram I was told that the Maharshi was in the hall and anybody was free to walk in and see him. As I entered, I saw on the couch an elderly man, wearing but a loincloth, reclining against a round bolster. I sat down at the very foot of the couch. The Maharshi suddenly opened his eyes and looked straight into mine: I looked into his. A mere look, that was all. I felt that the Maharshi was, in that split moment, looking deep into me – and I was sure that he saw all my shallowness, confusions, faithlessness, imperfections, and fears. 

I cannot explain what happened in that one split moment. I felt opened, cleaned, healed, and emptied! A whirl of confusions: my atheism dropping away, but scepticism flooding into question, wonder, and search. My reason gave me strength and I said to myself, ‘It is all mesmerism, my own foolishness.’ Thus assuring myself, I got up and walked away. 

But the boy who left the hall was not the boy who had gone in some ten minutes before. After my college days, my political work, and after my years of stay at Uttarkashi at the feet of my master, Tapovanam I knew that what I gained on the Ganges banks was that which had been given to me years before by the saint of Tiruvannamalai on that hot summer day – by a mere look.” 

During a talk in 1982 the Swami Chinmayanada said: 

“Sri Ramana is not a theme for discussion; he is an experience; he is a state of consciousness. Sri Ramana was the highest reality and the cream of all scriptures in the world. He was there for all to see how a Master can live in perfect detachment. Though in the mortal form, he lived as the beauty and purity of the Infinite.” 

[Extract: Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi] 

**************** 

In the 1980s, while I was staying at the Ashram of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Andhra Pradesh, one day a friend and I searched the bookshops of Puttaparthi, looking for a definitive and illuminating version of the Bhagavad Gita in the English language. We found, “The Holy Geeta,” with commentary by Swami Chinmayananda. My friend who was most eager to make an in-depth study of the Geeta, purchased the book and took it to darshan that afternoon. During darshan she reverently offered the book to Sri Sathya Sai Baba asking him for His Blessings. Swamiji took the book into his hands, riffled through some of its pages and looking at my friend said, “Take this book, study it. You have my Blessings.” 

Inspired by Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s obvious approval and blessings of the Swami Chinmayanada commentary of the Bhagavad Gita, I myself spent a great amount of time studying that version of the sacred Gita. Subsequently if anyone has ever asked for a recommendation of the Bhagavad Gita, with an excellent and clear explanatory commentary, I always refer them to The Holy Geeta by Swami Chinmayananda. 

Yogaswami: The Strange Saint of Sri Lanka

I recently got in touch with the renowned Himalayan Academy in Hawaii, USA for permission to reproduce on my website Arunachala Samudra, an excellent article entitled “Hinduism and the Environment” by Matthew McDermott, which had appeared in their online magazine “Hinduism Today”. As well as graciously giving me permission to reproduce the article, they also sent me two reproductions of paintings connected with their Paramaguru Yogaswami’s visit to Arunachala. On receiving the copies of the paintings, I was very interested to learn more about their Paramaguru and his visit to Arunachala. Below is a short biography of this great saint, of who it is said that: 

"At 3:30 am on a Wednesday in March 1964, Yogaswami passed away at age 91. The whole nation of Sri Lanka stopped when the radio spread news of his Great Departure (mahasamadhi), and devotees thronged to Jaffna to bid him farewell.” 

Yogaswami: The Strange Saint of Sri Lanka 

Yogaswami of Nallur, the Sage of Lanka, mystic and spiritual master lived from 1872 to 1964. He was raised in the Hindu faith by his aunt after his mother passed away when he was ten years old. The boy was first educated in a Tamil school and later in a Christian institution where he became proficient in Tamil and English. 

Around 1890, Yogaswami found a job as a storekeeper for an irrigation project in Kilinochchi. Here, he lived like a yogi, often meditating all night long. He demanded utter simplicity and purity of himself, as he would later of his devotees. 

It is believed that in 1897 a youthful Yogaswami attended a public meeting in Jaffna that was addressed by Swami Vivekananda. When Vivekananda began his talk by saying that "The time is short but the subject is vast", Yogaswami left the meeting immediately after understanding Vivekananda's words to mean that the subject of God is immense whereas even an entire lifetime can be too short for God-realisation. This statement went deep into Yogaswami's psyche. He repeated it like a mantra to himself and spoke it to devotees throughout his life. 

In 1905, Yogaswami found his guru Sage Chellappan outside Nallur Temple. As he walked along the road, Chellappaswami shouted loudly: "Hey! Who are you? There is not one wrong thing! It is as it is! Who knows?" Suddenly everything vanished in a sea of light for the young yogi. At a later encounter in a festival crowd, Chellappaswami ordered him, "Go within; meditate, stay here until I return." He came back three days later to find Yogaswami still waiting for his master. Soon afterwards Yogaswami gave up his job and everything else, in order to follow Chellappaswami for the next five years. His life became filled with intense spiritual discipline and severe austerity. Following Yogaswami’s ordination (sannyas diksha), his guru sent him away and never received him again. 

As a wandering ascetic Yogaswami walked the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, visiting temples and holy places, and eventually returned to Jaffna. He went on three pilgrimages to India, in 1934, 1940 and 1946, taking a few devotees with him each time. They went on the six-temple Murugan yatra in South India and to the massive, renowned Siva temples of Madurai and Chidambaram. They walked long distances together and met many spiritual luminaries. 

On one pilgrimage, Yogaswami visited Sri Ramana Maharshi at Ramanashram in Tiruvannamalai. The two sat in silence for an hour in Sri Ramana’s austere room near the holy mountain. No word was exchanged when they met or parted. After hearing that Yogaswami had visited Sri Ramana, people were eager to find out what had transpired. Swami told them, “We said all there is to say.” Later he added, “We did not go with any desire. Summa we went. We stayed for about an hour. He did not speak at all. He is a great hero (mahaviran).” By “summa,” Swami meant “perfect stillness, communion in silence.” 

Yogaswami had a set of favourite aphorisms that he loved to repeat when devotees or strangers called on him. It is generally accepted that these four spiritual truths, which are often quoted nowadays, contain the essence of Yogaswami's teachings: 

Oru pollappum illai: There is no evil at all, nothing is wrong. "Good" and "evil" are man-made distinctions. 

Muludum unmai: All is Truth (the whole thing is true). The sage who is fully realised sees the entire universe as a manifestation of God. 

Nām Ariyom: We do not know. We know nothing. Our minds are limited instruments that can only comprehend things of a mundane nature. 

Eppavo Mudintha Karyam: The event was completed long ago. It was all over long ago. Everything has been pre-ordained. 

Deepam and Ramana Maharshi

One Deepam Day a disciple wrote the following and laid it at the Feet of Sri Bhagavan with the request that he should write another verse showing the significance of the Beacon that is yearly lighted on the top of Arunachala.

SELF is the centre, e’en the Heart it is
That thus reveals itself, while intellect
And ego both bewail.
This the true meaning of Annamalai,
Amidst Brahma and Vishnu blazing bright,
Who languish because they don’t know the way
To realize Him.

The Hill Arunachala is identified with the spiritual heart of creation of God. This appeared to the Gods, Brahma and Vishnu as a blazing column of fire. They wondered what it could be and started in competition with each other to find out its source. Brahma flew up as a swan and Vishnu started to burrow down in the form of a boar. But the search was endless. Vishnu came up again admitting his defeat. On his way Brahma caught a flower that was falling and taking it down to Vishnu pretended that he had reached the top and had there picked this flower. Suddenly Lord Siva, who had taken the form of the column of fire, appeared to them. He condemned Brahma for his deceit and said that as a punishment he should have no temple dedicated to his honour. As a reward for his honesty Vishnu was told that he should receive universal worship.

Striving to reach the end of the column of fire signifies the search in the Heart for the realization of the Self and all the difficulties thus entailed.

Bhagavan said in explanation that the ‘I’-sense was Vishnu and the intellect Brahma, they both turned outward and that is where they failed.

The Significance of the Beacon

Sri Bhagavan wrote: -

To make the intellect rid of the sense
‘I am the body’, and to introspect
By fixing it securely in the Heart,
And so perceive the true light of the SELF,
The one ‘I-I’, which is the ABSOLUTE,
This the significance of witnessing
The Beacon Light of Arunachala,
The centre of the earth.

Bhagavan used to declare that Arunachala was the spiritual axis of the earth. So definite was he that he once made someone get an atlas and see if there was not some other mountain, the other end of the axis, corresponding to this Hill on the other side of the world.