Control of the Mind

“Other than inquiry, there are no adequate means for mind-control. If through other means it is attempted, the mind will appear to be controlled, but will again rise up. Through the control of breath also, the mind will become quiescent, but only as long as the breath remains controlled; and with the movement of breath, the mind also will start moving and will wander as impelled by residual impressions.

The source is the same for both mind and breath. Thought, indeed is the nature of the mind. The thought ‘I’ is the first thought of the mind; and that is egoity. It is from that whence egoity originates that breath also originates. Therefore, when the mind becomes quiescent, the breath is controlled, and when the breath is controlled, the mind becomes quiescent. But in deep sleep, although the mind becomes quiescent, the breath does not stop. This is because of the will of God, so that the body may be preserved and others may not take it as dead.

In the state of waking and in samadhi, when the mind becomes quiescent the breath is also so. Breath is the gross form of mind. Till the time of death, the mind keeps the breath in the body; and when the body dies the mind takes the breath (prana) along with it. Therefore, breath-control is only an aid for mind-control; it will not bring above annihilation of the mind. Like breath-control meditation on some form of God, repetition of mantras, diet-regulation, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent for the time-being.”

[Ramana Maharshi in ‘Who Am I’]

Self Enquiry

Sri Nannagaru, a living Master who regularly visits Arunachala, and attributes his realisation to the Grace of Arunachala/Sri Ramana has 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.

The history of the booklet entitled “Who am I?” is thus. 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.

To download a free PDF booklet of “Who am I?” go to this link here:

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 download a free PDF booklet of Self Enquiry go to this link here:

To find more free downloads of the books and works of Sri Ramana visit the ashram’s website book section for a list of Ramana’s book. Free PDF downloads are typed on the list in bold face.

Arunachala as Lingam

“When I approach regarding Thee as having form, Thou standest as a Hill on earth. If the seeker looks for Thy form as formless, he is like one who travels the earth to see the ether. To dwell without thought upon Thy nature is to lose one’s identity like a doll of sugar when it comes in contact with the ocean and when I come to realize who I am, what else is this identity of mine but Thee, O Thou Who standest as the towering Aruna Hill?”
[By Aquarius]

At this Shiva Sthalam Arunachala; the non-anthropomorphic form Shiva Lingam is a representation of the infinite cosmic column of fire.

The Hill itself as Lingam (and Lingam in the Shiva Sannidhi, Arunachaleswarar Temple) is authenticated in various scriptures including the Skanda Mahapurana (both sections) and the Vidyeswara Samhita of the Siva Mahapurana. The mythology of the Hill, its manifestation as a Lingam and the development of Arunachaleswarar Temple and the surrounding city of Tiruvannamalai (then known as Aruna) is traced in the following passages of the Skanda Mahapurana [.iii(U)]







Sri Siva said:

Let this perpetual and immobile Fiery Form of mine, famous as Arunadri, be present here forever.

Brahma and Vishnu said:

If it has to be so, O support of the Universe, let this mountain remain as the support of this Universe. But this brilliance is unbearable.

. . .

Hence it is better, O Rudra, that its refulgence be like that of an ordinary mountain. Let it stand with indivisible greatness. Let it be the great mine of salvation.

It discloses its own inherent brilliance and refulgence for the sake of the prosperity of this Universe once every year in the month of Kartika at the close the day of the constellation Krittika.

Although, at your bidding, O Lord, the Sondadri is the bestower of happiness on men, it cannot be worshipped by any devotee on account of its huge size.

Hence, beginning from today at our request our Lord should be present in the form of a Linga on the ground over the tableland of this mountain.

…..

Then there appeared a certain auspicious Linga there. On seeing it Mukunda and the Lotus-seated Lord (Brahma) experienced a great surprise. Bowing down repeatedly with great pleasure, they worshipped and eulogized it for a long time.

They caused a temple of the Lord of Sonagiri to be built by Visvakarma and a multitude of other craftsmen. . . . For the sake of the ablution of the Lord they caused a sacred lake to be dug there. It was fresh and full of (the water of) all the (other) Tirthas.

Nearby they built a city named Aruna for the sake of spiritual achievement.”


***************


The Lingam identical in every way to the Hill, that was thus created by the Lord is the Lingam that is now at rest inside the Siva Sannidhi of the Arunachaleswarar Temple. Over the centuries the Temple grew around the Lingam and its enveloping Sannidhi, until the present day where there is a large 26 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple compound in which inhabits a multitude of sannidhis, shrines, gardens and tirthams.

In 1938 the authorities of Arunachaleswarar Temple filed a law suit regarding the ownership of Arunachala Hill which was being claimed by the Government as Forestry Department property. The temple authorities cited Sri Ramana Maharshi as a witness. On May 9, 1938, the Court sent a Commission to record Sri Ramana Maharshi’s deposition.

In this deposition Sri Ramana Maharshi gave his own opinion as to the nature of the Hill and its association with the Temple [which housed the Lingam]:

“There is an aitikya that this hill is linga swaroopam, that is to say, that this hill itself is Swamy. This aitikya is not to be found anywhere else. That is the cause of the glory of this place. The aitikya of this place is that this hill is Easwaraswaroopam and that the Swaroopam is full of thejas. Every year Deepothsavam is celebrated in the form of Deepam. Authority for this is found in the Vedas, the puranas and stotras of devotees. Also giripradakshina is done following this aitikya that the above said hill is Siva swaroopam. I also have faith in giripradakshina and have experience of it. THERE IS NO SASTRA TO SEPARATE THE HILL FROM THE TEMPLE.”
[Ramana Maharshi]

Sri Nannagaru August Visit

Sri Nannagaru recently left his Arunachala Ashram, after a stay of more than 10 days.

A large number of devotees followed Swami from Andhra Pradesh, to enjoy early morning darshan and afternoon discourses held in the meditation room of Sri Nannagaru Ashram at Tiruvannamalai.

Sri Nannagaru, who was born in 1934 has been visiting Tiruvannamalai regularly since 1957. Even though he never had the physical darshan of Ramana Maharshi, he has taken the Maharshi as his Guru, and reflects that any spiritual attainments he may have achieved are as a direct result of the grace of Arunachala-Sri Ramana.

Sri Nannagaru’s states that his mission in life is twofold; to spread the fame of Arunachala and to disseminate the spiritual teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.







In response to the question asked of Sri Ramana, “Is it possible for a sadhaka to realise without a Guru?” the Maharshi replied, “Once a connection has been established between Guru and devotee, a devotee can realise even after the death of the Guru. But only an exceptional mind can realise without previously having experienced the connection of a living Master.”

As well as realising without having the connection of a living Mater, Sri Nannagaru realised whilst continuing his duty as an agriculturist, husband and father. There was no question of him deserting his family and duty, going on extended pilgrims, or secluding himself for intense sadhana. In this way his life is a remarkable and inspirational example to those tied down with duties and responsibilities that one doesn’t have to retire to Himalayan caves, to connect with the Self.









There is a Brahmin Lady called Nartaki (who I will mention again in upcoming posts) who lived at Arunachala for most of her life. As a young school girl of 14 years and dressed in school uniform, she took darshan of the sage Ramana Maharshi the day before his Samadhi. She herself died recently after a long life of prayer and service. And in that life, she met many Saints and Holy People including such luminaries as; Sri Nannagaru, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Lakshmana Swamy and others.

Of Sri Nannagaru, who she first met when he was 24 years old (before his realisation) she said to me, “I’ve always believed that the essential character of a person remains the same after realisation. And, of Sri Nannagaru, I noticed two things when he was a young man. Firstly, that he was very kind and secondly, that he had a wonderful sense of humour. Both those qualities are very evident in the person he has become.”



Sri Nannagaru:

“He is an intelligent, wise person who inquires into the heart for the truth. We get energy only from peace. You should not lose your peace as a result of small and trivial things. We should protect our tranquility and solve all problems. We should increase the span of time of a “life of love” . . . you don’t get the truth in books. You have to search in the heart. When you throw something into a blazing fire, you need not burn it, the fire itself will do that job. Similarly, your job is only to merge your mind in the heart.”

Saint Blesses a Thief

For most of the day Sri Bhagavan used to sit on his sofa, which was adjacent to a window. Squirrels would occasionally come in through the window and run around near him. Sri Bhagavan would often respond to them by lovingly feeding them cashews or other foodstuffs with his own hand. One day Sri Bhagavan was feeding the squirrels when a Muslim devotee, who had been watching him, gave him a note in which was written:

"The squirrels are very fortunate because they are getting the food from your own hands. Your grace is so much on them. We feel jealous of the squirrels and feel that we also should have been born as squirrels. Then it would have been very good for us."

Sri Bhagavan couldn't help laughing when he read this note. He told the man, "How do you know that the grace is not there on you also?" And then, to illustrate his point, he started to tell a long story.

One saint had the siddhi of correct predictive speech. That is, whatever he said came true. In whatever town he went to, the local people would come to him to have his darshan and to get his blessings. The saint, who was also full of compassion, removed the unhappiness of the people by blessing them. Because his words always came true, the blessings always bore fruit. That is why he was so popular.

During his wanderings he came to a town where, as usual, a lot of people flocked to him to get his blessings. Among the blessing seekers there was a thief. He went to have darshan of the saint in the evening and asked for his blessings. When the saint blessed him, the thief was very happy. He felt certain that because of these blessings, when he went out to steal at night, he would be successful. But it turned out otherwise. Whenever he went to break into a house, somebody or other from that house would wake up and he would have to run away. He tried in three or four places but he could not succeed anywhere.

Because of his failure, the thief got very angry with the saint. Early the next morning he went back to him and angrily said, "You are an impostor! You are giving false blessings to the people."

The saint very peacefully asked the reason for his anger. In reply the thief narrated in detail how unsuccessful he had been during his attempts to steal the previous night. Having heard his story, the saint commented, "In that case, the blessings have borne fruit."

"How?" the thief asked with astonishment.

"Brother, first tell me, being a thief, is it a good or a bad job?"

"It is bad," the thief admitted, but then he defended himself by saying, "what about the stomach that I have to feed?"

The saint continued with his explanation:

"To be unsuccessful in bad work means that the blessings have indeed borne fruit. There are so many other ways of feeding the stomach. You should accept any one of them. To come to this conclusion it was necessary that you be unsuccessful in your thieving work."

The thief understood and informed the saint that in future he would take up some other honest work. He prostrated before the saint and left.

Having narrated the above story, Sri Bhagavan asked the Muslim devotee,

"Do you mean to say that if everything goes according to your desires, only then is it possible to say that the grace of a saint has worked?"

"I don't understand," replied the Muslim.

Sri Bhagavan explained in more detail:

"The blessings of a saint perform the purificatory work of life. These blessings cannot increase impurity. One whose understanding is limited will ask for blessings so that he can fulfill certain desires, but if the desires are such that their fulfillment will make the seeker more impure rather than purer, the saint's blessings will not enable him to fulfill the desires. In this way the seeker is saved from further impurities. In that case, are not the saint's blessings a gift of compassion?" The Muslim finally understood and was satisfied by these words.

[By Chhaganlal Yogi]

Story of Ratilal

The below is one of my favourite stories concerning Ramana Maharshi. The narrative doesn’t deal with sadhus, swamis or spiritual aspirants -- its about an ordinary man suffering from a relatable problem and how the darshan of Ramana Maharshi transformed Ratilal’s despair into joy. In addition the story of the animals half-way through this narrative is a beautiful and welcome anecdote of Ramana’s love of all creation.




Story of Ratilal
Recounted by T. R. A. Narayana


“IN 1948, I WAS in my thirty-ninth year. I lived in Madras in a good place, with my wife and four charming children. I was the Madras Branch Manager of a large British firm with its Indian Head Office in Calcutta. Being in happy circumstances, I did not feel the need for any religious practices or spiritual inquiries. I was contented and enjoyed the good life, accounting that as the purpose of living.

On an official tour with Inspector Parthasarathi, I was on the platform of Villupuram Junction on a hot April day, waiting for the train to Katpadi Junction. We were to visit Tiruvannamalai. While Parthasarathi and I were getting into a first class compartment, we saw a young man of about 25 years, trying to enter the same compartment through the next door.

The man was so fat that he found great difficulty getting aboard. He heaved his huge body this way and that, while another man on the platform, obviously his servant, pushed him forward. The man was perspiring profusely and looking ashamed at the curious way people, including Parthasarathi and myself, watched his sorry state. He got in somehow, and occupied the cubicle next to ours.

When the train had run for some minutes the man joined us. He introduced himself as Ratilal Premchand Shah and started talking about himself. Ratilal was a Saurashtra Gujarati Vaishya, born and brought up in Gondal. The only son of his father who was one of the richest merchants of that city. He had been married for six years. Corpulent from his tenth year, he had been unable to do anything useful since that age. Now at 25, he was just a huge mass of fat and misery.

Ratilal had left school at the age of 12 after passing standard four with great difficulty. He never read books or periodicals. In the last week of March, Ratilal had a vision while asleep. He saw an ascetic dressed in only a loin-cloth, smiling and beckoning to him for quite some time. He stood clearly before Ratilal’s mental eye when he awoke. Ratilal did not speak to anyone about the vision. Two days later, his wife was reading a Gujarati magazine, and Ratilal looking over her shoulders, saw the picture of the ascetic he had seen in his vision.

His wife told him that the ascetic was Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi of Tiruvannamalai, and that the Maharshi possessed rare spiritual gifts. Ratilal at once went to his father and arranged a journey to Tiruvannamalai with the trusted family servant. He knew nothing about Bhagavan, only what his wife had told him from the magazine article. He felt
sure though that all of his suffering was going to end as soon as he reached the Guru’s Ashram.

Parthasarathi said that he had Darshan of Bhagavan many times and also read a great deal of books about him. He assured Ratilal that the lad’s faith would prove to be worthwhile. The two young men talked all the way to Tiruvannamalai, which took more than two hours. I was reading a novel, but was really listening intently to their conversation. At Tiruvannamalai Station, Ratilal was received by a local merchant with whom his father had arranged his stay. Parthasarathi and I proceeded to the Travellers’ Bungalow.

It was four o’clock when we took our rest and had tiffin. Parthasarathi knew that I was a business-like Manager, and not likely to waste a single moment. He said we could visit the market, if I wanted to now, and was very surprised when I said: “No, Parthasarathi! We will go and have Darshan of Bhagavan first. Then if there is time, we will go to the temple. Let the Company’s business wait!”

It was about five o’clock when Parthasarathi and I entered Ramana’s Ashram. Where we walked around Bhagavan’s Mother’s Samadhi. (grave) Then we walked towards the verandah. There were some fifty people sitting there. Ratilal, his servant and his host merchant were also there. Bhagavan though, was not. The visitors talked in whispers, trying to find out where he was.

After waiting for some ten minutes, and still no Bhagavan, Parthasarathi suggested that we view the Ashram compound.

After our inspection, we were on the way back to the verandah by another side, when we heard a childish voice, “Chee! Asaththe! (Chut! You naughty!).” We could not see any children around, and therefore cast our eyes carefully to find out where the voice came from? Then we observed some movement among the leaves of the Bringal, and other plants in the kitchen garden, aside the verandah’s end. Looking at the quarter more intently, we saw a small goat, a little monkey and a squirrel, and Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi! He was sitting on his haunches with his legs folded.

The goat nestled between Bhagavan’s knees; the monkey had its head resting on his right knee; the squirrel sat perched on his left palm. He picked groundnuts from a piece of paper with his right hand fingers, and one by one fed the goat, the monkey and the squirrel, and himself last, strictly in that order.

His remarks appeared to have been addressed to the monkey which had tried to snatch the nut he was going to place between the squirrel’s lips. As we watched, the foursome went on enjoying the nut meal. All the four members seemed to be equally happy, and the way they looked at one another and kept close together was very touching. The goat, the monkey and the squirrel, and Bhagavan too, had obviously forgotten their differences in species.

And we too, looking on, saw all the four only as four varied forms of the same creation. I cannot find words to describe clearly the thoughts and feeling which passed through my mind then. The vision of the Supreme Cosmic Consciousness appeared as a flash of lightning, and disappeared in the grossness that I was. The split second of the duration of that vision contained the essence of all existence, knowledge and bliss, Sat-Chid-Ananda!

The nut meal was over. Bhagavan threw the paper away, and said, “Ponkoda!” (go away, brats!) just like any common man speaking to his wee grand-children. The goat the monkey and the squirrel left. Bhagavan got up. Parthasarathi and I slipped off hurriedly, feeling guilty of trespass into the Divine, but not sorry.

Soon after we resumed our seats on the verandah, Bhagavan came to his cot. He stood still for a few minutes, facing us. But I cannot say he looked at us. His eyes appeared permanently fixed on something far above and beyond the confines of this earth. They did not seem to be instruments for looking at all, but screens to shut out the material world from him, so he might concentrate more on the Light within. Sparks of flame shot out through the holes of the screen at times, sparks which cooled the objects on which they fell, and penetrated all the coverings of gross material around the objects and lighted up the wicks of consciousness inside them.

All of us got up and fell at full length towards Bhagavan. He held up his right palm till we had resumed our seats. Then he sat on his cot, reclining on the pile of cushions at its head, putting his left palm to his temple. We sat and looked at his face. It wore the same expression, or lack of expression, with which he had stood before us. He continued to sit in the same position and with the same look; we continued to look at him. No one spoke or made any attempt to speak. But the confrontation was not a dead silence; it was a very live experience in which the innermost being of each one of us communed with the Glory of the Supreme Cosmic Consciousness which Bhagavan was. I was numb with the appalling realisation that the Glory resting on the cot was the same that had dwelt in the form of stillness, that I had seen minutes ago, eating groundnuts in the intimate company of small animals.

Bhagavan got up from the cot. Then we all stood up. As we left, I felt a strange and hitherto-unknown peace and joy inside me; the faces of the others showed a similar condition of mind. There was a new spring in Ratital’s gait as he walked to the Ashram gate; Bhagavan’s Grace had obviously started working inside his body.

Many things have happened to me since that memorable day in April 1948, causing domestic and financial troubles. But my inner life has been always happy. Whenever I feel low, a vision of Bhagavan in the kitchen garden takes care of it.

In 1953, when I was in Rajkot, and employed as a Manager for an automobile firm. One day, a man of about thirty came into my office and accosted me with the question, “Don’t you recognise me, Sir?” “No, please,” I replied, truthfully. The man continued: “I am Ratilal of Gondal, Sir! Do you remember the Darshan of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi five ears ago?” I looked more attentively at the man. He was lean and wiry, with his face aglow with health and happiness. I shook his hands heartily and told him to be seated.

He complied and said: “Sir, Bhagavan fulfilled his promise wonderfully well. You see me. I am now managing our family business. I have a son and another is on the way.” Ratilal closed his eyes in gratitude to Bhagavan.”

Interview with David Godman

With the kind permission of David Godman, below is an abridged extract from an interview with him conducted by Rob Sacks. David Godman is regarded as the foremost living authority on the life and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and has written and edited a number of books in this respect.



“I was born in 1953 in Stoke-on-Trent, a British city of about 300,000, located about halfway between Birmingham and Manchester. My father was a schoolmaster and my mother was a physiotherapist who specialised in treating physically handicapped children. Both of my parents are dead. I have one sister who is a year older than me. She is a former professional mountaineer who now teaches mountain and wilderness skills and occasionally leads groups to exotic and inaccessible places. My younger sister, now 43, teaches in a college in England, although nowadays she apparently spends most of her time monitoring the competence of other teachers, which I assume doesn't make her very popular.

I was educated at local schools and in 1972 won a place at Oxford University, where I did very little academic work, but had an enormous amount of fun. Sometime in my second year there I found myself getting more and more interested in Eastern spiritual traditions. I seemed to have an insatiable hunger for knowledge about them that resulted in massive bookstore bills, which I couldn't really afford, but not much satisfaction. Then, one day, I took home a copy of Arthur Osborne's The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in his Own Words. Reading Ramana's words for the first time completely silenced me. My mind stopped asking questions, and it abandoned its search for spiritual information. It somehow knew that it had found what it was looking for.

I have to explain this properly. It wasn't that I had found a new set of ideas that I believed in. It was more of an experience in which I was pulled into a state of silence. In that silent space I knew directly and intuitively what Ramana's words were hinting and pointing at. Because this state itself was the answer to all my questions, and any other questions I might come up with, the interest in finding solutions anywhere else dropped away. I suppose I must have read the book in an afternoon, but by the time I put it down it had completely transformed the way I viewed myself and the world.

The experiences I was having made me understand how invalid were the academic techniques of acquiring and evaluating knowledge. I could see that the whole of academia was based on some sort of reductionism: separating something big into its little component parts, and then deriving conclusions about how the "big something" really worked. It's a reasonable approach for comprehending mechanical things, such as a car engine, but I understood - and knew by direct experience - that it was a futile way of gaining an understanding of oneself and the world we appear to be in. When I went through my academic textbooks after having these experiences, there was such a massive resistance both to their contents and to the assumptions that lay behind them, I knew I could no longer even read them, much less study them in order to pass exams. It wasn't an intellectual judgement on their irrelevance, it was more of a visceral disgust that physically prevented me from reading more than a few lines.

David Godman, Tiruvannamalai June 2010

I dropped out in my final year at Oxford, went to Ireland with my Ramana books, and spent about six months reading Ramana's teachings and practicing his technique of self-inquiry. I had just inherited a small amount from my grandmother so I didn't need to work that year. I rented a small house in a rural area, grew my own food, and spent most of my time meditating. This was 1975. At the end of that year my landlady reclaimed her house and I went to Israel. I wanted to go somewhere sunny and warm for the winter, and then return to Ireland the following spring. I worked on a kibbutz on the Dead Sea and while I was there decided I could have a quick trip to India and Ramanasramam before I went back to Ireland. I figured out the costs and realised I couldn't afford it unless another 200 Pounds appeared from somewhere. I decided that if Bhagavan wanted me to go to India, he would send me the money. Within a week I received a letter from my grandmother's lawyer saying that he had just found some shares that she owned, and that my share of them would be 200 Pounds. I came to India, expecting to stay six weeks, and have been here more or less ever since.”


Questions:

RS: You said that you spent six months practicing self-inquiry based on your reading of Sri Ramana's books. Were you able to get a good understanding of the method from your reading? I ask because this seems to be difficult for most people. Did you need to modify your understanding later when you went to Sri Ramanasramam?

DG: I did find it hard to practise self-inquiry merely by reading books simply because I did not have access to much material. I had at that time only managed to find Arthur Osborne's three books on Ramana. Though they explained most aspects of the teachings quite well, I don't think that Osborne had a good understanding of self-inquiry. He seemed to think that concentrating on the heart center on the right side of the chest while doing self-inquiry was an integral part of the process. When I later read Bhagavan's answers in books such as ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’ and ‘Day by Day with Bhagavan’, I realized that he specifically advised against this particular practice. Overall, though, I got a good grounding from these books. I had a passion to follow the practice and a deep faith in Bhagavan. I think that this elicited grace from Bhagavan and kept me on the right path. If the attitude is right and if the practice is intense enough, it doesn't really matter what you do when you meditate. The purity of intent and purpose carries you to the right place.

RS: If someone wants to learn self-inquiry, what should they read?

DG: I don't know what book I would recommend to new people who want to start self-inquiry. ‘Be As You Are’ is certainly a good start since it was designed for Westerners who have had no previous exposure to Bhagavan and his teachings. There is also a book by Sadhu Om: ‘The Path of Sri Ramana Part One’. It is a little dogmatic in places but it covers all the basic points well. Self-inquiry is a bit like swimming or riding a bicycle. You don't learn it from books. You learn it by doing it again and again till you get it right.

Arunachala brought me here in the same way it brought Ramana here. And it has kept me here for most of the last 25 years. I have occasionally left to be with teachers in other places: Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay, Lakshmana Swamy in Andhra Pradesh, Papaji in Lucknow, but Arunachala has always brought me back here afterwards. It's my spiritual center of gravity. I can make an effort to be somewhere else if I feel I would spiritually benefit from it, but when I stop making that effort, the natural pull of Arunachala brings me back here again. It's the only place in the world that I feel truly at home.

Arunachala has been attracting people for well over 1,500 years. Ramana liked to quote a saint of about 500 years ago who wrote in one of his verses, "Arunachala, you draw to yourself all those who are rich in jnana tapas." Jnana tapas can be translated as the extreme efforts made by those who are in search of liberation.

There are dozens of teachers nowadays who tour the world touting their experiences and their teachings. Many of them trace their lineage back to Ramana Maharshi via Papaji. And where did Ramana Maharshi's power and authority come from? From Arunachala, his own Guru and God. He explicitly stated that it was the power of Arunachala that brought about his own Self-realization. He wrote poems extolling its greatness, and in the last 54 years of his life, he never moved more than a mile and a half away from its base. So, it is the power of Arunachala that is the true source of the power that now appears as "advaita messengers" all over the world.

For me, this is the world's great power spot. Arunachala has brought about the liberation of several advanced seekers in the past few centuries, and its radiant power remains even today as a beacon for those who want to find out who they really are.

If you ask people, ‘What are Sri Ramana’s teachings?’ who have become acquainted with his life and work, you might get several answers such as "advaita" or "self-inquiry." I don't think Sri Ramana's teachings were either a belief system or a philosophy, such as advaita, or a practice, such as self-inquiry.

Sri Ramana himself would say that his principal teaching was silence, by which he meant the wordless radiation of power and grace that he emanated all the time. The words he spoke, he said, were for the people who didn't understand these real teachings. Everything he said was therefore a kind of second-level teaching for people who were incapable of dissolving their sense of "I" in his powerful presence. You may understand his words, or at least think that you do, but if you think that these words constitute his teachings, then you have really misunderstood him.

I have come to the conclusion that Bhagavan brought me to Tiruvannamalai to write about him and his disciples. I have learned this the hard way. I went back to England twenty years ago, hoping to earn enough money to come back to India and not do any work here. Nobody was willing to hire me to do anything. I even flunked an interview for picking up litter in the London zoo. But as soon as I had the idea of writing a book about Bhagavan, everything fell into place. Though I had never written anything in my life, I was given a contract by a major publisher and sent back to India to write about him. That's how, ‘Be As You Are’ came into existence.

Whenever I do work on Bhagavan or his disciples, everything goes well. Whenever I try to do something else, so many problems come up, nothing ever gets accomplished or completed.

Having learned this from experience, I have now surrendered to this destiny. I enjoy the work, and many, many people seem to appreciate the books. I asked Papaji years ago whether writing all these books on Bhagavan was a distraction for the mind.

He replied, "Any association with Bhagavan is a blessing." I took that as an instruction to carry on with the work.”

To read more about David Godman and to view a list of his published works, please visit his website at:
http://www.davidgodman.org/

Periapuranam and Ramana

Someone asked Bhagavan whether he deliberately went in for a study of Periapuranam. Thereupon Bhagavan said, “No. No. It was a mere accident. A relation of mine, my uncle, was given the book by a swami who was living near our house and was advised to read it. Thus the book happened to be in our house and, coming across it, I looked into it first out of curiosity and then, becoming interested, read the whole book. It made a great impression on me.

One of the earliest photographs of
young Ramana Maharshi

Before that, the sixty-three images of the Nayanars in the Temple were mere images and no more. But afterwards, they gained new significance for me. I used to go and weep before those images and before Nataraja, that God should give me the same grace He gave to those saints. But this was after the ‘death’ experience. Before that, the bhakti for the six-three saints lay dormant, as it were.”

Mr. Somasundaram Pillai asked Bhagavan, “With what bhava did Bhagavan cry before those images? Did Bhagavan pray he should have no further birth, or what?” Bhagavan replied, “What bhava? I only wanted the same grace as was shown to those saints. I prayed I should have the same bhakti that they had. I knew nothing of freedom from birth or bondage.”

[Day by Day with Bhagavan -- 6-10-1946]

Swami Abhishiktananda

Swami Abhishiktananda was born Henri Le Saux 30th August, 1910, at St. Briac in Brittany in France. At an early age he felt a vocation to the priesthood and in 1929 he decided to become a monk and entered a Benedictine Monastery. In 1949 he visited Tiruvannamalai and Sri Ramana Maharshi, and his life took a decisive turn. His initial encounter with Ramana was enhanced by several retreats that he later took in caves on Arunachala. For an earlier post on Swami Abhishiktananda, click on Arunachala Secret.

"I regard this stay at Tiruvannamalai as being at one a real retreat and an initiation into Indian monastic life."

Swami Abhishiktananda spent periods both at the foot of Arunachala and in its various caves between 1949 and 1955, however, during those years his permanent residence was at the ashram of Shantivanam which he had co-founded in: "an attempt to integrate into Christianity the monastic tradition of India."

Later, Le Saux encountered other teachers in the tradition of non-dualism that included Gnanananda Giri of Tapovanam Ashram (not far from Shantivanam) and Poonja-ji. Le Saux considered Giri to be his guru and took the name of Abhishiktananda (Bliss of the anointed). In 1968 Swami Abhishiktananda left Shantivanam, to live the life of a hermit in the Himalayas near Uttarkashi. (Shantivanam was then taken over by Bede Griffiths (1906-1993), who focused on the complementarities of religions and through whose presence the ashram gained world-wide renown).

Swami Abhishiktananda left Shantivanam, to live the life of a hermit in the Himalayas near Uttarkashi. (Shantivanam was then taken over by Bede Griffiths (1906-1993), who focused on the complementarities of religions and through whose presence the ashram gained world-wide renown).

Of Arunachala; Swami Abhishiktananda was to say:

' . . . the South (Arunachala) is my "birth-place".'

And of his own spiritual experience at the sacred Hill, he was to write:

"Anyone who is the recipient of this overwhelming Light is at once petrified and shattered; he can say nothing, he cannot think anymore; he just remains there, outside space and time, alone in the very aloneness of the Alone; it is an unbelievable experience, this sudden revelation of Arunachala's infinite pillar of light and fire."

“Everything has become clear. There is only the Awakening. All that is notional – myths and concepts – is only its expression. There is neither heaven nor earth, there is only Purusha, which I am… ”

His Sayings:

"God is too close to us. That is why we constantly fail to find him. We turn God into an object — and God escapes our grasp. We turn him into an idea — but ideas pass him by."

"The present moment is all that matters; tomorrow is God's business."

The Pilgrim

Remember that with every step,
You are nearing God.
And when you take one step towards Him
God takes ten steps towards you.


There is no halting place in the pilgrimage!
It is one continuous journey,
Through day and night,
Through tears and smiles,
Through death and birth,
Through tomb and womb.
When the road ends and the goal is gained,

The pilgrim finds
That he has travelled
From himself to himself,
That was long and lonesome;
But God that led him unto,
Was all the while in him
Around him, with him and beside him.
He himself was always Divine.

[By Sri Sathya Sai Baba]

Blueprints for Awakening

The recently published book ‘Blueprints for Awakening,’ compiled by Premananda comprises dialogues with Indian Masters on the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

The Masters are: Ajja, Ramesh Balsekar, Brahmam, Sw. Dayananda, Ganesan, D.B. Gangolli, Kiran, Sri Nannagaru, Sw. Pramananda, Radha Ma, Samdarshi, Sw. Satchidananda, Ma Souris, Swami Suddhananda, Thuli Baba

The questions relate to the major topics which one meets on the spiritual journey: Awakening, Self-enquiry, the nature of the mind and the world, guru and devotion. For details about purchasing this book, go to this link here.

Excerpt from the book part of interview with Radha Ma:


Question: It has been suggested that the mind must be destroyed for liberation to occur. Do you have a mind?

Radha Ma: No, no. The mind is illusion. The mind does not exist anymore. I don't know what mind is.

Question: You say that you don't have mind; if you got in a car then you could drive the car, right? When you worked as a tax officer you could work with computers and with figures and calculations, right? So for doing those kinds of things you need a mind.

Radha Ma: Sure, also I have a point of view to answer all these questions and I should have a dictionary in my mind to speak all these words, right? But it comes spontaneously from consciousness, from my inner being. It's not through the mind. Mind always manipulates, judges; nothing of this happens here. Before I answer a question I don't have to think whether I am right or wrong, nothing like that. That is the problem with the mind. The mind always calculates and manipulates, but when something comes from spontaneity - the mind never existed here. I don't know whether I am right or wrong from your point of view, I don't care about it either. There is no judgement, nothing. It just happens.

Question: When you say you don't have a mind, do you mean that you don't have the memories, experiences, worries, conditionings and knowledge that society and teachers gave you? Are you saying that you have a mind in the sense you can do things when you need to, to operate your body?

Radha Ma: Yes, that has been taken care of, but there have also been so many days that I have lived without food. I am beyond the physical and beyond the mental, the mind cannot be here now. All these emotions and attachments are transcended. I don't want to say that I am different; the moment I say that I don't have mind I feel I am different from you. It feels ugly to say it, but it is true.

Question: Could you say, 'I am not attached to my mind'?

Radha Ma: No, there is no mind at all to be attached to! Attachment is a different thing. I don't have a mind at all, it does not exist, it's an illusion. And once you cut off that illusion, where does it come from? There is no mind at all. It is just an illusion.

Question: Are you telling me that since you were very young you never really had a mind? You never really lived in your thoughts?

Radha Ma: No. No thoughts. I don't know how to explain it more than that. I didn't have words to explain those stages. I was what I was. Maybe what I was when I was a child and what I am today are the same. There is no difference in me, I am the same. So what you say about the mind is relative. I don't find that the world or mind exist for me, but as the body is in the world, you think I am in the world. And because I talk, you think that I have mind too. Apparently it looks like that, but it is not.

Question: When you worked in the tax office it looked like you had a mind to do these complicated calculations.

Radha Ma: Nothing of the sort. It is being taken care of. In fact I didn't study much about these things. I didn't even study computers. The moment I wanted to learn about computers I went to a hardware training institute. My lecturers objected. They told me, 'You are a tax consultant and don't have any electronics background so we can't teach you. You need some electronics background.'

But after a few days it was as if I knew the subject best in the class. I was even correcting the master; I told him that he was wrong in so many things. He was really shocked and he thought that I had learned it somewhere else and that I was there teasing him. (both laugh) This really happened, I am not joking! Actually they thought that I had learned it somewhere else and was coming to class to annoy these people, but I was not. The moment I had made the decision to learn it, the knowledge came to me.

Then I found that there is no need for me to learn anything. Whether in this world or another world there is no need to learn. Everything is already available. When you use a computer you use a server. I am a client, so I receive whatever record is being sent by the server - that's what happens. The ultimate takes care of that. I don't have anything of my own, just a monitor is enough. So whatever the server sends, the client receives it, that's it! I need not have a CPU (central processing unit) of my own.

Question: When Western people come with their minds, their sufferings, their worries, tensions and fears, can you understand immediately that this is an illusion, that this is not true? What do you say to them?

Radha Ma: Whether a person is Western or Indian, all suffering and pain are illusions. You are dreaming and you believe that you are having a nightmare; you dream that a tiger is chasing you, but it is an illusionary tiger and illusionary fear too. Any suffering, whether it is Western or Indian or whatever, is like that; all suffering is illusion. You imagine you suffer, that's it. There is no suffering really. Everything is perfect in you.

Everything is exactly as it should be! Yes, it is perfect. I can say that you are dreaming. I can say it one hundred and one times but still you dream and still you are frightened of the tiger; you can't help it, because it is perfect and it should be like that.

You yourself will wake up from the dream one day and see that all those times you were chased and frightened by an imaginary tiger! But everything is perfect. It is perfect for you to be afraid now. It is perfect for you to have the nightmare now. We can't say that it is wrong, it is perfect.

Question: Are you saying that you accept whatever comes, whether it be happy or unhappy, sad, angry or blissful?

Radha Ma: Mind is illusion, so why are you bothered if mind is angry or not, or whether it is jealous or suspicious? The mind itself is illusory, so why should you be bothered by this negative quality of the mind? Everything is perfect. Mind is like this. Mind can be angry or peaceful, mind can be happy or unhappy. But it is illusion. How to say something is good or something is bad in the illusion? This illusion is illusion, it is still illusion, and it is perfect whatever comes.

Question: What do you say to somebody that comes to you? You tell them that it is an illusion, but still they are suffering and they come every day to see you with this pain. The pain is there from something which they believe so strongly that they can't just throw it away. What do you say to them?

Radha Ma: I say the same thing to them: it is all perfect! You suffered, it's perfect. You trusted, it's perfect. So many people seek in the world and then come back. They say, 'We have meditated for ten years and we didn't get it,' and they are frustrated. And this frustration is perfect. I can say that your seeking is a waste, but this is not real for you. My knowledge and my Truth is not real for you, it is not your Truth; you have to find out your own Truth.

So I say this, 'What you are seeking is stupidity, there is no enlightenment,' but still your mind can't accept that. You meditate for one week and there is no enlightenment, so the mind says 'Why should I meditate?' So you stop meditating and then next week the mind comes back and says, 'What you are doing is rubbish. You have to sit and meditate.'

That's what the mind says, so you follow the mind. It is that which is going to give you the happiness, not me! My Truth is mine and your Truth is yours and until you find out the Truth for yourself you have to walk on the path.

Suppose you start off from home and I say that this is your home and that you need not travel anywhere; you can't accept this, you have to travel, you have to get fed up and be frustrated and come back to the same place and realise that this is the home from where you actually started. It's perfect. You have to find out for yourself. It is the mind, that is what the mind is.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

A simple man, Nisargadatta Maharaj, was a householder and petty shopkeeper in Bombay where he lived, and died in 1981 at the age of 84. Hundreds of diverse seekers traveled the globe and sought him out in his unpretentious home to hear him. To all of them he gave hope that "beyond the real experience is not the mind, but the self, the light in which everything appears...the awareness in which everything happens."

"Nisargadatta Maharaj is my greatest teacher. His words guide my writing, speaking, and all of my relationships. The singular pursuit of the awakened person is to find that part of himself or herself that cannot be destroyed by death. I know of no one who can aid you more on that journey than Nisargadatta Maharaj.

[Dr. Wayne Dyer]

Excerpt from a fascinating interview with David Godman with the sage entitled, Remembering Nisargadatta Maharaj. To read the full interview, go to this link here.


Question: What was Maharaj's attitude to Ramana Maharshi and his teachings? Did you ever discuss Bhagavan's teachings with him?

Answer: He had enormous respect for both his attainment and his teachings. He once told me that one of the few regrets of his life was that he never met him in person. He did come to the ashram in the early 1960s with a group of his Marathi devotees. They were all on a South Indian pilgrimage tour and Ramanasramam was one of the places he visited.

With regard to the teachings he once told me, 'I agree with everything that Ramana Maharshi said, with the exception of this business of the heart-centre being on the right side of the chest. I have never had that experience myself.'

I have to mention Ganesan's visit here. V. Ganesan is the grandnephew of Ramana Maharshi and in the 1970s he was the de facto manager of Ramanasramam. Nowadays, his elder brother Sundaram is in charge. Ganesan came to visit Maharaj for the first time in the late 1970s. As soon as he arrived Maharaj stood up and began to collect cushions. He made a big pile of them and made Ganesan sit on top of the heap. Then, much to everyone's amazement, Maharaj cleared a space on the floor and did a full-length prostration to him.

When he stood up, he told Ganesan, 'I never had a chance to prostrate to your great-uncle Ramana Maharshi, so I am prostrating to you instead. This is my prostration to him.'

Periapuranam

According to Tamil literature, the famed Periapuranam was written during the thirteenth century and narrates the stories of 63 Nayanmars (Saivite saints) who achieved enlightenment through the path of devotion to Lord Shiva. The Nayanmars came from varied backgrounds ranging from kings and soldiers to untouchables – and in this way it shows that enlightenment depends not on caste or education but merely upon intensity and devotion to God. The reading of the Periapuranam is regarded as an inspirational aid to devotion and is famed throughout Tamil Nadu.


Sri Ramana Maharshi on Periapuranam

"I was not aware that experience of the Self was categorized and described variously. I was not familiar with philosophic terms like "Brahman" nor what an attributeless Truth meant. I was not aware that the individual Self and Easwara were one. I had an awareness of Easwara but not that it was the atma itself. One cannot say whether the thought process (mind) became extinct or was in abeyance. The Self was being experienced without any effort. In a sense it was abidance in the Self. It was the experience of the unbroken atma in the words of Sankara. In Jnana Vasishta it is described as "sattva pathi

Did not Sankara and other self-realised persons worship God with attributes?" One moment it was submergence in the atma at the next it was in God. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa also confirmed the last stages of saints and sages to be similar.

Other than Periapuranam I had not studied any other spiritual text by then. I had only heard of the Infinite Being with attributes as described therein. I had not heard of any attributeless Truth. Even while being conscious of the external world I was in the presence of Easwara — with no agony, or emotion." [Ramana Maharshi]

Occasionally I will relate stories from the Periapuranam, and to begin with below is the story of the Nayanmar, Ilayankudi Mara. [To read a previous story about the Nayanmar Poosalar go to this link here.]

Ilayankudi Mara Nayanar

Ilayankudi Mara Nayanar was a farmer and a great devotee of Lord Siva and His devotees and took great pleasure in serving them. Nayanar had been blessed with great wealth but considered it belonged to the Lord, to be utilized for the benefit of His devotees.

Lord Siva was highly pleased with the Nayanar’s devotion. He wanted to show to the world that His devotee would be undaunted by the worst calamity and would remain unshaken in his virtue. Nayanar’s wealth melted away. But although his wealth had left him, not only did he retain his great virtue, but it grew even more intense. Nayanar sold all his property in order to be able to serve the devotees of the Lord.

One day it was raining and Nayanar and his wife were starving. No one came forward to help them. Finally, he bolted the door and was about to fall asleep. Just then he heard a knock at the door, and, on opening it, found a Siva Bhakta standing in front of the house, drenched with rain. Nayanar at once took the guest inside, dried his body and gave him fresh clothes to wear. ‘Rest awhile, Swami, while we prepare some food for you to appease your hunger,’ said Nayanar and told his wife of his predicament: there was nothing to offer the devotee of the Lord. But, the devout wife suggested that Nayanar could go into the backyard and collect the grain-seeds that they had just sown that very day. Nayanar accepted the suggestion. On account of the heavy rain, the grains were floating and it was easy to collect them in a basket. As soon as he brought the grains, the wife fried and crushed them, and with the help of some greens that grew in their own backyard, cooked a nice dinner for the guest.

Nayanar was supremely happy. And, as he went to awaken the guest, he discovered that he had disappeared. And then Nayanar saw in the sky, Lord Siva who had come in the form of the devotee with Mother Parvati. Both were showering their blessing on him and his wife. The Lord said: ‘Oh noble souls, I am highly pleased with your devotion. You will soon attain My Abode and live there for ever.’

Pearls of the Guru

"A real guru is like an ice cube. He cools your consciousness and then disappears without a trace." [Chitrabhanu-ji]

"Everyone has his own path, his mission, and even if you take your Master as a model, you must always develop in a way that suits your own nature."
[Aïvanhov]

"My Guru became my all-in-all, my home, mother and father, everything. All my senses left their places, and concentrated themselves in my eyes, and my sight was centred on him. Thus my guru was the sole object of my meditation and I was conscious of none else. While meditating on him my mind and intellect were silent and I had thus, to keep quiet and bow to him in silence."
[Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi]

"Everything in the world was my Guru. Don't you know that Dattatreya, when he was asked by the king which Guru had taught him the secret of bliss, replied that the earth, water, fire, animals, men, etc., all were his Gurus and went on explaining how some of these taught him to cling to what was good and others taught him what things he should avoid as bad."
[Ramana Maharshi]

"This beggar prays to his Father to bless you all who have come here. My Lord Rama blesses you, My Father blesses you. Arunachaleswara blesses you. It doesn't matter to me what name it is. All the blessings of my Father for all of you! Well, that is the end. That is all."
[Yogi Ramsuratkumar]

Pathala Lingam Photographs

I have made previous posting referring to the famous Pathala Lingam at Arunachaleswarar Temple, the most recent of which can be found at this link here.


On a recent visit to Arunachaleswarar Temple with friends who were visiting Tiruvannamalai for the first time, took the below photographs of the Pathala Lingam itself.


The below is of the Pathala Lingam in the 1940s before its renovation. Its condition is similar to how it would have been during the time Sri Maharshi performed his tapas at the Lingam.

"The background of Sri Pathala lingam is connected to a mutt that belonged to the Thondaimandala Vellalas where the thousand pillared hall stands. The head of the mutt, Azhiavradam Poonda Tambiran lived here, worshipping the Sivalinga and spreading Saiva philosophy. The Sivalinga he worshipped was the samadhi of a jnani. When Krishna Deva Raya of Vijayanaar wished to build the thousand pillared hall in the Temple, he purchased the mutt from the Vellalas and gave them lands to build another mutt. Inscriptions inside this hall describe this event. Not wishing to disturb the lingam, the construction workers raised the floor around it. The lingam then came to be at a lower level and was henceforth called Pathala Lingam. This shrine become the meditation place of Sri Ramana Maharsi soon after he came to Tiruvannamalai in 1896."

[Extract from “Arunachalam” by Shivani]

In the next photograph the Pathala Lingam is in the foreground and the background corner is where Ramana Maharshi sat in meditation.

“Eventually he moved into an underground cell in the courtyard of the first prakaram of the Thousand Pillared Mandapam of the Arunachaleswara Temple. The dark, sheltered spot was known as Pathala Lingam and it was here that became his place of meditation. Sitting in that dark, damp cell for hours at a stretch completely lost in samadhi, his body developed sores and worms crawled out of his raw flesh. Local urchins began to pelt him with stones. The intensity of the Swami’s tapasya started to receive attention and it was at this time that Sri Seshadri Swamigal entered Venkataraman’s life.” To read this short biography of Sri Ramana Maharshi click here.

One Look

In an earlier posting, Samudram Evening, I mentioned various interesting facts about this water reservoir area located south of Arunachala. Its a significant spot for many reasons and has several stories associated with it. I include below the narrative, 'One Look' - by T.K. Sundaresa about a conversation during a walk to Samudram Erie with Sri Ramana:

‘Bhagavan talked of many things on that walk [to the Samudram Lake] with us, but at this distance of time I remember only two topics that interested me.

At one place He pointed out a palmyra tree which had decayed in the embrace of a parasitic banyan tree. Some bird had dropped a banyan seed into the palmyra, and as it began to grow the palmyra became cloven and stunted in its own growth. Drawing our attention to this phenomenon, Bhagavan remarked that this is just what the look of Grace from a Jnani does. One look into a soul, and the whole tree of past tendencies and prejudices (vasana), gathered up through long cycles of past births, is burned up and decays away. Then the reality of the Self is experienced.


Thus He explained to us the effect of contact with the Great and He said the supreme Jnana obtained with the touch of the Saint can never be won through the study of any number of Scriptures, or by any store of good deeds, or by any other spiritual practices and efforts. Later, on return to the Ashram, I put this in verse form as below:

“A bird drops seed upon a tree and causes its decay.
So Guru's grace rays knowledge into the seeking mind.
Replacing ego-shadows with resplendent Jnana's light.”’

[T.K. Sundaresa Iyer -- At the Feet of Bhagavan]

Power of Self Enquiry

Annamalai Swami (1906-1995) since his childhood had a natural inclination towards spirituality. He came to Sri Ramana in 1928 and got a job with the Ashram. After being closely involved in many construction projects he shifted to Palakottu near the Ashram to live alone and meditate:-

‘In 1928, a wandering sadhu gave me a copy a Upadesa Undiyar by Sri Ramana. It contained a photo of the Maharshi. As soon as I saw the photo I had the feeling that this was my Guru. Simultaneously, an intense desire arose within me to go and see him. That night I had a dream in which I saw the Maharshi walking from the lower slopes of the hill towards the Ashram. Next morning I decided to go and have his darshan.

Having arrived at about 1 p.m., when I approached the hall, a part of the dream I had repeated itself in real life. I saw Bhagavan walk down at me in silence for about 10-15 minutes, I had a great feeling of physical relief and relaxation. It was like immersing myself in a cool pool after being in the hot sun. I asked for permission to stay, which was granted and I a got as Bhagavan's attendant. At that time Madhava Swami was doing the job by himself.

About ten days after my arrival I asked Bhagavan how I could attain Self-realisation? He replied, "If you give up identifying with the body and meditate on the Self, you can attain Self-realisation." As I was pondering over these remarks, Bhagavan supervised me by saying, "I was waiting for you. I was wondering when you would come." As a newcomer I was too afraid to ask him how he knew, or how long he had been waiting. But I was delighted to hear him speak like this because it seemed to indicate that it was my destiny to stay with him.

A few days later asked, "Scientists have invented and produced the aircraft which can travel at great speed in the sky. Why do you not give us a spiritual aircraft in which we can quickly and easily cross over the sea of samsara?" Bhagavan replied, "The path of self-enquiry is the aircraft you need. It is direct, fast, and easy to use. You are already travelling very quickly towards realisation. It is only because of your mind that it seems that there is no movement." In the years that followed, I had many spiritual talks with Bhagavan but his basic message never changed. It was always: "Do self-enquiry, stop identifying with the body and try to be aware of the Self, which is your real nature."’

Arunagirinatha Temple and Ayyankulam Tank

Arunagirinatha Temple is the third oldest Shiva Temple at Tiruvannamalai. Some say of it; Adi Annamalai Temple is the Head, Arunachaleswarar Temple is the body and Arunagirinatha Temple is the feet.

In front of this ancient, fascinating Temple is the Ayyankulam Tank which is famous for being favoured during Deepam as the Tank upon which the murtis of the Gods enjoy a leisurely rest on their float.

In more recent times the Ayyankulam Tank is famous for its association with Sri Ramana Maharshi as it is the place at which he became a sannyasin.

“Venkataraman detrained at Villuparam (near Pondicherry) for food and thereafter decided to walk. By sunset he arrived at Araiyaninallur Temple where he remained for meditation and later went to the nearby village of Kilur. The next day after pledging his earrings for four rupees he entrained for Tiruvannamalai arriving before noon on September 1, 1896. Immediately he went towards the Arunachaleswarar Temple and it was nearby at the Ayyankulam tank that Venkataraman tore his dress to make a kaupinam, threw everything else away including his remaining money and his Brahman sacred thread, and allowed a barber to give him a tonsure.” To read more click here.

Nowadays the Temple is surrounded by a cluster of new housing which sadly partly obstructs the view of Arunachala.

But perhaps one of the most curious tales associated with this ancient Temple is of the floor of this store room in the below photograph. It is believed that under this very floor is a tunnel (now sealed) which leads into the Arunachaleswarar Temple compound.

More information about this fascinating, ancient Temple to come.

Sastrigal Mama (Sri Venkateswara Sarma)

I recently read this narrative about a famous astrologer who was also a devotee of Ramana Maharshi, and find it very interesting so am herein posting it below:

"Sri Venkateswara Sarma (Sastrigal Mama) was an exceptional and astounding astrologer. From childhood he exhibited a rare genius in this field. While still very young, his extraordinary intelligence enabled him to master the most abstruse and difficult branch of astrology. All, including his guru, declared him as the wisest student.

Prasna is an astrological science based on a perfect fruition between mathematics and intuition. With just some meagre information from the questioner, which includes only the first word of the question, a Prasna astrologer can, within seconds, draw up mentally a horoscope. This requires great mathematical precision and perfection. Having drawn the horoscope within his mind, and in a flash also having studied it, the astrologer will have to wait, prayerfully. Then, from the depths of his inner intuition words gush forth, forming the astrological predictions for the questioner. As this Prasna process is not merely based on mathematical horoscopes, it culminates in intuitional revelation, and the predictions are said to be amazingly accurate and correct to the minutest detail. Sri Sastrigal Mama was highly proficient in this system of astrology.

He once described it to me by citing this example: One day a merchant came to his house while he was engaged offering worship in his puja room. His wife informed him that one Nagappa Chettiar was waiting on the verandah and that he seemed worried about some urgent matter. Not willing to interrupt his worship, and by merely listening to the name and the few details given by his wife, Sri Sastrigal Mama, within a minute, began giving the following prediction:

"Tell Nagappa Chettiar that he has come to inquire about his lost, costly diamond ring. He suspects his servant. Assure him that no one has stolen it. In his garden, near the well, there are two rows of plantain trees. On one side there are only two trees; on the other there is a cluster of trees. Let him search under the two trees and the diamond ring will be found there. While he was cleaning his clothes on the washing stone the ring slipped off his finger and fell to the ground."

Nagappa Chettiar returned home and found the ring exactly where Sri Sastrigal Mama had said, and because of this and similar astounding predictions Sri Sastrigal Mama became quite famous. He also became convinced that the Prasna branch of astrology was the most perfect science.

At the height of his career he heard about Sri Ramana Maharshi. When he first saw Sri Bhagavan's picture he was immediately captivated and traveled to Arunachala to see the Sage. He climbed up to Skandashram, where Bhagavan then resided. On the very first look that the Maharshi gave him, Sri Sastrigal Mama became his slave. He had a strong desire to stay with the Maharshi permanently, renouncing everything he held dear. Yet, there was still his lifelong attraction to the science of astrology. He felt distracted by it and did not know how to proceed.

One day, gathering courage, he approached Sri Maharshi in all humility and said, "Bhagavan, is not astrology the best and most accurate of all sciences?"

In silence Bhagavan looked at him deeply for some time. Then, slowly but firmly, he replied: "The science of the Self is superior to all other sciences."

It was the peak period in Sri Sastrigal Mama's life. For every prediction he was richly rewarded and was consequently acquiring immense wealth. Nevertheless, the words from the Master convinced him immediately to renounce his lucrative profession and pursue the science of the Self. His wife too fully supported him in this decision. The remainder of their life they lived in utter poverty at the holy feet of the Sat-Guru, under the protective shade of the Sacred Mountain, Arunachala."

[By V. Ganesan]