More Ramana Reminiscences Uniqueness of Bhagavan - Dr. TMP Mahadevan

Bhagavan was unique. He was unique in that he was not unique. What struck even a casual visitor to the Ashram was Bhagavan’s naturalness. He did not impress any one as if he were non-natural, even supra-natural. There was no affectation at all in Sri Ramana. Let me illustrate what I mean. In South India sadhus refer to themselves, while speaking, in the third person. They would say ‘this was walking’ or ‘this wants to go there’ while referring to themselves. They would not use the first person singular ‘I’. But Bhagavan quite naturally used to say ‘I go’, ‘I walk’, ‘I sit’ and so on. One who has the experience of the plenary illumination constantly, naturally, has no use for such affectations. And always he used to behave in the most natural manner. There was nothing which would make others think that there was some unnaturalness about Bhagavan. But yet once in his presence there was no need for prompting from outside. One would be convinced in one’s own heart that one was in the presence of the non-dual Reality. Now, this was an experience that almost everyone had in the presence of Bhagavan.

He was an open book for all at all times. He did not make any distinction between what is private and what is public. So far as Bhagavan was concerned, there was no privacy. In those days, devotees used to be with him in the small meditation hall all day and night. We used to sleep in the same hall where we used to sit during daytime. And he was a silent witness to all that happened around him. Any one could walk in at any time. He was easily accessible not only to humans but also to animals. Squirrels used to play with him. The cow Lakshmi used to walk in at her own pleasure. The monkeys used to come into the Ashram without any let or hindrance. Bhagavan remarked about a trespassing cow, "Who is to be taken to task? If you had no fence and the cow walked in through your garden, who was responsible for this, you or the cow?"

Bhagavan’s love and grace knew no limits. In his presence there was no high and no low. All were the same. There was no distinction between a Maharaja of old days who visited him and the rustics who wanted to have his darshan. He could understand to language of the mute creation. In earlier days when he was on the Hill Arunachala, the monkeys used to go to him for arbitration. This shows how Bhagavan taught the plenary experience to others — the experience which makes no distinction between one level of creation and another.

Others might think that Bhagavan practiced austerities during the early years of his stay in Arunachala, that his Mauna, silence, was deliberate, that his sitting posture for days and weeks in the sub-terranean temple was sadhana, but some of us have heard him say that all this was not tapasya, although it seemed to be so. The time factor did not enter into the realization of Bhagavan. There was no earlier preparation; there was no evolution thereafter. Of what is referred to in Advaita as sadyomukti, instantaneous release, we had a glowing example in Bhagavan Sri Ramana. One does not know what led to this instantaneous illumination. There was no growth, no procedural technique, no yogic meditation, no other sadhana. All of a sudden, the experience came without his inviting it. Now, this is unique; the entire history of sagehood holds no parallel. A boy at school who had no particular interest in spirituality, who was not even a brilliant boy in studies, that such a lad should, all of a sudden, become transformed into a sage, I think, is unique. And what was the nature of the realization? It admitted no stages, required no effort. It was all complete. Completeness, fullness was there when Sri Ramana had in a trice solved the mystery of death. Nachiketa had to go to Yama, wait at his house for three days and nights, and put to him questions. The fear of death was only an occasion for solving the mystery. The non-dual Self which knows no death and no birth came to Sri Ramana in a flash; but that did not vanish like a flash, it remained as His sahajasthiti.

All the teachings of all the sages are put in a capsule form in his single sloka, which says that in the cave of the heart Brahman shines. He made known to sadhakas the hardavidya. He was the one who discovered that the spiritual heart is the Self itself. The hridaya is the non-dual spiritual Self. The ‘I’ is manifest in the region of the heart. When a person refers to himself he points to the right side of the chest. The ‘I’ shines in the heart; the Self is manifest in the cave of the heart. This manifestation of the Self in the form of ‘I’ is direct, immediate to every one. It does not require any belief, or faith or creed. One need not read Sastra to realize it, one realizes it every moment.

© "The Ramana Way" (July, 2003) published by Ramana Maharshi Center for Learning, Ramana Maharshi Heritage Building, Post Office Road, Sanjay Nagar, Bangalore 560 094. Website: www.ramanacentre.org. Reprinted with permission.

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