Ramana Maharhi

by Anand Swaroop Manchiraju

Title

Ramana Maharhi

Artist

Anand Swaroop Manchiraju

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Art

Description

RAMANA MAHARHI, DIGITAL ART
Early years (1879�1896)
Temple of Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu
Family background

Ramana Maharshi was born Venkataraman Iyer on 30 December 1879[note 6] in the village Tiruchuzhi near Aruppukkottai, Madurai in Tamil Nadu, South India. His birth came upon Arudra Darshanam day, the day of the Sight of Siva.[web 5] Venkataraman was the second of four children and born into an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. His father was Sundaram Iyer (1848�1890), from the lineage of Parashara, and his mother Azhagammal (?-1922). He had two brothers Nagaswamy (1877�1900) and Nagasundaram (1886�1953), along with a younger sister Alamelu (1891/92-1953). Venkataraman's father was a respected man in town and a court pleader by profession.[15]
Childhood (1879�1895)

Venkataraman was popular, good at sports, mischievous, and was very intelligent with an exceptional memory which enabled him to succeed in school without having to put in very much effort. He had a couple of unusual traits. When he slept, he went into such a deep state of unconsciousness that his friends could physically assault his body without waking him up. He also had an extraordinary amount of luck. In team games, whichever side he played for always won. This earned him the nickname 'Tanga-kai', which means 'golden hand'.[web 6]

When Venkataraman was about 11, his father sent him to live with his paternal uncle Subbaiyar in Dindigul because he wanted his sons to be educated in English so they would be eligible to enter government service, and only Tamil was taught at the village school in Tiruchuzhi. In 1891, when his uncle was transferred to Madurai, Venkataraman and his elder brother Nagaswami moved with him. In Dindigul, Venkataraman attended a British School.

In 1892, Venkataraman's father Sundaram Iyer suddenly fell seriously ill and unexpectedly died several days later at the age of 42.[16] For some hours after his father's death he contemplated the matter of death, and how his father's body was still there, but the 'I' was gone from it.
Awakening (1895�1896)

After leaving Scott's Middle School, Venkataraman went to the American Mission High School. One November morning in 1895, he was on his way to school when he saw an elderly relative and inquired where the relative had come from. The answer was "From Arunachala."[16] Krishna Bikshu describes Venkataraman's response:

The word 'Arunachala' was familiar to Venkataraman from his younger days, but he did not know where it was, what it looked like or what it meant. Yet that day that word meant to him something great, an inaccessible, authoritative, absolutely blissful entity. Could one visit such a place? His heart was full of joy. Arunachala meant some sacred land, every particle of which gave moksha. It was omnipotent and peaceful. Could one behold it? 'What? Arunachala? Where is it?' asked the lad. The relative was astonished, 'Don't you know even this?' and continued, 'Haven't you heard of Tiruvannamalai? That is Arunachala.' It was as if a balloon was pricked, the boy's heart sank.

A month later he came across a copy of Sekkizhar's Periyapuranam, a book that describes the lives of 63 Saivite saints, and was deeply moved and inspired by it.[17] During this period he began to visit, the nearby Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.[web 5]

Soon after, on 17 July 1896,[17] at age 16, Venkataraman had a life-changing experience. He spontaneously initiated a process of self-enquiry that culminated, within a few minutes, in his own permanent awakening. In one of his rare written comments on this process he wrote: '

Enquiring within Who is the seer? I saw the seer disappear leaving That alone which stands forever. No thought arose to say I saw. How then could the thought arise to say I did not see.[web 6]

In 1930, over a period of six weeks, Narasimha Swami had a series of conversations with Ramana on this experience. He summarised these conversations in his own words:[web 7][note 7]

It was in 1896, about 6 weeks before I left Madurai for good (to go to Tiruvannamalai-Arunachala) that this great change in my life took place. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house. I seldom had any sickness and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it nor was there any urge in me to find out whether there was any account for the fear. I just felt I was going to die and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or any elders or friends. I felt I had to solve the problem myself then and there. The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: 'Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies.' And at once I dramatised the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out still as though rigor mortis has set in, and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, and that neither the word 'I' nor any word could be uttered. 'Well then,' I said to myself, 'this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of the body, am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert, but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of I within me, apart from it. So I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit transcending it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit.' All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truths which I perceived directly almost without thought process. I was something real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with the body was centered on that I. From that moment onwards, the "I" or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death vanished once and for all. The ego was lost in the flood of Self-awareness. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time. Other thought might come and go like the various notes of music, but the I continued like the fundamental sruti note ["that which is heard" i.e. the Vedas and Upanishads] a note which underlies and blends with all other notes.[web 9]

According to David Godman, a more accurate exposition of this event is given in the Sri Ramana Leela, the Telugu biography of Ramana that was written by Krishna Bhikshu, which "is surprisingly short, but it does have interesting additions and variations from the English version that was recorded by Narasimha Swami":[web 8][note 8] [note 9]

In 1896, Nagaswami [Bhagavan�s older brother] married Janaki Ammal. The in-laws' place was Madurai itself. At the post-wedding festivities, Venkataraman was the fellow-bridegroom to his brother. [It was his] seventeenth year. [He] was studying for the Matriculation examination. Though [he was] not that studious a person, there was no fear of failing in the examination. [He was] well-built, [having] good health; half of July had passed.

On the upper story, Venkataraman was lying down. Nobody [else] was in there. Suddenly, it occurred to Venkataraman, 'I shall be dead'. There was no reason. 'Am dying!�
'There was no reason for feeling like that. It did not occur to me what that state was, and whether fear was proper or not. The thought of asking the elders or the doctors did not come. What is dying? How to escape it? This alone was the problem. There were no other thoughts. That very moment, [I] had to resolve it.'
'Dying means, the legs become stiff; lips become taut; eyes get closed. Breath stops. So it came into experience due to intensity of the strength of feeling. To me too, the legs became stiff, lips became taut, eyes got closed and breath stopped. But with consciousness not lost, everything was breaking forth clearly. (The activity of the outer sense-organs having gone, the in-turned perception became available.)�
'Even if this body dies, the I-consciousness will not go. The individuality- consciousness was clear. When the body is burnt and turned to ashes in the cremation ground, I will not become extinct. Because I am not the body.'
'Now the body is inert. Insentient; I, on the other hand, am sentient. Therefore, death is to the inert body, 'I' am [the] indestructible conscious entity.
'When the body gives up its activities, and the activities of the senses are not there, the knowledge that obtains is not senses-born. That 'flashing forth of I' is aparoksha. [It is] self-effulgent. Not a matter of imagination.
'The thing that is there after death is the eternal, real entity.' In this way, in one moment, new knowledge accrued to Venkataraman.
Although these ideas were expressed sequentially, this experience was obtained by Venkataraman spontaneously only.[web 8]

Ramana summarised his insight into "aham sphurana" (Self-awareness)[note 10] to a visitor in 1945:[web 8][note 11]

In the vision of death, though all the senses were benumbed, the aham sphurana (Self-awareness) was clearly evident, and so I realised that it was that awareness that we call "I", and not the body. This Self-awareness never decays. It is unrelated to anything. It is Self-luminous. Even if this body is burnt, it will not be affected. Hence, I realised on that very day so clearly that that was "I".[web 8]

At first, Ramana thought that he was possessed by a spirit, "which had taken up residence in his body".[web 7] This feeling remained for several weeks.[web 7] Later in life, he called his death experience akrama mukti, "sudden liberation", as opposed to the krama mukti, "gradual liberation" as in the Vedanta path of jnana yoga:[web 8][note 12]

�Some people,� he said, 'start off by studying literature in their youth. Then they indulge in the pleasures of the world until they are fed up with them. Next, when they are at an advanced age, they turn to books on Vedanta. They go to a guru and get initiated by him and then start the process of sravana, manana and nididhyasana, which finally culminates in samadhi. This is the normal and standard way of approaching liberation. It is called krama mukti [gradual liberation]. But I was overtaken by akrama mukti [sudden liberation] before I passed through any of the above-mentioned stages.'[web 8]

After this event, he lost interest in school-studies, friends, and relations. Avoiding company, he preferred to sit alone, absorbed in concentration on the Self, and went daily to the Meenakshi Temple, ecstatically devoted to the images of the Gods, tears flowing profusely from his eyes.[15]

Venkataraman�s elder brother, Nagaswamy, was aware of a great change in him and on several occasions rebuked him for his detachment from all that was going on around him. About six weeks after Venkataraman�s absorption into the Self, on 29 August 1896, he was attempting to complete a homework assignment which had been given to him by his English teacher for indifference in his studies. Suddenly Venkataraman tossed aside the book and turned inward in meditation. His elder brother rebuked him again, asking, "What use is all this to one who is like this?", referring to his behaviour as a sadhu.[21][22] Venkataraman did not answer, but recognised the truth in his brother�s words.[web 9]
First years at Tiruvannamalai (1896�1899)
Journey to Tiruvannamalai (1896)

He decided to leave his home and go to Arunachala. Knowing his family would not permit this, he slipped away, telling his brother he needed to attend a special class at school. Fortuitously, his brother asked him to take five rupees and pay his college fees on his way to school. Venkataraman took out an atlas, calculated the cost of his journey, took three rupees and left the remaining two with a note which read:

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June 6th, 2014

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