Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Mahrishi as portrayed in a loving oil painting by Jayalakshmi Satyendra

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 - April 14, 1950) was a great Hindu mystic of the Advaita Vedanta stream and is regarded by some as one of the greatest saints of Hinduism in the 20th century. He lived in the sacred Tiruvannamalai hills near Chennai. The core of his teachings was the practice of atma-vichara (self-enquiry).

Ramana Maharshi's Life

Ramana Maharshi was born in a village called Tirucculi near Madurai in southern India. He was given the name Venkataraman. His father died when he was twelve, and he went to live with his uncle in Madurai, where he briefly attended American Mission High School. However, his thoughts soon turned to religion, namely mystic Hindu philosophies and understandings of universal divinity.

At the age of sixteen, he heard somebody mention "Arunachala." Although he didn't know what the word meant (it's the name of a holy hill associated with the Hindu deity Shiva) he became greatly excited. At about the same time he came across a copy of Sekkilar's Periyapuranam, a book that describes the lives of Shaivite saints, and became fascinated by it. In the middle of 1896, at age 16, he was suddenly overcome by the feeling that he was about to die. He lay down on the floor, made his body stiff, and held his breath. "My body is dead now," he said to himself, "but I am still alive." In a flood of spiritual awareness he realized he was spirit, not his body.

Ramana Maharshi's Teachings

Ramana Maharshi taught a method called self-inquiry in which the seeker focuses continuous attention on the I-thought in order to find its source. In the beginning this requires effort, but eventually something deeper than the ego takes over and the mind dissolves in the heart center. He is an acknowledged Hindu master of the Advaita Vedanta stream of Vedic thought, and has many followers throughout India and abroad. In a very simple manner he asks us to go back to the source from wherein all thought arises and ask ourself, "To whom is this thought? To whom has this anger arisen?" The answer would be obviously "To me"; after that, you then enquire as to "WHO AM I?". This is done by negating like: I-am-not-the-body, I-am-not-the-food -I-eat, I-am-not-the-brain ....in this way one traces the 'I-Thought' back to the source. The source is what one may call the GOD or the SELF. However, to my understanding what Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi says is, "Stay in Silence."

Many western authors, including the American philosopher Ken Wilber, have been influenced by Ramana Maharshi's nondual thought. Paul Brunton was another Western author who deeply impressed by Ramana Maharshi. He wrote his experiences of staying at Arunachala in a book called "A Search in Secret India". This was one of the first books to bring Ramana Maharshi to the attention of the Western World. He wrote of Arunachala.

“ I never fail to become gradually aware of the mysterious atmosphere of the place… I enjoy an ineffable tranquillity merely by sitting for a while in the neighbourhood of the Maharishee.”