Ivan Frimmel presents

Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Way of Self-enquiry
(1879 1950)

His Biography (1)



Sri Ramana Maharshi was born on December 30, 1879, as Venkataraman Iyer, in a village called Tiruchuli, about 30 miles south of Madurai, in southern India, into a middle-class family. His father died when he was twelve, and he went to live with his uncle in Madurai, where he attended American Mission High School. His classmates remember that he had a strong tendency for religious ecstasy even as a student. Others remember his abnormally deep sleeping habits that led to playing tricks on the young Venkataraman while he was asleep. Apart from that, he was described as strong, quiet and intelligent. At age 16, he became spontaneously self-realized. Six weeks later he ran away from home, to be close to the holy hill of Arunachala, near Tiruvannamalai, in Southern India, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Upon arrival at Tiruvannamalai, for several years he stopped talking and spent many hours each day in Samadhi, in a small cell under the Tiruvannamalai Temple.
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His Biography (2)



When he began speaking again, people came to ask him questions, and he soon acquired a reputation as a sage. In 1907, when he was 28, one of his early devotees named him Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Divine Eminent Ramana the Great Seer, and the name stuck. Eventually he became world-famous, and an ashram was built around him, which is still functioning today, known as Ramanashramam, with many permanent or temporary residents, and hundreds of people visiting it each day throughout the year. Sri Ramana Maharshi died of cancer in 1950, at the age of 70.

B&W Photos of Sri Ramana Maharshi

in his 60s at 21

About His Self-Realization (1)



At age 16, 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 god Shiva) he became greatly excited. At about the same time he came across a copy of Sekkilar's Periyapuranam, 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. He exclaimed: From that moment onwards the 'I' or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading or anything else, I was still centered on 'I'.
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About His Self-realization (2)

I knew nothing, had learned nothing before I came here. Some mysterious power took possession of me and effected a thorough transformation. I knew nothing and planned nothing. When I left home in my 17th year, I was like a speck swept on by a tremendous flood. I knew not my body or the world, whether it was day or night. It was difficult even to open my eyes. The eyelids seemed to be glued down. My body became a mere skeleton. Visitors pitied my plight as they were not aware how blissful I was. It was after years that I came across the term Brahman when I happened to look into some books on Vedanta brought to me. Amused, I said to myself, 'Is this known as Brahman!?!
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Tiruvannamalai & its Temple

His Guru the Holy Mountain Arunachala



Ramana Maharshi didn't have a human guru (other than the guru within himself). He often said that his guru was Arunachala, a holy mountain in South India, near the town Tiruvannamalai.

The Legend of Arunachala



In the legend of Arunachala, Vishnu represents the ego or individuality and Brahma the mentality, while Shiva is Atma, the Spirit. The main purport of the legend is that Shiva once appeared as an infinite column of light. Because the column of Light was so dazzling and impossible to look upon, both Brahma and Vishnu prayed to Shiva to take a more benevolent and accessible form so that all beings could worship Him and realize the goal of life. Shiva accordingly took the form of the Arunachala Hill, declaring: "As the moon derives its light from the sun, so other holy places will derive their sanctity from Arunachala. This is the only place where I have taken this form for the benefit of those who wish to worship me and obtain illumination. Arunachala is OM itself. I will appear on the summit of this hill every year at Kartikai in the form of a peace giving beacon."

Kartikai is that day of the year when the constellation of Kartikai (the Pleiades) is in conjunction with the full moon - usually in November. On that night each year a huge bonfire is built on top of the hill and appears from a distance as a great fiery beacon. It is observed throughout the area and especially by the thousands of devotees who circumambulate the hill, like a living garland, slowly moving along the eight mile trail that surrounds the base of the holy hill.
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His Teaching Method



Ramana Maharshi taught a method called selfselfenquiry, in which the seeker focuses continuous attention on the I-thought, in order to find its Isource, asking the question (koan?) Who am I? In the beginning this requires effort, but eventually something deeper than the ego takes over and the mind dissolves in the heart center.
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His Best-known Quotes (1)

Ask yourself Who am I? - and pursue this enquiry to its source. Knowing the pure Self is moksha, liberation from ignorance and suffering.

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His Best-known Quotes (2)



Our real nature is mukti (the liberated state). But we are imagining that we are bound and are making various strenuous attempts to become free, while we are free all the time. Destroy the power of mind by seeking it. When the mind is examined, its activities cease automatically. Look for the source of mind. That source may be said to be God or Self or Consciousness. Concentrating on one thought, all other thoughts disappear; finally that thought also disappears.
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His Best-known Quotes (3)



If a man considers he is born he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body which is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find where from thoughts emerge. Then you will abide in the everever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.
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His Dialogues (1)

 

Q. What happens to the consciousness of a Realized one in sleep? A.

Such a question arises only in the minds of unrealized beholders. He [who is realised] has but One state, which is unbroken throughout all 24 hours, whether in what you call sleeping, or in waking. As a matter of fact the majority of people are all asleep, because they are not awake to the Self. In a state of deep sleep we lay down our ego (Ahankara), our thoughts and our desires. If we could only do all this while we are conscious, we would realize the Self. The best form of Dhyana or Meditation is when it continues not merely in waking but extends to dream and deep sleep states. This mediation must be so intense as to not even allow room for the idea "I am meditation." As waking and dreaming are fully occupied by the Dhyana of such a person, deep sleep may be considered to be part of the Dhyana.

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His Dialogues (2)



Sannyas is the giving up of the ego; even though a person may be living as a householder within a family circle, the various occurrences of the world will not affect him if his ego is surrendered. Hence dream experiences do not really affect us. The dreamer as he quietly lies in his bed dreams he is in water, but his bed is not really wet. On the other hand, a person though remaining in a Sanyasa ashrama who still has attachment to the body, is a karmi (man of action, not renunciation).
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His Dialogues (3)



Q.

It is not so with the appearance of the world. Even after it is repeatedly declared to be false, one cannot avoid satisfying his wants from the world. How can the world be false?

It is like one satisfying his dream wants by dream creations. There are objects, there are wants and there are mutual satisfactions. The dream creations are as purposeful as the jagrat world and yet is not considered real. Thus we see that all these illustrations serve a purpose in establishing the stages of unreality. The realized sage finally declares that in the regenerate state, the jagrat state is. Each illustration should be understood in the proper context; it should not be studied as an isolated statement. It is a link in a chain. The purpose of all these illustrations is to direct the seeker's mind towards the One reality underlying them all.

A.

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His Dialogues (4)

 

Q. A.

In the West people cannot see how sages in solitude can be helpful.

Never mind Europe and America. Where are they except in your mind? If you wake up from a dream, do you try to ascertain if the persons of your dream creation are also awake?

 

Q. A.

If sleep be such a good state, why does one not like to be always in it?

One is always in sleep only. The present waking state is no more that a dream. A dream can take place only in sleep. Sleep unders these states. The appearance of a state is again a dream which is in its turn, in another sleep. In this way, these states of dream and sleep are endless. Similar to these states, birth and death are also dreams in a sleep.

After sleep ego arises and there is wakefulness. Simultaneously thoughts arise. Where from? They must spring from the conscious Self. Apprehending this even vaguely helps in the extinction of the ego, after which is realization of the ONE INFINITE EXISTENCE. In that state there are no individuals other than the Eternal Existence. Abide in the ever inherent Self and be free from the idea of birth or fear of death.

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Some Books About Sri Ramana Maharshi (1)

This superb compilation of Ramana Maharshi's writings and dialogues is the best available single volume about his teachings. It covers all aspects of Sri Ramana's teachings and arranges them in the order preferred by Sri Ramana himself, with the most important or highest teachings first.

This small book contains the best English translation of Ramana Maharshi's most important work and the most sophisticated academic discussion of Ramana Maharshi's teachings that have been done to date. The book's author, T.M.P. Mahadevan, was a devotee of Ramana Maharshi and a distinguished academic expert on Advaita.

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Some Books about Sri Ramana Maharshi (2)

For serious students of Sri Ramana Maharshi, this is the Bible, the most comprehensive single volume of Sri Ramana's teachings. It contains 668 pages of transcripts of conversations he held between 1935 and 1939 with visitors who traveled to south India from all over the world to ask for advice from the man whom many regard as the greatest realized teacher of the twentieth century.

The definitive version of Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings is contained in his writings such as Forty Verses on Reality. Unfortunately, his works aren't easy to read. Most of them are written in a terse, classical style of Tamil poetry which is not easily understood even by many educated Tamils. In order to understand him, most of us must therefore rely on translations and commentaries. This book is possibly the best of that kind because it was written by a skilled Tamil poet who was also a close disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

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Group Photo

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Recent Photos of Arunachala & Ramanashramam

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Thank You
Ivan Frimmel
Cell: 082-454-0311 082-454E-mail: ivan.frimmel@nanhua.co.za

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