Ramana Maharshi Biography
In I896 a
sixteen-year-old schoolboy walked out on his family and, driven by an
inner compulsion, slowly made his way to Arunachala, a holy mountain and
pilgrimage centre in South India. On his arrival he threw away all his
money and possessions and abandoned himself to a newly-discovered
awareness that his real nature was formless, immanent consciousness. His
absorption in this awareness was so intense that he was completely
oblivious of his body and the world; insects chewed away portions of his
legs, his body wasted away because he was rarely conscious enough to eat
and his hair and fingernails grew to unmanageable lengths.
After two or
three years in this state he began a slow return to physical normality,
a process that was not finally completed for several years. His
awareness of himself as consciousness was unaffected by this physical
transition and it remained continuous and undimmed for the rest of his
life. In Hindu parlance he had `realized the Self'; that is to say, he
had realized by direct experience that nothing existed apart from an
indivisible and universal consciousness which was experienced in its
unmanifest form as beingness or awareness and in its manifest form as
the appearance of the universe.
Normally this awareness is only generated after a
long and arduous period of spiritual practice but in this case it
happened spontaneously, without prior effort or desire.
Venkataraman, the sixteen-year-old schoolboy, was alone in an upstairs
room of his uncle's house in Madurai (near the southern tip of India)
when he was suddenly gripped by an intense fear of death.
In
the following few minutes he went through a simulated death experience
during which he became consciously aware for the first time that his
real nature was imperishable and that it was unrelated to the body, the
mind or the personality. Many people have reported similar unexpected
experiences but they are almost invariably temporary. In Venkataraman's
case the experience was permanent and irreversible. From that time on
his consciousness of being an individual person ceased to exist and it
never functioned in him again.
Venkataraman told no one about his experience and for six weeks he kept
up the appearance of being an ordinary schoolboy. However, he found it
an increasingly difficult posture to maintain and at the end of this six
week period he abandoned his family and went directly to the holy
mountain of Arunachala.
The
choice of Arunachala was far from random. Throughout his brief life he
had always associated the name of Arunachala with God and it was a major
revelation to him when he discovered that it was not some heavenly realm
but a tangible earthly entity. The mountain itself had long been
regarded by Hindus as a manifestation of Siva, a Hindu God, and in later
years Venkataraman often said that it was the spiritual power of
Arunachala which had brought about his Self-realization. His love for
the mountain was so great that from the day he arrived in I896 until his
death in I950 he could never be persuaded to go more than two miles away
from its base.
After
a few years of living on its slopes his inner awareness began to
manifest as an outer spiritual radiance. This radiance attracted a small
circle of followers and, although he remained silent for most of the
time, he embarked upon a teaching career. One of his earliest followers,
impressed by the evident saintliness and wisdom of the young man,
decided to rename him Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - Bhagavan means Lord
or God, Sri is an Indian honorific title, Ramana is a contraction of
Venkataraman and Maharshi means `great seer' in Sanskrit. The name found
favor with his other followers and it soon became the title by which he
became known to the world.
At
this stage of his life Sri Ramana was speaking very little and so his
teachings were transmitted in an unusual fashion. Instead of giving out
verbal instructions he constantly emanated a silent force or power which
stilled the minds of those who were attuned to it and occasionally even
gave them a direct experience of the state that he himself was
perpetually immersed in.
In later years he became more willing to give out
verbal teachings, but even then, the silent teachings were always
available to those who were able to make good use of them. Throughout
his life Sri Ramana insisted that this silent flow of power represented
his teachings in their most direct and concentrated form. The importance
he attached to this is indicated by his frequent statements to the
effect that his verbal teachings were only given out to those who were
unable to understand his silence.
As
the years passed he became more and more famous. A community grew up
around him, thousands of visitors flocked to see him and for the last
twenty years of his life he was widely regarded as India's most popular
and revered holy man. Some of these thousands were attracted by the
peace they felt in his presence, others by the authoritative way in
which he guided spiritual seekers and interpreted religious teachings,
and some merely came to tell him their problems.
Whatever their reasons for coming almost everyone who came into contact
with him was impressed by his simplicity and his humbleness. He made
himself available to visitors twenty-four hours a day by living and
sleeping in a communal hall which was always accessible to everyone, and
his only private possessions were a loin-cloth, a water-pot and a
walking-stick. Although he was worshipped by thousands as a living God,
he refused to allow anyone to treat him as a special person and he
always refused to accept anything which could not be shared equally by
everyone in his ashram.
He
shared in the communal work and for many years he rose at 3 a.m. in
order to prepare food for the residents of the ashram. His sense of
equality was legendary. When visitors came to see him - it made no
difference whether they were VIPs, peasants or animals - they would all
be treated with equal respect and consideration. His egalitarian concern
even extended to the local trees; he discouraged his followers from
picking flowers or leaves off them and he tried to ensure that whenever
fruit was taken from the ashram trees it was always done in such a way
that the tree only suffered a minimum amount of pain.
Throughout this period (I925-50) the centre of ashram life was the small
hall where Sri Ramana lived, slept and held court. He spent most of his
day sitting in one corner radiating his silent power and simultaneously
fielding questions from the constant flow of visitors who descended on
him from every corner of the globe. He rarely committed his ideas to
paper and so the verbal replies given out during this period (by far the
most well documented of his life) represent the largest surviving source
of his teachings.
These
verbal teachings flowed authoritatively from his direct knowledge that
consciousness was the only existing reality. Consequently, all his
explanations and instructions were geared to
convincing his
followers that this was their true and natural state. Few of his
followers were capable of assimilating this truth in its highest and
most undiluted form and so he often adapted his teachings to conform to
the limited understanding of the people who came to him for advice.
Because of this tendency it is possible to distinguish many different
levels of his teachings.
At the highest
level that could be expressed in words he would say that consciousness
alone exists. If this was received with skepticism he would say that
awareness of this truth is obscured by the self-limiting ideas of the
mind and that if these ideas were abandoned then the reality of
consciousness would be revealed. Most of his followers found this
high-level approach a little too theoretical - they were so immersed in
the self-limiting ideas that Sri Ramana was encouraging them to drop
that they felt that the truth about consciousness would only be revealed
to them if they underwent a long period of spiritual practice. To
satisfy such people Sri Ramana prescribed an innovative method of
self-attention which he called self-enquiry. He recommended this
technique so often and so vigorously that it was regarded by many people
as the most distinctive motif in his teachings.
Even then, many people were not satisfied and they
would continue to ask for advice about other methods or try to engage
him in theoretical philosophical discussions. With such people
Sri Ramana would temporarily abandon his absolute standpoint and give
appropriate advice on whatever level it was asked. If he appeared on
these occasions to accept and endorse many of the misconceptions which
his visitors had about themselves it was only to draw their attention to
some aspect of his teachings that he felt would help them to better
understand his real views.
Inevitably, this policy of modifying his teachings to meet the needs of
different people led to many contradictions. He might, for example, tell
one person that the individual self is non-existent and then turn to
another person and give a detailed description of how the individual
self functions, accumulates karma and reincarnates.
It is
possible for an observer to say that such opposing statements may both
be true when seen from different standpoints, but the former statement
clearly has more validity when it is viewed from the absolute standpoint
of Sri Ramana's own experience. This standpoint, summarized by his
statement that consciousness alone exists, is ultimately the only
yardstick by which one can realistically assess the relative truth of
his widely differing and contradictory statements. To whatever extent
his other statements deviate from this it may be assumed that to that
extent they are
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|| हे लम्बोदर महाराज ||
गज सामान मुखड़ा तेरा हे लम्बोदर महाराज |
आन पड़ी हर भक्त को तेरी जरूरत आज ||
देवलोक क्यों जा बसे छोड़ मृत्यु लोक |
क्या तुम को भाये नहीं इस धरती के लोग ||
नयन बरसते देखकर क्यों नहीं आई लाज |
इतने कठोर कबसे हुए ओ गणपति महाराज ||
आन पड़ी हर भक्त को तेरी जरूरत आज |
गज सामान मुखड़ा तेरा हे लम्बोदर महाराज ||
जी तोड़ पूजा तेरी अब करते है लोग |
सबसे पहले आपको यहाँ मनाते लोग ||
निर्विघन सब काम हो करते ये फ़रियाद |
प्रथम निमंत्रण भेजकर तुम्हे दिलाते याद ||
आन पड़ी हर भक्त को तेरी जरूरत आज |
गज सामान मुखड़ा तेरा हे लम्बोदर महाराज ||
तुझे पूजने की विधि नहीं जानता ये ‘श्याम’ |
इसलिए कर जोड़ कर खडा हूँ तुम्हारे धाम ||
बड़ी उम्मीद है आप से ऐ गरीब नवाज़ |
इसलिए दर आपके आये हम गणपति महाराज ||
आन पड़ी हर भक्त को तेरी जरूरत आज |
गज सामान मुखड़ा तेरा हे लम्बोदर महाराज ||
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|| शोभा दर दरबार की हे गणपति जी महाराज ||
शोभा दर दरबार की हे गणपति जी महाराज |
आये विलोकन भक्त सब , तेरे दर पर आज ||
खुशियों से है भरा , स्वामी तेरा ये दरबार |
गूंजे जिस से हर घड़ी , तेरा जय जयकार ||
भक्तो के प्यार का , है प्रभु तेरे सिर पर ताज |
शोभा दर दरबार की हे गणपति जी महाराज ||
जिसकी तुम पर आस्था हे लम्बोदर भगवान |
तेरे चरणों में ही मिले , उसको सही मुकाम ||
बिन तेरी अनुमति के , न शुरू हो कोई काज |
शोभा दर दरबार की हे गणपति जी महाराज ||
‘श्याम’ खडा दर पर तेरे , करने को गुणगान |
प्रभु, शब्दों में भर दो मेरे , थोड़ी सी ही जान ||
तुम ही मेरा साज हो , प्रभु तुम ही मेरी लाज |
शोभा दर दरबार की हे गणपति जी महाराज ||
.............
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टेग हटाने को कोई भी मित्र अन्यथा न ले....जो भी मित्र अपनी वाल पर ...भजन और तस्वीर चाहते हैं...वो यहाँ जयकारा लगाए और इसे अपनी वाल पर शेयर कर ले...क्योकि टेग अन्य मित्रों को जिन्होंने अभी तक यह रचना नहीं पढ़ी ..उनको टेग करने के लिए चाहिए होते हैं....साथ ही जो मित्र चाहते है कि...उन्हें भक्ति सागर में टेग न किया जाए ...वो भी निसंकोच ....कह दे..उन्हें उसके बाद टेग नहीं किया जायेगा.....
धन्यवाद ..](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/164434_323432574429459_530740977_n.jpg)
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|| ओ भक्ति दाता , बुद्धि विधाता भक्तन के हितकारी ||
ओ भक्ति दाता , बुद्धि विधाता सुन लो विनय हमारी |
जय अधिनायक सिद्धि विनायक ओ भक्तन के हितकारी ||
तेरे बिन कार्य नहीं होते , ओ मेरे विघ्न विनाशक |
दुनिया के ओ स्वामी है तेरे , सबसे ज्यादा उपासक ||
तेरे दर आकर सब टेर लगाते , राजा रंक भिखारी |
जय अधिनायक सिद्धि विनायक भक्तन के हितकारी ||
तुम हो रक्षक तुम हो दाता , हो तुम ही भाग्य विधाता |
अपने भक्तो से हरपल तुम रखते , सबसे ऊंचा नाता ||
हम सब मिल उतारे आरती, ओ प्रभु रात दिन तुम्हारी |
जय अधिनायक सिद्धि विनायक भक्तन के हितकारी ||
राम और ‘श्याम’ सब आयेंगे मिलकर खुशी मनाएंगे |
ढोलक और मंजीरो की धुन पर नाचेंगे और गायेंगे ||
हम कृतज्ञ तुम्हारे भक्ति दाता ,चरणों पर बलिहारी |
जय अधिनायक सिद्धि विनायक भक्तन के हितकारी ||](https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s480x480/391227_323431211096262_767887754_n.jpg)
