Spiritual Message for the Day – Sri Ramana Maharshi by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Baba Times Digest© | 6 January 2015 13.34 EST | New York Edition
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Divine Life Society Publication: Lives of Saints by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
(Birthday celebrations on January 6, 2015 - Punarvasu Birthstar of Sri Ramana Maharshi)
Om! Om! Om!
Sri Ramana Maharshi was born on 30th December, 1879. He was known as Venkataraman. Born in a pious middle class Brahmin family, he went to a mission school and learnt a little English.
On the 29th of August 1896, Venkataraman left his home in the district of Madurai in search of his Father, Lord Arunachala, to whom he reported himself on the 1st of September 1896, thus:
O Lord, obedient to Thy call
Here have I come, deserting all,
No boon I ask; no loss bemoan,
Take me in and make me Thine own.
From that day till the end of his earthly sojourn, Venkataraman made Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai) his abode, transmitting through Mouna, the golden language of his egoless state, the Message of Eternal Truth, to the four corners of the globe.
The life of the Maharshi was one continued meditation, Ananda Anubhavam. Maharshi established peace within. He lived in the Light of the Lord within. He encouraged others to do the same thing. To him all the world was one.
Maharshi seldom talked, and whenever he did speak, he did so only because it was absolutely necessary.
Ramana was a living example of the teaching of the Upanishads. His life was at once the message and the philosophy of his teachings. He spoke to the hearts of men.
The great Maharshi found Himself within himself and then gave out to the world the grand but simple message of his great life, "Know Thyself".
"Know Thyself. All else will be known to thee of its own accord. Discriminate between the undying, unchanging, all-pervading, infinite Atma and the ever-changing, phenomenal and perishable universe and body. Enquire, ‘Who am I?’ Make the mind calm. Free yourself from all thoughts other than the simple thought of the Self or Atma. Dive deep into the chambers of your heart. Find out the real, infinite ‘I’. Rest there peacefully for ever and become identical with the Supreme Self." This is the gist of the philosophy and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Sri Ramana says, "The world is so unhappy because it is ignorant of the true Self. Man’s real nature is happiness. Happiness is inborn in the true Self. Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self. The true Self is imperishable; therefore, when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end.
"In the interior cavity of the heart, the One Supreme Being is ever glowing with the Self-conscious emanation I...I... To realise Him, enter into the heart with an one-pointed mind—by quest within or diving deep or control of breath—and abide with the Self of self".
Sri Ramana’s Who am I?, Upadesa Saram and Ullathu Narpathu are pearls of direct wisdom, expressed in aphoristic terseness.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi has set at naught the prattle of materialists that Self-realisation and Samadhi are things of the remote past, and that in the present age, they are impossible of achievement to man. He has shown by his lifelong Samadhi that it is still possible to realise the Supreme and live in that realisation.
Beloved aspirant! Take heart. Apply yourself intensely to Yoga Sadhana. You will soon attain Videha Kaivalya and shine for ever as an illumined sage.
Excerpts from: Sri Ramana Maharshi - Lives of Saints by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
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