Brief Life Sketch of Bhagavan Ramana - 02
Hare Krishna Friends,
In the last posting we had seen how in a short duration in the room upstairs, Venkataraman had become a fully realized person. Let see what happened next.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Thus, without an outer Guru and without any inner age-long strenuous sadhana, Venkataraman attained on the very first attempt the natural sate of Self-Knowledge (sahaja-atma-jnana-sthiti), which is declared by the Upanishads and all other Vedantic scriptures to be the unsurpassed state and the supreme benefit of human birth!
This experience, Self-attainment, brought forth indescribable vast changes even in the outward life of Venkataraman. Since it was now His clear experience that he was the eternal, perfect Reality, which is other than the body, from that day onwards His life was transformed into a new and wondrous one which could in no way be compatible with that of ordinary people, a life which they could not even understand, let alone imitate, no matter how hard they might try.
After this experience, the slight interest in school lessons which was there before left Him completely. He still went to school, but simply to please others. Even the taste for games, which once appealed to Him so much, disappeared entirely from His mind. The love and attachments towards friends and relatives also faded away, as did the interest in food and mundane activities. He, who in the past had always fought for the right, now became indifferent and no longer reacted in any way towards any kind of wrong or right. His previous nature of responding with severe blows if anyone scolded Him changed, and now a sweet smile of forgiveness and indifference would appear on His face as a reply!
What a wonderful change! The Self-experience transformed Him into a perfect Sadhu. Love, non-violence, patience, compassion, forgiveness, control over the senses, humility, fearlessness – all such divine qualities settled in Him naturally and in full, not due to practice but as a result of Self-experience. To Him a life of worldly activities was now meaningless, dry and unreal, just as a dream is useless, empty and unreal to him who has woken up from it. He was often seen to be sitting in solitude, absorbed and reveling in Self. In truth, the former Venkataraman was no longer there, and Bhagavan Ramana alone did shine!
Since Venkataraman had lost all interest in His studies, His school-teacher started to punish Him. Even Nagaswami, His elder brother, grew angry noticing the vast change in Him. Whenever he saw Him sitting in Self-absorption, he would jeer at Him: “What a great Sage, a yogishvara!” But Venkataraman, who had the clear knowledge of the reality and was thereby unshakable, did not mind all this. One day His teacher gave Him an imposition to write three times an English grammar lesson which he had failed to learn.
Next day, it was a Saturday, the 29th of August 1896 ; Sri Ramana had written the imposition twice when He felt a dejection towards this useless work. Throwing away the pencil and notebook, He sat up and closed His eyes in Self-absorption (nishtha). Nagaswami, who was sitting nearby, was saddened at seeing this. With the intention of correcting his brother, he exclaimed with pity and anger, “Yes, why all these for one like this?” To Him who would usually have been indifferent towards such a remark, the words seemed meaningful on that particular occasion. He thought, “Yes, what he says is true. What do I now have to do here and with these things? Nothing!” He immediately resolved to leave the house. All at once the remembrance of Arunachalam flashed spontaneously through His mind. He decided, “Yes, Arunachalam is the only place for me to go to!”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Regards,
Neelakantan
In the last posting we had seen how in a short duration in the room upstairs, Venkataraman had become a fully realized person. Let see what happened next.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Thus, without an outer Guru and without any inner age-long strenuous sadhana, Venkataraman attained on the very first attempt the natural sate of Self-Knowledge (sahaja-atma-jnana-sthiti), which is declared by the Upanishads and all other Vedantic scriptures to be the unsurpassed state and the supreme benefit of human birth!
This experience, Self-attainment, brought forth indescribable vast changes even in the outward life of Venkataraman. Since it was now His clear experience that he was the eternal, perfect Reality, which is other than the body, from that day onwards His life was transformed into a new and wondrous one which could in no way be compatible with that of ordinary people, a life which they could not even understand, let alone imitate, no matter how hard they might try.
After this experience, the slight interest in school lessons which was there before left Him completely. He still went to school, but simply to please others. Even the taste for games, which once appealed to Him so much, disappeared entirely from His mind. The love and attachments towards friends and relatives also faded away, as did the interest in food and mundane activities. He, who in the past had always fought for the right, now became indifferent and no longer reacted in any way towards any kind of wrong or right. His previous nature of responding with severe blows if anyone scolded Him changed, and now a sweet smile of forgiveness and indifference would appear on His face as a reply!
What a wonderful change! The Self-experience transformed Him into a perfect Sadhu. Love, non-violence, patience, compassion, forgiveness, control over the senses, humility, fearlessness – all such divine qualities settled in Him naturally and in full, not due to practice but as a result of Self-experience. To Him a life of worldly activities was now meaningless, dry and unreal, just as a dream is useless, empty and unreal to him who has woken up from it. He was often seen to be sitting in solitude, absorbed and reveling in Self. In truth, the former Venkataraman was no longer there, and Bhagavan Ramana alone did shine!
Since Venkataraman had lost all interest in His studies, His school-teacher started to punish Him. Even Nagaswami, His elder brother, grew angry noticing the vast change in Him. Whenever he saw Him sitting in Self-absorption, he would jeer at Him: “What a great Sage, a yogishvara!” But Venkataraman, who had the clear knowledge of the reality and was thereby unshakable, did not mind all this. One day His teacher gave Him an imposition to write three times an English grammar lesson which he had failed to learn.
Next day, it was a Saturday, the 29th of August 1896 ; Sri Ramana had written the imposition twice when He felt a dejection towards this useless work. Throwing away the pencil and notebook, He sat up and closed His eyes in Self-absorption (nishtha). Nagaswami, who was sitting nearby, was saddened at seeing this. With the intention of correcting his brother, he exclaimed with pity and anger, “Yes, why all these for one like this?” To Him who would usually have been indifferent towards such a remark, the words seemed meaningful on that particular occasion. He thought, “Yes, what he says is true. What do I now have to do here and with these things? Nothing!” He immediately resolved to leave the house. All at once the remembrance of Arunachalam flashed spontaneously through His mind. He decided, “Yes, Arunachalam is the only place for me to go to!”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Regards,
Neelakantan
posted by vedanta at 10:44 AM
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