Sri Ramana Maharishi

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi

About thirty miles south of Madurai is a village - Tiruchuli, in 30th of December 1879, on the Ardra day, Venkataraman was born to the couple Sundaram Aiyar and Alagammal, who later came to be known to the world as Ramana Maharshi.

There was nothing markedly distinctive about Venkataraman's early life. He grew up just an average boy. He was sent to an elementary school in Tiruchuli, and then for a year education to a school in Dindigul. His father died when he was twelve years old. This necessitated moving to Madurai with the family to live with his paternal uncle, Subbaiyar. There he was sent to Scott's Middle School and then to the American Mission High School. He was not at all serious about his studies, an indifferent student. It was apparently by accident that Venkataraman heard about Arunachala when he was sixteen years of age.

One day an elderly relative called on the family in Madurai. The boy asked him where he had come from. The relative replied 'From Arunachala'. The very name 'Arunachala' acted as a magic spell on Venkataraman, and with evident excitement he put his next question, 'What ! From Arunachala ! Where is it ?' And he got the reply that Tiruvannamalai was Arunachala. Quickly following the incident, which attracted Venkataraman's attention to Arunachala, there was another happening that also contributed to the turning of the boy's mind to the deeper values of spirituality. The spiritual experience that Venkataraman was now wishing devoutly for came to him soon, and quite unexpectedly. It was about the middle of the year 1896; Venkataraman was seventeen then.

One day he was sitting up alone on the first floor of his uncle's house. He was in his usual health -- there was nothing wrong with him. But a sudden and unmistakable fear of death took hold -- he felt he was going to die. Why this feeling should have come to him he did not know. The feeling of impending death, however, did not unnerve him. He calmly thought about what he should do. He said to himself, 'Now, death has come. What does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies'. Immediately thereafter he lay down, stretching his limbs out and holding them stiff as though rigor mortis had set in. He held his breath and kept his lips tightly closed, so that to all outward appearance his body resembled a corpse. Now, what would happen? This was what he thought: "Well, this body is now dead. It will be carried to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death, of this body am I dead? Is the body I? This body is silent and inert. But I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit".

Thus young Venkataraman found himself on the peak of spirituality without any arduous or prolonged sadhana. The ego was lost in the flood of Self-awareness. All of a sudden the boy that used to be called Venkataraman had flowered into a sage and saint. There was noticed a complete change in the young man's life. The things that he had cared for earlier completely lost their value. The spiritual values, which he had ignored till then, became the only objects of attention.

On the morning of the 1st of September, 1896, he boarded the train to Tiruvannamalai. The rest of what we regard as Ramana's life was spent in Tiruvannamalai. Ramana become Ramana Maharshi.

Ramana Ashram

In 1903 there came to Tiruvannamalai a great Samskrit scholar and savant, Ganapati Sastri known also as Ganapati Muni; he felt the grace of the sage enveloping him. He was that proclaimed Ramana to be Maharshi and Bhagavan. He composed hymns in Sanskrit in praise of the sage, and also wrote the Ramana-Gita explaining his teachings.

Ramana sat most of the time in the hall that had been constructed for the purpose as the witness to all that happened around him. There were numerous invitations for him to undertake tours. But he never moved out of Tiruvannamalai, and in the later years out of the Ashram. Most of the time, every day, people sat before him. They sat mostly in silence. Sometimes some of them asked questions; and sometimes he answered them. It was a great experience to sit before him and to look at his beaming eyes. Many did experience time coming to a stop and a stillness and peace beyond description.

His ashram is a must visit place at Tiruvannamalai which is between the second and third Lingam on the circumambulation (Girivalam) route. Your spiritual connection will be evoked when you meditate at the meditation hall of Raman ashram. A book stall in the ashram sells photographs and books. Accommodation is available in the ashram.

Ashram Address:

Sri Ramanasramam
Tiruvannamalai 606603,
Tamil Nadu, India
Telephone: (91) 4175 237292