Basking In The Sunshine Of Ramana's Grace

By Staff

Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 12:30

Ramana Maharshi, Guru disciple relationship

Let us go back in time to the atmosphere of the Old Hall at Sri Ramanasramam where Ramana spent his time for nearly twenty years from 1927 to 1949. What was that scenario? Upto mid-thirties, the devotees not numbering more than twenty would be spending "many blissful hours at his feet". The atmosphere would be just like a intimate family gathering during week-ends.

Devotees would sit around Ramana's sofa talking to him without any hesitation. There is no doubt that for them, Ramana was their God, and Sadguru. But this did not come in the way of their natural relationship with Ramana. After all the guru walks on earth adorning it, only in order that his devotees and disciples should be able to relate to him and avail of his guidance on the spiritual path. Therefore we find that each of these devotees would regard Ramana in such a way that it was possible for them to relate to him as if he was a member of their own families while holding him in utmost reverence as god incarnate come in the role of a guru.

One devotee would regard him as his own father; another would regard himself as Ramana's child, and move freely as a child with its parents. These devotees would not hesitate to report all the happenings in their family, like the schooling of their children, search for bridegroom for their daughter, their official problems and family woes. Nothing was barred. Quite obviously this was possible because they could be certain that Ramana would easily identify himself with all their problems. They knew that he belonged to everyone in a equal measure. Their problems would be his problems; only without the entanglements to human attachments.

Sometimes Ramana would bring home to the devotee the divine law by remarking 'whether you wish to have your son's marriage or not it will happen at the time destined for it'. On other occasions he would himself make enquiries and make a success of all that is needed for a marriage even if the time gap was short. One would find him suggesting that some one must accompany a young lady devotee to go to the station and put her in a train. As a result of this freedom a relationship at the human level was maintained parallely with the consciousness of the stature of Ramana as the embodied Self and the repository of all virtues.

Ramana himself is an exemplar of the kind of relationship which one can have with the guru. To Ramana, Arunachala is guru, mother, father, protector, friend all rolled into one. We find in Ramana's compositions all these relationship expressed. At the time of departure from his Madurai home, after his enlightenment, he refers to Arunachala as 'father' for it was his command which was being obeyed. His reporting of his arrival to Arunachaleswara with the words 'Father I have Come' is in line with it. Later, when his mother was on the threshold of death, in his compositions he used the word 'mother' for the situation needed the love which only a mother can give. In his 'Necklet of Nine Gems' he uses the combined expression 'Father and Mother'. In Ramana's 'Five Hymns to Arunachala' we find all the human moods and demands on the guru in the fullest confidence in the power of the guru and with the feeling he is the closet comrade and friend.

At the time of Ramana's Mahanirvana in April 1950, many devotees felt and expressed their misgivings at the thought that such human intimacy would no longer be possible. One of the mourners cried in anguish 'we can no longer see our dear Bhagavan in that beautiful form of molten gold, in which he enchanted and charmed us for decades ! We will no longer see those compassionate eyes that gleamed like twin stars dispelling shadows that blurred our visions and understanding. No more that bewitching and enchanting radiant face that fascinated; no more that godly look of grace that solaced our wearied soul'. However he and other mourners like him were to discover for themselves later, the same bewitchment, the same possibility of establishing a intimate human relationship with Ramana even after he had dropped his body. For the glory of the timeless one like Ramana grows manifold as time rolls on.

To be continued To be continued

About the author

A.R.Natarajan

Sri A.R.Natarajan has had the opportunity of a long association of over 50 years with the Ramanashram. He was the editor of "Mountain Path" for two years. He was the secretary of Ramana Kendra, New Delhi for ten years. He founded the Ramana Maharshi centre for learning, a non profit institution. He has authored more than thirty six books and eleven pocket books on the life and teachings of Bhagavan Ramana.