(1897-1950)

Ramana is considered by many to be the most important Indian sage of the 20th century. He was born on December 30, 1879 in Tirucculi, in southern India. His parents were middle-class, and his father died when he was 12. At this time he went to live with his uncle and attended American mission high school. At 16 he heard someone say the name Arunachala, and although he did not know anything about this holy hill, associated with the God Shiva, when he heard the name he felt filled by a powerful energy.

At the time he was reading a book describing the lives of Shaivite Saints, and he became intensely focused on, and fascinated by, his studies. Soon after, he had an experience where he all of a sudden felt that his death was upon him. He laid down on the floor, his body stiff, his breath still, and realized, "My body is dead now, but I am still alive." A door opened in his consciousness and a flood of spiritual understanding filled him.

After this experience, Ramana ran away from home and went to Arunachala, where he stayed for the rest of his life. For some years he spoke to no one, and spent most of his time immersed in samadhi, or spiritual bliss. When speaking of this time, Ramana said, "I knew nothing, had learned nothing before I came here, some mysterious power took possession of me and effected a thorough transformation. I knew nothing and planned nothing. When I left home in my 17th year, I was like a speck swept on by a tremendous flood. I knew not my body or the world, whether it was day or night. It was difficult even to open my eyes. The eyelids seemed to be glued down. My body became a mere skeleton. Visitors pitied my plight, as they were not aware of how blissful I was."

When he began speaking once again, he quickly gained a reputation as a sage. So many people came to ask him questions, hear his words, and to just be in his presence, that soon an ashram was built on the hill. One of his early devotees named him Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, which means Divine Eminent Ramana The Great Seer. This name stayed with him. Thousands of people came from all over the world to receive his blessing in the ashram at Arunachala until his death in 1950 at the age of 70.

Ramana taught self-inquiry as a means of enlightenment. He encouraged people to bring full attention to a thought, and by becoming absorbed in the thought, find the source. As all phenomenon arises from the source, following any thought back to the source leads to realization of the true nature of the Self.

Ramana was often silent, blissful, peaceful and shining with radiance, expanding to include all beings in his awareness. People who came close to him often had great shifts in their spiritual consciousness. He spoke to people of looking within to decide whether they were actually the body, or really, the changeless eternal being. His powerful transmission of resting in this state of being, which is before every thing, inspired many people to come to this realization of the Self.

In Ramana Maharshi And The Path Of Self-Knowledge (1995), Samuel Weiser speaks of Ramana's piercing gaze: "Ramana would turn to the devotee, his eyes fixed upon him with blazing intentness. The luminosity, the power of his eyes, pierced into one, breaking down the thought process. Sometimes it was as though an electric current was passing through one, a vast peace, a flood of light. One devotee has described it: 'Suddenly Bhagavan turned his luminous, transparent eyes on me. Before that I could not stand his gaze for long. Now I look straight back into those terrible, wonderful eyes, how long I could not tell. They held me in a sort of vibration distinctly audible to me.'"

Teachings of Ramana Maharishi:

"There is no greater mystery than this, that being the reality yourself, you seek to gain reality. You think that there is something binding your reality and that something must be destroyed before the reality is freed. This is ridiculous."

"A day will dawn when you will laugh at all your efforts. What is there to realize? The real is always as it is."

"You have realized the unreal, in other words, you regard the unreal as that which is real. Give up this attitude and you will attain wisdom."

"There is nothing new nor anything you do not already have which needs to be gained. The feeling that you have not yet realized is the sole obstruction to realization."

"In fact you are already free. If it were not so, the realization would be new. If it has not existed so far, it must take place hereafter. What comes will also go, what can be gained can also be lost."

"If realization is not eternal it is not worth having. Therefore what you seek is not that which must happen afresh. It is only that which is eternal, but not now known due to obstruction."

"Remove the obstruction. That which is eternal is not known to be so because of ignorance. Ignorance is the obstruction. Get over the ignorance and all will be well."

"The ignorance is identical with the I-thought. Find It's source and it will vanish. Then the self alone will shine as it always has, in the stillness of being."