Basking In The Sunshine Of Ramana's Grace-Part II

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We find that the attraction of Ramana is felt now more intensely, fifty years after His Mahanirvana. His photographs sell like hot cakes at Sri Ramnasramam and in Ramana shrines. People are seen standing before the samadhi or the vigraha lost in that beauty. The observer can see that they are exchanging something perhaps expressing their needs or seeking his guidance. It cannot be a one way traffic. There must be Ramana"s response. Why else will they persist in it? It is a secret between Ramana and the devotees. One cannot over state the need for such linking with Ramana so long as one is identified with his body. Attachments to Ramana"s body to his deathless form and name would not be binding like other attachments but would free one from all attachments.

Needless to say, that since Ramana is the human embodiment of the effulgent Arunachala, the post Nirvana devotees too must take a leaf from Ramana himself and also from the way in which the old devotees interacted with him. In our present state of desires, fears and attachments, it is necessary to remember the humanness of Ramana in order to be able to feel closer to him. We too would do well, weep on Ramana"s shoulders and unburden our sorrows by sharing it within. Even a mere reporting would be sufficient. One need not assume that only grave problems which cannot be solved by oneself should be referred to him. He bears the burden of the entire universe and certainly our little baggage of problems is no extra load for him. Contrawise, the auspicious and happy events which are planned or which have happened could certainly be brought to his benign notice.

The more we establish such a relationship the more it is possible for us to feel intensely his presence even in a physical sense. He keeps coming in many ways physically too in accordance with the predilections of the devotees. To Nambiar he will come in dreams, to someone else he will speak through his eyes, through his smile and through the mental response in the hour of silence. As long as our 'worldly needs" are knocking at the door this kind of relationship alone can bring Ramana closer.

Quoting Sadhu Om"s words, Ramana seems to say sometimes “Whom do you want? Is it not me?" For one seems never tired of the lack of depth to one"s life or the trivialities to which one endlessly clings.

Of course side by side we need to keep praying to him for help in our efforts to bypass the thought ridden mind, in our efforts to reach the source of the mind. For the ancient delusions of the mind with its array of identifications stifle inwardness. Sometimes here too one can only pray and cry in anguish to Ramana not to leave his job half finished, not to abandon us midway. Not that he will, but the fear is real.

Temptations galore may show their silent, poisonous existence to throttle steadiness of self-enquiry. Then the solacing presence of Ramana as our friend in ages past, our guru of many lives is felt intensely. His very purpose is to bestow on us his own state of natural happiness. In many ways he keeps helping, through eyes brimming with love through his silence, through his power to transform. As we grow with the awareness of the natural state as it becomes steadier, we feel more and more Ramana"s presence sporting in our hearts and filing us with overflowing bliss. It is a timeless union where I and you had ended and where only the vast silence fills every pore of the body and the mind with joy which transcends the mind.

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.

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