Ramana, my Master

(articolo gentilmente fornito dal Ramana Ashram del Brasile)

From a young age, my only interest was self-inquiry: to discover, amplify and extendmyself to the Supreme Self. My parents, perceiving that I was not an average child, sinceI lived detached from the material world, in deep meditation, resolved to, also at thesuggestion of Mahatma Gandhi, take me to the presence of Bhagavan Sri Ramana.

On the same day of my arrival at Tiruvannamalai, I had the grace of contemplating himfor the first time. This happened on the eve of Kakthikai, the occasion in which, once ayear, a torch on top of the mountain Arunachala is lit, in devotion to Shiva. A greatmultitude was present. It was a marvellous scene, the most marvellous that I had yet seen,so natural and simple. There was Arunachala. Majestic was the face the mountain presentedto those who watched from the square of the Ashram, and from afar one saw, descending byone of its paths, a man supporting himself with a staff, stopping to observe a flower andto smile to a child and continuing to walk between the trees. He walked without haste, ina natural way, finally turning to the Ashram, where a crowd awaited him. His gentle gazeand his pure expression touched the heart of all those who observed him.

Even the most sceptical, those apparently indifferent, watched him without being ableto hide an expression of tenderness.

When I entered the hall of the Ashram, there were various devotees, all Hindu, sittingin a row. I was profoundly impressed by the spiritual force that permeated the place. Iwas led near Sri Ramana. The Master stood up and looked at me, making a gesture with hishand for me to come closer.

His face inspired serenity, unlimited goodness and compassion. His large black eyescontemplated the infinite above the heads of all present, and his gaze, withoutconcentrating on anything or anyone, penetrated into the utmost depth of my heart. SriRamana was of a normal stature for a Hindu of the South, around 1.90 meters tall; honeycoloured skin; very short white hair and white beard. He was robust and used a bleachedtunic. I felt in him an infinitely kind being, of love without end. I bowed before hisspiritual greatness, and he said smiling: “It seems that you have been called”.

The simple life of the Ashram greatly helped me in seeking the Supreme Truth. The veryatmosphere of the place, the invisible force of the sacred mountain Arunachala impregnatedthe environment with an elevated spiritual emanation. My affection and devotion forBhagavan Sri Ramana continued ever deeply, and I felt an infinite joy in being able to bewith the Sat Guru. In this way I became conscious of the enormous grace of his presence.His warm smile was a signal for me to take my seat in the hall, in a place where he couldwatch me during meditation. What was most impressive was his attitude which was so naturalthat he let everyone at ease, removing in each one any and all analysis or criticism,involving everyone in the purest universal love.

In the course of the time that I lived with Sri Ramana, I observed that he appeared tobe very attentive to all that went on around him, reacting according to external life,however without being involved with the result of the actions. I understood that,according to his teachings, the plane of physical existence is only temporary and has noreality in itself. I was absolutely aware that I was to fully follow this teaching,otherwise I would never become conscious of the Supreme Self. I felt that I had toincreasingly develop control over my thoughts, annihilate the thinking mind if I wanted tobe receptive to the subtle vibrations uninterruptedly radiated from Bhagavan.

At a certain moment he fixed me with his penetrating gaze, which acquired anundescribable intensity. A stillness, a profound peace, a levity and infinite joydescended over me. He said to me: “Silence is the most powerful form of teachingtransmitted from Master to disciple. The voice without sound is pure intuition, it is thevoice of spiritual sound that speaks to the deepest part of our Self and reveals to us theoriginal nature of the Creator of the Cosmos”.

I immediately felt the absolute certainty that the whole teaching for spiritualconsciousness would simply be assimilated from the sacred presence of Bhagavan Sri Ramana.I began, then, to syntonise myself with the meaning of his Upadesa (silent instruction),with the force of sacred initiation, with his teachings. I tried them in myself anddiscovered that meditation is a truth, and this truth can help everyone to becomeconscious of their unity with the Divine Universal Self.

Despite my young age, I lived with Bhagavan Sri Ramana learning directly from hissacred presence the whole technique of self-knowledge. With him I learned how toannihilate the mind and, consequently, control the body and the senses. I discovered thatthe world is composed of ideas and things and therefore, with the practice of meditationtaught by him, it was possible for me to undo each idea and each thing. Only the SupremeSelf remained, the Absolute Truth that we all are in essence.

The years that I passed in the Ashram marked me forever. The consciousness of being wasnever extinguished, and Sri Ramana was always present in me.

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Sri Maha Krishna Swami was born in India, in 1935, and came to the West to divulge theSacred maha Yoga, the direct path of self-consciousness which he learned directly fromRamana Maharshi. He has published 11 books, which are the experience of his daily lifewith his disciples at Ramanashram-Brazil.

One of them is entitled Ramana My Master, from where the above article was extracted.