Sri Ramana Leela
Along the banks of the South flowing Vaigai were green fields, coconut and mango groves all presenting a picture of Nature’s bounty. Wasn’t this beautiful earth a manifestation of Easwara? A little later came the Dindigul fort where Venkataraman played about in his younger days – there was only one game left for Venkataraman thereafter. This was to dwell in the ocean of blissful nectar! Such was Venkataraman’s state; how could he look at Nature’s beauty or his favourite haunts of bygone days?
Sri Ramana Leela
“I have discovered a new thing! This hill, the lodestone of lives, arrests the movements of anyone who so much as thinks of it, draws him face to face with it, and fixes him motionless like itself, to feed upon his soul thus ripened. What (a wonder) is this! Oh Souls! Be aware of it and live! Such a destroyer is this magnificent Arunachala, which shines within the Heart!”
Sri Ramana Leela
Yogic ways are of two types – the internal and the external. The jnana-marga (path of wisdom) transcends the five sheaths of the body. Raja Yoga is control of mind, whereas Hatha yoga is control of breath. Among the external yogas, the karma and bhakti margas are the most important. They are easily available even to worldly-minded, ordinary people. Among them, the Sankhyas discriminate against the body and attain the attributeless Parabrahman. Or some become devotees, fix their heart on Easwara with attributes, serve him and consider that other than Easwara there is nothing else. For those like Suka who choose the atma as the goal as well as for those devotees who choose Easwara as the goal – the result is the same – it is the unification of the individual Self and Brahman.
Sri Ramana Leela
“The body was inanimate and without knowledge but I had knowledge. Therefore death was for the inanimate body whereas ‘I’ was imperishable and was consciousness.
“The knowledge one had when the body and senses ceased to function was not the product of the senses. The awareness of ‘I’ was direct, self luminous and not a product of any thought. The entity which survived death was consciousness.”
Sri Ramana Leela
Venkataraman’s life was flowing like a deep unruffled stream – of course, there were occasional whirlpools. He was very sensitive and could bear no rebuke. When he was young, Sundaram Iyer reprimanded him once at Tiruchuzhi. The boy was deeply hurt. He did not turn up at mealtime. A prolonged search ensued. He was found in the Sahayamba shrine – possibly, he went there seeking the comfort of the Mother’s lap.
Sri Ramana Leela
Skirting Tiruchuzhi on the North Eastern and South Eastern sides is the Kaundinya river famed as the Redeemer of Sins. During a famine, the rishi Kaundinya performed tapas of Siva and this river was born. The king of Malva, Somasila, was a leper. He heard of this river as a Redeemer of Sins and bathed there. True to its name, the river cured him of leprosy. Such is the legend. The Tiruchuzhi tank had a peculiar feature. The water level of the tank was higher than the ground level of the town; yet the water never overflowed. Opposite the temple, there was a water bed known as Soola tirtham.
