I first heard of Sri Ramana Maharshi while I was a member of the Yoga Ashram of Sri Aurobindo. I asked Sri Aurobindo about the Maharshi and he wrote back that he was a Yogi of remarkable strength and attainments and that his tapasya had won glory for India.
Sri Bhagavan replied, ” Yes, Life is Sat or Existence.” He explained it further by saying that a ball of iron has shape or form and when it is heated it gets the property or quality of fire as well. If you beat that hot iron ball with a hammer on an anvil its form changes, but the quality of fire in it remains unchanged.
What will happen to the hundreds that will be deprived of spiritual nourishment? As I was mentally addressing this question to Sri Ramana, a radiance was felt by me. His physical form on the chowki gradually became shrunken, smaller and smaller and vanished into the radiance. The radiance grew deeper and more powerful. I felt I had the answer to my query. Even though the body may disappear the concentration of spiritual power which was focused round it will continue to shed its influence. And as long as one can put oneself into attunement with that form and with that radiance, one can draw spiritual sustenance.
To me Bhagavan is more than all other gods or prophets so far incarnated on earth, such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mohamed, Nanak and others. I have only read and heard about them, and cannot have proper conception of them. Even the numerous pictures of them are only imaginary, and naturally, they are all different from one another, therefore it is impossible to have an exact conception of any of them. On the other hand I have seen Bhagavan and therefore I have a very clear conception of an ideal to meditate upon.
“The moon can allay heat alone for men; likewise the celestial wish-fulfilling tree can relieve want alone, so too the sacred river Ganga can remove only sin; but, by the sight of Sages all the three — heat and the rest — are extinguished, (so) there is nothing in all the Three worlds, comparable to the sight of Sages.”