The Silent Power
The first darshan of the Maharshi remains an unforgettable experience, especially Sri Ramana’s casual, as it were, statement ‘ We are always aware’; and this made a most powerful impact on him. It resounded in his consciousness like a chime and continued to linger in his memory like a mantra or an echo of Sri Arunachala or Dakshinamurti. He also remembers some passages mentioned from the Bible: the phrase, ‘I AM THAT I AM’, ‘Be Still and know that I am God’, ‘Know ye not that you are Gods?’ and the words Jesus exchanged with Nicodemus.
The Silent Power
It was in the year 1936 that I had the good fortune of having darshan of Sri Bhagavan. I had heard about him before, and was longing to go to Tiruvannamalai but the opportunity never came till then.
The Silent Power
When the bondas were served to the devotees at breakfast, as usual, Ramaswami Iyer said to me angrily, “Look here. Did I not ask you to prepare vadai? Then why have you made bondas?” I was afraid to say anything and so merely looked at Sri Bhagavan who immediately turned to Ramaswami Iyer and said, “What does it matter? If the cakes are flat and circular they are vadais, if spherical, bondas. The stuff is the same and the taste is the same. Only names and forms are different. Eat the prasadam (food offered to a deity) and don’t make a fuss.” Everyone was astonished at the ready and apt reply of Sri Bhagavan.
The Silent Power
Sri Sarma compiled a short history of Sri Bhagavan’s life consisting of 120 slokas in Sanskrit, known as Ramana Charitamrutasaram, which Sri Bhagavan graciously perused and corrected. He also composed songs in Tamil and presented them to Sri Bhagavan, who used to correct them only sparingly. Such corrections were not only grammatical in content but also vitally enriched them with spiritual depth. For instance, in the following verse: “Those who are caught in the mouth of a great tiger are certain to die in this world; but all those, caught in the glance (drishti) of the great tiger adorning the slopes of Arunachala, known as great Ramana, get merged with natural ease in the eternal happiness, discarding fear of even the Lord of Death,” Sri Bhagavan put in the word with natural ease ‘(iyal) in the place of daily’ (nidham) of Sri Sarma’s!
The Silent Power
Bhagavan never started to eat before all those who were present were served. The beggars waiting at the gate are even now given their food before inmates and visitors are served. No exception is made to this rule even on crowded occasions like the Jayanthi and the Aradhana. All these instances will show how considerate Bhagavan was to others!
