Swatantra

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA IS PERSONALLY PRESENT HERE
Swatantra
(Sri Bhagavan is very much alive! His continued Presence at Sri Ramanasramam is sure to be felt by sincere seekers of Truth, stresses the author of this article.)

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA is personally present here. To demand proof is like wanting proof that the sun is shining overhead. His presence is known or ‘seen’ by those with eyes to see. For others even a positive proof would be useless. If a few phenomenal incidents are cited to prove his personal presence here, the logical mind may well dismiss them all as too fantastic or merely imagination. A man of faith could accept the facts on hearing them but would that instill conviction of Sri Ramana’s presence as a living reality?

For those who come to visit Sri Ramanasramam, I would like to offer my advice. Please do not come like a tourist merely with an idea that you are going to sight — see an Ashram. Even if it bears the name of one of the greatest Rishis of modern times. Don’t go through the ritual of offering prayers and puja at various shrines, receiving prasadam and vibhuti only to go back satisfied that you have ‘done’ with another holy place.

Of course, visiting holy places does have great effect, but that in itself is not enough. It may be enough for the uninitiated, but seekers of the Truth require a sense of holy presence, such as can be experienced at Sri Ramanasramam.It is a fact that Bhagavan is here.

Towards the end of his bodily manifestation, he said, “They say that I am going, but where can I go? I am here”. Once when someone wrote a booklet criticising Sri Ramanasramam, Sri Bhagavan remarked that the author had done a great service to the cause of Truth. When asked for an explanation, he said that this book would keep away the insincere and superficial people and only the sincere Truth-seekers would continue to come. In the same way the Maharshi himself has done a great service to the cause of Truth by withdrawing himself from the physical plane. He has made himself unavailable to the worldly eye, while to the seeker with spiritual sight his living presence is very much here.

Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya!