OM NAMO BHAGAVATE SRI RAMANAYA

Ramanadasa Sadananda (Seshagiri Iyer), a teacher in P.S.High School, Madras, first visited Sri Ramana in 1915. He authored Sri Ramana Dasakam (Tamil).

I stood before Sri Raman, the blazing sum of wisdom, at the Virupaksha Cave. Never having seen such a being of bliss before, I could not think, speak or do anything except to feel dumb-founded. I prostrated before him, drank with avidity the nectar of his gaze on me, felt myself freed from the pairs of opposites, and lifted above the never-ending din and misery of worldly existence. Contagious was his bliss! He not only sends forth beams of the light of jnana by his mere proximity but also fills even the unhappy among us with joy and peaec by his very presence.

I myself went with a heavy heart at first, tossed and troubled by misfortunes, haunted and hooted by cares and anxieties, worried and flurried by soul-killing thoughts. If there is a place where such oppressing and depressing ideas nd feelings could disappear all of sudden, as dew or darkness dies before the sun, will any man hesitate to call it Kailasa itself or its Lord Mahadeva himself?

A doctor may cure a patient of his sickness. Attractive natural scenery may restore for some time cheerfulness to a troubled mind. But where else, if not at Tiruvannamali, could one find a place which can easily rid one of all earthly woes and transport one to a Realm Divine, the joy of which none who has not tasted it could tell!

An another time when I prostrated with my eyes impressed on the sacred lotus feet of Bhagavan and begged of him to save me from the crushing blows of cruel maya, I found the panacea for which I was panting as the divine lips parted to say, "Who do all these (wordly woes) seem to trouble? Put that question to yourself as often as you feel troubled. Thou art not the body, which will perish one day. Know that thou art the atma of unmixed bliss. How then could any worldly bugber affect you?" His gracious words wrought a miracle. I was suddenly raised above the cloud of misery that had enveloped and distressed me till then. That very moment my dejection disappeared. I cannot say which way it went. I felt as if I never knew sorrow or misery in any shape. My mind was sunk in a sea of joy. That divine magician's word hard its desirable balmy effect forthwith.

Day by Day with Bhagavan by Devaraja Mudaliar records:

When Bhagavan was at the Skandasram, I [Ramanadasa] was sitting on the steps leading up to the Ashram. A man came to the Ashram with his family and stopped at the gate. He asked whether they could have the Swami's darshan, because untouchables could not think of entering the Ashram. I wanted to ask Bhagavn, but then I hesitated and allowed them to go inside. The whole party went in and prostrated before Bhagavan. I well remember how for about ten minutes Bhagavan's gracious look dwelt on the untouchable and his family; and how many rich and notable people have I seen falling at his feet without being vouchsafed such grace.