Ramana Maharshi: Who am I?

Ramana Maharshi was a spiritual Master, who spent most of his life around the holy mountain of Arunachala in South India. Ramana Maharshi, played a pivotal role in indirectly introducing meditation and yoga into the West. His life and teachings were of great simplicity; focusing on the philosophy of advaita Vedanta.

As a young boy, Ramana Maharshi had an ordinary upbringing; however, around the age of 16 he became obsessed with fear about death. The young Ramana became paralysed with fear about what would happen on dying. This experiences changed his outlook on life; he no longer could gain satisfaction from wordly activities, instead he became absorbed in seeking a deeper meaning to life. He shunned his former activies and on one day resolved to leave his school, home and family so that he could put all his energies into meditation and yoga. For several years Ramana lived the life of a wandering ascetic; he spent most of his time in prayer and mediation and was magnetically drawn to the holy mountain of Arunachala. In the early years of his sadhana, Ramana lived amongst the wild creatures of the mountain. Ramana Maharshi never showed any fear to animals, his spiritual realisation gave him a uniques sense of oneness with other creatures.

For several years, he lived at Arunachala in relative anonymity; but over time he began to attract sincere seekers who felt in him a magnetic spiritual force of peace and illumination. As the number of disciples increased, a simple ashram was developed on the hills of Arunachala. It was here that Ramana Maharshi spent the remainder of his days. He spoke rarely, he preferred to teach through the silence of his meditation. Quite often seekers would come with a flood of questions, only to find them answered when they sat in the meditation hall.

Ramana Maharshi did write down some of his philosophy and spiritual teachings. They are characterised by a simplicity and clarity that directs a seekers straight to the source. The main suggestion of Ramana Maharshi was for seekers to concentrate on answering the question. "Who am I?" - If we can answer this question and discover our real self, all our problems would be solved. Ramana Mahashi taught that the only way to satisfactorily answer this question was through meditation. He encouraged aspirants to try and trace the place where thoughts come from. If we relentlessly follow thoughts back to their source, we come to learn that we are not our thoughts. Our sense of "I" ness will change from the limited ego, to the all encompassing universal soul. Sri Chinmoy says , from a spiritual perspective, the question of "Who am I? is by far the most significant question we can ask.

"Ultimately, all the questions that philosophy asks can be reduced to "Who am I?" Then the reply comes spontaneously, "Who am I not?" The question and the answer may be found at the same place." [1]

Many visitors came to meditate in the presence of Ramana Maharshi. Often visitors would come with a flood of question; however, on sitting in the meditation hall there questions would be answered in silence. This was the experience of Paul Brunton, an Englishman seeking the meaning of life. Paul Brunton wrote down many of his Indian experiences in a book "Search in Secret India." This helped to introduce the idea of meditation to western society.

[1] Philosophy - Wisdom Chartiot at Sri Chinmoy Library

• Ramana Maharshi Quotes

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