The Life of Sri Ramana Maharshi (Part I)
Excerpts from "Bhagavan Ramana" A Life Time-line
THE Scriptures tell us that it is as difficult to trace the path a sage pursues, as it is to draw a line marking the course a bird takes in the air while on its wings. Most humans must be content with a slow and laborious journey towards the goal. But a few are born adepts, flying non-stop to the common home of all beings: The Supreme Self. Mankind takes heart when such a sage appears, and though unable to keep pace with him, feels uplifted by his presence and has a foretaste of the felicity before which worldly pleasures pale into nothing. Countless people who went to Tiruvannamalai during the lifetime of Maharshi Sri Ramana had this experience. They saw in him a sage without the least touch of worldliness, a saint of matchless purity, a witness to the eternal truth of Vedanta. It is not often that a spiritual genius of Sri Ramana's magnitude visits this earth. But when such an event occurs, all humanity benefits and a new era of hope opens before it.
Birth
About thirty miles south of Madurai is a village — Tiruchuli by name — with an ancient Siva temple — Thirumeninathar temple, also called Boominathar temple or Tiruchuli temple — about which two great Tamiḷ saints, Sundaramurti and Manikkavacakar, have sung. In this sacred village there lived in the latter part of the nineteenth century an uncertified pleader, Sundaram Aiyar with his wife Alagammal. Piety, devotion and charity characterised this ideal couple. Sundaram Aiyar was generous even beyond his means. Alagammal was an ideal Hindu wife. On the 30th of December 1879, to them was born Venkataraman — who later came to be known to the world as Ramana Maharshi.
It was an auspicious day for Hindus, the Ardradarsanam day. On this day every year the image of the Dancing Siva, Nataraja, is taken out of the temples in procession to celebrate the divine grace of the Lord who made His appearance before such saints as Gautama, Patanjali, Vyaghrapada, and Manikkavacakar. In the year 1879, on the Ardra day, the Nataraja Image of the temple at Tiruchuli was taken out with all the attendant ceremonies — and just as it was about to re-enter, Venkataraman was born.
SAT Temple - Arudra Darshanam
Early Years
There was nothing markedly distinctive about Venkataraman's early life. He grew up just an average boy. He was sent to an elementary school in Tiruchuli, and then for a year's education to a school in Dindigul. His father died when he was twelve years old. This necessitated moving to Madurai with the family to live with his paternal uncle, Subbaiyar. There he was sent to Scott's Middle School and then to the American Mission High School. He was not at all serious about his studies, an indifferent student. But as he was a healthy and strong lad, his schoolmates and other companions were afraid of his strength. Any time some of them had any grievance against him, they would dare play pranks with him only when he was asleep. In this extremely deep sleep, he was rather unusual: he would not know of anything that happened to him during sleep. He would be carried away or even beaten without his waking up in the process.
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(Continued in Part II)
Complete Set of: “The Life Of Sri Ramana Maharshi”