Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram – Thiruvannamalai

     Ramana Maharishi was born as Venkataraman in Tiruchuli village of Tamil Nadu, on 30th December 1879. An average child, he heard the name of Thiruvannamalai from an elderly relative and was deeply attracted towards it. Then, he came across a copy of Sekkilar’s Periyapuranam, related to the lives of the Saiva saints.  Soon after, he developed a desire to renounce the world and move on the path of spirituality. Thus began his life as one of the greatest sages of India, Sri Ramana Maharishi. He was but a young man in his early twenties, yet Sri Ramana Maharishi had already the serene countenance and radiant6 eyes of a Sage. He lived in a cave on the sacred mountain, Arunachala, beside the town of Thiruvannamalai in Madras State.  He sought solitude and maintained silence to discourage visitors.  Nevertheless, disciples gathered round.  He was already known as ‘Maharishi’ the ‘Great Sage’ devotees addressed him as the ‘Bhagavan’ (Lord). After some years the cave became too small and Maharishi and his followers moved to Skandasramam, a little higher up the mountainside. This also was cave but was enlarged and built out to give more accommodation.  His mother renounced the world and came to join him there.  She began to cook for the little group.  Previously they ate only what was given in charity by the pious people while some of them daily bagged for food in the town.

     The mother died in 1922, attaining Liberation at the moment of death, through persistent effort fortified by the concentrated grace of her son.  As tradition demands in the case of a Liberated Being, the body of Mother was not cremated but buried.  As burial was not allowed on the mountain she was buried at its foot. It was less than half an hour’s walk from Skandasramam and the Maharishi would go there daily.  Then, on day, he stayed.  It was here that Ramanashramam sprang up.

     Sri Ramana Maharishi was already over forty at the time and had spent twenty six years at Thiruvannamalai as a Self realized sage and yet he was not widely known outside of South India.  He had avoided publicity and had done nothing spectacular to attract people, such as cures or miracles.  There was no Ashram office, no correspondence and no facility for visitors The Ashram did not spring up immediately. At first there was only a shed with bamboo uprights and a roof of palm leaves.  The Maharishi himself maintained the same aloof attitude, and he continued to live in utmost simplicity.  If anyone wanted to come and settle down there they could, but each one had to make his own arrangements.  The Ashram organization was not his concern.  If rules were made he would be the first to abide by them, but he never made any. His work was purely spiritual.  He silently guided the ever-growing family of devotees that gathered around him and radiated his Grace upon them.  For an onlooker, he was aloof, but his love was all embracing and utterly overpowering. Everyone felt the subtle, ever-watchful power and grace of his guidance it was his younger brother, Sri Niranjanananda Swami, who took charge of the construction of buildings and the growth of the Ashram.  He became its manager.  As the Maharishi became more widely known, donations flowed in and a whole complex of buildings arose.  A temple that he built over the Mother’s shrine and a large new meditation hall, known as the New Hall, The focus of all attention was, of course, the mediation hall where devotees sat with the Maharishi.  There was a couch there where he sat in the daytime and slept at night.  Devotees would sit before him on the floor, men on one side of the hall, women at the other.  During the early years the doors were never closed, and even at night people could come and lay their burdens at his feet.  In Later years, because of age and failing health, the Ashram management decided that hours of privacy would be necessary for him Concerned that he should be accessible to visitors at all hours, Sri Bhagavan never left the Ashram except for his daily walk on the mountain morning and evening, and in the early years, an occasional walk on the nine-mile road around the mountain.  This is said to be particularly meritorious and should ideally be done barefoot, as a pilgrimage.  The Maharishi always encouraged it. People would sit in meditation while the Maharishi watched over them, guiding them wordlessly.  However there was no rigidity about it no rule that everyone must meditate at a given them or in a certain manner. Accommodation was sometimes difficult to find.  It was never a residential Ashram in the usual sense nevertheless, a large dormitory was put up where men could spread their bedding on the floor.  There were also a few private rooms for guests. However, all this proved insufficient, and was of no help to women, who were not allowed to stay overnight in the Ashram premises.  A number of devotees built their own houses round about, and thus a housing estate grew up.  Sadhu made a colony near the Ashram and lived in caves and huts.  A Maharaja donated a guesthouse.  In spite of all this, difficulties in finding accommodation persisted.  All of this suddenly changed in 1950. After a prolonged illness the Maharishi attained Maha Samadhi.  The crowds of devotees dispersed and it seemed for a while that the Ashram might come to an end or survive only as a relic.  However, contrary to what had been feared, there was no feeling of void.  Indeed, never had the atmosphere more vibrant with the Maharishi’s effulgent Presence and Grace.  The power of his presence seemed not to have been withdrawn but, on the contrary, to be stronger and more potent than ever.  Such grace was there that those who stayed on could not even feel sad.  There was nothing to grieve about, no sense of loss or privation.  More and more, people came to feel the Maharishi’s continued presence at Sri Ramanashramam.  Devotees who had left returned.  The flow of visitors resumed.  It was recalled that the Maharishi himself had given many indications of his continued presence.  In approving a will that was drawn up he had stated that this Ashram was to continue as a spiritual center.  For the Sage who has realized his identity with the universal Self there is ;no coming or going, no change or becoming, no here or there, only the changeless here and now.  And yet, his words had physical implications as well.  They applied to his Ashram at Thiruvannamalai.  During his lifetime, the Maharishi had often said that only the body travels the Self remains unmoving.  This was one aspect of the truth which would be a consolation to those not destined to go to Thiruvannamalai. But the other aspect was no less true that it was and is a great blessing to be able to go to Sri Ramanahsramam at the foot of the sacred Arunachala Mountain, and that powerful spiritual help will be found there for those who come.  While Sri Ramana is universal and ever present in the hearts of those devotees who dedicate their lives to him, there is, at the same time, no denying that his power and guidance are concentrated at his Ashram at Thiruvannamalai.

     There were other confirmations of Sri Bhagavan’s continued Presence.  When some devotees complained before his death that he was leaving them he answered cryptically “You attach too much importance to the body.”  The implication was obvious.  The body was leaving them he was not. He would remain the Guru as before.

     There is no spiritual head of the Ashram, no lineage successor to Bhagavan in human form.  The Presence of the Maharishi is so intensely powerful and all-pervasive that it is clear to all his devotees that the Migahty impersonality that Ramana was is the eternal Guru and presiding deity here.  The spiritual instructions that he has left behind are complete in every way and spiritual support comes directly from him all that is needed in practice.  Sri Niranjanananda Swami died in January, 1953 and his son, T. N. Venkataraman, took over the management of the Ashram as President. In 1994, T.N. Venkataraman retired an, as enjoined by Bhagavan’s will, entrusted his eldest son, V.S. Ramanan, to serve as the Ashram President. 

      As you enter the Ramana Maharishi Ashram, you will greeted by a calm and serene environment.  A large open courtyard, bordered by shady trees and beautifully manicured gardens, give this ashram the tranquility that all of us aspire for.