14/03/2024
22 Dec 2023 | That evening, upon arriving in Thiruvannamalai, I settled with the driver and requested him to return safely, as I had decided to stay in Thiruvannamalai itself for a week or more, until my purpose was fulfilled. More than just a driver, he is a wonderful person with a humbling personality destined to be in connection. Despite from the previous week's heavy journey, I didn’t want to rest in a hotel. In the late evening, even before my official plans began in Thiruvannamalai the next day morning, I embarked on a walk along the Giri Valam pathway, briefly stopping at Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashram before entering Sri Ramanasramam. As I slowly entered the ashram; first to the new hall at Matrubhuteswarar Shrine before proceeding to Sri Ramanar Samadhi Shrine. There, I came across a write-up on a big board attached to the entire wall; the seekers were sitting quietly, meditating upon the write-up facing the board. It detailed the profound account of the death experience of Sri Ramana Maharshi at the age of 16 (below write up), which left a deep thought refreshning in me. Inspiring !
DEATH EXPERIENCE OF SRI RAMANA MAHARISHI AT THE AGE OF 16
When SRI RAMANA MAHARISHI realized the Self he was a lad of sixteen, still at school. He took a single step and reached the goal. MAHARISHI himself described how this happened…
“ It was about six weeks before I left Madurai for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden, I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house. I seldom had any sickness, and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it and I did not try to account for it or to find out whether there was any reason for the fear. I just felt 'I am going to die’ and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends: I felt that I had to solve the problem myself, there and then.
The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: 'Now death has come. What does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies.’ And I, at once dramatized the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a co**se so as to give greater reality to the enquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed, so that no sound could escape, so that neither the word ‘I' nor any other word could be uttered. Well then, I said to myself, this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body ‘I’? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the ‘I’ within me, apart from it. So I am spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit that transcends it, cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless spirit. All this was not dull thought, it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process.
‘I’ was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that ‘I’. From that moment onwards the ‘I' or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all.
Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the ‘I’ continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading or anything else, I was still centred on ‘I’. Previous to that crisis, I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible on direct interest in it, much less any Inclination to dwell permanently in it. “
Picture: Inside Sri Ramana Ashram
