Experiencing Sri Bhagavan Ramana

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The first European visitor has thus described it:

 

"On reaching the cave we sat before him at his feet and said nothing.

We sat thus for a long time and I felt lifted out of myself. For half

and hour I looked into the Maharshi's eyes, which never changed their

expression of deep contemplation. I began to realize somewhat that

the body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost; I could feel only that his

body was not the man: it was the instrument of God, merely a sitting,

motionless corpse from which God was radiating terrifically. My one

feelings were indescribable."

 

Another, Paul Brunton, who arrived more a skeptic than a believer,

has given the following account of the first impact the silence of

Sri Bhagavan made upon his mind.

 

" It is an ancient theory of mind that one can take the inventory of

a man's souls from his eyes. But before those of the Maharshi I

hesitate, puzzled and baffled...

"I cannot turn my gaze away from him. My initial bewilderment, my

perplexity at being totally ignored, slowly fade away as this strange

fascination begins to grip me more firmly. But it is not till the

second hour of the uncommon scene that I become aware of a silent,

resistless change which is taking place within my mind. One by one,

the questions which I prepared in the train with such meticulous

accuracy drop away. For it does not now seem to matter whether they

are asked or not, and it does not matter whether I solve the problems

which have hitherto troubled me. I know only that a steady river of

quietness seems to be flowing near me, that a great peace is

penetrating the inner reaches of my being, and that my thought-

tortured brain is beginning to arrive at some rest.

 

>From Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self Knowledge.. Osborne.