Sri Ramana's continuous Presence, II

[Guest guest]

A story about Sri Bhagavans contiuous Presence which

happened to N.R. Krishnamurti Aiyer at Sri Ramana's Mahanirvana:

 

 

.....

 

 

On the evening of 10th April, 1950, when I went by train

from Madurai to attend to some university business in

Madras, I broke my journey at Tiruvannamalai in order

to visit Sri Ramanasramam. Sri Bhagavan had only a few

more days before dropping his body, yet he insisted on

giving darshan every day to all his devotees. A long

queue extended from his room up to the gate of the ashram.

The queue moved slowly past the open doorstep where Sri

Bhagavan could be seen in a lying posture facing the devotees.

Each devotee stopped for a few seconds before moving on in

order to give way to the devotee behind him. I joined the queue.

When my turn came I saw Bhagavan's eyes aglow with a

penetrating look that pierced into the innermost recesses

of my being. He was lying on his side with the bandaged left

arm below on the bed. The once beautiful form was reduced

to skin and bone. That was the last time I had his blessed

darshan.

 

The same evening I had to leave for Madras as I had to

conduct the BA degree examinations in the Government Arts

College on Mount Road. The examinations were scheduled to

continue until the evening of 15th April. As the answer papers

had to be evalueated at the end of each day, the authorities

of the college had given me a room in an attached hostel that

had a veranda facing the road.

 

On the 14th, after a hard day's work, I had an early meal, went

to bed on a bench on the veranda at about 8 p.m., and fell

fast asleep. Suddenly I woke up with a start and rushed headlong

into my room A sudden blinding flash of lightning had enveloped

me and the vast space around me. It was this startling

phenomenon that had caused me to wake up in a panic.

Once I reached the room the brilliant flash of light confined

itself to my chest. It then subsided into my heart-centre, which

began to throb continuously with the sound 'Arunachalam,

Arunachalam' in the same way that it used to throb with the

sound 'Rama, Rama'. The vibrations of that sound were so

violent they shook my whole body. How ever much I tried,

I could not stop that powerful reverberation. Fortunately,

by the time the following day dawned, the throbbing had

subsided of its own accord.

 

I went out to take my morning coffe in a neighbouring hotel

at daybreak. Going out onto the road I saw a wall poster

announcing in big letters: "Bhagavan Ramana Maharhsi

attained mahanirvana last night at 8.48 p.m."

I felt an anguished cry within me: "I have lost the delight or

my eyes, the charming figure of my Bhagavan, for ever!"

 

That day my co-examiner was alive to my situation. He

seated me in a corner of the examination hall and completed

the day's work all by himself. The next morning, Sunday the

16th, I arrived at the ashram only to find the blessed body hidden

away from human sight forever inside the samadhi cell.

However, standing beside it I felt the thundering silence of peace

eternal. Bhagavan's parting gift to me had been an infusion of

grace that had touched the core of my Heart, revealing to me

the eternal silence that had always been there, and that will

always be there. Through that grace I finally understood who

Sadguru Ramana was and is, and I understood directly that

I had been striving for during all my years of sadhana.

 

The next day I returned to Madurai. I was then in an infinite

ocean of pure being that was aware of nothing other than itself.

The nescience of sleep was lost for ever. I am now that screen of

consciousness on which this endless shadow-play of the world

is going on, with a shadow body carring the label N.R.K.

actively engaged in singing the five hymns of Arunachala and

Ramana by turns. It has now made this record of its sojourn

on earth. In due course this screen and all its contents will

disappear into the one Self that stands alone as pure

Awareness-Being.

 

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David Godman: Power of the Presence I

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