Paul Brunton - The Maharshi and His Message #27

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In 1905 plague appeared in the locality. The dread visitant

was probably carried into the district by some pilgrim to the

temple of Arunachala. It devastated the population so fiercely

that almost everyone left the little township and fled in terror to

safer villages or towns. So quiet did the deserted place become

that tigers and leopards came out of their lurking dens in the

jungle and moved openly through the streets. But, though they

must have roamed the hillside many times, for it stood in their

path to the township, though they must have passed and repassed

the Maharshi’s cave, he refused to leave, but remained as calm

and unmoved as ever.

 

By this time, the young hermit had involuntarily acquired a

solitary disciple, who had become very much attached to him

and persisted in staying by his side and attending to his needs.

The man is now dead. But the legend has been handed down to

other disciples that at nights a large tiger came to the cave, stood

in front of Ramana and peacefully departed.

 

There is a widespread notion throughout India that yogis and

fakirs who live in the jungles or on the mountains exposed to

danger from lions, tigers, snakes and other wild creatures, move

unharmed and untouched if they have attained a sufficient degree

of yogic power.

 

Another story about Ramana told how he was

once sitting in the afternoon outside the narrow entrance to his

abode when a large cobra came swishing through the rocks and

 

 

stopped in front of him. It raised its body and spread out its hood,

but the hermit did not attempt to move. The two beings — man

and beast — faced each other for some minutes, gaze meeting

gaze. In the end the snake withdrew and left him unharmed,

although it was within striking distance.

 

The austere lonely life of this strange young man closed its

first phase with his firm and permanent establishment in the

deepest point of his own spirit. Seclusion was no longer an

imperative need, but he continued to live at the cave until the

visit of an illustrious brahmin pundit, Ganapati Sastri, proved

another turning point of his outer life, which was now to enter

on a more social period. The pundit had recently come to stay

near the temple for study and meditation. He heard by chance

that there was a very young yogi on the hill and out of curiosity

he went in search of him. When he found Ramana, the latter

was staring fixedly at the sun. It was not at all uncommon for

the hermit to keep his eyes on the dazzling sun for some hours

till it disappeared below the western horizon.

 

The glaring light of the rays of an afternoon sun in India can

hardly be appreciated by a European who has never experienced

it. I remember once, when I had set out to climb the steep ascent

of the hill at a wrong hour, being caught without shelter by the

full glare of the sun at midday on my return journey. I staggered

and reeled about like a drunken man for quite a time. So the

feat of young Ramana in enduring the merciless glare of the

sun, with face uplifted and eyes unflinching, may therefore be

better evaluated.

 

The pundit had studied all the chief books of Hindu wisdom

for a dozen years and had undergone rigorous penances in an

endeavour to reach some tangible spiritual benefit, but he was

still afflicted by doubts and perplexities. He put a question to

Ramana and after fifteen minutes received a reply which amazed

him with its wisdom. He put further questions, involving his

 

 

own philosophical and spiritual problems, and was still more

astounded at the clearing up of perplexities which had troubled

him for years. As a result he prostrated himself before the young

hermit and became a disciple. Sastri had his own group of

followers in the town of Vellore and he went back later and

told them that he had found a Maharshi (Great Sage or Seer),

because the latter was undoubtedly a man of the highest

spiritual realization whose teachings were so original that the

pundit had found nothing exactly like them in any book he

had read. From that time the title of Maharshi began to be

applied to young Ramana by cultured people, although the

common folk wanted to worship him as a divine being when

his existence and character became better known to them. But

the Maharshi strongly forbade every manifestation of such

worship in his presence. Among themselves and in private talk

with me, most of his devotees and people in the locality insist

on calling him a god.

 

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