Testimonials

Testimonial By Dr Abhimanyu Bishnu

Bhagavan for me.
I will try to keep it as short as possible, as Bhagavan himself might have liked it. He was a man of brevity.

It was probably three months ago that Pallavi mentioned about Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi to me. I had written a rather lengthy post on Facebook regarding life in general, someone had reconnected with me to her after 17 years (my ex-classmate) and I admit I knew very little about Bhagavan. Over the last four years, my spiritual quests had led me to Ramakrishna Mission Ashram (Chennai, Dakshineswar, Ranchi and Hyderabad) , Aurobindo Ashram (Kolkata, New Delhi and Pondicherry), Phool Chatti Ashram (Haridwar), Deoghar Satsang Ashram (Deoghar) the Art of Living ( Chennai, Bangalore, Ranchi and Kolkata). Having only partially found my answers, I was tired, and in no way ready to allow some interloping “Bhagavan” to take over my life. I did not even take Pallavi seriously, because I had my own thoughts. I had not even read this blog properly, despite her giving me the link three months back. I was curious, but deluding myself, saying it was not time yet.

My problems are of not much relevance, but they include chronic prescription drug-induced health issues (might be fatal in 2-3 years time or even earlier), Dad’s death last year from bronchogenic carcinoma, loss of job/ financial issues and personal life issues (limited connectivity to my daughter post marital separation). Yes, all four things at the same time, and I continue to dance among them like Shiva dancing, unmindful in the middle of all the problems of the world (just to use a metaphor). Life was going on.

And then, it hit me, truly dramatically. Last month, my personal issues, which were resolving slowly, came back. My health dipped. I turned to the Bhagavad Gita to find answers. Turned within, became still. Still no idea about Bhagavan. And then, one night, casually, I read about him on Wikipedia (no, I admit I had not even checked out Pallavi’s silent documentary by then).

It hit me like a train of bricks! Here was a person who was in the world but not of it, unaffected, detached. Loved sports before other things took over. Faced a complex relationship with his mother and dealt with it wisely. Studied in a Christian missionary school in his youth, was therefore exposed to multireligious complexities. Father’s death plunged his family into problems. Faced adversities, austerities. Health issues which might have crippled him, but couldn’t . Turned within himself , knowing the bliss and bane of solitude. Ardent devotee of Shiva, the three-eyed jnani . Dealt with his pain wisely, gracefully, and never gave up on loving people silently.

It may be heresy to say this since I am no one compared to him, but this situation eerily echoed my life and the way I had dealt with my problems. Here began the connect as I discovered Bhagavan inside myself. Add to this my several years (over a decade cumulatively) in South India, having seen some of the great Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, and the prey was well and truly ensnared by the tiger ( to use Bhagavan’s own metaphor).

The next few days, I almost spent locked in my room, venturing out only for limited work (I work part-time), read, listened and meditated on Bhagavan. Listened to Aksharamanamalai, read up “ Nan Yar” and “Upadesha Saram”, saw videos on youtube and talked to Shiva ( yes, I do). I saw Bhagavan, Shiva and myself connected in the same continuum. And after several years of spiritual quests, my search was over. Or is the search just beginning, the earlier efforts were just a prelude?

Thanks, Pallavi. Truly grateful for your guidance and support in this period.

What appeals to me about Bhagavan? Let me not try to explain. It’s everything, includes everything. In Bhagavan’s own style, I prefer not to elucidate, but rather to infer. My true tribute to him is- Silent Admiration.

Was it a coincidence that all this happened around 14th April? My personal problems could have erupted earlier or later than this period. My inward journey could have been pre-dated or post-dated. But the fact that it happened around this time, and I was fortunate enough to view his Samadhi Divas on 14th April, means that whatever has to happen will happen, no matter how much one may try otherwise. In other words, the eternal play of Prarabdha Karma.

I have changed more in one and a half months than in the last four years. I am a different person, unaffected by events and the world. I have become silent, the FB page remains unattended, and my blogs, once my lifeline, need attention. The substrate (never overwhelming) desire for validation, of yore, has disappeared. The Ego is dying a slow death. But the Spirit has never been stronger. It frightens me to death at times, but then Bhagavan’s and Shiva’s lustrous, peaceful eyes smile at me and say, “This is the play of Karma. Be still, be here in the Self and the Present.”

If Bhagavan had a monastic order, it wouldn’t have taken me a minute to make up my mind. But that’s his beauty- he believes in the Self and not in any formal religious orders. I can now extrapolate his teachings to most of my life issues. I plan to go to Tiruvannamalai in July (accommodation confirmed), health permitting. Bhagavan never let his physical problems come in his way. I don’t intend to, either.

Will my problems be solved? One of my friends recently passed away (I believe) from the same health issues as me. The other issues don’t have any immediate solutions, either. Fact is, I don’t know and don’t care. Solutions are damned, I am happy in just being. With Dakshinamurthy Shiva by my side, everything else seems irrelevant now.

Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namo Ramana

Jai Guru

Submitted by Dr Abhimanyu Bishnu
Peripatetic healthcare administrator, on and off a physician, blogger and yoga enthusiast currently struggling with learning music. Owns few possessions except a ” devil may care” attitude. Father to a lovely daughter who is equally passionate about creativity.

https://youmeandworldblog.wordpress.com

Testimonial By K. Vikram Simha Rao

HOW I WAS HIT BY RAMANA

In my journey of spiritual path, I had influences of many great men, living as well as those who are still with us through their eternal teachings.

Three prominent saints in the order of their influence in time are Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Shri Ramana Maharishi and Shirdi Sai Baba.

In early childhood, I realised very soon the transient nature of wealth and relationships when my parents had setbacks in their life with family and society. This forced them to seek solace in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda. We accepted them totally as we found that their life was one of purity, sacrifice and selflessness. They emphasized on freedom from desires, simple living and helping others. I followed their path.

While pursuing my graduation in Chennai in early 1980s, I came to know of life of Shri Ramana Maharishi for the first time but only briefly.

Later after about 30 years, my friend Shri Sitaraman, who was my colleague in Health Ministry, Government of India told me about Ramana Kendra in Delhi and invited me for some celebration.

Initial talks on his life and teachings were difficult to understand. Shri Ramana was interested in Ribhu Gita, but for me it was tough to understand. Bhagavad Geeta was relatively easy. A booklet on Yoga Vasisthta was quite interesting. But the book “Letters from Shri Ramanashramam ” by Suri Nagamma finally brought me so close to Sri Ramana, that I felt as if he was in front of me. I learnt about his life, how he lived exactly as per his teachings, and his ideas on silence, enquiry, Self, etc.

At that time, there was turmoil in my personal life and his teachings were a great comfort to me. The first mantra attracted me was his statement “what is to happen will happen and what is not to happen will not happen”. It helped me to accept all happenings fully, and not to run away from any situation in life. It gave me strength to face all challenges: Secondly, he has said somewhere that the small ‘I’ will be replaced by ‘I -I’ and continuous and unending sound will be heard. I had read about it in other books too which is called ‘Anahata Dhvani’, Later after sometime, I experienced it and it still continues with me. It has made my life a Bliss, with stoppage of restless mind, and no more chattering within me.

All his teachings I tried to compare with the writings of Swami Vivekananda whom I hold in high esteem. I found that both of them had taught the same thing and my faith in Sri Ramana further multiplied.

This year I visited Tiruvannamalai unexpectedly. I was having a severe body pain as I had slipped on my back some six months ago. Medicine, exercise and other methods did not help. When I visited Arunachala, I walked barefoot on the hills and at the end of it, my pain disappeared. I never prayed for it. I was not conscious of pain when I was walking on the hills. But it happened.

Whenever I am alone and feel bored, I get reminded of Sri Ramana and get inspiration from him to be with oneself and be blissful.

Some striking and common aspects of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana always surprised me and made me treat them equally: both led a pure and selfless life, they did not bother about their bodies even when afflicted by severe ailments; both looked after their mother till their end; they lived in silence and meditation; they encouraged debate and gave answers;; their teachings were simple; their lives embodied highest truths; and their teachings continue to influence mankind immensely.

Sri Ramana, it appears, is even now amidst us as a family member and in our satsangs.

May Sri Ramana continue to enlighten us.

KVS RAO,

MOBILE NO: 9910649868

Testimonial By Dr Pallavi Kwatra

My journey with bliss incarnate… Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

My journey with Bhagwan is very brief in timeline frames, but never the less, I seem to have been living him for eons… from the time I can remember to be aware of my own existence as a being, Bhagwan has been around. As time passed on, I have come to realize the truth in his words, “guru’s grace works spontaneously and effortlessly and that once the devotee is in the grace, he is unlikely to be spared like being in the claws of the tiger”.

I first came to know of Bhagwan and Arunachala around 2014 when a college friend posted pictures of Arunachala from a train. I wondered what could be so important about a mountain and ignored it, dismissing it as some puny fable from the world of scriptures. in 2015, my spiritual life became a total mess as I had in my over zeal to get to the truth, got myself initiated into multiple spiritual disciplines… I was healing through energy modalities, and practicing kriya and hatha yoga and gulping on a large deal of spiritual readings… I was spending immense hours every day towards my saadhnas and suddenly felt weary and disillusioned with it all… I wondered that the truth must be something so simple and available to us all. why would one toil so much to reach who he essentially is. Maharishi appeared to enlighten me suddenly on similar notes through his book, “Talks with Ramana Maharishi”. My ordeals persisted with regard to my saadhnas and the longing for simplicity burnt and blazed like fire in me.

Through a mystic co incidence, on guru purnima day of 2015, I was made to accompany a devotee whom I knew barely for 4 hours through a wrong number telephone call, on a virtual tour to ramanashramam. he was there and kept me accompanied through a phone chat. A few months down the line, I was asked to accompany a group on a pilgrimage to thiruvanamallai. I consented. Two days before the trip, both my children developed dengue fever and my boss at work cancelled my leave saying that if I go, I would lose my job. I prevailed with a madness for Bhagwan and left for Thiruvanamallai. At the grivalam which we did on night, I was mesmerized with Arunachala and my whole body continued to be on fire. The trip was somewhat replete with mystical occurrences. When I sat in the old hall and the tamil parayana played in the background, I knew it was not my first visit and I had surely been there in some past lifetime. While there, I begged to be saved from my spiritual agony. By that time, I had 2 living gurus and now, to add to my misery… I had a third one.

After my trip, for many days… I experienced phases in which my mind stilled…however my agony continued and I devoted myself to my saadhnas like an alcoholic drug addict. Wanting to let go, but could not. To add to the mumbo jumbo; I had bhagwan who kept popping up in my consciousnesses all the time. Soon, I paid my first visit to Ramana Kendra, Delhi and I liked the peaceful ambience there. In a week ; where I had some time off from work, I visited the Kendra planning to do some sewa. I dint know what to do. So, I thought I’ll clean up the library shelves and that’s it. little did I know, I was up for a whole lot more. As I started opening the shelves of books and cleaning them, I found spiritual treasures and the library had no librarian and all the books were mixed up. In a meditative moment, I was guided to index and catalog the library… and so I set upon the task. in 7 days, almost single handedly, I classified the almost 10000 books there into new indexing, cleaned the shelves and put them back. It was an action, I as a mere mortal could never accomplish. it left me stunned. my devotion deepened and I started visiting the Kendra regularly. during the sessions… I found myself in divine trances, gazing into his eyes. I was asked to become a member in the body of members and I consented, happy to be of service.

In the meanwhile, me and my 11 other doctor friends were discussing spirituality over a what’s app group and I decided to compile the talks into a book. I had no clue how to go about it, but Bhagwan ensured the book happened within 2 odd months of its appearance in my consciousness. every time I touched the dimension of Bhagwan…my external life got mutated n a big way. Painful relationships fell away and the hold of desires began to lose its hold.I was suddenly beginning to feel free….so very free.

My mom who was ailing with life threatening illnesses for 6 months landed in the hospital and in the Icu. I saw her rotting body and mind. it brought me the urge to facilitate her liberation and one evening… I sat sternly before Bhagwan. Stubborn upon his consent for me to give her euthanasia. in a silent way, he consented and in the most humbling experience of my life…. I was present to assist in my mom’s liberation from the suffering of this body.

Bhagwan was a hard taskmaster and a loving parent to me… more like a grandparent… called him dada ji fondly. I never much did the enquiry of who am I as an intellectual exercise, but through many ways …he prodded me to know who I was not. Through Bhagwan;I encountered his loved ones and the most magical beings have come into my life from these associations. I got so much love from all the devotees that I was overwhelmed… I had always been a loner and had felt unloved but Bhagwan’s love water falled on me and drenched my soul…

On my second visit to Thiruvanamalai also, I felt it was home and I was in a fasting state. With minimal food and sleep, I was challenging a grivalam. I started menstruating on my grivalam and my hands swelled up bloody red. Intense agony gave way to intense bliss.

Around four months back, I had an urge to learn more about Sri vidya practices. but I was hesitant as I did not want to add to my spiritual confusions. All ready, I was just about to drop my deep vasnas to learn about various spiritual saadhnas and Sri vidya was not a joke. I did not want to go ahead without Bhagwan’s consent and behold through multiple directions…he himself guided my path to unfold Devi’s grace. the path is revealing itself to me beautifully with Devi and Bhagwan’s blessings.

My dad who was a saintly being…developed heart problem for which he got stented but unfortunately had severe bodily suffering. He soon came in the net of Shiva’s grace through Bhagwan and began to connect to Bhagwan’s grace. within 2 months of this, on the most auspicious day of Bhagwan’s maha nirvana, Bhagwan gave him the ultimate liberation; he passed over in his sleep…painlessly. I had no doubts on his liberation and the immense blessing of Bhagwan wrapped me such that sorrow did not touch even a single cell…. I was orphaned on the upfront but internally only I knew the immense blessing of Bhagwan for both my parents. There are many many more instances and the grace has spoken itself out in manifold ways.

This website formatting is another beautiful way the grace chooses to use me as Bhagwan’s metaphor. I bring it up like a child birthing out of me and yet knowing it’s not mine. Only the instrument and so so glad to be of such service and making this all happen.

Namo Ramana

9 months: from involution to evolution;
Be love: a collection of spiritual erotic poetry;
Musings of the awakening soul: a pictorial anthology
sajda
niyaaz.
http://www.drpallavikwatra.com

Testimonial By Dr. Tuktuk Ghosh

THE END AS A BEGINNING

Death is the end. This is how it is commonly perceived. Hence the dread, the acrid fear and the unremitting angst that is its inseparable double. So much in life is geared towards pushing away what is the only certainty that we are aware of.

Is death really so terrible ? Is it confronted only that one time? Yes, if looked at in the conventional matrix. No, if regarded as a culmination of many an end that speckles each unique life. The only difference is that we experience a beginning after each end-point in life. What is beyond our known experience is only post- death in the physical sense.

This interrogation is not associated with the philosophy that bolsters belief in the endless cycle of birth and rebirth , reincarnation, to be followed with mukti, liberated from the shackles of karma – enforced bondage. Not withstanding thousands of years of learning and as many recounting of previous lives, the fundamental under girding of this is sheer faith, a giant act of faith.

To reiterate, the finality of death is not the only end that confronts us. There is the death of every passing moment that we live with. With continuity there is a constant cessation , which we choose to be oblivious of. It is comforting to believe that there is a constant at the core of our being and our personalized universe. With every such death enters a new beginning which is not recognized as such.

Things would indeed appear very different were they to be viewed from this prism . To acknowledge that we are confronted with death in life is neither simple nor palatable. Death remains the terrifying other , not to taken as life’s consort.

In my personal experience I have seen the terrifying other from very close quarters in its most grotesque visage, on more occasions than I think was fair. Admittedly, this is judgmental. Be that as it may, it is incomprehensible that my father , foster parent and sister ;all met with extremely violent ends, on the same day in the same city, 49 years removed and my mother was hounded by unremitting maladies mercilessly before she secured release. There is no denying that they altered my compass irreversibly and left cavernous unhealed wounds, still pulsating raw.

Poignantly enough , it was my slain sister who led me to Bhagvan Sri Ramana Maharishi over 2 decades ago. I recall Bhagvan’s serene photo adorning my bookshelf all these years beckoning silently , strongly with its own magnetism. Interestingly, around the time of my introduction- if you may- to Bhagvan, my official work with Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resource Development , took me to Thiruvanamalai. I had an opportunity to visit the Ramanashramam there. The calm and simplicity of the sacred space have stayed with me ever since. I also remember a wizened saintly soul in the temple precincts nearby who came up to me , placed his hand lovingly on my head, pointed towards Arunachala and whispered his blessings ever so gently in my ears. I was told by my local companions that this was a most unusual gesture on his part as he hardly ever left his chosen seat. This counts as among my most moving of moments . I do not know why but it has since been a rather long trek back to Arunachala. The most recent nudge has come courtesy a valued colleague who was incidentally also close to my sister, though being several cities removed from her . He has had the distinction of being Secretary of the Ramana Kendra,New Delhi, for over a decade. Uncanny to see the dots converging into a pattern, although for me it is still a pilgrimage very much in progress.

To retrace the trail of death, ends and ends – as – beginnings, as Sankara says, “we will all go back to God from whom we have come as sparks from a fire.” Bhagvan agrees that we will eventually merge with the source. For him, however, the real nature of the self was formless, immanent consciousness. The removal of ignorance by jnana to arrive at that sublime state demands a dissolution of the unreal sense of individuality or ego. How else to reach that summit but by partnering with constant death?

He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer. The credo , to highlight one’s true persona, ought to be , as elucidated in Bhagvan’s memorable teachings, to live as the instrument of God , working as his channel.

No end will be an end but only the beginning of unceasing , incandescent bliss.

SHIV ARUNACHALYA, SHIV ARUNACHALAYA, SHIV ARUNACHALAYA.

About Dr. Tuktuk Ghosh
Dr. Tuktuk Ghosh has retired recently from the Indian Administrative Service. During her three decades plus tenure as a civil servant she held various senior positions in the Government of West Bengal; her State cadre and Government of India. Prior to joining the IAS, Dr.Ghosh taught History at Hindu College, University of Delhi.

E mail- tghoshk@gmail.com

Testimonial By Swami Chidananda

THE POLE STAR OF MY LIFE :Maharishi Has Been Steadily Guiding Me

I had left a job in the corporate world and had just joined an Āshram in Mumbai. That was March 1984. Within a few months after that, in the library of Sāndeepany Sādhanālaya, the book “The Teachings of Shri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words,” authored by Arthur Osborne came to my hands. That was a book I could not put aside. As I read it with great interest, savoring every word in it, Maharishi became the central figure of my spiritual life. That has not changed after 33 years!

His answers to our spiritual queries are to-the-point, brief and very clear. He shows wit and humor at places. He employs illustrations sometimes. Above all, his life seems to reflect his teachings. The anecdotes around him touch our hearts and their messages become helpful examples for influencing our own behavioral changes.

I visited Shri Ramanāshramam for the first time in 1989, I think. I took my mother and one or two others of my family. Everything at the campus was indeed uplifting. It was also an opportunity to learn much more about the sage. The following year I went with Shri Dwarakānāth Reddy in his car, from Bengaluru to Tiruvannāmalai. I stayed some 9 days this time. My attempts at meditation in the Old Hall (or at any other place) were not very successful. I discovered the Ashram library during this visit, and on one occasion spent two hours browsing the books. Time went fast. I realized that I was not yet ready for meditation. My intellect was active and restless.

During this visit, I also visited Yogi Rām Surat Kumār at a small house near the main Arunāchala Temple of the city. He was indeed a different picture than what we might normally expect saints to be. I noticed that people had brought cigarettes as offerings to him, rather than fruits or sweets! I asked him how we could develop detachment. He said, “How would you get mad? Move with mad people, and that will make you mad!” He laughed loudly and said, “If you want me to show two mad people at this time, I can help you. One is Swāmi Chinmayānanda and the second is Swāmi Dayānanda!”

Between 1989 and now (2017), I must have gone to Shri Ramanāshramam some 20 times. They have mostly been brief visits. In the early part of these visits, I read a lot of his literature. My lectures, then and now, have always been influenced by Maharishi and his teachings.

Swami Chinmayānandaji attracted me to spirituality, taught basic Vedānta and supplied to me a good foundation in Ādi Shankara’s advaita philosophy. I am ever grateful to him, no doubt. Maharishi however blessed me with a sense of deep understanding and great, lasting satisfaction. {J Krishnamurti later supplied a good amount of intellectual clarity on certain concepts.} When I left Chinmaya Mission in 2002, some people thought I had lost my faith in my guru. While I became somewhat informal, I must admit, there is no question of my losing the regard that I had for Swami Chinmayanandaji. The reason however for me to move away from the organization was because I had come to consider Shri Maharishi as my main source of guidance and continuous inspiration. In that sense I had certainly not lost my guru-bhakti but the inner constitution of that bhakti had changed. Even now I believe that I have much more devotion to Swamiji than many who are in the Mission.

In my childhood, my mother often said, “Your grandfather (father’s father) used to go to Tiruvannāmalai and spend time at the feet of Shri Ramana Maharishi. On one occasion, Maharishi chided him for staying too long at the Āshram and urged him to go back to his village and family!” It was thrilling for me to know that my grandfather, from a small village of coastal Karnataka, had been attached to Shri Ramana Maharishi. When I joined Chinmaya Āshram in 1984, my eldest sister Lalitā remarked, “If Ajjayya (grandfather) were here, he would have been very happy!”

The truly ennobling, wonderful guidance from Maharishi has been showing me the “true north” for long, like the Pole Star does. If the “quantum leap” has not yet taken place, it is the sad limitations of my inner equipment that have been responsible.

About Swami Chidananda
Swami Chidananda is Fowai( Flame of who am i) Forum’s chief resource person. Drawn to the study of the Vedanta when he was a graduate student at the I.I.T.Madras in 1980, he eventually joined Swami Chinmayananda’s spiritual center in Mumbai (1984) and collected the wisdom of Bhagavad-Geetha and the Upanishads. He served the Chinmaya Mission till 2002 at several of its centers in India and in the USA. He taught the Vedanta texts to resident students at Ashrams as well as to the general public. He spoke at many academic, social and business settings both at home and abroad. His thought evolved through contacts with the teachings of many gurus, the most important among them being Sri Ramana Maharishi and Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Till recently (2003 – 2013) he held executive positions at Rajghat Education Centre, which is the chapter at Varanasi of Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI). He was involved in certain projects of education and rural service. Since 2009, he has been a member of KFI’s Governing Body. In April this year, he vacated his quarters in Varanasi, while continuing his association with the Centre. He divides his time between Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Kudal (Maharashtra), Hyderabad and Varanasi.

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