a wonderful place

15
Introduction to Tiruvannaamalai

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A great sage & a wonderful place introduction.

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Page 1: A wonderful place

Introduction to Tiruvannaamalai

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•Tiruvannamalai is a pilgrimage Temple town in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

•Tiruvannamalai is one of the Pancha Bootha’s representing the fire element along with Chidambaram, SriKalahasti, Thiruvanaik-oil & Kanchipuram representing space, wind, water and earth respectively.

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GLIMPSE OF THE BEAUTY

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•Advaita Vedanta guru Ramana Maharshi lived in Tiruvannamali from Dec 30 1879- April 14 1950, until his death. •He mainly thought his followers self enquiry- Who am I ?; first discover your self to awaken the hidden power in you.

The discoverer , of the path to salvation.

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• Ramana considered his guru to be the Self, in the form of the sacred mountain Arunachala.• Ramana did not publicize himself as a guru, never claimed to have disciples, and never appointed any successors; they just followed him & his path of truth.

GREATNESS OF RAMANA

MAHARSHI

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Some of his teachings:-1.

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•Yesterday was the present when you experienced it; tomorrow will also be the present when you experience it. Therefore, experience takes place only in the present, and beyond and apart from experience nothing exists.

•Even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time is purely imagination & this world is just an illusion.Source: The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi: A Visual Journey

2.

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3.

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“Just as the goat’s beard wanders and wags for nothing, people roam about merrily but in vain, doing Karmas for the fulfilment of their worldly desires, while despising the disciplines [followed by aspirants] which lead to eternal Moksha in Self. Ah, what a pitiable spectacle is the condition of these worldly people!”

~ Ramana Maharshi

Source:#71Guru Vachaka Kovai (THE COLLECTION OF GURU’S SAYINGS)

4.

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• One of the visitors was leaving the Ashram. He stood before Bhagavan with folded hands and prayed: "I am going far away. I do not know when I shall be coming back, I am so much less fortunate than those who have the benefit of your constant presence. How can you help me, a sinner in a distant corner of the world,unless you think of me? I implore you, give me a place in your mind."•Bhagavan replied: "A Gynani has no mind. How can one without a mind remember or even think? This man goes somewhere and I have to go there and look after him? Can I keep on remembering all these prayers? Well, I shall transmit your prayer to the Lord of the Universe. He will look after you. It is His business."

• After the devotee departed, Bhagavan turned towards us and said: "If a guru shows partiality, how can he be a Gynani? Is he so foolish as to be flattered by people's attendance on him and the service they do? Does distance matter? The guru is pleased with him who abandons his ego forever. Such a man is taken care of wherever he may be. He need not pray. God looks after him unasked. The frog lives by the side of the fragrant lotus, but it is the bee who gets the honey."(Selected portion of a devotee's remembrance. Shantammal speaks of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.)

5.

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Notable followers•Over the course of Ramana's lifetime, people from a wide variety of backgrounds, religions, and countries were drawn to him. Some stayed for the rest of their lives (or his) and served him with great devotion, and others came for a single darshan and left, deeply affected by the peace he radiated. Quite a number of followers wrote books conveying Ramana's teachings.

• Muruganar (1893–1973), one of Ramana's foremost devotees who lived as Ramana's shadow for 26 years, recorded the most comprehensive collection of Ramana's sayings in a work called Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru's Sayings).

•Paul Brunton's writings about Ramana brought considerable attention to him in the West. Other Westerners who wrote about Ramana include Arthur Osborne (the first editor of the ashram journal, The Mountain Path), Major Chadwick (who ran the Veda Patasa) vividly portraying the lives of a number of lesser-known attendants and devotees of Ramana. Swami Ramdas visited Ramana Maharshi while on pilgrimage in 1922, and after darshan, spent the next 21 days meditating in solitude in a cave on Arunachala.

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•Maurice Frydman (a.k.a. Swami Bharatananda), a Polish Jew who later translated Nisargadatta Maharaj's work "I Am That" from Marathi to English, was also deeply influenced by Ramana's teachings.

•William Somerset Maugham, the English author, wrote a chapter entitled "The Saint" in his last book "Points of View." This chapter is devoted to Ramana Maharshi, whom Maugham had at one time visited before Indian independence.

•Indian National Congress politician and freedom-fighter, O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar, who served as the Premier of Madras from 1947 to 1949, was also a devoted follower of Ramana Maharshi. •Ramaswami Pillai, Balarama Reddy, Ramani Ammal, Kanakammal, Meenakshi Ammal, Perumalswami and Rayar are some of the other long standing devotees who came into the Sannadhi of Bhagavan during his life at Sri Ramanasramam.• Chandu from bangalore dedicated his entire life seeking truth- ARUNACHALA & was successful in his missions & many more continue to tread on his path of truth.

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Most important & widely accepted quote of Ramana Maharshi-“No matter from where you are, what religion, caste or creed you are from; just realise the fact that God is one & he can be worshipped in any form. He is universal & has no qualms in hearing you, but if you want him to hear you let the prayer come from the bottom of your heart every single time.”

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-Sree chaitanya.p, MBA, ‘c’ section