| Sages,Rushis & Saints |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
RAMANA MAHARSHI |
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| The Family
GrowsAfter some time Venkataramana abandoned the
mango grove, returned to Mount Arunachala, and commenced his meditation, settling down at
the Virupaksha temple. But the stream of visitors increased even there. Many of them were
weary- of the difficulties and sorrows of earthly life and sought peace. Others were eager
to have more knowledge of Atman and Paramatman. Each man had a problem of his own. And
Venkataramana had a satisfactory solution to everyone's problems. So day by day the number
of visitors grew.
Etchammal was one of the many visitors who came for the 'darshan' of Ramana everyday. Her life was filled with grief. She had lost her husband, children, and all. Somebody suggested that she might have a darshan of Ramana. In his presence she forgot grief and experienced peace of mind. Ramana had no though of rest or food; Etcharnmal took upon herself the duty of providing food punctually to Ramana. In 1907, a Samskrita scholar named Ganapathi Sastry came to Tiruvannamalai He was famous as 'Ganapathi Muni'. He was a worshipper of Devi. He was drawn to the young sanyasin by the force of his personality and came to see him. When he first saw Ramana, he was gazing at the sun. It was a habit with him to gaze the scorching sun in the afternoon till the sunset. Ganapathi Muni stayed with Ramana for a number of days and had discussions with him; many of his doubts were cleared. Although he had studied the Vedanta (Indian Philosophy) and the Upanishads, he had not clearly understood what 'tapasya' meant. The simple explanation that Ramana gave cleared a big doubt that tormented him. It was Ganapathi Muni who gave the young Sanyasin the name of 'Maharshi' or '13hagawan'. Not only that. He wrote hymns in Samskrita, in praise of Ramana Maharshi, and wrote a book with the title 'Ramana Gita' explaining his teachings. |
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