Mountain Path Rev Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj - Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

[PK.Seshadri]

In my life it has been my good fortune to get Rev Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj as my GURU

and devotee of Holy Trio and also an ardent follower of Bhagavan Ramana - The sage of Arunachala.

I wrote to the Editor Mountain path journal of Sri Ramanasramam specifically asking for the letter

written by Rev Guru about Bhagavan Ramana to share with the group.

Sri Ramakrishnarpanamasthu/Arunachala Siva

Seshadri

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christopher Quilkey
Date: 14 September 2015 at 17:04
Subject: Mountain Path Rev Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj
To: "PK.Seshadri"

Dear PK Seshadri,

 

Thank you for reminding me of the letter. I had searched several times and came to the conclusion that I took the letter and out it in a “safe place”.

The letter meant a great deal to me because as the newly installed editor with limited experience I was still finding my feet. Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj’s letter gave me confidence that I was on the right path. The ashram president was also impressed and it confirmed for him that his decision was the right one to make me editor with no real familiarity with the tasks of editor.

 

Please find below a copy of the letter as you rightly pointed out was published in the Vol. 40, No. 3, p.67, Advent  2003 issue of The Mountain Path.

You may go online to the ashram website and locate the Mountain Path section, you will find all the back issues of the magazine available online except for 2015.

 

If and when I do locate the letter I shall certain scan it and send it  to you.

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

 

Kind regards,

Chris Quilkey

 

 

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter to you to convey my appreciation for the articles appearing in the current issue of ‘The Mountain Path’. I am very much impressed and inspired by all the articles. I convey to you and your associates my love and blessings for the continued appearance of the journal. I have personally met Ramana Maharshi twice, in the 1930s and ’40s.

Swami Ranganathananda, President,
Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission,
Belur Math, W. B.

 

 

[ShastriX]

Here're the reminiscences of Swami Ranganathananda from Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi: (pp. 209-211)

~~~~~

I had been twice to Sri Ramanasramam. The first visit was in 1936. Bhagavan was an extraordinary personality who could draw the minds and hearts of the people from all over the world. A verse in the Srimad Bhagavatam describes the nature of the holy person, attachment to whom becomes a liberating force. It is meant for those who are extremely tranquil, whose mind is like the calm ocean without waves, who are filled with compassion – a friend of all embodied beings. Another feature is that an enemy is yet to be born for such a person. This fine description fits our Bhagavan most.

The Maharshi had condensed in himself the immortal, the eternal. Hence the tremendous stature of his life. He lived amongst us like a simple human being. You could not measure him, just as the column of light of Siva which had once appeared in Arunachala.[Refer para 1, p.356.] You could not see the height, you could not see the depth.

Those who had seen the human form of Bhagavan are blessed indeed. His touch was the touch of the immortal, a touch which elevates and makes you feel that you are also someone worthwhile. In this age of physical verification, we find in Bhagavan, the human form of that eternal truth.

Bhagavan was constantly in the divine awareness – whether he was sitting alone and radiating his silent presence, whether he was correcting proofs, whether he was reading the newspaper, whether he was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, he was brimming with joy. He was the very personification of the infinite, of the divine. Every word he spoke was charged with the wisdom of atma vidya. He exemplified the great teaching 'I am that'. Bhagavan says that this experience is easy to come by. It is easy. There are no gymnastics to go through. It is just changing the centre of our awareness.

We have seen Ramana Maharshi; we read about Suka of the Bhagavatam. There is so much similarity between the two. They found delight in and were revelling in the Self-experiencing infinite joy, free from the bondage and yet filled with motiveless love. It is the eternal message manifesting in a human dimension whom we call Ramana the Maharshi.

There is a beautiful verse in Sankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani, which is so apt for the Maharshi: 'Absolutely poor but full of happiness, no army behind but infinitely strong, no experience of sense satisfaction but always happy, none equal to him but he feels all to be his equals.' I would like to refer to just one instance.

When I arrived I had told him that I would be staying for three days and would leave by train on the evening of the third day. I had forgotten. He looked at me at the right time and said, "Your tonga is arranged, it is time for you to go." How human – talking man-to-man, and yet how gigantic.

What is said of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavatam applies equally to Bhagavan. 'The more we hear, the more the desire arises to hear more and more.' May all of us be worthy of this tremendous spiritual dynamo who enters our heart even without our knowing it.

~~~~~