| Date : |
| 30th December |
| Related to : |
| Maharishi Raman Birth Anniversary |
| Connect Date : |
| 30 Decemeber 1879 |
| Connect Place : |
| Tiruchuzhi, Near Madras (Chennai), Tamilnadu, India |
| Special 1: |
| He was born as Venkataraman Iyer, but is most commonly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. At the age of 16, he had a "death-experience" where he became aware of a "current" or "force" (avesam) which
he recognised as his true "I" or "self". In 1902, a government official named Sivaprakasam Pillai, with writing slate in hand, visited the young Swami in the hope of obtaining answers to questions about
"How to know one's true identity". The fourteen questions put to the young Swami and his answers were Ramana's first teachings on Self-enquiry, the method for which he became widely known, and were eventually
published as Nan Yar?, or in English, Who am I?. |
| Special 2: |
| Since the 1930s his teachings have been popularized in the West, resulting in his worldwide recognition as an enlightened being. Ramana then became relatively well known in and out of India after 1934 when Paul
Brunton, having first visited Ramana in January 1931, published the book "A Search in Secret India". In this book he describes how he was compelled by the Paramacharya of Kanchi to meet Ramana Maharshi,
his meeting with Ramana Maharshi, and the effect this meeting had on him. Brunton also describes how Ramana's fame had spread, "so that pilgrims to the temple were often induced to go up the hill and see
him before they returned home." |
| More Info : |
| The book "A Search in Secret India" was a best-seller, and introduced Ramana Maharshi to a wider audience in the west. Resulting visitors included Paramahansa Yogananda, Somerset Maugham (whose 1944 novel The
Razor's Edge models its spiritual guru after Ramana), Mercedes de Acosta and Arthur Osborne, the last of whom was the first editor of Mountain Path in 1964, the magazine published by Ramanasramam. |
