SRI BRAHMAJNA MA
An exceptional woman saint, hardly known to the general public, Brahmajna Ma was a pure jnani who realized the Self only through inner intuition. Born in February in 1880, Sri Ramana Maharshi was just two months old, she grew up in East Bengal. Married with eight but already a widow with ten years, she showed from her childhood on a very inquisitive mind. When once a hurricane passed over her village she watched the fearful relatives calmly during their prayers to God to save them. As soon as the storm was over, all became happy and relaxed. She was very much struck by that and asked her father:
"How can you be so happy when you know that some such calamity might happen again at any moment? Is there no way to really go beyond these dangers?"
Her biographer and former attendant was supported by Major Chadwick to bring out a little book which is out of print now. The library of Sri Ramanasramam has a copy:
'Mother did not want her life to be written and it seemed that the public would never have the benefit of knowing about her. When the first edition of „Brahmajna Mayer-Katha“ was in the press and we thought of giving in the introduction of the book a short sketch of Mother’s life, none of us venturing to write it, Mother was approached to tell us what should be written. She asked me to take down a few lines, which were put in the introduction of that book. Translated into English, they are:
“She was naturally given to discrimination and was engaged in the search for Spiritual Truth. From her childhood, she used to think –
1. where does a human being go and in what state he remains after death, and whence does he come from?
2. In nothing can peace be found in this world; what then is real peace?
In such thoughts, she would then become immersed.
3. And lastly, such thoughts as ‚Who am I?, what is this body, mind or Atma used to engage her. These are the three stages of Her sadhana. Without the help of books or gurus, by dint of pure discrimination and search for Truth, she tore asunder the meshes of maya, overcame all doubts and attained Self-Realization. “
POEMS
Supreme luster am I, I am everlasting, good;
Fully aware am I, devoid of death, decay;
I have not any fear. I am eternal, whole.
And free from throbs of thought. No intellect have I,
No body nor a mind - my real nature is Bliss.
No hunger, neither thirst nor ego have I got;
No wish have I – I am free from every sort of change;
No father, mother, son or family have I;
No duty, birth no death doth appertain to me.
In this wilderness of samsara ‘t is for whom
That you are looking? No relatives
Are really yours, who is caught within the net
Of this false maya have forgotten the Truth of your own Self. Just find out who you are!
You wanton with the billows of desire
Thinking that they are yours. But never once
You think of who you are, whence you were born,
And what are parents, what are relatives,
And what your friends: When in this dream, woven
By false desires, the actor's part you play.
You have forgotten the knowledge of the Truth:
In this dark mire of grief now lying drunk
You never try to find out your own Self.'
http://nirbanmath.org/DOCS/events.htm
