* * * He is called Bhagavan * * *
"I would like to share my thoughts.. Regarding Bhagavan
Ramana.. I don't know much... But what little I know, I would like to
share with all of you. First of all many people used to ask me. The
word Bhagavan used to be an appellation for the Supreme Deity. We say, Bhagavan Siva, Bhagavan Vishnu... How is that a mortal has been given this appellation... Not only Bhagavan Ramana, there have been others too who have been referred to as Bhagavan... Many assumed the appellation of Bhagavan. As far as Bhagavan Ramana is concerned, he never assumed anything. It was only given to him by people who knew the scriptures.
So what actually is Bhagavan?
Bhaga represents six highest qualities, attributes, which one should
possess, Consciousness. All the Mahatmas (sages) in the world,
the past and the present, they have all come out of the Supreme
Consciousness. When He is `that Supreme Consciousness', when
he is one with it, then there is nothing he lacks. He can create a
thousand universes. He can create galaxies. He is the Supreme
Controller of "aishvaryasya samagrasya'! All the powers are his!
.....
Actually speaking, any Jeevanmukta (one who is liberated while
alive) is like a superconductor .... In quantum physics, a normal wire is so weak, that when a magnet comes near it, then the electrons in the wire run hither and thither. They cannot stand the onslaught of the photons that come from the magnet.
On the contrary, if that wire is reduced to a temperature of zero degrees Absolute, minus 273.16 degree centigrade, then it becomes a super conductor. When it becomes a super conductor, when you bring a magnet towards it even at a distance, the wire is aware. It knows pretty well that, say, 50 dynes of force is coming to attach.
And then, it has srijan-shakti, creative power. It energizes the electrons with the same 50 dynes of force. When the magnets photons come and attack the wire, the electrons rejects with equal force. None of the electrons allow the photons to pierce. The photons go around the wire, get exhausted and fall.
In the spiritual world a Jeevanmukta is a super conductor. He is a
sarvajna. He knows everything. The past, present and the future of the entire universe. In the case of a Jeevanmukta, the thought force (like the photon of magnet) can do nothing to him. It is reduced to zero, and drops exhausted. The entire world is but a thought. A Jeevanmukta reduces it to zero, and he is then in the lap of supreme consciousness.
And Bhagavan belonged to the highest category of Jeevanmukta!
Jnana Vairagyayoschaiva: Jnana is knowledge. He should have
ultimate knowledge of reality.. Words cannot express that reality. He
becomes that. We have to talk in the language of ignorance so that
other people understand. That is why we say "He possessed
knowledge". There is no question of possessing knowledge. He is
the Supreme Knowledge, where there is no knower, there is nothing
to be known...
Vairagya, we need not say! (laughs) Absolutely nothing in the
world can entice Bhagavan (Ramana)!
As he possessed all these qualities, he is called Bhagavan.
Similarly, the Supreme Deity Siva and Vishnu possess these qualities. So they are called Bhagavan. Anybody who possesses these supreme qualities has the right to be called Bhagavan.
But I stress again, He never called himself as Bhagavan. He
was not bothered about anything! Because he was the Supreme!
Whom should he impress? For whom does he have to demonstrate
his power and glory? He never bothered. It is we, who out of our
love, our devotion, that we gave him the appellation of Bhagavan and Maharshi.
Now we come to the term Maharshi...
Why is He called Maharshi?
Rishi is one who is a Mantra-Drashta. He is a seer of the Mantra...
Any Mantra would be of a particular deity. And if one contemplates the Mantra in the prescribed manner, then the deity of the Mantra Himself or Herself, would come in front of the devotee, and the meditating person would have sakshatkara, direct darshan of the deity of the Mantra. So Rishis are those who are able to see a Mantra and realize the deity underlying the mantra.
But as far as Bhagavan Ramana was concerned, he never had
any thought of any lower deity. Bhagavan Himself was the Supreme
Consciousness, Supreme Reality, which is called as Brahman or
Atman. One who has realized the Supreme Reality is called a
Maharshi. A Rishi is one who has direct vision of the deity of a Mantra.
Whereas, a Maharshi is one who does not visualize ordinary deities, but sees the Supreme, the Highest Reality, Supreme Consciousness, that we also call Chaitanya.
In what category of Jeevanmuktas can we place our Bhagavan?
A Jeevanmukta is one who is liberated while alive. You see, if it is
said that we are to get Moksha (liberation) after death, we are not
sure whether we will get it or not, whether someone is cheating us...
That is why, if we can get it while we are in this birth, while we are
alive, then we shall have the surety that we have reached.
Well, I am again using the language of ignorance, because the
question of a person saying that he has been liberated while alive
does not arise. Because, at that stage, there is nobody left to report that "I have become a Jeevanmukta!"
It is just like a drop of the ocean which has been inundated by the entire ocean! In that case, which drop is to come and tell that "I have become one with the ocean"? It is impossible! But then, certain wordings are being used in order to make a common man understand to the extent possible that which is in fact inexplicable, that which cannot be easily understood.
Normally, Jeevanmukta-s, the people who have reached the
highest stage of realization, are classified into four categories,
The first category is called as
"The Knower of Brahman" – a Brahma-Vid.
The second one is called a
"Better knower of Brahman" – a Brahma-Vid-vara.
The third one is called
"Brahma-Vid-variya", the `one who knows Brahman best'.
The fourth is
"Brahma-vid Varishta"2 - the greatest knower of Brahman!
Beyond this fourth is a category, the highest category, rarely reached. Perhaps, not more than a dozen people would have been there since the inception of the entire world, who can be said to be in this category. And Bhagavan was one of them. We would never have known that such was the case, but for the fact that Bhagavan mentioned it Himself, in a particular legal-case where he was cited as a witness. It was a case to do with Arunachaleshwara temple, where they cited Bhagavan as one who knows all the scriptures and puranas. Then the judges came to speak with Bhagavan. And they made enquiries with him, along the following lines -
"Who are you? You don't look to be a Sanyasi... But like a sanyasi you have shaved off your head. But you are not wearing ochre robes... ok, are you a Brahmachari? But we do not find the sign of a Brahmachari, the yajnopaveeta (sacred thread) on your shoulder. So then, to what category do you belong?"
Bhagavan pointed to a category beyond all these people.. Beyond
all Sanyasis... There are sanyasis like Avadhuta, Paramahamsa
and the like ... He was beyond all these ... Bhagavan said he was a
Ati-varnAshraml... One who transcends all VarnAshrama - all the
stations in life - that of a Brahmachari, he was never a householder,
nor a Sanyasi.. He never formally took Sanyasa at any time. He was
beyond all... Beyond all... Beyond all... He was even beyond the
Brahmavid-varishta... We saw the four categories - Brahma-vid,
Brahma-vid-vara, Brahma-vid-variya and Brahma-vid-varishta ... He
is beyond these four. He is a Ati-varnashrami !
Bhagavan never did any Sadhana at all. He just got Self-Abidance
in a trice! He was born as a World Teacher. He was a completely ripe Buddha.
Somebody asked Bhagavan Ramana - "If you did not do any
sadhana, then why is it that when you came to Arunachala and were at Patala Linga, you were shutting your eyes, and you were in deep Samadhi state?" Bhagavan replied that he did not know all these concepts - Samadhi, sadhana etc, at that time. He said that he came to know of these concepts much later. It was just that he did not like to see the world and so he was thus!
In fact, when the Ramana Suprabhatam was being composed by
me, one of the sentences I put in was - "taptam-tapO-hi-bhavatAvividha- sthalEshu" - (meaning) "Lord Ramana! You have performed a lot of austerities and penance in various places!" When I submitted the Suprabhata for review to the President, the only thing that he pointed out as a mistake to me was this statement. President told me - "No! You are wrong Swamiji! Bhagavan Himself has said that the day he got the death experience, he attained the final-supreme! He became the Supreme! The entire Reality was He! So there was no
question of any sadhana or any tapasya being done." I stood
corrected.
Let me explain in a different way.
Let us say that there is an exam of MBBS for qualifying as a
Doctor. A student studies hard and gets pass mark of 40%. We may say that he is a Brahma-vid, Somebody gets 60 %, first division - we may say that he is Brahma-vid-vara. Someone gets 75% - Distinction! We can say he is Brahma-vid-variya . Someone gets 100%! He can be said to be Brahma-vid-varishta!
But now let us say that the question paper had twelve questions,
and the examinee has been asked to attempt any eight questions. And there is a person who does no preparatory study who attempts the paper, and answers all twelve questions to perfection. So brilliant are the answers that he is given 150 marks out of 100! Beyond the limit!
Such a person is a Ati-varna-ashrami!
Such was Bhagavan Ramana!
Bhagavan never did any type of Sadhana.But other sages may have done different types of Sadhana. Somebody may have come up through Jnana, somebody through Bhakti, somebody though Naama Samkeertan... So, we don't know... The type of Sadhana
done by different sages may have been different... And the outward
manifestation of their state also may appear different. When a person becomes a Jeevanmukta, he or she does not have any Prarabdha left. All the karma-s go away.
The Gita says - "kshlyantE ca asya karmANi"...
The word "karmANi" is plural, and represents a minimum of three... The sequence is karma (single karma), karmaNi (two), karmANi (three or more).
Sri Krishna says "karmANi" - which means all the three types of karma - kriyamANa (also called Agami), prArabdha, sancita. All these three types of karma, which are supposed to embroil a man in Samsara - all of them go away.
Vivekachudamani and other works of Adi Shankara say that
Prarabdha karma is like an arrow that has been already shot... which has already left the bow, you cannot catch it and bring it back. You cannot burn it off while it is in mid-air. It has to find its mark - it has to exhaust itself. Prarabdha karma is like that arrow. So as such, although all the three types of karma have been destroyed when a person becomes a Jivanmukta, he may be seem to be subject to Prarabdha karma. This is from onlookers' point of view. But from the sage's point of view - it does not matter at all. Karma has no effect on him.
It is explained in Kaivalya Navaneetam, that depending on their respective Prarabdha, the state of Self-Abidance of different sages appears to be different to the onlooker - as Brahmavid, Brahmavid-vara, Brahmavid-variya or Brahmavid-varishta.
And beyond these four is ati-varnAshramI, a Sastraic state of unattachment to anything in life and beyond all restrictions.... Bhagavan Ramana was an ati-varNAshraml .
Bhagavan himself has mentioned a few sages as ati-varNAshraml.
He has mentioned Vamadeva.The scriptures say that Vamadeva attained enlightenment even when he was in his mother's womb. Vamadeva proclaims in the womb - "aham manurabhavam, suryascha!" - "It is I who became Manu. I am the Sun too". Even in the womb, he became one with All. He was enlightened.
The next sage that Bhagavan mentioned as an ati-varNAshraml
was Sukadeva. Sukadeva was the son of vyasa. He remained in the womb and refused to come out for sixteen years. He said -
so 'ham' vasann api vibho bahu-duh?kha-vasam'
garbhan na nirjigamis?e bahir andha-kupe
yatropayatam upasarpati deva-maya
mithya matir yad-anu sam'sr?ti-cakram etat
"Therefore, my Lord, although I am living in much misery, I do not
wish to leave my mother's abdomen to fall again into the blind well (of worldly life). Your deva-maya, at once captures the newly born child, and immediately false identification, which is the beginning of the cycle of continual birth and death, begins."
Sukadeva did not want to fall into the bondage of false bodily
identification. So, after cultivating Self-Knowledge within the womb of his mother, he came out at the end of sixteen years. And no sooner he came out , he renounced all, and immediately left home.
Sukadeva did not undertake sanyasa by following any formal rites.
He was a born renunciate . An ati-varNAshraml is one who has
transcended all Samskara - religious rites associated with various
stages and events in a man 's life.
So was Jadabharata .
In one of his lives , he became very attached to a deer, and that cost him dearly ! He had to be born as a deer. After that birth , he was born with complete memory of his previous births. He did not get entangled in any attachment . He did not speak at all. When
he was invested with upanayana , he did not chant the Gayatri mantra. He was completely indifferent and silent as always . His father thought he was a dud. He was not a dud. He was an ati-varNAshraml.
Like the above sages , there was Sadasiva Brahmendra, whose
Samadhi is in Nerur. He was an avadhUta . He took no formal Sanyasa. He lived in Supreme Bliss of Self-Abidance. He became mad in that Super-Conscious state. It was the divine madness of an ati-Ashraml.
Bhagavan Ramana too, like Sukadeva, realized His supreme state,
once and for all time, when he was sixteen , and he left for Arunachala forthwith . He was the greatest of renunciates , although he did not undergo any formal Sanyasa samskara.
So, who is an ati-varNAshraml ?
The characteristics of an atyAshraml or an ati-varNAshraml have been given in sUta-samhita.
The related Suta Samhita verses are also quoted in Vidyaranya's
"Jeevan-mukti-viveka ". One of the first attributes listed is that one who is an ati-varNAshraml is - na kasyApi bhavEcchishyO- he will not become a disciple of any Guru . It further states - "ati varnAshraml sAkshAd gurUNAm gururucyatE" -An ati-varNAshraml is indeed known as the Guru of Guru-s . He knows that varnA, Ashrama and the like are all a web of illusion woven around the body , and that the world itself is an illusory projection in his own Self . "AtmAnam Ishvaram veda, sO ati varNAshraml bhavEt" - The Ati Varnashrami knows himself as God.
He who has realized by his own experience , and by the authority of
Vedanta , his own Self as peerless , unconditioned , unaffected , ever pure, beyond illusion , Being and Consciousness in One, and Supremely Immortal - is a true ati varNAshraml.
In every aspect as described by the scriptures, Bhagavan Ramana
was an ati varNAshraml.
Bhagavan was an ati-varNAshrami, who had no guru in this birth.
But when somebody questioned Bhagavan about it, he quipped
back asking ` How do you know I did not have a Guru in my previous birth ?" Whatever it may be , it is clear that he was born as a `ripe fruit', who had already completed all spiritual learning before this birth. He was an Enlightened Master, even when he was born . That is why it took him only a trice to show that to the world , when he had what is called his 'death experience'. But he was always THAT, since his birth. But he showed that only when the time was ripe for him to come away to Tiruvannamalai . Until that time, he kept it hidden.
As I had mentioned , Vamadeva, Sukadeva, Jadabharatha were all
ati-varNAshrami . As was Sadasiva Brahmendra , who was ' mad with super-consciousness'. That is what one has to be . One has to become 'mad'... i.e . one has to have devotion , faith, and love , to the point of utter distraction ... Then only one can have an idea of that stage, of a Jeevanmukta...
One more point I would like to mention... Bhagavan not only gave
spiritual support to one and all, he also provided worldly protection to all. And this has continued even after he relinquished his body. The Mundakopanishad says - `tasmAd Atmajnam dryarcayEt bhUtikAmah' - "Therefore, one who wishes to have prosperity should worship the knower of the Self." You just go to Him. That is sufficient. He will know what is wanted. And automatically your needs are fulfilled. He never does anything. But it happens. That is the thing! Let me tell you one instance.
Long back, perhaps twenty or twenty five years back, there
was lady who came to the Ashrama. She came here, and was staying in the Bose compound, perhaps, for some time. Her life was in a great crisis. She did not know what to do. She had no money. She was in dire, desperate circumstances. She just came here. Every day, morning and evening, she was making rounds of Bhagavan's Samadhi. She never spoke about her problem to anybody.
At that time, Sri TN Venkataraman (who later embraced Sanyasa
and had the name Swami Ramanananda) happened to notice her. He was the President of the Ashrama, a capacity that he served for almost forty six years. Now, this lady had never spoken to him, nor even met him. But he saw her making the rounds of Samadhi, day after day. Suddenly one day, he took the Prasada of Bhagavan, called her, gave it to her, saying "Don't worry! All your problems will be solved." This was really surprising for her. Then, within a matter of a year, matters proceeded by themselves, and she was out of her crisis, and also became well off materially. She is now in a very affluent condition. She has a house here in Tiruvannamalai and also in another city, where she stays. She often comes here. This is a story that I have heard from her mouth. Thus, Bhagavan, even though we do not express our desires for the material side, when you come here, when you completely surrender yourself to
the Lord, to Bhagavan Ramana, then, well, everything gets "very nicely settled" - to your utmost satisfaction! What else should I say!
Dr Sarada: Swamiji , please tell us a little about Mother Azhagamma.
Something about Mother Azhagamma 's Ashtottram.
(Swamiji has composed an Ashtottram on Mother Azhagamma. He
has also composed the "Ramana Suprabhatam" )
Swamiji replies...
"You see ... It was not written by me .... It was written by Bhagavan
Himself ... That is why I do not remember a single sentence of the Ashtottram . Same thing with Ramana Suprabhatam . I never remembered a single verse of that. Normally, when someone composes a work, they would remember at least a bit
of it. I did not remember anything at all of it . Even at that time . The very instant after writing Ramana Suprabhatam , I couldn't remember even one Shloka . I had to read it. This is a fact . When I had been asked to write something about Bhagavan for a souvenir, I did not know what to write. I was here , but I did not know anything much about Bhagavan. Yes, I had taken some classes on Bhagavan's treatise "Upadesha Saram" earlier. That was back in 1993 , when I had come for the first time to Athithi Ashram . I took three sets of classes for three groups of
people . Apart from that my knowledge about Bhagavan was very, very, scarce.
Then , Natesa Iyer, the disciple of our Ganapathi Muni, came and
spoke to me. He told me - "Swamiji! You should have no anxiety writing about Bhagavan ! What are you worried about?" I told him my apprehension. But he persisted and said "Why don't you write a
Suprabhatam for Bhagavan ?" I replied saying that for writing the
Suprabhatam I should know the life history of Bhagavan, of which I had no knowledge at all. For the next two and a half hours , Natesa lyer gave me a beautiful summary of Bhagavan's life. That night, I wrote 78 shlokas of Suprabhatam . The hand never stopped even for one minute , to think what I am writing. I never thought . It went on. I was equally surprised, like anyone else. That is all . What can I say about it...
About Mother Azhagamma , I can only say this. Whoever is the
mother of a great saint , must be equally great. Because , they have borne the sage in their womb. And such pure Consciousness cannot be contained in a worldly vessel . A mother who has borne Bhagavan Ramana in her womb , outwardly you may think that she evolved because Bhagavan taught her, gave her upadesha etc. What I would say is that perhaps the entire thing was a drama . She was as much evolved... She was a Brahma Jnani ... Outwardly the drama had to continue. That is what I think. Her greatness is in no way less than Bhagavan!
Hari Om!
~ FROM HE IS CALLED BHAGAVAN BOOK
by Swami Shantananda Puri
( Swami Shantananda Puri is well known to devotees of Bhagavan Ramana. Born in 1928, he is the disciple of Parama Poojya Sri Purushottamananda Puri Maharaj who was the disciple of Swami Brahmananda (the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa). Swamiji was with his guru in Vasishta Guha in the foothills of Himalaya. Swamiji is a scholar par excellence in Vedic Scriptures, Puranic texts as well as other texts. His deep knowledge and lucid exposition of Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Vasishtha, Ashtavakra Gita have quenched the thirst of manyspiritual aspirants. He has authored more than 22 books. A number
of these books have already appeared in translation also in Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. He has written a ccommentary in Hindi and Tamil on Shiva Sahasranamam which occurs in Linga Purana.
Readers would be aware of "Ramana Suprabhatam". This was
composed by Swamiji, and has been recorded in audio and published by Sri Ramanasramam. He has also composed Ashtothra on Mother Azhagamma. Swamiji continues to stay in Vasishta Guha for some time to time, and stays in Sri Ramanasramam for six months or so, every year.)
http://swamishantanandapurimaharaj.org/
