Ramana Maharishi

(1879–1950) Modern Hindu sage, whose
life and message reiterated the fundamental insight of the ancient speculative Upanishads, namely, that the inner
Self (atman) is identical with Supreme
Reality (Brahman). Ramana was born
into a middle-class Indian family and
during his youth demonstrated no
unusual abilities. In 1895 he obtained a
copy of the Periya Puranam, a text
chronicling the lives of the poet-saints
known as the Nayanars, and in reading
about their lives Ramana began to desire
to renounce the world. This inclination
was realized the next year, when he
imagined the death of his body and
reached the conclusion that his real
identity was the Self. He left his family
and went to the temple of Tiruvannamalai, also known as Arunachala,
where he remained until his death fiftyfour years later. For some time at the
start he was deep in meditation and
barely attended to his physical needs.
Soon he attracted disciples, through
whom his family eventually discovered
his whereabouts, although Ramana
refused to return home with them when
they came to see him. His mother
moved to Tiruvannamalai in 1916, and
after her death five years later Ramana
relocated his dwelling to be near her
grave. Although he spoke very seldom,
he managed to compose two short
works—Self-Enquiry and Who am I?—in
which he stated his basic insights. For
further information see T. M. P.
Mahadevan, Ramana Maharshi, 1977.