Golden Jubilee Souvenir 1896-1946

Pages: 511 (Black & White Illus: 15)

Preface
Bhagavan Sri Ramana's Realisation is unique and unparalleled in the annals of history. He realized in his boyhood the Eternal Truth, the Self Supreme, without the aid of initiation by any external Guru, without the need for a theoretical knowledge or study of the Sastras and Scriptures, and without having resorted to any kind of ritualistic form of worship, nay without any kind of Sadhana other than his spontaneous realisation of the eternal nature of the "I", the Self Supreme. Half a Century has passed since first he sat in the State of Transcendental Silence at the Hill of the Holy Beacon.
Arunachalam What did it mean to the boy barely fifteen years old, when he heard it uttered casually by some relative coming from Tiruvannamalai Outwardly and for the time being, there was no change. But inwardly, in his heart of hearts, young Venkataramana was lit by the spark of devotion,-an inward awakening to the core of his being. Some five months later, he happened to read the book Periyapuranam. It contains the lives of well known Saivite Saints. One reading of the book was enough to make him sure that the life of a Saint is the noblest possible. But the direct urge to BE the Truth Eternal came to him not from any study of books-indeed, apart from Periyapuranam he did not study with attention any religious book at all till then-nor from any external discipline, but as a result of the unique experience of the eternal nature of the spirit as the "I" apart from and independent of the physical body. He saw death come and go, while the "I" in him remained as the Immutable Awareness.
Always indifferent to his studies, this experience made Venkataramana completely indifferent not only to his studies but also to every thing in external life. Meditation on the Deathless "I" came naturally to the young Saint who never felt the need to curb or control the mind,