SADHANA WITH BHAGAVAN RAMANA
By Ursulla Muller
IN the night of December 21-22, 1964, I was told by the Lord
Himself:
Within you I fulfill my word;
Behold I am creating all anew.
These words arose out of the boundless depth of blissful
silence and faded away again, leaving naught but an unlimited
expanse. Throughout the night these words were repeated at
long intervals until the young day was breaking.
At that time, I had been meditating already for about six
years in accordance with Sri Ramana's teaching. All the same,
and especially at first, I felt I was not mature to receive such
a communication from the one Father of all, and there was
none to whom I would have dared speak of this new spiritual
experience. Yet, in spite of the hardship of those days, I was
always aware of the gracious hand of Sri Ramana whose
glorious renewal of ancient lore had made me tread the blissful
path to Arunachala Siva. Thus, I was able to realize in course
of time that the Lord alone is the doer, within and without,
while I was to stay silent to allow the divine in me grow and
the poor ego decrease.
During my sadhana [?] there was always Bhagavan Ramana's
guidance. He had for instance advised me to stop reading
unnecessary things, at times with an apparent sense of humour,
as can be deducted from the following incident.
Once after meditation late in the evening, I had gone to
bed. In order to improve my knowledge of the English
language, I would read some pages in English before
sleeping. That evening I was going to have a short look into
a copy of the Readers' Digest. However, being tired, I was
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not able to read but was staring at some text in the booklet
without taking in its contents. Suddenly I felt Bhagavan
Ramana looking in smiling surprise over my shoulder at the
text I was reading. Only now I cognized the heading of the
article I was staring at, which was, Famous Recipes of
German Housewives, a topic I for sure would not have
selected consciously from the table of contents. It was now
my turn to laugh silently at myself and to end the mistaken
enterprise by switching off the light.
Again there was Sri Ramana's loving guidance when I was
physically and spiritually exhausted on account of having
undertaken a new task without considering carefully enough,
my daily meditation practice as well as my demanding part time
office job. Having started hatha yoga at a yoga school, Ramana
Maharshi wanted me to go on with my daily hatha yoga exercises
despite my fatigue, as I learned from the following incident: One
early morning, while sitting on the carpet ready to start my
exercises, yet feeling tired, I suddenly found myself kneeling at
the feet of Sri Ramana touching them with my forehead in utter
devotion. Immediately I knew in my heart that I was to continue
my regular exercises without considering my body's condition. I
have been following Bhagavan's advice strictly until this day
and am much better now.
On the other hand, when I was too fatigued for sitting in
padmasana posture for meditation, Bhagavan taught me that
silence alone is important and not the physical posture
observed along with it. Subsequently I learnt to sit comfortably
in an easy-chair during meditation time. This has been a great
help for my continuous sadhana [?] during the past years, and I
gratefully bow down at Sri Ramana's holy feet.
Kinder far art Thou than one's own mother.
Is this then Thy all-kindness, Oh Arunachala?
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My newest experience of Sri Ramana's unceasing grace is
only some days old. I had to stay at home on account of a sudden,
serious cold and felt miserable, supposing that my hatha yoga
practice might be too poor. Two or three days later, still in bed,
I happened to take in hand an old copy of The Mountain Path
and open it on page 117 where my eyes fell exactly on the
passage, "Bhagavan's feet are ever over your head". A wave of
bliss ran through my mind and body and a little later I could
think of going on with my sadhana [?] again.
May Sri Ramana's grace be with all of us!
Sayings of Sri Bhagavan
A crippled disabled Brahmin came and complained: "O
Bhagavan, right from my birth I have been suffering. Is it due
to my past actions?"
Sri Bhagavan said:
We have to say that it is due to past actions. Then, if one
asks what is the cause of those past actions, we have to bring
in previous past actions and so on with out end. Instead of
enquiring into karma [?] or actions, why not enquire whose karma [?]
it is? If we are the body, then let the body ask the questions.
When you say, you suffer, it is your thought. Happiness is our
natural state. That which comes and goes is the ego. We think
we are miserable, because we forget our essential nature,
which is Bliss. Even an emperor, in spite of his wealth and
power, often suffers because of his disturbed mind. The sage,
who does not know where his next meal will come from, is
ever happy. See who enjoys Bliss.
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