A Luminous Life

Ramana Maharshi

I twice visited Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram at Tiruvannamalai, arranged through friends of my father among the government engineers of the district. I was not yet thirteen the first time. We sat, women on one side and men on the other, in the old hall where the Maharshi reclined on his couch; my small brother, only five, wandered up unafraid to stand close by him, gazing and gazing, until the Maharshi smiled and asked in Tamil, "Shapda? Shapda?" — "Will you eat? Will you eat?"

I sat at the far end of the hall, shy, and was told afterwards that his eyes had rested on me many times while I sat deep in meditation, quite unaware of it. When others wished to go sightseeing, I begged to be left where I was, and meditated there for hours, once seeing a great light. I told my mother, afterwards, that I loved him, that his path — so direct, so simple, straight to the point, know who you are and that is all — moved me deeply. But he was not my Guru. I had had definite inner indications of Sri Aurobindo already, and six months after that visit, I had my own first Darshan of him, and knew that my search had ended.