Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 11

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi 5 Let us pause for a moment and consider what had happened to him.
When he lay on the floor death had come to him. What was that death he experienced but the death of the ego? The ego itself is entirely illusory as such, the Buddhists say, but granted that even if it has a sort of existence there is nothing permanent about it. It changes from moment to moment. One ego decides to do something on the morrow but when tomorrow comes another ego is in charge and refuses to do it. So we change from day to day, or rather the egos with which we associate ourselves change. But behind each of them is the permanent witness. But the witness is not confined to witnessing the doings of the little ego; it is the Supreme Witness, or what Bhagavan called the SELF. There is only one Self, and this is the only permanent thing there is. However this is not the place to enlarge on this, more will be said on the subject in the course of this volume.
So Venkataraman had died. After this happened he had no longer any name, he never signed anything or acknowledged any name as his. People called him Ramana, and he knew that they were talking about him when they did so, but even if they had called him by any other name he would have acknowledged it. Shortly afterwards when he left home he left an unsigned note to inform them of his departure.
Venkataraman having died, what then exactly had happened? The Self had taken over entirely. No doubt the body of Venkataraman and everything that people