Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 23

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi
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had gone to all the trouble that he did or made any such record. Other people who have written accounts of Bhagavan's life have all had access to B. V. N’s book and used it extensively, often turning it into their own words. Without this book we should have known nothing of the early years of Bhagavan's life. B. V. N. did a wonderful job and I do not think sufficient appreciation has been shown to him. Here we find the first recorded teachings to various early disciples. Especially interesting are the instructions to Humphreys, a young policeman who came to Bhagavan in 1911. He was the first European to visit Bhagavan as far as is known or at least the first to record his visit. He has given a beautiful picture of him in the Virupaksha Cave. The teachings are definite and are a guide to all who come after. Who else has recorded that Bhagavan said, “I am giving these instructions as a Guru gives them to a disciple”? Certainly there was some special tie between these two. Once it was said in the Hall that someone had seen Humphreys recently and he denied having derived any benefit from Bhagavan's instructions. All Bhagavan said to this was, “It's a lie!" Doubtless the whole thing was a spiteful invention.
The first question I asked Bhagavan was why Christ called out from the cross. If he was a perfect Jnani then surely he would have been indifferent to all suffering. Bhagavan explained that though a Jnani has attained Liberation already and for him there can be no such thing as suffering, some may appear to feel pain, but this is only a reaction of the body. For the body continues to have its