Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 83

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi 77 of a fan backwards and forwards. This fan was anxiously watched by everybody, for when it stopped they would know that the end had come.
The Ashram authorities were afraid that there might be some trouble from the waiting crowds, as a certain clique had arranged if possible to remove the body and bury it outside the Ashram. It would have been quite impossible to do this, there were lots of police about and the majority of opinion was naturally against such a scandal. However the powers were scared. For this reason about an hour before the end the D.M.O., who was present, was prompted by the Manager to come out and announce that there was no immediate danger of anything happening that night. It was a scandalous thing to do. Naturally many of the people went home for their evening meal and so missed the last moments.
There were some American reporters and photographers, who were there just out for a scoop. They were living less than half a mile away. One of them standing outside the house suddenly looked up and saw a very bright star or meteor swing slowly across the sky towards the North over the top of the Hill. He called out to the rest of the party who ran out and saw the same phenomenon. One and all agreed that something had happened to Bhagavan. Even though they were without special faith in him, by some intuition they were certain that this must be the case. It happened exactly at the time of the passing, (8-47 p.m. on April 14th, 1950) and was seen by many people, all of whom strangely enough,