Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 89

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi 83 instruction from a Guru to sit at his feet? Stanley-Jones came to the Ashram with preconceived ideas, so could accept nothing else. He went away convinced that he had heard what he had already decided to hear.
There is a well-known saying that when the pupil is ready the Guru will appear. It can be equally truly said that if the pupil is not ready even the appearance and teaching of the Guru can have no effect.
Bhagavan's reactions to mad people were negative and at times almost disapproving. Where we expected pity we found no such thing. It seemed, by the way Bhagavan spoke of them, that he considered that it was their own fault, that it was, in fact, just lack of control, that if they really wanted to they could pull themselves together and act normally. Bhagavan never said any of this, it is only my personal feeling on the subject.
There was one lady who spent some time at the Ashram and thought herself a very great devotee, who entirely shut herself up in a cottage just outside the gate, tying a cloth across her eyes so that she should not see and so be distracted by the wicked world, at the same time observing silence, hoping in this way to quiet the senses. All that Bhagavan said was, “Why does she not come over here and join us like other people? What good is all this going to do? She comes here to be with us and then shuts herself away."
Another woman, a Jewess, who had undergone dreadful Nazi persecution in Germany used to strip off all her clothes and appear naked in public, have hysterical