Sadhus Reminiscences of Raman Maharshi

Author(s): Arunachal Sadhu
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 95

A Sadhu's Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi
89
He was asked if the story were true that there were always seven Jnanis living about the Hill. “There may be even more than that,” he told us, “who can tell? How to recognise them? They may appear as beggars lying in a ditch or in some other unrecognisable capacity. It is impossible to say.”
Bhagavan always discouraged any devotee going Mownam or taking a vow of silence. During the war I decided that I would like to do so, chiefly to protect myself from the jibes of others. I went and asked Bhagavan's permission. He was not enthusiastic and told me that it was useless to keep the tongue still but to continue to write messages on bits of paper which so many so called Mownis continue to do. In this way only the tongue had a rest but the mind continued just as before. I said that I had no intention of doing this but would throw my pencil and paper away. I felt that I had obtained a reluctant consent as Bhagavan agreed that people were worrying me. So I made the necessary arrangements, installed a bell from my room to the kitchen so I should not have to call my servant, and fixed a lucky day to begin. The night before I was to start, a friend of mine brought up the subject in the Hall after the evening meal when only a few of us were present. Bhagavan immediately showed his disapproval and said it was unnecessary and in fact not a good thing at all. I did not talk much anyhow. It was better to speak only when it was necessary, that it actually did no good to observe silence, that if one did so for twelve years one