He wasn’t the kind of guru that sat on a pedestal, but he was one that walked amongst his followers and never wanted to be seen as an elevated or special being. It has been with you since before you remember, and it is silent, peaceful, and simply watching your thoughts and experiences float past it. In Ramana’s view, that is who you really are, and that is who he tried to connect his followers to. It is trying to get you to see who is the observer within you that is watching your thoughts happening. It is not about trying to witness your thoughts or your breath. He taught the method of “self-inquiry” which is asking “Who am I?” and “Who is this happening to?” in every moment of your existence. Then he spent the remainder of his life at his ashram at the bottom of the hill, so that his followers could be around him. After that, his followers built him a small, simple structure to live in higher on the hillside, where he would live with his mother for 7 years. Even with rats gnawing on his skin, he was unphased and remained in meditation. He simply remained in a state of meditation for these sixteen years. He was at some point joined by his brother, and people who had heard about him brought him food to eat. He found a cave there, and he remained in this caveįor SIXTEEN YEARS. These hills are revered by Hindus as sacred, and many people have found their realization here.
#Sri ramana ashram how to#
This is the simplest way I can put this, but there is plenty of information out there (I would recommend “Unteathered Soul” for those interested in learning about how to shape their own reality and “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Pramahansa Yogananda for those of you interested in the yoga/meditative qualities of this experience.)Īfter this realization, Sri Ramana retreated to the Arunachala Hills in southern India, just next to where his ashram is currently located (but that happened later). After this experience, a realized being no longer has fears, anxieties, or uncertainties of any kind, for they have realized their inner “god” nature. In the meditative world, this is called “realization,” where you essentially see that everything in your world is your own creation. With this experience, he received enormous clarity about his life, reality, and who he truly was. Not that he was sick or in danger, but this feeling just happened upon him. It is the Sri Ramana ashram, and if you don’t know anything about him, for meditators and those seeking a higher level of consciousness, he’s a pretty big deal.Īs a brief history, Ramana went through a death-like experience at age 16. Located in the off-the-beaten-path town of Tiruvannamalai in southern India is an ashram that channels a tremendous meditative energy, one that has been there for over 50 years.