Conversation With Sri Ramana Maharshi - I (Fiction) Poem by Varanasi Ramabrahmam

Every human life is a work of art in its own way; a beautiful verse; an enchanting song; a melodious music; a charming and cheering drama; a pleasant action; a refreshing bliss; a comforting peace; fragrance of silence.
The lives of eminent human beings are all these. Sri Ramana Maharshi is one such eminent human being. He is a Seer; a Saint; a Sage; a Self-Realized person; a Maharshi.

I am an admirer and Ekalavya-like disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I owe my insight of Brahmajnaana or Aatmajnaana to Sri Ramana Maharshi.
I am always grateful to my parents who lived a life of spirituality and who gave me this body together with the abilities of mind to get initiated to and grasp the intricacies of the Knowledge of the Self.

I have many times read the life history of Sri Ramana Maharshi. And I have gone through with contemplation his expressions about Brahmajnaana.
I had many intimate mental conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi about his near-death experience, life, expressions, and answers he gave to his disciples. He enlightened me so much about Brahmajnaana or Aatmajnaana or Knowledge of the Self. It benefitted me to arrive at and propose a modern scientific theory of human cognition, language acquisition and communication processes.

This series is fiction. The narration is in dialogue form and is in conversation style. The narration is verse like and takes poetic form in presentation; and the prose many times transforms into poetic rhythm. The essence of Self Realization is presented in a lucid way with the help of these conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi and my extensions of them with due directions from Sri Ramana Maharshi through my intuition. And commentaries on social living, and related issues will also evolve.

I rate Sri Ramana Maharshi equal in intellect to great physicists like Planck, De Broglie, Einstein, and many eminent scientists of those times (1879-1950) who are contemporaries to Sri Ramana Maharshi. I present my write-up reflecting this aspect and understanding too. Sri Ramana Mahrshi has experienced, and very well expressed the “physics” of consciousness and mind helped by his experience and earlier Indian spiritual expressions. I also mimic through this fiction many of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s expressive styles; in prose, poetry and present the traditional and scientific insight contained in Brahmajnaana or Aatmajnaana which surely and definitely benefits the discerning and interested reader irrespective of one’s own faith, creed, nationality or the like.

This narration will be a comprehensive presentation of consciousness, mind and their functions in a charming and simple language. I also take the help of information available in various Indian spiritual texts at appropriate places. The course of the conversation does not take a particular order.

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I:
What is salvation?

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

Getting rid of all mental impressions is salvation.

“vaasanaataanavam brahma moksha iti abhidheeyate”

I:
How to cultivate calmness of mind?

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

Possessing an absolute faith is a must to calm the mind; faith in the approach; faith in the text and teacher; and faith in oneself. Cultivating, engaged in and maintaining a stable and harmonious relationship with one’s near and dear ones and fellow-beings highly benefit the aspirant in attempts to calm the mind. And many times lack of such a harmonious relationship obstructs the setting of peace in the mind and mere observation or practice of a meditative technique in an academic or mechanical way many not help the individual in his/her aim or quest.

Calming the mind is a process of de-learning illusory knowledge, relearning the real nature of human-being and then practice the knack of completely unlearning or be unaware of all the new knowledge too but not the insight gained. Meditation and calming the mind are synonymous with Self Realization which are a process reverse to the process of generation of thoughts.

I:
What is Meditation?

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

Find out wherefrom this ‘I’ springs forth and merge at its source; that is tapas-meditation.

Find out wherefrom the sound of the mantra in japa rises up and merge there; that is tapas-meditation.