Rm05. From Venkataraman To Ramana Maharishi Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Ramana Maharishi

It was the Sanyasi's past curse
Or his destiny's influence
Venkataraman took sanyas
Giving up all his earthly wants.

He came out of the Temple.
To adopt a new life so simple,
He tore a piece of cloth
And wore it as his loin cloth.

He got his head neatly shaved,
Threw out his sacred thread,
Along with his unwanted dresses,
Like a Sanyasi under the skies.

He then sat inside the temple hall,
Called as Thousand Pillars Hall,
And began to meditate deeply,
Keeping his eyes closed tightly.

Some children playing games
Threw at him small stones,
That disturbed his meditation,
In the open hall, quite often.

He moved to an underground cave,
Where no trouble the children gave,
But his body was bitten by ants,
And many hungry little insects.

As days passed, blood with pus,
Began to ooze from his wounds.
Some devotees took him out
To the hospital for treatment.

When he became quite well
He moved to another temple
At Gurumurtham, and did penance,
For nearly two years in that place.

He wrote a devotional song there
In praise of Lord Arunachaleswar,
Known as Arunachala Aksharamanamalai,
That showed his deep love for the deity.

He was named as Ramana Maharishi,
By a senior devotee, Ganapathy Sastri,
In 1907, the year of importance spiritually,
To call Venkataraman as Ramana Maharishi.