Welcome to Spiritual Masters
Learn about the spiritual giants of India
Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi was born in 1879 on 29 December to Alagammal and Sundaram Iyer, near Madurai, in a place called Thiruchuzhi. At the age of 17, he had a sudden death experience in which he realized in a flash that what dies is the body but the consciousness is untouched. “All these were no idle speculations,” he said, “they went through me like a powerful, living truth that I experienced directly, almost without thinking. ‘I’ [that is the true I or Self], was reality, the only reality in this momentary state. All conscious activity that was related to my flowed into this ‘I’. From that moment, all attention was drawn as if by powerful magic to the ‘I’ or the Self. The fear of death was permanently extinguished. From this time on I remained fully absorbed in the ‘Self'.
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Mahaperiyava, known as Sage of Kanchi or Mahaswami or simply Periyava was looked upon as the God who walked (Nadamadum Deiyvam). He was born in Villupuram in 1894, May 20, and was called to lead the Kanchi Mutt at the young age of 13. He was the beacon of Hindu Dharma and was a living example of the Vedas and the teachings of Adi Shankara.
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Another great sage in the line of Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadatta was born in Maharashtra in 1897, 17 April. With immense faith in the words of his guru, he attained self realisation. Interestingly, he was a beedi and cigarette seller by profession. Like Ramana Maharishi, his talks were recorded and published. “I am that” is the most read book of questions and answers by Maharaj.
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Robert Adam’s story is singularly magical. Born in New York, he was drawn inexorably to Ranama Maharishi from a very young age. When he was in his crib as a matter of fact. He later narrated that he used to see a 2-foot bearded man at the foot of his crib talking “gibberish” to him. The little man stayed with Robert till he was 7. Robert then developed a siddhi. Anytime he wanted something, whether it was a candy bar, a musical instrument or answers to a school test, he would repeat God three times and it would come to him. One day, at a math test, he had a total enlightenment experience. It left him transformed forever. The world was no longer real to him. He lost interest in eating, studying, playing and his hobbies. One day, he happened to see the book ‘Who am I’ by Ramana Maharishi and he was aghast, for Ramana was the bearded little man who was talking to him for those 7 years! Soon afterwards, Robert left for LA where he stayed with Paramahmsa Yogananda and wanted to be a monk there upon which Yogananda who convinced him that Robert’s master was Bhawan Ramana in Thiruvannamalai.
Robert Adams traveled to Thiruvannamalai, and on seeing Ramana on the Hill, ran to him dropping everything he was carrying. Ramana Maharishi said, after embracing him, that He was waiting for him. Blessed! |
Born in Kanchipuram in 1870 Jan 22, Seshadri Mahan displayed all the signs of being a special child.
Every day his mother took him to a nearby temple. One day, the little boy saw a shop keeper selling many colourful dolls and statues, and took a statue of Lord Krishna and asked his mother if he could keep it for praying to. The mother said they can buy it on the way back from the temple. But the boy was not satisfied with the proposition. There was something about the child that attracted the shopkeeper. He said to the mother that he hadn’t sold any since he opened the shop and that he would gladly give the statue free of cost to the boy, please don’t return the statue the boy had desired. He refused to take any money when the mother tried to pay him. The next day, the mother and the boy were on the way back from the temple as usual, and seeing them the shopkeeper fell at the feet of the mother, and put the child’s hands to his eyes, saying, ‘golden hands, golden hands’. To the baffled mother and the gathering crowd, he said that even on festive days he wouldn’t sell many toys, but since the boy touched the statue, he had sold everything he had. He started his education in Vedas, hindi and tamil, and religious texts. He lost his father when he was 14 which was a shock to him and his family. He was brought up by his grandfather for the rest of his life. An astrolger looked at hos charts and said that he was destined to be a recluse (sanyasi), which made his mother sad. She passed away in his lap, chanting, ‘Arunachala, Arunachala’. Seshadri Swamigal took that as his mantra and spent his life in the puja room of his house. He forgot to eat, sleep and ignored his body. His matted hair and uncared for clothes made people say unpleasant things which embarrassed his family. So he started going to the cremation ground and started meditating. When his family members forcefully brought him to take part in his father’s ceremonies and locked him up in the puja room, a miracle occurred. When they opened the door to call him out for the ceremony, Seshadri Swamigal wasn’t there. He had disappeared from a locked room! He was drawn to the Holy Hill of Arunacahala where he spent the rest of his life. It he who took care of Ramana Maharishi when Ramana was a young boy lost in deep meditation. And Ramana Maharishi oversaw the building of the Samadhi for Seshadri Swamigal, which is right next to Ramanashram. |
Born in a village near Kashi (Benares) in 1918 on 1 December, he was full of compassion even as a child. One day while drawing water from a well in the backyard, he saw a sparrow in its nest. It was about to pollute the water with its droppings which made the boy throw one end of the rope at it, which landed right on the bird and killed it. This incident affected the boy deeply. It kindled a spiritual awakening in his heart. He left his home and family and went in search of the truth and met many spiritually inclined people in Benares. His mind somewhat settled, he went back to his parents and finished school. Not wanting to waste his life looking for work, he answered the higher calling and went looking for his guru. He went to Arvidashram, and then Ramanashram. Learning about Swami Ramdass he went to met him but he didn’t get the peace he did with Ramana Maharihi and Aurobindo. He went back to those places, and received initiation from Bhagwan Ramana. He spent some time in the Himalayas, and when he was here he learnt of the passing of Bhagwan Ramana and Aurobindo which made him sad as he thought he lost the opportunity for serving them, He went back to Swami Ramdass and felt as blissful as he did at Ramanshram. After he was initiated into the Taraka mantra (Rama mantra), he went to Thiruvannamalai and spent his life there.
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