Ashram Bulletin

Jayanti

The 85th birth anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was celebrated at his Ashram at Tiruvannamalai according to the Tamil calendar on Monday, December 21st, 1964. The celebration opened in the early morning with hymns to Sri Maharshi and to Arunachala. The elaborate morning pujas included Ekadasa Rudra Mahanyasa Abhishekam, chanting of the Taittiriya and Mahanarayana Upanishads and Laksharchana of Ramana Sahasranamam, the thousand names of Ramana. Then followed the arthi to Sri Bhagavan and to Sri Matrubuteswarar. The Presence of Sri Maharshi was powerfully felt. A large number of guests were invited to stay to lunch and thousands of the poor were fed.

The Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, Sri Sayaji Lakshman Silam, came here specially to attend the celebration and was received by the President of the Ashram, Sri Venkataraman. He was introduced to members of the Board of Trustees and to distinguished members of the Ashram. He took part in the entire celebration and only left for Pondicherry in the evening.

In the afternoon there was singing of Sri Ramana Gitam by Sri Om Sadhu and his party. The celebrations concluded with the singing of Tamil hymns to Sri Maharshi and Sri Arunachaleswarar.

Good wishes for the occasion were received from Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, President of India; Sri Karan Singh, Governor of Kashmir; Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar, Governor of Madras; Sri K. Kamaraj, President of the All-India Congress Committee; Sri T. T. Krishnamachari, Finance Minister of India; Sri N. Sanjiva Reddy, Minister for Steel and Mines, and others.

Among, the distinguished visitors were Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan, head of the philosophy department of Madras University; Dr. T. N, Krishnaswami, A. R. Narayana Rao, Sri Framji Dorabji, Sri Umesh Dutt, N. R. Viswanathan, Professor of Physics at Annamalai University, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, both internationally known artists, Dr. V. N. Sharma and the Swiss lady psychologist Dr. Kockel.

Bombay

On the 23rd February, the 85th Jayanthi of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was celebrated in Bombay at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan by the Sri Ramana Jayanti Celebration Committee.

The Governor of Maharashtra, Dr. P. V. Cherian, presided over the function. Dr. C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyar, who was the chief speaker, could not be present on the occasion since he had to leave for Delhi on urgent matter; however, his written speech was read by the Committee's Vice Chairman, Sri P. V. Puranik. Dr. K. M. Munshi's presence and participation in the function added grace to its glory. There were a good number of Ramana Bhaktas and the function was a great success.

A Sri Ramana Festival was celebrated for nine days in Bombay, from December 16th to 24th inclusive, at the Gita Govind Hall in Sion East. On the 16th evening it was inaugurated by the Hon. C. R. Pattabhiraman, Union Deputy Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Madras

Sri Ramana Bhakta Sabba, Alwarpet, Madras, celebrated the Jayanti on December 27^th. After Veda parayana Mr. Justice K. S. Venkataraman spoke, explaining the trials and triumphs of sadhana, whether one pursued the traditional Hindu or Buddhist methods or the less formal technique of Sri Ramana.

Delhi

Devotees in Delhi celebrated the Jayanti on December 25th at a public meeting organised by the Ramana Kendra, at the Satsang Hall of the Vinayaka Temple, Sarojini Nagar. After Veda parayana, Sri Tandaveswara of Sankara Vidya Kendra and Prof. K. Swaminathan spoke of the profound impact of Bhagavan's presence and the universal appeal of his teachings. Sri K. Ramakrishna Bhat recited his Sanskrit slokas on Bhagavan. Verses from Bhagavan's hymns to Arunachala and Muruganar's Tamil poems to Bhagavan were sung.

Palghat

The Vijnana Ramaneeya Mandiram, Palghat, Kerala, celebrated the Jayanti both on the 20th and 21st. This is quite legitimate, since Sri Ramana was horn about midnight between the two dates. On both days there were pujas, archanas and nama-japas in the morning. Soon after the morning puja on the 20th the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita were recited by Sri Mani Iyer and his children, and in the evening there was a discourse on Sri Ramana Darsana by Sri G. Balakrishnan Nair, lecturer at Victoria College. On the 21st evening Sri P. V. Rajagopal Divisional Superintendent of the Southern Railway, gave a discourse on 'The Path of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi'.

Rajahmundry

A Ramana Jayanti meeting was held at the Hindu Samaj Buildings. There was chanting of passages from the Upanishads and a number of eminent persons spoke on the importance of Bhagavan's teaching.

Calicut

There is no Sri Ramana organisation at Calicut, but the Jayanti was celebrated with great enthusiasm at the Sri Sai Baba Mission Bhajan Mandir. There was bhajan and recitation of Bhagavan's Upadesa Saram and of Sanskrit slokas composed in praise of Bhagavan by Kavyakanta Ganapathi Muni. After this several devotees who had had the inestimable privilege of sitting at the feet of Sri Bhagavan told personal reminiscences of him as well as speaking about his teaching. Dr. M. Anandan, Secretary of the Shri Sai Baba Mission, who is also an ardent devotee of Sri Bhagavan, spoke briefly but clearly on the central theme of Self-enquiry in Bhagavan's teaching.

A Musical Performance

On New Year's Day Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi, leading vocal musician of Carnatic music in South India, whose voice and depth of devotion were praised by no less a person than Mahatma Gandhi, gave a concert at the Ashram in willing response to our request. She was accompanied on the violin by Sri Subramaniam and on the mridangam by Sri Tanjavur Murthy. The concert consisted of devotional songs in Tamil, Sanskrit and Hindi chosen by the singer herself and lasted for three and a half hours. The large audience, consisting of both Hindus and foreigners were held spellbound and some of them moved to tears by her vibrant, melodious voice and the devotion and feeling in her singing.

Smt. Subbulakshmi's husband, Sri T. Sadasivan, editor and owner of the popular Tamil weekly 'Kalki', also honoured us with his presence on the occasion. They were presented with Ashram publications as well as a large portrait of Sri Bhagavan. Both of them seemed very pleased with their visit here, and after their return to Madras Sri Sadasivan wrote: "It would not be entirely correct to say that we enjoyed our short stay at the Ashram; it would be more correct to say that we felt blessed."

Devotees are the more grateful to them since this is the first of a series of benefit performances which this great musician has graciously consented to give in aid of the building fund needed to erect the large meditation hall that is planned in front of Sri Bhagavan's samadhi.

Mountain Path News

The July issue of The Mountain Path will be largely on the theme of Realization and Guidance and the October issue largely on the theme of Orthodoxy.

Donations of books to The Mountain Path library will be gratefully received.

Chinnaswami's Aradhana

The 12th aradhana or death anniversary of 'Chinnaswami' or 'The Lesser Swami', that is Sri Niranjanananda Swami, who was the Ashram Sarvadhikari (as described in our issue of January 1964) was celebrated in the Ashram where his samadhi or shrine is located, on 17th January. The devotees assembled for the occasion and paid due homage to one whose lifelong guidance of the Ashram in a spirit of service and devotion to Bhagavan led to the construction of the fine Ashram premises we now enjoy.

Visitors

As usual at this time of year, the re was a constant flow of visitors. Outstanding among them was, perhaps, Anthony Brooke of Sarawak who spent several weeks here He was much drawn to Arunachala and often spent the whole day alone there, setting forth in the morning with a bunch of bananas for sustenance. He also circumambulated the holy hill almost every day.

We were also interested to have a visit from the Italian novelist Piero Scanziani. He presented us with a signed copy of his novel I Cinque Continenti ('The Five Continents') in which there is mention of Bhagavan and his teaching. Unfortunately there is no English translation of it.

Fast on the heels of Olga Mago, mentioned in our last News Bulletin, comes another lady from Venezuela, this time Irma Potess de Valera, an artist of international repute who is going on from here to Beyruth, where she is holding an exhibition. She was already a firm devotee of Bhagavan before leaving home and came to India only for the sake of visiting his Ashram

In Memoriam

Many readers were impressed by the articles we published in our issues of April and July 1964 on the Secrets and Symbolism of Arunachala, Now we have regretfully to announce the demise of their author, Sri T. K. Sundaresa Iyer, whose last article, entitled 'Siva Lingam', appears in this issue. After being a close devotee of Sri Bhagavan for some fifty years he passed away in Sri Ramana Nagar at 6-10 a.m. on Friday February 5th at the age of 68. Although not of a great age, the had become very frail. For quite a while he remained permanently on the Ashram precincts, not even visiting his children. He passed away peacefully, conscious to the very end and was cremated with due rites in the presence of many Ramana bhaktas.

Born into a strictly orthodox Brahmin family, he was at first put off by accounts of Sri Bhagavan's impatience with formal orthodoxy and had to be literally forced by a cousin to pay his first visit to him in 1908. Having once seen him, however, he became his ardent devotee. As he explained with profound insight to this editor: "Bhagavan was above formal orthodoxy or unorthodoxy. Whatever he did was orthodox because he did it, since he was higher than Manu and was himself the source of orthodoxy. People who failed to see that were putting the letter above the Spirit."

He was always very helpful to the Ashram authorities, gladly lending a hand with office correspondence, publication work, pujas and the Veda Patasala.

Sri Sundaresa Iyer was one of those who was captivated by the magnetic personality of Sri Kavyakanta Ganapathi Muni, about whom there is an article in this issue. He learned the Rig Veda Sutras from him and under his guidance followed for a length of time the Mantra-Homa Marga. When the Muni left for Belgaum in 1926 he remained here and practically made the Ashram his home.

May he rest in peace at the Feet of Bhagavan