Suddhananda Bharati
Suddhananda Bharati was a Sanskrit scholar, outstanding Tamil poet, song writer, linguist and hatha yogi. He spent thirty years in pure silence. During the last five of these, he travelled across India and visited many saints because he wanted to see the truth face to face. Yet, he did not have the direct experience of the truth as extolled in the Vedas. In that hour of suffering, he chanced upon the book Self Realisation and came to know about Bhagavan Ramana at Arunachala. That very night, he had a vision of Bhagavan in his Heart. He soon started for Ramanasramam. On arrival, he approached the mother’s shrine which was then just a hut. He saw Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni at its entrance and then heard a sweet voice from inside, saying, “Let Bharati come in.” It was Bhagavan. Before entering the ashram, the siddha purusha, Seshadri Swami, met him at the foot of the hill and said, “Go, go, go, Suddhanandam! Get going until you go deep inside.” Later, the same saint urged him, “Run, run, Suddhanandam! Ramana awaits you! Go inside!” Suddhananda took one look at Bhagavan and fell at his feet in total surrender.
This is how Suddhananda Bharati describes his first glimpse of Bhagavan: “I saw no human form. I felt dazed, effulgence enveloped me and Bhagavan dissolved me into silence. Bhagavan implanted grace in me and my eyes involuntarily closed themselves. I felt I was entering into the inner cave of my Heart. An hour passed like a moment and when I opened my eyes, I noticed that Bhagavan Ramana’s lotus eyes were riveted on me. A voice from within said, ‘Now, you have felt it. The cave is open. The ‘I AM’ is the truth.’ After many years of intense sadhana, now, here at the holy feet of Ramana Maharshi, I experienced for the first time, the truth as my own inner reality, and caught hold of his holy feet and shed tears of joy remembering the sacred words of the saint Manickavachagar: ‘Today, you have risen in my Heart as a sun destroying all forms of darkness. I am swimming in ecstasy.’”
Bhagavan guided him to be in silence again and live in Virupaksha cave. Later, Bhagavan used to say, “Bharati can survive many days without food or even just living on a few neem leaves and a few peanut kernels.” By this time, Suddhananda Bharati, a writer himself, was inspired by B. V. Narasimha Swami’s book, Self Realisation, to write a biography of Bhagavan in Tamil. However, this advanced yogi also had a strong urge to visit another saint - Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. He pleaded with Bhagavan insistently, “I feel like going to Sri Aurobindo. Please, please, guide me.” Bhagavan gave him his assent. He spent twenty five years in the care of Sri Aurobindo, where he wrote the Tamil biography of Bhagavan called Sri Ramana Vijayam, meaning ‘The Advent of Sri Ramana’. The Tamil speaking population in India came to Bhagavan after reading Ramana Vijayam. Bharati subsequently went on to write many other biographies and became a well known writer.
He came to Ramanasramam in 1970 to write the biography of Annamalai Swami. I received him and served him for a few days. Before leaving, he invited me to stay at his ashram in Chennai. I accepted his offer and found him to be most kind and affectionate. One day, he made me sit next to him and shared with me something that is very important for all of us. He said, “Ganesan, I saw you managing the ashram and bringing out The Mountain Path efficiently. People will praise your capacity in management. I too am willing to give away this ashram to you. I will do it right now if you are willing. But remember, even vast volumes of possessions will not help you erase and annihilate the possessor. I see clearly with my inner eye that your spiritual fulfillment is waiting at your doorstep. Do not fall into the trap of any possessions or any management thrust on you. You are ever free. Be the Self, plunge within, be the dust of the holy feet of Bhagavan who is now in your Heart. He is the universal Heart. The kingdom of God is within your infinite Self. Repose in the Heart. That is the truth.” He further added, “Do not make the same error that I did. I focused on the glory of writing hundreds of books, building an ashram and chasing fame. Don’t do that. Stand by Bhagavan and obey him always. Remain at Arunachala as dust at Bhagavan’s holy feet.”
“O Arunachala, in you the picture of the universe is formed, has its stay and is dissolved. This is the sublime Truth. You are the inner Self who dances in the Heart as I-I. O Lord, Heart is your name.”
