I cannot leave this topic of sadhus who meditated on Arunachala without mentioning the remarkable experiences that Swami Ramdas had when he meditated in one of the Arunachala caves in the 1920s. The following account was recorded in The Mountain Path, January 1965:
‘Papa [Ramdas],’ I [Dilip Kumar Roy] said, ‘would you mind telling us about your final realisation which they call “Vishvarupa Darshan”?’
He readily acquiesced and gave a long description of his burning aspiration and yearning which had led him to Arunachala Hill, hallowed by the tapas of the peerless saint Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. I can give here only the gist of his long narration … .
The ‘thatched shed’ where Ramdas probably met Bhagavan.
One day the kind Sadhuram took Ramdas for the darshan of a famous saint of the place named Sri Ramana Maharshi. His ashram was at the foot of Arunachala. It was a thatched shed. Both the visitors entered the ashram and, meeting the saint, fell prostrate at his holy feet. It was really a blessed place where that great man lived. He was young but there was on his face a calmness and in his large eyes a passionless look of tenderness which cast a spell of peace and joy on all those who came to him. Ramdas was informed that the saint knew English, so he addressed him thus: ‘Maharaj, here stands before you a humble slave. Have pity on him. His only prayer to you is to give him your blessing.’
The Maharshi turned his beautiful eyes towards Ramdas and looked intently for a few minutes into his eyes as though he was pouring into Ramdas his blessing through those orbs, then shook his head to say he had blessed. A thrill of inexpressible joy coursed through the frame of Ramdas, his whole body quivering, like a leaf in the breeze … .
Swami Ramdas, 1920s
Now, at the prompting of Ram, Ramdas desired to remain in solitude for some time … The Sadhuram was ever ready to fulfil his wishes. Losing no time, he took Ramdas up the mountain behind the great temple. Climbing high up, he showed him many caves. Of these, one small cave was selected for Ramdas, which he occupied next day. In this cave he lived for nearly a month in deep meditation of Ram. This was the first time he was taken by Ram into solitude for his bhajan. Now he felt most blissful sensations since he could hold undisturbed communion with Ram. He was actually rolling in a sea of indescribable happiness. To fix the mind on that fountain of bliss, Ram, means, to experience pure joy … He went on taking the Name in an ecstasy of longing when, lo, suddenly his Lord Rama … appeared before him and danced and danced …
‘Did you see him with closed eyes or open?’ I interjected.
‘With open eyes, as Ramdas is seeing you,’ Papa answered. ‘But it was not this momentary vision that Ramdas’ heart craved. For he knew that a vision like this was unlikely to last and so, when the Lord would vanish, Ramdas would revert to his darkness. Therefore he prayed for the great darshan, the vision of visions, which comes to stay for ever so there is no more parting, namely the Vishvarupa Darshan. [There was a] longing to see Rama always in everything; … nothing less would satisfy Ramdas.’
Papa paused and then resumed with a beatific smile: ‘And it came one morning apocalyptically – when, lo, the entire landscape changed: All was Rama, nothing but Rama, wherever Ramdas looked! Everything was ensouled by Rama – vivid, marvellous, rapturous – the trees, the shrubs, the ants, the cows, the cats, the dogs – even inanimate things pulsated with the marvellous presence of the one Rama. And Ramdas danced in joy like a boy who, when given a lovely present, can’t help breaking out into a dance. And so it was with Ramdas: he danced with joy and rushed at a tree in front, which he embraced because it was not a tree but Rama Himself! A man was passing by, Ramdas ran towards him and embraced him, calling out: “Rama, O Rama!” The man got scared and bolted. But Ramdas gave him chase and dragged him back to his cave. The man noted that Ramdas had not a tooth in his head and so felt a little reassured: at least the loony would not be able to bite him!’
He laughed out and we swelled the chorus.
‘And then?’ I asked, after the laughter had subsided.
‘The bliss and joy came to be permanent, like a torrent rushing downhill till it finds a placid level … . This experience is called sahaja samadhi, in which you can never be cut off from the consciousness of being at one with the One who has become all, in which you feel you are one with all because you have perceived that all is He, the One-without-a-second.’
Ramdas himself made a brief comment on this experience which was recorded in The Vision, the journal of the ashram in Kerala where he spent most of the remainder of his life. It was not published until decades after the original experience it describes:
‘Ramdas went to Ramana Maharshi in a state of complete obliviousness of the world. He felt thrills of ecstasy in his presence. The Maharshi made the awakening permanent in Ramdas.
‘Some people told Ramdas: “You went to Maharshi and you got illumination. Give us illumination like that.” Ramdas said, “You must come to Ramdas in the same spirit and in the same state as he went to Maharshi. Then you will also get it. Where was his heart? How intense was his longing? What was the world to him at that time? If you come in that state it [will be] all right.”’
I had occasionally wondered which cave Ramdas had been meditating in when he had his great and final vision of Rama. I asked V. Ganesan, Bhagavan’s grand-nephew, if he had any information about this since I knew that he had visited Swami Ramdas several times in the 1950s.
He told me, ‘I didn’t ask him directly, but when other people asked me about this, I wrote a letter to him, asking if he could remember which cave he had the experience in, or at least give some area of the hill which would narrow it down. He replied, saying that all these events had happened so long ago, he could no longer remember where the cave was, what it was called, or where it might be in relation to some known landmark on the hill. Since Ramdas himself couldn’t identify it, this probably means that we will never know where it all happened.’
The back entrance of Banyan Tree Cave, also know as Sadguru Swami CaveThe interior of Banyan Tree Cave
This ignorance of the location has not stopped some people on the hill from claiming that their cave was the place where Ramdas got enlightened. In the early 1980s, for example, Sadguru Swami Cave, also known as Banyan Tree Cave, claimed the honour and erected a plaque to commemorate the event. Bhagavan himself had briefly stayed in this cave in 1902 before he moved up the hill to Virupaksha Cave, but the managers of the cave seemed to be more interested in claiming a connection to Swami Ramdas.
There is some nice footage of Swami Ramdas in this Youtube clip, which was taken from a French documentary about Indian ashrams, made by Arnaud Desjardins in 1959. Swami Ramdas passed away in 1963.
In this post I have not included stories about Bhagavan and the years he lived in the caves of Arunachala. These are relatively well known and have been recorded in many other places. However, if anyone reading this has an appetite for more information on Bhagavan’s days as an Arunachala cave-dweller, the following two Youtube talks give plenty of information:
