Nayana's Birthday

... Near the main shrine there is a small shrine of Dhundi Ganapati; here [Narasimha Sastry] did the japa of the Mahaganapati Mantra for a few days. One day when he was in deep meditation doing the japa he saw inwardly that a child came out of the Murthy of Ganapati, sat on his lap and disappeared. He opened his eyes and looked all around for the child, but to his dismay there was no child. However, backed by his knowledge of the sastras he thought, "Surely this event foretells the fulfillment of an auspicious desire. I am really blessed, as I have seen with my own eyes the workings of the Divine compassion expressed in such a concrete form."

At the time when Narasimha Sastry was a witness to the happening in Kasi, his wife, Narasamamba gave birth to a male child in her parental house.

~ S. R. Leela, Glory of Sri Vasistha Ganapati Muni

The child was named Ganapati. Twenty nine years and one day later, on Monday, the 4th day of Kartika Sukla, November 18, in 1907, Ganapati Muni reached the feet of Brahmana Swami on Arunachala. Here is his description:


When I reached the cave of the sage on top of the Arunachala Hill, it was two o'clock in the afternoon. I saw the sage sitting outside the cave. Those were the days of celebration everywhere. The car festival attracted crowds from far-off places. People were seen all over. I expected a number of visitors even here. However, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Swami all alone, free from the maddening crowd. I considered it to be an indication of the divine grace and I felt the strengthening of my inner being. I approached the Swami with jubilation. As I reached the Swami, I held his right foot with my right hand and left foot with my left hand and prostrated before him. I offered my sastanga pranam.

Getting up I appealed thus: "I have understood the deep meaning of Sastras; I have repeated the great mantras with contemplation; Many vratas have I performed; Missing still is the Lord's Grace."

"Were there lapses in my tapas? Have I missed its very nature? Though a scholar, I plead ignorance; I surrender to you, All-knowing One; Accept me as your disciple and bless me."

Thus, when I fell at his feet in agitated state of mind, desperately pleading for guidance, a soothing stream of the sage's compassionate look encompassed me. He was foremost among those who had their senses under perfect control. He could effortlessly gauge my confounded state and, as if comforting me, He looked at me for a while with His eyes exuding a cool placidity and said,

"If the mind, enquiring about the origin of the ego principle 'I", goes back and unites with its origin, then it becomes tapas."

"If the mind, trying to enquire about the origin of the sound of the mantra that is being repeated, gets back to the root cause of the sound, then it becomes tapas."

By receiving this teaching from a great teacher I was gratified. I experienced ecstasy after receiving this upadesa.

Till late in the evening, I sat meditating near the feet of the Guru. I enquired about the name of the Swami in his Purvasrama (early stage, before his stay in Arunachala). An attendant said " Venkataraman". On hearing this I called him by the name, Ramana, that combined brevity and beauty.

Then I declared to the world that Brahmanaswami will henceforth venerably be known as "Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi"

~ this description by Ganapati Muni was taken from: http://kavyakantha.arunachala.org/