Visiting the ashram of Ramana Maharishi, Ramdas addressed him thus: “Maharaj, here stands before thee a humble slave. Have pity on him. His only prayer to thee is to give him thy 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.
Ramdas desired to remain in solitude for some time. He was given one small cave high up in the mountain. 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’s 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, longing to see Rama always in everything; that is 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, marvelous, rapturous – the trees, the shrubs, the ants, the cows, the cats, the dogs – even inanimate things pulsated with the marvelous 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.
The bliss and joy came to be permanent, like a torrent rushing downhill till it finds a placid level of limpid stream. This experience is called Sahaja Samadhi.
Excerpted from The Mountain Path, January, 1965. The 129th birth anniversary of Swami Ramdas will be observed on April 10.
Swami Ramdas
