Sri Ramana Maharshi’s main teaching was refreshingly simple- all suffering comes from forgetting who we really are.
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“Silence is also conversation”
India, in the early twentieth century, was a land in deep turmoil. The country was rattling with colonial subjugation and chaos. It was this time, when a man sat quietly on a hill in Tamil Nadu. He did not protest. He did not carry banners. He did not give speeches. Yet his influence travelled far and wide. This man was Sri Ramana Maharshi. He lived a simple life. He hardly spoke. But his silence roared louder than the loudest slogans of the time. It was a time when the entire world was hungry for revolution, and he offered a radical kind of change to it. He asked people to look within. And that is where true transformation begins.
Sri Ramana ushered people back to the root of their own being. He reminded them of a timeless truth: the answer to every question lies within oneself. He did not shout for attention, nor did he build an organisation. His life was a living revival of India’s ancient spiritual strength. He taught that the real enemy is not outside, but within. It is the ignorance that keeps us tied to all suffering.
The Death That Awakened Life
Ramana was born in 1879 in a small village in Tamil Nadu. He was like any other bright and curious child. But something strange and powerful happened when he was just sixteen. One fine day, out of nowhere, he felt an intense fear of death. Most people would panic. But he did something extraordinary with that fear. He lay down and decided to explore the fear itself. He asked, “What is it that dies? Is it the body? Am I just this body?” With fearless curiosity, he observed himself. In that moment, he had ablazed with a deep insight. He saw that the body may die, but the inner “I” never dies. This was not a theory taught in the scriptures. It was a living truth he experienced first-hand. From that day, he was not remaining the same. The outer world lost its enthusiasm for him. He left his home quietly and made his way to the sacred hill of Arunachala. There, he spent the rest of his life. His silence became his speech. His stillness became his path.
A Simple but Profound Practice
Ramana’s main teaching was refreshingly simple. He said that all suffering comes from forgetting who we really are. We believe we are this body or this mind or this role we play in life. But behind all these masks is our real identity, the pure conscious awareness. He offered a powerful method to self-awareness and it was driven by a straightforward question: Who am I? He asked people to follow this question inward. When a thought comes up, ask, “To whom does this thought arise?” The answer is, “To me obviously.” Then go further: “Who is this me?”
With steady practice with patience, the mind returns to its original source. The false sense of “I” melts away. What remains is peace, clarity, and freedom. This was not just a trick or a tool. It was a revival of India’s spiritual heritage. The great Upanishads spoke of the Self as identical with the infinite. Ramana took this idea off the shelf and placed it in our daily lives. He did not ask people to follow a religion or perform rituals. He simply said, “Be still. The truth is within you.” That was all. No drama. No dogma.
Silence Speaks Louder Than Words
What made Ramana so special was his teaching through silence. People came from across the globe to see him. Some were scholars. Some were saints. Some were simply curious. Many expected him to speak profound words. Often, he said nothing. Yet something inside them shifted because this silence was alive. It was full. It had the power to calm the storms of the mind. In Indian tradition, silence is often seen as the highest teaching. Words can confuse, but silence clears everything. While nations raced for power and machines hummed louder each year, Ramana quietly reminded us that peace is not in the future. It is right here. In your heart. In your breath. In your being.
Ramana never gave speeches about freedom. But, he was a revolutionary. His revolution was not against the British or anyone. It was against the self ignorance. It was about breaking the inner chains that bind all of us. When India’s deep Sanatan traditions were being dismissed as outdated, Ramana lived their truth. He did not need to defend Vedanta. He embodied it. He did not attack Western thought or praise Indian ritual. He stood firm with direct experience.
India’s real strength, he showed, is not in her treasure opulence or her markets. It is in her ability to lead human beings inward. That is her true gift to the world. Many great minds realise this. Thinkers like Dr. Radhakrishnan and K. Subrahmanyam saw Ramana Maharshi as a link between ancient Indian thought and modern human concerns. Even Carl Jung, a legendary Swiss psychologist, recognised his presence as something beyond explanation.
Ramana never wrote any thick books. But what he did write is full of wisdom. His small works like “Who Am I?”, “Forty Verses on Reality”, and the recorded conversations with visitors are now read all over the world. At a time when Indian philosophy was becoming just an academic topic, Ramana brought it back to life. He made it personal. He made it real. He showed that you do not need a sophisticated degree to understand truth. You just need the courage to be still.
His way was not to win debates. His way was to cut through confusion. One of his famous lines is, “Why argue? Find out who you are. That ends all arguments.” He challenged the rising wave of Western rationalism not with anger, but with stillness. It is in the silent core of our being.
A Light That Refuses to Go Out
Sri Ramana Maharshi left his body in 1950. But ask anyone who has sat in his ashram, or read his words, or even closed their eyes with his name in mind and they all will tell you he never left. In today’s fast-moving, distracting and stressful world, his message is more important than ever. He taught that truth is not complicated. Peace is not a distant goal. And freedom is not found in chasing things. He offered the world a deep, quiet gift. He showed that India’s strength is not in wealth or conquest. It is in guiding people back to their actual essence. He is, and will remain, a shining example of what India truly stands for.
Final Takeaway
Sri Ramana Maharshi was not a typical philosopher. He did not dress like a guru or sound like a preacher. He was just a mirror: silent, clear, and always pointing you back to yourself. He reminded India, and the world, that the real Self is never weak, never far, and never broken. It is always here. Waiting to be known. By showing the way back to our own hearts, he gave us the most precious gift of all. A return to truth. A return to peace.
Turning inward was not an escape from life. It was a bold leap into freedom. At a time when India was taught to seek approval and success from the outside, Ramana Maharshi turned all attention inward. He gave something eternal, fearless, and free.
Ranjan Das
Patkai Christian College (Autonomous)