Week 22 · eastern

Ramana Maharshi

At age 16, Ramana Maharshi had a sudden, overwhelming experience of death. He lay down, held his breath, and asked himself what would remain if the body died. What he found was an awareness that had nothing to do with the body or the mind. He got up, walked away from home, and spent the rest of his life on Arunachala, a sacred mountain in South India, mostly in silence. People came from around the world to sit with him. He rarely told them anything. He just asked one question.

“"Your own self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world." He said that to visitors who felt guilty about sitting in silence while the world burned. His answer was always the same. Fix the source, and everything downstream changes.”