About this book The Mysterious Ramana The Birth of a Holy Man Enlightenment: July 17, 1896 Arriving at Arunachala Places of Devotion Death of the Body

slide 6 of 7 The formless and imperishable Real stands revealed in the Aruna Hill, the embodied Presence of the three-eyed God. Since the Cave named Virupaksha sustains the very devotees who dwell within the Heart-cave of that God, well may we call it Mother. —Ramana Ramana stayed in the Virupaksha Cave for seventeen years from 1899 to 1916. Ramana was just a young lad of twenty years when he shifted from Gurumurtam to the Virupaksha Cave. Ramana’s feelings towards this cave are expressed in the stray verse extracted above. He considers it appropriate to call it “Mother” because it sustains the very devotees who give themselves wholly to the Aruna Hill, the embodied form of Lord Siva. After these seventeen years, a devotee of Ramana decided to build an asram, or community place for worship. Ramana says of this man’s work: “You cannot imagine the state of the site as it was originally. Kandaswami worked with almost superhuman effort and achieved with his own hands what even four people cannot do together. He removed all the prickly pear, reduced the stone and boulder to a level ground, created a garden, and raised the asram. Four coconut trees were planted. To plant them properly, Kandaswami dug huge square pits about 10ft deep. That would give you an idea about the labor he put into the work. He was a strong, well-built man.”