Footsteps of the Master
The Secret of Living Freedom
By Kosi
Ramana Maharshi is one of the greatest spiritual masters of all time. His name is the essence of his teaching—the great unveiling of the indescribable presence, which resides in the heart of all beings. His life and teaching was and is a direct pointing to this living presence that has the innate power and grace to end lifetimes of suffering.
His teaching is radical in its immediacy, radical in its simplicity, and radical in its implications for the average person—enlightenment is ordinary and simply always here and now. His teaching is a gateway to the infinite that makes enlightenment—the end of suffering—possible for everyone regardless of the role they play in life or past experience.
It is not just the radiance of his presence that has transformed countless lives. Ramana was able to simplify and reveal what has been hidden in the famous scriptures of all the world’s religions. In a single sentence he unveils the mystery of Buddha’s enlightenment, exposes the secret teachings of Christ, and solves the great mysteries of the Vedas. He is the great code breaker of real enlightenment, real freedom, and is a catalyst for sudden awakening.
From the moment I first heard his name, his teaching, his grace, and the profound mystery of his presence has captivated my attention. He is something of an enigma. The great mystery of his awakening continues to draw people around the world to him like a moth is drawn to the great light of a campfire—it represents the total annihilation of the great illusion of identity and strangely this annihilation leads to the most sublime happiness. Ramana is simply an embodiment of the great light of god; an all consuming beacon of radiance—the great revealer of the eternal presence you are and always will be.
The immediacy of his teaching is a catalyst for a dynamic shift in not only how you perceive yourself and the world around you, but also it is a dynamic shift in understanding the internal mechanisms and genetics that are the root cause of your suffering. Ramana’s teaching is not some esoteric concept, but rather a practical guide for your own direct experience of the living truth you are deeper than name and form.
The truth is Ramana did not really care who awoke or who didn’t or who could hear his teaching or who was deaf. He left everything to the great pervasive force of God—the eternal presence always free of the deeply engrained prarabdha karma, destiny, of each individual person. It was not that he did not care—he simply was deeply aware that God, the Heart, was the only reality and each person’s destiny was predetermined. If you were meant to be liberated from lifetimes of suffering you would be and if you were not so destine you wouldn’t be—from his perspective it really was this simple.
He was acutely aware that although his teaching is extremely simple and directs your attention immediately to the source of everything—the infinite invisible light of God—it is not easy to break free of the great illusions generated by your own mind. He made himself available twenty-four hours a day everyday to anyone with a sincere desire to be fully self-realized—fully liberated from the karmic wheel of suffering. His support was, and is, essential to the liberation of so many.
Ramana walked all over his beloved mountain; Arunachala Siva and preferred solitude and silence to any conversation—even enlightened conversations. It has been said there is not one place on the mountain he did not step and when you walk on his sacred mountain you are literally walking in his footsteps—you are on the pathless path of God. Ramana simply knew from direct experience there is no path and it is not possible for a person to be enlightened—no one exists in true enlightenment.
Ramana’s life was an expression of true enlightenment—the radiance of pure being. He was deeply aware that no words exist to describe the eternal nature of God and no words can ever describe the ecstasy of this eternal presence or the bliss of simple being. When questioned he would simply re-direct the questioner’s the attention to the source of all questions—the living presence of the heart—until the questioner’s mind surrendered to this infinite source.
The great secret of living the freedom that Ramana’s teaching reveals is to re-direct your attention to the source of the feeling ‘I am me’ over and over again until there is no ‘me’ and only the source remains. This can take years of the deepest effort, but nothing on earth is more precious or happier than the bliss of your own being.
Freedom has nothing to do with your circumstances or anything you perceive yourself to be—it is the life of the life within you that is eternally free of any idea of you. If you have a deep desire to be free—simply give your attention fully to this living source of your own heart and you will be like the moth vanishing in the flame of a candle—all that remains is the most sublime happiness.
Walking in the footsteps of the Master of Masters is disappearing the infinite presence of your own heart. Truly, no words exist to describe this happiness.
