In 2016 I had the good fortune to visit the Ramanashram on Arunachala by Tiruvannamalai. I walked up the holy mountain/hill and visited the cave sites where Ramana stayed and meditated. I did indeed feel the fantastic transmission and pull of the Self.
Ramana believed that sacred mountain epitomised the Self and he would praise and surrender to it seeing it as his Guru and ultimate liberator.
Some believe that Ramana became liberated instantly in that moment at 16 when he contemplated death, yet that was merely his awakening experience. Indeed it was extremely powerful and transformative guiding him on to the caves of Arunachala where he could sit and work on his Samadhi and liberation.
It’s unclear how many years it took for Ramana to become a JivanMukta. Here is a brief timeline from after his awakening;
1879 – December 30th – Born.
1896 – July – Awakening experience at age 16. August – departs for Tiruvannamalai and lives at various shrines and temples.
1899 – Moves onto Arunachala, lives at various caves and then stays at Virupaksha Cave for 17 years.
1916 – Moves to Skandashram Cave.
1922 – Stayed at his mothers shrine where Ramanashram was built around him.
1950 – April 14th – Drops the body.
By all accounts from 1922 as his ashram was built up around him, he had a more active outward life, cooking, cleaning, mending, and organising.
His core teaching is two fold; To ask oneself ‘Who am I?’ and awaken. And to observe where the ‘i’ thought arises, and to absorb the ‘i’ into the Self ‘I’.
I am supposing that Ramana in his many years of Samadhi in the caves of Arunachala did just that (absorbed his ego mind into the Self to become completely liberated).
Becoming a liberated soul is no flash in the pan like awakening can be. It is a sustained effort over many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi
