- The first place that Ramana stayed in Tiruvannamalai was the great temple.
- For a few weeks he remained in the thousand-pillared hall.
- But he was soon troubled by the urchins who pelted him with stones as he sat silently.
- He shifted to an underground vault known as Patala Lingam, where the sunlight never penetrated.
- Without moving he sat deeply absorbed in the Self and was unaware of being bitten up by the ants and vermin living there.
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- It was in a mango orchid away from the temple that his paternal uncle, Nelliyappa Aiyar, from Manamadurai, found him.
- Nelliyappa Aiyar tried his best to take his nephew along with him to Manamadurai but the young sage would not respond.
- He did not show any sign of interest in the visitor.
- So, Nelliyappa Aiyar went back disappointed to Manamadurai.
- However, he conveyed the news to Alagammal, Ramana’s mother.
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- The mother later went to Tiruvannamalai accompanied by her eldest son Nagaswamy.
- Ramana was then living at Pavalakkunru, one of the eastern spurs of Arunachala.
- With tears in her eyes Alagammal entreated her son to go back with her, but for the sage there was no going back.
- Nothing moved him – not even his mother’s tears. He kept silent and sat still.
- A devotee who had been observing the struggle of the mother for several days requested Ramana to write out at least what he had to say.
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- With a heavy heart, the mother went back to Manamadurai.
- Sometime after this event Ramana started to live in different caves on the slopes of Arunachala.
- The cave where Ramana stayed longest (17 years), Virupaksha Cave, is on the south-east slope.
- During the early years on the Hill, Ramana was mostly silent.
- His radiance had already drawn a group of devotees around him.
- Not only seekers of Truth were drawn to him but also simple people, children, and even animals.
- Young children from the town would climb up the hill to Virupaksha Cave,
sit near him, play around him, and then go back feeling happy.
- Squirrels and monkeys would come up to him and eat out of his hand.
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- Ramana’s mother visited him several times again.
- On one occasion she fell ill and suffered for a few weeks with symptoms of typhoid.
- Despite his earlier note to her about the inevitability of destiny,
Ramana composed a hymn in Tamil beseeching Lord Arunachala to cure her of her disease.
- He also showed great solicitude in nursing her back to health.
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- Alagammal recovered and went back to Manamadurai.
- In the beginning of 1916 Algammal came back to Tiruvannamalai determined to spend the rest of her life with Ramana.
- A little later her youngest son, Nagasundaram followed her.
- Soon after his mother’s arrival, Ramana moved from Virupaksha to Skandasramam, a little higher up the Hill.
- Here Mother received intense training in spiritual life.
- She started to cook for the small group of devotees who were staying there.
- Nagasundaram became a sannyasin, assuming the name Niranjanananda Swami.
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- In 1920 the mother’s health failed and Ramana tended her with utmost care and affection,
sometimes spending sleepless nights sitting up with her.
- The end came in 1922 and Alagammal attained liberation at the moment of death,
through the effort and grace of her son.
- As tradition demands in the case of a liberated being, Algammal’s body was not cremated but buried.
- Since no burial is allowed on the Hill she was interred at its foot on the southern side.
- It was less than an hour’s walk down from Skandasramam,
and Ramana would go there frequently, until one day he settled for good.
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** Thus Sri Ramanasramam came into being. He said:
“Not of my own accord I moved from Skandasramam. Something placed me here and I obeyed.”