Translated Saints

The following excerpts are from ‘A Sadhu’s Reminscences of Ramana Maharshi by Sadhu Arunachala (A.W. Chadwick),
Publisher: Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1961.

Alan Chadwick, a retired British military officer was one of the first European devotees of Ramana Maharshi. He came to his Guru in November of 1935 and stayed until Ramana’s passing in 1950 (April 14, 1950 at 8:47 p.m.). He had the remarkable experience of being intimate with Ramana on a daily basis which gives this book it’s unique insight into the day to day life of this great Sage of Inida.

Sadhu Arunachala passed away in April 1962.

One day Bhagavan was telling us that the Tamil Saint Manickavasagar’s body disappeared in a blaze of light leaving no residue. I asked him how that had happened and he explained that the body is solidifed mind. When in Jnanam the mind dissolves and consumes itself in a blaze of light, the body is burned up in the process. He gave Nandanar as another example of this. mentioned the case in the Bible of Elijah being carried up to Heaven in a chariot of fire, a poetic way of saying the same thing.

…He explained that the subtle body is composed of light and sound and that the gross body is a concrete form of the same.