Rama, an Italian friend we have made, lived at the ashram for five years. He now lives in and runs a retreat center in Costa Rica, Montana Azul, the blue mountain, with his wife and partner Adelaida.

Rama related this story of the Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi: the young man came to the mountain in 1900, at the age of sixteen, after a near-death experience. The near-death was not a physical death, but the sudden and complete realization that his body would perish — a complete understanding which left him immobilized for some time. He understood the central question of his existence — perhaps of all of our existence — and left home to study it deeply, left the noise and intrusions of the mundane life to dedicate himself to meditation, to insight into this life. 

He lived in the small Virupaksha Cave, on the side of Arunachala, the red mountain, just above and behind the major temple complex in Tiruvannamalai, for 17 years. Devotees found and followed him. His understanding deepened and his teaching broadened. During the 17th year, there was a heavy drought, and the Bhagavan did not have access to water. Above Virupaksha there was a spring, and one of his devotees convinced the Bhagavan to move near this guaranteed water source, building in the process a small building around a cave there. They lived there for six years. 

Maharshi's mother had understandably tried to convince him to return home — but without success. After many years she took up his teaching, became a devotee herself, and came to the new site to live with him. She passed away six years later, and once the Bhagavan freed her from her body, they descended to the foot of the mountain and created her samadhi. He did not return to live in the caves above, but taught there at the base of his beloved Arunachala. More followers came, came from all India, and an ashram was built around him, around his teaching. That is where we visit today.

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