I have lived on the lip of insanity,
wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door. It opens.
I’ve been knocking from the inside.
— Rumi, 13th century

A grey-haired sadhu in a saffron dhoti and turban sits on the threshold of the Ashram New Hall and looks out from behind its collapsible channel gate. Five frangipani flowers rest on the threshold’s textured granite surface, recognisable by their waxy, five-petaled structure with a white outer edge and yellow centre. The centrepiece of the New Hall within is a statue of Bhagavan Ramana on a sofa carved out of a single block of granite. Above it is an old Victorian-style clock on the wall. When Bhagavan was told that the new granite sofa was for him, he remarked, “Let the stone swami sit on the stone sofa. If we look for our comfort, should it be at the expense of others?” Reluctantly, he eventually agreed to sit on the stone couch but never really liked the luxuriousness of its red velvet cushions. —